Week 5 - August 27th 2012

Here's the letter for the week!

week 5 right?  i have no idea since time just flies by!! this week has gone by super fast.  something our district says now is its thursday then it is sunday then it is pday then it is thursday again.  random but that is how it is.  im starting my 6th week here and i just want to be out haha.  i uploaded a few more pictures on to dropbox so you guys can post them.  one is of a bulbasaur, pikachu, squirtle and charmander.  i have cracked here. and by that i mean i have gone loco haha.  those are just hand drawn haha.  and in reply to moms question about a few graphics i have sent.  yes i drew those.  and yes i came up with those.  one says elder and one says district 30A since that is our district.  just some doodling.  i really want to be in goiania.

what else, in response to dads question in his mission ties letter i got today.  my schedule is this.  wake up at 6 30 take a shower, get dressed, go eat breakfast which is the same thing every morning with the occasional days of cereal (which is only frosted flakes or chocolate frosted flakes).  breakfast is bananas, cream of wheat looking stuff, bread cheese and some meat.  we put the cheese and meat in the bread and they have electric panini makers here so we cook those up, slather them in butter and eat up.  on days they have the goat cheese i just have meat.  and on days they have just the goat cheese and no meat i make toast haha.  umm after that i brush my teeth and grab my stuff and head down with my comp for personal study, then companion study, then language study.  after that is usually gym (best part of the day).  after gym i take a shower and get dressed and the district goes down to a computer lab to study on a computer language program made by BYU which is called TALL. after that is lunch which has beans and rice (all day every day beans and rice) usually 2 different kinds of meat, either potatoes or pasta, and lots of fruit.  they have a fruit soup kind of thing which is just a lot of fruit with all the juices mixed together. i eat that a lot.  the desserts, they are kinda iffy though the cake is usually soggy at the bottom but apparently that is what they eat here.  umm after lunch we have class with our first instructor Irmao Armazan, and then we usually teach him as a fake investigator.  then there is dinner, pretty much the same as lunch.  just put beans and rice on what they give you, put on some cilantro, hot sauce, lemon juice, vinegar, and olive oil and mix it all together.  ive done that every day for the past month now.  after dinner is usually some sort of personal study time.  then instructor b time.  that is irmao leo, the itallian guy.  super happy all the time!! love him.  he speaks portuguese with an italian/portuguese accent.  he teaches us different things then we teach him as a fake investigator.  i like teaching him more than the other teacher because the other one on purpose is being a pain.  but that is gonna happen so i am still thankful.

what else.... so last pdays devotional we watched most of president monsons birthday special they had and that was pretty cool.  the kitchen made a birthday cake and we ate the yummy/soggy cake and sang happy birthday even though his brithday was like 3 days before that.  on thursday we started practicing lead kindly light.  sounds freakin awesome!!! the couple of key changes the other 15 elders and i are just like awwww thats awesome!!  the first key change is the best though.  we had another practice last night where we went through the whole song and tried it a capella.  it still needs some work but it is going to sound amazing.  good thing i can sing low because the bass part on this song has some reaaaalllyyy low parts.  but it is going to sound amazing.  i dont think i will be able to actually video tape it but i will give my camera to an elder in my district to record and just point the camera down for the music and sound like what we did when i was set apart as a missionary.  my camera captures the sound pretty good. its not like a phone camera where it is like askl; as;fjasl;k j;asjk f.  exactly like that haha.

ya dad i spent some money sorry haha.  i like that phrase you put in your letter, when in doubt go without perfect for me.  half that money was for stuff i needed because pretty much all my soap and shampoo and shower supplies were taken from my bag.  i have no idea where they went.  so i needed to buy more.  i just didnt have the chance to email about.  descolpa!! im digging the phrases you put in my letter in portuguese what are you using  google translate haha.

oh so cool thing that im pretty sure is legit.  last night when me and elder miller were teaching irmao leo as an investigator (and yes elder miller is the big guy wearing the yankees t shirt, and soo funny that you said maybe thats why we didnt get along at first.)  but anyways we were going to go teach and elder miller just did not feel good.  and he was like elder sant you will probably be teaching the whole time because i cant even think in english right now.  so im like thats fine with me.  we get in there and elder miller just starts speaking really good portuguese and im sitting there like what is happening and i couldnt even understand some of the words.  and irmao leo was understanding the whole thing which we figured out afterwards.  so we were just in awe and we just knew that someone was helping him out last night.  he has had a hard week because last week he found out his dad has cancer and he hasnt been able to focus.  elder miller is a good elder and last night was really cool.  anyways time is up.
love everyone and hope you are all doing good

love
elder mackenzie sant

Week 4 - August 21st 2012

Here is his letter this week. He also sent home some pictures which can be accessed over in the gallery.

so what is this thing called time.  ive already been here a month.  i feel like i flew in to sao paolo yesterday.  no for reals i do.  just another week here.  its really hard to think of stuff to write.  ctm life is good, study study study.  language is coming a long.  i have a written letter coming through mission ties for the the family to read.  little personal parts for everyone to read. ummmm really what do i say. 

we went to the campinas temple again today.  i thought it was just a one time thing, but i guess not.  next week for sure we are going to the sao paolo temple.  luckily it is closer.  going to the campinas means that we get 30 minutes cut from our pday activities that we want to do.  for example eat the pizza that dad bought for me last weekk =).  im excited for that.  the cafeteria food is really just the same thing.  beans and rice almost everymeal, chicken and beef every single day, cooked differently or the same as the day before.  the deserts they have are iffy.  you have to look at them a while before you decide to pick one up.  and breakfast everymorning is paninis.  well more like bread with cheese and some meat.  put some butter on and toss it on the electric panini maker.

i was just talkin to my buddy elder richards and he said i dont know what to write about.  i was like neither do i.  sorry.  4 weeks at the ctm is really just the same stuff.  and i still have 5 more weeks here.  if my emails get shorter and shorter im sorry.

tonight we get to watch president monsons birthday special that they did.  that will be for devotional tonight.

i got an email from my mission president with whats what in goiania. it says no mp3 players at all so i dont know what to do about that.  i guess i will ask more when i am in the field.  it also says in the email that i wont be using a backpack or a normal shoulder bag that we need to buy a professional style business briefcase.  weeeiirrddd.  and he said to wait to buy one till we are in the field.  speaking of the field i just want to be out there already.  time is going fast but i actually want to be out where the lord has called me, doing work, and teaching the gospel.

sorry for the short email this week. love you all!!

love

elder mackenzie sant

Week 3!!!! - August 14th 2012

Here's Mackenzie's letter from 8/14/12

alrighty sooo sorry for the later letter today.  we have a special speaker tonight and our pday is really messed up.  we went to the campinas temple today since the sao paolo one was closed for cleaning.  really beautiful temple inside and out!!! it just took longer for us to get there and back here to the ctm.  our pday was cut short because of a mandatory choir practice.  the speaker tonight is the 1st counselor in the area presidency for brasil.  pretty stoked for that.  the language is sticking more now.  i have been practicing 20 verbs a days with flash cards and reviewing all the next day as well as starting new ones.  its coming but slowly.  but hey as my teacher said last night, we speak better portuguese than someone learning another language in school.  for being here only 3 weeks and starting our 4th he said that we are doing just fine.

Momma i have sent you a looonng birthday letter through mission ties so you should be receiving it within the next day or so.  i hope you enjoy it =).  dad i got yours today as well and i scheduled my pizza party thing for next week.  and by the way thanks for that and the shakes my roomies will enjoy with me.my brasilliado roomates left this morning for their missions since they only had to be here 3 weeks.  also a good friend of my roomate left today.  hes been helping us out with the language alot!!! theyve been friends since before the mission.  his distric also left today so the buses to the temple were less packed thankfully.

oh and dad dont worry worry about those jurseys they were like 10 bucks each from a shop just across the street.  its a member who sells a bunch of ties and other mission bags and stuff.  thank you for the letter it was nice to read before i went here to email you guys!!  i hope you and mom had great birthdays.  dad it was your birthday and i was writing the date on something and i was like oh its the 9th.  happy birthday dad.  i said that out loud.  and then i realized it was Peri Tanners birthday as well and i was like happy birthday karlies mom!!!  and then on sunday it was our lovely 4 hour study/nap time and i was writing a letter and was writing the date then realized oh its the 12th!!! happy birthday mom!!!  i hope you all had fun!!

oh so there is this big old guy in my district who is ripped beyond belief.  even the ctm presidents wife asked how he is that big and fit.  he has an amazing voice and i just wanted to sing.  so like 4 others including us 2 from our district signed up for a 12 man a capella song.  we are singing lead kindly light and we start practicing this week.  im sooooo stoked for that.  since ive been here i have just had the strong urge to sing a good song.  i guess those vocal lessons with jeri clinger paid off!!! and if this email is sent to her.  THANKS JERI!!!  even after i quit vocal lessons i still have a desire to sing.  one of the pieces that we could choose was prayer of the children.  i wanted to sing that so bad.  i told sister steadman here who is the executive secretarys wife that i sang that with my dance/singing group in DC at the holocaust museum.  and told her how great it sounded!!  just fyi i had to ask my companion how to spell museum just now.  is that a good or bad sign =P.  oh another cool musical thing.  during sunday nights devotional when we all sing in the choir.  i was in the bass section with my companion and we were running through it and at the same time we realized that in a couple parts it is the same chord progression as the song Canon by Pacabel.  duhhh duhhh duhhh duhh duhh.  and when you read this you are gonna think its just a bunch of duuhhh's

one cool thing that jeffrey r holland said in a devotional at the provo mtc back in march or may that we watched.  he said that us as missionarieshave no right to be less than what primary children, little kids, nieces, nephews, or his grandkids think of us.  we have no right at all.  and thats what he said and that really hit a couple weeks ago.  cause then i started thinking what have i thought about missionaries my whole life.  oh they are soo cool i want to be like them someday and as i started getting older that never changed.  then it hit that i was only a year younger than these guys out there.  and now where am i??  sitting in brasil learning to teach heavenly fathers gospel to the people here.  and i have that reputation on my shoulders as a missionary to not let those kids down and to be just as amazing as i thought missionaries were when i was their age.

i hope everyone is doing good.  and for people back in good old california where it is only 2 50 boa tarde!!!  and for me boa noite!! have a good week everyone

love

Elder Mackenzie Sant

oh p.s. i bought a card reader today so im going to try and send a few photos to see how it is here at the ctm!!!

Week 2: Yeeeeee!!!!! - August 7th 2012

Here is Mackenzie's letter from this last week.

So this week has gone by ridiculously fast!!! Me and all my roomates are calling it one big old day!!!  i love it here at the CTM everyone is here to focus on one thing and that is to serve the lord.  ive never been so focused on the gospel in my life and i love it.  the brasiliado elders who are here are only here for 3 weeks and the roomates i have are awesome.  i learn more talking to them then i do in class.  and we dont really have language class that often.  but the language is coming super slowly!!  i know some phrases and stuff but im focusing a lot on the verbs and the conjugations of them all.  SOOOO much.  whats weird is now that im learning a language, some of the french from freshman and sophomore year is coming back to me and im like wait.... this is french.  i need to be thinking in portugues.  i can pray and bare my testimony in portuguese.  not like super long prayers but enought to get the point across.  there is a guy from utah who has been here for 8 weeks and he is actually best friends with a guy from my district, his portuguese is amazing.  i here him talk and both me and elder richards look at eachother like WHAT!!! i wanna speak the language sooo bad.

on to other stuff, the food here is amazing to answer moms question in her email.  every meal rice and beans rice and beans rice and beans.  there is plenty of meat every day!! their deserts are somewhat iffy...  somedays they are good, some days your like what the heck is this, and other days your like ooohhh yeah!! get in my belly!  i make my own little personal chipotle bowl with cilantro rice beans cut up chicken and the hot sauce they have here.  sadly i havent used my cholula sauce yet.  ooh and guess what.  i dont know if i said this last week but... they have GUARANA ON TAP!!!!! oooohhh yeahh.  the wife of the mtc president drinks guarana.  so if the ctm serves it.  its a good drink!!!

so some thoughts i had during the week.  i bore my testimony on sunday.  it was about dads whistle and how familiar it is to me and anyone in the family.  if your lost and you here that whistle you feel amazing.  when i was walking to the tram 2 weeks ago and dad whistled at me and i turned and waved i felt peaceful... sort of.  but i compared that to the feeling of the spirit i get when i pray to heavenly father.  when i pray at night i am straight up talking to him and i feel his spirit and i know he is there for me and listening to me.  and i said that prayer is a powerful thing.  i love everynight returning to that same familiar feeling.

onto some random stuff.  when studying yesterday morning a car drove by the ctm blareing what i believe is a journey song.  the lines go ".... the lights go down in the city..."  and thats all i heard but i recognized it.  apparently in brasil right now american 80's music is huge!!!  other stuff.  the brasil nacional hino is amazing.  swoops the american national anthem of its feet haha.  weird thing here in brasil is that the floor level of a building isnt the first floor like what we would say.  the first floor is the next floor up.  so i am up on the 4th floor and every time i walk the stairs up im like what?!?!?! im only on the third floor.  its because my mind think that since i just climbed 4 flights of stairs that id be done but here im technically staying on the fifth floor.

quote that a speaker said on sunday "if there are no problems, there is no reason to give up!!!" "and that is why we are here, to solve problems.

love you all and hope your all having a great week

love
elder mackenzie sant