Our CTM District is Killing It

April 2nd

 This week was pretty exciting! It passed by really fast, too. Another pday has arrived! Let's see... The first big thing this week that happened was a play put on by the church called Jesus the Christ. So Friday we took the bus to Fortaleza at 7 am and met up with the zone leaders in their house. From there we went to the house of one of the members in their area to eat lunch. Which is crazy, cause there were 10 missionaries in total. One thing I miss about serving in the city is the members. The couple that provided lunch for us was awesome. They told us that they had some plans for that Friday, but they decided that they were just going to take the day off to relax. Then the zone leaders called and asked if they could provide lunch for all the missionaries. They were working early in the morning to make enough food for us, and it was amazing. They bore their testimonies that the decision to take the day off was guided by the spirit, so that they could have the time to make lunch for us. The members here in Brazil are seriously amazing. Anyways, from there we all took the bus to go to the theatre to watch the play. The play was pretty cool, but the best part for me was just getting to see everyone again. And Fortaleza east was there too so Elder Williams and I got to see Elder White, Sister Walker, and Sister Lemon which was really really great. I don't know if i've told you guys but our CTM district is killing it. Literally every member of the district is doing great things. Everyone is training, some are district leader trainers, and Elder Bangerter is a zone leader. Everyone works hard, we don't have any slackers in district 31B. We all made a goal to have wing night when we're all back, and i'm already looking forward to it. Saturday and Sunday, of course, was conference! One thing that I thought was pretty funny is how smoothly the conference ran in our little house-church here. Back in the states, we have nice everything, but still manage to have technical difficulties. There were no problems, and i'm proud to say that I understood the conference, glad it was only one time that I had to suffer through a conference that I couldn't understand. Though conference is still much much better in english. The translators don't have the same energy that the apostles and prophet have. Especially people like Elder Holland. I'll definitely download some of the talks in english to listen to again. But, even in portuguese, it was awesome. Pretty crazy that they're changing the way home teaching will work! Though it is a needed change. Elder Uchtdorf's talk was pretty sweet. I think it was my favorite this conference, but I need to read the talks still to know for sure. I also loved the message pres. nelson gave about revelation. God is so willing to guide us! Just ask! All the people here are pumped that a brazilian was called as a prophet. I think it's great too. Also, one thing that Elder Williams and I were laughing about is the name of one of the general authorities that spoke, Elder Massimo De Feo. In portuguese, máximo de feio, which you pronounce the same way, means maximum ugly. Pretty great name. With the play and general conference, we didn't have too much time to actually work this week. And the investigators that we have are not progressing much. This area sure is tricky. But i've gotta make the best of it. I've only got one more week left in the transfer after all. Though i'm not sure if i'll be transfered. Pres. Chamberlain doesn't like to split up missionaries and their trainers. Guess we'll see. Even with only one baptism this transfer, I really feel like I put in a lot of work. My biggest worry right now is that I need to find out what to do better. I obviously need to do SOMETHING better, but i'm not sure what to work on. Luckly we've got a whole new set of scripture to study (general conference) so i'll get to work on that. So grateful to be here in Brazil, serving god. So grateful to be a part of this restored church, so grateful for all of my many, many blessings. This mission has already changed me and continues to change me, making me a better person every day. Don't want to be anywhere else right now.

 That's it for me today, folks. Until next week! The new transfer!

Elder Odom
little o
big ty
the big T

 Questions and Answers with mom:
mom:Tell me about what you do on P-Day:
Ty:yeah we still work on pday. from 6 until 9. But we start off the day with 30 mins of personal study, 1 hour of 12 semanas (training for the new missionaries) and then we head out to the LAN House. After that we buy groceries, eat, and clean the house. By the time we're done with all of this it's usually 3:00 so we have 3 hours to cut hair or sleep or something. But I don't actually like to sleep during pday. I feel like the day is wasted

 mom:I told him a little what it's like for his cousin Nick to be home...
Ty: Yeah, I don't know what it'll be like to be home again. But i'm at the point now that the mission seems like my life. I've been here long enough and have enough time ahead of me to feel like i've always been here and i'll never leave. Returning home would be really really weird at this point. Can't imagine what it'll be like to actually be home again. But don't have to worry about that for a bit