Missionary Man: First Post!

Welcome to Ben-Daniel's Mission Blog. This is where his mom posts portions of his letters and emails home and lots of pictures of his travels.

He left August 14, 2013 for the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. He has received a call to Florianopolis, Brazil. (After some weeks of studying Portuguese, he now spells it "Brasil." I'm still kind of attached to the z, so I'll spell it the American way for now.) His Brazilian visa has not yet arrived, so he will receive a temporary reassignment stateside until it does. We should hear about that soon.

Now I'll get out of the way and let Ben-Daniel tell you what's been happening with him.

Me with a bust of Joseph Smith, founder of the church.

My schedule differs slightly day to day, but I always get up at 6:15 every morning to shower. At 7:15 I eat breakfast in a large cafeteria, and then my district and I go to Portuguese class. At 12 we go to lunch, then more Portuguese class. We sometimes have a devotional after dinner. Then at 9:30 we head back to our dorms and I write in my journal until 11:30, at which point I fall asleep instantly.

My dorm

My district is small; only three companionships (including my own) and one sister companionship, consisting of three sisters.

I'm trying to stuff myself with as much food as possible at every meal to gain some more weight. The food at the MTC is really good. Lots of variety.

Studying Portuguese

We spend more time in Portuguese class than anywhere else during the day. It is taught by a Brazilian who we call Irmao Pinho, "Brother Pinho." He's only two years older than all of us in my district, and we all have a pretty good time in class.

There are gorgeous sunsets here nearly every night.

Me and Jake Theriault in the MTC.

The story behind this picture:

It was a Tuesday, and we had our Tuesday evening Devotional in the Marriott Center, which is across the street from the MTC. The Marriott Center is a basketball stadium. We heard the apostle Elder Anderson speak there, and during that time a freak storm blew in that poured Olympic-sized swimming pools outside. We all had to run back through the massive parking lot and swim across the rivers that had formed therein, then wade up the street and back to the MTC. We were soaked within one minute of stepping into the rain. lol.

Elder McCleve is from Bellingham and is also going to the Florianopolis mission.

More sunsets.

Me and Elder McCleve, goofing off.

This is a statue of Samuel Smith, Joseph Smith's younger brother. He was the first missionary of the Church.

This is the guardian of the Provo Temple. He sits on one of the lights that illuminates the big sign on the back of the temple and keeps watch. He's got three or four little female quails that scurry around in the bushes beneath him.