October 31

I'm sad to say that the message wasn't conveyed clearly. I don't get to call you today. I got jipped (is that how you spell it). They say since I have a P'day before I leave that an email is sufficient. I don't think it's fair at all that some missionaries get to call home and I only get an email. But now that I've got you all disappointed, I can call you tomorrow! While you're in the airport you can make phone calls.

 

Let me give you my itinerary. I actually don't have it with me. Whoops. So this is all from memory. I report to the Travel Office in the MTC at 8 in the morning on Tuesday Nov 1 to ride to the airport. My flight leaves at11:10 AM mountain time and arrive in JFK New York at 5:51 Eastern I believe. Why I'm going through New York? I have no idea. But I havea two hour layover there and leave at 7:30 ish. And arrive in Sao Paulo at 8 the next morning. It's an 11 hour flight with the time change and such. Oh and I'm the only one in my travel group. I might be alone the whole time. I'm nervous about that. I'm already so used to having a companion all the time. But some alone time will be nice. And it will be nice to be in the world and able to talk to people. I have a Portugues Livro de Mormon that I'm going to try and hand out before I make it to Sao Paulo. I hope I sit next to someone I can talk with. So that means that I'll be able to call both in the morning and a little later. And if Dad can't be home for one I can call him on his cell phone after. If you could send a Dear Elder today (last day for them) telling me when would be best to call and which phones to call that will be great. The only time limit I'll have will be money and flight times. So we can talk for a while. I'm suuuuuuuuper excited. Not that I didn't love it here. But I am soooo ready for something else. Also it's been tough being in a tri-companionship with two people that you don't really get along with that great.

 

Talking about that a little more. I've learned a lot from this past week. One Elder, whose name I'll leave off so you can post this, has a really hard time with the language and just learning in general. Before, Elder #1 and I were both pretty proficient in the language and could cruise through lessons and answer all sorts of questions and now we've had to change our teaching technique. It's been really helpful to learn how to help someone and how to work with someone else. It's hard and frustrating sometimes. I'll relate a funny story, so we were teaching an "investigator" about the Gospel of Jesus Christ (lesson 3 in chapter 3 of PMG) and we just trade off every point. And I went first then Elder #1, and then Elder #2 (you can take out all the names) was supposed to teach repentance, but had no idea what we had been saying. So he just bore his testimony about the Book of Mormon. It was funny. The "investigator" (who is our teacher if you don't remember) kind of just let it slide and then Elder #1 and I took over again. We try to keep him involved but it's hard. We have so much to teach and they ask so many questions and he can't answer them. He just defers to us and looks to us a lot. We want to help him and the investigator learn so it's difficult. During Language Study it's helped me a lot to teach him because in order to teach you really have to understand first. So it's really beneficial.

 

As far as the language goes for me, I feel super good about it. I don't always use the right tenses and such, but I can speak pretty fast when I have an idea and I don't have to think of literal translations, I just know what words are in Portugues. I hope that makes sense. It's a really cool feeling. Also our teachers don't slow down their speach anymore, and I can understand everything. It's not just me figuring out what they're talking about, but literally understanding every word and just knowing what they are saying. It's great. On Saturday we did an English fast, where we don't speak English AT ALL. And it was super fun. I loved it. I would write you more in Portugues but I want you to be able to understand what I'm saying.

 

So I was released as a Zone leader yesterday. I served for almost exactly a week. Almost to the hour. From 8:40 on October 23rd to 7:40 October 30th. I hope that is specific enough for you Mom. :P

 

Well my alloted time for email is up. I love you. I'm super excited to go to Brasil. No more letters or packages here. And I got and loved all the packages. By the way I'm pretty sure you sent me that same card last year when I was at school. Everyone loves listening to the song though. It's great. Thanks for everything. Next email will be from Brasil. Oh I forgot you asked. I can definitely email in Sao Paulo.

 

Love

Elder Cameron Bruce

October 24

Thank you for the update on all the sports. It's a little fun to hear. and I want to apologize for sounding like I was complaining about all the questions. I enjoy them because it gives me something to write about. Sometimes it's hard to come up with something to say.

 

But not this week. A lot has happened. Elder Scott came and spoke to us on Tuesday and it was great. He is such a sweet man. Either his memory is starting to fade or he just really wanted to emphasize how important some points were cause he repeated himself, a lot. It was a wonderful talk mostly about the Spirit and listening to it's guidance and direction. Although he sort of randomly through in a part about when we get home from our mission, we need to stop "hanging out" and start looking for our Eternal Companion. It was so random that I feel he must have been prompted to say something about it. It seems a little weird how much marriage is taught to us here, but really our missions are supposed to help prepare us for the rest of our lives too. So it makes sense, I guess.

 

So most of my district received their visas this week. Elder Hill, Elder Kerr, Sister Barlow, and Sister Bierman all received theirs on cuarta (Wednesday, they refer to days of the week as first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, saturday and sunday, it's a little weird but easy to remember) (oh and their actual names in Portugues are segunda, terça, cuarta, quinta, sexta (sounds like seista) sabado, and domingo), and we were all so excited for them. The visas are really coming through. So that left Elder Larson, Egan, Peterson and I here alone. But then Elder Larson got his on sexta. So that leaves me in a tri-companionship with Elder Egan and Peterson. It's going to be interesting. Although I like both Elder Egan and Peterson, we aren't great buddies. Do you understand? We work well together, we get a long fine, but we just don't really connect as friends. Elder Hill, Larson, and I were pretty good buddies so I'm sad to see them go. And by the way, Elder Larson and Kerr had been called as Zone Leaders and now they are leaving tomorrow so they only served for four days and then Elder Egan and I were called as their replacements. Being a Zone Leader just means more meetings and you get to welcome and say goodbye to Elders. I think it'll be fun. But our zone doesn't have any new Elder's arriving this Wednesday. It's just another adventure.

 

So about my visa... I feel like it should be coming soon, just by comparing when I filled out my online part to the others. So probably this week. Most of them tend to come on Wednesday, but it could be any day. When I do receive it, they give you a slip of paper that says you have 5 minutes to call your parents. So what I was planning on doing was stopping be Monica's office when I get my visa and telling her to tell Katie to tell you that I'll be calling you that night at around 9 o'clock Mountain Time. So just be ready for that notice. I want to be able to use all the time I have to talk. I'll call the home phone, by the way.

 

That's if I get my visa this week....

 

Thank you for the package, it arrived the other day. The retainers are a little painful right now but not so bad. I'm almost through all the kool-aid already. I always have a drink with me in class so I'm always sipping on my Kool-aid. Pretty much the whole district has them too so it's kind of a district unity thing.

 

Gym time continues to be some of my favorite time. There has been a big shift in the people playing soccer because Elders are leaving and coming. But now there's a group that I always play with and we do really well together. It makes it fun, because we can actually play as opposed to playing beehive ball with a bunch of elders that have never played soccer before. Apparently at the Sao Paulo MTC they don't play soccer because the Brasileiros are too competitive. I'm bummed. I was looking forward to that. I hope President Tanner let's us play soccer on P-days.

 

I'm sooo happy to hear that everything is going well with Calvin and Megan. I need some pictures of the little guy though. Oh and by the way, if you are going to send packages make sure you get them out here soon, because if it's close to the weekend, who knows, I might be leaving for Brasil next Tuesday.

 

I don't have much else to talk about. I guess I'll write a message in Portugues for you. (This computer doesn't want to let me use the accent marks so sorry for it not being 100 percent correct, like you would know anyway. but if you put it through a translator it might now work.)

 

Primero, Portugues e o melhor lingua. E muito melhor que espanol. Quando eu fala portugues eu sinto muito legal. Agora eu somente oro em Portugues. E um pouco dificil para mim orar em ingles. Mas tudo bem (tudobem means all is well, they say it as a greating and for all sorts of stuff). Eu amo o CTM, e muito diverdido aqui. Eu esperaria que voces escreverao mim, todos os dias. Mas eu sei que voces tem muitas coisas fazer. Eu amo voces e tenho saudades para voces, mas eu sei que sou fazendo o trabalho de Deus e que estou no lugar correto. Ate proxima vez.

 

Elder Cameron Bruce

October 17, 2011

It's hard to believe it's been a month, time is just flying by here.

All the packages and stickers and such have arrived. Thank you for everything. The Martinellis was vastly enjoyed and so was the bread.

There weren't any traditions of things to do at the half way point. I'll try and take more photos but we can only take them on Monday and Sunday at certain places and times. They want us focused on the work.

Oh and by the way it's Irmaos (Brothers) and there is a squiggly over the a which makes it nasalized.

I've been feeling great. There was one day where my nose wouldn't stop running but I bought some claritan and was over it the next day. It was kind of miserable because I couldn't focus because I had such a headache, Elder Egan really carried me through our appointments that day.

They won't tell us if we are being reassigned or not until the week before we leave or so. Up until this last week no one was really getting visas, but a lot more are coming through now. So I'm hoping I will get mine before I take off. But I think it would also be kinda sweet to get to say that I served my mission in two places. A LOT of missionaries that are supposed to be in Brazil are stateside right now, but things are looking up now. I think that there is a pretty good chance I'll get mine soon. But who knows?

It's wonderful getting letters from everyone, the Mulks sent me a Dear Elder too and it was so nice to hear how things are going back home and with Billy. There is a scripture in Proverbs I believe it's 25:25. All who read this email/blog should look it up. If it's the wrong scripture then oh well. But I think you'll know.

I haven't worn the big coat yet. It was sort of cold for about three days and everyone here freaked out. They have us wearing our suit coats at all times now, except when you're in class. But it's ridiculous. It's been back into the 70's for a while now and they turned off the AC in our classroom. We are dying in there. At last nights Fireside, they graciously let us take our coats off. I was already sweating when they finally gave us permission.

There are so many Elders here, I don't know what everyone does for their service. We clean our own building, like vacuuming (with a sweet back mounted one so you feel like a Ghostbuster, it's probably my favorite job), cleaning toilets (I haven't done it yet, we're always there first and bring bagels to the people in charge so we don't have to), and other odd jobs around the building. I'm sure other Elders are cleaning other parts of the MTC and doing other things to help out wherever they are needed.

I've heard a lot of RM's from Brazil say that you'll see monkeys all over the place. I'm kind of excited for that.

As far as Christmas gifts, I don't really know. More ties? It's cool here to have lots of ties, and then we trade with others. It's a nice way to have some memories of friends and companions. I have been trying to strike up a deal with Irmao Peterson, one of our teachers. He has the sweetest ties.

Although I have some things I would like to ask for now, kool-aid singles packets. Elder Hill has them and they are the best. I get kind of tired drinking water fountain water all the time. It's not the best quality. The sugary goodness of kool-aid hides the low quality of the water quite well. Also I have been thinking that I probably should have you send me my retainer...... whoops. And if you find any talks you like you should send them. They're great to read. Oh and don't send the October Ensign. They gave that to everyone because it was a special copy and Elder Nelson spoke at a Devotional about it a month ago. So I have one.

I don't really know how they select the Host Companions, I hope I get to be one at some point. It's usually pretty close to when you leave, so November 2 might happen.

That's great to hear that Tim gave a talk. Odds are he will end up in Brazil too, there are SO MANY missionaries headed there.

I don't know how much I've changed. Here I just am constantly surrounded by the gospel. I'm learning so much about it. I'm learning just how important it really is. I wish I could come home and share this message with everyone.

I've been writing in my journal every night. Lot's of the entries are pretty boring though, since we practically do the same thing every day. But I enjoy it. I also right next to the date how many days (I used two years exactly although that probably won't work out perfectly) are left. We just dropped under 700 left. I tried to think of it as I only have 700 more days left to serve so I better get to work.

A couple other things have happened around here. I ran into a Crandall. I don't know her first name. And we were doing an English fast (where we only speak Portugues at all times) so I couldn't talk to her too much. But she recognized me as Katie's little brother.

Oh and Elder Spencer Wise arrived last week. You know my good friend from BYU? It's really interesting to see where he is at and how he progresses, to see how I used to be. His class is right across the hall from me and he lives on the floor below me so we have plenty of time to chat.

Well that's all I really have for this week. Thanks for all the letters and messages. Keep them coming. Remember Proverbs 25:25. I love to hear from anyone.

Te amo. ( there are about 10 different ways to say I love you)

 

Love,

Elder Cameron Bruce.

October 9

Meus Pais e Amigos,

 

So I'm keeping super busy, I'll give you a brief run down on how things work after I answer and reply to some questions and other points.

 

Jordan got baptized!! That's wonderful. Baptism is kind of the most common topic here. We're always learning about it and it's such a blessing that he was baptized.

 

I did hear about the Phillies. Irmao Peterson my teacher is a huge baseball fan and kind of let it slip. But that's alright. I heard the Yankees lost too and one of my roommates is a Yankees fan so now he can't rub anything in either.

 

I pray for Grandma that she might be more comfortable. I hope everything is going well.

 

Whenever someone asks what my Dad does I have to explain Dentist in the Army, and then I have to explain retiring and working for the Army still. I think most people just nod and accept that your a Dentist.

 

My Companion and I get a long great. We teach and work well together. I may have made it sound worse than it really is.

 

I'm glad the letter got there, but I mailed that on Monday. Sheesh that took forever to get there.

 

Oh and just so you know who everyone in the District is, I think the picture with everyone goes; Elder Kerr, Peterson, Olsen, Hill, Egan, Me, Larson, then front left to right; Barlow, Pederson, Bierman. I'm pretty sure that's right.

 

The cinnamon rolls were a lot better than the cookies. I shared them though and when you make that offer they disappear. But I probably couldn't have eaten them all before they went stale anyway.

 

We are singing all the time here. When we are with are district we always sing in Portugues, I bought a Portugues Hymnal. It sounds really cool to sing in Portugues and we have some very talented singers in our District. Elder Egan auditioned to perform at a Devotional singing Oh Lord, My Redeemer and he got a yes so he'll be singing sometime. He's VERY GOOD. Then a couple of others sang in choir.

 

I would love to have some christmas music. Even though I won't be able to listen to it till I'm in the field. That might be perfect timing anyway.

 

Well tell everyone I say hello back. And I'm glad you're putting up my address. Any mail is welcome.

 

And yes I say Elder Taylor Nelson, and thought, "I know you from somewhere" and eventually I figured out he was the Rushtons cousins and we talked for a bit. I also saw an Elder wearing a Rocklin Basketball shirt and asked if he knew Mike and Megan Dresser and he did! But I don't remember his name. I see lots of people that I kind of knew from BYU and almost my entire hall from BYU is here right now. It's crazy.

 

We watch conference talks and other videos pretty often. I plan on printing off more talks for myself, but you are always welcome to send me some I might enjoy.

 

Ok let me break down what the schedule is like. Tuesday through Saturday are pretty similar. Each of these days consists of one or two classes, about 3 hours of PST (personal study time), 1-2 hours of language study, 50 minutes of gym and 1 hour of TALL (technology assisted language learning), and three meals. In class we are taught by either Irmao Cangelosi or Irmao Peterson, and Irmao Williams is kind of their overseer and he helps teach from time to time. For the first hour of class we teach our "progressing investigators" which are our teachers taking on the roles of investigators that they taught. They take this very seriously. They NEVER break character. They never help you with words. Even when they're our teachers the refuse to aknowledge that they are actually the same person. It makes it a great learning experience though. They say that we will be at a point in Portugues where most missionaries used to be after 6 months. I'm excited that we are part of a new program (its only a month and a half old) that is so helpful. And while other companionships are teaching their investigators it's companionship study. We usually review our lesson and plan what we'll teach next time. During PST you can study whatever you want. I am currently reading through Preach My Gospel (in english) and marking up my scriptues like crazy. I also give myself a little bit of time to do some leisure reading from Jesus the Christ. It's an amazing book. I love it. During language study I either read o Livro de Mormon or we go through flash cards or play games on the white board. They started closing the field more often because it's been wet and cold but we saw today that it was open! Too bad we don't have Gym time on P-day. When the field is closed it's ridiculously crowded in the Gym. If you miss your free throw you definitely don't get another chance. Most times you don't even get one shot anyway. Then you have to wait for a game to end and sprint to the free throw line for a chance to get into the game. TALL is for the most part incredibly boring. It's mildly helpful for vocabulary though. So I usually learn a bunch of new words. It is nice to be on a computer though. I usually play mormom messages or conference talks in the background while learning. A normal day consists of some of each of these things. On Sunday we have more PST and no class or language study. We go to Preisthood in the morning and then Sacrament a little later and we have "district study" which is Sunday School with our district in our classroom. Then there is a fireside at night. P-day starts with the Temple. I love being able to go so often. It's always so crowded. They definitely need a second temple here. Then we have free time and I come and email. Then a little PST, then lunch, then laundry and free time till dinner. Then we have class and it's like any other day. P-day ends a 6. Oh and on Tuesday nights we have a Devotional.

 

That's basically all I do. :)

 

Well I'm out of time. I love you.

 

Love

Elder Cameron Bruce

October 3

Ola Meus Pais e Amigos,

 

First things first, I have a few things to ask for. More stickers please. They were a huge hit with everyone and I think all the Elders in my district have one on the back of their badges now. I chose spiderman. Another thing, I really would recommend the use of dear elder as the means by which you send messages while I'm in the MTC. It just makes it easier for me. And if you sent one over the weekend I won't get it till tonight. It's nice to receive them throughout the week so I can be prepared to write these emails. Ooooh and I don't know if I can buy one here but I definitely would like a copy of next months Ensign. I'll let you know if I can get a hold of one here or not. Thanks for the packages. They were great. I don't know if anything is more exciting then have the district leader had you a little blue slip that means you got a package. Oh and do you think you could send my white watch? I thought it would have been a little too flashy but apparently they're ok. It's in my red and blue backpacks front pocket I believe. The only variety I have here is ties and watches, which brings me to my next request. More ties!! :) I've already worn each tie twice. I know I shouldn't get too many before I leave for Brazil because I might not have room, but I could handle a few more. Some solid colors or just classic striping will do. But if you see something else you think I would like I'm sure I'll love it. Ok I think that's all the things I have to ask for.

 

So I decided to make a binder with sheet protectors to hold all the letters that people are sending me. I thought you would be proud Mom. It's really great to look through already. Hopefully I'll get so many I'll have to start a second edition.

 

Conference this weekend was great. It really is different listening to it as a Missionary. There's a whole other atmosphere here. All the talks were great but my two favorites were Elder Holland's a Priesthood Session and then Sister Daltons. They were both quite stirring. Elder Holland's definitely hit home here. I'm proud to be serving in the Lord's Army and that talk just really reaffirmed my testimony of Missions.

 

I'm going to send a CD with pictures to Katie so she can put them on Facebook, then I'm going to ask her to send it to you in case you want to print any. Sound good?

 

The Portugues is still coming along great. It's amazing how well we can speak and we haven't even been here for three whole weeks yet. But you can tell we still have a really long ways to go.

 

Being with a companion all the time is really starting to become more of an adjustment. At first you could just tough it through on your own but now that it's been so long it gets rough sometimes. We get along really well and work well together. So that's good. Just spending every second with someone things are bound to get ancy (is that how you spell it?). I love Elder Egan though. He really works hard at the language and helps me stay focused and I'm thankful for that.

 

I still haven't adjusted to the sleep schedule. I refuse to believe that I will ever feel completely refreshed waking up at 6 30 in the morning. It's not possible. But throughout the day I usually don't get too tired. Plus we have Gym everyday so that we can wake up a little. I look forward to Gym everyday. We try to go out to the field as much as possible. It is so nice to get out there and feel just a little free.

 

I can only imagine what it would have been like if Dad had lost the keys for good. Sounds like a fun experience. Sounds like Caleb is going to have someone to look up in a couple of years. I hope Tanner Tolman recovers quickly and well.

 

And about that show, there is a Mormon Message (we watch a lot of those) called two brothers apart. I think it's the first half of the story you told. That's interesting they aired it on BYU tv.

 

That's all I can think of to say right now. I'm doing great and learning a lot. Keep me in your prayers and I'll do the same for you, as much as I can in Portugues. I love you all.

 

Elder Bruce