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