Last week in the CTM

(Jennifer wrote Kevin this week as the girls and I were at YW Camp and Brian was off in Montana visiting his dad. The letter she wrote can be found on our family blog:  leetefamily.blogspot.com). The following is the reply she recieved:

I think that the last time i saw him (Grandpa Leete) was like when i was twelve or fourteen. that limeade is definately brazilian, they love sweetened condensed milk in anything. it makes me happy that you are having fun in college, good luck with your BFA portfolio (but you dont need it, your stuff is really good).  My brasilian district is fun, i can understand almost everything if i pay attention, the hard part is paying attention all day, you get tired of not being able to communicate easily all day, I love sitting next to americans at lunch so my brain can take a break. my companion is from Acre, a state in the north of brazil, and so his skin is always cracking because of how "cold" and "dry" it is here. (its winter here and the weather is pretty much the same as Oregon in the summertime but with twice the humidity). This is my last 5 days here, i leave for Londrina on terça-feira(tuesday) early in the morning. today is one of Brasil´s random holidays, so the post office is closed so i cant send any letters, sorry everybody. I dont really know what else to say, no exciting stories this week, just lots of good little experiences in my classes learning how to teach. im really excited to get out into the feild, im starting to get impatient. but im also a little nervious, just like anyone is of the unknown. I Love you all, im headed to the outside world to see if any stores are open.  I Love you! write you again next week!

Being in a Braizilian District is really Great

On Thu, Jun 16, 2011 at 4:43 PM, Kevin Leete  wrote:

Its really weird to think that jessica is off and graduated! even weirder to think she will be ahead of me in school by the time i get back. . .  being in a brazilian district is really great, i can understand almost all of class, the hard part is talking with my new companion and people in my district. none of them speak english, so its frustrating sometimes, but its not bad. today was a crazy p day (my P day is now thursday) because two out of the five people in my district (yes another really small district for me) went through the temple for the fist time so we spent two or three extra hours there. i just got back from running outside to buy soap and now my P day ends in half an hour, so sorry to everybody (eXpecially you Rebecca) i cant write any letters this week.  i got jennifers letters yesterday and mom and melissa´s on monday, i love hearing from you guys and promise to get you all next week. also, next week is my last full week at the CTM so start sending stuff to my mission address, i think mom has it. Also, im almost out of cash so i was wondering if my card is set up to work with me in brazil, i will only use it if i have to, but i dont know if it will even work down here.  whew, im out of stuff to say, i need to sleep, my brain is fried from going to the temple entirely in portuguese. Oh yeah, the weirdest thing ever, the  sister in my district looks EXACTLY like melissa, except with dark skin and hair. its weird, same exact size, body type, face shape, and hairstyle. i keep having to remind myself that its not her. i love you all, my 30 minutes is up again, if mom is not going to send one next week then the next time i will hear from you guys is when in in the field. that is both scary and really exciting to think abouit. i love you all! sorry i couldnt write this week! -Elder Leete ( i still havnt figured out how to make a new paragraph on these stupid CTM computers)

June 8, 2011

The pictures are coming through just fine, it's great to see everyone ending shool well and stuff. I'm kind of detached from time here, I know what the date is but iI don't know how it actually applies to what people are doing. The days here turn into weeks and the weeks turn into days, I can't believe I've already been on my mission for a full month, it feels really weird.

I'm doing really well with the language, tomorrow I'm going to be switched into an all brasileiro district so im going to be forced to eat breath and think portuguese. give me a couple months and I think I'll be fluent. I have three weeks with the brazilian elders and then I'm off to Londrina. If I added my dates right that means I'm out like a week earlier than usual.

I don't really know what else there is to say, I sit in class all day learning the language and the lessons and that's about it. I enjoy teaching my Brazilian roommates how to speak English, they have such a desire to learn it they pick up the basics in like a week. I think the hardest thing at the CTM here is to stay awake after lunch, it's the biggest meal of the day and its nice and warm you just want to pass out in class. but I'm doing okay, you can't really sleep in class if there is only two people in your district.

O say thank you to Sister Chirdon for me I got her letter yesterday. Its cool to see the whole ward family is supporting me back home, I really know that I'm in the right place. I've grown a lot here at the CTM, I know that for sure.

I'm kind of jealous of your and dads generation where you just had to memorize all the discussions, seriously I think we have spent 50% of the last month just learnning how to get to know people and try to teach a lesson on what you think would help them the most. but I guess this method really emphasizes the importance of the individual and how they specifically need the gospel to be as happy as they can be. I truely have a testimony of this, the Gospel of Jesus Cristo really exists to make us happy in this life and for the eternities to come.

I love you all! Since last Monday was Labor Day I didn't get any letters today but I bet I'll get them tomorrow (unless you didnt send any, then you can just accept this guilt trip haha)       see you all later! love you!              

June 1, 2011

hey all! say congrats to Kailey (dont know if this is spelled right) for me.i really appreciate all the letters you guys send, there is about a ten day delay unill i get them from home. i dont know if any of my letters other than the fist one made it home. im slow writing today so i got 5 minutes left and i dont know what to say, im working hard and getting stuff done. for now im leaving at my normal time in 4 more weeks, but im going to see if i can get transferred into an all brazilian district for the last 2 and a half. i can understand anything as long as the people talk slowy enough, but when i go out on p day to the real world i dont get much. give me a few more months and i think ill be fluent. i lve you all so much, Keep working hard! see you next week! ill try to write you some but i never have time n p day! bye ! i loove you alL!

The Average Day

Editor's note: Because Kevin only gets 30 minutes to email on pdays his letters have been short. He  spends time reading the long ones we send him.  So this week my letter to him was only one paragraph (we did mail him letters too).  Then I asked him to answer these questions that we came up with at FHE: 

1.     What scripture would you like on your Missionary plaque?

2.     What is Brazilian food like? What are the recipes?

3.     What is your typical day like at the CTM?

Wed 5/25/2011 10:26 AM

Haha. I guess since I don’t have anything to read I’m going to have to spend the whole 30 minutes writing. So here I go I guess.

I don’t know what scripture I want on my missionary plaque. For now it can be Isaiah 41:9-10 or maybe Philippians 4:13 or maybe that one scripture in 2 Nephi that dad shared on the day I left. They are all really awesome.

The food here is 50% arroz e feijão (rice and beans) and 50% salad and meat. Pretty good stuff, I love it. . .  except that the classroom smells really awful after meals. 

The average day is wake up at 6:30 shower and dress for personal study at 7, breakfast at 8, class at 8:30 until lunch at 1. Class again from 2 until dinner at 5:30. Gym from 6:30 to 7:30. Take another shower and change for companion study at 8 and daily planning at 9 till snack time at 9:30. Lights out at 10:30. Pretty exciting, huh?  In class we spend time learning the language and the lessons in preach my gospel and how to be good teachers. On Tuesday and Sunday nights we have devotionals where 70s or mission presidents will speak and Wednesday is P-day. P-day we wake up at like 5:30 to leave to go to the São Paulo Temple all morning and get back at about noon where we eat lunch and write letters and get our 30 minutes to email. After that, we have free time to do laundry or go wander around outside and buy stuff. There is a really good bakery, a cool place to buy ties, a paper supply store, a supermarket, shoe store, Churrasco (like the Brazilian restaurant we went to in Provo), bunch of other shops for like clothing and stuff and a few corner open air cafe places.

More about the food: every day for breakfast we get ham or bologna and cheese sandwiches and cream of wheat-ish porridge stuff. About once a week we will be really lucky and get like potato flour pancakes or cereal. The cereal is delicious, its chocolate frosted flakes! I miss eggs and bacon though. If we ever get eggs the yolk will be pre broken and cooked (gross). Lunch is usually excellent, there will be the meat of the day, beans and rice, Pão (bread), salad, and fruit. The fruit is always fresh and delicious. The fruit juice is always way better than the dessert which is usually a pudding-like substance that has a random flavor. They are really good about 20% of the time. My favorite is Feijoada, when they cook in a bunch of meat in with the beans and rice. It’s really, really good and a staple here.

Well I’m out of time all, I love you all so much. Have a spectacular week! Type you next week!

May 18, 2011

I love you all so incredibly much! i dont know how i can possibly explain what a help and streangth you all have been to me my whole life! i have had the some of the most spectacular testimony building experiances in my life here at the CTM but as i look back it is all because i have been prepared my whole life by my wonderful parrents and family, i would not be here if it was not for you and i am eternally grateful for it. I cant print out my emails while im here and with the ticking timer in the corner of the screen im trying to do my best to remember this week. the days seemed very long at fist but the more time i spend here the shorter they become. Getting along with my companions is always a little rough, we dont exactly see eye to eye about how closely we should keep the MTC schedule and stuff, but its been getting a lot better, i just got to keep doing what im doing and hopefully they will come around and see the importance of following even the little random rules of what we should do when. we are learning a good amount about our purpose as missionaries and how to get to know and begin teaching investigators, but we spend a majority of the time working on the language which is quite boring, especially when my companions who actually need it nod off every five minutes. . . but i cant really complain, they have been getting a lot better and this week we are going to start actually trying to learn the lessons in portuguese so im really excited for that. i can speak well enough to hold a conversation with anyone here, as long as they speak slowly enough for me to understand.  We go to the temple every P day and i love it, the temple is beautiful. also after this me and my comps are gonna hit the town and see if we can get our hands on some delicious treats from a shop a few blocks over. its been really hot the past couple weeks but the past few days it has ben cooling down a lot, i might even wear a long sleeve shirt tomorrow. . . Im really glad to see you are all doing well! i hope that you all can feel the blessings of my service, i certainly am. I got my first letter from Rebecca Today!  its postmarked may 9th so maybe that gives an idea of how long it will take. please tell her that she is being the exact opposite of a distraction in every way; she seemed a little concerned about that. well i love you all so much! im running out of time! Tell jessica that i know she will do spectaculary on all her tests so not to worry about it. I love you all so much! i know, just like dad, that this church is absolutely positively true, there is no other explanation. tchau all!

1st Hand Written Letter