Week 3 Letter

Hi There My Family!!!

     So I am starting my forth week here at the CTM and the time sure is going fast.  Thank you for the pictures Sam and Sean.  Finn is so cute and the shoes look great on him! LOL.  So my goal to learn the 100 words kind of failed...I have been having a hard time trying to figure out when to study because the schedules are very packed here at the CTM...and when I actually get a break, I want to color my Tangled coloring book. LOL.  Yeah...eeryone knows that Sister Brickey is the Disney Gooroo around the CTM.  Yesterday I helped my District leader, Elder Fleming sing "What's This" from A Nightmare Before Christmas.  It was fun.  lol. But classes here are going great and I am beginning to have small conversations with my Brazilian roommates.  They are awesome!  Both Sisters are the only members in their families and one, her father doesn't know she is serving a mission and the other, her family is not happy at all that she is serving.  The faith of these Brazilian Sisters is so strong and they are great example to me. 

    So I ate at a place like Tacono's today at is was so delicious and guess what?  I ate two chicken hearts...I know!!! CRAZY!!!!  But they weren't so bad.  The first one was very good and then thye second...I could feel the different ventricles as I chewed so I decided that would be my last one.  LOL.  But everything else is great.  At the meals in the CTM, we have two different types of meat for every meal.  And I ate lamb and didn't even know it.  Oh and while we were out eating today at that one place like Tacona's, my instructor taught me how goats, chicken, and pigs are slaughtered.   Yep...I am grateful for frozen food.  lol.  I have gained lots of information though...some not all welcome....those poor animals.  Fluffy animals.  LOL.  Oh, your Portuguese word for the day is sorrir, which means to smile.  So smile!

   Thank you for sending Elder Baker's letter to me.  Make sure you send it to my MTC address that I included in the letter I sent home.  It is on the other side of the writing.  Thank you so much!!!  I sent him two letters...one just to respond from his last letter and the other for his Birthday.  I hope he gets them. :)

    Oh, so last night we had a guest speaker from our area presidency here in brazil and he gave a really good talk about Heroes.  Here are some quotes I really liked, "Courage is not needed to make decisions that are easy to us.  Courage is necessary when we don't have the advantage."  "A hero is revealed in the hard times."  "You carry two names on your nametags, your family's and the Lords.  Make sure you honor them!"  It was a great talk.  Oh and if you have time...google the Story of Butch O'Hare, Al Capone, and Easy Eddie.  If the story is not on google, let me know and I will type is up next week.  It is a good one.  A story about heroes and integrity.  :)

    Another lesson I have learned while at the CTM is that no matter the way we perceive someone or believe them to be something or some type of person, it is always our responsibility and our choice to respond in a grateful and respectful way instead of a stubborn and prideful way.  Why did Laman and Lemuel respond to Nephi the way they did?  Because they were prideful and stubborn.  They were unable to truly listen to their brother and father because their knowledge, their opinion was the only thin that mattered.  The Book of Mormon truly teaches us how to be better people and get closer to our Father in Heaven. 

    I know that God lives and His Son Jesus Christ came to this Earth and suffered and died for the sins of the world.  I know that He blessed us with a comforter, the Holy Ghost, to warn us, to protect us, and to guide us back to Him, if we just listen.  I know these things to be true.

I love you all and hope life is going well.  Be safe!

Love,

Sister Whitley Ann Brickey

P.S.  Keep smiling.

P.S.  Thank you again for sending Colby's letter.  I would love some mail. I love you all!  Hope your September is going well! 

P.S. Kaylee have fun at school!!! You will be awesome!!!! :)

Week 2 - Letter

Hello My Dear Family!!!

 

      I hope this email finds you all doing well and having a blast with the adventures life is bringing to you.  Thank you for the emails Mom and Dad!  They were awesome and heartwarming and I am so grateful to have you two as my parents.  :) 

      So, week two went by much the same as the first week.  I wake up at six thirty every morning and am in class or try to be by seven to start personal scripture study for an hour and then it is breakfast time.  Every morning breakfast is the same.  Bowl of very soupy oatmeal with no oats in it, bannas, apples, and fresh bread with cheese and meat.  It is delicious and I love it.  We had pasta today for lunch and that is a taste I haven't experienced in a long time. LOL. 

      Class and the language is going well and I am learning lots.  I have memorized all the most common verbs in Portuguese and am now working on their tenses which adds about a 100 words to my vocab list for the week to memorize.  LOL.  From Present tense to preterite to imperfect...it goes on and on and on.  lol.  I will get them eventually.  I struggle the most with pronouncing words the right way.  I want to pronounce them with a spanish accent but, they are not like that.  My instructors laugh at me a lot.  LOL.  But right now I'm thinking spanish is so much easier to learn.  LOL.  But having a slight background in it from that semester of high school and college really helps with learning portuguese.  If I don't know a word in Portuguese, I say it in Spanish and they usually can understand what I am trying to say. 

      Okay, let me tell you about a cool experience.  My companion and I have been struggling with our practice lessons with our investigator(who is really our instructor, but anyways) because we both only know so little of the language and so we have been writing out everything we say to our investigator in Portuguese so we actually know what we are saying.  But the problem with doing that and reading from a script...it leaves know room to listen to the Spirit and have Him direct the lesson instead of me and my companion.  So, we spent a class period watching District videos of Missionaries teaching investigators and how they taught and listened to the spirit.  The key...Teach investigators..not lessons.  Ask the investigator questions and get to know them and care about them and learn to love them...only then can you create an environment where the investigator will be able to feel the Spirit.  And teach them a part of the lesson or all of the lesson that apples to their life and always always always....talk about Jesus Christ.  He is the most important.  He is our Savior.  He loves us and has done so much for us.  I want others to feel the love I feel from my Savior.  I know He lives and loves me. 

     Oh, everyone asks to see pictures of you...so I take out my family picture of all of us and they see a lot of red hair...cute little nephew....parents are so young...you look so much like your older sister.....they love it. 

     Oh, and if I get letters from Elder Baker at the house...just send them here....mail from the US takes about four days to get here.  But I get the emails he sends...I think....make sure you all send him an email by Sunday night...it is his Birthday on Monday and he would love that.  Turning 20....so weird...lol/

 

 Well, I love you all so much and you are herer with me every day.  I love you!

 

Write again next week!

 

Love,

Sister Whitley Ann Brickey

 

P.S. Keep Smiling!!!

First companion. Sister Brickey & Sister Walker

At the temple in Sao Paulo, Brazil

First letter to family!

FAMILIA!!!!!!!!!

 

     Hi there!  Well, I finally get to write you all.  LOL.  The first week leading up to my first P-day was a long one, but guess what...I made it!  Brazil is awesome!  The culture is so rich down...and the people love you.  We have Brazilians here in the CTM and they help learn the language a lot.  Of course they laugh at you because you don't have an accent yet, but you can't help but laugh yourself.  LOL.  The food is good.  A lot of rice and beans, but I love it!  We eat a lot of chicken and many people drink Guadana...which I think is a ginger ale of some sort or fruit drink...lol.  I will figure out what it is eventually.  I drink water mostly. 

     This first week has gone by fast because I am in a classroom for about 12 hours a day doing Personal Study, Language Study, Grammar Class, Investigator Training, and Learning Language in Specific Gospel areas such as saying prayers, or bearng my testimony.  It is good.  They language is coming slowly along, but it is still the first week...right?  LOL. 

     Oh, I exchanged my money at the airport so I am set for the duration of my CTM stay.  I leave here October 23rd....if I pass my grammar test.  If i don't...I get to spend one more week with my lovely instructors. :) 

     My companions name is Sister Walker.  She is from Orem, Utah and was a physical therapist's assistant before reporting to the mission field.  :)  She is hilarious and guess what?  She quotes movies with me and guess what else....She quotes Muppet Treasure Island with me!!!! YAY!   It is awesome.  We are the only Sisters in our district of 10 and in our Branch of 40.  But our District especially is hilarious.  lol.  Mail is a big deal here at the CTM...so send a postcard or something.  Mom, if you got the letter I sent, please pass out the address to everyone and email Elder Baker.  Thank you much! 

    Chris, I am sad to say I think Portuguese is more pretty sounding than Spanish.  LOL.  But Spanish is still easier to understand for me.  LOL. 

    Sorry, I don't type very fast.  I only have eight minutes left.  Oh!  It is still Winter here until September middle-ish...so weather is about 50-70 degrees on average every day.  Sao Paulo has not gotten rain for about two months...which is harsh...i pray for rain.  LOL.  Oh, my Brazilian roommates Sister Oliveira and Sister Hamburgo left this past Tuesday for their missions, so it is just me and Sister Walker right now.  Our roommates were wonderful and I miss them a little.  Even though they didn't speak very much English, they helped us understand as much Portuguese as possible.  They read the Book of Mormon with us mostly every night before they left, and helped us pronounciate words.  It took about thrity minutes to get through two verses so we didn't read much.  LOL. 

   Anyway, I am doing well and surviving.  Loving the Mission Life and loving the Gospel everyday as I prepare to go out and Preach the gospel.  :)  Life is good.  Heavenly Father loves us all and knows every single one of us.  I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true.  :)  I love you all!   I will write again next Wednesday!!! 

 

   Be safe and have fun!  I am doing well and I happy!  Very Happy!

 

I love you!

-Sister Whitley Ann Brickey! 

Sister Brickey arrives at the CTM in Sao Paulo, Brazil

Sister Brickey - Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints