Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Katie's Dec 4th letter

From: Kathryn Kane <kathryn.kane@myldsmail.net>
Date: Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 9:00 AM
Subject: Oi!
To: girlgrits@gmail.com


Oi family!!!!
I am so so happy to finally have the chance to write to you and tell you about everything here. I am already down to 12 minutes though because I had so many emails to read (which I LOVE, don't get me wrong) but it takes a while! So I am going to type with the speed of lightning and hopefully tell you as much as I can about life here in Brazil.
First off, know that I am safe, healthy, and so very happy.
Second, before I forget, DearElder doesn't work here. They all came through email, but they don't print them here. I'm not sure if they will mail them at some point, but I haven't received anything yet. So don't use DearElder because it comes through as if you just emailed me. However, there is a store across the street called Mr. Cheney's and they've set up what it is called Missionary Ties which does what DearElder does but for the MTC here. I'm going over there after this and they will be sending you some information about it and you can sign up for that, okay? So watch for that in your email and then you'll be able to go ahead and send letters to me as often as you want :)

Now... BRAZIL. Holy cow. I still have to pinch myself to remind myself that I am actually here in Brazil. That I really am a missionary and this black tag I wear everyday? That's real too. It's so strange.
I LOVE it here. It's great. It's busy and sometimes (okay, all the time) overwhelming, and there's SO much to learn, and I can't understand what people are saying to me over half the time (the other half is when the Americans are speaking to me. I understand that just fine!), but I am really genuinely happy here.
There is so much to take in and see and I just have SO much I want to tell you all! But this little timer up in the corner is really stressing me out....
Our days are busy. We're up at 6 to shower with 4 girls in the same room, breakfast at 7 (same exact thing every day...), Personal study for an hour, companion study for a half hour, gym time or service, back to the class to study on our own for a couple more hours or to use the lab to study Portuguese, lunch, class with an instructor from 1-4:30, dinner, back to study on our own for an hour, class with instructor #2 from 6-9:30, planning, SNACK (best part of the day), and then sleep... or in our case... stay up much later than we're supposed to talking to our Brazilian roommates because they are SO funny... and they mock our Portuguese. We love it :)
That's my day in a nut shell. It's busy. Have I said that enough times yet? I'm essentially out of time... I'm so sorry. I wish I could tell you more of everything. I have so much I WANT to tell you! I will try my best to get to more of your questions next week.
Thank you all so much for your support and all the kind words! I miss you and think about you every day. I pray for you every day and hope you are all smiling and happy :)
A few more things: My companion is great. Sister Anderson from Washington. We are the only two sisters in our district of wonderful Elders. They are the best. We laugh way too much. We study a little too though ;)

About the skirt, Mom, before I forget.. I forgot that and my blazer which I would like if I can get them. If Kyle happens to get his visa and has room, that would be awesome if he could bring them. But I know space is so tight to if he can't that's totally fine. You can send them to the mission home in Santa Maria if you want to, but don't feel like you have to. I can certainly survive without them.
I really do love it here. I have been astounded by how strong the Spirit is, how direct the line of communication is between missionaries and God, how many incredible young people there are here and what it's like to all be working together for the same thing.
I'm out of time... so so sorry. I have so much more I want to tell you. I will try to write it down and give you more details about everything next week. I hope to be getting letters coming through sometime soon... we always get a little disappointed when we check the mail :) It has only been 6 days though, so we're trying to be realistic and patient. Feels like we've been here much much longer than that though...
We're going out on the town in a few minutes! We get to walk around and see Sao Paulo. Have a mentioned are HUGE Sao Paulo is? HUGE. So so big. It makes Salt Lake look like a village. Seriously. Also, we went to the temple this morning which was so great. It was beautiful to come up on that beautiful white building in the middle of this massive city. It's a great place to be.
Okay I really have to go. Please know that I am sending all my love from Brazil to my sweet sweet family and friends back home. I love you all so so much!
The Gospel is true. I love it.
Have the most wonderful week, okay? I'll be praying for you.
Love,
Sister Kane.... (still not used to that...)

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