Chamado a Servir

Hoorah! Time for another update from Brasil. Otimo!

Ok so this week to cover some of the highlights of the week I thought I would play a game called Mad LIb, or is it called Mad Gab? I am not sure. Anyways, its a game where I write the story, and then leave blanks through out it, then I ask my companion Sister Donaldson, for an adj, noun, verb, adverb, etc. THen I fill it in. We are suppose to be one in purpose and heart, but it looks like we need to work on that a little more... hehe. But it sure is funny.. here it goes- oh her answers are in CAPS so you can know who is the crazy one!!

I love the CTM! It is so TOOTHLESS. The teachers here are SHORTSIDED and they are very COMMUNIST to us missionaries. This past week there was another futebol game... all day long there were HISTORICAL fireworks going off. It felt like it was INDESCRIBABLE. Luckily, the won, 3-0. Yay.

THe Português is FROLICKING along quite JOVIENTLY. We have already EATEN four different tenses. I just wish I could remember BUNKBEDS of verbs to actually conjugate. Oh! And something that is really LOST BUGGAGE, every Sunday night before our fireside, we DESTROY the Brazilian National Anthem. It is the most STEALTHY awesome thing. I highly EMBELLISH listening to it if you can find it online... it is long FRUMPY and TREEHUGGER fast! We have all started to learn and HIDE it. I wish everyone could VANQUISH the Brazilians sing it though.. they have ARDOUS national pride... its unlike anything I have ever seen.

Oh and I guess that I am finally glad that I BREAK the piano. I have had to play HORIZONTALLY here, and I have a feeling it will only shrink my whole mission. In other news, our Brazillian roomates left which makes us PIGISHLY sad. They are so sweet. I hope that we get new Brazilian sisters ANEW. My companion Sister Donaldson is PLAID. She continuesly TAPS me to be ESPLENDOR. I love her!

hahaha...so as you can see, SIster Donaldson and I are having a grand time here. and about that national anthem, woo wee! It seriouslt is amazing!!!

My district is awesome, it is so fun to see everyone grow together. This week one of the Elders, Elder Myers said something that really struck me- we are at the Missionary Training Center, not the Language Training Center. So true. It is so easy to feel inadequate- we spend all our day studying, but I still feel like it is not enough time. The language is just not going to come in 2 months, as badly as I want it to, and so I have to be patient enough to let it come. It is so easy to spend all day studying the language- but that is really not effective. There is so much that I need to know besides Português.

I have been working really hard to know the scriptures better, I know that one of the blessings that I have received from being here is the ability to memorize scriptures. I have always struggled just knowing where scriptures were... I am embarrised to say that I just knew that Moroni´s promise was somewhere at the end of the Book of Mormon... But now I memorize a scripture everytime I run. One day I do it in english, then the next day I memorize it in Português. And so for the first time, I am memorizing scriptures! It takes me awhile though, and so I have a long way to go!

Another thing that I have felt really strengthened is my testimony of Joseph Smith. (You say it josefee smichee here!) I have been feeling so grateful for the restoration. It truly is incredible, and such a powerful thing to testify of- even in my lacking português.

Well I am so grateful to be here- and to have this chance to learn and grow. It is so easy to feel inadequate in this work, but ultimately I have to remember that I am a human doing the Lord´s work. it is His work, and so He will strenghtne me to be the person I must be!

I love you all!! Thank you for the letters- nothing brightens my day more!!!

Love
Sister Melanie Monroe

PS. If you want to write me, DearElder.com is free, and it comes super fast to me. I am a huge huge fan of it. Oh and if you get an email from MissionTies... it is from me! Dont delete it!! THey have this service where you can write letters, and then they scan it in and email it for free... way cheaper and faster than actual letters. And this means that I can write my friends who are in places I cant send letters to!! Yay!!

Otimo! (ocheemo!) Great!!!

Wow so another week has already flown by.. some of the days have kind of crawled by, but all in all, I cant believe I have been a missionary for 2 weeks now! I have a feeling this mission is going to fly by.

I am loving being a missionary- and I feel like each day I get more and more excited to be here. I love being able to wear a badge that has the name of Jesus Cristo- it is so powerful.. but unfortunately I have already forgotten to wear it a few times. By far its the worst thing to forget. oops. Between me and my companion we seem to be loosing or forgetting something every couple of days haha. Who said that Sisters are more responsible than Elders? I think not.

The elders in my disctrict are great, there are 8 of them, all from really different backgrounds. I spend about 12 hours with them everyday.. learning português, learning the gospel.. etc. We have a lot of fun together. Apparently our teachers complain that we are too happy! haha what a problem! It is so exciting to see each of us progress and learn more. All of the elders in my district are going to the Amazon- and i know they will do so much good there. My companion Sister Donaldson and I are having lots of fun- she is really good at asking me questions that make me think. It is really fun to have a companion who loves to learn!

Oh and every week we are each suppose to prepare a talk and then on Sunday our branch president randomly picks missionaries to talk. Unfortunately, Sister Donaldson and I are the only girls, and the love to involve the sisters.. so last Sunday I got called up to speak. I spoke on how the gospel blesses families, and I shared a little bit of being able to be there for Jen getting married in the temple. THe spirit was strong, and it went well. I am really really glad though that I didn´t know until AFTER I spoke that the visiting president was President Harris, who I think is an area authority. He spoke afterwards, and told us that he Had been in the Quorom of the 70 for the past 9 years. ahhh!

haha, but He was an amazing speaker. He was so loving and powerful, and taught us how the Quorom of the 12 organize their scripture study journals. Lets just say I have completly changed my ways of my study journal now too.

My favorite part about being here though are the brazilians. THey continue to amaze me. Half of the missionaries here are brazilieros. and each day as I sit by them in lunch I hear the most amazing conversion storeis. I think most of them are converts from the past couple of years, and many are the only members in their family. Incredible. Oh and my brazilian roomates just get more fun each day! haha. THey help me read the book of mormon in português, and now we are helping them read it in english. EVerything we do or touch we say in portugues and english and I tell you what, some english words are so funny... including my last name. No one can say monroe... it somces out "morrow" Even to my teachers I am sister "morrow"

Last night we had the privilidge to hear from the president of the CTM, Presidente Cardon. He talked about his family- 20 years ago he adopted 5 brazillians and he was telling us about it. He started talking about orphans...... and wow you can imagine how much that got me. I think we all know how much I love orphanages. He is a great great man!

Ok well I better go, I have a lot left to do today.. our Pdays are really full because we get to go to the Campinas Temple. It is a beautiful beautiful temple! I have been learning so much... I am so glad to be here.. I keep thinking each day that I cant be happier, but then I wake up the next morning, even more excited. I love it here, and I love you all!

I will just leave you with my mission scripture, which I love because it is so triumphant and happy. Because indeed, the gospel is so happy because we know that it will triumph!

D&C 128:22 "Brethren, shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. "

Com Amor- Sister Melanie Anne Monroe

Falo português, português, português e mais português.

We just received our first email from Melanie. Enjoy!

mm well my first week here in the CTM has been awesome! I knew that I would be learning a lot of português but holy cow! I didn´t think I´d be learning this much! We are told here that português is the language that will be spoken in heaven.. and oh.. did you know that God is Brazilian? haha... I only wish I was kidding. :) But yeah, it looks like português is a good train ... I suggest you get on it! So aula (class) is now in session. Here are some new words that i´ve learned this past week:

correr (cohair) to run. What I did at the Dallas Airport after I missed my first flight from San Diego. ( I promise this wasn´t my fault) I had ten minutes to make my next flight .. I was praying the whole time that my connecting flight would be delayed- and my parents also must have ben praying because the flight was delayed and I made it to Brasil! que bom!

azul (ahzool) blue. When we arrived here our first day, we were given an azul sticker on our nametags.. so that everyone knows that we are new. The brazilians call us "smurf" (essmurfee) but I have been glad for the sticker because it means the Brazilians know why my português is so bad... well er.. nonexistent.

minha companheira (minya compenyera) my companion´s name is sister donaldson. We are a really good mix together- her strengths are my weaknesses, and so I feel like we have been able to progress together a lot. When I get a little goofy she is there to keep me in line ... and she tells me that I make her laugh. é perfeito!

feijão e arros (fayzhow ee ahose) Beans and Rice. The staple diet here for everyone at the CTM. They weren´t kidding when they said you jump right into the culture. Most of the time I have no idea what I am eating. It looks familiar... but I don't know what it is. I have mixed feelings about the comida.. i always try at least a little bit though. I am sure it will grow on me!

doença (doenza) sick. What happens when you follow the above diet. But don't worry, I wasn't sick for that long, and I have been able to study every day. Good thing they have soda here though-- It helps keep my stomach calm. No wonder missionaries always have that here.

Abacaxi (abawkashee) Pineapple!!! This has become my very favorite thing to eat here. That and malancia (malansia.. watermelon) which is amazing!!! These two things are probably my staple diet.. I have a huge plate of them at every meal, todos os dias. Yum!!

Caridade e paciência (caridodgee ee paseenseeah) charity and patience. These would be the two words I would use to describe my brazilian roomates. They are awesome! THe only english they speak is "hi" and so at first it was really hard to communicate. But they are so patient with me- I can actually hold conversations with them. (which consist of 20% of actual português, 50% of what I think is português, 20% of italian, and the other 10% is made up) But they are so sweet. They help me read from the Book of Mormon every night, teach me new words, correct my pronunciations, and then lie to me and tell me that my português is really good. ha! We talk ALOT and one of them has made me promise to come visit her someday in the Amazon... twist my arm ... I'd love to!

falar (fahhlar) to speak. Thats all I do. Talk to Brazilians. We have brazilians for teachers, we eat with brazilian missionaries, we all live with brazilians... fantãstico! I love them already. They are so much fun to talk to- and soo happy! I love it!

futebol (foocheeball) soccer. So Brasil played their first world cup game yesterday and they won. Don't worry, I didnt watch the game, I just knew the score because before the game, at half time, for their gol, and at the end there was MASSIVE explosions and fireworks going off everywhere. São Paulo is crazy already, and then add some fireworks to it... maddness. I loved it. I think I will be cheering for Brasil this world cup, because frankly futebol is life here, and I don't want to get hrut. Go Brasil!

Espirito (espeeritoo) On a more serious note, the spirit here has been so strong here and I have grown so much this past week. Since I was set apart last monday night I feel like I have been perfectly at peace. It's great because I can bear my testimony and pray now in português, and this is sooo exciting. THe spirit is still so strong, but I havent been crying like I usually do (shocking I know.. ok so maybe I have cried twice) BUt I have been so excited that I can feel so at peace, and so incredibly happy... and be able to share my feelings without getting too emotional. I know this is is a blessing that has come from this calling!

Todo Bem! (Toe dow bem) Its all good. I am so glad to be here... I miss you all just a little bit, but I love this chance to serve the Lord. Eu sei que Jesus Cristo é nossos Salvadores! Ele nos ama... You are all in my prayers!
I love you all!
Sister Melanie Anne Monroe
Ps. I cant get emails from friends in the CTM, so write me letters please! Obrigado!

Melanie is in Sao Paolo!

Sorry to everyone that has looked at this blog the past week wondering what happened to Melanie. She DID receive her visa at the last minute (she picked it up from FedEx on her way to the airport) and was able to make her originally planned flight to Dallas and then off to Sao Paolo. We haven't heard anything from her, and we aren't sure if she will be able to email from the Sao Paolo MTC, so we are just twiddling our thumbs and waiting to see what happens. Maybe something will come in the snail mail. That would be exciting.

Meanwhile, we already miss Melanie a lot. But I moved into her room and am driving her car and listening to her cds to try and help them get used to her absence. Does anyone want to buy Mel's computer? Trust me, she really did want me to sell it.

I found this old picture of the Brazilian MTC. This is Melanie's new home for the next two months.

Melanie is now Sister Monroe

This is officially the first post not written by Melanie. She has just been set apart, and blessed by the Stake President and so her mission has begun. As of this morning, we didn't know if she would be leaving tomorrow or next week, because her visa had not arrived from the Brazilian Consulate. The visa arrived in Salt Lake City this morning and is currently somewhere in the hands of FedEx. Melanie will pick it up tomorrow morning and head straight to the airport. She flies from San Diego to Dallas, and then on to Sao Paolo.

Here are a couple of pictures from this evening. It was a tearful goodbye to grandparents and friends today, but Melanie is ready and couldn't be happier. I am reading this aloud and Melanie just vetoed the last line - "Don't sound so serious!" she instructs. "It was really nice, but I almost felt like it was my funeral." Well to some of you Melanie will be pretty much dead for the next two years, so consider this blog your connection with the afterlife. And best of all, I don't really have to say goodbye because I will see her in the Missionary Training Center in Sao Paolo.

-Mike







Melanie and Michael at the temple.




Brazil is never going to know what hit them!