My dear homies....
 
Nothing has changed, the CTM is exactly like it was last week.
 
end of email\
 
elder eliason



Just kidding

so.....week 3
 
the portuguese is coming along really well, we have no idea what the natives say, but we can ususally convey whatever kind of message we want, whether or not it was said propperly is an entirely different matter alltogether...  so letters!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! they literally make my week, and I reread them over and over again, they're awesome.  First shoutout is to my little brother BLAKE :D you are the best! your winkie faces and what not are possibly heartwrentching and you ask very silly questions, like if I've been tracting yet, i'm on week 3 pall, of the CTM, we don't go tracting here, we sit in a classroom for 4-5 hours at a time, multiple times a day learning portuguese and teaching techniques.  Next goes to my girls who wrote me this week: Renee Dionne, Chloe Anderson, and Haley Walker! you gals are so awesome, my roommates all want to see pictures of all yall, but that's not happening....now Haley, a card that size only requires 1 stamp, not 4 XD although I do appreciate the enthusiasm for ensuring that it gets to me :D, SO......... this is directed to CHLOE Anderson, you my dear friend, have caused quite a stir here at the CTM with the drawing of "our wedding cake" and the little figurienes of "us and the temple" ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?   um, I mean I know we're friends and all, but three weeks into the mission and I've already been proposed to?????? hmmmmm..... well, it was well countered, my companion pulled out the article about "locking your heart" right after I opened your letter, so we were able to focus and teach our investigator ten minutes later... XP  that was by far the most interesting part of the week.  on a different note, I haven't seen any jumping spiders in a week, so that's really good :D  I can't remember if I told y'all this, but we were sitting in class, and one jumped from the wall onto my face, and without hesitating, my companion decked me trying to kill it.... yeah, that was fun.  there's not really that much going on here....I bought a new tie, it's neon pink paisley, but I only paid 6 Reals for it (~3 dollars).  It's awesome and all the other Elders try and trade me for it. Legal..... (that's portuguese for cool, but it's pronounced leg-all).  Everybody here is sick, there's a really nasty upper sinus infection going around, and yes, I've caught it too, nobody's sleeping and everybody's dying from their noses being rubbed raw.  The CTM is fun, but I can tell it's going to be one of those ETTE type deals.  Oh, one of the elders who arrived last wednesday is the grandson of Elder Oaks...yeah, he has an INFINITE amount of personal family stories to share when teaching investigators, it's hillarious. Oh, by the way, go online to LDS.org and watch the President Monson 85th birthday celebration, it's pretty amazing, especially the Le Miserables piece, it literally brought tears to the eyes of everybody who was watching it (we got special permission from salt lake to watch it for our devotional), it was, in an understatement, phenomenal. Speaking of phenomenal music, there was a group of elders who did an accapella piece of "If I die before I wake..." which was really really cool...my roommates participated, along with the Schmutz brothers and Adam Thiriot, it was rocking.  Anyways, everybody take care, think before doing something stupid, and have fun! 
 
Elder Eliason
 
P.S.  Letters are the highlight of the week, please write!!!!! I mean, unless you've served a mission before, you have no idea how much they mean :D  (oh, and my companion recieves 3 letters a week from the same girl, it's hillarious because they're exactly the same; he made a jest before he left that only 1/3 of letters arrive here (they all get here fine...) so she sends 3 coppies! Lol, please don't do that)
 
~T