October 17, 2011

(This is the handwritten letter Riley sent the day before leaving for Brazil.)

Dear Family,

Well, me and my companion, Elder Baguley are just getting ready for the day tomorrow.  We have to be at the travel office at 5 in the morning.  Our flight to New York (I have no idea why they're sending us there first.) leaves at 8:31am.  Once we get to New York JFK airport, we have a 7 hour layover until our flight to Brazil leaves at 10:30 at night, and we will arrive in Sao Paulo at 10:30 the next morning.  So I will spend all day tomorrow traveling.  By the way, I haven't gotten those shoes or anything else today besides that first letter, so I don't know what will happen with anything else you sent. If you're sending things to Brazil, I've heard that if you have a picture of Jesus on whatever it is, people won't mess with it.  Also, I heard to send shoes one at a time, so people won't take them.

So me and my companion are taking an unofficial P-day today to get ready.  I've really liked it here though.  The elders in my district (the guys in the same class as me) are all really cool, and we get along together really well.  Portuguese still isn't coming very quickly, which is scary, because Mitch says that at the Brazil MTC that just about everyone there is native Brazilians.  I guess immersion is a great way to learn.

Notable events since the last time I wrote:
     I talked to Mitch on Saturday. (?)  It's hard to keep track of the days in the MTC.  It was really nice to see him.  He gave me some encouraging words and that was really nice of him.
     I ran into Troy Monson yesterday [a boy from the Vista CA stake] during our 'Temple Walk' time.  How cool is that?!  He's going to serve in Japan, although I forget which mission.  We took pictures together and I will send some as soon as I can.  I think he said it was his 9th week here or something like that.

Well I think that's all for Notable Events.  I'm having fun here learning and feeliing the Spirit.  I'm pretty nervous about being in Brazil already!

Well, I'm doing well, and I really like it here.

I love you all.
Elder Woodmansee

First Letter! October 13, 2011

(This is the first letter Riley sent from the MTC.  It is a handwritten letter that I'm transcribing!)

Dear Family!
Well, this is my first letter home, and I have already talked to Mom on the phone! Well, it's almost 11am and the day has been pretty eventful.  My companion, Elder Baguley and I, had different schedules! So we were very confused as to which we should be following.  So we went to the scheduling office and it turns out, Elder Baguley was switched to be my companion because both of our visas have come through, and we will be eaving on Tuesday!  How exciting!  Well, I've enjoyed finding little notes throughout my things, and I'm sure there is a lot I haven't found yet.  My companion, Elder Baguley (prounounced Bag-lee) is pretty cool.  He's from Idaho, come place called Fruitland.  And he plays the uke also!  How cool is that?!  Well, I'm glad I brought the things I did.

Sorry, I'm kinda all over the place in this letter.  Well yesterday, I was a little intimidated because when I walked into the classroom, the teacher would pretty much only spoke Portuguese.  Wow.  And now I only have 5 days to learn as much of it as I can [for] when I go to Sao Paulo!  I'm so excited to go down there already!

Well, I got distrcted because I had to change for gym.  Soccer time!  Hopefully this will get to you soon.  You'll probably need to wait [to write] until I'm in Brazil.

Well.  Love you all!

I'm so excited!

Love, Elder Woodmansee