Dear Familia!!!

Como VI!? The MTC is awesome and we seriously have an amazing zone and our branch presidency is amazing! So first off, our Pday has been changed due to summer schedules and cordinating teaching times with our teachers! So good to hear how Elder Beckstrand is doing in Japan, and I love how he just gets down and goes to work! That's awesome and I will definitely try to follow his example while I am on my mission! Keep it up Bro! It seemed like your week was amazing and that's so awesome to hear about Ashley and her basketball tournament!! A big Congrats to all the Girls and especially for Beating Cedar at CEDAR!!! WOOO!! so sweet!! That is the best way the season could have ended! That's crazy to think that it's already all over for them! It feels like I was just coaching the first practice a few weeks ago.... haha! It sounds like Dad and Grandpa were quite the coaching Crew together!! I wish I coulda been there but The MTC is a pretty good place to be! haha The Language comes a little more everyday and we become more comfortable speaking it to each other and it's actually really fun! We all make the joke that because we are speaking Portuguese so much that our English is getting worse because it messes with our sentence structure.... So now we are just in trouble because our Portuguese is Bad and our english is worse! HAha! just messin but sometimes it feels like that and the important thing is just to forget about yourself and realize why you are here! The only reason we are learning Portuguese is to be a tool in the Lords hand for the people of Portugal, and when you take that into consideration there is NO way we can fail! We had an amazing Sunday Night Devotional about how we are literally at war with the Adversary and that they will do all they can to stop the work from progressing, and when we realize the reality that we are at war with Satan it makes us anxious to get to Portugal and fight him everyday with our testimonies and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that we are on the winning side, but it's our responsibility to help as many as we can join the ranks through the power of the holy ghost. On another note, I was doing TRC on saturday, and for those who don't know who TRC is, it's just talking to members who come to the MTC and speak their mission language with the missionaries. Anyways.... We were talking and I thought she was married becuase she was talking about children and had a couple of rings on her finger... and at the end of the lesson I asked her how prayer has blessed the lives of her children... and she got really red and then we just lost it! HAHA Lesson learned never assume anything! and it was all in portuguese of course, but it was super funny, and it all worked out! Also thank you so much for the awesome treats you send me! your so sweet! With Pday being on tuesday now we only have 1 more until we depart for Portugal!! how Crazy is that!? haha so not the next time, but the time after that I will be emailing you from the hallowed land is Portugal, RIght Dad?! haha Also, our new Teacher is from Lisbon and returned a few months ago! He's so cool, and he knew Butch! his name is Elder Whitaker, he said they were never companions but said they knew each other pretty well. David, and Bry are out in the field and are loving it! Also Kevin seems to be really doing well! Strong they are in the Gospel. Investigators convert they will. .. haha our teacher said to try speaking like Yoda because that's similar to portuguese Sentence structure! other than that it's really fun! Thanks for all the pictures it's amazing to see how good everyone is doing, and that was a really sweet Trophy! haha Also, thanks to the Barkers for their letter this week! that was really sweet of them and it was awesome to hear how they are all doing! i'm sure mandy is still having good times with the tramp and the grass hasn't died yet because dad hired a guy! haha that's awesome! Keep up the awesome work back at home! To answer Jacobs question about if I am allowed to call him or not... i'm not sure but I will ask and find out by next tuesday for sure! Also thanks for dad writing a little back in portuguese it was fun to decipher what it was! haha Keep the Faith and love you all forever!

Love,

Elder Beckstrand