My first day!

I can feel the prayers of everyone already, I know that God is taking care of me and things are going fantastic. Guess what? I am in a Spanish district! So I am speaking Spanish in my classes and learning Portuguese. At first I was a little overwhelmed and struggling to keep the “I’m where God wants me” attitude cuz I wanted to be in the English classes, but I remembered that I've been blessed with the gift of tongues, so faith kicked in and I’m ready to take it on. So at meals I talk to people in Spanish and what little Portuguese I've learned today. I’ll know Portuguese by the end of my time here at the MTC, but today I am with the Americans so I’ll be with my real companion tomorrow. I love it here.

 On the plane ride to Atlanta I was nervous about who would sit next to me on the plane because of my badge; figuring they’re probably gonna think I’m trying to convert everyone on the flight... but I sat next to a sweet old man who asked me if I was a nun and it broke the ice with me laughing n saying kinda, but we had a good talk about how I chose to go on a mission, temples, and family. He gave me money for my mission! How sweet, seriously the man was a blessing in so many ways, putting me completely at ease with the trip. I wrote him a thank you card and gave him a pass-along with the temple on it.

The plane ride to Brazil was long and I could barely sleep but I had another great seat buddy who was friendly and we talked about the mission and church a  bit and I gave him a pass-along card. I wrote in my journal a ton!!! I’ll take pics and send some entries along with pictures of the missionaries I met in the Atlanta airport who turned out to be my district. We had our first lesson with an investigator today (in English) and it was wonderful, God is with me, he knows the desires of my heart and my desire to be obedient. I spoke with the spirit and the lesson was great, my district is powerful too, everything that they said drove the lesson more and more, it was impressive. I'm learning a lot! Tomorrow is my first real day of exercise and classes. Everyone is nice, we met with the MTC president and his wife and I love the food.

I wrote thank you cards for people at the party who gave me money and will mail those eventually once I get the hang of things. I converted US into Brazilian money, and we went outside the MTC with the executive secretary to the president for a brief tour. It’s a casual setting here where love is the first thing, but obedience is right there with it. They take it very seriously, I’m glad. One of the sisters from my district is going with me to Fortaleza, the rest are scattering all over Brazil. Did I say the food is great yet? yeah, no problem there. Although I don’t know if they’re going to give us filtered water bottles when we leave like Provo does, but they suggest parents not send packages and we just buy it because customs or whatever is so mean about mail.

I love it here, I wish I had more of a spiritual message but the gist is that God's work is awesome because it's a testament of God's work. When you're doing what's right (aka praying reading listening to god's promptings and not rebelling and choosing to give into sin anyways) its always going to be fantastic because in God there is strength. Giving my mission to God and choosing to be obedient was the key to my success today. I just have to listen to what he says. Scriptures I like are D&C 18, Mosiah 3:4.

I’m running out of time to email and I’ll have more focused thoughts after I've slept more than 4 hours, but thanks for all the support because I love it here. and God loves that I’m here, I can feel it, he's changing me. The more I listen to him the more effective I’ll be in his work because the spirit will be with me. I love the spirit. Work on getting that and don’t let it go. Easy thing is pray for the spirit, read the Book of Mormon or some scriptures, and pray again. keep God involved in everything. Okay! my time has expired. I love you all!

-Sister Miess