Cate Mission Weekly Letters

Well this week I hit my one month mark of being a missionary!!  I received my travel plans this week and I do leave mid-day on the 15th for Eugene! I can't say it enough but I am so excited to get out into the field and teach! During the MTC, we practice teaching lessons so we can get better at answering questions and using the phrases and words we memorize. In one of our lessons this week Sister Esplin and I showed our all time favorite church video! I put the link in this email, it's two minutes long and I highly recommend it! It's in English but if you would like the Portuguese version, let me know and I'll send it your way:)) I feel I've learned the equivalent amount of Portuguese as in my three years of High School Spanish, we learn and practice so much every day which is awesome. This week, we learned a trava-língua (tongue twister). It is: o rato roeu a roupa do rei de roma. But, before you try to say it, you should know in Portuguese the letter r makes an h ...

Olá Everyone!!! Well I'll just get straight to it I'VE BEEN REASSIGNED AND I AM SO PUMPED!!! I have been assigned to the EUGENE OREGON MISSION!!!! WAHOOOOOO!! (Go ducks:)))) I report July 15 which is the week after I finish my online MTC training. And, everyone in my district is leaving that same week so they're moving us out fast! There are six missionaries in my district going to Utah, one is going to Nashville, and two to Vegas! I am so excited the people of Utah, Nevada, and Tennessee are getting the BEST MISSIONARIES!!! Also apparently I can't pronounce Eugene correctly, my family tells me I sound like Rapunzel at the end of Tangled. So if anyone has tips on how to say it right I would greatly appreciate it. I'm so excited to live in the PNW and hopefully meet some fellow Seahawks fans;) This week we just continued to learn and teach in Portuguese. We are getting to the point where our teachers only speak Portuguese and they want us to respond in Portuguese. It...

Well another great but busy week in the online CTM this week!! I learned so much and I am once again so grateful for the amazing experience I am having!! One reason I love the at home CTM is that I get to explore CO! Today, a few of my siblings, my mom, and I went to the Paint Mines which were beautiful! I put a few pictures below. This week I got to teach a total of four lessons in Portuguese!! These lessons were just to one of my teachers, Irmã Melo, but it was still an amazing experience. Don't get me wrong, my Portuguese is so far from perfect, but I am learning so much faster than I thought I would. My companion and I also decided in our fourth lesson with our teacher, we would invite her to be baptized. AND SHE SAID YES!!!! Even though both Sister Esplin and I realize this baptism is not going to occur, we couldn't express how happy we felt that she said yes in Portuguese or English! This experience really reminded me of why I am on a mission. I am on a mission beca...

Hello everyone!! My dad always tells me the first night in the MTC was the longest night of his life. But I have to say for me it wasn't too bad:) But in all seriousness I have loved my first few days as a missionary at home! I was a little nervous at first with everything being online, but I love my teachers and my district so much and I am learning faster than I ever thought I would!! My companion's name is Sister Esplin and she and I have become fast friends. I thought I'd give a quick overview of what I do each day for those who are wondering what a missionary does during their training! I wake up at 6:30 and I have 30 minutes of exercise. After that, I get ready for the day and have personal and companion scripture study and plan. Then, I have a class with my whole district (9 other missionaries from the United States learning Portuguese) for three hours. I then have an hour break for lunch and I also do some language study. At 3:00 I have another class for 3 hours whi...