[It has been confirmed that Elder Chiba is only allowed to e-mail immediate family members so this post is from the family e-mail.]
Hello!!!
So, last week, I tried to send an email and it failed terribley. (I´m not sure, but I think my English spelling skills are declining) Anyway, so, last week I used the email center at the CTM and there was a thirty minute time limit and right when I was typing my name and about to send the email off, the computer kicked me off and deleted my message. So, this week I´m at Mr. Cheney´s cookie shop/internet cafe across the street. There is no time limit here. I have to pay, but it´s totally worth it. Don´t worry it´s not that expensive. Anyway, I hope this email makes it to you alright.
Oh, just in case you were wondering, CTM stands for Centro de Treinamento Missionários. São Paulo is really amazing. On our P-Day (Preparation Day, essentially a free day to take care of the necessities that are not directly related to sharing the gospel) we´re allowed to go around the neighborhood that surrounds the CTM. I´m really happy, and I think it´s because this is where I´m supposed to be. The weather here is perfect. It reminds me of Hawaii. There are some crazy big moths that I´ve seen. Just the other night there was one on the ceiling in the auditório and it was bigger than my hand.
This morning we had the chance to go to the São Paulo Temple. It´s so beautiful. Oh, I´m not sure if you´ve heard or not, but I am the district leader of our very large distrito of 5. Well actually, we got three new additions today that arrived from Provo. Two of which are from the Bay Area, and of the two is Elder Jens Karrens. We haven´t really had time to see them yet, except for in passing in the cafeteria. But, we have class tonight at 6. My companion Elder Epperson is from Washington. He´s 1/4 Japanese, but you wouldn´t be able to tell by looking at him because he´s blond and has blue eyes. He´s chill though, so it´s all good. There aren´t too many people here at the CTM. We´re at around 10% of missionário capacity. Max is either 600 or 700, but tomorrow we´re getting about 50 more Brasileiro Missionários. I hope Daniel has finished his visa stuff. That´s the main reason why there were people stuck in provo. Although, I heard that they finally got about 200 missionaries cleared, but I heard that they are being straight to the field because they´ve been in the MTC in Provo for so long. It rains at least once everyday. By rain, I mean downpour.
Oh! Here´s a fun fact, the CTM is the largest church building outside the U.S. aside from the temples, and it´s still expanding. In the room next to mine are 6 Brasileiro Missionários. They are muito legal (very cool). Three of which are also going to Teresina. Oh!!! On the flight down here, we met two missionaries that were returning to Teresina. They had been serving in the Salt Lake Temple Square Mission. So, we were instantly friends. We also ran into some missionaries that were returning home from Brasil. But, we didn´t talk to them for very long because they were on their way to get their baggage or conecting flights.
It´s only been about two weeks since I´ve been gone, and I feel like I should be fluent in Português already, only because it feels like I´ve been here for a few months already. Classes are really long, but they are great. It´s so much information. My brain sometimes goes into overload by the end of the day. We have two main instructors. In the morning we have Irmão(brother) Diniz and in the evening we have Irmã (sister) Amato. Every once in a while Irmão Peçanha helps us out. He is one of the most inteligent people I´ve ever met. They´re all Brasileiros and the are all muito altimo (very awesome). I´ve got a pretty good grasp of the language pronouncing wize, and I can kind of communicate. It´s fun though.
Tonight, I´m going to teach our Brasileiro friends the Ninja Destruction game. Currently, I´m in the process of translating the directions to play. It´s going kind of slowly.... well not really, I mean I think I´m doing pretty good considering I had no Idea what the language sounded like two weeks ago. But, I do have to look in the dictionary all the time and check my verb conjugation card. I love it here! Ok, well, actually, the CTM is kind of like a glorified prison, except we don´t get to have personal visitors. Hahahahaha. No, it´s great. It´s practically the safest place in São Paulo. Did you know that São Paulo has like 200,000,000 people?!?!?!? I might be exagerating by one 0, but I don´t think so. I though traffic during rush hour was bad back home. During rush hour here it takes about an hour to get some place it would normally take ten minutes. Not an exageration.
The Spirit here is amazing! Oh man, I love it so much!!! We´ll see in a few more weeks though. I don´t get to leave here until March, but I´m going to make the most of it while I´m here. Also, the people here are really cool. So, if I don´t make it home within 3 years don´t be surprised. Just kidding, I´ll have to come home because of visa issues and other missionaries needing to come here or something. Oh, this Saturday the General Young Men´s President will be here. I´ll be singing on Saturday. They´ve already had me sing prelude as well as play the flute for prelude twice. This Sunday I will take a hold of the CTM Choral reins and we will ride off into the Sunset. Anyway, I love you all, and miss you. May the Lord bless you and keep you until we meet again.
Love,
Elder Samuel H. Chiba
(p.s. the best part of sitting here at Mr. Cheney´s is that it smells like cookies and chocolate..... I think I´m going to get one.......)
