Week 4

Hello all!!

It is week 4? When did that happen?!? I have been here for 23 days! It is crazy how slow the first weekend went and how fast the time has flown since then.

I FILLED OUT MY ONLINE VISA APPLICATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EXCITEMENT!

As of right now most of the Elders and Sisters are getting reassigned stateside when they get to 9 weeks at the MTC. Two of them have actually been able to leave from the MTC to go to the Sao Paulo MTC though! It seems like getting visas is speeding up considerably since Lori was here (4-5 months ago). The average rate for getting your actual visa after you fill out your online application is about 4-5 weeks, which means… I may be able to get my visa and go to the Sao Paulo MTC for a week or so. If not, I will be reassigned stateside (like my lovely roommates who all got reassigned today! One to California, one to Minnesota, and I’m still waiting to see where my other roommates will go - some Elders will be going to Florida). The morale about the visas is pretty high though. We are all very aware that we may be reassigned stateside for a time, but every person in my district has filled out the online application (which is a lot earlier than the other districts before us), so it’s looking pretty good so far.

Random: They have this crazy intercom system here that can call any room in any of the buildings. Basically every day we wait in our classroom and all wait hopefully to be called to the travel office (where you fill out your online application to eventually get your visa). This entire system reminds me a lot of the movie “The Island”. We all go on about our day to day business, and then if you hear a beep the entire class is hushed – we all wait holding our breath while they read out names and what offices they are called to go to. When my name was read to go to the travel office, both Sister Boyer and I jumped up (hers was called too), and practically skipped to the office! (ok, so mostly it was just me who was doing the skipping, but she definitely kept the pace up!) HUZZAH! We were chosen! (also akin to Toy Story) hehe I now actually feel like I will actually go to Brazil! Now it’s just the patience until I get my paper visa.

Other than the fantastic excitement about visas and the feelings that “we are all in this together”, I want to answer a question someone asked me about volleyball. I get to play volleyball every day except P-day and Sundays. It is fantastic! There are a couple of guys that play on the BYU mens volleyball team and they are fantastic! I also thoroughly enjoy the fact that there aren’t many Sisters that play on the “good” court except me and a couple of others. Even BETTER though is the fact that I have earned the respect of the other Elders who are playing. Yup. Dad would be proud! I serve, hit, set, pass, and BLOCK the really good people – and the Elders actually trust me to do all of those things. (Some of you might be thinking that they should do that anyways, but you would be surprised to hear how often Elders, or just boys in general, will step in front of you or not set you the ball, because you’re a girl and they think you can’t handle it). Well, my friends, I have proved them wrong!! :D It’s definitely a highlight in my day (either at 6:30 am or after lunch), because it’s a nice change from the “I am going to study and learn everything humanly possible about the church and about Portugues non-stop” – which is basically every other waking moment.

I love it here! I don’t think I have ever learned so much so fast and also retained so much! I have now taught the first lesson about the restoration of the gospel a few times all in Portugues, and I think if I was sent to Brasil right now I would be ok. I still have a lot of work to do on the speaking, but I can understand 99% of what is said. Now it’s just about learning the vocab. This last Sunday I was assigned to give a talk in our meeting and I was able to give it all in Portugues. I was really happy that it went so well!

Thanks for all of your support and love. I miss you all (and would love to hear from you!) !

Much love,

Sister Reising

Ps. We definitely got the snow storm today that you all had up in Seattle. Best part is that it is already warming up! It’s really not too cold here. Plus, we are inside practically the whole day, so we get to appreciate the snow for it’s beauty and not loathe each flake because it hinders walking to and from class… haha Ta ta!