First Letter from Brasil MTC

So i love you guys so much and miss all you guys a tun but it is absolutely amazing here! the spirit, the people, my friends, the food, the city.. everything is just awesome. i have so much to tell you guys.  the first 3 days were the absolute longest days of my life. between the plane ride, no sleep, new culture, time difference, the language, 16 hour work days. just absolutely exhausted and i couldnt even tell what day it was haha it was like that for all 11 of us in our district. but once sunday hit everything is just great. it already feels like this is all i have been doing in my life. 

so the flight to salt lake.. piece of cake, and it was so fun to see uncle mike i love him. i met up with two other missionaries, one sister and one elder. flew to Dalas which gosh that place is huge you werent kidding whitney. met up with like 4 other ones. ate MCDONALDS as my last american meal before loading up on the plane. couldnt have asked for a better way to go out haha im talkin like a 3/1 ratio with sweet and sour sauce to an item it was awesome.

the flight to brazil was the longest thing ever but i slept pretty good and my back held up great! when we landed there we did customs and all that good stuff then some cute little old lady who couldnt speak english just waved for us to follow her so we did and we met up with other people. then the drive here was absolutely crazy. haha its seriously like if theres a 10 foot gap and a 10 foot car is by it theyll cut into it. its like bumper cars i totally understand why i will never be driving here. remember how i used to say the more agressive you drive the better...i take it back! so drive like a grandma luke its cool beans.

first thing when we got here we got assigned companions, i got elder simpson whos going to my mission. hes 6 4 like 290 so i guess hes a big boy. us togetrher just weigh more than everyone else here in the CTM. (center for training missionaries or something good like that) the brazilian people are always joking about us being super scary. but my companhiero is wonderful we have a great time. got some studs in our district who i absolutely love. its so cool cause people i usually wouldnt hang out with at home are in my district and i love them all.  what a difference it makes when you just love everyone.

i cant find my soap but hey thats okay i found some someone left in the shower so that worked out perfect. what was i looking forward to all week?! excersice day. and boy was it great. played some basketball and let me tell you the spirit helps in all things luke youd be in trouble if you were playing me. i was 6-7 with 4 threes on our super ghetto courts (luke and remember i smoked you in pig in our last game so sit on that for two years sucka haha) until some elder was going to swat the ball away from another kid who was shooting, missed completely and smacked me in the face. i may be elder taylor now but im still spencer taylor. i now have a SWEEET black eye and a nice little cut over my eye haha just my luck right? so ya things still dont change. dont be worried momma its totally fine i just look like a hoodrat now so its awesome.

the people here are so nice its unreal. i absolutely love all the brazillian companions theyre seriously nuts and i love it. ill tell you more about them next week and hopefully send pictures of like my eye and the town and what not.

the CTM is surrounded by electric fences and security people.. so awesome. you know in the movie fast five where van diesel walks out of the favellas and says THIS IS BRAZIL (click on link to see what Elder Taylor is talking about...)! well thats what i keep waiting for to happen haha its seriously just ghetto around here but so cool.

the language is great i can mess with the brazillians enough to make some conversation, i am friends with all of them its like the best way to learn.

Well i love you guys all so much. i know this is where im supposed to be. this church is true.

such a simple and powerfull mesage. have faith in Jesus Christ, Repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost and endure to the end.. how easy are these steps?! if we do these we are promised to be lead on the straight and narrow to the celestrial kindom and eternal life. ah i love it i cant wait for two years of this. 

you guys study 2 nephi 31.. like verses 5-7 11,12 and 17-18. just somerthing to ponder about.

i love you guys so much always remember that. now a prayer goes by where i dont mention you guys, even when im praying in my broken portugues. ill talk to you all next week. 

love you all so much, i hope all of your wildest dreams come true...

love elder taylor

Elder Taylor sporting his black eye with his companion, Elder Simpson to the right.