Hey Everyone!

Wow no emails or letters? Seriously? Was there some sort of apocalypse or something? Just so people know they can email me, I just can´t email back so I´ll write them a letter if they give me their address. My email is maclane.taggart@myldsmail.net. Why have I not gotten anything from home yet?

Anyway, things are going super great down here in Brazil! We have been learning a ton every day. Irmão Carboni went out sick for the week cause he had to have emergency surgeory on his kidney. He´s coming back tomorrow so it´s all good.

Well... there isn´t really anything to report. Nothing too exciting happened down here. The city is still in World Cup fever. I heard the US lost so that´s too bad. My district is a lot of fun, but we talk about the most random stuff and it sometimes gets out of control. Like we talk about politics A LOT!!! Normally that wouldn´t bother me but most of them don´t know what they are talking about so I just get mad everytime. And we had a conversation about "Utah Mormons" that made me mad too. Most of the kids in my district aren´t from Utah and they say that Utah Mormons are super judgemental and have never really had to test their faith. I´m definitely not like that and I´m from Utah so stereotype destroyed.

Elder Abernethy and I are doing really well in our teaching. We just kinda get each other so when we are teaching it works really well and we know what we are talking about so that takes away a lot of the pressure.

I guess I can tell you guys about my everyday life down here. We get up at 6:30 and have to be to breakfast by 7. Breakfast is not something to look forward too. It´s bologna and cheese sandwiches every morning without fail. Then we have personal study til 8:30 and class with Irmão Carboni til noon. Then we have lunch. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day here in Brazil so it´s always good in the CTM. There are always two meats, rice and beans, salads, fresh fruit, and all the guarana you can drink! It´s hard to control myself. haha. Anyway, after lunch we have class with Irma Gaspar til 4:30 then companion study then dinner. After dinner we have gym (we usually just play basketball, it´s against the rules to play soccer at any time while on a mission in Brazil). Then it´s Missionary Directed Time, planning, and bed. So I am really busy every day and I get really tired every so often, but I´m adjusting well.

If I misspelled anything in the email I´m sorry. The Português is really messing with my English. If there is anything specific you´re dieing to know just shoot me an email and I´ll tell you what I can. I hope to hear from home soon and hope everything is going well! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE write me and email me! I want to know what´s going on. Feel free to send me some typed or written love whenever!

Peace out!

Elder MacLane Taggart

preimero semana, June 22, 2010

Hey Everyone! So I´ve survived my first week at the CTM, actually I really like it here so it doesn´t seem like I´ve had to `survive´. Anyway it is so crazy how quickly we are moving in the Portuguese and everything! I have the purpose and the first vision memorized, I can pray and bear my testimony as well as have a good conversation, all in Portuguese! It really is such a beautiful language and our district has amazing teachers, Irmão Carboni and Irma Gaspar. They are some natives who have served missions here in brazil. (For some reason this computer won´t let me use the enter key so I can´t really make paragraphs so I´ll just use a slash.) / We have the biggest district in the whole CTM with 11 elders and I love everyone in my district. My companion is Elder Abernethey from Boston! (Shout out to Jackson!) He is really an awesome kid and we have a lot in common as far as family situations and stuff like Family Guy. We pretty much just quote it all day. We live on the sixth floor, which is the top, and they don´t let us use the elevators so we have to walk up all the floors like five times a day. Some other elders of note: Elder Overton from California who has been having some major struggles and said he was going to go home the second day but we had Elder Neil A Anderson (that´s right, an apostle) come and he talked about sticking it out and relying on the Lord so it was pretty much divine help. Elder Williamson is from Virginia and is our District Leader. He is so fun to hang out with and I totally called that he would be DL before it happened. / We have some Brazilians living in our room and since we don´t speak the language too well it is really hard to communicate and they are really loud at night. But some of the Brazilians that live with our district speak English really well so they help us out. Most of the missionaries here are Brazilian because they only have to be in for three weeks. / The food here is AMAZING! It´s basically just carbs and protein all day everyday with some fresh fruit and Guarana. They mix it up with some American style food on the weekends but it´s all good. I have been being really careful though. Everyone in my district is trying to gain weight so they eat as much as they can at every meal but I just eat what they give me and a lot of fruit and vegetables. I´ve already lost about four pounds so let´s keep it up! / I really do love it here and haven´t been homesick at all. Not that I don´t love you all but they keep us so busy that there isn´t really any time to think about home. Since it is our first week we have a bunch of special meetings so maybe things will get more chill after this week. / The coolest thing is that they let us out pretty much whenever we want so we have walked around the MTC several times and the neighborhood is very friendly and there is a lot of cool stuff to check out. There is an American cookie shop across the street called Mr. Cheney´s. Diet Coke is called Coke Light. Medical stuff is pretty much free so sorry mom and dad for making you pay for all those shots. The World Cup is going on right now and it is crazy here. The city goes silent during the game and when they score it just erupts in fireworks and horns! It is so cool! All the Brazilian missionaries sit by the windows waiting to here the noises and they can keep score. There are brazilian flags and fireworks everywhere, it´s really cool to be in a place where people have so much pride in their country. / Anyway, my time is almost up so I need to finish it up. I love you all so much and I am praying for you all back home like I hope you are praying for me, I´m going to need all the help I can get to learn this language. / Stay Classy! Elder T

MacLane has arrived in Brazil!

Look at the handsome elder on the left. He's still smiling.

Let's Get It Started!

Ola friends, family, and anyone else who has stumbled upon my blog!

I've created this blog to chronicle my mission in Brazil Sao Paulo Interlagos and share my stories, feelings, and opinions for everyone back home! Plus, this should be much easier for my less than tech-savvy parentals than having them email everyone.

Anyway, this time next week I will be in Brazil! It seems so incredible and scary that time has flown so quickly. It seems like I got my call weeks ago but it has almost been six months! I am so ready to get out of the SLC, but I'm going to miss all of you. The last six months have been such a blur but thanks to my ever OCD mom I got all my supplies and stuff months ago. I must say I'm pretty proud of my tie collection and I finally found the perfect red and white tie to finish it up! Unfortunately I've been told silk ties get destroyed by the heat and humidity so my efforts may have been in vain, of course...

My farewell speech (I call it a speech because it has always bothered me that we call them talks. It sounds so trivial and the people are speaking so it should be called a speech. whatever.) is coming along nicely. I gave it in single's ward a couple weeks ago but I think I'm going to tweak it a little bit. Sunday is probably going to be the last day I see most of you before I leave because I get set apart Sunday afternoon. Temple extravaganza on Monday! It's pretty much the only thing I can do other than pack.

I should be getting my visa, plane tickets, and name tags in the mail today! I'm so excited to be able to just touch my name tag! 'Elder Taggart' how awesome is that!?!

Right now, I am so excited to get out there and get started! I have been so scared lately but I just have to have courage and trust that whatever is supposed to happen is going to happen. I love all of you so much and hope to hear from you! My testimony is growing stronger everyday and I can't wait to share it!

Stay Classy,
MacLane Winsor Taggart