Letter from Mission President

Dear Parents,

Sister Swensen and I are very happy to let you know that your missionary has arrived safely at the Brazil Missionary Training Center.  What a great joy and privilege it is to greet each missionary as they begin their missionary experiences with us. We will surely take good care of your missionary.                                                                                                     

The missionaries now have companions and are settled into their rooms.  They are assigned to a district with capable and caring instructors for language and lesson study.  Their branch presidents and wives, will meet them this Sunday.  These wonderful couples are richly blessed as they work with, motivate, and interview the missionaries assigned to their branch.

The MTC has a full-time live-in physician to care for their health needs.  He is assisted by his able wife who is a nurse. We are also happy to report that the cafeteria food is plentiful, healthy and very good.

Your missionary will be able to e-mail home on Preparation Day after a morning at the Temple.  This will be either Wednesday or Friday, depending on individual assignments.

Your missionary is about to make an eternal difference in the lives of many others. President Lorenzo Snow said: “There is no mortal man that is as interested in the success of an elder when he is preaching the Gospel as is the Lord who sent him to preach to the people who are the Lord's children".  We love these missionaries as if they were our own.  We will watch over them carefully to ensure they are ready for a wonderful missionary experience after the rewarding time they will have in the MTC.

We thank you for preparing such a wonderful representative of the Lord.

President Robert Swensen and Sister Julie Swensen

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION . . .  

PLEASE DO NOT SEND PACKAGES to the Brazil Missionary Training Center. All packages must be sent directly to the mission where your missionary will be serving not the MTC. If you have already mailed a package to the Brazil MTC, please understand that the package cannot be forwarded to his or her mission and will be returned to you.

WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE SENDING HAND WRITTEN LETTERS. Please write your missionary´s first and last name. Your missionary will provide you with his district and box number. Also, please DO NOT SEND ANYTHING BY FEDEX, DHL, UPS, or other private carriers.  The cost to process this type of correspondence is exorbitant.

Arrival in Brazil

July 30th, 2014

Oi mi familia, I find myself in quite a different circumstance than what I am used to. However, when ever I feel doubt of discouragement I offer a prayer and study the scriptures, Preach My Gospel and I feel peace. Thank you my dear brothers for your flight letters I was so glad to feel of your love for me. I know that my Father in Heaven loves me, it is a miracle that we arrived at the MTC without being robbed or some other calamity befall us; all of these miracles were enacted by willing, courageous, helpful people that allowed The Spirit to work through them. Elder Patterson and I did not intersect the other missionaries as we were expecting to in Salt Lake; we greeted them just in time to board our flight to Sao Paulo the plane didn't leave for a good while after we boarded, but we were thankful non-the-less. Elder Patterson and I aproached several people in Salt Lakel; I was able to share a pass-along card with a methodist woman from New York, I do believe that she felt the spirit bear witness that we love God and sincerely desired to share the message of Jesus Christ with others. On the flight to Sao Paulo I sat next to Elder Numbers which turned out to be quite a pleasant flight considering the time travel of about 9 hours. Elder Numbers' mother is from Brasil and he understands Portuguese quite well, we shared some study time together and he thanked me very sincerely for having my study materials accessable. Which remindes me, Mother, thank you for the last minute nut mix, Elder Numbers and I enjoyed most of them while we waited for dinner to be served. Well, rest assured that I am well taken care of, I am accompained by a band of about 6 Brasilia bound missionaries all of which are brand new, I'm not sure if there will be others joining us, but everyone seems quite excited. One of the Elders is from CT and knows the Rosdahls- Elder Neelman? My compainion is Elder Goodsell, he seems like a fun guy- plays frisbee- on a team, yah. Well talk to you later, I love you.

 

Elder Anderson