CTM on Google map?

Check it out! Can you see the really narrow green track just left of center (north side of road) in the picture? The CTM is either the building on it's left or right. Aaaaaah - Google maps!

Okay, we found out the large white building(s) on the south side of the road (across street and west a bit from the track) is the CTM. That makes sense; it looks like a church-owned building with the green out front, etc.

Courtyard of the Sao Paulo CTM  

Sons

Just a little humorous exchange between E McGregor and his mom yesterday via email:

Hey Elder;
Weird question:
When you vacuumed the stairs with the Dyson you'd use the hose thingy and put a vacuum attachment on the end of it. Did the attachment have rotating bristles? I can't find that. Do you know where it is?
Thank you son -
Mum

No, it didn´t. Still works pretty well though. =]

Hmmmm. When I tried doing the stairs the attachment kept coming off unless I held it on with my hand. I wasn't impressed ; )

You´ll just have to work on your vacuuming skills.
Missing my free labor yet? ;)
Love you!

Free labor ! ha!

Hey, Matt was saying to try cupuaçu juice You can get it by turning left as you go out of the CTM and just head all the way down to the corner on that same side of the street. There should be a juice stand there. He said that fruit is soooooo good. It was his favorite.

Love you !
Mom
ps - I just found that you can make that squiggly under the c by typing 'option c' and then 'c' again. xooxoo

I´ll try the juice! BTW, the ç is called a cedilla.
Love you!


ha ha ha - gotta love these boys. Free labor. It was his one chore besides skimming the pool Sheesh! =]

P-day email #2

This week was Trent answering some of the questions we emailed and then some disjointed emails back and forth about what to do with a box of shoes he left and things like that.

Here are the questions from Bryon, with Trent's answers;

Do you think they are feeding you lots of rice and beans so that once you've had your fill, they will put veggies on your plate and you will be overjoyed to eat them?

- I could eat rice and beans and only rice and beans every meal for two years and still be happy not eating vegetables. I think. I´ll just have to try it, no?

How are the desserts (besides Mr. Cheney's Cookies)?

- Every single dessert is made of some sort of gelatin. There are some good ones, there are some really bad ones. We had vanilla and chocolate pudding two days ago--that was a first, and a nice change of pace.

Any new and interesting foods that you've not had before?

- Most of the meat at the CTM is really dry, but we eat it anyway. It´s better than nothing, right?

How's the weather?
- Weather is great. Winter in São Paulo is like spring in CA. Perfect. Except it rained last p-day. That was kind of lame. It´s funny--all the brasileiros wear sweaters because they´re ´cold´. Hah.

What is your day like -- give us a description of what you do each day and when it differs, how? What do you do for exercise during gym time?

- I put my schedule in my letter I sent to you guys today, which should get there in about two weeks or something like that. I just got all your first letters two days ago. It takes about 10 days to get here.

Are you now into 'speak your language' mode?

- We actually speak português a lot less than I thought we would in the CTM. We do grammar lessons in class, and do some teaching, but that's about it.  Sad day.  Speaking all the time in português would really make a huge difference.  

When you went to the temple, do you have to use the headsets and listen in English or have your gone native?

- In the temple they play the english language over the speakers because the missionaries dominate the population of each session. We had about 60 elders in our session this morning.

How are the allergies -- you OK?

- My allergies are totally fine, actually. I´m a little surprised, I hope it will stay this way.

Love!

Hmmm, well we're looking forward to the snail mail he sent, as well as upcoming emails. Tchau!

First Snail Mail

Well, something tells me Trent wrote this a while ago. We were to send two American stamps down with them and one of them was used on this letter, which someone must have brought to the US and mailed. He arrived in Brazil on June 3rd; the letter is US postmarked June 8th (he didn't date the letter) and we received it on the 12th.
Here it is --

Hello Family!
Here's the first handwritten letter from your missionary! Make sure, when you're done reading, to check the back for some important info [it was a form "How to send mail to missionaries while they are in the Brazil MTC"]

Everything has gone well so far. The flight from DFW to Sao Paulo was delayed by three hours, so I made it in plenty of time. Both flights were without incident.

Everything at the CTM is going very well. My companion is Elder Sperry from Nephi, UT. He's great -- we get along well. There are ten other missionaries in my district, and we all go to Rio de Janeiro at the end of training.

Well, I'm excited to be here and excited to go to work. I trust everything is going well at home!

Love you all.
Elder McGregor
SFT

[the "SFT" is a family inside joke - it means "Smiley Face Twice," as his grandpa always used to draw two smiley faces at the bottom of letters and then resorted to the quicker method of writing SFT]

That's fun that he's in a district of 12 that are all going to the same mission.
=] =]

Tchau, Ciao, Chau, Chao

I loved that Trent signed off with "Tchau". In Ecuador we said it all the time (adios is more of a permanent goodbye), but spelled it "chau." In Spain and parts of South America it's spelled "chao." And of course it comes from the Italian "ciao".
Tchau!

Elder McGregor's companion is Elder Sperry from Nephi, UT

Trenton's companion, Elder Sperry, is front row second from left.
I replied to Trent's email while he was still online and he said his companion is "the elder just in front of me in the pictures - tall with short black hair." (the short part made me laugh ; )

The first e-mail arrives ....

Boa tarde, família!
How is everyone? I´m here at the CTM in São Paulo. Today is my p-day, so I´m across the street at Mr. Cheney´s Cookies (an internet/cookie shop that´s most likely kept alive by missionaries, haha). But I´m only allowed to email on p-days, so you´ll only hear from me once a week on a regular basis. I´ll probably be on about this same time, if you feel like trying to catch me, haha.
Everything is really great. I´m actually picking up really well on Português. Those terrible two years of spanish are helping a lot. I´ve also never ate so much arroz e feijão in my life (rice and beans, which I´m not getting sick of, surprisingly). My companion is great—he´s from Nephi, UT. Actually, almost my entire district is from UT. Only Elder Johnson (from DC) and I are foreigners to the mórmon mecca. Oh, by the way, if Elder Monson is still a missionary at our ward, tell him Elder Eyering says hello. They know each other apparently.
Eu estou aprendendo muitas coisas no português língua. Eu muito animado ir o Rio de Janeiro!
Eu testifico que o Evangelho de Cristo é verdadeiro. Eu sei que o profeta, Thomas S. Monson é de Deus. Eu sou grato por a oportunidade estar aqui na CTM!
Tchau!
Elder McGregor

P.S. Send mail to this address, if you haven´t gotten my letter yet:

Elder Trenton Ross McGregor
Box #5 District #23A
Rio De Janeiro
Rua Padre Antônio D´Angelo, 121
Casa Verde, São Paulo, SP
Brazil 02516-040