Hey every one!!!

Wow it seems like it was yesterday that I was on here typing up my last email!! Time flies!! Well the countdown is coming to an end, only about 11 more days until we head out to Portugal! I'm so excited!!:) It's going to take me a while to get used to everything over there and I probably won't even understand what the people over there are saying for a while, but I'm so excited!! Not that I don't just LOVE the MTC, but I'm ready to get over to Portugal:)

Well, this last week was great!! Same schedule we have as always!! This last week our district has been trying to speak as much Portuguese as we possibly can. It's crunch time here at the MTC, so we are all trying really hard to get the language down and everything! This next week, me and Elder Bell are going to make it a goal that we teach at least 3 lessons in Portuguese a day so yesterday during planning, we spent a lot of our time walking around the building trying to find other elders to teach. Then we would pencil them into our schedules. It was funny, I told Elder Bell that we should just pretend that the carpeted hallways are cobblestoned streets of Portugal so we felt a little more like missionaries. We even knocked on some classroom doors;) Hmmm well, as for our weekly teaching activity yesterday, we were teaching someone who had just lost a family member, so it was pretty tough, not to mention the TEACHING IT IN PORTUGUESE part. It went pretty well though! We taught him the Plan of Salvation and how through it, he can see that lost family member again. We also talked about the atonement of Jesus Christ to him and I shared John 3:16. After the lesson, he told us we did good and the only thing we should work on was to not worry so much about the language as we were. It was pretty comforting to hear that, I was surprised because he said he understood everything I said:) wow:) ha.

Hosting was so great!!! It was so much fun!!! (Don't worry, I didn't scare any missionaries off). It was great though, they had a quick little training course for us. Then we got to go to lunch early, which is always a good thing. Then after that we went to our assigned stations. It was a lot of fun. Our group would stand at a station and when a car would pull up, two of us would walk up to it. One missionary would greet the family and ask where they were from, and the other missionary would greet the new elder and help him with his bags, then lead him to where he needs to go. After that, you have to hustle back to your station! It was a lot of fun. I did my best to be friendly and comfort the new elder and family I was assigned to, however, he didn't need it. This Elder was very independent. Kind of interesting to watch the parents. You can tell they are trying as hard as they can to act like they are completely happy and fine that they are dropping their son off. Yet when they finally do, most of them would get tears in their eyes and they would hurry and put their sunglasses back on so that we couldn't see. When they talked, you could tell they had lost it. It reminded me of the day I was dropped off. It seems so long ago yet at the same time like it was only yesterday. Oh and I saw Devin Jackman's mom drive past. It was so funny, she yelled to me "Elder Willes, you go find my son and comfort him. We wanted to have you as our host dangit." ha. It was great. So hosting was awesome, and the great news is WE GET TO DO IT AGAIN NEXT WEEK!!! yeah!!

Well, my time is running short again, but just so you all know, everything is going great here. I hope everything is great for you guys as well. I pray for you all every night and every morning. I love you all. Here is my testimony in Portuguese.

Eu sei que este evangelho e verdadeiro. Eu sei que Jesus Cristo e nosso salvador. Jesus Cristo morreu para nos, Jesus Cristo sofremente a expiecao para nossos pecados. Eu amo meu salvador. Eu amo todos voces! sou grato que nos estamos uma familia em o evangelho de Jesus Cristo. Eu sei que Deus e nosso Pai Celestial e ele tem um plano para nos, ele tem um plano para nossa familia que nos podemos voltar a sua presenca. Eu sei que Joseph Smith fui uma profeta verdadeiro. Eu sei que Thomas S. Monson e uma profeta verdadeiro tam bem. Eu amo minha familia.

I love you all so much, you're the best!!! Only one more email for you while I'm here at the MTC!!!

Take care!

Elder Coulton Willes