On Tuesday, It's Up Up and Away!!!

Hey every body:)!! So this is my last email at the MTC!!! Can you believe that? I can't believe how fast time flew by here!! It seems like it was only yesterday that I was dropped off and now I'm leaving at 5a.m on Tuesday morning!! I'm so EXCITED!! As for the language, I've improved a lot lately in the past couple of weeks. When I got here, I never would have imagined myself bearing my testimony or praying in Portuguese. Now we can have conversations in Portuguese!! We probably sound terrible, but we can do it!! Me and Elder Bell have been walking around the campus and bearing our testimony to other elders in Portuguese. It has been a lot of fun and has really improved our language skills I think!! Best way to improve in the language is to speak it. So what we would do, is one of us will bear our testimony in Portuguese, and the other one will translate in English!! It's a lot of fun and we switch off every other time:) Funny story about the language though. The other day, me and Elder Bell were teaching a lesson in Portuguese to two other elders that were pretending to be investigators! Well I started saying the opening prayer, and while I was saying the prayer, I accidentally said "Por favor abancoa estes pecadores", which means please bless these sinners. I meant to say "Por favor abancoa estes pesquisadores" which means please bless these investigators. It was hilarious. Elder Bell was trying not to laugh, and the funniest part was the elders we were teaching were newer elders than us, so they had no idea what I said. Anyways, I'm sure that stuff like that is going to happen in Portugal, but it's all part of the learning process!!!

So for those that don't know, we got our travel plans last week!! We are flying from the Salt Lake Airport to Chicago. In Chicago, we have a 4 hour layover. Then we fly from Chicago to Paris France!!!! We have a 5 hour layover in Paris, and then we finally get to fly into Lisbon!!! I'm so excited!! We are leaving the MTC at about 5 a.m. on Tuesday. Only 3 full days left here at the MTC!!! I'm very excited!!

So our district has a goal. At either the Salt Lake or the Chicago airport, we are going to try and place at least one Book of Mormon!! I bought a 2 dollar Book of Mormon at the bookstore and wrote my testimony on the front page. Then I marked a paragraph in the introduction to the Book of Mormon and I also marked Moroni 10: 3-5. I hope we can give them away!! It's going to be so different when we get out there in the real world!! I'm very excited though!! Not that I don't love the MTC, but I'm so ready to leave it and talk to all kinds of people!!

Well, I love you all. Thank you for being the best family ever!!!! I keep all of you in my thoughts and in my prayers everyday. Just so everybody knows, after Monday, my new address for letters will be:

Elder Coulton Willes

Portugal Lisbon Mission

Apt. 40054

1500- Lisbon

Portugal

So write to me there after Monday... that's the mission home. They'll send it to wherever my area is!!

I love you all and miss you so much!! Keep the letters coming and let me know how everything is!! Here is my testimony in Portuguese. I will probably misspell nearly all of the words, but most of you won't even know it, so it doesn't matter:)!!!;)

Eu sei que este igreja e verdadeiro. Eu sei que este evangelho e o evangelho de Jesus Cristo. Jesus Cristo e nosso salvador. Ele morreu para nos. altra vez a expiacao de Jesus Cristo, nossa familia podem viver sempre tempo em eternidad. nos podemos ter uma familia eternal. Eus sei que Joseph Smith fui Chamou de Deus. Joseph Smith fui uma profeta verdadeiro. Eu sei que o Livro de Mormon e a Palavra de Deus e se nos vivemos e obedicemos os palavras de Deus, nos podemos ter vida eterna. eu sei minha missao e o trabalho de Deus. Eu sou grato por este oportunidade. Eu amo Todos voces.

Love you all.

Bye:)

Elder Coulton Willes