AnneMarie and I were both overjoyed to receive your letter in the mail. This may be long (we'll see) so, perhaps, print it off and read it later today.
First, excellent penmanship sir! I haven't witnessed everyone's handwriting in the family, and this isn't to say mine's bad, but I believe you may lay claim to the best handwriting in the family. Bravo. Nothing worse than getting a letter from a missionary in which you spend time deciphering what language it's in.
Second, as you well know, you are an Uncle to a beautiful niece. So, congratulations! and thank you to me for not making you wait 5-7 years for the honor :) She's a wonderful baby, sleeps, eats like crazy, and has more hair than her dad (me!). Of course we'll send you lots of pictures because by the time you get back she'll be walking, talking, and, who know, rock climbing or something.
Ok, you had some questions for me: Asking about my language timeline was a great question. It's something I thought a lot about during my mission as I tried to help younger missionaries succeed. I'd break it down like this for me but remember that everyone's may be different depending on different factors like your effort studying, whether you have a native companion or not, and mission guidelines about speaking your language.
I didn't feel truly fluent probably until a year, or thereabouts. I felt pretty good at six months, but there were still moments where the investigator would look over at me and I'd realize they didn't understand a thing I'd said. My first companion was American, but, comparatively, I spoke a lot of Portuguese with him. Then I had a string of three transfers without an English speaking companion. That helped me a lot and forced me to learn how to express feelings and paint pictures in the language. Then I had an American companion, then two Brazilian companions in a row that cemented my fluency.
You can't request companions, but you can force yourself to "Forget your[language] and go to work." That's the single most important thing. The other thing was that the elders who focused on learning Brazilian slang may have picked up some cool linguistic quirks but their ability to teach and preach suffered. Your language will be blessed as you focus on cultivating the language of a missionary and I found that studying the scriptures and Preach My Gospel in Portuguese--exclusively--helped me to do that.
I'd love to hear more about your day to day work and the people you're working with--members and investigators--in your letters. We don't need anything back from Brazil but if you wanted to grab us a post card on your way out in a year and a half then that'd be great.
Know we love you & pray for you daily. Can't wait to receive your next letter in the mail : )
Abracao,
Tanner (& Nora)
T.S. - these are my initials ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment