Hey everyone! this week had more ups and downs but it is still good to be here. 

The language is coming along still. Lots of times, it's still pretty hard for me to understand what my teachers and "investigators" (teachers pretending to be investigators) say and it takes me a long time to get my point across. It is tough sometimes, but I've already learned so much. Portuguese is kind of similar to Spanish, and even though I didnt think i learned anything in Spanish class (I'm looking at you Jayk and Sam!) I've been able to use it a lot to learn Portuguese.

My teachers here are great. I have 2 of them right now, and we're getting another one soon. They both went to brazil on their missions and they have taught me so much about the gospel and about Portuguese. 

Here in the MTC, they really emphasize teaching the "Doctrine of Christ" and that is 1. Faith 2. Repentance 3. Baptism 4. Receiving the Holy Ghost and 5. Enduring to the end. We have to ask them to be baptized on the first lesson, and through every lesson invite them to make commitments and in turn, repent. We had a devotional about this last night and it made me realize I have sooo much to learn, not just with Portuguese but with teaching as well!

I keep getting to know my zone better, and I am super lucky to get put with such great guys. They have really helped me adjust to the MTC and are always willing to help me. This past wednesday, we got a new elder named Elder Evens from Mesa, AZ and he's a great guy. In fact, he may be my companion next week because my current 

companion got his visa and he's being transferred to the Brazil MTC on Monday.  I'm super excited that my companion gets to go, he's going to love it! He's way pumped too. My visa should be here soon as well, and if I do get it this week then I'll most likely fly out with my companion. I would love to get it, but if I stay here for the whole 6 weeks then that would be okay too!

The hard thing for me this week besides the language was I got sick. I got a sore throat, and now it hurts to talk and it's always dry! Also, I sound like batman too so that's funny! But it makes it tough because here, all you do is talk. And when you can't talk very well it makes it hard to learn the language and to practice teaching. This morning it was the best it has been all week, so let's pray I'm better by tomorrow!

Anyway, that's about it for me this week. Have an awesome week everyone!

Elder Odom