SWEATER WEATHER

Its officially sweater weather here in Rio Grande do Su! It's actually been getting pretty chilly. The days are pretty warm but it gets cold in the nights and mornings. Not much happened this week - kinda just the normal routine. I'm still not used to getting up at 6:30 every day. We decided to get creative in our effort to help one of our investigators quit smoking... We made a tea out of cigarettes (empty the contents of 3 cigs in a mug, pour hot water in, 3 ice cubes, stir, CHUG, the smoke a cigarette after). We learned it from a member who used it on his mission to help people stop smoking. Apparently once you smoke after drinking it, your throat just burns and your body rejects what you're doing. I think its been doing the trick because she's really lessened down on the smoking and like the 2 or 3 that she has smoke since have been super painful. What else? We went to Porto Alegre for a lunch with our zone and another at the stake president's house (lunch was SO good). It was cool hanging out with all the missionaries for the day. We found a ball pit in his house and played in that and also played on the tree house (more like tree mansion) - it was probably a pretty funny site seeing a bunch of 19, 20, 21 year olds in white shirts and ties playing in a ball pit and on a tree house like little kids. Honestly, other than that, not much has happened. My Portuguese is getting better - I understand just about everything that people are saying... I'm just waiting for the point where i can say everything I'm thinking. Everything gets better with time. Today has been  really cool - we woke up super early and hike a mountain to do our personal studies. It was super cool because we found this super cool spot on top of some cliffs that overlook a river. I felt a lot of peace studying up there. Oh yeah, in case you're wondering about the pictures of me in slippers and a polo - that's at the bishop's house. He came and picked us up one night when he saw us walking and said "Elders, you look like you need a break". So he took us to his house, let us take showers, gave us slippers and polos, made us Churrasco, and let us relax! Haha, it was pretty sweet! 

P-Day #2

As we were making our way to the beach Saturday for Danny to try out his new surfboard, we were excited to get our weekly email from Daniel. He used his email time in intervals, so it was fun to chat with him a little back and forth, and I was even emailing him at the time that Danny came in from surfing with a new "star" on his forehead from his run-in with his surfboard.

This week he said he was especially happy to get letters and his favorite - Krispy Kreme donuts. Ryan, his nephew, helped deliver the donuts to the MTC. Here are a couple fun pictures of him holding them:

Here are some of the thoughts that Daniel had to share this week:

This week has been pretty long but good! That first weekend was rough and now the time here at the MTC is fine. That first weekend is just a lot to take in but now I'm a pro at the MTC. Gym time is my favorite time of the day. We play volleyball and we get pretty competitive (even though we're not supposed to) hahaha. I'm not going to lie, I'm having a hard time typing correct English right now because I keep wanting to spell words like I would in Portuguese. We do like 8 hours a day! My teachers are awesome, Irmao Khang and Irmao Pinho. Irmao Pinho is a fun guy, we like to give him a hard time. He's a native Brazilian and has only been speaking English for two years so we teach him English slang and he teaches us Portuguese slang. He also gets us really excited to go to Brazil by telling us things like the missionaries NEVER go hungry anywhere in Brazil because Brazilians believe that everyone deserves food because it is one of the basic necessities of life (so even if they don't want to listen to our message, they'll still feed us.) Apparently December is the month that Brazil is always full because that is the month of the mango and mangoes just pop out like crazy. He said trees line the roads and you can just walk up and grab a mango. :) He said the food there is SO much better than here and everyone in Brazil is friendly even if they don't want to hear our message. Oh, he also said that we don't have to ever worry about danger as long as you're not out at like 2 in the morning. I'm super excited to go, hopefully I can get my visa soon! We teach lessons everyday and we'll be teaching two tonight! It's hard but I'm definitely getting better. I don't take notes with me anymore (just a dictionary for words I don't know) and I can form sentences pretty well! Next week we'll be skyping people in Brazil. Hope all is well with everyone! Write me letters!  Tchau, tchau! -Elder Sanok

Elder Daniel Joseph Sanok, III
BRA-PAS
2007 N 900 E Unit 96
Provo, UT 84602

While he is at the MTC you can also send letters via dearelder.com -- they print them, stuff them, seal them and deliver them that day if you get it in by 12 MST (Choose Provo MTC, use Unit 96 for the unit# and March 04 for estimated MTC departure date). He'd love to hear from ya'll!!!

 

Daniel's First PDay

Hi everyone! 
We were in the middle of just some Saturday shopping when we received our first emails from Daniel, on his first P-Day!! We were excited to hear from him and thankful that Target had free WiFi so we could reply to him right away and hear back from him! Here's a little bit from Daniel about his first few days in the Utah MTC: 

I got all your Dear Elder letters but not until last night because we didn't have a mail key yet! Thanks for all those thoughts! 

We're busy at the MTC everyday, going from 6:30 until 9:30 pm everyday, but it sure is interesting! I was excited to find out that every Friday night is Papa Johns night! The food here is good, but it is nice to have some food from outside of the MTC every now and then.

Saturdays are my P-Days while I'm at the MTC. We get to wear normal clothes all day. We're still doing work, but it's a lot more of a relaxing day and it's nice to sit in normal clothes (my jeans and a hoodie). 

The guys in my district are super cool! We all get along great! I got really lucky because we're all good friends. My companion is Elder Gonzalez and he is really cool. The other 3 guys are Elder Lamb, Elder Homer, and Elder Petersen. I'm the only one going to Porto Alegre. They're going to Sao Paulo and my companion is going to Salvador. 

Along with Papa Johns Friday, we now have Pink Tie Day! As we were walking out of our rooms Friday on our way to get breakfast after we got ready, we realized we all had pink ties on, so now we have pink tie day!

The Portuguese is coming along. We started learning it the very first day. I was walking into the classroom and the teacher, Brother Pinnho, was only speaking Portuguese so we all looked like deer in headlights. But I'm doing well with it! I can understand the majority of what he's saying and can speak it semi-well. It's amazing how far we've all come in only 4 days! I love the language!! It was crazy because I was forming sentences so fast and well and was pronouncing things beautifully! The elders in our zone who have been here for a few weeks already speak it almost fluently and said we'll be like that after only about 3 weeks!! We already pray and sing in Portuguese! 

Eu sei que a igreja e verdadeira. Eu sei que o Filho de Deus e Meu Salvador. Eu sei que as familias sao eternas. Eu sei que Deus e Jesus Cristo me amo. Eu sei que a escrituras sao verdadeiras. Eu amo A lgreja de Jesus Cristo Dos Santos Ultimos Dias! Em nome de Jesus Cristo, Amen!

It's time.

Well guys, this is it. Bags are packed. White shirt is ironed. Shoes are polished. It's time to become a missionary! I am so excited for this journey I am about to embark on! I am thankful for everyone who has supported me and shown me love throughout my life. Without all of you, I wouldn't be the person I am today. It feels like just yesterday I was out in Rexburg, surrounded by tons of friends and on that huge skype conference call with my family, opening my mission call letter that told me I would be leaving behind everything to go out to Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil to serve the people there for two years. It's going to be awesome. This is an experience that I know I will treasure for the rest of my life. I love you all and want to hear updates on your lives! Peace out! Tchau!