Every day brings me closer to that anticipated day in late July or early August when I hop on a plane to Campo Grande. Each day is an emotional rollercoaster. Some days I am SOOO excited and all I can think about is how much I want to leave as soon as possible! Other days I feel paralyzed with fear and doubt about if I can really do something so incredibly challenging. Most of all I am terrified of not being with my family. The culture and the language will be difficult to adapt to but I am primarily going to experience and learn from those things. But it's difficult and painful to imagine what I will say to my family as I get on the plane, knowing I won't see them in person for eleven months. How will I even look at them?! Of course I won't even be able to speak or see at all since I will be crying too hard so I don't have to worry about those things after all.
Anyhow, no matter how hard this is going to be (and I'm sure I have absolutely no idea how incredibly hard) it will be worth it in the end. It's like a mission! What's comforting is that I can ALWAYS rely on Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to be with me through the difficult times when all I want is to talk to someone and and tell them how I'm feeling but I can't. God speaks all languages. I'm sure that over this experience I will learn to trust my Heavenly Father more than ever before. That kind of growth alone will make my entire exchange worth it!
I've already experienced many tender mercies involving my exchange and one of the bigger ones was when Luke Wilson from my ward offered to help me with my Portuguese! I kind of volunteered him for the job when I mentioned that he will have to help me learn Portuguese before I go to Brazil during sacrament meeting when I spoke at his homecoming. He was really cool about it and actually said that he would help me out after the meeting! So we have met two times now and I have already made some serious progress! (at least in my mind!) Portuguese is really similar to Spanish but I am having a hard time with some of the pronunciations. But I think I'm getting it down.Another blessing is the that of modern technology. I have listened to 3 chapters of 1 Nephi in Portuguese and it's really awesome! I don't understand anything but Portuguese is a beautiful language to listen to!
I am so grateful to be going to Campo Grande, Brazil. It's absolutely the perfect place for me and I am so excited to finally go in about FIVE MONTHS! This whole opportunity is a blessing and an adventure beyond my wildest dreams! :) :) :) :)
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