Elder Zachary Hoskin enters the Sao Paulo Brazil MTC

On July 27, Zachary entered the MTC in Sao Paulo. Here are a few exerpts from his first email to us: I have a companion named elder chamberlain, he is from Philidelphia! We are representing the east coast, everyone out here is from washington or oregon basically, becaus eof the visa problems through the LA consulate. there were 6 of us who arrived on july 27th, and there was supposed to be 30. that is the way it is almost every week here, so it really is a huge blessing that i was able to get my visa. I am picking up portuguese very well! my teacher said that i have a very good accent, or lack thereof. french is seriously helping me out, alot, so thats also good. My teacher is studying french right now, so i am actually also teaching him a little bit of french. Which is sweet! they called me to be the district leader two days ago, so thats what i am. Everyone in my district thought it was going to be me, beacause they always make a big deal about who is going to be the district leader whenever a new batch of muissionaries show up. so i got that calling, and i think that i am up for it. It will give me plenty of good experience in the field. one thing that i have noticed is that i can focus alot more on my portuguese becasue the preach my gospel and the doctrines around it, which are pretty basic, i already have a great grasp of. rosetta stone really helped me in that my pronounciation, like i said before with my teacher saying i dont have an accent, is good for the different combos of letters. this morning i went through a session in the Sao Paulo Temple. It was great! It was truly beautiful, and i learned more like people always say they do. I had the older movie this time, which i actually liked alot better. I havent had trouble waking up, although i have had some ´trouble´going to sleep. I put it in quotes like that because whenever i lay in bed, as im falling asleep, i just think of michelle, so it keeps my up a little bit but i like doing it, im never going to forget her, or lose contact with her, and im very excited. I am the only person in my distric with a girlfriend. they were all skeptical, as usual, until i briefly explained out situation, saying how michelle is going to also go on a mission. And they all thought that was really sweet. the classes are really long, which is a pain. they were about 3.5 hours each, but noow theyre just coming out with a new schedule, and theyre going to be about 4.5 hours long a piece. Lots of work! I´ve met many brazilians, which has actually been fun. We have been playing volleyball, and i have basically been doing well with my height and all which is nice. theres a board in the mail office that has every missionary on it, with all their missions and what week theyre in, and i am literally the only one on there going to Londrina brazil. Everyone in my district is going to Rio di ganereo (sp?) and my companion is going way north to fortaleza. so that will be interesting to see whose in my mission, if its alot of brazilians or not. Every time i tell any of the brazilians im going there, they tell me that its going to be cold. Im sure their version of cold is different from my version, but it is very nice to know that its not going to be the same temperature all year round. Also, one of the senior couple sisters told me its very temperate, i~ll get all 4 seasons, and that londrina has the nicest people shes met in brazil, and that its a city of about 300 thousand but it still has a small town feel. Im excited! i met one of the branch presidents within my mission on the plan ride out there, so maybe i´ll run into him again. my mission is pretty small area wise compared to some others, but not nearly as small as the big city missions, which are very dense. I am very Excited to go! Ok, it says that i have 5 minutes left until it closes unsaved, so i will wrap it up. I love you guys, my family and michelle!, and i will get to do this every tuesday! Ps i just went to a brazilian BBQ outside of the MTC and i ate wild boar, and also had a couple of chicken hearts, and they were completely delicious! Among other foods. it has been good here. I am really grateful that i´ve been able to email this and all of that.