First email - CTM🇧🇷 (Centro de Treinamento Missionário) — Called to Serve in Curitiba Sul: Elder Ryker Roskelley

Ola amigos,

Twenty six days in. First email and first week in the Brazil CTM was tough but such an awesome learning experience! It was so fun finally being able to meet my companions and district in person. They are all such solid individuals.

The CTM is not really what I had expected it to be hahaha. It's just a 6 story building in the middle of São Paulo that is fenced in with barbed wire. Elder Adam's first thought he said was this is like a Missionary Juvy hahaha had me dying. But I do get to play basketball everyday for an hour so I'm happy. When we got dropped off at the CTM entrance last Thursday no one greeted us so we just wandered around for about 40 minutes and finally the people found us and showed us our room hahaha. I've realized you just gotta go with the flow around here cause everyone is so relaxed. We also didn't get our schedule till the 3rd day so the first few days were pure confusion.

I'll tell you what a mission ain't easy and learning Portuguese is not easy. I've been struggling to understand anything and basically everyone only speaks Portuguese. After many prayers and a lot of faith I've realized I just need to put my faith in the Lord and trust in Him and His power. Without Him we are nothing. This past week has been one of the most difficult/spiritually powerful weeks of my life, but I've found that when I give Him my best He provides the rest.

President David L. Beck (CTM President) spoke to us last night and it was really uplifting. In his talk he said "To know of Jesus Christ is one thing, but getting to personally know Him is everything." That hit me. A personal testimony is everything. He also emphasized that there is simply no better place for any of us to be, than on a mission. I believe that! I know I am where I'm supposed to be and I can't wait to serve the people of Brasil.

Also who knew there are so many genuinely kind people in this world. The Brazilians are the most genuine and friendly people ever. Even though it's hard to understand each other I've been able to create so many strong relationships with the people here within the span of 7-8 days. It's lit!

Love you all!! Hope everyone is doing well! Here's some chill pictures from the Campinas temple today and others from throughout the week.

Love,

Elder Roskelley

ryker.roskelley@missionary.org

p.s. Note from Mama Lynda. . . Ryker’s P-day is on Thursday, while he’s at the CTM until he leaves for Curitiba South on May 17th. He would love to hear from you!