Week 4 of Miriam's Mission (MTC)

 I work five days a week at the dental lab in Provo and I'm usually very strict about being on my phone during work hours. Never in my life have I had social media apps on my phone because I don't like getting disturbed by all the notifications. In fact, even when I'm home, I keep everything on silent so much that I'm a very hard person to get a hold of. 

After Miriam left for Brazil, I soon realized that Facebook Messenger is the main way missionaries communicate with family - so naturally I have the Messenger App now to talk with Miriam. She's four hours a head of us and often the middle part of her day falls into my morning shift where she messages the most. Her notifications have a specific sound so I know it's her. In those moments, I'll break my policy to quickly glance at my phone. I'll gladly welcome interruptions from her any time of day!!! How did missionary moms ever survive without this amazing way of communicating??!! 

Sometimes she'll message me right when she gets up at 6am (which is 2am for me). The other morning I was awakened to one of those early texts from her saying, "IT'S GrounNd HoG DAY!" I had to hold my laugh in so as not to wake Joseph. That's her sense of humor kicking in over the monotony of day-in and day-out exact-same study routines in the MTC.  When she can joke like that, I feel like she'll be alright! 

Speaking of routines, she sent some photos of her in one of them. :) She didn't email this week but sent lots of pictures.

Happy.                                                                      Serious.

Happy....                                                                      Serious.... real serious!

Miriam finishes the MTC on Tues. Feb. 28th and leaves to her first area. 

Miriam with her MTC district. The man in the center with the white tag is Irmão Deivyd, one of their instructors. The missionaries loved him! He was very easy-going and had a fun attitude. 

The man in the center with the white tag of this picture is Irmão Zarza, one of their instructors. She said this instructor seemed like he hated his job. He never smiled in class and always seemed so gloomy. One morning, he slunked into class, put his back against the wall and slid down to the floor putting his face in his hands. This was typical of him. Every morning when the missionaries asked how he was doing, his answer was always, "Sad." He never said why, just seemed miserable all the time. He looks happy in this picture but maybe his smile is a little forced. Not sure what he was going through but I feel bad for the guy!

This is the missionaries last trip to the Sao Paulo Temple. When Miriam arrives in Piracicaba she'll be two hours away and I don't think they'll have that opportunity then. In the MTC they went every Friday for P-Day and they'd do Initiatories, Endowment, and Sealings all in one day.

There was a patron in the foreground and these are cropped-in/ zoomed-in photos showing the missionaries trying to photo bomb! 😂    Can you find Miriam in the one on the right?