Week 3 in the MTC

Oi famíilia

I can't believe another week has gone by already! The days are so long here but the weeks just fly by like they never even happened! This is a good thing though because as great as the MTC is, I still can't wait to get into the field! I do have to say I am kinda sad right now but only because all my international friends from Brazil and France are leaving today and Wednesday! :( I am a little jealous that they only had to stay three weeks here because there speaking English, lucky dogs! Tcox will be here for the perfect amount of time, three weeks. 3 weeks would be perfect but no I have.. get to, stay here for 9 weeks!! Its going to be a journey for sure. I do have to say that I have really fallen in love with the MTC though the only reason I want to leave is because I want to actually teach people! I am so excited to get out there and share this amazing message that we have for them. Sorry if I don't answer questions that you may have written in DearElders because they are moving the post office place so I won't get any DearElders till Wednesday or Thursday I think, which is going to suck. This week has been really crazy as usual, but so enjoyable as well. P-days are always a nice break from the intense schedule that we have to follow everyday. Laundry is always exciting because you have hundreds of Elders and Sisters trying to do all their laundry at the same time and there are never enough washers to go around. So everyone is waiting for someone's load to be done so they can use it. Its crazy. It's funny to watch some people get really upset and frustrated with it. I like to just sit and laugh. The problem I have is I don't know how much soap to put in. So I just put as much as my little heart wants. It seems to have worked out so far. My clothes always come out clean and smell good and that's all that matters to me!
Our Tuesday devotional was pretty good. Jay E. Jenson spoke. It was helpful he talked about how lots of missionaries get discouraged because their investigators don't except their commitment invitations. He taught that we all have to look for what he called the "gorilla walking across the room" which means the hidden things that the investigators will say or do that a lot of missionaries don't catch. It was a very good talk as usual. Sunday fireside was good last night. We watched a small video about 9/11 and then the motab choir did a concert kinda thing for 9/11 that we watched. It was pretty intense. There where a lot of tears in the crowd. It even got me a little, which it really never has before. I think this is because the whole big message was families. It really touched my heart about how many people lost there loved ones. It gave me an even greater love for you guys and how truly much I love you.
I cant even describe the ways my mission has already changed my life! Its truly amazing how much love the Lord has for all of us. The experiences I have had here are incredible. I already know that this is one of the best decisions I have made in my life. The things I have learned the things I've felt are impossible to describe. The Spirit is so strong here at the MTC. Anywhere I go, I know its right with me. A lot of speakers tell us that we have angels lifting us up here and as missionaries and I know its true. I have changed so much in how I act and how I look at things. I know it's the Spirit teaching me what I am truly supposed to be. One of the biggest lessons I have learned here is to rely upon the Lord. I have been humbled so much these past weeks. With trying to learn a new language, leaving everything I've ever known, and not being able to talk to those I love. It really has been a humbling experience and I've learned that I can not do this by myself. I know that the Lord is helping me in ways I don't even know. But he has really helped me in ways I could never forget. I have really learned how to depend on the Lord. Prayer has helped me so much here. My prayers have really become one of the most important things to me here. They help me so much through out the day.
On another note, Portuguese lol what a smack in the face that has been. But the really cool thing is these past couple of days I have been doing pretty well with it. I can actually understand some that my teachers say while standing there and talking for six hours a day! lol which has turned out to be very helpful, considering in the past I sat there and looked at them with a confused look on my face and just asked my companion what they where saying. But I have been doing good just the last few days which I am really excited about! Whenever I say a sentence in Portuguese in class everyone claps because I actually know something. lol The Lord is the only reason I have learned what I have in Portuguese because, well, I cant do it myself lol.
My district is so cool! Everyone gets a long really well which is a huge thing here at the MTC. A lot of districts have some problems. One just had a kid go home because he was sick of everyone around him. But mine gets along so well. Its really cool to see how we have bonded and come together. My companion, Elder Rawlings, and I are still doing good. We tease each other a lot so that's always fun. He makes fun of my Portuguese... everyone does. lol but its all in good fun. We are still getting a long well and haven't had any big arguments yet. We have this window we always go look out when we are sad. lol We call it the Window of Life. haha We even wrote a poem about it that is three pages long. lol I have to admit we are pretty good poem writers! But the window just looks over all of Provo and we can see pretty much all of BYU which is cool. It always makes us happier to to look out and know there is still a real world out there. Our district always has someone tell their life story when we finally get back to our rooms. So wee all know each other pretty well. lol There are a lot of different backgrounds; some pretty amazing, others usual, and others pretty bad, but we all get along so well its amazing really.
We get in 50 mins of gym time and we always go play soccer which is awesome!! There are so many kids that are so good its pretty crazy haha but 50 of us play at the same time of day. It is not even close to enough to what we need so there is always some goofing around in the residence halls at night lol There just so happens to be some wrestlers by us and one in my district so there is always a wrestling match going on in a room with everyone watching. lol Its funny to see everyone wrestle. It makes me laugh! I hadn't really gotten into the whole wrestling in the rooms because the floors are literally crappy carpet on cement lol so its super hard. But the other night Elder Fish who wrestled in Washington but on the other side of the state he wrestled 135 and his companion who is a huge black guy lol he is like 6'3 easy 200+ pounds and nothing but muscle like seriously one of the most cut guys I have ever seen!! lol we where just messing with each other poking fun and then Elder McIntyre who is the huge guy and I were just playing and pushing around then we started wrestling lol pretty crazy lol after a little big of crashing into things I finally took him down lol but in the process got some pretty bad rug burns and a bump on the head lol I have rug burns across my forehead and next to my eye lol it looks like I was in a bar fight or something haha he got a pretty good cut on his back from the bunk bed lol I got some pretty good pictures of my head I'll have to send you but in the end I won so don't worry lol everyone was surprised I won haha but it was all in the name of good fun. Plus I'm not someone to back down from a challenge lol but I'm all good and we are still friends haha
The food is still the same lol it tastes pretty good most of the time but your belly never likes it lol
I hope Zoe starts to like the school. I was sad to hear she had to sit on the floor for lunch because the cafeteria was to small. They should make one like the MTCs. Its so biiiiig! haha Oh dad for the host thing you only get to do it your 8th week in the MTC and they just ask you to do it so we will have to see. It would be fun to do that. When does T-Cox come here?? Not a lot of Visa stuff going on here yet about 5 Elders got theirs this week and are leaving to the Brazil MTC so that's lucky, but still no word on my stuff which kinda sucks. A lot of people are getting reassigned to the US the last group had a lot of people get assigned to Provo lol how lucky! I'll let you now whenever I hear about my stuff for sure. I haven't heard from Madi in over a week how is she dong? Must be staying busy with school. I guess you guys stopped paying her to be my friend. lol jk jk I got a letter from Tcox which was awesome and Marissa!! that was really cool and I did get the letters from the primary kids haha that was nice of them to remember me lol they only wrote me to get points for class, they made sure to tell me that haha Well I am doing good here nothing bad has happened oh wait lol a guy in our district tore his ACL and is getting surgery tomorrow and one of the sisters in our district a has a nasty infection from here foot. But I'm great, just some scabs on my head lol and still working hard with everything. I love you all hope you have a great week. Can't wait to here from you! I miss you tons and love you more!!

Love Elder Novakovich