He made it! (At the bus stop in Sao Paulo!)
Date: Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:42:29
Subject: Minha Familia!
Okay, so I spent a bunch of my allotted 30 minutes to try to set up my camera so I can send videos. I did quite a good job, I think, videotaping my entire journey to the CTM, and I think it would be quite interesting!
I just got back from the Campinas temple, which is about 1 1/2 hours away and so my P-day is very short. I only have about 1 hour 1/2 left! Anyway, on my way I was able to compose about 4 pages of letter to you guys, and I'm hoping that later I can send them through MissionTies. Thank you for setting that up Mom! I also can't wait to use those free cookies.
There are a lot of details in my letter, so I don't want to have any over laphere. I will give a few general details, however: my trip to the CTM went off without a hitch, and I am safely in Brazil without loss or injury! Hooray! My first week at the CTM has been amazing, and I'm looking forward to the next 8 weeks! They take very good care of us here, and there is nothing to worry about! Hooray! I'm doing very well in my classes, and even my little study with YouTube Portuguese lessons and ten minutes every night with the Brazilian phrasebook has worked wonders! I actually feel as if I had prepared too much! A lot of the other elders here came straight out of high school without a word of Portuguese! 90% of them are from Utah, so I felt a little out of place at first, but I think I'm used to it by now.
I see Brendon a lot! Almost twice daily! It's great, and has really helped ease me in here. It's so awesome to see him here, however we don't get much time to talk because we're always off to the next thing.
I love you all so much and so thankful for your prayers and thoughts! I have surely had an amazing experience so far here, and it's only looking to get better. It's actually very hard for me to feel homesick, because I love all the learning and work that I'm doing here. I feel somewhat guilty saying that, but I want to let all of you know that I'm extremely excited and whenever I remember that I am actually now on my mission, I am just so excited! Honestly, right now I feel just as if I'm at a church camp or something, and that it'll end next week. I really dont want it to! But we'll see how I feel in a couple of weeks.
There are so many details to give, but I want to save the rest of my allocated time to upload my videos. I am sending a MissionTies letter with more details on all of the above. Hopefully though, it will sufficeth me to say that I am having the time of my life already, and that my Mom, Dad, Sisters Lynsey and Kaitlin, Grandma, and Carpenter and Christensen relatives are very close to my heart, and provoke only happiness while I am here. Also, I hope its enough to say that now that I've taken the plunge, there's no way I would want out! The mission I think is one of the greatest things I've done so far. I love you all and I am really starting to love Brazil!
I sincerely wish I could write more, but know that you're all in my heart and prayers. Love you very much!
From Brazil, with love,
Elder Connor Carpenter
Follow-Up Letter
9-01-2009
Quer ida minha familia Maravelhoso,
Hello, this is Connor! This is the first opportunity I’ve had to write; I am on a bus ride from the Campinas Temple and it’s about an hour from Sao Paulo, which is plenty to bust out some communications. Man! It’s been a week and I feel as if I have just left. I’m sure you’ll hear that a lot from me. My experience can so far only be described as brilliant. What little challenge there has been has been only mental. My trip to Brazil was completely fine, and they take great care of us at the MTC. Today is my P-Day, and soon I will write you my first email. I wont have very long to do that, so I am going to try to reserve this letter for the details. This is something I wish the missionaries who posted their letters to blogs did more. A result of that is this: no matter how much I read about Brazil before I came here, it has still never ceased to surprise me with all of its interesting details.
Some interesting things:
The CTM is huge, and it’s beautiful, but it is smack dab in the middle of the suburbs of Sao Paulo! The neighborhood around it is certainly middle class by Brazilian standards, but the CTM sticks out like a sore thumb. Don’t hide your light, right? CTM is pronounced “seh-teh-emmi” . That’s how you pronounce those letters in Portuguese. It’s funny to say.
Sao Paulo is the 4th largest city in the world! I think they measure that by population, but I think if it was by the area of land it takes up, it would be 1st! The buildings stretch far into the horizon! I am continually in awe of how it sprawls.
Also there are no building codes, so skyscrapers can be built wherever. Instead of having the city buildings slowly get taller as it gets closer to the center of the city, you’ll see 100-story buildings alone or in clusters, but surrounded by very simple 1-story buildings. And imagine that painted over rolling hills as far as you can see. I love it. We have a fantastic view from our dorm window (we’re at the top floor of the CTM), and at night the whole landscape twinkles. I wish I could explain more, but it is magical.
Red shingle roofs are popular, so the country looks like Torino, Italy, but larger with skyscrapers.
I love the food. I eat beans and rice every meal, but unlike others here, I love it. Fruit is also amazing.
My companion and I are getting to be great friends; I have found it a little hard to talk about much with him. Our mission is just about all we have in common. He’s from Utah, was kind of a skater, and has a girlfriend he misses. I want to reassure him and stuff, but it’s completely outside my expertise. However, he loves the mission as much as I do, and is ambitious as well. He also has a great testimony. So basically all of our bonding has resulted from us discussing Portuguese and Gospel Doctrines. So it’s going well, but I wish we could be more like buddies and less like business or study partners. We have 8 more weeks, so there’s plenty of time.
Our district is also great. Many are having a tough time with the schedule and the classes go so slow for me too. My companion and I seem to be a little ahead and study while the rest of the class catches up. But it is okay.
My district leader is straight out of “Singles Ward” or something. It is amazing. I’m constantly amazed as he consistently represents Utah culture. It’s not annoying, just very surprising how accurate those movies were. I just love his attitude.
I see Brendon a lot! At least twice every day between classes or at lunch. However, we’re often en route to somewhere else, and I’m not able to talk very long. Still, it’s helped a lot! He looks like he is doing awesome. My district has a lot of A-type personalities, but it looks like Brendon is the only one in his. So he looks like he has taken more of a center role in his group. Kind of like high school, being “smart” has unfortunately set me apart from the group a little bit, and even a bit from my companion. I have really been working on humility and concentrating on helping everyone else out and it has seemed to help.
Some of these guys came straight from high school and have not had time for much preparation! There was a lot of immaturity at first, but I think it’s gotten better as people have been humbled by the workload and by the spirit.
I absolutely LOVE being here! I have heard some complaining, but I’ve enjoyed every moment! I continually am reminded that so much of what I am and have experienced has prepared me for everything I am doing here. I have been blessed with enthusiasm for the work, and I am thankful!
I LOVE Brasil! Everything is amazing! I feel as if I have returned home after a long exile! Honestly, it’s the attitude and culture of the Brasilians that is the best part of it though. They are consistently friendly, fun-loving, enthused, and place so much importance on personal relationships. It’s impossible to be shy around them, even with limited knowledge of Portuguese! They are also very laid-back and genuine. I think I am going to enjoy being among them very much!
Portuguese is going very well. For some reason I’m doing very well at it. I expect to be fluent in 8 weeks! ;-D Heh Heh. I’ll probably need a bit longer, but I am thankful for the gifts of the mind I’ve been given.
I miss you all immensely, and I think about you and pray for you very much. But is actually kind of hard to feel bad or sad because I am having such a great time here. I only hope you guys can have as much fun as I am! Live and love life guys! We’ll see if my attitude changes as times flows by here, but I love that I am here, and I love that I have my little family on the opposite end of the world. Thank you so much for the many notes! I found my 3rd one yesterday, and I think I might have one more even! I’m collecting them, and I love looking at them at night. I am at Mr. Cheney’s Cookies now, about to both send my letters and eat what looks like some very delicious cookies from you. Thank you. I love you very much my family. I want to hear how you’ve been! Write me questions and stories from your week, and I can read them before bed.
With the most love,
Your son, your brother,
Elder Connor Carpenter
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