December 28, 2010 - Letter Home

Feliz Ano Novo!


Hey everyone! So glad to get a full inbox even after just saying goodbye to you guys. I am very happy after our awesome conference call and being able to see you guys face to face. Totally rejuvenating! I loved the photos of the Christmas festivities too. 
Honestly, I did get a bit trunky after the call and everything, but it'll fade away and I'll be able to get up momentum again. Daydreaming about living in a new city has been hitting me. I'm totally psyched! Sure there's some hard things to realize: leaving behind the awesome house and property and ward and the couple of friends that might remember me, but I think it's going to be the perfect new chapter for our family after we get back! I remember dreaming alot about living and working in the city when we visited there, and that dream is coming true! Of course it will be hard to adjust, and we have to make ourselves ready for any kind of hidden dangers that might be within the new environment, but I am very happy with the news.

The community college close by is sounding to me a very good option for right after the mission. It is hard for me to think of jumping right back into a college life that would be far from my family right after the mission, but if the community college is close, I think it would be awesome to start studying as soon as possible after we return. Dreams like going to BYU or USC can still be considered after a year or two of study. Very cool. I'm psyched! Lots of cool things to think about and plan about. Unfortunately it's these kind of things that're making me a bit unfocused right now.

So, just to share my perspective from the call, I loved it! The only thing is that I wish I could've let Brendon talk a bit more, I think he deserved it. Sorry Brendon for taking up your time. Again! I understand that it was a big deal for you guys, it being Christmas and everything, but I am comforted in the fact that we still got e-mail and another call in only 5 months! It's gonna come so quick!

Christmas Food

Second Christmas Feast

Sweet Hammock Comes with Dog

Tiara Wearing Companion

Rat Slayer

So, even though our energy is waning here, we have been blessed by the Lord to have the work go forward. The members are helping alot here in this ward. Bryan is 12 year old friend of a member here, and went to church and the ward party, and looks like he has a lot of potential. He's reading the Book of Mormon! We're gonna play soccer with him and his friends and try to teach his family too.


The members also brought Adrielle, and 18 year old girl to church, who listened SUPER intently the whole church meeting, and the family that brought her said she asked questions about the church for 2 hours afterwards. We had a family home evening with her later that night and gave her a Book of Mormon, and she started crying. Really seems like she needed a message of peace at this time in her life; seems like her family is having problems. We will teach her tonight, and it should go all well! I'm excited. So we've got things to do!

Anyway, my life is nice right now. Flowing steadily on. I am very blessed. But, I still need to ramp it up, and lengthen my stride. There is so much more to do. So much left. Can't get relaxed. I also realize I've got to prepare myself for future trials. Let's go!

I love you guys and am so proud of you for all that you are! Thank you for everything! Be strong and never give up! Know that the Lord loves you and will guide you as long as we do our little part! Here we go to 2011! You guys are the best. Until next week!

Love love love!

Elder Connor

December 21, 2010 - Letter Home

A Trade

Sweet Bike

Hey my family!

Another week has ran and slipped by. Crazyness. It's Christmas week and I can't even believe it! Is it seriously just 4 more days until Christmas? Wow. So, luckily, I am feeling the Christmas spirit because Grandma's awesome package came through and I've opened a couple things but I'm saving the rest for the big day! Thanks Grandma (especially for the cool new vitamins) :D

So, I was transferred out of Elizabeth, and to the metropolitan city of Esteio, which really is just another part of Porto Alegre. It's cool because Elder Anderson was here (my buddy from the CTM, remember him Brendon?), and had a son here (son=trained a new missionary), and now I'm his son's stepdad (or second companion). BUT, Elder Anderson went to Elizabeth to be MY son's stepdad too! So it was a big trade! Elder Anderson is the man and it's really good to know that my area (and my son) is in good hands there.

Me and Correia

Cristielle and Family

Manuel and Family

Roseangela

I had marked a baptism there with Nathan before I left, who I know a lot of you guys were praying for, and I had some fears that it wouldn't work out right, but Nathan was baptized there and so even though I wasn't present for the actual ceremony, it was a good way to leave the area and to say that all the difficulties I and Elder Correia passed through weren't in vain but actually amounted to something. A good feeling.

So my new companion is Elder Cazeau, from Twin Springs, Idaho and he's freaking awesome. Basketball star, plays the guitar like a madman, worked on a farm there before coming to the mish. Really cool guy. Especially with Americans, from experience, it's always a little weird in the first couple of days as they get accustomed with living and working habits (I think Brazilians are naturally a little more flexible and open), but from my experience from my other American companions, we're gonna be best friends and working up a storm by the end.

I am a District Leader! My setting-apart blessing is being fulfilled line-by-line! I had my first District Meeting last Thursday, which I had planned for a LONG time. I liked it. Usually here the District Leader tends to talk most of the time in front of the other missionaries, but I made a circle in our district meeting and we took turns telling spiritual experiences and discussing things we have learned and can do better. 

Super Leader Conference

I think it's really important to get the other missionaries involved and build that unity to motivate us to do better. I think they liked it.

Anyway, the ward here is AWESOME. Everybody loves the Elders and both members and non-members here are just generally more open and accepting than in other places I've been. Sweet. 
Elder Anderson baptized a BUNCH here, so there's kind of a pressure to keep up the momentum, but it seems like everyone that had potential here is already baptized so we're starting from square 1. Again. Well, I think I'm pretty good at that by now.

SOOOO!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! I will call you guys tonight at 9:30 my time. Okay? I don't know what time that is for you guys.
I can't wait for our call! Love you guys!
Con

December 13, 2010 - Letter Home

I wanna wish you a Merry Christmas!


on tv, hailing, cristielle testimony, grandma package, transferred...


Coming to you from Porto Alegre, and... it's cold! It's the middle of December, which is like the middle of June in the states, and I'm using a sweater. 

At this time last year I was drenching white shirt after white shirt cuz it was baking outside. Now, I have a hope of a cold Christmas. 
Feelin' jealous yet Brendon? :D 
Rio Grande do Sul actually gets pretty hot, contrary to the myths in the rest of Brasil that it's all snow here, but right now the myth is actually coming true and I like it :)  
I went straight from the end of summer in the states to the start of summer here when I arrived, so maybe I'm deserving a little cold :)

At the beginning of this week it was hot, and we were having lunch, sweating, when suddenly in 15 minutes clouds came in and winds started up, and started a HUGE thunderstorm which hailed (which is even strange for here) hailstones the size of gumballs! Half and hour later, it all stopped and the clouds and hail and rain left as soon as it had come! I've never seen the weather change so fast. 
Rio Grande do Sul is crazy!

So, man, another transfer has really and startingly flown by, and I'm leaving Elizabeth for the second time. I remember feeling beat up leaving Boqueirao, Marau, and Rio Pardo (and Elizabeth the first time) and it's the same feeling again knocking on my door. It's another chapter of my mission closing. I have 6 more transfers in my front, and so that means that, if I'm lucky, I'll have the opportunity to go to 3 new areas. Most probably, I'll be entering my second-to-last area in the mission tomorrow. Wow. That's crazy. Here in 2 weeks I'll hit my 2/3rd point in the mission. What's happening? As much as I'm proud of what I've been able to do until now in my mission and as much as I am excited to get back home, it's pretty hard to see the majority behind me now. Whew.

This week was cool. Elizabeth, a woman we found, is really coming along well, she even fasted, and said to us that she has found faith for the first time in a life full of questions and depression. She will be baptized soon. I'm excited for her.

We are on television! The assistants had given us a reference WAY WAY far from our house, but they said it was really good so we went looking for this unknown neighboorhood where the person lived. We walked for an hour and found the entrance to the neighboorhood, which ended up being a favella. Total slums. Good thing it was day. Even though it was in the middle of the day, we went forward with courage, trying to find this reference. We ended up asking for directions, from people that were actually pretty helpful, but we ended up WAY in the middle of this favella, and after knocking on a couple doors of a dead-end street that people said belonged to this person, but we had a feeling we needed to just get out of there. We went walking calmly but quickly to leave, when suddenly a group of people came running our way, and said that someone was coming. Everybody ducked into houses as they ran by, and we almost ducked into some houses with some people nearby but felt we should just keep on going to leave. So I walk around the corner of this narrow dirt street and suddenly a cop car comes SAILING right in front of me, and I jumped out of the way, and these four cop cars absolutely full of armed and armored policemen come whailing from around the corner and down the street to where we had been knocking doors. Well the whole nieghborhood started coming out after the cop cars to see what was going on, and me and Elder Correia managed to get out of there. 
Yesterday, we found out that on the news a big drug bust had gone down on that street, and a video loop of all of it played on the news the whole day. Guess, who appears on the first few seconds of the video? Me, freaking out and dodging out of the way of the cop car that was filming the whole thing! I didnt see the video but many members saw it and called to see if we were okay. It's crazy! I'm famous!


Just to make you more scared, check the news article on the drug bust we were in the middle of. Try to figure out how to translate all of it: http://www.correiodopovo.com.br/Noticias/?Noticia=230075 

Man, yesterday was great. First of all, we had a great stake conference here, where I received a lot of answer for my own questions and the things I was going through. Very inspired. 
Secondly, and even better, we saw Cristielle and Tanara and they brought their brother, Cristiano, to church, and we had a really good visit with them after church. Man, it's so great to see Cristielle and Tanara, they are part of our family now. They are angels. I have had the opportunity to see a complete transformation in them. Everything has changed. Cristielle is working, and finally got out of the last house she was at which had a bad atmosphere, has stopped smoking completely and is staying dedicated to study and prayer. Tanara has stopped being rebellious and cutting school and is studying and conversing and smiling, which she rarely did when we first saw here. The change seems even physical. There seems to be even a glow about them. 
It is the Light of Christ, which has entered into their souls and home. After a really physically and emotionally taxing transfer, it was so great to come back and see Cristielle testify in front of us about Jesus Christ and the Church and the change it made in her life. It really really picked me up. They said that we were the angels who entered into her life and they ended up being the angels in mine. I love them. It'll be hard to say goodbye.

Anyway, we're going to lunch and I'll send personal e-mails afterwards. Man, I love you guys so much. We are going to have a great Christmas together! No matter where we are, we will always be connected. The mission is great and I'm learning alot. I know that Jesus Christ lives and that through him we can solve all of our problems and have peace and good cheer even in the lonely moments. I know that our church is the kingdom of heaven here on earth, and that it's only in this church we will be able to reach our full potential. How great this all is!

Love y'all, and Merry Christmas!
Until next week,

Elder Conman

December 7, 2010 - Letter Home

Seeds

É ai tchê! Hello everyone. Here again. Has it seriously been another week already? I feel like I'm writing you guys every other day now. This week went well. We managed to get our energy back, cut a lot of the non-progressing investigators, and went out to knocking a bunch of doors. 

We found a couple cool families! It's a really big energy-boost to see new people progressing. This week we had the Christmas Conference, which is a zone conference which happens at Christmas time where we got together with 4 zones of the mission! This means I got to see a bunch of good friends from whom I had been separated for a time. 

We got a visit from Area Presidency Seventy, Elder Asconavieta, who gave a very inspiring talk and talked alot about the effect our missions have on the rest of our lives and the rest of the lives of the people we teach... AFTER we have left the field. The seeds we plant now may seem small, but we will see them grow and multiply as the years go by. That's a good thing to remember in our families too. Missionaries aren't the only ones throwing seeds around. Anyway, we had an excellent lunch, and received a very nice pocket Bible from President and Sister. 

I was excited to get a package or letters but they didn't come! Droga. Oh well. Patience.

Sunday was really great. Cristielle had been going through a lot of problems with work and finding a place to live, and the ward has completely come around to help her find work and find housing and just be supportive in every way. Cristielle got up at testimony meeting and gave an awesome testimony, just saying that she had been in the dark for so long, without any kind of family, and that she finally had found that home that she was looking for. I'm so happy for her. 

:) 

Her testimony really lifted me up.

Thanks so much for all the photos! What great presents! I can't wait to get through my last Christmas in Brazil! I hope that I'm not transferred to another area soon, so I can celebrate with everyone here. I am also super excited for my package. 

Anyway, we had to use a different internet cafe today and it's blistering hot in here, and we're wanting to get out and under a fan with some Gaurana. I love you guys! Thank you everyone for remembering me here and helping me have a good Christmas. I hope the things I send can get there in time...

I love you all soooo much! I am so thankful for all of you! Thank you!

Until next week,

Elder Carpenter

November 30, 2010 - Letter Home

Connected

Heylow Evabodey! (<- Brasilian accent) 

Man, I am teaching Elder Correia how to speak English and it's SO funny. I mean, poor guy, he's really trying, and I've felt what it's like to be in his shoes so I shouldn't laugh but there's been a couple language study sessions that I've just busted up. English is already pretty hard for the paulistas (people from Sao Paulo) but it's a bit more difficult for Elder Correia who is from WAY up north in Sao Luiz, Maraniao where they don't pronounce their R's or speak hard D's or T's. Hehehe.

Elder Correia is awesome. Poor guy. He tries so hard, and I he is still totally believing me when I told him at the bus station that our area baptizes the most and that it's a pretty easy area. I was trying to psyche him up, but man, this transfer has been SUPER hard and while I need to have faith, it's looking like we're not going to baptize this transfer (no one went to church for the ENTIRE transfer until now!) Man, pretty tough. I'm feeling really connected to what Brendon is going through, only maybe a little more mental and emotional than physical. We hit doors the first 2 weeks straight and built up a good teaching group but it looks like nobody is progressing and we need to start over again. That's pretty discouraging, but it needs to happen. 

But, I am staying optimistic. Going to the temple last P-day helped a lot. 

Elder Correia commented to me that after the temple, nothing really changed and we didn't have any big revelations, but we felt a lot more peace and closer to Heavenly Father, that he was with us and knew what we were going through. Really great feeling. I also got my hands on the Conference Liahona and am LOVING it so much. Stuff that I heard a month ago and didn't really apply to me at the time is REALLY coming in handy now. Man, what a great testimony builder it is that we have a living prophet and apostles when you up the Liahona and have a direct connection to President Monson speaking exactly to you from the pages and tell you what you need to change and focus on. President Monson's and Holland's talk on thanksgiving, Dieter's two talks, Christofferson's talk on consecration, Anderson's on repentance and Gong's on eternal perspective have been my highlights. But there's so many other that I love! I think you guys will see that I do not fall asleep during conference when I come home. October 2011 will be like my Superbowl weekend! How awesome it is that we have such a huge group of incredibly incredibly wise and spiritual and loving men at the head of Christ's church.

While it's been hard to look forward in the last week, it's been AWESOME to look back. Cristielle and Tanara are well integrated in the ward, the members are helping her a lot, and she is making end's meet by cleaning member's homes until she can find some steady work. Despite the difficulties, she is happy, and what may have been the best expierence so far on the mission is when she expressed her testimony to me and how Jesus Christ was helping her along in her struggles. Sunday we were running running running around trying to wake people up and get them to church and absolutely not having any luck, and we were walking back in defeat when we saw Pamela and Dylan, all dressed up with scriptures in their hands, walking to church on time. I saw Dylan pass the sacrament. Man, what a great, great feeling. God really sent me them to pick me up at that moment. My mission is worth it because of them and I am so happy to be connected to each one of them for now and for eternity. :)

ANYWAY, I hope that you all enjoyed Thanksgiving and were able to feel peace and comfort at the funeral this week. So awesome that the whole family was there to see Jamie off. I was thinking about her in the temple after hearing the news and as I was sitting in the celestial room, I felt a great peace and an excitement for her. It will be hard without her, especially for her family, but I know we're not entirely disconnected from her, and that all things have happened with a purpose.

I love you guys so much and I am so glad for your constant words of love, advice, comfort, and encouragement. I am so grateful for your prayers. I am so thankful that our family has and will stay connected over land, sea, and time, until even in life and death. What a great promise. I am so thankful that as we are connected together, so is Jesus Christ always connected to us all, is always a part of our family, and we will never be alone or without Him. Isn't that the most important thing of all? What would our family be without Him? I am so

thankful for all of you, for Him, and I know that He lives, and I am thankful to serve him here in Porto Alegre.

I love love love you all so much! Have a great week!

Your Con,

Elder Carpenter

P.S. I only remembered that it was Thanksgiving like, 15 minutes before I went to sleep that night, so I made myself a peice of toast with condensed milk and a glass of milk and I imagined that I was with all of you. Your time it was about 6:15 so I think maybe we were all at least eating and thinking of eachother at the same time. IT'S NOT SO DEPRESSING!!! :D

I really liked Elder Gong's talk about Temple Mirrors in the last conference ensign. Read it! It's great. And it applies to us! How great is eternity together

with your family!

Keep fighting every day! Be strong and have courage!

November 23, 2010 - Letter Home

Hello once again dear family and friends! How good it is to communicate with you all once more. I was especially saddened to hear about the passing of our dear Jamie. Man, I can't believe it really.

It is true what Dad said that this is another chance to realize how fragile our lives are and how valuable every day should be for every one of us. The only explicable reason why this has happened is that it was God's will that it happened. Obviously there is a greater reason and purpose for Jamie which she was called to. There must be a reason why we are needed to witness this tradgedy as well. I witness that Jamie lives still, that she is watching over us now, and that she is now with loving family and with our Lord Jesus Christ. What a great promise it is that our faith gives us that life does not end with death. What a great mission it was of Jesus, who suffered all so that He and us could live again. I will miss Jamie and the great light that she was in her and our family. But what a great comfort it is that she, and us, will continue flying still.

I hope all goes well with the funeral and that everyone is able to stay comforted and stay together at this time. Especially that you guys can help Josh and Dana and her family at this time too.

This week was hard, and it hasn't got easier yet. After a hard last week in the sun and rain, knocking doors and treading asphalt, we were SO excited to have contacted 16 people who said they were going to go to church last Sunday. Sunday came and... nobody showed up. 

We skipped the first class and went walking, running, to knock those people's doors to get them to come to church and... nobody answered. We decided to not give up and to keep going and work hard yesterday (feeling that God owed us some kind of miracle) and 2 different families with baptismal dates told us at the door that they didn't want what we have to offer. It was... pretty tough. But dissapointments have a way of purifying your soul, helping you have more faith and humility and depend on the Lord. I might need to learn to depend less on myself and more on the Lord and the power of the spirit. I might need to learn how to give a little bit more of myself and not fall into a routine and relax and cut corners. I might need to realize that as much as I know how to teach and explain the doctrines and recite scriptures and gain friendship and get people to accept commitments... no real change will happen with the people unless they feel the spirit. If I'm not following the Spirit and depending on Him to guide me at every point in the work, the Lord's will won't be done. That should be a tip for everyone. Following the Spirit doesn't just help in missionary lessons, it helps in EVERYTHING! When we do the Lord's will we are promised that whatever comes, it will be the best thing for us. We can never fall away from that Spirit.

Anyway, I'm going to the temple today! I am excited! I wish I could give more details about the week, but I've gotta be running. Despite difficulties, I am very happy that I'm on my mission now and that I know that I'm doing God's will and serving in His church. What a great blessing! I'm so thankful that we're all in this together. That really makes it worth it.

I love you all so much, thank you for the e-mails, have good travels and a good week, and stay happy!

Love love love!

Elder Con

November 16, 2010 - Letter Home

 Hoping for Miracles

Cookies!

Hello evrybody! I loved all the great e-mails this week, man, you guys filled up my inbox. Keep taking photos and sendin em my way!  Mom and Kait are lucky to be able to go to San Fran whenever they want with a good excuse now, and with a place nearby to stay also! I loved the news about Nick! Will he be able to serve close to Winters Quarters? That's got to be way cool to be serving in an area with such church history. Imagine teaching about
the pioneers and mentioning that they came through Nebraska? Awesome.

So this week was cool. After last Pday I got to go to the office of the mission to get my new travel visa for the next year. What I thought was going to be a short trip turned into cool action packed day. Little did I know but half of my group from the CTM went at the same time, and we all got together and went to the federal police station in the center of Porto Alegre. Hung out forever waiting in line. We went to the huge Porto Alegre mall afterwards for lunch and ate BURGER KING. With refillable cups! How I miss that. I bought a
chicken burger (still my favorite) and a chocolate milkshake. Awesomeness. 
Afterwards we had interviews with president, and so pretty much the entire day I was hanging out with my CTM buddies telling stories. I've got to say that even after more than a year of being apart, my CTM friends are still some of my best. 

CTM REUNION

There's a tip to Nick for the MTC! Concentrate on learning the gospel and everything, but don't let anything get in the way of being best friends with the people in your district. You need to take study seriously and stuff, but if you go through the MTC just with your nose in the scriptures or not getting along with your companion or other district members, you're not doing it right. But you need to make sure there's a balance of course. I wish I had taken that advice.

So otherwise me and Elder Correia have been looking for people, hitting a lot of doors, asking for references, praying for inspiration, and it's worked! We've got a great teaching group right now, and I'm releived to say that the hardest (physical) part of the work for this transfer is over, and now we just have to concentrate on the people. 
Man, I don't want to say anything too soon, but I'm super excited for one family we found. Darli is the father of SEVEN kids, each one named after someone from the Bible. He seems to be quite a successful salesman and attends the Pentecostal church. He reads the scriptures every day and knew a lot of the verses we used by heart. He started out trying to bash Bible a bit, but we managed to answer some of his questions and calm him down and talk about Joseph Smith, the first vision, and what the Book of Mormon is. He said he was very interested to read the Book of Mormon after learning that it was an ancient record and not the writings of Joseph Smith. He pretty much explained to US that we could explain all we wanted, but unless the Holy Ghost testifies to him that the Book of Mormon was true, he didn't want any more visits. We said that would be great, promised him that the Holy Ghost would do His part if Darli wanted him to, and left him a part of the BoM to read. Man, he might have a lot of social problems accepting the answer he will receive, but I just am CERTAIN he will receive a huge answer. He's a really excited guy and his family would totally supercharge our ward. I'm hoping for a miracle.

We have a couple other families like that. Strong families that we're teaching that already have a church, but will accept our visits and have questions about our church. Now that we're in their houses, we just need to have the spirit with us to testify to them and help them
have a change of heart. I'm praying that we can do our part so God can do His.

Anyway, we're going to go to the temple today, so I'm going to have to make this short and run off! I love you guys so much and am so thankful for all of your e-mails. 


Have a great week!

Elder Carpenter


super week photos (must have received the Halloween package...)