January 26, 2010 - Letter Home

 Calamidade! (Calamity!)

Noooooooo!

You have no idea how sad I am right now. I just lost about 2 pages of a letter for you guys. And my time is ending in this LANhouse. It’s funny how despite all the precautions you take, saving your letter, making sure your time doesn’t end, how all your work just be deleted in one second.
Well. I’m going to write a simple version of what I was going to say now.

It was sad to learn about Aunt Jan. I have many fond memories of her, but it sure helps to be out in the mission field and to have an even greater opportunity to understand the plan of salvation. She will stay in my heart.

It was also nice to get letters from the Stake Presidency, Scott Hayden, Mike and Nat, Gramma Imogene, and all the cousins! Love you guys so much you sure brightened my week here in rainy Passo Fundo!

Elder Lima

This week was the first with Elder Lima, and it sure is different than being with Elder Duarte but it’s been real good and it’s only gonna get better.

 

 

 

 

I have a bunch of photos for you guys! I hope it makes up for the short letter. There’s two here that’d make great background for all you Elder Carpenter fans ;).

I’ll catch you up more on this week in my next letter. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Mom, love you as always. Thanks for the letter!
Dad, love you so much. Good luck with work! Praying and fasting for you.
Lyns, hope all is well with school the band and all the other hundred things! You sure looked cute in the Brasil photo mom sent.
Kaitlin! I love you so much! I just want to give you a big hug right now! Did you like the Brazil night? Weird food huh but really good! I’ll make some for you when I get back, Elder Lima is a great cook and is teaching me how to make stuff.

"Cheesecake, Mom! Cheesecake!"

Brendon! Man, “Thank you turtle, you saved my life!” Hahaha! I’m so glad you remembered that. I laughed out loud at that and also your story about shaving the legs! Hah! That’s hilarious. Here’s a scripture just for you ‘kay? John 8:32. I ran across it the other day and it made me laugh. Love you buddy. Make your photos smaller so I can download them easier, okay? Work hard!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE you guys! Have a good week!

Elder C

  "Find Elder C"

 

 "Osmar and Elizete"

 

 "Richard and Juberto"

 

"Ernie" (the strange beetle)

January 18, 2010 - Letter Home

Hey Family!

I forgot to tell all of you that I would have my P-day early this week. Thus, I am granting you all a holiday from writing letters to me! Seriously, lay back, relax, and wait till next week to write letters. It’s hard to do, especially out there in the world with so much else to do. You might be thinking that I’m being sarcastic, but I’m really not. Just go with it.

So this week was the last week I had with Elder Duarte. This transfer flew by. Nossa (Dang)… Mission life. Crazy.

Elder Duarte: "Cachorro Lutador" - (Dog Fighter)

 

"Ultima Reuniao De Distrito De Elder Duarte" - (Finale Reunion Of the District Of Elder Duarte)

"Ultima Noite De Elder Duarte" - (Final Night of Elder Duarte)

"Goodbye and good Luck to Elder Duarte"

Elder Duarte and I taught Antonio every morning of the week this week, had a baptismal interview on Saturday, and he was baptized on Sunday after church! This, my friends, is the definition of the word ELECT. He never had a problem with anything we taught, read and prayed every single day after we taught, committed to follow all of the principles of the Gospel, and pretty much we just did a sprint, Antonio in the lead, running for the baptismal font.

I was also very surprised to find out that he chose me to baptize him! I was sure that he would choose Elder Duarte, because Elder Duarte is very outgoing, always cracking jokes, conversing, and teaching the lessons in a way that seems conversational and natural. While I somewhat stumble (but less than before) through the language, conversation, and knowing what and how to teach. But he picked me. Before going into the baptismal font, he told me he was shaking slightly and said he was nervous, and suddenly I felt like Heavenly Father gave me a surge of strength to comfort him, and I gave him a big hug and felt the spirit so strong while I gave him a short testimony that Heavenly Father loved him and was happy with him at that moment.
I loved baptizing Bruno and Jomerson, but baptizing Antonio was the best so far, for sure. I am sure he will be a leader in the church, and do a lot of work in our Lord’s kingdom. So glad to be a part of it.

"Antonio Septumbrino Gumaraes"

Antonio’s baptism certainly was a blessing, because I don’t feel like we quite deserved it. Unfortunately, Elder Duarte, while brimming with experience and skill, just kind of ran out of batteries this week. So we spent a lot of time in member’s houses, with Elder Duarte talking about all the things he would do when he got home. Dang! He only had a week left to serve strong for the entire mission. I should’ve been more hard on him. I hope I can be strong at the end of my mission. Anyway, he’s crazy excited now to go home, and honestly is making me a little crazy with all the focus on home. Hehe. I love him. It’s a small thing to have to endure between friends, I think.

"Elders with Gaucho Statue"

One night a family that Elder Duarte helped out when he was in another area in our zone, invited us to a churrasco! It was at night, on the top of a building in the center of the city, with a constructed fire pit, mountains of meat roasting, way more people than we had expected, and dance music! So I learned how to do a two step tango! That was fun, but also bizarre. I never expected to go to a party and enjoy myself on the mission. It seemed against the attitude we should be having here, but after I complained to Elder Duarte a bit, he said he’ll take all the blame if we get up to heaven and someone points fingers. I should’ve threatened to call President or something. I don’t know. It’s hard. I’m committing to be %100 obedient with my next companion, and not to give in to anything questionable. I’ll let you know how that goes. But anyway the tango and the churrasco and that whole night was really fun.

Speaking of my next companion, Elder Duarte says that he’s 99% certain it will be Elder A. Lima, another missionary in my zone, who will be transferred here. I would be his first Junior companion. He’s a short, spectacled Elder from Fortaleza. We have a good friendship already because I’ve sat with him a couple times while the rest of the Elders were playing soccer.

 "Red Hat Time with Elder Lima"

President sent me a message to give a little extra help for him to get started in his job as a senior. I am very excited to help him, if it is he that will be my next companion. He’s been waiting a long time to be senior, and so I think it’s my job to make sure that he has the best and most successful experience. I’m going to have plenty of time later to be Senior, so I am just going to work on being the absolute best Junior in the field. Come on Elder A. Lima, let’s rock Boquierao!

I am also excited because Elder Duarte said someone else from my group in the CTM will be coming here. It could be Elder Feller, my old companion, Elder Anderson, class clown, but good friend, or Elder DeMille, quiet but with a lot of potential. I would be so so happy to see any of them! It’s been 3 months since I’ve seen them! And also, because for some reason, the people from my group in the CTM seem to be better friends still than I have yet made in my district or zone.

"My Group Of The CTM, Here To Dominate Passo Fundo!"

I had a bunch of photos to send you, but my battery died and the camera doesn’t recharge through the USB cord like I thought it would. I’ll send you my photos from this week separately next week so that you can put the right photos in the right blog post, okay? Sorry for the inconvenience.

Mom! Here’s a big squishy kiss on the cheek.
Lyns! Here is a big happy smile, laugh, and hug.
My Kait! Here’s me lifting you up in the air, and an excited hug.
Grandma! Here’s a light, fragile hug and a wide smile.
My bro! Here’s a side hug, pat on the back, some quick joke (it doesn’t matter which one) and an accompanying chortle.

My Dad! Here’s a handshake, soft smile, and long warm embrace.

Did you feel that? I sure did. I’m right here guys.

Love love love, my fam!

It’s gettin’ better every day!

Elder Con

January 12, 2010 - Letter Home

Saudade é!... Um prego na bota.
(^ popular gaucho phrase)

Hey hey my Family!

So awesome to get all your letters this week. I love you guys so much! Its so cool that  we can communicate like this. I feel very close to all of you right now, even 9000 miles away.

"c Eu Acho Que Estou Engordando" (I Find That I Am Growing Fat)

This week has been awesome. I`m feeling very good nowadays. I think it`s safe to say that I`ve passed the homesickness stage of the mission (the 3-4 month mark is the hardest, other missionaries say). The key for me was my call home over the holidays. So good. After that, I had the medicine I needed, and it just took time to get all better again. I can safely say “2 years” now, and not get a big knot in my stomach. So… Manda-o Ver! (“Send it to see!”, basically means “Bring it!”)

This last week has been marked by the fact that Elder Duarte will be leaving next Tuesday for Sao Paulo, where he will reunite with his single dad, try to help him get his life together, try to work in the CTM, try to get accepted into BYU, and try to reactivate his younger sister and mom. I love Elder Duarte. I will miss him. I really needed him. I am so much a better missionary now because of him. I now am able to teach the lessons fairly relaxed, more conversationally, and have a range of examples, scriptures, and good questions to ask our investigators. It`s been difficult trying to keep up with him, but just this morning I taught the 2nd lesson and didn’t feel any regret or stupidity afterward! This is very good!

"Duarte"

Elder Duartes challenged me at the beginning of the transfer to read the Livro de Mormon, in Portuguese, out loud, for about an hour and a half every morning. This is all of my personal study time. I have the English Book of Mormon nearby just in case there`s a word I don`t recognize (but I don`t have to use it very often any more!) Holy smokes guys! I`m serious! It`s totally working! You remember that movie, The Other Side of Heaven, where the elder read side by side like that and woke up and spoke perfect Tongan? I`m serious, it`s kind of like that. Like seriously. A couple of times this week I would just be participation in a conversation and notice, “Hey, I just understood everything that person said, and just replied, and they just understood me without having a strange look on their face!” It`s honestly kind of freaking me out. There are still moments where I`m lost, but I find that when I read the Book of Mormon in Portuguese seriously in my personal study, I receive these moments of complete comprehension in Portuguese throughout my day, especially when I need it most. It is so cool guys, I wish I could explain it better. I would recommend to all new Elders in a foreign field, just read the Book of Mormon in your mission language. That`s how you get the gift of tongues.

Juliana and Jonas have been super hard to get a hold of this week, and while we`ve been teaching Jocemara a lot, she hasn’t been keeping all the commitments, and so both families weren`t baptized this week. However, the Lord provides, my family!

Antonio, a single 40 year old man, showed up at church last Sunday with an old and tattered Gospel Principles book. He got it from a past girlfriend of his, and started reading it and liked it, and found and went to the church downtown last Sunday, where they told him that there was a chapel closer to where he lived, Ala Boqueriao! He told us in our first visit, before we taught anything, “I really want to be baptized.” Hah! I don`t know if you all are able to comprehend how much that phrase means to a pair of missionaries. It`s inexplicable. Like a frosty glass bottle of water, icy flakes floating at the top, drank with dry, cracking, sandy lips in the middle of a dry, cracking, sun-baked desert. Refreshing words poured down my ears and down to my heart. Yep, it`s kinda like that. So we will have a baptism this Sunday, com certeza (for sure!)

Let`s see, some interesting things this week… We took all of our change the other day, a big jarful, and dumped it out onto the table of the guy that takes your money to ride the bus. That was kind of funny. Let`s see, I can do better than that…

Last week I went to Lagoa again, for a division. It was fun. I love Lagoa. You guys would like it too. A lot of the Brazilian Elders are from the big city, because that`s where the church is strongest here. Therefore, I often hear how Lagoa is a horrible place to be and work. I would like to serve there. I did a service project there for a family who was moving there, and while most of the time we just moved around furniture, Fatima, the mom there, handed me a machete and told me to go cut down a tree to use to make a laundry line. I contained a large smile as I accepted the machete and set off for the forest. Awesome, other than the fact that I brushed against a tree which appeared to have a large clump of moss on it but instead happened to be a large cluster of caterpillars which all got hooked onto my shirt. Yikes! I kind of freaked out there for a second when that happened. Anyway, I went out there, selected a straight, thin tree which would work as a laundry post, and I freakin chopped it down, stripped the branches, and took it back to the house. Yeah! So cool. Lots of manly business going on here.

Fatima paid us for our work with two bags of pasta, some tomatoes, and a bunch of herbs! That night, I tried my hand at cooking, and thought I made a fine dinner, a little too much salt, but it was edible! And I made it! I took a photo because I was proud of that.

After that I tried to repair my little speaker that I brought with me. It stopped working. So I took it all apart, tried to figure it out, did a million things to try to put it back together and start working, but it just didn’t work and I ended up throwing it away. Oh well…

But that`s okay because I made a deal with Elder Duarte. I`m sorry to say that I traded away my iPod touch. Having that iPod was too much of a temptation, what with internet capabilities, video, and the ability to download games and other things. So for R$100, some nice (but bulkier) speakers, 5 ties and a sweater, Elder Duarte is a proud owner of an iPod touch. He`s been begging for it for the whole transfer, because it`s pretty much like a space machine here. I still have my 1G Nano that Lynsey gave me for my 16th birthday, and that should be sufficient for my needs. Besides, when I get back, I`ll be able to buy a tenth generation iPhone with holograms and artificial intelligence. No big deal.

So other than that, it was a fairly uneventful week. I think things will continue to be so. Can`t be Indiana Jones every week.

Alright, now for my fam.

Hey Kaitlin! Do you know how much I love it when you send me letters? Can you believe it`s 2010 already?! You will be 15 this year! You will be 16 when I come home! Cool huh? That will be weird. You will be so old! My mission has been good during the break. Christmas and New Year`s is really fun and loud and crazy here. Today I played soccer at the chapel with all of the other missionaries. I never played alot before the mission, but I really like it now! Even though all the little kids are still better than me I think I`m getting pretty good!
Tell mom she can send me some Japanese candy to me for my birthday! That would be cool. Kaitlin, I figured out what the dress the Brasilian girls wear here. It`s called “Vestido de Prenda” and it`s kind of like a Indian suri! There`s a cool dance they do here too with the dresses. Look it up on the internet!
Kaitlin I do think of you a lot and I Looooooovvvveee you so much! Have a good week at school, and keep learning Japanese! I love you Kait.
Con

Hey Dad! I want news about how the meeting went in New York!  I love you Dad. I`m so proud of the hard work you are doing. It is such an example to me. Thank you so much for your words about life. It so helps me to put everything into perspective. I know that as much as I`m learning here, you and mom are probably learning just as much being the parents of a missionary. It’s a big cycle. I am also so proud of the work you are doing in the Elders Quorum. A good Elder`s quorum leader can mean the world to the word. You are certainly doing a great and important work there.

The Brasilian party sounds awesome! I don`t know if my experiences are unique to Rio Grande do Sol or all of Brasil, but the things which are most iconic for me now are the simple things: the way they cook meat (churrasco), the way that coke comes in bottles only, most people drink coke through a straw because it`s more “dignified”, bagged milk is cheap and delicious, fruit is plentiful and cheap and an easy meal, everyone hangs their clothes out to dry, the washers here are very weak so you need to make sure you don’t put in too much clothes, the roads here are all jagged cobblestone, there are stray dogs everywhere, maybe they know about drinking chimarrao, everyone has a motorcycle instead of cars, there still exists family owned grocery stores instead of supermarkets, some older people still wear traditional clothing out in the streets, mosquitos are loco at night (but probably not as bad as Brendon has it)… I don`t know, you might have to use some stories I already told you too. It will be fun to join in the Brasilian parties when I return. :)
Love ya so much Dad. Thanks for being there for me. I`m right here with ya. I know Heavenly Father will bless us after all we can do!
Until next week! Love love love!
Con

Hey Mom!
Thank you so much for the letter! Man I miss you so much! Do you know I was in the middle of companion study, happened to look at your picture on my iPod, and said out loud, “Man, I really miss my Mom!” I accidentally said it out loud, and my companion laughed and told everyone else about it. Yeah. I miss ya Mom.
Thanks for updating the blog! It`s awesome! Such a good record of our journeys in Brasil. When it`s all done we`ll have a book there online. It looks great. So the holidays are over. They came and went, and we weren`t there to help you truck all the boxes back and forth between the house and the building. :( It flew by for me. Didn`t seem like it was the holidays really, but I don`t really feel bad about that. Its how it should be.
Good job on making the resolutions! As you`ll find in Preach My Gospel, only through goals will we be able to get anywhere in life. It all starts at our goals. Now… you just need to follow through with them :).
I kind of aimed the first half of my email this week at you, because you asked about feeling accustomed to the mission. For surely by next month I`ll be at that place. I`m well on my way there. I`m glad. I feel like things will just get easier from here on out. Elder Duarte says that now, he doesn’t even think about what to say or do during a lesson or contacting anyone: he just does it. He says it will just get easier and easier until it`s nothing really at all. Of course, I have to keep pushing myself to learn to be better and better, to work harder and harder, but all the same I think it`s just getting better every day.
I do understand how you feel about wishing to be able to get into my head. For surely, every day there are surprises, challenges, moments of joy and of despair every day here, which come and go and are probably impossible to catch completely and transmit to you guys. You might not have a frame of reference of the life I live now, but you could eventually in the future! Once Dad`s business takes off and we`re all living in our own houses with our own families, you`ll able to go get away with Dad, go to Italy or France again, maybe here in Rio Grande do Sol (you could blend in easy here), live hear for 6 months and learn the language and tour around… That would be awesome right? I think it`s very very possible to do that. In 6 months, even without being a missionary, you could learn a language with somewhat fluency, I think. Cool dream huh? :)
Next transfer I will probably stay here and receive another senior companion, help him figure out Boqueirao. I`m glad! I love this place. I finally know everyone in the ward, have a bunch of investigators to visit, things in the future. It would be sad to leave that behind. I hope I get a good companion (but I have a feeling it`ll be time to be tested a bit :) ). All good.
I am very proud of you for reading and studying! So awesome! It`s going to be difficult to continue, but you just need to keep at it until it`s a habit! I know it will be worth it! Preach my Gospel is awesome, and will help you so much in knowing what to say when the opportunity comes up to simply and easily explain the Gospel when a friend or acquaintance asks about it. Try to even do a practice, in Family Home Evening, to say the 1st discussion in about 5 minutes. I think this would be a good activity in church too. Everyone should know how to easily explain the gospel! If everyone had that knowledge, which is just right there in Preach my Gospel, so much more of the work of the Lord would get done!
I am very glad you are trying to spend more time with Kaitlin. This could be the most important thing. I know it`s hard, but pray about what to do with her! She needs a lot still, I think. I am so glad she has you mom. So thankful we have her together.
Mom, I love you lots! Thank you for everything! Love love love!
Your Conman

Whoops, I kind of ran out of time. Short letters for everyone else. Sorry :(

Lyns, Good luck on your new band, your hard classes, drum lessons… all of it! You need it! Keep praying Lyns! You`re in my prayers!
Love you so much Lyns, my little sis,
Con

Brendon,
Riding up that dang hill to our apartment in Santa Cruz. Picture it. Yep. Awesome. Here`s my plan: return to Santa Cruz for one year, get our associates degree, search around for schools, preferably schools in Brazil. Study in Brazil for two years, coming home for the Winter and Summers. We could be college English tutors, which I hear pays real good. One summer, motorcycles across all of Brasil, or atleast all the temples of Brazil, making a podcast on the way, could be zombie-centric or not. One summer, bring the family out, vacation it up and tour it up all fancy like. One summer, take a summer session at BYU and do some wife shopping (half-serious). Then, use our awesome Brazilian degrees to look really different and exotic and awesome to all the hue five-star colleges, finish up our graduates and then launch out for the world!
What do you think?
Your Bro!
Elder Carpenter (what, a letter from yourself?!)

Hey Grama Imogene! I love you! Thank you for your letter! I love the new Ensign here too! I am still waiting to get our own in our house, but I`ve read members`. Gospel Principles is cool too. That`s awesome about Quintin! I can`t believe hes already home! It will be that way with us too, I imagine. Love you Grama! Have a good week!
Connor

Grandma and Grandad! Thank you so much for the letter! I loved it. Letters are gold here. I think about you often, and am proud to answer with my Grandpa`s name when anyone asks who else in my family served a mission. The vision of you returning to NZ to see the people you helped keeps me going. I miss the cousins so much and am so glad to be part of such a great family. I can`t wait to see the experiences they will have soon in serving the Lord in the missionary field. I am glad you are healthy and are enjoying life! Thank you for watching over and praying for my family. Oh yeah! There is a member here who`s brother lives in Tucson. Maybe in your ward? What was the name of your ward when you lived there? The family`s name was Bortolache. Would be cool!
Love you guys! Thanks for keeping me connected!
Your Grandson!
Connor

January 5, 2010 - Letter Home

Só uma outra semana... (only another week)

Oi familia!

Boy it was great to get letters from you all this week! Thank you so much Lynsey for your awesome letter and tons of photos! You gave ME a present for your birthday! Mom and Dad, loved the letter, which was, if not schizophrenic, then oddly sweet. Like a handful of jellybeans of different flavors stuffed into the mouth at the same time. :) Hehe, I really liked it.

I also got some letters from outside the main family! Lacey and Seth sent an awesome Christmas card all the way here, and so did Bishop Fox and Brother Wilde and probably the presidency of the ward, but their signatures were a bit scattered. I still felt the love! Thanks guys!

My week was a bit like Brendon’s: a bunch of slacking off during the end of the year (but probably well intended, because the city was crazy), and a bit hard to pick up the momentum again because it’s raining a lot here too!

 (Yes, even the tie!)

I know whatch’yer feelin like Brendon! Despite the rain, we have been having some modest success! Our goal for the month of January is to reach 6 baptisms, which here is pretty ambitious, but it’s more than possible if we really try! I am very glad to be finally pushing myself here! Anyway, I think because we decided to reach for the stars, Heavenly Father has been giving us some help. Juliana and Jonas, a young couple with Victor, their one year old child, had been receiving lessons for the last month, and have been more or less enthused about the gospel, but they just suddenly realized that they wanted the gospel in their life, and accepted the goal to be baptized on the 16th! Yeah! Another investigator, Jocemara, a 22-year-old mother of 2, also started to be more enthused about the gospel, and the work is going with her as well, and it looks like she will be baptized on the same day. Awesome!

Sorry for this, but there’s a storm outside and the power and internet just came back on a couple seconds ago, and my P-day is done…

(Yah! We love the rain!)

Hope the day to day is going well and continues to do so!

Dad! I love you! Good luck on your meeting!

Mom! I love you! The holidays sounded so awesome, now you have some time to relax, huh? What’s the next big thing?

Lyns, I am so jealous of your awesome birthday. Wish I could be doing my mission and chilling out at home at the same time. I wouldn’t trade the time, but I wish I could have those experiences with you. Love ya Lyns. Happy Birthday!

Kaitlin! Back to school too huh? This year is going to be the best one for you! I hope you had fun in San Francisco and with Annie and all the cousins! Work hard in school and don’t forget to keep working on the Japanese okay? Have fun and love every day! I love you so much Kate!

 Grama, I love you! I am very healthy here, especially because of your vitamins! Take care of my family and yourself!

Everyone else, until next week! Love love love!
Elder C