Quick update!
So my companion didn't get to write his family yesterday so we're passing in the Lanhouse real quick.
I got transferred to the middle of Porto Alegre! After 9 months in a little corner of the mission, they sent me to the center, to the Elizibete Ward. My companion is Elder Malheiros! What are the chances?!?! I've known Elder Malheiros since my second transfer here in the mission, and he's been in my district for three of those, district leader for one. He was the companion of two of my good buddies from the CTM, Elder Barker and Elder Anderson. It's odd that we got separated last transfer and now we're here in the huge city together again. I must tell you, from what I've seen, this area is EXACTLY the opposite of my last two areas. Urban sprawl, not of lick of nature, humongous area, lot of moviment on the streets and you can feel the energy. My new house is even SMALLER than my last in Marau, and looks a lot more like the pictures Brendon sent of his concrete-floor apartment.
Brendon, Sister Martins showed up here, the only Sister in her group! She'll be in my new zone. She gave me your AWESOME planejamento, and I was just brimming ear to ear when I saw what it was she had to give me. Thanks man! I love it, can't wait to add to it.
Hey fam, I also got like a million letters, including letters from Jeff and kids that I have yet to open but am very anxious! Mom, got your mini package and already ate your chocolates. THANK YOU so much for the CTR rings! They are a big hit here.
Anyway, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed here in the middle of this huge, crowded, dark city, but I am ready for anything! I was feeling pretty torn up about leaving Marau, but as I was in a taxi coming here to my area, I looked up at the sky and had the distinct feeling that all is well, and I know now that for certain that there is a lot of good work waiting here for me here, and that I have something big do to here for the next (3?) months.
I love love love you guys so much! Thank you for all your awesome letters!
Tchau!
Elder Connor
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
June 28, 2010 - Letter Home
Bittersweet
Hey Family,
I always forget to tell you when our P-day changes because of transfers. But it wasn’t that big of a problem this week because I got e-mails from my dad and my aunt Karen. Thanks guys.
I’m being transferred. It’s so strange to write that.
Although I’ve been here in Marau just as much time as I was in Boqueriao (4.5 months) it seems like so much longer, and it’s really a lot more difficult to leave. Why? First of all, I think the fact that I spent the same amount of time as I did in Boqueriao, here in a branch with a fifth of the amount of members as Boqueriao did, really helped me get to know every single family here, know their difficulties, their successes, and I really got to focus on everyone with a lot more energy than I did in my first area. I also just had a lot more experience here, wasn’t depending on others or struggling with the language, I just got to be myself, to be a citizen of Marau and a member of the Marau branch, instead of just a stranger American who was hard to understand. More than everything, I know that I was meant to pass through this little town, that the people I met here were waiting for me here. The people here in this city will always occupy a little place in my heart. I truly wish to be able to return here one day.
So yesterday we had a baptism. Vagner da Rosa an 18-year-old nephew of a member moved here a month ago to work, and we got to teaching him, and asked him to pray, he did so, and received an answer, and said he wanted to be baptized. He didn’t know what that would require when he said that. We continued to teach him many of the commandments that he would be promising to keep if he wanted to be a member of the church, and while at some moments he got surprised or confused at our belief of the Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, the need to obey the Law of Tithes and Offerings, etc…., he accepted every invitation we gave him to change his life; he had a testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that was enough. He told me that it wasn’t even a decision for him, that he wanted to be baptized and was ready to make the sacrifices he needed to. It was a great moment seeing him be baptized by his uncle, Brother Irani, the same person who had baptized his parents when they were little. There was a good spirit there. I’m so glad to have gotten the opportunity to end my time in Marau here like that.
After the baptism, we went to Sabino’s house. He was baptized when I was with K. Silva. He needed some help studying for the final English test he would have for his college course. So we stayed there, I helped him study, we talked about the baptism, his baptism, we had dinner, talked with his family. Before I got there I had been SURE that I would stay here in Marau for one more transfer, but as I talked to him, I realized that it would be the last time in a long time that I would see him and his family. He told me that when he first saw me when I got here he had the feeling that we knew eachother from somewhere. I reminded him about the Pre-mortal life, and he got surprised and said, “I hadn’t thought of that, that really makes sense!” It made me so sad to see him for the last time, but so so happy. He gave us a ride to our house and as we were saying goodbye, he said, “I will stay active in the church, don’t you worry.”
Man. How is it that I have the good fortune of getting to know these awesome people. I can’t describe the emotion to you guys enough.
So I went home, knowing that I would be transferred. Packed all my stuff until late in the night. And woke up today to receive the call that I was gettin out of town. Man. I feel like a really important time just passed for me, and I didn’t even realize it while it was happening. I wish I could have stepped back to realize it while it was happening. I could have worked more, given more, helped these people more. I know I left the area stronger, and the area left me stronger but… man, it’s so hard to leave. Maybe even harder than leaving you guys. Because, you know, I KNOW that I’ll see all of you guys again. I know that experience is waiting for me there. But I’m afraid because I don’t know that I’ll see anyone here again. I don’t know if it will work out to visit them again. And when and if I visit, I will visit not as Elder Carpenter, not as someone there to help, to be a part of the community, but as someone just passing through. At home, I know I’ll be able to return to how I was before the mission there, but here, it will never be the same again. Man.
I love you guys so much. I am so glad that our family will always be here for us. I love the mission. “The Best Two Years” doesn’t quite sum it up like it should. It’s a little less than that… and a little more. I love my God and my Savior Jesus Christ. I’m going to sign off now because I want to go visit some members before I get on the bus. For surely there will be tears tonight. Some bitter, some sweet. I love you guys. Have a good week!
Love love love, forever and ever.
Connor
P.S. Sorry that the photos aren't better. It was kind of rushed. But enjoy!
Hey Family,
I always forget to tell you when our P-day changes because of transfers. But it wasn’t that big of a problem this week because I got e-mails from my dad and my aunt Karen. Thanks guys.
I’m being transferred. It’s so strange to write that.
Although I’ve been here in Marau just as much time as I was in Boqueriao (4.5 months) it seems like so much longer, and it’s really a lot more difficult to leave. Why? First of all, I think the fact that I spent the same amount of time as I did in Boqueriao, here in a branch with a fifth of the amount of members as Boqueriao did, really helped me get to know every single family here, know their difficulties, their successes, and I really got to focus on everyone with a lot more energy than I did in my first area. I also just had a lot more experience here, wasn’t depending on others or struggling with the language, I just got to be myself, to be a citizen of Marau and a member of the Marau branch, instead of just a stranger American who was hard to understand. More than everything, I know that I was meant to pass through this little town, that the people I met here were waiting for me here. The people here in this city will always occupy a little place in my heart. I truly wish to be able to return here one day.
So yesterday we had a baptism. Vagner da Rosa an 18-year-old nephew of a member moved here a month ago to work, and we got to teaching him, and asked him to pray, he did so, and received an answer, and said he wanted to be baptized. He didn’t know what that would require when he said that. We continued to teach him many of the commandments that he would be promising to keep if he wanted to be a member of the church, and while at some moments he got surprised or confused at our belief of the Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, the need to obey the Law of Tithes and Offerings, etc…., he accepted every invitation we gave him to change his life; he had a testimony of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that was enough. He told me that it wasn’t even a decision for him, that he wanted to be baptized and was ready to make the sacrifices he needed to. It was a great moment seeing him be baptized by his uncle, Brother Irani, the same person who had baptized his parents when they were little. There was a good spirit there. I’m so glad to have gotten the opportunity to end my time in Marau here like that.
After the baptism, we went to Sabino’s house. He was baptized when I was with K. Silva. He needed some help studying for the final English test he would have for his college course. So we stayed there, I helped him study, we talked about the baptism, his baptism, we had dinner, talked with his family. Before I got there I had been SURE that I would stay here in Marau for one more transfer, but as I talked to him, I realized that it would be the last time in a long time that I would see him and his family. He told me that when he first saw me when I got here he had the feeling that we knew eachother from somewhere. I reminded him about the Pre-mortal life, and he got surprised and said, “I hadn’t thought of that, that really makes sense!” It made me so sad to see him for the last time, but so so happy. He gave us a ride to our house and as we were saying goodbye, he said, “I will stay active in the church, don’t you worry.”
Man. How is it that I have the good fortune of getting to know these awesome people. I can’t describe the emotion to you guys enough.
So I went home, knowing that I would be transferred. Packed all my stuff until late in the night. And woke up today to receive the call that I was gettin out of town. Man. I feel like a really important time just passed for me, and I didn’t even realize it while it was happening. I wish I could have stepped back to realize it while it was happening. I could have worked more, given more, helped these people more. I know I left the area stronger, and the area left me stronger but… man, it’s so hard to leave. Maybe even harder than leaving you guys. Because, you know, I KNOW that I’ll see all of you guys again. I know that experience is waiting for me there. But I’m afraid because I don’t know that I’ll see anyone here again. I don’t know if it will work out to visit them again. And when and if I visit, I will visit not as Elder Carpenter, not as someone there to help, to be a part of the community, but as someone just passing through. At home, I know I’ll be able to return to how I was before the mission there, but here, it will never be the same again. Man.
I love you guys so much. I am so glad that our family will always be here for us. I love the mission. “The Best Two Years” doesn’t quite sum it up like it should. It’s a little less than that… and a little more. I love my God and my Savior Jesus Christ. I’m going to sign off now because I want to go visit some members before I get on the bus. For surely there will be tears tonight. Some bitter, some sweet. I love you guys. Have a good week!
Love love love, forever and ever.
Connor
P.S. Sorry that the photos aren't better. It was kind of rushed. But enjoy!
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
June 22, 2010 - Letter Home
It's the turning point...
Ola minha familia! Espero que tudo esteja bem...
(translation: Ola my family! I expect that everything is well.)
Oh, ahem! *cough* Yep, just got done writing Presidente in portuguese. Gotta make the switch. It was great to hear from Brendon again and see photos from him! Awesome. It's really weird for me to see him in different situations and climates and knowing different people and stuff. Like, I feel like I should be able to get together with Brendon after the mission and immediately assume that he knows everything about my companions and areas and the culture and mission events and everything. And it's weirder to think his experience is completely different than mine, and I'll have to ask him about it later on. Hmmm.
So this week was really great. Stuff is just finally coming together. For example, Vagner prayed about the Book of Mormon and got an answer about it. Woah! I mean, I get so accustomed to the answer, “Yeah, I read and prayed, it was alright...” And further questioning just provokes blank stares. I don't think there is sincerity in really desiring to know the truth.
Yes!Someone received an answer! It's been a while. Anyway, that means that Vagner got marked up to be baptised this next Sunday; I'm super excited. It's been 2 months since my last baptism. Hope all goes well. He's a really awesome kid. It was cool to see him come to church all dressed up in a white shirt and tie, trying to pay attention and answer questions and figure stuff out. I have a really good feeling that if we started talking about serving a mission and stuff he'd pick it up and run with it. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but... just an awesome situation with him.
Also really great is that our family from Casca, Tiago and Monica, who had been cut by us because of their lack of interest or them not wanting to go to church (I think the interactions they had with a couple members there was slightly less-than-perfect), showed up at church! They said they wanted to continue receiving our visits! Sweet! We went yesterday to Casca, talked and told stories and laughed and shot the breeze, then had an awesome lesson about the plan of salvation, and at the end got down on our knees all of us to pray one at a time for them to receive an answer (idea I got from Bro Sevy). The spirit was super strong as we heard Tiago and Monica pray for the first time, and I'm sure they felt something because as we got up to leave after the prayer, they told us to take the late bus home so that we could eat pizza with them. We stayed a bit longer, Tiago gave me a sweet golden sweater (because I was shivering in their house; should have brought my bigger jacket), and gave us a bag of shampoo and toothpaste and soap that Tiago had gotten as a present from a client of his (were they trying to send us a signal about our hygiene? Definitely not; although I haven't taken a shower in 3 days when I smell myself I only catch the scent of flowers... so...) But it was a really great visit, and Tiago made a couple cool comments while he drove us to the bus station about how he was going to have a long talk with Monica about what they were going to do about church. Cool. I am excited about them again.
Anyway, transfers next week. Hope I stay here because it looks like stuff is turning around.
Hmm, I'm sorry, but this might be all I can send this week. ... Man I have so little time to write... Um, maybe I'll write more later on, but don't expect anything. Okay!
Love love love you guys! Live up the summer! It's freezin here! By the time I write next week I'll have 10 months on the mission! It's still a ways off from the year mark but it's comin fast! Crazy!
Viva vivendo!
Elder Connor
--Connor was asked by one of his church leaders to write up a little bit about his mission so that it could be shared with young men at a Scout camp coming up in a few weeks....
Hey everybody, this is Elder Connor Carpenter speaking to you from a quiet little internet café in Marãu, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. It's quiet here because everybody's out on the streets, dressed in yellow, waiting for the World Cup Brasil game to start in two hours! Brasilians really have a way of showing us Americans up on partying, I haven't ever seen even the Super Bowl cause as much ruckus as is happening down here. Have you ever seen a huge yellow-painted trailer pass by with a raging fire going on in the back in which everybody is encouraged to throw stuffed-dolls dressed up as players of the opposing soccer team? I saw that the other night. It was crazy.
I happen to be 9000 miles from all of you guys in Eldorado Hills, but I feel like I'm right down the street from you guys. Stuff is different but it's not super-different here. Before the mission I thought going to Brasil
I was asked to write about a special spiritual experience that helped me gain a testimony about the gospel. It's hard for me to choose what to say, firstly because those experiences are very personal, and also because those stories often used to seem to me as a youth in the church, “mormon legends” that might or might not be completely true, or could be discounted as stories of coincidence dressed up by their tellers as miracles.
I could tell about the time when my brother and I as youngsters wandered out to play in deep water while not knowing how to swim amid a crowd of strangers outside the view of our parents, and we both panicked and started gulping water and I prayed and suddenly my aunt appeared next to us to pull us out.
I could tell about the time I hid myself from my parents, fell asleep, and woke up six hours later in a completely different place than I had fallen asleep, amid armies of policemen searching for a lost boy and a crying panicked family.
I could tell about my brother and I's experience of suddenly feeling like we needed to leave college early only to later find that the rest of our roommates soon got tied up with drugs and other moral problems that could have interfered with our mission preparation process had we stayed there.
Those stories are cool to hear, but are they useful? Does it mean that you need to see a miracle or see something supernatural happen to have a testimony? I have a bit of fear that it might seem like that to all of you guys.
Do you guys want a useful spiritual experience? How about when I was younger and I heard from a seminary teacher that if I wanted a spiritual experience I just needed to read 2 Nephi 9 over and over again until something cool happened? I sat there one night at my desk without anything to do and I remembered that and I read 2 Nephi 9 three times and I wasn't feeling anything and was even feeling a bit disappointed and disillusioned but then I decided I would just keep reading it until something happened so I must have read those 54 verses 10 or 15 times over and suddenly I looked down and thought, “Why are tears coming out of my eyes? Why are my fingers trembling as I hold the page? Why do I have the feeling that the room is shaking and about to fall down? How is it that I did NOT know with certainty that these things were true just a couple minutes ago?” It was a sensation of opening my eyes for the first time in a life where I previously lived squinting. That's something available to all of you there.
I want to tell all of you how amazing it felt to get ready to serve a mission. I felt unsure and nervous and unfocused before I put my papers in, but as soon as I took that step I started to feel just like everything was RIGHT, that I was exactly where I needed to be, that for the first time in life I wasn't vulnerable to accidentally making the wrong decision about what to do or who to be, but doing exactly what the Lord expected me to do at that moment. I felt the Lord preparing me in those four months before my mission for what I would encounter out here. As I thought more and more about the reality of going on the mission, I started actually really really wanting to open the scriptures, really wanting to pray and find some sort of guidance for how to prepare, and especially when I went to the temple for the first time it all just culminated into a spiritual high that left me feeling like an over-expanded balloon ready to pop with all the Light that God was letting into my life.
I know we talk about having the light of Christ in our lives a lot, and I want everyone to know that that “light” is a real thing. It's not just a metaphor. It's a real sensation. You'll find yourself walking around your same old neighborhood, same old school, same old boring history class, with the same parents and siblings and friends, but as you look and ask for the gift of this light in your life, those same old things will suddenly just look better, brighter, more defined or exciting. You will start to notice all the blessings you have around you with greater clarity. The love you will begin to feel for these same old people will change them from just your mom or brother or friend or stranger into interesting, amazing spiritual brothers and sisters that the Lord loves infinitely, that are here on their own amazing journeys and experiences. You will stop looking to movies or games or books or all of these imaginary worlds to provide an escape from what seems like a dull, ordinary, meaningless world and start seeing what is really there, LIFE, an unimaginably amazing and delicious gift from God. That is what you get from trying to do your best here and following Jesus Christ. You'll feel more light, live more of your life, be engulfed with more love if you do these things. It can seem really difficult at times, but you will find help if you look for it. And what's cool is that here on the mission you can play a part in helping others find that light also. It's really hard some times, but the blessings always follow if you keep at it. Amidst all the problems and worries that I have out here in Brasil, I am so thankful to be here on the mission of the Lord. I am so surprised that Heavenly Father continues to pull through just when we have given it all and it seems like nothing will work out.
Every single one of you here right now have the opportunity to be such a great great help to our Heavenly Father, and a great great help to so many people who the Lord has prepared you to meet and teach. No one is perfect, no one is completely prepared to do what it takes to do this great work. But God will take whatever you have to give and make it great. Don't count yourself out of this work. It's for you. There is always a path to come to Christ, do everything right, and get into the mission field. Get onto that path, stay on it, and try to go further. You will all have the privilege of saying that you had a part to play in this adventure we call life, in the kingdom of God here on earth. I know that these things are true. I know that this Gospel is true and is restored on the earth in these days. I know that Jesus Christ lives and is ready and overly capable to help everyone of you in whatever it is that you need. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Ola minha familia! Espero que tudo esteja bem...
(translation: Ola my family! I expect that everything is well.)
Oh, ahem! *cough* Yep, just got done writing Presidente in portuguese. Gotta make the switch. It was great to hear from Brendon again and see photos from him! Awesome. It's really weird for me to see him in different situations and climates and knowing different people and stuff. Like, I feel like I should be able to get together with Brendon after the mission and immediately assume that he knows everything about my companions and areas and the culture and mission events and everything. And it's weirder to think his experience is completely different than mine, and I'll have to ask him about it later on. Hmmm.
So this week was really great. Stuff is just finally coming together. For example, Vagner prayed about the Book of Mormon and got an answer about it. Woah! I mean, I get so accustomed to the answer, “Yeah, I read and prayed, it was alright...” And further questioning just provokes blank stares. I don't think there is sincerity in really desiring to know the truth.
Yes!Someone received an answer! It's been a while. Anyway, that means that Vagner got marked up to be baptised this next Sunday; I'm super excited. It's been 2 months since my last baptism. Hope all goes well. He's a really awesome kid. It was cool to see him come to church all dressed up in a white shirt and tie, trying to pay attention and answer questions and figure stuff out. I have a really good feeling that if we started talking about serving a mission and stuff he'd pick it up and run with it. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but... just an awesome situation with him.
Also really great is that our family from Casca, Tiago and Monica, who had been cut by us because of their lack of interest or them not wanting to go to church (I think the interactions they had with a couple members there was slightly less-than-perfect), showed up at church! They said they wanted to continue receiving our visits! Sweet! We went yesterday to Casca, talked and told stories and laughed and shot the breeze, then had an awesome lesson about the plan of salvation, and at the end got down on our knees all of us to pray one at a time for them to receive an answer (idea I got from Bro Sevy). The spirit was super strong as we heard Tiago and Monica pray for the first time, and I'm sure they felt something because as we got up to leave after the prayer, they told us to take the late bus home so that we could eat pizza with them. We stayed a bit longer, Tiago gave me a sweet golden sweater (because I was shivering in their house; should have brought my bigger jacket), and gave us a bag of shampoo and toothpaste and soap that Tiago had gotten as a present from a client of his (were they trying to send us a signal about our hygiene? Definitely not; although I haven't taken a shower in 3 days when I smell myself I only catch the scent of flowers... so...) But it was a really great visit, and Tiago made a couple cool comments while he drove us to the bus station about how he was going to have a long talk with Monica about what they were going to do about church. Cool. I am excited about them again.
Anyway, transfers next week. Hope I stay here because it looks like stuff is turning around.
Hmm, I'm sorry, but this might be all I can send this week. ... Man I have so little time to write... Um, maybe I'll write more later on, but don't expect anything. Okay!
Love love love you guys! Live up the summer! It's freezin here! By the time I write next week I'll have 10 months on the mission! It's still a ways off from the year mark but it's comin fast! Crazy!
Viva vivendo!
Elder Connor
--Connor was asked by one of his church leaders to write up a little bit about his mission so that it could be shared with young men at a Scout camp coming up in a few weeks....
Hey everybody, this is Elder Connor Carpenter speaking to you from a quiet little internet café in Marãu, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. It's quiet here because everybody's out on the streets, dressed in yellow, waiting for the World Cup Brasil game to start in two hours! Brasilians really have a way of showing us Americans up on partying, I haven't ever seen even the Super Bowl cause as much ruckus as is happening down here. Have you ever seen a huge yellow-painted trailer pass by with a raging fire going on in the back in which everybody is encouraged to throw stuffed-dolls dressed up as players of the opposing soccer team? I saw that the other night. It was crazy.
I happen to be 9000 miles from all of you guys in Eldorado Hills, but I feel like I'm right down the street from you guys. Stuff is different but it's not super-different here. Before the mission I thought going to Brasil
I was asked to write about a special spiritual experience that helped me gain a testimony about the gospel. It's hard for me to choose what to say, firstly because those experiences are very personal, and also because those stories often used to seem to me as a youth in the church, “mormon legends” that might or might not be completely true, or could be discounted as stories of coincidence dressed up by their tellers as miracles.
I could tell about the time when my brother and I as youngsters wandered out to play in deep water while not knowing how to swim amid a crowd of strangers outside the view of our parents, and we both panicked and started gulping water and I prayed and suddenly my aunt appeared next to us to pull us out.
I could tell about the time I hid myself from my parents, fell asleep, and woke up six hours later in a completely different place than I had fallen asleep, amid armies of policemen searching for a lost boy and a crying panicked family.
I could tell about my brother and I's experience of suddenly feeling like we needed to leave college early only to later find that the rest of our roommates soon got tied up with drugs and other moral problems that could have interfered with our mission preparation process had we stayed there.
Those stories are cool to hear, but are they useful? Does it mean that you need to see a miracle or see something supernatural happen to have a testimony? I have a bit of fear that it might seem like that to all of you guys.
Do you guys want a useful spiritual experience? How about when I was younger and I heard from a seminary teacher that if I wanted a spiritual experience I just needed to read 2 Nephi 9 over and over again until something cool happened? I sat there one night at my desk without anything to do and I remembered that and I read 2 Nephi 9 three times and I wasn't feeling anything and was even feeling a bit disappointed and disillusioned but then I decided I would just keep reading it until something happened so I must have read those 54 verses 10 or 15 times over and suddenly I looked down and thought, “Why are tears coming out of my eyes? Why are my fingers trembling as I hold the page? Why do I have the feeling that the room is shaking and about to fall down? How is it that I did NOT know with certainty that these things were true just a couple minutes ago?” It was a sensation of opening my eyes for the first time in a life where I previously lived squinting. That's something available to all of you there.
I want to tell all of you how amazing it felt to get ready to serve a mission. I felt unsure and nervous and unfocused before I put my papers in, but as soon as I took that step I started to feel just like everything was RIGHT, that I was exactly where I needed to be, that for the first time in life I wasn't vulnerable to accidentally making the wrong decision about what to do or who to be, but doing exactly what the Lord expected me to do at that moment. I felt the Lord preparing me in those four months before my mission for what I would encounter out here. As I thought more and more about the reality of going on the mission, I started actually really really wanting to open the scriptures, really wanting to pray and find some sort of guidance for how to prepare, and especially when I went to the temple for the first time it all just culminated into a spiritual high that left me feeling like an over-expanded balloon ready to pop with all the Light that God was letting into my life.
I know we talk about having the light of Christ in our lives a lot, and I want everyone to know that that “light” is a real thing. It's not just a metaphor. It's a real sensation. You'll find yourself walking around your same old neighborhood, same old school, same old boring history class, with the same parents and siblings and friends, but as you look and ask for the gift of this light in your life, those same old things will suddenly just look better, brighter, more defined or exciting. You will start to notice all the blessings you have around you with greater clarity. The love you will begin to feel for these same old people will change them from just your mom or brother or friend or stranger into interesting, amazing spiritual brothers and sisters that the Lord loves infinitely, that are here on their own amazing journeys and experiences. You will stop looking to movies or games or books or all of these imaginary worlds to provide an escape from what seems like a dull, ordinary, meaningless world and start seeing what is really there, LIFE, an unimaginably amazing and delicious gift from God. That is what you get from trying to do your best here and following Jesus Christ. You'll feel more light, live more of your life, be engulfed with more love if you do these things. It can seem really difficult at times, but you will find help if you look for it. And what's cool is that here on the mission you can play a part in helping others find that light also. It's really hard some times, but the blessings always follow if you keep at it. Amidst all the problems and worries that I have out here in Brasil, I am so thankful to be here on the mission of the Lord. I am so surprised that Heavenly Father continues to pull through just when we have given it all and it seems like nothing will work out.
Every single one of you here right now have the opportunity to be such a great great help to our Heavenly Father, and a great great help to so many people who the Lord has prepared you to meet and teach. No one is perfect, no one is completely prepared to do what it takes to do this great work. But God will take whatever you have to give and make it great. Don't count yourself out of this work. It's for you. There is always a path to come to Christ, do everything right, and get into the mission field. Get onto that path, stay on it, and try to go further. You will all have the privilege of saying that you had a part to play in this adventure we call life, in the kingdom of God here on earth. I know that these things are true. I know that this Gospel is true and is restored on the earth in these days. I know that Jesus Christ lives and is ready and overly capable to help everyone of you in whatever it is that you need. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
June 15, 2010 - Letter Home
Summer days driftin' away...
Hey family! Man, I just started to write this first line in Portuguese. Freakin me out...
The World Cup has started!!! It's absolutely crazy here. The Brasil game starts in 3 hours and people are making their preparations. Tvs and chairs are hooked up out in the streets so that the whole neighborhood can watch the game together. The few stores that haven't closed down have Tvs hooked up inside so that every worker will be able to watch the game while they work. Welcome to Brasil, home of Futbol Fever. Elder Carvalho and I will be going to watch the game at a Roberto's house, which is a part-member family. Roberto always goes all out on us, and said there would be cheeseburgers and coca cola “for the American.” Heh heh, bring it on! I welcome that kind of generalization. I've really gotten excited for the game too, it's just this new energy that everybody here is feeling together. It's contagious. I hope Brasil does well, and we can continue partying. We're so lucky that Presidente let us watch the games and didn't order us to stay locked in our houses like I know some other missions will have to do. A little bit of a break...
But what is even more exciting than the world cup here? What day am I ACTUALLY really hyped up for?! It's that DAY! Happy Birthday my sweet Kaitlin! 15 years ago, our little angel just popped up in our family. How great it's been with her since then! I wish I could do more here for your birthday, Kate, but I hope you can feel a huge Connor hug right now, and I hope my flimsy little 1 page birthday letter gets to you in time (I sent it a week ago with priority, so I hope it gets through!). Congratulations Kate also for finishing Middle School! I hope you and everyone has a big party and everyone will celebrate how awesome our little Kaitlin is. I love you Kaitlin!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TIn-cr8g7I
Here we had some luck with the work. Two young men moved here from two seperate cities to live with two seperate active member families here. They don't know anything about the gospel, but they are both interested in the gospel and have been coming to church. Their names are Renato and Vagner. They've kind of been like a miracle here in this area because as much as Elder Carvalho and I have been working, we haven't had much luck, and so it looks like God is coming through on his part and supplying us with the right people who really need to be taught. It's cool because they are both at the mission age and we've really made good friends with them, so I'm hoping for some good news next week about them two.
Anyway, thank you all so much for your letters, Mom, the photos were great. Elder Chagas and I were all psyched to have our mountain campfire but... I got a feeling that we needed to go visit another family close by instead, and we had dinner with them, so it was still good, but it only means that "Project: MOUNTAIN FIRE" has been delayed, but still operational. It will happen.
I'd love to see the photos and videos that Brendon sent, if it's not too much trouble! More communication, the better. Shoes shoes shoes... I will look around to see where to buy shoes, and get a price to you. I'm convinced that sending money would be a lot cheaper than sending shoes in the mail. Please don't send me shoes in the mail. But honestly, I think my shoes have a lot of distance to go yet... and especially after I cleaned them up a bit, they're lookin spiffy (like for example, my shoe doesn't have a mouth any more... glued it up poor guy...) So I'll look around, but I think it'll be good for just a little bit longer...
So, now we're gonna get groceries back to the house and then run over to Roberto's house, and then we'll let the parties begin! Love you guys! Happy Birthday my Kaitlin! Have a good week!
Love love love!
Connor
Hey family! Man, I just started to write this first line in Portuguese. Freakin me out...
The World Cup has started!!! It's absolutely crazy here. The Brasil game starts in 3 hours and people are making their preparations. Tvs and chairs are hooked up out in the streets so that the whole neighborhood can watch the game together. The few stores that haven't closed down have Tvs hooked up inside so that every worker will be able to watch the game while they work. Welcome to Brasil, home of Futbol Fever. Elder Carvalho and I will be going to watch the game at a Roberto's house, which is a part-member family. Roberto always goes all out on us, and said there would be cheeseburgers and coca cola “for the American.” Heh heh, bring it on! I welcome that kind of generalization. I've really gotten excited for the game too, it's just this new energy that everybody here is feeling together. It's contagious. I hope Brasil does well, and we can continue partying. We're so lucky that Presidente let us watch the games and didn't order us to stay locked in our houses like I know some other missions will have to do. A little bit of a break...
But what is even more exciting than the world cup here? What day am I ACTUALLY really hyped up for?! It's that DAY! Happy Birthday my sweet Kaitlin! 15 years ago, our little angel just popped up in our family. How great it's been with her since then! I wish I could do more here for your birthday, Kate, but I hope you can feel a huge Connor hug right now, and I hope my flimsy little 1 page birthday letter gets to you in time (I sent it a week ago with priority, so I hope it gets through!). Congratulations Kate also for finishing Middle School! I hope you and everyone has a big party and everyone will celebrate how awesome our little Kaitlin is. I love you Kaitlin!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TIn-cr8g7I
Here we had some luck with the work. Two young men moved here from two seperate cities to live with two seperate active member families here. They don't know anything about the gospel, but they are both interested in the gospel and have been coming to church. Their names are Renato and Vagner. They've kind of been like a miracle here in this area because as much as Elder Carvalho and I have been working, we haven't had much luck, and so it looks like God is coming through on his part and supplying us with the right people who really need to be taught. It's cool because they are both at the mission age and we've really made good friends with them, so I'm hoping for some good news next week about them two.
Anyway, thank you all so much for your letters, Mom, the photos were great. Elder Chagas and I were all psyched to have our mountain campfire but... I got a feeling that we needed to go visit another family close by instead, and we had dinner with them, so it was still good, but it only means that "Project: MOUNTAIN FIRE" has been delayed, but still operational. It will happen.
I'd love to see the photos and videos that Brendon sent, if it's not too much trouble! More communication, the better. Shoes shoes shoes... I will look around to see where to buy shoes, and get a price to you. I'm convinced that sending money would be a lot cheaper than sending shoes in the mail. Please don't send me shoes in the mail. But honestly, I think my shoes have a lot of distance to go yet... and especially after I cleaned them up a bit, they're lookin spiffy (like for example, my shoe doesn't have a mouth any more... glued it up poor guy...) So I'll look around, but I think it'll be good for just a little bit longer...
So, now we're gonna get groceries back to the house and then run over to Roberto's house, and then we'll let the parties begin! Love you guys! Happy Birthday my Kaitlin! Have a good week!
Love love love!
Connor
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
June 8, 2010 - Letter Home
Hurry Quick!
What’s up family!
Man, I have so much to say right now. Really, I have 2 weeks of stories to tell. I’ll get right to it.
A quaint local Catholic church
First of all, I made a couple comments on our phone call and some other letters about how I was planning on making a fire. Two weeks ago, "Project: FOREST FIRE" got the green light and was ready to go. I scrambled around in the tall grass behind our apartment, got super muddy and dirty, and cleared an area for a fire, got a bunch of rocks and made a ring, and found a bunch of dead trees that our neighbor threw out, and using my bare hands, TURNED THOSE TREES INTO KINDLING. That’s what being human is: turning the raw, wild earth around you into sustenance. Luckily, I had a division planned with Elder Barker the next day, so "P:FF" was delayed by 24 hours. In order to do our division, I had to travel, by bus, for 7 HOURS in the morning (Lagoa Vermelha is 2 and ½ hours away from Passo Fundo, Marau is 1 hour away from Passo Fundo, I did the round trip).
Marau
So after just rumbling along in the bus all day, Elder Barker and I got home at 3:00. Then our lunch meeting fell through. So we went to the store, brought food back, cooked the food, ate the food, hit the streets at 5:00, made 2 appointments, returned home to our little slice of scoutery. "Project: Forest Fire" was a go, and Elder Barker and I danced around the fire like crazy injuns. Awesome. And THAT’S how you do it.
Into the Hills http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xQesOHq5d0
We had a baptism two Saturdays ago, but it was a member’s kid so I don’t have pictures. What I do have is two legs of bug bites because Elder Carvalho and I had the pleasure of setting up the pool for the baptism, in a little lot of grass behind the church that seemed like a lost part of Nauvoo before the brethren drained the swamps and got rid of the mosquitos. The mosquitos here don’t sip your blood, they BITE chunks out of you. You bleed for a second after they bite you. Crazy. It wasn’t that bad, but at the moment I was going crazy.
After making a baptismal font out of the swamp, we helped out setting up the party, had a very nice baptism, and then ate and had a talent show. The star of the show? I’ll give you one guess. Because the Ward Mission Leader’s son only knows how to play that song from Titanic, I ended up practicing the lyrics and got ready to sing it in front of the branch. Everybody was blown away at my prowess and charm. Just check out the video. Awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlGBht3QFeY
The next day, we sailed off super early (by bus) to Vila Maria, a nearby city where the 1st counselor lives. They treated us to a huge churrasco, and a generally awesome day at the ranch they have there. The city is incredibly small, but they have this HUGE gym (galpao) where the whole place gets together. An entire wing of the building is just for making churrasco. Galpao Tour http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU-OhxHpf18
We had a huge party.
Churrascaria!
"That's a big grill!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-YhKOASqCk
Okay, I gotta go! More stories later! Love you guys so much! Wish I didn’t have to be so brief! We are going to go take a tour of a Masonic temple! It’ll be sweet!
We make a lot of breads!
Love you! Thanks so much for the sweet letters and pictures! More later! Tchau tchau!
Love love and more love!
Elder Con
...a little while later...
Hey, I’m still here! The member gave us a quick tour and dropped us back at the Lanhouse. I thought it’d be a bit longer. Great! I can say more.
The other day after church we decided to find a shortcut home. Usually we go in a big U shape to get home, because in the middle of that U is a lot of undeveloped land and a huge hill. We found one. Suddenly we were traipsing through old farm fields on the top of the hill so you could see the whole city below, but felt utterly alone because of the silence and all the trees around us. We jumped a couple fences, picked our way through the trees and brambles, and stumbled onto an abandoned construction site where they were building a neighborhood but, (we guess) finances ran short. Then, a little further, in the trees, was a huge radio tower all fences off with a bunch of machines whirring inside. We approached the tower and heard a bunch of beeping and humming noises. All in this quiet hillside forest. This is to Brendon: it felt EXACTLY like I was in Half Life 2: Ep. 2. Same climate, same foliage, abandoned buildings, weird noisy technology, and all utterly empty. Very cool. Too bad my camera battery ran out. Not that that would give the experience any justice. We continued, and found a dirt road that lead exactly to right in front of our house. So now that’s how we’re getting to church every Sunday.
After that day, we decided to boil some water, prep some chimarrao, grab my ipod and some portable speakers, some snacks, and we took off for the top of the mountain. We found this cliff that overlooks a big chunk of the city. MAN it was cold. I was wearing 5 layers, pajamas under my jeans, 2 socks. But it was a completely crisp night. Man, we could see the stars perfectly. Marau is a small town and it’s in the middle of complete farmland for miles, so there wasn’t a lot of light getting in the way. We were pretty tired after a hard week, and it was a great way to relax. Tomorrow I’ll have a division with a good friend, Elder Chagas, and I’m going to pack a bunch of wood to make a campfire up there. Hope the weather gets good. It’s a bit foggy now. But we’re going to combine "Project: Forest Fire" and "Project: Mountain Pass" together for an amazing finale. It’ll be great.
Notice that I don’t talk about the work very often? We’re tired here. The other day we went knocking on doors for 2 hours and found 3 lukewarm potential investigators. Most of the time it’s “No, we’re Catholic.” Okay. But one success we had here was that a less-active family, who had moved here recently, went to church two Sundays, and stopped coming suddenly, opened up to us after giving a scripture message, and told us why they weren’t going to church. It was because of a comment another member made. So we talked with them for like the whole night, and managed to resolve the problem, and they said they’d come back to church. We’ll work with them to make a goal for going to the temple.
That’s how it is out here. We have few families who will go to church every Sunday no matter what; we have a bunch of families where it’s a balancing act to see if they’ll keep coming to church. So we count our successes where we can. Hopefully by coming to church they’ll be able to form their own testimonies and experiences enough to overcome the other obstacles they have in their lives.
But, we’re going. Elder Carvalho and I have a disdagreement once or twice a week, but we quickly forget what happened and come back together again. I don’t know what the problem is, but it revolves around our habits of cleanliness. It’s easy to say, “Ah, Elder Carpenter, just do what he says and clean.” But that is a lot harder of a thing to do than you’d expect. I don’t know if I’m capable of that. But I try. And we’re going.
Made another monster map of Marau. It’s expensive and time consuming, but I want to do it for every area I pass through. Just leave a bit of Elder Carpenter everywhere. It turned it really cool. I’ll take a photo.
Mom, got your package! Loved it so much. The poptart and the chocolates went fast. The pasta is waiting for me at home. The pasta was awesome, but without you feeling bad about anything (I hope), the chocolate is way better. Even the cheap kinds are worth it. The same type of pasta is very accessible in stores here. Don’t worry! The food isn’t even the best part, it’s the letters and the cool poster you sent and all your love.
I loved hearing news about the business! So awesome! Congrats guys! You guys deserve what’s happening right now! Just lets keep praying to keep it going right. And remember that whatever happens, what’s more important is our family and the gospel. If we hesitate to remember that we already have the biggest success in our lives (our family), stuff might get sticky. I love you guys. I’m praying it all goes through well. How cool it is to be where we are now! Our prayers really have been answered. So awesome.
Kaitlin! It’s almost summer! And your birthday! I am so excited. I’ll make a cake here like you made for me there. Your last day of middle school! You’re getting so old! I love you Kate!
Lyns, you lucky! Send some pictures! You made it through the school year!!! So awesome. Summer finally came. Love you so much! EFs Forever!
Okay, sooo… I love you guys! Have a good week! Thank you again so much for the letters, my sweet sistas, Lyns and Kate. You guys are awesome.
Lovedy love.
Con
What’s up family!
Man, I have so much to say right now. Really, I have 2 weeks of stories to tell. I’ll get right to it.
First of all, I made a couple comments on our phone call and some other letters about how I was planning on making a fire. Two weeks ago, "Project: FOREST FIRE" got the green light and was ready to go. I scrambled around in the tall grass behind our apartment, got super muddy and dirty, and cleared an area for a fire, got a bunch of rocks and made a ring, and found a bunch of dead trees that our neighbor threw out, and using my bare hands, TURNED THOSE TREES INTO KINDLING. That’s what being human is: turning the raw, wild earth around you into sustenance. Luckily, I had a division planned with Elder Barker the next day, so "P:FF" was delayed by 24 hours. In order to do our division, I had to travel, by bus, for 7 HOURS in the morning (Lagoa Vermelha is 2 and ½ hours away from Passo Fundo, Marau is 1 hour away from Passo Fundo, I did the round trip).
So after just rumbling along in the bus all day, Elder Barker and I got home at 3:00. Then our lunch meeting fell through. So we went to the store, brought food back, cooked the food, ate the food, hit the streets at 5:00, made 2 appointments, returned home to our little slice of scoutery. "Project: Forest Fire" was a go, and Elder Barker and I danced around the fire like crazy injuns. Awesome. And THAT’S how you do it.
Into the Hills http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xQesOHq5d0
We had a baptism two Saturdays ago, but it was a member’s kid so I don’t have pictures. What I do have is two legs of bug bites because Elder Carvalho and I had the pleasure of setting up the pool for the baptism, in a little lot of grass behind the church that seemed like a lost part of Nauvoo before the brethren drained the swamps and got rid of the mosquitos. The mosquitos here don’t sip your blood, they BITE chunks out of you. You bleed for a second after they bite you. Crazy. It wasn’t that bad, but at the moment I was going crazy.
After making a baptismal font out of the swamp, we helped out setting up the party, had a very nice baptism, and then ate and had a talent show. The star of the show? I’ll give you one guess. Because the Ward Mission Leader’s son only knows how to play that song from Titanic, I ended up practicing the lyrics and got ready to sing it in front of the branch. Everybody was blown away at my prowess and charm. Just check out the video. Awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlGBht3QFeY
The next day, we sailed off super early (by bus) to Vila Maria, a nearby city where the 1st counselor lives. They treated us to a huge churrasco, and a generally awesome day at the ranch they have there. The city is incredibly small, but they have this HUGE gym (galpao) where the whole place gets together. An entire wing of the building is just for making churrasco. Galpao Tour http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wU-OhxHpf18
We had a huge party.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-YhKOASqCk
Okay, I gotta go! More stories later! Love you guys so much! Wish I didn’t have to be so brief! We are going to go take a tour of a Masonic temple! It’ll be sweet!
Love you! Thanks so much for the sweet letters and pictures! More later! Tchau tchau!
Love love and more love!
Elder Con
...a little while later...
Hey, I’m still here! The member gave us a quick tour and dropped us back at the Lanhouse. I thought it’d be a bit longer. Great! I can say more.
The other day after church we decided to find a shortcut home. Usually we go in a big U shape to get home, because in the middle of that U is a lot of undeveloped land and a huge hill. We found one. Suddenly we were traipsing through old farm fields on the top of the hill so you could see the whole city below, but felt utterly alone because of the silence and all the trees around us. We jumped a couple fences, picked our way through the trees and brambles, and stumbled onto an abandoned construction site where they were building a neighborhood but, (we guess) finances ran short. Then, a little further, in the trees, was a huge radio tower all fences off with a bunch of machines whirring inside. We approached the tower and heard a bunch of beeping and humming noises. All in this quiet hillside forest. This is to Brendon: it felt EXACTLY like I was in Half Life 2: Ep. 2. Same climate, same foliage, abandoned buildings, weird noisy technology, and all utterly empty. Very cool. Too bad my camera battery ran out. Not that that would give the experience any justice. We continued, and found a dirt road that lead exactly to right in front of our house. So now that’s how we’re getting to church every Sunday.
After that day, we decided to boil some water, prep some chimarrao, grab my ipod and some portable speakers, some snacks, and we took off for the top of the mountain. We found this cliff that overlooks a big chunk of the city. MAN it was cold. I was wearing 5 layers, pajamas under my jeans, 2 socks. But it was a completely crisp night. Man, we could see the stars perfectly. Marau is a small town and it’s in the middle of complete farmland for miles, so there wasn’t a lot of light getting in the way. We were pretty tired after a hard week, and it was a great way to relax. Tomorrow I’ll have a division with a good friend, Elder Chagas, and I’m going to pack a bunch of wood to make a campfire up there. Hope the weather gets good. It’s a bit foggy now. But we’re going to combine "Project: Forest Fire" and "Project: Mountain Pass" together for an amazing finale. It’ll be great.
Notice that I don’t talk about the work very often? We’re tired here. The other day we went knocking on doors for 2 hours and found 3 lukewarm potential investigators. Most of the time it’s “No, we’re Catholic.” Okay. But one success we had here was that a less-active family, who had moved here recently, went to church two Sundays, and stopped coming suddenly, opened up to us after giving a scripture message, and told us why they weren’t going to church. It was because of a comment another member made. So we talked with them for like the whole night, and managed to resolve the problem, and they said they’d come back to church. We’ll work with them to make a goal for going to the temple.
That’s how it is out here. We have few families who will go to church every Sunday no matter what; we have a bunch of families where it’s a balancing act to see if they’ll keep coming to church. So we count our successes where we can. Hopefully by coming to church they’ll be able to form their own testimonies and experiences enough to overcome the other obstacles they have in their lives.
But, we’re going. Elder Carvalho and I have a disdagreement once or twice a week, but we quickly forget what happened and come back together again. I don’t know what the problem is, but it revolves around our habits of cleanliness. It’s easy to say, “Ah, Elder Carpenter, just do what he says and clean.” But that is a lot harder of a thing to do than you’d expect. I don’t know if I’m capable of that. But I try. And we’re going.
Made another monster map of Marau. It’s expensive and time consuming, but I want to do it for every area I pass through. Just leave a bit of Elder Carpenter everywhere. It turned it really cool. I’ll take a photo.
Mom, got your package! Loved it so much. The poptart and the chocolates went fast. The pasta is waiting for me at home. The pasta was awesome, but without you feeling bad about anything (I hope), the chocolate is way better. Even the cheap kinds are worth it. The same type of pasta is very accessible in stores here. Don’t worry! The food isn’t even the best part, it’s the letters and the cool poster you sent and all your love.
I loved hearing news about the business! So awesome! Congrats guys! You guys deserve what’s happening right now! Just lets keep praying to keep it going right. And remember that whatever happens, what’s more important is our family and the gospel. If we hesitate to remember that we already have the biggest success in our lives (our family), stuff might get sticky. I love you guys. I’m praying it all goes through well. How cool it is to be where we are now! Our prayers really have been answered. So awesome.
Kaitlin! It’s almost summer! And your birthday! I am so excited. I’ll make a cake here like you made for me there. Your last day of middle school! You’re getting so old! I love you Kate!
Lyns, you lucky! Send some pictures! You made it through the school year!!! So awesome. Summer finally came. Love you so much! EFs Forever!
Okay, sooo… I love you guys! Have a good week! Thank you again so much for the letters, my sweet sistas, Lyns and Kate. You guys are awesome.
Lovedy love.
Con
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
June 1, 2010 - Letter Home
Short and Sweet
Hey Family,
So maybe this week there'll be a bit less info. I don't feel very good about that. Because I received some frankly awesome and heartwarming e-mails from my family and I just want to keep passing it forward. Unfortunately, problems with computers and my need this morning to write a monster letter to Presidente necessitates that I go a bit easy on the syrup. Sorry guys.
What was my monster letter to President? Yesterday we had zone conference, and in my interview with President I presented a new idea for something we could do in our district. He told me to forward all the information to him today so that he could analyze it better and get me an answer. What was my idea? Something which the Sacramento, California mission does but here it has been against the rules. It's called a Blitz. All of the Elders in a district go crash in another area and do a huge division with just finding activities. It's supposed to provide a companionship with like, a transfers worth of contacts in one shot. It's also cool because the Elders would get to sleep over and have pizza and stuff that night. It was a huge pain to write out because I needed to prove that doing a Blitz would actually SAVE money instead of wasting it, and after a lot of math I figured that our district would save $150 per transfer doing this. So I sent all the math over to President Pavan. It would be cool if it went through.
Writing it all up was fun because the computer here crashed one hour in to doing all the math and I had to restart the process of writing it all up. It's a bit more complicated than it seems because you have to add up a transfers worth of bus ticket costs. Oh well.
This week was really good. I was and am very happy. Our companionship is happy and going strong. Just that Carvalho and I are a bit without steam. Both just feeling really tired and a bit discouraged with some of the members and some of our investigators. So we went to Zone Conference wanting something big to motivate us. It was exactly what we needed, I think. President didn't talk about anything technical. Not one thing about new techniques or plans or goals or ideas. He just talked plan doctrine, and about how important our callings as missionaries are, and how we'll have help if we look for it. It was pretty much a big pep talk. Sister Pavan also really gave us a big boost with an awesome spiritual message. They are really very awesome people, President and Sister. I feel very close to them. In our interview President and I talked about the difficulties of the area and in our companionship and just everything else. He really just kind of gave me a pat on the back and told me that I was doing well. I was kind of surprised at that because we've been getting horrible numbers and President is known as being the kind of guy that would say, "You don't have baptisms? Just go and be obedient and diligent and it will work! Go to it already!" But Presidente understood. I was feeling like maybe I had done something wrong or not done enough to merit good results, but President reassured me that what counted was that I was doing what I thought was right, that I was trying to be my best. Really cool. I love President Pavan.
So much stuff happened this week. I kind of feel bad for rushing through all of it, because if I embellished it, I could make the news last for like 4 pages. Unfortunately, I think Elder Carvalho is gonna get really mad at me if I keep going, I think that if I don't finish up now we're gonna have a fight or something. I'll catch all you guys up next week, okay? Super sorry about that.
I love you guys! I am happy! I hope you are all well! I am praying for you all, always. You are so close to my heart. The reason that I'm here.
Love love LOVE you guys!
Elder Carpenter
Hey Family,
So maybe this week there'll be a bit less info. I don't feel very good about that. Because I received some frankly awesome and heartwarming e-mails from my family and I just want to keep passing it forward. Unfortunately, problems with computers and my need this morning to write a monster letter to Presidente necessitates that I go a bit easy on the syrup. Sorry guys.
What was my monster letter to President? Yesterday we had zone conference, and in my interview with President I presented a new idea for something we could do in our district. He told me to forward all the information to him today so that he could analyze it better and get me an answer. What was my idea? Something which the Sacramento, California mission does but here it has been against the rules. It's called a Blitz. All of the Elders in a district go crash in another area and do a huge division with just finding activities. It's supposed to provide a companionship with like, a transfers worth of contacts in one shot. It's also cool because the Elders would get to sleep over and have pizza and stuff that night. It was a huge pain to write out because I needed to prove that doing a Blitz would actually SAVE money instead of wasting it, and after a lot of math I figured that our district would save $150 per transfer doing this. So I sent all the math over to President Pavan. It would be cool if it went through.
Writing it all up was fun because the computer here crashed one hour in to doing all the math and I had to restart the process of writing it all up. It's a bit more complicated than it seems because you have to add up a transfers worth of bus ticket costs. Oh well.
This week was really good. I was and am very happy. Our companionship is happy and going strong. Just that Carvalho and I are a bit without steam. Both just feeling really tired and a bit discouraged with some of the members and some of our investigators. So we went to Zone Conference wanting something big to motivate us. It was exactly what we needed, I think. President didn't talk about anything technical. Not one thing about new techniques or plans or goals or ideas. He just talked plan doctrine, and about how important our callings as missionaries are, and how we'll have help if we look for it. It was pretty much a big pep talk. Sister Pavan also really gave us a big boost with an awesome spiritual message. They are really very awesome people, President and Sister. I feel very close to them. In our interview President and I talked about the difficulties of the area and in our companionship and just everything else. He really just kind of gave me a pat on the back and told me that I was doing well. I was kind of surprised at that because we've been getting horrible numbers and President is known as being the kind of guy that would say, "You don't have baptisms? Just go and be obedient and diligent and it will work! Go to it already!" But Presidente understood. I was feeling like maybe I had done something wrong or not done enough to merit good results, but President reassured me that what counted was that I was doing what I thought was right, that I was trying to be my best. Really cool. I love President Pavan.
So much stuff happened this week. I kind of feel bad for rushing through all of it, because if I embellished it, I could make the news last for like 4 pages. Unfortunately, I think Elder Carvalho is gonna get really mad at me if I keep going, I think that if I don't finish up now we're gonna have a fight or something. I'll catch all you guys up next week, okay? Super sorry about that.
I love you guys! I am happy! I hope you are all well! I am praying for you all, always. You are so close to my heart. The reason that I'm here.
Love love LOVE you guys!
Elder Carpenter
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