November 30, 2010 - Letter Home

Connected

Heylow Evabodey! (<- Brasilian accent) 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your Con,

Elder Carpenter

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

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

with your family!

Keep fighting every day! Be strong and have courage!

November 23, 2010 - Letter Home

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Love love love!

Elder Con

November 16, 2010 - Letter Home

 Hoping for Miracles

Cookies!

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

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

CTM REUNION

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

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

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

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


Have a great week!

Elder Carpenter


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

November 9, 2010 - Letter Home

Shrine to Me


Wassup y'all! Another e-mail, another P-day, another transfer, another companion, same area!, and I hope other baptisms (in the future :) ). 


The lucky new missionary is Elder Correia! He is my son! I love him. Because he is MY son! I have a son! He looks almost exactly like me if I had glasses, was two years older, was half a foot shorter, with darker brazilian skin, a different smile, and had different parents and therefore a different facial structure.  So cool! 

ChimaFather

ChimaSon

He is from San Luis, Maraniãu, which I had never heard of before until now. Supposedly it's pretty big. He studied Industrial Engineering and appears pretty smart. He's got a northeastern accent but I'm getting him well indoctrinated in the Gaucho slang and culture. With my help, soon he'll be a tall walkin high slingin galderio tchê! 


Man, poor thing, I'm afraid Elder Correia might be suffering a bit. We cut a bunch of non-progressing investigators and are having to build up our teaching pool from nothing, and summer finally started, so we're knocking a lot of doors in the sun, and it may be taking a toll physically and psychologically on Elder Correia. I had wanted to start his time in the mission like I had wanted to start mine: knocking a million doors and just talking to everyone and challenging everyone to be baptized like crazy. I'm starting to realize what would have happened had I got my wish: quick burnout. Luckily, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and this'll just help him realize that he's nothing and to have to humble himself to the Lord and submit to suffer a bit, but I'm hoping I'm not getting too close to the line. :)

Lizard!

I miss Elder Ribeiro! I love his guts. I want him back. He was an awesome friend. Not fair we got to stay together for just one transfer! What's cool is that he went to be Elder Simmons' first junior companion (who was MY 1st junior companion)!!! Woah! My 2 companions on the mission, together. Awesome. I hope they build a shrine to me, the companion who changed their missions :D.

I bought new shoes. Um... I completely don't know what to report from this week. A lot of walking in the sun and knocking doors and a couple cool lessons, but it's slow going. I'll get to go to the temple again soon! I'm excited. We're going to print out a million of our home-made pamphlets on our own dime that talk about our gospel message and have our phone number and put them IN EVERY SINGLE HOUSE IN THE AREA!!!! Hahahah! Someone will HAVE to be interested. It's just a law of numbers, isn't it? SOMEONE has to come out of this. I don't know why the church hasn't done this before. We have friendship cards, but they
only feature a picture and a number to call (doesn't explain what we believe), and we have the main lesson pamphlets, but they are too big and expensive to put into every house. So, we're combining the two. We're including a baptismal invite on the pamphlet :). Let's see what happens!

Um, I love you guys. We're all good here! I loved the e-mails! Until next week!

Elder Carpenter

Teach him good

November 1, 2010 - Letter Home

"Steamrollin"


Hey everyone! I'm rushin around because of transfers, but next week I promise many photos and videos which the internet I am at here today doesn't allow to upload.
The news? I will turn trainer tomorrow, which means that I'll be the 1st companion of a brand new missionary. It's a huge responsibility! I'm excited!
Elder Ribeiro is leaving, and I'm sad!
Man, he's awesome, and a great friend. I hope I get to see him again in the next 10 months. My second stepson is leaving me!


We baptized Cristielle and Tainara, two sisters, one 12-years-old and one 22 years old. They are awesome! I love them. Cristielle managed to quit smoking AND throw away her job because she worked on Sundays and she wants to attend church and follow the commandment to keep the sabbath day holy.
It seems INSANE!
But it is GREAT FAITH!
They are awesome and I know a miracle will happen.


Anyway, love you guys! Have a good week!


Até mais! Love love love!


Elder C. Carpenter