Friday, August 19, 2011
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
August 16, 2011 - LAST Letter Home
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| What Joy!! |
I'm so sorry I couldn't write yesterday, obviously you can understand that it's been pretty busy here.
This last week was very great; we visited and ate with many members and investigators, and it was a great experience of seeing all the results of my work in Neopolis.
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| Elder Gaucho |
This week we also had a successful branch activity, a theater night where we brought 4 investigators, watched The Testaments, and ate lots of goodies prepared by members. A returned missionary that I had known stopped by the area and we had an excellent churrasco :). Sister Dullius made the BEST home-made ice cream treat for dessert. :)
We packed up, I left a bunch of stuff behind, saw a couple more people, cleaned the house, and left for the bus station. There I saw Elder F. Ribeiro, and a bunch of other missionaries that I hadn't seen in forever. Awesome!
I saw Brother Wilson from Elizabete, and Sister Alzenida from Esteio. They're doing good. :)
Rosianne, Marco and Mirielle, a family I had taught the first lessons to and been good friends with in Elizabete and then left behind, stopped by, and informed me that Mirielle was baptized, and that Marco and Rosianne were regularily going to church and would be married soon to be baptized. What joy!
I talked with Elder Diego who had been in Esteio, who reported that Yasim and family are doing SUPER well in Esteio, Yasim is a Young Men's counselor, Fadua is in the Young Women's Presidency, and all of them, Nilda included, have given talks and are loving the church! What joy!
I received a phone call from Sister Nadir in Elizabete, who said that she and Pamela were well and continuing visits with the missionaries and going to church! Hey hey hey! What joy is that?!
I've been stressing my mind this last month, and when the baptism fell I thought I would be super sad, but leaving, I'm just feeling extreme joy at the mission experience and these 2 years I've shared with the Lord. I love the mission, and I am thankful to be coming home with good experiences and lessons.
Seeing all you family still isn't feeling real, but it's getting there. :) I'm giddy with excitement. :)
Maybe Brendon's already got there, so I hope you all party a bunch so you can be warmed up for the REAL party when I come home. I love you all and am SO excited to be back! :)
Well, sorry, but I gotta keep this short... Until the end.
Love love love,
Until soon,
Elder Con
Thursday, August 4, 2011
August 2, 2011 - Letter Home
Sinking In
Hello there family,
This week was cold and rainy (again), but it was a good one. We had a great branch activity on Saturday where we managed to get 16 of the people we are teaching to. The activity definitely marked the week and our investigators were able to get to know the members of the branch and have fun in a bunch of games and eat cakes together. I'm really happy so many people showed up. I guess we should mention the word "cake" in ALL our invites to get greater effect. :)
Stephanie and Priscilla went to church again and we are anxious to get them to the finish line on the 12th to be baptized.
We spent a day and a half sick due to undercooked chicken, and we also got to do 3 service projects this week, liftin' sand (new stuff!) for the construction of a house, making a wooden gate, and hefting furniture in a move. Woah! I'm a workin man!
No photos AGAIN this week, because we haven't been able to recharge our camera. I promise next week I'll send a bunch! I gotta!
Man, I am sorry for the drab updates recently; it's hard because all I can seem to do is keep working and visiting and worrying and running so that I don't think about home too much. But I defintiely need to do some adventurous last activities here in a while to mark the occasion of me leaving the land of my mission. We will be visiting the temple next week and me and Elder Bryant will climb Itacolomi Hill on my last P-day, which will give a good epic look of the surroundings of all of Porto Alegre and Gravataí, all the areas that I've run around in this last year. I'm excited for that!
So, really, my feelings are pretty complicated in these last two weeks. I can't believe that I'll actually be going home; I feel like I'll just be transferred to another area. It doesn't sink in that I won't be here in three weeks. It doesn't sink in that I have a loving, excited family waiting at home for my arrival; all I can seem to see is the loving people which have taken me in here. I want to be sad about leaving but excited to go home but forget about it all and just work and bah! It's a mix.
But I'm sure that's pretty normal. Right now, I'm going to try to focus just on keeping going until the end; anything else'll pull me off track. Running running until the end! That's my goal! And to baptize a couple more before getting on the plane :).
Thank you so much for the great e-mails this week, and all the photos. I love you all so much! I am so excited to see you all. What will you say to the 21-year-old stranger who can barely manage to type English who is suddenly living with you all? I think I'll definitely be a little fish-outta-the-water for a while.
Well, have a good next week! Enjoy the time left without having two extra plates at the dinner table every night!
I think I'll be able to visit Elizabeth on my last day in the field. I have plenty of room in my luggage too, after a little "Winter Cleaning". I think a lot of clothes might be going to the trash cause I definitely won't use them at home. That'll gimme some space.
I got butterflies too! Make ém stop! :)
Have a good week,
14 more days! :P
Your son,
Elder Con
Hello there family,
This week was cold and rainy (again), but it was a good one. We had a great branch activity on Saturday where we managed to get 16 of the people we are teaching to. The activity definitely marked the week and our investigators were able to get to know the members of the branch and have fun in a bunch of games and eat cakes together. I'm really happy so many people showed up. I guess we should mention the word "cake" in ALL our invites to get greater effect. :)
Stephanie and Priscilla went to church again and we are anxious to get them to the finish line on the 12th to be baptized.
We spent a day and a half sick due to undercooked chicken, and we also got to do 3 service projects this week, liftin' sand (new stuff!) for the construction of a house, making a wooden gate, and hefting furniture in a move. Woah! I'm a workin man!
No photos AGAIN this week, because we haven't been able to recharge our camera. I promise next week I'll send a bunch! I gotta!
Man, I am sorry for the drab updates recently; it's hard because all I can seem to do is keep working and visiting and worrying and running so that I don't think about home too much. But I defintiely need to do some adventurous last activities here in a while to mark the occasion of me leaving the land of my mission. We will be visiting the temple next week and me and Elder Bryant will climb Itacolomi Hill on my last P-day, which will give a good epic look of the surroundings of all of Porto Alegre and Gravataí, all the areas that I've run around in this last year. I'm excited for that!
So, really, my feelings are pretty complicated in these last two weeks. I can't believe that I'll actually be going home; I feel like I'll just be transferred to another area. It doesn't sink in that I won't be here in three weeks. It doesn't sink in that I have a loving, excited family waiting at home for my arrival; all I can seem to see is the loving people which have taken me in here. I want to be sad about leaving but excited to go home but forget about it all and just work and bah! It's a mix.
But I'm sure that's pretty normal. Right now, I'm going to try to focus just on keeping going until the end; anything else'll pull me off track. Running running until the end! That's my goal! And to baptize a couple more before getting on the plane :).
Thank you so much for the great e-mails this week, and all the photos. I love you all so much! I am so excited to see you all. What will you say to the 21-year-old stranger who can barely manage to type English who is suddenly living with you all? I think I'll definitely be a little fish-outta-the-water for a while.
Well, have a good next week! Enjoy the time left without having two extra plates at the dinner table every night!
I think I'll be able to visit Elizabeth on my last day in the field. I have plenty of room in my luggage too, after a little "Winter Cleaning". I think a lot of clothes might be going to the trash cause I definitely won't use them at home. That'll gimme some space.
I got butterflies too! Make ém stop! :)
Have a good week,
14 more days! :P
Your son,
Elder Con
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
July 26, 2011 - Letter Home
Miracles Before the End
stephanie, priscila, junior, miracle, jacqueline e fam, zone conference,
3rd to last e-mail. :)
It's hard to not think about that. This week went well, and, many thanks to Elder Bryant, we're running running running to find more people and to get the people we have to baptism. I'm very happy to be ending my mission this way... :)
I hope to keep up the speed after I get home too. We had an awesome zone conference on wednesday where I got to see a lot of people from my CTM group, and also see Elder Carroll and Elder Persinger - my growing stepsons... :) again. It was awesome. I hardly ate anything in our huge and expensive lunch cause I was busy catching up with all my buddies. I discovered that a bunch of guys from my group'll be attending UVU with me after the mish as well. I'm especially excited to be able to study with Elder Anderson, Feller, and Gibby there. :) I love those guys. We made a bunch of after-mission plans which made me a little trunky at the time but I'm over it now. :P
Our Conference was with Seventy Elder Itesorio, and was very spiritual and talked about a bunch of new teaching techniques to improve the work. Very enlightening.
We have a nice little group of progressing investigators here, and people are finally starting to go to church every week (unlike in the 3 months when I arrived here) I am super excited for Stephanie, who's accepted baptism for next month and participated in a Young Women's activity this week. And even though Priscila was sick this week and couldn't go to church, she's progressing and seeming to start to "get it". I hope and believe that I will be able to see her baptized. We've been teaching a couple other cool families, Jacqueline and Fabio, and Paulo and Juliana, and Marcelo and Maria. It's been good to be able to not JUST find, but also be teaching alot.
The other night we had a special experience. It's 8:30, and we finished teaching Jacqueline and Fabio, but they were worried about Everton, who had had some problems and hadn't come home yet. We agreed to look around the neighborhood for him. We walked around for half and hour, it's cold, it was a long day, and no one was on the streets. We started walking towards home and instead of going home at 9:00, Elder Bryant insists that we keep walking around looking for Everton. I wanted to just tell him to give up because Everton could be anywhere, and there was probably nothing we could do. We walk around a bit more, come back to our street, but Elder Bryant doesn't let me turn and go home. I want to humor him (little greeny optimist that he is), so we walk down a side street. We get to the end of the street and notice an alleyway that I had never known existed, even though we knocked all the doors of that street one night. We walk to the end of the alley, it's a dead end, and so we start walking back. Suddenly a young women runs out of her house, we can see a large family inside. She's all smiling, and I give a big friendly hello, and I suppose Elder Bryant thought she was a member I hadn't told him about, so we start talking, and she asks for us to come back and talk to her family about the church. We mark a visit, and then I ask her how she knew about the church. She said she doesn't know anything about our church. I ask her how long ago she's seen the missionaries. She doesn't know anything about the missionaries. I ask her if she'd ever SEEN the missionaries. Nope. She says she just saw us walking down the street, after 9:00 at night, and had a feeling that she needed to invite us in so we could talk to her family about their church. Well, we shared a quick message about Jesus Christ and the family, and not wanting to spoil a good thing, booked it out of there. More news to come on her, Andressa, and her family, for sure. I'm absolutely certain that's the elect family we've been praying for. Stuff like Andressa running out to meet us in the cold empty night NEVER NEVER happens. Man, I was pretty astonished after that. Very cool.
So, there will be miracles before the end. I am so thankful that God remembered his cold, tired Elder Carpenter to send him a little sign that He's still in this.
Anyway, I love you all bunches! Have a great week! Keep the faith burning!
Love love love,
Elder Con
stephanie, priscila, junior, miracle, jacqueline e fam, zone conference,
3rd to last e-mail. :)
It's hard to not think about that. This week went well, and, many thanks to Elder Bryant, we're running running running to find more people and to get the people we have to baptism. I'm very happy to be ending my mission this way... :)
I hope to keep up the speed after I get home too. We had an awesome zone conference on wednesday where I got to see a lot of people from my CTM group, and also see Elder Carroll and Elder Persinger - my growing stepsons... :) again. It was awesome. I hardly ate anything in our huge and expensive lunch cause I was busy catching up with all my buddies. I discovered that a bunch of guys from my group'll be attending UVU with me after the mish as well. I'm especially excited to be able to study with Elder Anderson, Feller, and Gibby there. :) I love those guys. We made a bunch of after-mission plans which made me a little trunky at the time but I'm over it now. :P
Our Conference was with Seventy Elder Itesorio, and was very spiritual and talked about a bunch of new teaching techniques to improve the work. Very enlightening.
We have a nice little group of progressing investigators here, and people are finally starting to go to church every week (unlike in the 3 months when I arrived here) I am super excited for Stephanie, who's accepted baptism for next month and participated in a Young Women's activity this week. And even though Priscila was sick this week and couldn't go to church, she's progressing and seeming to start to "get it". I hope and believe that I will be able to see her baptized. We've been teaching a couple other cool families, Jacqueline and Fabio, and Paulo and Juliana, and Marcelo and Maria. It's been good to be able to not JUST find, but also be teaching alot.
The other night we had a special experience. It's 8:30, and we finished teaching Jacqueline and Fabio, but they were worried about Everton, who had had some problems and hadn't come home yet. We agreed to look around the neighborhood for him. We walked around for half and hour, it's cold, it was a long day, and no one was on the streets. We started walking towards home and instead of going home at 9:00, Elder Bryant insists that we keep walking around looking for Everton. I wanted to just tell him to give up because Everton could be anywhere, and there was probably nothing we could do. We walk around a bit more, come back to our street, but Elder Bryant doesn't let me turn and go home. I want to humor him (little greeny optimist that he is), so we walk down a side street. We get to the end of the street and notice an alleyway that I had never known existed, even though we knocked all the doors of that street one night. We walk to the end of the alley, it's a dead end, and so we start walking back. Suddenly a young women runs out of her house, we can see a large family inside. She's all smiling, and I give a big friendly hello, and I suppose Elder Bryant thought she was a member I hadn't told him about, so we start talking, and she asks for us to come back and talk to her family about the church. We mark a visit, and then I ask her how she knew about the church. She said she doesn't know anything about our church. I ask her how long ago she's seen the missionaries. She doesn't know anything about the missionaries. I ask her if she'd ever SEEN the missionaries. Nope. She says she just saw us walking down the street, after 9:00 at night, and had a feeling that she needed to invite us in so we could talk to her family about their church. Well, we shared a quick message about Jesus Christ and the family, and not wanting to spoil a good thing, booked it out of there. More news to come on her, Andressa, and her family, for sure. I'm absolutely certain that's the elect family we've been praying for. Stuff like Andressa running out to meet us in the cold empty night NEVER NEVER happens. Man, I was pretty astonished after that. Very cool.
So, there will be miracles before the end. I am so thankful that God remembered his cold, tired Elder Carpenter to send him a little sign that He's still in this.
Anyway, I love you all bunches! Have a great week! Keep the faith burning!
Love love love,
Elder Con
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
July 19, 2011 - Letter Home
Outstanding
Hey Family!
Thanks so much for the great e-mails and pictures. This week was VERY busy. Man, I've very thankful to have Elder Bryant with me because he's full of energy and won't let me slow down for a second. :)
That's a very good thing.
I'm looking towards the end of this transfer as a big question mark: what will happen to me after the 16th? I think my mind is rejecting the fact that my life will change drastically on that date.
Well, we built our house and we couldn't find (and didn't want) any truck to help us do our move, so we got a member's wheelbarrow and did the move peice by peice! Luckily the new house was only a couple of blocks away. This whole week actually, we've taken a peice of furniture a day. That include a stove I carried by myself in the rain, and a fully made (and with covers tucked) bed, hoofed by two American elders. We were probably a strange sight, but for some reason we wanted to do it all ourselves.
Our running and sweating in the rain has apparently given some results, as Priscila and now her little brother, Alison, Stephani, and two new investigators, Everton and Rose came to church. That's a record for our branch! Priscila went to an awesome activity earlier this week and we're trying to get Stephani to activities this week as well so that she can get really integrated. Junior is doing well, and we've had some good lessons with him, but it's still going slowly. I'm hoping for miracles! Surely they will come!
Anyway, I hope you all don't mind that my e-mails get slowly shorter and shorter as we get closer to the big day; I'm really trying to gaurd myself against all possible trunkiness (it's a lot harder than I thought it'd be when I was a "greeny", but I'm taking it 1 day at a time, I'm getting there!)
I am so thankful for each one of you. I am amazed at the blessings I receive every day, and especially the many blessings that it appears are waiting for me in UT.
:)
Absolutely amazed that the Lord has so far blessed me and my family so much in this way. I am so thankful to be here for another month and for all the time I've had in this very special corner of the Lord's vineyard. Man, it's outstanding.
Another great week for you all!
Until then,
Elder Carpenter
Hey Family!
Thanks so much for the great e-mails and pictures. This week was VERY busy. Man, I've very thankful to have Elder Bryant with me because he's full of energy and won't let me slow down for a second. :)
That's a very good thing.
I'm looking towards the end of this transfer as a big question mark: what will happen to me after the 16th? I think my mind is rejecting the fact that my life will change drastically on that date.
Well, we built our house and we couldn't find (and didn't want) any truck to help us do our move, so we got a member's wheelbarrow and did the move peice by peice! Luckily the new house was only a couple of blocks away. This whole week actually, we've taken a peice of furniture a day. That include a stove I carried by myself in the rain, and a fully made (and with covers tucked) bed, hoofed by two American elders. We were probably a strange sight, but for some reason we wanted to do it all ourselves.
Our running and sweating in the rain has apparently given some results, as Priscila and now her little brother, Alison, Stephani, and two new investigators, Everton and Rose came to church. That's a record for our branch! Priscila went to an awesome activity earlier this week and we're trying to get Stephani to activities this week as well so that she can get really integrated. Junior is doing well, and we've had some good lessons with him, but it's still going slowly. I'm hoping for miracles! Surely they will come!
Anyway, I hope you all don't mind that my e-mails get slowly shorter and shorter as we get closer to the big day; I'm really trying to gaurd myself against all possible trunkiness (it's a lot harder than I thought it'd be when I was a "greeny", but I'm taking it 1 day at a time, I'm getting there!)
I am so thankful for each one of you. I am amazed at the blessings I receive every day, and especially the many blessings that it appears are waiting for me in UT.
:)
Absolutely amazed that the Lord has so far blessed me and my family so much in this way. I am so thankful to be here for another month and for all the time I've had in this very special corner of the Lord's vineyard. Man, it's outstanding.
Another great week for you all!
Until then,
Elder Carpenter
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
July 12, 2011 - Letter Home
Until the End
Elder Bryant, House almost done, LO, Junior Priscilla Stefanie Jacqueline, Grass Cut, Comforters,
Hey Family!
:) How is my family today? Thank you so much for the good photos and letters today! This week has been a good one.
Another week, come and gone. This week was very good. Man, it was hard to say goodbye to Elder Persinger, and I've actually been missing him quite a bit because we were such good buds, but I'm happy that my new companion is also going to be a best friend. He's from Washington, and from what I've learned, lived way out in the boonies and is quite an outdoorsman. I like 'im. :)
We've really gotten to be good friends with Priscila, a young lady who went to church last week, and her family. She's been reading and went to church this week again (!!!) and was introduced to all the young single adults and invited to an activity. I am really excited for her and am hoping that the Spirit can slowly enter into her life and she can embrace a new path in her life, based on the Lord. I am really hoping all goes well with her.
We contacted another girl, Stephanie, who's 14, and she got really excited after the lesson and said she would be at church and our English class. She came! And she also realized that a close friend from school is a member of the church and they really connected. She had a good first experience and says she's reading, and it looks like she's going to accept the gospel in the future.
Junior has continued to take lessons from us but due to strange circumstances wasn't able to come to church, but I'm really praying for him and hoping that he receives an answer soon because he says he's been really looking and praying recently, but hasn't felt anything yet. Well, his time will come.
I hope you all can continue help me by including these three in your prayers. I really love 'em and am thinking they'll be the last marking relationships I'll have in my mission because I'm really trying to give my all so that they can accept the gospel.
We did a couple of service projects this week on the new house, and it looks like we'll be able to move in TOMORROW! Finally! After 3 months of waiting! I'm excited to live behind the Dullius' house!
Anyway, not to much new stuff. I'm dedicated to working hard, making contacts on the street and giving every moment of this last month the Lord has given me in His vineyard. Sometimes it's been hard to not get trunky or not think of home, but my companion and our awesome investigators and the knowledge that I'll never get to do this work again keeps me running! Until the end!
I love you all and I apologize for my short e-mails recently... But we'll get plenty of communication in in a little bit. :)
Love love love! Have a great week everyone!
Elder Con
No photos AGAIN because, well, my camera has been broken for a while now. The battery simply doesn't charge. And I was uploading photos from my companion's camera, but Elder Bryant doesn't use his as much. SORRY! I want to take a bunch of mission action shots as remembrances. I'll do that.
Elder Bryant, House almost done, LO, Junior Priscilla Stefanie Jacqueline, Grass Cut, Comforters,
Hey Family!
:) How is my family today? Thank you so much for the good photos and letters today! This week has been a good one.
Another week, come and gone. This week was very good. Man, it was hard to say goodbye to Elder Persinger, and I've actually been missing him quite a bit because we were such good buds, but I'm happy that my new companion is also going to be a best friend. He's from Washington, and from what I've learned, lived way out in the boonies and is quite an outdoorsman. I like 'im. :)
We've really gotten to be good friends with Priscila, a young lady who went to church last week, and her family. She's been reading and went to church this week again (!!!) and was introduced to all the young single adults and invited to an activity. I am really excited for her and am hoping that the Spirit can slowly enter into her life and she can embrace a new path in her life, based on the Lord. I am really hoping all goes well with her.
We contacted another girl, Stephanie, who's 14, and she got really excited after the lesson and said she would be at church and our English class. She came! And she also realized that a close friend from school is a member of the church and they really connected. She had a good first experience and says she's reading, and it looks like she's going to accept the gospel in the future.
Junior has continued to take lessons from us but due to strange circumstances wasn't able to come to church, but I'm really praying for him and hoping that he receives an answer soon because he says he's been really looking and praying recently, but hasn't felt anything yet. Well, his time will come.
I hope you all can continue help me by including these three in your prayers. I really love 'em and am thinking they'll be the last marking relationships I'll have in my mission because I'm really trying to give my all so that they can accept the gospel.
We did a couple of service projects this week on the new house, and it looks like we'll be able to move in TOMORROW! Finally! After 3 months of waiting! I'm excited to live behind the Dullius' house!
Anyway, not to much new stuff. I'm dedicated to working hard, making contacts on the street and giving every moment of this last month the Lord has given me in His vineyard. Sometimes it's been hard to not get trunky or not think of home, but my companion and our awesome investigators and the knowledge that I'll never get to do this work again keeps me running! Until the end!
I love you all and I apologize for my short e-mails recently... But we'll get plenty of communication in in a little bit. :)
Love love love! Have a great week everyone!
Elder Con
No photos AGAIN because, well, my camera has been broken for a while now. The battery simply doesn't charge. And I was uploading photos from my companion's camera, but Elder Bryant doesn't use his as much. SORRY! I want to take a bunch of mission action shots as remembrances. I'll do that.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
July 4-5, 2011 - Letter Home
Finale'
Hey everyone! It's transfer day today! I will stay here in Neópolis while Elder Persinger *sniff* will soon be transferred, it will be very sad to see him go. Honestly, it seems like every companion I have is better than the last. Elder Persinger is from Powell, Ohio, and he'll go home in a year and 3 months.
Tomorrow I will meet my last companion of the mission. :(
My new companion, though I have not met him, is Elder Bryant, from Addy, Washington.
Another green American! 4 in a row run! 6 transfers!
I hear he's awesome, but I had wanted just one more Brasilian comp. Oh well.
I can't believe it's my last transfer! Holy smokes! No counting down the days, alright? :)
This week was nice: we find a couple new families, and Priscilla and Junior came to church, and they were very well accepted by the young adults. They will be baptized before the end, I know it!
Thank you very much for the e-mails!
I cannot believe 4th of July was yesterday! I totally forgot! Say hi to everyone for me. I wanted to be with the rest of the family so bad! Soon soon.
I think I'll have time to write more e-mails tomorrow.
Hope you like the photos! I think the photos are probably more entertaining being left up to interpretation. :)
I love love love you all! Have a good week! Run run run!
Elder Carpenter
Hey everyone! It's transfer day today! I will stay here in Neópolis while Elder Persinger *sniff* will soon be transferred, it will be very sad to see him go. Honestly, it seems like every companion I have is better than the last. Elder Persinger is from Powell, Ohio, and he'll go home in a year and 3 months.
Tomorrow I will meet my last companion of the mission. :(
My new companion, though I have not met him, is Elder Bryant, from Addy, Washington.
Another green American! 4 in a row run! 6 transfers!
I hear he's awesome, but I had wanted just one more Brasilian comp. Oh well.
I can't believe it's my last transfer! Holy smokes! No counting down the days, alright? :)
This week was nice: we find a couple new families, and Priscilla and Junior came to church, and they were very well accepted by the young adults. They will be baptized before the end, I know it!
Thank you very much for the e-mails!
I cannot believe 4th of July was yesterday! I totally forgot! Say hi to everyone for me. I wanted to be with the rest of the family so bad! Soon soon.
I think I'll have time to write more e-mails tomorrow.
Hope you like the photos! I think the photos are probably more entertaining being left up to interpretation. :)
I love love love you all! Have a good week! Run run run!
Elder Carpenter
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| Andre |
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| Hillbilly |
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| Hitch Hikin |
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| Junior |
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| Mauro and Family |
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| Novaldonamissao |
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| Pres Marcos and Family |
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| Pumpkin |
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| Vilson and Family |
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| District Feast |
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
June 28, 2011 - Letter Home
Quick!
Hey Mom! We're going to the temple today so I won't have time to write! Sorry! :(
I got your package! Thank you so much! I'm so proud of Lyns!!! She is so beautiful!
I miss you guys
I love you all! I'm good! Junior and Janice and Andre went to church! We probably won't baptize them this transfer but definitely the next! Running running running, because quickly we'll be at the end!
My family... love love love you! Have a good week! Maybe I can write more a little later on!
Elder Connor
...On really Quick!
Hey Mom, I got back from the temple and had a really great experience. Sorry that I couldn't get more time to write! I'll be on for 10 more minutes.
I love you,
Elder Con
...Hi! We've been without pictures for a while because I lost the camera battery charger. We bought a new one today so we should get more photos! :)
I'm just really happy. :) I've been a little worried and unsure about after-mission plans but after this week and the temple, I just completely feel like everything is going to be taken care of. I've definitely got more work to do and more people to baptize in my last transfer, and the work will just continue when I get home.
Anyway, it was a good week. Some pretty big service projects again. We found a couple new serious investigators and got some new people to our English class, and Junior will probably be baptized soon. :) He's a stud. Keep praying for me! I really need it!
Man, seeing the flight plan was kind of a bummer! 2 WHOLE DAYS after Brendon?! That's crazy! But, after thinking about it it'll be nice for Brendon and I also figured out I'll be on the same flight with my whole CTM group for most of the trip, so that'll be really cool to be together with alla them (I might not see them again, right?) We also will stay a day in the office and we'll be able to visit closeby areas and members and buy souvenirs and go to the temple all of us together... It actually sounds like it'll be pretty fun.. :)
Okay, well, I gotta go! Gotta send a quick message to President...
I love you all! Kaitlin! Lynsey! My Dad! Thanks again for the package! So awesome! Okay, have a good week!
Elder Con
Hey Mom! We're going to the temple today so I won't have time to write! Sorry! :(
I got your package! Thank you so much! I'm so proud of Lyns!!! She is so beautiful!
I miss you guys
I love you all! I'm good! Junior and Janice and Andre went to church! We probably won't baptize them this transfer but definitely the next! Running running running, because quickly we'll be at the end!
My family... love love love you! Have a good week! Maybe I can write more a little later on!
Elder Connor
...On really Quick!
Hey Mom, I got back from the temple and had a really great experience. Sorry that I couldn't get more time to write! I'll be on for 10 more minutes.
I love you,
Elder Con
...Hi! We've been without pictures for a while because I lost the camera battery charger. We bought a new one today so we should get more photos! :)
I'm just really happy. :) I've been a little worried and unsure about after-mission plans but after this week and the temple, I just completely feel like everything is going to be taken care of. I've definitely got more work to do and more people to baptize in my last transfer, and the work will just continue when I get home.
Anyway, it was a good week. Some pretty big service projects again. We found a couple new serious investigators and got some new people to our English class, and Junior will probably be baptized soon. :) He's a stud. Keep praying for me! I really need it!
Man, seeing the flight plan was kind of a bummer! 2 WHOLE DAYS after Brendon?! That's crazy! But, after thinking about it it'll be nice for Brendon and I also figured out I'll be on the same flight with my whole CTM group for most of the trip, so that'll be really cool to be together with alla them (I might not see them again, right?) We also will stay a day in the office and we'll be able to visit closeby areas and members and buy souvenirs and go to the temple all of us together... It actually sounds like it'll be pretty fun.. :)
Okay, well, I gotta go! Gotta send a quick message to President...
I love you all! Kaitlin! Lynsey! My Dad! Thanks again for the package! So awesome! Okay, have a good week!
Elder Con
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
June 21, 2011 - Letter Home
Meant to Be
Hey Family!
Thank you all so much for the great letters and photos! I'm so excited about everything happening with our little family.
So this week... it rained. Our house has serious problems:
1. Leaks in the roof.
2. It's in the shade for the whole morning and turns the place into an icebox. We've seriously started studying out in our yard; it's warmer.
3. The floor wasn't done right and so moisture comes in from the ground and makes it really humid inside.
4. Our bed frames broke so we're sleeping with our mattresses on the floor.
5. General uncleanliness and desperation has made the place a mess.
We literally are trying not to stay in our house the whole morning cause it just sucks being inside. I'm fine, but Elder Persinger has had a couple heallth problems until now. We should move into our new house here in 2 weeks (if everything goes well)! Man, it's really draining us.
I was super excited that Sunday, Junior, an investigator we found on the street, went to church all dressed up in suit and tie. He's 25, works and studies alone, and is used to belong to another church. He had heard a bunch of negative stuff about the church, but after visiting with us and going to English classes decided to give it a try. The ward really accepted him and he seemed to really like all of church. He's gonna be baptized I know it!
We finally marked our appointment with the Pastor. Man, we were praying and fasting so much. We practiced our approach multiple times. We opened our Bibles and gave the message, and declared authority, and beared testimony, and spoke in unity, love, boldness, but not overbearingness.... and at the end, Altamir, the pastor whose friendship we had gained for the last month, and who told us he would even give his life to follow Christ, said, "Even if this perfect church exists like you say it does, I wouldn't go, because I'd be out of business." Boh.
That hit pretty hard. He seemed like a pretty honest, humble, sincere follower of Christ, but in the end they rejected our scriptures and testimonies, saying that they didn't believe you need authority given from God to make a church, and that they would read the Book of Mormon's that we gave them (that we had written our testimonies in) only if the Holy Ghost specifically told them to. We asked them to pray to feel the Holy Ghost telling them to read the book, and they barely agreed.
Man, that was tough! I had been preparing myself the entire transfer for that meeting! And it all broke apart in front of our eyes. That's the hardest part of the mission: keeping high expectations even in the face of so many contrary evidences.
But the next day... Junior came to church. And he's excited about the church. That is enough of a miracle for me. :)
Something cool happened Sunday after lunch. We have this member that gives lunch once a month and he lives WAY WAY WAY out in the middle of nowhere on a ranch. The ride is pretty long so I for some odd reason, (I never do this) bring my Italian Book of Mormon to page through and try to learn Italian (I guess I just want more to learn).
After lunch, Argeu, the member, says he wants us to meet some friends of his. We get into the car and drive even FURTHER into the middle of nowhere and show up at a house with 50 dogs in the front lawn. We talk with this old lady, she says she has HER mom living with her, who's 97 (old for Brasilians!) and came from Italy when she was little, and is sick and bedridden, and does nothing but read her huge, old, Italian bible all day, cause she only speaks Italian and reads Italian. We asked to go see her, (I wanted maybe to practice some Italian words I've learned and read something from my Book of Mormon). We met her, RINA, this little old speckled grandma who said she was waiting for a pastor to see her and that God sent us to her, and even though it was hard to understand and nothing really was communicated, it was really really special and she was so grateful for our attention (just imagine, living in the middle of nowhere with your daughter, not leaving your room). We read a part of the Book of Mormon with her and prayed and talked about Joseph Smith and she got so excited that I got my pen out and dedicated my Italian Book of Mormon and gave it to her. She kissed the cover and looked upward to thank God, and actually I got worried cause she kissed me on the hand and on the cheeks and it was really just really powerful, and she said that now she would ONLY read the Book of Mormon, because she had read the Bible too many times. :)
That was a really really special visit for me. :) We're gonna go there next month to see how far she gets in the Book of Mormon. :)
I know, it was sooo cool! Man, I just don't know how to process these things when they happen. But I am so grateful that the Lord takes care of all of His children, and that He can do that through His servants. It all just seems so random. I didn't feel any huge prompting - I just wanted to read my Italian BoM. But, still, God guided His word to Rina. Wow.
Awesome.
Anyway, everything here is normal. Truckin along. I love this work so much :). I hope I can keep doing it the rest of my life!
Love you all!
Elder Connor
Oh, sorry, no photos today! Droga! Our camera battery ran out. ;(
Hey Family!
Thank you all so much for the great letters and photos! I'm so excited about everything happening with our little family.
So this week... it rained. Our house has serious problems:
1. Leaks in the roof.
2. It's in the shade for the whole morning and turns the place into an icebox. We've seriously started studying out in our yard; it's warmer.
3. The floor wasn't done right and so moisture comes in from the ground and makes it really humid inside.
4. Our bed frames broke so we're sleeping with our mattresses on the floor.
5. General uncleanliness and desperation has made the place a mess.
We literally are trying not to stay in our house the whole morning cause it just sucks being inside. I'm fine, but Elder Persinger has had a couple heallth problems until now. We should move into our new house here in 2 weeks (if everything goes well)! Man, it's really draining us.
I was super excited that Sunday, Junior, an investigator we found on the street, went to church all dressed up in suit and tie. He's 25, works and studies alone, and is used to belong to another church. He had heard a bunch of negative stuff about the church, but after visiting with us and going to English classes decided to give it a try. The ward really accepted him and he seemed to really like all of church. He's gonna be baptized I know it!
We finally marked our appointment with the Pastor. Man, we were praying and fasting so much. We practiced our approach multiple times. We opened our Bibles and gave the message, and declared authority, and beared testimony, and spoke in unity, love, boldness, but not overbearingness.... and at the end, Altamir, the pastor whose friendship we had gained for the last month, and who told us he would even give his life to follow Christ, said, "Even if this perfect church exists like you say it does, I wouldn't go, because I'd be out of business." Boh.
That hit pretty hard. He seemed like a pretty honest, humble, sincere follower of Christ, but in the end they rejected our scriptures and testimonies, saying that they didn't believe you need authority given from God to make a church, and that they would read the Book of Mormon's that we gave them (that we had written our testimonies in) only if the Holy Ghost specifically told them to. We asked them to pray to feel the Holy Ghost telling them to read the book, and they barely agreed.
Man, that was tough! I had been preparing myself the entire transfer for that meeting! And it all broke apart in front of our eyes. That's the hardest part of the mission: keeping high expectations even in the face of so many contrary evidences.
But the next day... Junior came to church. And he's excited about the church. That is enough of a miracle for me. :)
Something cool happened Sunday after lunch. We have this member that gives lunch once a month and he lives WAY WAY WAY out in the middle of nowhere on a ranch. The ride is pretty long so I for some odd reason, (I never do this) bring my Italian Book of Mormon to page through and try to learn Italian (I guess I just want more to learn).
After lunch, Argeu, the member, says he wants us to meet some friends of his. We get into the car and drive even FURTHER into the middle of nowhere and show up at a house with 50 dogs in the front lawn. We talk with this old lady, she says she has HER mom living with her, who's 97 (old for Brasilians!) and came from Italy when she was little, and is sick and bedridden, and does nothing but read her huge, old, Italian bible all day, cause she only speaks Italian and reads Italian. We asked to go see her, (I wanted maybe to practice some Italian words I've learned and read something from my Book of Mormon). We met her, RINA, this little old speckled grandma who said she was waiting for a pastor to see her and that God sent us to her, and even though it was hard to understand and nothing really was communicated, it was really really special and she was so grateful for our attention (just imagine, living in the middle of nowhere with your daughter, not leaving your room). We read a part of the Book of Mormon with her and prayed and talked about Joseph Smith and she got so excited that I got my pen out and dedicated my Italian Book of Mormon and gave it to her. She kissed the cover and looked upward to thank God, and actually I got worried cause she kissed me on the hand and on the cheeks and it was really just really powerful, and she said that now she would ONLY read the Book of Mormon, because she had read the Bible too many times. :)
That was a really really special visit for me. :) We're gonna go there next month to see how far she gets in the Book of Mormon. :)
I know, it was sooo cool! Man, I just don't know how to process these things when they happen. But I am so grateful that the Lord takes care of all of His children, and that He can do that through His servants. It all just seems so random. I didn't feel any huge prompting - I just wanted to read my Italian BoM. But, still, God guided His word to Rina. Wow.
Awesome.
Anyway, everything here is normal. Truckin along. I love this work so much :). I hope I can keep doing it the rest of my life!
Love you all!
Elder Connor
Oh, sorry, no photos today! Droga! Our camera battery ran out. ;(
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
June 14, 2011 - Letter Home
A Great Work
Hey Family!
One more week gone! What is happening to the time?! What injustice is this that I have only 9 more of these? Truly, the panic is starting to set in. The closer the end comes the harder and more urgent we're working, and as the work gets going, the passage of time speeds up as well. Okay, I'm sure there's gonna be a line like this at the start of every e-mail so just get ready. :)
This week went very well;
- We had a couple more nice bonfires: great way to relax and also to get out of our house/refrigerator. But we're thinking we need to stop because it gets a bit dangerous when the neighbors wanna come over; they're a bit rambunctious.
- I did a division with an old friend from the CTM, Elder Oliveira. We reminisced old times, ate a bunch of pastels that our neighbors made for us, taught some sweet lessons, and lamented the fact of going home.
- We had another of our successful, full English classes at the church. Investigators brought their friends!
- We also taught another english class at a local school here. It went well, we joked around alot, and maybe some of them will come to OUR English class and we can start teaching them.
- Janice and Matteus FINALLY went to CHURCH!!!!! Thanks fam for putting their names in the temple. They, however, have great need of more help from the Lord. The rest of the family needs to go to church.
- We had a nice fireside with President Pavan and the rest of the ward. Really pumped people up and I was happy to have some one on one with Pres. Man, I love Pres. Pavan! I'll be super sad to say goodbye!
- We went to Pastor Alamir's ranch with his congregation to play soccer and eat churrasco. We talked about the scriptures with him later on, he said he was praying for God to send someone to help him in his work, and we said that we were the answer to that prayer, and he wants to talk with us more this Friday at his house. I didn't want to write this to seem prideful or anything, but we've been planning for a while to try to convert his entire congregation. So right now he's thinking he's going to convert us and we're going to help him with his congregation BUT... if we're worthy and have faith, the Lord can provide a miracle and convert Alamir which will help him and us convert everybody else...
You guys can pray for us sincerely to have success with this? I would appreciate specific prayers and/or fasts to help the work here in my last area. We're giving it all we got!
Um... I love you guys! I'm running! Just a little bit more to give!
Tchau! Boa semana!
Love love love,
Conly
Hey Family!
One more week gone! What is happening to the time?! What injustice is this that I have only 9 more of these? Truly, the panic is starting to set in. The closer the end comes the harder and more urgent we're working, and as the work gets going, the passage of time speeds up as well. Okay, I'm sure there's gonna be a line like this at the start of every e-mail so just get ready. :)
This week went very well;
- We had a couple more nice bonfires: great way to relax and also to get out of our house/refrigerator. But we're thinking we need to stop because it gets a bit dangerous when the neighbors wanna come over; they're a bit rambunctious.
- I did a division with an old friend from the CTM, Elder Oliveira. We reminisced old times, ate a bunch of pastels that our neighbors made for us, taught some sweet lessons, and lamented the fact of going home.
- We had another of our successful, full English classes at the church. Investigators brought their friends!
- We also taught another english class at a local school here. It went well, we joked around alot, and maybe some of them will come to OUR English class and we can start teaching them.
- Janice and Matteus FINALLY went to CHURCH!!!!! Thanks fam for putting their names in the temple. They, however, have great need of more help from the Lord. The rest of the family needs to go to church.
- We had a nice fireside with President Pavan and the rest of the ward. Really pumped people up and I was happy to have some one on one with Pres. Man, I love Pres. Pavan! I'll be super sad to say goodbye!
- We went to Pastor Alamir's ranch with his congregation to play soccer and eat churrasco. We talked about the scriptures with him later on, he said he was praying for God to send someone to help him in his work, and we said that we were the answer to that prayer, and he wants to talk with us more this Friday at his house. I didn't want to write this to seem prideful or anything, but we've been planning for a while to try to convert his entire congregation. So right now he's thinking he's going to convert us and we're going to help him with his congregation BUT... if we're worthy and have faith, the Lord can provide a miracle and convert Alamir which will help him and us convert everybody else...
You guys can pray for us sincerely to have success with this? I would appreciate specific prayers and/or fasts to help the work here in my last area. We're giving it all we got!
Um... I love you guys! I'm running! Just a little bit more to give!
Tchau! Boa semana!
Love love love,
Conly
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
June 7, 2011 - Letter Home
Nothing Can Stop It!
Hey Family! What a huge blessing are all of your many letters and pictures! What would I do without my loving and supporting family!? I am so blessed to have you all to return to; no one of my companions' families has compared to you guys. Some other missionaries have had unapproving non-member parents and familiy, or none at all. Others had to return to absolute poverty or lack of education with no one to help them. Man, how I am blessed! Thank you so much! The Lord has been good to us. I am so thankful that our family comes close to being a family of Zion as seen in Moses 7:18. Being committed to follow the Lord together and to help one another and do our best to be personally pure in heart helps a home come close to replicating what it'll be like beyond the veil. Thanks for that. :) I will continue to battle for that.
This week was hard. We are working like crazy, getting some of the best numbers in our zone, and at the same time doing 2-3 four-hour service projects per week. Yesterday we did a service project after lunch, and came back home completely beat from the work and from the last week. Man! I really needed this P-day and these awesome e-mails. I can't burn out; this area needs us so bad.
But, after a week of working like crazy, nobody came to church again. Man, something big has gotta be coming because we're doing our part, the ward is getting more excited about missionary work and doing their part, but it seems like the people are just using their free agency to choose the wrong still. That means God's gonna have to do something big. But, I'm keeping faith and I will keep the path and get through these difficulties, because I KNOW that there's another side to all of life's difficulties. I know how glorious it is to see the Tree of Life again, having passed through certain mists of darkness. I love the Lord and am thankful for His goodness and mercy to all of His children. He'll always make it right if we do what's right.
So, our house we're building is almost done. We had a sweet bonfire last night with our neighbors.
The dad, Rafael, accepted baptism, and we are hoping and praying the rest of the family, although not seeming as interested in our messages, can follow suit. Something big has to happen to them. Please place Rafael, Janice, Matteus, Gabriel, and Andre in prayers in the temple.
Our English class was a huge success, so much that we had to split it into two with me and Elder Persinger teaching different classes. We played games and they ate cookies. We're always making cookies... :) I think our investigators gotta be sick of cookies by now. :D
We're teaching a pastor and several people of his non-demonational congregation. I'm pretty excited about that, actually. Soon we're gonna declare authority and invite them all to baptism, with permission of the pastor, of course. We asked the ward to do a special fast just for them, because it could be a really great miracle for the ward IF we're worthy enough to allow the Lord to send the Holy Ghost to testify through us to them that baptism what they need to do. Well, we're praying. And the work will go forward! Nothing can stop it!
Nothing else really of note this week. Finding people, teaching people, prayin, reading scriptures, eating, sleeping.
It's an eternal round :).
I love you and will start to send letters now that I got addresses. Hope you like the couple photos I got this week.
Love love love,
Elder Carpenter
 |
| District Meeting |
This week was hard. We are working like crazy, getting some of the best numbers in our zone, and at the same time doing 2-3 four-hour service projects per week. Yesterday we did a service project after lunch, and came back home completely beat from the work and from the last week. Man! I really needed this P-day and these awesome e-mails. I can't burn out; this area needs us so bad.
But, after a week of working like crazy, nobody came to church again. Man, something big has gotta be coming because we're doing our part, the ward is getting more excited about missionary work and doing their part, but it seems like the people are just using their free agency to choose the wrong still. That means God's gonna have to do something big. But, I'm keeping faith and I will keep the path and get through these difficulties, because I KNOW that there's another side to all of life's difficulties. I know how glorious it is to see the Tree of Life again, having passed through certain mists of darkness. I love the Lord and am thankful for His goodness and mercy to all of His children. He'll always make it right if we do what's right.
So, our house we're building is almost done. We had a sweet bonfire last night with our neighbors.
 |
| Dinner with Neighbors |
Our English class was a huge success, so much that we had to split it into two with me and Elder Persinger teaching different classes. We played games and they ate cookies. We're always making cookies... :) I think our investigators gotta be sick of cookies by now. :D
We're teaching a pastor and several people of his non-demonational congregation. I'm pretty excited about that, actually. Soon we're gonna declare authority and invite them all to baptism, with permission of the pastor, of course. We asked the ward to do a special fast just for them, because it could be a really great miracle for the ward IF we're worthy enough to allow the Lord to send the Holy Ghost to testify through us to them that baptism what they need to do. Well, we're praying. And the work will go forward! Nothing can stop it!
Nothing else really of note this week. Finding people, teaching people, prayin, reading scriptures, eating, sleeping.
 |
| Dilberto Lunch |
I love you and will start to send letters now that I got addresses. Hope you like the couple photos I got this week.
Love love love,
Elder Carpenter
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
May 31, 2011 - Letter Home
All you got!
(talent show, other church, inglish class, junior, eloisa, teachin in another school, more bonfires, coookies)
Hey Fam! What a week! So awesome to get a bunch of photos from Lyns in her graduation! So awesome that it finally happened! I hope she has an awesome graduation trip and vacation in Hawaii! Man, it's really hard to be away from all these important events. Congrats Lyns!
So this week went really fast. Me and Elder Persinger are becoming better and better friends and we are working harder and harder: I've finally got this fire inside of me lit to just give all I got until the end, and it's pretty awesome just to try and give it all up for the Lord and in love for the people. I've got to change this area! It's gotta become a ward! They need so much for it all to grow! Why has it taken me so long to get this kind of fire and faith? I wish that I could've had this kind of motivation since the beginning.
No fear, no stress, no doubt, just doing all you can do without the idea of actually getting anything back from it. That may have been the best lesson I've learned: the work is it's own reward, and while you should believe that huge miracles are around the corner, you should not let any setbacks get you down, because those big miracles... it's just one corner away. I'm becoming more and more grateful, even when there're setbacks, to get to know Christ and get to share some of the feelings that He had for the people. I want SO much to just keep going like He did, until the very end. It's a really big commitment, but once we make it, everything just works out right. I still have a lot to work on, but I'm feeling very good about myself, about the work, and about my mission. What a great blessing to have this time in my life! There is so much happiness to spread. :)
This week we participated in a talent show of the ward and got 5 investigators there, and we did a skit where we all dressed up gangster and had a rap battle with some other members but with all the words taken from Primary hymns, and with Elder Persinger beatboxing,. Hehehe, it was kind of a last minute thing but I think it all worked out all right. People laughed. :)
They've released cookie mix at our local supermarket and we're going crazy making cookies for everyone! One reason is that nobody knows what they are and everyone likes them, and so we're trying to buy out ALL the cookie mix the supermarket has so nobody else makes our same discovery. Exclusivity! It's fun to bake... Hmm.
We had a great success in our English class, getting 12 investigators there, and having some really fun English activities, like playing UNO while reciting numbers and colors and playing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes... I wish we could get as many people to church as to our other activities! This week we invited EVERYONE and followed up on EVERYONE to go to church... and no one came. Everybody slept in they said.
Man! Now I know a little bit of how God must feel when we repeatedly don't keep His commandments even after His many many invites and His many blessings He gives to us. Sheesh. But the battle goes on... B)
We're making Bonfires, fun. We're gonna teach in a school here and get a BUNCH of references. We're gonna play soccer this week from the kids we challenged last week, and we started to teach one of them.
Anyway, business as usual and not that much to relate. Sorry! But I know that big things are coming, because everybody is needing some success here in this area. More love, more faith, more courage, more discipline, more sacrifice... this is how we'll win this war.
Love you guys. :) Can't wait to rip it up in Cali and convert all of Santa Monica! I want to be a missionary forever!
Okay, I'm rushed, sorry. I love you, have a good week, thank you for all the great e-mails. :)
Elder Connor
(talent show, other church, inglish class, junior, eloisa, teachin in another school, more bonfires, coookies)
Hey Fam! What a week! So awesome to get a bunch of photos from Lyns in her graduation! So awesome that it finally happened! I hope she has an awesome graduation trip and vacation in Hawaii! Man, it's really hard to be away from all these important events. Congrats Lyns!
So this week went really fast. Me and Elder Persinger are becoming better and better friends and we are working harder and harder: I've finally got this fire inside of me lit to just give all I got until the end, and it's pretty awesome just to try and give it all up for the Lord and in love for the people. I've got to change this area! It's gotta become a ward! They need so much for it all to grow! Why has it taken me so long to get this kind of fire and faith? I wish that I could've had this kind of motivation since the beginning.
No fear, no stress, no doubt, just doing all you can do without the idea of actually getting anything back from it. That may have been the best lesson I've learned: the work is it's own reward, and while you should believe that huge miracles are around the corner, you should not let any setbacks get you down, because those big miracles... it's just one corner away. I'm becoming more and more grateful, even when there're setbacks, to get to know Christ and get to share some of the feelings that He had for the people. I want SO much to just keep going like He did, until the very end. It's a really big commitment, but once we make it, everything just works out right. I still have a lot to work on, but I'm feeling very good about myself, about the work, and about my mission. What a great blessing to have this time in my life! There is so much happiness to spread. :)
This week we participated in a talent show of the ward and got 5 investigators there, and we did a skit where we all dressed up gangster and had a rap battle with some other members but with all the words taken from Primary hymns, and with Elder Persinger beatboxing,. Hehehe, it was kind of a last minute thing but I think it all worked out all right. People laughed. :)
They've released cookie mix at our local supermarket and we're going crazy making cookies for everyone! One reason is that nobody knows what they are and everyone likes them, and so we're trying to buy out ALL the cookie mix the supermarket has so nobody else makes our same discovery. Exclusivity! It's fun to bake... Hmm.
We had a great success in our English class, getting 12 investigators there, and having some really fun English activities, like playing UNO while reciting numbers and colors and playing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes... I wish we could get as many people to church as to our other activities! This week we invited EVERYONE and followed up on EVERYONE to go to church... and no one came. Everybody slept in they said.
Man! Now I know a little bit of how God must feel when we repeatedly don't keep His commandments even after His many many invites and His many blessings He gives to us. Sheesh. But the battle goes on... B)
We're making Bonfires, fun. We're gonna teach in a school here and get a BUNCH of references. We're gonna play soccer this week from the kids we challenged last week, and we started to teach one of them.
Anyway, business as usual and not that much to relate. Sorry! But I know that big things are coming, because everybody is needing some success here in this area. More love, more faith, more courage, more discipline, more sacrifice... this is how we'll win this war.
Love you guys. :) Can't wait to rip it up in Cali and convert all of Santa Monica! I want to be a missionary forever!
Okay, I'm rushed, sorry. I love you, have a good week, thank you for all the great e-mails. :)
Elder Connor
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
May 23, 2011 - Letter Home
When you get kicked off....
Hey family! It's another transfer today and I have the luck of staying with my awesome companion Elder Persinger in this area for the next 6 weeks! My hope is that I can stay here until The End. I am excited. There are a lot of reasons for wanting to stay here. We had a lofty goal of baptizing this last transfer and while we worked our pants off (not literally like Brendon did though... :P) alot of baptismal goals got canceled and right now we're without definite plans, but we have reason to beleive this next transfer will include miracles. The first reason is because we feel like the Lord is preparing something for us. The second reason is that President called us Friday night to congratulate the awesome numbers we got this whole transfer and promised us that we would baptize this next transfer. Yeah! We're gonna go for it!
We had a couple cool experiences this week, the first or foremost was our visit with Rafael and his family of 5, our next door neighboors, who the missionaries have taught a bunch and have given up on at times, but we had a sweet visit with him where he said he was finally understanding what the missionaries were trying to pass to him and his family and he said he would read and pray to receive an answer about the BoM. If you can just write the names "Rafael and Janice" on the prayer roll at the temple for me I'll be super happy because they need a miracle. We love them and their kids so much we're always messing around with them and we got the 3 kids, boys of 15, 14, and 9 to church and to the English class we teach this week. Sweet! I want to see them all serve missions one day! This week we made a basketball hoop in the front of our house and taught those and other kids basketball and the youngest, Matteus, really loves us and is excited about the church. It would be the best thing to see an entire family like them be baptized!
Weird thing happened with Matteus the other day, we were walking back from our English class and we saw a horse tied up and we went to go pet it and Matteus just got a little bit close to the horse and suddenly it leaps forward and tries to bite him! Matteus fell on the ground and we freaked out and pushed the horse out of the way and got Matteus out of there but it was crazy! One violent horse! Matteus is good now though and we joke with him that he's going to turn into a werehorse at the next full moon. :)
We did a pretty sweet thing this week. We were with some other kids from the ward kicking around a football (soccer ball) after English class and we saw some other kids in the park doing the same thing so we CHALLENGED THEM! We said that if we won, they'd have to go to church, and if they won, they could take our scriptures... (heh heh win/win) It was a hard game and those other kids were pros, but in the end we pulled it all out and BEAT them! Yeah! It was so sweet! They said they'd go to church - but they didn't - but we see them like every day on the street so something'll come out of it prolly.
We had a sweet super district meeting the other day where everyone in our zone rescheduled their lunch to other days so we could make a huge feast and eat it all together in the chapel. It was fun! We made cookies for everyone. Someone else brought a cool indian food meal. It was Elder Olsen's last district meeting and he's going home tomorrow and it was pretty sad because he's an awesome missionary and was pretty broken up about leaving. He gave a way cool spiritual goodbye talk. After, we played soccer with a basketball in a super slippery smaller basketball court with our church shoes on and with single chairs as goals and it was super fun. "Slipball" we call it. The hardest part of the game was just staying on your feet and not running into others.
Anyway, the work is slipping and stumbling on! Nothing can stop it! I'm expecting big things from this next transfer so your prayers would be super appreciated! I gotta change this area!
I'm SUPER EXCITED about the awesome college schedule my parents set up for me and I am so pumped to get home running! It's so cool to be so close to the temple where we're gonna live! I just can't wait to be with my family but I know it'll come soon enough so I'm gonna just keep running running runnin until that day! I am so thankful for your e-mails and support and hope you all can keep running as well and can really try to think of the example of our Savior as much as possible throughout the day, because there are so many opportunities to serve and to feel His love and that's the only way we will be able to have truly true happiness in our lives. Live it!
Very much love for you all!
Your Elder,
Connor Carpenter
P.S. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkgOBL1-bwA
http://youtu.be/BX9pPscxlXw (the view gets better towards the end, be patient)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_NZRDlZ1Q8
Hey family! It's another transfer today and I have the luck of staying with my awesome companion Elder Persinger in this area for the next 6 weeks! My hope is that I can stay here until The End. I am excited. There are a lot of reasons for wanting to stay here. We had a lofty goal of baptizing this last transfer and while we worked our pants off (not literally like Brendon did though... :P) alot of baptismal goals got canceled and right now we're without definite plans, but we have reason to beleive this next transfer will include miracles. The first reason is because we feel like the Lord is preparing something for us. The second reason is that President called us Friday night to congratulate the awesome numbers we got this whole transfer and promised us that we would baptize this next transfer. Yeah! We're gonna go for it!
We had a couple cool experiences this week, the first or foremost was our visit with Rafael and his family of 5, our next door neighboors, who the missionaries have taught a bunch and have given up on at times, but we had a sweet visit with him where he said he was finally understanding what the missionaries were trying to pass to him and his family and he said he would read and pray to receive an answer about the BoM. If you can just write the names "Rafael and Janice" on the prayer roll at the temple for me I'll be super happy because they need a miracle. We love them and their kids so much we're always messing around with them and we got the 3 kids, boys of 15, 14, and 9 to church and to the English class we teach this week. Sweet! I want to see them all serve missions one day! This week we made a basketball hoop in the front of our house and taught those and other kids basketball and the youngest, Matteus, really loves us and is excited about the church. It would be the best thing to see an entire family like them be baptized!
Weird thing happened with Matteus the other day, we were walking back from our English class and we saw a horse tied up and we went to go pet it and Matteus just got a little bit close to the horse and suddenly it leaps forward and tries to bite him! Matteus fell on the ground and we freaked out and pushed the horse out of the way and got Matteus out of there but it was crazy! One violent horse! Matteus is good now though and we joke with him that he's going to turn into a werehorse at the next full moon. :)
 |
| horseness |
We had a sweet super district meeting the other day where everyone in our zone rescheduled their lunch to other days so we could make a huge feast and eat it all together in the chapel. It was fun! We made cookies for everyone. Someone else brought a cool indian food meal. It was Elder Olsen's last district meeting and he's going home tomorrow and it was pretty sad because he's an awesome missionary and was pretty broken up about leaving. He gave a way cool spiritual goodbye talk. After, we played soccer with a basketball in a super slippery smaller basketball court with our church shoes on and with single chairs as goals and it was super fun. "Slipball" we call it. The hardest part of the game was just staying on your feet and not running into others.
 |
| Fun times. |
I'm SUPER EXCITED about the awesome college schedule my parents set up for me and I am so pumped to get home running! It's so cool to be so close to the temple where we're gonna live! I just can't wait to be with my family but I know it'll come soon enough so I'm gonna just keep running running runnin until that day! I am so thankful for your e-mails and support and hope you all can keep running as well and can really try to think of the example of our Savior as much as possible throughout the day, because there are so many opportunities to serve and to feel His love and that's the only way we will be able to have truly true happiness in our lives. Live it!
Very much love for you all!
Your Elder,
Connor Carpenter
P.S. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkgOBL1-bwA
http://youtu.be/BX9pPscxlXw (the view gets better towards the end, be patient)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_NZRDlZ1Q8
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
May 17, 2011 - Letter Home
Little Big Email
Hey family! This week was good! I hope your week was good too! Thanks for all of the great e-mails! :)
Unfortunately.... I don't have alot of time today. Sorry! But I'm sure it'll be okay just this once if I summarize the week quickly... And I got photos!
This week we did a service project cleaning out an old school so that a ward could use it as a church building while their chapel was being built.
We played soccer afterwards. My team won! It's easy to be awesome at soccer when playing against 10 year olds!
We had a cool zone conference. I got a sweet new phone. But no letters... :(
We helped the Dullius family chip away at concrete for a day. Fun!
We helped a family put a bunch of bricks into their yard. We got a bit dirty but everybody started looking and asking why we were helping and we told them that's what we do, and we got to teach a couple cool people.
Dilberto came to our English class. He's a cool new investigator we're teaching.
Mara isn't smoking! But we figured out she isn't married! Another hurdle.
Jedilson and Sonia treated us to an awesome soup dinner!
We made brownies with our next door neighboors. They got burnt.
I love you all so much! Thank you for everything! Especially your prayers! Keep working hard and trusting in the Lord! He'll make it all all right!
Your Elder,
Connor
Hey family! This week was good! I hope your week was good too! Thanks for all of the great e-mails! :)
Unfortunately.... I don't have alot of time today. Sorry! But I'm sure it'll be okay just this once if I summarize the week quickly... And I got photos!
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| Bed Brakes! |
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| Service Project |
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| Strange, still-eyed beast |
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| Sister Dullius |
We helped a family put a bunch of bricks into their yard. We got a bit dirty but everybody started looking and asking why we were helping and we told them that's what we do, and we got to teach a couple cool people.
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| Funny Lady |
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| Star Fruit |
Jedilson and Sonia treated us to an awesome soup dinner!
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| Soup with Jedilson |
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| Elder Toad |
Your Elder,
Connor
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