May 3, 2011 - Letter Home

Firin It Up!
Hey everyone! Another week, another P-day! Lots of great letters from my fam! Thanks guys!

Last P-day was awesome cause we ate out with a bunch of missionaries in the center of Porto Alegre, then went to the temple for an awesome session. I want so much to be able to go to the temple every week, if not more. I have gained such a different perspective of temple work having entered into that sacred place seeking revelation as to what I need to do with the work in my area, with certain investigators, with my studies, and with my life. Every single time I've been in the temple I have received some special experience or insight. I love it! I hope to have that powerful resource throughout my life. I'm so thankful that our mission has a temple! 

Temple Group

After the temple we went to a shopping mall which had the biggest bookstore I've seen in Brazil.

Bookstore

We went wild looking through language learning tools but then realized that we were short on money and the books were super expensive, so I had to pass up on a Gaucho dictionary and some sweet Italian textbooks and I got a short but sweet Italian grammar book that'll help me decipher the Italian Book of Mormon. I really want to try and crack that language... :)

Friday was super awesome as we got together as a mission to hear from Elder Christofferson. We saw Elders from the Porto Alegre South mission, which included some people I had stayed in the CTM with and also a certain Colby Hansen which I had gone to EFY with after Senior Year! Dude, that was so cool that he remembered me. Small world! I loved seeing all my old companions. The conference itself was sweet. We were planning to be singing "I Love to Read the Scriptures" (Hope I translated that hymn name right) when he entered into the chapel, so the assistants told us to stand up and start singing, and we waited for him to come in, but he didnt, and we ended the song, and we got the sign to sing again, and so we continued from the beginning. We reached the 4th verse, still no one entered! The anticipation raised and raised and we sang again, again, again, 4 times. Each time everybody sang louder and louder both because we were trying not to laugh and because we were sure that Elder Christofferson would enter any minute! On the 6th repitition of the song he entered and it was so awesome! A new energy came into the room as he stood up at the pulpit and smiled and just looked at all of us and we finished and he said, "I'm so happy you all love the scriptures so much!" It was fun. 
The topics of the conference were very special and specific to our mission, and he really pumped us up. I loved the vision that he gave us all. It's a bit hard to describe. He spoke a little Portuguese at the beginning but switched to English with a translator later because he said he was getting confused with Spanish. I thought he spoke very well! We learned he speaks 8 languages. But man, I love him so much. I know that he is an Ordained Apostle of the Lord.

What was cool is that just 2 days afterwards, we went to Stake Conference where we had the special, unannounced treat of seeing and hearing (through a satellite transmission) from the Prophet and Elder Holland in a transmission JUST to Rio Grande do Sul. It was so awesome, they talked about churrasco and chimarrao and their experiences with this people and everyone was in wonder that they had come to talk just to all of us. So cool!

So, just so you guys can understand some of the photos I sent, some cool stuff is that there was a cool car show we went to, you can see my sweet ride there.

Car Show

 Oh, and we got some investigators, Glaucia and Jennifer, who'll be baptized next month, and we made No-Smoking signs to help Glaucia overcome her cravings. I'm praying so hard for her to stop, she's so awesome! 

Glaucia and Jennifer

Uhhh, so also we invited these kids next door to have a bonfire in our yard and it was a pretty fun PNight. It was cool cause their parents came over later, and we ate roasted bananas and started a conversation about the gospel and the mom told us they didn't drink or smoke and had wanted to find a church to go to. Jackpot! Our next door neighboors! So cool. 

Anyway, later they ordered us Cheeseburgers to thank us for the fire (best Cheeseburger I've ever eaten) and so we made cookies for them, and tonight they said to come over and eat some cake, and we'll watch a movie about the church. Cool! The mom's name is Janine and they have 3 sons: Matteus, Andre, and Gabriel. We'll see what happens... :)

All is well here, I love my companion, I love being on a mission :)

And I love my family! So glad to know y'all are surviving over there. Love you so much it hurts. Have a good week!

Elder Carpenter