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
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
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
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