ELDER CONNOR CARPENTER
Full Time Missionary for the
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Mission: PORTO ALEGRE NORTH / Country: BRAZIL
Language: PORTUGUESE
Called on: APRIL 17, 2009
Departed on: AUGUST 25, 2009
Estimated Return Date: AUGUST 18, 2011
Holdin down the fort
What’s up family! Transfer news! Good news! I am SO SO HAPPY to tell everyone that I’ll be staying in Marau with Elder Carvalho for one more transfer! I will be here at least till the end of June! Wow, I really can’t explain how excited I was when I got that info. Seriously.
This last Sunday we had an awesome Church meeting, with Tiago and Mônica, our awesome family, finally getting to Church for the first time, where they were well received and starting making friends and fitting right in. We had na awesome sacrament meeting, with each speaker giving meaningful, spiritual talks (including yours truly!), and a correlation meeting with the leadership of the branch that really sent some good signals about how the members are going to start working with us more in the future. I feel that Elder Carvalho and I have finally gotten the confidence of the members. But mostly, the members of this ward háve really worked their way into my heart, and Elder Carvalho and I have talked about how we would like to be better and aim higher, and we both said that we haven’t really felt like we’ve done what we needed to do here in Marau still. Something big is going to happen this next transfer. Elder Carvalho and I just have to up the energy and the dedication and have more faith that things will work out. I am excited!
On Saturday we had a really great ward activity (the first one in the 3 months I’ve been here) where we made an assembly line to make 30 full size pizzas. Every person had their own job, right down to the little kids spreading tomato sauce. It was fun to work for a little while, and then gorge ourselves on more pizza than we could possibly fit in our bellies. I liked it because we got one investigator there, and one inactive part-member family too. Very cool.
Here’s some funny small details that I’ve noticed here in Rio Grande do Sul. One funny thing is that there is an unwritten signal during lunch that you have finished eating. You have to make it so your fork and knife lay parallel on your plate. If you don’t do that, the host will ask you to eat more, and everyone will stay at the table until you finish. About three months ago I caught on, and my attitude of the fact that maybe Brazilians are TOO hospitable changed. They really didn’t want me to continue eating them out of house and home; they were just being polite because I didn’t lay my silverware correctly on the plate. Heh heh.
Another crazy thing, here in the south at least, is that everyone is absolutely crazy about Woody the Woodpecker, the old cartoon. Here they call him “Pika Pow”. I’m completely confused as to why he is so popular here. I’m not kidding: more than a handful of the families we teach here have kids who just stay glued to watching Woody the Woodpecker cartoons. And it’s not just kids; very often both parents are there watching and laughing at the cartoons. The complete DVD collection of Woody the Woodpecker is a coveted birthday present; advertised on the shelves of many stores. I thought that maybe people just liked it because other cartoons hadn’t been translated to Portuguese or something, but no: after 6 hours straight of woody, the more modern cartoons are shown late at night, when all the kids are asleep. I’m living in bizarro-world here. I asked my companion what the deal is, and Elder Carvalho just says, “It’s really really funny, don’t they have Pika Pow in the United States? You’ve got to watch it!” I cannot find a solution here. What seperates Woody from all of the other old cartoons? Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Looney Toons? They have those! But they are crazy about Woody only. If anyone has any ideas, please send them my way. Until now, I have somewhat given up analyzing the phenomenon.
So, it was so nice to get your e-mails today! I especially loved the business update/story from Dad. So exciting! One thing I’m glad I don’t have to do in mission life is cram like I did in school, staying up all night to finish a project or paper. Looks like the ability to cram can come in handy right Dad? Congrats for just going and doing it, gettin it done. Dad, I would love any other updates like that, if you send some in the future. Just to know a little bit of what the team is going through is cool.
Mom, it’s a rainy cloudy week this week too, looks like it’ll continue that way for a bit. It’s weird to think that my companions in the mini-mission, who had less time in the mission than I have now, are home, their two years completed, maybe even married by now. It seems just like yesterday that the mini-mission happened, that and our awesome week-long church history trip. But it’s been almost 2 years. So strange…
I’m jealous about the movies (but not too much), and it’s a weird sensation to have these big blockbuster films coming out that I don’t even know about. A new Robin Hood movie? A Prince of Persia movie that my mom knows about (and this is strange because Prince of Persia is a video game) ? But let it all come. It’s just going to add to our marathon week of media overflow that will happen when we get home. Let it come, let it come…
I am actually very open to BYU. Did we already talk about this on our phone call? For sure I want to apply to BYU when we get back, and it would be sweet to hop right in on a regular computer science course and just enjoy the constant talks by prophets and apostles. Again, it is so odd that this is normal there. Out here, the prophet and apostles are talked of like we talk of the Pope; a distant, unreachable figure. Lucky BYU students!
Hey, you guys could fly down here and we could try to drive back up to Cali! Forget about Darien’s Gap! We’ll just go at it with a machete and rent another car on the other side. Should be easy, right? :)
So Mom, did you really already plan out how our Brasil trip is going to be? Should be pretty epic, sure we’re able to do it? If we already were to travel from Brendon’s area to mine, we might as well check out everything between: Rio de Janueiro looks absolutely amazing, and there’s some sweet nature reserves in the Amazon right? Seems like we should split it into 3 different trips. Who knows… Love you so much my Mom! Thanks for the letter!
Lyns, love you so much. Almost to the end of school!!! Go for it! Again, loved the videos and seeing how good it looks like you’re doin. I gave your Facebook account to some people here, so be ready for Brasilian friend requests. That is your new responsibility, is to be our Facebook secretary. After the mish me and Brendon can collect the friends you’ve been guarding for us. Hehe. Love you so much my sweet sis. Have a good week!
Hey my sweet Kaitlin! You only have a month until your birthday! Are you so excited? It’s cool that your graduation will be on the same day. I want to see some pictures. I watched some of your videos again and I really liked them. Kaitlin, what are you doing every day. Anything funny or interesting? I love you so much and love to hear from you. Your letters are really great and you are a good writer. Good luck on the end of school! Summer will be really great! I love you Kate, hope you have a good week! Tchau!
Hey Brendon, congrats on finally leaving Maracanau! Your in the city and closer to the coast, is it any more cooler there? Are you working in the middle of the city? I’m still Junior, and I’m supposing you are too. We’re turning senior together, I think. Go for it on the scrolls, but I recommend doing one per week, instead of per month. It’s pretty easy to get tired of them and give up. I’m onto the second and it’s really helpin me out. I love you man!
Okay, I’m kind of rushing today, like everyday! I hope I can write a bit more a bit later, but we actually have a couple appointments today in the evening, so I don’t know if it’ll work out. I’ve still got photos and videos I’m holding back from you guys. There’ll be a big splash soon.
Love love love you guys! Tchau tchau!
Elder Con
Hey Mom! Thank you so much for the little letter. I just left feeling on top of the world. I felt a little melancholy the next morning, but that passed and I'm right back into the work. What's interesting is that all of the other missionaries say they feel more homesick after their calls, but I feel much less homesick, actually. Just so cool that we can get together even many many miles apart. I did a lot of thinking about what was said in our phone call, and it stirred up some new thoughts I'll share with you guys in my big-'ole e-mail.
Anyway, have a good morning! I'll be back here at 2:00, so if you want you can take a little longer before writing. Also, it may be that you talked about everything new already there, so don't worry if it's a bit more brief. The call made up for all of it. Hope you had a good Mother's day too!
I LOOOVE YOU! Here's a big morning hug. Until later,
Connor
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Starting over
Hey Family!
This might be a little shorter of a post this week, being that we all just had a lengthy Mother’s day call with all the family together. That was awesome. It hás actually just left me feeling happier and more connected to my family. Very cool. Now just 7 months until the next call! That time will fly.
Earlier this week I had a division with Elder Barker in his área, Lagoa Vermelha. It was very awesome because we were in the same district in the CTM, and I have such an awesome connection with him and the rest of that group because of all the time and experiences and difficulties we shared there for 2 months. We got to walk around and do missionary work, showing off stuff we learned, recounting stories from the CTM, and generally just revel in the fact that we’ve come so far in the mission already. It was great to be working with a good friend for a day. He taught me how to make pastels (which were delicious) and we managed to eat at a bunch of appointments there, and so it seemed kind of like a holiday that day.
We had a couple high-powered days after that, really try to work hard to find new investigators, and praying and having faith that we would find some families to teach, and we came out this week with 5 new families to teach. I’m really proud of that. What is kind of worrisome is that we’ve managed to get our finding strategies working, but we have had trouble on figuring out how to teach them all effectively now that we’ve found them. They’ve all had different times that they’re available, and live in different places, and it hás been hard to schedule all the people we want to visit into one week. So that’s what the next big difficulty is going to be; is to figure out how to plan our time effectively to visit and teach these people according to their needs while still managing to find people. But it’s good to have a bunch of families moving through the lessons, and seeing if they’ll make the effort to pray and receive an answer and have the desire to become a member. But we’re in a good situation now here.
We went to Casca, a neighbooring city, yesterday. We are only allowed to teach people outside Marau if they’ve been to church before and are progressing, so seeing as the only bus to Casca left two hours before Tiago and Mônica, the family there, would be at home, and we couldn’t knock doors or make contacts there during this time, we went sightseeing in the city. It’s a small town of 8,000 people, but they have an impressive giant archaic Catholic chapel, and a big park. There was a monument there to the pioneers of Casca, which included people from the Torino área of Italy. Could it be our family? That was very interesting. We had a nice dinner and lesson there before returning via a late bus, which broke down in the middle of the way between Casca and Marau. We sat waiting for another bus to pass and pick us up, but the two buses which passed wouldn’t stop for us! We waited there 2 hours, it being 11 PM, until Elder Carvalho just got fed up, got into the engine compartment of the bus, and tried to fix whatever was wrong. He used a bunch of rocks, wet paper towels, a hanger we found, and a piece of rubber to fix the engine. We got home at half past midnight, all because of his crazy ingenuity. Otherwise we would’ve slept there and waited for morning. Go Elder Carvalho! Heheh. I never cease to be surprised.
So after reflecting a bit after our call, I just had the following simple thoughts: First of all, while our next call home and our homecoming and everything will seem like tomorrow when we actually get there, it is good to realize there’s a quite a bit of time left. 1 year and 4 months is a lot. What I meant to say on the phone was that there is value in just putting off the homesickness and realizing that this tôo will pass, and that we will be together for a long time in a little while, and that this time apart shouldn’t be the cause for tôo much longing for family. We just have to keep going, one day at a time, and acknowledge that the day o four reunion WILL come, if not necessarily soon. But the fact is that it WILL happen. That’s enough to keep me going.
The other thing I wish that I would have said is that while the main thing that I’ve learned here is how to take just one day at a time, and not try to push yourself tôo much, and just try to stay happy... That’s a good lesson. But I realized that I have so much more to learn still. One thing I want to learn is how to arrive at that point where I can actually push myself, and go above and beyond, and see honest miracles happen, without burning out or getting frustrated when my efforts don’t make a difference right away. I want to say that I’ll take it one step at a time, doing more every day to get there, but at the same time I don’t want to discount the value of a miraculous change of heart and attitude. Alma the Younger didn’t take it one step at a time; he went straight from ruffian to courageous missionary. Apostle Paul also had a huge change. Big things can happen NOW. If we want them to. If we let them.
So while that’s not necessarily a lesson I’ve learned, it’s something I want to learn, and I want to experience, and that I believe exists. Hopefully I can do that.
It was so cool to see the vídeo of Lynsey playing the drums. The solo was SO AWESOME! Lynsey sure is getting better! So awesome! It’s nice to see the band again and see everyone that makes up a part of it again. You guys are better but at the same time it’s nice to see everything the same still. Cool.
Hey Mom, thanks for Jordan’s letter. It’s just cool to know he’s going home very soon. Wild! I would like his letters forwarded to me from now on, if you don’t mind. Cool. Thanks Mom for the letter and the update. I am jealous you get to read sci-fi books. I love the scriptures but it’s something where you have to be trying to get something out of the activity. Sometimes I wish I could just read for leisure. Maybe the scriptures will get like that for me in a while. I love you so much. I am so happy when I think about my family. :)
Dad, I think a lot of the fact that you were on your mission in a similar kind of place like we have here, and how we’re here continuing the legacy of Elder Carpenter. I’m happy to be a part of that. Happy birthday again Daddio.
I loved hearing from my lil’ sis Kaitlin! Kaitlin, I love you so much and am glad we got to talk! I also love your vídeos and if you want to make more of them, I would like that! I hope you have a good middle school graduation on your birthday! I’m so excited for that. Will you send me some pictures from that? I hope your birthday is good and that you get some cool presents! I love you so much Kate. Stay happy, remember that you are beautiful and so so important to someone way far away here in Brasil. Love you.
Brendon, hope the transfers go right! Start in your new área as a different person, a new, better missionary! There’s never a better time to change than when your environment changes as well. I’m hoping you get the opportunity to turn Sênior. That’d be awesome. Also, print out the thing I sent you and use it! It actually works! I love you bro. Driving crazily in the parking lot of the theater at night. Yep. Awesome. We’re doin that again. For sure.
Love you all my fam! No photos this week because I left the cable at the house, but more next week! To all my extended family and friends: love you guys, hope all is going well, wish I could write more specifically to you!
Love love love!
Con
Well, that's life!
Hey family!
What is super cool is that I’m going to be talkin to y'all in just 5 days! I am just SO excited, and I may even have trouble concentrating on work because of excitement (although I will try not to). For surely it hás seemed like less time between now and my first call (5 months ago) than my first call and when I last saw everyone (3 months apart). That’s a good sign! The next break will be our longest we’ll have in communication during these two years (now until Christmas – a 7 month period), but I am assuming that when Christmas comes it won’t seem like tôo much time hás passed. Cool.
This week was fast, and not tôo much happened. We had a couple really high powered days, where Elder Carvalho and I just promised eachother we’d work our heads off and do everything possible to find some great new families to teach. It’s so awesome; I’m learning how to be the type of missionary that I wanted to be. Praying every second while walking the streets or talking or teaching, trying to listen to and follow the Spirit, and thanking God for every little thing he sends our way. Let me tell you: it’s working! In fact, it’s incredible how it’s working! Our goal was to find new families, and we found 11 this week! We have 2 families that have really great potential: Carmen and Ezdra, and João and Salete and their kids. And we are hopeful about many others. I really feel like we were guided to these families.
But, there was a kind of duality to this week. After our great success, we kind of kicked back, visited some easy families, and for some reason we didn’t feel like continuing our awesome pattern. What’s funny is that at the end of all those productive days, I totally felt on top of the world, super happy, glad to be a missionary. How is it that in just three days you can go from that, to being kind of sad and homesick like I was today and yesterday? It’s an idea I’m kind of struggling with. Elder Carvalho hás been studying the teachings of Brigham Young exclusively for a while, and one observation of his hás been sticking out in my head. Brigham Young said that the most normal time to be tempted is right after a vision or a powerful insight from God, because the devil wants to trip you up before you do tôo much with your newfound insight or spiritual light. He referenced the experience of Moses and how Satan tempted him right after his vision of all the works of God and his conversation with him.
I also remember the words of that missionary book we bought, "Serve with Honor". It had a chapter all about the Spirit, and how one way you can lose the spirit is through sin, and the other way you can lose the spirit is through doing the right things, but then needing to be tested. It’s like God giving you all the instruction and help to understand something, but then drawing back, taking off the training wheels, and giving you the opportunity to do it yourself. If you manage get through the situation yourself, using what you’ve learned but not necessarily the Spirit, God will know you’re ready to move on to the next big challenge, and he’ll give you the Spirit to help you prepare for this.
So I feel like that’s where I am right now. Prayer, some time with the scriptures, some quiet thinking time, hás helped me to get through the last two days, and I feel good right now, but just very fragile. Certainly your letters have helped. I read a bit of my diary yesterday, and it helped me understand what was happening. My diary is actually really hilarious; unfortunately I write only one or (maybe) twice a week, and the entries more or less alternate: “I’m feeling really discouraged and confused” and “Man, the mission is great! I love this work! I didn’t know I could be so happy!” It might be kind of a personal version of the Book of Mórmon; how those people changed so quickly from righteousness to devastation and back again. Well, that’s life.
That’s my attitude right now. “Well, that’s life.” Heheh. Understand, I feel like this statement is like seeing a giant, swirling maelstrom approaching, tornadoes and lightning and thunder, pointing to it and saying, “Well, that’s a storm.” But really that’s the best I can do. Get this big and complicated topic and bundle it down to something I can cope with. Yep, that IS life alright.
What the heck else happened this week? We made bread! It fed me for a week. Bread is ridiculously easy to make! I feel happy that I managed to accomplish a feat that millions of people have accomplished for millions of years. It’s also ridiculous cheap to make. Want to eat for a week on $10? Buy flour, sugar, yeast, na egg, and the cheapest jam you can find ($1.00 for a jar of jam is a good deal we found here)! And make bread! Oh yeah, and boil up powdered milk for perfection WITH thrift. Want to switch it up? $1.00 for a frozen meat patty. It’s a deal. I could eat like this for my entire mission. We’ll see how far that statement góes in another month.
Grêmios won Grenal! It’s my football team and they won a super important game! Parties and fireworks in the streets! People on the top of cars without lots of clothes in the middle of the city! Streets packed full of jumping excited, painted bodies! It was crazy. It was really hard to work that day. And I left my câmera! I was super disappointed about that. But it’s pretty funny how this little Catholic worker town just completely góes outright bonkers over a football game. Cool.
I finally got to finish watching Lynsey and Kaitlin’s vídeos. So cool to see you guys! In one way our phone call might seem a little bit of a downgrade, because I won’t get to see you. Love you guys so much! It will be so great to get to talk to you in real time. Way to go Lyns on the SAT! Hope it all góes well.
Hey Mom! Loved the details about the Family Preparedness Activities! Wow, it sounds so extensive! I think it’s awesome that you have a lot of the ward doing this. I think it would be fun to be thinking and preparing all these things there. Way to go Mom! This will for surely make a difference later on.
Hey Dad! I’ll be fasting with you guys. Follow whatever it is that you find. I know it’ll lead to where we need to go. Can’t wait to talk to you tôo! Hope we can get some one on one time.
My whole family! Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents! We have a loving Heavenly Father who can help us! Okay, love you guys! Have a good week!
Love shouted from the mountaintops!
Connor Hehe, okay! I'm going to make everything just perfect! Food, water ready just in case so I don't have to run to the kitchen. In fact, I'll just talk to you guys from our bathroom, so as to not have any sort of interruption. Man, it'll be perfect.... :)
What's goin on there?
Here, it's raining, my companion's done and telling me that I'm writing too much... We have a dinner with a less active family set up in an hour... Oh yeah. This is the life. :)
Sooner than you think...
Hey my family!
Another great and fast week here in Marau, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil! This last week was marked by thunderstorms, rain, general cold weather, and the fact that these storms simultaneously knocked out our cellular services and every pay phone in the city was down as well. So we went out of contact with the rest of the mission for this last week, but today for P-day traveled to Passo Fundo to let the Zone Leaders know what happened and that we were still alive. We were also at a disadvantage because our awesome investigator family, Tiago and Mônica, live in a neighbooring city and have a weird schedule, so we weren’t able to get into contact with them this week, and they didnt come to church and we’re hoping everything will go well with them when we get back into contact.
I am both loving and hating the rainy weather. And it’s coming out a bit even. The rain and cold is a bit tough in the fact that it’s hard to talk to people on the streets when you’ve got the batter of raindrops all around you and an umbrella in the way. And if you forget to dress right and bring an umbrella you can get pretty miserable. What’s one cool way to dress right? Put plastic bags over your socks and then put over another pair of socks!
The cold weather is also a lot nicer to go to sleep in the cold, covered with comforter blankets (but harder to wake up and get out of them, I’ll say). It’s also nice because you get to wake up and start boiling water as you do excersizes, and having chimarrão after your hot steamy shower (heh heh, Brendon). Chimarrão is part of my life now. I drink it every morning during personal study. It’s a natural tea that is not against any standards of the church, keeps you warm, and fills your belly so that you don’t feel hungry until our huge lunch with members. I don’t know if they sell chimarrão in the states, but if they do I want to keep the habit of drinking chimarrão after the mission, as a remembrance of the good olé Gaúcho country.
Yesterday was pretty awesome, because it officially marked my 8th month here in the mission, and also it marked the day I finally got to start showing off by saying I’ve read the Book of Mórmon out loud in Portuguese. Woah! So I’ve heard, Gordon B. Hinckley gave a promise to the world saying that if you read the whole Book of Mórmon in a foreign language out loud, you will become fluent. So BAM! I read Moroni’s final words, said Amen, and something clicked in my brain and I suddenly was fluent in Portuguese! Serious! My companion started talking to my in fluent english after I finished the book, and I started conversing with him, but then I said, “Wait! When did you learn English so well?” And he said, “English? I’m speaking Portuguese, you’re speaking Portuguese, in fact, when did YOU learn to speak Portuguese so well?! You sound like a born Gaúcho!” I can’t even speak English naturally if I try! I am typing this letter IN PORTUGUESE, using Google Translator to help you guys understand what I’m saying. It’s crazy. It’s like a switch flipped in my brain suddenly. So awesome... April Fool’s! Heheh, that would be awesome right?! Like that movie "the Other Side of Heaven" where he just wakes up speaking Tongan. Ahh... Were it so easy... I’m doing awesome with the language, but I think President Hinckley’s promise there is a bit like the promise made in the Garden of Eden, “If you eat the fruit, you will surely die.” No time period specified there.
Actually, the language is going very well. We were meeting with a member the other day, he was talking about his mission, and he said, “I had a companion from Curitiba (another Brasilian state) ect...” And I started to think, “Oh, he had a Brasilian companion, I wonder how he learned how to cope with his companion and learn the language.” And my brain TOTALLY flipped out because as he was telling this story in Portuguese, I’m serious, I thought I was in the states and he was speaking in English about his Brasilian mission. I started to laugh in the middle of his story and they all stopped to look at me with curious stares. Heheh.
But, reading and finished the Book of Mórmon was sweet. Man, 3rd Nephi is just so awesome, reading about Christ, finally after so many pages of predicting his coming, and hearing his counsel and love for that people. Mórmon 9 is one of my favorite chapters now, for no specific reason, but I had an awesome spiritual experience reading that chapter and receiving information that just seemed perfect for me. Wish I could explain more about that... Last time I finished the Book of Mórmon I sped through Ether, and this time I really let the story sink in and let myself get attached to the Jaredites, brother of Jared, all the kings and prophets and stories. The Book of Ether is like a compressed Book of Mórmon, and hás a lot of compressed meanings and messages in there if you look for them and compare them with the stories you just finished reading in the previous books. The last words of Moroni are sweet, and I honestly really feel that he is, as he says, “Speaking to you from the dust”, as a friend and counselor, but not just because he says so. It’s a strange effect... Anyway, I love the Book of Mórmon. Man, how it is true. If anyone could just download all the words of the Book of Mórmon in to their brains, they would instantly have a testimony of the restored gospel. The thing is, getting all that information in there is the hard part, especially when you see how resistant people are to read, to cope with the sometimes difficult language, and to really seek for understanding as they read. The truth is undeniable, but it’s hard to get people to really give the truth a fair chance. But I am so thankful for being able to read and digest the book here, having the right spirit to study it. Cool.
A couple of fun stories about my companion, Elder Carvalho. He is ALWAYS wanting to go into every single market and look at the prices of all of the groceries, looking for deals. If we happen to walk by a market as we’re working, he practically runs in and starts listing stuff. I’ll wait, bored by the door, and he’ll come running to me excitedly, “Elder Capench! Flour for only 1.69! That’s 10 cents cheaper!!!” ... “Wow. Cool. Thanks Elder Carvalho.” And he’ll go running back into the store for more prices. One day I told him, “Cool! A kilo of grapes are 5 cents cheaper here if you buy them in bulk! I don’t care! Just finish up looking at prices and lets get out of here!” And he looked at me with his wide eyes and started spouting out loud and fast Northeastern accented Portuguese about how Americans just want to eat and sleep and play videogames. I blink my eyes and walk out of the store. 10 minutes later he comes running out telling me excitedly about how they have bigger cups for cheaper, walking fast and talking quickly to himself/me. Heheheh. Elder Carvalho is awesome.
He played a trick on me in a members house after I used the bathroom, shouting at me how the member had told me that the bathroom wasn’t working and that the flushed water emptied straight into the rooms beneath us, and how I would have to go clean it up. I totally freaked out because I still mess up in the language sometimes and it would be very possible to misunderstand that. Got a towel and ran downstairs, where they had a family laughing at me. Heheheh. All in good fun.
Hey guys! We get to talk! 2 weeks! I’m super excited! When should I call? Want to start planning that?
Happy Birthday to my Dad! I made a vídeo for you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd8eAQmr8E8
It’s a little confusing in the song, but when I say, ME, I mean, YOU. Heheh. I love you Dad. Wish I had made a special vídeo or something. Hope you guys get to do something awesome. I will be thinking about you. Just another year right Dad?
Time seems to be going fast to me tôo. Dare I say it seems faster here than the summer before we left? Yes. I’ll be at 1 year in no time, and other missionaries say it just speeds up after that. Worrisome in one way, but cool in another. We’ll see eachother in no time.
Hey Mom! I have plenty for food here, but extra is always appreciated. The problem with other missionaries is that their weekly budgets HAVE to include coke and sweets and pizza and expensive bread and lunch meat. That is where I was. Now, Elder Carvalho hás opened my mind to another plane of existence, where you can eat like a pig on cheap pasta, tomato sauce, and mango juice for like $5 a week every day. It gets a bit tiring but I’m actually saving up money doing this to buy some cool souvenirs later on. Thanks for the concern! But dontcha worry one bit my mom!
Yo Brendon! Love you man! Gotta be quick but I’m jealous about meeting Elder Holland, and I know how it is to work in a difficult área. Post the ways to know if you’re a successful missionary in the front of Pregar meu Evangelho on your desk and try to just to those. It helps you not to doubt yourself that you’re doing well. But yes, helping inactive families hás been the greatest success so far here in Marau. I love you bro! Can’t wait to talk to you tôo!
Sweet guys! Love love love! I’m running out the door! Until next week!
Elder Carpenter
Yo!
WAAAAAAAAASSSSSSUUUUUUUUUPPP!!!! :D
I'm on now and getting off in 1 hour, but we'll return in 2 hours after that and stay connected until 4 hours after that. That is unless there's an earthquake or a golden family that just NEEDS to be baptized now or we're translated or anything. Loved the letters this week! Got two videos for you guys today! Okay, loooove you guys.
Seeeeeeeee you later!
CON!
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I took an absurdly long amount of time with haircuts and groceries and lunch took a bit longer than anticipated.
Let's do this!
Wassup ma’ family! Another great week here in Marau! It is raining heavily, and has been for the whole day, but outside appearances hide what really matters. We had an awesome week of work, some really cool miracle events, which I’ll describe later, then we had Zone Conference yesterday which was sweet, GOT MY BIRTHDAY PACKAGE FINALLY!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D…, ahem, and after a week and a bit of starving a bit because we used up our monthly allowance too early, we now have an apartment full of food and fresh haircuts, and I, especially, with my sweet haircut, new birthday shirt, and newly whitened teeth as the result of one of Elder Carvalho’s many secrets, am frankly, modestly saying, looking quite studly indeed. And that’s enough for anyone to be feeling awesome.
First of all, birthday package:
CHECKA THIS OUT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sJs64gSngQ
and this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGGKwKRILrM
Yep, I loved it. We spent a day listening to sweet sweet jazz melodies and epic war songs. Really pumped me up. Lyns, I put the CDs on my ipod, but the songs all came out untitled. So it’s a bit hard to remember which song is which. Do you have the playlist still and would be able to give me names? Otherwise I’ll make up names for the songs myself to help me identify them and I just don’t think “Churchy Guitars” “Whispery Frontier” “Scrambled Technochocolate” and “that song about a submarine” wouldn’t really make sense…
OR DOES IT MAKE SO MUCH SENSE THAT IT’S BLOWING YOUR MIND!?!
Okay, man I’m feeling a bit punchy today. It’s got to be the haircut: more oxygen is getting to my brain than normal.
Elder Carvalho has continued to be entertaining. He’s awesome at teaching and is absolutely on fire when it comes to making contacts - it works! We manage to get to know people. He’s continued to teach me how to cook and clean and do everything efficiently. He tells stories and laughing, joking, singing, whatever. Telling stories, holy smokes can he tell stories and I cannot believe how he segues so easily into another crazy story. I fell asleep one night while listening to a story of his and awoke to him saying, “Elder Carpenter, I asked you a question! Are you ASLEEP!?!” (me) “Sim, sim, Elder Carvalho. I’m awake. I don’t know.” … Anyway…” And there he went into another story. He’s worked in a thousand different jobs, tractor operator, mouse breeder, xray operator, electrician, computer maintenance, biologists assistant. Absolutely crazy. He’s a convert, was baptized in 2007, and spent a bunch of his life outside the house just doing crazy stuff with his friends. Even though he’s only two years older than me, he makes me feel like I’m 6 years old. That’s Elder Carvalho. Living on the fast lane makes everyone else look like they’re going in slow motion.
Man, I’m totally running out of time. Like usual. I’ll never catch up with this.
"Paulo"
We had some cool experiences here. One thing Elder Carvalho taught me how to do is pray literally every second as your working. Pray and have faith that miracles will happen. When you do this, things happen. It’s really crazy. A member family of 3 who’s lived here for 4 years approached us out of the blue on the street and didn’t know Marau had a church. Three more people at church this Sunday. We randomly decide to take an out of the way shortcut through the town cemetery at night, start talking to the guard, taught him practically all of the gospel in two hours as we did his patrol with him, with him feverishly asking questions about the church. After a day of hard work we come home to find a reference from a family that showed up in church at Passo Fundo, a family well regarded in the town of Casca which neighbors Marau, teach this awesome family, receive a notice from the Stake Presidency that this family will be the pioneers to start the gospel in Casca. And it’s our responsibility to teach them and get the work going there. Sweet. We have an opportunity next week to teach at a local evangelical congregation which is going to close soon. Other than this, investigators just happen to pop up as we visit member homes, and we really have a lot going for us here. We’re coming home pretty tired, but it’s awesome. We’re making a difference. Cool.
Hmm... gotta go soon. Did you know that there’s a quick, effective, cheap way to whiten your teeth? Elder Carvalho does. You don’t even need to buy those silly crest whitening strip things. Just get Hydrogen Peroxide in Gel (something that is available here in every drugstore), smear it on your teeth after brushing, a keep a smile as you allow your gelled teeth contact with the open air. Gauranteed difference after the first use. And Hydrogen Peroxide is CHEAP! Like 6 bucks here. And a bottle lasts forever. Brendon, it’s called Agua Oxygenada em Gel. Buy it at a drugstore and use it. You will like it. Made a huge difference with my teeth. Elder Carvalho got some whitening strips from na American companion, looked at the active ingredient, and discovered how to do this.
Here’s a funny Brazilian saying, “Tu tem uma bunda virada pra a lua!” It means you were born with luck. Another Brazilian said it to us after relating our successes of the week. Literal translation? “You have a butt turned towards the moon!” Hahaha. I liked that.
Hey Brendon, I learned how to say, “By the way…” It’s “Á proposito…” And I learned how to say, “Just like [another thing]” It’s “Tal qual [qualquer coisa tu queres]” Cool eh?
Brendon, I’ve heard of Elder Macaco! His fame stretches far here in the South. You lucky dog you.
Man, Brendon, I was totally laughing hysterically there. Thanks man. You're totally lucky you got to see Elder Holland. HOPE HE COMES HERE!!!!! Love you buddy. Have a good week!
Hey Dad! I love Marau and we’ve got to visit here after the mission. Especially just for some of the families; I’ve grown closer to them here in just one transfer than in 3 transfers in Boqueirao. That happens when you’ve got about 20 active members in the branch (including little kids). Carvalho is a common name and means “oak tree”. I have now had 1 american companion and 4 Brazilians. Let’s hope I keep getting Brazilians! I love learning and laughing with them and their culture and ways. But bring anything on. Hope all is going well with work, and church! If you have anything cool you can show me online about MobSpree, send it my way! Thanks so much for the talk by Elder Scott. I’m placing it on my ipod… I love you muchly Pai. Have a good week and be energetic!
Hey Mom! The cleaning sprees have slowed down but have not stopped and will not stop. EVERY DAY we have to SWEEP. AND DO THE DISHES. It’s horrible. :)
I laughed when you wrote that you planned out our trip already. Sweet! I’m glad! I want to hear about it! But I’m also just entertained that that seed took so little time to sprout and flower in your brain. :) Hehehe, I planted that one right. Sweet news about Lora Lynn! When’s the wedding? Pictures? So happy for her! I love you Mom! Thanks for keeping us connected! I love love LOVED the package! I’m enjoying the Reese’s a nibble at a time. Have a good week, be strong and keep at your new plan you made with Dad!
Hey my Lynsey Loo! I love the CD so much because I just think about you going through choosing the songs. The jazz ones are sweet. I love the Alex Murdoch songs. I picked those out of iTunes because they reminded me of my brother and sisters. Love you Lyns. Stay close to the Spirit so you can figure out EXACTLY how to handle your challenges. Love you so much! Have a good week!
Hey my KaitLin! I watched your video again and I liked it so much! You are almost done with 8th grade?! That’s crazy! You’re growing up so fast. Did Mom tell you about the Brazil trip she planned? Would you go on a boat on the Amazon river in Brasil? You could be like an Indian girl! That would be really cool. I love you so much my Kaitlin, here’s a huge hug and kiss! It makes me so happy to think of my little sis.
Love you guys! All is good here! Until next week!
Yelder Con
P.S. Pedro is a little Brazilian kid of 6 years that’s usually hilarious. You would like him. I made a video of him, but it wasn’t working here. Oh well. Next time. Oh, the photo I attached is of him too.
Interview with Pedro here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZnCBDHvec4
"Terrific"
Hey Famly!
So I’m feeling really great today. The weather is absolutely perfect here! Lots of clouds but still fairly sunny, cool breeze, green trees, and all located in the picturesque European-style town of Marau. Not to mention that I had an inbox JAM PACKED of wonderful news from my dear family. Thanks guys. Life is good.
So I’m still here in Marau. Great! I’ve come to know and love the members here, and they all really need our help here; the branch is very weak, with about 15 people in Sacrament meeting this last week! Crazy! So we’re going to go about the work of reclaiming lost sheep, visiting families, helping them feel the spirit, and when they do… BAM! Invite them come to church, connecting the fact that they can ALWAYS have that same spirit with them. That is the importance of Church and the Sacrament: give them the promise that the Spirit will be with them, and give an opportunity for the Spirit to testify to them when true principles are explained in the classes/talks. Cool. I’m optimistic about the future.
So last week the day after my e-mail, we shipped off to Passo Fundo, where I put my companion onto a bus, Asta la vista.
I love Elder Silva, we are good friends, and we left together on very good terms, and I hope to see him in the future, on the mission and afterwards, Good luck Elder Silva!
I got to stay in Boqueirao, my first area, with Elder Lima while I waited for my new companion to make it to our area by bus. It was cool to get to talk to my old companion, rehash old times, and go visit some members that I had left behind and hadn’t been able to say goodbye to. I swear, the moment I got inside our gate of my old house, I hugged the walls. I only stayed there for 4 ½ months, but it seems like another lifetime ago that I was there, and I had so many awesome memories and stories while I was living there. So cool. Elder Losee, my trainer, just went home a week ago, with his parents picking him up here and touring across all of his area before they head off to the states. Sweet! So for surely I’ll get to see him when he passes in the area sometime this next week. There’s a seed to plant in your heads, parents. ;)
So later that night, Elder Carvalho stepped off the bus. Within just a couple minutes, I knew what the next transfer would be like. Talking to three different people at the same time, he introduces himself in a rapid Northeastern accent, and works his way to his suitcases, battling with everyone in his way. The suitcases gotten and organized out of the way, he’s ready to go, asking people what the next bus is and buying tickets and ready to GO GO GO! Yep, that’s Elder Carvalho. He really doesn’t stop to breath. I don’t think he really sleeps. On the bus he’s talking about home, missionary techniques, deep doctrine, and everything he wants to do in Marau. In the middle of all the conversation, he stops, “Wait what’s your name?” “Elder Carpenter” “Oh okay so as I was saying…” And on and on and on…
Hehe, I love Elder Carvalho. He’s short, bespeckled, and talks so fast and with such an accent that I am starting to think I never really learned how to communicate. But he’s got an energy I really enjoy and will help me out now and in the future. Cool. I’m glad I have the opportunity to serve with him.
And while I love him and admire him, it hasn’t kept us all peachy cream in the companionship. I open the door to our apartment, which Elder Silva and I had cleaned for Elder Carvalho, and he just says, looking at me sideways “WHY DOES PRESIDENT ALWAYS SEND ME TO THE WORST TRASH BINS OF THE MISSION!!?!?!” He’s calling our district leader, zone leaders, even PRESIDENT PAVAN, complaining that the whole mission is broken and that we might as well go back home because the work has ended here because of our uncleanliness. I start freaking out, thinking about how this is going to look bad on me, and start snapping pictures of our house to have evidence that it wasn’t really that bad. But without unpacking his bags or closing the door, Elder Carvalho throws me a broom and starts giving me directions. We moved furniture, we swept, mopped, boiled water with cleaning soda to throw on the floors and the walls, we hung pictures, we fixed sinks, cupboards, the refrigerator, and for two days we just stayed at the house cleaning places I didn’t even knew existed. Yep, Elder Carvalho might gripe, but he actually backs it up with crazy amount of physical effort. I kind of got scared and freaked out at first at his reaction to our modestly unkempt abode, but after Carvalho calmed down, he was talking, joking, dancing, and singing fast and complicated Ipawi mamba romances. He’s really crazy, but… I’m really enjoying my time with him.
After we got done with our house, Elder Carvalho moved on to our area book, and we spent the next day in piles of papers as we organized every single file into areas, dates, and potencial for future success.
After that, we went to church, where Elder Carvalho flipped out silently in the front of the members, pointing with wide eyes at all the minor uncleanliness located in our church building. So after church and all yesterday, what did we do? We did the same thing that we did for our house, but for the entire chapel, polishing benches and chairs, washing every single wall and floor and ceiling… Right now I can’t believe we didn’t get up on the roof and try to scrape off bird droppings. Insane. But… Now we have a chapel that is absolutely SHINING. I can’t wait for the members to see next Sunday!
So, that’s my week! We taught a couple of inactive families in between all the cleaning sessions, but we’ve really just been cleaning and organizing stuff. Is it the right thing to do? I don’t know! Our district leader called to ask why our numbers were nonexistent, and Elder Carvalho just ranted on how it was irresponsible to leave the houses and area books and chapels all disorganized and our district leader I think just let it be. Hmmm. Good, bad? I don’t know. Entertaining? YES!
So we are in the Lanhouse and for the last twenty minutes me and Elder Carvalho have been scrambling around. He used to be really into computers, so, seeing as how he already finished with his letter home, has decided to use this $2.50 per hour time on the computer to look on everyone else’s computers and delete photos they’ve left on the internet café computers. Why? “It’s taking up space here, making the lanhouse run slow.” We’re the only ones here. And he just recently got done deleting seven photos I was going to send home today. Of course I cut them directly from my camera so I didn’t have backups. And he deleted them permanently with shift-delete. And now he’s running around trying to hack my computer to get the photos back, but it’s taking too long. So I’m sending all the “second bests” photos that we had taken of my first-tier photos. Oh well. Patience…
Yep, so I’m all out of time right now. I really have a lot to say, and I wanted to respond to all of your awesome letters. But we’ve got to go.
I loved all the photos, and I watched the awesome drumming video by Lyns. :) I’m so jealous you guys got to go to Monterey. LUCKY! Very pretty shots. I’ve gottem saved to my iPod.
I love you guys SO much! Thanks so much my Grandad and Grandma Christensen, Grandma Imogene, and Aunt Karen for your thoughtful and caring e-mails, they really help me get through the week.
Dad, loved the news and the long e-mail! Mom, I love so much all the details of the going ons at home. You guys are crazy busy! Brendon, thanks for the e-mail and I’m glad everything worked out! I hate miscommunications: they’re the center of all arguments. I’m still junior so don’t worry about anything! All of the people in my group are still junior too! It’s not a race against every one else, it’s just a race against yourself, perfectly constructed. Good luck this next week.
Love love love!
Con
What's Done is Done!
Hello! It's my P-day today, and not tomorrow because transfers are happening. Opa! Another week here in Marau, Brazil. It’s a day earlier than I would usually be writing, which is why I didn’t have any mail in my inbox (except for Lynsey’s sick drumming videos! Yeah! Thanks Lyns). Normally I’d get sad about this, but I’m all excited to see what’s gonna happen for transfers, who’s gonna be my next companion, and it’s also been a shorter amount of time since last P-day than usual, so actually, it’s all good… :) (but I don’t think I could take another week of it so please continue to send me e-mails!). This week was a bit dry again also. It was Easter weekend, and also another big Catholic holiday here, and seriously, since last Friday the town has been visibly “dead”. This, combined with the fact that we had a baptism last week and that this was the last week in the transfer, unfortunately lead to a lot of dragging our feet and not having very much energy in the work. It’s really a very horrible situation, and I’m hoping that by having a new companion here I’ll be able to pull myself back up by the bootstraps and get into my old “go-get-em” attitude. So this is why I’m excited for transfers.
We’ve done the math and calculated that, if President was promoting people to Senior companion based solely on the amount of time they had in the mission, 1 person from my same group in the CTM would turn senior. It could be more if we had a bunch of incoming new missionaries. The question of “will I turn senior” is now, I’m sure, a much bigger pressing matter than it really should be. I should just leave it all to the Lord and President’s inspiration, but I am SO ready to be able to take the reins of a companionship now. It’s usually a sign of respect to state your opinion on what the companionship should do, but then leave the ultimate decision up to the Senior, and that’s something I don’t want to worry about any more. I think I could get a lot more excited about the work if I had that kind of direct responsibility for the area. Who do you have to blame if the work isn’t going well when you’re Senior? Only yourself. I think that would be good motivation for me.
At the same time, I feel like I could easily stay Junior for the next transfer. Which might be better. I would have another chance to learn how to keep motivated even with an unmotivated senior. What would be cool is a motivated senior sent my way, of course, with every companion I’ve realized that it made complete sense that I was matched with them, and even though I may not have completely overcome the challenges that I was given like I would’ve liked to, from each companion I’ve found specific things that I needed to learn. So, for surely, the Lord knows what he’s doing and the next transfer will be exactly what I need. At this same time I wish the learning could be done more through someone else pushing me and not through me pulling someone else. But, just like the people of Alma the Older, sometimes the Lord gives us strength to lift our loads instead of taking that load away. So bring it on, I’m ready!
Sorry if that felt like a rant, but it’s what’s in my head right now.
Conference was really cool, and I loved the spirit that I felt watching and also the testimony of Jesus Christ that the apostles have. How cool is it to see living Prophets and Apostles in our days! Speaking directly to us. For surely, if you want a testimony, just listen intently to the Prophet speak. How could you deny the love and sincerity that constantly eminate from those great men? This should be enough.
Unfortunately, I was only able to watch the Sunday morning session, because Marau doesn’t have satellite and we had to bus to Passo Fundo and they didn’t have a bus back to Marau after the second session. So I was a bit bummed about that. It was good however, to see Sabino, who we baptized last week, there watching the prophets and apostles for the first time. I’m excited for him and all the spirit and learning he has in his future. Cool.
But I’m totally looking forward to the next Liahona which will bring with it the rest of the words of the Prophets that we missed out on. Yeah!
Here’s a gross story you will not believe. Yesterday, after a long day of work, we arrived at the apartment tired and hungry. We didn’t have food in the house and couldn’t buy any either because it was Sunday. So, with a grumbling belly I went to our dusty cabinet and pulled out the huge 10kg sack of rice that another missionary had bought before Elder Silva (so at least 3 months old now). It was food storage or something. I looked at the rice, looked good still, so I poured a pot fill and started to cook like, a lot. Enough for two people. (but Elder Silva didn’t want any, so I was going to eat both portions) I cook it up, it’s steaming, I pour a bunch of hot sauce and salt on it, it’s not much, but it fills your belly. And I’m chowin down, reading scriptures, swiggin it all down with a cold glass of coke (coke makes everything better right?), listening to music, all good. For about 20 minutes I’m eating. I’m really almost done with a plateful, about to serve myself another, when I SEE THESE FREAKING THINGS IN MY FREAKING RICE!!!!!!?@?@¨$#¨&!#!:
(INSERT MY ONE PHOTO I ATTACHED HERE, ON MY BLOG) THANKS!
Why!!!! Seriously, they looked exactly like rice, while I was eating, cooking, looking in the sack. My rice was FILLED WITH THESE THINGS. Like one worm for EVERY 20 kernels of RICE!!! I looked at the rice in the big sack with better light, and sure enough, after a couple of seconds, now that I knew was I was looking for, THE LITTLE BUGGERS WERE ALL CLIMBING AROUND INSIDE!!!@$@$
I freaked out silently, put it out of my mind, took a picture, told Elder Silva, and he commenced to tell me that the larvae was inside the rice and that they were going to mature in my stomach and emerge out of my skin one day, but I say that 20 minutes of boiling and stomach acids are enough to take down those larvae. And about 10 extra cups of Coke I drank after my realization (it can dissolve a nail in 3 days, why not larvae?) That’s all I have to say about this. I’m thoroughly mortified.
Bah, I wish I had more to say this week. Everything goes in waves. This week, there was less going on, in a while, maybe I’ll have TOO MUCH to say.
But, enjoy Easter! Hope the trip to Arizona was fun! Loved the sweet video! You guys are real. Cool. After seeing, for example, Nick and Zach and Fam, I realize I haven’t forgotten a thing (N&Z, man I love you guys!). Homesickness disappears. It’s like I’m there.
Dad, love you, work hard. Mom, love you, thank you. Lyns, love you, take care. Kait, love you, big hug. My bro, love you, good luck. Everyone else, love you, rock on!
And on and on and on!
Love love love! – Elder C
