*No photos this week :(
Hey my family! I have P-day today because transfers are tomorrow! Cool huh? Brendon, is your situation the same? Anyways, I'll write more later, but I just want to let you know that your letters were heaven. Thank you so much Dad and Lyns! I feel like you're right here in the internet cafe with me! Mom, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the photos! Oh my gosh I can't believe how awesome seeing all of my family and glimpsing the thanksgiving vacation is! So sweet! I will print them out and hang them on my wall above my desk. :D
I love you guys, will write later about my week (which was pretty good!). Tchau!
Get busy livin or get busy dyin
Hey my family!
This week hás been great. And I’m feeling much better! I know that your prayers have been a great help to me, and the thought has popped into my head often that my blessings were probably because of the prayers of someone else. Very cool. Also, I just finished re-reading everyone’s letters and printing mom’s photos, and I feel very close to you all right now. This is what feeds me for the rest of the week. Thanks so much guys!
I’ll tell you first about the experience I had this last Thursday, because it is what made this week so good. It’s nothing very big, but it was very important to me. As you know, I’ve been feeling pretty homesick for the last couple weeks. After last P-day I was feeling pretty horrible, for no reason. I didn’t know what it was. I had somewhat run out of desire to keep working as hard as I had been. Excitement for the work was gone. This was because I had nothing to fuel my mission. All through the CTM, all through the days leading up to the mission after the call came, all through my life leading up to getting my mission call, I had a hope for some sort of unknown adventure which would be worthy to fill volumes with. My childhood was made of stories, mostly from reading books, also from movies, shows, games. The question always was, “Where’s the next story?” “Where’s the next action packed experience?” “Where can I get the next rush?” And that’s how I lived, from story to story. So you can see how this mode of life would make it easy for someone to want to serve a mission, because it’s this big blank spot in your life which will be YOUR big story. Finally, you’re the main character, living and not just viewing.
Through the CTM, this is the thought that kept me going. Okay, cool, I’m done with the CTM. I arrive in the mission field, everything is new and exciting and you’re meeting new people and finding your way through this strange place and all for the grand purpose of bringing souls to the light. Sweet! And there’s a lot of awesome experiences worthy of being written in a book, that far exceed any written or recorded in a book, especially because you’re living it. But what you’re not ready for, what I think no returned missionary ever tells you, what maybe our parents and our leaders in the church maybe neglect to tell us some times, is that missionary work is hard. It’s not an amazing experience every second. You can’t just turn the page and have the next plot point jump out at you and give you that jolt of adrenaline. Some days you end up walking and sweating a lot, some days you can’t contact anybody on the street because the rain and the wind is too hard for anyone to hear, sometimes your investigators don’t receive a miraculous answer to their prayers, or aren’t super excited about the message you have. For surely a mission has many great experiences contrary to this, but I believe most of those experiences are bookmarked by a little suffering or a lot of patience.
Isn’t this the way all stories are, though? Every movie, game, book does what it can to remove the mundanities of life, and if it does include any, it’s only for a short time to allow the next huge event to be greater in comparison. It’s orchestrated. It gives the rewards while guarding the pain. That’s why we like stories. A story is just real life without the duller parts.
And so I think I needed some time to realize this truth on the mission. What this meant though, was that I did not have the hunger for a story to drive my service. Why keep working when there was no story to enjoy in the future? It wasn’t enough. And of course it wasn’t enough! Frodo didn’t accept the ring because he wanted a good adventure! I don’t think any true hero had a good story or a good adventure as their reason for embarking! It would be like a plant watering itself! I spent a lot of time thinking about this, about how I had run out of the gas fueled by the need for an adventure. After I had concluded this thought, I felt completely lost. How did others do it? Where did they find the desire? I especially searched the missionaries of the scriptures, and I found a scripture I had heard of before but never really wanted to understand:
“Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.” Mosiah 28:3
There! Desire! A scripture solely about what I wanted to find! Desire! Especially about desire to do missionary work! This is how they did it, this is why!
And I thought about it. Why did they feel like this, anyway? I thought about the people in my area. Sure, I wanted them to accept the gospel, and I knew it could make them happier, but for certain I didn’t feel any reason to quake and tremble! Many of the people here are very happy, and have a very nice existence already! They could be a bit happier through the gospel, but not by much, right? And many people outside of the church even still seemed happier than a couple of the member families we had visited. What is the point? And why is it that souls here could endure endless torment? That doesn’t make sense right? That’s why we have the spirit world: so that everyone will eventually learn about the gospel anyway, and have their chance. Why teach people here anyway? They’ll have their chance!
So I remembered this scripture: “This life is the time for men to prepare to meet God … if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.” Alma 34:32-33
Ah, so for some reason my view of the spirit world was skewed. It wasn’t an escape hatch. It’s something else that I’m still trying to research. But for my purposes, it was enough to know that we can’t rely on any second chances.
And with this knowledge, I hoped and I tried to imagine each person on the street and how much they needed the gospel, because otherwise they would endure endless torment. Hmm… I know this sounds cruel, but for some reason that didn’t help. Even with the knowledge I was still found lacking a desire. It seemed too big, too hopeless. After the fifth person you meet on the street, the fifth person who you remind yourself will have endless torment unless they accept the gospel, you just don’t want to encourage that kind of guilt and responsibility any more. The fuel worked but it might’ve been too strong for the engine to take for a long while.
I knew that the desire would have to come from love. Not desperation. Of course it was love and charity that kept us working so hard through the difficult times to reach one soul for the light. But even encouraging desperation in myself didn’t work. How? How to get this love?
I ran across this scripture:
“My beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ; that ye may become the sons of God;” Moroni 7:48
Is it really that simple? I felt somewhat stupid for not turning to prayer here. Elder Losee played the song “Did you think to pray?” on his iPod a bit later and I felt stupid. What I had learned from this scripture was that I needed to “pray with all the energy of heart” Now I hadn’t done that before!
It was a bit difficult to get to the point where I could do that, but I did it. And it totally worked. There’s been two days where I haven’t done this in the morning, and it’s been completely different. Cool huh?
Actually, I got to go but I will return soon and email more!
More actual practical details about my week in an hour or so!
Elder C
12-8-2009 Opa!
So after being rushed off of the computer yesterday to go bowling, and after an hour of typing up a letter about my week this morning, my email was not working, and all of the missionaries here couldnt send e-mails. LAME! Fortunately we have a couple minutes now, but need to hurry up.
Mom! I absolutely loved your letter and have read it four times already. Mom, I love you so much. I wouldnt be anywhere without you. Thank you so much. I had to keep myself from tearing up this morning because I needed your message so bad. I know I have what I need to continue working hard here, and I have the Lord on my side. However, even after I wrote that letter yesterday, I woke up a little blue. I think I’m through analyzing it: it’s just homesickness and it will pass. I’m praying that it does. It will.
But Mom, the Relief Society Christmas Program sounds like it was awesome! Good job! That was a big project! And it was a success! Para bens (Congrats)! I am also ever so jealous of your white out, because it’s either rainy and humid or super hot and humid here. Yes, the weather has been a bit crazy! Many other places in the mission have been completely flooded, leaving some missionaries dislocated! Crazy huh? Luckily Passo Fundo is in the hills, and has come away unscratched. Very lucky.
So I saw Elder Losee off this morning. It was a bit more difficult than I thought. We shed some tears, and I’m still working out in my head how it all went and what to think about our transfer together. I love him a lot: he’s a friendly, funny, nice guy, and very spiritual. We had a lot of good memories together and I learned a lot from being his companion, and I miss him.
My new companion is Elder Duarte! He was Elder Barker’s trainer, who was my roomate in the CTM. He was in the nieghboring area and now he’s in Boqueirao! He’s a really funny, cheerful, energetic guy, and he’s Brazilian! So I hope I get pretty far with the Portuguese this transfer. This is his last transfer, which means in missionary slang that I’ll get to “kill” him (be there when he leaves). Cool huh? I’m excited to work with him, but I’m also a little worried because Elder Barker told me alot about how he’s really "trunky" (missing home) and talks about home a lot and that would be the worst thing for me now I think. So I’ll talk to him about that. Won’t be a problem I’m sure.
Anyway, this week was very good, like I said. We did a lot of good work. We got 8 investigators to church this last Sunday, which Elder Losee said was a huge accomplishment! Seven of them are of a family of Isabel, her two daughters Juliana and Joselia, who have 5 kids together in their seperate families. And they are all interested in the church! They seemed to like it (testimony meeting) and their oldest daughter, Jessica, who is 12, went to a young women’s sleepover the other night, so we’re hoping very much that this all works out!
We also had a funny moment last week where we weren’t carrying an umbrella, were very far from our house, when suddenly a freak storm started, and there was the hardest wind I had ever been in. We got completely soaked, and it ruined our planners and one Livro de Mormon, but all else was good. After a while of trying to get out of the rain we were just completely laughing at eachother and having fun in the rain because it wasn’t possible to get any more wet. It was fun.
Mom, thank you again so much for the letter and the photos. I love you and miss you so much, and your letter helped me a lot and I’m sure will help me a lot in the future. I can’t wait to talk to you on Christmas! It will be so weird! I can’t even imagine it! Also I can’t wait to get your package! It should be coming with some new elders that are being transfered here this night. I promise only to open it on Christmas morning :).
As for your questions, we only go grocery shopping every so often, and I really haven’t had good budgeting skills. I need to be better. I iron, wash, and hang up to dry my clothes almost every day. I know how to shine my shoes... I know this seems impossible but my level of cleanliness is actually quite formidable compared to a lot of people here. You’ve taught me well I think! I love you mom! Good luck on your future responsibilities!
Dad, thank you again for your letter, encouragement, and testimony. They have also really helped me. I know I’lll be able to weather this storm and get through it stronger. It’ll only make the mission that much more worth serving. I love you so much and think about you and the things you have taught me daily. Keep up the good work on the business! I will talk to Gilmar if I see him okay? Thank you so much my dad. Have a good week!
Lynsey, thanks so much for your letter! I loved it! I know you’re probably done with it already, but good luck on your (next) performance! I can’t wait to see how much you’ve improved when I return! I’ve told quite a few people here about my talented musician sister and they’re all very impressed! Maybe I could get some pictures of you drummin it up? Maybe that one in the hallway that you like so much? ;) Also, good luck on your finales! Study and work hard without stopping until the vacation! It is so possible to reach your goals in your class, especially if you pray before you start to study or do homework. And then you can enjoy vacation any more! I can’t wait to talk to you Lyns!
Kaitlin! I love you so much my lil sis! I am so proud of you and your award for the Best Linguist in our ward! Good work! You did it! I think you are so smart and you are so good at learning languages! I can’t wait to teach you some Portuguese when I get back. How about I start now? “Eu te amo!” (Ayoh tchee ahmoe!) this means “I love you”! Eu means “I”, te means “you”, amo means “love”. But it’s funny because they say it here, “I you love!” instead of “I love you!” it backwards! Funny huh? Kaitlin, also good job on the hike on Thanksgiving break! You are tough! I can’t believe you climbed that mountain! I hope you had a fun time with your cousins, and that you’ll have a great Christmas and Santa will bring you many awesome toys! I can’t wait to talk to you my Kate! I am so excited!
Brendon! Hey buddy! How are you? Still going hard? I loved that summer we went to all those waterparks, but Lagoon was awesome to. Hahaha! Good memories. How about the week we played Halo all the way through with eachother after Christmas? This happens to be on my mind because I just downloaded the Halo ODST soundtrack. Ask your companion how to download free music because all the Brazilians do it here and you can find so much music for free! Unfortunately you have to fix your iPod so it doesnt have to be synchronized to one iTunes account. I don’t know how to do this without erasing all of your music. And I accidentally did just that. I am still a little sad for the few tracks that I don’t have anymore, and I can’t find them for free here. So judge for yourself whether it’s worth it. The ODST soundtrack is really good but it’s not worth erasing all of your other music for, let me tell you. I want to know, how do you guys do on contacting and teaching every day. Give me a rough estimate for your numbers? Some days Elder Losee and I don’t even contact anyone. I will change that. But it’s been hard trying to do it myself. Very low standards here compared to "Law of the Harvest", and it’s been grating on me that I can’t pull myself together and make it happen. It’s hard to do when your a junior and your senior is a bit incredulous that 50 people can be contacted in a day. Oh well, it’ll happen. I love you bro! Baptize it up!
My family! Until next week!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
December 1, 2009 - Letter Home
Barbarédade Tche!
(That is a gaucho way of expressing incredible excitement)
Another week come and gone! And last week of transfers is here! That means that I’ll probably have another companion before next P-day. Weird!
The big news of this week: On Saturday I had my first baptism! Hurray! Finally! Alan (10) and Jomerson (13) are two brothers of a recent convert, Herendina, and I actually met them my second day here in Passo Fundo!
"Familia Baptizmal"
They live with their mom and step-dad, who can’t get baptized because of a stalled divorce. They’re a bit on the poorer side. I really love them, and I feel like they’re my little brothers.
"My boys!"
We’re always laughing and joking around. They both have such great spirits, in different ways. Alan is super bright and quick and excited about the gospel and is always excited to give prayer or try to answer questions. I got to baptize Jomerson, his older brother. Jomerson is a bit slower, and therefore is always looking to Alan to know what to do. All through the lessons we would see Alan explaining to Jomerson what we had just taught, and Alan really got Jomerson excited to be baptized. Their baptisms were so awesome! They were so excited getting into the baptismal clothes and taking pictures, and really loved being the center of all the attention at the church. The hot water heater was broken, and I told them that it was just like my baptism with my brother, which they liked hearing. I baptized Jomerson first, and after Jomerson came out of the water, he was just laughing and smiling until after Alan was baptized. I really didn’t understand much of what they said to eachother afterwards, but I did recogonize Jomerson saying, “That was really cool, wasn’t it?” Lots of happy faces and I feel privileged to be a part of it. So worth it.
Today the whole zone got together and played futbol for 3 hours, and then went on a cool hike around a cool crater lake. It was very nice.
So that was awesome, but man guys, I really don’t want to worry you, but it’s still been somewhat of a hard week. I really don’t know why. I think I am definitely being tested now that I think about it. Rain rain rain, lots of walking, the two families that we spent a majority of every day teaching for the first three weeks here finally were cut from our list… A few instances of seemingly friendly and interested investigators completely turn around and want no more of us. It can’t be just that, because we’ve had a lot of great moments also. We could have a lot of baptisms in the future with the investigators we have now, and every day there has been something extraordinary that has saved it from being a waste, but… Man, I don’t know what it is still. I made a promise to not continue thinking of the vacations and family and media I’ll see after the mission, which has helped but it’s also leaving a gap. There’s something missing right now I just can’t put my finger on. I keep wishing I had some time just to sit down and think, but even on our P-days my entire zone gets together and plays soccer for the majority of the day and we are always racing to get back home in time for appointments. Not any time to sit down and figure out why exactly I’m feeling like this. Hmm… Don’t you guys worry, the Lord will give me an answer. I’m still praying. I did a fast. Studying every day. I could do more, I guess. I will. I need to get this behind me!
So sweet to hear about Thanksgiving! Man, our Thanksgivings were awesome. So glad you guys had such a great time! I was so lucky to have somewhat of a Thanksgiving feast at a member’s house who served us hotdogs and pancakes, the food of America! Haha! Was funny. Very good, though. I miss my family, and my family reunions, and riding the dunes, and watching movies. So much to do in 21 months! It will come fast enough. This time is very worth it. I’ve already learned so much.
Dad, I told the EQP of Lagoa Vermelha, another city, about you getting called. I talked to him last Wednesday. He wants to talk to you! Write him a letter, translate it into Portuguese via Google Translate, and send him one. I have no idea how he expects to communicate with you, and he doesn’t have a computer so you’ll need to write him or call him. I’m just going to do my part and transmit the message he had for you, and you can decide what to do with the info. :) – “My name is Gilmar , I am the president of the quorum of Elders of the Lagoa Vermelho Branch, Brazil. Your son was in my house and I was very happy to have him! If you want to talk, my cellphone number is ------, my phone number is ------. My address is -------, Lagoa Vermelha, R.S. Brasil.”
I haven’t seen him since because he’s not in my área, I was on divisions. Interesting!
Mom, thank you so much for all of the news! Congrats on riding the 450s! Oh how I wish I were with you! Mom, you are my link to the world. Thank you so much for taking care of me. I’m so excited for my package! It should get here in a week, with transfers, my trainer said! Sweet! Thanks again for the baptismal pictures, I showed them to Alan and Jomerson.
If you can figure it out, I have a Christmas list! All music! If you can figure out how to buy them online and then zip them up and e-mail them to me, I can listen to them! Cool! Also, I have a bunch of music on my iTunes that I like, that I could actually listen to hear. The rules are much less stringent than I had thought. Listen to some, and if it’s not too intense or romantic or silly, send it over! I am going to try to see if I can buy songs through iTunes here, which would also make things easier.
Mom, I love you.
Lynsey, Kaitlin! Thank you again for your letters last week! I read them 4 more times through the week! I love you so much and hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving! Enjoy returning to school for a short time before Christmas! I can’t wait to talk to you!
Dad, I know you wanted me to write a long letter… But I’m afraid my time is up. Very very sorry. We had to hurry up this time because we did a lot of extra things this P-day. I love you all very much, and I promise a very detailed and upbeat letter next week!
Dad, good luck in your calling! I’m thinking of you a lot. I can’t wait to talk to you also. Praying always!
Brendon: You big fat whale! Hey brotha! So excited about your baptisms! I love you bro. Great letters. Tell me about any good strategies and stuff that you’re using. The questions in the front of the BoM is really helping here, now that we’ve figured out how to manufacture them en mass. Also the Livro Lend program is going, but I don’t really know if it’s working that well. Mostly because it’s hard for me to explain it in Portuguese. Anyway, love you bro. Stay cool!
Elder Losee and I are going to leave in a couple of minutes, get haircuts, go eat somewhere, and then hit the streets. Another P-day bites the dust! Cool cool! Did you like the photos? Any questions?
(...a few minutes later, another email comes in.....)
Hey mom! Still here. I was experimenting with iTunes here. Unfortunately I think I may have accidentally erased everything I have on my iPod here. Hah! Very funny. So... Maybe you could send me CDs slowly over the next couple months of all of my music on my iTunes. Maybe we can do something else? I'll figure it out.
Mom, I love you. Thank you for the e-mail today. Sorry I didn't have more to say. Your letters really helped me feel good, thank you!
Your dear (clumsy) son,
Con
(That is a gaucho way of expressing incredible excitement)
Another week come and gone! And last week of transfers is here! That means that I’ll probably have another companion before next P-day. Weird!
The big news of this week: On Saturday I had my first baptism! Hurray! Finally! Alan (10) and Jomerson (13) are two brothers of a recent convert, Herendina, and I actually met them my second day here in Passo Fundo!
They live with their mom and step-dad, who can’t get baptized because of a stalled divorce. They’re a bit on the poorer side. I really love them, and I feel like they’re my little brothers.
We’re always laughing and joking around. They both have such great spirits, in different ways. Alan is super bright and quick and excited about the gospel and is always excited to give prayer or try to answer questions. I got to baptize Jomerson, his older brother. Jomerson is a bit slower, and therefore is always looking to Alan to know what to do. All through the lessons we would see Alan explaining to Jomerson what we had just taught, and Alan really got Jomerson excited to be baptized. Their baptisms were so awesome! They were so excited getting into the baptismal clothes and taking pictures, and really loved being the center of all the attention at the church. The hot water heater was broken, and I told them that it was just like my baptism with my brother, which they liked hearing. I baptized Jomerson first, and after Jomerson came out of the water, he was just laughing and smiling until after Alan was baptized. I really didn’t understand much of what they said to eachother afterwards, but I did recogonize Jomerson saying, “That was really cool, wasn’t it?” Lots of happy faces and I feel privileged to be a part of it. So worth it.
Today the whole zone got together and played futbol for 3 hours, and then went on a cool hike around a cool crater lake. It was very nice.
So that was awesome, but man guys, I really don’t want to worry you, but it’s still been somewhat of a hard week. I really don’t know why. I think I am definitely being tested now that I think about it. Rain rain rain, lots of walking, the two families that we spent a majority of every day teaching for the first three weeks here finally were cut from our list… A few instances of seemingly friendly and interested investigators completely turn around and want no more of us. It can’t be just that, because we’ve had a lot of great moments also. We could have a lot of baptisms in the future with the investigators we have now, and every day there has been something extraordinary that has saved it from being a waste, but… Man, I don’t know what it is still. I made a promise to not continue thinking of the vacations and family and media I’ll see after the mission, which has helped but it’s also leaving a gap. There’s something missing right now I just can’t put my finger on. I keep wishing I had some time just to sit down and think, but even on our P-days my entire zone gets together and plays soccer for the majority of the day and we are always racing to get back home in time for appointments. Not any time to sit down and figure out why exactly I’m feeling like this. Hmm… Don’t you guys worry, the Lord will give me an answer. I’m still praying. I did a fast. Studying every day. I could do more, I guess. I will. I need to get this behind me!
"One day at a time"
So sweet to hear about Thanksgiving! Man, our Thanksgivings were awesome. So glad you guys had such a great time! I was so lucky to have somewhat of a Thanksgiving feast at a member’s house who served us hotdogs and pancakes, the food of America! Haha! Was funny. Very good, though. I miss my family, and my family reunions, and riding the dunes, and watching movies. So much to do in 21 months! It will come fast enough. This time is very worth it. I’ve already learned so much.
Dad, I told the EQP of Lagoa Vermelha, another city, about you getting called. I talked to him last Wednesday. He wants to talk to you! Write him a letter, translate it into Portuguese via Google Translate, and send him one. I have no idea how he expects to communicate with you, and he doesn’t have a computer so you’ll need to write him or call him. I’m just going to do my part and transmit the message he had for you, and you can decide what to do with the info. :) – “My name is Gilmar , I am the president of the quorum of Elders of the Lagoa Vermelho Branch, Brazil. Your son was in my house and I was very happy to have him! If you want to talk, my cellphone number is ------, my phone number is ------. My address is -------, Lagoa Vermelha, R.S. Brasil.”
I haven’t seen him since because he’s not in my área, I was on divisions. Interesting!
Mom, thank you so much for all of the news! Congrats on riding the 450s! Oh how I wish I were with you! Mom, you are my link to the world. Thank you so much for taking care of me. I’m so excited for my package! It should get here in a week, with transfers, my trainer said! Sweet! Thanks again for the baptismal pictures, I showed them to Alan and Jomerson.
If you can figure it out, I have a Christmas list! All music! If you can figure out how to buy them online and then zip them up and e-mail them to me, I can listen to them! Cool! Also, I have a bunch of music on my iTunes that I like, that I could actually listen to hear. The rules are much less stringent than I had thought. Listen to some, and if it’s not too intense or romantic or silly, send it over! I am going to try to see if I can buy songs through iTunes here, which would also make things easier.
Mom, I love you.
Lynsey, Kaitlin! Thank you again for your letters last week! I read them 4 more times through the week! I love you so much and hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving! Enjoy returning to school for a short time before Christmas! I can’t wait to talk to you!
Dad, I know you wanted me to write a long letter… But I’m afraid my time is up. Very very sorry. We had to hurry up this time because we did a lot of extra things this P-day. I love you all very much, and I promise a very detailed and upbeat letter next week!
Dad, good luck in your calling! I’m thinking of you a lot. I can’t wait to talk to you also. Praying always!
Brendon: You big fat whale! Hey brotha! So excited about your baptisms! I love you bro. Great letters. Tell me about any good strategies and stuff that you’re using. The questions in the front of the BoM is really helping here, now that we’ve figured out how to manufacture them en mass. Also the Livro Lend program is going, but I don’t really know if it’s working that well. Mostly because it’s hard for me to explain it in Portuguese. Anyway, love you bro. Stay cool!
Elder Losee and I are going to leave in a couple of minutes, get haircuts, go eat somewhere, and then hit the streets. Another P-day bites the dust! Cool cool! Did you like the photos? Any questions?
(...a few minutes later, another email comes in.....)
Hey mom! Still here. I was experimenting with iTunes here. Unfortunately I think I may have accidentally erased everything I have on my iPod here. Hah! Very funny. So... Maybe you could send me CDs slowly over the next couple months of all of my music on my iTunes. Maybe we can do something else? I'll figure it out.
Mom, I love you. Thank you for the e-mail today. Sorry I didn't have more to say. Your letters really helped me feel good, thank you!
Your dear (clumsy) son,
Con
"Did I leave California?"
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
November 24, 2009 - Letter Home
Minha família!
Ahhhh. I Just had the best hour in my life, I think, the last month. Wow. I seriously am having a hard time typing because I can feel , literally, the euphoria of being with my family for a little while through your words. Everybody, thank you so very much for all the letters, pictures, mom for the blog... Wow. I really needed that. The other missionaries here said it was okay to go onto my blog and Brendon’s, and I spent a long while going through Brendon’s, and then through mine, remembering every step of the journey so far. I really loved it. Thank you mom.
This week was good. It had rough patches, and I’m still overcoming the homesickness I mentioned last week, but I really feel on the top of the world now, and I’ve been getting better for the last couple of days so I think I have a really good chance getting over it completely this week.
Last Thursday we had zone conference, where all of the companionships in Passo Fundo and the surrounding countryside (16 elders) met together with the Assistants and President Pavan for a six hour meeting and interviews, and an excellent buffet lunch... more on that later. In my interview with the president I was finally able to vent some of my "saudades" and other little problems, and it was so awesome. President Pavan is the man. I love him already. He told me a bunch of advice that seemed to be directed exactly at me, and he talks to you as if you’re the only missionary in the mission. I came out of that meeting beaming, and after he gave an excellent talk on how to have the right attitude in missionary work, on having faith, and on getting along with your companion. Pretty much exactly what I needed to hear. I truly have a testimony that that man hás the keys of the missionary work going on here in Rio Grande do Sol. His wife is also so very wise and friendly and... Actually they really remind me alot of Grandad and Grandma, and I feel close to them already. I feel very blessed to have them as our leaders here.
After this, Elder Losee and I had an excellent... and dare I say a little bit teary-eyed companionship inventory, and I am really getting to love him and like being his companion. This wasnt as easy for me as it was with Elder Feller, and I’m not exactly certain why. I know see that I was actually really lucky to have Elder Feller as a companion, and that I have a much longer way to go on learning how to be with one person for 24 hours a day and stay best friends despite all of our differences. I guess I never described Elder Losee... He’s from Delta, Utah. He’s the second youngest of a nine-person family. His family hás a ranch. He hás a very strong testimony and a very strong desire to be a good missionary, and he’s been doing a good job. He’s been a good trainer, and I’ve learned a lot from him, and a lot from being with him. There have been very specific things that I know Heavenly Father meant us to learn from eachother. It’s been a bit rough in the past, but now it’s good. For surely the advice Presidente had about companionships is inspired because after having a long and heartfelt talk with my companion on what was bothering me and what I could do better and what we could do better, the work just completely raced along like it never hás before. We’ve been getting many new investigators, and been able to teach many lessons, and are becoming more and more confident in approaching strangers on the street. The spirit is flowing and we’ve been more open with eachother about our feelings and are sharing more of our successes and difficulties together. It’s good.
Today was fun. We played futbol for 3 hours at the chapel with 8 other elders, and then had a picnic in the central park of Passo Fundo, and now are in an internet café. I'm sending photos about this. (below) I’m really liking the other people in my zone here. We’re becoming like brothers. Elder Lima especially, the one I’m with in the photo alone, hás been such a good friend here. I love him a lot. He was baptized three years ago, and now is serving a mission. He’s the only one in his family in the church. He’s awesome. I really don’t know how to explain it, but some people you Just really click with, you know, it’s an unexplicable thing. I’m glad I’m getting along with people here. It helps.
I really like making things. I am very proud of the tools I’ve made here to do missionary work. For example, Elder Losee and I have the largest map in the mission here, and it’s because of a dream I had, to make a big map and plaster it over an entire wall. It took a lot of work finding a place to buy a map, finding a place to make that big of a copy, find ing a way to laminate it... But it’s beautiful.
Elder Losee and I colored it, and gave each of the áreas seperate colors and names, for example the south of our área is comprised of “a selva, os morros, o vale” ( the jungle, hills, valley). There’s 11 seperate áreas. Then we gave the map a huge title over the top “The Kingdom of Boqueriao!” (our ward), and signed our names. It’s great. Then, at the end of every night we take stickers, and write the names of the people we met throughout the day, and mark them on the map. Then, when we plan for the next day, we can easily visualize our route through Passo Fundo, and make sure we’re not missing anyone. It’s helped A BUNCH with our planning, because before that we just tried to remember who was where. I liked making it. I think I’ll make one in each one of my áreas.
I also made a paper to be placed in the front of Books of Mórmon, with page references for special scriptures and answers for important questions about life. We have 40 Books of Mórmon now with that page in the front, and it hás been helping in our contacting a lot. I made two different visuals for teaching lessons, and a chart for helping investigators know how to pray, and I made a really cool box to hold Books of Mórmons in my backpack without making the covers get bent. It’s fun to make stuff and then get to use them. That probably sounded really boring, I know, but I’m proud of it. :)
I’m waking up at 5:30 every Day now ( a full hour before we are required to). I really like reading the Book of Mórmon by flashlight. The other night I was reading about Nephi on the ship when he was bound by his brothers, and one of the most intense storms I’ve seen was going on in the background. Lightning flashes and thunder constantly, the wind loud and battering the walls, and me alone in my living room reading by flashlight about the same thing happening to Laman and Lemuel on the seas.
Was cool.
I set a goal before I arrived in the Field that I would be fluent in two months into the Field, in time for Christmas. It still looks doubtful that I’ll be able, but I have faith, and am putting forth the effort required, I think. I would really love to just have na experience like in the movie "The Other Side of Heaven", where that guy just wakes up and starts speaking Tongan. It Will happen. :)
This week two funny things happened. Yesterday we were returning home, and both of us were, in Brazilian terms “very close”. Meaning we needed to go to the bathroom. And we were way far from our house. So we see this old abandoned building a little bit off from the Road. We decided that would be enough cover to do our business. But it was dark, and the closer we got the more we didn't want to go in. But we did anyway, because our need was great. After finishing, I went a bit further into the house, and after looking around a corner, jumped in the air, shouted, and started for the door. Elder Losee screamed and darted out and was halfway down the street before I started laughing and told him it was a joke. I felt a little bad afterward because I don’t think I realized that he wasn’t quite finished yet, and I messed him up. It was the end of the day and he needed to wash some other clothes and it was funny enough so there were no hard feelings, but man I still can’t hold back a chuckle when thinking about his reaction. That was a bit mean, I know, but funny.
I miss the dunes, Dad. I really wish I was there with you. It seems like a world away. And I totally forgot about Thanksgiving! IT completely left my mind! Wow. I hope you guys have a super fun week with the family. Dad, I will answer your questions next week, sorry for not getting to them. I know I talked about a bunch of less interesting things, but I spent so much time reading that I didnt leave enough for writing. I know you will probably read this to the family there in Arizona, and I’m sorry that this wasn’t as big of a deal as it should have been. However, I love you, and I am again SOOO thankful for your letters. I feel %200 better now, thank you so much. I especially liked hearing about the news about being EQ president, and I am so proud of you dad. Again, I am probably talking about you at least 3 times a Day here, and it is a story that always brings the spirit to the families here. I can testify of the power of the scriptures to change our lives and families because of you. We have a lot of good times ahead, I feel.
Unfortunately, I really need to go. Mom. My mom! Thank you so much for the letters and for making the packages. I am excited! I love you Mom. You are with me here.
Sisters, I pray for you muchly, and thank you so much my sisters for your letters. You have no Idea how much I cherish them. You really lift me up here. Have fun with cousins!
Brendon, I got to go, but I loved hearing about your baptisms and other stories on your blog. Wish I could comment more, but - Remember going to the theatres, you and me, empty parking lot, driving around crazy and listening to sweet tunes and the cool air in your face? The movies were usually horrible, but being with you was awesome. "Blood Diamond", "Silent Hill", "1408", "The Mist", "Cloverfield", "Hot Fuzz".... others. Love you man. Thinking about you lots. Oh yeah, and I just heard from my other companions that we can send e-mail directly to one another, and we can do the same for all e-mail addresses of immediate family. Do this! Because apparently I missed a lot of the stuff you've sent!
Other family, wish I was there! Love you and think about you much!
Have a good week all! Love love love!
Elder Con
Ahhhh. I Just had the best hour in my life, I think, the last month. Wow. I seriously am having a hard time typing because I can feel , literally, the euphoria of being with my family for a little while through your words. Everybody, thank you so very much for all the letters, pictures, mom for the blog... Wow. I really needed that. The other missionaries here said it was okay to go onto my blog and Brendon’s, and I spent a long while going through Brendon’s, and then through mine, remembering every step of the journey so far. I really loved it. Thank you mom.
This week was good. It had rough patches, and I’m still overcoming the homesickness I mentioned last week, but I really feel on the top of the world now, and I’ve been getting better for the last couple of days so I think I have a really good chance getting over it completely this week.
Last Thursday we had zone conference, where all of the companionships in Passo Fundo and the surrounding countryside (16 elders) met together with the Assistants and President Pavan for a six hour meeting and interviews, and an excellent buffet lunch... more on that later. In my interview with the president I was finally able to vent some of my "saudades" and other little problems, and it was so awesome. President Pavan is the man. I love him already. He told me a bunch of advice that seemed to be directed exactly at me, and he talks to you as if you’re the only missionary in the mission. I came out of that meeting beaming, and after he gave an excellent talk on how to have the right attitude in missionary work, on having faith, and on getting along with your companion. Pretty much exactly what I needed to hear. I truly have a testimony that that man hás the keys of the missionary work going on here in Rio Grande do Sol. His wife is also so very wise and friendly and... Actually they really remind me alot of Grandad and Grandma, and I feel close to them already. I feel very blessed to have them as our leaders here.
After this, Elder Losee and I had an excellent... and dare I say a little bit teary-eyed companionship inventory, and I am really getting to love him and like being his companion. This wasnt as easy for me as it was with Elder Feller, and I’m not exactly certain why. I know see that I was actually really lucky to have Elder Feller as a companion, and that I have a much longer way to go on learning how to be with one person for 24 hours a day and stay best friends despite all of our differences. I guess I never described Elder Losee... He’s from Delta, Utah. He’s the second youngest of a nine-person family. His family hás a ranch. He hás a very strong testimony and a very strong desire to be a good missionary, and he’s been doing a good job. He’s been a good trainer, and I’ve learned a lot from him, and a lot from being with him. There have been very specific things that I know Heavenly Father meant us to learn from eachother. It’s been a bit rough in the past, but now it’s good. For surely the advice Presidente had about companionships is inspired because after having a long and heartfelt talk with my companion on what was bothering me and what I could do better and what we could do better, the work just completely raced along like it never hás before. We’ve been getting many new investigators, and been able to teach many lessons, and are becoming more and more confident in approaching strangers on the street. The spirit is flowing and we’ve been more open with eachother about our feelings and are sharing more of our successes and difficulties together. It’s good.
I really like making things. I am very proud of the tools I’ve made here to do missionary work. For example, Elder Losee and I have the largest map in the mission here, and it’s because of a dream I had, to make a big map and plaster it over an entire wall. It took a lot of work finding a place to buy a map, finding a place to make that big of a copy, find ing a way to laminate it... But it’s beautiful.
Elder Losee and I colored it, and gave each of the áreas seperate colors and names, for example the south of our área is comprised of “a selva, os morros, o vale” ( the jungle, hills, valley). There’s 11 seperate áreas. Then we gave the map a huge title over the top “The Kingdom of Boqueriao!” (our ward), and signed our names. It’s great. Then, at the end of every night we take stickers, and write the names of the people we met throughout the day, and mark them on the map. Then, when we plan for the next day, we can easily visualize our route through Passo Fundo, and make sure we’re not missing anyone. It’s helped A BUNCH with our planning, because before that we just tried to remember who was where. I liked making it. I think I’ll make one in each one of my áreas.
I also made a paper to be placed in the front of Books of Mórmon, with page references for special scriptures and answers for important questions about life. We have 40 Books of Mórmon now with that page in the front, and it hás been helping in our contacting a lot. I made two different visuals for teaching lessons, and a chart for helping investigators know how to pray, and I made a really cool box to hold Books of Mórmons in my backpack without making the covers get bent. It’s fun to make stuff and then get to use them. That probably sounded really boring, I know, but I’m proud of it. :)
I’m waking up at 5:30 every Day now ( a full hour before we are required to). I really like reading the Book of Mórmon by flashlight. The other night I was reading about Nephi on the ship when he was bound by his brothers, and one of the most intense storms I’ve seen was going on in the background. Lightning flashes and thunder constantly, the wind loud and battering the walls, and me alone in my living room reading by flashlight about the same thing happening to Laman and Lemuel on the seas.
Was cool.
I set a goal before I arrived in the Field that I would be fluent in two months into the Field, in time for Christmas. It still looks doubtful that I’ll be able, but I have faith, and am putting forth the effort required, I think. I would really love to just have na experience like in the movie "The Other Side of Heaven", where that guy just wakes up and starts speaking Tongan. It Will happen. :)
This week two funny things happened. Yesterday we were returning home, and both of us were, in Brazilian terms “very close”. Meaning we needed to go to the bathroom. And we were way far from our house. So we see this old abandoned building a little bit off from the Road. We decided that would be enough cover to do our business. But it was dark, and the closer we got the more we didn't want to go in. But we did anyway, because our need was great. After finishing, I went a bit further into the house, and after looking around a corner, jumped in the air, shouted, and started for the door. Elder Losee screamed and darted out and was halfway down the street before I started laughing and told him it was a joke. I felt a little bad afterward because I don’t think I realized that he wasn’t quite finished yet, and I messed him up. It was the end of the day and he needed to wash some other clothes and it was funny enough so there were no hard feelings, but man I still can’t hold back a chuckle when thinking about his reaction. That was a bit mean, I know, but funny.
I miss the dunes, Dad. I really wish I was there with you. It seems like a world away. And I totally forgot about Thanksgiving! IT completely left my mind! Wow. I hope you guys have a super fun week with the family. Dad, I will answer your questions next week, sorry for not getting to them. I know I talked about a bunch of less interesting things, but I spent so much time reading that I didnt leave enough for writing. I know you will probably read this to the family there in Arizona, and I’m sorry that this wasn’t as big of a deal as it should have been. However, I love you, and I am again SOOO thankful for your letters. I feel %200 better now, thank you so much. I especially liked hearing about the news about being EQ president, and I am so proud of you dad. Again, I am probably talking about you at least 3 times a Day here, and it is a story that always brings the spirit to the families here. I can testify of the power of the scriptures to change our lives and families because of you. We have a lot of good times ahead, I feel.
Unfortunately, I really need to go. Mom. My mom! Thank you so much for the letters and for making the packages. I am excited! I love you Mom. You are with me here.
Sisters, I pray for you muchly, and thank you so much my sisters for your letters. You have no Idea how much I cherish them. You really lift me up here. Have fun with cousins!
Brendon, I got to go, but I loved hearing about your baptisms and other stories on your blog. Wish I could comment more, but - Remember going to the theatres, you and me, empty parking lot, driving around crazy and listening to sweet tunes and the cool air in your face? The movies were usually horrible, but being with you was awesome. "Blood Diamond", "Silent Hill", "1408", "The Mist", "Cloverfield", "Hot Fuzz".... others. Love you man. Thinking about you lots. Oh yeah, and I just heard from my other companions that we can send e-mail directly to one another, and we can do the same for all e-mail addresses of immediate family. Do this! Because apparently I missed a lot of the stuff you've sent!
Other family, wish I was there! Love you and think about you much!
Have a good week all! Love love love!
Elder Con
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
November 17, 2009 - Letter Home
Time to Cowboy Up!
My family! Hello! Another week here in Passo Fundo. In three days I’ll have been in the field for a month! The CTM, my pré-mission life, is already becoming more and more like a dream. Weird.
Shining my Shoes... Thanks Dad for the shoeshine kit!
So today I opened up my inbox expecting a bunch of e-mails, but there were none. Usually President Pavan and the Assistants send us mail every week, and there were none from them either. So I’m pretty sure my inbox was full and all of your e-mails were returned. I’m sure that was fairly frustrating for you! I’m sorry about that. I’ve emptied my mail and that shouldn’t happen again.
However, for some reason I’m thinking it’s a good thing I didn’t get anything from you guys this week. I’ll tell ya why. I can’t really start a summary about this week without mentioning... wow, it’s probably been my hardest week out here yet. If I let myself think about it I could have probably reasoned how it’s been the hardest week of my life, but I’m still holding on to enough hope to not let myself drift that far out.
Why was it the hardest week?
I’m really not that sure. You could say it was because a majority of our appointments and investigators have fallen through, leaving us to start from scratch. You could say it was because of the constant rain, wind, and overcast sky. You could bring up our lunch appointment on Friday with Jean and Tina, who showed us vídeos and pictures of their brother, Igor, returning from his mission, smiling from ear to ear and crying and hugging his whole family, and then they got on Google Earth to look at my home from sattelite, 9000 miles away, and then they got on YouTube to look at my Missionary Call vídeo on YouTube, complete with vídeo of my family. And after showing us all this, they sent us back into the rain.
It wasn’t quite any of those things that made it the worst. I’m pretty sure it’s just the natural reaction of a missionary only three weeks into the field. I’m right on the timetable of having the realization that my family is so far away, and will remain that way for a very long time yet. I didn’t really think it could happen to me. But it hás.
I only mention these things because
1. it’s somewhat cathartic
2. mom, I’m pretty sure you told me to tell you the truth about what I’ve been going through. If any homesickness rubs off on you guys, sorry about that. I know the natural reaction to the letter might be to send a bunch of reassurance, and that might be nice, but I actually think it’s good that I’m going through this, and maybe this should be a moment where I break out of the cocoon by myself. Difficulty is just nature’s way of making us stronger. ;)
I’m fairly sure that as soon as I get over this, I’ll finally start to feel like I real missionary. I’m still feeling a bit blue, but I’m loving the idea that I’ll be able to overcome this, and be stronger because of it. Some things happened this week and there’s probably a lot of details I should be telling you, but I feel like I’d be doing them more justice by waiting until next week. I hope that’s okay?
Grandma Imogene: Thank you so much for the letter! I got it! I loved it. It really helped me. It was all raining and blowing as I returned to my house, and I checked the mailbox and something was actually there! Wow! I love you so much Grandma, and I’m very lonesome for you tôo. Thank you for the counsel. You stay healthy and take care of my family okay? They need you.
Dad: Hey! How are you? What stage of work are you on now? Still developing ideas, still programming, testing, marketing, trying to sell? I really loved the idea and I want to know how it’s going. Liking your office? The view? Staying cooped up in the house still? Gotten out to do anything fun? I miss ya man. Just want to let you know that I pretty much talk about you every day. There’s been a couple of families that I know have been really touched by our example of how we were able to come together by coming closer to the word of God. I love you man. Be strong.
Mom: Hello! What have you been doing recently? Do you mow the lawn? If so, I suggest you trying listening to some podcasts while you do so. When I looked at Google Earth the other day I saw mainly our lawn, and that’s what I thought about: you mowing the whole thing. Wish we could do that for you. How’s your calling going? Are the plans for the holidays still to visit family? That will be awesome. We have to organize some party for when I call home for Christmas. Should it be a big thing, or a small thing? I’ll only have an hour so it might be better if there’s no other distractions. Just talking to my fam. I am so very excitied to talk to you guys. I love you so much, Mom. I couldn’t be out here without all that you’ve done for me. We’re out here preaching about how our families can be happier and more united through the gospel, and you have been that example of how much of a difference a good parent can make in the world. For my world, it’s been everything. Oh yeah, and I’m serious mom, we are visiting Passo Fundo. Even if it’s for a train ride and a short stop to see some friends with you guys. You would absolutely fall in love with the countryside, I know it. I always think of you when I see any pretty sunset or view. :)
P.S. Please please send my letters to Brendon and vice versa. There’s absolutely no possible reason I’d want otherwise. I need to hear from my brother! Thanks mom. And P.S.S. baptism photo. P.S.S. and more photos o four family, vídeos, music. Just put it in a .zip file it should be fine. P.S.S.S. pictures from brendon in his mission would be cool tôo.
Lynsey: Hi! My sister! I thought your Halloween costume was hilarious. Thank you again for your letter a couple days back. I went to read it again this week and really enjoyed it. Doing anything new? I know you’re usually busy but I’m so glad that you have been there in the family. You are a very important glue in our family. I know school and life during high school can sometimes feel just like monotony, but I hope you can realize the excitement and adventures and opportunity just waiting in every day for you. Be impulsive, live life, keep an eternal perspective, and love everything that comes no matter what! I love you sis.
Kaitlin: Hey my little Kate! How are you? Doing anything different? Any cool new movies you’ve seen? Doing anything cool with the family? How is school? Any projects or interesting things? Still learning a language? You need to do it every day so that when we get back we can go travel the world together! Again, your Halloween costume was so great! I know you would totally love a lot of the other girls here in our ward in Boquierao! They are all really funny and cute, with cute little Portuguese voices. After I come back we can visit here together and you can meet some of them! Cool huh? I love you a lot Kate! I’m actually here, 9000 miles away! You have a brother! I can’t wait to see you my sweet sis! It will be so fun! I love you! Keep reading your scriptures!
Brendon: Hey man! Wow, I’ve wanted to talk to you so bad for the last couple of days. It was really funny when we looked up your área on Google Earth here. Haha! You’re in a desert! It’s completely different from my área. I’m sorry man. Fortunately, everyone here says that Jauzeiro is the only place there that is that much of a wastleland, and that the rest is actually fairly nice. I think about you a lot and how your coping with everything. It’s been pretty hard for me recently, but it’s been nice to know that I’m not alone in this. I haven’t received any letters from you except for your first week, so remind mom to pass on your letters! I hope you get this letter. On my companion’s iPod he hás the song, “Return to Innocence” and I always think of you when I listen to that song. Especially the words “believe in destiny”. Still believing? It’s been getting somewhat harder recently to keep that vision, but I have hope. One of these days it’ll come back into focus. Probably when I get my first baptism. That’d be cool. This week I did something pretty cool, pretty Biblical, and it reminded me what a mission was. We saw this guy sitting in his house and I decided to talk to him, even though we usually just talk to people walking on the street. He was very excited to see us and asked us if we could give him a blessing for his legs, because he had been in a car accident recently and never went to the doctor and was pretty much trying to heal his broken legs by himself. So we gave him a blessing. Then we gave him a lesson where I was totally feeling the Spirit, and he was talking about how he was depressed and was so glad that we had showed up, and when we left he walked out the door with us and said that his legs were already getting better! Wow! I felt like I had stepped into the scriptures for a couple seconds. It’s funny because all the missionary stories in the scriptures just talk about all of their successes, while all their day-to-day activities and rejections I think were just not gone into detail as much. It’s cool to know that cool stuff like that is possible. I’m very grateful for that experience which was given to me. Anyway buddy, I’m there with ya. Anyway, fique forte! Be the wizard, Brendon. Love ya!
All others: Love you! Talk to you next week. Again, a reminder that excessive reassurance is not necessary. I need to get through this by myself. And I’ll be fine! I’ve got the Lord.
Love love love!
Elder Con
My family! Hello! Another week here in Passo Fundo. In three days I’ll have been in the field for a month! The CTM, my pré-mission life, is already becoming more and more like a dream. Weird.
So today I opened up my inbox expecting a bunch of e-mails, but there were none. Usually President Pavan and the Assistants send us mail every week, and there were none from them either. So I’m pretty sure my inbox was full and all of your e-mails were returned. I’m sure that was fairly frustrating for you! I’m sorry about that. I’ve emptied my mail and that shouldn’t happen again.
However, for some reason I’m thinking it’s a good thing I didn’t get anything from you guys this week. I’ll tell ya why. I can’t really start a summary about this week without mentioning... wow, it’s probably been my hardest week out here yet. If I let myself think about it I could have probably reasoned how it’s been the hardest week of my life, but I’m still holding on to enough hope to not let myself drift that far out.
Why was it the hardest week?
I’m really not that sure. You could say it was because a majority of our appointments and investigators have fallen through, leaving us to start from scratch. You could say it was because of the constant rain, wind, and overcast sky. You could bring up our lunch appointment on Friday with Jean and Tina, who showed us vídeos and pictures of their brother, Igor, returning from his mission, smiling from ear to ear and crying and hugging his whole family, and then they got on Google Earth to look at my home from sattelite, 9000 miles away, and then they got on YouTube to look at my Missionary Call vídeo on YouTube, complete with vídeo of my family. And after showing us all this, they sent us back into the rain.
It wasn’t quite any of those things that made it the worst. I’m pretty sure it’s just the natural reaction of a missionary only three weeks into the field. I’m right on the timetable of having the realization that my family is so far away, and will remain that way for a very long time yet. I didn’t really think it could happen to me. But it hás.
I only mention these things because
1. it’s somewhat cathartic
2. mom, I’m pretty sure you told me to tell you the truth about what I’ve been going through. If any homesickness rubs off on you guys, sorry about that. I know the natural reaction to the letter might be to send a bunch of reassurance, and that might be nice, but I actually think it’s good that I’m going through this, and maybe this should be a moment where I break out of the cocoon by myself. Difficulty is just nature’s way of making us stronger. ;)
I’m fairly sure that as soon as I get over this, I’ll finally start to feel like I real missionary. I’m still feeling a bit blue, but I’m loving the idea that I’ll be able to overcome this, and be stronger because of it. Some things happened this week and there’s probably a lot of details I should be telling you, but I feel like I’d be doing them more justice by waiting until next week. I hope that’s okay?
He can sew!
Grandma Imogene: Thank you so much for the letter! I got it! I loved it. It really helped me. It was all raining and blowing as I returned to my house, and I checked the mailbox and something was actually there! Wow! I love you so much Grandma, and I’m very lonesome for you tôo. Thank you for the counsel. You stay healthy and take care of my family okay? They need you.
Dad: Hey! How are you? What stage of work are you on now? Still developing ideas, still programming, testing, marketing, trying to sell? I really loved the idea and I want to know how it’s going. Liking your office? The view? Staying cooped up in the house still? Gotten out to do anything fun? I miss ya man. Just want to let you know that I pretty much talk about you every day. There’s been a couple of families that I know have been really touched by our example of how we were able to come together by coming closer to the word of God. I love you man. Be strong.
Mom: Hello! What have you been doing recently? Do you mow the lawn? If so, I suggest you trying listening to some podcasts while you do so. When I looked at Google Earth the other day I saw mainly our lawn, and that’s what I thought about: you mowing the whole thing. Wish we could do that for you. How’s your calling going? Are the plans for the holidays still to visit family? That will be awesome. We have to organize some party for when I call home for Christmas. Should it be a big thing, or a small thing? I’ll only have an hour so it might be better if there’s no other distractions. Just talking to my fam. I am so very excitied to talk to you guys. I love you so much, Mom. I couldn’t be out here without all that you’ve done for me. We’re out here preaching about how our families can be happier and more united through the gospel, and you have been that example of how much of a difference a good parent can make in the world. For my world, it’s been everything. Oh yeah, and I’m serious mom, we are visiting Passo Fundo. Even if it’s for a train ride and a short stop to see some friends with you guys. You would absolutely fall in love with the countryside, I know it. I always think of you when I see any pretty sunset or view. :)
"Bonita" "Destiny is in the Air"
P.S. Please please send my letters to Brendon and vice versa. There’s absolutely no possible reason I’d want otherwise. I need to hear from my brother! Thanks mom. And P.S.S. baptism photo. P.S.S. and more photos o four family, vídeos, music. Just put it in a .zip file it should be fine. P.S.S.S. pictures from brendon in his mission would be cool tôo.
Lynsey: Hi! My sister! I thought your Halloween costume was hilarious. Thank you again for your letter a couple days back. I went to read it again this week and really enjoyed it. Doing anything new? I know you’re usually busy but I’m so glad that you have been there in the family. You are a very important glue in our family. I know school and life during high school can sometimes feel just like monotony, but I hope you can realize the excitement and adventures and opportunity just waiting in every day for you. Be impulsive, live life, keep an eternal perspective, and love everything that comes no matter what! I love you sis.
Kaitlin: Hey my little Kate! How are you? Doing anything different? Any cool new movies you’ve seen? Doing anything cool with the family? How is school? Any projects or interesting things? Still learning a language? You need to do it every day so that when we get back we can go travel the world together! Again, your Halloween costume was so great! I know you would totally love a lot of the other girls here in our ward in Boquierao! They are all really funny and cute, with cute little Portuguese voices. After I come back we can visit here together and you can meet some of them! Cool huh? I love you a lot Kate! I’m actually here, 9000 miles away! You have a brother! I can’t wait to see you my sweet sis! It will be so fun! I love you! Keep reading your scriptures!
Brendon: Hey man! Wow, I’ve wanted to talk to you so bad for the last couple of days. It was really funny when we looked up your área on Google Earth here. Haha! You’re in a desert! It’s completely different from my área. I’m sorry man. Fortunately, everyone here says that Jauzeiro is the only place there that is that much of a wastleland, and that the rest is actually fairly nice. I think about you a lot and how your coping with everything. It’s been pretty hard for me recently, but it’s been nice to know that I’m not alone in this. I haven’t received any letters from you except for your first week, so remind mom to pass on your letters! I hope you get this letter. On my companion’s iPod he hás the song, “Return to Innocence” and I always think of you when I listen to that song. Especially the words “believe in destiny”. Still believing? It’s been getting somewhat harder recently to keep that vision, but I have hope. One of these days it’ll come back into focus. Probably when I get my first baptism. That’d be cool. This week I did something pretty cool, pretty Biblical, and it reminded me what a mission was. We saw this guy sitting in his house and I decided to talk to him, even though we usually just talk to people walking on the street. He was very excited to see us and asked us if we could give him a blessing for his legs, because he had been in a car accident recently and never went to the doctor and was pretty much trying to heal his broken legs by himself. So we gave him a blessing. Then we gave him a lesson where I was totally feeling the Spirit, and he was talking about how he was depressed and was so glad that we had showed up, and when we left he walked out the door with us and said that his legs were already getting better! Wow! I felt like I had stepped into the scriptures for a couple seconds. It’s funny because all the missionary stories in the scriptures just talk about all of their successes, while all their day-to-day activities and rejections I think were just not gone into detail as much. It’s cool to know that cool stuff like that is possible. I’m very grateful for that experience which was given to me. Anyway buddy, I’m there with ya. Anyway, fique forte! Be the wizard, Brendon. Love ya!
All others: Love you! Talk to you next week. Again, a reminder that excessive reassurance is not necessary. I need to get through this by myself. And I’ll be fine! I’ve got the Lord.
Love love love!
Elder Con
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
November 10, 2009 - Letter Home
Ola from Passo Fundo!
I’m sitting in a LAN House now (place that sells computer time), outside it’s raining fairly violently, and I’m surrounded here by the rest of the missionaries in my zone, who are also e-mailing. Right behind me is a huge plasma tv screen with the menu of Halo 3: ODST playing. No one is playing it. If I wanted, I could exchange my e-mailing time (and break a couple rules) and play that game instead. Wow. I must love you guys a lot huh, ;) ?
So yesterday was a fun little holiday for me; I went on a division with Elder Almeida, who works in Lagoa Vermelhia. It’s three hours away. So I went on a bus through (take this description seriously) three hours of absolutely beautiful rolling hills, complete with swaying bronze wheat, farm houses in the distance with green pastures or the occassional pond, cows, sheep, horses grazing, dotted with trees, with a deep blue sky filled with puffy white clouds as far as the eye can see. I got pictures. But it was awesome. I sat in the bus and totally recharged from the last week. So nice.
Then I get to Lagoa, which is a small town, more rural than Passo Fundo, but also hás a bunch of more wealthy people who want to live out in the countryside. More hilly than Passo Fundo. Very beautiful. I would live there, serious. But, the few people we encountered were not as nice as most of the people we’ve talked to in Passo Fundo. Tôo bad. Last night I ate at a member’s house who pulled out a feast before us. Fluffy homemade bread, homemade butter, homemade cheese filled with spices, and the best part: churrasco. It’s the food of Rio Grande do Sol, food of the gaúchos (cowboys). It’s pretty much barbecue, but it was fresh and I’m pretty sure it was from a neighbor’s cow. And they eat it with this special cake which makes it way different than anything you can find in the states. I was in absolute heaven. Wow.
I’m not kidding guys. I’m in paradise here. Like seriously, it’s even actually been kind of something I’ve been having a problem with. I was ready to go out into the Amazon and sweat and bleed and find those converts by the last grasp of my outreached hand. This... is something I could never have suspected. I feel guilty. So grateful that I have been given such a good mission, so grateful for the blessings, but I also feel like I’m getting a bit fat (and not just physically). Trying to push myself is the number one thing I’m working on out here. So many hours spent in member’s homes as they give us more and more delicious food... So easy to put off contacting or finding new investigators and instead return to our same couple investigators who, while very nice, and while with very good food, don’t seem to be progressing. I know a lot of you haven’t read the Odyssey, but I feel a bit like I’m in Odyseus’ shoes. Odyseus was trying to find his way back to Ithica, his home and his family, after fighting in the Trojan War. But when the story starts, Odyseus hás been chilling on another island for 15 years, with a goddess named Calypso who fell in love with Odyseus, and who hás been providing him and his crew with an unending supply of delicious food, women, and entertainment, in hopes that Odyseus would forget his home. It’s not exactly what I’m going through, but I feel like that’s where my story is starting as well. I’ll figure it out.
Alright, sorry for that ambiguous and impractical musing/rant. Had to get it out of me.
Anyway, the language is going very well, or at least everyone tells me that. I’ve been working on listening, and every conversation hás me straining to understand every word, unlike before where I’d zone out a bit until something familiar popped out. I’m actually a bit proud of where I’m now in my listening skills. Probably at 80% words understood, but it’s interesting. I can pick out the words and what they mean, but the words come so fast that I can’t put them in context with eachother, especially with the slightly different grammar. That’s my next challenge. But it’s going really good. Really big jump in comprehension I think. Now if I can get my trainer to stop speaking English completely... I’m also having fun trying to pick up the accent of the gaúchos. It’s way fun.
Brendon, you will not understand my Portuguese when we are reunited. We have an Elder here from Fortaleza, and I can understand absolutely none of his Portuguese, because I’m so accustomed to the gaúcho accent. In all other places, Portuguese is pronounced with ´te´ as ´che´ and ´de´ as ´je´, but here it’s like it is in English, but a bit “harder”. You’d think it’d be easy to pick up because it’s close to English, but I’m basically having to relearn all the words I learned at the CTM with those sounds. And all the other Elders here, even the ones who have been here long, still pronounce words the other way. It’s fun because everybody always smiles and gets patriotic and starts talking about their heritage when I say a phrase the gaúcho way.
An other gaúcho thing is chimarrão, a hot drink that everyone drinks all the time, hot or cold, which is made out of grass clippings and hot water. The families also pass around this mug with a large metal straw so that everyone can sip the chimarrão. It’s like a peace pipe. Two days ago I spilt a fresh cup and burnt my hand quite a bit. It’s fine, a bit red. Was funny.
Let’s see... last Wednesday, Elder Losee and I had an “adventure day.” It was awesome. It was not planned. We figured out that an área we needed to be in was in a neighborhood connected to where we were only in a roundabout way around this huge meadow/forest/hilly area, so we decided to take a shortcut. I finally felt a bit like I was actually in Brazil! We trekked over hills, saw a snake, encountered a pack of dogs we scared away with picked up rocks, crossed over two little rivers, under two ramshakle barbwire fences, got my foot stuck in some mud, scaled a cool little cliff. Yeah. Sure beats cobblestone roads. Blazed some trails that day. Was fun.
I have more things I know happened, but I forgot them. I’ve been meaning to keep a mini diary for this, like Alec did, but... I haven’t. Will do now. Sorry.
Dad, thanks a lot for your e-mail. Don’t worry if it’s a bit late, I think as long as I get something about every month I’ll be fine :). I really enjoy hearing about business and what you’re working on. Such a cool idea! I wish I could see it in action, maybe after it’s implemented you could show me some screen shots or photos? Would be way cool. I will read Alma 42 again, thank you for that recommendation. I’m going through the Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants simultaneously now, and it’s been a bit slow. Still in 2nd Nephi. I need some Alma to get me through the Isaiah parts :). I love you Dad. You are my idol. I still use you as an example in my lessons, and I think I probably will continue to do so if you think that’s okay. Just shows how our struggles can be used as blessings. Even our struggles now will eventually be blessings if we do our part.
Kaitlin! I loved your letter! Thank you so much! What language are you learning right now, exactly? Can I see some pictures of your new clothes? I know everyone thinks you look so beautiful. Are you watching any new Bollywood films? I’m glad you went to the library, remember when we used to go together? That was fun. I’m so excited for you on Thanksgiving, that will be so fun! Guess what? Yesterday I was eating dinner with a family, and there was a little girl, 7 years old, who was wearing a burka! I forgot exactly what they were called in Portuguese, but they are Brazilian clothes! In the olden days here, all the girls used to wear them! Cool huh? When you come visit me in 2 years you can buy one and where it out in the streets of Brazil! That will be very fun. I will wear the clothes of the gaúcho: a wide leather hat, white shirt, long leather boots, and I will have a think black mustache just like all the gaúchos here. And I’ll ride a horse, with my little sister on the back. Will be very cool, huh? Love you Kaitlin!
Rest of my family, I love you muito, and I hope everything is going well. Please send me pictures: I save every picture you send. Only a couple at a time so I can savor each one. :)
Love love love!
Elder Con
P.S. need baptismal photos! oh yeah, and is The Office playing now? is it good? Okay bye I love you!
I’m sitting in a LAN House now (place that sells computer time), outside it’s raining fairly violently, and I’m surrounded here by the rest of the missionaries in my zone, who are also e-mailing. Right behind me is a huge plasma tv screen with the menu of Halo 3: ODST playing. No one is playing it. If I wanted, I could exchange my e-mailing time (and break a couple rules) and play that game instead. Wow. I must love you guys a lot huh, ;) ?
So yesterday was a fun little holiday for me; I went on a division with Elder Almeida, who works in Lagoa Vermelhia. It’s three hours away. So I went on a bus through (take this description seriously) three hours of absolutely beautiful rolling hills, complete with swaying bronze wheat, farm houses in the distance with green pastures or the occassional pond, cows, sheep, horses grazing, dotted with trees, with a deep blue sky filled with puffy white clouds as far as the eye can see. I got pictures. But it was awesome. I sat in the bus and totally recharged from the last week. So nice.
Then I get to Lagoa, which is a small town, more rural than Passo Fundo, but also hás a bunch of more wealthy people who want to live out in the countryside. More hilly than Passo Fundo. Very beautiful. I would live there, serious. But, the few people we encountered were not as nice as most of the people we’ve talked to in Passo Fundo. Tôo bad. Last night I ate at a member’s house who pulled out a feast before us. Fluffy homemade bread, homemade butter, homemade cheese filled with spices, and the best part: churrasco. It’s the food of Rio Grande do Sol, food of the gaúchos (cowboys). It’s pretty much barbecue, but it was fresh and I’m pretty sure it was from a neighbor’s cow. And they eat it with this special cake which makes it way different than anything you can find in the states. I was in absolute heaven. Wow.
I’m not kidding guys. I’m in paradise here. Like seriously, it’s even actually been kind of something I’ve been having a problem with. I was ready to go out into the Amazon and sweat and bleed and find those converts by the last grasp of my outreached hand. This... is something I could never have suspected. I feel guilty. So grateful that I have been given such a good mission, so grateful for the blessings, but I also feel like I’m getting a bit fat (and not just physically). Trying to push myself is the number one thing I’m working on out here. So many hours spent in member’s homes as they give us more and more delicious food... So easy to put off contacting or finding new investigators and instead return to our same couple investigators who, while very nice, and while with very good food, don’t seem to be progressing. I know a lot of you haven’t read the Odyssey, but I feel a bit like I’m in Odyseus’ shoes. Odyseus was trying to find his way back to Ithica, his home and his family, after fighting in the Trojan War. But when the story starts, Odyseus hás been chilling on another island for 15 years, with a goddess named Calypso who fell in love with Odyseus, and who hás been providing him and his crew with an unending supply of delicious food, women, and entertainment, in hopes that Odyseus would forget his home. It’s not exactly what I’m going through, but I feel like that’s where my story is starting as well. I’ll figure it out.
Alright, sorry for that ambiguous and impractical musing/rant. Had to get it out of me.
My desk
Anyway, the language is going very well, or at least everyone tells me that. I’ve been working on listening, and every conversation hás me straining to understand every word, unlike before where I’d zone out a bit until something familiar popped out. I’m actually a bit proud of where I’m now in my listening skills. Probably at 80% words understood, but it’s interesting. I can pick out the words and what they mean, but the words come so fast that I can’t put them in context with eachother, especially with the slightly different grammar. That’s my next challenge. But it’s going really good. Really big jump in comprehension I think. Now if I can get my trainer to stop speaking English completely... I’m also having fun trying to pick up the accent of the gaúchos. It’s way fun.
Brendon, you will not understand my Portuguese when we are reunited. We have an Elder here from Fortaleza, and I can understand absolutely none of his Portuguese, because I’m so accustomed to the gaúcho accent. In all other places, Portuguese is pronounced with ´te´ as ´che´ and ´de´ as ´je´, but here it’s like it is in English, but a bit “harder”. You’d think it’d be easy to pick up because it’s close to English, but I’m basically having to relearn all the words I learned at the CTM with those sounds. And all the other Elders here, even the ones who have been here long, still pronounce words the other way. It’s fun because everybody always smiles and gets patriotic and starts talking about their heritage when I say a phrase the gaúcho way.
An other gaúcho thing is chimarrão, a hot drink that everyone drinks all the time, hot or cold, which is made out of grass clippings and hot water. The families also pass around this mug with a large metal straw so that everyone can sip the chimarrão. It’s like a peace pipe. Two days ago I spilt a fresh cup and burnt my hand quite a bit. It’s fine, a bit red. Was funny.
Let’s see... last Wednesday, Elder Losee and I had an “adventure day.” It was awesome. It was not planned. We figured out that an área we needed to be in was in a neighborhood connected to where we were only in a roundabout way around this huge meadow/forest/hilly area, so we decided to take a shortcut. I finally felt a bit like I was actually in Brazil! We trekked over hills, saw a snake, encountered a pack of dogs we scared away with picked up rocks, crossed over two little rivers, under two ramshakle barbwire fences, got my foot stuck in some mud, scaled a cool little cliff. Yeah. Sure beats cobblestone roads. Blazed some trails that day. Was fun.
I have more things I know happened, but I forgot them. I’ve been meaning to keep a mini diary for this, like Alec did, but... I haven’t. Will do now. Sorry.
Dad, thanks a lot for your e-mail. Don’t worry if it’s a bit late, I think as long as I get something about every month I’ll be fine :). I really enjoy hearing about business and what you’re working on. Such a cool idea! I wish I could see it in action, maybe after it’s implemented you could show me some screen shots or photos? Would be way cool. I will read Alma 42 again, thank you for that recommendation. I’m going through the Book of Mormon and Doctrine & Covenants simultaneously now, and it’s been a bit slow. Still in 2nd Nephi. I need some Alma to get me through the Isaiah parts :). I love you Dad. You are my idol. I still use you as an example in my lessons, and I think I probably will continue to do so if you think that’s okay. Just shows how our struggles can be used as blessings. Even our struggles now will eventually be blessings if we do our part.
Kaitlin! I loved your letter! Thank you so much! What language are you learning right now, exactly? Can I see some pictures of your new clothes? I know everyone thinks you look so beautiful. Are you watching any new Bollywood films? I’m glad you went to the library, remember when we used to go together? That was fun. I’m so excited for you on Thanksgiving, that will be so fun! Guess what? Yesterday I was eating dinner with a family, and there was a little girl, 7 years old, who was wearing a burka! I forgot exactly what they were called in Portuguese, but they are Brazilian clothes! In the olden days here, all the girls used to wear them! Cool huh? When you come visit me in 2 years you can buy one and where it out in the streets of Brazil! That will be very fun. I will wear the clothes of the gaúcho: a wide leather hat, white shirt, long leather boots, and I will have a think black mustache just like all the gaúchos here. And I’ll ride a horse, with my little sister on the back. Will be very cool, huh? Love you Kaitlin!
Rest of my family, I love you muito, and I hope everything is going well. Please send me pictures: I save every picture you send. Only a couple at a time so I can savor each one. :)
Love love love!
Elder Con
P.S. need baptismal photos! oh yeah, and is The Office playing now? is it good? Okay bye I love you!
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
November 3, 2009 - Letter Home
Oi minha família beleza!
Wow, I really can't believe its been a whole week since I last sent a message. I know all missionaries say this, but it really just feels like yesterday. It's something I heard all the time on blogs before the mission, but really never grasped exactly how it would feel. Cool.
Before I begin, a little business; Mom, I got your package! Sweet! I loved it! I can't believe how fast it got to me! Cool! Man, I was so feeling the love after that was opened.
Also, yes, please just attach a photo of my baptism, and I can print it out. No problem. Also, I’d like to request some more photos :) : a picture of our whole family that isn’t so ‘preppy’; a lot of people here want to see pictures of my family, and I’m always a bit ashamed to show them the only photo I have, the same photo we have in the living room, because I’m teaching some very poor people. We’re talking no heated water or air conditioning or heating or carpet, 3-room-house and watch-out-for-that-cockroach-because-there’s-cracks-in-the-wall. Actually, only about half of our people are like that, but they do spend a lot of time talking about how rich I am after seeing the photo, so another would be cool. Your choice :) .
"My District after a week in the field"
Where to start… The work is going forward. Elder Losee and I have been teaching a family of two, single mother Christina and her 11 year old son Bruno, and they have been really progressing, coming to church two weeks consecutively, although they still feel like they haven’t gotten an answer as to whether the Book of Mormon is true. They say the feel really happy when they read the book, but I guess they aren’t recognizing those feelings as the Spirit. We’ve been explaining it more, and I hope that tomorrow they have a solid answer for us. You know, in 3rd Nephi, verse 11 it took the people 3 times before they understood the voice that was coming out of heaven.
Our other family that I am SOOO excited about is a 7 person family Celson (Dad), Luciani (Mom), Jezemo (11), Rahana (9), twin Matteus and Lucas (7), and Rafael (5). They had investigated the church before and then got sidetracked, but Luciani started reading the BoM a week before I arrived, and she said she knew that we would visit soon because of this, and we did happen to stop by, and they were interested again! I am also really stressed out about this family because they aren’t married (although they really want to be), and they are chronic smokers (and they want to quit, but are doubtful that it’s possible). On Sunday Luciani accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 27th, and Celson accepted the invitation to be married. What we are trying to work on now is getting all the papers, money, and organization together for the marriage, while simultaneously trying to figure out a way to help them stop smoking, and we are really trying to get Celson to the point where he will want to be baptized as well. They are such a fun family, but have recently fallen on rough times, and they have the desire to change, but are under the chains of addiction right now. I absolutely love the family and am yearning so much for them to come into the church together, but it’s not a sure thing, I think, that it’ll work out… It’s high stakes, high risk. We’re spending a lot of time on them right now, and I hope it’ll turn out right. We are really focusing on having faith that God will send them strength and vision for the future. We did a fast for them yesterday, and right after we stopped fasting, we had lunch at a members house, a couple, both converts, who quit smoking and got married to join the church, who agreed to visit Celson and Luciani’s house with us on Thursday, and were quite excited to do so! I am so excited for that to happen!
Oh, I am running out of minutes in the LAN house I’m using for the internet, so I will send this one off really quick. Another one soon, promise!
Elder Con
---an hour and 1/2 later ------
oi! mais!
Hey Family,
Actually, I didn't have as much time logged on as I thought. Sorry.
Anyway, right after I wrote about how I was doing last week, I started having a really hard week. It gets super hot here (95 degrees yesterday!), and we walk in the sun long distances, and the humidity is killer. The hardest thing is that saudade (longing , homesickness) is really hitting me hard, now that I know that this is what I'll be doing for the next two years. There's been some difficult parts of this for sure, but I hope you don’t mind that I kind of keep that part of the mission on the down low. It's just not something I like to dwell on. However, I'll speak a little bit about it every so often.
Oh, parents, send me photos of Brendon in his new area. Send him my photos too.
I've been thinking a lot about all my family, but thank you especially to Uncle Todd for his e-mail, which helped me know how good I actually had it here. Nick and Zach, I used your scriptures in a lesson with a family! Doing missionary work is easy for you guys, isn’t it? I also loved the descriptions of the media going on back home, thanks so much! It helps.
To Brendon: How has your area been? How have you been excelling? Any surprises? I also put together a diagram of profetas (prophets) and how they each communicated from God to the people on earth, just like was mentioned in the section about teaching principles. I will make a picture of the temple with the 5 parts too, later. There is much to do, especially in contacting more people and figuring out how I can persuade my trainer to spend less time at members houses eating. Luckily, people have been very accepting here. We’ve got a bunch of addresses to contact, and a moderate pool of investigators. Still, I’ve really been troubled mostly about not pushing myself as hard as I could. This is hard because it’s very easy in our companionship for me not to do anything, or do much less than I’m capable of doing. So that’s what I'm working on. We are spending a lot of time cleaning the house, getting organized… I’m waking up 30 minutes early each morning for extra language study, and I’m listening to the Book of Mormon on my ipod while I make food in the morning. Oh, and I’m hiding little cards with a personalized thank you and a spiritual message in each house that I eat in. That has really been a success and I suggest you do it too. It’s hard to do the work the way I want to when so much still depends on my understanding of the language. I’m really trying to get that obstacle out of the way. Brendon, don’t be afraid of being a hero. Go all out, despite anyone else. The only person you are serving is your God, so you don’t have to hold yourself back here. Don’t be afraid of what others might think because of your ambition and desire to excel. This is advice I’m really trying to take, myself. In my area, poeple are all pretty chill as long as you act like a naïve yet outgoing American. Making fun of myself also seems to really help break the ice. The heat and humidity are killer, but I bet you’ve got it worse. The food is amazing and I hope it’s good where you are too. I love you bro! Keep it up! I’m thinking of you constantly!
To my Kaitlin: Your costume was beautiful! Wow, what a princess! Did people think you were a real Indian? I love you so much and your picture was so pretty! I hope you enjoyed Halloween!
To my Lynsey! Thank you so much for the letter! I haven’t read all of it, but I will answer your request to speak Portuguese: Amo minha irma muito, e eu penso sobre ela todos dos meus tempos aqui. Ela é um moça linda e é cheio de luz. Muito obrigado por suas palavras, eu vou desfrutar eles muito. Eu amo você Lynsey, e eu sou grato por que você é minha irmã. Seja forte, né? Até mais.
Mom: I feel close to you so much. Thank you for the letter. It strengthens me.
Dad: Hey buddy! I love you so much, and I think of you often. Stay strong. I know the Lord is with you. Be comforted. You are a great father, and a great man, and a great friend, and I want to be like you one day. Thank you for making it possible for me to be out here, in more ways than you might initially think. Com amor.
Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Con
Wow, I really can't believe its been a whole week since I last sent a message. I know all missionaries say this, but it really just feels like yesterday. It's something I heard all the time on blogs before the mission, but really never grasped exactly how it would feel. Cool.
Before I begin, a little business; Mom, I got your package! Sweet! I loved it! I can't believe how fast it got to me! Cool! Man, I was so feeling the love after that was opened.
Connor in the Halloween costume Mom sent
(the glow-in-the-dark eyeglasses)
He came up with rest and is now...
the Amazing Twinkletoes!
Also, yes, please just attach a photo of my baptism, and I can print it out. No problem. Also, I’d like to request some more photos :) : a picture of our whole family that isn’t so ‘preppy’; a lot of people here want to see pictures of my family, and I’m always a bit ashamed to show them the only photo I have, the same photo we have in the living room, because I’m teaching some very poor people. We’re talking no heated water or air conditioning or heating or carpet, 3-room-house and watch-out-for-that-cockroach-because-there’s-cracks-in-the-wall. Actually, only about half of our people are like that, but they do spend a lot of time talking about how rich I am after seeing the photo, so another would be cool. Your choice :) .
Where to start… The work is going forward. Elder Losee and I have been teaching a family of two, single mother Christina and her 11 year old son Bruno, and they have been really progressing, coming to church two weeks consecutively, although they still feel like they haven’t gotten an answer as to whether the Book of Mormon is true. They say the feel really happy when they read the book, but I guess they aren’t recognizing those feelings as the Spirit. We’ve been explaining it more, and I hope that tomorrow they have a solid answer for us. You know, in 3rd Nephi, verse 11 it took the people 3 times before they understood the voice that was coming out of heaven.
Our other family that I am SOOO excited about is a 7 person family Celson (Dad), Luciani (Mom), Jezemo (11), Rahana (9), twin Matteus and Lucas (7), and Rafael (5). They had investigated the church before and then got sidetracked, but Luciani started reading the BoM a week before I arrived, and she said she knew that we would visit soon because of this, and we did happen to stop by, and they were interested again! I am also really stressed out about this family because they aren’t married (although they really want to be), and they are chronic smokers (and they want to quit, but are doubtful that it’s possible). On Sunday Luciani accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 27th, and Celson accepted the invitation to be married. What we are trying to work on now is getting all the papers, money, and organization together for the marriage, while simultaneously trying to figure out a way to help them stop smoking, and we are really trying to get Celson to the point where he will want to be baptized as well. They are such a fun family, but have recently fallen on rough times, and they have the desire to change, but are under the chains of addiction right now. I absolutely love the family and am yearning so much for them to come into the church together, but it’s not a sure thing, I think, that it’ll work out… It’s high stakes, high risk. We’re spending a lot of time on them right now, and I hope it’ll turn out right. We are really focusing on having faith that God will send them strength and vision for the future. We did a fast for them yesterday, and right after we stopped fasting, we had lunch at a members house, a couple, both converts, who quit smoking and got married to join the church, who agreed to visit Celson and Luciani’s house with us on Thursday, and were quite excited to do so! I am so excited for that to happen!
"Mai Passo Fundo"
Oh, I am running out of minutes in the LAN house I’m using for the internet, so I will send this one off really quick. Another one soon, promise!
Elder Con
---an hour and 1/2 later ------
oi! mais!
Hey Family,
Actually, I didn't have as much time logged on as I thought. Sorry.
Anyway, right after I wrote about how I was doing last week, I started having a really hard week. It gets super hot here (95 degrees yesterday!), and we walk in the sun long distances, and the humidity is killer. The hardest thing is that saudade (longing , homesickness) is really hitting me hard, now that I know that this is what I'll be doing for the next two years. There's been some difficult parts of this for sure, but I hope you don’t mind that I kind of keep that part of the mission on the down low. It's just not something I like to dwell on. However, I'll speak a little bit about it every so often.
He says "I did this myself !"
Oh, parents, send me photos of Brendon in his new area. Send him my photos too.
I've been thinking a lot about all my family, but thank you especially to Uncle Todd for his e-mail, which helped me know how good I actually had it here. Nick and Zach, I used your scriptures in a lesson with a family! Doing missionary work is easy for you guys, isn’t it? I also loved the descriptions of the media going on back home, thanks so much! It helps.
To Brendon: How has your area been? How have you been excelling? Any surprises? I also put together a diagram of profetas (prophets) and how they each communicated from God to the people on earth, just like was mentioned in the section about teaching principles. I will make a picture of the temple with the 5 parts too, later. There is much to do, especially in contacting more people and figuring out how I can persuade my trainer to spend less time at members houses eating. Luckily, people have been very accepting here. We’ve got a bunch of addresses to contact, and a moderate pool of investigators. Still, I’ve really been troubled mostly about not pushing myself as hard as I could. This is hard because it’s very easy in our companionship for me not to do anything, or do much less than I’m capable of doing. So that’s what I'm working on. We are spending a lot of time cleaning the house, getting organized… I’m waking up 30 minutes early each morning for extra language study, and I’m listening to the Book of Mormon on my ipod while I make food in the morning. Oh, and I’m hiding little cards with a personalized thank you and a spiritual message in each house that I eat in. That has really been a success and I suggest you do it too. It’s hard to do the work the way I want to when so much still depends on my understanding of the language. I’m really trying to get that obstacle out of the way. Brendon, don’t be afraid of being a hero. Go all out, despite anyone else. The only person you are serving is your God, so you don’t have to hold yourself back here. Don’t be afraid of what others might think because of your ambition and desire to excel. This is advice I’m really trying to take, myself. In my area, poeple are all pretty chill as long as you act like a naïve yet outgoing American. Making fun of myself also seems to really help break the ice. The heat and humidity are killer, but I bet you’ve got it worse. The food is amazing and I hope it’s good where you are too. I love you bro! Keep it up! I’m thinking of you constantly!
To my Kaitlin: Your costume was beautiful! Wow, what a princess! Did people think you were a real Indian? I love you so much and your picture was so pretty! I hope you enjoyed Halloween!
To my Lynsey! Thank you so much for the letter! I haven’t read all of it, but I will answer your request to speak Portuguese: Amo minha irma muito, e eu penso sobre ela todos dos meus tempos aqui. Ela é um moça linda e é cheio de luz. Muito obrigado por suas palavras, eu vou desfrutar eles muito. Eu amo você Lynsey, e eu sou grato por que você é minha irmã. Seja forte, né? Até mais.
Mom: I feel close to you so much. Thank you for the letter. It strengthens me.
Dad: Hey buddy! I love you so much, and I think of you often. Stay strong. I know the Lord is with you. Be comforted. You are a great father, and a great man, and a great friend, and I want to be like you one day. Thank you for making it possible for me to be out here, in more ways than you might initially think. Com amor.
Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Con
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
October 27, 2009 - Letter Home
Man , I’m in the mission field! In the place I was meant to be for my whole life! I've read a bit of all of your emails, and am looking forward to reading them today. Unfortunately, the computer I was using to write this e-mail shut down 15 minutes into writing it, and I don’t have much time. Also, I think I've done a good job documenting as much of the journey as I can through photos, but I forgot the right cable at my new house! NOSSA! (AW MAN!) So the next letter will have a bunch of awesome photos, promise!
Very quickly, here's what happened on my first day!: I left the CTM early in the morning, and separated with my best friend and companion, Brendon. It was hard for me. I know Brendon was feeling the same as I. But I walked out the door, and went to the airport, and arrived in Porto Alegre an hour later. Met with the President there, had an excellent buffet lunch with all the new missionaries, and went to the President's apartment for some short interviews and some informational meetings. I found out my trainer and mission “dad” would be Elder Losee, an American whose been here 18 months. Went on the bus with 3 others who were going to my new area: Passo Fundo. It’s the furthest area from Porto Alegre, so the bus ride was 4 hours long! Passo Fundo is a city near Porto Alegre, to the northwest, so you guys should find it on a map! Dad can look up from his desk and see where in the world I am even as he's working! I met up with Elder Losee at night, and we took a bus to our house.
Elder Connor Carpenter with President and Sister Pavan in Porto Alegre
New missionaries for Porto Alegre North!
The Bus ride to Passo Fundo
Elder Losee is awesome. He’s a little shorter, and he’s always wearing a smile and laughs a lot, although otherwise he is somewhat quiet. The people here really like him, and hes a good role model. He's fluent and has done a good job teaching me.
Elder Connor and his "trainer", Elder Losee
I am loving the language now even more than in the CTM, and its fun to learn “gaucho” words and pronunciations that are unique to Rio Grande do Sol (the state of Brasil my mission is in). My area is amazing. It’s a paradise. Mom would love it. Hills, green pastures, blue skys, big puffy clouds, cobblestone streets more places than you'd think (they call it “parallelo-pipido”)… everyone here has horses and its quite funny because you'll see a horse every so often going right along the main roads. So you see a lot of horses grazing here. Honestly, the weather has been amazing, and I love it here.
Typical Passo Fundo
I am serving in the ward Boquerao (means “Big Mouth”), which has some AMAZING members. They greeted me into their ward like a king. After reading Brendon's letter, I feel a little spoiled here. The city is completely modern other than the cobblestone streets and horses and actually there are some neighborhoods with only dirt roads and shacks. Most people also hang their clothes outside to dry and have chickens and cows and stuff. Oh, and there's stray dogs everywhere. Weird. I'm really liking it though. My house is very nice, although when I arrived it was ridiculously filthy. I met with the rest of my district today and compared stories with the other new elders here, and their stories were the same. If there's one thing bad I've seen here is that the missionaries seem a little too comfortable. We spend a little too much time just hanging out with members and eating meals and walking long distances, and I feel like some things could be much more effective. Still, there is a lot to learn from the other missionaries, and I'm planning on just grazing around the edges a little while until I know what to do about this. My main goal right now is to become fluent, and do as much good with what we're doing now. Everyone says fluency comes at about 6 months into the mission, but I'm planning on doing it in 2.
I'm sorry if I sounded a little negative just now, but Mom, you said to include it all. That’s what I'm dealing with now. However, its super awesome. I truly have felt that the adventure has begun, and I sincerely feel I've grown in just these last couple days. In fact, I might say I'm already drastically different. My goal in arriving here was to arrive as the missionary I want to be, and that doesn’t just mean you know the doctrine and the language. I've been working on being super social and making jokes and talking to everyone, and constantly wearing a smile. I love this goal. I still need to find a balance, but I'm absolutely giddy about trying to make people happy, through the gospel, yes, but also through kindness, love, and outgoingness.
I testify that through Jesus Christ, we can find enough joy and happiness so that it flows over, and we can only share that with others. I consider myself very anti-social by nature, but I think that through the light of God I will be able to turn that weakness into a strength. I know this is possible for everyone, and that there is SO MUCH happiness to be found in making others happy. The gospel is not a somber, serious thing. Sometimes we require quiet happiness in reverent places, but the gospel is filled with light and happiness always, and you can feel that wherever or whoever or however you are, in any circumstance, as long as you know where to look. You can know where to look through Christ and his teachings.
"Minha Casa"
"Living Room"
"My bed is on the left"
"My clothes are in the Center"
I love you all muuuito, and honestly there's so many details I wish I could share. I love you all so much, and there's no place I'd rather be than here at this time in my life. Read the scriptures and pray always, especially in families, but also by yourself. As you ponder and pray for yourself about these things, you'll find a way that nothing can touch you, save the love of God and the love of others.
Ah! Saudade! Until next week! Até mais!
Connor Carpenter
If you wish to send mail, send it to the following address:
R. Alípio Endres N 200
Bairro: Edmundo Treim
CEP: 99030-030
Passo Fundo - RS
Brasil
@ Parents: Can you send me pictures of my baptism in an email? It will help me explain baptism to others. Thanks!
@ Dad: You've helped me a lot in my messages to the people here. Your experiences with the scriptures and the result in our family has really helped me relate the power of the Book of Mormon to people. There is a lot of problems in the economy here also, and I often am able to relate about how many people at home are in the same situation, but that through prayer and diligence I know that our family will be taken care of. I really think it has helped people look up from their problems. Thank you very much for all that you’ve done for me. There's so much more than the things I just said.
@ Mom: I love you so much. You are great. You would love it here so much. I'm trying to enjoy it like you would want me to . I can't wait to bring you back here. Wow, mom, I miss you so much. Thank you for all you have done for me throughout my life. You did such a great job and I never even realized how much you did. Thank you so much. You’ve made so much of you I am.
@ Lynsey and Kaitlin: Ahhh! My sisters! I love you so much! Im having such a fun time here! I miss you lots, but I'm also excited for all the cool things we are going to do when we return. So many excellent experiences we will have together. Enjoy every day!
Lyns, what cool things are you doing with your friends now that the lake and river is off limits? Driving in the fog now? I love you so much! Be strong and find comfort in the arms of the Lord!
Kaitlin! Halloween is soon! So exciting! I'm playing a lot with Brasilian children and they are sooooo cute! They have sweet little Portuguese jabbering, and laugh so much when I try to say things! They would love you so much here! How is learning languages? Are you enjoying learning and school? Watching any new cool shows or films? Tell Mom to take you to the library! It was so fun looking for books with you. The holidays will be so much fun! What do you want for Christmas? Going to see family soon? Any cute new clothes? Send me pictures! I can open them in my email here, and print them off! Love love love! So happy to have such beautiful princesses waiting at home for me.
@ Brendon: I Love you bro. I miss you very much, but I'm also loving sharing this adventure with you. It will be so awesome to exchange stories after the mission. As per our agreement, I have a good memory for you. Remember on that super activity where we went to that lake near the Sierras, in the folsom ward? Remember going fishing together in the morning with Brother Dawson? Remember later going on that small boat at top speed going to that one cave? Warm, slow-baking sun, the fresh cool wind in our hair, flecks of cool water hitting your body and your hand when you stuck it out to feel the wake? The quick bobbing of the fast boat. Green everywhere, green mountains too, and also in the distances snowcapped peaks? That cave was really cool too, but the ride there was sweet. And it was also cool that we were together, for that activity and so many others. That made it better. Too bad I think I took that for granted. I love you buddy. That’s when I started to notice that life was an adventure. I forgot how to do it a couple times since, but its one of my most favorite things I've learned to do. And all the best adventures are shared. That’s why its cool we’re both doing the same thing now. We might not be together physically, but we’re in this together. Live it up and live with all the gusto you got! Love you buddy!
@ Todd, Nick, Zach:
Wow! So awesome to have so much to read tonight! I love your family home evenings! I wish I could respond more, but I promise I will next week. And I will enjoy your letters so much today! I love you guys so much! Nick, Zach… man. You guys are going to love the mission. I thought the CTM was pretty fun, but this takes the cake! Practice overcoming your fears and problems and concerns through the power of the gospel. Continue building up your testimonies by looking for and receiving all the blessings and happiness God is waiting to give us. You guys rock! Thanks muchly for information about your lives (and especially information about Halo!). Love love love!
Todd, thank you so much for the stories and advice, I will digest them later and I truly appreciate it. You are truly a mentor. Like Gandalf. Or Obi-Wan. I love you guys muchly! Be strong!
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