February 23, 2010 - Letter Home

It never was easy!

 "My messy desk"

 Heellllooooo my family!
Another P-day has come! This week is transfers week too! This means that 6 weeks have passed since I’ve been with Elder Lima. Honestly, I cannot believe how fast this transfer has gone. It’s absolutely crazy how fast time is flying here for me. It actually kind of freaked me out a bit the other day when I thought about it, about the fact that really, my mission is going to go by like the blink of an eye, and I really feel like I haven’t begun to really kick into action and become the super missionary that I felt I would be. I definitely thought that by 6 months in I would be totally running things and baptizing like crazy, but the reality is that I feel like I’ve only recently gotten to a comfortable level of fluency in the language, and while I’m happy and having fun and working hard, it does seem like this transfer with Elder Lima will end like it started: without a lot of people to teach, and without prospects of anybody ready to be baptized. 

What I really want is to be able to be that type of scriptural missionary that prays and fasts and works diligently every second of every hour, have visions of where and who to contact, know exactly what to say to every person to help them gain a testimony, do a bunch of miracles, and just convert the entire area just like Ammon and Aaron did with the Lamanites. That’s what I want. And while I know that, yeah, I guess it’s possible, I can’t help but hold back a little bit, and settle for the vision of the modern missionary: a young person who’s in a strange place, who messes up a bunch, learns a bunch, makes a bunch of friends with companions and with the people, does his work, but has fun and every so often has a couple really cool spiritual experiences. 
See the difference? 
It’s the difference between Jack and Locke in Lost: Jack woke up confused in the jungle, and started to act like anyone would expect a good doctor to do in the same situation, sharing the same fears and desires of everyone else on the island, and people looked up to him because they identified with him. Locke, on the other hand, woke up among the wreckage and destruction with an air of destiny, and everyone was surprised to see him become completely at home on the island, hunting, exploring, trying to find out the deeper meaning of things. People looked up to Locke, because he was different, because he didn’t share the same fears and desires as the rest of the people on the island. Both guys are good, I think, but it’s different. So basically I want to be Locke, but it’s a lot easier to try to be Jack. Unfortunately, right now I feel a lot like Boone or Charlie, just kind of bumbling around and doing a lot of cool things, but nothing REALLY amazing still. It’ll come.

Okay, I won’t continue on that thread more; just a peek into my mind today. :)

 "Have you seen my ride?"

So the work is kind of going the same: we have a couple families we’re working with, that are making progress but many still have not yet come to church, we’re trying to contact every day and find new people, and we average maybe 2 new families per day, but at the same time we’re cutting families that don’t show or don’t progress. I’ll describe our most promising families:

Celson is a nonmember husband of Katcha, a member who was inactive but is coming back to the church. Katcha lost her sight suddenly about 3 years ago, and because of this, her last husband committed suicide, and she was depressed for a long time but is finally getting better and getting used to her new mode of life. Really sad story. Celson is catholic and works in construction and has lived a single life of work, bars and football games. But he’s starting to ask questions about what he really wants out of life, and we’re helping him. He really has promise but because he smokes it might be a while before he’s baptized.

Lila is a mother of 5 who has a member friend Carla, and has been reading the Book of Mormon regularly every day. Really awesome! She loves visiting with the missionaries and just conversing and shooting the breeze and asking about America and our lives and I think she will be baptized, which will probably lead her 2 youngest children to be baptized as well, but… she needs to stop smoking which will take a while.

We have a couple other families which we haven’t met with very much, but seem to have promise, like Cristina who has two young boys, one which reminds me of Zach, actually. And Guilarme and Juliana, who have 2 girls, the oldest of which is undergoing cancer treatments.

Hmmm. Right now I’m on a division in Ereshin, with two other missionaries. The problem is that they’ve finished (quite quickly I think!) writing, and want to go bowling. So they’re waiting for me to finish. Elder Lima usually watches cartoons for hours while I type, so it’s a bit different this week. I think I’m going to have to end it early this week. Sorry :(.

I am going to make a quick video to send to you to quickly wrap up everything else that I wanted to say.


see my video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_9OWJNKkgY 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYXI7RuM9zU
 
Okay,
Love love love you guys sooooo much! Wish I had more time to write this week, but I promise I will next week. 
Dad, good luck with work man, you’ve got this! I believe in you! 
Mom, again, Happy Birthday! You have no idea how many huge parties you really do deserve Mom, (hint: it’s a lot). 
Lyns! You asked for some advice, and I wish I could be more detailed, but just make a plan of all the things you want to accomplish, when you want to accomplish them, and don’t go too hard or too easy on yourself, then just focus on every step one at a time, and make sure you stay happy and pray every step, just love it as it comes! 
Kait kait! Love you sis! I loved seeing our pictures together! Send me a Japanese word to learn! Big hug for my Kaitlin! 
Brendon, love you buddy. Go for it man! I love that we’re having such different adventures here. Really miss ya buddy. Congrats on the 6 month mark! It’s gonna be so fun to hang out together in a year and a half!

Lacey, I did get you card! Thank you so much! Loved it! And your letter! Hope all is well in your beautiful little fam. 
Jody! Thanks for the quick note! Good plan! I love you dearly my good aunt! 
Grandma Imogene, thank you for the letter and the update! 
Judith and Grandpa, thanks so much for keeping in touch and helping us out here! It really helps a lot! 

Well, wish I could have an hour or so just to write to each one of my relatives individually, but I guess it’ll have to wait until a calmer P-day… 

Have a good week everyone!
Love love and lot more! 
Tchau!
Elder Con

February 16, 2010 - Letter Home

Warm & Delicious!

Alright! Awesome! Ready to start writing today! Wow guys, how much I loved watching your vídeos. Serious. Dare I say it was even better than our Christmas phone call? It was pretty close to equally awesome, I’ll say. I was totally laughing out loud in the Lanhouse here. Whew. So awesome.
What I think is cool is that making a vídeo is relatively easy compared to a letter, but seems much more rewarding. Really, every P-day I could easily spend 10 minutes talking to a câmera. I don’t think it’ll be tôo difficult. So sweet.
I have a couple vídeos for you all here:

Boqueirao House Tour (part 1): http://www.youtube.co/watch?v=89D6ZGNalDg

Response Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXGRR7PMRLc

Sweet! All done in less than an hour! Hope you guys like it. One thing I want to do after talking to Mom is talk a bit more about the work and our investigators and everything. Very good Idea, very necessary, and I’ll have a vídeo about that next week. It’s always just a bit hard to focus on those things when your in your house on P-day, you just want to focus on other things. But it’ll be good.  Loved seeing my sweet Mom. Man it’s so awesome that we get to see eachother. Thanks so much for the vídeo.

 So I was praying this last Friday, not even about anything specifically related, when I got this awesome feeling that something awesome happened with Dad’s business. I’ve been holding onto this feeling for the whole week, trying not to doubt that it actually was an answer. Trying to use it to build my faith that something good happened. So I opened my e-mail with faith a couple hours ago knowing that I would get some good news from the home front. In the vídeo from Dad, what do you know!? Good news about the ------ account! It’s not Mr. Cluck’s Chicken, but it’s something! Awesome! Woohoo! I loved the news that something was finally working out. I know it’s not the end all to be all of all of our problems and concerns, but it sure is a start! I am SO HAPPY to hear this news! Parabens (congrats!) Dad! So awesome!

It was also very great to get some down to earth advice from Dad, I loved everything you Said buddy. I also really needed to hear many of those things. It’s something I am going through right now here in Brasil. Very cool. It meant a lot to me. For sure, knowing that I am a part of such a great family, knowing how fast time is going, and knowing how much really is possible, really inspires me to work harder and do better.

Man, Kaitlin and Lynsey together really are hilarious! I Love seeing you guys together, my little sisters! I think you guys are as funny in your music vídeo as in your normal one! Hehehe! But so cool to hear from you; I think it is a bit easier to Express ourselves when we are just talking. Cool. Maybe next time you guys could do some shorter, seperate vídeos? I know maybe there’s not a lot to say but even a little bit every week will really help.

Okay, so I’ve been fiddling around so much with the vídeos and stuff today, that I kind of ran out of room to type. Feel free to post the vídeos to the blog!
So I’ll explain this week quickly. We had a zone conference which was awesome, got our spirits up, ran out to work and tract the streets and get new investigators, had some success, got a couple new families, were feeling awesome... Then we got news that we needed to get rid of our current house, and go find another. And the job of finding a new house was up to us. So instead of tracting around to spread the gospel, we tracted around to find a new house. Sure we made contacts on the way but we kind of just got the steam knocked out of us because for 2 days we didnt really teach that much because we were trying to track down some news digs to live in for the next couple weeks. Then we had a bit of rain, which isnt impossible to work in but for sure is a bit harder.
Elder Lima and I had a couple of disagreements which definitely put a damper on things. Just overall pride on both our parts, I think. Dad, maybe you remember how it is to argue with me. I just don’t really ever give in our give up, right? Well, even with little tiny things both I and Elder Lima are willing to argue until someone gives in or gives up. We actually really like eachother, I think, but it’s this one little thing that we’re really trying to overcome. So we had another discussion in companionship inventory and for now we’re doing really good. We just have to be on our gaurd to make sure it stays that way.

After this little down period, we had some success yesterday, worked right in the rain, clapping doors and teaching some lessons. Right now we have about 8 different families we’ve only taught a little bit, but they have potential. We are going to continue to teach them and continue to add more people to our teaching pool.

A couple minor things that were interesting this week:
- I’m getting really good at clapping really loudly. (You don't ring on a doorbell or knock on a door, you stand outside and clap until someone comes out to greet you. ) There’s a technique to it, you know? You have to use cupped fingers of one hand on the palm of the other, with a slight whipping motion as you trap the air in the middle. None of this palm-on-palm stuff here. Cool.

- I made syrup. It turned out really good!!

- We played this ridiculous Brazilian game where you use your pointer and índex finger to slap the other persons fingers. You go in turns. Until someone gives up. Elder Lima and I played for seriously 40 minutes. We decided to leave it as a tié. I was sweating really bad afterwards. My two fingers are still way swolen even after a whole day. Not a good idea guys.

Brendon! Love you buddy! Seems like my transfer is going somewhat like yours! I don’t really know any advice to give, but man, spending a couple hours tracting really makes me feel like at least I did something, even on the off days. Go for it and make new contacts!

‘Kay guys! Until next week! Love Love Love!

Elder Con

P.S. By the way, I’m super dissapointed that no one is even guessing in my riddles. Okay, here’s another one for next week. Another opportunity for you guys. Find the Lost reference in this letter.
P.S. Tchau! Amor! Have a good week! Just be happy!

February 9, 2010 - Letter Home

Dry Spell

Wassup guys!

 

 "pancakes that Elder Lima and I made"

Man, this week has been a bit dry, and I don’t quite know what to write this week. To be honest, I know why. I got along so well, I think, with Elder Duarte, that the only things worth noting were good things, and I was able to tell and relate some funny stories. With Elder Lima, more often than not our stories together have been about how we’ve not been quite getting along together, or about how we are working on getting along together. Types of stories which aren’t very fun to read and aren’t very fun to write. So enough of that.

This week has been hotter than ever. It’s broken 40 degrees C here, which is about 105 Fahrenheit. Everyone at the CTM said that Rio Grande do Sul was going to be cold, the coldest place in Brasil. Man! On the contrary I believe. We are pretty much melting every day. What temperature is it over there in Maracanau, Brendon? Elder Lima says it’s way cooler there than here. But we’re drinking water at every single stop, taking water bottles with us, and that sweet handkerchief that Sister Harris gave us is really paying off here; a bottle of water in one hand and a handkerchief in the other to wipe the sweat. Thankfully yesterday it finally rained, and today has been very nice and cool and cloudy.

Man, I’m really having a problem relating anything interesting this week. How about on to all of your letters?

First of all loved Brendon’s video. Actually, I think we pretty much have the same accent, or are at the same level of fluency :). The accent is going to be the hardest thing to conquer, I think. I’ve really tried to get the gaucho accent down, but what is kind of weird here, or at least what my companions have said, is that the gaucho accent is regarded as somewhat of a hick accent in other parts of Brasil. I really don’t know what to do about this, so maybe parents, you can help me out. My companions want me to learn to speak as a Paulista (person from Sao Paulo), which is regarded as higher class, but also as foreign. I want to have an accent that shows that I learned how to speak with the Gaucho people, which will show others that I appreciate and treasure their culture. I’m pretty much alone on this opinion. But, what do you guys think? Imagine if a Brasilian missionary arrived in Texas, would you recommend that missionary to learn to speak in a Texan accent? I don’t really know how to answer that question.

But it was really cool news that Elder S Costa is returning to the mission! Yes, the mission is so awesome and so worth it. It’s been really difficult, but at the same time, just last night we had two awesome lessons with people off of the street, and you could tell that they were getting it, and they really expressed a desire to learn more. Sweet. :)

Good job on starting to read the Book of Mormon out loud in Portuguese! I really know that it works. See if you can catch up, I’m in Mosiah 6. ;) Man, if you thought reading Isaías in 2 Nefí in English was a dry experience, wait until you do it all in Portuguese. I used up a couple hours of P-day and just raced through it quickly, because I was absolutely dying every morning because it is so hard to understand.

But here’s another suggestion for study. I haven’t done it yet but I’m going to start tomorrow. Elder Anderson (remember him?) got transferred here three weeks ago, and we’re having a blast together, but he said he’s been writing in Portuguese, and having his companion check his grammar and sentence construction. My companion really thinks this’ll help me too. And if you look in chapter 7 of PME, Language Learning, it says to write in your language. So I’m going to try my hand at writing some Brasilian Mission-themed Poetry. :) I thought it’d be a good excuse for you to exercise your writing muscles. 30 minutes of reading, 30 minutes of writing. How about it? We can exchange our writings if you want. You just have to remember that the purpose is to learn grammar to use on the street and in conversations, therefore, it won’t be very useful to learn all of the vocabulary of a science fiction or fantasy story, because you probably wouldn’t use that day-to-day. But it might be fun.

Brendon, you didn’t take the challenge! Family, you also didn’t get the challenge. "The Searcher" was the ship that Penny (wife of Desmond) used to look for him in Lost. Why is this related to my letter? Because the ship was staffed by Brasilians, and I just so happened to have a picture of a Brasilian ship in my blog post! Okay! So I had another riddle this week but it looks like it’s not going to work because my video isn’t uploading.

Mom, the zombie kit was awesome. How about you use it as a Birthday present? Hehe, that was cool.

 (**from Kay Lea - it was a joke - a photo I found on the internet, there will be no "Zombie kits" for birthday presents)

 

  "the aforementioned fruit tree in our yard" (*See last week's post) Cool!

Mom, way to go on all the Relief Society activities! You seem to really be putting your heart into you calling. This is so important! So many people just wait for others to help them feel the spirit and help them stay firm in the church, and so much depends on those who actually go out and try to help those people. As we do more and give more in our callings, we will influence others to take our same course of action, and they will start helping others, and the work will go forward.

Bah! I’m so jealous about "Lost". I mean, I’m glad that it was awesome, but for some reason hearing about "Lost" just made me want to find it online and watch it already. But I resisted the temptation. Hear that Brendon? We have to keep from the spoilers together! I will as long as you do.

That is way sweet that you are so involved in everything Mom! You have a bunch going on! You sound like Lynsey :). It’s also so great that you and the “wives club” are supporting Dad and his partners in the company. You can really make a difference there.  I love you so much Mom. Thank you so much for keeping us updated. Your words have definitely lifted me up.

Grandma and Grandad sent an awesome letter too. Thank you guys. I love my Grandparents :).

Man guys, I had another video to send all of you, but YouTube is not uploading it. However, MyLDSMail is upgrading to use a specialized version of GMail, so I’m pretty excited that I’ll be able to send my videos to you directly instead of waiting for YouTube. Should work next week.

Man, I love you guys so much. I wish I had more to write, it’s been kind of slow here. But! Next week is going to be action packed. Let it be!

My Dad, keep going strong man. I believe in you. The only way to stay excited, stay energetic, and stay happy, is to just do it! Just start, right now, and feel that excitement for the next couple days of work you have before you. Heavenly Father will help you maintain this through prayer. I think it’s a type of faith. We can pray for blessings, and say to yourself, in your head, that they will be fulfilled… but at the same time NOT really believe that anything will change. We can want the blessings, we can ask for them, we can want the faith to believe that they will come, we can ask for the faith, but in the end it will come to our own little seed of faith. We NEED to make that small simple step. Once we inch forward and say, believing completely, “Yeah, those things really are going to happen, Heavenly Father will provide a way”, Heavenly Father will send the confirmation that our prayers will be answered. THEN we will say in our minds, “Woah! I know that those blessings will come!!! I had so much doubt before, but through the Spirit I have felt things that could not have come from any other place, and so I know that God is with me! Sweet! It’s all going to be okay! Awesome!” Of course, we all have to be doing our part, repenting for our mistakes, and relying on constant prayer to receive this, but I think we should not underestimate Faith. We can place wood and pour gas in the fireplace, and it’s a lot of work, but in the end we need that spark of faith. Do you believe? Just believe already!

Anyway, that’s how it’s worked for me and what I’ve understood about this. Don’t procrastinate setting this spark!

Lyns, keep going strong. Heavenly Father is with you. You can pray for comfort and for rest. Sometimes a sincere prayer is much more effective for your work and well-being than a nap or a couple hours of “me-time”. He will give it to you.

My Kaitlin! I am so happy I got your picture last week! I look at your picture almost every day! I love you my sweet Kate! I hope you are still working hard on your homework and on Japanese! Be happy okay my Kaitlin? Are you still saying your prayers? Have you tried to read the Book of Mormon every night? I love you so much my girl. Write me about some of the things that you’ve been doing recently.

Brendon, I love you buddy. Thanks for the video. Do you remember when I did that Game Jam thing at Santa Cruz? It’s already been a freaking year since then! It’s freaking me out how fast time went. Getting up to the 6 month mark! What the heck?!?! Love and live every day.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuVboNL_Vv4

Okay, my photos names were a little less creative this time. Sorry. Kind of rushed right now.

Um, this weeks riddle is "LonelyElder617". What and why? 1 point up for grabs!

Tchau tchau! Amor amor amor!

Elder Con

February 2, 2010 - Letter Home

"The Searcher"

"Procurando Por Almas" - (Seeking for Souls)

Hey Everyone!

Man, I really needed you guys this week. It was a bit hard. But you guys came through and my inbox was full and I even got some photos and man! I’m feeling good now! Thanks Dad, Mom, Lyns and Gram. Kaitlin too for being in the photos.

So listen, my bright idea this week was try to relate all of the information I had about the last week to you all via video! Sounds really awesome on paper right? I planned out what I wanted to say, and started the camera and went with it. Hmmm. I don’t think it turned out all that great. Definitely probably a lot like how Dad felt when he plugged in the camera and just started talking expecting to be perfect. It should be completely natural, shouldn’t it? Just like talking to you guys in person, I imagine. Unfortunately, I think the camera has the opposite effect for first-timers. I feel like I look slightly embarrassed and kind of befuddled in the video, but I hope you guys like it. I had the idea after Lyns said she wanted to hear my voice.

Hey it finished! I really don’t like this video, maybe it’s a little boring. Next time I’ll lighten up and make some jokes or something. I was a bit nervous to talk in front of the camera with everybody else in the lanhouse listening, so please bear with me as you watch. Here is the address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaOo6TWf3To

Anyway, what is cool is that I recorded about 5 minutes of video, and YouTube uploads videos fairly quickly. I think I could go longer. I want to practice doing this, and eventually, maybe transmit everything via video. For now, though, I am going to go slow and practice. Eventually it’ll be just like I’m in the next room.

I kind of forgot about last week, exactly what happened. Here’s a couple of interesting things though: a member’s non-member husband, Geovene, offered us a ride home one night. We accepted. When we got in the car, started driving, and starting making a bit of small talk, we discovered he was pretty drunk. He even stopped driving for a minute to look down and grab a bottle of beer and start drinking more? We asked him not to drink, so he laughed, took a big swig and threw the bottle out the window of the car!!! And the car didn’t have seat belts! Holy smokes! I was so freaking scared, holding on to the sides of the seats, but luckily we got home safely. Luckily it was night and there weren’t many cars on the streets, but he did swerve a little a couple of times. Next time I’ll converse a bit before accepting a ride from a someone I don’t know!

Another experience was teaching a family, with a dad who didn’t have any eyes. Yep. I’ve never seen that before. Blind? Sure. At least they have eyeballs. But unfortunately this man had to have his eyes actually removed, I really don’t know why, I think it was because of cancer. So I tried to talk natural and teach as normal, but I really couldn’t help staring. It’s interesting: blinking is a habit we have, that I think we do automatically like breathing. Even with no eyes, he still had to blink. Can’t really get that image out of my head. Nice little story huh? Interesting what you see on the mission.

I’m doing really good. I think I’m pretty much totally used to being a missionary, and I’m happy. Elder Lima has been a good companion, although it’s been difficult. He’s never been a senior companion before so we’re kind of figuring it out together. But it’s been fun. I’m learning a lot faster with a companion who doesn’t speak English. I hadn’t spoken English for 2 weeks straight until today when we met up with some other American missionaries. Seriously weird.

So tonight you guys are going to watch Lost. Holy smokes I’m so jealous! Live it up. Man, it’s going to be hard to resist downloading the episode on iTunes and watching it during p-day. I am glad I don’t have the iTouch to tempt me into downloading it and watching it during the night or something. I want to let you know, Brendon, that I’m not watching it. Promise. Only 19 months until we get to watch it, man! Sweet. Anyway, have fun and do something special! Maybe invite Cody and Julie and Chase over to watch with you! I think the Nethercotts watch too, make it a party! Take photos and send them to me!

Dad, I love you so much buddy. I too am so very grateful to be a part of your life. I think I really took it for granted back home, and probably acted a couple of times like I shouldn’t have. Right now I just am so excited for the day when Brendon and I can return, help out with the business, and just go and chill, just us guys. We did that a couple of times (like when we went to Glamis for the last time) and man, I love those memories so much. But I think I’m going to enjoy those times with you much more in the future, for sure, because we’ll know somewhat how valuable it is. I love you Dad. You really are my hero. Work hard, but don’t forget to stop once in a while and realize all the blessings you have around you, and that you’re doing your best and the the Lord is going to take care of you and the fam. I know he will. Love you buddy.

Hey Mom! So cool about your study experience. Loved it. I’m going to study about stars tomorrow, I think. :) I’m so happy you’re continuing to be strong and do the right things. I’m so happy to have you as a mom. Elder Lima doesn’t have one, and as we’ve talked about our lives I realized how much of a difference you made in mine. So thankful you’re there to take care of the family. I love you lots.

Winter here is supposed to be pretty harsh, but luckily Elder Losee and Elder Duarte left thermal underwear, sweaters, coats, gloves and hats with me. So actually I think I’m pretty ready! What you could do for me though is send me my black hoodie. The one I always used to wear? I hope it’s not stuffed away where you cant find it. I think it’ll be good because it’s something I can wear on cold P-days and can sleep in comfortably (imagine sleeping in a suitcoat!). I already have my pajama bottoms and I’m waiting to be able to use them :) .

I’m really good. Healthy. Tan. Getting really really buff with this excersize routine every morning. Yep, watch out world.

I love you so much my mom.

Hey Lyns! Hope you liked the video. I made it because of your comment. Life is CRAZY!?!?! How could it be any different for my sweet sis? Man Lyns, the end of junior year was the year I stressed out the most, I think. Senior year was hard, but I’m pretty sure junior year was worse for me. You just got to remember to start early on everything, and get done early, and try to minimize time to have fun. If you do it early you’ll find you will actually have more time to have fun, because you won’t be stressing later, which often causes you to work less effectively, which means you have to work even longer, taking up time with friends. I know it sucks, but you’re gonna get through it sis! You’ve got what it takes. Don’t let up okay? You’ll get used to it.

I liked remembering about us playing at the stream and all of our other memories. Man. Awesome times. Those times were great, but we have much better ones coming up. I think it just gets better as time goes on. Many many more memories to go.

Hey, you can watch all of the seasons of Lost again if you want, but I want to let you know that we’re probably going to watch them all again anyway when we get back. I’m so jealous that you’re gonna watch the last season tonight. Holy smokes I just want to watch Lost. Gah! Ahem.

Lyns, I love you so much. Stay strong. Thank you so much for the letter and photos!

Kaitlin! I loved seeing you in the photos! You’re getting older! I can notice! Kait I hope school is going good and that your learning lots. How’s the Japanese going? Kaitlin, I have a couple of girls in our ward here your age that are going to write you a letter! In Portuguese! I’ll translate it first though, don’t worry. Cool huh? You can write them back if you want, and I’ll translate for you too. They are very excited to write to you, because they really like America! Kaitlin, I love you so much. Here is a huge bear hug! Can’t wait to see you again.

Hey Gramma Imogene, I love you. Thank you so much for the letter. Hope you next week is good. I’m staying healthy thanks to your vitamins! All the other missionaries are jealous. Can’t wait for your letter! Take care of the family, okay? And stay healthy too.

Okay guys, kind of short today. Enjoy the week! Enjoy Lost you lucky dogs!

As always, love love and more love!

Connor

"Boat Guy"

P.S. Oh yeah, the photos! Didn't know that there were missionaries serving on the high seas? :) (this is a monument in the center of Boqueirao, that commemorates the Portuguese settling the south of Brasil. Cool...)

P.S.S. 1 Point for anyone who can figure out why I chose the words in the subject line. Game on!

Okay Bye!

January 26, 2010 - Letter Home

 Calamidade! (Calamity!)

Noooooooo!

You have no idea how sad I am right now. I just lost about 2 pages of a letter for you guys. And my time is ending in this LANhouse. It’s funny how despite all the precautions you take, saving your letter, making sure your time doesn’t end, how all your work just be deleted in one second.
Well. I’m going to write a simple version of what I was going to say now.

It was sad to learn about Aunt Jan. I have many fond memories of her, but it sure helps to be out in the mission field and to have an even greater opportunity to understand the plan of salvation. She will stay in my heart.

It was also nice to get letters from the Stake Presidency, Scott Hayden, Mike and Nat, Gramma Imogene, and all the cousins! Love you guys so much you sure brightened my week here in rainy Passo Fundo!

Elder Lima

This week was the first with Elder Lima, and it sure is different than being with Elder Duarte but it’s been real good and it’s only gonna get better.

 

 

 

 

I have a bunch of photos for you guys! I hope it makes up for the short letter. There’s two here that’d make great background for all you Elder Carpenter fans ;).

I’ll catch you up more on this week in my next letter. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Mom, love you as always. Thanks for the letter!
Dad, love you so much. Good luck with work! Praying and fasting for you.
Lyns, hope all is well with school the band and all the other hundred things! You sure looked cute in the Brasil photo mom sent.
Kaitlin! I love you so much! I just want to give you a big hug right now! Did you like the Brazil night? Weird food huh but really good! I’ll make some for you when I get back, Elder Lima is a great cook and is teaching me how to make stuff.

"Cheesecake, Mom! Cheesecake!"

Brendon! Man, “Thank you turtle, you saved my life!” Hahaha! I’m so glad you remembered that. I laughed out loud at that and also your story about shaving the legs! Hah! That’s hilarious. Here’s a scripture just for you ‘kay? John 8:32. I ran across it the other day and it made me laugh. Love you buddy. Make your photos smaller so I can download them easier, okay? Work hard!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE you guys! Have a good week!

Elder C

  "Find Elder C"

 

 "Osmar and Elizete"

 

 "Richard and Juberto"

 

"Ernie" (the strange beetle)

January 18, 2010 - Letter Home

Hey Family!

I forgot to tell all of you that I would have my P-day early this week. Thus, I am granting you all a holiday from writing letters to me! Seriously, lay back, relax, and wait till next week to write letters. It’s hard to do, especially out there in the world with so much else to do. You might be thinking that I’m being sarcastic, but I’m really not. Just go with it.

So this week was the last week I had with Elder Duarte. This transfer flew by. Nossa (Dang)… Mission life. Crazy.

Elder Duarte: "Cachorro Lutador" - (Dog Fighter)

 

"Ultima Reuniao De Distrito De Elder Duarte" - (Finale Reunion Of the District Of Elder Duarte)

"Ultima Noite De Elder Duarte" - (Final Night of Elder Duarte)

"Goodbye and good Luck to Elder Duarte"

Elder Duarte and I taught Antonio every morning of the week this week, had a baptismal interview on Saturday, and he was baptized on Sunday after church! This, my friends, is the definition of the word ELECT. He never had a problem with anything we taught, read and prayed every single day after we taught, committed to follow all of the principles of the Gospel, and pretty much we just did a sprint, Antonio in the lead, running for the baptismal font.

I was also very surprised to find out that he chose me to baptize him! I was sure that he would choose Elder Duarte, because Elder Duarte is very outgoing, always cracking jokes, conversing, and teaching the lessons in a way that seems conversational and natural. While I somewhat stumble (but less than before) through the language, conversation, and knowing what and how to teach. But he picked me. Before going into the baptismal font, he told me he was shaking slightly and said he was nervous, and suddenly I felt like Heavenly Father gave me a surge of strength to comfort him, and I gave him a big hug and felt the spirit so strong while I gave him a short testimony that Heavenly Father loved him and was happy with him at that moment.
I loved baptizing Bruno and Jomerson, but baptizing Antonio was the best so far, for sure. I am sure he will be a leader in the church, and do a lot of work in our Lord’s kingdom. So glad to be a part of it.

"Antonio Septumbrino Gumaraes"

Antonio’s baptism certainly was a blessing, because I don’t feel like we quite deserved it. Unfortunately, Elder Duarte, while brimming with experience and skill, just kind of ran out of batteries this week. So we spent a lot of time in member’s houses, with Elder Duarte talking about all the things he would do when he got home. Dang! He only had a week left to serve strong for the entire mission. I should’ve been more hard on him. I hope I can be strong at the end of my mission. Anyway, he’s crazy excited now to go home, and honestly is making me a little crazy with all the focus on home. Hehe. I love him. It’s a small thing to have to endure between friends, I think.

"Elders with Gaucho Statue"

One night a family that Elder Duarte helped out when he was in another area in our zone, invited us to a churrasco! It was at night, on the top of a building in the center of the city, with a constructed fire pit, mountains of meat roasting, way more people than we had expected, and dance music! So I learned how to do a two step tango! That was fun, but also bizarre. I never expected to go to a party and enjoy myself on the mission. It seemed against the attitude we should be having here, but after I complained to Elder Duarte a bit, he said he’ll take all the blame if we get up to heaven and someone points fingers. I should’ve threatened to call President or something. I don’t know. It’s hard. I’m committing to be %100 obedient with my next companion, and not to give in to anything questionable. I’ll let you know how that goes. But anyway the tango and the churrasco and that whole night was really fun.

Speaking of my next companion, Elder Duarte says that he’s 99% certain it will be Elder A. Lima, another missionary in my zone, who will be transferred here. I would be his first Junior companion. He’s a short, spectacled Elder from Fortaleza. We have a good friendship already because I’ve sat with him a couple times while the rest of the Elders were playing soccer.

 "Red Hat Time with Elder Lima"

President sent me a message to give a little extra help for him to get started in his job as a senior. I am very excited to help him, if it is he that will be my next companion. He’s been waiting a long time to be senior, and so I think it’s my job to make sure that he has the best and most successful experience. I’m going to have plenty of time later to be Senior, so I am just going to work on being the absolute best Junior in the field. Come on Elder A. Lima, let’s rock Boquierao!

I am also excited because Elder Duarte said someone else from my group in the CTM will be coming here. It could be Elder Feller, my old companion, Elder Anderson, class clown, but good friend, or Elder DeMille, quiet but with a lot of potential. I would be so so happy to see any of them! It’s been 3 months since I’ve seen them! And also, because for some reason, the people from my group in the CTM seem to be better friends still than I have yet made in my district or zone.

"My Group Of The CTM, Here To Dominate Passo Fundo!"

I had a bunch of photos to send you, but my battery died and the camera doesn’t recharge through the USB cord like I thought it would. I’ll send you my photos from this week separately next week so that you can put the right photos in the right blog post, okay? Sorry for the inconvenience.

Mom! Here’s a big squishy kiss on the cheek.
Lyns! Here is a big happy smile, laugh, and hug.
My Kait! Here’s me lifting you up in the air, and an excited hug.
Grandma! Here’s a light, fragile hug and a wide smile.
My bro! Here’s a side hug, pat on the back, some quick joke (it doesn’t matter which one) and an accompanying chortle.

My Dad! Here’s a handshake, soft smile, and long warm embrace.

Did you feel that? I sure did. I’m right here guys.

Love love love, my fam!

It’s gettin’ better every day!

Elder Con

January 12, 2010 - Letter Home

Saudade é!... Um prego na bota.
(^ popular gaucho phrase)

Hey hey my Family!

So awesome to get all your letters this week. I love you guys so much! Its so cool that  we can communicate like this. I feel very close to all of you right now, even 9000 miles away.

"c Eu Acho Que Estou Engordando" (I Find That I Am Growing Fat)

This week has been awesome. I`m feeling very good nowadays. I think it`s safe to say that I`ve passed the homesickness stage of the mission (the 3-4 month mark is the hardest, other missionaries say). The key for me was my call home over the holidays. So good. After that, I had the medicine I needed, and it just took time to get all better again. I can safely say “2 years” now, and not get a big knot in my stomach. So… Manda-o Ver! (“Send it to see!”, basically means “Bring it!”)

This last week has been marked by the fact that Elder Duarte will be leaving next Tuesday for Sao Paulo, where he will reunite with his single dad, try to help him get his life together, try to work in the CTM, try to get accepted into BYU, and try to reactivate his younger sister and mom. I love Elder Duarte. I will miss him. I really needed him. I am so much a better missionary now because of him. I now am able to teach the lessons fairly relaxed, more conversationally, and have a range of examples, scriptures, and good questions to ask our investigators. It`s been difficult trying to keep up with him, but just this morning I taught the 2nd lesson and didn’t feel any regret or stupidity afterward! This is very good!

"Duarte"

Elder Duartes challenged me at the beginning of the transfer to read the Livro de Mormon, in Portuguese, out loud, for about an hour and a half every morning. This is all of my personal study time. I have the English Book of Mormon nearby just in case there`s a word I don`t recognize (but I don`t have to use it very often any more!) Holy smokes guys! I`m serious! It`s totally working! You remember that movie, The Other Side of Heaven, where the elder read side by side like that and woke up and spoke perfect Tongan? I`m serious, it`s kind of like that. Like seriously. A couple of times this week I would just be participation in a conversation and notice, “Hey, I just understood everything that person said, and just replied, and they just understood me without having a strange look on their face!” It`s honestly kind of freaking me out. There are still moments where I`m lost, but I find that when I read the Book of Mormon in Portuguese seriously in my personal study, I receive these moments of complete comprehension in Portuguese throughout my day, especially when I need it most. It is so cool guys, I wish I could explain it better. I would recommend to all new Elders in a foreign field, just read the Book of Mormon in your mission language. That`s how you get the gift of tongues.

Juliana and Jonas have been super hard to get a hold of this week, and while we`ve been teaching Jocemara a lot, she hasn’t been keeping all the commitments, and so both families weren`t baptized this week. However, the Lord provides, my family!

Antonio, a single 40 year old man, showed up at church last Sunday with an old and tattered Gospel Principles book. He got it from a past girlfriend of his, and started reading it and liked it, and found and went to the church downtown last Sunday, where they told him that there was a chapel closer to where he lived, Ala Boqueriao! He told us in our first visit, before we taught anything, “I really want to be baptized.” Hah! I don`t know if you all are able to comprehend how much that phrase means to a pair of missionaries. It`s inexplicable. Like a frosty glass bottle of water, icy flakes floating at the top, drank with dry, cracking, sandy lips in the middle of a dry, cracking, sun-baked desert. Refreshing words poured down my ears and down to my heart. Yep, it`s kinda like that. So we will have a baptism this Sunday, com certeza (for sure!)

Let`s see, some interesting things this week… We took all of our change the other day, a big jarful, and dumped it out onto the table of the guy that takes your money to ride the bus. That was kind of funny. Let`s see, I can do better than that…

Last week I went to Lagoa again, for a division. It was fun. I love Lagoa. You guys would like it too. A lot of the Brazilian Elders are from the big city, because that`s where the church is strongest here. Therefore, I often hear how Lagoa is a horrible place to be and work. I would like to serve there. I did a service project there for a family who was moving there, and while most of the time we just moved around furniture, Fatima, the mom there, handed me a machete and told me to go cut down a tree to use to make a laundry line. I contained a large smile as I accepted the machete and set off for the forest. Awesome, other than the fact that I brushed against a tree which appeared to have a large clump of moss on it but instead happened to be a large cluster of caterpillars which all got hooked onto my shirt. Yikes! I kind of freaked out there for a second when that happened. Anyway, I went out there, selected a straight, thin tree which would work as a laundry post, and I freakin chopped it down, stripped the branches, and took it back to the house. Yeah! So cool. Lots of manly business going on here.

Fatima paid us for our work with two bags of pasta, some tomatoes, and a bunch of herbs! That night, I tried my hand at cooking, and thought I made a fine dinner, a little too much salt, but it was edible! And I made it! I took a photo because I was proud of that.

After that I tried to repair my little speaker that I brought with me. It stopped working. So I took it all apart, tried to figure it out, did a million things to try to put it back together and start working, but it just didn’t work and I ended up throwing it away. Oh well…

But that`s okay because I made a deal with Elder Duarte. I`m sorry to say that I traded away my iPod touch. Having that iPod was too much of a temptation, what with internet capabilities, video, and the ability to download games and other things. So for R$100, some nice (but bulkier) speakers, 5 ties and a sweater, Elder Duarte is a proud owner of an iPod touch. He`s been begging for it for the whole transfer, because it`s pretty much like a space machine here. I still have my 1G Nano that Lynsey gave me for my 16th birthday, and that should be sufficient for my needs. Besides, when I get back, I`ll be able to buy a tenth generation iPhone with holograms and artificial intelligence. No big deal.

So other than that, it was a fairly uneventful week. I think things will continue to be so. Can`t be Indiana Jones every week.

Alright, now for my fam.

Hey Kaitlin! Do you know how much I love it when you send me letters? Can you believe it`s 2010 already?! You will be 15 this year! You will be 16 when I come home! Cool huh? That will be weird. You will be so old! My mission has been good during the break. Christmas and New Year`s is really fun and loud and crazy here. Today I played soccer at the chapel with all of the other missionaries. I never played alot before the mission, but I really like it now! Even though all the little kids are still better than me I think I`m getting pretty good!
Tell mom she can send me some Japanese candy to me for my birthday! That would be cool. Kaitlin, I figured out what the dress the Brasilian girls wear here. It`s called “Vestido de Prenda” and it`s kind of like a Indian suri! There`s a cool dance they do here too with the dresses. Look it up on the internet!
Kaitlin I do think of you a lot and I Looooooovvvveee you so much! Have a good week at school, and keep learning Japanese! I love you Kait.
Con

Hey Dad! I want news about how the meeting went in New York!  I love you Dad. I`m so proud of the hard work you are doing. It is such an example to me. Thank you so much for your words about life. It so helps me to put everything into perspective. I know that as much as I`m learning here, you and mom are probably learning just as much being the parents of a missionary. It’s a big cycle. I am also so proud of the work you are doing in the Elders Quorum. A good Elder`s quorum leader can mean the world to the word. You are certainly doing a great and important work there.

The Brasilian party sounds awesome! I don`t know if my experiences are unique to Rio Grande do Sol or all of Brasil, but the things which are most iconic for me now are the simple things: the way they cook meat (churrasco), the way that coke comes in bottles only, most people drink coke through a straw because it`s more “dignified”, bagged milk is cheap and delicious, fruit is plentiful and cheap and an easy meal, everyone hangs their clothes out to dry, the washers here are very weak so you need to make sure you don’t put in too much clothes, the roads here are all jagged cobblestone, there are stray dogs everywhere, maybe they know about drinking chimarrao, everyone has a motorcycle instead of cars, there still exists family owned grocery stores instead of supermarkets, some older people still wear traditional clothing out in the streets, mosquitos are loco at night (but probably not as bad as Brendon has it)… I don`t know, you might have to use some stories I already told you too. It will be fun to join in the Brasilian parties when I return. :)
Love ya so much Dad. Thanks for being there for me. I`m right here with ya. I know Heavenly Father will bless us after all we can do!
Until next week! Love love love!
Con

Hey Mom!
Thank you so much for the letter! Man I miss you so much! Do you know I was in the middle of companion study, happened to look at your picture on my iPod, and said out loud, “Man, I really miss my Mom!” I accidentally said it out loud, and my companion laughed and told everyone else about it. Yeah. I miss ya Mom.
Thanks for updating the blog! It`s awesome! Such a good record of our journeys in Brasil. When it`s all done we`ll have a book there online. It looks great. So the holidays are over. They came and went, and we weren`t there to help you truck all the boxes back and forth between the house and the building. :( It flew by for me. Didn`t seem like it was the holidays really, but I don`t really feel bad about that. Its how it should be.
Good job on making the resolutions! As you`ll find in Preach My Gospel, only through goals will we be able to get anywhere in life. It all starts at our goals. Now… you just need to follow through with them :).
I kind of aimed the first half of my email this week at you, because you asked about feeling accustomed to the mission. For surely by next month I`ll be at that place. I`m well on my way there. I`m glad. I feel like things will just get easier from here on out. Elder Duarte says that now, he doesn’t even think about what to say or do during a lesson or contacting anyone: he just does it. He says it will just get easier and easier until it`s nothing really at all. Of course, I have to keep pushing myself to learn to be better and better, to work harder and harder, but all the same I think it`s just getting better every day.
I do understand how you feel about wishing to be able to get into my head. For surely, every day there are surprises, challenges, moments of joy and of despair every day here, which come and go and are probably impossible to catch completely and transmit to you guys. You might not have a frame of reference of the life I live now, but you could eventually in the future! Once Dad`s business takes off and we`re all living in our own houses with our own families, you`ll able to go get away with Dad, go to Italy or France again, maybe here in Rio Grande do Sol (you could blend in easy here), live hear for 6 months and learn the language and tour around… That would be awesome right? I think it`s very very possible to do that. In 6 months, even without being a missionary, you could learn a language with somewhat fluency, I think. Cool dream huh? :)
Next transfer I will probably stay here and receive another senior companion, help him figure out Boqueirao. I`m glad! I love this place. I finally know everyone in the ward, have a bunch of investigators to visit, things in the future. It would be sad to leave that behind. I hope I get a good companion (but I have a feeling it`ll be time to be tested a bit :) ). All good.
I am very proud of you for reading and studying! So awesome! It`s going to be difficult to continue, but you just need to keep at it until it`s a habit! I know it will be worth it! Preach my Gospel is awesome, and will help you so much in knowing what to say when the opportunity comes up to simply and easily explain the Gospel when a friend or acquaintance asks about it. Try to even do a practice, in Family Home Evening, to say the 1st discussion in about 5 minutes. I think this would be a good activity in church too. Everyone should know how to easily explain the gospel! If everyone had that knowledge, which is just right there in Preach my Gospel, so much more of the work of the Lord would get done!
I am very glad you are trying to spend more time with Kaitlin. This could be the most important thing. I know it`s hard, but pray about what to do with her! She needs a lot still, I think. I am so glad she has you mom. So thankful we have her together.
Mom, I love you lots! Thank you for everything! Love love love!
Your Conman

Whoops, I kind of ran out of time. Short letters for everyone else. Sorry :(

Lyns, Good luck on your new band, your hard classes, drum lessons… all of it! You need it! Keep praying Lyns! You`re in my prayers!
Love you so much Lyns, my little sis,
Con

Brendon,
Riding up that dang hill to our apartment in Santa Cruz. Picture it. Yep. Awesome. Here`s my plan: return to Santa Cruz for one year, get our associates degree, search around for schools, preferably schools in Brazil. Study in Brazil for two years, coming home for the Winter and Summers. We could be college English tutors, which I hear pays real good. One summer, motorcycles across all of Brasil, or atleast all the temples of Brazil, making a podcast on the way, could be zombie-centric or not. One summer, bring the family out, vacation it up and tour it up all fancy like. One summer, take a summer session at BYU and do some wife shopping (half-serious). Then, use our awesome Brazilian degrees to look really different and exotic and awesome to all the hue five-star colleges, finish up our graduates and then launch out for the world!
What do you think?
Your Bro!
Elder Carpenter (what, a letter from yourself?!)

Hey Grama Imogene! I love you! Thank you for your letter! I love the new Ensign here too! I am still waiting to get our own in our house, but I`ve read members`. Gospel Principles is cool too. That`s awesome about Quintin! I can`t believe hes already home! It will be that way with us too, I imagine. Love you Grama! Have a good week!
Connor

Grandma and Grandad! Thank you so much for the letter! I loved it. Letters are gold here. I think about you often, and am proud to answer with my Grandpa`s name when anyone asks who else in my family served a mission. The vision of you returning to NZ to see the people you helped keeps me going. I miss the cousins so much and am so glad to be part of such a great family. I can`t wait to see the experiences they will have soon in serving the Lord in the missionary field. I am glad you are healthy and are enjoying life! Thank you for watching over and praying for my family. Oh yeah! There is a member here who`s brother lives in Tucson. Maybe in your ward? What was the name of your ward when you lived there? The family`s name was Bortolache. Would be cool!
Love you guys! Thanks for keeping me connected!
Your Grandson!
Connor