All you got!
(talent show, other church, inglish class, junior, eloisa, teachin in another school, more bonfires, coookies)
Hey Fam! What a week! So awesome to get a bunch of photos from Lyns in her graduation! So awesome that it finally happened! I hope she has an awesome graduation trip and vacation in Hawaii! Man, it's really hard to be away from all these important events. Congrats Lyns!
So this week went really fast. Me and Elder Persinger are becoming better and better friends and we are working harder and harder: I've finally got this fire inside of me lit to just give all I got until the end, and it's pretty awesome just to try and give it all up for the Lord and in love for the people. I've got to change this area! It's gotta become a ward! They need so much for it all to grow! Why has it taken me so long to get this kind of fire and faith? I wish that I could've had this kind of motivation since the beginning.
No fear, no stress, no doubt, just doing all you can do without the idea of actually getting anything back from it. That may have been the best lesson I've learned: the work is it's own reward, and while you should believe that huge miracles are around the corner, you should not let any setbacks get you down, because those big miracles... it's just one corner away. I'm becoming more and more grateful, even when there're setbacks, to get to know Christ and get to share some of the feelings that He had for the people. I want SO much to just keep going like He did, until the very end. It's a really big commitment, but once we make it, everything just works out right. I still have a lot to work on, but I'm feeling very good about myself, about the work, and about my mission. What a great blessing to have this time in my life! There is so much happiness to spread. :)
This week we participated in a talent show of the ward and got 5 investigators there, and we did a skit where we all dressed up gangster and had a rap battle with some other members but with all the words taken from Primary hymns, and with Elder Persinger beatboxing,. Hehehe, it was kind of a last minute thing but I think it all worked out all right. People laughed. :)
They've released cookie mix at our local supermarket and we're going crazy making cookies for everyone! One reason is that nobody knows what they are and everyone likes them, and so we're trying to buy out ALL the cookie mix the supermarket has so nobody else makes our same discovery. Exclusivity! It's fun to bake... Hmm.
We had a great success in our English class, getting 12 investigators there, and having some really fun English activities, like playing UNO while reciting numbers and colors and playing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes... I wish we could get as many people to church as to our other activities! This week we invited EVERYONE and followed up on EVERYONE to go to church... and no one came. Everybody slept in they said.
Man! Now I know a little bit of how God must feel when we repeatedly don't keep His commandments even after His many many invites and His many blessings He gives to us. Sheesh. But the battle goes on... B)
We're making Bonfires, fun. We're gonna teach in a school here and get a BUNCH of references. We're gonna play soccer this week from the kids we challenged last week, and we started to teach one of them.
Anyway, business as usual and not that much to relate. Sorry! But I know that big things are coming, because everybody is needing some success here in this area. More love, more faith, more courage, more discipline, more sacrifice... this is how we'll win this war.
Love you guys. :) Can't wait to rip it up in Cali and convert all of Santa Monica! I want to be a missionary forever!
Okay, I'm rushed, sorry. I love you, have a good week, thank you for all the great e-mails. :)
Elder Connor
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
May 23, 2011 - Letter Home
When you get kicked off....
Hey family! It's another transfer today and I have the luck of staying with my awesome companion Elder Persinger in this area for the next 6 weeks! My hope is that I can stay here until The End. I am excited. There are a lot of reasons for wanting to stay here. We had a lofty goal of baptizing this last transfer and while we worked our pants off (not literally like Brendon did though... :P) alot of baptismal goals got canceled and right now we're without definite plans, but we have reason to beleive this next transfer will include miracles. The first reason is because we feel like the Lord is preparing something for us. The second reason is that President called us Friday night to congratulate the awesome numbers we got this whole transfer and promised us that we would baptize this next transfer. Yeah! We're gonna go for it!
We had a couple cool experiences this week, the first or foremost was our visit with Rafael and his family of 5, our next door neighboors, who the missionaries have taught a bunch and have given up on at times, but we had a sweet visit with him where he said he was finally understanding what the missionaries were trying to pass to him and his family and he said he would read and pray to receive an answer about the BoM. If you can just write the names "Rafael and Janice" on the prayer roll at the temple for me I'll be super happy because they need a miracle. We love them and their kids so much we're always messing around with them and we got the 3 kids, boys of 15, 14, and 9 to church and to the English class we teach this week. Sweet! I want to see them all serve missions one day! This week we made a basketball hoop in the front of our house and taught those and other kids basketball and the youngest, Matteus, really loves us and is excited about the church. It would be the best thing to see an entire family like them be baptized!
Weird thing happened with Matteus the other day, we were walking back from our English class and we saw a horse tied up and we went to go pet it and Matteus just got a little bit close to the horse and suddenly it leaps forward and tries to bite him! Matteus fell on the ground and we freaked out and pushed the horse out of the way and got Matteus out of there but it was crazy! One violent horse! Matteus is good now though and we joke with him that he's going to turn into a werehorse at the next full moon. :)
We did a pretty sweet thing this week. We were with some other kids from the ward kicking around a football (soccer ball) after English class and we saw some other kids in the park doing the same thing so we CHALLENGED THEM! We said that if we won, they'd have to go to church, and if they won, they could take our scriptures... (heh heh win/win) It was a hard game and those other kids were pros, but in the end we pulled it all out and BEAT them! Yeah! It was so sweet! They said they'd go to church - but they didn't - but we see them like every day on the street so something'll come out of it prolly.
We had a sweet super district meeting the other day where everyone in our zone rescheduled their lunch to other days so we could make a huge feast and eat it all together in the chapel. It was fun! We made cookies for everyone. Someone else brought a cool indian food meal. It was Elder Olsen's last district meeting and he's going home tomorrow and it was pretty sad because he's an awesome missionary and was pretty broken up about leaving. He gave a way cool spiritual goodbye talk. After, we played soccer with a basketball in a super slippery smaller basketball court with our church shoes on and with single chairs as goals and it was super fun. "Slipball" we call it. The hardest part of the game was just staying on your feet and not running into others.
Anyway, the work is slipping and stumbling on! Nothing can stop it! I'm expecting big things from this next transfer so your prayers would be super appreciated! I gotta change this area!
I'm SUPER EXCITED about the awesome college schedule my parents set up for me and I am so pumped to get home running! It's so cool to be so close to the temple where we're gonna live! I just can't wait to be with my family but I know it'll come soon enough so I'm gonna just keep running running runnin until that day! I am so thankful for your e-mails and support and hope you all can keep running as well and can really try to think of the example of our Savior as much as possible throughout the day, because there are so many opportunities to serve and to feel His love and that's the only way we will be able to have truly true happiness in our lives. Live it!
Very much love for you all!
Your Elder,
Connor Carpenter
P.S. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkgOBL1-bwA
http://youtu.be/BX9pPscxlXw (the view gets better towards the end, be patient)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_NZRDlZ1Q8
Hey family! It's another transfer today and I have the luck of staying with my awesome companion Elder Persinger in this area for the next 6 weeks! My hope is that I can stay here until The End. I am excited. There are a lot of reasons for wanting to stay here. We had a lofty goal of baptizing this last transfer and while we worked our pants off (not literally like Brendon did though... :P) alot of baptismal goals got canceled and right now we're without definite plans, but we have reason to beleive this next transfer will include miracles. The first reason is because we feel like the Lord is preparing something for us. The second reason is that President called us Friday night to congratulate the awesome numbers we got this whole transfer and promised us that we would baptize this next transfer. Yeah! We're gonna go for it!
We had a couple cool experiences this week, the first or foremost was our visit with Rafael and his family of 5, our next door neighboors, who the missionaries have taught a bunch and have given up on at times, but we had a sweet visit with him where he said he was finally understanding what the missionaries were trying to pass to him and his family and he said he would read and pray to receive an answer about the BoM. If you can just write the names "Rafael and Janice" on the prayer roll at the temple for me I'll be super happy because they need a miracle. We love them and their kids so much we're always messing around with them and we got the 3 kids, boys of 15, 14, and 9 to church and to the English class we teach this week. Sweet! I want to see them all serve missions one day! This week we made a basketball hoop in the front of our house and taught those and other kids basketball and the youngest, Matteus, really loves us and is excited about the church. It would be the best thing to see an entire family like them be baptized!
Weird thing happened with Matteus the other day, we were walking back from our English class and we saw a horse tied up and we went to go pet it and Matteus just got a little bit close to the horse and suddenly it leaps forward and tries to bite him! Matteus fell on the ground and we freaked out and pushed the horse out of the way and got Matteus out of there but it was crazy! One violent horse! Matteus is good now though and we joke with him that he's going to turn into a werehorse at the next full moon. :)
 |
| horseness |
We had a sweet super district meeting the other day where everyone in our zone rescheduled their lunch to other days so we could make a huge feast and eat it all together in the chapel. It was fun! We made cookies for everyone. Someone else brought a cool indian food meal. It was Elder Olsen's last district meeting and he's going home tomorrow and it was pretty sad because he's an awesome missionary and was pretty broken up about leaving. He gave a way cool spiritual goodbye talk. After, we played soccer with a basketball in a super slippery smaller basketball court with our church shoes on and with single chairs as goals and it was super fun. "Slipball" we call it. The hardest part of the game was just staying on your feet and not running into others.
 |
| Fun times. |
I'm SUPER EXCITED about the awesome college schedule my parents set up for me and I am so pumped to get home running! It's so cool to be so close to the temple where we're gonna live! I just can't wait to be with my family but I know it'll come soon enough so I'm gonna just keep running running runnin until that day! I am so thankful for your e-mails and support and hope you all can keep running as well and can really try to think of the example of our Savior as much as possible throughout the day, because there are so many opportunities to serve and to feel His love and that's the only way we will be able to have truly true happiness in our lives. Live it!
Very much love for you all!
Your Elder,
Connor Carpenter
P.S. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkgOBL1-bwA
http://youtu.be/BX9pPscxlXw (the view gets better towards the end, be patient)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_NZRDlZ1Q8
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
May 17, 2011 - Letter Home
Little Big Email
Hey family! This week was good! I hope your week was good too! Thanks for all of the great e-mails! :)
Unfortunately.... I don't have alot of time today. Sorry! But I'm sure it'll be okay just this once if I summarize the week quickly... And I got photos!
This week we did a service project cleaning out an old school so that a ward could use it as a church building while their chapel was being built.
We played soccer afterwards. My team won! It's easy to be awesome at soccer when playing against 10 year olds!
We had a cool zone conference. I got a sweet new phone. But no letters... :(
We helped the Dullius family chip away at concrete for a day. Fun!
We helped a family put a bunch of bricks into their yard. We got a bit dirty but everybody started looking and asking why we were helping and we told them that's what we do, and we got to teach a couple cool people.
Dilberto came to our English class. He's a cool new investigator we're teaching.
Mara isn't smoking! But we figured out she isn't married! Another hurdle.
Jedilson and Sonia treated us to an awesome soup dinner!
We made brownies with our next door neighboors. They got burnt.
I love you all so much! Thank you for everything! Especially your prayers! Keep working hard and trusting in the Lord! He'll make it all all right!
Your Elder,
Connor
Hey family! This week was good! I hope your week was good too! Thanks for all of the great e-mails! :)
Unfortunately.... I don't have alot of time today. Sorry! But I'm sure it'll be okay just this once if I summarize the week quickly... And I got photos!
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| Bed Brakes! |
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| Service Project |
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| Strange, still-eyed beast |
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| Sister Dullius |
We helped a family put a bunch of bricks into their yard. We got a bit dirty but everybody started looking and asking why we were helping and we told them that's what we do, and we got to teach a couple cool people.
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| Funny Lady |
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| Star Fruit |
Jedilson and Sonia treated us to an awesome soup dinner!
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| Soup with Jedilson |
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| Elder Toad |
Your Elder,
Connor
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
May 10, 2011 - Letter Home
Grand Finale
Hey Famly!
This week was awesome; Elder Persinger and I are getting more and more on fire as the transfer goes on. That's why it would be AWESOME if I got to stay here with him next transfer. He's getting to be my best friend on the mission. Heh, I think it's pretty awesome how now each of my new companions gets better than the last. I love my companions.
Unfortunately, it seems like we're still just getting started after the last couple weeks, we had to move on from a bunch of investigators that were really awesome and that we love a lot and who want to have the blessings of the gospel, but just don't seem to want to make the sacrifice to get to that point. Man, this part of missionary work has got to be the hardest: seeing people you love not ready to choose the right.
However, we've had victories this week and are finding new people every day. One cool thing this week was finding Sister Mara, who had studied with the missionaries a couple years ago but then they were emergency transferred and she got left behind. She had been going to another church here, but after our visit, she went to our church Sunday, was treated very well, and even though she was hesitant to pray and go to church and study with us and accept the invite to stop smoking and get ready to be baptized.... we asked her to do it. And that's when the Lord did his part. It's hard, and maybe not right to describe these experiences through text, but we had a very spiritual experience with her, and she decided to change everything in her life just to follow the feelings she had felt. It was awesome. So thats how we inherited like a million cigarretes and ashtrays and stuff, which are in our apartment right now til we get rid of them. Weird. We traded her for oranges (vitamin C helps against tobacco poisoning) anti-toxifying tea, and cinnamon gum. It's gonna work! We passed by today and she's saying it's still a bit hard but she's resisting the temptation. Yeah! I'm pretty excited about her and I'm excited for her family too, who were a bit less interested and doubtful that she could stop smoking, but they'll probably be inspired by her act of faith. All right!
We were dragging pretty seriously Saturday, because a lot of things fell through and we didn't know if anyone would come to church. We prayed and fired eachother up that God was going to make a miracle happen, and sure enough, we get to church and discover that an inactive guy, Joao, that we had invited to church really quicklast time we saw him, came to church with his wife and two daughters (not baptized), and said that we should come and talk to them to see how they could be baptized. Awesome! Miracles! They seem really cool, and have two other teenage sons we haven't talked to yet. Great!
Anyway, this Sunday was great and I loved the phone call, and while I did get a LITTLE trunky for about an hour or two after, just because of the realization that it was my last phone call, right now I'm right back on top. Like Brendon and Elder Clay, me and Persinger made a promise to eachother to keep running until the end of our missions (a little easier for me than him, the guy's got forever to go! :P) For sure, there's a lot of baptisms and success and suffering and sweating and getting tired and miracles in these next couple months for us. :) Awesome.
Well, I have to e-mail tomorrow for a college test I'm doing, and my camera ran out of battery just now, so I will wait till tomorrow to send photos.
I love you all, I am happy, and most of all, I am thankful. I have so many blessings! And not just that; so do my family, friends, and many people I know. We are all so blessed. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that he'll cure us and save us. Going about life with the intent of following Him at whatever cost gives us the greatest rest and satisfaction. I love you all my families.
Have a good week! Keep fighting every day! Love love,
Elder Con
Hey Famly!
This week was awesome; Elder Persinger and I are getting more and more on fire as the transfer goes on. That's why it would be AWESOME if I got to stay here with him next transfer. He's getting to be my best friend on the mission. Heh, I think it's pretty awesome how now each of my new companions gets better than the last. I love my companions.
 |
| Elder Olsen |
However, we've had victories this week and are finding new people every day. One cool thing this week was finding Sister Mara, who had studied with the missionaries a couple years ago but then they were emergency transferred and she got left behind. She had been going to another church here, but after our visit, she went to our church Sunday, was treated very well, and even though she was hesitant to pray and go to church and study with us and accept the invite to stop smoking and get ready to be baptized.... we asked her to do it. And that's when the Lord did his part. It's hard, and maybe not right to describe these experiences through text, but we had a very spiritual experience with her, and she decided to change everything in her life just to follow the feelings she had felt. It was awesome. So thats how we inherited like a million cigarretes and ashtrays and stuff, which are in our apartment right now til we get rid of them. Weird. We traded her for oranges (vitamin C helps against tobacco poisoning) anti-toxifying tea, and cinnamon gum. It's gonna work! We passed by today and she's saying it's still a bit hard but she's resisting the temptation. Yeah! I'm pretty excited about her and I'm excited for her family too, who were a bit less interested and doubtful that she could stop smoking, but they'll probably be inspired by her act of faith. All right!
We were dragging pretty seriously Saturday, because a lot of things fell through and we didn't know if anyone would come to church. We prayed and fired eachother up that God was going to make a miracle happen, and sure enough, we get to church and discover that an inactive guy, Joao, that we had invited to church really quicklast time we saw him, came to church with his wife and two daughters (not baptized), and said that we should come and talk to them to see how they could be baptized. Awesome! Miracles! They seem really cool, and have two other teenage sons we haven't talked to yet. Great!
Anyway, this Sunday was great and I loved the phone call, and while I did get a LITTLE trunky for about an hour or two after, just because of the realization that it was my last phone call, right now I'm right back on top. Like Brendon and Elder Clay, me and Persinger made a promise to eachother to keep running until the end of our missions (a little easier for me than him, the guy's got forever to go! :P) For sure, there's a lot of baptisms and success and suffering and sweating and getting tired and miracles in these next couple months for us. :) Awesome.
Well, I have to e-mail tomorrow for a college test I'm doing, and my camera ran out of battery just now, so I will wait till tomorrow to send photos.
I love you all, I am happy, and most of all, I am thankful. I have so many blessings! And not just that; so do my family, friends, and many people I know. We are all so blessed. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that he'll cure us and save us. Going about life with the intent of following Him at whatever cost gives us the greatest rest and satisfaction. I love you all my families.
Have a good week! Keep fighting every day! Love love,
Elder Con
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
May 3, 2011 - Letter Home
Firin It Up!
Hey everyone! Another week, another P-day! Lots of great letters from my fam! Thanks guys!
Last P-day was awesome cause we ate out with a bunch of missionaries in the center of Porto Alegre, then went to the temple for an awesome session. I want so much to be able to go to the temple every week, if not more. I have gained such a different perspective of temple work having entered into that sacred place seeking revelation as to what I need to do with the work in my area, with certain investigators, with my studies, and with my life. Every single time I've been in the temple I have received some special experience or insight. I love it! I hope to have that powerful resource throughout my life. I'm so thankful that our mission has a temple!
After the temple we went to a shopping mall which had the biggest bookstore I've seen in Brazil.
We went wild looking through language learning tools but then realized that we were short on money and the books were super expensive, so I had to pass up on a Gaucho dictionary and some sweet Italian textbooks and I got a short but sweet Italian grammar book that'll help me decipher the Italian Book of Mormon. I really want to try and crack that language... :)
Friday was super awesome as we got together as a mission to hear from Elder Christofferson. We saw Elders from the Porto Alegre South mission, which included some people I had stayed in the CTM with and also a certain Colby Hansen which I had gone to EFY with after Senior Year! Dude, that was so cool that he remembered me. Small world! I loved seeing all my old companions. The conference itself was sweet. We were planning to be singing "I Love to Read the Scriptures" (Hope I translated that hymn name right) when he entered into the chapel, so the assistants told us to stand up and start singing, and we waited for him to come in, but he didnt, and we ended the song, and we got the sign to sing again, and so we continued from the beginning. We reached the 4th verse, still no one entered! The anticipation raised and raised and we sang again, again, again, 4 times. Each time everybody sang louder and louder both because we were trying not to laugh and because we were sure that Elder Christofferson would enter any minute! On the 6th repitition of the song he entered and it was so awesome! A new energy came into the room as he stood up at the pulpit and smiled and just looked at all of us and we finished and he said, "I'm so happy you all love the scriptures so much!" It was fun.
The topics of the conference were very special and specific to our mission, and he really pumped us up. I loved the vision that he gave us all. It's a bit hard to describe. He spoke a little Portuguese at the beginning but switched to English with a translator later because he said he was getting confused with Spanish. I thought he spoke very well! We learned he speaks 8 languages. But man, I love him so much. I know that he is an Ordained Apostle of the Lord.
What was cool is that just 2 days afterwards, we went to Stake Conference where we had the special, unannounced treat of seeing and hearing (through a satellite transmission) from the Prophet and Elder Holland in a transmission JUST to Rio Grande do Sul. It was so awesome, they talked about churrasco and chimarrao and their experiences with this people and everyone was in wonder that they had come to talk just to all of us. So cool!
So, just so you guys can understand some of the photos I sent, some cool stuff is that there was a cool car show we went to, you can see my sweet ride there.
Oh, and we got some investigators, Glaucia and Jennifer, who'll be baptized next month, and we made No-Smoking signs to help Glaucia overcome her cravings. I'm praying so hard for her to stop, she's so awesome!
Uhhh, so also we invited these kids next door to have a bonfire in our yard and it was a pretty fun PNight. It was cool cause their parents came over later, and we ate roasted bananas and started a conversation about the gospel and the mom told us they didn't drink or smoke and had wanted to find a church to go to. Jackpot! Our next door neighboors! So cool.
Anyway, later they ordered us Cheeseburgers to thank us for the fire (best Cheeseburger I've ever eaten) and so we made cookies for them, and tonight they said to come over and eat some cake, and we'll watch a movie about the church. Cool! The mom's name is Janine and they have 3 sons: Matteus, Andre, and Gabriel. We'll see what happens... :)
All is well here, I love my companion, I love being on a mission :)
And I love my family! So glad to know y'all are surviving over there. Love you so much it hurts. Have a good week!
Elder Carpenter
Hey everyone! Another week, another P-day! Lots of great letters from my fam! Thanks guys!
Last P-day was awesome cause we ate out with a bunch of missionaries in the center of Porto Alegre, then went to the temple for an awesome session. I want so much to be able to go to the temple every week, if not more. I have gained such a different perspective of temple work having entered into that sacred place seeking revelation as to what I need to do with the work in my area, with certain investigators, with my studies, and with my life. Every single time I've been in the temple I have received some special experience or insight. I love it! I hope to have that powerful resource throughout my life. I'm so thankful that our mission has a temple!
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| Temple Group |
 |
| Bookstore |
Friday was super awesome as we got together as a mission to hear from Elder Christofferson. We saw Elders from the Porto Alegre South mission, which included some people I had stayed in the CTM with and also a certain Colby Hansen which I had gone to EFY with after Senior Year! Dude, that was so cool that he remembered me. Small world! I loved seeing all my old companions. The conference itself was sweet. We were planning to be singing "I Love to Read the Scriptures" (Hope I translated that hymn name right) when he entered into the chapel, so the assistants told us to stand up and start singing, and we waited for him to come in, but he didnt, and we ended the song, and we got the sign to sing again, and so we continued from the beginning. We reached the 4th verse, still no one entered! The anticipation raised and raised and we sang again, again, again, 4 times. Each time everybody sang louder and louder both because we were trying not to laugh and because we were sure that Elder Christofferson would enter any minute! On the 6th repitition of the song he entered and it was so awesome! A new energy came into the room as he stood up at the pulpit and smiled and just looked at all of us and we finished and he said, "I'm so happy you all love the scriptures so much!" It was fun.
The topics of the conference were very special and specific to our mission, and he really pumped us up. I loved the vision that he gave us all. It's a bit hard to describe. He spoke a little Portuguese at the beginning but switched to English with a translator later because he said he was getting confused with Spanish. I thought he spoke very well! We learned he speaks 8 languages. But man, I love him so much. I know that he is an Ordained Apostle of the Lord.
What was cool is that just 2 days afterwards, we went to Stake Conference where we had the special, unannounced treat of seeing and hearing (through a satellite transmission) from the Prophet and Elder Holland in a transmission JUST to Rio Grande do Sul. It was so awesome, they talked about churrasco and chimarrao and their experiences with this people and everyone was in wonder that they had come to talk just to all of us. So cool!
So, just so you guys can understand some of the photos I sent, some cool stuff is that there was a cool car show we went to, you can see my sweet ride there.
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| Car Show |
 |
| Glaucia and Jennifer |
All is well here, I love my companion, I love being on a mission :)
And I love my family! So glad to know y'all are surviving over there. Love you so much it hurts. Have a good week!
Elder Carpenter
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
April 26, 2011 - Letter Home
A Real Nice Week
Hey Famly!
We had an awesome week! It's so nice to read your e-mails and be able to talk with you just this little bit today! Ahh, I love it.
Today I'm writing from Porto Alegre because we're gonna go to the temple here in a couple hours. I'm so psyched! Sorry Brendon, it's got to be hard not having a temple. For me it's hard to wait 3 months before going again. We're also going to get together with a bunch of other zones here and go to a huge shopping mall here and eat Burger King and pretend we're in America. :)
So anyway, this week we've continued to just be beasts and try to talk with everybody we meet about the gospel and invite everyone to baptism. It's going very well and we managed to contact more new people than the rest of the people in our zone! One of the greatest things I've learned how to do in my mission is just be friendly and make conversation with random people and then lead it into the gospel. I love it so much. It's so cool to meet new people and hear about their lives and then see them hear the gospel for the first time. I think I might even like finding more than just the pure teaching.
Elder Persigner is a champ and we're already best friends and we want to stay 2 transfers here. He's really awesome, another Halo junkie, and again, we know the same movies. That's important. He's learning a lot really quickly too. One weird side note: we were talking about our mission calls and I said that I had mine on youtube, and Persinger remembers seein it! Woah! So weird.
I forgot last e-mail to say that Elder Christofferson is visiting our mission this Friday! The entire mission will get together. We're flippin out! I'm so excited. Usually missionaries only see 1 apostle in their mission, but it looks like I've got luck!
We couldn't take pictures, but we were WAY far from our area ready to go to another far visit when it started raining, HARD! We got caught in a thunderstorm without our umbrellas! Knowing that we just had to get to that visit, we buckled down a ran straight through it, about 30 minutes in pouring rain! When we got to our visit, they let us in by the fire, and we had an awesome lesson with this cool new family, Sonia, Jejilson and Daniel. Jejilson, the dad, said the last prayer and thanked God that we had come running in the rain and that he believed our message was true just because that's the ONLY reason we would want to risk running in the middle of such a huge thunderstorm. That was cool.
I didn't end up getting sick. But Elder Persinger did, poor guy. We stayed in a day while I listed to Persinger throwing up. I think it was something he ate. And the power went out. That's the worst thing: having to spend a day in the dark, throwin your guts up. Poor guy. Man I'm lucky I never got super sick like that.
We went to a member wedding this week which was really cool. We passed out pamphelets about the importance of the family and the Plan of Salvation. I ended up talking to this Catholic Priest for 2 hours and learned a bunch of cool stuff about what they do. It was a cool night but it was weird to finally see the actual wedding part: the guy getting married is like 6 months home from his mission... Made me think that might be something coming up for me. Who knows!
We made a sweet bonfire in our front yard last night and I got convinced we should have a party at our house and invite the whole neighborhood to sit around an awesome fire and eat smores and watch a movie about the Restoration after. That was fun.
We got invited to a Jehova's Witness's meeting and we went the other night. It was pretty cool. But I prefer feeling the Holy Ghost in our church.
Oh yeah, Easter was AWESOME! We were all down in church and feeling bad cause nobody gave us any candy, but then we went to lunch with Gerson and Adriana, recent converts, who had a HUGE Easter churrasco and gave us personalized Easter baskets filled with candy! The family who had put on the wedding also gave us all the desert and cake left over and so we got more sweets than we could manage after all that!
We helped with a move last week of Jonni and Brenda, members who I had known and loved in Esteio! They followed me here! I'm super excited because Jonni helped alot with the work in Esteio and he's gonna be a great addition to the ward. They're followin me!
Anyway, it was just a real nice week. :)
The work is going well and I'm happy. Time just keeps flyin...
I love you guys! Have an awesome rest of the week! I think of you all more than I should, I confess! Can't wait to see you! Okay, no more trunkiness,
Your son, brotha, friend,
Elder Connor
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| My desktop wallpaper after the mish – it’s my mission in a photo |
We had an awesome week! It's so nice to read your e-mails and be able to talk with you just this little bit today! Ahh, I love it.
Today I'm writing from Porto Alegre because we're gonna go to the temple here in a couple hours. I'm so psyched! Sorry Brendon, it's got to be hard not having a temple. For me it's hard to wait 3 months before going again. We're also going to get together with a bunch of other zones here and go to a huge shopping mall here and eat Burger King and pretend we're in America. :)
So anyway, this week we've continued to just be beasts and try to talk with everybody we meet about the gospel and invite everyone to baptism. It's going very well and we managed to contact more new people than the rest of the people in our zone! One of the greatest things I've learned how to do in my mission is just be friendly and make conversation with random people and then lead it into the gospel. I love it so much. It's so cool to meet new people and hear about their lives and then see them hear the gospel for the first time. I think I might even like finding more than just the pure teaching.
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| Horse Thieves |
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| Horse Tails |
Elder Persigner is a champ and we're already best friends and we want to stay 2 transfers here. He's really awesome, another Halo junkie, and again, we know the same movies. That's important. He's learning a lot really quickly too. One weird side note: we were talking about our mission calls and I said that I had mine on youtube, and Persinger remembers seein it! Woah! So weird.
I forgot last e-mail to say that Elder Christofferson is visiting our mission this Friday! The entire mission will get together. We're flippin out! I'm so excited. Usually missionaries only see 1 apostle in their mission, but it looks like I've got luck!
We couldn't take pictures, but we were WAY far from our area ready to go to another far visit when it started raining, HARD! We got caught in a thunderstorm without our umbrellas! Knowing that we just had to get to that visit, we buckled down a ran straight through it, about 30 minutes in pouring rain! When we got to our visit, they let us in by the fire, and we had an awesome lesson with this cool new family, Sonia, Jejilson and Daniel. Jejilson, the dad, said the last prayer and thanked God that we had come running in the rain and that he believed our message was true just because that's the ONLY reason we would want to risk running in the middle of such a huge thunderstorm. That was cool.
I didn't end up getting sick. But Elder Persinger did, poor guy. We stayed in a day while I listed to Persinger throwing up. I think it was something he ate. And the power went out. That's the worst thing: having to spend a day in the dark, throwin your guts up. Poor guy. Man I'm lucky I never got super sick like that.
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| Lunch Appointment - Not my proudest moment |
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| daweddin |
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| Firebugs |
Oh yeah, Easter was AWESOME! We were all down in church and feeling bad cause nobody gave us any candy, but then we went to lunch with Gerson and Adriana, recent converts, who had a HUGE Easter churrasco and gave us personalized Easter baskets filled with candy! The family who had put on the wedding also gave us all the desert and cake left over and so we got more sweets than we could manage after all that!
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| Gleeeee! |
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| Gerson and Adriana |
Anyway, it was just a real nice week. :)
The work is going well and I'm happy. Time just keeps flyin...
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| Meet my little friend - the BookaMormon! (toy gun) |
Your son, brotha, friend,
Elder Connor
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
April 19, 2011 - Letter Home
Profecy
How you doin? Real quick update: I was transferred to Neopolis, a big neighboorhood outside Gravatai, which is a neighbor city of Porto Alegre. So far I love the area and the members! My companion is ANOTHER gringo, so far he's been awesome. He's Elder Persinger, from Ohio, he's got 3 months on the mish and I'm his 2nd companion.
Hello families! Elder Carpenter coming to you from Neopolis, Rio Grande do Sul!
This week turned out to be really awesome. It was hard to leave Esteio and Elder Carroll but I left in peace and it was great to see Elder Diego, another Elder in my district, go to take over the area. There's a lot of great investigators there and I hope to see them have a lot of success.
Going to the bus station for the transfer was pretty cool to see a lot of my friends again, Elder Feller (who's our new assistant to the Pres.), Elder Bowerman, Elder Anderson, Elder Gibby, Elder Bullough, Elder F. Ribeiro. It's weird seeing a bunch of the missionaries I've loved and known for my ENTIRE mission be going home. Like Elder Willden and Elder Damewood, who are only a couple months older than me in the mission. So weird to be old in the mission. I still feel like I just got here. :/ :)
What's weird is that my last night in Esteio we had dinner and popcorn and chimarrao with an awesome young couple Jonni and Brenda, who I've become really good friends with, I didn't want everyone to get so sad at my leaving, so I told them that I'd probably end up going to Brenda's parents ward, (who I had met and had always been saying they wished I was transferred to their ward), and that we'd get to see eachother later on.
The next morning, I receive the transfer news and see the word "Neopolis" !!! That's the ward that Brenda's parents live in- the one I had just talked about the night before ! Out of 60 different areas in the mission, I guessed which area I would go to. I was also super psyched because I knew Brenda's parents and I really liked them and was excited to surprise them at their own home!
The day I got to the area we go to her parents house, the Dulliuses, and we go into the house but I just didn't say anything and hid out of sight behind my companion, and everybody was laughing and asking who it was, and then I jumped out from behind him and saw their whole family and everybody just got super shocked that it was I that had been transferred to their area (Sister Dullius literally got way scared... Whoops :P)
Anyway, my companion is awesome. Elder Persinger is another new American missionary which means he's super excited and animated, but needs help in learning the language and other missionary things. I'm really happy to be with him.
This area has awesome members, but for the last 6 months, even though there were great missionaries here, there hasn't been any baptisms (which is fairly odd for this mission), and no firm converts from the last 3 years. A lot of missionaries seemed discouraged about the area but my and Elder Persinger are determined and excited to turn it around. In fact, we have even received revelation that we are the ones to turn it all around. We started the week off running, visiting all investigators and inviting them to baptism, and talking with everyone we meet about the gospel, and getting all the members out of their houses and into the streets to work with us, and we've got a great start with 3 people with baptismal dates for next month and 17 new people we've found to start teaching. I'm making it my goal to turn this area around and give it my best as a present to the Lord for all the great experiences He's given me in this time in Brasil. I am so grateful that I have this time to dedicate to Him. I know we'll have success.
Our house is pretty lame here because there's been a lot of rain here and more than a couple leaks in the roof, and President told us to find a new house. After looking around we couldn't find anything, and so we talked with Brother Dullius who was already building a house to rent out on his property, he said that he would let us live there. The only thing is, is that he's a month away from completion on the house and we needed to get into this house at the end of the week! So we're going to try to help with the construction to get the house done SOON. We've been over there 2 days already and we're going to try to finish the house soon. Lifting tile does good for morning exercise!
You saw the movie "Rio"? It is really big here! Everybody is saying that is shows that the world loves Brasil.
:)
The ZLs told me I got a package! I don't know who it's from, I'll probably get it Thursday.
I did want to tell you that I loved the photos. I love looking at all you guys but if I look too much I'll get so homesick it hurts! Man! I just gotta stay patient cause the time is already just flying by and I know 4 months'll pass so quick, but it's really getting hard not to think every day that soon I'll be home. The only solution is for me to try to completely forget about you guys and make myself think I've still got a long time left and just think all about the people I'm serving here. I'm sorry but that's what I'm gonna try to do until the end. :)
I hope all of you guys don't get too trunky and homesick for us while you wait! I'll only permit you guys to feel anxious the week before our homecoming!
But it's gonna be awesome. :)
I loved seeing Wyatt's mission call opening! So awesome! Wyatt (**friend from Folsom, 1 of 4 called to Brazil from Folsom just recently!) is going to LOVE serving in Rio! One of the coolest missions!
I love you guys and hope you have a great week! I'm loving life and loving the mission and loving the Lord! Through Him we find ALL of life's solutions and victories.
Keep loving!
Elder Connor
P.S. Attached photos are us and Brother Dullius messing around in the middle of our service project.
How you doin? Real quick update: I was transferred to Neopolis, a big neighboorhood outside Gravatai, which is a neighbor city of Porto Alegre. So far I love the area and the members! My companion is ANOTHER gringo, so far he's been awesome. He's Elder Persinger, from Ohio, he's got 3 months on the mish and I'm his 2nd companion.
Hello families! Elder Carpenter coming to you from Neopolis, Rio Grande do Sul!
This week turned out to be really awesome. It was hard to leave Esteio and Elder Carroll but I left in peace and it was great to see Elder Diego, another Elder in my district, go to take over the area. There's a lot of great investigators there and I hope to see them have a lot of success.
Going to the bus station for the transfer was pretty cool to see a lot of my friends again, Elder Feller (who's our new assistant to the Pres.), Elder Bowerman, Elder Anderson, Elder Gibby, Elder Bullough, Elder F. Ribeiro. It's weird seeing a bunch of the missionaries I've loved and known for my ENTIRE mission be going home. Like Elder Willden and Elder Damewood, who are only a couple months older than me in the mission. So weird to be old in the mission. I still feel like I just got here. :/ :)
What's weird is that my last night in Esteio we had dinner and popcorn and chimarrao with an awesome young couple Jonni and Brenda, who I've become really good friends with, I didn't want everyone to get so sad at my leaving, so I told them that I'd probably end up going to Brenda's parents ward, (who I had met and had always been saying they wished I was transferred to their ward), and that we'd get to see eachother later on.
The next morning, I receive the transfer news and see the word "Neopolis" !!! That's the ward that Brenda's parents live in- the one I had just talked about the night before ! Out of 60 different areas in the mission, I guessed which area I would go to. I was also super psyched because I knew Brenda's parents and I really liked them and was excited to surprise them at their own home!
The day I got to the area we go to her parents house, the Dulliuses, and we go into the house but I just didn't say anything and hid out of sight behind my companion, and everybody was laughing and asking who it was, and then I jumped out from behind him and saw their whole family and everybody just got super shocked that it was I that had been transferred to their area (Sister Dullius literally got way scared... Whoops :P)
Anyway, my companion is awesome. Elder Persinger is another new American missionary which means he's super excited and animated, but needs help in learning the language and other missionary things. I'm really happy to be with him.
This area has awesome members, but for the last 6 months, even though there were great missionaries here, there hasn't been any baptisms (which is fairly odd for this mission), and no firm converts from the last 3 years. A lot of missionaries seemed discouraged about the area but my and Elder Persinger are determined and excited to turn it around. In fact, we have even received revelation that we are the ones to turn it all around. We started the week off running, visiting all investigators and inviting them to baptism, and talking with everyone we meet about the gospel, and getting all the members out of their houses and into the streets to work with us, and we've got a great start with 3 people with baptismal dates for next month and 17 new people we've found to start teaching. I'm making it my goal to turn this area around and give it my best as a present to the Lord for all the great experiences He's given me in this time in Brasil. I am so grateful that I have this time to dedicate to Him. I know we'll have success.
Our house is pretty lame here because there's been a lot of rain here and more than a couple leaks in the roof, and President told us to find a new house. After looking around we couldn't find anything, and so we talked with Brother Dullius who was already building a house to rent out on his property, he said that he would let us live there. The only thing is, is that he's a month away from completion on the house and we needed to get into this house at the end of the week! So we're going to try to help with the construction to get the house done SOON. We've been over there 2 days already and we're going to try to finish the house soon. Lifting tile does good for morning exercise!
You saw the movie "Rio"? It is really big here! Everybody is saying that is shows that the world loves Brasil.
:)
The ZLs told me I got a package! I don't know who it's from, I'll probably get it Thursday.
I did want to tell you that I loved the photos. I love looking at all you guys but if I look too much I'll get so homesick it hurts! Man! I just gotta stay patient cause the time is already just flying by and I know 4 months'll pass so quick, but it's really getting hard not to think every day that soon I'll be home. The only solution is for me to try to completely forget about you guys and make myself think I've still got a long time left and just think all about the people I'm serving here. I'm sorry but that's what I'm gonna try to do until the end. :)
I hope all of you guys don't get too trunky and homesick for us while you wait! I'll only permit you guys to feel anxious the week before our homecoming!
But it's gonna be awesome. :)
I loved seeing Wyatt's mission call opening! So awesome! Wyatt (**friend from Folsom, 1 of 4 called to Brazil from Folsom just recently!) is going to LOVE serving in Rio! One of the coolest missions!
I love you guys and hope you have a great week! I'm loving life and loving the mission and loving the Lord! Through Him we find ALL of life's solutions and victories.
Keep loving!
Elder Connor
P.S. Attached photos are us and Brother Dullius messing around in the middle of our service project.
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