62 people at church!

Thank you very much for the mountain of pictures that came in the package! Sheesh. I had a MOUNTAIN of letters at the mission office. The biggest haul that I´ve gotten yet. My district just looked at me like,"What the heck..." Thanks to all who have participated! The birthday gifts were awesome. It made me super happy to get presents.

Womp, I forget that everybody has October Break there. Making cookies with the nephews sounds like the best idea ever! I´m jealous. And Brendon reported and all that jazz, too! I´m totally there with him about getting people married! That´s where it´s at.

This last week has been great! We had Zone Conference, which was really good. We learned about lots of basic things: how to have a good Area Book, inviting people to be baptized, and lots of techniques and things like that. It just felt really good to review the basics and learn about how I can be a bold, baptizing missionary! Yes. Sister Oliveira talked about how she woke up one night in July, with her entire talk that she gave at this Conference, in her head. She said that things just started coming, and she wrote them down. She talked about Timothy 4:12, and about being an example of the believers in all things. She talked alot about in "trato," which is treatment in English, (although the English edition of Tim. 4:12 uses conversation). Treatment is a much better word though because she talked about how we must build good relationships with the mission president, investigators, ward and mission leaders, and our companions. It was the best talk that she´s given in my time here!

We had 62 people at Church yesterday (the most that I´ve seen in all my time here), and 6 investigators at Church. Some of them aren´t married, but the rest we are trying to get baptized. 2 are ancient investigators, even though one is 8 and the other 12, because there parents haven´t let them get baptized. But Elder Dorneles and I feel like this is the week. And we´re teaching these 2 brothers, too, Renato and Reinaldo. Reinaldo is an elect! He cried during the 1st Vision, and accepted to get baptized. He said that he stopped drinking beer and coffee just a little while ago, and we were amazed! The Lord is preparing His elect to join the Church. We´re excited here in Ji-Paraná!

Have a wonderful week! Give water and a ride to the missionaries, and I´m sure that you´ll be their best friends. Keep strong!

-Elder Carpenter