News from Tijucal

Querida Família,

What is up folks! I hope that all is well in Zion. Based on what Mom has told me, Black Friday was insane. Midnight shopping! I´m glad that everyone got some good deals.

I´m also happy that everyone ate turkey for me. I feel better now.

Here in Tijucal, I´m officially getting popular with all the sisters in the ward. Everybody wants the latest hit: COOKIES! I made choco-chip cookies one time for this AMAZING member family that lives next door to us because their dog dies, and then everyone is wanting some. I´ve made 3 or 4 batches this past week. We made some with Andre´s family (he wasn´t there), so that they would like us and hopefully stop being mean to André. They loved it! Then, they invited us to a birthday party there, where they had a churrasco, with lots of meat, coke, and cake. As for André, he´s supposed to get home this week, and then hopefully getting baptized on Sunday. We´re hoping for the best.

Then, there is this Young Women´s fireside on Friday, and they have chosen me to play the piano for them. The thing is... it´s kind of hard to play random music when you have no time to practice. The good thing is: I´m playing the piano again! Yay. They had me play the organ at church, and it was... good. Let´s just say, I´m glad mom wasn´t there, hahaha. But, they´re supposed to get me the hymns beforehand if they want me to play again, so next week should sound much better. All the years of practice are paying off!

We had this recent convert´s friend at Church this Sunday, Jenifer, and we´re hoping that she´ll get baptized this Sunday. She´s 19 but is really short and skinny. She´s never been baptized before, but really liked church this Sunday. So, we´re gonna be working with her and her grandma this week. We´re actually taking them an FHE tonight. Irmã Luza, one of the coolest sisters that I´ve met on the mission, is making me a birthday cake for tonight! I´m so excited.

And today, we went on a hunt for crocodiles. The other missionaries in our house have this one family that they baptized their kids (the parents aren´t married), and they made us lunch. Behind their house is a canal and then just... jungle. They´re always talking about the crocodiles that live there, but the biggest one I´ve seen was just a little over a foot long. A lil baby guy! So, Elder Allred and I went and crossed the canal to look for crocodiles. We didn´t find any, sadly, but we did find a river! I didn´t have my camera, so I only took a picture with the cell phone. It was totally worth it though! We kind of got lost on the way back, but found our way home. We´ll keep looking, because I know the crocodiles exist.

Welp, that´s all the news I´ve got. Have a fantastic start of Christmas! You officially have my permission to start listening to Christmas music. Get in the spirit! The only thing I ask, is for journal entries/stories of the missionaries from our family during/on Christmas. I like hearing these things. Have a jolly week!

Loves,
E. Carpenter