June 20th letter

Happy Father´s Day to all of the dad´s reading! Hope it was a good one. A In response to mom´s question: The waffle iron thing is like a toaster grill. In the morning we put cream cheese on sliced bread, toast it, and it tastes great. This is the first house that I´ve been in that´s had one. It´s a blessing.
Our last week was very tiresome! We were challenged by President Oliveira to find someone that had already gone to Church and invite them to be baptized on Sunday, because the mission wasn´t doing so hot with baptisms. So, we worked like crazy last week, asking member´s for references, visiting people from the area book, and just trying our best. We had a little kid that had been to church many times that the missionaries could never find at home to teach, and we went and taught him with his little member friend. He accepted to be baptized on Sunday, but sadly, his dad didn´t let him. It wasn´t very fun that he had to do that, but we still pressed forward! The branch had an activity on Saturday night for Festa Junina. It´s like a big party about Saint John that the Catholics celebrate. Except, that every Brazilian celebrates the holiday, indepent of religion. They just make lots of food and have a big dance and whatnot. Lots of members brought friends (even Felipe and the other 2 non-member boyfriends came that don´t want to be baptized yet) or less-actives and it was sweet. References! So, now we need to teach these people. One of the girls that came with her friends came on Sunday, too. So, we´re trying to teach her and get her ready to be baptized on Sunday. The family that brought her is really cool. They live really far away from the Church, but are there every Sunday! And they even made a chocolate strawberry cake, that we got to try. On Sunday, I got called to give a last minute talk, and I chose to speak about the gospel of Jesus Christ. The 5 basic principles that´ll lead us to salvation. The talk was geared towards Ana Taila (the investigator) but it still applies to everyone. The gospel of Christ is simple and pure doctrine. It´s just us that tend to complicate things! I love the Church and that we know how to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ! It´s all in our hands. We need to be ready to serve, work, do visits, and help build the kingdom of God. It is essential. I love you all and wish you an awesome week!

Love, Elder Carpenter

Fotos: Pictures of gigantic trees in Maracaju, with President Mazzagardi, and the giant Charlie Chaplin painting downtown.