July 4th letter

Elder Furtado made an awesome dessert the other day called mouse. You put lemon juice (or whatever fruit that you want) with Condensed Milk, and creme of milk. Mix it in the blender and stick it in the fridge for awhile. Itｴs tasty stuff. Furtado LOVES desserts and other sweet things. He makes me laugh all the time with his evening "meals." Heｴs been on the mission for 3 months and is ending his 2nd transfer this week. Heｴs even more blind than me! His glasses are 4 degrees! Cego, mano. He is gonna be a brain surgeon when he grows up. Heｴs 19 and the oldest of 5 kids. Woot!

This last week was not the best, but Elder Furtado and I decided to just focus on the good things that happened. First, Anathayla got confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost! Sheｴs doing awesome. Her mom loves us too, but for some reason she doesnｴt want to be baptized right now. We have tried to visit her and find out what happened but she has never given us a good reason. She said that she prayed about it, and felt that now wasnｴt the time, but we donｴt really buy it. Itｴs weird too, because she LOVED Church and actually talks to her friends about how our Church is different. Strange.... Aline came to Church again and is officially reactivated! Yes! She has been reading the Book of Mormon all week and Strength for Youth. Itｴs been good for her. Marcusｴ got ordained as a deacon last week and his great grandma gave him a white shirt so that he can pass the sacrament. Heｴs gonna be travelling, but when he gets back, heｴll be set to go. It also rained all week, which at least made for cool weather.

Another good thing that happened was that we found the Child of Promise!! I fill you in. We went to invite some of Talisonｴs (the only active young man in the branch) friends to Church and we went to Felipeｴs house. Felipe came outside to talk to us and then all of a sudden his grandma comes rushing out as well with a not-too-happy face. We tried to introduce ourselves, but she didnｴt really care. We said that we were inviting Felipe to come to Church with Talison, and then she sternly looked at Felipe and put her hand on his shoulder. She said, "Well, he is 12 years old now. He knows the word... the way... it was already profesied that he is the Child of Promise. But, the decision is his if he wants to go." Then, he just ran away in to the house. Until today, we still have no idea what it means to be a child of promise, nor do we know what Church that the lady goes to, but we thought it would be good to help the guy. Sadly, he didnｴt go to Church.

On Saturday, I had my first experience teaching a Buddhist! Brenda and Ellen took us to teach their 16 year old friend, Rafaela. We were getting to know her and she said that she was Buddhist(!). Apparently, itｴs just her family and some other people that get together and worship in her house. Anyways, she accepted our message but didnｴt really know what to say when we invited her to get baptized. The whole time, I was trying to remember Alma 18 about Ammon teaching King Lamoni, because he believed in a higher being, but didnｴt know that it was a real person, etc. Then, I tried to remember about my Buddhist studies at ASU, but itｴs all just kind of nonsense to me. It made for an interesting lesson. Oh, and her grandmother didnｴt like us very much either. Womp.

Have a Happy Fourth of July! Remember that while you are all sweating in the heat, Iｴm wearing gloves and a beanie in the street! But, Iｴm sure that the heat will come back soon enough. Love you! Light some fireworks for me since itｴs legal and all.

-Elder Carpenter

Pics: All of the Brazilian bills (front and back) and a tree wood carving in Maracaju.

Brazilian Fact: Matte Doce is really really good! You put lots of coconut in a cup and pour in hot milk, and it tastes really good. I recommend it.