March 28 letter

This last week, we´ve got good news and bad news: Bad news is that Carla still hasn´t gotten baptized because she wants to pick the day without any pressure or anything. So, we´re just leaving it in her hands because she already knows what needs to be done. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with her, her husband (who we want to baptize her because he got reactivited once she started coming), Carla´s anti-Mormon sister, and a less-active friend of theirs. It was really good! Gretin, Carla´s sister, wanted to have an argument about religion with us, but it turned out good in the end after we responded to some of her questions. She doesn´t believe in our Church or anything, but she knows what we´re about now.

The good news, Edinilson (whose mom and bros are members as well as 2 of his own kids) came to Church this Sunday! He and his wife used to go to the Assembléia de Deus, but have recently left. We taught them the first lesson and they both accepted to get baptized this Saturday!!!! Super exciting. I´ve never baptized parents and I´m really hoping and praying that this goes through. We also had some other people at Church that we´re trying to get baptized this week. If I don´t baptize someone soon, then I´m going to go absolutely insane!

This past week was fun though, because we got some good food! Neide made us some Bolo de Chuva (Rain Cake) which was awesome. Eliane made banana and corn cake that we got to eat. And then we had Cookie Night last night to thank everyone for the awesome food! I love these members. They are all super loving and I can say that I have lots of mom away from home. No need to worry, Mother Carpenter. Just make sure to pay it forward with the missionaries back home. Do we even have missionaries that are responsible for our ward? I always tell my comps that our ward is so small that we don´t have any. Womp. Other good news: it rains almost every day right now! Eh, good news because it´´s not hot, but bad because it makes it harder to get from house to house.

Lova yall! Have a great week and a wonder General Conference this weekend! The prophet baby!

-Elder Carpette

                                          Cookie night

                                          Rain cake (like donuts)

March 21st letter

This last week, we have been working with Carla who is a less-active member´s wife. She was all set to get baptized last Saturday, but  now she´s gonna get baptized this Saturday. Let´s pray that everything goes well! She came with her daughter to Church on Sunday, so we´re trying to work with her too (she´s 11 but has been firm in the Assembly of God church). We had an Integration Night (like every week), and we did this game with trivia questions. Analice, Carla´s daughter, is super smart and was tearing it up! I think that´s why she likes the Church now. Carla is super awesome! Her whole family is against her getting baptized (except for the husband), but she´s still going through with it. Super amazing lady.

We have also had quite the week here in Pedra 90. Last Tuesday, President Oliveira sent another group of missionaries to Pedra 90 so that we can get the number of people at Church up. Last week there were 92, this week there were 105, and we have to get it up to 120 and hold it for 6 months so that they can build a chapel on the already bought lot of land. Super exciting! And, we officially have the best house in the mission! We ran out of water for 3 or 4 days last week, and I got to take a shower using a bucket of water! Yes. Then all our lunches that were marked fell through, and we had to fend for ourselves for most of the days of the week. Oh, and the mosquitos love me to death! I get bit like 20 times every night. Doesn´t even matter if I use repellent. But with the difficulties come blessings! We´re not giving up easily.

Have a wonderful week! Everyone get back to work because Spring Break is over. Love ya!
-Elder Carpenter

                                                               E. Franco

                                                                E. Carpenter

                                         stork (not sure why Zach sent this)

Congratulations!!

Hello Crew!

Elder Carpenter here from Pedra 90! Pavilhão 90, cara! Somos os perigosos! My new area here in Pedra 90 is awesome demais! It´s just one gigantic neighborhood with a billion people packed inside. I love it here. There is a ward here with TONS of inactives. We are just working on visiting people to bring back to Church and then baptizing the rest of their families! Yes! The members here love the missionaries too. Everyone wants to give us food and make sure that we´re happy. The people here are more humble and loving, which is the bomb. The Bishop is super cool and the Ward Mission Leader is the best guy ever.

Every week here they do a thing that´s called Noite de Integração (Integration Night), and it´s getting everyone in the ward excited and coming back to Church. This last week we had 92 people at Church which hasn´t happened in all the time that Elder França has been here. Opa! There is a member here named Ciliana that Elder Santana (old comp) baptized when he started his mission off here in Pedra 90. She was inactive, but came back and had her 2 kids get baptized and is now bringing ALL of her friends to Church. One of them is named Brito, who is an older guy that came to Church. He used to drink and smoke but has recently stopped. He´s marked to get baptized this Sunday! He´s a super elect guy that the Lord has definately been preparing for us to baptize. Other than him, we´ve been teaching one of the member´s little nephew who just wants to get baptized. Way cool.

Things are going good though. I´m here with Elder França who is from Recife. He´s a good kid and really teaches well. I´m glad to be his comp because he knows the area well and has good ideas to help with the work. He´s 23 and was born in the Church, but when inactive later on. He came back to Church and came on his mission not too long after. He´s got 9 months on the mish.

PARABÉNS TO SETH AND JAIMEE!!! You are officially newlyweds. Woo! That makes me happy for you two. I loved the pictures of the reception! It makes me really hungry to see all of that food... So good... I especially liked the labels on all of the food. That made things turn out snazzy. Congrats to everyone that helped out because I´m sure that it was a LOT of work. But Seth and Jaimee are worth it.

Happy Birthday to Andrew and Quinton too! 6 and 2! Woot! Kiss and a hug to both of ya. Well, that´s it for this week. Love you and get some rest!

-Elder Carpenter

New place

Dear Fam Fam,

 

How´s we doin? 5 days. So excited for you guys. The wedding will be great. Of course, I wish I was there, but we gotta do what we gotta do. I´m sure that all of yall are just dead, but you have to endure to the end! It´s necessary! It´s good to hear that the ward is doing well and that Sarah and Jenny are going to be working at jobs full-time! That´s how it´s done. Nuts that Kailei is going to Argentina. I totally thought she would go to Illinois, but now she gets to learn Spanish. Congrats! It´ll be awesome. We can tell South America stories when she gets home. I wonder where Mackay will go...

 

Well, this last week we´ve been working with Elisane who is this recent convert´s mom. She´s got lots of family things going on but she came to Church this week. Also, we brought this rapaz, little 14 year old to Church that hasn´t been coming for a year. Now we want to baptize his friends. 

 

Cool experience that happened this week:

1) I was on a division with Elder Nader last week, because his comp was sick, and we went to teach 3 people: Jayze, Jason, and Amanda. We were talking with them about baptism and they were all being wishy-washy about it. So, we used the scriptures to help them out and show them the importance of baptism, but it didn´t seem to really help. Then, there was this 18 year old less active with us and he just went off and started bearing his testimony and conversion, fall and return to the Church, etc. I was honestly starting to doze off a little, when he stopped and then it just went silent. Then, everyone started crying and the Spirit was really strong! They were all touched and accepted to be baptized. Super cool! The best part is that we did almost nothing. The Lord is really in charge of this work, and we have the privelage to be a part of it.

 

Our transfer was only 5 weeks and now there are a ton of missionaries going home. They were all pretty big ballers in the mission and I´m gonna miss them. Below we´ve got Elder Onken who´s from Iowa, but will probably work/study in AZ. The other is Elder Allred from Utah. His parents came to pick him up and so we all took a picture.

 

Yep, I was transferred to a new area here in Cuiabá called Pedra 90. It´s a gigantic neighborhood and is going to be awesome! It´s a more humble place but that just means that people will be more receptive to the gospel! I´m way excited. I already know the Bishop and Ward Mission Leader and they are both super cool guys. It´s going to be great. Pedra 90 is like a mini-city in the outside part of Cuiabá that´s got 60,000 people. HUGE. I´m gonna be with Elder França who is from Recife. I already know him a little and I think it´ll be good. We seem to get along fine as far as I know.

Have the best week ever! I´m praying for all of you and I know that the wedding will be spectacular! I´m expecting a lot of pictures next week and some more to come in the mail! Rock the Party!

 

-Elder Carpenter

 

I love packages

Hallo,

 

How goes the countdown?? 12 DAYS PEOPLE!! Seth and Jaimee are headed off to the chapel in less than 2 weeks. YES! So happy for yall. Parabéns. How is the prep coming along btw? I hope everything is coming together hahaha. Let us hope so. Womp.

 

I got that package today, and oh boy, you are the best family ever! I totally loved the ASU shirt, but sadly it came with another ugly shirt. Yay for training a new Brazilian and being able to give him U of A shirts and thinking that it is Christmas! But I would like to say thank you anyway, because I wasn´t sure what I would give him as a present. And mom has totally read my mind! That Garnier Fructis Surf Wax stuff was exactly what I was going to ask you for this week! Really freaky that it showed up in a package today. Elder Naylor has a bunch of that stuff and it works wonders for the hair. Muito obrigado.

 

The one guy, Johny, that came to Church last week got baptized, but he lives in Coxipó, so the other elders taught him and he was baptized in Tijucal so that his girlfriend could be there. Sweet! And I got to do my first baptismal interview on Saturday! Super sweet. It was this one girl that stopped smoking in 3 days and completely turned her life around so that she could get baptized. Jessica wants to serve a mission and it was the easiest interview ever! I hope that I get the chance to interview more people like that.

 

Other than that, we´re gonna be pretty busy this week. We have a couple of member references that we need to work with and find someone to BAPTIZE! Elder Gomes needs to get in the water already! This transfer is only 5 weeks, so it ends on Sunday. The race is on. I don´t think that I´m going to be staying here in Tijucal, so I want this week to be awesome. Wish me luck! I´ll be needing your prayers to find someone to baptize. In return, I´ll make sure to pray extra hard for each one of you back at home. Love ya!

 

-Elder Carpenter