Forever Families

The branch is pretty small here.  I think there´s about 10ish primary age kids, but not all of them are there every week. I don´t think they do the Primary program here, but I sure wish they did! Those were definately my favorite sacrament meetings back at home. How is the ward doing on kids by the way? Last I heard, all the families were moving, and there was like 1 teacher. Eesh!

 

This last week, was not the best , but it was still good. We spent a lot of our time teaching recent converts and helping them get to know more about the Church. Right now, we´re just trying to find new people to teach. We´re planning an activity with the branch for this saturday, where every family will bring something to eat and a guest. So, we´re gonna baptize these people! Other than that, we are still teaching the one family (they´ve already come to Church 3 times). The parents need to get married, and we´re trying to convince the mom to let her 13 and 12 year old daughters to get baptized. She wants them to wait til they´re 14 or 15, but we´ll see what´ll happen. With the Lord on our side, nothing is impossible! When we asked the mom to say the closing prayer, she reluctantly accepted. She prayed that everything would go well for her to get baptized and to know that the Church is true. Opa!

 

Other than that, this is the last week of the transfer, so we´re trying to finish strong! This Sunday, our gospel principles lesson was about eternal families. It was a really neat lesson from a Irmã Laldenir. Lots of the recent converts and other people are the only members in their families, and it´s kind of a touchy subject to talk about with them. It made me EXTREMELY grateful, to know that I can and will be with my family forever! To know that we are all doing our best in order the meet that goal, and that I love my family with all of my heart. I know that it may not show at times, but the mission has certainly made me realize how important family is. I´m actually starting to tear up right now, so it´s a good thing that this is an email. Never take family for granted! It´s the most important thing in life, so thank you for being my family. With that, have a wonderful week! I love you!

-Elder Carpenter

 

Photos: 1) Churrasco that we were invited to at the house of Lucicléia (the Indian that we baptized). 2) A cajú fruit with the little cashew nut on top. 3) Junior and I. Junior is the 18 year old in the branch that is getting ready to leave on his mission. We have had some good times together. Womp!

Love all the news!

Wow! Talk about news! Taleah had yet another fat baby! Oh my gosh. That´s 4. I didn´t even know that Kade and Summer were dating again, but congrats on the engagement! Congrats to Bryan on going to the temple!

 Here in Ji-Paraná we had an interesting week. We got to go to ULBRA (Universidade Luteriano do Brasil) last Friday (and again this Wednesday) to do a Church presentation for their religions class. We got there and were kind of nervous, because we had no idea what to expect. Their was this crazy Presbiterian preacher talking up in front of the class (it was a lecture hall, but really small; like 30ish people) about all sorts of blasphemy and things that they misinterpret from the Bible. He was saying that people don´t need to be baptized in water, etc, etc. Then, we get up and the professor is like,"Explain the basic doctrines, and talk about the three degrees of glory, baptisms for the dead, and eternal marriage. So... We explained all of those things, but only after explaining the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, and the gospel. Basically, we just talk the first 3 lessons really fast. And all of the girls were asking all sorts of questions about marriage and whether or not you can marry with Non-Mormons. So yeah, we were keeping our distance afterwards. It was good thing and they gave us gifts: zipper ties! Our recent converts will look good with them this next Sunday.

Elder Santana and I made a goal to stop drinking Coke, except at churrascos. This is a good goal! Coke is really bad for you, but it´s also the preferred drink of all Brazilians. Everyone in the branch is divided between people that drink Coke, and those that don´t. It´s kind of funny. So, we´re trying to be good examples and help out our bodies. It´s gonna be good!

Other than that, nothing much is new here. We´re teaching a family that has come to Church a couple of times. The two daughters, 13 and 12 years old, were set to get baptized but the mom didn´t let them. But now, they are showing interest again, but this time the mom is taking the lead. They lived in a house where their neighbors talked really bad about the Church, but thankfully they have moved, come to Church, and seen that we don´t worship the devil. The mom is reading the Book of Mormon a lot, and we´re taking things slow with them, so that she doesn´t jump ship again. Things are going good though!

Pictures: 1) Fancy pants Churrasco in Vilhena, where we ate lunch with President Oliveira. 2) Baptism of David (The sun was in our faces). 3) and 4) ULBRA, the University that everyone talks about here.

Have a wonderful week! The Church is true and I love all of ya!

-Elder Carpenter

I got to do the baptism!

Womp womp womp womp! I can´t believe that Bryan already has his mission call! What a dog. Houston, Texas South and speaking Spanish and everything. What a gangster. That is the exact same mission that Kool-Aid is going to at the end of this month! I´m gonna write him a letter today and tell him the good news.

Here in Ji-Paraná, the Lord has heard our prayers because we got some rain!! There were 3 days where it rained last week, and it was much needed. Last week was incredibly hot. Probably the hottest in my mission so far, so the rain was awesome. It´s actually cooled down quite a bit and there is luscious wind during the day. And I´m not sweating when I wake up at night!

We had a baptism this Sunday too: David. He´s a friend of one of the members. He came to Church last Sunday, we taught him everything during the week, and then he got baptized yesterday. That is how it´s done here in Brazil! David´s a really funny kid. He´s kind of like the one kid in school that never talks and he´s really quiet at home, but once he´s outside of those two places he´s kind of goes nuts. He´s got this funny deep, nasally voice because he´s going through "the change." Anyways, he´s turning 15 this month, and he´s really excited to be a member of the church. He´s ready to change and do whatever is needed. Womp!

So funny story: He chose me to baptize him, so we´re in the water, and after the first dunk, he didn´t bend his knees and didn´t go all the way down. So, I´m like,"Don´t worry, we´re gonna do it again. Don´t be nervous," (because he was pretty nervous). Then, he grabs his nose and was about the throw himself back, or in other words, baptize himself alone. I stopped him ("Não, não! Calma!") and then baptized him and everything was good. Basically, you just had to be there.

Yep, we´re having a good time here in Ji-Paraná! The branch is getting more excited to have growth and just overall more happy. There´s even a sister that got up at the pulpit and bore her testimony and said that she had a feeling the other day that something spectacular is about to happen in Ji-Paraná! I don´t think that she has the right to receive revelation for the branch, but who am I to talk. Só batize!

Have a good week, everybody! Happy Labor Day, too! I´m happy to know that the Lord is taking good care of everyone!
Com amor,
Elder Carpenter

My Mission President is Awesome

Pictures:  District with AP (Zach's companion is the little one); Brazil pizza (not as good as American); Zach with "almond" hair (that's what the Brazilians call it); red moon


Dear My Favorite People in the USA,

This last week has been quite crazy! Opa! We got a call last week, and were informed that our district would have a day of training with President Oliveira and the assistants on Friday (us being the 2 missionaries in Ji-Paraná and the 4 in Vilhena). So, we went there and had an awesome time! The First Presidency has redone all of the MTC lessons, and put them into just 8 lessons which we are then to use in the field for comp study and District Meetings. It was some pretty intense, awesome training though. Normally, this would be done in the course of 3 days, but we did it all in 8 hours, hahaha. We were the first district to have it, and now they´re gonna go around and visit the other districts to do the same with them. We had lots of practices and it was just us 8 missionaries and Pres. Oliveira. He´s awesome! He is completely focused on the work and can whip out lots of push ups too (He did like 50). Oh my goodness... But, it was great. The assistants are really funny too, so we had a good time. Not to mention, lunch at the nicest Churrasco in Vilhena.

We´re kind of going through a drought here in this part of Brazil. It´s gone back to being incredibly hot, even at night. There is lots of dirt and pollution in the air, which has resulted in the red moon (crappy resolution picture below). Oh my gosh! Bible prophecies are being fulfilled! Our mission is praying for rain. Womp. But, in spite of this our mission broke the record for number of baptisms for one month with Pres. Oliveira: 141! We had 5 weeks for this one, so that helped.

Because of our emergency training, we didn´t too a whole lot of work here in Ji-Paraná. We were there for 3 days (due to travelling and whatnot). However, I got to confirm Breno (the 14 year old below), which was great. I was kind of nervous, but everything went good. Afterwards, I felt like I could go jump on a building or something! Other than that, we have 2 other young uns that we´re gonna try and baptize this Sunday. Bam!

I´m also WAY excited for Bryan to get his call soon! You have no idea what´s in store for you big guy.

Well, that´s all for now. Keep up the good work and love people! I love you and pray for you all every night! Remember to give the missionaries water.

-Elder Carpenter

This was an awesome week!!

Womp, womp, womp! Mais uma semana. This last week was really awesome!
We had a baptism!! We baptized Breno, the 14 year old, whose family has already been baptized. They have moved a lot, and started going to another Church because the LDS one wasn´t there... but now they are on the 180! They are probably the coolest family that I´ve met on the mission. Every time that we go there, they bring out a banquet of food for us to eat. I don´t even know the number of times that they´ve told us, "You´re at home, eat what you want." The missionaries here have really gotten some parents. The 18 year old daughter is really funny too, because she likes to belt crazy evangelical, gospel music at the top of her lungs. It´s kind of hard not to laugh.

So, we had Breno´s baptism this Sunday and it was quite the adventure. He´s kind of a big kid, and he chose Elder Santana to baptize him. Kind of a difference in body size, ha ha. After three dunks, he finally got completely under the water though. Immersion! It was kind of funny, but Elder Santana wasn´t really laughing.

After the baptism, Breno´s mom got up and wanted to give a thought. So, she told this crazy story about how when Breno was a baby, he was in the hospital a LONG time because of problems. Everyone thought he was going to die, but she went to the hospital every day and prayed or sang for the doctors and other people. Basically, it was a miracle that he survived and is here today. After her story, she bore her testimony and said that she knows that THIS Church (the LDS one) is true. Opa!

This week I read a talk called The Atonement. Sheesh! Talk about powerful! I recommend it to anyone that really wants to understand the Atonement. I´m still thinking about it after three days. It´s one of those talks that you have to read a few times. It uses a lot of scriptures from Alma 34, so that´s what I´ll be studying tomorrow.

In closing, I would like to wish everybody a good week. It looks like everybody is getting back in school/work mode, so I´ll let you enjoy that. We have a wonderful opportunity to be members of this Church in the last days! What a blessing, people! I´m sure grateful to be on the mission. There are so many people that have no idea about our Church, that would glady leave the world and join us. Everyone has to be given the chance to hear the gospel. Let us bring it to them! Have a splendid day and remember that "you are a miracle"!

-That One Guy Sweating in the Jungle: Elder Carpenter

School news

Hola! Tudo bem? How are yall? It´s weird that summer has ended and that everybody is starting school right now. Here in Brazil, they have it year round, and just have little breaks in the summer and winter. At least that´s what I think. They also only have school for 3 or 4 hours. When I tell people that I went to school from 7 to 3 everyday, they look at me like I´m crazy. Womp.

Tell Andrew that I wish him the best in all-day Kindergarten! I´m sure he´ll make some new friends and learn to behave himself there. I can still remember when I was in Kindergarten, like it was yesterday. I always remember that my teacher, Mr. Scott, liked to eat popcorn with milk, as if it was cereal. I plan on trying that some day, but I have yet to try. As for recipes, they have pretty much everything, in the way of condiments, here except for maple syrup, peanut butter, and mexican food. They have lots of pasta, noodles, fruit, bread.

As for this last week, things actually went pretty well! So, we were walking to this one guy´s house (Paulo, he was baptized but never came back to Church to get confirmed like 5 months ago) and this lady calls out, "Elderes!" We´re like, "What in the devil?" So we go and talk to her and her husband, and find out that they are a family that was baptized 8 or 10 years ago! They have moved around a bit, and the last place that they lived didn´t have the Church. But then, they moved to Ji-Paraná that day (this being the Friday when we met them) and we showed up. They have 2 kids, an 18 year old daughter who was baptized, and a 14 year old boy who didn´t get baptized, because he was too young when the rest of them got baptized. The mom is really, really nice and kept telling us that we can come to her house and she will feed us or help us in any way that she can. Needless to say, she has always loved the missionaries. The only thing is, I think they´ve been away from the Church for awhile because they asked us if we preferred to drink coffee or chocolate milk. Uh... So, we reviewed the word of wisdom with them. But, their son came to Church this Sunday and I´m sure that he´ll baptized soon because he really liked it. I´m excited!

Oh, and this Sunday was the end of our transfer, and guess what? Nobody in our district (us in Ji-Paraná and the 4 missionaries in Vilhena) will be changed. Everything is staying the same. So, I´ll be with Elder Santana for another transfer. I´m happy because our district is pretty awesome!

Have a wonderful week! The principles of the gospel are true! Not just lessons that we learn on Sunday, but actual truth that will always be true. Keep strong. I love you!

Keep the faith!

Well, I don´t have too much time so this letter will be short. This last week was not the best, haha. We went to Vilhena for a District Meeting, and got back on Wednesday. Pretty much all of our investigators we have cut, and we are trying to find new people to teach. As we say in our mission, they are "Pessoas Boas (good people)," but not "Eleitos (elect)." So, we are trying to find people who are willing to hear the word and follow it. We had Ilsemar and his woman, Ana Claudia at Church this Sunday, which was actually quite a surprise. We tried to call them to invite them to Church, but they didn´t pick up the phone. Then, they showed up at Church, which was good. I think I already talked about Ilsemar, but I´ll just talk about his situation. He´s 25 and cuts hair with his woman, Ana Claudia, 43. They live together in the house above the salon, with Ana Claudia´s 2 kids (who are actually older than Ilsemar...), and her daughter´s daughter, or granddaughter. Ilsemar, doesn´t want to get married because of the obvious age gap, and also because Ana Claudia wants to live with her kids who don´t work and just are on the internet all day. However, Ilsemar doesn´t want to leave because he´s invested a lot in the salon. Pretty complicated. We´re not exactly sure what to do, because they have to make a choice. We weren´t planning on teaching them anymore, but then they came to Church. Womp. We´ll see what happens.

Also, we did some service this morning for a family in the branch. We were cleaning out this house that they want to sell and pulling weeds, cutting things, and burning them in order to clear out the space around the house. It´s actually a really cool place, out in the countryside-ish of Ji-Paraná. Anyways, I felt like I was in Mesa with the sun, weeds, and dirt in my face. Haha, good times.

Basically, I´m just grateful to be here on the mission, doing my best to help the people here. I was reading in the scriptures this last week at the end of 2 Nephi, that talks a lot about the trials and things that will/are happening in the last days. It made me realize that we have a lot of stuff going on around us! However, we are not alone. We have the Lord on our side and he will always help his people. We are truly a strange people, but that is just because we don´t exactly fit in with the world. I just want everybody who´s reading this to know that the Church is true and that if we have faith, the Lord will perform miracles in our lives! I had to give an emergency talk this Sunday about missionary work. I told everyone in the branch that if they talked/invited someone to Church, an activity, etc. this week, that the Lord would bless them! I know that the same thing can happen in all the wards and branches of the Church. It´s just a matter of whether or not we act. Have a good week! Keep with the faith!

Com amor, Elder Carpenter