Another P-Day, another opportunity to speak with the outside world. So exciting!
Had a great week. First of all, thank you so much to Sister Reynolds for that awesome Halloween
card and message. One of the few I received. That was very nice.
Next, to Zack: my mission has been great so far, the only difficult part is being away from home, really. The MTC was very fun and you should enjoy every day of it, even though everyone complains that the field is going to be better, you start missing it when you leave. I´m not an awesome missionary
just yet, first I have to master the language and that is going to take some time. Right now I kind of feel like a dope because I can say very little to our investigators while my companion Elder Carvalho does all the talking. I just smile, go over a few points that I'm good at explaining, then testify, pray. People still feel the Spirit but I can't wait until I'm fluent. It takes a lot of work, learning another language, but I'm trying my best, so it shouldn't be too long.
The scriptures have given me a huge comfort. Reading and studying them daily is awesome and I hope I can keep the habit up throughout my mission and after. Elder Carvalho is a story and a half, I might tell more about him later in this installment. We definitely get along, he's a really cool guy and I can learn a lot from him. Anyway, thanks for the great letter man and for that scripture, Joshua 24:15, I really liked that! I miss you dude, and I love you!
Hey Uncle Todd, that was a great story about your first days in Peru. I feel grateful it wasn't that crazy. You know, really Brasil is a first-world country and it has a lot of things that I am still taking for granted. I am sure many missionaries are not so lucky. I would think you felt so isolated in Peru, it just sounds like there is so much more of a contrast between the country and the United States, but here, you know, I have the internet, and we have paved roads and restaurants and so forth... Not that bad, you know?
Hey Nick, thanks for the great letter, man! Yeah, time has really flown by, and more is bound to. Here in Juazeiro each missionary gets 350 reals which is like 500 dollars for a month. Lots of money, right? Well, things are actually more expensive here, strangely, and when you account for food, bus rides, water, electricity, it really adds up. ODST sounds so cool man! Argh, I want to play it! I want to send my iPod home for Christmas to get songs added to it, and that soundtrack is definitely one I would like, it sounds cool. Do the ODSTs have recharging shields? How does that work exactly? Is multiplayer very fun? Awesome, dude.
Connor, sounds like you are having a great time in Porto Alegre. How hot is it there? Man, it's hot here... in the 90's every day, but I am getting used to constantly sweating. The Spirit, the power of the Holy Ghost, is the most important power in missionary work and if you feel someone is ready, they should be baptized. Always trust your mission president, they hold the keys, I think increased contacting and increased focus on fortifying members and investigators in gospel habits is something important. We´ve got to remember that.
Kaitlin, your costume was so beautiful! That must have been so fun! Thanksgiving is going to be fun, too! I love you so much, and I am glad you got to go to the library! Hope you are enjoying school and church and everything. I love love love you my sweet sister! You are so awesome. :)
Grandma and Granddad, thanks so much for your awesome message. I look forward to those. Yes, focusing on the Spirit and being obedient is a constant battle, but it is very important. I want so badly to be just a perfect missionary, a true disciple of Christ. I think I still need to build my confidence up but I feel I'm on my way. Thank you for your motivating words!
Mom, some quick answers to your quick answers: Yes, send all mail and packages to that address I sent you, the Fortaleza Mission Home, and make it easily accessible for everyone, if you could! By the way, I received the package, the whole thing a few days ago!!! So awesome! Everything worked out in the end. Thanks for all that great stuff, the candy, the reference book, the sewing kit, beef jerky, those awesome glow in the dark glasses (lol), it was a very fun day to open that. Awesome present. Yeah, I got the Halloween pictures. Hah, those were so funny. Awesome. Dad with that wig on...
I've been thinking of sending my iPod home so that you guys could put a bunch of stuff on it for Christmas, if I send it in the next few weeks you could get it back to me by Christmas with lots of MoTab, some soundtracks and other songs I would like. I really don't need anything, and other than music I would just like some treats from home. Nothing very important, ya know?
Geeze, Mom, awesome letter. Love that stuff about prayers and its great to hear news of how the family is doing. I'm glad things are going well there. Very awesome, touching letter, keep them coming, though I won't be able to reply specifically to all of the great stuff you said. All the stuff you are doing sounds so fun and great and you are such a cool Mom. I love you so much.
Lynsey, I love you so much and thank you for the great letter.
Alright, did I say anything about the ants here? They are HUGE! Scary little things. I've seen them cutting out huge chunks of fallen leaves, big rubbery things, with these mandibles that could clip your toenails. They are the kind that carry leaves in those lines down into their gigantic anthills. Crazy little things.
Quite a contrast between inside and outside, here. People have nice computers, plasma screen TVs, iPods, cell phones, all very American, but houses and cars are extremely expensive here, so people have small, small houses, sometimes just one room, and very few people have cars. It's a weird contrast sometimes to enter a house surrounded by a bunch of scruffy half-naked guys, with chickens running everywhere, but inside people are watching X-Men on a big plasma screen TV or playing video games. Weird, huh?
Alright, so some fun stuff happened this week. First of all, Elder Carvalho and I and the two other Elders that live with us were invited to teach a short English lesson to all the classes in this private school near here. And they agreed we could teach a little bit of the Gospel. So we go in and climb all these stairs to these classrooms where a bunch of uniformed fourteen and fifteen year olds are sitting in desks and we speak to them in English, introduce ourselves, say simple sentences. I passed around my photo of all of you guys, my family, and used it to teach words like sister or mother. And then we launch into the First Lesson. Oh man, it felt so strange to do something like that. It doesn't seem like something like that would "fly" in the States. We passed out pamphlets, we explained how the Church of Christ has prophets, apostles and the authority of God to baptize and teach the Gospel. Told them about Joseph Smith and the current prophets and apostles... It was awesome, though. It's not like we were aggressive, we just did what we would do while tracting: testify about the true restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We taught four classes of different ages and the kids loved us so much. They wanted us to sign autographs and pose for pictures. The whole school was excited to have us there and it felt great.
Second thing before I run out of time: my first baptism this Saturday! Danilo was perfect, man, just super elect and such an awesome, sweet guy. He really felt the Spirit. I didn't even know I would do the baptizing until ten minutes before, so I jumped into the clothing and quickly memorized the words in Portuguese, and everything went great. We don't have a font here, just this big tub of water in the backyard. It felt very spiritual though, with everyone surrounding this tub of water, and it was done very well. Danilo was so excited and had this little smile on his face the whole time. It was very powerful for me as well. I was so happy! I can't wait to do it again. I sent pictures of Danilo, he is twenty one, very quiet, but his testimony is growing very rapidly. I can't wait to see the Gospel bless his life.
Well... Connor, do you remember our house in Arizona, the first time we lived there, when we used to sit on that carpet by the small TV and play Mario 3? For hours and hours at a time, going through all the levels listening to that awesome music? That's the memory I choose this week. We've come a long way, eh?
I love all of you so much! Thank you for your prayers and your great examples!
Your friend, son, relative, brother,
Elder Brendon Carpenter
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