God Bless Us Every One!
Friends, family, this is my Christmas letter, but its not going to be super amazing because its not like I have more time than usual to type one. This last week was great! I got my package, which by the way is incredibly AWESOME! I cant believe you planned all of that, you guys! It was perfect!
Everyone in my house was impressed and my companion had a huge smile on his face as he opened his first present addressed to “Elder Companheiro”. Hah, he hadn’t gotten his Christmas package yet, so his spirits were lifted when he received a few little things. Its so funny, some of those little things you gave us were just so awesome because they were from home. Very cool. Our little Christmas tree is like the only decoration we have here for Christmas, but it makes all the difference. Thank you so much, everybody, you put so much thought into that and it really made me feel the Christmas Spirit so far from home.
We were blessed to be able to baptize two of our investigators this Sunday! Vitor is a twelve-year old rapaz (a word used for all young men here, HA-pies) who has a large family that we are going to continue working with. He has a lot of friends in the Church and man, he is just so ready for the Gospel, he is like a member already. Bruna is a sixteen-year old moca (MO-sa, word used for all young women here) whose family are all members, and will likewise be very strong. Two very awesome people have just joined the Church and we are glad for the experience.
That was really our week, despite the usual ground-pounding and door-knocking and teaching people. Oh, we did give out DVDs of “Feliz Mundo”, a Church film about Christmas, and all of our investigators loved the presents.
Okay, responses now… my favorite part of the letter!
Hey Lynsey!! Don’t worry, I understand how busy you can get. That sounds crazy! Wow, Alex ----- is getting married?! That’s great! Congrats to them. Your Christmas sounds like it will be so fun! Yeah, the package is very, very cool. The house I am living in isn’t so bad. I sleep well at night, every night, because I am so tired after work, I have running cold water, no hot water here, hah, and we drink from jugs of mineral water we buy from a nearby store, can’t trust the public water for drinking. The food is different from the food we had in Los Angeles, but it is really good! Rice, beans, noodles, sausage, lasagna sometimes, chicken. They make it great here. You are in a ROCK BAND?!?! That is fantastic! Oh man! That is so cool! I hope it is a bunch of fun and that you will get fans! That’s sweet Lynsey! I love you so much! Talk to you in a couple of days!
Hey Dad! I like Maracanau a lot, but there are some differences between working here and working in Juazeiro, which I still need to learn. As far as comfort, though, it is definitely an improvement. I really need to worry about a freckle? What should I do to make sure it isn’t skin cancer? There ARE a few things that would be nice to have here, hah… little tools that would make life a little easier. I need to keep a list and remember them better, because I can’t quite put my finger on it right now. Hmmm. That is a definite affirmative on the cooking a fresh chicken! Yeah! Maybe start raising it now from a chick so it’ll be big and fat when I get back! Haha. We did not get our new house yet, still waiting for it. I am thinking about the cottage meeting idea a lot, and I think it will be an awesome program. Unfortunately I think I need a little bit more experience with missionary work and the language before I can begin putting it into action. But it will happen! I love you Dad! Thanks for all of your encouraging words!
Hey Kaitlin!
I miss you and love you! I hope you are feeling very Christmasy and have some good gifts under that tree! I’ll talk to you soon and I am thinking about you every day!
Hey Mom! Natal isn’t a big holiday here, actually. It’s kind of just lumped in with all the others, and there aren’t too many decorations. That might just be Ceara, though, because the other Brazilians say that Christmas is a big deal in Sao Paulo as well. One funny tradition is that Santa Claus is depicted differently here. He has a wide-brimmed hat and he rides a flying donkey. No joke! It is hilarious! Christmas here will probably be just like every other P-Day, with perhaps a really good meal (we are thinking barbecue… hmmm…) and Christmas songs and a few little festivities. We’ll definitely do something fun though and take a lot of pictures. I have been writing in my journal every single night and I have filled up the first book quite a bit! I think I am nearing the halfway point, which means it might be a few more months before you receive it. There is a lot of content there; I think you’ll like it a lot!
Yeah, so, the only way I can talk to Connor is if we are on the phone at the same time! It is permitted to talk to him, as he is part of my family. So, I am going to call at 6:00 here, which should be 1:00 there and figure out what the time is in Porto Alegre at that time, because you need to tell Connor to call at that time. There aren’t too many rules here and I will probably be able to talk to you for an hour, maybe longer. NOTE: Just figured out I can call home to set up the call on Christmas Eve. So. I. Will. Call. On Christmas Eve and talk to you guys for maybe five minutes. Connor, what about you guys? Can you do this?
Hey Connor! I hope that we will be able to talk to each other! That video Nunes sent was absolutely fantastic! I could understand much of what you guys said, the accent is different but not incredibly so! Cool to see you at work there! Your companion seems cool from what little was said. Neat, man. I hope your Portuguese is better when I talk to you, it sounds like you have put in more study time than me! The pictures on your blog are great; I am really enjoying your adventures. Man, I’m glad I didn’t have to stay in my first area and guide my senior companion around, that sounds tough.
By the way man, you need to start keeping a record of all of your baptisms. Buy a nice notebook. Keep the first page clear for you to write your testimony at the end of mission. The next page should be a title page for that area you are in, with perhaps a picture of you and your companion. The next page is your first baptism, with a picture, and all the information you need to keep track of them: address, date of birth, date of baptism, date of confirmation, date of temple entrance, who baptized who, who your companion was at the time, what ward it was in, and a quick paragraph summarizing your experience with them. When you leave that area or switch companions, make a title page for your next area and your next companion. This makes a really cool Livro Dos Batismos that looks very nice. Mine looks sweet, I’ll have to send pictures at some point, and Elder Carvalho has one that is awesome. Please make this book! You’ll want an in-depth record of everyone you baptized on your mission and I will want to see it! I love you man!
I love you guys so much! Merry Christmas everyone! Talk to you soon!
- Elder Brendon Carpenter
No comments:
Post a Comment