Hey Family and Friends!
This is my first e-mail from the year 2010! This will be the year I remember most about when I think of my mission, being the only full year of my mission. 2009, my shortest year, is officially over. A lot to think about. My mission is getting underway, quite a bit. Portuguese is still difficult, and I am not fluent by far, but I can communicate with the natives enough that I don't feel like I'm an imbecile wherever I go. It feels like in a short while, I will have finally transformed completely into an iconic American Missionary in Brazil. Life gets easier every day and I am very grateful to my Heavenly Father for helping me grow so much, in the language and other things.
But, this last week was slow. We would walk and walk and walk to an investigator's house and, surprise, they were on vacation for New Year's Day, which here is a much bigger holiday, bigger than Christmas even. People go see their families and spend the night drinking, eating, and shooting off tons of fireworks. I bet you can guess that I didn't get too much sleep that night, hah.
We have an appointment tomorrow to teach a deaf boy, did I mention that? We have a translator and everything. One of our ward's has a large group of deaf members and is one of the few in Ceara that offers translation into sign language of all the meetings. That should be a cool experience.
Also this week Elder Matias and I started playing chess and we are still tied after four games, usually at night after proselyting or in the afternoon before heading off to lunch. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were pretty much lost days. Thursday we had to be back home by six o'clock, because New Year's apparently is very dangerous. We spent the night at the home of another missionary companionship and watched videos on a television they had brought. Friday was spent pretty much watching more and more movies, we had to be inside the whole day on President's orders. I am not completely sure why. Is it because everyone in the city had been awake through the night and early hours of the morning, and no one was on the street? That was true. It was a ghost town that day. Maybe he didn't want us to disturb homes of people full of sleeping relatives. I don't know, but there has to be a good reason.
Yesterday was the first day of the rainy season, it started early this year. It rained throughout the night and when we woke up, the streets around our house was practically flooded. Giant streams of water that would have carried you down into the huge storm drains they have here. But we had umbrellas and it wasn't very windy, so we made our way strategically to the chapel and stayed there for the services practically the whole day. The rain also brings the mating season for the ants and mosquitoes, here, so there are a lot more flying insects in the air, which shows as I have a ton of red bites on my neck and on my arms. I need to buy a mosquito net pretty soon, I've heard it will get worse in the next few weeks.
So, uh, that's pretty much it! Sorry for the uneventful week, guys.
Connor, we might be able to watch movies here, but we can't go bowling here! Bowling only exists in the big malls, and it is against the rules to go there because some missionaries have abused the privilege in different ways. So you've got one fun thing that I won't for two years, hah! I also forgot to say that I really liked that card game idea! That sounds really cool, man, I can't wait to get some in the mail. Using your talents for missionary work! Awesome. Great job on the baptisms, I know it makes it feel like all your efforts have been worth it, and its definitely an important part of the missionary experience. Keep up the great work!
Hey Mom, one thing I could use here: those teeth whitening strips. Something in the food is yellowing my teeth rather quickly, and I am brushing three or more times a day and flossing. Any guesses as to why this happens here?
Anyway, descriptions of the holidays have been great. I do hope you guys had a fun time! This last weekend sounded very fun, with all the family and going to see movies and to Sutter's Mill and riding around on quads... definitely wish I could have been there instead of just sitting around in a small apartment the whole day and getting eaten by mosquitoes. If only I could just be there for the holidays and then come back to Brazil and the mission afterwards, that would be such a blast.
Hey Dad, good luck on the meeting next week! We'll be praying for ya. Definitely agree on how important hard work is, I've learned that a lot here. Never did develop good habits on that and I guess the Lord wants to give me a crash course for the next two years, hah. That birthday trip of Lynsey's sounded sweet! Argh, so much fun happening in California right now ; ).
Love you Lynsey and Kaitlin! When do you guys have to get back to school? What has the holidays been like for you guys? I love you a lot! So much!
Well, I'll chat with you guys next week, hopefuly some better stories and news then. I love you all!
Your son, brother, friend and relative,
Elder Brendon Carpenter
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