3-29-2010 Letter Home

Hey everybody!
Well, this week was really good as well. Lots of work, more rain, its all just flying by, really, this transfer. Next P-Day I could be in a different area and with a different companion! Yes, transfers are ending a week early this time around!!! Every year we have two transfers with only five weeks and President Batt chose this one. So, yeah, suspense!!
We had interviews with President Batt this week, and once again, it was very awesome to talk with him. He told me that he really trusts me as a missionary and he knows I have the potential to be a fantastic missionary. He also said I am very self-critical, and that I need to be more positive and confident about myself. Once again, more motivation! I love those interviews, always gives me a burst of missionary energy.

"My good friend Milenna took this of me when I fell asleep accidentally on the coach waiting for lunch to be ready."
 
Let’s see, I made seven months on the mission this last week, feels pretty crazy that I’m getting so old here. I’ve been living in Maracanau since December!! It feels so normal to walk around on the streets here, I feel so comfortable and used to this place. 

" The cool bracelet Lynsey sent me! It is now permanently around my ankle and makes me look really cool when I go walking around in street clothes on P-Day."
 
I was able to get those songs off my birthday CDs and put them on my iPod at the mission office and man, those songs are awesome! You guys did a great job and put a little bit of everything on there! Some Jack Johnson-esque like stuff, We All Live in A Yellow Submarine, hah, that cool Indie stuff I like and some techno-ish kinda music that is awesome. That really made the week, I loved it, loved it! Hope you can get music soon too, Connor, definitely upgraded my iPod, haha.

After my interview with President I have drastically changed how I am studying and I am loving it. What I was doing was dividing my hour of personal study in twenty minutes of the Book of Mormon, twenty minutes of the Bible, and twenty minutes of Preach My Gospel, all in Portuguese, but let me tell you, twenty minutes reading anything in Portuguese will only get you so far. I was lucky to get a chapter or two done and I wasn’t absorbing much spiritual information. President Batt said that I should start basing my study time around Preach My Gospel, that I should read slowly, look up all the scriptures, and invest time in pondering and writing down everything I feel by the Spirit. It totally has amplified my study time, and I’m not even drowsy during the morning like I usually am. Was really awesome how my study time changed this week.

We have a baptism this Saturday, probably. A good spiritual series of events with our investigator Angelica, I want to relate it on video though. Good things are happening though. General Conference is coming up!! Yeah! I can’t wait to watch it with all of you guys, and I’ve heard there is a chance that the American missionaries in our district will get to watch it in English!

Hey Connor! Glad to hear about Sabino. Man, if you can help the head of a family get a testimony and be baptized, it’s likely that the rest will follow suit. Getting a new family into the Church is a big deal, so congratulations on finding and teaching him and keep praying for him! Sucks to hear about Elder Silva acting like that. So you’re pretty much being the Senior Companion this transfer, huh? That’s awesome! At least you are getting a lot of practice in teaching and in speaking Portuguese, that’s going to help out a lot. Hope things will improve, but who knows, maybe the Lord is preparing you to move up next transfer. I know that many times with all of my companions, it hasn’t been easy for them to let the American teach much. I always have to push my comp to let me teach, because, I think with all of them so far, they’ve always been directing the lessons, they want it their way and I’m just there to learn. I agree that I don’t know how to teach extremely well or speak Portuguese completely fluent, and that there is tons I can learn from their example, but I’ve been agitated for a long time that the Brazilian companion wants to hog most of the teaching. So, who knows, this could be a blessing for ya that you aren’t realizing, to get all that experience. Great stuff with the reading of the Book of Mormon completely out loud in Portuguese. I’ve been doing the same, but my study time kind of follows a different plan, and while I’m always reading in Portuguese now, I think its going to be a while before I can say I finished the Book of Mormon in Portuguese. Ah well, I feel very pleased with how I am using my study time, so it’s all good. You’ve been taking hot showers the whole freaking last five months? Argh!! Yeah, but I did have an awesome surprise birthday party, that was pretty sweet, hehe. If I become senior companion next transfer, which everyone says will happen but which I really don’t think will, I think I am going to take it kind of slow at first, work a lot with my companion as equals in the process. I want to do things a little differently but it’s not going to be a revolution or anything on our first few days. I think the biggest thing is that we are just going to work as hard as we possibly can. I think in a few more transfers, when I’ve got the hang of things, I’ll start to try out some more radical ideas, like Dad’s idea of passing out flyers for a weekly group lesson and other things.

"My breakfast I eat every day. One banana smoothie, two ham sandwiches! The best way to start your day!"

I love everyone one of you so much! Mom, Dad, Lynsey, Kaitlin, Grandma, Aunt Kauren, thanks for sending me e-mails! Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Elder Brendon Carpenter

3-22-2010 Letter Home

The Epic Elder!

 Woah guys! Hello there! Lots of mail to answer! Thanks so much! Actually, my camera picked up a virus from one of these freaking LANhouse computers, so I'm going to have to get it reformatted sometime this week at a members house. But, I am very glad you got my birthday pictures from Milena, hopefully that'll satisfy some media hunger, hehe. She was so nice, she not only received those pictures from the house and got them on her laptop for my birthday, but she also sent you guys my pictures and put all of the pictures on my camera on a CD, which I will send to you soon with my journal. I'm only twenty or so pages away from the end! That'll be a fun treat for all of ya.

We had another baptism this week! We found Marcilo through Amanda, who was reactivated only two months ago. Marcilo is her boyfriend and he was really interested in the Church when Amanda started going to church again. Then he joined her at Seminary and he got really interested, started going to Seminary every night (its held at a member's house at 6:00 here) and when we got to him finally, he was this close to having a testimony. A few questions answered and a few powerful testimonies later (the Spirit was really strong during our first lesson with him), he knew the Gospel was true. He prayed, received a response from God that the Livro de Mormon and the Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Ultimos Dias was true, we taught him a few more times and this Saturday he entered the waters of baptism! He is a great guy, we've definitely been blessed by being there for his conversion experience.



"Marcilo"

So on Saturday, we got the chapel early to clean everything and fill the font, only to find that the baptismal font had been left filled for the past MONTH and no one had emptied it, which meant it was really dirty, mucky. We tried to figure out how to drain the baptismal font automatically, but, we figured out the pump was broken. So how did we spend most of our Saturday, before Marcilo's baptism? Eeehhh... that's right, we emptied the baptismal font one bucketful at a time, pouring each into the bathroom toilets adjacent to the font. Oh man, Elder Peres and I were dripping wet, with dirty mucky water and sweat both, by the end of it, just exhausted after hours of work. We just layed stretched out on the pews in the chapel for an hour, completely wet and tired... we had to earn that baptism, I guess, with backbreaking labor.

Another thing funny about Marcilo's story... on Sunday he was confirmed and he received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. Who do you think confirmed him? That's right, yours truly. I was sitting in Sacrament, just expecting a nice three stress-free hours of learning, when suddenly I hear my name called out. So I go up there in front of the whole ward, tell the first counselor I hadn't ever done this before in Portuguese, but he just told me that I could repeat after him. So I have my hands on Marcilo's head, and the first counselor, Irmao Antonia, speaks so softly and quickly, and he already has a kind of thick Cearense accent... and I can't understand anything. Oh man, I was sweating bullets. I was praying for the Gift of Tongues and just repeated what I could hear into the microphone. Apparently it worked though, I don't know what happened, I  thought they were going to call me down off the stand and get a Brazilian to do it, but I just kept on repeating these sounds I was hearing and not understanding and, well, the confirmation went through ok. I'm thinking, either I had the Gift of Tongues and everyone was understanding what I was saying through a miracle, or everyone was too embarassed for me to make me stop. I felt pretty embarassed regardless afterwards, just looked at my hands through the rest of the Sacrament Service, hah, I felt like a big idiot.

We had conference this week the morning of my Birthday! Cool huh? I got my package on the DAY OF my Birthday! Conference was good. The package was better! Haha, I love all the things you guys put in. The shirts are awesome!! We haven't made tacos or brownies yet because all of us in the house are strapped for cash and I want to make a big Missionary Dinner out of it with lots of other food. We've already devoured all the candy, hah. Thanks so much guys! I'm listening to the CDs for the first time right now on the computer, they are really awesome! I'll get them on my iPod soon. I love packages!!! Hehe.

Winter started finally! Its raining every day here, and we've gotten soaked pretty badly already. Rain starts FAST here. Its just a little bit cloudy, and the next moment, its raining buckets and buckets. The streets here don't have very effective drains, so when it starts raining hard, the streets become lakes and rivers, it makes moving around the city a little crazy. But, at least its gotten a lot cooler. Not much sun, and the nights are actually pretty cold now. Still humid like crazy though and nothing will stop me from sweating when we're marching to an appointment during the day. 

The shower water is freezing in the mornings! I don't know if I told you guys... I've been showering with cold water since October 23rd, water heaters don't exist here. I've gotten kind of used to it, but lately the water has just been ice-cold, hah. I kind of just leap in, get wet, and dart out again, soap up my hair and then rinse it really quickly. Hey, Connor, are you showering with hot water? I miss a nice warm shower...

Alright, I guess I'll get to some responses.

I got Ashley's big stack of letters! Those were awesome, thanks Ashley! Awesome to hear about your perspectives on your mission in Denmark and hear a little about how things are goin in your life. Meant a lot to me. 

I got John Church's letter too! That was cute. 

Got a letter from Grandma as well, thank you so much for your letters Grandma, you've sent me the most, I think at least one every transfer, maybe more.

I love you guys! Thank you so much Aunt Karen, Aunt Jody and Ron for your e-mails! Thanks for showin that ya care about me, I love you guys so much. Haha, I liked the poem, Aunt Karen, and the spiritual
thoughts too, those were awesome. 

Thank you so much Grandpa and Grandmere for the message! Hope you guys get better with the health issues. That temple experience in Mesa was awesome, definitely remember that clearly and longingly. I've gone to the Temple in Campinas, Brazil, and the Temple in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The nearest Temple to me here is in Recife, which unfortunately is too far away to visit during my mission. But, I'll get to a temple eventually! Thanks for the e-mail guys. :) 

Thanks Aunt Becky for the long letter! Man, Jonah is going to be so big when I get back! Crazy! Thanks for your prayers and the letters you were GOING to send, haha. Love you and your family!


Did everyone like my videos, leaving comments on the YouTube page and everything? Haha, I want to do some more Frutas da Ceara videos, there's actually a lot of weird ones here, though the Jaca was definitely the biggest weirdest one around. We didn't eat it all, it wasn't something you could eat a lot of (imagine eating strong-flavored pear bubblegum with a fruit texture).

Hey Connor my bro, thanks so much for the scripture chain. Hey man, I had this dream that would totally make for an awesome indie video game! It's a side scroller, and it starts with this kid main character sitting on a roof, looking at the sun setting, but there is dark, almost blackish water that is level with the roof. This is the text that appears or there is some voice acting: "When the helicopters left that evening, I decided to look for someone out in the Waters." There's some graphic of black helicopters slowly moving in the horizon and some sound effect for them. So the kid gets into a grey rubber motorboat and he drives the thing out onto the water and the game starts. The environment gets really dark soon as the sun sets, but your motorboat has this old, bronze lantern that hangs above the character and it illuminates the nearby area. The game has some cool ambient background noises and some soft Explosions in the Sky kind of music, you know, soft, patient electric guitar and piano chords. You can move the kid into the dark water, and you can direct him to swim downwards. He has a flashlight too that he can illuminate the underwater world with. You discover that beneath the water is a whole suburban neighborhood. For some reason, its all underwater now. But some of the houses have the lights on, pouring out all orangey out of the windows. You can approach the houses and there are characters inside that will say stuff like "We're out of food! Bring us some food down here!" In text message bubbles that float out of the chimneys and up to the surface of the water. Or "We need fuel for our generators in here!" So you go and find these things for them around in the underwater environment, always returning frequently to the surface for air, and you drop it down their chimneys. But everytime you give them what they want, they start saying things like "Go away! Get out of here!" or "There's not enough food in here for you!" If you keep badgering them (knocking at their door) then the lights break in and the house fills with water and darkness. Creates a kind of emotion of not being wanted or being lonely, and the music could really amplify it. There's also these things in the water that are like shadows that are afraid of your flashlight, that grow bigger and more frequent as the game progresses. If they get to you they'll swallow you up and leave behind your flashlight. You've got to be strategic sometimes with your flashlight, which you have to find batteries for, or rechard at the electric poles that are the only things that rise up out of the water. You just have to drive your motorboat to an electric pole and it'll recharge your flashlight. You can also find other flashlights and leave them behind you, turned on, to create a kind of 'safe area' of light. You have to find so many houses and then the sun starts rising, and the main character always returns to his safehouse automatically during the daytime. Eventually you have to deal with these black helicopters, which have these big spotlights. They are looking for something in the waters, and if they see you or the light from the flashlight, they'll start shooting. So you've got to use that strategically. Sometimes they'll help you, though, accidentally, because their spotlights are much more powerful and they can keep the Dark Things at bay. I've got a secret reveal at the end that's cool but I'll keep it secret until we can make it. So that's what I've got so far, lots of room for improvement. Hope I didn't waste your whole P-Day with the explanation, hah.

Hey Dad, the transfer has been great. I discovered at the Conference from some other Elders that passed through here that Maracanau is one of the more difficult areas on the mission. So I'm not letting anything get me down, I'm just working hard with Elder Peres. I've actually learned so much and worked so hard this transfer, its awesome when you have a great companion and when you are committed to improving and being obedient to the rules and schedules with exactness. We have some great investigators and are working with inactive families a lot more than I ever have, and we are definitely going to leave this ward better and stronger, and hopefully there are some more baptisms on the horizon too!

Hey Mom! Yeah, there are some stories that circulate pretty frequently on the mission of Elders being mugged. It happens many times to some Elders, especially those who work in dangerous areas of Fortaleza.
With other Elders, nothing. I think it's pretty possible that I'll be held up at least once during my time here, but no Elder has ever gotten shot in Ceara or beat up, so that's a good thing. There are some funny stories about Elders teaching people that mugged them! I'll have to tell them at some point.

Awesome blessings that have happened in our family! The Lord is definitely looking out for us, we just need
to earn that protection with continued obedience to His Will and love for our brothers and sisters that
are around us every day. I love you so much!

I love you Lynsey and Kate! Sorry I didn't get to type much to ya this time. My companion is waiting
at the door for me, so I'm going to skidaddle. Anyway, Birthday was awesome, Package was awesome, I love
you guys so much, have a great week!

Tchau tchau!

- Elder Carpenter

3-15-2010 Letter Home

Essa semana foi muito show

"Show" is an English word adopted into the vocabulary, but here it is used for "really cool".

Hey everybody! Man I don't have much time, the videos and letters were so awesome I just had to relish in it all at a relaxed pace. Thanks for all the Happy Birthdays! Woah, can't believe I am turnin' twenty soonish. The other missionaries and some members and I are going to go out and buy I bunch of pizza on the 17th. I haven't got my package yet, but I should in the next week or two, so it'll kinda just be a staggered birthday. Anyway, right now its off to the sum-up of the week! I actually had a very interesting week, some strange experiences... but otherwise we are just working as hard as we can, walking in the sun all day, and I'm happy happy happy! Alright, here are the highlights:

First of all, ze videos:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBwpKCGmzPE 
- This is the video I wanted to send LAST P-Day, when I climbed the Serra.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BITsryY1Ihs  - Same day, same serra


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWIRvFdFtzY 
- More recent.


And here are the photos from the hike:

Might want to edit this a bit if you want to for a younger audience. Good luck:


So, Tuesday night we were working in Alto Mangueira, which is close to A Colonia, two different neighborhoods of Maracanau, the poorest part of Maracanau actually. Just to remind you, Elder Matias and I never worked in this part of our area, so at the beginning of the transfer Elder Peres and I decided to focus primarily on this part of the city. Its kind of more dangerous though, this part of the city has a reputation for lots of theft and drug-use and so forth. And on Tuesday night, the power in the whole neighborhood shut off during the night! It was kind of nerve-wracking, because we had to walk from appointment to appointment without a single light and man was it incredibly dark, clouds were keeping out the moonlight and all. But nothing happened, just a lot of suspense and nervous strategizing on the part of Elder Peres and I about how we would get to our appointments safely. We got to teach a family completely in candle light, which was fun. That night we also went to one of our appointments, an inactive member's house, to find everyone completely drunk. Very sad story... the man had been baptized, had gotten married in the temple and had a happy family, and somehow he got to drinking, and it destroyed his marriage. He lost his job, he had to sell his house and all of his things to buy more and more alcohol, and now he lives with his mother, a poor old woman whose house is filled every night with broken men, because he's gotten in with a bad crowd. We were talking with these drunken, broken men and man, we were speaking face to face with street thieves and murderers, I'm not even kidding. I was pretty scared. We were talking about how Christ would accept anyone who came unto Him and repented, trying to encourage these men to choose a different life, when one of the men started telling a story, about how one of the men, had been stabbed in the side with a kitchen knife, and how the tip of the blade broke off in his ribs. He showed us the scars. Then he told us how this guy escaped from the hospital, found the two men responsible when they were drunk, and bashed both of their heads in with a big rock. This guy was just there - kind of smirking to himself. Dude... I felt really insecure, just praying to Heavenly Father. Elder Peres was a bold testifying machine though, just this light in this den of evil... he really wanted to help shake them out of the drunken craziness all of them were in. He was really the man that night. Yeah, we went back one more time this week but none of them had stopped drinking, so we decided to cut them out of our schedule.


Alright, other than that, I had the awesome opportunity to baptize Barbara, the daughter of Lindalva, the house where we ate Christmas Dinner! I think you have a photo of them already. Barbara turned eight years old and chose me to  baptize her! 

Awww, it was so touching. I have built up quite a friendship with that family, though I haven't worked in Pacatuba. Just every time we passed by there, Elder Matias and I, for interviews, I was very friendly and played with the kids and everything, so they really like me. We had cake and soda afterward and it was fun. 


On the way to Linda's house from the baptism, I was with Elder Mendonca, another Elder I was on divisions with, and some members, and we were walking on this dark road when we heard something like a gunshot behind us. I turn my head just in time to see a guy on a motorcycle Tokyo Drift straight into a big stone lightpost! I don't know what happened, but he lost control and slammed into this lightpost. Everyone was frozen, but for some reason, I don't know, the adrenaline hit me and I just took off like a bolt towards this guy. I lifted the motorcycle off of him and started shouting "Alguma pessao, lige uma ambulancia!" Someone, call an ambulance! On second thought, lifting the motorcycle off of him probably broke protocol, but it looked like it didn't hurt him. So I lifted this motorcycle off of the guy and he kind of shuffled to the side, when I saw his leg... the skin was sheared off his leg. It was disgusting and gory and sickens my stomach even now. I could see his bones, I really could. And then it started bleeding like crazy. Oh man, it was horrible. By this time the others got to their senses and started helping out, but what was weird is that the first thing this guy said was "Leve esse moto! LEVE ELE AGORA!!" Nothing about an ambulance or help or anything, just TAKE THIS MOTORCYCLE OUT OF HERE!. So, wanting to please the bleeding victim, I pushed the motorcycle to 'Arnoldinho's House'... he pointed out  a house in the distance where we should park it. When I had gotten the motorcycle there, the others were with me and we snapped to our senses and realized the motorcycle was stolen and the guy knew that the ambulance was coming, police too maybe, so he wanted to get rid of it. When we saw that the guy was getting help,we decided to walk very quickly away, realizing we may have helped the criminal. Crazy experience though. Everyone was saying stuff like, "Oh, Elder Carpenter was like Superman, just off to the rescue!" I felt good being there to help out first. Yeah, that was crazy.
Yep, so those were my interesting experiences this week.


Hey Dad, thank you for everything you said. I am so grateful that you are feeling better and more optimistic and that we were able to help. You really are our best friend and we are there with you in Spirit, in our prayers. You are an awesome role model Dad, sometimes out here when I am learning to be more hard working or a better problem solver, or when I am feeling a little hopeless and lazy about some investigators or something I'm dealing with with my companion, I think of you and the qualities you have that I want to imitate and how I should have those qualities because I am your son. Thanks for everything Dad, and I know you are on the right track with the Lord, and when we are aligned with His Will, we can accomplish so much, in this life and the next, for ourselves and for others. You might sell the quads, huh? Hrm. You know what's right to do. I trust you guys. If you sell them and you feel it had to be... then I understand and I'm not going to let it bother me. Urgh, I don't want to discuss or think about quads right now, actually, its making me trunky. Thank you for your kind words and congrats on the new initiative to work out! Sorry that you haven't got out of your office recently, that really sucks. Must feel like you were stuck in a hole. I'm here with ya though, and we just gotta laugh about it all, right?


Mom, Lyns, Kate, Connor, I love you guys and have enjoyed everything you've sent me. Lyns, I have given a few blessings out here, and its much more stressful in Portuguese, but I am getting it, hah. Cool stories and pictures Connor, jealous that you are working in the country so much, it looks quite pretty, especially in contrast with the ahm... trashy cityscape that I am working in. Thanks for the awesome advice and news, Mom. Kaitlin, you are so precious to me! I gotta get out of here, hope this week's e-mail and videos were satisfactory!


Paz e amor!
Seu filho, amigo, e irmao,

- Elder Brendon Carpenter

 - Didn't get a video from Lynsey, didn't get package, but I am not worried, I had a good P-Day! I love you, gotta scram though, have a great night!

3-08-2010 Letter Home

Vishe Maria! Nao muito tempo nao! (**sorry no translation available on that one)

 Well well well, another Monday to send you guys some news!

Argh! Dude, I hate LANhouses, I hate LANhouses so badly. This one isn't letting me upload things from my camera to email.  This is ridiculous. After all the time I spent today shooting photos and making videos. And did I mention that last P-Day I had ten minutes of video that were lost? I am trying so hard every P-Day to send videos and other stuff to you guys and just every single time it doesn't work. I'm so frustrated right now, its not a good mood to be in when you are e-mailing your family. Relax relax relax.... whoooohhh... 

I am super tired because we climbed the mountains (serras) nearby today, the whole district, from 8:00 to 4:00, climbing and returning. It was so beautiful on the top of the mountain, seeing all of Ceara from the jungles of the Serras to the coastline of Fortaleza, and the wind was so refreshing and everything... it was just such a fun P-Day. Reminded me of all the fun nature hikes and trips we would take, you know? It was so beautiful... I have video and photos of it all so you'll get it next week, I guess. Who knows, maybe there is still enough time to zip by to another LANhouse... probably not.

Fortunately I was able to read all your messages and watch all of your videos before I checked to see if I could make uploads, and that was really great. Thank you guys so much! I did not actually get Dad's video or Connor's second video, so send those over. 

What was this week like? Man, I have worked harder than I have this last week than any other week in Maracanau. Elder Peres and I are on fire, here! Really, we are just making use of every single hour, scheduling tons of appointments, making contacts, it feels great and busy and exhausting and rewarding... I'm growing a lot more spiritually... Elder Peres and I are just really on the same wavelength, we want to work hard, treat each other well, and follow all the rules. He's helping me a lot, he has one year and six months on the mission, which means he's the most experienced missionary I've had so far. He teaches lessons very well and it feels like I almost have to forget how I've done everything before and re-learn it. The Lord is blessing me a lot, he is blessing us a lot. We have ran into just some awesome, excited, elect people here, just walking by some times and they come and talk to us. It really goes to show ya that when you are doing what the Lord has asked of you, and when you put in as much effort as you can, he will pour out so many blessings on you, I feel great.

I wanted to share some pictures of our awesome hike with you all tonight but I guess it is going to have to wait, my week was just what I explained. Finding a lot of new people, teaching a lot of people, getting a lot of sun and always relishing that banana smoothie after a long hard day's work.

Mom, thanks for that letter about the Chile earthquake! Felt the Spirit a lot on that one. Wow, that is so amazing, how the Mission President knew beforehand that he needed to prepare the mission for an earthquake. Wow. Thanks for the video, I wish I could respond in more detail! It was really good! and, let's see, news about the last week was very reassuring, I was very pleased to hear all of that.

Dad, I didn't get your video but that news about the business is very exciting! You're there, it's about to happen! We just need to keep faithful and keep working hard, doing our part and we will be blessed by the Lord. I love you so much, Dad, thank you for everything you do!

Lynsey, I love you so much, and Kaitlin, thank you for your awesome, awesome beautiful video! I liked it so much! I watched your video in Brazil, can you believe that? You are great at making videos, I'd like to watch some more of you! Hehehe, I love you girl, have a great week!

Hey Bro! I'll talk to you more next week dude, watched the first part of your video last week, was great, hope you are liking the new area and new companion. Yeah, don't be stressed about the whole thing about some Elders of my group training and being Seniors and all... I feel like I am exactly where the Lord wants me, I'm doing what I can, and hey, we are going to get our chance in a few months. Right now I have the impression that I need to learn right now how to be a Senior Companion, or how to train, in order to get ready, even if its months and months ahead. I feel really good with that point of view. I love you man! Tchau!

Until next week!
Love,
Elder Brendon Carpenter

3-01-2010 Letter Home

First, for some photos from a few weeks ago:

 

  

 

Hey everybody!

Transfers! Oh man, craziness! So, Elder Matias and I were in Maranguape for Transfer Night, staying at Elder Nunes' and Elder Trage's house, when we got the phone call and discovered that, first of all Elder Matias was leaving! He's heading to Jose Walter, an area about twenty minutes away in a different district. He will be companions with Elder Elmer, an American who just finished up his first transfer! Woah, deja vu! I guess Elder Matias is getting a lot of training in being companions with new Americans. Elder Elmer seemed pretty
cool, kind of quiet, when I met him. 
The second bit of information is that I will be staying here in Maracanau 2!! My new companion is Elder Peres, who has a year and six months on the mission, and guess what, he's from the Rio Grande do Sul!  
No way, Connor, you got a Cearense last transfer and this transfer I have a Gaucho! Legal de mais. He is way cool, so far, I am just super excited to have a companion like him, and we are going to work super hard this transfer. He's funny, though, he's kind of picky about food. He won't drink any kind of soda and won't eat any grains or breads of any kind, and he likes to buy tons of fruit and eats just a big pile of fruit every morning, hehe. He's way cool.

"A final picture of Elder Matias and I."

Other news... Elder Trage and Elder Nunes are staying together. Elder S. Costa left our area, along with Elder Gallagher, and Elder Melo. Elder Coelho is training again, an American, Elder King, fresh from the CTM, I think he's pretty cool but I've met him only once. He's going through first field experience shock, just, you know, lost in the language and feeling uncomfortable with the cultural differences, just like me, but I'll try to be as best of a friend I can be to help him through it all. 

Along with Elder Peres, two other Elders are going to be joining us this transfer at our house, to help with the area. Now we only have a ward and a branch to look over, and they will be working exclusively in an area we didn't work in too much. The aforementioned Elders are Elder Bernal, who arrived here with Elder Gallagher and Elder Hlavaty and Elder Matias and Elder Carvalho (seems like I am always in acquaintance with that group), he's Japanese-Hawaiian and spent four years training to be a UFC fighter, spent a year working for SWAT, really really cool guy. He brought a big punching bag with him that he works out with every morning. His companion is Elder Tonalatti (spelling maybe wrong), who is from Sao Paulo and has the same time on the mission as me, I met him in the CTM, seems pretty cool.

 

 "Pictures of my district, minus Elder Trage and Elder Nunes"

So, this transfer we are going to be working almost entirely in a part of the city called Alto Mangueira (High Mango Tree), which is kind of off in the corner. We have heard that if the ward is going to divide, its going to divide there, and so we might as well start building up the membership in the area. It should be fun. We have a goal of baptizing 20 people this transfer and Elder Peres and I are going to work as hard as possible to make it happen, keeping all the rules and just working as fast and hard and spiritual as we can. I have a great feeling about it all.

Oh, other crazy news... Elder Foust is TRAINING a new Brazilian that just arrived!! Elder Ingersoll is training as well in Zona Juazeiro, where he's still at! What the freak! So awesome for them!
These Elders were in my group in the CTM and doing great. Elder McDonald and Elder Stocking just became Senior Companions, too! Crazy, huh, Connor? Elder McDonald told me that President Batt has called our group looks like its going to be "the best group of Americans that this mission  has ever had". !!! We have a big responsibility to keep his trust in us. Imagine, yo, this means I could be moving up next transfer, the one after that... I've got to get my act together and learn as much as I can to get ready for that. Ugh, so awesome, so excited.

Hey Lynsey! Sorry to hear you are sick. 
Dude, I cannot believe I am going to be twenty. Four hands!! I do not feel ready for the mantle of adulthood. There is really no excuse now, I soon will not be a teenager in any respect. 
SATs and AP Tests?! Oh man, so fun! I remember those... good times. ;) You know what's best, Lynsey. Remember that starting study time a few weeks before the tests is the best way to do well. Grab my SAT Prep books and do some practice tests, okay?
Don't get too bummed about your future, just do the best you can and enjoy the results, whatever they are, when they come. Dude, Lynsey, have you ever thought that you and I could work together in the future? Not completely with each other but in the film industry? Nick is studying and interested in film, too, so... man, just imagine how cool it would be to work together and study together and work on the same projects it would be so awesome and fun! Hehe. I love you so much, my sister. Remember to keep your spiritual side alive and read those scripturess a little every day, that'll help you out a lot to deal with stress and personal problems. Till next week yo! And no... YOU'RE THE BEST!!

Hey Mom! Yeah, no worries on the videos. I do want to send videos though, to you guys, every week, and I hope it won't be too much trouble to slap them on YouTube and pass them along to Connor. Whenever you have time guys, don't be stressed out about it. 

see the new video here: Elder Brendon 03-01-2010

And when you do make videos, sometimes its just best to talk to the camera completely naturally, and then put it up on YouTube an send me the link. You don't need to be making videos too complicated every time you do, complete with music and photos and special effects, though I do like that all. 
I've heard about William Tyndale before! The book probably goes into a crazy amount of detail, but I know the basics. I think there was a lot of inspired men of God before Joseph Smith that helped prepare for the Restoration, more than we think. I mean, the Three Nephites and John the Beloved were still ministering for more than a thousand years among men, just in a different way than we do now. And the Light of Christ was still on the Earth, wasn't it? The Great Apostasy is a very interesting topic, I think. Thanks for the quotes from President Watkins, those were very special. I love you so much!

Hey Dad, thank you so much for the great pictures you sent. Hah! So crazy that was 20 years ago! You look so much like you! In 20 years will I look pretty identical how I look now? Hehe, cool. Thank you very much for your kind thoughts, they definitely helped me look a little more introspectively into how I am doing things. I love you very much and I pray for you as well.

Urgh, you guys are so awesome, six months away from all of you guys is too long, and yet I have three more six-month periods to go! Thanks for all of your encouragement, you are such a huge example for me, Dad, you really are.

Until next week, everybody! I love all of you guys, so much!
- Elder B