4-12-2010 Letter Home

To the Dark Side of the Moon and Back Again...

Hey everybody!!!

Finally an actual message from me, eh? I'm sorry about last week, there were things that were taking up my time and this time I'll explain it all.

So here's what happened. We had already received news about the next transfer on Saturday night. I would go to another area as a Senior Companion (!!!) and Elder Peres would be going to the interior in undoubtly the smallest, hottest little area in the mission. I was super excited, Elder Peres super sad, and then the other Elders told us that they were pranking us!! Haha, it was hilarious, I just needed to share that little joke, they didn't pull the reveal for a long time and when they did we were so surprised and everyone was laughing their heads off. What really was happening is I would stay here in Maracanau with Elder Peres one more transfer as Junior Companion! Yay!

Then Sunday arrives and we get to the chapel early to watch General Conference. My companion went to the chapel to watch Conference on the big screen with the other Brazilians, and I was left behind in the Bishop's Office to watch it in English (lucky me!). I am sitting there during Elder Uchtdorf's talk, the first one, when two Brazilian elders come in, from a neighboring area that doesn't have a satellite, Pacatuba. They were talking about the upcoming transfers and who would be where and the new companionships that would be created.
 
After the first session of Conference Elder Peres and I head out to some of our investigators that didn't come, to encourage them to go to the second session. We end up waiting outside for some teenage girls to get dressed to go with their family, and my companion and I are just sitting outside alone, each kind of in his own thoughts, and we begin talking again about upcoming transfers. Elder Peres seems pretty indifferent about it. He kind of just zones out, then our investigators come out and we march on back to the chapel.

Second session of conference passes. Elder Peres and I are out in the hall when everyone's leaving the building and I'm smiling and saying "Tchau" to everybody and suddenly I can tell Elder Peres seems upset, but then our investigators are there and we get to talking again.

Remember, its Easter, so we end up going to an after-conference Easter Party, a Chocolate Exchange, actually. Everyone bought a package of chocolate, and we picked names out of a box and traded it all. It was fun! Almost all the Elders were there and the house was full of members. Some of the elders start talking about transfers again and Elder Bernal, our District Leader, comes up to me and says that the President is thinking about trading me around, yada yada.

Elder Peres and I are walking back home and then I can tell he is really mad, my friend, my best companion so far, thought that I had been talking with the other Elders and conspiring with them to trade companions... he had it in his mind that I didn't like him and it got worse from there. He was upset. I am fresh from Conference, super spiritual, so I just talk calmly to him the whole time. "Elder Peres, just settle down. Let's say a prayer and let's talk about this. What did we learn about Brother Ryder that left the church because his name was spelled wrong? Dude, the Adversary is trying to split us a part. I didn't betray you, let's just talk this out." Oh man, it was terrible.

The first night I had the Spirit, I was certain that I hadn't done anything wrong. I was proud of my transfer, I had grown a lot! I was following the rules better than ever before, working every moment, feeling more spiritual. I felt the Lord was pleased with me. That was the first night. When I woke up on P-Day, I had lost it. I was depressed, really really depressed. I wasn't talking to my companion and he wasn't talking to me. I felt bad about myself, didn't know what to do... just really in a pit, as they say here. At e-mail time I just wrote to President to explain the situation.

I was laying on my bed after I used the e-mail, I had been praying a lot, and I decided, you know what, this is not who you are. You are better than this. You didn't do anything wrong. What can you do? I was hungry, and I realized... wait a minute, I could fast for the rest of the day. So I started a fast and it was hard. When we started working that night at 6:00, I was tired and hungry, and the tension was still there. It was not good, with little comments that wormed away in my head. Nossa. It was terrible. On our way home, we argued. I was mad. He was mad. We ended the night angry at each other once again.

Next morning, I decide not to talk to Elder Peres at all. I am determined to show him I am a good missionary. So everywhere we went, I spoke first to people. I left the message without consulting him, I prayed without letting anyone choosing, I walked ahead of him. I was just pumped to prove him wrong, doing everything as best and as obedient as possible. And then we sat down to plan the rest of the day... and the fast that I had gone through worked. We both agreed that we had acted wrongly, we had a responsibility to love each other and to work hard this transfer and that Satan was trying to break us apart. We had a short spiritual talk and then... it ended. Wow. It was awesome. We started working and by the end of the day we were joking around again. I've learned a lot from this experience. I feel much more confident about myself, much more confident in the Lord. I know He is watching out for me.

Shoot, that story took up all my writing time. I love you guys!

Hey, Connor, guess who's Senior this transfer? Elder Slagle, Elder Duvall, Elder McDonald, Elder
Foust, and Elder Ingersoll. Crazy man. Elder Foust and Elder Ingersoll are training again.
I have an awesome district. I love you man, hope this next transfer is better than the last.

I love you all! Thanks for all your letters and have a great week! More next time!

- Elder Carpenter