4-19-2010 Letter Home

Hey everybody! Man, my mission has taken one heck of a turn guys! 

So Saturday night we are all getting new assignments and it comes to my turn and the District Leader says: "Elder Carpenter, you'll be going to Florestao with Elder Macaco. He's only been here one transfer and he's already Senior Companion. President really really likes him." Okay, interesting. Florestao? I was like, that's way in the interior! Way farther than Juazeiro do Norte. No one knew really anything about Elder Macaco or the area so I was just ready for a surprise the next morning and a surprise it was. I got to the city center where all us missionaries trade companions and everything and I'm talking with my group and my friends and Elder Boyd says, "Oh, Elder Macaco? He's awesome, dude! You've got a great companion." "Really?" I say, "You know if he's here yet?" He laughs and points upward towards this tree above me. Elder Macaco was climbing the tree above me! He totally surprised me and jumped down and man, he is an ugly really short little guy. He has an accent I completely do not understand and get this... he's entirely covered with hair. His whole body! He's got this dark brown hair over his entire face! It was kind of strange but, you know, I've gotten used to it. I cannot understand a WORD he says, he speaks in this loud, whooping accent. I have almost eight months on the mission but, Elder Macaco makes me feel like I've been here one day. He loves bananas, something he and I enjoy a lot. He needs like a banana every hour and if he doesn't get one, he dances around and beats his chest. "Dude, dude, calm down there's a fruit vendor right over there." I've had to get him to relax a lot, he's really energetic. We got on the bus that night, I got some rest, and the next day we got to our new area. Florestao. Mom, Dad, its exactly like how you picture the Amazon. Dirt roads, huge trees everywhere, and the crazy thing is, we LIVE in a tree. I'm not kidding, I sleep in a hammock up in a big tree and all of my things are still hanging by a rope right above me. Elder Macaco loves it, he's already spent a transfer here and knows everyone here. I think he might even be FROM Florestao, because the people here all look like him and have the same accent. He teaches all the lessons and I just smile and give the investigators bananas. Whatever, I'll get the language some day. The bugs are horrible here but, luckily, I don't know, Elder Macaco is pretty strange, he likes to pick the bugs out of my hair and eat them. Don't look at me I didn't encourage this behavior, and the first time I did it I totally got mad at him but I'm getting used to it. Yeah, so, just another week in Brazil, getting really strange but I'm kind of used to strange by now, ya know? It's going to be a wild transfer, that's for sure. What in the... sorry, Mom, Dad, Elder Macaco just pitched his computer monitor out the window, it looks like his video isn't sending after all this time. I've gotta go. That guy is crazy!!

I love you guys, have a great week!
Elder Carpenter

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So I thought I'd start you off with my late April Fools message...

Hehe, yeah, hope you thought it was funny. 

This week was pretty good, working still as much as we can in Maracanau. We did some service this last Tuesday, helped a brother in the ward cut down some big banana trees in his backyard which was pretty cool. He hogged the machete, we just hauled the debris to the street. We then helped him pave a part of his backyard with some cement he had bought... just crushed some bricks, laid a layer of that down on the dirt, then poured the cement and flattened it with our feet. Way easier and more simple than how its done in the states, isn't it? I've finished my journal! August 25 to April 11, you all ready to be read every Family Home Evening for an hour. I want to pack a few more souvenir kinda stuff in the box, though, so it might take a bit. I made the brownies, finally, after a month practically! They were great, very awesome.

"Making Brownies"

Connor, glad you got a new companion, good luck to you, sir.

I think we both will leave the mission extremely, extremely patient. Dealing with companions is like, the eternal struggle here on the mission, yo. Hope it turns out a great transfer though!

Grandma, thanks for the e-mail. Easter Pageant was great, huh? I always loved going to those with the family, very fun. The vitamins are still holding out, thanks so much, they are keeping me healthy. Thank you so much for your prayers, you are very special to me and I am very grateful for everything you do for me Grams. I love you Grandma, have a great week!

Thank you Aunt Karen for the talk you sent, I haven't read it yet but I will later, I'm sure its great. I love you so much, thanks for the news as well. Man, family just keeps on growing and growing...

Mom, Dad, Lynsey, Kaitlin, relatives and friends, I love you guys a lot, have a great week, I'm always thinking about ya.

Love love love!
- Elder Carpenter