ELDER CONNOR CARPENTER


Full Time Missionary for the
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Mission: PORTO ALEGRE NORTH / Country: BRAZIL
Language: PORTUGUESE
Called on: APRIL 17, 2009
Departed on: AUGUST 25, 2009
Estimated Return Date: AUGUST 18, 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

August 16, 2011 - LAST Letter Home

What Joy!!
Hey Family!!!
I'm so sorry I couldn't write yesterday, obviously you can understand that it's been pretty busy here.


This last week was very great; we visited and ate with many members and investigators, and it was a great experience of seeing all the results of my work in Neopolis. 

Elder Gaucho
Unfortunately, Stephani had some problems with her mom, and wasn't baptized, but we talked to her and she is determined to be baptized. Priscila and Junior also promised they would continue to go to church. Juliana, one of our neighbors, showed up Friday and said she wanted to be baptized!?!! We talked with her, and her family was already friends with some members, so they started to get talking to them about the church, and they were very interesting. We taught and invited Juliana to be baptized THAT Sunday, but she already had plans, and would have to wait until next week. However, Juliana and her family, Priscila, and Stephanie went to church, where they saw me and Elder Bryant give our last talks. I cried a bunch. :( It was pretty dificult to leave behind the area, especially knowing that it was my last. I left without witnessing a baptism, but I am very certain that families I was able to find will shortly be baptized. I am in contact with all of them and they promised to send pictures when they were baptized. :)


This week we also had a successful branch activity, a theater night where we brought 4 investigators, watched The Testaments, and ate lots of goodies prepared by members. A returned missionary that I had known stopped by the area and we had an excellent churrasco :). Sister Dullius made the BEST home-made ice cream treat for dessert. :)

We packed up, I left a bunch of stuff behind, saw a couple more people, cleaned the house, and left for the bus station. There I saw Elder F. Ribeiro, and a bunch of other missionaries that I hadn't seen in forever. Awesome! 


I saw Brother Wilson from Elizabete, and Sister Alzenida from Esteio. They're doing good. :) 
Rosianne, Marco and Mirielle, a family I had taught the first lessons to and been good friends with in Elizabete and then left behind, stopped by, and informed me that Mirielle was baptized, and that Marco and Rosianne were regularily going to church and would be married soon to be baptized. What joy! 
I talked with Elder Diego who had been in Esteio, who reported that Yasim and family are doing SUPER well in Esteio, Yasim is a Young Men's counselor, Fadua is in the Young Women's Presidency, and all of them, Nilda included, have given talks and are loving the church! What joy! 
I received a phone call from Sister Nadir in Elizabete, who said that she and Pamela were well and continuing visits with the missionaries and going to church! Hey hey hey! What joy is that?! 







I've been stressing my mind this last month, and when the baptism fell I thought I would be super sad, but leaving, I'm just feeling extreme joy at the mission experience and these 2 years I've shared with the Lord. I love the mission, and I am thankful to be coming home with good experiences and lessons.

Seeing all you family still isn't feeling real, but it's getting there. :) I'm giddy with excitement. :)

Maybe Brendon's already got there, so I hope you all party a bunch so you can be warmed up for the REAL party when I come home. I love you all and am SO excited to be back! :)

Well, sorry, but I gotta keep this short... Until the end.

Love love love,
Until soon,
Elder Con



Thursday, August 4, 2011

August 2, 2011 - Letter Home

Sinking In


Hello there family,

This week was cold and rainy (again), but it was a good one. We had a great branch activity on Saturday where we managed to get 16 of the people we are teaching to. The activity definitely marked the week and our investigators were able to get to know the members of the branch and have fun in a bunch of games and eat cakes together. I'm really happy so many people showed up. I guess we should mention the word "cake" in ALL our invites to get greater effect. :)

Stephanie and Priscilla went to church again and we are anxious to get them to the finish line on the 12th to be baptized.

We spent a day and a half sick due to undercooked chicken, and we also got to do 3 service projects this week, liftin' sand (new stuff!) for the construction of a house, making a wooden gate, and hefting furniture in a move. Woah! I'm a workin man!

No photos AGAIN this week, because we haven't been able to recharge our camera. I promise next week I'll send a bunch! I gotta!

Man, I am sorry for the drab updates recently; it's hard because all I can seem to do is keep working and visiting and worrying and running so that I don't think about home too much. But I defintiely need to do some adventurous last activities here in a while to mark the occasion of me leaving the land of my mission. We will be visiting the temple next week and me and Elder Bryant will climb Itacolomi Hill on my last P-day, which will give a good epic look of the surroundings of all of Porto Alegre and Gravataí, all the areas that I've run around in this last year. I'm excited for that!

So, really, my feelings are pretty complicated in these last two weeks. I can't believe that I'll actually be going home; I feel like I'll just be transferred to another area. It doesn't sink in that I won't be here in three weeks. It doesn't sink in that I have a loving, excited family waiting at home for my arrival; all I can seem to see is the loving people which have taken me in here. I want to be sad about leaving but excited to go home but forget about it all and just work and bah! It's a mix.

But I'm sure that's pretty normal. Right now, I'm going to try to focus just on keeping going until the end; anything else'll pull me off track. Running running until the end! That's my goal! And to baptize a couple more before getting on the plane :).

Thank you so much for the great e-mails this week, and all the photos. I love you all so much! I am so excited to see you all.  What will you say to the 21-year-old stranger who can barely manage to type English who is suddenly living with you all? I think I'll definitely be a little fish-outta-the-water for a while.

Well, have a good next week! Enjoy the time left without having two extra plates at the dinner table every night!



I think I'll be able to visit Elizabeth on my last day in the field. I have plenty of room in my luggage too, after a little "Winter Cleaning". I think a lot of clothes might be going to the trash cause I definitely won't use them at home. That'll gimme some space.

I got butterflies too! Make ém stop! :)

Have a good week,
14 more days! :P

Your son,
Elder Con

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

July 26, 2011 - Letter Home

Miracles Before the End


stephanie, priscila, junior, miracle, jacqueline e fam, zone conference,

3rd to last e-mail. :) 

It's hard to not think about that. This week went well, and, many thanks to Elder Bryant, we're running running running to find more people and to get the people we have to baptism. I'm very happy to be ending my mission this way... :) 
I hope to keep up the speed after I get home too. We had an awesome zone conference on wednesday where I got to see a lot of people from my CTM group, and also see Elder Carroll and Elder Persinger - my growing stepsons... :) again. It was awesome. I hardly ate anything in our huge and expensive lunch cause I was busy catching up with all my buddies. I discovered that a bunch of guys from my group'll be attending UVU with me after the mish as well. I'm especially excited to be able to study with Elder Anderson, Feller, and Gibby there. :) I love those guys. We made a bunch of after-mission plans which made me a little trunky at the time but I'm over it now. :P 
Our Conference was with Seventy Elder Itesorio, and was very spiritual and talked about a bunch of new teaching techniques to improve the work. Very enlightening.

We have a nice little group of progressing investigators here, and people are finally starting to go to church every week (unlike in the 3 months when I arrived here) I am super excited for Stephanie, who's accepted baptism for next month and participated in a Young Women's activity this week. And even though Priscila was sick this week and couldn't go to church, she's progressing and seeming to start to "get it". I hope and believe that I will be able to see her baptized. We've been teaching a couple other cool families, Jacqueline and Fabio, and Paulo and Juliana, and Marcelo and Maria. It's been good to be able to not JUST find, but also be teaching alot.

The other night we had a special experience. It's 8:30, and we finished teaching Jacqueline and Fabio, but they were worried about Everton, who had had some problems and hadn't come home yet. We agreed to look around the neighborhood for him. We walked around for half and hour, it's cold, it was a long day, and no one was on the streets. We started walking towards home and instead of going home at 9:00, Elder Bryant insists that we keep walking around looking for Everton. I wanted to just tell him to give up because Everton could be anywhere, and there was probably nothing we could do. We walk around a bit more, come back to our street, but Elder Bryant doesn't let me turn and go home. I want to humor him (little greeny optimist that he is), so we walk down a side street. We get to the end of the street and notice an alleyway that I had never known existed, even though we knocked all the doors of that street one night. We walk to the end of the alley, it's a dead end, and so we start walking back. Suddenly a young women runs out of her house, we can see a large family inside. She's all smiling, and I give a big friendly hello, and I suppose Elder Bryant thought she was a member I hadn't told him about, so we start talking, and she asks for us to come back and talk to her family about the church. We mark a visit, and then I ask her how she knew about the church. She said she doesn't know anything about our church. I ask her how long ago she's seen the missionaries. She doesn't know anything about the missionaries. I ask her if she'd ever SEEN the missionaries. Nope. She says she just saw us walking down the street, after 9:00 at night, and had a feeling that she needed to invite us in so we could talk to her family about their church. Well, we shared a quick message about Jesus Christ and the family, and not wanting to spoil a good thing, booked it out of there. More news to come on her, Andressa, and her family, for sure. I'm absolutely certain that's the elect family we've been praying for. Stuff like Andressa running out to meet us in the cold empty night NEVER NEVER happens. Man, I was pretty astonished after that. Very cool.

So, there will be miracles before the end. I am so thankful that God remembered his cold, tired Elder Carpenter to send him a little sign that He's still in this.

Anyway, I love you all bunches! Have a great week! Keep the faith burning!

Love love love,
Elder Con

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

July 19, 2011 - Letter Home

Outstanding






Hey Family!

Thanks so much for the great e-mails and pictures. This week was VERY busy. Man, I've very thankful to have Elder Bryant with me because he's full of energy and won't let me slow down for a second. :) 

That's a very good thing. 
I'm looking towards the end of this transfer as a big question mark: what will happen to me after the 16th? I think my mind is rejecting the fact that my life will change drastically on that date.

Well, we built our house and we couldn't find (and didn't want) any truck to help us do our move, so we got a member's wheelbarrow and did the move peice by peice! Luckily the new house was only a couple of blocks away. This whole week actually, we've taken a peice of furniture a day. That include a stove I carried by myself in the rain, and a fully made (and with covers tucked) bed, hoofed by two American elders. We were probably a strange sight, but for some reason we wanted to do it all ourselves.

Our running and sweating in the rain has apparently given some results, as Priscila and now her little brother, Alison, Stephani, and two new investigators, Everton and Rose came to church. That's a record for our branch! Priscila went to an awesome activity earlier this week and we're trying to get Stephani to activities this week as well so that she can get really integrated. Junior is doing well, and we've had some good lessons with him, but it's still going slowly. I'm hoping for miracles! Surely they will come!

Anyway, I hope you all don't mind that my e-mails get slowly shorter and shorter as we get closer to the big day; I'm really trying to gaurd myself against all possible trunkiness (it's a lot harder than I thought it'd be when I was a "greeny", but I'm taking it 1 day at a time, I'm getting there!)

I am so thankful for each one of you. I am amazed at the blessings I receive every day, and especially the many blessings that it appears are waiting for me in UT. 

:)


Absolutely amazed that the Lord has so far blessed me and my family so much in this way. I am so thankful to be here for another month and for all the time I've had in this very special corner of the Lord's vineyard. Man, it's outstanding.

Another great week for you all! 



Until then,

Elder Carpenter

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

July 12, 2011 - Letter Home

Until the End


Elder Bryant, House almost done, LO, Junior Priscilla Stefanie Jacqueline, Grass Cut, Comforters,

Hey Family! 

:) How is my family today? Thank you so much for the good photos and letters today! This week has been a good one.

Another week, come and gone. This week was very good. Man, it was hard to say goodbye to Elder Persinger, and I've actually been missing him quite a bit because we were such good buds, but I'm happy that my new companion is also going to be a best friend. He's from Washington, and from what I've learned, lived way out in the boonies and is quite an outdoorsman. I like 'im. :)

We've really gotten to be good friends with Priscila, a young lady who went to church last week, and her family. She's been reading and went to church this week again (!!!) and was introduced to all the young single adults and invited to an activity. I am really excited for her and am hoping that the Spirit can slowly enter into her life and she can embrace a new path in her life, based on the Lord. I am really hoping all goes well with her.

We contacted another girl, Stephanie, who's 14, and she got really excited after the lesson and said she would be at church and our English class. She came! And she also realized that a close friend from school is a member of the church and they really connected. She had a good first experience and says she's reading, and it looks like she's going to accept the gospel in the future.

Junior has continued to take lessons from us but due to strange circumstances wasn't able to come to church, but I'm really praying for him and hoping that he receives an answer soon because he says he's been really looking and praying recently, but hasn't felt anything yet. Well, his time will come.

I hope you all can continue help me by including these three in your prayers. I really love 'em and am thinking they'll be the last marking relationships I'll have in my mission because I'm really trying to give my all so that they can accept the gospel.

We did a couple of service projects this week on the new house, and it looks like we'll be able to move in TOMORROW! Finally! After 3 months of waiting! I'm excited to live behind the Dullius' house!

Anyway, not to much new stuff. I'm dedicated to working hard, making contacts on the street and giving every moment of this last month the Lord has given me in His vineyard. Sometimes it's been hard to not get trunky or not think of home, but my companion and our awesome investigators and the knowledge that I'll never get to do this work again keeps me running! Until the end!

I love you all and I apologize for my short e-mails recently... But we'll get plenty of communication in in a little bit. :)

Love love love! Have a great week everyone!

Elder Con



 No photos AGAIN because, well, my camera has been broken for a while now. The battery simply doesn't charge. And I was uploading photos from my companion's camera, but Elder Bryant doesn't use his as much. SORRY! I want to take a bunch of mission action shots as remembrances. I'll do that.  



Tuesday, July 5, 2011

July 4-5, 2011 - Letter Home

Finale'
Hey everyone! It's transfer day today! I will stay here in Neópolis while Elder Persinger *sniff* will soon be transferred, it will be very sad to see him go. Honestly, it seems like every companion I have is better than the last. Elder Persinger is from Powell, Ohio, and he'll go home in a year and 3 months. 


Tomorrow I will meet my last companion of the mission. :(


My new companion, though I have not met him, is Elder Bryant, from Addy, Washington.
Another green American! 4 in a row run! 6 transfers!

I hear he's awesome, but I had wanted just one more Brasilian comp. Oh well.


I can't believe it's my last transfer! Holy smokes! No counting down the days, alright? :)

This week was nice: we find a couple new families, and Priscilla and Junior came to church, and they were very well accepted by the young adults. They will be baptized before the end, I know it!

Thank you very much for the e-mails! 

I cannot believe 4th of July was yesterday! I totally forgot! Say hi to everyone for me. I wanted to be with the rest of the family so bad! Soon soon.

I think I'll have time to write more e-mails tomorrow.

Hope you like the photos! I think the photos are probably more entertaining being left up to interpretation. :)

 I love love love you all! Have a good week! Run run run!

Elder Carpenter



Andre
Hillbilly
Hitch Hikin
Junior
Mauro and Family
Novaldonamissao
Pres Marcos and Family
Pumpkin
Vilson and Family
District Feast