NEW YEARS!!!

So, I forgot to include last week's count, so here it is: 93305 steps, 55.98 KM. This week: 106526 steps or 63.91 km. Not much really happened this past week, or really, past 4 days. We walked a lot. Tried to find people to teach. Didn't have much success. It's kinda crazy to think that in less than a week, it'll be 2015! 2013 seems so far away and yet so close at the same time... It's weird. Not really much to say I guess, other than HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Until next year,

-Elder Michael Carlson

CHRISTMAS

Well, here we are at Christmas time, once again. It has been quite a year. I think one of my favorite presents this year was the bacon socks. But it's also a time to think back to what has happened this past year. It was the first, and probably only year that has been fully dedicated to missionary work. I had a couple of Christmas parties this past week, one with the mission, one with a family and one with just the missionaries in my apartment. I got a lot of chocolate and fruitcake (both very good things to get). However, I have learned now, more than ever, how valuable public peace laws are. It gets really annoying when everyone and their dog wants to play really loud music in the middle of the streets. Loud enough to rattle the windows. All through the night too. I hardly slept last night. So I'm super tired, but still Christmas was great. Also, I got to talk to my family, which was totally awesome. It made me pretty trunky though. I really miss my family, they just all are so cool. Just 6 more months. It was really weird having it be a hot Christmas. It really didn't feel like Christmas. I got used to the whole snow thing and here it's like 95 degrees with sun that's beating me up. But I still got lots of chocolate, which was great. I even got a tiny little stocking, stuffed with bunches of goodies.

Hope you all have/had a great Christmas!

-Elder Michael Carlson

[Michael sent us a short story and a couple of pictures in a separate email]

We had a mission conference this past week for Christmas and there was a white elephant portion too. I brought one of my protuguese-english excercise books that I don't use anymore, all wrapped up. It was hilarious because a brazilian ended up with it. I was laughing for at least 20 minutes after he opened it. I ended up with a really crappy santa hat. We also watched the new movie, "God is not Dead". I rather enjoyed it. It did have its bits of false doctrine but overall shared a good message.

Catolé II

100231 steps 60.13 km. After a year and a half of faithfully working, my pedometer finally needs a new battery. Just another sign of how mission-old I'm getting. It's kind of weird to think that some of the things that I have will last me until the end of my mission, like my sunscreen. It's coming so fast. Well, there's not really much to say about these last 3 days. We walked a lot and did a lot of contacts. I'm in a pretty rich area now, so that's both good and bad. Good, because lunch is excellent. Bad, because no one wants to listen. One fun thing that happened: A member asked me if I had a brazilian parent because my portuguese was that good. Other than that, pretty boring over all.

Love you all, remember Christ this Christmas season!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Once Again in Campina Grande

61660 steps, 36.99 km. Well, I was transferred this transfer and now I'm back in Campina Grande and my companion is Elder Cardoso. This past week was pretty chill. Not much happened (at least that I remember). We were really worried about the transfer. We both wanted to stay together but we knew we probably wouldn't. It was really annoying, last night, at 10:35 PM, the zone leaders called us to let us know about transfers. So I had no time to pack my bags. I had to wake up at 5:30 this morning to do my bags and then wait at the bus station for 2 hours waiting for my companion to go with me to CG, but then they told me he'd be there. So I went on the 2 hour bus ride and arried in CG. Then my companion actually wasn't there, so I had to wait even longer. We took our bags to the house and ate lunch. I'm whitewashing my 5th area (that's out of 6 total areas). I'm pretty sad to have to leave Elder Jones, he was a pretty fun companion. Well, I think that's about it. Merry Christmas to you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

[Michael sent us a bit more information in another email]

[Did you get transferred or have any changes to the other companionship in your house?]

Yeah, the three other people of the house stayed but I left to Campina Grande again. I'm now in Catolé. My companion is Elder Cardoso, a Brazilian. The other two people in the house are Elder Kaiser and Elder Leavitt. Elder Leavitt got to the mission field yesterday. It's kind of bad but having a new Elder makes me feel a lot better about my Portuguese.

[What was a scripture message you shared recently?]

I shared a message about one of the wars in the BoM. It talks about one of the generals of the Lamanites, how he decided to attack Zarahemla itself, instead of taking out the surrounding cities first. Then he decides to take over all the other Nephite cities but gets destroyed by the Nephite armies because he gets really prideful. And I related that to our lives, how we see very prideful people who are breaking the commandments, and they're seemingly "winning" in life, getting good things, and then we see humble people who seem to be getting the bad things of life. And it's the same thing in the story. The good people had bad stuff happen to them at first and good stuff happened to the bad people. But then it changed. The bad people lost and the good triumphed. It's the same in real life. Good will always win and get the better reward in the end.

One More Thing!

I forgot to tell you all, this week is transfers, so expect my email on Wednesday instead of Monday. Also, I wanted to send some pictures that are much overdue. One is of Mateus, Elder Iuri and me. I promise that Mateus really was happy, he just really doesn't like pictures. The other was the missionaries in my house but now there's a new one and I need to take a new picture. I also found out how hard it really is to take a picture of an x-ray without one of those fancy light-things, sorry I can't include that...

-Elder Michael Carlson

Super Activity!

Let's see, first off, 92148 steps or 55.28 km. And, I actually forgot last week's count, it was 69865 steps, 41.91 km. This past week was a pretty crazy one. I got my x-rays back and they say that my back is fine (next week, I'll include a picture for Stephanie to study). It was cool to see the x-rays. I always enjoy that kind of stuff. Also, Elder Iuri was emergency transferred and Elder Pennington arrived in his place. It's actually kind of funny, I've already lived with Elder Iuri and Elder Pennington was in my district before and I've gone on exchanges with him. I was sad to see Elder Iuri go, he's a good friend. Another crazy thing that happened: the super activity last saturday. It lasted almost all day. We got there at 8 in the morning and we left about 7 in the afternoon. There was a bunch of stuff there, like art displays, a basic health test, lawyers, nail painting, hair cutting (I got my hair cut and it looks all fancy now). It was a lot. Also, we had a zone p-day here. We had a spiritual part and then we played around a bit then there was a barbeque. With ice cream. It was good. I ate way too much though. And it took up a lot of our day. That's why I'm emailing so late. But, I love all you guys!

-Elder Michael Carlson

[we asked Michael about his investigator pool in a separate email and this was his response]

We got a lot of new investigators this past week with the super activity. There were a bunch of people there and we talked with all of them. Also, we met with a guy named "Hilkies" (rhymes with mucus). We had a really good lesson with him. It was kind of crazy because it was during the activity, so there was a bunch of kids running around everywhere. He asked us, "Is it always like this?" We quickly responded that it's a lot calmer at the actual meetings.

It's crazy to me that it's already December. It feels like yesterday it was Halloween, and just a week ago, it was Easter. The time is passing so fast. I need to make the most of it while I'm here.

What A Week!

So, most of my week was spent going to and from hospitals this past week. I've been having back pains recently, so I went to the hospital to get it checked out. They gave me a prescription but they also wanted an x-ray to be done. Except, they don't accept the mission's insurance to do x-rays, so I had to go to another hospital, but it turns out that they don't accept it either. So they gave me the business card of a third place. It had two addresses on it, so I went to the one that I thought I could find. That one doesn't do x-rays, so we had to go to the other one, but it was closed. So we had to go back the next day to finally get the x-rays done. And I have to go back today to get the results. It's an arbitrary mess. All the time we didn't spend at hospitals or on buses, we spent trying to find new people to teach. Also, this past Saturday, we passed out flyers for this huge activity that we're going to have this coming Saturday. It's going to provide a bunch of free public services, so I think it'll be pretty cool. I'm looking forward to it. A shirt I saw this week that I thought was funny: "I kiss better than I cook." Classic brazilian mentality. Well, that's really about all that happened this week.

Until next week,

-Elder Michael Carlson

PIZUKIS!

90432 steps 54.25 km. The definite highlight of the week was making pizukis (not really sure on the spelling). I made a pan of cookies, smeared ice cream on top and us four Elders just dug in. It was quite delicious. We had this huge missionary meeting with all the missionaries in João Pessoa. It was pretty cool. I got to see a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time. I got to see Elder Wilke, my companion in the Brasil MTC. One day this past week, we were planning our next actions on a park bench, when this group of kids walked up to us and just stood there and looked at us. After about 5 minutes of staring, one of them finally asked us, "Are you two Germans?" Joking, we said yes. Then we returned to our planning but they just stood there watching us. It was really awkward. Finally, we just got up and walked away. Another day, as we were walking, we looked behind us to find one of the many stray dogs following us. We were doing contacts at that time, so it just kept following us. It followed us for probably about an hour and a half but then it ran off. But it travelled at least 3 km away from where we found it. It was a pretty good week, full of fun things that happened.

Love you all! Until next week.

-Elder Michael Carlson

Kids Can Just Be The Devil

108469 steps, 65.08 KM. So this past week was pretty crazy. The highlight of the week: Mateus' baptism. It was nuts. So, we had started the font filling and then we left to go do some other work. We came back to actually have the baptism and some kids had put gum in the lock to the outside gate. So we couldn't get in... And, I had made cookies that morning. So there we were. Sitting outside the gate, everyone was there and we couldn't even get in the church. Finally somebody came back with cooking oil and somehow got the lock to open after much trials and tribulations. The baptism itself was very good. Also, Neide, one of our investigators, I honestly believe would be baptized were it not for Samuel. It's a kid that she takes care of, because his mom doesn't want to. He's the excuse that she gives whenever she doesn't want to go to church. And, whenever we're having a great lesson, he shows up and is very distracting and the Spirit's gone. It can be really frustrating. We did find two new, solid people this past week. One's name is Natã (the Brazilian version of Nathan) and the other is Hilkeis. Natã we just contacted and he said that he'd go (he didn't). And Hilkeis stopped us as we were walking and asked when we have church. The only problem is that his mom really doesn't want him going to our church. So... he'll have to sneak out to go to church. But he really wants to know what it's like. So that's pretty cool. Other than that, not much really happened this week. The picture is of when we were waiting outside the church for an hour and I looked like a hobo. I've got cookies on my side and I have cookie dough in my hands. I was pretty sad when we found that it was broken...

-Elder Michael Carlson

Halloween!!!!?

81510 steps, 48.90 KM. So the anti-highlight of the week was Halloween. I was expecting at least a little but there was absolutely nothing. Not a hint of chocolate, nor of any costumes. It was pretty weird. And, there was no sign of pumpkins, which made me sad. I wanted to carve a pumpkin but they don't have the big orange ones that we're used to here. One good thing that I forgot to mention in my last letter is that Leandro, our recent convert actually gave a talk last Sunday, which was really cool. He talked about repentance and he did a very good job. He even memorized his talk. We've been working with Matues a bit more. He came to church yesterday in a white shirt and tie and he already looked like a member. It confused me for a bit. It was a pretty boring half week really. That is all.

Love you bunches, happy Halloween! (belated)

-Elder Michael Carlson

[Michael answered a few questions we thought might be good to include]

[Do Brazilians do anything to celebrate Halloween or All Saints Day on November 1st?]

Brazil as a whole, yes. In the richer areas they have Halloween parties and such but it's not nearly as big as in the US. But here, nothing happened. It was really weird.

[How are your investigators doing, especially Mateus?]

Really the only two solid investigators we have right now are Neide and Mateus. Neide is continuing in the way that she is. Mateus is having a hard time right now, but he recognizes the blessings that come from baptism and wants to be baptized as soon as he can. Unfortunately, he's not sure his mom will let him (she's a strong member in another church).

[What is your ward mission leader like? Do you work with your ward council?]

The WML is pretty cool, his wife just had a baby, so he's been kind of busy with that, but he's always willing to help if he's able. We personally don't work with the ward council. We give our reports to the WML and he talks to the council about the people.

[How is your Portuguese? Do you still do daily language study?]

It's going well. I feel like I'm close-ish to fluent. When people mumble, I can't understand them, but I can't even understand mumbled English. And when I'm trying to say very complicated things, I miss a word or two, but I can usually get my message across.

[What do Brazilians think of the recent re-election of President Dilma Rousseff? Our news said it was a narrow win.]

Not sure. We rarely talk about politics with people. The one brazilian in our house didn't vote. But he did have to say why not, because here, it's actually the law, you have to vote.

Transfers Once Again!

This past week, it was 109717 steps or 65.83 KM. I finally recovered from my sickness and am back to full health. This past week was just kind of chugging along. We did find a young man named Mateus this past week who went to church. He has a good friend in the church and we're going to go teach him later today. He seems very intelligent and willing to learn about the church. Also, we talked with Neide, the mother of some recent members. She just has some odd ideas about the church which we can't seem to resolve, no matter how many times or ways we try to explain. We had a 2-hour lesson to tell her that Jesus Christ did, in fact, preach to the spirits in prison for 3 days while he was in the tomb. And I'm pretty sure next time we go there she'll ask us again... It was also transfers yesterday. It was a pretty low stress one since everyone in the house is staying, so no one had to pack and madly scramble to not forget anything. It was nice. Also, one night, Elder Iuri found a cat (picture below). We fed him a hot dog and played with him a bit but then he ran away. All good things must end...

-Elder Michael Carlson

[Michael also gave us just a bit more information about his experience in the hospital last week]

With the hospital thing, my companion was in the waiting room and I was through a set of double doors while I was being nebulized. I think the woman was singing about how she wanted God's love, but I'm not entirely sure.

[It looks like Michael's hair has lightened up some with him being out in the sun so much]

Once Again Unto the Breach!

Let's see... I walked 81289 steps or 48.77 km. Once again, Mom and Dad, my sitting quietly practice came in quite handy. For those who don't know, SQP was my punishment when I was rowdy when a child. I would have to sit on the couch for about 15-20 minutes and be quiet [Parental Note: SQP was only when he was really rowdy at church]. I hated it at the time but it has turned into an invaluable skill. So, I have still been dealing with my bronchitis even after taking the drugs that the previous doctor gave me. So, I went back to the hospital. After waiting a while, I went in to see the doctor. He checked me out and told me that I have the beginnings of a chest infection. So he wrote some stuff on a paper and told me to go somewhere else and give the paper to someone. So I kind of wandered around a bit, then some guy (a doctor) took my paper and told me to sit down a bit. I thought he was going to get me some pills for free and I would just take them home and take them there. But, when he returned, he had a tray full of tubes and he led me to a room with a bunch of those racks for he IV drips. I got pretty scared that I was going to be pricked. But it turned out that there was also an air valve on the wall and I was supposed to take one of those nebulizer things. There was a little mask with smoke coming out of it that I was supposed to breath into for 40 minutes. There were only 2 other people in the room during the entire thing: A crazy old woman and what I can only assume was her husband. The woman had one of those canelli things (the tube that sticks into your nose) And she let the entire world know. She was just complaining the entire time. Telling her husband to get the doctors to take this "contraption of the devil" out of her nose. She was not quiet the entire time. It taxed my patience quite a bit. When my stuff ran out, I got myself out of there. I was so happy to not be with that woman anymore. I had to talk to the doctor again and he told me I had to do the nebulizer for another 40 minutes... So I went back to that room and the woman had started pacing around the room saying catholic prayers and singing "I want, I want, I want, I want, I want LOOOOOOVE" really horribly. I just sat there quietly and waited out my 40 minutes. After that, it felt soooo good to not be in that room. Other than that, the week was pretty normal. Just doing a bunch of contacts to try to find someone that will go to church. We haven't had any success so far. It was an alright, albeit, hot week.

Love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Mosquitoes Are Quite Annoying

I took 79846 steps this last week or 47.90 Km. I'm still taking it slow because I'm still sick, which stinks. Also, it's been kinda rainy here, which makes the mosquitoes go crazy. I've been bit so many times that I've started looking for constellations. I've already found the Big Dipper and Orion's Belt but I'm looking for more. Also, the rain's made it super humid all the time, so I haven't stopped sweating. It's kind of gross. But we had a good week. We found a couple of new people but the clincher is getting them to go to church. People will invite you into their homes and feed you but they don't actually want to hear about the church, so we can find a lot of new people in a week, but they become investigators if they go to church. In other news, Leandro was confirmed yesterday, which was a great experience. And I got a package from my parents, which was quite fun. Pretty boring down here in JP...

Until next week! Love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

[we received a bit more information from Michael this week in a separate email]

Yesterday, we had a pretty cool experience. I was feeling really poorly. I took my inhaler early that morning, so it wore off during church and I was having a really hard time breathing. I was out of breath just sitting down. And I was having a lot of chest pain. Then a member asked us to go to a house for him and give a blessing. I was less than enthusiastic about going, I just wanted to stay inside, but we went anyway. And we had a great lesson with a non-member mom, then a friend came over who was having a hard time and we offered to help by teaching her about Jesus Christ and how he can help and she accepted, then we had another great lesson with her. And we got some lemon mousse as an added bonus. Another funny story: Here, they don't have dryers, you just dry everything on a line. So our line here is outside. I'll wait to do my laundry on a very sunny day, so I put it out on the line and we go out to work. And every single time, it rains. So my clothes get soaked again. This has happened every single time, with no exceptions. It's getting to be pretty funny. If I want it to rain, I'll just do my laundry.

One More Week Down

Last week was 105845 steps or 63.50 KM. We worked really hard this past week because we had to make up for last week where we didn't work too much on account of me being sick. So we did lots of work and found lots of new people. However, it was election day yesterday here so almost no one went to go see General Conference. So that was sad. I'll give an investigator update next week when things settle down. General Conference was really good, even though this was the first time I've watched it completely in a different language. I thought it was really cool that they let people talk in their native languages. I had an exchange with the zone leaders this past week. They wanted to see why our numbers were so low. We explained that I was sick and then they saw our numbers for this week and I think it's all worked out now. Also, now that I have a nice computer, I can send some pictures. Woo hoo!! The first is my previous companion. The second is my current companion.

-Elder Michael Carlson

Bronchitis and Broke

57938 steps or 34.76 KM. This past week was kind of sad because I got bronchitis. And I literally have no money left. So it kind of sucked this week. I was basically just recuperating the whole time, so we didn't do much work. We did have Leandro's baptism yesterday, which was quite nice. Other than that, I just slept...

Have a good week!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Finally Got a Good Computer

Well here I am on a fairly decent computer - able to type with relative ease. This past week was pretty crazy. It is really hot here in JP. I feel like I'm melting every day but Mom can rest at ease, I use sunscreen every day. We almost had a baptism yesterday but he got pretty sick. Speaking of sick, I lost my voice, more or less, for I think the first time in my life. I can still talk but I have a bunch of gunk in my throat and my voice is all deep. But I'm still chugging along. Last week was 115224 steps or 69.13 KM. Most of this past week has been spent finding as the other Elders left just one person to work with. So we shall see what happens next week. Elder Jones is my companion. He's from Texas. He's a pretty funny guy. I think I'll still have a good transfer. The ward I'm in is pretty great. We have a member to teach with us every day this next week. It'll be good. I'm looking forward to it.

Until next week, love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Transferred Yet Again

Hey, so I got transferred to João Pessoa. 135761 steps or 81.45 KM. I'm really sad I got transferred but it looks like this is a sweet area. I would say more but I'm using a really crappy computer and it makes me really angry to type. Sorry. Love you all.

-Elder Michael Carlson

Rain and Contacts

125121 steps or 75.07 KM this past week. It was a pretty good week. It went by really fast because we were doing about the same thing all week long. Just contacts. Two funny shirts that I saw: "keep calm and litigate on" and "keep calm and just eat a cupcake". I laughed. We also had a pretty great family night at a member's house. We played this game called "profile" where you get clues to guess an object and then get points on how many clues weren't used. It was hard because it was all portuguese words that I didn't know... But it was still pretty fun. Also, we met a man who was a heavy smoker for a very long time. We asked his name but he mumbled it the first time. Then we asked the second time and he shouted, "DEMONS!!" His name was actually Demus but we thought it was funny. This past week was kind of boring. Sorry...

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my awesome Dad!!!

-Elder Michael Carlson

2 Crazy Baptisms

Before I say anything else, I need to give the past 2 weeks pedometer counts. Last week was 144101 steps and 86.46 km. And the week before was 124969 steps and 74.98 km. So this past week was pretty fun and it went by really fast. Highlight of the week was definitely the two baptisms, of Mireli and Mikaele, that we had yesterday. It was kind of crazy, we were planning for a pretty mellow baptism with just a few people there. But then it was stake conference and there were five other people being baptized a the same time. It got pretty complicated. They were getting pretty nervous, but they pushed through, despite the many, many strangers there. It turned out to be a pretty good meeting. We did quite a lot of walking the past week. Also, we found out that there's almost no members that live in our area of the ward, so that kind of stinks, because we were planning on working a lot with the members this past week. All-in-all, despite being massively tired, I rather enjoyed this past week. One little epiphany I had while I was studying the bible: I was studying Moses and the plagues, and there's the last one: The first-born son. So our spirits were born first and if we don't apply the lamb's blood (Atonement) in our lives, it ends in the death of our firstborn (spirits). I have to go now, but I love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Just a Half Week and Quite Sick

So it's been kind of a mellow half week. We've been working a lot with Mireli and Mikaele. They're really close to baptism. They would be baptized tomorrow but they didn't go to church yesterday because Mikaele is trying to give up coffee and she's having withdrawals. But they're going to be baptized this upcoming Sunday. I did learn something funny about Brazilian culture: instead of kissing on the cheek, they sniff people here. Yesterday was alright. We didn't have any investigators at church. And then, after church I got hit with a 24-hour cold pretty bad. My nose was just a snot-faucet and I looked drunk because my eyes were so red. I went and rested inside for 2 hours but we had people to see, so I went back out and we worked for the rest of the night. I slept early and I'm feeling bunches better today. I should be making cookies later today, so that's gonna be really fun, we shall see how they turn out.

Until the next week, love ya!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Sorry for the Delay Everyone

So, Monday was a Brazilian holiday, apparently, so all the places we could use the internet were closed. And then on Tuesday, we had a zone conference, so we had no time to email. So that brings us to today, where I actually am emailing. The past week, I took 137557 steps or 82.53 Km. I've got some funny things that I saw last week: A dog with a real puppy cut, about 1/4 inch on top, but had maybe 5 inches of fur hanging down; a shirt that said "the circle of life" but had a triangle on it; and an old man wearing a shirt that said, "gangster adventure". We had a pretty good week. Kleber got baptized on Sunday, which was awesome! But he's still having problems with smoking. We also met two very nice girls who are very interested in the gospel, Mirele and Mikaile. They've already been to church and we've been teaching them quite a lot this past week. We've been stuggling to find new people though, either we're teaching, or there's nobody on the streets. Like I said, we had a big zone meeting yesterday, which was alright. One guy, that I really liked, talked about what we want people to say about us after our mission, like if we met them later, what would we want to hear. And it made me kind of happy, because I'm pretty sure everyone I meet will say that I was an awesome guy and really funny. So that was pretty cool. There's lots of hills here. Oh! but our house I think is the greatest because not only is it huge and really nice but the members we live with always make us food and are super awesome. Also, we never have to take the bus to get anywhere, so we save a lot of money. However, we did take the bus once last week. We were late to one appointment and we were on the other side of our area, so we decided to take the bus to get there faster. However, we accidentally took the wrong bus. We went to another stake on accident. Then the bus went to the bus parking lot and stopped there. So we had to get off. It was about 8 PM and we had no idea where we were or how to get home. Fortunately, the bus drivers were really nice and put us on another bus and we finally got to where we wanted to go. So we vowed to never take the bus again because it turned a 15 minute walk into a hour and a half bus ride. It was a long night. To end, I finally have pictures, wooo hooo!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Crazy Birthday Parties Are Crazy

Before I start, 109231 steps or 65.53 km. So, I finally got into my house, which is quite nice. It's about 3 times as big as my last house and I don't have to sleep in a bunk bed. The members here are great. We have really good lunch every day. I'm kind of in the rich ward. Everyone has super fancy houses and everything. The area itself is very commercial, which makes it harder to do missionary work. Everyone lives outside of our area. My companion is Elder Sprouse. He's from Utah. He has the same time on the mission as me, only he spent all of it in Brazil. The area is kind of hard but the members are super willing to help. So, on Saturday, the bishop invited us all to the baptism and birthday party of his son to meet all the members. It was nuts. There was sooo much food and soo many people there at the church. I even helped set up a trampoline (full-sized) in the church. They went all out. I had a lot of fun and we made a good impression on the members, I think. It rained all this last week, which sucked, but it was a fun half a week.

Love ya all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

I'm in Campina Grande, in Campina Grande

99329 steps with 59.59 KMs. I have nearly no time left, sorry. I have 22 emails in my inbox, which was very nice. Thanks all of you. I forgot my camera but I do have pictures to send. I got transferred today. To the area Campina Grande. I'm still junior companion. I still haven't met my companion. I got a package this past week and I made cookies with some Reese's Pieces that were inside. They were very good cookies. I saw a shirt this past week. A little old woman was wearing it and it said, "partying is good for you!" I thought it was pretty good. We had a barbeque on our roof as a goodbye party for Elder Georgianna. Oh, we also had 3 baptisms this past Sunday. All at the same time. It was all kind of last minute but it was all very good. I'll send pictures on Monday. Promise. I thank my Grandparents and parents for all their letters, which are all very appreciated. There were some from June 11. That was pretty crazy. Blast from the past. I was the envy of every missionary at the meeting, with my 9 letters and a box. I must leave now.

Until Monday!
Love,

-Elder Michael Carlson

Rockstar Churches and Fireflies

Last week was 85418 steps and 51.25 KM. So I went on exchanges to São José da Mata (the other area in our district) this past week. When it got dark, I started seeing little flashes of light. I was really confused about what they were. Turns out, I was seeing fireflies for the first time in my life. I caught one in my hair and saw it flash a bunch. It was pretty cool. Also, I saw a shirt this week that said, "Skate Everything 'Till Death" I wonder whose death? Everything, or the one doing the skating. The world will never know. Also, we invented a new game. We were supposed to have mutual, but everyone but us and Mateus were told that it was moved to Friday. So we showed up Thursday with Mateus. So we made up a game with a ping-pong ball, chairs and hymn books. You have to hit the other people's chairs to get points without letting the ball hit you, which makes you lose points. It got pretty intense. Also, we brought a couple investigators to church yesterday. One woman was there for the first time. I'm pretty sure she wasn't expecting what the meetings were like because I saw she had cotten in her ears as earplugs. There are so many "Rockstar churches" here. They all have drum sets and guitars. It's pretty crazy. We also saw a man who said he was god. That was pretty funny. He asked us what we were doing and we told him, "Oh, we're just out here preaching your words." He responded, "Oh, good. Preach to me." He was veeeeeerrrry drunk. The people here are very interesting. HEY! So my next P-day will be next Wednesday, so don't worry that I don't email on Monday. Sorry.

Love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Sick Day

Only 104736 steps or 62.84 KM last week. I got really sick last week. I felt like I was going to die and my companions said like I looked as if I would. I stayed in one day but I was able to work all the rest of the week. There's not a whole lot to report for this week but I did see two shirts that were hilarious. Some tee-shirts are in english and so the people here have no idea what they say. There was one girl, who was using rollerskates on a dirt road and her shirt said, "I'm ahead of the times". I had a good chuckle about that one. On another, the front said, "I'm making my way around a labrythnic residential area typical of the center". and the back said, "I make my decisions based on the actions and their consequences." Reasonably said, shirt. I am pretty sad that there's no more world cup to look forward to. That was pretty fun. This past week, we did have 4 investigators at church. Two brothers of a member, one friend of a recent convert and a young woman. But we didn't get Everton there, which was sad. We tried his house but no one was home. So that was pretty sad. Overall, this week was alright. Would have been a lot better had I not been sick but we have to take the bad with the good.

Until next week,

-Elder Michael Carlson

World Cup, Finally Done

For all of you who didn't watch the World Cup, you missed out. It was pretty crazy. Germany won over Argentina with a beautiful cross to a goal. Let's see, 106964 steps or 64.17 KM. On Tuesday, Brazil played Germany and got totally smashed, 7-1. And everyone here thinks that I'm a German, so that was fun. Thursday, we had training with the Assistants, which was actually pretty fun. We talked about how sometimes, we get focused on what we do, instead of why we do it. I thought it was quite good because it could also be applied to life. At times, we get trapped in the "what" of life but we need to step back and think of why we do those things and if we actually need to do them. Then we went on exchanges. I went with Elder Williams, an assistant, and Elder Chivers went with Elder Morais, a zone leader. They went looking for new people and we went to talk with some investigators. Mirela told us "Look, I know that your church is right and I don't actually agree with everything in my church but I'm not going to change." I was pretty sad. They found quite a few new people but I haven't really talked to any of them. They're always like, "Oh, sorry, I'm busy, could you stop by another time?" We stopped by one man's house but he was busy, so we marked a new appointment for the next day, then he wasn't there, so we passed by on Sunday to walk with him to church and he told us, "What, do you not have any one else to visit other than me? I don't want you to ever come to my house again. I hate your church. I listen to evangalical music." He went inside and we moved on. This morning, we payed soccer with other missionaries for about 3 hours. It was really fun but now I'm tired and it was raining when we started but then it got really sunny, so I'm a bit burnt now. That's about it from me. I always appreciate the letters you guys send me.

Love and stuff!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Just Another Week of Walking

123413 steps, or 74.04 KM. Let's see, highlights of the week: I hit my 1 year left mark (probably) this past week, that was pretty crazy. I got to watch a Brazil World Cup game on the 4th of July and all the Americans got together and we sang the Star Spangled Banner while holding an American flag. That was really fun and patriotic. Church was really good, depsite having no investigators there. Elder Loaiza is being transferred today. We woke up today at 5:30 to go play soccer (which I didn't want to do that early) and then it turned out that it didn't even happen, so I missed a lot of sleep last night, which is not very fun. My investigators: We're teaching Pamela and Bianca, who believe the church is true, they just don't want to get baptized. We've already taught them everything, so we don't know what to do. We're teaching Cicero and his family but they are VERY Catholic. And they hve some very weird ideas about what happens in a church meeting. They thought we did blood sacrifices there... Which we don't... We are also teaching Robert, he's already been taught everything multiple times but he doesn't want to leave his church. And the last person is Viviane. She's pretty sweet. We've taught the first lesson and she liked it. She has a good friend from a different ward who already gave her a Book of Mormon and already taught her to pray. So that was pretty cool. But, she's a missionary in her church (I think), so we're going to have some difficulty there.

It was a pretty good week over all. There were some hard parts but I think I've pushed through the worst of it.

Love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Just Half a Week

Last week was 120385 steps and 72.23 KM. Not a whole lot happened in the last week. Elder Chivers is pretty cool. He's from New Jersey and he was at BYU right after I left doing generals. So we watched the Brazil/Chile game which was nuts. I don't know if anyone else watched it but it happened just like I wanted it to. I wanted it to tie until it got to the penalties and then I wanted Brazil to win. It was very close and there was lots of shouting when Brazil won. That was quite fun. At church, we had no investigators because everyone was sleeping. Saturday night, there was fireworks going off and just huge fires everywhere. The air was filled with smoke. Also, the fireworks here are just to make a bunch of noise, not look pretty. I didn't sleep very well that night. It was a fun half a week though.

Love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Another Week and a Half

So this has been a really crazy week and a half... for just last week, I walked 123747 steps, or 74.24 KM. So the week started out with a Brazil World Cup game on Tuesday so we went to watch that. That was pretty much our day because either no one was home or they didn't want to talk to us. The rest of the week was pretty normal. We've been working with a couple of people recently. Pamela and Bianca, two friends who we've already taught everything, and they believe it's all true, they just don't feel the desire to be baptized. The family of Nilberto. They're a really nice family who are learning about the gospel. We've been working to find new people, especially less actives but we haven't had much success as of late because of São João and the World Cup. Everybody is too busy partying to listen... It's been fun here in Monte Castelo. Oh! Also, I got a new companion. The other three people in my house were all transferred, so now it's Elder Chivers and me as a companionship and Elder Almeida and Elder Loaiza. Elder Chivers is from New York and the others are Brazilians. It seems like it's going to be a pretty fun transfer. One thing that was funny: Everyone thought I would be the only one leaving, so much so that I almost packed my bags before the call came, just to be ready. But then, I was the only one staying... Also, in those picture below, I know my hair is really short. I think it's the shortest it's ever been. I never know what number to get, so I asked for a 4... I think the shortest I ever had it cut before this was a number 6... Maybe even longer. It feels really weird...

Until 5 days from now!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Cough Drops Like Candy

So, here in Brazil, they eat cough drops like candy, like, literally. They are sold as candy in the stores. I walked 105673 steps or 63.40 km. The higlight of this past week was definitely watching the opening game of the World Cup. It was pretty crazy. During the "halftime", they showed videos of the riots going on in the bigger cities because of the Cup. It was pretty crazy. Everyone was really excited though. We watched it in the gym of one of the chapels with a bunch of people and they were very easily excited. We've just been working a lot this week but a lot of people don't want to talk to us because of the games and the São João celebrations. No one's home, like ever. But we're still working hard. It's been really rainy this past week. I think it's rained every single day but it feels good. There was one day, it was about 70 F outside after it had rained. It felt very good to me, just like home. But to my companion, it was freezing. I've been able to catch glimpses of the games here and there and all the players are super good. It's incredible the accuracy they have with the ball. It's fun to watch. It's all good here in Brazil, just walkin' along. Oh, also, my next P-day will be next Wednesday because it's transfers next week.

Until next week (on Wednesday), eu se amp!

-Elder Michael Carlson

P.S.: I have been trying to send pictures every week but the computers I use don't have USB ports or the computer won't install the drivers to allow my card reader to work.

Quite a Big Change

First off, I want to thank all of you that have sent me mail. It is much appreciated, even if it is a month later. This past week, I walked 135962 steps or 81.57 km. It was a pretty crazy week. We had a bunch of people to see during the week but most of them have dropped us already. This week will be the test for the rest of them. Whether they go to church or not. Unfortunately, Luana was not able to go to church yesterday but she wanted to. Also, on Saturday, we got a call that Elder Iuri and Elder Gannaway were going to be transferred on Monday. Elder Iuri (from Curitiba) went to the zone right next to us to be a district leader and Elder Gannaway (from Idaho) was transferred to João Pessoa to be an assistant. In the house now, we have me, Elder Laney, Elder Marinho and Elder Brito (my companion). So, yesterday, we were saying goodbye to a bunch of people, so I didn't get to bed until about 11:30. Then, this morning, I had to wake up at 5:30 to go with Elder Gannaway to the bus depot to get him to João Pessoa. He was supposed to meet with some other elders there at 7 but they didn't get there until 8. Then we had to wait for some other elders to get me back home (so I wouldn't be alone). And then, I had to wait for some other elders, so they wouldn't be alone. All in all, I finally got to go home at 10. I still haven't been able to take a nap and I am so tired right now. Oh, I almost forgot, I also had an exchange with Elder Bernardo (the ZL) last friday, I rather enjoyed it. He's a cool guy. And, I also had a fever for a day. That was pretty miserable. Elder Gannaway still made me work and I was pretty unhappy but I'm better now. It was a pretty fun week. I'm going to miss Elder Gannaway. He was a good companion. We'll see what this week brings.

-Elder Michael Carlson

[Michael also answered a question about São João and a question asking if he likes the rain there]

São João is really a rain festival. This is the time of year that they start getting a lot of rain for their crops but now it's turned into a month-long party. There's a park in downtown Campina Grande that has parties every night and everyone just gets super drunk...

It's alright. We had some very nice misty rain this past week. Sometimes it pours, hard. I almost got washed away once. And then other times it just sprinkles all day long. It's nice here.

1000 People and an Hour with Ice Cream

So this past week I walked 149849 steps or 89.90 kilometers. That's pretty crazy. Also, Elder Gannaway had a goal that he would invite 1000 people to church in the week starting at 6pm on P-day and ending at 9pm on Saturday. I thought it was too lofty a goal but accepted the challenge. It was looking like he wouldn't make it but then he started using the bus a lot more. He would get up at the front of the bus and invite everyone to church. He got about 600 of the 1000 people that way. I thought it was cheating but I never specified in the issuance of the challenge. We had our work layed out for us on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, we had to remind everyone who had said yes that church was tomorrow, so we went on a blitz with some other elders to get to everyone. Then, Sunday morning, we went on splits with some members to pick everyone up for church. We had 19 investigators at sacrament meeting. It was pretty crazy. The members were so happy. About 2 or 3 months ago, the church attendance was 34 and this past week, it was 72. I'm proud of our work. However, we really wanted one person there who couldn't make it. Her name is Luana. She's awesome. She would have come, but she had to take her mother to the hospital for an emergency. However, when we called her, she said, "Don't you see how Satan puts these kinds of things in my way? I'll definitely go next week, I promise." She's great.

My parents asked what the best lesson I had this week was, so it wasn't one, but the 72 total lessons we taught this past week. Everyone was very impressed with our work. I'm proud of this week.

And as a reward for achieving his goal, we went to downtown Campina Grande to chill. We met with all the Elders in our district and just had a blast. We went shopping at a "mall" of street vendors. We all bought jerseys and all had all-you-can-eat ice cream for an hour. That was surprisingly hard. I only made it for about half an hour. After that, it just hurt. It was a really good week. I enjoyed it.

I love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Oh, P.S, I would include photos, but none of the computers I use have usb slots that work, so sorry about that... I'm trying

[Michael had some great answers to our questions this week so some of them are included below]

[What is Campina Grande like?]
There's a couple parks in my area but if you go to the downtown area of Campina Grande, it gets pretty crazy. There are street vendors and people and shops and people trying to get you to buy stuff. There's lots of fun stuff to do. I'll talk about that stuff in my main letter. Usually people buy fruits and movies from steet vendors but everything else they buy in shops. There's a couple (like 3) skyscrapers if you go to the really rich part of town. The town is really pretty during sunset. I've seen some of the best sunsets of my life here. I'd take pictures but I don't want to get robbed. People mostly live in houses. I think we live in one of the only apartment complexes in our area but the families are always huge. With all the relatives, all the aunts and uncles and grandparents and cousins and sisters and everything. It's petty crazy.

[How are you doing with the language?]
The language is going a lot better. I'm usually pretty good at understanding people now. There's still a couple people I can't understand and lots of words that I don't know, but it's coming along.

[Have you noticed any changes with the World Cup starting soon?]
There are lots of decorations up all over the place, lots of flags and paintings. People are pretty excited. Also, it's São João right now, which is a huge festival. The biggest celebration of it is in Campina Grande too. It really starts on the sixth, so if I don't email next week, I've died from too much partying.

[What was the most memorable lesson you taught this past week?]
My best lesson... I'll answer this in my main email.

[Wow! What a week!]

A Pretty Good Week. I Enjoyed It

We had a baptism and a confirmation this week of an 18 year old, named Mateus. That was pretty cool. We had exchanges this week. I went to São José da Mata with Elder Morón. We walked a lot. In total this week, 142346 steps, or about 85.4 KM. I exchanged back and had a very rough day, my body was protesting all day long but it was a pretty good day. We walked a lot. We don't have a lot of investigators right now, so that's what this coming week is about. One really cool thing they do here is "noite familiar" or family night. The members host it and we bring our investigators. There's at least two every week. We share a quick message and then we just play games and eat food. It's really fun and it helps to integrate the investigators into the ward. Sunday morning, I thought we were going to pick up a couple investigators close to the church and then be inside for a while so I didn't put sunscreen on to waste it. Then it turned out that we walked for about 3 KM in the direct sun to try to pick someone up who wasn't even there. I got sunburned a bit but I have learned my lesson and I will always put on sunscreen, even if I don't think I need it. The sun burn isn't too bad but it is a little warm. I also learned how to play a fun game called "trucu" that's a Brazilian classic. It's pretty fun. It kind of reminds me of bridge but it's a lot easier.

Until next week, I leave my love!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Another Half a Week in Brazil

This is including some of last week, so... yeah... 157750 steps or 94.65 KM. Yeah, I don't have much to say other than that. It was a pretty boring half a week. We do have a baptism later today, hopefully. I made an avocado smoothie that was pretty gross, because I didn't let it ripen. But the avocados here are huge, like you could probably fit 2 or 3 of the normal avocados in one here. We also met a crazy man who thought he was Jesus. Just a normal day in Brazil...

Love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Brazil is Nuts

152800 steps, which is about 91.67 kilometers in this past week and a half. That's a lot of walking. We were going to have a baptism this past week but they didn't show up. Which was very sad. They didn't feel ready yet. Hopefully they'll be baptized soon. We had a zone meeting, which was pretty crazy. The zone I am in has never gotten more than 20 baptisms in a month but the zone leaders set a goal for us for 40 baptisms in the month of May. I don't know what they were thinking... The other companionship had a baptism last week which was pretty fun. Also, transfers happened today. I'm staying with Elder Gannaway in Campina Grande for at least one more transfer. You can still send me stuff at the mission office address. Letters are always appreciated even if they come a month later. Basically just a lot of walking, a lot of new investigators, a lot of cutting of investigators and lots of rain. It's been a fun week and a half.

Until next Monday, love y'alls!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Brazil is Here!!!

I'm sorry I have like no time at all, my parents asked a lot of questions. I took 148169 steps this past week, or 89.42 kilometers. Lots and Lots of walking here. I have a request for you all though: All the riddles that you know, tell me. Pretty please. Also, please send me mail.

This week was crazy! We had a baptism and an almost flash flood. We danced in the rain on the roof. We went hiking and everyone but me got poison ivy. I went to a missionary's birthday party and participated in a food fight. Good times. Also, I have some pictures.

-Elder Michael Carlson

[We did ask Michael a lot of questions this week so here are his answers]

Letters: I haven't been getting anything. We've had one time to get mail and that was like my second day here so I'll probably get a bunch next week at transfers. Another request to put in the package: lots and lots of deoderant. Their deoderant isn't very good and it's really expensive. Like a normal stick costs about 10 american dollars.

Weather: It's really hot here. It's not too bad when it gets dark (5:30 every day) and there's always a nice breeze but it's significantly warmer then -27 degrees. We only had one really bad day of rain. It was like a flash flood. I had to change clothes 3 times, I got that soaked. It was all good though. My sunscreen does fine. I only got sunburnt once and that was on the first day, when I didn't have time to put it on. My skin is fine. I have lots of freckles but I don't have any problems with dry skin anymore.

People: It's a good little ward, really small. We had 60 people last week and that was high. The people are really nice. They don't really help a whole lot but we do get fed every single day, which is really nice. The teaching pool is crazy. Last week, we got 10 new investigators and my companion was sad becuase that was low. Basically, if people don't get baptized in 2 weeks or less, we drop them.

Day to Day: Our apartment is nice. Nothing is symmetrical or level but it's nice. And it's really small for 4 people. There's a bunch of bakeries all around that we'll buy snacks from. We don't have to buy much, because it's usually just breakfast of a fruit smoothie that we have to worry about. There's a couple of super markets that we go to if we need more american-style things. There's a lot of street fruit vendors that we buy most of our stuff from. We use the busses a little bit. Mostly just to get to like conferences and exchanges. There is a loooot of rice and beans and couscous here. Like that's all we eat. If we're lucky, we'll get some meat. My favorite food... I'd have to say Resquinhas. They're like doughnuts but healthier and almost always fresh. They're good and only like 50 centavos, which is like a quarter.

Language: I think I'm doing alright. People ask me how long I've been in Brazil and so I respond, like 3 weeks. And they're always like, WOW! only three weeks and you're speaking this well already. I definitely have gotten a lot better at speaking. I have language study every single day, religiously. And I have been teaching bits of the lesson. There's two results: Hmmm, alright, I'll believe that. Or, I didn't understand a single word you just said. It's kinda weird.

Companion: My companion and I are doing fine. I just found out this week that he's going home at the end of the next transfer. He's got that mind set that he has to work really hard and finish his mission at a sprint, which is good. Also, he used to be a zone leader but he was moved to district leader so that he could train me. So we went on splits with the zone leaders this past week and they told me that when I'm done with the two training transfers, I'm going to be a district leader. Which I'm pretty nervous for. But I guess I'm supposed to do it.

Love you all bunches! Talk to you on Sunday!

-Elder Michael Carlson

An Email! Finally...

Yeah, it's pretty crazy here. I don't have much time. I found 23 emails in my inbox and I only had an hour. I only have like 15 minutes left. There is lots of walking here. In just the last week, I walked 115,643 steps, which is about 43.80 miles. Lots and lots of walking.

This week has been pretty crazy. I left the CTM on Tuesday flying to João Pessoa. I was picked up by President. I was dropped off at the mission office and met my new companion, Elder Gannaway. We stayed overnight becuase I had to go to the Policia Federal the next morning. I went there and after like 2 hours of waiting, they got to me. My companion spoke to them, because I didn't understand a word but we eventually got everything worked out and I can stay in Brazil for my entire mission. I rode a bus to my area and got to work. We've met with a bunch of people. I'm not sure who's an investigator and who's a member but I'm hoping it'll come. Missionary work is very different here. People are marked for baptism the first time you meet them. For like 2 weeks in the future. It's crazy. I've been getting a lot better at Portuguese but I still don't understand much. My companion does most of the teaching but I'm starting to butt in sometimes. It's, like, really hot here. And it gets dark at 5:30 every day. And it's fairly nice when it's dark. But the sun is brutal. I've been using lots of sunscreen. If you want to send me any mail (please), send it to the João Pessoa mission home. I have no idea what the address is but I'll send it in my next letter. Sorry. Anyways, I'm out of time.

Love you all, sending a very sweaty and sunburt hug.

-Elder Michael Carlson

[This is a picture of Michael we received from the mother of his new companion. It's good to see him smiling!]

BRAZIL IS HERE!!!

I'M IN BRAZIL!!! It just doesn't feel like it. At all. It's weird. I won't do the long and the short thing this week because I only have a few minutes left. The food here is delicious. For breakfast they have these homemade rolls and I could just die eating them. They're all soft and warm and soooo good. I've been learning Portuguese good. [and forgetting his English? :-)] We went proselyting last Friday in the downtown of São Paulo. It was pretty crazy. We had to give away 3 Books of Mormon each in an hour. It was a lot of fun. All the people, even if they didn't accept our message, they were super nice and took time just to talk with us. The MTC here has some crazy rules, like only 45 minutes for emailing each week. We can't listen to any music and we can't trade ties. It's weird. But there really isn't much to talk about... It's pretty much the same thing every day... soooooo... Ask me questions and I can answer them but I have nothing else to talk about...

Amo vocês muito demais!

-Elder Michael Carlson

[We found out that Michael will be leaving São Paulo for his mission area next Tuesday but he has not given us his new address yet.]

BRAZIL!!

I made it to Brazil alright. Tired but safe. Love you all!

- Elder Michael Carlson

A Full Week Ending in Brazil

Had a pretty lazy week, only 15196 steps or 5.75 miles. But I am leaving tomorrow for Brazil. So if any of you were thinking of mailing me something, I will no longer be in Michigan soon.

The Short of Things:
I had a lot of interesting experiences this past week. One of which was pumping gas for the first time in my life. I had gotten away with it for almost 20 years, but finally, Elder Betts forced me to. I was pretty lost. I had no idea what I was doing. But, I filled up the car without spilling or setting anything on fire. Another was a call from a New Jersey phone number. We were driving and this call came, so I picked up the phone, but they had a very heavy accent, so I couldn't understand them. I handed the phone to Elder Betts (he's better at the phone). But they were asking for "Elder Carlson" so I had to take the phone back. After much repeating, I finally found out she was representing the Brazil MTC and wanted to ask me some questions in Portuguese to test me. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life. We were driving, our phone is crappy and I'm already not good at phone calls. I could only hear about half the words she said, but I feel like I did alright. My results will manifest themselves in how long I stay at the Brazil MTC. Also, I feel like I should put this here: My favorite conference talk: President Hallstrum's from Priesthood session about being better men and Priesthood holders.

The Long of Things:
Monday 31- I got a haircut at Emilee's house from Sam. It's a little shorter than I would have liked but it's grown on me.

Tuesday 1- We had a very full day. We saw Nicole for lunch and said goodbye. Then we went to see the Barnes' because Sister Barnes' boyfriend had some questions for us. It was quite an interesting lesson. Then we set up and appointment with Lela to see her on Wednesday. We taught Michael B. but he dropped us because he was "too busy watching TV." sigh.... We went to see Sister Rumbley, which was very good. We met with a member who was lost from the records. It was kind of weird. Sister Kelley moved into our ward in February but she didn't show up on our records until April. She's super nice.

Wednesday 2- We taught Lela at 9 in the morning. It was a good lesson. She's a very spiritual woman. We had district meeting about the Atonement (a very big subject). Then we went to see sister Kelley again. That was pretty fun. We went to see sister Buboltz, hopefully she'll come back to church more often. We tried to see Brother Wright but he wasn't home. We went to splits night but no one showed up, so we went to check on Brother Myers. He was appreciative of our visit.

Thursday 3- We went to see Kimmie to give her a blessing. That was pretty fun. Then our appointment cancelled on us. So we went to see Bishop to tell him that I'm leaving. It was very good that we went when we did. They were about to leave for something but they wanted to give their daughter (4 years old) a blessing because she had a fever. She did not want a blessing though. Bishop held her and I anointed. It was pretty crazy. Then we saw Emilee and solidified plans for Conference. We went to Sister Kerr's for dinner.

Friday 4- We had weekly planning for a while. We tried to see Brother Wright but again, he wasn't home. We saw Kimmie again (because she told us we could have doughnuts if we came back). So we came back and helped her make them. I just rolled out the dough and cut them into shape and she fried them in oil. They're very thick and heavy doughnuts but they're quite good. We saw Sister Rumbley to give her a blessing. That one was pretty crazy too. There were people walking in and out and in the room right next to us, there were a few people arguing very loudly and using some not very nice words.

Saturday 5- General Conference was pretty great. We went over to Emilee's and watched with Kate and Emilee. It was pretty good, except we had to watch it on a little tablet. We hooked it up to the stereo so the sound was good but the video was tiny. Priesthood session was soooo late. I'm used to it being at 5. And now it's at 8? I was really tired by the end of it. But there were some very good talks. We came home to a fluff of balloons for my birthday. They were from Auntie and are much appreciated. Also, we found out that Elder Betts is leaving Roseville South too.

Sunday 6- We watched General Conference again at Emilee's, during the break, we went to see the Barnes again but when we got there, they cancelled on us... We said an awkward goodbye to the Leonardi's. We watched the rest of Conference, took some pictures with Emilee and Kate and then went over to the Myers'. They fed us a delicious meal. It was super good. I'm going to miss Sister Myers' cooking in Brazil.

Monday 7- I packed stuff and filled boxes of stuff I don't need right now. It's gettin' pretty hectic in our apartment. Just stuff everywhere.

That's about all for this week. Love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Brazil on the Horizon

Yeah, so basically I can't think of anything else other than going to Brazil... I got the call about half an hour ago that I'm actually leaving... So that is consuming my thoughts. I took 52837 steps last week, about 20 miles. We were running out of miles so we walked a lot. I also took a picture of me looking like a goof (below). We were getting ready to go out in the cold so I put on my sweater vest and my other cold-weather gear.

The Short of Things:
Roller coaster of a week. We had a bunch of appointments that fell through but we also had some lessons that were very good. I went on a very fun exchange. I was sick but then I got better the next day. Pretty "meh" week overall.

The Long of Things:
Tuesday 25- We had an appointment with Dennis so we walked over there. He wasn't home, so we tried to contact Drew but he wasn't home either. We walked over to Sheri's to contact her. She was home but wasn't interested. It was a pretty disappointing day...

Wednesday 26- We had district meeting about being Christ-like missionaries. Then we had exchanges! I went with Elders Page and Spencer while Elder Carter went with Elder Betts. I had a lot of fun. Elder Page is a pretty funny guy.

Thursday 27- We exchanged back around 2p after we had some appointments. We had lunch and did our media hour. Then we had dinner of corned beef at Sister Kerr's house. I don't think I've had corned beef before that.

Friday 28- We had weekly planning and then apartment inspections! Hooray! We passed with flying colors. It was pretty good. We taught Brother Wright. He's a less-active member who wants to get the Melchizedek Priesthood. He was pretty happy to talk with us. He lives alone. Then we went to see Marilyn. We did some service for her and she gave us apples.

Saturday 29- Another pretty depressing day. I was feeling pretty sick. I had a really runny/stuffy nose and I was coughing a lot. We went to see Emilee, because she invited us over. Then we went to see a new investigator (not home). We went to a funeral that we were asked to give a prayer at. It didn't actually happen. I think it was too cold... Then we went home and turned in for the day because I couldn't do any more.

Sunday 30- I was over being sick. I'm guessing that it was allergies from that service (Marilyn's house is dusty) just wrecking my system but it was all over in about a day. So we went to church, which was quite good. We went to see the Kohler's and Brother Moceri (his wife is out of town). We had a good talk and a good lunch. Then we went to the Myers' to administer the Sacrament to Brother Myers because he is still recuperating from surgery. We talked with him for a while about how trees have spirits and how everything is genetically modified. It was pretty interesting. Then we had coordination in the evening.

This week was full of ups and downs but that's just missionary work.

-Elder Michael Carlson

Brazil Bound?

Well, this week has certainly been an interesting one. I got two cryptic emails that I don't understand from my Brazil mission. It looks like the weekly updates but they're all in Portuguese, so I'm not sure. But that probably means I'm leaving soon to go to the way south. Exciting. In other news, I took 62179 steps, about 23.5 miles, this past week.

The Short of Things:
My companion and I changed a tire this morning. That was pretty interesting. We woke up, did our morning studies and went to the car to drive to do emails but one of the tires had 2 PSI in it. So, we took a look at it. There was a gigantic bolt in it. So we called the office and they told us to call a towing service and have it towed. But we thought we could do better, so we got out the spare tire and got to work. We replaced it in about 20 minutes or so with the tools in the back of the car. Doing that few pieces of car work with Dad back home really helped us quicken the process. We put the spare on and now we're doing emails but we have to take the car to the shop after this... sigh, wasted P-day. We ate a lot of good, delicious food this week. So much. I just hope I can lose all this weight when I go to Brazil.

The Long of Things:
Tuesday 18- We had Zone Conference forever. It went from about 9 to 5. We talked about serving with all our hearts, might, mind, and strength. But I was sitting in a chair for too long and I got uncomfortable. After the long meeting, we went to Cici's as a district and had a delicious dinner there. By the time we got home, it was time to turn in.

Wednesday 19- We didn't have district meeting, so we set an appointment with Lela at 9 in the morning which she didn't show up to. Her kid told us she'd be back at 7 or 8 that evening, so we were sad. We went back home and did our studies. We saw Novice (a referral) for the first time. That was pretty interesting. She's a strong believer in Christ but she's also a strong believer in lots of conspiracy theories. She kept bringing up the Illuminati and Build-a-Bear. I was very confused. We taught Kate at Emilee's and had a good lesson on the Word of Wisdom. After that was dinner at the Brunettes' (delicious pot roast) and splits night. We went with Brother Kohler to see Rick and the Jackson's. Both quite good lessons.

Thursday 20- We did a lot of walking. We walked to Subway to use our gift cards and then we walked to a more local library to do our media hour. On the way home, we tried to see some people but they were all busy or not home, so we set up a lot of return appointments. One investigator, Dennis, we had tried to see earlier, but then we lost our car, and we tried to see him other times but he was never home. So, we finally got to see him. Turns out, he had a heart attack and was in the hospital. He had 83% blockage in one of his arteries. Most people would have died but he said, "I'm here for a reason, God wanted me still alive." God is good. We walked over to Sister Kerr's for dinner and then walked home.

Friday 21- We had weekly planning for a while, then we went to see a less-active named Sister Powers. She was offended years ago and stopped coming to church. She said she needs to come back to church, we'll see what happens. We had an appointment with Michael B. but he wasn't home when we said we'd come over. Always disappointing. We tried to see Lela but she wasn't home. We went to see the Myers to see how they're doing. They fed us dinner and Sister Myers wanted us to come back Saturday when she could be more prepared.

Saturday 22- We walked to try contacting a referral, Sheri, but she wasn't home. Her daughter told us to try Sunday afternoon. So we walked to another referral, Drew, but they told us to come back in about 15-30 minutes, so we tried to see someone else, but they were very uninterested. We walked back and the referral still wasn't home but we had an awkward conversation with him on his mom's cell phone and set up an appointment for Sunday afternoon. We went back to the Myers to have dinner. Wasn't quite ready, so we had a Nerf gun war with her grandson. Pretty great. The dinner was absolutely marvelous. It was those chicken pocket things, with green beans and bacon and lots of delicious things. I ate way too much and was happy.

Sunday 23- We had church, which was pretty good. Brother Brunette taught a great lesson about the life of Christ. We saw the Moceri's after church and had lunch with them. Drew cancelled on us, so we weren't nearly as rushed as we thought we would be. We had a good lesson with them about tithing. We tried to see Sheri afterwards but she wasn't home. Sadness. We went to coordination and had delicious crepes.

Monday 24- We had the flat tire fiasco, told in the short of things. Other than that, nothing else has happened.

It's been a pretty good week, I enjoyed it. I might be going to warm Brazil soon. Love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson

Just When I Thought It Was All Gone

We got more snow. It was almost completely gone just a couple piles here and there but then it snowed another 4 inches or so. There was 38389 steps taken by me this past week, about 14.54 miles.

The Short of Things:
I had two cool experiences giving blessings this past week. I gave one to a sister missionary last Monday. She was feeling sick so I gave her a blessing that being sick wouldn't interfere with her missionary work. I went on with my day, thinking nothing of it. On Wednesday, we met for district meeting and apparently, whenever this sister is teaching, she's fine, no longer sick. But as soon as they leave, she starts dying again. The second one, I gave to a member who is going into surgery today. I gave him a blessing of comfort and afterwards, he said, "I was going to ask you to bless me for my fear but then I forgot. And then you just did it." We did a lot of moving heavy stuff this week, we helped somebody move and someone else reorganize. Had a lot of fun this week.

The Long of Things:
Monday 10 - We had a zone activity, which was pretty lame Basically, my district just went off and played Fluxx and ate pizza We had a Friend Home Evening with Emilee that evening.

Tuesday 11 - We met with Emilee to cheer her up because she was feeling pretty down We did a pretty good job We went with Brother Myers to go give someone a blessing It took a while because he was asleep, totally out of it It was pretty awkward. He finally woke up enough to be able to tell us that he did want a blessing. He's 33 and has liver/kidney failure because he did drugs and alcohol. Don't do those things!

Wednesday 12 - This was the day of much snow We had district meeting which was about bearing testimony It was pretty good Then we saw Kate and taught her for a bit then shoveled snow for them That was kinda fun Then we had dinner at Emilee's We had splits that night but it was semi-cancelled because of all the snow, so it was weird. We tried to see some people but no one answered.

Thursday 13 - We had a walking day! We contacted a bunch of referrals and set up lots of return appointments We didn't actually teach anyone which is always sad We had dinner at Sister Kerr's to end the night.

Friday 14 - We had weekly planning, then we met to exchange with the district leader He came to our area so we were a trio We had lunch at Five Guys, which was good We gave someone a blessing, tried to see a bunch of people , who bailed on us. We did meet Michael B., who is one of our new investigators. He was investigating somewhat but was lost in the whitewash. Then we saw Lela, a pretty fun appointment. She told us she knows the Book of Mormon is true even before we explained what it was. We saw Marilyn and helped her move some stuff. She's interesting, she loves to talk and always calls us "baby" or "honey". We saw Kimmie. She wasn't feeling well earlier in the week so we wanted to make sure she was fine. (she is)

Saturday 15 - For most of the day, we helped Emilee and her family move They left our ward, to the one just next to us, which is kind of sad It took a while but we did get it all done Her new house is so much better than her old one though. We had a late lunch at a pizza buffet. We saw Sister Buboltz. Hopefully, she'll come to church this Sunday. Brother Myers cancelled home teaching so we had a really late studies, since we were helping Emilee move during the normal study time.

Sunday 16 - Ward conference! There were a bunch of people there from the stake A bunch of great talks though We saw the Moceri's after church and taught the Word of Wisdom, which was good Then we contacted another referral, and set up a return appointment . We met by Bishop's to return Ephraim's Rescue and to chat about missionary work. It was good. Then we stopped by the Myers to see how they're doing.

All in all, a great week, full of mostly good stuff.

-Elder Michael Carlson

Forgot! Here's a couple of pictures! So there was this abandoned / burnt down apartment complex. And I thought the sign was very fitting ...

A Pretty Good Week, I'd Say

This week was pretty great, looking back on it. I took 41491 steps last week, about 15.71 miles. We did a lot of good stuff and also did some cool stuff that I'm very proud of.

The Short of Things:
I fixed our washer this week. It was quite an accomplishment. We had some extremely great visits this week. We ate at Cici's and had some very delicious foods from members. All the little things just kind of built up to make a good week. We do have three people who have a date for baptism. Kate is going to be baptized April 19th. And the Moceri's are going to baptized April 26th. Please pray for them that they'll be able to keep their dates.

The Long of Things:
Monday 3- P-day was a little crazy. We normally would go to the North apartment to do laundry and hang out but since there's sisters there now, we can't do that. So we asked a member if we could use their washer and dryer. They graciously said yes, so we went over there. We watched Ephriam's Rescue and it was pretty good (we got President's approval). Then we played the card game Fluxx for a little while waiting for our clothes to be done. It took forever...

Tuesday 4- We tried a bunch of people. We saw a lot of people who had moved but we did meet some very good people that we needed to see. We saw Sister Thomas (a less-active who is going to be married soon, hooray). And then right after that, we went to see the McGill's on a prompting and they really needed a visit from us. Please pray for them. We also got yelled at by a couple of people we tried that evening. All in the life of a missionary.

Wednesday 5- We had district meeting and district lunch. It was pretty good. The meeting was all about finding. When we practiced, we were given situations that we were supposed to act out and the other missionary had to talk with us without bringing up the gospel, and then bring up the gospel related to what they were doing after a certain amount of time. I was a man doing yoga in the park. After that, our car had another problem. One of the tires had a very bad leak. It was at 35 PSI on Tuesday when we filled it up but after district meeting, it was at 21 PSI. So we took it to Belle Tire and they fixed it very quickly. We saw the Lionardi's. We had a good visit. Then we had splits. It was the Relief Society's week to have people come so we didn't have anyone to go with. We went to see Rick and Brother Wright. Both people who are in the north area but are single men, so we had very great visits with them.

Thursday 6- Our water heater broke so we only had cold water for our showers, like freezing cold water. We walked today to save miles. We saw Sister Myers, which was a very good visit. She really needed some support. Then we saw Sister Buboltz. We were going to see Tamara but she cancelled on us. We did go to have dinner at Sister Kerr's. The dessert was delicious, brownies and raspberry sherbert. So good.

Friday 7- We planned for our week and went to Cici's for pizza afterwards. It was delicious. Then we tried to see Brother Cava. Bishop told us to stay outside his apartment until he came back, so we waited a while for him but he never showed up. Apparently, he was a very active member who just fell off the face of the earth. After that, we contacted a referral named Marilyn. She really loves to talk. Three times she said, "Oh, it's late and I'm tired but I have one more thing to tell you..." And she'd go on another 15 minute tangent.

Saturday 8- We devoted our studies to fixing our washer. There's a door-closed sensor thing that checks whether the lid is closed for safety reasons and all that. We took it apart to try to figure out what's wrong. I looked at the circuit diagram and felt very cool about it. We finally ascertained the problem to be that lid sensor, so we took it apart. We found the most ridiculous and asinine system I have ever seen. The copper was completely corroded, so the circuit wasn't completing to say the lid was closed. We tried fixing the assembly but it wasn't working, so I had a bright idea. I just took some copper wire from a broken lamp we have and we completed the circuit to say the lid was closed all the time. And now our washer completely works again. I feel very accomplished about it. We also did some missionary work and stuff. We saw Kate at Emilee's house and had a great lesson about what she needs to do to be baptized. Then we had a delicious dinner at the Myers. There was a chicken/onion burger and some made-from-scratch egg rolls (which never have eggs in them). So good. Then we went home teaching with Brother Myers. We saw two people, one was busy and the other was not who we were expecting (the person who we wanted to see moved).

Sunday 9- Church was soooo good! There was a fast and testimony meeting and it was extremely good. There was some less-actives who got up to bear their testimony. And even a non-member got up to share her testimony. So good! We had lunch with the Moceri's and Kohler's. It was breakfast for dinner. I even ate the eggs with mushrooms without complaining. Go me! We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And they really liked it. They had great questions and they really want to be baptized. We had coordination that evening. There were delicious brownies, with ice cream and melted marshmallows. Really good. This week has been good.

Love you all sooooo much!

-Elder Michael Carlson

A Week of Just Stuff

This past week, I walked 16597 steps, a pretty sedentary week. We also didn't eat a whole lot this week, most missionaries get $150 in Michigan. For the month of February, I got $80. So we had no money this past week. I was pretty unhappy about it.

The Short of Things:
We got sisters this week which is pretty different. We taught some great lessons to some wonderful people. There was also stake conference which was good. But I had to endure all 6 hours of it, instead of the 2 that I'm used to. It's been a good week though.

The Long of Things:
Monday 24- After our p-day activities, we had dinner with Nicole, Emilee and the north Elders as a last hurrah. It was pretty fun.

Tuesday 25- We didn't go to transfers as initially suspected to take the north Elders. We contacted some referrals and saw some people who really needed our help. We saw Bishop and he told us to go see some people, which was nice. Then we saw Kimmie because she's been feeling under the weather recently.

Wednesday 26- We had district meeting for a while. It was weird to see all the new faces. Out of the 9 people in our district, only 4 have stayed the same. We tried to see some people who weren't home. And then we taught Kate at Emilee's house. It was a super great lesson. Emilee helped to alleviate Kate's concerns and it was just super good. We had splits that evening.

Thursday 27- We took the car to the shop to have them fix something. Our car is pretty old in terms of mission vehicles. That took a while. Then we had dinner at Emilee's. We went to the I'm a Mormon devotional. It was pretty good. Nicole spoke and we sang (all the missionaries).

Friday 28- We had weekly planning for a while. Then we had our media hour. We went to go see Sister Rumbley and we taught her granddaughter. It was a really great lesson. Then we went to go get gas but all of the gas stations we went to were having troubles, but finally, we got gas. We tried to go see a referral who had set up an appointment with us but no one was home.

Saturday 1- This was a day full of much sitting. We went with the Bishop to go see some people before Stake conference. Then we had lunch at Chipoltle with him, much delicious. Then we had a leadership training meeting. They talked about how the leaders of the church need to be doing better at finding and reactivating to show an example to all the other members. We had dinner with all the missionaries there. Then there was the adult session. It was pretty good but we had to sit on the metal chairs and they were uncomfortable.

Sunday 2- We had the general session of stake conference. We got cushy chairs this time. We had lunch with the Moceris and the Kohlers and had a very good lesson with them. Then we had dinner with Emilee shortly afterwards. It was good though. Then we went to see the Myers and had a study session with Brother Myers about Genesis 50 JST and 1 Nephi 8:12 it was fun.

That's about this week. I love you all!

-Elder Michael Carlson