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