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
Monday, May 26, 2014
Monday, May 19, 2014
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
Love you all!
-Elder Michael Carlson
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
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
Until next Monday, love y'alls!
-Elder Michael Carlson
Monday, May 5, 2014
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
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
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