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!]