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