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.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014
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.
-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.
Monday, June 2, 2014
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!]
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!]
Monday, May 26, 2014
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
Until next week, I leave my love!
-Elder Michael Carlson
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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