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.