Elder Ahmed and I didn't get transferred! I'm glad because that means that we get to continue working with our investigators and see them grow and progress. Elders Hendrixon and J. Almeida were transferred to a different area and we have 2 new Elders living with us. Both Elder Bezerra and Elder Oliveira are Brazilian and Elder Oliveira is fresh out of the CTM.
We will be watching the sessions of conference at the chapel this week. It's a great opportunity, because we always tell investigators that we have a living prophet, and this week, if they come to church, they'll get to hear from him!
It's technically spring here, but it's been pretty cold the last couple days. But missionaries here like to say that the more you walk in the rain here, the more beautiful your wife will be. While this is true, there are blesings that we receive right now! People are much more willing to let you in, and I guess we walked enough in the rain this week because we have 7 investigators with baptismal dates! See you!
Love, Elder Carr
Below are excerpts from Jason's letters to his parents. He has more time to include details when he writes letters.:
My mission president, President Martins, is a black Brazilian. He has a huge testimony because he joined the church back before blacks could hold the priesthood, but he knew the church was true. His dad was the first black South American to hold the priesthood, and President Martins helped translate the Book of Mormon from English to Portuguese. Actually, "revise" would be a better word since a translation existed, but it was flawed, and the current one is the one he worked on.
It is kind of tough for our investigators to get to church because our church building is being reformed, so for the time being we are meeting in the other branch's building which is not in our area. Therefore, it is kind of a long walk for lots of our investigators.
The food here is amazing! Rice and beans every meal, and they are both usually flavored along with awesome meat and vegetables. The "awesome" in that sentence is not applied to the vegetables ... I haven't changed that much. :) I haven't seen a whole lot of fruit yet, but that's because it is still winter here.
It was tough to hear about Taylor's death. I can't believe that I was just talking to him at the MTC. The last thing I said to him was "Serve well, work hard, and God be with you 'til we meet again!" That's something that I said to all of my friends at the MTC when I said goodbye to them. At the time, I didn't know the significance of what I was saying, but his death changes nothing. I'm certain he is doing just that on the other side of the veil.
This incident has added so much meaning to the plan of salvation and to why I am here. I left my family for two years so that people here could be with their families forever. That being said, I am so grateful that our family has been sealed together for eternity. Since the beginning of my mission I have pled with Heavenly Father to keep my family safe physically and spiritually while I am gone. I will continue to pray that same prayer, but I know that should Heavenly Father call one of us back to His presence earlier than expected, we will all be together again, but this time for eternity.
A cool experience in regards to prayer is one from my companion, but it involved me. He found out that he would be 1) a district leader, 2) training an American companion (me), and 3) opening an area all in the same transfer. His former companion remarked on day that Elder Ahmed's prayers had been unusually long since receiving this news. He had no idea what we would be doing our first week or what we would find when we got here, so he turned to Heavenly Father. Upon arriving in Itapetininga, we had a blank area book, no investigators, and didn't know a single member, or even where a single member lived. However, Heavenly Father provided. We were unloading our bags form the van, and a lady walking down the street approached us and told us that she had taken the discussions in the past and invited us to teach her that night! Later that day we were talking to a lady on the street, and she was uninterested in hearing what we had to say, but told us that she had seen missionaries at the house across the street from her and that they might want to hear our message. So we went across the street and met Joao who is now getting baptized this Saturday! So even though we may feel as if we're "wandering in the dark" or rather "lost in a foreign country where we don't know the language" the Lord will provide a way for His plan to happen.
