Week 13

Happy Dia de Ação de Graças!

Thanksgiving exists here but isn't celebrated. You can buy turkey, but I haven't seen any cranberries :(

This week was pretty normal. We taught a lot of lessons and found a lot of new investigators, but again, none of them came to church this week. So far, every one that comes to church has been baptized, so I guess that's good!

This week has been unusually cold. It got really hot on Wednesday or Thursday, and it POURED. I don't know if the rain here is different or if it's because I never walked around in the rain very much in the states, but it sure does rain hard here! We didn't bring umbrellas that day because it started out so hot and not a cloud in the sky. The people who we had appointments with that night were shocked when they opened their doors to find two missionaries soaking wet, standing in the pouring rain. On the plus side, everyone who was home let us in! To sum it all up: It rains enough here to walk outside and call it baptism by immersion.

My portuguese is improving "rapido de mais"! Seeing as this email is the only thing I do in English the entire week, that's not too suprising! I understand most everything that's said, and I can be understood when I speak. I've been told that I don't have much of an accent, and that the only way they can tell I'm not Brazilian is wrong sentence structure and verb conjugations. So I still have a lot of room to improve, but I'm not totally lost now!

As far as receiving packages and letters before Christmas, we have a multizone conference this week, and we'll have another conference on or near Christmas (from what I've heard). Don't worry Mom, I won't open my Christmas box before Christmas, but just think, if I do, you won't even know! haha just pushing your buttons :)

Love you guys and I'll see you soon!

Ate mais!

Elder Carr


P.S. If nothing else, the gospel is true because of the fact that it is impossible to teach the First Vision without being interrupted. Car alarms go off, dogs begin to bark, cell phones ring, and fireworks explode almost every single time. The adversary tries his best to distract people from feeling the Holy Ghost because he knows that the restoration of Christ's church and the authority of God is knowledge that leads to true conversion.

Week 12

Hey everyone!

 

So to answer some of your questions Mom:

 

No, nobody brought guitars on the mission, but lots of Elders buy them while theyre here. Right now we have 3 in our house, I inherited one from my zone leader, Elder Hendrixson. There isn't a whole lot of time to play, mostly just on P Day afternoons.

Yes, we are required to wear our suits to church. Not my favorite thing, but we all receive blessings when we're obediant!

Yes, the water here is generally safe to drink, and I drink lots of water, usually mixed with some juice packets.

And you don't have to worry about me using sunscreen, all of the sisters in the branch ask me if I've been using suncreen, and tell me that my face is burnt. They're just not used to seeing someone as white as me when it's hot and sunny outside. My face is just permanently a little red and will probably be worse after 2 years. But I use sunscreen every day just so iIcan tell them, "yes irm�i have been using sunscreen. In fact, I put some on this morning." The answer is always "But Elder Carr, your face is so red!"

 

The biggest news of this week is that Vanessa and Sheila were baptized! It was amazing to be able to help them take this step in their lives that will bring them closer to the Savior and will have an impact on them not only for this life and for the next, but also the lives of their children. The impact of their baptisms is one that is infinite when they continue on the path that they started this Saturday.

 

We have a couple of families that we have been teaching, but almost all of our appointments fell through this week, so it's back to finding new people to teach and helping those who we have already taught keep commitments.

 

Thank you all for your prayers and support!

 

Ate mais!

Elder Carr

 

 

Why Am I Here?

*asked that this excerpt from his mission journal be posted to the blog*

Why Am I Here?

 

        The week or so after I heard about the death of Elder Taylor Ward were some of the hardest days I've had on my mission so far. Not because of his death; the Lord comforted me and my sadness of hearing the loss of one of my friends was brief, but because the reality of the sacrifice I was making hit me. I began to ask myself "Why in the world am I even here?" I needed to tell my Mom I loved her. I needed to spend one more evening working in the yard or garage with my Dad, learning as much as I could from his knowledge and wisdom. I needed to thank my older brother and sister for the examples and friends they were to me. I needed to hug my little sisters. Suddenly I found myself thinking the sacrifice that I was making was too much; that it wasn't worth it.

       Then the thought came to me of who is asking this sacrifice of me. This call to serve a mission came from a loving Heavenly Father who knows and wants what is best for me. He already sent another one of His sons to take upon Himself the sins and pains of the entire world and then lay down His life so that all might live again. The sacrifice being asked of me is a minutely small portion of what was asked of Christ. This being so, why should I , also being a son of God, not be asked to sacrifice time, money, or even the chance to see some or all of my family or friends again in this life, in order to bring a few souls back to the kingdom of God?

     So now, whenever something is hard or I feel like I can't go any further, I remember why I am here and He who sent me. Then I say to myself "If (insert trial here i.e. walk on a dirt road for several hours in what feels like a sauna) is what I have been asked to do so that (Insert persons name here) can return to the presence of God with his/her family, then I WILL DO IT"

Week 11

Hey Everyone!

This week is the last of my second transfer here in Itapetininga, and I'll find out tonight if I'll be staying or if I'll be transferred somewhere else.

This week was both easy and difficult. Difficult in that I found out that my mom has cancer, but easy in that I felt immensely comforted and uplifted. I found it easy to work hard when I was tired because I suddenly had a real reason not to be here. But as much as I wanted to be back home helping my family, I know that this is where I need to be right now; this is where I am doing the most good. In D&C section 100 it says (I'm paraphrasing because I only know it in portuguese) (this is Christ speaking to Joseph Smith when he was away from his family and worried about them) "You families are well, they can be found in my hands" I know that this promise applies to me and that my family is in the care of the Lord.

This weekend, Vanessa and Kelly accepted baptisimal dates and they went to church!

A note about the culture of Brazil: There are tons of holidays. And if a holiday happens to fall within a day or two of another, then it turns into an extended holiday. And if a holiday happens to fall on a weekend, and therefore not giving extra days off work, the weeked turns into a 3 or 4 day weekend. It's been one of the weekends where last week was memorial day, and tomorrow is the day Itapetininga was founded, so it's just been one big holiday. I'm not complaining though, Holidays mean that we get churrasco (Brazilian BBQ that rivals my dad's tritip) and everyone is at home with their families. Unfortunately, that also means that most everyone is drunk too. Again, I'm not complaining, because when people are drunk, they always recognize us as servants of God and they are happy to give us their address and set up an appointment to return! So holidays are a blessing!

I love it here and I know that this is exactly where I need to be right now. I love that am I able to be an instrument in the hands of God in serving His children here.

Ate mais!

Elder Carr

Week 10

Hey everyone!

This week was kinda tough. We weren't able to teach many lessons, and we didn't have anyone in church, despite all of our efforts this week. And we don't have any investigators progressing. But there's good weeks and weeks that aren't so great, and I think that Satan tries to discourage missionaries right before something great is going to happen, so we'll keep our chins up, work hard, and expect an amazing week ahead of us!

 

An upside of this week is that our branch has been very helpful and we've done several splits with various members. This allows us to visit more people as well as gives our investigators the chance to talk to someone from the church that isn't a missionary and hear their testimony as well.

 

Funny Experience in Learning Portuguese: I was offering one of our recent converts, Joao, a cookie that was chocolate and cherry flavored, which in portuguese is "chocolate e cereja". However, I asked him if he wanted a "chocolate e cerveja" cookie, which being translated is "chocolate and beer".

 

Next week on Wednesday (november 6th) is transfers. It's likely that either Elder Ahmed or I will be transferred, but nothing is for sure. We find out next Monday, but probably not before Preparation Day is over, so you'll probably be finding out the next Monday.

Nobody here knows whats wrong with my camera, but I'll try to take it to a tech service store and get that sorted out today, so I can (hopefully) send pictures next week.

Week 9

Tudo bem!

 

Its been another pretty normal week here in Itapetininga! It's starting to get hotter, which is a curse and a blessing at the same time. It's tough to be wearing a shirt and tie and pants in heat and humidity all day, but on the upside, we can basically knock on any door in the city and ask for a cup of water and they'll give it to us. Who can turn down two American kids that look like they just got out of a swimming pool? They usually ask what in the world we're doing outside in the heat of the day and we explain that we're messengers of God and that we're here to share with them the plan that God has for us so that we can return to live with Him and with our family forever. Then we ask if we can come in and explain more. So the heat is a blessing for sure. And its only the beginning of spring!

 

I've also learned the blessings of goals. I've never liked goals much, or making goals, or anything of the sort. But here on the mission you have to make goals for everything. This transfer we wanted to have 6 baptisms, and we based that goal off of the 6 baptismal dates that we had marked. However, all 6 of those dates fell through. But, the Lord provided, and now we have six more dates marked! I still don't like making goals, but now I know that they are important and that we are blessed for making them.

You asked about my Christmas wishlist.  Ties are always good, but no red or pink; it just accentuates my pink face and then everyone knows that I'm American and asks me what time it is just to hear my accent. I respond by saying 3 pm, next to the cofesa supermarket. They give me a confused look and I respond by saying that that is what time church starts.

I got letters on Sunday!  President says that if I keep getting so many letters he's going to have to start charging me because its hurting his gas mileage, so thank you!

And I met one of Brother Ferreira's mission companions! Brother Murad.

Week 8

Hey everybody!

 

I can't believe that the baby of our family is already 15!

 

The spider drop would be much more terrifying here, because the paper one that Dad cuts out is the same size as real ones here.

 

The Carr household must be a happy one with BYU winning all these games!

 

In answer to some of your questions: We eat late every night, if at all. We have planning when we get home, and if we had a late lesson, there isn't time to make any food. My usual dinner is ramen noodles and hot dogs. You're probably not surprised.

 

We get mail on transfer days and whenever president is out here, so usually twice a month.

 

Nothing too exciting this week, just lots and lots of walking. We went to a part of town that we've never been to to contact some old investigators and maybe find some new ones. We taught a couple lessons up there that went really well and we have return appointments this week, so hopefully they hold up. That's something that I've noticed here, is that most everyone will talk to you and give you an address and a time to stop by, then about half of those people are home, and then about half of those people drop off the face of the earth and are never to be found again. But for the other half, we continue teaching them, which has been going great! I can pretty much teach the first lesson without any problems or forgotten words.

 

A small miracle that happened this week:

We received a reference from the other elders here, and we went to go contact them a couple nights ago. We were looking for house number 10, but it didn't exist. We figured that the people had given the missionaries a random address, which tends to happen, but decided to knock on some doors and ask if they knew the people we were looking for. It was nighttime, so the first couple houses didn't answer, but finally one did, and it turned out to be the lady that had talked to the other missionaries and given them the address. It was actually number 110 that she lived in, and she just happened to be visiting her daughters house, which was the one that we knocked on! So we taught them all!

 

Ate mais!

 

Elder Carr