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

Week 7

Oi Família e Amigos!

Ok, so this part is from last week and i just forgot to include it: I gave my first on the spot Sacrament Meeting talk (yes, in portuguese!). I assume I was understandable, because it was referenced 4 other times in that meeting. Or everyone just felt bad for the poor american kid on the stand.

Conference was a little sad for me because it was all in portuguese and it is so much harder to understand someone when you're just hearing a voice. So basically I understood what the talks were about, but beyond that, I was just struggling to keep up. But I'm sure it was great! The best part about conference was that one of our recent converts, Joao, attended all 5 sessions! We didnt have to pick him up or anything. And in between sessions he came out and taught with us and he did great. He's a natural missionary!

Right now we're teaching the family of José Francisco. He and his wife have three daughters who all have small children as well. They all live on the same street so when we teach they all come over. It's kind of difficult to teach to the needs of all those people, but it's great to see them all together learning and praying as a family.

A typical day consists of waking up at 630, exercising until 7, then personal, companionship, training, and laguage study until noon, then lunch, then missionary work until 9 pm! Most of that time is scheduled appointments, and times that arent scheduled or when appointments fall through, we contact references, old investigators, or inactive members. It's so good to hear from you! Love you all! Remember to pray and read your scriptures!

Love, Elder Carr

Week 6: In Brazil

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.

Week 5 in Brazil: Pictures

Week 4 In Brazil

Oi Familia!

 

My heart and prayers go out to the Ward family. It's hard to believe that only a few weeks ago I was talking to Elder Ward in the MTC laundry room. I distinctly remember being impressed at how much he had grown and I told my companion, Elder Andersen, that Taylor was going to be a powerful missionary. I'm certain that is exactly what he is doing right now. His enthusiasm  and testimony will continue to be examples to me. Honestly, I am just at a loss for words right now. God be with you till we meet again Taylor.

Everything else that I have to say now seems frivolous, but I'll try to answer your questions.

Pictures: It turns out that my SD card picked up a virus at the MTC (of all places!) and the computers here have been rejecting any attempt to send pictures because of security settings, but I had someone clean my card so hopefully they'll work this week.

The zone leaders meeting last week got cancelled, but President Martins happened to be giving a training in our chapel yesterday and he left my letters and package with the branch president, so I was able to get them yesterday! On my actual birthday, Elder Ahmed treated me to Subway for lunch and when we came home that night, the other set of elders surprised me with some homemade chocolate chip cookies, which don't really exist here. I'll try to attach some pictures now, but just know that I know that the plan of salvation really is a plan of happiness, and that I know that families can be sealed together for eternity. That is why I am here!

Love, Elder Carr

 

 

Week 3 In Brazil

Another week here in Brazil!

This week was full of walking and teaching. I've never walked so much in my life. Because we showed up here with next to no investigators, our teaching pool was kind of small, but this week we put in a lot of work and were blessed with 27 new investigators! We have 2 with baptismal dates set that are solid, and several more people that are progressing, but for the most part we just teach the first lesson, the restoration. We've never knocked doors/ tracked, it has been all old investigators or random people that we talk to. Well, I guess not random, they've been prepared to hear the gospel!

 

The other set of missionaries that live with us are the zone leaders, Elders Hendrixson and Almeida. They cover the west half of the city and we have the east.

 

This week was my first testimony meeting in Brazil! It was pretty similar to testimony meeting in the states, except for it was all in Portuguese. And I bore my testimony in Portuguese! I hope they understood any of it! For the most part, I can follow a conversation, but I feel like a caveman whenever I speak. But I attempt to speak anyways, and for the most part people understand. As always Elder Ahmed has been helping a lot. I'll try to send pictures again, but no guarantees. For sure next week though.

I didn't get the package or letters yet because nobody has been out to Sao Paulo yet, because it's a 3+ hr bus ride. But the Zone Leaders are going out on the 4th this week so I should get it then.

Love you lots!

Elder Carr