A Busy Week

 

 April 8, 2013

Hello everyone,

  

Well this week was a little different because of my new companion and everything. It was a bitter sweet thing to get an American companion because we have a lot in common and we joke around and stuff but I don't think my Portuguese is going to  improve as fast as it has been in the last few months. At transfers I got to see my companion from the CTM, Elder Kennedy. It was hilarious. We just started spouting out all the inside jokes we had. This past week we were told we could email friends. Everyone flipped out. So I guess I need some emails! 

 

The first day that my new companion was here we just went around and met everyone, all the recent converts and investigators. It was funny. Everyone started comparing us because we're both blonde and American. They kept saying that his Portuguese is way better than mine. That's one thing I've learned about the people here. They have no shame when it comes to telling someone the truth about themselves. Like last week I had a big ol pimple on my cheek. And you'd better believe that I heard about it from everyone. At first it was awkward but then I got used to it, the people are so different here!

We got to go to the temple this week with our zone. It was cool. We took the bus to Recife and had to walk like a mile to get there. On the way we went to this market that was bigger than any Walmart I've ever seen. They had everything! Except for peanut butter. It's impossible to get here. I was disappointed.  We went to Subway there for lunch and it was just too good. A little taste of home. Then we went to the temple and did everything there. The session was in Portuguese. It was a little harder to understand for me because it was in the formal dialect with different conjugations. After the temple we went to Burger King. Apparently it's tradition to go there after the temple. The Brazilians go crazy over it but the Americans all want to eat somewhere else. We got a cab from there. It was kinda expensive but twice as fast as the bus. The drivers are crazy so it was interesting. Lanes don't really exist.

We didn't really teach that much because of conference and the temple and everything else but we met some new people. Henrique brought us to some of his friends and we taught them. They're all like 12 so they were intimidated by us and wouldn't talk so we just started playing dominos to break the ice a bit. We also taught Henrique's mom's boyfriend. He is from the Assembly. All people from there like to Bible bash, so you know what happened. My companion bashed while I sat there. Then I talked after it was over and toned it down a bit. His problem was with the authoritity that we have and that anyone can have authority if they're a good person. Kelly(Henrique's mom) just wants him to be a member so they can have a happy family. They want to get married so that they can live together. We challenged him to pray about the church while we were there. He prayed but not about the church. He's stubborn but, he prayed that night and had a dream that he and his wife were going to church together. Our church. We haven't talked to him about it yet but Kelly said he's still thinking about it. What more of an answer does he need that this church is true! I'll write about it when we figure it out/ set his baptismal date.

Before conference started on Saturday we had a baptism. It was a little different cause our font is broken. The kid's name was Armondo and we baptized him in an inflatable pool at a member's house. It was a really cool experience. Very intimate. It was just the Bishop, us and the kid's dad. I think baptisms are the best meetings that a non member can go to. The kid's dad was a nonmember and he was talking to Armondo like he knew what he was doing was right and that he really would be accepted into the kingdom of God by being baptized in this way.  Maybe we'll baptize his dad soon!

Conference was the big thing of this weekend of course. It was exciting to get some more material from all the speakers!  We had the opportunity to watch all the sessions. We can't watch conference in the chapel here so we have to go to the stake center in Rio Doce. It's an hour by bus. We tried to go to priesthood session but we took the wrong bus and missed it. But ,we got to see another part of a city.  We'll just watch it later today on the church computer. When we finally got there later,my companion and I went to the English room with the rest of the American Elders.  It was fun.  I really got a lot out of conference.  I think we heard the stone cut without hands quote about 12 times.  They're really pushing missionary work now!  It's awesome!  This new surge of missionaries is going to baptize the whole world. Really the only thing we're waiting for in order for Christ to come is for the gospel to be spread to all the tribes of Israel and it's our duty to spread it, as members and missionaries.

Well I love you all. Hope you got a lot out of conference like I did. We are so blessed to be able to hear the word of the prophet from so many miles away to guide us and our families.

Love,

 

Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll
 

When Dallin's Dad was on his mission he said they used to take pictures with the drunks that were passed out on the street or on park benches.  Here's Dallin's first drunk picture.

Dallin said in order not to have to pay bus fare, some of the kids just hang on the outside of the bus while it's going and ride for free!