Transferred!

July 29, 2013

So guess what everyone.... I was finally transferred. It's kind of a bitter sweet thing because I made a ton of friends in Águas Compridas that I had to say goodbye to but it was reaching that point where I was getting too comfortable and needed a change. I won't say I needed a challenge because everywhere we go there will be challenges, but just walking the same streets everyday in a place that's not your home takes its toll. I will definitely miss the friends I made there though. The members are sweet and help the missionaries out when they can. Last night when the Zone Leaders called they told Elder Amaral to bring clothes to sleep somewhere else for the transfer. This usually means that you're going to train but nobody said anything about him training. So I told Amaral to accept the possibility that he would train. He wouldn't accept it. He didn't feel prepared and kept being nervous about it. I told him not to worry about it and that nobody is really ever ready to train. So we went to the transfer and everyone received their new companions. I got Elder Doyel. He's American and has 2 months left. What do you know, I'm sending another one home. I'm used to it, haha. It's good though because the older ones always have tricks and knowledge up their sleeves for me to just soak up. So after I got my companion, Elder C. Alves called Amaral's name and told him that he would train. His face didn't show that he was ready or even wanted to train. He's not very good at hiding his emotions. Something the members always bugged him about. But he's ready. Presidente talked with him after to reassure him that he can do things that he doesn't think he can do. I left him with a teaching group of 22 people with decent potential, so well see what he does with it! He'll be fine. He'll get an American that doesn't speak a lick of Portuguese and the Lord will bless them with tons of baptisms.

So I'm just gonna write about investigators cause I can't remember jack-squat in chronological order.

So we got Valkiria back. She's this kid from the ward's mom. She started running away from us cause I think I challenged her too quick to be baptized. She wanted to but then she changed her mind. She told her son she wasn't ready and that she wanted to get to know the church more before she did anything. Fair enough. So we went back and started a new investigator/missionary relationship. Without commitment the other guys are gonna teach her little by little to help get her there.

That family we found when we just randomly knocked on their door is way cool. But they aren't going to church yet. We took Painho and Mainha over there to teach the plan of salvation but they flaked out. We marked the time with them and everything. At least the wife was there. Painho and mainha talked with her for a bit and they clicked pretty well. So she already has friends at church. She was about to leave the house and the husband was out drinking. It'll be a bit of a challenge for the other elders but they'll get them in the water.

This iracema that we found from the area book was really immature and lacked commitment. She had 4 kids and all day they would just sit on this mattress and watch tv all day. She didn't work and left the house with all her young kids in the house all alone. We tried with her but she was just too lazy, for lack of a better word. I think she had some mental issues. If so, she's already saved.

Angelica and familia are going strong. Alexandre, the dad didn't go to church yet but we taught them the plan of happiness and they really liked it. Going into it I was already wanting to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ but the Spirit guided me to teach from the Family Proclamation to the world. They really liked it and are planning on getting married in November If they get married in the temple I won't be able to see it because I leave next November but we'll see if it works out. lexandre said that the gospel just makes sense and that he wondered why nobody else teaches the principle of eternal families. uhhh, because we have the truth.

João Vitor is this guy we found from the area book. He's a really smart kid and is really studying the Book of Mormon to try to see if it's true. His problem is that he wants proofs. He wants to be able to touch the truth, but the Lord doesn't work like that. He's not letting the spirit work with him. He said he's been baptist since he was tiny and that he just isn't able to believe in the BOM yet. We gave him "our search for happiness" for him to understand what the church is all about.

I'm running out of time so I will try to close this thing up real fast. Where I am right now is called Caruaru. It's in the interior of Pernabmbuco and it's a bit cooler than my other area, which is good. We live on the top floor of our 4th floor building and we had to haul my big suitcase up flights of stairs. That was fun. There's a balcony that looks out to a pretty dang good view and there's enough room to jump rope. I need to look for a pullup bar fast. Last night we went to people's houses to say bye to people. There just happened to be like 30 people at our lunch on Sunday so it was perfect to take pics and say bye to everyone. We took a subway and 2 buses to get to our house so we're definitely not in Recife anymore. Felipe got transferred too so that's weird. We're parting ways and starting new missions! At least that's what it feels like. 6 months is a long time! Well I love you all. The church is true and Jesus Christ is our savior. As members of his true gospel we need to do whatever we can to accelerate this work! We'll see how this next week goes. It's a mystery and i'ts exciting.

Love,
Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll