tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23175229912364527852024-03-13T01:47:17.642-07:00Elder Dallin Carroll Dallin is serving a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Recife, Brazil. We will be posting his letters and pictures so you can share in his experience.Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.comBlogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-50523525998413654682014-11-03T08:47:00.000-08:002014-11-03T08:50:40.662-08:00He's Home!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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After two years in Recife, Brazil, Elder Carroll has arrived home! We are so happy to welcome him home and have him back with his family again. I am grateful that my son chose to serve a mission and to bless the people in Brazil with the gospel. It was definitely a sacrifice, but one that Dallin willingly accepted. After managing this blog for two years I officially post the last entry! You may catch glimpses of Dallin on our family blog from time to time if you want to see what he's up to in the future....<a href="http://sheilacarroll.blogspot.com/">http://sheilacarroll.blogspot.com</a> And a special thanks to all of the wonderful people in Brazil who fed and took care of my son. I am grateful to you!<br />
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<br />Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-76878261248132111822014-10-20T18:50:00.002-07:002014-10-20T18:50:40.765-07:00Ultimo Email<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: center;">October 20, 2014</span><br />
<br />Hello my beautiful family and friends. How wonderful it is to address you all on this fine sunny day where I found out that I will be studying at BYU and in one week I will be at home. Life is getting different, but I'm ready to go. Let me tell you all.... my body is soooo tired. I'm trying my best not to get down because of my tiredness. Everyone I live with is making me super trunky! ''Hey Elder, how many days do you have left??''... hahaha there's no way not to know. We walked and traveled a ton this week so I caught a cold when the weekend started because of all the waking up early and going to bed late. The week started out with an exchange we did with Arco Verde. I stayed with Elder Wach in my area. The dude is super legit and he goes home one transfer after me so we were getting trunky together and making plans to meet up after the mission. He's a big football player who could probably go to whatever school he wants to play football. But we had a good ol time knocking on doors and talking to random people. A guy in the ward sent us a referral of a guy that cuts hair. The dude didn't have time to just sit and talk but he had time to cut my hair for free because we're his friend's friend. Don't know why that made sense to him but we'll take it! So I taught the dude while he was cutting my hair for free. He cut pretty well... It took me two years to find a good hair cutter! I guess if there was a haircut that mattered it would be the last one right?? The dude was kind of crazy and doesn't have a lot of time to go to church/talk to the missionaries but it was a cool lesson. Wach stayed at our house that night and then we got out at 6 to go back to Arco Verde(2 hours away) to undo the exchange and we got back home just in time to go to our leadership meeting in Recife(3 hours the other way/back home after the meeting arriving at 10). It was a lot of traveling in 1 day and my health was just going down hill because we don't really eat that well when we're traveling all the time. <br /><br />The leadership meeting was sick. Our President is a missionary master-mind with a whole bunch of tricks up his sleeves. He pretty much flipped the mission in another direction than it was going before. We all felt it coming but we didn't think it was going to be that drastic! He's a man that likes to use time wisely and he knows that if we do use our time wisely the mission will do way better. The members encourage the missionaries to waste time and when he discovered that he got ticked and jumped on it. It's just Brazilian culture... everyone just wants us to sit around and talk and eat! haha.<br /><br />We had a sweet experience with Michael this week. We went to his house when I was doing an exchange with Elder Cordeiro(lives with me). We followed up on the Book Of Mormon and he hasn't received a response yet. His dad and cousin were there to listen in on the discussion and everyone had different ideas. So it started to get awkward and we marked a few things for Michael to read and then Cordeiro asked them to play something since there were like 4 guitars lying around their house. They started to play some sweet stuff and the mood got a bit lighter. Then they asked us to play something and we grabbed it and played what we knew. It was sweet. Then they played some songs I knew and I sang for them. We automatically made a quick friendship right there because of our love of music. It's incredible how you can endear people to you when you have the same interests. Everyone got super psyched to go to church after the jam-sesh. Michael's dad went with his ''wife'' and they loved it! Michael stayed at home because he got home at like 3 in the morning on Sunday.... But this is a family that needs the gospel. Michael and Manoel(dad) don't have a great relationship and they seem pretty lost in life. The want to learn more and are liking what they feel and see!<br /><br />How am I feeling about the end... My body is tired and I feel like I'm in an area that makes it so I want to be home. This last transfer has been tough. We talk to a lot of people who don't want to receive us and we walk a lot to get to our area. I made the Bishop redo the division between the two areas of the ward so that we had better neighborhoods to work with. We'll see how that works this week. I feel like I needed to do this to get the ward and the stake to give this ward a jump start to get divided. I'm going to miss my companion too. We just joke around all day. It's kind of like my relationship with Landon... we wail on and insult each other at home but it's just laughs the whole time. We have tons of insiders too. I told him I'm going to stay at his house in Rio when the Olympics are there while his girlfriend makes us food.. HAHA. All the Rio missionaries I've met just make fun of people all the time so we pretty much have license to say whatever we want to each other. The Elders I live with are parceiros(partners) too. Good buds. Johnson has a year left and is going to BYU when he gets back so we're going to hit it up. Elder Cordeiro lives in Rio Grande do Sul so I'll see him one day(years from now) when I make a trip to see all my buds from the south of Brazil. I'm ready. I'm probably not going to baptize this week but I'm going to do my best to make something work out. I'm going to fill up the area book and leave the area better than I got it. <br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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OH! While we were playing soccer we found out that a dude walked into the church and robbed us! We stopped to take a water break and while we were walking in we saw a random guy in the hall. I got there after but everyone said that he asked to play soccer with us while he was messing with his cellphone(hands shaking) and then he backed out and drove away. We later found out that he had taken 30 reais(roughly 17 bucks in American money) But left all our phones and cards and cameras.... I think that had something to do with when Elder Johnson entered in the church...''EI!! QUEM TÁ AQUI?!'' (HEY WHO'S THERE). He said that because the door was open when he went in. What a SAFADO!(dirtbag). Imagine If we had caught him in the act.... That would have been awkward for him cause there would've been 6 adrenalin-pumped dudes in front of him asking why...<br /><br />Well fam I think that's it. To top It off I just want you all to know that I know that Christ lives, and that this is His church.<br /><br />See you all in 8 days!<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll<div>
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October 13, 2014<div>
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This week was a mixture of emotions, hard work and spiritual enlightenment. As I reach the end of my mission here in Recife I cant help but to think about who I am now, who I used to be and who I want to be when I get back. I feel comfortable with the changes I've made in my conversion and I feel ready to take on normal life. But only after 2 weeks of hard work. My body is tired but I am willing to do what I need to do to help this area out with whatever I can do. I feel like I've established myself as a leader and an example to my zone and the mission. </div>
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President wanted us to work closely with the Stake President so we can know what he wants to do with the ward and so the Stake can help it with what we say it needs. So what better way to do that than to do splits with him?? It started out a bit rough as I stayed with him and another Peruvian missionary named Elder Miranda looking for people to teach. Nobody was home! We went to about 3 houses before I remembered a lady we talked to in the street the other day. We rang the intercom and she answered and said the door was open and for us to enter. We kind of didn't know how to react so I rang it again and told her it was the missionaries. She thought we were her son! haha Imagine if we were a robber..... Anyways.... we had a great lesson with her and her son. We taught the restoration and they totally felt it. The Stake President said, "We need the members to feel this too! They need to know what this is like! If they knew, they would always help you guys out and you then the work would just hasten!".... That was really great for us and that's what we needed! So on Sunday he went to our ward and trained the priesthood as a whole so that they could get more excited about missionary work and actually want to help us. We weren't there but afterward, everyone seemed pretty pumped and ready to help us out. This is what we needed! Now we just have to mark with these men so they help us out with references and actually go out with us.<br /><br />Another thing that happened this week was a Zone conference we had with President and the assistants. IT WAS GREAT. President talked a lot about the way we need to study to be able to teach our investigators better. It was really great and I actually think it was the best conference I have ever witnessed on the mission. I feel like things are starting to get good right as I'm leaving! haha bummer. But in the middle Me and Elder Oliveira trained our zone and another zone of like 25 missionaries about power and authority. It was great. I think it was the last one I will give on my mission. Thank goodness..... haha. After the meeting I had my last interview with President. It was all about the transition I'll go through when I get back. He warned me about a lot of things I can't do and some things that I have to do. Have to have a plan according to The last verse of Lucas 2. I have to study, work out, have a social life , and not go inactive. Like actively not go inactive. I have to keep learning and growing closer to God! I think all these things I already had planned in my head but it's good to put them on paper.... <br /><br />Alrighty so let's talk about investigators. <br /><br />Michael<br />Michael is a kid we met in the street the week of conference. I think I forgot to write about him but he's awesome. We were walking in the street without anything to do and kind of depressed and Oliveira said that his brother Monce told him that when everything falls through that's because there's an elect waiting for you. That's what had happened. We found him going back to his house in Judo(sp?) We asked him if he had any time to talk to us and he said, "Yeah dude I love talking about religion!: I actually did a theology class and I don't go to church because I have tons of doubts about the different doctrines".... So we talked to him on some steps in the sidewalk. It was awesome. It was a conversation, and not just another lesson. He was engaged and liking it. It feels good to find someone who's interested in what you have to say when you're having a bad day. He had already read the Book Of Mormon and decided to go to conference. He took notes the whole time. He went to one of the sessions only but the whole time he was taking notes. We found out he didn't go to the other sessions because his aunts' house caved in and she was in it! She's fine but after a week without talking to him we were able to refresh his memory about the restoration. We found him at his house finally. He's seventeen, huge, and his personality reminds me of all the Days combined. Plays a ton of instruments and likes to trade ideas. We talked about the Book Of Mormon and he had a lot of questions but understood plainly the purpose of the book. He said he would read it and pray. It was interesting because he was like, :yeah, all I have to do is read this and I'll be able to figure out if I'll be a Mormon or not.... who knows, maybe I'll be an Elder in the United States or something!" haha It was sweet. But as we were closing up his cousin came out of the other room and started debating a bit. It was nothing serious because we were controlling the situation. His cousin had already talked to the missionaries and told us about his experience with them. He said he went to church for a bit but because of the persistence of the missionaries, he was scared away. We said sorry for that and said that's not the way we work but it's true! There are missionaries who scare people away with their excitement! He asked, ´´What would you do if someone showed up at your house presenting a book telling you to believe in it,,,, and if you believed you would have to follow??"....... I swear Satan uses people to get in the heads of the people who have the most potential to make the best change they've ever made in their life.... it happens all the time and he succeeds a lot of the times. But luckily Michael was playing his electric guitar quietly the whole time when his cousin was talking.... Sometimes the work is harder than it needs to be....<br /><br />Then there's Mateus<br />He's our miracle boy who kinda of just fell off the face of the earth. We taught him outside his house and caught up with him. He had gone to another state for about 2 weeks. He goes to the universal church and they're giving him a bunch of responsibilities and trying to mark his baptism there too! And then the baptist church comes out of nowhere and tries to mark his baptism there too! GET THEE HENCE SATAN. But as we were talking with him about the Book Of Mormon and the ways the Spirit works he noticed that he HAD felt better in our church than any other one. And that was just an activity! He really is a special kid who knows how to deal with the things of God, and he KNOWS how he feels when God is trying to get him to do something. We told him to never forget that feeling and to beware of the ways that the adversary would try to knock him down. We read some pieces of Moroni 7 with him and talked about the difference between things of God and things from the other side. He got a good grasp on the concept so we'll be good until we talk to him on Tuesday. We marked his baptism for Oct 26... the day before I leave. LET'S GOOOOO.<br /><br />Well family... it was nice to write the second to last email of my mish... Pray for me while I end so that I can end it puking. I don't want to let anyone down.... Christ lives.<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</div>
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Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-57947412795740311062014-10-07T18:46:00.001-07:002014-10-07T18:46:18.794-07:00Conference, Referrals, and Success<div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">October 6, 2014</span><br />
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Conference week!!!!!<br /><br />That means the whole week we were telling the people that Sunday would be a special day that we would be able to hear the prophet speak. It's interesting to see the reactions. Some people got really excited and said they would go to conference and others just kind of brushed the invitations off. Some hearts are just more open than others and that's normal. The spirit can only do so much. <br /><br />The week was a success. We have the trust of the members in the ward and we're already receiving some referrals. The trick is to talk to the dudes who are return missionaries! They're usually willing to give the references because they know what it's like to knock on doors all day....NOT FUN. So we talked to two sweet guys in the ward that live on our half of the ward. Everson and Edson. Everson is 30 and has an English school and knows a ton of people because of the many students that come in and out. Youth, parents.... all types of people. Then we talked to Edson too, who just moved here from Caruarú with his wife and 9 month old son.. Yes I already met him when I was serving there and we're buds so it was cool to see him when I got here. He's also helping us out a lot because he has a car and we can use it to take people to church. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNZsJd2Xze_TpvgBzUE1xIcZQUEAYU4zCTNJq9rNuoP76xl8lkk2koDMFuSIkP0TaZao0g_X_6Z8e0dvGnG5N80wpM6ORd6F8r4QQsWNL4REsLDCi3ELH55fTaISVERY7e4xUupZYji24/s1600/SAM_9254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkNZsJd2Xze_TpvgBzUE1xIcZQUEAYU4zCTNJq9rNuoP76xl8lkk2koDMFuSIkP0TaZao0g_X_6Z8e0dvGnG5N80wpM6ORd6F8r4QQsWNL4REsLDCi3ELH55fTaISVERY7e4xUupZYji24/s1600/SAM_9254.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a>Everson's reference was Diego. He's a young law student who works in a funeral home. He's a bright dude and has participated in a lot of religions so he said he doesn't have a set church that he goes to. We talked to him with Everson in a room full of fancy caskets and his 19 year old cousin just happened to be there too. We taught the Restoration and it was awesome. We testified like lions and they felt the spirit testifying of the Prophet Joseph Smith. They were way into it and said that God wanted us to be there at that moment to teach them. They didn't go to conference but they accepted the baptismal invite and looked like they were thinking a lot about what we were saying. SÓ ÁGUA!<br /><br />Edson's reference is Carlo. He's a police guy who barely has time for anything. It was a miracle that we caught him at home. He likes to talk about everything. Middle aged guy who isn't married(but lives with his wife) and has a lot of kids in a lot of places. The whole week we were trying to talk with him but he was always leaving or about to do something. Finally, on a rainy day(everyone just stays home and sleeps on rainy days) we woke him up from a nap and talked to him and his wife about the restoration. Carlo is a smart guy with some good ideas but his wife is from the assembleia and thinks that all the people who believe in Christ ARE the church of Christ. NO. If I had a nickle for every time I've heard that I would be able to pay for all my schooling. But we just burn them with Efesions. They were mais ou menos during the lesson but we left the pray challenge and they accepted. Carlo more than his wife. Assembleians are really just brainwashed by the pastors and their heart is just padlocked so there's no way for a mighty change to happen. <br /><br />Now we have to take care of our references so we can get more!<br /><br />I had a cool experience while I was doing baptismal interview. The other elders from our ward were going to baptize a lady of her husband who got baptized like 4 months ago and has always wanted her to get baptized. Aparecida is her name.... roughly translated it means "looks like" in English. hahaha It's actually a very common name but when Elder Johnson pointed out the translation to me we just busted out laughing. Good times. So during the interview she didn't remember anything about the prophet. She didn't understand the concept of a prophet and didn't understand how the restoration happened. I taught her about 4 times during the interview and she didn't even remember really what I said. I realized that she had a strong learning disability and I was trying to pull her testimony out of her but she really doesn't know how to express herself. She's probably the most simple-minded person I've ever met on my mission so I prayed for God to put a question in my head that would let me know she was ready. One popped into my head.....,"how long do you plan on going to this church?" She responded, "for the rest of my life"..."And what if you stop going?"......"uhhh it' a sin." and if you go to another church?" ......"That's a sin too because this is the church of Christ." ......Well then, interview over! She passed! haha. Personal revelation is real! Her husband didn't know she was going to get baptized until she was right after the last session of conference. It was way cool. </div>
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Conference was incredible. Elder Johnson and I were in the English room the whole time so we were able to share our ideas about the talks during conference and relax a little bit. All the talks were amazing. Elder Holland blew me away and Uchtdorf made me think a lot about my perception on my own life. Some people have a terrible relationship with themselves and never really take the time to evaluate their spiritual progression. I've learned a lot about that on my mission with other missionaries and investigators. I feel like people should feel more guilty about the things they do. Not to the point where they get depressed, but to the point where they want to do something to change. The Book of Mormon actually talks a lot about this. How are you ever going to experience a mighty change of heart if you don't perceive the need to change?? <br /><br />Oh! and it was also sick when that 70 spoke in Portuguese! I was amazed at how much I could feel and understand the message. I remember the last time I tried to watch conference in Portuguese like a year ago and it was kind of hard and now it's so natural. SO natural. I was talking to Johnson the whole day in English and left there talking to the members in English not noticing that I was speaking in English... woops hahaha. Sometimes when I watch conference I think..."how would this church not be true???" I've seen the other churches do what they do and it's just not correct. WE have a modern living prophet. WE have authority of God. WE receive modern day revelation.... And WE interpret the Bible correctly. I will challenge anyone who says otherwise. <br /><br />Jesus is our Savior and guides His church. <br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</div>
Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-68221402139586749052014-10-04T07:50:00.005-07:002014-10-04T07:50:59.955-07:00Para Bens<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: center;">September 29, 2014</span><br />
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Alright people time to give the weekly report. We worked super hard this week and are super dead so this pday is going to be a do nothing day. <br /><br />I'm really enjoying these last few weeks. My companion is sweet. We have the same sense of humor so it keeps things interesting. I beat up on him a little bit at home so he knows who's boss. We're playing the slug-bug/mystery machine game where you whale on the other guys arm when you see one. If it were a competition I would say that I'm winning and his arm is getting destroyed. We're also having a good time getting to know the members and making friends in the ward. I think the ward was a sleeping giant but when we got here with the other missionaries in the ward things are starting to pick up. The leadership is helping us out a lot. We knocked a ton of doors this week and we changed our strategy. We figured that since the chapel is actually a run down house, we should probably focus on the more humble people to try to boost up the church attendance, so we're in the favelas again. There are some really interesting people in the poor parts of Brasil. It's an experience that is hard to describe. A lot of loud music, naked kids running around, old people sitting on their front steps, and horses eating out of trashcans. But these people's humility is amazing. They don't have hardly anything but have a strong faith in God and really seem to have a dependence on him. We invite people to go to church, they say they'll go, but they don't go. It's pretty depressing. The people here lack a lot of commitment though they have open hearts and a will to follow Christ. <div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbPl5YYVBZbC1gF8NOFABYXhr0Zf2E0AyNMBvx9pEwku6zJUyoRmmsQ6ZRtBXOa9G9MK7x598KTnBb0u8nwcooMeA_C2YptMBZa0e1ijlUHrfYlMxS120bl3stjdiApNvI69ZtwNAC5AA7/s1600/SAM_9237.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbPl5YYVBZbC1gF8NOFABYXhr0Zf2E0AyNMBvx9pEwku6zJUyoRmmsQ6ZRtBXOa9G9MK7x598KTnBb0u8nwcooMeA_C2YptMBZa0e1ijlUHrfYlMxS120bl3stjdiApNvI69ZtwNAC5AA7/s1600/SAM_9237.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a><br />Some investigators for y'all to follow up on:<br /><br />Ana Paula is a mom of four kids. One of her kids is a member and is 20. The father of the family just died and the family is suffering a lot with depression. Apparently she didn't even let the missionaries in the house when he was alive but now she is really open to us visiting her and helping understand the plan of salvation. We taught it to her the other day and she cried the whole time. We could tell that all her doubts about life and death were cleared up and she was really quite satisfied with the message. She thanked us a lot and at the end we taught her a little about the temple and the sealing power that Jesus gave to Peter. She's a little apprehensive about going to church still but we told her that we insist that she goes to church so she can seal herself to her husband with the power that can only be found in the temple. All of a sudden she got more interested and we marked to talk with her this Friday about the restoration.<br /><br />Mateus is a kid we found in a dark alley at night knocking doors. He's an elect. We actually took him out of his house to teach him on a bench and another married couple showed up and we did a contact with them and included them in the lesson too! Everyone was listening closely and agreeing with everything. The Spirit was testifying of every word we said and their open hearts were receiving the message. Mateus was asking all the right questions and said that he believes that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. We invited all to be baptized and they all said yes. We marked Mateus for this weekend but he didn't go to church this week. We'll have to push it back another week. <br /><br />We had an activity of integration on Saturday where all the youth went. There were some adults too. We took Mateus and showed him the chapel(house) as we waited for people to get there since we got there early. As we were waiting some young men showed up and pulled out the goals to play futebol in front of the house and Mateus jumped right in! We played too..... haha. I'm terrible at soccer. I just use my athletic instincts to do what I can haha. But consider Mateus.... integrated. The activity was about prophets and why we need them. Elder Cruz, one of the other elders who works in our ward gave the message and guided the game. The game was Noah's arc. Everyone received a piece of paper with an animal written on it. Everyone had to imitate their animal to find the other person with the animal they had. It was noisy as heck because we were in the "chapel" where there is a huge echo. Good times.....<br /><br />Since we're opening this area up and the Stake Presidency here wants the ward to be able to divide, President said he wanted us to work closely with the Stake President, so we had a meeting with him and made some goals. Each family in the ward has to give 4 referrals, and we have to baptize 100 by the end of the year..... woah. I'm not going to be here but I'll help get it started!<br /><br />The elections are happening in Brasil right now so that means tons of noise. TONS. They literally fill their car trunks up with speakers and blast the candidates music through the city. It's like an election drive-by ambush. When One passes while we're teaching we have to wait like 20 seconds for the car to pass so we can start teaching again. There was one night where the whole road was infested with honking, sounds of blasting cars advertising their candidate. I got a video don't worry! I'm pretty sure if the candidates did this in the states, nobody would vote for them. Would've been a good idea for Obama.... haha.<br /><br />My Birthday was good! Full of door-knocking and teaching. What else would I do. The other Elders called us lying about a family night that we needed to be at. We showed up and it was actually a hot dog dinner with chocolate cake. They sang the last para bens I will receive on my mission. It was us and a sister from the ward. Woohoo! I liked it. Food is a missionary's best friend. <br /><br />Thanks to everyone who sent me Birthday messages! I really appreciate it. <br /><br />Even though I'm at the end I've realized that I still have a ton to learn. I'm learning new things about the gospel and the mission every day! I think that's why they call it eternal progression.... because your spiritual progression is never going to stop! Jesus is the Messiah and He is the way. Follow him with all your heart and you can't go wrong. <br /><br />Love you all!<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll<br /><div>
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Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-85718015139898736232014-09-22T08:34:00.000-07:002014-09-22T08:34:50.357-07:00Meetings, Contacts, and Training<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: center;">September 22, 2014</span><br />
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I don't have much time to write because I wrote a ton to the President this week but I'll give you all the important stuff so don't cry.<br /><br />So the transfer was interesting. I think I already wrote that I'm opening an area and training a new Zone Leader? <br /><br />The week was packed full of meetings and getting to know the people and the area. We barely worked this week because we went back to Recife to have a leadership meeting with President. That means we had to leave here at night on Wednesday and come back Thursday night. Traveling drains us. First of all,,, we didn't know where the bus station was so we basically ran like a 5k to get there asking all the people for directions on the way. If we had missed the bus at 6, we would've had to catch a bus at 2 in the morning and stand up for about 4 hours. I wasn't about to miss the bus. We got there and went. <br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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The meeting with President was sweet. Usually these meetings are for us to make a lot of changes in the mission, to fix something that isn't quite working out, but this time President just talked about, "how to be a Zone Leader." It was funny because he asked us if we had received a training about this before. Everyone said no, including me and Elder W. Ferreira who have been Zone Leaders for about a year already. It's funny how things work out on the mission. We came out of the meeting enlightened and ready to go. President Bigelow is very inspired and has a scripture for every question we ask. I'ts pretty funny actually.<br /><br />My companion is Elder Oliveira from Rio de Janeiro. He has a SUPER thick accent. The only thing I can compare it to in English for y'all to understand what I'm talking about is a really strong New York accent. It's cool. He asks me a lot of questions and respects my opinion a lot. It's cool. I feel like I'm training again. Maybe the Lord is giving me another chance to train, repent of all the things I didn't do with Elder Amaral when I was training him haha. President said that he wants me to make him the best Zone Leader that I can make him so he can be a great leader with I leave. He said he prayed a lot about the decision to put us in this area to open it up and help this ward split.<br /><br />The week was full of fruitless contacts.<br /><br />We ate with the Bishop this week and brainstormed some ideas to help the ward grow. We also went to a few ward council meetings to establish our ground and what we're trying to do here. Everyone was a little surprised when I said I only had 5 weeks left. They said, "Well let's take advantage of him before he leaves so we can do big things!"..... I gave a talk on Sunday about obedience and it was pretty good, but the chapel here is a house and there were a lot of people packed into one room and it was getting pretty rowdy. But I made the best of it. Bishop just called a ward mission leader to help us and 2 missionary couples to help out the converts. It will be good. <br /><br />Well family,,, It's been real. I'm still working so don't worry about me getting all weird and trunky. EVERYTHING WILL BE OK. My testimony is still growing more and more every day and my mission has become something very precious to me. Christ lives and this is His church!<br /><br />Love you all!<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">September 15, 2014</span><br />
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So family I don't have much time because I've been sending stuff to the members and reading the mission stuff for forever but I will try to compensate.<br /><br />This week was interesting. Pday was a do-nothing-day and we need that.<br /><br />So the first part of the week we just knocked on doors because our teaching group is super weak right now. We found some interesting people, but none were ready, nor willing to accept the restored gospel. </div>
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<br />An interesting story from contacts:<br /><br />We got curious one day because from our balcony we can see basically the whole city and we kept seeing that our neighbors always had like 30 people going in and out of the house. We kept guessing what was going on in the house so we decided to knock the door. That's the beauty of being a missionary. You can get curious about what happens in a house and just knock the door to walk in and see what it is. So one night we knocked the door and this young guy let us in. When we walked in we found ourselves in a room with about 10 people and there were other rooms with more. We sat down and started talking with the people that were on the couch. Weird people. There was a less active dude living there who insisted that we show the restoration video. alrighty..... We showed it. In the middle, an older guy told us that we had to leave because it was a house of sales people and outsiders couldn't be there..... We left gladly.<br /><br />This week Elder Ramos was sick so we stayed at home for a couple of days. So I read a lot and slept a little. I think it was good for my body to stay at home for a little bit. I feel invigorated and ready to go for one more transfer. The time that we had with him not being sick was spent with his recent converts and member friends. Ramos built a legacy here. Everybody loves him and got pretty attached to him. He baptized a family with his other companion that is super strong in the church. They cried when he left. They are amazing people and already have big testimonies and a lot of will to serve.(Carlos. Marly, Henrique, Eduardo, Micaela) I kept thinking about the people I left in my other areas, especially Flavio and Edinete. I just got off the phone with Elder Varela and he said they're still going strong and miss me. It's amazing to think about the influence that I have had on people's lives on my mission. I kind of get trunky to go back to my other areas just to visit the people 'Ive met and shared memories with. The mission is incredible. <br /><br />So transfers were today and weird things happened. All of the companionships in the zone were affected so that means that Ramos as transferred too. I thought I was going to stay in my area but President wants to put me and my new companion, Elder Oliveira in an area called Barão de Nazaré to help the other two elders out there. So we split the ward in 2 areas with 4 Elders. It will be interesting. I'm staying in my house too so that means I have to walk across the city to get to my area every day until we find a house for 4 elders. My companion is from Rio de Janeiro and he just moved up to Zone Leader so President wants me to train him how to be an Zone Leader in the 6 weeks I have left here. It will be totally normal. This transfer was weird because we didn't go to Recife to get our companions. Instead, all the missionaries that were going to stay and all that were transferred went to Recife and the noobies are going to come back in their place. They've never even been to Garanhuns! haha poor guys. Ramos put me on the phone during the transfer so I heard everything that he assistant said. Elder José and Elder Varela are going home, 2 of my favorite companions. In six weeks it's my turn. Just keep swimming.............. hahaha I'm trunky I'm not going to lie, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop working! This isn't my time so I have to do my best with it. That's my plan. <br /><br />The Book Of Mormon is true... I know because I'm reading it again. My goal is to finish it before I get home. <br /><br />Welp! Times up.... Love you all and hope this week is great for all. Tchau! <br /><br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</div>
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Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-47793590419488971982014-09-08T08:17:00.000-07:002014-09-08T08:17:07.716-07:00What Is Normal?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoQlg3eE65wPIArcNjfJh77gxAZg0pRYmLoNh-r3Fw1_46gY2XsNWnygmmzuaHcpeXglWDNWWanAjj-gJpASODq8F9_PWDUgjHdoLIou_xWcCvSNcziscGofJTFaqGitr9EAPLZXU2Pry/s1600/SAM_0167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoQlg3eE65wPIArcNjfJh77gxAZg0pRYmLoNh-r3Fw1_46gY2XsNWnygmmzuaHcpeXglWDNWWanAjj-gJpASODq8F9_PWDUgjHdoLIou_xWcCvSNcziscGofJTFaqGitr9EAPLZXU2Pry/s1600/SAM_0167.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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September 8, 2014<br /><br />Well my beloved family, I know that y'all always say that y'all are living the mundane life and I'm on the adventure but I have to say that this week was super normal... What is normal? Maybe I'm just used to the mission life and everything is just a routine, but no matter what, whatever I write is interesting to you guys. (so you say..)<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5raWZHlcZyw87xOF7Q1pZ7IALNxTV8t-NUT-1kzFok0xifTspDtrfpbkx8kIZsM9rfnR0ST6wcBOI73XMpsse0MPGjS4skuMOjWDEzFGcqaelhSi0dHIe6tEwOAaJMUrIG971-pAzIEMk/s1600/SAM_0170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5raWZHlcZyw87xOF7Q1pZ7IALNxTV8t-NUT-1kzFok0xifTspDtrfpbkx8kIZsM9rfnR0ST6wcBOI73XMpsse0MPGjS4skuMOjWDEzFGcqaelhSi0dHIe6tEwOAaJMUrIG971-pAzIEMk/s1600/SAM_0170.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a>We started off the week playing volleyball with the zone. So we got the ball and the people to play and went to the park and realized that there was no net on the volleyball court. So we got depressed and almost went home then I had the idea to tie all of our articles of clothing together to make a rope to tie onto the posts(we had gotten there in missionary clothes and changed into active clothes when we got there) So we did it. We made a rope out of our pants, ties, and belts. The net was super short but we were able to play. Needless to say, people looked at us weird. I'm sending a picture of it, haha. <br /><br />We did an exchange with the Elders from Arco Verde(the furthest area in the mission. I stayed with Elder Wach in our area and we did a ton of contacts. We spoke English all day and had a good time messing around. He was in my Zone in Olinda when we both started our missions so we already knew each other. We discovered that both our dads served in Rosario in 82/83! Whattttttt. Lemme know if you knew an Elder Wach. Apparently he was the college wrestling National champ at BYU when y'all were there. Anyways, we had a great lesson that night with a lady named Paula(we knocked her door)... She was "Catholic" and wanted to know why there were so many churches. She said that if she visited a church and the people didn't know what they were talking about, she would just lose respect for them and leave. She also didn't think it was right to baptize babies.... duhhh. She was asking all the right questions and we were giving all the right answers. She was really interested and said that she would go to church(didn't).... But the Spirit was strong as we bore our testimonies and showed her that we knew what we were talking about and believed with all our hearts. We felt way good coming out of that lesson. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifhFORfLXdVvvmeC8yrp6BfgT3wbxi6benxtKVOxxcZS-xiXE0tokYS1s_h05aer4eyRLCgAlDe6t7qfDcbdVfpxGkY0t5adQuWNDUptNgA2x-IeCHpXWr2HZDdSk8CKJ2E3QmS67Z8XNg/s1600/SAM_0134.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifhFORfLXdVvvmeC8yrp6BfgT3wbxi6benxtKVOxxcZS-xiXE0tokYS1s_h05aer4eyRLCgAlDe6t7qfDcbdVfpxGkY0t5adQuWNDUptNgA2x-IeCHpXWr2HZDdSk8CKJ2E3QmS67Z8XNg/s1600/SAM_0134.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a>I'm drinking chimarrão as we speak.<br /><br />Also, our miracle boy, Jefferson was marked for the 14th of September. This kid is so good. He lives in the most humble, crowded, noisy, poorly behaved house you've ever seen, but despite his environment, he has a good spirit. We have felt it since the first time we taught him. We always teach him when he's at his house with like 10 other people. The mom is always hitting the kids, there's always someone watching something loudly, and there are always people butting in and making random comments, but despite the surroundings, we can teach with the spirit because he listens. Yesterday during fast and testimony meeting, he was one of the last people to get up(very rare for an investigator to get up and bear testimony) and it was like this....<br /><br />Y'all are gonna have to translate it because I sent the story to President in Portuguese. <br /><br /><i>Caro Presidente,<br /><br />Esta semana nós trabalhamos bastante e presenciamos um milagre. Um rapaz(Jefferson) que nós batemos a porta dele 3 semanas atrás foi para igreja pela terceira vez e subiu para prestar testemunho durante a sacramental. Ninguém esperava que ele subisse. Ele falou,´´Eu sei que essa igreja é verdadeira porque eu orei e recebi uma resposta. Eu também sei que O Livro de Mórmon é verdadeiro porque quando eu li, eu vi que era bom.´´ E foram só essas palavras que ele falou antes dele fechar seu testemunho em nome de nosso Salvador. Foi o testemunho mais simples, porém mais espiritual que eu já tinha ouvido. Os membros ficaram emocionados e surpresos, e o espirito estava reinando naquele momento. Na noite anterior, nós marcamos o batismo dele para o dia 14 de setembro. Estamos felizes pelos milagres que temos a oportunidade de ver na missão. <br /><br />Esta semana a zona tem muitos batismos marcados, pois o senhor pode esperar que nós batamos nossa meta semanal. Os missionários da zona estão animados e com fome para batizar. Pode confiar nesta zona.<br /><br />Obrigado por tudo Presidente.<br />Elder Carroll</i><div>
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Here's the google translation:</div>
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<i>Dear President , </i><div>
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<i>This week we worked hard and we witnessed a miracle . A young man ( Jefferson ) we hit the door three weeks ago it was the third time for church and went up to testify during sacrament . Nobody expected him to rise . He spoke ''Eu know this church is true because I prayed and received an answer . I also know that the Book of Mormon is true because when I read it, I saw it was bom.'' And these were only words he spoke before he closed his testimony on behalf of our Savior . It was the simplest testimony , but more spiritual than I had ever heard. The members were thrilled and surprised , and the spirit was reigning at that time. The night before , we mark his baptism to September 14 . We are happy for the miracles we have the opportunity to see the mission . This week the area has many baptisms marked , as you can expect we hit our weekly goal . The missionaries in the area are excited and hungry to baptize . You can trust in this area . Thanks for everything President . </i></div>
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<i>Elder Carroll</i><div>
<br />Also, on the way to Jefferson's house one night we passed one of our investigator's houses(an old lady(Iraci) and her granddaughter(Roberta) and we saw through their window that they were reading the Book Of Mormon together. Roberta was reading out loud to Iraci while she was doing the dishes. It was great to see. They didn't go to church this week because it was raining but next week they promised they'd go. <br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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I'm extremely grateful for my mission experience. Things happen that you don't even expect. The Lord really does put people in our paths for us to be able to bless them with the gospel, and they recognize it as the truth when they are prepared. <br /><br />Hope y'all have a good week, and that all of you wildest dreams come true. Love you all! <br /><br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</div>
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<img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLN2wQgX4l9L-8LsdeBaG-r3jV76wvFUOGMN52DjrA9E-_n_OJlIqd-qNdpEybfafUWUpmEN1Ks0IiRVv3Sc7EA93LZwAoneDpurt3AHQidJvrs1qQAHr_dmftX19W2QahPV3qcGr-IX_C/s1600/SAM_0121.JPG" width="400" /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAkHrvrVV-ECPN74e0OGY-jshdXGOL7zq-6kCq3_ZzIH4-midSZOLREH0xnMJao7GVE1I8JzbQCsACbkamSm_ma0odUa3sIWbfR3YMuCvOdD8f-DspbCQdxTpGdAehQaKin6VbyggN3mov/s1600/SAM_0174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAkHrvrVV-ECPN74e0OGY-jshdXGOL7zq-6kCq3_ZzIH4-midSZOLREH0xnMJao7GVE1I8JzbQCsACbkamSm_ma0odUa3sIWbfR3YMuCvOdD8f-DspbCQdxTpGdAehQaKin6VbyggN3mov/s1600/SAM_0174.JPG" height="100" width="640" /></a></div>
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This is the view from the balcony of Dallin's apartment. He says he likes to just sit up there and meditate and he hangs his laundry there too!</div>
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September 1, 2014</div>
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This week was probably the most tiring week of my life.<br />
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So we started off the week by playing futebol again. President only wants us to play for an hour, but during that hour we basically kill ourselves in the hot sun. So we already start off the week without energy. Not the best idea, but soccer is fun so we put everything on the scale and decide that it's worth it. Tuesday we did an exchange with the Elders that live in our house. It's good that way because we don't have to sleep in a different house haha. I went out with Elder Johnson to see how things were going with his teaching skills and his techniques. We taught some of my investigators and did some contacts. I realized that he's just a little nervous and needed to calm down a bit haha. In my experience I have seen that there are some missionaries that don't really emit confidence... that's something that affects the peoples' learning, and the way they feel about the missionaries. We taught a couple of really good lessons and when we got home we did the feedback. He told me that he really liked working with me and he felt better about the way the lessons went while he was with me.He said he learned a lot. It was good to know that I could teach with my example as we taught. I gave him one piece of advice: RELAX. If we relax and think were the man, the Spirit is more likely to be with us as we teach and our language skills improve.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYfbhviutz_RYAl_E_DZOKoRq824Y6hTyWaQy6jkqc3nUbgY5_AlAJC2n6oHj81UKCmPHbqAjtBS5u68GJ5SEal5Ibajnu7-5q5EpPMK1i2BmfkOaOnD0AT-tmPSlz0rYTmge54_a5zptf/s1600/SAM_0073.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYfbhviutz_RYAl_E_DZOKoRq824Y6hTyWaQy6jkqc3nUbgY5_AlAJC2n6oHj81UKCmPHbqAjtBS5u68GJ5SEal5Ibajnu7-5q5EpPMK1i2BmfkOaOnD0AT-tmPSlz0rYTmge54_a5zptf/s1600/SAM_0073.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a><br />
From Wednesday to Friday, President assigned us to go to a small city an hour away called Águas Belas to see if we could start a branch or a group there. There's a 70 who lives in Recife who has in-laws there that have been to church and could be baptized in the near future. His wife's parents are already members but all the kids aren't. We stayed at the parents house for 3 days and it was weird. I felt like I was a missionary, but I was part of a family at the same time because Irmã Lucy just cooked for us the whole time and we would sit at the table as a "family".... que trunkeza.... I think there are 6 kids and they're all married and have kids. Talk about a gold mine. President wanted us to just teach a lot to to see the quality of the people in the city. We thought about talking to people in the road to be able to talk with more people but we decided that it would be more efficient if we knocked doors. So we knocked and knocked and knocked and knocked. It was funny because the people had never seen the missionaries, let alone someone as white as me. Everybody stared and snickered and pointed. We found some really prepared people as we saw that the Lord was guiding our steps to the people who had been waiting for the restored gospel for a long time. We talked with a woman who had been praying to find a place to congregate that would bring peace to her soul. We found another woman who said that she was depressed and was Catholic but didn't believe in a lot of things there because it's obvious in the Bible that the Catholic church is false. She said the night we knocked on her door she was really down and didn't know what to do. The Restoration was perfect for her. After we talked about the church in Christ's time she asked us where that church went, and that the Lord would have to put everything back for us to enjoy all the blessings that he has in store. She's dying to go to church even though it's an hour away.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidsAfgcOQHv2ox8NoL1NJmSpJdRonNcszb4s7m5Mq_giLVnYb07whpI-5WZ5WgQ79SZ53JqCGhLKHJ41PzQDD8B8Y6mbeYsnCsUSIeIOJO9R5COuUwvxBlnSnjjB4-hyMZ3WHo945IylmD/s1600/SAM_0254.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidsAfgcOQHv2ox8NoL1NJmSpJdRonNcszb4s7m5Mq_giLVnYb07whpI-5WZ5WgQ79SZ53JqCGhLKHJ41PzQDD8B8Y6mbeYsnCsUSIeIOJO9R5COuUwvxBlnSnjjB4-hyMZ3WHo945IylmD/s1600/SAM_0254.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a><br />
Something cool about Águas Belas is that the city is divided into two parts. One half is normal people and the other half is Native Americans. I don't really know why there's a division, but I think it might actually be an Indian reserve for the Fulnio tribe. We were knocking the doors on this one road when we came across a simple looking house with a beautiful white horse in the side yard. So we knocked it and this big, friendly looking guy came out. We started talking to him about the horse and then he mentioned that he was Indian. We got curious and asked a ton of questions since he was a pretty open guy. They have their own language but everyone speaks Portuguese. They believe in God as a creator and source of good but they aren't Christian. They believe that there is a spirit within everyone which persuades us to do good(the light of Christ) We also discovered that we were knocking on the dividing line of the city haha. But the guy was cool. Normal, jeans/tshirt/baseball cap. Also, the tribe takes 3 months out of the year, starting with September to separate the men and women to stay abstinent, and they let go of their addictions for 3 months. Ouricuri is the name of the 3 month festival. They have events too like beauty pageants(Indian style) prayer circles and dances I think. Anyone can enter the first night, but after it's just Indians. Nobody knows what goes on in there! haha. But we asked the guy if he knew where his ancestors were from. He said no. So naturally we whipped out the Book Of Mormon and explained everything. He was really interested and curious about the message. We gave it to him and he said he would read it with pleasure. I read him the passage about the Light of Christ in Moroni 7. We had always wanted to teach a Lamanite about the Book Of Mormon and we did! We told him how we were trying to put a church in the city and he said it would be a good idea to unite the people since the Book Of Mormon talks about Christ and Indians at the same time haha. The city is predominately Catholic and Indian so I guess his rational makes sense. We said a prayer to close it up and when we were about to start one of his friends showed up, saw us and said something to our friend in their language. I'm assuming he said, "what are they doing here??" because our friend told him to chill and that were friends haha. We said the prayer and left. Good times.<br />
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From what we saw, a couple of missionaries could have success there because there are a lot of people with curiosity and a will to get to know the church. There are also some inactive members there who are willing to come back. There is potential there. We're going to call president about the trip today to see what he thinks.<br />
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We talked with Jeferson a couple times this week and he said he loved church and when we invited him to be baptized, he said YES. Boom. Even though we weren't able to make real progress with the people in Ágaus Belas, the Lord blessed us with indirect fruits of our labors. He lives with his mom in the sister's area but wants to live with his dad on the weekends just to go to church here. What do you know? He said the church here is closer to his dad's house than the church there is to his mom's house. We'll take it. But the sisters will have to teach him during the week for us to baptize him here.... FREE BAPTISM haha. It looks like the kid has had a hard life and needs something good in his life. We're here to cater to his needs. <br />
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Well I'm out of time. Hope y'all have a good week and stay on the straight and narrow! Tcheau! Love you!<br />
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Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll<br />
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Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-14704373642873417572014-08-27T08:59:00.001-07:002014-08-27T08:59:18.669-07:00What Can I Do with 64 Days?<div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">August 25, 2014</span></div>
<br />BOM DIA.<br /><br />Well I hope y'all have had a good week where you're at. My week was normal, a lot of missionary work and little time to do anything else. The phrase <div>
'lose yourself in the work" is as much spiritual as it is literal. You don't have time to think about anything outside of the work of the Lord so you literally almost forget who you are and what you liked to do and how you even used to think. Sometimes I feel like I've changed a ton, and other times I feel like I am the same exact person as I was when I left. I think y'all will be the judges haha. 64 days..... what can I do with 64 days?.... Like dad wrote to me, there really isn't anything to do but work. I don't even understand why dudes get super trunky at the end and just stop working.... How can you be satisfied with yourself at the end of the day? My goal is to not be able to regret anything when I get back. That doesn't mean that I'll be perfect, but it does mean that I have to repent every day and make sure my conscience is clean going into the next lesson or treinamento so the Spirit can do his thing. Elder Bednar said that we need to get out of the Spirits way so that he can do his job. That means that we don't need to put in all of our speculations into a lesson to show how good we are or how much we know. You'd be surprised at how many missionaries do that! I'm guilty too, I think. The interior is where you need to just teach the basics and hope the person understands because it's hard to see if the people are understanding here. They just nod their head and say yes when you ask them if they understood and when you tell them to say something in their own words, that's when you know if they know what the heck you're talking about. I've learned that we have to teach fast and concise, because these people get tired of thinking, just like children. You lose their interest and the lesson suffers. All the missionaries I've taught with or done divisions with have said that I need to break down the principles for the people to be able to chew and digest. They need milk, not meat.</div>
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We invited so many people to church this week and so many people said they would go. Saturday night when we were planning we were getting excited to have so many people at church. Saturday we followed up on like 6 people and they all said that it was confirmed. Then Sunday morning we tried talking to them to see if they were going but they all had excuses and didn't go.</div>
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BUT, We had a little miracle this week. We were knocking doors in the small alleyways talking with all the interesting people in the abyss and we found this kid named Jefferson.! 16 years old and just looks like a good kid. We taught the Restoration to him and we could tell he was understanding everything, which is rare. His dad entered when we were about to talk about Joseph Smith and the Restoration and he just went off on a tangent that had nothing to do with anything. It's normal. We cut him off and said all the necessary things to Jeffereson and invited him to church thinking that his Dad had ruined everything. But Sunday morning when we went to church we saw him there sitting by himself in the Young Men's room.... I think we had taught the simplest lesson I had ever taught in my life and it touched him enough to get him out of bed to walk like a mile to the church. It was great. We can't underestimate the power of the spirit to move the people who recognize to voice of the Lord. Jefferson belongs to the sisters' area so well pass him to them when we talk to them on the phone tonight.<br /><br />Last night my comp, Elder Ramos and I gave a training(I don't know what the heck it is in English alright?) to the ward missionaries. Lídio, the ward mission leader wanted us to talk about their roles as ward missionaries while he pulled up a list of people on the computer(which took forever). And we completely winged the whole thing and it was incredible. I think that's something that I've learned on my mission. How to wing things. We get put in so many situations where we have to improvise that we have to be good at thinking on our toes. Ramos has been here for about the same time that I have so between us we have a lot of experience and a lot of missionary ideas in our brains just ready for us to grab when we need them. The best part was that right after we gave the whole training, one of the ladies asked me where I was from in Brasil..... Do you realize what this means??? It means I can be super pasty white and still trip people up with my Brazilian accent! Even after speaking non-stop for about an hour...That was my goal when I got my call and we gotter done. Heavenly Father helped me out a lot.<br /><br />Well that's about it folks. I love you all and hope y'all have a great week!<br /><br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</div>
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Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-59129663970533154612014-08-24T14:24:00.000-07:002014-08-24T14:32:47.060-07:00Still Working Hard<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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August 24, 2014<br />
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Well family how was your week? Mine was great. We baptized again. Garanhuns is still a mystery to me but that's what makes it so wonderful. The mission is only an adventure when you're completely lost, following your companion through a city that you can't even navigate yourself through. But I've met some great people here. The members are great and really love the missionaries. We're like Gods here without speaking sac-religiously... this week was a little bit warmer. It would be as we know as "perfect fall weather" in Georgia. There are a lot of hills in our area so my legs feel like they're waking up from staying on flat ground for 7 months. My body is thanking me. I've also had to switch up my teaching style. I did an exchange with an elder in Bom Conhcelho(an area that's like an hour away from ours and is full of 18th generation Catholics.) and he used to be Zone Leader too. He said the people are so simple here that they barely understand anything we teach them. We just have to kind of hope they understand and go to church and feel the spirit, and THAT is how it's done (hot rod quote)... The Exchange was sweet. I made friends with a dude from Rio de Janeiro who likes the same types of music I like. Elder Conceição is super legit and knows how to talk with the people. I felt intimidated even as his leader. But we made a great team that day.<br />
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Oh and for Pday we played soccer with the district.. I realised how horribly out of shape I am. I ran for about 10 minutes and was dying. Also, here we are at high elevation so the air is pretty thin. Kind of like Utah. It was funny because it reminded me of church ball. There are usually a few kids who know how to play and a lot who don't. So even though everyone is Brasilian, there were a few who were just hacking at the ball the whole time. I wasn't terrible, but I wasn't that great either. We had fun and ended the day dead.<br />
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This week we did a service project at a small school. We helped to rebocar (put cement on) the brick walls and we leveled out the ground on the outside by putting hundreds of wheel-barrels of Georgia red clay on the ground around the school. It was a lot of work, but the result was great. The teachers of the school were making food for us the whole time without us even knowing. It was great. People here have to offer food or coffee to guests, if they don't they're being impolite. We worked with a member named Jorge who is from São Paulo, but served his mission here and married a girl he met here. He wasn't a fubeca, just to let y'all know. But he's like the missionaries' best friend. He said he's going to try to talk to all the teachers for us so that we can teach them all. For now we're preaching the Gospel by being charitable. It's great because we don't even have to open our mouths.<br />
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Our highlight this week was a girl named Fernanda. She's 16 and is the friend of a family that Elder Ramos just baptized in the area. The Elders already taught her family, but her mom doesn't want anything to do with us. But Fernanda got really excited about the gospel and received a real testimony right away. She had a rough past and the gospel brought hope to her for sure. She wanted to feel clean and pure and was looking for something true. We taught her about how we can literally be born again and God will forget all of our mistakes. It's amazing being a part of the introduction to the gospel in some one's life. We could see the light in her eyes every time we taught her about the truth. I could feel the gospel working to relieve her of all the heavy burdens she had in her life, weighing her down. This is the joy the gospel brings. We baptized her yesterday and her mom was there. The ward supported her and is ready to help her out. She has a strong desire to help people to know the truth too, so we think she will go on a mission. <br />
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So I'm in Recife right now.... again. I had a doctor's appointment. Dad knows why. But while we were in the mission office I got a package! Woo! Candy to share with the guys at home. Thanks mom, you're the best! Also, Elder Ramos and I were asked to talk with President about something important. He told us that he wanted us to go to a neighboring city by Garanhuns that doesn't have the church yet to see if we can start a group/branch there. There's an Area Seventy that lives there who will have us stay in his house for a few days to see if we can start something with the referrals he has for us, and see how the city reacts to the gospel in general. It will be an adventure for sure!<br />
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All in all, I can say this week that my faith in Christ has grown. Just like in all the weeks I've had on my mission. It's amazing to see where Christ can put you when you trust in him and give him your all. He's my Savior and helps me a lot with my imperfections and defects. This week I came to appreciate Moroni 7 more than I ever have. Anything that affects the work of the Lord negatively is not of God.<br />
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Now we will go to Garanhuns to take care of our little Peruvian missionary from the furthest away area who just got 4 wisdom teeth out.... Goodbye!<br />
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Love you all....<br />
Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll<br />
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<br />Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-56333777244335731432014-08-11T19:42:00.001-07:002014-08-11T20:45:09.599-07:00New Area, New Adventures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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August 11, 2014<br />
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Alrighty well this week was...... interesting.<br />
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The transfer was sweet. I got sent to Garanhuns.... the furthest away zone on the mission. It's COLD here. Well it's not SUPER cold,,,, but it's pretty cold when you don't own a jacket... It basically was rainy and cold the whole week so it's safe to say that I will be buying a sweater today. The week was a rush with tons of things to do. The trip to here from Recife just drained me last week on pday and President had planned a leadership meeting for the Zone leaders on Thursday. That means that we had to follow up on the important investigators for a day and get the heck out of Garanhuns. <br />
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We followed up on a woman named Luciane who had been smoking for 16 years and was trying to quit because she and her son´s baptism was supposed to be Sunday. We gave her a pep-talk at her door because she was home alone. She had smoked 2 cigarettes that day and we told her she couldn't smoke anymore. I used the 1 Nephi scripture about when Nephi prayed for strength for him to be able to break the cords that his brothers tied him with. We talked about the atonement and the grace that we have the right to use as long as were doing something just. She got pumped and said she didn't know why something so small was controlling her life. We left her with the other elders for the time we were going to be gone(we share a ward with the elders we live with. The complete opposite of the area I just left. Weird)<br />
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We had to take the bus back to Recife and leave on Wednesday to be at the meeting in Recife on Thursday. It was terrible! haha. It was raining and cold the day we took the bus to Recife and we had to run to the bus station because my companion put us on the wrong bus haha. We had to get off and run in the rain to not miss the bus. We got there super wet and we got trapped in an air-conditioned bus for about 3 hours until we got to Recife. Thankfully we didn't catch a cold on the way and we stayed the night at some elders house in Recife. I think I went to bed at like 11:30.... way too late. We were DEAD. So we woke up after and had the meeting with President Bigelow. It was cool because there were less Zone Leaders there because there are less zones on the mission now! We got there and met with a few other dudes to rehearse a song to sing in the middle of the meeting. I forgot what the name of the hymn is but it was good. They wanted me to sing the alto part so I did my best in falsetto. It turned out good. The meeting was for us to establish a better way to follow up on the areas. Pres Lanius wanted us to get all the numbers from all the areas and it seemed like it was becoming a robotic thing with little use. It reached the point where it was writing anything down because there wasn't a reason for us to look back at the numbers. It was just to see if the areas were working and was making the leaders go to bed super late. We took 3 hours to figure out how the mission would be followed up on from here on out. We will just be seeing if the missionaries are hitting their daily goals and if they are having any problems with companions, area, people.... etc..... it's awesome. I get to bed earlier now! haha. President also talked about the change in the rules that he made. Needless to say we will be playing soccer today....woohoo!<br />
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Well my new area is good. I won't say that it's sweet yet because I've only worked about 3 days in my area. So we will have a better report next week. The members are legit and the ward seems to be strong. I live with my companion from Chile, Elder Ramos and two more missionaries. An American, Elder Johnson, and an Argentinian, Elder Resek. Resek is from Rosario dad! His dad was a mission president in Chile and they moved to Buenos Aires. I realized that I don't really like living with 2 more missionaries, but we'll deal with it. You have to be more careful not to offend people or use stuff for too long when you're with 4(washing machine... bathroom... etc.). It's just more complicated and annoying. My companion is awesome. Just a happy guy who always jokes around. It's easy to be happy with this dude. It's something I've noticed about the missionaries from Chile... they're always happy and joking around! He will go home when I do. He was supposed to go after this transfer but it didn't work out with the plane tickets and everything so he's going home with me. That means he'll probably be transferred out of here in 5 weeks and then someone will kill me. <br />
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Yesterday we baptized Luciana and her son, Eduardo! This week was great for them because she had the self control to stop smoking and that made it so Eduardo could be baptized tooo!(he's younger than 15) The members supported and it turned out really well. The water was super cold in the font but we got it done haha. Another proof that God's grace can help anyone leave an addiction!<br />
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Well family.... time to go. I love you all and hope this week it great! Christ loves us and is the way. Follow him! Love you!<br />
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Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</div>
Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-70636249192305340622014-08-06T17:09:00.000-07:002014-08-06T17:42:10.127-07:00GARANHUNS: CIDADE DAS FLORES<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYYkrYu7yQuKWIgg4L7HocoQJp7nnnM9x1zIl15P8TqVqxk10laza_nm8rmF30R3AIISWf979KvvsQgHuDgDgBMHa_xpznfwxIkZX8je3ztNGw7zdnU7TtYhzBiqKAJtDffAs0-QGx0Ou0/s1600/goofball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYYkrYu7yQuKWIgg4L7HocoQJp7nnnM9x1zIl15P8TqVqxk10laza_nm8rmF30R3AIISWf979KvvsQgHuDgDgBMHa_xpznfwxIkZX8je3ztNGw7zdnU7TtYhzBiqKAJtDffAs0-QGx0Ou0/s1600/goofball.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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August 4, 2014</div>
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Hello family and friends.<br />
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I'VE BEEN TRANSFERRED.<br />
I felt it coming so I was basically saying goodbye to everyone the whole week &7 months is a long time to be in an area and it was my time. I feel like I left a legacy there with the members and especially with our recent converts. But I liked my time with Elder Varela. He teaches well and doesn't like nonsense. That's good because I don't either. We did some good work there and became good friends. You know you have a good relationship with your companion when in the streets everyone looks at you weird. We laughed too much...<br />
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I don't have much time because we have to travel to my new area still. But this week we saw a great miracle. We had been teaching a lady named Ilza for 2 weeks and she had been smoking her pipe for 62 years. She's 69. So naturally we had a lot of doubt that she would be able to stop smoking, but she stopped!! In one week she stopped. It was a miracle because she said that all the missionaries from all the churches always passed in her house and tried to help her to stop smoking BUT THEY NEVER SUCCEEDED. She said that she always saw the missionaries pass by her house but they never talked to her(usually we don't like to talk to old people because they never understand the message.... But she understood and felt the spirit and authority that made her put the pipe down and become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ! Imagine that! 62 years is like three of my lives. It's crazy. So we took the pipe and Elder Varela is gonna take it home as a souvenir. She was desperate to change her life because she was in a rut, so when she went to church she loved it because the members received her really well. Her story testifies of the power and authority the missionaries of the church have to teach and call to repentance. We marked her to be baptized this Sunday. I will have to receive the pictures from Elder Varela through email.<br />
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Monara and Gloria didn't progress this week because they couldn't go to church, but we taught them just about everything there is to teach an investigator. They know the church is true, but they're afraid to jump in with both feet because they're "making a deal with God and it's not a joke".... I agree with this idea but when you know the truth there's no way to escape it. It's either the truth or nothing. They went to the temple with some members and loved it. They liked the prices of the DVD there. hahah. yeah... who wouldn't like those prices. Anyways, I'll get the pics of their baptisms too, when it happens. They're already good friends of ours so it'll be a huge victory.</div>
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<img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiiMfrAJqHYv8wQUmkHlJ_Hbm3rU7NrQEI7DgAze2_x3iGiJ4zhn55BSPFEtFdKmomqw1T2NNvGFCNFpx2a2nMrrGM3KIA8yGLtNB9d9jl9hdv4N6ZZOAJ8diDOGNqfrHoCcym4MCavad1C/s1600/girl.jpg" width="300" /></div>
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ehhhhhh(uhhh in Portuguese)</div>
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So the area I'm going to is BOA VISTA, which is in GARANHUNS. All the missionaries say that it is the best zone and the best city in the whole mission. Ever since I got here I've always wanted to serve there and now I'm going! Cooler temperatures.... less noise..... 4 hour bus ride..... paradise. I'll take lots of pics. Oh and I'm Zone Leader still which is nice. Presidente made a lot of changes in the mission. There used to be 14 zones, and now there are 8. He made the zones huge and distributed all the good missionaries so that they could 1. Fix the fubecas <i>(slackers), </i>2. Train the noobies that are arriving, and 3. to be Zone Leaders.... No more of this "let's make a fubeca a trainer so that his trainee fixes him"... doesn't really work out.... BTW, my trainer, Elder Ferreira went home today. I'm excited about the new President because we have a lot more freedom now. WE CAN PLAY FUTEBOL NOW! He was in a meeting with us last night and told us all about the transfer which is something that never happened with Lanius. It was cool. <br />
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Well family! Hope this next week is a good one. Remember that the Church is true. And when you forget.... remember again.<br />
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Love you all,<br />
Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll<br />
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P.S. My new companion is Elder Ramos from Chile.. I've always wanted to be his companion because he's super legit. We're gonna kill it this transfer! He goes home in 6 weeks.</div>
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<img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSpwDS7sgMo63CQG3xDq9-NzzYNCTAr8Gm_FOv-1q8AlaL1ghO5H1MmQSFD_DchCHF7MMrSRHVT9Lzgde4JSX-c4Sg_RQWelArH34Thy4XxrD9K2CsybQHCOLLs0AAvvW4k7oWxfKB1U8m/s1600/early+pics.jpg" width="640" /></div>
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I found this photo on Facebook.....this is an old photo from Dallin's very first area.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfwQMLuj5Zr87QnIoDhvvg2tMBHwBGwCGm2CG4NTCngldUZP7P_340eIKYo69cgVjN21s3nCh6E5sPnLXxLC-Z1roYkKl0qhLYLQ0LvOrzOjX14eUfUQLOswA0hVqkL3hGtsA_zu5qXSj/s1600/visiting+family.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcfwQMLuj5Zr87QnIoDhvvg2tMBHwBGwCGm2CG4NTCngldUZP7P_340eIKYo69cgVjN21s3nCh6E5sPnLXxLC-Z1roYkKl0qhLYLQ0LvOrzOjX14eUfUQLOswA0hVqkL3hGtsA_zu5qXSj/s1600/visiting+family.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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July 28, 2014</div>
<br />One more weekly letter....<br />My feelings about the mission are mixed at this point. I'm in the final stretch and I think that this is my last week in this area. Mixed emotions.... As much as everyone says, "don't think about home", at the end, it almost seems impossible. I find myself trying to squeeze every last drop out of my mission. Regret at this point is my worst enemy and it's crunch time. At this point, I'm happy with my progress as a missionary and even as a child of God.... I've mastered the language and the culture too. I've reached a point in this area where I feel really comfortable with the members and even with the work. We have some really good investigators and a few are progressing really well. The Spirit is like an energy that appears to put words in my mouth and thoughts in my head. It's incredible how the Lord enables us when we are helping him in his work. <br /><br />Yesterday we had lunch with a dude who just got off his mission from Venezuela 3 weeks ago and he was telling us how weird it is when you get back. It makes me a little bit hesitant to go back. Here I feel like a different person. More elevated... more confident. We have a huge role in the lives of a lot of people. In the past 7 months, I've been able to help people to accept the true gospel and to get excited about it too! <br /><br />Marcos and Yonara are on fire. This week they went out with us to teach people and they just got excited about the work. Yonara has been a member for 6 months and Marcos has been a member for 4 weeks, and both of them are daringly bearing testimony of the Gospel they love. They really enjoy going out with us and seeing how people are blessed by the gospel. Both of them want to go on missions, so a year from now they're going. How cool is that? Two recent converts who are just dying to get out there to preach what they believe in. Their testimonies are pure and without doubts, and really bring the spirit into the lesson. It's amazing because Yonara's family does not support her about the church and even ridicules her. She has a calling as an indexer in the ward and her mom doesn't let her do it at home, so she walks to the beach to do it on her phone. Marcos is just awesome, and all the members just got attached to him when he joined the church. He already has a ton of friends and we're teaching his mom. As soon as she stops smoking, she'll be baptized. <div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHoCAggbl7HLKNWiQgnA2tP65eshryO5jEwvqANseYhyphenhyphen1itEhp2yn157Qqt6KhXK8C4R4HZa3WWZdJqhpqnfwe21FP4k78yA2XAkxeCBiQLmHW7OzwCaTsCjXgk92AM05usjpC3zDD1Rm3/s1600/SAM_0044.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHoCAggbl7HLKNWiQgnA2tP65eshryO5jEwvqANseYhyphenhyphen1itEhp2yn157Qqt6KhXK8C4R4HZa3WWZdJqhpqnfwe21FP4k78yA2XAkxeCBiQLmHW7OzwCaTsCjXgk92AM05usjpC3zDD1Rm3/s1600/SAM_0044.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a>In the Piedade ward everyone is pretty excited about the work because Bishop Gustavo just implemented an Family Home Evening program in the ward. There's a calendar where all the families that can, choose a night to receive the missionaries and investigators in their house to have a family night. It's something that's bringing a lot of success to the ward. We had two this week that were great and there were a lot of new people for us to teach. Graça, a lady in the ward did one in her house and we were the first ones to arrive. She said she had invited people but it took a while for people to show up. It turned out being a good deal. There were a lot of women there. One of them had just lost her husband and there was another who was asking about salvation. So what did what we do. We whipped out the Plan of Salvation and cleared up their doubts. We could tell there was some relief when we looked at the face of the woman who has lost her husband. </div>
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<br />A couple of nights after that, there was another FHE. We were in a lesson right before the FHE when the power went out in the whole city. Everyone screamed as usual and we began walking to the FHE in the dark. If Yonara and Marcos weren't there with their cellphone flashlights we wouldn't have been able to navigate our way through the muddy roads. Graças a Deus. The family we visited had invited their neighbors who had just moved in. Gloria and Nara. The dad, Manoel was afraid that it wouldn't be good because of the power outage so it almost didn't happen, but we insisted haha. It was great! Manoel had prepared a couple of activities that stretched our brains and were related to the scriptures too. Gloria and Nara liked it and went to church the next day.<br /><br />Sunday was great, like always. We baptized an 11 year old girl named Efigenia who has been dying to be baptized for about 4 months now. It was hard to get her mom's permission, but we did it. She always goes to church with her neighbors who are members so she was set. I even think she's been to the Recife temple more times than I have! haha. She's from the Jardim Piedade ward which is great because it had been a long time since we baptized someone from there. There were a lot of people there to support and her parents were there too. Her step-dad surprised us with his excitement about the church. We taught her parents a long time ago but never again because they are super busy. But when we taught them, he didn't have a job and we prayed that he could find one. A week later he had a job and when we talked to him on Sunday he said, "the prayer worked! I have a job. Now every time I pray, I thank the Lord for the job he gave me..." Sometimes we underestimate the power of the prayers we say with the investigators, but they really help to strengthen their faith in Christ, even though they aren't members of the church.<br /><br />Gloria and Nara went to church. Turns out they are aunt and niece. Gloria has a salon in her house and has two young kids. Nara is 18 and speaks English fluently because she was a foreign exchange student in New Zealand. They both loved church. When we visited them after church, we went with Marcos, Otavio, and Lucas and it was a party. These girls were prepared to hear the Gospel. They used to live in a city that doesn't have the church a month ago and then came here. Gloria said they left the Assembly of God because of the many apostasies that exist there. We usually try not to agree too much when this happens... we kind of just smile and nod, because there are really A LOT of apostasies in that church. The Book Of Mormon is super correct in saying that whatever church that isn't the church of Christ is the church of the devil. But the lesson was great there. The spirit was present because of the many testimonies we brought with us and we invited them to be baptized this weekend before I get transferred. They accepted but with one condition. They have to pray and be certain before they decide. Easy. Their hearts are super open so the spirit will just invade them with good vibes.<br /><br />So Sunday we'll find out if I'm transferred or not. I've been here for almost 7 months and if I stay one more, then that means I will have to stay 2 more because Varela is going home on the next one. If I stay, he´ll go home and I'll have to show another guy the area before I go home. I HAVE 2 TRANSFERS LEFT. The recent converts and members are sad that I'll probably leave on this one,,,, it'll be hard to leave this area because I feel like I'm a member of the ward! It's getting weird, but my work ethic is not going to change. Gotta end it puking! <i>(See the end of the letter for explanation)</i><div>
<br />On that note, I'd like to wish you all a good week. Remember who you are and what you stand for. You stand for CHRIST. And nobody else. <br /><br />Love you all,<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll<div>
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<i>When Dallin was in high school he ran on the Cross Country team. If a runner performs his absolute best during a race and puts every last ounce of energy he has into his run, sometimes he will end the race and puke as he crosses the finish line. "Puking" was an indicator that the runner had ended his race, putting forth the best he had to offer and didn't hold back. So "gotta end it puking" is a good thing for Dallin. It means he's going to work hard and diligently until the very end of his mission, putting forth his best effort.</i></div>
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<img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOtI67yP0wnbz6jFMvHJoN8s6n5rKqB2ZZy_0EJbCrgSxrQE-nwt2yTbNITPDQX2pN9Fo_aGk1IrZtYaRwKqLqlK98jQ7Afp_NRBJfFpfyXxJYO4V4TIKJ0h9yWTscpcdscku7ilqnsMEf/s1600/four+guys.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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Some old pictures that popped up on Facebook! Gotta love it when that happens!</div>
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<img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiwokvM_2r8dGeo3bRERPdp0VJ91T4eF9y-Nt1ucHa1H5hs0E70LQdu7QEfz7Wu4oF9k88kdxIXwX_hkKpna8o7kAV1pPiUBNnmjAeOG2spelrSlZhMlpUbn4NeTBO2gAu74mGbrYarqCd/s1600/zone+temple.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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July 21, 2014</div>
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This week was interesting.<br />
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Pday was interesting because we went to the mission office so I could do my BYU interview with the President to get my ecclesiastical endorsement. He asked me two questions.... are you worthy to use a temple recommend and do you know and understand the honor code at BYU.... I said yes to both and he said, "Good, now I want you to teach me some things about the mission...." He started asking me about the things he should be worried about as mission President and what he should do to make his work effective in the mission. It was interesting talking to him because he is so different from President Lanius. President Lanius' interviews were short and sweet and kind of blunt and now we have a President who likes to know the ins and outs and likes to hear both sides of the story. I told him about the trouble spots in the mission and what to look out for. The man is spiritually charged and got here just ready to get stuff done. He sees the areas which need improvement and is willing to experiment and include the missionaries in the process to get it fixed. He said he always wanted a mentor in his life and decided to adopt one. He read EVERYTHING that President Packer has ever written and has a book of quotes which define him. I'm excited about the direction the mission is going in.<br />
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The work this week was relatively slow as we are recuperating after the world cup and chasing down investigators whose progress was delayed. It's a little bit annoying because we have two wards to keep track of and one is way stronger than the other one. The leaders from Jardim Piedade, the weaker one always ask us if we're working in their ward. We just tell them yes and they shrug their shoulders and walk away. We don't receive much help from the people in Jardim piedade, whereas in Piedade, the youth and the leaders are excited and always willing to help out with missionary work. We have to find a way to animate this ward, but I'm thinking I only have 2 weeks left in this area.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDaoii30hCXXsvVICxshunW-542FaQ8-WtqpbqTNi9oBnWBZfc3QsackEQkqmIcFKA86eHrZcjwx7CTP-JWM4lGGAW-iLbo5jlItWwLmX_M3rSzuqb1Q2F2CKJ5znFZZAJoRQL6K4MxtEA/s1600/SAM_0038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDaoii30hCXXsvVICxshunW-542FaQ8-WtqpbqTNi9oBnWBZfc3QsackEQkqmIcFKA86eHrZcjwx7CTP-JWM4lGGAW-iLbo5jlItWwLmX_M3rSzuqb1Q2F2CKJ5znFZZAJoRQL6K4MxtEA/s1600/SAM_0038.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a>Remember Manoela, the lady with the 4 month old baby... Well we visited her and her husband this week and we found out they're from Ciará, another state and the husband, Jorge is just here to work. We taught them the Restoration and they both accepted baptism. Seemed like they were excited to hear the message and everything made sense to them. It was nice to teach 2 people who were really humble. They're from the interior of Ciará and are just open, humble people. What the scriptures say about the humble is true. That they are more teachable and more receptive to the whispers of the Spirit. After the lesson we were talking and they said that Manoela is going back to Ciará until December so there's no way to baptize her here. Jorge is staying so we'll see if we can pull something off with him. They traveled this week so neither of them went to church. We believe that she just came here to discover the gospel because she's only been here for a couple of years. Then when she found out about it she has to go away.....<br />
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Lately, it seems like we've been teaching a lot of people with addictions. I guess that's what happens when you're teaching group becomes more mature. We're teaching some parents of some youth that we baptized and with these new, adult investigators, we're meeting some challenges with addictions. It's either coffee or cigarettes and we have to analyze closely the problem of each person even though there are many people with the same addiction. It's interesting. Everyone has a unique personality and a unique way of dealing with the addiction. Some say it's super hard and isn't possible to quit and others have tons of faith that Christ can take the addiction away. If they don't have that faith, we have to find a way to help them to develop it. It's a great lesson for all of us. Addiction could signify our position or progress in life. If we don't have faith that Christ can help us to change our circumstances, then become stagnant. If we include him in our decisions and in our ambitions, his grace will reward our faith and we will be successful in anything we want to accomplish.<br />
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This week we also did an exchange with some elders in our district. It was marked for us to have a missionary activity in the chapel and it was the young men's responsibility to get it all organized, so we would just have to show up and participate. Turns out that the young men's president had to go to the hospital because one of his relatives was sick. So we had to improvise, something that missionaries are really good at. So we thought of some games we had played before and the ward mission leader improvised a spiritual thought. And guess what... it all turned out! One of the games was called "sou bobo", or, "I'm silly´´ in English. It's a game of perception. Everyone gets in a circle and there is a broom that everyone has to sweep on the ground saying, "sou bobo".... then they wait for everyone else to tell them if they really are bobo or not. Then they pass the broom to the next person. The catch is that there are only 3 people who know when a person is bobo. The three people who know will clear their throats before sweeping and saying sou bobo, and then the people who know the secret say, ´´não é bobo´´ or,´´isnt silly´´.. hahaha so the people have to discover how to not be bobo. When people started to discover who it was, there were a ton of people clearing their throats loudly to help the people out who were bobos.... haha it was funny. We just died laughing because everyone was changing their voices and sweeping the broom in different ways to try to not be bobo.. You don't really have to do much to make people laugh here.. people just like to laugh!<br />
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Marcos blessed the Sacrament on Sunday. He repeated about 4 times but he was real happy about the opportunity he had to use his priesthood. He told us he was super nervous and just got lost in his words haha. He's a good guy.<br />
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This week we also did an interview for a lady named Varela who was baptized on Sunday. I did the interview and I found out that her niece was the first baptism ever on my mission! Turns out that her family lives in Águas Compridas and me and the other Elder Ferreira helped her niece to get baptized about 1.5 years ago. It was a funny conversation. It's a small world when you're a member of the church.<br />
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Last night, we went out with a couple of the young men, Otavio and Lucas. They just kept telling us how great they thought the mission was and how excited they were to be getting ready to leave. They're both 18 and are getting their stuff together to leave. I think the only thing keeping them from sending their papers is the military release. All the missionaries from Brasil have to do this because it's kind of required for guys to enter into the army. Anyways we were walking in the street after we taught about the priesthood at Flávio/edinetes house, and as we passed an alleyway, we heard a guy yelling, ´´irmão,,,, irmão!!´´ We looked back and didn't think much of it because there are always a bunch of drunk dudes yelling at us Sunday night, but we looked back and saw a guy who was bleeding pretty bad. So we went to him and he had a bunch of gashes on his head and said he had just been hit... He had a lot of blood on his shirt and on his face. I called the ambulance and it was ridiculous. They put me on hold, then after like 5 minutes someone started asking me what his symptoms were and hung up. Didn't even tell me if they were coming or anything. We sat the dude on the sidewalk and called Otavios dad to come pick him up and drive him to the hospital. CRAZY. We think the dude was involved in some conflict because he didn't really tell us in details what had happened, other than the dude that hit him hit him with a plank.. Then again, he was shaking pretty bad and was almost going crazy. It seemed like the Lord put us in his path to help him out. <br />
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That really happens a lot on the mission. Whether the person is in need of spiritual, or physical help, the Lord puts us in their path so that we can rescue them. It's quite the privilege and is very gratifying when the person says thank you with a smile. Something about being in the right place at the right time is just satisfying. I know that we are representatives of Jesus Christ and I want the make the best of my mission while I have time left. IT'S A ONCE IN AN ETERNITY EXPERIENCE.<br />
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I love you all and hope this week is just dandy.<br />
Love,<br />
Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</div>
Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-56179367762529473312014-07-14T08:19:00.000-07:002014-07-14T08:40:18.648-07:00World Cup is Over<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is a picture of the wedding that happened a few weeks ago that Dallin was so excited about!<br />
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July 14, 2014<br />
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Hello folks.<br />
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Glad to be able to write to you all one more time on this glorious day. I'm pleased to inform you all that this keyboard does not have a question mark, so forgive me in advance.<br />
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This week was a normal world cup week. Complicated.<br />
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We started out the week with a leadership meeting with President. The man is awesome. He's brushing up on his Portuguese so he takes a while to get his ideas out, but the ideas that he expresses are brilliant. He's changing our point of view. He really wants our baptisms to be converts. We talked about the way the mission marks baptisms. Before he got here when we passed our weekly numbers from the week, we used to only pass marked people for the people we were going to baptize that week. He said our vision would be very limited if we did that and said that we have to pass the number of marked people we have for the next 3 weeks. He says it will let us be able to have a better vision of our investigators. It's a little more relaxing that way without the assistants breathing down our necks, but that doesn't mean that we can relax. We feel that he has a great love for the gospel and a strong desire to please the Lord. He also talks a lot about how our missions will benefit us after our missions. He suggested that we speak English in our houses so that the Americans don't return speaking like children and so the other missionaries will be able to get good jobs when they get back. It's hard to speak English. Luckily Elder Varela speaks a little bit of English, so he understands a lot of what I say. It helps us a lot when we don't want people to know what were talking about...hehe.<br />
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We booted Osiane. We talked a lot about the Book Of Mormon and even taught the plan of salvation just using scriptures from the Book Of Mormon. It was one of those lessons where the investigator asks tons of questions and you have to explain everything in excruciating detail. By the end of the lesson, we were practically sweating and we felt good about it. She said she believed in EVERYTHING we said. She also said that she doesn't agree with the idea that there exists only one true church of Jesus Christ..... You've got to be kidding me. She believes in Joseph Smith, the Book Of Mormon, and everything else we taught, but does not believe there is one true church. This is truly an idea from Satan himself. It was sad, but we can say that we did our best,... she just didn't accept.<br />
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This week was interesting with the world cup. Brasil got destroyed by Germany and everyone was fuming mad. It's all people talk about, and everyone blames the government and Felipão, the coach. We went to Flavio/Edinetes house the day after and the kids were all home when they were supposed to be at school. They said they went to school and nobody was there because everyone was so embarrassed that Brasil lost so bad. People didn't go to work and everyone was just revolted. Marcos was happy because he's so cynical, but the majority of the people we talked to were just disturbed. Katiuce told us that during the game Edinete and Flavio were yelling at the screen saying stuff like "Ahhhh I don't even wanna live here anymore! I'm going to move to Elder Carroll's country"... and "these monkeys don't know how to do anything!!" .... Katiuce said that nobody could talk to Flavio because he was so angry. People literally cried while watching the game.... In our apartment complex everyone was just yelling no over and over and over again. Futebol is everything here. And in spite of the whoop'n Brasil took, people still rooted for Germany in the final because they can't stand Argentina. That's what we call a real rivalry. I bought today's newspaper as a souvenir.<br />
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As far as work went, this week was a bust. We had some success with one woman named Manoela though. We taught her in front of her house with her 4 month old baby. She was REALLY receptive to our message and said that she felt the presence of God. She agreed to be baptized and she agreed to going to church but didn't go because it rained a ton and all the roads were super flooded. Few people went that we invited because of the rain, so it was kinda sad on Sunday, but we're going to have loads of people in the church this week. We also are going to work with Raynas' mom this week to see if we can't throw her in the water. <br />
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Well loved ones. This is the true gospel. No doubt in my mind. Life wouldn't make sense if it were false. Christ is the center of EVERYTHING, and our lives need to revolve around Him.<br />
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Love you all...<br />
Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim3TxMWR98Z-5hzeD-Xex75Kh-hO3kXC8Oq3I-mcKb2WkulIEpCK4wMw3dvSBwwr-UxwPLK_Em97QqQUhRpDr5vlvRELkegoDRyUNr4UFsYZq1r4Do6YLXwefS7onoKJ20GzoPqI9AtNZA/s1600/SAM_0246-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim3TxMWR98Z-5hzeD-Xex75Kh-hO3kXC8Oq3I-mcKb2WkulIEpCK4wMw3dvSBwwr-UxwPLK_Em97QqQUhRpDr5vlvRELkegoDRyUNr4UFsYZq1r4Do6YLXwefS7onoKJ20GzoPqI9AtNZA/s1600/SAM_0246-2.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a>Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-69500560356477174092014-07-13T19:39:00.000-07:002014-07-13T19:39:19.255-07:00No Going Wrong with the Book of Mormon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: center;">July 7, 2014</span><br />
<br />This week was the bomb.<br /><br />Pday was a bust, as we had to buy a new fan because Elder Varela likes to use one to sleep, where as Ferreira didn't because it left him with a sore throat. We have to adapt with the changes in companions. It's interesting how much I got used to being with Elder Ferreira, I could almost predict everything he did. But Varela is different of course, and either way we get along great. He's more of a precise worker where as Ferreira was more go with the flow, follow the spirit type deal. I think I'm in between those two, so either way, it's easy for me to adapt. I like the way we teach together because we don't just split up every topic like a robot.... we stop talking when we feel like it and let the other one start up. It's more relaxing and has a good flow because the other way around it just gets tiring. Y'all know that I don't really like talking that much. <br /><br />This week we had a meeting with our new President. It was really cool because he was there with his wife, his two daughters, and his son. His son is 11 and his daughters are 19 and 15 I think.... But they were all given time to tell us a little bit about themselves. It was touching when they all said that they were angry and sad when their dad received the call to be mission president, but when they entered the airport and saw us singing the mission anthem, they all felt the spirit and felt that everything was going to turn out alright. It was good to hear that we could relieve them of some stress and worrying, just by being there to greet them. I can imagine their feelings about the whole thing. Out of nowhere they find out that their dad will be a mission president for 3 years in Brazil and they will have to stay there to. President Bigalow said that he received a call from Elder Bednar and went to his office to talk to him with his wife. He served as a young man in Chicago speaking Spanish, so for the past few months, he's been studying Portuguese and trying to filter out the Spanish words (looks really hard by the way he was speaking Portuguese with us). But he's a good guy with a light, friendly personality. His wife doesn't speak much Portuguese but gave a whole talk in Portuguese (she read the whole thing)... It made us see that she is serious about being here and is willing to work and study to help the mission out. We're really excited for this new president because he said he's going to go on splits with us to see what the work is like.<br /><br />This whole week we were basically working with a few people to get them baptized fast. I feel like this area is just baptize, find, and baptize, find and baptize. It's ideal for sure. Yonara's friends, Marcos and Jaqueson were both baptized yesterday. Also, we baptized a girl named Rayna, who is Flavio/Edinete's neighbor/friend of Katiuces. The two guys are 21 and Rayna is 13. When me and Ferreira opened this area up, we baptized a few youth and they ended up dragging about 15 other kids with them.... it's a baptism factory!!! It looks like it's never going to end.<br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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Marcos, I think was the most excited out of all of them. He's a super funny dude and we already have tons of inside jokes with him. He thinks it's funny that I use all the Pernambuco/Nordeste slangs that all the street folk use. His whole family went to the baptism and we're gonna throw them all in the water in a little bit because they liked church a lot.<br /><br />Rayna's mom was there too and she really liked church. She said it was different and didn't feel like she was being pressured to accept Jesus. Half the churches here say that if you don't "accept Jesus/raise your hand at the right time" that you'll go to hell and there's no hope for you. So that's already one point that we have on the others. She liked the way that everyone just goes at their own pace and how nobody is forced to do anything. It's great too because she's friends with Flavio/Edinete and is just a good, relaxed person who is fun to be around. We'll get her in the water fast. She was asking us a lot about the "what can you do?" and the "what can't you do?" so we told her about the word of wisdom and the law of chastity. Mom's like that kind of stuff.... if they're a good mom......<br /><br />Jaqueson is just a mystery who doesn't like to talk. He wanted to be baptized so we baptized him!<br /><br />So this week we're really going focus on getting Osiane baptized. She's an 18 year old girl who just thinks way to much... or maybe not enough. She is always studying/sleeping so it's hard to mark visits with her. She's different. She is sarcastic when she answers our questions like she constantly wants to say, "duhhhh, of course I know that"..... but the word/expression, "duhhh" doesn't exist here. She went to church with her mom which was great. They really liked it and we went to talk to Osiane at her house afterwards. I asked her if she wanted to be baptized. She explained that she was looking for a church to stay at and she didn't know if this was the one. WE explained that if she read the Book Of Mormon and prayed and really thought about it, she would know. She has the type of personality where she has to study things out and analyze to make a decision. There's no going wrong with the Book Of Mormon.... IT'S DA TROOF! <br /><br />I've decided that I want to read the Book Of Mormon and the New Testament before I get home. It's a goal. I figured out that the less I read the Book Of Mormon, the weaker my testimony gets.... not that it's weak or anything,,,, but you know. It really is the glue to my testimony. It makes it so the restored gospel makes sense and has a base. The Bible is great, but I'm not going to lie, it doesn't have the strength that the Book Of Mormon provides for me. That's just my feel.<br /><br />Well folks.... I guess that's it.<br /><br />Oh... just a quick joke for y'all real quick...<br />"you know you're in Recife when half the testimonies born at fast and testimony meeting are about miracles that Jesus performed so that the members could escape shootings and assaults in the streets.´´<br /><br />Don't get scared mom, I've never seen a gun on my mission so I'm safe. <br /><br />Oh and dad, the world cup cannot be escaped here. <br />Everyone watches every game so we're always updated on who goes home and and who plays who and who the best teams are. If Brasil doesn't get through, I'm rooting for Holland. They're bosses and will destroy Argentina. People literally cried when Neymar broke his back. My comp and I were sad too...<br /><br />Well family, I love you all and hope y'all have a good week. Pray so that Osiane can receive a confirmation about the Book Of Mormon. She's super close.<br /><br />Love,<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiArSvunaYaYGFImov3MtwCJ17fyjrWewmXOrdY8bHmea7A4EmIG_vVxhbcUH7uaKn2nuHcWKvMjCBljovgpe_HNtdjaHZn40srVHWt8J8NRABHMtmnce7keNX8GvV2Omf3qn4L-W6m1TyO/s1600/SAM_0320.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiArSvunaYaYGFImov3MtwCJ17fyjrWewmXOrdY8bHmea7A4EmIG_vVxhbcUH7uaKn2nuHcWKvMjCBljovgpe_HNtdjaHZn40srVHWt8J8NRABHMtmnce7keNX8GvV2Omf3qn4L-W6m1TyO/s1600/SAM_0320.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a>
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<span style="text-align: center;">June 30, 2014</span><br />
<br />This week was complicated but we made it work out. I'm trying to write this thing fast because I just wrote a ton and the email deleted itself. So don't mind the grammar. <br /><br />So we started out with the transfer. It was insane because about half of the mission was there to be transferred. President said that he put everyone there to make a lot of changes to help out the new President who came this week. Everyone was filled with mixed emotions because President has taught us a lot. But we are excited to see the changes that will take place with the new president. Presidente Lanius said that he may not have taught us how to baptize, but he did teach us to be honest. And he knows that without honesty, there is no baptism. He's right. My new companion is Elder Varela. He's cool. He was companions with my first Zone Leader, Elder Farrer. It's funny how the cycle works with companions on the mission. Varela is chill and we already get a long very well. The way we teach is very similar and the teaching flows and has a good spirit. I'm excited to work with him here. I think this is my last transfer here. He has 2 transfers left so he's definitely going to die(finish his mission) here. <br /><div style="text-align: center;">
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This week it rained a freaking ton. There was a night where it rained the whole night straight and when we woke up it was still raining . We had to go to district meeting that morning so we put on our boots and started walking. The Apartment complex was more flooded than we had ever seen it. The water level was over our boots so whatever. I got some videos of the roads we can watch when I get home. The roads were like rivers with actual currents because of the cars that were still driving! WE walked a while and then we took the bus. On the way we saw some gringos with US and Germany Jerseys because of the game that happened in Recife. Imagine the trunkiness! They were taking pictures of the flooded streets and the cobrador yelled, "yeah, this is Brasil son!!" ESTADOS UNIDOS SE CLASSIFICOU!!<br /><br />We went to the temple this week too! When we took the metro we saw a lot of Americans with huge hiking backpacks going to the game in Recife. They had come from Manaus because they watched the game there too. I tried talking to them and asked them where they were from. They said they were form the US.... duhhhhh. I found out that my English is terrible and that Americans aren't really good at conversing.<br /><br />Friday we went to the Airport to greet the new President. President Bigalow is his name. He's from Salt Lake and brought his 2 daughters and his son too. Some of the zones were invited to sing the mission anthem when he came out and we were lucky to be one of them! He came out with his wife and kids and we started singing. It was pretty emotional. President Lanius was there and he seemed pretty nervous. We sang and the Presidents greeted each other. Lanius took off the name tag and gave the microphone and the keys to Bigalow. It was interesting. All the sisters were crying and everyone was speaking in English because his family doesn't speak Portuguese yet. When I shook their hands they said they were looking for me because Landon met Sister Bigalow on his airplane to his mission and she remembered his name. It was cool. They are really nice and look super ready to take control of the mission and make everything happen. The Assistants have advised us that none of the rules that President Lanius put in place have been abolished yet so we're just going to wait and see if the mission will become less rigid.....<br /><br />So we hardly got to work this week because of the rain, the Brasil games and the temple trip but we have some pretty sweet investigators now.<br /><br />Jackson/Marcos/Williames are friends of Yonara. She's a recent convert and is really excited about missionary work. These 3 dudes are her neighbors/friends. They all went to church and liked it. Marcos is almost done reading Gospel Principles and when we invited him to be baptized he said he was thinking about it. He went to a Family Home Evening at the Bishop's house and said that he felt that the church was true and it wasn't because anyone told him it was. He said that when we know something is right, we feel it..... That's right. We marked Jackson to be baptized this Sunday. We're going to try to baptize them all. <br /><br />Osiane is a girl we met while knocking doors, me and Elder Ferreira. We were knocking this one road and she passed by us when we were trying to enter in the houses. I had an impression to talk to her but I let her pass by. Then we knocked her door and found her again. Her mom said that Osiane needed a religion so we taught both of them. We taught Osiane later about the Book Of Mormon and she said she knew it was true without even reading it. That's the power of the Spirit. She didn't go to church though because she woke up late. We'll see if we can baptize her in the next two weeks. She's a good girl, 20 and just likes to stay at home and study, so it seems very possible. <br /><br />Well family...... Hope this week is good for y'all. Keep going strong and never let go of the rod! Love you all. <br /><br />Elder Dallin Carroll<div>
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Alrighty then, I'm super pressed for time so I'm gonna write this one really quick. Sorry for not sending pics. All the good computer places were closed. Today is São João(holiday of corn roughly translated) and everyone in the street is going to get plastered today so we have to get home at 3:00. <br /><br />Transfers happened to say and I'm sad to say that I had to say goodbye to my beloved companion, Elder W. Ferreira. We spent 6 months together and had a lot of success. A LOT. Now he's companions with Elder Pereira, my comp from Maurício de Nassau. It was cool because Bishop Gustavo called President Lanias last night saying that the work we've been doing is incredible and that he didn't want either one of us to leave. It was great to hear that we're being a help to the Bishop and not a burden. My new companion is Elder Varela. He's from Curtitiba and has 2 transfers left. I had already met him and talked with him a lot in the mission office because we were both Zone Leaders. <br /><br />The wedding was a success!!!! Everything went perfect even though beforehand it looked like everything was against us..... We had to find 4 witnesses and get all their information: SSS, profession, full name, everything. Then we had to make a document for them to sign which took forever to make because the wedding place is picky. Then we had to interview them but both of the District Leaders were busy so the Bishop had to do it. Then we had to put the chapel together and clean it up after church. It was just crazy. It felt like we were hurrying for 2 days straight. And it was rough because we had to talk to the missionaries from the Zone about their areas too. My brain was just fried. Everything was put together on Sunday right before the wedding. But it was organized. You can be sure of that. We were worried about how many people were going to show up. So during Sacrament meeting we invited everyone individually. I think there were like 70-80 people there. The wedding started at 5 but everyone showed up at like 5:20. Flávio showed up first with the cake and had to wait about an hour for Edinete to get there. When she arrived it was sweet. Everyone was already there in the pews waiting and she entered with Maria Eduarda(her daughter). After the ceremony there were tons of photos. Everyone was super happy and proud. The couple made a lot of friends in the ward so it really was really special. After all the congratulating, We did the baptism. It was perfect. I baptized her and Ferreira baptized him. She wanted me to sing Come Follow Me, the same song I sang in their daughters´ baptism. The ceremony was a success and the night was a great victory. We finally completed the family. It was a sense of realization and satisfaction after the baptism that was just amazing. WE DID IT! It took 5 months to baptize the whole family. I think the Lord wanted us to work for this one, it was worth it and was something that we will never forget. The family was incredibly happy and Edinete was crying pretty much the whole time. It was great to see the ward get together to make something nice for a new family in the ward. I think it excited them a bit and the work will be smooth from here on out. The Gospel is really the only source of true happiness. It is the only thing that can truly unite the family. <br /><br />Today President Lanius was transferred and he gave his last speech. He said the Gospel is the only constant thing he's ever found in this world. That's saying a lot because he's a very intelligent, successful man. But it's true, the gospel is perfect. <br /><br />Sorry for not sending pictures. Next seek for sure. I love you all and hope this week is good!<br /></div>
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Love,<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll<br /><br /></div>
Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-72549603699632379942014-06-21T21:19:00.000-07:002014-06-21T21:19:30.209-07:00Working through the World Cup<div>
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Dallin is with his mission President and wife</div>
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June 17, 2014</div>
<br />So as you all can imagine, this week was a little nuts because of the world cup. Let me tell you what it's like.<br /><br />On Thursday we had to stay at home the whole day because of the opening of the cup and the Brasil game. The roads are all decorated with streamers and Brasil flags are EVERYWHERE. Every clothing store is selling Brasil jerseys(from Paraguay because they're fake) but we are living in a world of yellow and green. We were walking in the street the other day(like we do every day) and a dude coming towards us grabbed the Brasil emblem on the jersey he was wearing, kissed it and pointed at us.... dude, you're awesome. People think that just because I'm white that I wont root for Brasil. Quite the contrary. Everyone is obsessed with Neymar(the star player for Brasil). EVERYONE. Especially the girls. We knocked on this one girls door and she said she couldn't talk to us because she was watching Neymar. Idolatry is a common practice here. People are painting their houses to make them look like Brasil flags. The roads are painted yellow and green and EVERYONE is always wearing the Brasil jersey. These people are maniacs! It's awesome. Usually on the street there are little stands where you can buy hot dogs and tapiocas,,, but now there are firework stands. When we were at home waiting for the Brasil game to pass, every time Brasil scored it sounded like there was a war going on outside. Everyone screaming, yelling, running around, chest bumping, shooting off fireworks (the big illegal ones, not the puny ones we use in Georgia)..... President wanted us to study during the Brasil games but we discovered that there was no way to even concentrate. I just grabbed my camera and filmed all the reactions to all the goals. There's a pavilion right outside our apartment where they put a huge TV for everyone to watch so we knew every time when Brasil scored. We have to plan around the Brasil games. Sometimes my companion forgets when he's trying to mark an appointment with someone and the investigator and I always say, "Nope, Brasil is playing that day...." It's frustrating but what are you gonna do? How would we possibly talk to people during the game. We wouldn't! The people are saying that there's no way that Brasil will win this cup. Everyone's saying that either Germany or Holland is going to take the cup.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KtBMJ60cix3bTiXZEnhLhDTui21S1MoW7V2NRqZdM8zq6CXGLseMhEo5OOD3_AnEO_-TPOXYPDgyNNawiIlJshbn0Yqabi36DsHI4MAtbzB9sy5sCNYim83GoAXmWWDSYB18bnESpj6I/s1600/party.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0KtBMJ60cix3bTiXZEnhLhDTui21S1MoW7V2NRqZdM8zq6CXGLseMhEo5OOD3_AnEO_-TPOXYPDgyNNawiIlJshbn0Yqabi36DsHI4MAtbzB9sy5sCNYim83GoAXmWWDSYB18bnESpj6I/s1600/party.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br />Alrighty, let's talk about the work of the Lord. This week was relatively good. Do y'all remember that missionary Elder Ribeiro? The one who's box I lost? Well he was one of the elders who helped to close the area before we opened it back up again. There was supposed to be a wedding/baptism right when we got here but he lost the papers and the money for it so it was postponed. It's an old lady who's daughter is a member.... we got the feeling that they didn't want the missionaries to help out with stuff after the losing of the papers so we just let the case be. This week the wedding and the baptism happened.... so we baptized! Wooo! Let me tell you that it was the most organized thing I've ever seen(sarcasm) The wedding was at 7 and the people started showing up at 630..... The baptismal font was being filled up when we got there and after about an hour I noticed that the water wasn't rising. The pump was on! It was filling up and getting pumped at the same time. Then they came up to me before the wedding and said they forgot to plan music for when Josefa walked down the isle with her husband.... So I sang, Come Thou Fount again while they walked down the isle, haha. During the wedding we were running around the church looking for baptismal clothing because they didn't think that through either. I think I've developed a new motto/slogan.... "The missionaries have to be responsible because nobody else is".... I mean it's been a while since the daughter knew that Josefa was gonna get married/baptized and basically planned everything when they got to the church.... I don't understand...... What matters is that she's married and baptized now so everything is good.<br /><br />This week is the wedding of our wonderful family. We're tying to make it really nice. We've already warned all the organizations and leaders so everyone already has a role to play. We have to sit down with Bishop to see how the program is going to be since he's done this before. Edinete wants everyone to be there. We're worried about the wedding papers because apparently the place that does the wedding stuff is real picky about the birth certificates and identities.... has to be perfectly legible. The certificates we gave them were old but could be read and the identities were copied but the copies weren't that great. We gave them to a member who works there and speeds up the process for all the couples that the missionaries give him. We haven't gotten a phone call yet so pray that it works out. <br /><br />Monday is transfers. We've been here together for about 6 months. There's really no way both of us are going to stay. I have mixed feelings about this area. The members and people are amazing but it seems like we've hit a dead end in the work. We literally have to look for doors to knock on and the members are asleep. The plan is before next transfer is to wake the members up. I gave a talk on Sunday about conversion and the what it has to do with our desire to do the Lord's work. It was a great talk and I feel like the members really felt it. Conversion is super important. If we're not converted, how will we have the desire to do what's right? How will we lose the desire to do what's wrong?? It's like a brick wall we have to break through. The conversion wall. The only way to break it is serving, scripture study, and prayer. That's the ONLY WAY. It's so simple but human laziness makes it way more complicated than it needs to be. Think of how lazy we are. Now think of this. Laziness is not a trait from God.... so the Saviour was the most engaged, least lazy person on the face of the planet. He was PERFECT. He was always serving, and never let laziness trip him up. It's amazing to think about our imperfections, and imagine a being who doesn't have them. Incredible.<br /><br />Well that's enough. I hope y'all are enjoying the World Cup, because we sure are enjoying the culture. Pray hard, and do work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Love,<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll<br /><br />PS I'll send more pictures of the streets next week, I promise!</span></div>
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Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-76179745923709476562014-06-10T13:33:00.002-07:002014-06-10T13:33:23.236-07:00Preparing for the World Cup<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">June 10, 2014</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Vamos la.<br /><br />This week just flew by. I don't know if it's because I'm happy or because I'm just used to the mission life. I feel like we're just in a rhythm. It feels like each week is the same think, but really its not. This week was a little different. We had some pretty sweet spiritual experiences and some funny ones too. <br /><br />We did tons of contacts this week. Somehow we keep finding more doors to knock. We're just finding little nooks and crannies now because we've just scanned all the big roads with the Lord´s work. The people we find in these little alleys are interesting. It's like the deeper we go into the abyss, the more interesting the people get..... Kind of like scuba diving. We knocked on this one door that lead us to like a mini neighborhood. We found this Assembly of God chick who was just trying to get us to visit her church. She just kept laughing, saying the same thing over and over again. The people from this church have their key phrases that they just keep repeating because they don't know what else to say....gloria halleluja. So I was getting impatient and quiet and my companion was just feeding her fire because he loves to talk. Then he brought up the gift of tongues and asked her if she had it. She said she was baptized by the spirit and had received the gift of tongues...(they think they speak in tongues because they babble like hobos in their churches) Elder Ferreira whispered in my ear, "Speak to her in English".....And that's when I got excited to talk with her. I said some random stuff in English that had to do with what we were talking about and she didn't know what to do. It was funny because I was speaking to her as if she understood but there was no way. She witnessed the gift of tongues first hand, Then we prayed with her and her friend. We stayed quiet and they both said separate prayers very loudly. Afterwards we thanked them and I said I felt the power............I know we really shouldn't do things like this on the mission but I just couldn't resist. As we were leaving my companion and I were just dying of laughter. Good times while in the abyss.<br /><br />So President Lanius and his wife will be leaving us at the end of this transfer so we had a meeting with them with a few other zones. It was great. They gave us the opportunity to do musical numbers so me and Sister Remy took advantage. She plays piano and had a sick arrangement of "Come Thou Fount". We practiced two times before the actual performance so we were scared it was going fall apart but it turned out being amazing. Everyone cried and the Spirit was felt strongly. I discovered that I feel the Spirit stronger with music than with anything else. It's powerful. President and his wife said some great stuff too. Sister Lanius talked about how she dealt with being a member without her husband being a member, how she had to pray by herself and take her kids to church alone for about 25 years. She said it was rough and doesn't recommend that anyone does what she did. Then President spoke about his conversion story. He read the whole Bible and felt something telling him that he had to be baptized in his wife's church. He had never been taught by the missionaries, and all her brothers who had served missions "tried" to teach him. He's a stubborn guy and the only thing that got him to change his mind was the Spirit. He said it was a calling. Something he needed to do. He said it wasn't special, and it's not a pretty story. It was something he needed to do so he did it. The Mission president in Curitiba marked his baptism because he didn't want to be taught by missionaries. He already knew everything he needed to know to be baptized. He's really just a no-nonsense type of guy. Nobody even went to his baptism! haha. He was baptized on a Wednesday. He explained to us that it really is the Spirit who convinces people and converts them. Not missionaries. That's why he stresses obedience so much. <br /><br />So it's been about 6 months since we opened this area up. I can honestly say that we've destroyed this area as far as contacting goes. The members also love us. I realized that I've become more affectionate. Remember my first few emails when I wrote that Brasilians just like to touch and hug each other and that I was just sick of it? I feel like I've slowly embraced the hugging/embracing culture and am OK with it! The members always think that American missionaries have hearts of lead and don't like to love people haha... i'ts true in a way. We like our personal space and being touched too much irritates us. It was a barrier that I had to break but the more we love and hug the people, the more they love us too. (Don't worry, I don't hug women....) We were at a family night last night at Celson's house(we go to his house every Saturday to build his house and dig a septic hole) and it was just awesome. Everyone there just seemed so happy and content with just being together. I felt a sweet spirit there. We invited recent converts and Flavio/edinetes family and everyone just got along and enjoyed it. Celson is awesome. He served in Rio and is the funniest, craziest Brasilian I've ever met. He talks up a storm and is just excited about everything. Every time we help him at his house he is super grateful. He always talks about how on his mission, all the Americans got mad because he always hugged them. It was a joke of his to hug the new American greenies to see the reactions on their faces. hahaha. So every time I see him I give him a big hug. He's amazed that I don't get embarrassed because when I arrived in this area apparently my face always turned red when he hugged me. It's a joke now and he likes to group-hug mob me with the young men at church. Good times haha.<br /><br />Stake conference happened this week too. One of the speakers talked about how he was on an airplane that looked like it was going to crash and everyone was Yelling God's name and becoming Christian if they weren't already, He talked about those 45 seconds where he thought he was going to die. There would be no time to pay tithing... no time to confess things to the Bishop.... no time to fix family problems.... It's true. How would we feel if we were in the same situation?? There was another talk where the Brother said that in relation to the Gospel, we shouldn't be like the kid who wets his hair and tells his mom that he took a shower..... haha it was funny, buts it's a real principle. Sometimes we need to just stop being children haha. <br /><br />So we have rules about the World cup. We will not be able to watch any games in member's houses. We will have to be home before, during, and after the Brazil games.... And we can't get close to the stadiums in the city even though the US will be playing. It's gonna be hard to work, and even harder to hear the cheering in the streets without being able to watch! Whatever... we'll be blessed for not being fubecas. (slackers)<br /><br />Well everyone... Love you, and hope y'all have a great week!<br /><br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</span><br />
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Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-76429462362001990642014-06-02T08:16:00.001-07:002014-06-02T08:16:44.295-07:00There's a Wedding to Plan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">June 2, 2014</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello my dear family and friends. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I sit here in this humble, dirty computer place, I am pleased to write to you all that WE WILL MARRY FLAVIO AND EDINETE THIS MONTH. June 22 will be the magical day with a wedding and two baptisms. Y'all have no idea how hard we've worked to just get Flavio to accept a date. It was like pulling teeth over and over and over again. Talk about a painful process. Just to let y'all know how the process was, we visited them with a returned sister missionary (they have special powers), the Bishop and his wife, and I went with one of the Assistants (right after we had a huge heated bible bash with a Jehovahs Witness... so we needed to speak with someone nice), and our District Leader talked with them too! And every time it was just, "uhhh we'll talk about it later.." When we baptized their daughters last week is when we really started to see a change in Flavio. He really just started to open up and become more bendable. When we went on a division with the Assistants I let Elder Gustavo take a whack at it with Flavio to see if he could pull something out of him. We talked about eternal families and testified with power. We could tell that he was really thinking and really just putting everything together in his mind. We mentioned that maybe we wouldn't be here to see the wedding if we put it off any longer. We've really established a strong relationship with this family and they trust us a lot. Flavio wants the wedding to be organized and planned out and we told him that it would be. We told him that the people in the ward really care about them and will make the wedding really special for them. He said he would think about it.<br /><br />A few days later on Sunday Flavio went to church after not going for about 3 months. It was a success and he looked really excited to be there. We just felt like everything was falling into place. We went to their house after church to just throw it down. Now was the time. We got there and were conversing and laughing and playing with their daughters so the atmosphere was perfect to bring up the subject. I just asked straight up, "So did y'all decide yet??"...."Uhhhh no, not yet, but we've been talking about it..."......"Alrighty then, let's plan it out!" We just went to town. We chose a date and Flavio agreed, YES. VICTORY! Edinete was just dying of happiness. She wouldn't stop smiling. So we're gonna cut it close. We're going to baptize/marry them on the 22nd of June. And one of us will be transferred on the 23rd. At least that's what we think because the Assistants told us that President was thinking about letting us die/finish our missions here. And we said no, if we die here we will have passed 1 year in the same area. That's too much time. I think President thinks we've been on the mission for way longer than we have been. Anyways. We're going to have to chase everything down to make this marriage happen. If I have to spend a whole day in the Cartorio I'll do it. WE'RE GOING TO COMPLETE A FAMILY. AND THEY WANT TO GET SEALED IN THE TEMPLE. Do you realize what this means????? Wow. I think I could end my mission right after the wedding and I would be satisfied. haha. Just kidding. But seriously, this is BIG. We called the Bishop while we were at their house and he answered the call while he was in the ward council meeting. It was perfect. Everybody found out right then about the wedding. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Man. What a week. So I want you all to pray that everything runs smoothly with the wedding. Satan is out to get the good people who want to chose the right so they need all the heavenly power they can get. I want you all to know that this Gospel is the truth and y'all are in the right place. Christ lives and is ready to relieve us of our burdens when we come unto him. His grace is enough to strengthen us in times of weakness. <br /><br />Love you all!<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</span><br /> </div>
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This is an old picture that Dallin's Mom found on Facebook again. I love those little surprises that pop up randomly when you're not expecting it<br />
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May 26, 2014<br />
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This week was cool. <br />
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The area is getting smaller and smaller as we knock on all the doors in sight. It's a little bit discouraging when you have to actually look for doors to knock on. But we do what we can and either way we try to talk to all of God's children whether they're polite or not(it's hard to find someone who is polite haha). It's really cool when we mark an appointment with someone and when we go back after a few days the people aren't home, or they have a "headache", or they just straight up don't want to hear about God. We were a little disappointed one day because we were having little success and we saw this little old lady sitting on some steps in front of a house that wasn't hers. It was a pitiful sight, but something normal that we always see here. We kind of just ignored her and talked with a few people close by. But I think we both felt an impression that we should ask her if she needed help with something(she had a bunch of grocery bags. Let me just tell you that she was super old. My companion asked, "Is there anything the missionaries can do for you mam?" And she just lit up. "Ohhhhh my God. My God is so good, he is so great. I was sitting here praying just waiting for someone to pass by to help me get to my house with this stuff. Ohhh God is so marvelous...Thank you so much!" It was awesome. She was so thankful. We helped her to her house which was pretty far away. I held her hand to make sure she didn't fall in the mud(There is a ton here.) Even we trip over stuff in the street sometimes and I think I've fallen twice in this area haha. She was so grateful and said we were angels sent from the Lord. It was a feeling I will never forget. We were smiling the whole time. It's a pleasure serving the children of God. <br />
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This week WE BAPTIZED. Monaliza and Katiuce who are Flavio and Edinete´s daughters. We really wanted the baptism to be special so that their parents could get more excited about the gospel. So we called all the leaders from the ward that would be involved with the baptism. Bishop. Primary president, Young Women President, and our LMA Nielson. We called a week in advance so that they could prepare everything for Sunday night. When Sunday rolled around the Bishop's counselor announced the baptism so everyone was aware. But when it was 6:00(time of the baptism) nobody showed up. Just Edinete and family. It was so awkward and we were super angry. We started calling people frantically and found out that everyone was at the Stake center singing in the Stake choir..... What the heck! So everyone showed up at like 6:40 and we were just scrambling to set everything up. It was frustrating but it happened. And the family had to wait. It was terrible. But we got it done and it turned out being a special baptism with music and talks and food. I even sang a hymn and my companion and I gave a couple of talks. The family cried and all the members were supporting them. They felt loved for sure. Edinete thanked everyone openly for taking care of their daughters. Flavio was touched too(which is hard to do). Baptising someone you work really hard to get there is amazing. It's the reward at the end of the effort that's put forth. Now we just have to baptize the parents! It will be an eternal family. We'll have to wait for September to baptize them after their wedding. It'll be the grand prize. <br />
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Well I'm out of time. Love y'all. Love this work, Love the Lord.<br />
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Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</div>
Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-8315360783648655192014-05-19T10:11:00.005-07:002014-05-19T10:11:53.387-07:00Police on Strike and Other Adventures<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May 19, 2014</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So this week was interesting. We relaxed a ton. Let me tell you why...<br /><br />The police in Recife went on strike. Do y'all remember the first Batman movie where in the end all police leave Gotham and the criminals just run wild in the streets wreaking havoc? That's pretty much how it was this whole week. Since we're Zone Leaders we were receiving tons of phone calls from the Assistants to pass security procedures to the other missionaries. It was pretty intense. It started on Wednesday and ended on Thursday night. On Wednesday it got ugly. There were people robbing everything. They went to all the electronics stores and just had a party. People putting washers and dryers on their shoulder and just walking out of the store. Marcia's (recent convert) brother went to the mall on Wednesday and as he was leaving the parking lot on his motorcycle there were 2 women with a baseball bat and a machete trying to assault him. Stuff just got real. We called the sisters when we received the notice during our lunch appointment that we would have to stay home the whole day and they said they were hearing gun shots on the other street. President wanted us to tell the members to put food in a Tupperware so that we could leave right away. It was intense. Good thing we were at the Bishop's house and he has a car. So Wednesday we stayed home the entire day and the rest of the week we had to go home when it got dark. I finished the Book Of Mormon in Portuguese. Nothing happened to us so don't worry. Our area is pretty chill. I think there were a few little house robberies but that's it. This is why we live in an apartment on the 4th floor.<br /><br />As far as missionary work goes, we were just knocking doors the whole week. We talked to a ton of people and found a few good ones. A girl named Dayse went to church. She's 19 and has a daughter who's 1. She also has a husband who works at Burger King at the mall. She seems really genuine and has a desire to follow Christ. I feel like with the time we've been on the mission, we are numb when we knock doors. We just go and go and go like it's nothing. We can read people really well and we know when someone has potential in like 2 seconds. We like teaching the people in their doorway and we don't take no for an answer.<br /><br />We will baptize this week. Edinete/Flavios two daughters, Monalisa(10) and Katiuce(14) have been at church enough to be baptized. We marked them last night and President said we could baptize them this week. Elder Flemming was doubting that he would let us but it went through. I think President trusts us a lot. It's good to be on his good side because when you're a missionary who's always on his bad side, your life as a missionary is rotten. But I think this is what Edinete and Flavio need to spark some more interest. They've put off the wedding until September, so we probably won't even be here. It's rough, but were hoping their daughter's baptisms speed up the process. They really have nothing to wait for. Let me tell you that I've never baptized a whole family. It's the grand prize as a missionary and it is worth all the work and effort. <br /><br />Sunday I gave a talk. They called me up last minute and I talked about grace, and how Nephi used it when he broke the rope that his brothers tied him with. I talked about how we need to act to be able to receive God's grace as a support in our lives. The Atonement makes it possible for us to do things that we wouldn't be able to do without grace. I felt good about it and I think the congregation felt the spirit. Christ really is our Savior, in every sense of the word. In any circumstance, if our motives our righteous, Christ will give us strength, knowledge, or courage to do ANYTHING. He lives!<br /><br />Love you all and hope y'all have a good week!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</span><br /> </div>
Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2317522991236452785.post-76825468552627442572014-05-19T09:45:00.001-07:002014-05-19T09:45:38.390-07:00Normal and Boring<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May 12, 2014<br /><br />This week was normal and boring. But I'll try to excite things for y'all to make it more entertaining to read my letter.<br /><br />So we don't have anyone to teach. We kicked everyone to the curb and started knocking doors. That means we have to stay excited and alert and full of the spirit. Oh and we have to be daring and not take no for an answer. So our usual contact is like this....(Landon, pay attention.)<br /><br />"Hello friend... How are you doing?"<br />"Good, Thanks to God"<br />"Great! What's your name??"<br />"so-and-so"<br />"Pleased to meet you.. I'm Elder Carroll and this is my friend Elder W. Ferreira, and we're missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And we have a message about our Savior Jesus Christ which can help you and your family to be more happy and have more peace. So do you have time to receive our message??"<br />"I have time, you can start talking" (we give the lesson at the door)<br />"Great... Do you believe that that Bible is the word of God??"<br />"Yes"<br />"Cool, can I tell a story from the Bible to you?"<br />"yeah sure"<br />....(John 3:3-5/last chapter in Mathew where Jesus talks about preaching and baptizing people)......<br />"So as you can see... everyone has to be baptized to enter into God, and God calls his servants to baptize and preach to people. We are representatives of Jesus Christ and this is our purpose, Do you think God sent us here coincidentally??"<br />"no."<br /><br />And then we go from there depending on their beliefs/religion/willingness to serve God/be baptized. Sometimes we ask these 3 questions too:<br /><br />Do you believe in God?<br />Do you believe that he loves us?<br />Why?<br />What are you willing to do for God? <br /><br />So from there we see how willing the person is to serve God and we basically get them to bear their testimony. It's a great tactic and it can be used right in the person's doorway. It's great to use for women who are home alone and people who don't have that much time. But our objective is for sure to get in the house and start teaching the person whether it be in that moment, or another day.<br /><br />Contacts are funny. The other day we were teaching a chick in her doorway/gate and the conversation was great. Smart girl with some great ideas and everyone was really focused on the subject that was being discussed. All of a sudden, a 10-inch lizard jumps from the top of the cement wall onto her head. And just chills there for a sec. The girl went nuts! She brushed it off and it jumped back on the wall and scurried away. We were laughing hysterically and she laughed too. The mission is interesting. <br /><br />So transfers were today and wait for it.....drum rollllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll I'm staying here with my companion AGAIN. So we've been together for 4 months and it'll be like 5.5 when we're done with this transfer. A WHOLE NOTHER TRANSFER. Caramba, we're going to die here. When Elder Flemming(assistant) called passing the transfer information along I got surprised when he said we were going to stay and he was like "uhhh, you thought you were going to be transferred??"....."sim"....."Well we need you guys there so be happy! woooo!!" Flemming always calls us with tons of excitement. we even took pics with friends telling them that someone was going to get transferred. hahah But it's good that we're staying. We've had a lot of success here and the members really love us. We're just gonna have to make up some ways to meet new people(English class)... so this transfer isn't so stagnant. It'll be alright. We're just gonna get ready to baptize more people!<br /><br />This is Christs' church and the restoration happened! Joseph Smith was a prophet and we have a prophet today! I'm grateful to know these things. I've seen a lot of appreciation for the Gospel here in Brasil, even more than in the United States. People testify that the Gospel changes lives and then use their own lives as a witness. A really Strong witness. You can see that it it weren't for the Gospel, the people would be different and wouldn't be as happy. It's a proven fact! Christ Lives!<br /><br />Happy Mother's Day again Mom! I love you so much and am so grateful that you're my mom! You're the best mom in the world! Thank you for everything you do to make us happy!</span><div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Love,<br />Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll</span></div>
Sheilahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14272734865531771333noreply@blogger.com0