Sorry for being late. (Letter was received on Wednesday instead of the usual Monday)
We didn't even have a chance to get on the computer. Do you believe that? This past week and a half has been insane and awesome. It started out with the transfer. Sorry I didn't give y'all the name of my comp. Elder Pereira from Rio de Janeiro. He's cool and we get along. He was in the CTM in Sao Paulo when I was there and we arrived here in Pernambuco together. It's weird because I couldn't even talk to him there but now we talk like normal people. It's cool.
This past week has been great for the work because we received 40 references? How? That's a lot. Our ward mission leader is a boss and made this Christmas kit for the members to give to their friends. He got us 100 Christmas DVDs and gave the members cards for them to write names of friends to give to us. From there we get the names, go to the people's houses, leave the DVDs with them, sing a Christmas hymn, and talk about
We didn't even have a chance to get on the computer. Do you believe that? This past week and a half has been insane and awesome. It started out with the transfer. Sorry I didn't give y'all the name of my comp. Elder Pereira from Rio de Janeiro. He's cool and we get along. He was in the CTM in Sao Paulo when I was there and we arrived here in Pernambuco together. It's weird because I couldn't even talk to him there but now we talk like normal people. It's cool.
This past week has been great for the work because we received 40 references? How? That's a lot. Our ward mission leader is a boss and made this Christmas kit for the members to give to their friends. He got us 100 Christmas DVDs and gave the members cards for them to write names of friends to give to us. From there we get the names, go to the people's houses, leave the DVDs with them, sing a Christmas hymn, and talk about
Christmas. Then we mark another visit. It's gold. These next couple weeks before Christmas we're going to contact all these people and baptize. Finally. It's interesting to contact these references because you always have a picture in your mind of what the person will be like but it never works out in the end. It's like a guessing game.
We've been trying to work with this one family this past week. They've been to church twice but don't want to get married. I don't understand this. They've lived in the same house for 6 years, have 3 kids, but don't want to get married. It gives me a headache listening to them talk about why they won't. Story after story after story. Problems. You would think we were psychologists. It gets pretty heavy.
We've also been trying to hunt down some less active members. We got a list of them and have found out that a ton have moved away. We found this one dude who was baptized when he was 17. He's 28 now and he was baptized in the Assembly. When we got there he was super excited to see us. The dude was crazy. "My friends! Enter!" He gave us stinky hugs and we entered. The dude was crazy. I don't know why the elders at that time baptized him. He had no teeth and was just crazy. He told us stories about how he would walk around with the elders and got up and demonstrated how fast they walked and told us they went and bought Popsicles. We were just dying of laughter. We asked him why he was baptized again. He didn't know but he's going to church this Sunday. Success.
Another house we went to out came two guys saying the person didn't live there anymore. One was dressed as a woman. The other just had boxers on. It was interesting.
The counselor of the Bishopric gave us 10 names to chase down on his road. He has a nephew named Joseph who gave us 2. He loves the missionaries. His mom showed us that he was talking to the former president of the mission on facebook. He's just a funny kid. His dream is to be an elder. So we invited him to go with us to visit these people. He got so dang excited. We got to his house to pick him up and he was shirtless so we waited outside for him to get ready. 10 minutes later he comes out with a suit on and carrying a brief case. Hahaha. So we left and made some visits. One of the visits was super annoying because the people just wanted to know about the United States. I was afraid Joseph was getting bored so I asked him if he wanted to go and he said, "No, this is awesome." When we got to his house we sat on the porch for a bit just talking to the family. By the way, there are 3 huge families from the same family who are members on the same road so it's just a party there. We were talking and Joseph was inside and his mom told us that she asked him if it was good. He said "It wasn't good mom.... it was awesome." I was surprised because it wasn't that good but the kid is awesome.
So why didn't I write to y'all sooner? Because we went to the temple on Tuesday and it counted as a our pday. The temple is awesome. They have a full sized nativity there and they planted poinsettias so it's beautiful there in the garden. And the new stuff in the temple is amazing. More emotional and spiritual. I liked it a lot. After the temple we stayed in Recife in a house of elders there. I knew them all so it was just a party there. Oh! And I saw my kid at the temple too! He said my Portuguese is awesome and we talked about all our inside jokes. It was great. I saw Claudemire from Aguas Comprodas too. It was a reunion.
We had the Christmas mission conference. It was sweet. We had a 70 and his wife talk to us, Elder and Sister Granja. Super spiritual. Super motivating. Then each Zone sang a Christmas hymn. I'm not gonna brag or anything but ours was definitely the best. Sister Ramy(USA) got a piano arrangement of Silent Night from her mom and we sang the verses from the Hymn book. It was legit. I arranged the voice parts and the last verse me and another sister, Hicken(USA) sang a duet. It was awesome. We had people crying and the spirit was setting the chapel on fire. Saw all my buddies at the conference and had a good ole time eating tons of turkey. Then I got my package from the fam! It was perfect! So much candy. And the tree was awesome. Set it all up and everything. I'll send y'all pics next week.
But man. The church is true. Jesus is definitely our Savior. No doubt in my mind. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and I got a lot more out of it this time than other times I've watched it. The atonement is real, and everyone needs it. That's why we have to spread the gospel! Hows the challenge from Elder Ballard going? Brought anyone to church yet? Well, love you family, and miss you tons. Till Monday!
Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll
(Both pictures posted were old ones that Dallin's mom found on Facebook)
We've been trying to work with this one family this past week. They've been to church twice but don't want to get married. I don't understand this. They've lived in the same house for 6 years, have 3 kids, but don't want to get married. It gives me a headache listening to them talk about why they won't. Story after story after story. Problems. You would think we were psychologists. It gets pretty heavy.
We've also been trying to hunt down some less active members. We got a list of them and have found out that a ton have moved away. We found this one dude who was baptized when he was 17. He's 28 now and he was baptized in the Assembly. When we got there he was super excited to see us. The dude was crazy. "My friends! Enter!" He gave us stinky hugs and we entered. The dude was crazy. I don't know why the elders at that time baptized him. He had no teeth and was just crazy. He told us stories about how he would walk around with the elders and got up and demonstrated how fast they walked and told us they went and bought Popsicles. We were just dying of laughter. We asked him why he was baptized again. He didn't know but he's going to church this Sunday. Success.
Another house we went to out came two guys saying the person didn't live there anymore. One was dressed as a woman. The other just had boxers on. It was interesting.
The counselor of the Bishopric gave us 10 names to chase down on his road. He has a nephew named Joseph who gave us 2. He loves the missionaries. His mom showed us that he was talking to the former president of the mission on facebook. He's just a funny kid. His dream is to be an elder. So we invited him to go with us to visit these people. He got so dang excited. We got to his house to pick him up and he was shirtless so we waited outside for him to get ready. 10 minutes later he comes out with a suit on and carrying a brief case. Hahaha. So we left and made some visits. One of the visits was super annoying because the people just wanted to know about the United States. I was afraid Joseph was getting bored so I asked him if he wanted to go and he said, "No, this is awesome." When we got to his house we sat on the porch for a bit just talking to the family. By the way, there are 3 huge families from the same family who are members on the same road so it's just a party there. We were talking and Joseph was inside and his mom told us that she asked him if it was good. He said "It wasn't good mom.... it was awesome." I was surprised because it wasn't that good but the kid is awesome.
So why didn't I write to y'all sooner? Because we went to the temple on Tuesday and it counted as a our pday. The temple is awesome. They have a full sized nativity there and they planted poinsettias so it's beautiful there in the garden. And the new stuff in the temple is amazing. More emotional and spiritual. I liked it a lot. After the temple we stayed in Recife in a house of elders there. I knew them all so it was just a party there. Oh! And I saw my kid at the temple too! He said my Portuguese is awesome and we talked about all our inside jokes. It was great. I saw Claudemire from Aguas Comprodas too. It was a reunion.
But man. The church is true. Jesus is definitely our Savior. No doubt in my mind. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and I got a lot more out of it this time than other times I've watched it. The atonement is real, and everyone needs it. That's why we have to spread the gospel! Hows the challenge from Elder Ballard going? Brought anyone to church yet? Well, love you family, and miss you tons. Till Monday!
Elder Dallin Stephen Carroll
(Both pictures posted were old ones that Dallin's mom found on Facebook)
Beautiful letter Elder!
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