Our Branch is Awesome!

Dear Mom,


Thanks so much for the package work, sounds like its coming along nicely. Don't forget that candy is always welcome too. If you send it in a padded envolope its a lot cheaper. Keep that in mind.


So our branch is awesome. We are in a branch, and a district. We have quite a few members but much less active. I'm guessing around 50 active. We have some real studs of leaders, our president is awesome. We have quite a few good leader type people I think more than normal, but we can always use more obviously....


We still have like 8 or 9 people progressing towards baptism, but only 2 went to church..... fantastic. It's alright they can repent.


This Wednesday we are going to a leadership meeting in Montevideo, should be good. I really like the meetings we have had with Presidente so far.


I remember one time you telling me some news story about some guys making a really stripped down simple laptop, and I think you said it had something to do with Uruguay, do you remember the details of that story, because every single kid in this country has a little green laptop, every one. its kinda weird.


I'm really having a hard time thinking of stuff to tell you guys!


I guess thats all for now....


Love Elder Carlson!

A Letter from Elder Pearson

Hey mom!

Everthing is going good down here.

So I got a letter from my good friend Elder Pearson. He is in Brazil and I haven't heard from him up until now!

Other than that. We have 9 people with dates for baptism right now:

1.  Claudia, 20 year old girl that has a 3 month old kid. She is really willing to learn and accept the commandments but she still hasn't come to church, she always finds last minute excuses.

2 and 3.  Patricia and her daughter. They live right next door to Richard and Axel, and they have talked to missionaries before.

4 and 5.  Las Marias, they are doing good but they didn't make it to church this week either.

6 and 7.  Dayana and Alejandro, they are a miracle!  Dayana's mom just barely got baptized and they are super excited to learn and get baptized too. We will see how it goes.

8.  Jissel, we will see how she turns out but she does like learning and has accepted a baptismal date.

9.  Sabrina, she has a little baby and is living with her boyfriend but they are going to get married in August. So she has a little time.

Anyway other than that everything is going great. Just really busy is all. Next change, (the 22 of March) I get my awesome scripture cases. I will send you a pic. I have pretty much ran out of things to say.

Love,
Elder Carlson!

An Ambulance for Maria

 Elder Luke and I, we swapped ties.... I really liked that blue tie too.....

Mom,

First I'll answer you question about the speaker.   Here in Uruguay and in many other countries they use a different voltage of power, 220.  But in America we use 110, so if you plug in a normal thing from America to the wall in Uruguay it fries it. Some things are made to work on both. Like my shaver and camera, and my speaker!!!!! Anyway thanks, I'm actually going to see if I can buy an adapter or something so I can plug in my dvd player.... we will see. Doubt it though.

So I got the letter from Elder Funk that you forwarded, Thanks!
I also got a letter from the Gillands, and Jen, just so they know! Thank you.

My new comp. is from Orem, UT/ Sonora, Mexico. He is pretty much white as can be, not really mexican at all. He speaks fluent English and Spanish, and has lived his life half in Mexico and half in America. He has been in the mission for a year and four months. Oh ya his name is Elder Pesqueira.

Its awful, we haven't really seen Olga and Alfredo pretty much all week. I swear it seems like they would rather abandon their house then have to talk to us. It's not weird or anything when we do see them but they are gone so much I'm starting to feel like they are avoiding us.

We resurrected some old investigators and ended up bringing them to church. One of them is a really old lady named, what else but, Maria! She was fine in our class second hour, but then she walked out into the hallway and collapsed. The weird thing is we didn't even notice. But of course other people did. They called an ambulance... then all the investigators we had at church went with her.... we will see how that goes.

oh ya I found a photo album, but you can still send the other one. oh and I also thought of something I want you to buy for me, its called perfect pushup mobile unit. Elder Luke had one and we used it every day, but now he is gone and my morning exercise routine is totally thrown off. It's propbably like 30 bucks, just use my checks. Then if you are up to it. send it in a padded envolope, its way way cheaper, just those two things, it should be like 15 bucks to send it.

I think thats about it. oh yes, Elder Reese is the other elder in my house.  He got an new comp who is brand new. The other day I took him on a companion exchange. It was fun, especially since I remember very well how it is to be in his position- Spanish wise. haha The faces he makes when someone asks him something in Spanish are classic. He also knows Elder Bendtschenider from the CCM.

That's all for now!

Love
Elder Carlson

Elder Pesqueda

Dear Family,

My comp is leaving me! haha I’m getting a different comp named Elder Pesqueda, from the name you can tell he is Latino, so looks like my Spanish is going to get a lot better quick! That’s good. I think he’s actually from Utah although, he is a Mexican and speaks fluent Spanish and English, we will see though, it should be good.

My comp is heading to be Zone leader in Montevideo, we actually found out early because he is going to be zl so we have had a little extra time to say goodbye, but it’s still going to be crazy today, we are basically giving up our pday so he can say goodbye to everyone. We are going to Montevideo tomorrow, but we aren’t going to the big bus station, (tres cruces or three crosses) because it caught on fire like a month back and its still under construction. It’s going to be weird without my good ole trainer around. We will see how I like it. Oh and the other two elders in my house are changing. One is staying and getting an oro, (gold) in other words a trainee! Should be fun, he will know elder Bendtschneider.....

I got the package!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! It was fantastic, you know how I was worried about not getting it for a while cause of changes.... they actually sent it early, all by its self, on Wednesday,  I got it Thursday, really unexpected, fantastic, but unexpected.  You did a fabulous job with the ipod, I love it!  So do my roommates!  One huge huge huge huge huge benefit that I’m guessing you didn’t even realize when you sent it is that you can use the speaker without a converter! It doesn’t sound like a huge deal but it is. The converters really stink, they get super hot really fast and you aren’t supposed to use them for long periods of time! Very pleasant surprise. The only bad thing I noticed is that I can’t plug my dvd player into the speaker, its not a huge deal, but it would have been nice for playing cds and stuff. But like I said it’s not a huge deal.

Good choice on the candy, me alegro mucho. Nice call with the peanut butter, I wasn’t sure if you were going to send any this time but I’m really glad you did, we are actually making no bake cookies with a family tonight for family home evening. Oh yes the grape drink you sent in those little cup like things, two of them broke open in transit and because of the humidity stuck to a bunch of stuff, the other ones are fine and they tasted delicious, I think I only have one left.  I used the water proof spray, we will see how well it works, it actually rained a little the night I used it so I hope it didn’t mess it up or anything. Oh yes and the ping pong paddle - perfect, I used it today! Thanks again!

I don’t have time for pictures today, but next week I will send some of my new comp!

That’s all for now.

Love,

Elder Carlson