Leaving Florida

Hey Everybody!

This week flew by. We have changes tomorrow. I'm going to be leaving my good old oro area here in Florida and head up a little north to a city called 33. My area is called Central, I don't know if it's a downtown area but I know 33 isn't a very big city I think it's like Florida sizewise. We were expecting me to leave because I already have had 3 changes here which is fairly normal for an first area. But then on Sunday night Presidente Da Silva called. He only calls a few people before changes. Assistants, Secretaries, Financers, and Zone Leaders. He asked to talk with my comp. Turns out he is going to be a Zone Leader. That is the second, of two, of my comps that have become zone leaders after being comps with me. Anyway after we found that out we were doubting that I was going to leave because the Zone Leaders have specific areas in each zone and so we knew that Pesqueira was leaving for sure. And we werent really expecting a white wash in our area.... anyway. We got calls and it turns out that they changed the Zone Leader Area to my old area Estacion so Pesqueira is going to be staying! My new comps name is Elder Mofit. I don't know anything about him but I have seen him around. He was just comps with one of the elders in my CCM group, Elder Sasselli. So I am taking over his area in 33. I like my area here a lot but I have been here a while and talked with everyone multiple times and I would like to get to know a few more areas so everything worked out well. I just don't want to pack. That is going to be awful. We leave tomorrow at 9 in the morning.

No news on the box, there is a good chance that I will get it tomorrow at changes.
Also we have a few old investigators that we are working with but recently we found a part member family with twin 9 year olds that want to get baptized! Yeah! Now they just have to come to church! haha

Spanish is going really well. I don't really have many problems now a days. I just have to pay attention to understand people. Elder Pesqueira and I don't really talk that much Spanish..... because he isn't a real Latino, he is from Orem. My next comp is a gringo, but maybe we will speak more Spanish, who knows.

I think that is about it.

Anyway... Love You All!

Elder Carlson

5 Baptisms This Week!

Dear Family,

Well the weather is getting a lot nicer, it has cooled down quite a bit. I have noticed that this entire change, like the last 5 weeks, has been a little cooler. Just yesterday it dropped to like 20 degrees C, I don't know what that is in F. but it's significantly cooler. There isn't really fall in this country it shifts pretty fast from summer to winter, so we will see how long this nice weather will last.

I have a kinda weird request. Do you remember the photo that you included in that little book you made for me of dad and his big Alaska fish? Could you send me the original by email. I want to print it out.  Thank you

SO.... This week was incredibly busy and awesome! We had all 5 baptisms!!!! Yeah! and a whole boat load of problems!!!!!!! yeah!  Haha there are always problems when you are trying to baptize, this week was normal problems X 10.

So we baptized:

Daiana and Alejandro age 22 and 41

Joselin age 15

Maria and Maria! age 82 and 14

I baptized Joselin, Elder Pesqueira baptized Daiana, Alejandro, and old Maria... Daiana and Maria with my help. And then we had a future missionary in our ward named Martin baptize little Maria.

So, up until Friday everthing was going good. My comp and another elder (we did a comp exchange) went over the interview questions on Thursday and there weren't any problems. But when we came back and went over them again on Friday with the Marias, the old Maria (she is 82), was having some problems because they hadn't eaten in a while and she started blaming our church, it was kinda confusing because she is a crazy old lady and kinda goes off about weird stuff sometimes. Anyway, she said she didn't want to get baptized.... But we were going to be coming back on Saturday morning to do the interview for at least the little Maria. 

Saturday. We planned on having the interviews at 10 in the morning with the ZLs, they didn't end up getting started till 11:15. Finished by like 12 ish and took a taxi over to Marias, Old Maria was really happy and said she wanted to get baptized. We had told our president of the branch what they had told us about not having food and he ended up pulling some stuff together and bringing it to them. So we had the interviews and they took forever but we finished without problems. We ran to lunch, 2 hours late, and then filled up the font. Then at 5:30 we walked over to the Marias house again to call a taxi and bring them all to the church. we called the taxi at 6ish and it was supposed to be there at 6:15. Well we called them back at 6:30 to see why they weren't there, they finally showed up at 6:40, but the stinkin taxi driver already had a person in the taxi and thought he could get away with double booking his taxi!!!! So we decided to put the Marias in the taxi and start running to the church, we told the taxi driver that he needed to drop the Marias off at the Mormon church and then drive back on this big road called Artigas and pick us up and then we would pay him for everything. So we took off it was already 6:50, oh and it takes about 30 minutes walking to get from Marias to the Church. So we started out running until we got to Artigas then we were basically powerwalking and waiting for the taxi to come get us... 

The stinkin taxi never came back. He never got paid either. It ended up making us even later. And we still hadn't set up chairs or figured out baptismal clothing for our investigators! Luckly the other elders set up the chairs for us. We got the clothing figured out, got changed and got started. There weren't any other major problems after that except screaming children and both me and Elder Pesqueira had to be in the font to baptize two of the people because of certain difficulties.

The Marias, Joselin, Daiana, Alejandro, Elder Pesqueira, me and Martin

Anyway it all turned out fantastic and they all came to church the next day and got confirmed. Yeah.

Now we just find some more people to teach...

Love 

Elder Carlson 

P.S. We have transfers on the 22nd. Yep, there is a really good chance that I will be changing areas so there is a really good chance that I will be seeing Elder Bendtschneider in a few days.

Great News About Kylie's Mission Call!

Dear Family,
That is so AWESOME about Kylie!!!!!! Maybe I will write her a letter in Spanish or something....
Thanks for the box.... in advance.


Well things are going great here in Uruguay, you might notice that today is not Monday, I expected to have an extra 3 emails from mom asking what's going on..... I can see now that Spencer was the only loved one....jk.... Anyway this Monday and Tuesday was Carnaval, a huge parade party holiday thingy in Uruguay, it's even bigger and more evil in Brazil but they still celebrate it here. So everything was closed, very boring pday. We mostly just sat at home and did nothing. But we did go to the huge catholic cathedral near the center of Florida. There is a big plaza and this huge Church. It was interesting inside. Kinda weird, definitely not the same feeling you get when you walk into one of our churches. More intimidating, it almost makes you feel guilty for sins you didn't even commit..... hahha.


So, we have 5 baptisms this Saturday. Yes 5, we are very excited and  busy. Hopefully they all go through....


Alejandro and Dayana: I don't remember if i told you about them but they are really cool, Dayana's mom got baptized a couple weeks back and we have been teaching them ever since. They are super willing to change their lives for the gospel, but what's even better is that their lives aren't that far from living the gospel anyway. They are already married, huge  blessing. She smoked but quit about 2 months ago, they aren't regular drinkers.... it's all just worked out so well. A very nice blessing indeed.


The Marias: Las Marias is a more correct name. It seems super weird to call them the Marias... anyway its a grandma and her granddaughter both named Maria. We have been teaching them for a really long time.... their main problem is that they never come to church even when they said they were going to.... The grandma has tons of health problems and can barely walk. The first time we got her to church, she passed out immediately after the first class when she was walking over to the sacrament room.... since then she hasn't fallen at all in our presence.  But she did fall and break her wrist the other day, so she has a cast and it can't get wet, which is a problem for baptism by immersion. So we are still thinking of solutions for that one.


Joselyn: Joselyn is another fantastic blessing from the Lord. She recently moved from another area. She is 14, was pretty much raised in the church and already has been taught almost everything. We just have to finish everything up, baptize, and mesh her into our wonderful ward.


Oh yes and the other day we went to Montevideo for a leadership conference. It was good,  I got to do a practice up in front of everyone, where I introduced the Book of Mormon. Normally the practices are two missionaries practicing to two other missionaries but I got the pleasure of practicing to Presidente Da Silva and his wife. I wasn't nervous..... ya... anyway it went good. I must have either done really bad and he didn't want to hurt my feelings or he could tell how nervous we were because he praised us an unusual amount after.... haha, oh ya I did the practice with an elder that has 6 weeks more than me that I knew from the CCM.


Thats all for now!


Love Elder Carlson

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