I'm Getting a New Companion!

Monday October 17, 2011


Dear family,
Sounds like things are going good....


Bullet Bike is not a brand, it just means the fast kind.... hahah ok ya Spencer's car wasn't fast enough.


Mom what you were talking about kinda sounds like getting a new companion in the mission.... it takes some ajusting.... and lots of humility and patience.... the thing that I have noticed is that humility is the key to getting along with anyone. It's something that I have been working on my entire mission.... Know it all syndrome is not appealing to anyone and it always causes contention, which is of the devil (3 Nephi 11).


SO speaking of new companions, I'm getting one. The change ends tomorrow and we received change calls last night and when I say new companion I mean new, new, new! I'm going to be training a new missionary- oro (gold.... but more commonly refered to in English as a greeny). I have to travel to Montevideo solo tomorrow and pick him up.  I will have to tell you next week about him.  Elder Villar is going to Rocha which is kind of near  33, one of my old areas.


We had a lot of cool experiences this week but I only have time to tell you one.


4 Americans came to our ward yesterday.  One of the four served his mission here in Uruguay about  37 years ago and he came to visit with his wife and brother and sister in law.  Only the ex-missionary spoke Spanish but it turns out that he came down here not knowing if he was going to  see any of his converts.  He had lost contact with them all years and years ago.Turns out that one of his converts is the wife of our current branch president.  She served a mission a few years after she was baptized  and then later got married in the temple.  They have childeren serving missions too. Anyway he was able to talk for a little bit and express his feelings as well as the member.  It was a very awesome experience. After the meeting I got to do some translating for the wife and her sister and brother.  It really was a great experience.  They are all from Austin, TX but before they lived in Ogden  too.  Anyway I don't have any more time.....


Thank you for all the support and prayers.... Tell Andy to write me!


Love,


Elder Carlson

Another Baptism!

Monday October 10, 2011

Oh yes I made steak..... delicious!

Hey family!

Well, I don’t know if you will be receiving many more pictures any time soon because the guy who runs the computer place doesn’t know anything about computers.  Imagine that, it’s terrible!  I just hope he didn’t mess up my cameras memory card.

Anyway, well it sounds like things are going well over there.

Cameron told me about his work out schedule.  I too have been doing my morning exercises... haha, I do really like my perfect pushups too.  I weigh 67 kilos o sea 147 pounds... I don’t know if Cameron will ever weigh more than me.

Well the computer guy messed up my memory card.... not permanently but now I can’t access anything on it.... all my photos are in hidden folders so I can’t get to them.  I is so frustrating!

We had a baptism!!!!! Rebeca.  I would send you a photo but I can’t, thanks computer guy. Anyway, she is a friend of three recent converts.  Everything went surprisingly smooth. Sunday after the confirmation we had to walk with her and some other recent converts home but it started raining so we grabbed my two umbrellas, one is broken, my comps umbrella and we both wore jackets.  There were 7 of us walking.  My comp and I got soaked.... que bueno.... Anyway, we found a new investigator named Juan Miguel.... he was a referral.   Pretty much all of his family are members, he is 14 or maybe 12, ages are deceptive here. He is really smart and likes ping pong, and  he likes the church,  He came yesterday and got up in front of everyone and bore testimony.  Basically re-teaching part of the restoration and how he likes it here and feels good and he knows its the true church so that’s why he wants to get baptized.  Awesome right?  Now here is the bad part.... his grandma is either the legal guardian or just has a lot of control in his life because he has to ask her if he can get baptized and he asked about 6 months ago and she said no-.... but this time we are going to ask with him.  All we can do is pray that her heart will be softened.

I got a letter from Coulsen! haha his former girlfriend Erica dear-johned him a few months ago and now she is officially engaged.  He has a really good attitude about it all.

So we only have one week left in the change, time flies.  Also I almost have 13 months in the mission.  Weird!

Last night we started playing all these games and riddles and stuff at night before we went to bed.  It was really fun but it made me remember another game but I don’t remember all the rules.   I don’t know if mom knows this game but I have played it with dad.  It’s called MAU, I don’t know if you spell it like that but hey.  Anyway in order to play I need the rules.   It’s a card game and the twist is that only one person knows the rules and the rest have to play and figure out the rules as they go. It’s fun.  If you could send me the rules I’d be grateful.

I think that’s all.  It has been rainy and gray the last few days, oh well.  I haven’t received the box yet but Pte da Silva is going  to come here on Tuesday for interviews and he will bring it if it has arrived.

Thanks for everything!

Love,

Elder Carlson

Conference Was Fantastic!

Monday October 3, 2011

Dear Family,

I like the picture and by the sound of what’s in the box you mailed I’m going to like that too! You put in lots of stuff I want.  I wear a size 40 Ecco, hopefully that’s what they sent.  Anyway.... I knew the Portuguese book existed!

Wow conference was fantastic! I loved it.... I don’t have time to share all the things I loved but I would like to share some of the main topics that stood out to me:

•               "Although the standards of the world are changing, God's standards never change -  Commandments not suggestions!” President Monson talked about that two times.... once in Priesthood and again on Sunday

•               Standing as a witness

•               Lots about Missions (especially in priesthood)

•               Also they talked about not using facebook too much hahahah

•               I was super excited and shocked when I heard about the tabernacle that will be a temple! It’s super awesome... especially because Provo is so crowded!

•               I also liked the talk by one of the 70 about the Book of Mormon... he explained everything very clearly. It's a lesson we teach almost daily....

•               Elder Holland’s was of course very good too, and  Elder Packers talk especially for the youth....

So right now we are working with a lot of incomplete families... There are three families that have children that were never baptized....

One is the family Perez. They have two daughters Daiana and Agustina. The parents are both inactive but recently started coming back to church and Daiana (9) wants to get baptized... the main problem with her is she is really shy.....

The family Suarez is an active family with like 5 kids. All active.... one is 8 years old and will be turning nine next week but for some reason he has never been baptized.,.... we are pretty sure that the main problem is his dad. He is active but he has some problems with a couple of the commandments....

Familia Chavez. Andres is a recently reactivated 19 year old that is preparing to serve a mission. His older sisters are members too but inactive, he has a younger sister that isn’t a member that we have recently started teaching.... Andres is a really cool guy he comes and works with us like three times a week.... it’s going to be excellent preparacion for his mission....

WE have some other investigators too.... but I don’t have any more time....

Time is just flying by.... only two weeks left in the change.....

Love Elder Carlson!

Bautismo!

Dear Family,
We had two baptisms Saturday! Efraín and Rocio. Lots of little problems but nothing unsolvable.
Another friend of Rocio and two other recent converts told us that she wants to get baptized so we will see how that goes. Also yesterday an inactive family came to church, we had passed by them a few times and my comp and his former comp were trying really hard passing by really often and they never came. But yesterday they did! It's good news for us because their 9 year old daughter isn't baptized, and now wants to be!

I can't belive you cant find that book! Oh well.... any portuguese language learning book would be alright I guess. And maybe a Book of Mormon in Portuguese.  Other than that I'm good I think, maybe get Cameron to donate some ties too..... :) oh and maybe some Trident tropical twist..... ohhh and maple syrup.... if it fits..... sorry I don't need a big box.....

So I was sick most of this week. I still worked but I have a nasty cough. It's kinda going away. It was worse yesterday.... I asked Sister Da Silva what I could do to treat it and she told me that she has a book of natural remedys and it says that if you cut an onion in half and put it under your bed at night supposedly the smell helps to cure, or rather when you breath in onion air..... who knows I don't really want my clothing smelling like onions so I don't think I will try it.

I am super excited for conference! We will be watching it here in Florida. This is my second to last conference in the mission.... I wonder what the main topics are going to be this time. I hope it's super Second coming themed! that would be awesome. Maybe it will be super Marriage themed and it will motivate Spencer a little more..... So Hannah eh? You will have to snap a photo for me..... I'm suprised you got a name out of him.....

I don't have photos of the baptism on my camera but I will send some later.

Random request. Could you see if you could find a PDF or something of the translation of the names of the Spanish hymns, or rather I want a list of all the Spanish hymns organized by number (in the Spanish hymn book) and the English name and number.... it would be helpful. I know a lot of them but every once and a while we sing something crazy and I don't know what it is.....

Also if you could find a picture of Uruguay and Utah comparing the size. Like maybe the outlines of the two overlaping just to demonstrate the comparative size. I think uruguay is bigger but not by that much.... Make sure they are proportional.... :)

Thats about it.... Its beautiful weather here right now.... It looks like its going to be a very nice day....

Thats all...

Love Elder Carlson!

One-Year Mark

Dear family,
So do you know what today is? Today is the 19 of September. Exactly One year in the future I will be heading home on an airplane to Utah. Sept. 19, 2012. Go ahead and put it on the calender mom. hahah. so I completed a year on  the 16th. Didn't do anything special.  I bought some really expensive ice cream. It's normal priced for down here but in comparison to America it's really expensive. it was 9 dollars for 2 liters. Hey you don't hit 1 year every day.

Oh yes the xbox.... no its okay Spencer can use it for now. I know if anything happens to it he will replace it.

Also that is terrible about BYU losing..... oh well..... they will be better next year, hopefully.

That's too bad you are feeling sick mom. I am actually having the same symptoms too. Sore throat messed up ears, head ache, and my jaw hurt, that's a new one. I feel better today.
It's so weird that you guys are getting colder, going into fall. I´m getting more and more confused, it's starting to get really nice here. We did have some gray rainy type days Saturday and Sunday. but it's a lot nicer now. It always rains at the end of the week. I don't know why but I hate it. It makes people not want to go to church.

That is insane that Andy is coming home so soon. I at least thought it was the end of October not the beginning. crazy.


So investigators....

We are going to have two baptisms this weekend if all goes as planned. Rocio and Efrain. They aren't related, Rocio is a amiga of a few recent converts and has come to church 4 times already but we hadn't had the chance to teach her up until now.
Efrain is a child of an inactive lady in our branch. she now is active and Efrain is going to get baptized. Yeah!

Other than that we don't have that many investigators. we will be focusing a lot this week in finding new ones.

That's about all! I'm going to send some photos! I love you guys and am really grateful for all the support and prayers I receive!

Love,
 Elder Carlson

Back to Florida!

Monday September 12, 2011


Dear Family,


For Real.... 10 years since 9-11 that's crazy.

Thats really cool about Bill and Karen. I´m not sure which ones they are but I'm sure I'd recognize them if I saw them. Are they the ones that we had Thanksgiving with? Are they going to learn Russian, or Ukrainian? I have a friend that just got home within a few weeks that went to Ukraine Russian speaking. It's crazy that people are already starting to go home. Andy Chapman is just around the corner and they Riley, Paul, Zac, and Jared are right there too.

Well i´m in Florida again..... Same house, same chapel, almost the same area. I really like it. It was really cool because we have church together, the two branches. I mean in the same building, not together. But I got to see a ton of people I know including converts, Not as many converts that I would have like to have seen but yeah, at least some of them are still going strong. I'm probably going to be going on a companion exchange this week with the zone leaders in my old area. We will have to see. We might be baptising this week and they might be too so we will a have to do some interviews.... we will see how it all turns out.

I like all the elders that live in my house. I'm not sure if I told you but I´m with Elder Villar, not Villard. He is from Santiago, Chile. This is his third change in the mission, 3 months and like a week. Pretty new but he is a really good missionary. In the same house we have the zone leaders ELder Guex and elder Baxter. Baxter is from Idaho and Guex is from Uruguay, he lives in the other mission thats why he is serving over here. He hasn't lived in the other mission his whole life, in fact he lived in Florida, Branch Estación for the first 17 years of his life. That's right he is serving in his home ward. His Grandma and two of his aunts live like two blocks away. The good thing is that they bring us food. And Elder Guex already knows everyone. so they are doing really well now.

Jordan with Elder Villar

So something pretty interesting happend here in my branch not yesterday but the Sunday before. I wasn't here yet, but one of the members got.... possessed....i spelled that wrong but you know what i mean.... like by a demon..... ya.... everyone has been talking about it. It's some one I know too. They used to live in Estacion but moved to Asamblea a while back. It's a pretty interesting story. I wish I would ahve been there. It would have been even more intersting. But they also think that it might just be that she is a skitzophrenic. Also don't know how to spell that but ok....

Thats about all for now.... Keep looking for the portuguese book.... I will complete a year of my mision this week.... that's weird....

Love Elder Carlson

I'm Getting Transferred!

Dear Family,

Well I will start with the noticias.

I'm leaving Minas! I can't believe I'm leaving so quickly. 2 changes is nothing. I'mm kinda upset because I wanted to stay because things have really picked up here and we have a ton to do. Elder Erwin is staying and getting a Latino elder that is fairly new in the mission like his third change. And Elder Erwin is going to be the District leader here in Minas

I am going to Asamblea. I'm going to be with Elder Villard. This is also his third change. so he is bien nuevito. He might be from Chile or Argentina we aren't sure. I'm going to be the district leader there. Oh yes and did I mention Asamblea is in FLORIDA! My first zone! oh yes and Asamblea shares a house with Estación! MY FIRST AREA. I'm going back to my first house. I did companion exchanges in Asamblea. its super weird. It's going to be cool though because Estación meets in the same church building so I am going to get to see a bunch of people I know. Converts and members and I'm going to be doing companion exchanges in Estación. It's super weird.

Also my stud of a trainer Elder Luke is now one of the new APs. He will finish off his mission as AP. 

It's hard to belive I'm going back to Florida. I'm not that excited to pack. Oh well.

This last week was good. We had some funny experiences. We had 4 investigators in the church so that was good. We have a lot of good progressing investigators it's a shame I won't be here to see them get baptized. 

The other day I was working and it was a little hot out so I took off my jacket. We continued working and walked a long ways, we ran by the house to go to the bathroom and get a drink before our next scheduled lesson. As I was walking up the stairs A thought from out of nowhere entered my brain. "Your passport and debit card were in your jacket pocket" I ran over to my jacket to check to see if they were still there because when I took off my jacket I was holding it in such a way that the pocket was upside down. Stupid Gravity. My debit card was gone. I still had my passport (in actuality it's just a copy of my passport) My mission debit card I should say, not my personal card. It's the way we get our monthly allowance and reimburses. So we went all over our area retracing our steps to try to find it. No luck. So I called the financers of the mission to tell them that we probably needed to cancel it and send me a new one. They didn't answer because they were out working so I left a message. It was very upsetting because that very day we were going to get our monthly money that's why I had the card with me. It was going to be a huge hassle. Anyway we continued working and about at 7 o clock we were walking to a lesson and some lady was getting in her car and she stopped us and pulled out my Debit card!!!!! She told us that she had found it on the ground on a street corner and saw that had a weird name so she assumed it was ours. It pays to be an American down here! It was a very welcome answer to prayer.

Also we have some problems down here in Uruguay. We teach people the correct way to pray but they forget a lot. We have an investigator that always starts out "Dear Heavanly Father............ Jesus......." and then starts her prayer. She ends by saying "Thank you jesus, thank you..........amen" hahah its funny. She really loves Jesus. She said in her prayer once that "I really love jesus and I like people who love jesus. and I don't like talking to people who don't like jesus. Keep them away from me....." haah it's pretty funny. 

Also someone in the church yesterday ended their testmony in the name of the holy ghost amen.

Thats about it. 

Here are two photos....

Me and Elder Erwin

These. are Alfajores. They taste delicious. I eat them often. Pronounced (Alphahore)

Love Elder Carlson!