Elder Ty Carter

Welcome HOME!

2008-05-15T18:34:00.000-07:00

Elder Ty Carter made it home safely today, Thursday May 15, 2008. Local neices & nephews were on hand to greet him at the airport. The proud parents couldn't stop smiling.

LAST Phone Call Home

2008-05-12T09:24:00.001-07:00

As you know, missionaries are allowed to call home on Mother's Day & Christmas...so yesterday was Elder Carter's LAST phone call home...here are some highlights:

Business first, flight info? I won't know until I get to the Mission Home in Londrina on Tuesday. It's probably a Delta flight. All I know is we leave for Sao Paulo Wednesday morning & sit in the airport all day long. Then we take the "red eye" into Miami, it's about a 9-10 hr flight. From there we will probably go through Dallas or Denver. I do know that I'm the first one in my group to actually get home. I'm scheduled to arrive in Sacramento at 1:25 PM Thursday, May 15th.

What is your schedule like these next few days? I'm pretty much done - today was my last appointment. I said goodbye to the members. I got a nice thank you letter from Annie. Tomorrow (Monday) I will do my laundry & pack, then we leave for Londrina Tuesday. I have my interview with President Leal & he will give me my temple recommend before I leave. I'll get to see all the elders I came out with, that will be cool. We will be on the same flight home then we will probably go our seperate ways in Miami. Elder Riley (my roomie at BYU-I) is Assistant to the President right now. He's a good guy. I'm looking forward to seeing him & Elder Thomason & Pack. They are both from Rexburg. When Pack was younger, his home teaching companion was David A. Bednar. How many people can say they were home teaching companions with an apostle?

What do you want to eat when you get home? 7 layer dip - I've been thinking about it for weeks now. Other than that, whatever...

Are you nervous about coming home? No, I'm ready. It's gone by fast - actually the days go by slow, but before you know it, it's Sunday again - so in that case it's gone by fast.

Have you grown at all? I don't know if I've grown any taller...at one point I had gained 25# but it went straight to my stomach. Didn't get much chance to work out except with my one companion that was a fitness nut. I played basketball the other day & I dunked it...of course the rim was only about 8 1/2 feet...Brazilians are short.

What are you looking forward to most? Warmer weather. It's really starting to get cold here...it's almost winter.

What area will you miss the most? Arapangas. All the members are really nice there. Some areas are kinda snobby. Southern Brazil has bigger cities & the people are more educated & worldly. We don't baptize as many people as they do in Northern Brazil. Number wise, my mission is average, but they baptize way more in the North. Did you hear that they are building a temple in Manoas? It's right on the river. People don't take buses in the Amazon, they travel by boats everywhere. The Manoas temple will be the only temple in the world with a "port!" I had a companion from Northern Brazil & he said that it took you a day to travel downstream & 2 days to travel upstream.

What do you hear from your friends? I hear from the Maughan twins a lot. They have been out about a year now - so has Danny Beesley. Nick Ferguson comes home at the end of May, Nate Smith comes home in July, Langloy comes home in August. I haven't heard from Ricky Messman since he's been home.

Ty had a few questions for us, too. "What's the price of gas there?" Just under $4/gal, unless you drive the Infiniti - super unleaded is about $4.19-4.20/gal. (He was surprised & said it wasn't that bad in Brazil but food prices have shot up in the past few months. He says they export way more than they have to go around & the prices have gone up a lot.) He wanted to know "what cars we still had around the house?" Dad told him that we still have all the same cars around but he will have the Geo cleaned & gassed up waiting for him. He asked Terri "if there are any hot girls in our new ward?" (He said he'd already asked Mom, but didn't trust her answer.) She told him that they were all 16, too young for him. He wanted to know "what the schedule would be like when he got home?" We will have a little "greeting party" waiting for him at the airport Thursday, a family dinner Friday, leave for San Jose Saturday for his interview with President Hunter, attend Jon Hall's reception, high council report & speaking in the old home ward Sunday AM, a family luncheon at G'ma & G'pa's afterwards, dentist appointment that next week. (He said that dentist appointment was not going to be a good meeting. What he really wanted to know was if he'd have some time to hang with Steven Jensen while he was there - of course!)

Only 3 more days...yes, we're counting!!!

My LAST Zone Conference!

2008-04-30T09:26:00.001-07:00

Elder Henrique & Me -

"The 2 'famous' Elders from Cambe that baptized the 'hottest' girl in the stake!"

Well I'm writing to you on a Tuesday because tomorrow we will have
our zone conference. So our preparation day has been moved from
tomorrow to today. Tomorrow shall be my last zone conference!!!!!
That's crazy!!!

So this last sunday Ane was confirmed and given the Holy Ghost. Everything ran smoothly. She's excited and liking everything. I heard a rumor that the bishop might give her a calling in the nursery. This worries me but I'm not the bishop here right? I just think that if you throw her in the nursery already she won't learn anything and she may feel like she goes to church to watch other peoples' kids while everyone else is learning.

We also aren't allowed back at her house. Her dad has told her that he does not wish that we return to his house. He doesn't like us at all. It's pretty sad but Ane's still hanging in there strong. I don't know if you guys over there in the states heard about this, but here they keep showing a television report that some pastor from "The Church of Jesus Christ of the latter days" (they left out saints)
had been caught for having 10 wives. (I think they've got us confused with some other church.) Then they talked a whole bunch of crap about the church. So a bunch of people have been rather rude to us and haven't been very open to our message. This report had a big part of Ane's dad not liking us. I think that he thinks that
we're here to get us a couple of wives....Satan works really hard doesn't he?

On Sunday, a lady in the ward gave a 5 minute talk. It was one of the most uncomfortable things I have ever witnessed in any sacrament meeting (except of course the time in my first area where a lady was breast feeding her kid during the sacrament.....). She gave her talk on the word of wisdom. She got up there, told the congregation about how much she hates giving talks, then she read straight up from the "gospel principles" book about the word of wisdom. It turns out that she doesn't read very well and it was sad because nobody was paying attention to her. Then after she read extremely slow, she told the congregation that she smoked for 20 years and how she used to have yellow teeth (they're still yellow by the way). Then she got down. I understand that some people are uncomfortable when it comes to public speaking, but it's not supposed to be that hard when you just read from a book. I felt bad for her.

Well that's about it. Hope everyone is good...Kaden and the Middletons and Carson and the Petersens.

laters -
Elder Carter

This Week from Cambe

2008-04-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

I'm not gonna lie, I don't feel like writing today. This morning I wrote a few letters to mission friends. I'm pretty tired of writing letters today.

We baptized ane after church on Sunday. The bishop was the one who did it. My batteries ran out so I didn't get a picture of her in white. But she took a picture that I'll get from her on her camera. It was a very spiritual baptism. There were a ton of people there including the stake "vultures". Elder Henrique and I have become famous. "The 2 Elders from Cambé that baptized the 'hottest' girl in the stake!" There were 5 young adults from Londrina at her baptism. All this time I didn't tell you but Ane is a very good looking person. Henrique and I felt like worried parents as the stake "vultures" were surrounding her and hugging her and stuff.

I really don't want to write anymore. Next week will be a good email, I promise.

Hangin' with Mr. Cooper

2008-04-16T22:06:00.000-07:00

This last week got really cold - stormy weather with a wind chill.
I'm not liking it but I prefer the cold than the heat. I'm using a
sweater over my white shirt. I think I'm getting a little too used to
the hot Brazilian sun that I think normal weather is cold.

Yesterday President Leal talked to us in a zone meeting. The mission
is baptizing very few people in these last couple of weeks. I feel
bad for him. He tries so hard to lead the mission but just some
missionares don't do what he says. Sometimes we think he gets a
little hard on us and he naggs on us a lot but for sure the area
president gives Pres. Leal some heat once and a while, too.

That zone meeting was in the morning. I went back to Cambe with my
zone leader Elder Cooper...he's from El Dorado Hills - CA. I'll
definately see him after the mission, but he's not going home till next
February. But he's a good guy.

That's about it for this week. Nothing much going on. Anne's getting
baptized this Sunday after church. She's perfect.

Elder Carter

Me and my mission buddy Elder Riley from AZ. He'll be my roomy this Fall at BYU-Idaho.

At the zone meeting, rocking the new suit that I bought. (Dont worry, I saved up 50 reais every month, plus the birthday money I got. It (the suit) ended up being 150 reais which is about 75 dollars.) And the sweater underneath.

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Conference

2008-04-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

We taught Ani last Thursday, the 3rd lesson (The Principles and
Ordinances of the Gospel). It went very well. It was a very
spiritual lesson. She cried...that's good. Then we invited her to go
to conference with us on Saturday.

At conference, between the sessions, Ani went with some girls from
the stake to eat ice cream. It was cool, only they didn't come back!
Nor did Ani go to conference on Sunday. But we'll go to Ani's
house tomorrow to teach her some more. She's going to get baptized
next Saturday.

Conference was awesome! I love conference. It was cool when David A
Bednar said that missionaries aren't full-time seekers. They're
full-time teachers. The members are the seekers. I'm gonna get the
members on that one. But it's so true. I thought about it, and I've
only baptized 3 people on my whole mission through my own efforts.
ALL the rest were friends and family of the members.

I also liked Elder Holland's talk. Here in Brasil there are sooooo
many different religions and a lot of the time people stop us in the
street or let us in to their houses to "debate and argue" about stuff.
Many of them really think that the last verse in Revelations that
Elder Holland mentioned refers to the whole Bible. But Holland
explained, just as we explain, that Revelations was not the last book
written in the Bible. Many of the other books and epistles in the
Bible were written after Revelations. I've argued and discussed
other religions with other people sooo many times. I've got some
cool stories, too.

I think the coolest part of conference, for me, was when a blonde girl
randomly walked into the room where us Americans were watching
conference in English. At the end, we asked her where she was from
and she said that she's from Birmingham, England!!!!! She had a crazy
accent and didn't speak a word of Portuguese. She was visiting Brasil
with a Brazilian friend of hers who is studying in England. The
coolest part was when I asked her to say "Harry Potter." She said it
just like they do in the movies! Hahaha!

Have a good one!!
Elder Carter

My LAST Companion

2008-04-02T09:15:00.001-07:00

Elder Evangelista was transferred to Agudos-SP. My new and LAST
companion is Elder Henrique. He's from Sao Luiz which is the capitol
of Maranhao. He's a good friend of mine. He came with me from the
MTC to the mission field. He'll go home one transfer after I do. I
attached the picture of the 2 of us that we took this morning. I
was sorry to see Elder Evangelista go. He's one of my favorite
companions.

So Ani went to church with us this Sunday. She actually ended up
going to institute Saturday night in Londrina!!! We took an 18 year
old girl from the ward with us Saturday afternoon to teach her one of
our lessons. The member asked Ani if she wanted to go with her to
lLondrina to go to institute and Ani went!!! That's the importance of
members!! Then Ani went to church with us on Sunday. She liked
church and participated and everything. She did however tell us that
her dad doesn't like the fact that we're going to their house so much she
said it'd be best for us to go just once a week. That's fine with
me. It takes us an hour to walk to her house. We're going to try to
schedule her baptism on the 19th of April. She's going to go with us
to Londrina this Saturday and Sunday to watch general conference. I
hope she likes it. A lot of people think it's weird to have living
prophets. They basically think that everything that we believe in is
weird. But Ani will see how big the church is on conference.
Correct me if i'm wrong but I believe this conference they will
announce how many people were baptized in 2007 and the current amount
of members in the world?

Other than Ani, there aren't too many interesting things going on at
the moment. It's gettin colder and colder these days. It looks like
it's gonna rain today. I think my days of walking in the Brazilian
heat are over.

I'm out -
Elder Carter

PS - I just started my last transfer....... that's so weird!

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This Week

2008-03-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I interviewed a 15 year old kid to be baptized for the
elders in my district. The interview went very well. His name is
Everton and he was well prepared for baptism. Then after the
interview we went with the other elders to a member's house for about
an hour. This member's name is Robson and he was practicing with his
band. It just so happens that Elder Evangelista plays guitar really
well. So we sat there watching them play along with Elder
Evangelista. The 4 of us elders grabbed an instrument and we took a
picture. I didn't have my camera with me at the moment but I'll try
and get it from the elder in my district. It was cool.

This last Sunday Elder Amato came to Cambe randomly. I don't know
exactly what his calling is. I think he's a seventy. It was about
the 10th time that I've seen him on my mission. He's very good at
giving talks. He talks with his hands and speaks really well in
front of people. Word is that he came here to take a look and get to
know the men of the ward to call a new bishop. The bishop here is
coming up on 6 years of service. I doubt I'll be here to work with a
new bishop.

We got our first member reference this Sunday and it wasn't even
from our ward! A member from Londrina took a friend of his to church
in Londrina. But she lives in Cambe. Her name is Ani (you say that
like "Annie"). She's 19 and she seems to be a member already. We
were teaching her the 1st lesson on Monday. The member from Londrina
had already given her a Book of Mormon. When I started teaching
about Joseph Smith I talked about how he was in doubt about religion
and he asked God for an answer. Then I asked her if she had ever
prayed and God responded to her prayer. She said that she had an
experience and asked to share it with us. She said something like
this.....

"Rafael (member from Londrina) told me to say a prayer and ask God if
the Book of Mormon was true...then read it. Then pray and ask again.
So I said a prayer and asked God. Then I randomly opened the Book
and I read this verse." The scripture was Alma 5:40-46 that says
..."For I say unto you that whatsoever is good cometh from God, and
whatsoever is evil cometh from the devil." Alma then goes on to say
that the Spirit of the Lord testified these things unto him.

Ani continued....
"So i realized that the Book of Mormon was good and good things
come from God. So I want to follow this 'good' thing."

I was very excited, impressed, and happy. I continued with the
Joseph Smith story. Then I invited her to be baptized on April 19th
and she accepted. It was crazy. We didn't do anything - she
basically gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon before we even
knew her. It was crazy. This Sunday she's gonna go to church with
us here in Cambe. The next Sunday will be general conference and
then she'll go to church with us one more time in cCambe before her
baptism. Sweet, huh? The Lord totally prepared her.

That's about it. Have a good week.
Elder Carter

A Long Story...

2008-03-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

So last week we had a big conference with Elder Stanley G. Ellis.
He's the 2nd counselor of the Brasil area. He's from the 2nd quorum
of the 70. It was cool. He taught from the book, "Preach My Gospel".
That was last Wednesday, March, 12th.

Last Saturday we had scheduled the baptisms of Isabelle and Nivia.
It's a long story......

Friday night our zone leaders came to Cambe to do the baptismal
interviews. Everything went fine. The only thing we had to do was
get a ride to take Nivia from her bed to the church. So all night
Elder Evangelista and I ran around calling people to try to get a
ride for the next day. We didn't end up finding a ride on Friday
night.

So Saturday morning we tried to find a ride and not one member was
willing to help. Basically they all gave lame excuses and wouldn't
even be able to go to the baptism. So we went to Nivia's house to
try and solve something. The man who takes care of her is Claudio.
He's in-active but we're working with him to come back to the church.
When we told him that we hadn't found a ride yet he freaked out.
He went on about the members here and how they're not willing to help
anyone. Then he said, "Just forget it. Nivia and Isabelle won't get
baptized today. They won't even get baptized at all!" He was
seriously upset so my comp and I just left his house because he wasn't
in the best mood to try and talk with him. So Elder Evangelista and
I ran around telling people that the baptism was cancelled. We were
pretty bummed out all day Saturday.

Then Sunday at church, we were pretty disappointed with the members that
bailed out on giving them a ride. The bishop had asked me to give
another talk (this one was for 20 minutes) so I was extra frustrated about
that. In 4 weeks I've giving 2 talks! But right before the
sacrament meeting started Presidente Udo (2nd counselor of the stake
presidency) told us that Nivia & Isabelle would be baptized at 3 o'clock
that afternoon. I was very suprised and asked about the ride and Udo said
that he already set the ride up. Then I asked about Claudio and Udo
said that he already talked to Claudio and had calmed him down. Then
I asked about the baptismal font and Udo said it's already filled. I
was amazed. I gained a lot of respect for President Udo that day. He
planned out everything. And for those who care, my talk was the bomb!

So we get to the church at 3 o'clock for the baptism. Isabelle
wanted me to baptize her and Nivia wanted the bishop to baptize her.
The only problem was that Nivia weighs a ton and she can't walk. She
seriously weights about 170-180. The bishop isn't strong enough to
hold her by himself. So first we wanted to baptize Isabelle. Brother
Helton saw me in my baptismal clothes and asked if I was going to help
them out with Nivia's baptism. I replied that I could help if I needed
to but that I was also going to baptize Isabelle. Then Helton suprised
me when he said, "You can't.....". for those of you that know me, I'm a
smart little punk and am very fast with "come backs" at someone. Luckily
I didn't say anything stupid but the 1st thought in my head was "Does my
name-tag say DEACON Carter or ELDER carter......?" Then he said that the
bishop has chosen him to baptize Isabelle not knowing that Isabelle had
already asked me. He went on to explain that the missionaries only baptize
the converts here, not the members. I didn't even care. My brain was
already burned out because of all the confusion. After Helton baptized
Isabelle, we planned out Nivia's baptism. In the end, it was Helton,
Bishop, me, and Claudio in the baptismal font and the 4 of us brought her
into the font. The bishop had her arms and everything, said the prayer,
and the 4 of us put her under the water real fast. It was a neat experience.

So that's the story. I'm sure this type of situation will never come
about for the rest of my mission. We didn't get the chance to take
pictues because we didn't know about the baptism until we got to
church. We didn't have time to run home and get our cameras.

Today I had planned a basketball game with the other elders. But 4
of them bailed out. What's "March Madness" without a basketball game?
I'm pretty bummed about that.

2 more months and I'm home!
Elder Carter

This Week in Cambe

2008-03-05T10:23:00.000-08:00

Everything looks good to go with Isabelle and Nivia. I'm sending a
picture of the 2 of them. Nivia doesn't have legs. I dont know if I
mentioned that before. She chills in her bed all day. But she wants to get
baptized so it's all good. We still don't know how exactly we're going
to baptize her. Any ideas?

Last Thursday we had the leadership conference. In the past
President Leal had only done the leadership conference with the zone
leaders of the mission. But this time he did it with the zone and
district leaders. So I got to participate. To be honest, it was
the best conference that I have seen during President Leal's time.
We learned a cool way to teach the 1st lesson. Elder Charles Didier
had taught this "new and simple" way of teaching it to the assistants
and President Leal a couple of weeks ago. It was a spiritually
uplifting experience.

Last Sunday we ate lunch at an inactive member's house. She was
having a big BBQ with a ton of people that weren't members. It
reminded me a lot of the family reunions on the Harwell/Cowell side of
the family. Everyone around us was having a good time and laughing -
there was a little beer drinking but me and my comp minded our own
business in the corner drinking soda. But it was fun.
I seriously felt like I was at a family reunion in Lompoc.

My companion is awesome. I have been blessed with a lot of cool
comps lately. Elder Evangelista is a "gangster" - it's so funny. He
sags his pants a little, he likes rap, he uses a lot of slang that
"gangsters" use in the streets here, and a whole bunch of other
stuff. It's funny the way he talks and acts - he makes me laugh. He's a good guy.

That's all for this week. Have a good one.
Elder Carter

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Cambe

2008-02-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

Well I've got a better idea of how things are in Cambe.

1: The sisters in the ward don't give lunch to us like they do in other areas. They give us 5 reais each for us to buy stuff on our own. I've eaten lunch at one of the member's house since I've been here and it was on Sunday (just because they can't give us money because its the sabbath day....). I'm not liking this at all. Eating lunch at the members' houses is the best and easiest way to get to know them and to build friendships and gain their confidence.

2: There are a lot of older members here. When I say older I mean a long
time in the Church. The bishop's name is Abel. He's a good guy but he seems really timid. His 1st counselor is the one who "wears the pants" of the bishopric. His name is Amancio. He was the 1st stake president in Londrina and is well respected. He's about 65 years old and he seems to be the one that makes the decisions. He seems normal to me but my comp doesn't like the way he works. The 2nd counselor to the bishop is a 70 year old man named Limiro. He's a nice guy who does his best to help out.

3: Baptisms aren't easy here. The last baptism here was 9 months ago. The members don't expect too much from the missionaries here. Therefore, they don't help us too much. I don't even think that President Leal expects too much from us here.

My comp is a stud! I like him, but he's sick of Cambe. He's been here for 6 months and hasn't baptized anyone. He needs a change because he's gettin really low. He's losing more faith and hope each day that goes by - the poor kid.

Sunday was my first day at church in this new ward. There were 74 people at Sacrament meeting. The bishop came up to me before Sacrament meeting and asked if I could bear my testimony. I accpeted. Then he said "10 mintues?" I accepted again. But then I thought, 10 minutes is a big testimony. So during the sacrament, I prepared a little talk thing. I was frustrated because the bishop could have told me way before hand that I would give a talk. But whatevers... it went fine.

Well, I'm outty. I'm heading to Londrina to walk around downtown.
love you guys.

Elder Carter

My LAST Area...

2008-02-20T11:34:00.000-08:00

So I'm back in Londrina, the Tiradentes Zone, in Cambé-Paraná. I think about 100 yards separates it from Londrina. I feel good about the work I did in Marilia, but I'm glad to be back in Parana in Londrina. The members help a lot more. The ward I'm in is called Cambé.

My companion is Elder Evangelista. He's from Sao Paulo. He's been out on his mission for almost a year. I thought I was gonna be just plain old senior companion but I was wrong, I will be District Leader here. My companion will be the senior companion and I'm going to be the DL.

It's kinda weird. I still don't really know how it's gonna work out. The word is that President Leal has called a lot of young missionaries as seniors and there are a lot more senior comps than there are junior comps in our mission. So this transfer he put a ton of elders who were already senior together. I don't really mind. Evangelista has been in this area for over 4 months. He knows the area, members, bishop, and the investiagators. I'm just gonna follow him around.

He tells me that we have 2 baptisms marked for the 15th of March. One is an old lady that is sick and she just chills in her bed all day. I guess my comp talked with President Leal about her. We dont know if she'll physically be able to get baptized yet. The other baptism is a little 11 year old girl who hasn't been baptized yet. Her parents are active and everything but she's never been interested in getting baptized until now. It seems like she'll be easy to baptize.

Well I think that's about it. It's raining a ton here. I've realized that rain is way better than 100 degree heat. P-day was moved back to Wednesday so I'll hit you back on Wednesday.

I'm out -
Elder Carter

This Week Was A Good One!

2008-02-11T13:18:00.000-08:00

Tania's Baptism

Jonathan's Baptism

Flavia's Baptism - I got to do the honors.

Luciana's Baptism - with Bishop Rogerio, Elder Farias, & Me.

This week was a good one. We baptized Luciana. She seems very happy
and excited about being a member of the Church. Maybe we'll have 2 baptisms this Saturday. There are 2 teen age girls that have been going to church for about a month. I misunderstood a member and thought that they were already baptized.
But yesterday we found out that they weren't. So maybe the 2 of them
will be baptized this Saturday.

I still have that fever blister on my lip. It's getting better, but 3 more came outta no where. The guy at the pharmacy said it was herpes. I dont like that idea, so that's why I continue to call them blisters. It's been really hot here. Elder Farias and I are trying our best to stay out of the sun.

I'm coming up on my birthday. That's wierd. I'm gonna be 21 years old. I feel like a little kid still. But I'm not growing anymore. I'm actually losing all that weight I had gained. I'm not eating too well these last days. I'm getting sick of some stuff here.

Next week is transfers. I'll probably be on my way out of here this time next week. I just wanna be the senior companion, not a zone leader or district leader but just senior. I wanna have a lot of success in my last area so I want all my efforts and thoughts into my own area. But Mom always says, "We don't always get what we want." So I'm sure I will get what the Lord wants for me.

That's it for this week.
Elder Carter

CARNAVAL de Rio

2008-02-04T07:38:00.000-08:00

This weekend was Carnaval...loud music, samba, naked people, drugs,
alcohol, the whole deal. Obviously, we didn't see much of the fiesta.
Last year was way worse in Cornelio and the one in Rio is world famous for their parades. These pictures are from Rio. I think tonight is the last night.

Not this last week but the other Saturday we had a baptism of a girl
named Flavia. Everything went according to plan. She's doing great
and the ward is accepting her very well. We will baptize a lady named
Luciana this saturday. She came outta no where and said that she had
investigated the church last year but didn't go through with baptism.
But now she's decided and she's ready to go. We're currently working
with her family.

Last p-day it was pouring like crazy but we didn't care. We played soccer
in the rain. It was crazy. Everyone was slipping everywhere but it was fun.
It had been too long without playing on pday. But incredibly, I got
sunburned! Not even a little ray of the sun appeared but I managed
to burn myself in the rain. Is that possible? My legs, face, and
neck. It was very badly burned. Now it's all good. It's pealing off.
I also got myself a fat blister on my lip. It's killing me right
now.

We had our zone conference. Pres. Leal announced the passing of the
Prophet, Gordon Bitner Hinckley. Sad story. Sis Leal showed us a
clip of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade...at the end when Indiana
goes into the labyrinth thing. It was cool. She talked about faith.

There are only 2 more weeks in this transfer. Time is cruising. I'm
not even seeing it go by. We have so much stuff to do we don't have
time to think about time. We're having a lot of success here in
Marilia. It'll be sad once I leave this area.

tchau
Elder Carter

Prophetic Passing

2008-01-30T09:09:00.000-08:00

I imagine he's running to Marjorie now,
Yes, running, not waving his cane.
I see him embracing his father and mother
While they keep repeating his name.

I see him now meeting his forebears,
Brother Brigham and Joseph are there.
Sweet reunion of prophets, united by service
That only such noble men share.

I see him embraced by the Savior
While Father says, 'Good and well done.
So faithful in stalwart endurance, I welcome
My noble, most excellent son.'

I then hear the ripples of laughter
As he says the reception's just fine,
But he hopes that he'll get an assignment or two
Since there's no need to waste any time.

I can hear his clear voice in the stillness
At the close of this sweet Sabbath day,
Have faith and move forward — there's work to be done.
President Hinckley would want it that way.

Anna M. Molgard
January 27, 2008

Gordon B. Hinckley
1910-2008

Missionaries, like me, all over the world are "standing a little taller" because of the example of this great man. "Come, listen to a prophet's voice and hear the word of God."

It's Raining, It's Pouring, P-day is Boring!

2008-01-21T06:50:00.000-08:00

This week we baptized Tania and Jonathan. Everything went according to plan. Pres Leal had to interview Tania on Tuesday night. Her baptism was on Wednesday night and Jonathan was baptized on Saturday afternoon. Pres Leal also interviewed all the missionaries in our zone on Tuesday afternoon. He told me that there were a few reasons that I stayed here in Marilia as a zone leader. 1- because there were a ton of changes in the zone and there was no way he could have taken the 2 zone leaders out at the same time. 2- because the zone/stake isn't doing too well and he wanted me to animate the members and missionaries here. He said that I was more animated than Elder Alves. 3- because he strongly felt that the Lord wanted me to stay here for a little more time. Those were the reason that he told me that I'm still here.

This week we're going to baptize a 20 year old girl named Flavia. She's the perfect investigator that was basically ready to be baptized before we met her. The only thing is that she's hiding all of this from her parents. I dont really know too much of the situation but we told her she should probably tell her parents.

We went on a trade with the elders from Garca-SP. I did a baptismal interview for them and worked there for the day while Farias stayed in Marilia. It was cool. We went to a restaurant that night at like 8:30 to an all you can eat pizza buffet for 10 reais. It was good. In Brazil they eat all sorts of wierd pizzas; banana, chocolate, pepperoni, pineapple, cheese, guava, garlic, etc. But it's all good stuff.

We're working a lot with a couple that has been to church 2 sundays in a row. They're about 55 yrs old and they're not legally married. They both say that they want to get married and baptized. But for some reason Edson doesn't want to rush into anything? Edson a little afraid of being legally married...I dont know why because they've been together for over 30 years! Marinez wants to do everything as soon as possible. We're praying for them daily.

Things are getting better here. The mission has baptized 50 people in this month of January and our zone has 10 of them. So things are definetly moving in the right direction. Elder Farias loves walking around with a cell phone. Zone leaders are the only missionaries who are allowed to carry it around. Farias loves it so I just let him make all the calls and answer all the calls - less stress for me.

Next Monday won't be P-day because we're going to have our zone conference here. I imagine that P-day will be on Tuesday. So don't freak out when you dont get an email on Monday!

love ya,
Elder Carter

Londrina Leadership Conference

2008-01-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday I went to Londrina with the missionaries that were being
transferred from Marilia. Then I stayed there all day and talked
with friends and what not. Elder J. Silva and Elder McBride are both
training. That makes me a g'pa on the mission.

Elder Farias and I stayed at some wack hotel on Tuesday
night. Then early Wednesday morning we went to the institute
building for the leadership conference. After lunch we started a
fast. We sat there from 2 until 8 just watching trainings and
discussing mission issues. Many times I felt that president said
stuff directly to me but in a general way. There were many times
that he would say something and look directly at me. He doesn't have
a good poker face.

We went back to the hotel on Wednesday night. Thursday morning
we woke up early and went back to the institute building for the
2nd session of the leadership conference. It ended at 3 o clock in
the afternoon. Then we went to the bus station to wait until 7 to
get the bus. We brought with us a ton of missionary supplies and
material and got home at 10:30. I was dead tired.

Friday we got a call from the elders in Jacarezinho (2 hours
from Marilia) who said that they needed us to do a baptismal
interview. So we had to head out there. We did it and slept in
Jacarezinho on Friday night. They don't have extra cushions so we
slept on the cold hard tile floor. I got a cold that night that I
still have.

We came back Saturday afternoon. We got back at 6 at night because
there weren't too many buses that came to Marilia. I was not too
happy.

The good news is that we're going to baptize 2 people this week.
Tania and Jonatan. Then we're trying to help another family get
married and then baptized. That will probably be around February.
That will be a family of 4. Things are going well here in my area.
My head's been hurting for a long time but i'll move on.

Elder Farias is from Santa Catarina. That's in the south of Brasil
where everything is more developed, cooler and better quality. He's
cool. He talks extremely fast.

That's about it for this week. I'm out -
Elder Carter

Transfers...AGAIN!

2008-01-07T11:34:00.000-08:00

Well, rumor was that I was going to by transferred already, but it turns out I'm staying. But Elder Alves will be transferred. My new companion will be Elder Farias. I know him a little bit. I know that he was trying to be a professional soccer player so I bet he plays really well. And I know he's from Santa Catarina.
That's from the south of Brasil. I think things will work out just
fine.

As for Elder Alves, we dont know where he's going. We dont know why
he's already going and I'll continue being a zone leader. I'm a little disappointed. Being a zone leader is really stressful - I kinda wanted to go to an area where I can just work normally and worry about my area. But whatcha gonna do?

This last week Alves and I went to do a bunch of baptismal interviews. 1 in Ourinhos(2 hours away from marilia), 2 in Jacarezinho (3 hours away from here) and 2 in a different area here in Marilia. I dont know what's going on in the mission but President Leal is making a ton of changes all at the same time.

So I have to go to Londrina with everyone that will be transferred
and we'll have a leadership conference. Then I'll go back with my
comp on Wednesday, I think. We'll see.

I'm gonna miss Alves. He's a good missionary. But he's going home soon in April. But change is good. I like changes. I think I'll work for this transfer that starts today with Elder Farias and then I'll leave to go to my last area.

That's it for now. My head's twisting and turning to figure out how
I'm gonna do this transfer thing with my zone.

Until next week.
Elder Carter

Elder Alves

2007-12-20T11:23:00.000-08:00

My new companion Elder Alves.

Here we are at Rogerio's baptism...SWEET!

It looks like the email I sent last week didn't get to ya. It got sent back to me - sorry about that.

Not this last Saturday but the other Saturday, Elder Alves and I baptized Rogerio. It was cool and all but I was disappointed that the ward here didn't seem to support it very well. There were only 6 people there to watch the baptism, our ward mission leader didn't even show up. But it went well.

Then last Tuesday we went to Ourinhos-Sao Paulo. It's about 3 hours away from Marilia. We had to go there for a district meeting. It was cool because we got to travel a lot and see new places.

We did a crazy cool family night on Wednesday. I'll send a picture from that family night soon. There are some cool members here that basically are the reason that i like this area. We're going to hang out with them on Christmas Eve. (I'm getting bald....).

It's been raining all week long. We get so wet every day. Working in the rain is so hard. No one answers their doors when it's raining. The rain storm was strong. It knocked down 2 houses here in Marilia.

Elder Alves (who is an incredible missionary) and I are going to baptize a family on the 29th of December. If everything goes according to plan, we'll baptize them. they are neighbors/friends with a big family here in the ward. This family in the ward has 7 kids and the 2 parents - my family's bigger. :) The couple we're going to baptize is Julio and Tania. They have 2 little kids. We're trying to animate the ward here but everyone here seems stiff, dull, boring. They all have their heads down. The bishop won't even put on a Christmas activity. Thats wack. It's christmas.....you have to do a Christmas activity!

That's all for this week. I love you guys.
Elder Carter

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-26T09:39:00.000-08:00

Elder Carneiro was transferred. I'm not gonna lie, I'm happy about that. Things just didn't work out with the two of us. We have a different vision for things. We never argued about anything but it just didn't work out.

Elder Alves will be my new companion. He's from Rio de Janeiro. I know him pretty well. He'll get here tomorrow. I was sad because one of my favorite Elders on the mission is getting transferred too. There's a chance that I'll never see him again. But that's life, huh?

This week we had our interviews with President. He wasn't too happy with Carneiro and I because of the lack of baptisms in our zone but it's all good. We'll keep on going here in Marilia.

I really don't have much to say and time is short because we have a ton of things to do today. I'm jealous of the Turkey-day festivities.

Elder Carter

(LAST WEEK'S EMAIL AND PICS THAT I NEVER POSTED BECAUSE I'M A SLACKER)

One more week on the mish. I completed 18 months last Saturday. It's weird to think that I only have 6 months left. At times it seems like I just got on the mission. But then there are other days that it seems like it's been 3 years already. I'm not going to worry about going home too much. I'm just gonna pound out 6 solid months and go home.

This last week was cool. Last Thursday was Independence Day for Brazil. There was absolutely no one in the streets. We ate lunch at a ward barbecue. I'm going to miss Brazilian barbecue's (is that how you spell bbq?). The meat is so good. We've been working with this guy named Rogerio. He was almost baptized last Saturday but he backed out at the last second. Some guy at his work has been putting bad ideas and rumors about our Church so Rogerio wasn't too sure. But he said he wants to get baptized and that he wants it to be this Saturday. Let's just pray that it happens.

Tomorrow President Leal is coming to interview all the missionaries here. So today all the missionaries are running around trying to clean their houses the best they can. Sometimes President stops by houses to inspect them. In reality, President doesn't really care too much about the houses. It's his wife, Sister Leal that does the inspecting. She may be small but she's deadly. She looks everywhere in the house to find a little bit of dust. But Carneiro and I did a good job this morning cleaning it up. It wasn't even that messed up to begin with.

Oh man, I didn't even remember that Thanksgiving was coming up. Or is it over already? I don't even know. It'll be the last Turkey Bowl that I miss in my life. To be honest, I'm not too excited about Christmas this year. My ward isn't that cool. I don't know who we'll chill with on Christmas day. The transfers are coming up this next week. I think me or Carneiro will be transfered. Our Zone didn't do
too well so there will be a change between us for sure. It might be Carneiro because he has 4 months in this area. But it might be me because Carneiro only has one more transfer to go to finish his mission. So Pres might leave him here to finish. But whatevers.

Sorry this email isn't too neat. Nothing extraordinary happened this week. It was just workin' and walkin'.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Elder Carter

PS: Is it possible to put up Christmas lights on the River House. I already know that dad doesn't want to. Mom probably wants to. But then again, no one will drive by to see the "pretty lights".

(All Ty said was, "Here are some neat pics." I did my best to leave captions.)

(I'm assuming he is showing off his tan lines and not his huge muscles)

(Elder Carter and Elder Carneiro)

(Some sort of weird food)

(18 months in the mission - it must be a Brazilian thing . . .)

Week 4

2007-11-13T08:08:00.001-08:00

This week was stressful and full of a lot of thinking.

On Wednesday at 3pm we had to get a bus to Londrina (a 4 hour bus ride) to sleep there. It was cool once we got there because I got to see some Elders that I hadn't seen for a long time. We slept there and got up early on Thursday morning for the Leadership Conference. It was way different from Zone Conference. At Zone Conference it's like Sacrament Meeting; you sit and listen to everyone speak. Different people get up to give trainings, talks, tips, and testimonies. But at the Leadership Conference, Elders would give a suggestion and we'd all give our opinion. For example, one of the Assistants to the President said that we should be able to adjust our weekly goals (the numbers) in the middle of the week. Then President asked us (the Zone Leaders) what we thought about it. I raised my hand and said that I thought that was ridiculous because the missionaries in the mission wouldn't care about goals anymore. Knowing that they would be able to adjust them when they want, they would lose a lot of respect for the goals. I said that and some agreed with me and some didnt'. I just thought it was cool because I know my opinion counts. Stuff like that was discussed. I learned a lot more at the conference about how ideas are suggested in the mission. There are a lot of changes and new things that occur in the mission that I always thought "who's idea was that?" or "there's another crazy idea from President Leal". But in reality it's the mission leaders that decide everything. I thought the conference was cool.

After the conference we got a bus at 6:45pm to Assis-sao Paulo. It's a city about an hour away from Marilia. There's a companionship there that was going to have 2 baptisms. We got there late on Thurs night and slept at their house with them. We worked with them all day on Fri and had the 2 interviews that night. We missed our bus to Marilia on Fri night so we had to sleep there again. We got up really early to get the bus to Marilia on Sat morning. So, we were out of our area from Wed until Sat.

On Friday night we stayed up late with the Elders in Assis goofing off. We were punished for breaking the rules and staying up late . . . Elder Carneiro (my comp) and Elder Brasil (cool name huh?) wanted to wrestle. I didn't want to and neither did Elder Agostinho. So, we got our cameras and filmed Carneiro wrestling with Brasil. Carneiro ended up hyper-extending his knee. Now it's swollen and he walks even slower than he already did. I have the whole thing on tape. Goes to show that boys will always be boys, even when they're serving full-time missions.

I'm having a good time here. The people in Marilia are a lot meaner and ruder. But we are going to baptize a man named Rogerio this week; my first baptism in Marilia. For a while I was getting a little worried that we wouldn't baptize someone this transfer. But he will be baptized this week for sure.

Have a good one.

Elder Carter

Happy Halloween

2007-10-30T20:51:00.000-07:00

This week was a lot better. We taught a ton but not too many people were interested. The frequency at Sacrament Meeting shot up plus 20. The bishop gave us the credit even though we didn't do too much. We have a ton of investigators that are really close to being baptized. Two of them want to and are ready to but they are under 18 years of age. Their parents don't like the Church and won't let them get baptized. This month of October is about to end. Our Zone finished the month with 5 baptisms and in September, 22 were baptized. So, from last month to this one the Zone fell a lot. But we had transfers which always slows everything down and also General Conference. All the companionships are finding people and preparing them for the month of November.

Elder Carneiro is my first comp from the south of Brazil. There are also 5 other Brazilians from the south in this Zone. All of them talk about how the south is way better than the rest of Brazil. I don't know how long ago but the state Rio Grande do Sul tried to break off from Brazil to become its own country. There was a civil war and everything. In the end, Rio Grande do Sul lost and it's still part of Brazil. All the Brazilians from the south still consider Rio Grande do Sul another country.

Today we're going to play basketball!!! I can't wait. I know that we really won't play good, solid, organized ball but just the thought of a basketball in my hands makes me happy. I've be "working out" with Elder Carneiro in the mornings and nights. He has little weights that we use. I just recently got passed that stage of the sore muscles and now I feel way healthier. I'm trying to get thicker while Elder Carneiro's trying to get thinner. I'm tall and skinny and he's short and fat; the perfect couple.

There's a lady named Dora here who got baptized about 4 months ago. She was baptized by the Elder who just left and then I took his spot. Dora hasn't gone to church these last 2 weeks because this Elder got transferred. She's not "in love" with this Elder but she calls him her son. She literally thinks she's his mom. The Elder who left stayed here for 6 months. Everyone here loves him. I hate taking the spot of an Elder that everyone loved. It happened to me in Arapongas but the members there are awesome so they accepted me really well. But here it's not the same yet. I'll just have to get to know the members more.

The Church is really old here in Marilia. The Brazil Londrina Mission used to be the Brazil Marilia Mission. There used to be 2 strong stakes here but then a phat story about some bad things that went on and a ton of the members became inactive. Now there is only 1 stake and the mission moved to Londrina. There are a lot of old members who served missions. It's cool to talk to them and compare the old mission days to modern missions.

Well, I think that's all for today. Happy Halloween. I think I'll dress up as a missionary and knock on doors to celebrate. I bet I'll knock on more doors than you!!!

Elder Carter

Hey Hey

2007-10-22T12:47:00.000-07:00

So my new area is in the city Marilia - Sao Paulo. I'm actually serving in the ward Marilia. It's not that big of a ward. There are about 85 members that go there every week. We got a list of all the members yesterday and there are 318 people baptized in our area. We're gonna try to visit these families and activiate them.

My companion's name is Elder Carneiro. He is from Porto Alegre - Rio Grande do Sul. In Brazil the further south you go, the more developed the country is. Porto Alegre is the most developed and updated city in Brazil. So Elder Carneiro is familiar with more logos, brands, and marks, of clothing, cars, etc. He's short and fat. He seems way cool.

I had the craziest week of my mission this last week. President Leal called us Monday night to tell us to prepare the Zone Conference that was this last Friday. We had to go to restaurants to see if they could make a fat lunch for all the missionaries. On top of all the running around and phone calls to everyone and their mom, we had to prepare a 50 minute training to give to 38 missionaries and President and Sister Leal. It was a ton of pressure.

In the end we triumphed. Our training was money. The lunch went well and we ended up saving 40 reais (Brazilian currency) of the money that President gave us. When Friday was over, I was able to breath normally again. All the stress and worries went away. Everything's back to normal now.

My vision is being opened to a different perspective these days. Being a Zone Leader, I look at things differently. The missionaries in our zone are really young. Including my area, there are 8 in our zone that we are responsible for. 2 of the areas have Sisters working there. This is the first time that I'm working with Sisters on my mission. Elder Carneiro and I have to help each area out with the work, health problems, companionship problems, and support. It's weird. I feel weird giving people advice like that. Last night one of the Sisters called us to tell us that she was feeling down and that she didn't have the will to work. And the other night a different Sister called us to tell us that her foot hurt. I didn't know what to say to her.

But I'm liking this city. It's big and a lot of movement; lots of cars, big trucks, people and noise.

That's it for this week I think.

Elder Carter

O Seguinte

2007-10-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I'm in Londrina right now because I'm getting transferred. In
about an hour and a half I'm going to my new area in Marilia - Sao
Paulo. I was called to be a zone leader in the Marilia zone. My
companian is Elder Carneiro. I don't know him but just seen pictures. I'm
excited because I always get hyped up for transfers. I really like
changes. Even though I didn't want to leave Arapongas, it's all good.

It turns out that Antonio didn't get baptized last Saturday. There
was a death in his family so he had to travel to a different city to
go to the funeral. Obviously we were disappointed. But this week he'll
get baptized. Elder Thomason (my companion in the MTC) is going to take
my spot with Elder Rebelo. He'll be able to help out the
investigators that are there. When I heard I would get transferred I
was happy. Then at church yesterday I was sad because reality set in and
I realized that I might not ever see the members again. I hope to
some day.

President Leal was in Arapongas yesterday to get to know the branch
there. They're trying to divide 1 strong branch into 2 weak branches.
I'm not sure it's a good idea but my opinion doesn't count.

Well, I'm starving and I'm tired. I'm going to go eat right now. Next
week I'll tell you a little more about my area and my comp.

Elder Carter

Awesome!

2007-10-13T13:02:00.000-07:00

This week was way awesome. Along with general conference we had a lot of
cool stuff happen:

1: We finished teaching Antonio the lessons and he's going to be baptized this saturday!! He's got a really big desire to be baptized and follow this church. He was a friend of a member. Missionary work is based on the members. When the members help, things happen. When they dont help, things still happen, just not as easily.

2: We are teaching this guy named John. He was released from prison about a month ago. His mom is a member of our church and I feel really good in her presence. She's a little old lady but she's got such a sweet spirit. But John is the best investigator anyone can ever ask for. When we invite him to go to church with us he goes every week. He reads whatever he mark for him in the Book of Mormon. He does
everything and he understands really well. We taught a really spiritual lesson to him about the atonement and tied it into repentance and baptism. I felt the spirit really really strong. That also is what missioary work is about. With the spirit
everything happens. Unfortunately he didn't accept the invitation to be baptized.
but he will some day. We're not gonna give up on him. He has a lot of negative thoughts; such as his forgiveness of his passed errors are out of the question and that repentance is a really serious thing. But he's progressing a lot. We will continue to help him out.

3: Things will Elder Rebelo have really improved. He's teaching better and is getting rid of his fear to talk with people. I realized this week that I really need his help and I explained that to him. We've been working more with the spirit than trying to rely on our own strength and knowledge.

4: This week I also realized that I made a lot of cool friends on my mission. Some elders here are close friends of mine. But i often think about if I'll even see them after my mission or after the mission if they'll even be close friends. But I certainly have a lot of people that I would love to keep in touch with.

I'm having a great time on my mission. Daily experiences - spiritual and funny. You really need both sides of it to have the best experience out here. I love the people of Brasil and the people I serve and that I serve with. I know that the work I'm doing is sacred and that I only have this chance to do it. I'm glad I'm a representative of the only true church in the world.

Elder Carter

Firesides and Conferences

2007-10-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

Well first off, the baptism of Antonio didn't happen. He wasn't quite ready. He will be baptized on the 13th of October, the last Saturday in this transfer.

Last night we watched a cool fireside that the District President (Rubens) gave. It was about the 2nd coming of Christ. The natural signs and disasters along with the signs that have already happened (including the Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel in these latter-days). I'm not gonna lie, I wanted my all of my family (all the Harwells and Cowells) to be there. It doesn't matter if you're religious or not, after watching that fireside, people walked outta the church with eyes wide open full of fear, the fear of not being ready (including members, and my companion). It was way cool. One of the speakers talked about tragedies and crimes and junk. He read a part of the newspaper from last week that an infant baby was found in a river in Rio de Janeiro tied up in a plastic bag. I wanted to throw up. There are a lot of sick people in this world.

This week is General Conference. I will watch it in a little room with the other American Elders in English while the other missionaries and members watch it in the chapel. I'm excited to find out about the new organization of the Church; the new Counselor in the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Everyone's sad about President Faust's passing but just imagine when President Hinckley passes away. Then it will hit people. But the Lord's work will go on. That was one of the things said last night at the fireside. It doesnt matter who's in the Church and who's not, the work will go on and the Church will continue to grow. That's so true.

For right now, I'm doing swell. That's it for today.

Elder Carter

So na balada

2007-09-26T16:48:00.000-07:00

Saturday we baptized Leonilton and Angela and a little girl that turned 8 yrs old from the branch. It was sweet. 67 people showed up to the baptism Saturday night. It was cool. We will also baptized another man named Antonio. He's been going to church for a month now but he will be baptized this Saturday. Things are flyin' in Arapongas. (No pun intended. Araponga is a bird, and the city Arapongas has the subtitle "cidade dos passaros" or city of the birds. All the street names in the city are names of different types of birds.) I love this city and the members here.

Unfortunatley things aren't going too well with my comp. Elder Rebelo is the world's biggest whiner. Sometimes I feel like calling him Sister Rebelo instead of Elder. He walks around with his head down, crying about how he thinks he's the worst missionary. He blames himself for everything that goes wrong and every 5 minutes says that he's a failure. I feel like hitting him in the face and telling him to suck it up. He reminds me of Terri when we went hiking to a waterfall in Hawaii. He (like Terri in Hawaii) walks 10 feet behind me complaining about the heat, distance, etc. Sorry Terri, but it was the perfect comparison. I love you lots.

Today we're gonna play ultimate frisbee, baby. I'm definetly an all-star candidate. I'll tear it up, even though I have gotten a little thicker. I've gained 18 pounds since the first day of my mission. I'm still skinny but all of it's gone to "my belly". My neck and face aren't that skinny looking anymore.

I'm outty,

Elder Carter

New Pictures!

2007-09-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

My new comp's name is Weslley Rebelo Silva (Elder Rebelo). He's from Manaus, Amazonas. He speaks English very well and he likes basketball. It's a miracle to find a Brazilian who likes basketball more than soccer. He's very shy and quiet. I'm gonna have to make him loud and exciting like me :) He has already experienced the day to day things that happen all the time including: making a contact with a drunk guy in the street, the crazy Protestants who yell and shout the Lord's name when they pray, and teaching a lesson while the family doesn't even pay attention to you. He's learning so fast.

On Friday we went to Apucarana to participate in the "Helping Hands" or Maos que Ajudam. We helped clean up a school; tons of leaves, bushes, dirt, and garbage all over the floor. I got super burned. My legs got eaten alive by mosquitos and other little bugs. Every day I feel like raking my legs because they itch so much. It's pretty rough right now.

We had a pretty good week. Just getting Elder Rebelo used to the missionary life; a lot of walking, heat, and talking with everyone. We have one person with a batismal date set for the 22nd. Maybe she will get baptized this Saturday. We will start teaching a man named Antonio who showed up at church this Sunday. I think he has potential to be baptized.

We are also teaching a lady named Maria. She likes our lessons but she's one of those hard core Catholics that thinks she'll betray her family by converting to a different religion. I think we'll have success with her. She just needs to try to please God before her family.

Well I think that's about it for now. I'm liking Arapongas a lot. I truly believe that it is the best area in our mission. There's nothing bad about it. I'm happy these days. The work is going well and everything's super-duper. This Wednesday we will go to Londrina for a Missionary Conference with Elder Ulisses Soares. He's a member of the Quorum of the Seventy.

Elder Carter

The baptisms of Diogo, Danilo and Vanda

Maos que Ajudam (Helping Hands) with Elders from Apucarana

Me and Elder Rebelo

For the Third Time . . .

2007-09-05T09:44:00.000-07:00

Today I am in Londrina. Unfortunately, I don't have very much time. They are giving me about 15 minutes to use the internet. So, here we go....

I'm in Londrina today because of transfers. Elder E. Silva was transferred to Presidente Prudente in Sao Paulo. I was happy to have a change between us. He was filling up my patience. I stayed in Arapongas. Thank goodness. I will TRAIN AGAIN!!!! For the third time I'm gonna train. Tomorrow the greenies get here so I don't even know who my comp is yet. I was happy with these transfers.

This last weekend Elder E. Silva and I baptized 3 people. Vanda, Diogo, and Danilo. Everything went according to plan. I was really happy and the Branch President was happy because it had been 4 months without a baptism there. I'm excited to keep the work going with the greenie. Yesterday was Testimony Meeting and Diogo shared his testimony. He's only 10 yrs old but he's way smart. It was cool to see him up at the front of the chapel.

Ee are teaching a couple that need to get married. Leonilton and Angela. This week we're gonna try to schedule a date for their marriage and baptism at the end of September. Things are looking great and I'm pumped to get things done. My time is running out but I want you to know that I'm happy and doing well. I hope everything is well with my family. I know that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. I will follow Him for the rest of my life and continue to teach people to follow Him as well.

Elder Carter

And so it continues...

2007-08-31T07:58:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Good news. This Saturday we're gonna baptize 2 (maybe 3). Diogo and Danilo are only 9 and 10 years old but they moved from a different city to Arapongas to live with their g'ma (1st Counselor in the Primary). So they're gonna get baptized. I'll send pix next week. We did a special fast this last week for something good to happen. Then Diogo and Danilo came outta nowhere. Blessings.....

I interviewed 2 more people last week and I'll interview 1 more this week for another baptism. The missionaries in my District are working well. I like where I am a lot. I'm still struggling with my comp. Things just aren't working out. I'm not too happy being his comp but I can't do anything about that. Just hangin' in.

Time is flying by like crazy. September is about to start. This transfer went by really fast. Last night we taught the first lesson to an awesome family. A 40 year old couple with 3 sons of 17, 12, and 9 years of age. Every one of them accepted our message. They seem really interested. We'll go back there on Thursday night to teach the plan of salvation and invite them to be baptized. I have a lot of hope in them. I hope the best for them.

This last week a local Protestant church "assembleia de deus" of the Assembly of God had quite the festival. They had this promotion called the "Miracle Explosion". The pastor of their church "cured" hundreds of diseases and sicknesses. I wish some of you can see these protestant churches out here. Everyday it seems they trick and scam people. People pay a lot of money to these churches and the pastors just take it and put it right in their pockets. They all have huge houses and nice cars. It's so sad.

Well I don't have much time. I hope everyone is doing fine and that every member that enters into our family feels the love of our Savior in their lives. I have a testimony of the great prophet Joseph Smith. All he wanted to know is what church would lead someone to their salvation. Nn answer to his prayer, God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ appeared to him and showed Joseph what to do. Joseph stepped up to the challenge and did what God asked of him by restoting the Eternal Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

With love,
Elder Carter

This Week Was a Good One

2007-08-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

We taught a ton of lessons, we have 4 baptisms scheduled for September 1st, and there were 189 people in sacrament meeting. It was Branch Conference yesterday so that's why there were a ton of people there. But still, it was way awesome.

We went on splits again to do another baptismal interview for Elder Leandro and will interview 2 more people this Saturday. Elder Leandro is working really well in his area; a lot better than how he used to work when he was my senior companion in Campo Grande.

I can't believe Jason Gustavson is getting married. And Kasey Matney, too! That's weird. I sat next to Kasey in Seminary. Craziness. Good for them.

Next month a member of the Quorum of the Seventy is coming to our Mission; Elder Ulisses Soares. He's Brazilian and he's part of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy. It should be good and I'll get to see a bunch of my friends at the big conference.

Time is running out on my hour. I usually write to you guys first but I didn't today. My bad. I love you all and I hope you are all doing well. Tell my hill-billy Harwell family that I love them and I miss their barbecues. Give Grandma Glenda a big hug for me. I miss my family.

Elder Carter

Way to Go Barry Bonds

2007-08-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Congrats to Rochelle's baby, Leah's birthday, and Barry's new record. All three of them deserved what they got.

We had our Zone Conference last Friday. President Leal keeps changing things. I'm a District Leader yet I'm not allowed to call the other missionaries in my District. I have to call the Zone Leaders who call my District who will then call me back to tell me what my District said. That doesn't make sense to me. There also wasn't a testimony meeting at the last part of the Zone Conference as there usually is. A lot of the Elders who are a little bit older don't like President Leal. They don't like his style. I think he's got some good ideas. But some of the new stuff and new rules he's applying don't make too much sense to me.

Having a lot of members in my area is sweet and on Sunday it reminded me a lot of the Parkview Ward's Sacrament Meetings. Millions of kids laughing, screaming, crying, and running up and down the chapel. It makes when want to stick those kids outside of the chapel and into the halls! Yesterday there was a ton of noise in Sacrament meeting. But there were also 5 investigators.... sweetness.

The other day I made pancakes. We had nothing fast and simple in our house so we were forced to actually make food. I know, it was rough. Maple syrup doesn't exist in Brazil. I ate mine with strawberry jelly. Elder Silva ate his with mayo. I almost threw up. Honestly, who puts mayo on their pancakes? I have made cookies with him, too. He thought they were alright but he wasn't too found of them. Next up is brownies. If he doesnt like brownies, he might as well take his taste buds out because they're not working too well.

So President Leal told us on Friday at Zone Conference that President James E. Faust passed away. I think he was 86 years old. He's a legend here. He served his mission in Brazil. They say that one of the years that he served, 20 people in the whole country were baptized. Just 20 the entire year in this whole country. Now Brazil is rising to become a powerhouse. They say that the Church is trying to fortify Brazil so that it becomes completely independent. In other words, they're gonna stop sending American missionaries, Mission Presidents, and other leaders to Brazil. Within the next 5-10 years there will just be Brazilian church leaders here.

I got to see Elder Ferreira again at Zone Conference. I miss that guy a lot. There are about 150 missionaries in our mission and I just happened to have 4 of my ex-comps at the same Zone Conference with me. Small mission, huh? maybe not.......

Well that's all for this week. I miss everyone and I hope all is well with Barry Bonds and the Gian.. oops. I mean, I hope all is well with my family that I love so much.

Elder Carter

The Latest and Greatest

2007-08-06T10:37:00.000-07:00

We went on splits with the other Elders in my District. They both have been my companions: Elders Leandro and McBride. I went to Apucarana with Elder Leandro to interview a girl for her baptism on Friday night. Whenever I do Baptismal interviews it makes me think a lot; about how much the Church trusts a bunch of teenagers (missionaries). How I, being 20 years old, invite a 50 year old man to repent of his sins. The Church rests alot of weight on the missionaries shoulders. We interview people to see if they are worthy of entering in to the Waters of Baptism and making sacred convenants with the Lord. This kind of stuff is no joke. It's very serious.

We had a good week. We still haven't had any of OUR investigators at church on Sundays. But every Sunday one of the members bring one of their friends to church. The members here truly are amazing. They'd do anything to help us out. This Thursday we're gonna have a crazy activity and there will be a ton of referrals for us from the members. It'll be good.

The lunches in this area are awesome. There is a famliy here that is from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Juan is the father of the famliy and he weighs a good 320 pounds. All the kids are afraid of him. Graciela is the mom and she cooks soooooooo good.

The thing that I don't like about my area is that all the District Leaders (Apucarana isn't a Stake yet, it's a District, so there are no Stake Presidents - They are District Leaders instead) are from my area. Therefore, none of the stronger members are at church on Sundays because they're all part of the District High Council watching/presiding over the other Branches. But we still have a ton of good members in our ward.

That's all for this week. Elder Silva is way funny without even trying. He's a good guy. Things are going good with us. We'll have Zone Conference this Friday. We'll see what else President Leal will change.

Elder Carter

Here it is

2007-08-02T07:58:00.000-07:00

Well I had an interesting week. This city is way bigger than Cornelio. It takes about 3 and a half hours to walk across the whole thing. But the members here are awesome. There were a ton of people at Church. We are going to try to baptize the nephew of our Ward Mission Leader this week. If not this week for sure next Saturday. The members here are trying to make this District into a Stake. Therefore they help the missionaries a ton. There's a lot of excitement in the Church here.

When we got to our house (which is the best mission house I've seen) we didn't have any address of investigators, referrals, or members. On Saturday we missed our lunch appt because we didn't know where she lived and her phone number wasn't working. It's been rough this last week cuz we don't know who anyone is or where they live. Everyday we're learning more and more. I'm pretty excited to work here. There's a ton of stuff to do.

I miss you all,
Elder Carter

YES!!

2007-07-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

Man am I happy!

I have finally been transferred. After spending half of my mission in Cornélio I'm outta there. Elder McBride was transferred, too. President Leal has made a ton of changes. But let's talk about where I am first...

I am in a city called Arapongas. It's a branch here but the church is way stronger than any of the 3 wards that I've served in. They say the frequency is about 130. That's what I'm talking about, baby. The whole city is my area. Looking at the map it seems to be smaller than Cornelio. But there isn't a single hill in Arapongas. It's all flat. Sweetness. My companion will be Elder E. Silva. He hasn't even gotten here yet. We will have to re-open the area. This last transfer there weren't missionaries there. I dont know anything about E. Silva yet. Arapongas doesn't have a stake. It's a district. The rest of the branches in the district (4) are all in the neighbor city called Apucarana. I'm actually in Apucarana right now. I've never been to Arapongas but I'm really excited to get to work there. It'll be hard these first couple weeks because me and E. Silva don't know anyone or anything. Where the chapel is, where the house is, the members, investigators, etc. But it's all good.

So President Leal has changed a ton of stuff. A lot of companionships were transferred and he's putting 2 new missionaries places where they don't know anything. He also changed the 2 Assistants to the President and changed their area. A lot of new missionaries are seniors and leaders. Which reminds me, I will be the District Leader here. Like I said, I'm very excited. Elder E. Silva and I are gonna work like crazy. It's gonna be great.

I was a little sad to leave Cornelio. The Relief Society President cried when I left. My time there was awesome, but I'm glad it's over. Got to move on to bigger and better things.

I watched that family home video that Mom sent me. It's got footage of Christmas, Carter famliy, cousins, etc. I loved the new River House. It's huge. Thanks for the video, Mom. It was awesome.

People here are going crazy over the airplane that crashed in Sao Paulo. I saw footage the other day at the Bishop's house that showed 2 people jumping off a burning building and falling to their deaths. Sad story. Some lady they interviewed said it was the worst tragedy in the world that has ever happened....... I think that lady needs to study up on some history. As of now it seems like about 195 people died. Everyone on the plane, people that were in the street close by, and people that were in the building that the plane crashed in to. It's messing up all the flight plans in Sao Paulo, including the Elders who finished their missions and will go home tomorrow. Sucks to be them at this time.

I think that's about it for me. I'm happy.

Elder Carter

14 Months

2007-07-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was 14 months on the mission for me. Just 10 more. Today is 7 months in Cornelio Procopio (half of my mission). Transfers are next week so this is my last Wednesday using this lan house. The people that work here are probably tired of seeing my face for an hour every Wednesday.

Elder McBride and I found this guy named Anderson (that's a very common first name here). He's 32 and he still lives with his dad. But he is the perfect investigator. His baptism was scheduled for August 11th. I'm positive he'll get baptized. I won't even be here but I know he will. He's accepting everything perfectly and he likes our lessons.

There is a crazy fat rain storm that got here Monday morning. It's been raining really hard since. Actually today it's not raining but it's still wet outside. I hope it's passing by. It sucks to work in the rain. All you do is get cold and wet. I prefer blazing hot Brazilian sun, baby.

Fun Story:

We were teaching this crazy lady the other day. We talked about the Restoration and then we talked about how we have living Apostles and Prophets. So, this lady was like, "Do you have a picture of them?" So I pulled out the picture of the 1st Presidency and the Quorum of the 12. So she was looking at them than said, "I have been blessed with a gift. I can tell who is a true servant of God and who isn't. Not all of these men are true servants of God. Just some of them." I thought that to be interesting. So I asked her which ones were and she only pointed to Pres. Hinckley and Elders Packer, Perry, and Bednar. She said that the rest aren't. Elder McBride started laughing out loud at how ridiculous this lady was. Then I asked her if she thought that we were ture servants of God and she said no. riiiiiiiiiiight...

There are a ton of crazy people in the world. Still, God loves us all equally.

Elder Carter

Mine and Elder McBride's 4th of July Party.

Here we are being patriotic.

Bowling in Londrina last P-day.

A potential investigator. I hope she calls the number on the pass-a-long card!!!

Opa

2007-07-11T16:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the latest words from Elder Carter.

"So I met my new Mission President last Thursday. President Leal. He definitely is an inspired man. He's really excited to work and he has a ton of ideas and confidence that we're gonna take this mission to the next level. The mission secretary told me that my interview with President Leal was the longest of all the other missionaries. Usually with Pres. Burns my interviews were like 4-5 min. But with Pres. Leal it was 25 minutes. I don't even remember it being that long. We just talked about my family, my life before, on, and after the mission. It was cool. He seems like he knows what he's doing. He was shocked that I had been in this area for so long. Basically he told me that I'd be outta there for sure."

And Elder Carter is excited at the idea of leaving Cornelio. I understand what it's like. I always loved changing cities. It really changes up the monotony of mission life and presents new challenges. You need new challenges to stay interested.

He and his current companion, also from the U.S., enjoyed their 4th of July holiday in Brazil. He ended his letter with how they celebrated.

"Last week on the 4th of July, McBride and I "partied." We made brownies from scratch, a type of pudding, and grilled-cheese sandwiches. We sang a bunch of patriotic songs and stuff like that. American style..."

Sound boring to anyone? If it does then you haven't served a mission. The simple pleasures are what keep things exciting!

That's it for this week. Until next week, tchau!

News From Cornelio

2007-07-04T14:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone that has been leaving comments on this blog. I email them to Elder Carter every week and I'm sure he appreciates the support.

Here are some clips from his latest letter...

"This last week we made dinner at an investigators house. It was sweet. Elder McBride and I made burritos. Now a burrito is a Mexican thing. Burritos have nothing to do with Brazil. We cut up the tomatoes, the onions, olives, made the beans, guacamole, and the ground beef. It was way good and they loved it."

"Another story: Last p-day, after we used the internet, we went home to get our money. I accidentally left the keys in the house. But to lock our house we don't use the lock in the door but we use a pad-lock. We always have to unlock our front gate outside of our house which is also a pad-lock. Did you follow that? So I locked the pad-locks on the house door but we didn't have the keys to unlock the gate or to go back into the house. So we were stuck in the middle. Our gate is about 10 feet high, too. It was funny. So we hopped the gate and found a locksmith who came and picked the locks for us."

"So last sunday something crazy happened. Our chapel is small but it has 2 stories. The Sacrament room is on the 2nd story. So during sacrament meeting no one is downstairs. It just so happens that our church is across the street from the main homeless people hangout spot. Keep in mind that every homeless person in Brazil is an alcoholic. So during sac meeting we heard a lot of noise. So the Bishop went downstairs to see what it was. He never ended up returning to Sac meeting. I found out after that some drunk had tried to break in to the library (were we keep the manuals, books, television, and dvd player). He broke the little glass window to try and get in. All this time my greenie is thinking, 'Does stuff like this happen all the time in Brazil?'"

It sounds like he's having a great time! I asked him to send me some pics so we could give everyone an update. Here are the pics he sent. Enjoy!

Aguinaldo and Kelly's Baptism

Elder McBride

Green Hills of Cornelio

A tradition amongst Elders to burn one of your shirts on your One-year mark.

Mousse de Maracujá (Passion Fruit Mousse)

President and Sister Burns (Mission President who just went home)

A hot commodity while serving abroad. Whoever sent him that must be a wonderful sister.

A Marevelous Work

2007-06-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

Elder Carter and his companion have been teaching a lady they met last week. She has shown a great interest in the Gospel and has been searching for something new in her life. He was a little frustrated, however, because she didn't come to church on Sunday. Having served a mission myself, I understand how frustrating this can be. You are devoting every second to sharing an important message with others and to see it not being perceived as "urgent" with your investigators leaves you feeling down in the dumps. Hang in there, Ty!

Elder Carter also says the Ward is still stying to adjust to the new Bishopric; or, rather, the Bishopric is still trying to adjust to their new callings. He says everything is going alright, yet there is a huge desire on his part to stregthen the existing members.

Elder Carter goes on to say:

"It makes me so homesick when I hear about people going rafting and visiting the River House and junk like that. But dont stop telling me stuff like that. I like painting the picture in my mind of what the house is like. These stories just help me add to that vision. It's weird how everyone knows my house but me..."

I know Elder Carter would appreciate any letters or words of encouragement! He is a fantastic missionary and I think that's evident in the fact that he gets so discouraged by the stumbling blocks that come with his calling. He really cares about the work he's doing and truly understands the urgency to spread such an incredible message.

We love you, Elder Carter!

P.S. I got this email from Elder Carter today . . .

"This is our mission website. It's in Portuguese but it has some pics of Elders from our mission. They update it every week."

www.lbjornal.50megs.com

I added this site as a link on the blog. I called it "Londrina Brazil Mission Journal" so make sure when you visit this blog, you also take a look at the link.

What It Do, by Elder Carter

2007-06-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

We had our first Sunday with our new Bishopric. It was very interesting. We have sacrament for the first meeting and on Sunday it started 10 minutes late. Baby steps.

Elder McBride and I gave talks in sacrament meeting. Keep in mind that Elder McBride has been speaking Portuguese for only 2 months. But he did well. He spoke about the 4th Article of Faith (Principles and Ordinances of the Gospel). He spoke for 10 minutes. I was impressed. Then I spoke about being an excellent person. I told a couple short stories that I had heard on the mission about endurance and trying your hardest. I also talked about the Angel Moroni fulfilling his calling. How the Lord asked Moroni to tell Joseph Smith about the plates, appearing to Joseph Smith 3 times in the same night and one more time the next day in a dream. The Angel Moroni was an excellent messenger and fulfilled what the Lord asked of him.

Another crazy thing happened here. On Saturday we had lunch with a member who was interviewed by the Stake President to be called as Elder's Quorum President. But when last Sunday came around this member went outta town so he wasn't there when all the new callings were given. Long story short: they ended up calling a different man in the ward as Elder’s Quorum President and didn’t tell the other guy that he wouldn’t be it. Did you follow that? So this guy didn’t know anything about it until last Saturday when I asked him, "How come you didn’t get a calling?" And he said, "What are you talking about? I’m going to be the Elders Quorum President." And I was like, "That’s not what I heard, saw, and manifested with my right hand on Sunday...” Then this guy went crazy. It caused alot of drama. I didn’t like being the one to break that to him.

It's fun training an American. When I trained a Brazilian I just taught him about missionary stuff. With Elder McBride I teach him missionary stuff and Brazilian culture. He’s already eaten cow intestine, seen a lady breast-feed in front of him, and has experienced rice and beans. He speaks Portuguese very well.

Alright that’s about it for now. I hope everyone’s doing well. This last Sunday was 13 months for me. But who’s counting..........?

Elder Carter

Elder Carter

2007-06-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Elder Carter's blog. We hope to keep everyone updated on his news and adventures. Please feel free to make comments! He would love the support and we will be sure to pass them on.