AMERÍCA NUMBER ONE week 6 kennedy a changes????

¿Mba´e cha´pa, Che´ra?

Todo tranquilo.

I love you guys a bunch i hope you all know that. I bet you are all having a blast getting ready for summer. It is really cold today haha and it rained again yesterday so...

i thought i would tell you a little bit more about the food. THey use so much oil here in there foods. Everyweek i pretty much eat the same stuff. Noodles, spagetti, pasta, rice etc but it is cooked in oil. I would say about every week i consume about 1 ltr of cooking oil or more. Yuck wakala que asko!

BLACK FRIDAY ahhaha this week paraguay had black friday. There are signs all over the place and they are in english. Here it lasts 4 days though kinda cool.

So this week we were on our way to a visit and desided to contact this house with a lady sweeping outside. Well she totally denied us haha :( but this guy pulled up in a truck right next to us and yelled at us ," AMeríca number one, come to my house my friends! Come to my house and we talk!" haha it was awesome. IT was this older guy in a army shirt, with an american flag towel on the windshield and a NY straw hat on. He was more white-ish a little sunburned and had a nice handlebar mustache. He is definately paraguayan he just looks like a redneck haha. We followed him to his house and then had a good long talk/lesson. He lived in NY,NY for 11 years and talked to the missionaries there so has a book of mormon. He just got back 8 months ago but all his stuff arrived a month ago. SO im sure he just got his book of mormon back then.

He is in love with america though, a true patriot. He had us drink water out of his america arby´s glass haha. He wants to go to church though and we had a great restoration discussion with him. Im excited to get back to him this week. Funny Stuff.

Ok, this week we had some great lessons with people. We find some great people every week, i am really stoked. Talking to a lot of people really makes a big difference. Mom can you ask the missionaries in our ward what there mission standard for contacts is every week please?

Well, i have been reading alot from El Libro de Mormón this week and its been really sweet. I am hoping to finish it this next change in spanish. I wish i had done it earlier in my mission but i was busy reading the book of mormon in english and pmg and Jesus the Christ. But i finally picked it up and i cant put it down. The reason why i cant put it down, is cuz it´s true. It is straight up inspired scripture. THis time as i have been reading i have had different feelings. Ex, i really wish i could meet Nephi. He is such an uncommon man. He really is a hero. I wish i could be there when they found the Liahona. I wish i could have known what it was like to have to leave everything you had behind .. at home ( i kind of know that one.) I wish i could listen to kind benjamin or run away with alma. It is an amazing story filled with action, faith, passion, courage, sadness, happiness. It is a story of a loving Heavenly Father who speaks to his his children. It is a story of a caring Savior who never forgets His brothers. I know it is true and i will never deny it. I love The Book of Mormon. I didnt think id be writing about that today but hey... yup so go read it, because i feel good when i read and i want you to too. WHOOHOO.

I love you all have a good week. I love you too jolly rancher bag, nerds box, gobstoppers, sprees, and ritz cracker cheese snacks.

Oh yeah i love you too brooke cam caden and zach. Mom and Dad you too.

PEACE,

Elder Carpenter

THE NUNERY! ... Kennedy A week 5

Well hello there folks,

Sounds like you had another crazy week in tmec. It was nice seeing all the families together at the Kofs! Bummer about the cars.

So today was pretty sweet cuz we went to ... THE NUNERY! It is just this catholic place but there is a sweet gift shop in the back, ... so we just skipped to the gift shop hahaha. It was cool we went with our district too so it was 6 of us. This isnt a normal gift shop though cuz it is all this indian stuff from the chaco ( indio parts of paraguay, guarani´s). Just a bunch of wood art. The wood is called palo santo and is endangered haha cool right. I got this tortuga pencil holder and this indian warrior carving and some other stuff. It is super dope, it just weighs a bunch haha. I almost got this spear and a bag but they ran out of the cool ones. I got the kids some sweet bracelets though.

Paraguay info. Well you know how in the states we have snow days, when you stay home from school cuz it is just about impossible to get to school. In Paraguay they have rain days! haha thats right rain days. It rains so everyone gets scared and nobody goes to school. Tight right? Why cant we have rain days. It is actually kind of a bummer because not that many people go to church on rain days, but on school days it rocks!! Thought id share that with you. Quick thought...I miss our rain days when we would get to scared to go to school and we would stay home and play games all day haha.

Dad, Happy birthday! I Hope you had a great day. I thought about you alot.

So Sunday morning I got super sick and woke up at 3am to throw up. It was def the worst. I woke up three times. But we worked really hard this week and had a lot of faith someone would show up to church, so my comp gave me a blessing and we went. We have sacrament last here, so church starts at 8 then sacrament meeting starts at 10. For the first two hours nobody showed but we still had faith, and last second as i was about to shut the chappel doors Braiyan our investigator showed up!!!! It was so cool. I knew he would make it. I was so happy. Then in the meeting a pigeon showed up from on top of the casing haha. So this pigeon (paloma as Paraguayans call it which also means dove) just hung out with us. Everyonce and a while it would swoop in front of the speaker , funny stuff man.

This week we worked extremely hard though. I talked to 83 people this week and we found 8 new investigators (the most in one week this change). I thought id share with you a quick story. It was night time and we were working an area we hadnt touched yet all change (transfer). I clapped this house cuz i saw this guy out side. He looked at us and i started to talk to him, but he quickly shut me down by yelling paraguayans favorite two words, "OTRO DIA!"(another day, or my definition ... NO!) He then turned around to walk inside so i yelled at him, well is there anything we can do for you and he said, just pray for us, so i asked in what i felt like was a sincere voice, Well what is it that you want us to pray for you?. The man just stopped. Back still faced to us and he just stood there. He then turned around came up to the fence unlocked it and let us in. He told us that 15 days ago they had just moved from the chaco, which by the way is flooded hard core right now, and that they would like us to pray for their new home. So we came in and offered a kneeling prayer for them. There were three of them. we then asked if we could share with them and they said yes. We taught them the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then put them with the baptisimal invitation which they accepted, so then we put them with a date for the 16th of june! It was so sick. What we thought would just be another rejected contact turned into a new family of investigators. Listening to the spirit really is one of the biggest parts of missionary work. He always helps us with what we need to say and do. I enjoyed that night alot. .....FYIWell they didnt go to church so they need a new bapt. date, but i have faith that the lopez family will really progress. I love having moments like that.

I want you guys to send a shout out to the new family that got baptized recently. I am super happy for them and cant wait to meet them. They sound like they are really great.

I keep getting these feelings like summer is approaching, but i know its not haha. Winter is:(. I think i just feel like you guys do back at home getting ready for summer haha. So i hope you all are prepared to have fun. Enjoy your summers though and fill them with uplifting and fun activities. You will always remember them. Also family, kids, learn to appreciate family time, it def is the best.

Mom can you send me chocolate chip cupcakes???? I love you.
oh that reminds me. I have three packages in the office, but i prolly wont get them for a while:( so just know stuff is here i just need to get to the office.

Well i love you guys a lot. I think of you all the time. I love my mission. I am having the greatest time of my life here. I feel like i am at home. "IM AN ADULT" haha. I am happiest when i am working hard and this last week was so fun! WE just had a blast. So until next week, i love you all.
Con mucho amor,

Elder Carpenter

I want to see an explosion! kennedy week 4

Hey howdy hey,

Seems like you guys had a super legit week!!!! Baptisms, temple, DANCE RECITALL .... very sweet. Mom i am so proud of your example that you set for all the people that know you.You really make a big difference in a lot of peoples lives.

So this week we also had some baptisms!!!! Sweet right. We baptized two 9 year old girls navile gonzalez and brenda lopez. We have really helped there families reacivate and they are progressing really well. The girls are really cool haha. They are just two little giggly girls. I got to confirm Brenda a member on sunday! it went really well. I feel like i followed the spirit really well when i continued the blessing. It was a really funny. SO sat. morning we show up to the church to finish our cake cuz we ran out of gas at the house, right. We go into the kitchen which is actually where you watch the baptisms. Well the oven part didnt work and the cake looked almost done so we put it on the stove to heat it up a bit and finish it off. After we started filling the font up more and actually had to do that bucket at a time, right, which took forever bye the way. Well while this was going on we kindof forgot about the cake and well..... WHOOPS. I walk into the hall way and smoke is coming out of the doorway of the kitchen.We go in and the cake was a volcano hjaha. fat crack down the middle with smoke blowing out the top. Then the alarm went off haha the cake was done. It smelt so bad. The baptism was going to start in 30 min and we were freaking out trying to figure everything out. We finally got the smell out but forgot about the buckets and the bathrooms were a little flooded haha nothing too big. It was loco as heck but it all worked out fine and nobody noticed. ... Except for the whole bishopric who showed up earlier cuz they thought someone broke into the church haha.

Anyways kennedy is a blast. We have been working so hard. Days just pass bye way too fast. I am enjoying it alot. I have been trying to contact 75 people everyweek like president asked us to and i have actually been able to do it. I am already seeing a bunch of stuff happen so i am getting really stoked. I am expecting that my area will explode any day now i just hope it happens soon. So we found a less active family this week with three kids who need to be baptized. We wouldnt have found them if we werent trying to contact during the day so it was sweet. We are gunna try really hard to help them out. We also found another guy who hasnt been to church forever ever since he moved to kennedy. We taught hima lesson and he loved it and wants to get back to church. His wife isnt a member so hopefully we have something there! So when we contact we have the mentality that our 75th contact will be an investigator of gold. If we do this president promised us that we will find that investigator before 75. Well i believe i had a lot of contacts of gold but 74 really stuck out to me. She really likes the church and has family who are members. Her husband and her 7 year old son and her go to church every once and a while with her aunt and she told us her kid loves being there and they do too. It was so sweet they have so much potential. The hard thing is, is that they are only home late at night. We have usually been in that area only during the day but ended up there at night this last sat. I figured we werent going to clap her house cuz they are never home but i really felt like we should do it. I am very excited to work with this family i really believe they are going to get baptized. It is just a matter of getting them to church and to keep all their commitments. Cant wait.
We also found brian (braiyan ) he is the boy friend (novio) of a member and said he would listen to us! He doesnt really have a religious background though and that is really weird for paraguay cuz almost everybody believes in God. Like he knows a little about Jesus Christ but not much. So the book of mormon will really help him out as he reads it. It will be really fun though. We got to teach him what baptism is. I really think he will be baptized too. We have a bunch of other people who we are trying to visit so i hope it all works out. If so ... BOOM!!!! yup .

I love you guys alot. I am happy you are all happy. I am super stoked for josh he is going to love it. Oh today i met Elder wing, a buddy of jordans from byu. It was so fun to talk about jordan and stuff. We had some good laughs. Everybody loves jordan who knows him haha so it was really sweet especially being able to brag about him cuz he hasnt really heard about jordans mission yet.

Anyways. The work is starting to take off. We are all happy. The church is true and will always be true. I want to bear a brief testimony on the bible. That i know the Bible is true. By reading the bible we come to know our savior more and get to experience His life and minisrty from behing the sceens you could say haha. I also know that by reading the Book of Mormon, one can better understand the Bible and all of its teachings. I love sharing from the bible and helping people understand what it teaches us.

Mom things i really really need.
Ruffles cheesy kind, laffy taffies, starbursts, honey combs if it is possible or coco pebbles or both.peanut butter mnms!!!! and maybe a dog whistle hahaha. that would be interesting. Oh and a new shaver would be nice. Does that old electric shaver still work? if so send it my way if not just a nice normal one haha.

I love you a bunch untill next week. PEACE,
Elder Carpintero

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY, week 3 kennedy a

MOMMY!!!!!!!

I totally forgot to tell you Happy Mother's Day on Saturday... So ..... HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!!
I love you so much. Thanks for sending me all of the memories. I thought I would share with you some of my memories.
I loved going to the grocery store with you. (it kind of gets boring here shopping with other guys haha.)
Picking up the kids with you. Reading books together while i was younger. Your awesome mommy freak outs. (I do miss those haha). Game days!!!! those dont exist here haha. Long talks about life. Trying to explain complex things to you and then you not understanding then me getting frustrated. The list goes on haha ill write more down later.

I loved talking to you guys on Skype, until we had to hang up :( That was really hard haha. You guys all look and sound great though. It is going to take days for us to catch up when i get back though based on how the conversation went haha. It was super legit though you all rock. Brooke i hope you had a great time at mormon prom.

Shout outs!!!!
Zach!!!! Happy birthday buddy. I cant believe how fast you are growing up. I remember the day you were born. ... When you made that first mega punch and Moms water broke hahahaha. Youre super awesome buddy. I wove you so so much. Be happy and know i will be thinking about you. I will sing you happy birthday too:)

Grandpa and Grandma Hansen!!! Thanks once again for the loving package. Loved it. Ate all the candy. I loved the GGup this time it was super awesome. You need to share that one with my mom for sure. SO you should get one of my letters soon but i will try to get another one to you in a little bit. I love you both a lot. Have a great week.


I hear Mitt Romney is doing really great! Can you guys do me a favor though. There is this article I would like that some other elder had. its called "mormon church grids for landmard political race, romney as prominent face of the faith" It is something like that and is sposed to be really good. I believe it is a time magizine article and says some great stuff. Check it out and send it to me if you can.

Cam can you send me "lonely as you" foo fighter lyrics?? :) great song

So like i told you guys on sat. kennedy is awesome i really love it. I thought i would let you know more about elder olds. His name is Elder olds and he likes to party. haha jk but he is from las vegas if i didnt mention that before. He is a really humble guy and we get along super well. I will def be friends with him after the mission. He is 22 and has a year in the mission. He used to work at the airport in vegas and wants to be a pilot after the mission. Super cool right. He has a really big heart and is one of those guys who you just gotta love. And yeah i will fill you in on anything crazy we do in Kennedy.

As of right now actually we are working really hard. I feel extremely focused on the people here and believe we are doing a great job at meeting their needs. We seem to be finding a good amount of people and i really feel like it is going to pick up pretty soon. I only have three weeks here so i dont know the area to well yet so im working on that. I cant wait to see what we get going here. Good times.

Preach My Gospel study sesh as a mission is going excelent. I am learning a bunch. I can see why President was inspired to present us with the challenge. I just hope that everyone else is learning as much as i am. It is actually really humbling to see all the new things i need to apply to have a more succesful mission. I hope i continue to notice the things i need to improve in my work as i read. It is very interesting how the Lord works. I feel like i am shown new weaknesses all the time as i progress. There is always something new we can learn and apply in our lives to bring about change inspired by God.

I know this church is true. I would like to say i know it with every fiber in my being. Every once and a while i have some doubts, but they always are cleared away through sincere prayer. I know what i have experienced in my life, i remember times when God has clearly reached out to me, whether it was in the Temple with three john carpenters as a 12 year old boy or whether it was listening to my moms silly primary example, even the many times here on the mission. Time to time i can feel my Heavenly Fathers love. I know He is there. I know He cares about every single one of us, and i know He speaks to us. I pray that you all can feel His presence in your lives. I have faith that you will. I write these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

Love you all. have a great week.
Con sincero amor,

Elder Carpenter

Kennedy week 2

Hola (hola) Hola (hola),

Hope you all are having a great day. Thanks for the emails and letters. Brooke sorry you got a concusio! That stinks haha.

Dad, I'm not sure if they have Padres y Hijos here... maybe, but not in my ward. The problem here is that there are more women than men in the church. So being able to baptize Virgilio was super awesome based on that aspect.

Quick shout out,

Mom, I got your two big envelopes on Saturday. I loved them. Thanks for the CD. Also I love how you are doin FHE with the other families. By the way, Brooke thanks for the letter:) I needed the info. Tell the Kofs and the Starrs I say hi and that I love them. Also mom, thanks for the journal entries. I loved them. Haha even the parts when you were upset with me.

Yeah so this week has been pretty good. By the way, I have a staff infection haha. Nothing too bad but my skin is reacting bad to the sun. So now I have to pop these super smelly pills haha! Theyare worse than fish pills. Nothing bad though... it should go away soon.

Also, I just saw Elder Alder today and told him about the hand out which was super awesome. He was flattered. He asked if you could send his mom a copy of your handout. You can do through email if you need too. It was super cool though he did a good job.

So this week we killed two tarántulas (ingles??) and let the other one go. They were huge haha. They are starting to come out alot now. Really cool right. Mom you would love it.

We had a really awesome zone conference this week at the office. President taught us alot of good stuff. The assistants also did a good job too. We were given some promises. One is if we contact a legit 75 people every week per missionary we will have a golden investigator sí o sí. We also have a promise that if we ask two refrences from every person we can have 10 por lo menos investigators every week. It is some steller stuff. When i recieved my call this mission was having a really tough time. Imagínense un poco a cerca de eso....

I am always changing which is awesome. I am trying really hard to set an example of hard work. I can see that I have come really far, in comparison to my first day in Paraguay.

I love these people. I love them to death. I enjoy listening to them, counciling them, comforting them, caring about them. Probably one of the biggest parts of being a missionary, is showing your love towards the people. Something that has really helped me is consecration, desire, hard work. If I just sit around expecting for progress to come I wont get anywhere. They say your attitude determines your altitude. Pres told that to me in my last interview with him. It is so true. I love learning and applying the things I learn. Just thought I'd share my thoughts on my progress in the mish.

Cameron YOU ARE THE MAN OF THE YEAR!!! You rock bro. Student of the year!!! ¡Que quapo que sos! Always work hard. I'm sure the feelings are so satisfying. I sure feel that way out here when I work hard. I def wish I did before the mish. WELL WHOOPS. but good job. The ladies dig stuff like that ;P

Immmmmm super psyched to talk to you all on Saturday. It is going to rock. Get your thought organized cuz we got a whopping 40 min no mas to converse. Bummer right. Thats the rule though so gotta respect it. I am going to get ready too so be ready to have a sweet ol time.

Also our mission is reading pmg together starting today. I am really stoked. We should finish it in a few months. I havnt checked yet. THis is really going to help us get focussed on ourpurpose. We are striving to focus ourselves more on our purpose and get in gear.

I want you all to know that I know this church is true. It is the very same church that Christ established while he was on the earth. After being lost, It was fully restored by the prophet Joseph Smith. The Book of Mormon is proof that this church is true. The priesthood authority has also been fully restored to the earth, and continues to bless families every day. Families are forever. As we follow the gospel and follow the plan of salvation we will recieve the greatest gift of all the gifts of God, o sea, eternal life. If you know these things are true, share them. If you are not sure, find out. Spend some time on your knees and ask your Heavenly Father. He will answer you, because He lives. I know this to be true because he has answered me. En el nombre de Jesucristo Amen.

I love you all very much. I think about every one of you all the time. Family ... I love you all too:) and I think about you all the time too hahaha.

Have a good one, Talk to you on Sat. 4 oclock my time. Be there or be square!!!!

Con sincero amor,

Elder Carpenter

JFK ... THE RIDE!!!!! (Changes?)

Hey Hey Hey,

Sounds like you all had a crazy week. The Car!!!! Im glad to hear they are all fine. Brooke you are a beautiful daughter of God:) Zach good job with baseball. Cam youre cool. Caden you drool. Jk youre cool too:)

Well I am sitting here inside a new internet café next to my MTC comp Elder Johnson! Yup I am in a new area with a new comp!!!!! and no it is not Elder Johnson he just happens to be in the district. My new comp is Elder Olds! He is super legit. He has three changes more than me. He is really cool though I get along with him really well.

My area is .... KENNEDY a!! Super American right. The area is really sweeet though. The members here rock! ok funny story so at changes elder winward (who i replaced) told me .. bro you are going to love the Senas! I said, " no way there are Cena´s (dinner appointments)! hahaha he goes," no haha sorry theyre a family the sena family." ... awe man it was so funny i got so stoked to have dinner appts. oh well. But yeah the Sena family is so awesome. I love them. They just have this spirit in their home that is different. I showed them my pictures. They think you guys are all stunning haha. They were dying that mom looks so young. They said luckily their son wasnt home cuz he would have died over brooke hahaha.

But yeah the members are really cool i will prolly tell you all about them later.

So really quick, limpio. I love limpio. It was such a sweet place to be born in. I cried when i said by to the orrego family. When i called them and told them i had changes the hermana cried and told me that they didnt think it would be so soon. When i was there with them they told me they are never going to forget me! I then shared with them moroni 8: 3 and told them that i would never forget them and that they are always in my heart and my prayers. It was so intense i never thought i would care about a family so much. I really love them. Hno. Virgilio Orrego is going to haiti this december to work and rebuild abunch of stuff for the military for one whole year. They want to get special permision so they can get sealed early. I am praying that is all works out. They are so awesome though and i know i will always be in contact with them.

So i feel even more comfortable with my spanish this week. Everyone treats me like im older now and not like a baby haha. It is cool though cuz not only my spanish skills are growing but my teaching skills are sky rocketing. I also have been trying to improve my bowhunting skills hahaha. But yeah, i am focusing alot on being a missionary that teaches with power and authority. Just like ammon when he was filled with joy when he saw an opportunity to use his power and authority to teach the lamanite people the gospel. Read the story about ammon another time and you will understand what i am talking about. I love asking people questions. It is so important, cuz it helps me see my investigators level of understanding.

Well i dont have much time left well whoops i couldnt print off emails this morning so yeah. Also you can look up my areas on google maps on the lds.org web site it is really cool you can see a good sky view of the streets i am walking try Limpio Paraguay.

Well have a good week and next monday i will send some pics.

PEACE Love,

Elder Carpenter

Limpio week 26 or something ... changes? ... Quizas

Hello People,

How's everyone doing? It appears that you had a great week. Brooke, I did sing you Happy Birthday, so know I was thinking about you.

I was happy to see Michael and Josh chillin at the house with you guys.

Shout outs:

Michael and Josh you studs I'm happy to see you guys were chillin at the house with my fam. I got your email Josh and I wrote you a letter. Michael, I wrote you a letter too. So both of you should get them hopefully soon!

Grandpa and Grandma Hansen! I got your package this week! WHOOO HOOO. It was opened though :/ Everything was still inside I think...so I got Cadbury Eggs... which rocked!! Already ate em! I got the chocolate bunny and a letter and also the poptarts which are eatin and the froot roll ups!!! I hope that was all there was. I think it looked fiine it just was retaped by Paraguay mail service. I love you guys so much. I loved your letter. I hope you know you are forgiven haha and please forgive me...I stink at writing letters, but I got one out to you last week!

Last week I sent the letters Mom!!!

Don't worry about packages being opened just make sure anything that looks valuable is hidden somehow.

Dallan, I got your letter! I love you Bro! Thanks for the super sick scripture! Expect a letter soon.

Also quick favor. Mom can you send me a package sometime with used ties maybe from a DI or something. They would be nice to have so I can give them to members when I leave my areas. They don't have to be too nice, the ugly ones are usually the cooler ones haha.

So changes are this week. I am thinking I'm out sí o sí. I have been here for 6 months now and that is usually the most people stay in an area. I love Limpio. I don't want to leave my converts or the members but my time has come. We will find out tonight though, so I am really excited to know what changes. New comps, areas, etc.

Ok paraguay facts / legends ... so there are a lot of Germans here in Paraguay. How they got here...I am not really sure, but they all speak German, Spanish, Guarani, and a few english and portuguese. Really smart people actually blond hair blue eyes blah blah blah. Well I've heard that they are descendants of ........ Nazi run aways. In WW2 apparantly a group of nazis and their families fled to the promised land of hiding becuase they were told by their leader that their city was about to be destroyed, so they got ready to flee and realized there was no way out so they had to return to there homes to retrieve ships and sailed to the promised land of safety. I forgot to mention they brought all their precious gold and silver and all other posesions with them. They arrived to the land and headed to the land inward (Paraguay) where they established there homes and families. They lived amoung a people of a similar story who are descendants of ... the Lamanites, but luckily they did not get destroyed by the "Lamanite" people. They then began to change their Nazi ways (I'm sure) and were blessed in the promised land with super nice houses and things. I am sure there are german members i just have yet to meet one haha.

Well that is my version of how the Germans got here hahaha.

So this week was good. We have been working really hard. I enjoy sharing and teaching the gospel to these people. I am starting to find a teaching method, it isnt the best yet but it works. I still have a lot to learn. My view on working changed a little bit. I realized I am here to warn everyone to share this message with everyone I can. I am here so they can have the chance in this life to accept the gospel. So i have been trying to talk to everyone i can. I am trying to improve my teaching so when i present them the message, so when i warn them, that they might understand and accept it. What is sad is some people will reject it and already have. We have had investigators disappear off the face of the earth, call us and tell us they aren't convinced, literally run away from us, you name it its happened. My favorite is when they hide behing the open window. We can clearly see them, they just think windows are not see through though really weird right haha. Even though some reject it...others accept it. The feelings that come from this are so sweet. I love it. People like Virgilio, where a complete change is just visable. The gospel is true, it changes lives, it blesses lives, it gives life. I love this work it is the greatest work there is ;).

Well I would love to go on... but I got to go.

Dad, I am super proud of you. You are so cool! You really are. The ward is blessed to have you as a leader.

I am so happy we have such a wonderful plan of happiness. I know our ward is strengthened by this plan.

Family you all are awesome I will let you know what happens next week with changes. Time is just so fast haha. 6 months in Paraguay already.

Mom, Mother's Day is coming up:)

Stay sweet and have a great week.

Love,

Elder Carpenter

limpio a week 22 or something like that haha.

Hey everybody,

So you guys had a good week it looks like! I'm glad to here that.

Dad, you are a champ. How does it feel getting a spiritual upgrade haha? I am super happpy for you and your new calling. I bet it was cool to be ordained a High Priest by grandpa.

Mom, I hope your birthday was great. I thought about you alot... I even sang you happy birthday haha.

Brooke, I didnt forget about you :) I hope you have a great 17th bday. I will be thinking about you to. I will prolly sing you a little song who knows haha. I love you a bunch and hope you are happy.

Cam, so guess what I heard ... the FOO FIGHTERS were in Argentina this last week! So close some member said he almost went to see them. I also heard some FF in the streets this week it was great.

I got two funny stories.

The first is pretty old...I just forgot to tell you ... I think. So there is this guy we know. He is the boy friend of a member and is really cool he just doesnt want to listen to us. This story isnt really about the gospel by the way haha! Still havent taught him, but anyways we hear that he has never been beat by any missionaries in chess even Elder Tensmaier who was on the chess team. So obvio we had to give it a try ... and pdays I have been playing right, right, so Hakes and I went and played him ... Hakes lost, but I destroyed him hahaha. He got so upset he gave up but I told him we got to finish it all the way out so we continue and then I was two moves away from beating him and ....... he hit all the pieces off hahahaha!! I won Gané I flippin beat him the first haha. It was so sick he told me good job, but he wants to play me again. Still havnt... but hey I'm the boss now. This has nothing to do with the gospel but I thought it was funny haha.

Second story I call this one the Easter Miracle...

So the Limpio ward had an Easter party last week on Friday. They had a bunch of food and invited us over to have lunch with them. They had a bunch of chipa, soda, bread, and chorizo ( sausage) haha. Well there was just a bunch of food and everyone was eating hard core. Well we ended up leaving early to work. we stopped by the Orregos home later the next day. They told us that for some reason the ward never ran out of chorizo. Everyone just ate and ate and yet there remained a giant bowl of chorizo. The bishopric took it outside where more people were playing soccer and it still didnt run out haha. They had to split it up between members to take home. They say it was an Easter miracle (jokingly), just like when Jesus fed all the people fish and bread and it fed everyone. No matter what they tried for like 5 hours it never ran out.

Well this week was nice. nothing too crazy happened. I feel super comfortable with the language now. I still have a long way to go but it feels nice to be at this level right now.

We got to go to the Temple on Tuesday! The Paraguay temple is amazing. It only has one endowment room so pretty small. Almost all the workers are from the states. It was sweet though. We got there by 8 am and I got to do confirmations of the Holy Ghost for the dead while others did baptisms. It was really cool confirming people in Spanish. Then we finished up doing endowments. I did everything in Spanish. It was so cool. It was so spiritual. I lovd the Celestial room. It was like I was at home. I just loved it. I felt so close to my Heavenly Father and my Savior. I have such a strong testimony of the Temple. I love being in the Lords House. It is so peaceful and pure. I feel so uplifted when I am inside. There is no stress no bad feelings. When I get back one of my priorities will be regular temple attendance. I would love to work there again if I have the time. The blessings are just to great to miss out on. If you havnt been to the temple recently and you have a recommend please go. You cannot miss out on the blessing we recieve in the Lords house. If you dont have a recommend please get one, do what ever it takes and go. I promise you all that there are blessings of pure happiness peace and joy that await you in the Temple. Mom and Dad, I am so thankful for your examples of temple attendance. I remember all those times you both headed out the door to make it to the temple. Sometimes we didnt want you to go, but now i understand why it was so important to you. I remember your example by making it to the temple once a month. You both are amazing! I love you both.

SHOUT OUTS:

Koford Family.... WELL WHOOPS bahahaha. I was laughing so hard I figured it out in less than 30 sec by the way , I mean come on what else would it have been. You rock Sis. Koford! I think about you guys alot. Your family too has been such a great example to me. I will always look up to you all. Love Elder Carpenter

The weeks are flying by here. Next week we have changes again. Crazy right.

Well I love you all and hope you all are having a great time. Now I will send pictures whoo hoo.

Con Mucho Amor,

Elder Carpenter

 

 

 

Limpio A semana santa

Hey Everyone,

¿Mba´e te co? ¿I´porante?

It seems like you guys are all doing well so that it good. So this week was pretty good. It was the Semana Santa here, all centered on Christ. It is kind of catholic based but still has good meaning.

So I thought I would tell you guys about the food. People here like to make chipa, sopa and chipa wuasu. Chipa is this super dry brick of bread that tastes like well gold fish mixed with sand, and you know you are eating the better type of chipa if it squeeks on your teeth. Yummy right haha. Also sopa is corn based its alright. Chipa wuasu is good my favorite. Looks like sopa but tastes so much better. The part that stinks about all these foods is that the majority of the time they are super dry and Paraguayens dont offer drink until you ask. So I don't know... it just is more of a pain than a pleasure to eat.

Anyways,

This week I had a division with our district leader. It was super fun. I needed a break from my comp haha. But on the other side my Spanish is sky rocketing. I feel like I can speak really well now. It doesnt always role off my tounge how I would like it to, but I feel like when I teach it just flows. I truly am experiencing the gift of tounges. There is no other expaination.

Well I studied alot this week about our baptisimal covenant. It is so awesome. I was reading the sacrament prayers and just really pondering them. It is such a great covenant we have. We are promised to have the spirit with us always ... think about that, always. I just feel like there is so much more to this gospel then what we would think. There are so many levels of faith. President Madariaga shared with us a really inspiring talk that he prepared. He said there are different degrees of conversion. He refers to these levels or degrees as the Celestial, Terestial, and Telestial. The difference is so great. When we are converted to the Celestial degree of glory, are will becomes the Fathers. We consecrate our selves to Him. This can be done in so many ways too. It doesnt mean you are perfect or that you are just short of exaltation, it means that you live the gospel with reason. I love the quote from a talk in conferense i cant remember his name but it was from a seventy, he said, One can be active in the chruch, and not active in the gospel. Let our conversion be celestial. Desire the things of God. Dont just be active in church but be active in the gospel. The other two degrees have their qualities but i dont have time to expain haha.

I think we could all increase our faith a little. There is always room to improve. I strongly recommend that everyone strives to increase their faith in Jesus Christ and His atonement. I know that if you do this, if you make a sincere effort to further your testimony in Christ and His atonement, your faith will grow in ways you may have not even expected. I know this because i have experienced it. I have felt a differance in my life that has literally changed my desires. I have a greater love for my Savior and my Father in Heaven. I know they live. I know there is a plan for us that will allow us to live with our Heavenly Father after this life. It is all made possible through the Atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is perfect.

So Dad, I read this quote this week I thought you might like it. It is a Lorenzo Snow Quote, Dice " como el hombre es ahora, Dios fue una vez; como Dios es ahora, el hombre puede llegar a ser." Cool right. Also I listened to the God is the gardner talk this week. I loved it. I downloaded a bunch of talks onto my ipod. I have a bunch of the clasics. I really love McConkie, He is the man.

I love you guys i always pray for you. When I say you guys I am not just refering to my family at home but all my family, and my friends. You are all important to me.

Quick shout out,

Mom, I love you. I wrote you a letter for your birthday, but you won't get it on time. I want you to know I will be thinking about you.

Untill next week, everybody stay classy and do good in school.

Peace,

Elder Brandon Carpenter

PICTURES!!!!

 Limpio

 Just a little exam!

Elder Carpenter and Elder Hakes! 

New Bishop!!!

Baptism of Virgilio

Limpio Whoo hoo...the wait is over!!!

Hey guys!

Thanks for the update in the emails. This week has been crazy and it seems like you had a great week too with tons planned for the break!

Ok Mom, I just want to start off by making you cry a bit haha. I'm sorry, butttt I miss hanging out with you haha. And you can txt me when ever and txt yourself back or whatever haha. Just know I would txt you back if I could haha. I had a conversation with you this week if that makes you feel any better haha.

So fyi it is raining hard core here. I took a boat ride (bus ride lots of rain) to Luque again today cuz last week my comp baught new shoes and when we got home he realized they gave him two left shoes!! hahaha. Also this dude was listening to Green Day behind me on the boat. It reminded me of my buds. It sounds like they are all doing good. I read their emails. Also how is Josh D doing? Do you know if he has gotten his call yet? Tell Michael I got a letter for him too.

Ok so lets get to the deats. Miracles : Miracles are a response to faith. They are never wrought without prayer, felt need, and faith. They are natural results of the Messiah´s presence among men. They are wonders, marvels, because of the effect produced on those who see them.

This week a miracle happened. Hno Virgilio Orrego was baptized Sat. and Sunday was confirmed and received the Holy Ghost. He also received the Aaronic priesthood. A little info on Virgilio, cuz I dont remember everything I tell you. He has been rejecting the gospel for 23 years of his life, his whole marriage. He has never once listened to the missionaries, never once went to church, never once prayed to know if the Church of Jesus Christ LDS is true, UNTIL this last change I had with Elder Hakes. Since then he has been sharing with the missionaries (us Hakes Muedas I), he has accepted and is keeping everycommitment givin, he has been to church plenty of times, he has read many pages of the BoM, he has prayed countless time with a sincere heart, and is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, which he knows, without doubt, to be the only true church on the face of the earth. This is a miracle. It is really a cool story. His daughter who is living in France right now has been fasting multiple times that he could recieve the truth. Because of her faith to fast, the faith of the Orrego family, I have witnessed results of the Messiah's presence among men. This experience has added to my testimony an assurance that God does answer prayers. Man this is just super cool haha. I just am blown away by the whole thing. Over this last little while I have come to truly love the Orrego family. They are so awesome. I wish you could meet them guys. In a year I have the chance to see them sealed in the temple. Hna. orrego already invited me haha. It is so crazy I dont know I cant really express my feelings how I would like but I'm sure you all can guess. Truly a miracle.

I am super proud of you guys and your work you are doing back home. That is super legit. Dad, I was cracking up when you said you guys got Caden involved with the Jorgensons cuz of his spazzy energy. But good job guys.

Shout outs...

Mom, I got my Easter package and I may or may not have candy on Easter morning haha. Thank you so much though. Thanks for the letters inside too.

I dont remember if I did this or not but shout out to the Sorce family. Thanks for thinking about me and for sending me the email. I miss having lessons with you guys in our home. I really could tell you care about me and my family. I appretiate all you do for us. Love Brandon.

Jenna, I got another letter haha thanks you rock! I wrote you so expect a letter soon sister!!!!

Briar, I got your letter! Thank you expect a letter as well haha. I don't care what Brooke says about how long I take to write back haha just know one is coming.

Brenna, I also got your letter! Thanks for writting. I got a letter coming your way too!

Gpa and Gma Hansen thanks for the package you rock! I loved the G and G up this week Keep those coming they are so cool. I love you lots. Your always in my heart. Letter on the way

Green family. You crazy family! I got another package from you. YEAHHHH I love you guys! I wrote you a letter as well. Thanks for the photos too. I love that. Cousins, I miss you.

Special shout out to the Sees candy box that I'm sure just got lost in the mail. I love you too. I'm sure your filled with my usual fave. Can't wait till you get here!!! ;)

Cadburry eggs?

...

Well, I love you guys you are all so awesome. I pray for all my family and friends everynight. I care about you all!!! Paraguay is awesome, and the rest is falling into place. Until next
and con mucho amor,

Elder Carpenter

P.S. Goodnight Wesley...I'll probably kill you in the morning PEACE

Changes!!!

Querido Familia,

Sounds like everything is doing great. Mom my elbow is fine haha no worries. By the way, I forgot to say thanks for the pictures and little Duncan in the package last time.

I want to say sorry I brought my camera for you guys and this dang computer doesnt have a place to plug anything in. In fact all its inside are sitting in a chicken wire type box and I cant open it!!! Paraguay. oh here it is haha.

So we had changes this week. I was sad to see Hakes leave. He was truly a great comp. I learned a lot from him. I will also be learning a lot this change. A lot of Spanish and a lot of patience. Yes, I have my first Latin comp. Elder Muedas from Peru. He is a little short chubby guy haha. He speaks no English so I get to teach him this change. These last couple days have been ... well super hard. We communicate fine. I understand almost everything he says and he understands me too, but aside from that, he is just hard. I dont know...I dont want to be negative at all.. it is just going to be a hard change.

Ill be honest, this last change I have been praying that I would be able to have a Latin comp so I could help him with English and he could help me with Spanish. I prayed I would be ready to handle the Spanish side of it. (AND my Spanish has really improved a lot).

It is kind of funny how God answers our prayers right. An Example is like this... I feel like when I pray for a chance to be humbled, I am brought to my knees in a way I dont expect. So I have been praying for a Latin comp and i got one. It just is hard in ways I didnt realize it would be. He is obedient which is good. He wants to work hard which is good. Elder Hakes and I found a good way to work Limpio and have been trying really hard to get stuff rolling with the new bishop and stuff. The problem lies there, its just my new comp wants to try something different. He is the senior comp so I will respect that. So I am planning everything until he learns the area, and when he has it down he will plan from there on. So when that time comes, I will allow him to make the final calls. I just dont want to abandon everything Hakes and I have been doing you know. Thats all about that stuff though. I think it will be better. I just think it might get hard. I hope you guys understand haha. Im not saying it is going to be horrible. I'm just saying it will be a little tough.

Ok. Hermano Virgilio Orrego!!! This is good news. We put a new fecha with him for the 24th this Saturday!!!. It was sick. He told Hakes and I he wants to wait a bit. Then on Sat. we passed by and he was working in his yard. I told him we were ready to work haha and then we started cleaning his yard. After that we taught im a lesson. At the end of the lesson we told him we were planning two Bapt. Services one for the 24th and one for the 30th. He then told us the 24th was next week. I though he would say thats too soon, but then he said thats the date, the 24th of March. Cool right. It was super awesome. So it is all good, I cant wait, it is going to be really awesome. It was crazy cuz just last week he was saying he wants to wait. Hakes and I tried everything to get him to be baptized he just said he wasnt sure. He almost did it too but the 24th is his time haha.

So quick shout out. THere wasnt mail or packages by the way.

So Grandpa and Grandma Carpenter!!! You want to serve again. That is so awesome. I really am proud of you guys. That is super cool. Now there will be two more Carpenters in the field haha. I love you guys thanks for your example.

Family I love you guys alot. You all rock. And guess what else. ... I wrote you all letters so you can start running to the mailbox again in about a week haha. I dont know how long it will take to leave the country just know theyre on their way. Mom thanks for the advice by the way. I want you all to know I am super dedicated to writing you all letters from now on. I think eventually I will fall into a groove. Remember letters are expensive and I have those bigger envelopes so that will help but I will find a way to work it.

Something I would like in the mail .... Mormon Tab SHOWTIME! cd. I heard a little of it. It is super sick please send it. I dont know how many songs are on it but this cd is approved so send them all. Its like the mo tab version of movie songs and junk. Any ways please please please.

Well I gotta go. I love you all. Know I am fine and happy.

Les quiero,

Elder Carpenter

Limpio

HEY GUYS,

 

So I am dedicated to writing you guys more letters. I feel really bad. I just dont know how to write them. I have written a lot. I just always rewrite them cuz I feel like they arent that great. Tell me what you want to hear in letters so I can structure them better. Dont tell me you dont care what I say because that doesnt help at all. By the way, Dad could you write me a letter about your job? I feel like I never asked you much about it and people always ask me. I will write you more questions about that later too.

SO this week we were getting the mail from the mission mail truck in the road and all of the sudden my elbow got clipped by another trucks side view mirror!!! It killed so bad. The truck was going like 20mph and the mirror folded in and smacked the truck too. It didnt break haha it just hurt really bad.

We still dont know changes. We wont find out till tonight, but I am pretty sure Hakes is out. But you never know, the only person who does is the Lord and His plans sometimes are a lot dif than what we expect.

That leads to Virgilio. Well we didnt have a baptism :( He says he knows the church is true, he knows the Book of Mormon is true, he knows Joseph Smith was a prophet. He just wants to wait. He considers himself a member and he practically is, HE JUST HASNT MADE A COVENANT WITH THE LORD YET!!!! IT is the most important step to progressing through the Lords path. This is so frustrating haha. We just care about him so much. He will be baptized...I just dont know why if he knows it is true why he would wait. If anyone has any suggestions let me know. I want to reteach some lessons to him and we are planning on President having a lesson with him so we will see. It is just a bummer cuz Hakes is prolly gone. He even had an appointment to meet with President tonight but now he has work. Blah. Idk im just praying that is all works out. Well moving on.

I read a sweet talk this week by Elder Bednar, its called Honorably Hold a Name and Standing. You may remember this talk. It is about our covenants and church attendance. So cool. I really learned alot from it. It is such a comfort to know the blessings we recieve from being members of the church. I really recommend reading this talk.

Cameron congrats man!!! That is so sick. Youre a legit kid you know that. Potential Student of the Year. Working hard really pays off. Dont ever forget that. That is one of the biggest things I am learnign in my mission. I  realize how important it is to work hard if you want to be successful. This applies before the mission, during and after. But anyways good job.

Caden, I hear you are mister funny guy. I wish I could hang out with you for the day. You would prolly make me laugh so hard I'd poo my pants.

Brooke youre an awesome girl. Really you are much more than that. You are a daughter of God. I have always admired how you hold your standards. They are so high and that is how God expects them to be. Alot of missionaries talk about the girls they want to marry when they get home. The first thing they always say they see in their future wife is a girl who keeps the standards of God. Whenever I hear that, I always am happy that my sister is one of those girls. But to be honest... It really is important to us missionaries haha. Keep that in mind. I know you always have, but I thought I should share that with you.

Zach, I wish I could go to one of your games. Send me pictures. I love you so much bud.

The mission is so great. I really love it. You all know that!! I dont have much left to say about the week so...SHOUT OUTS!!

Mom, I got your package!!!! Tell the Relief Society... thank you so much. I was lacking a lot of the things they sent me haha. Everything made it safely though. Keep in mind Paraguayans can still open packages from the bottom... so put stickers down there too. I think the ring should make it safe though if you sent it, just hide it really well. If you could though send me some good talks to read next package. I dont have much computer time haha.

Well I love you all!!Thanks for all the support. Until next week. 

PEACE,

Elder Carpenter

Limpio Sick Months!!!

HEYY!

 

Great letters mom and dad. I love you guys so much. I barely recognized the house in that picture mom... haha. Sounds like you had a great Stake Conference in Singapore. We had Stake Conference too haha. Well... it was a zoo like normal... haha! Not too bad though.

 

So SIX MONTHS! Holy cow that is so crazy. It is going by way too fast. I love it here! Everyday gets better and better here. I can already see how fast these next 18 months are going to be. So that is kinda what I have been thinking about this week... just my vision for my mission and where I see myself later down the road. Elder Short the AP came to our district meeting this week and talked a little bit about goal making. A Seventy told him that we should have visions for where we see ourselves in the future. Not a literal vision... but it is the dream, the big picture right. Then after we make our vision, we set goals that will help us reach our vision. The goals are the actions that allow us to see our progress. Then we plan out how we will meet the goals. So this week I studied, meditated and prayed about what my vision is. My vision is consecration. I see myself becoming a consecrated servent to my Lord, Jesus Christ. What I realized is that in order to truly become consecrated to this work, I need to give myself to Him. I need to loose my life for Him so that I might find it. To do this I need to work with all my heart, might, mind and strength. I cannot leave my heart out of it though. After thinking about this for a great amount of time, I came to know that there is much more to be done to give Him my heart. I could go on...but I am going to stop right here. So pretty much, I have a lot of goals. The gospel is just so amazing, it really is. I never realized how sacred my dreams could be. Well anyways yeah haha. The gospel is unfolding before my eyes. There is so much that we can do and accomplish when we center our lives around the doctrines of the restored Gospel.

 

How about some Paraguay info.

 So I hope we have all heard the rule... pedestrians first. Guess what...Paraguayans have not! Elder Hakes and I always will be walking down the street and a motorcycle will honk at us until we get out of the way haha. Even if they has the whole road to themselves they honk and makes us move. We will be crossing the street and cars will cut us off. It isn't a big deal to us... but they just do not know how to drive que pucha che`ra.

 

No shout outs this week sorry.

Except Ii got a letter from Karly this week! You can tell her I wrote her back. Also Jenna too woohoo.

We dont get mail till this week.

 

So another crazy story.. so we saw this lady on a colectivo with a brand new wheel chair with the churchs name on the back! She was taking it to a member of her family who needed a new one. So we got off the bus when she did and attempted to contact a ref. who wasnt home then desided to find this lady. /We hadnt talked to her yet so we didnt know anything about her at the time./ So we looked everywhere then we spotted the wheel chair tracts in the dirt haha and guess what... WE FOLLOWED THEM!!! sooner or later we found her house sure enough with a kid sitting in his new wheel chair. His old wheelchair right next to him just torn apart. We gave a good clap and the lady came out. We started talking to her abou the wheel chair and she told us the info. Well then we asked if she would like to learn more about the Church that donated them the wheel chair! ............  she pretty much told us no and that she is catholic. She wouldnt even let us sit down and talk for five minutes. How sad right. We will try again later but it was just shocking to me.

 

Virgilio should be getting baptized this week you will find out next Monday. I have to go, but I love you all! Until next week.

 

PEACE!

Elder Carpenter

Duh da-da Duhhhhh....Limpio

Shup Guys!

Wow so sounds like politics is really getting crazy. I am speechless idk crazy stuff. 

SO paraguay. We had a good week. It got over 100 degrees. They say it was 115 in the shade haha. I don't know though... but it was hot. By the end of the week though the temp went down alot and it has been really cloudy and it rained once pretty strong and has sprinkled a bit. So I thought I would share a funny story.

So it had just rained the day before and Hakes and I set out to visit this menos activo. On the way we had to walk through a newly cleared road of dirt... now mud. As we got further down the way we saw another menos activos jeep like car off the side of the road. Then we realized it had slid on a turn and went off the side and got stuck in a slippery down ward slope like thing. Literally it had happened moments before. We came up and the members had big smiles. We told them we were there to help so we got in front of the hood and began to push. The member stepped on the gas and the tire spit mud up and down my whole body all over my face shirt tie pants hair into the back of my collar!!! It was so uncomfortable haha. But we got them out and I wiped as much off as I could. They then invited us over to share. So we hopped in the car squezed in really, And took off down the slippery road haha. I thought we might skid off again it was funny and he was driving really fast. They do not know how to drive here. Haha I thought Utah drivers were bad. So then we got to their house and had a good lesson. The Hermano had his foot up on a stool during the lesson and later he told us that he hurt his foot earliar in the week and he has no feeling in his right foot. What the Crap!!! and he was driving!!!!!! hahaha idk fun stuff. 

Anyways... so another experiance I'll tell the short version. We had we found this lady on Sat. night and invited her to church. We picked her up in the morning and went off. On the way she lit up a cig haha. We told her not to but she had already made up her decision. This lady drinks everyday and lives in this tiny shack. Well, she wasn't all there but we didn't realize that till after the first hour. Trust me we wouldn't bring a crazy person to church, I promise haha. Apparently she started a fight in Relief Society hahaha. The other hermanas were so mad. Then she kept calling us HERMANOS DE MIS HERMANOS, brothers of my brothers, it was so funny. Well she wouldn't be quiet so we got her to leave before the last hour haha. We are still going to work with her so we will see how that goes.

Yeah well thats about all the funny stuff. 

Hermano Orrego is progressing really well. He told us after chruch on Sunday that he knows the Book of Mormon is true! So awesome, I know he will be ready by the 10th to be baptized.

SHOUT OUTS

Grandpa and Grandma Hansen!!!! I got your package! The fruit role ups are so bomb. You know whats up! Except the Utes mints are a little iffy :) Thanks so much though I really loved it and have eaten half the food in there already haha. Have a good week guys. I love you guys Chau Chau

Grandpa and Grandpa Noorda!!!! Thank you so much for the stuff. I really needed that journal cuz I have three pages left in my other one haha. Also top romen... thank you haha I miss that stuff. I think about you guys every day. I love you so much. 

Mom thanks for the package haha...You rock.

So I just want to let you guys know how awesome Jesus the Christ is! I love this book. I can't put it down. Talmage rocks. It is a really great way to learn more about our Savior's life. As I learn more about Him my eyes are opened up and I see life in a different way. It is really hard to explain, but I truly believe I am changing. Some times I can't see it... but I am telling you guys... there is something more. The more we learn about our Savior and His gospel the more meaningful this life becomes. I strongly advise you all to learn more about our Savior Whether we are learning in church, the scriptures, by bearing our testimony, the words of the prophets and apostles, what ever way... they are all good, and you will be suprised by the influence of the Spirit. 

Love you all thanks for everything. Special shout out to Brooke! I love you sis, and miss hanging out with you. I just wanted to tell you that haha. 

Con mucho amor,

Elder Carpenter

Stuff and Stuff...week 15 Limpio

Heyyyyyyyyyyyy familyyyy,

What is up? Sounds like everyone is doing well. I wish I could have been at the wedding sounded like a blast. And I hear "Sexy and I Know It"  at least once a week haha. It is very hard to keep myself from shuffling... but at district meeting...I shuffle with another elder!! haha so its all good. I work out!!

Anyways, this week was pretty norm. Our investigator Hermano Orrego is super baller. We had a really good lesson with him about the Restoration and we are going to watch the JS movie again with his family. He came to church yesterday also. So he left Saturday afternoon to go to work and didn't get off until 6 am on Sunday. Then he traveled back to Limpio and got ready and went straight to church! He could have easily come up with an excuse and in his case he could have had a good one, but he has true desires to recieve an answer so he did what he knew he had to do. There are three very important steps to recieving an answer for your self to know if the church is true. They are ... reading the Book of Mormon (accepting its invitation), having sincere prayer, and going to church. An important factor in all of this, is the role of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a revelator and helps up recieve revelation and understand true doctrines. So this is what Hno. Orrego is doing and he has such sincere desires to know, so we are praying for him everyday and I believe he will get a specific answer from our Heavenly Father. 

Ok so we also watched 3 talks from this month given at the leader meeting thing i dont know what its called. We watched it at the Orregos house also and Hno. Orrego loved it. He invited us to watch it with him haha. Uchtdorf gave an awesome talk and so did Nelson. You should watch it dad and mom if you havn't yet. 

Oh, so we had another miracle this week. The ward mission leader is now reactivated and we had our first meeting with him. It was very good. I am really excited with the progression of this ward. So many members are actually doing visits and stuff it is awesome. 

So I was wondering if you could send me a copy of the talk Uchtdorf gave on the Light Bulb if you guys remember. He uses a story of a plane and the light bulb and it is really good. So if you could find that and send it to me that would be nice. We aren't allowed to get on lds.net unless we have all the quotes by general authorities in PMG memorized haha President Arnolds rule. Elder Arnold from the seventy is our area president. He also gave a great talk in Nov. 2010 gen conference on How we are representing our Savior and what we are doing with His name. Good talk check it out.

Other things I would like salted peanuts... thats it for now. Oh and war heads.

So in the mission I am having interesting experiences. And I have recently been thinking about something... so I thought I would ask you all a question. Are you proud to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints? If so, which I hope so, how do you show it? 

    Are you bold with your family and friends, not of our faith, when they ask questions about the church?  I hope you understand what I am talking about when I say this. There are times when I have answered question about the church and afterwards I just felt like I could have given a better answer. Other times I feel really good afterwards because I knew I had been bold and truly shared what I believed. I feel like sometimes we hold back parts of our testimony because we are afraid what people will think of us. It is important to know that God is always proud of us when we bear pure and sincere testimony. 

    Another point I would like to make is... do your friends know how important the gospel is to you? I'm not saying you need to walk around with a mega phone, I'm just saying you are an example for others. The other day we came up to a house with some menos activos, and they were outside with their nonmember friends. As they saw us come up they ran inside and hid. Their friends ended up inviting us in and we talked with them. The sad thing is the example of the members is probably pressed upon their minds. Why would they want to be members of our church if their friends who are acting like they don't want to be members? We never taught them but I just wish the members would have been a little better. Sometimes we do this and we don't know it. I'm not going to list all the ways how we do that but I will leave it up to you to decide what you can do better at to be a proud member of the church. It is easy for me to say all this, so I apologize because I wasn't the best at sharing the gospel before my mission. I am not the best missionary, but I am progressing and so can you guys. The important thing is that we are making changes in our life to become better members.

Well it is now Shout Out Time!

I have to give a shout out to Uncle Brent and Aunt Debbie!!! Thank you guys so much for  helping me out with my mission. You are the best. I know you will be blessed for donating to the mish fund. I love you guys alot and hope everything is going well for you back at home. 

Grandpa and Grandma Carpenter!!! I laughed so hard when I got your package and read the note. I am enjoying the handy tool, and the once sealed pound of beef jerky is so dang good haha. Love you guys.

TAMI GREEN... AUNT TAMI.... GREEN FAMILY...I got your package, POR FIN!!! I ate all the gumballs they were so good haha. And the candy is great also. I loved all your letters! Sounds like you are all good. The letters really are awesome. I wrote you a letter back. Keep being cool guys. Love you!

Well its about that time. I love you all. Brooke, don't skip school or seminary you turd haha. Cameron,I hope the longboarding thing is going good..I sure miss a good skate sesh. Caden, good luck with odyssy of the minds... shuffle it up. Zach don't cry bud! haha I love you. The video didn't work btw. Mom, I love you as usually and Dad, suerte in Singapore. 

Siempre estan en mi corazon. Con sincero amor,

Elder Carpenter

Week 14...Limpio

Mby te corpio?!

 

Sounds like everyone is doing fine in California. This week was pretty sweet so I'm excited to share.

 

Thanks dad,  for all the updates... helps me feel like I'm in the club. Speaking of clubs...Paraguay junk...

Futbol or soccer is huge down here. Everyone plays and they are actually pretty good. Also every one has a club, or a team that is their favorite. It's not exactly like having a favorite team in the states. Here everyone has a club... everyone. Neighborhoods sometimes are sectioned off by clubs. There is graffiti everywhere that says different names (olimpia, ccp, guarani, libertad etc.). Usually I'll see a ccp tag and it will be crossed out and a olimpia will be sprayed over it or just a bunch of grocerias (bad words) all over it haha. It is kinda like gang territory stuff. Anyways theres some deats on some Paraguay stuff.

 

So this week was super sick. So last Sunday we had a change of bishops! To give you just a little information on our old bishop. He has been in for 7 years, way too long. There's some other stuff but thats not important. Ill just say his rep has been slowing down the progression of the work. The ward is super lazy and he is def a big cause to this. So we had the change and now we have Obisbo Palomeke. He's super animo for the work and wants to get all the members involved and get the ward moving again. So we are helping him revive the ward and make some huge changes. This whole week Elder Hakes and I have been dang excited to see what will happen and we are already seeing a ton of progression. So two weeks ago we had about 65 people at church, last Sunday 83, this Sunday 106!!! It was crazy. We are going finding all the menos activos and trying to help them out. We are getting members to actually do visits and do their part. Last week I said I didn't know how I felt about being in Limpio again, but I can tell you right now I am more excited then ever right now. Before my mission I dont think I could comprehend the joy that I am recieving in my mission. I truly feel blessed because we are seeing some miracles happening before our eyes. 

 

so We finally are getting some refrences too.

 We are starting to teach Hermano Orrego. The Orrego family is so cool. We spent New Years Eve at their house for dinner. Hna. Orrego was a misionera and all her kids are super guapos (studs paraguay meaning). Marcos is 17 and fernando is13  they both go on splits with us and do a great job. Then there is Sofi she is 10 and is a nice little girl. They have a 25 year old in France studying haha. Anyways Hno. Orrego is catholic and for the longest time has had a hard shell when it comes to the missionaries. Well we did service at their house last change and really helped them out. They are starting to add on to their house so we did a bunch of stuff to prepare the foundation.

So this service project really softened his heart and has started opening up with us. We hadnt taught him yet, but he told his wife he is ready to listen to us!! So he came to church and really liked it. We met last night at his house and had a really cool lesson with him. We set him with a fecha and gave him a Libro de Mormon of his own to start reading. I am can't wait to see his progression. After he gets baptized their family can get sealed in the temple. That would happen in a year from March if he is baptized on the fecha we gave him. And if so I will most likely be able to be there to see their family sealed for the eternities!!! 

 

Another thing yesterday, I gave another discurso in church on la obra misional. I was studying and praying alot on what I should say and I decided to speak on the duty that we have as members to do missionary work. Please read the seccion in ch9 pmg on "the importance of members". It will really help our family out on knowing what the Lord expects of members in His work. Read it and truly pray to know how to apply it to your lives as members of this church. Also read The section in true to the faith on missionary work. This work cannot be done without the help of the members. There are plenty of ways that we can help out the missionaries and the Lord with the work. Whether it be by sharing your testimony or setting an example, Sharing a copy of the Book of Mormon with a friend , family member, or neighbor, or whether it be inviting them to meet with the missionaries. The ideal thing would be to do all of those and I know it is scary and hard but there isnt a need to be scared because the Lord will help you. Just like you shared with me, mom, in your letter.  GREAT JOB!!!

 

So I would like to share with you an analogy that I shared in my talk. A ward is like a tree. Let me explane like every tree it has the ability to grow into a very big tree.

Every member has an importnt part in the this trees growth. I like to say the the branches are the members. And every branch produces fruit which represents the gospel. Among this tree are people who are hungry and the truth is to satisfy their needs they need to try this fruit. The thing is, the But is, is that it is hard to try the fruit if the members or braches dont extend themselves towards those who hunger to allow them to partake of the fruit. Every member needs to extend their arms out to those around them, whether it be their family, friends, meighbers whoever, so that they can try the fruit. Those who except the fruit then become grafted into the tree as branches as well the the tree or ward family begins to grow. Over time the tree can become giant but this growth really depends on the members. The missionaries and ward leaders are there to help you could say as jardineros or gardeners haha.

Anyways I ran out of time... well whoops. Love you all! Do work! Until next week... I AM OUT... PEACE,

 

ELder Carpenter

Changes...week 13...Limpio

Hey gang!

So changes were this week and I am going to .... stay in Limpio ... with Elder Hakes!!!! haha fun stuff, that just means I will be in Limpio for 6 months of my mission (most likely). So I'm not sure about that, but I do know that the Lord is sure. He wants me here for some reason, He wants me to continue to work hard, He wants to give me success. So I am looking forward to all the things that await me. 

So I thought I would start off by asking a few questions ...

Can you find out and let me know if Paraguay is really one of the most corrupt countries. I believe it...I am just not sure.

Also what is goin on with elections primaries etc. Mitt Romney ... I would like to know something about the real world haha.

And it's ok that the spread packets won't work no worries. 

I'm gunna do the shout outs first this week and change it up a bit. 

No letters haha.

BUT I would like to send out some Happy Birthdays

Grandpa Hansen, you old dog happy birthday. As they say in Paraguay, your not old...you're joven (young) ... your just not Jovencita (very young) hahaha. I love you a lot and think about you guys all the time. Thanks for always making everything fun. I hope you have a splended birthday wish I could have been there. Love Elder Carpenter

Grandpa Carpenter, Happy Birthday. I hope your birthday was wonderful. Prolly spent on the golf course?? If I was there I would for sure buy you a game of gold and a nice cold diet coke ... but I am not there so I'm sorry maybe in two. I have been thinking about you alot though. Thanks for your example in my life. May your golf game continue to get better with your age. Love Elder Carpenter

Grandma Noorda, I love you so much. I hope your Birthday was special. I loved your testimony you sent me and I wanted to tell you I am proud to have great grandparents like you two. You really are great! I wish you the best and I know you are supporting me every step of the way here in Paraguay. I love you lots. Happy Birthday.

Elder Carpenter

OK... so this week has been crazy hot. The humidity is 100 % and it is not fun. I shaved my arms... random. Had a nice Jungle dump... 1st. Elder Hakes tried to eat 10 empanadas in 10 min and almost did it. He only got 8 and 1/2 and a sick stomach. Super funny stuff though. 

This week has been really bland. Sorry this is all, super short letter, I will try to get on later to say more. WELL WHOOPS I love you all so much.

The work is going good.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Carpenter