It's Just a Flesh Wound!!!

Dear family and friends,

I have some exciting news for you all. The first off, last week I was bitten by a dog.  It hurt like nothing else.  I am fine, and I did not need to get stitches or a vacination or anthing of the sort, but how did it bleed, Oh buddy.  It did not stop for serveral hours. I changed the bandaid serveral times. All is good however. I am find and my finger ( the place where the dog got me) is working normally like it should. It just has some holes in it.  That is all. It will most likely leave a mark, but that is just a part of the job, and also a part of life. Who knows, maybe in a couple of months, perphape 12 and a half, people will look at that scar of mine and ask, how did you get it, and I will explain, and they will have simpathy and want to talk to me more. 

The second thing that I have to tell you all is that I will be leaving Santa Rosa.  It is the death of the Santa Rosa Kid, but all is well. I think that it is my time to leave.  I had a good time here. I made lots of friends and baptized a few people along the way, but as they all say, "All good things must come to an end."

The third and last thing I have to say is that I am now a Zone Leader.  I will be going to a city called Cruz Alta and I will be Zone Leader B of the Cruz Alta Zone.  I have a new companion, well two actually because I will be a threesome for a while.  Their names are Elders Viana and Anthon. I know Elder Anthon he arrived on the mission with me. He is a cool guy, and Elder Viana I hear is a cool guy too. I am really excited.  

All is good for me here. I am will, I am alive, and I am working hard. I am every excited for what the future holds and I hope that all will go will with us.  

Wish me luck and keep me in your prayers,

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

The Power of the Priesthood can bring mighty miracles!

Dear Family and Friends,

How is everyone doing?  I hope that you are keeping warm, because it is downright cold her.  Well not so much cold as it is cold with lots of wind and rain.  It is really miserable weather here in the Big Rive of the South, or Rio Grande do Sul.  I am otherwise fine.  I am in good spirits and relatively good health.

This week was different.  We had lots of lessons; we taught 32, but we did not find many new investigators.  The new form that our new president, Presidente Ribeiro, has us doing really narrows down the playing field, or simply we had a bad week and the hearts of the people are hard and not willing to crack.  I am hoping for the first. 

We did however mark 3 more baptisms for the 28th of August.  They are a family really special.  The only reason that we are waiting one month for the baptism is because they need to get hitched first.  That is the problem here in Brazil. To get married it is wicked expensive and also you have to wait at least 30 days to receive the marriage license.  So we have found many people who are going to marry.  Up until now we have 4 families who want to get baptized, but need to get married first. 
So it is kind of a uphill battle, but a battle that we are winning it seems for the time being.

We had an excellent experience yesterday.  Well it started out bad, but ended out good.  What happened because of the rain and the cold hardly anyone from our branch actually went to church, so it is a bit of a stretch to think that our investigators would.  So we had no one at Church yesterday.  My companion and I were a bit upset or rather concerned with this.  We quickly changed our plan of attack for that day to revisit our investigators who said that they would go to Church.  We did and we discovered that the better part of them were sick in some fashion.  The first was a family that the mother has an inner ear infection and asthma and had an attack.  They did not go because of that.  We said alright we left a quick message and bang, we were off like a rocket to visit the next family. This family I have the most highest expectations for. They really wanted to go to church and get baptized, but simply the father suffered an accident many years ago and because of that his back is all out of shape, to such point that he has such pain that he cannot drive.   So we discovered this, and my companion began to teach a lesson about the priesthood and how it can bless our lives.  He wanted a blessing, so we gave him one.  He began to cry and simply says his testimony about how he knows that we are servants of God, and we are different and more "faithful" than the others.  It was something special. 

Well family I am getting hunger and I need to get going, while the going is still good.

I will talk to you all next week,

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

I really have nothing really exciting to say, other than Happy Fourth of July, well it is now the Fifth of July, but I did not have the chance to send you a letter yesterday, so I am sending one today.

Also I have not yet met my new mission president. I will have this chance on Thursday. He is going to interview the entire mission. Every missionary for 30 minutes so that is going to be an exciting time. I am really excited.

I am finally sending those photos that I have been taking. I think you guys will enjoy them a lot. I have been hard at work. Although this week to be honest my companion and I became really lazy. I think the pass that we were making finally caught up with us and said hello. But this week will be better, although we are going to be out of the area Thursday for interviews and Friday for zone conference, which will not actually take place in our zone. go figure, but that is the true.

I am well. I have lost more weight. I started the mission with 198 lbs, now I am at 168. 30 lbs Waahooo Wooooooooo !!!!!!!!!! Who knew that walking a lot and eating beans and rice everyday would make my so skinny. I am almost at my goal of 165. I am so close I can smell it.

Well family, I have got to go now. My buck has ran out.


Com Amor,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Becoming that which we wish to be.

Dear family and friends,

This week is the last week of the mission of dear Presidente and Sister Myrrha. They are leaving on a jet plan, in two days. (June 30th for those who are counting.)

It is an emotional time for the mission, and everyone is a little sad to see them go. They have made a great difference in the history of the mission and also in our lives. It was interesting, we gave them a farewell, in place of a zone conference. It was very much like a fryer´s club roast, but with out all the swearing and with more skits.

I got to sing, that was nice. I have the nick name of Pavarotti, one of the three tenor who died not too long ago. You know the really fat one. Any who, I sang together forever in Portuguese with a sister in my district. It was something special. I tried to upload it on this computer, but I have decided that computers in Brazil, especially which we use in internet cafés suck and bit the big one if you get my drift.

I got some interesting advice from Presidente Myrrha. I gave him and his wife a good farewell hug and he whispered in my ear said said, "your history is not yet complete; continue to write it." Which is something that I take literally and metaphorically. This is also something interesting; I was cleaning up my desk and happened upon a couple of papers that had been stapled together. It was about the duties of a leader in the church both in the mission and in other auxiliary callings. It was interesting. There was a quote from George Bernard Shaw which said this, "A vida não consiste em discobrir quem somos, mas em tornar-nos aquilo que desejamos ser." Which translates to, "Life does not consist of discovering who we are, but in becoming that which we wish to be." I do not know if that is the correct translation. I was translating it, but the thought is still the same.

I am going to do that.

Love you all,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is the world cup and everyone is crazy. We tried hard to work, but our numbers this week went to the toilet because of the games. It is crazy. It was ordered by our mission president that we have to arrive in our houses half and hour or an hour before the Brazil games start and we cannot leave until half and hour after. It is really crazy, my companion and I were studying and we could hear our neighbors yelling, cheering, and making all sorts of noise. It is a real deal here. For an example, the banks in Brazil held a special meeting to discuss that they would not open there branches during the games, so a little bit before each Brazil game they close up shop and then after then all open up later with extended hours, to make up for the two or three hour loss. It is crazy.

I am doing well. This week... lets just say that I am glad that it is over. A lot of things happened that left my companion and I high and dry. We are teaching a family that the oldest daughter was baptized a little bit before I arrived. The family was progressing so well, and still are I really hope, but she goes and makes a rather immature and stupid decision to runaway from home and starting living with a drug/arms dealer. Oh, I also forgot she has a one and a half year old daughter who she also took with her. Her family is heart broken and is thinking about moving away from the city to a smaller city that does not have our church. I am really worried about that.

A lot of thinks like that happened,but I know that this week will be better. I have all the confidence and faith that it will be. But as always keep me in your prayers and thoughts.

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

The Santa Rosa Kid

Dear Family and Friends,

Eles me chamam, O guri de Santa Rosa. They call me the Santa Rosa Kid. I have been here for 6 months and I and my companion Elder Bruno will be spending one more transfer together. It is something interesting. I am really excited for this transfer. I think it is to be a fruitful one. We found some amazing families that are waiting to be taught and we also are teaching some that only lack being tossed into the water. I am very excited for our investigators.

I am a little bit under the weather however. I have been walking up at weird hours of the night. For instance for the last 3 nights in a row I have woken up at 3 or 4 o´clock in the morning, and I lack the ability to fall back to sleep. So I lay in bed thinking, about how I can improve everything with respect of the mission. It is good meditation time, but still... I would love to sleep all night long.

I am grateful for your guy's love and support, and I am looking forward to hearing from you all next week, about your lives and who is pregers and what not. I give you my love and my testimony that I am on the Lord's errand and that I am doing a good work, or at least giving it my very best efforts. Today will be spent cleaning the house completely and resting. I am really tired and so in my companion. We taught 34 lessons last week and we walk at least 10 miles a day, which does not seem a lot, but it is tiring after a while.

Até mais,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Skittles and UNO???

Hello family and friends,

How is everyone doing? As for me, I am doing just great. I had a pretty crappie week last week , but I am sure that this week will be a good one.  I just know it.  But you do know why it will be a good week?  Because we have a baptism coming up on Saturday.  Good thing too.  It has been a while for me, and that always excites people into action.  I will have pictures ready the next time we chat. 

It has stopped raining, which is a good thing.  Today is really bright and lovely.  A little chilly, but all the same it is a very good day. 

I had my last zone conference with President Myrrha.  It is a shame to see him go.  He is such a cool guy, but I have faith and all the confidence in the world for our new President.  His name is President Ribeiro.  He is from Brazil as well, and when President Myrrha was a stake president President Ribeiro was his first consoler and he also served a mission here in Rio Grande do Sul, so he already knows the people and the culture. I think that he will do a really great job.

Isaias De Oliveira Ribeiro, 46, and Soni Maria Barbosa Ribeiro, four children, Brazil Santa Maria Mission; Londrina 1st Ward, Londrina Brazil Stake. Brother Ribeiro is a stake president and is a former counselor in the Brazil Londrina Mission presidency, counselor in a stake presidency, bishop and missionary in the Brazil Porto Alegre Mission. Institute director, Seminaries and Institutes of Religion. Born in Maringá, PR, Brazil, to Pedro Celestino and Leardina Almeida Oliveira Ribeiro.

Sister Ribeiro is a former ward Primary, Relief Society and Young Women president and Sunday school teacher. Born in Maringá, PR, Brazil, to Moacir Da Silva and Ana Ribeiro Da Silva Barbosa.

Other than that I am have nothing more to report. I got a group of letter from the Singles Ward.  That was a welcome surprise. I did not know that there are so many new people in our ward.  It will be interesting to get to know everyone when  I get back.

Well that is it for me. I hope that everyone will keep in touch.

Com Amor,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

  ps

If anyone can send me a big bag of Skittles and a deck of Uno that would be great. I thank you all and love you all very much. 

Tchau!.