"This is the end, beautiful friend"

Dear Family,

 

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! I am freaking out. I have not the slightest idea what to do with myself these days.  I am working, but my work is coming to a fast hault and I am beside myself. It does not help that everyone keeps reminding me that my mission is coming to an end. I am pondering the imortal words of Jim Morrison who once said, "This is the end, beautiful friend,"  I still have some more things to take care of however, so I  will not allow myself to forget that. 

 

I still have much more, I have to get those two people into the water before I can call it quites.  I am working on that however.  It was cool hearing the baptims anounced in the sacrament meeting.  It is something that made me feel good inside.  It seems that Heavenly Father has heard our prayers and has made it possible for us to have what we´ve worked so very hard for.

 

I saw a picture of mom today. Minha nossa, as the brazilians say, she has changed. I think that we´ve all have changed. I am excited to see what the world has laying in store for me, and hope that it is good. But alls good in the São Borja.  To answer Erynns email, no it has not snowed here, but another part of the state it has.  It just gets cool and rainy. It is not a fun thing, however, right now it is nice and sunny. I´d say it is in the mid 70´s.  I am ready to get back into the swing of things.

 

Love,

 

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Life without worms is GOOD!!!

Hey everyone,

I am getting super excited about what will happen here in a couple of weeks.  Not that I am coming home or anything like that but it is likely that we will have a couple of really good baptisms here in São Borja, The Land of the Presidents.  They call the city this because two brazilian presidents, one of whom as assionated, were born and raised here.

We have changed tatics of our work and it is finally going right. We are inviting everyone for baptism. People are quite open to the idea.  Many have accepted our invitations for the water.

One man that we were teaching is finally wanting to get baptized and he has quit smoking.  It is a answer to many prayers of many people.

Life is good. I am without worms and or any other parasite.  I am working and Heavenly Father is blessing the work which is being done. I know that I am happy with what I have done until now.

Everyone here in São Borja is just doing great. Although there has been a lot of our investigaters who have been to the hospital this week.  One of whom because of this trip to the hospital is now free of his smoking habit.  Thank goodness for the almost pnenalmania ( the sickness where lungs fill up with liquid.)  He has a very good chance of being baptized now as well.

I love you guys and I hope that you all are in good health and excited for life as I am.

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Working my Tail off....

Hey everyone,

I am doing much better than I had been. I am now back in São Borja and working my tail off to make up for the lost time. My work is getting better and I am really excited for the weeks to come.

I had to get my second talk of my mission on Sunday.  My companion and I discovered this on Saturday morning when there was no time for me to prepare. I was a little nervous but it came out well. Our mission president has been really reenforcing the importance of the Book of Mormon in our lives and in the conversion of those who come in contate with it.  We discovered many things pretanning of the final judgment and the book.  For instance, those who served missions, or those who are Elders of the Church, will be held responsible by Nephi and Moroni about how they used the book, for they are the two people who suffered most to make it come to fruition.  With that information,  we are now compelled to walk with a copy in our hands and I am using it more and more, so my talk was about the book.  I said many things which to be honest  I do not remember. I was filled with the spirit and just winging it.  I had litterally no time to prepare a talk, but I managed to fill up 15 minutes and would have gone on longer, but I looked at the clock on the back wall of the chaple and felt that I needed to give the second counseler in the district presidency time to talk.  Not to brag but I really felt good about my talk. If I could remember what I said I would give you a part of it right now, but I don´t so I wont.

Well family, it is getting closer and closer to that faitful day when I walk down the tarmack and give a great big hug to you all; until that time I love you all and hope the best.

Love Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Parasite...

Hey everyone,

I would like to give thanks to everyone that said a prayer or worried about me in the last couple of days. I am getting alot better and I feel that I will return to work here in a couple of days.  I have a perisite that was causing all of my woos, but now, I am great.  I am taking so other medications and I am feeling really good.

I am excited to get back to work after my 2 weeks vaction, or rather stay in my house.  I have to say I hated it. I was so bored. I really wanted to just get back to work and keep on trucking, but I am a stubern old fart who needs to work to feel useful.   I am really excited to see what these last couple of weeks hold in store for me. 

I am here in Santa Maria because they wanted me to see the doctor of the mission, Dr. Felipe.  He is really cool. He is a young guy.  He lived in Canada for many years and speaks english fluently.  He said that there is a bug that lives in the waters of Rio Grande do Sul, and more than likely it was that bug that got in to my system and started to mess with me.  I am getting alot better now and so do not worry your pretty little heads off. Alright?  I am going to go back to work here in a couple of days, and then it is off to the races until the end of my mission.

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Kissing disease, I don"t think so!

Ôla,

Como é que temo, espero que vocês estejam bem.  Eu estou mais ou menos. Fui ao hospital duas vezes esta semana; estou passando por muito mal no estômigo. Espero que você não fiquem preocupados comigo. Vou sobreviver.  Vou ter que fazer um monte de exames, de sangue, etc. Para ver o que que tenho.

I had a kind of a strange week.  I did not work all to much. I have been kind of sick and was told by the mission president´s wife to stay home, and rest. So I have been and I continue to do so until she tells me otherwise.  I am however alright, just really really tired. I think I´ve got mano, or the dreeded kissing disease. Which if you think about it does not make much sense in the fact that it has been, let me see, oh yes more than 4 years now that  I have not kissed anyone so it is a little bit untruthful to call it that. Although the doctors do not know what it is that I´ve got so here in a couple of days I will do a blood test, and urine test, and poop test, and they will take a x-ray of by chest to see what the heck is wrong with me, but I will be fine. My companion gave ge a blessing and in the blessing he said that I would get better through these things that the doctors fine.  Do not worry. Will come home alive and well. And worse comes to worse I will come home a little bit early and you will get to see me.  Although I do not believe that will happen.

I got a funny phone call from the mission president last night saying, "Hey stop stressing out, you only got 5 more weeks.  You can hang in there."  Of course all that was said in Portuguese, and does not translate completely to that but that was his intent.  He was just calling me to get the phone number of the missionary couple in our city.  Oh and by the way, I discovered that the missionary couple and our family are related.  They two are Murdocks, but not.  The couple is actually named Brother and Sister Minor, but he says that he has family line of Murdocks in Ceder City, more than likely since he is from there and is a relative to those Murdocks I figure that we are some kind of a cousin couple times removed.

Well love you all and  I will see you soon,

Love

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

I am not "Trunky"

Hello family and friends,

Once more I am closer to coming home. My companion loves to remind me of the end that fast approaching.  He says that I am "trunky," however I believe that he is more trunky than I about the return home, however I will not lie, I am excited as all get out to come back home.  I do think about it often, but I am trying to be more focused on the here and now rather than the then and later.  It is a strange feeling. I really do not know how to handle myself.  It is rather an odd feeling of excitement a pure fear of the things to come. I am confident, however, that I will return home and everything will work out for my own good.

We had a family come to church this Sunday, out of the blue. It is an answer the prays of my companion and of mine own. We had one of the worst weeks. It was a week that proved and tested my patience.  I never wanted to just call it a quites and pack up my bags as much as I did last weeks.  It has been rather difficult to say the least of the matter.  We were going to baptize a man this week, but he continued to smoke and it has been two weeks that he has not been to church, so last Sunday when he did not go  I took it like a kick in the pants. Really hard.  I was depressed and ready to throw in the towel, and this yesterday he did not go again, but the Lord brought to us another family who as being asked if they were already baptized said, "Not yet, but that is why we are hear."  I was so thankful to hear those words at that time.  I had made a promise to myself, the president, and also to Heavenly Father that I would not "die" until the first of August when I will be in Santa Maria waiting to renew my temple  recommend and also take a class given by the mission president about eternal marriage.  I received as Paul put it in Hebrews 11, the proof of testimony.

I am very glad about all of this, and hope that everything will go alright, with this family.

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Look on the bright side of life... just like Brian said!

Hey family,

How are you guys doing:?  I am just fine.  I cannot complain too much. Although I have been stressing out  about everything as the mission is coming to an end. It is weird to think that here in 50 some odd days I will be taking a jet plan home. More than likely next to the guy that I sat next to on the way here. Elder Talyer.  He´s a good kid. I was his companion for a couple of weeks. 

This week was a really good week. More than likely one of the best weeks that I have had on my mission. I am really excited for what comes, but all that I know is that I have to try my hardest and trust in the Lord and those who are around me.  It will happen, and I feel it.  I have had some really spiritual experiences this week, and I realize that I am not alone in my cause, or rather the cause of the Lord. 

My companion and I are getting along just fine. He is learning really quickly. I like being a trainer, but at times there was something's  that they learn in the CTM, that does not work, and I have to beat it out of him. It is a complication  but you do what you can. I really like the kid. He is really good with the members.  He can manage to get referrals from them which is something that I am not so good at, so it is a good combination. I am good at street contacts and getting members to go with us to teach lessons, and he is good at getting them to give up their friends and family members to be taught. Dream team, if I do say so myself, and I do.

Well family I am without words, but just remember to always look on the bright side of life just like Brian said. 

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Hello There Ladies

Oh, well hello, I did not see you there... Ladies!!! ;)

I did that in honor to my two year old nephew, Ashton. 

I am doing really well. Life is great and I cannot complain too much about what is going on here. We are working and trying our best  and that is all Heavenly Father wants of us.

We are having good success with Israel. He is working on his problem with smoking and it is going well.  He says that he has great headaches, but I know that is the nicotine that is in his blood and body leaving. It is a difficult stage in the process of getting rid of an addiction, but it is going to happen one way or another.

We are getting along with the members here just fine. They like us, and seem to recognize that we are working to get people to go to church. We were given an hour to work with them, and we passed a part of a movie that we missionaries use for our trainings. It worked out wonderfully.  They people recognized their callings as members of the church.  They are giving us a wonderful turn out of referrals. 

We traveled to Santa Maria this week as well and heard from the Elder Soares of the Seventy.  He is a really nice man. A very spiritual guy. I really liked what he had to say.

I love you all and I will talk to you all in a month and three or four weeks.

Love

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Hello Argentina

So how is everyone back Stateside,

 

I am doing really well. Life is good. We did not baptize the girl, yet.  She has not been to  church in a while, and we are working on her going to church before we put her in the water.

 

I finally went to the river, and guess what. I can see Argentina from my house.  It looks exactly the same as Brazil, but there are more trees on their side of the Rio Uruguai.  It is alright, there really is not much to see.

 

We are teaching a man named Israel, who is looking the Book of Mormon. His has already been baptized, and they really did not have any hopes for him to be baptized, and then we invited them to start reading the Book of Mormon as a family, and they did and a couple night per week we go there and read with them, he went to church two weeks ago and would have gone this week but he had to work. However, we talked with him last night he said never again will he take up a job on Sundays because he wants to go to church. We are going to start teaching him the lessons and see where it goes from there. I am very excited for the future holds for him.

 

Other than that I am fine, lost some more weight, P90X works.  I do not know how much I have lost, but I look skinnier with out a shirt, so that is what is important. I am kidding, I also look skinnier with my shirt on as well.

 

Love,

 

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

São Borja

OH Hey,


I really do not have much time to talk today. I had lot to do and very little time to do it, I just have a couple of minutes to talk you all.

I am doing much better than I was. I just had been spoiled to for the last couple of months being with very experinced missionaries, but I am over it and we are doing just fine here in São Borja.

São Borja is a city in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. São Borja is the oldest municipality in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul and was founded in 1682 by the Jesuits as the first of the Seven Points of the Missions. It is situated on the Western Frontier of Rio Grande do Sul on the border with Argentina which is defined by the Uruguai river.



São Borja is known as the Land of the Presidents as it is the birthplace of two Brazilian Presidents: Getúlio Vargas (1883–1954) and João Goulart (1918–1976).
 

 

 

 
My companion and I saw the river today, and we thought to ourselves, wow, this girl wants to get baptized in that filth. It is not the cleanest place on earth. It is darker than the Wabash to give you an idea. But she insisits that the river is the only way.

I am doing fine here. We are teaching alot, and we are trying to get the members involved in the work. They are helping out alot. I discoverd that also that they is nothing open at lunch time here in our neck of the city. We will have to go to eat in the center of the city when we want to eat from now on.


I love you all, and hope you all are doing well.


Love,



Elder Caleb S. Carriere

River Uruguai

Hey,

I really do not have much time to talk to you guys, but I am doing well. I am doing alright with my new companion. I am not much of a fan of training. I am so used to having a companion who is just as capable as I am in teaching as I am that I have been kind of spoiled. 

I do like my new area however, and we´ve marked a baptism in the River Uruguai. I am very excited for that, although we cannot baptize her, because missionaries cannot go into the water.  It will cool however.  I will enjoy it.

My new companion is from São Paulo, and his name is Elder F. Santos.

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 34°12′S 58°18′W

Uruguay River
Río Uruguay, Rio Uruguai
Sunset in the Uruguay River, from Misiones, Argentina
Countries	Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay
Source
- elevation	1,800 m (5,906 ft)
Mouth	Río de la Plata
- elevation	0 m (0 ft)
- coordinates	34°12′S 58°18′W [1]
Length	1,600 km (990 mi) [2]
Basin	365,000 km² (140,000 sq mi) [3]
Discharge
- average	5,500 m3/s (194,000 cu ft/s) [3]
Map of Uruguay River's basin

The Moconá Falls, where the river passes between Argentina and Brazil, are up to 3 km wide

Map of the La Plata Basin, showing the Uruguay River joining the Paraná near Buenos Aires.

The Uruguay River (Spanish: Río Uruguay, Spanish pronunciation: [uɾuˈɣwai]; Portuguese: Rio Uruguai, Portuguese pronunciation: [uɾuˈɡwaj]) is a river in South America. It flows from north to south and makes boundary with Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay, separating some of the Argentine provinces of the Mesopotamia from the other two countries. It passes between the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil; forms the eastern border of the provinces of Misiones, Corrientes, and Entre Ríos in Argentina; and makes up the western borders of the departments of Artigas, Salto, Paysandú, Río Negro,Soriano, and Colonia in Uruguay.

The river measures about 1,600 kilometres (990 mi) in length and starts in the Serra do Mar in Brazil,^[2] where the Canoas River and the Pelotas River are joined, at about 200 m above mean sea level. In this stage the river goes through uneven, broken terrain, forming rapids and falls. Its course through Rio Grande do Sul is not navigable.

Together with the Paraná River, the Uruguay forms the Río de la Plata estuary. It is navigable from around Salto Chico. Its main tributary is the Río Negro, which is born in the south of Brazil and goes through Uruguay 500 km until its confluence with the Uruguay river, which is located 100 km north from the Uruguay's confluence with the Río de la Plata, in Punta Gorda (Colonia Department, Uruguay).

The river is crossed by four international bridges (from north to south): Paso de los Libres-Uruguaiana International Bridge, between Argentina and Brazil; and the Salto Grande Bridge, General Artigas Bridgeand Libertador General San Martín Bridge between Argentina and Uruguay.

The drainage basin of the Uruguay River has an area of 365,000 square kilometres (141,000 sq mi).^[3] Its main economic use is the generation of hydroelectricity and it is dammed in its lower portion by theSalto Grande Dam and by the Itá Dam upstream in Brazil.

Cock a Doodle Doo

Hello family,

 

I am doing fine.  It has been a week since I last wrote you guys.  How fast time flys right? Well good news...  You all get to talk to me on Mother´s day.  I am excited for that one, but it is only going to be for a half hour this time around, but we have another time to talk to you all on father's day. I have not the slightest idea what day is fathers day, but I hope it is before august.  

I hope you all are doing great. I am just fine. I really have nothing much to say. I am just doing well, and I not sick, but always tired because of the roosters that live behind our house. It is crazy. I did a division the other week, and I slept in another house, and my body is so accostomed to it that I woke up, and I heard nothing just the sound of  the other missionary breathing. I was stunned by it. I really do not know what to do about it, but I am sure once I leave here that I will become accustomed to it again.

I have nothing new to tell everything is going along just right and I am getting ready to be transfered. I hope that I stay, but I am sure that I am going to go. I am at the limit of my time here. I think that I will be reasigned as trainer. I really do want to, but I do what I am told.  

I love you all and hope that you all are good.

Love

Elder Carriere

"Mom, don't drink it, you will die"

Hey Family,

How are all you doing?  I am doing fine, and I am in high spirits although a little tired. We have a tradition now where we play basket ball on preparation day at the butt crack of dawn, and so I am tired, and would like to go to take a little nap. All and all however, I am doing quite well, and I am looking forward to what life has in store for me.  

 I am busy at work.  We have been trying to improve our manner of teaching as well, as finding people to teach. I think it will have a good effect on the ward.  I hope that people see our efforts and want to provide there talents in Lords work.  

That family of seven is still going on strong. They have agreed to stop smoking, and they have a little reservations about coffee drinking, but their children are helping them. Their youngest daughter saw her mother drink a cup of coffee, and said "Mom, don't drink it, you will die."  I got a laugh out of that one, but it is very true. She is a very smart little girl of three years of age.  I really love that family, but it is a shame that I will not be able to see them get baptized.  It is very likely that here in two weeks that I will leave the area and more than likely leave the city.  I really do not know what will happen, but I hope that I can still have the opportunity to see them get baptized, or at least when I come back here see them get sealed in the temple.  That is why I would like that you guys talk to Brother Dixon, and see about that study abroad.  

I love you all, and hope you are doing well.

Love, 

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

"After time she gets old, and you do too, but she is still your woman"

Hey everyone,

I am going really well, and my life is really good. I cannot complain.  I am in good health, and we are still building up our teaching group. We are, however, teaching a wonderful family, which is like ours.  They are seven in total: mother, father, and five children, three girls and two boys.  I really like this family.  They are going really well and the father went to church this Sunday, and the mother stayed home because they had visitor come unexpectedly.  The mother did pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true, and she did get an answer that it was indeed the word of God.   I am very excited about the progress of this family.

We got a new kid in our house.  So there was a Brazilian in our house but because of some family problems he had to go home for a time, and so when he left there was also arriving two new from the States, Americans, and my companion and I were his companion for a day.  It was different training a new guy for a day. He was very excited and the only problem was that he could not speak the language. It is interesting how people treat the new guys.  It is interesting that a year and seven months ago I was that guy, and just as completely lost, tired feet and brain, and with a bad case of Montezuma's revenge.  Oh, I am glad those days are over, but I do miss the newness of it all.  It is something that gave me a reality check. 

I had an interesting conversation with a drunken man last night.  He told us his life story, then he started to break down and cry, and he started talking about how his father was a member of the church in another city, and how he wanted to be like his father.  His dad died as a family man, and that was the greatest regret of this man. He was married and had three children with his wife, but then separated from her, and he now regrets not having his family with him, like his father.  He said something that touched me, that I perhaps will never forget.  He said, "You meet a girl in your youth, and she is your young woman (wife).  After time she gets old, and you do too, but she is still your woman."  It is simple, but it is true.  Oh if he knew or actually took to heart what his father knew to be true.  We will teach him tonight, and I hope that he will be willing to hear and put into action the things which we will teach.

I love you all, and I hope that you are all doing well, and I will talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

The Eye of Faith

Hey Family,


I am doing really well. I am happy and in high spirits. We had a really good week, and it was due in part of conference, and also because we had two baptisms this weekend.

First I would like to say that conference was really motivating, although by the end I was really quite tired, not because of being bored or anything of the sort, but rather tired because so much knowledge was to be had, and my poor opinon mind simply could not take a more information. All of us who were watching it, by the fifth session were having a hard time keeping our minds balanced. It is a strange feeling having the Holy Ghost tell you so many things, and being compelled to act rather than to sit idly by as the world asks upon you. That was one of the overwhelming messages that the conference told me. Also that I must get married sooner than later and also that once married I have to be a good husband, and not simply act like one. I still have sometime to learn how to do that, but I already have some ideas, thanks Richard G Scott and President Monson, and Presidente Ribeiro for giving me some incites about such things.

We had some interesting talks these days the guys in my house and I; we have been talking about the meaning of the "The Eyes of Faith," and how we can better apply those eyes in our lives. It is a simply perplexing topic, you can dig deeper and deeper, and the doctrine does not change, but the way that it is implemented changes, and also the results for the understanding of it. We talked that there needs to be faith, hope, and the eyes of faith. They all serve different functions for the same outcome, and lack one they all do not serve for anything. The first is faith, or in other words a goal or something which we want to achieve. The second is hope, our the confidence that we can achieve said goal, and the driving force behind our desire to achieve. The "eye of faith" being the plan which is made to achieve and strengthen both faith and hope. We learn in Moses 3:5 how God used it in the creation. It states that God created everything spiritually first before he created everything according to physical matter. God made a plan, and then made that plan happen. The spiritual Creation was the blue print for everything else, because His true goal is to have us become as Himself, which is possible through the eyes of faith, and seeing ourselves as he is, eternal and resurrected. On a more scaled down version of this we can apply this in our lives by making a goal, and then seeing that goal materialize in our minds, and then make that goal happen. It is something that we have been learning, and it is something that I need to study more about to become more like my Father in heaven.

We had two baptisms because of what we envisioned using our eyes of faith. Their names are Lourdes and Thaliany. They are a grandmother and granddaughter. It is a sad story that they have. Lourdes is a widow of a couple of years now, and also Thaliany is parent less, because when she was younger her father killed her mother, and has not been hear or seen from again. I do not know whether he was caught by the police or something else, I did not feel the need to ask, nor the gumption to ask. However their take to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ was a rather quick one, and once more proves that those who read the Book of Mormon will gain a testimony of it. There is really just no way of denying its truthfulness. They both read it daily and they are very happy to have found the church, because of it. I am glad that I was an instrument, or a "tool" in the hands of the Lord. I was the one who made the contact with Lourdes weeks ago, and said, "Hey, We are Representatives of Jesus Christ. Can we say prayer and bless your home?" I am beginning to understand how Ammon and the other sons of Mosiah felt as they talked about their success in Alma 27.

I am studying about the word Penitent. It appears just 7 times in the Book of Mormon, and six of these times it is stated in the book of Alma and 5 of those six times in Alma it is about Ammon. I will get to the bottom of what it means. I already have an idea about it. Thanks Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.



Love



Elder Caleb S. Carriere

One Last Climb

Dear Family,


How are you all doing? I am doing just fine. I climbed up the mountain one last time. I liked it. It was a lot of fun. I am, however, very tired, and I would like to take some time off of everything. Unfortunately that just does not happen as a missionary. I am doing good beyond that.

This week my companion, and I have been working harder than every before. We are trying to build up our teaching group, because it is a little small and many people are being cut, because they are not progressing the way we would like them to progress. It is a sad thing, but it is a necessary thing every now and again. It is like cutting down a forest, and planting a new one, it takes time, but in the end it is worth the effort that was put in.

Our mission to get the member to get to working is still going strong we had a new ward mission leader called in our area. I am really excited to work with him now, and he is doing a good job up until now. He is a good friend of mine, actually. His name is Antão. He was baptized about two and a half years ago, and he is a strong member of the Church. He was serving as the ward's young men president, until he was called this week. He is a hard working man. He will do just good and fine on his new calling.

As for me, I am fine. Cannot complain too much. Life has been good to me thus far and I am just loving it here. I got Alyson's gift this today. I am looking froward to make the brownies. That is something that does not exist here. It is good to have a little slice of home. The closest thing that they have here is translated to ( and remember they are not racist here) "crazy negro cake". Which is good, but it is not as good as brownies which does not sound so racist.


I am doing well, and I hope you all are too, and remember always look on the bright side of life.


Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Fight to the end...

Well family,

I am doing well , and my companion and I are still working on that project that we are doing.

I am doing really great.  I am feeling much better about my life, than I was a couple of days ago.  I was going through some difficult times, but thankfully I got over it and now I am more deteremed to work until the last day of my mission.  I have seen so many missionaries just up and give up a couple months before the mission is over, and what good  comes from that.  None what so ever.

I know that my job is not yet done, and I am determined to get it accomplished. We had a pretty bad week compared to weeks passed. We did not reach many of our goals which we had previously set for ourselves and our zone, and I more than my companion got frustrated with this, however since he is just a good easy going guy we was able to show me the better way of couping with this kind of let down.  He is a big sports fan and he remembered a quote from the quarter back for the football team for the Univercity of Florida. They had just lost one of their games and he said, " you will never see a person in the US work harder than I will work this sesson to take my to the national championship." That year they won the NCAA nationals, so I think there was some merit to what my companion had to say to me in that situation. We are going to be the two most hard working missionaries that Santa Maria has had in a long while, and we are going to take names and kick butt in the process.

I am going well, and finally today we woke up and it was kind of chilly. They weather is finally cooling down and fall is starting to come in. I am so happy. I am done with this hot mugginess, and ready for something different.

Love

Elder Caleb S. Carriere.

ps. I got Amy´s birthday gift last week.  Thanks Amy.

Sometimes we have to take the good with the bad...

Hey Everyone,

This week was a good and a bad week. It was something of a bittersweet symphony.  We had two baptism but we also had to cut a lot of the people that we were teaching because they did not want to continue doing the thing which we had asked them to complete. However, we did mark one baptism and we also found two family which I feel could have some great potential.

My companion and I are trying to take a new road on doing the work. It is kind of a pyramid skeem, but if it works out we will have to work less and we will get more results.  We are trying to break the idea that their exists two church.  The church of the missionaries and the church of the members.  We are now trying to motivate the members in taking a proactive role in missionary work. We are now training them to speak to their friends family members who do not apart of the church, and we are teaching them how to place a Book of Mormon in their hands and giving chapters or a couple of verse to read.  We are also trying to get people to mark family home evenings with their neighbors and friends and talking about the church in general.  I hope that it gets some results.  I feel like if these works the results will be at least three times bigger them what we are currently having.

I ask all of you to take note of what I just said, and try to start having missionary experiences.  I remember when President Connolly asked that our stake to start praying to have missionary experiences and I believe that it gave great results for the missionaries and also for those who shared the gospel with those who do not know it.

I am doing well really well indeed. I got Amy's birthday package. Thanks Amy and Chris and Amelia and lets not forget Olivia.

I am still waiting on the others, but I believe that I will get them here soon.

I am doing really well, and I love you all and I hope to talk to you all soon.

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

And the Oscar goes too... Who cares????

Dear Family and Friends,

Oh, how does time flies. I did not even remember that Oscar season was just last week.  Every year I got all excited about such things and now I couldn't careless about it. Oh how I have changed since I have became a missionary and changed my wayfaring ways.

This week was all good. We had two confirmations of the two women that we baptized last week.  It was good to see them at church. I have full certainty that they will stay active in the Church. We also started to frequent another chapel.  Our beloved Salgado Filho was closed this last week because it is an old chapel. It will be renovated and twice the size when she is done and so I cannot complain too much about it. It was a much needed change.

My new companion and I are doing great.  We have one bad thing though. We talk in English too much. It is going destroy our ability to speak in Portuguese.  It is really hard however because every now and again one of us will ask the other, "Oi você se lembra (incert show or movie or music here)."  Which means hey do you remember..." and we will get to talking about Back to the Future or Rugrats or OutKast.  We are getting better about meaning more self controlled but at the start it was difficult.

We are going to have two more baptisms this weekend. I am very excited about  these two.  It is a mother and her 8 year old daughter. Joci and Julia.  Julia´s grandmother is the 2 consular in the Primary and she was been going to church forever and one day our Bishops said hey go and baptize her.  He does that often.  So I talked with the little girl and asked her where she lived and if we could talk to her mother.  She said yes and gave me the address.  We went there and at first her mother was really nice, but did not seem to want much to do with religion at all.  She agreed to have us come back. She had a complete transformation and she got really excited. For example it was two weeks ago that we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, and she has already read to Mosiah. She is reading alot, and she has also quite smoking and drinking coffee.  It is a great progress that she has made.

Well Family I love you all and hope you are doing well.

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere

Roommates Once Again....

Dear Family,

How is everyone doing? 

I am great, and I thank everyone for your love and good emails for my birthday tomorrow.  I am very thrilled that I will be turning 23 years old, but at the same time I realize that I am getting really old. My life is got much to do but little time to do it in.  I am all smiles however. I will get getting a new companion tomorrow.  I already know him. He is a good guy and he will be my third American companion.  Elder Hill.  He was my roommate in the CTM. It will be sweet. I am looking really forward to the new things that will be happening. 

I am doing really good. This last week there was a great deal to get done, and we managed to get it all taken care of before this past Sunday.  My last companion is ending his mission.  His name is Elder Monteiro he is a good guy, but he is really to leave.  The funny part of it his mother and father came to get him. He was really occupied by that for a while, and he did not think about too much other than that. We also received two more missionaries in our ward.  It is growing greatly and require two more Elders.  So this week my companion and I were on a constant companion exchange.  It was good however because we managed to help these two guys out, unfortunately one of them is being transferred to another area so I will have to help the new guys how is coming to the area.  

We also had two baptisms this weekend, and you would not guess it, but one of them the woman asked me to baptize her. Her name is Iracema. She is a wonderful woman.  She is the mother of three, and two of her children have mental handicaps. One cannot talk and is a result of lack of oxygen in the brain during the birth process, and they other is due to something that happened when he was a child.  It is very difficult for her, and she took to the gospel like no one I have seen before. It was an amazing transformation. She was a smoker, and when we taught her about the Word of Wisdom she stopped smoking, and that was about a month ago that she quiet smoking.  She is a great example of true will power through her faith in the Savior Jesus Christ.  

The other was a woman that was not baptized with her husband because she was pregnant and it was a risky pregnancy.  However she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and after a good time of recover and some trials of faith she too wanted to be baptized, and the cool thing about it was that her husband was able to baptize her having received the Aaronic Priesthood that same day.  It was cool.

My week is doing great, and I hope you are all doing really well. Amy Happy Birthday in two days.

Love,

Elder Caleb S. Carriere