5/16 2-3/6‏

Hello family! sorry its been awhile since i've gotten a good email in! life's been a little crazy here! sooooooo news..... well we'll wait for that! that happened this last week but i haven't talked about the week before really! so the week before! Monday as you guys know i went to the doctor and he said that i needed to eat more fiber to get things moving in my stomach and to see if it can't get rid of that pain. well i started eating more and drinking more to try and get things moving... but like you guys already know didn't happen cause the whole impacted colon. But then the rest of the week was pretty chill. we didn't really work much cause i wasn't feeling that great. But on wednesday something pretty cool happened. We go out to our new area every wednesday and saturday and so wednesday two weeks ago we were waiting to get a ride out there so we're waiting for a free ride with acouple other people. we waited and waited and waited we were about to leave and this group of ladies walk up that were looking for a free ride out there too. just a little bit after they show up a flat bed truck shows up so we all jump on. well turns out that one of the ladies that showed up turned out to be a inactive member. We've never found a member out there so we were super pumped so we talked to her some more then we went and did some of our citas then we went to her house and she was a little crazy but she ended up showing us a family where one of the kids had actually asked one of his friends to send the missionaries to his house but for some reason the reference never got to us so we were super pumped cause he wanted to learn more! so we knew that the lord had us wait there for this member to show up and then for her to show us to him! always super cool to see the lords hand in things! but yeah then that friday we went to a Zone conference! i got to see Elder Joseph Jarvis! he went to high school with me and graduated a year before me! so it was pretty sweet to get to see him! i also talked to Richardson again. Found out what's going in the old area and then i talked to the doctor. yeah i found out i had to go do some tests and go see the stomach doctor (its got a official name but spanish has ruined my spelling) so yeah i wasn't to pumped about that but i was pumped to be getting better! so yeah then on the way home i got pretty car sick! i've never got car sick but after walking all your time and then riding a car for 2 hours its a killer! but oh well i'll get used to it when i get back! I also got two packages! :) i love you guys! Mom i got your package with everything intact minus the cookies... the elves didn't make it.... don't worry i gave them a proper burriel in my stomach! and then nicole sent me a package with an ironman shirt and a few other things! :) you guys are the best! love you tons! :) and then sunday we didn't leave cause yeah i wasn't feeling good at all. so monday we went to the capital spent the day doing tests and x rays and crazy stuff... but yeah so we did that then spent the night in the office waiting for my results to come back in then early tuesday morning i found out that i had to get put into the hospital... OH yeah thats the news! yeah kinda anti climatic but yeah so i spent this last week in the hospital! yeah wasn't the funnest time of my life! i had to rock an IV. Turns out the dang bugs that i had didn't leave because of the impacted colon! so yeah i spent the week just chillin in the hospital... oh yeah let me define the word hospital. It was a handicap old folks home thing. They take care of a bunch of handicaps and so i fit right in. we had one guy that looked like adam sandler then one guy that had really short arms and legs. He was always flirting with the girls it was funny! but yeah i also drank a bottle of laxitive and nothing really happened but i've kicked up my bran flakes and all that so i'm gonna be enjoying the toilet! but yeah so fun things that happened while i was in the capital! two of the sisters that were working in that area came in and visited and both at some point in the week ended up passing out because they didnt eat... yeah one of the girls is super anorexic! its sad to think that girls dude stupid stuff like that! but she wanted attention and that's what she got! but yeah they gave her fake pills for her to get better! I got to eat KFC mashed potatoes thanks to the browns! love them tons! then oh i got to drink root beer finally! one of the grocery stores in the capital had a couple cans! so i got a few! tastes great! but still can't wait for a good ol fountain drink root beer! uhhh oh yeah we thought we were coming in monday and leaving monday so we brought nothing to change or to bath or to do anything of that sort so i went 6 days with out shaving and showering and all that great stuff huh??? love the help from the mission! but yeah that's what i get for living clear on the other side of the country from the hospital! but yeah then i also got tons of comments on my spanish! pretty much everyone thought i was about to finish up my mission cause my spanish! :) great compliment! oh yeah we also got to watch the NBA finals. The crazy home aka hospital had a TV so we got to watch that last two games! i was going for the thunder! but oh well! Lebron finally got his ring! but yeah anyways nothing really else to exciting happen! got tons of calls from about everyone! Robyn called me acouple times worried about me! love that kid! but yeah i had lots of prayers! thanks for that everyone! Kept me going through it all knowing that i had tons of prayers! but yeah update on me right now my stomachs still a little funky because i haven't gotten rid of the impacted colon thing yet but the doctor said i'm getting better! i'm just gonna start jumping up and down and try and shake it out! but yeah other then that i'm doing pretty good! loved getting out and working yesterday! getting to see everyone and getting back to work! i love it! but yeah now time for investigators! Lucas is the boyfriend of the president of the Relief Society and he has lots of friends in the branch. I thought he was a member because he had been going to church alot. But he has a true interest in learning about the gospel and not just for his girlfriend. He has a desire to know for himself. This week we're going to get working with him and he should get baptized before the transfer ends. That is all we have for investigators right now. We are working with alot of new investigators and also with the branch leaders to help them know what they should be doing in the branch. We're hoping to get them more educated in their duty. Alright well i think that's it for this week! Hope you aren't to upset with me for not telling you guys! but know that all is well and that i'm out and about doing my best! :) thanks for all your support! :) your the best family that a missionary could ask for! :) I hope all goes well with you guys! :) keep me updated on life! til next week!

-Elder Carlson

PS pictures of robyns baptism (tradition in the branch to take a picture with a different tie!)

me in the hospital! with my IV of Dew! ;)

and then me and elder Jarvis at the conference

 

FAMILY!!

Hey family sorry i didn't get to email you guys yesterday i'm back in the capital i had to do some more check ups. turns out i have an impacted colon. in other words poop stuck in my colon. So they've given me a few things to try and get things moving along. So keep a prayer in your hearts that i can poop! :) bet you never guessed that you'd be praying for that! but yeah i don't have much time i have to get going but i just want to say thanks for everything guys i love you all so much! sorry these two weeks have been dud letters! i'll get better quick so i can write you more! i love you all so much! :) and the whole thing about buttons is ok. She was going to die soon anyway. As long as everyone else is feeling great! :) That's what happens! but yeah keep on keeping on!
-Elder Carlson

5/16 1/6‏

Hey family! alright so yeah this weeks email is going to be fast we kinda had an adventure today. we went to the capital today to go see the doctor i´ve been havin some stomach pains so we went and saw him and he just said that its probably cause the dominican food isn´t quite full of the fiber that i need in my diet so i need to eat more fruits and bran flakes.... bleh! but yeah so we were there then we came back late late so we´re here for a little and then we´re leaving cause we´re super late! but this week we had a good week! Robyn got baptized and confirmed! i did it in one try! it was really cool i asked him how he felt and he said really happy! it´s crazy to think that in one of the poorest parts of this country we found a kid who got baptized and is going to be a strong member! the lord prepares those who are ready and willing! but yeah our other investigators aren´t really progressing so we´re going to have to drop a lot of them! but yeah then my comp.... wellllllll yeah he´s going to end next transfer so he does what he wants then tries really hard with other stuff. I really need lots of paitence with him. but yeah its only 6 or 12 weeks! thats nothing! i got plenty of other time! but yeah thanks for all the emails! i love hearing about whats going on at home! kinda skimmed over these emails cause of the time! and yeah i´m not sure what my emails are going to be like these next couple weeks.... i´m not a fan of switch comps! definitly like having one companion! can´t wait to get my wife and just never have a transfer or a companion change! but yeah time to go i love you all so much! everyones in my prayers and especially grandma! thanks for everything! oh yeah and mom already paid the browns and then i don´t need anymore money! all should be good but thanks! oh yeah also yesterday we stayed in azua and i got to see celenni! really cool experience to see her! she was helping the other missionaries teach! another cool thing to see your convert teach someone the gospel with the missionaries! but yeah love you all tons!

-Elder Carlson

4/16 6/6‏

Hello family! How's everything going??? things are going great here! i'm a little bummed but i'm still doing great! sooooo the results of this transfer..... Elder Bentley is going to be...... a zone leader in another zone and i'm going to be with another missionary that finishes up with me.... yeah..... when you end someones mission its called killing them and i have already killed elder bitton and its not the funnest but oh well we're gonna work hard regardless! another interesting fact is that i'm going to be opening up a new area here in san juan! an area that hasn't seen mormons ever so we should have lots of success there! so we're pretty stoked about that! the two dominicans are staying here so its gonna be another.... interesting.. transfer! but we'll make it! I'm just gonna keep working hard! speaking of working hard! Robyn the teenage boy we've been teaching has asked me to baptize him! i'm pretty stoked about that! he's a stronger member already then a lot of the members here and he's not a member yet! so we're pretty stoked about that too! it should be this saturday! lets hope and pray that all goes well with this one and that theres not any problems! what else??? ummm nothing else really to exciting i don't think! oh alright heres an interesting story for the week. This week i had one day of just bad diaheria so we came home early and didn't go out to work in our area that night. well turns out the next day we find out that there was a big machette/gun fight that same night. If we would've stayed out we would've been in the middle of that fight! crazy huh??? so when i'm sick its not always a bad thing! :) but yeah we're actually done with that area and moving out for a new area! its pretty tough cause we're not getting many new investigators cause people are a little more prideful cause its a little richer then the area we were in but someones waiting for us! but yeah investigator time! This week was the best week of my mission as far as numbers go. We had lots of success with our investigators and getting members to leave with us. We set 4 fechas and with the new area opening up we will be getting more. Our lessons were good and effective lessons also. Me and Elder Bentley have been working hard here and i will miss him for sure but i know the lord needs him in Bahni and that Elder Harris needs to be out here. This week we got to meet with Robyn a lot and he now has all the lessons. This week we will pass over the questions and repass over a few other things. He is a strong investigator and loves the Book of Mormon! He has actually been coming to more of the church activities then alot of the members have. He is very excited to get baptized and has already begun thinking about a mission! He lives in the poorer part of town so he may not have the chance to get to go for funds but i'm going to keep in touch with him so that if neccesary i can help him out. he will be a great missionary! Our next closests fechas is Yesenia and Yissel. They are a mother and daughter and they want to be members. Yesenia wants to set an example for her family and for her husband who is evangelical. They weren't able to make it this week to church but tomorrow we will find out why. Our next fechas is Yahira and Glaci. They are another mother and daughter. We are working primarily with Jahira. She promised us she would go to church this week but she didn't make it. She is still missing something but we're not sure what it is. We are gonna keep working with her. This week we will also be going out to know this new area and hopefully get a lot of success out there. So yeah i don't know what else??? this week will be an interesting one! i'll let ya know how it all goes! oh yeah weird to hear that everyones getting married! skylar jorgenson, brandy, jaycee! i still haven't seen any of these wedding announcements or anything! so yeah hopefully this week i'll get some of those! but yeah i think i'm good for this week! thanks for everything family! keep writing me! i love getting emails and letters are great too! keep me updated on how summers going and get on sister to email me a little bit more! :) but yeah i love you all!!!
-Elder Carlson!

4/16 5/6‏

Hey family how´s things going??? lifes going great here! i´ve been feeling lots better and i´m pretty sure all my buddies are gone! and so everyone stops getting mad at me for eating intestines it was an investigating family so we had to eat some or they´d have been really offended! so it was helping a family getting closer to baptism! but i´m doing great! i feel great! but yeah this week was super stressful! i´m getting prepared for being a school teacher! people here are super immature and just very unrespectful! its crazy but i´m doing great! got some help from a letter and these emails!!! :) so thanks for that! but yeah lifes going pretty great now! its elder bentley´s birthday this week so we´re going to go party it up! but transfer calls are also this week so elder bentley is super nervous cause all of our baptisms are going to be this next transfer so if he can stay another transfer he´s gonna be able to be here for them! which would be awesome! but we´ll see! so next week i´ll let ya know who my companion is! but yeah other then that i have some pretty exciting news! Last saturday me and elder bentley were going to our english class and as we were walking down the road we saw my old branch president from AZUA! it was so awesome! he´s one of my favorite persons here and it was way awesome to see him and talk with him! turns out Maciel! one of the girls we were teaching awhile back got baptized! yeah i was super stoked! her parents were in active and then for the baptism they came and are starting to come to church agan! made me so stoked! especially cause the last sunday i was there i set up the appointment for Richardson to go visit her and yeah she´s baptized now! super stoked but yeah then i´ve also been going to town on the conference magazine! mom i´ve got a talk for you! Elder David Baxter from saturday afternoon! so yeah! what else??? oh yeah i got a package this week from Peggy! Which came just in time! she sent me a waterbottle with the built in filter! yeah this week we ran out of money cause our temple trip costed us a ton and i had to pay for light so we had to start using some of the tap water for stuff and i was able to put the tap water in my filter bottle and drink no problem! :) thank you peggy! :) But yeah on that subject i´ve had to pull out some of my money to get food and stuff here! we got screwed on money this time so i´m gonna be using some home money but i´ll be using next times money to put it back into to home money! but yeah then i also got the Browns to get my razor! so yeah no worries about that! thank goodness for the browns! they just take care of us here! but yeah off subject! Morgan is about to leave! if someone could get me his address either for the MTC or for his mission that´d be awesome! i did some tie shopping today for him and want to get some out for him! so that´d be great if you could get that to me! and i can´t believe people are starting to leave and get back and that saturday brandy and jaycee are getting married! tell them congradulations for me! and eat a piece of cake of their cake for me! and mom hope the house all goes well! i´ve been praying a lot about it! so hope it goes all well! and dad i´m super jealous about your cruise! pretty sure you owe me a cruise too! i don´t know why but you do! enjoy mexico! and having an ice cream for me! so yeah i think that´s it this week as far as crazy stuff! people partied for the new president. so the streets were pretty funny with drunk people.... youngest drunk i saw! take a guess!!! nope! about 6 or 7! yeah she was drinking a beer right in front of us! yeah this country takes care of there kids... lets just say i´m getting more and more greatful for what i have at home! oh yeah tuesday night we got called home early and found out that their were wars going on in the capital and that there were bombs and everything! yeah we didn´t hear a single gun shot! must be getting lots of prayers for me to be in the calmest city in the country during all this! so thanks for all the prayers! oh yeah i also had to give a talk this week! it was mothers day here and so i talked about Charity and how mothers are a great example of it! Yeah i´m feeling comfortable with my spanish! i´ll find myself just talking in spanish and not even having to think! just being able to say things in spanish! its cool! i can still understand really good! so yeah no worries there! but yeah that´s it for my excitement this week! For investigators...This week has been a good week. A little crazy because of the elections but we still got in some good lessons. Robyn, our baptism for the 9th of June, he´s progressing alot! He´s coming to alot of the church activities and church meetings. This morning he came to a branch service project where the only people who showed up were the missionaries, our branch mission leader, our branch president, and him. He is going to be a very strong member and we´re even getting him thinking about a mission. He is very interested. Our next investigator is Jahira. She is the mother of the Mejia family and her families been sick so its been a crazy week trying to share with her. But yesterday we had a very good lesson with her and watched the Restoration video with her. She promised to go to church next week no matter what! She talks alot about what a church should be and its our church so we hope she´ll go and see what its like. We have a few other people that are progressing very slowly and aren´t keeping their commitments so we may drop them. We´re going to try hard with them though. but yeah i think that´s it for this week! hope you all have a great week! and enjoy your summer! i´m doing great here don´t forget that! thanks for all you do! oh mom for a package talk to nicole about the drink thing! she sent me a mountain dew! so yeah but yeah i love you all!!!

-Elder Carlson!

4/16 4/6‏

FAMILY!!!! How's it going??? dropping my surprise email in! they let us out tonight cause things are pretty chill! i have a feeling we might get called back in tonight! cause this morning and last night it was pretty crazy! so tonight may be more crazy! but yeah i'm stoked to be out! i don't like being stuck in the house! its not fun! but yeah nothing to dangerous! but yeah this week! it was a great week! we got to go to the temple! that was pretty legit! the session was in spanish and i actually understood it for the most part! we woke up at 3 in the morning to leave so it was a pretty rough morning! but we also got to do baptisms for the dead! that was cool! but yeah then we also ate at McDonalds! :) it was great! ate me a big mac and a mcflurry! :) yeah it tasted amazing! i miss american food! oh speaking of crazy food! we ate mondongo this week! incase your not familiar with the dominican cusine its intestines! yeah it wasn't good! the intestines i had before you really couldn't tell this just straight up looked like intestines! i wasn't a fan of it! but i ate it just to say i ate it! i gotta stop donig that because i got my coprologico number 3 and i know have larva of worm! i just had the eggs now i have larva! but i've been drinking lots of coca cola and spicy foods to kill it! but the doctor is sending some more medicine to kill it! and we also found out that elder bentley has it too! so yeah we're all gone take an awesome pill and just clean everything like crazy so it goes away and never comes back! oh i also got my two pairs of pants back! they look great! :) i'll take a picture when i get the vest that goes with the one pair! its awesome! we're looking good and we know it cause we've gotten tons of citas this last week! we've broken my record for most lessons taught! we are killing it here and hope that elder bentley stays one more cause we're working with some families and we work great together so we'll wait and see! transfers are coming up in two weeks! crazy to think that they're almost here! but yeah time is crusing by! can't believe my 7 months came already next month i hit my 3rd of the way done mark! crazy crazy! but yeah life is going great out here! feeling great! working super hard! having fun and loving life! can't wait to get some letters or a package or something from you guys! i had some stuff i needed but to be danged if i can remember it right now! uhhhhhhh i'll write it down this week then i'll let ya know! but i'm diggin this new house mom! i'll keep it in my prayers that you get it! plus its gonna be awesome to have light and AC and carpet and running water!!! :) that's gonna be the best! :) but yeah what else??? i don't know what else to write! oh yeah the new president down here is named Danilo! so yeah now ya know! oh to vote from here what can i do?? after all this political stuff here it made me want to get on it back at home! so if you can get the abstentine ballet or whatever it is! that'd be great! oh yeah and mom my debit card expires next year in may i believe i didn't notice that til the other day! so don't know what we're going to do with that! and if you go into talk with them get some of they're pens! they have awesome pens! so yeah its nicoles graduation wednesday! and you guys are out of school! CONGRADULATIONS!!! :) Another year down! i'm going to enjoy another year without worrying about school but then a year from now i'll be talking about it! so yeah crazy to think that i'm gonna be signing up for college classes next year! pretty exciting! but yeah oh investigators! We have found a lot of good progressing investigators and some families that we are working with. We have been getting lots of lessons with them and also we've found some inactive members that are wanting to come back to the church so we've been working with them too. Our first investigator that has a fecha is Robyn. He is 17 and is very humble. He lives with his grandma because both his parents died. He studys the Bible a lot and knows it really well! He's progressing a lot and is wanting to change his life! We have taught him the law of chastity and has hid from his girlfriend so that they wouldn't have relations. He has his baptismal date for the 9th of June and is very excited. Our next investigator is named Yesenia. She is very interested in the gospel and wants her family to start learning together and going to church. Her and her daughter are sharing with us as often as we set appointments and her husband is an Evangelical who works in the capital. We are working hard to get him there when he's there and to involve him and see how his family is changing and growing! Hopefully he will soften his heart and share with us more. We also have the family Mejia, we haven't been able to share with them this week because they've been gone for the elections but we shared with them last night and everyone is still going strong. The wife really wants her family to be together forever and teach her kids a good example to follow. The husband may be going back to the United States to work for 7 or 8 months so it's going to be an interesting situation but we're still going to be working hard. The next investigator that is really progressing is named Elizabeth. She's around 19 and lives with her sisters. She told us in the last lesson that she prayed and got an answer that this is the true church and wants to continue learning! We're working to get her to church and more members to come with us! She's progressing very good though! We've recieved a few references that we're going to start teaching as soon as all the election stuff finishes. But yeah that's it for the investigators this week! well i was hoping to have more emails this week but i understand cause no one was expecting me that's what happend! but thanks for everything everyone! You guys rock! talk to you all next week! i love you all so much! :)

-Elder Carlson

Skype with Elder Carlson on Mothers day