9/16 4&5/6‏

Feliz Navidad Familia!!! Hey guys!!! so wow it's been a long time since i've written you guys or even talked to you! i'm doing pretty good out here! super stoked that tomorrow i'm gonna see you guys! :) soooo heres the run down on tomorrow! tomorrow at 3 here (so like 12 there) we're gonna be getting on maybe a little earlier! but be prepared at that time to see your favorite missionary ever!!! :))) but yeah i'm super pumped to talk with you guys! it's been forever it since i've seen you guys! theres been some elders that did it today so that got me super pumped to see you guys! but yeah so these past two weeks i've gotten like 5 packages from you guys and i'm super stoked to open them all! it's been killing me! you know how it was tough for me to not open my presents or snoop at all! yeah here where i can open it all and no one will really know or care it is just killing me! but in like 12 hours i'm gonna be opening them up! i think i'm gonna wake up early like always and open my presents! that way the latins don't try and steal everything i get also! so we'll see what i do! but yeah so this past two weeks were pretty rough with all the christmas stuff and not being home not as easy as last years but the thing that is getting me through it is the fact that next year.... I'll be home for christmas!!!! you can count on me!!!! please have snow and mistletoe! and presents under the tree!!!! ;) woooooo!!!!! i can't wait! but yeah soooo what else happened this week! well last week we had 10 baptisms! and the week before acouple too! so we're doing pretty good! i had to do 5 interviews! i don't like interviews! they're kinda rough cause you're afraid to tell a person no but you know its something you've gotta do! so yeah i did my best had to tell one no which was pretty rough but yeah! but yeah i felt comfortable with everything i did! but yeah also last week we had our christmas party! that was fun! the browns left for the states! yeah i'm pretty super bummed about that! but i'm pretty stoked cause they were just starting out when i came in so i know mines coming to an end! but yeah i got my pictures with them and everything! now they are back in utah enjoying the christmas season there! but yeah we also ate pretty decent and enjoyed all the acts from each zone. our zone sang in three different languages! it was pretty cool! it turned out better then i thought it would! saw all my old comps that are still in the mission. Elder Larsens struggling with his new comp. He's training a kid from colombia and his comp thinks he knows everything so its giving elder larsen a rough ride but we talked things out and we both helped each other out. i had a little bit of a rough time with my comp this past week cause the members are a little stubborn here so he was being stubborn back so we had a talk and it actually worked out good! he calmed down alot and we're doing lots better together! we also spent the night in Ocoa this past week! i love that place! if we ever come back here we're gonna go out there! cause it's super cold and super nice! ok when i say super cold i mean i have to sleep with a blanket! cause that's cold to me now! i wouldn't be surprised if its snowing there or close to that! how's the weather been there! well i don' t want to talk to much cause i'm gonna be talking to you all tomorrow! i hope you all have your questions ready and everything! i've got some too but still i want lots! welll i can't think of really anything else! i'm just ready for tomorrow! i hope all is going well there! and that all continues well! i miss you guys a ton but can't wait to see you tomorrow! have a great day! and talk to you all tomorrow! remember sleep good so that santa can come and leave you presents! the kids here don't celebrate that! they think that kings come in January to give them gifts. and that a rat changes there tooth for money..... how sad huh?? welll yeah different in culutures! but yeah i love you guys! have a great day!
<3-Elder Carlson

9/16 3/6‏

Family!!! How are you doing??? things are super crazy here! i'm super tired and a lit.... really stressed but i've discovered a new way to get rid of my stress! i'm learning how to play piano! we got a piano in our house this week and i'm practicing and teaching my companion! i know mom you're wondering how are you teaching if you don't even know cause you never took the lessons! i actually learned one thing very important in those lessons! that was where middle c is! and from there i've learned and am working on getting the left hand down! but yeah i'm doing pretty good i'm impressing myself and pretty much can play any song with my right hand! :) but yeah and what else!!! two more weeks til christmas! sooo about that! NEWS! next week i won't be emailing because its gonna be our missionary christmas party! which means i won't be able to tell you what time i'm gonna be able to skype because of this crazy week i still haven't figured out when and where and all that! sooooooo what i'm gonna do is if i don't let you know the monday before christmas i'm gonna call you and tell you what time i'll be on! so yeah! be prepared these two days! sorry! but yeah i'm gonna do my best to have a good set time and follow it! so yeah but yeah this week was crazy! went by super fast! cause we've had lots of stuff happen. i had an intercambio in ocoa which is super beautiful! it's pretty much like utah but a lot more tropical! but yeah so i spent the night there it was super fun plus i had a comp that spoke english so i was able to talk to him the whole time in english! it was great! :) but yeah then we also have been planning our activity for the christmas party next monday and we also joined our branch choir to sing this tuesday... guess who got volunteered to sing a duet??? yup! yours truly! but yeah then also we've had some crazy stuff go down with investigators and with branch members! my comps depressed and the other missionaries in my house are upset! but we're all pushing along! i actually got complimented for always being happy and for setting a good example of doing what i'm supposed to and for doing everything by the doctrine! i was pretty pumped! i'm trying to get these guys pumped but i think it's gonna take christmas to get them going! which is coming super fast! so yeah speaking of which! mom i got all the packages from you and grandma! which i was stoked! the elder that brought the mail was upset cause he was pulling out all these packages for me! :) but i didn't care! :) but yeah all safe and sounds! and ready for christmas! i'm to be having my last christmas in the mission! plus i can sing the song i'll be home for christmas next year! :) WOO HOO!!! so yeah for my christmas present i'm gonna buy me a waffle maker and a new pair of pants so thank you all for your christmas present to me! :) i will use them wisely! :) plus i'll act surprised when i use them christmas day! :) i hope you guys all get the things you hoped for on christmas! :) ummmm what else??? welll i think that's about it! so with investigators Alexander that had his baptismal date for this week didn't go to church cause his work just put him to work sundays so we're gonna have to work on that. and then the family we're workin with is having problems of getting the documents for the kids who are not yet recognized by the government here because there mom that left them is here illegally and so its a big deal! so yeah! we're gonna work on that! but yeah then after that we're still working on getting some new real progressing investigators! plus trying to work more with the branch! so yeah but i'm thankful for you guys and can't wait to see you all on christmas! :) prepare your questions and all that! :) i'll try not to answer all your questions with my opening statements! :) and i should talk weird because i have been living in all spanish for 5 weeks then! so yeah! Anyways i gotta go now! have a great day! love you all so much! talk to you in two weeks! :)

-Elder Carlson

9/16 2/6‏

WOW how time is flying! i can´t believe i´m already into the half way point of this transfer! things have been flying by here! zone leader keeps me busy and things are just flying by! and looks like i´m gonna keep getting busier because i´ve gotta do companion exchanges with missionaries in my zone so i´m gonna get to know alot of different areas which is gonna be legit! :) i´m excited for that! as far as the work in my own area! things are going great! We´re progressing in two weeks we should have a baptism of another priesthood holder! and then our family is getting closer and closer too! but yeah i´m super excited! as far as other investigators we´re still looking my comp is all about contacting. which is good but not effective! so i´ve been talking to him about visitin members and starting up an english class and all that stuff! so yeah we´ll see what happens! but yeah we visited a member the other day and it was cool to see the difference from when we hadn´t visited him to when we visited him! cause we visited him he was happier! he knew our names! in church we mainly get called the missionaries cause the members don´t know our names.... i don´t understand how that happened! but yeah i´m gonna change that! plus the guy we shared with has pretty much his whole family inactive so we visited with his daughters and at first they were like alright we´ll share if we have to and by the end they were asking us when we were coming back and putting there own visit! so i was pretty stoked and you could see the members face just smile like crazy! i love it so much! :) so stoked to be a missionary! :) but yeah so then what else??? ummm we´ve had tons of meetings atleast two days each week we´re busy in the morning with meetings! then the others we´re doing something else for missionaries! but yeah then i´m also learning a new language from my companion called guateni! it´s the second language in paraguay! so yeah pretty cool there but yeah other then that i think that´s about it for my cool ness! sooo yeah as far as the baptisms that they had planned well i didn´t hear right theres 20 and its in three weeks! so yeah i´ll let ya know how it goes! if they all make it i´ll for sure be throwing pictures! :) but yeah thats it for this week cause i´m in a hurry cause we got here late and then i got a call about a sick missionary and had to spend about 10 minutes taken care of that and i still need to write my president and all that! but thanks for all your emails guys! i love you all so much!!! :) you´re awesome!

-Elder Carlson

oh yeah just so ya know as of right now we´ve got a computer to use for skype on christmas! we´re gonna get everything set up and taken care of to be sure sure but as of right i´ll be seeing you on christmas! :)

9/16 1/6

Wow family! what a crazy week this has been! i´ve been super busy! i swear i´ve had more meetings and had more things i´ve had to do in this one week then in my whole mission! we´ve been busy busy and this week looks like we might be the same! theres an area here in my zone that is getting lined up to have 10 baptisms this week! crazy huh?? there on fire up there! my areas pretty awesome just really tough so far we haven´t had to much success but we´re teachin a family and we´re working hard on getting them all prepared! but yeah so my area is huge! it´s pretty much the whole town of Bani and the beach! so yeah i haven´t been to the beach yet cause it´s like a half hour away from town but me and my comp decided one day we´re gonna take a trip down and check it out! but yeah my comp! he´s from paraguay! He´s super cool and reminds me alot of Beau! We´ve both been lackin on sleep so this week was a little bit rough and he´s not to excited about the area cause of how rough it is but i´m super stoked to be getting in here and to change that around! i´m stoked because my last area was like this when i got there and when i left there was like 3 or 4 investigators that weren´t kids and youth and a family! so yeah we´re gonna make this area awesome! but yeah so i´m back to branches! it´s pretty crazy to think i´m back into the whole branch and district stuff but my branch is awesome! they´re super fun and we just got a brand new chapel with air conditioning and everything! so it´s awesome! :) plus for all you sienfeld people we´ve got our very own kramer! his names esteven and he´s awesome! he´s crazy like kramer and just acts exactly like him! it´s hillarious! but yeah soooo this week was pretty crazy like i said! we started off with meetings! meetings for the zone leaders in the capital and then our zone meeting and then we had a baptismal interview! it was pretty crazy! but legit! so yeah i got to see lots of cool people at the zone leader meeting! i´m one of the youngest zone leaders in the mission right now! crazy huh?? but yeah i´m super pumped to get working hard! but yeah one other cool thing about the zone leader meeting was that it was on thanksgiving so the president and his wife fed us turkey and potatos and gravy and then some pumpkin pie to end it all!! :) it was awesome!!! they made our days for sure! so yeah pretty great i´d say! but yeah this week was kinda a blur i´m trying to get a hold of everything plus our area and our zone and we gotta do intercambios and all of this craziness so yeah! this letter is gonna be short cause i´m kinda all over the place! but yeah sorry if i don´t answer all of your questions! but yeah weather is good here! pretty warm with no rain! so yeah! my comps name is elder Cardozo and is 22 and has the same amount of time as me in the mission! so yeah pretty cool! but yeah i´m trying to think of what other questions!!! if i don´t answer write them down and when i get back or at christmas i´ll answer them! oh and for christmas i´m talking my comp into doing skype! cause its a lot cheaper that way and the internet center here is super fast and set up for skype so if we do do it it´ll be the monday after christmas! just so you all know! but yeah i love you all so much i gotta go! :) YOU´RE AWESOME GUYS!!! Love ya!

-Elder Carlson

8/16 6/6

Family!!!! soooooooo how´s everyone doin this fine thanksgiving week?? i´m doing pretty good super nervous cause the transfers calls came and i´m leaving Mirador and Santo Domingo and heading to Bani! as Zone Leader! yup i didn't think it was possible for someone to get that calling in my situation but! i'm gonna do my best! so with that i have no clue what's gonna happen as far as christmas and stuff goes! depends on my area and my comp and what he's gonna do! so i'll let ya know in like a week or two! but yeah crazy stuff i'm super nervous being in charge of a district is intense but in charge of a whole zone! with just barely over a year! it's gonna be intense but i'll for sure get better in every way! :) so yeah that's my big transfer news. Other news for this week we had some fun! we got to go clean the beach as you see in the pictures! it was pretty fun! yeah i was on a caribean beach! funny thing was that there was a baseball training acadamy right on the beach! yup that's the DR for ya! but yeah there wasn't alot of people that helped out but we had fun! then this week it was the first birthday of Angelina. The little girl of a family we're working with! the parents didn't have enough money to throw a party for her so me and Larsen pitched in all of our package items and made her a cake and balloons and that to throw her a little party! it was a success except for Angelina was a little afraid of her cake but quite enjoyed the balloons and the attention! She did eventually eat some cake! not quite like me! ;) you know i'm all hands when it comes to cake! :) but yeah those were probably the coolest part of our week! ummm we also did intercambios with the ccm this week! i went with a mexican! He was pretty chill but didn't talk much! but it was fun still! as far as investigators we had a lot of success in church! The ward here is super good at helping the investigators feel welcome! i'm for sure gonna miss that! but hopefully i'll be able to get that in my next ward! we'll see what happends! but yeah i'm pretty excited to see how my next area is and how everything goes! i figure i've only got one more area after this one but we'll see! but yeah i'm pretty excited to see how it all goes! tomorrow i get right into my responisiblities makin sure everyone gets on and off the transfer bus like they should! Oh! and i'm also taking over the place of Elder Bentley! He's leaving and i'm going in for him! so it's gonna be awesome to see him again! :) bummer we weren't comps again! but yeah i don't know if i've got much more to say this week! Hope you all have an awesome thanksgiving! I'm thankful for all of you guys and all of your emails even if they're just short and telling me about what happened even if it wasn't to interesting! I love it! :) thanks! You're the best! :) I LOVE YOU ALL!!!

-Elder Carlson

8/16 5/6

Familia! Como estan todos??? How was everyones week! looked like it was pretty good! a little cold but good! surprisingly its gotten cold here! we finally hit like the 80´s! So its felt pretty great! but yeah this week was full of meetings! this week was like all meetings it seemed like! but it helped it go by somewhat fast! as far as investigators go everyones still pretty busy doing stuff that just gets put first instead of the church. so yeah we´re just being patient but we´re having super succesful citas! Wencaslao is getting more interested and he´s actually got a baptismal date for january! so yeah we´re pretty stoked for that! he wouldn´t even listen to us but now he´s taken the lessons too! The only problem is that we have to wait for his wife to get back! then in January they´ll get baptized! and theres a family! woo!!! so yeah hopefully we can get them involved more with the ward so that they can get excited for going to church cause that´s what they fault! but yeah then we´re also looking for more people to teach! we´re hitting and missing alot! we had a super good cita with an investigator the other night but he didn´t make it to church and we haven´t seen him since... so i don´t know. but yeah we´re still trying our hardest! ummm sooo looks like america voted for an obamanation! (say it outloud if ya don´t get it) we had people keeping us up on things but we got the bad news wednesday morning! but oh well! in sunday school class we´re on the second coming and the milenium so yeah i´m not to worried! ;) but yeah atleast it was close and that he´s never gonna be president again after this! soooo as far as the conditions for here.... well all i have to say is..... it´s begining to look alot like christmas!!! every where you go!!! :) yeah theres not thanksgiving here so christmas stuff is going up like crazy! even at church we had a small christmas special number yesterday! not a fan of it but i guess it´s gettin me in the mood right?? yeah i´m stoked cause this is my last christmas here! so next year i´ll be back with you guys singing carols and drinking hot chocolate and all that! :) oh speaking of which i made a list of stuff i want for my christmas package. well i need some more shaving blades for my razor. i have the gilette fusion power or something its like black and blue! but yeah then some more mesquito repelent with like the sponge applicator! somemore garments i´m going to town on mine. and then my comp got something amazing the other day in his package. it was a shake and pour brownie mix! :) i wouldn´t complain for one of those! and then chocolate like m and ms! and some hot chocolate packages! like the marshmellow lovers! and yeah that´s all i got this week! if you can´t tell i´m i a chocolate mood! that´s what chirstmas time does to me! :) but good news! ponche is coming out soon!!! aka egg nog!!! i can´t wait to drink that again! :) but yeah that´s about for this week! hope you all have a great week! i love you all tons!

-Elder Carlson

oh and transfers are this week i´ll let ya know what happens! if ya don´t mind throwing in your prayers that i stay here that´d be awesome! :)

8/16 4/6

HEYYYY FAMILY!!!!! :) How´s life??? sounds like things are going pretty good back at home with halloween and all that! i´m doing pretty good here! Halloween doesn´t really exsist here! they actually tried banning people from celebrating it so yeah kinda a bummer! but i wore an orange tie to celebrate! but yeah what else is new here??? ummm we´ve heard a ton about the hurricane! we actually had a few members here have family affected by it. one of my favorite members here didn´t hear from her family til saturday! so she was having a rough time! we went and helped clean up her house and yard and helped her as much we could! but her family are all fine but just have no house. so yeah. others have been lucky and haven´t had such bad news. also some bad news altagracia left this week for New York this week... but Carlos and her husband Wencaslao (bet ya can´t say that name right) are still listening to us! :) so that´s super good! but yeah as far as other investigators we´re getting lots more references and we´re gonna start working more with the families that aren´t complete! we have two citas tonight with some families and so pray super hard that the rest of the family gets there hearts touched! we got a super good compliment the other night. our ward mission leader left with us and took us to people that he knew and after it all he was like i´m really glad you guys are the missionaries here you guys are awesome! and it was just a super satisfying compliment that he trusted us and knew that whatever he needed done we´d do it the best we could! so we felt good! but yeah we´re really trying to find famillies and we´re finding lots so we´re just starting out with them so hopefully they progress! so yeah but as far as everything else goes ummmm this transfer is almost over with which is crazy! i can´t believe it went by so fast! i hope and pray i get to stay here another transfer so if you can throw that in your prayers too that´d be awesome! cause we´re going to town on this area and it´s just gonna keep getting better so i´m super excited! but yeah so what else??? i can´t really think of anything! oh! the elections are almost here! like tomorrow! i´m sad to say but i think obama is gonna win just for the fact that alot of the minorities are voting for him and all the unemployed for the whole unemployment plan he has! but Romney will still be in our hearts! ;) but yeah i´m nervous! i don´t know why i´m nervous for this one but eah i am! so i think that´s about it for this week sorry its so short nothing to special attached here! so this week´s picture is me ready to go to clean some yard! my shirts are a little big on me haha

Les Quiero mucho!

-Elder Carlson