transfer 3/16 week 1/6‏

Mi familia! Como estan todos?? i'm doing great here! this week was probably one of the longest weeks i've had in a long time! cause the new companion and all that but yeah we get a long pretty good! Elder Richardson is his name! he's from Hawaii! crazy huh?? yeah he's got 8 brothers and sisters! and he's pretty cool! he's about to hit 9 months! i hit 5 months today! crazy almost a 4th of the way there! :) but yeah i think about how long i've been here and its crazy but then i think about all i've done and it feels like i've been here for a lot longer then that! we do a ton of stuff! this week the craziest thing i had to eat or drink was tamorindo juice! we had it yesterday and people here say it makes you super tired! yeah i am a witness that its true! the whole time we were there me and elder richardson were nodding hard! it was bad! its been raining a ton here so that helped a little when we got out! but yeah crazy thing that i saw was we had a parade today! it is the independence day of AZUA so they had a big parade and every business is pretty much shut down! luckily i knew of a small internet place in our area that just happened to be open! so yeah i'm emailing you guys now! oh and just so ya know if i don't email you a week look up DR holidays and check if its a holiday cause it more then likely means all our internet places are closed! or if its not its just a power outage here! but yeah this week has been pretty good! sucked not having elder bitton there but i'm doing good now! I guess my spanish is really good! i still don't understand it all! i can keep somewhat of a conversation! i can do a lot of stuff! but if we talk about church stuff i can have a conversation! but yeah other then that i'm still working on it! Elder Richardson trained a kid and just left him. he was with him for 3 transfers and he said that my spanish is a lot better then his! so yeah i feel a little bit better with that! oh yeah my other crazy thing is that i lost 15 pounds! i weighed myself the other day and yeah i'm 15 pounds lighter then when i left! so yeah cool fact there! i'm super stoked for the pepto bismal that i have! this morning i woke up feeling super sick and visited the bathroom several times but i popped a few pepto bismals! yeah i feel a little better! still not the best but i'm gettin better! Elder Richardson got pretty sick too! but we're both chuggin on! We may have found a new house to move into! which would be great cause it's about 100 times better then our house! but we have to go through the office and all that so the senior couple is gonna stop by sometime and we're gonna go check it out and so i maybe moving into a new house! but yeah what else?? i'm gettin a package ready to send off that should be sent off next week! i'm stoked to hear that i got a package on the way! i'm needing some new stuff! i've found a lot of the stuff here thats new so yeah i'm needing new things! My cooking abilities are doing great! i didn't realize how easy it was to make some stuff! don't say anything but i shoulda learned how to do some more stuff before! i'm still cooking great stuff but yeah i wouldn't mind having a few more things too cook! but yeah what else??? oh yeah! speaking of cooking! We have a menos activo that her husband lives in spain and she's lived there a few times! she cooks amazing! we've eaten there a few times and she makes great food so i talked her into teaching me how to make a few things! so yeah wednesday i'm gonna go learn how to make a spanish dish! yeah none of the food i'll come home knowing how to cook will be dominican! maybe an empanada! but other then that probably will all be other country food! :) oh yeah the missionary work! probably can talk about that now! This week was a slower week then the others because of transfers and helping Elder Richardson get to know the area. He's getting there and will help this area out a lot! we still got to share with our fechas, Nicole and Yefri, for this week several times and they are ready to go for this saturday! We didn't get to talk to our other investigator Celenni because she is out of town for a week or two but we've been keeping in contact with her family who's been keeping track of her. They said that she's not drinking coffee anymore just everyonce and awhile. We told her family to remind her to quit drinking coffee completely! And her daughter is a really strong member and is always making sure she doesn't drink. So we're not worried to much about that! But we're keeping close tabs on her! We've recieved another reference from our fecha, Nicole, Her brother that's 9. His mom said to baptize him to and he's been in all of the lessons with Nicole so we're gonna go over the lessons again with him and he'll be baptized soon! This area keeps surprising me with all the people we keep finding that are ready for the gospel! Yeah so i'll let ya know how the baptisms go! pray they don't go like last time and we have complications before! These guys should be pretty sure! uhh what else?? anything i need??? i don't believe so at this moment in time! just maybe a root beer or mountain dew! yeah that'd be great! uhhh yeah i don't know what else! no new purchases really today! i made some purchases for the package but other then that i think that is it! the market wasn't up because of the holiday! so yeah answer to some questions. Elder Bickmore went to Dixie and has a little brother so it's probably the same family! he got transfered out of this area so i probably won't see him for awhile! uhh what else??? for our church meetings we have our own chapel here! we have enough young men that pass and bless the sacrament! and we have a piano that no one plays til now cause elder richardson knows so he's gonna start playing from now on! so it'll be good cause our ward sucks at singing! sundays are pretty chill we go to church at nine! its the same as church there! sacrament, sunday school, and then priesthood and relief society! then after church we go home and make lunch! then we go out and have a normal day of proselyting! contact, teach, and then go visit branch members! the only bad thing is we don't get to buy drinks from the colmados! that's a tough part! but we survive! stef it sounds like blake is starting to talk! what's he saying?? i haven't heard anything about that??? and i'm stoked that you're business is picking up! and of course that nicoles pics will be done soon! :) you guys need to all go out and do family pictures too! sorry beau! but yeah like all of you and mom! and nicole can take the pics for you! but yeah then mom sounds like things are going pretty good there! your always in my prayers! hope ya get feeling better fast! The truck should be good to sell! just don't accept anything less then 2,500! that's really low! it should go for 3! the blue book put it at 3,500 or around there! so yeah see what you can do! send wayne my luck! i'll being out here praying for him! and tell him to calm down and stop using his adrenline glands so much! I know he's always lookin for his adrenline rush but he's gotta calm down! hopefully the time in hawaii helped him relax a little! i'm not sure how much i'm looking forward to go to hawaii! elder richardson said its a lot like here! so yeah i'm just not that impressed with here! its probably cool in the tourist areas though! so maybe i'll go! so yeah i think that is it for the questions that i can remember! so i think i'll will have to tell you all adios! y nos hablamos en la proximo semana! ;)

te amo todos mucho!

-Elder Carlson

PS sorry no pictures this week cause this internet center has tons of viruses so yeah don't want to get anymore!