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

8/16 3/6‏

Hey family! how´s things going there! things here are crazy hurricane sandy hit through here this week and it was........ ridiculously.... calm! nothing really bad happen! i´ve been through worse in St. George! so yeah no worries about me we´re doing fine here! and just so you guys know i think i´ve already said this but in the dedicatory prayer for this country it says that there won´t be any natural disasters here if the saints live like they should! so yeah we´re pretty well watched over here! but yeah let me know what goes down on that side! plus let me know what happens with the whole elections! and how it´s all looking out! things seem really close and people here are talking more and more about it! but yeah still we´re not there! but anyways so this week was pretty chill but good! we´re getting in better with our bishop and with our ward mission leader so we´re doing good there! everyone was in there houses cause of the storm but it made it super hard for us to get around and stuff cause no one wanted to do anything with all the rain! when it rains here they shut down everything! EVERYTHING!!!! like the schools get shut down its ridiculous! but yeah we sat in the house most the time and just chilled! but we´ve had some bad news with one investigator.... tom.... he´s moving again! it sucks! he told us about how he is moving and not gonna be in our ward anymore and then was like oh and by the way when can i get baptized...... just shoot us in the foot why don´t ya! it sucked! but yeah those other missionaries will be super lucky! but yeah then with Carlos he didn´t make it to church cause of the rain! i tell ya when it rains here everyone just doesn´t move! they´ve got a thing here that if you get wet you get sick! so they don´t leave there houses! frustrating! but yeah other then that things are going good! we´re teaching a ton and doing lots better then last transfer! so yeah i´m super stoked! me and larsen talk about hunting all the time so thats the best too! Today was his birthday so i used all the decorations i got from you guys and put them up last night when he was asleep and so this morning he woke up to some birthday stuff! figured better make his birthday a good one! :) cause i had an awesome one! so yeah we celebrated a ton today! but yeah i think that´s about it for this week! pretty boring i know but that´s what happens during a hurricane! but know that i´m still super stoked cause we´re having an awesome time and have awesome investigators! Oh success this week! Mariano gave the prayer in our ward conference this week! the first time he went inactive was something like that but sunday he was just super stoked and proud of himself for doing it! he´s getting to go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead! :) but yeah life´s awesome here! i love you all!

-Elder Carlson

8/16 2/6

Welll one word describes this week! WOW!!! so yeah it was an amazing week! the best week of my mission by far! i´ve been able to be an intstrument in the lords hands this week! It was an amazing week! So we started off the week having an awesome lesson with the family of Altagracia and gave them challenge to read Moroni 10. So we had a lesson with her grandson Carlos who is American but lives her so that we could teach him in English. So we had our lesson with him and we asked him if he prayed about it. He said that he had. so we asked him what he thought. He said i don´t know i got this feeling that i wanted to learn more and that i couldn´t wait for your next appointment and i asked him why he couldn´t wait and he explained to us that after he prayed he got this feeling that he couldn´t describe but it was way good! he´d never felt it before but he liked it alot! we explained the feelings of the spirit and asked him to get baptized! He accepted! later we put a fecha with his grandma and grandpa! so that was amazing! the following lessons with Carlos were amazing! he´s very inteligent and is very excited to learn more and is super excited about this! When i first met him he said hello then went striaght to his room now he´s one of our strongest investigators! He got up and ready for church and came and participated in the classes and we had really good support from the members even! Then on my year mark i didnt really get to celebrate cause we had to take care of the baptismal stuff for kevin but we did some contacting and it was not a day for contacting we got yelled at by this old guy after i told him that if he ever had any questions that we were always walking in the street and someone just stole his donut or somethin cause he went off on us. so we were done contacting for the day so we decided to go down to the gas station by where we were contacting. So we went there and when we got in and were lookin for a drink this white guy that had like a santa clause face comes up and starts talking english to us! Turns out that he was from Canada and was sharing with missionaries up there and was about to get baptized but then had to come down here urgently. So he had been here for about two weeks and was trying to find us and had called people but had never got a hold of us and finally this day he happened to see us and chased us down! i know that God stole that guys donut so that we would stop contacting and go to that place so that we could meet him! His name is Tom! he doesn´t know much Spanish but he´s learning! he´s a volunteer for some orginization and came to church with us on sunday and loved it! We´re super stoked to be part of the lords work here in Mirador and i´ve seen that i´ve been the lords tool almost every day this week! it´s been amazin! such a spiritual rush! we´re getting a lot more members involved and a lot of others are seeing the level of missionaries we are and are starting to give us references that they never gave us with my other companion! so i´m super excited for that! The baptism on saturday was awesome! as you see from the pictures we baptized him and after played a little ping pong! But funny moment for this week... so we did service on saturday morning then after we turned on the font to get it started filling up cause it usually takes about 5 hours to fill up so we went home got all showered and changed then came back to the chapel to see where it was at and when we entered in the front doors we found out where it was at..... yeah this one fills up fast and ended up flooding over the drain that was supposed to keep it from over filling and then spilled outside! luckily theres not carpet here so we just had to sweep the water into the drains here! haha kinda crazy but yeah it was fun! the baptism was a good success and for sure one i won´t forget! but yeah that´s about all my news for this week! sounds like everyone is having a great time enjoying the weather there! the weather here is pretty great too! :) but yeah that´s it for this week! all of our investigators are doing great! have several people with a fecha and were putting more and more each week! :) oh the guy that i told you about that got super burnt cause the oven exploded on him welll he left the city! he got good enough to go home! so yeah! crazy stuff here!

i love you all so much! and of course i gotta say HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABE!!! :) on Sunday! hope you guys have an awesome week!

-Elder Carlson