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

 

3/16 4/6‏

FAMILY!!! how's life going?? things here are great! :) things with me and my comp have cooled out i just put it behind me like i said i would and have been going to work! it's been great the week went by a lot faster and we're coming up to the end of the transfer! i'm nervous cause i may get moved out of azua this transfer! which would suck cause we're working with the family of celenni and we're looking into getting a new house still and all that good stuff! so yeah lets hope i stay here! but yeah time for weekly mission report for last week! This week in Pueblo Arriba we got some good appointments set that ended up following through. These past couple weeks we've had a hard time trying to find people who will actually meet with us and want to learn more but this week we started having more success. Also this week we baptized the two little kids that we've been teaching for awhile. Nicole and Jose. They both were baptized and confirmed with no problems. Me and Elder Richardson got to baptize one. We both baptized them in one try so it was a successful baptism! We also have been preparing the older lady Celenni. She's been teaching other people in her neighborhood about the gospel. She's been an investigator that i have enjoyed teaching. This last week she told us about a pastor that tried to tell her she was in the wrong church because we worship Joseph Smith. She then began to tell him about Joseph Smith and how he was a prophet called to restore the church and gave him a lesson on the church. She is going to be a very strong member of this church and she is inviting all her family to learn. We are working with her sister and her niece now and she's got other members that i'm sure after her baptism this week will start sharing with us more. Her grand daughter Kayla has been out of town this past week for the semana santa but tonight we're going to share with her again. She's going to be baptized next week and she's ready for it too! she asks good question and is very interested! We've been contacting a lot this week and have been finding a few possible future fechas. I'm excited to see what happens in this area! but yeah also all 5 of my recent converts were at church! so it was an awesome day! :) then this week we've got celenni! she's asked me to baptize her so i'm super stoked for that! :) that will be the best part of my mission so far! she's had an awesome story and is defenitly one of the best investigators i'll ever have! :) so yeah i'll send pictures next week of that! what else??? oh i bought..... 28 mountain dews! :) yeah i'm pretty stoked! it means i've got get 26 more baptisms! cause i drink one for every baptism as a good job drink! :) and i got my new pants this week! they look awesome! :) i'm tempted to send them home cause they're super nice! but yeah speaking of that i should be getting my package this week! :) i've been waiting awhile but it should be here this week! so i'll let ya know what i need next week after! but other then that i love reading everyones emails and things that are going on in life! request! i know i'm on the mission and don't need to worry what's going on in the world but please someone give me updates on mitt romney! i've been hearing a lot of talk about him and i wanna know what's going on! for two reasons could be the president when i get back and i'll need to know that and two it'll be fulfilling a prophecy so ya know as a missionary i'll need to know that! ;) so yeah that'd be great! and what else??? i think that's it! oh for this weeks crazy food! it was semana santa! which means lots of habichuela con dulces! its super good! i'm gonna make it when i get back for you guys! it's super good! :) tastes like a chocolate milk type of thing! :) but yeah other then that nothing out of the normal this week! so yeah i'll talk to you guys next week! :) have a great week! keep me updated on life i love hearing it! :) your the best all! :) oh and stef i saw the pics of the family and of blake! he is crazy big and also of nicole! :) good job! :) i approve! :) well that's it for this week! love you all!
-Elder Carlson

PICTURES!

3/16 3/6‏

Hello family! How's life there in the good ol U S of A! Life here has been different but good! we've had a different week and kinda long! feels like it's been awhile since i've talked to you guys! but it sounds like all is going well! I'll do my quick update on my investigators then get into the rest of the week! This week in pueblo arriba was good! We taught a lot more lessons and we were able to find a few more investigators. We found an old investigator in our area book and found him and we have started teaching him again! He is very interested in the message and so is his wife! Our investigators with a baptismal date for this week is Nicole, Jose, and Hilary. This week like last week was pretty interesting! Hilary is probably going to be moving and she said she probably won't be able to come to church anymore... then also with Nicole she had her awesome coffee experience last week well this week we were taking her to conference like walking her there when she left us for a few seconds and went into a store and bought something... yeah on sunday... awesome huh??? yeah we're not sure what we're going to do. we're going to talk more about it with her and talk with the lord and see what we should do. She's had the lessons for four months now and should've been baptized last transfer! but just lots of stuff has happened! i don't know what to do the thing is that They go to church every week and are learning from it. so i don't know its best they get baptized but yeah we'll see this week! Our other two baptisms coming up are Celenni and Keila. Celenni went to conference and had a great time listening to the prophets and apostles talk! She loved the conference and can't wait to see another one. Keila couldn't come to the conference because she was out of town for the semana santa. She is coming back today or tomorrow and we have a appointment set up with her as soon as she gets back! Another cool experience this week was we started teaching more family of Celenni! We started teaching her sister and niece. We've shared several lessons with them and they are very interested to know if this church is true. Celenni's baptism is going to be a big event because of all the people who watch her. She's an example to a lot of people who will most likely follow her into the church. I am very excited to see this family continue to come to Christ and be an eternal family! Celenni already talks about going to the temple. So yeah that's our awesome experiences with investigators this week! So conference! it was a tease for me! I got to go to every session except the relief society broadcast so it was way cool! but it was all in spanish except for like the first couple seconds. So we heard it in english for a second or two to hear the persons talk then it was spnaish translator! it sucked not being able to hear their voices! one cool thing with the translation was that for elder scott's talk he actually did the translation. He recorded it earlier and then they played it so we heard him in spanish. but he talked about more stuff in english cause his recording ended sooner then he did in english! but some times we could catch the english before they translated and they meant more in english then in spanish so it sucked missing out on all that! but we'll be able to read it here soon when the liahona comes out! Oh yeah the liahona is our ensign they have it in english so we can read it in english! it's pretty cool! but yeah i understood a lot and there was a lot of cool talks! there was a lot of emphasis on families! it was cool! lots of prepare your kids. I have a feeling the second coming is close cause there were some things said in this conference that was pretty intense and its leaning alot towards prepare yourselfs. so yeah interesting stuff there! but yeah no worries! life's gonna be great! do what you're supposed to and you'll be taken care of! if ya don't believe me read the scriptures! my favorite scripture is now mosiah 2:41 its a good one! but yeah what else??? this week we had an intercambio and i went to the zone leaders area with Elder Salas again. We got us a bacon cheese burger that was great and he told me that my companion has been telling them stuff that i've been doing that i really haven't been doing... yeah don't lie to people its just stupid! Elder Salas knew he was lieing and he talked to me about it and i set him straight. Yeah only three more weeks! i can do it! but yeah i'm just ignoring it! I liked i believe it was President monson who said when you go to bed don't go to bed worry or stressed! Leave things in the past and don't worry about them! I'm here to work and that's what i'm gonna do. No matter what people say! but yeah sounds like crazy stuff is going on over there! Brandy is getting married and Jaycee! That's insane! i can't believe it! When i left Jaycee wasn't dating anyone and Brandy was kinda dating him but wow look at them both! two more months and they'll be married! crazy crazy! well tell them to send me an invitation! i won't be able to make it but i'd like an invite atleast! uhhh what else??? Uhhh this month i hit 6 months! that's a crazy thought! but a cool one! Doesn't feel like i've been out that long but then again it does! i went through and looked at all my letters and i have a ton! i felt super loved! haven't got mom and stefs package yet but it should be coming this week! OH and i sent off a package today! but with the whole moving thing i didn't know who's address to put it on so i just sent it to Nicole! so yeah in like 4 or 5 weeks it should get there and i'm stoked for all you guys to get your stuff! its not much but it's from the heart of Elder Carlson! :) which makes it the best things you can get! ;) but yeah i think that's it for this week! i'm feeling better! i think i had just been really super stressed with just people here so i was feeling sick but i've been working out morning and night and i've been having more calm time. So i'm feeling better! For package stuff! i think i'm good! maybe..... heck i don't know! nothing now! i'll look this week! Oh yeah thanks for throwing more money in my account! i wanted to make one more pair of pants before i left Azua and so that money came just in time! i started another pair today! it's gonna be an awesome pair! :) i'm super excited! but yeah if you guys need anything from me let me know! oh one more thing! theres a family coming down to a branch members house from the states. Guess where she lives??? Good ol St. George! i'm gonna go talk to her this week! oh yeah easter down here is celebrated the whole week! Semana Santa. Its just a week of people leave and go to the beach or go see family! so yeah ok i think that's it! I'll talk to you guys next week!
Much love,
Elder Carlson