Sister Carlson Arrives in the Field

A letter from Sister E Carlson's Mission President

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Sister Silcox and I were excited to welcome Sister Carlson in the Brazil São Paulo East Mission. She has been assigned to an area with a companion who will serve as her in-field trainer. You should receive an email or letter from your missionary in the next 10 days in which she will tell you about her area and her new companion. Her companion has been given the assignment to help your missionary become a powerful instrument in the hands of God in her missionary service. Sister Silcox and I will also do everything in our power to help her have a successful mission experience.

Preparation day for our mission is on Mondays. All missionaries are given the opportunity to email and/or write their families and close friends on that day. In as much as their time on the internet is limited, we encourage all to be brief in their communications.  The use of internet social sites such as Facebook, Twitter and other chat sites, including email “conversations”, are not approved for missionary use.  Note also that missionaries are allowed to call home, but only on Mother’s Day and Christmas Day. Should family emergencies arise or you have concerns or questions, please contact us in the mission office.

Letters and packages from home must be sent directly to the mission office. The office address is

Rua Caa-Açu, 229 Belenzinho
03122-010 Sâo Paulo SP
Brazil

We are confident that Sister Carlson will enjoy spiritual experiences and see miracles occur in the lives of people as she dedicates all of her heart, might, mind, and strength to this sacred calling from the Lord. We invite you to join your faith and prayers with ours in her behalf.

Sincerely yours,

President Silcox
Sister Silcox

Last letter from the CTM

Hello to all!

Thank you for your emails, they always warm my heart! Indigo, I'll be praying for your back, and Ivy, I'm so glad you love your room! Also, Connections will be over before your know it! AND YOU'RE BOTH IN INSTITUTE CHOIR I SCREAMED! It is honestly the BEST class on campus and I can't tell you how happy I am that you both are enrolled!

I don't have too much time, so I'll be fast. This last week has been pretty great! To start, I was called to speak in sacrament meeting with no warning! It's something that they do in the CTM, but I thought I would be called this Sunday! I shared 32:28 which is about letting the word of Christ grow in you like a mustard seed, and it will begin to be delicious to you! I bore testimony about how much I love the scriptures and how my time at the CTM has really increased my love for them! I'm glad I was able to have that practice right before I go out to the field!

This week has been a little hard, but that's great! Since Wednesday, we've had some special in field training to prepare us for the field, and I realized how unprepared I am! When the teachers were speaking in rapid Portuguese without breaking to ask if we understood, I felt a sense of major discouragement. But all is well! At night when I was in my room, I remembered that Heavenly Father called me to São Paulo East for a reason. He always qualifies who he calls. It's going to be really difficult right when I get out to the field, but that means I have a wonderful opportunity to really strengthen my faith and love for Jesus Christ and by trying my hardest, I can show Him that I am ready to be a dedicated servant of the Lord! What a blessing it is to be able to serve the Lord with all my heart for 18 months!

I think one of the hardest things will be getting a new companion, I have grown to love Sister Kearsley so much! We've gotten really close this week, and I hope at some point on our missions we'll be companions again! (She's been called to São Paulo East too!) Before, I told her that she was like a sister to me, and her response was "I think so too! I'm glad because these six weeks would be hard if we we're like sisters." I almost died, I not only love her spirit, but her sense of humor! She's really good at understanding the language, so I know she'll be fantastic!

Today was temple day! The Campinas temple is always beautiful, but today it wasn't raining! Totally different experience! The sun is bright today, and we got some cute pictures with the girls in our district. I also realized how much I love the temple today. It is a place I always want to be worthy of entering. And fun fact, the CTM mission president, Presidente Grahl, not only helped translate the Bible into Portuguese, but he has a part in the Portuguese endownment! And his daughter Larissa goes to BYU AND knows four languages! Sister Grahl is the sweetest person, she's so ready to give Mom hugs (which I really miss) and can speak some english, which has a blessing when we first got here. So pretty much I'm distraught that I have to leave such wonderful people, but I know that I'll love my new president just as much!

I think that's all I have time for! I won't be able to email until next Monday, but please still email me, I love to read what's going on! Thank you also for all your prayers!

Eu te amo!

Week 5!

Boa Tarde!

I hope you all are having an absolutely fantastic day! I am feeling just peachy! I don’t have too much time, so I’ll write some highlights from the week! 

Today was THE BEST! Instead of going to the temple in São Paulo, we went to the Campinas temple! It was a little sad that the Saõ Paulo temple was under construction, but wow my experience in Campinas was amazing! The temple itself is gorgeous, the structure is beautiful and the windows are stained purple! I don’t think I’ve been so in love with temples since the temple in Hartford opened! The reason why it was so amazing was because I did the entire session in Portuguese! All of the sisters in my district really wanted to speak Portuguese, but I was really scared to not have the English translation. I prayed really hard for the gift of tongues, and I received! It was a blessing that I attended the temple many times before I left on my mission because when I was lost with the Portuguese, my memory kicked in and translated what was happening! One of my instructors here said that the gift of tongues was anything spoken in a different language, whether it be read or poorly said! That gave me great comfort because no matter how bad my Portuguese is, it is still a gift and a blessing in my life!

It is still difficult to speak a lot of Portuguese at a time, but I’m able to form sentences on my own now! The thing that has helped me the most is my district! For this past week, we’ve had an English Fast all day, excluding meals and questions in grammar class. If week speak English 3 times when we’re not supposed to, no lanche! Lanche is a nighttime snack we receive every night and is very important because we eat dinner really early. This fast has been my saving grace! It’s been forcing me to really think in Portuguese and rely on my two best friends: The Holy Ghost and the Dictionary. When I don´t know a word or a phrase, instead of cracking and just saying it in English, I either look it up or ask a teacher "Como se diz ____?" I hope that all of this practice will help me in the field!

Earlier this week, I had a special experience with the sisters in my district. My companion is Sister Kearsley, and the other two sisters are Sister Bearden and Sister Dailey. We all really like to sing, so we decided it would be nice to sing a song for the Elders in our district. We chose "Careço de Jesus", or "I Need Thee Every Hour". We sang the first verse in English all together (we remember our roots), the second verse in Portuguese with harmony, and for the third verse I was able to sing a first soprano line that I made up. We sang it for the girls in our hallway, and the spirit was definitely there, but it was truly special when we sang for our Elders. I didn’t realize it until afterwards, but I had been singing with the Carlson Quartet! I could hear each of my sisters in each of my friends here. How sweet and tender are the mercies of Heavenly Father!

Sister Kearsley and I finally got new roommates! They are both so nice, and just laugh when I can’t understand or say something (which is often). Also they’re both gorgeous, and people over here are calling me cute! Just look at my roommates please! 

Anyway, this week has been good. I love both of my instructors, Irmão Santos and Irmão Merderios. They are both a riot! They both tell the funniest stories from the missions, and they’re really good about making sure that everyone in the class understands (usually I´m the last to understand an idea). Also, both of my instructors are also my investigators! Irmão Santos is Leonardo and Irmão Merderios is Nilton. With both investigators, we have been taking about the word of wisdom. They both like to drink coffee. So Sister Kearsley and I made a compromise: If they would stop drinking coffee, we would stop eating bread. And it has been so hard! Bread is at every meal! And I love bread! But I am willing to make that sacrifice for them so they can see how much the missionaries love them and want them to have eternal happiness in the gospel. No amount of bread could make me as happy as that. 

It’s been raining a lot here. I just learned that it rains most of the time in São Paulo, and that’s bad because I think about none of my shoes are water proof. Speaking of which, I thought my camera broke today! We were taking pictures after the temple session, and I asked Elder Moffitt to take a picture of us sisters. Right before I gave it to him, I said "Please don’t judge my camera." because it’s very zoomed in and there’s no way to zoom it out, so if you want a good picture you need to be standing far away. But three seconds after I say that he drops the camera and two of the batteries pop out! I just popped them back in and tried to turn it on, but it didn’t. He felt really bad, but I didn’t mind too much because the SM card was alright. When we were on the bus ride back, I took out the batteries again to dry them off because it had been rained when they fell out, and Elder Moffitt found out that I put the batteries in the wrong way! So it still works, but it was a funny experience!  

My time is up! I love you all so much and wish you the best! Tchau!

Sister Carlson

Aug 11, 2017

Boa Tarde!

It has been a week! Time is really starting to fly by in the CTM, and soon I'll be out of here and on the field!

Last week our district had the opportunity to proselyte! I was really nervous, and at the beginning, we weren't able to talk to anyone. One older man raised his hands up and said "Nope!" when I said hello. But it got way better once we crossed the street. The first man came up to Sister Kearsley and I and said we were doing an important work. So sweet! Then (as recommended by a teacher), Sister Kearsley told a young woman, "we’re learning how to speak Portuguese, would you mind helping us for a minute?" She said that she knew english but was willing to hear our message in Portuguese. It turns out she had met an RM at DisneyLand and he had told her a little bit about the church! We didn’t get her information because she doesn’t live in São Paulo, but it was a good confidence booster. For the third and the last person we met, Sister Kearsley and I had a method. We would zero in on someone waiting for a bus, and I would go sit down to adjust my socks (they did actually need fixing). We would say hello and then find a natural segway into our message. One was a kind Chinese Catholic woman, and the other was a young Evangelist woman. The fourth person we talked to was an old man walking the smallest dog. I asked the dog’s name and if I could pet her (which I just realized today was not allowed?) and he was really nice. It was hard to understand his Portuguese, but it was still a good experience. We did not manage to get any addresses for the missionaries in that area, which I was a little sad about, but it was a good learning experience.

Also for the past two weeks, I have has the opportunity to go on splits with a Brazilian! Her name is Sister Cantagesso, and she is so sweet. I was really worried last week because I didn’t know too much Portuguese, but she took that in stride and basically taught the entire lesson. I mainly bore testimony last week, but this week I was able to teach a big chunk of the restoration! In Portuguese! Sister Cantagesso said that my Portuguese had really improved, and I’m so grateful for the gift of tongues! There is no way on this earth I could know this much Portuguese without the help of the Lord! I still have a lot to learn about the language and myself, but I know that with the Lord I can do all things! I’ve also found out that I can speak some Portuguese, but my problem is being able to understand when other's speak. Something to improve!

All of the Brazilians are so sweet. Sister Kearsley and I had two roommates named Sister Santana and Sister Neves, but they left on Tuesday for the field! I definitely cried, but I know that they’ll both talk Campinas by storm! We haven't gotten new roommates yet, so it's been quiet at night.
I love my district so much. There are ten of us, and every person is just a riot! I'm so grateful that six out of the ten of us are going to the São Paulo Leste mission! It's been really fun to get to know everyone and become closer through Volei, Lanche, and TALL. (Volleyball, nighttime snack, and language learning program). I'm also grateful for the sisters in my district! Sister Kearsley has definitely saved my life several times, and we've been getting closer to Sister Bearden and Sister Dailey! A couple days ago, we recorded ourselves doing a round of I Like to Move It from Madagascar, and we could not stop laughing! That night after volleyball, I was opening the window in our room and Sister Dailey came running up behind me and scared me! I almost fell out the window. Good times.

My scripture study has been really fufilling too. I'm in Alma now, and I've loved reading through Mosiah. It's been a huge help to be highlighting and marking up my scriptures. What a blessing it is that a fourteen year old boy had the humility to pray and ask a question, which has changed the lives of thousands of people!

I have to go now, but I thought I'd let you know that I'm teaching the Relief Society lesson on Sunday! It's about Christ-like Attributes, another blessing! The Lord is good!

I love you all so much! Please continue to send pictures! Also I wouldn't mind some snail mail if you had the time!

--
Sincerely,
Sister Carlson

Second week in the CTM

Boa Tarde!!

It feels like a lifetime since I last emailed you all! I have so much to say, but so little time!

After I emailed you last week, I was able to go out and explore São Paulo! Yes, Mr Cheney´s Cookies is a thing, and since we were new, we got a cookie for free! Sister Kearsley and I didn´t explore too much, but the stores we did visit were super cool! Most everyone we´ve met is so nice and willing to communicate even though this language barrier has been a little tough!

This week has been another blur of language and spiritual study. We´ve been told that we need to be more diligent in our language study, and I panicked a little! Here at the CTM, sometimes I feel like I have to choose whether I study the spiritual or the language, and usually I choose the spiritual. I´ve really begun to crave reading my scriptures and learn more about Joseph Smith, which is such a blessing! Now I just really have to balance my time and focus on the language. The gift of tongues is real, but Heavenly Father can´t bring something to my remembrance if it´s not already there! The atonement is a wonderful tool that can be utilized for any circumstance in life, and I´ve definitely been using it to help change my attitude of discouragement into determination!

I´ve been getting kind of sick this past week. Everyone seems worried, but it´s just a scratchy throat, a runny nose, and some occasional crazy coughs. I received an anointing and blessing from Elder Nielsen and Elder Sherrow (elders of my district) and it was a very sweet experience. I am grateful for worthy priesthood holders in my life, and the fact that they care for my welfare. We finished district prayer last night when Elder Sherrow said, "You know Sister, you have six elders in this district that would all be happy to give you a blessing if you need it." Such a sweet thing to say! One of the first things it said in the blessing was that My Father in Heaven is proud of me, and I really needed to hear that! Now, I want to work even harder to become even better!

I´m really grateful for this week. It has been filled with ups and downs, but I think I´ve come out a better person. My companion and I are definitely closer because of it. I´m growing to love her more as I set myself aside and try to understand her. We have very different personalities, needs, and backgrounds, and I´m grateful for this friendship!

Before I forget, I now have two different names among the Brazilians! The first one is Adele (I guess I look like her?), the second one is Sister Legal (which means cool in Portuguese, they don´t like pronouncing my long name!) it´s especially fun during volleyball! It is such a blessing to be with these awesome people, it will not be hard to love my investigators if they are all like this!

Yesterday I was told my mission is the best (which I already know). Here, it is called São Paulo Leste. But the Brazilian I was talking to said it was São Paulo (Ce)Leste! I was also told that my mission was known for match making, as in people found their spouses on the field and got married afterward. I may have given a little huzzah at that knowledge, but who´s counting? Sister Grahl has told everyone in the CTM to "lock your heart" and have an eye single to the Lord, so I will definitely need to use that bit of advice!

Tomorrow we´ve been told that we are proselyting with actual people tomorrow! AH!! I´m more than a little nervous, but the temple trip today was really wonderful in giving me peace. I know that I will most likely mess up when talking to people, but that´s all a part of the growing experience! 

Thank you, I love you!