Hello Family!!
Well Merry Christmas once again! It was so good to hear all of your voices on Saturday! I thought it would be weird since I haven't heard you all in so long but it was just like normal. Although hearing Dad as "Grandpa" was a little weird, and hearing a little baby in the background was different, I felt like I was back home again for a hour and that was the best Christmas present.
Everything this week was amazing. We had so many wonderful experiences that I will always keep tucked away in my memories.This whole last week I have been praying earnestly to be able to come to know the Savior more. To make this Christmas, as a missionary, a sacred one. The Lord sure opens up ways to answer our prayers. After I got off the phone with all of you, Sister Christensen and I got dressed and went out to visit the members in our ward that we had appointments with. Well we drove into Rochester and everyone that we were going to meet with either didn't answer their door or they called and canceled on us. So, to try and fight back our discouragement we went to a local Nursing Home to sing to all the old people, the only problem was... well... that they're old. All of them were either asleep or they were already with some of their family members. So that was kind of a bust. So we tried to find things to kill time before we were going to meet at the church to watch a Christmas movie with some of the other missionaries. I was so excited, and about a hour before everyone was going to meet our District Leader called and told us that President had approved that we watch a Christmas movie on Christmas day, BUT it had to be with a MEMBER, not with each other. What a bummer! Seriously! The one thing that I had looked forward to all day. We had no idea was to do at that point so we just drove home. I bawled the entire way home, feeling sorry for myself, feeling like it was the worst Christmas ever, feeling like there was no where to go and no one wanted us, when a scripture came to my mind... "and there was no room in the inn". In that one instant I was completely humbled. Over 2000 years ago, on a Christmas night, there was a man and a very pregnant woman who were searching for somewhere to go to bring their baby into the world. No one let them in. No one wanted them. They had no where to go. The baby who came to save all mankind was born in a stable, and placed in a manager. In some fraction of a way we were able to feel a little of what that must have felt like. So we went home, sat down, sang hymns, told stories, read scriptures, and shared our testimonies of the Savior and what He really means to each of us, and you know what? It was one of the best Christmas' I've ever had. Our Heavenly Father truly answers our prayers and He is always ever mindful of us.
I hope that this week goes well for all of you! I hope that you have an amazing New Years! I love the chance we have to reevaluate our year and make goals to become better. The Savior provides a way for us to change and I am so grateful for Him. I love you all! Happy New Year!
Love always, Sister Carter
Monday, December 27, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Merry Christmas! December 20, 2010
Dear Family!!!
WOW!! ITS CHRISTMAS TIME! I can't even believe it! I get to hear all of your voices in 5 days! Woot Woot!!! I don't think it really has hit me yet. I'm going to try and call you at around 9- 10 o'clock your time. So I can hear what everyone got for their presents and how your morning has been! We're not really sure what we're doing for Christmas yet but I'm sure its going to be great. Everything has been so busy with a new companion and lots of training meetings for the sites. There's been so much new stuff that I learned this last week. Heavenly Father is going to really stretch me this transfer, I can already tell. So, right now I have my new companion, Sister Christensen. She's pretty cool. She's about 100% different then Sister Stone was, so its something different to get use to. I technically wouldn't count myself as the Senior companion because she's been out about the exact same time frame that I have, I just know the area better than she does. I can already tell I have a lot to learn from her, she's pretty patient with me. I have a lot of changing to do, though, which sometimes can get discouraging.
So this week was my first week at the church historic sites! Since we live so far away from the sites we will only be going to one of the sites once every other week. So this week was our time in the Grandin Building. What an amazing place!! To walk the floors where Joseph walked, Oliver, Hyrum, E.B. Grandin, Martin.... so cool! Plus as a site sister we get to touch and sneak into places that you can't go into if you're just on a regular tour :) I feel like I have a backstage pass to everything! It was a pretty slow day but we were able to give a tour to a group of 9 people which was a neat experience. I love being able to stand in the place where the Book of Mormon was printed and testify that I know its true. There is a unique spirit in that place. Next week, on New Years Day, we're going to spend the day at the Peter Whitmer Farm, giving tours there. I pretty much have the coolest mission ever.
So my thought today is about a story from the Book of Mormon.... one of my favorites to tell actually. So it begins with a Lamanite prophet by the name of Samuel. Samuel was told my God, to go to the Nephite people, stand on a wall, and proclaim the time and signs of the Savior's birth, Who was going to come in 5 years. So Samuel did as he was instructed and just like with many of the prophets some believed him and some did not. The unbelievers shot arrows at Samuel while the faithful found the prophet Nephi, were baptized, and prepared for the Savior to come. As the 5 year deadline began to draw near, the believers were persecuted more and more, until there was a date set that if the signs of the Savior's coming didn't come, all the believers would be put to death.
As I read this story I try to think about what it was like for these believers. They had a testimony of the words of the prophet, they believed that He would come, but now its all on the line. I'm sure there were some that fell away from their faith at this point, but there were those who hung on to the belief that the Messiah would come. They trusted in that promise.
So the day came, and so did the sign. There was a day a night and a day where there was no darkness. When I think about what the believers must have felt when the sun went down and the sky was still light I think of the song "Oh Holy Night": ".... A thrill of hope. The weary world rejoices. For yonder breaks, the new and glorious morn..." The Savior of the world came just how He said He would. In a manager, in Bethlehem, halfway around the world. He came to save everyone of us. I really love Him. I know He's real, and I truly know that He is the light of the world. He is here to lead us out of darkness.
So I hope this Christmas week finds you all happy and well. I am so blessed and grateful to have every one of you in my life. I cried the entire video clip you sent me because I know that we're all forever. The Savior came to offer us eternity. So I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas. I hope you get make homemade pizzas, open up pajamas, and watch "A Muppet's Christmas Carol", and know that I will be thinking of you all on the other side of the country. I love you all! Merry Christmas!
Love always, Sister Carter
- Show quoted text -
WOW!! ITS CHRISTMAS TIME! I can't even believe it! I get to hear all of your voices in 5 days! Woot Woot!!! I don't think it really has hit me yet. I'm going to try and call you at around 9- 10 o'clock your time. So I can hear what everyone got for their presents and how your morning has been! We're not really sure what we're doing for Christmas yet but I'm sure its going to be great. Everything has been so busy with a new companion and lots of training meetings for the sites. There's been so much new stuff that I learned this last week. Heavenly Father is going to really stretch me this transfer, I can already tell. So, right now I have my new companion, Sister Christensen. She's pretty cool. She's about 100% different then Sister Stone was, so its something different to get use to. I technically wouldn't count myself as the Senior companion because she's been out about the exact same time frame that I have, I just know the area better than she does. I can already tell I have a lot to learn from her, she's pretty patient with me. I have a lot of changing to do, though, which sometimes can get discouraging.
So this week was my first week at the church historic sites! Since we live so far away from the sites we will only be going to one of the sites once every other week. So this week was our time in the Grandin Building. What an amazing place!! To walk the floors where Joseph walked, Oliver, Hyrum, E.B. Grandin, Martin.... so cool! Plus as a site sister we get to touch and sneak into places that you can't go into if you're just on a regular tour :) I feel like I have a backstage pass to everything! It was a pretty slow day but we were able to give a tour to a group of 9 people which was a neat experience. I love being able to stand in the place where the Book of Mormon was printed and testify that I know its true. There is a unique spirit in that place. Next week, on New Years Day, we're going to spend the day at the Peter Whitmer Farm, giving tours there. I pretty much have the coolest mission ever.
So my thought today is about a story from the Book of Mormon.... one of my favorites to tell actually. So it begins with a Lamanite prophet by the name of Samuel. Samuel was told my God, to go to the Nephite people, stand on a wall, and proclaim the time and signs of the Savior's birth, Who was going to come in 5 years. So Samuel did as he was instructed and just like with many of the prophets some believed him and some did not. The unbelievers shot arrows at Samuel while the faithful found the prophet Nephi, were baptized, and prepared for the Savior to come. As the 5 year deadline began to draw near, the believers were persecuted more and more, until there was a date set that if the signs of the Savior's coming didn't come, all the believers would be put to death.
As I read this story I try to think about what it was like for these believers. They had a testimony of the words of the prophet, they believed that He would come, but now its all on the line. I'm sure there were some that fell away from their faith at this point, but there were those who hung on to the belief that the Messiah would come. They trusted in that promise.
So the day came, and so did the sign. There was a day a night and a day where there was no darkness. When I think about what the believers must have felt when the sun went down and the sky was still light I think of the song "Oh Holy Night": ".... A thrill of hope. The weary world rejoices. For yonder breaks, the new and glorious morn..." The Savior of the world came just how He said He would. In a manager, in Bethlehem, halfway around the world. He came to save everyone of us. I really love Him. I know He's real, and I truly know that He is the light of the world. He is here to lead us out of darkness.
So I hope this Christmas week finds you all happy and well. I am so blessed and grateful to have every one of you in my life. I cried the entire video clip you sent me because I know that we're all forever. The Savior came to offer us eternity. So I hope that you have a wonderful Christmas. I hope you get make homemade pizzas, open up pajamas, and watch "A Muppet's Christmas Carol", and know that I will be thinking of you all on the other side of the country. I love you all! Merry Christmas!
Love always, Sister Carter
- Show quoted text -
Monday, December 13, 2010
Assignment to the sites
So I just had to write really fast and tell you that I just got a call from one of the sister site trainers and President called her to tell her that Henrietta is now a site area!! I'M GOING TO THE SITES!!! AHHHHHH!!! What the what!? I can't believe it! I was sure I wasn't going to be going to the sites until Spring. So crazy! The thing is that the sisters only go there like once every two weeks in the winter so it really doesn't make too much of a difference but I'm going to be giving tours now! Fulfilling my full calling. A little nervous but pretty excited at the same time. Anyway, I love you all!!
Transfers
Dear Family,
Greetings from snowy New York! We've had quite the storms lately which helps us get into the Christmas spirit :) It really doesn't feel like Christmas is coming because it is so different than any other Christmas' I've had. Its rewarding in its own way though. Lots of opportunities to serve, and I think Sister Stone and I have helped put up and decorate 5 or 6 Christmas trees. So we still get to keep up with the normal traditions.
We had our ward Christmas party this last Friday. It was such a blast! Ally, Sister Stone, and I went to WalMart and bought nasty ugly Christmas sweaters to wear to the party. It must be a West thing because no one really understood that it was suppose to be a joke. People would come up and say how cute our sweaters and vests were... they were hideous! Believe me! It was such a miracle night because we had SO many less-active members of the ward come. Sister Stone and I always joke around that our calling here in Henrietta is to bring less-actives to church, since that is all we've ever been successful at, but it was so good to see them where they belong. It was good to see them being happy and having the ward members there to take them under their wing. We really live in an awesome ward. They do so much to help the missionary effort.
So we found out about transfers last night. They don't really make a difference to any of you at home because no matter what happens I'm still gone away from home :) but we found out that Sister Stone is leaving and I am staying in Henrietta. Sister Stone is going to southern part of the mission in Penn Yan, which is a couple hours away from Henrietta so I probably won't get to see her the rest of her mission. I'm staying in Henrietta and my new companion's name is Sister Christensen. I've never met her before and don't know much about her, but that is good because then we can just have a fresh new start. I hear she's a hard worker so that will be really awesome. I'm a little nervous to be the Sr. Companion though. I have to tell her everything she needs to know about the area, and I have TO DRIVE! I haven't driven in 5 months... so weird. Especially in the snow :) I think I just realized last night, though, that the Lord takes care of me. He always has. He knows me better than I know myself and I just need to fear not. I will miss Sister Stone. She's my best friend.
So I've been thinking a lot this week about Charity. Sister Stone and I had to give a training on it in District Meeting last week and it is something I really love to think about, especially around this Christmas season. While we were planning the training we read the story of the Good Samaritan. How a man was beaten up on the side of the road and left for dead. Two men, a Priest and a Levite, saw him and passed right by when another, a Samaritan, stopped to help him and gave him all that he could. I read something I loved in Jesus the Christ that says "The Priest and the Levite tried to salve their conscience with ample excuse for his inhumane conduct; Excuses are easy to find; they spring up as readily and plentifully as weeds by the wayside. When the Samaritan came along and saw the wretched state of the wounded man, he had no excuse for he wanted none." If we want an excuse not to serve someone there will always be ones to find. I love that it says that the Samaritan "wanted none". He didn't want an excuse. He wanted to love in true and pure charity. So he did. No excuses.
Well I love all of you. I pray for all of you continually. I hit 5 months this week! A whole China trip away! I hope you have the best week.
Love always, Sister A. Carter
Greetings from snowy New York! We've had quite the storms lately which helps us get into the Christmas spirit :) It really doesn't feel like Christmas is coming because it is so different than any other Christmas' I've had. Its rewarding in its own way though. Lots of opportunities to serve, and I think Sister Stone and I have helped put up and decorate 5 or 6 Christmas trees. So we still get to keep up with the normal traditions.
We had our ward Christmas party this last Friday. It was such a blast! Ally, Sister Stone, and I went to WalMart and bought nasty ugly Christmas sweaters to wear to the party. It must be a West thing because no one really understood that it was suppose to be a joke. People would come up and say how cute our sweaters and vests were... they were hideous! Believe me! It was such a miracle night because we had SO many less-active members of the ward come. Sister Stone and I always joke around that our calling here in Henrietta is to bring less-actives to church, since that is all we've ever been successful at, but it was so good to see them where they belong. It was good to see them being happy and having the ward members there to take them under their wing. We really live in an awesome ward. They do so much to help the missionary effort.
So we found out about transfers last night. They don't really make a difference to any of you at home because no matter what happens I'm still gone away from home :) but we found out that Sister Stone is leaving and I am staying in Henrietta. Sister Stone is going to southern part of the mission in Penn Yan, which is a couple hours away from Henrietta so I probably won't get to see her the rest of her mission. I'm staying in Henrietta and my new companion's name is Sister Christensen. I've never met her before and don't know much about her, but that is good because then we can just have a fresh new start. I hear she's a hard worker so that will be really awesome. I'm a little nervous to be the Sr. Companion though. I have to tell her everything she needs to know about the area, and I have TO DRIVE! I haven't driven in 5 months... so weird. Especially in the snow :) I think I just realized last night, though, that the Lord takes care of me. He always has. He knows me better than I know myself and I just need to fear not. I will miss Sister Stone. She's my best friend.
So I've been thinking a lot this week about Charity. Sister Stone and I had to give a training on it in District Meeting last week and it is something I really love to think about, especially around this Christmas season. While we were planning the training we read the story of the Good Samaritan. How a man was beaten up on the side of the road and left for dead. Two men, a Priest and a Levite, saw him and passed right by when another, a Samaritan, stopped to help him and gave him all that he could. I read something I loved in Jesus the Christ that says "The Priest and the Levite tried to salve their conscience with ample excuse for his inhumane conduct; Excuses are easy to find; they spring up as readily and plentifully as weeds by the wayside. When the Samaritan came along and saw the wretched state of the wounded man, he had no excuse for he wanted none." If we want an excuse not to serve someone there will always be ones to find. I love that it says that the Samaritan "wanted none". He didn't want an excuse. He wanted to love in true and pure charity. So he did. No excuses.
Well I love all of you. I pray for all of you continually. I hit 5 months this week! A whole China trip away! I hope you have the best week.
Love always, Sister A. Carter
Monday, December 6, 2010
December 6, 2010
Dear Family,
Well there isn't much to report this week. It has been snowing here A LOT! I now have a new outlook on tracting. As we go from house to house we actually carrying a golf ball in our pocket. Since we have our gloves on, and its too cold to take them off, we take out our golf ball and knock on doors with that. They know how to do things here in New York. I'm glad I learned how to deal with the snow in Logan or this might be quite a shock coming from St George. We're going to make the most of it though and have a snowball fight today for P-day.
Well... I would like to report that this week was a lot better than last week but it wasn't really. Sister Stone and I joke around that it feels like a bad breakup happened with us and L. Every time we bring up his name or read it in our journal we turn away in disgust :). The Atonement has definitely taken place in our hearts though and every day I feel more peace about the situation. President Christianson told me once that just as important as the Lord's will is the Lord's timing. So I will trust in that. We also moved forward with a baptismal date with S. He came to church these last couple weeks and so we decided to set a baptism date again with him. So it was for.... yesterday. So all week we went to his house, taught him lessons, watched uplifting church movies, played church games to keep him excited. President even went over and interviewed him and gave him a blessing. Well, yesterday rolled around, the programs were made, the font was being filled and there was no Scott. We waited, we called, we went over to his house.... nothing. N. O. T. H. I. N. G. We tried all day with no avail. He still hasn't gotten a hold of us, we don't even know what is going on.
*Sigh*. Man, Satan's a beast.
Sister Stone and I have taught so many people that have, literally, stepped their toes into the baptismal font and run away. So today, I find my hope in this quote by President Monson:
" I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us."
Thank you for the 12 days of Christmas package! I'm so excited to get started. This will Sister Stone and I's last week together which is super sad... it will be interesting to see what happens next week. I think of you all every day. I hope you are all doing well. I love you and hope you have an amazing week.
Love always, Sister Carter
Well there isn't much to report this week. It has been snowing here A LOT! I now have a new outlook on tracting. As we go from house to house we actually carrying a golf ball in our pocket. Since we have our gloves on, and its too cold to take them off, we take out our golf ball and knock on doors with that. They know how to do things here in New York. I'm glad I learned how to deal with the snow in Logan or this might be quite a shock coming from St George. We're going to make the most of it though and have a snowball fight today for P-day.
Well... I would like to report that this week was a lot better than last week but it wasn't really. Sister Stone and I joke around that it feels like a bad breakup happened with us and L. Every time we bring up his name or read it in our journal we turn away in disgust :). The Atonement has definitely taken place in our hearts though and every day I feel more peace about the situation. President Christianson told me once that just as important as the Lord's will is the Lord's timing. So I will trust in that. We also moved forward with a baptismal date with S. He came to church these last couple weeks and so we decided to set a baptism date again with him. So it was for.... yesterday. So all week we went to his house, taught him lessons, watched uplifting church movies, played church games to keep him excited. President even went over and interviewed him and gave him a blessing. Well, yesterday rolled around, the programs were made, the font was being filled and there was no Scott. We waited, we called, we went over to his house.... nothing. N. O. T. H. I. N. G. We tried all day with no avail. He still hasn't gotten a hold of us, we don't even know what is going on.
*Sigh*. Man, Satan's a beast.
Sister Stone and I have taught so many people that have, literally, stepped their toes into the baptismal font and run away. So today, I find my hope in this quote by President Monson:
" I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us."
Thank you for the 12 days of Christmas package! I'm so excited to get started. This will Sister Stone and I's last week together which is super sad... it will be interesting to see what happens next week. I think of you all every day. I hope you are all doing well. I love you and hope you have an amazing week.
Love always, Sister Carter
Monday, November 29, 2010
My Thanksgiving November 29, 2010
Dear Family,
Thanks everyone for all the wonderful emails this week for Thanksgiving! That was such a wonderful treat to be able to read how everyone is doing and how everyone's Thanksgiving went. I did think of you all a lot that day (Especially Black Friday day :)). It had its uniqueness from all other Thanksgiving's I've ever had. We woke up in the morning and were able to make a Thanksgiving dinner for our investigator S (thanks to the package of instant food Mom sent :)). He has no family around and didn't have any plans for the day. So, when we discovered that out, we hurried and made an "instant Thanksgiving feast" and took it over to his house. That really was an amazing experience. He was so happy.
We spent most of the afternoon with a woman named Bonnie Lewis who lives in our ward. Bonnie comes with Sister Stone and I every week to serve at a Food Kitchen that is just down the street from where she lives. She had no one to spend Thanksgiving with so we went to her house and ate some Symphony pie then went over to the Food Kitchen to eat with all the people there. Wow. What a humbling experience. There was a local church that came and made the food and served it to all the people that came in. It was weird to be the one being served but it was amazing to be able to stand back and watch Christ-like love in action. I was truly humbled by the people that we talked to that sat at our table. The stories of how they got to where they are, and the hard lives that they come from. Yet they find that silver lining... they find that hope in their lives, it brought me to tears.
The rest of the day we spent at a member's house. It was the Young Woman President in our ward, who is the best. We got to eat dinner with her and her family. It was such a wonderful amazing time.
So this Saturday was the day that we were praying wouldn't happened. L called and pulled the plug on himself. He told us that he doesn't believe that Joseph is a prophet and that he has a tendency to become obsessed with something until he analyzes it too much and then he just pushes it to the side. Yuck. What a terrible way to live. You have no foundation to your life that way. Sister Stone and I are mostly in a state of shock at this point in time. We called and told President what had happened and President was furious! So mad that for the first two hours of training this week he showed all the missionaries how the Bible testifies that the Book of Mormon is true. It was neat though because in the middle of his ranting and raving he called Sister Stone and I out and told us that the spirit has whispered to him that we did everything we could help Lee hear the truth. It was comforting to hear because when things like this happen, Satan gets excited to give you thoughts that YOU did something wrong as a missionary. Our hearts hurt for L. Sometimes it can be discouraging that I've been out here as long as I have and I have had no "success" (as defined by the world). I have a hope, though, that Lee will return. If he ever seeks truth again he'll always be led to the same place. Truth is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that.
My thought today is about gratitude. I've decided that the only way to experience true joy and happiness in this life is to BE THANKFUL. When we are more grateful we will: See the Lord more in our lives, our perspective will change, our desire to do good will increase, people will want to be around us more, we will appreciate the moment, and it will be easier to love. I love the chorus of the 'Thankful" song that Josh Groban sings:
"So for tonight we pray for, what we know can be.
And on this day we hope for, what we still can't see.
Its up to us to be the change.
And even though we can all do so much more,
There's so much to be thankful for."
Transfer are 10 days before Christmas... kinda a bummer. I think I might need a calling card to be able to talk to you all. That is only a month away! How crazy! I can't believe its coming so fast.
I love all of you. I'm so grateful for you in my life. I hope this letter finds you happy and well. Have an amazing week!
Love always, Sister Carter
- Show quoted text -
Thanks everyone for all the wonderful emails this week for Thanksgiving! That was such a wonderful treat to be able to read how everyone is doing and how everyone's Thanksgiving went. I did think of you all a lot that day (Especially Black Friday day :)). It had its uniqueness from all other Thanksgiving's I've ever had. We woke up in the morning and were able to make a Thanksgiving dinner for our investigator S (thanks to the package of instant food Mom sent :)). He has no family around and didn't have any plans for the day. So, when we discovered that out, we hurried and made an "instant Thanksgiving feast" and took it over to his house. That really was an amazing experience. He was so happy.
We spent most of the afternoon with a woman named Bonnie Lewis who lives in our ward. Bonnie comes with Sister Stone and I every week to serve at a Food Kitchen that is just down the street from where she lives. She had no one to spend Thanksgiving with so we went to her house and ate some Symphony pie then went over to the Food Kitchen to eat with all the people there. Wow. What a humbling experience. There was a local church that came and made the food and served it to all the people that came in. It was weird to be the one being served but it was amazing to be able to stand back and watch Christ-like love in action. I was truly humbled by the people that we talked to that sat at our table. The stories of how they got to where they are, and the hard lives that they come from. Yet they find that silver lining... they find that hope in their lives, it brought me to tears.
The rest of the day we spent at a member's house. It was the Young Woman President in our ward, who is the best. We got to eat dinner with her and her family. It was such a wonderful amazing time.
So this Saturday was the day that we were praying wouldn't happened. L called and pulled the plug on himself. He told us that he doesn't believe that Joseph is a prophet and that he has a tendency to become obsessed with something until he analyzes it too much and then he just pushes it to the side. Yuck. What a terrible way to live. You have no foundation to your life that way. Sister Stone and I are mostly in a state of shock at this point in time. We called and told President what had happened and President was furious! So mad that for the first two hours of training this week he showed all the missionaries how the Bible testifies that the Book of Mormon is true. It was neat though because in the middle of his ranting and raving he called Sister Stone and I out and told us that the spirit has whispered to him that we did everything we could help Lee hear the truth. It was comforting to hear because when things like this happen, Satan gets excited to give you thoughts that YOU did something wrong as a missionary. Our hearts hurt for L. Sometimes it can be discouraging that I've been out here as long as I have and I have had no "success" (as defined by the world). I have a hope, though, that Lee will return. If he ever seeks truth again he'll always be led to the same place. Truth is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that.
My thought today is about gratitude. I've decided that the only way to experience true joy and happiness in this life is to BE THANKFUL. When we are more grateful we will: See the Lord more in our lives, our perspective will change, our desire to do good will increase, people will want to be around us more, we will appreciate the moment, and it will be easier to love. I love the chorus of the 'Thankful" song that Josh Groban sings:
"So for tonight we pray for, what we know can be.
And on this day we hope for, what we still can't see.
Its up to us to be the change.
And even though we can all do so much more,
There's so much to be thankful for."
Transfer are 10 days before Christmas... kinda a bummer. I think I might need a calling card to be able to talk to you all. That is only a month away! How crazy! I can't believe its coming so fast.
I love all of you. I'm so grateful for you in my life. I hope this letter finds you happy and well. Have an amazing week!
Love always, Sister Carter
- Show quoted text -
Monday, November 22, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving! November 22, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving Family!!
Its so crazy that it is already Thanksgiving time... Sister Stone and I have already totally gotten into the Christmas spirit. We got a tree and made sugar cookies and cut out snowflakes. Our apartment looks so cute! I hope that you all have an amazing Thanksgiving at home. Maybe its good to be at home with Grandpa trying to heal. I'm glad to hear that he is home. Tell him that I am still praying for him and think of him often. I wish I could be there to see him. Our Thanksgiving day is full of running from home to home to visit some of the widows that don't have anyone on Thanksgiving. We'll be like President Monson :) I'm excited. Its going to be such a wonderful day... and we'll probably get fed lots of Thanksgiving dinners :).
So this week has been INSANE. Such a crazy, up and down, week. So I will give it to you in a bulleted nutshell:
- Accidently stabbed myself in the stomach (a TOTAL miracle- I'm completely fine- I have a new-found testimony of the physical protection of garments)
- Saw a naked guy (Don't worry... didn't see too much :))
- Got "anti-ed" three times within 24 hours (that doesn't seem like a lot but when you're happy cheerful girls you don't get anti-ed too often)
- Had a crazy homeless lady treat us to hot chocolate and tell us how Jesus' DNA is still in a tree somewhere (I don't even know what else I could say about that...)
- I've had the cold the entire week (makes it really hard to work and function :()
- Scott came to church (What a miracle!!! We've been waiting for him to come for a month and a half now!)
- We're having a nerf gun war today with the Elders (very excited...)
We were able to find a new investigator this week. We went over to her house because her Dad is actually a less-active member of the church and we were told to go visit him since we live a couple doors down and she was there! She's our age and looks really hard core with all her nose rings and tatoos but she is such a sweetheart who claps her hands together when she gets really excited. When we first met her we weren't too sure how interested she really was to listening to what we had to say but when we went back for our appointment she was all ready for us with a Book of Mormon out on a table. I guess she had searched her house for her Grandpa's old Book of Mormon. Her Grandpa passed away a couple years ago and he was a really solid member and she always looked up to him. It was such an amazing lesson because we were able to share with her the Plan of Salvation and where her Grandpa is in that plan. She loved it. It was awesome. She's great!
So we had a hard day yesterday. Our golden investigator didn't come to church and when we called him he told us that he has been talking to his friends, the last couple days, and they showed him in the Bible how there shouldn't be anything added to it and that we think Jospeh Smith has done more for the world than Jesus Christ, etc... It was such a heartbreaking, heartwrenching, huge blow to the gut. What!? Our solid "Bishop man"? We tried to explain things as best we could to him, and told him that this comes down to if the Book of Mormon is true or not. If it is, this is all true. If it isn't, its not. We told him to keep praying to know, that this was no one's journey but his own. He needs to ask God what is right and stop listening to other people, including us. AH! I just HATE SATAN SO MUCH! I hate his guts! He's so evil and stupid... He hasn't left this place since Joseph got on his knees. Its been such a hard last couple of weeks. Satan has kicked the trash out of me. Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. I'm just so tired. I keep having Nephi's words come to my mind though, "I know in whom I have trusted". Satan wins these battles sometimes but he will never win the war. I know that, and that helps keep the big perspective on things. I found this quote by Bruce C Hafen that I just love:
"Each of us will taste the bitter ashes of life, from sin and neglect, to sorrow and disappointment, but the Atonement of Christ can lift us up in beauty from our ashes on the wings of a sure promise of immortality and eternal life. He will lift us up, not only at the end of life, but in each day of our lives."
Although sometimes I feel down, I'm not out. I will fight and proclaim and declare and love and serve and tesify until I take my last breath. I owe Him that much.
I love you all. Thank you for all your prayers and emails. They always make me happy. I haven't gotten your package yet but I'll look of it. I hope you have an amazing Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for- and it all has to do with each one of you. Have an amazing week!
Love always, Sister Carter
Its so crazy that it is already Thanksgiving time... Sister Stone and I have already totally gotten into the Christmas spirit. We got a tree and made sugar cookies and cut out snowflakes. Our apartment looks so cute! I hope that you all have an amazing Thanksgiving at home. Maybe its good to be at home with Grandpa trying to heal. I'm glad to hear that he is home. Tell him that I am still praying for him and think of him often. I wish I could be there to see him. Our Thanksgiving day is full of running from home to home to visit some of the widows that don't have anyone on Thanksgiving. We'll be like President Monson :) I'm excited. Its going to be such a wonderful day... and we'll probably get fed lots of Thanksgiving dinners :).
So this week has been INSANE. Such a crazy, up and down, week. So I will give it to you in a bulleted nutshell:
- Accidently stabbed myself in the stomach (a TOTAL miracle- I'm completely fine- I have a new-found testimony of the physical protection of garments)
- Saw a naked guy (Don't worry... didn't see too much :))
- Got "anti-ed" three times within 24 hours (that doesn't seem like a lot but when you're happy cheerful girls you don't get anti-ed too often)
- Had a crazy homeless lady treat us to hot chocolate and tell us how Jesus' DNA is still in a tree somewhere (I don't even know what else I could say about that...)
- I've had the cold the entire week (makes it really hard to work and function :()
- Scott came to church (What a miracle!!! We've been waiting for him to come for a month and a half now!)
- We're having a nerf gun war today with the Elders (very excited...)
We were able to find a new investigator this week. We went over to her house because her Dad is actually a less-active member of the church and we were told to go visit him since we live a couple doors down and she was there! She's our age and looks really hard core with all her nose rings and tatoos but she is such a sweetheart who claps her hands together when she gets really excited. When we first met her we weren't too sure how interested she really was to listening to what we had to say but when we went back for our appointment she was all ready for us with a Book of Mormon out on a table. I guess she had searched her house for her Grandpa's old Book of Mormon. Her Grandpa passed away a couple years ago and he was a really solid member and she always looked up to him. It was such an amazing lesson because we were able to share with her the Plan of Salvation and where her Grandpa is in that plan. She loved it. It was awesome. She's great!
So we had a hard day yesterday. Our golden investigator didn't come to church and when we called him he told us that he has been talking to his friends, the last couple days, and they showed him in the Bible how there shouldn't be anything added to it and that we think Jospeh Smith has done more for the world than Jesus Christ, etc... It was such a heartbreaking, heartwrenching, huge blow to the gut. What!? Our solid "Bishop man"? We tried to explain things as best we could to him, and told him that this comes down to if the Book of Mormon is true or not. If it is, this is all true. If it isn't, its not. We told him to keep praying to know, that this was no one's journey but his own. He needs to ask God what is right and stop listening to other people, including us. AH! I just HATE SATAN SO MUCH! I hate his guts! He's so evil and stupid... He hasn't left this place since Joseph got on his knees. Its been such a hard last couple of weeks. Satan has kicked the trash out of me. Physically. Mentally. Spiritually. I'm just so tired. I keep having Nephi's words come to my mind though, "I know in whom I have trusted". Satan wins these battles sometimes but he will never win the war. I know that, and that helps keep the big perspective on things. I found this quote by Bruce C Hafen that I just love:
"Each of us will taste the bitter ashes of life, from sin and neglect, to sorrow and disappointment, but the Atonement of Christ can lift us up in beauty from our ashes on the wings of a sure promise of immortality and eternal life. He will lift us up, not only at the end of life, but in each day of our lives."
Although sometimes I feel down, I'm not out. I will fight and proclaim and declare and love and serve and tesify until I take my last breath. I owe Him that much.
I love you all. Thank you for all your prayers and emails. They always make me happy. I haven't gotten your package yet but I'll look of it. I hope you have an amazing Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for- and it all has to do with each one of you. Have an amazing week!
Love always, Sister Carter
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Finding our own Sacred Groves November 15, 2010
Dear Family,
What a crazy week its been for everyone. I was shocked to get that news about Grandpa. That is very scary. I'm so grateful for the Priesthood though. It sounds like the surgery went well? Its hard to be excited that Grandpa can't move. I'm so proud of the family that I come from. I'm so grateful to have immediate and extended family who are always there for each other. The love everyone has for one another is truly something amazing... how grateful I am that this is a forever thing! Love is eternal. Please let Grandpa know how much I love him, that I will pray for him with all my might, and that he is my angel.
Well the weather was beautiful this week and so were the miracles that happened! I am so happy to report that all of your prayers were answered on behalf of our investigator. He was able to meet with President Christianson this week and the morning after he called us to tell us the best sentence in the entire world: "I have found a solution"!!!! I guess, in their meeting, President was able to give Lee a blessing and Lee went home to fast and pray on the matter. He told us over the phone that it just hit him what he needed to do. He's going to move into his garage!!! He has a loft up in his garage where he keeps his drumset and he told us that he told once he gets heat in there it will be good to go to live in. He even went up to measure if his bed would fit already. What a sacrifice for him! I'm just in awe. ITS A MIRACLE!!! He kept saying on the phone "I know this is real." After we hung up with him Sister Stone and I danced around the apartment singing and cheering at the top of our lungs and when we finally sat down, and the reality of what just happened sunk in, we were so overwhelmed in gratitude we just sat and cried. Wow.... wow.... wow.... This work is so true. I feel it in every part of my being. I will be able to testify, my entire existence, that I know that there is a God that is out there who answers our prayers. How grateful I am that an All-knowing Being can love each imperfect one of us perfectly. Its amazing.
We had Zone Conference this week which is always amazing with President Christianson speaking. He talked to us about finding our own "Sacred Groves" in life. We should all have a place, like Joseph did, where we can retire to think, ponder, and speak out loud to our loving Father in Heaven. A place where we can have our own spiritual experiences. When I first got out on my mission I remembered Dad telling me that sometimes he would go into another room and pour out his soul in prayer when the mission was just too hard. Almost every single day, since I've been out here, I've been able to do that. I wake up, a few minutes before my companion, and go into another room to pray out loud. When my alarm clock goes off and I don't want to get out of bed I always think to myself "Am I going to make it through the day without Him?" The answer is always: No. So I always muster enough strength to get on my knees. I know that has blessed me to be able to get through every single day. I attribute every day to Him. President Christianson stated that it was important for us to find our own Sacred Grove because "When you come out of your grove you will know the Savior, you will know Joseph Smith, and almost as much as both of those you will know yourself."
I'm glad to hear everything else is going well at home. Atreyu looks so cute in his little model shots. I can't believe Jordan is home! That is just insane! I hit my four month mark yesterday... a big reality check on how much I have/have not progressed in the time that I have had here. I'm glad you got all the pictures on my camera card. The girl that is with us all the time in our pictures and videos is Ally. She's a recent convert. The one that was baptized when we got here. She is the most amazing person in all the world. If I only get to witness one true miracle on my mission is would be her.
Well I love you all. You are all always in my prayers. I think of you every day. Have an amzing week.
Love always, Sister Carter
What a crazy week its been for everyone. I was shocked to get that news about Grandpa. That is very scary. I'm so grateful for the Priesthood though. It sounds like the surgery went well? Its hard to be excited that Grandpa can't move. I'm so proud of the family that I come from. I'm so grateful to have immediate and extended family who are always there for each other. The love everyone has for one another is truly something amazing... how grateful I am that this is a forever thing! Love is eternal. Please let Grandpa know how much I love him, that I will pray for him with all my might, and that he is my angel.
Well the weather was beautiful this week and so were the miracles that happened! I am so happy to report that all of your prayers were answered on behalf of our investigator. He was able to meet with President Christianson this week and the morning after he called us to tell us the best sentence in the entire world: "I have found a solution"!!!! I guess, in their meeting, President was able to give Lee a blessing and Lee went home to fast and pray on the matter. He told us over the phone that it just hit him what he needed to do. He's going to move into his garage!!! He has a loft up in his garage where he keeps his drumset and he told us that he told once he gets heat in there it will be good to go to live in. He even went up to measure if his bed would fit already. What a sacrifice for him! I'm just in awe. ITS A MIRACLE!!! He kept saying on the phone "I know this is real." After we hung up with him Sister Stone and I danced around the apartment singing and cheering at the top of our lungs and when we finally sat down, and the reality of what just happened sunk in, we were so overwhelmed in gratitude we just sat and cried. Wow.... wow.... wow.... This work is so true. I feel it in every part of my being. I will be able to testify, my entire existence, that I know that there is a God that is out there who answers our prayers. How grateful I am that an All-knowing Being can love each imperfect one of us perfectly. Its amazing.
We had Zone Conference this week which is always amazing with President Christianson speaking. He talked to us about finding our own "Sacred Groves" in life. We should all have a place, like Joseph did, where we can retire to think, ponder, and speak out loud to our loving Father in Heaven. A place where we can have our own spiritual experiences. When I first got out on my mission I remembered Dad telling me that sometimes he would go into another room and pour out his soul in prayer when the mission was just too hard. Almost every single day, since I've been out here, I've been able to do that. I wake up, a few minutes before my companion, and go into another room to pray out loud. When my alarm clock goes off and I don't want to get out of bed I always think to myself "Am I going to make it through the day without Him?" The answer is always: No. So I always muster enough strength to get on my knees. I know that has blessed me to be able to get through every single day. I attribute every day to Him. President Christianson stated that it was important for us to find our own Sacred Grove because "When you come out of your grove you will know the Savior, you will know Joseph Smith, and almost as much as both of those you will know yourself."
I'm glad to hear everything else is going well at home. Atreyu looks so cute in his little model shots. I can't believe Jordan is home! That is just insane! I hit my four month mark yesterday... a big reality check on how much I have/have not progressed in the time that I have had here. I'm glad you got all the pictures on my camera card. The girl that is with us all the time in our pictures and videos is Ally. She's a recent convert. The one that was baptized when we got here. She is the most amazing person in all the world. If I only get to witness one true miracle on my mission is would be her.
Well I love you all. You are all always in my prayers. I think of you every day. Have an amzing week.
Love always, Sister Carter
Monday, November 8, 2010
Slowly and surely November 8, 2010
Dear Family,
What a nice letter Donna Casebolt wrote. I just LOVE her daughter. She's the best! We did go over to her home this last Monday with our investigator and his son. It was so fun and they really enjoyed themselves and were able to feel the spirit of their home and get a taste of what FHE is all about. Our investigator is still doing well. He absolutely loved testimony meeting yesterday. He cried through the whole thing. He is SO CLOSE to getting baptized!! He could get baptized tomorow if his ex-girlfriend would move out. He has been taught everything, he loves coming to church, and the ward LOVES him. He even met with the Bishop yesterday. He's been such a blessing to both Sister Stone and I. He's the only solid person that we have to hold onto right now. His meeting with President Christianson is this Tuesday so we're praying that everything will go over well.
Thanks for all the wonderful emails. I love hearing from everyone! I especially love seeing pictures of cute little Atreyu. I was so excited to get those pictures of him in the mail. He is SO tiny! The picture of him in the carseat with socks on his hands made me laugh out loud. He looked like an alien :) I'm glad Kyle got to come home for the weekend. I always loved it when I was able to go home, even if it was just for a little while. It made me so happy.
It is starting to get cold here. Especially since we tract a lot more now then we use to. I'm starting to learn how to layer! If you want to get me anything for Christmas, any type of warm clothing (hats, gloves, scarfs, socks, long skirts) would be the best :) I did buy a GPS, she's mine to keep forever. Sister Stone and I were trying to think of a name for her, Lola is a good one! It seems like every week I am here I learn something new about myself and about others. We had an interesting thing happen to us this week. We got a call from the Mission Office and they told us that a woman had called them in a panic about her "salvation". The woman on the phone said that she had just had an abortion and she knew that she was going to hell now. She hung up before they could ask her anything about herself but by some miracle they were able to get her address. So Sister Stone and I drove to her house and knocked on the door. Right when the door opened it was like this big WALL of pain and sorrow hit us. This woman just stared at us in complete shock and asked us what we wanted. She didn't speak much english and before we could even get much of a word out she said "I don't believe Mormonism" and shut the door. We just stood there.... standing.... not sure what to do.... just silent... waiting. Half a minute later her friend opened the door and asked us why we were there. We told her we really didn't know all the details of why we were there but we knew that the Lord wanted us there. The friend was confused and told us that there was nothing going on and that they were fine. As she started to shut the door I shouted out my testimony of how we knew that God loved her and was mindful of both of them in that moment. She then stopped shutting the door and look at each of us. She asked "Do you have a scripture you can show me that proves that?" We both just stood there for another moment and then I felt prompted to write down a scripture for her. I wrote it down, gave it to her with our phone number, and then she shut the door. It is so hard to see such aguish and hardship that people are going through and even when Heavenly Father sends someone to help them they still don't understand His love for them.
So this week I've been thinking a lot about choices. Another one of our solid investigators, has missed church for the last three weeks in a row. Its been so disheartening since he has such a desire to be baptized, he just can't make that added effort. I've realized that we can never force anyone to do anything. Everyone has their own agency. That is the most precious gift our Heavenly Father has given us. I've been comparing it lately to Pocohantas (I know, I know, another Disney analogy :)). When she is rowing in her canoe and she comes the point where she has to pick between two rivers. Its her choice about which course she takes. Although we do have things in our life that affect us it is our choice on which side we pick. I think about the words of a Prophet of the church, in this last dispensations, someone who has SEEN the future and knows the outcome: "...the forces of righteousness will win. But what remians to be seen is where each of us will stand in the battle- and how tall we will stand... Great battles can make great heroes and heroines" (President Ezra T, Benson). This is our time to pick a course and stand up to be counted.
Anyway, I love you all. The work is progressing slowly and surely. I love the Lord and I'm so grateful for the chance that we have to repent every day of our lives. I love you have an amazing week.
I love you!
Love always, Sister Carter
What a nice letter Donna Casebolt wrote. I just LOVE her daughter. She's the best! We did go over to her home this last Monday with our investigator and his son. It was so fun and they really enjoyed themselves and were able to feel the spirit of their home and get a taste of what FHE is all about. Our investigator is still doing well. He absolutely loved testimony meeting yesterday. He cried through the whole thing. He is SO CLOSE to getting baptized!! He could get baptized tomorow if his ex-girlfriend would move out. He has been taught everything, he loves coming to church, and the ward LOVES him. He even met with the Bishop yesterday. He's been such a blessing to both Sister Stone and I. He's the only solid person that we have to hold onto right now. His meeting with President Christianson is this Tuesday so we're praying that everything will go over well.
Thanks for all the wonderful emails. I love hearing from everyone! I especially love seeing pictures of cute little Atreyu. I was so excited to get those pictures of him in the mail. He is SO tiny! The picture of him in the carseat with socks on his hands made me laugh out loud. He looked like an alien :) I'm glad Kyle got to come home for the weekend. I always loved it when I was able to go home, even if it was just for a little while. It made me so happy.
It is starting to get cold here. Especially since we tract a lot more now then we use to. I'm starting to learn how to layer! If you want to get me anything for Christmas, any type of warm clothing (hats, gloves, scarfs, socks, long skirts) would be the best :) I did buy a GPS, she's mine to keep forever. Sister Stone and I were trying to think of a name for her, Lola is a good one! It seems like every week I am here I learn something new about myself and about others. We had an interesting thing happen to us this week. We got a call from the Mission Office and they told us that a woman had called them in a panic about her "salvation". The woman on the phone said that she had just had an abortion and she knew that she was going to hell now. She hung up before they could ask her anything about herself but by some miracle they were able to get her address. So Sister Stone and I drove to her house and knocked on the door. Right when the door opened it was like this big WALL of pain and sorrow hit us. This woman just stared at us in complete shock and asked us what we wanted. She didn't speak much english and before we could even get much of a word out she said "I don't believe Mormonism" and shut the door. We just stood there.... standing.... not sure what to do.... just silent... waiting. Half a minute later her friend opened the door and asked us why we were there. We told her we really didn't know all the details of why we were there but we knew that the Lord wanted us there. The friend was confused and told us that there was nothing going on and that they were fine. As she started to shut the door I shouted out my testimony of how we knew that God loved her and was mindful of both of them in that moment. She then stopped shutting the door and look at each of us. She asked "Do you have a scripture you can show me that proves that?" We both just stood there for another moment and then I felt prompted to write down a scripture for her. I wrote it down, gave it to her with our phone number, and then she shut the door. It is so hard to see such aguish and hardship that people are going through and even when Heavenly Father sends someone to help them they still don't understand His love for them.
So this week I've been thinking a lot about choices. Another one of our solid investigators, has missed church for the last three weeks in a row. Its been so disheartening since he has such a desire to be baptized, he just can't make that added effort. I've realized that we can never force anyone to do anything. Everyone has their own agency. That is the most precious gift our Heavenly Father has given us. I've been comparing it lately to Pocohantas (I know, I know, another Disney analogy :)). When she is rowing in her canoe and she comes the point where she has to pick between two rivers. Its her choice about which course she takes. Although we do have things in our life that affect us it is our choice on which side we pick. I think about the words of a Prophet of the church, in this last dispensations, someone who has SEEN the future and knows the outcome: "...the forces of righteousness will win. But what remians to be seen is where each of us will stand in the battle- and how tall we will stand... Great battles can make great heroes and heroines" (President Ezra T, Benson). This is our time to pick a course and stand up to be counted.
Anyway, I love you all. The work is progressing slowly and surely. I love the Lord and I'm so grateful for the chance that we have to repent every day of our lives. I love you have an amazing week.
I love you!
Love always, Sister Carter
Monday, November 1, 2010
Happy Halloween!-November 1, 2010
Dear Family,
Happy Halloween everyone! It is so weird that it was Halloween yesterday, and IT SNOWED HERE! Can you believe that!? It snowed! It was just a little snow but I couldn't believe it! They're predicting a long winter this year... yay... not. The rest of the day was good though. As a missionary there isn't much you do for that Holiday. We did get to go to our Ward Halloween Party which was the best! The ward is so great and we had such a fun time playing games and all the kids got to go Trunk-or-Treating outside (we were also able to get a few treats as we went along :)). Who knew that the excitement of my week would be ward parties... when I didn't even like them when I was at home! Funny, funny world. The other neat thing was that Susan Tanner (the old General YW President) was at the party with her husband. I guess her daughter is in our ward... who knew? She's a super nice lady and it was really great to get to talk to her for a little while.
Not much happened this week. There are some weeks when we're SUPER busy and then others where there is not much to report on. There were three baptisms in our ward this week. The Elders were teaching a Mom and her two little girls who's names are Nigeria and Zizeria (yes Mom and Dad, there are names that are worse then Atreyu). We did it on Saturday morning and they didn't want very many people there so there was just a handful in attendance. When we started the meeting and they went to do the first baptism they realized two things: #1- The water was FREZZING and #2- It had begun to drain after they turned the water off so when the first Elder went in to baptize Zizeria the water barley went up to his knees. So they decided that they would go on with the rest of the service (the talks) while Sister Stone and I ran back and forth from the kitchen carrying huge buckets of warm water and throwing it in. It made it sound like there was a water park going on in the font! Although the water was still pretty cold all three of them were able to get baptized and it was a beautiful thing to watch.
Our investigator is doing well. He wasn't able to get baptized this week because his ex-girlfriend is still living with him. President Christianson actually wants to meet with him sometime this week, so we're hoping that will give him enough motivation to start making the changes he needs to. He's going to be a KINGDOM-BUILDER, no doubt about that. Other than that all of our investigators have dropped us... super sad. Its hard to be on transfer three and nothing to show for the labor we have put in. We found out last night that Sister Stone and I are going to be together in Henrietta again this transfer. We're both really happy about that. They're turning the church sites over to the Senior missionary couples for the winter so almost all the Sisters are going full-proselyting now. We're grateful to be able to be in such a great area for the change. There really is so much potential for the place that we're in and we keep praying to be able to see the vision the Lord has for it. There are lots of doors that need to be knocked :)
I love seeing pictures of cute little Atreyu. That makes me nervous that he is so tiny. Hopefully the formula will help him gain a little weight. I'm so excited to get to meet him! I can't believe he'll be 14 months old when I come home! Thats a long time. Could send me a new camera card soon, mine is all full of wonderful pictures and videos for you all to enjoy. We made the Elders make a music video last week to a corny cheesey old 80s church song, that Mom and Dad might recognize. In a way it is totally pay back for the prank. HEHEHEHE (evil laugh).
Well I love all of you and pray for you every day. Every time I listen to the CD you made me I cry. I'm so grateful to have you all forever. My thought today is this: "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -George Eliot. Have a good week!
Love always, Sister Carter
Happy Halloween everyone! It is so weird that it was Halloween yesterday, and IT SNOWED HERE! Can you believe that!? It snowed! It was just a little snow but I couldn't believe it! They're predicting a long winter this year... yay... not. The rest of the day was good though. As a missionary there isn't much you do for that Holiday. We did get to go to our Ward Halloween Party which was the best! The ward is so great and we had such a fun time playing games and all the kids got to go Trunk-or-Treating outside (we were also able to get a few treats as we went along :)). Who knew that the excitement of my week would be ward parties... when I didn't even like them when I was at home! Funny, funny world. The other neat thing was that Susan Tanner (the old General YW President) was at the party with her husband. I guess her daughter is in our ward... who knew? She's a super nice lady and it was really great to get to talk to her for a little while.
Not much happened this week. There are some weeks when we're SUPER busy and then others where there is not much to report on. There were three baptisms in our ward this week. The Elders were teaching a Mom and her two little girls who's names are Nigeria and Zizeria (yes Mom and Dad, there are names that are worse then Atreyu). We did it on Saturday morning and they didn't want very many people there so there was just a handful in attendance. When we started the meeting and they went to do the first baptism they realized two things: #1- The water was FREZZING and #2- It had begun to drain after they turned the water off so when the first Elder went in to baptize Zizeria the water barley went up to his knees. So they decided that they would go on with the rest of the service (the talks) while Sister Stone and I ran back and forth from the kitchen carrying huge buckets of warm water and throwing it in. It made it sound like there was a water park going on in the font! Although the water was still pretty cold all three of them were able to get baptized and it was a beautiful thing to watch.
Our investigator is doing well. He wasn't able to get baptized this week because his ex-girlfriend is still living with him. President Christianson actually wants to meet with him sometime this week, so we're hoping that will give him enough motivation to start making the changes he needs to. He's going to be a KINGDOM-BUILDER, no doubt about that. Other than that all of our investigators have dropped us... super sad. Its hard to be on transfer three and nothing to show for the labor we have put in. We found out last night that Sister Stone and I are going to be together in Henrietta again this transfer. We're both really happy about that. They're turning the church sites over to the Senior missionary couples for the winter so almost all the Sisters are going full-proselyting now. We're grateful to be able to be in such a great area for the change. There really is so much potential for the place that we're in and we keep praying to be able to see the vision the Lord has for it. There are lots of doors that need to be knocked :)
I love seeing pictures of cute little Atreyu. That makes me nervous that he is so tiny. Hopefully the formula will help him gain a little weight. I'm so excited to get to meet him! I can't believe he'll be 14 months old when I come home! Thats a long time. Could send me a new camera card soon, mine is all full of wonderful pictures and videos for you all to enjoy. We made the Elders make a music video last week to a corny cheesey old 80s church song, that Mom and Dad might recognize. In a way it is totally pay back for the prank. HEHEHEHE (evil laugh).
Well I love all of you and pray for you every day. Every time I listen to the CD you made me I cry. I'm so grateful to have you all forever. My thought today is this: "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -George Eliot. Have a good week!
Love always, Sister Carter
Monday, October 25, 2010
I'm an Aunt!-October 25, 2010
WHAT THE WHAT!!??? (You guessed right Dad :))
I'M AN AUNT!!!!
ARE YOU FOR SERIOUS!!??
I couldn't believe it when I got the email from Kris!!! I HAVE A LITTLE NEPHEW! I've just been sitting here crying I'm so happy. He's so beautiful! He looks just like a baby doll, I wish I could hold him! That was not what I expected to hear from the family at all. He came so early! I'm so happy that he is so healthy. Makes my heart just soar!! I can't even begin to explain in words what I'm feeling right now. I'm just so happy. Tell Kris how proud of her I am. How brave she is. Kreigh's a Daddy! How... weird. He's going to be the best though. They both will. Their cute beautiful little family. Kreigh, Krista, Atreyu, and Miks.... I miss you guys. So is his full name Atreyu Thomas Carter? Does he sleep a lot? How is Kris feeling? Is her face any better now? Yay! So many questions... you have to tell me everything about this sweet little angel-face that came to us this week!
Well, now everything that I have to write doesnt even sound nearly as cool. That news just made my whole month! Atreyu is the miracle of the week for sure! Everything here has been going pretty well. Our investigator is still progressing towards baptism. He has some complications before he gets there though. His ex-girlfriend lives with him and the reason why he has her stay is because they have a seven year-old son together. So he wants to be around his son and so he lets her stay in his house. At first Sister Stone and I were confused on why he had to kick her out if he was still living the Law of Chastity but the Lord showed us why. A couple nights ago we went over to teach him and we walked into a scary situation. She was completely drunk and as we were trying to read the Book of Mormon she was screaming in the other room, the most vile things I've ever heard come out of someone's mouth. The Spirit was trying so hard to be there but right when she would open her mouth it could not stay. I've never felt the Spirit so tangible in all my life. Every time it wasn't there I felt so physically ill that I wasn't even able to open my mouth. Like it says in D&C: "If you do not have the spirit you cannot teach". I cried when we left because it was such an awful experience to not have the Spirit there. How lucky we are to be members of this church where it is here as our constant companion when we put ourselves in holy places. Our hope is that we will always be worthy of it, it is what will sustain us.
My thought today comes from a Disney show :) In "The Lion King" after King Mufasa was killed, Simba (who was going through a rebellious time in his life) saw his Father in the clouds. Mufasa chastened him and told him "You have forgotten who you are because you have forgotten me". I've learned two things from that phrase: #1- Disney movies truly are the best :) #2- When we remember who our Heavenly Father truly is we will never forget the potential that we have as His sons and daughters.
Anyway I love you all, so sorry this is short again! Yay for a new nephew! Keep me update on everything! Have a good week!
Love always, Sister Carter
I'M AN AUNT!!!!
ARE YOU FOR SERIOUS!!??
I couldn't believe it when I got the email from Kris!!! I HAVE A LITTLE NEPHEW! I've just been sitting here crying I'm so happy. He's so beautiful! He looks just like a baby doll, I wish I could hold him! That was not what I expected to hear from the family at all. He came so early! I'm so happy that he is so healthy. Makes my heart just soar!! I can't even begin to explain in words what I'm feeling right now. I'm just so happy. Tell Kris how proud of her I am. How brave she is. Kreigh's a Daddy! How... weird. He's going to be the best though. They both will. Their cute beautiful little family. Kreigh, Krista, Atreyu, and Miks.... I miss you guys. So is his full name Atreyu Thomas Carter? Does he sleep a lot? How is Kris feeling? Is her face any better now? Yay! So many questions... you have to tell me everything about this sweet little angel-face that came to us this week!
Well, now everything that I have to write doesnt even sound nearly as cool. That news just made my whole month! Atreyu is the miracle of the week for sure! Everything here has been going pretty well. Our investigator is still progressing towards baptism. He has some complications before he gets there though. His ex-girlfriend lives with him and the reason why he has her stay is because they have a seven year-old son together. So he wants to be around his son and so he lets her stay in his house. At first Sister Stone and I were confused on why he had to kick her out if he was still living the Law of Chastity but the Lord showed us why. A couple nights ago we went over to teach him and we walked into a scary situation. She was completely drunk and as we were trying to read the Book of Mormon she was screaming in the other room, the most vile things I've ever heard come out of someone's mouth. The Spirit was trying so hard to be there but right when she would open her mouth it could not stay. I've never felt the Spirit so tangible in all my life. Every time it wasn't there I felt so physically ill that I wasn't even able to open my mouth. Like it says in D&C: "If you do not have the spirit you cannot teach". I cried when we left because it was such an awful experience to not have the Spirit there. How lucky we are to be members of this church where it is here as our constant companion when we put ourselves in holy places. Our hope is that we will always be worthy of it, it is what will sustain us.
My thought today comes from a Disney show :) In "The Lion King" after King Mufasa was killed, Simba (who was going through a rebellious time in his life) saw his Father in the clouds. Mufasa chastened him and told him "You have forgotten who you are because you have forgotten me". I've learned two things from that phrase: #1- Disney movies truly are the best :) #2- When we remember who our Heavenly Father truly is we will never forget the potential that we have as His sons and daughters.
Anyway I love you all, so sorry this is short again! Yay for a new nephew! Keep me update on everything! Have a good week!
Love always, Sister Carter
Monday, October 18, 2010
Fall Leaves-October 18, 2010
Dear Family,
Sorry, this is going to be a shorter and a more boring email than most. We spent most of our P-day running around Mount Hope Cemetary taking some really awesome pictures... it was the best! It is so beautiful here! I love it.
Well this week was pretty uneventful. We were FINALLY able to move into a new apartment. It is SO beautiful and big and nice, the only problem is it is in the middle of no where. It is out in West Henrietta where all the richeys live (Its called Riverton Knolls- because I know you're going to want to google it :)). So it is a safe neighborhood but it is so far away from anything, especially since the President decided to ground our cars two times a week, forcing us to walk to save on gas. It will be a good way to get out and talk to people though. This week the President called ALL of the missionaries in this whole mission together for a meeting he called "The Vision". So all 90 missionaries gathered together and he layed the smack down on us. Telling us that we either be obdient or we go home, then he sent us out to the Sacred Grove to pray and ponder about it and come back with an answer. He's raising the bar, he's not going to put up with the way this mission has been in the past.
Our one investigator is still doing amazing. He's almost read the entire Book of Mormon now. His baptismal date is for October 31st... so please keep praying for him. There is still something that Sister Stone and I have to address with him that we're both nervous about, we hope that his testimony is now strong enough to make the change in his life that he has to before he gets baptized. We have another man that we are teaching right now, who is awesome. We knocked on his door one stormy rainy day. He always tells us "Who knew that when I answered that door that God was answering my prayers". He loves to write songs on guitar and even wrote a song for Sister Stone and I! Its called "The Sisters" and the chorus goes something like: " Sister Carter and Sister Stone ... they're the Sisters... they're out to save your soul... they're the Sisters.... they're Latter-Day Saints.... they're the Sister's.... and I think they're just great!" I felt like it was a "Ghostbuster" type theme song. It is the best! His baptismal date is set for November 7th, so keep him in your prayers as well. We took him and Lee both out to the sites this week and it was such an amazing expeience.
Anyway I'm so sorry this is so short and I'm not able to write to all of you! I think and pray for you all all the time. Thank you! I love you all
Love always, Sister Carter
Sorry, this is going to be a shorter and a more boring email than most. We spent most of our P-day running around Mount Hope Cemetary taking some really awesome pictures... it was the best! It is so beautiful here! I love it.
Well this week was pretty uneventful. We were FINALLY able to move into a new apartment. It is SO beautiful and big and nice, the only problem is it is in the middle of no where. It is out in West Henrietta where all the richeys live (Its called Riverton Knolls- because I know you're going to want to google it :)). So it is a safe neighborhood but it is so far away from anything, especially since the President decided to ground our cars two times a week, forcing us to walk to save on gas. It will be a good way to get out and talk to people though. This week the President called ALL of the missionaries in this whole mission together for a meeting he called "The Vision". So all 90 missionaries gathered together and he layed the smack down on us. Telling us that we either be obdient or we go home, then he sent us out to the Sacred Grove to pray and ponder about it and come back with an answer. He's raising the bar, he's not going to put up with the way this mission has been in the past.
Our one investigator is still doing amazing. He's almost read the entire Book of Mormon now. His baptismal date is for October 31st... so please keep praying for him. There is still something that Sister Stone and I have to address with him that we're both nervous about, we hope that his testimony is now strong enough to make the change in his life that he has to before he gets baptized. We have another man that we are teaching right now, who is awesome. We knocked on his door one stormy rainy day. He always tells us "Who knew that when I answered that door that God was answering my prayers". He loves to write songs on guitar and even wrote a song for Sister Stone and I! Its called "The Sisters" and the chorus goes something like: " Sister Carter and Sister Stone ... they're the Sisters... they're out to save your soul... they're the Sisters.... they're Latter-Day Saints.... they're the Sister's.... and I think they're just great!" I felt like it was a "Ghostbuster" type theme song. It is the best! His baptismal date is set for November 7th, so keep him in your prayers as well. We took him and Lee both out to the sites this week and it was such an amazing expeience.
Anyway I'm so sorry this is so short and I'm not able to write to all of you! I think and pray for you all all the time. Thank you! I love you all
Love always, Sister Carter
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Zone Conference-October 12, 2010
Dear Family,
Sorry I didn't email yesterday. Because it was Columbus Day we just figured that none of the libraries would be open so we didn't even try to drive over to one. Dad knows more about my area then I do :) It was a fun P-day though. We went to Waterloo with all of the Elders in our District to go shopping at the outlets there. The Elders were more excited about shopping then we were! It was a lot of fun. It reminded me of shopping with Mom, though, and made me a little sad (especially when we went into the Nike store :)). I got a coat though! I got a REALLY long uglyish coat from Colombia. But the great part about it is that is very warm and it was on sale! I got it for only $88 (which I know Mom would be proud of!) and I got some really nice gloves and some sweaters to help prepare of the on-coming winter. It is coming.... but the Fall is amazing! It seems like all the trees are on fire right now! Its so beautiful. I'm so sad to hear about Kris' face! I can't believe that happened! I hope it goes away soon! I'll pray for her. Keep me updated on everything that happens with that.
So this was a week of MIRACLES!! I can't even begin to explain the amazing things that happened this week. The Lord has blessed us so much more than we ever deserve. It was such a nice week to have after the disappointments we were faced with last week. So last week we ended with one investigator who had a baptismal date and this week we're going to end with FOUR investigators with a baptismal date! We found these three other people this last week and they have been so prepared they're ready to move in to the waters of baptism. YAY!!!!! There is one man in particular that is surely the Lord's elect. This is a miracle of a story...
On Tuesday morning Sister Stone and I were kneeling down saying our morning prayers together. We prayed fervently that we would be able to find someone that the Lord has prepared and who wanted to be baptized. We had no sooner said "Amen" then our cell phone beeped, signaling we had a text message (this was totally like what happens on the movie "The Best Two Years" :)). The text was a referral for a man. I guess what had happened was a member of the church had come to his home to fix his furnance and they had begun to talk about religion. Whatever this member said to this guy sparked his interest so much that he went on mormon.org and requested the missionaries. So we went over there to meet him the next day and right when he opened the door we knew that this was going to be amazing! He has such great questions and is completely willing to sit down and learn and is so hungry for the gospel. We gave him the Book of Mormon to read and when we saw him again, three days later, he told us that he was already to Alma! WHAT THE WHAT!!?? Are you for reals?! We pranced around the apartment for a good couple mintues after we heard that. He also said that he couldn't stand the suspense and read the book of Moroni so he could know how the Book of Mormon ended.... :) What a guy. He came to Stake Conference this weekend and was so touched by the speakers that I saw him wiping his eyes in the end. He has lived his whole life preparing for this moment. I can't believe that Sister Stone and I get to be so blessed to be apart of this. HE'S TOTALLY GOING TO BE A FUTURE BISHOP!! YAY!
Another really cool thing that happened this week was that a member of the Quorum of the 70, Elder Paul D. Pieper, came to speak to us for Zone Conference. I got a call a couple days before he came and the Mission President asked me to come in for an interview with Elder Pieper! There were only six people in the whole Zone that got the privelege of being interviewed by Elder Pieper and I was one of them! It was SO amazing. What a great man... the interview was filled with so much inspiration and love. He truly is a servant of the Lord. I am so grateful that I was able to have that experience. Another cool thing about that Zone Conference was that Sister Stone and I were asked to sing in it. They asked us to sing the night before the conference!! It was super nerve-wrecking but I've decided that my "gift of tounges" on this mission is the gift of song. The spirit helped us pull together a piece last minute and be able to sing it powerfully. We sang "The Olive Tree" which is one of my favorite songs ever. What an honor that was to be able to sing in that meeting. Its something I'll never forget.
There have been many more miracles but I cannot name them all in this short amount of time. I love this work! I'm so grateful to be apart of it. I love my Savior and I know that He is in everything we do. I miss you all, all the time. I think and pray for you always.
I love you!
Love always, Sister Carter
Sorry I didn't email yesterday. Because it was Columbus Day we just figured that none of the libraries would be open so we didn't even try to drive over to one. Dad knows more about my area then I do :) It was a fun P-day though. We went to Waterloo with all of the Elders in our District to go shopping at the outlets there. The Elders were more excited about shopping then we were! It was a lot of fun. It reminded me of shopping with Mom, though, and made me a little sad (especially when we went into the Nike store :)). I got a coat though! I got a REALLY long uglyish coat from Colombia. But the great part about it is that is very warm and it was on sale! I got it for only $88 (which I know Mom would be proud of!) and I got some really nice gloves and some sweaters to help prepare of the on-coming winter. It is coming.... but the Fall is amazing! It seems like all the trees are on fire right now! Its so beautiful. I'm so sad to hear about Kris' face! I can't believe that happened! I hope it goes away soon! I'll pray for her. Keep me updated on everything that happens with that.
So this was a week of MIRACLES!! I can't even begin to explain the amazing things that happened this week. The Lord has blessed us so much more than we ever deserve. It was such a nice week to have after the disappointments we were faced with last week. So last week we ended with one investigator who had a baptismal date and this week we're going to end with FOUR investigators with a baptismal date! We found these three other people this last week and they have been so prepared they're ready to move in to the waters of baptism. YAY!!!!! There is one man in particular that is surely the Lord's elect. This is a miracle of a story...
On Tuesday morning Sister Stone and I were kneeling down saying our morning prayers together. We prayed fervently that we would be able to find someone that the Lord has prepared and who wanted to be baptized. We had no sooner said "Amen" then our cell phone beeped, signaling we had a text message (this was totally like what happens on the movie "The Best Two Years" :)). The text was a referral for a man. I guess what had happened was a member of the church had come to his home to fix his furnance and they had begun to talk about religion. Whatever this member said to this guy sparked his interest so much that he went on mormon.org and requested the missionaries. So we went over there to meet him the next day and right when he opened the door we knew that this was going to be amazing! He has such great questions and is completely willing to sit down and learn and is so hungry for the gospel. We gave him the Book of Mormon to read and when we saw him again, three days later, he told us that he was already to Alma! WHAT THE WHAT!!?? Are you for reals?! We pranced around the apartment for a good couple mintues after we heard that. He also said that he couldn't stand the suspense and read the book of Moroni so he could know how the Book of Mormon ended.... :) What a guy. He came to Stake Conference this weekend and was so touched by the speakers that I saw him wiping his eyes in the end. He has lived his whole life preparing for this moment. I can't believe that Sister Stone and I get to be so blessed to be apart of this. HE'S TOTALLY GOING TO BE A FUTURE BISHOP!! YAY!
Another really cool thing that happened this week was that a member of the Quorum of the 70, Elder Paul D. Pieper, came to speak to us for Zone Conference. I got a call a couple days before he came and the Mission President asked me to come in for an interview with Elder Pieper! There were only six people in the whole Zone that got the privelege of being interviewed by Elder Pieper and I was one of them! It was SO amazing. What a great man... the interview was filled with so much inspiration and love. He truly is a servant of the Lord. I am so grateful that I was able to have that experience. Another cool thing about that Zone Conference was that Sister Stone and I were asked to sing in it. They asked us to sing the night before the conference!! It was super nerve-wrecking but I've decided that my "gift of tounges" on this mission is the gift of song. The spirit helped us pull together a piece last minute and be able to sing it powerfully. We sang "The Olive Tree" which is one of my favorite songs ever. What an honor that was to be able to sing in that meeting. Its something I'll never forget.
There have been many more miracles but I cannot name them all in this short amount of time. I love this work! I'm so grateful to be apart of it. I love my Savior and I know that He is in everything we do. I miss you all, all the time. I think and pray for you always.
I love you!
Love always, Sister Carter
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Conference
Dear Family,
YAY for Conference! IT WAS THE BEST! It was like Christmas morning here! Seriously... we thought about making one of those "countdown chains" that you make for Christmas. The first like 10 minutes of Conference I just bawled like a baby. I'm such a... missionary! It was so good to see a piece of home too. To be able to hear the Prophet and his Apostles, brings such safety and peace to the soul. We were able to see all four session in the Chapel. It was weird not to be able to lounge around in pajamas but it was still fun. I felt like every talk just kept getting better and better. My pen never stopped writing! There is so much to learn. There is so much that Heavenly Father wants us to know and to do, and how blessed we are to have the heavens open! There is no room for doubt on what we should be doing. We have the mouthpiece of God on this Earth. Its amazing to live during these times. I can't even pick a favorite talk. They were all so good. I actually really like the "Courageous Parents" talk. I have no children, obviously, but I love things that are just straight and to the point. All the speakers spoke with such power and clarity... I just loved it. I thought about Dad shining his shoes, Mom making dinner, and Kreigh, Kris, Kyle, Abby and I all laying around sleeping :). We were all doing the same thing for a moment of each of our day :)
Thanks for all your prayers for me and for the people that we are teaching. I promise, they don't go unanswered. This week we had a heartbreaking moment when one of our investigators called us and asked us to not come over anymore. She's been trying to quit tobacco and coffee for weeks now and even though we've encouraged her to not give up and to keep trying she decided that it was just too much. She told us that she doesn't think God cares if she drinks coffee or chews tobacco, that He loves her no matter what. Well of course he does! We tried to remind her that God always always loves us, but He does ask us to do some things to show that we love Him. She has a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet and Thomas S Monson is a prophet today but its not enough for her to quit her addictions. I wish she had been able to hear Elder Ballard's talk yesterday. She would have loved it. It was so devastating. I was able to find peace the next day as I was flipping through an Ensign. There was a quote by Elder Holland that said "I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are the Church of Jesus Christ, and He is our Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?" He did so much for us. He asks so little. All of these hard moments in our lives bring us closer to Christ. That is why we have them. If we don't embrace the rest that He offers then we will get lost in the storm.
There were many miracles this week, though. Our nine year old investigator, is doing so well! She's so pure and sweet and good, and she has no addictions to overcome! Yay! I'm so excited for her baptism day in two weeks. We also had a moment where God showed us His tender mercy. We were going to a less-active woman's house who, when we got there, appeared not to be home. That was kinda a breaking point for Sister Stone, because she was so frustrated that we were trying to do all that we could when others just didn't give any effort to even show up. So as she was sitting there crying, a car pulled up behind us. It was the lady we were suppose to visit and when we first tried to talk to her it was almost a hostile situation. She wanted nothing to do with us but the more we talked to her and tried to serve her she began to open up and pour out all of her feelings. She has been so wounded in her life that Heavenly Father needed us there to be able to tell her that He still cared. It was amazing how everything just worked out. The timing, the situation, everything....
Well I hope you all have an amazing week. I love each of you very much and I am so appreciative of the sacrifices you make on my behalf.
I love you all! Have an amazing week!
Love always, Sister Carter
YAY for Conference! IT WAS THE BEST! It was like Christmas morning here! Seriously... we thought about making one of those "countdown chains" that you make for Christmas. The first like 10 minutes of Conference I just bawled like a baby. I'm such a... missionary! It was so good to see a piece of home too. To be able to hear the Prophet and his Apostles, brings such safety and peace to the soul. We were able to see all four session in the Chapel. It was weird not to be able to lounge around in pajamas but it was still fun. I felt like every talk just kept getting better and better. My pen never stopped writing! There is so much to learn. There is so much that Heavenly Father wants us to know and to do, and how blessed we are to have the heavens open! There is no room for doubt on what we should be doing. We have the mouthpiece of God on this Earth. Its amazing to live during these times. I can't even pick a favorite talk. They were all so good. I actually really like the "Courageous Parents" talk. I have no children, obviously, but I love things that are just straight and to the point. All the speakers spoke with such power and clarity... I just loved it. I thought about Dad shining his shoes, Mom making dinner, and Kreigh, Kris, Kyle, Abby and I all laying around sleeping :). We were all doing the same thing for a moment of each of our day :)
Thanks for all your prayers for me and for the people that we are teaching. I promise, they don't go unanswered. This week we had a heartbreaking moment when one of our investigators called us and asked us to not come over anymore. She's been trying to quit tobacco and coffee for weeks now and even though we've encouraged her to not give up and to keep trying she decided that it was just too much. She told us that she doesn't think God cares if she drinks coffee or chews tobacco, that He loves her no matter what. Well of course he does! We tried to remind her that God always always loves us, but He does ask us to do some things to show that we love Him. She has a testimony that Joseph Smith was a prophet and Thomas S Monson is a prophet today but its not enough for her to quit her addictions. I wish she had been able to hear Elder Ballard's talk yesterday. She would have loved it. It was so devastating. I was able to find peace the next day as I was flipping through an Ensign. There was a quote by Elder Holland that said "I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are the Church of Jesus Christ, and He is our Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him?" He did so much for us. He asks so little. All of these hard moments in our lives bring us closer to Christ. That is why we have them. If we don't embrace the rest that He offers then we will get lost in the storm.
There were many miracles this week, though. Our nine year old investigator, is doing so well! She's so pure and sweet and good, and she has no addictions to overcome! Yay! I'm so excited for her baptism day in two weeks. We also had a moment where God showed us His tender mercy. We were going to a less-active woman's house who, when we got there, appeared not to be home. That was kinda a breaking point for Sister Stone, because she was so frustrated that we were trying to do all that we could when others just didn't give any effort to even show up. So as she was sitting there crying, a car pulled up behind us. It was the lady we were suppose to visit and when we first tried to talk to her it was almost a hostile situation. She wanted nothing to do with us but the more we talked to her and tried to serve her she began to open up and pour out all of her feelings. She has been so wounded in her life that Heavenly Father needed us there to be able to tell her that He still cared. It was amazing how everything just worked out. The timing, the situation, everything....
Well I hope you all have an amazing week. I love each of you very much and I am so appreciative of the sacrifices you make on my behalf.
I love you all! Have an amazing week!
Love always, Sister Carter
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Baptismal Commitment-September 27, 2010
Dear Family,
I always look forward to this time when I get to read emails from home. I can't believe it is still 103 degrees there! Its definietly turning into Fall here. You can hardly go outside without a jacket now... bummer.
Well this week was the week that I decided a mission is an emotional rollercoaster. You have extremely amazing highs and devastating lows. There was one day in particular where I saw Satan and the Lord's power... the best part about it is that the Lord's power is always the greatest. We got a call one morning, from our District leader, about our previous investigator, (who had a baptismal date in October, then he moved into the Pittsberg mission). Our District leader was told that his girlfriend was excommunicated from the church and that the missionaries are no longer allowed to go over there and teach him. What heartbreaking news! Sister Stone and I were completely devastated. While we were still on the phone with our District leader he promised us that that day, if we had the faith, we were going to find a "golden" investigator who would be baptized this transfer. So we decided to put our faith in that promise and press forward with a steadfastness in Christ. Later that night we went over to a member's house who has her granddaughter living with her. Her granddaughter is nine and such a sweet little girl. We taught her a lesson and at the end of the lesson we asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said that she did!! She is so excited!! Her baptismal date is set for October 17th. YAY! Wow... I still can't even believe it. What an amazing blessing! The phrase "Faith precedes the miracle" keeps popping in my head. I can't even begin to explain the tender mercies that the Lord shows us everyday. I'm so blessed.
Well I don't have my scriptures with me today so I'm just going to leave you with my testimony. I know that this is God' work. I know that His hand guides us along every step of our path. I know that without the Savior we would have no reason for being. He brings us the hope of Salavation, and that through Him we will be able to see the Father of all of us, again. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I was able to go to the sites again this week with our investigator Michelle, and what another amazing experience. He really did see what he said he saw, he really was called of God to bring this work forward again. I'm so indebted to the service he rendered on our behalf. I also know that President Monson is the mouthpiece of God today. I get the chills every time he begins to speak. He was called to share with us what we have to know and obey today to be happy. I love this Gospel. It makes everything that happens in life worth it.
I love you, my family. I was telling my companion about our cruise together yesterday and the wonderful things that we have always done together. Made me so happy for the memories that we have and the future that is to come. I hope your week goes well.
Love always, Sister Carter
I always look forward to this time when I get to read emails from home. I can't believe it is still 103 degrees there! Its definietly turning into Fall here. You can hardly go outside without a jacket now... bummer.
Well this week was the week that I decided a mission is an emotional rollercoaster. You have extremely amazing highs and devastating lows. There was one day in particular where I saw Satan and the Lord's power... the best part about it is that the Lord's power is always the greatest. We got a call one morning, from our District leader, about our previous investigator, (who had a baptismal date in October, then he moved into the Pittsberg mission). Our District leader was told that his girlfriend was excommunicated from the church and that the missionaries are no longer allowed to go over there and teach him. What heartbreaking news! Sister Stone and I were completely devastated. While we were still on the phone with our District leader he promised us that that day, if we had the faith, we were going to find a "golden" investigator who would be baptized this transfer. So we decided to put our faith in that promise and press forward with a steadfastness in Christ. Later that night we went over to a member's house who has her granddaughter living with her. Her granddaughter is nine and such a sweet little girl. We taught her a lesson and at the end of the lesson we asked her if she wanted to be baptized and she said that she did!! She is so excited!! Her baptismal date is set for October 17th. YAY! Wow... I still can't even believe it. What an amazing blessing! The phrase "Faith precedes the miracle" keeps popping in my head. I can't even begin to explain the tender mercies that the Lord shows us everyday. I'm so blessed.
Well I don't have my scriptures with me today so I'm just going to leave you with my testimony. I know that this is God' work. I know that His hand guides us along every step of our path. I know that without the Savior we would have no reason for being. He brings us the hope of Salavation, and that through Him we will be able to see the Father of all of us, again. I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet. I was able to go to the sites again this week with our investigator Michelle, and what another amazing experience. He really did see what he said he saw, he really was called of God to bring this work forward again. I'm so indebted to the service he rendered on our behalf. I also know that President Monson is the mouthpiece of God today. I get the chills every time he begins to speak. He was called to share with us what we have to know and obey today to be happy. I love this Gospel. It makes everything that happens in life worth it.
I love you, my family. I was telling my companion about our cruise together yesterday and the wonderful things that we have always done together. Made me so happy for the memories that we have and the future that is to come. I hope your week goes well.
Love always, Sister Carter
Monday, September 20, 2010
Ordinary Weeks-September 20, 2010
Dear Family,
Sorry this email is going to be a little shorter because I had to spend most of my email time taking surveys... so not as fun. I loved getting your emails! Especially about Marcy's wedding. I just love my family. I loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa, Raylene, Raychel, Celsie, Lauren, Amy... oh! And of course Kyle's new girl! She's super cute! I totally approve! I can't believe how blessed I have been in my life to be surrounded by the best family and friends possible. It seems like every day I miss someone in particular, and the things that we would do together, but its so great to have a support system that is always there. It makes me want to work even harder.
Its funny that Mom would mention just having an ordinary week... because this week was pretty ordinary. I get use to the miracles that fall into our laps all the time that when things start to slow down I remember the hard parts about missionary work. Almost all of our investigators dropped us this week. We still have Michelle who is working towards baptism which is great but every one else kinda fell off the face of the Earth. It was a little sad but I guess they just weren't ready yet. So it gave us an opportunity to start brand new. The thing is that both Sister Stone and I's weak spot is tracking. It isn't very effective and it can get so discouraging when door after door gets slammed in your face. One morning, Sister Stone and I had a "godly sorrow" moment where we both realized that we HAD to do better. People cannot come unto Christ if we don't even INVITE them to do so. So we prayed with all our might to be strong and brave and the next morning we headed and tracked the entire day. And you know what? The Lord keeps his promises. I was able to see the fulfillment of the promise made in D&C 84:88: "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up". Although in the world's eyes we were not successful because not much came from our hard work, but there is a feeling that comes over you when you lay your head on your pillow at night and know that our Heavenly Father is pleased with what you accomplished.
There was one cool thing that happened while tracking. We ran into a family that only speaks in Sign Language. Luckily my companion is fluent in sign. So she was able to talk with them and set up another time to come back to teach them. So we went over there yesterday and taught a little bit. It was a very interesting hour for me :) I had no idea what was going on, or if things were going well or not. At one point, Sister Stone asked me to bear my testimony. Since Sister Stone and I are together 24/7 she has been able to teach me some ASL and so I was able to bear my testimony to this family in sign langauge! It was so amazing! I loved it. Sadly, in the end, they weren't very interested but it is something that I will treasure for the rest of my mission.
Well I hope this email finds you all happy and well. I miss you all. We had transfers this week and I am staying! I get to be with Sister Stone and in Henrietta for another 6 weeks. I am really excited for that, there is so much work we can get done! I love this work and I am so excited for Conference to be coming up soon! We have been reading Conference Ensigns as we drive from place to place and I have been developing such a love for our Prophet and his Apostles. I am so excited to be able to hear their words in a couple weeks because I know that they come from God.
I love you all. Thank you for keeping me in your prayers and always loving me. I think of you often.
Love always, Sister Carter
Sorry this email is going to be a little shorter because I had to spend most of my email time taking surveys... so not as fun. I loved getting your emails! Especially about Marcy's wedding. I just love my family. I loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa, Raylene, Raychel, Celsie, Lauren, Amy... oh! And of course Kyle's new girl! She's super cute! I totally approve! I can't believe how blessed I have been in my life to be surrounded by the best family and friends possible. It seems like every day I miss someone in particular, and the things that we would do together, but its so great to have a support system that is always there. It makes me want to work even harder.
Its funny that Mom would mention just having an ordinary week... because this week was pretty ordinary. I get use to the miracles that fall into our laps all the time that when things start to slow down I remember the hard parts about missionary work. Almost all of our investigators dropped us this week. We still have Michelle who is working towards baptism which is great but every one else kinda fell off the face of the Earth. It was a little sad but I guess they just weren't ready yet. So it gave us an opportunity to start brand new. The thing is that both Sister Stone and I's weak spot is tracking. It isn't very effective and it can get so discouraging when door after door gets slammed in your face. One morning, Sister Stone and I had a "godly sorrow" moment where we both realized that we HAD to do better. People cannot come unto Christ if we don't even INVITE them to do so. So we prayed with all our might to be strong and brave and the next morning we headed and tracked the entire day. And you know what? The Lord keeps his promises. I was able to see the fulfillment of the promise made in D&C 84:88: "I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up". Although in the world's eyes we were not successful because not much came from our hard work, but there is a feeling that comes over you when you lay your head on your pillow at night and know that our Heavenly Father is pleased with what you accomplished.
There was one cool thing that happened while tracking. We ran into a family that only speaks in Sign Language. Luckily my companion is fluent in sign. So she was able to talk with them and set up another time to come back to teach them. So we went over there yesterday and taught a little bit. It was a very interesting hour for me :) I had no idea what was going on, or if things were going well or not. At one point, Sister Stone asked me to bear my testimony. Since Sister Stone and I are together 24/7 she has been able to teach me some ASL and so I was able to bear my testimony to this family in sign langauge! It was so amazing! I loved it. Sadly, in the end, they weren't very interested but it is something that I will treasure for the rest of my mission.
Well I hope this email finds you all happy and well. I miss you all. We had transfers this week and I am staying! I get to be with Sister Stone and in Henrietta for another 6 weeks. I am really excited for that, there is so much work we can get done! I love this work and I am so excited for Conference to be coming up soon! We have been reading Conference Ensigns as we drive from place to place and I have been developing such a love for our Prophet and his Apostles. I am so excited to be able to hear their words in a couple weeks because I know that they come from God.
I love you all. Thank you for keeping me in your prayers and always loving me. I think of you often.
Love always, Sister Carter
Monday, September 13, 2010
Holidays & Prayer-September 13, 2010
Dear Family,
Its always so good to get emails from you... totally the best part of my week. I love that you were able to go four-wheeling!! I miss that already. Especially when it rains here a lot. I really don't mind though. The weather is starting to change. I can tell Fall is coming on! I'm not really excited for the colder weather but I am very excited to see the leaves change! I'm heard that it is breath-taking here when the seasons change.
So some funny facts from my week: 1- We decided, in our apartment, that since all four of us Sisters wouldn't be together for the holidays we would celebrate a different holiday every day of the week! So we would find some way, throughout the day, to celebrate a different holiday. We had St Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc... We did different things like: Made Valentines for each other, wore green, ate a huge feast, made a Christmas tree out of a branch. Such fun stuff! ...Just because I'm a missionary doesn't mean that I'm not me :) The only sad thing is that the left side of my thumb is now completely numb from cutting out so many leaves on Thanksgiving! I must have pinched a nerve or something... oh well. Done for a good cause. :) 2- We haven't found an apartment yet, although we're still looking. Henrietta is a pretty high-class place with some expensive apartments. Hopefully the Lord will open up a way for us to go somewhere soon. We, probably actually won't ever live there because by the time they get it approved from Church Headquarters we'll probably be transfered out of the area. So we'll see what happens...
We set a baptismal date with someone else this week! Her name is Michelle. We've been teaching her since the very first week that I got here and last week when we came to our appointment she told us that she wanted to go to the Church of Christ. We were a little sad but we told her that that was completely her decision and that we just wanted her to make sure that that was what God wanted her to do. So we challenged her to pray again about the Book of Mormon and to know if Thomas S Monson was a true prophet and left her that night. The next morning we got a call from her and she was SO excited! She told us that she got an answer from God and that He told her that both of those things were true. She was so happy she asked us to come over right then and teach her more. So now she is on fire! She came to church yesterday and LOVED it... when Sunday School was over she shouted out "I love this class!" :) I never really felt that strongly about Sunday School before but I'm glad she loved it :). So she's quitting tobacco and coffee today, and Sister Stone and I are going to give up cake so we can know what it is like to give up something we love :) We can help each other through it! We love Michelle. She has an innocent mind, but is so sincere and genuine.
I know that this work is true. I'm so grateful for it. We had many more experiences this week where we were at the EXACT right place at the right time. Heavenly Father is so aware of each of His children. I pray every day to be able to feel that love, so I can know how to express it to others. In my own personal study I have been reading out of Alma. I love that book so much! Now that I'm reading it with "missionary eyes", these chapters are SO powerful and uplifting. I have especially come to love Chapter 26... Ammon sees the goodness of God in his life. He believes in His mercy and in His strength and exclaims "Yea I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strenth I can do all things..." I love Heavenly Father. I love my Savior. I know that with them apart of my life I am a something.
Well I hope everything else is going well for you this week. You should send me some pictures of things that are going on at home! I realized when I came out here that I really have no pictures of home, although now I do have the new family pictures which I love!
I love you more than words express. Sometimes I wonder why I'm out here doing this, but then I remember that I want people to grow up in a home like I did and that makes me want to teach everyone. My prayers are always with you...
Love, Sister Carter
Its always so good to get emails from you... totally the best part of my week. I love that you were able to go four-wheeling!! I miss that already. Especially when it rains here a lot. I really don't mind though. The weather is starting to change. I can tell Fall is coming on! I'm not really excited for the colder weather but I am very excited to see the leaves change! I'm heard that it is breath-taking here when the seasons change.
So some funny facts from my week: 1- We decided, in our apartment, that since all four of us Sisters wouldn't be together for the holidays we would celebrate a different holiday every day of the week! So we would find some way, throughout the day, to celebrate a different holiday. We had St Patrick's Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc... We did different things like: Made Valentines for each other, wore green, ate a huge feast, made a Christmas tree out of a branch. Such fun stuff! ...Just because I'm a missionary doesn't mean that I'm not me :) The only sad thing is that the left side of my thumb is now completely numb from cutting out so many leaves on Thanksgiving! I must have pinched a nerve or something... oh well. Done for a good cause. :) 2- We haven't found an apartment yet, although we're still looking. Henrietta is a pretty high-class place with some expensive apartments. Hopefully the Lord will open up a way for us to go somewhere soon. We, probably actually won't ever live there because by the time they get it approved from Church Headquarters we'll probably be transfered out of the area. So we'll see what happens...
We set a baptismal date with someone else this week! Her name is Michelle. We've been teaching her since the very first week that I got here and last week when we came to our appointment she told us that she wanted to go to the Church of Christ. We were a little sad but we told her that that was completely her decision and that we just wanted her to make sure that that was what God wanted her to do. So we challenged her to pray again about the Book of Mormon and to know if Thomas S Monson was a true prophet and left her that night. The next morning we got a call from her and she was SO excited! She told us that she got an answer from God and that He told her that both of those things were true. She was so happy she asked us to come over right then and teach her more. So now she is on fire! She came to church yesterday and LOVED it... when Sunday School was over she shouted out "I love this class!" :) I never really felt that strongly about Sunday School before but I'm glad she loved it :). So she's quitting tobacco and coffee today, and Sister Stone and I are going to give up cake so we can know what it is like to give up something we love :) We can help each other through it! We love Michelle. She has an innocent mind, but is so sincere and genuine.
I know that this work is true. I'm so grateful for it. We had many more experiences this week where we were at the EXACT right place at the right time. Heavenly Father is so aware of each of His children. I pray every day to be able to feel that love, so I can know how to express it to others. In my own personal study I have been reading out of Alma. I love that book so much! Now that I'm reading it with "missionary eyes", these chapters are SO powerful and uplifting. I have especially come to love Chapter 26... Ammon sees the goodness of God in his life. He believes in His mercy and in His strength and exclaims "Yea I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strenth I can do all things..." I love Heavenly Father. I love my Savior. I know that with them apart of my life I am a something.
Well I hope everything else is going well for you this week. You should send me some pictures of things that are going on at home! I realized when I came out here that I really have no pictures of home, although now I do have the new family pictures which I love!
I love you more than words express. Sometimes I wonder why I'm out here doing this, but then I remember that I want people to grow up in a home like I did and that makes me want to teach everyone. My prayers are always with you...
Love, Sister Carter
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Another Miracle Week-September 7, 2010
Dear Family,
Sorry I wasn't able to email you yesterday. Since it was Labor Day all the libraries were closed so we weren't able to get ahold of any computers. Everything here is well! Thank you for the package! I loved it, I loved the CDs and all the candy. Thank you for sending it. A little piece of home is always nice.
This week was a good one. It seems like it has been a really long week... but our first transfer is almost over! I can't even believe it! I could be switching areas and companions in the next week and a half! I feel like I just got here! I'm thinking I'll get to stay in this area though. Sister Stone and I love it out here, we get along great, and since we were both just put into this brand new area there is still so much out here that we can do! This week we're looking for a new apartment because technically we should be living in out area but we're living in Brighton right now. Its a good and bad thing. Now we won't have to sleep in the kitchen anymore, but I really like living with the other Sisters that serve in Brighton.
There were lots of miracles again this week. We have a GOLDEN investigator that is completely amazing. We just stumbled across him. His name is Kris, and his girlfriend is a member in our ward that we go to visit often. He would come in and sit in our lessons with her but then started taking an interest in what we were talking about. So we started teaching him and he LOVES the gospel! He picks up on everything so quickly! He always says to us "This stuff just makes sense!" So this week we committed him to be baptized! Way exciting. We set his date for October 31st but then something sad happened... he's moving. He and his girlfriend are moving out of our mission! So bummed! But its okay, we've talked to the Elders that are in the area that he is moving to and they are ready to help him keep progressing and keep moving towards his date.
There were a couple awesome experiences that happened with Kris this week. One of the first ones was that we were able to take him to the Church Sites! It was so exciting because I still haven't been to the Hill Cumorah yet! So we left early in the morning, went to the Hill Cumorah Visitor Center and watched the Joseph Smith movie, which he loved. After we walked around for a little while we went and took a tour through the Smith log home and frame house. Then Sister Stone and I were able to sing "Joseph's First Prayer" to him and let him go spend time in the Sacred Grove by himself. OH MAN! I LOVE THIS PLACE! I'm sorry but I'm bragging a little bit right now... I love my mission. So much. I love being able to use these sites as a tool in teaching. There is a spirit there that is undeniable. When we met back up with Kris leaving the Grove he said "If this is how peaceful it feels to be baptized, I can't wait".
Another amazing experience that we had was the last lesson that we taught him. He is a smoker and a drinker so we decided that it was time to teach him about the Word of Wisdom. So we went over to his house and talked about what we need to abstain from and the blessings that come if we do. When we were talking he said to us "Yeah, you're right. Thats why I already quit." We were flabbergasted! After we muttered a few "What?"'s and "Why"'s Krist grabbed the Book of Mormon that was sitting next to him and said to us "This book makes me want to be better". WOW! I learned a huge lesson that night: that THIS GOSPEL IS SO TRUE! I already knew that... but it was so apparent to me that night. Even if I say the stupidest things in the world, this work WILL move forward. "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the Truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear..." (Joseph Smith). The Book of Mormon is true. It has the power to change lives all on its own. I'm just honored enough to get to bear testimony of it.
So everything is happy. I love you all so much. I do get homesick sometimes... but President Christianson says that that is okay. Because he does too :) Our Ward mission leader is from Orderville area so he keeps me updated on everything that is going on at home! Its kinda fun to get to talk to him. Plus there is a lady in my ward who says she knows you Dad. I think her maiden name is Caselock, and her mother's name is Debbie? She said her mom use to work for you in Kanab. So it really is a small world after all.
I'm glad Kyle is having such a blast up in college and that Kreigh and Kris are able to get everything set in order for little Atreyu. When I think about him and the little "high-five" he gave me before I left I get all happy inside. I can't wait to meet him. I love you all. Thank you for always thinking and praying for me. Know that my prayers are with you always.
Love always,
Sister Carter
Sorry I wasn't able to email you yesterday. Since it was Labor Day all the libraries were closed so we weren't able to get ahold of any computers. Everything here is well! Thank you for the package! I loved it, I loved the CDs and all the candy. Thank you for sending it. A little piece of home is always nice.
This week was a good one. It seems like it has been a really long week... but our first transfer is almost over! I can't even believe it! I could be switching areas and companions in the next week and a half! I feel like I just got here! I'm thinking I'll get to stay in this area though. Sister Stone and I love it out here, we get along great, and since we were both just put into this brand new area there is still so much out here that we can do! This week we're looking for a new apartment because technically we should be living in out area but we're living in Brighton right now. Its a good and bad thing. Now we won't have to sleep in the kitchen anymore, but I really like living with the other Sisters that serve in Brighton.
There were lots of miracles again this week. We have a GOLDEN investigator that is completely amazing. We just stumbled across him. His name is Kris, and his girlfriend is a member in our ward that we go to visit often. He would come in and sit in our lessons with her but then started taking an interest in what we were talking about. So we started teaching him and he LOVES the gospel! He picks up on everything so quickly! He always says to us "This stuff just makes sense!" So this week we committed him to be baptized! Way exciting. We set his date for October 31st but then something sad happened... he's moving. He and his girlfriend are moving out of our mission! So bummed! But its okay, we've talked to the Elders that are in the area that he is moving to and they are ready to help him keep progressing and keep moving towards his date.
There were a couple awesome experiences that happened with Kris this week. One of the first ones was that we were able to take him to the Church Sites! It was so exciting because I still haven't been to the Hill Cumorah yet! So we left early in the morning, went to the Hill Cumorah Visitor Center and watched the Joseph Smith movie, which he loved. After we walked around for a little while we went and took a tour through the Smith log home and frame house. Then Sister Stone and I were able to sing "Joseph's First Prayer" to him and let him go spend time in the Sacred Grove by himself. OH MAN! I LOVE THIS PLACE! I'm sorry but I'm bragging a little bit right now... I love my mission. So much. I love being able to use these sites as a tool in teaching. There is a spirit there that is undeniable. When we met back up with Kris leaving the Grove he said "If this is how peaceful it feels to be baptized, I can't wait".
Another amazing experience that we had was the last lesson that we taught him. He is a smoker and a drinker so we decided that it was time to teach him about the Word of Wisdom. So we went over to his house and talked about what we need to abstain from and the blessings that come if we do. When we were talking he said to us "Yeah, you're right. Thats why I already quit." We were flabbergasted! After we muttered a few "What?"'s and "Why"'s Krist grabbed the Book of Mormon that was sitting next to him and said to us "This book makes me want to be better". WOW! I learned a huge lesson that night: that THIS GOSPEL IS SO TRUE! I already knew that... but it was so apparent to me that night. Even if I say the stupidest things in the world, this work WILL move forward. "The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing... the Truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear..." (Joseph Smith). The Book of Mormon is true. It has the power to change lives all on its own. I'm just honored enough to get to bear testimony of it.
So everything is happy. I love you all so much. I do get homesick sometimes... but President Christianson says that that is okay. Because he does too :) Our Ward mission leader is from Orderville area so he keeps me updated on everything that is going on at home! Its kinda fun to get to talk to him. Plus there is a lady in my ward who says she knows you Dad. I think her maiden name is Caselock, and her mother's name is Debbie? She said her mom use to work for you in Kanab. So it really is a small world after all.
I'm glad Kyle is having such a blast up in college and that Kreigh and Kris are able to get everything set in order for little Atreyu. When I think about him and the little "high-five" he gave me before I left I get all happy inside. I can't wait to meet him. I love you all. Thank you for always thinking and praying for me. Know that my prayers are with you always.
Love always,
Sister Carter
Monday, August 30, 2010
Come Thou Fount-August 30, 2010
Dear Family,
Thank you for your heartwarming emails. Wow! Kyle is in college! I can't believe it! I'm so glad that at least one of his roommates is normal, and that it is the one that he lives with. You always have those strange roommates but I find that just tolerating things that they do works pretty okay :) I guess thats not the best way to look at it, but those types of roommates always end up stretching your limits which in turn makes you almost scream sometimes. Although at the same time you find that you can love someone that you never thought you would love. I love Dad's reference to Eddie from "Friends" :) Now I've got a good picture in my head of what he looks like! Keep strong little brother! I know you can do this! It may seem hard at moments, but you will come off conquerer.
So because last week's letter was all jumbled I've decided that I can only tell you one or two stories every email. Good news is that I write in my journal every night, so I will never forget what is going on and when I get home I will have all of the eternities to fill you in :). So the miracle of the week that I want to tell you about it Lynette. We were walking out of Wegmans (the most famous grocery store in all of New York- seriously its amazing- You walk in and its like Christmas! Its New Yorker's pride and joy) a couple weeks ago when we saw a woman that was sitting on her bumper outside waiting for someone. We went over and talked to her for a couple minutes and asked her if it would be okay if we came to her house to teach her more about our church. She agreed, gave us her address, and we left. So Friday morning we headed over to her house. She lived on 78 Westfall Rd but when we were driving we could only find 76 and 80 Westfall Rd. So we plugged it into the GPS and it took us to 640 Westfall Rd. That was really weird but we decided to follow where it directed us anyway. When we got to 640 Westfall there was apartments that were numbered 74, 75, then 80! So we were getting frustrated by this point and weren't sure what to do. Then we saw this mailman and decided to ask him if he knew anything. All we told him was that we were trying to find a Lynette who lived on 78 Westfall and he said there was a Lynette Williams two apartment complexes over that lived in 78A! What a miracle! So we headed over there and not only was it her house but she was home!
...Before I tell you the rest of the story I have to tell what happened the night before... Sister Stone likes to talk. Which is great! It is just hard for me to build my confidence up because I usually don't have to talk much because she does it for the both of us. So the night before we had went tracking and I totally froze up. I was having such a hard time being brave and opening my mouth. I guess that I thought once I was a missionary I wouldn't be scared of anything any more. I am still me, however, and I still get scared to talk to people. So that night I went to bed sad that I wasn't having enough confidence in the Lord to speak up....
Back to the story: So when we walked into Lynette's apartment she didn't seem all that excited to talk to us. We found out that she loved the Bible, though, so we started teaching her about another set of scripture, the Book of Mormon. Right we handed her the book she started to get so excited. She wanted to try all of the footnotes out, and see how they all compared. Then she started asking us questions about ourselves. She specifically asked my why I was a Mormon, and why I decided to come on a mission. I was able to bear my testimony to her, as well as Sister Stone and after we did she started to cry. She then told us that 15 years ago male missionaries came up to her and asked her if she wanted to know more about the gospel but she wasn't ready then and now God had sent us back because she was ready. As tears fell off her cheeks she laid her head back against the wall and whispered "Thank you Jesus. Thank you". Then she looked at me and stated "You don't talk much. You sit back, and listen. You take it all in. But you need to speak up because girl, when you speak you speak with power." I couldn't have been more shock than if she had gotten up and slapped me in the face. I am here to answer other people's prayers, I never expected them to answer mine. Heavenly Father knows what ALL of His children need, including me. After that all three of us prayed together and there was no a dry eye. The Spirit was ELECTRIC in that room. That is the only way that I can describe in. I thank Heavenly Father from the bottom of my heart for giving me these wonderful, life changing experiences. There is no way that this gospel can't be true. Its been branded into my soul.
I'm glad that you like us singing "Come thou Fount". That was my favorite thing to watch when I was having a bad day. I love the power of music. I love being able to sing for people. I feel the spirit present every time that I do. I'm grateful for the gift of music.
Well I love you all. There's always so much I want to write with not enough time. I just wanted to quickly thank you Mom and Dad for giving me everything. I walk into some of the houses here and the reality hits me that people grow up in homes where there isn't much a chance to chase after dreams. I have always taken for granted that I have a Dad who worked hard in school, who loves to learn, and is always willing to sacrifice and to provide for his family. And that I have a Mom who thought her kids were the most important things in the world and stayed home to so she could be with them and teach them the good things of the world. So thank you. I'll always be in your debt. And indebt to two brother and a sister-in-law that are my best friends. I miss you all dearly but I want you to know that I'm going to try and do good things with our family name throughout my life. I love you! So until next week...
Love always, Sister Carter
This week's thought: (Out of Preach My Gospel): "As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase"
Thank you for your heartwarming emails. Wow! Kyle is in college! I can't believe it! I'm so glad that at least one of his roommates is normal, and that it is the one that he lives with. You always have those strange roommates but I find that just tolerating things that they do works pretty okay :) I guess thats not the best way to look at it, but those types of roommates always end up stretching your limits which in turn makes you almost scream sometimes. Although at the same time you find that you can love someone that you never thought you would love. I love Dad's reference to Eddie from "Friends" :) Now I've got a good picture in my head of what he looks like! Keep strong little brother! I know you can do this! It may seem hard at moments, but you will come off conquerer.
So because last week's letter was all jumbled I've decided that I can only tell you one or two stories every email. Good news is that I write in my journal every night, so I will never forget what is going on and when I get home I will have all of the eternities to fill you in :). So the miracle of the week that I want to tell you about it Lynette. We were walking out of Wegmans (the most famous grocery store in all of New York- seriously its amazing- You walk in and its like Christmas! Its New Yorker's pride and joy) a couple weeks ago when we saw a woman that was sitting on her bumper outside waiting for someone. We went over and talked to her for a couple minutes and asked her if it would be okay if we came to her house to teach her more about our church. She agreed, gave us her address, and we left. So Friday morning we headed over to her house. She lived on 78 Westfall Rd but when we were driving we could only find 76 and 80 Westfall Rd. So we plugged it into the GPS and it took us to 640 Westfall Rd. That was really weird but we decided to follow where it directed us anyway. When we got to 640 Westfall there was apartments that were numbered 74, 75, then 80! So we were getting frustrated by this point and weren't sure what to do. Then we saw this mailman and decided to ask him if he knew anything. All we told him was that we were trying to find a Lynette who lived on 78 Westfall and he said there was a Lynette Williams two apartment complexes over that lived in 78A! What a miracle! So we headed over there and not only was it her house but she was home!
...Before I tell you the rest of the story I have to tell what happened the night before... Sister Stone likes to talk. Which is great! It is just hard for me to build my confidence up because I usually don't have to talk much because she does it for the both of us. So the night before we had went tracking and I totally froze up. I was having such a hard time being brave and opening my mouth. I guess that I thought once I was a missionary I wouldn't be scared of anything any more. I am still me, however, and I still get scared to talk to people. So that night I went to bed sad that I wasn't having enough confidence in the Lord to speak up....
Back to the story: So when we walked into Lynette's apartment she didn't seem all that excited to talk to us. We found out that she loved the Bible, though, so we started teaching her about another set of scripture, the Book of Mormon. Right we handed her the book she started to get so excited. She wanted to try all of the footnotes out, and see how they all compared. Then she started asking us questions about ourselves. She specifically asked my why I was a Mormon, and why I decided to come on a mission. I was able to bear my testimony to her, as well as Sister Stone and after we did she started to cry. She then told us that 15 years ago male missionaries came up to her and asked her if she wanted to know more about the gospel but she wasn't ready then and now God had sent us back because she was ready. As tears fell off her cheeks she laid her head back against the wall and whispered "Thank you Jesus. Thank you". Then she looked at me and stated "You don't talk much. You sit back, and listen. You take it all in. But you need to speak up because girl, when you speak you speak with power." I couldn't have been more shock than if she had gotten up and slapped me in the face. I am here to answer other people's prayers, I never expected them to answer mine. Heavenly Father knows what ALL of His children need, including me. After that all three of us prayed together and there was no a dry eye. The Spirit was ELECTRIC in that room. That is the only way that I can describe in. I thank Heavenly Father from the bottom of my heart for giving me these wonderful, life changing experiences. There is no way that this gospel can't be true. Its been branded into my soul.
I'm glad that you like us singing "Come thou Fount". That was my favorite thing to watch when I was having a bad day. I love the power of music. I love being able to sing for people. I feel the spirit present every time that I do. I'm grateful for the gift of music.
Well I love you all. There's always so much I want to write with not enough time. I just wanted to quickly thank you Mom and Dad for giving me everything. I walk into some of the houses here and the reality hits me that people grow up in homes where there isn't much a chance to chase after dreams. I have always taken for granted that I have a Dad who worked hard in school, who loves to learn, and is always willing to sacrifice and to provide for his family. And that I have a Mom who thought her kids were the most important things in the world and stayed home to so she could be with them and teach them the good things of the world. So thank you. I'll always be in your debt. And indebt to two brother and a sister-in-law that are my best friends. I miss you all dearly but I want you to know that I'm going to try and do good things with our family name throughout my life. I love you! So until next week...
Love always, Sister Carter
This week's thought: (Out of Preach My Gospel): "As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase"
Monday, August 23, 2010
Miracles-Aug. 23
Dear Family,
So this week was just full of MIRACLES!! I can't even believe it. Sister Stone and I were feeling a little frustrated because the ward kept pushing less active people on us and we started feeling like we weren't spending our time effectively to FIND people that need the gospel. But the Lord has His purposes. People have just been FALLING into our laps. We received FIVE new investigators this week! FIVE! Yay! I'll tell you how a couple of them came to us...
So the one that really sticks out to me happened on Friday night. Sister Stone and I were coming back from a dinner appointment that had ended pretty poorly. The husband ended up walking out of our lesson on prayer because he doesn't believe that God ever answers his prayers. So we were feeling a little discouraged driving home. We had three new messages on our phone and so I started listening to them. One of them was from a woman named Shelia. I hurried and put it on speaker so Sister Stone could hear what she was saying. All she said in the message was that two beautiful girls had come to her door that afternoon and tried to talk to her about the church but she had shooed them away. In the message she said that they had handed her a phone number before they left and it had been OURS! She said that she wished she hadn't of shooed them away because she was feeling so depressed and she just wanted to know what the truth was. WHAT THE WHAT!? Sister Stone and I started screaming, in the car, for like a minute straight! These stories are only ever told in the MTC, they don't really happen! I still can't even believe that happened. Plus, we have NO idea who it was that gave her our number... it wasn't us. We hadn't been tracking that day, we were in appointments all day. So Sister Stone talked to her that night and hopefully we'll be able to teach her soon.
Another one... So we had a dinner appointment with a lady from the ward. We were running late, and we could NOT find where she was (this is a frequent occurance for us). We drove around for about a hour and were so frustrated that we were just going to give up. I just had this calm feeling though and told Sister Stone that we should drive 5 more minutes and if we still couldn't find her than we would call it off. We ended up finding where she was at and went to a diner to go eat. While there she just bore her whole soul to us. The night before her ex-husband had taken her daughter, and had threatened to put her in jail. She was SO distraught and discouraged and she told us that she had been going to another church because she felt like people would pray for her there. It was amazing that the Lord needed us there. He needed us there to remind her of His love for her. Satan was trying to get us away but ultimatley the spirit promoted us forward. The good news was that she was at church on Sunday and she said that she was finding peace and getting help.
One more. So Sister Stone and I were cruising the streets when we got a call from our Bishop. He said that he had a referral for us! I guess there was this woman named Jackie that ordered a DVD off of mormon.org and in the MTC they make the Elders and Sisters follow-up on the media they send out. So an Elder named "Travis", from the MTC, called Jackie to ask her what she thought about the DVD. I guess she liked him instantly and they have been talking on the phone for the last MONTH! He encouraged her to ask for the missionaries so they could bring her a copy of the Book of Mormon. So she called the Bishop! And he sent us! She is such a sweetheart and SO prepared. She was impressed with the goodness of "Travis"'s life, and it made her interested in hearing more. I just love this work!
Oh I forgot to mention we had a baptism yesterday!!! The Elders in our ward have been teaching a girl named Ally and she is amazing! We were able to teach her a couple times before her baptism yesterday. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever! Sister Stone and I even got to sing at it... reminded me of my own baptism :) I'm so excited for the new life that she has decided to live and her commitment to do so.
Sorry, I feel like these emails are so unreadable and don't make sense but we have such little time to write. I love all of you so much! I think of you and pray for you often!
Love always, Sister Amanda Carter
So this week was just full of MIRACLES!! I can't even believe it. Sister Stone and I were feeling a little frustrated because the ward kept pushing less active people on us and we started feeling like we weren't spending our time effectively to FIND people that need the gospel. But the Lord has His purposes. People have just been FALLING into our laps. We received FIVE new investigators this week! FIVE! Yay! I'll tell you how a couple of them came to us...
So the one that really sticks out to me happened on Friday night. Sister Stone and I were coming back from a dinner appointment that had ended pretty poorly. The husband ended up walking out of our lesson on prayer because he doesn't believe that God ever answers his prayers. So we were feeling a little discouraged driving home. We had three new messages on our phone and so I started listening to them. One of them was from a woman named Shelia. I hurried and put it on speaker so Sister Stone could hear what she was saying. All she said in the message was that two beautiful girls had come to her door that afternoon and tried to talk to her about the church but she had shooed them away. In the message she said that they had handed her a phone number before they left and it had been OURS! She said that she wished she hadn't of shooed them away because she was feeling so depressed and she just wanted to know what the truth was. WHAT THE WHAT!? Sister Stone and I started screaming, in the car, for like a minute straight! These stories are only ever told in the MTC, they don't really happen! I still can't even believe that happened. Plus, we have NO idea who it was that gave her our number... it wasn't us. We hadn't been tracking that day, we were in appointments all day. So Sister Stone talked to her that night and hopefully we'll be able to teach her soon.
Another one... So we had a dinner appointment with a lady from the ward. We were running late, and we could NOT find where she was (this is a frequent occurance for us). We drove around for about a hour and were so frustrated that we were just going to give up. I just had this calm feeling though and told Sister Stone that we should drive 5 more minutes and if we still couldn't find her than we would call it off. We ended up finding where she was at and went to a diner to go eat. While there she just bore her whole soul to us. The night before her ex-husband had taken her daughter, and had threatened to put her in jail. She was SO distraught and discouraged and she told us that she had been going to another church because she felt like people would pray for her there. It was amazing that the Lord needed us there. He needed us there to remind her of His love for her. Satan was trying to get us away but ultimatley the spirit promoted us forward. The good news was that she was at church on Sunday and she said that she was finding peace and getting help.
One more. So Sister Stone and I were cruising the streets when we got a call from our Bishop. He said that he had a referral for us! I guess there was this woman named Jackie that ordered a DVD off of mormon.org and in the MTC they make the Elders and Sisters follow-up on the media they send out. So an Elder named "Travis", from the MTC, called Jackie to ask her what she thought about the DVD. I guess she liked him instantly and they have been talking on the phone for the last MONTH! He encouraged her to ask for the missionaries so they could bring her a copy of the Book of Mormon. So she called the Bishop! And he sent us! She is such a sweetheart and SO prepared. She was impressed with the goodness of "Travis"'s life, and it made her interested in hearing more. I just love this work!
Oh I forgot to mention we had a baptism yesterday!!! The Elders in our ward have been teaching a girl named Ally and she is amazing! We were able to teach her a couple times before her baptism yesterday. It was one of the most amazing experiences ever! Sister Stone and I even got to sing at it... reminded me of my own baptism :) I'm so excited for the new life that she has decided to live and her commitment to do so.
Sorry, I feel like these emails are so unreadable and don't make sense but we have such little time to write. I love all of you so much! I think of you and pray for you often!
Love always, Sister Amanda Carter
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
The Gift of Light and Music - Aug 16
Dear Family,
So this week has been a good one. I love the Henrietta area. It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It is SO green and lush and beautiful. The people in the area are so much fun, and the ward is amazing. Yesterday was our first day at church. Its definietly different :) In the Priesthood Executive Council, that morning, the Bishopbrick would talk about a specific person then ask: "Is that the one with teeth?" Ha! I didn't know how valid that question was until I actually got to church. There are the most interesting people... People either wearing tank tops or shirts, dresses or pants, shoes or no shoes. There are no rules here! Plus everyone just wanders around in the middle of Sacrament meeting, chatting with their friends. I always stand in amazement that in China, Utah, and New York every LDS church is different yet every LDS church is the same. There are different people and cultures, yet it is the same hymns, the same Sacrament, the same spirit. I find much comfort in that. Plus the people in our ward are amazing. They welcomed us with open arms and EVERY less active member that Sister Stone and I went to visit during the week was at church, ready to sit by us.
We don't do much tracking. We have a lot of referrals from Pageant, and we've spent a lot of time in member's homes getting to know them and asking them to help us in this work. We had a referral that we went to last night where a girl named Brandy had asked for a Bible. When we went to go bring it to her we found her and three of her friends sitting outside. She told us that she never requested a Bible and didn't want it. Her friends were interested though (when they found out that we weren't selling anything :)) and not only did we give them a Bible but we gave them each a Book of Mormon, testified of it, gave them some free DVDs, and set up an appointment with each one of them to talk about the chapters we assigned for them to read. So it was really exciting! Espeically to see how the Lord works... there are NO coincidences in the mission field. As we were leaving one of the ladies said "I see there's something different about the two of you because right when you walked out of the car it was like... BOOM! Light!" I think, living in Utah, sometimes we forget the light we give off as members of this church. Yet it's there in all of us. Its Christ's light, and anyone can see it radiating through us.
Its amazing to me to see how much music has become a part of my mission. Sister Stone loves to sing and when she found out that I do too we never leave a house without sharing our testimony through song. I have had some of the most amazing, tender experiences singing. There was one house that we went to that we were a little nervous about. When we knocked on the door this really big TALL black man walked out wondering what we wanted. He had the DEEPEST voice and right away Sister Stone asked him if he was a singer. He told us that he sings in two choirs, one at his Baptist church. So we asked him if he would sing a song with us... which he agreed to! So there we were: Two small white girls with this big tall black guy singing "How Great Thou Art" on a porch step! That was probably one of the coolest experiences I've had so far, and we even got the okay to come back and teach him and his girlfriend.
So I've been very blessed. I'm very happy. I'm sorry I'm not able to email each one of you individually but I just want you to know that I love each of your emails. I love you all so much and think so often about you. I finally came up with the two goals that I want to complete on my mission. I have a lot but if I can honestly say I feel successful at each of these goals, then I will have done the work I set out to do. They are....
1) Work till my bones are tired (:) Inspired by Dad)
2) Make sure that everyone I come in contact with knows how much I LOVE THIS STUFF!
I love missionary work. I love this gospel. The world is a bearable place because we know what awaits us. To live with our Heavenly Father again is worth our whole life. Its worth fighting for. I hope this email finds you well and happy.
I love you all! I'll keep having adventures this week so I'll have much to tell you in next week's email. Thank you for your prayers and know that my prayers are always about you as well. I miss you every day...
Love always, Sister Carter
So this week has been a good one. I love the Henrietta area. It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It is SO green and lush and beautiful. The people in the area are so much fun, and the ward is amazing. Yesterday was our first day at church. Its definietly different :) In the Priesthood Executive Council, that morning, the Bishopbrick would talk about a specific person then ask: "Is that the one with teeth?" Ha! I didn't know how valid that question was until I actually got to church. There are the most interesting people... People either wearing tank tops or shirts, dresses or pants, shoes or no shoes. There are no rules here! Plus everyone just wanders around in the middle of Sacrament meeting, chatting with their friends. I always stand in amazement that in China, Utah, and New York every LDS church is different yet every LDS church is the same. There are different people and cultures, yet it is the same hymns, the same Sacrament, the same spirit. I find much comfort in that. Plus the people in our ward are amazing. They welcomed us with open arms and EVERY less active member that Sister Stone and I went to visit during the week was at church, ready to sit by us.
We don't do much tracking. We have a lot of referrals from Pageant, and we've spent a lot of time in member's homes getting to know them and asking them to help us in this work. We had a referral that we went to last night where a girl named Brandy had asked for a Bible. When we went to go bring it to her we found her and three of her friends sitting outside. She told us that she never requested a Bible and didn't want it. Her friends were interested though (when they found out that we weren't selling anything :)) and not only did we give them a Bible but we gave them each a Book of Mormon, testified of it, gave them some free DVDs, and set up an appointment with each one of them to talk about the chapters we assigned for them to read. So it was really exciting! Espeically to see how the Lord works... there are NO coincidences in the mission field. As we were leaving one of the ladies said "I see there's something different about the two of you because right when you walked out of the car it was like... BOOM! Light!" I think, living in Utah, sometimes we forget the light we give off as members of this church. Yet it's there in all of us. Its Christ's light, and anyone can see it radiating through us.
Its amazing to me to see how much music has become a part of my mission. Sister Stone loves to sing and when she found out that I do too we never leave a house without sharing our testimony through song. I have had some of the most amazing, tender experiences singing. There was one house that we went to that we were a little nervous about. When we knocked on the door this really big TALL black man walked out wondering what we wanted. He had the DEEPEST voice and right away Sister Stone asked him if he was a singer. He told us that he sings in two choirs, one at his Baptist church. So we asked him if he would sing a song with us... which he agreed to! So there we were: Two small white girls with this big tall black guy singing "How Great Thou Art" on a porch step! That was probably one of the coolest experiences I've had so far, and we even got the okay to come back and teach him and his girlfriend.
So I've been very blessed. I'm very happy. I'm sorry I'm not able to email each one of you individually but I just want you to know that I love each of your emails. I love you all so much and think so often about you. I finally came up with the two goals that I want to complete on my mission. I have a lot but if I can honestly say I feel successful at each of these goals, then I will have done the work I set out to do. They are....
1) Work till my bones are tired (:) Inspired by Dad)
2) Make sure that everyone I come in contact with knows how much I LOVE THIS STUFF!
I love missionary work. I love this gospel. The world is a bearable place because we know what awaits us. To live with our Heavenly Father again is worth our whole life. Its worth fighting for. I hope this email finds you well and happy.
I love you all! I'll keep having adventures this week so I'll have much to tell you in next week's email. Thank you for your prayers and know that my prayers are always about you as well. I miss you every day...
Love always, Sister Carter
Thursday, August 12, 2010
New York! - Aug 12
Dearest family!
Wow! SO much to tell you! I feel like its been the longest week of my entire life but I'm super grateful for every bit of it (and even more grateful that I get 1 hour on the computer instead of 30 minutes :)). So I'm going to try to describe everything to you and I'm sorry if this gets boring...
So I have arrived in New York, I am well. Things are good. After I got off the phone with you we went right to work. We walked around the airport and tried to find those that the Lord has prepared. We talked to a woman named Janet who LOVED music so we ended up singing "I know that my Redeemer Lives" to her... in the middle of the airport. Yes, interesting, I know. Then on the flight from Chicago to Rochester I sat next to a man from California and we talked the whole way there. We talked mostly about his life and he in return would ask me about mine which was such an amazing opportunity to tell him of who we missionaries are. We talked about God and prayer and prophets and the Book of Mormon. Its SO much different to actually be talking to real live people and not the MTC "investigators". These people have real needs and concerns and our Heavenly Father is so excited to tell them about how much He loves each one of them. I'm not exactly sure how Mark (that was his name) took the message but I invited him to read the Book of Mormon, so we will see.
So as we got off the plane and President and Sister Christianson were waiting for us. President Christianson looks just like he does in his pictures!! It was so exciting to meet them and we had to run out in the POURING rain to get to the car (Welcome to Rochester!!) We went to the Christianson's home for dinner and an orientation meeting and interviews (P.S. Pres. Christianson remembers BOTH Grandparents, he even got a little teary-eyed when he talked about them). You can tell what a powerful man he is, he reminded us that God is in this work but Satan is as well. Especially in this area. Ever since Joseph walked into that grove of trees Satan has been working his hardest to harden the hearts of those in this area. He has done a good job of it too... So we spent that night in the mission home, one last time together.
In the morning I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Presient and Sister Christianson took all of us new Elders and Sisters to the place where the Restoration started. We were able to drive to Palmyra and walked up to the Smith log home. We walked in and talked about Joseph's experience in the grove of trees and then we were able to walk upstairs to the place where Moroni appeared to Joseph late one night in September. I was lucky enough to be the first one to walk up those stairs and it was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. The Spirit bore witness to me that Joseph was a prophet. That those events did indeed happen, and this is the most amazing work on the Earth. When we were all gathered together upstairs we had a testimony meeting then headed out into the Sacred Grove on our own. I cannot think of a more beautiful place in all the world. It was breathtaking, and there was a reverance there that I've never before experienced. I was able to go off on my own, as Joseph did and talk with my Heavenly Father. It was one of the most sacred experiences of my life. There are not too many people who can say that their mission started in the same place that Joseph Smith's started... but I can.
After that was THE MOMENT! Transfers! All the missionaries in the area gathered to the chapel to hear the decision that was made in their behalf. I'm not going to lie, I don't think I've ever been more nervous in my ENTIRE life. I thought I was going to "throw up, and then die" (:)). My new companion is named Sister Stone. She is from California, she has been here for 9 months, and she is WAY fun and energetic!! She's a firey redhead :) Pres. Christianson told me who my companion was but he didn't tell me where I was going to be headed. Right after the meeting a older gentleman told me to go into the High Councilroom for our meeting. I was so confused! He ended up being our Ward Mission Leader, and he started telling us right away the families that needed us and what we were expected to do. WOH... I had no idea what was going on! :) I didn't even know where we were going! I ended up figuring out that I am headed to Henrietta New York, which is close to Rochester (I know Kyle and Dad will be googling where that is right now), and that I'm going to on a full proselyting mission! Sister Anderson and Sister Trujillo were split up from me instantly, they are going half-proselyting and half-sites right now... That was a very sad moment. They are my family here. I really love them, but I'm excited for the opportunity to start anew and just rely on the Lord.
So Henrietta is an interesting place. Its been closed off to Sisters for the last year and a half... I'm not going to ask why :) And the Elders that were in this area before kept NO track of anything they did. They hardly worked the area at all. So its like opening a brand new place for us! So these last couple days haven't been as productive as I would have liked, mostly because Sister Stone and I have been trying to figure out what to do. Sister Stone is WAY into member work... going out to meet members and get referrals from them. Which I think it great! Way more fun than tracking! So yesterday we went around meeting less active/active members. Yesterday we went to Sister Trout and Sister VanScooter's house, members in our ward. When we called they were SO excited to hear there were sister missionaries in the ward!!! They invited us over and we went to go talk with them for awhile. Let me just tell you... New York is SO diverse! I'm pretty use to Utah, even in China they had the same type of people! Here you meet people from ALL over the world! These Sisters lived in the really run down trailor, but they were all sorts of fun. I've realized New Yorkers, for the most part, are very talkative people. They love it when people are willing to listen. We helped read scriptures with them (because they just joined the church a couple months ago) and helped commit them to keep reading. It was amazing to see the Spirit teach them!
So all is well. I'm happy. Its funny that you mention Sister Weber, Mom. We actually live in the same apartment! So you'll have to tell her Mom if you get the chance. The one thing I've noticed the most being out here is that it is VERY different from the MTC. I was told before I got out here that there is a lot of disobedience in the missionaries, and I can see it. I'm just doing my best to be as obedient as I can and try to not waste the Lord's time. I still have lots to learn and Sister Stone has been a great teacher.
For mail, I guess they want you to send everything to the mission home for my whole mission. I know, its not very convient. But its safer that way... so we just do what they say :) My P-day is going to be on Mondays while I'm full-proselyting. Oh! Something cool I forgot to mention. Every sister that is assigned to the Visitors Center has one hour of "language" study. We get one hour a day to study manuels about our sites, and the history. Its so great! I thought Dad would love that. I'm excited too because I can a learn a little bit before I'm thrown into the sites someday.
Well I love you and think of you all often. Thank you for your prayers. The Lord has been blessing my life every day so I know that He is answering them. I'm just going to leave you with my new favorite poem. Before leaving the MTC my favorite teacher, Bro Bunker taught us a lesson about ridding ourselves of self:
"If thou could empty all thy self of self. Like to a shell dishabited.
Then might He find thee on the ocean shelf and say to thee this is
not dead and fill thee with Himself instead.
But thou art replete with very thou and has such shrewed activity.
That when He comes He says this is enough unto itself I better let
it be. It is so small and full, there is no room for me."
I love this poem. This is our life's mission. Empty ourselves of self so the Lord can fill us with Him. I love you all. I miss you!
Love always, Sister Carter
Wow! SO much to tell you! I feel like its been the longest week of my entire life but I'm super grateful for every bit of it (and even more grateful that I get 1 hour on the computer instead of 30 minutes :)). So I'm going to try to describe everything to you and I'm sorry if this gets boring...
So I have arrived in New York, I am well. Things are good. After I got off the phone with you we went right to work. We walked around the airport and tried to find those that the Lord has prepared. We talked to a woman named Janet who LOVED music so we ended up singing "I know that my Redeemer Lives" to her... in the middle of the airport. Yes, interesting, I know. Then on the flight from Chicago to Rochester I sat next to a man from California and we talked the whole way there. We talked mostly about his life and he in return would ask me about mine which was such an amazing opportunity to tell him of who we missionaries are. We talked about God and prayer and prophets and the Book of Mormon. Its SO much different to actually be talking to real live people and not the MTC "investigators". These people have real needs and concerns and our Heavenly Father is so excited to tell them about how much He loves each one of them. I'm not exactly sure how Mark (that was his name) took the message but I invited him to read the Book of Mormon, so we will see.
So as we got off the plane and President and Sister Christianson were waiting for us. President Christianson looks just like he does in his pictures!! It was so exciting to meet them and we had to run out in the POURING rain to get to the car (Welcome to Rochester!!) We went to the Christianson's home for dinner and an orientation meeting and interviews (P.S. Pres. Christianson remembers BOTH Grandparents, he even got a little teary-eyed when he talked about them). You can tell what a powerful man he is, he reminded us that God is in this work but Satan is as well. Especially in this area. Ever since Joseph walked into that grove of trees Satan has been working his hardest to harden the hearts of those in this area. He has done a good job of it too... So we spent that night in the mission home, one last time together.
In the morning I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Presient and Sister Christianson took all of us new Elders and Sisters to the place where the Restoration started. We were able to drive to Palmyra and walked up to the Smith log home. We walked in and talked about Joseph's experience in the grove of trees and then we were able to walk upstairs to the place where Moroni appeared to Joseph late one night in September. I was lucky enough to be the first one to walk up those stairs and it was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. The Spirit bore witness to me that Joseph was a prophet. That those events did indeed happen, and this is the most amazing work on the Earth. When we were all gathered together upstairs we had a testimony meeting then headed out into the Sacred Grove on our own. I cannot think of a more beautiful place in all the world. It was breathtaking, and there was a reverance there that I've never before experienced. I was able to go off on my own, as Joseph did and talk with my Heavenly Father. It was one of the most sacred experiences of my life. There are not too many people who can say that their mission started in the same place that Joseph Smith's started... but I can.
After that was THE MOMENT! Transfers! All the missionaries in the area gathered to the chapel to hear the decision that was made in their behalf. I'm not going to lie, I don't think I've ever been more nervous in my ENTIRE life. I thought I was going to "throw up, and then die" (:)). My new companion is named Sister Stone. She is from California, she has been here for 9 months, and she is WAY fun and energetic!! She's a firey redhead :) Pres. Christianson told me who my companion was but he didn't tell me where I was going to be headed. Right after the meeting a older gentleman told me to go into the High Councilroom for our meeting. I was so confused! He ended up being our Ward Mission Leader, and he started telling us right away the families that needed us and what we were expected to do. WOH... I had no idea what was going on! :) I didn't even know where we were going! I ended up figuring out that I am headed to Henrietta New York, which is close to Rochester (I know Kyle and Dad will be googling where that is right now), and that I'm going to on a full proselyting mission! Sister Anderson and Sister Trujillo were split up from me instantly, they are going half-proselyting and half-sites right now... That was a very sad moment. They are my family here. I really love them, but I'm excited for the opportunity to start anew and just rely on the Lord.
So Henrietta is an interesting place. Its been closed off to Sisters for the last year and a half... I'm not going to ask why :) And the Elders that were in this area before kept NO track of anything they did. They hardly worked the area at all. So its like opening a brand new place for us! So these last couple days haven't been as productive as I would have liked, mostly because Sister Stone and I have been trying to figure out what to do. Sister Stone is WAY into member work... going out to meet members and get referrals from them. Which I think it great! Way more fun than tracking! So yesterday we went around meeting less active/active members. Yesterday we went to Sister Trout and Sister VanScooter's house, members in our ward. When we called they were SO excited to hear there were sister missionaries in the ward!!! They invited us over and we went to go talk with them for awhile. Let me just tell you... New York is SO diverse! I'm pretty use to Utah, even in China they had the same type of people! Here you meet people from ALL over the world! These Sisters lived in the really run down trailor, but they were all sorts of fun. I've realized New Yorkers, for the most part, are very talkative people. They love it when people are willing to listen. We helped read scriptures with them (because they just joined the church a couple months ago) and helped commit them to keep reading. It was amazing to see the Spirit teach them!
So all is well. I'm happy. Its funny that you mention Sister Weber, Mom. We actually live in the same apartment! So you'll have to tell her Mom if you get the chance. The one thing I've noticed the most being out here is that it is VERY different from the MTC. I was told before I got out here that there is a lot of disobedience in the missionaries, and I can see it. I'm just doing my best to be as obedient as I can and try to not waste the Lord's time. I still have lots to learn and Sister Stone has been a great teacher.
For mail, I guess they want you to send everything to the mission home for my whole mission. I know, its not very convient. But its safer that way... so we just do what they say :) My P-day is going to be on Mondays while I'm full-proselyting. Oh! Something cool I forgot to mention. Every sister that is assigned to the Visitors Center has one hour of "language" study. We get one hour a day to study manuels about our sites, and the history. Its so great! I thought Dad would love that. I'm excited too because I can a learn a little bit before I'm thrown into the sites someday.
Well I love you and think of you all often. Thank you for your prayers. The Lord has been blessing my life every day so I know that He is answering them. I'm just going to leave you with my new favorite poem. Before leaving the MTC my favorite teacher, Bro Bunker taught us a lesson about ridding ourselves of self:
"If thou could empty all thy self of self. Like to a shell dishabited.
Then might He find thee on the ocean shelf and say to thee this is
not dead and fill thee with Himself instead.
But thou art replete with very thou and has such shrewed activity.
That when He comes He says this is enough unto itself I better let
it be. It is so small and full, there is no room for me."
I love this poem. This is our life's mission. Empty ourselves of self so the Lord can fill us with Him. I love you all. I miss you!
Love always, Sister Carter
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
