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 -
Monday, November 29, 2010
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
