Preparation for the Pageant-June 27, 2011

Dearest Family,

I can't believe little Kylie's farewell was yesterday! I completely forgot until I was lying down to sleep last night (which I actually did on the balcony. Sister Stoker and I decided to have a sleepover out there:)...). I am SO proud of him! I wish I could have been there, more than anything. It sounds like he did a great job. That is a very interesting topic and I'm excited to get to read of his bullet points that he went through. It is so great that so many people came. That was the biggest sense of power to me, seeing all of those loved ones in one room, supporting you as you chase after your dreams. At least for me, I realized when I stood up at that pulpit, that the tender mercies that the Lord gives me were in the familiar faces sitting in the crowd. Now just have to wait a couple more weeks and YOU'RE LEAVING ON A JET PLANE.... okay not quite a jet plane, but the MTC might as well be a foreign country. Kyle's going to love it though. I hope all goes well with Mom's bone marrow biopsy. I'm praying SO HARD. I think the hardest part about all of this is just standing back and letting God be God. He knows what needs to happen and He will let it be done in His own will and own timing, but I agree with you Dad, I hope that it starts looking up soon.

Another crazy week here in New York. PAGEANT IS A WEEK A WAY! They've already started building the stage on the Hill Cumorah. It is SO exciting. I feels like its Christmas Eve and I'm just anticipating Santa's arrival. It is one big blur of motion. You never stop now. We have bus tour after bus tour coming to all the sites and people from all over the world coming to see the excitement. I feel like such an old woman. Every part of my body hurts by the end of the day. My feet, my back, my knees, my jaw.... when all of Sisters get together you would think that we were 50 years older than we actually are because we're all talking about the aches and pains we have :). They're the satisfying aches and pains though. We had a really cool event happen this week. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is on tour right now and they decided to stop by the Sacred Grove on their way through New York and give us a little concert! So we went, on a pouring rainy Friday afternoon, to wait for them and right when they showed up the skies cleared and the sun started to beam. They sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" in front of the Smith Frame Home. It was SO cool!

So, my final thought comes from Neil A. Maxwell (what a guy). He said:
"The thermostat on the furnace of affliction will not have been set too high for us- though clearly we may think so at the time. Our God is a refining God who has been tempering soul-steel for a very long time. He knows when the right edge has been put upon our excellence and also when there is more in us than we have yet given."
I love you family. I think about you all the time and pray for your success in everything you do. I don't know when I'll be able to email you next because next week is the fourth of July and then during the Pageant weeks we actually don't get a Preparation Day. So I'll try to find some time in the next couple weeks to jump on and let you know how things are going, just don't panic if you don't hear from me for a while. I love you!

Love always, Sister Carter