Mandy Mission

"And this is the account of Sister Amanda Carter and her brethren, their journeyings in the land of Western New York, their sufferings in the land, their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their incomprehensible joy..." (Alma 28:8)

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Open House

Dear Family

This past week has been a crazy one!! We were trying to get the Open House all set up and going and I learned how much time and effort it takes to put on an event like that! It really did look great in the end. Each room in the church was full of people and displays to explain all of the different auxilaries and programs the church offers. In the Cultural Hall we set up tables with TONS of finger foods, with Mormon messages being projected on the wall, and a table with referral cards and literature people could take with them. That went on for about two hours and then President Christianson came to speak about the Sacrament in the Chapel. It was a great climax to the evening. Everything went really well and we were all really pleased at the end of it. The ward saw that we were willing to try and think outside the box and the community was able to understand a little bit more about our church.
That kind of took up most of the week. We had a really great lesson with Bro. Copp. We took him to the Smith Farm and gave him the first lesson, on the Restoration. We taught most of the lesson in the Welcome Center, until we got to the point of the Apostasy. Then we took him out to the Smith log home and taught him about the first vision and restoration. We ended our lesson by walking into the grove and praying together to know if the events that happened there really did happen. It is a strange thing to be relaying the story of Jospeh Smith to people, by saying "In 1820 there was a young boy that lived.... well, here, actually...... who had a question about all of the different religions." I feel like its unbelieveable to people. They kinda think that our church is just a local church, they don't realize that this gospel HAS SPREAD THE EARTH! That this is the truth, and all they have to do is look outside in their backyard to where it all began again.
We had a leadership training with President Christianson yesterday where he shared this video that completely changed my vision on what we're doing out here as missionaries:
Missionary Work and the Atonement
The more I'm out here the more I realize, that after these 18 months are done...its not over. We're at war. We've picked sides. Sometimes I'm tired, and I feel like I can't take another step, or knock another door, or get rejected by one more person, and I long to be home. But this work never stops. Some day I wont be a set apart missionary anymore, but this badge I wear doesn't just cover my heart, it has been branded into it. I will always be a missionary. I will always proclaim His truth because that is what I have been called to do.
Thanks for sending pictures of little A's birthday! He's a little boy now! I can't wait to see him soon. Tell Abby that I wish her a happy birthday as well (I'd send a card but she'd probably just eat it). I love you all! Until next week....

Love always, Sister Carter

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Great friends and examples

Cade St. Pierre

Sister Carter, her "baby" and "grandbaby"

District

After clogging

At the Whitmer Farm


Tanya's baptism

Dear Family,

I'm glad that you got my camera card! I always pray those things aren't going to get lost in the mail. I'm glad that you liked the clogging routine and Sister Stoker and I's Sister Missionary Barbie Act. It was such a blast to get to live with those sisters and get form friendships with them. There is one thing that I will FOREVER be grateful for on my mission, and that is the people that I've met and the friendships that I have made. I've met some of my greatest heroes out here. People I would have never met if I had not decided to serve a mission.

Well.... Its kinda been a crazy week. Some parts good and some parts a little bit harder. We've been able to talk with a lot of people but getting them to progress or getting them to show up for their appointments is hard. Free agency stinks.... Okay, not all the time. Just when people don't do the right thing with it :). We have been able to see some miracles, though. Cade , the little boy I was teaching in the Webster ward, got baptized this weekend. I wasn't able to go because it was too far away but Sister Chatterton informed me that everything went well and that the family was so proud of him and that he said that he felt "clean" when he got out of the water. He's such a sweet little boy.

We have an investigator right now, named Bro. C, who is one of the most humble sincere men that I have ever met. He was at a park a couple months ago, out with one of his friends drinking a beer, when he saw some Sister missionaries on a bench reading the Book of Mormon. He wanted to know what they were do so he went over to talk with them and they ended up getting him to refer himself to the missionaries serving here in Marion. He LOVES the gospel. He is completely illiterate, can't read or write hardly at all but he loves the Book of Mormon! We gave him one of the pictures books with a caption underneath and he works hard, every day, to try to read a couple of those captions. He has completely been transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Last night, at sunset, we walked up with him to the top of the Hill Cumorah and he was so excited when we got to the top. He told us that he never would have been able to make it, had he not have given up tobacco and alcohol. He is so ready to get baptized but he still has to get some things worked out, but he has faith that the Lord will allow him to get baptized when it is time.

So lots of events this week... Seeing Kris' family. That was fun (kinda bizarre though, to mix home with mission). We also had a mission conference at the Peter Whitmer Farm, where all the missionaries were called together so we could have a testimony meeting about our experiences finishing the Book of Mormon in our six week transfer. It was awesome. This weekend we're having our Open House at the church. We're having all of the auxiliaries come to explain what we do and what we have to offer to the community. President Christianson is even coming to do a devotional. We're crossing our fingers that it goes well!!!

So lots of good things happening. Just taking it one day at a time. Well I sure love you family! You're the best, ever.

Love always, Sister Carter

P.S. My P-day has been switched to Tuesday just so you are aware :)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Walking Where Joseph Walked

Dear family,

Thank you for all of your letters of encouragement! I'm sorry that my last email may have been a little dramatic ( :) But when am I not dramatic?), but you've got to know the bitter to know the sweet right? It has been one of the longest weeks of my life! Probably because change is just hard to get use to. But it has been a rewarding one, and I feel like I'm starting to get use to things.

Marion is great!! There are three different areas in Palmyra and I just happen to be in the one that is flourishing the most! They have SO much work going on here. Our whole entire week is completely booked (that is what I get for judging something before I actually experience it). It is a very different type of work out here. Being in the country is so weird. Houses are so far apart and there are farmland everywhere. It is beautiful. You don't get the opportunity to talk to as many people but I feel like I have talked to more people this last week than I have my whole mission combine. People are so friendly and kind here! I mean, you still have the few who are jerks, but they will stand there and listen to the message you have to share and add their own comments even if they aren't really interested. Its bizarre! The country has its own set of problems that we have to deal with but we have a lot of good people progressing toward baptism so I can't help but feel very grateful.

Another cool thing that I have been able to experience this week is the feeling of being so close to the church sites. We live in an old house that was built in the 1800s, they think that the Smiths may have even helped build it. We are honestly just a block away from the Joseph Smith Farm. Every morning we run to the Sacred Grove and back. We are only about two miles away, on either side, of the Grandin Building and the Hill Cumorah. And as I walk the streets, and talk to the people around here I can't help but feel a deeper connection to Joseph. I have always felt proud that I got to be in the area that he served, but now I get to live where he did, and walk the streets that he did, pray in the same place that he did, and teach the same message that he taught. What a gift! If there is one man that I'm excited to meet some day, its him. I sure love him and am grateful for what he, and his family, did to bring back the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world again. I'm glad I can help share that message in any way that I can.

So things here are good. They aren't perfect, I still have my moments. But it will be a good place to end my mission. Sister Lee is awesome. She is really quiet and shy, and I kinda feel like a giant around her, but she is a good missionary. She's really hard working and loves to teach people. I feel close to Kyle now with an Asian companion :). I'm glad to hear that he is doing well. I pray for him every night still. He'll get his hearing back.... I have faith. And I'm glad to hear that Atreyu's face is healing okay. Poor little baby A. I'm glad that he's not scared of Abby though. He's a tough little guy.

Well I sure love you family! Until next week...

Love always, Sister Carter

Monday, October 3, 2011

Transfer to Marion

Dear Family,

Yay for Conference! I sure loved every minute of it this time around. I don't know why but on my mission I can feel my spirit react differently to spiritual experiences then I did at home. It always has somewhat of a "draining" effect, but it always motivates me and inspires to me to do good and to be better. If there is anything I have learned this last 14 and half months the wrestle we go through, not only with THE spirit but with OUR spirit. The natural man always seems to want to take control but being on a mission, and away from all the things of the world, it seems like MY spirit- who I truly am inside- gets more of a fighting chance. It has been neat to get to know the real me, although it hasn't been an easy one.

Sounds like it has been an emotional week at home, as well as for me here. Its been an emotional rollercoaster. On Thursday we had interviews with President Christianson and about two minutes after he left we got a phone call from his Assistants. They asked Sister Chatterton to train a new missionary this transfer! Woh! What a shock! I'M GOING TO BE A GRANDMA! It was a little overwhelming for both of us (I don't know why I was freaking out so bad- she's the one who has only been out for two transfers!), we both just sat on the bed and cried together. She's feeling overwhelmed and I think the sadness of leaving this area had finally hit me. I've served in Rochester my whole mission, this is where my heart is. Plus, Sister Chatterton has been such a wonderful companion to me, and its hard to see your baby grow up and move on without you :). But here's the worse part... I then had to wait FOUR WHOLE DAYS to find out where I was going to be transfered to. I have been a nervous wreck all week (you would think that I would just be use to this kind of stuff by now). We finally got the call last night... and I am going to Marion (which is an area in Palmyra) to serve with a sister named Sister Lee. AH! Its hard to convey feelings because you don't really know any of the areas or missionaries but I'll just try to give you a glimpse into my brain. Palmyra is such a hard area. Its been tracted over MANY times. Everyone knows Mormon missionaries in Palmyra, its like going to Rome and and trying to teach people about the Vatican. I am excited, and nervous, to get to know Sister Lee. She just came out (same time as Sister Chatterton), she is from Hong Kong. She's really really quiet. Hopefully I can get her to open up a little bit. I would love to tell you that I am such an exceptional missionary that when I got the call last night that I respond with, "I will go and do the things which the Lord commands". But I mostly just sat on our balcony and bawled my eyes out, in anger, all night. I'm feeling a little bit better this morning though. Still terrified, but I'm going to just do the best I can. That is really all I can do. I know the Lord is in His work, and I'm just going to have to trust that right now. I keep thinking about how much I really didn't want to go to Webster in the beginning. I viewed the people as somewhat "rich snobs", but as I labored among them, my vision cleared and I began to see the area like the Lord sees it, and because of Him, we were able to see miracles in a place that hadn't seen them in awhile. So, right now is just the leap of faith. Leaping in faith that this is where I'm suppose to be and that miracles can still be had if I just strengthen my faith. The best part of these experiences are the end. Looking back and seeing the love you were able to develop, from nothing. That in and of itself is a miracle.

I'm so grateful that Kyle was able to leave this week for Japan. My heart still hurts that his hearing hasn't come back. My testimony echos that of yours, though. As Sister Chatterton and I were reading the Book of Mormon this week a specific verse struck my heart with force. When the Savior comes to the Americas He admonishes the people, "Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them..." (3 Nephi 17:7). Unfortunately the Savior doesn't give a time frame on when He will heal us. My favorite talk this week was probably the talk by Elder Quentin L. Cook (a lot of it had to do with the fact that he talked about TITANIC most of the time!!! :)). I loved that he talked about how bad things still happen to good people. How sometimes life just isn't fair. But all is made right through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Sometimes it hurts my soul to think of all the things that have happened to our family in this time I have been gone, but I still love the Lord. I know He is mindful of us and our family. He still wants to bless us. He just needs us to hold on a little longer.
"There is no chance, no fate, no destiny, that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul."

I love you all... so much. You mean everything to me. Hopefully all will go well this week and both Kyle and I will be writing to you from a new location :). Just know that my prayers are with you, especially with Atreyu right now. Keep me updated on how his face is healing.

Love always, Sister Carter