Training!!

March 30, 2015

Hey Guys!!

It’s been a great week. The first part of the week, I was in a companionship with the Zone Leaders because transfers were on Monday but I did not get my new companion until Wednesday. I really enjoyed my time with them. One of the highlights was buying some super-hot chili peppers! I ate them up, but they were the hottest things I have ever put in my mouth!!!!! I was crying for like 2 minutes and felt like my mouth was on fire for even longer than that!! It was pretty funny!!

 

I was really looking forward to Wednesday! We arrived at the mission president’s home nice and early for a meeting for all the trainers. Guess who was there? My trainer, Elder Stanworth!!! It was so sweet to see him and catch up!! It is his last transfer in the mission and he was training again!  He was super happy to see me there as a trainer as well!! The meeting was pretty awesome and president gave us good council and direction for what he wanted us to teach our companions.

 

My new companion is from Idaho and reminds me of when I came out into the field and had very little knowledge of the language. He will get it soon, I’m sure. His name is Elder Salinas and he is great!! I am surprised and humbled at how much Spanish I have learned in my short time here in Rosario. I thought I needed a Latino companion to survive, but I actually am doing well with the Spanish! I don’t even know when that happened!! It was great to meet my new companion and after lunch, we headed back to our area.

 

 

This week has been a great growing experience! While my companion learns the language, we rely a lot on my Spanish, which has pushed me to do more, try my best, and exercise more faith. We are visiting lots of people and doing really well!! We are seeing miracles every day! For example, we were praying to find new investigators and we were walking by this house and this littler girl waved us over! So, we went and talked to the family and they seem really interested!  That was an answer to our prayers!

 

 

Being a District Leader is good so far! One of my responsibilities is to call the sisters every night to see how they are doing and if I can help them in any way. I feel like there is not too much they need help with, but I am trying my very best! We are going to watch conference in the chapel this weekend which I am excited about! It should be good!

 

Well, thanks for everything! I haven’t received your packages yet, but hopefully soon!

 

I love you guys!

 

Elder Carter

 

My new greenie (Elder Salinas) on my right and my trainer (Elder Stanworth) and his greenie on my left

At Presidente and Hermana Zanni's house

Bringing Elder Salinas to our penthouse :)

So excited to meet my new companion, Elder Salinas!

Saying good-bye to Elder Johnson!

A Sweet Baptism

March 24, 2015

Hey guys! I hope you are enjoying your cruise! Send some pics and bring me home something cool!!

 

This week has been really good! The best news this week is that Beatriz got baptized!! It was super sweet and honestly she was a miracle baptism!! All her family joined the church about 25 years ago, but because she was living common law and smoking, she was not baptized. We found her by coincidence one evening as we were out looking for less active families. I remember that day, clearly.  We were almost done for the night and were getting ready to go home but we decided to stick it out a couple minutes longer and knock on this one last house! We followed the promptings and we were blessed!

 

At first, there seemed to be a lot of obstacles in the way, but then somehow, they all just changed!! She couldn’t have been more ready to stop smoking! We stopped by every day and read a little bit from the Book of Mormon each time, and gave her a blessing. She did the rest! She is so awesome!! I was so grateful to be a part her baptism and part of this miracle! She was so happy when she was baptized! I did the baptizing which was sweet! It was such a privilege to be part of the baptism! Sadly, the ward didn’t give a ton of support to her, which I was disappointed about. But we are going to work really hard and visit her with a ton of members to try and make her feel more comfortable! She is a little different, but she loves the church!! 

 

Elder Johnson and I set a goal this week to work hard and encourage people to attend church. We were hoping to have 80 people at church by the end of the month, as well as 5 baptisms. We prayed so hard and worked even harder. We decided to give this work all we had! On Sunday, there were 78 people at church, but 2 less active members were waiting outside! We reached our goal!! Heavenly Father blessed us for working so hard!! I was so happy!

 

On Friday we found out that Elder Johnson was getting transferred to Santa Fe Norte! He wasn’t really that excited about it because he really likes San Lorenzo, but he is going to be zone leader up there, which will be really good for him! He was a super good companion and I have learned tons from him!! We are super good friends and I can’t wait to see him after the mish! We also found out that this transfer I will be TRAINING!! I am super excited!!! I will be getting a brand new missionary!! And becoming district leader!! That will be fun as well!

 

Am I ready for all the responsibility? Probably not. Is my Spanish good enough? Probably not. Do I have enough experience? Probably not. Are there other elders way better prepared than  me? Probably. But am I willing to do my best with the talents and abilities that I have? You bet I am!!

 

Anyways I am a little nervous but excited too! Tomorrow  I will pick up my new comp! Very excited!!  I am hanging out with the zone leaders until then, which has been fun! 

 

 

I hope  you guys are having fun! Send lots of pics!!

I love you!

Elder Carter

Blessings!

March 16, 2015

Hey guys!! How’s it going? Sounds like you guys are having lots of fun with all of your vacationing!! Ha-ha are you guys really saving that much money on me?! I got your Christmas packages, but not the ones that you have sent most recently!! But thanks so much!!

 

We had a great week doing the normal missionary work! This week we had 66 people  at church and 2 investigators which was good!! It’s nice to see some results once in a while!!

 

I went on divisions Friday after we had zone meeting with the zone leaders. It was really good!! One of our investigators, Beatrice, was getting her baptismal interview. She is getting baptized this week!! . She  has stopped smoking completely, which is super awesome!!  She wants me to baptized her which is really cool! I am so excited to do that! I am looking forward to this week!! 

 

Recently we have been working a ton with the members and it helps a ton!! We have been working really hard and are being blessed for it! Just, the other day a member said that her mom was interested in the church. When we met with her she told us she has already read the whole Book of Mormon and has a testimony of it!! We don’t hear that too often down here, so that was a super sweet blessing that we received from working with the members!! She has a baptismal date for 11 de abril! She is eager to learn!!

 

We have started to use art in our lessons and it is helping our investigators lots, especially with our investigators who don’t finish school. We draw out a lot of things and we are finding the people understand what we are teaching faster and better! It’s pretty exciting!! It’s so nice when people can understand what what we teach!! So far, this new tool, is working out very well!!

 

Lately, I have been studying as much as I can about the life of Jesus Christ. I have read the 4 gospels and I  am reading Jesus the Christ right now. I have learned that he was the best teacher, the best man to ever walk the earth, and even he got rejected. Some of the people didn’t follow him and didn’t agree with his teachings. I found strength in this because sometimes it’s alright when we are rejected because even the greatest of them all got rejected. People always have their agency. I found this so important because as a missionary, ther, that’s my spiritual thought for the week

 

Transfers are next week so that will interesting! After we are done writing our letters home, we are going to Rosario to play capture the flag with the zone. Should be fun!!

 

Enjoy your vacation!

 

love you guys!

Elder Carter

A Great Week!!

March 9, 2015

 

It’s been another good week!!!

 

Cristina and her daughters, Nazarena and Monserat all got baptized this week! I baptized Monserat and confirmed Nazarena, both which were a great privilege!!! It truly was sweet!! The baptism was on Saturday in the morning and it was pretty awesome!! We had  a unique opportunity to hook up to Skype in Spain, where the older brother/son lives (and was baptized) and he and some of his ward members watched and participated in the baptismal service!!!

 

It was pretty exciting to see 6 of us in white! Elder Johnson baptized Nazarena, I baptized Monserat, and a ward member baptized Cristina. Carlos (the brother in Spain) had no idea that his sisters were being baptized!! Cristina entered the font first and Carlos was very excited. But then, he got even more excited when he saw Nazarena get baptized. Everyone watching in Spain was like, “whaaat?” It was so cool!! Carlos thought that Monserat would be the one least likely to accept the gospel and he was not expecting her to be baptized. When she and I entered the font, he was beside himself and started crying!!! It was so good to be a part of this!! He bore his testimony during the service and it was so strong!! The family was all so happy and excited!!! What a great experience!!! And on Sunday I had the opportunity to confirm Nazarena which was another super coo experience for me!

 

 

On Friday night we went out to visit with less actives and visited with an a ex bishop and ex temple worker . He was very drunk. I felt very sad for him. He was crying and testifying of Joseph Smith, even when he was drunk! I felt super bad for him because he just seemed helpless and lonely!! We gave him a big hug and are eager and to work with him hopeful that he will return to church!

 

Right now we are working with a woman who had taken the lessons and met with the missionaries 30 yrs. ago. Her whole family got baptized but she couldn’t because she was not married to her boyfriend who she was living with at the time. We found her as we were out visiting less actives.  She has a baptism date and is super excited and believes the gospel and the church is true. The only problem is that she is having a really tough time giving up smoking. She has smoked since she was 12 and  now she is 53. My companion and I  felt that we should give her a blessing of strength. We both felt that I should give it. So, we went forth and not having too much experience with blessings, I didn’t really know what to say. I just waited until God put something in my head to say. One thing Elder Johnson has taught me on the mission is not to be scared of silence. So, I probably waited a whole minute before I was received revelation!! The whole experience was incredible. I ended up giving her a blessing straight from Heavenly Father! It’s now been 5 days since she smoked!!! Her baptismal date is set for March 21^st.

 

“Si se puede!!!!!!” (Yes, it can be done!!!!)

 

I love you guys!!

 

Love,

 Elder Carter

 A great day!!!

With Monserat

A Happy Day!!

March 2, 2015

 

Hey guys!

 

Sounds like you guys had a good busy week! Happy birthday Grandpa!! Big 70!!! Dani sent me a little video clip of your birthday dinner. Looks like a happy time!! Congratulations Bentley on your awesome team’s basketball win!!!  

 

This week has been great!! Lisandro was baptized!! His grandparents came and supported him, which we were so happy to see!! Half the branch was there for him also. We had about 30 people in attendance – it was so exciting!! The baptism was scheduled for 5:00 pm and when we showed up at 4:00 pm, the font was only 2 feet full! We panicked and started pouring water  by the bucket into the font. Miraculously, we ended up with more than enough water by the time the baptismal service began. The service was awesome! I will send you some pictures of that day J

 

I had the privilege of confirming Lisandro the next day. I was pretty nervous, mostly because of my limited Spanish. I understand everything and I can usually say what I want, although I don’t say it the right way. I was worried that no one would understand me. On top of that, I have never confirmed anyone. I’m not sure I would know what to say in English, let alone Spanish!! I was not sure what I was going to say!! But I went forward with lots of prayers for help, and Heavenly Father just put the right words in my head and in my mouth. I spoke the best Spanish I could and I think people understood me!!! After he was confirmed, Lisandro bore his testimony. He is such an awesome kid!!! I am so happy I got to be a part of his conversion.

 

We are currently working really hard with an investigator to stop smoking so she can get baptized on March 21st! We are meeting with her daily and praying so much for her!! Cristina is doing great and she always tells me when she communicates with you through facebook. She is pretty excited for her baptism coming up and so are we!! The members in San Lorenzo are so awesome and we are working a ton with them. Life is good here! I like being a missionary! I can’t believe I have been out 6 months already. It feels like I just left! My companion and I are working hard!

 

 

I am going to send you some pictures!

 

I love you!

 

Elder Carter

Lisandro's baptism!

The whole family supporting him!

The taxi strike - taxis just stopped everywhere

Taxis burning tires in protest!

After a little sprinkle :)

This is how it rains here!!

Enjoying a most delicious buffet after conference :)