Thursday 3 December 2015

Better than money!!

December 1, 2015 

Hey guys!!! 

What's up?! This week has been pretty fun! It really flew by!!!

Well, the biggest news is that Elder Cox left and I will be training! My new companion's name is Elder Magby but I have not met him yet! It will be pretty fun! I really wanted a Latino companion to be able to learn spanish better, but I guess deep down I also really did want someone from North America because I  seem to connect a lot better with them! So, I am pretty excited! For today I am hanging out in San Nicolas with Elder Neilson! He is pretty cool! We get along super well so it makes things everything super fun! We are going to go to the mission home tomorrow to pick up our new comps because he is training as well! It will be fun! Its always pretty funny to watch them struggle so much with the language right when they get there! Haha-we all go through it! Its fun to be with them as they experience the culture and everything for the first time! Haha-so all in all, I am pretty excited! But I was also sad to say good bye to Elder Cox! He is a funny kid and I enjoyed our time together!! I learned a lot from him and he was an awesome example to me!

Well, we are working with that couple who needs to get married and who just brought rings but do not have enough money to throw a big party or anything! They are super awesome!! They were a miracle to find and are progressing a ton!! This Sunday they came to the church alone! I was pretty pumped!!!! Nobody does that! We would go walk with them but they live like an hour away from everything, so it's kind of hard!!! Anyways, they showed up a little late but they came all dressed up and everything! You know they are serious about the church when they put a skirt and a shirt and tie on!  I am not going to lie - some of the members don't even do that here! We often have many members attend in just the jeans and a shirt! This is just a different a culture!! But, they showed up and man, I was pretty flipping excited to see them! They stood at the door and I was very surprised!! Man, I was as happy as as if I had won 1000 bucks!! Haha - but worth more in a way!! Anyways, it made up for the super disappointing Sunday we had last week when nobody came! The members were super good with them and all said hi. Then the bishop met with them and it was sweet! I love those guys! I cannot wait go back and visit them! They have become my friends! It makes everything worth it when you find people like that! Elder Cox was sad to say goodbye to them because we found them together!!

This week our zone went to the mission house to do p-day together! It was pretty fun! We had to go sleep over at Elder Nielson's pension the night before because we have a long bus ride to get to San Nicolas and had to leave early in the morning! Haha- turns out that they didn't have any extra mattresses so we put the two that they had and laid them out horizontally and laid 4 by 4. Man,that was the worst night of my life! There was absolutely noooo roooom! Nothing!! I was dying!! Once you finally fell asleep someone moved and would wake someone up and then not be able to fall asleep again! Haha - it was not fun! Then we woke up early to go to Rosario as a zone! We took a bus and went up there together! it was pretty fun! we got there and they had planned out a bunch of games and stuff for us to do! some were fun, some were not! There will probably be pics on the mission blog,mom!! Anyways,it was fun! We ate some good food and was a good opportunity to relax a little bit!! 

To finish up the pday we watched Efraim Rescue! Man, I have seen it before but this time it really hit home! Those people are freaking awesome! I want to study about their adventures and stuff when I get home! The movie is really good at showing what these poeple went through. They went through some crazy stuff!! These people literally gave up everything they had! EVERYTHING!!! They gave up money, their belongings and they sacraficed their bodies and I am sure many of them were depressed! It really hit home for me. The times I want to complain or think something is hard, I think of them and then I feel like a little girl in comparison. They were dying. They had nothing left, which was crazy. The movie really shows that the greatest blessings that we recieve are spiritual blessings. These people weren't rewarded by money or health or wordly things but God let them see miracles which brang them closer to Him and strenghten their testimony which is a much greater blessing than anything else we can ask for. They saw tons of miracles because they sacraficed everything. That is one thing that got me. In the mission, you always want to see amazing miracles and stuff, but they don't happen until you are willing to sacrifice something. If you give up everything you have for God, you are going to see miracles and blessings !!

Anyways, this week has been good! I am working hard and having fun!

Love you
Elder Carter
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Rain and Blessings

November 23, 2016 

Hey guys! This week has been good! Just doing the normal missionary work!!

Man, its getting hot here! Haha - luckily we have air conditioning in our pension so it's not that bad!! Haha,but when we go outside, we just start sweating! The worst is walking back from lunch at like 1:30 in the afternoon with a super full stomach and you have to walk 30 mins back to the pension in the boiling hot sun! That kills me!! It's like 30 plus degrees everyday and with the humidity here it feels soooo hot!! Haha! The humidity is the worst part because it just never goes away! Plus,  it makes you all sticky as well!! The hot weather also means spring time and the spring alergies are getting to me! It's bad! The other day I was dying with the spring allergies!! Haha- I wanted to rip my eyes out and my nose was running like a water fountain! It seems to be a common problem with lots of other missionaries!! But luckily I called the doctor and I got some pills  and they have really been helping!! I am glad they are gone now!!  

With all the hot weather that we have been having I have been taking more showers, usually 2 a day. After working hard all day and coming back just sticky and gross it feels pretty dang good to be able to get out of the shower clean and refeshed!! I was thinking that is how the sacrament works. We go through our week making tons of mistakes and the way to cleanse them is through the sacrament! Saturday comes around and we are all dirty and gross! The sacrament gives us an opportunity to be refreshed and feel awesome! I think I need to work on improving my attitude because sometimes I don't always have that feeling..mostly, its just the "I'm hungry" feeling! haha 

On Thursday we have weekly planning where we pretty much plan everything we are going to teach all of the people we are working with. It usually goes for about 3 hours and at times gets pretty boring and dry. Anyways, we finished up right before lunch Thursday morning. We looked outside and it looking like it was going to rain pretty good. SO we quickly got our stuff ready to go for lunch. Well before we were able to get out the rain started coming down. Then rain was really coming down! It is probably one of the hardest rainfalls that I have ever seen! There was just tons of wind and the rain was just coming down!!! So we decided to wait it out for a little bit longer to see if it would pass. Since we had to walk to lunch, about a 10 min walk, we didn't want to get wet. Haha! Well, after like 10 mins of waiting it was just getting worse. The rain was coming down harder and harder!! We just decided to go for it! I put on a the rain gear I had but it wasn't worth it. I got soaked EVERYWHERE. It didn't matter that I had rain stuff on! I tried to keep my feet dry for the first 30 seconds but when we came to the street, where it was practically a river, I really had no choice but to walk through it! The wind was coming at us so hard! It was crazy!!! When we finally got to the house of the members we were just soaked! Haha - there was literally not a part of my body dry! It was all just wet! We took off what we could to eat, but i was pretty uncomfortable! The worst part was that the dye from my socks was running, forming a nice blue puddle underneath me. I hope it didn't stain the flour! But,we ate some good meat so it made up for it! We got back and dried our stuff up to just go out that same night and get it all wet again! Haha- it was a good experience! When it rains here, it rains hard!!!

I have noticed that lots of people who have chosen to be inactive feel that despite their not going to church, God continues to bless them. They mention that they continue to be good people and that the Lord has not forgotten them. I was really thinking about that the other day. Does God bless and reward people who aren't following his counsel or living His commandments? It  is true that you can choose not to read scriptures daily and still get good grades, a great job, and do awesome in life. After thinking it through, I realized that while a person may enjoy these blessings, they would still be missing out on the most important blessings- the ones that help us become closer to our Heavenly Father. These are the blessings that really matter. It's not so much about the money or the work, it's about the spiritual knowledge and experience we can get that will help us grow closer to our Father in Heaven. It was  kind of cool for me to think about this because I have always wondered why people who aren't doing good things are still living fun and happy lives? Well, in reality the biggest blessing that God can ever give us is that of eternal life. And we have to work for that, it will not just be given us. Even though right now it is not a blessing we can see or touch, it will be better than anything we can imagine!!!

This week has been good! The normal good stuff! Transfers are next week so I will be writing on Tuesday! But things are good here! I am learning how to cook a few more things and exercising more!! Haha!! Life is good!

Love you guys!!

Elder Carter
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Bones and Eggs

November 9, 2015

Hey guys!
This week has been pretty good! We have been working hard! We also had interviews with president this week and that was good! He is an awesome guy!!
Lately my companion and I have been going for early morning runs. We decided to do it because for one,  it helps me to actually do my exercises  instead of sitting on my chair and doing a couple of tricep dips. And TWO because we are trying to work off all the bread and oil we always eat!! haha!! But I was thinking about running this week. I ALWAYS dislike getting up in the morning and knowing that we are going to have to go running. Then while I am running I enjoy it but at the same time I don't enjoy it because it hurts. THEN after I am done the run, it feels amazing! The whole day I am able to look back and feel good because I was able to do something hard and finish! haha! I think its the same with a lot of things in life. We don't like it before we get started, we don't like it that while we are doing but once we are done we really realize how much it helped us and the things we learned from it!
Here in this little branch we usually eat with the same members every week because there aren't that many members to begin with. Anyways, sometimes they aren't able to give us lunch so we have to make lunch. And I don't know how to make anything!! haha! I am getting sick of hot dogs and hamburgers!! haha lolz!! Argentina also has a food sometimes called "milanesas" which are just like big chicken nuggets. We eat alot of those. I also know how to make raviolis. So all in all i am getting a little sick of eating that! I wish I had learned to cook a little bit more before the mission! Haha! I will need to find a wife who can cook really good because I don't want to cook anything!! haha
This week I had the opportunity to study the vision of the tree of life. I really enjoyed studying it and reading about it. I learned a ton!! I loved seeing what everything meant. I always knew the tree of life was a representation of the love that God has for us. With the seminary guide I was able to learn something really cool! Turns out that the tree of life is a direct representation of Jesus Christ and his atonement. The tree represents the love God has for us and the biggest act of love that God has shown and given us is Jesus Christ and his atonement. Learning this made sense to me! That's why the fruit is the most deisirable above all! Its because those who eat the fruit and experience the atonement in their life recieve the best and most rewarding gift that God has to give us. We are able to be clean and have eternal life. There will be some who eat the fruit and go away, there will be some who just don't want to even try the fruit, BUT those who partake and share the amazing blessings that everyone is eligible to obtain, ARE the ones who are truly happy. They are able to stand before God and tell him that they are clean. And He will tell them that they have a spot in  the mansions of God! How great would that be?For me, this information really put things into a better perspective because I had never thought of the tree of life in that way!! How cool!!
So, a couple nights ago we went and visited some less active members! Anyways the father hasn't been feeling that well. He said he had been having some problems in his bones! So he asked for a blessing. We happily said yes. Well Elder Cox, being pretty young in the mission is still learning the language! He speaks really good, but he is still learning. Anyways in spanish the word HUESOS which means bones sounds pretty similiar to the word HUEVOS which means eggs. So, I bet you can guess what happened!! Haha!!! Elder Cox gave a wonderful blessing but everytime he ment to say "huesos" he said "huevos"!!!! Haha!! Man, I was trying sooo hard not to laugh!! It was classic!! The hermano played it off cool and I told Elder Cox what he said after we left and he was like what the heck?! Then the hermano came to church and was giving him a hard time! it was prettty funny! The best part was he was saying things like, we bless you so that your "huevos" recover so that you help your family, etc... haha it was funny!!
This week we have been woking really hard to really give God all that we have! This week we saw a miracle and were able to find a woman who is very prepared for us to teach! We found her through a less active who is her husband (boyfriend, they aren't married yet). Her name is Daniela and she had talked to the missionaries a ton in Buenos Aires where she grew up. She had gone to church a ton of times! She wants to be sealed with here family for time and all eternity has a testimony of everything! The only reason she didn't get baptized was because she wasn't married! Well, we found them and they had just recently bought rings to get married! They don't have anything planned yet, but I think if they have rings they have to be pretty close to going and filling out some papers! We are super excited! On top of it all, they are super cool!! He is 23 and she is 20 and they have a little boy! They live in a little house out out in the country, but its really nice!! It was sweet! What a blessing!!
Anyways, things week have been good! I was also thinking alot about the scripture in D and C 30:2 where the Lord is telling us to not think so much about wordly things. I have a problem with that, so it's something I am working on!!
I love you guys!!
Elder Carter