My prayers are working!

Hey guys!! This week was good!!

I dont know if I already told you about a missionary serving with us in the ward by the name of Elder Curtis. Anyway, turns out he is really good friends with Triton and Steven. They met at BYU. I think Gavin and Joel know him as well.  What a small world!! I went on divisions with him this week and it was pretty fun!!

Well, it turns out that I did not go in for surgery this past week. Instead, I am scheduled to go in on Friday, which is perfect because it is General Conference weekend, so we wouldn't be out much, anyways. I am pretty excited for conference!! I was never excited before my mission, but I think I had  given it the importance that it deserves! But now I am pretty excited to hear the talks and learn about the 3 new apostles that are going to be called!! This weekend should be pretty great!!!

Things are good here in Las Delicias! I have been here for about 5 and a half months now and I know pretty much all the members and a lot of the menos activos! It's kind of nice knowing all the streets and all the members so well! Its also kind of hard sometimes because I loose a little bit of faith if we have already knocked a door, or already tried to reactivate a member! I think that's why it's pretty important that we are transferred areas every once in a while!! I have been able to see this ward change and it's pretty cool! They recently changed a couple of callings and then BAM!  things started to pick up and things started to change! We baptized and now the goal for this ward is to split into two. I don't know why because they only have 110 people going every week,  but I am working with the ward for this goal! It is amazing the difference it makes when people really put time and energy into their callings and do it to the best of their abilities! Amazing things can happen!! But it really makes me happy to see people that were once inactives blessing the sacrament, or giving a talk or just coming to church! This truly is an amazing ward!!

When I first got here, we were teaching a women named Geraldine. She was awesome! She took notes, she read, she had a baptismal date, she had come to church, gone to institute, she had a day to the baptismal interview and everything was awesome. Then she told her boyfriend. Man, her boyfriend was not happy! He doesn't want anything to do with the church and told her that if she joined they would end  things. They had been dating for 6 years, had already built a house to move into and were pretty much married, just without the title and living in different houses. So this decision was pretty tough for her and she dropped us. I had been praying that they would get in a fight or something! Anyways, this past week I had a feeling that we needed to pass by her house, even though she doesn't live in our part of the area(it would be the part of the area where the other elders work). We decided to go anyway! Oh and she is really hard to find! She is a police women and works a ton!! So we always had to teach her a weird times!! She basically is never home! ANYWAYS we went and we found her in the house!! Even better, her boyfriend and her had been fighting like crazy!! My prayers were working! So, we invited her to church and guess who came to church?! Geraldine ! I was pretty pumped! I really hope she gets baptized!! I feel like I have been a part of a cool miracle!!

The other night we were going back to the apartment(we live in like a apartment complex) so we have to go through a main door to enter. Anyways,  as I turned to go into the main door I bumped into a guy who was in the middle of kissing his girlfriend.  Ha-ha! I laughed pretty hard! #breakingupsin- good times!!

We are trying to work with the relatives of our converts! But, right now we are stuggling a little bit finding new people to teach!! But, its alright!! We eat well and the members are pretty good to us! 

I am doing well! Just trying to loose a little bit of weight! Elder Black and I are doing some pretty good workouts in the morning!

I love you guys!!

Elder Carter

Cool pic!

 

Having fun!

 

 

 

The City of Rosario

 

Proud Canadian!

 

Our apartment complex

Always learning!

September 21, 2015

Hey guys! What's up?

This week has been good, although not a ton has happened. We are sure working hard! We are still going to the clinic for Elder Black's knees, but its alright! This should be the last week! I have started to appreciate it, as it gives me some good time to study and think about stuff!! One of the things that I have been studying is the story of the brother of Jared. I really like that story but one thing that really sticks out to me is in Ether 6 verse 6 (I think that is where it is). He is talking about  how the stones that Jesus touched with His hands, led them through so much time in the darkness. I was checking in with my good friend, the seminary manual, and I read about how today, we too have stones that are bright and lead us through times of darkness. They are the apostles and prophets. I learned how sometimes we are in darkness but if we follow the words of the prophets, both modern and old, they can be our light and we will be able to arrive in the promise land,which would be the celestial kingdom. It was really cool to see it this way!!

I have been studying tons out of the seminary manual and it's got some pretty good stuff in it!! I wish I had payed more attenion in seminary. Because  now I am learning so much stuff which is actually the same stuff I could have learned before!!! Well, at least I am learning it now!! Ha-ha!!! I am finding it pretty cool to look at all the details in the Book of Mormon because there are so many!!!

Well, the bad news is that I have another in grown toe nail!! Haha!!!  At least this time it is on the other foot! Lol!!!! ! I feel like I have seen the operation done so many times I could do it with my eyes closed! And now that we can't go to into Santa Fe (where the best doctor is) we have to find a different place here in Rosario . Luckily, it doesn't really hurt, it's just kind of there. Hahaha- it's kind of funny how many times this has happened to me!! But don't worry Bita and mom,  I am fine!! It is interesting how everyone always says that you learn stuff on your mission that will help you for the rest of your life. I am trying to figure out how this repeated experience will help me. Sure hope it doesn't mean I will keep getting in grown toenails for the rest of my life!! They are annoying!

We got a new ward mission leader this week and he is pretty awesome! He comes out and visits people with us 5 times a week! It is pretty awesome! And we can see that alot of things are changing for the good now that he is coming out and helping us so much! It is amazing what a difference it is making!! He is such a good example to me of how to magnify my calling, no matter where I am - at work, the mission, with my family, etc., but it's sweet to see this!! 

I am doing really good! It is getting hot again! We are working hard, trying to find new people to teach! I am enjoying my time here, especially with the new converts! They are super sweet!!!

Love you guys!

Elder Carter

Post surgery visit :)

 

Loving these "asados"!!

 
 

Look how good they feed us!!!

 

A little bit of sightseeing

 

A bit groggy after surgery :(

 

ICan't get enough of  these!!

Reflections

Hey guys!!

This week was good! Turns out that my comp has a problem with his knee, so every morning we have to go into downtown to do some therapy. I can't go in, so I sit outside and study. He torn his mcl and pcl and lcl and a bunch of other stuff before the mission and then hurt it while he was here so he is recovering right now. But man, taking time out from working is not that fun. I feel like I can't do a ton, but I guess thats just life! I try to talk to people on the bus ride there, but its tough cause I feel like we aren't doing much in the area. Luckily, this is the last week of therapy! Although I do really want him to have a good recovery so we can get to work in the upcoming weeks! haha knee problems!! In the meantime, I have had a good opportunity to study and reflect!!

We had a council meeting with president Zanni this week! It went really good! There was a ton of information and new thing which was really cool!! Elder Bluth was also there cause he is a zone leader in pergamino now, so that was pretty good to see him again!! 

One of the things that I liked from the leadership council was a video we watched of a talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. He talked about salvation and the fact that it is not easy and the fact that missionary work isnt easy either. He talked alot about how usually missionaries have success at 9:29 at night, or when its pouring rain, or when its super hot out. It's because when we put in everything we can and have given it our all, with nothing left, that is when we will be blessed. He talks about how the road to salvation is not a cheap experience. We can't just choose to be disciples of Christ when its nice and sunny outside. When we decide to be a follower of Christ, its a lifetime commitment. Through the good times and the bad. Its the same as a missionary, we cant choose to be a good obedient, hard working missionary when everything is going awesome. We need to be giving it our all even when things are hard. When its raining, when we can't find anyone, when nothing seems to be working. Then after we keep pushing past that, we will be blessed!

I have seen that a lot on my mission. Every time I have seen success, there has been a hard time infront of it. Hard time with the area, hard time with my comp, with the members, etc,. and it's not that fun. But when we use our agency to choose to keep going and giving it our all no matter what, then we will be rewarded with success! We will be able to grow and progress the most in this life! It was so cool for me to think about all this through the week!

Another thing that I really liked about the council meeting was when we talked about is what motivates us to work? When times are hard, what makes us work? When we want to sleep or go home, what keeps us going?  For me, there were a bunch of things that crossed my mind. I thought about my family, my friends, the people I am helping, the blessings I receive, etc., friends, but when it comes down to it, what really motivates me is Jesus Christ. I know that one day I will have to stand in front of him and either feel good about my mission or not. In front of Him,  there are no valid excuses, because he felt everything. He sacrificed everything for me and I want to be able to say I gave it my all for just 2 years. He died for me, and I will give Him my best for just 2 years to try and help some of my brothers and sisters.

This week has been good for self reflection.  We are looking for new people to teach, but are slowly finding them! 

I love you ! 

Elder Carter

Baptism Day!

September 9, 2015 

Hey guys!!

How's it going? This was a pretty big week!!

On Saturday, Miguel and Silvia were baptized!!!  It went super well!! There were tons of people there to support them. was the baptism of miguel and silvia!! Their friends from Concordia (an 8 hour drive away) came up to help with the baptism!! These friends from Concordia were the ones that introduced them through the church. It is how we got in the door! Haha! They met in buenos aires at a conference for kids with Down Syndrome. Both their kids have Downs Syndrome.  The members just started sharing the gospel with Miguel . Miguel agreed to listen to us and really gained a strong testimony!! So they came up and he baptized and confirmed one of them! 

We reactivated a guy named Ordóñez  and we thought it would be a great idea if he could participate in the baptism as well! So we helped him prepared to baptize Miguel, while their friend from Concordia baptized Silvia! Well Hermano Ordóñez  is a pretty nervous guy. He was suuuper nervous right before the baptism! As a matter of fact, as he was walking in the font he fell cause he was so nervous. Anyways after Miguel went under water 3 times, he was finally baptized!! Hermana Ordóñez got it right!!   I sure was praying for this guy cause man, he was super nervous. And it worked because he got the prayer right after the third time! But I think it really helped him in his eternal progression. Then on Sunday we had another recent convert give the holy ghost to Silvia! That went super well!! He was pretty nervous but I think it helped him a ton!

It was super cool to watch these men prepare to do these sacred ordinances. They really prepared!! I realized that some times becuase we have taken the sacrament so many times or seen so many baptisms we start to get dull to how meaningful these things really are. I was impressed by their example, preparing to every little last detail! It was sweet!!

When they were changing and everyone was waiting in the chapel, we were watching a video of the First Vision! It was an awesome time for me to refelct on everything. And a feeling of overwhelming peace and comfort came to me. I think I realized what affect the decision of 2 young men to serve a mission had on Miguel and Silvia. They now can live with their Heavenly Father again after this life. Throughout  all their problems and trials they will have a different family supporting them and that they will receieve so many blessing! It was an amazing feeling and I feel privileged to be part of it! What amazing people!

Miguel and Silvia said that they felt something very special when they recieved the spirit! I was super happy for them! After so much time,  they are finally part of the church!! Its almost as if they were part of my family! Haha- like a couple of aunts and uncles!! 

The big news for this week is that I got a new compaion! His name is Elder Black, he is from Colorado and he is massive!!!!! He is like 6'5 and is probably 235 pounds. Nobody is going to rob us now!! Haha- but he is pretty cool! He likes playing basketball so I think we will get along!

I am still here in Las Delicias. It was pretty sad for me to say goodbye to Elder Bluth. Three transfers together is a long time to be with the same companion, and it was pretty fun! It was definitely a rougher day and night after he left! It just doesn't feel the same! But I am super excited also because Elder Black is super cool too!! I learned so much from Elder Bluth. Its crazy how fast the time flew by!!

This week I have been studying a little bit more in the Book of Mormon! I was reading in 1Nephi 16 where Nephi breaks his bow and arrow. Then his whole family is complaining, even his father Lehi, who is the prophet at the time. Anways Nephi builds a new bow and arrow. Then what does he do? He goes to his father, who was just complaining to God and asks him where he should go to hunt! I never really realized why Nephi goes to his dad whn we has had visions from God himself.  Well, the seminary manual helped me out a little bit on this one. He asked his father because he is the prophet at the time, and he receives revelation for his family. The visions that Nephi had were for himself, not for his family. The natural man would jump right ahead and ask God himself. I have also been thinking that the fact that  Nephi had a relationship with God and the fact that his father had just sinned by complaining against God, could have made him search for power and hop over Lehi to be the prophet.  But he didnt, he realized taht we are all humans and that we make mistakes, our leaders too. And we still have to respect and support our leaders. it was pretty cool for me to see it this way! 

I hope you guys have a good week. I am sad that Elder Bluth left. It's wierd to work here with out him! 

Thanks for everything! 

I Love you guys!!

Elder Carter

A wedding!!!!!

August 31, 2015

Hey guys!! How is it going?

Man,this week was pretty good!! The biggest thing that happened was that Miguel and Silvia got married!! WOOOHOOOO!! After 4 months, finally!!

On Friday morning, we went to the "register" where the judge married them!! It was pretty sweet!! We got there at like 10:00 in the morning! We had to enter a circle shaped building in the middle of the facility, which is where the actual marriage took place. It was super nice inside with nice green chairs and a really big space! There were about 20 people that went and saw them get married!! It was pretty good!! I thought it was a little weird (mostly because I have never been to a wedding ceremony) but they got married there!! When they walked out, we threw rice at them. I have no idea why we threw rice at them, but I did it anyways!! There were 5 members who were able to come and support them but the rest of the guests were just family members. All of them are non members so it was pretty good for us cause we were able to talk to all of them and get to know them a little bit! We are going to visit some of them this week which is sweet!!

We had a reception for Miguel and Silvia that evening. It started at 8:30 pm. We called and asked president if we could stay out until 11:00 pm and he said ok! So that we sweet!! We went super early to go and help set up!! Man, there were a ton of different pepople that were helping which was awesome to see!! We set up lots of white stuff and lights and other stuff! The women were in charge of that - I was just doing what they told me to! Then at 8:30 pm everyone started showing up! We told Miguel and Silvia not to show up until 9:30 ( because people are always late). Anyways, when they got there all the lights were off in the gym and there was a cool song playing and everyone was cheering when they walked in! It was pretty sweet!! I think they liked it!! The rest of the night was spent eating and they danced (we watched). Me and Elder Bluth shared a little part of the the program where we said a couple of words which i think they liked!! It was sweet!! Our recent converts (the family Bozac) made the cake! MAN - it was a super good cake!!! She does that for work and man it was supper good looking. We had to leave before they ate it but I'm sure it tasted good!! Who would hve known that our converts were going to make a weedding cake for other converts!! Crazy!! Also one of the guys we reactived about 2 months ago (received the melquesidec priestood yesterday) has a bunch of massive speakers so he came and was the DJ!! Haha- it was awesome!! 

Everyone really pulled together and there was a lot of non members there that liked it!! It was pretty awesome!! We got a couple of references from it which was sweet!! The baptism will be this Saturday. I am looking forward to it!

About 3 or 4 weeks ago we were really sturggling with people to teach and things to do, but we have been praying that we would be able to fill up our agendas. And man, lately we have had a lot of appointments. That was a huge answer to our prayers cause it really sucks when you don't have any ppointments and no one to go visit! So that was a miracle! It also didn't just happen in one day. It happened over a period of time and it sucked at the beggining but now its alot better!! I love how the Lord works!!

I am doing really good! Right now the weather is exactly like a summer in Calgary! Not super hot, just nice! I love it!!  But I am not looking forward to how hot it's going to get!! 

Transfers are next week!! I will be writing on Tuesday!

I hope you guys will be able to get back to work after all these days of vacation!!  It's tough! Haha- hope you guys didnt get too lazy!!

Love you

Elder Carter

Here comes the Bride!!

August 24, 2015

Hey guys!! It's been a good week! I can tell because it went by crazy fast!! 

Well, the big news this week is that Miguel and Silvia are finally getting married!! They went and took out their "turno" at the register and are going to get married this Friday!! I am super excited! Then they are going to get baptized the first week in September!! They are starting to see that God really wants them to get married! Get this-they have been looking for rings to buy and not having a ton of money it has been a little harder for them cause they couldn't find some rings that will fit their price range! Anyways, one day Miguel was working (he works fixing radios in all of Rosario) and he got a call from a store that needed radios fixed up. Well, it turned out that this store was a jewerly store. When he was done with the job he asked the owner how much the rings were. The dude told Miguel that he would do them for them free! Completely free!!! So, the got custom fitted rings for free!!!! It was a super big miracle cause they don't have a ton of money and now they get $500 dollar rings for free!! Crazyyyyy!!!

It has been great to see the ward work hard this week at pulling together a reception for this couple. Every organization is helping in some way! I thought Elder Bluth and I were going to have to plan and do everything ourselves, but the ward is really coming together!! I think it has helped that Miguel and Silvia have been coming to church for the past 4 months, so the ward members feel connected!! I am going to give him a tie cause he doesn't have one!! Hopefully everything will go well! It is amazing to think that the Lord used two 19 year old boys to come to their house and encourage them to get married, be baptized, and change their lives!!! Goes to show that there is alot more to this than two boys wanting to have an adventure!! 

This week we did a couple of  "divisions" adn they went well! We did one with a new missionary who is struggling but has a crazy strong testimony and then we did one with the asistantes! They both went really well! All in all i have realized that I am pretty prideful and need to do a lot to humble myself more!

This week I have been reading in Alma 4. There it talks about how because of the example of leaders in the church and the wickedness of the members, the city became super wicked!! It got me thinking about the importance of members sharing a good example and living the Lord's standards. One thing I have noticed lately is a big focus by the prophet on sabbath day observance. 

Well, it's been a good week! I have been a little sick, but its alright!!

I love you guys!!

Elder Carter

Cloudy with a silver lining

August 17, 2015

Hey guys!

Well this week has been a slower week for me! 

The truth is that we have like nothing on our side of the area, only 5 members and a few inactives! We have been really trying hard to be able to find more people to teach and work with. But it has been challenging and made the days seem long.

These last few weeks have been spent talking to everyone and knocking on a lot of doors! We have been working with the members in our area but since there aren't many, we go through them pretty fast! Unfortunatley we have not really had any fruits to show for our work. After all those hours we have put into finding people, we have found 2 people to teach. I think we need to find another way to find people to teach - haha!!!!!! I just don't know how else. WE are working hard and being obedient. We even did a special fast to find some new people,but we have not found anyone yet! We have a couple of "potentials" but not too many people!! It's part of the mission experience, I guess! I think there is a lesson for me to learn here, but I don't really understand what it is yet.

On a happy note, we do have Miguel and Silvia! They are the couple with the little girl with down syndrome! They are pretty awewsome!! Their little girl is pretty awesome!! This week they are finally going to get married! So, that means that they can get baptized!! I am super excited!! The batpism should be September 5th! They are going to get married on the 28th  of August!! We have been meeting with them since April and now they are really progressing! Its pretty fun to work with them!! More than anything, I would call them my friends! It's always super fun to go and visit with them!! I am super excited for them!! 

Our recent converts are doing awesome! We eat with them every Thursday which is awesome!! She puts so much time into the food! Everything is home made from the bread to the noodles!! Its all super yummy!! They are super involved in the church, helping with activities and she even has a calling! The husband gave a class this week and it went super well! I was super nervous for him at first, but man he killed it!! He prepared himself super well!! I definitley want to come visit them after the mission!!

My comp is really into running! So we have been running a little more lately in the mornings! And man iisucks to get out of bed and go out in the cold!!  But it always feels good! He won like state or something in running, so he's pretty fast! 

Today we played a little basketball for pday for a change which was awesome cause I am not that good a soccer! So it was nice to play well for a change!! 

Things are good! I am working hard, eating well and having fun!!

Love you guys!

Elder Carter