Sonoran Dogs, Sleepovers and Singing

What a beautiful rainy week it has been here!!! 

Thank you for all the love and support i am so grateful for amazing family and friends!!

We are meeting with a part member/ super less active family named the Smiths. Brother Smith is hard of hearing and i will get to sign to him during lessons!! I need to brush up on my ASL gospel vocabulary but im SO excited:) 

All the new missionaries and their trainers had a training meeting at the mission office, it was so nice go see everyone i came here with! It was a huge blessing to have some familiar faces and talk with good friends. It is so pretty up there with less cactus, more people:) i really hope i get to serve up that way some day! 

Sister Drown locked our keys in the car Haha so long story short since we are like a  25 minute drive from our area some members took us to some sisters apartment who live in central tucson and we had a little sleepover at their apartment!!!! They live in one of the more crime ridden parts of town so we listened to gun shots and sirens all night. so that was fun 

EXCHANGES!!

For exchanges I got  to go to Sahurita, like 40 minutes towards the border from here with SISTER TANNER. One minute it will be the boonies then BAM theres an incredibly nice subdivision...? 

We woke up to the elders over here (who are also the zone leaders) asking us to come help this brother of one of their members move. So we show up and we started packing up his trailer home. It was one of the nastiest places I have ever seen in my whole life. (so i thought).  The location we moved him to was even worse. It was absolutely filthy and grimey and i honestly dont even think i could call it a shack. It was horrible. but he was so happy to be at this new place because it was on 2 acres and he only pays less than 200 a month for electricity and water basically. The roof is caving in theres places where there are huge holes in the floor. The guy who used to live there died 2 weeks ago and so theres a ton of his stuff everywhere. The guy who died was an artist so the man moving into the home let us go through the art hahaha though I might need to burn my clothes from bed bugs i  grabbed one of the paintings so i could never forget that experience! :) 

And he let me hang up some art all around his new place- not as fun as hanging art while working at Heirloom but it was a close second! 

After this we got to help out at the food bank, this was amazing!!!!! All the workers here are incredible- the one in the picture is a man named Rick who has 2 girls and is so kind and funny and loves the sister missionaries and treats us so well! he gave us a bunch of food to take home!!! (Blessings) 

After this we studied- i love studying with sister tanner she is so in tune with the spirit (she also leaves in 2 weeks, super sad). All the lessons we had today fell through and so did dinner but I had the best time with sister tanner and we were so happy the whole day even though so many doors got shut on us! We tried these crazy fruits that grow on top of cactus, ate at a yummy Hawaiian bbq place and drove past the pond in the middle of one of the nice neighborhoods. We finished off the day at the ward valentines day party, talked to some really nice members, had some great desserts, and then pranked the elders car that was parked there! That stake center is really cool it fits right in with the desert, it almost looks like a huge Catholic church. 

At dinner sunday night this hispanic family fed us real SONORAN DOGS!! Its basically a hot dog with tons of stuff on it. They made us douse ours in Jalapeño salsa then shove as much of it as we could in our mouth. While doing this I got the salsa allll over and it was even up my nose hahahh. My nose was literally b.u.r.n.i.n.g all night long! If i had any nose hairs it for sure singed every last one off. haha 

This week I have had some amazing experiences recognizing the hand of the God in my life. I know that there is no chance I could be doing this work with out the help of the Savior. I have been driven to my knees asking for help and during these times I have felt an overwhelming flood of companionship. I know that Christ walks every step of this journey with me!! How lucky am I to have someone so endearing watching over me!  

And I know that the Lord is proud of each and every one of you, never forget that!!

Love you with all my heart, 

Sister Carter 

Also I have started this Easter challenge to give to some of the members in the ward, I would love if you joined in with me! Our time on earth is to learn everything about our Savior. As you strive to learn continually I promise you will deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ. Here are some talks to read each week to help you understand the role Christ plays in our lives. If you would like I can send you the PDF of the challenge if not here is a little outline of each week!

---------------------------------Easter Challenge------------------------------- 

Alma 26:15-16

Alma 7:11-12

Read these talks during the week. Then write down and share your thoughts with someone

Week 1: (19-25)

'Where Justice, Love, and Mercy Meet'

April 2015 Elder Jeffery R. Holland

Week 2: (26- March 4)

'This Glorious Easter Morn'

April 1996 President Gordon B. Hinkley

Week 3: (5-11)

'None Were With Him'

April 2009 Elder Jeffery R. Holland

Week 4: (12-18)

'Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee'

April 1993 President Howard W. Hunter 

Week 5: (19-25)

'We Follow Jesus Christ'

Aprl 2010 Elder Quenin L. Cook

Week 6: (26-April 1)

'He Lives! All Glory to His Name!'

April 2010 Elder Richard G. Scott

Week 7:(2-8)

'He is Risen!'

April 2010 President Thomas S. Monson

Week 8: (9-15)

Video: "An Apostle's Easter Thoughts on Christ"

April 16th: Easter! 

Temples and Cow Tounges

Its rodeo week down here!! Which means that school and just about everything else is cancled/ closed thursday - sunday, its nuts! 

On Tuesday Sister Passey came to study with us, she is so great i love her so much! She told us that the sunday before the open house all the misisonaries get a special tour by elder wilson of the 70 and sister misisonaries get to work at the temple open house! Only sisters!! They will need help 8-9 every day and we will get to take shifts a couple days a week come June! SO EXCITING!!!

On Wednesday after district meeting we wanted in n out so bad but it was literally one block outside of our zone. One block!! So there was this big fiasco trying to ask president if we could go get some shakes and fries haahah but no worries we prevailed!! Such a blessing😊 

We had some really great teaching experiences thursday from a lesson on the priesthood with Lary then 65 yr old texan cowboy recent covert hes awesome, joey the handicapped little boy who has the biggest heart, and the recently baptized Hargreaves family. The Hargreaves had some questions about the atonement and scriptures we aksed them to read. They really studied the chapters and had so many great questions to ask! Some were really hard to answer but that lesson was 100 perfect lead by the spirit as we found the answers to their questions. They are the best. And Jess the mom gives the best hugs. They are so great. 

I ATE COW TOUNGE!!!! ahhhhh it was the oddest texture but didnt taste that bad! The taste buds of the tounge were awful though.

Our ward mission leaders both served in Soth America  (one in Beezers missionthe other in Uncle Nates) and thought it would be funny to show us whatthey ate!😝

We have the best members (even if they feed us bizzare things). 

President Monson gave a talk in April 2009 titled 'Be of Good Cheer' and I wanted to share some of it with you.

---Today, however, I’d like us to turn our thoughts and our attitudes away from the troubles around us and to focus instead on our blessings as members of the Church. The Apostle Paul declared, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

None of us makes it through this life without problems and challenges—and sometimes tragedies and misfortunes. After all, in large part we are here to learn and grow from such events in our lives. We know that there are times when we will suffer, when we will grieve, and when we will be saddened. However, we are told, “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.”

How might we have joy in our lives, despite all that we may face? Again from the scriptures: “Wherefore, be of good cheer, and do not fear, for I the Lord am with you, and will stand by you.”

"I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

My brothers and sisters, each of us has that light in his or her life. We are not left to walk alone, no matter how dark our pathway.

I testify to you that our promised blessings are beyond measure. Though the storm clouds may gather, though the rains may pour down upon us, our knowledge of the gospel and our love of our Heavenly Father and of our Savior will comfort and sustain us and bring joy to our hearts as we walk uprightly and keep the commandments. There will be nothing in this world that can defeat us.

My beloved brothers and sisters, fear not. Be of good cheer. The future is as bright as your faith.---

I love you all so much!! I am learning so much about my relationship with my Savior and how to truly follow in his footsteps. I LOVE teaching the gospel with all my heart!! I hope everyone is well and please let me know if I can do anything for any of you 

So much love, xo Sister Carter