Snoop, SnUggle, WOofs

Snoople, snuggle, wuffs..... so this is the text our former investigators sent the elders... which pretty much describes our week. safe to say it was an odd week!

To start off on a good note... WE GOT TO EAT DINNER WITH THE ALDERS AND GEORGE! they drove from Thatcher to take Sister Hammond and I to dinner last Monday. It was the happiest night to see them again!

Earlier this week I was feeling so bad because I had an awful migraine that caused us to stay inside. This eventually caused us to go on splits with some of the other sisters that night. Sister Cooper and I were parking to do some finding when she parked in the wrong place. I jumped out to back her and a man was walking on sidewalk. After quickly saying Hi we started talking. He wanted to meet again to talk about our church and asked if we could meet the following day at the park next to the tennis courts. The next day we sat next to the tennis courts for about 20 minutes and no sight of this man....We sat on the table for a few minutes longer and watched the sunset. While sitting one of the tennis coaches came up to us. Wow wowo wow he is just an incredible man!!! He came from Africa to New York when he was a boy to go to a tennis academy. Now he teaches tennis here at the park. He is the most generous kind man. He bought us Ethiopian food and taught us some tennis. He asked us to 'convince him to be a Mormon' because he thinks it would be quite nice! While hitting the tennis ball back and forth a man came and sat down. The coach explained how he was homeless and worked for him sometimes. Turns out this man was the man who we were supposed to meet for a lesson. It was amazing to see how God is in the details!! 

Last night we had a really crazy and scary experience that shook Sister Hammond and I.  We ended up not being able to stay at our apartment and the zone leaders came to get us. Around 10 at night all 4 of us were sitting in the church building before they went home and we went to sleep at some other sisters apartment. We asked the Elders to give us blessings. I will never forget how specific the words were which came straight from God. I was promised that because of the prayers of those back home we were kept safe last night. I can't thank each of you enough for your constant support and prayers. I truly do have the greatest family in the world and I know our Father in Heaven hears every prayer. This week has been a great example to me that it really is the small and simple things that lead to great things. (Alma 37:6) This is a lesson I have learned on my mission that I can never forget! 

Know that I love you all very much!  

Love, 

Sister Carter 

oh and we get transfer calls this weekend, it will be exciting to see who my last companion will be! I am so sad for Sister Hammond to leave but we have lots of fun plans for her last week!!

Real Life Mormon Missionaries

Hello hello!!

This was a great last few weeks full of General Conference, Mission Leadership Council, AIDANS BAPTISM, climbing fences, trainings, catching lambs, ping pong at the institute, lots of contacting, mysterious phone calls, got invited to an Italian pool party, the Book of Mormon play and other really great great things!!

A Baptism 

Aidan was baptized on Saturday!!! It was the happiest day! Aidan's boss referred her to the missionaries. After a few months of teaching her the Sisters decided to drop her because she wasn't progressing. Right before I got here she realized what she wanted, who she wanted to become, and who she wanted to follow. When I got here we started teaching her again! Not only is she the funniest person I have ever met, but she also has the biggest heart. She has taught me so much about Faith in Christ and love towards everyone. Benny, our recent convert, baptized her which made the day even more special. 

A Play

The Book of Mormon Play- Right now on the U of A campus the Book of Mormon play is being performed. Several times this week we went with all the YSA Elders to contact. There we so many people to talk to, and so many people who had crazy ideas about our Church. It was funny to answer questions. One man could not believe it when we told him we were not actors, but real life Mormon Missionaries!!

These past few weeks have been full of lots of happy moments. One of the happiest was sitting on the floor of a recent converts with Aidan eating dino chicken nuggets from costco & laughing our heads off while vicariously having the most spiritual lesson. That pretty much sums up our life in YSA. I really love it here and am doing great! We are busy busy busy with a million things but I have the greatest companion who makes everything a million times funnier. I hope you are all doing great and know that I love you!

A quote i love from conference is by Elder Benar, "As we come unto and follow the Savior, we increasingly and incrementally are enabled to become more like Him. We are empowered by the Spirit with disciplined self-restraint and a settled and calm demeanor. Thus, meek is what we become as disciples of the Master and not just something we do." 

I am terrible for being so behind, but I wanted to wish a Happy Birthday to Bode, Tripp, Aunt JoAnne, Aunt Rose, and Benson!!

Sending much love, 

Sister Carter  

I am in Disneyland.

Hello!!

I am literally serving in Disneyland. The missionary version. We have had the funnest/ busiest/ wildest week of my mission. The city is just crazy. There are people everywhere. So many people to teach. I have the greatest companion in the world, Sister Hammond. She is from grantsville utah loves volleyball and basketball and keeps us laughing 93.5% of the time. We are both STL's and the sisters in our zone are really great as well.  YSA is just crazy. I feel like I am hanging out with my friends most of the time. I have my own bathroom. We get to teach lessons and other things on the U of A campus and see all our other YSA missionary friends. Life is just busy busy busy! 

The greatest part of our week was dinner last night with our investigator, Aiden who gets baptized in 2 weeks, and a soon to be missionary, Baylee. They were going to drive up to see the temple after church but were hungry and home was too far away. We were going home to eat but couldnt have them in our apartment, instead they ended up sitting on our back porch as we were making food. Some of the other sisters came over and we had a picnic outside with the sisters, Baylee and Aiden. We just had the happiest time laughing and talking about super spiritual things. I love it here and am so grateful to be serving here right now! 

I hope you all have a great week!!

Love, 

Sister Carter 

Headed to the motherland!!

Hello wonderful family and friends!!

Sorry its been a while since I emailed just wanted to give a quick update, 

TRANSFERS- I will be leaving Sierra Vista. I am headed up to Tucson YSA 2nd ward!!! It will be the first time I actually get to serve in Tucson! My companion is Sister Hammond, one of the greatest sisters in our mission. She served in Thatcher right before I did<3 She goes home next transfer so I will most likely finish off in YSA. I AM SO EXCITED.

A few weeks ago we had an incredible Mission Leader Council about repentance. We started off this month with a mission wide fast asking for forgivness and rededicating ourselves to this great work.  Since then we have been doing what we call a "More Holiness' study to prepare for this Easter. I am learning so much about our Savior and his Infinite Atonement. 

Several weeks ago the Zone Leaders and us went on a road trip to go on exchanges with everyone in our zone. Because all the missionaries are so spread out in this zone this saved us miles. And it was so fun! I got to be on a bike for one day with the most incredible Hermana, we had so much fun waving and talking and what not. I especially had fun smiling like crazy as she spoke in spanish:)) 

Greatest of all was our lesson with Erin. Last week was one of the hardest weeks for both Sister Kennach and I. Everything was going wrong. And the adversary was working so hard to pull us down as individuals and as a companionship. I have never wanted to give up so badly. Sunday came around and we had our lesson with the elders investigator, Erin, that we teach up on the military base. She is just incredible. So strong. So willing. And so ready to change her life because she knows this is true. She has been praying and decided that she wants to be baptized April 14th!!!! I feel like Erin has helped me more than I could ever help her. She will forever remind me of the blessings we have from understanding that this is Jesus Christ Church restored to the earth. God is SO good. 

The past months has been a time for much personal growth.I have never had to stretch and grow in such a sort time. I will forever be grateful for this area helping me to develop a stronger relationship with my Heavenly Father and Savior.  In a talk Elder Holland said: In striving for some peace and understanding in these difficult matters, it is crucial to remember that we are living—and chose to live—in a fallen world where for divine purposes our pursuit of godliness will be tested and tried again and again. Of greatest assurance in God’s plan is that a Savior was promised, a Redeemer, who through our faith in Him would lift us triumphantly over those tests and trials, even though the cost to do so would be unfathomable for both the Father who sent Him and the Son who came. It is only an appreciation of this divine love that will make our own lesser suffering first bearable, then understandable, and finally redemptive.

After the last 3 months I can say that I now know that our own lesser sufferings are bearable, understandable, and redemptive though Christ. As a disciple of Jesus Christ I testify that He lives. He loves. And He will never leave us alone. I love being a missionary and helping others to feel of this same love. I hope these next 2 transfers I can be the disciple the Lord needs me to be. I love you all so much, thank you for every bit of encouragement you give me. Another testament that God is SO good.

I hope you each have the best week!

Love,

Sister Carter 

A week in England

Hello!!

This week was most wonderful because it rained for 3 days straight. I had never heard of such a thing in Arizona until now! It felt like we were living in England. We also met many people from England this week. About 30 minutes away from our area is an army base, which brings in lots of foreigners. The often have choice things to say to us:)

Speaking of the army base... The elders who cover that area have an investigator who wants to be taught by sisters, since we are the only sisters anywhere near by we get to teach her!!! Her name is Erin and she is absoutley incredible. She is spiritually seeking and could not be more ready to accept the gospel. She asks the best questions, has the deepest thoughts, and is super funny. On Sundays we get to go on base to teach her and then eat lunch with all the members who are in training. These lunches are some of the funniest things I have experienced! Most people there are recently returned missionaries and they just bash eachother back and forth about missions/ areas of the military they are serving, and we just sit in the middle of it all trying to keep the peace! 

On Valentines day we decided to make a bunch of cards with scriptures to give out to as many people as we could through out the day. It was so neat to see some people light up as we gave them a little heart and testified of God's love! At the end of the night we were at Walmart contacting and giving away cards. We are normally home at exactly 9. The clock hit 9 and we though 'oh we will just try and give a few more cards out'. Well right after this Sister Kennach and I both had some of the worst conversations we have had our entire missions! A favorite scripture of mine reminds us that to obey is better than to sacrifice (1 Sam 15:22). The evidence of the importance of exact obedience this night was quite clear! We decided never again will we be late for curfew!! 

A missionary from my mission and MTC district is an incredibly talented artist and has been using his gift to spread the gospel, you should all watch this video! 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/youth-media?cid=HP_TH_15-2-2018_dPFD_fMLIB_xLIDyL1-A_&lang=eng

I love you each very much and hope you are enjoying the snow back home!

Love, 

Sister Carter 

  

1. when the people wont accept a copy of the Book of Mormon there is always the neighborhood duck?

2. just 2 sisters

3/4. A neat little Catholic monastery 

your not Ghana believe what happened this week?

Hello!! 

I can't remember if I ever said anything about this or not, but my companion was a dancer at the Polynesian Cultural Center before her mission. I have learned lots of really great Tongan/ Samoan things from her. She loves to dance and as a result has dragged me at 5:45 to do zumba with her in the mornings... all of my limbs are falling off I am so sore!

We had an experience this week that was quite shaking. After a conversation contacting we had been told some really terrible things and that we were going to hell we were left with our hearts feeling depressed. And over an hour late to our dinner appointment. The sweet family we were eating with waited for us, filled us full with their African couscous and brought smiles to our faces of stories of their life growing up in Africa. Following dinner the Brother gave us each a blessing. It was one of the most spiritual experiences of my mission. This night we said a prayer asking Heavenly Father for a miracle in our area... Sunday a lady came to church with her friend and told us she wants to be baptized! This is the first investigator this area has had in about 3 months. Miracles!!! 

The gas stations are practically our miracle hubs. Every time we go there we find more people to talk to then anywhere else in our area. On Thursday Sister Kennach felt like we need to go to this one Circle K. After a few minutes of being there we found ourselves talking to people left and right. A man suddenly burst into the room, he was just full of so much life. After talking to him we found out he is from Ghana, knew we were LDS right off the bat, and loves Christ! He is here selling hand woven baskets. So excited he said "SISTERS COME COME!!" As he lead us to his car to see all of his baskets. THEN HE GAVE ME A BASKET. I am the proudest owner of an African basket. In return, he is the proudest owner of a copy of the Book of Mormon!!

I love the example both of these men set. Completley filled with love and life. They have a firm knowledge that thier Father in Heaven loves them and is constantly blessing them.  I love this thought from Elder Oaks,

 "The eternal truth that our Heavenly Father loves all his children is an immensely powerful idea. It is especially powerful when children can visualize it through the love and sacrifice of their earthly parents. Love is the most powerful force in the world. Arthur Henry King has said, “Love is not just an ecstasy, not just an intense feeling. It is a driving force. It is something that carries us through our life of joyful duty”

I hope this same feeling can carry you through this week. Happy Valentines Day! I love you each very much!! 

Love, 

Sister Carter

1. Our friend at the gas station & my new basket!

2. We got our truck switched out for a little car a while ago. The poor guy doesnt do too well on all the dirt roads in our area. We have enjoyed walking around in the nice warm sun this week 

21

Hello!

Thank you for all the birthday wishes!! I am so grateful for each of you and love you so very much!! Of all my 21 birthdays this was the best yet! (Not just because it was 85 degrees) We took an hour and a half road trip to do splits with some of our sisters in our zone, then took another two hour road trip into Tucson to attend the temple!! I hadnt been back inside the Tucson temple since we helped at the open house last summer, it was even more beautiful than I remeber! Truly the best birthday!!

We attended Mission Leader Council in Tucson this weekend as well, got to see all my mission besties, and we got SMART PHONES. Except now I feel anything but smart.. We have no idea how to work thsse things. 

About 2 months ago our ward mission leader asked us to pray for a friend of his and to base our prayer off of the scripture in Ether 3:4 where the Brother of Jared prays for God to touch the stones that they may shine forth and light the vessels. For the past 2 months in our prayers we have said "Touch (the mans name) heart, O Lord, with thy finger and prepare it that it may shine forth with a testimony of the Book of Mormon". This week our ward mission leader was talking to his friend and told him he was praying for him. The friend responded to our ward mission leader by telling him he could feel his prayers. The power of prayer is incredible!! 

President Monson once said that a man never stands taller than when he is on his knees. I know there is a mighty power in prayer. As we communicate with Father in Heaven in sincere, faithful, humble prayer he will build us up, bless us, and send angles to surround us. Do not ever be afraid to get on your knees and talk to the very being who created you, He loves you!

Love you each, make this week a great one:)

Love, 

Sister Carter 

temple & mlc