Monday, July 31, 2017

Zone Conference #100 (or something like that i can't remember how many its been...)

Well hello there family. 

We had another Great Zone Conference today. President did ask us to do a training but we ended up running out of time. We spent A long time talking about how we can prepare for the upcoming apostle visit. It will be announced tomorrow who the apostle is going to be. I'm super excited, and hopefully we will be able to have a great experience.

We went on exchanges this last week and I went with elder Kane (the big guy in the red polo). We had a great time! We did get stuck in traffic for 45 minutes. but it was alright. 

We also had maybe one of the greatest dinner appointments of all time. It was complete laughter the whole time. 
At one point i was trying to poor some ranch on my salad, and it wasn't coming out... so elder Kane grabbed the ranch bottle and said I'll help. Then he squeezed it and the whole top came off and ranch covered my entire place... literally. It was hilarious. 

They had baked potatoes so I was dipping it in the ranch to get it off my plate... and then one time I dipped it and i said beep as I was dipping it. The girl across from me like stopped... and was like... Wait did you just beep? 
Dang... I've been caught. I thought no one was paying attention.

I've been making my own sound effects for the last while just to add some spice into normal life and no one has said anything about it.

Elder Kane and I did have a pretty sweet miracle too. So we were walking on the street to go and see a potential investigator and this car pulled up next to us and waved us over... already a good sign. And then she said are you the missionaries in this area? We said yeah and she said that she had just moved from California and she is a member but her husband is not and she wants him to take the lessons! So we set up a time to go see them and then invited her to come to church on Sunday as well! And She and her husband came! So that was pretty sweet.

On Saturday, we were trying to find a less active lady that showed up to church in another ward... but she was actually in our ward. Anyways we went to the address and she came out of the garage. She was having a rough time because she had to kick out her daughter out of her house and was in a rush because she was going to rent out the basement of the house so she could afford the house still. She needed to do a lot of work but there was no way that she could have gotten it done in time. So we said ok... we will be back in 30 minutes with better clothes and we will help you get everything ready. We came back and painted the whole basement and helped her get it all done for the renter to come. I was happy that we could serve her... especially because she needed it so badly. 

We went golfing today! It was such a good time. There is this baby par 3 course that is super cheap. We borrowed some clubs and hit some golf balls around a big lawn. I did pretty alright for not golfing for quite a while. Idk what i was doing but man i was hitting the ball wayyyy farther than normal... its probably all them weights! I got second place... but in golf balls found, I was 1st! Found 7 golf balls. score one.

Love you all!

Elder Carter



Thursday, July 27, 2017

Pioneer Day!!!

Today is quite the historic day for the west. Pioneer day!!!! huzzah for Utah. I guess it kinda relates to us... because we are the trail... but there is no celebration here... I think the trail center does something for it though. so thats cool.

But in other news!!! My Splendid mother had her 29th birthday again! Happy birthday mom! you're the best even though you can't read my email right now :) Hope you had a wonderful day and you got some sweet gifts!!!

This week has really been pretty good :)

On Thursday we had our district meeting but it was pretty random. We had to change the time because there was a bunch of conflicts... so we did it at a random time and a random building. And there was like 2 guest companionships that came because they couldn't go to theirs. So there was legit 11 sisters and elder finicum and i. It was interesting. I think that the training went okish. Not my best for sure. But it was fine.

We also taught a sweet guy named Como. He just moved to the U.S. from a small country in Africa. He was a nice guy but we didn't get to talk with him too much.

Then on Sunday night we were out knocking on doors and it was getting late. So we didn't have much time to find. But We went up to one house and then a lady opened up the door and said hi! you guys can come in if you want!
We didn't even have to say anything. She didn't know who we were or why we were there but she let us right in.
Then we talked to her for a little bit and found out that she has really been trying to build a relationship with God but she didn't know how. 

We shared the restoration with her and it was a powerful lesson. We are going to go back on Tuesday and teach her more.

This week we have Zone conference! We don't have to give any trainings for it. Unless he gives us a surprise training? But i doubt it!

Love you all!
Elder Carter

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Car dealer or...?

Hello!

We had interviews this last week and it was pretty awesome! I always enjoy getting insights from President Gardner. He helps me see how to become a better leader.

Every Thursday we volunteer at a place called the food bank. We basically repackage dry pasta and whatnot. but anyways they have a record for most pasta packed an hour. And the 3 elders and i SMASHED the record. We deserve a plaque or a trophy. We beat groups with like 10-20 people. Boom.

So we got a referral from some other elders on Wednesday for someone they ran into on the streets. So we decided that we would go see him on Thursday night. When we stopped by, he opened the door in his boxers and then told us to come back into the backroom with him. So we followed him back and he had two bottles of vodka open and was chugging them down. He also had like a bunch of hundreds just chillin there too. He had 2 gold chains on his neck and 3 gold rings and 2 gold bracelets So we like started to share the message of the restoration, and he was kinda into it but i could tell he was a wee bit intoxicated. Then he started telling us about his own business. A "car" dealership. He said that he travels to Texas and Florida to pick up "cars". and sell them. From his home...
we were like yeah.... car dealership... Texas and Florida... border states... car dealership. cool.
Then he went off about how we should stop doing missionary work and get in school. He said it was way more worth it to get school done. So yeah i'm going to listen to the drunk gangster and come home and start my school!
or not

There is a new recent convert that we met with on Saturday. soon after his baptism, his family disowned him and doesn't talk to him. And then his roommate kicked him out of his house. So he is literally living out of his car right now. But through all of it...he is strong in the gospel. He is unfazed by the adversity. It was a real example to me. I'm glad I don't have to endure nearly anything like him. He is a great guy.

Well I love you all!

Elder Carter


Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Week of Champions

Man this week has probably been one of the best weeks of my whole mission. Just packed with tons of fun stuff and good times with other peeps.

So on Monday last week we did go to the zoo! saw a ton of sweet animals. by far the best was the penguins though. Then we went and played some minigolf at this sweet course. Its called Prehistoric Putt and it is like legendary. The holes are just wild sometimes. And to make it all better... i took 1st place. Bringin' in the gold for good ol' Idaho.

Then on Tuesday we had another MLC. We received some training about how to help others (including ourselves) Study better. It was super duper awesome. President Gardner Gave us some tips about how to study and what to study and pretty much everything we need.
Then after the meeting all the leaders went to President Gardner's house and had a fantastic Barbecue. They set up a volley ball net and there was a basketball hoop too. There was a tennis court just down the street too so we went and played around a little bit. But most of the time was spent playin bball and hangin out with each other. But man some of the sisters are pretty good at basketball. They could hang with the elders. It was so much fun.

Then we had a 2 district meetings. I gave a training for one of them... it was about  the Holy Ghost vs the Light of Christ. I think it went pretty average. Not my best but its all good.

Then on Thursday we had a meeting with the stake presidency to see how we could increase the missionary efforts in the stake. We discussed a lot of good things and gave us some direction on how they would like us to help our stewardship and the members. They have really been putting a huge push on the Sacrament, rightly so, so we will be focusing on that with members.

Today is a much more relaxed p-day. We aren't playing basketball because most other missionaries have a temple trip. So we are just chillin and playin some boardgames. Good times.

Well love you all! don't melt from the heat.

Elder Carter





Monday, July 3, 2017

The 4th of July!!

🎊🎉🎉🎊🎉🎊🐧

Happy 3rd of July everyone! So happy that we all can celebrate the eve of our independence. What a wonderful time.

We have had a grand ol time this last week. My mother had some tennis rackets sent out here and we have put them to some good use. This morning my bishop invited me and elder Finicum to play some doubles with him and his buddy. We had a lot of fun. I haven't played real tennis in well over a year now so i was a lil rusty. But we took home the W. so that's all that counts.

Today we are going to the Zoo with 2 other missionaries and the Charles Family in our ward. So that will be fun. Hopefully i can spend more time with my true family🐧🐧🐧🐧🐧.

This week is going to be crazy... We have MLC tomorrow. Then we are doing an activity as a mission leadership. So that will be super fun. Its all my mission buds in one big room.  Then we have 2 district meetings. And one of the districts doesn't have a district leader so Elder Finicum and I are the district leaders. Thursday we have a meeting with the stake president as well. So it will just fly by.

Well i hope all of you have a great 4th. Light some stuff on fire and drink some unhealthy beverages!

Love you all!

Elder Carter