Lunchtime miracles and Staying in Eureka

I'm obsessed with Tajin.. I put it on everything

Oops I accidentally put on the wrong tag

One of the families in our ward got robbed this week. Literally a whole crew of people loaded up car after car of stuff, wiped their house clean of anything worth money, and took off while they were out of town. It was horrific. After police inspections and everything, we went over there to help them clean all surfaces of what was left in their home. They are an incredible family with so much faith. 2 days after they were robbed they invited us over for dinner so that they could invite the spirit and an uplifting message into their home. They were so positive about the whole situation and were able to laugh and giggle about it. But it broke my heart as we shared our message with them. Both of them cried. 2 of their 3 hard drives were stolen (one was with them thankfully), and with that went all pictures and memories of their 4 years of marriage and new born baby. Everything was gone, I mean everything! Anyway, I love them. They are working through this trial very gracefully and are amazing examples to me of strength.

Our Zone

This week, it felt like everyone and everything around us was falling apart and Sister Buckner and I have been called to somehow carry all of their burdens and be strong. Actually, correction, we help them invite Christ into their lives to carry their burdens for them. But with that comes a love that makes you ache to help them.
My favorite miracle this week was during one of our lunch hours. We NEVER spend our lunch hours at the church, but for some strange reason we decided to go and hang out there for the remainder of our lunch hour. The weirder part was that we decided to hang out on the side of the church that we are NEVER at. We sat and downloaded Mormon messages and watched "I'm a Mormon" videos and as we did the phone on the wall in front of us started ringing. We let it ring and ring with no intentions of answering the phone. Then on the very last ring I thought, what in the world am I doing?! I jumped up ran and grabbed it after it rang the last time and on the other end was the sweetest most broken lady needing help and her last resort was to turn to the Mormon church for help. She was precious and sobbed over the phone to us. We scheduled an appointment with her and have fallen in love with her. She grew up in and out of foster homes. Two of the families that she lived in were Mormon families. She had developed a few friends as a youth with some of the girls in the church and has since lost contact with all of them. She remembered them though and felt to call the church's phone number out of the phone book. Hoping for something. Then we answered. She is not in our area, but we invited the elders over for a lesson with us to give her a priesthood blessing which she happily accepted. After word she told us that she felt inside that everything was going to be okay in the end. Then we handed her off to the Elders.
We have had a few people describe this empty hole inside of them that they have needed to try to fill and haven't known how to fill it. One man told us he has all that he needs and his life is great and blessed, he even attends a local church, but he doesn't feel happy. It was powerful to be able to promise these individuals that what we have is what they are missing... And what it is, is the Atonement of Christ that is only available through the fullness of the gospel that has been restored to the earth.

Question:
Is it possible to still feel the spirit when you have to go to the bathroom so bad that it feels like you are carrying around a swimming pool of water inside of you?
Answer:
YES!
Miracle:
Sister Buckner and I were VERY far way from an accessible bathroom and were on a mission to find a specific person in our area book. We knocked on door after door looking for this person and were determined to find her! Sister Buckner and I have been trying to drink about 3 bottles of water every day and this particular day we drank all three of them right before our quest. Well we didn't find her but we found a different guy who was awesome. Some how we were able to hold ourselves upright, bare our testimonies to him, feel the spirit and get his contact information to be able to come back and teach him. Success! We even made it to a bathroom without any embarrassing experiences... Win for everyone!

Transfer calls came! I am staying in Eureka :)
Sad news. The temple trip got postponed to next transfer :(
Hopefully I will be here :/

The fourth of July was MAGICAL! All four of us piled onto the windowsill with popcorn and shared our dreams, goals and desires, while listening to the sound of fireworks all around us. We even got to see the occasional firework above all of the houses and trees. It was so fun! Then we fell asleep to the sound of fireworks all around us.

I got told I look like Elizabeth Smart yesterday... Never gotten that one before.

We knocked on one of the sketchiest looking houses I have probably ever seen in my life just to see what would happen. Haha maybe that was a stupid idea, but the girl we talked to was LEGIT!!! Yay miracles!

Love,
Sister Carter