I'm TWENTY-TWO years old now and 16 months in!

A BIRTHDAY PACKAGE FROM HOME!! YAY

Ahh Chocolate I can eat!!

Happy P-Day, and 16 month mark to me!

I turned 22 this week. Weird. Someone asked me in a lesson this past weekend how old I was and I about choked on my words as "twenty-two" exited my mouth. Mom, Dad, you are the parents of a 22 year old... Who's old now!
Thanks for the packages! I had so much fun getting and opening them! Especially thanks for CD's! Sister Petersen and I have been jammin out to Christmas Motab with David Archuleta for days! Who thought I would ever be a David Archuleta fan? Hey when all you get to listen to is Mormon Tabernacle Choir for a year and a half, any voice will melt you.


We had MLC (Missionary Leadership Council) this past week with all of the Zone Leaders and STL's in the mission. It was a 7 hour long meeting! That was fun. I got to spend a whole day with Sister Petersen and Sister Whimpey. We have all 3 been companions with each other and are the best of friends! It was so fun. We got to meet Elder Brent H. Neilson of the 70 there. Being instructed by him was amazing! It was so neat to be in the presence of a general authority and to feel the spirit and the Savior's love emanate from him. Just being around him made me want to be a better person.

Sister Petersen and Sister Whimpy!!

Guess what?! I get to go back on Facebook! I'm so excited. President and Sister Alba are only putting the Zone Leaders and Sister Trainer Leader's back on for now to see how it goes. We are no longer teaching outside of our mission though, instead we will be completely focusing our efforts in our own areas. I am so excited! I'm not sure exactly what will happen with friends and family outside of the mission but I think we will be deleting them... We will see.

We picked up another family to teach this week. Miracles are happening. One of our families are absolutely adorable. They have so many questions and can't wait for us to come back. Let's be honest, I'm the one who can't wait to go back. There is something so special about teaching a family the gospel.
Since the Woodd's have gotten baptized we have taught two other families who they have invited into their home to meet with us. They are on fire with missionary work!


Well, time for me to go. Have a wonderful week!
Sister Carter

Always good to Harass my Roommates!

So fun to get to see some some my favorite missionary friends from various areas I worked in. Love all these girls!

Being a Sister Trainer Leader with a best Friend!

Hey fam jam and friends!
I LOVE my new companion. We get along so well. It is so fun being an STL with her. It's like being with a best friend all the time. She is awesome. She has been out for almost 9 months. I am learning so much from her! She is so humble and so stalwart! This whole STL thing is a little bit scary and and very intimidating, but I'm grateful to have her doing it with me.
We live in a new apartment now which is an exciting adventure. We have 3 bathrooms too. What more could a sister missionary want? One of them was so disgusting though! Since we moved in I have avoided using it as much as possible! Today I scrubbed that thing to a pulp and now it sparkles. Now we have three sparkly bathrooms. What more could a sister missionary want? I have met and grown to love so many wonderful girls from around the globe. Being a missionary is such a blessing!

Not my new companion.. But a Sister Missionary I love!!

Since moving in we have killed 8 black widows. I have only ever seen those things on TV and I wish that was the only place I was ever going to see them. Turns out they love our house. We claim them as our pets... Even though they are all dead. We named them all Peve.

I turn 22 on Thursday! Weird.

I got accused of breaking a guitar string at a members house for dinner this week and then they called me a lair and made me cry... That was sad.

We picked up the most incredible family ever this week! I can't wait to go back and teach them!

This week was awesome!


Love,
Sister Carter

Transfers and new assignments

So many great things happened this week. I have been basking in the
spirit and having so many "wow" moments where I felt so blessed to be
a missionary. Lately my greatest joy of missionary work is seeing
blessings of the gospel pour into our investigators and recent
converts lives. So many moments my joy has been full. One of my
favorite moments was watching one investigator tell another
investigator at church that she was in the right place, that she was
welcome there, and that this church was going to change her life.
Everything is bringing me to tears these days.

Sister Harper is transferring to Davis, and my new companion will be
Sister Peterson. I've heard so much about her so I'm really excited.
We are also moving into a 4 man pad that all the missionaries call the
mansion, we are moving into a 2 bedroom house, and will be living next
door to my favorite senior missionary couple the Seeley's they have
been my Mission grandparents. I'm so excited. Sister Peterson and I
will both be STL's (sister training leaders) together, which should be
a lot of fun.

An older lady rode by us on her bicycle this week and glared, with a very mean look on her face and said, "you disgust me." That was nice.

Sorry, not much from me today. Love you lots
Sister Carter

The dreaded pink slip and flirting 4 yr olds

This week I got what no missionary looks foreword to in the CA Santa Rosa mission, the dreaded pink slip. Every missionary gets a bright pink pierce of paper in the mail when they are coming close to the end of their mission stating the date I will be flying home and wanting to know my official travel plans. Worst day ever. I waited until I was at my favorite members home (the Woodds) before opening it, so that I wouldn't get depressed. It helped a lot. I officially fly home the 3rd of February 2015. I now have 2 transfers left. The next one is only 5 weeks long instead of 6 so that missionaries don't have to get transferred on Christmas Eve, but my last transfer will be 7 weeks long.

Oh yeah, happy late Halloween. I have decided that I hate Halloween more than I already did before because it just reminds me that I can't eat chocolate anymore.... Only my favorite kind of junk food... Woe is me.

I'm a combo missionary... Elder/Sister combo (its the best I could do)

Stapling on the costume!!

Mike got his first calling as the Young Mens secretary. SO COOL! We were over there the other night singing hymns with Vanessa in the Kitchen. Mike and Olivia walked into the room and stopped dead in their tracks and said  "wow." when we asked what, they said "our home is so different now". Mike and Olivia both said that their home has never been a place where people sat around the table singing hymns and feeling the spirit. They loved it. Music is so powerful. It can either take away from the spirit which is what they have been used to their whole lives, or invite the spirit. 

Vanessa came with us this week to a crazy old guys home to help us teach him for the first time. It was an awesome experience. He is pretty cynical and doesn't like religion much, but after we we left what we call a harvest blessing with him (praying as servants of Jesus Christ for the Saviors peace and blessings to be in his home and for all other blessings he needs in his life) he told us in his own words, "wow, that was a very spiritual experience." He was right. The spirit was so strong in his home and he ended telling us that what we were doing was very good and that we were real and sincere about what we do. He then invited us to come back whenever we wanted. I would have to say my favorite 2 things about that night was when he was telling AND showing us all of his yoga posses. He has to be like 75 years old. So imagine with me an old guy sprawled out on the floor giving us yoga demonstrations. It took all my willpower to not laugh. THEN, he was telling us how he has to get his toe amputated and when Vanessa heard that she got all excited and said, "are you going to keep it?!" I laughed pretty hard when he got even more excited and said, "I really want to! Don't you think that would be a great gift to my grand kids to remember me by? My big toe floating in a jar?" He was such a crack up. I was about ready to adopt him as my own grandpa. Who wouldn't want their grandpa's big toe in a jar?

We met another guy who must have been about 20 years old. He was more golden than a golden investigator could ever get. He basically told us the entire plan of salvation that he feels is true and all we did was confirm to him the truth of what he was saying and attach the correct terms to them. It was so cool! I felt like I was floating on a cloud the whole rest of the night. Sadly he will be getting passed off to the YSA sisters, But that's okay, as long as he gets taught!

I have been getting all sorts of strange dizzy spells the past few days. It has been really weird.

Moment of the week:

Actually i have two of them...

As we were leaving the Woodds house the other day I went to give little Zachy a handshake.
"Zach can we get a hand shake before we go?"

"NO!"

"Hmm okay then can we get a high five before we go?"

"NO!"

"how about we pound it then?"

"NO!" then he gets this devilish look on his face and says, "How about kisses?"

Haha. Take note that he is 4.

Then while contacting on the street this week we met some guy who looked higher than a kite. As we got talking to him we asked. "Do you believe in God?"

"No I'm an atheist. Actually I'm a devil worshiper. actually I'm agnostic" He obviously couldn't make up his mind. "okay can we just give you a card then?"

"No i'll probably just roll a blunt with it," at least he was honest.

"okay well you have a nice day" 

"unless you put your number on it, then I'll take your card."

"Have a nice day!"

Being a missionary is so entertaining sometimes...

Love,
Sister Carter

Allergies, accidents and silly jokes

It finally rained!! I love the rain!

Alright, this was my week in 19 minutes worth of slow typing:

-4 missionaries were involved in an accident and were hit by a drunk driver. 2 walked away fine. One was taken to the hospital in Eureka and the other was flown from Eureka to the hospital here in Santa Rosa. All are okay though. The two hurt were Elder Shen (from Vancouver, Canada), and Elder Makoni (from West Jordan, Utah). Elder Makoni was in the worst shape but should be released from the hospital today. 

-Sister Harper and I found a family who has been inactive and has had a lot of health problem similar to mine. Because of me being able to relate to being allergic to everything, they have opened up their hearts and their home to us and are going to come back to church! Miracle! Turns out God wanted me to be allergic to gluten and dairy for good reasons

-We found a family via tracting who welcomed us into their home, let us pray with them and welcomed us to come back to teach them all about the gospel! It was one of the most tender experience I have in Santa Rosa so far. The spirit filled their home, the love of God wrapped around their whole family, and the best part is I think they felt it!

-Sister Harper isn't a teenager anymore! She turned 20 this week.

-While eating dinner at one of my favorite family's home their 7 year old boy was trying to understand what it meant to be allergic to gluten. His mom said, "she can't have bread or anything with flour in it. You know cookies?"
"Yeah"
"She can't have those"
"Wait! What about doughnuts?!" 

"Nope, she can't have those."

"POOP! THAT SUCKS!"

Haha. His dad's face turned bright red and told him that their were probably more appropriate ways to sympathize with me, like saying that's too bad, or that's unfortunate...
I laughed so hard!

Sister Harper's joke of the week:

Q: How do you make holy water?

A: You boil the Hell out of it!

Why is it that Mormons laugh so hard when another Mormon uses the word hell. I died laughing. 

Well, time is up.

Love, Sister Carter

Then sings my soul, My Savior God to Thee. What an incredible day!

THE WOODDS DID IT! They are so incredible! I asked if I could share their story and they were more than happy to share.

I don't know what the time frame has been for them but they have been through so much. Both have gone from growing and selling drugs, being addicted to them as well as alcohol, being homeless, in and out of jail, on probation (for most of mike's life) and losing their children to CPS claiming the kids to be adoptable, all this to being the happiest, most humble family I have ever met. At his baptism he shared with us that the day they took his children was in the parking lot of the same church that he was getting baptized in was the worst day of his life. He told us that it was on that day that he lost the one things that was most precious and important to him in his life. He had become homeless and family-less. He told us that the day of his baptism was the best day of his life being at the exact same church. They now have their family together, they are free of addictions, they live and honor the law, they are married, they have a gospel centered family where the spirit of the Lord dwells, and the head of their home is now a worthy, pure, and humble priesthood Holder. He Can now bless the sacrament. His boys pass the sacrament each week. And Olivia is the most incredible mother of 5. She was never supposed to get her kids back and now her goal is to be sealed to her family in the temple in a year from now, and to raise her children to be missionaries. They have family home evening every Monday night. They pray together, and they read the Book of Mormon together. Mike and Olivia have read the Book of Mormon more than 3 times and are moving on to read other books of scripture. Whenever Sister Harper and I are having a hard day we can always count on feeling the spirit in their home. The day they met the missionaries, Mike was outside and saw an elder with his head down who looked really sad. He had just been unkindly rejected by someone. Mike had never met missionaries before and called the Elder over to talk to him and ask why he was so sad. Mike told all of the missionaries in our mission at a conference where a Elder Falabella of the seventy presided to never get discouraged, and to never loose hope because there is a family like his out there who needs to know of their Savior.

On the day of the baptism both Mike and Olivia were beaming from head to toe. The next day on Sunday I cried as they were officially confirmed as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints, and received the gift of the Holy Ghost. They told us over and over again for weeks leading up to that day that all they wanted was to be Mormon. It was so cute. Then after Church Mike was ordained a Priest. I floated home yesterday after church in awe of the love of God that has pored out upon that family.

I am so happy today.

One day this week while tracting we were in a retirement community and kept talking person after person who was nasty and mean. I got to the point of being on the brink of tears, so I told Heavenly Father that I couldn't talk to one more mean person or I would probably bawl on their doorstep. The very next door the sweetest lady answered. She was not interested in learning what we had to share but she was so warm and pleasant. Her kindness brought me renewed hope and I felt like I could keep on going. It was a tender mercy from the Lord.


Moment of the Week:
While filling out Mike and Olivia's baptismal records every small mistake mike would make on the paper he would exclaim, "Well, too bad, looks like I'm going to Hell" On the day of the baptism he couldn't find the right suit to wear and said, "forget it, I'm going to Hell." Then we were sitting in the bishops office waiting for all his kids to come in for the ordination and as we were waiting, he said "Well, we can't find them, forget it, I'm going to Hell." Haha he is so funny! Him and Olivia crack me up.

I love being a missionary.

Sister Carter

Piglets on the run

This week while weekly planning a lady rushed into the mission office in a panic to tell us that two little pigs were digging up the grass at the front of the building. I probably should have had a concerned reaction, but all I could do was laugh. It was hilarious! Sister Harper and I got to piglet sit them while we waited for animal control to come get them.

Good News and Bad News:

Good news first. The Woodds are getting baptized THIS SATURDAY! They are the most incredible family! They are officially living the Word of Wisdom and LOVED general conference this weekend. We had a fun night this week when a bunch of missionaries who had helped the Woodds through their conversion process were all in town and got to visit with them all together. It was a special moment to sit in a room full of missionaries who love this family and have worked for them for so long.
they were on TV yesterday on a KSL program along with my companion and a bunch of other missionaries from my mission.


The bad news is that our other investigator who was supposed to get baptized a couple Saturday's ago completely dropped off the face of the planet. It was awful! The lesson before his baptism after his baptismal interview and everything we sensed something was very very wrong. He wasn't going to tell us, but finally did by the way we were struggling to bring the spirit in. He open his note book and read to us that he had not been truthful. He told us that he doesn't believe the things we shared with him were true, that he doesn't want to get baptized, nor does he ever want to get baptized. He dropped us right there and then and we haven't seen him since. Sister Harper and I struggled pretty bad after that! We both got pretty depressed. That was the very last thing we ever expected to happen. He went from vibrant and happy, to frustrated and confused. We were so sad. We went a few days feeling numb and not knowing what to do to get out of it. All we wanted to do was cry, but were too shocked and confused to be able to. We had literally watched him feel the spirit, change and experience true happiness. But it was as if he had developed a few doubts and questions in his mind, and the adversary was able to use those to destroy all faith he had ever developed. He is to the point now where he doesn't even know if God exists. It's tragic. If I could I would punch Satan in the face so hard! I really hope that his journey in life brings him back to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ one day. I sure have grown to love him. All I want is for him to be happy.

My district

Elders from my district

Love my Companion

Elder Prince from My home town... Love seeing old friends

Anyway, it's time for me to go. I love being here. And though sad things happen in missionary work, there is so much more joy.

Moment of the Week:

A few weeks ago I gave Sister Harper permission to snap me with a rubber band every time I eat seconds at dinner, or if I eat food late at night when we get home at the end of the day. I thought it was a good idea at first until i realized how much fun Sister Harper was going to have with it. She went and found the fattest rubber band she could so it could reach as much surface area as possible and she saves them up until I least expect it, and when I am most vulnerable. Like when both of my hands are preoccupied with doing my hair she will run in the bathroom snap me under my arm in the tender area, and run away as fast as she can, and laugh her head off! I can't even retaliate because I gave her permission. I have had red marks on my arms and legs for days. You would think I would learn my lesson or something. It has been helping me a little bit, but not enough, so I'm not quite ready to end it.  She is so funny.

Love, Sister Carter