Please Bless NEHOW

I love my companions! we are ALWAYS laughing. I hope last week I didn't make it sound like they were just a big ol' trial for me, because they aren't! We have so much fun together. I love these girls!

There are so many Asian people in this town. We are teaching a man named Chenyang. Sister Eisert is hilarious! She can never remember his name. we always pray for our investigators, and whenever sister Eisert gets to his name she can not for the life of her remember his name, so every prayer he gets a different name. Usually she is really close though, and will say something like chinyong, orchanyung. The other day it was her turn to pray again. She went down the list of investigators in her head, naming and praying for each one individually, then she she got to Chenyang. We hear,"Heavenly father please bless Nehow." Normally we are really good at holding our laughs in when she prays for him... Oops.

Mom, if you thought dads corny puns were good, you should hear Sister Beach. It is hilarious how awful they are, and she doesn't just stop with one, she goes on and on and on! Sister Eisert and I have gotten to the point of rolling on the floor laughing. Sister Beach kills me. One of these days I will record her.

This week we had a number of amazing lessons. We are going to spend part of Christmas with one of our investigators who is going to be alone for Christmas. Her name is Patty. I love Patty! We had an incredible lesson with her. The spirit was so powerful during that lesson. One of the most terrifying things I have discovered as a missionary (which has happened more than once) is making promises that we literally have no control over. It scares me to death when I really really care about the person I am teaching and I promise them that they will receive and answer to their prayers, and that they will come to know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, but don't really know if they will in fact get their answers. It takes a lot of faith. I have found myself on my knees praying so hard that they will receive answers, and have what we promise confirmed to them. We promised these things with Patty. This woman has been searching for answers to some of the most painful experiences a person could go through, and has never been able to find them. To promise her that she would find her answers was bold, and scary, but I knew that she would. Yesterday we met with her for a second time this week. At the end of the lesson she said she wanted to tell us about her experience praying. She has never prayed before, nor has she ever wanted to pray before. But she told us that she felt something while she read the introduction to the Book of Mormon. She actually wanted to pray. So she knelt down and asked God if what she was reading was going to help her. And so she prayed. She she said she felt something, very subtle, but very noticeable, and it felt good. She got her answer. She told us that she didn't know if she would get all of her answers, but that she would read the book and that she would come to sacrament meeting because she knew that it would help her find some answers. Heavenly father not only answered this woman's prayer but he answered my prayer. It was a miracle.

Moment of the week:

I went on exchanges this week to Woodland. We called our dinner appointment ahead of time to let them know that I couldn't have dairy. They assured us it wouldn't be a problem. When we got to dinner the Lady who cooked was so sweet. She said, "Sister Carter since you are allergic to dairy I replaced the milk in the casserole for yogurt..."
Haha. Well dinner was delicious, but I definitely had a stomach ache that night. I sure feel bad for all those wonderful people who try to accommodate a sister with a dairy allergy. What an adventure it would be for someone who hasn't had to deal with this their whole life.

I love you all!
Merry Christmas!
Sister Carter

A little message we left this week for our neighbors who love to party!!