Sunday, March 15, 2015
Friday, March 13, 2015
8 March 2015
Happy Preparation day!
I'm currently on city bus number 17, full of missionaries on the way to Santa Cruz. It is $5 round trip. It's overcast so we are praying for the sun to come out. Granted it is only 9 a.m. :) I'm sure it will get better!
Wow. What an amazing transfer. Ebony and Savannah are our two baptismal dates for March 21st! They are 8 and 11 years old and their mom is a returning member. We have been coordinating members at all of their lessons (we meet with them twice a week) so that after they are baptized they will continue to be fellowshipped. :)
Speaking of fellowshipping we will be setting a baptismal date with our new investigator.
We met him on Stanford campus contacting! About three weeks ago we were invited to be the Friday form guest speakers for the LDS Students on Stanford campus. The LDS students on campus have a group called the LDSSA Latter-day Saint student association. :) Anywho, after we taught those wonderful Stanford students, we decided to contact. A guy got our attention. We invited him to meet with us again and he agreed! We got his information and came back. Three days later, prayerfully we decided to teach him L3 The Gospel of Jesus Christ 1st even though we typically teach L1 The Restoration to our new investigators. When he came, we asked him about his belief in God and much of his background to get to know him. We came to find out that he did not have much of a belief in God, was from Hawaii, one of the 32 transfer students that actually got into Stanford and was willing to learn. We also found out that he did not feel the need to give credit to God because that would discredit him. He literally believed and thought that that everything good or of worth in his life was because of his own doing. Again he did not want to give the credit to God because that would discredit himself.
As we left the appointment, we were excited about our next return appointment but scared/nervous about what to teach him and how to help him see how much God does love him and that is why so many wonderful things happen to him!
A couple of meetings later as well as an invitation to come to the LDSSA institute meeting we fast forward to Friday.
We met with him on campus at our usual spot but invited a wonderful girl the LDSSA president to join our lesson. As we taught the Restoration (L1), the spirit could not be denied and it was because of that wonderful member! She invited the spirit with her testimony and love of God. Because of that experience, he decided to give the closing prayer in which he thanked God for what he learned from the Holy Ghost!!! and miracle!!! He recognized the spirit and thanked God for it. We were so happy. He then asked for a ride to church on Sunday and he came yesterday!!
We are so happy!
We will be meeting with him again and setting a baptismal date.
The Church is true!
Sister Carter
I'm currently on city bus number 17, full of missionaries on the way to Santa Cruz. It is $5 round trip. It's overcast so we are praying for the sun to come out. Granted it is only 9 a.m. :) I'm sure it will get better!
Wow. What an amazing transfer. Ebony and Savannah are our two baptismal dates for March 21st! They are 8 and 11 years old and their mom is a returning member. We have been coordinating members at all of their lessons (we meet with them twice a week) so that after they are baptized they will continue to be fellowshipped. :)
Speaking of fellowshipping we will be setting a baptismal date with our new investigator.
We met him on Stanford campus contacting! About three weeks ago we were invited to be the Friday form guest speakers for the LDS Students on Stanford campus. The LDS students on campus have a group called the LDSSA Latter-day Saint student association. :) Anywho, after we taught those wonderful Stanford students, we decided to contact. A guy got our attention. We invited him to meet with us again and he agreed! We got his information and came back. Three days later, prayerfully we decided to teach him L3 The Gospel of Jesus Christ 1st even though we typically teach L1 The Restoration to our new investigators. When he came, we asked him about his belief in God and much of his background to get to know him. We came to find out that he did not have much of a belief in God, was from Hawaii, one of the 32 transfer students that actually got into Stanford and was willing to learn. We also found out that he did not feel the need to give credit to God because that would discredit him. He literally believed and thought that that everything good or of worth in his life was because of his own doing. Again he did not want to give the credit to God because that would discredit himself.
As we left the appointment, we were excited about our next return appointment but scared/nervous about what to teach him and how to help him see how much God does love him and that is why so many wonderful things happen to him!
A couple of meetings later as well as an invitation to come to the LDSSA institute meeting we fast forward to Friday.
We met with him on campus at our usual spot but invited a wonderful girl the LDSSA president to join our lesson. As we taught the Restoration (L1), the spirit could not be denied and it was because of that wonderful member! She invited the spirit with her testimony and love of God. Because of that experience, he decided to give the closing prayer in which he thanked God for what he learned from the Holy Ghost!!! and miracle!!! He recognized the spirit and thanked God for it. We were so happy. He then asked for a ride to church on Sunday and he came yesterday!!
We are so happy!
We will be meeting with him again and setting a baptismal date.
The Church is true!
Sister Carter
Saturday, February 14, 2015
February 9, 2015 Transfer to Palo Alto, CA
Happy Preparation Day!
Hello from Palo Alto California!!!!!
Woooo. I am so incredibly happy.
We are currently in the Family History Center with part of our zone emailing. Life in Palo Alto is pretty different including the fact that I am in a trio! More on that later.
Well, I LOVE Palo Alto!!!!!!
I love my companions! I love the five, yes five wards that we cover. I love my apartment. I love pretty much everything.
Transfer meeting started out a bit scary on Tuesday morning. I had to stay up the night before, pretty late to pack all of my stuff, and the Sunday before as well as the day before that.
All of the missionaries in Livermore knew that transfers would be intense because all of the companionships knew that they would be expected. . . every companionship would lose a companion! Crazy!
Transfer meetings are pretty dramatic. All who got a transfer call on Friday night are asked to report to the San Jose mission office on Tuesday. On that morning, we all meet in the chapel at 9:00 a.m. and it begins! A giant white screen comes down and the name of the area pops up. The picture of the Elder or Sister that is currently in that area shows up on the screen and President would say, "and serving with her", or ""Meet your new companion" or "and training. . ." and their companion's picture pops up next to their's!! It is super dramatic. Lot of crying, lot of oohs and ahhs, and lots of hugs take place. When we see our picture are to quickly go sit by our new one. . . (or new ones in my case).
My sweet new companions!!! Sister Fraser is from Columbus, Georgia. Yay! For two companions from Georgia. She leaves in March along with Sister Packard and Sister Gregerson, my trainer. I am so depressed and sad at the fact that all three of my companions will be leaving in March!!! Next transfer! That really makes me sad.
My other companion to make up the trio is Sister Uelfe from Samoa!!! She moved to Hawaii about 3 years ago and has spent most of her life in Samoa.
I LOVE them and we are already making so many good memories and spend a lot of time laughing.
Here are some (funny to me, at least) of our good moments already:
Scene 1: It has been raining like crazy here and despite the fact that we have a car, we can't seem to stay dry. We were driving to our dinner appointment and got out of the car to it it pouring down raining. Of course, we ran to the door and ring the door bell soaking wet because of course, none of us had an umbrella. So we covered ourselves with our sweaters etc. We rang the doorbell and were welcomed inside but here is the catch: Since we cover 5 congregations, 4 wards, 2 family wards, 1 Young Single Adult ward and 1 mid-single adult ward plus a Samoan branch, we have our work cut our for us, but we are also in the Polonesian program which means we learn a new language, new people names, customs, and cultures. In Polynesian/Samoan culture, you take your shoes off and if you don't, you're in trouble. . . back to the story.
Picture three soaking wet sister missionaries in the pouring rain ringing a doorbell. The mom opens the door andshe is Tongan. I freak out because I need to take off my shoes! My companions are wanting to get inside (as am I) but if I walk into their home with my shoes on, I will probably lbring shame to everyone, right?! So, Sister Frazer is literally shoving me through the door frame and I am just not budging. I'm screaming about to fall over but refuse to take a step inside because I've got my shoes on! Meanwhile, it's still raining.
Laughing, giggling, screaming, wet. Needless to say, all is well. I didn't bring shame to anyone by not taking off my shoes.
Five wards is already an amazing experience. Being in a branch is an amazing experience. Serving in Palo Alto is amazing. Being in a trio is amazing. I LOVE this.
I'm grateful. Still so grateful.
Sister Carter.
Hello from Palo Alto California!!!!!
Woooo. I am so incredibly happy.
We are currently in the Family History Center with part of our zone emailing. Life in Palo Alto is pretty different including the fact that I am in a trio! More on that later.
Well, I LOVE Palo Alto!!!!!!
I love my companions! I love the five, yes five wards that we cover. I love my apartment. I love pretty much everything.
Transfer meeting started out a bit scary on Tuesday morning. I had to stay up the night before, pretty late to pack all of my stuff, and the Sunday before as well as the day before that.
All of the missionaries in Livermore knew that transfers would be intense because all of the companionships knew that they would be expected. . . every companionship would lose a companion! Crazy!
Transfer meetings are pretty dramatic. All who got a transfer call on Friday night are asked to report to the San Jose mission office on Tuesday. On that morning, we all meet in the chapel at 9:00 a.m. and it begins! A giant white screen comes down and the name of the area pops up. The picture of the Elder or Sister that is currently in that area shows up on the screen and President would say, "and serving with her", or ""Meet your new companion" or "and training. . ." and their companion's picture pops up next to their's!! It is super dramatic. Lot of crying, lot of oohs and ahhs, and lots of hugs take place. When we see our picture are to quickly go sit by our new one. . . (or new ones in my case).
My sweet new companions!!! Sister Fraser is from Columbus, Georgia. Yay! For two companions from Georgia. She leaves in March along with Sister Packard and Sister Gregerson, my trainer. I am so depressed and sad at the fact that all three of my companions will be leaving in March!!! Next transfer! That really makes me sad.
My other companion to make up the trio is Sister Uelfe from Samoa!!! She moved to Hawaii about 3 years ago and has spent most of her life in Samoa.
I LOVE them and we are already making so many good memories and spend a lot of time laughing.
Here are some (funny to me, at least) of our good moments already:
Scene 1: It has been raining like crazy here and despite the fact that we have a car, we can't seem to stay dry. We were driving to our dinner appointment and got out of the car to it it pouring down raining. Of course, we ran to the door and ring the door bell soaking wet because of course, none of us had an umbrella. So we covered ourselves with our sweaters etc. We rang the doorbell and were welcomed inside but here is the catch: Since we cover 5 congregations, 4 wards, 2 family wards, 1 Young Single Adult ward and 1 mid-single adult ward plus a Samoan branch, we have our work cut our for us, but we are also in the Polonesian program which means we learn a new language, new people names, customs, and cultures. In Polynesian/Samoan culture, you take your shoes off and if you don't, you're in trouble. . . back to the story.
Picture three soaking wet sister missionaries in the pouring rain ringing a doorbell. The mom opens the door andshe is Tongan. I freak out because I need to take off my shoes! My companions are wanting to get inside (as am I) but if I walk into their home with my shoes on, I will probably lbring shame to everyone, right?! So, Sister Frazer is literally shoving me through the door frame and I am just not budging. I'm screaming about to fall over but refuse to take a step inside because I've got my shoes on! Meanwhile, it's still raining.
Laughing, giggling, screaming, wet. Needless to say, all is well. I didn't bring shame to anyone by not taking off my shoes.
Five wards is already an amazing experience. Being in a branch is an amazing experience. Serving in Palo Alto is amazing. Being in a trio is amazing. I LOVE this.
I'm grateful. Still so grateful.
Sister Carter.
Friday, February 6, 2015
January 29, 2014 "And Mary kept those things and pondered them in her heart."
Happy Preparation Day!
"And Mary kept those things and pondered them in her heart."
I had a really touching experience at our member dinner, one of which I will truly keep and ponder in my heart, just as Mary did while she raised our Savior Jesus Christ because some moments and times are just so incredibly sweet and tender and precious, they should truly be kept in our hearts.
I will just say that I am so incredibly grateful to be one of the Lord's messengers on His errand. As a missionary we are given what to say at the exact time that it needs to be said (so long as we remain worthy). I am grateful that the Lord allows us to be His voice of sorts.
In the moment that I said the words that the Lord directed me to speak (which I don't even remember by the way), I looked up to the sweet dad of the family, red as an apple, with tears flowing from his face and his eyes piercing right into me clinging on to every word. Again, I have no idea what I said but I will never, ever forget the strong spirit in that home at that time.
We can be the Lords' hands while on this earth. We just need to be willing to do what He wants.
Transfer time is coming! This transfer is 7 weeks and it just may be my time. I have been in Livermore since October! And I can't leave! I refuse to actually. :)
I love Livermore.
I love you all.
I love the Lord.
Sister Carter
"And Mary kept those things and pondered them in her heart."
I had a really touching experience at our member dinner, one of which I will truly keep and ponder in my heart, just as Mary did while she raised our Savior Jesus Christ because some moments and times are just so incredibly sweet and tender and precious, they should truly be kept in our hearts.
I will just say that I am so incredibly grateful to be one of the Lord's messengers on His errand. As a missionary we are given what to say at the exact time that it needs to be said (so long as we remain worthy). I am grateful that the Lord allows us to be His voice of sorts.
In the moment that I said the words that the Lord directed me to speak (which I don't even remember by the way), I looked up to the sweet dad of the family, red as an apple, with tears flowing from his face and his eyes piercing right into me clinging on to every word. Again, I have no idea what I said but I will never, ever forget the strong spirit in that home at that time.
We can be the Lords' hands while on this earth. We just need to be willing to do what He wants.
Transfer time is coming! This transfer is 7 weeks and it just may be my time. I have been in Livermore since October! And I can't leave! I refuse to actually. :)
I love Livermore.
I love you all.
I love the Lord.
Sister Carter
Saturday, January 24, 2015
January 19, 2015 What our Sundays are like and a car adventure
Happy Preparation Day!
What a week! Actually what an interesting last 24 hours.
Let's just start at the very beginning.
Our Sundays are always busy. We start off with a meeting with our 4th ward mission leader, Brother Romano. He is a convert of about 30 years and has three daughters. We are close to his whole family. His wife's grandmother who we call "Nana" lives with them and she is fantastic. She is 100 years old and from Germany!
Anywho, we start our morning bright and early with him and then head off to our first sacrament meeting. We then either teach or go to the Gospel Principles class (we teach next Sunday :)) and from there we go to our next meeting with our Second ward mission leader in the 1st ward, Brother Bailey who is actually also a convert!!!
He just moved with his family from Washington state. After our meeting with him, we then go to 1st ward Sacrament meeting, and then if we have investigators, we teach a Gospel Principles class. But if not, we go to Gospel Doctrine, then to Relief Society (which we actually taught yesterday :) Now this schedule is of course dependent upon which investigators come to church and what class we get invited to teach. Two Sundays ago, we were asked to teach junior and senior primary singing time. . . Ha. We are basically at church from 7 a.m. -4:00 p.m. and I LOVE IT!!! Four wards meet in our building. We cover 1st and 4th ward and 2nd and Springtown which have the Elders.
Yesterday we had about 5 less-actives come to church, and an investigator. What a blessing. In our mission we have the blessing to be a mission that is piloting the "to the rescue" program where we help less actives or what we in the San Jose mission call "returning members" come to church.
After church yesterday we got a referral from the Mocho Elders (from the Mocho spanish branch). They contacted into a Hindi family who speak (Punjabi) from India and since the Elders are really Hermanos, they passed them off to us! Blessings! Not only do we love referrals, but it's a family: Husband, wife, 1 son and 2 daughters!! Blessings!! And the 4th ward that we cover has a recent convert family that is also from India!! Woo!! We will go back to teach them on Thursday and Sunday.
Later on in the day we were planning to go visit another one of our investigators but Sister Carter just decided to shake things up a bit. . .
I love driving in California, really, I do. In fact, I think I do a pretty good job but last night, I was not on my A game. I do a horrible job at getting close to the curb when trying to park. I'm either too close or too wayyyyy too far away. But, I've been getting better! Well to make a long story short, I popped the tire. Actually, I cause the tire to explode. The thing made the loudest noise. How did that happen? I was trying to park close to the curb and rammed so hard into the curb I caused the tire to pop.
Eh. Oh well. I had to call the mission office this morning and talk to Sister Ned who is in charge of all of our mission cars and beg forgiveness. Hopefully my driving privileges don't get taken away. . .!!!
Anywho, this morning (It's p-day) we drove to wheel works and they gave us a new tire.
Oh I forgot to tell you how we got the spare on!!
After screaming for probably 20 minutes we called the Elders! Good thing they had just gotten out of a dinner appt. They came to our rescue. They put the spare on and we were off.
So grateful for those elders.
I promise I'll do a better job driving.
I promise to do a better job taking care of the Lord's car.
Sister Carter
What a week! Actually what an interesting last 24 hours.
Let's just start at the very beginning.
Our Sundays are always busy. We start off with a meeting with our 4th ward mission leader, Brother Romano. He is a convert of about 30 years and has three daughters. We are close to his whole family. His wife's grandmother who we call "Nana" lives with them and she is fantastic. She is 100 years old and from Germany!
Anywho, we start our morning bright and early with him and then head off to our first sacrament meeting. We then either teach or go to the Gospel Principles class (we teach next Sunday :)) and from there we go to our next meeting with our Second ward mission leader in the 1st ward, Brother Bailey who is actually also a convert!!!
He just moved with his family from Washington state. After our meeting with him, we then go to 1st ward Sacrament meeting, and then if we have investigators, we teach a Gospel Principles class. But if not, we go to Gospel Doctrine, then to Relief Society (which we actually taught yesterday :) Now this schedule is of course dependent upon which investigators come to church and what class we get invited to teach. Two Sundays ago, we were asked to teach junior and senior primary singing time. . . Ha. We are basically at church from 7 a.m. -4:00 p.m. and I LOVE IT!!! Four wards meet in our building. We cover 1st and 4th ward and 2nd and Springtown which have the Elders.
Yesterday we had about 5 less-actives come to church, and an investigator. What a blessing. In our mission we have the blessing to be a mission that is piloting the "to the rescue" program where we help less actives or what we in the San Jose mission call "returning members" come to church.
After church yesterday we got a referral from the Mocho Elders (from the Mocho spanish branch). They contacted into a Hindi family who speak (Punjabi) from India and since the Elders are really Hermanos, they passed them off to us! Blessings! Not only do we love referrals, but it's a family: Husband, wife, 1 son and 2 daughters!! Blessings!! And the 4th ward that we cover has a recent convert family that is also from India!! Woo!! We will go back to teach them on Thursday and Sunday.
Later on in the day we were planning to go visit another one of our investigators but Sister Carter just decided to shake things up a bit. . .
I love driving in California, really, I do. In fact, I think I do a pretty good job but last night, I was not on my A game. I do a horrible job at getting close to the curb when trying to park. I'm either too close or too wayyyyy too far away. But, I've been getting better! Well to make a long story short, I popped the tire. Actually, I cause the tire to explode. The thing made the loudest noise. How did that happen? I was trying to park close to the curb and rammed so hard into the curb I caused the tire to pop.
Anywho, this morning (It's p-day) we drove to wheel works and they gave us a new tire.
Oh I forgot to tell you how we got the spare on!!
After screaming for probably 20 minutes we called the Elders! Good thing they had just gotten out of a dinner appt. They came to our rescue. They put the spare on and we were off.
So grateful for those elders.
I promise I'll do a better job driving.
I promise to do a better job taking care of the Lord's car.
Sister Carter
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
January 12, 2015
Decisions Determine Destiny
We teach a lot of people! A whole lot. Just to give you an example, we contacted (remember we don't tract) about 300 people last week. . . So, our teaching pool is pretty huge as well. With this knowledge it can easily be assumed that we are teaching people of various walks of life. Not only am I in the Bay Area where you can find people driving Teslas, Range Rovers and other hundred thousand dollar luxury cars but we also see drug addicts on Livermore 1st Street asking us if we want to smoke weed with them, alcoholics with no job, and children with no way to feed them. I had seen this type of poverty on T.V. but up until the mission, despite being from the D.C. area, I had never seen how real poverty is.
I pray that the Holy Ghost will be with me as I write this letter. I don't want to offend anyone but simply stating what I've seen as a simple minded 22-almost 23 year old (thank you very much) from Northern Virginia living in California.
I have come to know, though I have always known even more while on the mission that
Decisions Determine Destiny;
And that the Gospel of Jesus Christ allows you to have a happier life. The Gospel helps you with your decisions and your choices, thus having a happier life.
Sister Packard and I teach people of all walk of life but this week the theme was apparently that of our decisions determining our destiny. It seems as though some of the people that we teach may not have thought about their futures too much and so the choices that they made are still having lasting effects on how their lives are playing out now.
When you don't put the Lord first in your life you will be unhappy. When you have the gospel of Jesus Christ in your life and do those things that are pleasing to Him, you will be happy. It's proven and we can see the results in the lives of others who don't.
Commandments like the Law of Chastity that helps us to keep our bodies, minds, and lives morally clean bless and protect us. Commandments like the Word of Wisdom allow us to have control over our lives and maintain happier and healthier bodies and minds as we abstain from alcohol and drugs.
Commandments are laws/standards set by the Lord that will bless and protect us as well as elevate us. Commandments aren't rules set by a vengeful spiteful God to hinder us or limit us, but they are truly there to protect and bless us, to shape us and make us into what we have the potential to be.
On my mission, I am learning of the importance of choices. This decision of going on a mission has blessed my life and I know it will determine my destiny. For that I am grateful.
Elder Cook, an apostle of the Lord came to our mission on Saturday and spoke to us of the importance of this mission and beautifully bestowed an apostolic blessing on us. It was tender and beautiful and I will never forget it.
I love you all and am very grateful for your love, your examples, your influence and your testimonies.
Always,
Sister Carter
Friday, January 2, 2015
Merry Christmas 2014
Merry Christmas!!!!!!
Well. Sorry it's late but Merry Christmas! Our Christmas was full of laughs but also tears. I got the blessing of being able to skype my family! Maybe that blessing of being able to skype is more for our families than us?! All I know is after sobbing from talking to them, I went right back to work! Right back to the work, whereas maybe some of my family were still distracted from getting to talk to me. Anywho until Mother's day family! It certainly was fun!
We woke up to my sweet companion Sister Packard screaming Merry Christmas!!! We then opened all of our gifts. Sister Packard and I then went to our first breakfast at the Holt's home. They are wonderful. We then went to our ward mission leader's home for our second breakfast. We had breakfast casserole at both homes by the way.
After we ate and skyped, we ate dinner with them. Brother Bailey made us lobster and crab legs! We then left for our second dinner at the Webb's where the Loyde family was present. We had a blast!
Just for reference, we are watching "Meet the Mormons" as a zone at the building, so I'm a bit distracted writing this letter. . .
Our ward mission leader who actually just got called has been the source of great blessings. We are teaching a woman named Vanessa. Vanessa is currently living in her dad's house. Vanessa's dad was an extreme hoarder. You know that show "Hoarders"? Yeah. Picture that. We have been doing service for Vanessa at least twice a week since I've been here in Livermore. Because of the extreme hoarding, Vanessa doesn't have a job. She is left to cleaning the house with her father now in the hospital because he recently just had a heart attack and is now in a coma and can't speak! She has a lot of bills to pay.
Back to the ward mission leader. . . His family has read the book "The Christmas Jars." and because of that book, his family does a jar every year. Brother Bailey asked us who from our teaching pool would need this jar. We said Vanessa.
Vanessa called us the other day completely in awe, shock and amazement that someone left a jar (of money).
She said that she will keep the jar forever in remembrance of how good God is to her.
The Lord is merciful. He uses us his servants as his hands. We need to be working and willing to do all that he asks.
This is His work. We're just blessed to be a part of it.
Love, Sister Carter
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