¡¡¡HEY!!!

Hey Hey! So this week was really awesome. Im really loving the work and the mission. Thanks for the photos of the funeral, still hasnt really sunk in dont have time to think about other things during the week until email time, glad it went well and the family all got to be there and remember how great our grandpa was. Looks like it went really well, tell grandma I love her tons. For this week some sweet things happened... The new elder of the other companionship is new, fresh of the mission and doesnt understand a thing, it was the first time on the mission where I saw my progression with my spanish, always with spanish you are looking at the things you dont know and need to work on and never really look back and say to yourself whoa I have learned a lot, it was a chance to look back and remember that I was in the same position 6 months ago. And that helped me remember how real it is that God is helping us learn the language and that with patience, humility, diligence and a lot of other stuff you can learn a language. The trick now is to remember I still have a lot a lot to still learn and to never be satisfied with the language, Ive got a ways to go forsure. But the new elder is a chill guy from utah that has a desire. We started this week reading the scriptures to one of the members in our ward, he is a old blind man, the other companiorismo was reading to him before but they cant know because he is in training, so we do it now, it is pretty sweet, Also started a English Class last week and we are slowly having more and more people coming, ha its all moms that have little kids so they can get good grades on their tests, they are super excited about this class because they have no idea about english and the class is free, its funny cause the moms are wayyy more excited about the english then their kids, we are excited because we are going to start teaching one of the moms and her kid and tutor her after in english es super buena a ella. Also for the ward noche de hogar (family night) this week it was a Fiesta de Disfraces (costumes), it was super sweet for the animo of the branch. My companion dressed as Moises and a I dressed up as a Guaso (chilean cowboy), they had a voting for the best costume at the end and I won I was pretty stoked, it was probably because they asked me to attempt the cueca which is the countries dance and a gringo dancing the cueca is pretty mind blowing ha. Ha but no it was a great week of the work, kinda slow of work but its just the show your faith time. We had some sweet lessons this week though, one of which was with Hernan y Fani and her kids wanted to listen again!!! we prepared a sweet lesson about desires and explained what our desire is for our lives, and then talked about gods desire for us (Moises 1:39) and then talked about how if our desires are according to Gods (to have the vida eterna and a family of happiness forever) he will help us accomplish them but we need to follow the 3 Ds (deseo, decision, determinacion) Desire, decision, and determination. And we talked about how they have a desire, now they need to make the decision by setting goals and adjusting their lifestyle so they can complete with their decision and then continue diligently with hope and faith. At the end we invited them to church but they said no, we arent sure why they dont like the church but we are going to find a way to get them motivated. This upcoming week we are going to teach them how to make banana bread, they said they were going to buy all the ingredients and we were thinking maybe we could give them all the ingredients and then arrive with the last ingredient, and as we are making we are going to tell them ohhh no we forgot the last ingredient and then we can give it to them and relate that to finding an answer to the book of mormon, if they pray and read the book of mormon it will help them find an answer but if they dont go to church (doing all they can do to find the answer, its not going to come out completeley perfect and clear if they dont do all the ways to find the answer) like the banana bread tiene que tener toda de las cosas. But working hard right now Im reading a lot in the new testament with the book of mormon and its sweet to see how the organization and teachings are the same and its so much easier to understand, The new testament is where the life of christ is at and then to hear the powerful testimony of King benjamin and others in the book of mormon strengthens that testimony, then if you want to get even crazier with testimony buliding you can read some discursos of the apostles testimonies of Christ from conference. Other than that great week, its starting to get colder and colder, more then anything the wind kills because we are surrounded by mountains and they are starting to have snow and the wind is ice cold, more then anything in the night though its starting to frost. But yeah love you guys, say hi to all my friends I need to write people but knowing it takes 2 months to get there and 2 months to get back here at the least doesnt get me to inspired ha but ill try to have more ganas to right people. but through email I say hey to whoever read this haha could just be my mom and dad;) ohhh yeah! reminder! for mothers day we will be skypeing again and that is coming up in a couple weeks and we will be skypeing 12 of May! so put that in your calendars and look up the time difference I forgot, Que esten bien esta semana! Elder Carter one photo is of almuerzo with an ugly lama sweater and the other is me and my comp Elder Barrientos and our disfraces

Families are Forever

Hey family and friends, This week was a difficult but testimony builder. The news of grandpa was hard for me to here but the spirit and the work keeps you busy. I wish I could be there with all of you to remember what a great man, grandpa, servant of the lord, father, great grandfather, and friend Grandpa Del was, but I know being here is where I need to be right now and thats what Grandpa would want.

With this news I thought I could explain some testimony and experiencess I have had this week. The day b4 president rappleye called me por telefone, I was praying in my bed, and I began to ask God to bless grandpa that he could be comforted and healed, but after asking to be healed the spirit told me to not for ask that, instead I felt impressed to ask that he could be comforted and filled by the spirit and whatever was to happen that it could be the will of the lord. I didnt want to say that in my prayer but guided by the spirit I couldnt, I didnt think anything of it, but in the back of my head I knew what it was leading to, As I thought about that it brought me to think of a talk by Elder Bednar when he gave a blessing to someone that had cancer that just recently got married with a family, in that experience he said in the prayer that he could have the faith to not be healed, that talk touched me a ton and began to remember something very profound, we need to live our lives serving the lord and being good people, being accepting the lords will, and I can testify to you that grandpa was one of the great examples to us that was ready to take the next step to eternal life.

The next day we went into a house of one of our investigators, it was weird because usually when we teach this family we just teach the parents but their 2 kids sat in so we took advantage of this, we told them we were going to have a family night, where each person gets 3 papers that we had written questions such as your favorite christmas, or favorite vacation with the family, (experiences with the family) before starting we got a call from president and answered in front of them because that always means something urgent or important, it was during cambios so I just thought that my comp was going to become a leader or something, and gave it to me, I was confused and didnt know what to think, I answered as I walked to the kitchen of the families house and said hollaaa presidente como esta? he responded happy and I wondered what he had to tell me, then he took a deep breath and got serious I wasnt sure what happened, he then asked where I was and I told him we were teaching a investigator family how to do a noche de hogar, and we were going to teach them that families can be together forever, he said ah yeah thats sounds great, then took a another deep breath, and told me the news about grandpa, I was pretty shocked and caught off guard, then he helped reminding me of the great plan of happiness and also told me he called earlier in the day so I could be busy doing other things to not think about it to much, after hanging up my eyes began to get watery, I went to sit down and the could tell I was a little sad but didnt ask, still Elder Barrientos didnt know, he said the prayer and during the prayer I began to cry, which I thought in my mind, no no no I cant cry I have to stay strong and keep the atmosphere happy. after the prayer I was teary eyed and the dad put his arm on my leg and asked if I was ok and what happened, I just then said oh things are ok can I just use the bathroom really quick. And in the bathroom I cried more, I was super embarrassed but couldnt help it, it was the first time I cried in front of investigators as well as a companion. I cleaned myself up and said a prayer asking that I could have the strength to finish up the lesson with happiness and felt grandpas spirit in that room. I left the bathroom and put on a smile, they were busy doing the activity so they didnt ask what happened and for my turn of my favorite christmas I told them about the christmas we spent in draper at grandma and grandpas house when we woke up and outside was full of snow and we made an igloo, I got emotional there but held it in, that lesson the spirit was very strong and at the end we both testified that our families can be together forever and these traditions will always be with us forever, as well as our families. I never told them what happened but when I testified that we really will live with our families after this life I really meant it, I know without a doubt that we will see grandpa again and live with all our family again. Being a missionary your schedule is busy and you dont have much time to think, the busy schedule and the spirit helped me focus on the work and get things done, one thing I learned the most about the mission is the importance of positivety, and making the most out of what comes your way and finding something to enjoy or to learn from, also to give all to the lord and he will help you understand our purpose here on the Earth, I have been praying a lot for grandma and mom and the rest of the family and Im so greatful for our family, I hope the funeral can be a great spiritual experience and that it can be a time to remember how great the plan of salvation is and also remember how great a man grandpa was, from fishing to buying him chocolate candies with the white sprinkles every christmas he had a great impact on my life and the plan of salvation helps us know that we can have this joy forever. thanks for the photos and all.

Other than that it has been a great week of the mission, we have started clases of ingles here in natales and play ping pong with the son of Alfonso our recent convert, his son isnt a member and this will help him have a better connection to the church and feel more comfortbale, after teaching him the gospels principal class he asked me for a book of mormon and has a lot more interest, we are really excited to work more with his family, also for cambios me and elder barrientos are staying together another cambio here in puerto natales so we are excited to work together some more, and to learn more spanish and how to be the best missionaries we can be.

Today we left to The milodon Cave (La Cuava del Milodon) it was super sweet Ill post some pictures for you, I think im getting chubbier in the face =( haha our mamita gives us sooooo much food and its really good, but i just hope I dont get too bad, ha trying my hardest to mantain.

Love you so much
Take care this week
Elder Carter

Buenas!

Hey there!
Ahh shoota que paso con su auto hermanito? ha that stinks hope all goes well with the repair blake, Im going to keep grandpa in my prayers hope all is well with him, tell him I said I love him tons. Also got the card mom thanks so much! The only problem I tried to take money out today, I tried twice and it didnt let me, so I didnt try a third, I tried taking out 45 mil then 40 which is (80$US) I dont know why its not working? maybe you can talk to the bank or something and ask whats going on and maybe let them know that Im here in chile as well maybe there is a money limit still? just dont want them to cancel the card again ha. Im trying to take it out of savings is that right? because there are 3 I can choose from, credit, savings, and checkings.
This week was a sweet week for the work, had the chance to teach lots of lessons and see some good progression with our investigators. We have also had some interesting lessons as well, Ill fill you in on both.
First it was our turn to think of the idea for the family night for the branch, I said I could think of something for the lesson and it turned out really cool. We started out with explaining the difference between the light of christ and the gift of the holy ghost. Then we did an activity. We put everyone in one room, and shut off all the lights of the capilla, and put 8 papers with the letters A to H, and split them into 3 groups, we gave each group a small flashlight and put some cloth over it so it could barely shine light. And told them this is their light of christ, that will help them to find the signs, what they need to do is to look for each sign and go in alphabetical order, until that last sign. Each group went one at a time, each having a little kid leading the group. The end was the room that has the baptismal font. After all were done we gathered together again and talked about how it went, they said it was hard because there wasnt much light and it took some time, then we talked about what happens when we have the gift of the spirit after baptism, and turned on all the lights and everything was clear. We explained that with the gift of the holy ghost we are promised to have clarity and the oppurtunity to have that light in our lives always. Then we shut off some lights slowly explaining that this light in our lives can dimmer or diminish if we cease to live the commandments, go to church, pray and los demas. It was an awesome way to teach them the difference. We also realy talked it up handing out little papers to remind them to come and had a great show up. our recent convert and his kids got to come and it was their first family night and they loved it, we are excited to let them know that they can do this every week with their kids.
Also we have been teaching a mother that has 3 kids, her partner she lives with is never at the house always gone the whole month then comes home for a couple days. We invited her at church and she came with her 3 kids! we were so stoked, all the branch was super nice, I sat next to her and her family. Her kids began to be superrr rowdy, especially her 1 and a half year old, I began to do all I could do to keep as much silence, the mom began to be super embarrassed having her kids be rowdy we told her not to worry and I said I was much worse when I was little. ha but her kid kept calling me papa and that was uncomfortable, I would just put my watch in front of her and try to get her to get that idea out of her head.
Some lessons that happened this week that were interesting was one with a blind old man, he was super angry, weve passed by before and when we asked how he was he just says "I cant see! how do you think things are going!!!" he let us teach him once but he didnt really want to listen, maybe down the line he will, there is an old man in our ward that always blesses the sacrament its pretty sweet, super happy old man too. Some people we teach sometimes just like asking questions about where we live and want to here english, haha but yeah
Other then that I cant really think of anything more, its getting colder everyday, ha I need to buy some gloves soon. I think it will snow next month, more then anything I heard it is just cold and a lot of Icy roads but everyone says something different. but yepp all is well just chillin in chile, ha loving the work of the lord
Chow chow,
Elder Carter

Hey! (April 8, 2013)

Hey family!

Sounds like you had a sweet week. It was an awesome week especially because of conference, ahhh sooo sweet its the best thing ever. Better then Jamba Juice and a California Burrito at the beach haha whoa right... yep that much , we had the chance to watch all sessions in english in the secretaries room of the capilla, so that was pretty nice, ha its fun to hear english.

Kristy and Dalan I was trying to get inspired for names for the baby...and thought I got some good ones after long meditation....hope you like the latin flavor of the names

Bernadita

Ulga

Rosalina

Natalina (a  women born in natales)

Ahh yeah if those names dont float your boat Ill try again this week,

favorite talks had to be the prophet with obedience, and holland, and l tom parry he got pretty intense ha

but yeah has been a pretty sweet week, its started to get cold! more then anything the wind is what kills, ha and its not even winter yet, they are saying it starts out freezing rain then changes to snow in about a month or 2? not sure, but I think I will know why they have a brand named after this region. One thing I really want to do after this mission is travel to all these islands down here that extend past this port, I heard they are super beautiful.

But for the work it was an awesome week of growing spiritually, We have had some pretty rough days full of pure contacting and not much lessons, but we had anaylzed what we could do to share the gospel in as many ways as possible and are doing other things. One of which I felt prompted to fast at the beginning of this week and the day I was fasting its was tough every person was super mean we contacted, actually one man tried to attack me haha he was old and a little cranky and he wanted nothing, so I tried to say oh...well have a good day, and I shouldve just said nothing cause he took it sarcastically and came rushing at us, luckily he stopped at his gate, but it was just so interesting how there was a lot of stuff to bring down animo but we just stayed positive. Its fun to say in words "the trial of your faith brings miracles" but to be part of that "trial" is a lot less fun and discouraging then it sounds. What I learned so much on the mission is we will all have trials and think we are prepared for them but we will be hit blindsided at times with so much emotion and heartache. The fact that we arent prepared for them doesnt mean we dont have the way out, I can testify that our savior jesus christ is the way out and if we put our faith in him and his atonement every trial that we experience in our lives we can get out of, the talk of Elder Holland hit me deeply when you talked about the power of faith in times of trial, saying that What we know will always trump what we do not know, and what we know Always is that our lord jesus christ is the way to peace, growth, and eternal happiness.

The day after that fast we remembered one of the more responsive investigatores we had, we knocked on his door several times and couldnt reach him, finally he told us to enter, and he was very interested to ask questions and at first tried to catch us off guard and get us stuttoring, he had a lot of thoughts and strong feelings for his family and you could tell he was just skeptical of all the religions and the confusion in the world, awesome guy that had a great humor as well, after getting to know him he asked a question about why bad things happen and why people suffer, I had an awesome oppurtunity to realistically relate the great plan of salvation to his question and testify to him that if we can understand this plan all questions of the soul will be answered. He realized we werent there to be burdensome nor tell him what he was doing wrong, nor there to just tell our message so he would get baptized, He realized this plan had actually touched our lives and he agreed to learn more. But with the experiences we have on the mission are tough sometimes but siempre the experiences like that outweigh the hard times, usually not in number but in the quality.

But I gained a lot from this conference and loved it a ton, ha so much stuff to gain from, excited to print them out and study more.

haha loved that story of Brad and tell Fred that is super sweet, that is crazy I didnt know about that! he willll have to send me some pictures! haha now that brads part of the cougar vip dog tag club he can probally get us eternal passes to the games;) bummer they lost

ha mom to answer your question my clothes are holding up ive had to sew a couple pants with some nice rips, and one of my shirts ripped from barbed wire but other then that all is good,

thanks for the recetas kristy ill have to try them,

idk if any of you have heard of mate? Its superr popular here everyone drinks it for every meal

But yeah sweet week, take care this week, tell grandma and grandpa I said hi,

see ya later,

Elder Carter

Hola como estan mis amores... haha (family and friends) (photos)

hey hey

looks like you had a good easter! poor carter only had teddy grahams...haha thanks for the photos (instagram no? how hip you all are... This week was sweet, Easter in spanish is called La Pascua, and they celebrate the semana santa (holy week) the last week of the lords life here on the earth. Thought that was interesting, but yeah for easter we had the oppurtunity to do some sweet mission work in celebration;) ha but was a good day, for church I was asked to teach the priesthood class of the restoration, it went pretty well ha its funny cause I was trying to find a awesome way to teach it and then I realized the atonement is one of the main lessons we teach people every day, but I always like to be creative and have different ways to learn and teach it.

Also the primary had some nice candy bags and we got some of that so we were stoked haha, but yeah good day alfonso recieved the aaronic priesthood so that was cool. Also had found an awesome lady and her kids and we were going to pick them up to go to church but her son had been sick and has a fever now so that was too bad.

So at the beginning of this week ( miercoles) we went to punta arenas (3 hours away) for our interviews. We bought tickets to ride in a bus with 2 stories so that was fun because we were in the very front of the 2nd story so we got a sweet view of the road and sea and stuff. But interviews are always sweet, also got to go to zona franca where there are a lot of stores that import goods from other countries for cheap. but yeah cool stuff, it was a nice 6hr round trip haha.

ha I liked your idea with the whisks, we didnt do anything for tradition, some people do things like that but its rare and when they do its influence from gringo tradition ha they laugh at our traditions cause they have nothing to do with anything. But hey coloring eggs are sweet.

For our family night of the ward we watched como hallar fe en jesus cristo. and then after we played a game that was pretty funny called pobrecito mi gatitito (poor little kitty) where one person acts like a cat and tries to make the people sitting in the circle laugh, haha so great a game, unless you have to be the little kitty, I had to be it a lot because watching your 70 year old president acting like a poor little kitty is hard to hold in.

We have been working really hard though, im starting to notice some spanish errors that im trying to shake off like saying "or"  en vez de "o" or saying um or como a lot. It isnt like english, people in english can say that and get away with it, but in spanish they get really confused when you say repeated words like como or um or ughh, like piano, if you practice something to many times wrong its hard to adjust, so luckily my comp helped me notice some things so I can talk more clearer.

It has been a lot of contacting this week, we are having a lot of days of 3-9:30pm straight contacting but we have awesome attitudes and are just making our contacts quality and just loving the people. We know the lord has people being prepared for us so we are happy and are going to just keep working.

The food here is a little different, well for us its amazing ha, our mamita cooks very well, pastas, pizza, soup (always before the meal, meat with rice or noodles, chicken nuggets, and other stuff. Its really good, our mamita is known throughout the mission ha we eat really well here (sometimes too well). she also made us pancakes with manjar and syrup 2 nights in a row friday and saturday so that was pretty sweet.

Thanks for all the recipes im excited to try to make them, hopefully I can find the ingredients, are there any others that dont take much ingredients, money is also hard to accomplish some of these haha.

hmm... but yeah all is well, glad you all had an awesome week, Christmas is coming up this week im soooooo stoked!!!! ha I mean general conference, but thats christmas for a missionary soooo excited. There is a sweet scripture that talks about when we listen to the prophets our faith is build and they can give us unshakeable testimonies so that is pretty sweet Im pretty sure its in Jacob 2:10 but I really dont know for sure, maybe just read all of jacob or something and youll find it. but yeah this conference will be in spanish which is cool, I like listening to their real voices better but its cool to watch it in spanish as well.

ha but yeah all is good! thanks for the pedigree stuff! thats interesting! what about moms side?

Les Amo mucho, que les valle muy bien!

Con Cariño,

Elder Carter

here is some photos of puerto natales,

The statue is of a milodon, it is an extinct animal here in this region (patagonia) ha and Im preaching to it, but the milodon is super popular here its funny,

and the hand thing was a cool statue thing at the entrance of the city.