SNOW!

Hey! So it snowed 2 days ago! and its nice and freezing. Im loving my snow coat its super confy. This week was a good week, some interesting things happened but we are excited for the work.

but thanks for all the letters sounds like all is going well. Hope all is well with Bishop tell him im praying for him. Thats crazy how many missionaries we have in our ward thats so awesome, were is Renzo going?

Oh if LANDON reads this tell him I saw Ellie Paterson in one of the videos of conference walking in temple square haha super funny seeing someone, also that one guy that sang really well in our first ward in byuidaho singing in the choir for a devotional CSI at byuidaho we watched.

haha and mom that song was pretty great for subaru, "sleepin all day and skypin all night, eat a couple sushi and were feeling alright..." haha good times tell kyler I said hi I havent had a chance to right letters weve been really busy.

For the work some sweet things have happened, one of our investigadores jocelyn we finally we are able to teach her again after a month because her baby was super sick, but we got to teach her, what was hard was her kids were upset because they wanted to go to a fair or something in centro but it was super hard to teach her as well when her baby keeps reaching under her shirt because she is hungry, BUT! super cool experience happened usually all chaos happens when we tell the first vision but this time as I began to tell it everyone became quiet and was listening, and the spirit was strong, but immediately when I ended they began again ha but at least we could have the spirit touch her, teaching with crazy kids is really hard, but we invited her to the family night that night and she went!!! with her kids, we had a member pick her up and it was a family night of service held by the relief society, they gave massages, painted nails, and did hair, (ha all of which we cant do BUT she loved it) and being a mom where her spouse is never there was good for her and got her confidence and excitement up of the church, Wasnt very spiritual but still good to get to know the members.

Its the anniversary of Puerto Natales right now so they are doing sooo many activities this month its crazy, and all are usually in our sector, theyve had a parade, a mini fair, a carnival, and a ton of concerts, its tought to find people when that happens cause everyone is at the activities.

One thing interesting that happened this week was it was later in the night and we had 30 min til we need to go to the house finishing a lesson and I felt like we should pass by to see how some member were doing they were having a bbq in front selling something similar to shish kabobs. But it then became an environment really dark, its interesting how as a missionary you can tell something isnt right or the spirit isnt somewhere. And her  grown sons began to talk to us, they were really drunk and were not saying stuff very nice. The members were reallly embarrassed. Then they began to fight eachother and they had to seperate them, we didnt stay long due to that but told them not to worry or feel embarrassed, they looked really sad, luckily we had time to pass by yesterday and share a scripture and make them a little more cheerful. Just a interesting story, reminded me of my last sector there was a lot of drunks there it was something on the daily basis ha.

Grandma thanks for the letter! Im always praying for you, thanks for your thoughts! Also Dalan as well, Those were some awesome pointers.

One thing I was thinking about that is interesting for the mission and learning and growing in journal is siempre God is giving is revelation when we are doing our part and we need to be ready to recieve it, I cant tell you how many times I have had trouble explaining a gospel principle and then at the randomest time I recieve the answer by a scripture or something someone says or even in the middle of the night. Their is something really special with the relation of prayer, scripture study and meditation (pondering), its the perfect recipe to grow and recieve revelation.

I cant really think of anything more to say, Im glad I write in my journal every day cause I forgot things really fast haha,

my boots are super awesome but Im scared I bought them to big cause my heal is dying (is that something that i just need to wear in?) hopefully that goes away.

Love you all,

chow chow Que les vaya muy BIEN!!!

Se que La Iglesia y el evangelio es la verdad y Es la fuente de nuestra Felicidad. Nos Vemos Hasta El Lunes!

Elder Carter

Great week, street dogs, lessons with milkshakes and yep!

Hey hey

Hows it going up there in the nice sunny side of the world?

It has been a great week, I have a lot of excitement about the work and we are working hard, Im really enjoying every moment even the hard ones, that helps keep the faith going. Its sweet to see progress and have times that humble us to grow as missionaries. Really looking for people to help them and show them this great blessing. Thanks for the letters I enjoyed reading them all, that looks like a sweet craft maker mom, we need someone like you in our branch to do all the activities and crafts.

Thanks for the advice kristy and dad, dad I really liked that part of the 6 moral foundations, I liked that it made me start thinking of new ways to contact. We were in a store today and they had gopros they are so sweet, blake have you filmed any thing cool lately with the gopro that one photo with the shark seal and sting ray was way sweet. Ha bet it was cool to see a seal with a shark in its mouth didnt know that happens, for us I think the most wildlife encounters we have is all the dogs in the streets, there a tons! Im accustomed to it but lately they have been following us, there was a little black dog with curly hair super ugly that was following us one day ALL DAY and other dogs began to follow it and at one point we had about 15 dogs following us at every door contact, ahhh I have patience with all the different types of people but the ugly street dogs will be my test of patience for the mission haha one german shepherd followed us all day and he was huge and whenever another dog tried to attack us he would attack it, it was nice but we didnt want to get part of trouble so we hid from it and an hour later found us... but yeah ill stop writing about the dogs they are taking over my letter now too haha.

but yeah this week was awesome, more then anything for one lesson in particular, we taught hernan and fani and one of their kids, every now and then we teach them with food thats gringo. This time was milkshakes. They liked that a lot, and what we taught was the plan of salvation but it was such sweet lesson of the plan of salvation because usually they are always saying something about their beliefs and not really accepting the lesson completely, but today after showing the plan and answering all of their doubts and concerns and questions. Their faces changed and they began to think, we testified of this plan and said it was from god and that we had no doubt. Then the dad said, this is either a plan of god or written by someone crazy and riduculously smart. We then testified that it was true and told them the answer to that question he had relies on their desire personally to know, and told them to really search for that by reading pondering and praying really really asking god for the answer. The spirit was super strong and even though it was a week pretty dang slow that one lesson was worth it all.

We also have been praying a lot for Alfonso our investigator right now he is having a trial right now with his family, appears his wife isnt likeing the excitement of the church, we are going to fast for his family and think of how we can handle the situation, we need to remember the respect of his wife at all times as we show the love and happiness that comes from the gospel, Alfonso is golden we just got to remind him that the darkness came after lehi ate the fruit and the importance to stay strong and stay firm in his faith.

But its been a good week, like you said kristy its all about the attitude and just loving the mission. Its all good ha, There is nothing to fear nor doubt when you know the truth and that God is on your side, When you began to think about your investigatores and really have a desire to just help and see the truth everything else just falls into place.

But yeah good stuff, we have plans to travel to Paines the national park next pday so we are excited for that. Its beautiful there so im stoked.

but yeah cant really think of much more, its still not snowing here but its cold, it should snow in the next few weeks, ha thanks for the photos of some friends everyone looks great, sweet to see elder farrow, and brent and the rest.

here was a photo we took today just us in centro with a street dog of course.

talk to ya later,

Elder Carter

ITS SNOWING! hey!

Hey family! sorry this letter isnt going to be too long, I printed out my letters so I can read them later but yeah it was awesome to see you all!

I was stoked to see all the family! Blake Erin, kristy, Dalan, kristys baby belly, Carter, Uncle Dan and Aunt Marie, Maren, and Grandma June. Ha I think I got everyone but yeah awesome to see you all. This morning we had to wake up at 5am to head for punta arenas and it was a nice 3hr bus ride, we are here for the conference of the zone, I got to buy a hat for warmth so that was nice. We are excited for the conference and also their was SNOW!!! haha it was pretty sweet, its starting to get really cold, I didnt bring much snow stuff and we are working in splits tonight for 3 hrs so hopefully we can enter a house to teach. It was so sweet to talk to you all and you all look like your doing great, im back to work loving every min. Its a animo booster to talk to your family and then you are all pumped to get to work, ha and dont worry im not trunky from the call. But yeah was a great day, HAPPY HAPPY MOTHERS DAY DE NUEVO MADRE!!!! TE AMO MUCHO! Ill talk to you guys next week, thanks for all the emails makes me feel all fuzzy inside! ha but no for reals.

for news of the work.... Our convert alfonso, his kids have asked him if they can get baptized so us teaching them english and getting them pumped about the gospel is working, this family is really special and can help the rama a ton we are way stoked, But yeah take care!!!

Chow

Elder Carter

another magical letter by Elder Carter

Hey family!

Happy Birthday Mom and Dad! hope it was a great one! This week was good, getting a lot colder thats for sure. Not sure when it will hit the cold cold because everyone says this is nothing still. There was a lot of snow in the mountains near us so that made the wind freezing.

I’m excited to see you guys Sunday!...we got permission to call you this week to make sure everything is good, but yeah try adding that hopefully it works and 5pm my time is perfect, are you sure with the time for you guys? because we just had a time change one hour im sure its fine though.

But yeah all is good, just working hard, enjoying the mission. We planned another sweet noche de hogar, we called it Quien quiere ser misionero (who wants to be a missionary) and it was kindve like who wants to be a millionaire. But the questions were based off of the folletos we give out and had them study. It was fun, The kids of Alfonso (our recent convert) came and loved it, one finally realized she can get baptized and the other asked us for a book of mormon so we gave him one with our testimonies in it. Super cool family im stoked for them.

We also taught another family and made banana bread with them and cookies from the states thanks for the recipes mom, was really good, they loved it, also taught them about faith and what it truly means. We hope they can come to church, We are really doing great with mapping our before our lessons what our investigatores really need and when we do that the lessons and the spirit is a lot stronger.

haha oh had to get my hair cut today at a salon and it was a lady and that was weird someone being able to touch your head that was a women. haha my comp laughed because I looked a little nervous during my hair cut, haha life of a missionary...

but yeah hmm dont have much more to tell you right now, just working hard, had a couple interesting lessons, and some awesome lessons as well, one old man right when we sat to teach him ran into his room and pulled out a poem he wrote about country life and the food they eat, and read us the whole thing, it had nice rythmn and put his heart in it so that was good just a little long and random.... haha gotta love the world and all the types of people.

But yeah just think of some things we can talk about and come with questions! excited to see you guys always fun,

Thought I sure a spiritual thought for fun,

One thing I was thinking about the other day when I had the oppurtunity to teach the atonement again for the gospel principles class in church was how cool it is that the plan of God is intended for us to grow everyday, I remember the first time I had to teach the atonement on the mission was hard and difficult to apply and everytime I need to teach and relate it to someone in a lesson it gets clearer and clearer and I find better ways or different ways to explain things, One thing that we can all remember is that the lord wants us to suceed and to progress and become like him and as imperfect as we are, if we accept his will and live his teachings, when we want to improve our lives or an attribute or skill we can do it, because that is what his merciful plan is all about.

But YEPPP good stuff good stuff gotta love his plan for us. Im here cause I know he wants all of his kids to come to a knowledge of this great plan and to recieve all the blessings that he has.

But sweett....

stoked to see you guys, Sunday 5pm my time... bring some nice beautiful sonrisas haha

Chow!

Elder Carter