Sobrecambio Coyhaique

Hey Family!

So yep first things first....Sobrecambio!!!

President called me monday in the night and told me I will be heading to coyhaique, which is crazy cause I already went south once to puerto natales but now I came down again. It was super spontaneous I wasnt expecting it at all. Its funny cause the sobrecambio couldnt happen until friday cause they had to buy the plane flight to coyhaique.

It was a bummer to leave the last sector cause we were starting to find some awesome people and I got along great with my companion but its all good haha you get used to leaving places on the mission and saying goodbye. To head to coyhaque one of the missionary marriage couples drove me to the airport in puerto montt, the wife of the couple was sick so she couldnt come but I went in car with the husband, it was sweet riding in a car I havent done that in the mission to travel. When we got the the airport he was super nice and bought me lunch there. Then I boarded the plane alone, since I was the only one going south I had to travel alone, ha that was pretty weird being alone, when I got to the airport in balmeseda ( a small city an hour away from cohyaique) I had no phone to call the other elders and there was no pay phones there, but I knew they would be coming, ha I got there and they still werent there, I waited about 2 hours there at the airport alone and they finally got there, I just read the scriptures so the spirit at least could be my companion;) haha

But yep my new companion is from st george Utah (a city close by their called washington but he just say st george. He is awesome and we are excited to work, right when I got there I was so sick of traveling that we left immediately I was so happy to get out in the open air and work, the first couple days we were already talking with everyone and it was awesome we found some people to teach and we have some awesome excitement. Coyhaique is incredible. I think its even more beautiful then puerto natales, its a smaller city, bigger then puerto natales but small, in the middle of the mountains. In each direction their are mountains close by with beautiful green hills as well, and the air is super fresh. I cant believe I have been so lucky to serve the lord in such a beautiful place. We live with 2 other missionaries and our house is nice actually, its a 2 story apartment and its clean so that was nice. I am slowly losing more and more things as a I go throughout the mission, everything is slowly wearing down but it will last:) (I hope). Im way stoked to get this zone going, we have some awesome ideas and excitement to get the zones excitement up, we have to travel far to do exchanges with the other missionaries of our zone, for example one other city in our zone is an our north from here, and the other city is puerto cisnes, which is like 3 hrs away, so we will have some fun times of travel, haha. But ill be sure to tell you more and show you more photos next week (on mondays now) haha.

Also my comp has the bands for p90x so we have been waking up at 6:40 instead of 7 and are doing the workouts he has the packet as well, and we have a plan to eat healthy so these next cambios should be good for my health, as well we will be finding some amazing people to accept the gospel, I am so excited to work here and get this place going. Our zone is working hard and Im excited to see how we can get this excitement even higher. Im so greatful to be a missionary and to invite others to come unto christ, he is perfect and every day I try more and more to be like him,

hope all is well! love you guys a ton.

Elder Carter

HEY HEY!!!

Hey Fam! So this week has been super awesome... lots of good things happened.

First we are continuing to find news! We are getting into a rythmn now and each week we are finding about 8 new people to teach and making plans to teach them the following, our sector is small but we have the mindset its possible and the past month it has been happening. We are very greatful for what the lord can do for us.

I went to a place called Entrelagos its about an hour a way from osorno for a exchange (intercambio) for the day, its a super beautiful place, the type of houses and farmer feel reminded me a lot of los muermos, but here its in between two lakes hence the name "between lakes" and its super beautiful, their mamita lives on a side of a cliff outlooking the lake and its super beautiful, in front of her house they had like 10 cows with a man watching over them, I was so bummed when I forgot to bring my camera haha. You could also see the Andes mountains it was way beautiful.

Coming back to our sector we had the chance to have some awesome lessons, its so sweet we have been able to work so much these past weeks and feel the spirit so strong,

We planned a mutual for the hombres jovenes, and the bishop asked if the mujeres jovenes could join in, we said it was fine as long as their was other leaders. We had it this friday, it went super well, we first talked about the questions of the soul that the book of mormon can answer, made goals of how we can make our home more peaceful and unified. Then we talked to our mamita and planned 3 healthy meals that we could teach the jovenes that they could cook. It went super well, one meal I liked a ton, I will definately cook it at home, its a tomato but hallowed out and you put tuna and mayo and the cut up tomatoes back in mixed up and eat it with lettuce, way sweet, but it was amazing because we had a great show up of investigators and menos activos come so we are excited to get the youth program as well as the other programs here improving.

I have really felt the presence of the spirit this week, theres no doubt that what we share every day is the truth. We still have yet to have someone that is progressing to the point of baptism but we know God will help us as we try are best. I love what you said dad, Its so true that part of  Great faith is expecting less of God and trusting him. I feel that the times I have grown most in my life and in my mission is when I felt I was on my own, alone, having to make a decision based on what I have learned in the past, without any further guidance from God. In this time of crisis, trusting God (trusting his promises, his teachings, etc) with a firm hope that all is well, has led me to a higher level of understanding.

As I have read the beginning of the book of Mormon once again Its such a comfort to know that God has made great promises to us. Lets remember these promises and the blessings that come, Christ and his teachings are truly the anchor to our faith, I hope we can always remember that as we apply the gospel in our lives we will find that happiness in this life and after, Many times in the book of mormon it refers to people having all sorts of trials and sadness but a joy that stays with them in all times. As we stay worthy of the spirit we can have this joy that exists in all moments of our lives. The joy of christ and his restored gospel.

" And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith."

-Alma 31:38

Awesome week, work is progressing here!!!

Hey family!

This week was amazing. Like I had said before we havent had too many people to teach in this sector and something super sweet is happening, since the start here we have ignored the hard parts of the sector and got to work with a lot of faith. This past weeks we have truly seen progress and miracles. As of now each day we are finding people and familys. We have increased our efforts with the members and now half of our lessons are with the members. The other day we knocked on a door and a lady answered and was one of the nicest ladies I have ever met. She was so receptive and told us how happy she was that we knocked her door and told us how much she needed this. I know without a doubt the lord prepared us to knock her door.

This Friday we had our council with president and something he said reminded me of a past experience. He said one of the biggest trials we have as missionaries is our attitude and our mindset. If we come to a sector where the work is dead and work as though its dead we wont find progress. I think my personal experience of that is when I was in puerto natales, We had no investigators and that moment the branch wasnt too strong. For that six months I was there I wanted so bad to leave it better. I promised the members that one day this branch would be full. Leaving puerto natales I left with some of the most amazing experiences of my life, gaining a testimony that a branch of 25 with few baptisms with the right mindset and action, that the sunday I left attended 44. And as I left I continued to hear miracles happening, baptisms passing after. I love working especially in places that truly need the mission work.

Another cool story.

In my last sector I constantly taught this one single mom and her daughter, she didnt understand anything, but at least we got her to pray, as we taught her more and more, she just wasnt getting it and refused to attend church cause of her baby. She was passing for hard times and we wanted her to assist so bad but never did, so... we stopped passing by, a month later when I came to my next sector I heard they began to teach her again, and 1 month later she got baptized, I couldnt believe it and it filled me with joy, God truly wanted this hermana to come closer to him, and was a great testimony builder that God is always helping people change and anyone ANYONE can change and come back to the gospel or start.

This has been a awesome week, we had a lot of time to work, we had some interesting lessons thats for sure, others spritual, others a little to old to understand, but I testify that God prepares people, he wants everyone to continue to change, repent and come closer, today we had a cool mutual with all the missionaries and one joven from the ward and the other thats an investigator, and tonight we are going to have a open house at the church with dessert after, everyone was invited to bring their BEST dessert, we will see what happens.

Love you guys a ton, take care this week, ha super hot here right now, gettin the nice missionary tan lines ;)

talk to you later!

Elder Carter

my comp knows how to make pizza so last week we made pizza! it was way good, dough and everything ha

baseball with the zone and our investigator and the son of the mamita

mmmmm right? haha

Buena la semanita...Feliz Año!

Hey family! Sounds like you guys had a great last couple weeks. So funny how its winter there and you are all going to the beach with tons of sun. Its still hot here but the last couple days its been raining more. For the transfers...me and my comp are still together which is sweet im stoked. We have been doing a lot of work here and we will be able to keep it going.

Transfers for us is always a crazy time in Osorno because everyone that travels has to go through osorno so it was a pretty crazy transfer day. We had to be in the terminal at 7:30 in the morning til 9 at night making sure all the missionarys travel fine. Oh man its so boring staying at the terminal ha there was a stand in front of the terminal that sold the normal fast food here (sopapillas con queso, completos, empanadas, mote con huesillo, etc) and I ate so many sopapillas, I think the two joys I have on the mission is eating and working and since we couldnt work eating was the only option haha. Luckily instead of eating junk food all the day as well the presidents wife called us and asked if we wanted some food and dropped us off some lasagna :) oh man it was amazing...haha oh man I sound like such a fatty. But yeah...as well the day b4 cambios was año nuevo, we worked normal but my companion was sick that day so we stayed in the house, I just cleaned up the apartment a bit. As well we met up with the stake president and he told us posiblemente un apostol will be coming here in febrero but not sure...oh how sweet would that be right?! ill fill you in on if that will happen.

For New years Eve we worked normal til 7 and had a dinner with our mamita, we ate lamb it was way good.... have you guys ever ate bbq lamb? its super popular here. and then had to be in the house at 10

For our zone now we have a ton of sister misionarys. Almost half of our zone is sisters its a big change from the beginning of my mission, but all of them are super excited and great missionarys as well as the elders, the new brazilian in our zone speaks spanish very well, he is from sao paulo, I asked him how he feels about not being in brasil during the world cup, ha knowing how much they love futbol their im sure that was a sacrifice.

Yesterday we were planing a division with 2 jovenes but one couldnt come so we just went with one together. It was such an amazing day, after having so many weird days of holidays and cambios we finally got to work all day:) And we had the chance to teach a good amount of people. One man said he would get baptized if he got an answer and said he would ask god with his family. We are stoked cause we are finally finding people in our sector. As well with our program we have of giving "mission calls" or more "duty calls" to the members is going great! the members are way excited and this next saturday we have our first activity for the program it will be a church tour and at the end it will be a Best Dessert contest where all will bring their best.

As well today we have a mutual with the jovenes and 3 of our investigators one adult and  2 jovenes that are going to come and we are going to play baseball, the bishop is excited as well to come and play, as well get to know our investigators.This cambio will be nice because this month is a schedule less crazy so we can work more and get our sector going.

But ya thats whats going down here, loving the mission, one new years resolution that I have is to really care for the people to listen even more to them, to dedicate my mission even more to the people here, the times I have felt the spirit more and enjoyed my mission most is one I have thought of others, truly having a concern for those around me (in my studys, in the street, etc.) Now I just gotta find new ways to do it. As well Im sure as I think more I can think of some new ones, ha not sure if new years resoluciones work like that but ill let ya knew what else comes to mind.

Love you guys a ton, Loving every day,

Chao!

Elder Carter

our christmas tree

tocando puro ranchera no mas haha