Sunday 28 February 2016

A Transfer!

February 22, 2016

Villa Ramallo Missionaries
Hey guys!!

Sorry about last week's letter. I really don't know what happened to the letter and why you didn't get it! 

It's been a good week! It was my last week in Villa Ramallo!! I was really sad to leave! I was praying that I would be able to stay there! I really did enjoy my time there and grew to love the people! We had tons of pretty awesome people that I really wanted to stay and work with! It's alright though! On sunday we went over to Luis and Daniela's house to stay good bye! Well, they were waiting for us with an asado!! It was pretty awesome! The thing was that it had rained almost all week so Luis didn't have to much work, yet they found some money in order to buy us a pretty expensive meal!! It was pretty fun!! They are definitely people that I want to come back and visit! At the end of our awesome dinner, they asked me to baptize her after they get married. I was pretty excited about that! I already asked president if I could come back for the baptism and he said yes! So, I am looking forward to that!  I also said goodbye to Betty and Santos and that was a sad goodbye as well! It wasn't as sad as saying bye to Daniela and Luis but it was still pretty sad! it has been  my only area where I have wanted to stay more time. It's alright!!

I was transferred to Rosario! My new comp is...... ELDER BLUTH!!! Again - haha!!!!! ! It will be really good!!!!! I am really excited! It will be an awesome transfer!  

Thinking back on my time in Villa Ramallo I realize I learned alot! The biggest thing that I learned was the importance of a good companionship. You cannot do this work alone. It is so important To love your comp and really enjoy your time where you are. It was a really good thing to realize! I think loving those you are with and enjoying where you are will get you further in life as well! When you can learn to enjoy certain situations and get a long with certain people then it makes everything better.

Elder Magyb has been having some problems with his knee so we have been in the pension for a couple of days with his resting his knee. I hope it gets better! I enjoyed my time with him!

I am excited to be in Rosario. My p day got changed this week and I don't have a ton of time! I hope next week I will have more time!!

I love you guys!!

Elder Carter
With Elder Bluth - AGAIN!!!!!!

Chillin' with a bird on my shoulder!
Good times with Elder Magby!

A Great Sunday!!

February 15, 2016

Hey guys! This week has been really good!! It's been hot but it's been really good!

Yesterday we had a ton of people at church! There were lots of investigators there, which was awesome!! It was pretty cool! I have noticed that when we have lots of our investigators at church on Sunday, then it feels like it has been a good week! On the other hand, when they don't come, it feels kind of crappy.  I think that is because If people are not coming to church, then they are not progressing and if they are not progressing, then it is not a good thing! So all in all it was pretty sweet to see so many people come to church! Its nice to see some results from a week of hard work!! It's really cool to be a part of it and feel the excitment of someone coming to church! You work all week to try and make it so people can come to church. You work through the sun, tired feet, hunger, and thirst to bring people closer to Christ by coming to church and getting baptized. The happiness I feel when people I have come to love are progressing, is a feeling that cannot be bought nor given! Its pretty cool! So, yesterday was such a great day! 

The hermanas in our district brought one of their to church as well yesterday.  Turns out this guy is from CANADA!!! Pretty crazy, huh?! Well, I guess he works here for 6 months and then lives in Toronto for 6 months! Hahaha- I don't know what he would be do doing here in the small town of Ramallo,  but it was funy! He was actually born in Victoria and has been doing this for more than 10 years. Well, he showed up hung over from the night before. I was sitting by him trying to help him out but he was falling asleep on my shoulder. He kind of smelled pretty bad! I'll give him props though, since it took to courage to come to church drunk! But hey, the church is a hosptial for the sinners so i guess it's the best place that he could have been! Prettty funny though! I felt bad for the hermanas who had to sit by him because I  was dying!  Anyways after talking with him for a couple minutes I realized that his Spanish was really not that good! He knew the bare minimum to get by! He really had trouble communicating. He could understand english 10 times better. I was pretty surprised because we have only been living here for less than 2 years and this guy has been doing this for over 10 years and some how our spanish was waaaay better than his! Then I realized that's where the gift of tongues plays a pretty big role for us! It was crazy to think about it and  I think I have given myself too much credit when it really has been the gift of tongues from Heavenly Father. Anyways, the hermanas aren't going to teach him because one of the hermanas is  latina and he wants to be taught in english so that wouldn't be very fair for the Hermana! So we are going to teach him! It will be coolant I am looking forward to him getting baptized!!!!! After church we went over and made tacos with the other elders! Man it was good! haha

Our investigators, Betty and Santos are doing awesome! Betty has been trying really hard to get her divorce with her ex husband going. She needs this before she can marry Santos. She and Santos have been living together for 33 years!!! They never even thought of getting married. ! Anyways, now they want to married because they want to get baptized!! So awesome!! So betty has been trying all month to try and find her x husband in order to go to the judge and get the request for divorce approved. She has had no luck and was starting to get down on herself!  One day she felt that she needed to go buy food at a different store than the store that she normally does her shopping at. So, she went there and found her x husband!! Today or tomorrow they are going to go talk to the judge and then Betty and Santos are going to get married!  I am pretty excited! Even though I might not be there,  I am so happy for them!

Daniela and Luis are going to get married the 26 of feb!! We are going to do the baptism at 6 and then the wedding celebration at 8!! (They will sign the papers at 12). We are pretty excited! We have had a few hiccups along the way with them but we are pretty pumped that they are going through with it all! It will be a pretty awesome day! I am excited for them!!

Anways thats all! I am doing good!

Next week is transfers!
I love you guys

Elder Carter
Betty and Santos

Getting ready to "mow the lawn"

Armed and dangerous!
Daniella


On the mend!

February 8, 2016

Hey guys! 

My toe feels better so we have been walking good this week! It feels alot better not having my nail digging into my toe every time I step! So thats good! 

This week we have spent a lot of time in San Nicolas! We had divisions on Tuesday and then on Thursday Elder Magby had to go to Rosario to do some paper work! So we basically spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday in San Nicolas! SO, all in all we have spent alot of time outside our area! I really like one of the Elders though! Elder Aubrey is super cool and I can't wait to hangout with him after the mission! He is the same elder who came with me for an ingrown toenail surgery. He is super awesome! I also got to stay with Elder Curtis who is a friend of Steven and Triton, which was really cool! The down fall with staying with him was that their apartment does not have air conditioning...like most of the pensions in the mission! Its too bad but it's whatever! Haha - so that night I was dying!!!!  They only had 1 fan that worked which made it even worse!! Hahaha! I remember waking up a couple times at night feeling like I had just gotten out of the shower because it was so hot! I had a hard time falling back alseep because I  had to lay my head on a wet puddle on my bed! Pretty gross! It probably didn't help that my stomach wasn't feeling that good! There is not a worse feeling than waking up in the middle of the night, hot, sweaty and feeling like you need to throw up! Haha - it went away after I threw up, so that was cool! I also had a little bit of the chills afterwards which was really nice since it was so hot! Other than that I really enjoyed my time with Elder Curtis! 

When we were in San Nicolas we were asked to do a service for some investigators that the other elders had! This family had barely anything. They live in a tin house. Well, they needed their grass to be cut and missionaries do this for free!!! So, we showed up and we were given 4 shovels and told to cut waist high grass. Haha, man in the heat it was pretty bad! I did not like it that much! The ground was super hard as well so it hurt your hands pretty good! It was a good opportunity to serve though!! It took us a little more than 4 hours to do it all! I had a couple blisters on my hands and so did all the other elders!! BUT afterwards we went to a members house and I had some of the best empanadas that I have ever had! It was pretty awesome! It made it all worth it!!

Yesterday after church we were invited by a family to go over and eat asado (or bbq). We accepted! The thing was that this family are not members, nor are they menos activos nor are they investigators! Haha-they had been investigators a while back but had said that they did not want much to do with the church! it was too bad but during the time  we were teaching them a little bit, we were able to develop a relationship with them which was pretty sweet! They became almost like friends! So they had invited us to go over and eat an asado! They are expensive and you usually eat in on special occasions. It's a nicer meal here! Anyways, they had invited us and we went over and ate a great asado!  They are just good people who want to do nice things! I wish they could have accepted the gospel but oh well! It was fun though! 

The other day I was reading in Alma 4 and it was pretty cool to learn from it! The people here are really sensitive to things. Its really good and kind of annoying at the same time! They are always really affected when they feel the sprit and they seem to be able to feel and notice it pretty quickly! It seems that our visits help them at ton as well! It just seems like they can recognize the spirit faster. At least faster than I can! But it is also a little annoying because when something is said that they don't like, it seems to affect them a little more than normal as well. There is a lot of gossip and stuff that goes around. When they get offened it really hurts and they often don't come to church anymore. I was reading in Alma 4 where is talks about how there was a lot of pride in the church and that the people IN the church who had lots of pride were leading those were were NOT in the church to be "inoculated!" They were being a bad example for those who were not members and in the end they were leading them to destruction. BUT it says that amongst all of that there were some who were still humble and did what they could for others. They didn't care what people were saying or doing. They were just concered about their own actions and did what they could! I think its a great example for us because lots of people are going to say and do things that they should not, but we need to choose to overcome that and be converted to JESUS. It is good stuff!

Anyways, that's been my week! My knee is feeling a little bit better, so that's awesome!

Thanks for everything! 

Love you!
Elder Carter
Post surgery!


Friday 5 February 2016

Surgery - again!

February 2, 2016

Hey guys!

This week went well! Actually, to be honest, it was pretty slow!

So, I forgot to tell you that I had another ingrown toe nail this week! Hahaha-I have had so many it's not really a big deal anymore! I called Hermana Zanni and now they have found a really good place that does it fast and good! Out of the five times I have gone, this time has been the best for sure!! It had really been bothering me alot! So,I  decided to call! Anyways, she got me in that same Friday! The last time I had gone in for surgery, I went with one of my good friends out here on the mish who had to get the same surgery. Well, this same elder (Elder Aubrey) got another in grown toenail as well!! Haha-so we went together again! It was pretty fun actually! We had to travel pretty far, it took like 2 hours to get there! Once we got there, the doctor looked at us right away! He was a super good doctor! Out of the 5 ingrown toe nail surgeries, this one has been the best!!  He has been the only doctor that put enough freezing in my toe. Normally the doctor puts freezing and then starts hacking at my toe while I can still feel it. This guy put enough in so I didn't have that problem which was pretty nice!!! Haha- I didn't have to go through the pain!! Anyways, he did it really quick and then showed me the nail. It looked like it was straight and then had a massive edge that was growing into my toe!! It was kind of gross! Afterwards, we hopped over to Grido (an ice cream place) so that it could help with the pain. Even though the pain wasn't anything at all!! So, the last couple of days I have been relaxing with Elder Aubrey and it's been pretty boring! It was fun to be with him, but boring because all we did was stay in pension and I prefer working. But it was super sweet cause we are really tight so it was really fun to talk to! We ate some really good food too,so that was fun! I am excited to get back to working today!!

On Sunday I was sitting back watching the ward and I was thinking how awesome they all are! Some of them are a little weird, but I have grown to love them! When I got here in Ramallo, I didn't really like them. Well ,I mean I liked them, but I didn't love them yet. As I have been able to work with them I have learned how awesome they are! It's pretty amazing! I think I judge people too hard sometimes! But these people are super awesome and am very grateful  to serve amongst them and learn from them!

This week I was reading in Mosiah 28. At the begining of the chapter, it talks about the sons of Mosiah and how they wanted to share the gospel so bad that they hated even the thought that someone might not have the chance to live with God. I was thinking alot about that and wondering how I can obtain that attitude because I do not have it to that same degree yet. I LOVE my mission but I am still far from the sons of Mosiah. I was trying to think, how can I get there? what do I need to do to be able to have those desires?  Then I was thinking about what had happened right before they had such strong desire to preach the gospel. They had used the atonement of Jesus Christ to be forgiven of their sins. the way its suppose to be used. I am sure they applied it every day in their lives. I think that I need to strive to do that better so that I can have more desires to share the gospel. The more you use the atonement the more desires you will have to share the gospel! I have a long way to go but that was really cool for me!

This week had been good! We had 5 investigators at church yesterday! That was awesome! I am doing well! I am working hard (maybe not so much this week) and eating good! My knee is hurting me a little bit, so please pray for it! 

Thanks!!!
I love you guys!!

Elder Carter


I love you guys!
Elder Car
Baking cookies

Caroling at the Senior's Center

My great zone!!

Caroling!

More caroling

Getting crafty!

With Presidente and Hermana Zanni

Good times!!