Hello from Idaho!: Missionary Work in a Small Town

Hello friends and family!

This week Sister Leach and I were able to visit a lot of people, but at the same time we faced a lot more rejection. There were so many less-active members who had no interest in the church, which saddens me. There were a few great highlight moments though!

~We taught the restoration to a guy on his from lawn sitting in camp chairs while he drank 2 beers and smoked 2 cigarettes. haha

~We stopped this old lady walking down the street who could even remember her name for a whole 20 seconds.

~We visited another old lady who is less-active who asked us about 5 times if we were LDS and she told us about 5 times how much her dogs love her.... Figured out that she had dementia pretty quick. haha

~We built an archway of antlers, kinda like at Jackson Hole, WY, but kinda not. The guy made a deal that we could teach him a lesson if we did it. He didn't think it would be possible for us to do with no wire or zip ties. (Part of the deal) While we were working, he drank a beer and chewed on a cigar.

~We picked potatoes in a field. Harvest season is real people, and I am officially in the land of potatoes.

~Our investigator Flo hit her year mark of being sober/clean so we had a party for her.

~Last week we set a goal to find a new YSA investigator within the week. Wednesday night at 8:40 we had 20 minutes left for the night. That would have been our 1 week mark of setting our goal and praying for it. We ran out of names to visit but a name came up--we contaced a referral, Andres, and he wants to continue meeting with us! God is a God of miracles. They happen.

Wasn't General Conference superb?! The 2 talks in particular that stood out to me were Elder Oaks's talk about missionary work and Elder Nelson about having joy in all circumstances. ALl the talks overall motivated me to be more than I am! I love conference!!

Ponderize: Moroni 7:46-48

46 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have not charity,ye are nothing, for charity never faileth.

Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—

47 But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed

of it at the last day,it shall be well with him.

48 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye

may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son,

Jesus Christ;

For district meeting, I gave a training on charity and love. I learned from it and it helped me to want to be more charitable. This scripture says without charity we are NOTHING. Nothing is pretty low. It might as well say, "Dust thou art if ye have not charity." This means having charity is pretty important. Verse 48 says we should ask for it. But asking for it isn't quite enough. We need to ACT! Do something. We need to make charity who we are. "Don't talk about it. Be about it." If without charity we are nothing, then with it, we are something. My final invitation is this: Be something. Be charity.

From Idaho to you,

XoXo

Sister Carling