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

We built that!

We knocked on the door of this pyramid house...No one answered.

It's potato season.

I Like Your Spider!

Hello family and friends!!

Last P-day was super fun! We went through a Korn (yes, Korn) maze, slid down big slides, and rode a zipline!  It was super exciting. This area is different because we have to drive so far (sometimes 30 minutes) to find people's houses and most of the time, it seems like no one is ever home!! I don't mind the driving though because it's all beautiful farm land and sometimes dirt roads.  This weekend was quite adventurous because it rained and rained and rained and the wind blew, and it was cold.  The rain resulted in mud.  That makes for much fun while driving. :)

One morning we mowed a lawn and it was overcast and breezy the whole time.  Perfect weather!! It was fun to teach Sister Leach how to mow a lawn--it was her first time.

We knocked on a door of a less-active lady on the ward list.  Initially she didn't want anything to do with us, and was ready to close to the door.  Sister Leach complimented the spider decoration on her door then the lady said, "want to see the real ones? Come on in."  She showed us her tarantulas! She prolly had half a dozen or more...I thought it was awesome.  Sister Leach did not. haha  I even held one!! So cool.  Funny thing is that this lady lives right next door to the house that we saw the dead antelope at last week.  Before we left, we were able to share a scripture from the Book of Mormon with our testimonies.  She also accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon!....Allll because we complimented her door decoration... #Inspired :)

Wasn't the Women's session of Conference beautiful?? After that night I know Heavenly Father is aware of me.  The Spirit spoke to me in amazing ways.  

Ponderize: Mosiah 23:10

Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth.

I hope that this can be a description of me. Missions are hard--you go through a lot but you learn and grow a lot with the help of the Lord.  I hope that I can be an instrument in His hands!

From Idaho to you,

XoXo

Sister Carling

Going through the Korn Maze.

Holding the tarantula!

We pulled over to take a picture of the potato truck.  SO MANY POTATOES!

Don't mind my skirt, it's just windy and rainy.  Aren't the fields so pretty??? <3

I don't really know what those boxes are, but they looked cool so I wanted a picture.  It was next to some bean factory or something.... haha

Hey! Hay!! Seriously, this place is too pretty for a photographer.  I'm in love with it.

 

The Land of Sugar Beets!

I'm in Paul, Idaho! Most people in Boise asked where that is.  It's right by Burley, which is about a 45 minute drive from Twin Falls.  I'm so excited to be serving in a lil' farm town.  The majority of my area is fields of corn, alfalfa, maybe potatoes, and sugar beets! I guess Paul has the second largest sugar factory in the world! I had never heard of sugar beets before, but apparently they are a big deal here.

Well last Monday and Tuesday was sorta stressful trying to pack and say goodbye to people in my area.  But everything worked out.  Oh, for our last dinner appointment in Boise, we went to Big Judd's, which is a popular Boise burger place, aaaand as they were taking a picture, my camera dropped. And died.  They gave me a camera, but it's not as good... Therefore lots of my pictures now are blurry.  I'm working on getting my camera fixed though!

The rest of the week was great.  My new companion is Sister Leach from Tucson, AZ! Wahoo for Arizona companions! :D She has been out for 4 months. 

Okay, well I don't have much else to say other than I'm in a new area, working on getting to know the people and places.  It's super fun and I am in heaven!! :)

I've got lots of pictures though!

But first.......

Ponderize: Mosiah 2:34

...What knoweth that ye are eternally indebted to your heavenly Father, to render to him all that you have and are.

I read this scripture this morning in personal study.  I love Mosiah 2, but this time when I read it I found so many more things that I love!  

King Benjamin is the definition of humility.  As we read what he says, we learn what we need to do to be humble.  He explains that as we learn the goodness of God, we realize that we are like the dust of the earth.  And because of that, we owe all that we are to Heavenly Father!

From Idaho to you,

XoXo

Sister Carling

Packing and cleaning.

Big Judd's with Edward Rice!

We were visiting a YSA and he just came back from hunting and I was very enthused about the dead antelope in the garage.  Sister Leach was not. hahaha

Sugar beets

Sister Leach and I being silly. :) haha

(Random pic for the day) 

Random potato in the road

 We see potato trucks all the time.