Service

These past couple weeks have been flying by for sure! Again we have been doing service service service! We volunteer a lot for the Lone Pine Chamber of Commerce, they ask us to do a bunch of stuff from taking signs down to cleaning up the park. We have been helping the members out a lot as well. We do farm work with some Less Active members and we do a lot of service up at the Fish Hatchery. It is all pretty fun! I have been sick for the past week though, some kind of head cold. Its been miserable but it hasnt stopped me. Definitely slowed down the labor part of the work though haha. I now sound like a zombie even though I feel completely fine! The Branch is doing good, they dont help with missionary work at all but they are nice people. President Wilson has all but decided to take missionaries out of Lone Pine all together given the fact that we dont teach. Today I actually asked him to transfer me out, as much as I love Lone Pine and the people here, I am losing my mind. I was called to teach and I dont get to do that. As weird as it sounds I enjoy knocking doors and talking about the gospel all the time. It is great! The one thing that I am grateful for being here is that I was afraid my spiritual side would weaken from being here and not teaching all the time when I got here. So my studies have been a lot more meaningful and my prayers have as well. One of the cool things that I have been really studying is a talk by Elder Oaks titled "The Challenge to Become." it is a fantastic talk with a lot to learn. One of the many things I have come to find is that we should base our worship on experiences. The spirit will never let you forget very spiritual experiences if you stay close to the gospel, and I have found that whenever I begin to have doubts or whenever I dont want to do something. My mind goes back to memories of spiritual experiences. So no matter what happens to me personally or those around me, I can look back and say "because of those experiences, I know God lives and loves me." I am surprised at how often I need to remind myself but the answer is always the same, when I am reminded of the things I know to be true I always feel the sweet confirmation of the spirit. I hope there is no question in anyones mind of whether or not I know the Book of Mormon is truth. That God lives and is aware of everything we are going through, and that He knows our pains and sorrows, and is there waiting with open arms for us to come to him in comfort. I know that if we do the things he asks, we will be blessed and comforted. The gospel is the only way to be truly happy in this life and especially the next. I hope you all have a good week!

Elder Carper