Last Email

Its pretty much impossible to describe my feelings about my last week as a full time missionary. I have absolutely zero doubt in my mind that I made the right choice in staying on my mission. The biggest miracle I have seen on my mission is definitely been in myself. The gospel for me went from being something I wanted almost nothing to do with to something I dont want to go a day without in my whole life. I am eternally grateful for the testimony I now have the relationship I gained with my Heavenly Father. The gospel truly does change people's lives and being close to the Lord is really the best way to be happy. I am gonna miss being a missionary so much! There is no better feeling than walking into something scary knowing that the Lord is with you and that we are there to boldly testify of Him. 

Im keeping it short but I had an amazing last week. My interview was on Thursday and I was told to go get married asap. I went to the Temple with all the other departing missionaries on Friday. We went to a baptism on Saturday for Cody Taylor. He wasnt our investigator but we are really good friends and I got to teach him while on exchanges! I was so stoked for him! Today we are taking the new missionaries out tracting today and have some solid teaching appointments tonight. Missions are amazing!

 

Elder Carper

JOINING MO TAB

These past few weeks we have started a new way of door contacting. Singing Primary songs! It sounds super weird but honestly in places like the rich side of our area it helps a lot to break the ice and embarrass ourselves a little to bring the spirit and help them see that we have the spirit with us! It is super scary but its sooo much fun! We have it down though! Its pretty neat! 

We have been working super close with a new family of 6 that we found. We usually find like 12 or 13 new people each week but lately since we have been working so hard we are finding more prepared people who are willing to make and keep commitments and come closer to Christ. 

We went on exchanges with some of the Spanish Elders in our zone. One of the Elders I was with was from England. He is pretty cool and I learned a ton from him! He is a master finder and his testimony completely blows me away! I am having the time of my life being able to work with these awesome missionaries and being able to learn from them! 

Im keeping it short because there is a lot going on today! Im doing amazing and looking to finish out my mission working my tail off! Im so grateful for this opportunity! 

We are going on exchanges with a District Leader on tuesday and my old companion Elder Hernandez on Wednesday. then thursday I have my departing interview with President wilson and on Friday I am going to the temple with the other Departing Missionaries and we have a baptism on Saturday that I am speaking at. So this week is gonna be busy busy busy!! Love you all!

Elder Carper

TWO MORE WEEKS!

There isnt time in the day nor room to write all the gnarly stuff I get to see in Oildale hahaha. Its my favorite!!!! I love ghetto people, they are just so lovable! Especially when they are tweaked out on meth and are like twitching and super hungry and paranoid. I may as well be a certified Police Officer cause I know exactly what drug does what to you hahaha. For real though I love it! There is so much work to be done!!!!!

We have had a pretty crazy week! Bummer about being a Zone Leader is I think I spend just as much time away from my companion as I do with him. Its kinda sad cause me and Elder Burke have so much fun trying to guess what drug somebody is on. Nobody else gets it haha!

We went on exchanges with some Elders that were struggling pretty hardcore. I went with the one that was having a lot of issues and had the opportunity to talk to him a ton. Honestly he is a fantastic missionary! They both are but they wont work together and compromise. That was what I challenged him to do I was like "You know exactly what you need to be doing in order to be unified with your companion, so whats stopping you from doing it?" and after talking with him for a long time I do that thing where as Im giving somebody advice I tend to say something that is personal revelation for myself. Its pretty interesting haha. It happened once when I was chewing a missionary out for talking about how much he hated his companion in front of a member family.

Anyways the conversation pretty much went like this

"Do you believe that Christ gave Moses the Authority to command the Red Sea to part?"

"yes"

"Do you believe that he gave Elijah the authority to seal families together?"

"yes"

"Do you believe that when Christ was in Jerusalem he healed the sick, raised the dead, gave sight to the blind, made the lame walk and while he was here in America he performed miracles that could not even be written down?"

"yes of course!"

"Do you believe he suffered for every single person in the universe? Both sin and affliction?"

"Absolutely"

"So you do think that Christ can help you get along with your companion and help you find some investigators????"

"I should have seen that coming....yes I do"

So ya it was an interesting realization that if Christ can do all those miracles that he can definitely help us find some new investigators and get baptisms. So it was really cool! Im really grateful for that realization! 

Thats all for the week!

Love you all! 

Elder Carper

The pictures are of the Meadows district! We will be in the Wasco district this Friday. 

 

 

"Ma'm can we sing you a song?"

There has been SOO MUCH happening this week! 

Wednesday we had the Missionary Leadership conference down in Tehachapi. Ever Sister Training Leader and Zone Leader throughout the mission came. It was was good to see old friends. It also surprised me how many people knew who I was. I met a ton of new STL's and zone leaders and they are all like "Elder Carper I have heard so much about you!" or "So YOU'RE Elder Carper" they told me it was all good stuff so Im algood with it! 

MLC was one of the coolest things ever, it really was a time for Personal Revelation for my last few weeks as a missionary! Elder Burke and I had to do something super scary though during MLC. Sister Wilson was introducing a new way to contact people at doors in order to find families. We sing them primary songs! So Elder Burke and I got to demonstrate that role play. Yes it was terrifying!! I wanted to die! I hate singing in public. We sang "You are a child of God" to Sister Wilson during that demonstration. The good thing that happened was that we made Sister Wilson cry cause it was so bad. I actually dont know if thats why she cried but its likely! 

We literally spent the next two days after MLC planning for ZTM and planning for our area. We were both so done with being inside that we didn't even try and see anyone we just went and knocked a bunch of doors. I was so sick of being inside. ZTM went really well though. Elder Burke and I were really prepared and were very unified and able to help everyone in the Zone. It was crazy to see how one missionaries doubts could drag others down with them. At times I almost felt like I fought with a couple missionaries to follow the spirit in setting goals instead of being pessimistic. I was kinda frustrated I have to admit! I gave a training on how to receive Personal Revelation for our areas. It was really cool actually, I don't remember what I said but Elder Burke told me it was a good training. I challenged all the missionaries to change for the better. If I can do than anyone can do it!

We went on exchanges with the Meadows District Leader. I went with the DL Elder Culpepper and had a ton of fun! He is a good missionary and we talked about how to help missionaries that are struggling. The bottom line is that love is the key to everything. If a missionary doesn't feel loved than he/she wont be motivated or happy. They need to feel loved and they wont trust their leaders until they feel that way. 

This email is too long but I need to say that the family we found last week is AWESOME!! We have been finding tons and tons of people but this family is extra special! Dallas and Victoria are gonna get baptized for sure! We taught them the restoration and set them with a baptismal date. We went back a few days later and they had gone through almost the whole Book of Mormon! It was chalk full of sticky notes and questions so we had a huge QnA with them. They asked some major good questions! They also came to church this sunday and LOVED it. So things are going super well. Their date is for September 12 so I wont be here but there is a chance that they could be baptized on the 29th of August! Maybe...but its there choice and I dont plan on saying anything! We will see how it goes though!

Love you all! 

Elder Carper

 

 

Oildale

 

Hahahahahahahaha Oildale is sooooo ghetto! I would send pictures but its probably best to show everyone after I'm not here anymore! 

We have been working so hard it isn't even cool. Actually it is way cool! We have had to do so much non-proselyting related stuff its stupid. Missionaries are super needy! They always wait until the last minute to call us and by then they really need whatever they are asking for and so we have to drop everything and drive 45 minutes to get them what they need to keep proselyting and then we hightail it back to our area to try and keep our area progressing and find more people and then someone else does the same thing. Its so frustrating but Elder Burke says that's how it is being a zone leader. I'm glad I don't have to do this for very long!

 

This week was so good for us! We found like 10 new investigators this week that are all like way crazy solid! Our goal is to get a baptism this transfer and so we are pretty decently on track to get that done! We went on exchanges with the assistants on Friday. It was honestly so much fun! We stayed at the assistants house which was so much fun. We wrestled as a companionship and Elder Burke and I got our butts kicked cause one of the Elders was the Utah 180lb state champ. So ya it wasnt much of a fight! I learned a lot from Elder Crandall who is from Sandy UT. I have always been good at talking to people and being really bold but he is just so good at making people feel loved. So that was something I took back to our area and am working on! Its really hard when we run into people that go to the Valley Baptist church that is right next to the Stake Center. There is a HUGE rivalry between the two and the Elders usually get the brunt of it. Its ok though because Im going to love these people no matter what! Especially when they throw out a scripture that says we are saved by grace and not works and that Mormons are a cult. LOVE THEM :) :) 

Probably the coolest part of Meadows Ward is the fact that both the Senior missionary couple in our mission live in the same complex as us. They are literally my favorite people in California! They will do anything we ask them to do and then give us the best life advice. It feels like I have 2 sets of Grandparents over here in Bakersfield! Miracles on Miracles!

Bottom line is the church is true. Cali Bakes mission rocks. Pitbulls are rude. Drugs ruin lives. Book of Mormon saves them. Oildale is ghetto. President Wilson is the Bomb. Davis High sucks. My companion is hilarious. California is great!

Elder Carper

Birthday was Awesome!

I am tired beyond all belief. Elder Burke and I are lucky if we get to bed before 1130. We have so much to do! Not only did we wash in but the other Elders didnt leave us with anything so we have been crazy busy. Our zone had 3 sets of missionaries white wash and there are 4 new missionaries. So we have been running frantic trying to get everyone the supplies they need and still have enough time to find people for our area. Its been a struggle but boy is it fun! I love our zone though it is such a blessing to be here! All of the missionaries are super hard working and super good at missionary work! We are pretty much the best zone in the mission without a doubt! 

My Birthday on Saturday was awesome! The Sheltons who are a senior missionary couple in bakersfield (Mom she was the president of the Utah board of Counselors 4 years ago you know her?) mission took us out to Dickies for my Birthday! Best BBQ in Bakersfield! It was a super hard day to be honest but I felt good about it because what better way to spend your birthday than sharing the gospel with everyone you see? Thats how I view it at least! 

We have had some crazy good lessons with our 1 investigator and a recent convert. The Sheltons came and taught with us! They went bragging to President Wilson about how awesome teachers we were and how impressed she was. Its my goal for President to make Elder Burke an assistant so Im getting some brownie points and passing it on for him! 

Sorry for the short email but this is a great week! The pictures are some of my great friends that have finished their missions! Elder Ripa, me and Elder Easter!

 

 

Last Transfer

This week has been SOOOO GOOOD!! Actually it kinda stunk towards the end but the cool parts were totally overpowering the lame ones! 

Last Tuesday we had to steal the 1st ward Elders truck and drive a couple hours down to Lancaster to a dentist appointment. The guy cleaned my teeth and did my check up for freaking free!! I was like "I have insurance and my parents said to send them the bill" but Brother Powell was like nah, we dont charge missionaries! Members are freaking awesome! 

We had to close our apartment. THIS IS THE FIFTH TIME I HAVE DONE THIS!!! Mom you better love me cause you can bet I now know how to clean stuff! It rhymes with Mr. Clean magic erasers ;) Seriously those things are gold! So we have been trying to clean and close our apartment while still going to lessons and trying to find investigators. We had a super good lesson with Kayla and Jason, they are like the coolest couple ever and NEED TO BE MORMON! For real I love them! 

We got transfer calls and both Elder Hunsaker and I are leaving. Our mission is getting downsized super bad and so the STL's are taking over our area and keeping theirs. I trust them though for sure. Sister Gonzalez is one of the best missionaries in the mission so things will be algood!

So Elder Hunsaker is going to East Bakersfield and for my last transfer I am going to North Bakersfield. Im whitewashing again for the 7th time!!! Im not even worried though, President Wilson called me last wednesday and asked me to serve and finish out my mission as a Zone Leader. So things are gonna be great this next transfer! I couldnt imagine a better way to end it! 

Its so crazy how much a mission changes lives! My own life will never be the same and I am SO eternally grateful for it! Im honestly just happy the Lord let me serve, I have gotten so much more out of my mission than I can ever repay. Its such a blessing! AH I LOVE THE MISSION!

Elder Carper

The Temple is the Best!

So its still hot....I think it was 110 yesterday. The best parts of the week were by far the temple! The entire East side of the mission got to go down to the LA temple on Tuesday. It was way flippin sweet! The Howe family from Lone Pine took us down there. It was way sick on the way home we ate at a barbecue place with the BEST sandwiches EVER! We got back in time to teach our Book of Mormon class luckily so it all worked out!

We have been knocking doors like crazy cause I want to be absolutely sick of it by the time August ends! There are a lot of interesting people in Ridgecrest, could go both ways of good or bad haha! We have also been doing a ton of service! We worked in a soup kitchen all day with the Sisters and the 1st ward Elders. It was pretty fun cause we brought hats and the Sisters had to wear these super weird looking nets. Service is basically the best thing ever cause you get to see all of the awesome reactions from people! They really do appreciate it! :)

Its been really cool this week because I have been study Charity almost exclusively and it has been really beneficial! I have learned a lot about what Christlike love is and a lot about how much we have to rely on the Savior for that love. Its probably my favorite attribut I have studied! Anyways thanks for all of your support! Love you guys!

Elder Carper

 

 

Scavenger Hunt and Miracles

Dang this week has FLOWN by so fast! We had a Zone Conference on Tuesday. It was my last one....ya Im not stoked about it! We talked a lot about being a truly consecrated missionary. President Wilson told us that there is only one or two truly consecrated missionaries in the mission, I was really surprised at it. So that is my official goal by the end of my mission. I feel like I am a pretty good missionary, and when things are going good I start thinking that Im pretty great at it but never in my mission have I been truly consecrated. So I was really pondering that this week and praying on what I can do to finish the strongest possible and that was what I think was the deciding factor and an answer to my prayers. Proof that President Wilson is inspired!!!

We went on splits with our Elders quorum and I went with my buddy Michael Hannafin, he is way cool and leaves on his mission in like 2 days. We were really in the right place at the right time and got to talk to a lot of people! One lady in particular really needed our help. It was one of those moments when I am teaching a Gospel principle that I have never thought about and realized that I was not only receiving revelation on what she needed, but what I needed as well. I LOVE those moments!!! This week we really hae had some miracles flowing! We committed to inviting all of our investigators to be baptized on the first lesson and it has been really great! One of our investigators Lana was set with a date for August 22 and we have a lesson with a family of five later this week! I couldnt be happier with how things are going in our area! Well...maybe if the weather went below 107...wishful thinking! I cant even get over it cause the mission is so flippin awesome! :)

Here are some pictures from our P-day Scavenger hunt! The memory is too big to email all of em in one email so bear with me! 

Oh, I rode a train!

Love you all!

Elder Carper

 

 

IT'S SO HOT!

So this week the weather didn't get below 105. IT WAS SO HOT!! Im pretty sure I almost died a couple times. 

This week has been so good for the work! Oh by the way I got transfered....anyways! My new comp is Elder Hunsaker, he is an interesting kid but we are having fun getting it done! We have found a bunch of new investigators and been talking to tons and tons of people! Which is awesome because this ward hasnt seen a baptism in several months! So hopefully we can change that! We are working with Lady named Lana who is doing super good! She is one of the coolest people ever and is really trying to be a good Mom for her newborn son.

I also got to go on exchanges on Friday with my boy Elder Marrott! It was way sick we went out to a place called Trona. It literally is like the most miserable place I have ever seen. It was 119 outside and the entire valley smelled like sulfur from the huge mine. Grass doesnt grow there, its home to the only dirt high school football field in the country. "The hills have eyes" movies were all filmed there....seriously it was nuts!

The ward here is super awesome, they are literally doing anything we ask them to do. They definitely deserve good missionaries! We knocked a lot of doors this week, thats honestly all I really want to do. Cause even after a mission I can still teach lessons with the missionaries but how often will I ever get to go knock on peoples doors and get yelled at and stuff? So Im doing it as much as possible! This weeks been way good! Love you all!

Elder Carper

NO HABLAR ENGLISH!

So this week we had a lot of people speaking English in their house, and then opening the door and saying "No hablar english" with a PERFECT ENGLISH ACCENT. It was frusterating. Some cool stuff did happen this week in regards to the ward though! We went on exchanges with the Spanish Elders and I got to practice my spanish. All 2 words that I know! It was great, I went with Elder Gevas, he is a goofball! We had dinner with a spanish family and we made Papusa with them! :) It was basically the greatest thing ever, Papusa is probably one of my favorite spanish foods. Its from El Salvador so they get mad at me if I say mexican food. 

I gave a talk in Sacrament meeting yesterday. It went pretty well I guess, there was a missionary who came home and talked forever!!!!!!!!!!! I was like Oh my gosh you are so boring. All of his friends came to the church and that is where I figured out that you arent supposed to do that anymore. I only talked for like 5 minutes but I think I got the message across! The whole meeting was about the work. Somerset Ward has really stepped it up! Im so happy that Im hear to watch it happen! Nothing else super excited happened this week other than an urgent care trip, but that was no big deal I just keep dislocating both my shoulders. Love you all!

 

Elder Carper

EQUALITY BRO!!!

 

 

This picture is of my exchange with Elder Peidl (Pie-dell) on tuesday. You know your in Lancaster when you see "Youngblood Place." The other Picture is of me and a big mural after a few african american Women yelled at us for "Hating blacks and gays" We took the pictures to prove we dont hate anyone...and cause it was super funny.

 

Ok for real there has been SO MUCH that has happened this week its insane! At first the week was terrible cause I have had Anti-Mormon stuff thrown at me almost every single day. From RLDS finatics to excommunicated members to Penticostal Ministers. For real it was insanely hard to deal with. The Penticostal minister was literally Saturday night at 8pm after a really long day of just hard work. We have been really really pushing to acheive the goals that Elder Hernandez and I set for ourselves so this week has been full of the Lord testing our diligence and faith. I had to repent after the Penticostal Minister because I was so done with just taking abuse and harsh words from people about the church, so I threw down with him hardcore. He kept trying to get Elder Hernandez riled up and that was when I kinda lost it on him. Turns out Im a lot better with the scriptures than I thought I did! 

My week got super awesome Yesterday when Elder Bruce A. Carlson of the Seventy came and spoke to our mission. There was a lot of things that I know I definitely needed to hear. He gave a lot of advice to missionaries who are going home within 6 months. Talking about how to stay close to the Lord after the missions. It really was a super spiritual experience! It was like 8 hours long! After the meeting President Wilson caught up with me as everyone was leaving and we just started talking about the ward and about our investigators. He told me to turn Somerset ward into a baptizing ward. We honestly talked for like 30 minutes about it, as well as just small talk about how he met his wife and stuff. He also gave me some pretty awesome marriage advice. All he said was to make sure that I marry someone with the same goals as me, bottom line. It was awesome!

 

I got my flight itinerary today....they told me I land in SLC at 10:31am September 2. That was NOT a fun email to read! I guess its good cause I have a pretty solid sense of urgency to do everything I can before then. We will see how it goes!

 

 

Love you all! 

Elder Carper

Happy Mother's Day

This week was a good week to be in Somerset! The ward is super anxious to find people for us to teach. Its been really cool to see the change in the wards of the mission and the people that live in them. When I first came to the mission, it was a dream to get a member refferal and now even though they dont happen often. The Wards are really trying their best which is a miracle!

We found a few new investigators this week named Roxanne and Milly. Roxanne already wants to be baptized and is really excited. We are working with Milly (Roxannes Mom) to try and help her understand why this is the only true and living church on the earth. Once we help her recognize the spirit I have no doubts that she will be baptized!

I hope all of you wished your Mothers a Happy Mother's Day! They definitely deserve it and more! I have a testimony that the Lord knows his children and provides the best ways possible for them to return to him. He loves and knows us and wants us to draw closer to him so that he can come closer to us. Love you all!

Elder Carper

Good Week

This is gonna be a super quick one cause we dont have much time! This week was super quick to go by! As far as the work goes everything is switched. People are coming to church all of the time but they dont want to be baptized. Its super wierd! I dont really know what to do about it all but i guess what happens happens! My toes are doing a ton better, I can finally walk without any pain in them. That was pretty darn exciting!
We went on exchanges with the zone leaders this week. It was a lot of fun, I would say that it was super proffesional and for training purposes but in all reality, Elder Leortscher and I just wanted to be companions for a day haha. It was a ton of fun though, probably the best exchange I have had my whole mission. Too bad we werent ever companions, we would have baptized our whole area! I forgot how easy teaching was when your companions know the lessons just as well or better than I do. I haven't had a experienced companion since Lone Pine. So it was super fun!

Anyways this week we will be tracting a ton! We wanna find like 50 people this week and it will happen!!!!!
Have an awesome week everyone!

Its been a million years since I sent pictures so I took a quick one

 Elder Carper


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The Green Paper

This week was not a highlight. Actually it was pretty darn fun but I got the stupid green paper! Its a form that the soon-to-be departing missionaries fill out so that the mission can send us our flight itineraries. I super NOT stoked for that day when I know the time I will land in Salt Lake. I also got a parking ticket from a street sweeper. It was so dumb the sign said that it was like the 2nd and 4th wednesday of the month between like noon and 3pm. WE WERE HELPING THIS OLD COUPLE CLEAN THEIR HOUSE!! The adversary is rude. It wasnt a expensive ticket but it sure was annoying! 

 

The good parts of this week was that miracles are happening in our area! The members finally trust the missionaries again and are giving us referals. We are eating dinner with several families this week that they invited their friends to be taught by us afterwards. This has never happened in Somerset before! Its so awesome! We have done a lot of service this week too. From cleaning houses to yard work to building swing sets. We are getting it done. 

 

Transfers were this past week and I am staying with Elder Hernandez. Im pretty happy, honestly i am hoping I finish my mission here! having my last area as a 6 month would be sweet! We will see what the Lord has in store though! 

Right now we are teaching a few cool families. The Hernandez family is a part member. They are so amazing! They dont have a date anymore because they all got super sick and missed church for a few weeks. My favorite family is MaryAnn and her kids. They are so very special, and her daughter is actually a member. The ward loves them, our only sad issue is that she wont commit to a date because she feels like she needs to be perfect in order to be baptized. So we will see how it goes! 

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Carper

Week of Miracles

This week was really great! Conference was a huge uplifting experience for me! My favorite talk was Elder Eyring's in the Saturday Morning session. Fasting has been a huge focus for us as a companionship and as a mission. The entire mission will be fasting next week, members and missionaries. It will be HUGE! Our mission has had an average of a bout 30 baptisms per month. I'm pretty sure its the lowest in the country...but we have a goal of 75 baptisms in the month of June. The highest we have ever had was 48. So we are gonna need help! Its exciting though for sure! We found a few new investigators this week, and so its pretty great! We are working super hard trying to find people! I know this email is short but we don't have very much time to email anymore! Love you all!

Why can't we wear toe rings?

Cool fun event of the week is that we get mirrors. The mission is buying full length mirrors for all the Sisters so that they can make sure they are modest, and one of the Elders asked if we could have some as well. So long story short, we all get full length mirrors! Our mission is surely advancing in the technology! 

 

We have been working with so many members this week. President emailed me last week saying that I was sent here because I have so many creative finding ideas. I assume he is talking about how we would play soccer with a bunch of spanish guys like twice a week in my last area. We found a lot of people that way though. So essentially what we have done is we have been working with tons of members. When I came into the area they were only teaching 1 investigator. So things are definitely progressing! Elder Hernandez' trainer was not a very obedient missionary, so I do 12 week with him sometimes during comp study. He is a really good Elder but he is behind as far as knowing what to do. We have so much fun though! The members really like us which is a good start, but they are used to missionaries that just hang out at their house for hours. So we definitely have work to do! 

 

We had a mini zone conference last tuesday and President Wilson set apart like 30 minutes for a Q 'n A. It was pretty cool, he had never done that before. One of the questions that were asked BY AN ELDER was "Why cant we wear toe rings?" President was just like "Uh....what?" It was pretty funny, the missionaries new nickname (not my idea) is Elder Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a pharisee who is charged with asking the dumbest question in the history of ever. " 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?

 

Thats my fun spiritual thought for the week! Not really though, but one of the really cool things I found in the scriptures is in 1 John 4 6-11. I love that it tells us that we love God because he loved us first. He truly does love us! 

 

Love you all, have a great week!

 

Elder Carper 

Welcome to Lancaster

This picture is of the coolest lady in Bakersfield, Sister Rodriguez! She made me like 5 dozen cookies when I got transferred! Not kidding though, 5 dozen!

This week was way cool and way rough at the same time! On saturday I got diagnosed with Strep Throat, so I had to wait at least 48 hours of having antibiotics in my system to work because until then I am super contagious. Today was the 48 hour mark so I dont have to wait anymore! I was super stoked about that part! 

My new ward is super sick, the Bishop is the coolest guy ever! The first thing he said was Elders, these next few months are gonna be hard. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Elder Hernandez is way sick, he is super green and his companion didnt do a super good job of training him but he is really humble and teachable. He likes to learn so he asks me a lot of questions about missionary work, makes me feel like I halfway know what Im doing! 

We had a super solid lesson with a part member family we found last week. They are doing super well and all of their kids want to get baptized! We are just working on the Mom. Things for me have been going a lot better ever since I seriously started trying to develop Humility. We are seeing lots of miracles that I knew otherwise wouldnt have happened if I tried to just use my own people skills.

The other fun thing is that I met my Dad's boss. They are the Frazer's and are semi-active. They have been asking missionaries about me ever since I came in the mission and now Im in their ward. I got pretty mad at Sister Frazer cause as I am sitting on her couch, she tries to face-time my Dad right in front of me. I was like NO!!!!!!!!!! Then her husband stepped in and told her not to do that, I appreciated it haha. They gave us some company t-shirts so now I can rep my Dad's work on P-days. 

The picture is of my trainee Elder Myers at transfers. He was a way good kid who is gonna do super awesome things on his mission! I owe a lot of what my mission means to me to this kid! Super huge shout out to him for helping me out early on! The photo is terrible cause I was crying the whole time haha awkward.

      Yall are the best!

Elder Carper

Transfer to Lancaster

So I am getting transferred out of Bakersfield! SO STOKED, im excited to breath clean air for a while. I was way bummed about the ward though, a few of them made me promise to come back and bring my future wife to the ward. Seriously this was a great ward! Im heading down to Lancaster in the Summerset ward with an Elder Hernandez. He has been out as long as Elder Myers so he is still pretty green! I guess I wasnt a very good District leader because they released me. They said there is already one so they wont worry about it. So that kinda confirms my belief that they only called me because i was the only one left who could do it. Im pretty bummed, I really enjoyed serving everyone in the District! They all are super fantastic missionaries!

Im making it fast because the internet keeps going in and out. Sorry for the short update but in short. Im dope, church is still true, Bakersfield still has a funky smell that I have never gotten used to.

Love you all

Elder Carper

 

Here is one of my favorite families here! Brother Hosking is a goofball!

Real Quick!

Shoot this has to be super quick cause Elder Myers and I are going golfing with a member today! 

This week has been solid! We went on exchanges with some elders in the District, it was a blast. I went with my buddy Elder Easter, we are both pretty much the same age in the mission so we had a blast reminiscing about Palmdale. We had a ton of fun down there! We had ZTM this past friday, I gave a training on finding while teaching. Nobody booed me so I am assuming it went well! Everything else is fine, this is the last week of transfers so anything you send me be sure to send it to the mission office!

This is a picture of my cousins Cesar, Jamie, Isabelle (5) and Ryan (2). They are so flippin cool! 

Elder Carper

We may be tools, but we're tools for the Lord!

This week has been CRAZY! On tuesday we went on exchanges with some Elders in the district  because one of them is being trained. It was a lot of fun, I went with the new missionary and had a lot of fun! We both had red hair so hooray for the jokes! I didnt care because they all got a good conversation going...usually about family history actually! Him and I had quite a solid heart to heart, his trainer isnt really being exactly obedient and its been hurting the companionship. They arent doing anything inherently bad, its just very little things like music or waking up on time and being diligent. So we just talked about how obedience is really a state of mind instead of just actions. We need to strive to be obedient and desire to have the spirit with us, not just do obedient things because he have to. It was a good exchange, the next day on Wednesday we had interviews with President and Sister Wilson. President just thanked me for everything I was doing...it was weird cause I dont like it when people compliment me. Makes me uncomfortable and do awkward things like run away and hide and make weird faces...

Since Elder Myers is still in training we had to go on another exchange with the Zone Leaders on friday. It was absolutely a blast! i went with Elder Allen who is a super good buddy and a brand new Zone Leader, pretty much the main topic of conversation was him asking me how to be a good leader. Again...super weird...I basically just told him is that the key to getting people to like you is to treat everybody like they are your best friend that you havent seen in years. So lets see if he takes my advice!

Super fun fact of the week:
Elder Myers (my comp) used to have a banjo. He broke it. 

I asked if there was more to the story and I guess not, he literally had it and then broke it. That is pretty much the flow of the conversations between my companion and I. We dont talk much...at all actually but I still love the kid! He has a strong testimony and he likes to work so no complaints over here! The picture is of me being bored on the way to a District Activity, your welcome.

Love you all! 

Elder Carper

 

 

His Work, His Way

I was humbled quite a bit this week. Our whole District was struggling really bad with success. Everyone is doing everything that they are supposed to and the results just havent been showing it at all. It pretty much broke my heart to see everyone struggling when i know that they are doing everything they can. So as I was praying really hard for things to be able to help I got the idea that we should all have a huge fast on one day, have a super short and very spiritual meeting before hand, bring a goal that the Lord inspired them to have, and then just hit it super hard to get the Lord on our side. Everyone added diligence to their covenant list and was working really hard to try and get blessings for Saturday (the day we actually did the fast). So everyone hit it really hard this week, I was so proud and excited for everyone on Saturday when they all came to that short meeting with a burning desire to have the Lords help. The goals everybody brought were about finding people and having hearts changed in their areas. Our goal was to find a specific family that was put into both Elder Myers and My head. It was a cool revalatory experience to find that out. So Saturday we hit it hard, the meeting was super spirit filled, so much you could almost see it. We hit it as hard as we possibly could to find this family, worked every second of the day, skipped lunch and dinner and....nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was pretty upset that night and just went to bed as soon as I got home because I just felt like the Lord let me down. The next day was obviously fast and testimony meeting and there was a lot of testimonies talking about why God sometimes doesnt answer our prayers. It was one of those face slapper moments that I knew I needed to hear that specific thing at that time. I pretty much realized that I had become pretty prideful in my missionary work, that I felt like I could just talk to anyone and convert them all by myself instead of relying solely upon the Lord for that help. I felt like I was a really good missionary up until yesterday haha. It was a hard lesson to learn but the Lord taught me that it is His work, and therefore it needs to be done His way. 

So the week ended super good!!! I learned something new that I needed to be taught the hard way, and so hopefully I can actually apply the lesson learned! Everyone else in the District was excited and understood that the Lord is just testing us, they are huge examples to me! Every one of them is a spiritual giant! 

Hope you all have a good week!

Elder Carper

Third Time's a Charm

So....Im moving again. The third time in 9 weeks that I am taking over someones area. Super fun....Anyways Ill keep it short cause I dont have lots of time. Most of this week has been coordinating and helping missionaries get settled in their areas. The Zone Leaders and I have been running around all week answering questions and helping things move along. I am now in the Berkshire ward, and am actually in the same area I was in 6 months ago when I was in Fairview ward. So it will be fun, I get to go to all the people I was teaching and be like "What happened??" So im stoked! 

 

Here is the best district EVER!!!!

 Love you all!

Elder Carper

 

 

Good Week

This week has been an interesting one for sure! Some pretty cool miracles happened and some frustrations as well! The frusterating stuff was that we are moving....again! They were supposed to tell us last week but they forgot I guess. So we packed everything up and have been cleaning and cleaning and cleaning! It wasnt until we were all packed that they told us that we were both staying in our area but are moving across the complex. I lost my mind I was so frustrated. Its algood though, but if you are going to send me anything make sure you send it to the new address! 

 

The super cool part about this week was that I got to confer the Aaronic Priesthood on Theodore! It was insane and I was really scared that I would screw it up but I didnt...probably! Nobody said anything so I would assume it wasnt a disaster! Anyways, thats all for this week! We had the dopest District EVER! As well as "Cuts by Carper" is officially running! 

 

Elder Carper

Why are the mountains green?

 

First off. JAMIE CAME THE WARD PARTY!!!!! (my cousin) First official interaction with the church in almost 20 years! That was literally the coolest thing ever I was jumping around everywhere like a 4 year old. They said they enjoyed it, even though they got swarmed with the members! Everyone wanted to meet them cause I talk about them so much, they didnt get overwhelmed though so that is a good thing! They didnt come to church unfortunately but I told he that she has a an eternal spot saved on the bench next to us! 

Other cool stuff that happened was Elder Myers got to skype in for his older brothers baptism. That was a really cool experience, we were 2000 miles away and we could feel the same spirit that was there in that room. It was a huge testimony builder for me seeing who is Brother is after hearing all these crazy stories about him. The gospel truly changes people, and its such a blessing to see it first hand! 

We were playing janitor for a long time this week making sure our last apartment was in ready condition to sell, it worked out well though! We got an A from the housing coordinators whose Brother, wait for it, is the President of Pixar and Disney animationl....WTHECK? The guy wrote Toy Story...so I love him.

Thats pretty much the super cool miracles of the week, Im looking forward to not having any distractions this week so we can find as many people as possible. Im giving a baptisimal interview tonight and am teaching the Book of Mormon class tomorrow so we will be busy!

The picture is from last week for our Zone Activity. We went down into the mountains of Bakersfield, and everything was green. It was really weird...the first thing the member said when they drove us down there was "What the? Why are the mountains green?" So I am going to guess that we were pretty lucky to go there at that time. I dont know why Im frowning in the picture...cause I was super happy to be up there! Love you all, have a solid week!

Elder Carper

Because we have a saw.....

There has been some crazy stuff happening this week! We have done a ton of service, its been super fun! Service is fun to a point, but too much and you go crazy! We rocked some service at a member's named Sister Ross. She is pretty dope, and basically I raked a million leaves while the rest of the Berkshire missionaries broke sticks in half and put them in piles. After I raked it all up, on of the other Elders jumped in the pile, and then I told him that there is a ton of dog crap mixed in there. It made my day! Not his...but mine was made! Our next service project was on Saturday. We did it for a non member and we basically partied in the back cutting up wood so they can burn it. Most of the wood was small enough so that you could snap it, but all we had was a wedge, and an electric saw. So we cut everything, and Elder Myers, helpful as he always is...says "you know you can just snap that right?" to which I replied: "...but we have a saw...?" Bottom line is rule #32-enjoy the little things (if you understood that reference then thats why we are friends).

 

The two coolest miracles of the week happened on Sunday! Bishop Sharp texted me to let me know that Theodore Walker (my favorite kid ever) was turning 12 and asked if I could be the one to ordain him to the office of Deacon, and confer upon him the Aaronic Priesthood. Freaking dope right? I got to confirm him a member last december, and now I get to ordain him! I am so darn stoked about it!

 

The other miracle was Jesse. He was a member refferal who was super solid and we were able to teach him probably the best Restoration lesson ever. Midway through the lesson i straight up told him "Jesse, I have been a missionary for almost 18 months, talked to hundreds of people about the gospel, and I will not hesitate to say that you are the most prepared person to hear this message and follow Christ than anyone I have come in contact with." Jesse is an absolute miracle, and I am so grateful for him because he came at the perfect time. Its a lesson that I have to learn over and over. I get really discouraged because we are working so hard, being exactly obedient and earnestly praying but it seems like nothing really goes our way. Then miracles like Jesse come along and it makes it all worth it. So I am very grateful that Jesse found us, and especially grateful that he is ready and willing to be baptized as soon as he possibly can. 

 

So I am super terrible at taking pictures...so I will be sure to take some stupid pictures this week and send them out! 

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Carper

Miracle of Exchanges

This week has been full of very cool spiritual experiences for me! We had zone conference on Wednesday that was absolutely great! For the first time it felt like an actual training instead of a 4 hour long chastisement. I really enjoyed learning from President and Sister Wilson. Being inspired is a great feeling for sure! 

 

I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with some Elders in my district. It was a good exchange, and it was cool being able to talk through issues and help other missionaries get motivated to be obedient. I really cherished that opportunity because it was a leader in my 2 area that really helped me have a desire to turn my mission around and be obedient, and we were on exchanges when that happened so it was cool to try and pass that along. I also was able to help some other missionaries with issues they are having on Sunday. It was super spirit filled, and it got pretty emotional for the missionary but there was a really strong feeling of love in the room. I am super excited for these missionaries I get to serve! They are gonna make the changes and be the best missionaries ever!! 

 

Sorry that this email is so short, we havent had a whole lot of time to be able to email this week. Hopefully some stuff opens up! I hope yall have a dope week!

 

Elder Carper

I Belong Nowhere......

This week has been super fun for me! On Tuesday I went on exchanges with some Elders in our District. If you are training  you have to go on exchanges for week 3 so I went on an exchange  with these Elders, and then also went with the Zone Leaders since Elder Myers is new. It was a lot of fun, I had to go with the Greenie and basically was told to make sure he was being trained right. So that was interesting, his name is Elder Greene (teehee) and he is also a red head. So you best believe the jokes came at every. single. door. Its algood, it was an easy set up to transition the conversation to the gospel. My favorite game to play with my companions is to choose a random object we see and then relate it to the gospel. Its super fun and it really helps you be able to turn conversations into gospel conversations. So we do it with the members who come with us! 

 

There were two absolutely crazy things that happened this week, the first being that I got to interview a wonderful lady named Debbie for her baptism. It was my first baptismal interview and so I was really nervous, but it ended up being one of the most spiritual meetings of my mission. The spirit was so thick you could almost see it. Everything went perfectly, after the interview I told her that I wanted her to go straight to the chapel so she can feel the spirit, and pour her heart out in gratitude to God. I told her that the happiest times in my life is when all I feel like doing is getting on my knees and thanking the Lord. It really was a super cool experience, she was bawling by the time she left and then ran to the Chapel so the Sisters thought something went wrong so it was super funny!

 

The other crazy thing is that they redrew the ward boundaries in the whole Bakersfield South Stake. So there is no Panama ward anymore....I dont belong anymore I guess. The two wards are Berkshire and Wilson. They took 3 wards and combined them, my area is in Berkshire and so if I stay, I will be with half the members in Fairview. I already served there....so that would be WEIRD. Its whatever though, they will let us know our new areas soon. I hope I stay in my area, I keep having the feeling that I will be here for a long time so I hope that comes true! 

 

I hope yall had a wonderful new year! I watched as the clock hit midnight and thought....wow I go home this year in august. Fun fun! 

 

Elder Carper

Family Reunions

Such a sick week from Bakes! This was totally the best Christmas ever! Yes being able to skype was cool I guess but the highlight was going out with the Sister Missionaries and some other members of the Ward and going Christmas Caroling! It was so much fun and we got so many happy and excited looks from people who I know truly appreciated what we were doing. For instance one guy was crying as he thanked us for coming. He had to spend Christmas alone and he said that we were a huge blessing. It was super cool, we were able to find some really solid potential investigators out of it! 

It was so cool to be able to spend all of Christmas at my cousin Jamies house, she actually gave us a bunch of gifts. It was super funny because she gave us both ties and was really scared we wouldnt like the ties because they spent so long picking them out. They are so great! 

I got to go on Exchanges with some Elders from my District. It was really fun and we were able to find a lot of people. We had a super solid lesson with some investigators we picked up that day, and it was great. We basically had the 1st lesson that every missionary should have! They arent ready to be baptized yet but they want to do it, they just wont commit to a date yet. Thats ok though, we can for sure work with it! Everything else is going well, our District Fast really brought in the blessings! In our area alone we were able to see miracles! Im really happy that things are going well! I hope every one of you have a Happy New Year!

Elder Carper

Merry Christmas

Hey Everyone! It will be pretty short cause I have a lot to do! Its been pretty crazy being over here in the weirdly hot weather at Christmas time! This week was super disappointing in the fact that so many of our lessons fell through! It was way sad, but the other good news is that my Greenie doesnt suck! His name is Elder Myers and he is from Charlestown Indiana, and even though we have nothing in common he is willing to do anything to be the best missionary possible! He enjoys working hard and being obedient so I cant complain at all! 

So this week was also my very first District meeting, and it wasnt a complete disaster....Nah it actually went really well, afterwards the whole District gave the Sisters a blessing so that they can be comforted even though there isnt a whole lot happening for them. Its super weird haha people will text me and ask to leave their area and my first thought is always "why the heck should I care?" then I remember the sad truth that I have to give them permission...which is also super weird. I guess that will take some getting used to! I have a leadership training with the Assistants on tuesday to go over some things. The biggest thing I am trying to do is make sure my district knows how much I love them and how much time I spend in prayer trying to figure out how I can help them. They are super awesome though and the Lord knew i was going to be a terrible District leader so he brought in the best missionaries in the Mission to make my life easier! 

I really want to take the time to wish all of you a wonderful Christmas! I am so grateful for all of the support I have recieved and all of the testimonies that I get to hear that have strengthened mine. Being on a mission has been the best decision of my whole life, and I say that without reserve! It makes me sad that I went most of my life without any real relationship with my heavenly Father, but I am so grateful that I can see the difference it makes in my life. This truly is His church and I know I am serving His mission. I am thrilled to be here and to be able to share his love with the people of Bakersfield! The Church is TRUE!

Elder Carper