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