•La ultima carta...basicamente‏......6/04/2012

Buenos Dias!

Guau, es dificil creer que ya me han pasado dos anos como misionero.   (Wow, it's hard to believe that and I have spent two years as a missionary. )  Time really does just go by way too fast. There are times as a missionary that you feel like this is never going to end, but when the time comes to finish, it really feels like it couldn't have been two years already. I think it's also a little different just because of the amount of time that I've spent in my two areas. I have gotten to know all of these people super well because I've known them basically for forever! I've been here a long time and it's just home for me and home for them. We are planning on having a pretty intense last week though, so I'm excited to live it up this week. We've got lessons and interviews all evening tonight, and then Tuesday we have a baptism (for Milta and Ricardo), Wednesday we have another baptism/confirmation for Itzel Chavez (that's a pretty cool story), Thursday we have a big ward Family Home Evening, and then this Saturday there will hopefully be a marriage/baptism in the sisters area that I will sing at. They're teaching this lady named Rossy (pronounced Rosie) that has been investigating for 5 years but couldn't get baptized because she's not officially divorced from some guy back in Mexico and can't get married until she does. They've been really pushing the paperwork and she really wants to do it this week because she really wants me to sing at her baptism. There was a song I sung a year ago at a baptism that she loved, and she has talked to me about it for a long time and how she wants me to sing it at her baptism.

Milta and Ricardo are incredibly solid and excited for baptism! We were afraid that there might be a problem with Ricardo getting baptized because of all of the gang stuff he was involved in and how much time he spent in jail, but thankfully he got interviewed by someone in the mission presidency and everything's good. We had an awesome lesson the other night as we talked to them about how we all met and how the timing worked out. So right before we met them, Ricardo had been trying to make changes in his life, leave all of the drugs and gang stuff behind and everything, but it just wasn't working out. He was going backward, not forward, and life was getting a whole lot harder. He was at the very brink of turning around, giving up, and just heading back to the streets. In the meantime Milta, his girlfriend, just found out that her mom died and made a promise to God that she would draw nearer to Him and make changes in her life. She was going through a rough time and had nowhere to turn. In the Catholic Church she simply didn't feel anything and didn't learn anything. Also in the meantime, Elder Carlson and Elder Lindquist over here in Mesa are struggling because they simply have no people to teach (don't ask me why I'm speaking in third person) and just need something. They pray super hard as they're planning one morning that they will have somebody ready to teach and literally within minutes Sarah Levin calls them and tells them her care-taker asked a question about church, so they should come over and teach her about it. All of the sudden, Milta, Ricardo, and us are all brought into each other's lives at the precise time that we all need it. We had no idea that Ricardo was just about to turn back and give up. Life hasn't been easy since he decided to get baptized either though. He has had so many things happen and so many people tell him he shouldn't do it or that he's betraying them. That night we met with him his car broke down right on the border of our area and he lost a bunch of money and nobody around had cables or anything. He was at one of those tough moments, but we came over, gave him a jump, and he said he's never had so many crazy things happen to him as he has since he made the decision to get baptized. I loved it though, because after he told us about everything he said, "Let's go talk about God! A lot of people would be scared about these kind of things or give up. Anybody else would give up, but not me. Me and Milta are getting baptized!" He just said it with such a determination and jumped into his little gangster car and we went and taught him. Ricardo's so cool. These are definitely people I feel that were brought into our lives for a reason. There's something special about them, and we're pretty excited about Tuesday. Last night that's all Milta could talk about. We sung a bunch of songs for her and Sarah, and read D&C 18 to Sarah to talk about how awesome and important it is to do missionary work. They had been waiting for Sarah's sister Barbara to come home from the hospital all day long, and asked us to pray for her and within minutes after the prayer they called her and said she was on her way. It's fun to see so many little miracles everywhere and think about how God does everything and is so aware of the most minute details.

Everything that happened with Itzel was nothing but a miracle as well. When we tried to extend baptismal dates in the past, her mom just said no, she doesn't know enough and she's not ready. This last Thursday, after we watched a movie about Thomas S. Monson, Karen said out of nowhere that she and Itzel had been talking and that she wants to get baptized before I leave!! At first I thought she said June 30th and I was kind of disappointed, but she actually said June 3rd. Because of scheduling we ended up deciding on this next Wednesday and they're all way excited. Itzel's a way cute 11-year old girl and everyone at church loves her. She's already most of the way through the Book of Mormon and she's super smart. Her mom Karen is probably one of the funniest people I've ever met. She always teases us about being late, or how we don't sing good, or just anything. We have a lot of fun with them, and Karen actually had a really cool experience this week as well. So on Thursday she lost her job and was feeling pretty down and out. We brought over a Liahona for her to read and she said as she was reading it she was just overcome with this incredible peace and she just knew that everything would work out. She had never felt like this before in her life. She said she didn't know if she ever really had a firm testimony or a witness from the Holy Ghost before but this was it. The very next day, her old boss called her and they wanted her back. She's working a ton now, and she knew that this happened because she's doing what she's supposed to be doing. So that was a pretty sweet experience.

For my last fast and testimony meeting I went to the Dobson Ward and bore my testimony right there at the end. I was filled with a ton of different emotions, just because of how much I love the people here, how much I love the work, and yet how ready I am to move on with life. My mission really has meant the world to me. But as I bore my testimony I looked out into all of those faces that I know so well - all of those people that have impacted me and that I've hopefully touched in some way. I especially love the Hansen Family here, who were all tearing up as I was up there. I think a lot about what Jeffrey R. Holland said about his mission and I feel the same way. No mission has ever meant more to a young man than mine has to me. I love everything about it and I'm so grateful for all of the experiences that I've had and been a part of. I have seen the hand of God so clearly in my life these past two years and I see miracles every single day. I love the members of the church and I love how you can see Christ in them and in their families. I've developed a hope, a faith, an assurance that I've never had before. I know that the Lord's promises are sure, and I have truly come to know my savior Jesus Christ. The Lord's work will go forth and I always want to be a part of it.

Thanks to everyone that has helped me and supported me for the past two years. You have no idea how much it means to me.

Con mucho amor, With much love

Elder Carlson (por una semana mas)  for a week more

•Hay que terminarlo fuerte!!!...5/28/2012

Buenos Dias!

We've realized here that a week that ends good is a good week. This Saturday we went to the endowment and sealing for the Basurto Family! Although I got to go to the Armendariz one last week, this one was a lot more powerful to me just because of how much I was involved with teaching and baptizing them. They were so prepared and had so much of the ward there to support them and help them through everything. This week, just like last week, the entire sealing room was packed and there were no empty chairs. We got to see Juan get sealed to Maria, and then Oscar get sealed to them afterwards. It was also cool because it was the first time I've ever been to an endowment session in spanish! I was surprised at how comfortable I was in there, just because I had never done it before and wasn't sure I would understand 100% of the terminology. As I was there, I thought of all the people that told me that Spanish is the language they use in heaven, and it was a really special experience to be able to go to the temple with all of the people that I've grown so close to here in Mesa! They had a get together afterwards to celebrate this special day, and we got to meet a bunch of Juan's family, who actually seems to be pretty open and interested!

Another highlight of the week was definitely with Milta and Ricardo! So last Monday we stopped by to visit Milta, and we were just sharing a simple scripture and talking about things like we normally do. Then, out of nowhere she started asking all of these questions about baptism, like what you wear and how it works. We answered them and were pretty surprised, because we talk to her a lot about baptism but she's always told us she doesn't feel like she's gotten an answer yet. Anyway, we asked her if she wanted to get baptized and she said yes! She would have been baptized the very next day if she could have. So we planned on June 5, so it would give us a couple weeks to teach her everything and solidify it all. The next day I brought an english missionary into my area and we took Milta and Ricardo to the Visitor's Center. We watched Finding Faith in Christ and as we discussed it afterwards, Milta asked what they need to know before they get baptized because Ricardo wants to get baptized with her!! That was a total surprise, because she said he was the reason why she wasn't getting baptized. He was sincere and really wants to go through with it, and because of the kind of guy he is he just means business. We've taught them just about every single day this week and as we taught them the Word of Wisdom he talked about how all he would have to give up is coffee. It was funny because as we discussed it and asked him if he would be able to give it up, he said there wasn't a question. It doesn't matter how much he drinks it, if it's a commandment of God there's no other option. Because of the crazy things he's seen on the streets and with his friends, he's definitely seen the results of not following God and he's 100% committing to doing what he needs to do. So they came yesterday to church with her grandson and loved it. So Milta and Ricardo are getting baptized next week!

Other good news is that things are going well with Karen and her daughter Itzel! Karen has been getting re-activated and they've come for a few weeks now to church. She wants to make sure that Itzel knows what she's doing and that she is making the decision for herself. Itzel has actually been wanting to get baptized for a while now, but her mom has just not been ready yet to give her consent. Last night we had a breakthrough as we taught them the Plan of Salvation. Itzel asked us when we thought she should be baptized and I told her it would be cool for me to see it before I leave. Her mom told her that she can get baptized whenever she wants! So hopefully Itzel will be able to get baptized this next week as well! Karen's super awesome, one of those people that you can just talk to straight-up and have fun with. She's going through a rough time because she's in the process of getting divorced and her husband's being ridiculous. She said she was tempted to not go to church yesterday because she felt burnt out, but she knew she needed it and felt a lot better after she came.

So it's been interesting going on so many exchanges lately. We've been going on at least 2 a week and it's crazy being with so many different companions! Everyone does things differently, and especially teaches differently, but the good thing is most skills are universal when it comes to missionary work. We all have the same schedule and are sharing the same message. I went with Elder German this last week (he's served around me a whole lot) in Gilbert and it was unique because their teaching pool is pretty small right now and we had to walk everywhere. He got a concussion a couple weeks ago, so he's not supposed to ride the bike for a couple more weeks. Thus we walked ALL day long in the sun (because there aren't incredible amounts of trees in Arizona) and I felt like a champ at the end of the day (by that I mean I was especially tired). We got to do a lot of tracting and talking, and I like just being able to get to know so many people. When you get out of your area, it's a nice break but you feel an extra desire or urgency to help out the area that you're in. When you leave, you want to have helped and improved it in some way.

Anyway, I am feeling old because I did have my birthday on Wednesday and it was awesome. When we came back from working out we saw that the sisters had decorated our door with streamers and fun sayings and things, and we went to a breakfast with the Arce's (definitely one of my favorite families in the spanish ward). We had waffles and omelets and even had dessert! It was sad because I kept accidentally blowing out the candle but when the time came to actually blow it out it took me two times! It was a blast, just because we always have fun when we go over there. Later on, we went to dinner with the Rappleye's and had some delicious ribs and corn on the cob, with cheesecake of course for dessert. I definitely feel old now... my body pops in places it didn't before, but I'm sure that's just from serving a mission in general. I also got a sweet package from the fam and that was fun! So yeah, that's about it on the birthday. We taught Milta and Ricardo that day, and I had the best birthday you could ask for as a missionary :) I got to do lots of missionary work...

That's it for the week! It's been a good one for sure, and I'm going to make these next two the best of my whole mission!

Thanks for all the support! Love ya!

~ Elder Carlson 

•Guau (wow), ya soy viejo!!!....5/21/2012

Buenos Dias!

It's hard to believe how fast time is cruising by... only 3 weeks left and I'm already turning 21. Goodness, time really doesn't stop for anyone. It's been a super busy week, and I'm just trying to think about where to start. Last night, I went to my last Mission President's Fireside, and Elder Lindquist and I sung a way sweet duet. I had a song all practiced up for it (which I may sing when I come home - it's called "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul", an awesome arrangement) but President Hansen, who was the main speaker, wanted me to do a song that went with the theme of his talk. We ended up singing this song that his wife brought to us and played for us, called "In Quiet Grove" and even though it was way simple, it sounded really good. We only got to run through it a couple times before we performed it, but one thing that I've really learned on my mission is how to do things on the fly (or as some people would say, flying by the seat of your pants). It was a way good fireside, but kind of bittersweet because it was my last one, and the last time I'll see most of the missionaries that were there. It's weird when you get to the time in your mission where you have a lot of "lasts" - last stake president meeting, last fireside, last zone conference, etc. It's so surreal, because it's been my life for SO long! This is all I know, and I can't really imagine anything outside of it.

We also had some excitement, because we did a lot of exchanges in the zone and then had 2 visa waiters with us the past few days. I love going on exchanges, because it really is the best time to train people and really get to know the missionaries in your zone. I learned a lot of things this week, and sadly how a lot of missionaries don't have a testimony of obedience. One of the missionaries I went on exchanges with said he had one of the best personal studies of his entire mission with me because that was one of the only full personal studies he's had his whole mission. It's hard for me to understand sometimes... since when did it become an option to get out of bed at 6:30 or actually have our studies in the morning?? I guess sometimes we just think that it's something that's universal that everyone will know and do. It's good to get people working out in the mornings, actually planning at night time, and just making big improvements in the way that they do missionary work. It's sad that they're not doing those things already, but at least I feel like I'm getting somewhere and making a difference!

The visa waiters that were with us this last weekend were waiting for their visas to go to Monterrey, Mexico, and they finally headed off this morning! It was fun to have them and get to split up a little bit. They were focused and hard-working, but yet totally teachable and loved having fun. It seems like there's just not enough missionaries out there who are willing to listen and change, and be diligent in missionary work. Their names were Elder Larsen and Elder Love, and we just had a blast the whole time they were here. We talked late that first night they were with us, because they wanted a bunch of advice from a dying missionary :) It can be kind of overwhelming at times thinking about all the different things I've learned and the advice I'd give to other missionaries, but when I look back there have just been so many lessons that have taught me so many different things. They talked about all of the things they learned from us in a short amount of time, and I was thinking about how Elder Lindquist and I really are the oldest companionship in the mission... lots of experience between the two of us.

We got to go to the temple a couple times, which was awesome! We went with the zone on Wednesday and did a session, and it was packed! There were so many people there and it was my last temple trip with the zone, so it was kind of a weird feeling. It was surprisingly calming though. I felt good and I felt at ease. There's nothing that compares to the feeling you get in temples. Your mind is enlightened, answers come, you feel the presence of God more real than anywhere else. We also got to go to a sealing on Saturday, which was incredible. That was the first live sealing I've ever been to, and it was cool because it was a family that I've seen from the very beginning when they first met with the missionaries. It was Sergio and Gina Armendariz, who I taught a few times and interviewed for baptism last year, and who I've gotten really close to over the past year. Sergio is so solid in the gospel, an absolute rock, and he's always the most excited stalwart member I've ever met. He was the one who came over from Mexico last year and had absolute miracles happen, one of which was Jesus Christ appearing to him in a vision and telling him to find His church. Anyway, seeing them kneel across the altar and look at each other, it really hit home a little more, how serious and how incredible the blessings of the temple really are. This is for eternity, and it's not something to take lightly. That family is now an eternal family and they will be able to enjoy a fullness of the blessings of the gospel because of missionary work! Goodness, the work is good. The Basurtos will be sealed in the temple this Saturday and I can't wait!!!

We're also looking forward to things happening in the Liahona 5th Ward. We had a long talk with Bishop Merino on Saturday and then taught the entire ward council and bishopric about the Ward Council Process, and we hope to get some things going. We believe all of our investigators who are so close to baptism aren't accepting baptismal dates, partially because the ward wouldn't be able to retain them if they did get baptized. We need the members involved and we need them to take the initiative on some of these things. So many people have been baptized in this ward over the past few years, but hardly any of them still come. We have to make a lasting difference in the ward by solidifying the members and the leaders, and helping us all to be involved in this great work. This week is going to be an important one for getting everyone on-date for baptism so they can get baptized before I leave! It's crunch time!

That's most of what's happened this week - I've got my birthday on Wednesday, so we've got some solid meals set up and hopefully some solid lessons :) Life is good and we're working hard! Love y'all!
~ Elder Carlson

•Ya hablamos hace ratito...‏.5/14/2012

Hey hey hey!

So yesterday was Mother's Day and I got to update the fam on everything that's going on around here and especially all of the exciting things. Some of the highlights this week was that Val Hernandez got baptized and confirmed! She got baptized Saturday morning, and confirmed on Mother's Day, and everything went really smoothly. We had to hurry up and teach her everything she needed to know pretty quickly because she had to get her interview and everything, and she's doing super well. She had her friend Malachi, who basically introduced her to the gospel, baptize her and then Grant Dexter, who is preparing for a mission and just got the Melchizedek Priesthood, confirmed her yesterday. Everything went really well for the whole thing and it seems like her mom is actually pretty okay with the whole thing and maybe even a little bit interested. She told us she thought the whole thing was happening too fast, but when we told her Val was definitely ready and talked to her about the witness from the Holy Ghost, she seemed to perk up a little bit. We also have an awesome Relief Society President (Sis. Dexter) who fellowshipped her the whole time and was even talking to her in Spanish (Val's mom is from Mexico and Sis. Dexter served in Chile) so that she'd be more comfortable. Hopefully we'll see something cool happen soon with the rest of Val's family.

Also some cool things that happened were the Family Home Evening on Monday, english classes on Tuesday, and the huge Mother's Day activity that we had on Saturday. The Family Home Evening we used to do as a ward every single month, but not many people were coming so they haven't really done them for about a year now. We suggested starting them again and got put in charge of doing everything. So we made assignments for the refreshments, the sisters took on the activities, and we did the message. There were only a handful of people at 6:30 when it was supposed to start, and I was afraid that not many people would come. Within 20-30 minutes though, people were flooding in and we had to find chairs! There was barely enough room for everyone to fit! We shared a message about service and ways we can serve, but the most exciting part of the night was definitely the activities. I love how hispanic people just put themselves out there and don't really care how they look as they do different things. We had them do some pretty crazy things (it would take forever to explain in this email, but pictures should be able to explain some of it :) and they absolutely loved it! It was definitely one of the funniest nights of my entire mission... We also taught english classes for the first time, which was fun. As we helped people introduce and talk about themselves, we felt so proud of the people we helped, just like parents with their children.

Saturday we had this huge ward party and there were sooooo many people there. Somehow we got put in charge of the potatoes, so we peeled and mashed potatoes for about three hours on Saturday.... the potatoes were steaming hot, so they were way easy to peel but totally burning our hands. Mexican women have this crazy ability to never burn their hands and we just haven't developed it quite yet. They cook tortillas and all kinds of things on the stove and do everything with their hands and it doesn't faze them. We helped set up everything for the activity and of course it was way unorganized because the guys were in charge. As I was taping butcher paper on one of the tables, the 1st counselor said I'd better hurry up if I want to finish before I get home... haha (by the way I said that with a straight face). The food was good and the dance again was funny because everyone gets up there and dances and it's way entertaining.

Also good news with Milta and Ricardo! They totally came to church today, as well as Javier and Itzel! We finally had all of our solid investigators at church and it just felt so good. Milta had a little break from work finally on Friday so they immediately called us up and wanted to come to the church or something, so we went to the Visitor's Center and got to see God's Plan for Families, as well as have a super good lesson and relate Alma 22 to her (it's way applicable). So they're doing great, and we hope to see things progress with them. They also have incredible fellowship, and are really enjoying everything.

So that's the main weekly update. Life is good - just sprinting as hard as I can to the end (physically and spiritually :)

Love ya!  ~ Elder Carlson

•Reuniones sin fin...‏..5/07/2012

Hola Buenos Dias!

It has been quite the week for meetings...We had all kinds of ward correlations, transfer meeting, stake president meetings, leadership meetings, and any other kind of meeting that exists I'm sure. We didn't hardly have a chance to go outside this week! It was a solid week though, and we saw some good things happen in the zone. It's still "Miracle May" and people are still finding people that are accepting baptismal dates, so that's a plus :)

We totally have a baptism this weekend! Valeria Hernandez, who we just met a week and a half ago, is getting baptized this Saturday and she's so excited about it! She's been really wanting to get baptized and in her prayer yesterday she thanked God for letting her "finally" get baptized. She was super busy this last week with work every single day, so we're having to really condense everything we teach her so she'll be ready for this weekend. I guess she's moving to live with her dad in England for half a year, but there's a church right across the street so she'll be good. She's really put a lot of thought into this and is 100% committed even though she's still learning the basics. Her friend at school will be able to baptize her, so that'll be an awesome experience for him. It's funny - we're actually going to have to do the baptism in the morning because she's going to this Mormon prom that evening (she already found a date and planned on this way before we met her... her date isn't a member either) and she wanted to make sure she had enough time.

This week was a little interesting - we were a random three-some for half the week with some different missionaries. Elder Corbett, who's going home with me, stayed with us Monday and Tuesday (before transfers Wednesday), and we had some fun experiences with Mexicans and spanish work. We actually went to the trailer park to teach this guy named Jacinto, and when we came in his truck was there loaded with these spiny massive leaves and palms and such. We offered to help and they actually let us get dirty and helpe them toss it all into the dumpster. It was fun because we were all up there in there truck and I was shoveling it all off with this pitch fork as they watched us and we taught them a little bit. At the end of the conversation we found out that the guy we were helping wasn't even Jacinto at all! He was his brother, who looked just like him, and had gotten here from Mexico just the day before. We felt pretty silly... It was way fun though.

We also had an elder who's waiting for his visa for the day on Wednesday (he's been in San Luis, right by Yuma for the past couple months), Elder Larson from Alpine Utah, and it was funny to see him in this lesson that we were teaching to Javier Luna. So Javier is an incredibly intelligent guy, who we teach at a level way higher than anybody else. He understands a lot, and has a lot of questions, and that day we taught him the Plan of Salvation thoroughly. I know Preach My Gospel says to not teach people everything you know, but I feel like with that lesson we basically taught him everything we know about the plan. He was hungering for that knowledge and just needed to know. He was way interested in the spirit world and we invited Elder Larson to teach him about it, but he didn't really know what was going on still (it was a pretty deep involved lesson) and didn't even know where to start...so he had to pass on it.

We also have a ray of hope with Mason Walker! He's this black guy we've been teaching whose not-yet wife is an inactive member. We've been really really trying to get him to church but it has just not happened once yet. He seems really sincere and like he wants to change but then he never, ever makes it to church. Apparently there have been 3 weeks in the past month that somebody close has died, and that has prevented him from coming to church. We don't mean to be insensitive (we sympathize with him) but how many more friends are there? Anyway, we stopped by yesterday and found out that his 20-ish year old daughter is staying with them, and she's way legit. She said she knows she's going to get baptized sometime (her grandparents were members) and that she's going to do what it takes to get the family to church! She knows her dad well and I think she'll be key in getting this whole family back to church. So there's definitely some potential there. That's about it for this week. Nothing has been too crazy or out of the ordinary. More than anything, I feel this crazy sense of urgency and want to baptize the whole world before I go home :)

Thanks for all you do - pray for "Miracle May"! Love ya,

~Elder Carlson

Mayo de Milagros!!!...4/30/2012

So this next month's theme is definitely going to be "Miracle May"!

We just got transfer calls last night and.... surprise surprise, I'm staying here in Mesa! Elder Lindquist and I are both staying here, and we only have 4 people leaving the zone so it's going to be a pretty small transfer. I'm way excited though, because this last week has been incredible. Not necessarily any wild or ridiculous things in our area personally, but all kinds of people in the zone are accepting baptismal dates!! We had a super rough April but May is shaping up to be the best month I've ever seen by far. We're determined to have the best month any zone has ever seen. The missionaries who live with us are seeing crazy things in their area. They now have 10 soon to be 11 or 12 people with a baptismal date, and it just keeps going up! People are ready and now's the time! That area hasn't really produced for a while, but when it's ready it's ready. There have even been situations where somebody the missionaries weren't even teaching called them up and said she wanted to get baptized. The field is definitely white and ready to harvest. It's actually really funny because now we go around saying "Miracle May" ALL the time. If anyone is going to teach a lesson or extend a date we just tell them "Why not? It's Miracle May!" So that's the theme for all of our wards and especially our zone this month.

Our highlight of the week has probably been Valeria Hernandez. So we heard about this girl a month ago when one of the young women (Amanda McKay) came up to us and said her friend told her she wanted to get baptized. I guess Val moves from house to house quite a bit and can be hard to get ahold of, so we have just been trying to get ahold of her through Amanda all month long and it just hasn't worked out. We finally set a time to meet with her after mutual on Wednesday and she really is super ready to get baptized. We actually found out that as Hermana Farley and Hermana Escobar went tracting and looking through formers, they totally knocked on a door that Val answered! When Val got to the door she said she was already getting baptized and left it at that. Apparently this was her cousin's house, and missionaries had come and talked to her and her cousins quite a bit (I believe mostly Elder Johnson). We hadn't even met her at this time. When we did meet her, we found out that she has all of these member friends at school and that one of them told her to pray about joining our church. She didn't know too much about it but she took him seriously and prayed about it. She had a crazy strong spiritual experience and she got moved to tears. She felt something fill her whole body, something that she had never felt before. From that day on, she knew what she needed to do and started telling everyone she was Mormon. She's enrolled into seminary now and is going to girls camp pretty soon here. As we taught her she said she was very serious about this and that she wouldn't be there if she didn't mean it. Her mom had listened to the missionaries back in the day but when she got re-married it caused stress in the marriage and she stopped. Her dad is actually in England and way Catholic, but totally supports her and that's actually where she's going this summer.

So...Val, who's 16 now, is going to be baptized next Saturday on May 12th because of some crazy conflicts with activities this weekend. This is what happens when members are missionaries.

We also had a pretty crazy day on Saturday, when we met with Javier Luna, a member referral who we've only been able to teach a couple times. He's going through a rough time because he recently lost his job and is going through all kinds of financial and legal stress. The kinds of things we deal with as missionaries absolutely just blow my mind. Javier is a very visionary man and apparently when he asks for things or asks questions visions just flow to him like water he says. It's way interesting hearing about all the crazy visions and experiences he's had in the past. We've been talking to him a lot about baptism and we even fasted and prayed with him yesterday to see if he should be baptized on May 19th, but we haven't been able to follow up with him too much. He's a really quiet, kind of stern guy, and it can be difficult sometimes to get him to really open up. He did come to church yesterday though, and he totally brought his dad! His dad had some good questions, and we're going to try to see if we can teach both of them this week.

Tuesday was super cool! We went to the Visitor's Center with Milta Millan and her boyfriend Ricardo and they loved it! Ricardo has been pretty skeptical about baptism and she said he's the main obstacle between her and baptism. She wants to do it, but she wants a more sure answer that it's what she needs to do it, and she doesn't want to do it alone. Ricardo wasn't exactly like we expected him to be. Milta's such a nice sweet Puerto Rican lady and he's totally more of a gangster. He's shorter, bald, and is covered with tattoos and piercings. We actually found out he does tattoos now, which explains why he was so fascinated with a lot of the art at the church and the Visitor's Center. After watching the Joseph Smith movie, we showed him the temple and talked a lot about what we do and why it's important. He really liked learning about Joseph Smith actually and wanted a Book of Mormon. He couldn't see too well, but randomly we actually had a large print spanish copy in the car! We never have extra BOM's that big so that was totally cool. He even asked for another copy so he could give one to his friend and invite him to church. Milta really wants to take her son and grandsons to the Visitor's Center, so it looks like that's what we're going to be doing tomorrow! There's a lot of potential in this family and we pray that they will all be open, willing, and accepting. I love to see the light that has come into Milta's life. She literally glows and has been so much happier as we've continued to teach her and help her make changes in her life. She's also praying about a baptismal date.

Last night we also met with Itzel and Karen, and they're definitely progressing along smoothly. They came to church and Saturday we gave Karen this illustrated children's version of the Book of Mormon, and she is already in Alma! She knows and remembers every single story that she's read, and it was awesome teaching and reviewing everything with her last night. She's a way intelligent little girl and she's loving learning about everything. Karen has also been getting refreshed on everything, since it's been quite a while since she's been to church. We found out a few minutes before Gospel Principles yesterday that we were teaching it, and as we taught she was way involved and we could see that she was truly enjoying being back in church. Some people just need a little push :) They also have the funniest, cutest little 2-year old girl and for some reason I love to hear little kids speak in spanish. It's the best.

So there's another family that is looking really promising - Ofelia, Griselda, and Emily, who we taught last week. We also gave Emily one of those Book of Mormon's and she really likes it! We'll see how things go - hopefully we can get them coming to church and progressing. It was cool to see something click with Ofelia as we were teaching her. She finally realized exactly what the Book of Mormon was and was 100% committed to reading it. She kept saying she was going to read it this time. "You'll see!"

So that's about it for the week! We're gearing up for a Miracle May!! Pray for it - it'll happen!

~ Elder Carlson

Mas familias! Los mismos problemas...4/30/2012

Buenos Dias a todos!

Well, once again, it's been an eventful week! We've definitely found a lot of new people to teach and the area's doing a whole lot better than it was before. We actually finally got to teach this family that we've been trying to teach since December or January, which was pretty cool. They came to the Christmas lights, but we kept on setting up all these lessons that they would have to cancel for legitimate reasons. It was pretty ridiculous. We never gave up though, and kept setting them up until we got one this last week. There's a mom with 2 daughters (8 and 22 years old), and they don't have a whole lot of religious background. They were way interested as we taught about the restoration, prayer, and how the gospel blesses families. One thing that's tough to deal with as a missionary is people's work schedules though. The economy is getting worse and worse down here, and jobs are more and more scarce. People are doing everything they can just to work and live and have a job, and employers are taking advantage of it to make them work all kinds of crazy hours. It's super rare to find people that don't work on Sunday and can go to church. That seems to be the biggest obstacle here, that really prevents people from progressing in the gospel.

Milta Millan is still doing really well! Her boyfriend Ricardo is still way interested and we're planning on taking them to the Visitor's Center tomorrow. We're still not 100% sure what we're going to do with them in terms of where they're going to go to church and everything, but she's solid and will do well wherever she goes. It's difficult sometimes because Sarah (the member that she watches over) often has to go to the hospital, and the lessons and church can't always happen.

Yesterday was an especially eventful day - early in the morning we got a call from Brother Bull (he actually served in this ward a couple years ago and then came back and married a recent convert and has been living here) who's moving to Texas so we got to help him move his stuff real fast. He had to leave within the hour. It's crazy how many people around here who move in and out literally put it off till the last second and they would not be able to do it if we didn't show up. We went to our spanish correlation and then went to the Hansen's house (a family in the Dobson Ward) to practice a song that we sang in sacrament meeting in the spanish ward. All of the missionaries except me got assigned to speak during sacrament (they said they've heard enough from me) and we offered to sing, so we did the EFY medley and translated it into spanish! Since just Elder Lindquist and I sang it, we had to translate "As Sisters in Zion" a little differently. The good thing is it's a whole lot easier in spanish to translate and change things like that, so it actually sounded super good! Elder Lindquist is the only companion I've had that can really sing with me and the spanish wards absolutely love it! I think that's probably all they're going to remember me for. That or the fact that I eat a lot, as I talked about in last week's email :D We practiced that and then went to our Dobson Ward correlation and found out that we have another new Ward Mission Leader since the McKendrick's are moving. This will be our 3rd ward mission leader in like 2 months. The good news is that our new WML is Brother Rappleye! His brother served with me in Yuma, and he's awesome. Bro. Rappleye always comes out with us to lessons and is a perfect fellowship. He's also way straight-forward and gets things done, so we're really looking forward to some good things happening in Dobson Ward. We haven't hardly been able to teach any people in that ward because we simply don't have any investigators there and it's a lot more difficult to find through your own efforts in english. Plus, we're teaching a LOT of people in spanish now and we're plenty busy. So hopefully we can get a lot of excitement and member involvement and see some cool things happen. We actually found out the night before that we were also doing a fireside for the youth! We totally didn't know, but we did this fireside on helping the youth do missionary work, and talked about things we wish we knew before the mission. It was actually super fun and interactive and I wouldn't mind doing it again. It's fun being a missionary, because there's so many talks and firesides and lessons that you do on the fly. You never know what you're going to be asked to do next. At this fireside though, a couple of the youth came up to us and said they have friends who are legitimately interested in the church and we talked about what the next step would be and how we could meet them. I wish I could have been more like that when I was younger. It's pretty cool to see the influence they have.

So Karen and Itzel, who we first taught last Sunday, did end up coming to church and it was awesome. I called her right before and she said that she just woke up - she said my companion told her he would call her to make sure she woke up on time (we were on exchanges that day) and he didn't. Next thing I know she walked through the doors right in front of me and was laughing. They loved church and Karen was so happy that Itzel had such strong desires to come to church and learn about God. We haven't decided on a baptismal date yet, but it will probably be at some point in May.

We met with a family who knew members (the dad is co-workers with one and asked him about doing a memorial service type of thing for his mother-in-law), and finally got to have a lesson with them. It was interesting because we dedicated the grave from over here and prayed for her and the family, and we taught them all about the Plan of Salvation. The mom who had just lost her mom, was way interested, even though the dad wasn't terribly, and we hope we'll be able to meet with them again soon. It was interesting because there are so many aspects to the Plan of Salvation, but somehow we were able to teach it way thoroughly, along with a little about the restoration and everything else we did, in under an hour.

We taught more families than I've taught in a long time, even though only a fraction of our planned lessons went through. April's been a rough month for the zone baptism-wise but we're feeling a MIRACLE MAY! So expect big things :)

Gracias por su apoyo y todo lo que hacen!

~ Elder Carlson