•Semana de milagros!!.......12/12/2011

It has been a pretty incredible week. We're pretty sure it's linked to the mission fast we had last Sunday, and we hear that it's happening all across the mission! So Tuesday morning we got a text from Angelica, who comes from a part-member family (we were teaching her before but temporarily dropped her because she's living in Tempe with a friend for a little bit). She said she wanted to meet with us at the church that evening so we said that would be cool. We met there and were just talking and then after we said a prayer we just asked her why she wanted to meet with us. At first she shied around the question and said she just wanted us to teach something, and then... she said she wanted to get baptized!! I guess she'd been meeting with the bishop every week the past few weeks and has been doing some real searching. She had been taught like 2 years ago and was going to be baptized, but took off and ever since then she has just said she's not ready. We were absolutely blown away, and it was completely out of the blue. Straight-up miracle. So we started planning that baptism, she got interviewed, and she's all set to get baptized this week. Miracle #2: We had a lesson with Saturday night with Xochitl Castillo (also from a part-member family and somebody that has been taught for a very very long time) and we decided to bring Nelly Ramirez, a recent convert from the first time I was here in Mesa. They totally hit it off in the lesson even though Xochitl said she was depressed, and she brought her to church yesterday. So we were standing there talking with them and President Richardson (the old branch president here - from when it was a branch) came up and asked her when she was getting baptized. We talked about it a ton with her before but she's always said she hasn't got her answer yet or that she's already been baptized before. Somehow this time was different and it became very legitimate and real. She pulled out her phone and started checking her schedule to see when she would have time and be able to do it. Somehow we decided on doing it this Wednesday (which is Nelly's birthday) and it looks like Angelica might do it that same night which is kind of funny, because they're cousins about the same age (22 and 23). That has just been an absolute miracle, because everything completely changed with them. Their whole attitude, demeanor, and just everything. I don't know if I've ever been quite so happy at church before. It was pretty incredible.

That has definitely been the highlight of our week - the rest kind of pales in comparison. I also got to do a pretty sweet baptismal interview for a super prepared guy this week. I guess his wife was a member for a long time but they had never really gone to church before. They didn't put much into it, and they didn't get much out of it. Plus, his kids weren't learning anything, so they found themselves just searching. They had kind of talked about the church for a long time, and they decided to do a bunch of research. He prayed to God and asked for guidance, and got a very specific, direct answer that this is the path he should take. So this is all before he even had met with the missionaries. I guess that makes the teaching process quite a bit easier... He had incredible experiences with tithing and the word of wisdom, and stopped smoking cold-turkey. He said he hasn't even had the temptation to smoke and he knows it's God blessing him for obedience to that commandment. He has a ton of kids, so it'll be cool to see some of them get baptized in the future.

I went on exchanges with Elder Lee, an awesome missionary in the zone who stepped down from zone leader to train Elder Tuavao, who's from Tonga. We had a super good day, and I got to meet this incredible family that they just started teaching. A lady who's a member just moved in with this friend and her family, and the family just latched on to the gospel. They absolutely love the missionaries and everything that's taught, and it looks like he's going to be able to see them get baptized Christmas Eve right before he goes home on the 27th! She's completely fluent in Spanish so of course it was fun to go over there and teach her - it's weird to think about life when I didn't know Spanish. I guess there have been awesome experiences all over the mission where people just have come to the missionaries saying they want to get baptized. All I have to say is tis the season! If there's any time to see success, and when people's hearts are opened, it's going to be now. The Christmas lights here are quite the hit, and we've been getting a whole lot of referrals from that. We actually tracted out both of the main trailer parks in our area (where our 2 families are that need to get married), so we could see where any potential is, and so we can make sure everyone is invited to see the lights! Everyone can feel the spirit there and recognize that it's something special. People here love it. So during this glorious tracting, we've had some cool experiences being chased by dogs, hopping fences, and confronting some very unhappy white people (and Mexicans who love the virgin Mary and thus won't talk to us). But...we also found a sweet potential family that had been meeting with missionaries before, but had moved and just lost contact! So we're excited for anything new, and we're definitely seeing some new potential here.

So yep, we're getting excited as Christmas nears, and people are getting ready to be baptized! We've also got the family of Alberto and Adriana that are going to get baptized Christmas Eve and confirmed on Christmas! WE had a great time painting their trailer the other day (we had no idea we were going to paint the whole thing), and they were telling us how they had been telling all of their friends that they had changed religions and were coming to our church. It was funny because part of the reason we stopped by Saturday morning was because we were pretty sure the Jehovah Witnesses would come by her house (they had been for a long time), and we wanted to make sure they were strengthened and prepared :) Our high councilor over ward missionary work is super awesome and helping us finance the passports for these people. When we asked him he said he would talk to the stake president and then changed his mind. He didn't want to have to wait to get permission or anything else so he talked to his committee and had everything ready in a matter of a few days! Awesome.

So that's what's up! It's raining right now, and Arizona drivers don't know what to do - they're going super slow on the road... It was way cold the beginning of this week (like mid-30s in the morning - cold for here) but it's gotten a little warmer. Thanks everyone for everything!

Feliz Navidad! ~ Elder Carlson

•Guau (wow), ya diciembre...12/5/2011

Wow, it's hard to believe time is flying by so fast... I felt like the summer was so short, and here we are, already coming up on Christmas! It has been a pretty eventful week for us, lots going on. We've had all kinds of training meetings and baptismal interviews and basically not incredible amounts of time to hit the pavement and proselyte. It was funny - in a baptism we went to on Thursday, the missionary baptizing left his phone in his pocket so he "baptized" his phone. They said that it was confirmed and that it is now the missionary meal coordinator of that ward... Thankfully the phone still works, but it was entertaining to watch him realize that it was still in his pocket. We had a Zone Leader Conference on Thursday and mainly just talked about the need to work better with the members and being more powerful teachers. We've been noticing that missionaries are kind of struggling in teaching with confidence, power, and authority. We talked about taking it back to the basics - what exactly does the Restoration mean, and why is it important? What really is our unique message to the world? After we teach people that first lesson about the Restoration, do they understand it and have sincere desires to find out if it's true? Did they understand it?

It was cool thinking about these questions, and thinking about people in the past that I have taught. If I'm able to teach it simply and powerfully, they're going to be able to understand it, regardless of whether or not they want to accept it. We're not here to mess with their agency, but we're sure here to find those prepared by our Heavenly Father - if they are ever going to accept it, we're going to give them the tools they need to find out if (that) it's true.

So I've really been going through everything and simplifying it, looking up definitions in Preach My Gospel and True to the Faith so that I can have a deeper personal testimony of it and be able to teach it in the way that I personally know it's true. The better we know these things, the more simply we will be able to teach and explain it. Revelation is one of the coolest things to really research and find out about. It's simply communication from our Heavenly Father to His children. It's how the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ are revealed to prophets and how it is confirmed to us that that revelation is true and real. We've been really focusing on that lately, and how it's so necessary for our investigators to receive that revelation and be able to understand and recognize it.

At Zone Conference the next day (Friday) we focused on similar things and were able to do a whole lot of role-playing and practicing teaching. It was cool to help people out and see what they're doing in their teaching appointments so that we can make it a lot more powerful. Our message is unique and people really do have to understand why/how and how it applies to them personally. No matter what our circumstances and situations might be, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way we are going to be able to overcome those trials and find true happiness.

I've been realizing the importance of being super transparent and helping people realize why we're there, as missionaries. We're teachers, and we are here to teach them about their Heavenly Father, His plan for them, and how they can find the happiness that they're searching for. We tell them right off the bat why we're there and where we're going with our message - we're not there to simply share a message and leave. This is the most important thing they could possibly do in their entire life and we're going to help them understand why. I went on exchanges with Elder Johnson and we learned a lot - about being super enthusiastic, smiling, and being sincere and simple. We don't need to use fancy words or worry about how exactly we word things. We need to simply talk to them and let them know who we are and why we're here. It's crazy thinking this is the only time in your life you're able to just meet random people on the street and just teach them. It's pretty cool, and it's sad to think it's going by so fast.

One thing that's also been awesome to learn is how much offering help can really go. We've been going by auxiliary leaders and simply asking, "What can we do to help you?" We want to be a blessing, not a burden to them, and we know they have all kinds of responsibilities and things stressing them out. So we've been getting assignments and lists of people to visit, and we're seeing that it is already helping and improving the spirituality of the ward! Building a relationship of trust is way crucial for missionaries, and we're starting to see why. A family we visited on Saturday that's inactive came to church yesterday and it was awesome! We all felt the spirit super strong in their house, and are working on helping them to be missionaries and share the gospel with their friends.

We had a solid mission fast this Sunday, fasting for a "White Christmas" and we're pretty excited. The mission's getting pumped up and we see big things happening this month. People are just nicer and people around here love the Christmas lights at the temple! We've also gotten a couple referrals from that, which is way exciting. We got to see some of the Christmas Devotional yesterday, and that's always one of my favorite things ever - I particularly enjoyed Pres. Monson's talk about the Christmas stories. It really does put it into perspective and helps us know the importance of giving and sacrifice (sacrifice being greater than the reward - me gusta) like

Life is good though, and the Christmas season is here! It's the best time to do missionary work :)

Love you! Hasta pronto See you soon

~ Elder Carlson

•ya se esta acercando la Navidad...11/28/2011

Hey hey!

So it was fun to have Thanksgiving this past week! We got to have just about the entire day free, so we went to a big park and played a bunch of football and frisbee, and it was actually decently chilly for Arizona. We had dinner that evening with some recent converts, and it ended up being fairly American, except for the tortillas and the spicy salsa. It was super good though, and I was just happy as I long as I have my pumpkin pie :) Then that evening we got to relax and play some board games (probably the funnest game of Apples to Apples in my entire life) with a bunch of the missionaries here. It was nice to just de-stress for a day, and enjoy some time together. On P-Days we usually have all kinds of things we need to do and have a very full agenda, so it ends up not usually being incredibly relaxing. It is funny to celebrate Thanksgiving with Mexicans though, because they could care less for the holiday, but it's a big deal here. One thing that was kind of cool with the whole Thanksgiving dinner deal, was that the ward helped out our part-member family that we're working with, and actually provided a couple delicious cooked turkeys and just a big dinner for them. Luckily they didn't have any big plans or anything cooking, so it worked out perfectly.

It was kind of crazy this weekend, seeing Elder Burgos (now David) come back from Florida to visit everyone and say hi. We actually ended up doing a musical number yesterday at church, which was sweet. It's just strange to see someone you serve with come back to that exact same area and be with them not as a missionary. It was cool to see him though, and I'm already getting excited about coming back to visit everyone after my mission!

So we had a couple pretty awesome experiences this week with finding new investigators. So ever since I came into the area, we have been struggling like crazy to find new people to teach. We talk to everyone we see, we go through former investigators, and potential investigators, and everything we get seems to be either in the other missionaries' area or in the Mesa Mission! But...we're glad that we're nonetheless finding people for somebody to teach. But this week, out of nowhere, we got 5 new investigators! We had a super good lesson with Ramon and finally got his rebel 14-year old son to participate! It was a pretty huge step of progress. His son has been getting better and better, and thankfully now he's starting to get more involved. It's still difficult because you have to be constantly working to keep his attention, but he is doing better. Earlier, we were working with this part-member family list and contacted ALL of the families in our area and only found a couple that have any potential. We found, at one of the houses, a girl about our age (she's a girlfriend of one of the boys) that was super interested in coming to church! She was excited, but it seemed like every lesson that we set up got cancelled! She also had these crazy situations that came up and prevented her from coming to church. So we finally taught her on Friday, and we had a way spiritual lesson. We asked her if she had ever gone to see the Christmas lights at the temple here and she said she did last year. When we asked her how she felt as she was there she said that it was honestly the happiest that she had ever felt in her entire life!! She has a rough background and her parents were both drug addicts, but she said that day she decided to start changing her life so she could feel more like that, and has been starting to see blessings ever since. She was actually excited about getting the whole family active as well! That would be pretty cool. It's so cool when people already have a really spiritual experience like that, where they were able to truly recognize the spirit and see the potential that it has to truly make them happy. And it was funny- we were going to give her a church tour last night, but she ended up going to the temple and visitor's center instead (everyone gets the temple confused with the chapel) so we told her to stay there and enjoy it - she said she never wanted to leave.

Another cool dealio was one day as we were going through some records, I saw a family name that I recognized because I had taught them once when I was on exchanges. We decided to go by, even though I remember recently talking to a way rude, totally not-interested guy outside the house. So we went in, set up a lesson, and then came with a member and had a way solid lesson! The mom was incredibly sincere as she was talking about the fact that she really did want to know which church was true, and we found out that she would need a large-print BOM which worked out well because we had accidentally picked up an extra just last week! Their family is way cool, and we're excited to just have some new faces and people to work with.

Alberto and Adriana are still doing great - they came to a fireside last night and loved it. They had a scare earlier this week because their oldest son went to the hospital (interesting story...our fellowship went to take her to the hospital to see him, and we got stranded - it was fun finding a way to get home), but everything is good now. Alberto loves his large-print BOM and now reads it all of the time. I'm always impressed at how much they remember from what they read - it's pretty incredible. So we're still working with them and getting everything prepared for our Christmas baptisms. It's going to be the best day ever!! President Howes and a bunch of people at the fireside last night told us to let them know when they get baptized, so they can be there. Families are the best :)

So that's about it for this week. I'm excited to start getting into Christmas stuff!!

Que todos tengan una buena semana! ~ Elder Carlson

•Hay que empezar de nuevo....11/21/2011

Hola a todos! Hi all!

Well this week there were transfers, and although there weren't an incredible amount of transfers for us (we stayed the same), there were some pretty interesting changes. Elder Ricker left and Elder Silos came in, a native from Mexico and we're super excited about that. He's a walking dictionary and is able to help us so much to be more correct and be more legit Spanish missionaries. Speaking of them, Elder Silos and Elder Wheeler had an awesome baptism this past week! So with this one way active family, the mom's brother has been staying at their house for a while and I guess he had been kind of interested about the church but he had never really been invited and they had never really talked to him too much about it. He came to our ward activity (for Dia de la Raza - Colombus Day) and when Elder Ricker came up to talk to him, he said he was totally interested! In their first lesson, they gave him a baptismal date and he just got baptized this last Saturday. It's kind of crazy thinking about the number of people that can be so prepared that can be all around us - how are we going to know if we don't share the gospel with everyone? So there were a lot of people that came to the baptism, and there was a little stress. Our ward mission leader (who has the keys to the font) was in Idaho - we didn't know - and we weren't sure anyone from the bishopric was planning on going, so we were scrambling last minute, trying to help out the other missionaries here and make sure everything worked out. Thankfully it did, and I guess Abel (who got baptized) had an incredible experience when he got baptized. When he came out of the water he saw a pillar of light and he said he literally felt the Holy Ghost enter in him (like when Jesus Christ got baptized). I think it's interesting how the Hispanic people are such a visionary people, and are able to have such faith-building experiences. But yeah, we feel like Elder Silos will be able to do super well in this area and really get things done, so that'll be cool.

Other than that, we had some other new people come into the zone, including an elder who just stepped down from zone leader to train before he goes home. He has a way cool companion from Tonga who's learning English and this is his first time off of the island! Crazy... And I guess temporarily here, we kind of have 4 AP's - 2 are the more typical english AP's and Elder Matheson and Elder Johnson (my boy - who I trained) are I guess more of traveling ones that do exchanges with spanish missionaries mostly. It's interesting - I'm not sure how long President Howes plans to have it set up like this. But I'm glad I did at least an okay job of training Elder Johnson.

Other than that, there hasn't been an incredible amount of excitement this week... Our 2 families are still on track to get baptized on Christmas and we're working out all the logistics. We've noticed something that's kind of interesting with Hispanics...when it comes to parties and especially birthdays, they seem to throw absolutely everything else out the window. We've been working and making such good progress with this family, and because of his birthday and the celebrations Saturday and Sunday, they didn't come to church and broke the Word of Wisdom a little bit. So yeah, we're still working with them and solidifying everything we've taught them, and it'll all work out. More than anything, I'm just excited for a white Christmas :)

I do like being with Elder Twitchell - we've made a lot of really cool and important realizations that help us to better help our zone. One thing that we notice not only in our zone but in general with a majority of the missionaries, there is a definite lack of confidence. There's a misconception that humility is not thinking you're good at anything, but that definitely does not help you to reach your potential. It is important to recognize where our talents and abilities come from and not try to do everything alone, but we have to have confidence as we do missionary work and we have to have a testimony of who we are and why we're here. When we're truly converted, we're going to be obedient and we're going to do the Father's will, which includes us becoming like Him! That is going to involve having faith in who we are and what we're capable of. It's just something really cool that we've been thinking about lately. Oh man, and our zone once again got so close to our goal of 50 member-present lessons. We got 47!! We're going to get it sooner or later, that's all I have to say.

So yeah, it's been a good week - we're still really searching for new investigators and doing our best to figure out how best to work with the members and help them do missionary work. As far as Thanksgiving, that is when our real P-day will be, so that's when we'll have time to actually do stuff. So far, we only have 1 dinner appointment (and a couple options for desert - that's like my favorite part), but we'll see what happens. I did have a pretty incredible pumpkin pie this week...

Life is good though, and we have a really good feeling about December. It's going to be a good month! Plus I can't wait to listen to Christmas music!

Love you all and hope you have a great Dia del Pavo! (turkey day)

~ Elder Carlson

•No muchos cambios...‏11/14/11

Well it's already that time again - goodness transfers go by so fast. We just had transfer calls last night and a lot of it was what I expected. Elder Twitchell and I are staying together here, but they're taking out a lot of our solid senior companions and putting them into leadership. There are a whole lot more people leaving than we thought would leave, so we're interested to see what happens and who comes. It's going to be sad to see Elder Ricker leave - he's way musical and we had all these plans for musical numbers and everything around Christmas time.

It was a pretty exciting week though, and we have a lot of momentum going into this next transfer. So I issued a challenge to the zone here to get a certain number of lessons with a member present. These are by far the most effective lessons, and when investigators have true fellowship they're able to progress so much faster and be so much more solid in all of their commitments (and in getting retained). I could tell that there was a lot of room for improvement so I said if we got 50 as a zone I would treat everyone to pizookies at oregano's here (pizookies are these big cookies in small pie pans with ice cream on top - they're incredible). So all week long we really pushed everyone and worked together at it but at the end of it we found out we got...48! Ahhhh, we were so close, but it was almost twice what we got some weeks and way higher than we've had for months here. I don't know why, but it's super fun for me to look at past statistics and really get pumped and excited to do way better than what's been done before. It gives me something to really push and stretch for, and we've seen some cool things come from it. So we'll see if the zone can get the challenge within the next couple weeks - still a prize on the line.

We also did some pretty crazy back-to-back exchanges this week as we finished everything up for the transfer and had some pretty cool experiences.

My favorite was actually with this brand new missionary that I was with on Thursday, and I was in his area (he still didn't know it all that well). It was just not his day. So we got lost in almost every apartment complex we went in, and when he made pancakes it went terribly wrong. He turned on the wrong burner and smelled something burning...he saw that the pan had burned through the handle of the spatula that was sitting on the other pan, so there was just a chunk of the handle sitting there on the stove and melted plastic all over the pan. It was just a little bit entertaining. One thing that made things kind of interesting was this black guy we talked to at a gas station. I was airing up my shocks and this guy pulled up in a bright red sports car from the car dealership right next door, and he comes out to talk to us (his "brothers"). I found out that he had this LDS-mobile back home, a way fixed-up old car that he had bought from an older member of our church. It had LDS on the front and back license plate and it was decked out with pass-along cards and any other kind of church material. He came over asking us if we had anything we could give children so he could help keep kids occupied who came in and teach them what's important. This whole time I thought he was a member but then he was talking about how everyone asks him that and he says, "No, not yet!" He's sure that this all happened for a reason though, and it wasn't coincidence that he had this LDS-mobile. He also said that one thing we had going for us (mormons) is mormon women. I guess he worked in a gym a while back and lots of members would go work out there. He said there is just something about them - they have a glow, a purity, a light about them that nobody else has. He said, "Don't get me wrong, I love my lady. But there is something special about those Mormon women." So that was actually pretty sweet - we are definitely a light to the world.

I think that was about it for excitement this week. We're still working a whole lot with this legal issue and all of these families that want to be baptized but can't because they can't get married. We've decided to take the passport route and we're setting up appointments today with the Mexican consulate to get that taken care of. It'll probably be a couple months, but it's the only way to do things legally. Our families are still super solid though. They have overcome word of wisdom issues, and have some pretty incredible desires to be baptized. People are definitely out there, prepared and ready. It's just up to us to open our mouths and let them know we have what they're looking for! We're excited to keep inspiring the zone and really keep things rolling here. I love the work and am looking forward to another 6 glorious weeks in Mesa!

Love y'all!

~Elder Carlson

•Al final tengo frio!‏!11/7/11

Wow, I can honestly say I never thought that 50 degrees would feel so cold to me! A couple days ago it rained pretty hard here and the next morning i was legitimately cold... I've been seriously fighting this sickness the past few days so that just makes it that much more fun! And because we bike in the mornings to go to this track (to run) it felt super good on those bikes... So yep, I guess I've kind of temporarily turned into an Arizona pansy, because I consented and wore a jacket the other day, when it was probably around 60 or so. I don't know what to do with myself.

So Halloween was pretty fun, nothing overly exciting. We got together as a zone and did some pumpkin carving and that's a story in itself. So we hadn't thought to buy pumpkins a week in advance (a huge oversight on our part) and we went to Wal-Mart, expecting them to have some good size carving pumpkins. Not the case. They had these itty bitty ones with faces painted on, and they had these ridiculous big ones that you could totally not carve. So we went over to Fry's and...no dice. All they had was these little ones that were pretty hard. We were feeling pretty desperate so we ended up just getting those (my companion, Elder Ricker, and I) and then showed up to the activity that night. All I have to say is that experience was much more like carving into stone than a pumpkin. We super bent all of the little saws and things we were using and even super sharp knives took an incredible amount of strength and skill (to not cut myself). I was pretty scared for my companion since he can be pretty crazy sometimes. But I made this sweet ghost (face) and I'll have to send pictures.

Oh, and random news - something that was pretty funny. The other day, Elder Ricker and Elder Wheeler were biking along and I guess they saw eyes of this huge stuffed animal sticking out from the dumpster. So they salvaged the thing and it turns out it's this HUGE blue stuffed dog (named Pouting Pete) like the kind of thing you would get at the fair or something. So they wanted us to come pick it up and left it on the porch of a member's apartment nearby. We went by and there was definitely no dog...so we asked them about it and it first they had no idea and just looked really confused. Then they remembered and called back their kids who were going door to door, trying to figure out whose stuffed animal this was or where it came from (they thought it might have been to their daughter from a secret admirer). So we have this huge stuffed dog now that is our zone mascot and it's pretty cool.

Also this week, as the other elders were biking by the church they saw a fire! They got closer and found out that the dumpster there was on fire and had flames at least ten feet high coming from it - so they had to call 911 and get the fire truck over there to put it out. Kind of random.

Other than that, life has been pretty normal. Things are really progressing with a couple of the families that we're teaching (Ramon and Jazmin, and then Alberto and Adriana). We taught Ramon the Word of Wisdom and have been going by every day to help him and give him support. He came to church yesterday with his neighbor and his little girls and absolutely loved it. He said a really sincere thank you to us yesterday for all that we've done, and that alone just makes everything worth it. Alberto and Adriana came again with us to the Visitor's Center and really enjoyed the art and focus on Jesus Christ. There really are some pretty amazing paintings by artists around here in the valley. They're also happy because their 20-year old son is getting more involved and is starting to come with us and listen. So that's awesome!

And oh man, life is always interesting with the Castillo's... There are 5 people in the family that aren't members but that house is LOCO all the time. There are kids running around, people in and out, and they are always trying to feed us even though they're struggling financially. Plus all of the kids are super loud and opinionated so it's a good thing we're able to take control sometimes. They've been coming to church every week and it's only a matter of time before they get baptized. We're really trying to get them to read everday from the Book of Mormon because that's the only way long-term conversion comes about.

Last night was also pretty cool - we went over to teach our Dominican family and there was a friend there instead! We taught her and found out she was actually from Columbia, and she was super interested. So we're excited to see where that goes! Ultimately, our investigator pool hasn't grown tremendously (it's still pretty small) but we teach them a whole lot and they're really going places! Our current problem is still getting those 2 couples married - they already have substantial families - and it looks like our best option is going to be getting them over to Nevada, because the law is way strict here in Arizona. So that's our major obstacle right now and we're working through it.

Oh and we had Zone Leader's Council this week and made a pretty big decision. We decided to stop reporting our OYM's (the number of people we talk to and testify about the gospel outside of teaching and tracting etc.) with our weekly statistics and are really focusing on doing it because of individual conversion. We have to be opening our mouths and sharing the gospel because we're truly converted and feel the urgency and need to share it! So that was interesting, being a part of a big decision like that. Our mission hasn't been doing quite as well as we have in past years so we're really amping everyone/everything up and making sure we're all committed to achieving our goals.

So yep, that's what's going on here! Always busy, and Arizona's finally starting to get cold(er)!

Hasta luego! ~ Elder Carlson

P.S. I'm pretty sure I'm staying but we should be getting transfer calls again on Sunday night.

•Feliz Halloween!‏10/31/2011

Hey hey!

Well there's not a terribly good translation for Halloween so "Feliz Halloween" was the best I could come up with. It's funny, Mexicans get a real kick out of the fact that we make this such a big holiday. They have a "dia de los muertos" (day of the dead) but it's more of a memorial day type of thing than costumes and trick-or-treating. We did get to celebrate it Saturday though, and we had a huge get-together/fundraiser. Our ward combined with a couple of the English wards that meet in that same building and we had a huge activity! There was a little bit of trunk-or-treating, but it was mostly other activities and booths, as well as the food, that made it such a big deal. They had cakewalks and dart-throwing and all kinds of cool stuff, and people would buy these tickets (like they would at a carnival) to do these activities and to buy food from the different places. And speaking of food, they had the most incredible fry bread that we had to try more than once... It was a way good activity, and a whole lot of people came. We were excited because we got to go with a little bit of our own outfits. We found these cowboy hats and sombreros, so one of the missionaries wore a poncho and sombrero and I wore the cowboy hat with a horse tie I found and a big ol' belt buckle and everything... the members loved it, even though it was super simple. We definitely did our best and made sure to talk to everyone there and found a whole bunch of potential but... it was all for the other missionaries here or for missionaries in the Mesa Mission. We were proud though, that we took full advantage of the opportunity so we feel like we'll be blessed in some way or another.

Other than that, we had interviews with the mission president on Tuesday and then a big mission tour on Thursday where half of the mission came and we met with Elder Larry Wilson, who I think is in the second quorum of the seventy. It was a super good meeting, and really helped me think about how we shouldn't be apologetic about inviting people to repent! This is an incredible opportunity we've been given, and these are eternal laws of God that we're obeying. We have to have confidence in who we are, who we represent, and how important it is to keep these laws so that we can reap those blessings that He has for us. It was also cool being able to meet with him and Elder Wright (who is the area authority here) as zone leaders and talk about our zones and get a little extra guidance.

I do have to say that was probably the shortest interview I've ever had... there wasn't too much to discuss, plus I was the last one. But the main thing I got out of it is that everything happens for a reason. We have to learn to sustain ourselves and everyone around us in their positions so that we can all reach our potential. The more we reach out to other people and encourage them, giving them confidence and helping them be sure of themselves, the more capable they are going to be in influencing others.

So yeah, we've been really really working with the few investigators that we have and it was cool - we got to go to the Visitor's Center twice this past week! It's an amazing tool to help people gain a testimony of the Savior, Joseph Smith as a prophet, and of the church. Whenever we take people there, they feel the spirit and they see the difference. There's something special. So one of the families we took (Alberto and Adriana and their kids) this week absolutely loved it, and they're really coming along. We still have to figure out how they can get married (they're not citizens or residents), but they're definitely getting close to baptism.

I also gained a testimony of teaching commandments with love as we taught this guy named Ramon last night. He has had a drinking problem for a long time, and he truly wants to stop because he sees how it hurts his family. We taught the Word of Wisdom very straightforward, and he was 100% committed to living it right there. He wants to be that example for his family, and do what God wants him to. He just needed a little push and some help, which is what we're here for :) We're also pretty excited for his family and are looking forward to good things in the future!

We also had a pretty sweet experience as we were contacting some former investigators the other day. We knocked on this door and it just looked super empty but we heard some music, so we were pretty sure someone was in there. We knocked a couple times but nobody was answering. I didn't feel like we should leave quite yet, so I knocked one last time super loud and we just waited... finally this teenage girl answered the door and started talking to us. I guess her brother had been taught for quite a while, but they had never really talked to her. So we talked for a little bit, testified of some basic things and asked her if we could come by and share more with her. She thought about it and said, "You know what? I was just thinking about it... and I'm really interested!" It was just such a cool, unexpected response! We're actually going to go teach her today, so hopefully everything goes well. It was just such a welcome break from everything else that happened that day.

So yep, that's what's going on right now...we're staying busier (and more tired) than ever and doing our best to keep everyone inspired and motivated! Thanks for all you do!

Love ya', ~ Elder Carlson

•Un testimonio del ayuno‏10/24/2011

Hey hey hey!

Well, it has been quite the happening week (like always) and we decided we just needed to re-vamp things here, so we had a solid fast yesterday. We have been doing okay and teaching quite a bit, but it's mainly just teaching these very few people over and over again... So it's way good for them, but there's just not much to work from. Plus, when they're busy, there's not a whole lot to work off of. So we fasted yesterday and we had a couple families come to church! There were 8 in total, and it was so cool to see them all there, sitting together. It was actually the primary program yesterday, and I'm pretty sure I counted 3 investigators that were actually performing in it! They had been to church 1 or 2 Sundays and they had parts and sung in it and everything! It was pretty incredible - there was a boy from a family that we're teaching, as well as a couple more from a family Elder Ricker and Wheeler are teaching. So that was sweet, and then yesterday after church, we talked to all kinds of people (meeting our goals we had set for OYM's and finding potentials) and contacted some pretty solid referrals. We found this lady yesterday, who we actually visited this morning, who got baptized a year ago and has been wanting to go to church but doesn't know which ward she belongs to. So we talked to her and found out that she has kids that live with her who haven't been baptized, and she still has some of that convert fire, so we'll see what happens there. We talked to lots of people that had met with missionaries before but had just moved and not been able to get in contact with them. It seemed like everywhere we went we were running into people that had connections and just needed to find us (even though it was almost entirely for the English missionaries here). We also taught this guy that Elder Twitchell had met earlier in the week and found that there are 5 families living in that house! So there are 9 or 10 adults there plus kids, and the guy we taught was way interested and excited to come to church! His sister had met with the missionaries before, so she already had the BOM and knew a lot. So we're pretty excited to teach all of them this week. Basically, the moral of the story is we definitely have a testimony of fasting. We've been trying everything we can think of to find new people to teach and nothing was working. I guess the Lord helps us realize sometimes whose work this is (he gives us weaknesses so we can be made strong). Yesterday was just a good day.

One thing that's pretty fun is we've been able to go on quite a few exchanges this week! It's fun to go into other areas to see how they do work there, or to bring English missionaries into ours, and have them be super lost as we teach. It's hard to remember not knowing Spanish... We've been seeing some pretty amazing things with the investigators around here. There are quite a few people getting baptized that the missionaries simply talked to out in the streets (from OYM's). Normally it's through members that solid people are found, but we've been seeing people found through missionary efforts as well! On Thursday I went with another missionary to visit this couple who gave up alcohol, coffee, and smoking in a matter of a couple weeks and is getting baptized this Saturday! They had met them in the park one night and were invited to their home to get a drink of water. It's crazy when we think about how many people we walk by, and how many people may have accepted the gospel if we had only found that courage to open our mouths.

There was a baptism this last weekend that came from missionaries just offering to help a lady move her bed into her apartment (Elder Twitchell actually did when he was on exchanges with Elder Wheeler). She and her daughter just got baptized and they are absolutely incredible. They came to church right away and just knew from the beginning that these missionaries were sent from God and that they needed to listen. She said she wouldn't open the door for missionaries before, but she was so glad that God gives us more chances. So we got to have a massive dinner with her after the baptism and it was just a good feeling. The baptism went well, even though it was a little smaller, and our musical number actually went really well. Ricker and Wheeler are super musical and Elder Twitchell can mostly hold the melody, so musical numbers turn out pretty sweet :) Our ward really likes it. Oh, and speaking of that, we found out at the primary program that the Hispanic kids take after their parents and as a whole... let's just say singing's not their greatest strength... But it was fun as always and everyone enjoyed it.

We're working right now with a lot of people that need to get married so they can get baptized! There are quite a few, and it's tough because they're not legal and I guess they need passports (which they don't have money for). So we're working on that, and some families are starting to look a lot more solid. We notice a huge difference when people are actually reading and praying and keeping those basic commitments. We're able to see it in their faces, and see that they're happier and more optimistic - life is just better!

This week should be a pretty busy one... we've got interviews with President Howes tomorrow, and then we have Larry Wilson from the 2nd quorum of the 70 who's doing a mission tour (like Elder Perry did last year) and is coming to talk to all of us on Thursday. So Mesa's a happening place! A lot faster pace than I got used to in Yuma, but I like it. The missionaries are studs and the work is really starting to pick up.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers! I can tell we're getting some extra help :)

Les quiero! ~ Elder Carlson

•Casi nunca dormimos‏10/17/21

Buenas Tardes!

Wow, it has been quite the eventful week... I'm positive this is the most tired I've ever been on my entire mission. Every single night something comes up (companionship problems or some kind of paperwork/administrative work) and we can just never get to sleep on time. We did have a good week though, and got to pick up a new family. We taught that family from the Dominican Republic and had an awesome lesson with them - random health issues came up so they weren't able to come to church this week, but they were pretty excited still to come when they can. Probably one of the most entertaining things of the week was Saturday. Our branch put on this "Dia de la Raza" (so day of the race - basically to celebrate different cultures), and there was food there from all these different countries and it was just super delicious, as expected. We had stuff from Mexico, El Salvador, Columbia, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, and Guatemala, just to name a few. Oh, and I almost forgot - we also had American! That was actually my favorite one - somebody made the most delicious apple pie of my entire life. So the feast was incredible and there were all kinds of people there. Sadly, most of them were members (either from here or nearby wards) or part-members we were already working with, but we had quite the turnout! After the main part where we just ate, there was this show they were putting on, where all of the different auxiliaries performed something. The young women went first and it was just ridiculous...there was most definitely no theme or coordination behind it and they were just dancing, not really knowing what to do. I don't know how anybody else felt, but I was almost embarrassed for them...So we thought that was interesting. And then we actually went next and we had planned on singing something else, but decided to sing "The Star Spangled Banner" instead. So it was funny - the four of us all dressed up in our missionary clothes, in the middle of a bunch of Hispanics, singing the national anthem right by an American flag that was on the stage. They all loved it though and thought it went really well so we were okay with it. We just thought it was kind of funny. And then for the rest of it, people kept on taking forever to get dressed up and get everything set up for their performance and they had to try to stall for time as they were doing so. They were telling these long stories and jokes and then when everything was finally ready there wouldn't even be any kind of rhyme or reason to the things they did. Our conclusion: Mexicans know how to set up a feast, but they definitely don't know how to set up a performance. It was just entertaining how ridiculous it was. That plus they're probably not the best singers in the entire world. So yeah, that was our entertainment for the week.

We've still been working hard with our part-member families, and things seem to be really picking up. They've been coming to activities and everything, and one of our investigators was actually in one of the performances the other night! We're still struggling a little in finding new people to teach, because it's not quite as easy as it was in Yuma. It's a whole lot more crucial that we work with the members here... people on the street are just generally not too interested. It does make for fun conversations though. Oh and we had this mission president's fireside last night that was really good, and Elder Twitchell and I were all set up to translate for it (normally people bring Spanish investigators and somebody has to translate for them). So we were all set up to do it, and then none showed up! So we decided to translate anyway, one speaking and doing the actual translating while the other listened. And it actually ended up being a whole lot easier than I thought it would be! We got into a groove, and you forget that you're even speaking in a different language - except when you get random words like unencumbered...then you have to get creative. But that was pretty fun - a new experience.

I did have my first intervention this week though. There were some major problems in this companionship in our zone, and we had to go over fairly late at night to resolve it. That, plus early in the evening we did a baptismal interview for the Spanish sisters in the Tempe Zone, and totally went way too far when we were searching for it on our bikes. Somehow some Tempe elders spotted us and gave us a ride, so we got to do the interview, race home on our bikes, and then hurry out to talk to these missionaries. It's kind of crazy sometimes, because you realize the kind of impact you can have on these missionaries. The things that you say and the things that you do in these kind of situations are super important so we were really praying that we would know what to do. We talked to them and more than anything really emphasized the need for companionship unity and the need to forget ourselves and go to work. We have to drop our pride and be able to learn from everyone - there's no one way to do these things, and there is always more we can learn. So that was a super late night, and we got to wake up early to do plyos that next morning. So yeah, we feel like we don't really ever catch up when we get that behind on sleep..It's not like we can ever sleep in!

I also got to go on an exchange with my "grandson" Elder Wheeler this week (Elder Johnson trained him) and it was cool to be in my old area. They're teaching this amazing mom and daughter that just randomly came to church and are getting baptized this week! We did have a pretty rough experience though - we got waved over to some people at a gas station that I guess were having an argument. The mom had left her family for this other guy, gone back home, and was now leaving again. It wasn't our place to tell anybody they had to do anything, but it was rough to see this little 8-year old girl get deserted by her mom... It just made me so glad for the family I have and really helped me know even more how amazing the Gospel is and how much it really does bless us.

So yeah, we're definitely staying busy and have big plans for this week! We are going out with power and authority and we are going to do the work of God.

Thanks for all you do! Love you!

•Mesa otra vez...‏ 10/10/2011

Wow, I've decided I basically have had the craziest mission ever...starting in Yuma (staying for a long time), going to Mesa, going back to Yuma, and now coming back here to Mesa! It was a pretty exciting transfer meeting - that's for sure. I thought it was 100% sure that I was going to come back here to Mesa, but then I heard that my boy Elder Johnson got the ZL call so I figured he must be staying in Mesa, since normally they wouldn't take someone out of spanish work so young... So I thought it was a toss-up and that I could go anywhere but alas, here I am again :) And I'm with my MTC companion Elder Twitchell, which is pretty interesting. From our very first day together in the MTC, he's talked about us being companions out here but I didn't really know if it would happen. And now here we are again! So I'm in the same ward as before (Liahona 5th ward) and I'm just here in the other area now. Elder Johnson did end up getting taken out of spanish work (he was super sad - definitely didn't want to) and he's in Gilbert now. Elder Ricker and Elder Feller are new district leaders here with us, and it's funny, because they both served with me for quite a while down in Yuma. And not only that but half of the sisters here also were down in Yuma with me a couple of transfers ago. So in all of my time being a missionary, I haven't really branched out and gotten to know an incredible amount of members or missionaries. I keep serving in the same zones with the same people! It makes life interesting. And another thing that's crazy in our zone right now is that 7 of the 9 companionships are training!! So we have 7 greenies in the zone, and with fairly young zone leaders, we're just a super young zone. So this will be an adventure.

I do have to say this area is a lot different than anything I've served in before... I came here and they were only teaching maybe 4 people (2 couples that need to get married - they're illegal, so it's a tricky situation) with not really any potentials or anything to work off of. They've really been struggling in this area ever since I left in May. But the good news is that we've been working with referrals and part-member families and two of those families came to church on Sunday! They're kind of crazy families with all kinds of kids running around, but we do what we can to keep lessons focused and make progress.

So I've spent a lot more time outside on the streets than I have in a long time... We don't really have investigators to visit, so we have to go out there and find them! I think of this more as old school missionary work. We're working as closely as we can with the members, but we know that when they see the results that come from our efforts, they're definitely going to get excited about it as well and be more willing to share the gospel with their friends and family. Speaking of which, we had a really good evening yesterday and set up appointments with all of the people that we contacted and stopped by! I had talked to this girl from the Dominican Republic on the street the other night and we met her family last night and they're awesome! They had been to our church before in Santa Domingo, and they were excited to go to the activities and church here. They're just super cool and have really funny spanglish.

But yeah, that's most of the excitement from this week - there'll be more in the near future!

Love you!

~ Elder Carlson

•Wow dificil creer...‏ 10/03/2011

Life seems pretty surreal right now... We finally just got transfer calls an hour ago, and I am indeed leaving. I thought I wouldn't spend much more time here, but I just never knew when I was actually going to take off! Now that the time has come though, it's going to be kind of difficult to leave the only area I truly know in the mission. Our wards are awesome, the members are incredible, and there are so many solid people that we are working with! We have 3 people getting baptized this Saturday and then another one scheduled next weekend that we're pretty excited about.

It was actually pretty crazy, because I found out that I'm the only one who's moving down here - everybody else is staying, and a lot of them have quite a bit of time down here as well. So our district leader in the foothills is coming to replace me and be with Elder Oliver and my guess is that I'm going to go back to Mesa and possibly be companions with Elder Twitchell, my MTC companion. And another thing that's pretty cool is that Elder Matheson, who I've been around all my mission, is now an assistant to the president, so that'll be sweet. But yeah I guess I'll find out everything that's going to happen on Wednesday at the transfer meeting (it's funny - I really haven't been to that meeting all that much - mainly because I rarely leave it seems). I definitely have loved the time I've spent here, and it has definitely been my favorite part of my mission so far. I've learned a lot and we've had a lot of success in our different wards. I definitely know that the English work we've done here has really enhanced my abilities as a missionary and it also really helps to relate to English missionaries and say we know where they're coming from. I definitely have seen that being a Spanish missionary has made me a WAY better English missionary than I ever could have been without that experience.

This week was definitely a good one though, and I loved conference! I don't know if conference has ever been quite that good before... The priesthood session was incredible and one of the best parts about it was how Jeffrey R. Holland started off the meeting (very strong). We thought it was funny because he started off by saying that he was going to speak very candidly (he always is very candid - so we knew this time he especially meant business). But it was good, really emphasizing the need to have strong, powerful, virtuous young men who are ready and prepared to serve a mission. I also really liked what he said about senior missions! I already want to serve a bunch but I guess first I need to have a family and stuff like that... So there were just a lot of things that really stuck out to me - A lot of emphasis on prayer, the Book of Mormon, genealogy, and welfare. I do have to say that as missionaries we were pretty glad that the focus was taken off of marriage and put on these other topics... It just helped us a lot more.

The good thing is that I've been kind of anticipating the move so I don't have an incredible amount to do or pack up - everything seemed to just time out right and I guess I just knew it was my time to leave. Maybe I found the people I needed to find or learned the lessons I needed to learn (well I hope I did!)

So we had a pretty sweet lesson the other day - Jacob is this 17-year old guy who we've been teaching for a while now, and he comes to church every single week. He lives with his aunt and uncle because his mom in California is kind of crazy and can't really support them. But we had this really good lesson and when we invited him to be baptized, he took a long time to really think about it. He said that he wanted more than anything to get baptized but his mom was super against it and that he's been trying to get permission from her for a really long time. But he's an incredible kid - on Sunday when the bishop asked the priests for volunteers to go and give people the sacrament he volunteered to take whoever was going to do it (when he found out that he couldn't actually administer it quite yet)! He's probably more solid than a lot of the members...

Other than that, life is going great and it's too bad I'm going to miss the 3 baptisms this weekend - Jadin (our 9-year old Native American guy) and Nick & Katie Cavenee (2 kids that just got adopted into the Cavenee family) are all getting baptized and they're all super excited! Nick is so funny - somehow the answer to every question to him is baptism so that's what he always says, even if that's nothing close to what we were trying to teach. Goodness teaching kids is fun :)

So yeah, we'll find out what happens! We'll see if I go to Mesa or if the Lord has different plans for me. I'm doing great though and love you all!

~ Elder Carlson

I don't know where I am going yet, I won't know until Wednesday morning.

· Oh man, and I forgot in my main email to talk about my exciting exchange with Elder Monforte, an elder straight from Yucatan, Mexico. He still doesn't know English or his area very well and we were out in the foothills on Tuesday (which i obviously don't know his area that well either). So the whole evening was quite the adventure, and we definitely got lost more than once...plus since he doesn't have a license I got permission to drive - it has been a long long time since I've driven. But it was pretty fun, and we ended up teaching this awesome family in the middle of nowhere and it was just really good. Plus this guy that they had been teaching (his name is Lee and I guess he had just been looking for faults in the Book of Mormon) totally changed and became super solid. He asked all these really good questions and talked about how much he wanted to come to church and take his family with him! I guess he watched every session of conference as well and just ate it up. He's committed to re-starting the Book of Mormon (this time looking for truths) and reading it every single day. It was just one big adventure, and a big learning experience for both of us.

•Una semana fantastica aqui en Yuma!‏ 9/25/2011

All I have to say is I absolutely love our zone here in Yuma! Things are going really well (even though we've fought some adversity) and I am just so impressed at how much work everyone gets done for the number of missionaries here... It's pretty impressive. So it was a big baptizing week here - we had 3 and the sisters here had a family of 5 that got baptized and it was pretty intense. Both of these families are really solid and really sincere, but super hard to get a hold of. Nobody has cell phones and they're super busy. A lot of times when they set up lessons or plan on going to some type of activity, the craziest things come up (whether it be with family or work) and things just don't seem to work out. So it was kind of stressful arranging the baptismal interviews just because of those coordinating types of issues. We were scared on Monday because the fellowship for Damaris (the mom in a little family we baptized) called us and said she didn't want to meet but then we called her and she said it would be fine... so basically once we got in there and it was business time. I wasn't about to leave that house until all of those people were interviewed. Thankfully everything worked out, they got interviewed and Damaris got baptized with her two little girls, Jessalyn and Iris (the most awesome 9 and 11-year olds ever), and the baptism went super well. Our bishop in 9th ward, Bishop Titensor, was one of their fellowships and he baptized them like a champ - everything just went really smoothly. But the wild part of the night was when the niece Milly (short for milagros - miracles) just didn't show up to the baptism! She had been interviewed and we had permission from her mom, but I guess her mom just thinks she can get baptized anytime and ended up taking her out to the foothills to go visit some friends or family. We were just so shocked that we didn't really know what to do. So we decided to do what we do best! We baptized the family and they loved it. I sang "When I am Baptized" and Damaris was just crying the whole time. That's definitely one of my favorite baptism songs. But it was just so good to see this family that we've been working with for so long get baptized! It was just such a relief and so sweet to see how the 9th ward just embraced her. We decided English work isn't too bad.

I also got to interview most of the other family that got baptized and it was pretty crazy - they have been super hard for the sisters to get a hold of, so they haven't been able to teach them an incredible amount. They're definitely sincere though and even though they don't know a whole lot, they know what's important. So the interviews were definitely longer than normal and Candi (the mom) basically taught me the entire first lesson when we were talking about prophets! So that was pretty fun. And initially, only the mom and 2 of the boys wanted to get baptized so those are the ones I interviewed. But then the night before the baptism, we found out that her 2 teenage girls had a change of heart and wanted to get baptized too!! So all 5 of them got baptized Saturday and the baptism of one of the boys was really funny - he just dropped into the water like a deadweight and he was just like sprawled out under the water definitely with no part of his body touching the floor. Apparently he says he discovered a talent...he says he's really good at being baptized.

The confirmations were definitely a little stressful though - because of crazy circumstances (family that they haven't seen in months randomly coming for just one day yesterday and stuff like that) Damaris and her girls didn't come to church, and one of the girls in the family the sisters baptized didn't come. So we spent a large chunk of the day arranging everything so we could still give them the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday. It was quite the battle and I definitely don't think Satan wanted them to have the Holy Ghost, but we were simply not going to take no for an answer. We took it as a personal attack from Satan and our persistence definitely paid off. So thankfully we got everything taken care of and it was a huge weight off my shoulders. It was probably the most stressful day of my entire mission (because of working out not only the confirmations, but also trying to find Milly so we can arrange a time for her baptism) but thankfully we made it and life is just so much better now. We're glad that being Spanish missionaries has made us a whole lot more diligent and persistent - that's the only way all of this would be possible. The families are in good hands and have really solid fellowship so we're glad that they have so much support. Basically Yuma is just doing really good and having a lot more success than normal! It's never produced like it is now, and especially not with so few missionaries.

So it's been pretty incredible - we have met a lot of really promising, really cool families this week. All of them come from member referrals, and we have just had some really cool experiences. While we were picking up dinner earlier this week, Sister Huston in 9th ward told us about some family friends and that she's taking the 2 teenage boys to seminary with her! They've already been going to early-morning seminary for 2 weeks and love it! She had also taken the 2 younger girls to activity days and they liked it as well. So we taught them, had a way good lesson, and the little girls were able to come to church yesterday (it's tough because the dad has serious health conditions). Another referral we went to with Sister Leos and it just did not look promising at all. The lady was totally not opening up or showing any interest. But somehow, we're not sure when, she just opened up and felt the spirit super strong. She started crying and even though it was a struggle to get her to pray, she had a way good experience and then had her 2 boys pray as well. It was just a testimony to how it is definitely not us that prepare people - it's all Heavenly Father.

We also had a cool experience this week when I was on exchanges with Elder Sawyer, who's a greenie in San Luis. He's awesome, but sadly everything cancelled on us that night. We did get to stop by Maureen and she randomly had her cousin's cousin over there whose name was Rod. I guess he's actually living there now... He's a big older Native American guy who has difficulty seeing because he has one artificial eye and his other eye has cataracts. But he's super sincere and we ended up teaching him the first lesson. When we invited him to be baptized, he said he'd like to do that because his mother was also baptized into our church. We extended Oct. 15 and he was surprised and just said, "Whoa, you surprised me there!" But then he didn't give an answer... he thought about it for a little bit and asked if he could Oct. 2nd because that was his birthday! So we were all excited, but sadly it will have to get pushed back a little bit because he wasn't able to come to church yesterday. But yeah, he's super legit and will definitely get baptized soon.

So this has probably been the most eventful week of my life and I can't wait to see what happens this week! I'm excited for General Conference and I'm excited to see what happens with transfer calls Sunday night! Ahhh, I don't want to leave Yuma...

Things are great! Love you all!

~ Elder Carlson