More pictures...

That makes 7 baptisms in January!!

•Alcanzamos la meta!!...01/30/2012

So this January has been the craziest month of my entire life... We set a big goal of 7 baptisms and we achieved it! But it took every ounce of everything we had... spiritually, emotionally, mentally, and physically. It seemed like with everything we did, it would initially appear impossible but then through all kinds of prayer and an incredible amount of work it would be just barely possible. Especially with the two families that got baptized. So Jeff and Kendra Wilber did in fact get baptized this last week and we had some awesome confirmations yesterday. People commented on them all day to us and the special spirit that they felt specifically during those confirmations. it's definitely a special family and I can already see how much they've helped the ward and gotten everyone excited. They have had to overcome some of the most intense opposition I've ever seen, but they (esp Kendra) overcame it with just the most steadfast, unwavering faith I've just about ever seen. After Jeff got baptized he talked to us a lot about how glad he was that he followed through with everything and especially with the plans that he had for his family. The last few days before his baptisms I guess he had all of these dreams about baptism and figured that God was trying to tell him something. Also, the day after Kendra got baptized she was texting Rachel (her friend/fellowship) and said that she felt so amazing, and that the only time she had been close to as happy was at her wedding. It was also interesting at the baptism because the water was barely above my knees in the baptismal font. And I don't necessarily have the longest legs in the world so that's...not a lot of water. Thankfully Jeff and Kendra are both pretty small people and everything went fine. When Jeff came up out of the water his 4-year old daughter said, "Good job Daddy!" She wanted to get baptized too.

Other than that, we're getting really excited for the Dobson Ward! It's tough when Spanish missionaries take on an English ward as well, because all of the sudden things explode in that English ward and it can make it difficult to put a whole lot of time into Spanish. Especially since there seems to be all kinds of untapped potential in this ward as well. We've been trying something kind of new here with working with the members and it's pretty cool. We visit our member families and share a spiritual message about the centrality of the doctrine of Christ and the importance of missionary work. we talk about how the gospel has blessed them in their life and talk about people that they know. We're gathering a list of non-members in our area (regardless of whether they're interested) and talk about the people they know. Basically we want to get to know who the members know, and help them make small steps with those people that they do know. At least 70% of the baptisms in our mission come from member referrals, so we're finally starting to put our time in the area that the success comes from. It's also cool because we're seeing the spirituality of an entire ward increase, as opposed to a couple families and just us. Everybody's getting involved and everybody's getting excited. We're praying with the members, by name, for people that they're working with, and helping them extend their sphere of influence. The more members are able to associate with other people and just be out there, the more people see that light and have a curiosity about what makes us who we are. We've also found out about all kinds of people that have potential that have come to activities and things before, that we just would not have found out about otherwise. We've visited well over 20 families so far and it's been cool to share spiritual experiences and really get to know them. Now when I see them at church we already have a relationship established and I can ask them how they are doing with their neighbor or their friend, and give them ideas or encouragement. It's been pretty sweet :)

Dinner last night was actually with an older widow that was an incredible missionary! She shared all of these incredible experiences she's had sharing the gospel and all of these families that got baptized because of it. I guess she has been super focused on missionary work her whole life, and that's the kind of thing I want to do when I'm older. I want people to be taught in my home, I want friends and neighbors to know and have the chance to learn about the gospel, and I always want to be "an example of the believers". There's so many blessings to be had through missionary work, not just those people that we come in contact with, but also us as individuals and our families! It is the most important thing that there is and we have to be act like it is :) So this lady actually has a neighbor who asked if she could go to church with her (she didn't end up being able to go that weekend but was nonetheless interested), so we're going over with her on Thursday to be introduced to the family and we have a pretty good feeling about it. As we were praying about our February goal the number 3 came to mind and we distinctly felt like we would find a new couple in the Dobson Ward and that they would be very prepared and get baptized in February! So we'll see what happens. We're excited. Which reminds me, the other day one of our ward missionaries who is preparing to go on a mission asked us if they trained us in the MTC to use the word "excited". I guess we say it a lot. It was pretty funny though to hear him ask that question, because he was 100% serious. So we're planning on having Dobson Ward's 2012 baptismal goal by the end of February. We'll see how it goes!

I think those are the main highlights for the week... Brenda is getting baptized tomorrow and she couldn't be happier. Her fellowship friend is getting pretty elaborate with the program and everything so I'm interested to see how the whole thing turns out. Also, our new ward mission leader Brother Robles in our Spanish ward is awesome and completely on-the-ball so hopefully we'll see some good things happen in the ward. All of the auxiliaries come to correlation meetings and are definitely committed to find people to teach and retain those that get baptized. Oh, and another cool thing - Hugo is the 20-year old son of Alberto and Adriana. He said he wanted to wait and get baptized with his girlfriend (who was then in Mexico). By a miracle she made it over here this last week and is now here with her 2 little girls. So we taught her on Saturday and hopefully we can see them get married and baptized as well!! We also have hopes for another one of the Castillo family. His name is Javier (he's Xochitl's younger brother) and he went to a ward campout this last weekend and I guess he really liked it. Pres. Richardson talked to him about baptism and we're going to see if we can decide on a day tonight. We're going to keep baptizing this family one by one until they become complete. It's definitely a crazy household, but it keeps getting just a little bit better. So that's what's going on here in Mesa! It's already warming up here and we don't really se jackets or sweaters too much. Arizona weather is loco. Well we're loving it down here and are way "excited"!

Hasta luego,

Elder Carlson

Pictures!

With our latest baptisms in January....

•Al final un descansito...1/23/2012

Wow, so we thought we had things more or less figured out with Reyna and a place that she could move in and everything, but apparently not. So she gave us a call Monday and told us the apartments we had found wouldn't work out. So we had some people searching to see what they could find, but nobody could find anything that would open or work out for her before February. We went to play some volleyball for our activity and only played for a little bit before we headed off to this lesson (lessons generally don't happen on Monday afternoons because it's p-day, but it's the only time they could meet). Reyna told us to come over and check out these forms she had picked up from a place she visited so we went out there and found out that she hadn't touched the kitchen in her old apartment! We thought everything had been moved out and that she couldn't be there but somehow she still was. So we had to help her wash her dishes and move everything from the kitchen, the cupboards, and the bathroom. So our P-day turned more into p-hour... She thought she'd be able to move into this other place Tuesday, and she called us about meeting with the bishop to get some help to get that apartment and we told her to go to the church around 7:00 to talk with him. We called her up around 8:30 (hoping she had already done it), and found out she was still at her friend's house and had fallen asleep! So we had to make some calls and make sure the bishop would still be there to help her out. Oh Reyna... Anyways, she got the help she needed but found out the next day that it wouldn't work out.

So the adventure was far from over. Her kids stayed at her parents' place in Coolidge, while she continued to search for places to stay. On Friday we were asking her how everything was going and she simply texted us that she got pulled over by the police and that she would talk to us later. Well that's the last thing we needed to hear! We were stressing out, thinking about all the possibilities and the bad things that could happen. She does have a Mexican passport but we didn't know about anything else, if there would be any other worries or problems. Elder Twitchell was sure somehow she'd be in jail or something and we didn't hear back from her for a couple hours. In the meantime, we got a text from the assistants that Brenda Ruiz (who has been waiting to be baptized because of probation) had gotten permission from the First Presidency to be baptized! I remember meeting with her a little less than a year ago when I was on exchanges here in the Dobson Ward and she was very much a different person. She is happy now, has felt a burden lifted, and is more solid in scripture study and church than anyone I've ever taught. So we raced over to her apartment to tell her the good news and on the way there, Reyna gave us a call. And by the way we had been praying super hard that morning that everything would work out and that it would end that day. It had gone on for a long time and it was super taxing on us physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally. We needed relief and we didn't get a single break, especially with a super intense and crazy Sunday and P-day. So Reyna told us that she had in fact found a place and that she was all set to move in! The only problem was that the place she had found was in Tempe, and thus in the Tempe Zone. She said she still wanted to get baptized in the Liahona 5th ward though, but she wanted to get all her stuff moved in that very night. So we made some calls, set it all up with other missionaries, and moved all her stuff from the deserted missionary apartment to her new apartment in Tempe in just a couple hours. It was pretty impressive - Elder Twitchell and I might just have to have our own moving company or something... We had the help of a lot of missionaries, so it made it a whole lot quicker than the last time we moved her stuff. So we moved her in while she and her kids got interviewed for baptism in a nearby chapel and everything worked out! It was a super late, but super satisfying night. She finally had a place to live, and she was still going to get baptized on Saturday.

So on Saturday we confirmed with her that she would need to be there probably a half hour early to make sure everything was good and ready but of course... she ended up coming about 15 minutes late, and then we had to get them all changed for the baptism and everything. I guess that morning was way rough for her, because a couple of her siblings that said they were going to come and support her (her family is still totally against all of this and saying they won't talk to her) ended up calling her and telling her she can't do this because she's Catholic and they tried to convince her to not do it! So she was very alone and very sad when she came to the church to get baptized that afternoon. Her kids were happy and awesome as usual and it was cool because there was so much white! So Rocky was there (who introduced them first to everything - the returned missionary that invited her to church) as well as the president of the branch she went to on the other side of Mesa, President Smith. And those two, as well as Elder Twitchell and I, got to baptize the four of them! So it was just awesome to see so much white there. I guess the boys had also been saying that morning how they couldn't wait and they just wanted to get baptized right then. It was also funny because when Elder Twitchell baptized Obed, he had to do it twice and Obed's twin Ahmed told Rocky that he should mess up so that he could get baptized twice too! The funny part is he actually did. It was probably one of the most incredible spiritual experiences I've ever had. Here was a single mom with 5 kids, having to go completely against her family, who was 100% dedicated to doing what's best for her kids and doing what her Heavenly Father wanted her to. I love hearing those guys talk about how they want to be like us and go on missions and ask us all these questions about it. This family was the main reason I felt like I should and would stay this transfer. I felt the need particularly with them, to see them all the way through and I'm so grateful that I could!

We also told her to get there early to sacrament meeting yesterday and of course she came during the sacrament so we had to do it after the sacrament, but it was so cool to see the absolute light and happiness that came immediately into their lives. Reyna said she was way happy after the baptism but so much happier when she was confirmed. She said all of the boys talked on Saturday about how they felt so much different and how much they liked it. So Reyna, Obed, Ahmed, and Abel did get baptized and they will have to go to Tempe, but we got to see them baptized and confirmed first :)

Jeff and Kendra are still doing awesome and they are going to be baptized this Thursday. We took them to the Visitor's Center this last Monday, watched a short video of the Restoration, and did this cool family walk-through deal that goes through the plan that our Heavenly Father has for families. We took them over to the side that faces the temple and talked about the pictures there and what happens in different places in the temple. Afterwards we went outside and were just looking at the temple with Jeff and Kendra, as well as their fellowships, Zack and Rachel McKendrick. We asked Jeff how he felt as we talked about those things and he said it confirmed to him everything that he had been thinking and the plans that he had for his family. He had a firm resolve and it was a way noticeable difference. We asked he and Kendra how they felt about getting baptized and they said so confidently that they were for sure going to do it. I don't think I've ever heard such conviction from anyone facing such incredible trials. Kendra's parents are still very opposed and won't talk to her, but she says she simply knows this is what's true and what she needs in her life. She's going to do whatever it takes to get there. And then on Saturday we prepared them for the interview and taught them basically everything (doctrine of Christ, word of wisdom, law of chastity, tithing, etc) and they were already living everything but tithing and were very much committed to it. So they got interviewed yesterday and we're going to have another Family Home Evening tonight before they get baptized on Thursday.

Brenda Ruiz has also been waiting for a while to get baptized and she will actually be getting baptized a week from tomorrow! Dobson Ward had 2 baptisms all last year and they're going to have 3 in January!

It's also been amazing to go and visit with the members and get them excited about sharing the gospel. We need a lot of help right now, especially since so many of our investigators are getting baptized, in finding people to teach. We know from experience that knocking on doors and going through potential lists isn't terribly effective, so we're visiting members' homes, sharing spiritual messages, and setting goals with them on how they're going to do missionary work in their own life. Missionary work simply has to be a part of our lives if we want to have a fullness of joy and to have a deep abiding testimony. We have to have faith in the converting power of the gospel and know that the Lord will put people in our path that we can share the gospel with. That doesn't mean that every single person will join the church or accept what we share, but it does mean that our testimony will grow stronger and that we will become more and more the disciples that our Heavenly Father needs in His work. So we're praying by name for the people that our members want to share the gospel with, and we know miracles will come. That's how the spirituality of entire wards and families increase - that is what we all want.

Todo esta bien! We're just looking forward to a lot of finding and some incredible baptisms this week :) Thanks for all your prayers - I'm confident that the prayers of the faithful are always answered.

I love you all! Gracias

~ Elder Carlson

•Nunca termina...‏1/16/2012

This week has definitely been the craziest and most stressful week of my entire life. So I told you about Reyna Quiroz and her 5 kids, who we've been kind of teaching since a little before Christmas. Well they finally came back this last Monday so their fellowship Rocky from their old place in Mesa texted us "game on". We went over right away, and then had a lesson the very next day on Tuesday. We had a pretty busy evening so we went on splits and Rocky took me over to visit with Reyna. We also brought over the boys' primary president teacher, who funny enough, doesn't speak Spanish. Anyway, we read a little in the Book of Mormon and I started talking with Reyna about how much she needed the gift of the Holy Ghost. She was agreeing and she told me about all these times in the past that she had felt the spirit. She described exactly how it worked with her and as we talked about it she said she felt it super strongly. I invited her to be baptized on January 28th and she said yes!! She was getting all excited and started asking all these questions about how exactly baptisms are and what all the requirements are and everything. So she and her 3 boys (ages 11, 11, and 10) all said they wanted to get baptized. We found out later that evening though, that she was going to have to leave her apartment in a few days because she just couldn't afford the rent. She cleans houses and the people she cleans for are all on vacations - she doesn't start working again until the 24th of January. She said her main options are going to Mexico to live with her grandma (who's completely Catholic and totally against the church), move to this place in the branch in the Mesa Mission where she used to live, or figure out some way to stay close here where she wants to be. The problem in the meantime is there is simply no real way to get any kind of money. Her family wants her to go to Mexico, because none of them like the church. So she looked into some apartments and found one that would be close to the church but it would be a decent amount of money, and the bishop said he wouldn't be able to help with that much. So a couple days went by, and Friday we had a leadership meeting ALL day long, and it's killing me because the whole time I'm thinking about how we're going to keep her here local. This is something that is totally going to affect the lives and future of her kids. So we're praying super super hard and are really stressed out in the meantime, and people that told us they were going to check out apartments totally didn't. So we went over Friday night and found out she had found this place across the street from us that would help by giving the first month's rent free. She would just need to pay the deposit and some other things. So it was a way better deal and we also found out that there was only one of these apartments out of 140 or more that was open.
We were hoping the bishop would be able to help out but he basically said it was too short of timing and he would need to meet her formally in church on Sunday. But if we didn't do anything, she would be in Mexico on Sunday!! So we stopped by our former Branch President's house and told him about the emergency situation and he agreed to temporarily help us out so she wouldn't have to go to Mexico. He had had I guess similar situations when he was branch president.
So Saturday around 11:30 or so, we go to Reyna's house (oh and by the way this whole time her phone just does not work very well - it'll randomly freeze and things) and she had just barely woke up. When she finally came out she told us she had no choice and that she was going to Mexico. Oh and btw, the other branch president who she had known had offered a month's rent and a job over in his branch but I guess it was a really sketchy location and just not a good place to have kids. Anyway, she was just super desperate and exhausted and told us she was going to have to move. We asked her what if we had the means to take care of the deposit and basically told her to follow us right then to go to the apartments. She came, right there in her PJ's, and we found the apartment and got everything reserved for us to finish it all up today. She was asking when the soonest possible time is that she could move in and they said it was Monday, even though she had to be moved out of her apartment by Sunday. She said she'd do it anyway, so we left from there and prepared for our baptism that night (Karen Saldana - a sweet 10year old girl whose mom got baptized a couple years ago). We got to the baptism and realized that we had left the programs at home, so we rushed home and on the way Reyna called. She said the apartments wouldn't give her an extra day unless she had $800 and that she just didn't know what to do. We told her we'd call her back and the other missionary with me at the time reminded me that we had moved some sisters out of an apartment that morning and that we could probably store the things there until today, when we could move it all in. So we went over that night and told her, and arranged a truck and trailer to help us out Sunday morning at 8:30. Sunday we were packed with stake president meetings and correlations and church, but we still managed to get all of her stuff moved temporarily into this other apartment and then that night we went on splits so that one of us could stay with Elder Matheson for a few hours in the hospital (he had an appendectomy this last week) while the other went to translate for the Mission President's Fireside. Reyna was also supposed to meet with the bishop a while before church and ended up coming an hour late, but she brought her sister and her sister's kids to church! Her family's super not for the church and we were way surprised, but her sister seemed to genuinely like everything (she lives in Coolidge) and we have hopes that she'll come sometime. So Reyna met with the bishop and it looks like they're going to get baptized this weekend!!
We thought that was all over, but today we found out there's some more little kinks, so I'll let you know how it all works out next week. In the meantime, please keep Reyna Quiroz and her family in your prayers. We're determined to do whatever it takes to help them.
Oh and it was also really sweet what happened with Jeff and Kendra! We had an FHE with them Monday night at their fellowship's house and went over the Plan of Salvation. We talked about how the doctrine of Christ fits into it all and how important baptism is and invited them to be baptized on Jan 21st. Jeff first asked what the difference is between getting baptized in our church and other churches but thankfully the spirit there was way strong and we could feel all of the prayers people were saying for them guiding us. We were able to talk about it and resolve it amazingly fast and then he asked if it's okay to be baptized if he still has questions. We told him we're definitely here to help him with his questions, but we're never going to know absolutely everything. That's why we have to walk by faith. When we invited them again to be baptized they looked at each other and Jeff started to nod and begin to say yes and finally Kendra joined in and they looked back over at us. It was a really funny situation. They also asked a bunch of questions about what it's going to be like and they were all excited. The very next day Kendra faced some serious opposition from parents, so we told everyone to keep praying for them and it seems like everything went really well and she's still wanting to follow through. We're going to go to the Visitor's Center tonight and make sure everything's solid so keep them in your prayers!
Basically it's been the craziest week of my entire life... but we're excited and determined as ever to follow through :) 7 January baptisms here we come!!
Gracias por todo su apoyo,
hasta la proxima
Elder Carlson

•Muchas metas...‏1/09/2012

Buenas Tardes!

It has been quite the week - we are super excited for this new year and keep making big plans for the area, ward, and stakes around here. We're not going to be here the whole year with the Liahona 5, but we're hoping to get somewhere around 50 baptisms for the year. We had about 40 this last year, but they had a super late start so we're thinking big things are in store. That stake is shooting for 100 baptisms and we had a huge stake-wide fast and prayer yesterday for their yearly goals. Our area authority Elder Wright has had all the stakes set goals for converts, # of people at church, temple recommend holders, melchizedek priesthood holders, and young people serving missions. So as missionaries our primary focus is raising the spirituality of the wards and stakes and helping them to reach all of these goals. We had some way good training in Zone Leader Council about unity - our unity with the wards and members. We're not working separately in any way, and we definitely don't want to have different goals than our ward does. We're here for them, and we're going to help them be missionaries and help them to reach their goals.

We also had interviews with our mission president, and mine was short as normal. He always asks what he can do to help me and I can't think of a whole lot so for whatever reason they're always way short. Anyway, my companion talked with President Howes about how we struggle to really find people to teach through members (how basically all missionaries do), and he said the problem is that we're asking for referrals. When we ask for people to teach like that, they're thinking about people that are ready to get baptized. Instead of doing that, now we're asking people if they know their members and if there is anyone they have felt prompted to share the gospel with. Missionary work is something so incredibly important and it's so important that we're all a part of it. We've started to go and visit members with our ward missionaries and start making family mission plans with them. We talk about getting to know the people around them and taking small steps to invite them to things. We are making lists and everyone is praying for not only to have missionary opportunities with these people (we pray as well for each one of those people by name) but also for our investigators. We're beginning to see the great power in praying specifically for people by name and we're spreading it to all of the people we work with.

Ooooh, and this last week we had one of the best lessons of my entire life! So we just barely started teaching Jeff and Kendra Wilber, friends of the McKendrick family in the Dobson Ward. I guess they knew each other all growing up (Sister McKendrick even gave Kendra a BOM when they were in middle school) but Kendra was never terribly interested. Recently some tough things happened in her life that prepared her and she's come to church on a little bit for the past few months! We were over there at a barbecue type thing a couple weeks ago and quickly taught them about the BOM and committed them to read it. They actually both did and we found out they had a way uplifting spiritual experience as they did so. We taught the entire Restoration this last week and everything just went so smoothly. Everyone was involved and participating, and we were just testifying about everything we were teaching. We invited them to be baptized and they said yes!! We totally weren't expecting such a solid response - the McKendrick's looked like it took everything they had to keep them on the couch. They both came to church yesterday and absolutely loved it. We're going to go over there tonight and invite them to be baptized on January 21st, so we've been asking everyone to join with us in praying for them that they will accept this invitation. So anyone who reads this before our lesson tonight, please pray specifically for Jeff and Kendra Wilber that they will say yes :)

Oh yeah, and we also have some exciting news - we have a baptism this weekend! Karen Saldana is going to be getting baptized, and it has been quite the experience teaching her family. Her mom hadn't been able to go to church because of work and we were just continuing to pass by over and over again to try and get ahold of her (she was super hard to contact - people in the area had tried for months). We did finally get in contact and they're coming to church now! It's so good to see people come back to church and see how much happier they are. It is always interesting teaching 9 or 10 year olds because they don't always retain incredible amounts of what we teach, but at the same time it's fun teaching way simple. One of the blessings of being a Spanish missionary... you really learn how to simplify things, especially when you're just learning the language.

We're excited to get all of the missionaries pumped up this week - we've got some sweet trainings lined up and especially trainings on working with members. That is going to be how we really see the success we want to see. I keep learning all these things I wish I had known my whole mission...asi pasa la vida. I love it though.

Well I think that's about it for the week. We're expecting lots of miracles!!

hasta la proxima,

Elder Carlson

•Hay que empezarlo con el pie derecho!!....01/02/2012

Happy New Years!

I would write it in Spanish but sadly the symbols don't work on this program and it just would not work without them... But anyway, we're SUPER excited for the new year! On New Year's Eve we definitely went to bed like normal at 10:30 and I got to welcome in the new year "dormido" (sleeping) - just like I wanted to. It's been pretty gun this week though, getting to know our new english ward, the Dobson Ward. We met our Ward Mission Leader on Wednesday and he's awesome. He's an older retired guy, but super on the ball. We talked about all of the investigators and the mission ploan, and gave him a few assignments to get us different lists and keys and he did absolutely everything and got it all to us yesterday! I'm not used to having people so prompt and diligent - he also can come out with us any time of the day and is sweet to have in lessons. Let's just say I wish there were a lot more Brother Thompson's out there... And then it was fun Wednesday night having dinner with the Rappleye's, because his younger brother Elder Rappleye served with me for quite a while and they're both awesome. They're a way solid younger couple that doesn't have a calling and said they'd love to come to lessons, so we definitely brought them out with us the very next day!

We brought them to a lesson with Jane, who the elders said they hadn't really been able to make progress with. She has come quite a bit to church and things, but never really progressed toward baptism. She does really like to talk and it can be hard to keep her focused but we started talking about the Book of Mormon and came to find out that she didn't understand it at all. She had only read in random parts, and then had read the first chapter but she said the wording was difficult and confused her. We read it over again with her and explained it all along. Where everybody's coming, what is happening, and why it's important. She said everything made a whole lot more sense and it was cool to hear her say in her prayer thanks for such an edifying, uplifting lesson. I guess some elders had been really forceful in the past and she was very hesitant. But the Rappleye's were good fellowship and it was just good. The rest of Thursday was also exciting - so the elders that got transferred out of the Dobson Ward set up a whole bunch of lessons for us on Thursday and we stayed pretty booked. We met half of the investigators and actually had really good lessons with all of them. There was good ward involvement in those lessons, and we can definitely see all kinds of potential. I don't know why, but this ward only had 2 baptisms last year. Let's just say we're planning on having three times that in the first couple months. There is so much to do and so many people prepared. When we truly understand that, the possibilities are endless. Elder Twitchell and I met with the district leaders this last Saturday to discuss goals and plans for the zone and we set a goal of 25 baptisms for January, even though I've never seen more than 20 baptisms in a month anywhere. We've got big plans and we fully expect miracles to happen here. We've been studying a lot about faith and obedience lately, and consecrated labors. We definitely believe in a God of miracles and this area is prepared - la tierra prometida!

I do have to say our ward is pretty quirky though. There are a lot of really young couples with young kids and then a lot of older people and there are just all kinds of... interesting people. It makes things fun and entertaining though, and they're all willing to help out - I guess they just don't necessarily expect much to happen. Oh and it's been way funny in our dinners lately, especially before Sunday. When we went to dinner Friday, the dad of the family asked us, "So what's going on? People are saying we've got the AP's or the Zone Leaders in our ward... ". We were pretty impressed at how fast the word traveled in the ward. Our presence in the ward was definitely felt/noticed! It is kind of weird going to church and talking to members in English though - a lot of times I don't really know what to say because I'm kind of out of my element. But you learn a lot of things as a Spanish missionary that help so much in english work (namely persistence and teaching simply), and it's fun to apply it here.

Transfers was pretty big though, and there were changes all across the mission. We actually picked up a whole new stake from Gilbert into our zone and we now have 20 missionaries! It's a little bigger than my little 10-man zone in Yuma. There were a lot of boundary changes and Spanish missionaries picking up some English work as well (I guess Spanish really underperformed this last year), but we still have 4 missionaries in Liahona 5 and we're also planning on starting the year off strong in that ward. I guess last year there weren't really baptisms in the ward until March and oh, that's not going to happen this year. We've set some massive goals and we have 100% faith in them. Good things are coming!

We have interviews tomorrow with Pres Howes as companionships, so we'll see how all of that goes. The New Year is a perfect time to achieve things that have never been achieved :) Hasta la proxima!

Love ya!

Elder Carlson

•El mejor tiempo que hay...navidad como misionero!!...12/26/2012

Feliz Navidad!

There is definitely nothing better than Christmas as a missionary... We've seen a lot of miracles this month and we did have our White Christmas!! I don't know if I've ever been happier in my entire life. It was quite the adventure though, getting them ready. Adriana gave us a call Friday afternoon saying that they hadn't got the marriage license yet and that they wanted us to accompany them to the courthouse to take care of it (they heard there were lots of police and they also don't know any English). We thought it was out of our area but we called a member and arranged a ride. Adriana called us after 3, saying she couldn't get ahold of the Arce's, who were going to give them a ride. We called them and then headed over as well (we found out that the building was in the very corner of our zone) and by the time we left Alberto and Adriana's it was about 4:10, and we heard that the building closed at 4:30. We definitely weren't traveling very fast, but we were praying super hard and somehow we hit green lights all the way there! We got there at 4:29 and they wouldn't let us into the entrance we went to (apparently it was for employees only - we had to go all the way around) and when we were going through security of course both of them got stopped and not a single person there spoke Spanish so when they were telling them to hold their arms out and do all these things they had no idea what they were saying! We had to tell them to slow it down and let us translate for them. We did finally get through everything and literally got everything done at the very last second possible. We were super nervous because if we weren't able to get the license that day we'd have to wait until next week! It's a good thing we were there though, because we had to translate absolutely everything.

So...moral of the story is they got married by Obispo Merino on Saturday and then baptized immediately after, and it was all so incredibly spiritual. You could see the incredible faith that these people have and their sincere desire to do what the Lord wants. I've never seen people get baptized that are so focused already on getting married in the temple. She's excited for temple work and family history, and more than anything, getting sealed with her family. There were a lot of people at the baptism (including some people that met them at mission president firesides and just wanted to be there for their baptism) and just a lot of support for them. Elder Twitchell, Elder Silos, and I baptized them so it was a pretty sweet picture with all of us in white on Christmas Eve! Yes! I guess the bishop talked to them at the baptism and had them come early so he could get Daniel and Alberto interviewed to receive the priesthood. After the sacrament meeting we were able to give them the Aaronic priesthood, and they are going to be blessing and passing the sacrament next week! It's awesome when recent converts immediately get welcomed into the ward and involved in those kind of things. They get retained so much better, and feel legitimately a part of a family. It's definitely been a good week.

Christmas Eve we also got to work the Christmas lights at the temple and it was actually decently cold (like low 30's) - everyone was bundled up and jealous of the hot chocolate someone gave us. We talked to hundreds of people though because it was super packed! Lots of members, people already meeting with members, people who are just curious, and basically just any kind of people you can imagine. In the Visitor's Center they have an awesome display of like 90 nativities from around the world (including Alaska)! And of course the Alaska nativity had all kinds of totem poles and native Alaskans with their ceremony stuff... People totally feel something special as they are there around the temple and it's cool to tell them why. We don't miss a chance to testify about truths, about things that bless our lives and especially families. It has just been the best thing ever for getting people to know about us and be able to feel the spirit.

Christmas yesterday was also super good - there were 6 missionaries at our apartment. We slept in until 6:30, opened presents, and got to enjoy Christmas morning. We went to church, got our family confirmed, made phone calls, had a delicious Christmas dinner, and then got to watch "It's a Wonderful Life" with our zone in the evening. I do have to say I have never appreciated that movie so much. I don't know if it's just from being a missionary or from not ever watching movies, but there were a lot of things I never noticed before and we just really enjoyed it. We just had a super good Christmas and this morning we're just waiting on transfer calls so I'll let you know when I know... Otra vez, Feliz Navidad! Love you all!

~ Elder Carlson

• Siguen milagros...y viene pronto la Navidad!!......12/19/2011

Los milagros nunca cesan... The miracles never cease. It's been so cool this week to see even more miracles happen and just awesome things with the families that we're teaching (and just started teaching). So the two people that told us last week that they wanted to get baptized got baptized on Wednesday and it was super cool to see these two families get that much closer to being complete and happy in the gospel. So they're actually cousins and it was funny to see them tease each other after the baptism. They were each telling the other, "Wow, it's a miracle that you got baptized..." And then they would get all defensive and talk about how they come to church every single week. I think it's so incredible how obvious the change is that happens with baptism. Not only is there a huge change spiritually but we can see it way obvious after they get baptized. They look different, they're happier, they're glowing. I don't know if I've ever seen it quite so obvious before as I have with them. Their path has been so long and they've both struggled a lot to make this decision and this commitment, and now that they've made it - the change is undeniable. So we got to see them both confirmed yesterday, even though they were both super nervous about it. I don't know why, but everyone that we teach gets incredibly nervous about going up front to get confirmed (even though they don't have to do anything but sit there) in sacrament meeting, and Xochitl and Angelica tried everything they could to get out of it. It all worked out though and we were excited.

So we got a text last week with a referral that we were pretty excited about. It talked about a lady named Reyna that was a single mom with 5 or 6 kids...PLEASE BAPTIZE THEM!!! We thought that was interesting, so we were way excited to see what would happen. They live in the very corner of our area, so it was a little while before we were able to make it out there to see them. We met the kids and they were way cool - 11-year old twins and a 10-year old. They're skater dudes, and just super friendly. They immediately attached to us and we were best friends. We didn't meet the mom yet, set up a time the next day, and she still wasn't there. The next day during a lesson, I got a random text and call from an Idaho # and it said it was this guy named Rocky who was taking this family to the temple to see the Christmas lights and he asked if we were there. He ended up picking us up and we got to spend the evening with them!! It was also funny, because we were on exchanges, so Elder Loomis and I got to know them (he lives in our apartment and covers the English in our area). So Rocky is an RM that came back from his mission Mexico about a year ago and works with Reyna. She talked about how beautiful the temples and the churches were, and he started taking her and her kids to church with him. She loves it all, but she had to move (she lived in Mesa, but the part in the Mesa Mission) and didn't really get taught to much by the missionaries. When she walked out of the Visitor's Center and saw the temple with all of the lights and everything, she said she got the chills and knew that it was something special. We got to talk to the kids about baptism and they're already excited to turn 12 and be able to go inside. Reyna was sick yesterday, but she took the kids to church yesterday and it was funny to sit with them through everything and explain it all to them. They have all kinds of crazy questions and find everything very entertaining.

So yesterday we had a mission president's fireside, and brought Alberto and Adriana to go watch it. We translated again for it, and it was way harder than any time before... the main problem was with some of the people I couldn't even hear what they were saying in English! It's hard to translate something you don't hear... So I may or may not have been making up some of the things I said - all true doctrine of course, but maybe not necessarily what the speaker was saying. It was solid though, and it was also cool to talk to the young men in church about Christmas and what it means to be a missionary during this time. Our ward hasn't had a missionary out for quite a while (there really aren't too many young men...) and we're really trying to get a couple of them to go on missions. The Young Men's President invited us in on the lesson yesterday and all 4 of us bore testimony about what being a missionary means to us and how much it's helped us. It was pretty powerful.

It was also sweet teaching Alberto and Adriana yesterday! They were talking about all the blessings and changes they've seen in their lives since we've stopped by and started teaching them, and they just kept going... Alberto bore his testimony about the Word of Wisdom and they were just talking about how much they love everything we taught and how they're so much stronger as a family because of it. They're excited to be sealed in a year and be able to see all of the blessings of the gospel. They get answers, they get comfort, they have so much more happiness in their life. They study all of the time in the Book of Mormon and love it. Goodness, I can't wait to see them baptized Christmas Eve! They're going to get married and baptized right after.

Well it's about that time... Life is great, and we are so blessed right now during this Christmas season. I'm pretty sure this is gonna be the best Christmas of my life (so far)!

~ Elder Carlson