•No ha terminado hasta que termine....2/27/2012

Hola todos!

Well this has definitely been a week for the books (I guess most of my weeks have been like that lately)! It's been an absolute roller coaster ride, seeing people go up and down and all over the place. So last Sunday, Lois just loved church and felt super good about everything. For some reason, after she went to the Mission President Fireside that night, she had a hard time sleeping and was getting way stressed out about baptism and the church. She has had ridiculous amounts of family problems that cause incredible stress. Her daughter here didn't like the idea of her being baptized but is getting used to it. The other daughter in Texas just got through a divorce and is absolutely being haunted by her ex-husband... anyway, there's all this stuff going on in Lois' family and she's a single mom, so it's been really weighing on her. Anyway, we got a text Tuesday morning from her that she had decided to not get baptized and didn't want to have a lesson for a few weeks! We were surprised and sad, and it's crazy how fast your mood can change as a missionary. We had a way good day on Monday and life was just good :) But then in an instant our world got turned upside-down and we were super worried. She said she would call us and we asked if we could talk to her in person. Thankfully she agreed and we came over that night, even though she was hesitant. We brought over one of our favorite young couples in the ward (the Rappleye's) and when she saw us at the door she laughed and talked about how we were bringing "reinforcements". We sat down and started out like normal, just talking and she brought out all kinds of concerns. There was something about prophets (specifically modern-day), tithing, and how this is going to cause some major commotion in her family. We found out that she has been going through a lot a lot of stress and all these things just kind of built up to that point. We had an incredibly spiritual lesson and bore powerful testimony about the truthfulness of all these things. She really felt the spirit and had a total change of heart. The Rappleye's were also awesome in their testimonies and being straight-forward with her. He asked her what happened between Sunday and Tuesday that changed her mind completely, and we found out about all these family issues. Anyway, we all felt the spirit super strong and at the end, Lois' fellowship from Gilbert suggested that we give her a blessing of comfort and counsel. We did so, and it was just a powerful experience. She didn't get baptized this last Saturday, but will very soon! We went over Saturday and found out that she had a crazy experience on Wednesday. I guess she was about to take a left turn at an intersection (the light was yellow and she easily could have made it) but a voice very distinctly told her to stop so she slammed on the brakes. Right as she did so a huge lifted truck barreled through the intersection and ran the red light. Lois was shocked for quite some time, and is still recovering from it, but knows that it was because of that blessing that she had that experience and that her life was spared. We also brought "On the Lord's Errand", a biography of Thomas S. Monson, and watched it with her, to help her understand who our modern-day prophet is and how he was prepared. It was incredible and when we asked her how she felt afterward, she said she believed it! The March ensign we feel was made especially for her because it has exactly what she needs with prophets, and the need we have for them. She also came to church yesterday and just loved it. She met with the bishop for a while in his office and when we talked to her afterward, she said she wanted to talk about another baptismal date! That was such a relief and we were just nothing but happy for her. She's got a solid foundation in our ward already, and knows a lot of people. She said she'd talk to her friend and see what day they could do it (we may or may not have called that friend before she did and suggested a day... :)

As far as changes in that ward, we also found out that Bro. McKendrick is our new ward mission leader! We're sure going to miss Bro. Thompson, he was just a real fireball for an older guy.

So more on the roller coaster deal... On Monday we talked with Johana and confirmed her baptism on February 25th. She was super excited because she's been waiting for a while, and because she'll be able to get married and baptized right around her birthday (Sunday the 26th). When we went over on Tuesday we were setting up her baptismal program and it was fun (she and Adriana had been looking through the hymn book and listening to the songs on lds.org to figure out which ones they wanted). As we were planning she asked if she was going to be the only one getting baptized and she asked Hugo if he was going to get baptized with her. He simply said, "well yeah". That was a total surprise and so nice to hear, after Lois had fallen off-date that morning. We knew that our goal of 3 for February was confirmed by the spirit and that it needed to happen. So it just didn't happen necessarily the way that we thought it would. So we set everything up and they got their marriage license and interviews on Thursday.

We realized that we hadn't really told the ward leaders yet so we told them all on Wednesday (we didn't know for sure that it would go through or how it would go through until Tuesday), and they told us that we would simply have to put it off until the next week because it was too short of notice. We were scared, because we knew that for some reason they needed to get baptized that weekend. We prayed very specifically about it the next day and the spirit very clearly confirmed that it needed to be done that weekend, even though we didn't know why. To make a long story short, we went through the mission president and the stake president (they were all very helpful and tried hard, but they insisted that it be postponed) until the ward mission leader was finally the key in changing certain people's minds... it was such a relief and we thought everything was good.

I guess that wasn't a good idea... we found out the next day (Friday) that Hugo said he was thinking about not getting baptized. Johana said she had put on facebook that she was going to get married and immediately all these people asked all these questions and it came out that she was getting baptized. Of course there was all kinds of opposition and people trying to persuade her not to do it. It got pretty ridiculous and I guess Hugo saw it and was starting to have questions and doubts. He asked about some things and we talked a lot about faith. The whole lesson was super intense, because it was the day before their baptism and we needed to get everything resolved. As we were talking, Elder Twitchell said Johana had a scripture she wanted to share with Hugo. She started reading in Alma 32;17-18 about faith and asking for signs before we believe. That really touched Hugo and he read a little further in verse 21 about the definition of faith. I was surprised because I knew that she wasn't that far in her reading! I didn't know how she had found that one. I guess she just prayed and flipped through it, and that's the page it landed on! What a miracle - we asked him how he felt about getting baptized the next day and we all waited.... he said he was going to get baptized and that he would keep learning more and developing his testimony. It was a pretty sweet experience.

So we did have their boda/bautismo (wedding/baptism) on Saturday morning and it was so good! The bishop married them and we baptized them. Hugo, who generally shows no expression at all, was smiling as he went down to get baptized and Johana was beaming. She's been wanting this for a while and to have it this specific weekend was just incredibly special for her. So they're planning on getting sealed in the temple a year from now! We had all of the stake relief society there as well supporting them and even doing that delicious sherbet sprite punch thing. It was a good day! Hugo had to work yesterday morning so he came late to church but as soon as he got there he was confirmed, interviewed for the priesthood, and ordained a priest! He was struggling just a couple days ago but now is a solid member of the Church of Jesus Christ and he holds the priesthood of God. It's been quite the eventful weekend...

And to top it off yesterday was crazy and it seemed like all day long we got chastised for things that we really shouldn't have got chastised for. That plus we got put in charge of the Spanish Mission President's Fireside the night before and everything cancelled on us. It was crazy but luckily we pulled it all together last second (literally) and it turned out well. It was funny when they announced the song, we realized that we didn't have Spanish hymn books because they decided a few minutes before to change rooms. So as we were about to sing, 4 of us bolted to the chapel and scrambled to get all of these hymnbooks from the benches - it was quite the sight... After that, we stopped by Johana's b-day party and of course they made us eat all of this food and dessert when I was already stuffed. Oh Spanish work.

So, it's been a crazy week but so good! Hugo and Johana are now married and baptized members of the church and Lois will be baptized very soon. The next task is going to be finding more than one person to teach... We're confident that it'll happen :) Good stuff going on here in Mesa! Thanks for all of your prayers, support, and encouragement! I appreciate it!

Love y'all (Elder Twitchell must be rubbing off on me - y'all is his favorite thing to say)

~ Elder Carlson

Baptisms!! 2/25/2012

Marriage

Baptism

•Milagros!!....2/20/2012

Wow, what an incredible week. I really feel like the theme over the past couple months has really been goals - staying committed to them and seeing miracles happen to make them possible. So earlier this month, Brenda Kirby got baptized and we felt that there were two more people who needed to get baptized this month. We prayed and we felt good about. We didn't know how it was going to happen or who it was going to be, but we knew if we did everything possible that it would happen. So I think I talked a little about Lois Smyth a little bit last week and how we met her. Well, this last Monday she came with us to a Family Home Evening at the McKendrick's house (they live in those same apartments) and she actually got there first. We were late as always, because the most random things always seem to come up Monday evenings. By the time we got there they had already done a quick lesson and she was just a part of everything, talking and laughing and just loving it. She seriously seems like she's already a member (even though by that time we had known her less than a week!), and teaching her is awesome. Anyway, that next day (Valentine's Day) we went to the Visitor's Center and it was quite possibly the best, most spiritual experience I've ever had there. We watched the new version of "Joseph Smith - Prophet of the Restoration" and it was incredible. The new movie shows everything from Lucy Smith's point of view and I feel like it's a little better and more powerful. So after the movie, Lois had to sit back a little and take it all in. When we came outside of the little theater and started talking about it, the emotions were just too much for her and she had to go to the bathroom with her fellowship.
It was funny in the meantime, we were talking to the McKendrick's and the people from Gilbert that introduced Lois to everything. Rachel McKendrick was saying how her husband told her to not think that all people will be like Jeff and Kendra when they go on their mission (they plan on serving a senior mission when they're older), and we think it's funny because everyone they've fellowshipped has either gotten baptized or will be baptized (you'll hear the story later on). So when Lois came out, we started talking about everything, especially the blessings of the gospel, and how much it changes lives. She had all these questions about baptism and authority, and it was awesome being able to answer those questions with confidence. When we asked how she felt, she just said she felt overwhelmed. Elder Twitchell said if she continues to pray, study, and go to church, she will know of a surety that these things are true. She responded and said that it was pretty overwhelming that it's true - no denying that. She just talked about not being sure how her family would react to everything. I guess her husband died a while back, but she has 2 daughters that have their own families. So at the moment, we didn't set a sure baptismal date, but we were all super happy and uplifted and Lois absolutely loved it - it changed her.
So on Friday we went by to have a lesson with her and we had to do splits, because we had all kinds of baptismal interviews to do out in Gilbert. It was also interesting because we had a lot of people come with us to that lesson, including my ride out to Gilbert. So a bunch of us showed up there and after a little bit, I took off to do the interviews. Elder Twitchell said about as soon as it all started, Lois said that she had made her decision when she went to the Visitor's Center to be baptized! He invited her to be baptized Feb. 25th (this Saturday) and she said yes! It makes the process a lot smoother when people make the decision beforehand :) So she came to church yesterday and loved it. She's already been super integrated into the ward, even though this was her first Sunday there. She told us that we had changed her life forever.... It was incredible. I love experiences with investigators where you're able to establish things right from the beginning. She knew exactly who we were and why we were there. We had super spiritual lessons where we testified of divine truths and she felt it. It has been one of the best experiences of my entire life. So that was our 2nd of 3 people to be baptized in February.
So...during this process we were also really focusing on Hugo and Johana, hoping that both of them would be ready to be baptized very soon. We kept going by and teaching them, and it was cool because we feel like Hugo is starting to take things a lot more seriously. He's asking TONS of questions, getting a lot more involved, actually coming to church, and reading in the Book of Mormon. He still hasn't decided or committed yet, but we had this thought the other morning that she could still get baptized (we're still going to have to marry them). When we went over there and talked about it, Johana actually said she was just about to ask us that very question! She was excited because I guess this weekend is also her birthday so it would be cool to have their marriage and her baptism right around that time. We taught her basically everything in the entire world this last Saturday... she asked us all these questions and it's just so much fun to teach people that listen and take it all in. She has been so prepared and absolutely loves the difference it's making in her life. The little girls (hers and Adriana's) will kneel down at night and pray all by themselves (even though you can't always understand what they're saying). It's way cute. When Johana came to stake conference yesterday, she said she was overwhelmed by that same feeling she always gets and it made her cry. They are so awesome!
It's been fun seeing President Howes at church the past two weeks (he came to both of our stake conferences, since our wards are in different stakes) - there is definitely a special bond between missionaries and their mission presidents. He is just so powerful, and the whole conference was awesome. All of the stake leaders around here just emulate the gospel and are fountains of wisdom. We also took Lois to the Mission President Fireside yesterday, and I got to do a special musical number. I did an EFY song that I've done before "I Will Not Be Still" and I don't know if I've ever had quite that many compliments - it was cool especially to hear some really good compliments from Pres Howes' parents, who were spending the weekend!
So that's mostly it for the week - we're seeing some incredible things and excitement in the ward! We've been continuing the member visits and all these members have been coming up to us and reporting on the people they're working with! They feel accountable for those people and cool things are happening. A young woman invited a friend to an activity (I guess they really like it) and another friend came up to her and said she wanted to get baptized! They may or may not be moving into our area, which would be cool. There's a lot of missionary excitement, and things have really just turned around. I love it!
So that's about it for the week! It's definitely been a good one :) best Valentine's Day of my life!
Thanks for all you do! love ya mucho,
Elder Carlson

•Mucha iglesia...‏02/12/2012

Hello hello!

Well this week's been an interesting one, for sure. For whatever reason, we have not been getting an incredible amount of sleep lately. Things keep popping up that kind of prohibit it... So last night we had a super good, intense lesson with Hugo and Johana and ended up getting back home really late. We were exhausted but still had to do all of our stats and paperwork so it was an even later night! So we got to sleep and for whatever reason I woke up really early this morning (I'm pretty sure I thought I heard the alarm or something) and I got all dressed to go work out and called the other elders (that live here close in the same complex) to come over asap so we could go to the gym. They actually answered and after I hung up I was tapping on the bed or somewhere to try to wake up my companion. When he wouldn't wake up I looked in the kitchen and saw that it was 2:00! I don't know how that happened but I didn't think too much of it and got into bed. I'm still not sure if anything happened because of it, because our door was definitely locked if they tried to come over.

Anyway, we had an awesome experience this week when we met a lady named Lois! She's an older single lady that was actually a referral from some members out in Gilbert. The other missionaries here contacted her first and found out that that apartment complex was in our area (it's where Jeff and Kendra, and the McKendrick's live) so we set up a time to stop by. So normally these kind of set-up lessons aren't terribly solid so we weren't 100% she was going to be there. When we got there though, she was there with this Vietnamese couple from Gilbert that she works with! They were there waiting for us, and we were completely taken off guard. We had one of the most spiritual lessons of my life - one of those lessons where everything just goes right. She had been to church a couple times in the past but hadn't really liked it too much. This last week she had gone with the Phan's in Gilbert and enjoyed it a lot more. She said she felt something different and she felt some kind of need for this in her life. She felt good, she felt comfortable, and she felt at home. She felt like people lived the teachings of Jesus Christ and really reached out and embraced her. It was cool as we invited and committed her to read the Book of Mormon and go to church and such. She said she wouldn't have invited us over if she wasn't willing to. Basically, she means business. She said a solid yes to baptism when she comes to know it's true and is committed from the get-go to really find out for herself and seek answers. She already has great fellowship in the ward and we're going to have a huge Family Home Evening tonight with the McKendricks, Lois, the Wilber's, and Kendra Wilber's sister who lives in Gilbert and is starting to take real interest. It should be way cool.

Lois came to stake conference yesterday with her friend, and it was cool to see so many people say hi and welcome her. She loves everything, and might possibly get baptized this month. Stake Conference here in the Mesa West Stake was pretty cool. President and Sister Howes were there, as well as President and Sister Porter, the temple president and temple matron of the Mesa temple here! There were way good talks about unity, family, and sharing the gospel. One thing that was awesome was this relief society president who gave a talk. She got up and said that she wasn't going to share the talk that she had prepared to or wanted to give it. She felt like somebody needed to hear her conversion story so she told it. It was crazy because everything she said completely matched up to Lois, and where she's at in her life right now. She talked about the testimony that she had gained and how it happened the very first night she met with the missionaries. She talked about an overwhelming peace and feeling in her chest that is unmistakable. We looked over and could tell that Lois was paying super close attention and taking note of all of the scriptures this lady cited. It was awesome.

And we had a super busy night Saturday night with solid lessons and a surprise baptismal interview, but I guess we missed out on quite the adult session of stake conference. Apparently the stake president talked a lot about marriage (which first of all isn't the funnest thing for missionaries to listen to) and I guess he talked more than most people do about the intimacies of marriage... We heard from the other missionaries that it was quite the meeting, to say the least. That night we met with this 16-year old guy named Ivan, and he's a stud. He's a super sharp, smart, athletic kid and his neighbor is an old single lady (who's a member of the church). She had talked to him about the Book of Mormon and he said he was interested. He has lots of friends that go to our church and that he really likes and looks up to. So he agreed to come over to dinner and meet with us to talk about everything. To me, that's just awesome. There's not many young dudes nowadays that are willing to do that kind of thing, go over to an older lady's house and meet with missionaries to talk about religion. Anyway, he's awesome and accepted everything we taught, but he's not sure that his parents are going to be okay with all of this. Apparently, they don't have a super high view of us and thinks we're just trying to tear down or change their faith. Hopefully they'll be okay with it, but if not we know that these are important seeds being planted and at some point in his life I feel like he's going to accept it all.

Early on in the week we were having dinner with some of our Spanish members, and this son we had no idea about came in. I guess he just got out of rehab, and completely changed. He had some way spiritual experiences in there and developed a relationship with God that he never had. He agreed to meet with us and we had a surprisingly good lesson on Friday. We weren't expecting him to be so open about a new religion, but he definitely was, even though sadly he didn't make it to church this week.

We've also made some huge progress with Johana and Hugo. We took them all to the Visitor's Center last week (Alberto, Adriana, Hugo, Johana, and all of the kids) and even though the little girls were crazy, they felt something special and Johana was definitely crying after watching "Joseph Smith - Prophet of the Restoration". She wants this for her family so bad, and she's glad that Hugo is opening up and coming to things like this. They both made it to church yesterday - the first time for both of them - and we assigned them to read some scriptures about commandments and God's promises (acting with faith). Johana read them way thoroughly and I guess she absolutely loved them! She basically quoted them to us when we stopped by and started crying last night as she talked about the changes she's seen in Hugo and how peaceful she felt at church. She recognizes the spirit so well and totally does not question it. We're just hoping that Hugo's on-board with all of this and decides to get married and baptized with her on February 25th. So keep them in your prayers! I have never seen people get so solid so fast in my life. Johana and Lois are absolutely incredible.

So all in all, it's been a pretty exciting week. We just got 3 new missionaries in our zone (that's not too many, out of 20 missionaries) and the new guy in our Spanish ward actually was in Columbia for a year and a half and is finishing up here for health reasons. His Spanish is pretty solid, it's always different getting used to new people. Somehow, we keep finding more people to teach which is good :)

That's all I can think of at the moment! Everything's good here, and we're looking forward to good things in the next couple weeks! Hasta la proxima!

~ Elder Carlson

•Ningun cambio...otra vez...02/06/2012

Well I guess I need to just stop thinking I'm going to move because it definitely doesn't happen too much... I love the area though, and Elder Twitchell and I work great together. I guess that's why President Howes doesn't want to separate us. So we're staying together here in Mesa for the 4th transfer (6 months) and I guess we'll see what happens after that. We were pretty surprised at the transfer calls - out of the 20 missionaries in our zone, only 3 are moving out and one of them actually started his mission here and was here for about 13 months! Our Mexican in the Liahona 5th ward is leaving, and Elder Loomis, who lives in our apartment. It's weird because we actually recommended with both of those missionaries that their companion leaves and they stay! So yeah, we'll see if there are any crazy changes on Wednesday at transfer meeting.

It was exciting this past week to see Brenda Kirby get baptized! She was waiting on First Presidency permission and she definitely got it. Her fellowship in the ward is a super hard-core planner and the whole thing was pretty elaborate, and everything turned out really nice. I sang as part of my talk on baptism, and there was a really good video presentation as they got changed after the baptism and everything. Brenda is just so happy - she's been waiting so long and just emanates and radiates light more than just about anyone I know. We've just been lucky to know her and be a little involved in the process. So Sunday, when she got confirmed, we had the most ridiculous morning. So both of our wards start at 1:00 and we had a meeting with a stake president way down south in our area at 12:30 that we couldn't re-schedule. He was busy until about 12:45 so we didn't get started until then. We did the meeting absolutely as fast as we possibly could and took off. We literally hit every single red light on the way there. What really got us was a red light at the canal where there's not even a road! There's a bike path and we got stopped, watching as this super ridiculous-looking biker very slowly pedaled across the road. So we're stressing out and getting there as fast as we can and we got right there to the chapel doors the second our ward mission leader (Brother Thompson) started saying her name to start the confirmation. If we were there literally seconds earlier we would have made it. Thankfully, he's stud and Brenda's incredible so it was all fine, but we just didn't know what more we could have possibly done. It was a really good confirmation though, and the rest of Sunday was very good. We finally got to go to more of our Spanish ward's church, and we taught Johana again because she wasn't able to make it to church.

So I think I talked a little about Johana before, but she is awesome! We heard this last week how she got here to be with her family from Mexico and it was a pretty crazy story. So she was walking out in the desert for hours with this group of people that was going to cross the border. As they were crossing in a van I think, the police started pursuing them. The driver said they'd need to get out and run, so they all got out and were running toward the mountains. She was way tired at some point and couldn't go any farther, but somebody else picked her up and helped her make it the rest of the way. One of the guys in charge there asked if she wanted to come with him and stay at his house for the night or if she wanted to stay with everyone else. She chose to go with him and found out that everyone that stayed there got caught. She also found out that everyone at the house those people would have gone to also were caught so she was literally the only one that made it! And during this whole time, she had some crazy spiritual experiences and was basically having a conversation with God. She promised that she would make Him the center of her life and felt this incredible need for something in her life. And then... we were some of the first people she met, and she knew it wasn't a coincidence. We had been sent into her life for a reason. So we've been figuring out how to get her and Hugo married so they can get baptized. It's cool because she's a very strong confident person and she really gets things moving. Hugo can definitely be lazy and kind of look for reasons not to do stuff, but thankfully she's there, and he is now reading in the Book of Mormon every single day because they read together. She's committed to coming every Sunday to church and studying every day. It's cool to see the incredible desire she has and the commitment to everything we teach. She is definitely prepared and we can't wait to take them to the Visitor's Center tonight! It should be awesome. - I can't wait to teach them more about eternal families and the true blessing that the gospel brings to families. It's funny though - because Hugo works in the evenings, we'll teach them together in the afternoon and then her sometimes in the evening as well (we're doing the new member lessons with Alberto and Adriana). So we may or may not have had a couple days where we taught Johana twice in one day... She loves it though, and she's learning all of the doctrine way fast.

This morning we got to go and package all the Easter pageant cards and we did it in record-timing. There were only 10 of us missionaries there and we did it all so fast - we shrink-wrapped stacks of 500 or so invitations, labeled the boxes, put other stuff in the boxes, taped them up and loaded them on to massive pallets and we did hundreds of those boxes.... it was crazy how fast it all went. I was literally running everywhere, but it's fun because it's an activity that's so measurable. We have 100% control of how fast we're going to get it done. In missionary work, you personally control so little of it. Things happen in Heavenly Father's timing and with people that He has prepared. I love it, and I have such a firm testimony that He does prepare people and the most important thing we can do is to give people an opportunity to accept the gospel - we don't know who will and we don't know when. But we've definitely seen miracles as we've been able to see and be a part of so many of these huge changes. Jeff received the priesthood this Sunday and is just loving it. Alberto and Adriana are absolutely converted and soon their entire family will be together! I'm so glad I get to stay to see the rest of them baptized - it's going to be incredible.

So that's what going on in Mesa right now! Not incredible amounts of changes, but always cool people to teach :)

Thanks for all you do! Les quiero mucho!

~ Elder Carlson