•Siempre hay mucho que hacer...3/26/2012

Hola mis amigos!

So this week was a little more eventful - definitely a lot of changes and a lot of things happening. So we did have 11 of 21 missionaries leave the zone and we definitely have some good missionaries coming in - I'm just interested to see how some of the companionships work out. So Elder Twitchell got his wish and ended up in Yuma, and the rest of the zone that left got spread around the rest of the mission. We did have sisters that white-washed into the Liahona 5th Ward and I thought it was pretty funny that I'm around the same sisters as I have before. Sister Farley was in the Yuma branch with Elder Oliver and I, and now she's here training a brand new sister in the Liahona 5. I'm pretty sure every single sister in Yuma has come up to Mesa and been in my zone again - loco. So, as far as my companion goes... I had a feeling I wouldn't get a new companion. That's just not how my mission works out for me! My new companion is... Elder Lindquist! He was in Tempe and then Skyline in English work, and now we're back together doing Spanish work. So ultimately in my entire mission I've only really had 2 areas and 5 companions, 3 of which I've served with twice. Elder Lindquist and I did a lot of cool things in Yuma together and we're hoping for similar results this time around. Sadly though, this Saturday as we were playing a basketball game, he came down on another elder's leg and completely owned his ankle. Within seconds it was HUGE and we had to go around that morning to a few different places to find out what to do with him. They think he might have torn a ligament(s) but they couldn't even tell in the x-ray because it was so massive and swollen. So he was told to stay off of it and keep it elevated but I don't think we did too well at that. We found out that there was this guy who needed some service and we went over to check it out. So this guy out in Tempe is switching trailers with a lady here that lives in the same trailer park as Alberto and Adriana, and we need to take out ALL of her stuff from the trailer there and get it over to Tempe. I have never seen half as much as stuff in any kind of building in my life. The entire trailer (and it was roughly 50 ft long) was literally covered, like the entire thing, from floor-to-ceiling with stuff. There was all kinds of super old stuff, some nasty food, lots of glass and things that are a pain to move, spider webs, and other creepy crawly things. It took hours just to clean out one single room! We eventually had 6 missionaries there and it was hard to work because you simply didn't feel like you were making any kind of difference. I worked for a couple hours in the kitchen and didn't know if I was even making a dent in it. The lady that owned it was super crazy and wouldn't let us throw away a solitary thing, even though a lot of it was legitimately trash and she would never go through these bags and bags of stuff ever. Eventually we had to leave though, because Elder Lindquist's ankle was getting pretty bad and we needed to head out to dinner.

So, to rewind, last P-day was actually pretty fun. We ended up going to Buffalo Wild Wings so that a bunch of the missionaries could do the Blazin Challenge and so that we could see some people and get together for the last time. 8 missionaries actually ended up doing the challenge (12 of their hottest wings in 6 minutes) and all of them made it! Elder Twitchell completely owned it and actually ended up finishing in just over 2 min! It was fun to see all of them covered in sauce and some of them really getting watery eyes - I sent home the picture of when I did it. I'm sure it was pretty solid as well. It was also fun to really convince Elder Mills, the elder who was here waiting for his visa, to do the challenge. He was pretty hesitant but we just kept talking him up and getting him excited for it, and he definitely did it. He thanked us afterwards that we had, even though I was a little scared that he wouldn't make it (because then I would have felt really bad). It all worked out though, and we also said a final goodbye to Elder Matheson which was weird. We're definitely the oldest missionaries in the mission now. Weird.

Some good news is that there is a lot of potential building up finally! We've been really struggling in March to find solid people to teach, or people to teach in general. Stuff is happening and we actually had a super cool experience on Friday as we prayed that we would be able to find at least one new investigator to teach that day. Within a few minutes we got this call from a lady in the Dobson Ward who is actually in a power chair and she said her caregiver had some questions about the church and that we could come over. So we set up the appointment and thought that it was pretty sweet. That afternoon we were out on the streets and talking to some people, lots of people that either just talked our ear off or were completely not interested. But as we were in the entrance of this apartment complex I saw this guy and decided to talk to him. I found out that his name was Jorge and that he worked the night shift. I was trying to set up a future appointment with him, but then decided to just ask him if we could teach him right then. We ended up walking with him over to his place and just teaching him right there! He was definitely interested and said he wanted to come to church. He also said a solid yes to getting baptized when he gets his answer. We thought about how cool it is that the Lord leads us to certain places to talk to certain people. Had we not talked to those other crazy people, we wouldn't have been able to find Jorge! He didn't come to church sadly, but we did stop by last night (I was on splits and Elder Lindquist stayed with someone to rest his leg) and I ended up teaching his brother Luis too! I guess they had met with missionaries in California, and we're just hoping this is their time.

There's some other solid potentials, including the guy moving into the trailer park (I sure hope he's interested after all the service and help missionaries are providing :) , a sweet Argentine lady, and a couple other guys that live close and seemed really curious. There's still a girl that told her friend here that she wanted to get baptized and we're hoping to teach her this week. Also, we had a couple really solid lessons with Mason Walker and he said now is his time to "harvest the fruit" and to really prepare and buckle down. He was supposed to get baptized with his daughter like 4 years ago, but he wasn't ready for certain changes in his life. We're still overcoming some obstacles and he hasn't come to church yet, but we still have high hopes from him. We've got some solid plans for the Dobson Ward and the Easter Pageant that starts this week, and we're all going to focus as a ward on one specific night to go and bring people. We're going to meet together beforehand and have some pizza and stuff in our seats in anticipation of the event. You have to get there pretty early to get even decent seats. We're doing a similar thing and focusing on one night in Spanish (this Friday), so we're going to be able to go two nights in total - once in English and once in Spanish. So there's a lot of stuff that's really close and could lead to big things, it just needs to happen!

Also, some exciting news for the week. Adriana Flores did some family history work in preparation to go and do baptisms for the dead yesterday and got some stuff ready for her grandma. Some other guys came in Friday night and spent some time getting everything ready so she would be able to do it the very next day. She did and had a pretty crazy spiritual experience! She bore a powerful testimony yesterday on it, and it's amazing to see people already so firmly rooted in the gospel. A bunch of recent converts went yesterday to the temple and there's just nothing else like it. It really does solidify them and make them excited.

So that's it for now! We're looking forward to big things :) like always! Love ya!

~ Elder Carlson

•Al final hay cambios! Pero no para mi...3/19/2012

So we just got transfer calls and there are some pretty crazy things going on.... a lot a lot of people are leaving our zone (11 out of 21 missionaries) but of course I'm not one of them :) I should have known better, thinking that I would go anywhere except Yuma or Mesa. Elder Twitchell is taking off though, and we're pretty sure that he's going down to Yuma finally! He's been wanting that his entire mission and now it might actually be happening. I remember how jealous he was from the very beginning of his mission that I was staying down in Yuma for such a long time, and that he couldn't. So we'll see what happens there. The other Spanish companionship right now has been a three-some, because they have a missionary that's waiting to go to Monterrey, Mexico. He's super cool - Elder Mills from Idaho Falls. Elder Helvey has also been in that companionship, a missionary who served a year and a half in Columbia and then came here for medical reasons. He's an interesting guy that sometimes forgets that he's not in Columbia anymore and we need to do things the Mexican way.... when in Rome do as the Romans do, right? Anyway, that companionship got whitewashed out of the area, so we're fairly sure they are going to bring sisters into the Liahona 5 ward! We're interested to find out what happens, but for right now, I'm the only one of five that's staying in our Spanish ward! Que loco! There's another white-wash and we're giving up a lot of leadership, but it seems like Mesa is definitely a place that cranks out leaders. A lot of people that serve here go district leader or zone leader or something when they leave. So I guess I get to hold the zone together a little bit since it's getting pretty ripped up. It'll be good though - our ward needs some changes.

So last preparation day was pretty fun. We played this game "The Newlywed Game" where you have a companionship and you ask a question geared toward one of them and they both have to submit the answer they think would best fit that person. It's basically to see how well you know your companion. Everyone knew since Elder Twitchell and I have been together for so long that we would be pretty good at it and we definitely were... We made it to the finals and lost in a tie-breaker to a companionship that had been practicing for weeks for it (they're pretty crazy - you'd understand if you met them), so that was a way entertaining game and we got to know a lot about a lot of people. The companionships that are the most unified and get along the best definitely did better in general. After that, we went to Dairy Queen because one of the sisters is going home tomorrow (it was her last real p-day) and because they didn't really want to bike, Elder Wheeler and I rode their bikes and wore their helmets as we headed over. Let's just say there's definitely a difference between sister missionary bikes and elders - I'm sure somebody got a kick out of it.

We've had a couple solid member visits in the Spanish ward and the bishopric seems to like us a little more - the 1st counselor has a couple solid families he's working with and we're starting to sense that they trust us a little more. I think sisters will probably help as well. It's also been cool to see a difference when we meet with stake presidencies to discuss missionary work. We have a super solid relationship with every single one of them, and for some reason they really respect us and like us. The stake that Dobson Ward is in used to be a real struggle, but I think now they're probably our most solid one! They gave us all kinds of compliments and really want us to stay - it's cool to see how important those relationships are with ward and stake leaders and how much it can change things.

I've been on a lot of exchanges lately and been doing ridiculous amounts of biking... I went with this big guy Elder Knighton and he really surprised me. He might be a big guy but he can really move on that bike! He just takes off and never slows down! And this happened after a way long day of biking in our own area, so it was extra fun. There's something that's exciting about going into other people's areas to meet the people they're teaching and to see how they do things. Every companionship does things differently, and it really helps to be able to make suggestions and work on different things to see them really improve and do well. I went on this exchange out in Gilbert and it's just a different place. I don't know what it is about Gilbert (maybe it's the fact that there are so many members) but let's just say there are a lot of "fair and delightsome people" there. There are absolutely incredible amounts of members, but those who aren't are pretty much nice and open or 100% against you - makes for some interesting stories. It definitely is a different style of work though, because on most streets a vast majority of the people and the houses on the street are members. Tracting would be way ineffective, and the only way you can really find success is totally working with the members. So that's been a huge push for us as we go on exchanges and train our zone members. We've been practicing them a lot and that's the only way to really improve and get better at them. We've been seeing how important it is for us (and everyone) to be able to just go out and work and try things! When people suggest ideas and things that might make the work more effective, we have to be able to just try it even if we don't know every little detail. I just like it when missionaries go out and work! Buckle down, be obedient, and do the things that we need to do! Especially in the evenings from 6-9 (the time we affectionately call "prime time" because more people are home) we have to be effective in how we use the time, but we have to use it nonetheless! So we've been working like crazy this week and biking ridiculous amounts, even though it was rough and we did not teach much at all... We found some solid potential, and we're looking forward to teaching them this week.
One investigator that we're teaching (his name is Gerardo) is going through a rough time. He just found out a few days ago that he needed to leave his house by Sunday, so we're not sure where he's at right now, or if he was able to find a place. He was way solid and really wants to change his life around but with all this going on and a whole family to worry about, it's been quite the burden. So keep him in your prayers. It's interesting how I feel such a responsibility (even financially) for these people even though that really is not what we're called to do. It also was tough with some investigators the sisters were teaching that were supposed to get baptized this last Saturday but they got kicked out of their house and are now living in a homeless shelter in Phoenix. It's a rough time for people economically and it sure doesn't help missionary stress. We feel 100% responsible for them but don't have lots of resourses or means of helping them. We've also been seeing because of how busy people are that sometimes we just have to be a tiny bit more persistent and just teach a 5-minute lesson. We did that a couple times this week and it actually worked out really well! You have to really know the lessons well to be able to teach it that quick, and know that they know what's most important. Spanish missionaries definitely learn a lot of tenacity and persistence.

One thing that we are pretty excited about is a bunch of recent converts in our Spanish ward are going to be going to the temple this Saturday to do baptisms for the dead and do this tour type of thing there! Alberto and Adriana, as well as Hugo and Johana, are crazy excited for it, since they prepared by going to this class last week about family history and temple work. Adriana's been making all kinds of phone calls to relatives and trying to figure out some family info so they can get rolling with all of the family history stuff. It'll be pretty special.

So yesterday, we had another Mission President's Fireside and it was awesome. Somebody from our mission presidency spoke and told all these great personal stories, and there were a lot of testimonies of missionaries going home this transfer. It seems like when nobody Hispanic shows up that our translation is always a lot better... So we definitely translate, even if nobody's listening, and let's just say yesterdays was pretty solid. It also helps to be able to prepare with prayer and reading a little bit out loud in the spanish Book of Mormon. What helps now is I'm able to speak faster so there's a lot less catching up to do. It still is a unique concept of hearing it in one language and spitting it out in another. So Elder Matheson is home tomorrow, and we are now the oldest missionaries in the mission! Crazy how time flies.

We're looking forward to see what happens Wednesday and I'll let you know mas la semana que viene. hasta la proxima! ~ Elder Carlson

Dallin got his mission call??!!

whoa!!! That's crazy- i did not know that Dallin was going to the Philippines!! Crazy, that's super cool. So is he going to be learning Cebuano. That's awesome, rough though that we have to be so close in overlapping. I'll definitely give him some old veteran missionary advice, no worries :) I'm sure the work's going to be a little different there but a lot of it's definitely universal.

•Asi pasa la vida....3/12/2012

Well I do have to say life is considerably less wild and exciting right now than it's been for the past few months. I feel like before I could just go on and on even about every single day because so many crazy things would happen. Needless to say life has calmed down a little bit and we're still working as hard as we can. More than anything we're still really working on finding people to teach. We know that there are people in our area that are prepared to hear and accept the gospel but we have to know where they're at first! So we've been going by a lot of member's houses and sharing messages with them, teaching and exciting them to talk to their neighbors and everyone that they know. We've also been stopping by a lot of former investigators, trying to see if things have changed since they last met with the missionaries. That's still in the process and there haven't been necessarily crazy cool things that have happened just quite yet, but something's definitely going to happen soon. I can feel it.

So one thing that was pretty cool was this last Monday we had a lesson set up with this guy named Juan Jimenez, who we've been trying to get ahold of more often and teach but it's super hard because he has crazy hours and is never home. Our ward mission leader and one of the ward missionaries who were going to come with us to that lesson called us a little bit before it and told us that they wouldn't be able to make it! (This happens ALL the time in Spanish work). We weren't 100% sure that Juan was going to be there but we showed up a little late and he showed up literally at the exact same second! It was pretty cool. I asked him if we could make a call, so I called up Hugo, our very recent convert who doesn't live terribly far away. I asked him if he could come and he said he could so he came over. Since he doesn't have a phone and people are generally not fantastic with directions we actually went out by the road (the lesson was in these apartments) to make sure he made the right turn. He finally got there and we had an incredible lesson. Right off the bat when Juan asked Hugo to say the prayer, Hugo said an awesome prayer where he asked specifically that Juan would be able to make it to church on Sunday - this Sunday. We testified about the Book of Mormon and the importance of church attendance, how we receive revelation and get the spirit more abundantly in our lives. He paid a lot more attention than usual, and Hugo bore a pretty powerful testimony about how he's seen the Gospel bless and impact his family. It was crazy to see how everything changed in the past two weeks. Super recently, Hugo was saying he wasn't sure about getting baptized and here he is now, literally days later, bearing powerful testimony to someone else about the truthfulness of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He also came with us to a lesson with Andrew Fuentes later on in the week and loved it. Johana is solid as a rock as well. The other missionaries said that in Gospel Principle she basically taught everyone about the priesthood, its importance and how it's received. She just latches on to truth and loves everything that she's learning. Her crazy friend was continuing to put wild stuff on Facebook to her but she was unfazed and said that was enough. She also is loving what this is doing for her family! She said Hugo is a 100% different person now. I guess on Monday he also paid the rent for the whole family (they live with Alberto and Adriana) and did all this other stuff for everyone before he came to the lesson with us. He said he just felt really good :) So they're also working with people that they know and are inviting them to church.

Some of our goals that we've set for the week are "Cultivating potential" in the Dobson Ward and "Get the ball rolling" in the Liahona 5th Ward. We've seen a lot of cool things and a lot of people working with friends and things in the Dobson Ward, but it's been a lot tougher to figure out how to really get things working in the Spanish world.

And we found out about some pretty sweet things with Jeff and Kendra. So while Lois is still kind of struggling with tithing, Jeff and Kendra are gaining a crazy testimony of it! They were figuring how much tithing would be and they knew it would be way close (Kendra was still stressing out about it but Jeff said that they might as well just do it and not stress) but they decided to take the leap of faith and do it. I guess just a couple days later they got a letter from the IRS and they were super worried because they thought that could not mean anything good. Apparently it said that they forgot a deduction and it returned them a decent sum of money! They have never gotten anything like that before, so they already have a solid testimony of tithing! They also went to the temple this last Tuesday to do baptisms for the dead and I guess they were just in awe with the whole thing. It's been a big week for them.

And Elder Cox and I had an adventure when we were on exchanges on Saturday. We got a ride out to a musical fireside out in Gilbert but realized that it had been moved to a different building...At the building we went to, there was definitely a huge wedding reception. A weird place for missionaries to be. For some reason, we had our bikes with us so we started biking and (after realizing we were going the wrong direction and turning around) got there just a few minutes late. So our ride didn't have a cell phone and didn't know to pick us up at this other building. By the time we biked over afterwards I guess he had come, didn't see us, and went home. So we're calling all kinds of people, trying to get a ride as we're stranded out in Gilbert and finally our ride called from his home phone and came back out to pick us up. Oh, the exciting situations missionaries get themselves into...

So that's most of the excitement for this week - it's crazy to think that Elder Matheson (who actually extended a transfer) will be going home next week. I've been around him my entire mission, and now we will be the oldest missionaries in the mission.... There's like nobody going home next transfer. AHHHH! I never thought I'd get to this point, and it definitely gives you a sense of urgency like nothing else. Our days are numbered. We're expecting big things this next week tho!

Love y'all! hasta la proxima,

~ Elder Carlson

•Sacrificios traen las bendiciones del cielo...3/05/2012

Hello everyone!

Well compared to the super exciting weeks that we've been having the past couple months, this one has been a little more low-key. There was definitely good stuff that happened, as always, but things are a little different. So yesterday was a way good Sunday, and almost every single recent convert from here in mesa came to church!! We visited Gabriela Garcia this week (she got baptized last April when I was with Elder Johnson here) because she hasn't been coming for a little while and she came with all of her kids, and definitely bore her testimony for the first time. So in the Spanish ward I went up to bear my testimony and Johana Lopez (who just got baptized a week ago) followed me up there. I was able to bear my testimony to all these people I've truly come to love, and afterwards listed to a super sincere, heartfelt testimony from Johana, thanking God and us for the things that we've brought into her life. She got super emotional and could barely speak, and it was a way powerful spiritual experience. After I sat down, Gabby asked me if she could go up there and I told her absolutely. She said it was too late, but then decided she would go up anyway. A she walked by me, she asked me if the fear would leave her when she got up there so of course I told her yes it would :) She also bore a powerful testimony and it seemed like everyone who went up there thanked the missionaries who taught them and talked about all of the blessings that had come into their life since then. It wasn't necessarily our most stellar week, so it was really good to hear that, and think about the lives that we've touched. There are so many families that I love so much, and it's a little sad when you can't visit them too often afterwards (you need to find more people!). But it's cool to think of the relationships that we're building and the people we were meant to teach and bring into the gospel.
Things aren't going as well with Lois as we had hoped. We had a lesson with her on Tuesday and talked all about the commandments. We were teaching her these cool hand signs to remember which one is which and she was really enjoying it. We bore testimony of the commandments that we've been given and the blessings that are available as we obey those commandments. There are eternal laws that we have to obey if we're going to truly find happiness and there's no cutting corners. Those blessings are real though and they will come. The lesson was going super well, but once again when we brought up tithing and the Word of Wisdom, she said that she couldn't make any promises and didn't think she could live it. We shared experience and really testified of those blessings, but especially with these specific commandments, the only thing you can do it try it out and live it. That's really the only way. It's tough, because when it comes to things like this, people forget the spiritual witnesses that they've had and focus on how hard it would be to live a certain lifestyle. It's especially difficult with people that you've really come to love and care for as special children of God. Lois has been so prepared, and felt the Spirit so incredibly strong in her life, and she's just going to have to act on that. So everyone please keep her in your prayers! She wasn't able to make it to church this week, but we know everything that has happened so far has happened for a reason.

Oooh, and another thing that was way cool about yesterday was we had a class about family history in priesthood and it got me way excited to do family history when I get back home. They were showing us how to use that new family search website and how we could get started not only doing that family history searching, but also doing the ordinances for those people. I had never really seen how you go about it and I was pretty fascinated, because it also talks about it a lot in my patriarchal blessing. I am definitely going to jump on that when I get home.

Well, we haven't been able to have as many investigator lessons as we would like to have. We're teaching a lot of recent convert lessons to help retain all of them and the good news is that they are indeed getting retained!! Our Dobson Ward recent converts all have callings now, and our Spanish recent converts are doing whatever it takes to get to church (Alberto and Adriana's family came all the way to church walking, I'm pretty sure). We are picking up again with some of the investigators that we were kind of teaching before. It was cool going by one family's house that we felt we should go by, for some reason. They weren't terribly solid before, so we were a little hesitant about it, but we went over and things have definitely changed a little since the last time we were over there. We asked the mom about her religious background and she told us all about these different churches she had been to and how she had just recently (within the last 3 weeks or so) stopped going to her other church for various reasons. Apparently they're in a transition stage and she's just wanting something they can all be together in, so we're hoping her husband's alright with it! There's definitely been a lot of little miracles lately. We were going by Juan Jimenez, who is way hard to contact, and we randomly went during the early afternoon (which is generally the worst time to try to contact people) and because of the weather conditions he got home early from work and was there! We had a good lesson and he definitely has some desires. We were stopping by some former investigators and felt like we should stop by one that lived in these sketchier apartments here in Mesa. It was definitely not the same person that lived there, but they were still interested and we ended up giving him a Book of Mormon! We found out later that we had written the number wrong (the person that lived in the right apt definitely wasn't interested) so it was kind of cool that it worked out the way it did. As I was on exchanges with our stud district leader Elder Nix we were headed to this apartment and he stopped to talk to this black guy that I hadn't seen because I was so rushed. He was super nice and talked about all these members he knew. He said he had been super interested lately in learning more about Mormons and "getting into it". He was excited about church so we'll hopefully teach him tonight! There's been a lot of cool little miracles and experiences that keep us going. The Lord is definitely preparing people and we're here to find them!

We also had ZLC on Thursday (zone leader council) and this time was a little different because we got to go to the temple that morning with President Howes and all of the zone leaders and assistants. We were seeking revelation for our zones and it was definitely very spiritual and peaceful. It was interesting because everything that they trained on that day, Elder Twitchell and I had discussed earlier in the celestial room. We talked a lot about unity, sustaining one another in our various capacities, and becoming converted missionaries. There have been a lot of companionship struggles in our zone lately and that companionship unity is so crucial to every aspect of the work. It affects literally everything and we have to be able to really have a sincere trust and love for our companions. We talked about the dinner that we were going to do the next day, which was entertaining. We served all of our stake presidents this dinner and we wore these really cool black aprons that said called to serve on them with our long sleeved shirts. We were the waiters and learned all of the rules for it. It was pretty cool. I did another last-minute a capella number with another missionary doing "Come thou Fount" and it turned out really well. We found out right before dinner that somebody forgot to bring the meat (they thought it was the next day) so we had to do the presentation first and scramble to get everything together. It was fun to be around the stake presidents and mission leaders so much, and it was just fun :) So that's about it for this week! We're siguiendo adelante and doing the best that we can!

Love y'all! ~ Elder Carlson