Semana Fantastica! 4/06/2011

Buenos Dias a todos! Well, things are finally starting to click here... We've had an awesome week! I got to do my first Spanish baptismal interview last Thursday and the baptism on Friday was amazing because of the amount of investigators we had there, as well as the zone leaders! Elder Burgos has been here for 9 months and said that he's never seen that many people at a baptism there and what was even cooler about it was they were almost all investigators! We had 3 different families there (well couples with little kids) and they all loved it! Afterwards we all got together and said a massive prayer of gratitude because that just doesn't happen.

And then the next two days of conference were awesome of course! I especially liked Elder Bednar's talk on spiritual revelation, Elder Cristofferson's talk on correction, and President Uchtdorf's talk on living beneath our potential (in the priesthood session). It helped me open my eyes and realize that the Lord really does work with us normally step by step (poco a poco), and that we generally don't receive a testimony of something all in one moment. What was awesome was seeing this actually applied with Ana and Pedro. They came to the baptism, but I guess they felt pressured by members asking them when they were going to get baptized. They told us that they wanted more time, to go to church more, and to get to know more. We were heart-broken, but in our next lesson we told them to read Alma 32 together as a couple and we were going to check back with them. I could not believe what happened last night when we went and visited them.

We were chatting and Pedro asked Ana, "Hey - what's faith?" She shushed him, but then proceeded to give the best answer I've ever heard. She said that it's trusting in God and knowing that he's there to bless us when we do His will, even when we don't know everything. She said it applied to them perfectly because they don't need to know everything to get baptized. They have to show their faith by doing it and they will be rewarded afterwards and understanding will come with time. She said she just wanted to get baptized!! Pedro also said some things that amazed me about how the Lord humbles us and tests our faith. It was funny because that's not necessarily what we were intending but hey, it looks like we're going to see them both get baptized this Saturday!! I've never seen the power of the Book of Mormon manifested so plainly and clearly in a lesson before. The Holy Ghost spoke to them and told them exactly what they need to do, and they listened. It was basically one of the best nights of my entire life. We also visited this older guy named Juan Sandoval who can literally hardly contain himself, he wants to get baptized so bad. He's going to April 16th and has already seen trials and has been anti-ed but he's unfazed. I love the faith and the innocence I see in him and in Ana and Pedro. They are like little children, humble and willing to learn. And that's why it's an incredible blessing to teach them.

Elder Johnson and I right now are also doing better than we ever have in the past. We're working more efficiently and with more unity than ever before. Things were a little tense between us because we were letting things bug us and not communicating well, but after Conference we had an awesome talk and noticed a literal night/day difference in our effectiveness! People responded differently and lessons went a million times better - the Spirit was more present and life was far more enjoyable! I love my mission! ~ Elder Carlson

Templo!‏

Temple Trip.....

La vida de un misionero...‏3/30/2011

Well it's been an exciting week as always! Nothing ever seems to slow down around here - I definitely like it here in Mesa though, especially considering I was able to go to the temple today!!! It's been 8 months since I've been and I really needed it. It was a good spiritual boost and time to re-charge the batteries. Well I do have to say that I love the missionaries here and I'm so glad that we get the chance to learn from each other and have fun. I went on exchanges with a three-some last week (one elder was in the hospital getting a knee surgery) so I got to train 2 greenies - one brand new! It was quite the interesting experience... Especially considering they're both super random, shame-less guys with a lot of quirks. It was cool though, and I got to do a baptismal interview for a girl who got baptized this last Saturday. I'm excited because I'm going to be able to do my first Spanish one tomorrow! That'll be cool.

Since we had a lot of people on date this past week in the entire zone we had a huge fast for all of them and it looks like a lot of them are going through! We're definitely trying to apply Helaman 3:35 and always remember that spiritual strength comes from humility and relying on the Lord - knowing where everything comes from. Sadly it's been tough for us lately because Fatima, who has 3 daughters that are going to get baptized with her sometime in the future, is still having issues with her husband (who's in some kind of recuperation place and she hasn't seen for a year). She's got limited communication and wants him to be with her in this decision. She takes care of 5 girls all by herself and needs his help, so it makes the situation difficult. But she's awesome, has a solid testimony in the Book of Mormon and the Church, so we know she'll get baptized eventually.

Ana and Pedro are still doing great - we went and had hamburgers at their place and watched The Testaments with them this last Friday. Basically one of the best nights of my life...they're probably some of my favorite people I've ever taught. What was also weird is after that day of fasting we randomly had 2 dinners of solid hamburgers! With Mexicans! kind of strange - needless to say, we were quite full afterwards.

We also got to go to this meeting for the Easter Pageant here at the Mesa Temple. Elder Johnson and I got invited to go with all of the zone leaders to help train the cast members in being missionaries! It's cool that they are set apart for that specifically and really are missionaries for that time. So we found all the Spanish-speakers we could and talked to and helped them. Oh and random story - we went to a wedding in the ward on Saturday and it was so weird to go as a missionary... We basically tried to just eat and get out of there. We felt kind of out of place, especially when they started with music and dancing.

Sunday was also sweet because we had an unexpected family come to church! We've been teaching this lady Gabriela and her kids, and she called us up saying she needed a ride, so we all squeezed into this tiny little car and it was awesome to have her there. She has the sweetest little kids and it's fun to keep them occupied and quiet during sacrament meeting.

That night there was a Mission President's Fireside in Spanish and I got to sing "I stand all amazed" (asombro me da) with Elder Burgos (by the way, he's a Columbian who works with us in our ward) playing a sweet piano accompaniment. I don't know if I've ever had so many compliments in my life. It was a way good meeting though, and we got to hear a lot of testimonies from recent converts and mission leaders.

nd it was sweet on Monday - we got a referral for a sister of someone the zone leaders are teaching, and we had an awesome lesson with her! She was saying this is exactly what she wants for her family and she's all about reading the BOM and getting baptized. It was funny though, because while I was teaching the mom, Elder Johnson was teaching the 16-year old daughter and struggling. I guess she was pretty taken with him and flirting like crazy so it'll make things interesting - as a missionary that's not exactly fun stuff to deal with.... So life is good! I'm staying busy and loving Mesa!

No pensaba que pudiera estar mas ocupado...‏3/23/2011

Buenos Dias a todos!

Wow, I always am amazed at how life can somehow get busier all the time!! Before I'd be busy all day long but at least get to rest a little bit when I got home at night. Now after planning I get to make all kinds of nightly calls and I hardly have time to even write in my journal before I go to bed. But it's fun and I enjoy the time helping out my district and getting them excited about making goals and getting more work done than ever before! Mesa as a zone is really taking off here, and everyone is honestly getting pretty excited - I don't know if I've ever seen President Howes so excited before. As soon as we got here, he said he was expecting big things as a zone and we now have 26 or so people on-date for baptism and Elder Johnson and I had 6 in the past two days... So life is good, and we're really trying to keep everything going, keep people progressing, and stay super humble - Because it's the Lord that does all the work and we're just out to harvest.

So last week on St. Patrick's Day was Elder Johnson's birthday and we had an amazing day! We had an incredible amount of lessons, found a ton of new people to teach, and had members with us for good fellowship. The funniest story of the day I have to say was teaching this lady named Yanira - she has this little boy Oscar who was running and yelling back and forth and carrying cups of water around. Anyways, he stopped all of the sudden in the kitchen and had this way helpless look on his face as he slowly slipped and then fell down on his face. His mom rushed over and said ya sabes decir "pee pee"! You already know how to say you need to go to the bathroom! So...right there he wet his pants and then sadly fell first right in his own mess - so in a completely mature and missionary-like way we found the whole situation extremely funny and busted up laughing as soon as we got outside. It was cool finding so many new people this week and seeing what it takes to get in people's houses. We're getting decent at teaching the first lesson since that's all we seem to do...

But on another note, we have more exciting news - Fatima, an investigator who has been investigating for months and months and been through many many missionaries, accepted a baptismal date for April 16th!! So she is going to be baptized then with her 3 little girls. She's never accepted a date like that before, and we had a member with us for an incredible lesson on Monday. I don't think I've ever had a more spiritually intense lesson in my entire life!

Oh, and this last week Ana and Pedro accepted a date for April 9th and they came to church for the first time. They're basically my favorite people ever. Anyway, for their first time at church we had a long sacrament meeting with really long talks given by people that were really really struggling with spanish (i think they were stake leaders). It was painful to listen to, but that wasn't even the worst part. Our last class of the day? A smack-down lesson on pornography and addictions! it was also given by people that couldn't speak well, and it was pretty intense, but thankfully Ana and Pedro are super strong and they just found it all very interesting. Apparently Elder Johnson and Matheson found them when they were going to check out a referral way down south and found out the address didn't exist. When they were deciding what to do, some lady at a nursery called out to them and ended up introducing them to Ana. Miracle.

We also found 2 people outside their place yesterday, taught them, and they accepted a baptismal date for April as well so we're just going to have to keep working with all these people, and doing absolutely as much as we can to get them solid fellowship and keep them progressing in the gospel. I love having a smaller area and being able to make more consistent contact with all the people we're teaching. One of the joys of being here and on a bike.

So I'm still getting to know the ward but life is good and we're doing all we can here!
hasta la proxima,
Elder Carlson

Leadership meeting

Sweet picture of all the mission leadership here in the ATM - Arizona Tempe Mission! We just had that leadership conference last Friday.

Muchos cambios...3/16/2011

Hola otra vez! (Hello again!)

Well, hello from Mesa! I do have to say it's a completely different world here, and it's been a huge adjustment in terms of missionaries, area, members, apartment, and missionary work in general. I do have to say it's fun being with Elder Johnson again - we get a whole lot of work done, and I feel like we're starting to work more and more efficiently. It's been kind of rough to start out, because I don't really know any members and I don't know who we can get a hold of to be fellowships and to help out with us in lessons, but it's starting to come and it's cool being in a Spanish ward instead of a branch.

Okay, well I'm going to start out with my highlight of the week - we had an awesome lesson last night with this referral that we contacted. The lady that answered the door just let us in without us hardly even saying anything, and we literally had the best, most enjoyable lesson with her entire family! They were all super attentive, and we taught the Restoration very simply and clearly. We've been focusing on doing that - making lessons shorter, more powerful, and easier to understand. They all understood everything without a problem, and were all excited to read the Book of Mormon! I can't even describe what exactly it was (well obviously it was the spirit) but we were just walking on air afterwards. I was happier than I've just about ever been. I love that feeling!

And a quick random super funny story - so a couple elders in my district had an interesting OYM last night. To make a long story short, a very drunk African lady basically attacked them and hugged them and they ended up with lipstick on their collars... It was an extremely entertaining story, and the best part is that the senior companion there is a super quiet, somewhat awkward guy that I would have loved to see in that type of situation. Anyway, we were having somewhat of a competition with them to see who could get the most OYM's yesterday (talk to the most people about the gospel) and let's just say we almost doubled theirs...It's never a good idea to throw out a challenge like that to Spanish bike missionaries who have all kinds of trailer parks and apartment complexes in their area. But it's fun to push each other to work harder and be better! Oh and speaking of OYMs, we were challenged to teach a quick restoration lesson in under a minute during an OYM, and we had a way cool experience with that. I talked to this random lady all about it and we are now teaching her sister (she lives in a different area) while she's being taught by other missionaries. It was just cool to see her reaction - it was logical to her, and we all left happy and feeling great!

Well, it's a different style of missionary work here- we find a whole lot more through referrals than we do through tracting or anything else. I'm getting used to it though, and I'm excited to see everything take off here. We're planning out how we can get members involved as fellowshippers and not just simply be present in a lesson. It makes all the difference in the world!

And Elder Johnson's definitely keeping me in shape - we run to the track and have a good workout every morning, and we do plyos and weights and everything too. That and riding the bike of course helps as well. Speaking of which, I finally got my bike fixed again and hopefully it should be good for a while...I don't know if bikes are meant to be used as much as we use them!

So it's been an interesting change being the district leader here. I get to do nightly calls, training meetings, stake reports, gathering stats, all kinds of good stuff. We actually just had this training meeting last week and learned a TON! It makes it tough to write in my journal, because there's so many other things to do, but i love it and it's fun to be that example for the missionaries here. I also found out something that is going to rock my missionary world!! Preparation days are going to be changed next transfer to Mondays and that's going to throw off my whole week every week, but luckily that's not going to be for another week.

Anyways, that's about it for the week! I love it here in Mesa, and I'm just learning all the time!
Hasta luego!

Transferred! Ya me fui ‏...3/09/2011

Buenas Tardes!

Well, it turns out that I did get transferred and I'm serving here in the Mesa Zone, right around the mission home. It's interesting how crazy transfer calls are for missionaries - Everyone is stressed out and super anxious, wondering what's going to happen to them and if they're going to go. I couldn't handle it, so I had to work out while I was waiting. Anyway, I got a call from President Howes late Monday night, and he called me to be a District Leader! I was definitely not expecting that one but yeah, he said that he was going to take the Yuma out of me and I found out about the rest this morning. It's definitely going to make things a lot different - a whole lot more work, and a whole lot more responsibilities. But I look forward to it and it will be a definite learning process.

So I'm here in Mesa and my companion is...my boy! Elder Johnson! We took a one transfer break from each other and now we're already back together again. I still can't even believe it - boggles my mind. But it's fun, because Elder Matheson (who served in Yuma with me for 3 transfers and was Elder Johnson's comp this last one) is our zone leader and it's like one big family reunion! I have a good feeling about this transfer.

But my last week in Yuma was a good one for sure. On Friday I got to see Omar baptized and that's a way cool story. That guy went from smoking packs of cigarettes a day and talking about permiscuous things to stopping it all and reading the Book of Mormon every single day. It's amazing to see people make such huge changes in their life and especially see that it comes from within - when they make that internal choice to follow the Savior and to keep those commandments they just do it. We can only do so much. Another highlight of the week was last night, where we got to see Amy Olmeda get baptized! She's 22 and has been taught since September and finally decided to make the commitment. She always knew it was right but wanted to do it when she didn't feel pressured - like it was all her. Her older sister is an inactive member who's starting to come back, and it was really sweet to be able to see them go through this together. They were bawling afterwards, and her older sister promised she was going to be the example and be the best member. I don't know what it was about it, but it was one of the coolest baptisms that I've ever been to. A special one for sure.
But the week was way fun - i got to spend it with Elder Martinez and Lindquist, and we got a lot of work done! We visited so many people, had two baptisms, and had so much fun doing it. Martinez is super funny and entertaining, and I'm going to really miss him. He's headed down to do work in San Luis until he gets his visa. What's sad though is that yesterday we went to Buffalo Wild Wings and he did the blazin challenge and totally didn't make it! We had to tease him saying that since he's a Mexican he should be able to do it in under 30 seconds but asi pasa la vida...

We also had an awesome experience this last Sunday! This lady came to church who I've never seen before (I think it's some member's mom) and she loved all the classes and everything about church. I talked to her and got her address, and we visited her after church. We basically taught all of the first lesson and she couldn't stop talking about how much she loved church. She said it filled her in a way that no church ever had before. We talked about the fruits of the spirit, and it's so cool to teach people that can already recognize the spirit! They know that it's right and they know what they need to do. When we asked her to be baptized she answered with a solid yes and said that she was ready to make a step like this. All I have to say is .... the field is white!!!!

We also found a sweet new family to teach before I left. We were visiting Cesar Barraza (who still isn't baptized but said he would soon) and his sister-in-law was there with her family. I taught them about the Restoration, and the mom absolutely loved it! She really wanted us to come teach their family so we went over just a couple days ago and found her with her mom, brother, and nephew, and talked to all of them about it. They were all so open and receptive, and I could tell that the Lord had really prepared them to hear this and to accept His gospel. We really are only the tools, and are only here to harvest. The Lord has already done all the work and has prepared people all over... we just need to find them!

So I'm excited to see how things are here in Mesa and see the difference! Should be fun!