...

Okay, I gotta make this letter a little shorter. We have lots to get done today.

So, this week, we had a few finds, and some cooler things happened, but I'll get to the investigators first:

Sister P: Daughter of a less active family in the ward. She recently completed 9 years, and so, we're going to teach her and try to get her baptized. The family didn't come to church this week, so we're going to have to postpone her baptizmal date. She knows everything though. That's the cool part.

Brother JL and Sister S: Two people we got as a reference from someone (no idea how we got it really.) They are Christians, and, because of that, they have problems with interpretations of the Bible. Like, everyone here that's a member of a Christian Church has some really messed up ideas from interpreting the Bible wrong. However, he did tell us that he couldn't ask anyone but God if what we were saying was true. He seems like a really nice guy, and we'll be seeing him on Tuesday.

Brother J: He's a guy we met when we went to look for a reference. Good story about that: We looked for the reference, found a house that had roughly the same number, and contacted the person that came out. However, they didn't want anyting, and we asked them for a reference. They gave us their two neighbors, and we knocked on the neighbor. We found Jose's brother, and then put an appointment. We found José afterward, and he seems really cool. He felt the spirit at least and recognized it, and said he was willing to read the Book of MOrmon. We'll see how our appointment goes this week.

OKay, now fun stuff:

1.) Elder E and Elder T were robbed this week on an interchange! They took everything. Cell Phone, backpacks, Mission Manuals, everything. Elder T lost everything, even his nametag! The scariest part was, they were robbed just 3 blocks from where we walked by, around 20 minutes later. Like, at 8:40 they were robbed, and we walked by, around 3 blocks away, at 9. It was nuts. Needless to say, it scared me so bad that I took the covers of my scriptures off so I don't lose them, and I'm leaving my very studied and carefully marked triple in the house and taking a copy of the BoM with me, marked with the scriptures I need.

2.) I hit my head really hard this week! I wanted to take a picture but it didn't turn out. I was walking next to a toll booth or something and it was like, 8:45 at night. I didn't see the wood that was attached to the top to provide shade and I was walking fast because we were a little far away from the house, and WHAM! I hit my head hard. It hurt so bad that I almost started crying. I wanted to get ticked off, because everyone gets ticked off when they hit their head, but then I just kinda brushed it off and realized it was just a dumb mistake. It hurt. Left a good line of blood on my head, and I had to put shampoo AROUND it for the next 2 days because it hurt so bad to feel it in the wound.

3.) RICE CHEX PACKAGE! I finally got it from Grandma Wardle and Aunt Kari! HOLY COW I LOVE RICE CHEX. I MISS IT. IT TASTES SO GOOD. However, with the recent changes in the package policy about how you can't send ANYTHING that is ingestible, I guess this is my last time eating it. I'll try to savor it. I sent a lot of pictures because I love rice chex.

4.) STINKIN COMPANION. I love this guy. I'm going to miss him so much when I leave. We're pretty similar. I mean, he's got weaknesses and things that bug me, but I know I bug him too, so we're even, and I just be patient. It's cool.

Okay, this is about all. I'm about ready to leave this area, so I gotta push to leave it good for the next elder that comes in. Lets hope we find.

See you later family!

Elder Carter

I became Elder Sant

Yeah, you read it right. I'll explain here in a bit. First, I've got to talk about investigators AND, (that's right, there's more) I think I'm going to start talking about less actives too, so that way you understand a little more about what I'm going through.

I - Sister G: She's just not progressing too much. The problem is that she has NO TIME TO DO ANYTHING. It's a rough ordeal, but we're going to see if we can't just teach her a bunch about the church and see if she will understand that she has to sacrifice to get to church for just an hour, and then we'll be good. She's super cool though.

LA - Brother J C: He's a cool kid of 19 years. We found him a while ago, and we reactivated him almost immediately. He was going to church, but then for some reason, he stopped. He invited his whole block to talk to us and even his girlfriend, so he's awesome. We're just working on his attendance now, and then we'll be set with him. Super cool kid.

LA - Sister A: She's a great little old lady that just loves when we come over. However, she does have a problem with Smoking, so we're going to be working with her on that. If she progresses, we'll be sitting pretty. We have plans with her to help her quit, so we're going to be working on that.

Those are the main people of interest right now.

Okay, now, for this week's adventures:

1.) First, I want to talk about something absolutely hilarious that happened a few days ago. Brother M, our new convert, was reading the Book of Mormon, and he told us he had questions. However, when we asked him, he said he could only remember that it was in 2 Nephi. He told us it was somewhere in the middle, but he couldn't remember what chapter. So, I, being full of faith, said:

"Are you guys ready? I'm going to flip through 2 Nephi and open up the chapter you read. Got it?"

Everyone laughed, including me, but nonetheless, I had faith. So, I separated 2 Nephi from the rest of the Book of Mormon and slowly started to flip the pages and I stopped in the middle.

It landed in 2 Nephi 19. I started reading out loud, trying to see if he recognized it. In that chapter it talks about "Unto us a child is born" and so I asked him, did the chapter talk about a child?

He told me that yes, and so I read the verse, and he said:

"THAT'S THE CHAPTER!"

Miracle. Just a gosh-darned miracle. Super awesome. We taught about Isaiah and how he could understand it more.

Speaking of which, Dad, you need to get a copy of the Book of Mormon in Spanish, and then, when the family reads in 2 Nephi, read the footnotes of the Spanish version to them in English. It explains A LOT more than in English. Hebrew words, when metaphors start, what the context is, and what certain words have to do with what he says. It's crazy.

2.) I WAS SO SICK. This is why I say I became Elder Sant.

You remember about a month or two ago how Elder Sant got really sick and went to the hospital? It was exactly the same with me.

I got sick on Tuesday. I felt bad and I just felt so bad I couldn't leave the house, and not only that, but I had some unstoppable urges to use the bathroom if you know what I mean. So then, I stayed home and recovered as far as I knew. I woke up on Thursday and started working again.

By afternoon, I felt a little worse, but I thought I could just tough my way through it.

By evening, I was ready to die.

We were in Ward Council that evening when I realized that this was much worse than just a stomach ache. It hurt SO bad, and I couldn't even get myself to want to move. I was having cold shivers, and above really anything else, I was super weak. So we went to the doctor, and it turns out that I had a STOMACH INFECTION! Woo! Those are fun.

So, he gave me some pills, some advice, AND SHOTS. I hate shots. More than anything in the whole world almost. I hate them. Spiders and needles just scare the crud out of me. The worst part is, THE DOCTOR CAN'T GIVE THEM! So basically, Elder C has had to stab me with needles for the past 4 days. Today will be the last time I have to get a shot, but you'll never guess where I've had to get them.... Looking at the picture, you can take a guess.

The first time he injected me, he was really nervous, and so when he went to inject me, he was trembling so much that he stuck the needle in too quickly. So quickly, in fact, that it felt like he stabbed it into me. Not joking. It hurt SO bad. I was sore all night, and all the next day too. It was horrible. He got better after that though, so the next couple of times weren't that bad. But gosh darnit. I. Hate. Shots. Hate them. With my whole being.

3.) I've started hating my diet. The thing is, I have to eat stuff that's really quick and easy to eat, because I want to get in bed on time to have energy for the next morning, so every day I eat the same thing: Cold cereal in the morning, and hot dogs at night. I'm sick of hot dogs. Any suggestions of quick, simple, good tasting meals or things to eat?

4.) I'm starting to play the piano a ton now, and I might even play in sacrament meeting. Is there some way I could get a piano that can roll up and be compact? That way, I could practice in the house when I have nothing to do. Are they too expensive, or could someone send me one? I'd help me a ton with practicing the sacramental hymns that are just nightmares to play.

Okay, well, this week as been basically normal, but with those awesome things happening. Stinkin sickness is hard. But whatever.

If anyone has questions about my sickness or whatever, feel free to ask me. I'll answer them.

Pictures: The picture that has me with my finger on fire was my attempt at being a FireBender from Avatar. Pretty legitimate-looking right?

I don't know if I sent the picture of Peter with the Book of Mormon or not, so I'm sending it again just in case.

The picture of Elder C with the syringe and me with my face in my pillow, clenching my teeth so that I didn't scream. I hate shots.

Okay, have a good week everyone. Thanks for your help and support. Don't forget to pray.

Elder Carter

Week 89? (dunno what number I'm on. Lost track after 55 or something)

Well, my dear friends, this week was quite the experience. We found a new investigator that is very interesting.

Sister G - A young single adult that has been investigating the church for 2 years now. She has been to church a bunch, loves it, and the missionaries have never found her. We showed up at her door once and found her brother, who then told us we could find her on Sunday. So, we showed up, but they weren't there. A couple weeks later, we tried again, and BOOM! We found her. She's awesome. Understands everything, and really tries to put it into practice. Just a couple problems that we're working through right now, and then I'm sure she'll get INTO DA WAWDAH.

Outside of that, we have a couple prospects in mind, but we're going to just wait until they actually convert into investigators.

This week was kinda normal. Not really much happened.

1.) Brother M, our convert, really likes Kingdom Hearts (it's a game made by Disney and Square Enix. Pretty dang awesome.) and he told me around a week ago about how much he likes it, and wouldn't you know it, I love that game too! So, we talked a bit about how awesome it was, and he gifted me this poster! It's the cover of the first game in the series that came out. I'm so stoked that he gave it to me. It's on my door now and I will be putting it up in all the houses I go to now. >:D

2.) We had a bit of... well, I guess you could say problems, but I'd prefer to say misunderstandings with the bishop this week. Basically, I think it's just been going super tough for him, and so he's been a little more irritable than normal. However, I'm sure with just a few kind words, apologies for what we may have done wrong, and a bit of maybe schmoozing, we'll get his full and complete support again.

3.) I'm in a constant battle with ingrown toenails. I cut it flat, so that it can't grow bad, and then, in a few weeks, it comes back, and it hurts me again. Then I cut it again, and it comes back. There's no way to cure it either, as far as I know. The only thing I can say right now is taht I'm NOT going to the doctoras. They cut Elder C's toenail, and it turned out even WORSE than when he went. Needless to say, I'm going to just stay in this battle.

4.) I have gotten into a habit of trying to listen to the talk by Jörg Klebingat from the last General Conference. Just listen to that talk again, and you'll notice something:

He talks about the secrets of life.

But just hear me out here.

He talks about how we can approach the throne of God with real confidence. Now, you may be thinking that that's a nice sentiment, but WHO can really do that right now?

The General Authorities can.

He describes, in this talk, the secret of the General Authorities. How it is that they are so happy all the time, and how they arrived to be where they are now. That's the secret. Everyone says that the prophet is super happy all the time, but that talk is why. They take responsibility for their own spiritual well being, they take responsibility for their own physical well being, they embrace full, whole hearted obedience as part of their lives, they are really really good at repenting, they are really really good at forgiving, and they accept the trials and tests as part of their mortal experience.

If you guys want to be like the prophet, super happy, then do what he says here. It's by far the best talk I've ever read in my life.

5.) Elder D L T is by far one of my favorite companions. It's just like it was back with Elder P. Just working and loving life, and just talking about hilarious stuff all the time. Love this guy.

6.) Does anyone have any good variations of hymns? I can't listen to any music outside of hymns, so if anyone can find me some awesome hymns with good variations or something, that'd be awesome.

That does it for this week folks. Here's the picture of me and my poster.

Have a good week everyone!

Elder Carter

Food

Hmm... I´m still not finding very well. We have a few people that have dates, but it´s not really sure if they will be able to continue. We´ve got to get this finding thing DOWN. Maybe I´m just not talking with enough people. Who knows?

Anyway, we´re basically trying to get contacts and stuff, but the problem is that no one accepts us into their house. We aren't exactly sure why. But we´re trying different things. Maybe if we just try talking about other stuff we´ll get them in.

To explain a little about this week:

1.) Brother M, our most recent convert, plays a really cool game called Kingdom Hearts. One of my most favorite games of all time. I have to say, it´s kinda hard to talk with him without getting nostalgic. He´s so cool though! Mark is definitely going to be a priority when I return after the mission.

2.) The pump in the baptismal font broke! So now, we can´t empty it unless it´s by hand! So, last PDay that´s what we did. We emptied the font! Super fun. It took around 30 minutes to do it, and we had to empty them into the sinks in the bathroom. We had like, 3 buckets and we just dunked them in and handed them up to the sinks. Pretty funny.

3.) WE SAW GOATS. I took pictures of them because they´re goats. I don´t know how to goat very well, but these guys are professional goats. Pretty awesome.

4.) Elder C and Elder E were basically mechanics for two nights working on a speaker. It was hilarious how they were putting the cables on the charging unit to see how it worked. They made it actually charge for a bit, but it was fried after several attempts.

This week passed by kinda quick, but more than anything, it was just a harder week because of the fact that many of the references we received fell through. It was kinda sad to be honest. Not only that, but we found, but then lost because people didn´t want anything after a few days.

However, my converts are still going to church and active! Brother M told us he wants to get sealed, and that I have to be there or he won´t do it. I´m so happy for him. Also, Familia G (the father and two sons who got baptized a while ago) are still going to church, and the youngest son is going to seminary in the morning. It´s awesome.

So, all is well I guess you could say. I am practicing the piano every P Day because I´m now the pianist in the ward. Elder S played before, but now I have to fill his spot, and I am trying to learn how to read music really well, or at least get to the point where I could stumble through it.

I think we´ve been working a lot on obedience and on trying to just focus better. We´re finding a little more now that we´re focusing on our job here. I guess more than really anything else we´re learning how to just go nuts and contact a bunch.

We´ll see how this week goes. I have a feeling we´ll do much better.

Thanks for the support. Don´t forget to read the Book of Mormon this week. It´s a life saver.

BAI!

Elder Carter

 

 

 

Hard Week

This week was a really tough week. No new investigators that let us go further than 1 or 2 lessons, and a lot of appointments that fell though. No investigators, and therefore none in church.

However, there are some cool things that happened, and I will explain them the best I can and with utmost honesty. As they say here in Tijuana almost ALL THE TIME: PA' QUE LES VOY A ECHAR MENTIRAS" (why would I lie to you guys? It's something they say when they jsut don't want to listen to us and then they start throwing a bunch of stupid excuses such as: I REALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHEN I'M EVER HOME IT'S A GOSH DARNED MIRACLE THAT I YOU GUYS FOUND ME HERE IN MY HOUSE WHERE I LIVE.)

Okay, so, here we go:

1.) I had my first experience of completely and totally forgetting a word in English! I was talking with a family about English because I was helping their son with his English homework (JUST GRADING IT, THANK YOU), and then I started talking about how I hate the kitchen in Spanish because I never know how to call the cupboards, because there are like 3 words that all work and I don't know which one is most correct or natural. Anyway, so I started to say I hated it, and they asked me what that word was in English, and I said cabinet and it felt terrible.

I was like, that word is NOT the word I used in my house. What did I say?

I thought and thought and thought and I just couldn't think about the word. I had forgotten the word CUPBOARD. I had no idea what the word was, and I ended up asking Elder S, who then told me it was cupboard. There we go. More words will be forgotten soon. Please forgive my terrible English.

2.) WE SAW A DOG GET HIT BY A CAR! It was the worst experience ever! I was so sad! We were just talking a little bit about how the mission was because we were really discouraged and we sat down and talked for a bit, and we just hear this loud THUNK. And then we look down the road and see this dog rolling super quickly underneath this car, and we hear the car hitting it more and it just keeps rolling. Holy crud it was HORRIBLE. The dog flipped out from under the car, thankfully still in one piece and skidded around 5 more feet until it stopped and went into convulsions, and then after that it tried to stand.

This was the saddest part of the whole thing. It couldn't stand up. His back legs had both been broken. The dog tried to get out of the way of other cars, but luckily the other car just kinda went around it. The dog struggled through the pain and managed to stand up and kind of drag itself to the side of the road where it collapsed and started whining. There was a really nice guy that showed up and picked him up and took him home. It was the saddest experience of my life almost. Just SO STINKING SAD! Poor guy.

3.) There was an Elder that recently got back from his mission in the stake. In fact, he recently got back from the EL SALVADOR SAN SALVADOR MISSION. It was nuts! His name is Elder T. I had already sent an email to Tom to see if he had talked to him, and he said that he had seen him around, but not actually talked to him. So, I stopped this guy on Sunday because he came to the ward, and I talked to him really briefly. He told me that he had met and talked to an Elder Sant, and that he was just crazy. He also told me that he had good Spanish (probably not better than mine, but who knows?). I really didn't get much time to talk with him, but it was cool to talk to someone who just 3 weeks ago was with Elder Sant in the mission! Pretty boss.

4.) Elder S leaves our house! He's so awesome! I'm going to miss that guy. However, I will be living with him when I get back, and I know I'll see him after at least. Took my last picture with him. Great guy.

Pretty much everything else is just kinda normal. Knocking on doors, talking to people, getting rejected, and talking with Elder E and Elder S and Elder De La T. However, I will talk a little about what happened at the end of this week.

So, I just kinda hit a low point a few days ago where I just felt as though I was just wasting my time, and the Lord's time. I mean, when I went with one of the Zone Leaders, we seemed to accomplish a lot, and when he left, I just didn't know how to do what he showed me. It was jsut weird.

Anyway, I got really discouraged, because everything that the Zone Leader and I had set up fell through, and it's been really tough on me.

I mean, I've had a lot of success in this area in terms of self progress and outward physical success like baptisms, but I've also had a lot of rejection in this area.

Sure, I get rejected a lot,and sure, it's expected, but I've just gotten super discouraged because of how many times it's been happening.

It got to a point where I called the Zone Leaders and started talking with them, and they told me a few things that I needed.

You see, many times, they just tell us FIND MORE. Or like, GET MORE PEOPLE TO HELP YOU IN LESSONS, and then I just get frustrated because they don't actually tell me how I'm supposed to do it. However, this time, i forced them to help me out. They told me things that were specific and helpful, and after finding all of that out, I finally got the confidence to start just going crazy again. I think I'm going to be able to do a lot better this next transfer.

So, that's my schpeel for this week. Really long. I'm such a sinner for being here 5 minutes over the hour. But you guys need this stuff right?

I realized that I have forgotten my PMG quotes, but I'm too lazy to put them because it requires a lot of work. I'm just going to nix it. Sorry. I know, everyone was always looking forward to it I'm sure.

Okay, um.... well, I hope everyone has a good week. We've got a lot of work ahead of us, but we're gonna get it done!

See you all later. Thanks for the prayers and other types of support. Love you all.

Elder Carter

GC! Wewt!

We're sitting on null with investigators right now. It's tough. But, here's a couple of awesome pictures to make up for that.

Okay, well, to be honest, I was expecting very little from the General Conference because I honestly thought I was going to just lose some time in proselitismo (I'm sorry, I don't know how to say that word in English.). So I basically just kinda got there and hoped for the best.

But man, I did NOT expect what I got. It was just awesome! Everything just kinda turned into pure Spiritual refreshment. I expected like, maybe a couple good talks, but there were a ton that were awesome! I especially enjoyed the talk by the new Seventy, Jorg Keblingbat or something. Dang, that guy planches like it's nobody's business la verdad.

This week wasn't really like, super great, but it wasn't terrible. I've been slipping up a bit in being diligent, and so I guess maybe I'll just kick it up a notch this week.

The pictures I'm sending are of me in the stake center overlooking Tijuana, one of me and the Zone Leaders when we went on exchanges, and one of me and the past 15 months of my life.... In 10 little books. Crazy right? When I get home, to all of you, it's going to be like they just magically appeared. Super crazy.

So, to talk a little about the exchanges:

One thing that has really been frustrating me a bunch is the fact that I'm just NOT getting the guidance I'm looking for from my leaders. They keep telling me stuff that I already know. Like,

"If you don't find anyone new to teach, you aren't going to baptize in 5 weeks."

No way. I won't baptize if I don't FIND? WOAH. 

Like, sure, I understand, that they are trying their best, and I repect that they are their leaders, but here's the thing:

I just don't know how to find that well.

So, because of that, I just don't have any way to get those baptisms. I mean, I really do know how to get them to church, I know how to committ them well enough, and I can answer any doubt they have with the scriptures, but gosh darnit, I just don't know how to find.

I want them to SHOW me HOW to find, not just read a few quotes in Preach My Gospel and call it good, you know?

So, I called up the Zone Leaders and we went on interchanges.

The Elder I was with was helping me out a bunch with what was going on in my sector. We had about 3 or 4 chances to find that fell through, but he showed me how I could still get news from anyone. Like, I know now how to find it. You just gotta go all out to get people in places to talk to them. Even if they say no, it's just because they don't know that you have what they need, but you do. Therefore, you can plan like a party or something at a member's house and then show up there on "accident" and teach them and get a new, WITH a member there to support them.

Basically, he finally did what I've been needing for the past few weeks, and this week, I'm going to go HARDCORE find mode. Talking with everyone, and just setting up a bunch of ways to find.

We also gave service to a couple of members and I loved it. We moved furniture and had to move some wood. Did I ever tell anyone how much I really miss helping people move? I feel like I am actually helping and stuff. It makes me feel super happy. When I get back, can we find people that are moving and help them?

Okay, so anyway, that was pretty fun. I also heard that we are very unprivleged here in Tijuana because we are the only Northern Mexico Mission that doesn't have iPads (yes, they started giving them out). But whatever, I came here to suffer, not on vacation.

I gotta get going, but I love you all and thank you for your support.

See you next week!

Elder Carter

Tijuana Mexico Temple Status

Current status of Tijuana Mexico Temple.