Week #31 Ni hui xi li ma (translation: Do you wanna get baptised?!!!)

Embracing culture, word.
I'm grateful to have lived through another week. Thanks elder Nilsson
for the advice, I can sleep when I'm dead. Your right. But man, can
you get any tireder than this?? Haha it's funny though how on mission
you actually learn to love being tired. It means that (in most cases
at least) your working hard, doing what your supposed to. Yay! Hah!
Any ways, I want you to not get super bored while reading this, or to
not just see it and be like.. Nah that email is way too long, not
today!
I'll say some highlights. So being an STL is super fun, and I feel so
good having so much more purpose! Serving is the cure, to anything! I
love the Mormon message, lift, where the man says something like," to
cure the body you have to turn inward, but to heal the soul you have
to turn outward." It's so true! And I have felt true healing to my
soul as I have had so many opportunities to serve this week :))

MLC or mission leadership council was on Thursday, and it was amazing.
We got to really discuss our vision and hopes for our mission this
transfer. I felt super inspired and uplifted, ready to go hard for the
rest of the transfer! We talked about uprooting our old foundation
from before, and to re lay a new one. As I pondered upon that this
week, I have been thinking about my own foundation. What is it based
upon? Or what do I wish for it to be built on? I decided that it MUST
be upon Jesus Christ and His atonement. I know that that sounds so
obvious, like of course, we all know that. But do we? Did I really
know that? What does that mean? and is that my foundation?? Think
about it for a minute. It was definitely a turning point for me to
really realise how much I need to re lay my foundation. As I am able
to make this the centre of my life, my focus, my will, my teaching,
all will balance out. I also felt a serious need for myself to re
learn prayer. I got quite good at it while training, but I am
realising that I have slacked. Not ok! I feel soooo much potential
lies in this mission, in this area, and I have power to harness that
and make things happen! Get that ball rolling. That comes through the
power of prayer and diligence. This desire to do so comes from this
focus on Christ and His Sacrifice. I am excited and ready to dig up my
old slash non existent foundation, and re lay, based on Christ.

On Thursday after Mlc, we went out finding, and found Cindy, a very
sweet Chinese
student. We gave her a chapel tour right then, and invited her to be
baptised. She said she would be, but she also expressed that she
leaves for China next Monday. We decided that we better teach her
quick then. On Friday we taught her the first lesson, and she came to
sports night after and loved it. On Saturday we taught a powerful plan
of salvation lesson, and she came early before church yesterday to
learn the gospel of Jesus Christ and the law of chastity. She is
amazing, and kept all the commitments we gave her. She expressed also
that she had received answers to her prayers. As she closed that
lesson in prayer, she said, "Heavenly Father, I will always believe in
you. Thank you for everything I have learned, I will never forget this
peace I feel." I love cindy. What a miracle she is! After church,
which she really enjoyed, she came to a soup and sandwich event our
bishop was hosting. I was thinking and praying all day yesterday. She
had told us that her parents arrive here at 6am this morning, and that
she will leave for London on Tuesday, and stay there until she and her
family leave for China later in the week. I just have felt she is so
prepared and wanted to just baptise her right then! I expressed my
thoughts to elder watterson, and after speaking to her and bishop, he
told name that if we can finish teaching her, she has the desire, and
we could get president's permission, she could be baptised this
(Monday) afternoon. We all fasted and prayed that this could be, but
kept in mind that it is ultimately the Lord's will. His timing is what
really matters. As we called her this morning, she told us that she
doesn't have enough time, and after talking to president Ulrich, I
realised that yes, we will need to refer her to her branch in China...
However sad hat may be, I am incredibly for this whirlwind of events.
I have learned so much from cindy and from teacher
If her. Much about my desires and aligning them with God's will. And I
am sure I will continue to learn more and more from this experience as
days go by!

Even though this whole week has been a whirlwind, it has been one of
the best weeks in a long time. I love to have added purpose, and to be
so involved again. I have really re gained a lot of confidence and
drive! I feel fantastic :)
So much for keeping it short! Haha
I seriously love you all. I'm not just saying that! Keep going, you
are the best.
Stay classy
Cheers
Love
Sister Carter
P.s. My subject means.... Do you wanna get baptised?!!!

Week #30 Shout out to my fellow STLs!!

!

HIi Fam,

I am seriously exhausted this week, so I am going to keep this short and sweet! haha

I am so excited to say, I am staying in YSA!!! and I am going to be Sister Training Leader of Manchester zone!!!! Yay yay!! Basically things are about to get crazy up in here! 

This week was great! We have some amazing new investigators, and we are still working with Acer- he's the best.

And I got your letters- highlight of my week! for sure :))

I am literally sitting here being like... what what even happened?? I will just say, this week was one of the weirdest dream like weeks yet! 

On Friday we went up to what we call the northern quarter of Manchester, it is probably my favorite place I've been so far, maybe because of its businessy feel, and modern ness, but it's also so clean, and even though it's urban, it has such a nice green feel to it! I can't really describe it, but I just had such good vibes there :) And we had lunch at a burger place called "almost famous", super good, except the "love hate fries" i got... more like just hate fries!! maurmite is quite gross..

We went back to do our service project more, painting at the school in stockport. It was so fun, and we got much more accomplished with less people haha! I love how that happens ;)

I'm going to add a little bit here from my letter to President, make this a bit more spiritual. 

I am so excited to be here in YSA for another transfer!! I know I have said it before, and you already know this, but this area is so blessed! The field is white, very white, and all ready to harvest. We already have another friend, Clark dated for baptism. He is amazing, and has been enthusiastically coming to all of the activities. At church, I was able to introduce him to our recent convert, Tom, who actually spoke at the fireside. They got talking, and became fast friends. Tom has such a strong testimony and desire to share it with others. It was so perfect! I'm so grateful for all of the love and support that comes from the ward.

I have been thinking about and learning a lot about the Holy Ghost this week. I have been reminded of something i learned earlier in my mission, that He is a real person. He is my spirit brother. Not only that, but He knows me, perfectly. He loves me so much, and wants me to be happy. Eternally happy. He also wants these special spirits I am teaching to be happy and enter into covenants- much more than I do. He has born witness to me of the truth of this. 

It can be hard to say bye to good friends- Elder Carling and Sister Chang- they are the best, but I can't even say how much my mission is teaching me about how to love and embrace change. I only get to be here for such a short amount of time, and yet the experiences I get to have vary so much! I love it! 

So today we went to an escape room , where you have to find your way out in under an hour, with clues and different tools. It was so fun! And I tried duck for the first time- bomb! so bomb. 

Thank you for all of the pictures- Faye is so stinking cute! and Logan's wedding looks beautiful!!! Congrats to him!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Week # 29 Round 2

Wow, another week down? This transfer has seriously gone soooo fast!! I can't even believe it's almost over... freaks me out!! 

Thank you all for your great emails- I always feel so uplifted from hearing all your news, testimonies, and encouragement. LOVE YOU ALL!!

So basically life is so good! Anna was baptised on Saturday- YAYY!!!! It was such a special service. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life. Us missionaries got to sing "A Child's Prayer" in chinese as the musical number. Sweet Anna was crying before she even got into the font. She is a such a special spirit. I have no doubt that I was sent here for her. I could just feel God's love for her, and what a powerful thing that is. She bore her testimony, and I don't think there was anyone there who was not in tears. Her humble faithfulness can be felt- almost tangible. She will be a powerful member :) In fact she is already preparing to go to the temple this month!! I am so grateful for her. Also, her jumpsuit was the smallest one that we had and it was still too big!! She is so cute and small!! haha

We had another baptism in the district on Thursday, for Yi Fan,(first baptism for another companionship I've been to!) and he and anna have gotten to be friends the past week. She got him flowers on his baptism , and he returned the favor for hers :)) So sweet!! The work here is booming!

Last night was the missionary fireside, and it was fantastic! Several recent converts spoke, and they were from all over the world, all taught and baptised here- Bangladesh, Congo, China (Tom, one of our RC's), and liverpool... aka another world! haha the spirit was so strong, and it was great to have a chance to see Sis Steele and Schwab again! I love my friends here in the EMM, theyre the BEST!!! heart! But Those meetings are crazy- like 400+ people go, and President Ulrich basically invites them all to be baptised- so great! haha

side note- in the EMM there are missionaries from 49 different countries! crazy! This gospel truly is for everyone everywhere. I love that our converts are also from all over the world. God is in this work.

Something (sorta?) funny- While finding on Tuesday, we were walking behind a man who was in a wheel chair, pushing himself. we asked if we could help him get somewhere, and when we got his approval, began pushing him down oxford road... the only problem was we had NO IDEA where he was going or needed to be. as I pushed i just kept thinking... where is this man supposed to be??? He couldn't really communicate, and I was so worried that he would get lost and ... yeah I was freaking out. but hey, service! He told us to stop pushing him about 2 blocks later, so i pray he is alright!  

anyways, I have learned a lot about faith this week. In my personal study, I was reading Elder Hales talk from October last year, called "meeting the challenges of today's world". In it, he states, "Remember, no one can reach upward on your behalf. Only your faith and prayers will cause you to lift yourself and have the mighty change of heart. Only your resolve to be obedient can change your life. Because of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice for you, the power is in you. You have your agency, you have strong testimonies if you are obedient, and you can follow the Spirit that guides you." I know that the power is inside of me. That faith and obedience are SO key. But it HAS to come from me. Myself. Nobody else can decide for me to be obedient. Nobody else can make me have faith. I am the only one who can pray for myself. As I make that choice, as our investigators decide to do these things, that is when the spirit will guide. That is when we see miracles. That is also when you will see miracles. I have seen the truth of this so many times already. As we recognize and remember the Savior, He can and will lift us.

I know that Heavenly Father is aware of me. He loves me and wants me to be diligent, to have faith that my prayers are heard and answered. Once again, the same goes for all of you. I love the gospel so much. I love my mission!! and I love all of you!!

I hope you all have a brill week!

Cheers,

Sister Carter

Week #28 Just keep the font full!

Ok soooooo I HAD MY FIRST VERY OWN BAPTISM!!! I know that your prayers were key in helping Zoe make it to her special day! I love her so much. Countless prayers and effort have been answered in this event! YAYYY!!! I am so grateful! there's also a story to go along with it! So Satan just really does not want these people to be baptised, so before every baptism there is always a hiccup... THis time it was quite dramatic. There have been men working on the bathroom down in the basement of the building, and they must have emptied the boiler earlier on Thursday, because there was NO warm water.... So poor Zoe was very cold- she basically jumped out of the font! But she told us later that even though she was cold, she couldn't really feel it because of the warmth that filled inside of her :))) She's the best 

And in other news, you have to keep praying, this time for Anna! Her baptism is this Saturday! Wow! haha hence my title! But seriously, all of these incredible people! I can't even believe it! She is helping to fellowship the other investigators in our district she is so good! Love her!

I have been teaching the english class. pro status! Oh my goodness, it is so great! This week, we built a story together! Each person added a word at a time, and it had to be grammatically correct and such, but it was hilarious and made no sense!! haha it was like, "hey can you bring my hand and leg in here?" haha what? good times! I don't think they actually learn anything, but it's fun, so it's all good!

Last pday we went to china town, and celebrated April's birthday with hotpots. But me being less excited to spend the moneys, I just got some eggplant dish, which was yum! but china town! HELLO! haha it was great! And then we went around and saw Manchester Cathedral- wow! just wow.

LIfe has been crazy and good here! the weather the past few days has been perfect! another plus of moving flats has been the balcony, which yes i sit out on ALL the days! Oh man! I just love it!! 

So something funny from this week- it just cracks me up. Ok so is the pokemon game super huge in the US? cuz here literally EVERYONE is on their phones playing pokemon! it's so bad that some people have been getting their phones snatched as they play!! CRAZY!!! but it's fun to mess with the people, all like, hey are you playing pokemon? come try it at our church!! 

We have found some incredible people this week! I just love being able to work hard, but have fun! i love Sis Carroll's advice to me from the beginning- happiness is a choice. decide to be happy each day.

I know that God is hears every prayer. He loves us all! I've been reading in Mosiah lately about the people of Limhi. They were able to escape out of bondage, no doubt because of their immense faith. I know that as we put our trust in the Lord, and then take that step- into the dark- We will see miracles. I have seen it countless times already in my mission. As we walk by faith, and in obedience, He is bound to bless us. Mosiah 21:14-15 - read it!

I love you all!!

Cheers

Sister Carter

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