Week # 37 It's just like trick or treating!!!

Hey hi hello my amazing and beautiful family!!!! I love you all so

very very much!! I thought about how we were all doing the same thing

this weekend, how fun, we were all sitting there watching general

conference! Even though ours is at 5:00, it's still crazy that in

another part of the world, my fam is doing the same thing! Heart! Haha

but what a powerful set of meetings those were, wow!! I think

conference meant a lot to me while at home, but it is WAY more

valuable to me now! It is seriously like Christmas, like feasting,

literally. And I love it! My favourite talk was probably Elder

Bassett's talk, about how we need to quit comparing ourselves to

others and recognise where our true value lies. How does God see me or

you? I love that as we repent and strive each day to become better, we

can truly receive all that the Father hath. Also, I loved the talk

that mentioned how we will be overwhelmed with the beauty and majesty

of the kingdom we will inherit one day, but even more so, we will be

overwhelmed with the grace and mercy and love God extends towards us.

I know He loves us. He wants us to by happy eternally.

But in other news, YES I AM IN MAN SOUTH!!! Literally the central hub

of the mission, and it's insane!!! I love it here though! I will

definitely miss YSA, but it's good to miss your past areas, it means

you did something right (hopefully) haha In the sense that I loved it

;) and I will miss sister Ho, and speaking mandarin all the time,

buuuut sister stapel is bomb, so we are totally fine!! Haha I actually

got to go on exchange with her a few weeks ago, and it was so fun, and

the same is true for this past week.

It is so good to be back in a family ward, yay for tea appointments!!!

Haha and yay for tracting!! Woohoo yay!! Seriously though, the field

is soooo White and ready to harvest here, it's i tense. I know that

the Lord prepared me and helped me learn a lot from the fast pace of

YSA to implement here in man south, it's super exciting! There are 5

companion ships in our district, aka 10 missionaries in one

ward!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaa. Haha not counting President Ulrich and Sister

Ulrich (who are also in our ward)!!!!! Haha needless to say our

coordination meetings take some time... But the ward mission leader is

on point! He remembered me from all the way back in July when o came

on exchange here! Crazy! It's cuz he lived in Westland, and we totally

made a connection, plus he says I have an easy name to remember

compared to all the other crazy ones here... Which is true haha so

it's exciting times!!

Sister Stapel is gorgeous, and just finished her first 6 weeks, so

back into training mode, woooooo!!!! Haha literally the best kind of

mode, I love it so much! The excite,met and enthusiasm is up and we

are smashing it! Plus we get to run in the morning, so thank

goodness.... Yeah... Haha I am still the STL, and I am relieved from a

lot of stress that came from being in YSA with so much going on plus

that responsibility. Now I get to really focus on what I need to do!

So great!

It gets so dark so early now, and while we were tracting two nights

ago, I just go, "hey don't worry sister stapel, we will just knock the

houses with lights on.... ITS JUST LIKE TRICK OR TREATING!!!  Only

kinda backwards!! Haha"

Another funny but sad thing was the sisters in the stake all came here

to watch the women's session, and we are some great food before,

including some really good Costco pizza and cakes. So naturally I am

over at the sweets table, and of course I have too much in my hands,

including a drink of pop... So I'm grabbing a brownie (again, no

surprise), and then.. Yep. Spill my pop all over someone's yummy

looking sponge cake..... NOOOOOOO no.noooo. Haha ah man, why do those

things always happen? It's like a really annoying dream or a really

funny comedy. Entertaining to watch, but when it's you, you just want

to... Not be there. Haha yes. Life is good. I love it here! We are

just having lots of fun and working hard.

One miracle happened though on Wednesday night. We were trying to

catch a bus to the church and got on one that we thought went there,

but it took a turn we did not think it would. We end up way on the

other end of town in the bus station (I don't know this area at all,

and I was talking to a man about the BOM, so oops) but we are like..

Ok change of plans, nice! Let's just get the bus that will get us home

as its getting late. But it's fine, we can definitely get back by

nine. No problem. Waiting, waiting... Waiting.. No number 19, even

when it says it should get there. We ask a lady by us, and she tells

us, oh yeah that one never comes! Whatttt?!!! How do we get home, the

next one isn't until 9:45!! Ok... But then this same sweet lady goes,

but if you take the 18, you can get to the tesco too! Really?!! Oh

please yes please! So we jump on with her, it's quarter to nine at

this point. We ride along, both of us talking to this lady saying

yeah, we have no idea where we are, can you help us get to the tesco?

And she is soooo so so good, she was an angel and told us where to get

off <3 bless her, and we get off at 8:59, right outside our flat. Wow.

What a tender mercy!!! I truly do know that God is directing us here.

He has placed elect people in our path his whole week, and I know He

loves them as much as He loves me.

It was hard to say bye to my sweet and beautiful sister Ho. We have

become best of friends, sisters, but I know that that friendship will

last forever. I know that these people I m meeting and serving

alongside are my friends and treasured sisters and brothers. I knew

them before, and love them here as well. Change is hard, but change is

SO good. I am happy and excited :)))))

I love you all so stinking much!!!

Happy Birthday MOM!!! You are finally 50, the age you have waited so

long to be!!!!! Yayayyyy!! I love you!!!

With that, tah rah!!

Sister Carter Xoxo

Week #36 Fall is here, hear the yell!!

Literally every email I send now will have how excited I am about fall
written in it, I'll just apologise in advance haha BUT I am not ready
for the cold... Oh no oh no..
This week has been seriously seriously insane.
Sister Ho and I gave a train at zone meeting, it actually went
surprisingly well. We taught about how to prepare for lessons and keep
them under 45 minutes. I loved it because we taught about time
management and how successful teaching comes from successful planning.
Both are seriously my favourite things, yessss, so I was just a bit
excited up there haha but it's so true. It goes for anything in life
though. If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear. In any case. Apply it
friends! And cute sister Ho is so good, she added so much to the
inspired guidance and teaching we were able to give, love her!
Then right after zone meeting, I got to go on exchange with a brand
new missionary, no pressure! Haha I had forgotten what it was like to
serve with someone so new, it was good fun! And it really made me
realise how fast time has gone... So crazy! I say I feel like I just
got here, but really... It has been a while. And we found out at we
are very similar, her desires for being out and her taste in music,
etc. But the best thing was the first day of freshers, like real deal
freshers, aka street displays on Oxford road with 2 districts of
missionaries and tours of the YSA buildings all dayyyy! Yay! It was
quite unorganised though the first few days, but got better each day,
no worries.
So that was good, and then yep, all week street displays.
And then I can't remember anything else that happened until we had our
first tea appointment I've had in YSA hahahaha no but seriously, the
poor ward members, they will come and eat with us, but this was the
first time they fed us, at their home- bless Megan! Haha it was really
good :)
And then we taught the lesson in relief society, and it was a success
except we only had like 20 min to teach a lesson that could have
lasted at least 40 haha but there are so many people in our ward now,
which is seriously so exciting!
But I have an exciting thing to say! Last pday we went to LYME PARK
#prideandprejudice #yay!!!! It was so fun, and we got to dress up in
the clothes from the eduardian period, so great! But sorry I couldn't
find my camera this morning, so I will send you the pictures next week
:) Peak District is beautiful :))
We went to the northern quarter of Manchester today with Ruth, just my
favourite person, and we ate at this very quite and hipster cafe
called home sweet home <3 yes. It's been a great day :) and we have
lots of new friends!! The displays have been a success, lets goooo!!!
Love you all my lovelies!
Xx
Sister Carter

Email #33 All is well

Thank you so much for your lovely emails. I am so grateful for the temple. I got to go this morning, and it made getting this news a whole lot easier for me. I hope that the family is doing well. Please give Grandma an extra hug for me. I know that now I have another angel to watch over me. To watch over us all. And what comfort and peace comes from those special and eternal covenants made in the temple. It will be a glorious day when we see Grandpa Austin again. What an amazing example he has set to us all.

Not very much has happened this week, in answer to your question Dad, yes, as an STL we get to go to Mission leadership council with all of the zone leaders, but unlike zone leaders, we have stewardship over all of the sisters in the zone, alone... only one stl per zone! But it's really fun times. And in Manchester especially- we have the most sisters, which means exchanges every week! What what!! haha This week I got to go to stockport, which I love! With sweet Sister Larson. Sis. Walker, ya did well- she is doing amazing! And we found like 7 new investigators for them- a miracle that ive never seen before! Her faith is so incredible! I love this calling though, i just get to turn outwards all of the time, and there is so much comfort in that!

We are kinda pushing to the finish of summer right now. It's so quiet around here, the students are either not here or super busy writing dissertations. But it's just the quiet before the storm. In like 2 weeks fresher's week begins... Basically everyone comes back! and it's going to be madness! I'm very excited.

We had an amazing experience with one of my favorite members, Ruth. She is seriously the bees knees, i love her! We had a lesson with her on Wednesday where we taught her about faith. We asked her to bare her testimony about faith, and as she did, the spirit was so strong. We asked her who she knew that could benefit from hearing that testimony. Immediately she said her friend Ruby! It was crazy because she told us how whenever missionaries have asked for referrals before, Ruby's name will usually come to mind, but this time she hadn't been thinking about it at all, but the spirit just told her Ruby! So come Thursday after institute, I was chatting with her and she goes,"oh my goodness! I talked to ruby! and she is coming to church next sunday when she gets back from scottland!!" It was such an amazing moment, and I am so proud of her. She is the BEST! and I can't wait to meet Ruby! This work is so true. 

I know that life can kinda stink sometimes, and all, but I know that Heavenly Father is SO aware of us every single day every single minute. I was so inspired and received so much peace and answers while at the temple today. Not only that, but right before I went into the session, I bumped into my good friend Emma Pierce, from Wrexham! it was so sweet to see her again, and we hugged and chatted for a bit. Love her! and then as we got in the car to head back, this car pulls up next to us. I recognize someone getting out from Chester ward, and then all of a sudden someone goes, I KNOW YOU! and there is Nic Fisher- and she gives me a big old hug! I could not help but cry tears of immense joy, She was such a comfort to me in wrexham, and it was a witness to me of just how aware God truly is of me. She just hugged me and told me how things are back there, gave me her email and told me to let her know whenever I need anything. I am just so grateful for every miracle! there are too many to even count, but they are so real. 

I love you family. I know that we can be together forever. I know that there is reasoning behind the timing of things in our lives. You are where you are meant to be right now. I know that we will all see Grandpa Austin again one day, along with all of our loving family. You are all in my prayers every day. 

Love you all

Sister Carter

ps someone left these bouquets behind, we didn't steal them

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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