Hasta Domingo

Hiya Fam,

Just a few things! Happy Birthday Nash!! Holy cow, how is he three already? haha I seriously can't believe it! bless him! also, congratulations to Melissa on getting married!! AAAA!!! So exciting!! Congrats to Ethan for entering the mission field! and Congrats to Chad for being called to the blessed land of Detroit!! YOU WILL LOVE IT!!! aw man! Too crazy!!! I love all this crazy good news, it is blowing my mind!

In news from me here in the Isle of Man, not loads has changed. We are still moving forward and upward, working hard, and IT WAS SO SUNNY AND BEAUTIFUL ALL WEEK!!! #blessings 

One incredible experience was when we got to meet again with our young friend, Sam. We asked him what his expectations were in meeting with us. He said, "you know, I'm not too sure. i feel that i want to really learn more about God, and this will give me more knowledge and guidance in my life. But you know, it was like 2 days before I met you both on the street, i had been thinking to myself, 'is it all real?' and it really feels like this is the answer that i hadn't expected at all."!!!!! We were trying to keep our composure, but were freaking out! Aw man, Sam is so prepared! haha we are excited to keep working with him! 

There was a surprise birthday party for one of the members of the ward that was held at the fun barn this week (only the most happy and exciting places on the island, and also just happens to be the bishop's business, hollahhh!). We got to go, and it was such a fun event! There were so many people there, members and non members, and even some inactives! We were like, WOWOWOW!! This is the jackpot! haha we were so busy talking to eveyone, it was SO fun! Aw i love it! It really gave us a glimpse of where this ward can be, its potential. We both want to make a difference, and i have really felt that it will come through relying wholly upon the Lord, following the spirit, and working with the members. So that is what we have been doing! So far, so good!

I feel I have learned a lot this week. In particular, about repentance and desire. I have wondered if my nature has changed. (I know, selfish thoughts, sorry, but it turns outwards, i promise!) Especially if it had changed for the better. For this is what repentance truly is: changing our nature. I realised that the changes have been dramatic, but have happened over time. I have gone from a place where I had confidence in myself and my own abilities, to confidence in Christ. Confidence that He can make me more than I can of myself. Confidence that through His atonement I can do all things. This is also humility. Humbly accepting that I am weak, and that I must place my will in His hands. Even just a desire to change and repent can cause miracles to take place. I have such strong desire, and have changed from a selfish perspective and self centered desires, to selflessness and desires based on other's eternal progressoin. I have come to realise the joy that comes through repentance, and have desired to help others feel the same. Ah I wish so much that everyone could experience it!! I love my Saviour, Jesus Christ, who is truly also my Redeemer. I know that He not only paid the price for all of my sins, and weaknesses, but He provides the way for me to learn from them, to become SO much more. I love His gospel, and feel so grateful for it as I strive to apply it. I am weak, and so imperfect, but that is ok. This is the reason why He came to this earth. It is because we all are. I can find joy in this every day of my life. As can all these beautiful people around me! Including you all!! Helaman 5:12 has been going through my mind a lot this week. read it, and continue to build your foundation on Christ!

I love you all!!

Sister Carter

Helaman 5:12 And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

May Day

Woohoo!!! It's may!! And literally you can feel it in the air, and
there is nothing better, I promise!
This week has been smashing, and fast. Almost as fast as I anticipate
the TT to be. But we shall see.. anyways! Yes it was fab!
We have had some updates on our investigators. Turns out Jin, the cute
Chinese woman, is Buddhist. We got to teach her with the elders in
Liverpool who speak Chinese. As she left, she wouldn't set a return
appointment, saying she had lots to think about.. I still feel she
felt the spirit as she was reading in the BOM. So we shall see, we
will call her this week. And the lesson with the Zivave family was
good, but if you have any experience with keeping parents and small
children all involved, especially when it is like teaching them all
fresh, please send them our way. There are definitely deeper concerns
there, but we are still working with them. Probably we will teach one
principle at a time. Lots of work to be done in Douglas, woot woot!
Haha ah I love it here!
The senior couple, the Karrens, were gone for the weekend in England,
so when we went to church on Sunday we were like.. what the?!! Where
are our parents?! Bless them! They are so wonderful. They had a great
time exploring over there :)
There are a few times each year that the tide is out far enough in
Douglas that you can walk out to the tower of refuge. It is right in
the middle of the Douglas bay. So it was opened on Friday night! We
were walking along the promenade, and there are loads of people all in
their wellies. At the same time, there is a cycling race for teens
along the prom, so there were just gobs of people!! Haha! A
missionary's dream hah! It helped though to get some conversations
started up, asking "hey, what's going on?! We are from America! And
have no idea" *wink wink* haha no it was good. But it gave us a taste
of what it will be like this summer. Everyone has been telling us the
island is just going to explode with so many people, woohoo! So much
anticipation, I can hardly stand it!

We had a miracle, as we were heading to an appointment, we stopped
this young man, Sam. As we explained a bit about who we are, what we
do, and how we teach about Christ, he started to open up. He told us
about how his mum had had the missionaries around a few years ago. He
mentioned that he has a belief in something, but not sure what yet. We
met with him again on Saturday, and had a super good lesson about the
restoration of the gospel. He told us that he had a prayer answered
when he was younger as well, and felt much like Joseph smith!! He has
a sincere heart, and we are so excited to keep working with him! Youth
are the best!!!
I am seriously so excited it is may! I knew that as soon as this month
came, the weather would change, and literally today the temperature
jumped like 10 degrees!!! Summer is coming, and I am overjoyed! When
was the last time I took off my jacket to go outside?!! I can't even
remember haha ahhhh yayayayayyyy!!! Our good friend, Sister Dobbie,
took us out today to visit some beautiful places on the Isle of Man,
and wooooowwww!!! I will send you some pictures! Most are from a place
they call the chasms, so pretty! I love nature! Hah!
Anyways, it has been a good week, and things are still looking up! Here goes!!
I love you all so much!
Bye for now!
Sister Carter

Sisters Carter and Wamsley

Sent by Sister Lois McAllister

April Showers

Heya fam!
It's been a fab week! Sister Wamsley is amazing :) a little intro to
who her: she is from Saint George Utah, she has been on her mission
for 9months on Thursday, she is the oldest of 5 kids, and she is super
cute and a hard worker!! And I love her loads already:) she is keeping
me young hahaha tough job;)
We have been working hard with our amazing investigators. We have lots
of promise there. One miracle happened last week that we are super
excited about! So the day before transfers (last Monday after emailing
yous) we went and saw a less active family here in Douglas. They
weren't in, and we were like... hmm. And then the phone rings. It is
sister Wamsley calling from her area asking about details for the
ferry and things. Just as we hang up with her, this family drives up!
We chat for a second, and they invited us in. We end up really
connecting with them, and I felt inspired to ask about when they got
baptised. It was back in 2008, so I was like... hmmm surely their son
wasn't 8 back then. So I ask them if he was baptised? They tell us
that he wasn't and hasn't been yet! So we asked if we can teach him
and help him to prepare to be baptised, and they agreed!! Woohoo!!!
Pray for the zivave family!!
That was incredible, and we were able to teach our Chinese
investigator on Wednesday. We followed up with her reading, and in one
week she was already to 1 nephi 15!! Yeah! We were so excited haha to
say the least! She is so cute, and has a family. We both apace high
hopes for them.
This island is so fun. It is getting all prepped for the TT, and all
of the light posts have padding on them now haha loads of more bikes
come each day. We will both definitely be here for the racing. It is
soooo expensive to get on or off the Isle during it all, so yes. Haha
we are stuck ;) but what a good time to be here. The sun is finally
making us presence known. But we still are enjoying the spring
spitting.. I mean rain. Haha they call it the mananin mist.
We started our pday today with a nap... I died! Hahaha I have never
been so tired in my whole life, but I have never been more happy or
enthused. I know that this is exactly where I need to be, I can see
God's hand leading and guiding us. I feel His love for me and all
those around me. I know He loves you all as well. Life is so
wonderful!
I love you all loads, cheerio my lovelies!
Xx Sister Carter

And just like that, another transfer done.

Also Easter!!
Thanks for all of your emails to me! I love reading them all, and
hearing about all the fun goings on :)
So I'll cut to the chase: I will be staying here on the Isle of Man,
and getting a new companion. Her name is Sister Wamsley!! Sister
Cannon is moving to Wigan, and I will miss her a lot. What a fabulous
companion she has been. But here goes another Manx transfer
yayayayyyy!
So a few highlights from the week:

Teaching Luke, our new investigator. We taught him specifically about
the Book of Mormon, and it was a really spiritual lesson. We had our
good friend, Cath, join us. She was sharing with him her testimony,
and mentioned the plan of salvation, or God's plan for us as His
children, and he got really enthused and wanted to learn about it, hey
hey! Haha it was great.

My birthday! Woohoo!! It was uhmazing!! It's pretty funny, but this
was my first birthday that I actually felt really different. 21 feels
like a real adult age... You'll have to take me seriously now! Hah!
But for it, we had weekly planning (party;) haha sister Cannon had
made me English pancakes for breakfast, so kind ;) we had an
appointment with our favourite less active, Sister Preston. She
surprised me with Manx tartan scripture covers and a hedgehog birthday
cake!!! Haha I love her so much, I'll send a picture she took of us XD
the Karen's also did a bit of a celebration surprise for me for tea,
with pulled pork and cake, ahhhh I love them all!! Birthdays are crazy
on mission haha in the midst of it all, we went and called by a lady
we had met on the street in port Erin, she is Chinese. We took her a
Chinese Book of Mormon, and had one of the Chinese missionaries in our
zone chat with her. We got a return appointment to go back and teach
her with missionaries help on Skype! Woohoo!! Blessings :)

Ok, I found a greater and deeper love of Easter on my mission. This
one was a bit more hectic than last years due to the closeness it was
to transfers, but it was still so wonderful. Sister Cannon and I
thought it would be really special to do a musical number during
sacrament meeting, so she played the piano and I sang a song called oh
lord, my redeemer. It was interesting how such a small thing brought
us so much closer to the members. They felt the spirit so strongly,
and thanked us for doing it. I know that the Spirit is key in this
work, and this is just another evidence of that. But I too was reading
in the account in Luke, and had my testimony strengthened if the
humility and love of our Saviour. He truly lived, died, and rose
again. He did this for each one of us. He fulfilled the law of justice
and through Him we may obtain mercy. He broke the Bands of death so
that one day we may live again. I love Easter so much!!

So anyways, yay Ethan!! I have been thinking about how he and I are
now missionaries at the same time, double the blessings hey? :) SO
FUN!! You will love this blessed time of your life.

I'm excited for this upcoming transfers, also freakin' out just a bit.
But it will be good :) here goes!!

Love you all!!
XxSister Carter

Yay Trevor! Yay birthday! Yay Easter!

Hello there wonderful people!!
I seriously feel so blessed to have such an amazing family and
wonderful friends!! Thanks for all of the birthday wishes! ..I can't
even believe it's already here again, whaaat?? Haha nah, it'll be fun
fun, all good!! :)

Trevor got baptised!! Woohoo!! Yay Trevor! Haha I want to tell you all
his story, so you can feel inspired and feel even more motivated to
keep up the good work in sharing the gospel with your friends! Ok, so
Trevor was introduced to the gospel by online friends. He was playing
a video game, and these other players became friends. They invited him
to attend church here in the Isle of Man! So he said, ok, and he did,
and really enjoyed it. He kept coming for a long while but was still
not terribly interested in meeting with the missionaries. About 3 or 4
months later, he went to Michigan to visit his new online friends, and
when he got back, he decided to meet with the missionaries. After
being taught for a while, his girlfriend, Melissa, came to the Isle of
Man... she is from Michigan, and is the one who introduced him to the
gospel. He continued learning, and also got engaged. On the 8th and
9th of April he was baptised and confirmed a member of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Miracles!!
The baptism itself went so smoothly, one of the calmest baptisms I
have experienced. What a huge answer to prayer, and he had a great
support from the ward, yay! Now that we have exhausted our teaching
pool, time to build it back up, yes!!

We got to burn a skirt for sister cannon's year mark, thanks bishop!
And we are eagerly anticipating the upcoming transfer, comes SO
FAST!!! Looking forward to Easter, and my 21st celebration of being
born! Haha if you haven't already seen the video the church put out,
prince of peace, wow you need to! It is phenomenal!

We are working hard, and found several promising new investigators,
which is such a blessing! It is so funny how the people on the island
really know the missionaries. We stop them all anyways ;) and the bus
contacting situation, no worries, haha we are finding ways around it.
I think that woman was an exception, because the other people I spoke
to on the bus this week weren't bothered at all about it, but we are
still being careful!

Good luck this week Ethan!! I am so excited for you, you are about to
begin the most exciting and  craziest adventure of your life! It will
be the best!

I love you all!!!
Xx Sister Carter

#gencon

Hiya my family,
Wasn't conference amazing, aw I loved it so much. It was so incredible
to hear President Monson council us to read in the Book of Mormon
daily. This is something that I have been thinking about a lot lately,
and really feel is so key to really obtain and maintain strong
conversion. Combined with meaningful prayer, particularly asking if
the things we read are true make it a revelatory experience. I love
the Book of Mormon so much!! I loved all of the talks given though,
the spirit was very strong, and I have a renewed resolve to push
forward faithfully, repent, and become all God needs me to be.
We had a pancake breakfast on Saturday for the relief society that
Sister Karren, Cannon, and I organised. Can't go wrong with breakfast
food, amiright?! Haha yes. It was so good, and the relief society
commented that it really added to the unity. They haven't come
together to watch that session in ages, so we were super happy with
the turn out! Miracles!! Plus our friend, Iris came, we were super
excited about that. She is so cute, and about 79, but we tell her she
looks 26 ;) because it's true! Haha she is really coming along, and we
invited her to be baptised, she told us the only reason she hasn't
been already is because she can't walk down the steps... we can help
her with that yeah!
The week has had its highs and lows, and we are still trying to find
the best way to really work and find here. It is tough sometimes, when
most people have met missionaries, after all it is a small island ;)
BUT it is really incredible how those moments when we are feeling
stretched, if we just push a bit further with faith, there's the
miracle. For example: on Friday evening, after a fairly unsuccessful
few hours, we were calling by a less active. She didn't live there
anymore, but we felt we should knock some doors around this home. As
we did, we still received some resistance, until this super sweet lady
answered the door. She was so nice, but not really interested. Before
we left, we testified to her of the peace and hope that the gospel of
Jesus Christ has brought into our lives, and that it is because
Christ's church has been restored to the earth that we can live with
our families eternally. We then asked if she knew of anyone who needed
this she hope and perspective in their lives? She told us, "actually,
you know, my sister is really low right now. I feel she could really
use this. I want to bring her to your church!" Wowza!! That was not
what we were expecting, but at the same time, we were expecting
miracles, so maybe we were haha but yes, our week has been full of
moments like this.
Ok so funny story for you all. Ok, this I actually kinda sad, but ya
know, that sad but funny, yeah ok sorry. SO we were on the bus going
down to the south of the island, and I really felt that I needed to
speak to this woman in front of me. So I strike up a conversation, and
she lets me know she isn't interested, but took a Mormon.org card. As
she got off the bus, we saw her say something to the bus driver... I
was like just like... hmm.. ok so fast forward two days later. We are
getting off a different bus, and the bus supervisor stops us and asks
if we were on the bus a few days ago? We say yeah probably, we take
the bus a lot. He goes "oh well we had a complaint that you were
preaching on the bus, so no more of that." Whaaaaaa?!!!! Haha
oopsies!! Hahhh bummer!
Anyways, I am still so grateful to be here right now. I know that his
is where I need to be and that I am definitely meant to be serving
here with Sister Cannon. I have seen the Lord's hand every day, and
feel His love for me and these wonderful people. I have seen the
strength and power that comes from faithful obedience. I know that He
hears my prayers, and that He has a perfect time table. So keep
serving, keep submitting, keep yielding. My favourite quote from the
week: Pray. It causes miracles. Haha it's in our flat ;) and it is so
true.
I love you all, and good luck Ethan with your final preparations!!!
Ahhh!!! So exciting!! Keep moving forward and upward!
Love,
Sister Carter