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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week #27 Hai dai Hai dai :)

Fam!

Its pretty funny how you really don't realize how weird the english language is until you have to teach it to people! Also, why are words so hard to define? I am starting to recognize different chinese words, but my favorite is still zhen da ma or REALLEHH?? haha man, i love crazy chinese people <33 I was thinking about it last night, the last thing I thought I'd learn about on my mission was the chinese/taiwanese culture, but nevermind! England is full of surprises! 

THis week has been a bit of a whirlwind, but super good. THEY SUN FINALLY CAME OUT!!! and it was HOT, for us at least. I do think i'm becoming a bit of a wimp, but whatevs ;) 

Exchanges are the best! Oh man, I had so much fun! I got to serve for the day in Man South, which is the best! (it's the area with the mission home and the AP's, office elders,etc. But another great thing about it was serving in a trio! haha sweet sister Menlove (from PASON!! what?!) and Sister Keck (from switzerland, i know!!) are so great- love them! SIster Menlove has been on her mission for 7 weeks, and sister keck just got to the area, so Sis m, bless her, lead us around! She did SO WELL, DANG! she's amazing. I would never have guessed she'd been out that short amount of time. ANYWAYS! we got to go to coordination meeting, and their wml lived in westland ward, SERIOUSLY!! a while ago, but still! And I got to see my old Zone leader who is now an assistant, and other zone leader who is now a delivery elder- friends, yay!! But the whole experience was like a breath of fresh air for me. I really needed it, and the Lord's timing is perfect. I feel very motivated and ready to take on the next year from it! haha nice one :)

This week I also had LEGIT HOT POTS for the first time <3 SUPER GOOD!! April, is basically the best person ever. (also, today is her 5th anniversary of being 18! lols) So pretty much you make a bunch of spicy soup, and put a whole bunch of other stuff into it as you go- ie to fu, cabbage, potatoes, seaweed (hai dai), hamburger, etc! you just throw it in whenever you want, and pull whatever out of the pot you want! It was so good, and I have never eaten so much! haha

The people we are teaching are so brill! Zoe is preparing to be baptized on Thursday!! I pray she can keep her date! and Anna- she is so prepared. We taught her tithing yesterday, and she goes, "so if I don't have an income, can I still pay tithing?!" And was asking how to pay, when, where... just she is fantastic! But i have to say, one of the best things, best moments as a missionary is when an investigator comes to church (acer) for the first time, and they sing (acer!!. it is so sweet to hear them try to match the pitches and follow along. Acer is our newest investigator, and man, he is so sincere! life is good in the ysa!

I feel so grateful to be here! I forgot my camera last week on pday, like I said, but we went to this museum, i think like the museum of natural history? right by manchester university aka across the street from the chapel. It was so crazy! They had a real mummy!! YOU COULD ACTUALLY SEE THE HUMAN!!! (corpse) AAAAA it was super fun though, just looking at all of the stuff they had there! I know! Geek status, but museums are bomb, ok? bueno.

We moved in with the other sisters!! 4 sister flat!!! SO FUN!! and we also have a permanent mega bed! haha it's the only way that they will all fit in there!! haha I love it! the elders got kicked out of their flat, and I wasn't going to say anything, but our last flat was rubbish.... haha sorry elders! they live there now. hah! 

yes, they call Manchester YSA the land of never ending street displays, and it is not a lie. Ethan, in answer to your question, yes. We usually have a banner, and a table with a display on it, like a bunch of BOMs and pamphlets, or a whiteboard with inspired questions, or whatever! In my past areas we would make quite a fuss about them, making lots of preparations, but here, we just go. haha oh, two companionships are finding right now? great! St display! haha you have to do it in an area with a high concentration of people, and high traffic (aka manchester) and man, graduation makes things even more interesting! It's been going on for 2 weeks!! so everyone is like, oh no sorry, not only am I in a rush, but I'm also just here for the day for graduation... Dahh! haha jk it's great! I met a chinese man, James, who came to our sports night, SUCCESS!!

I just feel super blessed and happy and calm, and I am so grateful! life is good. My testimony continues to best tested and stretched, but it's just like working out. your muscles have to break down to grow stronger, just like your faith. As it is pushed to the limit, as it is tried, it grows. It becomes solid and deeply ingrained. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the path we must follow to return to our Father in Heaven. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that Heavenly Father is keenly aware of each one of us. every day, every choice we make, He knows. He hears every prayer, and He wants us to be eternally happy. We must trust His will and His timing. Keep going yall!! And speaking of pioneer day, we are all pioneers. Be an example, and never fear (Ethan, just invite them to an activity, help them become friends with church people, and invite them and invite them.)

I love you all!!!! 

Cheers,

Sister Carter

week #25: Making my move to MANCHESTER

Hola mi familia,

Thank you all so much for all the updates! I feel like things are going really well, and SO FUN ABOUT FAYE'S BLESSING!!! Dad, that story was huuuularious!!! ah man, good stuff! 

Wow wowowowww ok, so it's been a bit of a crazy week, like CRAZY!! I've had high energy knowing that transfers were coming, and I had no idea what to expect. But i just kept plugging along as usual. We taught Pat and Gordan again, which was so good. I love them!! Man, it was just a really great week, we found a bunch of young Filipino girls who were interested in learning more about the gospel, YAY! they were all so cute, and were so interested in what we do and teach. We also got to teach Molly, which was great- I don't really know how that will go from now on, but I'll come back to that!

Some of the fun stuff that happened:

- Wales is ROcKING it in the football tournament. They havent played in over 50 years, so this is a BIG DEAL. BIG. and you can tell cuz you can hear... and I must say my welsh pride is up there... haha LOVE IT!!

- Stereophonics, a band, came and had a concert in Wrexham on Saturday and there were so many people, but it was also fun to street contact with background music ;)

So we were having our lunch on Saturday and the phone rings. Sister Steele answers it, and it's President Ulrich. Ok.... that can only mean a few things at transfer time... So we were both just like... HOLY MOLY.. So he asks to talk to her one on one, and of course I was eavesdropping/crying as he asked to her TRAIN next transfer!!! DAHHHH MY BABY IS GUNNA BE A MOMMAA!!! SO WEIRD!! hahaha that is an amazing feeling, just overwhelming peace and comfort knowing that I succeeded in my efforts to train her. She is such an amazing missionary, and I just know she's gunna have so much fun, and GROWWW.... dang. Buuuuuttt as crazy and exciting as that was, I was freaking out, cuz she is training in Wrexham, so I was like... im obviously leaving... but WHERE TOOOOO???????

Sunday comes, and I know i won't be there, so I gave my departing testimony, how convenient fast sunday was! But man.... how sad. I love wrexham. it is a hard area, but man oh man i love it. the people there just love you, and saying bye was so hard. Mandy, one of my all time favorite people ever, told me that everyone in the ward really does love me, but told me that I will be missed. it's crazy how much that means. It just hit me in that moment how grateful I am that I started my mission in this area. Wow. I feel incredibly blessed. So much growth happened there.

But then, after church and a baptismal service for one of my favorite primary children, we got the calllll.... and they told me, " Sister Carter, you are hereby called to serve in the MANCHESTER YSA AREA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" DAHHHHHHHaDAHAHAHDAHDHHHHHH hahaha hooooollllyyyy mollllyyyy i'm in downtown Manchester! Can you believe it?!!! I am ridiculously excited (and scared and nervous), but mostly excited!! 

I got to go on exchange with SIster walker in stockport- she is my sister literally, Sister Harp also trained her. She is amazing, and is sadly going homee.... dying... dah. but she is amazing. and it was suuuuch a blessing to serve with her even for just one night. We met up at the YSA building here in man city. it's legit. It has 5 floors, all with something different- chapel, baptistry, kitchen, etc. and then we went out and did work- they call it "riding the ox"... it's street contacting up and down oxford road!! haha crazy! this is so foreign to me!!! And all of the other missionaries, including sweet Sis. Hu, my new companion, speak Mandarin! MOM YOU WERE RIGHT!!! Except she's from taiwan, not china! man this is insane!! I am so excited!

I love you all and hope that you have a super good week!!!

Tra,

Sister Carter

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Week #26: My oh my, this american SISTER

I literally had to write out all of the things I wanted to write about this week! My brain is just a whole jumble of stuff!! I need a HOW TO DE-CLUTTER YOUR BRAIN book! But it's so great as well cuz it's all good stuff, all uplifting, so hey, no worries! haha  ;)

Life here is great, I am happy, keeping busy, finding, and teaching. I feel very close to my Heavenly Father, and I have seen His hand so much in my life lately. He just reaches out to me when I least expect it. I feel so grateful. How amazing it is that I get the chance to help other people to learn of Him and come closer to Him. To see His hand in their lives.

ok. So yes, manchester is just a bit different from Wrexham, Surprise!! (get that corn outta mah face). But we had a street display in Piccadilly gardens on Saturday, and I HAVE NEVER SEEN SO MANY PEOPLE AHHHH!! haha I was seriously like, I don't even know what to do right now. But I said a prayer, and after, just spotted one person who I could speak with. I continued to do that throughout the display, and I had the courage necessary to share our message. AKA I can do hard things! haha so crazy! But I have a firm testimony that as I do what I am supposed to, miracles will come. So i noticed that even though I didn't have  a ton of success at the street display, my efforts allowed for the Elders to have people literally walk up to them and ask for a Book of Mormon! YEAH! So it works!

We had an amazing zone conference this week. President had a returned missionary speak to us about key indicators, which is like the numbers we report each week. His words were literally for me. He is a finance person, so naturally I was like, yoooo yessss! and he was saying how it bothered him when people would say that numbers didn't matter ( which that bothers me as well), because they DO. I can work smarter and harder. He talked about ANALYZING how our previous weeks have gone and from that set goals for the next week!! dUHH I just ate it up! And I had though about it before, he was just able to lay it out. How two key indicators compared together from this week and previous weeks can show me how well I am finding, or teaching, or whatever the case may be for each number! I was just like, WOWWWW!!! Yep, the Church is true! But yeah, it was a super good meeting, and I feel very excited and rejuvenated after it all!

So basically Bishop Roberts and I are best friends! haha no i feel super grateful for all the valuable lessons I learned in wrexham. I knew coming into this area that in order to have success here, we as missionaries needed the trust of the members and especially the bishop. We all met with him on thursday, and I guess I made an impression or something because YAY he asked me to speak in sacrament meeting on Sunday! haha No I was able to ask him what his expectations were for us here, and I think he appreciated that. But I was also grateful for the talk assignment- I feel like I always learn more that I actually am able to say in the talk. I was able to share about my missionary experiences from before my mission and what I have learned from them that I have applied into my mission now. I felt a lot of inspiration for the talk, and used a lot of the talk from this past conference, " the greatest leaders are the Greatest followers" (probably one of my all time favorites!). I just love being here, I have already grown so much!!! The bishop had us all over for lunch yesterday as well with our investigators and recent converts! It was super fun!

We are teaching some great people who I love right now! Louise and Zoe are referrals from Joanna our recent convert! And they are so cute and sweet! they are very prepared, and we can teach them simply. 

I wish I had more funny or crazy stories to tell- I'm realizing now how much of my stories come fropm tracting, which we don't do here!!! DANG IT!!! haha Pick your battles, am i right? haha

I love this work. I love the gospel. I have such a strong love for my family- I love and appreciate you all so much. Thank you for supporting me, for helping me keep focused, and for your prayers. I feel them every day. I am so grateful to be a missionary. I know this is the Lord's work. Christ Lives. He loves you. He loves me.

Also, Falafil is so good.

Sorry I forgot my camera at home..... NOOOOOO!!

I love you all!

Tahrah!!

Sister Carter