YW carving pumpkins! Marissa is concentrating on her design! Group picture starting on the left; Carrie (Marissa's sister), Mandy, Marissa, Sister Chaka and Danika, and a YM, Trey. Happy Halloween to all of ya'll........
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Happy Halloween
We have the best day we have had all week for our trunk or treat at the church tonight, the sun is shining and it is in the low seventies.
First I want to wish my two boys Happy Birthday, Travis and Ian were both born on Halloween. It really makes me realize how old I am when I think of my baby boy being 41, it seems like just yesterday that Korey, age two, could not go out trick or treating because his mother was in labor with Travis. What a special Halloween treat Travis was and then 27 years later we received another Halloween treat in Ian, Travis and Kathy's son, and our grandson. Jen and I were both blessed to be there at his birth. Happy Birthday to our two SPECIAL gifts.
The work in Texas is still going very Good, we had the privilege of teaching Joel and Marcia Rodriguez the first temple prep class Tuesday. When we first arrived in Texas they were inactive. Elder Sharp and Elder Smith taught them for quite awhile and we went with them and added the older prospective. Eventually they started coming to church and their son Johnathan was baptized a few months ago and has since received the Aaronic Priesthood.
Marcia was hesitant to talk about the blessing of being sealed in the temple, because of some things that had occurred in her family, all of whom are active and temple recommend holders.
But she has since realized that none of us are perfect and everyone makes mistakes.
As we taught them the other night we could feel the spirit was with us helping us answer their questions and letting them feel of the Savior's Love for them.
Their daughter and older son were both there acting as interpreters for Marcia Her husband Joel speaks english very well. It was easy to see that all who were present could feel the spirit. Now we have to work on the son and daughter and their Catholic spouses. It was a blessing to have them there so they could hear the lesson. I have been learning Spanish and progressing well, but I have a hard time putting the words through my 66 year old mind and keeping up with their very rapid speech!!!
I know the work we are involved in is true, the Lord has blessed us with things to say time and time again.
Hope you all have a Scary, fun Halloween.
Lots of Love...Elder and Sister Carter (aka: Dad and Mom, and Papa and Grammy!!)
Friday, October 30, 2009
Elder Aguirra and Elder Downs- Bay City
Elder Aguirra from Riverton, Utah (Left) replaced Elder Corbridge from FloradaElder Downs from Logan, Utah (Right) replaced Elder Cope from Salem, Utah
Elder Schwarz replaced Elder Sharp when he went home
Elder Smith from West Jordon, Utah and Elder Schwarz from Mesa, Arizona.Elder Sharp went home to Heber, Utah
These are the Elders that greeted us when we arrived in Texas
Elders Cope and Corbridge on the left (Bay City Boys!!)Elders Sharp and Smith from Wharton.
Both of the Wharton boys have gone home. In fact, Elder Sharp got married today!!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
A Wonderful Moment in the Mission Field
We have been visiting a sweet Sister ever since our first month here. We have been faithfully visiting her three to four times a month. We give her granddaughter a ride to Young Women every week that she wants to go. Angie would tell us that she will go to church maybe next week, this has been going on for months. She has a strong testimony and she faithfully sends in her tithing every month, and is a very spiritual lady. However that first step back to church has been a real tough one for her. A month ago she told us that she did not have any nice clothes to wear to church, of course we told her it did not matter what she wore to church, but Sister Carter found some clothes for her, and eliminated that concern.
So we anxiously called her the following Saturday to ask if we could pick her and her Granddaughter up Sunday morning for church, she said no she did not think so, and that is the way it has been going.
She told us six months ago she felt like we were sent to Texas for her. We told her much later that if that was indeed the case, the Lord expected her to do something about it.
We have been praying for a way to help her and have been getting no results. Earlier in the week Sister Carter had suggested asking her if she didn't have concerns about not taking the Sacrament. The other morning as I was pondering this and trying to think of a way to present this to her and another inactive lady that also has a strong testimony some thoughts went through my head as to the best way to approach her.
When we were visiting her tonight the spirit told me this was the time for action, and I told her that I was concerned about her and this other lady not doing the things that help them grow in the gospel, I explained that they both could be strong leaders in the branch, and they were hampering their own progress by with holding themselves from the Lord's work.
I also told her that when I would sit on the stand with Bishop Folsom and we would see someone in the ward come in that had not been to church for awhile, how great our joy was, and if we felt that way I could just imagine how our Heavenly Father feels when he sees a lost sheep return to the fold.
She sat and thought for a couple of minutes and then she said I am going to make a commitment. I will be in church Sunday. Needless to say our joy was very full at that moment, and we both think she really meant it.
Well, she didn't come. We were pretty discouraged. But, we'll persevere, and visit with her this week and hope for success next Sunday. We've had successes and failures before.
This Saturday at church is the Halloween Party, and the "Trunk or Treat". We're helping the YW decorate the shed outside for the Spook Alley. It will be a good time to take photos of the inactive families....we hear that they all come for the 'Trunk or Treat'!!
We're teaching the "Temple Preparation" class at church. We've got several people ready to go to the temple and we're enjoying the class. It's a trick to do the class (it's after church), and take our riders home....but we're getting it done.
I told this family that we have dinner with every Sunday (and who we REALLY enjoy), the Malone's...that I wasn't sure I wanted to go back to our home ward because it's so big, and it's changed even more while we've been gone, and they don't really NEED us! He asked me, "What's to stop you from coming back, after your mission, and living here?" "Eight things, to start with....Ian, Fiona, Kacey, Kade, Kelby, Liliana, Patrick and Rosann, our grandchildren!!!"
But...there is something wonderful about being needed, and called upon to do just about anything, because they know that we are dependable. Just last Sunday, Sister King, raced into church, handed me (Jennifer) a bunch of papers and asked if I could read them...yes...Well, that's your talk for Sacrament, because I'm not feeling well. OK. The funny part was that both speakers had been mistakenly given the same subject...tithing!! So, as Bro. Hicks was giving his talk, I crossed out of my talk all the quotes that he used in his talk!!! I didn't have too much left!! But, I have a few thoughts about tithing of my own...so all went well!! I have taught more Relief Society classes here than in several years at home. Now, I'm helping the Enrichment Leader, so I'm doing the Enrichment class for November. It is good to be needed. The problem is, we won't be here forever, hopefully others will step up to take our places (we're working on that).
Well, all for now!! Hope all is well with all of you.
Sincerely, Elder and Sister Carter
Texas Houston South Mission
So we anxiously called her the following Saturday to ask if we could pick her and her Granddaughter up Sunday morning for church, she said no she did not think so, and that is the way it has been going.
She told us six months ago she felt like we were sent to Texas for her. We told her much later that if that was indeed the case, the Lord expected her to do something about it.
We have been praying for a way to help her and have been getting no results. Earlier in the week Sister Carter had suggested asking her if she didn't have concerns about not taking the Sacrament. The other morning as I was pondering this and trying to think of a way to present this to her and another inactive lady that also has a strong testimony some thoughts went through my head as to the best way to approach her.
When we were visiting her tonight the spirit told me this was the time for action, and I told her that I was concerned about her and this other lady not doing the things that help them grow in the gospel, I explained that they both could be strong leaders in the branch, and they were hampering their own progress by with holding themselves from the Lord's work.
I also told her that when I would sit on the stand with Bishop Folsom and we would see someone in the ward come in that had not been to church for awhile, how great our joy was, and if we felt that way I could just imagine how our Heavenly Father feels when he sees a lost sheep return to the fold.
She sat and thought for a couple of minutes and then she said I am going to make a commitment. I will be in church Sunday. Needless to say our joy was very full at that moment, and we both think she really meant it.
Well, she didn't come. We were pretty discouraged. But, we'll persevere, and visit with her this week and hope for success next Sunday. We've had successes and failures before.
This Saturday at church is the Halloween Party, and the "Trunk or Treat". We're helping the YW decorate the shed outside for the Spook Alley. It will be a good time to take photos of the inactive families....we hear that they all come for the 'Trunk or Treat'!!
We're teaching the "Temple Preparation" class at church. We've got several people ready to go to the temple and we're enjoying the class. It's a trick to do the class (it's after church), and take our riders home....but we're getting it done.
I told this family that we have dinner with every Sunday (and who we REALLY enjoy), the Malone's...that I wasn't sure I wanted to go back to our home ward because it's so big, and it's changed even more while we've been gone, and they don't really NEED us! He asked me, "What's to stop you from coming back, after your mission, and living here?" "Eight things, to start with....Ian, Fiona, Kacey, Kade, Kelby, Liliana, Patrick and Rosann, our grandchildren!!!"
But...there is something wonderful about being needed, and called upon to do just about anything, because they know that we are dependable. Just last Sunday, Sister King, raced into church, handed me (Jennifer) a bunch of papers and asked if I could read them...yes...Well, that's your talk for Sacrament, because I'm not feeling well. OK. The funny part was that both speakers had been mistakenly given the same subject...tithing!! So, as Bro. Hicks was giving his talk, I crossed out of my talk all the quotes that he used in his talk!!! I didn't have too much left!! But, I have a few thoughts about tithing of my own...so all went well!! I have taught more Relief Society classes here than in several years at home. Now, I'm helping the Enrichment Leader, so I'm doing the Enrichment class for November. It is good to be needed. The problem is, we won't be here forever, hopefully others will step up to take our places (we're working on that).
Well, all for now!! Hope all is well with all of you.
Sincerely, Elder and Sister Carter
Texas Houston South Mission
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Mission Update Oct. 2009
Dear Friends and Family,
We are doing great!! We are learning and growing and continuing to have wonderful experiences.
Just when I think that "nothing new is going to happen".....(I tend to get bored!!).....Something new DOES happen. We met the nicest man yesterday! We were asked to check on a member who is in a Care Center here....the Senior Missionaries in Victoria were asked to relay this info to us by the man's aunt. We found him at the Avalon Care Center, where our good friend, Stella Malone works. His name is Richard Baker, and he is 47 years old. He was in a motorcycle accident 14 months ago. He wasn't wearing his helmet. He has serious brain damage and will be in a care center for the rest of his life. He is in a wheelchair and cannot walk by himself. His speech has been affected, but he is easy to understand. I asked him, "Have you ever asked yourself, why me?" "Oh, no," he says, "I know why this happened." "I'm not the person I used to be, the Lord wanted me to change my life."
Some days I think about being home again, but, one of the talks in General Conference talked about looking "at the whole scheme of things.....the big picture." And I'm trying to do just that. Our time on this Earth is so short "in the grand scheme of things", so we need to make every moment count.......................and there won't be another mission time for us to learn and grow and have these special experiences, so we need to enjoy every single moment.
We had a flood in our basement at home about two weeks ago when our water heater gave up!!! What wonderful children we have!!! Bekah and Bethany and Luke (with our neighbor Jason helping, too!!) got all our 'stuff' out of the basement as fast as they could, preventing even more damage. This all happened in the middle of the night, with a workday to follow the next day...they got to bed about 4am!! Bethany spent days drying out all the fabric...and they all spent days working on this 'problem'!! All is put back together now...Thanks to our wonderful children..Travis and Mark came over when it was time to put most of it back. Thank you, thank you!!
That's all for now, Sincerely, Elder and Sister Carter, Texas Houston South Mission
We are doing great!! We are learning and growing and continuing to have wonderful experiences.
Just when I think that "nothing new is going to happen".....(I tend to get bored!!).....Something new DOES happen. We met the nicest man yesterday! We were asked to check on a member who is in a Care Center here....the Senior Missionaries in Victoria were asked to relay this info to us by the man's aunt. We found him at the Avalon Care Center, where our good friend, Stella Malone works. His name is Richard Baker, and he is 47 years old. He was in a motorcycle accident 14 months ago. He wasn't wearing his helmet. He has serious brain damage and will be in a care center for the rest of his life. He is in a wheelchair and cannot walk by himself. His speech has been affected, but he is easy to understand. I asked him, "Have you ever asked yourself, why me?" "Oh, no," he says, "I know why this happened." "I'm not the person I used to be, the Lord wanted me to change my life."
Some days I think about being home again, but, one of the talks in General Conference talked about looking "at the whole scheme of things.....the big picture." And I'm trying to do just that. Our time on this Earth is so short "in the grand scheme of things", so we need to make every moment count.......................and there won't be another mission time for us to learn and grow and have these special experiences, so we need to enjoy every single moment.
We had a flood in our basement at home about two weeks ago when our water heater gave up!!! What wonderful children we have!!! Bekah and Bethany and Luke (with our neighbor Jason helping, too!!) got all our 'stuff' out of the basement as fast as they could, preventing even more damage. This all happened in the middle of the night, with a workday to follow the next day...they got to bed about 4am!! Bethany spent days drying out all the fabric...and they all spent days working on this 'problem'!! All is put back together now...Thanks to our wonderful children..Travis and Mark came over when it was time to put most of it back. Thank you, thank you!!
That's all for now, Sincerely, Elder and Sister Carter, Texas Houston South Mission
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
