Friday, June 19, 2015

Week 5

I think it is week 5... Kinda losing track already haha well this week was pretty good! Lots has happened since the last time I got to write home. I got to go to burger place that is known for having a spicy burger. I dont mind spicy food so I gave it a shot. It was pretty hot hahaha runny nose was the worst side effect though. I did eat the whole thing! We were not able to meet with Chuck and Christy this week unfortunately. But tomorrow they are taking us to dinner so that should be awesome! They are progressing really well. We meet with Brent almost every night and he is working really hard to be baptized on the 4th. Last week we got 5 new investigators!! FIVE! haha thats so many! We have a family of 4 where the daughter has been coming to church for months and is going on trek this week. Her name is Kendall. She is 16 and more active than most of the members her age. The bishop told us that she could be a class president is she was a member. I hope that happens soon. Our other new investigator is named April and I will talk about her later in this email. We have a member named Craig, I don't know if I have mentioned him or not yet, but he is totally awesome! One of my favorite people here. He is less active but coming back to church and going to get the priesthood soon! We visit him every week and he is starting a non-profit organization to build orphanages here. He is an inspiration to me. We had Zone Conference last Friday and it was awesome! We got some training on driving safe and they but little monitoring machines to record our crappy driving. I dont have driving privileges yet so I dont have to worry about it haha the little boxes are nicknamed "Moms best fried" haha My zone was in charge of a special musical number so we went up all together and sang "We'll bring the world his truth". I love that song so much and now have it memorized. We had service on Saturday and helped pull weeds out at the new Rio Communities City Hall. It was fun and they gave us Tshirts. Thats pretty much all that my week has to offer! Thank you everyone for you support and I hope everyone has a spiritually uplifting week and month. Love you all.




Quotes of the Week:



"Jesus Christ is the light that cannot be hid in darkness."

"As the kingdom of God grows and expands, so will the opposition grow and expand."

"Without the Spirit we are helpless."

"From the beginning, Satan's plan was to divide."

"Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint on their knees."





Spiritual Experience of the Week:



Let me tell you about April. We went to visit a former named Dell. We took a member with us named Marcus. They were talking about life and we were all having a great time. Dell started talking about her best friend who got injured and cant work anymore. Her name is April. As it turns out Marcus and April used to be coworkers. We got her address and went and saw her and she let us in! Without Marcus we wouldn't have had a chance. She shared a lot of her life with us and she told us she couldnt believe we were there. When Marcus gave the closing prayer she cried. It was amazing how the spirit not only led Marcus to come out with us, but then led us to someone he knew 10 years ago and someone we can help. The spirit is amazing. 





Pic:



none :( 



Love you all,



Elder Carruth

Friday, June 12, 2015

Week 4



Elder Carruth's maternal grandmother's cousin

Elder Carruth with Buddy the dog & wearing a Vietnam War Era Helmet

This week went flying by! I felt like I just sent home an email yesterday. Right now we have a baptism on the 4th, Brent, and 2 on the 11th, Chuck and Christy. They are all progressing really well and I am excited for them. We spent a lot of time working with less active members this week. Making sure that they know they are missed and cared about. Last week when we went tracting for a little bit we found a house that had a moving van. We went to see if we could help. The owner of the house didn't really seem interested to what we had to say but her sister was in the garage so I decided to talk to her. While I was talking to her I managed to convince her to come to church while my companion convinced the owner to let us come back to talk to them about the book of Mormon. By the time we left they gave us pizza and sprite haha it was awesome. I went on exchanges last week with Elder Bennett in the Tome spanish area. I had no idea what was going on but I did say a closing prayer in spanish before the end of the day. We also spent time cleaning out Valencia's apartment. One of the Elders there got sick and had to go home. So we went over and helped the mission president clean up and lock up the place. I got to go to a baptism on Saturday. The family that the Los Lunas sisters were teaching got baptized. I helped teach that family a couple times and apparently the youngest boy asked if my companion and I were gonna come to the baptism. They are great people and will make great members. At that baptism I got to meet a relative that I didn't know was here. My dad's cousin lives in the Los Lunas ward and I got to meet her at the baptism. She was pretty excited to see me. Church was really good and I bore my testimony along with my companion. I talked about prayer and how important it is to us. Having said that I am officially inviting everyone who goes to an LDS church to bear your testimony next fast Sunday. You can do it. That is pretty much my whole week! Onward and upward from here! 


Quotes of the Week:
"To find yourself you must lose yourself."
"Love is what qualifies you for missionary work."
"You cannot convert someone beyond your own conversion."
"The gospel fills the hole in your heart you didn't know was there."
"Be the one that loves someone enough to share the gospel with them."


Spiritual Experience of the Week:

On Sunday we took a member to go meet with a guy named Melvin. Melvin likes to talk about how him joining the church wouldn't solve any of the worlds problems. As we were talking to him about the gospel of Jesus Christ, the member we brought with us shared his conversion story about the Book of Mormon. By the end of the lesson Melvin committed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon to figure it out for himself. It was amazing to watch the spirit soften Melvin's heart and I am excited to see how he does. My testimony on member missionaries grew that day.



Hope everyone has a great week!!

With love,

Elder Carruth