Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Week 37


What a wonderful feeling it is to get to go outside and work. I have missed being outside. This week was a pretty quick one and one that was full of miracles and blessings as well as learning experiences. I am just glad that I am no longer sick! And that I can function as a missionary again! Last P-day we had a district lunch. It was pretty awesome to sit around with just the sisters and hang out. I think it helped with District Unity as well which is always a plus! On Wednesday there was a worldwide missionary broadcast. First time they have done that in like 10 years so it was cool to be a part of it! We heard from Elder Oaks, Elder Anderson and Elder Bednar as well as some other auxiliary leaders. It was awesome and the spirit was teaching us all how to improve our missionary work. After the broadcast I had the chance to talk to Sister Miller while my companion talked with President. I love President and Sister Miller. They truly love their missionaries and their calling. It will be hard to watch them leave in a few months. It seems like July is far away but I know without a doubt it will be here in a heartbeat. We had a couple lessons with Anna this week. She has been unable to listen to the scriptures because her computer doesn't work. We are trying to find a way to overcome this problem. She did tell us that she wants to come to church though! That she would at least come once to try it out and see. I truly believe that her coming to church will spark progression. She is such an inspirational person and I feel blessed to have been able to meet her and teach her. She will be out of town all week so no teaching her for a while. We had a cool experience last week while we were riding bikes. We found a young lady unloading her car. We asked if she needed help and she said yes! First of all no one in this town says yes to help. So it was obvious she wasn't from here. But we helped her move into her new apartment and she told us that she would love to hear our message! I was super pumped! She is a single mom with 4 boys ages 10, 8, 5 and 2. She needs a ward family and the gospel. I hope we can teach her soon and that she is interested in learning. We knocked on a lot of doors this week and I have never seen so many empty houses. Like everyone packed up and left town together. So it was a little discouraging to tract a ton and not talk to many people. But it was still good because we were able to work! And working brings joy! Funny story, when we went to lunch last week I was pretty tired and out of it. I grabbed the closest drink to me and let me tell you something I learned. Mountain Dew and Root Beer taste very different. The funny part was my companion was so focused on his food that he didn't notice that I quietly put his drink back on the table. It was great! Elder Carruth is sneaky. Later that same day we met with David. we had a good lesson with him and we extended a baptismal date of 2/20/16. We also told him that he and Megan would have to get married. Megan's year mark is coming up soon and she wants to go to the temple really bad. We want them to be able to go together and get sealed. David was very hesitant about the date and didn't commit. But he did tell us he would pray about it. When we saw him yesterday morning he told us that him and Megan had been talking about getting married on the 14th so he can get baptized on the 19th!! It was a MIRACLE!!! The Lord truly softened his heart and he told us that he felt good about it and was excited and nervous. I was so pumped and excited when we left the apartment. I am happy for both of them and I can not wait for them to go to the temple and get sealed. I feel like I was sent to Rio Rancho specifically for David. I am so excited to watch him progress. The rest of the weekend was pretty normal work wise. We both gave talks on Sunday about service. I talked about the story of Ammon in Alma 17-19 and how we can learn from it. I spoke for about 10 minutes and felt like it went pretty well. So we are starting a new initiative this next transfer with the members. We are trying to increase ward trust and to help the ward invite their friends to hear the gospel. We are trying to visit every active member of the ward in the next 7 weeks and extend a challenge to them. Hopefully we will flood the world with referrals!! It will be awesome. That is about it from me!! Hope all of you are doing awesome. And remember, God loves you.

Quotes of the Week:
"The most important thing we can do is testify of the Savior."
"Teaching is listening and observing."
"Conversion is a miracle and comes through faith."
"We are agents not objects."

Spiritual Experience of the Week:
District meeting this week was pretty great. I didn't have as much time as I wanted to train but we talked about testimonies and the power that comes from them. The spirit was strong and we all bore testimonies of the eternal truths that we hold dear. I know that bearing testimonies not only strengthens our own testimony, but helps others come to Christ.

Miracle of the Week:
David wanting to get baptized and married is a huge miracle. It was the miracle that we needed in this area to inspire us and motivate us to continue to work hard. The Lord truly has a plan for all of us.

Spiritual thought of the Week:
My thought for this week comes from Mosiah 23:21-22. We will all face trials and challenges in this life, including the righteous. It is when we are being righteous, and face trials, that we can know that our loving Heavenly Father is helping us become more like him. It is though these challenges that we grow in faith. 

Love you all!!

Elder Carruth 

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