Week 41

Hello wonderful people! How are you today? I am good. It was 70 degrees yesterday and it snowed today. Feels a little like home. Never know what you are going to get. This week was the best week I have had in Rio Rancho. We taught a lot and found a lot of new people to teach. It was just all together a really successful week. So let me tell you all about it! So last Tuesday we got to teach someone we have really wanted to. His name is T and his wife K is a member of the church. They have a couple kids and one of them is baptized and the other is not. When we finally sat down with T to teach him we had a really cool experience. The spirit was really strong and he told us that he already knows that it is true. He has seen the blessings in his life from it already and he wants to be sealed to his family in the temple. He readily accepted a baptismal date for the 12th of March. It was an amazing lesson. The Lord truly prepared him to hear the message of the Restoration. We went on exchanges last week. I stayed in Panorama and Elder Thomas joined me. It was a really solid day and we did a lot of work. I felt really good after that day. We taught A that day and she is not really progressing anymore. She told us she got a No for an answer when praying about baptism. We committed her to pray about the Book of Mormon since a testimony of that precedes all conversion. We will see how it goes this week. Thursday was the really hard day of the week. There has to be at least one right? Or else you don't learn anything. We had 5 lessons planned and a couple new people to go teach and all but one lesson fell through. It was a test for sure but we managed to make it through it and the week was still a great success. Friday was the highlight of the week by far. We had a great District Meeting. The training we received was inspired and full of love from Elder Thomas. I learned a lot about my personal missionary work and how I can improve. After that we dropped by a potential investigator and he let us in! His name is P and we were able to teach him twice this week. He has some interesting ideas about things but he talked openly with us and it was a good experience. We are hopeful that he will keep the commitments we extend. The best part of Friday was D getting baptized!!! YES! It was such a wonderful night and the spirit was testifying all night. D told us afterward that he felt happy. It was so great to see him and his family bright and smiling. I truly believe that D is the reason I came to Rio Rancho. And I am so happy that he chose to make covenants with his Heavenly Father. After the baptism Brother Laws, the person who actually baptized D, pulled me aside and told me that while D and Brother Laws were in the bathroom right before the baptism D said that if it wasn't for me he wouldn't be doing this. He never wanted to get baptized until I came to Rio Rancho and everything changed. It made me feel really good and adequate. I know without a doubt that the Lord sent me to New Mexico for a very specific purpose. There are people here who I have helped that I feel like I have known my whole life. It is really special to me. Missionary work is wonderful. Sunday we were able to confirm D and it was a great day. After the baptism on Friday I was in the hall when I saw a couple familiar faces. There was a multi-stake dance in the gym. The Waldram family, one of my favorite families from down in Belen, was there! I loved seeing them and it reminded me of all the wonderful experiences I had over the first 6 months of my mission. It was so great to see them. Yesterday was a really great day too. It was a great way to start off this next week. We taught a couple lessons and got a new investigator named M. He is open and interested. We also taught P again and the lesson went really well. We are excited for the work in this area to continue to grow. Elder Summers and I are loving mission life. We are happy and unified. It is wonderful and fantastic! Love you all!!!

Quote of the Week:

"God's creativity gave us our individuality."

Spiritual Experience of the Week:

D's baptism was really special. We had a lot of people from the ward there and the spirit was powerful. Everyone there can testify of the choice he made. It was a testimony building experience for me for sure.

Miracle of the Week:

So on exchanges with Elder Thomas we decided to drop by a part member family we had never met. We ended up talking to the husband, the non member, about his background and family. He invited us to come back to talk to him, his wife, and his two daughters. Yesterday Elder Summers and I went over and talked to the wife and one of the daughters. We set up a time to teach the whole family. It was really cool and we are both really excited about it!

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

Alma 7:11 -  The Savior suffered for all of our pains and weaknesses and sorrows. Not only our sins. When we struggle we can assuredly rely on our loving Savior. He has felt our pain and knows our challenges. If we rely on Him, He will comfort us.

Love you all!!

Elder Carruth

Week 40

What a FANTASTIC week. Like seriously this week was a really really good one. Like you don't understand. Really good. Anyway I hope all of you are enjoying the life Heavenly Father has blessed you with! We are seeing progress in the people we are teaching as well as in our area. We had exchanges this week! I went to the High Range area with Elder Summerhays. It is weird because last transfer he was my Zone Leader and we literally switched callings. I still look up to him a lot though and enjoy learning from him. The day we had was awesome! We taught new investigators and had a ton of fun doing it. I laughed a lot that day. A really cool experience we had was going to a different denominations church service. We got invited to attend a local baptist church that evening and we readily accepted. As we sat in the parking lot we were both freaking out and nervous. We didn't know what they would think when we walked in. We thought we would be mocked and reviled and judged. Eventually we got the courage to go in and we were surprised. We were met with smiles and handshakes from everyone. People would stop and introduce themselves to us. It wasn't until people started saying hi to us that I felt more relaxed and comfortable there. It was a huge eye opener to me at how investigators feel the first time they come to our church. That is why having fellowship is so important, so they know someone and can rely on someone to be there for them. I learned so much from this experience and I feel so blessed to have been able to have it. It helped me to improve my missionary work for sure. Thursday of last week was a very important day. It was the day that D had his interview. The interview lasted almost 2 hours and I can only imagine the conversation that happened. The important thing though is he PASSED! He had a huge smile on his face and said he was really excited to get baptized! He also gave me a huge hug. Right after that Elder Summers had an interview to do so I got to talk to D alone for a while. He told me that I am the reason that he was getting baptized. That no other missionary ever has been able to get him to listen until I came here. I testified to him that the reason I am in Rio Rancho is to help him. It was a really great moment and a moment that made me feel good. I am so excited for D to get baptized this week and make covenants with Heavenly Father. It will be amazing. The very next day was an even bigger day for D. It was the day that he got married to M. It was a beautiful ceremony and they both looked so happy. They both made progress in the plan God has for them and I loved that I was able to be there with them. I love both of them and it is amazing to me to watch the gospel change their lives. Blessings are surely in store for them. We had exchanges with the APs this week. My first exchange with them. In order to expedite the 11 exchanges that they have to do every 6 weeks they invited 2 sets of zone leaders and each Assistant took one set for the day. It was an interesting experience. I felt really out of place the whole time. These elders have all been out for well over a year and have been zone leaders for a lot of that. They all know each other really well too. It was a long day and I was happy to watch it end. We did accomplish a lot though and I did learn a lot. Yesterday we got 2 new sisters in the zone! That is awesome to see the zone getting bigger. One of the sisters went home while she was in my district in Belen. That was 6 months ago. It was really cool to see her back in the mission and back in my zone! I am excited to serve with them both. That was pretty much my whole week! We are really excited for the week to come and for it to be even better than the last! I love you all!!!

Quotes of the Week:

"Whether you think you can or you think you can't you're right."

"We are so worried to offend people that we forget to save them." 

Spiritual Experience of the Week:

Last night we had a visit with the new sisters. There were 8 missionaries there so it was a crowded apartment. At the end of the visit one of the sisters asked for a blessing. As my companion gave her a blessing I felt the spirit strongly. Afterwards one of the sisters told us that when we receive our Patriarchal Blessing, that it is the same blessing Heavenly Father gave us before we came to the earth. I felt the spirit testify to me that this is true, and it is now a part of my testimony. It was a really sweet and special experience. 

Miracle of the Week:

Saturday night Elder Summers and I were planning for where we wanted to go tracting the next day. We both decided on the same street. The next day when we got there we both had little motivation to knock on doors. It was a struggle for sure but we knew that the Lord had specifically told us to be there. As we got out of the truck and started to knock we were stopped by a man in a truck. He pointed to his house and said "That is where I live, come back Thursday morning." Not only did he come and talk to us but he set up his own return appointment! It was such a cool miracle. We also found 2 other people who invited us back on the same street. The Lord prepared those people and he prompted us on where to go an when. The church is true.

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

Alma 13:24 - The Lord truly is preparing people everywhere to hear the gospel. We know people right now who are ready to learn of the restoration. It is our job to open our mouths and invite our friends, neighbors, coworkers and family members to hear the message the missionaries share. I can promise as we invite others to act that God will bless us and will soften the hearts of those we know.

 I love you all!!

Elder Carruth

Week 39

Hello everyone!!! Hope all is well wherever you are when you read and/or delete this! Things here in Panorama are FANTASTIC. Like really good though I am excited to be here and work with my new companion. Elder Summers and I laugh a ton and get along really well. This area is going to explode and I am excited to watch it all happen. This last week was pretty good but a little slow too. Elder Summers has been battling a sore throat and headache so we have spent some time resting. We are hopeful that things are improving though. We did manage to get some work done though and that is always good. I had to learn how to be a Zone Leader really fast since last week was the first week of the month. We got to go to MLC (Missionary Leadership Council). It was awesome. All of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders get together and receive training from President. It was a spiritual feast and I loved every second of it. We learned a lot and it motivated me to work harder. The Friday following we held a Zone Training. A lot like district meeting just an hour longer. We trained on what we learned at MLC and it was awesome as well. This zone is really inspired and full of consecrated missionaries. We are both really excited to be serving together here in Rio Rancho. The Stake has been putting a lot of emphasis on Part Member families and perspective elders. President Miller has also started stressing these list of people. We have seen a ton of success already from applying these. We had a really cool experience where we went to a Part Member family and talked to the father. He is not a member and his wife and daughter are. He told us that he felt it was time to be baptized and we are hoping to teach them this week. It was a miracle and a testimony to the direction that we are headed. So we are having a baptism on the 19th! David is progressing to that day and is excited. He did not come to church this week so we skipped 3rd hour to go visit him. We set up a plan to get him to church next week and he should make his date. They are also getting married this Friday! We are super excited for them. Megan and David have been a huge blessing to us and I truly feel that David is the reason I was sent to Rio Rancho. He is the person I have felt like I have helped the most here. Super Bowl Sunday was interesting. Due to the game we were told to stay at our apartment from 4-8. We had our weekly planning during that time. It was weird being inside so much but President knows what he is doing. Yesterday was a day full of little miracles. We found some time to go tracting and we ended up talking to this man named Dan for about 45 minutes. He has a Christian background but very hesitant on the Book of Mormon. He told us that we can come back as long as we listen to him and his questions too. Since that is what we are here to do we agreed. We are interested to see how it goes. Later that night we were waiting outside a retirement facility waiting for a member to let us in when a little old lady walked out. It was dark and we were dressed in black but as soon as she saw us she immediately introduced us to her dog Sam. She told us how she is Catholic but has a "Mormon Bible" and has been to church. She also has a nephew on a mission in Rome. She asked us to come back and give her a blessing to help her overcome her cancer. It was really awesome and miracles were everywhere. That is about all I have!! Love you all!!

Quotes of the Week:

"Don't be afraid of silence."

"No person should journey alone."

"Prayer is a commandment."

Spiritual Experience of the Week:

MLC was really cool. I didn't really know what to expect but it was the best minds in the mission all in a room with President. The spirit was full of inspiration and motivation. We learned a lot and were able to share that with the zone.

Miracle of the Week:

So we have really been struggling with getting referrals from members. We have started a new campaign to help with that and we saw success this week. We visited a Less Active member and asked him who he knew that could benefit from the message of Jesus Christ. He immediately started talking about his neighbor and we now have an appointment to go meet them. It was a miracle and a blessing from the work we are putting forward.

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

While reading in Alma I noticed that Alma tells us that bearing testimony is the way we save our brothers and sisters. Testimonies can be very powerful and invite the spirit to testify of what we say. It is when we bear heartfelt testimonies that the spirit of the Lord touches the hearts of those around us and allows them to feel the love of the Savior.

Pic: Elder Summers on the left and Elder Summers on the Right! My new comp is on the right haha

Love you all!!

Elder Carruth

Week 38

Hello!! So much has happened over the last week! Like seriously a lot. So let me get all of the transfer news out of the way first. First of all they released all of the leadership here in the Rio Rancho Zone. Both District Leaders and Both Zone Leaders. I wasn't really released because I was called to be a Zone Leader! I am so grateful for this opportunity and overwhelmed by the trust that President and the Lord have in me. It is going to be a new and exciting challenge for sure. The Zone Leader area moved to Panorama Heights so I stayed here and got my new companion Elder Summers. He is from Utah and we get along pretty good so far. I am excited because he is a Zone Leader too which means he is a great missionary. We are going to do awesome things here and we are both pretty pumped. The two district leaders in the Zone now are both former Zone Leaders. So all the leadership in this Zone is awesome. Well most of the leadership anyway. I haven't done anything yet haha. But it was really crazy everything that happened and went down and we are all really pumped up and excited to kill it this transfer!! MIRACLES WILL HAPPEN! Anyway last week was pretty slow and long. The last week of a transfer usually is slow when missionaries expect to get transferred. We had a cool experience last week. On Tuesday we were asked to come and show the young men how to teach a lesson. When we asked for volunteers a young man raised his hand and told us that he was not a member and would love to help. It was really cool because we got to teach a real lesson to a real investigator and the spirit was real strong. It was awesome. We had a couple lessons with David this week. They are set on getting married on the 12th and he is getting baptized on the 19th!! David is doing awesome and we are really excited for him. I am excited to have a baptism. It has been over 6 months and they really help motivate and encourage me to keep working hard. So last Thursday is when I got the Zone Leader call. Here is the conversation:

President: Elder Carruth I would like to call you to be a Zone Leader.

Me: That depends, can I stay here in Panorama Heights?

President: Maybe.

Me: So Panorama is going to be the Zone Leader area? 

President: Quite possibly.

Me: I accept.

I really did not expect that he would leave me here and move the ZL area but I was so excited when he did. I love this area and am excited to get to work with my new companion. That was pretty much all that happened this week. The Zone is amazing and I am super excited to serve with these missionaries. Please pray for me!! Love you all!!!

Quotes of the Week:

"Becoming like the Savior requires change."

"Personal revelation blesses those around us just as much as us."

Spiritual Experience of the Week:

So the sisters called us last week and were really tired and exhausted from riding bikes. They were out of miles. They were pretty much on the verge of tears. After we hung up I got the prompting to send them a text. The words I sent were directly from heaven and they told me that they felt the warming love of the Savior when they read it. I was so happy that the spirit prompted me to bless the sisters lives, and that I was able to follow that prompting.

Miracle of the Week:

Too many to count!!

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

While reading in Mosiah 29, I realized that the gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect. However, the people in the church are not. If we are not converted to the gospel and have a firm stance around the teachings of the Savior, it will be easy to become offended by an imperfect person and leave the blessings of the gospel. The church is true, because Christ is perfect. 

Love you all!!

Elder Carruth