Week 45

*Mom's note: Yes that is a Krispy Kreme on top of Cheesecake.  At least the donut is green....

Another week has ended and with it another transfer has ended. I cannot believe that this is my 8th transfer in the mission. My year mark is the beginning of next transfer? Crazy stuff. Anyway my companion and I both are staying for at least one more transfer. I was pretty happy with the news I really wanted to stay here with Elder Summers. We are really excited for this next transfer and a lot of good things are about to happen here in Rio Rancho. Anyway lets talk about last week. Well it started really well!! Like really well. We taught a lot of lessons in the first few days. We were able to teach D last week. He read through the Restoration pamphlet and had a lot of questions. His big hold up is the Priesthood Authority. So we studied up on the New Testament and Jesus Christ's use of the Priesthood and we are going back later today to talk with him. Hopefully things go well! He is a great person. We were also able to teach E last week a couple times. He gave us a sheet of paper that he felt disproved our religion, even though it doesn't at all. But we are going to go back and tell him that so its ok. These last couple weeks the zone has been facing a lot of opposition. Which means that some big blessings are right around the corner if we can be patient and diligent. We are excited for that. St. Patricks day was last week! Also known as my Dad's birthday. So shout out to dad HAPPY BIRTHDAY! LOVE YOU! Anyway we did a ton of service that day. We helped a family in our ward move a bunch of top soil from the front yard to the back. They are trying to grow grass. Bold strategy here in NM. We also helped out at the food pantry for the first time in a while. We were up in the attic moving Easter stuff down stairs. Elder Summers lost control of a box and it landed on the insulation. Well a couple seconds after that it was on the floor below. A new hole was placed in the ceiling haha it was hilarious and no one got hurt so even better. Friday was the day I got sick... AGAIN! Kidney stone one week and nasty head cold the next! It knocked me down for three days or so and I am just now getting over it. Being sick on the mission is not my favorite thing in the world. It makes me feel lazy and  like a unsuccessful missionary. But I know that rest is important so I try to humble myself. Hopefully I get better soon. Saturday was by far the best day of the week! We had a baptism!!!!!! T Sr. and T Jr. got baptized!! It was such a great experience and a wonderful day for everyone. I am so proud of the decision they both made to draw closer to the Savior. Saturday night was when we got the transfer news. I was super nervous because I really felt like I was going to get transferred. But I didn't! In fact only 2 people in the zone did. It was a light transfer. This next transfer we are going to have a ton of fun as a zone. It will be great!! That was pretty much my whole week. We have baptized our progressing investigators so now we are on the find again. Knocking doors with bold testimonies here we come!!! Love you all!!!

Spiritual Experience of the Week:

The baptism we had was amazing! I was sick before it started but from the opening to closing prayer I felt much better. I could think straight and breathe. The spirit lifted me. T bore his testimony and it was powerful. He thanked all who helped him and bore firm witness of the restoration of the truth. It was incredible. 

Miracle of the Week:

So we had an appointment at 7 one day to go teach. Our member was 20 minutes late though and we almost left without him. He finally showed up and our appointment fell through. Then all of a sudden we saw T driving to visit the member we had with us. So we ended up getting to teach instead. It only worked out because we were 20 minutes late though. The Lord knew what He was doing and it was a miracle. 

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

Today I studied the importance of repentance in the plan that God has prepared for us. Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, we can overcome our shortcomings and weaknesses and become more like Him. It is crucial that we recognize the mistakes me make and rely on the Savior for help to overcome them. It is then that we are forgiven and washed clean through the Atonement.

Love you all!!!!

Elder Carruth

Week 44

What a crazy week. I am glad that it is over so we can get to some less crazy stuff. But even though it was crazy it was awesome! And lots of good things happened to us and that is always nice. We were able to meet with some people that we haven't met with in a long time. That was awesome. We are teaching a guy named D. He is very religious and loves Jesus. He has a ton of stories of healing people in the name of Jesus and seeing pictures in his mind. He is a good guy and not quite as crazy as he sounds. We had interviews with President this week!! That was so good. I always feel the spirit and feel motivated when I talk to president. He had a lot of good things to tell me and to say about me. He also gave me advice to stay positive about the work. I think this advice can be applied anywhere in life. The more positive we are about any situation the easier it is to overcome it. Especially the trails and challenges we are blessed to have. I got to do a baptismal interview this week too! I love doing those. I interviewed a YSA named K. She was really awesome and got baptized on Saturday. She was really prepared. Thursday was the interesting day for sure. We woke up and headed to the ER. For the past month I have been dealing with very located pain in my lower right back. It was intense and prevented me from working. It brought me to tears. So eventually Mission Medical sent me to the ER. We spent 4 hours there and after some tests and a CT scan I finally had an answer. Any guesses????? You got it! Kidney Stone. I was not overly thrilled with the results but was pleased to have answers and a timeline for the pain. I no longer have my kidney stone so all is well with me again. I am blessed to be here. I learned a lot from this experience and am excited to hopefully not live it again. I am grateful for my Mission President and his Wife. I have felt tons of support from them. Anyway enough about me and back to the Lord's work. T is progressing really well for his baptism this Saturday. He is really excited for it and so are we. His interview is tonight so that should be good. We are seeing a lot of success right now and even with a tough week or two we continue to see the hand of the Lord in the work. He truly does lead and guide His work. We got a new investigator named E this week. He is 79 and really interested in Family History. We had a lesson with him about eternal families and he was interested in learning more about why we focus on genealogy. It should be good. Yesterday was an awesome day though! We taught a couple lessons and found new people to teach! All in all the week was good and we learned a ton from it. We are ready for this next week!!! Love you all!!!

Quotes of the Week:
none :(

Spiritual Experience of the Week:
Interviews with President were great. I always feel of my Saviors love when I talk to one of His representatives. President is truly called of the Lord to lead and guide this mission. I support and fully sustain him.

Miracle of the Week:
Yesterday we had an appointment with a new investigator. Unfortunately she didn't show up. We decided to take our members to another person who Elder Mosher and I found a few months ago but have not been able to see. When we got there we were able to teach her and her husband and it was great! They immediately set up a return appointment for us to come back. It was a huge miracle and a great way to start the week!!

love you all!!!

Elder Carruth

Week 43

Hello everyone from home and abroad! Hope all of you have felt the love of our Savior this week as you push through the trials and adversity of mortality. This week in the life of Elder Carruth has been pretty good! The week started really slow but by the end of it we were happy with what we had accomplished. T and his family continue to progress to their baptism date! The 19th of this month will be a really good day for all of us. We are excited to continue to teach him.

We also started teaching an older lady named M. She is from Germany. She is nice but feels happy where she is and doesn't want to change. We will see how the next appointment goes. We had MLC this week and that was really awesome! We got to learn a lot from President about repentance and conversion. We then got the chance to take that to our Zones and train them on it. The spirit was very powerful and we really enjoyed it. I love the calling that I have. We had the chance to do some service this week! We helped the Hermanas move a bunch of hay bales. Them things are heavy. I picked one up and tried to put it over my head. I managed to do it but the consequence was not worth it. I was showered in hay that got everywhere. Like I am still finding hay. We had a cool experience last week. We had an appointment and the member who was going to come cancelled on us. We didn't know what to do. At that moment the thought of one of our members came into my mind so I called her. She was more than willing to drop everything she was doing and to come help us with the lesson. It was a miracle and a tender mercy from the Lord. We got to go to the temple yesterday! It was really nice. I loved getting to see other missionaries that I am not used to seeing too. I got to catch up with some old friends. That was pretty much my whole week this week. Sorry this email is so short!! Love you all!!!

Quotes of the Week:

"Life is about becoming."
"Conversion comes through full repentance."
"Conversion inspires compassion."

Spiritual Experience of the Week:
Our Zone Training about Repentance and Conversion was amazingly powerful. I really enjoyed it a lot. The spirit was full of revelation and we were all motivated to work.

Miracle of the Week:
We had planned at one point to go and knock some doors but due to some back pain we were unable to do it. While we were at home we got a call from the Hermanas with 3 referrals for us. It was amazing to see how the Lord's work with always go on even when we can't.
Spiritual Thought of the Week:
As Easter approaches I would invite all of you to remember the things the Savior did for us. The resurrection of the Savior grants us all the gift of overcoming physical death. What a marvelous blessing that is to all those who accepted the plan of salvation from before the world was.

Love you all!

Elder Carruth

Week 42

What a wonderful week. Like seriously the best week I have had here in Panorama Heights since I have been here. Full of miracles and success. Holy success. We found 7 new investigators this week! 7!! That is so many!! BOOM! Anyway I am excited about the work that Elder Summers and I have been able to put together. It is a lot of fun. Last week we had the opportunity to go to mutual for missionary night with the young men. It was really awesome and I hope they took something away from it all. Missionary work is so much fun and the most rewarding thing we can do at this point in life. So we had a follow up appointment with a person we talked to on the street last week. Her name is C. When we went to the follow up her boyfriend D answered. As it turns out I have talked to him before a few weeks before Elder Summers got here. When C came to the door she told us her mom told her all about the church and she didn't want it. We asked her what she thought she knew and then her mom came to the door! We were ready to get attacked but that is not what happened. She shared her testimony about Jesus and then allowed us to do the same. By the end she accepted a Book of Mormon and invited us back to talk more about it! It was a miracle and the Lord truly softened the hearts of all in attendance. It was so awesome. Last week I woke up with some pretty severe back pain. I couldn't sit down I had to lay down. Luckily a member of the stake presidency has his own chiropractic practice and he had me back in shape in no time! I have never been before and it was weird. But it worked and thats all that matters. On Thursday we had an appointment with the C family. They are a part member family. The mom is a member and the dad and two daughters are not. When we got there the oldest daughter opened the door and was really excited to see us! It was awesome. We sat down with the whole family and introduced the Book of Mormon to them. We committed them to read and have an appointment next week with them! It was great and a tender mercy from the Lord. We have been teaching T a lot too. He is set for his baptism date of 3/19/16 and should make that date easily. He has a ton of family coming for it too. We are really excited and he told us he wants to try and meet everyday! Hopefully that will happen. While we were knocking on doors one day we walked past a empty looking house. The blinds were all shut and no cars in the driveway. As we walked past I felt the spirit. I turned to Elder Summers and said "This is the one." When we knocked on the door a really nice person named M came out. He invited us back to learn more and it really proved to me that the Lord prepares people. We would not have knocked on the door normally but I am grateful for the prompting I received and that I was able to follow. It was a sweet experience. That was pretty much our whole week! We taught a lot of lessons and found a lot of new people. Miracle continue to come from a loving Heavenly Father. I hope all of you are doing well and are loving the life you chose to live. Love you all!!!

Quote of the Week:

"True Charity is humility in action."

 

Spiritual Experience of the Week:

At district meeting last week we talked a lot about the Atonement of the Savior. The spirit was powerful and inspiring. At the end of the meeting I was asked to give a few thoughts. I talked of the importance of submitting to the will of the Father, as the Savior did in the Atonement. We might not want to but we need to. It was touching and an emotional moment for everyone. I love the spirit and I love my Savior.

Miracle of the Week:

Sunday afternoon we had about 15 minutes to knock doors. We prayed and told the Lord that we were trying to fill every minute we could with productive activities and asked that we would see success. We had time for one door and that person invited us back! We were led to a door that had one of God's children who was ready for the gospel. It was so cool to see the Lord leading us to those who are ready for the restored gospel. 

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

In Alma 22 we read of King Lamoni's Father and his conversion. In the chapter he says that he will give up all his sins to know God. It made me ponder the idea of what we are willing to sacrifice to know God? We all have things that keep us from His presence. It is my invitation to ponder and choose something that we can sacrifice to improve our relationship with Heavenly Father. 

Love you all!!

Elder Carruth