Week 58

Well another week has come and gone here in the great city of Albuquerque. The weather has been nice and consistent. Anywhere from 95-102. Not complaining! Just informing you all that live or work where there is AC all day. This week was awesome. We didn't teach a ton but we found a lot of people to teach which means this coming up week is going to be even better! Keep us in your prayers please as we continue to find those who are prepared for the gospel. Anyway on to the week. So most of the week has been us knocking doors and me meeting members of the ward. It is a great ward and I am pumped to get to know them all and work with them. Last week we got to meet the Maile family. Brother Maile is our Ward Mission Leader and they are from Tonga. They are amazing people. As soon as I said I was from Washington Sister Maile started laughing and throwing down on Washington. It was hilarious. Then Brother Maile looked at me and told me I better not miss any meals in this area. They are funny people and we get along really well for some reason haha. I love them already. So we got a new investigator last week! Her name is Rosalee and I know I probably spelled it wrong. She is Jewish and wants to learn more about the Book or Mormon. She loves meeting with us and the first lesson went pretty well. We went back yesterday and she was waiting for us! In a good way of course. Her gate was open chairs were ready and she dressed up even. She was prepared to talk to us and had been reading the Book of Mormon. It was super cool to see and as we taught the Plan of Salvation she agreed with it! She said that it made more sense to her than what she had been taught growing up. We have a weekly appointment with her and now it is just getting her to come to church! We had an awesome miracle this week. Like super cool. We were knocking on doors in the heat of the afternoon. The first 8 houses didn't answer. I looked at my companion and told him is we made it to the next side street without talking to anyone we would leave and find somewhere else to go. The last house before the side street answered the door and quickly told us he wasn't interested and closed the door. It was a sign though that we needed to continue the street. So we did. More of the same happened until the very last door on the whole street. We knocked it and talked for about 10 minutes to a really awesome woman named Rebecca. She told us she was interested in learning more about the Book of Mormon and how it could help her. She told us to come back this week and to talk to her more. It was a super cool miracle because the Lord kept us on that street and though obedience and persistence we were able to find His daughter who needed the gospel. It was a good day. We had Stake Conference this weekend. That was good because we got to see President Miller one more time before he leaves next Monday. Can you believe that? New mission President in less than a week. It is going to be crazy for sure. We shall see though. Should be good. Elder Karl Tilleman from the Area 70 was there and he is an awesome guy! He talked to us after the adult session for a while and gave us a ton of advice about making the new president feel welcomed. The only bad part about conference is I didn't get to go to my ward and meet everyone. So I will have to wait a week for that. The only other thing that we did was teach Pete. He is getting married on the 1st and baptized on the 2nd. He is an incredible example to me of conversion and is doing great. We get to go to his wedding too which is even better! I am excited for that!!!! Anyway things are going great here. I love the work to death and can't wait to have more experiences that will grow my testimony and faith. I love the Lord and all He does for me and I know he loves you too no matter the challenges you face. Keep up the faith. Keep being awesome and know that I love you!

Elder Carruth

Week 57

Hello from Albuquerque! I got transferred to the zone that touches Rio Rancho. So I moved a solid 10 miles away haha but it is very different down here for sure. I am excited to be here though! My last week in Rio Rancho was really good and I am going to miss that place a ton. I spent over 7 months there and learned a lot. I changed a lot. I am going to miss those that I was able to help into the gospel and those who helped me deepen my conversion. We were going to have a baptism last Saturday but Renee ended up in the hospital. Shes ok though so don't worry. Baptism is rescheduled for this coming Saturday and I am sad that I will miss it. I will also miss Angie's baptism on the 25th. She is the 16 year old that we have been teaching. She went to girls camp and had a blast with it. She is going to make a wonderful member of the church and future leader. It was hard to say goodbye but I am excited to be where I am. Elder Larking is my new companion and we get along really well so far. We have a lot in common and are excited to work together. It should be a good 6 weeks here in Albuquerque and probably longer than that. Funny story of the week happened at Zone lunch on Friday. We went to Taco Cabana. Hermana Peyson and I were talking in line and we challenged each other to get a Lengua Taco. So we did. It was actually really good once you got over the fact it was lengua. Anyway thats about all for this week!! Not much to report on sorry!! Love you all!!

Elder Carruth

Week 56

Hello everyone from home and abroad! Hope this last week filled you with love, joy, peace, happiness, success, joy and success. And peace. Of course. This week for us was awesome! We taught a ton this week and had miracles to spare! It was super cool! Let me tell you all about it!!!!! So first of all as soon as June came the heat came with it. Mid to High 90s for the last few days and will be for the next week. So prayers of rain and ice storms would be lovely. Last week we were able to begin teaching someone new. Her name is Angie. She came to church with one of her friends last week and we were able to set up a meeting with her on Tuesday. She has a really close friend of hers pass away as well as her parents. It has been extremely tough. She is 16. We met with her 5 times this week and she has totally grasped the gospel. She is progressing incredibly well and loves to learn. The spirit is there as we teach her and she is preparing for baptism on the 25th. What an amazing miracle for us and a blessing to her. She is such a testimony builder that the Lord truly does prepare people to hear the Restoration of His gospel. It is amazing to see and to be a part of it as a missionary. She was the highlight of the week. We also have been working with Renee as she prepares for baptism this weekend. She came to Stake Conference this week and is preparing for her big day. She has had some complications with her pregnancy as the day gets closer so prayers for her would be great. She and her husband are doing awesome though and we love getting to know them. We had MLC this week. The last MLC of President Miller's mission before he leaves. He leaves at the end of this month and President Guffey will take over. That is crazy to me. I love President so much and will miss him a ton. During MLC President asked if I would Role Play a contacting situation in front of everyone. Everyone being all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders of the Mission. About 30 people. So I did and it went ok. When I was done he walked up to the front put his arm around me and said "Elder I hope you know how much I love you." and then proceed to tear my role play apart hahaha it was so humbling. It was great though I appreciated it. We had a crazy cool miracle the next day though. We had zone training and we trained on contacting people everywhere and talking to everyone that we see. After the meeting Elder Burton and I and the APs were in the kitchen when a 15 year old girl knocked on the door. She asked if she could get some water. Applying what we talked about just minutes before we began to talk to her about the gospel. She accepted and invitation to our lesson later that night with Angie and she came! It was so cool. The Lord brought her to us. Now she is being taught by the missionaries who cover her area and all is well. It was a week full of miracles and joy for us. We love being missionaries. I love the Lord and my Savior Jesus Christ and testify to you all that they live. They lead and guide this church and love us all. That we may all remember who we are and where we come from is my prayer. I love you all.

Elder Carruth  

Week 55

Hello family, friends and everyone else! Hope the end of May is treating you well and filling you will joy and happiness! And cookies... We all love cookies. This week was a lot of fun!! Wonderful miracles happened and everyone felt the love of our Savior. So we went on exchanges this week. Elder Thomas and I got to spend the day together. It is the second time I went on exchanges with him. He is a great missionary and I always learn a ton from him. We were out knocking doors and we found a less active member of the church who was moving out. We offered help and he accepted! We helped load the last few things into his truck and then he gave us his new address for us to give to other missionaries to help him. It was so cool to see the Lord put us in a place where we can help someone. Now we can send other missionaries to him and to teach his family the gospel. Another miracle we saw this week came from a member. We went to church and a member brought one of his friends. He told us that she was interested in  learning more about the church! We have been struggling to find new people to teach so it was a huge miracle! The Lord is preparing people for us to teach. I testify of that. the last miracle of the week happened yesterday. We got a call from the Sisters who told us that someone was at the hospital and needed a blessing. They were about to go into emergency surgery. We left right then and got there as soon as we could. We literally got there 2 minutes before she hit the OR. the nurses told us that she was unavailable but when she saw us she told them that she needed to talk to us. We gave her a powerful blessing. The spirit testified to all of us that she would be ok. That the surgery would go well and that there would be no long term complications. The timing was perfect. The Lord was in control to whole way. It was amazing. I am so grateful for the Priesthood and the spirit. What a wonderful gift. The only other update I have is on Drew and Renee. They are doing awesome! They came to church this Sunday and Renee loved it. She is planning on getting baptized on the 11th. I can't wait! It is what will make this whole transfer worth it. The Lord loves us all. I testify of that and promise that he blesses us as we follow our Savior. 

Elder Carruth