Week 77

Well hello friends, family, people and children of God! What a beautiful Monday morning. Happy Halloween! Those who have leftover candy feel free to send it to me. My mom has my address. I got some missionaries I can share it with so I don't gain too much weight. Someone go trick or treating for me! Be a missionary! Hand out pass along cards! Boom! This week was a good one! We had amazing things happen and we even hit the goals we set! The Lord is blessing us! Right after Pday last week we packed up the car and headed up to MLC in ABQ. We picked up some other Elders and made the 4 hour car ride together. I am glad we drove so I didn't have to sit in the back of a Nissan Frontier. The ride was hilarious and full of good mission stories from some great Elders. MLC the following morning was good. Long meeting but good. It was nice to see some familiar faces and a lot of new ones as well. On the way back to El Paso we stopped with the STLs (Sister Training Leaders, they also go to MLC) and grabbed dinner. That was super fun cause I just made a fool of myself and made people laugh. That is my talent haha. Eventually we did do some missionary work this week.So we have this wonderful family. The parents are Mike and Hilda and they have 3 kids. We have been teaching them since I got here. They love the gospel and the spirit they feel when we come. Their kids sat in on the last lesson and their 11 year old agreed to be baptized with them! They are preparing for the 19th but it might be a little soon. We are working with them though and I love them to death. They make me happy. We have a baptism coming up on the 5th, this Saturday!! Her name is Zenia. She is a YSA who really loves the gospel. She loves church and the people there. She has really been progressing a ton. She keeps her commitments and feels the spirit. She is ready for her baptism and we are getting really excited for it! It is going to be wonderful! So I have this confession. Since I got to El Paso I have really been trying to lose some more weight. I have lost about 25 pounds over my whole mission and want to keep it going. Well... We have a member of our ward that has Olive Garden Pasta Passes. 3 of them. So whenever we want free pasta we call her up and go. You know how hard it is to lose weight with UNLIMITED CHICKEN ALFREDO?! Impossible. And she gets upset if we don't ask her to take us. It is a rough life as a missionary. No one understands haha seriously though we are truly blessed to be here. The Lord is looking out for all of us. On a more positive note I had a really cool experience this week. We were headed to a lesson when we unexpectedly had to split up. I have been here for less than 2 weeks and I had to be by myself with a member. We went and taught a lesson to a man named Fernando. He was almost baptized a couple years ago. We were able to really discern his needs through the spirit. After some powerful testimonies and examples from the scriptures, he agreed to pray about being baptized on the 3rd of Dec. His heart softened a ton! It was super cool and honestly a miracle from heaven. I had another cool experience this week. I was on exchanges with Elder Evans and we had a pass off lesson with a set of Hermanas. The 4 of us in one lesson. One hermana has been out for 2 weeks and the other 3 months. Both new. It was a great lesson. Both of them had such powerful testimonies of their Savior. I felt my testimony grow. I love getting to teach with Sisters. They have a powerful spirit about them and they do things differently than Elders. It was awesome! I am grateful for it. We had 3 people come to church Yesterday. It was good to see them there and good for the ward to see us bringing people to church. I got to meet a family yesterday that lived in Lacey and went to 4th ward! I passed them the sacrament I am sure. That was super cool for me though. That is about it for the week! Long email this week so be grateful! Love you all!!

Elder Carruth  

Week 76

Well hello again! This time from sunny and brown El Paso! Boom! What a crazy week full of craziness. Like crazy. So Last Tuesday morning we all met up at the mission office to head down south. I got to drive one of the mission cars with 2 greenies and another missionary that I knew. The two greenies are actually in my zone now so it was cool to get to know them. We left around 9:30 AM and made one stop in Las Cruces. We got to the El Paso transfer site at about 2:30 PM. It was a long drive and it got less and less green with every mile. Not the ABQ was very green because it wasn't. As soon as I got to the area with Elder Prigmore, my new comp, we got to work! We taught the gospel a ton! We teach way more down here than we do in ABQ which is super nice. Let me tell you about a couple people. First is Zenia. She is a YSA that we are teaching because the YSA sisters are super far away from us. She is incredible though. Really has a strong desire to get baptized. She came to church yesterday which was awesome! We have a couple lessons lined up for this week so we are excited. She is getting baptized on the 5th. Another person is Amanda. She is engaged to be married in November and will be baptized soon after that! Hopefully around the 26th. She loves the Book of Mormon and the gospel. She really has gained a testimony of it and it was awesome to meet her. I am excited to keep teaching her! Another family is Mike and Hilda. They were a referral from the Hermanas. They are incredibly humble. Life has taught them a lot and they are really reseptive to the gospel. They love the feelings they get when we are in their home. Last week Hilda set up an appointment over a week away and Mike told her that it was too far and we needed to come sooner. They are preparing for baptism on the 19th of November. There are a few others that we meet with and see. This week has been a big roller coaster! Elder Prigmore goes home in 4 weeks which means I have to take over the area then. I am stressed a little but know without a doubt that the Lord will provide a way! He loves us all!!

Elder Carruth  

Week 75

Well I got here and had 3 emails in my inbox. Apparently I forgot to tell everyone that my Pday is on Monday. That is a permanent change starting today. All pdays will be on monday. Anyway this is my last day in Albuquerque! I am getting transferred tomorrow. Do you wanna know where to?!?!?! I am going to EL PASO! I am headed down south! To TEXAS! WOO!! I am actually pretty excited about it. My new companion is named Elder Prigmore. He has 5 weeks left on his mission so I will get another new companion and have to take over the zone really quickly. Pray for me. My whole mission has been in the north half and the south half is a completely different place! So I am excited to go learn and grow. It very easily could be my last area. If I spend my last 5 transfers there. So seeing this is my last week I should probably tell you a little about it! More of our investigators decided to stop investigating into the church this week. That was sad but we know that the Lord is preparing others for us to meet! We had a cool experience this week. We were about to go knock a few doors in an apartment complex. We said a prayer that Heavenly Father would help us teach one lesson while we knocked. That someone would let us teach them when we met them. We talked to 1 person out of the first 16 doors. We only had 8 doors left but we were thinking about leaving. It was a little discouraging. But we promised the Lord we would knock the whole building. So we went forward. The very next door we were able to teach a lesson! What a miracle! Had we left we would not have met this wonderful daughter of God. The Lord truly answered our prayers. The next day we decided to try something new! We went on a zone blitz. That is where the whole zone goes to one area and we all knock doors. The hope is we find people to teach for a struggling area. It was a huge success! We found 5 or 6 people who agreed on having the missionaries come back. What a cool way to help other missionaries and to do the work of the Lord. Another cool experience we had was when an inactive member of the church contacted the mission office for a blessing. We got the call and headed over there. She hasn't been to church in 6 years but has really felt the Lord telling her to go back. We were able to give her a blessing. The spirit was powerful. Not only that but we gave her husband one as well. He is not a member of the church and agreed to meeting with the missionaries! A miracle of the Lord. Yesterday was a tough day for me. Having to say goodbye to people I love and care about so deeply. So many incredible families here in the ward. I got to bear my testimony in sacrament and I also gave a talk in the YSA. It went really well and one of the YSA members told me it was a gem. I am going to miss these people so much. So many of them have changed my life forever. I am excited to see what El Paso has to offer! New missionaries to meet and serve with, new people to find, teach and love and new experiences to grow my Faith and testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ. I love you all!!!

Elder Carruth 

Week 74

This is going to be extremely short! I have very little time today because we went to the zoo this morning with the zone. So I will just share a miracle story. On Sunday we had a member bring his friend to church with him. He introduced us to her as soon as we walked into the building. Her name is Shana. She came to gospel principles class and Jennifer and Domonic were there too! It was awesome to see them I didn't think they showed up. We decided to ask the class if they had any questions for us. That was inspired because the questions that came were incredible. First off Shana asked the first question. It was her first time at church. Not only that but her question was "How does baptism work in this church?" It was amazing! By the end of the class she told us that she has found her new church! Our church! She lives just outside of our area but the sisters are ready to teach her and help her. The next question was one that really touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes. I was fasting that Sunday for Jennifer and Domonic. We have been teaching them for a couple months and I love them both to death. I am 100% POSITIVE that I knew Jennifer before this life. I know for a fact we were friends before this. And not just friends but like best friends. Like brother and sister. I have been praying so hard because I know that Jennifer wants to get baptized and wants to get sealed in the temple. But Domonic has been a little slower on the uptake. He is Catholic which is awesome. Firm faith in Christ. The miracle came in class when Domonic told us his hang up on getting baptized with his wife. He told us that he has had family who has passed away who were good Catholic people. He didn't want to believe that they couldn't live with Domonic again because they weren't sealed and they never had the chance to be in their life. It was a big deal to him. The spirit had him ask that question because we have the answer. Everyone gets the chance to accept the gospel, if not in this life then the next. We explained and testified that his family would learn about the gospel and have the chance to be sealed. They are waiting on Domonic to get baptized to take their names to the temple. I think it really softened his heart. Jennifer was in tears. I was almost in tears. It was incredible. They are incredible. We have a lesson set up with them later today. I love you all!

Elder Carruth

PS - The picture with me and a sister missionary is me and Hermana Peyson. She came into the mission with me and we served together in Rio Rancho for all 5 transfers I was there. She is my best friend in the mission. She goes home in a week. Which means the english sisters that came out with me go home next transfer and I go home 6 months after that. Crazy.

Week 73

Hello wonderful family, friends, acquaintances and everyone else!! Happy October! Can you believe it is October? That means November and December are coming. And then 2017! Wow. 2017. Cool stuff. Anyways this week was pretty good! We had a TON of meetings and stuff so we really only got to work for 2.5 days. But in those days miracles happened!! So the Sisters were teaching a man named Daniel. He is in a different ward. Some situations made it necessary that we would need to take over teaching him. So as of Saturday we have been teaching Daniel. Well he is super solid! He has committed to be baptized on the 29th and we might move it up to like the 15th! He has changed so much already as the spirit has taught him and his testimony has grown. I am excited to teach him! He wants us to meet with him everyday! That is so cool! Lots of teaching now. We had zone conference this week! 4 zones got together to be taught by President Guffey. I got to see some old missionary friends which was awesome. The spirit was super strong! I learned a ton. So cool miracle this week. We started teaching a girl named Theresa. We taught the Restoration to her and she accepted a baptismal date of OCT 22! it was super cool! We haven't heard from her since though so keep her in your prayers! We are still working with our other investigators too. So the highlight of this week was General Conference. If you don't know what that is, it is a huge church wide broadcast where the Prophet and Apostles of the Lord speak to us. And other leaders of the church as well, male and female. Their words are inspired and inspiring. It is an amazing time to get answers to prayers and hear the words of living prophets. It happens twice a year. So the rest of my email is going to be questions that many of you might have, and a link or two to go watch a talk that helps answer that question.

Where do I come from? Why am I here? What happens after death?

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/media/session_1_talk_3/5150993228001?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/media/session_4_talk_3/5151849353001?lang=eng

What is the Book of Mormon and why do we need it?

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/media/session_2_talk_5/5151163687001?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/media/session_3_talk_4/5151317617001?lang=eng

Is Joseph Smith truly a prophet of God?

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/media/session_1_talk_8/5151305274001?lang=eng

Why do bad things happen to good people? Is it possible to be happy?

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/media/session_4_talk_4/5151884835001?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/media/session_4_talk_9/5151870518001?lang=eng
https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/media/session_5_talk_8/5152056834001?lang=eng

By listening to these talks, you can come to know for yourself of who the Savior is and how much He loves you. This is His church led by His chosen servants. I love you all!!

Elder Carruth

Week 72

Hello people!! What a wonderful week this week has proved to be. This might be a short email, so if you usually stop reading around now feel free to keep going! So we had some cool miracles this week. Rosalie, our Jewish investigator, prayed for the first time this week about the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ. She told us that she felt good when she prayed and we were able to testify to her of the spirit and how we receive answers to prayers. She came to church for the first time too!!! AND she stayed for 2nd hour! AND she PARTICIPATED! BOOM! So that was cool. On Friday we had a Zone Training that followed up for the MLC we had last week. It was super powerful and the spirit of the Lord was there in abundance. We all received revelation and inspiration for how we can improve and how we can be better. What a wonderful gift from Heavenly Father. That same day we had a member make the whole zone a cake! I think there is a picture of it with this email. It was so cool! It had a Zia on the top and then all around the sides were the doors that we knock on as missionaries. The member used to own a bakery in Salt Lake City. It was amazingly good and the zone was super happy! Ok so I have more miracles to talk about. So we went by a YSA to start the morning off on Saturday. He actually has a couple kids so not quite a YSA anymore but he told us about his neighbors. We deiced to go talk to them. When we knocked on their door they immediately let us in! We were able to teach about the Restoration and Book of Mormon. We were able to give their information to the Sisters who cover the family ward in that area. It was awesome! And a pure miracle from the Lord. He truly led us to those people who need what we had. Later that day went by Jennifer and Domonic. They just got back from a Doterra convention in Salt Lake. We told them to go to temple square and they did!! They showed us pictures of them standing outside the temple! It was so cool and amazing! Not only that but Jennifer told us that next year they are adding time to their trip so they can spend a day their. Jennifer and I are pretty much best friends now. They both came to church this week! Jennifer for the second time and Domonic for the first time! They stayed all three hours and participated! It was a miracle and so cool! If I was telling you this story in person I would be out of breath. Imagine that. Overall we had 5 people come to church this week. That is the most since I was in Belen almost a year ago. It was so cool to see people progress. Yesterday was probably the best day. It was missionary monday. When the whole mission goes to the temple!!! The temple is so wonderful and peaceful. It is truly the house of God. If you don't believe me go to the closest temple to you. Just walk around the outside and touch the outside of the building. Think of your Savior and His love for you. I promise you will feel the truthfulness of the temple. And the holiness that is there. We also got to clean the temple! I got to see the bride room which is something I would never get to see otherwise. We were in the temple for a total of 7 hours. Wonderful. Beautiful. Celestial. I love you all!! Hope this week is the best of your WHOLE LIFE! You are in my prayers. God loves you!

Elder Carruth 

Week 71

Well hello there people. Hope today finds you doing wonderful things and enjoying life. If not then know that I love you and think you are great! And that I know you can do wonderful things. This last week was full of miracles and ended with a ginormous miracle. Like proof that God exists miracle. The hand of the Lord is in this great work. So let me tell you all about everything! Or at least some about some things. So the first really awesome thing that happened this week was we had a mid-month MLC with a General Authority. Elder Pearson of the Seventy came to our mission to visit with just the leadership. (If you don't know what the Seventy is or what they do, https://www.lds.org/church/leaders/quorums-of-the-seventy?lang=eng this website will help.) He talked to us for 4 hours. The spirit in that meeting was incredible. My testimony was strengthened. He talked a lot about our divine identity. How was are children of God and how we want to get back to live with him. When we understand that God is our Father, we immediately want to follow Him and His son, Jesus Christ. This Friday we get to train the missionaries of our zone on the things we learned. It will be wonderful. So a really cool miracle we had this week, not the ginormous one, was when we went to teach Chris. He is a less active member in the YSA. When we got there we found Alana. Chris's friend. She is not a member of the church but wanted to learn and so we were able to teach her the restoration and the spirit was powerful. It was a cool miracle to be able to help her feel the spirit and invite her to come participate in the blessings of the gospel. It was a cool experience. Ok are you ready for the ginormous miracle? Since like 3 of you are probably still reading this far into my email only you will feel the strength and testimony this story brings. We are teaching a guy named Jim. He is a wonderful son of God. He has been meeting with the missionaries for well over a year now. He has his choice of the true church narrowed down to 2 churches. Ours and another one that I won't mention. Honestly he is leaning towards the other one. He has been taught all of the lessons and has read the entire Book of Mormon and a lot of Doctrine and Covenants. On Tuesday, we went over there and made him a promise. We promised him, as representatives of our Savior Jesus Christ, that if he would live the gospel for 3 weeks, coming to church, reading the scriptures, praying daily, following all the commandments, etc, that he would get his answer at General Conference. He accepted our invitation. We went back on Friday. He had been keeping the commitment. Friday was the day that we met with Elder Pearson so we were on a spiritual high. We immediately applied the things that we learned in MLC to Jim. We taught his about his Divine Identity and how the spirit talks to us. He told us that he has a new desire to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. He told us that he doesn't get the warm fuzzy feelings at the other church like he does at ours, even though he believes their doctrine more. We testified to him again that he would get his answer at conference if he kept on the path he was on. We also extended a baptismal date of October 8th to him, the week after conference. He accepted! It was so cool to watch the spirit work on him. That in itself is a huge miracle from God. BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE!! WAY MORE! He came to church on Sunday which is good. We noticed someone on the stand that we didn't recognize. Well it turns out that it was Elder Torres of the Area Seventy. President Guffey, our mission President, has been talking about him a lot since he lives in Albuquerque. Elder Torres got up and talked about receiving revelation at church. He promised all of us that if we would be sitting down 10 minutes early for church that we would receive the revelation we need for our lives. He also testified of baptism and how the windows of heaven open at baptism. As soon as the meeting ended our Bishop and Elder Torres came right to us and Jim. Elder Torres shook our hands and then talked to Jim for 5 minutes about what he was feeling. Jim told him that he was preparing to be baptized on the 8th and Elder Torres really committed him to that. It was so cool and powerful and really had an impact on Jim. So we are having a baptism on the 8th of October! Be excited!! That is the wonderful thing about having faith in Christ. Through Him all is possible. Without Him, all is pointless. I want to extend a promise to all of you, members of the church or not, that will help you grow your faith in Christ. If you will simply allow the missionaries to share their message with you, just listen to the message they share, it will strengthen your faith in Christ. You will be blessed for heaven. We as missionaries truly represent the Lord Jesus Christ, having been set apart by His Authority to represent Him. This is His work. And He loves you. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Elder Carruth