Week 12

Hello from the flaming pits of New Mexico! I mean that in the nicest possible way of course. It is just a little warm down here still. This week went by slower than normal because we had a lot of people cancel on us. We ended up having to just go drop by some people randomly and hope they were home. It wasn't a bad week at all just a slow one. I feel like July went by really fast. It is hard to believe that is is August already! I had a little girl try to throw an angry kitten on me last week. We were visiting her older sister who recently got baptized. The little girl kept tormenting the kitten and then tried to throw her on me. I wasn't about to take claws to the face though so I tactfully avoided it. We got caught in the rain TWICE last week. The rain here is different than Washington rain. It is thick and comes all at once for 15 minutes. It just pours and pours and then the sun comes back and it gets humid. Apparently New Mexico is having the wettest summer in a long time. I feel blessed because it keeps the heat at bay.We had to go home and change because we were soaked. We got a ride the second time though so it was ok. We have an investigator named Kendall. She is 16 and amazing. I don't know what I have said about her already or not but she is getting baptized on the 15th. She is super ready and really excited for it. She wants one of us to baptized her but hasnt told us which one. I would love to be able to do that for her but really just want her to get baptized and receive the blessings for it. She wanted to bear her testimony on Sunday but pulled me to the side before church and said she was nervous. I told her I would go with her. As soon as testimonies started she poked my shoulder and asked if I was going up there. I did and she followed and gave an amazing testimony. She will make an awesome member. I went on exchanges last Friday with Elder Goff. I stayed in Belen and we worked hard. He started his mission here so we went to see some of the families that he knew as well as teach some of our current investigators. It was really fun and I love going on exchanges. I decided to try BBQ sauce again since I haven't in months. I became allergic to it last summer and haven't had any since. I tried some at dinner thinking that since it was homemade there was a better chance that it wouldn't hurt me. I was wrong. I am almost positive now that I am allergic to molasses. That is the only thing in it that it could be. It was really a dumb choice cause right after that we had to go to Chuck's baptism. I fought the sickness all night but the baptism was awesome. The spirit was super strong and Chuck had a huge grin all night. Kendall came to the baptism and told us that her testimony grew and that she was super excited for her baptism. I am so proud of Chuck and Christy and their progress in the church. Their lives have changed for the better and they are completely new people. We got to confirm Chuck on Sunday and they have already come teaching with us. They are fantastic members of the church. Yesterday was a super fun day. We had a service project and helped with a food drop. Basically we helped sort food and helped people get it to their cars and stuff. We were there for 2 hours and it was a lot of fun. There were lots of smiling faces. Anyway that is about all from this week. Hope everyone is doing well! Love you all!

Quotes of the Week:

"You're here to change the world not to be changed by the world."

"It isn't a sin to be weak."

"How do we go from where we are now to where the Lord needs us to be?"

"The Lord wants to bless you with more than you could ever sacrifice."

"Don't be too busy to study the gospel."

Spiritual Experience of the Week:

There is an investigator named Alex. He almost got baptized a year ago but fell away and sunk into depression when life events happened. Recently he has been opening up to us and telling us that he has been praying a lot and getting really upset that he wasn't getting answers. He really wanted to know if God was real. I got really bold with him and told him that the only way you can get answers to your prayers is if you try to do what God wants you to do. You can't expect to get answers when as soon as you are done praying you ignore God at every turn. He told us that he has been feeling that he needed to come to church. After explaining that that is an answer to a prayer, he came to church on Sunday. After Sacrament he gave me a hug and said he would be back next week. The spirit really was there to help him and comfort him. I am excited for him to continue to learn and grow.

 

Love you all!!!

Elder Carruth