Week 46

Another week has come and quickly passed here in the wonderful world of New Mexico. I am starting to think that time will never really slow down again. Not just in mission life but for the rest of my life. But that is a good thing I guess. If time is slow it means you are bored. Being bored is boring. Anyway! This week was a great one! We didn't have the success we were hoping for but we saw miracles that motivated us and kept us going! So let me begin with a funny story. A couple weeks ago I ran out of mission money due to some medical expenses and the ever increasing price of razors... I had a lot of March left to survive on. While we were at walmart last week a person we had never met before gave each of us $10! It was such a tender mercy from the Lord. Easy to overlook but I know that I was blessed. Then on Easter we got baskets from out WML. In the basket was a $15 gift card to smiths. THE LORD IS GOOD! I love being a missionary. The zone has been facing a lot of opposition lately. It has been rough across the board. But good things are abound in the work. Last week Elder Summers and I chose a street to go knock. When we got there there we very few houses and even fewer cars. But we chose it prayerfully so nevertheless we went forth. Almost every house had someone in it. And we even found a couple people to say we can come back! It was really cool to watch the Lord prepare a street for us even when it looked vacant. We had a really cool miracle this week. The High Range Elders found someone for us to teach. His name is R. Remember that name he will be in many emails to come. We went over there for the first lesson and he told us that he has read the Book of Mormon 8 times and the bible more than that. I have only read it 3 times so he is doing pretty good. Anyway he told us that he has a testimony of Joseph Smith and when we started talking about baptism he was worried. He recounted a story of his previous baptism which involved a 3 day test of questions and scenarios. It was hard for him. We explained the qualifications for baptism and he said "That is a huge weight off my shoulders! I am already there." He is so ready for the gospel!! I will continue this story in my miracle of the week! He is awesome though. We taught a few lessons over the weekend. Nothing really extraordinary though. We are struggling to find investigators who will progress. We are working on that though!! It will be good! We will teach the world of the Restoration!! Easter was a bitter sweet day. It was a great day for the most part though. It was wonderful to focus on the Savior and His Resurrection. It is my testimony that without that act of love from Him we would not have the opportunity to return to Heavenly Father. Our Savior broke the bands of death that we may live forever. What a great gift that is to us. And what hope that brings to me and my family. I testify that the Savior lives, He loves us and has sacrificed all for us. In Him we may find new life. Easter dinner was amazing! Our Bishop and his wife fed us. They are wonderful people and send pictures to our moms when we go there. I am sure they love that. It was at the close of Easter Sunday that we received the bad news. One of the Sisters in our zone has been having really bad pains and has been to the ER once already. We got the news Sunday that President is sending her home to get checked out. It was extremely sad for all of us. I hate losing missionaries. I love them all so much and want them to succeed. It is hard for me to see the other missionaries so sad but we all know that the Lord has a plan for her. All things happen for a reason. I know that to be true. That was pretty much how the week ended. I love you all! More than you know! And more than that the Lord loves you too.

Spiritual Experience of the Week:

The first lesson we had with R was powerful. The spirit was there testifying to us all that the words we spoke are true. R could feel it as well and he loved it. I love the peaceful and motivation feelings that come through feeling the spirit. It is moments like that that we live for as missionaries. 

Miracle of the Week:

Remember R? Do you? Good here we go. So we taught him last night and it was a really good lesson on the Restoration. At the end I invited him to be baptized on the 30th of April. He paused for a moment before saying "Of course! I am excited!" Then he pulled out his phone and put it in his calendar. He then asked "What time would it be at?" It was so cool because no one responds like that unless they have truly been prepared by the Lord. What a miracle for us. A gift from God. He will do so amazing in the gospel. 

Spiritual Thought of the Week:

With the approach of General Conference this weekend I would like to extend a promise to all of you. If you will watch a session of conference with questions in your heart, anything from does God exist to is the Book of Mormon true, I promise you, as a representative of the Savior Jesus Christ, that you will get answers to your prayers. You will feel of Heavenly Fathers love for you in abundance and feel the comfort will all search for in life. It is a time for revelation, a time to learn, and a time to feel the spirit of God. I pray that we all take this opportunity to draw close to the Savior.

Pic: Me and Elder Summerhays doing service.

Love you all!!

Elder Carruth