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