Week 54

 

I have to title the pics when I save them so I titled this "Sun"

"Sky"

"Moon"

 

 

Well hello friends and family! Great to see all of you bright and smiling emails! Thank you to all who respond with words of encouragement and strength. They truly do help. This last week was full of ups and downs and all arounds. But at the end we talk about the ups because those are what are of true importance here. We were able to spend a lot of time knocking on doors and talking to people! That is always a lot of fun and something I have grown to appreciate over the last year of my life. Slightly by force at first, but then by choice. It is a great joy to talk to God's children about the gospel of Jesus Christ. That was pretty much what our whole week was about. Knocking doors and talking to as many people as we could find. We had a wonderful miracle though. We were at sonic with some members of our ward when our phone rang. It was a couple of sisters from the ABQ West Zone. They called us and gave us a referral of a family they had been teaching that moved to Rio Rancho. As it turns out they moved to our apartment complex. Small world. But they had taken the lessons for a while and are already prepared for baptism! It was such a huge miracle for us. After all of the hard work we have been putting in over the last few weeks it was so great to see blessings from heaven. We needed it. We went and met them last night and talked to them. They have been married for two years and are expecting their first child in early July (The 5th maybe?!?!). The husband, Drew, is a less active member of the church and his wife, Renee, was raised Catholic. They decided to create a spiritual foundation in preparation for their new baby. Renee decided that she wants to get baptized! It was so sweet to hear her testimony and to see the joy that they have. The Lord is truly blessing them. That was the miracle of the transfer so far for us. It was amazing. The other awesome thing of the week was Zone Conference. It was President and Sister Miller's last one before they go home in July. It was yesterday which is why P-Day is today. The spirit was strong and I loved it. Elder Burton and I had the chance to provide training to all of the Zones. It was a great experience. At the end of the day President and Sister gave their final testimonies to us. After singing "I Know That My Redeemer Lives" we were all in tears. President included. It was so hard to say goodbye to such and inspired man. Someone who loves this work so much and loves each of his missionaries. What an inspiration to us all. I truly love President Miller and Sister Miller with all my heart. They have done so much for me and my life. They will always have a huge part in the person I am today. President Guffey will be here in July and I am excited to meet him and his wife and love them as well. It will be great. I love you all!! Thank you for all that you do!! 

Elder Carruth 





Week 53

Well another week has gone by! At least I think it did. I don't really think I ever left the library. Just one continuous email from last week... I hope all is well for all of you and that life is being nice to you. This week was full of miracles! And a little stress... but we will focus on the miracles because that is what we live for out here. So we have been really trying to start the work in High Range Ward. We took it over a month ago and had nothing and still have nothing really. We spent a few minutes knocking doors out there and while we were there the Hermanas called us with two referrals! It was awesome! And a huge miracle. We will take everything we can get right now to start the work and establish a teaching pool. Last week we were knocking one of the apartment complexes that we have been working on for weeks. We found this lady named Susan. she immediately invited us in and told us about her mom, who is on Hospice and doesn't have much time left. She told us that she was interested in learning about our religion and to compare it to her Methodist faith. It was a really cool miracle and we are excited to help her understand the Plan of Salvation. It will be really good and something that will help motivate Elder Burton and I. Right after we talked to her a man approached us and told us that we were not allowed to be there. That no solicitors could be in the complex. We tried to tell him that we weren't solicitors but he didn't want to listen. This is a funny story. He asked if we wanted to go to the office with him. After immediately agreeing with his invitation, he got really surprised and said, "Wait, do you really want to go?" After saying yes again we walked him to the office, we went in first and found who we were supposed to talk to by ourselves. He didn't seem very comfortable. He never told us his name. And never stood up for himself. The manager lady gave us the number of the owner and told us to call her. We then said we would be back anyway to visit those people who invited us to come back. It was so funny to me to watch how this man handled this situation. He was full of contention, but when we didn't argue back had nothing to say or do. This was a moment that I found out that I have changed a lot out here. I would have handled that situation a lot differently before the mission. I have changed so much it is crazy. Anyway just an interesting realization for me. Friday was my official one year mark! I survived this long it is awesome! And kinda scary to think how fast it has gone. The Hermanas gave me a camel. It goes around the mission to those who hit the hump day. I now get to pass it on to some lucky person. Later that day we knocked on the door of a lady named Pam. She also invited us in to talk and told us that she had been looking for a church. She told us that she totally can see Joseph Smith being a prophet and that she wants to hear our message. She also told us she will get her husband on board too. It was an awesome miracle. We are excited to teach her and her husband as well. She works nights and she told us the only time she could really go to church would be in the morning. Well good thing church starts at 8:30! God knows His children. Perfectly. I had the chance to give a couple blessings this week to sisters. I love those moments. I feel like I can help the Lord more specifically. They were really cool experiences where I was able to receive revelation and hopefully help the sisters to feel the love of their Heavenly Father. Even when the work seems to slow down, the Lord always has His hand in it. The work of the Lord will go forth! The church is true. I testify of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The comfort that it gives in the crazy world we live in. In it's pages are testimonies of truth and light, all centered on the Savior Jesus Christ. I love you all! Keep up the fight.

Elder Carruth 

Week 52

Well hello there! I hope all of you are happy this beautiful Tuesday. If not then remember that God loves you and that He is there for you. And I love you too if that helps at all... Anyway this week has been a crazy one! The first full week with Elder Burton. He is such a great missionary. I have looked up to him for a while and now getting to be his companion just adds to that. He has already taught me a lot. I am excited for the next 5 weeks to see what we can accomplish together. Should be a ton of fun and a ton of success. If the Lord allows for it of course. Anyway we continued our efforts to find new people to teach this week. And we did manage to find a few. We found a young couple named J and B. J is Wiccan and we don't quite know where B is at with Religion. We talked a lot about the plan of salvation and are excited to go back. He asked really powerful questions and recognizes the truth in what we say. They will progress. They are awesome people. The other person we found is R. He is a great-grandpa and loves his family to death. He invited us into his home and he agreed with what we had to say. It was really cool. We are excited for this week that is upcoming! We have a lot of new people that have agreed to having us over and we cannot wait for that. It should be a really great week full of success. Last week we had MLC and Zone Training. It is one of my favorite things about being a Zone Leader. I love getting to train the zone. We have a great group of missionaries down here. I am blessed to have been in this zone for as long as I have. Crazy to think that it is week 52! Time flies when you do the Lord's work. I love you all!!!

Elder Carruth 

Week 51

Well... 51 weeks ago I thought my year mark would never come. And now it rests a short week away. Hard to believe. Well transfers have happened! And are you ready to know where I am!?!?!?! I am still here. In Rio Rancho. I did not get transferred which was surprising. My companion did though and now I am with Elder Burton. When I found out that he was going to be me new companion I was pumped. He has been a ZL for 8 transfers. I knew him from earlier in the mission too so we are beyond excited to serve with each other. It will be a fast 6 weeks but a great 6 weeks too. This last week was a little bit slower than the rest of the transfer, but it wasn't short of miracles and greatness! Everyday we live as missionaries is a gift and a miracle and I am beyond grateful for it. ANYWAY! Lets talk about the week. We had a good lesson with M this week. We taught a simple lesson about the restoration. There were lots of distractions which made it hard but it was still good. We should be able to teach her again this week. Hopefully we can get her to progress. We had district meeting this week which was awesome. The spirit was there and full of motivation and revelation. I am excited to continue to stay in this zone. Truly Rio Zion is the place to be in the mission. We found a couple new investigators this week! That was really exciting. We have more people to teach now. One of them was a very cool miracle. We were walking back to our truck after knocking on doors and this guy named R yelled out to us. He told us that he is going to stop drinking today and that we are his sign to do that. He invited us over. He is very firmly Catholic which is awesome. We told him our purpose and he told us that he is going to convert us. So no matter what, at the end of it all, someone will get converted. It was really cool though that Heavenly Father put us in the exact place that we needed to be so we could meet him. God is good. It was crazy for me when I woke up and it was May. Last May is when I left on my mission. It doesn't feel like a year has gone by yet... not fair. I hear that time will just continue to accelerate. Eventually we made it to transfer day which was yesterday. We headed to the mission office and I saw a ton of people I havent seen in forever. That was really awesome. I picked up Elder Burton, dropped off Elder Summers, and headed back home. We were home for 20 minutes before our first lesson together with Jason and Brianna. Jason is wicken and has a lot of sincere questions. It was really good and we are excited to go back. That is pretty much my week all balled up into one email. I hope all of you are doing well! 

With Love,

Elder Carruth 

Week 50

Well hello!!! Can you believe it is week 50 already? Holy.... wow.... Time sure does fly out here. Elder Summerhays calls me a trunky bum when I put what week I am in the mission. Then I tell him he is on week 86 and he leaves me alone hahahaha good times out here. This week was another great one in the mission. They all are though so no surprise. Anyway where to begin... So we have a referral from a returned missionary who used to live here. His name is D. When we met him he was really excited to see us. He is active in the Catholic church but wanted us to pray with him. He is extremely nice. This week he invited us to lunch at a Dennys like diner. We had a wonderful conversation and at the end he gave us a gift card for the restaurant and some cash to spend. It was really nice of him and we felt really blessed. We are hopeful to continue to build a relationship with him. Later that same day we had a lesson with a new investigator named S. He was a referral from the Rockaway Elders. He is Jewish and interested in learning about the Book of Mormon and wants to meet with us. He is a pretty cool guy. The highlight of the week for sure was the baptism of R. It was so powerful. There was a great turn out and a lot of investigators came from other wards. I was so honored to baptize him. It was a sweet experience that I will never forget. It was a great day. That is all I can think of this week! Small email so I apologize! Next week is transfers so the next email I send will most likely be from a new area and maybe even a new state! I don't want to leave but I think it is coming. Love you all!!

Elder Carruth

Week 49

Elder Carruth said it is good to know the desert is protected should there be fire.

Took me a minute to figure this out - it says JOY - goes with the xmas lights I guess!

 

 

Hello everyone!!!!! Hope all is well with all of you wherever you may find  yourself today. It has been a crazy week! Like really crazy. But in a really great way! The work is awesome and now that we cover two wards it is a lot more to do! Well soon anyway. We have nothing in the new ward so we get to build it from the ground up. Anyway lets talk about the week. So last week we had a really cool experience. We were out on the field and there was a bunny. We decided to chase it. It ended up getting stuck in the fence. So I got to touch it! BOOM! Touched a wild bunny. I feel accomplished. So besides that we had a really good lesson with R. We met him at the church because he was facing a lot of opposition at home. His wife's family came to their house and through a huge fit over them investigating the church. His wife immediately declined any further meetings with us. R however, fought back and shared his testimony of the restored gospel, something that he knows is true through revelation. He stood up for his beliefs and is still getting baptized this weekend. It will be a powerful baptism. Since that day we have had two members invite R and his whole family over for dinner. His wife came too and enjoyed the company. Since then we have had dinner at R's home with his wife. Things are going well for now. Prayers would be gratefully accepted. We are really excited for Ryan. On Saturday he asked me to baptize him. I couldn't stop smiling. I am honored and blessed to even have the opportunity to do that. I am excited. If I would have left on my mission when I originally planned to, 6 months prior to my actual departure, I would have not met R. The Lord knows what he is doing. I promise and testify of that fact. We taught a couple of new investigators this week. One is M. She is Catholic and very very nice. She is interested in reading the Book of Mormon because she had a old friend who was a member and would talk to her about it. We have an appointment to go back this week and we are excited for it. Hopefully things go well. We also had a really cool experience. We knocked on the door of a guy named Hr. He told us to come back the following day so we did. When we got there his wife A answered. Usually a bad sign because the spouse is the brave one that tells us to go away. However! She told us to come back in 20 minutes and that they were looking for a church! We came back and the listened to us talk about the Book of Mormon and its importance to us. They asked questions and accepted a baptismal invite. The spirit was powerful. Really powerful and we are really excited to go back and see them this week. More details to come. Sunday was the first time I got to attend multiple wards as a missionary. Now that we cover two we get to go to two blocks. Our day started at 7 AM with PEC and ended at 4 PM after our second block. It was a lot of church but a good thing too. We will see how it goes as it continues. That is about it for the week! Love you all!!

Elder Carruth 



Week 48

Hello family, friends, loved ones, acquaintances, people I know, God's children, and yeah! Hi. Hope you all had a fulfilling week full of joy, happiness and success. I had a great week! Every week in the mission field is fantastic. If you don't believe me then go on a mission! It will be great for you. So the work has slowed down a little bit here in Panorama Heights. But! We have exciting news! One of the wards split Sunday and we picked up one of the pieces! We now cover the High Range ward too. It is exciting! I have never covered two wards on my mission before. 2 times as much church on Sunday. More members. More meals! It will be awesome. I am also super stressed about it because we white washed into High Range. We know nothing about the ward or the area. But the Elders who have been covering it are in the zone still so it will be great. We are pumped. We are excited to help both wards grow and split again! We went on exchanges last week with Elder Summerhays and Elder Olsen. I went with Elder Olsen to his area. He has been out for about 2 months and it was the first time he took over the area. He was nervous but did a great job. We had a lot of fun getting to know each other and working hard. I learned a ton. We had a cool miracle that day. We decided to go tracting in Chamisa's area looking for YSAs. We found a referral to give to Chamisa while we were there. When we called them they needed some supplies that we just so happened to have in the truck. We went to see them and they just happened to be on the street of one of Elder Olsen's investigators. We just happened to find him while he was home and talked to him for 20 minutes and set up an appointment. Lots of things just so happened to work out for that to happen. It was a cool miracle. The Lord clearly was in charge of the day. The church is true. Later that same day we stopped by a member to give a blessing. She insisted that I looked like a bishop. No amount of denial from me would stop her from calling me baby bishop from that point forward. It was funny but definitely not prophecy. We had MLC this week! When all the leaders of the mission get together and are trained by the Assistants and President. It was a lot of fun! And the spirit was really powerful. We were really excited to go back to our zones and train the missionaries on what we had learned there. I love days that we get to spend with President. He is truly inspired and I love him. It will be sad when he goes home in July. We had another exchange this week with the Assistants. We went to their area and I spent the day with Elder Gardner. It was a lot of fun. We laughed a ton and spent the whole day knocking on doors. We talked to a lot of people. I enjoyed this exchange much more than the last one with the APs. Yesterday was the first day taking over the High Range ward. That ward happens to have a hospital in its boundaries so we got to go give a blessing there yesterday. It will be an interesting couple of weeks. We are hoping that since transfers are only 3 weeks away that they will keep Elder Summers and I together for one more transfer. I have never had a companion for more than 2 transfers but now would be a great time to start! That is pretty much our whole week. The update on R and his family: We still teach R everyday. He is really excited for his baptism on the 23rd. He came to church on Sunday and bore his testimony to the congregation. He actually challenged them all to never give up. It was powerful and a true sign of conversion. We were also able to teach his family this week. His wife and son both accepted baptismal invitations and we will hopefully teach them twice a week. It is so amazing to see them all progress. They are such an amazing family. R is the most sincere person I have met in my life. Full of love and generosity. I look up to him. That is my whole week! Love you all!!

Elder Carruth