Elder Carter takes S. Dakota!: He's in Dakota!

He's in Dakota now!

Elder Carter called the family from the Denver Airport on Monday the 24th. Little did we know, he would call again in a few hours! We;;, I'll let him tell you why. We are so happy to hear from him! Missionary Mondays are the BEST!

**Due to Privacy reasons, the investigators names have been changed** (The Adams Family is the same... He liked that joke. :D )

So, Monday at 3:30 a.m. they crammed a bunch of missionaries going to the airport on 2 charter buses. We got to the airport and half of us got the "random alarm" as we go through the metal detector. As we were going through security they swiped these bandaid-like-thingies on our hands to check for explosives. One of the elders with us, Elder White, passed (of course) but when he went to give them his ID (which was a copy of his paper permit back home) they didn't accept it, so he had to go through a deep pat down, and validation of records, and they checked everything for traces of explosives, and his shoes tested positive!!! Which made the process take even longer.... But when they tested again nothing came from it... I still don't understand how that works. Well, we flew to Denver, had an hour lay over, got on the next plane to Rapid city, and once we arrived we just kinda circled above the clouds for about 30 minutes, than the pilot comes over the speaker, saying we were running out of gas and had to return to Denver. Elder Tautaiolefue about wet himself at that, and we all had a good laugh! When we got back to Denver, we tried to book the next flight, but all the flights for the day were being cancelled because of the weather in Rapid City. After much tribulation, we finally got to a hotel, stayed the night, and went back to the airport. Can I just say that Denver Airport is about the size of most cities?! It's HUGE!!!! Trying to get out of there was like trying to write with your toe nail!!! It's possible, but man is it a pain in the behind!!!

Anyway, after that beautiful metaphor... I am in a tiny place called Valley City, North Dakota! We had a very brief training with the Anderson's since we were late, than stayed the night in the mission home, than took what they call "the transfer train", which is 2 11 passenger vans with a trailer, one travels north on an interstate and the other travels East on another interstate, then they eventually pass each other where the other interstates cross, and head back to the mission home, all the while stopping to drop off and pick up missionaries being transferred. It's an all day event for most people. I finally met my trainer at about 5:30 when we stopped in a city called Jamestown. We then hopped in our car and drove to VC (Valley City). I took a little less than an hour to get to our appointment, which was dinner with a member family that reminded me of the Miners! So, being thanksgiving, we couldn't do much proselyting since all of our investigators had plans, so we met with a few members in our area and did service! We had Thanksgiving at the Kauffmens' house (Jackie, I missed your stuffing.... so very much... not that Sister Kauffmen's wasn't good, but it definitely wasn't yours....), then set up their Christmas tree.

Well, that was my first full 24 hours!! My apartment is in the basement of the Adam's family (haha). It's a cozy little place, except for the bathroom, which has no source of heat but a little heater on the floor. Every time I take a shower, it takes everything I've got to take off my clothes!! It's so cold in there! Anyways, my trainers name is Elder Wright from Idaho Falls. He's great! he keeps apologizing for not doing very much missionary work, but I understand since it's crazy with thanksgiving stuff going on. On Friday I met my first investigator! His name is Jake. He's from LA California! He reminds me of Brad Waddell if he were 6'2" and black. We're also teaching a girl named Keri. She's doing really well with reading and praying about the BoM, but she's afraid to come to church cause she doesn't want to be judged for her piercings and tattoos. She needs prayers!

Well, my first morning my comp and I went for a run. It was -16 plus a wind chill of who knows how much. Everything stayed warm, thanks to my thermals, except for my eyes and nose. After a few minutes of running and breathing through my fancy scarf thing that I got in my package, my humid breath froze on the outside of it and I couldn't breath through it anymore.... That was ruff XD When we got back to the apartment our eye lashes had frozen, and my glasses had a layer of ice on them as well..... Can I just thank my wonderful mother for making me buy all that warm stuff? There isn't really a place to buy something more than maybe a sweater.... The nearest Walmart is about an hour away.

So, Monday is P-Day, and we get 2 hours to email.

849 Hanna Ave. Valley City, ND 58072 is my address, so send me good stuff!!

J. Adam's, son of the above Adam's Family (I think I just like saying that) was taking the discussions before he was baptized because his parents wanted him to make the choice, and to go into it knowing that it is the right thing to do, and he was baptized! Funny thing is we got to the church and the font started to fill, then just stopped all of a sudden. The entire church had no water, and we assumed the pipes had frozen. Elder Wright, just as a joke, turns to Bro. Adams and says "we could call a hotel and do it in their pool!" and Bro. Adams looks at him, pulls his phone out, and looks up the closest hotel to the church. So, we then started the services, hopped in our cars, drove about 15 minutes away, went to the pool (the hotel had closed it for us) and J. was baptized in a pool that had a huge twisty slide at the other end! One thing is for sure, that he will never forget his baptism!

Well.... That's about it for this week... I probably missed something.....

Love you all!!!! Don't have too much fun without me!

Elder Carter 5th

Alright y'all, you heard the lad. Send him some good stuff!