October 19, 2015 My First Birthday, MLC, and exchange with the Zone Leaders.

What a week!  I'm gonna try to get it all in, but it's not gonna happen.

First!  P-day was nuts.  We had to get so much done (including packing for a week) so that we could get gone by 5:30 to meet up with the Alliance Elders in Hay Springs so that Elder Wilson and I could leave our comps (who are spending the week in Alliance) and head to Chadron to pick up the sisters so that we could get to Rapid City before 9.  We stayed the night with the Zone Leaders, then the next morning we had got up at the normal time (thank goodness) and went to the Stake center to prepare to leave to get there in time to be with Bro. Nelson.  I drove up (this was really weird for me) with the ZL's and Sister Pohl (yup!  She had no comp on the way up....  Weird.).  It is a 6 hour drive to Bismarck.  We totally destroyed a pheasant because it was stupid and decided to fly strait into our windshield, leaving plenty of feathers and streak marks on it.  We arrived after getting lost in Mandan trying to find our way to Bismarck, and finally got there only to find out that we didn't need to get there early to go through with him, so we talked with some of the other missionaries there before we went in.  I didn't actually get to go through the Temple with them, but that's okay.  I got see him afterwards, and he was just beaming!  You could tell just how much he loved being in The House of the Lord.  

There were almost 70 missionaries that night in the Temple.  Before we went in they had us take our shoes and suit coats off in the entry way which had a bunch of hangers and shoe racks so that we had more room in our lockers (remember this detail.  It plays a significant role in a second hehe).  I loved it.  I have a firm testimony that the Temple truly is the House of God.  There is no place that brings more peace to my heart than the Temple does.  I've never thought so clear, and I have never felt so.... Well, at peace.  Afterwards, while I was in the entry way talked to President and Sister Hess, President leans forward a bit and says "Do you know whats fun to do?"  Me and Elder Melville (another missionary with me at the time)  shrugged.  "See all those suit coats there?  I switched all the name tags."  Sister Hess's jaw dropped and she smacked him on the arm saying "You are the worst, you know that?!"  We died laughing (quietly, of course, since we were still in the Temple haha).  Thank goodness we already had ours on!  Once we all got outside, I finally got to see Bro. Nelson, and we had a great little reunion there!  That night we stayed in the Assistants apartment with 10 or so other missionaries. 

Wednesday morning we had MLC (mission leadership council), which was a 6 hour training given by President Hess and (this time) a guest named Brother Donaldson (a man from the Missionary department in Salt Lake).  I must say, I have never enjoyed sitting for 6 hours as much as I did that day.  I learned so much about the Savior and my role as His representative.  Now, you are probably wondering why I was at MLC.  Well, so am I.  There were a hand full of other missionaries that weren't in leadership positions there, and we don't know why, although we've got our hunches (namely, future roles in leadership), but we don't want to scare ourselves too much haha!  After MLC, I got to see so many missionaries I haven't seen in forever!  It was probably too much fun, cause I didn't want to leave, I just wanted to stick around a bit longer and keep talking with them!  But, alas, it was time.  So, we then proceeded to drive another 6 hours back to Rapid City, and luckily didn't hit any deer (althought we had about 6 close calls.... No joke).  We did hit 2 wild turkeys though.  We dropped Sister Pohl off at the Sisters apartment, then headed back to the ZLs place to crash for the night.  

Thursday, I stayed with the ZLs and helped them prepare a training on what we learned at MLC for the ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) the day after.  That was pretty much an all day ordeal.  But, we worked hard and it turned out pretty good!

Friday, we got up then went to the Stake center to start setting up for ZTM only to find that the carpet cleaners were there, so I about bit the dust when I walked from the wet carpet to the waxed basketball court.  We had a great ZTM, then when we were cleaning up, I volunteered to get on the stage (which just so happened to have wet carpet) and put stuff away up there.  Once I was done, I hopped down from the stage out of habit.  Remember the wet floor experience?  Well, if you have ever seen Tom in "Tom and Jerry" when he slips on a banana peal and both of his feet fly up in front of him and his head falls we his feet used to be, than you know EXACTLY what I looked like.    When I slipped I heard a couple of squeals from the Sisters, then dead silence.  I then gave them the thumbs up, and they all ran to see if I survived.  Thankfully, the only thing bruised was my pride.  Wish someone had a camera rolling though!

Well, after ZTM, I got to spend even more time with my trainer!  It was a blast!  We went on exchanges and Elder Wright and I went down to Alliance so that he could interview one of the Elders investigators, than spent the night in their apartment.

On Saturday we drove up early the for a baptism (the Alliance Elders investigator wanted to be baptized in Gordon since that's where most of her family lives).  Afterwards, Elder Wright and I went to see M, and she had a cake for me!  We had a mini birthday celebration. The cake was great!  It was totally unexpected!  What a day!

Well, that about sums it all up!!  Hope you all had a super good week!  I love you and miss you loads!

Elder Carter V

1) This is (from left to right) E. Wright, Bro. Nelson, Me, and Elder Ashby (Elder Wrights trainer.  They are the ones that brought Bro. Nelson into the church.) in front of the Bismarck Temple

2)MTC District Reunion!  We're all here but 3 (2 of which are no longer in the mission)

3)Elder Wright and I at the "rest stop".  They had WIFI!!  At least, the sign said they did.  We didn't have a way of finding out haha!  If you gotta go, you gotta go, yeah?

October 12, 2015 11 months and I get to go to Bismark for MLC and the Temple!!!

Well, to start off, S is officially tobacco free!  We finished the program this week!  And, to make things better, S is marrying D on the 24th!  We're so excited!  They are taking the leap of faith and doing what God wants them to do.  They told us how great it feels to finally, after a long time, be doing what they know God wants them to do.

So!  To explain the subject.  I got a call last week right when I finished emailing.  It was from the AP's, and I was wondering why they were calling.  After we chatted for a bit, they told me that MLC (Mission Leadership Council, which is when the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders go to Bismark for a training by the Mission Pres.) was happening this week and that they wanted me to come to it!  Crazy thing is... I'm not in a leadership position.  Everyone tells me that it is a sign, but I don't want to accept it haha!  But!  I leave tonight, drive to Rapid, stay the night, drive up the next morning (and I hopefully get to go through the Temple with Bro. N from Valley City who will be receiving his endowment that day!!  Super awesome!) go to the Temple, then spend the night in Bismark, then drive back to Rapid, stay the next day in Rapid, have another ZTM there, then go back to Gordon with Elder Wright (I get to go on exchanges with my trainer!  he's a ZL here!  It'll be way too much fun haha!).  It'll be a crazy awesome week!

Tuesday we traveled down to Ashby to teach one of Pres. McKimmey's friends who is interrested in the church.  It was great!  K and his wife M are great people!  I loved getting to know them a little bit.  He already knows a lot about the church since his mom is a member, and he told us that he has talked to many missionaries, but at the time it didn't really apply to him (and we took that to mean "but now it does").  We're hoping we get to see him again soon!

We saw the Whitehawk kids, although not all of them could be there, but it was still good.  I taught Mayla how to pray this time!  She was super shy about it, but eventually, with some prodding, she said she would.  She has learned so darn fast!  It's hard to sign with her though, cause her attention span is next to nothing haha! But, that is how it goes.

Honestly, that's about all that happened this week.  We did some tracting but no one was home.  Literally. Love you all loads!  thanks for all your love and support!

Elder Carter V

3)This is our jeep.  I realized I forgot to send this forever ago

I figured I should send these before I forget

1) Guess what these are?  You guessed it.  Rocky mountain oysters.  Yummy!!  

2)Me and good ole Mason, the Hendrix's English Mastif.  He thinks he's a lap dog, but even his head is too big to fit ins someones lap.

October 5, 2015 6 police cars came looking for 2 guys in white shirts, and we fit the ticket! Kinda...

This week was stupendous!

First off!  Conference.  Stellar.  Wonderful.  Inspiring.  Spiritual.  Any adjective that describes something awesome.  The first session we watched at Sister Brownes house, the Second at Bro. Wallingfords house, and, to top it all off, I got to play "Where's Mom-o" with the whole Branch on Sunday! We watched both sessions at the church on Sunday.  Loved to see my beautiful mother, especially when Elder Holland so movingly discussed such a heavenly topic as mothers.  I testify that what that man said is true!  Oh yeah, and I totally guessed 2 out of 3 of the new apostles.  Elder Renlund and Rasband.  Yes, you may bow to my awesomeness!  We all got to experience the calling of 3 new Apostles, which in Hebrew means "One who is sent".  What a privilege to be able to feel the Holy Spirit bare witness that these men truly are sent from and chosen by our Heavenly Father. I sure did worry about Pres. Monson, like everyone else, when he kinda... deflated during his talk.  But!  I was given words of comfort from a diabetic who said that the Prophet is also diabetic, and that is (hopefully) all that happened.  Low blood sugar.  And I'm sticking to it!  And, to make things all that much better, we were told by Sister Browne, our Area Mom (she takes such good care of us) that President Uchtdorf is her favorite apostle.  When we asked why, she responded thus.  "He is the only eye candy out of the whole group!  I know it's not right to lust after an apostle... But can you blame me?!"  We about fell out of our chairs we were laughing so hard!  As for a favorite talk...  I don't know if I could pick one, but I sure loved Elder Bednars about how it truly is a blessing to have "old Men" at the head of this church.  But they were all stellar!

Well, you are all probably wondering about the police cars comment... So, here it goes!  We were at the Whitehawks home teaching the kids when Eugenio gets home (he's the chief of police on the Rez) and we briefly say hi and shake his hand, then he goes to change our of the uniform into something comfortable.  After we had teh lesson with the kids, we talked with Eugenio and Denice for a bit.  While we were talking, Denice looks at the TV screen that has a live feed to the outside, and says "wow!  there's 4.  No, 5?  Geesh!"  And by the time she finished saying that, one of the younger kids rushes in and says "The cops are here!  6 of them!  They're gonna arrest Gracee!!"  So, of course, everyone rushes outside while me and my companion look at each other, than decide we should stay seated inside, away from potential gunfire and from the spot light.  We didn't think it would be a great idea to step outside, the only 2 white guys in probably 100 miles, and we just so happen to represent a church that isn't too keenly liked by those who... well, don't like us!  We didn't hear a whole lot, but after a few minutes, everyone files back in (including Gracee) and Eugenio says with a slight shout "They're looking for a couple guys in white shirts!"  then bellows a laugh like only a 6' 9'' (probably taller) Native American can, and then sits down and we kept talking.  Turns out, they were coming for the person living a couple houses down, but they thought that Gracee was her haha!  Good thing Eugenio was there to set them strait!

Now, in the picture below you will see 3 things. A box, meant to keep tobacco at the right humidity, a super fancy lighter, and a nice pipe.  Guess where they came from?!  Bro. W!  He is a less active member who we have met with since I've been here.  He is a man with a pretty rough background, but a great heart and great understanding of the Gospel.  We finally were able to start the 15 step Stop Smoking program with him, and he is obviously dedicated to it (I don't even want to know how much all that cost, not to mention all the tobacco we dumped...  It was a lot... And he doesn't have money.  At all.).  It was totally wicked! (guess that movie?)

Man!  Time flies!!  Long story short, this week was amazing.  Thank you all for your prayers and support!  I love you so much!

Elder Carter V

P.S. Sorry for being so late, we had an emergency and needed to help someone move out of there house immediately, and we didn't get done till 4.

2-3) First session of conference spent with my good buddy Zigmund (or Ziggy, mundo, boo-boo, and pretty much any other nick name you can come up with haha!  I smelled like dog and had to clean up some slobber, but it was well worth it.  

September 28th

This is me and Emily at the church before her baptism!

The baptism was a Success!  It was great, and Emily was super excited!  A good portion of her family came, and we got to meet her aunt for the first time, as well as her grandpa! 

Well, update on Mayla.  This last time we were there, after we had our lesson, she grabbed me by the hand and dragged me around the house pointing to things than showing me the sign!  she has learned a ton since last time we were there!!!  I was able to sign with her for a bit, than I realized just how rusty I am!  The other kids are doing good as ever.  Love going over.  Everytime.

On Friday we went to see J and his family, but J wasn't there, so we waited with E, C (one of J sons) and T(her other son).  Than, when it was close to time for us to leave, we decided to share a message about general conference with them!  They didn't really seem to care much, but we did it anyways.  Here's hoping they watch!

Honestly, that's about all the exciting things that happened.  We saw some people, didn't get to see others, and spent a whole lot of time in the car driving from place to place.  Sorry this email is skimpy!  Hopefully there is more to report next week!

Love you all very much!

Elder Carter V

This is me shaking the hand of Elder Renlund of the 70.  Great man!

September 21, 2015 I'm a real cowboy!

First, I wanted to give a little update on a girl named T.  She is about 14 and has investigated the church for well over a year.  As we have gotten to know her we have learned just how much she loves reading the Book of Mormon, and as we talked with her, one day we asked her if she knew it was true.  She told us she never really thought about it, she just liked it.  We invited her to pray to find out if it was true or not, and the next day we got a text that told us she got an answer and her answer was it was true!  Once that happened, everything started to fall apart.  Her parents found her reading the BoM (which, we didn't know they didn't know she was reading it considering we've talked to her about it around them before) and they flipped.  At some point her dad forbid her from reading it as well as from coming to Wednesday night activities, and she called us in tears asking us what to do.  We had no idea what to say, so we told her to turn to the Lord.  We had our district pray for her for 2 weeks, and then we got a text from her saying her dad said she could keep reading and that she could come on Wednesday, but not on Sundays.  We were so grateful!!!  Prayers truly are answered!

Well!  I am officially a cowboy!  We left Monday night, stayed the night in the McKimmeys bunkhouse, got up at 5:45, got out by 6, rounded up the cattle on 4-wheelers (there was more than 500 head of cattle from what I understand... When they counted them up at the end they had to use both hands to keep track of the hundreds), than started herding them into a coral.  We would drive in circles behind and on the side just hooting and hollering, and at some point I thought to myself "Self, you sound like Link when he's riding his horse."  So, guess what was going on in my mind the rest of the day?  You got it!  Zelda music.  Anyways!  Once we got them into the first one, we started herding them by foot into the next one, than we would take about 30 at a time between the corals into a circular one where President McKimmey and I started separating the cows from the calves and the bulls (don't worry, they were all steers..... which, if you don't know what the difference is, it has to do with oysters. Steers are very calm compared to bulls).  Once we did that, we herded them into this chute that was only wide enough for 1 cow at a time so that we could immunize them and all that jazz although we didn't actually end up branding them, this was probably the same batch of cows and calves that I helped brand last time.  It was quite the adventure for sure!  When we were sorting the calves, one of the cows full on faced me me with her head down, so I hit her with my "cattle wacking stick" and hollered at her, so she turned and went the way she was supposed to.  When she was through the gate, President Mckimmey came over with a big grin on his face and said "When a cow looks at you like that, that is when you are supposed to hop the nearest fence.  But that works too!"  And to answer some questions, no we didn't get any oysters, and yes we were... ehem.... "safe".  Although, Pres. McKimmey did offer hehehe.   I am very sorry that I have no pictures, but it is probably best that I didn't have my camera.  There were a few times that I am sure it would have gotten damaged or would have fallen out and been a few inches under cow manure.  But, we both came out unscathed, except for the spot on Elder Peays shirt where Pres. hit him when he threw one of the oysters at us!

We are going to baptize E this week!  Everything is a go, as long as nothing drastic happens before Saturday.  In case I didn't say anything before, she is one of the 9 year olds that we teach, but she isn't related to the Whitehawks.  She actually is a Littlehawk haha!  Darn names that end with 'Hawk"!

As you will see in the pictures below, we saw the Whitehawks again, and they are doing great, although trying to have a lesson with them was super tough this time.  They were all bouncing off the walls... almost literally.  

We got to see J and C this week!  Turns out that C is sticking around, although I don't know where we got mixed up thinking he was going to Wyoming...  But hey, we're alright with that!  This last time was a bit on the awkward side...  While we were there and we were talking with them, Cand his girl friend E decided to bring up the religious argument they were having the day before about how God and Jesus are the same person.  So, while they argued, we stuffed our faces with homemade chicken 'n dumplings (made by a real southern woman!  J is a great cook!), then J joined in.  C and J were arguing that God and Jesus were separate distinct individuals, but E wouldn't have it.  So, we continued to stuff our faces in the hopes that no one asked our opinion, since E was already well out numbered....  But, they simmered down and we were late to our next appointment, which was with G at the Jail.  He's doing great.  He's just good ole G.  He's always got something funny to say.  He gets out in less than a month though!  We're super pumped for that.

Other than that, I have nothing more to report.  Love you all and hope all is well!  Hope you like this photos!!

Elder Carter V

This is right after our lesson, Mayla swiped my camera again and we took a selfie with Genio  

So!  Here are most of the Whitehawk kids!  From left to right: Genio, E. Peay (obviously), Emelissa (Blue shirt), Aleeah, Miaa, Me, Mayla, Adriana, Chloe, Luke.

September 14, 2015 Painting, more Painting, and my new nick-name

(For those of you wondering, they stole my camera. That;'s Luke.  He's one of the whitehawks haha I would put him at the end, but I don't know how to move him now that he is there, and I don't feel like trying to upload him again)

Howdy yall! (thought I would switch things up this week)

This week was great, and we had some great service opportunities!  Friday morning we helped a lady on the Rez paint her basement bathroom, and when we were done it looked much better.  Before we started, it was a mess.  As we rolled over some sections of the wall, parts of the wall stuck to the roller.  It was a mess, but as we cleaned it up more, it really made a great improvement. Saturday morning, about 9, we went to Sister Kendricks home, an older lady member who needed her house painted.  Bro. H brought his commercial spray painter doo-hicky, President M brought his wife and kids, and Bro. T. brought his happy self!  We prepped the house by scraping away the flaking paint (last year Gordon got hit by a bad hail storm, and the damage is finally almost repaired.  It took some good sized chunks out of her paint.), than President looks at me and says "Elder, you ready?"  I look at him, look at the sprayer, looked back at his smiling face, and accepted the challenge!  If you have never had a chance to use one of those commercial paint sprayers, I would strongly encourage you to do so if the opportunity arises.  First, it beats rolling and brushing by a long shot!  Second, it's just fun.  Not sure why it's fun, but it is.  I painted half her house cause no one else wanted to do it.  I finally conned my comp into it, but he didn't enjoy it like I did, but we had some of the other kids use it haha!  While they were doing that, I got to go on the roof and start prepping the attic window for painting, which was an adventure since the roof was steep-ish.  Once I got on, I was much more comfortable, but I'm not too used to walking on roofs yet.  

We saw the Whitehawk kids on Thursday.  They were super excited when I gave them the CTR rings, partially because it was similar to the ring I have!  We taught them a little bit of ASL, but most of our ASL time was spent finding out what Mayla knew.  Then, we went outside and played some duck-duck-goose, and then they kids wanted to show me their moves on the trampoline!  Any time I would look away, even for a few seconds, the kids would yell "Mormon! Mormon look!  Mormon, watch me!"  Now, I don't know about you guys, but to be nick named after such a man as Mormon is quite the honor hahaha!

Other than that, we get to go down to Ashby to do some branding at the Mckimmeys farm!  We called President Hess to make sure that was alright, and he got all excited about it.  (to the Editor: You might want to take this next part out.  But that is all up to you.)  He told us to make sure we are safe and that we don't get castrated by accident, and if we can we should take home some of the oysters (we laughed pretty hard when he hung up).  I love that man!  We are so blessed to have him as our Mission President!  He and his wife just radiate love.  It's so hard to not smile around them.

Well, that's all folks!

This is Mayla and Luke.

September 8, 2015 And, once again, we spend the night in Rapid City. For the last time.

Hello all!

This week has been super good!  Well, I guess when I say this week was super good, I really meant that not a lot happened, but the things that did happen were good.  We got to help someone in the ward clean up some siding they tore off their shed, and afterwards they fed us the best lunch I have had in a long time.  Home made burgers, fries, home grown lettuce and tomatoes, and real beef hot dogs.  It was that good!  we had a bunch of appointments fall through, but because they fell through we were able to contact some less active members and get to know them a bit!  I finally found time to take Elder Peay tracting, which was a good experience for him.  

This friday we had exchanges.  E. Peay went with our District Leader Elder Wilson, and I was with Elder Lindemen.  We saw G, than Sister P, and than went to have dinner with J and his family!  It was, once again, a great experience.  C was there again, but only for dinner than he left, but we got to watch the "Because of Him" video with them, and they loved it.  This next week we are going to teach them about the Restoration and how Families can be together forever.  I'm super pumped!  

Saturday we saw the Whitehawk kids again, and Tyler was back!  We had about 10 kids there again, so it was a full house.  Mayla is learning more ASL at school now!  We haven't been able to do any teaching for her since our time is cut short, but we're getting everything worked out with the grandparents so that we can.

Now, for the best part of the week!  So, yesterday was Labor Day, but that's not the reason I didn't email.  We had our Zone Conference yesterday in Rapid City, but it wasn't just any Zone Conference.  It was a mission tour with Elder Renlund of the quorum of the 70 and his wife!  (for those of you who watched this last conference, he is the one that said "a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying".)  It was so amazing to have them their.  We learned so much from them.  We just got to eat out of the palm of their hands.  At the end we got to just ask questions, and that was great.  

Love you all, hope all is well!

Elder Carter V

August 31, 2015 Yeah for finding people!

Well, to answer some questions, our garden is doing great!  We have a huge pumpkin in it, and we have harvested about 8 zucchini, and 2 1/2 walmart bags of Lemon Cucumbers. (anyone else heard of those?  I hadn't till he picked them!)  We have some watermelon about the size of my head, and we have a ton of tomatoes, but hardly any have turned red yet.  So, not too shabby!  We haven't had any more real contact with Lisa, but we have been on the Reservation all week, and we will be there this weekend too.  We had to switch some things up, as far as weekends here. 

This week we went through the Branch list to see some of the other members that we haven't met yet, and we were able to meet 2 other families!  They were super nice, and we had some good conversations with them!  One was L (different one haha) and the other was J.  We were told to come visit them again sometime, so we're totally going back this week!  

We visited B, one of the people during the Pow-wow that called to us and talked with us for a bit.  He's a sweet guy, and so is his family!  It was good to get to know them a little bit.  They absolutely love the pictures we showed them!  They keep asking us to bring more to show.  We're running out fast!

We got to see M this week!  It's been a couple weeks since we've seen her!  We just couldn't get in contact with her.  But we did, and hopefully she can start coming to church soon! 

The Whitehawk kids are doing great as usual.  We decided we would listen to everyone's advice to use the childrens songbook, and they loved it.  They stayed focused longer and learned a lot!  And, this week 4 of them got to come to church!  Miah and Luke were baptized before I got here, and Genio and Mayla came this week!  They are sweet kids.  We keep hoping that there will be a way to get the rest of the kids there, but they are pretty short on seats in the car.  

We were able to go to Rushville this week and meet with some of the members up there.  Than we went to Hay Springs and visited a man named J.  Now for the fun part!  Last week, we were at the jail and while we waited to be let in to see G there was a young man, probably about our age, standing their waiting, so we started talking to him.  As we talked, he told us he is planning on being a minister, that he had read some of the BoM and loves what he has read so far, that he is reading some of the Apocrypha, and so on.  As we talked, the door opened and we had to rush in, but we handed him our card and told him to give us a call.  Now, when we knocked on J's door, guess who answered?  The guy from the jail!  He looked surprised, and I'm sure we did too, so we chatted for a bit, than he went and got J, and we were invited in for dinner with the family!  We were able to get to know the whole family, and C is J's nephew.  They are a sweet family, and when we finished up dinner, we realized that we were late for getting pack to P-Ridge before our car turned into a pumpkin, so we had to jet.  We originally weren't planning on going to see J, cause we had other plans, but we decided to go see him, and obviously, it wasn't our thoughts, but the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  I loved chatting with them and getting to know them a little bit, and when C showed us where he was in the BoM, J (who hasn't been to church in many years) says "now, THAT is a great book."  What an experience!

Well, that's all folks!  Love you all!

Elder Carter V

August 25, 2015 Mt. Rushmore!!!

To answer some questions, the Whitehawk kids are mostly 9 year olds and younger that sat in on the lesson, just the 2 that were 11 and 13.  L couldn't come to Meet the Mormons, her nephew was having a B-day party at the bowling alley.  But, we had a good turn out of members there and I think that was important!  They all said they loved it, and I'm hoping it rekindles the fire of the gospel in their lives!

So, this has been a good week all except for Wednesday (I was sick).  After that it was great though!  We met another 9 year old Whitehawk grandchild who also wants to be baptized! I've wrote her name down, but I can't remember it right now...  There are a ton of kids there!

Other than that, we prepared for the Meet the Mormons showing, than on Saturday we helped out with the baptism of our Branch Presidents daughter (I got volunteered to tickle the ivories about 20 minutes before it started), which was great!  There were probably around 30 people there, and about 20 weren't members. Than we went home to eat than prepare more for Meet the Mormons.

The reason I didn't email yesterday is because we had a Specialized Training meeting in Rapid City, so our P-day was moved to today.  It was, as usual, amazing.  I loved it.  President and Sister Hess as well as the Assistants gave trainings, and than afterwards we had interviews.  I got to talk with Sister Hess for a while.  she is a wonderful lady.  She just radiates love and happiness.  My interview was great, and President Hess also radiates love and happiness.  I absolutely love that man and his wife.  We carpooled with our district leader and his comp, and when Elder Wilson (the DL) went in for his interview, he was probably in there for about 2 minutes than came out and said "Elders, we're going to Rushmore!"  Which we got all excited about, but turnes out he asked President if we could go to Mt. Rushmore next time we are in Rapid, and he looked at his watch and said "Elder, go now!  We don't want you to miss that opportunity.  This is a unique experience!"  So, even though it wasn't P-day, we got to go see Mt. Rushmore!  We were so pumped, and it is a beautiful drive the whole way there.  Rapid City is one nice place!  

That's about all that's happened this week.  Love you all!

Elder Carter V

Hope you like the pics

The second picture is from Left to Right Elder Peay (my trainee), Me, Elder Lindeman, and Elder Wilson.

Hope you liked our attempt at looking like Mt. Rushmoore!  It was worth a shot, yeah?

August 17, 2015 Never a dull moment... Unless you are driving hundreds of miles... Daily.

Hello everyone!

This week has been crazy....  First, we needed to change the oil in our car, but we had to drive to Rapid City (which is about 120 miles away) in 2 days so we can't wait till Rapid, but we can't get the oil changed in our town so we have to go to Chadron which is where we have district meeting, but we didn't have DM this week since we were going to Rapid, so we had to drive 45 miles out of the way to get our oil changed, found out our oil pan is leaking because they put a faulty gasket in it the last time they had it replaced, so we went to the dealership to get it fixed, and the closest part is in El Paso, Texas, and who knows if they are willing to sell it to us, and all the manufacturers are backed up for that part since, for some reason, everyone in the U.S. needs that part right now, so we had quite the exciting week!  I swear, I've been on the phone all week.  We also found out that there is some stuff that belongs to the Mission that is in the church shed and we need to get that moved, but no body knows what is ours and what isn't, so we have to figure all that out and let the mission office know and than see what we need to do with it then, so yeah!!  It's been a crazy week!  I feel bad for my greeny.  He hasn't tasted real missionary work yet.  He's been stuck with a ton of driving and phone calls and figuring out the darn paper work!!  

On a much happier note, we had a great week teaching the 9 year olds!  D(the super shy one) talked to us and made eye contact multiple times as we taught the Plan of Salvation, which he and his grandma had been wondering what happens to people after they die since they have had many deaths in the family.  We taught E, which is interesting since she doesn't remember anything that the past missionaries taught, but that's okay cause we don't have to worry about what she has been taught, we just get to start over.  

Than we went to the Whitehawks on Thursday, but they were busy so we left a short message than came back the next day to teach them.  Genio wan't there but Mayla was, so we were gonna teach her the Plan of Salvation, than a bunch of the other grand kids wanted to sit in on the lesson, which is about 5 other kids. 2 of the grandkids were Tyler, who is 11, and Chloe, who is 13.  As we taught they would ask questions, and they asked a ton of questions.  It was like rapid fire just endless streams of questions from her and Tyler!  As we answered their questions, more would come up.  After asking a lot of questions concerning what happens after this life, Tyler asked "What if you are afraid of dying?"  I sat there for a little bit, not really knowing what to say, than the answer came.  "As you come to know that what we just taught you is true, that fear will leave."  He than looks at me and says "That's what I thought, cause now that you told me this, I'm not afraid to die any more."  Than, after we talked to them about Baptism and ow we must be baptised in order to go to the Celestial Kingdom, they asked "what about babies?  What if they die before they are baptized?"  We explained that because of Jesus Christ, children are made perfect in Him, they are taken straight to Heaven, because children cannot sin. They haven't learned right from wrong yet.  If God sent Children to Hell because they died before they could be baptized, He would be a partial God, and we would have no one to put our faith in.  But, He is not a partial God, he is a just God, and we can put full trust and faith in Him, knowing that he will judge us justly at the last day.  Once we told them this, Tyler asked "Can I be baptized?"  Of course, we said yes!  He asked what he has to do to be baptized and we told him that we have certain things to teach him before than so that he understands just how important it is to be baptized, and that when he is, he is making promises with God. Than we realized it was 9 and we still had a 40 minute drive back to the apartment, so we needed to jet, but we told them we would be back next week.  As we were leaving, a bunch of the younger kids dragged Chloe up to us and yelled "She has a question!!"  Chloe than asked us the same question as Tyler.  And we gave the same answer, and told her we wished we could stay longer, but we needed to follow the rules and get home.  It was a super exciting experience for us!  We loved to be with those kids, and the Spirit was so strong as they listened to how what we taught brought peace as we answered their questions!

And that is all that I have to say for this week.  Thank you all for your prayers and for your love!  I love and miss you all! 

Elder Carter V

August 10, 2015 First Week Training!

First week Training!!  Well, sort of.  For transfers we left Gordon Wednesday night and on the way up we went through the Rez, and got a very pleasant surprise!  We passed through the Badlands.  It is a super cool place!  We stopped and took some pictures, and when we got to Rapid and showed the pictures to our District leader (who we car pool with when we have Zone meetings) he asked us "What do I have to do to make it so that we can go through there this next ZTM?"  He is super pumped to go see it! spent the night in Rapid City at one of the Elders apartments, than at 6:30 in the morning my comp left for Bismark in the van.  I spent the day with my trainer, Elder Wright!  He is my Zone Leader and he was getting a new comp that day too, so we were paired up.  We went around Rapid getting things set up in the apartments.  One was closing, another needed furniture, and we had the truck, so we did the work haha!  Than we went to the Stake Center to wait for the Transfer van to arrive with our new comps. I didn't even meet my comp till about 8 Thursday night.  

Here's a picture of the Badlands!! I'll send more later.

​

So, my greenies name is Elder Peay (pronounced "Pay") from Morgan Utah, he is a month younger than me, he is very excited about the work, and training is interesting.  I keep forgetting that I have to teach him about all these things that are second nature to me now, but that is new to him.  

This last week we taught a lady named L. She is a teacher and was a former investigator that missionaries had just forgotten about as companionships changed. It's been a couple years since she has met with missionaries. We stopped, only expecting to set up a return appointment, but she let us right in, and we talked with her for a while than ended up teaching her the Restoration. As I taught (Elder Peay and I hadn't gone over the Restoration lesson yet... Yay for first day!) I could feel the Spirits presence, especially when we got to the 1st vision. As I recited Josephs experience, the phone rang.  Coincidence?  I think NOT!  Once she hung up again and as we started talking about the BoM and that she could pray to know it is true, the phone rang again! She seemed pretty interested, but it didn't seem like she understood the importance of what we had told her. She asked some pretty good questions and we were able to answer them, and she seemed very accepting with what we had to say. We couldn't set up a return appointment since her schedule is pretty crazy now that school is about to start, although she did accept the commitment to read and pray about what we had taught her.

Other than that, I spent a lot of time in the car.  A LOT of time in the car.  Not much else happened.  

Love you all loads, and hope all is well!

Elder Carter V

August 3, 2015 My first Pow-wow and my comp gets attacked by a banana

To answer some questions, Elder Wilde and I are getting along great.  We have a ton of fun, and I'm gonna miss him when he goes home on Wednesday.  But, on a happier note, I get to train!  I'll meet him on Thursday (I think)!

Something I think is interesting.  When I first arrived in the area, I was pretty worried about racism on the Rez.  Now, I'm not worried one bit about the Rez.  It's those darn white folks!!  They scare me to death!  I don't mind walking around the Rez one bit, but once I start walking around Gordon, I get a little nervous.  It's backwards, I know. 

This week has been fun!  First off, this weekend was the big Pow-wow in Pine Ridge!  People came from all over the country to be here!  I got to see real Native dancing and hear real Native singing and drumming, and see the real costumes and had real Indian Tacos, and got a "Strippling Warrior" shirt from a member selling custom T's there!  I'll have to take a picture and send it next week!  We only got to spend around 3 hours at the Pow-wow...  We were going to dedicate all of Saturday to walking around the grounds, but my companion had an allergic reaction to a banana and we spent the rest of the day in the apartment.  He broke out in hives and his whole body itched and he puked a few times.   But don't worry, he is fine now!

While walking around the Pow-wow grounds, we had a bunch of people come up to us and start talking to us!  Most of them would say "Hey, I'm a Mormon!  I don't go to church anymore even though I should.  Maybe I should start coming again."  We met a bunch of members from out of town too!  They are sweet!  So far, my favorite native names are either "Iron Lightening", "Not Help Him" or "Jealous of Him".  Yep, that is their real last name.  Pretty sweet!  Love the people here.  Can't say that enough.  Friday night we were walking back to our apartment and this kid was walking in front of us, he looks back and starts talking to us like we were old school mates!  Than, he popped the question, one that I never thought I would be asked, definitely not in the open, nor while wearing a tag that says "Jesus Christ" on it.  He asked me "Hey, you wanna buy some weed?"  Needless to say, we said no.  As we walked away, his friend started to rebuke him, but he responded "you can't be shy about selling weed man!  You just gotta do it!"  

And that is about all there is to update.  Since everyone was busy with the Pow-wow, we didn't get to visit anyone, and Saturday was spent cleaning the apartment since we don't have a P-day in Pine Ridge and my comp was out of commission.  

I love you all loads.  I'm loving it here, and I can feel your prayers and your love. 

Elder Carter V

July 27, 2015 Oh, to be a kid again

First, I wanted to thank the CTR 5 class for their letters!  It made me smile!

Now I have a question for you guys.  Do you know of any good object lessons?  Cause since we are teaching a bunch of 9 year olds, we need to help them enjoy it and make sense to them.

This has been a super good week!  First off, we had 11 people come to church, most of which haven't been in a very, very long time!  That was awesome!  Second, we are now teaching 3 of the Whitehawk grand children, one of which is Mayla (I will get into that more in a bit), and I have officially eaten Ostrich!  Sister Browne gave us the left over package of patties (they were Ostrich burgers) and we cooked them up at the Group Leaders house.  Fun!

So, update on the Whitehawks.  First off, Vina's grandson, Daeden, is extremely quiet and doesn't know anything about God or Jesus Christ, so we have to start from square one.  He said maybe 5 words when we were there.  Than when we went over to Eugenios house to teach Mayla and Genio, I put my questions to the test.  Mayla doesn't understand almost any sign language.  She knows just enough to servive around the house, and a little bit more, some of which she made up herself.  But she reads well so we will be doing a lot of writing and video watching haha!  Genio is great, he understands very well and seems to soak it all in.  

Story time!  After we taught Genio and Mayla, Mayla signed "Play" to us, so we looked at each other, looked at our watches, than decided it would be good to play with the kids.  We played tag, hide and seek (within sight and sound of each other of course), and man has it been a long time since I have done any running!  It was a blast though!  After a while, one of the littlest girls (probably 5 ish) started to cry, so I came over and asked her if she was okay, and she nodded and said "I just want my daddy", so I walked her into the house, and when I opened the door to let her in, her mom says "oh, sweetie, what's wrong?" to which she responded through gasps and tears "Nothing, I'm just crying!"  Man, kids are too fun!  Than we had to leave cause it was getting late.  All good things must come to an end, but man was it a good thing!  Up until that point none of the kids really responded to us, but now we are thick as thieves!

There has been a fair and rodeo in town this week, and we missed all of it except for the parade!  So dissapointed that we missed it all!  The parade was fun though.  Except they didn't have any pooper scoopers, and a lot of horse poop.   We were sitting on the back of a truck, so we stuck out pretty good, and there was a float that came by with kids that had squirt guns, and my companion said "10 bucks they aim at us."  I laughed cause I didn't want to take the bet.  Guess what?  We got soaked.  But mostly our pants!  Our shirts stayed dry, thank goodness, cause no body wants to see me with a wet white shirt.  Some of the youth from the branch were there and they just took off when the kids targeted us! We laughed pretty hard!! 

On the 24th of July, we had a get together at the Gordon Branch!  It was the best turn out that we have had since I've been here!  We played football with the youth while dinner was cooking, than we had dinner, than we watched "Meet the Mormons".  This movie is officially my favorite.  Now, I liked it before the mission, but I loved it this time.  The people are just so real!  The spirit is so strong in when watching that movie, and it's all because these people are bearing their testimonies as they live their daily life.  That is one of the things that really sticks out to me.  This isn't a religion of Sunday worship.  It is a life style.  We are who we are because of this church.  But it is more than just a church.  It is the doctrine that is taught.  I shared this before, but it comes to mind again.  When someone accused the prophet Joseph Smith of seeking power, he responded "In relation to the power over the minds of mankind which I hold, I would say, It is in consequence of the power of the truth in the doctrines which I have been an instrument in the hands of God of presenting unto them, and not because of any compulsion on my part...  I ask, Did I ever exercise any compulsion over any man? Did I not give him the liberty of disbelieving any doctrine I have preached, if he saw fit?  Why do not my enemies strike a blow at the doctrine?  They cannot do it:  it is truth, and I defy all men to upset it." (Teachings of the presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 284)  That is how this gospel works.  We are taught doctrine, and others choose to live it.  And they are blessed because of it, which is proof of the truth of this message.  I'm always amazed at the fruits of the gospel!  This movie really brings those out so nicely too!  

That's about all the excitement for the week.  Love you all!

Elder Carter

July 20, 1015 New Mission President!

So, I was informed that I didn't talk about the Pine Ridge apartment, so here goes!  It is a little house behind the church.  It used to be a Senior couples home, but now it's ours.  It's really nice, and they just put new carpet in it.  I get to sleep on a queen sized (maybe king, I don't really know the difference) bed there!  Super comfortable!  We also have a garden that the young men and women are taking care of, but we do some of the watering and weeding too.  We're getting some tomatoes now!  Go us!

In this area, there are a lot of less-active members, and most of them have super strong testimonies.  Many don't come because of their roads.  Many of them have super long dirt drive ways that are all washed out, and when it rains there is almost no way to drive out, and I think that most of them just got out of the habit.  Some of them are offended for different reasons, or don't want to come because no one else comes, or don't like the new Branch President, but I think most of them don't come because they just got out of the habit over the winter. 

So, here is the way the Whitehawk family tree works (I will do my best, but it might just turn out a jumbled mess, cause that's what it is in my head.) You have Vina, Ardegene (both of whom I haven't talked about before), Martina, and Ugenio are all siblings.  Vina is Kiles mom (kile is one of the guys in the prison that we are teaching), Ardegene I don't know much about, Martina is Genes grandma (the other guy in jail), and these 3 all live in the same city but different houses and property.  Ugenio is married to Denice, and they are the ones that have more kids and grand kids living with them than I can keep track of.  Mayla, the deaf girl, is one of their grand daughters.  That's about all I know for now... Maybe I'll figure it out eventually.  Hope that helps a little!

Update on Mayla!  Ugenio and Denice want her baptized, but they have been wanting to get an interpreter to come so that we can teach her, so it hasn't happened yet.  Plus, she is about to turn 10, so it is about the right time.  This week we visited them again, and I got to do a lot of signing with her!  But, we have a problem.  Her grandma explained to me that she doesn't really know sign language, but they made up their own signs so that they can communicate with her, which explains why I had no idea if she understood me.  And she didn't understand me, so that solves that!  She is going to school and learning ASL, so hopefully it gets better in the future.  It's super nice to sign with someone again!  

We got to meet the Mission Pres and his wife on Friday!  We drove up to Rapid City (we had to get up at 5, leave a bit after 6, so that we could arrive at 9...  Long drive) and had a mini zone conference!  It was so good!  Plus, Elder Wright, my trainer, is my Zone Leader, Elder Bradley, my MTC Comp, is in my zone too!  We had a ton of fun, and it was super nice to see them again!  There were a lot more missionaries there that I knew from past areas, which I didn't expect to see again, at least not so soon.  

During our zone conference, as we got to meet the Pres and his wife, they told us how a mission president is called.  It isn't something that they send in papers for like it is for us.  When they are called, it starts at a stake level, than a member of the 70 comes and visits them, than later an Apostle.  Once it gets there, the list is narrowed down to about 100, which than the quorum of the Twelve Apostels, as well as the Prophet and his counselors meet in the temple and go through each name one by one.  Than, the decision is made.  I know that president Hess and his wife were called here for us.  They didn't aspire to get here, they didn't take classes to move up on the totem pole, they didn't pay to get to this position, but they qualified themselves by following Gods laws, and they lived worthy of this amazing calling.  They are truly inspired, and this church is truly headed by men called of God.  I love this Gospel!  I keep thinking of something a man told us before he slammed the door.  He said "Boys, I have heard every argument for and against you guys.  You are deceived.  Look to Jesus Christ, not the church of Jesus Christ."  Where is He to be found, but in His church?  In the church of Martin Luther?  Or of the Presbytery?  The church of Rome of Greece?  The church of St. Paul, or Patrick, or Mary?  If it is His church, it will be called in His name.  Funny, how in 1700 years since his church was persecuted into extinction, no one has believed enough in their cause and in their teachings to call it His church.  It is a bold statement to call it The Church of Jesus Christ.  It's bold to say we have a Prophet, that God and Jesus Christ appeared to a 14 year old boy in the 1800's, and that through that boy scripture was revealed.  it is bold to say that God speaks to man, and that what that man says is scripture when he is speaking with the Holy Ghost.  And yet, we say it.  We declare it upon the house tops.  We go door to door declaring this good news!  We declare it despite personal pain and sorrow and death.  We live what we know to be true, and we love it.  I wish I would have told that man that if you are to look to Jesus Christ, you will look towards the Chruch of Jesus Christ, because that is where He will be.  Men do not lead this church.  Men can't lead this church.  But God qualifies those that He chooses.  We can be made more than we can be on our own.  What a glorious thing to be able to say!  To soberly and truthfully declare!  I love this Gospel, and I love my Savior, and my Father, and His prophets both old and young.  I love the prophet Joseph Smith, who's life was taken by those who should have loved him and nurtured him, and all because he declaring that Jesus is the Christ, the very Son of God, and he declared it with authority not given of man.  He has sealed his testimony in his blood, and because he did that, we all have the blessing and privilege of participating in the blessings of the kingdom on this earth.

Here is a quote I found this week.  Hope you like it!

Elder Dale G. Renlund in the April 2015 Conference said "a saint is a sinner who keeps on trying" and he concluded his talk by inviting us to “evaluate our lives, repent, and keep on trying. If we don’t try, we’re just latter-day sinners; if we don’t persevere, we’re latter-day quitters; and if we don’t allow others to try, we’re just latter-day hypocrites. As we try, persevere, and help others to do the same, we are true Latter-day Saints. As we change, we will find that God indeed cares a lot more about who we are and about who we are becoming than about who we once were.”

Well, I'm out of time.  I love you guys loads!  

Elder Carter V