There is no room for anything BUT hope as we rely on our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

This week has been an interesting week.  We didn't really teach many people, but we got to help some people.  We helped a lady garden and deliver flowers to her families graves around the area, helped a local shop deliver some furniture. It was good.  Then, on Thursday, we had Zone Conference again! So good! You will get to see some of my notes at the end of this email. After Zone Conference, which went till almost 5, we had interviews which wasn't over till almost 9 (and Zone Conference is in Fargo, which is an hour away), stopped to have dinner cause we hadn't eaten since noon, and had to go shopping since we don't have a place to shop in Valley City! We didn't get back the apartment till 11:30........ It was miserable, cause we still had to plan for the next day.... But, it was so worth Zone Conference!!

But for those that we did teach!  G is good. We're going to talk to him about drinking this week. Not much has changed with him, just a lot of questions and I think he's slightly drunk so he's not feeling the Spirit.  K, we haven't seen in a long time. But, we'll keep trying! As far as doing something fun on Memorial day, we didn't do anything fun.  We went and visited some older people cause I'm sure they were lonely, but other than that, we attended a Memorial Service in a local club.  Other than that.... Nothing really happened.  This week is a blur.  It just flew by.

Well, there is something I've learned this week. It doesn't pay to be pessimistic.  People like to say "I'm not a pessemist, I'm a realist", but in reality, they're not.  To be a realist would be acknowledging all the factors (including and especially God), which means all we can have is hope.  There is no room for anything BUT hope as we rely on our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  I have never been told that my optimism is frustrating before this week, nor do I get where they are coming from.  I can't afford to be anything but optimistic, because I know that I am part of Jesus Christs restored Gospel, and I know that I am a son of God.  What more can I need.

Alright, next thought.  This Memorial Day we had the opportunity to go to a Memorial Day service in town, and it was pretty good.  I remember the feeling of reverence shown throughout the whole thing to those who had passed on, especially who had died in defense of our country and freedom.  Until the prayer was said.  The prayer was the most irreverent part of the whole ceremony. In our country, we have become more reverent towards our servicemen and our dead than towards our God and His Son who died that we might have Everlasting Life.  The mission President's letter this week was focused on the Sabbath day, and there was special emphasis on it during Zone Conference this week too. So few still reverence the Sabbath Day.  I heard this week that it used to be called the "Holy Sabbath" than it turned to just "the Sabbath," than to Sunday, and now it is the weekend.  We have become so lax in our Sabbath day observance that we have lost the reverence that our Father in Heaven and Savior deserve.  As nations stop Sabbath Day observance, all other aspects of life, particularly religious life, are drastically changed.  I was reading in "Jesus the Christ", and he talks about how the Jews of the day had lost sight of the reverence of the Temple and the Sabbath, and had become vain, making the Temple a beautiful master piece rather than a house of prayer and worship, and the Sabbath a day to show everyone but God how devoted you are.  They had the house, but the Deity it was supposed to contain was not present.  The Sabbath had, and again has become a convenience for men, a way to gain control over them, rather than a day of rest and worship.  Even God rested when He finished the creation process. We read in the Old Testament that He established the Sabbath as a sign between us that we might know that He is the Lord that doth Sanctify us.  Religion has lost its savor, because man has stopped keeping the Sabbath Day holy, which is one of the 10 commandments.  How can we expect to get the most out of church and religion if we are not keeping Gods commandments?  We were asked by a man why so many bad things are happening in his life, why God would let those things happen to him.  Our answer was simple.  Why should God bless you when you are not doing what he has asked you to do?  If He did, He would not be a just God, and if he wasn't a just god, we could not have faith in Him.  He will not break His promises, but we will break ours.  God is so willing to give us so many blessings, and all He asks is for us to keep His commandments.  That's it.  Simple as that.  No more, and no less.  Funny thing is, as we keep His commandments He blesses us, which will make us want to do so even more, and we will become happier and happier.  We were told that a man wanted nothing to do with us because of our "restrictions", the main one being no alcohol.  I don't know about you, but the restriction comes when you have lost your ability to choose because you are so drunk you don't know what you are doing.  The restriction comes with the addiction, whether to drugs, alcohol, tobacco, pornography, immorality, whatever it is.  But, as we live Gods law, we are made free. I believe it was Elder Packer that said "Obedience to law is liberty."  

Why is it that when I get going, it just keeps going? it all just floods out, One after another!

Well, That's all I've got time for. Love you all!!

Elder Carter