Bewray

The weather this week has been absolutely amazing! Loved being able to walk around without a coat, and enjoying every minute of it haha! Well, just a fun little tidbit, I learned a new word this morning!! It is "Bewray"(I think that's how you spell it haha). Go look it up! I thought it was interesting. Not like I'm going to use it in my everyday speech, but I thought it was kinda cool!!

J is doing good! He loves coming to church, and he invited is girlfriend to come to church with us! She said she would, but it'll be in a couple weeks cause she is a gymnastics coach and they have competitions the next couple weeks. The "Epic U-turn guy" has disappeared. Haven't seen him since that day, and he hasn't called us either.... But, we did talk to a really cool guy named B that is super interested in learning about the church! We didn't set up an appointment, he did! And that never happens! Other than that, we have been tracting and street contacting out the wazoo.... Hardly taught any lessons this week. Most people when we knock on their door say "we already have our own church" and when we try to tell them that the message we have to share isn't denomination specific, but that any christian would love it, they just say "not interested" and close the door. I think my favorite response is when people talk to us for a bit, say all the things i just mentioned, so we offer to leave them with a card that has the link to the Easter video (which is awesome, by the way. It's called "Because of him") they tell us they will just tear it up and throw it away. Why people are like that, I don't know, especially when they claim to be strong in their faith in Jesus Christ, which is all that the video talks about.

As far as referrals from members, we have run them completely dry. every once in a while they have someone that they want us to see, but other than that, not so much haha! Church this week was amazing though! Completely focused in every aspect on the Atonement of Jesus Christ! Super powerful lessons and talks! And on the way to church we listened to General Conference tapes form 1998, and J loved them! He loves listening to the speakers. He constantly says "Now, these guys have a whole lot of wisdom. They've been around the block for a while, haven't they?" 

Well, aside from that, nothing has really happened...

Quotes for the week (I've got a lot more this time!)

-"Every challenge you face, every hard thing you confront, every bad thing that happens to you, every unfairness, every conflict, every sadness, tragedy, every disappointment and heartache, every temptation and every opposition happens for 1 purpose only: to give you opportunity to respond by applying in your life the teachings of Jesus." - Lawrence E. Corbridge

-talking about the Book of Mormon- "No wicked man could write such a book as this, and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so." - Jeffrey R. Holland "Safety for the Soul"

- "Friendship is a sacred possession." - President David O. Mckay

- "Spiritual needs can be met only by spiritual means."- President David O. Mckay
- "Suppose for a moment someone told you these three facts about a New Testament personality and nothing more: first, the Savior said of this man, “O thou of little faith” ( Matthew 14:31 ); second, this man, in a moment of anger, cut off an ear of the high priest’s servant; and third, this man denied knowing who the Savior was on three occasions, even though he had walked with Him daily. If that is all you knew or focused upon, you might have thought this man a scoundrel or a no-good, but in the process you would have failed to come to know one of the greatest men who ever walked the earth: Peter the Apostle.
Similarly, attempts have been made by some to focus upon or magnify some minor weaknesses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, but in thatprocess they too have missed the mark, the man, and his mission. Joseph Smith was the Lord’s anointed to restore Christ’s Church to theearth." - Tad R. Callister
- "An invitation that is born of our love for others and for the Lord Jesus Christ and our desire for the happiness of these friends and family members will never be seen as offensive or judgmental." - Jeffrey R. Holland
- "30  But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not." - Mosiah 4:30
- "Good leaders, like good parents, take action because of love. When they act in love, the Spirit will guide them and help them understand that each person requires unique care to help them gain the joy of life lived in the Lord’s way." - Russel M. Nelson
- "A knowledge of truth and the answers to our greatest questions come to us as we are obedient to the commandments of God." - Thomas S. Monson
- "In the Church we talk about being called to positions and set apart to teach Sunday School or in other priesthood auxiliaries. The priesthood sometimes prides itself with having the power to do the teaching. They don’t come near the power that’s given to a mother. The greatest teaching in the Church is done by the mothers." - Boyd K. Packer
- "The essence of the Lord’s work is changing, turning, and purifying hearts through covenants and ordinances performed by proper priesthood authority." - David A. Bednar

Hope all is well back home! Love and miss you loads!

Elder Carter V

Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God's approval.

Yes, I did remember to set the clock forward! yay me! We almost didn't, but Bro. Nelson reminded us. As far as J goes, he does want to continue meeting with us, but he has trouble with the whole faith thing. One minute he talks about the amazing things that happened in the BoM and the Bible, and the next when we ask him if he believes the Bible and the BoM to be the word of God (after he just told us it is God's word) he says "well, I don't know. I wasn't there so I can't say whether it is or not." But, we think we figured out where he is struggling. We started asking him about Jesus Christ, and he said he hardly knows who he is.. Now, where we went wrong, I don't know, but somehow we glazed over who Christ is and he didn't pick any of it up. But, hopefully he will begin to progress once he gains that knowledge.
Health wise, I'm doing good. Trying to work out in the morning, but I don't know how much good it's doing, cause I really don't know what I'm doing. I bought a pull up bar, only to find that there is no door frame to put it on haha! But, it came with a poster with different work outs on it, so that helped a lot! I actually got sick 2 days ago, but I took mom's "miracle potion" and the next morning I was good to go! My companion and I have been buying much healthier food and we are much better at eating it before it goes bad. Anyone with easy (and quick) recipes, that would be awesome!
Being senior companion is kinda tough, just because I know the area better, and I am in charge of planning out most of the day, and rather than taking 15 minutes to plan at night, it takes us about 30 minutes if not more to plan for the next day. It also doesn't help that our teaching pool is shrinking. More and more people are moving or going on vacation, or saying they will be busy for the next month or so.
We did a whole lot of tracting again this week, but rather than freezing our behinds off, it felt soooooo good outside!! It was the kind of weather that i would walk down the river trail in (except it's about 25 Degrees colder than would have been comfortable to walk down the trail in back home haha!). People would leave their doors open long enough to talk with us for alittle bit rather than "It's cold outside *SLAM*". We have been showing people the video "Because of Him" which came out last year around Easter as a "get ready for Easter" message. The video is very powerful, and the spirit is so strong as you watch it. I dare you to post it on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, or just show it to someone on your phone, cause it's only 3 minutes, and it's worth every second!
This week we are planning on branching out of Valley City! Our area border is about 2 hours North and South and 30 minutes West and East of VC, so we are gonna try some of the towns around the area, find those people that the Lord is preparing to receive Restored Gospel!!!
Quotes for the week!
"Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God's approval." - President Thomas S. Monson
"A God who makes no demands is the functional equivalent of a God who does not exist." - Elder D. Todd Christofferson
Justice is an essential attribute of god. We can have faith in God because he is perfectly trustworthy... We rely on the divine quality of justice for faith, confidence, and hope.
"But as a consequence of being perfectly just, there are some things God cannot do. He cannot be arbitrary in saving some and banishing others.  He 'cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.'" - Elder D. Todd Christofferson
"The spring‍ of the year is a most welcome season. It is then that all life seems to renew itself, when the promise of the future appears brightest and hope rises to its zenith. Indeed it is a time of reawakened courage and confidence." - Mark E. Petersen
Well, that's about my whole week! Hope yours is going awesome! Love and miss you all loads!

Elder Carter V

Pure hearts in a pure home are always in whispering distance of heavan

This week has been.... Interesting. I've had many doors slammed in my face, many people that just flat out walk up to the door and never open it, and I've been told that what I believe is a whole lot of bull. It's been a trying week. I will never understand the people that tell me that what I believe is a bunch of garbage when they don't even know what I believe. I can tell you this much, that if you took a Trigonometry class before you had basic math, you would probably throw your arms up and say "This is stupid! How can anybody even listen to this garbage?!" Elder Wright said something that I thought was interesting. In a lesson where a guy wanted us to "Prove that the BoM was true" he responded with "Lets switch the burden of proof for a second. Prove to me that the BoM is not true." And, he couldn't. "When men are learned, they think they are wise." If we are to understand the things of God, we can't do so with the wisdom of men. All truth comes from God, and it is manifest to mankind by the Holy Spirit. "And by the power of the Holy Ghost, you may know the truth of ALL things." Not just some, not just most. All. A mission president (can't remember who....) serving in Canada was invited to a meeting with all the Ministers of other religions in the area for a Q&A about the Mormon church. It started good, than one man said "Brother [fill in the blank], if you lay the gold plates on the table here, I will believe you." His response was "Now, you and I both know, that that will never be enough." Signs, miracles, angelic manifestations, etc., do not convert. Without faith, those experiences will be justified and pushed aside. Laman and Lemuel saw many Angels, and they never changed.
Wow! That went on a lot longer than I thought! I guess that's my 2 cents for the day haha!
Well, J is back from New Orleans, and he loved it! He even went and took pictures of the Temple there! He was so pumped to meet with us again and to come to church! He is an awesome guy! While we were knocking doors this week, a guy pulled up on the other side of the street, waved at us to get our attention, and did the most epic reverse-U-turn-parellel-park I have ever seen!! He got out of the car, came up to us (in shorts and a T-shirt) and said "since you guys are in the business of asking questions, mind if I ask you a few?" Of course, we said yes, and we talked for a bit, than he invited us to go get some "coffee" (hehe) So, we went to the vault and talked with the guy. His name is L, and he pretty much bore his soul to us, than paused and said "Guys, I don't know why I just told you my whole life story. I'm catholic, and I could've just gone to my Priest and talked to him, but I just felt like I should talk to you about it. Something just drew me to you." Interesting, yeah?! I'm excited to see what happens with him! Other than that, we did a lot of finding. Tracting, talking to people, service, Etc. It was a pretty cold week for a while, but now it's starting to warm us a bit. I hear we only have a couple more months of Winter!!!! (Yeah, I said that right. Spring doesn't hit till about May/June.......) And since than we haven't been able to meet with anyone else. Oh, and we set up another appointment with C and her mom, and when we got to their apartment, there was a note on the door that said "Don't knock, don't call, and don't come back." That's pretty sad.
Anyways! On a lighter note, here is a quote that i found!
"Pure hearts in a pure home are always in whispering distance of heavan." - David O. Mckay

Love and miss you all!!

Elder Carter V

You've got to keep your eye on this one!

So, my new comp is awesome! He definitely has been out longer than me haha! He is a great missionary. It's kinda tough being Senior companion, especially since I'm not super confident in remembering things, but I'm learning, and it's helping me grow faster to fit the mold! So, the Senior companion is normally the one who has been in the area longest, since he is the one that takes the lead in planning out the day and the week. That way, he knows what is going on in the area, who is who, etc. Elder Edwards is from Arizona (poor guy is freezing to death!) he is a volley ball player, and pretty shy back home, but being on the mission kinda takes you out of that shell ( at least a little bit). 

So, the Mission President and his wife came to church with us this week! It was awesome! They are amazing people, and you can't help but be happy when they are around. Although, I felt bad for the Gospel principles teacher. He seemed a little intimidated by their presence (as I would have been too!!).  In sacrament meeting, E. Edwards spoke on making our will match the will of God, and it was super awesome! I wish I could have payed more attention to it, cause there was this little girl that kept coming back to me and sitting next to me and talking to me (she was maybe 5 years old).  Eventually her mom realized she was missing, saw her, and picked her up again, but the back row had a good laugh as she made her way back to me about 4 more times! When E. Edwards came back, Bro. C leaned over to him and said "it's about time you get back! This girl kept flirting with your companion! And I think he was encouraging her! You've got to keep your eye on this one!"

So, as far as talking about the people we teach, pretty much everyone was out of town or super busy this week, so we didn't get to meet with any of them. Plus, transfers take a lot of time out of the week. We did a lot of tracting and organizing the area. We mapped out a bunch of places, organized our records, all that jazz. It doesn't make you feel like you did much by the end of the week, but it definitely was important in helping this week be as productive as possible.

Yeah, transfers are weird. You don't get a lot done when they happen, so I don't really have a lot to say this week! But, next week will be full of goodies haha!

Elder Carter V

I will be the Senior Companion!

This has been a mild winter (from what everyone tells me....) The snow hasn't stayed longer than 2 weeks, and never got higher than a foot. About the guy in Fargo, we are going to contact the Fargo missionaries, but we haven't quite gotten around to it yet. We teach M once or twice a week, but we probably won't  keep on. We'll keep in touch, maybe visit her periodically. J is going to New Orleans for 2 weeks, so that's kind of a bummer, but he'll be back. We found 3 new investigators tracting! Crazy! In one week!  C and her mom, found tracting and they invited us to come over a few days later, are super open and loved the idea of a complete Restoration of Jesus Christ's church the way he established it in his time. They are Native American and know that Jesus Christ came to the America's in the past, and that there were prophets as well. It's gonna be so cool teaching them! B, another new investigator, is from Sudan, and when we knocked on his door, he smiled and invited us in. We had a super powerful lesson, and he was pumped about reading the Book of Mormon, and when we set up the next appointment, he sheepishly smiles, than told us he has to go to Sudan for the next 3 months because his father is super sick. Than we met his room mates, and they wanted to hear our message too! C and A are from Iraq, and C speaks pretty good English, not a whole lot, but pretty good, and A hardly speaks any. C started off looking pretty offended that we had another book of scripture, but as we explained, and after he realized we wouldn't bible bash, he decided he would read it, but he can't read English, so we are getting him a BoM in Arabic!! When we left, after having an amazing talk (where B bore testimony that the BoM was true since he felt the Spirit while reading it with us. He is so amazing) they all shook our hands, than pulled us in for  hugs. It was a wonderful experience!
Well, on a different note, E. Wright is being transferred right to the heart of the Oil Boom. Williston. His new companion was in my MTC District! My new companion has 3 months left on his mission, so I'm pretty excited to see what I get to learn from him! His name is Elder Edwards, and I will be the Senior Companion... Kinda worried about that, but I hope I'll survive haha! Elder Edwards was at Zone Conference, and E. Wright said he's awesome! I didn't really talk to him, so I don't really remember what he looks like......
Best chapters of the BoM (well, in my point of view.) are Mosiah 2 and Alma 5. Super powerful!!
Quotes for this week:
"'The quality of our lives.' It's an interesting phrase.  I suspect most people think of this concept in terms of the comforts and conveniences they enjoy... A quality life is one that positively influences others and makes the world around it a better place in which to live." - M. Russell Ballard, Our Search for Happiness, pg. 72
"I am asking that we stop seeking out the storms and enjoy more fully the sunlight. I am suggesting that as we go through life we “accentuate the positive.” I am asking that we look a little deeper for the good, that we still voices of insult and sarcasm, that we more generously compliment virtue and effort. I am not asking that all criticism be silenced. Growth comes of correction. Strength comes of repentance. Wise is the man who can acknowledge mistakes pointed out by others and change his course.

What I am suggesting is that each of us turn from the negativism that so permeates our society and look for the remarkable good among those with whom we associate, that we speak of one another’s virtues more than we speak of one another’s faults, that optimism replace pessimism, that our faith exceed our fears. When I was a young man and was prone to speak critically, my father would say: “Cynics do not contribute, skeptics do not create, doubters do not achieve - Ensign,‍ Apr. 1986, 2–4.

I have no idea where those lines came from, so please ignore them haha!

Well, all is well with me, I'm loving it here, and hope to hear about all the awesome stuff that is happening back home!!

Love,

Elder Carter

E. Brownie getting transferred

He is Thai, speaks Karin language, lives in Jordan Utah I think?

2nd district right before transfers 

There aren't many things that are better than "goo"

Oh! sorry everyone.... there aren't many things that are better than "goo", yes, but what I really was saying was "good". People here do have an accent, but it's more like a Canadian accent, I think. They say "yet" at the end of every sentence, for example "We've got time, yet!" and "lets go play ball, yet". They say words with "a"s in them, such as "bag" or "cash" with an "ay" sound. that's a little confusing. A casserole is a "hot dish", and most "oh" sounds come out as "oo"s. 

Being senior companion means that you are in charge, so to speak. You take the lead in lessons and planning and comp study, all that jazz. The senior comp is really the leader, but they both need to be carrying the same weight. It went better than I thought it would!

Well, this week was definitely exciting! We went to knock on a potential investigators door, and he lived next to a bar. There were some drunk people outside, and as we passed we waved and were cordial, but didn't try to talk to them, cause they wouldn't have remembered a word in a few hours. One of the, who just so happened to be quite sober, saw us coming at first and said "Oh no! it's the FBI", we laughed and said "Nah, we're missionaries!" than he responded with "yeah, I've heard about that whole 'religion' cover" and we all laughed some more. As we passed by, he looked confused, than said " wait. You're not gonna try and save me?" so I responded with "Well, do you want us to?" and he laughed and waved us over! We had a good conversation with him, and it turns out that he wouldn't have listened to us had we been the ones to initiate the conversation. We talked for a long time (My hands went numb and I dropped the Book of Mormon I was holding. that was awkward.... No worries, I put them in my pocket after that) than he asked us if he could give us his number and if we could come talk to him! We were stoked! than we found out he lived outside of our area.... in a place called Mapleton (no, not by Springville). When he told us that, we looked at each other, kinda sad, than said "Well, we have another pair of missionaries in Fargo that we could send over" and he said "No! I want you two to teach me! Just any time you are going to Fargo, give me a call and we'll have dinner and you guys can teach me all about you 'Mormon's'" So, here's hopin'.... although, it won't last long since we do need to have the Fargo missionaries teach him. Don't know what he was doing at a bar in Valley City though....

So, Bro. N invited a friend over to have a lesson at his house. Over all, it went pretty well, but he had some.... interesting ideas about the world and what is happening in it. J is going crazy with her family history! She's gotten super far in it, and she's contacted tons of family and gotten tons of documents and pictures of gravestones! it's awesome to see her get so excited! Z got a job, and we haven't seen him since. He said that he has to work 21 days strait at his job for training, and he doesn't have a phone, so we just hope we run into him throughout the day. We didn't get to meet with a lot of people this week... Everyone was busy..... It's weird how they are all busy at the same time!!!

Alright! J quote of the week!

We invited him to teach Gospel Principles with Bro. C (He was stoked!) and as we were going over the lesson, which was the Fall of Adam and Eve, he looks at the picture of them in the garden and says "wait, is this an actual picture of Adam and Eve, or did someone paint that?" I love this man!!!! He can always put a smile on your face, and he probably doesn't even realize it!

That about sums it all up. Hope all is well back home!

Love,

Elder Carter V

A Sward. you know. A double edged Sward!

It's a short letter this week, but he sounds like he is doing well!!

Well, for training this week I become Senior Comp for the week..... Kinda stressful, but a good learning experience.

We had Zone Conference this week!!! It. Was. Absolutely. AMAZING!!

So, the likelihood of me getting transferred is almost none. Elder Wright might, but unless something weird happens, I'm staying in Valley for a while. J is hilarious! We came to his house to wake him up for church, and as he was getting ready, he turns on Berry White (he turned it off shortly after, no worries) and started singing and dancing to it! It was super funny to watch! And then, to top it all off, he said something that I have wanted to hear for a long time, but there is a back story to it. The Elders were teaching him, and he all of a sudden asks "do you know what they call the bible?" and the Elders are like ".... uh.... the word of God?" "Well, yeah, but they call it a sward [huge emphasis on the "ah" sound]". "....... a what?" "A Sward. you know. A double edged Sward!" "Oh, a sword!" "Yeah, that's what I just said!" In a later lesson, he read when Nephi kills Laban, and Jeremy was pumped! he said "It was crazy! He totally cut off the guys head with his own Sward!!!" So, we always make Sward jokes, and I finally heard him say it!!! We were sitting around his table, and he starts talking about how gangs are more powerful than the church, and we were confused so he explained more by saying "The gang has weapons like guns. What the gang says goes, and if you don't do what they say, they'll kill you! The church doesn't have any weapons except the sward [holds up the BoM]" I about died I was laughing so hard!!!!! It was kind of embarrassing cause it was in front of J, but he didn't seem to mind at all!

Alright, JK is doing good, we taught him why we do family history, and he loved it, as did G (he asked us like 2 hours later the same question.)

Zone conference quotes!! woohoo!

In response to someone suggesting we be more bold, President Anderson said "Don't worry about being bold. Be real with your investigators."

"If happiness is just around the corner, it will always be just around the corner." - Elder Tidwell, assistant to the mission president.

"Some things are better than goo, and these are the things that should command priority attention in our lives." -Elder Dallin H. Oaks

"It's your mission. Love it!" - Sister Anderson, Mission pres. Wife