Am I gonna be transferred?!?! Take a guess!

Wow! This is transfer weekend, we get the call on Saturday, and I may or may not be transferred!! We'll see what happens! If I'm not transferred then, I'll most likely be in Valley city another 3 transfers (each transfer cycle is 6 weeks, so you can do the math haha) but WHO KNOWS!!!

In answer to some questions, J just turned 40 (we celebrated his birthday and got him some Hawaiian punch haha. He loves the stuff), we didn't have a specific appointment with B, and he said this week would be really busy, but next week he should be able to meet.

This week we got to go up to Cooperstown and visit a family that struggles getting to church (cause, you know, it's about an hour, hour and a half drive..... crazy) and it was great! They are super nice people, and Cooperstown is a nice little place! Other than that, we didn't get to see much of the town though. We only got to visit the family than had to head home due to other appointments. We are planning on going back up this week and stopping in some of the towns around the area to visit other members that we don't get to see very often, and maybe do some service or tracting in the areas. We haven't quite decided yet, cause most of the towns are pretty small.

Our ward boundaries are huge.... We go 30 minutes East of Valley City, than an hour West from Jamestown, which is about an hour from Bismarck. I don't know actual distances, just time haha! It takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to the southern and northern borders from the center of the boundaries, pretty much no matter where you are. I think it might be about 100 mi x 100 mi, but that is just a ruff estimate haha! It's huge....

Oh yeah! I am the driver now (no worries, I haven't sratched the car too bad.... except for the light pole I hit ;) And just to be sure no one misunderstands, that was a joke haha).

Well, this week wasn't too eventful... Knocked some doors, visited some people, tried to find something different to eat at home, the works. Something that was exciting! The Adams were out of town on P-day, and asked us to take care of their animals (guinea pigs and a turtle). But, on top of that, they let us play Foosball on P-day, so we have a crazy Tournament (between the 2 of us haha)! It was by far the best P-day yet! There isn't a lot to do in Valley City on P-days... we're hoping it'll warm up again so we can go play tennis or something!

J is doing about the same, nothing new, except that he is trying to get his girlfriend to come to church with him! That's super cool! S (that's her name) is awesome. One of the nicest people I've ever met. J has been talking about Baptism, but he wants to wait so that it can be a family thing. Other than him, we don't have many people that we steadily teach. We try to contact people but everyone got busy all of a sudden.

My studies this week were booming with goodness!! A lot of them are taken from the same talks, so if you are feeling like reading or listening to a really good talk, check them out! Here are the quotes I picked:

"Those who never give up will find that God never gave up and that He will help them." - Elder Henry B. Eyring "The True and Living Church"

"If anyone is foolish enough or misled enough to reject 531 pages of a heretofore unknown text teeming with literary and Semitic complexity without honestly attempting to account for the origin of those pages—especially without accounting for their powerful witness of Jesus Christ and the profound spiritual impact that witness has had on what is now tens of millions of readers—if that is the case, then such a person, elect or otherwise, has been deceived." - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland "Safety for the Soul"

'For one and all—ecclesiastics, historians, and laymen alike—the issue is still the same. Are the heavens open? Does God reveal His will to prophets and apostles as in days of old? That they are and that He does is the unflinching declaration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to all the world." - Elder Henry B. Eyring "Prophets, Seers, and Revelators"

"Whoever heard of true religion without communication with God? To me the thing is the most absurd that the human mind could conceive of. I do not wonder, [that] when the people generally reject the principle of present revelation, skepticism and infidelity prevail to such an alarming extent. I do not wonder, that so many men treat religion with contempt, and regard it as something not worth the attention of intelligent beings, for without revelation religion is a mockery and a farce. … The principle of present revelation … is the very foundation of our religion.” - “Discourse by John Taylor,” Deseret News, 4 Mar. 1874, 68

"Think of the heart as the figurative center of our faith, the poetic location of our loyalties and our values; then consider Jesus’s declaration that in the last days “men’s hearts [shall fail] them.” - Elder Jeffrey R. Holland "Safety for the Soul"

"It is my duty to say to you that the need was never greater [for] new revelation than now.” “The doctrine of inspiration is lost. … Miracles, prophecy, … the holy life, exist as ancient history [only]. … Men have come to speak of … revelation as somewhat long ago given and done, as if God were dead. … It is the office of a true teacher,” he warned, “to show us that God is, not was; that He speaketh, not spake.” - Louis Cassels, quoted in Howard W. Hunter, “Spiritual Famine,” Ensign, Jan. 1973, 64.

"As you come to understand that the only way to light, intelligence, strength, capacity, peace, contentment, grace, knowledge, power, happiness, mercy, joy and every other good thing, is to follow Christ, then you will want to follow him because it is the only intelligent thing to do." - Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge

“It seems to me a[n] … unreasonable thing, to suppose that there should be a God … that has so much concern [for us], … and yet that he should never speak, … that there should be no word [from him].” - The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 18, The “Miscellanies” 501-832, ed. Ava Chamberlain (2000), 89-90.

"Everything that you have to give to the Lord, has its origin in Him, except one thing: your will... It is the only gift you have to offer that He does not already have.  And so when you give yourself, you truly give everything to him." - Lawrence E. Corbridge

"When the Prophet Joseph was murdered, the enemies of the Church thought that the Church would die. They thought it was the creation of a mortal man and therefore would perish with him. But their hopes were dashed. It was the true Church, and it also had the power to live on, even when those chosen for a time to lead it died." - Elder Henry B. Eyring "The True and Living Church"

Sorry my letter was mostly quotes. Not a lot happened this week, and we spent a lot of time in the car driving from one place to another. Hopefully something exciting happens this week! and I hope you liked my spacing this week. I realized that I struggled to read my own letters since I couldn't tell the difference between paragraphs! 

Love and miss you like crazy! Don't have too much fun without me!

Elder Carter V