On Thursday my companion and I were not feeling the greatest in terms of moral so we decided that we were going to plan an EVENT for District Council. There is and Elder in my District named Elder Green who I was a little salty to my first week here. And by salty I mean my usual sass back but he was really taken aback by my humor because he didn't know me well enough yet so my companion and I decided to start a national holiday in his honor. St. Elder Green Day was officially observed on June 14th, 2019. We showed up to district council with a huge garbage bag full of green balloon animals and green decorations and Sister Harry and I were dressed in all green. It was quite the scene. We made him a balloon hat that he gracefully wore the entire time. *See Pictures Below* we had a really good laugh about it all and it made for an amazing district council. I think that by now they know for sure that I'm a little on the outgoing side. Apparently the Elders are planning a game that we will be playing for the next several District councils so I'm really preparing now.
My area is very large so on Friday we decided to drive out to one of the other towns that is pretty small named Alcova. There are a few members out there and a recent convert that neither of us have met. When we finally got to Alcova we got insanely lost. Our directions led us down a road that turned out to be a driveway and we had to awkwardly back ALL the way back to the main road. Let me just set the scene for everyone. As missionaries we are required to have one person (me) stand outside the car and back the driver (Sister Harry) out whenever she backs up. So there is two very well dressed teenage girls trying to back up like 50 yards out of a muddy dirt road while absolutely dying of laughter because of how ridiculous this situation is. Then if things couldn't get worse Sister Harry couldn't see me so she had to roll down her window and have me verbally tell her what to do and then the owner of the home comes and is just standing on his porch watching us struggle to do a 15 point turn to try and get out. You would think we would have learned our lesson but as we finally made it back to the main road we saw that there was a whole other side to the dirt road so we again decided to drive down it because we apparently really wanted to find this recent convert. After about 3 minutes we realized the road just completely ended and we had to repeat the whole other process again. Oh I wish you all could have just seen it all go down.
After that experience we were so ready to head back to Casper but we had missed a house on our way out so we had to go back and knock it before heading home. We drove up to the house and walked to the door. *backstory* Sister Harry is absolutely terrified of birds. Every time a bird even comes slightly close she screams and ducks away, I find it hilarious but she it's really just terrified *end of backstory* After we knock on the door Sister Harry starts to FREAK out and we turn around and this bird is coming at us. It was diving towards us and then flying back and then diving towards us again. So I immediately went into hardcore survivor mode and I ducked my head down and ran towards the car completely leaving Sister Harry behind... If someone is getting attacked it's for sure not going to be me. We eventually made us out unharmed but it left quite the impact on Sister Harry so she probably won't be getting a pet duck anytime soon.
Other than those experiences I had some really great personal study times this week. I received answers to some worries that had been on my mind that I didn't even think about. It really strengthened my testimony that God really is in the details. He knows exactly what I need in every moment and His timing is perfect, even if I dont see it in the moment.
I met and incredible lady named Lori this week. Lori has lived a pretty tough life, and has had some personal experiences that had a lot of heartache. While talking with her she started to talk about her relationship with God. She mentioned how she has really had to trust that God knows what He is doing because if He didn't her life wouldn't have worked out the way it did. She said that whenever she is stressed or worried she pictures a blackball full of worries in her hands. She in deathly thinks about each individual concern and then she blows that ball to heaven and says God, you take care of it. I aspire to have that closeness with my Father in Heaven. I want to undoubtedly know that He has my back and every experience I have here on this mission has strengthened that knowledge leaps and bounds.
My birthday is next week!!! On Monday I will officially turn 20 and no longer be a teenager!! For my Birthday I would love for everyone to send me an email with blessings, events or reasons they have felt God's love in their life or how their testimony has grown. Don't worry about making them super elaborate or extremely just tell me about your experience, no matter how small. I love hearing how people have related to God and felt of His guidance! Getting those would I honestly make my year and would mean so much to me :)
I love you all!! I'll send another poppin' email next week!
Sister Carter
