So Close

Wow is it already time or another classic Savanna Carter weekly. I saw so many miracles this week, remember last week how I told you to get some snacks, maybe this time pull out some tissues because the water works might start flowing, I know they for sure did for me!

So to start off this email let me just say that Manish, the indian guy that messaged me from last week, well, he left the chat so if he was a scammer, he didn't get anything from us, but we did get to teach him about the first vision so at least he was slightly enlightened right?

On Friday we got to do probably the best thing in the entire mission... we got to work at a DOG SHOW. How amazing is that. I am pretty sure that in that moment my entire dreams came true, literally every single one, fulfilled. I could die right now and feel as though I had seen enough. It was something for the record books. I was working as what they call an inside steward which means that I called in all of the dogs that were to be shown during that event and had them line up, then I handed out the ribbons to the winners an kept track of what the judge awarded. It was.... to sum up.... the best. PLUS I GOT TO SEE CORGIS!!!! (Not up close but from a far, it was still just as satisfying)

Then after the dog show we were all WORN OUT but we had to do studies and weekly planning. For those of you who know how completely boring weekly planning is, you know how little we wanted to do it. We had just spent all day in the greatest place on earth and to jump into planning... yikes. It was kind of like going to Disneyland and then being forced to go to class after... it was a bummer and a half.

To try and spice up the weekly planning we actually went out to our favorite restaurant in Casper, Johnny J's and did the planning on the back of the place mat. It was actually really successful and it made it so much less horrible... still bad mind you, just a little less because we were supplied food throughout it.

After weekly planning is when the miracles really started to roll in. (besides the dog show, that was the pre miracle miracle) We left the restaurant and went straight to Shawna's to read the Book of Mormon with her. We read the chapter and went into a lesson about God and how incredible God knows that she is and that the reason she is feeling so much pressure to give in or give up was because she had greatness inside of her. During the entire time we were talking with her I felt distinctly that there were people filling the room. It felt as though every square inch was covered with people. In that moment I knew that both her ancestors, my ancestors and the ancestors of my companions were there with us. There presence was so really I could almost hear what they wanted me to say. I opened my mouth and just started talking, I don't entire remember what I said but I know that it was exactly what she needed to hear. As we were about to leave I felt a hand on my shoulder telling me there was something else that I needed to do. So I looked up at Shawna and said, "Shawna, I don't know why, but I'm supposed to leave my scriptures with you, would that be alright?" She of course hesitantly agreed and I just told her maybe take some time and look at my notes or at the handouts in my scriptures, I don't know what it is but I can pick them up from you when we see you tomorrow.  So I left them with her.

Fast forward to the next night and I was freaking out about whether or not she got anything from them. I prayed extra hard that morning that she would have read them and that she would have heard God speaking through them. When we walked into her house and I set up my chair she handed me my scriptures. That's when I really freaked. My heart was pounding and I was already sweating wayyyy too much when I asked, "Well, how was it?" She paused and started scrolling through her phone and I swear on my life I was having a HEART ATTACK thinking, maybe she didn't get anything, maybe she didn't even read, maybe it didn't work. She looked up at me and handed me her phone and told me to scroll through the pictures. She had taken pictures of some of the verses I had highlighted in my Book of Mormon and I read them all and looked up to her smiling face. I told her, "See Shawna, God knows how incredible you are." It was a miracle. She had taken the time to go through several different pages and read most of them and God had spoken to her to let her know that she was not alone and that He was proud of what she was doing and that the reason she feels kicked down is because Satan just wants to keep her from reaching the greatness inside of her. I couldn't help but smile as I realized that the people on the other side of the veil are really really helping her and I get to the point where she is ready for Baptism and man oh man oh man is she SO CLOSE!!!

I also had the chance to speak on Sunday!! I was incredibly excited!! Many of you know how much I truly love speaking and how much joy it brings me so having the chance to speak on my mission amplified it by 100 because I am closer to God than I could have ever imagined so it made writing the talk with the Spirit so much easier! PLUS throughout the week we had the chance to invite everyone to come to church because we were speaking!! While we were on the stand we saw so many people that we had been wanting to come to church for weeks show up and I much have been glowing I was so excited!

Paco, who is one of Roady's coworkers that he invited to church a few weeks ago (trust me I know, I know, Roady is the best), INVITED HIS DAD. Literally I couldn't believe it either. Here is this guy who had just been invited a few weeks ago to church bringing someone else.... I was impressed. It just goes to show that all it takes is one invite and they can feel the light that the Gospel brings right away.

We have been seeing Paco and Roady all the time. They are just a blast to be around and I feel inspired every single time I am with them and get to teach more about this Church that I love so much! We had a huge family dinner on Sunday with Paco, Roady, Paco's Daughter, our trio, and the YSA trio. It was a blast, I honestly wish that we could do that every week!

Other than that, I learned some very important things, one: I have a dress with pockets that can hold and entire Book of Mormon in each pocket which means it is now my tracting dress and I could be like Oprah, "You get a Book of Mormon, You get a Book of Mormon, You get a Book of Mormon!" *see picture below* I'm very excited about it. Two: I have literal angels lifting me up every single day and they are doing everything they can to lead me to say, do and be in the right places at the right time. Three: There's a restaurant here called Sanfords and if you order off the kids menu you get a half rack of ribs... which is A LOT of food for a kids menu. Four: I'm already dreading going home and leaving this closeness I have to the Savior after my mission

I love you all, there was so so so much more that happened this week but I hope I hit all the important parts! Thank you so much for taking the time to hear about how God is blessing my life and the lives of the people around me and always know that God is with you!

In my talk I really emphasized the idea that God is with each and every one of us. At the very end I gave everyone and incredible counsel that I will now give all of you that read this far. Do not doubt that God is speaking to you, I know that He is, Do not doubt it.

I love you all!!
God is in the details!
Sister Carter

Summer Nights

Another week another weekly my friends! This week has literally been one of the record books so please everyone take a seat, sit back, relax, grab some snacks and enjoy the ride!

So this week started off with a bang with Sister Harry and I driving down to Cheyenne for trainers meeting for Sister Edwards Van Muijen. We left almost right after I sent the last weekly email. The best part of the 2 hour drive was that yes yes, I was allowed to sleep in the back seat! Yup a nap was well deserved!! Once we got to Cheyenne we stayed with my old roommate from back in the MTC days, shout out to sister Tiemeier! Their AC in their apartment doesn't exist so Roady let us borrow 3 of his fans to keep up cool that we took with us! Literally, he's the best!!!

The next morning we went to trainers meeting where I got to graduate from the kids table and join the adults when the separated the trainers from the trainees. It was a moment to remember! I think I even said I felt like I just graduated in front of President and he just shook his head and laughed. That's right, I'm on my way to being the New Mission Presidents favorite missionary, just you wait!

After trainers meeting we went to the famous Chick-Fil-A which is noteworthy all by itself then we were back on the road! By the time we got back we had to basically drop all of our stuff and go over to Roady's to have our first official lesson with Paco!!! During the lesson we found out that he had a daughter which meant *drumroll* WE GET TO TEACH HIM!!! The lesson went so so well and we are so excited to finally have someone new to teach!!!

Thursday-Friday was almost uneventful, lots of lessons with returning members, lots of last minute cancellations, and lots and lots of contacting. But Sunday started the event which I call the greatest week in Sister Carters mission so far (keep in mind we are only on Tuesday and it's already the best). So Sunday we show up at church and none of the people that we expected to show up made it to church which meant for the week we pulled all zeros. Which really hurts. It's just painful to know that we didn't have any proof if the success we felt our area was having and honestly its embarrassing! Our zone leaders, who are in our district, got 4 new people this week and to pull all zeros was just a huge loss. So in the midst of our self pity we set our minds on hitting our goals for next week. In order to do that we would have to go tracting, and not just like eh yea we have a few extra minutes let's knock some doors but like full on let's sweat it out and tract. So we drove out to an area Sister Harry hadn't ever knocked and started on our quest. On Sunday we knocked for a few hours with little to no success but towards the end we felt like we needed to knock one more door. Sister Harry remembered there was a referral a few streets over to we drove over to their house and as soon as we walked up to the door Kristine opened up and said I'm really busy right now but do you mind coming back tomorrow sometime after noon? I swear I almost SCREAMED I was so pumped.

So the next day we went tracting again for a few more hours before going to her house again. When we got there we invited her in and she started asking us all of these questions that she had had since she visited temple square a few months ago. From what we gathered it seemed like they taught her the whole restoration and so she came in with more questions than we expected. We ended up spending the entire lesson trying to answer all of the ones we could without going too too deep into each lesson. Then just as we were about to leave her husband walks in and BOOM he asks questions too!! They seemed like they really respected what we were saying and overall wanted to learn more. AHHHHH it was so exciting!! WE HAD JUST GOTTEN TWO NEW PEOPLE TO TEACH!!! Literally a miracle.

THEN later that night we get a text from someone we had stopped by and talked to a few times in the past saying he wanted us to come over to talk to him more about the Book of Mormon which means that after tonight... we will have ANOTHER new person to teach!! PLUS another returning member asked us to come over later in the week and talk with his Dad and Mom who are going through a rough patch in his life and could really use some comfort and peace which we could bring so he invited us to come teach him which means we have the potential for finding FIVE new people to teach in one week!!! Plus the Elders dared us to get 3 more this week and I don't back down to a challenge! We have been blessed so much this week with success and I know that Heavenly Father is putting all of these people in our path so that we can bring them back to Him and I am in so much awe of the miracles I've seen this week!!

One miracle I wish we had seen is that the mosquito would serendipitously just stop literally eating us alive. I swear, I am COVERED in mosquito bites. I don't know what it is been holy cow there are so many!! Its like my entire body itches. It's the worst but I've got to tract so what else can I do??

For the past month as a district we've been fasting and praying that we would each find new people to teach and I know that is the reason we are starting to see so much success and interest these past few weeks. We are really trying to show Heavenly Father that we are willing to do whatever it takes to find people, even if that means going a day without food and I know He is watching over us!

Small, but still important miracle that happened not even a few hours ago. Sister Harry is working on a gift for someone back home and she needed a very specific type of paper to tie the whole gift together. We were searching everywhere for that one type of paper in the store and we could not find it. Seriously we were looking through books and individual pieces, EVERYTHING. So just out of suggestion from a member who was helping us look I offered a really simple prayer that just said, please help us to find this piece of paper, not even a few seconds after I said amen did Sister harry say, I FOUND IT. I swear in that moment I realized the validity in what I write ever week, God is in the Details, even if it's something as mindless as finding a piece of paper. Plus my huge thing since I've been out is that if I just had enough faith, I could make my charger appear in my hand from downstairs, or I could get my cup to show up in my hand, or I could have my clothes changed out of the washer and in that moment I turned to Sister Harry and said, I finally had enough faith! She DIED laughing. It was the best!

Now that this email is too long that most people won't read the entire thing I just wanted to remind everyone how much God loves them and how much He wants you on His side. He want you so bad that He's sending thousands of 18-25 year old kids to knock on your door and tell you He is there. Please Please PLEASE open the door!

Also I had my very first door slammed in my face, honestly it wasn't the worst feeling in the world but it definitely wasn't fun. Although it was fun to laugh about later. Little does he know that when the time comes, and he sees me in heaven, he will wish he'd have let us in. So we just laugh and move on, it the best way to live!!

I love you all!!
God is in the Details!!
Sister Carter

You Belong with Me

TRIO TRIO TRIO TRIO that about some up the entire week so I'll just end the email there...

Of course I'm kidding but OOO trios are weird it feels like I have to relearn how to do everything.

SO this week... honestly, what a time it has been but I'll start at the beginning! So last Tuesday after we had to get back to work Sister Harry and I had a great experience together that honestly bonded us as a companionship. Sister Harry and I were leaving a meeting and I started to get the insanely horrible feeling that something was very very wrong. It honestly felt like someone had just died or someone house was on fire or something and that there was someone we needed to go see right now.  The feeling literally over and my entire body and I was so full of anxiety and it was so incredibly intense that I felt for sure Sister Harry should have been able to feel it so I turned to her and asked several times if she could feel that. She always said she couldn't feel anything but we started to wrack our brains on who we needed to see. We pulled over and prayed several times, we went to several different houses but nothing got rid of that feeling. Finally I was feeling so much anxiety that I couldn't really thing any more so I said,  "Sister Harry, Heavenly Father is going to tell you where we need to be." So we sat outside of a house for a few more minutes before driving to another house. After we left that house that feeling left me and Sister Harry said, "I know where we are supposed to go, its Shawna" as soon as that feeling left me it went right into her so we raced over to her house. It ended up that nothing major happened, no crisis, no emergency, but I knew that Sister Harry and I needed that in our companionship to really bond us together. We were really struggling to figure out how to be missionaries together because our teaching styles are so different and then trying to add a third... we were very afraid but after that day we knew we were supposed to be together as a companionship. Heavenly Father was really trying to make it clear that we could work not only as friends, but also as missionaries. It was very needed. WE WERE DESTINED TO BE TOGETHER!

The very next day we picked up our new missionary!!! Sister Harry was SO freaked because the anticipation and the unknown was just a lot to handle but after we picked her up I think she felt so much better about the entire thing.

Our new missionary's name is Sister Edward's Van Mujin. She has a weird combo of me and Sister Harry which is both a good thing, and a bad thing. It's almost as if we just adopted another person with our personalities.

This week we saw SO many miracles. Starting with us getting in contact with several less active families and FINALLY getting to see Angie (a recent convert) after weeks if her avoiding us. She was finally home and let us in where we talked with her about why shes been avoiding us and she opened up about a lot of things that have been happening in her life which led her to stop talking with us. And not even a half hour later we met with a family who the missionaries in this area have tried to contact for SO long!! Then on Sunday our main man Roady brought one if his friends to church and we set up a return appointment which means ****epiclly loud drum roll**** WE GOT A NEW PERSON TO TEACH!!!! Now dont get too excited for us because he is YSA age so we will have to pass him off but we specifically fasted for us to get someone new to teach and BAM it was like he fell right into our lap. Ugh MIRACLES my friends MIRACLES.

This week we also started this think called miracle hour where we take one hour each day and dedicate it specifically to finding people and doing what the Lord wants and I know that is what is giving us so many miracles!!

Then came the best miracle of them all, so many of you know that my dad has cancer. He was diagnosed during my junior year in high school and just recently they found more cancer spots in his leg so they've been doing localized treatments for 3 months now. Well about a week ago they did a biopsy hoping to see some of the cells starting to die. They expected to see some death in the small biopsy but when they check it ALL of the cells had died in that biopsy. Now dont get me wrong it's not a miraculous healing, and he still gets shots but it was a miracle enough for me. I saw this week how much my missionary service is starting to bless my family and I know that Heavenly Father is really watching over them. *whoo voice* a miracle is a miracle no matter how small.

I want you all to know how much the Lord loves you! Since I've been out I've been able to feel more purely the love of God for all of His children and it comes to me so clearly that I get overwhelmed with this divine love. If you feel like you need that love in your life please, I beg of you, reach out to your Heavenly Father so He can shower you with the love I know that He has for you! 

AND REMEMBER
God is in the details!
Sister Carter!!

Also we do service at an animal shelter so look at how cute this cat is!! I was in heaven!!!
Also also, we went to the fair last week and I got to touch and emu, nbd but I GOT TO TOUCH AN EMU!!!

Little things

This week has been PACKED with all sorts of little spiritual goodies so I'll only share a few of them so let me just dive right in.

So last Wednesday we got to meet our new Mission President!!! President Palmer came all the way up to Casper and introduced himself and his family. It was a very brief intro and nothing really crazy happened but I had been thinking since I was in the MTC that I really wanted a priesthood blessing. I have had some incredible experiences during prayer but I always seem to doubt them as soon as they are over but I felt that if I could just get a blessing, it would be like God was speaking to me. So I had been thinking this for weeks and it just never felt right. I always didn't know who to ask, or I was too afraid to ask the people I would have wanted so it was just always on my mind. Then a few days before meeting President I thought about asking him to give me the blessing and I immediately knew it was something Heavenly Father wanted me to do. When the meeting finally closed I marched right up to President Palmer without introducing myself or anything I just said, "President, would you be able to give me a blessing?" He of course agreed and we all walked into a side room off the chapel where we got to talk one on one with the President. It was THE BEST I felt like I connected to him and his wife so much more and he hinted at things to come in the mission. Then he asked a few questions about why I wanted a blessing and started. Immediately I felt so intensely that God was speaking to me. As President was giving me the blessing it felt as though he could see my whole life laid out in front of me. He referenced so many amazing things that will happen in my life and it honestly *of course* brought me to tears to hear and get a sneak peak at my future. He finished the blessing and as soon as it was over that feeling that he could see my whole life faded away and I knew, without a doubt, that those were the words of God. It was absolutely incredible. 

Then on Saturday Sister Harry and I had another breakthrough with Shawna. We felt impressed to take her on a chapel tour even though she had come to church 8 times already. During the tour I just felt so strongly that we needed to really talk with her about where she thinks us meeting with her is going. Once we got to the chapel we started talking about her growth and if she could see herself progressing. This led to a conversation with her about how much Heavenly Father loves her. She started crying as she talked about how she didnt know. In that moment I knew that she hadn't really known the basis of everything we teach which is that Heavenly Father, without a doubt, loves us. We talked and shared experiences and there are things I shared with her that I didnt even know I knew. I felt God filling my mouth with the things I should say. That is when I knew I may not be speaking a language but as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I had the gift of tongues. I could speak, as referenced in 2 Nephi 31, the tongue of angels. Heavenly Father was speaking through me, without my knowledge of the words that would come out. It was an awe inspiring moment for me. We then asked if she would like a Preisthood blessing.

*Backstory*

Shawna has had a hard time with the priesthood and how it is only with the men for a long time. The missionaries have been trying to work on that for 8 months with little or no progress.

*end backstory*

After the idea of her getting a blessing was brought up she thought about it and then accepted!!! *I KNOW CRAZY RIGHT??* so we quickly texted the Elders and later that night they gave her an amazing blessing that talked about specific things she had been thinking about and worrying about. And she stood up after it was done with tears in her eyes. It was beautiful. Yesterday we met with her again and asked about her experience and her ideas on the priesthood and I swear to you all her entire countenance had changed. She thought differently about the priesthood and we could tell she was just feeling more and more of God's unconditional love for her. It was an absolute miracle. God is good. He is SO good everyone. 

It has been a week of absolutely high highs. I also found out that we are going to be training a brand new missionary!!! Starting tomorrow I will be in a trio with a missionary from the Mtc and I will get to help train her!! I'm so excited!!! Honestly I am pumped beyond belief about the whole thing!! I feel like I will be able to relate with her so closely and be able to help her easily because well I was there like a day ago so I get it. Ugh I'm so pumped. As it turns out my Zone leader when he was just starting had the exact same thing so basically I'm on the way to becoming a Zone Leader? That's how it works right?

I just wanted to let you all know how much I see God everyday in every small thing that I do. I feel Him pushing me to wake up on time, I feel Him give me extra confidence, I hear Him tell me things the people around me need to hear and most importantly I see Him in every single little moment where I need Him the most. I have said this before and I will say this until the end of time, God is in the details, even the ones you don't think He cares about. 

I love you all!! Keep praying for me and my work and especially pray for my new companion who I'm SURE is nervous out of her mind!!

I'll email you next week!! BYE!!

Sister Carter

The Circle of Life

What would you know, its finally time for another email from your favorite missionary! Yup that's right, Sister Carter is rolling out the emails!

Well to start this weekly are really grab your attention I will tell you the event that really spiced up my life. So we were walking up to Roady's house to give him a lesson and he wasn't quite home yet and we saw an antelope in the empty lot next to his house. We were just sitting there watching it when it got spooked by a car driving by. So in its panic it bolted across the road... directly in front of the car.... so imagine this, an innocent slightly emotional newly 20 year old girl watching as a car hits an antelope dead on going 30-40 miles an hour. As soon as it hit fur flew everywhere and it landed on it's back 20 feet from where it was originally hit. The antelope started to seize and shake on the ground... that was the moment I lost all control of my emotions. And yes that does mean I was crying on the front porch of Roadys home, and yes, it was embarrassing and no I do not care, IT WAS HORRIFYING OKAY!

This week we also did a ton of contacting people who had previously met with missionaries in hopes that we finding that one miracle because, we really need it. After spending an entire week with little success at knocked on the door of a man by the name of Devin. We did a normal door approach and asked him if be was looking for a church, he replied that he'd been thinking about going to a church but he didn't know where to start (YAY) we talked a little more and set up a time to go back and see him tomorrow!!! (DOUBLE YAY) we are hoping that everything goes well and then we have a new person to teach and we are very very excited about it! The only downside is that he is Ysa age which means we would have to pass him off after the first lesson, but if one person baptizes, we all baptize. I'm just excited that we had a successful contact for the first time in the 5 weeks I've been here, and yes if you were wondering, I did cry after. I have learned that I am not afraid to show my emotions since I've been on my mission. I've been really praying that we would be able to find someone to teach so that small miracle, even if I went be the one to teach him was something I absolutely needed.

I am so excited to continually serve the Lord. I realized this week that it is truly a sacrifice to leave home, leave my freedom, leave my life, and come serve and I am truly grateful for all the support I have gotten from the Lord!

Sorry this week's email is so short but expect and pray for a successful lesson tomorrow with Devin!!

I love you all so so much!!
Sister Carter

Also peep the pictures of me leaving a piece of toast we had left in our car for a few hours on the Elders truck... and of course, because they are Elders, they ate it without hesitation plus a picture of when Roady bought us a huge thing of peanut butter and some camp chairs for when we come over to his house to teach him lessons outside. What a gem :)

Pictures

Here are some pictures that Savanna emailed to us that didn't make it into her weekly email.