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
