Viva La Vida

 Well this is it, I'm typing this up as I'm sitting in the hotel with my parents, my mission is actually over. I have officially completed my 18 months as a representative of Jesus Christ. I can't believe its come so fast.

I decided to name this email in a very fitting way, still keeping to my theme of song titles I landed on naming it Viva La Vida which means "Live Life." Which is exactly what I've been doing, and now what I'm about to do again. The mission gave me the exact 'Reset Button' for life that I always knew I needed, and now, I get to push it again and step into the rest of my life... how absolutely terrifying. 

I was listening to a missionary devotional and I wrote down at the top of my paper, "Sometimes it has to be us" after looking at it for a minute I realized, "Sometimes it gets to be us" Sometimes I got to be the reason someone changed their life, sometimes I got to be the person someone ran to, sometimes I got to be the savior for someone else. That was something I got to do. And now I get to do that for the rest of my life because I have finally learned how to be the tool God can use.

These past 18 months will always be in my heart and have led me to the people I know I will spend the rest of my life with and around. Thank you for always supporting and encouraging me to get this far. 

I have grown so much, I honestly barely recognize the person I have become but I know that I am exactly who God knew I could be. I will be eternally grateful for all that He invested in me, and I hope to continue everyday to invest in His children to try and pay Him back. 

So don't forget about me! Even though you won't see me around, or you don't get to read every week about my life, I still love and care for each and everyone of you. You were on this journey with me, in a big or small way you changed my life!

Please please come/watch my homecoming this Sunday at 9 am!! Go check my Facebook and Instagram if you want the link and/or address! You can also message me and I'll send it to you! 

To quote a previous missionary, "I'm off to The Land of Endless Pdays on the Transfer Bus in the Sky"

I'll see you all in the afterlife!

Keep in touch!

Email: cartersavanna@gmail.com

I love you all lots and loads

Remember God is in the details

And for the very last time,

Sister Carter

WHELP

 WHELP 

Another weeks past and here I am again reminiscing about the good ole times. It'll be a good weekly this week so make sure you tune into the end!

So to start off the week I attended my final Zone Conference last week, which was such a bitter sweet moment. I don't think that it has quite set in that I am never going to attend another Zone Conference as a missionary. During my departing testimony I stood up and said, "Well I guess this is it, its finally here" I went on to talk about how my very first transfer I remember a sister who was going home stand up to give her departing testimony and I was SO upset. I remember thinking, this has got to be some sort of punishment because here I am... just starting... and I get to see someone who is DONE. I then said, "Now I understand why they have the departing missionaries give their testimonies" I finished my testimony and I looked at my Mission President, who I have looked up to spiritually for the past 18 months. In that moment, he looked at me like any proud father should. That is when I finally realized how much I had changed and accomplished on my mission. He looked at me just smiling, and it helped me to know that he was so proud of who I had grown up to be during these 18 months. That was the best feeling in the entire world.

After Zone Conference finished one of my good mission friends came up to me to talk about this being my last Zone Conference. I then said, "Honestly I remember looking at departing missionaries and hating that they got to leave!" (half joking) and she said, "That's how I feel about you!" then I said when I finally learned, "They don't have us stand up to show off that we are done, its because we are who you can be at the end of your mission. You can be me, so do it" 

SO that's what I learned, that we need to look at those who are "better" or "farther in life" or are "more spiritual" and see them as a goal for ourselves, because there is absolutely nothing that is holding us back besides our own self doubt. So do it, be the "better" be the "farther in life" be the "most spiritual" I dare you.

This week I also had the chance to join another lesson with Lilly, who we found a few weeks ago and passed her to the missionaries in her area. She is someone that I specifically felt connected to and I was so blessed to be part of her continuing conversion story. So we joined the lesson and it went pretty normal, (The Elders were leading the lesson and tbh... even I was bored but the information got across) and at the end they asked, "So Lilly do you have any questions?" and she goes, "Not about what you talked about today but I do have a question about the date we set because....." At this point in the story I couldn't listen because I realized she had a date set for her to be baptized and I started screaming. So finally when I stopped screaming and clapping really loudly she said she wanted to be baptized on December 5th and I LITERALLY AM SO EXCITED. She has honestly changed her life. She knows now what brings her eternal joy and you can see it in her face. She will be one of the best stories of my entire mission. So everyone please pray for her!

So that's it! Another weekly in the books! There is only 2 more of these things left so stay tuned! These next two will be huge!

I love you all lots and loads!

Remember God is in the Details!

Sister Carter

You are the music in me

Here I am again typing out another weekly email trying to hold back the bundle of emotions I've felt this past week. Don't worry I'll hold back the tears for this email ;) *already crying*

This weeks episode on the Sister Carter Show will focus primarily on my love of the Savior, as this week I've been specifically inspired about my connection to Him. So cue the theme music

*insert Havana Ooo Nah Nah music changed to say Savanna Ooo Nah Nah*

All jokes aside I was touched multiple times this week as I realized how close I have grown to my Savior Jesus Christ over these past 18 months (yea I hit my 18 month mark this coming Sunday... wild right?) During my last Zone Meeting this week my Zone Leader asked us all what the Savior means to us. I raised my hand and said, "He is everything to me" Now I know that may seem super generic but then I continued, "There is a song that is supposed to be a love song but it perfectly explains what I mean when I say He is everything to me" The song goes something like this but I am going to change the words slightly to fit Christ.

He is the air I breathe

He is the song I sing

He is the war that I can't win, 

this is my white flag in the wind

Every word He speaks

is the air I breathe

I didn't and I still don't know how to express my thoughts more purely than that. Christ has given me everything I have. In my past apartments I had a picture wall filled with pictures from my life, my baptism, clogging pictures, vacations with friends, lots and lots of mission pictures, basically my whole life was shown on that wall. One day I was sitting in bed looking at all of these pictures and I realized that every single good thing, every single picture was because Christ gave them to me. They were all because of His church on this earth. I would have never gotten into clogging if my mom hadn't been looking for a studio that had modest costumes. I would have never met my roommates if I didn't decide to go to BYU. I would have never met some of my closest friends if I didn't go to YSA. Christ was the reason behind every single one of my pictures. He was there for it all, how could I not be forever indebted to Him.

The next thing I wanted to talk about is the healing that comes through the Savior. Just a few days ago I woke up and my brain was foggy. This happens every so often, usually when I am under a lot of stress (who would have thought going home would be so stressful ) So I spent most of the day, very silent, trying to just wait out the fog. Well I went to a lesson with an older couple who I love so so dearly. They have been members all their lives and even served a couple's mission in the early 2000s. After chatting with them for a bit we started talking about what the Atonement has meant to us. Brother Hardy said, "There is a quote from last conference about the Atonement that has changed the way that I have viewed it. It is something along the lines of, while the Atonement is infinite in nature, it says, 'although infinite and universal in its reach, the Lord’s Atonement is a remarkably personal and intimate gift, suited to each of us individually'" Then he looked up at us, with tears in his eyes, and in the sweetest, most angelic voice, says, "I've always thought of the Atonement as something that covers everyone, but after hearing that I realized that Christ paid a personal Atonement for me."

After hearing that I about lost control of my tear ducts but I held on as I replied, "I am eternally grateful for what Christ did for me and for my family. There are things that I know can only truly be healed after the resurrection and knowing that Christ made it possible for those to end, for me, that is indescribable." We finished talking and left and that heaviness I had felt that entire rest of the day was lifted. I know it was because I was able to connect to someone who had a special ability to heal and calm. Whether it was Brother Hardy, or Christ, it is the same.

If you are a missionary PLEASE go listen to the devotional by Bishop Waddell, it was SO amazing and definitely made me learn so much more about Christ and my dedication to my mission, I promise, it will change your life.

If you aren't a missionary, I've decided his devotional will be the topic of my homecoming talk in a few weeks so you will have to come and listen to me talk about it then!

I love you all lots and loads

Remember God is in the details

Sister Carter

Not too many pictures this week, but I'll take more soon!