HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Well I can't believe it is already a New Year. As of this week I will be out on my mission for 6 months already. I thought people were lying when they said a mission goes by fast, but it has flown by and it only gets faster!

 

It was an awesome Christmas week full of so much joy and excitement. It was truly amazing to get to really focus on the true meaning of Christmas this year as a missionary, and I mean that literally. Christmas Eve we spent a couple of hours out tracting doors trying to find people to teach. However, I must say it was one of the best, if not the best Christmas ever. Even though I was not home with my family, it was truly amazing to celebrate it with others.

     The night of Christmas Eve we went over to the Haws where we had an awesome dinner and then acted out the Nativity with their family as well as 4 other missionaries that came with us. It was honestly so much fun! I got to be the sheep! Go me!

    Christmas was awesome being able to spend time with members of our ward and then getting the wonderful opportunity to call home! It was so wonderful getting to see my family and talk to them and hear there awesome voices!

    The rest of the week was pretty normal. Everyone was out of town because it was the Holiday's so a lot of people were gone but it was a good week and there a lot of people we found that are interested in hearing our message. I am so excited for this new year and this new transfer. I am so excited for the work this year and I can already feel an excitement for all that is going to happen!

 

I love you all and have a wonderful New Year!

Love,

Elder Carter

 

"I believe that no concern of oursw is too small or insignificant. The Lord is in the details of our lives."

-President Thomas S. Monson

And BIG Thank You to everyone that thought of me or sent me something for the Holidays! I definitely have felt so much love and support during this time!

It's beginning to look a lot like CHRISTMAS!

Wow what a week we had here in Morgantown. The weeks just keep flying by faster and faster. This Wednesday we had a big meeting with President and Sister Pitt and we talked about covenants but the best part was at the end. All 50 or 60 missionaries that were there stood up and shared their favorite scriptures of Christ. I had a hard time choosing because I just don't like picking favorites but two of my favorites are 2 Nephi 7:7-9 and 3 Nephi 17:21-22

 

2 Nephi 7:7-9

    7 For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.

    8 And the Lord is near, and he justifieth me. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near me, and I will smite him with the strength of my mouth.

    9 For the Lord God will help me. And all they who shall condemn me, behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, and the moth shall eat them up.

 

3 Nephi 17:21-22

   21 And when he had said these words, he ^awept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and ^bblessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.

   22 And when he had done this he wept again;

 

The best part of the week though was yesterday at church. We got a Christmas Miracle!! We had made a goal to get allof our investigators to church and when we got to church in the morning it didn't seem like anyone would make it so we could only hope that someone would come. It was about 5 minutes before sacrament and I had almost just given up all hope of anyone coming. (To preface this story, I first have to tell you that Saturday night we went to invite Patty and Jenna to church but they weren't home so we left a note saying to call us or Sister Curtis, who Patty and Jenna are friends with, to get a ride.) Well to continue the story, Charlotte, Sister Curtis' daughter, walked in and her brother was poking her so she was a little annoyed at this point. Elder Kamauu almost jokingly then says "Did you bring a friend to church today?" Charlotte then said, almost annoyed because of her brother, "Yeah." Elder Kamauu, shocked, then said, "Wait... what? Jenna is here?" We then got the same response and tone of "Yeah."

Elder Kamauu and I then looked at eachother, then down the hall, and surely enough there stood Patty and Jenna!!! So amazing!!

We later found out that Patty called Sister Curtis at 8 that morning and almost embarrased asked for a ride to church even though Jenna was sick. It was truly a miracle!!!

 

And then during church you'll never guess what I actually did... I sang in the choir... not well, but I did it. It ended up being really good and not nearly as bad of an experience as I thought it would be.

 

Well this dumb computers are about to kick me off but I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas!! I love you all!

 

Elder Ryan Carter

 

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King!  Let every heart prepare Him room, And Saints and angels sing.” 

 

3 Nephi 1:12-13

    12 And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord ^aall that day; and behold, the ^bvoice of the Lord came unto him, saying:

    13 Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the ^asign be given, and on the ^bmorrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be^cspoken by the mouth of my holy prophets.

Winter Wonderland

This has by far been one of the hardest weeks on my mission if not the hardest week so far. We went around looking for people to teach pretty much all week and didn't really have much success. We had lessons fall through, and nobody was home when we tried to find people to teach. And yet somehow, this work is still amazing! It definitely helps to be surrounded by so many missionaries, and guess what, the church is STILL true. It is just hard to see so many people where you see how much happier they can be but they don't want it.

But to end off the week Sunday was awesome! We spent 11 hours at our church buidling. In that 11 hours, 3 hours was at church, 2 was just getting to church early, 2 was spent in choir, and 4 was spent at 2 different baptisms. Unfortunately, not baptisms of our own but it is still always amazing to be at a baptism. There was a kid in our ward that just turned 8 and then the University Elders baptized Brycen which was awesome to be at! And for all of you who know how talented my family is at singing... yes I'm in the choir. The ward basically come up to the missionaries and begged us to join. I told them I woulnd't be much of a help but they wanted me to join so I did. We are singing next week in church for our Christmas program so hopefully I don't do completely awful and ruin the entire show...

Hopefully this next week is better so I have some exciting stories to share with y'all.

 

Oh and it snowed like 2 inches last night! It is kinda cold here today.

 

Hashtags of the week

#BallinOnABudget

#HatHairFerDayz

#PaperSnowFlakes

#Set ItUp

#Get Dunked

 

 Oh and the attached picture is our beautiful "Christmas Tree"... We had presents but no tree so we decided to make one

 

Well I love you all!

Love Elder Ryan Carter

 

"Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries and predecessors; try to be better than yourself."

 -Charlie T. Jones

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#ForeverGreen

This week we had a zone meeting and we talked a lot about what happens with a new year since this will be the last meeting we have of the year. We talked a lot about how we make resolutions and how we all have an opportunity to change and to start fresh. As missionaries we come and and we are called greenies because we are so fresh and new. We talked about why as missionaries we lose that "greenie fire" or "greenie faith" after a while and how we all need to refocus ourselve on what we are doing and always have that fire and that faith and be "Forever Green". It was an eye opener for me because in life we all know what we can be, what we are capable of, and what it takes to be successful, but there are times when we make excuses and I have felt like I have been making excuses and so now I am able to have a fresh start. I get to become a greenie again, and for all you missionaries, put the dork dot back on the name tag.

 

This week we met a member who is less active who has a daughter that is 11 and has never been to church in her life. We were going around knocking on doors trying to find people to teach and ran into them. We went back the next day and watched a video on Christ's birth and the Christmas season. After, the daughet, Jenna, said she wants to go to church and that she feels like she needs to go to church. Unfortunately, they were busy this week, but in the future I hope and pray that they will begin coming.

 

Well I don't have much time left to write but I hope you all have had a wonderful week! You all are amazing, and remember the true meaning of Christmas during this time of the year. Remember Jesus Christ, and all of the amazing things that he has done for each of us individually. He has died for each one of us so that we could live again after this life! He loves each and every one of you perfectly! He knows you and He is always there to help you.

 

I love you all! Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Ryan Carter

 

“Give me all of you!!! I don’t want so much of your time, so much of your talents and money, and so much of your work. I want YOU!!! ALL OF YOU!! I have not come to torment or frustrate the natural man or woman, but to KILL IT! No half measures will do. I don’t want to only prune a branch here and a branch there; rather I want the whole tree out! Hand it over to me, the whole outfit, all of your desires, all of your wants and wishes and dreams. Turn them ALL over to me, give yourself to me and I will make of you a new self---in my image. Give me yourself and in exchange I will give you Myself. My will, shall become your will. My heart, shall become your heart.”

-C.S. Lewis

#TractingInAWinterWonderland #IdtTractThat

It is December!! How is it already December! It snowed a few times this week so it is getting a lot colder here. Unfortunately it is all melted by now and didn't really stick at all.

 

So I have a funny story for y'all. I can't remember if I told this already but if so I'm telling it again. Last week we were walking to the library to email and there was a guy walking down the hill and we were going to walk right by him. Elder Kamauu was so excited and was going to talk to him. As he was building up his courage I hear a thud. I turned around and he was on the ground. He had slipped on some ice. He said he has never seen ice on the road before so he didn't even know what he slipped on until I asked what happened. Guess I'm failing on teaching him how to live in a colder place than Hawaii.

 

This week we had another dinner with the Kellem's and they have a daughter that is so much like Caddie. She is 11 years old and has no filter. Apparently she has "her people" to get stuff for her. Sound anything like Caddie? It was crazy!

 

Thankgiving was awesome! We went to a Turkey Bowl in the morning which was a ton of fun except we were playing in the snow so it was pretty cold. Don't worry though I was crazy enough to just wear long sleeve and a tshirt and then shorts and thermal leggings. Maybe that was why I was cold... The rest of the day was pretty much spent with the Fidlers who fed us lunch and dinner. We just played games and hung out but the best part is that their daughter in-law knew my cousin. Small world.

 

And then to top the week off I have to talk about pepporoni rolls. The Fidlers to a Christmas music fireside yesterday which was awesome. But on top of that they made us pepporoni rolls. It is a roll stuffed with pepporoni, cheese, and pizza sauce! So good! I guess it is a WV thing.

 

But yesterday at church I learned something cool about sacrifice. We often think of sacrifice as just giving something up but when we really begin to think about it we sacrifice things so we can receive blessings from God in return. It was a cool realization that when we sacrifice God is just going to turn around and bless us in return so it really is not a sacrifice at all. God just wants us to show we are willing to follow him first.

 

I love you all! Thank you again for all the love and support! I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Ryan Carter

 

"The past is behind: learn from it.

The future is ahead: prepare for it.

The present is here: Live in it!"

-Thomas S. Monson

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