FELIZ NAVIDAD

Wow. The time is here. Merry Christmas everyone!! I can't believe how fast the time is going. This week has been such a good week!! I am so stoked for this letter.

So first off, We have a baptism planned for the 2nd of January!!! His name is Eddie. He is such a stud. His two brothers are members. In fact, his brother Noel served a mission in England and got back not too long ago. We taught him the first lesson and he honestly knows so much about the gospel. We challenged him to baptism and set a date for the 3rd weekend in January. He accepted. Flash forward a couple days when we return. We start just talking to him about his baptism and how he feels. He tells us a story of earlier that day. He said he was walking home from a football game and was thinking about church and getting baptized. He said that he felt really good about it and that it was the thing that he needed to do. He then said that he has been afraid to get baptized because he doesn't want to serve a mission. We old him that is wasn't 100% necessary that he serves a mission right after baptism. We told him about how amazing the mission is and how it can help him. He really calmed down after that. He then asked us if we could change the date of him baptism. We said yeah that was fine. He then told us the 2nd of January! I though he was going to want more time!! So we've been making plans for this baptism like crazy!! We've been going to his house every other day teaching him as much as possible so he can get baptized. I am so excited!!

We also contacted this girl named Bolep. It was a regular door contact. We asked her how she was doing and what religion she was. She said she was Catholic. Then we took a different route than we usually do. We asked her who was the first Catholic in her family. She was surprised we asked that. Then she said that she didn't know. We asked her if she had prayed to ask God if the Catholic church was the church that He wanted that she attend. She said no. Then we testified that asking God in prayer is something that she can do. Especially asking specifically. We challenged her to pray about the church. Anyway, we set up a cita and left. We went back on a friday and she wan't there. Normally we wouldn't return because a lot of people set up return citas without intending on being there. But on Sunday we were out by her house and just decided to drop in. She let us in and we taught the first lesson. At the end, we asked her how she felt hearing the message. She said that she felt really good. Then we asked if she had prayed that one day we passed by. She then told us a story of how Sunday, the day we were there, was her birthday! She said that earlier that day she offered a prayer and asked if she should listen to our message or stay in her church. She said she finished the prayer and not 5 minutes later, we showed up on her doorstep. She told us that she took that and the feeling that she had hearing our message as her answer. It was such a miraculous experience. She has a baptismal date for the 9th of January. 

I really hope that you all have a great Christmas. I love you all so much!!

Love, Elder Carter

THE CITY!!!

Wow. They sent me back to the city. It seems so different. The last time I was here was almost a year ago. I'm in the area Miraflores in the same zone I was in in La Honduras. This place has PISTO. Everyone here is so dang rich. The ward is so strong too! The attendance at church two weeks ago was 260. I am so stoked to be working here. Our ward mission leader is not only active, but also works with us! My new companion is Elder Madero. He's from Arizona. He's super chill. We get along very well. I'm finishing up his training this change. We are opening half of the area this change. There used to be 2 companionships here, but they took the hermanas out and gave us the whole area. It is so big!! We walk so dang much. But at least the whole area is flat.

So when I first got here, we ate lunch at this ladies house and in her garage were parked a Land Rover and a Porsche. The maid atually let us into the house, then cooked us lunch. Fish fillet...We then talked tothe hermana for a little bit and she gave us a reference of one of her neighbors...a 5 member family!!! We're goingto be teaching this family in the house of a member. I am so excited. Also, we had Missionary Correlacion on Sunday and set up a few divisions with the ward missionaries. We are working so dang hard. It's pretty rough though. A lot of the house are closed off and we have to talk to a camera and an intercom. and most of the time, the maids or butlers answer. And we can't really teach them...but it's okay. We are teaching a few college students right now. They leave pretty soon though, it's pretty sad. I don't really have too much to say about this week. We'll make sure to work super hard so we have more to say next week!! I love you all!!

Elder Carter

It really is the best time of the year!!

Hey everyone!!

Wow. The days are just too fast. This week just went by so fast. Well, this small 4 week change has come to an end. We have changes this Wednesday. I don't think I have changes, buuuut we'll see.

So this week. It was pretty crazy. It all started out normal. Tuesday we worked pretty hard and also Wednesday. Like always, we had district meeting on Thursday, but after District meeting, I went on divisions with Elder Torres in Yuscaran. Elder Torres is from Mexico and Elder Rasmussen is training him. He's a really chill guy. He's out here for the right reasons. Well the reason for doing divisions was to do a baptismal interview. The kid was 13 years old and he knew a ton. The sad part was that he never showed up to the baptism on Saturday...So that was rough. Anyway. On divisions, I met this guy that started talking to me about US history and the influence of rock music. It was super cool. He also started talking a lot about the Beatles. Haha those are just a few of the easter eggs of the mission. Anyway. We ended divisions on Friday and I had to pick back up and go to Moroceli at like 2 on Friday. They were also going to baptize. I went with Elder Ruano. I shared an area with him when I was in La Honduras. He's from El Salvador and he's one of my best friends in the mission. It was rough though because the kids that were going to get baptized weren't there!! So we went out and visited a few of the investigators. We also did a ton of contacting. It was pretty good though because they've been having trouble getting new investigators lately. 

So we ended divisions on Saturday and went straight to work. It's always rough going to the other areas to work because you never get to enjoy the work that you do!! Haha but Saturday was a decent working day. We got to teach this lady named Magda. She's super humble and super sick! She has a tumor the size of a basketball in her stomach!! It's a huge bummer because she is really positive and she just left to Tegus to have surgery. So keep her in your prayers!! We challenged her to baptism for the 3rd of January, and she accepted it without hesitating. 

On Sunday the Devotional was super good. I absolutely love Christmastime!! The Mo Tab did so good (As always) and Elder Clayton's talk was great. I always love hearing about different people's Christmas traditions. 

Well, I hope you guys are enjoying the spirit of la Navidad. It really is the best time of year!! I love you all. Until next week,

Love, Elder Carter