Nasty food and 1 year.

Hello todos!!

Well, it happened. I have one full year in the mission. Just yesterday I feel like I was talking to Elder Scott in the airport about summer sales. haha Well, now one year, 1000 spanish words, and 6 ripped pants later, here I am. As you guys will be glad to know, I did indeed burn a shirt. I'm sorry though, all the pictures didn't turn out. I have a 30 second video that I'm going to send to my mom with my camera, so we'll see if she can sub that to the blog. 

Anyways! So this week I had divisions with one of my Zone Leaders, Elder Coe. He's from Taylorsville and he's a stud. One of my favorite ZLs. I actually went to la Villa de San Fransisco. So, if someone can tell Trevor Casey that the cocinera in that area says hi, that'd be great. Anyway. We went out to work in that area and man am I blessed. Zamorano is a winter wonderland compared to la Villa. I was sweating like a pig the whole day. We contacted this sweet old lady that let us into her house. We started just talking with her, getting to know her and all that fun stuff. Then we felt super strongly to talk about Jose Smith with her. That was actually consejo given to us by Elder Duncan, the Area President here in Central America. So as we testified to her about the experience that the young Jose Smith had, she stopped us. She then started to tell us that she had distanced herself from two churches that she had gone to in her life, because to her, they didn't feel right. Then she asked us "Is it really that easy? All I have to do is pray?" And we told her yeah! Of course. That's what Santiago says and he was an apostol! She promised us that she was going to find her very own arboleda and pray. Honestly, I have the faith that she went and prayed. The only bad part of that story was that she didn't even live in our area. 

So divisions ended with district meeting and we went back to our area. that day we had to lend service to a member here in the rama. Her name's Celsa and she is the rumor woman of the whole town. She could not stop talking about things that she had heard throughout the week. And well, for those of you that know me, I love egging people on. So I was acting very interested and kept on getting more and more out of her. Meanwhile, my companion was dying. He was getting so annoyed of hearing it. As we left he told me that he wasn't going to let me talk at all the next time. Obviously he was joking, but I ended up laughing a little more than him after. But wait, that's not the worst part. So after halfway building a chicken coop for her, she made us lunch. She gave us the plate and it had some kind of meat, rice, and a giant full tomato with salt. I hate tomatos. But mom, I'd make you proud because I ate that whole thing. Buuuut still that's not the worst part. As we were eating the meat, we kind of looked at each other. It tasted super bland. And it had a form that was pretty gross. So, just casually I asked her what animal it came from. And she answered pig! Then I went too far and asked what part of the pig.....And you know what she said? Penis. She said it while I was chewing on it. I held back a gag and said, "Oh hermana....Que rica esta carne....Nunca habia probado pene de chancho en me vida...." Then she told me that it'll put more hair in my beard, so I ate it all. That was pretty rough though. 

So on Sunday, we show up to church and this really old guy walks up to us and asks what we were doing at 5. We just had contacting in our agendas, so we told him nothing. He told us to go to his house, so we wrote him in. Then 4 more times in the church, he walked by us and said "At 5 right? good. don't forget." We didn't even check our agendas and at 4 we had a cita at Familia Martinez house and that was all the way across the pueblo. We ended up leaving that house at about 5:30. So we decided to take a mototaxi. We actually had no idea where this guy lived, we were just going to go to his bvarrio and start asking people if they knew him. So we walked by this house and it was throwing a huge party and Elder Wardle turned to me and said "There's no way that's his house." And i agreed. We went and asked someone down the street where he lived and she said at the party house! So we walked up and called at the gate and someone let us in. We went out on the patio and there was Hermano Theodoro with a party hat! We asked him who's birthday it was and he said Me! Haha so we sat there and watched these kids play a bunch of party games, ate some good food, and drank the best horchata. It was a good time and we have some fotos from that as well. Well, I hope you guys are taking care! I love you all. 

Love, Elder Carter

Hey everyone!!

How is everyone doing? I hope great. Things are pretty smooth here in Zamorano. We've been trying to help a lot of the members progress as well as get references from them. We've been able to receive a few this week. We received one from our leader missional that seems pretty golden. We've been able to teach hm twice. He's very very open with us about his feelings. We taught the first lesson to him this week and he took it all super well. He told us that up front, he doesn't believe it. Then I told him what Joseph Smith had said. That if he hadn't experienced it, he wouldn't have believed the story either. He well that that made sense. We challenged him to pray that night, as a family. His girlfriend hasn't been feeling well, so she hasn't been able to accompany us in the lessons. But David (That's his name) Tells us that he tells everything that he learns to her. He accepted to pray as a family and also said that he wants to start going to church. He wasn't able to come yesterday, but he's very excited about next week. I'm super excited for this man. He's such a stud and we can tell he wants to make a lot of changes in his life. Obviously, he still has to get himself married, but who doesn't here....haha but really. He is probably our most positive investigator that we have right now. 

We have gone back to Hernan's house two times, but he hasn't been home. His son says that he's been working abnormal hours lately. We'll see what is going on with him this week. He was also another that was so positive.

Well, I'm sorry for the short letter this week! We didn't have much time today. The family with the keys to the church haven't been home all day and we just got the keys about 40 minutes ago. I hope you all have a wonderful week!! I actually took some pictures this week, but I'll get more quality ones next week!! I love you guys so much.

Love, Elder Carter

"That's a snake!!"

Well family and friends, another week has passed here in the green valley.

Everything has been going great. Always slow when you open a new area, but that investigator pool is growing!! As long as the pool in front of our house. It's been raining almost every day for the past week. It's been a bummer because my pants get super dirty from trudging in the mud. But hey, missionary life. Live and love it. I have a fun story to tell you guys before I inform you about the work! On thursday, we came back to the apartment to drop stuff off after District Meeting. As we were talking in our kitchen, I noticed just a tail sticking down the wall from the ceiling. So I walk over thinking it's just a gecko, and when I get close, I was like, "That's a snake!!" My comp runs over and says "It's a boa!!" So he just goes up to it and grabs the tail, but the sucker was strong and slipped away. So we look up into our roof and see it coiled up in there. And that thing was big. We started looking around for places where it could have gotten in and we couldn't find anything. So we go and talk to our dueño and tell him there's a boa in our house. He comes over and looks up in the roof and can't see it. Then he turns to my comp and calls him a "Visionary Man" Haha that one made me laugh pretty good. (Our dueño isn't a member.) So he goes and gets a hammer to pull the ceiling board out, and when he does....there was nothing there! So we pulled the whole top panel off and finally found it. It had gone to the other side of the wall. When we saw it just sitting there, we started thinking what we were going to do. My comp just said, "Well, I'll grab it!" and he climbed the latter and grabbed it. Haha so we started playing with it a bit and took a few pictures. We ended up skinning it and drying it. Now Elder Wardle has half a snake skin and so do I.

So we've started to work a lot with contacting, especially since the mission has turned it's focus to that. We found two very positive investigators through contacting this week. One is named Hernan. He owns a rock cutting business here in Zamorano. We just walked up to him and started chatting with him. (We did the sly, "Hey, does Juan Alvarez live in this house?" And he said no, then we got to talking. I asked him if he was a member of our church and he said no. Then I asked him why not. And he said, "Well, I've never really thought of why not. I have a lot of friends that are members of your church." Then I said, "Well, now's your chance! We're having a baptism date the 26th of September. Will you prepare to be baptized then?" And he said, "Well, yeah, if it's right." We then had a little talk of how he could get to know if the church was true or not. I told him, "All you have to do is pray tonight. If you ask with sincerity, you'll get the answer." Then he said, "Why can't we do it now?" I said, "Vaya pues! Let's do it!" He prayed and we asked him how he felt. And he just said he was content. We haven't been able to return with him yet, and he didn't make it to church, but I have a really good feeling about him. 

Well everyone, thank you so much for all the love and support! Take it easy this Labor Day and go ahead and drink a good ole cold Dr. Pepper for me.

Love, Elder Carter

Interviews and Zamorano

 Hey Family and Friends!!

Sorry for the weak email last week. We were rushing to get out of here. We started writing late because 

we thought there were two laptops here in the branch president's office...but there's just a really tiny one. 

So. Zamorano. This place is beautiful. It's based around the biggest agricultural college in all of Honduras, 

so there's a lot of farmers. But they're very smart farmers. Actually the university is where almost everyone 

works. It is a giant blessing to the people that live here. It's also a giant blessing to us because the 

university makes State's style milk and cheddar cheese. Finally, no more bagged milk....

The branch here is small, this week we had 35 show up. It's a bit stronger than Langue was, but like 

Langue, there's no Priesthood. We've been able to set up a few activities to help reactivate people and for 

people to bring their non member friends to church. Our first one is this saturday. It's called a Noche de 

Hermanamiento. That's like a family night. We made it "De Traje." Which means everyone from the branch 

has to bring someone (Yo traje tal...) We are also doing it by organizations. Like this week, the young men's 

organization is in charge. Next week it'll be young women's and so on. The young men were pretty stoked 

about it. I'm not sure if they were stoked because we're going to be eating some pasteles or because they 

finally have something to do on saturday night. Honestly, even with this being a college town, there's 

absolutely nothing to do. We've been asking around about what people do for fun and they've just told us 

things that are too inappropriate for this letter. 

So earlier this week we had interviews with president in la Villa de San Fransisco. That's a nice little pueblo. 

Not as pretty as Zamorano though. It's always nice to be able to talk to president. This interview we talked 

a lot about what President Nelson had said the past week. He left us with so much consejo and blessings. 

President Nelson told us that our best friend in the branch should be the Family History Consultant. And the 

first thing that came to my mind was, "Well, looks like we need a Family History Consultant." Last sunday 

we talked to our branch president and he's started making plans to start Family History in the branch. But 

anyways. Back to the interview. We finished talking about the Family History and he asked if I had any 

questions. I just kind of asked him about the hermanas that were in my area before and why he had decided

to put missionaries in. He said that in stakes, the stake president receives revelation for the missionary 

work. He said that the stake president had received revelation to have elders in Zamorano at this time. 

President Bowler said that when the stake president had told him that, 2 names popped in his head: 

Elder Carter and Elder Wardle.

I love being a missionary. I still can't say that I don't think about home a lot, because I do. I think of it 

differently though. Like an ending of a past life and the beginning of a new one. Honestly I've white washed 

my mind on the mission. I just don't think that same way McKay used to. I don't feel like the same person, 

and I'd like to say that's an improvement. Even at this point, I owe almost my whole life and my whole 

testimony to my mission. I love this gospel.      Love, Elder Carter

We got transfer news!

Hey mom!!

Monday night I had to stay the night with the DL in Nacaome. So we left Nacaome at 5 

in the morning and took a bus into Tegus. When we got to changes, President grabbed my shoulder and

said "Elder Carter, have I got an assignment for you." We went into a room and he did a little interview with me. 

He asked a little of my worthiness and what I had accomplished in Langue. Then he said "Well, Elder Carter

if you haven't noticed, I've sent you to some very difficult areas." And I said, well yeah, I noticed. haha 

But then he said "That's all been for a reason. I'm sending you to an area that hasn't had Elders in over a year. 

There's a branch weaker than Langue's branch there. Strengthen it and report back to me in six months

"Then he talked a little about my new companion and sent me off. So now I'm here in Zamorano in the east. 

By the way, this is one of the coldest areas in the mission. We have a lot of work to do here, but I'm pretty 

stoked. My new comp's Elder W. He's from Boise Idaho. He's a stud and is pretty excited to end his mission 

here.  

So that's the first news. Second, guess who came to Tegus! President Russell M. Nelson! He came to give an 

address to the elders in Central America and he decided to come to talk to our mission and Comayaguela as 

well. It was such a special experience. We got to shake his hand as well. He gave us a ton of counsel about 

using the Family History Consultant to work with investigators., That's going to be a huge blessing. He also 

joked around a bunch. He's a lot more funny than I thought! Elder Duncan also came to talk to us. He's such a 

stud. He's the area 70 here. Well, I'm sorry this is so long. I gotta go though. I won't have time to write the 

family letter. Can you just edit this one? And I still don't have pictures...sorry. :( But this area is beautiful. 

I love you so much!! 

Love, Elder Carter

Changes may be coming.

Hey Everyone! Another week. I'm not going to talk about the time, because we're coming up to an unspeakable time in my mission. Well, the change is coming to an end this Wednesday. We find out news about the changes tomorrow. To see if I leave or stay a month and a half more. It's pretty probable that I'm going to leave. President Bowler likes to rotate missionaries. And I like to get to know more parts of Honduras, so we'll see where this week takes me!

This week in Langue has been really chill. We've been challenging everyone we see in the street and we've gained a little reputation. We contacted a person and as we were talking, he asked, "Are you guys really going to ask me if I want to be baptized?" We kind of just laughed and said yes. He didn't accept, but at least he now knows our purpose as missionaries!! This week we were teaching our investigator Mixi when she received a phone call. Her abuelo had passed away. We were actually teaching the Plan of Salvation at the time. That happened on Saturday. We haven't been able to get in contact with her since then. She left for Tegus that day. So just as a favor, keep her in your prayers. I really hope that she can embrace this gospel in a time like this in her life. It's really been a pleasure being able to teach her. She's so accepting and open about what we teach her. It also really helps that her best friend is the Branch President's wife. 

I was able to go on divisions with one of the Zone Leaders this week. Elder Laureano from the DR. He's a stud. He was also my ZL in my last area. I was able to learn so much from him. We were teaching a menos activa family and decided to read Ether 6. This has become one of my favorite passages from the Book of Mormon. especially verse 8. In this part of the story, the Jaredites are already in their boats in the middle of the ocean. They have already seen soo many miracles with the rocks of light and the confusing of the languages. In the verses before it says that the Jaredites praised their God and prayed to Him day and night. Then in verse 8 it says "And it came to pass that the wind did never cease to blow towards the promised land while they were upon the waters; and thus they were driven 

forth before the wind." 

I love this verse because it talks about the faith that they had. The wind literally never stopped blowing to the Promised Land. That didn't happen just because it was the will of God, the Jaredites had to put in their part. It also says that they were on the waters for almost a full year. Imagine what kind of miracle had to have happened in order for them to arrive safely. I love the Book of Mormon so much and the small treasures we can read in it every day. I love you all so much. 

Love, Elder Carter

Another week passes!

And another week passes. I still can't believe this time. The change is coming to an end too fast and I'm entering into to the time where it's almost certain I'm leaving Langue. There's still two weeks before you guys know that though. I just hope that when I eventually leave this area, the people here will have strengthened their testimonies in Jesus Christ and this church. 

We've been able to work a lot with opening the mouth, contacting, and challenging people to baptism. We have been trying to do our best to challenge everyone we talk to and really, it isn't something uncomfortable anymore. It really just feels like part of the flow of talking to people. that's what I love about the mission. About 5 months ago, we waited until the 2nd, sometimes 3rd lesson to even talk about baptism. We've been able to see the blessings of challenging people the first time we talk to them. It shows us how ready they are to hear the gospel, and how willing they are to progress. So far, we've been able to decide faster whether to drop people as investigators or not. We aren't any closer to baptizing, but we are working hard with that. 

There's a joven in our neighborhood. His name's Eduardo, but everyone calls him Colocho. (I'm sorry if I describe an investigator twice in my letters. I honestly have no idea what I wrote last week.) Anyway, he's really close to baptism. He's 12 years old and attends church every sunday. He's not too sure about getting baptized, but he loves going to church and all the activities. His mom lives in the States, so we have to get permiso from his grandparents. They're members, but they inactivated about 3 years ago. He's been scared to talk to them about baptism, but this week, we want to talk to them together. The branch president says that they shouldn't have any problem with it. There's another small problem too. He says bad words all the time. I don't ever realize it because I'm still learning the bad words in spanish (There's like 100 more than in English.) He only says them when he's with his friends. It's pretty rough for him because there are only 2 other 12 year olds that attend church and they both live about an hour and a half away. 

We saw the attendance in church drop this week. When we arrived at the capilla at about 8:40, there were only two people there, Presidente and Colocho. In the end, 23 people showed up. We have been really working with the members, but some just don't care. That's the hardest part of the mission, trying to get people to care about church. 

This has been a rough week, but I'm really stoked to put all my heart into this last full week of the change. I love you guys so much, until next week...

Love, Elder Carter