12/26/13 Christmas Letter

This was a handwritten letter from Sister Carter:

My dear Family,

     I need to make this quick, I'm already out of time, but I wanted to write a Christmas letter.

     First, I want you to know how much I love and miss each of you. I never would have imagined it to be this hard to be away from you on Christmas. I already dread waking up Christmas morning, not being with you, but there's two things that will get me through. 1. I will get to talk to you on the phone soon.  2. There is nowhere else I'd rather be. I'm supposed to be here, representing my Savior, serving God's children. I am SO privileged to get to do this on the day we commemorate Christ's birth.

     Sometimes, when I think of how uncomfortable, difficult, and frustrating, and exhausting missionary work can be, I'm reminded of Jesus Christ. I left my comfortable home and family, just like Christ left his comfortable heavenly home. He established His church, performed miracles, then suffered and died for me, for us. Now I'm lucky enough to represent Him, to wear His name on a black shiny badge and be a witness of the wonderful things he did for us. Yes, it's hard, extremely hard sometimes, but was it easy for Christ? Is our salvation and the good news of the gospel a small thing? No! Perhaps I'm only telling you this to remind myself of why I have to be away from you this Christmas, but I hope you all know the importance of what I'm doing and keep in mind on the day we celebrate Christ's birth, that the greatest gift we can give is of infinite value - to share His restored gospel.

     I love you all so much, and I'd better hear soon about what you all did and what you got! You know what I want for Christmas? Letters! All winter long! Love you, Sister Carter

December 9th - 16th: Brrrrrrr!

Hello everyone!

It's been an extremely cold week here in Ohio. When people told me it's a different kind of cold, I thought "What? Cold is cold, ya weirdo." but.. really. It's a different cold. The humidity makes it feel like 40 degrees colder at times.  This week, I've been wearing about 6 sometimes 7 layers, BEFORE my coats, hat, and gloves. The cold just goes straight through them. It sometimes feels like jumping into a frozen lake when you walk outside. ha! But it doesn't stop us! The Lord will take care of us and bless our efforts! and.. on the plus side, people feel bad for us and let us in their houses and then we can teach them! :D

One exciting thing, I GOT TO SEE a POSSUM for the first time! Up close. They're cute! I didn't even know what they looked like. They're alot bigger than I imagined.

Another interesting note, i've been catching myself this week talking like an Ohioan. It's Sooooo weird. There's really no way to describe it, but you might notice it when I come home. ha!

Our lesson with the Sturtevant family this week went really well. They're the family of 7 we just started teaching. They just happened to mention casually that they don't let their kids date till they are 16 and they don't believe in pre-marrital sex, and they told us about their high standard of modesty they hold their girls too. It was incredible! Basically. they're already Mormon and just don't know it yet! The mom is really excited to read the Book of Mormon. We have another lesson tomorrow, and I'd appreciate greatly if all of you prayed for them.

Diawoye seems to be avoiding us. It's quite sad, but we KNOW that Lord has a plan for him and we're just waiting on His timing. He'll come around. He's way too prepared from something to not happen.

I want to encourage all of you to take some time to recognize the Lord's hand in your lives. He loves to bless us and give us little "treats" daily, and the more we recognize those, the more He gives them.

And what kind of missionary would I be if I didn't say something about Christmas? This season is an incredible opportunity to GIVE. Not typical gifts, but just kindnesses. Give yourself. Smile, Serve, Share the gospel, Spread the joy and the Love. You have no idea how many people's lives you can change.

Love you all! Merry Christmas!

Sister Carter

 The church Sister Carter goes too.

Sister Carter by her apartment waiting for the mail. She is begging for letters.

 What she brought home to eat.

 Her wall of pictures that keep her from getting homesick.

 How beautiful the trees are there.

 A service project painting for an investigator.

 She says she misses everyone so much! She said it is harder than she tough it would be.

Below is Sister Carter and her companion Sister Hunger. They will be together for another 6 weeks. They kinda like each other.

December 2nd - 9th: Miracles

Hello Everyone!

First, I want to tell you all about a miracle that happened to us this week. We were driving home at night and in the right lane. There was someone in the left lane and we were in their blind spot. Suddenly, without a blinker or any warning, they decided to switch into our lane. We didn't have enough warning to brake or honk. We couldn't have swerved out of the way either. I screamed and suddenly everything was like slow motion. I waiting to hear the crashing sound of them hitting us, but somehow it never came. Watching it was like watching their car go through the corner of our car and we were left with no damage at all. My companion who was driving said she felt like there was a force field protecting us. We both sat in shock wondering how our car didn't get hit. And logically, there is no way. It really was a miracle. God protects His missionaries.

In other news, we found 6 new awesome investigators this week! We're so excited! It's so incredible how the Lord places people in our path who are prepared.

This week was unique because we also had the Ohio Columbus Missionary Christmas devotional and an exchange with our sister training leaders. The devotional was FANTASTIC. I wish you could all feel the spirit present when there's nearly 250 missionaries in one room. The exchange was also great. I learned a lot and got to meet some awesome people.

Well this week was great. I hope you all had a fantastic week too! :)

Love, Sister Carter