Temple trip!

Missionary life!

Hi Everyone! 

This week has been great! I definitely am getting more into the missionary life routine. Sister Snowder and I always have a blast together! Missionary life is awesome, I love it! This week I did some service, taught some lessons, gave away my first Book of Mormon, and met some awesome people! It's crazy the amount of joy you can feel when serving and helping others!

Something I learned this week is the eternal potential that each of us have. We at times may feel inadequate or like we want to give up, but no matter how we may be feeling we can always get through it with the help of our Savior Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father knows what we can become and He believes in us so much! He has placed us where we are at this moment and He knows that we can accomplish all that we have in front of us. We are children of God with an eternal potential and with His help and when we turn to Him and His son, Jesus Christ we can accomplish all things! He loves us each so much and believes that we can accomplish whatever is in front of us. He believes in you! 

Something else awesome I was actually able to do today is I got to go to the Seattle Temple! Something that was shared with me this week was the thought, "go to the temple as often as is inconvenient." The temple is such a blessing & the peace that is felt inside. A general authority, I'm not sure who, once shared that when you leave the temple you leave surrounded with spiritual power and protection. What a promise! I encourage each of you to find a time to go to the temple sometime soon & to go regularly if possible! When we prioritize the temple we are definitely blessed for doing so! 

Love you all! 

Sister Carlson 

Exchanges

Preaching in the rain

Hello Everyone!

This week has been great! As of Friday, I have been on my mission for one month! It definitely feels a lot longer than that haha, but I have loved it so far! Something that people always say about time on a mission is that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days, and I could not agree more! 

This week I met lots of amazing people and learned a lot! I served at the Horse Farm again and at a Senior Living Center. I did my first exchanges with the Sister Training Leaders in my zone and that was fun! I got to be in a different area with a different companion for a day. I also had the opportunity to learn from my Mission President and his wife at a New Missionary Training Meeting. 

Winter in Washington is here, it has been very rainy, but that's what I signed up for, right? I've loved the rain so far, but who knows how I'll feel after 9 months of it haha. 

Someone I was able to meet this week is our new friend named J. He is amazing! So he is a former MLB player! He was a pitcher which is awesome. However, he had a stroke a while back and has lost a lot of his physical abilities, so he has a caretaker and she's also amazing. She's a member and is able to add her testimony to our lessons. He's been being taught by missionaries for a while, but has never been close to or willing to be baptized, but for some reason this time around things are different. We met with him twice this week and are continuing to meet with him. It's been amazing to see the Lord's hand in our meetings. One thing I've come to understand while meeting with him is the Lord's timing. The Lord's timing is not always our timing, but it is perfect. He has a plan for each of us and I know that whether we feel like it now or not, things will always work out in the end. 

Something I have come to love since being on my mission is studying the scriptures. I loved it before, but I've been able to learn a lot since being on a mission. Something that I think is key in scripture study is pondering and listening. In the MTC we learned a study method where we would read one verse and then stop and try to find a lesson or principle that you could pull from it. I also was reading Elder Johnson's talk from general conference and he suggests to read with a question in mind. I encourage all of you to try either of these study methods, it really allows God to speak to you. I know that daily scripture study is so important. I know that God speaks to us through His words in the scriptures. I know that as you read and listen that God will speak to you and tell you what you need to hear at this time, no matter what you may be going to.

Thought: 

- This week I have been reading in Ether about the Brother of Jared. In chapter 3 verses 6-13 and something that I was thinking about while reading them is how the Brother of Jared only saw the finger of the Lord at first and then he saw the whole body of the Lord. It made me think of two questions; what does my faith allow me to see? And what does my doubt keep me from seeing? President Uchtdorf once said, "Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us. It is our fear, doubts, and sin that, like an umbrella, block these blessings from reaching us." However, God knows we are imperfect and that we will have doubts. I love the scripture Mark 9:23 that is talking about a father asking for the Lord to heal his son. He says, Lord I believe, help thou mine unbelief." As we turn to the Lord our faith will grow and our doubts will wither. Hold on to what you know before you let your doubts cause you to fall. "Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith." 

-Recommended reading: Talk by Jeffery R. Holland titled "Lord I believe" 

Talk by Elder Johson from this past conference titled "Power to Overcome the Adversary" 

Sorry for always sending such long emails haha! Love you all! 

Sister Carlson

Traveling to Washington

First week in Washington

Hello Everyone! 

So it's been a crazy week full of lots of changes! 

But first off, general conference, it was amazing! The spirit was so strong! Some thoughts I took from it:

- Giving your all brings joy (Elder Vinson). Give your all to God and you will have joy no matter your circumstances!

- It's not our successes, but our sacrifices and efforts that matter to the Lord. The Lord recognizes each sacrifice we make and blesses us for them.

- Choose to do the spiritual work required to recieve revelation. 

- Pray and read the Book of Mormon "everyday, everyday, everyday." (Elder Johnson). I have come to discover in my life that as I read the Book of Mormon and pray to Heavenly Father daily I am happier and am able to feel the spirit so much stronger! I encourage each of you to take time daily to do these things, even if it's only for five minutes. It will make such a difference in your day! 

Next I said goodbye to the MTC and left for Washington! I am now in Washington & am serving in the Woodscreek ward & am living in Monroe, Washington. It is gorgeous! It's been sunny pretty much everyday I've been here which I was not expecting. Most of my area is full of trees with the occasional house, haha. But I've been loving it so far! My companion is Sister Snowder and she is actually also from Sandy, Utah, but we didn't know each other before. She went to Hillcrest High School and also did a year of school at BYU. So that's awesome and very convenient when we tell people where we're from. She's been on her mission for five months now. She's been great so far! It's been a little crazy because we were whitewashed into our area, meaning we are both new to the area, so we have been trying to meet as many people as we can and just become familiar with the area. 

Since being here we've done tons of service! I've done yard work, sorted food at the local Food Bank, and scooped poop out of horse stalls at a Horse Farm. 

We've also met with members in our ward and done some tracting (knocking doors - terrifying! Haha but good!). 

Something that happened this week that was amazing was our lesson with our friend V. She was a referral from some Sisters in another area, so we called and set up an appointment with her Saturday. This lesson that we had with her was so so powerful! I felt the spirit so strong and she was super open minded! She had some amazing thoughts and seemed to understand everything we taught her about the Plan of Salvation. We invited her to come to church with us on Sunday and we ended up planning to do a church swap with her, meaning we went to her church service at 9:30 and then she'd come with us to Sacrament Meeting at 10:30. So I can say that the first church that I went to on my mission was The Rock Church, haha, which I think is pretty awesome. But she loved coming to church and stayed for Relief Society and participated in the lesson. She's pretty committed to her church, but wants to keep meeting with us so we'll have to see where things go! But it's been amazing to see all the ways that things have worked together and connected. The Lord's hand has definitely been in every step of her story so far and I am so excited to see where the Lord will take her next! 

That's about it for this past week! Washington has been amazing so far! I know that I was sent to Washington for a reason. As soon as I stepped off the plane I felt so much joy to be here and have continued to feel that joy as I serve the people here! I know that God has a specific plan for each of us and that as we turn to Him He will guide us in the direction that we need to go and lead us to places that we couldn't have even imagined before! 

Love you all! 

Sister Carlson

Made it to Washington!!

MTC - week 2

Week 2 at the MTC

Hello Everyone!

Still loving life here at the MTC! Time flew by this week! It's crazy to think I've only been here for two weeks! It feels a lot longer than that! Time at the MTC is a strange thing--the first week feels long, but after that first week everything moves fast! I leave for Everett on Tuesday!  I can't believe it! I'm really excited, but also a little nervous and sad because I've loved the MTC and the people and friends I've made here! 

This week was pretty much the same as last week. Lots of classes and lots of studying, but it's great! I love my teachers and classmates, so classes are always fun and full of the spirit! And study is always fun being able to be in the scriptures and Preach my Gospel and chat with Sister Thunell. 

One experience I had this week that I loved was one night in class we talked about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and we did this activity where we read Alma 7:11-13 and wrote down all of the things that were said that Christ suffered in those verses--pains, afflictions, temptations, sicknesses, death, infirmities, and sins. And then we wrote down next to each of those things something we had suffered recently in those categories (i.e. one pain we've suffered recently, one affliction, etc..). And I loved this because it made the Atonement of Jesus Christ so much more personal and definitely strengthened my testimony of it. I encourage each of you to do this as well if you get the chance!

Sunday was a jam packed day, with lots of meetings and lots of the Spirit! We got to watch President Nelson’s devotional that he gave at BYU and I loved it! We also had a Departure Devotional, it normally would have been this coming Sunday, but since general conference is next week we had it a week early. We also had our Sunday devotional and President and Sister Titensor spoke from the MTC mission presidency. And then Tuesday the devotional was with Elder and Sister Choi. Elder Choi is in the Seventy!

Here are some thoughts from this week: 

-The Atonement can heal us, strengthen us, cleanse us, and magnify us.

-"Ships are safe in the harbor, but that's not what ships are for." --> Reach outside of your comfort zone! That is how you grow and change! Don't stay in the harbor; sail out to sea! 

-"Our minds are like parachutes, they only function when they are open."

-God is not distant from His missionaries. D&C 84:88 - "And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up."

-"I always know when I am speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost because I always learn something from what I've said." Marion G. Romney

-The time I spend on my mission is the Lord's time - don't waste it!

-Think about what God can do, and because He is in you, with Him you can do all things!

-Me + More does not = Christ,            Me + Christ = More

-Learn the language of the Holy Ghost. Become the Holy Ghost's friend. The Holy Ghost is key in teaching others. 

-He helped us in every moment, not just in the end. 

Just want to end with my testimony that Heavenly Father hears and answers your prayers! Turn to Him in prayer and He will help you in whatever you are going through! 

That's about it for this week. It definitely wasn't as eventful as last week. However, this is just a break from last week's novel of an email because next week I probably won't have pday until Monday so get ready for that sequel to my novel from last week haha. 

Love you all!! 

Sister Carlson