21 May 2012, Culiacan Mexico

Hola Familia,

How´s everybody doing? Well things are pretty hot here and are going good. We had transfers today and I got transfered to Culiacan. My companion is named Elder Martinez and I´m excited for the new area and to start working here. From what he´s told me the wards are pretty cool here. We´ve got 2 wards so I´m sure we´ll be pretty busy. I want to try and start learning the area this week and sounds like we´re going to start looking for some new investigators.. There´s a lot of hills in our area so luckily I´ll start getting back in shape ha. 

Besides that not too much is new. We were teaching Alan Jone´s mom the lessons and it sounds like she might get baptized pretty soon so that is awesome. He´s the kid in our ward that´s on a misssion right now.. I said bye to the Familia Meza on sunday and they are staying really strong and animated in the church so that is is awesome. I want to find some familys on my mission like them. The other family we took to church the sunday before was out of town, but the hermano was still there. His foot is starting to get better but he still couldn´t go to church so we gave him a blessing before we left.

I´m hoping to learn a lot this next transfer and can see there are many things that I would like to improve. I know the best example we can always follow in our lives is the example that Christ put for us.. I hope everybody has a great week and remembers to always pray to our Heavenly Father in whatever we´re facing and to just stop and give thanks for the things that we have in our life. I need to get better at that!.. Love you all and thanks for all the support you give me and your prayers. 

Love,

Elder Carlson

15 Mayo 2012, Mazatlan Mexico

Hola Familia,

 

Hey what´s up! Sounds like everything has been going good at home. This week has been pretty awesome. The weather continues to be about the same and isn´t too bad yet.. We were able to see the baptism of Olivia from the Familia Meza on saturday and it went really well. Her father got to baptize her and it´s so awesome to see how happy they are for following what the Lord wants them to do. Their family seems so unified and strong, even though they´ve commented about problems they have had, like all familys!

 

We went and shopped at Sam´s club this morning which was pretty sweet. They have a lot of american stuff their and we ate some pizza with our district afterword. We´re teaching a different family right now and we brought a mom and her daughter to church on sunday. It went well and we´re really looking forward to seeing them progress even more. We have an appointment with them later today.

 

I´m thankful I have the chance to be here right now. Thanks for all the support you guys give me and I appreciate your prayers and love!

 

Love,

Elder Carlson

7 May, 2012, Mazatlan Mexico

Hola Familia,

 

This week has been pretty awesome. We got the chance to go up to Culiacan and spend the day there friday to hear a conference. A seventy of the area spoke and we got to hear a lot of cool stories from him and his wife. He talked a lot about the power of prayer. He comparted a lot of experiences about miracles he has seen from praying specifically and with faith. If there is a problem in our life we can pray specifically about this problem in our lives and try and think about the way the Lord can help us with this dilemna. If we put our part in the effort and put our faith in the Lord he will always complete his part too.

 

Besides that we´re really excited for this next week too because Olivia, the daughter of the Familia Meza, decided she wants to get baptized this saturday. We ate some gorditas with them on sunday and afterwards taught them a little bit. We were reading in 2 Nefi 31 and after talking about baptism a little bit the daughter said she thinks she´s ready now. I´m excited for the Fam. Meza and really hope I can meet more people like them in our mission.

 

We´ve been learning a lot also about the importance of teaching people according to their needs. Not every person needs the restoration as their first lesson, even though that´s the one we teach the most. It´s important to get to know the person and their real needs before we just jump into the doctrine. If it´s something they don´t need at the moment, it´s not really going to apply to them or stick in their heart! I´ve been learning more about that true conversion only comes through the spirit touching the heart of the people.

 

It´s getting a little bit hotter hear but still not too bad. I´m gonna start carrying a little towel around with me again on the hot days haha. Hope everyone has a good week.. Thanks for all your support, love, and prayers!

 

Love,

Elder Carlson

30 April 2012, Mazatlan Mexico

Querido Familia,

 

Hey what´s up? Everything is going pretty here this week and things have settled down a little more. We´ve been starting to work with the ward members a little more and have been finding a little bit more people to teach. Some of them seem like they´ve got a lot of potential too. Elder Running is a good companion and it seems like we´re going to have a lot of success together the rest of this transfer.. We did end up baptizing the Hermana Alba this saturday and she got confirmed on sunday! It was a really awesome experience to see here go through those steps. She seems so happy now and I know she is going to be a good strong member in the church. She´s got a lot of faith in things and it inspires me to increase my faith too.. Her daughter said she still doesn´t feel ready but that´s alright. We´re going to keep on visiting them and when her daughter feels ready to make that step we´ll help her along the way too.

 

It´s starting to heat up here but isn´t completely horrible still. I don´t know how the summer will be but at least we´ve got some breeze in the air here. I guess in some other parts it´s way more of a dry heat and there is like absolutely no wind! So that would kind of blow, hahaha.

 

One of the other familys we are teaching right now is pretty cool. The dad, Ernesto, seems like the strongest one so far but his foot is hurt. He couldn´t go to church that week because he´s waiting on his foot to heal up some more but it sounds like next week he´ll get a ride there. Getting to church is probably the hardest thing to do still with the investigators.

 

I hope everybody has an awesome week. I´m looking forward to see what will happen this next week. Thanks for all your support and prayers!

 

Love,

Elder David Carlson

 

Photos: Baptism of Hna Alba, and our District today!