27 Mayo 2013, La Paz Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

How is everybody doing?! Things are going pretty great here :).. This week I´ve been working a lot with my new companion E. Nieto and we´ve been making a lot of goals together. We had a goal with the zone to teach a lot lessons to members and we completed our goal! It seems like they are getting a little bit more excited about the work too and we had a really good ward council meeting yesterday.. There hadn´t been hardly any work going on with the visiting members, and especially those who are less active. Everybody made plans to work together and to do a better job at visiting people.

One of the things I was talking about with my companion is how much we´ve seen the mission change since we have gotten here. There´s ups and downs in the work all the time but we noticed that there had been some fear in general of challenging people to do things. Fear of being rejected or of not being good enough. We´ve been talking about ways that we can overcome our fears and have more faith.. Sometimes as missionaries, as members, and as children of God in general we´re really conformisits. I realized that I had been conforming in many aspects. Instead of doing what I know I can do, I´d look for someone else to put the example first so that I can follow them. It´s easy to justify lazy habits when we can say ¨well everybody else does it!¨.. It made me think about the story of a homeless man begging for fish. A lot of times we want to help out people and we give them the fish right in the mouth. But what we don´t do, is give them the opportunity to learn. I thought about how if we REALLY love people we´ll be like the man who taught the homeless man to fish. We want to see one another progress and we care about their future and eternity. Then we will choose the longer and more difficult way to help, even though it would be much more convienient to just give them what they want in that moment.

Right now we´re hoping to see some progress with a couple familys we are teaching. A couple members brought people to church and it was really great to see how they are helping out.. I´m learning how to love people and choosing to be happy no matter what the circumstance is. What we need to do whether it´s work, school, helping our family, working out, etc.. We NEED to do! The choice we have is whether we´ll be happy and positive while we do it, or whether we´ll complain and be sad.

I love you all and hope you have a great week. I know each and everyone of you is special and have a potential far greater than you could ever imagine. Your life can be as happy as you choose to make it today. :)

Love,

Elder Carlson

P.S. Photos: Missionaries of the Zones La Paz y Comondu. My companion, Hna Tejeda and I waiting in the airport

 

20 Mayo 2013, La Paz Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

It´s great to hear how well everyone is doing and for those that are struggling it´s good to hear the ways the Lord is ready and willing to help. I´m with my new companion Elder Nieto from Tabasco now and things have been going quite well.

What a busy and awesome week it has been here! We started out the week visiting a few people and finishing up preparing for Elder Holland´s visit. E. Snow and I had the opportunity to teach a few familys and it looks like we´ve got a few new investigators to teach. We had a lot of missionaries stay at our new house because they came in the day before to stay the night on thursday. They came from Constitution and the missionaries from Los Cabos stayed in a couple other houses in our zone.. We flew to Culiacán the next afternoon on friday. All of us flew out of La Paz and it was a pretty cool sight to see 42 missionaries on one plane together, plus a few bishops and 2 stake presidents! I´m sure people were wondering why there were so many people in white shirts and ties together haha. We contacted a few people along the way.

Saturday morning we got to meet with Elder Holland. We started out the day getting everybody organized for a photo with him. We were all lined up for the photo when he came and the first thing we did was take the picture. Afterwards we all got a chance to shake his hand and it was a touching experience. You could tell that he is a very special person and servant of the Lord, he´s got a good sense of humor too. Later on he told us how he had a little interview with each of us in that short moment and can tell that we´ve got a great mission here and it only seemed like a few of us are struggling but that´s normal to be struggling at times... We got to hear a few short messages from President Johnson, his wife, and a general authority.. Elder Holland started out telling us a little bit about what has been going on with President Monson and with the news of his wife passing away. He said he´s going to be feeling a little lonely during this time and he´s been in and out of the hospital visiting her the week before she passed away. Our prayers are greatly appreciated. He also told Elder Holland to make sure and tell all of us that he loves us and wishes he could be here (which is a typical comment from President Monson)

Elder Holland spoke to us for the next 1 hour or so, with a few questions and answers afterwards.. Some of the things that really stuck out to me was when he told us that we each can promise at least one convert. That convert is each and everyone of us. The Preach My Gospel manual was made with the purpose of converting the missionaries first and then those that we come in contact with. If there´s anyway we can help change the hearts of others, we should first change have that change in our own hearts. We may want the people that we´re teaching to repent. And the Lord wants US to repent.. Afterall what hope can the Lord have in this work if He can´t trust in the sheperds following His path. What possible hope could there be for the sheep if we´re worried about the sheperds staying in the herd.. I left with a desire to come even closer to the Lord and experiment an even deeper conversion to His gospel. When we find ourselves asking why things are so hard? Why does it have to be so hard? We can remember that because for Him it was never easy. Salvation was and is not a cheap price. The road to salvation always has to go through gethsemane and a cross on calvary. If we have the desire to call ourselves His disciples why would we ever think it we wouldn´t experiment at least a little of His suffering. To shed at least one of the tears he shed... I know that we´ll never fully comprehend what Jesus Christ did for us but that as His disciples we should be willing to walk at least some of the road that He walked. Then we will begin to comprehend more about who He really is and what He has done for us. I´m so thankful for this opportunity I have to repent and to follow the Lord´s path.

I´m ready to start a new page and I feel like this is yet another great opportunity to do so. I´m starting to measure time in changes or transfers now, more than weeks and months haha. This has been such a great experience to be hear and I never thought I would do and witness all the things that I am seeing.. I know that Heavenly Father has a great plan for each and everyone of His children here on this earth. And you are one of His children!. Nobody can do everything, but EVERYBODY can do something. I pray that we all can go forward and do something new even if that means it´s hard, to make us grow, and to come to know our Father´s love even more.

I love you all!

Love,

Elder David Carlson

P.S. I´ll send photos next week!

13 Mayo 2013, La Paz Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

Well it´s been yet another great week! We´re getting really excited for the visit of Elder Holland coming up this week, and we have had yet another busy week going on.. We moved houses (the other one was really ugly, etc), we baptized, we had a ward Talent Night activity and I got to make my last phone call home yesterday! I´m definitely enjoying all the changes going on and know that it´s for the better :).

Our new transfer would have started today usually, but we´re not officially going to be changed until next week. They already told us about our changes though. My companion, E. Snow, is getting ready to head back to Orem UT and he seems a little excited but I´m sure he doesn´t know what to expect either. His family got to tell him about what´s going on when goes home though so he´s looking forward to his next mission haha. I´ll definitely miss him but I´m glad that I have had this time to work with him and we get to have this extra week together. We´re going to try and work hard this last week finding more people to teach and working with the members.

We´ve been teaching the Familia Medina, a less active familiy in the ward and they have been reactivating this transfer. They have two little twins, Luis Angel and Jose Luis, and they got baptized on friday. We taught them the lessons and they commited to read the Book of Mormon and had to quit drinking coffee. Before they got baptized it had been more than a month since they drank coffee and they learned that they really are making life changes, and that it´s not something you should play with... The day of the baptism we had a lot of problems filling up the baptismal font but the bishop of the other ward brought a pump to help us pump water from a tank into it. Haha, there always has to be a few last minute problems but everything turned out great. The whole family showed up to the baptism and they seemed to have a great experience.. The next step is to get the members to head on over and teach them and we want to teach them the importance of preparing to go to the temple. It´s great to remember that baptism is just the beginning and that we really are entering on the path to Heaven when we are baptized. The next steps will come with time, patience, and learning how to choose the right and lift ourselves back up when we´re drifting downward!

The talent show turned out pretty awesome too. The other ward planned most of it but several people in are ward put on some good talents. We saw some people dancing, singing, acting (kind of), and playing instruments. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and it´s good to remember that we all have special talents and can use them for good.

I´m glad to hear that everything is going well at home. Things are starting to get pretty hot here but we´re doing well. I pray that we all can come to appreciate more the blessings that God has given us and learn to be a blessing to those around us! I love you all. Thanks for your support and prayers.

Love,

Elder Carlson

Photos: Baptism of the twins, Mexican talent, Us with the Hna. Pedrin, and us in our new house (now organized!).

6 Mayo 2013, La Paz Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

Well this week was pretty crazy!! We´ve done a lot of traveling and running around but it turned out pretty good.. The beginning of the week we went to culiacán for a meeting with president. Then later on in the week we had our Día del Niño activity on friday. We´re still trying to figure out if we´re going to move or not this week, and we had a zone meeting on saturday!

One of the things I learned this week is the importance of keeping things simple and being unified as companions and with the spirit. We saw a video of a couple elders teaching a family in the field, like the District:1 and 2 videos. One had just 6 months in the field and the other 1 month and they taught very well.. The important thing we need to work on is teaching the gospel simply and always with the spirit. I could feel that the missionaries in the video really cared about the people they were teaching and had powerful testimonies. The only way to gain a powerful testimony is through living all the principles you are teaching. It was good to remember the need I have to always be strengthening my own testimony and relation with our Heavenly Father.. We´re going to do a better job studying as companions and have to focus on the pure gospel taught in Preach My Gospel!

The activity was really fun too. We went to an orphanage and got to do a little skit for the kids. I just was the person that announced the skit and my companion, E. Snow, and a couple other missionaries acted in the skit. It was about a dad that teaches his son he should always tell the truth. The mummy (my comp) would move one hand if somebody said the truth, and both hands if they said a lie. So the kids would yell out if they were lying or telling the truth, haha... It turned out great and we got to play with them for a little while and break some piñatas and do some other games.

I´m loving the area that I´m in and want to get to know them members even better. We´re starting to work more with them but I can tell that we still need to plan better together. It´s hard to coordinate that stuff sometimes but somebody has to get things done. I´m really glad we ALL can help out in the work of the Lord, and now know that it´s not only the missionaries who do that work. The members are an essential part it making the gospel go forward!

Thanks for everything you guys do for me and I pray that we can keep striving to live like Heavenly Father would want us to. We´re not perfect but it doesn´t mean we have to give up either. The road to heaven is a step by step process and if we´re not climbing up we´re definitely going down. When we make a mistake we always have the choice to learn from it, or to repeat it with the same results or worse. The good news is that Jesus Christ made it possible for US to change! We don´t have to give up and I know He never gives up on us.

Have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Carlson

P.S. Pictures: The La Paz zone! Some fun activities going on.

 

29 Abril 2013, La Paz Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

This week we have been doing pretty well! We´re actually in culiacán right now because we´re having another meeting down here. We got to culiacán today and the meeting is going to be tomorrow.. One of our cool experiences this week is when we were looking for a house to rent. We´re thinking about changing houses and we talked to one of the ladies that lives there, named Daniela, and at first she didn´t seem too interested at first. She told us she doesn´t believe in God too much. We began to talk to her about God and focused on our relationship with her family. She told us about how they were having problems and it didn´t seem like they would be able to last together for eternity, like we teach, if they don´t even get along right now.. My companion showed them a picture of his family and we began to talk about how the gospel has blessed our own lives and we´ve seen the blessings in our familys. If we have things that aren´t going too well with our relationships right now, that´s even more of a reason for us to come closer to our Heavenly Father! If there´s anybody who can heal the wounds of a broken heart it´s through Jesus Christ and his eternal sacrafice for us. She ended up letting us in and we got to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We taught her the importance of faith, repentance, and being baptized for the remission of sins.. Daniela and her 15 year old daughter Anet accepted to prepare to be baptized. Daniela in particular told us about how she had been asking the Padre in the catholic church about being baptized, but she still hadn´t gone through the process to do so. She realized that baptism is more than just becoming the member of a church, Jesus taught to be baptized so we may be cleansed from our sins. Daniela and her 3 kids came with us to church on sunday. They seemed to like it and we´re hoping to get to know the husband soon.

Besides that we have been working with some of our other investigators. Unfortunately, Vidal kind of has disappeared of the face of the planet. He moved back to where he lived before he was in the apartments we were visiting him, and have kind of lost contact. Hopefully one day later on he´ll come back into contact with missionaries but it looks like right now might not be his time... I´m getting excited for the visits we have coming up. May sounds like it is going to be an awesome month. Tomorrow is Día de los Niños, it´s like mother´s or father´s day but for kids. We´re doing an activity with the stake on May 3rd visiting an orphanage and we´re going to have a little skit and play with them and stuff. Sounds like that will be pretty fun too!

I love being a missionary and I love the opportunity we have to get to know people and to compart this knowledge that we have. I know I can always dedicate myself more to be a better son of God and I´m really glad he is patient with us!.. I enjoy all your e-mails even though I´m sorry I don´t always get the chance to respond to them all. I know that Heavenly Father knows each and everyone of you and whatever you´re going through he is willing and ready to help.. That´s one of the biggest things I´ve learned during this time is that we´ve never really been that far away from him. We just need to be willing to listen to His voice and follow His son´s example!

Have a fantastic week and I pray that everything continues to go well at home!

Love,

Elder David Carlson

 

22 Abril 2013, La Paz Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

Well yet another week has passed by and it looks like April is flying by before I even realized it started! In the beginning of the week we had a few guys stay at our house from the Zone Comondu because they had their interviews with Pte. Cantú monday night. Tuesday we had our interviews and it was a great opportunity for us to receive guidance from our Father in heaven. Presidente announced to us that we´ll be having the visit of Elder Holland in May, which was also great news to hear. It will be the first time having an apostle of the Lord here in the mission field since I´ve gotten here. We´re all really excited and are looking forward to what there is in store for the mission Culiacán México! We´ll be doing our part to prepare spiritually for whatever there is to come and I´m quite eager to find out. :)

We´ve been preparing some more people for baptism and trying to find more people who need the gospel in their lives at this time. Vidal and Flor are really close to getting to their baptismal date but it looks like we´ll need to push it back a little back, maybe for the beginning of may. They needed to come to church with us this sunday before their baptism but both of them didn´t show up for whatever reason. I was a little worried but know that everything will work out as Lord has it planned if we do our part. It is pretty frustrating the last minute problems Satan always is scheming to put in our way though! Haha... Besides that we´re also teaching a family and theirs two little twins who are going to get baptized in may. They´re named Jose Luis and Luis Angel, they used to drink coffee and black tea but haven´t been drinking it since we committed them to give it up. They´re excited and pay attention pretty well during the lessons we teach. It was pretty awesome because their family has been less active for awhile, and their mom started going again. And this last sunday the whole family went! The dad and a couple older brothers were there too. We´re trying to help them remember what they felt when they entered in the church and create a firm foundation so that they wont fall away later on. We´re planning on having a Family Home Evening activity with them tomorrow.

I´m learning a lot from Elder Snow and we´re always laughing together. We´re putting some goals so that we can be a little bit more organized but I´ve felt pretty good with our unity and teaching... One of the things I have been learning a lot about is the importance of consistency. For example, it´s better to work out a half hour a day 6 days a week for a month, than try and work out once a month for 6 hours all at once. The consistency is what makes us strong physically and we can apply it spiritually too. I´m trying to develop better study skills and glad we have the opportunity to study everyday! I know I can take advantage of that time better though.

It´s good to hear that things are going well at home and I pray that we all can have our own spiritual experiences with the Lord. One thing Hna. Cantú told us that I really likes was that when Christ came here and visited the people in the Americas that it may have been cool to see him give a big speech or talk to everyone as a group telling them about what they need to know. But he made sure that each of them had the chance to touch the marks in his hands as he walked by them. He knew that it would be even more powerful for them to all have their personal testimony of his divinity.. We all need to look for our own special connection with Jesus Christ too and gain our own testimonies. I know that He lives and I have felt his love in my life. This should be enough to get me through any day or task the Lord puts at my hands. I invite you all to do the same! I love you!

Love,
Elder Carlson

15 Abril 2013

Mi Querido Familia,

Well this week has been pretty good! We have been finding some new people to teach lately. Ana Jazmin´s familiy gave us a reference of some other family and we started teaching them. The dad seems a little crazy, but at least not mean, and the mom and 2 daughters seemed pretty interested. We´re going to see how things go this week with them but hopefully they´ll come with us to church this next coming sunday... We stopped by and visited Vidal and Flor (another reference from an Hna). Vidal and Flor are both preparing for baptism but haven´t been reading much in the Book of Mormon yet so we decided to read some with them. We read in Alma 7 and it seemed like they were able to understand a little bit more about what Christ has gone through to free them from their sins. They both have the desire to recieve a remision of their sins and have commited to read daily in the Book of Mormon to know that is true and learn more about what God has in store for them personally. Are Ward Mission Leader went with us to that lesson and it was pretty cool... His name is Hno. Nieto and he´s a really good guy and he was telling us stories about his mission later on.

Besides that things are getting a little bit hotter here but not too bad. The house was pretty dirty so I was cleaning it and thinking about how we feel so much better when a house is cleaner. We feel the same way, but even better, when we´re clean spiritually too... Elder Snow and I want to start running in the mornings this week so we´re hoping to form that habit. We get along super well and we have been joking around a lot together (when it´s appropriate) but at the same time we´re making sure to keep working hard. We have been praying to find more investigators that are willing and able to go with us to church on sundays! I´ve really noticed throughout the mission that the people who go to church always progress while they are going. And those that have a really hard time going to church take much longer to progress.. The example we put sometimes is that the church is like a hospital. People go to a hospital because they are sick and need to be cured. People that go to church, don´t go because they are perfect, they go so that they can be cured spiritually too! I know that Heavenly Father loves us no matter what, but we are the ones free to choose whether we´ll let him in our lives or not. There is a scripture in Luke 15 that I really like that talks about the joys of repentance.

6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

7 I say unto you, that likewise ^ajoy shall be in heaven over one^bsinner that ^crepenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

Thanks for all the love and support from home. I´m thankful for all the answered prayers of Heavenly Father and for the help that he is always willing to give us.

Love,

Elder Carlson