29 Julio 2013, Guasave Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

Hey!!! Well things are going super good here! I´m really excited and happy today for some reason haha.. We´ve seen some good progress here in our area and I can tell that the Lord is blessing us. I pray that we can continue to progress spiritually and help out as many people possible to follow the path of the gospel.

This last week we were able to visit several less active members. We had some special experiences with them and I feel like the Lord put them in our path. We also are continuing to find new people to teach and are working with the familia Loredo. They´re doing great!.. We had a Family Home Evening last week with them and it turned out well. We were able to watch a video about the family, and everyone talked about how they could contribute to be a more unified family. The role of each person in the family is very important. The next visit in the week we planned on verifying how Beatriz has felt with her testimony of the church and inviting her to be baptized. We had a good conversation about the spirit and how it testifies to us, and she told us she believes that this is the only true church. She had been a little afraid of the commitment with God after baptism, but she told us on monday she was going to tell us she wants to be baptized. She just felt a little embarassed about saying it front of one of the members that was there with us. We asked her if she wanted to be baptized this week or the next week, because she is already living the commandments necessary and she decided to be baptized this last saturday! The baptism turned out great even though we had to fix everything up pretty fast and didn´t have much time to invite people. Several people attended the baptism and everyone gave Beatriz a warm welcome to the ward.

Besides that, the youth continue to be really motivated lately. Fernando bore his testimony on sunday, it was short but sweet. It´s great to see the progress people make and you can definitely see a new spirit in people after their baptism when they are baptized with a broken heart and a contrite spirit... E. Casimiro and I have had some good conversations this week. We´re setting more goals together to live up everymoment we´ve got. We´re going to help the ward organize a ward mission plan, so that everyone can get a little more involved. We´re starting to invite families to make lists of people they would like to share the gospel to, and are helping them learn how to compart the gospel.

I´ve felt very greatful with my Heavenly Father this week. I know that he is control of everything even when the world seems hecktic to me, and this week was a good reminder of that. We´re trying to follow the will of the Lord, and we are going to ask Hugo and Uva how they´ve felt about marriage lately. They seem like they have made a lot of progress as a family this week, and we´re trying to figure out where they´re at.

Thank you all for you love and support. I love my family! It´s really helped me throughout my mission and continues to help me. I pray that all is well at home and that we can count our many blessings. You´re in my prayers as always.

Love,
Elder Carlson

Photos: Celebrating 23 months, Baptism of Beatriz, Hot Dogs!

 

22 Julio 2013, Guasave Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

Hey! Well things are going pretty fantastic here right now in guasave. There was a lot of rain this week so things have cooled down with the clouds. Sometimes randomly itｴs super humid too and still pretty hot, but maybe I just feel more used to it also? Haha.. Itｴs great to here about all the progress going on at home and the adventures that have been going on this summer. Itｴs good to take a moment and enjoy life :).

This week Fernando came back from EFY and he had an awesome time. Even though he has just a little over a week baptized he got up and bore his testimony in front of everyone he told us. He made some good friends and overall the the whole experience sounds like it was a success. The youth all came back spiritually recharged and energized.. Luckily with the familia Loredo too, Uva came back home and things are going pretty well with her and the dad Hugo. We had a great lesson with them in the beginning of the week and talked about the importance of families. We talked about how marriage is ordained of God, and the purpose the father and mother have in raising a happy and successful family. She decided itｴs time to put her trust in the Lord and they seem like since then they have had a lot more unity at home. Weｴre just praying that theyｴll put a date on getting married soon! Weｴve got a family home evening activity with them tonight.

Besides that E. Casimiro and I are doing good. Ever since we decided to sit down and make some plans together we have had a lot more unity. Weｴve had some great lessons this week and I know the Lord is blessing us for working together with the same purpose.. In general that seems like what the theme of this week was in my life. Everything was tied to unity. Weｴve got some good goals and plans we talked about to help the zone to be more unified and set and complete our goals... Itｴs amazing to think about how the Heavenly Father works in unity with Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost too. Theyｴre 3 seperate beings with the same purpose. ｨFor behold, this is my work and my glory葉o bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.ｨ Moses 1:39.. Like them we must also work together in unity to help fulfill the purpose of God.

Iｴm excited to continue working at this time and know that thereｴs a lot more to be learned. Sometimes I want to know more about my purpose or exactly what the Lord would have me do at this time. Iｴve learned that itｴs good to study it out in our mind first and then ask the Lord if itｴs okay.. Prayers are needed for us to recieve guidance in our lives. ｨBehold, I say unto him, he exalts himself and does not humble himself sufficiently before me; but if he will bow down before me, and humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then will I grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see.ｨ D&C 5:24.. Iｴve recieved a cleaner view of things through prayers and I know that it can help us to figure out what exactly we should be doing in life. It makes us stronger and able to appreciate life in a way more similar to the Lordｴs view of things.

Have a great week and I pray that we can all humble ourselves and seek the counsel of God in our decisions. Surely he will help us to do what is right and to find true happiness. I love you all!

Love,

Elder Carlson

Photo: Spicy pizza time.

15 Julio 2013, Guasave Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

It´s good to hear how well everyone is doing at home. Sounds like it´s been a successful summertime so far from what I´ve heard. It´s a good time for some warm memories.. Well things are going pretty good here. This week we have had some good visits with the people we´re teaching and we have been getting to know the members a little better. I was thinking it would be good to talk about service the first sunday of the month during testimony meeting but I didn´t get to bear my testimony. This week the ward gave me and my companion the chance to talk though, and I got to talk about missionary work. I added some of the things I was thinking about saying last week in my testimony about how service is needed in missionary work. It was great to see how the Lord gives us opportunities to grow and share spiritual insights with our brothers and sisters.

We´ve been visiting the familia Loredo Soto and they´re going through some problems right now. Hugo and Uva don´t know if they´re going to continue together or not. It´s sad because the gospel isn´t meant to break families apart but everyone is going to make their own choices too.. Although the family is going through a rough time, Hugo and the kids have been staying pretty strong spiritually. Fernando felt the desired to be baptized and we helped him to prepare for the promise he made with the Lord. He was baptized on friday and he seems like a good teenager that´s going down a good path in life now. He´s also excited because today him and some of the youth in the ward left for EFY (a church youth activity week). I´m sure he´ll have a lot of fun while he´s there and he´ll feel even more spiritually strengthened.

The members here are really supportive. I just wish I could make everyone feel the potential they have as children of God. It´s a little hard to do though, because I struggle trying to find out how much potential I have as a child of God. But I know that even if we only had that little bit of knowledge, nothing would be impossible to us. If there´s something you want to improve in your life, now is the time to do it. Nobody is else can force you or prevent you from doing what you put to mind. It´s just a matter of thinking upward, not down.

I love you and thank you for all the support and prayers. Keep up the good work. If you think you can´t make the world much different don´t worry about it. Because what you can do, is make a difference in somebody´s world.

Love,
Elder Carlson

8 Julio 2013, Guasave Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

Hey! Well time keeps passing by and it´s been pretty crazy but things
are going good.. This week we had another little confernce in Los
Mochis but this time with all the elderes in Sinaloa. It´s nice
getting to know Presidente Munive more. He´s an awesome guy, and a
great mission president so far. Hermana Munive is really nice too and
has a soft attitude, she takes the motherly role very well. We got to
know their 2 youngest kids too, they have 2 daughters and 1 son. Their
other daughter we didn´t get to know because she´s in Idaho right now
but will be coming to visit soon before she leaves on her own
mission!.. They´re a great family and I can´t wait to get to know them
even more and work together with them. Pte. Munive told us some
experiences from his mission and I liked his advice on enjoying our
time here in the mission. It passes by really fast and it´s important
to enjoy each moment.

I´m getting to know my companion better, E. Casimiro. He´s a
hard-working elder and we just had transfers because the new mission
here is on a different transfer schedule. It´s been weird having it
all soak it, I can pretty much count on it now that he´s going to be
my last companion and that this is my last area... Aside from letting
that information sink in everything has been going quite well! The
people here in guasave are very friendly. It´s easy to enter in a new
house and we´re constantly getting to know new people. I´ve been
playing the memory game trying to memorize everybodys names and
getting to know the members too.

We´re teaching the familia Loredo Soto still and the dad, Hugo, and
his son, Fernando, are doing awesome! They´re both progressing more
and it looks like the son will be baptized soon. Hugo and Uva still
need to get married and we had a good lesson with them. We found out
that she still has a lot of fears of Hugo going back to his oldself.
We had a good discussion mainly focused on forgiveness. One of the
scriptures we shared was D&C 64:10

9 Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for
he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned
before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin.
10 I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is
required to forgive all men.

Hugo has been showing fruits of his repentance and his wife, Uva,
began to realize it´s going to be necessary for her to set aside her
resentment and bad feelings towards him... We have a few other
investigators who are coming along too and others that haven´t been
progressing quite as well. We´re going to set some good goals to keep
finding people and help the people we´re teaching prepare to make
covenants with the Lord.

It´s great to know how well everything is going at home. I appreciate
all the love and support you show me. I hope that everybody is
enjoying the summer time :). I love you.

Love,
Elder Carlson

P.S. Photos: 1. The best zone ever, Guasave! 2. Cool guys from Sinaloa
and with the Assistants! 3. Riding on the bus.

1 Julio 2013, Guasave Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

Hey! Well things are going pretty good here in guasave so far :). I´ve
been adjusting to the new atmosphere here.. This week everyday the
majority of the people we´ve been seeing have been new for me. It was
nice going to church on sunday and being able to know a lot of the
other members we didn´t have to the chance to see during the week.
They all seem very nice and I feel like they´ve given me a very warm
welcome! Right now I really want to get to know everybody I can so we
can work more with the members and so that I can know more about the
people we´re teaching.. The members seem to be pretty motivated and
easily persuaded. I´m sure we´re going to have a lot of success and
joy working together here!

As far as the weather goes it´s been really hot! I don´t know if it´s
much hotter than la paz, but it´s definitely a more humid hot. We ride
bikes pretty much everywhere in this area because it´s pretty big and
that´s been pretty fun. There´s always a nice breeze in the shade
too... Right now we´re teaching several people and they all seem like
they have a lot of desires to change. We´ve been teaching the family
Loredo and we had an awesome lesson with them my first day working in
the area. Uva, the mom, still hadn´t come to know if the Book of
Mormon is true but really enjoys going to church. We got to know more
about what´s going on with her and found out how she has a little bit
of fear and seems like she´s afraid to get married still. We invited
her to ask to know if these things are true and to really think about
what she wants for her family. She told us about the experience she
had later on when she asked to know if it was true, kneeling by her
bed that night. She said she felt peaceful and that the Lord had
answered her! They said they´re going to decide on a wedding date and
we´re going to check up on that soon.

There´s several other awesome people we´re teaching and one of them,
Esteban, was already prepared for baptism. I was really impressed with
the faith he had the day of the baptism. We had problems with the
water and it smelt kind of stanky, so we tried to fix it with clorox.
The smell disappeared but then it started turning yellow. We tried to
fix that by throwing in some blue cleaning tablets. That just ended up
making the water turn more brown though! Bad idea haha. To top it off
several of the members were busy with graduation parties and etc. so
there wasn´t anybody there besides our ward mission leader.. We told
Esteban that another option we could do is to drain the baptismal
fount and fill it up again on sunday, he´d have to wait another day
then and depending on the hour might not get confirmed until a week
later. He told us ¨no¨ and that ¨we might as well do it right now, I
can take a shower when I get home. and I want to sleep peacefully
tonight¨, referring to the clean conscience he´ll have.. We went
forward with the baptism and the bishop and his daughter ended up
coming before the baptsim started. Esteban felt and looked rgreat and
very happy. I felt touched by his faith and great attitude.

I´m going to ciudad obregon today for are monthly Leadership Counsel
with the new presiden, Pte Munive. I´m excited to get to know him and
the rest of the missionaries. There´s several people I already know
and I´m going to get to know more of the zone soon (this change
everyone in the zone are people that were in the culiacan mission
anyways). I know the Lord loves each and everyone of us and that he
really answers our prayers. It´s funny how even some of the little
prayers that I think might be something kind of insignificant, He
answers!

I love you all and thanks for your prayers and support. We need them,
and I know you all need blessings too! I´ll keep praying.

Love,
Elder Carlson

26 Junio 2013, Guasave Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,

Well there have been a lot of changes which has been really kind of
bittersweet this week! The week went pretty well and we have been
pretty busy. We visited several of the people that we're teaching and
went on divisions. I got the chance to visit a few old investigators
too with Elder Mejia. On saturday we had are farwell with Presidente
Cantú. It was a really great conference but obviously a little sad to
see him go.

I enjoyed the conference a lot. We got to see his two youngest kids
and they bore their testimonies. There oldest son, Brandon, wasn't
there because they accepted him for some summer program at Harvard!
He's graduating high school and I think he'll be leaving on his
mission sometime soon.. I really love their family and it was nice to
hear their kids testimonies too. You can tell they are all very strong
spiritually and they left us all a great example of what we'd like to
achieve in our own lives... I heard my transfer on Sunday morning and
had the chance to bid farewell to some of the members at church and
take pictures! As you can tell I didn't have a chance to write
yesterday because I got to my area really late. I'm in Guasave Sinaloa
now. I'm going to finish my mission in Obregon City!

I was glad I got the chance to say goodbye to several people before I
left but it was also sad to leave them. We went to church and there
were a 2 new investigators that came! One of them was an lady that
Elder Nieto met on divisions this last week. I really enjoyed this
transfer with Elder Nieto and felt pretty sad as I was heading off to
the airport. We were hoping we'd be able to finish the mission
together because he's from the same generation of missionaries as me..
I flew to culiacán yesterday and we took a bus to guasave. I had to
wait on some other missionaries in the offices before I left and we
ended up getting to guasave at like 10:15pm!.. I'm with Elder Casimiro
now and he's from Veracruz. I knew him a little bit just from seeing
him at conferences in culiacán and he seems like a great elder. We had
our District Meeting this morning and our district seems pretty
awesome. I'm pretty excited about the zone we have too. It looks like
we have a lot of hard working missionaries! I'm excited to get to know
my new mission president. We had the chance watch the world training
meeting at church on sunday too. I enjoyed all the videos and really
think it helped the members out too.. I know we all can help spread
the gospel and it's amazing to see how many ways we can do it. It's a
great blessing to be part of this work at a time when the Lord is
really preparing the hearts of many in these last days. I can tell
there's a lot of changes going on for the better!

I feel like one of the things I learned with Elder Nieto was the
importance of enjoying the work we do. If we do something we shouldn't
just do it because we are told too or because it's expected of us.
There's a lot of responsibilities we have and the Lord does expect a
lot from us, but the choice we make shouldn't be in between doing the
right thing or not. The choice is between doing the right thing with
the right attitude or not. Men after all are that they might have joy,
and I've felt a great joy serving as a missionary.. I know that this
is the only true church of God! I know that Jesus Christ lives and I
feel like I've recieved more answers from Heavenly Father in this time
than I have at any other point in my life. I love the people here and
I pray to God that we can all begin to feel the same love for all of
those around us. Ask yourself, what would He have me do? What can I do
to change? And if you feel an answer in your heart, just do it!

I know that the greatest gift Heavenly Father has given us is our free
agency. We don't need to just live good enough to make it to the
Kingdom of the Lord. We can get used to living in the Kingdom of the
Lord hear on earth. We don't need to be like the rest of the world.
Have a great week and I love you all! Thank you for all your support
and prayers! It's all the little things that make the difference.

Love,
Elder Carlson

P.S. Some photos. The last photo with several people of my generation
(because several stayed in culiacán). Elder Baltich and some buddys.
Presidente and Hermana Cantú.

17 Junio 2013, La Paz Mexico

Mi Querido Familia,


This week was pretty good and kind of crazy at the same time! We´ve
been pretty busy and have been learning a lot together.. I had the
chance to do some divisions with E. Velasquez this week. We had a
great experience together and I learned a lot more about the
importance of having a good companionship study.

As missionaries it´s important to study the scriptures and in
particular the things that we may be teaching that day. We look at the
challenges people are facing and try to look for answers from Heavenly
Father on how to help them with their circumstance.. We´re teaching
Cruz right now and he hadn´t come with us to church yet. He visits his
Father on sundays and this sunday he was going to be visiting his
father too. We prepared some scriptures for him and focused on the
importance of the book of mormon, because up until now it had just
been a nice book to him. We visited him and were able to help him
understand the importance of reading the book of mormon and the
testament it gives us of Christ.. Later on in the week he expressed to
us his desire to change and the desire he has to return to our
Heavenly Father one day. He was worried about being able to overcome
the temptations that come upon us daily. He has a particular weakness
that he´s trying to overcome at this time. We taught him more about
the church and the importance of repentance and baptism. We invited
him to show his faith unto God and to come with us to church. And he
did! He didn´t even give us an exuse to not go and was still able to
visit his father afterwards :).

I know that we all have priorities in our lives and that God should be
our first priority! Sometimes we're worried that we're too weak or
incapable of following him, so it stops us from even trying. The great
thing about His love for us though is that when we repent He doesn't
remember anymore the mistakes we have made. And He never gives up on
us, even if we don't think we can change!

We also had a little activity that has been going on so that took up a
good amount of time. It was another one about a plane flight crashing
and what happens after this life hah. I liked this one a little bit
more than the one I did at the beginning of my misison. The Hermana
missionaries planned it out pretty well and everyone had a great time.
It's awesome to see how people feel when they come to know the plan
Heavenly Father has for them in this life and forever.

Besides that things are going good and we´re going to be having
transfers next week. Presidente Cantú is going to give us his farewell
this week and it´ll be good and sad! But changes are for the better...
I love you all and I'm glad I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and
each and everyone of you. I hope you all had a wonderful Father's day
and are able to express the love you have for your fathers and family
members.

Love,
Elder Carlson

P.S. Here's some photos of the activity and a photo of the zone. We're
going to give a photo to Pte Cantú when he comes to visit us this
week.