My first week in the office involved taking the departing missionaries to the airport. Elder Geohagen and I did that we're both brand new neither of us had a phone and we didn't know where the airport was and my gps was packed in my bags at the Franklin stake center so we got a little lost but eventually we found the airport and then we got a little lost again and eventually we found all the missionaries there.
Then we've been driving President around the mission all week for him to do the interviews. It's interesting that you mentioned the law of consecration, because that's the thing we've been training on. While Elder Arnold was here he taught about the 3 laws of heaven 1st obedience, 2nd sacrifice, 3rd consecration, and each is a step progressing further and further towards exaltation. We used the example of the Savior's sacrifice in the atonement and asked if He had not first been obedient would His sacrifice have meant anything? Then we tied that into missionary work, if we're not striving to be obedient what power does our sacrifice have? Then we talked about how the essence of consecration is the atonement. "And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of ONE heart, and ONE mind, and they dwelt in righteousness, and there were no poor among them." The word Atone isn't reek or Hebrew or Latin, its anglo-saxton English and it means to be at one. So living the law of consecration as Zion did makes us at-one in mind and heart with each other and the Lord. You can't have consecration without first being obedient to the commands of God and you cant have a worthy sacrifice without first being obedient, and you need both sacrifice and obedience to fully consecrate yourself to the Lord. That's what we've been training on all week several times a day every day.
I figured that I've gone over 500 miles in the last week. It's fun though, just a different kind of fun.
For a time to e-mail home we don't really know yet because we don't know what's going to be happening during the week or on Christmas day, but since we'll be in the office I'll be able to e-mail you again before Christmas to tell you a time for sure. If you could tell Kaylee that I know I owe her a letter and I feel really bad I haven't written her yet, I've been meaning to ever since I got a letter from Sister Baker that had a picture her and Kaylee with their primary class on it, however I don't have her address in my book. So if she could send me a letter I would be more then happy to write her back, or if you could send me her address via e-mail that would work out just fine. I'm planning on getting caught up with all my letters on Christmas and Christmas eve. I'm way behind. I still haven't sent out all those Christmas cards that you sent me!
Hopefully Ali gets feeling better soon, and I'll be writing you back probably today or Wednesday with the time that I'll be calling you
Love you; buh bye!!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Dec. 13, 2009
The firesides this weekend went really great. I really loved being in the choir and it was pretty cool, but it's so time consuming! All weekend was spent singing and it was a very powerful program. We sang "Jesus Name of Wondrous Love," an arrangement of "Simple Gifts for Christmas" called "Simple Joy," and then a slew of other songs, many of which were arranged be Sister Heidenriech, who just finished her mission here. She was a Sr. missionary from Arizona, she made the Songs of the Savior program which we sang as the close to the fireside. They also recorded this fireside so hopefully soon we'll be getting a CD and I can send you home a copy of it. I don't know Sister Taft personally but I do know that she's in the mission.
Sister Matsuda is good; so is Marietta and the Burgesses but none of them made it to church yesterday :(. However Gordan Avery did come to church, we've been working with him pretty much ever since I got to this area and he hasn't been progressing very well and at church he told us that he's noticed that the happiest times of his life have been while he was actively studying the gospel with us and that he'd like to be baptized before Christmas. So that was pretty exciting. The 12 dates of Chirstmas worked wonderfully. We went from zero to twelve dates in nine days and had 14 by the close of the 12 days! This zone is doing really, really well.
For transfers I'm being transfered. I'm kinda bummed out to be leaving. I'm going to go to the mission office as President Hutchings' assistant. I'll be serving with Elder Hansen as my companion, he's the same missionary that trained me so that'll be fun. However now most of my time will be spent doing management-type things for the mission and meetings rather than working in our area. The good news though is I now get to go on exchanges with the zone leaders so I'll be able to come back to this area on exchanges. Other good news is I will now be living at the mission home so I get all my mail direct now.
That's pretty much all thats going on here. I love you guys!
Sister Matsuda is good; so is Marietta and the Burgesses but none of them made it to church yesterday :(. However Gordan Avery did come to church, we've been working with him pretty much ever since I got to this area and he hasn't been progressing very well and at church he told us that he's noticed that the happiest times of his life have been while he was actively studying the gospel with us and that he'd like to be baptized before Christmas. So that was pretty exciting. The 12 dates of Chirstmas worked wonderfully. We went from zero to twelve dates in nine days and had 14 by the close of the 12 days! This zone is doing really, really well.
For transfers I'm being transfered. I'm kinda bummed out to be leaving. I'm going to go to the mission office as President Hutchings' assistant. I'll be serving with Elder Hansen as my companion, he's the same missionary that trained me so that'll be fun. However now most of my time will be spent doing management-type things for the mission and meetings rather than working in our area. The good news though is I now get to go on exchanges with the zone leaders so I'll be able to come back to this area on exchanges. Other good news is I will now be living at the mission home so I get all my mail direct now.
That's pretty much all thats going on here. I love you guys!
Dec. 5, 2009
Things here are getting kinda crazy with meetings this month. I'm really worried about how well we'll do in December just because we have so many non-proselyting meetings. The mission has organized a missionary choir that's is going to be singing in 3 different stakes this weekend and at 2 malls and in the Opry Land Hotel so with practices and the performances it takes our entire weekend!!! Then we also have zone conference this week, so we really only have 3 working days this week!!
Things are still going well we're running into the problem of trying to help the Burgesses get to church. We're unable to go on post to help wake them up and we have limited help because the unit on post is a branch so its a small group and spread out over a LOT of area. Ft Cambell has a lot of just wilderness type land all over it where they do field training and what not. So the actually residence area of the base is spread out long-ways over most of the city of Clarksville and Oak Grove spanning the Tennessee and Kentucky state line, so finding them a ride is hard. So they didn't make it to church, but we're seeing them tonight and we'll figure something out with the branch mission leader. He was called last week, he's really gung ho about the work and that helps out leaps and bounds so we're really excited to work with him.
There is a transfer on the 15th as far as me being transferred it seems probable but I have no idea. I'll find out this Saturday and will be able to tell you next week.
Cool story. Wednesday of this past week we had a choir practice and on Tuesday we had our ZLC at the mission home. So for 2 days in a row we drove down to Franklin and Brentwood and spent the majority of the day down there. On Wednesday after we got back to Clarksville we went to go see an old media refferal we got about a month ago. We had tried to contact this refferal several times and never had any success but we thought we'd try it again. We pulled up to the house and there were a bunch of cars outside like they were having a party or something. We thought about trying another time and then figured that we were already there we might as well go for it. So we did. Turns out the Romita Matsuda a local of the Marshall Islands had moved there about a month ago. Her and certain family members had been taught by the missionaries in the Marshall Islands for the entire summer and had been attending church. Romita wanted to be baptized and then her husband got home from a deployment and was posted to Ft Cambell. So now we're teaching her and she's going to be baptized on the day after Christmas! Then we went to her house again so she could follow us to the church to see where it was. When she was getting into the car she said to us in a very thick polynesian accent, "My cousin is coming too, she is also a Mormon believer!" Her cusin Marietta also wants to be baptized! So we are very excited about that. Thats two families this month who have already been taught everything about the gospel. The Burgesses had a set appointment with the missionaries in Germany every Saturday night for a YEAR! So now its really just a matter of helping them make the last few steps and doing the paper work. Its also a cool story because on Wednesday when we met Sister Matsuda and the Burgesses, we decided earlier that day to implement what we're calling the 12 dates of Christmas. We're trying to have 12 baptismal dates in the zone by the 12th of December and that night as a zone we set 5 dates!!
Thats about all thats been happening here this week.
Love Elder Carpenter
Things are still going well we're running into the problem of trying to help the Burgesses get to church. We're unable to go on post to help wake them up and we have limited help because the unit on post is a branch so its a small group and spread out over a LOT of area. Ft Cambell has a lot of just wilderness type land all over it where they do field training and what not. So the actually residence area of the base is spread out long-ways over most of the city of Clarksville and Oak Grove spanning the Tennessee and Kentucky state line, so finding them a ride is hard. So they didn't make it to church, but we're seeing them tonight and we'll figure something out with the branch mission leader. He was called last week, he's really gung ho about the work and that helps out leaps and bounds so we're really excited to work with him.
There is a transfer on the 15th as far as me being transferred it seems probable but I have no idea. I'll find out this Saturday and will be able to tell you next week.
Cool story. Wednesday of this past week we had a choir practice and on Tuesday we had our ZLC at the mission home. So for 2 days in a row we drove down to Franklin and Brentwood and spent the majority of the day down there. On Wednesday after we got back to Clarksville we went to go see an old media refferal we got about a month ago. We had tried to contact this refferal several times and never had any success but we thought we'd try it again. We pulled up to the house and there were a bunch of cars outside like they were having a party or something. We thought about trying another time and then figured that we were already there we might as well go for it. So we did. Turns out the Romita Matsuda a local of the Marshall Islands had moved there about a month ago. Her and certain family members had been taught by the missionaries in the Marshall Islands for the entire summer and had been attending church. Romita wanted to be baptized and then her husband got home from a deployment and was posted to Ft Cambell. So now we're teaching her and she's going to be baptized on the day after Christmas! Then we went to her house again so she could follow us to the church to see where it was. When she was getting into the car she said to us in a very thick polynesian accent, "My cousin is coming too, she is also a Mormon believer!" Her cusin Marietta also wants to be baptized! So we are very excited about that. Thats two families this month who have already been taught everything about the gospel. The Burgesses had a set appointment with the missionaries in Germany every Saturday night for a YEAR! So now its really just a matter of helping them make the last few steps and doing the paper work. Its also a cool story because on Wednesday when we met Sister Matsuda and the Burgesses, we decided earlier that day to implement what we're calling the 12 dates of Christmas. We're trying to have 12 baptismal dates in the zone by the 12th of December and that night as a zone we set 5 dates!!
Thats about all thats been happening here this week.
Love Elder Carpenter
Nov. 29, 2009
Tiffany got confirmed yesterday -- yay!!! Also our zone did really good this month on our goals. We had a goal of 13 baptized and 25 dates set and we had 12 baptized and 27 dates set!! It was sweet! The Burgesses called later on Monday and cancelled our appointment. The kids were sick with fevers and had pink eye, but we're going to see them this Wednesday. The Ft. Cambell branch now has a branch mission leader that has a much more open schedule in the evening time then most so that'll be a big help.
Thanksgiving was really good, the Stucki's had the best stuffing I've ever had!! It had chunks of sausage in it as well as some mushrooms, it was really really good. She also made the best creamed corn I've ever had. I'm not a big fan of creamed corn but hers was amazing. It was cooked in a crock pot and it was really good; that's all I know about it. Brother Stucki is in the army and he got sent home early from a deployment due to injuries. An anti tank rocket was shot at his vehicle and hit his door, shrapnel tore through his right forearm and his right thigh causing some very critical damage. He's missing large chuncks of bone in his arm due to it. He was also a police officer in Florida before he joined the army he worked in the anti gang units and doing the drug busts and whatnot. His hero is Porter Rockwell, and our dinner conversation was along those lines for the most part.
We've got a few more people that we're working with now our teaching pool has been depleted a little bit due to the fact that they are no longer investigators their recent converts. So we're doing a lot of finding this week. Two people we're working with now are Otis Maryweather who is a really nice guy he came to church yesterday but he's also very uneducated. He has trouble reading and his speech is very hard to understand. He doesn't know if the church is true yet but he wants to be baptized the way that Christ was so he's learning more about the church. Then there's Deborah Phelps she's had a long hard life. She's in her 50's and an alcoholic, she was raised in a church and her parents were very very active in the church and infidelity tore apart her family. After that she decided that she didn't want anything to do with church. Recently she's been in a tough spot in life and talking with her mother-in-law who converted to the church about 20 some odd years ago. Deborah's mother-in-law told her that she'd put her name on the prayer roll in the temple and that got her curious about the church so she ordered a Book of Mormon and now we're teaching her, she was also at church yesterday.
Speaking of the temple President Hutchings and the temple president here have arranged for all of the missionaries in the mission to go to the temple each zone has a specific day and we'll be able to spend round about 4-5 hours in the temple doing all of the ordinances available!! We're all really excited about it.
Love you all and hope that you have a great week!!
Elder Carpenter
Thanksgiving was really good, the Stucki's had the best stuffing I've ever had!! It had chunks of sausage in it as well as some mushrooms, it was really really good. She also made the best creamed corn I've ever had. I'm not a big fan of creamed corn but hers was amazing. It was cooked in a crock pot and it was really good; that's all I know about it. Brother Stucki is in the army and he got sent home early from a deployment due to injuries. An anti tank rocket was shot at his vehicle and hit his door, shrapnel tore through his right forearm and his right thigh causing some very critical damage. He's missing large chuncks of bone in his arm due to it. He was also a police officer in Florida before he joined the army he worked in the anti gang units and doing the drug busts and whatnot. His hero is Porter Rockwell, and our dinner conversation was along those lines for the most part.
We've got a few more people that we're working with now our teaching pool has been depleted a little bit due to the fact that they are no longer investigators their recent converts. So we're doing a lot of finding this week. Two people we're working with now are Otis Maryweather who is a really nice guy he came to church yesterday but he's also very uneducated. He has trouble reading and his speech is very hard to understand. He doesn't know if the church is true yet but he wants to be baptized the way that Christ was so he's learning more about the church. Then there's Deborah Phelps she's had a long hard life. She's in her 50's and an alcoholic, she was raised in a church and her parents were very very active in the church and infidelity tore apart her family. After that she decided that she didn't want anything to do with church. Recently she's been in a tough spot in life and talking with her mother-in-law who converted to the church about 20 some odd years ago. Deborah's mother-in-law told her that she'd put her name on the prayer roll in the temple and that got her curious about the church so she ordered a Book of Mormon and now we're teaching her, she was also at church yesterday.
Speaking of the temple President Hutchings and the temple president here have arranged for all of the missionaries in the mission to go to the temple each zone has a specific day and we'll be able to spend round about 4-5 hours in the temple doing all of the ordinances available!! We're all really excited about it.
Love you all and hope that you have a great week!!
Elder Carpenter
Nov. 22, 2009
Hey, sorry I didn't get to e-mail you last week. I tried to send it and was never sure if it went through or not. A lot of missionaries are having trouble with the myldsmail server its really slow and isn't allowing people to send things. We're here today around noon and its working just fine, it's probably that on Mondays a lot of missionaries are logged on the server and trying to read and send mail so its super slow.
Anyways in the last two weeks we've had three baptisms! Vanessa and James were baptized last week and Tiffany was baptized this week. You should be getting a letter soon that is the printed off version of my e-mail last week. I have just procrastinated putting it in the mail. Other then that this last week has been pretty slow. Just lots of work.
Tiffany's baptism was amazing. We had most of the primary there because she has 4 primary age kids. With that many kids it was really loud and chaotic but it was still very spiritual. She's had a really tough life and has been through and is going through really hard times right now and she bore her testimony after she was baptized about how she felt an emptiness inside but it was a good empty. It was as if all of her sins and troubles had been taken away from her and she was now capable of living life how she wanted to, living life the way God wants her to. It was an amazing testimony and we're really thankful for the chance we have to work with her.
For Thanksgiving its our p-day. Today is a work day where we're supposed to e-mail and spend the rest of the day working. We're planning on playing in the flag football turkey bowl at 10:00 with the ward. Then we have dinner planned with the Stucki's. Then we have a little fake Christmas tree that's pre-lit and we'll set that up Thursday night. That's all we've got planned for Thanksgiving. Next Monday however is going to be the cookie cook-off. Everyone in the district is going to make their favorite type of cookies and we're going to have a cookie contest at the church and watch "Mountain of the Lord" while we eat cookies. It should be a fun time.
Tonight we're going on post to visit the Burgess family for the first time. They were transferred to Ft. Cambell from Germany and were taking missionary lessons over in Germany so we're excited to visit with them and see how things will be going with that. Then we've got an exchange planned in Hopkinsville, we'll be spending the night there and I'll be bringing back Elder Rigby in the morning. That's pretty much the plan for now. Sounds like things are going well back home and all is well out here. Love ya!! Oh and thanks for the package it got here all safe and sound, the Christmas cards look great thanks a bunch!!!
Love Elder Carpenter
Anyways in the last two weeks we've had three baptisms! Vanessa and James were baptized last week and Tiffany was baptized this week. You should be getting a letter soon that is the printed off version of my e-mail last week. I have just procrastinated putting it in the mail. Other then that this last week has been pretty slow. Just lots of work.
Tiffany's baptism was amazing. We had most of the primary there because she has 4 primary age kids. With that many kids it was really loud and chaotic but it was still very spiritual. She's had a really tough life and has been through and is going through really hard times right now and she bore her testimony after she was baptized about how she felt an emptiness inside but it was a good empty. It was as if all of her sins and troubles had been taken away from her and she was now capable of living life how she wanted to, living life the way God wants her to. It was an amazing testimony and we're really thankful for the chance we have to work with her.
For Thanksgiving its our p-day. Today is a work day where we're supposed to e-mail and spend the rest of the day working. We're planning on playing in the flag football turkey bowl at 10:00 with the ward. Then we have dinner planned with the Stucki's. Then we have a little fake Christmas tree that's pre-lit and we'll set that up Thursday night. That's all we've got planned for Thanksgiving. Next Monday however is going to be the cookie cook-off. Everyone in the district is going to make their favorite type of cookies and we're going to have a cookie contest at the church and watch "Mountain of the Lord" while we eat cookies. It should be a fun time.
Tonight we're going on post to visit the Burgess family for the first time. They were transferred to Ft. Cambell from Germany and were taking missionary lessons over in Germany so we're excited to visit with them and see how things will be going with that. Then we've got an exchange planned in Hopkinsville, we'll be spending the night there and I'll be bringing back Elder Rigby in the morning. That's pretty much the plan for now. Sounds like things are going well back home and all is well out here. Love ya!! Oh and thanks for the package it got here all safe and sound, the Christmas cards look great thanks a bunch!!!
Love Elder Carpenter
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Nov. 9, 2009
Last Monday there was a change of plans. I'm not serving with Elder Osmond; I'm now serving with Elder Richins and training him to be a new zone leader. That happened about 7:00 p.m. on Monday night. Its been a great week we've had a lot of people to teach and we actually went from zero current dates set to 5. Vanessa and Maurice want to be baptized this Saturday, James wants to be baptized the Saturday after and so does Tiffany.
Tiffany is a really cool story. We were driving back from transfer meeting in Franklin and we got a call from Sister Gale who lives in our ward. She told us that she had a new friend over and wanted us to come over and teach her. So before we dropped off any of Elder Richins stuff we went by sister Gales to teach her friend Tiffany. Sister Gale met Tiffany because she saw her sitting on the curb with her four kids and stopped to ask if she needed any help. Tiffany then explained that she just got to Clarksville and she's homeless with her four kids. She found a hotel that charged $40 a night for all 5 of them and she was trying to figure out a way to make $40 a day to get a roof over their heads. So Sister Gale let her come to her house and help her fold clothes and do some yard work. We went by and taught her a first and it went awesome. Then the next three days we went back to teach, now Tiffany is living with some members while she works at the PX (the Wal-Mart of the army) saving up money for her own place, and she's preparing to be baptized on the 21st. Sister Gale also found Chrystal Six who was baptized a few months ago because she was walking home with her 3 kids in the rain and she offered some simple service and shared the gospel. Its a great testimony of how simple Christlike service will do more to help people then anything else and it really opens up their hearts.
I may have told you about James already but he's a mildly schizophrenic and he used to have terrible involuntary seizure-like convulsions all the time. He couldn't walk very well, he couldn't read anything because he couldn't hold it still enough to read or hold his head still enough to read. After our first lesson with him we offered to give him a blessing and he hasn't had the convulsions since! It was really sweet.
Elder Arnold hasn't come yet, he gets here tomorrow and is staying till Friday. We'll have our zone conference with him on Thursday and he'll be doing a fireside for our investigators that night. He's doing a tour of our mission.
We hear a lot about the shooting at the post in Texas. Fort Cambell is on higher security now in a lot of areas. We went on post last night to try and see some people and we had to have a sargent escort us everywhere while we were in any of the buildings. It was weird.
I think that I have everyone's address that I need. I do have a request however for something to send. I got your letter and I remember the stuff your talking about that can seal my hems but I cant find any of it amongst my things so if you could send some of that out, or tell me where I can find some. Also I have that robe that I got from bath and body works, if you could send that out as well it would be much appreciated. Its getting chilly in the apartment in the mornings and Elder Richins likes it cold and that robe would be more efficient then wearing a blanket around the apartment :). Thank you very much for all you do. Tell Grandma that I love her, and I love all of you as well. Hope you have a great week!!
Elder Carpenter
P.S. That talk by Elder Bednar that you sent me we actually got to see a broadcast of that for our Stake conference. Then a few weeks ago Dad told me about a talk by President Monson where he talked about the lost battalion and a few other things, its really funny because back in Murfreesboro we got a broadcast where he gave the same talk. Also I got a letter from the Bakers 2 weeks ago and Lauren told me that she did the drill for a drum corp this summer and was in Murfreesboro, at the same time as I was!!! Crazy.
Anyhow Love you!!!
Tiffany is a really cool story. We were driving back from transfer meeting in Franklin and we got a call from Sister Gale who lives in our ward. She told us that she had a new friend over and wanted us to come over and teach her. So before we dropped off any of Elder Richins stuff we went by sister Gales to teach her friend Tiffany. Sister Gale met Tiffany because she saw her sitting on the curb with her four kids and stopped to ask if she needed any help. Tiffany then explained that she just got to Clarksville and she's homeless with her four kids. She found a hotel that charged $40 a night for all 5 of them and she was trying to figure out a way to make $40 a day to get a roof over their heads. So Sister Gale let her come to her house and help her fold clothes and do some yard work. We went by and taught her a first and it went awesome. Then the next three days we went back to teach, now Tiffany is living with some members while she works at the PX (the Wal-Mart of the army) saving up money for her own place, and she's preparing to be baptized on the 21st. Sister Gale also found Chrystal Six who was baptized a few months ago because she was walking home with her 3 kids in the rain and she offered some simple service and shared the gospel. Its a great testimony of how simple Christlike service will do more to help people then anything else and it really opens up their hearts.
I may have told you about James already but he's a mildly schizophrenic and he used to have terrible involuntary seizure-like convulsions all the time. He couldn't walk very well, he couldn't read anything because he couldn't hold it still enough to read or hold his head still enough to read. After our first lesson with him we offered to give him a blessing and he hasn't had the convulsions since! It was really sweet.
Elder Arnold hasn't come yet, he gets here tomorrow and is staying till Friday. We'll have our zone conference with him on Thursday and he'll be doing a fireside for our investigators that night. He's doing a tour of our mission.
We hear a lot about the shooting at the post in Texas. Fort Cambell is on higher security now in a lot of areas. We went on post last night to try and see some people and we had to have a sargent escort us everywhere while we were in any of the buildings. It was weird.
I think that I have everyone's address that I need. I do have a request however for something to send. I got your letter and I remember the stuff your talking about that can seal my hems but I cant find any of it amongst my things so if you could send some of that out, or tell me where I can find some. Also I have that robe that I got from bath and body works, if you could send that out as well it would be much appreciated. Its getting chilly in the apartment in the mornings and Elder Richins likes it cold and that robe would be more efficient then wearing a blanket around the apartment :). Thank you very much for all you do. Tell Grandma that I love her, and I love all of you as well. Hope you have a great week!!
Elder Carpenter
P.S. That talk by Elder Bednar that you sent me we actually got to see a broadcast of that for our Stake conference. Then a few weeks ago Dad told me about a talk by President Monson where he talked about the lost battalion and a few other things, its really funny because back in Murfreesboro we got a broadcast where he gave the same talk. Also I got a letter from the Bakers 2 weeks ago and Lauren told me that she did the drill for a drum corp this summer and was in Murfreesboro, at the same time as I was!!! Crazy.
Anyhow Love you!!!
Nov. 2, 2009
Hey, as for packages anythings great, in this area I don't really need food because the members feed us really really well. We had 2 dinners yesterday and a breakfast and lunch appointment for today. So I'm doing great in that regard, I would love a Christmas card and some more stamps and return address thingies. Vanessa and Maurice didn't end up being baptized this weekend. Maurice felt that he needed some more time to work on his life and we were very pleased that he was that honest with himself and us, we're also very pleased that he's taking baptism seriously as a covenant and not just something to do. Then Vanessa had a family emergency and she couldn't make it to her interview so she didn't get baptized either. We had a lot of dates drop in the zone this week. We went from 11 to 2. Most of those dates will be picked back up this week though.
We have about 18 missionaries in the zone and the Hartford elders didn't make it down because that's a really long distance to travel. We did a corn maze and then played some games at the church. Nothing big but it was fun. Transfers are tomorrow Elder Furrows is going home to Rexburg, and Elder Osmond is going to be my new companion. He is related to the famous Osmonds he is Jay Osmond's son. So it will be an interesting transfer for sure.
Its very pretty here, and it rains like I've never seen before, probably nothing like Mitch's tropical storms but it just pours rain here. The leaves are beautiful and they change in stages so some trees you can get green red and yellow at the same time on the same tree. Its pretty cool, I've got a few pictures.
I'm sorry that I have so little time to e-mail you but we've got Elder Arnold from the Sevent coming this week to tour our mission. So they're giving the zone leaders some extra stuff to do to get ready and it takes time on the computers, but I love you all very much and hope that y'all have a great week!!
We have about 18 missionaries in the zone and the Hartford elders didn't make it down because that's a really long distance to travel. We did a corn maze and then played some games at the church. Nothing big but it was fun. Transfers are tomorrow Elder Furrows is going home to Rexburg, and Elder Osmond is going to be my new companion. He is related to the famous Osmonds he is Jay Osmond's son. So it will be an interesting transfer for sure.
Its very pretty here, and it rains like I've never seen before, probably nothing like Mitch's tropical storms but it just pours rain here. The leaves are beautiful and they change in stages so some trees you can get green red and yellow at the same time on the same tree. Its pretty cool, I've got a few pictures.
I'm sorry that I have so little time to e-mail you but we've got Elder Arnold from the Sevent coming this week to tour our mission. So they're giving the zone leaders some extra stuff to do to get ready and it takes time on the computers, but I love you all very much and hope that y'all have a great week!!
Oct. 26, 2009
Hey, Vanessa and Maurice did come to church this week!!!! So they're on course for baptism this Saturday. Its probable that Vanessa will be baptized and Maurice will wait a week due to word of wisdom problems. All in all things are going really well. I'm sorry I have extra short time to write today because we're doing a zone p-day and we're supposed to be half way across town in about 5 min. Love you all; have a great week!!!!!!!!!
Oct. 19, 2009
I've gained a totally new perspective on the military and war since I've been here in Clarksville working with a predominantly military community. I cant remember if we told you or not be we're now covering the Fort Cambell branch too so we work on post as well as in the city. Its crazy because its a completely different culture then anywhere else in the mission because its a melting pot with people from all over the world.
Maurice and Vanessa are doing well. They're planning on being baptized on Halloween day, they weren't at church because Vanessa's sister was in a hospital in Nashville and they went there for the weekend. She's alright now and things are going well. However she didn't go to church this week either, we'll find out more about that tomorrow. Everyone else is doing pretty well. Cody has a cool story, every time he prays about that truth of the Book of Mormon he feels prompted to be baptized. The snag is that its not the answer that he's looking for, he wants to know whether the book is true or if Joseph Smith is a prophet but he's just being told to be baptized. So he wants to be baptized but he doesn't know if Joseph Smith is a prophet yet. We've explained several things but he just doesn't make the connection that the prompting to be baptized is a spiritual witness. Until he comes to know for himself that Joseph Smith is a prophet he can't be baptized because he cant pass the baptismal interview. He's planning on being baptized on Halloween as well.
Thanks for the quotes and concepts from that book Dad. It was really insightful. In most of Tennessee and Kentucky the people are very 'religious' or they like to be perceived as such. They claim a religion and claim to read the Bible but they really don't go to church or read the bible at all. However here with the army post a lot of people struggle believing that there really is a God who loves his children. A lot of people believe in God but don't think He cares because of the turmoil of war and other things. Then on the flip side of that a lot of the members here who have been on two or three 14 month deployments have a really solid testimony about how God does live and love us. Their testimonies really help and they are all willing to help us teach. Its great because I think that it is a decision that everyone in whose gone to war has to make at some point whether to accept the comfort of God's love or sink into despair, they all seem to have felt some of that despair. So they want to share the joy of the gospel to everyone who is trapped by the cunning devices of the devil. So their testimonies are really helpful.
The guy who teaches priesthood every week brother Stucki (we talked about the name already he says that we're probably related because his Stucki ancestors came across the plains but he hasn't looked too deeply into it) when he was in Iraq their caravan got attacked and the jeep that he was in was blown up. Shards of metal tore open his arm and his leg, they emergency evacuated him to the base where his lds group leader was waiting for him and he received a priesthood blessing under the rotating blades of a helicopter that flew him to their medical center. Its been almost two years and now he's just barely being able to bend his fingers again but he has a super solid testimony of God's power and love for us.
Maurice and Vanessa are doing well. They're planning on being baptized on Halloween day, they weren't at church because Vanessa's sister was in a hospital in Nashville and they went there for the weekend. She's alright now and things are going well. However she didn't go to church this week either, we'll find out more about that tomorrow. Everyone else is doing pretty well. Cody has a cool story, every time he prays about that truth of the Book of Mormon he feels prompted to be baptized. The snag is that its not the answer that he's looking for, he wants to know whether the book is true or if Joseph Smith is a prophet but he's just being told to be baptized. So he wants to be baptized but he doesn't know if Joseph Smith is a prophet yet. We've explained several things but he just doesn't make the connection that the prompting to be baptized is a spiritual witness. Until he comes to know for himself that Joseph Smith is a prophet he can't be baptized because he cant pass the baptismal interview. He's planning on being baptized on Halloween as well.
Thanks for the quotes and concepts from that book Dad. It was really insightful. In most of Tennessee and Kentucky the people are very 'religious' or they like to be perceived as such. They claim a religion and claim to read the Bible but they really don't go to church or read the bible at all. However here with the army post a lot of people struggle believing that there really is a God who loves his children. A lot of people believe in God but don't think He cares because of the turmoil of war and other things. Then on the flip side of that a lot of the members here who have been on two or three 14 month deployments have a really solid testimony about how God does live and love us. Their testimonies really help and they are all willing to help us teach. Its great because I think that it is a decision that everyone in whose gone to war has to make at some point whether to accept the comfort of God's love or sink into despair, they all seem to have felt some of that despair. So they want to share the joy of the gospel to everyone who is trapped by the cunning devices of the devil. So their testimonies are really helpful.
The guy who teaches priesthood every week brother Stucki (we talked about the name already he says that we're probably related because his Stucki ancestors came across the plains but he hasn't looked too deeply into it) when he was in Iraq their caravan got attacked and the jeep that he was in was blown up. Shards of metal tore open his arm and his leg, they emergency evacuated him to the base where his lds group leader was waiting for him and he received a priesthood blessing under the rotating blades of a helicopter that flew him to their medical center. Its been almost two years and now he's just barely being able to bend his fingers again but he has a super solid testimony of God's power and love for us.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
October 12, 2009
Hello family!
Things this last week went pretty well. We were on exchanges for most of the week, from Tuesday to Friday. I stayed in Clarksville and Elder Furrows went up to Hartford, KT. It's about a 2 hour drive up to Hartford, and we went there on Tuesday morning to drop Elder Furrows off and pick up Elder Wurston to bring him back with me. We got up there around noon and we had a 2:30 appointment with Vanessa and Maurice, a couple that we're working with in Clarksville. Anyways Elder Wurston and I got on our way and we realized that Elder Furrows sill had our phone. So neither of us had a phone, and no matter where we are we're supposed to have our phones with us so President can get hold of us at anytime. We had a grand adventure trying to get the phone back without having any way to contact the other Elders. They immediately left Hartford to drive to Liechfield, about another 30 minutes away from Hartford out in the middle of nowhere. So we drove to Liechfield and went to a gas station and asked if we could use their phone. Elder Wurston is being trained right now he has only been out about 2 weeks, and he didn't know where any members lived, nor did he remember his phone number. So now we needed to find someone who would let us call a Tennessee number. We had 2 gas stations tell us that it was a long distance number, but then the manager at the 2nd gas station said that it actually wasn't and let us use their phone. We got hold of Elder Furrows just as they were getting ready to ride their bikes to the post office to express overnight mail the phone to us in Clarksville. We met up with them and got the phone back, we ended up driving around 270 miles that day and getting back to Clarksville around 5:00. A grand adventure.
Vanessa and Maurice are a great couple who are going through some hard times. A few years back they really hit rock bottom and were homeless. Now they've worked their way back up a bit and are living in a duplex. They have word of wisdom problems but they both have been taught the first 2 lessons and agreed to be baptized. I'm a little worried about them because they were really excited to go to church on Sunday and the promised me twice that nothing would keep them from coming. On Sunday they didn't make it, the ride we had arranged for them said that they werent home, and when we went by later their car was still gone. Now I'm up in Hopkinsville for another exchange. This time I'm staying up here, so I won't know anything about what's going on with them until Wednesday. Hopefully they're alright.
Cody is doing well. He came to a "Songs of the Savior" last night and really enjoyed it. He wants to be baptized for a remission of his sins and really likes the church, he just doesn't agree that Joseph Smith is a prophet or that we have prophets today. His date is for this weekend, so hopefully Elder Furrows will be able to help him understand before this weekend. Gordan's date dropped due to word of wisdom problems. He's been having trouble with work. He works at Burger King and isn't getting enough hours to support his family (don't know how he planned on supporting a family with Burger King in the first place) so he's been really stressed about that. However his wife called us and told us (his wife is Crystal who just recently got baptized) that all he does is sit at home and play computer games until he crashes, then he sleeps for a day and then stays up for 3 playing more computer games. So he's not even looking for a job. So we're still working with him on a few things.
Those are our big top investigators right now. Then just helping the zone out. The Hopkinsville Elders are having trouble with their ward leadership. The leadership thinks that they are lazy and thereby don't support them. They think that the sole purpose of ward leadership is to support them in everything that they do. So we've had a bit of a conflict. It's hard for a lot of missionaries because they don't really understand that a bishop has 5 and a half million things to do, and he's super busy taking care of active members, and less active members that he can't always provide a lot of time to work with non-members. They also have trouble remembering that since their not full-time missionaries they have other responsibilities like a family to care for and a job to maintain, and other church callings. It's important for every member to do everything they can to share the gospel, but it's important for missionaries to realize that they aren't the top priority in everything. It'll be a fun exchange figuring out the missionaries side of things. Anyways I love you all! Have a great week, I know I will.
Love Elder Carpenter
Things this last week went pretty well. We were on exchanges for most of the week, from Tuesday to Friday. I stayed in Clarksville and Elder Furrows went up to Hartford, KT. It's about a 2 hour drive up to Hartford, and we went there on Tuesday morning to drop Elder Furrows off and pick up Elder Wurston to bring him back with me. We got up there around noon and we had a 2:30 appointment with Vanessa and Maurice, a couple that we're working with in Clarksville. Anyways Elder Wurston and I got on our way and we realized that Elder Furrows sill had our phone. So neither of us had a phone, and no matter where we are we're supposed to have our phones with us so President can get hold of us at anytime. We had a grand adventure trying to get the phone back without having any way to contact the other Elders. They immediately left Hartford to drive to Liechfield, about another 30 minutes away from Hartford out in the middle of nowhere. So we drove to Liechfield and went to a gas station and asked if we could use their phone. Elder Wurston is being trained right now he has only been out about 2 weeks, and he didn't know where any members lived, nor did he remember his phone number. So now we needed to find someone who would let us call a Tennessee number. We had 2 gas stations tell us that it was a long distance number, but then the manager at the 2nd gas station said that it actually wasn't and let us use their phone. We got hold of Elder Furrows just as they were getting ready to ride their bikes to the post office to express overnight mail the phone to us in Clarksville. We met up with them and got the phone back, we ended up driving around 270 miles that day and getting back to Clarksville around 5:00. A grand adventure.
Vanessa and Maurice are a great couple who are going through some hard times. A few years back they really hit rock bottom and were homeless. Now they've worked their way back up a bit and are living in a duplex. They have word of wisdom problems but they both have been taught the first 2 lessons and agreed to be baptized. I'm a little worried about them because they were really excited to go to church on Sunday and the promised me twice that nothing would keep them from coming. On Sunday they didn't make it, the ride we had arranged for them said that they werent home, and when we went by later their car was still gone. Now I'm up in Hopkinsville for another exchange. This time I'm staying up here, so I won't know anything about what's going on with them until Wednesday. Hopefully they're alright.
Cody is doing well. He came to a "Songs of the Savior" last night and really enjoyed it. He wants to be baptized for a remission of his sins and really likes the church, he just doesn't agree that Joseph Smith is a prophet or that we have prophets today. His date is for this weekend, so hopefully Elder Furrows will be able to help him understand before this weekend. Gordan's date dropped due to word of wisdom problems. He's been having trouble with work. He works at Burger King and isn't getting enough hours to support his family (don't know how he planned on supporting a family with Burger King in the first place) so he's been really stressed about that. However his wife called us and told us (his wife is Crystal who just recently got baptized) that all he does is sit at home and play computer games until he crashes, then he sleeps for a day and then stays up for 3 playing more computer games. So he's not even looking for a job. So we're still working with him on a few things.
Those are our big top investigators right now. Then just helping the zone out. The Hopkinsville Elders are having trouble with their ward leadership. The leadership thinks that they are lazy and thereby don't support them. They think that the sole purpose of ward leadership is to support them in everything that they do. So we've had a bit of a conflict. It's hard for a lot of missionaries because they don't really understand that a bishop has 5 and a half million things to do, and he's super busy taking care of active members, and less active members that he can't always provide a lot of time to work with non-members. They also have trouble remembering that since their not full-time missionaries they have other responsibilities like a family to care for and a job to maintain, and other church callings. It's important for every member to do everything they can to share the gospel, but it's important for missionaries to realize that they aren't the top priority in everything. It'll be a fun exchange figuring out the missionaries side of things. Anyways I love you all! Have a great week, I know I will.
Love Elder Carpenter
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Catching Up
Apologies from the dad who is not keeping this blog up very effectively. Here's a long post with comments from some recent e-mails to catch up where Bryan is and how he is doing on his mission.
Aug. 10, 2009: I got a call last Monday from the assistants and we've had a third companion all week. His name is Elder Jacobson, he's from Washington and he worked as a king crab fisher in Alaska, you've heard of the show "The Deadliest Catch" thats what he did! Anyways his comp went home a week early to send his brother off to the MTC so he's been in Murf-town for a week.
Then just the normal missionary stuff, no dates set, but still a really good week. We taught Joe and Jessica about the law of chastity in great detail and they agreed that something needed to be done whither that is marriage or moving they committed to do something about it. We're going back over tonight to find the results. We also had an 'invite a friend to church day' which was pretty awesome. We fasted and prayed as a stake last Sunday and had a really big build up to have everyone at least invite someone to church. A lot of people didn't and some people did and their friends just didn't show up, but we had 8 non-members there! Then all the talks were geared towards missionary work, the first was on the apostasy and restoration, the second was on the Book of Mormon and the Bible (Bro. Westmoreland gave that talk, he's a big time lawyer so it was pretty entertaining, sorta like law and order), then the third talk was on the Living Christ and it was given by Bro. Miller who was going to be a baptist preacher until he started going to the seminary and discovered how far they had strayed from biblical Christianity. So that was pretty darn sweet.
Then on Saturday we sorta got transfer calls. I say sorta because I got the call for my district and found out that Elder Hansen is going to be coming into Stones River replacing me (not my trainer Hanson but with an en) he's the one that replaced me in Hendersonville. We also found out the sisters area is going to be whitewashed with Elders. Then they said that President Hutchings was going to call me to tell me where I was going. No call came Saturday night. Sunday came no call. Sunday night we did a "Songs of the Savior" in Goodletsville and President came to that one and informed me that I will be whitewashing Hopkinsville as a zone leader. So tomorrow morning I'm off to Kentucky. So I'll be leaving Murfressboro tomorrow and headed up to Kentucky to Hopkinsville, and I haven't the slightest clue where that is. But it will be an adventure for sure.
Aug. 17, 2009: I'm actually in Clarksville now, just south of the Kentucky border. Its a military town we have Fort Cambell here and its pretty fun. Its strange because we have very few Southernisms here because everyone is a transplant and most people are very young. I love it here already. In the week we've been here we've set 5 baptismal dates and they're all progressing very very nicely. It doest seem that there's as much stuff to repair here as Murfreesboro but there's still a lot of work to do. We're almost always on the phone with someone, either the district leaders or the assistants or our investigators or the ward. Always on the phone usually until 10:30. Our zone area is the Clarksville wards (there's 3 in the city, thats huge for Tennessee) the Hopkinsville ward, the Hartford area that has 4 branches and 2 missionaries. That's pretty much it. I love it here!
Aug. 24, 2009: Anyways its been an adventurous week thus far. We were supposed to have 2 baptisms yesterday in the Elkton ward. Elkton is in Kentucky about 45 min from Clarksville. I guess mission policy is that whenever an area gets shut down the zone leaders cover that area. So we now cover 6 counties in Kentucky as well as part of Clarksville. Anyways so in order to get the Wigles family baptized we needed to drive up to Elkton with one of our district leaders so we could interview them and then have them baptized after the block. However Elkton ward and Clarksville ward meet at the same time, 9-12. So we had it all worked out that I would leave right after PEC around 7:50 and go with Elder Killpack (he's our district leader, he was in the MTC with me) to drive to Elkton so we'd get there around 8:30-8:40.
However right as PEC is ending a random guy in jeans and a t-shirt walks in and says "Hey I was wondering if I could talk to someone about your church?" Naturally Elder Furrows and I jump on that. So we taught him a first lesson and he goes on to tell us that he's had a drinking problem before and because of that his wife has kicked him out of the house and wants to divorce him, and that it was her recommendation to go to this church and check it out. Anyway after about a 30 min lesson we're getting ready to go and he tells us his wifes name, and its one of our other investigators who wants to be baptized. The only problem is that she's living with another man!! We had no clue that she was married to someone else and living with her boyfriend. So we've been trying to get them married and now we're teaching her and her boyfriend and her husband!! That one's going to be an interesting one to figure out.
So back to the Wigles, its now 8:30 and Elder Killpack and I are leaving to Elkton. Luckily it was mostly country roads that have no posted speed limit, so we get there about 9:05. Elkton does their meeting block backwards they start with priesthood and relief society first and end with sacrament. So we get there have elders quorum and then the bishop asks if he can meet with us and the father of the family. He explains that before the block started he asked the family to wait to week to be baptized and they all agreed that that would be the best thing. So we stayed for church in Elkton and then went home, it was a little frustrating but it'll end up alright. So we now have 4 baptisms planned for next Sunday.
We do also have people from all over here, but they're all really nice. Another cool story is on the 19th of September a family moves in from Germany, they were taught by missionaries out there and had a baptismal date and everything, they called us to ask if they could have us over for dinner as soon as they got moved into their house so we could set up a time for them to be baptized!! So lots of good things are happening here and I love the area. We work really hard, and it pays off, we set 3 baptismal dates this week and had over 35 lessons. Its a hard ward to work with becuase people are always in and out and even though its a pretty large ward by Tennessee standards hardly anyone has a calling because the leadership doesn't want to call anyone and have them be deployed. So we dont have an elders quorem president or a relief society president but they're working on it.
Aug. 31, 2009: Hey, so everyone did get baptized!! Yay!!! It was a pretty crazy process though. They were supposed to meet us at 11:30 Saturday morning for the interviews. Only two of them showed up out of the 4. They said that Chris was no where to be found and Samantha was at her grandpa's house and his truck had broken down so they coulnt get to the church, and Elder Furrows or myself needed to be in Hopkinsville in an hour to interview some people for baptism up there. We ended up having exchanges and canceling most of our plans for the day driving around and getting everyone interviewed in the zone we had 7 baptisms this last weekend. It was fantastic. We've also been working with a young lady named Kylee Turbish, she is set to be baptized on the 12th of September I believe and she's really excited about it, we've got I think 5 dates going into September and more to come. So things here are going really really well. Then with the weird love triangle situation thats gone quite well too. Crystal and her husband have decided to try and make things work out so he's moved back in with her and she wants to be baptized in a week or two. He also showed some interest in learning more, we'll see how things go with that, we're both very hopeful and very excited about it, and Chris the guy Crystal was living with has moved up to Ohio I think, we're going to try and get his address so we can send missionaries to him up there.
I was on exchanges at the beginning of this week up in Hopkinsville and we came back on Wednesday morning had district meeting here in Clarksville, then we had interviews from the President, and then we drove back up to Hopkinsville for Stake Correlation meeting and then we came home. That was about it.
Sept. 21, 2009: Things here are doing fantastically. The mission is struggling as a whole but the Clarksville district is doing amazing right now. We had 2 baptisms on Saturday and 2 last weekend and then the Fort Cambell branch had a baptism on Saturday as well. Then we have I think 7 more baptismal dates set fot the next three weeks or so. Transfer information came in and Elder Furrows and I are staying together, this is his last transfer before he goes home. Then we have 2 missionaries who are going to be trained here this next transfer, and other then that things are staying the same in our zone. There are some struggles up in Hopkinsville, but things are starting to pick up there, and Hartford is a tough area as well. Its a really old country region where most people who are born there never leave. The good part of that is they have some really valliant members there and everyone knows who they are so they're giving the church a really good image there.
We also did an interesting zone conference two fridays ago, they wanted us to spend a few hours doing an activity to build zone unity. They left it up to the zone leaders to choose what kind of activity we do. We have an interesting combanation of missionaries here and due to some health issues we couldnt do a lot of physical activity, anyways a long story short we ended up doing a missionary version of Whose line is it anyways. It worked out really really well, I have some videos of it, but it seemed whenever I was video taping nothing too interesting happened. It was fun though.
Oct. 2, 2009 (not on p-day because the library where they send e-mail was closed for re-carpeting): Yesterday we set 2 baptismal dates and we set another one earlier this week with Gordan Avery, Cody Lahaie, and Vanessa Gibson. They're all prepairing to be baptized on the 17th of this month so we're very excited for them and we've got another 2 or three on deck to be baptized as well.
Oct. 5, 2009: Things here are going really well. We got to watch conference at the mission home because we had our ZLC over conference weekend. That was an interesting experience, but really good. I loved Elder Holland's talk. I never thought about the Book of Mormon being a rock of offense or a stone of stumbling but those words really stuck out to me and for people who desire to mingle scripture with their own philosophies the Book of Mormon and a modern prophet with priesthood authority would be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
The down side of being in Brentwood all weekend was that we haven't had as much time to work with our investigators this weekend, so as of right now I don't know how a lot of them are doing. We have appointments tonight with some key people. Cody watched conference at our ward mission leaders house so we're really excited to see how he enjoyed that. Then with Gordan its just a matter of getting him to quit smoking and really want to be baptized. I really love this area and this ward, so its good to know that because Elder Furrows is goig home in November that I'll probably still be here for at least one more transfer.
Aug. 10, 2009: I got a call last Monday from the assistants and we've had a third companion all week. His name is Elder Jacobson, he's from Washington and he worked as a king crab fisher in Alaska, you've heard of the show "The Deadliest Catch" thats what he did! Anyways his comp went home a week early to send his brother off to the MTC so he's been in Murf-town for a week.
Then just the normal missionary stuff, no dates set, but still a really good week. We taught Joe and Jessica about the law of chastity in great detail and they agreed that something needed to be done whither that is marriage or moving they committed to do something about it. We're going back over tonight to find the results. We also had an 'invite a friend to church day' which was pretty awesome. We fasted and prayed as a stake last Sunday and had a really big build up to have everyone at least invite someone to church. A lot of people didn't and some people did and their friends just didn't show up, but we had 8 non-members there! Then all the talks were geared towards missionary work, the first was on the apostasy and restoration, the second was on the Book of Mormon and the Bible (Bro. Westmoreland gave that talk, he's a big time lawyer so it was pretty entertaining, sorta like law and order), then the third talk was on the Living Christ and it was given by Bro. Miller who was going to be a baptist preacher until he started going to the seminary and discovered how far they had strayed from biblical Christianity. So that was pretty darn sweet.
Then on Saturday we sorta got transfer calls. I say sorta because I got the call for my district and found out that Elder Hansen is going to be coming into Stones River replacing me (not my trainer Hanson but with an en) he's the one that replaced me in Hendersonville. We also found out the sisters area is going to be whitewashed with Elders. Then they said that President Hutchings was going to call me to tell me where I was going. No call came Saturday night. Sunday came no call. Sunday night we did a "Songs of the Savior" in Goodletsville and President came to that one and informed me that I will be whitewashing Hopkinsville as a zone leader. So tomorrow morning I'm off to Kentucky. So I'll be leaving Murfressboro tomorrow and headed up to Kentucky to Hopkinsville, and I haven't the slightest clue where that is. But it will be an adventure for sure.
Aug. 17, 2009: I'm actually in Clarksville now, just south of the Kentucky border. Its a military town we have Fort Cambell here and its pretty fun. Its strange because we have very few Southernisms here because everyone is a transplant and most people are very young. I love it here already. In the week we've been here we've set 5 baptismal dates and they're all progressing very very nicely. It doest seem that there's as much stuff to repair here as Murfreesboro but there's still a lot of work to do. We're almost always on the phone with someone, either the district leaders or the assistants or our investigators or the ward. Always on the phone usually until 10:30. Our zone area is the Clarksville wards (there's 3 in the city, thats huge for Tennessee) the Hopkinsville ward, the Hartford area that has 4 branches and 2 missionaries. That's pretty much it. I love it here!
Aug. 24, 2009: Anyways its been an adventurous week thus far. We were supposed to have 2 baptisms yesterday in the Elkton ward. Elkton is in Kentucky about 45 min from Clarksville. I guess mission policy is that whenever an area gets shut down the zone leaders cover that area. So we now cover 6 counties in Kentucky as well as part of Clarksville. Anyways so in order to get the Wigles family baptized we needed to drive up to Elkton with one of our district leaders so we could interview them and then have them baptized after the block. However Elkton ward and Clarksville ward meet at the same time, 9-12. So we had it all worked out that I would leave right after PEC around 7:50 and go with Elder Killpack (he's our district leader, he was in the MTC with me) to drive to Elkton so we'd get there around 8:30-8:40.
However right as PEC is ending a random guy in jeans and a t-shirt walks in and says "Hey I was wondering if I could talk to someone about your church?" Naturally Elder Furrows and I jump on that. So we taught him a first lesson and he goes on to tell us that he's had a drinking problem before and because of that his wife has kicked him out of the house and wants to divorce him, and that it was her recommendation to go to this church and check it out. Anyway after about a 30 min lesson we're getting ready to go and he tells us his wifes name, and its one of our other investigators who wants to be baptized. The only problem is that she's living with another man!! We had no clue that she was married to someone else and living with her boyfriend. So we've been trying to get them married and now we're teaching her and her boyfriend and her husband!! That one's going to be an interesting one to figure out.
So back to the Wigles, its now 8:30 and Elder Killpack and I are leaving to Elkton. Luckily it was mostly country roads that have no posted speed limit, so we get there about 9:05. Elkton does their meeting block backwards they start with priesthood and relief society first and end with sacrament. So we get there have elders quorum and then the bishop asks if he can meet with us and the father of the family. He explains that before the block started he asked the family to wait to week to be baptized and they all agreed that that would be the best thing. So we stayed for church in Elkton and then went home, it was a little frustrating but it'll end up alright. So we now have 4 baptisms planned for next Sunday.
We do also have people from all over here, but they're all really nice. Another cool story is on the 19th of September a family moves in from Germany, they were taught by missionaries out there and had a baptismal date and everything, they called us to ask if they could have us over for dinner as soon as they got moved into their house so we could set up a time for them to be baptized!! So lots of good things are happening here and I love the area. We work really hard, and it pays off, we set 3 baptismal dates this week and had over 35 lessons. Its a hard ward to work with becuase people are always in and out and even though its a pretty large ward by Tennessee standards hardly anyone has a calling because the leadership doesn't want to call anyone and have them be deployed. So we dont have an elders quorem president or a relief society president but they're working on it.
Aug. 31, 2009: Hey, so everyone did get baptized!! Yay!!! It was a pretty crazy process though. They were supposed to meet us at 11:30 Saturday morning for the interviews. Only two of them showed up out of the 4. They said that Chris was no where to be found and Samantha was at her grandpa's house and his truck had broken down so they coulnt get to the church, and Elder Furrows or myself needed to be in Hopkinsville in an hour to interview some people for baptism up there. We ended up having exchanges and canceling most of our plans for the day driving around and getting everyone interviewed in the zone we had 7 baptisms this last weekend. It was fantastic. We've also been working with a young lady named Kylee Turbish, she is set to be baptized on the 12th of September I believe and she's really excited about it, we've got I think 5 dates going into September and more to come. So things here are going really really well. Then with the weird love triangle situation thats gone quite well too. Crystal and her husband have decided to try and make things work out so he's moved back in with her and she wants to be baptized in a week or two. He also showed some interest in learning more, we'll see how things go with that, we're both very hopeful and very excited about it, and Chris the guy Crystal was living with has moved up to Ohio I think, we're going to try and get his address so we can send missionaries to him up there.
I was on exchanges at the beginning of this week up in Hopkinsville and we came back on Wednesday morning had district meeting here in Clarksville, then we had interviews from the President, and then we drove back up to Hopkinsville for Stake Correlation meeting and then we came home. That was about it.
Sept. 21, 2009: Things here are doing fantastically. The mission is struggling as a whole but the Clarksville district is doing amazing right now. We had 2 baptisms on Saturday and 2 last weekend and then the Fort Cambell branch had a baptism on Saturday as well. Then we have I think 7 more baptismal dates set fot the next three weeks or so. Transfer information came in and Elder Furrows and I are staying together, this is his last transfer before he goes home. Then we have 2 missionaries who are going to be trained here this next transfer, and other then that things are staying the same in our zone. There are some struggles up in Hopkinsville, but things are starting to pick up there, and Hartford is a tough area as well. Its a really old country region where most people who are born there never leave. The good part of that is they have some really valliant members there and everyone knows who they are so they're giving the church a really good image there.
We also did an interesting zone conference two fridays ago, they wanted us to spend a few hours doing an activity to build zone unity. They left it up to the zone leaders to choose what kind of activity we do. We have an interesting combanation of missionaries here and due to some health issues we couldnt do a lot of physical activity, anyways a long story short we ended up doing a missionary version of Whose line is it anyways. It worked out really really well, I have some videos of it, but it seemed whenever I was video taping nothing too interesting happened. It was fun though.
Oct. 2, 2009 (not on p-day because the library where they send e-mail was closed for re-carpeting): Yesterday we set 2 baptismal dates and we set another one earlier this week with Gordan Avery, Cody Lahaie, and Vanessa Gibson. They're all prepairing to be baptized on the 17th of this month so we're very excited for them and we've got another 2 or three on deck to be baptized as well.
Oct. 5, 2009: Things here are going really well. We got to watch conference at the mission home because we had our ZLC over conference weekend. That was an interesting experience, but really good. I loved Elder Holland's talk. I never thought about the Book of Mormon being a rock of offense or a stone of stumbling but those words really stuck out to me and for people who desire to mingle scripture with their own philosophies the Book of Mormon and a modern prophet with priesthood authority would be a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.
The down side of being in Brentwood all weekend was that we haven't had as much time to work with our investigators this weekend, so as of right now I don't know how a lot of them are doing. We have appointments tonight with some key people. Cody watched conference at our ward mission leaders house so we're really excited to see how he enjoyed that. Then with Gordan its just a matter of getting him to quit smoking and really want to be baptized. I really love this area and this ward, so its good to know that because Elder Furrows is goig home in November that I'll probably still be here for at least one more transfer.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
July 6, 2009
Hello, sounds like it was a good week for you. I had a great week as well. The 4th didn't quite work out with going to the battlefield because we found some missionary work to do. We went up to a farm of one of the members in the Murfressboro ward. They were having a big barbecue with a bunch of non-members there. So we communed with them the way people of the south do, we went fishin'! I caught one fish, about the length of my pinky. It was really fun, we also cooked up some pork tenderloin on a giant grill, it was amazing. We spent the entire day there.
I also had a really great opportunity this week to go to the temple. President Hutchings called an emergency leadership council, where everyone in a leadership position (District and Zone leaders) needed to be in Franklin at 8:30 AM Thursday morning. We all went through the temple together and sought repentance and revelation. It was a truly sacred experience, I don't think I've ever felt the spirit as strongly as I did that day. I would be willing to say it was comparable to the day of Pentecost for us. It was truly amazing. Now I know exactly what we need to do for this area and this district.
We have 3 baptismal dates now for our area Matt, Amber, and Mary. Amber and Mary just fell into our lap yesterday, I don't know all the details yet but I'll get them later today. I know though that the next two months in this area and in this mission should explode if we just follow the council received at the temple. I anticipate that by the end of the week we should have 8 baptismal dates set for this area alone. I'm worried about the sisters area because they don't want to follow council. We've got to make some big changes and thus far they aren't really going along with them. Luckily most of the changes that we need to make are all up to me, and then they just have to choose to follow or not to. Its just my job to teach them everything that I can to be sure that they know exactly what they may be denying. Anyways the moral of the story is that as of this moment we're very much in line with the will of our Heavenly Father and miracles of biblical proportions are going to be happening as long as we stay the course.
That was really the big news of this week. As for the camera card I should be sending it off this week. Its just a matter of finding the time to get to the post office because I've got other stuff to send as well. We get the car today and that will make it easier, we may even send it off today. Sometime this week I should be sending it... hopefully :).
I love you lots!!
Elder Carpenter
I also had a really great opportunity this week to go to the temple. President Hutchings called an emergency leadership council, where everyone in a leadership position (District and Zone leaders) needed to be in Franklin at 8:30 AM Thursday morning. We all went through the temple together and sought repentance and revelation. It was a truly sacred experience, I don't think I've ever felt the spirit as strongly as I did that day. I would be willing to say it was comparable to the day of Pentecost for us. It was truly amazing. Now I know exactly what we need to do for this area and this district.
We have 3 baptismal dates now for our area Matt, Amber, and Mary. Amber and Mary just fell into our lap yesterday, I don't know all the details yet but I'll get them later today. I know though that the next two months in this area and in this mission should explode if we just follow the council received at the temple. I anticipate that by the end of the week we should have 8 baptismal dates set for this area alone. I'm worried about the sisters area because they don't want to follow council. We've got to make some big changes and thus far they aren't really going along with them. Luckily most of the changes that we need to make are all up to me, and then they just have to choose to follow or not to. Its just my job to teach them everything that I can to be sure that they know exactly what they may be denying. Anyways the moral of the story is that as of this moment we're very much in line with the will of our Heavenly Father and miracles of biblical proportions are going to be happening as long as we stay the course.
That was really the big news of this week. As for the camera card I should be sending it off this week. Its just a matter of finding the time to get to the post office because I've got other stuff to send as well. We get the car today and that will make it easier, we may even send it off today. Sometime this week I should be sending it... hopefully :).
I love you lots!!
Elder Carpenter
June 29, 2009
I love you. Being on a mission you get to learn a whole lot of things about life. Especially being in a college town its interesting to see the difference of lifestyle that the students have here, as opposed to the lifestyle that we all had at Utah State. It seems like they stay out about as late as we did, and they 'party' about as much as we did, and they're horribly miserable! The things that they do that 'make them happy' don't do the trick for them at all. We had an exchange this week with Elder Furrows, one of our zone leaders, and he brought this to my understanding with the help of the Spirit. "We're Mormon!" he kept saying that throughout the exchange and I got to thinking about the magnitude that carries. It really makes all the difference in the world. I must confess that I had no intentions of raising a family or permanently living in Utah at all, but after being away from the culture and environment in a community where there's a strong LDS influence is the only place where I do want to raise a family. Because I know that the teaching of the church are what brings true happiness. Its interesting how much easier that is to see when you can compare and contrast the culture here, vs back home.
Anyways I also had a big breakthrough in studies this morning that I want to share. We had a training on Wednesday about how to gain a testimony. According to Alma 32 it starts with having a desire to believe. Then that desire will lead you to pay the price, like King Lamoni's Father did when he offered to give up all his sins to know God. Then you need to apply the principle and nourish it as it tells us to back in Alma 32. So I was pondering upon that for a while and I came up with the question "how does one gain a desire?" if you need a desire to have a testimony how do you get the desire. So I studied about it and thought about it a lot and I came up with this answer at first. You gain a desire by learning! We're told in Romans I believe that one gains a testimony by hearing the testimony of others and reading the words of God. So I figured that once someone learns about a principle then they have a desire and they'll soon be applying it. Then another question came "What about the attitude 'I know what I'm supposed to do (they've learned), I just don't want to do it.'" Then I figured that learning is not enough to cause a desire. The reason that they don't want to 'do it' or apply the principle is because they don't want to pay the price or make the sacrifice, because their desire isn't strong enough. So at this point I was frustrated because I thought that I had the answer and I didn't. Then in studies today I think I figured it out. It starts as with all things by 'collecting data' (sound familiar) I added a sense though to our 5 the promptings of the Holy Ghost and our response to the Light of Christ. Then that data collected will lead to a trust in something, be it the missionaries, the scriptures, a bishop, pastor, whatever it may be it leads to a trust. Then the person will now listen to the teachings of the one whom they trust. Then listening to the teachings leads one to hope that they're true, because they trust the person teaching, they'll hope what they're teaching is true. Of course we know that hope will then lead to a desire, that will lead you to pay the price that leads you to faith that will direct you to apply the principle. So I'm pretty sure that I figured it out
Data-->Trust-->Hope-->Desire-->(particle of) Faith-->Test
then if the test proves the principle true, that will lead to increased trust and hope and desire and faith and your now in an upward spiral! So that was my most recent discovery. Maybe you can apply it somewhere.
It does my heart good to hear that Jake stopped by. I love that kid. I actually wrote him a letter and was going to send it to Nate this afternoon and have Nate forward it to Jake, but now I have his address and I'll just send it straight to him.
The 4th of July is actually our P-day for this week, they told us to e-mail today and then get out and work. So our P-day will be from morning until 6, then we'll have our planning session from 6-9. There's a civil war battlefield in our area and we're thinking about going to that in the morning and checking it out. We might just get together with the other district and do something together too, we don't really know yet what we'll do.
This last week was an interesting one, we were taken out to a Hibachi grill by a member for dinner, that was surprising but fun. Then just the normal teaching and what not. We're again worried about Matt, last time we went over there Christa (his wife and a less active member) had moved back in with her dad and Matt was over there discussing custody rights over their 18 month old daughter. I never understood how they can go from being a seemingly happy couple one week to talking custody rights the next. I guess its because most people see "till death do us part" as a goal instead of a promise. Its sad and we're worried about how that will effect Matts feelings towards the church and going to church. The good side of it is that Tony moved into Matt's house and we had a really good lesson with him and he agreed to be baptized if he gains a testimony. So maybe our working with Matt was just a means to get to teach Tony. With hard work and a lot of divine help we may be able to get Tony, Luke, and Matt baptized this month.
That's really the big news for the week.
I love hearing that Jake and Mitch would stop by the house still and talk with you guys. Mitch has written me and told my how grateful he was to have you there to talk with and council with and that your writing him. It also makes me happy because as I see all the things going on in the world around me I realize how hard it must be when your not surrounded by the spirit, and always with a companion, and living, breathing, thinking, and working gospel things. So its nice to hear that they know that they can just stop by and talk with you guys. I also know that you'll help them out just like you've helped me. Who I am today I owe to you Mom and Dad. To quote Abraham Lincoln "Everything I am, and could ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."
I thank you both for the example you are to me.
Love
Elder Carpenter
Anyways I also had a big breakthrough in studies this morning that I want to share. We had a training on Wednesday about how to gain a testimony. According to Alma 32 it starts with having a desire to believe. Then that desire will lead you to pay the price, like King Lamoni's Father did when he offered to give up all his sins to know God. Then you need to apply the principle and nourish it as it tells us to back in Alma 32. So I was pondering upon that for a while and I came up with the question "how does one gain a desire?" if you need a desire to have a testimony how do you get the desire. So I studied about it and thought about it a lot and I came up with this answer at first. You gain a desire by learning! We're told in Romans I believe that one gains a testimony by hearing the testimony of others and reading the words of God. So I figured that once someone learns about a principle then they have a desire and they'll soon be applying it. Then another question came "What about the attitude 'I know what I'm supposed to do (they've learned), I just don't want to do it.'" Then I figured that learning is not enough to cause a desire. The reason that they don't want to 'do it' or apply the principle is because they don't want to pay the price or make the sacrifice, because their desire isn't strong enough. So at this point I was frustrated because I thought that I had the answer and I didn't. Then in studies today I think I figured it out. It starts as with all things by 'collecting data' (sound familiar) I added a sense though to our 5 the promptings of the Holy Ghost and our response to the Light of Christ. Then that data collected will lead to a trust in something, be it the missionaries, the scriptures, a bishop, pastor, whatever it may be it leads to a trust. Then the person will now listen to the teachings of the one whom they trust. Then listening to the teachings leads one to hope that they're true, because they trust the person teaching, they'll hope what they're teaching is true. Of course we know that hope will then lead to a desire, that will lead you to pay the price that leads you to faith that will direct you to apply the principle. So I'm pretty sure that I figured it out
Data-->Trust-->Hope-->Desire-->(particle of) Faith-->Test
then if the test proves the principle true, that will lead to increased trust and hope and desire and faith and your now in an upward spiral! So that was my most recent discovery. Maybe you can apply it somewhere.
It does my heart good to hear that Jake stopped by. I love that kid. I actually wrote him a letter and was going to send it to Nate this afternoon and have Nate forward it to Jake, but now I have his address and I'll just send it straight to him.
The 4th of July is actually our P-day for this week, they told us to e-mail today and then get out and work. So our P-day will be from morning until 6, then we'll have our planning session from 6-9. There's a civil war battlefield in our area and we're thinking about going to that in the morning and checking it out. We might just get together with the other district and do something together too, we don't really know yet what we'll do.
This last week was an interesting one, we were taken out to a Hibachi grill by a member for dinner, that was surprising but fun. Then just the normal teaching and what not. We're again worried about Matt, last time we went over there Christa (his wife and a less active member) had moved back in with her dad and Matt was over there discussing custody rights over their 18 month old daughter. I never understood how they can go from being a seemingly happy couple one week to talking custody rights the next. I guess its because most people see "till death do us part" as a goal instead of a promise. Its sad and we're worried about how that will effect Matts feelings towards the church and going to church. The good side of it is that Tony moved into Matt's house and we had a really good lesson with him and he agreed to be baptized if he gains a testimony. So maybe our working with Matt was just a means to get to teach Tony. With hard work and a lot of divine help we may be able to get Tony, Luke, and Matt baptized this month.
That's really the big news for the week.
I love hearing that Jake and Mitch would stop by the house still and talk with you guys. Mitch has written me and told my how grateful he was to have you there to talk with and council with and that your writing him. It also makes me happy because as I see all the things going on in the world around me I realize how hard it must be when your not surrounded by the spirit, and always with a companion, and living, breathing, thinking, and working gospel things. So its nice to hear that they know that they can just stop by and talk with you guys. I also know that you'll help them out just like you've helped me. Who I am today I owe to you Mom and Dad. To quote Abraham Lincoln "Everything I am, and could ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."
I thank you both for the example you are to me.
Love
Elder Carpenter
June 15, 2009
Hey, this week has been going well. Nothing spectacular happened except its been spectacularly hot! Its been in the 90s since about Wednesday and with the humidity here the heat index as I've heard it called is about 102-105. So it's felt like it's been in the hundreds most of the week. It's crazy; we open the door to our apartment and you can feel a wall of heat blast you! Luckily though our apartment is insulated quite well and we have a good AC unit that keeps the apartment cool. Its still a little weird to me to go out after an 8:00 pm appointment and have it still feel like 100 degrees outside. When the sun goes down out here the temperature doesn't drop for another few hours. Its all good though, in Hendersonville I decided that I needed a smaller backpack for bike week and I got one with a camel back in it on clearance for like 15 bucks. Its a 2 Lt bladder and I fill it up and drain it about 3 times a day so I'm drinking plenty of water.
We actually had a really good lesson with Thomas last week too. We brought over Brother Stepanick, who is a completely inactive member. We felt like he'd be a really good fellowshipper for Thomas, so we asked him to come with us on Saturday morning. Brother and Sister Stepanick don't come to church because they have been 'offended' by members before. They also really hate mothers day and fathers day because they had a child who died as an infant and Sister Stepanick couldn't have any more children due to health reasons. During our appointment Brother Stepanick mentioned that they usually don't go to church on either of those two days and Thomas was outraged. He totally called Brother Stepanick to repentance saying things like "You know the church is true! That's just an excuse not to go!" it was pretty sweet. Then yesterday Brother Stepanick was at church! Thomas also agreed in that lesson that he knew that this church was the most correct church out there and that he needs to get baptized. So we've made plans and set goals to have him at church next week, to have him quit smoking, and he wanted to set a goal to stop swearing, and then to get him baptized. He doesn't have a date yet on baptism, but he knows what he needs to do and he's willing to accept help with it.
Then the songs of the Savior thing is really powerful. Its great; its got a lot of music with it that could be used for the youth but the real power comes from combining the music, the words, and the pictures together. They have a really good arrangement of "I Stand All Amazed" its a solo arrangement of only the first verse and its written in a melodic minor key. Then right before the song there's a paragraph thats recited about the ten lepers and how Christ healed them. Then it goes on to explain that each of us has a form of spiritual leprosy. Sins have blotted, defaced, and dacayed at our spiritual well being, and there's no hope for a chance healing, or a self-induced cleansing. Cleansing can only come by the power of the Atoning One, Jesus Christ. Then the song starts and pictures of the Atonement are displayed. Its super powerful, but you really need all three things to get the full effect. My favorite part is the end though. We teach about the Apostasy and the two sister missionaries then start talking about how the Book of Mormon has prophets that testify of Christ for they knew Him. Then the other elder and myself start quoting prophets. Starting with Nephi, I can't remember the first one but the second one is "He is the Light and the Life of the world, yea a light that is endless, that there can be no more darkness, yea, and also a life that is endless, that there can be no more death." and we keep exchanging back and forth different testimonies of prophets including, "Remember, remember my sons, it is upon the rock of our redeemer.." and "Because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ, and I Moroni will not deny the Christ, therefore I wander, withersoever I can for the safety of mine own life." and wrapping up with "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart. That I may go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth and cry repentance unto every soul... that every soul should repent, and come unto our God." its a really sweet program that has a LOT of power. As I was singing in it on Saturday night and looking around at a room full of people who are starting to feel God's love for them part of my patriarchal blessing came to mind where it says that I've been blessed with the great gift of music and that through the gift of music I can bless many many lives. I thought that was really cool. It's been an opportunity for me to fulfill the promises made to me. The greatest blessings I have ever received is the opportunity to bless others.
I'm really excited because we've got another temple trip coming up in July. I love being able to go to the temple. Thats one of the first things that I want to do when I get home is go to the Draper and Oquirrh Mountain temples.
So one of my goals for studying is that I want to read the standard works before I hit my year mark. I've already finished the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the Pearl of Great Price, and I'm on D&C 101 and I'm working my way through Deuteronomy. Anyways I've really grown to love the Doctrine and Covenants and the Old Testament, because the language used is very similar I think. The way the Moses writes when he's declaring the word of the Lord and the way that Joseph Smith wrote when he was declaring the word of the Lord is very very similar. Makes sense because the instruction was coming from the same person. Temples reminded me of this because I read something yesterday, I wish I knew the reference, it was somewhere in the 90s section of the Doctrine and Covenants where they're given a command to sacrifice in order to build a temple. The command is that it would be pleasing unto the Lord to have a house built, and the language of it makes it sound like He wants the house built for Himself and He didn't quite say why they needed to do it. Then I thought, a lot of times that's the way commandments work. We're told to do something and we don't really understand entirely why, we just know that its been asked of us by God. Then after we do it we realize that we weren't sacrificing because He needed us to, or they we weren't building a house of God because He needed the house, but we're doing these things so He can bless us, and so we can return to Him. Every commandment, every action of our Father in Heaven is directed towards the same thing. To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men. To bring us home to Him.
Thanks for the advice, I love you lots and appreciate your support. Soon a camera card will be coming I promise!
We actually had a really good lesson with Thomas last week too. We brought over Brother Stepanick, who is a completely inactive member. We felt like he'd be a really good fellowshipper for Thomas, so we asked him to come with us on Saturday morning. Brother and Sister Stepanick don't come to church because they have been 'offended' by members before. They also really hate mothers day and fathers day because they had a child who died as an infant and Sister Stepanick couldn't have any more children due to health reasons. During our appointment Brother Stepanick mentioned that they usually don't go to church on either of those two days and Thomas was outraged. He totally called Brother Stepanick to repentance saying things like "You know the church is true! That's just an excuse not to go!" it was pretty sweet. Then yesterday Brother Stepanick was at church! Thomas also agreed in that lesson that he knew that this church was the most correct church out there and that he needs to get baptized. So we've made plans and set goals to have him at church next week, to have him quit smoking, and he wanted to set a goal to stop swearing, and then to get him baptized. He doesn't have a date yet on baptism, but he knows what he needs to do and he's willing to accept help with it.
Then the songs of the Savior thing is really powerful. Its great; its got a lot of music with it that could be used for the youth but the real power comes from combining the music, the words, and the pictures together. They have a really good arrangement of "I Stand All Amazed" its a solo arrangement of only the first verse and its written in a melodic minor key. Then right before the song there's a paragraph thats recited about the ten lepers and how Christ healed them. Then it goes on to explain that each of us has a form of spiritual leprosy. Sins have blotted, defaced, and dacayed at our spiritual well being, and there's no hope for a chance healing, or a self-induced cleansing. Cleansing can only come by the power of the Atoning One, Jesus Christ. Then the song starts and pictures of the Atonement are displayed. Its super powerful, but you really need all three things to get the full effect. My favorite part is the end though. We teach about the Apostasy and the two sister missionaries then start talking about how the Book of Mormon has prophets that testify of Christ for they knew Him. Then the other elder and myself start quoting prophets. Starting with Nephi, I can't remember the first one but the second one is "He is the Light and the Life of the world, yea a light that is endless, that there can be no more darkness, yea, and also a life that is endless, that there can be no more death." and we keep exchanging back and forth different testimonies of prophets including, "Remember, remember my sons, it is upon the rock of our redeemer.." and "Because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ, and I Moroni will not deny the Christ, therefore I wander, withersoever I can for the safety of mine own life." and wrapping up with "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart. That I may go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth and cry repentance unto every soul... that every soul should repent, and come unto our God." its a really sweet program that has a LOT of power. As I was singing in it on Saturday night and looking around at a room full of people who are starting to feel God's love for them part of my patriarchal blessing came to mind where it says that I've been blessed with the great gift of music and that through the gift of music I can bless many many lives. I thought that was really cool. It's been an opportunity for me to fulfill the promises made to me. The greatest blessings I have ever received is the opportunity to bless others.
I'm really excited because we've got another temple trip coming up in July. I love being able to go to the temple. Thats one of the first things that I want to do when I get home is go to the Draper and Oquirrh Mountain temples.
So one of my goals for studying is that I want to read the standard works before I hit my year mark. I've already finished the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and the Pearl of Great Price, and I'm on D&C 101 and I'm working my way through Deuteronomy. Anyways I've really grown to love the Doctrine and Covenants and the Old Testament, because the language used is very similar I think. The way the Moses writes when he's declaring the word of the Lord and the way that Joseph Smith wrote when he was declaring the word of the Lord is very very similar. Makes sense because the instruction was coming from the same person. Temples reminded me of this because I read something yesterday, I wish I knew the reference, it was somewhere in the 90s section of the Doctrine and Covenants where they're given a command to sacrifice in order to build a temple. The command is that it would be pleasing unto the Lord to have a house built, and the language of it makes it sound like He wants the house built for Himself and He didn't quite say why they needed to do it. Then I thought, a lot of times that's the way commandments work. We're told to do something and we don't really understand entirely why, we just know that its been asked of us by God. Then after we do it we realize that we weren't sacrificing because He needed us to, or they we weren't building a house of God because He needed the house, but we're doing these things so He can bless us, and so we can return to Him. Every commandment, every action of our Father in Heaven is directed towards the same thing. To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men. To bring us home to Him.
Thanks for the advice, I love you lots and appreciate your support. Soon a camera card will be coming I promise!
June 8, 2009
Note from Bryan's dad: Sorry it's been awhile since I've updated the blog. I'll try to do better about being prompt getting information out here.
Hey, so this week has definitely been interesting. No baptism still. We're just going to have to wait on Matt to work things out himself. He did however say that we could go up with him to Woodbury to help demolish whats left of his parents trailer and then help them start framing a house that their going to build there. So that'll be fun and hopefully it'll help him out. We've given him the stop smoking workshop and it did absolutely nothing for him, or I guess I should say he did nothing with it. He doesn't have a desire to quit smoking, but he does have a desire to be baptized so instead of trying to get his desire to quit smoking to grow we've decided to make his desire to be baptized grow until it'll overpower his smoking habit. I think its in Alma, I don't know the verse but to paraphrase it it says, the word of God has a more powerful effect on changing someones behavior and desires then anything else including the sword. So that's what we'll be trying to do. We've been printing off conference talks and giving them to him to read and we're trying to get a DVD made of a handful of talks throughout the years on hope and enduring and the atonement's power to help us change. Hopefully he'll latch on to something that we teach and will be reminded of the Spirit that he felt when President Monson spoke. So that's the update on Matt.
Ben fell off the face of the earth again and we assume that he's in California because he didn't come to church yesterday. Then Tommy is visiting his mom in Kentucky, and Barbra and Norman were taking care of their grandchildren last week so we didn't get to see them.
So the real kicker for last week was this. On Wednesday we had district meeting and Elder Pearson (The other district leader) was in charge and he went over about 30 min, and then the other companionship in his district and the sisters in my district HAD to use the library for some stuff. So we didn't get out of district meeting until an hour after we were supposed to. So we were super late for our appointment we had after district meeting. So we jump on our bikes in our suits and rush over there. We know that Thomas (our appointments name) cant meet with us right then, but we want to set up a return appointment. So we jump off our bikes run up to the front door as he's leaving walk with him around to the back where his car is, talk with him for about 5 min set up a return appointment. When we walk around to the front of the yard my bike was gone. So someone ran up and stole my bike during the 5 min we were behind his house. I'm really sorry that we didn't have it locked up, we filed a police report and they said they'd be on the lookout for it, but for the time being I don't have a bike. So we spent the last half of the week walking everywhere. One of the members in the ward said that they have a bike that I can borrow for a while and they also said that the mission might be able to replace it because her son's bike got hit by a car and they replaced it. I'll talk to the mission president about it this Wednesday at zone conference. Then Leah, our neighbor, she works as a manager at two apartment complexes and she said that every summer they do a clean out for their bike racks and they usually end up with about 10 bikes that no one will claim. So she said that she'd give me one of them and then wanted to donate the rest of them to the mission. So I have a few options for getting a bike for the rest of my mission at least. I'm still really bummed out though that the one we bought got stolen. So again I'm sorry I didn't lock it up, at 2 in the afternoon I figured that it would be fine for 5 min or so. I guess I was wrong though.
Well I love you guys and thanks for your words of encouragement.
Love Elder Carpenter
Hey, so this week has definitely been interesting. No baptism still. We're just going to have to wait on Matt to work things out himself. He did however say that we could go up with him to Woodbury to help demolish whats left of his parents trailer and then help them start framing a house that their going to build there. So that'll be fun and hopefully it'll help him out. We've given him the stop smoking workshop and it did absolutely nothing for him, or I guess I should say he did nothing with it. He doesn't have a desire to quit smoking, but he does have a desire to be baptized so instead of trying to get his desire to quit smoking to grow we've decided to make his desire to be baptized grow until it'll overpower his smoking habit. I think its in Alma, I don't know the verse but to paraphrase it it says, the word of God has a more powerful effect on changing someones behavior and desires then anything else including the sword. So that's what we'll be trying to do. We've been printing off conference talks and giving them to him to read and we're trying to get a DVD made of a handful of talks throughout the years on hope and enduring and the atonement's power to help us change. Hopefully he'll latch on to something that we teach and will be reminded of the Spirit that he felt when President Monson spoke. So that's the update on Matt.
Ben fell off the face of the earth again and we assume that he's in California because he didn't come to church yesterday. Then Tommy is visiting his mom in Kentucky, and Barbra and Norman were taking care of their grandchildren last week so we didn't get to see them.
So the real kicker for last week was this. On Wednesday we had district meeting and Elder Pearson (The other district leader) was in charge and he went over about 30 min, and then the other companionship in his district and the sisters in my district HAD to use the library for some stuff. So we didn't get out of district meeting until an hour after we were supposed to. So we were super late for our appointment we had after district meeting. So we jump on our bikes in our suits and rush over there. We know that Thomas (our appointments name) cant meet with us right then, but we want to set up a return appointment. So we jump off our bikes run up to the front door as he's leaving walk with him around to the back where his car is, talk with him for about 5 min set up a return appointment. When we walk around to the front of the yard my bike was gone. So someone ran up and stole my bike during the 5 min we were behind his house. I'm really sorry that we didn't have it locked up, we filed a police report and they said they'd be on the lookout for it, but for the time being I don't have a bike. So we spent the last half of the week walking everywhere. One of the members in the ward said that they have a bike that I can borrow for a while and they also said that the mission might be able to replace it because her son's bike got hit by a car and they replaced it. I'll talk to the mission president about it this Wednesday at zone conference. Then Leah, our neighbor, she works as a manager at two apartment complexes and she said that every summer they do a clean out for their bike racks and they usually end up with about 10 bikes that no one will claim. So she said that she'd give me one of them and then wanted to donate the rest of them to the mission. So I have a few options for getting a bike for the rest of my mission at least. I'm still really bummed out though that the one we bought got stolen. So again I'm sorry I didn't lock it up, at 2 in the afternoon I figured that it would be fine for 5 min or so. I guess I was wrong though.
Well I love you guys and thanks for your words of encouragement.
Love Elder Carpenter
Monday, June 1, 2009
June 1, 2009
Thanks for the welcome to June. Its still a shock to my system that its June, I still feel like it should be April! Its starting to get really hot here, its been in the 90s for the majority of the last week and I can already feel the humidity is starting to pick up a little bit.
Our baptisms fell through again. Matt feels a little like he's being pressured, and that's because he is but we're backing off a little bit. We're trying to get some more of the ward members to give him support to quit smoking because that's all he needs to do. Of course its really easy for me to say that 'all he needs to do is quit smoking' like its something really easy when really I have no idea how hard it can be. I've heard several accounts on how people have quit, some are they decided that their done and that was it, they never smoked again. Others are they couldn't quit smoking for several years until they made a big sacrifice, like Brother Sweat in this ward who fasted for 5 days. I don't know, I'm struggling because I really know that having the gift of the Holy Ghost will help Matt immensely, but he needs to be worthy first. I also don't know how to help him any more then I already have. Its all on him now I guess. I'll keep praying for him, and I ask you to do the same, I'm pretty sure Mom put his name on the temple prayer roll already but if its not could you put it on there. He's a great guy, but he needs to humble himself a little bit and put his trust in the Lord.
Then Ben has had a rough week. Apparently a death threat was put on his life and he was instructed by the police not to leave his house. We found him again however and asked him to meet us at the church. We took him around the building teaching the 3rd lesson, faith, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end by walking around the chapel looking at different pictures of the Savior as we talked about each principle. We stopped at the one of the Savior calling the twelve apostles and conferring the priesthood upon them. We talked about how the priesthood is the power to seal, and that baptism cleanses you from your sins, and by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost and enduring till the end you can be sealed to our Savior and live with Him again. The Spirit was really really strong. The church was a much better place to meet then the coffee shop in Hastings. He said that he now knew that it was all true, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, President Monson, everything. He is however going home to California on Saturday or Wednesday, and he thinks that he wants to be baptized there among family and friends. We said that it was great as long as he got baptized we'd be happy for him. I did want him to pray though, and specifically ask if he should be baptized before he went home, and then I went on to explain opposition, and he's well acquainted with opposition, the last month or so has been really hard for him, really ever since he started investigating the church.
Barbra and Norman are doing very well. They want to take things really really slow. They've been believing one way all their lives and some of our teachings are different then theirs so they want to take it slow and be sure. They're however doing very very well. They're sincerely reading and praying so I have no doubt that they'll find the truth of the things we teach when the time is right for them.
Its really weird that Mitch had his farewell last Sunday! Geeze! He goes into the MTC a week from Wednesday? That's just crazy talk there. I know he's ready. From the letters he's sent me I can tell that his testimony has really grown. Its no surprise though, after all in D&C 4 the first thing that qualifies you for the work is a desire. Mitch has that desire, you combine desire and effort and apply yourself and everything else will fall into place. He'll be an incredible missionary. His personality is such that he'll talk to everyone and they'll see the sincerity of his heart, and the power of his testimony, and for many people that alone will be enough to spark their interest in learning of the restored gospel, the greatest thing that's happened since Christ brought his gospel in Jerusalem.
Hopefully Ali gets feeling better soon. Having your eyes acting all funny is no fun at all. No fun. I haven't gotten a package yet, but now I can be looking forward to one. If we're not there when the mail comes (which we almost never are because it comes between 1-3 PM) then they usually will just leave packages on the doorstep. Then there have been a lot of break-ins in our apartments recently, I don't think someone would just come by and take it in the middle of the day though.
We also know all of our neighbors and we're really good friends so I'm sure if they saw anything they'd let us know or probably go after the person. There's a crazy bunch of people who live around us. Noah and Leah live across the parking lot and they have a party every night with country music blasting from inside and Noah getting drunk and yelling at Nascar. Kyle who lives a few doors down makes his own liquor and loves to drink it, he has a carbonator and offered to make us some carbonated apple juice sometime, then we have a gay couple who live next door, and a drug addict on the other side. Every week they all get together on Friday night and have a grill out at Noah and Leah's. They usually start around 8 so when we get home at 9 they have some burgers and brats for us, we have a prayer with them and talk and eat until about 9:20 then we go in for the night. They all know we're missionaries and they all know the mission rules. None of them want to investigate the church, but they always know where to go if they decide they do. More then once we've had a note left on our door or a visit early in the morning or late at night asking us to pray for someone. Its a really fun group, really nice people. A bit lost spiritually, but still really nice. Anyways that's a really long way of saying that I have not gotten the package yet, maybe it'll come today though, I'll let you know next week.
Anyways, I love you guys a lot. We'll talk next week.
Elder Carpenter
Our baptisms fell through again. Matt feels a little like he's being pressured, and that's because he is but we're backing off a little bit. We're trying to get some more of the ward members to give him support to quit smoking because that's all he needs to do. Of course its really easy for me to say that 'all he needs to do is quit smoking' like its something really easy when really I have no idea how hard it can be. I've heard several accounts on how people have quit, some are they decided that their done and that was it, they never smoked again. Others are they couldn't quit smoking for several years until they made a big sacrifice, like Brother Sweat in this ward who fasted for 5 days. I don't know, I'm struggling because I really know that having the gift of the Holy Ghost will help Matt immensely, but he needs to be worthy first. I also don't know how to help him any more then I already have. Its all on him now I guess. I'll keep praying for him, and I ask you to do the same, I'm pretty sure Mom put his name on the temple prayer roll already but if its not could you put it on there. He's a great guy, but he needs to humble himself a little bit and put his trust in the Lord.
Then Ben has had a rough week. Apparently a death threat was put on his life and he was instructed by the police not to leave his house. We found him again however and asked him to meet us at the church. We took him around the building teaching the 3rd lesson, faith, repentance, baptism, the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end by walking around the chapel looking at different pictures of the Savior as we talked about each principle. We stopped at the one of the Savior calling the twelve apostles and conferring the priesthood upon them. We talked about how the priesthood is the power to seal, and that baptism cleanses you from your sins, and by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost and enduring till the end you can be sealed to our Savior and live with Him again. The Spirit was really really strong. The church was a much better place to meet then the coffee shop in Hastings. He said that he now knew that it was all true, Joseph Smith, the Book of Mormon, President Monson, everything. He is however going home to California on Saturday or Wednesday, and he thinks that he wants to be baptized there among family and friends. We said that it was great as long as he got baptized we'd be happy for him. I did want him to pray though, and specifically ask if he should be baptized before he went home, and then I went on to explain opposition, and he's well acquainted with opposition, the last month or so has been really hard for him, really ever since he started investigating the church.
Barbra and Norman are doing very well. They want to take things really really slow. They've been believing one way all their lives and some of our teachings are different then theirs so they want to take it slow and be sure. They're however doing very very well. They're sincerely reading and praying so I have no doubt that they'll find the truth of the things we teach when the time is right for them.
Its really weird that Mitch had his farewell last Sunday! Geeze! He goes into the MTC a week from Wednesday? That's just crazy talk there. I know he's ready. From the letters he's sent me I can tell that his testimony has really grown. Its no surprise though, after all in D&C 4 the first thing that qualifies you for the work is a desire. Mitch has that desire, you combine desire and effort and apply yourself and everything else will fall into place. He'll be an incredible missionary. His personality is such that he'll talk to everyone and they'll see the sincerity of his heart, and the power of his testimony, and for many people that alone will be enough to spark their interest in learning of the restored gospel, the greatest thing that's happened since Christ brought his gospel in Jerusalem.
Hopefully Ali gets feeling better soon. Having your eyes acting all funny is no fun at all. No fun. I haven't gotten a package yet, but now I can be looking forward to one. If we're not there when the mail comes (which we almost never are because it comes between 1-3 PM) then they usually will just leave packages on the doorstep. Then there have been a lot of break-ins in our apartments recently, I don't think someone would just come by and take it in the middle of the day though.
We also know all of our neighbors and we're really good friends so I'm sure if they saw anything they'd let us know or probably go after the person. There's a crazy bunch of people who live around us. Noah and Leah live across the parking lot and they have a party every night with country music blasting from inside and Noah getting drunk and yelling at Nascar. Kyle who lives a few doors down makes his own liquor and loves to drink it, he has a carbonator and offered to make us some carbonated apple juice sometime, then we have a gay couple who live next door, and a drug addict on the other side. Every week they all get together on Friday night and have a grill out at Noah and Leah's. They usually start around 8 so when we get home at 9 they have some burgers and brats for us, we have a prayer with them and talk and eat until about 9:20 then we go in for the night. They all know we're missionaries and they all know the mission rules. None of them want to investigate the church, but they always know where to go if they decide they do. More then once we've had a note left on our door or a visit early in the morning or late at night asking us to pray for someone. Its a really fun group, really nice people. A bit lost spiritually, but still really nice. Anyways that's a really long way of saying that I have not gotten the package yet, maybe it'll come today though, I'll let you know next week.
Anyways, I love you guys a lot. We'll talk next week.
Elder Carpenter
May 26, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALI!!!!!
We do still get P-day on Memorial day, however the MTSU library is closed along with all the other libraries in the state it seems. However I have the keys to the church and the family history library is open on Holidays so we can still e-mail!
No baptisms this week =( but they're both still progressing. Ben bonked our appointment on Wednesday and his phone ran out of minutes so we had no way to get hold of him for the rest of the week. Then he just showed up at church again and now we're meeting with him again. So he no longer has a date but we'll reset his this week, on Tuesday actually. As for Matt he set his own date for the 30th but now we find out that his parents are really not wanting him to get baptized. Granted they can't technically do anything about it, but they keep finding reasons to keep him in Woodbury over night so he misses our appointments with him. All he's got to do is quit smoking (I say that like it's an easy thing) and then he's good for baptism. So we're still working with them, and maybe this week will be the one that they both get baptized. Then Tommy is doing alright. We tried to commit him to a date last time we were there and he told us that it would take an act of God to get him baptized. We agreed to his terms. We'll meet with him on Thursday morning and see how things went. He's a good guy, he just really wants to make sure he's doing the right thing, and he felt like God led him to be baptized in his last church and he doesn't want to leave that one unless he's sure that God is leading him again.
We also met two older people this week, Barbra and Norman. They were really reserved at our first contact. They were a member referral from another ward and they live kinda out in the boonies so they were supervised to find two people coming to knock on their door. We set a return appointment and then met with them on Wednesday, our ward mission leader brother Fulton came with. We taught a first lesson and they were really impressed that we didn't try to convince them to believe us, but we just asked them to read and pray to find out on their own. It was pretty sweet. At the end of the appointment they asked if we'd be interested in having them grill us some burgers and having dinner with them on this coming Wednesday. So naturally we accepted :). They have a lot of potential. They're really dissatisfied with other churches and have a very strong belief in personal revelation. So barring anything unforeseen they'll be progressing swiftly towards baptism.
Its really really weird to think that Mitch is going to be leaving so soon! Its reallllly weird to think that I've already been out five months!! It does not seem like its been that long! Nate Jensen wrote me this week (he was the roommate that wasn't really a roommate) he's getting his shots and stuff and Steve already has his mission call to Georgia. Its crazy how fast everything happens.
Elder Dean is from the Portland area. He's been out about 2 months longer then I have. He likes to talk a lot, and he's really good about talking with people, but he's really not good about tying it into the gospel. He's a good guy though, just a little awkward sometimes. Makes for an interesting time.
Just an update I haven't been sick yet. My allergies are surprisingly not bothering me at all, and I haven't had any migraines yet :). I struggle with journal writing too, I have trouble writing daily because I just can't seem to find the time, I do write in it about once a week, and the entries are quite long and detailed. I do find that my study journal entries are much better though. I have 3 study journals that I'm currently using. I've got my all encompassing one that I use to plan trainings and to take notes on trainings and for random topical studies. Then I've got one dedicated to just my scripture study, it has 4 sections and I'm working on the Old Testament (Leviticus is hard!!) and the Doctrine and Covenants right now. Then I've also got a study journal dedicated to the Atonement and everything that I can find on that. Then I have a 4th one that's random stuff too, but that one is already full, its the one I started in the MTC. So study journals are really awesome, especially when you get called on to talk because you already have all the stuff you need right there! So I think using a journal is an awesome idea, and so does Preach my Gospel ;).
That's all that has really gone on this week. Hope all is well back home. Love you lots!!
Love Elder Carpenter
We do still get P-day on Memorial day, however the MTSU library is closed along with all the other libraries in the state it seems. However I have the keys to the church and the family history library is open on Holidays so we can still e-mail!
No baptisms this week =( but they're both still progressing. Ben bonked our appointment on Wednesday and his phone ran out of minutes so we had no way to get hold of him for the rest of the week. Then he just showed up at church again and now we're meeting with him again. So he no longer has a date but we'll reset his this week, on Tuesday actually. As for Matt he set his own date for the 30th but now we find out that his parents are really not wanting him to get baptized. Granted they can't technically do anything about it, but they keep finding reasons to keep him in Woodbury over night so he misses our appointments with him. All he's got to do is quit smoking (I say that like it's an easy thing) and then he's good for baptism. So we're still working with them, and maybe this week will be the one that they both get baptized. Then Tommy is doing alright. We tried to commit him to a date last time we were there and he told us that it would take an act of God to get him baptized. We agreed to his terms. We'll meet with him on Thursday morning and see how things went. He's a good guy, he just really wants to make sure he's doing the right thing, and he felt like God led him to be baptized in his last church and he doesn't want to leave that one unless he's sure that God is leading him again.
We also met two older people this week, Barbra and Norman. They were really reserved at our first contact. They were a member referral from another ward and they live kinda out in the boonies so they were supervised to find two people coming to knock on their door. We set a return appointment and then met with them on Wednesday, our ward mission leader brother Fulton came with. We taught a first lesson and they were really impressed that we didn't try to convince them to believe us, but we just asked them to read and pray to find out on their own. It was pretty sweet. At the end of the appointment they asked if we'd be interested in having them grill us some burgers and having dinner with them on this coming Wednesday. So naturally we accepted :). They have a lot of potential. They're really dissatisfied with other churches and have a very strong belief in personal revelation. So barring anything unforeseen they'll be progressing swiftly towards baptism.
Its really really weird to think that Mitch is going to be leaving so soon! Its reallllly weird to think that I've already been out five months!! It does not seem like its been that long! Nate Jensen wrote me this week (he was the roommate that wasn't really a roommate) he's getting his shots and stuff and Steve already has his mission call to Georgia. Its crazy how fast everything happens.
Elder Dean is from the Portland area. He's been out about 2 months longer then I have. He likes to talk a lot, and he's really good about talking with people, but he's really not good about tying it into the gospel. He's a good guy though, just a little awkward sometimes. Makes for an interesting time.
Just an update I haven't been sick yet. My allergies are surprisingly not bothering me at all, and I haven't had any migraines yet :). I struggle with journal writing too, I have trouble writing daily because I just can't seem to find the time, I do write in it about once a week, and the entries are quite long and detailed. I do find that my study journal entries are much better though. I have 3 study journals that I'm currently using. I've got my all encompassing one that I use to plan trainings and to take notes on trainings and for random topical studies. Then I've got one dedicated to just my scripture study, it has 4 sections and I'm working on the Old Testament (Leviticus is hard!!) and the Doctrine and Covenants right now. Then I've also got a study journal dedicated to the Atonement and everything that I can find on that. Then I have a 4th one that's random stuff too, but that one is already full, its the one I started in the MTC. So study journals are really awesome, especially when you get called on to talk because you already have all the stuff you need right there! So I think using a journal is an awesome idea, and so does Preach my Gospel ;).
That's all that has really gone on this week. Hope all is well back home. Love you lots!!
Love Elder Carpenter
May 18, 2009
Hey, so bad news first. Matt's baptism didn't go through this week. Elder Garrison has been getting sick since Thursday, so on Saturday we were told to stay home and have him rest. So I was at my desk/kitchen table studying and the phone rang. It was Matt. He was supposed to have his interview that night and everything was go for the baptism. On Friday night his parents' trailer burned down! They live in our area but on the outskirts about 20 miles away. He had been out there since Friday night, and his parents are fine just in shock, and they were being put up in a motel out in Woodbury (the closest city to them) and Matt was the closest family to them, so he was staying with them trying to work things out. So he wasn't able to be baptized. He still wants to be baptized and all but circumstances just prevented it last week. So he'll probably be baptized in the coming week.
Then Ben who came to church last week and asked to be baptized has his date set for this Saturday. So we might do them both on Saturday, or we might have Matt's on Friday or Thursday so Ben can come see what it's like. So good news and just a really bad delay.
We learned something at zone conference that I thought was very interesting and it ties in to what Dad said about the temple celebration and what Mom said about visiting Kayla. It was about the power of silence. The focus of it was on committing them to baptism but it can be applied with any commitment or the teaching of any principle. This originated from the missionary committee members who came to visit the mission. Recently they've been doing a study with recent converts from around the world asking them how they'd feel if missionaries waited a little while before trying to resolve their concerns. We have a tendency to get so excited about resolving investigators' concerns that we just shoot off as soon as they're done expressing the concern. Most of the investigators said that they'd appreciate a moment of silence because it shows them that we're actually thinking about it, and more importantly it gives us the chance to let the Spirit teach us what to say. I've applied it this last week and it's amazing what the Spirit will tell us when we're listening for it. It's as if the Spirit is our missionary companion and when we just shoot off into the lesson teaching all the principles and everything we don't give the Spirit the full opportunity to teach. When we're silent and we wait for it, the Spirit will always direct us with what that investigator needs. Its crazy cool, and it all comes down to if we're listening or not.
Other then that its been a really slow week. With Elder Garrison being sick with the cold we've been doing little to no work since Friday, then zone conference on Wednesday the only 2 days we really worked were Tuesday and Thursday. Transfers are tomorrow though. I'm staying here and Elder Garrison is going to Manchester down south. I'm getting Elder Dean, I have no clue who he is or what he's like but he's been out almost a year, and I'm still senior companion and district leader so that'll be interesting. This week should be a good week. We have a lot of good things going, and for the first time ever it looks like we'll hit the goals that are set for the area. The goals I set for the district were 3 baptized and 4 dates set, so far we have 2 dates set and 2 to be baptized this week and that was the goal for Stones River. As for Blackmen, the sisters' area, it looks like they're not going to pull anything out for this month. We'll see though. Thanks for everything and I love you, and I'll talk to you later!
Elder Carpenter
Then Ben who came to church last week and asked to be baptized has his date set for this Saturday. So we might do them both on Saturday, or we might have Matt's on Friday or Thursday so Ben can come see what it's like. So good news and just a really bad delay.
We learned something at zone conference that I thought was very interesting and it ties in to what Dad said about the temple celebration and what Mom said about visiting Kayla. It was about the power of silence. The focus of it was on committing them to baptism but it can be applied with any commitment or the teaching of any principle. This originated from the missionary committee members who came to visit the mission. Recently they've been doing a study with recent converts from around the world asking them how they'd feel if missionaries waited a little while before trying to resolve their concerns. We have a tendency to get so excited about resolving investigators' concerns that we just shoot off as soon as they're done expressing the concern. Most of the investigators said that they'd appreciate a moment of silence because it shows them that we're actually thinking about it, and more importantly it gives us the chance to let the Spirit teach us what to say. I've applied it this last week and it's amazing what the Spirit will tell us when we're listening for it. It's as if the Spirit is our missionary companion and when we just shoot off into the lesson teaching all the principles and everything we don't give the Spirit the full opportunity to teach. When we're silent and we wait for it, the Spirit will always direct us with what that investigator needs. Its crazy cool, and it all comes down to if we're listening or not.
Other then that its been a really slow week. With Elder Garrison being sick with the cold we've been doing little to no work since Friday, then zone conference on Wednesday the only 2 days we really worked were Tuesday and Thursday. Transfers are tomorrow though. I'm staying here and Elder Garrison is going to Manchester down south. I'm getting Elder Dean, I have no clue who he is or what he's like but he's been out almost a year, and I'm still senior companion and district leader so that'll be interesting. This week should be a good week. We have a lot of good things going, and for the first time ever it looks like we'll hit the goals that are set for the area. The goals I set for the district were 3 baptized and 4 dates set, so far we have 2 dates set and 2 to be baptized this week and that was the goal for Stones River. As for Blackmen, the sisters' area, it looks like they're not going to pull anything out for this month. We'll see though. Thanks for everything and I love you, and I'll talk to you later!
Elder Carpenter
May 11, 2009
It was great talking to you guys (on Mother's Day). Thanks for the update on the weekly things, it's always nice to hear. It was really weird talking to all of you and hearing your voices again. Afterward I felt like Harrison, Mitch and I should've gone out to Wendy's or gone hot tubbing or something.
So I pulled out an Ensign and read President Benson's conference address from April 1989! The two Ensigns that I'm reading right now are the conference addresses from 1989 and 1999, then this week I'll get this last conference address. President Benson (I'm pretty sure it's Benson, I might be wrong, I forget names) gave a talk on the universal sin of pride. He talked about how pride is really enmity or any negative feelings towards one of two groups, towards God, pitting our knowledge against the infinite wisdom of our Father, fighting our will against His will. Then enmity towards our fellow men. He also talked about how competition is a sign of pride, and a prideful person seeks his gratification and self worth from a world of decaying values. The phrase he used is we're more concerned about "what will men think of me" rather than "what will God think of me." It was a really good talk.
As for the lady with the 'hernia-ish' thing she's in McMinville that's a different area. They're still working with her to my knowledge, but I don't know for sure. Anyhow not much else has happened this week. I love you guys and e-mail you next week!
Elder Carpenter
So I pulled out an Ensign and read President Benson's conference address from April 1989! The two Ensigns that I'm reading right now are the conference addresses from 1989 and 1999, then this week I'll get this last conference address. President Benson (I'm pretty sure it's Benson, I might be wrong, I forget names) gave a talk on the universal sin of pride. He talked about how pride is really enmity or any negative feelings towards one of two groups, towards God, pitting our knowledge against the infinite wisdom of our Father, fighting our will against His will. Then enmity towards our fellow men. He also talked about how competition is a sign of pride, and a prideful person seeks his gratification and self worth from a world of decaying values. The phrase he used is we're more concerned about "what will men think of me" rather than "what will God think of me." It was a really good talk.
As for the lady with the 'hernia-ish' thing she's in McMinville that's a different area. They're still working with her to my knowledge, but I don't know for sure. Anyhow not much else has happened this week. I love you guys and e-mail you next week!
Elder Carpenter
Monday, May 4, 2009
May 4, 2009
Hello, hello.
Tommy bonked our appointment this week so we'll see him this Thursday hopefully and set the date with him. He told us last time that he'd have to do some "hard core prayin'" so hopefully he did that and now he's ready to go. Jeremy and Lisa are doing fine, but they're not really too into investigating the church. They just like talking about what we do in our church and what they do in theirs. He's a deacon for the Church of Christ. Linda is doing fine, she told us that she wouldn't ever convert, so then we started talking about the Spirit and I asked her if she felt that. She said that she did, then I explained that it was the Spirit and it was testifying to her that what we said was true. Then we asked her to pray about what we taught and if the Spirit told her it was right if she'd be baptized. Then she said yes and we left. So we're seeing her on Wednesday and might set a baptismal date with her. Also on Wednesday we're going to the Pentecostal church. We met two people at an A&W who worked there that invited us to their church on Wednesday so that'll be fun.
Now for the really cool story. We've been working with this guy named Matt Bess. His wife is an inactive member, they both smoke and are trying to make it big with a really mediocre screamo band. They had some 'in-between' jobs but now those have fallen through and they're running out of money. Neither of them were progressing at all, so last Thursday we decided to drop them. They've started coming back to church because they need financial support and the bishop told them that they needed to come in order to get it. I asked Matt last week if he'd like to be baptized and it really freaked him out and he said he never planned on getting baptized. So there's the background on him. Yesterday was our stake conference, it was, however, a special stake conference broadcast from Salt Lake, where the Area Seventy spoke, one of the General Young Mens presidency spoke, Elder Perry spoke, and President Monson spoke. It was really really good. It was mostly about provident living and dedication. Then President Monson talked about a World War I division known as the 'lost battalion' near some river in France. They broke through enemy lines on an assault, but their allies on either flank failed to break the line, so they were trapped behind enemy lines for several weeks. Then he spoke about how their allies engaged in what newspapers called a 'crusade of love.' They volunteered more willingly, fought more gallantly, and died more bravely until they broke the enemy lines and saved the lost battalion. He related that to our work as members of the church that need to go out and save those who live in our areas that are 'trapped behind enemy lines.' Being President Monson, he told several stories and quoted two poems as well. All in all it was a really good talk. After the meeting we talked with a non-member that showed up, but she wasn't really interested in taking the lessons yet. She just wanted to come to church, and we're okay with that. Then Matt came up to us after. He's really young and has a daughter that's just over a year old and he was holding her. He told us that he was really thinking about when we asked him to be baptized, and he wanted to know if that's what God wanted him to do. So for the first time ever he knelt down and prayed to ask if that was right. He didn't receive any answer. Then when "Brother Monson" spoke, he said that he really felt the spirit and a strong impression that he should take the lessons again and take it more seriously and probably be baptized. It was amazing!! So we're seeing him tonight and we'll set the solid date, so if he quits smoking then he'll be set to get baptized in a week. So that was pretty much fantastic.
Along the same lines as having so many temples on the earth today I was thinking when I saw President Monson sitting down when the broadcast started, "How incredible is it that we have a prophet today!" It's really sooo amazing! As members of the church, so many take it for granted. 'Oh yeah, he's a prophet. We hear from him twice a year when we watch church in our pajamas.' This is a prophet of God! It's so amazing!! Then I think about how in the Old Testament when someone needed guidance from the prophet they'd have to travel sometimes hundreds of miles to hear his voice, and here was I sitting comfortably in a chapel in middle Tennessee, and there he was sitting comfortably in a chair in a chapel in Salt Lake over 1,000 miles away, and I could hear his voice, and the Holy Spirit of Promise could testify to a man who said not even a week earlier, "I won't get baptized", that this was a prophet of God in a true and living church. The hymn rings loud and true, "We thank thee O God for a prophet, to guide us in these latter days."
Then I had another really amazing experience this week as well. Tuesday and Wednesday I was in McMinville on exchanges with our Zone Leader, Elder Geohagen (he trained Elder Hansen in Hendersonville so we had lots to talk about). We were working there and went to contact a referral from a member in their ward. The member was a doctor and she'd been working with this lady for about 7-8 months. She picked up a child on a school bus and now has a hernia-ish thing. It's a lump like a hernia but it moves around and causes almost constant pain to her. She's been in this pain for at least 7 months now and no treatment has worked for her. So her doctor talked to her about the priesthood and offered our assistance. We went over there and started talking to her, and she is one of the most humble, faithful people I've ever met. She felt as if God had forgotten about her. She had felt the Spirit in the past and knew he had answered so many of her prayers in the past, but it was like he wasn't there any more or he wasn't listening. So we talked to her about that, and shared some scriptures. The spirit was very strong. Then we offered to give the blessing and asked who she'd like to bless and who she'd like to anoint. She asked me to bless. There are very few occasions that I've felt the Spirit that powerfully. Her body was commanded to be healed. Prior to the blessing she couldn't even sit up. After the blessing she could sit, she could walk around, she felt lighter, she was healed. The first thing she asked us after marveling about this miracle was when does church start. We then asked her if the room felt different now than when we entered. She said yes, and that she thought that it was just her mind playing games. We explained that we also felt it, and that it was the Spirit of the Lord. I then felt prompted, or possibly shoved, to say, "Once you're baptized, you can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then you can have this feeling to be with you at all times." The light in her eyes was so bright, "Really!!?" she said as tears filled her eyes. We then asked if she'd be willing to be baptized on the 30th and she said yes. This was the very first time we met her. We didn't even spend an hour with her and now she's taking the lessons and preparing to be baptized because she wants so badly the gift of the Holy Ghost. There is no greater blessing than that of the restored gospel, and there is no greater joy than seeing the gospel bless the lives of others. I never knew that I could feel so much love for a complete stranger that I spoke with for 45 minutes and will probably never see again. The gospel in and of itself is an endowment, a gift that keeps on giving, a well springing up unto everlasting joy.
As for rules and obedience, I need to find this scripture, I think its in the Doctrine and Covenants, but it speaks about how when we attain Celestial glory we will glory in commandments and we will want more commandments, more rules, because these rules are how we grow and live and gain a true testimony. No one has ever gained a lasting testimony of the atonement who hasn't applied the atonement, no one has gained a lasting testimony of tithing without paying tithing. All blessings are given upon obedience to the law upon which they were predicated. The more laws we have to obey, the more blessings we can get, and what kind of loving Father wouldn't want to bless his children? Its a win for everyone. So that's what's been going on here. Love you guys a lot!!
Love,
Elder Carpenter
Tommy bonked our appointment this week so we'll see him this Thursday hopefully and set the date with him. He told us last time that he'd have to do some "hard core prayin'" so hopefully he did that and now he's ready to go. Jeremy and Lisa are doing fine, but they're not really too into investigating the church. They just like talking about what we do in our church and what they do in theirs. He's a deacon for the Church of Christ. Linda is doing fine, she told us that she wouldn't ever convert, so then we started talking about the Spirit and I asked her if she felt that. She said that she did, then I explained that it was the Spirit and it was testifying to her that what we said was true. Then we asked her to pray about what we taught and if the Spirit told her it was right if she'd be baptized. Then she said yes and we left. So we're seeing her on Wednesday and might set a baptismal date with her. Also on Wednesday we're going to the Pentecostal church. We met two people at an A&W who worked there that invited us to their church on Wednesday so that'll be fun.
Now for the really cool story. We've been working with this guy named Matt Bess. His wife is an inactive member, they both smoke and are trying to make it big with a really mediocre screamo band. They had some 'in-between' jobs but now those have fallen through and they're running out of money. Neither of them were progressing at all, so last Thursday we decided to drop them. They've started coming back to church because they need financial support and the bishop told them that they needed to come in order to get it. I asked Matt last week if he'd like to be baptized and it really freaked him out and he said he never planned on getting baptized. So there's the background on him. Yesterday was our stake conference, it was, however, a special stake conference broadcast from Salt Lake, where the Area Seventy spoke, one of the General Young Mens presidency spoke, Elder Perry spoke, and President Monson spoke. It was really really good. It was mostly about provident living and dedication. Then President Monson talked about a World War I division known as the 'lost battalion' near some river in France. They broke through enemy lines on an assault, but their allies on either flank failed to break the line, so they were trapped behind enemy lines for several weeks. Then he spoke about how their allies engaged in what newspapers called a 'crusade of love.' They volunteered more willingly, fought more gallantly, and died more bravely until they broke the enemy lines and saved the lost battalion. He related that to our work as members of the church that need to go out and save those who live in our areas that are 'trapped behind enemy lines.' Being President Monson, he told several stories and quoted two poems as well. All in all it was a really good talk. After the meeting we talked with a non-member that showed up, but she wasn't really interested in taking the lessons yet. She just wanted to come to church, and we're okay with that. Then Matt came up to us after. He's really young and has a daughter that's just over a year old and he was holding her. He told us that he was really thinking about when we asked him to be baptized, and he wanted to know if that's what God wanted him to do. So for the first time ever he knelt down and prayed to ask if that was right. He didn't receive any answer. Then when "Brother Monson" spoke, he said that he really felt the spirit and a strong impression that he should take the lessons again and take it more seriously and probably be baptized. It was amazing!! So we're seeing him tonight and we'll set the solid date, so if he quits smoking then he'll be set to get baptized in a week. So that was pretty much fantastic.
Along the same lines as having so many temples on the earth today I was thinking when I saw President Monson sitting down when the broadcast started, "How incredible is it that we have a prophet today!" It's really sooo amazing! As members of the church, so many take it for granted. 'Oh yeah, he's a prophet. We hear from him twice a year when we watch church in our pajamas.' This is a prophet of God! It's so amazing!! Then I think about how in the Old Testament when someone needed guidance from the prophet they'd have to travel sometimes hundreds of miles to hear his voice, and here was I sitting comfortably in a chapel in middle Tennessee, and there he was sitting comfortably in a chair in a chapel in Salt Lake over 1,000 miles away, and I could hear his voice, and the Holy Spirit of Promise could testify to a man who said not even a week earlier, "I won't get baptized", that this was a prophet of God in a true and living church. The hymn rings loud and true, "We thank thee O God for a prophet, to guide us in these latter days."
Then I had another really amazing experience this week as well. Tuesday and Wednesday I was in McMinville on exchanges with our Zone Leader, Elder Geohagen (he trained Elder Hansen in Hendersonville so we had lots to talk about). We were working there and went to contact a referral from a member in their ward. The member was a doctor and she'd been working with this lady for about 7-8 months. She picked up a child on a school bus and now has a hernia-ish thing. It's a lump like a hernia but it moves around and causes almost constant pain to her. She's been in this pain for at least 7 months now and no treatment has worked for her. So her doctor talked to her about the priesthood and offered our assistance. We went over there and started talking to her, and she is one of the most humble, faithful people I've ever met. She felt as if God had forgotten about her. She had felt the Spirit in the past and knew he had answered so many of her prayers in the past, but it was like he wasn't there any more or he wasn't listening. So we talked to her about that, and shared some scriptures. The spirit was very strong. Then we offered to give the blessing and asked who she'd like to bless and who she'd like to anoint. She asked me to bless. There are very few occasions that I've felt the Spirit that powerfully. Her body was commanded to be healed. Prior to the blessing she couldn't even sit up. After the blessing she could sit, she could walk around, she felt lighter, she was healed. The first thing she asked us after marveling about this miracle was when does church start. We then asked her if the room felt different now than when we entered. She said yes, and that she thought that it was just her mind playing games. We explained that we also felt it, and that it was the Spirit of the Lord. I then felt prompted, or possibly shoved, to say, "Once you're baptized, you can receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then you can have this feeling to be with you at all times." The light in her eyes was so bright, "Really!!?" she said as tears filled her eyes. We then asked if she'd be willing to be baptized on the 30th and she said yes. This was the very first time we met her. We didn't even spend an hour with her and now she's taking the lessons and preparing to be baptized because she wants so badly the gift of the Holy Ghost. There is no greater blessing than that of the restored gospel, and there is no greater joy than seeing the gospel bless the lives of others. I never knew that I could feel so much love for a complete stranger that I spoke with for 45 minutes and will probably never see again. The gospel in and of itself is an endowment, a gift that keeps on giving, a well springing up unto everlasting joy.
As for rules and obedience, I need to find this scripture, I think its in the Doctrine and Covenants, but it speaks about how when we attain Celestial glory we will glory in commandments and we will want more commandments, more rules, because these rules are how we grow and live and gain a true testimony. No one has ever gained a lasting testimony of the atonement who hasn't applied the atonement, no one has gained a lasting testimony of tithing without paying tithing. All blessings are given upon obedience to the law upon which they were predicated. The more laws we have to obey, the more blessings we can get, and what kind of loving Father wouldn't want to bless his children? Its a win for everyone. So that's what's been going on here. Love you guys a lot!!
Love,
Elder Carpenter
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Hey, I do get to e-mail today :). The people that we're shooting for getting baptismal dates set with are Tommy, we don't know his last name, Lisa and Jeramey, and Linda. They're all people who it seems that the Lord has led to us or us to them and He's prepared them well. Now it's just a matter of us staying on the ball to make sure everything falls into place perfectly. If we do everything we can then the Lord will do the rest.
MTSU is a huge recording school, and actually an aviation school. We have a young single adult in our ward who came here from California to major in music recording. Then we also have several people who are majoring in things like Air Traffic Control, or any kind of job you'd have at an airport. They have their own airport here for non-commercial planes. So there's always little planes flying over everywhere you go, and one of the biggest buildings around is the Air Traffic Control tower. Seems like a great school, but its also a big drug and alcohol school.
Nothing too big has happened here since Friday. We did have a pretty epic bike crash. Elder Garrison was leading the way home on Saturday night and didn't have the right angle going up the curb and so his bike got caught on the curb as bikes tend to do. So he ate it pretty hard, and I like following close behind him at night because he doesn't have a rear reflector or a light, and I have both. So I had to slam on my brakes pretty hard to avoid running over him, so my bike stopped and I kept going. I didn't get hurt bad at all, I've got a scraped up and bruised knee but that's about it, whereas Elder Garrison looks like he got in a bar fight. His knuckles on his right hand are starting to scab over, he had some road rash on his arm, and both of his palms got tore up pretty good. So when we got home my first aid kit came in handy, but he was a wuss and didn't want to clean out any of his wounds with the alcohol pads, so he took a shower and didn't use any soap because it stung the cuts. So I'm hoping he doesn't get an infection, but from what I've seen through the bandages it doesn't really look that great.
Well that's about it for us from here. A pole-cat is actually a skunk. Because its like a cat with the white stripe (pole) down its back. My memory card is also starting to get a little bit full so I may be sending that home in the next few weeks.
Love you all!!
Elder Carpenter
MTSU is a huge recording school, and actually an aviation school. We have a young single adult in our ward who came here from California to major in music recording. Then we also have several people who are majoring in things like Air Traffic Control, or any kind of job you'd have at an airport. They have their own airport here for non-commercial planes. So there's always little planes flying over everywhere you go, and one of the biggest buildings around is the Air Traffic Control tower. Seems like a great school, but its also a big drug and alcohol school.
Nothing too big has happened here since Friday. We did have a pretty epic bike crash. Elder Garrison was leading the way home on Saturday night and didn't have the right angle going up the curb and so his bike got caught on the curb as bikes tend to do. So he ate it pretty hard, and I like following close behind him at night because he doesn't have a rear reflector or a light, and I have both. So I had to slam on my brakes pretty hard to avoid running over him, so my bike stopped and I kept going. I didn't get hurt bad at all, I've got a scraped up and bruised knee but that's about it, whereas Elder Garrison looks like he got in a bar fight. His knuckles on his right hand are starting to scab over, he had some road rash on his arm, and both of his palms got tore up pretty good. So when we got home my first aid kit came in handy, but he was a wuss and didn't want to clean out any of his wounds with the alcohol pads, so he took a shower and didn't use any soap because it stung the cuts. So I'm hoping he doesn't get an infection, but from what I've seen through the bandages it doesn't really look that great.
Well that's about it for us from here. A pole-cat is actually a skunk. Because its like a cat with the white stripe (pole) down its back. My memory card is also starting to get a little bit full so I may be sending that home in the next few weeks.
Love you all!!
Elder Carpenter
April 24, 2009
Hey, thanks for your letters. The temple was great, as usual, and so was zone conference. I've really noticed an amazing change in Elder Garrison recently, particularly at zone conference. When he met up with some of his old MTC district elders he totally regressed to the way he was at the beginning of the transfer and it allowed me to see how much different he is when its just him and I. So that's a two-edged sword, its good and its bad, good because he's totally improved in the arena where we do most of our work, but it's bad because he's not firm in that...yet.
Zone conference was great. President Hutchings just went to a seminar for the Eastern United States missions and we were the second highest baptizing mission in the area. They were commissioned while they were there by Elder Perry that every mission in the Eastern United States needs to have every companionship baptizing every month! Luckily that was already our goal for this transfer. That commission was then followed by the frightening words from a prophet, "It's very urgent that we baptize more people." Interesting thought.
Things are going a lot better. Our area is doing incredible. Tons of new investigators. We're teaching effective lessons every day. We now have several very promising progressing investigators. My only concern is that I'm not sure if the bishop will approve of us baptizing this month. There's only one investigator that I have in mind who could really qualify for baptism that quickly and he won't have the prescribed amount of days at church. President Hutchings told us to go ahead with it if we felt strongly about it and he'd call the bishop and they'd work something out. I'm not too concerned about it because if he gets baptized this month or at the beginning of next month it'll still be pretty awesome. Its looking like we'll have at least 2 baptisms next month for an area that's not baptized at all for the last 3 transfers.
The next time you see Mitch if you could extend my personal thanks to him, he sent me an Easter package, I already wrote a letter thanking him but if you could pass that along to him as well that would be great.
I love you all very much, and thanks for everything that you do. I wish I had my scriptures with me but I don't and I'm terrible at memorize chapter and verse, but if you want a good food for thought scripture read the last 5ish verses of Alma's discourse to his first son, its the right hand column on the right page and the last verses in the chapter on the left hand column of the next page. It talks about the Liahona and he asks "Isn't there a type in this thing?" how the Liahona is like a representation of Christ, when we're obedient to His words and His ways then we're pointed in the right direction and its easy to follow. It's not necessarily easy to do, but it's easier to see the way in which we need to go. Then compare that to the promise given when Christ institutes the sacrament among the Nephites. If you REMEMBER Him, then you WILL, have His Spirit to be with you. So when we always remember Christ and follow His ways, then we'll have His Spirit with us and that makes the path as Alma states it easy. Then Christ points us to a promised land, beyond this "veil of tears." Love that scripture, wish I could remember the verse and chapter. (Alma 37:38-47)
Love y'all!!
Elder Carpenter
10 points to whomever can guess what a pole-cat is without google or any other online resource!
Zone conference was great. President Hutchings just went to a seminar for the Eastern United States missions and we were the second highest baptizing mission in the area. They were commissioned while they were there by Elder Perry that every mission in the Eastern United States needs to have every companionship baptizing every month! Luckily that was already our goal for this transfer. That commission was then followed by the frightening words from a prophet, "It's very urgent that we baptize more people." Interesting thought.
Things are going a lot better. Our area is doing incredible. Tons of new investigators. We're teaching effective lessons every day. We now have several very promising progressing investigators. My only concern is that I'm not sure if the bishop will approve of us baptizing this month. There's only one investigator that I have in mind who could really qualify for baptism that quickly and he won't have the prescribed amount of days at church. President Hutchings told us to go ahead with it if we felt strongly about it and he'd call the bishop and they'd work something out. I'm not too concerned about it because if he gets baptized this month or at the beginning of next month it'll still be pretty awesome. Its looking like we'll have at least 2 baptisms next month for an area that's not baptized at all for the last 3 transfers.
The next time you see Mitch if you could extend my personal thanks to him, he sent me an Easter package, I already wrote a letter thanking him but if you could pass that along to him as well that would be great.
I love you all very much, and thanks for everything that you do. I wish I had my scriptures with me but I don't and I'm terrible at memorize chapter and verse, but if you want a good food for thought scripture read the last 5ish verses of Alma's discourse to his first son, its the right hand column on the right page and the last verses in the chapter on the left hand column of the next page. It talks about the Liahona and he asks "Isn't there a type in this thing?" how the Liahona is like a representation of Christ, when we're obedient to His words and His ways then we're pointed in the right direction and its easy to follow. It's not necessarily easy to do, but it's easier to see the way in which we need to go. Then compare that to the promise given when Christ institutes the sacrament among the Nephites. If you REMEMBER Him, then you WILL, have His Spirit to be with you. So when we always remember Christ and follow His ways, then we'll have His Spirit with us and that makes the path as Alma states it easy. Then Christ points us to a promised land, beyond this "veil of tears." Love that scripture, wish I could remember the verse and chapter. (Alma 37:38-47)
Love y'all!!
Elder Carpenter
10 points to whomever can guess what a pole-cat is without google or any other online resource!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
April 15, 2009
Note: On April 10, 2009, a tornado with winds up to 165 mph went through Murfreesboro. This was four days after Bryan was transferred there. We did not receive an e-mail from him on Monday, April 13, his normal p-day. We got this from him on April 15 after we called the mission home to make sure he was okay.
Hopefully this makes it to you. I actually did send an e-mail to you on Monday but it must have gotten lost to cyber space. I'm perfectly fine the tornado didn't hit right near me but it did hit in my area pretty hard. We had 8 Elders at our apartment on 1322 N. Rutherford Blvd. We had that many Elders there because of musical firesides going on around the mission that I've been singing in so we gathered there to all get rides together for those participating and for those not to go on exchanges in their respective areas. I got some pretty cool pictures and videos of the weather though, but it doesn't give it any justice. The area got pretty torn up but everyone is doing alright. I'm trying to summarize the events of my last e-mail without writing the same thing over again and I cant remember everything that I told you last time. So things are going pretty well. Elder Garrison was trained last transfer here and there hasn't been any work going on for the last 3 weeks. He and his trainer just decided to hang out with some college students for the last 3 weeks of the transfer. So now we have no investigators, and very little trust with the members but we're working on improving that. There's a lot of work to be done here, and I'm really excited to be able to do it. Anyways things are improving slowly but I'm really excited to work here.
Thanks for the package by the way!! I really like that MoTab CD, thanks. Sorry the last e-mail didn't go through but I did try to send it to let you know I'm alright. I also sent Mitch a letter today letting him know that he's been slacking because I dont even know the date that he reports to the MTC. I also sent him some pictures that I printed as well.
I forgot in my last e-mail but wanted to make sure that I included it in this one. My expenses this month are probably going to be a bit high. Mostly because a lot of Elder Garrison's food was taken by his last companion when he moved, whether by accident or not I'm not entirely sure. I also needed to get a tune up on my bike, at transfer meeting they thought that it was someone else's bike and they started to take it apart to move it and they didn't really know what they were doing, so between those two things my personal expenses are going to be quite a bit higher this month. I've used my credit card a few times and I just wanted you to be aware of it, even though I'm sure you probably are, just so you hear it from me. I love you all and want you to know that all is well with me.
Love,
Elder Carpenter
Hopefully this makes it to you. I actually did send an e-mail to you on Monday but it must have gotten lost to cyber space. I'm perfectly fine the tornado didn't hit right near me but it did hit in my area pretty hard. We had 8 Elders at our apartment on 1322 N. Rutherford Blvd. We had that many Elders there because of musical firesides going on around the mission that I've been singing in so we gathered there to all get rides together for those participating and for those not to go on exchanges in their respective areas. I got some pretty cool pictures and videos of the weather though, but it doesn't give it any justice. The area got pretty torn up but everyone is doing alright. I'm trying to summarize the events of my last e-mail without writing the same thing over again and I cant remember everything that I told you last time. So things are going pretty well. Elder Garrison was trained last transfer here and there hasn't been any work going on for the last 3 weeks. He and his trainer just decided to hang out with some college students for the last 3 weeks of the transfer. So now we have no investigators, and very little trust with the members but we're working on improving that. There's a lot of work to be done here, and I'm really excited to be able to do it. Anyways things are improving slowly but I'm really excited to work here.
Thanks for the package by the way!! I really like that MoTab CD, thanks. Sorry the last e-mail didn't go through but I did try to send it to let you know I'm alright. I also sent Mitch a letter today letting him know that he's been slacking because I dont even know the date that he reports to the MTC. I also sent him some pictures that I printed as well.
I forgot in my last e-mail but wanted to make sure that I included it in this one. My expenses this month are probably going to be a bit high. Mostly because a lot of Elder Garrison's food was taken by his last companion when he moved, whether by accident or not I'm not entirely sure. I also needed to get a tune up on my bike, at transfer meeting they thought that it was someone else's bike and they started to take it apart to move it and they didn't really know what they were doing, so between those two things my personal expenses are going to be quite a bit higher this month. I've used my credit card a few times and I just wanted you to be aware of it, even though I'm sure you probably are, just so you hear it from me. I love you all and want you to know that all is well with me.
Love,
Elder Carpenter
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
April 6, 2009
Alright so a lot ended up happening this week. I loved Elder Perry's talk as well and plan on using it. As for sharing the gospel, directed at Mom's comments, the most important thing for people to realize is your desires or intent on sharing it. Are you sharing it because you need another baptism this month? Or because you get a commission on their tithing money :)? Or is it because you know how much the gospel has blessed your life and you want them to be able to experience those blessings? I think as long as you make it apparent that the reason you want to share the gospel with family and anyone really is because you love them for who they are, and you know what they can become, and you know that the gospel will make them happier then they have ever been. I know these things are true and I know that you know them as well. Like Elder Holland talked about, Christ took that journey alone so that we won't have to. When you come to church and live the gospel your honoring the suffering that Christ did for us and allowing Him to walk beside us and give us the comfort that we need.
The other big news here is that I got a phone call Saturday morning before conference around 10 (conference starts at 11 here). I'm being transferred to Stones River. That's in Murfreesboro, a bit south of Nashville. I'm going to be 'greenie busting,' which is what your second mission field companion does. Your first is your trainer and the second is your greenie buster. So I've just been busted by Elder Keeler, and now I'll be busting Elder Garrison. Then shortly after that phone call from the Assistants, I got another phone call from President Hutchings. I've been called as a district leader over 2 companionships. So I'm over the district that includes my companion and myself, and then 2 sister missionaries. It's what Elder Keeler calls a dating district. It's going to be so weird!!!! So I've got all my stuff packed up and I go to transfer meeting tomorrow and then I'll be further south. I'm really excited to go and try a new area, but I'm also sad to leave all my investigators. However I know that President Hutchings is led by the Holy Ghost and that Stones River is where I need to be. So I'll leave Elder Keeler and his new companion with the 3 baptismal dates we've set and move on to my new district.
Well that's all the news from this region. I love you all and hope all is well.
Elder Carpenter
The other big news here is that I got a phone call Saturday morning before conference around 10 (conference starts at 11 here). I'm being transferred to Stones River. That's in Murfreesboro, a bit south of Nashville. I'm going to be 'greenie busting,' which is what your second mission field companion does. Your first is your trainer and the second is your greenie buster. So I've just been busted by Elder Keeler, and now I'll be busting Elder Garrison. Then shortly after that phone call from the Assistants, I got another phone call from President Hutchings. I've been called as a district leader over 2 companionships. So I'm over the district that includes my companion and myself, and then 2 sister missionaries. It's what Elder Keeler calls a dating district. It's going to be so weird!!!! So I've got all my stuff packed up and I go to transfer meeting tomorrow and then I'll be further south. I'm really excited to go and try a new area, but I'm also sad to leave all my investigators. However I know that President Hutchings is led by the Holy Ghost and that Stones River is where I need to be. So I'll leave Elder Keeler and his new companion with the 3 baptismal dates we've set and move on to my new district.
Well that's all the news from this region. I love you all and hope all is well.
Elder Carpenter
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
April 1, 2009
Jerome is doing well, as flakey as ever. We were supposed to go help him at his pawn shop in Nashville today he was going to call us when he came to pick us up. Never got a call, and he didn't answer his phone when we called him. Oh well. No investigators have made it to church yet. Our mission standard is two times before they can be baptized but our bishop would like 3 or 4 times. Hans committed to come and be baptized once his cast comes off. Jerome is using his busyness with his store as an excuse that won't be able to hold up much longer because he's selling it, and Connie is amazing. I gave her a reading assignment last time and she spent 3 hours studying it!! She was so excited about it that she asked for 3 reading assignments when we last visited her!! The only problem with her is that she's not married to Barry, and she can't move out because she has no where to go and she's pretty much a mother to Robert, Barry's son. So she needs to get married. No big deal; we could get that arranged in less then 24 hours, but she's actually still married to her last husband, who got deported. So she needs to get a divorce before she can get married. Then she can get baptized. The South is crazy.
The mall last week was nothing too spectacular. Its part of the Opry Land stuff I found out. It's right next to the Gaylord Opry Land Hotel. Other then that it's just a mall.
So the reason that I'm writing you on Wed. instead of Mon. is because today is the first of the month, and President Hutchings wanted us to work to the end of the month in order for us to get the most baptisms possible. We did well but fell short of our goal. We got 85 people baptized and 84 confirmed. It's sad if you look at it as we missed our goal by 15, but its really really exciting if you think that our average prior to that was 54 a month. Last month we qualified an extra 30 people for celestial exaltation! That rocks.
We cook for ourselves most of the time but it's usually really simple quick stuff because we only have an hour for meals. We need to be out no later then 6, and we're never home between meals. So we spend about 15 min. in preparation and another 15 min. in eating. Then the next half hour is cleaning, or making study journals for our investigators, or making calls or what have you.
So I think I've told you about the Leguard twins from Australia. That's where we're watching conference on Sunday in their Western Room. They fed us lunch today and told us a story how when they were younger back in the 'bush' as they call it. They were working on the farm with their dad. He was digging a well and had 2 people helping him. The twins went off and found a bobcat. They caught it in a burlap sack and waited until the people helping their dad were not paying attention and then they tossed the bag with the wild bobcat in it down the well!! Their dad had a sledge hammer and ended up killing the bobcat. They twins say that he almost killed them too. The finished the story with, "Oh back in the day we were cheeky mugs weren't we?" So despite all the grief I've given you over the years, dad, remember I never threw a wild bobcat on you while you were stuck 10 feet deep in a well :)
Love you!!
Elder Carpenter
The mall last week was nothing too spectacular. Its part of the Opry Land stuff I found out. It's right next to the Gaylord Opry Land Hotel. Other then that it's just a mall.
So the reason that I'm writing you on Wed. instead of Mon. is because today is the first of the month, and President Hutchings wanted us to work to the end of the month in order for us to get the most baptisms possible. We did well but fell short of our goal. We got 85 people baptized and 84 confirmed. It's sad if you look at it as we missed our goal by 15, but its really really exciting if you think that our average prior to that was 54 a month. Last month we qualified an extra 30 people for celestial exaltation! That rocks.
We cook for ourselves most of the time but it's usually really simple quick stuff because we only have an hour for meals. We need to be out no later then 6, and we're never home between meals. So we spend about 15 min. in preparation and another 15 min. in eating. Then the next half hour is cleaning, or making study journals for our investigators, or making calls or what have you.
So I think I've told you about the Leguard twins from Australia. That's where we're watching conference on Sunday in their Western Room. They fed us lunch today and told us a story how when they were younger back in the 'bush' as they call it. They were working on the farm with their dad. He was digging a well and had 2 people helping him. The twins went off and found a bobcat. They caught it in a burlap sack and waited until the people helping their dad were not paying attention and then they tossed the bag with the wild bobcat in it down the well!! Their dad had a sledge hammer and ended up killing the bobcat. They twins say that he almost killed them too. The finished the story with, "Oh back in the day we were cheeky mugs weren't we?" So despite all the grief I've given you over the years, dad, remember I never threw a wild bobcat on you while you were stuck 10 feet deep in a well :)
Love you!!
Elder Carpenter
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