Piano Guys

Hey everyone! 

Hope y'all have had a great week. It's been a good teaching week here, we've been getting a lot of referrals which has been nice. We've been doing a lot of knocking on doors which freaking sucks, but I guess you can't win em all

One cool thing that happened is that we were in a lesson with a friend of guy named brother Thornburg, and he is a very less active guy, and we were really struggling to get him to come to church and things like that. But it was really cool this last time because evidently he had started listening to general conference talks like all the time because we had sent him one and he really liked it and started listening to them a lot. He said he can feel the spirit super strong as he listens to them, and now he wants to read the scriptures and he came to church and brought his daughter with him, so its super sweet! 

Another cool thing that happened is that I was able to go help someone move, and it was just me and the dad of the family because my companion went with a member to a lesson and because we each had a member with us we were able to do that, so that was great because it was just me and this family moving, and this family was really great friends with the Piano guys! Like they've stayed at their house before, they text each other a lot and all sorts of stuff! They gave me two autographed posters from them because I was telling them how much I love that group.

The rest of the week was pretty much just a blur, there was some really good weather tho so that was nice. But yeah I know that this gospel is true and that as we look at people through Christ's eyes that serving and lifting other people becomes a lot easier. Love y'all! 

Elder Carlson 

 

 

Specialized Training

Hello everyone!

Hope y'all have had a great week, the temp has definitely been nicer. It got up to like 40 degrees one day, and then I think like 60 another day. It was so freaking nice. We had specialized training on Tuesday and Thursday for 6 hours each so that was fun it was all about how to better contact referrals and how to do better door to door contacting (I'm hoping Elder Watts doesn't get any ideas lol)

We had a good lesson with a lady named Sue Knight the other day and that went really well, she definitely felt the spirit. I'm really hoping she'll continue to keep reading the Book of Mormon and increase her testimony.

Another thing that happened is we stopped by a man named Rob who we found the other week and said to come back, anyway we were really excited because he seemed interested. So we showed up to his house and he had his Bible laid out on his table so right then I was like freak. We sat down and he was like so I think we have some differences because we believe that God and Jesus are the same. So we explained that we do believe that Jesus and God are separate and then he started going through all these scriptures trying to prove him right. I had like a ton of scriptures on that exact topic but after a bit I realized that he wasn't open to hearing any new ideas so I just kinda chilled and waited for it to be over.

I think that's about it. I hope u guys have a great week and I love and miss you all! 

-Elder Carlson

This is Too Freaking Cold

Hey everyone! 

Hope u guys have been able to stay warm, here it's been so freaking cold. The other day we got to go knock doors for an hour and a half at night while it we were in a blizzard which sucked, but fortunately we got to stop and get some food at a members house afterwards. 

On Thursday I went on exchanges with my district leader and that was sweet. He is a Spanish missionary so the first two families we stopped by didn't speak English, so I got to use the little Spanish I knew and mostly not say anything

The rest of the days we pretty much walked all over in the cold shoveling snow and trying to spread the gospel to people who didn't wanna listen, which I mean I don't blame them if it was this cold I wouldnt be letting people talk to me either, but still.

President Monson our prophet passed away this week, it was sad that he passed but I'm glad he is in good health and with his wife who passed away a few years ago. 

Anyway I know the church is true, and I'm grateful for Christ's atonement and how through it we can be healed from any kind of guilt or pain. Love ya all! 

-Elder Carlson

I don't have any pictures from this week because it was too cold to take out my tablet lol, but here is a quote for president Monson on respect of his passing. 

Happy New Year

Hey everyone! 

Hope u all had a great week. We actually had a pretty good one up here, we met this guy named Dr Z (coolest freaking name ever) and he is a less active and fun fact he doesn't have a large intestine...yeah I didn't know that was possible, so basically he has a huge hole in his stomach with a bag on the outside, so yeah I think u get the idea. 

On Wednesday it was freezing and me and my companion biked 20 miles!! I was so done when the day was over, but the hot chocolate tasted good after that for surewe saw a guy named Joe who is the most interesting person I've ever met, he is hardcore hooked on smoking and drinking, and he never got an education so we've been teaching him lessons for 5 year olds and he still couldn't understand it. 

We also got to teach a less active named Brother Thurmond and he is super cool, and really into music, we had a super great lesson with him on feeling the Holy ghost and how to recognize that which is a problem a lot of people I've met with face, people expect this huge sensation right after reading and praying about the Book of Mormon, but it doesn't work like that, we need to trust in God's timing and know that we will get that witness on his time not ours.

It's been snowing a ton here which has been nice, I mean if it's gonna be annoyingly cold there might as well be snow to make things a little better. But yeah it's been fun, we get to do a lot more service projects like shoveling snow, and it's actually pretty fun. 

Something cool we do is on Wednesday we go volunteer at a place called the thrift depot, and it's basically a ghetto version of Goodwill, it honestly sucks because the people that work there are angry old lady's, and we just move boxes for like 3 hours without talking to anyone. BUT we do get to take free clothes home, so I have taken advantage of that lol. Anyway I hope u guys have an awesome week, and happy new year! 

Elder Carlson

Pics descriptions:

1. Shoveling snow 

2. Shirt I got at the thrift depot (the necklace is my trainers, not from the store)

3. Another couple shirts I got

4. It was so cold in the car that our hand sanitizer froze