It has been a great week! Of course we have our challenges and hiccups along the way, but those things are easily swallowed up by joy, especially when you are in the service or the Lord!
Okay, so I'll start off with this: I'm literally the worst and forgot to mention (because I have a goldfish cracker brain!) That Zach's baptism was in the 6th!! It was such an incredible experience - we filled up the whole chapel PLUS the overflow!! There are so many people who love and support him, it was just amazing to see and feel that at his baptism. I think I've mentioned this, but he had been taught in Meridian for the last 8 months, but he was supposed to be over here, so when it was time for him to be baptized he hopped on over to the Hidden Springs ward! We had a lot of representation from both the Meridian ward and the Hidden Springs ward - a lot of his family came too (they're mostly non-members)! Such a cool experience. He was confirmed yesterday in sacrament meeting and it was so sweet. He's such an amazing kid! We're just over the moon for him!!
There were a lot of amazing people we were able to come into contact with this week. We have two new investigators, Brooke and a potential investigator came to church, and there were a couple people that were a little frustrating, but it's a good growing experience for me haha. I'm grateful to be here at this time during my mission and my life. I feel so blessed to be here and I'll always be grateful for all the help that our Father in Heaven gives Sister Johnson and me!
I've learned a lot from my studies this week (the key to rewarding and effective personal study is taking notes!! Have your notebook out and ready when you study!). Something in particular was about worldliness. I was reading in the end of Helaman and the beginning of 3 Nephi, when Samuel the Lamanite is prophesying of Christ's birth and ministry on the Earth and the people mock, scorn, disbelieve those things until the sign is given - a day, a night, and a day that looks like one day. But even AFTER they receive this sign and MANY others, they reason their way out of it again and argue that the time is passed for Christ to come. When reading this, I at first thought that it was just ridiculous! You'd think that after the people had received such an amazing and obvious sign that they would be converted. But they were not. From this, I thought a lot about faith and where your center is. The sign that was given sparked their faith (many of them repented and were baptized), but they did not keep that flame alive. They let it die. Their center was not on Jesus Christ. When we "make our God" or our center something else - fashion, celebrities, social media, etc. - we are more easily lead away. This is not a safe place to be in! When we are converted to Christ, when He is our center, He protects us. "When the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have NO POWER to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built (Christ)" Helaman 5:12. There is a really great talk by Hank Smith - he speaks to the youth (he's a seminary teacher) and is literally so hilarious - and it's called "Break Up With the World". I think that it floats around on the internet, but I know that a CD of it is sold in Desert Book. I'd encourage you all to listen to it! This is exactly what he's talking about, and you'll have some good laughs too :) (sorry, I didn't mean for this to be a sales pitch, I just really like this talk).
I love you all so much!! You're all in my prayers and I am so grateful for all the support that you give me - I can feel it!! (and sorry that this email doesn't really talk about this week very much! I will say though that Sis J and I got a lil choco cake for my one year and it made weekly planning a lot happier haha!)
<3
Sister Carlson
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