SO MUCH COLD (1/4/16 email)

Well this week we've been locked up for a couple of days because the roads have been closed due to ice and sleet and such. It's so weird because it had normal snow for a while, but after a couple hours it turned into freezing rain/sleet so there's a thick layer of ice over the snow. So yesterday we walked to some of our closer appointments but had to cancel the ones that we couldn't walk to. We spent so much time calling people inside and planning our week, though, so this week is by far the most well-planned and organized week I've seen on my mission so far!

My roommates and I all go to the church gym every morning to work out, and one of their New Year's resolutions is to do a "Carter workout" at least twice a week. I'm now the official workout instructor here. They have a love/hate relationship with me now, though, because they're so dead after working out. I LOVE WORKING OUT!!!

At church last Sunday, one of the members spoke about the blessings of paying tithing and how she's been able to see that bless her life. K and C were there and we haven't taught them about tithing at that point, so we were hoping they weren't too confused after that. When we met with them this week, though, we talked about it and C said, "Oh I actually came home after church last week and prayed about it and I love the idea of paying tithing."

N and C are just so genuine and really want to follow God. I just love them! They're still progressing toward their baptism on January 16th!

This week we met with a new investigator, P, who said he felt an automatic connection when he looked in my eyes and he asked if I was married. We're referring him to Elders tomorrow........

We celebrated New Years twice this week. First we went to a cute assisted living home and they had a count-down/celebration at noon! Haha it was so much fun! I just love cute, old people. Then we celebrated with our roommates at 10:00pm and went to bed at 10:30pm. Haha we're lame.

Sister Arbon and I are literal twins. Same hair and same outfit without even planning it!

Which one is me? I don't even know.

We went to the church to plan last week and saw a homeless person sleeping right outside the door. I almost had a heart attack because we were there alone and I didn't know if anyone was in the building, but thankfully the doors were safely locked.

Well, once again, I love you all! Read Matthew 7:7 and think about how dang wonderful God is. He really does want the best for us, and He is always watching over us. He has given us the steps we need to take in order to be happy, so the ball is in our court. Follow His commandments and you will be happy!

Christmas week!!! (12/28/15 email)

Hello fam and friends!

Well this week has been GREAT!! Wow. We met with our two amazing
investigators, N and C, for the second time. I don't remember if I
told you about them last week, but they are just super amazing. They
have a cute little baby boy and they grew up in Judaism and
Catholicism but wanted to find out for sure what God's church is in
order to know how to raise their newborn, G. Well rewind actually. We
found them because the Bishop said he'd been praying about where we
should be and he felt like we should be in their neighborhood, and we
found him outside smoking so we talked to him. They look nothing like
who you'd expect to be interested in the Church - tattoos, piercings,
and all - but that just goes to show how wrong our judgements can be.
(Moral of the story: don't judge others.) Anyways, in our first lesson
we committed them to stop drinking alcohol and coffee and quit smoking
and to prepare for baptism on January 16. Then, in our second lesson,
we taught the Plan of Salvation and the Law of Chastity and they said
they'll get married on January 7! THEY ARE SO DANG AMAZING! They were
planning on getting married eventually, but not until after N paid off
her student loan debt, buuuuuuuut C said, "We've already been able to
see everything in our lives fall into place since we've met you, so we
know that if we keep following what you say, we'll be blessed. We still
want to get baptized on the 16th." I JUST LOVE THEM!!

Also, it was pretty dang blizzardous here last night - snow and wind and all.

Here's us in the kitchen.

Here's us in the car.

Our cute 10-year-old investigator, A, sent us this picture yesterday and said her dog likes the Book of Mormon, too.

How many faces are in this picture? 

We were at a member's house for part of Christmas and their cute little kid flew his new toy right into my hair. There was some hair lost, but not nearly as much as expected.

Christmas morning (we brought our mattresses into the living room)

My cute fam 💗

The lesson that I've learned this week is just how dang powerful prayer is! Well let's be honest, I probably still don't know just how powerful it is, but I'm still learning. Anyways, I was so frustrated about something earlier this week, so I finally decided to pray about it to know what I should do. I was adding it into all of my prayers that day, but then I realized I didn't have an open heart to whatever answer God may give me. Soooo I prayed to have an open heart, then felt like I should prayerfully study my patriarchal blessing for guidance. And BOOM, just like that, my answer was there. It's hard to really portray how powerful the experience was, especially because I struggle with putting my thoughts into words sometimes. But I promise you, prayer is amazing and we should all rely on it more to help us make decisions.

Love you all!!

CHRISTMAS WEEK (12/21/15 email)

AHHH Christmas is right around the corner! This week we had zone
conference AND got to go to the temple. IT WAS GREAT!

Miracle: Sister Singleton accidentally turned down the wrong street
one day, so she went to turn around. But then I said, "Well everything
happens for a reason. Maybe we're supposed to be here!" So we prayed
to ask if there's a certain house we should knock on. We both felt
like we should try this one house on the corner, so we knocked and a
girl named M answered. When we asked her if her family would be
interested in us coming back and sharing a message with them about
Christ, she said, "Sure. We probably need that." Sooooo we set up an
appointment to come back in a week. Anyways, that night we got a call
from a random number. It was from a member up in the Vancouver 3rd
Ward (P) who works with M's husband, V! He said that V brought up that
we stopped by to him and they talked about it at work. It's amazing
because the missionaries in P's Ward in Vancouver asked P to think
about a friend who needs the Gospel in particular right now. He thought
of V and has been praying for him for a couple of days and them BOOM
we happened to turn down the "wrong" street and knock on his door.
MIRACLES :)

Here's a picture of a member's calendar haha so cute.

We went back to Nehalem for T's baptism. We put him on date for the 19th hoping I wouldn't be transferred, but I was haha BUUUUT I got to come back for it! It was so great!!!!! Teaching him was such a blessing because he was so ready. He wanted to know the truth and was genuinely ready to follow whatever path God wanted for him. In our first lesson with him we put him on date for the 19th, and he was so ready to accept it! Anyways, it was awesome seeing everyone from Nehalem again :)

Keep Portland Weird (12/14/15 email)

Well I have a lot to say! Transfers went well and I love Sister Singleton!

I've heard weird stories about the people in Portland these past few
months, and now I have the opportunity to experience them first hand.
Haha the Portland area has wayyy different people than the other side
of the river, which makes for some pretty interesting stories.

Cool story: We visited this girl, A, and she just invited us right in
last week. (That in and of itself is a miracle - our first lesson with
her!) We briefly told her about how the Priesthood has been restored
and how nobody in the Church is paid. Then she just asked, "Does your
church do baptisms? Can I schedule one? I was baptized in another
church a while ago, but I don't think that'll cover me. I want it to
be with the Priesthood." WHAT THE HECK!! Miracle! We're meeting with
the her again tomorrow, so keep her in your prayers!

We also knocked on this door, and J answered and said, "Oh I really
would love to sit down and learn more about what you believe. I'm
looking to find which church is really God's Church. I'm busy right
now, but here's my number. We can schedule something for next week!"

Also, we talked to this girl, K, who happened to be Deaf!!!!!
:):):):):) <3 Oh my gosh, my dream come true! Apparently she's a member,
but she's not super active and has been REALLY struggling with money.
We invited her to the Christmas dinner that night and they ended up
giving her a bunch of leftovers too. It was just such a great time
because I was able to use sign language for so long <3 not gonna lie,
I didn't realize how much I missed it until then.

Aaaaand, one more cool story: We walked up to this group of people
outside of an apartment smoking. This one woman, S, asked us what's
different about our religion. We told her about how the Priesthood has
been restored, and she just said, "When do you meet for church? I'll
be there." Wowza. Miracles on miracles on miracles this week!

This is the Sanders family from Nehalem Ward. <3 Oh my gosh, they melt

my heart! Their girls just looooove the sister missionaries.

Saying goodbye to the Collier kids <3 so dang cute!

Sister Singleton and I took some pictures today to make Christmas cards. :)

Love y'all! And I love Gresham/Portland! Have a grand week!