Week 92 & 93

ya my companion is super awesome he works hard and is really in tune with the spirit so he is teaching me a lot and we are working hard! we had a pretty good lesson with an investigator theis week. his name is Do Gahni. he is staying at a part members home for something called home stay. he lives there so he can learn english from them. we just intoduced the church and he seemed to accept it pretty well. we will see how it goes but we are trying to set a baptism at the end of the month, he's awesome! we dont have a ton of time today, we went to a place called U-do. its an island off of jeju, took a boat and took pictures all day, but i cant wait to talk to you in a few days, than you! love you both!


it was nice talking to you yesterday, it seemed like we didnt have any time to talk but i hopeyou liked it. we can talk more later dont worry. this week was really good though. we met with our investigators again, Do ghani and gee donghoon. they are both progress very slowly but surely. since both of them dont have a strong christian background its a little bit tough for them to understand it all. we have been teaching very simply about having faith and about prayer. just testifying how wonderful it is that God has given us a way to communicate with him! they both liked the part where we pray whenever we need help or when we just want to talk and God will bless us every step of the way. its crazy to think that prayer is so primary but so vital in our conversion. the times when my prayers have been more sincere have made the work and day go better for me. I know God lives and answers our prayers through our faith and actions! what a wonderful gift. just thought id share that from this week :). but the schedule sounds good mom, i will hopefully be able to remember all the fun things to do in those cities! i dont know it might just be shopping and walking around or meeting people! ill figure it out! is there something you want to do specific? if not we can figure it out. thanks mom and dad love you both! ive said it my whole mission but, see you soon!

Week 90 & 91

Hello!
sorry i didnt email last week we had transfer meeting with all the missionaries in busan and our flight was really late back to jeju so we just didnt email... but yes i got a new companion and this week was awesome! his name is elder Seok Dohyun. He  works really hard and just loves doing missionary work. this week was so much different than the last transfer and im so happy to serve with him! last week with elder lee junsuk we actually got a referral from a member which we met for the first time this week. he just wants to learn english but he might have a little bit of gospel interest as well. also one night we were just calling random people on our phone and we asked some guy if he wanted to meet with us and he said "ya sure". so we met with him and he says he doesnt really want to learn about the gospel but he has been wondering lately about god and things that exist that you cant see. so no golden investigators just yet, but now we are making some progress! elder Seok has really lifted the mood and im so grateful to serve with him! just a testimony that god hears and answers prayers even when we think He doesnt listen. also thats crazy that you will be here soon! in korea! haha 5 more weeks with elder Seok, this will be fun! we will see lots of miracles this transfer i can feel it! love you!

Week 89

hello!
hey not a ton of time today but this was a decent week for sure. conference was good i learned a lot from the talks given and they seemed to speak to me and my questions more than ever before. we still dont have investigators but through conference i think that we both have gained new confidence and faith to find. something that stuck out to me from conference was the focus on the Resurrection of the Savior. How through that, we too are able to be resurrected after death and be made perfect through that. through Christ's love and through our efforts, we can always improve and be better. which i got to thinking about that a lot this past transfer. we just actually had interviews with president and he said that he believes there is someone who we can meet this week that will be a strong member of the church later in the future. this week, being elder lee's last week of his mission, will be spent finding this one person. through our efforts i know the Lord will lead us to them. i look forward to it! more next week! love you mom and dad!

Week 88

hello! we got early permission to leave this morning because we are going to a aquarium in a different city for p day! looking forward to it. as for this week it was really good. i was having a hard time the past couple weeks but now it seems a little bit better. honestly the situation is the exactly same, but i took this week with a new, postive attitude and it made all the difference. we still dont have any new investigators, we found a few new people to come to english class, but maybe no gospel interest. we went to busan on friday to have MLCM meeting for all the zone leaders and sister training leaders. we hiked up a mountain and talked on the way up. at the top of the mountain we listened to a talk by the assistants which was really great. He seemed a little nervous doing it in korean but the spirit that was there made up the difference. He talked about how through christ, we can do anything. We are living a "similar" life to savior, in the sense that we teach with some who listen and a lot who reject the truth. always following his example will help us to be more successful missionaries and be able to be like him. I also came across this scripture this week which brought me a lot of peace and comfort!

Jacob 3:1 " But behold, I, Jacob, would speak unto you that are pure in heart. Look unto God with firmness of mind, and pray unto him with exceeding faith, and he will console you in your afflictions, and he will plead your cause, and send down justice upon those who seek your destruction."

This week has been a lot of patience and prayers with the Lord doing exactly what this scripture teaches when it says He will "console you in your afflictions". it seemed like really bad situations turned into good ones, bad feelings turned into good. learned a lot this week and am excited for next week! love you mom and dad!

elder carter

Week 86, 87

hello,

hey thats good you are feeling better dad, im glad. ya i am planning to go to byu idaho again. I dont know a ton of people going, so just whatever apartment and some good classes if you could. is there something i can help you with or will you just do it? thank you dad! as far as my time in jeju, its been pretty good. my companion is still struggling with the thoughts of going home and being trunky. Me and him were able to talk aobut how hard we were working and it seemed to help him pick up the pace a little but then it slowly went away after a few days and is still a struggle. I feel like I want to work together with him and am waiting for him, but since he doesnt want to work i have wasted some time as well. this week i feel like the best thing i can do is be a good example to him by working with or without him, always trying to include him. this has been a tough transfer so far but i feel good right now. i feel like i have a better mindset and know exactly what i want to do! this week should be good! Ive learned through a lot of different experiences that doing things the "Lord's way" versus "my way" or the way someone wants to do it. especially being a missionary, if you dont work, you arn't happy. im so thankful that the lord blesses us through our efforts. I know He lives and he loves everyone! through showing my companion the Christ-like love he needs we will be able to work well together! we will see what happens, thank you mom and dad for everything. talk to you soon!

Week 85

thank you so much for the happy birthday!

my new area is Jeju, yes, Jeju Island. it is great! It feels kinda like korean hawaii or something. the water is super blue and there is a lot of wind and palm trees. it kinda freaked me out when i landed from the plane and saw a bunch of palm tress! it is great though! my new companion is elder Lee junseok. he is in his last transfer and is  maybe having a hard time staying focused... this week has been a little tough, one of the investigators just got baptized 2 months ago and now we dont have any investigators to meet with. so we are trying to find new investigators to come to our english class or just new people we can meet with. we were able to meet with the recent convert brother jeong seo jin. he is about 14 years old and is awesome! he knows a ton about the gospel and soaks everything in. he is really mature for his age and he just wants to do the right thing. when we met with him we were able to talk about the importance of the sabbath day and keeping it holy. he usually wants to just hang out with his friends and play games on sunday but he wants to try to keep it holy. 

the branch has about 50 to 60 members that come to church each week, the branch president has long black hair that is parted down the middle. kinda curly. haha there are a good balance of every kind of member there, some old and some young. there is \really old guy that teaches at a university that calls me elder Mr. president carter haha every single time i meet him.

so far the area is really good, we just need to find more investigators. i taught a little bit about the priesthood at church yesterday during gospel doctrines class and a little bit about the power of the priesthood. it reminded me of how we as missionaries have the authority of God to act in his name. and so as we are finding investigators and people to teach, we will know who to talk to and know what to say. i testify that is true, that the priesthood is the authority and support of God given by Him to do great things! it should be another great week in Jeju!

elder carter

Week 82,83,84

hello this weekwas good, we werent able to meet with yun hae guun very often, so we will see how the baptism goes later this week, maybe it wont happen... i dont know. but we were able to meet with yang jae hong and talk with him a little. he is doing better, after a few weeks of trouble at work. we erent able to meet with him for a little while. he talked with us and said that he has been praying and he feels like he felt Gods love for everyone on earth. this really helped a lot, but he still is not taking these feelings as a for sure answer. He still isnt willing to be baptized, but he really loves the experiences he is having. the spirit was so strong in the lesson and me and elder miller testified with our hearts! we talked about his prayers and he feels like he can get help if he prays. it was great, because we actually didnt plan a lesson for him, we just met him after church. honestly i didnt know what to teach him or what to say, but thoughts just starting coming to me and the lesson worked out really well. the spirit really guided the lesson and i think we made som;e progress with him!

elder carter


Hello!

i got transfered yesterday so now i am in an area called Jeju... haha look it up on the internet. it was really a tough week though, last one in daemyoung. we were not able to meet with yun haegn again so its been awhile since we last met him and now i got transfered... but we talked on the phone and he said he will come to jeju on time in a couple of weeks actually. so maybe we could see him then. we met with brotehr yang jae hong again and had a pretty decent lesson with him but it is still ahrd for him to accept the things we teach him as truth. we studied recognizing the spirit in PMG together but he still said he needed more time to think about things and he will continue learning about them. i think he just needs more time with everything and eventually he will be able to say "i know". all in the lord's time. so i cant remember if i told you or not but our daemyoung ward combined with the neighboring suseong ward. the church is selling our building so they can help build the church in other areas of the world. so now we meet in the suseong ward building all together. it was really weird giving my last talk in front of a bunch of people i didnt know. this was the first time i didnt cry before leaving an area which was weird. but i feel like the daemyoung members were some of the most loving and strong faith members ive met, kind of like jinhae members. we will definitely need to visit them when you come!

so now im in jeju with my companion elder Lee Jun seok. He is in his last transfer so it should be a good transfer! i love you both, and hope you have a good time in japan! my last companion elder miller wanted a japanese tie, so i was wondering if you could send me a couple cheap ties from japan (really japanese style ties) for me to just give to my friends! he really liked the 100 yen tie i have haha so they can just be cheap ties. thank you for all you do il see you soon~!

elder carter