"It's a bit blowy" out today here in North Carolina!

Sister Garvin and Sister Carlson. 

This could be a Chic-Fil-A Billboard!

Companion study time.

Time for a Sister Mish Selphie.

Hi beautiful beloved friends and family!!! :)

WOW what a week. I feel like I always start my emails that way haha but there are so many blessings and emotions that come with each week that I don't even really know where to begin other than just saying how grateful I am. Me and Sister Garvin have been trying to work with members as best we can and our efforts are finally starting to pay off! Last Wednesday we got a call from a member in a ward randomly saying that he has a friend that wanted to meet with us. Let's just talk about how HUGE of a miracle that is. We were so excited when we were talking with him on the phone that we didn't even ask his name but we went and taught him a lesson that night and he is so prepared by the lord!!!! He quit smoking, came to church on Sunday, and wants to be baptized. THE CHURCH IS TRUE. He is so incredible and I am feel so humbled that the Lord trusts us with such a precious soul. On Thursday we got up for our morning run and we have been trying to be the most diligent obedient missionaries we can so we got up and started on our daily run and it started to just down pour! at first we were like maybe we should go back home...and then we were like NO we are not going inside we are going to exercise and be obedient and then we came up with this saying: OBEDIENCE OR DIE...or for short we say o.o.d. Hahahaha..got some weird looks but that's nothing out of the ordinary :) Oh and I just have to say that I spilled chocolate protein shake all over my big Preach My Gospel. Haha.. so that's cool. no worries though I ordered a new one so life is okay again. We had a member take us to lunch on Thursday and she took us to this place called the Beachside Bistro and it was probably the best thing ever because I finally got to see the ocean!!! From a distance of course. But I was so excited to just be able to see and hear the waves. I can't wait to come back and be able to go in the water someday! On Saturday we did some service for an investigator/ less active family in their yard and it was hard work and super humid but we were so happy to help them out and it looks so good! We did it with a recent convert and a member of our ward (the recent convert is their home teacher) and it was just a really great opportunity. On Saturday night we taught the investigator we met on Wednesday from our member referral and took him on a church tour and showed him the new Mormon Message that we are obsessed with (hope of Christ's light) and he seemed to really enjoy it and we had a really good lesson with him. Yesterday (Sunday) was probably the best day that I have experienced on my mission this far. We had 4 investigators at church and 2 less actives. HALLELUJAH!!! We were so overwhelmed with joy. Our zone leaders told us in our call last night that our zone reached the highest number of member present lessons in this past week than in all of our zone's history which is such a blessing! It's so important to build the kingdom and not just maintain it. Last night we had the opportunity to go to support the Hermanas at their Spanish sacrament meeting and that was such an incredible experience! I'm pretty much professional at singing hymns in Spanish in case anyone was wondering...I know my older brother Matt will be happy to hear that :) It really was so cool though. They had a program with the English translation for all the talks so we could follow along in English and the spirit was so strong. The gospel is still just as true in Spanish my amigos!! ;) This week really was so great and I am so grateful to be able to help others come unto Christ because truly everyone needs it no matter who they are, or what they are going through- the gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer. Yesterday, a member of our ward Brother Kelly said: "You can't judge people, it's just not right." I thought that was so simple yet so profound :) Hope ya'll have a great week!

Love, Sister Carlson :)

 Cami and Sister Haywood, One of the Spanish Hermanas.

Cupcakes Cami and Sister Garvin made for Brother Kelly's 

(One of their favorite recent converts) Surprise Birthday Party!

Hi Everyone!

This week has been interesting...but good :) on P-day last week we went to the Bodie Island light house and that was great! The Hermanas from Elizabeth City and the Sister training leaders came with us and the Hermanas and we had a "Sisters P-day." That night we had dinner with an older couple in the ward whose family does yachts and stuff and so they fed us fresh caught tuna and shrimp which was uhhhmazing! The seafood is the BOMB here. On Wednesday night we were so excited because one of our investigators with a baptismal date is 12 and she came to young women's. It was so good to have her there in the church and start to get her involved. They have been out of town for most weekends and haven't had the opportunity to get to church so it was good to finally get her in there with other people she can relate to. Hopefully they will come to church this next Sunday :) On Thursday we had a lesson planned with a guy we met in a gas station. HaHa. We just randomly started talking to him and he was really interested and wanted to come to church but he didn't show at the lesson and we were super bummed because we had two members come with us and everything but everything happens for a reason! And that reason was made known unto us when we ended up running into another investigator when we would have been teaching the guy that bailed so we have learned to just go with the flow and let the Lord be in charge! :) Later that night we helped a recent convert move...we are sad to see her go, she was just baptized in June before I got here and she is wanting to attend seminary and go to the temple to do baptisms so hopefully she will do that in the new place that she lives! We made her a book full of pictures and quotes from the Ensign Magazines and wrote our testimonies in the back and also gave her a talk. So hopefully she will continue to be a strong faithful member. On Friday we had district meeting in Currituck...always a good time. On the way home we were thinking of all the things that "CTR" could stand for and these are some of the things we thought of :)

choose the right (obviously :))

current temple recommend

christ the redeemer

choose to (be) ready

call to repent

cause to rejoice

come to rest

call to rescue

curb the rebellion

claim the redeemer

carry the righteous

called to reach out

celebrate the restoration

courage to repent

contact, tract, role play (more of a missionary one haha)

claim the reward

choose to remember

clean through rightousness

That's what we do for fun, haha!! On Friday night we threw a surprise birthday party for one of our favorite people Brother Kelly! It was also his 3 year mark in the church since he has been baptized and so we had to celebrate!

I hope everything is going good at home! Being here has helped me appreciate the strong ward and leaders that I have in my home ward and I am so grateful for all of you! Keep spreading the gospel and building the Kingdom of God!! :)

Oh I forgot to mention that Sister Garvin told me that I teach lessons/ bear my testimony and say prayers in my sleep hahaha!

 Eggs from a member's chickens!

 Duck Donuts.  Their favorite!

 Washin' the Cruze!

F'Real Smoothies, are f'real good!

SUP YA'LL.

Last week after emailing, us and the Hermanas went and tried some alligator...which actually just tasted like rubbery fried chicken. I can now check that off my bucket list :) after that we went to the most amazing place on earth called Duck Donuts...I don't know if I have already talked about these donuts in my emails before but if I have, then you will know just how good they are that I had to talk about them twice. The point in talking about this is not to point out how much weight I am probably gaining, but the fact that this place is super popular among locals and tourists and we like to go there because 1. great donuts and 2. there are so many people to talk to! The guy standing in line behind us just randomly started asking us who we were and what we do and all of this stuff and so we were just SOOO excited to tell him! Tender mercies all around! Haha it was so funny as we were leaving this older guy was holding the door open for us and I was wearing this shirt that has elephants all over it and I said "thanks for holding the door!" and he goes: "anything for a fellow republican!!" Hahahahahah I was like YES that is the best thing that has ever happened. So funny.

On Tuesday we had a deep clean of our house which was ever so fun--we still haven't brought ourselves to vacuum out the spiders and there homes in the windows...there's like all these spider sacks...I don't even know what its called but it is NAAAST. After deep clean we had dinner with the Bishop and his family and the Bishop came out contacting with us after dinner which was so great. We went and visited a less active family and watched the new Mormon message with them and it brought them to tears-so I would def recommend EVERYONE watch that. It's called the hope of Christ's light. We have been showing it to everyone haha! On Wednesday we had a conference call with President Baker and all of the missionaries that came out with me from the MTC so it was great to be able to hear all of their voices and how they are doing!! I miss them but I am glad we are all out spreadin the good word!! :)

Wednesday/Thursday we had exchanges with the Sister Training leaders...also on Thursday President and Sister Baker came and inspected our house. Every morning we have 30 minutes of exercise and on Saturday me and Sister Garvin ran to/up the Wright Brothers Memorial which is pretty much in our backyard and let me just say the view of the ocean from on top of that monument...I almost started crying. Which actually wouldn't be that unusual for me because I cry about everything haha but it was just so beautiful up there. The sun was just glistening on the water and it had rained the night before so the weather was perfect. It was one of those times where nothing else matters but the moment that you are in and I love those kinds of moments!

Sunday we had a great day-a less active that we have been working with came to church and we were so happy for her! The family that committed to baptism wasn't able to make it to church because they are out of town but we are planning to meet with them on Tuesday and continue to help them in their journey towards the waters of baptism :))))) Yesssssss! We had dinner with a member family on Sunday night and they gave us eggs from their very own chickens! Which....I think is way cool. Things are just so great and continue to get better every day.

This week we are hoping to find more people to teach. I am so grateful for all of you and for all of your love and support! I pray for each and every single one of you! I hope you have a great week! :)

"Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God's love encompasses us completely...Regardless of our current state, there is hope for us. No matter our distress, no matter our sorrow or mistakes, our infinitely compassionate Heavenly Father desires that we draw near unto Him so that he can draw near unto us."

Peace and Blessings!!!!

Love, Sister C :)

                  A visit to Sweet Frogs for some ice cream with my companion, Sister Garvin.

                                                                              

 

                     

         With Sister Haywood (Spanish Hermana)

YOOOO FRIENDS AND FAM!

I hope everyone is doing just dandy!!! This week has been a lot of things- but miraculous is probably the best way to describe it! We had family night on Monday night with some recent converts and the bishops family in our ward and it was so great! We watched the Mormon Message about the car that breaks down...I can't remember what it's called but it's with Elder Holland and anyone that knows me knows that I am obsessed with Elder Holland! He is the greatest. "don't you quit, you keep walking...there is help and happiness ahead." So inspiring. Throughout the week we had different lessons with less actives, members, and investigators but my favorite part was having the oppurtunity to meet the Robinson family! Sister Robinson has 4 young girls....and 3 out of the 4 committed to be baptized on September 13th!!! WOOOO!!! They are so adorable, ah I love them! Anyways, I am getting more and more used to the area everyday. It has been raining non-stop since like Thursday so that has been a little hard but it makes everything very green so that is good! :) Lets just say, I haven't done my hair since I got here :) On friday me and Sister Garvin went to this frozen yogurt place called "Sweet Frog" and Frog stands for Fully Rely On God...So we like that as missionaries haha :) Another great thing about this week is that we were over teaching some members and there was man working on their door and we started talking with him and he seems really interested! He is a really nice, happy guy that is looking for "guidance" in his life.....WELL LET US JUST TEACH YOU ABOUT THE RESTORED GOSPEL!!!!! Haha we can help you out with some guidance! Anyways....this week's email is short but I hope everyone has a great week! I love to hear from everyone and get updates on how ya'll are doing so keep it comin! :) Have a blessed week! :)

Love, Cam-aka Sister Carlson