Texas Weather...Give it 10 Minutes. It'll Change.

If I could tell you how many times, the past month, I have put my windproof, rainproof, warm, snugly jacket in the back of my closet, I would. But I can't. There are too many times to try and number. Look at the weather for the past and next week. That may describe to you the hilarity of Texas weather.

And to ya'll who are wondering about pictures, I do take pictures, I do have pictures, it just takes forever and a day to get them onto a computer and then to an email. So as Rapunzel says, "Please don't freak out!" I echo her call. Please don't freak out. Thank you.

Last Monday was an interesting day in and of itself. I did get to throw a football for an hour. My shoulder to hand thanked me for it in the following days, but I enjoyed the feeling as much as I possibly could. I do miss the feeling of sore muscles. That night when our regular schedule resumed, we went to Michele's and taught an EPIC lesson. It was all about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She is such an amazing woman. She knows it, she just doesn't know she knows it. and we are helping her to realize it, slowly but surely.

Tuesday. Hmm....that morning I think every single one of us had an emotional break down. That mid-day, we ran a mile, got our head on straight, and then walked into the world. We decided that we needed to be a bit more obedient in certain aspects. SO I received the brilliant revelation of an object lesson. That had to do with fish. YES we gave away Fred and Silver. But what family had only 2 children we could give them to?! We called the Luekenga's, explained the situation, and went over there to give a lesson to the kids. Our fish represent our testimony. You have to feed it twice a day (pray morning and night/read the scriptures) and you have to clean it (church attendance/taking the sacrament). I felt so clever. and I was. Brother Luekenga wasn't too happy that he now has 2 fish residing in his home. but hey!! We are one step closer in exact obedience.

Wednesday. Wednesday was the first day I have ever been tracting. They first door I ever knocked on I got yelled at and the door was slammed. He was a grumpy old man and all I wanted to do was tell him a happy message. We went to the Pora/Downey residence and I taught another brilliant idea I had earlier that week. We extended to them a Media Fast for the month of February. It all sounded like they wanted to do it. They started pointing fingers and saying "I bet you can't..." just like all siblings do. It was quite the entertainment.

Thursday was a day where I wished I could just curl up in a blanket. It was frigidly cold and windy!! We were in Glidden most of the day teaching Spanish investigators. So Sister Sheldon and I did our best to pay attention while Sister Diaz did the talking. Brother Robles came with us. It's difficult to be working with a Spanish branch and just barely get the gist of what's going on. The Turners had a fire going when we got there so we cozied on up to that for a little while.

Friday. Simply put: Houston closed down on Friday. They 10 was frozen and everything was icy. On Friday, it didn't get above freezing. Meaning, we weren't allowed to leave for fear of ice on the roads and bridges. That is another downside to living in the middle of nowhere. We were locked in a house all day long!! Every person's dream right?? NOPE!!!! But now Sister Sheldon has bangs. they are so cute!! We got to get a lot of book-work done for the area just in case one or both of us get transferred next month. Exchanges didn't happen like they were supposed to and we have no idea when they will.

Saturday we went out to Weimar. We got to go to Kathy Holman's home. She is an older less-active and she is an artist. The amount of imagination in her studio...You could just FEEL it!!!! It was amazing!! She paints does jewelry and pottery. Oh my goodness. it was so great to get some imagination rubbed off on me. After that we went to Jeremy's where we had a really epic lesson. The spirit was so amazingly strong there at the end. Ya'll have no idea it. I needed to have another lesson like that. After we went to Joe's and talked to him. It was so great to see his kids.

Sunday. Also another interesting day. We did go and visit Michele and introduce their family to the elders. We are going to both be visiting them on a weekly basis. 

Today. Today is a busy day. I need to go. We are going to be meeting up with the Elder's and Jeremy and have a little party before Elder Terry leaves. And I have to cut their hair. 

Ya'll have a blessed day.

--Sister Carling

Thank You...thank you for all you do for me, whether I know you or not. All the support...you have no idea how much it means to me.

Happy day!!

Happy Birthday Dad!!

So this past week were able to run into quite a few new investigators. God has laid his path out for us. It is amazing to see how He has prepared Sealy.  Sorry if this email is short...but hey! I only have so much time.

Okay. So Tuesday. I got kissed on the cheek by Brother Mumme. Brother Mumme is the 97 yr-old man who we helped take down the decorations for the week before. Before that, we were able to visit with his wife, Grace, and give her a Book of Mormon. It was way awesome!! She really wanted to read it. We'll visit her a little later this week.

Wednesday night, we went to the Pora's and gave them copies of the Book of Mormon to give to their friends. It was way awesome. We challenged them to give it to someone they didn't know. I've done that with a couple other families.

Thursday we went to Glidden and Columbus. We visited a lot of former Spanish investigators and gave away copies of el Libro de Mormon. We are going to be visiting them again. During those lessons, Sister Diaz would teach in Spanish, I would read the scripture in Spanish (yay for high school Spanish.  Yes, I am getting better.) and Sister Sheldon finds the scripture in English for me to read in Spanish. We've got the system down!

Friday we had an early meeting in Katy along with weekly planning. ALSO!! We got to visit Michele!! She has made so much progress!! We still don't have a date set for her but we will be meeting with her tonight and hopefully we will have a date! That lesson was powerful. I can't even describe to ya'll.

Saturday we went to Weimar and Brother Keller fed us his amazing brisket. THEN......Wait for it..................I GOT TO DRIVE A TRACTOR!! It was so great!! I miss driving things. See!! It was AWESOME!!

Sunday. Brother Turner got released as branch mission president. He was a bit too happy. He was excited to be released. I also got to give a couple copies of the Book of Mormon away again!! It's super exciting!! :D

Life is great. I love Texas. Have a blessed day.

-Sister Carling

A Few Pictures From Past and Present

The last bit of snow for the next 2 years! (at the MTC)

Hermana Ray at the MTC!!

The hair is getting long!! (before I cut it)

No, I did not wear it like this.

Family, Friends, and those that I do not know,

This week has been hard, but as Brother Turner has said, "These hard times come just before the great things happen. Miracles are coming to Sealy, Sister, just you wait"...or something like that. Boy, was he right. Yesterday, Sunday, was a day of miracle. This is all I will talk about today.

Sunday morning we got ready and left for the day as normal. We went to the Spanish branch and attendance was sparse. There was about 40 people in attendance. I love going to the Spanish branch and I love that I am beginning to better understand what is being said. God has helped me with that. That is a MIRACLE. After Sacrament, through the bustling halls we went and there we saw Michele. Michele AND her family came to church!! How exciting this was!! This is a MIRACLE. We then took her and Grant, her husband, to gospel principles. There THEN was STANDING ROOM ONLY. THIS is a MIRACLE. There was power in the room, NOT just the spirit. "Miracle[s have come] to Sealy" rings in my mind again and again. Relief society begins soon after and again, there are no chairs by the time late comers come into class. This is a MIRACLE. NOW for English Sacrament meeting. This is where everybody comes together. On the average Sunday, we only get about maybe 100 people. Yesterday at church we had ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE PEOPLE PRESENT. THIS IS A MIRACLE. GOD HAS PREPARED THOSE PEOPLE HERE TO BE READY TO HEAR THE GOSPEL. MIRACLES, my friend, are coming to Sealy. Miracles are coming. The Spirit was so completely and utterly enveloping yesterday. They had to set up like 4 extra rows. MIRACLES I TELL YA!!! Miracles.

Today is just a chill day. All the missionaries are here at the Turner Chicken Farm, where we live. It's all good. Life is good.

Purple Day!!

Well, I just thought of something more that I should mention.

On Friday, drum roll, WE GOT A TRUCK!! :D We met with President on Thursday and he noticed that we had a car...and he asked if we would like a truck. Sister Sheldon and I had kinda actually prayed that we would, and we did!! God cares about the little things just so ya'll know.

Our Beautiful Truck named "Clark"...yes...he is Superman!!

 P-day at the Turner home: Axis and Allies 

(From left to right: Josh Turner, Brother Turner, Elder Terry, 
Jeremy Castleberry, Elder Bradshaw)

NOTE: Ignore the death glare from Elder Terry. He really is a nice person.

Also, another side note, I got my hair cut again. It is wonderful. I might just keep it short for a while. I hope none of you mind. A second random note, I got to cut the elder's hair! I love cutting hair. Just thought ya'll should know.

Much love, ya'll have a blessed day.

--Sister Carling

Nothing Changed This Week...NOT

This past week has been pretty crazy. So ya'll know how transfers happened last Sunday and nothing happened for us?? Wellllllll....Tuesday Sister Sheldon and I got a call from President Pingree. In our area, they are trying to make each companionship a Spanish-English. This is to increase the missionary force over a certain area. That way we have 3 companionships over the 2 branches out here. President wanted us to change with the Spanish sisters so one of us would go to Sealy and the other would stay in New Ulm (applying to the Spanish sisters too). Does that make sense?? Well we got to talking with him and he didn't sound too sure of himself. as we kept on talking about how this would play out, he paused, and said, "Sisters, I think I just received some revelation. Scrap what I just said. You are both going to trio train." That is how we got our lovely Sister Diaz. (I will tell you more about her when I get to Thursday.) Now we are the 3 musketeer's.

After that near heart attack, we spent a lot of time the next couple of days trying to rearrange the room and therefore creating space for the new sister that would be coming! In retrospect, we now realize that when we were weekly planning the previous Thursday and when we were daily planning the night before, nothing seemed right. It didn't flow or work out as normally planned. It's amazing how God works. A little later Tues afternoon we went out and taught a few families that are struggling. It was wonderful to be able to share the "Look Not Behind Thee" Mormon Message on that wonderful New Years Eve. We happily let the New Year in with a...fantastic sleeping opportunity. We woke up the next morning at our regular time and wished each other a Happy New Year.

On New Years, we again spent a little more time clearing out space for our new sister coming on that Thursday. We were so excited and prayed that as she flew in that day she would be safe. We went to Columbus and visited the Nackos' and also spoke to them about the new year. We are all to not focus on the past, but to focus on the present! This message was so touching to me. Ya'll should go and look it up. :) Later that night, we went to visit Johnny and Sister Sheldon taught him how to use the Mormon messages and General Conference part of the site. I put my hair skills to use on Geanine's hair.

THURSDAY!!! This is when we got to go and pick up Sister Diaz!! (but we didn't know her name! We only knew she was from Central America area coming here to learn English.) President called us up to tell everyone about Sealy. Here, we refer to it as "God's Country", as I have said before. So we told the other missionaries that. Sister Diaz came up and we all hugged. We were SO EXCITED!!! She is 23 and she is from Honduras. She has known English for 6 weeks now!! How crazy! She speaks it so well!!

 Meet Sister Diaz!! She is so VERY loving!!

After our training meetings and mission office run, we headed back to the country, our wonderful 2 hour drive ahead of us. This gave us time to get to know Sister Diaz better. I am now trying to learn some Spanish and comprehending it much better!! That night we made a few visits and had our family history class that we are STILL trying to get up and going.

On Friday, we had our first district meeting. we now have the missionaries from the Katy 1st ward in our district so there's quite a number of more people. After mtng we went out to lunch as a district. We then went on splits with the spanish sisters so that we could get to know the Spanish branch better. We already know some because of Friday night volleyball, but it was great to meet a couple more.

Saturday we went up to Bellville. We got to meet this really old couple named John and Grace Mummy. John is 97 and Grace is 88. They are, like, THE CUTEST THING!!! they were SO funny. We saw them trying to take down Christmas decorations and realized that they probably needed some help. So, we pulled over, got out, and started trying to help them. They almost didn't want the help!! Nevertheless, we helped them. When we finished, John tried to pay us $35. We tried to refuse and eventually Grace ended out practically shoving it down my shirt!! Talk about Texas Women!! We did give it back to them and again tried to explain why. They were okay with it and accepted it back.

Sunday, after a longer day at church, we went to the Turners for dinner. After dinner, We went back to Bellville to teach Michele, but this time we had a member from the ward with us, Sister Amy Huber. They recently moved into the ward. We were able to commit Michele to baptism, but she said she'd have to pray on the date (February 8). Michele sees point A and point B and she knows she needs to connect them. She's just got to understand it fully. She's a book keeper just like you mom, and I think I know why I understand the way she thinks (because it's very similar to just like you). If you could have been there!!! Oh my!! The spirit was so strong!! She knows it's what she needs to do and she is so close. Hopefully she will accept the date and work for that goal. She is strong and ready!

I know that through Christ we can do all things. He is our maker and He wants to see us come home to Him!! I pray that ya'll will take a little time this week to be grateful. Pray to have His Spirit with you. To feel His loving arms around you. To "Look not behind thee." To remember Lot's wife.

--Sister Carling