He's getting baptized!!!

Mission's are one of the best kept secret's in town...or in the LDS community. To really understand what I mean by that you kinda have to go on one. "It'll be hard" they tell you...Of course you realize and know this...but you don't really understand it until you are thrown into the mix of things. I mean, my cousin, Ryan, tried to tell me this and explain this to me...Ryan, I now understand. Looking in retrospect, thanks for the attempt to warn me. Like I said, I really didn't understand until I got here and got going like you told me I would.

On to this week!! 

I don't even remember what happened this week...

Monday...I know we had dinner at the Blackhursts...so far that's all I got. I also had to go to the bathroom...that's always an adventure. We tried like 5 houses until we found one with people home.  That was a relief. Yes, they were members. That's all I got for Monday.

Tuesday we had an awesome day at the temple. Because President Pingree goes home tomorrow (July 1) he did a specialized training in the temple. So we got to spend 5 hours in the temple. We did a session and then had the opportunity to talk with and ask questions to the temple president, Crane, and our mission president. It was such a wonderful experience.

 Sister Carling & Sister O at the Houston Temple!

"Most of our pictures end out this way...I love her though!!"

Special Training at the Temple

That night we had our lesson with JR. JR taught us the Plan of Salvation. He's so great!! He did such a great job! Nailed it right on the head (with lot's of construction analogies)! I was able to learn quite a lot. It's really quite awesome to have someone teach you the basics. It was a great reminder for some things I need to do in my life.

Wednesday we had dinner with Sister Pearson and Sister Garrison. Old people: I will, in a lot of ways, never understand them...but I LOVE THEM to pieces.

Thursday we returned Sis Wahlen's bike to mission office. After, I got to mail my BIG box of letters home...it's great that I don't have this big box...but it's hard because I can't go back and read them!! I guess I will just pray for more letters.

**Wink, wink**

**Nudge, nudge**

**PUNCH**

My bad...sorry there...went a little crazy.  (Sister O's humor is rubbing off on me...we just try to have fun.)

We had dinner at the Hammers. After that, we had ANOTHER lesson with JR. JR plans to be baptized by a close friend in Richfield Utah on August 16. I am so excited that he I going to do this...even if I don't get to be there. He's doing awesomely and will continue to do so.

Friday was exchanges, so I went up to Tomball 2 ward with Sis Jeppson. While I was there the A/C on the truck officially went out. Needless to say, we made an appointment for that. We also were able to meet someone who would possibly be interested...while standing there I got bit by a mosquito...NINE TIMES!!! Also, needless to say, I fought the desire to run away while being bit. Another thing we were able to do, was to visit a member who Sis J hasn't been able to meet yet. Miracles always happen on exchanges...lemme tell ya.

Saturday when I got back to Parkway, we scheduled a service opportunity. Dad...I got to lay pavers with sand and everything!! For a first time job with 5 people who have never done it...you'd be proud!! When we first started it was like a million degrees because of the humidity. but then we saw the clouds...and started working faster because these clouds were "don't-mess-with-us" kinda clouds. By the time we were almost done and the sand was in the grouts...it started to down-pour...but not a huge Texas down pour. I didn't know what it was like to sweat until all your hair was wet until that day. It was interesting. It's made me reconsider growing my hair out...Once there was a break in the storm, we headed home and got ready for the day. Sister Rushing picked us up and we went to her house and helped her out. I got to play the piano and I am getting better!! *happy dance* That night we went to the Rogers for dinner (cereal!) and somehow I found a bag of Nerf darts, Bro R and Sis O found Nerf guns and the kids picked sides in giving darts to each team. NERF FIGHT!!!! It was SOOO enjoyed. We laughed for a bit after that and had a good message for them about listening to the Lord.

Sunday we didn't have meetings so we were able to study before church. During the 3rd hour we had a good chat with Bishop and filled him in on things. After church we came home and prepared a couple things, stopped by Mary's for a quick visit and went to the Ure's for dinner. Being able to talk with her was quite refreshing. We ended out playing with Ethan and somehow he managed to pop my toes. I've gained a friend no other sister missionary has...Ethan. He is so funny and he asked if he could "pop my toes at church...privately." Sis Ure thinks someone might have a crush. We still laugh about that one.

Today we did shopping early. We went to Sprouts this morning, then over to the Ure's to play some games and now we are emailing. First thing Ethan Ure asked when I walked in the door was if he could pop my toes. He's adorable. I made him read me half a book before he could.

 Sister Carling w/ Ethan Ure--the Toe Popper

Our new mission president flies in like...right now. I am so excited!! We get to meet him on Friday, the Fourth of July!! I have such great feelings for this week. It's going to be awesome.

God bless from Texas y'all!!

--Sister Carling 

New 

Boots!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This will probably be short...

Dear family and friends,

This week was pretty uneventful because i was a bit sick...so I imagine this email might be a bit shorter than usual.

Monday we had dinner at the Newman's. Sis N is such a great person!! She does such a great job in sharing the gospel.

Tuesday, we found out Sis O's bike had a flat in it...this makes a great start to the week. I wasn't feeling well and so we stayed in a little longer. We went to go visit Mary and we took the dog's with us because, well, they needed a walk and we knew Mary would enjoy it. well...we ended out getting caught in a wonderful Texas downpour. I luckily had my umbrella and ended out carrying Martin (He's so close to the ground he would have been a muddy mess if I didn't). We got to Mary's and ended out visiting on her porch. she gave us and umbrella and it didn't rain a drop on the way home. That night we had dinner with Sister Rushing. She is the sweetest!! We had Jumbalaya (Louisiana traditional) and baked veggies. SO.YUMMY!!! I got to play the piano after dinner. That was a happy moment :)

Carrying Martin

After the rain at Mary's

Wednesday we got to do service at the Kunz. It's always refreshing to be able to serve others. It kinda puts you in your place. It's one of those things needed in life. It was pouring earlier, we had a flat tire and we both didn't feel well that morning...so it was good to do something for someone else. We started walking home and Sis Newman passed us and stopped in like the middle of the road to pick us up. I just LOVE the member's here!!!

Thursday I still wasn't feeling well. BUT!!!!! We got this AWESOME text from JR that made us pretty happy. JR wanted to meet with us AND he want's to be baptised!!! HOW COOL IS THAT?! He is so awesome. So that night we met with him at the Malo's. We taught him the rest of the Restoration and talked to him about how he came to find his answers. He likes to do a lot of talking and so we gave him a different assignment than normal (Directed by the spirit of course). We asked him if he would teach us the Plan of Salvation. We gave him a pamphlet and told him if he had any questions to call/text us or the Malo's. We also gave him the assignment to pray on a baptismal date since he wants to be baptised in UT because his best friend is there and able to and he also want's his son (3) to be there. We scheduled another lesson with him for tomorrow. I am so excited!!

Friday we had district meeting. I am still the oldest member of the district. I am the only one who is not a teenager(until tomorrow! Sis Ririe's bday is tomorrow). This is weird to be the oldest...needless to say I don't feel like I am. After the meeting, we had lunch with the sisters and then walked down to the old folk's home. I love that place. We went early to play Rummicub with Norma. So great!! Then we called for bingo. After all that, we shared a scripture with Norma and another lady, Virginia. This week we are going to play Rummi again.

On Saturday, we finally were able to figure out this whole bike situation...kinda. We went to Walmart to get the tube. While Sis O was working on the tire, I took the leisure of taking a razor to my hair. It was starting to look choppy...now it doesn't. :) I am loving it. We had dinner at the Hoff's that night and enjoyed a good few laughs.

Sunday was freezing cold in the church building (as a side note). JR came and stayed the whole time! It was so great to see him there. That night, we had dinner at the Bakers. WE HAD WAFFLES!!!! YUMMMMM!!!!!!!! and instead of whipped cream...we put ice cream!!!! SO GOOD!!

So this email ended out being longer than expected. Looking back, it made me feel better about this week. Right now we are emailing at the Farnsworths. These 2 are characters. I love them :)

​Keep on keeping on!!​

--Sister Carling

Practice and Time

I'm practicing piano again.

Like....a lot!! I mean any time that I see a piano...I'm making my way towards it.

I am getting better. I will have to keep yall updated on how it goes I guess.

So I didn't talk about Monday last week...I'll start there I guess...Monday I cut 4 Elder's hair. IN LESS THAN 2 HOURS!!! I still got my touch!!! :) That was pretty cool to be able to still do that. We emailed at the Fike's and during that it started to POUR!!! Wonderful, wonderful rain. It was so pretty!

Anyways...Tuesday. What happened Tuesday...AH! Tuesday we did service at Sis Kunz. She's about 1/2 way through her pregnancy and is on bed rest. So we went over and ended out entertaining her 5 children under the age of 8 so she could sit down and rest. It was great :) Kids are so funny. I played the piano there.

On Wednesday afternoon, we went to go and visit Mary. She's 90 and we found out her 94 yr old husband just passed away. We are planting seeds for the next life!! I have come to love her :) she is such a sweetheart and loves that we visit her. At dinner with the Fraizers, we were finishing and going into the other room when I spotted the piano. I played the piano there. The kids sang along and we ended out fitting 4 of us on the bench. Loved it :) Needless to say, I loved it too.

Thursday, I finished the Book of Mormon for the first time on my mission. I really started it after Christmas. So it took me about 6 months. It was such a beautiful, special experience where I had the opportunity to reconfirm my testimony. I also had the pleasure of bearing my testimony on the restoration in specialized training. It was so wonderful!! Later that day, when we were in Inverness...*face-to-palm*...We had just gotten out of the car from our ride up there, and a wonderful bird decided to let it go on my head. Yes...the bird pooped on me. BLECK!! So, when we got to our dinner I went straight to the bathroom to clean the remains from my hair.

 Specialized Training

Friday. Planning since we had specialized training. Bingo was fun as ever! we got to talk with the member who got the missionaries there. Norma is SO accomplished. It's awesome. She was born in Houston. This week we are going to go a little early to get to visit with her more and to play rummikub. :) I also got a package from the Keller's!! (they live in my last area). It was so great :) I love them and their family!!! That night we went to the Mediros. Sis O ended out having a Lego gun war. It was pretty epic.

Saturday was filled with wandering. Lots of it. We wandered all over cottage gardens trying to visit former investigators. That night, was dinner at the Roger's. It was Wes' birthday so we all got to wear party hat's and eat cereal. It was yum. :) After that we went to go and visit Sis Rushing. There we made cookies and I got to play the piano a bit. :) Sis R really liked it :)

Sunday. Fathers day. HAPPY DAD'S DAY!!! We started a mustache campaign...I guess.

​

We're cute...I know. We don't really have any progressing investigators right now...so we are doing a lot of service. Another campaign I am trying to start is "Pray for Parkway" I think the two go right hand in hand. If anyone would like to join...BE MY GUEST!!! :) We helped Sis Farnsworth with dinner for Bro Farnsworth and ended out having 2 dinners.  Eventually we ended out at Bishops and teaching the Mustard Seed Parable. We were talking about how tall it could grow and imagining if we had faith that big. Sean said, "Then you'd be Jesus!!" It was great. We all had a laugh.

We just ended the transfer. I am staying in Parkway for at least another 6 weeks.

Here's to transfer 2 w/Sis O/4 in Parkway/6 total!!

God Bless from Texas!!

--Sister Carling

Kissing a Frog

Sister O kissed a frog in hopes that he would be a prince charming... I just held him and looked cute. He's a big ole fellow.

 

Tuesday we went to go and visit Maggie. No fun quotes, but we always are able to learn from her. Later that evening, we went to go and visit the Ellis'. Sis Ellis said, "Make sure your testimony is not built on circumstances." How true that is!! When we got home, Sis O started making a GF cheesecake for me :) It had a GF ginger snap crust. SO.DELICIOUS!!!

Wednesday. I left my teens. They're gone. Bye bye!! Really I don't feel any different. It's just a weird number. Sis O got me an awesome taco necklace. (If you don't know about the awko-taco...it's just an awkward moment.) That night, we had dinner at the Fike's. They made it pretty special :) I enjoyed all the birthday wishes and cards. THANK YOU Darla for the CD!! I am loving it!! Thanks family for the gift. It sat there all day...begging me to open in. Eh...everything was begging me to open it. So I opened 2. :) haha. We went to mutual and bishop had to tell everyone that it was my birthday. So I was sung to again. Overall...my birthday was great. Thanks again to everyone.

 

 Happy Birthday to me!  I am not a morning person...

Thursday we had a really great planning day. The best we've been able to do. On our way to dinner, There were 2 stray dogs. Sis O, being the saint she is, wanted to find the owner. They didn't answer. SO in a plight to keep them safe, we went tracting in order to find someone to hold on to them and call the owners. One of the most awkward door approaches I'm sure you can imagine. Late in the evening we went to go and visit Penny's family. They are the cutest! She was on the phone and so we got to chat with the rest of the family. They are so kind. We just love them.

Friday we had Zone meeting. After that we had exchanges. SOOO Sister Andersen came to my area. We went and played bingo with our friends. I got to learn a lot from her. She game me this quote and it says, "He wants [us] to learn to walk and therefore hake away His hand; and if only the will to walk really there He is pleased even with [our] stumbles." God is so pleased with even our smallest efforts. All we need to do is try our best. He will guide us in the right direction.

On Saturday, when Sis O was back, we went to Cottage Gardens. We got to see Sherri Fish, the one who got a blessing, and she gave us some good advice: "You determine your own future capabilities " and "If you don't diffuse...you loose." You must be able to disperse anger and frustration...you can't just bottle it up. On our way home, we saw the big ole bullfrog. He was almost dead. Sis O is just so awesome at wanting to save animals. She's got a love and gift for that.

Sunday, I spoke in church on missionary work. President Pingree also spoke...along with Bishop. The last 2 hours we had Diana Hoelsher come and speak about member missionary work. Members job is to provide the social conversion, while missionaries job is to provide the spiritual conversion. It got many members excited to help and making their families better geared to inviting. Missionaries get transferred...members stay. You can always keep trying. So...go get 'em :)

Well...that's about it.

Thanks for all the prayers and birthday wishes!!

God bless from Texas.

--Sister Carling

It rained and poured...2 days till 20

Hello all!!

This week again was interesting...I experienced my first Texas rain. Boy...was that crazy. I can't wait to show y'all pictures.

I am also saying farewell to my teens and hello to my 20's. It happens this week.​...fer reals!!

Let's not think about it.​

On to my week.

On Monday, ​Sis Mclane treated us to mani-pedi's . It was wonderful. I cannot express you you how wonderful it felt. My feet were happy.  That night we had dinner with the Foster's. That's when the rain began...

Tuesday it rained and rained and poured some more. So...we cleaned and cleaned and cleaned some more. Momma Ro was coming home that week and we figured it would be a great surprise for her to come home to a clean house. We had dinner with Sister Pearson. She makes me laugh :)

​Temple Wednesday. It was beautiful. I learned so much and I was able to feel the spirit so strongly. When we came home, momma Ro was there. It was so great to see her again.

Elder Ferrin, Elder Graham, Sister Ostvig, 
Sister Carling, Sister Walker, Sister Ririe

Thursday we had dinner with the Farnsworths. It rained more that day.

On Friday, we stopped by and visited Maggie. I have words of advice: 

 Every time you swallow, count your blessings.

 Don't just get married...go to The Lord and ask. He may not be the one.

I love Maggie. She's so great :) that afternoon, we went to an assisted living center. We played bingo. :) I miss my ​ wise,​ ​elderly ladies!! I hope all is well for y'all. That night we had dinner at the Hammer's. It's so great.   They are always making me laugh.​ Later that evening, we stopped by the Roger's. I love this family. They were performing a critical hair issue on a doll...It's hair had been washed...with shampoo. I came right in the nick of time to help untangle it a bit and to give it a much needed haircut. Mission accomplished!! (Not!! I still got a number of months left!!)

Sister Carling and Emma Rogers with a happier doll!

It rained more on Saturday. LOTS more. That night we had the stake conference night session. It was all about hastening the work of salvation. It was amazing. The Klien area is growing so fast. 

Sunday was wonderful. At stake conference, ​P​resident and Sister Pingree spoke. I have come to love them so much. I was able to be edified and uplifted through the whole  stake conference.  I learned a lot about traction and endurance. Practice, repentance, practice. We cannot grow if we cannot practice. It's just like playing the piano. We must become a "master saint". Be the best and act the best you can. God did NOT place you on the Earth to fail...he placed you here to gain a body and have faith that through that faith you would want to change...or to repent. As you repent you would have the desire to enter into covenants with the Lord, where, as long as we remain worthy, we will receive a beautiful gift, we would have his Spirit to be with us always. 

Today was kinda crazy. As you can see it's a little late to be emailing out. Well, Annie Olsen invited us to go to the zoo today with her husband and son. It was great. We left at about 8 and walked and walked. It was awesome to be able to feed the giraffes! Today was my first taste of Downtown Houston and I loved it! Needless to say, I am a bit tired. 

After that, we went shopping and I attempted to type out my email on Annie's phone. In between stops to Costco and Kroger where we saw many members who said, "Hi missionaries!!" It made me feel loved. After all those trips we finally got to the church building. This is where we got to hang out with our district and have some relaxing fun where we got to know each other. It was wonderful. The sister's (Ririe and Walker) baked me a wonderful cake, we played some basketball and just talked.

Tonight we had dinner at the Black's. We talked all about missionary work. Have you ever played the "knot" game?? Where you put all your hands in the middle and you have to untangle yourself? That's what we did. We asked the 18 year old to untangle all of us without us moving. It doesn't work. When we all worked together we had success. The same goes for members and missionaries. When we have the help of members...We can succeed SO much quicker. There is an article in the June Ensign all about it. It is titled "That We May Rejoice Together". I would admonish all of you to read it. Members are key in any conversion.

I've been able to learn quite a bit this past week.​ But tonight, as Sis O and I sat looking over the lake in Gleanloch...I really did feel close to God...even if i didn't realize it at the time.

He was there.

He was there in the ripples. He was in the pine needles. He was there in the sunset, the ant's and mosquito's that tried to eat us, and most of all...He was there beside me.

The grace and mercy of God is in everything we see. Do not doubt that. He is actively paving a path for you so that you don't have to clear any impossible barriers.

I've been blessed with a testimony that Jesus is the Christ. So how can I keep from singing?? The Lord is mindful of you and what you do. Keep your faith in him so that He can guide you through your life on the best route possible: The Plan of Happiness.

This is my testimony and I declare this in the name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

God Bless From Texas.

​Sister Carling

 What we see when we head out the door

How we are the majority of the time!

 How we are the rest of the time!!

Disclaimer:  Sister O and I never have too much fun!

 Can you just see that utter joy radiating from my face?!