Stress, Success, and Tornado Warnings

Hello Everyone,

This past week was stressful....I mean WAY-more-than-the-average kinda stressful. I was in 3 musical numbers, we were opening Blinn Campus for an LDSSA, plus missionary work and service and practicing. It all got done. It was just really hard and exhausting and stressful. But missionary work is hard and hard work makes things worth it.

Monday we were finishing up the poster for Blinn. This thing is huge just so you know. it's probably like 3x8ft. I'll send a picture of it soon. We will be pulling it out a few more times before semester ends. So the Elders were kinda helping and I was working on the musical number Elder Fa'a and I and a few others would be doing on Thursday for Zone conference. It was a merge of "Lead, Kindly Light" and "I Need Thee Every Hour".

Tuesday was THE big day. The Tradition's YSA Elders and Sisters came down to help us, the Brenham Elders and Sisters, with the campus and talking to people. We got 71 names, numbers and emails of people who are interested in coming closer to Christ. This pretty much blew everyone's mind. President was truly inspired when he gave us this daunting task. People are ready here in Brenham. We were just looking in ALL the wrong places. I've seriously been dreaming about this since the time I got here to Brenham...and now I'm living it. It's awesome to be living your dreams. That afternoon we went and helped Sister Jackson out and got to know her better. Dinner was with the WONDERFUL Jensen's. Sis Jensen and I practiced our musical number that I was performing for Sunday night at the Mission Presidents Fireside. That evening we went to the Relief Society activity because Trisha was the speaker at it!! YAY! she did so great.

Wednesday morning before "Big-Day #2" we went over to Alma's and reviewed the 10 commandments with her. She's awesome. Then we went to Blinn to set up and to get more names and numbers for the club. We and the Elders got about 30 making a grand total of 100 names. It's awesome!! After lunch we went to Kruze Village and helped out there. We made our way to the Beard's (after a few other stops) for dinner. We were able to practice another one of my songs that I was singing in church on Sunday. 

Thursday we were up and at 'em early for Zone conference in Cypress. We reviewed the Plan of Salvation in great detail. I got to see some of my Parkway Ward members because they fed us lunch!! :)  Our musical number with Elder Fa'a and Su'a and Sis Powell Nuttall and I went fabulously. That night we had dinner with the Jarnagins!! Brock Jarnagin had just gotten back from his mission the night before. It was one of those bitter sweet moments to just see his nametag on the counter...just sitting there. It was also great to hear of some of his stories from Los Angeles CA. What's sad is to think that they are moving to Mississippi in less than a month!! Sports night that night consisted of us and the Elders, Bro Tolman, Brock, Tanner and Jordache. We all had a fun time. We played basketball.

 Zone Conference

Us on our year mark (in Houston) at Zone Conference!

MTC Buddies

Me, Sister Hassell, and Sister Fulmer 

Friday we had district meeting. service. finding. practicing at the Jensen's one last time. and weekly planning. Everything has been pretty topsy-turvy lately. BUT it's okay.

Saturday there were tornado warnings for the area...no big deal. We started out by helping to clear a cemetery for the BSA 100K hours of service. It was a mess and a little overwhelming at first, but as a branch, we were able to clear out a portion of it to make a night and day difference.

I'm the one in the bright orange and pink-camo hat :)

Back: Bro Knox, The Stouts, Sis Pugh, Elder Knight, Bro Llewellyn, Elder Fa'a, Bro Beggs Jr, Sis Bekah Plumb, Bro Ermis, Bro Tolman, Bro Millsap, Sis Millsap, Me, Ben Carlile

Front: Bro Beggs Sr Emma Llewellyn, _ Millsap, Michel, Beggs, Ellise Millsap, Grant Millsap, Hohlt Ermis, Charles Llewellyn, Sam Beggs, Dallas Millsap.

Sister Pugh and Me

We were able to find a few graves that were lost because of the thick overgrowth. (You couldn't see past where we stood. It was covered with overgrowth and foliage and all sorts of madness, mice, frogs, and poison plans.) THANKFULLY, none of us got poison oak or poison ivy. Halleluiah!! That afternoon we went out to Sis Carlile's for a last practice for the musical number in church. Then we drove to the Beggs...in the couple hours we were there helping out and having dinner, it rained like 6-8 inches. It was CRAZY!!

Sunday we had our regular church meetings and church where I gave my 2 musical number. Amanda came with us for the rest of the day and we went tracting with her (HER FIRST EXPERIENCE EVER!!! and we didn't even know until AFTER). WE FOUND A NEW INVESTIGATOR!! We also asked this lady if she was interested in learning more about her family history and her reaction to us was "Actually, I don't really care about my family history...they're all dead!!" We all had a chuckle about that. Then we headed up to college station for the Mission President's Fireside. I wish ya'll could have been there. It was amazing. Jordache spoke and gave an AWESOME testimony of his conversion. I gave my final musical number. The spirit was REALLY there last night. It was awesome to be apart of it!

Mission Presidents Fireside
Elder Visser, Elder Cloward, Elder Brittan, Elder Weaver, Elder Nevile
Sister Carling, Sister Pugh, Sister Andreasen

Finally, here is my gift you you: #sharethegift. Look for more opportunities to share it this Christmas season. This is like the #becauseofhim campaign, but believe me...this will be even bigger.

Keep on keeping on!!

--Sister Carling

It's Way Too Cold...

It's been a pretty great week...other than the weather. Do y'all remember the winter last year? And how I talked about how bipolar it was with the temperatures? It's been cold for a solid week now (like high 30's- mid 50's). By Friday it will be like 70...still cold because it's humid cold. 

I'll get over it.

Monday we got to have dinner at the Carlile's. Per Sis P's request, we had funeral potato's and ham. I got to practice my song that I will be singing on the 23rd. We had FHE with the Chapdelaine's and played some basketball after...I cannot shoot for the life of me...but I can defend :)

Tuesday was kinda crazy. We came to Blinn college to figure out what we are doing next week. It's going to be awesome. SO!! What we are doing is we are going to try to start and establish LDSSA here on campus along with an institute class!! Brother Garlick came down from College station and we figured it out down here. It's going to be awesome. We start inviting tomorrow through the rest of the week. Like I said, it's going to be awesome :) That afternoon we did service with the Elders for one of our investigators. We cleaned her mother-in-law's lawn and it looks fantastic. After we got ready to go back out we stopped by Linda's really quickly to leave a prayer with her. Dinner was with the Moore's and Bailey (cute little girl) made sure I sat next to her again. That night we did some contacting and got to see Kalisa (a recent convert's wife). It was one of those little miracles :) We stopped by Sister Tieman's and we are trying to get her back to the temple. I got to hide her coffee pot as a result. Let me just say....I have wanted to do this my whole mission. It was awesome to check it off the mission bucket list :)

Wednesday we re-taught parts of the Plan of Salvation to Alma. SHE GET"S IT!!! It's been SO cool to watch her understand these things. I know I say this every week, but it's awesome!!! Sister Beard came and we all went to lunch after. That afternoon we were out at the Gouge's helping to pick up Pecan's. The elder's were in the trees shaking them and WHAM!! a branch fell and hit me in the head. You know in cartoons how the big horn comes and grows out of their head....that's kinda how it felt...and it bled a little bit. "What doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger". We went to Kruze per usual and worked on the "Blinn Board" a little bit that evening before correlation. That sums up Wednesday.

 

 Me in a tree

 My Cut on my head (Taking after you Dad!! HAHA!!)

Thursday we did some planning before we had to head off to our appointment with Tricia. We had a great lesson and lunch!! We all then had to rush a little our separate ways  Cuz we all had something at 3. After service at Gazebo, we went to the Tractor supply to get me some gloves. YAY FOR WARM HANDS!! That night we had Sports night with the usual crowd at the church due to the weather.

Friday district meeting. Then lunch. Then new beginnings WHERE we cut out all the lights on a pre-lit Christmas tree...I wouldn't recommend it. Visited Sis Tieman. Then to the Biggs for dinner and working on the Blinn board. The boy's weren't there so it was oddly quiet. Different, but nice because we got to know Brother and Sister Biggs better. :)

Saturday we found a couple estate/garage sales for contacting at. Then family history. Then the Elder's played a trick on us. They changed their number to be Pres Mortensen's #. Elder Fa'a Is really great at impersonating people. Then more contacting/blinn boarding. That evening was the Relief Society Pres's Surprise 40th birthday, Sis Jackson's. It was good to visit some of the members and random other people who came. 

Yesterday, as cold as it was, went amazingly!! We had our regular meetings and church. BUT!! Amanda Chapdelaine came with us for the rest of the day. We wanted her to come with us to a lesson. So after dinner at the Jackson's, we taught an awesome first lesson to a family that we tracted into a few weeks ago. Ya'll remember me mentioning Brianna?? Maybe?? Well...her Uncle's ability to recognize light, goodness, and the spirit was amazing!! The Amanda was SO great. She was able to bear such a strong testimony. We invited them to be baptized and they said they would. We then proceeded to invite them with a specific date and they declined. They said that they needed to take it to the Lord first and study it out just as Moroni 10:3-5 said. We scheduled a follow-up appointment for Saturday and we are going to again invite them to the Mission President's Fireside on Sunday (I'll be singing at it!!). Ricky, the uncle is so prepared. The spirit was very strong in our lesson. He willingly shared his thoughts and his feelings and we had to work a little harder for answers from his niece and wife. All in all, it was an awesome lesson. Truth was recognized. The Spirit was felt.

Thank's ya'll for the prayers of support. I really feel the Spirit confirming a lot of things out here because of it. It's wonderful to experience the joy that comes having it so close!!

Have a blessed day y'all!!

--Sister Carling

I'm One Years Old

That year blew right on by...I can't believe that I entered the MTC that long ago...or short ago. How ever you look at the glass.

So last Tuesday was our Preparation day. That night we had dinner with the Beards and after, the activity day's girls had invited us to come to their "Fashion Show". They had made a couple different skirts to go with the season's and they were just adorable. It was fun. 

Wednesday we had our lesson with Alma. We brought Sis Tolman with us and we taught the Plan of Salvation. After, Sis Pugh and I decided that we needed to teach it again for understanding. SO, that is what we will be doing on Wednesday. Before lunch we went to help out over at Freedom Hill. OH MY GOODNESS. Sister Pugh found me the perfect Christmas shirt.

​Isn't it the best?! That afternoon we went to Kruze Village. Our regular pianist wasn't there so I got to sing acapella after bingo was done. The lady Sis Pugh helped stared at her the whole time. Sister Pugh tried to turn her around but she turned right around and stared. It was pretty funny. That night we did more contacting and then had correlation. 

Thursday we did some planning and went on exchanges! YAY!! I got to go to College Station and be companions with Sister Andreason. She's awesome. While we were there we got to teach one of their investigators the law of chastity and we got to meet with one of their recent converts. She's too cute. Her name is Taylor and she decided that she wanted to email me. Kinda like an insta-friend. After that we went home and Sister Andreason found out that her brother is going to Finland on his mission 1 month before she get's home!! It was awesome to be there with her when she was told the news. 

Friday I got to be in CS for district meeting. The power in that room was exhilarating!! It made me so excited to go out and do awesome things. We were at the institute waiting for Sister Pugh and Mclean to get back from Brenham. I got to talk to Bro Garlick about a couple things for getting LDSSA started up down here at Blinn. That's been the latest assignment that president has given to us. After getting back to Brenham, we did some service at New Beginnings and we got to clear up some misconceptions about Mormon's and Christmas and the Book of Mormon. It was such a great opportunity for us to be able to bear our testimonies!! That night we had dinner out at the Carlile's. I just love them. 

Saturday we did some garage-ing on our way to the church. WE GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE WITH THE YOUTH!!! :) I was able to do a couple family names I had found and Jordache was able to do a couple of names that I had found. It was awesome!!! After, we went to lunch and we were all able to talk. There were about 15? youth there and I am so grateful that I was able to go with them. That night we wrote thank-you note's to a few members of the branch. I love them!!

At the Houston Temple with the youth.

 Sister Carling & Sister Pugh with recent convert Jordache.
  

Yesterday was kinda cool because we had an awesome experience. We both received an impression that we needed to switch what time we did our studies and what time we were out so that way we would have more daylight to do some finding, but we didn't know where to go. We decided to start by going to a park. When we got there, there was this lady unloading things and we decided to help her. She was setting up a birthday party and didn't have any help. It was great to be able to serve in the community because there have in the past been lot's of anti feelings. She might not have been receptive at that moment, but I know we planted a seed in her heart. After, when we were walking around the park, we came across this Spanish-speaker. I haven't really spoken Spanish (and it was limited) since I served in Sealy Branch. I was able to tell him who we were, where the church building was and that there were a few members who spoke Spanish. I look at it as a "gift of tongues" moment. It was a miracle that I remembered words that I hadn't learned for like 4 or 5 years. 

Last thought: Will Heavenly Father answer your prayers? HOW do you think He will? Most of the time, we know how He will, How can you make it happen? You know the answers to all your problems. They all reside within yourself. 

Hope yall are gearing up for the holidays!!! I love them! :) I love the spirit of Christmas and the love that goes with it!! Christ is the reason for Christmas. It's the best time of year to be a missionary!! :) 

Keep moving forward!!

--Sister Carling

 We were at the park. I got sick on the spinney thing...BUT IT WAS FUN!! :)
 

Finished Quilt

I Still Find No Purpose in Daylight Savings Time.

Well...I don't have too much time this week. Let's see how quickly i can get through this.

Down to business.

Our weeks are always a blur...hang on...

...

......

...Okay. I got it.

Monday we had dinner with the Moore's and it was super great. Their girls are the cutest...just so y'all know. Then we tracted their neighbors.

Tuesday we went to visit Sister Chapdelain and she cut our hair. I must announce that my hair is now all even and on the growing out stage!! YAY!! That afternoon we got a media referral and we went out to go and visit them. They weren't too interested (we'll try back) but their neighbor is!! She's 14 and we are super excited to be able to teach her. Dinner with the Jensen's is always looked forward to...They've become surrogate parents. We love them LOTS!!

Wednesday my planner and Preach My Gospel got destroyed by water. I'm keeping them though. They are just crinkly and...they have character! Haha. We had a lesson with Alma about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We were able to teach her more about repentance and it was great to see her come to understand the Gospel more! We did some service at freedom hill, had lunch, and went to Kruze Village. I love my elderly friends. That night we helped Sister Biggs out before mutual and helped clean the church with the youth. After we carved pumpkins and got to build better relationships with the youth. Brother Jensen ran and got us dinner. LOVE THEM! During correlation Elder Fa'a shared Alma 32:28 and made an acronym for "SEED": Swell, Enlarge, Enlighten, Delicious. It was pretty profound and VERY enlightening.

Cleaning out the seeds.  My favorite.  NOT!!

Thursday we went to the Corn Maize after a little planning. Sister Gouge invited us so that we could meet some of her friends. It was pretty fun :) After we went to play some games at Gazebo. They too funny. That night we had dinner with some YSA's who come to our branch. They are so sweet!! Anna and Desirey. They are cousins and they go to Blinn. After, we went to sports night but only us and Tanner Jarnagin showed up. The elders were detained for being good citizens as a witnesses to a car accident. SO we canceled it, Tanner left, and contacted people in the park inviting them to come the next week.

 Completed the Corn Maze!!

Friday we had Zone meeting up in College Station. So we drove all the way up there and came back in time for service at New Beginnings. After that we went to help at the church for the Harvest festival. The Elders Judged the Chili and Sis Pugh and Sis Biggs judged the cornbread. I took pictures and looked cute. We came in early due to Halloween and did some planning and went to bed a little early.

 

 Sister Carling and Sister Pugh at the ward Harvest Festival.

Judging the Chili and Cornbread.

For Halloween we traded name tags with the Elders!!

Saturday we did some contacting in the morning before Family History. That afternoon we did some contacting and then drove out to the Biggs for dinner. We needed to vacuum our car and the boy's fought over who got to vacuum it out. we split the car in half. I swear those boys might have a crush on my. I find it quite hilarious. When we got home we changed the clocks. I still hate daylight savings time changing stuff. Oh well!

Sunday we got to sleep in an extra hour. We had meetings and church and studies as usual. The Jensen's made us a to-go dinner. (Love them so much!!) We went to visit a few people and that was pretty much our day...I also learned that you are Saved to the extent that you want to be saved. AND I learned about how important it is to set goals.

Monday we went to Houston. We were able to learn from Elder Corbridge. He is amazing. We were able to sit by him at lunch and talk with him there. I got tried out for the Mission president's fireside and I will be singing in it on the 23rd!! So excited!! We got back to Brenham at around 6.  We had dinner with the Jensen's again. 

That's a rap.

Be blessed and bless others by sharing your testimony.

Much love,

--Sister Carling

MY QUILT!!! Imagine it with a star in the middle of the blue...and there you have it!!

Half of the Houston mission.  Can you find Sister Carling??