We Got A Miracle!

January 19, 2015

God works in mysterious ways here in Clinton. With a new companion and a brand new branch president, I think we're ready to baptize this transfer. Actually scratch that, I KNOW we're ready to baptize this transfer. I'll probably be somewhere else in five weeks, so I'm hoping to make these last few weeks all worth the hard work that we've done here!

My new companion's name is Elder Fowers (not Flowers). He's from Logan, UT and has been out on his mission for a year and a half. He'll most likely die here in Clinton. He's really great and we're getting along just fine. He's just blown away by how "country" it is down here. He says that after serving in a Spanish ward in Raleigh for six months, this is a huge change. You might even say a 180.

In other news, we also got a new branch president. President Jones was in there for two years and I guess they decided that a change was needed. Change is exactly what this branch needs in order to grow again! The most growth we've had here has been from convert baptisms, and even those are mostly just from the efforts of the missionaries. We're kind of on our own here as far as missionary work. Our focus this transfer will be lighting a fire under the members and helping them achieve a level of conversion that allows them to do missionary work on their own. I think we can do it.

The miracle this week comes from Hermana J. After all of these spirit packed lessons we've taught here, she has finally decided on a baptismal date! I guess she came to the conclusion that her kids will follow her example. We've been praying for that. Even President Bernhisel has been praying for that. So she will be baptized on the 14th of February! I know she could be ready sooner, but the 14th is her mother's birthday, so it'll be special that way. The other miracle with this is how incredible her faith is! We taught her the Word of Wisdom this week as well and she has decided to live it! She's always saying "primeramente Dios" and she's proven to us and to Him that she really means that. She's had an addiction to coffee for a long time. She said if she doesn't drink coffee before bed or in the morning, she gets a headache that won't go away and she'll end up throwing up. So we gave her a blessing according to her faith and we told her we'd call her every day until our next visit. So we called her the next day and she said that she got a headache, but she took some pills and went to sleep. It's now five days later and she hasn't drunken any coffee and she no longer gets headaches! Now THAT is a miracle. She also came to church yesterday and we didn't even have to guide her or anything. She comes, finds her seat with a member she knows (or a member who takes her in) and she just rides the Spirit all the way to the end of church. This reminds me of when we taught Alberto and Max. It's the members that really made the difference in their conversion and I'm seeing that happen to J as well. She will be baptized. It's only a matter of time.

As for everything else, it's great. Missionary work is great, and it's changed me. It can change you too if you put in the effort! It's all about coming to Christ, allowing Him to change you, and then helping others receive the same blessings. Remember that. One who is truly converted to the Gospel shares the Gospel.

Thanks for all the prayers in my behalf! I love you all!

-Elder Landon Carroll

Successful Week, Transfers Tomorrow

January 12, 2015

Good morning,

It's a rainy morning here in NC. I love it when it rains cause it makes my studies very relaxing. But it does make the work a little harder. You would think more people would let us in just to be nice and get us out of the rain, but that's not the case. Same goes with cold weather. We went tracting on Thursday when it was 17 degrees and no one would let us in because "it's too cold. Come back another day." And then my companion's lips went completely numb so he couldn't speak! And his smile looked completely ridiculous! We were contacting these ladies and we couldn't stop laughing because of it!

Well I have my new planner with me so I'll see if I can cover all of the important things that happened this week.

We had great success with J, K (M), S, and K.

We had a great lesson with J. If you look back at last week's email. she really wants to get baptized but just wants her kids to be baptized with her. We had a lesson with her on Wednesday with Hermano Navas and Elder Mora (we were on exchanges for the day). We talked a lot about baptism and how it's a commandment and how if she was baptized she could receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost and help lead her kids to baptism. Then Elder Mora told his conversion story of how he wasn't gonna get baptized, but the example of his mom and brother led him to baptism. We asked her how she felt and she said "Well, I'm just thinking. I know my children will be baptized. I really feel that." So then we left her the invitation to pray about the date. She came to church yesterday and we have an appointment with her tomorrow so I'll let you know what she says when we follow up! She's a really great lady with a light in her eyes. Hermano Navas asked her what she would do if her kids didn't want to get baptized. She said "I'll still get baptized. God first." So there it is. She will get baptized, we just don't know when. I have a strong feeling that it will be this month though.

The next one is K. He's the man that believes the children of Israel were black (and who's to say that they weren't? His argument is in Deuteronomy 28:68 and in Revelations 1:13-14. He claims Jesus was a black man because of the "wool-like" hair and brass feet burned. The argument in Deuteronomy is that blacks were brought into slavery by ship and that they as a race fit the attributes described in chapter 28.) But he's a really good guy who is a seeker of of truth. He really likes the idea of the Restoration and we plan to teach him the Plan of Salvation tomorrow. He said he'll absolutely get baptized if he comes to find that these things are true. He should be at church this Sunday.

S is doing great as well. Sometimes as missionaries we just want people to hop in the water, but they really do have to learn and progress just as we do. S has a very real desire to come closer to God and receive His blessings. She's not progressing rapidly by any means, but she has started to read and pray on her own. We've also started teaching her fiance, R. He's not quite as willing to act as she is, but he loves our messages and they both now have Books of Mormon. We had a member come with us, Sister Tart, on Saturday night. We taught them the Plan of Salvation and the Spirit wasn't strong, but they felt it for sure. The most powerful part of that lesson is the Atonement. It's because of Jesus Christ that we can one day return to live with our Heavenly Father.

K is a very nice man. I think I mentioned this last week, but a year ago his fiance died. He kind of just wonders why bad things happen to good people and is really looking for more faith. He has started to read a little more each day and we actually have an appointment with him later today. We've invited him to be baptized, but he said he'll think about it. I think as he sees the blessings of the Gospel come into his life, he'll want to get baptized. It's only a matter of time.

So there you have it with the investigators. All of these people are strong potentials to be baptized. Our goal is 3 baptisms this transfer, but I think we can get 4 or 5. That's my goal. It's only a matter of time before we start splashin'.

I haven't met my new companion yet. But we're suspecting that he'll be the new District Leader, so that will throw a spin into the work. I'll find out who he is tomorrow and then friend him on Facebook so y'all can see who he is.

And that was my week. Hoping to make this next one a good one!

Love you all!

-Elder Landon Carroll

This is a drawing of Landon's plans for the city of Clinton!!!

A New Year

January 5, 2015

Good morning!

Hope you all had a great week wherever you may be reading this. Mine was great as usual. It's starting to get colder here in NC, but I still manage to be good with just a sweater. We've had some pretty big rainstorms as of late. I woke up a couple nights ago at 5 am and it was POURING! The bad news is it only lasted for about five minutes (I like it when it pours). Yesterday we actually had a tornado warning for a little bit, but we didn't find out until later that night. I guess it was no big deal.

On Monday we didn't do much because there really isn't anything to do in Clinton. We pretty much slept and then briefly hunted for one of my ancestor's graves. We're still trying to find out exactly where it may be located, but I'll let you know if we find it.

On Tuesday we had  a pretty great lesson with A. This is the lady (I don't know how much I've actually talked about her) that's about 65, black, and Baptist.  She had met with the missionaries before, but didn't understand anything, so we've been teaching her. She's actually really enjoying the Spirit that we bring and the Book of Mormon. But the Book of Mormon is actually her biggest hold up. She's having a hard time seeing the purpose of it and how it doesn't take away from the way she was raised. We planned to teach the Plan of Salvation, but we ended up just reading a chapter in the Book of Mormon with her to help her understand everything. We called her the other day just to check up and she said "reading a chapter with yall really helped. I really enjoyed that." She'll get baptized for sure. I had a dream about a month ago and I saw my Preach My Gospel front inside cover where you can write all the people you've baptized and confirmed and I'm pretty sure her name was on there, so we'll see what happens!

Wednesday obviously wasn't gonna be the most productive day. Seeing as it was New Year's Eve, we pretty much just went and stopped by some people and attempted to teach some lessons. Well, we only got one in, and it wasn't a very good one. No one in the branch or anything invited us over, so we just ate dinner at around 6 and then called it a night. I think we ended up watching a movie and eating some cookies or something? Uneventful, really.

On Thursday we went in the morning and did some service for the Tyndall's. They own an apartment that they rent out (we might actually move into it in a couple weeks, still praying about it) and we went and raked the leaves out of the yard. Then, later that night we had a lesson with J. We had Hermano Navas with us, but overall it was a good lesson. One of her daughters was there so we also taught her. We talked about the Holy Ghost and how to know our message is true. It was good. We did another one of those "someone will feed us, let's take it by faith" nights and it worked! J after the lesson served us tamales! These were really good, not to mention there was no menudo involved. But J can cook! Everything she's ever made us has been super good. While we were eating we asked her how she really felt about baptism. She said she wants her kids to be part of it as well, but the heart says yes. She's just waiting on them to be taught/agree to be baptized at this point. We're praying that they accept. That's the only thing holding J back.

We also had a great lesson with an investigator named S. I think I mentioned her before, but she's a black woman, 30ish. We finally were able to sit down and have a real lesson with her. We taught her the Restoration and she ate it up! She agreed to be baptized on the 31st. She's super excited to read the Book of Mormon to find out if what we told her is true. We were expecting her at church yesterday, but it didn't happen. In fact, none of the people we invited to church last week showed up. I think that's the biggest problem with Clinton and the country folk that live here. They just don't quite follow through on their commitments. We plan to contact them more frequently this week, perhaps daily if needed. That will remind them that WE'RE STILL HERE and that they COMMITTED.

Friday nothing eventful happened.

Saturday the sisters had another baptism. It's the husband of the lady that was baptized about a month ago. By some sort of miracle he finally agreed to be baptized. That's the power of the Gospel and the Spirit the sisters brought with them.

Yesterday we had a good day at church. We got assigned super last minute to teach Elders Quorum third our, so we pretty much just stood up there and winged it. We got some good discussion in with the brethren, but man I wish we had had more time to prepare. We pretty much just taught the Plan of Salvation and emphasized the Gospel of Jesus Christ and covenants and how they tie us back to God. Later that night, we had a Noche de Hogar (family home evening) with all the Hispanic members at the church. We just made it super simple and it turned out really spiritual. We just did a simple church tour and stopped at each painting and had people share experiences and testimonies about each painting. The members all really enjoyed it. I love the Hispanics because they're all so unified and friendly to each other. Kind of like a big family. We were all laughing and feeling the Spirit and having a great time. After the tour, we ended in the Relief Society room with refreshments and a movie. Overall it was just a great night. We're planning to do this the first week of every month, so hopefully it sticks when I leave.

Speaking of leaving, my companion, Elder Salvatierra, is getting transferred. We got a call the other day from President and turns out he's going to be District Leader! So that means that I'll have a new companion next Tuesday. Hopefully he's a good one! All the Spanish missionaries seem to be good, so I'm not too worried about it. The main thing is that we baptize. With all the recent success we've been having, we should be baptizing multiple people this transfer.

And that was my week! And Mom, I finally got the J Crew package. Thanks for the sweater! I won't dry it!

-Elder Landon Carroll

Love this Elder!

What an amazing Christmas gift we had.....we got to Skype with Landon in North Carolina!!!!!!  It was so awesome to see his face and smile and to hear his voice.  He still has his clever sense of humor and loves to enjoy life.  He face was happy and you could tell that he loves being a missionary.  I loved being able to ask questions and just have a conversation that went back and forth.  Writing and receiving letters are great but nothing is better than seeing your boy in action!  Best Christmas gift ever!

Merry Christmas from Clinton

December 29, 2014

Good morning!

This week was really really great! It felt really long because of Christmas and all this stuff, but it was all super fun! It actually doesn't even feel like Christmas even happened over here, even though it did.

I'll fill yall in on what we did:

On Christmas Eve we pretty much just went around passing out candy canes and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. We also found a new investigator. Her name is Wanda, and she's Truth's mom. We taught Truth a couple months ago. She was great! She was super excited about meeting with us because life seems to be a little hard for her right now. She owns a salon and they're doing construction right above it and with the recent rain she has like a foot of water in her shop. She was really funny though. She said she "didn't want to take lessons" until she came to church. So we kind of left it at that. She said she really just wants God to lead her to higher ground, and I have the confidence that He can help her get there! 

Later that night, we headed over to the Luna's to try these tamales I was so excited about. They gave us those and this strange soup...called menudo. It smelled like a bathroom so I decided to go for the tamales first. They were good! I really did enjoy them. But the menudo was....well just awful. Might have been the worst thing I had ever eaten. It was this soup filled with some vegetables and this floating fluorescent, red meat. I ate one chunk of the meat and just kind of paused after I swallowed to take it in. I decided that it wasn't good. So I went back to the tamales. Then those started tasting bad. So I went back to the menudo and attempted to cut this giant chunk of meat (cow stomach) in half, but was unsuccessful. So I just put the whole thing in my mouth, chewed a little bit, and then swallowed it whole. I'm just surprised it didn't come back up! Gahhhh! That was it. I could not eat any more. So I just went back to the tamales and even struggled to finish those because my appetite was destroyed. I didn't finish the soup because the family told me I didn't have to if I didn't like it. So my companion (Mexican) took my menudo home and now it's in the fridge :)

Christmas was also a great day. We went to the Tyndall's around noon to Skype and to eat lunch. Skyping was great! It was good to see my family all together and happy. Nothing has really changed...just the same people I left at home. Part of me wanted to be there with them, but most of me just wanted to be with the good people of North Carolina. I really do love the people here. The combination of the southern hospitality and the humility of the Hispanic culture is truly a blessing. I'm glad to be where I am. 

Sister Tyndall made a great lunch/dinner. We had roast, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots, biscuits, and some yummy sausage dip. Then they brought out the dessert. They INSISTED that we have both a Klondike bar AND chocolate pie. Needless to say, I was full. In fact, I was so full, that I didn't have to eat until the next morning. Later that night we went to the Barbosas' with Rudy and Yomara and their kids. We had a bonfire, roasted some marshmallows, drank hot chocolate, and watched the Testaments in Spanish. I really enjoyed being there and witnessing such a humble Christmas from the Hispanic culture. It's all about Christ and family for them, and that's really how it should be for all of us. It's about being together with the ones you love. Oh and Mom and Dad, thanks for the Christmas gifts. My watch is beautiful, my scripture cases are perfect, and the new socks make my feet smile.

So besides all the Christmas commotion, we had some miracles this week! We've been doing terrible at getting people to church, so we fasted one Friday so we could get some there. Then on Saturday morning we ordered a pizza to break our fast. Well, the fast spoke for itself after that. We had SEVEN people at church! Wanda came with her son and his two friends, and Josefina came with her son and daughter. The good news is that it looks like Josefina's kids enjoyed it, so with their approval Josefina should be able to have a baptismal date! Also, Wanda said we could stop by this week so we should begin teaching her really soon! So that was the miracle of fasting and prayer. We put our faith together and the Lord gave us success. A LOT of it. Also, I gave a great talk about the Plan of Salvation and agency. I killed it. Brother West (branch mission leader) came up to me after and said "You became a man today! I was proud of you!" I felt really good about it, and I think I was able to touch (with the help of the Spirit) the hearts of many.

One more thing. Yesterday after church we didn't teach a single lesson. We were actually on bikes for most of the week due to lack of miles, so it's been pretty fun lately. My legs are a little tired tough cause we haven't ridden in a while. We rode like twenty miles yesterday, and even rode in the dark. We rode like eight miles home in the dark and rain, and that was actually really fun to me. Glad the Lord protected us on that busy road.

But that was my week. I had a lot of fun, made a lot of memories, and witnessed some great faith building miracles.

Thanks for all your prayers.

-Elder Landon Carroll

Soon to be Christmas

Dec 22, 2014

Good morning everyone, and Merry soon to be Christmas!

It's been a really fun week preparing for Christmas and spreading Christmas cheer to everyone. We did some great activities to do that.

For the first one we went and bought a bunch of muffins and cookies and put them in cute little baggies and passed them out to people in downtown Clinton with "He is the Gift" cards attached. We didn't get really any new investigators or lessons in, but it was super fun just making people's day! Half the people said "no, I'm on a diet," so that was funny.

The rest of the week we just went around wherever and passed out candy canes with the "He is the Gift" cards on them. Once again, no solid contacts (probably our fault for lack of initiative), but just a lot of fun and smiles.

As far as investigators go, we went and taught Josefina again. We taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ and really emphasized the importance of baptism by proper authority. She told us that she needs her family to come to church once (so they can approve) before she says yes. Then she said that they might even want to be part of the church as well! I was pretty satisfied with this answer. It means she does want it at least.

We also had a lesson with Chel. We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well and emphasized baptism and repentance. We invited her to church, but as usual she told us that she was going to her church this Sunday. We think that has something to do with her not quite understanding the Restoration and the meaning of a "one true church." He have another appointment with her tonight, so we're hoping to address that concern. Other than that, she said she feels great about being baptized. She just doesn't quite fully understand the implications of that.

The rest of the week consisted of a lot of knocking doors. We did have success in that department, and we have a lot of return appointments set for next week. Christmas has proved to be a big success with finding. People are just a little more open this time of the year.

Let me go ahead and fill y'all in on plans for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we got invited to go spend dinner with the Lunas. They're making Tamales (which I've never had) so I'm super excited for that! On Christmas Day we're gonna go to the Tyndalls' to Skype. They don't have anything going on, so it should be nice and quiet. I actually don't mind that at all. It just brings back memories of Christmas as a kid. We would open all our presents, eat brunch, and then everyone would nap. Well, except me. I would always be playing with my toys while someone checks out the new PS2 game. Then I would just relax with all my new toys. Fun, right?

Family- I'm not 100% on time for Skyping. I would say just set up the laptop and wait till I call you, cause I don't know when it's gonna happen. But I think I'll be using an iPad or something like that, so it should all work out! Also, I got my Christmas package. I opened it up (cause I figured everything would be wrapped) and it was! Minus the shortbread cookies of course. Those are a treat! I have them sitting on my study desk and every time I eat one, I say "Get these out of my face" cause they're so addicting!

Well that was my week. We had a lot of fun this week and I'm truly grateful for this time of the year. My greatest memories are from Christmases as a kid, and I'm sure I'll form some new memories in North Carolina this year.

Have a wonderful Christmas! And don't forget the reason for the season! #HeistheGift

Con amor,

Elder Landon Carroll

It's Getting Christmasy

December 15, 2014

Heyyyyyyyyyyy,

It's been a tough week, but a good one nonetheless. It's starting to get Christmasy up in here!

Let's see what happened this week...

Chel now has a baptismal date for the 10th of January. We had a lesson with her Saturday night and she seems to be really excited about being baptized. We just really need to teach her about authority again, because when we invited her to church, she said she wants to go to her church. So we'll get on top of that! We have a lesson with her tonight, so we're hoping to talk about covenants, baptism, the Sacrament, and authority along with those.

We were not able to have a lesson with Josefina this week, but we stopped by and found out she is reading and praying on her own! Yay! She didn't come to church, but we have an appointment set for this week. Hopefully she accepts baptism after having such an amazing experience at church last week!

Those are our two main progressing investigators. We finally discontinued teaching Andrew. He just kept going to Anti-Mormon sites AND reading and praying at the same time. I told him that if he kept going to those sites, we wouldn't get an answer. And he hasn't. We visited with him on Tuesday and just had him throw everything at us. All his doubts, concerns, disagreements, just everything. He really REALLY does not like Joseph Smith and doesn't believe in the Book of Mormon. He kept telling us stories of ex-Mormons, reading off articles about how Mormonism is a cult, and even tried to convince us that the Church is greedy because of how much money it has. Needless to say, none of his arguments flew, and he's just convinced we're 15 million brainwashed people. Not likely. So yeah, we dropped him. We left him with "Safety for the Soul" by Elder Holland so maybe that will touch him. We decided that his intent was not real, and that he didn't even really want an answer from God. We're hoping he comes to know the truth one day. There's that agency again. What a killer.

Well the weather is been pretty nice. People say it's super cold, but it doesn't phase me anymore. I think after being in Rexburg for a few months, I just got used to it. We actually did a lot of service this week. We raked leaves, repaired a road, and have plans to set up a Christmas booth outside of Walmart this week. And we pass out like 1,000 "He is the Gift" cards ever day. If you haven't seen the video yet, go to mormon.org/christmas and share it! #HeistheGift

On Saturday we had a great meeting. It was a mission wide Spanish only conference. Elder Zwick of the Seventy came and spoke to us. He served his mission years ago in Argentina, so he had that accent going on. I thought it was funny haha. But he had a lot of great insight. He talked a lot about learning by faith and how the Lord lets us fly solo sometimes so that we can show our faith and gain experience. Well actually, that's life right there. He also talked about what the mission actually is and what it should mean to us. Basically, in the mission we learn principles that apply throughout the Eternities. Marriage 101, Leadership 101, Diligence 101, etc. All these skills and experiences will help throughout Eternity. So that was pretty cool.

So that was our week! It was pretty good. They always feel slow during the week and then the week flies by and you're like woah! But it's all good.

Have a good one!

-Elder Landon Carroll

A Really, Really Great Week

December 8, 2014

Good morning everyone,

Hope y'all had a fantastic week wherever you are. Mine was really really great.

Some things to note:

1. We now have another baptismal date! It's Andrew and Chel now as well. Chel is a very nice black woman, probably 40ish, She still doesn't quite understand authority, but she committed to be baptized on the 10th of January. We have another appointment with her tonight, so hopefully we can clear that up with talking about the Plan of Salvation and the Sacrament. We really want to work on getting her to church this next Sunday, so we think understanding covenants and the Sacrament will help her with that.
As for Andrew, things still haven't changed much. We met with him twice last week. The first visit he was angry about the whole Mike Brown thing, so we kind of talked about agency and how he doesn't have to let the world affect him. But the second visit was pretty great. He said he won't come to church or commit to really anything until he knows if the Book of Mormon is true. So we kind of helped him understand how to gain his answer and what to look for. We also left him with "Safety for the Soul" (my favorite talk) by Jeffery R. Holland. Hopefully that blows his mind and destroys him with the Spirit. We also told him that his answer will not come if he continues to search anti-Mormon stuff on the internet. We're just praying for a miracle at this point! He felt the Spirit last time and we're hoping that carries him to get an answer.

2. Josefina came to church! She's the sweet little Hispanic lady we're teaching. She said she wouldn't commit to baptism until she went to church. I came out of the bathroom yesterday at church and she was just standing in the chapel being greeted by everyone. We had a lesson with her last Thursday with her and a member, and she said she didn't know anyone so it would be hard to come. But we've already had like all the active Hispanic members over to her house, so the member we were with said "You already know like everyone!" So she was definitely comfortable at church yesterday. She went and sat on a bench and a member asked "Did you come alone? Here, come sit with me." So she wasn't alone at that point. I went and sat on the other side of her and helped her find the hymns in Spanish and things. It was testimony meeting and she cried the whole time. She brought her little tissues and everything! Then the members took her in for the rest of the time and we didn't see her until church ended. So I'm thinking she'll get baptized for sure. We'll visit her again this week.

3. We had a great Christmas social Saturday night. Of course, there was food there. Whenever there's food, more people come. The saddest thing is though, that most of them won't come on Sunday! A shame, really. But it was a big success. We had a humble Christmas program. I read the Christmas story and we had some people perform musical numbers. We were pretty worried if it would turn out or not, but it really did.

We also had the opportunity last night to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, which was awesome of course. I have to hand it to President Eyeing on this one. He just has a way of bringing in the Spirit. I love the way he so humbly testified of the Atonement and the birth of the Savior. One thing that really stood out to me this year was just how humble Christ actually was. He could have come down in all His glory to save us, but rather, He came down in the most humble way possible. The Shepherds found Him lying in a manger. Talk about humility. His birth started the theme of His life. He never once thought of Himself, but of the Father, and of us. By Him, and through Him, salvation comes. It's amazing!

Well that was my week. We're definitely seeing the work pick up, especially around this Christmas season. People just seem to be a little more open to our message this time of year.

Lova yall,

-Elder Landon Carroll

Thanksgiving and Laser Pointers

December 1, 2014

Good morning,

Let me just start by saying that I CANNOT believe it's already December again. It seems like just yesterday that I was opening up missionary presents on Christmas. Time really flies, doesn't it? Hard to believe that I've already been out 9 and a half months. But that's just how to cookie crumbles. I'm hoping my mission doesn't go by too fast. Cause it already feels that way.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! My Thanksgiving was fantastic. I wasn't really feeling well the whole day but the dinner we had made up for it! It put me in a food coma for sure! We went to the Tyndall's to have a nice, southern Thanksgiving. We had turkey (cooked in an infrared cooker, actually pretty cool yall should check it out), stuffing, cranberry sauce, collards(yummy), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes of every kind, giblet gravy, ham, deviled eggs, chicken n' pastry, cheesy potato casserole(with onions, aww man), homemade biscuits, and much more! For dessert we had pecan pie, cheesecake, and some Hershey crumb cake sort of thing(really really rich whatever it was). But needless to say, we were taken care of. We got invited to three other Thanksgivings, but after the first one we decided that would be a bad idea.

The rest of the week was also great! I know we're not supposed to play the numbers game, but we taught (don't laugh, Dallin) 17 lessons this week! That's more than we've taught in two months! These were good lessons too. We visited a lot of less active members this week and found three new investigators.

One of our new investigators is Robert. He's a referral from another investigator, Stephanie. He lives in an old high school converted into an apartment complex. It's quite interesting, really. But he's great. He's 36, has three kids, and just wants to rebuild his relationship with God. We taught him the Restoration and he understood it! We invited him to be baptized and he said he would, but we don't have an official date yet. We'll take care of that later this week. But it was funny, while we were teaching him the fire alarm went off. LOUDEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD. He says sometimes it just goes off randomly and everyone goes out in the hallway to see what the damage is, but he can't trust it anymore so he just stays in bed. But Robert is great. Great individual, good Christian. We just really need to focus on commitment with him so that he knows what he's getting into.

Let's see what else we did....I bought a laser pointer so now all of the cats in North Carolina flock to me. It's really funny. Also, we got transfer news yesterday. Both my companion and I are staying! Our branch mission leader said he begged President Bernhisel for us to stay, and here we are! We're planning on baptizing this transfer. Also, we had a great lesson with Josefina. I think I mentioned her last week, but she's 65ish, Catholic, and has a very strong relationship with Christ. And she loves us! I told her last week that I love tres leches cake and then she had some for us a couple days ago! That's when you know they trust, when they feed you. But she was supposed to come to church yesterday, but didn't, so hopefully we'll get her there next week. She said she would get baptized "si Dios quiere," so in other words, she will.

So I was thinking this week about what the Gospel actually means to me. We contacted a man yesterday who said that he didn't need to join a church to be saved. He then asked us what the difference is between us and all the other churches. "What more can your church do to help me with my salvation?" He says. Well, I testified of the Restoration and how we have the proper authority to perform saving ordinances such as baptism, but his Baptist mind couldn't grasp that concept. He's one of those that thinks that the church of Christ is just the whole Christian body, so he wasn't having that. So he told us he was satisfied and then sent us on our way. (After of course asking for our first names and then calling us by those. Little bit of disrespect, but that's pride speaking) But it kind of made me wonder what I could have done differently to catch his interest. So I'd like to pose a question to ya'll. What specific blessings have you seen come from being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints?

I'm gonna end on that note. I'm hoping your answers will give me some greater insight as to what that man is missing in his life.

It was a great week and this week should be even better. Hope yall have a good December 1st! Enjoy the red Jell-O for me!

-Elder Landon Carroll


A view of Fort Brag