Crazy Week!

July 13, 2015

Mornin',

This week was quite interesting. Our numbers don't show it, but we made some great progress in the work the past few days.

Last Friday we got rear ended while waiting to turn left. A man in a Honda Prelude hydroplaned and nailed the back of our car. The bike rack dug into the bumper and the trunk and it's looking to be about $1,100 worth of damage. So that's how we spent our Saturday. The man who hit us didn't even have a license. Hopefully the church will be merciful toward him with that.

This week we met some fantastic new investigators. Their names are A, A, J, and his wife. They're all from Puerto Rico and they're all super intelligent and keeping their commitments. A is the main one we're teaching, and he read two pamphlets and watched the Restoration DVD before our second visit. He understands everything and seems to be recognizing the Spirit. We've visited them twice more since then and we explained the first half of the Plan of Salvation yesterday and they actually understood the Fall! It's clear that the Lord has prepared them to receive the Gospel. We have a member who is from Puerto Rico as well and he's coming with us on Thursday to teach them. I have full confidence that they will be baptized in the near future. A already agreed that he would be baptized when he gains a testimony. Now we just have to pray that that happens soon.

I'm finally getting the hang of being district leader. We won't be having another district meeting for another two weeks, but I'm really enjoying accounting with the Elders and Sisters and helping them resolve their concerns. And I got numbers in on time to the zone leaders last night for the first time! I guess that's what happens when you put a little preparation into things. Something I've learned while being out here is that hard work and preparation pays pay off. Before my mission, I used to just do the minimum in a lot of things and although things were generally done well, with a little preparation I could have taken it up a level. My mentality has changed and I'm a much harder worker than I was when I left. That's just one of the few things that I've improved on my mission.

On Friday I was able to take Elder Smith out on exchanges. He's a new elder from Sisters, Oregon. He's super great and I really enjoyed my time with him. We did some great work together. We went up and tracted out a trailer park that I was hoping was full of Hispanics, but it turned out to just be full of Americans. That's okay. We had some solid contacts and I'm glad that we were able to work. I'm under the impression that the Lord called me to be a Spanish missionary because English work would just be too easy. It's so easy for me to contact and teach people. And I relate to them a lot better. But being a Spanish missionary has taught me and humbled me a lot. Now back to Elder Smith. He's in a tripanionship with two older missionaries, so I wanted to make sure he wasn't getting thrown under the bus all the time. We had some good talks and did a lot of good work together, and I hope that I was able to help him. I accounted with those elders last night and it seems like they've made plans to improve their unity as a companionship. I hope it goes well.

Saturday was crazy! We had some great plans to go teach some lessons and visit some folks, but we got a last minute call to go help a couple move some furniture from one trailer to the other, so our plans changed a bit. By a bit, I mean a lot. I was helping them move their extremely heavy washing machine out of the decrepit trailer and the deck that we were on just collapsed! It wasn't very high, but after the collapse I looked at my wrist and it was bleeding profusely. Due to the amount of blood, I was worried that I had cut a vein or something, so we quickly headed to the emergency room. Let me tell you, Cape Fear is the worst hospital in North Carolina. We got there around 2:30 pm and waited for nearly nine hours to get treated. So I sat in the waiting room for that long just with a towel and some gauze on my arm. It was about 9:30 pm when I finally got called in for treatment. I got four stitches! The lady numbed my wrist and checked to make sure my tendons weren't cut and then sewed me up! They gave me some instructions, told me to come back in seven days, and then we were on our way. It was 12:30 am by the time we got back to the apartment. So now I have some stitches on my arm and have to refrain from overly physical activities. So that was the adventure of the week.

On Sunday we had a less active member finally come to church. He came in a suit and brought a non member friend with him. After church we were able to teach both of them. I've seen the Lord reward us a lot lately. I'm grateful for that.

And that was my crazy week.

Ya'll have a good one,

Elder Landon Carroll

P.S. We had zone conference with our new mission president. He's super personal and loves the work, and I'm really looking forward to working with him. He's funny and great!