Christmas in Oregon

Reed as always as far as we can tell is still doing great. We talked to him Christmas. He is the Zone leader and serving in 2 Tongan wards. He had a big Tongan feast for Christmas! And he is worried about being 150 pounds. Weirdo! He is 6 ft something for goodness sakes. Anyhow guess he compares himself to his skinny highschool self who hadn't finished puberty yet and to big bro Brett who is too skinny and runs marathons. Funny boy! Anyhow he is always thinking about the people he is serving and seems to love the service oriented Tongan people. Here are his last 2 emails...

hey Fam. So, I will not have very much time this time because I am on one of the computers that is only for 15 min.Things are going great here. i did finally get the package. It was great to get it. I will definitely be able to use them and I love the Shoes. Thank you so much. The area is doing great and we are starting to get new investigators now, but I don't really know them yet. I will hopefully be able to tell you about them next week. I love this work and will constantly be trying to get better. I am healthy and thank Heavenly Father for that so that I can be the best missionary that I can be. Thank you for all that you do for me. Sorry for this being so short but I am really out of time. I hope you have a great week. Love,Elder Carter

Hey Fam.,> > Happy New Year to all. The coolest thing about this year is that I sp=> ent everyminute of it in the service of the Lord. That makes me feel pre=> tty good. Things are going pretty good here in Oregon. It was a really => fun Christmas. I hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Years too. => Now we can start on a new year and make it the best of our lives yet. Th=> at is one of the very important lessons that I have learned on my mission=> : It doesn't matter what you have done in the past because that is what => the Atonement is for; what matters is what you do with tommorrow. The At=> onement is not just for making us not suffer the full justice of sins, bu=> t it is what makes it possible to change our lives and always be improvin=> g. It is possible to repent everyday because we can always improve. I t=> hink that is how we should look at if we are on the right path. Are we w=> illing to change? Are we willing to go to the Savior for the help? If w=> e are willing God will make it possible for us to do those things. I hav=> e done countless things on my mission that I would not have been able to => do if it were not for the help of the Lord. Becoming better is definitel=> y one of them. I hope that this is making sense because I really am not => good at organizing my thoughts, but this is something that I feel very st=> rongly about. I hope we can all make goals to improve this year.> So, for what is going on in North east Portland. Well, honestly there=> is not all that much. With the weather and the holidays it has been rea=> lly hard to set appointments. But now that it is over I have a feeling t=> hat the work will just take off. Actually I think that over the next two=> transfers you will see a big change for the better happening in this who=> le Zone. We have amazing missionaries and we have an area where people a=> re looking for something better. I am excited for what I think will happ=> en and if we have enough prayer and faith then I know that it can happen.=> =20> You know I didn't really think that someone could improve so much at t=> he end of their mission, but I am being proved wrong by Elder Stuart. He=> is an amazing teacher and an amazing missionary, but I am not talking ne=> ccessarily about the way he does missionary work. He is learning how to => be patient and not worry so much when there is nothing he can do about it=> . This has made it where he is not so bottled up. I have found that if => we stress out about everything and we can't even do anything then we miss=> some of the feelings of comfort that can be a result of God's hand worki=> ng in our life. These times have been amazing testimony builders for me.=> He is doing great on that. > Also, I have been learning a lot from him about following the Spirit a=> nd about making decisions. I think these are things that I can take with=> me and use for the rest of my life, and I am very grateful for that.> Well, I thank everyone for all of the support and hope you have a grea=> t week. I love you guys.> > Elder Carter