Reed's getting "antsy"

Sorry no pics yet...I'm dreading going through the monster of a photo CD Reed sent to find some to post.

Hey everyone!!!!

Sorry this is a little late, but we had no time yesterday to emails because we went to the temple and our ride back took forever to pick us up. We spent the whole time at the Deseret Book Store because it is pretty close to the temple. So, I really don't know yet if I will be getting transferred yet, but my feelings are that I will be staying. I have been with Elder Alvey for about 4 1/2 months now so I think that we will be parting. We got along really well so it wasn't bad. So, we just had our interviews with President Dyches. He told me to tell Mom that I am an outstanding missionary. Those are his words, too.
Ok, so the work here is doing pretty good. We still have two really good potentials that we need to contact. I will update on that next week. Vern Whitehurst is still really our only progressing investigator at this moment. I don't know if I said this last week, but Evangelica told us that she is not interested in being baptized, but is just doing it for the information. That was pretty much a bummer. We haven't heard much from Tessa this week because we were trying to give her some space, but I think that we are going to contact her soon. We are going to start getting into the homes more of the less actives soon so I hope we get some good referrals from that.
Elder Alvey and I have been doing great. We are going to be kind of scrambling to get as much done as possible since the possibility of a transfer is coming up.
As for me, I am getting kind of antsy, if that makes any sense. I have been learning a lot of good teaching techniques, but I don't have many people to teach. We need to start really concentrating on getting more investigators.
Oh, I just sent a package with a tape and a picture in it. It is just one picture because it is not from my camera. A member took it and gave it to me, which was really good since I didn't think to really to take any pictures there. Well, I don't have that much more time so I need to head out here. But I will give a spiritual thought. This morning I studied on Prophets and the first scripture mastery of the D&C fits really well. It is D&C 1: 37-38. I think that is right. Prophets are really what keep this church going and keep it the true church. May we always look to the prophet for as an example and always follow what he says immediately. If we do that then we will never be unhappy.

Keep the Faith,

Elder Carter

Support Reed!

Poor Reed, we keep forgetting to email him. Here
is his address: bigciz@myldsmail.net.
Help us out and help Elder Carter feel loved!

Hey Fam.!!!!!

What's going on?  Everything is going great here in Newberg.
I guess I will start out by telling you about our investigators.
The missionary work here is Newberg has been kind of slow lately,
but we are looking up in the coming weeks.
We have a good bit of potential.  Vern is still progressing slowly. 
We tried to challenge him again,
but he still says that he needs time.  He will still come to church, though. 
Evangelica is still doing well too, but it is hard to get her at a
good time so that we can teach her.  We will try really hard this week
to see if we can get anywhere.  Those are really our only investigators
 right now that are progressing.We just got word that the mission
is about to start using text messaging to send us referrals.
It will take next to no time to get a referral to us.  Just think calling
 in to get a Book of Mormon and it gets there within like an
hour.  That could really perks someone interest in the church that
we care enough to get it to them so fast.  It will be really cool
to try out.The weather here is starting to heat up. 
It will be in the upper 90's for the next couple of days.
 That not too hot, but once you get bike riding it can get pretty hot. 
    Thank you so much for all of the cards and for the package.
It was really cool.  I got pictures of the makeshift cake and
recorded me on the tape player of opening the package
for the second time. 
    So, school should be starting up soon.  Who's excited?!!! 
I know I am!  That means that people will stay in town and
we can tech them.  But it also means for Oregon that the
rain is not far off.
I guess I better enjoy the warm weather and sun while I have it.
What going on around the world?  
I don't here much from people any more.  I did here that Brett
is on PAC.  That is pretty sweet.  Anything else exciting going on. 
I should be sending a tape home soon that I have been
trying to make.  It takes a long time.  Let me know if you have
gotten the CD at home of the pictures because I sent that a long
 time ago.  I will some others too eventually. 
    Oh, the scripture for this week:  We are trying to memorize
 JSH 1:11-12.  I really like it.
I have to go because my time is about up.  Enjoy!!!!

Elder Carter 

July 4th as a missionary

Hey, sorry I haven't kept this up. Keeping my own blog going is tough enough. Here's his latest email.

Hia y'all,How did everyone's 4th of July go? Mine was pretty good. We were invited to go over to a families home for dinner and we also watched them do fireworks. Apparently it is illegal to do fire works here that shoot into the air. Most, people just bought stuff from Washington and did it anyways, but not this family. Newberg didn't even have a town fireworks show because they have some festival that they do it at. It should be at the end of the month. The only thing with that is that I am not guaranteed to be here. Transfers are on the 17th. I really have no idea what I will be doing. It makes a difference with the new mission president. Bytheway, we had interviews with him on Monday and it went really well. He is definitely different, but he will be just as inspired. Here in Newberg nothing has really changed since last week. We had several cancellations and it was just a slow week. But, I want you to know that I am reading that book that Dad sent and I am getting a lot of really good ideas. We are going to start to try them and I am really excited about what will happen within the wards. I am still doing well and the weather is still pretty hot. It might have even hit 100* yesterday. I am really starting to get those missionary tan lines. Oh, and I think that I am starting to get allergies like Dad because I have been sniffling and sneezing like crazy. It really is getting annoying and my nose is raw. But aside from that things are great. We still have those potentials that we need to try to start teaching. We called one yesterday, but he couldn't find a time so we will call later. Well, that is all that I can think of right now so I will talk to y'all later.Elder Carter

Mother's Day

We talked to Reed on Mother's Day. We waited and waited at Mamaw's house so he could talk to her also. But it figures, Reed forgot about the time change so he caught us in the car on the way home. He sounds good. He is district leader now and rides a bike. I'll send emails soon.

New Area: Reed the District Leader

Here's Reed's latest email. Sounds like things are great. Click on the link list to see his new bike area.

Hey Fam. I have been having some good fun here in my new bike area. Everything is pretty slow at the moment, but we will get the wards excited about missionary work here soon enough. We are teaching them the lessons so that we can really bring the spirit into their home and they will start to trust that we do a good job. Also, it gives us the opportunity to give them commitments. The only thing with that is that we need to remember to follow up, because that is really important. Elder Alvey and I are doing really well together. He is a real goofball, which is great because so am I. We haven't really gotten to teach a formal lesson together yet, but I think that it will go fine. I think I already told you about this, but Pres. Gessel is about to leave as our Mission President. That will be a sad day, but I am excited to see what new things the next one brings in. Well, I can't think of anything else really to say, but I want you to know that I am doing great still and that the work is moving forward. Oh, there is one more thing. I had the opportunity yesterday to give a Preach My Gospel Training at our Zone Training. It was on unity. I am always glad to do those because i am able to learn so much more myself on the subject. Surprisingly some of the missionaries said that it was pretty good. I think my social skills are getting better so I bet that helped. Well, that is it.Keep it cool,Elder Carter

Update: Easter

Hey Family, It sounds like everything is getting pretty hectic. Things around here are pretty normal: always hectic. That is the way that I like it, because it keeps my mind off of everything else. Oh, i haven't gotten that package yet, so i hopr it didn't get lost in the mail. I will let you know when I do. Yeah, this three-some is pretty crazy. It is actually not as bad as my first one, though. Elder Wilson has been out about 20 months, but is very easy to agree with. The work here is going somewhat smoothly. We are working hard and seeing the blessings from it. Our investigators are finally starting to progress somewhat, so that is pretty exciting. The members are really taking care of us too. The weight scale doen't lie about that. I am probably passed Brett now and gaining on dad. But it's whatever. I am not lokking forward to missing going to mawmaw's house. I really miss getting out and being able to see the back woods and things of that nature. Tell Katelyn that I said congratulation to her. That is pretty sweet that she is going to dance in Nashville. Everytime I tell someone that I am from Memphis, TN they ask how close it is to Nashville. There is more to TN than Nashville, but it is still a cool place. Riley just keeps on going, too. Does he ever slow down? Well, i guess if he has that energy then more power to him. Well, I guess that is all the damage I can do for today. Tell everyone I said Happy Easter and think about the Ressurection of Christ. Bye for now.Elder Carter

Having a Blast while Serving the Lord

Reed actually is getting better at this email stuff. Look how much he has to say!

Anyways, I am still having a blast here in Dayton. Elder Wagstaff and I are having a lot of fun. I think that we are doing a good job at motivating each other. This morning we helped a guy do some taping to get him ready to spray texture. We also helped him put up the Dry wall. I don't know if I have already told you that or not yet. Things have kind of been the same around here. Not much going on. That is why we do a lot of service. We were gonna get to go to the temple this morning, but there was a misscommunication of what was gonna happen so it didn't happen. So, I don't know if I told you, but last Thursday we had a Zone Activity. We were going to play wiffle ball, but it was too windy. We ended up playing 3 hours worth of football, soccer, and ultimate frisbee. I was sore for the next three days. I haven't played that hard in a long time. Oh, I also started wrestling this guy in my zone. He wrestled in high school too, and we are about the same weight now. I am winning so far but we will finnish later. We both got too tired within like 30 sec. Ok, so there is this girl in the YSA Branch that we are trying to help come back. Her name is Tasha Swearengin. I thought it was a pretty cool name and she is way cool. Well, anyways, last time we taught about the tree of life and we had a picture for it that she could color. I told her that she had to color it and sign it and give to me in a week or something. (she is gonna go to art school so it would be pretty good.) I also said that I would do one and we could compare them. Well, she called the next day and said she had a surprise for us and to come by. When we got there we found out that she had already finished it. Well, of course I hadn't finished mine so I did it yesterday and I will have to give it to her later. I told her that she would have to come to church to get it. She said that she would so that will be cool. If she comes it will be the first time that I will have seen her at church. She wrote on her's that am even her new best friend. I love missionary work. It really is rewarding. Well, that is all i have for this week. Catch you later.-Elder Carter

I am glad that you liked talking to Sis. Perez. She was really nice to offer to call you. That guy does have alzeimers. he is not really coherant to much, but the spirit was so strong that he asked us how we do it. It was pretty sweet. it is experiences like that keep you going on your mission. And it is not that hard to stay on your mission if you just keep the rules. Because if you do that then you will be blessed and have success which makes everything worth it. Yes, we are doing quite a bit of service. I love doing service becuase it keeps me in that phisical shape, but it also gives us a break from the monotony of doing the same thing everyday. So, thanks Dad for helping me out with Scholarship stuff. That will really come in handy when i come back broke and need to go to college. Ok, for the not so good news. but don't freak out or anything. I was getting to know the area so i was driving for a little. When we were going home i pulled out into the highway and suddenly found out that an SUV was pretty close. They had to break pretty hard, and only came within like 20 feet of the car. The bad news that lines up with the story is that there was state police behind that SUV. He pulled me over and ticked me for not yielding to the right of way of traffic. I told him that I looked and didn't see anyone, but he didn't care and told me that i should have looked more times. The ticket is for like $242, so I am pretty upset about that, but I guess we live and learn right? You might see some money come from my account and that would be what it is for. I just hate that it happened on my mission of all places. Well, other than that i am doing great!! Our investigators are really coming along and the ward really likes us. They should start giving us more referals soon. Elder Wagstaff and I are doing really weel as a companionship. Oh, before I forget, if you send shirts or something like that it would be nice to have Short sleeve because it is starting to be pretty nice weather around here. I want to get a pakage of some sort together soon to send back some things that I don't need and I also want to send some pictures. Tell Riley that he will really like choir. Let him know that if he does it that he will get to travel to cool places on trips with the choir. Also tell him that when I was his age my voice was not that great, but I developed it through a lot of practice and now people compliment me on my voice. He will not regret it if he does do it and you have to at least try it out. Well, that is all for right now, but i hope you all are doing great.-Elder Carter