Friday, March 20, 2009





March 15th 2009

Thats so good. Im glad you were able to talk with them. I miss them too. How are they doing?
So im freaking excited for my other packages! I cant wait. I loved the things you sent. especially the toffe popcorn stuff! idk if you sent that or if grandma and grandpa did? i dont know but it was GREAT! I love the candy and the food. Its going to feed me for this month when i run out of money. So im glad! ha
So Texas was cool. You had to fly home by yourself? why is that? Did dad have to stay or to go with the team? Im sorry you had to set between the fat dudes. Thats how it was at the MTC for me, i sat by gubler and davis and i almost died.. Now they both have lost about 15 pounds so its working out!
The girls are in utah? they made it safely.. thats good. im glad. How are they doing? i had a crazy dream about utah and everybody. I got married to Becca Yeats and Makenzie and i were coaching some key volleyball team and Ragan was the superstar and then you and dad served a mission somewhere.. just wierd random stuff. The dang Malaria pills mess with my mind!!! They are crazy!!
Nothing is really happening so far with transfers. I am pretty sure i am staying in the same area. The only thing is i dont know if i am stay with McRae or if i am getting a new person. President Christensen asked about leadership in our last interview so im thinkin maybe district leader/trainer. We'll see tho, McRae says no chance but what does he know right? haha Ill let you know they are announced next weekend. So.. dont worry about it. its going to be great.
Today we are going to Entebbe. Lake Victoria. Right there is a place called Botanical gardens. Its pretty legit. Its the cool place to go i guess? we are going to play games and have some fun.. hopefully ;)
So i guess i better get going. I love you mom. Tell dad hi and have some fun while the girls are gone. dont sit around and be lonely!
Love you!!
_ your baby boy_

March 8th 2009

Sorry its wednesday. We got robbed of a P-day because today we had a mission activity. We went to an amusement park called Di-Di's world. It was like a cheap knock off of lagoon. It was like carnival rides. I got sick of coarse but i kept trucking.. nothin like spinnin around for hours. ;)
Things are good. We set another baptism for March 29th and moved another one to April 5th. So its all good. I love it. Things are finally paying off here. We usually just tract but president came to our house and interviewed us and we need to step up the work even more. The goals he gave us seem a little un real but with faith anything is possible. We need 420 baptisms for the mission meaning 12 per companionship on the year. Now last year i think there was only about 200 so.. its a stretch but we can do it. Also we got new Zone Goals. For our Zone we need to ask at least 15 referals everyday, have 5 potential investigators daily and also 5 new investigators at church weekly. That is going to be the hard one but we can do it!
Im glad Ragan is doing so well. Im happy for her. I cant wait to come home and see her at her top game. Its going to be B-A! I cant wait. You'll have to send me some pictures or something? idk if you can but if not its cool i can wait.
I got the package! ithink it was the one you sent for my birthday? It was sent on Feb 3rd i think? Im not too sure. I also got one from Grandpa and Grandma Carter. I havent opened them but i will when i get home after this. So thanks so much!
So youre going to trexas. thats cool. im happy you might be able to see Jay and Aubrey. Give them the whats up for me ok? haha, I miss all of the family so bad but i havent had one of those days where i want to come home yet. MIsison is too wonderful. I wont come home early ever. I promise. So.. nothing is really new here, i have about 1000 more pictures to send home again i just have to wait until i get some money. THis month is going to be tight. it will all work out. if i have to starve i will. NO BIG.
Well... im glad things are going well at home. How is Rudy. Is he gone? Pre-school should be bumpin next year which is way cool the Lord is already blessing us. Dad had throwers doing good, and you with pre school. The girls with utah trip and such. Cool beans. I love it!
I love you and im sorry this is a short email. I dont have too much time. I love you!!! give the family my love
xoxoxox
-elder carter

March 1st 2009

Im way good. Nothing too new is going on here. To start off i sent home a little padded envelope.. it had some stuff in it mainly just a CD with pics/videos on it, Uhm a tape with the whole MTC and such on it, that is probably a waste.. to many people joked around on it so its pretty boring.. just fast forward until you hear me.. then it gets good. ;)
So the week has been ok. We only had 90 at church but we had 15 investigators for the whole zone.. i think we had 6, then the other elders had 7 and the sisters had 2? It was awesome. All the tracting i have been doing is paying off. The two people Elder McRae and i are teaching right now are Paul Katende, he is African, and is a really smart dude, a wierd one but smart. He is 21 and he had missionaries teach him in 2006 but he went to bording school, and never got back in touch. He is back now and we set a baptismal date a few weeks back but he is now busy with University again and is hard to get with. We bounced his date to the 22nd. I hope it all works out if not, i think i'll be transfered.. SO? ya
the other is Kawawa! He is AMAZING I love this guy so much, he is a military deserter from the mouth of the Nile River.. (idk where that is..its not Egypt) He is so cool. He stays with a member named Ben Beluga. Ben brought him to Movie night here at the church and we taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He wanted to learn more immediatly like all the lessons at once. BUT we had to spread it out of coarse. We have taught him 2 times this week, one was prayer, and he had an instant testimony of prayer.. he needed a job or money so he could pay the military so he could leave and not be chased down... the next day found 1.5 million UGS!!! (shillings) He was digging a long drop or a out house pretty much and found it buried about 4 feet down. it was about 3 million but they could only salvage half of it.. it was so cool to hear about! I really like this guy, he is always at church, and activities. He is a golden investigator. We are going to set a date this week sometime i think? I'll let you know next monday.
Birthday was ok? It wasnt really a birthday, it was a work day. It started by getting woken up by elder thomas in his underwear(boxer man) and he jumped on my bed and broke my mosquito net.. i fixed it. Then later went and played pin the tail on the donkey.. it was so lame but so fun at the same time.. then we went to work like it was a regular day! Pretty cool huh? haha!! I saw you girls went to Chili's thats pretty cool I miss real take out food. LIke i eat eggs, beans, rice and chipate everyday!! if im lucky, i get meat, which is usually offles or "awfuls" we call them, its intestines.. not bad just tough. Ugh.. yeah. We eat a lot of Matooki.. its like mashed potatoes, but its small bananas tht are cooked in banana leaves. Tasty. SO TASTY!! haha
well... i dont know what else to tell you, i still dont know about the whole Africa clothes dirv thing Ragan wants to do, i havent talked to president in a while. Uh, the packages may have gotten here today but i dont know yet the ZLs went to Kololo to pick up the mail and go to the doc so i'll find out soon enough..
Thanks mommy, i love you and i get to call you next transfer! looking forward to it! cant wait!
I LOVE YOU!!
-love-marky

Feb. 22nd 2009

Im doing so well. Thanks mommy. This week was a little wierd. As you know its tuesday. We had our P-day cancelled yesterday for zone conference. It was great but i still havent gotten any packages. I got your three letters, the two with quotes and the other from Andrea Brown. They were sucha help i used one for a spiritual thought actually ;)
Anyways, last wednesday i was really sick, i dont know with what, but i think it was the 24 hour flu. I stayed in all day. Slept from 10-8 then from 9-to 6:30 the next morning. It was great rest but a horrible time. I elt so bad for my cmopanion elder mcrae. He was so bored and i wanted to go out but i just couldnt do it. Im fine now, the rest must have cured me because i feel better than ever.
The work is continuing to progress out here in Africa, at the Zone Conference, Pres C, talked all about Sudan and Rwanda opening up within the next 6-8 months. SO.. its a possibility that i will be able to go there. It would be AWESOME! We are having another baptism on march 15th i think. It is with a man named Paul Katende. I may have already told you this but we puched his date so.. im cant remember. Its going to be great. Besides that we only have a few others in our teaching pool right now. The work seems to be going slow but mission is going fast. I am almost 3 months away from home. March 18th. That means im almost at 21 months left! can you believe it. I cant. Its only like 650 days! wow.. im already scared to come home haha ;)
So the conversion story is in the newsletter and i will bring them home, im saving them in my binder. Its awesome. BUT>> her story is.. she was being taught 2 years ago, and they dropped her from the teahing pool because she wouldnt get married. Her husband didnt want to becausse piligamy is a huge problem here and she kept praying and staying strong and eventually her husband just gave in and they got married on the 14th and baptised on the 15th. It was great. They are awesome.
Yeah, but thanks so much for everything.
Im sorry im writing you on a tuesday and didnt make you stress about me being dead or not. Im ok. I actually got hit by a boda boda today. It clipped my elbow and stung like a bee but its all good. It happens.
Thanks fro telling everyone to write me, i havent gotten a letter from anyone besides you and grandma carter. I did write justin seabolt the other day so im hoping i get some sooon. Tell Grandma and Grandpa thanks for the packages. I love it! haha its going to be awesome when they all get here a the same time!
Love you Mommy
I love you,. -elder carter

Feb. 15th

Hey mom
Things are going great here in Africa. I had my first baptism in the district on sunday. It was a woman named Winnie Najjuma. She has been waiting for two years to be baptised and her husband just allowed her to this week. COol stuff, its going to be the conversion story of the month in the news letter. Also, i set my first baptismal date with a guy named Paul Katende. Things are going so well here. The work has really began to pick up. Its great. I am loving it so much. I cant wait until i get those packages, its going to be the best birthday present ever haha.
So how are things at home, i hear dad is ready to kill Ragan and Daniel. That sucks a little. Im sorry. He is a fag, what happend with her not liking him anymore? i dont get it.
Anywho, my tooth has been healed, it disappeared, i prayed, and it was gone. No joke. I think i might have hit it on the bed or something? Im not too sure? its all good tho, im fine now, thanks for sending toothpaste tho, that will help a ton! Im pretty excited for this upcoming transfer, Elder McRae and I are together for another 6 weeks, and we are still going to be rocking the area. He has only been on mission for 5 months. He will go home in September of 2010. We are doing so well, the area really has come alive again. We found like 10 new people and they are all so wonderful. Its better than its ever been before. I am loving it. I hope the family and everyone is doing well. I have gotten letters mainly from grandpa and grandma carter, they are the only ones who have written me. That and Mike Ralphs wrote me too. So I think things will start to pick up. I sent out i think 7 on wednesday so.. we'll see who my real friends are. I dont know what else to tell you, im goin to send a CD of pictures soon, i was going to do it today but the place im at is out of disks so.. yeah. Next monday i will get it done and send it out!
I love you mom! stay strong and keep workin hard.
Im prayin for you
-Elder Carter

Feb. 8th

I had no idea my email didnt work. im sorry mommy. i hope this one works. ----So you talked to Elder McRaes mom? thats freakin awesome, how did that go? I didnt have a hard time, i just was a little shy and scared to talk to people? im over that now, i am the king! haha just kidding, but Elder McRae and I are growin to be best buddies! We are pretty tight and all we talk about is home and girls and work.. just the old life haha.
I CANT WAIT TO GET MY PACKAGE! Im so excited, Elder McRae just got like 4 because eevryone thinks he is dead. Its pretty awesome, i love it, i get to eat some stuff from his packages. Its pretty sweet. Thanks for writing all my friends and tellin them to write me, i love letters they pretty much keep the work going smooth and i dont want to kill myself. ;) Anyways, its finally official, im a missionary, i have began to teach lessons in my sleep with Elder McRae, its kind of cool because i testify and then he teaches, then testifies, and then its my turn again. Its kinda funny because we sometimes wake up and talk to each other while the other is still asleep. haha we have fun!---Anywho, thats awesome you are all sendin me a birthday package, Grammy said she is sending one too.. so im looking forward to it. Somethings i want are like, Muddy Buddys, cake mixes, cookie mixes (if tey have theM?) uh, salsa! dorritos, frittos, no popcorn, no microwave ;) maybe some taco shells, for chips and salsa.. new g's would be awesome, uhm... pictures, fruity pebbles, no chocolate, they have that here, gummy worms, gummy bears, padded envelopes so i can send a CD with all my pictures on it... maybe some gum. idk, just throw some stuff in there, i will love anything.. maybe some home made cookies, CANDY HEARTS>> love those! yeah.. thats all i've got.
Im happy Ragan is doin so well, and Makenzie is going to Utah, I hope everything works out fine. I keep reading my patriarchal blesssing and it says i should always remember that families are eternal.. it kind of scares me because it makes me think somebody is going to die? i dont think it will happen but.. idk? it creeps me out.
yeah so anyways, i think that something is going on with my tooth that broke, i think that it may be absessed? my gums swell like crazy everyday and my tooth kills me sometimes, so i think i might get a vacation to SA soon to see an oral surgeon. ITs been like this fro almost a week and a half so.. idk what should i do?? help me out?
So the dogs are doin good and life is almost bck to normal? Youre doin pre-school dad is gone a lot again.. and life is just normal? cool. How is the new bishop? who is it? is he cool, or wierd?
So here in africa, we are not doing so much work we have i think lik 6 potential baptisms coming up in the future if they continue to learn and such. Uh, i think we will have 2 by March 1st. So i am loving it. I actually had a wierd experience the other day... one of our investigators, her name is Aida.. she called from school and was talking about the Book of Mormon and how she loves it so much.. she is like 14 i think, but she started asking about america and when i was going home.. so i told her not until 2011? so she was like, well, i love the book of mormon, and i love you.... I was like..Uh.. what? she said i love you and when you go back home, i am going with you. and we are going to have a family. I love you bye.. yeah dead serious. It was so crazy, i told Elder McRae and he was a little upset about it because he has only been offered a kiss. SO that tells you one thing, im the cuter elder ;) hahah!! no worries tho, she is way far away and i think i will be transfered before she comes back from school. SO thats my week, its pretty cool im doin really good besides the whole, tooth thing... but i am sure i will be just fine. I love you so so so much! And i miss you all ike crazy! stay strong, im almost home ;) haha
Love your baby boy
ELDER CARTER