March 27, 2017 -- Busy, Busy, Busy

At the end of last night night I laid in my bed, let out this huge breath of relief, and relaxed because this past week was crazy busy.  But I wouldn't have had it any other way.

On Wednesday, we had our Zone Conference that got pushed to this week because of the huge storm last week. It was on "Follow the Spirit." Our training was focused on following the Spirit in our teaching. We did a sweet object lesson. We got a bunch of the small Gatorade bottles and taped a piece of paper around them that said, "Quench your thirst, not the Spirit!" I think it helped give the zone a little energy pick me up since we did our training right after lunch. Overall, I enjoyed all the training that was given at Zone Conference and felt uplifted after it was over.

After the Zone conference, we had some Elders from Cortland blitz our area. The next day President came and took all of us out to lunch at this really good pizza place called Gino and Joe's, and it was super good. He went with Elder Turner and Elder Birch to a teaching appointment while Elder Barchie and I went tracting. After that, we all met back at our apartment, the Cortland Elders headed off, and President Rogers stayed to weekly plan with us. I've never been so nervous to weekly plan in my life! It went well though. He really didn't say much during it and at the end he reassured us by saying we seem to know what we are doing.

The most exciting news of this week is that Yvonne and Cathleen are getting baptized this Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Elder Turner and I have been going nuts!!!!!! They are super ready and prepared and Yvonne it determined to not let anything get in her way! They went to the Relief Society dinner and broadcast and then church the next day. I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!

Last night we had a "Why I Believe" fireside in the Liverpool church and it was "HUGE." It's something that Elder Turner and I have been putting together for the past six weeks. We did it so members could invite their friends to come see what they believe in a non-threatening way. We invited the surrounding wards to come as well. The fireside consisted of videos about the church, testimonies from converts who have recently joined the church, Elder Vorkink's song "Thy Will be Done," and President Rogers speaking at the end. We got a lot of positive feedback from the people. Dawn, one of our investigators, loved it and made a family connection with one of the members that was there. I guess it's a small world. We are planning to do another one in a couple of months.

Anyway that was our week and it just flew right by.  The sky is blue, the Church is true, and life is good.

Have a great week, Elder Carlile

 

 

Object Lesson

 

March 20, 2017 -- Now That's What I Call a New York Storm!

Hey Peeps!! This past week was wacky!! On Tuesday, this HUGE storm called a nor'easter came in and dumped two feet of snow on us. We were on lockdown for a couple of days. We couldn't use our cars since the roads where so bad and we could only go to appointments with people if they were within close walking distance. 

 

Wednesday morning we grabbed our shovels and went around our neighborhood to help some people shovel their driveways. It was pretty bad. Some cars were completely covered in snow so you could hardly see them and there were some snowbanks that were taller than me! Shoveling driveways was a great chance to "practice what we preach" and go serve the people. After a couple of hours, we went back into the apartment and did some paperwork.... that got boring really fast. Elder Turner and I thought we were going to go crazy after being cooped up in the apartment for two days. We were both excited to get back to the normal missionary work when the weather finally cleared up.

The most Exciting news of this week is that Yvonne and Cathleen are for sure getting baptized next week!!!! They have been meeting with the missionaries for two years now and Yvonne is so determined and ready to receive this huge blessing of baptism in her life. Unfortunately, the man downstairs is working on the double to stop her in her tracks. On Sunday, she was driving to church when her car broke down, so she had to get towed and wasn't able to make it to church. That's not going to stop her though. She is holding to her faith in God and the great truth is Light always overcomes the darkness.

Well those are some of the crazy things that have happened this past week. I hope you all have a great week! The sky is blue, the Church is true and life is good.

Elder Carlile

 

The Big One!!

"Look Mom, No Legs"

 

March 13, 2017 -- Life Is A Blur In Missionary Life

At the beginning of the week, Elder Turner and I got to go to a District Meeting all the way up in Pulaski. The best part about it was that I got to see two of my past companions. They're actually serving together right now so I had to get a pic with them when the DM was over. Fun fact about the picture is that they are both wearing ties that I traded them.

So one of the cool opportunities that I had this past week was going to a hospital in Syracuse to give a member in Pulaski a blessing. Since we are the closest Elders to the hospital in Syracuse, we get to go assist the members whenever they need a blessing. The man had just had heart surgery where they replaced his heart valve with a cow heart valve. How weirdly cool is that? Anyway, we gave him a blessing for his recovery and went on our way. We took some pics of Syracuse when we were in the parking garage.

We went and blitzed the AP's in Utica this past week. I went with Elder Chidister. One neat experience we had was when we were teaching this guy named Nick about the restoration. It was a very powerful lesson where things just seemed to go smoothly. At one point during the beginning of the lesson, Nick said out of the blue, "Have I met you two before, you both seem very familiar." He brought it up again at the end of the lesson. No, I've never met Nick before, but I sometimes wonder if there are people that I knew in the premortal life that I was meant to find and teach. Anyway it was a great lesson.

Those are just some of the tidbits from this past week. I hope you all have a great week. The sky is blue, the Church is true, and life is good.

 

Elder Carlile

 

 

Pulaski District Meeting

Syracuse at Night

Syracuse View from Hospital

 

March 6, 2017 -- This Week Was "Sick"

This week was Sick... literally. I was out for three days this past week. I thought I was home free but I was dead wrong. On the bright side, while I was out, Elder Turner went through the whole Area Book and found lot of people to try. The first half of the week was a blur but the second half of the week was pretty good. We had MLC in Utica which was a good chance to see some old mission friends and also to make some new ones.

The highlight of this past week was yesterday. YVONNE FINALLY MADE IT TO CHURCH!!!!!! She said she was coming and so Elder Turner and I sat there waiting for her to come before sacrament meeting started. Sacrament meeting started and she didn't show up. We were both pretty disappointed but then after the sacrament was finished the chapel doors opened and she walked in. It was just like a dramatic movie scene entrance. She definitely faced the opposition getting to church that day. Among other things, her daughter and grandson woke up with the flu bug but Yvonne got them taken care of and hurried her way to church.  Elder Turner and I could hardly contain our excitement!! She came to church and loved it. Church attendance is the only thing that has kept Yvonne back from being baptized. Hopefully she keeps this up so she can enter the waters of baptism at the end of the month!! 

I forgot to mention it last week, but sadly I hit my first animal when I was driving. It was a possum and I didn't see it until it was too late. Luckily it was a quick death for him..... He's in a better place now. It was my first roadkill in the mission.

Have a great week everyone. The sky is blue, the Church is true and life is good.

 

Elder Carlile

 

MLC - March 2017

Roadkill

A Little P-Day Bowling