October 17, 2016 -- Things Aren't Going to Change For Once

This week has been a pretty typical week in Elmira. Something good to know is that, for the first time in nine months, I will not be getting a new companion. I'm pretty excited for things not to change. It is a rare thing for me. You know what they say, the only thing consistent in life is change. The other Elders in the ward will not be changing as well so another six weeks with the crew.

We have been teaching Marie for the past couple of weeks and that's been great. Marie's mom, Pam, has started to sit in on our lessons and is becoming more and more interested. At first, when we went over to see Marie, Pam would avoid us like the plague. But one night, Pam came back from walking the dog and sat in on our lesson on the porch. It was awesome because Marie helped us teach her about the Restoration. She has now accepted a Book of Mormon and started reading it. That's the best thing she could be doing. Nothing can match the converting power of the Book of Mormon!

Elder Rasband and I had an appointment fall through this past week right before dinner. We had half an hour so we said a prayer to ask the Lord to take us where he needed his missionaries. Then we drove to a random street, parked the car and got out.  Before I even had a chance to get my bag out of the back seat, this guy yelled to Elder Rasband and I, "So you're the new Elders in town." We had parked right in front of this guy's house. He was out working on his car so we went up and got to know him a bit better. His name is Brady, he is a machine fixer, the Elders used to stop by and  meet with him, and he believes that he is going to Hell. He is blunt and down to earth, but was very polite to us. We talked for a bit longer but then had to go.  We are going to stop by this week some time.

We do a lot of service in Elmira. On Wednesdays, we go to Catholic Charities.  Thursdays we go to the public library and Fridays we go to a food bank.  We also have other service opportunities that pop up. Each is for two hours. We are encouraged to try and do 5 to 10 hours of service a week because President Rogers wants us to serve around great people that already have the light of Christ glowing in their lives. We were at a dinner at the Farnsworth's this past week when Brother Farnsworth told us a neat experience he had. He volunteers at the library once a week as well and he was telling us how one of the librarians started asking about what missionaries do and why we come on missions. That was cool to hear. I guess you never know how your example affects others. 

We haven't been able to meet with Margaret this week because she has been sick, but the ward members missed her at church.  That's a good sign. The fall is still beautiful as usual and the weather is still cooling down.

The sky is blue, the Church is true and life is good.

Elder Carlile

 

A Serious Group
 

 

October 10, 2016 -- This Week Went By "Fast"

Things are going really well here in Elmira. The temp continues to drop and the leaves continue to change. It's amazing to stop and just enjoy the beauty of it all. Elder Rasband and I are doing really well together. I know it was meant to be that he was called to be my trainee and I was called to be his trainer.

One morning, Elder Rasband and I were doing our companion studying when, all of the sudden, he looked over in the kitchen and said, "Elder, I think we have a mouse problem." We grabbed our broom and machete and cornered it in the closet but sadly that crafty mouse got away.  So then we resorted to Plan B. . .lure him out with cookies and then trap him with a box hanging on the chandelier with some floss while we weekly planned. That didn't work either, he was too smart for that.  So we resorted to plan C. . .going to the store and getting a mouse trap. With some trial and error we finally got him and now we are mouse free (hopefully), but we put out another trap just in case. 

Elder Rasband and I went to return and report in Utica this week. It's a meeting they do for all the new trainees one month after they come on their mission to make sure they are doing alright. We went and picked up the Ithaca sisters ( Sisters Blomquist and Jones) and then headed to the Mission home and met up with President and Sister Rogers and all the other missionaries. The next day, we went and had the meeting. It was good! I got to see Elder and Sister Lee. They gave me an update on how things are going in Oneida. It was reassuring to hear that some of the people I taught when I was there are still being taught and progressing towards baptism. We had Utica's famous dish, Chicken Riggies, for lunch as well as garlic knots. Let's just say it was delicious.
 

Margaret is doing really well. She has been struggling with smoking most of her life but has wanted to overcome it as she has learned more about the gospel. We had a great lesson on fasting this week and committed her to fast to overcome smoking. She was totally for it and so on Sunday she fasted. We fasted with her as well. We just got a text from her informing us that she is now smoke free and does not have the desire to smoke anymore. When Elder Rasband and I read the text we freaked out and started doing our celebration dance. Fasting has never been one of my favorite things in the world but time and time again I have seen the miracles that come from fasting. As we make a sacrifice to the Lord of something as temporal as food, he magnifies our efforts. Reading that text made every second of hunger that we felt worth it. If you think about it, fasting is such a small thing for the Lord to ask for what we get in return. I know that miracles happen when we turn things over to the Lord. 

The sky is blue, the Church is true, and life is good.

See ya peeps next week,

 

Elder Carlile

 

Elmira Sunset

Return and Report

 

October 3, 2016 -- The Best Season in New York

Again a busy week. Big surprise there. The leaves are turning blood red, orange orange, and mild yellow. The temp continues to drop continually and everyone in upstate knows what that means..... apple season. Apple fritter donuts, apple cider, and just plain apples. You can just smell fall in the air and life seems blissful when you take a moment to enjoy all the fall aromas. But even sweeter than all the apples in season was General Conference. I guess this wonderful season in New York and Conference have more in common than I thought. They even talked about the "FALL" in conference as well. 

I really enjoyed all the talks in Conference this time around. As always, I was able to find specific direct council to me in the talks that were given. So far, my favorite talk was given by R Todd Christofferson. Apparently his name was changed to R Todd in the sustaining of the leaders of the Church. The talks seemed to be centered on simple doctrines of the Church -- the Gospel of Jesus Christ, The Plan of the Salvation, and the Restoration. For priesthood session, our ward did pie and ice cream before the session and then enjoyed Conference with a full tummy. I think that's the way they should do priesthood session from now on. Can I have my pie and ice cream and watch conference too... Yes, definitely!

Margaret continues to come closer to Christ as she acts on the commitments we have left her. This past week she stopped smoking. We went over the day she stopped and she had been baking all day. She told us that she had to be doing something with her hands all day since it was her first day off smoking. She fed us some of the treats that she had made as we had our lesson, and let me just say, tasting the fruits of her striving to keep the word of wisdom never tasted so good.

The sky is blue, the Church is true and life is good.

Keep on keepin on,

Elder Carlile

 

Beginning of Fall in Elmira

 

September 26, 2016 -- Sometimes Things Get "Heated"

It's been a cool week. Literally it cooled down a lot this past week. That's okay with me though because it means that the leaves are going to change soon. . . very soon.

The missionary work has been great this past week. We started teaching a lady named Marie. It's really neat how we found her. It was one of the first days that Elder Rasband was here and we decided to go tracting. It was his first time. We said a quick prayer in the car asking the Lord to guide us to those ready to receive the gospel and then we started tracting South St. We walked up to the first house and knocked on the door. I can only imagine what Elder Rasband was thinking tracting his first house. We knocked and Marie answered the door and we had an awesome conversation about religion. We had to get going so we left her with a Book of Mormon and plan to go back later. That was how we met her and luckily we found her on our first try. Thank the heavens. That rarely ever happens. Anyway teaching her has been great. She has a ton of questions and shares a lot of the same views that the Mormon church does. She is a Mom and has been through a lot in life but has still remained a kind-hearted person.

Margaret is doing great. We continue to meet with her and she continues to read the Book of Mormon and coming to church.

The most painful decision Elder Rasband, Younger, Baker and I made this week was at our ward mission leader's house. After dinner, we were challenged to eat a habanero pepper. We all took a bite of our peppers and things got a little heated. All of us were crying it was so hot and then laughing at each other because we were all crying. We all ran into the kitchen and started chugging milk. The burning sensation went away after about 15 minutes but we sure felt the hot pepper in our tummies for the rest of the night. It's amazing how the IQ in the room goes down the more Elders you have. 

I know that the Lord is the one who forwards his work. We just have to choose to be a part of it. If we will seek his guidance in how to do his work, then we won't fail. People might reject the gospel but his work will continue. Those we are meant to find as missionaries are those who are ready to accept it.

I'm looking forward to conference this weekend and I will miss Mom's conference breakfast, but the spiritual feast will be good none the less.

 

The sky is blue, the Church is true and life is good.

Elder Carlile

 

 

Boo Hoo!

 

Habanero Pepper Challenge

 

 

September 19, 2016 -- Hump Day!!!

This past week has been up, down, and all around (pun definitely intended).  One thing that I learned is Nathan Wawro just got called to my mission and will be arriving in November. We graduated high school together. I'm super stoked!!

We had a Zone Conference on Wednesday. They taught about planning and working with ward members. The biggest surprise was at lunch time. They had half of the missionaries go get food and the other half go to the relief society room to get a flu shot. They gave us no warning that this would be happening prior to the Conference. Alot of the missionaries weren't too happy about that. 

Friday morning Elder Rasband and I had some appointments fall through so we decided to track a street with the 30 minutes we had. A couple of people answered but things didn't seem too promising . . . just a house that reeked of weed and people that were either not home or too Catholic to listen. As we walked up to one of the last houses on the street, I thought to myself is this really where the Lord has people that are ready to act on the gospel? Knocked on a door and again the lady was comfortable with her faith but we continued to talk with her. As we talked, she talked about her daughter that was going through a rough time in her life. We asked if we could come back and teach the daughter about Christ's gospel. She optimistically said yes and that she would want to sit in as we taught her daughter. She started telling us that she had a friend that was Mormon and has seen the Hill Cumorah pageant. Anyway, Elder Rasband and I will go teach her and her daughter this next week.

Later that night, the Capners had Elder Rasband and me over for dinner. We had Cafe Rio style burritos that were to die for. If there is one food that New York is lacking, it's Cafe Rio or anything remotely close to it. Like seriously, I've been dying on the inside for the past year for some Cafe Rio. Let's just say I was in food heaven that night. On top of that, they had made a huge sign that said "One Year" on it because it just so happened to be my one year mark.  After dinner I ran through it with a sparkler in each of my hands.

Aside from being sick the past two days from a lame cold, it's been a great week. I am grateful for the past year I have had in the mission field. I have grown in ways that I never thought I would. The lessons I've learned couldn't have been learned any other way. Aside form everything I learned, the most important thing I have gained is a closer understanding of and a relationship with my Heavenly Father. Very simply, He knows me perfectly and the greatest act of love He has done for me is sending his son, Jesus Christ, to atone for me as well as everyone who has, does, or will live on this earth.

The sky is blue, the Church is true and life is good.

 

Elder Carlile 

 

September 12, 2016 -- Mean, Green, and Ready To Work

Holy moley it's been a crazy good week! To start with, I got my new trainee. Wednesday was our transfer meeting and since I was training I had to be in the Utica building at 9:30.  That meant that I had to leave Elmira at 6 for our 3 1/2 hour long drive.  Wednesday morning Elder Hubbell and I woke up to the Elmira Central elders in our apartment saying, "We need to get going -- why haven't you been answering your phone?" Elder Hubbell and I had forgotten to plug in the phone the night before and it had died. We set our wake up alarm on the phone so we slept in. I jumped out of my bed to get ready realizing that it was 6:40. Let's just say that it was probably the worst morning ever to wake up late. I drove the soccer mom van to Utica and I was driving as fast as tiwi would let me. Tiwi is this tiny box in all the mission vehicles that monitors our speed so we don't drive to fast. Luckily we made good time and I was able to get there at 10, so I only missed a little bit of the trainer training. It was fun to see all the mission buddies at transfers. I said goodbye to Elder Hubbell and sent him on his way to Scotia.

My new trainee is Elder Rasband.  He is some distant cousin to the apostle but he has never met him. He is from Clearfield, Utah and graduated high school this past year. He grew up in the Church and comes from a good family. He is about 6'1" but doesn't look like it in our pictures together. We get along pretty well. Luckily he can take my teasing well and even dish it back out. Don't worry though, I'm not teasing the new greenie to much. He is adjusting well to the missionary life. We have been teaching alot which has been great for him as he develops his teaching skills and gets comfortable.

We had a neat lesson this past week. One of our investigators was feeling like the LDS church wasn't the right direction. Anyway, long story short, we shared Alma 32 where it compares faith to a tree. We talked to her about how to know it is true. We have to be doing the three simple things -- going to church, reading the scriptures, and praying. She had a total epiphany and told us that she would start doing those things more consistently. It's the little things we do every day and week that make the biggest difference. That is how we nurture our tree and keep it growing.

One of the greatest parts of the week was on Sunday. We had four of our investigators come to church. One of the biggest struggles in this mission is getting investigators to church because a lot of them don't have cars. Luckily, the Elmira ward is awesome about giving rides to people and we were able to coordinate some rides for two of our investigators. The other two investigators drove themselves because they owned their own cars.

Anyway, it was a great week. The sky is blue, the Church is true and life is good.

 

Until next week,

Elder Carlile

 

 

Elder Rasband

Rocking the Soccer Mom Van

 

 

September 5, 2016 -- Life Is So Good It's A Blur

So..... we got transfer calls last night. Elder Hubbell will be leaving Elmira and be going to Scotia and serving with my MTC companion Elder Harvey. I will training a new missionary in Elmira!!! I'm super stoked!!! It's been a good transfer serving with Elder Hubbell. I'm going to miss the kid but I know I'll see him again. All the Red Robin trips with the other Elders where we had a few too many fries are going to be missed. 

Church was amazing yesterday! Bri came to church. We have been teaching her along with her family for the past little bit. She had a good time at church. We went to the high school-aged Sunday School class with her, so that was a nice change up from the gospel principles class we usually go to. Elder Younger and I had the chance to teach the Teachers and Priests some mission prep during the third hour. It was funny to see how uncomfortable some of  the Priests got when we were role playing some teaching situations.

We had our last district meeting for this transfer on Tuesday. We did a fun activity called scripture basketball with the 42 basic points of the gospel. We had two teams. I would say a point of the gospel and they would have to find it in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Then the winning team would get a chance to shoot on a nerf basketball hoop I had set up. Anyway we all had a good time.

To be honest I can't remember the past week too well. It just seems like a big blur. I know I saw the Lord's hand in the work, I just can't quite remember the specifics. Good thing I have my journal entries.  I'm excited to see how this nest week goes.

 

The sky is blue, the Church is true and life is good.

Elder Joshua Carlile

 

Elmira District