Vivo En Peru: Sister Stevie Carr

Nov. 23, 2014

Dear family,

HAPPY THANKSGIVING. I'm so grateful for each of you. Thank you for your support and your love. It's been too long since I've been home for Thanksgiving! Three years is a long time, but mom thanks for sending me everything to make pumpkin pie At least I'll have something to celebrate, even if it's a little late haha. Thanks for your spiritual thougt as well.

Well... I guess if President sent you a letter, you all know I had cambios this week. It came as a complete shock to me, and to be honest I was kind of sad! I love Hermana Gomez, and just when everything was starting to happen...I got transferred. I was in even more shock when it was announced that I'm the new sister training leader. I know President's mentioned things about how I need to be a leader for others, but I never expected to be called as a sister trainer...the crazier thing is I'm the only gringa...North American that's been called to the position. I'm now in an area called Puente Piedra. It's super big. My companion is Hermana Aliaga. She also has 14 months in the mission. There's a lot to take in and figure out, and I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed...but I'm trying to do my best and be happy. I'm trying to be a good example for the other sisters and figure out how to help this area progress. I left Hermana Gomez in Los Proceres, and now she's training a gringa! We had an interesting conversation about our three months together. We didn't have any baptisms...but we learned and grew so much together, we learned how to be more obedient, more diligent and to work better with the Spirit. As we noted those changes, we also noted that I was the only new STL called, and she was the only Hermana called to train a new missionary. The Lord knows what He's doing, and I'm trying to trust in Him even when I can't see what He sees in me.

This was a crazy week. It was full of me trying to figure out the area, get to know investigators and members, try to work with my companion. It's always a little rough at the get go. We had a cool experience though on Sunday that I want to share.

On Sunday at 6:30am, my zone leader called me to inform me that I was giving a talk. Awesome. I put something together real quick and then we went to church. I was the first to speak. During the Sacrament, I was at the piano, and I was thinking about the Atonement. I found myself reading the lines of THERE IS A GREEN HILL FAR AWAY in Spanish. I like it better in Spanish than in English. It's really pretty. As I read, the Spirit whispered to me that I needed to change my talk. I got scared. I can whip something out of the air in English, but it's still hard for me to do in Spanish. But I decided to go with it. I ended up talking about the Restoration and the Atonement, and how they're connected. I invited the members to follow Elder Ballard's invitation to invite their friends to learn about the Gospel before Christmas. I felt the Spirit so strongly as I spoke, and the other Elders got up and testified of what I had said. It was a cool experience.

Then we found out that there was an investigator that showed up to church. It was a young man named Oliver, that nobody knew. We talked to him for a moment and found out that he showed up on his own. He stayed for the whole 3 hours. We had a lesson with him after church and he explained to us that he's never gone to a church, but that he's always been trying to find out how to become closer to Christ. He told us that on Facebook he found the LDS pages and started researching the church and watching church videos. He told us he knows the church is true and he wants to know how he can join. We shared the message of the Restoration with him and he's going to get baptized on December 13th.

Yesterday was Mission Council. I was super scared to go haha. I didn't know what it was, but it ended up being a very spiritual experience for me. It was interesting to be there with the Zone Leaders of the mission and President and Hermana Archibald. All of our discussions were exactly what I needed. I did a lot of self reflection and figured out a lot of things that I need to do better. It was an amazing opportunity. But that's why I wasn't at internet yesterday, we have a short pday today

This morning Elder Hafen of the 70 came and spoke to our mission. He talked about the Atonement. He talked about how it has 3 blessings. The blessing of redemption from physical and spiritual death. The blessing of STRENGTHING us in our weaknesses and trials. The blessing of PERFECTING us. It was a really great talk and I wish I had time to share everything with you. I just want to invite you to study the Atonement this week. If there's anything to be grateful for, it's our Savior, Jesus Christ.

This week I've been humbled. I don't know how to explain just how small I feel. But my heart is also full of sooo much gratitude. I'm grateful for a Heavenly Father that knows who each of us are. I'm grateful that He puts people in our paths to strengthen our testimonies and help us along the path. I'm grateful for the Atonement of my Savior, that if I do my part, He can redeem me, strengthen me, and perfect me...I couldn't do anything without Him. I'm grateful for a family that has always been deeply rooted in the Gospel. Thank you for everything you've done for me. I'll never be able to express how much love and appreciation I have for each of you.

I hope you have an amazing Thanksgiving. I hope Tyler and his family, and Grandma and Grandpa get to Spokane safely and settle in quickly. I'm excited to have them close!

I love you all and I'm so grateful for you

Hermana Carr