Sister Carlini: In the "Miracle Field...!" :)

Hey Hey! :)

How is everyone doin?! I love and miss you all SOOOO much!!! I first want to say hOlY cOw thank you sOOOO much for ALL the letters and packages everyone has given me!!! i dEfInItElY know what people mean now when they say missionaries LOVE mail!!! it's sOOOO true!!! makes my day EVERY time!!! Also just so you know i just bArely got a bunch from you all that were from the MTC like Jan. 14th so thank you!! sorry i didn't reply sooner cuz i just got them a couple days ago sent to me! :) ha but i lOVED them!! I'm workin on writin people back today as much as i can! just know you all MADE MY DAY!! :D Thank yOU! :) Okay, sooo Oklahoma! What a great place! :) first of all i forgot to mention (last email) that the weather has been WAY nice!! HUGE Tender Mercy from Heavenly Father!! It has been way sunny and nice out!! and not humid!!! yay!! it feels and looks like Utah when i was in the MTC so woo hoo!! i'm so grateful! :) The people, like everyone has said, are wAy nice here! i lOVE our ward we are in! Especially our bishop, Bishop Austin! He definitely takes care of his missionaries!! Sister Draper and i are sUper grateful for that!! :) This past week has been AMAZING!! it was so much fuN!! Sister Draper had a trainer meeting in OKC (tues. and wed.) with all the trainers and Pres. Taylor so i got to work in a trio for those two days!! it was sOOO much fun! and we saw so many miracles!! i loved it!! :) i got to work with Sister Ewell (my mtc comp.) again!! yay!! (i love her!! it was sOOOO fun to be reunited and teach/tract/work together in the Mission Field!) and Sister Christensen! who is flippin amazing too!! She is hilarious and so fun and such a powerful teacher!! i learned a TON from her!! and she (along with our OKC stay) was DEFINITELY an answer to my prayers and a huge tender mercy from Heavenly Father! :) So i want to tell you 2 stories that happened while we were in OKC for those 2 days! First off, i had my first "Divine Deadend" experience!! :) hah Which is what i call it when you go to an appt. and they aren't there to teach but you realize Heavenly Father wanted you in that area for a reason so you look around and try and find the person/purpose you are there! :) It was awesome! So here's what happened.. Sister Ewell, Sister Christensen, and I were drivin to an appt. with a person we will call 'Rob" ha when we got to the apartments we couldn't find his and the ones we thought might be his no one answered.. so we started tracting around in that area of apartments and tried to share our message of Christ with others! :) We tried to follow the Spirit in which doors we should knock on and go to and along the way got a couple of no answers or doors shut on us. hah So we decided to go somewhere else.. me and Sister Christensen got in the car and were trying to find Sister Ewell (who was backing us-on the mission you have to have the 'non-driver' missionay guide you outside the car in backin it so no accidents ever happen that way! i think it's hilarious (but smart ha) and i am horrible at it!! pretty sure I almost get hit everytime i back Sister Draper out! haha but anyways.. :) ) We couldn't see Sister Ewell and then we look to the side and she is holdin ga 2 liter pop bottle cuz a guy was taking out the trash and it fell out. So we all got out and were like well i guess we'll all go throw it away together! ha On the way the guy walked back and took it from us to throw away. We said thanks and went to get in the car as the guy walked away through the apartments. then sister christensen was like "Wait! we should see if he knows "rob!!" so i jumped out of the car and ran to the area he was and yelled, "Wait! can i ask you something?! Do you know "Rob?!" and he said, 'no.." and so we were like okay and started to head back but right then i yelled out, "Can i give you a card?!!!" hahah it was so funny! he said "sure' so we all ran down to him and i told him we were missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints!' and gave him a mormon.org card and told him he could look at that website and find out more about our beliefs! :) ha then the other sisters commented and we asked him questions about his religious beliefs etc.! He was sOOO nice and open to learn more about our beliefs/church so we asked him if he would be interested in meeting with us another time and talk/learn more about it! and he said YES! so i got his info and we told him we would see him soon etc. and to talk a look at the site before we came etc.! first "Divine Deadend' experience and it was AWESOME! He was so sweet and definitely one of the 'prepared ones by the Lord'! :) Another cool experience we had the next day was while tracting.. we were goin house to house with not too much success when we were on the porch of a house and they pulled up in their car right then! ha it was a lady and her son and she said, "Come on in!" :) ha it was amazing and such a tender mercy! That was the first time i've ever been invited IN their house while tracting! :) ha yay!! :) So we were able to teach her the first lesson about the Restoration, gave her a Book of Mormon and she asked where church was if she wanted to go! 'prepared by the Lord?' i think so!! :) then towards the end of the lesson i felt REALLY prompted by the Spirit to commit her to baptism once she knew the Book of Mormon/ the Church was true! So i DID! and she said YES!! :) ahhh!! incredible the work of missionary work is, it's TRULY the Lord's work and he definitely knows what's best and has prepared people for us to teach! :) So as you can see, goin to OKC for those 2 days was such a great blessing and experience! :) i learned a lot and got even more excited for missionary work! :) The next day we drove back to Stillwater and had district meeting and then went to Thai Cafe for lunch with everyone! (YUM! i lOVE that place!) and then drove home. When we walked in the door we saw TONS of letters and package slips to go get packages!!! best thing EVER!! ;) (thanks again to everyone for making my day!! i LOVE all your letters and packages!!! ahhh i just love you all!! :) ) AND when i walked into our kitchen BAM!! we saw ALLLL this food on our table and in our fridge- from our Bishop!!!! We were awe-struck!! It was like Christmas in January!! :) hah so we immediately called him speachless and thanked him a TON for everything!!! :) Later that day we taught one of my fav. people to teach, Autumn! :) I lOvE her!! She is 18 and is an INcrediBLE girl with limitless potential!! it's crazy! ha she has a TON of questions (really good ones) and has gone to seminary growing up with her cute member friend (Keely) thats in our ward! :) i love meeting with her and talking/teaching her about everything! :) I learn a ton too as i think about and study the questions about our church/beliefs that she asks! :) Yesterday we biked to church (oh so fun! :P) hah it was like 3 miles but it still wears me out! hah i'm not use to riding a bike so much but it's been getting better and it's been so nice outside so yay! :) We had a great Sabbath day visiting everyone, teaching, and planning! And now it's p-day! woo hoo! my goal: write as many letters as a possibly can!!! :) hah since the bishop basically supplied us with food to last the whole transfer!! we don't need to go shopping hah so i'm goin to try and write away! :) which i'm way excited for! so ya, it's a beautiful day! Also, i forgot to let you know what my new addressin Stillwater is!! sorry!! ha it is now: Sister Cristel Carlini 609 E. 7th Ave. Stillwater, OK 74074 so feel free to write me their! (at least for this transfer and possibly next, who knows?! :) ha ) i'll try and keep ya updated everytime it changes though! thank you for ALLL the love, prayers, encouragement, and support!! i could never do this without Heavenly Father, the Savior, the Spirit, and you all!! :D so tHANK YOU!! i love and miss you all!! I hope you all have a wonderful day and week!!! :)

Love, Sister Carlini

ps. Quote of the Week: "Through Baptism we 'Receive a remission of our sins', through the Sacrament we 'Retain a remission of our sins!'" :) deep! love it!

ALSO, AmAzING talks i read this past week and recommend you read! (if you would like to! :) ha) are both from this past conf. in October 2011 "The Opportunity of a Lifetime" by Elder Wadell (my new FAV. talk!!!) and "The Book of Mormon-a book from God" by Elder Callister So powerful and true and awesome!! :) I lOVE the Book of Mormon!! it's SUCh an amazing book! and can TrulY answer ANY questions we have or problems we may face! it's incredible!! It has to be and IS from God! :)

Alright, enjoy and i love you all!! :)