First Baptism!! :)

Hello, Hello!! :)

How are you all?! I hope everyone is doing exceedingly great!! :) This week has been an awesome one! :) We had 2 baptisms scheduled which was wAy sweet!! but one got postponed :( Katelynn was suppose to be baptized this past friday but her grandma got really sick and was in the hospital which was no good! She's doing a little better now though so that's good! We had to postpone it until this Friday, so that's something definitely to look forward too! yay!!! :) She is the cutest and sweetest little 11 yr. old girl! so exciting! But Christian DID get baptized!!!! woo hoo!!! :) As you can see from the pictures he is such a cute little 12 yr old and had the biggest smile on his face all night, it was awesome!! :) He asked Sister Draper and I to each give a talk at his baptism so she gave it on Baptism and I gave one on the Holy Ghost so that was fun :) It was sOOO exciting to have my FIRST BAPTISM on my mission!! love it! One of our investigators came to it also, so that was awesome! Also, this past wekk we met with awesome people and the lessons we taught went well :) One really cool thing that happened was Sister Draper and I felt like we should go to this one recent convert's house and visit her. She is stuggling with quiting smoking again as is one of our investigators. While we were sharing a message with this recent convert I felt really prompted to ask her if she wanted/could come with us to our next appointment and teach with us! :) She was slightly hesitant at first but then as we talked with her about it she got really excited and couldn't wait to go and meet her!! :) She even drove us there! They totally got along great and were able to relate to each other really well about quiting smoking and learning about the gospel!! It. was. awesome!!! Ohhh how i just love the Spirit and it's promptings!!! And more importantly when we recognize and act upon them!!! That is definitely the trickier but most amazing part!! :) ha So that was super cool, and she even came to church with us that following Sunday and really enjoyed it!! :) She's already in 2 Nephi but is still really trying to figure out if she believes the Book of Mormon is from God. It's amazing how powerful and key the Book of Mormon really is to our conversion!! Once you know that's true, nothing else matters!! :) Because once you read, ponder, and sincereley pray about the Book of Mormon really intending to act upon the answer we receive (Moroni 10:3-5) We know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet, our prophet Pres. Thomas S. Monson is the true and living prophet today and that this Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is the only true Church upon the face of the earth!! :) uh-mAzing!!!! The Book of Mormon has a lot of 'pressure' on it!! :) hah But it can definitely handle it, that's for sure!!! :D the Book of Mormon is AMAZING and i love it!!! and i Know that it is TRUE!! :D No wonder it is the 'iron rod' in Lehi's Dream (1 Nephi 8) because if we truly 'cleave' to it (the Book of Mormon) and constantly strengthen our testimonies of it we will surely make it back to our Heavenly Father and partake of the fruit which is the love of God and really come unto Christ (more fully)! :) Another awesome thing that happened this week was Sister Draper and i were able to stop by an awesome young women activity that was going on Friday night! Of course we all know that i lOvE young women's/the yw of the church so it was way fun!! :) They were having a service activity/sleepover at the Stuart's and we were able to play charades with them and share a spiritual thought about "The Parable of the Pencil" (which i highly recommend everyone look up because it is awesome! i love it! :) ) and then we left. It was way fun though and one of our investigators was there also!! :) They all wanted a copy of the parable we shared and wanted to use if for girls camp, so that was sweet! Inspired! :) A few more awesome things happened yesterday! :) First of all Christian got confirmed and received the gift of the Holy Ghost (Which is the greatest gift we recieve here on earth! i love it!!) , Church is always great, it was a beautiful day (and so is today!), aaaannd we got to go to the Folsom's for dinner!! They are awesome members in our ward! And it was so cool because they have been talking to one of their good friends about the gospel and have wanted him to meet with missionaries to answer his questions etc. and he cAmE while we were there! it was awsome because they invited him for dinner but he had already eaten but then they decided to invite him over for dessert instead and while we were just about to start sharing a message with them (before dessert) we heard a knock on the door!! and it was their friend!! :) ha it was awesome! They (and we) were sO excited!! So he was able to be there for the spiritual thought, dessert, and to kind of discuss eachother's thoughts and beliefs and answer some questions. it was way fun and he is a way cool guy!! Very good Christian and fun to talk to! So that was cool. He's curious about our religion because he loves how we LIVE what we teach and live up to such a higher standard and really likes that :) but isn't realy sure he wants to actually be taught by us.. so I don't know what's going to happen there but he has a LOT of potential!! And the folsom's are GREAT example and friends to him so that's good! :) Last night we also got to go to the CES Fireside with a less active and it was AWESOME!!! I miss going to firesides!!! They are the best!!! :) Elder Cook's talk was sO good! I love how he talked about not being afraid to be who we are and rise up to our divine potentials and who the Lord knows we can and will become (if we apply the 'Doctrine of Christ' in our lives which is faith, repentance, baptism, gift of the holy ghost, and enduring to the end! :) -2 Nephi 31) And it was broadcasted from BYU-Idaho!! Which of course made me super happy!! :D ha ohhh i just love Tender Mercies! :) Well, the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and i lOVE it!!! :D It is truly what brings us the greatest peace and happiness in our lives and lasting throughout the eternities!! What an extraordinary blessing!!! I just love my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ and i KNOW they love me and each one of you too!! i hope you all have an amAzing week!! :) And don't wear a 'mask' like Elder Cook counseled and let that light shine that radiates from each one of you as you strive to live the gospel to the fullest!! :) You are all amazing and are such great examples to me!! I love you! And hope you have a super great day!! :)

Love, Sister Carlini

p.s. *Quote of the Week* (i really like this one and shared it in my testimony yesterday aaaand i want to put it in my house one day! ha side note! :) ) "May our families and homes be filled with love; love of each other, love of the gospel, love of our fellowman, and love of our Savior." -Pres. Monson :)

 

 

pps. *Picture descriptions: soooo our bishop did it again! He brought us "Christmas food" for the Transfer! Apparenlty it's his new tradition that he looooves!!! We try and stop him, but he won't :) ha but we are def. sUper greatful for him and his family and alll they do! they are amazing!! but anyways this time he decided to throw in a couple of awesome "Eskimo Joe's" shirts which is HUGE here!! EVERYONE has them here in Stillwater! ha it's a hamburger place that's really popular and they have a 'gift shop/store' with toooons of stuff with their logo! ha so the bishop got us those sweet shirts! One of the pictures is of our district from last (my first) transfer, they are awesome! One of them i like to call "Why did the goose cross the road?" :) hah it cracks me up because we will seriously see geese just randomly crossing roads out here! hah pretty sure that didn't really happen in utah... or else i just didn't notice it?? ha i just love Oklahoma!! :) ha And the other one is of course, Christian's baptism!!!! :D woo hoo!! :) sO exciting!! Hope you enjoy, have a great week!! :) I miss you allllll!!!!!!! Thanks for being amazing!!! :