I believe in MIRACLES!! :)

Hello Everyone!! :)

Well this week has been great! :) Can I just say I LOVE THE GOSPEL!!! :) Because I DO!!! :D It's incredible!! :) and sOO sOOO TRUE!!! :D Live it. Love it. Share it!! :) "Men are that they might HAVE Joy" (2 Nephi 2:25) and "Missionaries (including member missionaries-that's YOU) are that they might SHARE joy!!" :) (that's one of the quotes i was trying to hurry and type from that amazing talk from the last email! before the computer booted me off! ha (it's slightly stressful how the comps. are timed! ha so sorry these emails might not be as long/detailed/story-filled as the ones when I was in Stillwater but hopefully you will still like them! :) )
So this past week started off great! We got to 'heart-attack' some people's doors which is always fun and happy! :) People lOvE it and it really makes their day!! It just shows that truly 'small and simple things' can make a BIG difference!! I love that! :) It's so true! :) We also got to do some other service for a one of our members this week as well! We raked leaves! And it was definitely a TON of leaves!! ha it was a big yard! We did it for like 2 1/2 hours!! hah i loved it!!! A mission has made me really lOVE doing service!! I am so grateful!! :)

SO! Miracle of the Week!! (and it is a GOOOOOD one!!! :) ) Sister Buckley and I were going around trying to visit/meet the less-actives in our ward and there was one on the list that I thought/felt we should go visit. But we were kind of low on miles (we get 800 a month) for our car and it was a little out of the way of where we were heading next. I looked up any info i could find on them and saw that they were a part-member family and i said, "No, we need to go there! :) So we did. When we got there a teenage girl (17) opened the door (we were slightly confused because it only had a man's name on there as a member and no record of anyone else..) We soon found out that this girl was a member and she asked us if we wanted to come in? So of course we did! There was another girl there too! (her sister who is 15). We got to talk with them and get to know them! We found out the girl who answered the door had been baptized when she was 8. Sis. Buckley then had a thought and asked me if i thought the other girl had been baptized? We both assumed she had but still thought we would ask. So we asked the 15 yr. old if she had been baptized? And she said No! So I asked her if she has ever wanted to be baptized? and she said YES! And so we proceeded to ask her if she would want us to come teach her to prepare her to be baptized? and she said YES!! She would really like that!! :) :) :) Can you say MIRACLE??!! Becuse that's what we said when we got in the car after!! :) ha Sister Buckley and I just sat there shocked when she responded! (pleasantly shocked though!! :) hah) it was incredible!! :) So we have been back to teach her about 3 times this past week AND she came to Church!! And we got to go to young womens with her!!! Oh my goodness!! Blessing, after blessing, after blessing!! This transfer has been FULL of them!!! :) Sister Buckley and I are sOOOO incredibly grateful!!! :) We lOVE seeing the Lord's hands in our lives daily!! It's beyond amazing!! :D And worth everything to be worthy of His Spirit!! :)

So cool story about one of the lessons we had with this AMAZING girl!! :) (both girls are amazing!!) We went one day and started teaching her about the Restoration. We used the cool cup demonstration that i love! And I was wondering (as i always do when we start teaching the Restoration) if I would be the one that would say the account of Joseph Smith's First Vision? (little secret about me.. I am always SOO scared to say the First Vision account!! I feel like i'm going to mess it up and i know it's such a critical part of the lesson where the Spirit can be so strong! ha so i've never wanted to say/do it.. sadly!! hah ) So before it came to that point of the lesson i said a little prayer inside that if I was the one to tell the account ("I saw a pillar of light...") that Heavenly Father would help me say it and not mess up. So it eventually came to that point and I DID need to say it (i love how the Spirit helped prepare me for that!! :) Ha) and So i did. And let me tell you.. Joseph Smith's account of the First Vision is TRUE!!!! :D I felt the Spirit tingle and soflty burn within my whole body as i said it!! It was incredible!!! :D And I only said one word 'wrong' but it still had the same meaning!! WOW!!! Afterwards I thought to myself.. and THAT is why Satan tried sOOO hard to get me to never want to be the one to say it and to fear that part.. because he knew that i would FEEL that and KNOW that it was and IS TRUE!!!! :D Because i definitely do!!!! The Spirit testified to me through those feelings and the Spirit that filled the room that Joseph Smith is a TRUE prophet and the First Vision is TRUE and really happened!!! :D WOW!!! What a blessing to have that incredible experience!!! I am sOOO grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who helped me say it and to overcome that fear!! :) Because it has helped strengthen my testimony SO much!! :) I love it! :) AND! Later on that week we met with another Investigator and the Restoration came up again and for ME to say the First Vision again (and i was still slightly scared to but not as bad) and i said it again! ANd the SAME exact tingly feelings of the Spirit came again!!!! and it testified to me that it was/is true!!! :D In-credible!!!!! :D Wow, I love the Spirit!! :) Joseph Smith is a true prophet, He TRULY saw God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ!! THe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the TRUE church!!! I know it and i love it!!! :) In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love, Sister Carlini







ps. QofW: "Consecration is the only surrender that is also a VICTORY!" -Elder Maxwell :)

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2011/09/valiant-in-the-testimony-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng&query=*+(name%3a"Lawrence+E.+Corbridge")

AMAZING Talk!! :) Elder Corbridge is my favorite!! :) He is the one that wrote "The Fourth Missionary" which is theee MOST incredible talk i have ever read!!! :) And the principles apply to EVERYONE! :) not just Missionaries!! But i DEFINITELY think EVERY Missionary needs to READ "The Fourth Missionary!!" :) It has changed my mission!! and the kind of missionary I strive to be!! :) It's amazing!!! :)
this is not the Fourth Missionary but is another GREAT talk by Elder Corbridge!! :) He has another general conference one called, "The Way" :) super good too!! :)