Sister Carlini: "Hark All Ye Nations..!" :)‏

Hey Y'all!! :)

How is everyone??! I hope AMAZING!! :) Because y'all are AMAZING!! :) Well this past week was great! :) Lots of tender mercies and being guided by the Spirit for sure! :) I love the gospel and missionary work! :) It's so true!! :) So first, this past week Sister Main and I got to be a part of the ward "Trunk or Treat" activity and it was SO much fuN!! :) We had a blast and helped the ward (especially the youth) get involved in missionary work!! :) What we did was gave out 2 passalong cards attached to candy to the little kids and for the older kids/youth we had a 'drawing' where they would pick a piece of candy with a paper attached to it out of a bowl and read what it said. Then they would get the 'prize' or item it mentioned! :) The papers had 'missionary opportunity invitations' for them to do such as, "Prayerfully give a gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet to a non-member" or "Prayerfully write your testimony in a Book of Mormon and give it to a non-member" etc. etc. We gave away church DVD's, pamphlets, copies of the Book of Mormon, Family Proclamations, For Strength of Youth pamphlets etc.!! :) It was so much fun! :) And they all committed to do it!! :) We were/are so excited! :) It was so fun and the youth in our ward are AMAZING!! :) the youth of the church in general are SOOOOO amazing!!! :) It blows me away!! :) Keep up the great work youth!! :) We've been following up with some of the youth we've seen and asked them if they done it yet and some already have!! :) woo hoo!! :) Love Missionary Work!! :) The Work, the church, and the gospel are TRUE!!!! :)

Another great thing that happened this week was we were able to meet with and teach the girls again!! :) (Nyche, Morgan, and Ashley) it has been forever!! But we were able to teach them the Plan of Salvation with a member and they LOVED it!! :) They all thought it made perfect sense! :) It was amazing!! :) They said they would come to Church this week and all set a baptismal date!! :) sO exciting!! :) Will you please keep them especially in your prayers?! They are SO prepared but they have to work a lot on Sundays and we want them to be truly committed for the right reasons and continue to progress! They are amazing girls!! :) Thank you for ALL your prayers!! :) Y'all are amazing!! :) and THEY WORK!!! :) I KNOW the Lord hears and answers every single prayer we pray! I have seen that COUNTLESS times in my life and I know that it's true! :)

I KNOW the Lord hears and answers YOUR prayers too!! :) We just have to be alert and recognize His hand in our lives in ALL things and thank Him for ALL the times we see Him answering our prayers, helping us, and blessing us!! :) I KNOW He does!! :) Prayer is truly one of the greatest blessings and tools we have been given!! :) Utilize it to the fullest!! :) Remember, God is your LOVING Heavenly Father and He wants what is best for you in all you do!! :) Never forget that! Trust in Him. He will NEVER lead you astray! and He knows the way! The way to true and lasting happiness, peace, hope, self-worth, self-discipline, love, encouragement and ultimately the way to eternal life!! :) "Which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God." :) (D&C 14:7) I KNOW that this is true! :) And so can you (even more fully in your life) through prayer! :) Pray to Him. He knows and loves you perfectly. He WILL help you no matter what. And always remember when you don't want to pray that is when we need to pray the most (sometimes that is hard to do but i promise you if you do it it works! And you will feel better and be happier almost instantly! :) ) I love what Elder Cornish said in a past conference (Oct. 2011) about prayer, he said, "It is as tragic to think we are too sinful to pray as it is for a very sick person to believe he is too sick to go to the doctor!" and then he goes on to say, "We must not only say our prayers; we must also live them. The Lord is much more pleased with the person who prays and then goes to work than with the person who only prays. Much like medicine, prayer works only when we use it as directed." I know prayers works, it is truly the "passport to peace." -Pres. Monson :)

Speaking of prayer, a miracle happened this weekend! :) We have been trying to teach this family for WEEKS now! (They've been taught the Restoration but we haven't been able to teach them again since) we stopped by the other day and their daugher Kaycee is 8 and is such a sweetheart and amazing little girl! She is the only one in her family that is reading the Book of Mormon and when we stopped by she wanted to go to church with us!! :) We weren't sure if her mom would let her but she said she would text and let us know the next day.. So we PRAYED that she would let her come and it would all work out and on Saturday we got a text from Kaycee's mom saying, "Kaycee can go" !! :) We were SOOOO excited!!! :) We get a ride to church from a member so we were able to go with her to pick up kaycee and all go together!! :) It was sO much fun and Kaycee lOVED it!! :) She has so much light and is a great example to me and I'm sure all those around her! :) Such a great experience! :)

Also, another product of prayer and how when we pray for SPECIFIC things we recieve SPECIFIC answers and blessings.. was yesterday all of our plans (except for our dinner appt.) fell through! ha So we prayed to know what to do and to not get down and right after that a member called us with GREAT news about a less-active family we asked them to go visit!! They said they went and that his wife (who is not a member) was super friendly and they told us that we should go over there and meet them sometime! :) So we are definitely going to do that! It was so great and really uplifted our Spirits! :) AND later that night we were tracting in a neighborhood and specifically prayed that we would "find those who were prepared and ready to recieve us and that they would find us as well.." and within the next few doors we met Jeff! :) We offered to pray with him for anything he might need and anything he is grateful for! :) He said sure! And was grateful for the prayer we offered with him. We then told him a little bit more about us and what we do and he asked some great questions and when we gave him a "Book of Mormon" card he said, "oh hey! You're Mormons?!" :) and we said, "yeah!" to which he replied, "That's great! I have been wanting to learn more about Mormonism and I really like the way you guys think!" :D :D :D :D :D (music to a missionary's ears!!! :) ha) it was INCREDIBLE!! :) We asked him if he wanted a Book of Mormon we could give him right then and he EXCITEDLY accepted!! :) (I've never seen someone SOOO excited to recieve a Book of Mormon on doorstep approach!! IT WAS AMAZING!!!! :) ) Jeff is amazing and we are way excited to teach him soon!! :) Isn't that SO incredible??! A SPECIFIC answer and blessing to a SPECIFIC prayer! :) I love it!! :) I'm so grateful!! What a blessing!! :) if you will, please keep him in your prayers too!! :) THANK YOU!! :)

Okay last story for the email.. :) So as you can see from the 'pumpkin picture' I carved a temple into mine!! :) It was so fuN! :) AND I put it outside our apartment door and was excited to have some kind of 'festive decoration' for Halloween! And guess what?! It actually turned into a Missionary Opportunity!! :) So after I had put it outside a couple days later a guy came to our door (which is always really weird because no one really comes to your door as a missionary.. hah) he was selling something and when we opened the door he said, "Hi Sisters! What's on your pumpkin.. and what on top of it?!" And I told him it was the temple! :) And angel Moroni was on top! :) It turns out he has met with Elders before and has a Book of Mormon! :) We invited him to read and pray about it and he said he would! :) It was so cool! :) Who knew a temple carved pumpkin would turn into a missionary opportunity?! :) hah I LOVE IT!! :) There are SOOOO many ways to share the gospel!! :) Big AND small!! :) i invite you to prayerfully decide how the Lord wants YOU to share the gospel with someone this week!! :) I KNOW He will hear and answer your prayer! :) (especially for a righteous desire for a missionary opportunity! :) ) Then make sure to look around you and recognize the promptings and opportunities the Lord WILL place in your path and ACT ont hem!! :) You will see GREAT GREAT blessings come into your life as you do so! I promise you this, in then name of Jesus Christ, amen. :)

I hope y'all have a tremendous week and a Happy Halloween! :) Be safe and ctr!! :) I love you all SOOOOOO much!!! :) And miss you SOOOOO much too!!! :) thank you for ALL you do!! :) Your prayers, love, support, encouragement, fun letters and packages, and most importantly your desire to live and love and share the gospel of Jesus Christ!! :) There is no more important thing than to "Preach His gospel!!" :) The Lord loves you and I do too! :) Have a great week!

Love, Sister Carlini :)

ps. QofW: "Missionary work is not just one of the 88 keys on a piano that is occasionally played; it is a major chord in a compelling melody that needs to be played continuously throughout our lives if we are to remain in harmony with our commitment to the gospel of Jesus Christ." -Elder Quentin L. Cook ("Be a Missionary All Your Life" <<<excellent talk!!! :) )

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/09/be-a-missionary-all-your-life?lang=eng&query=missionary+life+(name%3a"Carl+B.+Cook"+OR+name%3a"Mary+N.+Cook"+OR+name%3a"Quentin+L.+Cook

AND.. "For the Savior’s mandate to share the gospel to become part of who we are, we need to make member missionary work a way of life." -Elder Quentin L. Cook :)