Sister Carlini: "Be Still My Soul..the Waves and Winds Still Know.." :)‏

Hello Hello! :)

This week has been quite the crazy, exciting, and great adventure!! :) It was a great week!! :) Packed full of the 5 t's! :) tracting, teaching, Texas, tornadoes, and training! :) ha Let me talk about each.. :) ha

Tracting- We have been doing a LOT of finding (tracting) this week! :) Striving to find the prepared since a lot of people left for the Summer! :) It's been so great though! A great experience we had was one day we went to a complex that we go to a lot to check on some people and none of them were home.. so as we were about to head back to the car, we had a thought that there was someone in building "L" (even though I had NO idea of anyone that lived in building "L"?! ha) So we went to knock on 2 doors (out of the 3 floors it has) and the first door, the girl wasn't really interested, so we walked back downstairs and we were going to go to the one underneath hers but the Spirit led us directly to another one on the bottom floor and so we went there, knocked, and MOHAMAD answered!! (a past investigator that told us to call/come back in May!! but we hadn't yet and I always forgot which one he lived in!!) So the SPIRIT LED US THERE!! :) It was SO amazing!! :) He welcomed us (and a member we had with us) into his apartment and we were able to teach him the Plan of Salvation! :) He said it was amazing that we caught him at home because he is so busy with grad school but had the thought/feeling to stay home that morning!! MIRACLE!!! :) It was AMAZING!! :) He said we could come back too and was grateful we stopped by! :) I lOVE how the Lord works!! :) He completely KNOWS and LOVES EACH of His Children (US!) :) It's AMAZING!! :) I LOVE how He led us to his door (not even knowing or remembering he even lived there!! because it was so long ago that we met him! ha) so we could be there to help him in his progression in coming closer and unto Christ! :) AMAZING!! :)

Teaching- We have been blessed with the AMAZING opportunity to teach Zhaotong!! :) We love him!! :) He is from China and is so great!! :) He is doing amazing!! :) And is the sweetest! We LOVE his prayers!! :) There is a slight language barrier but the Spirit is always there and he understands A LOT!! :) It's amazing!! :) Please continue to keep him in your prayers! He is a sweetheart and makes us smile each time we meet with him because of his sincere desire and willingness to do whatever the Lord asks of him! :) It's amazing!! :)

Texas!- Woo hoo! :) So this week, Sister Armistead and I were blessed to have the great opportunity to go to TEXAS for Exchanges with the Hermanas! :) It was so much fun! :) We loved it!! :) And I know everyone says, "Everything is Bigger and Better in Texas" (and I'm still debating that since i LOVE Oklahoma! ha) but it's definitely "Hotter in Texas!!" :) ha We drove down to Wichita Falls and had a great exchange with the Spanish Sisters down there! :) I went with Hermana Jenkins (she's training the 2 other Sisters!) They are all amazing! And we learned and did a lot! :) The Church is true!! :) And the work is hastening!! :) Those Sisters were so busy with so many people to see and teach it was AMAZING!! :) We loved it!! :) The Lord's work is TRUE and it is truly a WORK of MIRACLES!! :) I LOVE it!! :)

Tornadoes- So we know we can't be in Oklahoma and Texas without some tornadoes right?! :S So this weekend we had a lot of severe storm watches and warnings and the sirens went off again and it was just craziness! ha It's so funny/amazing how CALM the locals are here about it all! (I mean it makes sense, they deal with this a lot ha but still!) So we got home from Church yesterday (it was a Wonderful day at Church! We loved it! And Sister Zaleski gave an amazing talk! Based off of Sister Dalton's talk from this past conference! :) ) We taught Zhaotong and then headed home for lunch. While we were having lunch we were looking at the sky and noticing the crazy cloud formations and knew that they were not good signs/ = possible tornado could form! :/ So we decided to head over to the Members home that had a storm shelter and do our training studies there! :) When we arrived they had dinner ready for us! And showed us the shelter and everything! :) They were/are SO wonderful and helped me feel so much calmer and better! :) I'm SO grateful!! :) Members are amazing!! :) And the Lord is SO AMAZING too!! :) He definitely KNOWS and TAKES CARE of EACH and EVERY ONE of us!! :) I'm SO grateful!! :) So the sirens eventually started going off, and we got a personal text from President Taylor (which happens very rarely!) that we needed to be "in a shelter!" So we all went in with some of the Elders too that came over and just waited until it got bad in our area for us to close the shelter door. (These members were SUPER calmed and not even worried! ha they are great! I need that! ha :) ) So we ended up spending a lot of time there and getting tons of texts to 'get into a shelter' and to 'stay in one until further notified' etc. It was so crazy!! I am SO grateful that Heavenly Father is SOOO amazing and kept us (and ALL the other missionaries) safe! And blessed us with AMAZING members who took care of us and let use their storm shelter!! :) I'm SO grateful!! :) The Church is TRUE! :)

Training- So guess what??! :) I'm TRAINING again!! hah I couldn't believe it! I told the Assistant to the President that called, "I thought I was done having 'kids'?!" :P hah So crazy! And SISTER ZALESKI is STAYING HERE WITH ME!! :) Woo hoo!! :) We were SO excited when he told us that!!! :) So we will be getting a new Sister in our area next week and will be a trio again! :) So exciting!! :) Please keep her in your prayers as well, along with all the other new missionaries that will be coming out!! :) The work is hastening!! The Lord has called them to serve!! And He needs them!! :) The Church is TRUE! :) The work is HASTENING! :) It's the greatest thing EVER to be a part of!! :) We LIVE it! :) We LOVE it! We SHARE IT!! :) It's the BEST! :) We invite you all to continue to do so as well!! :) Y'all are so amazing!! :) And such great LIGHTS to the world and others around you!! :) Keep on shining on! :) And KNOW (because I KNOW) the the LORD LOVES YOU!! :) He CARES about YOU! :) And wants what is BEST for YOU!! :) ALWAYS TURN to HIM! :) Y'all are AMAZING!! :) I LOVE and MISS You ALL!! :) Have a wonderful and beautiful day!! :) And thank you SO much for ALL your prayers!! :) I feel them and need them, we all do!! :) THANK YOU!! :) I LOVE YOU!! :) The Church is TRUE!! :) May the light and truthfulness of the gospel continue to BLESS YOU!! :) In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. :)

Love, Sister Carlini :)

ps. QofW: more like a personal revelation/connection thought of the week inspired by Sister Taylor! :)

"Why did the Lord bless YOU with the gospel? ..Because He knew YOU would SHARE it!!" :)