ELDER DREW CARSON: Week 5!!!

Alright, amigos, this is it. One more week!! The next time you hear from me, I'll be under the Cancun Sun.

Tons of stuff happened this week. I'll see how much I have time to type.

LECCION 1: The Lord will magnify you when you strive to be exactly obedient. I will say, it's hard to be the guy who's always like, "cmon guys, we gotta...." you know. The fun-spoiler. But I've really been trying with my companions to be an example of exact obedience for the district, and one result is that we've had some AMAZING lessons.

First, with Regina. Our goal was to teach about la Palabra de Sabiduria, and she followed along pretty well. At one point, she expressed some concerns over her ability to fulfill the commandment. She wasn't sure whether God could work a miracle in her life. A thought came to mind, and I opened up to a scripture that my companions had been talking about earlier that day. Mormon 9:18-21. LITERALLY PERFECT RESPONSE. She declared right then and there that she had experienced something unusually strong and that she knew Joseph Smith was a prophet. We had no trouble with the comitting her to live la Palabra de Sabiduria.

Next, we taught about the Ley de Castidad. Her main concern was that she wouldn't be able to raise a righteous family because of the mistakes in her past. We talked about repentance and then I promised her as a servant of the Lord that, through her faith, she would experience that great change of heart that lets you know that you are forgiven completely. After the lesson, she pulled me aside (Hna Zuniga) and told me that it was the FIRST TIME she had ever felt that sort of power behind a missionary's words as a teacher. I was so grateful that the Spirit had put that power behind my iffy Spanish!!! El don de lenguas is reall!

LECCION 2: Time passes according to your attitude. I know a lot of guys who say it feels like we've been in the CCM for eternity, but honestly, I feel like I got here yesterday. I love every minute of service, and I'm learning SO MUCH. It's great. Learning's great. The Gospel's great. (If you read that in Donald Trump's voice.... I did too).

LECCION 3: The natural man really is an enemy to God. And to happiness. I was thinking during personal study that it's crazy how our natural minds want to insist on being alone in this life. Like Laman and Lemuel when they make fun of Nefi for trying to build a ship. ITS NOT JUST HIM PEOPLE. We have the most powerful being in the universe on our side, and if we cling to that belief, we are empowered to do amazing things.

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Since I'm leaving this next week, I want to take a sec to pay tribute to the missionaries in my district:

E Chamberlain - Prime Chamberling - keeper and tamer of wild, magical beasts - preachin what he knows with an extra-terrestrial charisma - future star explorer and space pirate.

E. Pearson - straight outta the 50s - dancin like a grandpa and keepin the collective groove alive - layin down the beat of the Gospel with his mighty pen-tapping skills - hes alive, man.

E. Hassard - workin haaaaarrrd, straight off the farm

got that straaaight faaaaace, and simple taste
*REMIX*
speakin so well,
makes our mouth go sour,
preachin out the word with that p-p-p-p-power,
teachin all teh people like king Ben from the toweeeerrrr
PREDICAD'N EL EVANGELIOOOOOOOOO

E. Ellsworth - A true man plucked from the college scene - working and studying like the great erudites of ancient times - a skilled craftsman of the celestial work.

E. Johnson - The leader of us all - The great, the happy, the huggable, the hungry - the only one of us who can pull off being slightly inappropriate and still spirichal - He's..... EL GATO GORDO GUAPO!!!!!!! *Self-proclaimed title

E. Christiansen - Futbol extraordinaire - ready to juke out all the unbelievers with raw testimony and focus - He wont deal with your nonsense - success is written in his DNA.

E. Fillingim - He is our rock, built upon The Rock - Defines strength in all facets - physical, mental, spiritual, and indeed, heart - Gonna give it all to Tennessee cause hes the only 10 I see! ;)

E White - A free spirit and truly the artist among us - words flowing life the Amazon, cutting through a jungle of confusion and change and keeping us all tethered until we reach the open peace of the sea.

Hna Herman - Like the mother duck, she chastises and corrects, but without fail demonstrates genuine concern for us - Her heart fierce, she defends her friends as a valiant warrior of the faith.

Hna Flores - The senior citizen and big sister among us, shes the only one with the guts to be the Chicken Wing Queen - Cancun-bound, she'll bring the party off the beach and into the hearts of the investigators.

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We had a gastrointestinal plague spread through the district immediately after my companion opened a package containing a pillow in the shape of the rainbow-poop emoji. We think it is probably of Satan.

We taught Priesthood, and despite the fact that we used our lesson-prep time to administer blessings to the sick, the Lord helped us and the lesson went fantastic.

We got our travel plans from Reception!! Our maestras were literally crying because they say we're an amazing district and all the new districts are looking difficult. They might kidnap us and keep us here.....

Our old zone leaders who were a week ahead of us left.... that was sad. They were great examples to us all, but I know they'll do great in the field. We are officially the old geezers of the CCM.

We found out that the doorbell in our casa is a plug-in speaker.... you can only imagine the pranks, given all the outlets next to the bunk beds.... belts were a-flyin.

LOVE YOU ALL <3

Don't know when my next Pday is, so keep a steady eye on the horizon...

- Elder Carson

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