Friday, March 20, 2009

Thursday, March 19, 2009

General Authority Visits

Dear Family & Friends:
This week has been very, very good. Things are really taking off here. Our new member James (see previous post)recently went on a temple trip with the rest of the branch and really enjoyed it. We have also been teaching his niece and nephew, and they really love church and YM/YW (Young Mens'/Young Womens' youth groups), and are even coming to Seminary.
These past few days have been very rainy here. Luckily, we got our car back on Friday, so we only had to be in the rain one day. They really need the rain around here. A lot of people grow cotton, and the lack of rain has really hurt the crops. It's too bad for all the Spring Break people that are coming in, though. Hopefully it will be warmer this week.
We just barely had transfers this past week, and both Elder Bugg and I are staying. We figured that we would be together again. He goes home in June. We also just barely found out that we will be having another General Authority tour our mission next week. D. Chad Richardson will be here Friday and Saturday, and we will have a special Zone Conference where he will train us. We are super excited because we just barely had Elder Shumway of the Seventies here and it was amazing! We seem to have been very blessed with the amount of General Authorities that have come through recently.
Mom, I have not gotten the packages, but I will most likely get them at Zone Conference or something like that. You can just send eveything to the Mission Office as usual. I hope all is well with everyone and enjoy the letters.
Write soon.
Elder Carreon

Monday, March 16, 2009

An amazing story

Elder Bugg and James

Elder Carreon

Message From a New Member

(Editor's Note:I recently received the following email from James Land, a new member of the church in South Texas taught and baptized by Elder Carreon and Elder Bugg. It is amazingly to read, and James Land graciously gave permission for it to be posted on the blog.)

To the Families of Elders Bugg and Carreon,

I want to personally thank you for making your sons such great individuals. They have shown me so many things, with such drive, inspiration and knowledge concerning the gospel. My life was a waste, I was lost, no direction. Initially, I was introduced to the gospel by my fiance. I began my search for answers. Speaking with your sons, whose enthusiasm and love for the gospel, has inspired me to strive for what they have. To be so confident with oneself and be closer to our Heavenly Father. They have shown that I can be a real person; and still have a real love for Christ. They want to teach me, not preach at me. I am a complete person now. Your sons have been a very large part of this transformation. I do not know how to thank them enough, so I would like to thank you for inspiring your sons to be such great men and Priesthood holders.

I have attached some photos from my baptism and family discussions (and a photo of their neighbor's house). They are currently teaching the gospel to my nieces and nephew. I hope this may inspire someone close to them, (y'all) back home. I have gone from a lost soul to a Priesthood holder myself. I will be baptizing my daughter within the next few weeks. I have found two people I will always call a "true friend" and "bretheren".

Sincerely
James Land

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Elder Carreon & Elder Bugg in Sinton

Portland Elders

Sinton & Blessings

Dear Family & Friends:
This week was great! Our investigator got confirmed, and received the priesthood! His family was super happy. Next week the youth have a temple trip, and he will be going with them, too. I can already see the change in his life. He has also been bringing his niece and nephew to church , and we were able to teach them yesterday. They both want to be baptized as well! We also have another family that has been bringing somebody to church, and she wants to be baptized!
Things are going great up here, we have had some amazing blessings.
On another note, we had to put our car in the shop because it has a huge dent in the side, so we have been walking everywhere (my companion's bike is broken!) Yesterday as we were walking to church, we passed by the auto body place, and we saw our car sitting there untouched! Supposedly were going to have it back tomorrow, but who knows.
Tomorrow we also find out if anybody is getting moved. Were probably going to stay together. Mission President Miller said that in a few months, there is going to be a deficit of about 12 missionaries and so some areas are going to have to be closed, and that Sinton was on his short list, but ever since Elder Bugg and I have been here and things have started happening, he has decided to keep it open. He said that it must be the Lord trying to tell him to keep it open. Needless to say, things have really been happening here lately, and it has all come from blessings. Of course we are working, but the sucess that we have been seeing lately has helped us realize that this isn't our work, it's the Lord's and he will bless us for trying our best.
Tell everybody that I say hi!

Ryan

Monday, March 2, 2009

Hi to all from Cooper, Ryan's brother who is a big supporter of his mission

And hello from Ian, Ryan's other brother who was recently in the hospital

A baptism and another wonderful week

Hello to all:
Man, this week has been amazing! Yesterday we had a statewide broadcast from President Uchtdorf and Elder Cook, as well as some other General Authority church leaders. It was pretty awesome. They talked a lot about being an example and holding a current temple recommend, as well as putting a large focus on strengthening families. It was an awesome broadcast.
Afterwards was our new convert's baptism. I spoke and my companion baptized him (my companion won the coin toss!) It was amazing, and the spirit was really strong. He said that he felt like a weight was lifted from him. His family was very happy, too!
Things are really going well in this area. We recently received a referral from somebody who saw one of the church commercials and wanted us to come by. We got it on Wednesday and tried to contact them on Thursday, but we couldn't find them. On Friday morning we got a call from the mission office telling us that they had called again and said that we didn't come by fast enough! So we went over and were able to teach a lady there. She was amazing and said that she drove by the church almost every day and that she had been praying to be led to the true church and had even gone to a bunch of other churches, but never felt like they had the full truth. Then she saw one of the commercials like three or four times and decided to call. We were able to teach her yesterday and she said that she had prayed to find out if what we were teaching was true (an invitation that we give to everyone we teach) and that she felt great! She accepted a baptismal date for the 5th of April. There are some things she will have to overcome before then, but we know that she can make it!
We also had our interviews with Mission President Miller this past week. Mine went very well and he said that our area was doing very well! We have been very blessed these past few weeks!
P.S. Mom, I need some new pants. Mine are wearing out fast. Tell everyone hello and to keep writing me!
Ryan