This is Italy

Last week when we were at Lecco looking out towards the lake I began to feel like I was in Como again. I felt close to home. I began to feel the feeling of this is my home right here in Italy. Home is truly where and what you make of it. I have come to see that on my mission. The people here in Italy have truly become my family and have made me feel at home. They have helped me to become a part of their family. I am grateful for the people here in Italy. Last Pday I was almost teary eyed thinking about leaving Italy because it has become my home during this year and a half. I love this people and this culture. I will miss all of this. I love being a representative of the Lord and it is hard to believe that there are only about 2 and a half weeks left here.  

The work is really busy here in Milano. I feel like the Lord is blessing me for all of my hard work that I have done during my mission. I am so grateful to be ending my mission here. It is the perfect ending to my mission. The Lord has taught me a lot here in Milano and I am grateful for these last lessons he is teaching me. These last few weeks are going to be very busy for us here to say the least.

Sunday was my last fast and testimony meeting and I knew that I needed to bare my testimony, but I didn't want to take time that someone else could speak..But then the thought popped into my mind that this was the way to show my Heavenly Father gratitude for all that he has taught me on my mission. So I went up for my last time as a missionary and bore my testimony to the ward members. It is weird. I don't know how I feel. It is sad because it feels likes this story is ending , but I know that right after a new story will start again. 

We have a part member family that we are meeting with and three of the daughters are not members. We have been teaching them and they are supposed to get baptized not this saturday but next saturday. The mother who is a member told us, "This day is going to be a special day for our family." I know that it is going to be a very special day for them. It will be on my last saturday in Italy. I am so grateful for them and the faith that they have. I am grateful for eachday that I have here. I am so happy to be serving the Lord. It feels like I am getting to the climax of a movie and everything is just unfolding right before my eyes. 

I love you all!

love, 

Sorella Rebecca Carter 

this was last pday when we went to Lecco. 

this week an old woman asked if I was french. haha each week it changes. 

lecco

birds

this is italy 

lecco is like como but it looks a lot more like switzerland. 

All of the cities that I have served in except for Ravenna. 

My Final Testimony

On monday I had to give my departing testimony in front of my whole zone. I have been reading my journal from my mission trying to decide what I have learned on my mission. I was a little bit nervous as I stood in front of everyone because I was the first to bare my testimony. As I stood there I paused for a good 30-45 seconds and felt such gratitude. 

I just remember saying, " I am so grateful.." and then I began to burst out into tears. My hands felt a tinglely and I just began speaking the words that I felt in my heart. I felt so grateful to be able to thank my Heavenly Father and my Savior all that they have taught me during my mission. I have been thinking recently how grateful I am that Heavenly Father placed the desire in my heart to serve a mission. He sneaked that desire into my heart and I am grateful that he did it cosi! I wouldn't have learned what I have learned if it wasn't for my mission. The experiences that I have had during this year and a half I cherish with all of my heart, even the hard moments. God truly has a plan for each of us and knows exactly the lessons we must learn. He has taught me more than I thought I would ever learn. 

I think God is trying to teach me gratitude and how much he loves me. I have been humbled here in Milano. He has helped me to become more grateful for the gospel and the hard moments on my mission. I understand now. 

I finished the Book of Mormon this past week and as I finished I began to see how much Heavenly Father loves his children. He helps us and knows us so well. Time and time again he helped his children in the Book of Mormon and he helps me everyday. As I read Moroni 10:3-5 this time I was filled with appreciation for my Heavenly Father and his son Gesù Cristo because there are so many tender mercies that come from them. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon because it helps me to come closer to my Savior Gesù Cristo. He has walked beside me in my trials and knows exactly the trials that I face every single day. 

The work is busy. Really busy. I love it. I will miss this soon. I am happy that I have three more weeks to serve the Lord as a full-time missionary. Time is going fast. My brain feels like mush at times, but the Lord is helping me to keep moving forward. I am blessed. 

I wasn't able to watch all of General Conference, but I was grateful to watch the two sessions that I could watch. I am grateful that we have a living prophet! I know that God still speaks to his children and that he loves us so incredibily much. 

I love you all so much! You have all been there for me in the good and the hard moments. 

TVB, 

Sorella Rebecca Carter

a nun buying a metro ticket

my last zone training 

we got pumpkins today!

today we are going to Lecco today for pday. 

pesto pizza

I have a funny story about this duomo photo..one day I will tell you all! ha

also by the way.. the anziani are teaching a man from Croatia and he is from about the same part as our family. small world! I am going to do genealogy when I get home. 

Visitor from the sud..

So this past week I had a little visitor ring our citofono...

It was AUDREY! 

Bless her kind soul! It was so wonderful to see her in Italy as Sorelle. I am so grateful for her and the example that she has been to me! It is crazy to me how the Lord specifically places people in your path to bless your life, for the rest of your life. Seriously it was wonderful to hear her voice and talk about Italy and the mission. It was a blessed surprise and I was grateful to see her. Her sweet parents were just as kind as ever to us and bought us groceries, which was so kind. 

Audrey brought stoney to me from the south..he is back in the north again. 

As we were talking to a woman on the street this past week she turned to me and said," Are you from Croatia? Your face looks Croatian and your accent sounds Croatian".. Those are my ancestors I told her. haha That made me happy to hear that in a way that I look like my ancestors from that part of the world. That brought a smile to my face this past week. 

Sunday the phillipino family came to church for the first time and they were able to meet different philippine members in our ward. They are so sweet and I am so grateful to be teaching them. Also 3 sisters came to church on sunday and they told us that they want us to teach then the missionary lessons. So now we are teaching them as well. The Lord is blessing us. I feel like all of my hard work throughout my mission is blessing me now. I feel like I am seeing the fruits of my hard work and labors and I am grateful to be here. 

It is hard to believe that general conference is this weekend! I am excited to listen to the Prophet President Thomas S. Monson and his 12 apostles. I am grateful that we have modern day prophets because they recieve revelation for us. It is still crazy to me that 2 years again was when they changed the age for missionaries. I will forever be grateful for the age change because I am now here. I am serving the Lord as one of his missionaries. 

I have one month left. I don't believe it. I am just going to enjoy everything. The people, the culture, the food, and being able to teach people everyday the gospel as a representative of Jesus Christ. 

I read this past week in the Book of Mormon ether 12:6 which talks about the Jaredites going across the seas in the barges to reach the promised land. It talked about how the Lord gave them trials that helped them to eventually reach the promised land. I was thinking about this and I was able to look back on my life and specifically on my mission..how the Lord blessed me with many experiences and trials. He has pushed me time and time again, but each of these trials have pushed me to my promised land and have helped me to be prepared for what was to come next. I know that there are times in life when the Lord may push us beyond what we think our capacity is, but he always helps us to arrive to safety. He stretches us and helps us to reach our full potential. 

I love you all! 

love, 

Sorella Rebecca Carter

stoney is back! 

audrey in the nord!

audrey and the famiglia rossell! love them!

he's back....hah

Flowers! 

Today we went to palazzo reale and we saw marc chagall! I think sandi would have appreciated that! 

Counting my blessings

disclaimer: my brain is a little bit slow these past couple of days, so I am sorry if this doesn't make any sense.

At the start of this week I was feeling a little bit weird. It was sort of a twilight zone feeling. I felt like I was in between two different worlds in a way. I felt like wasn't really a missionary and then at the same time I didn't feel like a real person. My brain was just spinning in cirlces in confusion and a little bit of anxiety realizing that this is my last transfer as a missionary. 

But then we began to our day and we went outside. We had lessons with three very different people. At that moment everything changed. I remembered my purpose. That is when my day changed. We were teaching an ex-investigator and as she was speaking a question kept popping into my mind and so I asked her that question. I asked her, " tu sei felice con la tua vita?". As I said that she just kind of stared at me in confusion, but I think it made her think. 

We decided to passby this woman and she happened to be at home. The women that we saw literally has faced more trials in her life than I could every even comprehend. She had all of her teeth pulled out because she has a tumor in her mouth and lots of others sad stories from her life. As she opened her mouth and showed me that she had no teeth in her mouth I began to cry as she told us about the pain that she felt. But she has the greatest faith I have seen in a person. She understood that these trials that she has faced were for her good and it amazed me to see that in a person. She found the church through her son who was looking for the true church of God. But sadly her son died when he was only 15 years old. She just looked at us and said, " I know that I will see my son again someday!". The faith that this woman had made me feel so much joy to know that even though she is struggling she has the faith in our savior that everything will be okay oneday. 

Lastly we saw our phillipino family who I love to teach. As we taught them there was such a warm and calm spririt during the whole lesson. They realized that I will be leaving next month and they started to cry. The husband said,"After my wife met you on the metro she told me about you and the light that was in your eyes." I began to cry (I am sorry I feel like I cry in every story that I tell these days) as they said this realizing that I was supposed to find this sweet family here in Milano. I realized that this is what I am supposed to be doing. I am here to help these people find the light and joy that the gospel brings. It has brought light into my life and I am here to help others to feel of that light as well. 

After this day I felt so good. I am so happy to have 5 more weeks to be a missionary because I am going to miss it. This has been my life for almost a year and a half and it has changed me. I am so grateful for this gospel and I know that this is what brings light into our lives. 

I am so grateful for my family because they have sustained me through and through on my mission. I recieved a cute little minature letter from them this week and I again realized how blessed I am to have the parents and siblings that I have. I love you all so much and I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate your words to me. 

Two days ago I got sick with a fever and stuffy nose because me went into a home where there were lots of animals running around. Dogs rubbing themselves on my leg, but I am doing better now. The Lord is blessing me with strength to keep doing his work each day even when I am exhausted. 

This week I was reading in the Book of Mormon in Mormon 9:33-34 and Ether 3:22and it was a testimony to me of the trueness of the Book of Mormon. I know that only through and by the power of God was this book translated and now we can recieve so many blessings from this book. 

I love you all! Enjoy the week and the warm weather!

love, 

Sorella Rebecca Carter

the little letter :)

Keep calm and carry on

Well I feel this week I have been better about keeping calm and just going with the flow when things didn't go as planned. All I can say is that the Lord has been reminding me of the work that I have done here in Italy. There were a couple of experiences this past week that made me so grateful for the people that I have met on my mission. 

This past week there was a day that I was just needed something to cheer me up. When I found out that I was going to milano my secret wish was that I would be able to see some of the members from como because they stole my heart. Well this past week my wish came true! 

We were waiting at the metro and all of the sudden I heard someone yell, "Carter!".. I looked across the way and it seemed to good to be true.. I saw one of my absolute favorite members from como. She came over to where we were standing and I was able to talk to her for a little while. My heart felt so full as I saw her I literally couldn't speak. The words couldn't come out of my mouth because I was filled with such joy. She told me how she remembered when I first got to Italy and couldn't speak and in the moment it was funny because I couldn't speak again because I was in complete shock. haha I am so grateful that I was able to see her in the metro because she is literally my peruvian mother and I love her soo much! I still can't believe that we saw eachother because it truly was a tender mercy for me that day. 

Then on sunday I saw another woman from como that I taught. When I saw her I asked if she remembered me and she said, "Of course I remember you!". It was just a great little week of gratitude for me helping me to remember to be grateful and enjoy the ralationships, the culture, the people and the time that I have to godere these people. 

We are teaching a wonderful family from the phillipines. They are so open and they are always so nice to us. The husband tried to make me play the guitar, but I couldn't remember anything so that was funny. They all have such a desire to learn more about our message. Our lessons go from english to tagolog and then to italian.. sometimes it is hard to know which language to speak in.. haha except for tagalog..haha 

I am learning how to keep my cool in the stressful moments of life. I have been doing better at that this week trying not to stress out about everything. So that has been my new motto this past week "keep calm and composed" haha 

Today I finished the old testament, which has been very helpful to read. I am so grateful for all of the scriptures that we have because they help us to come closer to our savior. I just want to end with a verse that I read in the Book of Mormon today in alma 32:6. It says,"..For he beheld that their afflictions had truly humbled them, and that they were in a preparation to hear the word." I feel like that has been happening to me recently. The Lord is continually humbling me through my trials. It has been good because it has made me more grateful for the blessings that I have. Through the little things each and every single day. I know that the Lord is aware of all of his children and wants us to be happy and enjoy the beautiful moments of life because there are so many. I am trying to enjoy the days that I have left here in Italy because they are running few. I am grateful for the people here because they have changed me. 

I love you all and I just wanted to thank my home ward for the sweet letter that you sent me! I was so happy and excited to read that this past week! I love you all and I hope all is well for you all. 

love, 

sorella rebecca carter

my life

tagalog book of mormon

last district meeting of the transfer

milano

pizza 

Reality Check

This past sunday was the year mark for one of my new converts in Como named Angela. I am so grateful that I was able to teach her because she taught me so much. She is such a wonderful example to me of being a good mother. I will never forget her husband calling us and telling Sorella McCann and I to come over and teach his sweet wife. These are the memories that I cherish from my mission and that make me so grateful for the time that I have to serve. 

This past week was our zone conference with all of the missionaries in the milano area. It was wonderful and it was strange to think that was my last one. As the departing missionaries bore their testimonies, I began to realize that the time I have left is coming to a close. Before we left someone handed me a letter..

which said "customs letter"......

I felt a pit in my stomach as I looked at the envelope. As we were riding the metro I felt so much gratitude for the time that I have been here in Italy to serve the Lord. I began to think of all of the different lessons that the Lord has taught me on my mission and it made me feel full of gratitude. It made me get sad almost bringing tears to my eyes to think about it. I realized that I needed to stop thinking about how much time I had left or it would make me feel really sad so I began to talk to a milanese woman. I know that my time is short here now and I want to do all that I can to just love these people here in Italy. The Italian people have changed me and I am grateful for the experiences I have had thus far. I am just grateful that I still have a little bit of time left here to enjoy this time and to give my very best. 

This past week I have been reading the story of Daniel. It is amazing to me how much courage he had to do what he knew was right even when it was hard, against what others thought or did. He knew what was right and he prayed to the Lord. He was put into the lion's den, but he was protected because of his faith and his belief. I also love the story of (please excuse my spelling) Shadrack, Meshack, and Aben-dego. As I read this story it made me realize who much of an influence we can have on people. Sometimes we do not know if we have made an influence, but it always seems to be that there is always one person that we affect. There have been moments here in Italy where I have felt like I didn't help someone, but later I found out that I actually did make an impact. 

I am learning a lot of useful skills right now such as patience and not getting stressed out when things do not go as planned. Which is a really good thing for me. The wonderful thing about life is that we never stop learning there is always more that we can learn. 

We found a cute family from the Phillipines this past week. After we sang a hymn with them the husband said that we will have to sing a hymn together because he plays the guitar and I can sing the alto part. So I am excited to teach the family a simple hymn. When he said that it reminded me of all of the times that I played guitar and sang with both Ryan and Sandi. 

I am very blessed and grateful. There are no other words to describe it. 

Vi voglio bene, 

Sorella Rebecca Carter 

This was a little fair that was out in front of our home one fine morning. 

who knew there was a castle in milano?

castello

Breakthrough

This past week all of the ward members came back from ferie aka back from a month long of vacation in Italy. Ferie Agosto is finally over. Luckily it was a lot easily this year in comparison to last year. There were people actually here still in Milano. That was a huge blessing. It has been great to get to know the members of the ward who have been gone. We even have some american families in our ward, which is pretty cool. 

This past week was better, but it was still hard. We have been trying so hard to involve the members in our work, but it seems like  almost everytime the lesson seems to fall through.

 There was a specific day where I was talking to someone on the phone that had to cancel our appointment with her and as soon as I hung up there was a text message from someone else cancelling with us. In the time frame of about one minute, two lessons were cancelled. That kindof sums up the past 4 or 5 days. haha 

Yesterday was hilarious because we were going to an appointment and I figured out how to get there, so to say the least.. I was so excited. So we get there and we were close to the duomo. We are walking on the street and the number the person gave us wasn't there. So I thought to myself," Don't panic..Maybe I heard the number of the house wrong?"  Then I called her and I found out that we were on the wrong end of milano.. She lives in a random area on the opposite side...

that was about the last straw for me..

I could feel tears come in my eyes.. 

I was so tired and frustrated..I was so excited to be going to the right place and on time (or so I thought) ahah. But it taught me a good lesson. Always be specific when you talk to someone and to ask for the right metro stop..haha 

I am grateful for the daily trials that I have each day. I know I said it. It is hard and it is supposed to be this way. I love my Savior Gesù Cristo and everything that I do is for him. I am grateful to have the time to serve the Lord. 

I have realized this past week of my testimony of onestà e l'obbedienza. I am so grateful for both of those two principles. I am very grateful that I was able to learn that from my last companion Sorella Yost  and the example that she was for me! 

I love you all and I am grateful for your prayers! 

vi voglio bene,

sorella carter

luini's for sorella grossarth's first time. 

california bakery? okay i'm in! I am going to try this after email today!