Missionary Update

Here's an update on Elder Carter, my missionary son serving in the California Santa Rosa Mission. I can't believe he's already been out in the mission field for 6 months and 3 weeks! (But who's counting?)

Jacob has loved everything about his mission. Every city has been the best city ever; every companion has been the greatest companion ever; every member and every investigator has been incredible; even every challenge and difficulty have been amazing, according to my optimistic son.

Even so, he has found it frustrating that he has been transferred on every transfer day, which occurs every 6 weeks. Not that he minds the transfers. To hear him tell it, every new city and new companion is even greater than the last. However, it has been hard to leave each area before he could see the fruits of his labors there.
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12 June 2011: Newly baptized Sister Melissa Shelby with Elder Jacob Carter.

See how she's glowing!

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On the most recent transfer day, finally, he was not moved to a new area but gets to stay and continue the work he has begun in Fairfield. In his words:

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     "I'm glad that I am still here. Things are just growing here. We have 3 new investigators with a baptism date, and yesterday I got to witness a baptism that I prepared for the first ward elders. I was the first one to ever teach her and invited her, so I'm still going to count that as mine.

     "This week we had a really boring week, but we did have 13 lessons and hope to do better."

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Thirteen lessons seems like a lot to me, but I'm very happy that Jacob is so diligent about teaching the gospel that he feels thirteen is not enough!

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In his last email two days ago, he went so far as to issue a challenge to us:

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     "Something we have been stressing as missionaries is that members of the Church should always look for missionary opportunities and to pray for them as a family. I know that if you will do that you will get so many blessings. I would invite you all to do that today and read also Alma 6:6 as a family tonight."

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That's my boy! What a great blessing it is for us as a family to have a child serving the Lord as a missionary!