Things are so good!! Too good here in Bend. Being a missionary is the greatest thing on earth. It may be MEGA stressful at times but gotta have that opposition in all things yanno?
My companion Sister White and I are staying together another transfer! This is the longest I'll have a companion, but it's so good! I love her so much and she is going home in April 
which is so weird because my trainer Sister Fillmore will also be going home then! Ah so many friends finishing their missions what even is this.
☆GRACE okay so the biggest miracle lately has been teaching this 15 year old named Grace. Two weeks ago she told us she wants to SERVE A MISSION. She's not even baptized yet but she recognized the joy there is in sharing the gospel and wants to serve!!! I WAS LITERALLY DEAD when she told us that. Then on Saturday they had a special stake conference for the youth saturday night we brought her to and what was the theme of the meeting? Going on a mission!! Grace took so many notes and afterwards our mission president and wife came up and talked to her forever! Ahhhhhh so good. They even went and met her mom when she picked Grace up! Yesterday Grace sent us a text that she was organizing folders for her savings AND SHE MADE A FOLDER TO SAVE UP FOR A MISSION. It made my entire day.
We also had an amazing lesson with Grace this week where we went on a hike to this cliff that overlooks a waterfall and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was amazing, SUCH a good lesson. Grace's good friend who is a recent convert came and helped us teach! So so good. Grace wants to be baptized but doesn't feel ready yet. It's also hard because her mom is not a fan of the church. Some prayers in that regard would be greatly appreciated!
Here's a quote this week from our zone devotional where we studied, "Let Patience Have Her Perfect Work, and Count it All Joy" by Elder Jaggi:
"As our faith increases, so does our joy."
I love this quote! My faith has grown so much on my mission and the happiness I've felt is immeasurable. Sharing the gospel is amazing!
Sister Carlson
(Also side note for those of you on Facebook, tomorrow we are posting a very special video about my dear friend Sister Fillmore. Her sister passed away in a car accident in December while she was here serving her mission still. I'll probably write more of the story of how the video came to be later but I can tell you Jesus Christ and eternal families are everything!)
