Letters to Daniel November 18th, 2012

Hey!!!!! Elder Carter!!!! How are you? HOw's the warm Texas? Guess what?!?! it's RAINING ( and thundering, and lightening). This week was fun! Alrighty here I go.... Monday- Mom and dad came home from California! I was so happy to see them! Tuesday- I think I had a bunch of home work that I had to do... I can't remember. Wednesday- I went to young women in excellence! My projects for Individual worth and faith are completely done! Thursday- I had two tests! One in my science test and the other in my history class! Friday- It was the last day for 1st trimester. No more art! Instead, I get to take choir and gym! I have both of those classes with my bff's! I'm so excited. Mrs. Francis is my teacher for choir and Mrs. Godridge is my teacher for gym! Oh! I also finished making my boxer shorts in sewing! They turned out pretty good. If I don't say so myself. I'm so excited to take choir! Saturday- I had a basketball game. We lost. It went pretty good though. I talked  it over with momma and myself and decided that basketball isn't really my thing. I love basketball and every thing about it, but, my dreams and goals in life aren't to become a professional basketball player. I have different dreams and goals. Sunday- I went to church! It was so fun! We also got these yummy suckers made out of chocolate! mmm mmm. I've been practicing my guitar almost every day I can! I love the way the guitar fits into my hands, when I lay my fingers over the board and press down hardly so that when I strum those five, four, or three strings they will vibrate in perfect tones to create a loved chord! 

Spiritual thought of the day- today we had bishop's Youth conference. We got challenged to not complain for the next 24 hours! Instead, think of things that you're grateful  for. So my challenge for you is to not complain about any thing for the next 24 hours. Say things your grateful for! I love you so much! 

Love, 

Nina. 

p.s. I'm working on History Faire all this week. I need to decide my topic by saturday or else I'm not going to do it. THe project is due in January!! Yikes!!! I'm super excited! I love you! 

Nov. 18, 2012

Dear Daniel,
Hello!  It's only been a few days since we got your last letter.  You sound 
great!  You sound like you are enjoying your work as a missionary of the Church 
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.    There is a saying that missions are the 
worst of times and the best of times.  I think this is true!  I remember having 
some thrilling highs - with investigators, with teaching, with the excitement of 
doing the work, riding bikes fast, the wind blowing my hair everywhere, laughing 
and finding joy as I taught the gospel.  I also remember the lows - baptisms 
that almost happen, but don't, appointments that fall through, sickness, 
disappointments, etc.  The hope is that most of the time you will stay somewhere 
in the middle - plodding along, charting your course then following it - even if 
it gets monotonous or boring;  keeping the commandments and the mission rules 
with exactness, and doing all that your mission president and The Lord require 
of you to qualify for his blessings.  This will make the highs, when they come - 
that much sweeter. 

So??  Do you have any DEFINITE plans for Thanksgiving now??  We will be having 
dinner at our house with Roxy, Larry, and Nora, Grandma Kenna, Grandpa Paul, and 
maybe a couple of others.  We have invited the sister missionaries to come too, 
even if they just drop in - or in case their other invitations fall through.  We 
will be thinking of you too, and know that someone in Texas will be lucky to 
share Thanksgiving dinner with you and Elder Tuisku.  

Speaking of Elder Tuisku - when you said he had "something new now" were you 
saying he is sick again -or still?  Do you two still have a car to use or are 
you on bikes?  Does his family write to him every week?  Will they send him 
Christmas gifts?  Please tell me okay - because if they don't - then we want to!   
If you have any specific desires for Christmas then please tell me by the NEXT 
letter, right after Thanksgiving.   I want to have plenty of time to mail 
packages.  

I'm so glad you remember when I dyed my hair pink!  It was pretty funny.  
Remember how I took the towel off my head, shrieked "It's pink!"  and promptly 
dried and dyed it again?  That color pink?  It was the same color we saw head 
after head at the Taxi Convention!  I was ahead of my time ha ha.  

Dad gave a wonderful talk today - on music.  I told him to tell you more about 
it.  He is such a great speaker - so strong, firm, and passionate about the 
gospel and life!  I love to listen to him talk.  

Talking about food . . . have you got a crockpot in your apartment??  This might 
be a way to cook and eat fantastic food - and have it not take much preparation 
time . . . 

I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost.  I have felt his companionship this week 
especially as I have run from one thing to another.  Tonight, as I made calls to 
check on my Relief Society sisters I felt him prompt me, and know how to 
comfort, build or just support a sister and her family.  How grateful I am for 
the true gospel of Jesus Christ.  It blesses my life every single day.  It helps 
me to find love for other people and see light in them that I might not see 
otherwise.  I appreciate the insight you shared about less active people too.  
It helps me in my work in Relief Society and in my work at the hospital.  

Work hard.  Pray hard.  Play hard on P Day.  Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. 
We will say a special prayer for you and Elder Tuisku.   If you start getting 
discouraged then just pull out your fingers, and count your blessings, one 
blessing for each finger.  If you still feel discouraged then go through all 10 
fingers again, and one more time - repeat as needed.  We have so much to be 
grateful for.   I am especially grateful for you Daniel - my strong, handsome 
youngest son.   I am grateful for your testimony, and for following your desire 
to serve a mission for our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Thank you for being Elder 
Daniel Carter.  Thank you for always blessing my life.
I love you!
Love,
Your Mama
Sent from my iPad

Sent from my iPad

Dear Daniel,

It's been a busy week since arriving back from california.  It was so nice to go away, and the drive home was very pleasant.  I'd do it again in a minute.

It's been a busy week getting back into the swing of things here.  It started with classes at the University on Tuesday, then Wednesday raced by for no apparent reason, then classes again thursday day and night, then friday was a long work day in the studio.  I'm doing some arrangements/minus tracks for Mystique Theater's production of Miracle on 34th street.  Tried to make headway into that.  Saturday, i thought I'd use as another strong day in the studio, but I was distracted away by the Utah State vs Louisiana Tech Football game.  What a nail biter… I thought we were comfortably ahead, but LA came storming back.  They looked strong and powerful.  The were tearing us apart in the second half only to eventually tie the game in the final second.  They went into overtime and we scored first, then they had the chance and we stopped them!  We won  48-41.  Wow.  It was my turn to speak again in church this week.  (every third sunday!)  I was able to speak in the Logan River 1st ward with Bishop Sainsbury. They asked me to speak about music.  What a tough subject.  Below are my notes.  They are a little scattered, (aren't they always) but mama says I did well.  She's so supportive.  We love you.  We pray for you all the time.  Hope you are enjoying the work and the challenges that come your way.

Have a great week.  A Happy Thankgiving.  We'll think of you, but we know you will be taken good care of by those in "the Berg".  We'll take lots of pictures so you can enjoy our family traditions from your perspective this year.  I encourage you to make your own traditions.  Yes.  Even in the mission field you can have traditions.  Who says they have to be repeating.  Create new ones.  If someone asks you how long it's been a tradition, say, this is the beginning of a long, long tradition.  Do something daring.  Something outreaching.  Something nice.  Something beyond ordinary.  You will find so many wanting to serve you.  Serve them.  Sing to them.  Tell them a story.  Be yourself.  That is who the Lord wants you to be.  And, may I remind you, you are a man of tradition.  Just look at your face.  It carries on it the tradition of all who love you and pray for your success from both this earthly life and the eternal family that roots for you each moment of your life.  Feel the strength.  You can do anything.  Establish a tradition.  

Love

pa

Here are the notes from my talk…

Using Music as a blessing to our families.

  Logan River 1st Ward  11:00am

Bsp Sainsbury

Music is a tool…

2 Nephi 25:

 23For we labor diligently to write, to ^apersuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by ^bgrace that we are saved, after all we can ^cdo.

 26And we ^atalk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we ^bprophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our ^cchildren may know to what source they may look for a ^dremission of their sins.

 29And now behold, I say unto you that the right way is to believe in Christ, and deny him not; and Christ is the Holy One of Israel; wherefore ye must bow down before him, and ^aworship him with all your ^bmight, mind, and strength, and your whole soul; and if ye do this ye shall in nowise be cast out.

Now all my might mind and strength and my whole soul is centered largely around music.    

Mormon 7-5-7

5. Know ye that ye must come to the ^aknowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and ^bbelieve in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the ^cvictory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up.

 6And he bringeth to pass the ^aresurrection of the dead, whereby man must be raised to stand before his ^bjudgment-seat.

 7And he hath brought to pass the ^aredemption of the ^bworld, whereby he that is found ^cguiltless before him at the judgment day hath it given unto him to ^ddwell in the presence of God in his kingdom, to sing ceaseless praises with the ^echoirs above, unto the Father, and unto the Son, and unto the Holy Ghost, which are ^fone God, in a state of ^ghappiness which hath no end.

Popular vs Secular and why the music of the church suffers.

I recently attended a conference on contemporary music

Music   Hymns vs Popular style

Hymns are not pop music.

In order to appreciate the hymns in our pop culture we must understand what makes your favorite music.

The key to understanding  what the difference is between pop music and church music.

In pop music, there is one important pronoun that must be included for the song to relate to others.  It is the pronoun "YOU".

*List 10 song titles from pop with the word "you" in it…

1. You Belong With Me- Taylor Swift

2. as long as you love me

3. let me love you

4.I Think I Love You- Diamond Rio

5. adele someone like you

6. one direction …  Your hand fits in mine, like it's made just for me

Let's look at the mormon anthem, "I am a child of God"

Rght away, it reveals the secret to music in the home and in our religious lives.

"I"   This song is meant to be sung, not listened to.

How many hymns use the word "I", the cardinal word breaker for pop music…

List to

1. I believe in Christ

2. I know that my redeemer lives

3. Where Can I turn for peaceWhere Can I Turn for Peace?

4. Abide with me

5. Lord I would follow thee

6. o my father

7. how great thou art

8. i stand all amazed

9. i love to see the temple

10.

The word "you" brings you in as a listener.

The word I kills pop music

It is the key.  Religious music is meant to be sung, internalized and vocalized.

If you listen to music, there is the 2 minute wall.

If you are internalizing the music, the wall is gone.  It moves from entertainment, listening pleasure to an inner expression to God

Pop music must have vain repetitions to be digestible to the listener.

God teaches us in prayer to have no vain repetitions.

The song of the heart is a prayer unto me.

Music then is vocalized prayer.

If you just sit and listen, you will be bored at two minutes.

Part 2:

There is music in the wind…

There are many things I love about winter.  I love the storms and the wind.  

I love to hear the wind blow.  It is music to my ears.  It really is music.  There is a term for it.  It is called noise.  White noise to be exact.  Noise in a musical sense is all pitches sounding at once.  It is the same sound a television makes when not tuned to a channel, or a radio makes when not tuned to a channel.  But man's noise, is not nearly as creative as god's noise.

Wind is every leaf, blade of grass and branch singing it's own pitch at the same time.  If they were all exactly the same, it would be one giant single note.  But it is not the same.

So I listened to God, and I hear a sweet message.  We are all his.  Everyone of us.  He loves us, he stirs us and we glorify him.  

Every one of us is valuable to him. 

verse 1 I believe in Christ…

1. I believe in Christ; he is my King!
With all my heart to him I’ll sing;
I’ll raise my voice in praise and joy,
In grand amens my tongue employ.
I believe in Christ; he is God’s Son.
On earth to dwell his soul did come.
He healed the sick; the dead he raised.
Good works were his; his name be praised.

I'd like to speak of Value.  We are priceless creations of God, our value is in His hands. The value is His.  We are his worth.

So, when the winds come, I want my roots to be anchored in firm gospel sod. 

***** Verse 3 of I believe in Christ…

3. I believe in Christ—my Lord, my God!
My feet he plants on gospel sod.
I’ll worship him with all my might;
He is the source of truth and light.
I believe in Christ; he ransoms me.
From Satan’s grasp he sets me free,
And I shall live with joy and love
In his eternal courts above.

In my life, I realized that I wanted to make this tree that the wind blows through be my family.  I wanted one tree to represent my family,  The images of family history and geneology started to sneak in.  I started think of myself as a family tree.  But that is not how this works.  We are each unique.  I am my own tree.  If a branch breaks because of weakness, it is my branch that has broken.  I am responsible for the roots through the trunk to the branches and the leaves.  

How do I make my tree strong?  Because if I can learn I can teach and share.

****All trees need at least four things to live: sunlight, water, soil and air.  

I must have a strong root system.

I must have a strong light source,

I must have nourishment.  

My light sources is God.  I see him in everything.  His light shines on me everyday.  That light excites my soul, and inspires my faith.

I feed my soul everyday with his word,  I gain strength from knowledge.  Everything teaches of Christ.  I see that.

I reach deeper and deeper each day into the earth that anchors me.  My root system is dependent on the nourishment I give it.  

Gospel Sod!  If I wait for the day of the storm to nourish my roots, it will be too late.

The air is who and what I surround myself with.  It is given voice by the wind.

And in my life, air carries the sound of music.

I love the wind.  

My hope is for every fiber of my soul to sing when played by the tempests of nature.  That my roots will be strong to withstand any force that may be exerted upon them.  

That my fibers will be nourished and that the light of God reflects in me.

Then, when we understand this, we will teach others.  When we are firm in our faith, we can help anchor others.  

 I’d like to tell you of another storm in my life.  It occurred during the Martin Harris Pageant. 

I had heard how over the years, the rains would come and then miraculously blow around the outdoor pageant.  One night, I saw the rains heading our way.  Huge storm clouds blowing up from the great salt lake.  I thought to myself how cool this was going to be to watch the parting of the clouds as they missed the pageant.  Almost like the parting of the red sea.  I stood there and waited as the storm grew nearer. Then, at the moment it was to hit us, it really did hit us.  It wiped us out. The pageant was flooded, parking lots turned to rivers of mud.  How could this be.  I was mad. Mad at god.  To make things worse in my mind, I had heard a few days earlier that a fellow member of the pageant had cancer.  It wasn't fair.  So, I told god what I thought.  Then, I wrote this poem.

I wrote the following

Faith/Doubt

I prayed that the Lord would stay the winds

and hold the rain,

but it wasn’t His will

I prayed that the Lord would deliver health

and heal the sick,

but again, it wasn’t His will

I prayed…

And then the spirit touched me

and I begged forgiveness

for underestimating and condeming

Because in every way I look at it,

I see the Lord’s hand.

I see deliverance from infermity

by spiritual healing

and not always physical healing,

I see deliverince from poverty and financial burdens

without the use of money,

I see spritiual intervention to those who seek it.

It is closer than we know.

I see release from worry,

amidst the greatest darkness.

I see the Lord’s hand in everything.

I pray the Lord will stay the rain,

and if I should again hear the waters coming

I pray for unquestionable trust in the Almighty,

Who has always cared for me.

jdc august 20th 1998

(Inspired by MHP invocation asking to stay the winds and stop the rain from coming during the evenings performanc. We were

cancelled in the last fifteen minutes because of the worse rain, thunder storm in years. The parking lot turned to mud. Everybody

gathered to help push cars that could not get traction. Everybody was covered with mud from head to toe. Electricity went out

and children were frightened, especially Christopher. The health part is dedicated to Sis. Ruth Buttars who in years past has

played Annie Jardine. She has cancer. She is expected to live 6 months to 2 years. She is home and cooking her husband dinner

now after being home two days from the hospital and her operation.

August, 1999 again the MHP is underway. Sister Buttars did pass away last January. I will miss her. I didn’t know her well, but

I felt her faith.

Unquestionable trust.

Notice the date. 5 days before Kristina was to be born. We were in no way expecting her to come early. I didn’t realize I had

written the poem for myself.

jdc

Anger, then humility.  Five days after writing the poem, Karen went into premature labor and Kristina was born.  It was probably closer than that.  The date on the poem was Aug20th, Thursday.  Karen started having problems Saturday.  I did the show that night, but drove to salt lake immediately following my appearance as moroni. Kristina was born the following tuesday.  

God had prepared me to have faith in the storm that was about to enter my life.  

Concluding line of I believe in Christ verse ?

I believe in Christ, who marked the path,
Who did gain all his Father hath,
Who said to men: “Come, follow me,
That ye, my friends, with God may be.”

I know that God will be with me through the storms in my life.  Storms have come and will come. My feet are firmly planted in Gospel Sod.  The lines of the songs I hold dear to me rush to my rescue when times of trial near.  

God loves us.  He hears us.  He stands by us always.  Always has, always will.

I

If time, tell the bow story...  (there wasn't time for this, btw…)

Music is a tool…

bonus thoughts…

We must realize that being a part of this righteous generation is eternally exciting.  We must realize that there is passion in living the gospel.  It moves us to our very core.  We must shout from the roof tops and move mountains with our faith.  There is nothing quiet about living the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There is a place for quiet reverence, but there also is a place for proclaiming the gospel to the four corners of the earth.  

we must begin to associate our heroes and our truths with energy.

The story of the three bows.  

Heavenly Father is the Master Musician.

We are the finest of musical instruments.  An eternal symphony awaits.  

And, as we are the instruments,   there is an element that lies between the musician, (our Father in Heaven) and us the instrument, that would be the bow.  

Christ is the bowmaker

How is your bow?  Let me tell you a little about bows.  Bows have a life all their own.  A young musician will use a fiberglass bow.  Sturdy, unbreakable, limited.  Not yet complete, but advancing. Nuances of life have not yet been place in their hands.

As time advances, so does the musicianship.  A finer bow is used.  One that can handle the agility and nuances that fine music demands.

Fine wooden bows can produce intricate interpretations in your hand.  

I have a very special bow that has a special story

I have one of the finest bows ever made.  Made by Eugene Saltori of Paris in the late 1700’s.  Musicians when they see the bow say, “a fine craftsman who loves his trade must have made this bow.  Look at the curve of the point and the delicate balance.  This is a fine bow, the finest.  It’s value was that of a new car. But, now it’s worthless!”

Worthless!  Yes, it is broken.  Unrepairable.  

I believed that for years.  I had taken it to the finest shop and they told me it was of no value.

How many times have we labeled people of no value.  How many times do we feel that ourselves. That we are broken and nothing can mend us?  Well, it’s not true.  After years, I finally searched out another bowmaker artisian.  He said, “Of course I can fix this bow.  If it needs a new frog, I will build it, if it is broken here, I will fix it.  There is nothing I cannot repair.”  It was true.  He repaired that bow and today it inspires the most wonderful performances.  

Jesus Christ is the master bow maker.  He can repair any break or fraility in our being.  Don’t believe when someone says that you are irrepairable.  It is not true.

Christ is the bow maker,  Heavenly Father the Musician, you are the bow. Playing upon our eternal being.  We can reach the hearts of others as we realize that all  Healing is possible, even when everyone else says no.

Let Christ Heal your bow, Let Heavenly Father Bring us all together and we will be a tool in His hands.  

John Carter

Thirteen/Eight Productions