November 14: Der Herr führt uns

Liebe Familie,

My heart is so full of joy and love, I just don't know how to write it down into text! I love being a missionary and I love being in this Branch in Pforzheim. I find a lot of comfort that there is plenty of missionary work to be done on the other side of the world. I was doing great and not thinking at all about going until Sunday came and this beloved Branch of mine made me a book that everyone wrote in (a page for each active member, basically) and presented it in Sacrament Meeting just before I gave my testimony. They all sang Gott sei mit euch bis aufs Wiedersehen und I nearly cried. I love this Branch so much. I am excited to see my family at home, but I admit I feel like I am leaving a big chunk of my family. We are all so excited for Christmas here! The Weinachtenmarkt is being set up on the main street of Pforzheim and I am sure in all of the other towns. It is SO beautiful. Christmas is the most important four weeks in this land. I will miss it. I have been privieleged to see much, much growth in this area since I arrived in July. I saw much growth in myself, in Sister Anderson, in Sister Taysom and in all the Members I met and especially with several investigators. We really tried hard to focus on working with the members and because of that, the investigators that are making progress and have baptismal date will stick. This Branch has become completely missionary-oriented since I have been here. I just feel so privileged to have been able to see their growth. The Lord works miracles and he certainly did in this area at this time. Transfers come and well, I am being transfered again. (Surprise?)

Oh, I also went to Basel in Switzerland this week. I talked with a woman named Frau T. who had just been through a really rough time and had just experienced betrayel and unfairness. She cried and I cried with her and testified of the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the joy of the restored ordinances of the Gospel. We introduced her to the missionaries in Basel (we did and exchange with them) and gave them her info. After our talk she said she thinks she needs this. I know the Lord puts others in our path when just ask that he will lead us.

Sister Taysom also gave maybe one of the most motivating and moving talks I have ever heard in Sacrament Meeting. It was on the Atonement and Jesus Christ. Maybe I will just steal it and use it for my homecoming talk. :) I might not want to translate it back to Englisch, so I am sure everyone will just feel the Spirit. Oh ... and Sister Taysom got to be dressed as if she were dead this week. This week was pretty memorable.

November 7: Wundern!

Liebe Familie,

Diese Woche war wunderbar! Oh, yeah, I have to write this in English. We've been praying hard to really help our investigators progress and we now have 4 progressing investigators. I just love Pforzheim. I know that the Lord is preparing people here to hear the Gospel and accept it. One example is Michael, the husband of a member who came to church on Sunday. He accepted to be baptized on a specific date this week. At church, we held a class for all investigators and had a couple members attend (during Sunday School) and he recited what will become the start of his conversion story. He had meet missionaries before and had absolutely no interest for many many years (he's almost 50 now) and three days after his wife packed up and left, we dropped by looking for her. He thought that was a weird coincidence, but could not yet believe that there was a God let alone that He would coordinate something for him. We made out an appointment with him and testified of the Atonement the first time. I also remember him telling us that it was a strange coincidence and I asked him "do you really think it is just a coincidence?" (he shared that in his explanation :) Four weeks later, he decided to pray for the first time on his own and that day his wife called for the first time. Another strange coincidence? We continued to meet and he is seeing how the Gospel is blessing his life. His wife now wants to the missionaries to come to her where she is so she can become active again. Miracles!!

Also! We met with another wonderful Part Member family this week (we've met a few times). Jenni and Tobias. They have two little girls (one's a baby) and are just a perfect example of an ideal family. The Spirit was just so strong. I have found that I love being asked questions and instead of answering them myself, to give them a chapter in the Book of Mormon to read that will answer it for homework. :) I love the magical land of Pforzheim and Calw and Mönsheim and surrounding areas. The Lord is working miracles here and I simply don't have enough time to write about all of them. I know this Gospel is the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ himself. I bare witness as a representative of Jesus Christ that this work is the work of God.

BUSY!

Liebe Familie,

We are SO busy!!! In short we had a TON of lessons this week with some fabulous people and I am studying like crazy to understand their concerns. We also went to München for three days to have a conference with all of the Sister Missionaries of the mission. It was AMAZING and very rejuvinating. Excited for the work! I love being a missionary!

--

Sister Carla June Carroll

2 Nephi 27 Ich kann mein Werk selbst tun

Liebe Familie,

This week was WONDERFUL and full of the Spirit guiding us where to go, what to say, etc. Unfortunately, we have SO much to do today that I have to rush off, but I wrote it all in my journal, so just ask me another time and I will share it with you. I know the Lord can do His Work and this is His Work. Remember to keep up your own Missionary Work--it is very worth it.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

köstlich Schokolade

Liebe Familie,

This week was wonderful! We dropped by to tell Susy happy birthday on Monday and talked about the baptismal date. She was feeling pretty overwhelmed and wanted to not have a date, so it has been postponed. We are still teaching her and she is still making great progress. We had Stake Conference this week as well in Stuttgart. I love these meetings, but I am excited to stop going to Stuttgart every Sunday! Stake Conference was so powerful and the Stake President, Präsident Thomas Schneider talked about sharing the Gospel. He described what it would be like to take a piece of Chocolate in your mouth, close your eyes and just savour the taste. Of course you would want to offer chocolate to others around you and if they say no it is probably not because they don't like you, but for many other reasons. He asked us if we live the Gospel in such a way that people see us enjoying it as one would a delicious piece of Chocolate. I was definitely more excited for Missionary work after that.

Pforzheim is beautiful and getting pretty cold! I am excited for Winter to come and to see all the changes. The people here are truly wonderful. I love being a missionary! I truly learned this week that all that we have truly comes from Heavenly Father. I have never really felt this urgent need to give Heavenly Father all that I have, so I really studied charity and gratitude this week and I am finally starting to get the understanding that I am not giving anything up when I give service because everything, absolutely everything I have truly comes from Him. I am so grateful for a Saviour who made it possible for me to change and be made clean through His Atonement. All the blessings from that Atonement are now available through the fullness of the Gospel in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Don't you want to share that with everyone you see? I do!

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Deutschland Feiertag!

October 3, 2011

Liebe Familie,

Sorry, I do not remember the name of the holiday today, but everything is basically closed so we are really short on time. It is a miracle we can email at all. God really answered many of our prays this week and several less active members whom we have been praying and begging to come to church for the past several weeks went not just to church but all the way to Stuttgart to see General Conference. General Conference itself was just inspiring. We are truly seeing miracles daily.

We also learned this Tuesday of a new program for new missionaries. This week is the start of a new transfer and Sister Taysom and I are staying together to work through this program, although she has already had 6 weeks without it. It is AMAZING. It is basically Preach My Gospel for dummies and very very inspired. Our studies are 8x more filled with the Spirit and we are much better prepared and already better teachers. I wish I had this at the beginning of my mission. It also helps me to really know exactly how to fulfill my role as a Trainer. I LOVE this work!

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Woche des Erlösungsplans

Liebe Familie,

There ist just such a power in hearing Fast and Testimony Meeting. There are usually about 20-25 members at church and I think everyone shares his or her Testimony so we sometimes go over the time. Br. Wolfgang Jungheim shared his conversion story, which I had not heard yet. In 1968, he was 20 or so and had a strong relationship with Father in Heaven, but never went to church. One day, he felt the Spirit tell him to go into the city, so he did and just wandered around and saw of the corner of his eye a table with information from the Church of Jesus Christ. He felt a strong Impression to go back and look at it, he did, a missionary approached him and he was baptized a month later. Sister Taysom also bore her testimony of the Priesthood power. Many others shared powerful testimony, but just before it was all over, Br. O'Sullivan jumped out of his chair and bore his testimony. He shared his story and how he had been going to the Catholic church for the past year and a half, but felt the Spirit remind him strongly (he said "Der Geist musste mich schlagen") that he knew this is the true Church and that his time to come back is now. We met with Suzy, his wife on Thursday and he was caught up at work. We talked a little able the Restoration and read in Joseph Smith History about his experience. She had not known a lot about it. The Spirit was strong and Sister Taysom invited Suzy to be baptized. I invited her to set a goal for the baptism and was really surprised when I said 05. November 2011 since that is a little soon. At the end of the lesson, Suzy prayed for the first time ever in her life. We were amazed at how strong the Spirit was.

We also met with Frau Termer. We have been trying so hard to help Frau Termer to accept a Book of Mormon. She loves the Bible and really studies it. Every translation she can get. She knows the Bible really well. We talked more about the Plan of Salvation and shared 2 Nephi 2:19-25. Once we read verses 22-25, she asked to see it herself and read it outloud 3 or 4 times. She could not believe that the Fall of Adam and Eve could have been a part of God's plan. She gave an analogy: Imagine you are born into the family of a king and are given everything you could ever want. You could even work--in the garden, etc. if you wanted. Only one condition: you may not look in one room or you will be thrown out on the street. Sooner or later your curiosity gets to you and you look and are thrown out on the street. But she stopped there! It was just so beautiful to see how she accepted it when we used her analogy to help her understand. In this analogy, the King is also the Father of the prince or princess and loves them. We read John 3:16 with her and helped her to realize that we could never become the Kings and Queens our Father wants us to become if we just stayed in the Palace. There could not have been progression, but we are developing characteristics and growing while we are out on the street. We even have a communication device that always works--prayer. We invited her to accept a Book of Mormon, read 3 Nephi 11 and pray about it. SHE ACCEPTED!! That may be a small step for someone else, but for Frau Termer that was amazing.

We also talked about the Fall with Hr. Wörner. He feels God just enjoys hurting him and only gives him hardships. We related how the Fall brought about opportunities to have challenges and how challenges helped us. He started to get it and even accepted to truly search for himself to know if it is true and then to be baptized. This week was pretty amazing. Oh, and last week was a holiday so we went to the American Base to do our grocery shopping with Lauren Tree (who lives in Mönsheim). It was like stepping into America for a few hours and then leaving. I love Germany. :D I am so grateful to be here now with this wonderful people. I love being a Missionary and I truly know the Lord can do his work and knows what we need.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

"damit er weiß, daß deine Treue stärker ist als die Fesseln des Todes"

Liebe Familie,

This week was quite long! With the change in emphasis to less active members, we visited many of them that we had planned on visiting. With all the others, we made out appointments for next week. We have already seen miracles through that. We felt we should go by on one less active member whom we have never met. She was not home, but we met her husband who was in great need for someone to talk to. We encouraged him and explained to him about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. He is not a member, but asked that we would come back. We also met with another member who has been a member for over 50 years. We discussed Scripture Study and asked her to get her personal scriptures. She brought her only her Bibel back, so we asked about her Triple Combination. She did not know what that was, but found a copy of the Book of Mormon that she had not touched in years. We found out she has never read the whole book, but we set a goal with her and she was excited about it and wrote it down. In our appointment with her, the Spirit was very strong. With another less active member with whom we have been meeting with for a while, at the beginning of our lesson, he asked what he needed to do to have his name removed from the records of the church. We prayed hard. The Spirit really directed us to say what needed to be said. I learned a great lesson from that appointment. Everyone needs gentleness at sometime in their life. I have been memorizing Lehre und Bündnisse 121:41-44 (Doctrine and Covenants). It truly is so important that we are loving at all times to others and do not let impatience or frustration get in the way. If someone needs a harder chastisement, it will be done by the spirit and not from us. We simply need to be led to do and say the right things. I know this work is truly the work of the Lord. He truly led and guided us this week as we went out to find those lost from the fold. What a blessing it is to serve as a full time servant of the Lord, with all things set aside so I can focus on him with all my heart, might, mind and strength.

I truly know that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer of the World. He lives. He was resurrected. He lives today and guides his Church through a modern day Prophet. Because He lives, we will all live--both in Spirit and in Body. We can be reborn in Spirit through Baptism and the renewing of the covenants made there through the Sacrament. Forgiveness of our sins comes to all who will simply exercise faith in Jesus Christ to repentance and entering into this covenant. Christ overcame the obstacle of death completely. It is a free gift that we will all live again. It amazes me how much that softens the blow of death. We will truly see our loved ones again. We can even have our relationships continued beyond the grave in our families if we will just follow him faithfully. I plead everyone who will read this to think about the blessings they have because of the restored gospel and to ask the Lord what you can do to share that with someone, whether they have entered into the covenant of baptism or not. What a miracle it is that we have the organisation of the Church to help us with that through Home and Visiting Teaching. This work is truly the Lords. He can do his work. He lives.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

September 19

Liebe Familie,

We relearned this week that we are really to focus on less active members. President Miles emphasized that in our less Zonenkonferenz and reemphasized it through our Zone then District Leaders. We made a list from our branch list of all the members we don't know anything about. We labeled where everyone lives and made plans to go by and meet them. We are already meeting with several but we are really excited to find those that are ready to come back. We are seeing that this area ist just about ready to explode and we are so excited to see that. We had several appointments with less active members this week and I am just amazed at the miracles we saw in that. It is amazing what the Lord does when we focus where he wants us to. We had ward council and were able to meet with our branch president after that as well. I just love the work here.

Probably the highlight of my week was meeting with Natascha. We had Schwester Maier there (who is also from Russia) and we invited Natascha to be baptized on 22. Oktober 2011. The Spirit was just so strong and she will pray about it before saying yes. She truly has a strong relationship with Father in Heaven and has already shown us that she truly gets answers to her prayers. We are excited to meet with her tomorrow.

I just had a lot of amazing study times and learned so much. Here is what I wrote to President Miles about it: (note this was written in German and translated using Google Translate):

In my studies I learned throughout the week once again that peoplemust repent and turn back decided they want to. I studied a lot for our investigators and their issues this week. An investigator has asked many questions on Revelation of John and I thought that I should not study much about it because it's not what we should focus, but in one my studies I had a feeling that I should look for something and I've found D & C 77th This section has almost all of their questions answered by the Lord of Revelation. I was amazed. I also studied that letter which I got from you recently. I learned that leadership position means much more than just a good example to be, but also a loving friend. I ponder on the fact that we have received many blessings because we have been obedient and have tried to talk to everyone. Sister Taysom has made ​​much progress in the last 5 weeks. Her German is two times better (if not more), her courage is also grown and she has already made ​​a few calls. I'm amazed how much she can do. I am so grateful that I can serve with her and can learn from her.

I LOVE this work and it IS the work of the Lord.
--
Sister Carla June Carroll

auf den Geist verlassen

Liebe Familie!

This week was full of many experiences where we were simply led by the Spirit. For the last 2 or 3 weeks we have been praying in every single prayer for Matthias and Senada. We had set a baptismal date with them and then they dropped off the face of the earth after having some very large trials. We had several appointments in a row fall out on Friday so we went by to see if they were home. They were very stressed, but home and we were able to meet with them and found out that they want to meet with us they are just very, very busy with work. On our way back home we made an appointment with someone out on the bus. It was a wonderful surprise after several appointments falling through. We went back the next day to drop off a talk and they had just pulled up in the car and we were able to see them again! We are praying a lot for them and that they will be able to come to church. We also experienced an amazing appointment with Frau Termer, who has studied the Bible thoroughly looking for truth in that we were able to just ask her questions and the Spirit led the discussion. I know that this gospel is true and that He truly leads and guides His work. I am SO excited for the upcoming General Conference and to hear about the new temples. It's true!!

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

auf den Geist verlassen

Liebe Familie!

This week was full of many experiences where we were simply led by the Spirit. For the last 2 or 3 weeks we have been praying in every single prayer for Matthias and Senada. We had set a baptismal date with them and then they dropped off the face of the earth after having some very large trials. We had several appointments in a row fall out on Friday so we went by to see if they were home. They were very stressed, but home and we were able to meet with them and found out that they want to meet with us they are just very, very busy with work. On our way back home we made an appointment with someone out on the bus. It was a wonderful surprise after several appointments falling through. We went back the next day to drop off a talk and they had just pulled up in the car and we were able to see them again! We are praying a lot for them and that they will be able to come to church. We also experienced an amazing appointment with Frau Termer, who has studied the Bible thoroughly looking for truth in that we were able to just ask her questions and the Spirit led the discussion. I know that this gospel is true and that He truly leads and guides His work. I am SO excited for the upcoming General Conference and to hear about the new temples. It's true!!

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Wundern von Pforzheim

Liebe Familie,

This week was just beautiful! We skipped having a Vorbereitungstag (except emailing and getting some food) this week, but the Lord truly blessed us with the energy and strength we needed. We went to a Dorf called Mönsheim and Sister Taysom and I decided we just want to live there someday--it is so beautiful. Plus, we have two member families there. :) We had some excellent Appointments with wonderful People. I am especially excited for Natascha. She came to Familienheimabend with the ward before she went on Urlaub, but we met with her once she returned. She had prayed to know if the Book of Mormon was true and got the answer that she could find the Truth in it! The Spirit was so strong in our Appointment and she really understood that this answer meant that the Church has truly been restored. We also are meeting with a group of friends--Carlo, Mary Ann and her daughter Shayna. Mary Ann is brilliant and grew up in the Catholic church, but really saw that there was an Apostacy. She is pretty skeptical of all churches, but I think she is starting to realize that there is something special about this one.

We had some funny experiences about finding new investigators. A few weeks ago, I found a Binder full of former Investigators from at 4-7 years ago. We called one woman and then I read the Record more carefully after making out an appointment. From what I read, I was a little nervous for the Appointment, but I figured perhaps she had changed in the last 6 years and there was hope. We went and she was much nicer than we expected. She asked us a lot of questions to determine if we were worth her time. By the end she was even kinder and invited us to come back the next week. We were so grateful we had the Spirit with us. I do not know a lot about the Book of Revelations on my own! All of my answers were all the Spirit.

Also, we called up a man named Herr Kaiser. I had no idea who he was, but his name was in the Phone, so I made an Appointment and we went. We found a Book of Mormon already in his home and he had read a little in it. After asking some questions, we found out that he was given the Book by someone at a Street Display (Straßenausstellung) and was a little curious. We met with him twice this week, one time at the church.

I learned so much better this week that the Lord is truly a God of Miracles. He knows our needs and he will always give us the Tools we need to solve our own problems. I know that He restored his Gospel to the Earth though the Prophet Joseph Smith. We have a living Prophet today namens Thomas S. Monson. How wonderful is that! I found a sentence in Preach My Gospel this week that I have started trying while contacting people on the Street, Bus and Bahn. "Given that there was a living Prophet on the Earth today, what would you ask him?" :) I am grateful for the Spirit of the Lord, who helps us in every situation, good and bad. Gott loves his children and knows them. Jesus Christ is truly our Redeemer and knows how to succor us. I truly bear testimony of that.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Sister TAYSOM! August 22

Liebe Familie,

This week has just been wonderful. Sister Anderson and I have been trying to get investigators to attend the ward's family home evening on Monday nights and Natascha, her husband and 2-year-old came! They had a great time and felt the Spirit. We hiked the mountain from Bad Liebenzell to Monakam to get the Edina's and had a great lesson then ran back to get to "Little Texas"--an American resturaunt in Pforzheim. We had a great time with the Rudloffs, Kämmerlings, Br. Armbruster and Eve came, too! The food was a little different than what I would call American food, but good and large portions. We rushed off the Matthäus and Senada and taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. We invited them to be baptized on 17. September 2011 and they accepted! We went home, went to bed and got up at 4:30 am to get to München in time so I could attend a training meeting.

The training meeting was great! President Miles had us stand and introduce our area and talk about one investigator we are teaching then he told us which one we will train! I went last, so I knew which one was mine--Sister Taysom! She is from Rockland, ID (tiny dorf in the area of Pokatello) and did not have any German before her mission. She studied Civil Engineering at BYU and loves volleyball. She is just a bundle of sunshine and a joy to be around and a blessing to all around her. She will work wonders on her mission. They started a new program at the MTC called the Pilot Program where the teachers only speak German with the students from day 1 and the teach in German day 3. I think that helped the shock of the field a LOT. She is just ready to go and excited to learn more and more.

We met with a family called Familie Jung. Their daughter/sister became a member in the last 10 years and served a mission in Hungary. They love missionaries and had not had any contact from the church in the last 4 years (found their name in an area book and called them up). They called their daughter while we were there and I talked with her on the phone. She is really nice and we are excited to keep meeting with the family.

Above all we are excited for Matthäus and Senada. We started the stop smoking program with him on Saturday and so far so good!! They are excited to prepare for their baptism. I just love being a missionary in Pforheim. I know that this gospel is truly available to all and will help every person's life if they will accept it in their life.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Versetzungen!! August 15

Liebe Familie,

This week was pretty crazy, but wonderful! We did another exchange with the Missionaries in Ulm. Sister Dietz came to me and Sister Anderson joined Sister McBride in Ulm. Sister Dietz has been in Ulm for a long time and has not even left the city for 5 months. (exept a quick visit to Stuttgart for a training meeting). She thoroughly enjoyed the different scenery. We called a lot of former investigators and reached a couple of people still interested in meeting with missionaries. I am exicted to see what happens of that this week in our appointments with them.

We are so excited for Matthäus and Senada, who have been progressing for 2 weeks now. They have not been able to come to church yet, but we are hoping to help them with that this week. Matthäus especially just loves talking about the gospel and learning. He had never prayed before our first appointment (where he prayed at the end) and yesterday said before saying the closing prayer that he is going to be a Pro at praying. :) Exactly. Their baby chimed in this week when we taught the Plan of Salvation. It was a really spiritual lesson. Each time we talked about the Premortal Life, Even (5 mo. old) would respond as if he was saying, "I was just there! Accept it mom and dad, accept it!" I love this family so so much.

We also taught Natascha. I had a really great experience with one lesson with her in that we just listened when we followed up at the beginning. She had prayed to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and got no answer. That allowed us to ask more questions and clarify some important points like what "heilige Handlungen" means (in english it is holy ordinances but it german it kind of means holy workings or dealings and could sound like magic ... abstractness). She better understood what a prophet was and prayed at the end which she had never done before. She is going to join our Branch Family Home Evening group tonight--we are excited.

Friday morning as we were praying for companionship study, the phone rang and we knew who it would be. It was President Miles. Sister Anderson is leaving me to go to München to work in one of my former (and beloved) areas--München I. I am really excited for her and really sad to see her go. Our time together was too short. I really love her. I will be training a new missionary and have no information of who she is yet--I think that will be decided on Wednesday. I will go to München to train a little with my new companion there and then go back to Pforzheim.

Oh! On Saturday we had another Ausstellung (see picture--which is one that was in Pforzheim) in Heilbronn. The Police came after an hour and told us someone had reported us for agression (yikes!) so he said we could not stand in people's way for our Ausstellung. We all prayed and still had several people stop and ask us about the display. I also got to see acres and acres of vineyards. It was great to see immediately after reading Jakob 5.

OH OH! Do you remember Parviz who I talked to on the Bahn in Wien and committed to be baptized? He got baptized on Saturday! Miracles!

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Whoa

Liebe Familie,

I only have FIVE minutes to email put I KNOW that this work is the work of the Lord and I LOVE doing it. We were able to meet with some great peoepl and were let into a few homes while dooring this week that built my testimony. I am so grateful to serve here with such a great branch! I am so excited for the coming week and the opportunity I have to do the Lords work even more! I was able to do an exchange this week with Sister McBride from that one place Mom and Dad were planning on moving to in Utah. She is great and has been here for 3 weeks. It was fun!

Oh, and my release date has been changed to 17.November 2011 due to weird transfer times.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

AWESOME

Liebe Familie,

This week was full of goodness! We climbed a mountain last Monday and I learned a little more of the history of Pforzheim and pictures of before, immediately after and much after the bombing of 1945. We would have stayed longer, but we must have both killed a bee on the way up or something because the whole clan was swarming us ... once we left the summit they left us alone. We also had the best GMK (uh ... ward/branch missionary correlation?) ever Monday just before Family Home Evening. Br. Kämmerling is a great Ward Mission Leader. We have some great members. For example, we took the bus with Schwester Milicic for a little while after our Yoga class. She knows everyone in Pforzheim somehow and everyone she saw that she knew she immediately introduced us and told them we will all three come and visit them and tell them about the gospel. Needless to say, we are excited for our appointments next week. We also met one of her friends earlier in the week when an appointment fell through and Sr. Milicic came with us. She had her friend pick her up and we came along and told her a little about the gospel. :)

Layla is making some great progress. We finally got her a Book of Mormon in Arabisch and she reads it every day and loves it. She has many deep questions of the soul. We had some great lessons and were also privileged to have a couple members come to our lesson yesterday. She had more conviction to attend our church after meeting them. We also hiked a mountain for 1.5 hours to get to Edina. That was awesome. It sure made the appointment more worth it and I found some stuff to put on the blisters afterwards. :) Edina came to church and made some great comments. She is married to a member who has not come in a while. I actually have not met him yet. Hopefully soon!

We had an amazing Straßenausstellung (Street Display) on Saturday. We were a little nervous at first because at the starting time it was just the two of us (Br Kämmerling was not even there with the display yet) and there was a booth for Islam and Zeugen Jehovas (Jehovas Witnesses) very near where we were setting up. We felt good about continuing on and saw miracles. We met many people we would not have met otherwise and made out some exciting appointments. One man stopped and listened to us singing hymns, clapped and told us we did a great job with the alto then ran away! We actually saw him a few hours after the Ausstellung some where else and he asked us for a DVD. We will meet Friday. Right after the Ausstellung God blessed us grately in our next appointment. We met with Senada, whom we had met a few days earlire on the street and her mann joined in. They are just golden and are willing to just try this experiment. We set out all three appointments for this week and he prayed at the end of the lesson though he had never done that before. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!! The Spirit was strong and this week was amazing.

Gehorsam = Segnungen (Obedience = blessings)

Liebe Familie!

This week was crazy wonderful! 6 new investigators!! We prayed so hard for that. 4 of them came in one day through an interesting experience that made us grateful we were obedient. As the Missionary Handbook states, we are not to meet with men alone. We had an appointment with two men that we had met on the street. They are from Kurdiskan. We thought they would have a woman there, but when we arrived, it was just the two of them. We explained the situation, which really confused them and then prayed. We went door to door in their building and found a woman willing to come with us for the appointment. Her name is Layla. She is from Iraq and did a lot of translating into Arabisch for us. After the appointment, she told us she liked us and invited us over for dinner (she was cooking it when we interrupted). We met her daughter (14) Caroline, her husband Samir and son Marvin. We also met her mother, but she did not speak any German. Sister Anderson and I were surprised when we walked into the home after our first appointment to find a huge painting of Christ leading his disciples through a field in their main room. We asked about it and found out that they are in Germany because they were kicked out of Iraq for being Christian. They are very strong Christians and really enjoyed our message. We have met 3 times now with Layla and she very close to making progress. We will meet with the whole family again on Tuesday and (finally) will be able to bring them a Book of Mormon in Arabisch. What a blessing!

We also met with Natascha from Russia. We decided to watch the Restoration DVD with her. Her 2-year-old son recognized the sweet Spirit from the film and stopped what he was doing and quietly watched when the first vision was explained. Her whole family is wonderful. We found out she is actually more German than Russian, but really enjoyed speaking Russian with our joint teach, Schwester Maier from Russia. We have a fabulous Gemeinde. We had some hard moments this week and we had some really, really fulfilling ones. Amazing how the good ones so strongly outweigh the hard times. I love Pforzheim though everyone tells me it is ugly (it just does not have all the old churches like other cities because Pforzheim was bombed in 1945). I love it here and I LOVE going out to the little dorfs and seeing the beautiful, beautiful green. I sometimes wish I could just stay here forever.

Sister Anderson and I are working so hard that we realized we need to play really hard today so we need to get to our plans! We also dyed her hair braun this morning. That was fun.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Pforzheim, Schmuck Schmuck Schmuck

Liebe Familie,

I am so excited to be here in Pforzheim. When I found out I was going to Germany on my mission, this is what I imagined. We live in the city itself and we many of the same people. The woman who walks her dog in the morning (when we go running) as well as many others. There are many small dorfs outside of Pforzheim that we visit. We have had much success with dooring here and even more success with contacting on the street. The people here are much, much more friendly than they were in Vienna or Munich. It must be a small town thing. We held a street display (Straßenausstellung) on Saturday and about 10 members from the branch came and helped us. We had many good discussions and made out a few appointments. We blew up balloons and tied family home evening cards to them and handed them to little children (we are so sneaky). I talked with one woman with three children and she told me she was a member, but since she married has not been to church. Surprise! We will meet tomorrow. We also had many other great experiences.

The branch is GREAT but our beloved recent convert, Julia is leaving for 7-8 months. That is a hard blow to take. We don't have anyone committed to baptism yet ... actually we dont have any progressing investigators yet, but Sister Anderson and I are working hard and praying hard to find good ones that will progress. I have high hopes. I love being a missionary. I love being a missionary when I can work my hardest. I am so so so grateful for a companion who lets me work until we are dying at the end of the day. It is great.

This week many were out of town on vacation, etc. so we did not have a big turn up at church. There were a grand total of 25 people at church including us, two investigators, the high council visitor and his wife and our branch. That was ... weird. But I loved it. I got to know everyone's name and no one could get through the cracks. They all love each other and accept each other for who they are. I love it here. I hope to spend as much time possible here. It is a dream to be together with Sister Anderson again and working hard all day everyday with her. She is just amazing.

One man that came to church (Edgar) met one of our members (Schwester Molthan) on the train and she invited him to come. He plays the organ and loved the music. We even formed a last second branch choir and all sang together after the meeting. He committed to come again next week and then meet with us and the Molthans after church for lunch. We will also meet with him Wednesday.

I am extremely impressed with how much our Gemeinderat is ready to help one another. They are missionary minded. We are working hard to get in contact with and meet with many inactive or less active members. One in particular allowed us to come visit. We did our best to invite her to come back and simply bear our testimonies, but she told us that we would have no success with the Germans, especially in our area. She challenged us to go talk to her neighbor across the street and told us he would never have interest. We did and set out an appointment to meet with him and his family for Friday. We also made another return appointment and a few numbers exchanged before the bus came. The Lord is helping us.

I LOVE being here! The gospel is true. We are working hard and sticking through the hard times.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

PS -- Schmuck means jewlery. There are lots of jewlery places here ... lots of manufacturing.

Ich gehe weg!

Liebe Familie,

SURPRISE!!! Got a call from the Assistants ... I am going as far away from Wien as possible on Wednesday. I am going to the area that I was earlier called to--Pforzheim! But this time I am going to serve with my other MTC Companion, Sister Anderson! I cannot begin to describe how excited I am about that. I have served in 5 wards in Germany and Austria, but Pforzheim is a branch with about 30 active members (I think, I will count when I get there). When I was in München, President called to have Sister Olsen and I open up Pforzheim, but a few last minute changes took place and Sister Anderson went to Pforzheim and I went to Vienna. Now, I will be joining her there. Sister Olsen (now serving in Vienna 2nd ward with Sister Covey and living with us) showed me pictures from when she was there. Looks beautiful.

I was initially very sad about the call. I was really expecting to stay and I have grown to love this ward and our investigators so so much. If I ever can live abroad, I will come back here. I have spent 9 months all together in Vienna and I have seen much. I have not done much of my own accord, but through the help of the Lord, I have been privileged to see miracles occur. Ivana was not baptized this Saturday since she got stuck in Serbia, but this coming Saturday (yes, just after I leave), she will be baptized. Hopefully I will at least get pictures of the baptism.

I cannot remember if I mentioned Parviz (30) before. I talked to him about 2 weeks ago an the Bahn and really expected him to be German, but he is from Iran and speaks no German! He is the most prepared person I have ever met. He came to church for the first time yesterday and LOVED it. He is a composer and just a very gentle man. He lives with Mani (18) and Shayan (29) also musicians and interested in the gospel. They are truly a group of miracles. Ekarin and Binbin are working towards the temple and Brown is working to receive the Priesthood. There is so much joy in this work.

I also was privileged to attend the setting apart of Angela Hambruck from Wiener Neustadt. I went on a few splits with her and one time when all of our appointments fell through, I taught her street contacting ... in the pouring rain. Not going to lie, it was a wonderful experience. It seemed like a small thing to me, but it really put a bond between us and she leaves today to attend the Provo, MTC to learn Greek to serve in Greece. Whoa. She will change the world. She is already an excellent missionary.

I took pictures with several members and investigators at church yesterday. I am so sad to go, but I have the wonderful reassurance that the Lord has a plan for me. He knows how to do His work.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

July 4th

Liebe Familie,

This week was just full of miracles inculding two new members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and a new Bishopric of the Vienna 4th Ward. We sent around a list in our ward the last few weeks for members to sign up for joint teaching with us. We have seen miracles and were able to have 13 lessons this week with members present! We had only 19 lessons all together this week, but we are still going strong! I will just start with the baptisms since those are fresh on my mind. Ekarins was nice and simple. We wanted to keep it within an hour so everyone could have time for other things, but it could still be a spiritual experience. I sang I Believe in Christ and Sister Lind made up a beautiful accompianment. Liberty baptized him. That was my favourite part. Liberty joined the church about 6 months ago in Switzerland and he ist so strong. I learn so much from him. Many missionaries came that had taught Ekarin over the two or three years that he investigated the church on and off. I had even dropped him as an investigator a few months ago because he was not making progress, but he suddenly started coming to church on his own for a few weeks, we met with him and just told him he needed to get baptized and be a member so he can have all the blessings of the Atonement. He is a great addition. He is always smiling and happy and willing to share that with others. It takes a lot of humility to grow up with no God in ones culture or surroundings, then to come to a new country and learn about Him and let Him play a role in your life. Ekarin reads in the Book of Mormon in Thai and then tells us about each part. He has shared some insights that have really helped me. Amazing that each person can make a difference in others lives.

Binbin's baptism was huge! The whole Kapelle was full of friends, family, members, investigators. Also, we thought we were in charge of bringing food to the baptism and were not able to find support, so we asked many individuals to bring something. Just before the service started, several family members of Binbins came with lots of food for a buffet. Binbin was so happy to see food overflowing the tables after the service. So Binbin is from China and met Patrick in France where he was studying. His mother is french, his father is Austrian. He grew up a member but spent most of his life outside the church until about 4 months ago. Their first Sunday in our ward was my first Sunday, too. There were so many languages at this baptism--it was done in English. Many participated in the service ... so much that it was 2.5 hours long! But it was so wonderful it did not seem that way. Amazingly, though, Satan worked hard on the whole family this week--everyone got sick and Patrick and Binbin had it the worst. They thought about postponing the baptism, but Binbin could not wait any longer. They were both miraculously quite healthy the day of the baptism. I prayed so hard for them all week. When Binbin came out of the font, I wrapped her in a towel and she said, "that was easy!".

The next miracle that happened came also at Binbins baptism. I sat by Leo and Xiaoyen, two of our investigators from China. Xiaoyen already knows everything and is spiritually ready to be baptized. Leo showed no interest until 2 weeks ago. After the baptism, I asked him what he thought and he told me he felt a feeling of "pure" that he had never felt before and that it felt really good. We learned in our appointment that evening that the whole week was spiritually significant for him. He and Xiaoyen read nearly every day in the Book of Mormon together and Leo saw immediately that he had more energy, he was less selfish and was just more happy. Amazing!

ALSO I talked to a man named Parviz on the U-Bahn on Wednesday. He is from Iran and then Kiev (Ukraine) and composes music here in Vienna. He asked if we had a choir he could conduct ... we said, well ... sort of ... then when he came to our appointment at the Institute Center, Sister Lind and I were singing with a group of BYU Students by the piano and he was so excited. We met with him. When asked what he expected or hopes from our meetings, he answered that he does not just want to study the scriptures, but to do something, to help the church, the community and everyone. We invited him to be baptized on 6. August. ;)

Oh and we met our new Mission President on Thursday--President and Sister Miles. Bishop Mamouney was released on Sunday as he and his family are going back to Australia in September and Paul Jovero was called to be the new Bishop. As he spoke, I have never felt the Spirit so strong through someone else's humility. He is a great man and will make a great Bishop. I am really grateful that I have come to know him before he was called as Bishop. He was my first guess of who the new Bishop would be. Dean Messervy and Ed Garcia were called as counselors. I love this ward. I love being a missionary. What an honor to be in the service of the Lord.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Craziness

Liebe Familie,

This week was crazy! It was technically shorter because we had Vorbereitungstag on Tuesday, but it felt longer. We had 20 lessons this week including Wednesday, where we had 8 appointments fall through all at once. We also moved apartments this week which took a lot of time. We had some amazing lessons especially with Favour and Ben and Simon and Great (all from Nigeria). Favour and Ben are preparing for baptism on 16 July 2011 and we met them on Monday. We also met with Ivana and Matthew McCann. Matthew is a member but has been inactive for a long time. He is from Scottland and moved to Vienna for work a while back. He met and married Ivana who is from Serbia. (They are not new, they have met with missionaries for a long time). We talked about coming to church and about the plan of Salvation and invited Ivana to be baptized. It is really hard for them to come to church because they own a Pub and it closes at 4 am and church starts at 9:30 am, but they made the commitment to come for the next three weeks and then Ivana will be baptized on 09 July 2011, then they BOTH came to church for 3 hours!! It was Ivana's first time and Matthew's first time back in many, many years. I could not stop smiling all of church. We also had Chao, Ekarin, Nancy, Simon and Binbin at church. BinBin and Ekarin will be baptized on the 02. July. We will probably just have two different serviced back to back. I am so grateful I get to work with these wonderful people. I also found out that this transfer will be 7 weeks due to President and Sister Miles coming, so that means I will be present for all the baptisms on 02, 09 and 16 of July! Yay!! I hope I will continue to stay in this area.

Funny story for the week: so we moved into my previous apartment (at Rennweg) where Sisters Covey and Olsen live and Sister Downs is visiting for at least a week. We all got home from the day at the same time and proceded to try to defy the laws of physics by all cramming into the Elevator that was supposed to only take 3 people. Whoops! Turns out physics won (surprise) and the elevator broke. We went down a few centimeters, but were able to make the door open and climb out. Sister Lind and I just walked up to the 6th floor and thought the other sisters were right behind us, but they had gone to tell the Hausbesorger. When they got back the told us that we had to pay the repairs of over €1000 .. then they said "just kidding"!! :) Turns out our Hausbesorger was really kind and insisted that this happens often and we don't need to pay. So we all learned our lesson.

We just had so many amazing lessons this week I don't know where to start. I love being a missionary so much. There has never been a moment where I did not have a trial that I did not think I could overcome, but I have seen like Nephi did that the Lord always provides a way for His children to keep his commandments. I am so grateful to be on a mission especially here in Vienna. I love this work and I have come to know my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ better than ever before. I have also come to understand and know my Heavenly Father on a deeper level. All of these promises are available to ALL missionaries (young and old) so I think it is worth it for all to go.

Alles Liebe!!!!
--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Crazy Life of a Missionary

Monday, Tuesday craziness and getting ready for the transfer, then Wednesday Sister Hecht and I said our goodbyes and she went to Switzerland to work with Sister Borcherding and Sister Burnell. I worked with Sister Covey on Wednesday since Sister Nelson left for Munich. We talked with so SO many people and had a really great time. I sure wish I could have served with Sister Covey in the field. She goes home in 8 weeks time along with Sister Olsen, her recent companion and her MTC companion (they were both fast-tracked so it was only 3 weeks, but they are back again!).

This week was a little rough because both Frankie and Joe have fallen off the face of the earth. Joe`s phone is off and we only have the street name where he lives. Frankie has not called us back and has not been home when we have gone by. We pray a lot for them. Not sure what else to do.

We met Ann this week though. She is an acquaintance of Liberty, our number one member missionary. We met Saturday, she came to church on Sunday and we had a great appointment today. She has a lot of potential. A lot of times when we meet people from Africa, they agree to everything, but Ann said she really wants to know if this is true before agreeing to be baptized. She really wants to know, too. She really gets it. Also got a call this afternoon that the Elders in our ward for some reason are leaving so we will take over everything. That will leave us with something like 10 baptismal candidates (4 from us, 6 from the Elders). We are pretty overwhelmed with the large load, but I know the Lord will provide.

I LOVE being a missionary and wish that I could just do this forever. Well, at least I can be a member missionary forever!! I love this work and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be here on the Lord`s errand. I hope everyone who is pondering a mission will really search it out and go with full purpose of heart. We need more missionaries. We need more prepared missionaries who will love this work. Everyone can love this work if they just love the Lord. It`s that simple. Amen, brothers and sistas! (sorry, sometimes I feel I am in a baptist community in Nigeria)

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Tender Mercies!

Liebe Familie,

We got a surprise call from Frankie this week! We suddenly lost all contact with him just before his baptismal date at the change of the transfer (about 5 weeks ago). He suddenly called this week and told us he had been out of town and will see us at church and wants to meet. GOLDEN! We met after church and invited him to be baptized. It was powerful. We sat in the Baptismal Font room (also the Priesthood Meeting room) and opened up the font and turned on the beautiful lights and had him face the font. We talked about Tithes and Offerings (he had some questions after some discussions in Priesthood....) and every gospel discussion leads to baptism, so this is where we ended. One of the members with us, Bailey, read Mosia 18:8-10 saying "Frankie" instead of each "ye". What have ye against being baptized? Nothing. He said he knew the Church is the true Church of God since his first visit. He will be baptized on Sarah June's birthday, 18 June 2011. He is ready to be baptized and to accept all that the Lord has for him.

So, transfer calls came to most of the zone the morning before Zone Conference and for those to whom it did not come, their names were read aloud by President Condie, just as in General Conference times past. :) We knew beforehand. Sister Hecht leaves Wednesday morning to Richterswil AND St. Gallen, Switzerland areas to work with two companions. Look up the distance between the two. It will be quite a task. Sister Lind, who was with Sister Hecht in Ulm, Germany just before she came to me will join me in the ward. BOTH of the Elders in Wien 4 are being transferred out and Elder Adams, one of our Assistants to the President has been asked to extend his mission (he is supposed to go home on Thursday) and train a new missionary in Wien 4. I worked with Elder Adams in Wien 2 and München 2 for longer than any of my companions. He is a good missionary. This is the transfer where our beloved President and Sister Condie will leave and President and Sister Miles will take over. I love the Condies and will do all I can to help the Miles' know they are loved and welcome. I feel so honored to have been able to serve with the Condies and to get to know them. I will visit them after my mission.

Miracles happening all over but time is cut short and I we have to go. I love you all!!!!!!! The gospel is true.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

April 26

Liebe Familie,

Another great week! Being a missionary is just the best. I have been out for a while now, but I am still unsure each week of what I could best put in this general update to uplift and edify those who might read it. We are still meeting with the wonderful people God has helped us to find. Liang was really stressed this week and did not meet with us the first two times in the week so we dropped by his apartment (which is a pretty big deal since we are still uncertain if girls are even allowed in this building--it's a studentenheim for only guys). He wasn't home so we left a little note to tell him we care and that we hope everything is okay. He came to our next appointment and told us he really appreciated the note, then he came to church for the first time! Yay!! He liked it and had a few questions after Priesthood Meeting with the topic of the Lord's Law of Health. We talked about that with him last night. Actually last night was really interesting because we invited anyone that wanted to join us at the Institute Center for a joint teach and had 4 people join us. All bore wonderful testimony and I think all were really edified. It was a great experience. I am so grateful I get to know Liang.

We met with Faith this week and watched the Restoration DVD. We weren't even sure if she was paying attention because she was busy with the baby, but at the end we asked what she had felt and she basically recited the whole story to us. She realized what the Restoration meant and that light went on that every missionary loves to see. She got it. She asked for a DVD of her own so she can share this with her friends and then let us teach them. We are excited.

We were able to witness the baptism of Cara Vincent, granddaughter of Dr. Vincent, head of BYU's Opera department. Dr. Vincent visited and we discovered that we had many connections! His sister, Linda Vincent is from my home ward in Colorado and I already knew him because Sister Downs, one of my previous companions is very close to their family from studying opera at BYU. They have made a point to be at every single baptism of their grandchildren, even if they are living in Vienna (they lived here for 10 years and he was the Bishop of this ward, so it felt like coming home to them). The baptism was beautiful and Joe and Yankuba came! It was a beautiful way to celebrate Easter. Baptism is so truly symbolic of the Resurrection.

I am so truly grateful for the Restoration of the Gospel and the accessibility of it in my every day life. I am uplifted and strengthened daily as I read in the scriptures and pray often. I know who I am--I am a daughter of my Heavenly Father who loves me. I know this life has purpose in it and that purpose can bring me peace in this life and eternal happiness in the life to come. Most of all, I am so grateful to know that I have a Redeemer who can help me through all things (Alma 7:11-13). I truly know that I can turn to Him and He will help me through every struggle. He suffered so that He could help me. I truly know that through this Atonement of Jesus Christ I can become a happier and confident person. I know this because I have done it. I am not perfect, in fact I have a long ways to go, but I have made so much progress that surely only I can see and sometimes only progress that God knows. He wants to work with us to help us become all that we can become. Ezra Taft Benson said "Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us" (Ensign July 1975). We can truly come to know him. That way is by receiving and acting upon Revelation through prayer, scripture study and attending church and the temple. This is truly available to everyone and the joy entailed therein is without measure. I know this gospel is true. We must all continue to search it every day and deepen our anchor of faith or else we will truly be blown about like a wave of the sea (James 1:6).

Thank you for all that you do. I love you all. I am so grateful that I am able to be here as a missionary. I am grateful to have spent 6 months here in Vienna and I just love the people here. It is so wonderful to be a missionary.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Wunderbar!

Liebe Familie,

This week was pretty crazy but wonderful! Sister McGuire and I had an amazing last two days with another and she left me early Wednesday morning to go to Neumarkt am Wallersee near Salzburg. She is working now with Sister Klein from Germany. I was companions with Bailey Hampton from Ceder City (that might be wrong), Utah studying here for a semester in Vienna. She leaves in June. Sister Hecht had an appointment in München for her Visa or Passport so I spent basically all of of Wednesday and most of Thursday with Bailey. We had a TON of appointments and kept ourselves busy. Probably some of the most opposition from our investigators came in those two days and by the end of the last one, Bailey just said to them "just pray about it! God will answer you and if he says it is not true, then you will know!" I think she really enjoyed our split. :) I stayed the night with the other Sisters in Wien (Sisters Covey from Provo and Nelson from Salt Lake City). We had a good time. Bailey left on Friday to go to Rome, Italy for a week. No big deal.

Then Sister Hecht came and I finally got to know her! She is really great. I learn a lot from her and not just German. I am looking forward to this transfer. She is a convert to the church through a miracle and some good friends. She is born in/near Dresden, Germany and has lived near Helsinki, Finland since she was 18 (she is 24) where she was an au pair (nanny). She goes home from her mission in August. She speaks fluent German, English, Finnish, Swedish and good French. Yeah, she's really smart. Her preferred language is English. She served in München I for the first 8 months of her mission, then for 6 months in Switzerland including Richterswil, Schaffhausen and then Wettingen. She just came from Ulm, Germany where she had served for 2 weeks. Now she is in her THIRD country of her mission in the beautiful city of Vienna. Doesn't get much better than that, huh?

We met with the usual and had an awesome time. Frankie, Joe, Christian and Wisdom came to Stake Conference this week where Elder Texiera and Elder Schütze reorganized the Stake Presidency. The former bishop of Wien II, my first area on my mission, was called to be the Stake President. Cool! It was a really powerful meeting and Elder Texiera always tells good stories. I loved his story about playing Ping Pong when he was young. He competed in Ping Pong from the time he was 10 or 12. When he was 17 he got really good at it and had already become the national champion. It was at that time that he and his whole family joined the church. In preparing for the regional tournament (which must come before the national), he got a Yasaka Mach 5 thing for his racket and was really excited to win. He went to the competition, though it was on a Sunday. His Dad had previously told him "we are different than we were last week. We have made a promise with the Lord to follow his commandments". The whole time he felt worse and worse and could not concentrate on the game because he was thinking about what was going on in Priesthood meeting. He finally just told his trainer he did not feel well and needed to go to church. His trainer was flabbergasted, but he left anyways and only made it to the last part of Sacrament Meeting, but he had made a decision that changed his life. Amazing how the small decisions truly matter.

We met with Ting Ting this week from China! She met with missionaries for a long time and then stopped for the last year. No one could contact her. The number we had did not work and we dropped by to see if the address was good, but there was a different name on the door and none of the neighbors knew her (this was 6 weeks ago). Her friend, Kerstin, invited her to General Conference and she came! She wanted to meet with us and really wants to know now if the Book of Mormon is true. Don't give up on your friends, no matter how much exposure they have already had to the church. Invite them to activities. It is so rewarding! I am so grateful to be a missionary. I know the Lord blesses His children because he loves them. He will do all he can to help you no matter what you are going through, but you must simply open the door for him and trust him. I know this gospel is true.
--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Versetzung!

Liebe Familie,

This week was wonderful! We met with Liang, Familie Cardenas, Frankie, Faith, Osas, some guy from Michigan, Joe, Ekarin and both Modous! We set a baptismal date with Joe for 14. Mai 2011 and he is excited about it. he and Frankie came to church and we found out that they know each other! Surprise! Joe also brought a friend named Wisdom. We just had a lot of really uplifting experiences this week. Sister McGuire and I did an Austausch (exchange) with Sisters Nelson and Covey. I went with Sister Nelson and we tried to track down a few referrals that had not yet been found and did not have success, but made out an appointment and talked with many people along the way. She is doing really well for being in her first transfer. It was kind of nice to have a German appointment when I went with her.

We went up to "America" on Saturday. There's this group of houses in the 19. District of Vienna where a lot of Americans live because there is a nice, big American International School. The houses were all really big (they were actually houses!) and looked like we were in Richpeopleville, CA not in Vienna. We attended a ward activity up there with Americans, Canadians, Australians, Austrians, Serbians, and Nepalians. It was a blast. I am so grateful for the wonderful ward we have here. We also ate Cafe Rio salads--someone got a recipe for all that was needed.

We taught a lot about the Plan of Salvation this week. One of our joint teaches reviewed her experience while we were chatting after a baptism after church and she said she realized for the first time that the Plan of Salvation is called that for a reason--it is for our salvation! I am amazed how simple the gospel is but how profound that simplicity becomes to us as we study it our and ponder it. The scriptures were written for a purpose and that purpose will not be fulfilled unless we all read in them. I am so grateful that we have a living prophet who gives us latter-day scriptures. We all just heard General Conference last week (and for the people 8 hours later, this week also), but it really won't benefit us unless we study the talks, apply them in our lives and prepare for the next conference. So many things were so boldly said in General Conference. I felt the Spirit so strongly. All together we had 12 people view General Conference with us who are not members--yet. The Elders in our ward also had many investigators view conference. All of them loved it and many felt the Spirit. What an opportunity we have to have Conference.

President Condie gave us a call Friday morning as we were leaving Osas to tell us that Sister McGuire will be heading out to Neumarkt am Wallersee (near Salzburg) to work with Sister Klein. Sister Hecht will be joining me in Wien IV. We were really surprised for the change, but know that it is God directed. We really had a good time together and worked really hard to leave this area better than we found it. I am so sad to see her go and excited to welcome Sister Hecht as my new companion to work hard with and see miracles with. This is truly the work of the Lord. Otherwise it would fail.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

herrlicher Tag!

Liebe Familie,

This week was WONDERFUL! Conference is always the best and we had EIGHT people attend. We also set two baptismal dates this week with new people. We met Frankie last week on the street (at night in the dark) and made out an appointment. He is very interested with what we have to say and willing to search to know if it is true. We set a goal with him for him to know before and be baptized on 30. April 2011. Faith was found durch Bahnkontaktieren. She and her husband go to an international church in Vienna, but are very confused and frustrated that their questions of the soul are not answered. She told us that they often return from church so confused that they don't want to go anymore, but she knows that it is important to go to church. She is very interested to know if the church has truly been restored. She understood the apostacy well. We set a date with her for 07. Mai 2011. We also attended a New Beginnings for the young women in our ward. It was inspirational. I had forgotten how important the youth are! My realization was confirmed in Conference that Bishops should be delegating more so they can spend more time with the youth. Do you pray for the youth in your ward?

This week I went on a split with Angela Hambruck from Wiener Neustadt. She has been waiting for 4 weeks already for her mission call and is excited to go. We had too many appointments to handle (thus the split) and once I left my companion Sister McGuire to go, all of our appointments fell through. Naturally, it started to rain as well. What did we do? Angela and I contacted many MANY wonderful people on the street and made out appointments with 3 or 4 of them. What a wonderful miracle it is that the Lord truly leads us to those who are ready to hear the gospel.

I forgot my camera cord this week but will send pictures of the New Beginnings and the Split. We are going to the Zoo today as it is Spring and absolutely HERRLICH (glorious) outside. General Conference was many answers to many of my questions and prayers. I am SO excited for another Temple to be built in Colorado! Every talk was filled with the Spirit and each investigator that came really felt it. I am so grateful for our leaders of the church. They truly do so much for us. So many people criticized us last week for talking about God with people instead of helping at a charity or something, but they don't realize that we do that! Oh, the Welfare program is so inspired. Service is an eternal principle. I am so grateful for parents who taught me the value of hard work and more importantly of what it looks like to serve others. I know this gospel is God's word. The Restoration of it has come to pass and the Lord is working miracles every day. Each of us are truly responsibile for our part and we are able to always ask for divine help to meet those responsibilities. Faith truly starts with a desire and even though sometimes we may need to even pray for that desire to come, it will and if we nurish it, it will bloom just as the beautiful spring of Vienna. I love the Lord. I love all of you. Thank you for your sacrifices for those whom you love.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

the beautiful life of a missionary

Liebe Familie,

This week consisted of many interesting appointments. Especially our two/three weirdest eating appointments. These were our first in this ward and as it is an international ward, we basically have no clue as to the culture we were to expect. In our first eating appointment, we were joined by the elders and only found four table settings on the table. They fed us several courses, but did not join us for the meal. We took the last few minutes to try to get to know the family, but in the end just felt bad that we just ate their food and dirtied their dishes without serving them. Let your missionaries get to know you and serve you! The food was absolutely delicious and I am starting to love Philippino food. We also ate with a family from Ghana, but it was basically Tacos--something I have not seen since I left America. They love spicy flavoring, but out of concern for us put it on the side. Very very very spicy chilis. Also delicious food.

We worked so hard this week and met with lots of people. The first appointment coming to my mind was our second this week with Ren and Xuang. Xuang is going to Linz this week and so it was our last appointment. I have never pushed so hard in a lesson before, but we felt directed by the Spirit. He grew up being taught that there is no God and all the stories of creation, etc. were always just stories to him. He does not know what it means to believe in something. So many times this week, we left our appointments and I looked around to check if I was still in Vienna (well, one time we weren't, but that was planned). Xuang promised to read the Book of Mormon--the whole thing. We invited and pushed and invited him to pray. Just to try it. Our appointments opened up a lot to him and he said he was really "impressed" by what we did, but he will soon realize it wasn't us at all--it was the Holy Spirit of the Lord guiding us to teach him to what he needs to know. He made great progress in our lessons, and he got to the point where he said he will think about praying once he has finished the Book of Mormon.

The most exciting thing is what we are looking forward to--GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!!!! My favorite time of the year (okay, so it comes twice, but still). We will be watching it live and I might be watching it in English this time, which will be a little different. I am excited to learn and preparing myself with questions that I am seeking. We are excited for the wonderful, precious investigators here in Vienna to come partake of the opportunity to hear what our Prophet has to say for our day. What an opportunity for each of us to ground our testimonies even more! I am so excited!

I love you all!!

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Wien ist wunderbar

Leibe Familie,

This week was amazing! We gained another 4 new investigators and are working hard to fit everyone in at this point! It is wonderful! I was worried in coming to this area that it would be hard to find people that prefer to speak Englisch and are interested in learning about the gospel, but I was proved wrong. Sister McGuire and I talk with everyone we can on our way to appointments. This week we met Nelson from Nigeria on the street and invited him to come to church. He came and stayed the entire time! We met with Liang, Erka, Caitlin, Victoria (new), Familie Cardenas, Tessy, Ekarin (new), Ren and his roommate whose name I cannot pronounce (from China--new), and even more! We heard beautiful prayers in Chinese, Mongolian, Englisch, Tagolog, Thai, German, and French. Oh it is wonderful!

One of the many highlights of this week was Erik Benge's baptism. He was baptized in Wien II and a nephew of one of the members I know. Caitlin came and I translated for her. The Spirit was so strong. She really enjoyed it and is enjoying meeting with us. There just is nothing better than bringing a progressing investigator to a well prepared baptism. It was wonderful. Caitlin has lived everywhere in the world and is starting to apply for colleges and is looking at the University of Utah due to the good reputation for medical students. :)

Like I mentioned, we met with Ren and his roommate. Ren teaches Chinese at the university (of which I can only count and say thank you, but I am learning "Good Night") and his roommate is studying helicopter engineering. Ren had met with missionaries before, but had kind of been lost for some reason for a while. His roommate was completely new to the gospel. Ren's English is a little rough and his roommate's was just a little better, but when we asked Ren if he still believed in the traditions of his country, he firmly and powerful stated, "No--now I believe in God". Writing it doesn't do it justice. One had to feel that when he said it. He will pick up again in the Book of Mormon. A very spiritual lesson.

Also, we met with Ekarin for the first time--he is from Thailand and a while ago said he was too busy to meet with missionaries, but we called him up and made an appointment. He is finishing his PhD in Computer Engineering (ha!) and speaks good English. He prayed at the end of the lesson though hesitant. He brought up a very good point in our lesson that I had not connected before. We asked him what he expected of us and of God and he said he prefers to be without expectations and thus will not be disappointed. Before I realized it, we were testifying boldly that God requires us to expect something--he requires that we pray in faith. We have to first believe. It is so important that we continue to take steps into the dark to learn to trust our Father in Heaven and to strengthen our relationship with him. We must be believing.

The Lord truly blesses his children. All he asks is that we keep his commandments. He gave us these commandments never to restrict us, but in order to help us to grow stronger and gain more freedom. We can only be blessed as we keep His commandments. Caitlin asked me this week, "but how can I know all the commandments I need to keep?" Well, Caitlin, because God loves us he gave us a way to know. We have a Prophet of God today. He speaks for God and he has the authority to speak to the whole world from God. Prophets of old wrote down their revelations and thus we have scriptures. We can learn of God's commandments as we read the scriptures. Isn't it so clear then how important it is to read daily in the scriptures? God has given many commandments. That is why the Pharisees and the Scribes were so confused in Jesus' time--not because there were too many commandments, but because they did not understand the priorities they needed to place. Jesus simply stated that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our Heart, Might, Mind and Strength and the second greatest ist to love our neighbor. All of this is made clear through scriptures. I am so grateful that we have scriptures. SO grateful we have a living prophet today. Through him doctrines are kept pure and more scripture is given.

Well, family, I know this Church is the restored Church of Jesus Christ. The truth is here in its fulness for the partaking of those who simply reach out and partake of the fruit. I am so grateful to be a missionary for my God and grateful for the sacrifices from my family and friends that have made this possible. Especially from Mom and Dad. There simply is no more important work than sharing the gospel.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll