Sister Carroll is giving you a hug

It's raining Investigators, Halelujah!

Liebe Familie,

This week was amazing! First, we went to Neuschwanstein Schloss in the area of Füßen, Deutschland (that means feet, tee hee). We (Elders Yanez, Rees, Elder and Sister Liggett and Sister Quist and I) hiked up the mountain in the snow (no, I haven’t bought new boots yet, but my feet thawed later without problems). It actually wasn’t that cold and the hike warmed us up a bit. The castle was really hard to see and all the paths were closed because it was snowing, but it was BEAUTIFUL. We had bought a tour inside the castle and we learned about King Ludwig and his desire to go back to Medieval days. He spent a lot of money on the castle and never lived in it. The inside was cool, but really busily decorated and we only saw a couple rooms since the inside was never finished.

This week was full of surprise new investigators! The first we had planned on—Lena we found dooring about a month ago and finally met. She had heard stuff about Mormons before and wanted to know what it was all about. The next day, we met with Diana, a referral from other missionaries. She was not home when we got there—she was at her mothers, but said we could come there. So we did and met with her and her two sisters—Maria and Ileana. We only brought one Romanian copy of the Book of Mormon since we weren’t planning on more, but we introduced the Book and the Church and promised to bring more books the next time. All were very interested (all young mothers or about to be young mothers). We met with Herr Yari twice, but did not see Namina this week. He is loving the Book of Mormon and still planning on getting baptized on 26 März 2011. Our second visit with him, he had a friend, Anna, from Moldovia and spoke Russian (Herr Yari also speaks Russian, surprise!). She was very interested in applying the gospel to her family and wants to have a Book of Mormon in Russian, so we made out another appointment and Herr Yari invited her to church and told her he knows the Book of Mormon is true. Awesome! So after Herr Yari (the next day), we went to Diana in her home and her friend was there. We had brought the Restoration DVD (it doesn’t have Romanian, but she also speaks Italian—she feels her German is rough), but their DVD player did not have a remote and so we could not choose the language! Argh! Diana’s friend only spoke Romanian (maybe Italian, too), so we read together in the Book of Mormon and gave her one in Romanian. She wanted to be in our next appointment. Then we went straight to Maria and Ileana. Their father was there and Maria’s boyfriend. Both were very interested, especially the father, and he prayed at the end of the lesson and cried. Sadly, I don’t know what he said because it was in Romanian, but the whole family thanked us profusely for coming.

Sadly … THIS IS MY LAST WEEK IN MÜNCHEN! L I am going to Pforzheim (I know, where is THAT?) on Wednesday and will work with Sister Olsen. Sister Olsen is my identical twin (everyone tells me we look exactly the same and I have seen pictures). I have met her once, but I feel I already know her because she has been Sister Hansen’s and Sister Quist’s companion separately and she was ALSO companions with Sister Anderson (one of my MTC companions, who is currently working with Sister Hansen in the Office). It’s all very complicated. Sister Olsen was first companions with Sister Quist in Ulm (Deutschland), then Sister Anderson, then Sister Hansen (München in the Office), then she worked with Sister McGuire (my other MTC companion) in Haag (Österreich). She is an English major at BYU. Sister Quist will be working with Sister Solomon, the one Dad said Brother Hill (home teacher) knows. She entered in the MTC 6 weeks after me, so I got to know her a little there. I am SO sad to leave München and a little nervous about white-washing another area (Pforzheim is a branch on the very edge of the mission north-west of Stuttgart). I am excited to WORK WORK WORK!

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Feb 14 I believe in miracles...

Liebe Familie,

Miracles! Miracles! We met with Sutha this week and had another amazing lesson. We taught about the Spirit World, Resurrection and Judgement and Eternal Life. I never thought of these topics as the most convenient time to extend a baptismal date, but we usually prepare a date for every lesson so that if the Spirit agrees we can be ready. We read 2 Nephi 31:17-21 and asked him what he needs to do to have eternal life ... then invited him to be baptized on 19 März 2011!! The Spirit was really strong and he is really progressing. He has met with missionaries for a little over a year. He came to church this week, which was a really big sacrifice and he liked it. We are so excited for him.

We also had Zone Conference this week. It was wonderful to see Sisters Anderson and Hansen again as well as a couple Elders from my MTC group whom I have not seen since we arrived in Germany. In our last Zone Conference/Missiontour we talked a lot about obedience, which was amazing but a little disappointing that that was the topic we had to focus on. THIS one, though, we talked about the Plan of Salvation, the Atonement, deepening our study and so much more. I learned so much and am excited to improve. We met with Herr Yari and President and Sister Condie after the meeting. I learned a lot from teaching with the Condies. I am going to be really sad to see them go in July (I know that is forever away).

Also, this week we met with Chrissi and Eliana and also met the son of one of Eliana's best friends (from Ecuador) who came to study in München for 6 weeks or so. He is 17 and a member. He is staying with his aunt just outside of our area, but all that speak Spanish in München are welcome to belong to our ward. We invited him to the Valentinstagtanz, to which he went and connected with many of the members of our ward that needed another friend. He came to church and brought his aunt and then we found out she isn't a member! She said she liked what she felt in the meetings and wants to come again. We meet with her tonight.

The weather is BEAUTIFUL here in München and it is making finding so much easier. People are so much more likely to talk with you if they aren't worried about the health hazards of it. "The field is white, already to harvest"! I love working in München. I love being a missionary. My testimony was strengthened this week that the Lord knows his children. He knows what we need and He will answer our prayers. Often in the form of others. I love the opportunity to bring the answers that people have been yearning and praying for. I know this gospel is true and brings more happiness to families and individuals than anything else. All we have to do it experiment upon the word.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Feb 7 A treasured normal week

Liebe Familie,

Sister Carroll is still alive and working hard in München. Last week seems forever ago and just a moment ago at the same time, so things are more back to normal. We had some amazing lessons this week and a lot of love from Heaven. Towards the beginning of the week I was not feeling very well, but with a good fight, I won and was able to run back to full speed at the end of the week. We ate dinner at President and Sister Condie's home Wednesday night. We had three new Sisters arrive during mid-transfers. One was called to our mission and is from the area of Leipzig, Deutschland. The two others were called to serve in USA and have not yet received their Visas to live there. They had the option to put of the mission longer or serve in our mission until the Visa arrives. Both had waited a long time already and our mission is absolutely wonderful, so we welcomed them! We started dinner a little after 8pm, so Sister Quist and I ran out after dinner and before the Testimony meeting to get home by 10pm. No idea in which area each of the Sisters are serving right now.

We had another amazing lesson with Sutha and we brought Anna Lena this time. The Spirit was strong and I was reminded how applicable the doctrine is in our every day worries. In Sri Lanca, the Cast system rules nearly everything socially. It sounds frustrating, but the beauty of it is that this life is the time we have to prepare ourselves to prepare to meet God who will judge us perfectly--in perfect justice. We will have peace in this life and eternal life in the world to come if we just accept the gospel and strive to do our best. This plan is truly a Plan of Happiness and will bring each individual happiness and bring families closer together. As Elder Ellis always said in the MTC "just accept it!!" The gospel is true and it will make your life happier! Of course I don't want anyone to blindly follow what we teach, but we want them to just TRY an experiment upon these words and see for themselves if it works and I promise it does.

Herr Yari made a lot of progress this week. Chrissi is still amazing and I love meeting with her twice a week. We very rarely had member appointments before this week and we met with the Habermanns for lunch (which was really delicious) and learned from their experience. We have several eating appointments next week and are excited to better know the members. I think eating appointments are very different in the USA. The secret to make your local missionaries happy: when you want to feed your missionaries, first get on your knees and ask God to help you evaluate who you know that might be ready for the gospel. Invite them to the appointment. That invitation would sound like heaven to a missionary.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

Life is beautiful. Das Leben ist schön.

Liebe Familie,

We worked SO hard this week. We met with 6 less actives and ALL of them came to church! We have been meeting with Ingrid regularly and I wanted to share a little about her. She is from Paraguay and was baptized as a child, then lost contact with the church. That was all we knew until last week (we have been meeting with her for two and a half months). Laura, from Colombia, but has lived here for 12 years and in USA for 4 years, is Ingrid's best friend and they live together. Laura was reactivated in the Church when she went to live with family in Utah and chose to continue being active once she came back to Germany. We learned that just before we arrived in the ward (maybe a month before), an Elder contacted Ingrid on the bus and found out she was a member. She came to church and has been active ever since (she is 21 and the last time she was at church was when she was 10). She was embraced immediately by the Young Single Adults in the ward and started dating one of them. :) She is basically an investigator and we never new her story! Remember, no matter how long someone has been inactive in the church, sometimes all they need is an invitation. I was surprised to hear how long it had been and how little time she had had at church. Her testimony grows deeper and deeper each week and she has the greatest desire to hear the gospel. I love this ward!!

So we had an eating appointment with Herr Yari (from Iran) on Saturday and 10 minutes before, our Joint Teach texted us to tell us she was sick. We had already asked two others who were busy and we couldn't just cancel since he was making us food. We called everyone we could think of and mostly no one answered. We told him what was going on (remember we must have at least 3:1 gender ratio adults and it is just Herr Yari and his two daughters 8 and 6). We prayed and called, went and dropped by a couple potential investigators in the area while he called and I even asked a random woman on the street if she wanted to join us (she not so politely declined). Two and a half hours later, Schwester Geiger came and we ate. The lesson was really good and they were excited to read more consistently in the Book of Mormon.

We also met with Jimmy who was baptized 6 months ago. He is from Peru and goes to school full time (on a student Visa) and works part time. His work was only on the weekends as a part of his Visa and with the new time (9 am) for church, he could never make it. We all prayed really hard throughout the week and his schedule was changed! He came to church and he is preparing to receive the Priesthood! Awesome!!

We worked really really hard this week to find a new investigator. As Preach My Gospel clarifies, a new investigator is one who has been taught a principle, has prayed with the missionaries (it has to be a lesson) and has agreed to a next appointment. We have four appointments set for next week but all of them for the first time. We are working really hard I promise! The Lord will provide in His timetable. That I know.

The gospel is true. Never forget it. I am so grateful to be serving in this bitterly cold beautiful land. The work will go forth, that I know. Every land is different, but the gospel is the same. I love being a missionary.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll

January 24th

Liebe Familie,

This week was fabulous! My sweet companion, Sister Quist, turned 22 on Wednesday, 19 Januar 2011. We celebrated by moving apartments and picking up our companion's new companion (Sister Anderson came in to work with Sister Hansen) at Hauptbahnhof. We ate some sushi and sandwiches and talked for a little while. We went to Chrissi and Eliana's for a lesson. We taught about prayer after singing Happy Birthday in German, English and Spanish. We had a great time and they gave her some really nice presents for her birthday. We moved in and tried to clean up quickly. We had Interviews with President Condie the next day as well as District Meeting. Did you know that the Missionary Department came out with new Sisters' Dress Guidelines? They really needed updating. After reading it, I realized my wardrobe really needs updating.

Chrissi actually did not get baptized this Saturday as was planned. We are praying her father will give permission and working on dipolmatically working with him. We are not too worried as her testimony is not a factor, she will get baptized even if she has to wait until she is 18. Her mom gave a talk in church yesterday. It was absolutely fabulous. She talked about the first Article of Faith. We were so proud! Herr Yari also said that he still wants to be baptized on 12 Februar 2011, even though Namina cannot be baptized. He came to all three hours of church and participated!

So, success story of the week happened last night. We were exhausted and had had a really intense Sunday. It was just hard. Sister Quist had a bad headache and I still was not feeling well. BUT we knew that we could go out and so after a little bit of dragging our feet, we left the apartment. We did not have any appointments and we really could have just stayed and been really productive by making lots of phone calls, but we went and decided to drop by a less active sister who had not seen the church or missionaries in a couple years. She was home ... but we woke her up (it was only 6 pm! I promise!!). We felt really bad at first and she did not want to let us in ... but we went out in the -5°C cold and actually had a fantastically spiritual lesson and invited her to begin again to read in the Book of Mormon. Then, we tried to meet up with someone (long story) at an U-Bahn station that we had never met before, but had a name ... not much use. We ended up talking with many people there about the gospel and committed two to attend church the next Sunday. Basically, it was amazing. I love this work and I KNOW it is the work of the Lord. He guides us and knows how to help us. He wants to badly for all of His children to return to Him, but knows it must be their choice. We only invite. NOW is the time to prepare to meet God. TODAY is the day to work out our salvation. The gospel is true. I know it.

--
Sister Carla June Carroll