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
Monday, October 24, 2011
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
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
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
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
Monday, October 10, 2011
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
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
Saturday, October 1, 2011
"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
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
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