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