1-5-15

¡HOLA HOLA!

Hey guys, happy new year! New Years is just as big hear as it is in the states! TONS of fireworks!  But I had a crazy start to the year!

I found out on last monday that I´m training these next two changes in Lascano! I was super shocked, but I´m totally stoked! My companion´s name is Elder Rosales, from Peru. He is such a stud, he really carries the spirit with him and knows how to WORK!  It´s awesome! He got baptizd two years ago, and he´s 25 years old! He´s training me more than I´m training him for sure!  I love him to death.

We´ve already seen some miracles this week!   We worked as hard as we could this past week, because we only had 4 working days in our area. (Because of changes and some meetings). But on Thursday, we two families that Elder Ochoa and I found, and who really have potential! First we have Cecilia and Dario, and husband and wife, who are really searching for truth, and we´ve been able to help them feel and start to understand the spirit. We put a baptismal date with them for the 24 of January! I´m super stoked, and We´re really praying for them. The other Family, Artigas and his wife, we haven´t been able to meet with them officially, but Artigas said that he and his wife read the pamphlet of the Plan of Salvation with his wife, and they liked the part about families living together forever! We are going to visit them this week, we put their date for the 24 too, so we´ll see!  ¡VAMOS ARRIBA!

AND THEN!   We have been talking to this guy named Elmer Molino since my first day.  We thought he was Schysophrenic at first, because he is like russell crowe in a beautiful mind- he has a TON of projects laying around his house, and he tells us that people come to him and tells him to work for him!  Hahahah so we left him for a while, and would just visit him every once and a while. But we started to realize that people really do come to him, and tell him to do projects for him! HAHAHAHA Never judge a book by it´s cover!!  Elder Rosales went by, and set a fecha with him, and he told us "Why do you keep changing the date, I´m going to get baptized right!" HAHAHAHHAHAHAA I would have NEVER thought that he wanted anything! He is kind of a funny guy, who knows the bible Backwards and forwards, and has had a Catholic backround, but believes that we as missionaries are sent from God.   So we´ve had some charlas with him, and he told us that he is ready to change his life, and be baptizd!  He´s getting baptized the 17th!  WOOHOO!!!     No matter how crazy people are, if we love them, and validate them, they will follow us. We can NEVER think that there are GOLDEN investigators, and only share the gospel with those that LOOK ready. Because if we do, we are taking away their agency, and also, We NEVER know who´s really ready and who´s not. We don´t know the hearts of people. So, we just need to share the gospel with EVERYONE!

ALSO, we visited an atinguo investigator named veronica, who was WASTED when we last talked to her. We left her for a while, but Elder Rosales and I visited her on friday. She was at first, kind of the same, but we simply taught lesson one, REALLY tying to get her to feel the spirit. We have to repeat ourselves a lot. But by the end, she was SUPER receptive, and told us she is will to change her life!! AHHHHHH!!     We are seeing miracles! It´s like Elder Packer said, "True doctrine changes behavior faster that the study of behavior changes behavior" It´s so true, and getting to be apart of it is SO cool!    

This church is true and God is had the head of it!   I KNOW that we are preparing the world for the second coming of the Savior, and we have to hasten ourselves to this hastening of the work! 

I love you all SO much, and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Carroll