1-4-16 Pics

Merry Christmas!   We went to the shopping mall in the plaza and sang christmas hymns as a zone!  It was so legit!!


And this is the Rodriguez family!  The dad isn´t a member, they have to get married. But we´re getting there!  We spent christmas eve with them in Punta de Este!


Happy new year!     I got a new car!!! haha it´s a little clown car that a less active made- it´s pretty sweet!

PUNTA DEL ESTE!   We went today to Punta del Este, and this is an art museum there. They have some pretty cool stuff!

 

 For Aslan!




And this is Batman.

We also went to the boat port  to see all the yahts/ sail boats. It was legit!

 

 

1-4-16

Hey guys! 

Happy new year! I hope that everything is going well for you all.

This week has been a week of Miracles!!!  We have been working on a training for the ward mission leaders and bishoprics in the stake to implement the handbook in our ward counsels. We have really been recieving revelation (Me and my companion), but we were afraid that the leaders weren´t going to get anything out of the training- I´ve given a few trainings in my mission, and they haven´t really done too much.    SO, we started to see this week little signs that the Lord is preparing the minds of certain people here in the stake. We ate with the first counselor of our ward, and he started to express his concern about the ward and how we don´t have success in the missionary work, and that he wan´t to change things. The Lord has really planted a desire in him, and we started to get so exctied. On Sunday, 2 or 3 of the members bore testimonies about how this year they want to participate in missionary work. Even the Sunday school teacher explained the promptings that she has had to participate more in the missionary work.   So, on Sunday night, we gave the training, and EVERYONE came!  First of all, that´s a miracle in and of itself! (That doesn´t usually happen here!) And there was such an excitement when they listened. They realized that in order to hasten the work here, they are going to have to improve the ward counsel, find incomplete families for us to teach, and return and report every week.     We have the support of the wards now in the stake, and we are SO excited to see the miracles that are about to happen! 

We also found a family to teach, who lived in Washington DC for like 5 years. they are so awesome, and so prepared! The Berrueta´s. 

I know that this church is true. There is a feeling of urgency that keeps getting stronger and stronger the more that I serve. The Second coming is Close, we are in the middle of the Last days, and the ONLY way that the Lord will come, is if His stakes of Zion of strong and self sufficient. They are the Refuges from the world, and they must continue to grow, or else they will not support the storms of the world that are about to come, and are already coming.   The Lord has an order, and that order must be executed. That order starts with ward counsels- they find the lost sheep who are out in the desert, the missionaries feed those sheep and helps them to come to Christ, and when they are done,  the saints of the stakes continue to nuture them.   This is real, God lives and WE are His hands.     This is going to be an awesome year!

I love you all, have a great week!

Elder Carroll

12-29-15

12-14-15 Pics

Me and Elder Rapela at a Carrito (food stand) after District Meetings!


And these guys are members and they live in Punta Del Este, THE rich part of Uruguay. It´s where the Dedos are. We are trying to marry their mom and their dad so that the dad (Ignacio) can get baptize. they  are studs!

Punta del Este!!!!!! 

 

 

And.... It´s hot. all the time.    You can´t really see it, but I´m cutting my hair, and sweating like a gorilla. The mission is fun.

12-14-15

Hey guys!

I don´t have too much time, but It was a great week!  We´ve been teaching a lady named Dora who is fighting with depression. She´s good one day, and another day is bad, and she´s tried everything to get rid of her depression. As we´ve taught her, and she´s put the gospel in practice, she´s started to change! Now she´s always happy, and she LOVES the ward- They have all reached out to her, and it´s really cool to see. She´s getting baptized this saturday! We´re pretty stoked.  We have a pretty good pool of investigators, and we´re trying to help them to progress! (a lot of them have to get married first!)

But yeah, Sorry I don´t have too much time. I was thinking this week about leadership, and why it´s so important. I always thought that leader´s were leader´s because they wanted to be, or because they were good at it. For many people, that´s the case! But I was thinking about these last days, and the kingdom that the Lord is building on the earth. In these last days, and as things get more and more complicated, I realized that the Lord NEEDS Servants, He NEEDS leaders. In the Church, in the stakes, in the wards, in the missions, and even in the Local, state, and national level. He needs men, and women, who are willing to make WHEREVER they are better, and more perfect. I´m really coming to understand that None of this is about me! It´s not about us at all, it´s about our Heavenly Father, His plan, and how we as His children can participate in it.  It makes me want to get home, and just waste and wear out my life to serve and make things better wherever I am.   

I love you guys! Keep sharing the gospel, and be BEST FRIENDS with the missionaries so that you can invite your firends to listen to them! They know what´s up!

Elder Carroll

12-7-15 Pics

 

And Elder Rapela and I after a charla with some less actives and the non member husband- Javier. He´s a new investigator!

And I love Elder Rapela so much! He is a STUD,  and he reminds me of Kyle Hiatt- A lot! He´s from Santa Fe Argentina.

 

 

This is the new zone!   And Hermana Dowdle is here too, (She´s the daughter of the nefew of grandma rita!) Dad, I think you talked to her dad right?

 

12-7-15

Hey Guys!

So, I don´t have too much time, BUT, I am loving Maldonado so much! It´s interesting coming from Montevideo, because in Montevideo people are SUPER closed, and they don´t talk to you, and if you do get to teach them, they don´t share personal experiences or anything in the charlas. It´s hard to teach them. But HERE, people are open, and they are just happy. It´s the Number 1 tourist area in Uruguay, and it´s always sunny and happy. So, I´m pretty happy! And the members are unbeleivable! The bishopbric of all the wards are on top of everything, and they are always getting the ward excited to share the gospel, I love it! The morale is just super high!   So I´m excited. And the zone is super great, the missionaries all get along and are ready to work. It´ll be fun working with them this change.

The church is true! Let your light shine everyday. I was reading the sermon on the mount recently, and it´s interesting when the lord calls us the salt of the earth. I never understood that, but I realized recently what that means. In the Lord´s time, salt was a token of a covenant that was made. When he says that salt without flavor is good for nothing, he´s saying that He made a covenant with God to perform the Atonement, and save us FROM our sins.  WE are the salt (Or token) of that covenant, and if WE lose our flavor, the atonement was good for nothing.  SO, SHINE!!!!!!!! We are meant to be different from the world, let the world know that!

 I love you all, I hope that you have a great week!

Elder Carroll

12-1-15 Pics

We went to the temple today as a zone!!! I´m going to miss them!

And, I´m seriously dying. The Star Wars fever is in the air, and I´m starting to get HOT!    It´s pretty fatal.    ...Mucho Tiempo atrás, en una galaxia muy muy lejos....

Gonzalo y Natalia!   This is the investigator we´ve been teaching, and is less active wife! He accepted a baptism date  for the 19th of december! WOO HOO!!

12-1-15

Hey guys!

Wow, it´s been a crazy week! We found out the changes, and I´m leaving la costa!!!! NOOOOO!!!! I have loved it here, I´m going to miss the zone a lot. And Elder Leite hands down has been my favorite companion! But, I´ve heard that my new companion is a stud, he´s from argentina. Elder Rapela. 

I´m going to Maldonado, which is THE vacation spot in all of Uruguay. There are TONS of tourists every summer, and I´m going RIGHT when summer is starting! Halelujah!  I´m really excited.

As far as the work goes in El Bosque, Gonzalo accepted a baptismal date for the 19 of December, but he´s still trying to gain a testimony about Joseph Smith. Pray for him, they need the gospel right now, and they are so receptive!

We also got to the teach the sunday school class for the combined 5th Sunday. It was about missionary work and how now is the time that the members and the missionaries come together to work in the vinyard. It´s real! It´s happening! Learn it, live it, love it!

I love you all, the gospel is true, and it is the missing piece in people´s lives. We are in the last round of the last days, we can´t afford to fall now. Be strong, hold to the rod, and SERVE in the church! Help to build the Kingdom, invite your friends to come to the old ship zion, and to stay there!

Have a great week!

Elder Carroll

Oh yeah, this was some pictures we took to show in the sunday school class so that the members would like us and give us referrals!!! It turned out well!

11-23-15 Pics

we helped silvana move! She wasn´t there, she had to work, but that´s her sister dayana.

¡Más FÚTBOL!    I´m pretty much professional now...

Just kidding, I don´t stand a chance against the latinos!

11-23-16

Hey guys!

It´s been a great week! We had Silvana´s baptism!!!! Saturday morning, Us, our ward mission leader and a few of the relief society sisters helped silvana move from Diego´s house- we finally finished the house behind the family piriz! So we moved her in the morning and then in the afternoon she got baptized. I was so awesome, she was just so happy. After a year of being an investigator, and after some HARD things, she finally could get baptized!  Before she got in the water, she was in the bathroom getting ready to get into the font, and she just cried. It tooks a few minutes for her to get in the water-she was super emotional. Her life is changing completely, and I feel so blessed to have been able to be apart of it!  And it´s cool to think that her whole posterity now will be blessed to have the gospel, if she stays faithful- Her daugther will get baptized, if she get´s remarried all her kids will be blessed, and THEIR kids will be blessed- it´s like a never ending chain! 

So, that was the hilight of the week. We also had a multi zone thanksgiving activity today! that was super fun! We played jeopardy, the price is right, minute to win it, don´t forget the lyrics, and family fued with all the missionaries. President Cook even played with us- It was legit!

Well I love you all, Happy thanksgiving, and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Carroll

P.S. This is Silvana and her sister and her daughter luciana. All of these missionaries were here in El Bosque, and they all taught her this past year! (They also have all been my companions!!  haha it was a fun reunion!)