1-12-16

Hey Guys!!!  

So, we found out changes!   Elder Rapela is leaving Maldonado, and I´m staying with Elder Stewart! He´s from California, and it´s his first change as zone leader. So I´ll get to train him, I´m so excited for that! It´s been such a good change though- Elder Rapela is so awesome, we´ve gotten to be really good friends.

We had our leadership council this week with President, and we talked about the culture of the mission. We are seeing some divisions in the mission with a lot of missionaries, and we want to be more united. We talked about the Culture of the mission, and how we were going to make a culture of obedient, happy, fun, Preach my Gospel missionaries.  SO, me and Elder Rapela were trying to figure out how to do that with the zone. We love the missionaries in Maldonado- They are ALL so awesome. We decided to have a formal/informal zone conference. Yesterday we went to Pan de Azucar, which is a little city by maldonado, and it´s the only place in Uruguay with hills. There is a famous hill with a big man made cross on top, and there is a trail to hike up it. So, at the base we had our zone conference. We talked about the culture, and we had a really open conversation. We invited the missionaries to think about any trials or pains that they had from the culture that we may have had, and to think about Christ as he carried His cross up Calvary. With that in mind, we hike up to the cross.  It was so cool, when we finished that conference (We finished it on top at the base of the cross) we decided that we were going to be obedient, happy, fun, Preach my Gospel missionaries. It was a really cool to see the missionaries catch that vision!

We are also working with Dora- She is starting to progress again! We´ve really had to teach her at her pace. She´s growing, and she can see that the gospel is changing her. It is super awesome to see. We are also working with the Familia Rodriquez to help them get married, the Familia Perez, to help them get married, and we are also trying to have more contact with the familia Berrueta- A new family that we found!! They are so prepared!

I know that this church is true. My desire to serve the Lord and BE His hands grows more and more everyday. Remember that you don´t have to be a missionary to do good. In fact, you actually do so much MORE when you serve where you live. Trust me! Go find someone who needs you!!

Elder Carroll

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?