2-10-15

Holy COW!    I`m finally writing you all an email! The work is hastening and it so cool seeing it happen! We`ve really been working with the members, doing service for them, gaining they`re trust, and helping them with the branch. It`s taken a little bit, but finally we are starting to help them be missionaries!  Woohoo!!!!

We have a few SOLID references from the members, and they are willing to come with us to the charlas and prepare their friends to listen to us. THAT`s MISSIONARY WORK!!! Preparing your friends to listen to the missionaries by inviting them to church activities and bearing your testimony. Then, for two or three short weeks, the missionaries can work their magic, and then the missionaries pass them back to the members, ready and prepared to make covenants!    OH BOY,  I wish I would have understood that before the mission!

SO, we`ve been working with a family for a few weeks, and they are getting baptized this saturday!!!  Blanca and her daughter Ana. Blancas brother, Artigas, and his family are preparing to be baptized as well, but Artigas and his Esposa have to get married first. Luckily it doesn`t take as much time to get married in Lascano, so we`re trying to arrange the marriage as soon as we can!

After that, Next saturday, we are planning a baptism for a 68 year old lady who is SUPER prepared to be a member of the church. She is almost exactly like Marta Lallis, super happy and ready to do anything! I love her so much! (But don`t worry marta, you`re still my grandma!)  She has had a pretty rough life, but she has so much faith.  Her name is Rosario, and she is going to CHANGE or little branch! I can`t wait!

There are miracles happening here in Lascano! I know that this is the Lord`s work, and that we are preparing the earth for the second coming of Jesus Christ. There are people WAITING to here the truth, and It`s our responsibility to put it in front of them so they can make the choice.

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

Elder Carroll

1-26-15 Pics

1-26-15

Holy cow, so it´s been awhile since I´ve written!    It´s been pretty crazy in Lascano! Elder Rosales and I and trying to help the branch presidency function, and the missionary work. We are seeing such miracles!  Elmer helped me bless the sacrament- he´s such a stud. Hahaha He has a deep catholic backround, so he was sure to throw in some "Father, son and Holy Ghost" cross actions with his hands, and he would look up to heaven every once and awile, but he did such a good job! I love that guy so much!

So, the mission is changing a few things. The area presidency here in Uruguay felt inspired to make some changes, and they´re calling it, the New initiative. Every week, the only things that we are reporting to our leaders is the Total church attendance, and baptisms. The past couple years in Uruguay, we´ve been baptizing A TON! But we having been retaining these baptisms. So we have a LOT of Less actives. This New Initiative is to Work with the Menos Activos, and Members, to increase church attendance, and find people to teach Through the members\less actives and recent converts. At first, I didn´t know what to think!  But now, I have SUCH A STRONG TESTIMONY that the work is hastening, and this is the way to do it. The members are the new missionaries, and the Missionaries are only the guides and teachers.   I heard a scripture the other day in Doctrine and Covenants, 101:55, and it says that in the last days, the Lord will gather THE REST of his servants, the old, the young, the children, and the parents to bring to pass the work. That means the members! It hit me hard! The work is hastening, and gone are the days that missionaries are finding, tracting, and baptizing. It´s up to the members to find, fellowship, share, and prepare non members to hear the missionaries. We still are finding by our own efforts, but it´s part of the hastening of the work, and I know this New Initiative is going to work!   It´s inspired!

We are really trying to make that transition in the mission, and with the members, and I know it´ll take time. But it´s the way to do the work!

And we have found a few families to teach!    Artigas and Gabriela, and their son Sergio, want  to be baptized! But, they have to get married first. In Montevideo, it takes a little bit of time to get married, but in Lascano, we found out, that it doesn´t take as long! We are figuring out the arrangements so that they can do it, but they are so willing!   I´m so excited for them!  Also, Artigas´s sister, Blanca, and her daughter Ana are ALSO  listening to the charlas, and want to be baptized! It is so cool to see the simple faith that they have, they know that the family is important, and that baptism will help them be more united as a family here, and in the next life. I love them so much- We´ll keep you posted!  We also have found, through Camila and Lucas, (STUDS!) Romina and Antonela. They both want to get baptized, but their dad won´t let them!   AHHHH!   But I feel really calm. They are going to talk to their parents today, and then we´ll see what happens! Keep them in your prayers, they need the happiness that the gospel brings!

The church is true! I know that God lives, and loves us! The coming of the Savior is so close, and we need to be ready. I´m so humbled and grateful to be apart of the preparation of the second coming, and the millennium. It´s true!

I love you all, have an awesome week!

Elder Carroll

1-19-15 Pics

 One more of Elmer and the members

 And, I found this little family with Elder Ochoa, and they didn´t seem to want anything! But when Elder Rosales and I passed by, they said they wanted to get baptized!!!   (The dad, and Blanca, his sister, are in the picture to my left. To my right is Ana, Blana´s daughter, and Sergio, Artigas´s son. They´re getting baptized too!) Artigas´s wife isn´t in the picture, and they aren´t married! But they agreed to get married so that they can get baptized! They are SO prepared!)

LA BARRA! It's a Beach by Brazil!

 We got to go fishing as a district with some members! I caught a fish!

Elmer's baptism! He cracks me up, he was super serious! But I love that guy so much!

1-12-15

Sister Cook, President Cook, Elder Rosales, Elder Carroll

1-12-15

HELOO!!     So ...MY NEW COMP IS SUCH A STUD!   IT'S LIKE HE´s training me!  I love him to death, and he´s so humble!  He just loves people, even when they are hard to love.      WE HAVE THE SPIRIT!!!!!!!   You´re attitude, and love REALLY do make all the difference!

Today we went to see the beach!! It was fun! We were only there for 20 minutes, and THEN we went to go fish with some members!   It was so fun, it reminded me of fishing with dad!

SOOO......We have found a lot of people to teach in Lascano!  We are REALLY trying to work with the members. First, we have a baptism TOMORROW!!!   A man named Elmer, the "A Beautiful Mind" guy. We´ve been working with him for a while, and he´s ready to give up smoking and start changing his life. Smoking has been hard for him to give up, but there is a man in the branch who had to give up smoking too, and they´re becoming friends!   YEAH FOR MEMBER MISSIONARIES!!!    We also had my FIRST consejo de Barrio, which we REALLY Had to pull teeth to get them to do it!  We sat down, all 3 leaders in the branch, and us, and we just talked everything out. What we need to do better, where we need to step up, and everything. It was super good, and we are hoping to help these members here UNDERSTAND the church and it´s function.   Also, Dad, we have to count tithing every sunday, and send it throughout the week! We use MLS, the computer program, I don´t know if you used that when you were bishop, but it makes me think of you and your bishop days!

We have a few more families that we are working with, I will let you know for sure next week!


I love you all!!!!!Elder Carroll

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