1-18-16 Pics

We had a sweet zone activity today! We went to an old ruin/house on the side of the coast that had been renovated into a hotel. It was super fun- Maldonado is so pretty! It´s called Casa Pueblo.

1-18-16

Hey guys!

This week has been awesome!  Elder Stewart super awesome- We really have gotten to be good friends already. We have been working with 3 incomplete families, another family that lived in Washington DC for 7ish years, (Who is really prepared! They had the charlas in the States, and they know mas o menos what we are all about.)
MIRACLE OF THE WEEK:  Blast from the past.  In minas, Elder Sanchez and I found a family named Familia Garrido. They were about to get baptized, they got married and everything, but the grandma honed in and they didn´t ever get baptized.  SO, Elder Stewart and I were heading to a charla the other day, and Daniela Garrido, the mom, called my name and stopped us in the street on her moto. It turns out that they are living in Maldonado until March!   WHAAAATTTTTT!!!!!! I was SOOOO excited, and Daniela was so happy to see us too.   I never believed completely that we are really put in our areas because that is exactly where the Lord needs us. But, I learned that first hand this week. I NEED to be here in Maldonado right now. I am so excited!

I love you all so much, Have a great week!

Elder Carroll

1-12-16 pics

Inside!!!! There´s a big spiraling staircase! It´s so legit! We´re inside on of the arms of the cross.

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