Dec 21, 2014

 Dear Family:

 M. is doing really good she came to church again and we have an appointment with her tomorrow. She has questions about the church of the Devil haha so it should be interesting. Dad that stuff that you forwarded from Chelsea about Solomon Hancock was awesome. My MTC companion, Elder Griffey, is a descendant from his brother Levi and would talk about him all the time so that was cool to see. Love ya too TJ cant wait to see you on Donnerstag. Kacey way to push through until the break I usually quit about a week before the break but don't tell mom that haha. Jake way to go that is a great percentage!

Montag we went into Kufstein, Österreich! It was beautiful.

Tuesday I had an exchange with Elder Evans, My trainer. He got transferred back into our zone and distrikt so he is my DL again haha. It was fun to work with him again. It was like old times except I was talking a lot more than I did the last time we worked together. We did street contacting all day and we had some really good conversations but no new investigators. 

Wednesday we had an appointment with D. and we taught him how to pray. I used an analogy from the friend. I said that a prayer is like a sandwich and that you always have the bread at the beginning and end ''Dear Heavenly Father..... In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen'' and everything in between is what you want your ''sandwich'' to be haha. It was great he really liked that. 

Thursday we went to Ml.'s and his son was there it was fun to play with him because he responds in either German or Spanish so sometimes he would say something in Spanish to us and we wouldn't have a clue what he was saying haha.

Freitag we were contacting all day and just got stuffed haha but that's ok. We were using the Er ist das Geschenk cards and nobody wanted one it was really weird. One lady talked to us and I asked her if she celebrated Christmas and she said ''Nicht Direkt'' a pretty weird answer and I asked her why she said she celebrates indirectly and she said it was because Christmas isn't about the tree or the gifts its about Jesus and I was like FINALLY! SOMEONE IS GOING TO WANT THIS!!! and the i told her that we agree with her and we tried to give her a card and she said she didnt need it and that we were of the Devil and such but whatever haha. Needless to say we didn't get her Number.

Saturday we taught G and B. and I have a great story about that but it wont be that great to read so I will just tell you in person on Thursday. Nothing crazy happened it was just funny but I will tell ya later

I love ya guys see you on Thursday

Isn't this the coolest pic ever?

We found this cool ledge in a wall and decided to be dorks.

Dec 15, 2014

Hey Family we had a really SICK week haha. Ok I will try not to use that word but when I get typing fast I cant make any promises. Jake sorry I forgot to wish you a happy birthday last week. I didnt forget about it, I just forgot to tell you. I realized I had forgotten when I was planning for Friday and saw it was the 12th haha. Sorry. Tj- They have really cool things in Germany for christmas. The decorations are different and way cool. They have Christmas markets. They also have two Santa's they are called St. Nikolaus and Der Weihnachtsmann. St. Nikolaus comes on the 6th of December and leaves a present in good kids shoes and some coal in bad kids shoes. Der Weihnachtsmann comes on the 24 like Santa. Christmas is also a little bit backwards here. On the 24th they open presents and they have 2 days for Christmas the 25 and 26. Heiliger Abend (24th) is the most important that's when families really celebrate the birth of Christ and there are Christmas Masses in all of the Churches at midnight. Its pretty cool. Kacey was that the most intense baby sitting job ever haha. Mom sorry you barely missed your 4.0 but your grades just have to be good enough haha. 

Monday we had a less active appointment but he showed up late so we only got to talk to him for about 15 minutes before we had to go home.

Tuesday we were doing Vorbei's (I dont think there is an actual word for that in English, it just means that we were going by on people) and while we were doing that we saw a car accident. That was pretty cool.

Wednesday we had our Christmas conference and it was awesome. President Kohler shared stories from his mission and Sister Kohler shared experiences from her mission. President Kohler talked about how we need to use this special time because people are more open to talk about the Savior. We also got some cards that have a video link on them. Its called ''Er ist das Geschenk'' or He is The Gift. President Kohler had to make them because Europe didn't get any cards from the Church. We are using apostate cards . That's the joke in the mission right now.  We ate food. (Rote Kohl, Ham, and potatoes) then president Kohler pulled some strings and was able to get a copy of "Meet the Mormons" and we watched that. It is the only copy in Europe.  My favorite part was probably the very beginning when the showed video clips of TV shows making fun haha it was hilarious.  

Thursday we were on the streets all day no one was able to meet with us all week so Thursdays planner was completely blank (I hate those days) so we hit the streets. We gave out a bunch of Er ist das Geschenk cards and it was really successful. We didn't get any phone numbers from it but a lot of people were really appreciative. Most of the time people make you feel like you wasted their time but not when we were using these cards. It was cool.

Friday was our appointment day haha. We had 4 appointments. Its the most I have ever had in a day and all the people live in different parts of the area so it was a lot of walking and running to catch our trains. M.'s lesson was the coolest. We had a really good Joint teach that lives in the same Dorf as her and he was an AP in Switzerland back in the day so he knows German and missionary work pretty well haha. I was great for M. because a lot of the time our German isn't that great and the answer to her questions get lost in translation but Bruder Döring really came through for us. On Sunday the Dörings said that they stayed and talked with M.for a really long time. Ward connections are building up way fast!

Saturday I built a roof haha. I was in the heart of the Alps building a roof on a classic Bavarian house. it was pretty cool to think about haha. We also had our ward Christmas party and St Nikolaus came and all the kids were scared haha. They all got presents from St Nikolaus. Then St Nikolaus called up the ''Rosenheim Elders'' and we got loaded up. The ward loves us. We have like 10 pounds of chocolate and sweets in the Apartment... We are going to be so fat...! 

Sunday M. came to church and told us that she has read in the Book of Mormon some more and was confused about ''the church of the Devil'' in 1 Nephi...We have a lesson with her tonight so that should be fun answering this one haha. M. and his wife came to church together it is so awesome. I really think that they will be completely active soon.

Today we got permission to  go into Austria!! it is going to be fun and beautiful as flip! I am going to the skinny part of the country where all of the big mountains are! should be fun.

Love ya a bunch!

-Elder Carr

Dec. 7, 2014

Dear Family

OK this is going to be a short email because we couldn't really get anything going but that's mission life sometimes . Jake congrats on Spokaloo man. Tj way to win the candy dude haha. Sorry to hear that Tyler got in an accident.

 Ok the scripture I want on my church plaque is 3 Nephi 5:13. Its a mission scripture and I like it a ton. Its way cooler in German so if you could also do that it would be great. How much snow is over there right now? We have zero snow. Its all rain really cold rain. The mountains have snow and look awesome when you can see them through the fog. Christmas in Germany is Amazing. I love it. I am definitely bringing some of these traditions home.

We made a Christmas card for our ward and it is pretty good. I will send one home. On Tuesday we used our lunch hour to explore the Christkindlmarkt in München.  On Thursday we went to M's and had a great lesson with him about prayer and he shared more experiences about how prayer has been helping him a lot recently and how it helped him when he was a missionary. Friday we met with Bruder D. He is a less active from Brazil. We talked about scripture study and invited him to our ward Christmas party this Friday. Hopefully he will come. Saturday we helped M.'s wife move. Her parents are pretty anti but it was good to have us there so they saw that we weren't that weird or anything. Her mom made some really good Bayrisch food. I freaking love Bayrisch food I think I would be ok if I stayed in Munich zone my whole mission because the culture here is great and the food is even better haha. 

Literally all of the note worthy things that happened this week. 

I miss you guys a ton and I will let you know when I can Skype.

-Elder Carr 

Dec1, 2014


HOLY FLIP! I AM SO EXCITED FOR STEFAN! SWEDEN!!!!!!!!! THAT IS SO NUTZ! Thanksgiving looked awesome. I cant believe Tyler, Shannon, and the grandparents are moving up! I glad that it was 70 degrees for you because it definitely not over here haha. Our heating is out half the time so its like waking up in a freezer haha but thats ok because it makes me grateful when it does work. I don't know when I will be able to skype yet I have to see what families we are with. I can skype any day from the 24-26 but ask Stevie first when she wants it so I can try to plan it around that and It will be during the morning for you guys. I will keep the stokers in my prayers. Jake keep on winning those matches. Glad you had a great Thanksgiving TJ.

So heres the Week:

Right now Germany is in the Christmas spirit but no one wants to talk about Jesus haha. But the Christmas market opened up this week and they have some great stuff in there.

Monday: We taught Familie A. and that was basically it. It was a really chill P-Day.

Tuesday: Tuesday we had a district meeting and I have a great story about that but I have to save that one for after the mission because it is just so good and it probably shouldn't be posted in a Blog or anything haha. (I promise that I will never forget this story so don't worry.)

Wednesday: We had a lesson with D. and he explained to us that he isn't ready to be Mormon and we already new that. But we continue to work with him and hope that he will start making progress again.

Thursday:We had an eating appointment that was it.

Freitag: Contacting and Vorbeis. Boring day.

Samstag: OK NOW THE WEEK HAS BEGUN. So we got a phone call at 6:35 and it was the Zone Leaders with transfer calls and I found out that I AM STAYING IN ROSENHEIM FOR A FOURTH TRANSFER! I am so happy that i still get to be here. I am so excited to celebrate Christmas in Bavaria! It is going to be awesome. So we had 3 lessons on Saturday. It was the most lessons that I have taught on my mission in one day. We were running for trains and watching the clock all day haha. First we taught Mo. and we talked about prayer and it was a great lesson. We just set it all out for her that the only way that she will find out that this church is true. We then went to E.s and that was interesting. At lunch Bruder L. called me and gave me a talk on sSnday so I accepted and it worked out fine. Last of all we taught G. and B. and they poured out all of their struggles on us. I was way overwhelmed. I am just a 19 year-old kid. I don't have any real-life problems. But it is good that we are there for them and hopefully the little simple help that we give will help them. All we know is the Gospel. Pure and simple and that's all we can share. We don't provide a solution for problems we just provide the way.

Sonntag: I had a talk about the BOM and I blessed the sacrament for the first time in German. M. came to church again! we set up an appointment with him for Thursday and he told us thanks for our prayers and he said that he and his wife are back together! MIRACLES! I love it. That family is the biggest reason I am happy I am staying because I feel like they are going to make so much progress this transfer. We then went to a family in our ward and celebrated the 1st Advent with them and it was great.

So re-cap: I am staying in Rosenheim, Christmas is awesome, and the church is true.

Love ya

-Elder Carr       

first advent meal

Bavaria

Nov. 23, 2014

Hallo meine Familie!

I can't believe Alex is going to Japan. That is perfect for him. I CANT BELIEVE MTSPO IS IN THE SEMI'S! that is crazy! Ja so the lady who sent You pictures was just some Mormon lady that found us going to distrikt meeting. Don't tell anyone this but I hate running in to American Mormons here. AMERICANS are so loud and it draws so much attention to us when they start screaming about how excited they are to see missionaries. It doesn't really help Mormons look normal to the Germans haha but I know they do with good intent. I can spot out an American like no ones business haha. The other Elders were Elders Evans, Smith, and Bakewell. We all serve in the Rosenheim Ward and live in a four man together except Elder Evans is in Heilbronn now. PS my package got here thanks so much!I cant wait to hear where Stefan is going. He is pretty excited I think. My Comp, Elder Kastendieck, is pretty cool. He only has about 4.5 months left on his mission. He is a fitness nut. We run Every morning so I have lost even more weight. I am less than I weighed my Sophomore year of High school. haha. I was about 175 LBS this week and to put that into perspective I was 193 the morning I left for England. I thought i was going to put on a ton of weight here but I was wrong haha. We eat really healthy at home and then we eat all the traditional German food at members houses and that the only time that we eat bad so it works out. Kacey Nice job on your tests! Jake sorry about your nose I know how that feels haha. I will pray for your friend. TJ bowling looked way fun! Thanks for your thoughts on gratitude. 

Last Monday We had interviews with president and he asked me if I would want to stay in Rosenheim for one more and I said ,,ja of course I love it here'' and he was just like ,,ok we'll see what happens'' haha so I have no idea if I am getting transfered or not. 

Last Tuesday had a Besuchsabend- so like a visiting evening? we went by in splits with the Bischofschaft and the elders quroum president and visited less actives in our ward. We went to Familie S. and taught a lesson about the family. The are both RMs and have 2 kids but they aren't married... Weird situation in my opinion. But we talked with Br. S. and he said that the ultimate goal was to get married so hopefully we will see some good progress there. We are going to try and meet with them this week.

Wednesday we had a lesson with Mo. and we talked about the organization of the church. We talked about prophets, apostles, 70's and everything else with scriptures to back up everything and she asked tough questions like usual. I didn't understand what she was asking most of the time so I was absolutely no help at all haha and Elder Kastendieck's brain was fried after the lesson haha. She came to church this Sunday so that was awesome. She has a lot of issues with the apostasy and why God would leave his church without leadership. If you have anything that can help me with that let me know.

Thursday we went to Tegernsee to visit M. and had a great lesson about scripture study with him. He said that it has been going bad with his scripture study and he wants it to be better. He also said that he wants to be active again it was a sick lesson. He than fed us and told us stories about his mission for about an hour. I think it is really good when we go over there because it reminds him of when he was a missionary and when he was taught by the missionaries. He is awesome. He also came to church this last Sunday!

Friday we had a member appointment with Schwester B. and I had the spiritual thought. I should her a picture of our family and then one of my senior pictures. (the one when I am by the Horses sitting on the fence). I explained about building the fence and how I needed my Dads help and instruction to build it and make it happen. Then we tied it in to how we need our Heavenly Father's help and guidance daily. It was a good spiritual thought.

Saturday we had a great day planned out but everything fell through so we contacted and did vorbei's.

Sunday I Had the gospel principles class and I felt like I was back in the MTC because I was struggling to get thru. My German was awful haha. But M. and Mo. both came so it was also a great Sunday.

Love y'all and can't wait to talk to ya around Christmas!

-Elder Carr

PS I cant believe Tyler and Shannon and the Grandparents are moving Up! Are they in our Ward?  

Nov. 17, 2014

Sounds like stake conference was awesome! We also had Pfahl Konferenz on Sunday and it was way cool. Jake your wrestling pics look great! Kacey sorry that who actually were sick. That is so cool for Stefan! I can't wait to hear where he is going but let him tell me haha. 

Last Monday we went out to Oberaudorf which is right near the border to Austria and we climbed a tiny mountain called Hoch Eck but we were able to have some amazing views at the top. I will send pictures.

We had a pretty cool week. We went finding in the city the other day and there were two dudes throwing an american football around in a park. Elder Kastendieck and I went up to the and started talking and I was throwing the ball to the other guy while Elder Kastendieck was talking to him about the gospel it was way Awesome! We got his number and are planning on contacting  him this week. Looks like football was good for something after all Mom haha. I also got to teach them the real way to throw it too because it was so painful to watch them throw it the way they were.

We taught G. and B. this week and we had a pretty good lesson. Right now we are working on the restoration with them and it is a slow process because they don't really care for the bible and they aren't really giving the BOM a chance but what can we do. So hopefully we will see some great progress there.

We went and taught E. last week and I think we are going to take a break with him. We walked in and he was drinking and he was trying to hide the bottle from me and he just isn't keeping commitments. He has had a really rough life and it feels bad to drop someone when they are already out flat but I think that is what he needs right now. So we are going to have a lesson with him next week and just lay it all on the table and let him know why we are there and that we are teachers but he won't learn until he does these things for himself.

We Taught D. and we taught the Plan of Salvation and he really liked it I really hope he finds a job so he will stay in Rosenheim because I know that eventually he will want to be baptized. But if he goes back to Milan than I think most if not all contact with the church will be gone.

Ich habe euch Lieb!

-Elder Carr

Nov. 9, 2014

Dear family-

Dont worry about the letter last week mom I had to come back to the church later and then I printed it off so I still got it last P day.
 This week was pretty slow again but not as slow as last week. We went and visited M. a less active and we went in there BOLD AS FLIP! We read president Uchtdorf's Talk ''Kommen Sie zu Uns'' and when I started reading it I realized how bold that actually was. We basically called him out on why he hasn't been in church and I could feel that we had entered a land mine but I listened to the spirit and basically showed him how much we love him and need him in the ward and it turned into a great lesson, but it was super scary for about 10 minutes.

 We also taught Mo. this week and I think that she is going to get Baptized some day but I think it is going to take a lot of time. Just pray for her that she will keep making progress. We saw D. in church and he told us that if he cant find a job in two weeks that he is moving back to Italy and I think if that happens we wont pursue the church on his own. Pray for D. that he will find a job because he truly has the most potential of all our investigators and I would hate to lose him and have him never find missionaries again. Just keep those two in your prayers. That's all that really happened this week. This coming week should be packed though. We have at least on appointment for everyday this week and we don't plan on slowing down so it should be a great week. I am really excited to not be street contacting all day everyday and to actually get to teach... in a building... were its not FREEZING haha. Sorry I don't have very much more to tell ya but that is really all that happened. I love you guys a ton.

-Elder Carr

Nov. 3, 2014

Dear Family

 I don't think I received an Email from you this week. I hope everything is ok and I look forward to hearing from you next week.

So this week was the slowest week as far as lessons that I have ever had. we taught one lesson at church but that was it. There was some cool things that happened this week like I got a new companion. Elder Kastendieck is from Edmonton Alberta and only has 4 transfers left on his mission. He played basketball and rugby before his mission but he still loves hockey like a classic Canadian haha. 

It was cool getting a new companion but it has been so rough for me taking over the area because when I couldn't get any appointments going I took it on myself and felt like it was my fault personally even though I know that it wasn't my fault or anything. I was able to set up one appointment with G and B but that went pretty bad. The first thing she said to us was '' I have been reading that book you gave me and I am already half way through''. I got way excited about that and then she said '' I don't want to talk about that book with you guys cuz I like you to much and it isn't true'' so that really Stunk. It felt awful. Then they fed us Abendbrot and we planned on talking more about the Book of Mormon but right before we were going to give our lesson the grandma who was visiting, flipped out and was yelling at the whole family so we thought it was about time for us to go. Now we have a problem on our hands because we tried so hard to get her reading in the Book of Mormon and she is but she isn't giving it a chance. So I don't know really what to do.

On a happier note we had 2 investigators in church yesterday. It was great but I get so stressed out when investigators are there. I was basically the most stressed I have ever been in my life this week. But its ok because we did way better at setting appointment for this week so at least I don't really have to worry about who we are going to teach. Any way Danny came to church and that was good but we couldn't set up an appointment with the family because the Dad is working in Ingolstadt all week but at least Danny and his mom came. The 2nd investigator that came was Dennis I think I told you about him last week. He is from Italy and doesn't speak German but he speaks English! He said that he has been reading in the Book of Mormon we are meeting with him on Wednesday and he said that he will come back to church again next week!

I love you guys so much. Please pray for me because taking over the area is so hard and I don't know if I can really do it. Love ya a ton.

-Elder Carr  

Oct 27, 2014

Dear Family:

So we had another crazy cool week so I will do that cute little day by day thing haha:

Montag: we had another pretty chill p-day. It has gotten really cold here and many parts of our area already has snow so our outside p day activities are limited and Rosenheim is to small to have any cool museums so we basically chilled until we had to work. We then went and taught a lesson to Engelbert and he hasn't showed any progress the whole time I have been here but we decided to talk about Der Plan der Erlösung with him and he really loved it and believed on it immediately.  We then committed him to quit smoking and drinking and he agreed because he doesnt want to die haha thats basically his motivation for it but it is a great step. When we got home we did Bible prophecies which is something you do right before transfer calls. You pick a random old testament scripture and your comp translates it into what is going to happen to you in the next transfer haha. Its pretty fun.

Dienstag: TRANSFER CALLS: I GET TO STAY IN ROSENHEIM!!!!!! I am so happy about that. Elder Evans is leaving though. I am getting Elder Kastendieck as my ''Greenie Buster''. I heard he is really cool. He just finnished training one of my good friends from the MTC. He is from Canada. I will tell you more about him next week after I actually meet him haha.

Mittwoch: We got a new investigator!!!!!! his name is Dennis. He is from Milan, Italy and is living with some members right now. He has a lot of interest. He spent a year in a seminary thinking that he wanted to be a priest but he changed his mind and is now looking for a job in Germany.

Donnerstag: WE met with Dennis and Emily( Emily is a member. Dennis is living with her family.) We had breakfast and taught about the restoration and he took a BOM it was great! We also taught a less active lesson but I dont remember it very well... I broke into a fever while we were there.

Freitag: I had a tausch and I was with an Elder that likes to waste a lot of time. He is all play and no work. I was junior companion because he is out for a year already but his German is worse than mine because he doesnt use it very often and probably never does sprach studium. Anyway i took him to go teach Monika and he didnt even try to teach her in german. He went straight away to english as fast as he could and that made me angry so the spirit was nowhere to be found. He brought a lot of space doctrine into the conversation and with my half decent Deutsch, I had to try and fix everything. Ps she didnt come to church ths week and i think i know why haha. We were making such progress with her and i feel like after that one lesson we took a couple steps backwards. I made a pretty funny greeny mistake in there too. I told her that God has a body of flesh and legs. I corrected myself immediately but still felt like an idiot haha. Well, Was kann Ich machen?

Samstag: I took the Elder I was on tausch with and we went to Engelberts again and had a great lesson except I had to do all the talking. I felt like I was training except for the fact that this missionary has been out for a year. A frustrating tausch to say the least. Its amazing I didnt kill this guy actually haha. We tausched back in Munich and then went to a baptism that the sisters had. It was awesome. Ich will jemand zu taufen! so bad! I then got sick and slept the rest of the day.

So that last bit sounded really negative and down but I feel happy I promise. I saw some really cool things this week and tested my abilities to their limits and I am grateful for that.

I love you guys!

-Elder Carr

My second District

I'm going to miss Elder Evans

Oct. 20, 2014

Dear family-

First off tell Kelsie I say Hello. That is so nuts that she is home! I saw Jake's (Jake Barnes) interception! That was AWESOME! Kacey nice job on your Test! and tell coach Schultz hi for me. Jake nice mile time. Tj way to be a frisbee machine! Mom keep working hard at school! Pop tell Sarah congrats for me.

 

MAN WHAT A WEEK! It was absolutely great! 

Monday: We didn't really do anything special for P-day but Elder Evans and I want and visited a Weniger Aktive named Geraldo. He is 20 and from the Dominican Republic. We shared a spiritual thought with him and he has started reading in the BOM again!

Tuesday: We had distrikt meeting and it was about using time wisely. Yeah... we have some people in the distrikt struggling with that... so it was needed. We were planning on finishing weekly planning after distrikt meeting but Emily (another Weniger Aktive) called and asked if we could meet so we went and had a nice lesson with her.

Wednesday: I went to Landshut for a funeral. Our Stake President's 11 year old son died in a soccer game. He had a heart condition that they didn't know about and he died on the field. It was really sad but I am so impressed with my Stake President and his family. They invited the missionaries in our zone to go to the funeral and give comfort to non members who were there and teach them about  Der Plan Der Erlösung and president basically bore testimony about it for 20 minutes. I was really impressed because I don't know if I could have used an unexpected tragic event in family as a tool to bring others to the gospel. 

Thursday: We had another lesson with Geraldo and he said that he would come to church this last Sunday but he didn't... still mad about that one BUT I am trying to be patient. 

Freitag: BY FAR THE COOLEST DAY OF MY MISSION! so far.... We had a lesson with Monika about the Book of Mormon because she hasn't been reading so we read with her. She loved it. She said that she hasn't had time to read because she is preparing for a test. Elder Evans and I shared experiences we had that when we read our scriptures first everything was way simpler. The spirit was so strong in there I thought the room was about to burst into flames! We committed her to read for 10 minutes a day and she said she would. Later She texted and said thank you for the lesson and reassured us that she was going to keep her promise to read! Way cool.

Saturday:Nothin' happened we tried to do some vorbei's but no one was home.

Sunday: MONIKA CAME TO CHURCH. It was the first time in my whole mission that an investigator actually came! Not only did she come but she stayed for all 3 hours! She met a ton of members and hit it off really well with them. We set up another appointment with her for Thursday and I will be on tausch which means Elder Evans isn't going to be there for this one. I am pretty nervous about that because I can understand German really well but it feels like the cat has my tongue when i try to speak and she has a lot of in depth questions so i hope i will be able to answer them. After church we went to the Berka's for an eating appointment and i saw a freakin wild hedgehog! Way sweet.

Well Transfers are coming up again and I know that i am getting a new companion next week because Elder Evans has been in Rosenheim for 7.5 months. I hope i am ready to take over the area. I am also scared to get a new companion because Elder Evans has been a great trainer and i feel like we work really hard and well together. I will be interesting for sure.

Love Ya!

-Elder Carr         

Oct. 12, 2014

Hallo Meine Familie!

DAD Veil Glück zum Gebertstag!  (Happy Birthday Dad!)

So we had the best week EVER this week! Elder Evans and I taught the more lessons this week than we did any other week. We also had my first Zone Conference this week and it was amazing! Präsident Kohler is sooo cool. I will just put it this way... THE MAN TRAINED MISSION PRESIDENTS BEFORE HE BECAME ONE! I love the Kohlers so much. The other night we were teaching Danny and his sister Angelina and it was so great! Danny showed some real interest for the first time. He is 14 and is really excited to read in the Book of Mormon. We talked with Angelina and she said that she wants to be Baptized!!!!!!!!! I can't wait to have another lesson with them again. Their whole Family is making so much progress. This last Thursday and freitag we had a tausch and I was in Rosenheim again. BUT the city decide to have a giant party it was weird but I saw a REAL tango go down. Like from real Spanish people.

After the tausch Elder Evans and I stayed in Munich because they had a Soccer night every Saturday that missionaries can bring investigators to. We brought Manuel Cruz with us. He is one of our less actives and then he came to church for the first time in 8 months the next day it was awesome. Anyway while we were playing two huge black guys who played for team Nigeria in FIFA showed up. They were so fast. My little white legs couldn't catch them but I did get close a couple of times haha. We also taught Gaby and Berndhardt and they are going to start reading in the Book of Mormon. We are making some huge progress in Rosenheim and I am excited to see this place explode! 

Have a great week!

-Elder Carr

sorry it was kind of short this week

The hardest contact of the week

Taking the gospel to every creature

I have no idea what I'm standing next to?

Oct 6, 2014

Hey family:

I watched conference in the Rosenheim Gemeindehaus

So- first things first.  My companion's uncle said the opening prayer in the Sunday afternoon session of General Conference. I also saw Tanner Hardy singing in the choir.

This Last week was an austausch week so I was barely with elder evans haha. Both exchanges were in Rosenheim soooo I was in charge of the whole area. My first tausch was with Elder Spencer (my zone leader). We went and taught a lesson to Engelburt. We read the Book of Mormon with him because he hasn't picked up his copy in about a month. He has been on holiday. After we read the chapter he gave some really cool incites about how the Book of Mormon could be true. He used logic to describe why it was true not really testimony but i will take any progress over no progress. After that Elder Spencer and I went on a finding hour. We found this cool guy named Yasar. He is a Muslim from Turkey and he was walking the same direction as us so we walked him home. He took a Book of Mormon from us and we are going to meet with him tomorrow. IT WAS GREAT!

On Thursday a had a Tausch with Elder Bakewell. That means it was two greenies, who barely know the language all day together BUT we saw some really cool things happen. We went on a finding hour of our own and I was way nervous. I will just put it this way, I was technically the more ''experienced'' missionary so that meant when we contacted and I got stuck I could always rely on my companion to have my back. We started talking to people and no one wanted to listen. Then we talked to this one lady in a park and she stopped and it caught me so off guard. I thought it was going to be like all the other people; Kein Interesse, Keine Zeit, Ich bin Katholisch ETC. but she stopped and talked and words and sentences just seemed to flow out of my mouth. IT WAS ACTUALLY GOOD GRAMMAR TOO! Long story short I was able to give her a Book of Mormon and have a real conversation with her auf Deutsch. THE LORD PROCLAIMS HIS GOSPEL THROUGH THE WEAK. That's why I think I am in Germany- because I can speak about the gospel beautifully in English with all kinds of extra fluff but in German my speech is weak and very to the point. The only thing I can really do is bear my testimony, a very simple, easy testimony BUT that is all that the spirit needs in order to touch someones heart. So I had a very cool week this week.

I love you all. Good luck with driving, school, running, have fun at Battle of the Bell. Tell Jake Barnes I will beat em up if he loses it! haha

love

-Elder Carr

September 29, 2014


Dear Family:

We had a really interesting week this week.

Montag (Monday): It was P-day but we had a lesson with a less active member in Tegernsee which is 2 hours away by train. So we emailed and basically went straight there. We had about an hour before our lesson was going to start so we hiked some of the hills. IT WAS AWESOME! Tegernsee is the most expensive/ prettiest places in my area so I didnt mind our extra hour to hike around haha. We then went to Bruder Cruz to teach a lesson. He is from Chile but married a German woman. He served a mission in Chile and loves the missionaries but doesn't come to church because he feels he is judged by a lot of the members. But he loves us. So we chilled with him shared a little spiritual thought and than he asked if we wanted to make Impanatas. They were so good! I felt like I was in Stevie's Mission except for the fact that we were speaking German and in a super expensive apartment that I probably will never be able to afford.

Dienstag (Tuesday): We walked past Oktoberfest München ( Munich puts on the biggest thing for Oktoberfest in all of the world) on our way to distrikt meeting and some crazy Mormon lady from Salt Lake came over to us an wanted to take a picture. It was super weird. I also can spot an American from Europeans so easily now. Americans are SO LOUD. It a painfully truthful stereotype we have haha.

Mittwoch (Wednesday): We passed out a ton of flyers for our Gemeinde Fest (ward party)it wasn't anything that special.

Donnerstag (Thursday): Elder Evans and I had to go to München to pick up pamphlets and things for our booth at the ward party and I saw Elder Hunter! He was my best bud from the MTC. He is working in the office now because he and his trainer both have hernias haha. (He is the on that drew the virdonken deer in the MTC)

Freitag (Friday): We had two eating appointments and it was awful. In Germany you eat the food until its gone. They don't believe in left overs and they always make a bunch of food. I felt awful.

Samstag (Saturday): We had the Gemeinde Fest. No one that the missionaries invited from the street or mailboxing came so that was lame. But, we had a lot of members bring friends which was way cool. Schwester Unterhare is from Brasil and she brought a friend who is from Mexico and Elder Smith spoke to her in Spanish. It was way cool. He took 6 years in school so he is pretty good. We also had Gaby and Bernhardt there with their boys and that was awesome. Their kids played with kids from the ward and Gaby hit it off great with a lot of the members in the ward. Even though we didn't really get any new investigators from it, it was awesome to help progress some of the ones we already had.

Sonntag (Sunday): We made this huge disgusting sandwich for dinner because we had a ton of food we needed to use before we buy more today. It was an egg, chicken, BBQ sauce sandwich. The funny thing was it didn't taste that bad haha. But it looked awful.

I love you a bunch. Have a great week.

-Elder Carr

Ps I GOT MY PACKAGE! I ate all the jerky sticks in two days haha. I Also love my yo yo and ninja turtle pens. I literally ran out of pens this week and now I have even cooler ones haha. Thank so much!

Elder Carr

The nasty but kinda good sandwich

September 22, 2-14

Dear family:

So I don't even know where to start with this week. It was funny, weird, and spiritual. So we had some really cool lessons this week. We went to go visit a less active member name Bruder de Sousa and he actually has a really strong testimony. He reads and prays every day. We started teaching him, and his kids who aren't members came and listened in, and he wants us to continue teaching his children COOL! Their mom doesnt believe in God, and that makes it hard for the kids because they are caught between a mom that doesn't have any faith and a Mormon father that does everything except come to church soooo our work is cut out for us. Bruder de Sousa said I look like Bill Clinton sooooo I got smashed at his house too. It was a weird lesson.

 Next, we taught Danny. He is the son of some less actives we meet with and are making a ton of progress. Danny is punk 17 year old kid but he came to church the other day.  He wants a Book of Mormon and he loves us. It was way cool. We also taught Monika and she is going to read in the Book of Mormon and pray to find out if it is true. The work is getting pretty exciting here!

Here comes the weird part. We met with some investigators named Gaby and Bernhardt( they have the son with Epilepsy) and we invited them to the ward party on saturday. They are going to come and thats great. Wealso mvisited with them for a while and things are going really good. WEIRD PART! She told Elder Evans that I was hot and would totally date me up if she was younger... EW! She is like 50, married, and also 50! Yup I felt way weirded out after that. Now I feel really awkward everytime I go over there haha.

We had the biggest lightning storm I have ever seen the other day. It came out of nowhere. We literally were running through a wall of water.

We had a finding day on Saturday and my German improved so much because of it. I talked to at least 500 people easy. I even had a conversation with one of Rosenheim's residential crazy men. He is going to come to the ward party now... NICE ONE ELDER CARR BRING THE CRAZY DUDE TO A PLACE WITH LOTS OF KIDS! I felt dumb but I didn't know he was crazy until after haha. Also, on our way to email our families for the week, there was a man and his wife from China who asked us for directions to a bank. We told him where to go and he gave us these good luck charms. He said  ''they are from China!'' really excitedly and I was just like '' Yeah so is everything else on my body...'' haha. I didnt say that but I thought it.

I hope you all have a great week. Mom you are going to do great on your test. I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!!! Jake good luck with cross country. TJ I love you too! Kacey have a good week at school. Dad have a great time at work. 

I LOVE YOU!

-Elder Carr

M with Elder Bakewell- After our "wall of water" experience

The Chinese good luck charm

September 15, 2014

Dear Family:

Kacey tell Coach Schultz i say Hi back! 

That service project you guys did sounds awesome.

1 Spiritual experience: Elder Stilger went home this last week and before he left I challenged him to give a BOM away on his way to the train station and he found a super cool investigator. He was really grateful I told him to do that. 

2 I read all of Mormon today so I felt really sad. I am almost finished with the BOM in English but I am also studying in German and I am only on chapter 13 of first Nephi.

3 The funniest thing that happened was a veganfest. so all the weirdos in Bayern were in Rosenheim.

4 I got a hair cut

So last  Thursday we started the new transfer. I will be finishing my training with Elder Evans so I am excited about that. Elder Stilger went home his 2 years came and went. Elder smith is TRAINING! so we have two Greenies in our apartment. The new Elder is Elder Bakewell he is from England and it will be cool because I get to go on a tausch with him and we both are bad at German haha but that is where miracles happen. It was also Elder Evans' birthday on Thursday and we had fireworks going off at Herbstfest. Thursday was great!

We didn't have very many lessons this last week and most of them fell out so that kind of hurt. We did teach one less active and her granddaughter is going to be taking the lessons from Elders Smith and Bakewell. We really just want to be teaching so we loaded this next week with lessons all over our area. We are going to kill it this week.

We went contacting on Saturday and in Alte Stadt.   We saw these huge horses pulling this wagon that was full of beer barrels. there was this band playing and guys cracking their whips to the beat of the drum.  It was really cool.

I gave my first talk on Sunday. It was about moral purity... in German so I hope I didn't ruin the principle of the law of chastity over the pulpit haha. I was throwing around words I didn't fully know the meaning of but I think it went ok. I am really starting to love the German language. I can communicate decently now and my accent sounds German so I really like reading out loud to show off haha. I still have a long way to go until I am even proficient but I really enjoy speaking now.

Love Elder Carr  

My district

Elder Steigler and Me

The band- and the cool whip guy below

September 7, 2014

Dear Family

 My companion is Elder Evans he is from south Jordan Utah I think I told you that when I first got to Germany. The Rosenheim ward is smaller than any ward I have ever seen in the states, but it is a typical small city ward for Europe. We have about 40 people on any given Sunday so the missionaries make up about 10 percent of the ward haha. There are bigger wards in like München (Munich), Salzburg, and Wein (Vienna) but we have some really small branches in the mission too. 

I have had two interviews with Präsident Kohler. He is awesome! Before he was a mission president he trained mission presidents, so he knows what he is doing. I have eaten so much good food I dont even know where to start. I have eaten a lot of Bayrisch (Bavarian) food like Wurst and potato salads. They eat a whole lot of sausage here. I also LOVE Döners. They are Turkisch but they are on every street corner. I honestly haven't eaten anything bad so I am living the food mission dream. 

The best thing I have eaten was at a member appointment this week. I was on Tausch with Elder Vitel (he is not my companion he is my zone leader and he is from Romania) and we went to Familie Madei. They are converts to the church but have have been members for forever. They are both in their 90s. She made us 60 Zwetschgen Knudl and they were sooooo good but sooooo bad for you. They are plum dumplings wrapped in bread and then fried. You then drown them in butter and dump suger all over it. They were soooo good. 

Saturday we had a really interesting experience. So Rosenheim has a little Oktoberfest called Herbstfest. Some guy went to Herbstfest and had a little too much to drink and ended up at our doorstep and past out. Its ok though the ambulance came and picked up. He was Smashed.

Today we went to Herbstfest and it is basically a giant fair like we have in the states but it gave me an excuse to eat sausage and wear Lederhosen so I was ok with it haha.

So we had a really numbers this week but we did teach a less active from Angola named Bruder Dos Santos and we shared with him why it was so important to read in the scriptures, go to church and pray. He told us that he wanted to start becoming active again. He is leaving for Angola at the end of the month but he asked us to make sure that the missionaries would have his contact information because he wants his wife and daughters to hear the gospel. So we are going to make some Angola Missionary's day when we give them Bruder Dos Santos' info because they will get a great progressing less active and some golden investigators.

Ich hab Sie lieb

-Elder Carr

Me and Elder Evans in traditional Lederhosen at Herbsfest