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