March 16, 2015

Dear family:

So this week was pretty cool. Last p day we went and climbed Dobratsch. It is a mountain that is basically right on the border of Italy. the veiw was amazing we also could see a good amount of slovenia too. When I looked to the left I saw the Slovenian alps, when I looked to the right I saw the Italien Alps and I coulds see the Austrian Alps behind me. BEST PDAY EVER!

On Tuesday we had zone training and thats when I took that picture with the D's. It was a really cool Zone training the best one I have ever been too so  far. My zone leaders are the best here in the Salzburg zone. 

We met with Herr T. and we don't really know what to do with him because he makes it hard for us to teach him and we interpret that as no interest but then he will show interest as we are walking out the dorr like the other day we left a Book of Mormon at his house ''on accident'' haha just to see what would happen and at the end of our meeting he said that we left the book and then he asked us if he could keep it soooooo... we keep going forward and I dont know- we will see what happens.

We had stake conference on Saturday and Sunday and the new Berlin mission president was there and he is way into geneology and told us that it would help us in our missionary work and I have tried it before and it is only ok... for me at least I feel way more comfortable just talking about the Book of Mormon on the street because that way people know exactly what I want right at the beginning but it is a good way to connect to people. It looks like Julia and all the Berlin missionaries will be doing a lot of Geneology work when he takes over haha.

Hope you all have a great week Love ya

-Elder Carr

March 8, 2015

  Dear family-

This week we started a sport abend for the ward and our investigators. We played floor hockey in the church and it was really fun but only our ward mission leader and 1 investigator from the other elders showed up haha. 

We did some more contacting this week no investigators just some great/ wierd/ awkward memories were made. I will give an example. We were klingeln doors ( so doing that whole buzzer deal.) that is basically 100% of the ''knocking that we do'' most of the time we never see anyone's face.haha. Anyway we buzzed in and the door opened (that means someone just wants to talk to us face to face or they think we are the Post man) so we find the apartment that we had klingeled and this dude answers the door and Elder Rodgers gos into the spiel '' hallo we are missionaries.... and so on and so forth'' and the whole time the  I notice something weird about the dude and then I realized it. He was wearing a skirt and had his nails painted. He was a lady boy. Oh it was so bad. I felt so icky inside we just skipped the rest of the apartment and doored the one across the street. 

Pray that we will find someone soon. The other elders just found a great  guy from Ukraine who is legal and studýing music and really wants to know more so I know its possible for it to happen.

Love you guys

-Elder Carr

March 2, 2015

Sounds like it was a pretty cool week this week. Abbey Anderson sent me a picture of the score board of the BYU game haha. Its funny because she goes to Gonzaga and saw it in person haha. 

This week I only have two things to talk about.

So on Fridays we usually teach a German class in the church and usually an investigator shows up and we help him with his German any way. The Sunday before Friday we had a bunch of Romanians come into the church and asked Bishop for money. (sidenote on Romanians: Its actually pretty sad. They are the panhandlers of Europe. They leave Romania because people over there tell them that everything is so great in western Europe and that they will basically be handed a job. So they sell everything and get on a train to Germany or Austria or Italy or France etc. and than they find themselves with absolutely nothing.) anyway, Bishop invited them to German class on Friday and then we were in the church on Friday and German class was canceled because the investigator that comes got sick and all the sudden like 10 Romanians come in. We started teaching them German but it was really hard because we dont speak Romanian and they only speak Romanian. We eventually found out through Google translate that it was a huge misunderstanding and that they thought bishop was going to be there to give them money. The devestation in there faces sucked all happiness right out of you. We let them clean their dishes in the church kitchen though, and let the men shave in the bathroom and loaded them up with water bottles.

We also gave them Book of Mormons or Books of Mormon (take your pick) in Romanian allong with Pamphlets in Romanian. Some of them immediately started reading. I remember this one guy in particular he was reading in the Plan of Salvation pamphlet and I could tell that he was feeling the Spirit. He kept reading and his countance softened and he would look at the pamphlet then at me and then back again. It was cool that even though we couldn't help them with their physical desires or needs that we were able to feed their Spirits. Hopefully they make it back to Romania and find the Missionaries there. Because there was no way that we could talk to them.

On Saturday morning there was a funeral for a sister in our ward. She was a convert of about two years and I have only met her twice because she got really sick and I guess you already know the result of that. Anyway her sister was the closest one to her and she asked the bishop how much a funeral with our church was going to cost and he told her nothing and she broke down. Anyway the funeral was being held at the cemetary in a big catholic Cathedral thing but it was mormon style haha. There were huge crosses all over and a ton of Catholic looking pictures. I thought it was a weird and kind of creepy place but as talks about the plan of salvation echoed through the building I could feel that same familiar feeling. After the Trauerfeier (funeral service) we formed a huge line behind the casket, which was being pulled by four catholic priests and big creepy church bells started ringing. We got to the burial site and the priests lowered her into the grave and then bowed to her... Kind of weird. Then Br. Mauch dedicated the grave before the priests had a chance to leave. Br. Mauch is way cool haha. Anyway I started to feel the spirit again. BUT then came the most awkward moment of my mission. So it is tradition here ( I have no Idea about in the USA because I have never really attended a funeral) but the familiy threw flowers in and then dumped dirt in there did the little Catholic cross thingy and then some one else would do it. I found out that it is custom for everyone to do it. The missionaries included... I didnt even know the lady. PS we didnt have to do the Catholic cross thingy. But I did have to throw a flower in the grave and sprinkle a little bit of dirt on it and then stand there looking at it for a little while...  I felt so weird.

Love you guys

-Elder Carr

The hockey player is the McKinnlay's son inlaw. I found the Hockey rink that he used to play at in Villach. #smallworld

Feb. 22, 2015

I dont have much to say this week. We taught Herr T. on Saturday and we are counting him as a new investigator now (finally). We talked about basic beliefs and asked what he believed in and he said '' A power but what it is exactly, I dont know''. We then talked about the Plan of Salvation a little bit. That we have a father in Heaven who loves us. That we lived with him before we came to the earth, and that life doesnt end with death. He liked it. He then asked us about Joseph Smith and we told him that we could bring the Restoration video next time and he said that he wants to watch it.

He then asked us about church and who was allowed to come and I think I got a little over excited when I heard that and scared him off, but I haven't had an investigator in church for like 2 1/2 months actually I havent had a real lesson in like 2  months so You cant really blame me for getting a little bit excited about that.

We had our transfer calls this last week and I am staying in Klagenfurt with Elder Rodgers for another transfer! 

Hopefully I will do/ be better this next transfer. I love this ward that Im serving in. If i could have this ward my whole mission that would be great haha.

I love you guys a ton

-Elder Carr

 PS. Sorry mom- no pictures this week

Feb. 16, 2015

This week was a ton of travelling.

on Thursday we had our mission tour in Munich. (its like mission conference but our mission is too big so there is a mission tour in Zürich for the Switzerland missionaries and than one in Munich for the German and Austrian missionaries) But Munich is so far away from Klagenfurt that we had to leave a day early and we overnighted in Salzburg with the Zone leaders. Their apartment is SOOOOO nice I felt like I was in a hotel. The next day I got on a train and the first people I saw were the Didenhovers! haha that was pretty cool. I chatted with them for a little bit. At our mission tour we had Patrick Kearon of the 70. It was so cool to have him there. ( probably because i really miss english people/ Elder Bakewell right now haha). He told us a lot of things that we can do better in the mission and it wasn't anything really new. Be obedient, diligent, the harder you work the prettier your wife will be... you know the usual but it was done with such a loving manner. He is way cool. 

We weren't able to get all the way down to Klagenfurt that night so the office assigned us to stay in ROSENHEIM!!!!!!!!!!! It was really cool. I was working with Elder Kastendieck again even if it was for a few hours. All of us went to Manuels house for an appointment. It was so great to see him again and he is still making great steps to be 100% active again. It was cool to see how much he has progressed from the time that Elder Evans and I started helping him to now. It was really cool to see that even though I wasn't the best missionary that I was still able to impact the people in Rosenheim even if it was a little bit. 

Yesterday we met with Herr T. and we went into the appointment thinking that we were going to crack down and see if he really would want this and it was clear to see that the appointment wasn't going the way we wanted it too. we were there for 2 1/2 hours and he kind of took control of the situation and I thought that the appointment was a waste but the he got all quite and said that ever since we started meeting with him that he has felt a peace that he hasn't felt in a long time and than he asked Us if we would pray right there. MIRACLE! I was praying the whole time and was just like ''Heavenly Father, How are we suppose to gain control of this appointment'' and then he asked us to pray! way cool. I asked him if next time we could share with him about a plan that God has prepared for us. He said that that would be wonderful! Interest sparked! Now we just have to get him to start doing things to gain a testimony.

Love ya. Have a great week. It still freaks me out that I have a cousin younger than me getting hitched...

Tschüß

-Elder Carr

I forgot to tell you about Fasching. It is basically the German/ Austrian version of Mardi Gra. It is huge here but not as crazy.(thank goodness) Anyway Elder Rodgers and I had to blow up 500 balloons for the Fasching party for the primary haha.

Feb. 9, 2015
 Dear family:

 Last week we did a lot of contacting again we also accidentally doored a strip club.... I definitely won't make that mistake twice.

We went by on a lot of less actives this week and gave them invitations to our ward conference. We gave out like 5 million haha. Well one guy actually came and I have to admit I was actually really surprised he even volunteered to lead the music in sacrement meeting. That was way cool. Last Thursday we had interviews in Salzburg. That is like a 3 hour train ride from Klagenfurt, but it is also the most beautiful train ride in the world. Right thru the Alps! amazing! Anyway while we were in Salzburg I saw the House Mozart was born in and the house he lived in during his adult life! And that was just from the Bus ride. I also saw the Sound of Music mansion were the Von trap family lived in, in the movie. On Saturday we competed in an international soccer tournament. We got last haha. But our investigators we had there had a lot of fun and we were able to share the gospel with a lot of people there. The Klagenfurt missionaries compete in this tournament every year and the players told us that we were the best missionary team that has ever played. I believe it too because we only lost by one goal every game and we were playing against Europeans who live and breath futball. Not to much more happened this week:

 Love you guys!

Elder Carr

This how we knock doors--Alpine style

The VonTrapp Mansion- In the Sound of Music!

Feb. 2, 2015Ok 

Dear Family:

So first things first. I didn't mean for my email to sound negative last week. I am doing better than I have my whole mission. I promise. I'm not discouraged, depressed, or anything of that sort. I was just stating what my new area was like so you could get a feel for it. I actually am the exact opposite of all those things. I love the ward, my Comp and the other Elders that I live with. The work is long, tough and cold but its no different than in Rosenheim. 'Im doing all of the same type of things just with less investigators and more time to go finding but I am actually loving life right now. (except for the fact that the Seahawks lost to the Patriots... I hate Tom Brady)

Anyway...

On Tuesday Elder Rodgers and I went and Doored Emmersdorf. It is right outside of Klagenfurt but only rich people live in Emmersdorf haha. They had security cameras everywhere haha. the houses look like they are from Meet the Robinsons haha. Anyway we doored the whole Dorf and no one wanted us.

On Wednesday we went to Villach to visit our less active. He told us that he has never read the whole Book of Mormon so we read the Introduction with him and committed him to start reading with 1 Nephi. Hopefully he will do that. I LOVE LESS ACTIVE WORK!

On Thursday we went and doored another little Dorf outside of Klagenfurt. We were able to find one potential and he told us to come back another time so hopefully that will pan out. Lots of doors got slammed in our face but I love when that happens cuz my future wife gets that much prettier ( The harder I work the better looking my wife will be) haha.

On Friday It dumped snow. It was ridiculous but it was actually an answer to the prayer that I said the night before. I was praying and  I basically said that all of the ''Normal'' contacting approaches aren't working so I asked for something new. Than the morning it started snowing and by the end of studies there was about 5-6 inches of snow on the Ground and Elder Rodgers had the Idea to go and shovel peoples driveways and I love the Idea. We went to our Bishop's Neighbors' 

house and shoveled their driveway with them. They know the missionaries and met them one time but after we shoveled their driveway they told us that the would invite us in a couple of weeks for dinner. We will absolutely take advantage of that haha.

Saturday I was on exchange with Elder Bliss. He is a transfer younger than me so i guess I was the ''Experienced missionary'' haha JK. He is a great missionary. We went and contacted a referal from the Mesa AZ temple in Sagrad. Sagrad is like 20 houses and all the people there are LOADED. The guy was home and he said that he wanted a Book of Mormon so we taught that to him and he was excited to start reading. While Elder Bliss and I were working, Elder Rodgers and Elder Miller said that they found a golden 20 yr old dude so I am really excited to start teaching him.

Love Ya a ton.

- Elder Carr

Ps I totally saw Slovenia on saturday. We had to go all the way down to the border haha.