Jan 25, 2015


Dear Family:


Things are going OK. This would be a really rough area if it was ugly, but es geht. Yeah this week we hit the streets and when I say that I really mean it. If you look through my planner all it would say is Studies and then ''Kontaktieren'', ''dooring'' and ''Go by on...''. So I am pretty tired today haha.On wednesday we went to Villach which is the next city over and it is even deeper in the Alps. It was way pretty. we had some vorbeis to do there and we were able to get a less active lesson.

We rang this less actives door bell and and he buzzed us into his apartment building. We found his door and when he opened it he was just in his underwear... like speedo style. He also is a fairly large man so that was great :P. He told us to come back in an hour and we did and had a good chat with him. We where able to set up another appointment with him for this week.

Ok so I guess this area isn't totally empty. When have about 20 un-contacted potentials in our phone so we started chipping away at that and set up an appointment with this one dude but he was a no show. We still have about 8 people we can call and a couple more that we can go by on so hopefully something will get started up.

I'm finally getting comfortable in my German now. I feel like my personality is started to come through a little bit. ITS ABOUT TIME! But I still need a lot of work til I am fluent, but  a year from now I think that I will be able to say that I am fluent in German not just proficient. That will be a cool day.

Love you guys have a good week.

Tschüß 

Jan. 18, 2015


Dear Family:

What a week!  I am sooooo tired . I forgot my planner so I don't know how long this email will be haha. So first off.  My Comp is Elder Rodgers and he is from Canada.  He likes the mountains and snowboarding.  So far the majority of my companions in the field are Canadian haha. That is way funny because there are almost 300 missionaries in the mission and only 3 are from Canada. I only need one more and then I would have served with all the Canadians in the mission. Austria is way cool. The dialect is tough for me right now but that is pretty normal. I will be fine in about a week. The Austrians are way nicer than the Germans but they don't want to listen to us stil.. I haven't been able to see the mountains yet because it is rain, rain, rain but once that clears up than it will be fine and beautiful and everything. The area is struggling right now. We only have on investigator who wont get baptized in this life time. We have done so much finding in the couple of days that I have been here. Its weird because we had so much going on in Rosenheim but here its like opening an area but I have 6 months (hopefully) to make something happen here and I am excited about that.

I only have one story from this week. Yesterday we were going by on some potentials and former investigators and kontakting. We were getting stuffed. We went by on this one guy and he leaned out of his window and he told us that he didnt have anymore interest but then he invited us up for tee and cake. He was from Bosnia but that is the classic attitude of Austria. They don't want to talk about religion but they will feed you haha. Definitely different than Germany haha. When people don't have interest there they usually give you cuss words and rude comments not cake haha. 

Love you guys hopefully next week I will be able to tell you about a sick new investigator we found.

Bis dann

Elder Carr

Jan. 12, 2015

I AM GETTING TRANSFERED TO.... KLAGENFURT, AUSTRIA!!!! It is one of the most beautiful areas an American can go in our mission. I am soo pumped. I wanted to go here since the first day of the mission but I didn't think that I would ever make it there haha. My area is in the heart of the Alps and it borders Slovenia and Italy. Pretty AWESOME! Elder Bakewell is Going to Richterswill, Switzerland and Elder Smith is going to Esslingen, Germany. Elder Kastendieck is staying and is going to be training. 

We had a ''Less Active week'' this week. Almost all of our lessons were with less actives.

On Monday we went and visited Bruder D. he is from Brazil and he made that cheese bread that you can eat at Tucanos. It was way good.

Tuesday We had zone training meeting and we got some new mission rules. We have to speak German from 9-9. So my brain has already started to rewire itself. At the end of the day, I can't speak English. It gets broken haha. I am pretty excited about this rule though because it hasn't even been a whole week and my German has improved so much its unreal. I am kind of mad that I wasnt doing this before.

Thursday we went to M.'s house and we shared a spiritual thought about goals and setting some spiritual goals. His wife just moved into her new house so Elder Kastendieck will be able to work with her next transfer too. We are going there tonight to have Familienabend. It should be good.

Friday we had an appointment with the S.'s. They are less actives in our ward and we shared a thought about God being our Heavenly Father. They have some major testimony problems but we hit it off pretty well. 

Saturday was a huge planning day because we found out that Rosenheim 2 is getting shut down so Elder Kastendieck had to learn their area. That was also the day I Found out that I was getting transfers. 

Love you guys

- Elder Carr

I'm going to miss Elder K.

Jan. 5, 2015

Hey Familie. That is so funny that Taylor was in the new chursh youth video. I totally missed her but I watched like 3 times over until I found her haha. I haven't been transferred yet. Transfer calls are on Saturday and it could turnout that I stay in Rosenheim for a 5th transfer we will see. I will be able to tell you whats going down next week. So winter left as quick as it came haha. We got probably 2 feet of snow in 5 days and now there is only little bits of patches. It snowed hard for 5 days straight and then the sun melted it all away last week. 

Last Monday we didn't have any appointments set up after our p-day so we went contacting in the snow for 3 hours. We got stuffed the whole time but that's fine. We also went by on a few potentials and old investigators but nobody was home. Elder Kastendieck and I looked like Yetis when we were done haha. It was pretty cool.

Tuesday we had distrikt meeting and then we went contacting and went by on people again. No one was home. (Kind of the story of our lives this week)

Wednesday we went to the B.'s house and ate Raclette again it was good. We had to be home at 10 and then go to bed at 10.30 like normal but the thing about new years in Germany is they don't have fire work resrtictions so I couldn't sleep all night. I sounded like WWII was right outside our apartment. 

Thursday we went to our bischoff's house for new years and played games with his kids. It was fun.

Friday we went to Familie A.. They are less actives in our ward. We talked about the Iron rod and that we may need to let go of somethings in order to hang on to it. It was a really good lesson. It was the first time that I have ever really felt like a companion and I taught in unity. Way cool.

Samstag we had an appointment with E. but he didn't show up so we are probably going to drop him. pretty sad. After that we went to Keifersfelden and taught Schwester M.. ,

Sunday we had president Kohler just show up. That kind of freaked me out. But it was ok. I think Rosenheim is getting moved to a 2 man area soon and he came to see if our ward really needed 4 missionaries... It doesn't. It would be a busy 2 man area but that's how it is supposed be.

we have lost contact with M. this week. We haven't been able to get a hold of her. Keep that in your prayers.

Love ya

-Elder Carr  

Dec. 28, 2014

'Im glad everyone had an awesome Christmas. Ok I will just get into the week

So on Tuesday we had a lesson with M. and it was amazing! We taught her that she needs to start developing a testimony and finding answers for herself. We asked her what she thought about the Book of Mormon so far and she said that she thinks its true and we asked her if she believed Joseph Smith was a prophet and she said yes. Elder Kastendieck than asked her what the next step would be when she finds out that the Book of Mormon is true. We all sat there for a while and we told her that the next step would be baptism and she said ''Ya I know''. BOOM!! My brain exploded when she said that. Hopefully we will set a date this week.

Christmas was great on the 24th we ate Raclette and played games with Familie D. On the 25th we went to the Lübkes and ate rabbit and skyped you guys. On the 26th we went to the J.'s and ate goose. We didn't have a white Christmas but the day after it snowed and didn't stop until yesterday so now we have snow everywhere and it is absolutely freezing now haha.

Sunday was awesome. M. didn't come to church and I was a little bit disappointed about that at first and by the end of the meeting I was glad she didn't come... We have a member in our ward who had a problem with the Book of Mormon for years but he still came to church and has been active. well. He gave a talk on Sunday and it was on a topic of his choice so he talked about horses. He literally read every scripture in the Book of Mormon that had horses in it and then he read a scripture that said that all the Horses would be killed in the last days of the Nephites and that's why there wasn't any horses left when Columbus found America and the he said Amen and sat down. WEIRDEST TALK EVER haha. That was his problem all those years? HORSES? REALLY? I am just happy he finally found an answer. haha

Love you all and have a great new year

-Elder Carr

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