Long week

This week was really really long. But Im not going to say it was a bad week because it was pretty good. We had lots of fun. It is hard because so many of the people we work with are students or are working like 3 jobs just to get enough money or both. So when they say they are too busy to meet, it is ussually true. This last week Elder Brown ,my distrikt leader, went home. He was pretty excited by the end. Now Elder Sollis is training and at church on Sunday, Elder Sollis told us that he is going to change things and we are all going to do things together (Elder Brown didnt really like to do things with us). So that has been different this week with a new distrik leader and actually hearing from the elders.
> On Friday we got just about the coolest call ever! Remember Herr Zhang? The Chinese guy who cant speak German or English who we have been helping and he took us to dinner and we got the funny picture with him? Well to say thank you for the dinner we gave him a Chinese Book of Momon. This Friday we got a call from his translator. He wanted us to pick him up for church! He was going to be at Hauptbahnhof and just needed to know what time to be there so we could take a bus to church together. We were so excited. One Problem: This guy speaks Chinese and only Chinese. No English. No German. Luckily we have a less active who we have been working with who is from Taiwann and speaks Chinese and English and is learning German. Lets just say that was a very desperate sounding text to get her to come to all 3 hours of church, not just Sacrament meeting. Luckily she came! Our ward was really confused though. It was really funny. " Sister you know he cant speak German right? Or English? Who is he again?"  The Elders just kept telling us how impressed they were that we contacted a guy who only speaks Chinese and got him to come to church. (We filled them in later that he contacted us). This whole situation taught me the importance of gratitude and making people feel needed. Yu-Hsuan has never really wanted to help us out with appointments before. She has always told us that she doesnt feel good enough to. But, because we needed her so bad, she was so willing to help us. Then the whole 3 hours of church we expressed how grateful we were for her and that she was so willing to help and how we couldnt have done it without her. By the end of church she was willing to set up an appointment to meet with him and was so happy that she had helped. It was really something cool to learn. It has been hard to know how to get joint teaches. I think I figured out a little secret. The member has to know that we cant do it without them. And they have to know really how grateful we are for them.
> We had another expirience this week with a joint teach with the girls from Africa. It has been so hard to get ahold of them because their situation is really just terrible. We had told the mom that the ward might could help out with their situation, but we would need to meet with her with a member because we dont understand German government. We finally set up a time to meet with them, but had forgetten that we told the mom we wanted to meet with her and a member. The daughter called and we set up a time for 8 at night at the church. We were thinking just the 4 girls and were super excited. We get a call around 2 from the elders asking if we were comming to the church. We were weekly planning so we told them not until later. Turns out somehow this girl mixed up the times from French to English and got 2 from 8. (Still confused on that one). Not only that, but her mom was there too! (She doesnt like us very much) We paniced for a minute because then we reallized that if the mom was there, it was because she wanted to talk to a member. We quickly called Bruder Titz (the best ward mission leader ever) and got him to come. It was such an amazing lesson and Bruder Titz´s testimony made it so amazing. We would not have thought to call him unless it was absolutly necessary. And because it was so necessary, he was so willing and we were so grateful.
> Another cool thing that stuck me this week was from a guy named Alex. He is from Africa and lets just say that he gave us a whole summery of the Old Testiment. He was really cool though and thought it was very logical about the priesthood power being lost and having to be restored. His comment though was, "If the Book of Mormon is really the missing link like you say it is, how come more people dont know about it? If we went and asked people about your church, most people here wouldnt know about it. If you ask about Jehovah Witness, everyone knows about it, because they do so much to make themselves known. I saw missionaries in Africa. I saw them go into the church and leave the church. I never saw them do anything else." It really made me think. Am I doing all I can to make sure that people know our church? That is my job right? I dont want to be as annoying as the  Jehovah Witness, but am I making sure everyone in Bonn knows the Mormon church? It was really interesting to think about.
> Today we went mini golfing with the elders! It was really fun and different to be invited to do things with the elders. They all live together in Euskirschen and we live in Bonn so they often didnt tell us about things. But now Elder Sollis wants to include us more so we went mini golfing. I have some good pictures but they are on my ipad so I need wifi to send them to you. If not this week then next week.
> This week I have really been studying humility. It is so interesting to look at really how pride is the source of so many things. And it is really frustrating, because it is so easy to be prideful. And when you are humble, it is easier to see your weaknesses and inadequacies. It is really hard. But they all just draw you closer to Christ, which is the point. You just have to make the decision to slow down and get humble. It is just really hard.
> I also read a way cool talk this week from last General Konferenz. It was in Priesthood session by Elder Ballard? Called The Greatest Generation of Young Adults. I really liked it. And I think everyone should read it. It starts with having an interveiw with Elder Ballard and from there he moves on to the Atonement. It is really cool and super powerful. General Conference is just always powerful!
> I hope everyone has a wonderful week! Dont die in the AZ heat! I am always thinking about you and praying for you! Ich liebe euch!
> Liebe
> Sister Carroll

No transfer!

This week we had transfers! Dont worry. Im still in Bonn. And so is Sister Watkins. Basically everything stayed the same for us. What is really weird is that next transfer is in August. That is super weird. 

I dont know if there is really anything super awesome about this week. Monday we emailed early because then we went to Köln with the rest of our zone to play capture the flag. What was so cool about this capture the flag was that we all had socks full of flour and we all wore dark clothing. That was WAY fun!

Thursday we had a street display and 2 eating appointments! That never happens! We had Familie Titz for lunch because Bruder Titz is our GML or ward mission leader and his wife found out that we dont get very many eating appointments. Now we have lunch with them every week. Then we had dinner with Schwester Heidmann, except when we got there she opened the door and said "Ich habe Sie total vergessen" She is good at that. Normally she just tells us to come another time, however this time she let us in and we just had Abend Brot which was way better because it was super fast and normally she cooks really slow. That was pretty cool. 

This week we met some really cool new people. We decided this week as a district to treat it like our first week in the mission. (I think this came from the fact that our distrikt leader goes home on wednesday) It was cool to see the blessings that came just from deciding to make a fresh new start! I had two guys start talking to me on a Bahn! And we had a way cool lady call us appologizing for not comming to church after we invited her on the street! Now we have her mumber! It was so cool!!!

I really dont know what else to tell you about. It has been cold and rainy all week. Saterday it was only 10 Celcius. If it gives you any idea about how cold that is, Arizona has been about 46 this week. AND ITS JUNE!!!!! I love it so much! It makes me so happy that I am in Germany and not Arizona. I feel bad for all the Arizona missionaries. Yesterday we went and saw Regina and as we were walking the 10 min home it started pouring! We were just dripping wet when we got home. We needed a towel to dry off! Then since we were just planing on finishing up studies we got in warm dry clothes which may or may not have included certain BYU sweat pants. I had some way good studies!

This week I have been studying a lot about pride. I know that sounds really depressing, but when you really look at it, all of our failures in life come from the fact that we are just prideful. It is really frustrating when you realize that. But it was really cool to spend a day studying pride. Then today I read some conference talkes on humility.  It is so interesting to look at the Christlike Attributes in PMG and to see how much they build off eachother. You need faith to get any of the others, but you need hope charity and humility to build your faith. It is just so cool how inter connected they are. You think, ok I am going to work on humility, or charity, but you have to really work  on them all together. You cant try to do them all at once, because we are human and that wont work, but you cant forcus on one and just forget the others. It doesnt work that way. 

Well that was my super exciting week. Hope you guys all have just as much fun as I am! Ich liebe euch!

Liebe

Sister Carroll

iPADs!!!!!!!

This time it is real guys. We got iPads! And that has made this week slightly interesting.  Last Monday night we stayed in Köln. Tuesday we took a bus to Dortmund for Zone Konferenz. It was super good. It was all about chapter 6 in PMG. Therefore it was all about Christ. Christ is just so amazing! Everytime I feel like I just am done and want to just hide in our appartment until the end of my mission, and I am reminded of how much I love Christ and what He has done for me, I just want to go and baptize all of Germany. Unfortunantly Investigators have this thing called a life and finals or a job. It really is quite frustrating. Zone Conference was super amazing though and it ended with us getting handed iPads. What was cool about that was that our Zone is the first zone to get iPads. STLs and Zone leaders already have iPads had have for a while, but our zone was the first ones with iPads other than the leaders. And they did it in alphabetical order so I was the first sister in our mission to get an iPad who is not an STL. Pretty cool right? Then Tuesday night we had to get home. The bus back to Köln was delayed and we didnt end up getting back to our appartment until almost 10. It was pretty interesting. 

Wednesday we all set up our iPads. That was pretty funny. You can tell we are all missionaries, because the first thing we all did was start downloading mormon messages. Since then we have just been using the Church wifi any time we can to download any emails and mormon messages. I have all the Bible Videos in German now and a few other mormon messages. It is so cool. That is all me and Sister Watkins did last night - watch Bible Videos.

Other than that I cant think of much else. It has been hard to meet with people the last few weeks becasue of finals and summer vacation. It is really frustrating. But we just keep workiing and eventually we will see success. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!! Thanks for the emails and Pictures! I love them all so much!!!!!

Liebe

Sister Carroll

My iPad

The flower Athi picked for Sister Watkins. It was really funny. She was trying to just get one and ended up with a whole branch!

This is a little town out in the middle of nowhere. We got a referal this week and the number was wrong so we decided to go find the address. After an hour train ride, an hour wait for a bus, and a 20 min bus ride we discovered that the last bus we needed doesnt actually exist. Google Maps lied to us (Shocker)! Then we waited an hour and a half to get the bus back to the train and the train back to Bonn. It was a really successful day.... We are just going to send a Buch Mormon in the mail.

This little town told us how far away Daytona beach is. and Japan. Weird

The Gospel is Wonderful

This week. I dont really know what to say about this week. It was good. At least it wasnt bad. I dont really remember what happened, but I dont remember anything bad. It was all pretty good. Monday night I went to Duisberg on a split with Sister Heywood. That was the first time I have really done missionary work somewhere besides Bonn. It was cool. I also learned that our appartment is really tiny and that most other missionary appartments have a couch and we dont. Schade. That is probably good though, because then Morgan Sport really wouldnt happen. 

This week Ahti came back!!!!!!!! It only made my week. I have missed her so much. I didnt realize how much I missed her. She is just so much fun. She brought back a shirt for me from India. I will just send the picture. There is no way to describe this shirt. I just love it so much!! And apparently she got one for Sister Bunderson and for Sister Parker, just with different pictures. It just makes me laugh. 

Yesterday I got to sit in on PV or Primary while Sister Watkins played the piano since the PV piano player got called to JD or YW. It was really fun only I dont know the words to the songs in German so I was no help with singing. During fast and testimony meeting Schwester Stein bore her testimony about how wonderful it is to have the missionaries at their house. She then told the whole ward to invite us over more. She told everyone that the Elders are always hungry and willing to share a spiritual thought. She then said "Oh and the sisters too!" Hopefully we will get more eating appointments out of that. The elders might. We might still get forgotten. :) We have just learned that all the members think that since we are sisters we know how to cook so they invite the elders over. They also think the elders work harder than us. I wont comment on that one....

Today was super relaxing. This morning we had workers come over again. WE HAVE A WORKING SHOWER!!!!!!!!!!!! After almost 7 weeks, we have a fully functioning bathroom. Aber we cant use the shower until tomorrow night. Aber that is ok because we are spending the night in Köln tonight and will be in Dortmund tomorrow getting our IPADS! This time it is real. We get ipads tomorrow. The STLs and Zone leaders already have them so it is real this time. I am so excited simply for the studying ability. It will be way good. 

This morning we went to Beethoven haus again for Sister Watkins so she could say she has been there. Then we went to the big Haribo factory. That was way cool, and of course I got lots of yummy Haribo. Then we just spent time in our appartment eating Haribo because we didnt know what else to do. It was nice. 

This week I studied some conference talkes because I got the package with the Ensigns in it. It came with perfect timming. I love General Conference. I read the talk about the gospel being wonderful. It talked about how when we see the gospel as wonderful, we will receive spiritual strength and want to share it with everyone. I also thougth it went well with the scripture Dad sent me to memorize in 2 Cor. 4:8-9 ? about being surrounded, but not in dispare or distress. I really like that just because when the Gospel is wonderful to you, it doenst matter what happens around you, everything will still be ok. We just need to make sure we are finding the wonderful things in das Evangelium Jesu Christi. There is so much to find, we just have to be looking. 

Enjoy looking for the wonderful this week!!! I know it is there. And it really isnt that hard to find, you just need to decide to find it. Ich liebe euch!!! Viel Spaß mit alles diese Woche!

Liebe 

Sister Carroll

what it looked like when I got back from Duisburg on Tuesday..... yes that is our toilett.....

The dust all over our appartment from the construction work. I dont think we will ever get it cleaned. 

my shirt from Ahti. No words necessary.

Here is Ahti. She didnt want me to take her picture. I think this is my favorite picture of her. 

HARIBO!!!!!!!!!

Our entirely completed shower. It is so wonderful!!!!!

Answer your phone!

This week has been crazy. It has been so frustrating. No one answeres their phone. Or when they do they are too busy. I guess the highlights of this week have been our bathroom, a miracle in following the spirit, and a thank you dinner with some Asians. 

First the bathroom. So almost 6 weeks ago our bath tub got taken out. We were told in 2 weeks it would be fixed. We FINALLY had workers come this week. We were told that on Tuesday we would get a new bathtub. After the workers left Tuesday night we still had no bathtub. We had no sink and we had no toillet. Yep that was interesting. We promptly called the tech elders and asked what they had told the workers to do. Now we do have a toillet and the form of a bathtub, but thats basically it. They are like completely redoing our bathroom! Hopefully it will be done soon. Until then the shower at Schwester Bäders works fine. 

What a miracle this week though!!! We had some appointments fall out which is always fun, so we decided to do some vorbeis. I HATE vorbeis and was really not that excited for it, but as we left the appartment I got super excited. We got to hauptbahnhof and the logical thing to do was to take the fast train. As we got closer to  the train I told Sister Watkins that we should take a bus. As the got closer to the buses, I thought we needed the take the 611. The only thing was that that was the most illogical bus to take. THe 611 would take us right by the address that I knew was wrong. But for some reason I felt like we needed to be at that specific address. On the bus I thought it couldnt drive any slower. I just wanted to be there so bad. It was so weird. When we got there, this guy named Adam stopped us outside the buidling. He was really funny to talk to and after a while he told us that we needed to talk to his neighbor because he drinks too much. He took us to the appartments around the back but the neighbor wasnt home. At this point me and Sister Watkins were laughing pretty hard. As we turned to go back to the street, we hear "Sisters!!!!" We look up and these 5 girls were leaning out the window to say hi to us. They came running down to see us. Apparently they just moved here from Africa. The oldest is 22 and she is baptized. The younger 4 (ages 19, 15, 12, and 11) are not yet baptized but want more than anything to be baptized. They just need their mom to say yes. Not only that, but that morning the oldest had prayed that the sister would be able to teach her sisters and help them out. It was so amazing!!!!!! We picked them up for church yesterday and that was way fun

Finally we had dinner with a bunch of Asians. We have been helping this guy Herr Zhang out because he cant speak English or German and he wants to get his work papers figured out. He was so gratful an wanted to get us dinner so we finnaly set up a time to get dinner with him and his translator. It was so weird. He brought 2 other friends and they all just spoke Chinese together. I did get a picture though and they were all very excited about that. We laughed pretty hard after that. 

Also I almost forgot! I'm legal now!!!!! I got my visa this week! I am now here in Germany legally until August 2016. Pretty cool.

This week we have been talking alot about Gods love for us. We have been sharing Mosia 4:11-12. In 11 we learn what we need to do. In 12 we see the blessings. Not only that but in 11 we are not required to be perfect. And in 12 we get so many WONDERFUL blessings.  It has been so amazing this week to see how the Lord blesses us so much especially when we feel like we are not quite making the cut. GOD IS SO MERCIFUL!!! I LOVE IT!!! I learn more about His mercy every day

I hope everyone can see how much God loves them this week! It is so obvious when you look for it. Just look for it.

Ich liebe euch!!!

Liebe 

Sister Carroll

This is our bathroom as of tuesday. We were pretty surprised. We still laugh about it. All you can do is laugh. 

This is the latest bathroom pick. only there is more tile on the walls now.

Herr Zhang and buddies. THis was another just laugh situation.

Today we did Drachenfels again only this time with a bunch of other missionaries and we paid to go in the nice castle. It was pretty cool.

random monks at the castle. We had fun with this....

All the sisters at the castle. It was funny seeing the elders all with our cameras taking the pictures.