Ive had lots better weeks.

Im not really sure how to describe this week. Ive had lots better weeks. I think I can also say I have had worse weeks. I honestly cant really remember the beginning of this week because so much happened at the end of the week. 

Monday we spent the whole day with Athi in Köln. 

Tuesday we found snow in our appartment! Just kidding. We just wanted to be able to close the freezer so we had to scrape off all the ice built up in the freezer. There was so much! It looked like it had snowed! Then Tuesday night we went and looked at an appartment. That was weird. Right now the Bonn elder live in Euskirschen which is an hour away by train. President sent me and Sister Gardner to look at an appartment in Bonn for the elders. It was a really nice appartment. It was a way cool expirience, because the guy who lives there speaks spanish and English so the owner spoke English with him. But the guy spoke German with us! Even after we switched to English for this Spanish guy! We felt so accomplished. 

I dont remember what happened Wednessday. Oh I guess we went chalking, bacause we had nothing else to do. That was really fun. We talked to so many people. Then the next day our zone leaders challenged us to double how many people we talked to. That didnt happen.

Thrusday was rough. EVERY appointment fell out. Even the Titz. We have them every week for lunch. We got there and no one was home. We got forgotten. That was a rough day.

Friday was not much better. Everything fell out again, but we had weekly planning which wouldnt be too bad except that me and Sister Gardner cant focus on anything so it lasted only like 4 hours. 

Saturday. Oh Saturday. Just a disclaimer to Saturday. Everyone is ok. No one died. We are all still alive and able to do missionary work. Saturday we learned the German word for emergency room: die Notaufnahme. See Sister Garnder's kidney is weird and she has a history of Kidney stones. But that was like 4 years ago. Well it came back. Saturday morning we went and found a hospital in Germany and told the German nurses that Sister Gardner had Kidney stones and dealt with German nurses to get Sister Gardner pain medicine. The elders saved us and brought me food. And Sister Gardner a minion. We were there ALL day! Why? Good question? They just kept giving Sister Gardner pain medicine even though she had no more pain. We told them we wanted to leave and the doctor told us that she thought that was a bad idea for some weird reason. They wanted to keep Sister Gardner overnight and kick me our of the hospital. Thanks to President who is a doctor, elders who will do anything for us, and a stressed doctor who didnt want to deal with a group of teenagers trying to escape the hospital, we were able to finally to get home at like 10. I was so bored all day!

Sunday was not much better. Sister Gardner was still not feeling super. We went to church then went straight home so Sister Gardner could sleep. And we stayed in our appartment all day. Our appartment is really tiny. And I have a really short attention span. Yesterday when the elders called for our call-in, Elder Sauve asked if we were on something. We were so bored. I was so happy to leave our appartment this morning. Unfortunatly we still have to go to the doctor for Sister Gardner because something is still not perfekt. Dont worry! We will survive!

You would think with all my study time this weekend I would have some inspiring spirital thought. But like I said earlier, I cant focus on anything! One: Isaiah chapters in 2 Nephi are cool to read in another language with English next to it because it really makes you think about what is being said. 2: Read this cool talk called Perfection Pending by Russell M Nelson. In it he says, " men are that they might have joy - not guilt trips!" Perfection will come. Not now. Not tomorrow. But it will come. And it will only come through Christ. Turn to Him and rely fully on Him. 

I love you guys! Have an amazing week NOT in the hospital!

Liebe

Sister Carroll

P-day with Athi at the Köln Cathedral

Fighting with Athi

Inside the Cathedral

On top of the Cathedral - a little windy!

LIVE TRUE!!!!!

Snow in our appartment

Elder Downs during DDM

This is what a German hospital looks like. And this is the minion that Elder Sollis got Sister Gardner. 

More German hospital. This was our attempt to escape.

THERES A LEGO STORE IN KÖLN!!!!!!!!

This week was so crazy! It feels like it was so long. But in the best
way possible. Sister Gardner explained it best when she said that it
feels so long just because so many amazing things happened. I don't
even know if I could tell you all the amazing things. I can't even
remember all the details. I just remember the feelings and I don't
think I can even get close to explaining all of how I feel!
Tuesday everything fell out. Which you think would mean that it was a
bad day and normally I would agree, but it was actually really good.
Even with fast kein Terminen and a language assessment, it was still
way good. We went to vorbei a less active in our ward out in the
middle of nowhere. We found a pumpkin patch and lots of really cool
trees. Then the member wasn't even there. Found out later from the
elders that they did not appreciate the note we left and would call
the police if we came back. Oops. But on the way back we decided to
talk to everyone since there was fast no one. So Sister Gardner
stopped this old guy to give him a card about the Weil Er Lebt video.
(The card happens to be blue) the conversation went something like:
Sis Gardner: we are just sharing this kurz film über Jesus Christus
Old guy: thanks! I like the color blue!
Sister Gardner: no it's about Christ.
Old guy: oh I know him! He has a heart for Kinder!
Then he walked away without the card. We are still really confused
about that whole conversation. It was just so random and funny!
Wednesday we had zone training. It was really weird because the whole
thing was on role plays and they wanted us to make the role plays real
so 8 people were picked to be investigators the whole time and to be
in normal clothes. Guess who the 2 sisters where that they picked to
participate?! Me and Sister Gardner got to wear normal clothes for the
whole 3 hour training! It was so weird. And president was there which
was also weird. It was really nice to be in jeans.
Thursday some how we ended up with 2 member eating appointments! One
for lunch and one for dinner. It was really fun.
Friday we got to go over to another members house just for a lesson.
They have 7 kids. The oldest is 15. Only some of them speak German.
The rest speak Spanish. It was chaos! We got showed every toy in the
whole house! All while trying to teach one of them about baptism
because he just turned 8! He has literally a 5 second attention span.
We also got to meet with Gwen on Friday. I love Gwen! She is a member
and she is just so cool! I feel like every time I talk to her I learn
something new.
Saturday we had a ward Sommerfest. It was so much fun! We had yummy
food and we got to play Sport the whole time with PV Kinder. I will
say that it is really hard to play soccer and badminton at the same
time. In a skirt. While avoiding millions of bees. But it was so much
fun! Our ward is just so amazing! We were also able to get Athi to
come which was good.except she got stung by a bee that she tried to
kill and she is not letting us live that one down.
Saturday night we met with this guy named Peter. Remember the guy who
came up to us and asked to meet with us? His name is Peter. He called
us this week to set up an appointment.(not normal) then we met with
him. He met with missionaries like 3-4 years ago and one of them tole
him that he had a light. Which is true his eyes just glow. It is
really cool. Well for the past 4 years he has been so confused by this
comment. He told us that he can't see himself glowing so he doesn't
know what his friend meant about this light. We were finally able to
clarify for him about the light of Christ. This guy is so cool! He is
literally the definition of "become as a little child" in the best way
possible. It was so cool.
All week we have been meeting with Athi. Talk about refiners fire! Her
testimony is so strong now that she has had to make the choice to pick
the church over her family. She has another plane ticket to India for
tonight. We are heading to Köln this afternoon to spend the day with
Athi so she doesn't have to worry about the ticket. She is so amazing!
Yesterday in FHV we had a really good lesson about the parable of the
sower. As I was listening, I made the coolest connection! This parable
and the Lehis dream are the same! I will send a pic of my notes from
personal study yesterday after church. It is so cool. They describe
the same types of people! The type of ground our heart is determine
how we are making our way towards the tree. Mind blowing!
I hope everyone has a wonderful week! I love you! Thanks for
everything you do for me! Ihr seid das Beste!
Liebe
Sister Carroll

Ward party

Bruder Titz our GML (I'm guessing that's Ward Mission Leader)

Long week!

Wow this his week! This has been the longest shortest week known to
man! It was not long in a bad way. It was long on a good way. We had
so much fun this week! It is weird to think that this was the first
full week me and Sister Gardner had together. It feels like we have
been together so much longer! I love it. We are opposite in all the
good ways and similar in all the good ways. It is just so much fun.
This week started with a split. Wow that feels so long ago! I went to
Duisburg with Sister Terry and Sister Parker came here with Sister
Gardner. The funny part was that Sister Terry is new in Duisburg and
Sister Gardner is new here. And both had to lead their area. Me and
sister Terry didn't get too lost and Sister Gardner and Sister Parker
did pretty good too. Monday night was hard because at that point Athi
was positive she was leaving to India on Wednesday and I wasn't going
to be able to see her on Tuesday to say goodby. So I had to say goodby
on Monday. That was not fun. But then we talked to some crazy people
on the train to Duisburg so that was fun.
Wednesday was chaotisch and we had like all our appointments fall out,
but it ended up being ok because Athi called while she was on the
airplane in Düsseldorf. We were able to convince her to get off and in
the meantime have the elders, Bruder Eller, and an investigator call
us all at the same time. Our phone has never rung so much! Then
suddenly Athi was there and we were able to meet with her. I am still
so confused at everything that happened I those 20 min.
This week we also met this way cool guy named Peter. We were walking
Athi home after meeting with her and this guy stopped us. "Can I have
your book?" We were so confused, but we're very willing to give him a
Buch Mormon. We talked to him a little more and found out that he
already had one. His 'friends' gave it to him. One friend was from
Washington DC and the other was from Ohio. He told us about how he
would sit with them in Starbucks and talk about this book and other
cool things. He said onetime he even went to church in Duisdorf with
them. He said one of them ended up having to move to southern Germany.
After a while we resized that these 'friends' where missionaries! He
was super excited to give us his information and hopefully we will be
able to see him later this week. It is so cool to think that we found
someone that other missionaries loved so much and they just lost
contact with him.
We also realized this week that one of the less actives we work with
was baptized by someone in Sister Gardners home ward. He had not had
any contact with this missionary since he was baptized and was so
excited to hear about him. It is so cool to see just how much other
missionaries have touched the lives of the people here. I love being
able to hear their stories and know that I am just adding to what
someone who loved them so much started. It makes me hope that other
missionaries will do the same with the people I love here so much.
This week in Presidents email that he sent he said, "Some years ago
the Franklin-Covey company (known for Franklin Planners), had their
main company receptionist leave.  She had been a wonderful employee
but wanted to do other things with her life.  As the governing board
discussed the critical role of this receptionist, they became more and
more convinced that this position was very important in the success of
their company.  She was “Franklin Covey” to the majority of people who
did business with them.  She answered the phones, she greeted visitors
to the company, and she interacted at multiple levels with employees,
business partners, and the public.  The receptionist leaving had been
phenomenal.  She was positive, charismatic, kind, extremely helpful,
efficient, caring, and seemed to radiate love and concern.  She had
the ability to positively reinforce others.As the board considered how
important she was to the success of the company, they realized that
this position was one that had to be very carefully filled.  They
discussed various people in the company and kept coming to the name of
one lady who at that time was serving as a Senior Vice-President.  She
had all of the qualities of the outgoing receptionist and more.  It
was, however, a little embarrassing to ask a Senior Vice-President if
she would be willing to work as the company’s main receptionist.
Ultimately they did just that.  She very wisely replied, “How much is
the salary increase and what are the other benefits that I will
receive?”   The board increased her salary, gave her more benefits,
and she accepted the job offer.  It was one of the smartest business
moves that the company every made."
Sorry it is really long, but I really liked it. I liked how it points
out that the Vice President was given the job of the secretary. We all
have an important job. And sometimes we don't think it is that
important. But really when we look at it, it is so important to be the
receptionist. God needs good receptionists. He needs people that His
'company' can trust and who will give it a good name. He also does
need the Vice Presidents and the presidents, we all have a job and we
were all prepared for it.
I read this talk this week called Truth Restored by Richard G Scott. I
loved a quote from it, " you were taught and prepared for the
circumstances you would personally encounter in mortality". God helped
us out before we got here and he is still helping us out. The things
we are doing now were actually probably our strengths. Isn't that just
so cool? Well sorry for the long spiritual thought, but I just really
liked the quotes.
I hope you have a wonderful week! Don't melt too much! I just will
leave out the fact that I am wearing a jacket today :)
Ich liebe euch!!!!!!
Sister Carroll

Wow it was crazy!

This week. Wow it was crazy! This week we actually had transfers so the first part of the week was getting Sister Watkins ready to leave and the last part was getting Sister Gardner introduced to the area.

Last Monday for Pday we went to Düsseldorf with our whole zone and we played on the beach of the Rhein. Dont worry, no one got in the water. We just had fun playing and sitting on the beach. 

Thursday I got to go to Frankfurt to pick up Sister Gardner. It was a much better situation than last time when I got left in Bonn and we had to find something fun to do with 5 missionaries. It was really fun because so many people from my MTC group got transfered, so they were all there too! And so was Sister Bunderson! I had so much fun! Also saw Elder Penrod (John) from BYU. His trainer is Elder McBride who used to be here in Euskirschen. That was cool. I didnt get to talk to him too long because we had to catch our train back to Bonn. 

Sister Gardner is way cool! She is from Pennsylvania and has 3 younger siblings. She only has 4 months left on her mission. She goes home in Dezember. We have so much fun together! We just get along really great and it has been so cool to teach with her. She was just in Frankfurt as the STL there. She is super excited to be in Bonn and just gets so excited when we daily plan because we actually have appointments and people to work with. It has bee really fun. 

I cant really think of any exciting stories. This week was just weird because of transfers and then we had a zone training too. Then today we are going on a split! Me and Sister Gardner are just starting out the transfer weird! We have been dealing with Athi. She didnt go to Austrailia, but now she is going to India. And I dont think we can talk her out of this one. We also met with Allegra, Inga and Aimee. Their dad is coming to Germany this week and they are going to ask him about baptism again. We are praying really hard for them! Our whole district is dealing with family issues. Athi´s familie is being weird. The elders had a baptism fall out because of familie issues. Three separate people. It is just so hard! We tell people how important families are and then we want them to just leave them and be shunned. FAMILIES!!!! I love them, but other people have annoying families sometimes.

Other silly random things this week: Stocked a few Zeuge Jehovas this morning by accident. They dont walk very fast and happened to be going the same way as us. They never knew we were behind them and it was so funny! Also taught a lesson with Elder Sollis as my companion yesterday in Sunday school. That was weird, but fun at the same time. It worked. Probably wont do that again. That was also really funny.

As far as what I studied this week, it came from our zone training. Our zone leaders were really trying to get us motivated and they shared quotes from the talk, Hastening the Lords Gameplan by Elder S Gifford Nielson from 2013 October. I read the whole thing afterwards and it is really good. God is just setting us up for the touchdown or the goal if we want to go European sports here (Tor auf Deutsch) We just have to choose to help him out. Elder Nielson gives a very specific game plan for us to follow. 

1. Specifically pray to bring someone closer to Christ and his Gosple every day

2. Pray for the missionaries serving in your area and thier investigators by name every day

3. Invite a friend to an activity in our out of your home

I liked the gameplan, because it is so easy. It does take some work, and if I was not a missionary, I wouldnt want to do it, but at the same time, now I see how little work that is. Everyone, members and nonmembers, need to come closer to Christ. Prayer is so easy. And an invite is only an invite. It doesnt hurt to ask. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful week! We will try to keep things under control here in Bonn! Bonn is just exploding with potential!

Ich liebe euch!

Liebe

Sister Carroll 

beach party from last week

Goodbye to Sister Watkins

Athi

New companion, Sister Gardner, with Athi

Me and Elder Sollis coming home from Düsseldorf on Friday. 1. No I am not leaning on his shoulder it just looks like that. 2. Yes that is a sticky note  on his forehead and yes we are on a train. We where playing a game. I had one too, but I guessed the name on it so I took it off for the picture. Missionaries are weird. 

  

BONN!!!!!!!!!

So we had transfer calls this weekend...... IM STAYING IN BONN!!!!!!
Against everyone else's idea  that i would leave and Sister Watkins
would stay, I get to stay! Sister Watkins got transferred to Coberg.
That's down by Feucht. She is the new sister training leader there.
Sister Bunderson also got called as an STL. It was really funny
because even the ward was convinced I was leaving and I kept telling
people that sister Watkins was leaving and going to Duisberg which is
where the sister training leaders in our zone are. I told her she was
going to be a STL and no one believed me! I was right! We still are
amazed that I was right, because it made more sense for me to leave
Bonn. My new companion is Sister Gardner. No one knows a lot about
her, but we are pretty sure she only has 2 more transfers left. That
means in 6 weeks it is very likely I will be leaving. That or I stay
until after she leaves, which is less likely.
I'm trying to remember everything that happened this week. A lot of it
was everyone telling me I was leaving. We had a birthday party with
Athi last Monday. It was fun. Last p day we emailed then went to a
book store. ( German children's books are dangerous! I might have an
Eiskönigin book now) then we helped Athi set up for her party with the
elders. It was a fun party too. Some of the ward members came and we
just had lots of fun.
I guess the stressful thing about this week, besides transfers, was
that Athi is moving to Australia. The only really bad thing with that
is that Bishoff specifically told her not to go. She just doesn't have
the courage to tell that to her dad. We have been working really hard
to get her to stay. She will most likely leave.
We also have met some cool people. We met one really Muslim guy who is
really curious about our religion, he is just really Muslim. It is so
weird, because so much of what they believe is so similar to us. They
have just taken Christ out of everything. It is so sad.
This week Bruder and Schwester Nowak came to Bonn to visit. Apparently
Elder Sollis's dad served his mission here and it was right after sis
Nowak got baptized. He then stayed in the area for almost a year. Sis
Nowak calls him her missionary. They know Elder Sollis really well and
wanted to get us ice cream. It was really fun. And random.
This week me and Elder Sollis were quoting movies and happened to
quote Meet the Robinsons. We quoted the part," I have a big head and
little arms! I'm not quite sure how well this plan was thought
through!" Don't worry we were still focusing on missionary work. Elder
Sollis commented on how he must have bee the dinosaur when he was
being trained and his trainer was the guy controlling the dinosaur.
And how even now we are still the dinosaur and God is the one looking
at us messing up. He is just sitting there going " you are a freaking
t-Rex! All you have to do is eat the tiny boy! I set it up perfectly
for you and you still messed it up!" And we are just telling God," are
you sure this was a good idea?" God has given us so much potential. We
are set up so perfectly to conquere everything. Sometimes we just mess
up, but that is ok because God is so perfect  that heist able to help
us fix it and have another chance. So everyone be an awesome T-Rex
this week and live up to your potential!
Ich liebe dich!
Sister Carroll

Athens Birthday Party

She sent this in her pictures and I (Mom) thought it was cute.

Getting Ice Cream with the Nowaks and the Elders in Bonn.

Sister Nowak with the Elders and us in Bonn.