Happy Halloween!

Wow this week. I'm not really even sure all that happened this week.
Sister Helmick said goodbye to people and packed. Wednesday we ended
up in Dortmund because sister Helmick had to take a bus early so we
overnights with the Dortmund sisters. The Düsseldorf sisters were also
there because transfers are confusing and crazy so we had 6 of us in
their apartment. It was really fun. The next day sister Helmick left
and me and Sister Jeppsen who is also from my MTC group who serves in
Düsseldorf and was waiting for her new companion got left to roam
Dortmund by ourselves. We ended up with about 2.5 hours of finding in
a city that neither of us knew with no Bücher Mormon and literally 10
cards. First we attempted to find Bahnhof. That took us about 30. Then
we went on a search for Kinder eggs because why not. Then Sister
Jeppsen made some phone calls. Then we attempted finding and didn't
get much done because we got lost. Then the Dortmund elders called us
to have us come to Bahnhof and we had to find our way. Finally we
found Dortmund Bahnhof and our new companions! It was quite the
adventure.
My new companion is Sister Schuring. She is from Utah and has 2
transfers left. This one then one more. She is really cool. We have
had so much fun.
We started out our companionship with 2 street displays. We had one in
Gelsenkirchen for some elders in our district. Then we had one in
Bochum for us. It was way awesome! We ended up with 8 numbers from the
one in Bochum! Although one of the numbers I called yesterday the guy
remembered me as the hübsch klein Amerikanerin (pretty little American). We will see what
happens with that. He wants to meet to talk about Indians.
Saturday was Halloween! Normally I don't like Halloween. But i think
this year was the best Halloween ever! We had a ward Kartoffel (potato) fest.
So we spent the morning inviting people to it. Then we went and
someone we met at the street display randomly showed up and a  random
family we invited! It was so cool! We had lots of really yummy food
and they had marshmallows to roast for the kids. The best was the
random guy from the street display. He came up to me while roasting
marshmallows and he was like, "these are so good! I tried one not on
the fire and it was good. Then I did one on the fire and it was so
much better!" I then explained the concept of s'mores and I just about
blew his mind. He was going to go home and google it.
After Kartoffel fest we had about an hour and it takes like half an
hour to get home. We didn't really know what to do but just started
walking with the elders. Elder Heiner really really really wanted to
go trick or treating and somehow convinced us to do just one door.
Halloween is not super big in Germany, but some people still get into
it. Instead of saying trick or treat you say süß oder sauer (sweet or sour). We got
let in and got some candy! Then elder Heiner was like, "thank you for
giving us something. Can we give you something? It's called the Book
of Mormon." It was so awesome! We totally did a bunch of other doors.
We gave out 3 Bücher Mormon and a restoration pamphlet! And we got
candy! Even when we got rejected we still got candy! Best way to door
ever. Too bad Halloween isn't more often. It makes dooring so much
more fun.
This week I was studying in Alma. Right when Alma has started his
mission. It is really cool to see what he does. He goes from a very
successful area, Melek to a very unsuccessful area, Ammoniha. It was
really interesting to read and see just how he reacts. I loved what
the angel tells him when he tries to transfer himself. "15 Blessed art
thou, Alma; therefore, lift up thy head and rejoice, for thou hast
great cause to rejoice; for thou hast been faithful in keeping the
commandments of God from the time which thou receivedst thy first
message from him." Basically don't worry about it. You are doing your
best. The success will come. Maybe you won't see it, but as long as
you work hard you will be successful. I thought that was really cool.
Wow sorry for such a long email! We just had a fun week! So many weird
things! Ich liebe euch! Danke für alles! (Thank you for all) Seht vielen Wundern diese
Woche! (See many miracles this week!)
Liebe
Sister Carroll

Transfer Calls

This week was pretty good. I got a cold this week so I don't remember
many details. Plus I feel like most of my week has been defined by
Saturday and yesterday. But before we get to that, I have to tell
about two new investigators we found! We got a referral from the Essen
sisters and hadn't had time to go by on the lady until this week. We
went by and she answered the door and before we could even say
anything she was like, " oh you are from Jesus! I have been waiting
for you!" We went in and had a really good lesson about the Book of
Mormon. Then we set up a return appointment. As we went to leave she
mentioned that we should talk to her neighbor too. She said at he was
Christian and they all went to the same church. We thought that was
cool and planned to go by. As we walked out the door, he was right
there, so we started talking. He was really excited we were from Jesus
as well. We talked in the hall for a minute. Then we all turned around
and went back into the apartment we had just left and we had another
lesson about who we were and the Book of Mormon. We also set up a
return appointment with him! It was so cool!
Friday we had a street display and I talked to a lot of people. That
was also went my cold started getting bad so Saturday morning I had no
voice.
Saturday we had transfer calls. Me and sister Helmick weren't too
worried about transfers. We figured we would stay together. We had
only been together for one transfer and sister Helmick has only been
in Herne for 2 transfers. We are all listening to transfer calls and
they announce the Herne sisters and say that I will be getting a new
companion. That was a surprise. Then we find out that sister Helmick
is going to Mannheim with sister Roderer! Let's just say chaos erupted
as we heard that. And our day after transfer calls consisted of a
baptism for the elders investigator and one of our investigators
crying when she heard sister Helmick and elder Vogel were leaving.
Then sister Helmick packed.
Sunday we had church and we were supposed to sing in church, but
sister Helmick wouldn't let me because I still sort of didn't have a
voice. After church the elders asked what we had planned for the rest
of the day and sister Helmick responded, " well sister Carroll needs
to rest because she is sick so I will probably be packing." Let's just
say we went home and she rested and I studied.
So this week I forgot to ponderize. But this morning I studied alma 5
which is way good. I love the testimony alma gives at the end of the
chapter. But what I think is so cool is what Alma says in the last
verse. He says, "62 I speak by way of command unto you that belong to
the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by
way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that
ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life."
I think it is so cool the two groups he distinguishes. Members and non
members. He notes that it is a commandment for us as members to repent
and act on our baptismal covenants. He then says that it is an
invitation for nonmembers, which is all it can be. And it never hurts
to just invite. I think everyone should read that chapter. It is super
good. And it is pretty good in German as well.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week! And sees miracles! Ich liebe euch!
Liebe
Sister Carroll

Sister Nowak sent me a birthday present! She is so cool!

Look at all the colors!!!!!

9 months!

So weird thing happened this week. I hit my 9 month mark. I'm half way
done. It is so weird though, because 9 months means nothing. Ja I'm
half way done, but that doesn't mean I am going home tomorrow. It
still means I get to do missionary work. I keep getting asked about
how it feels, and I just keep thinking about how much it is exactly
the same. Nothing is different. I don't suddenly know more. I don't
automatically become more successful. I simply am still in Germany.
Although it was a pretty good day on Wednesday when I hit my 9 month
mark. It started out by snowing. Yes it snowed. There was white stuff
falling from the sky. We were studying and I was looking out the
window and kept seeing white stuff mixed in with the rain. Finally I
asked sister Helmick if I was seeing what I thought I was. She is from
Oregon  so she knows this kind of stuff. It wasn't cold enough to
stay. It melted basically as it hit the ground, but it was still snow.
So that was weird. Then we had a cleaning check and I learned how to
clean mold out of the grout in the shower, since Arizona doesn't
really have that problem like they do here in Germany, so that was
also cool. Then we went and did service for a less active so we got to
wear jeans! We cleaned her kitchen. She really didn't want us to do
much, but her house was such a mess. I just kept thinking about
Grandma Starr and how she would have gone and completely cleaned the
whole house. It was really dirty, but we were able to help a little.
So Wednesday was pretty good.

Thursday was a day of miracles. Our plans fell out. I don't really
remember what it was, but it fell out. And one of our investigators
called us and told us we couldn't meet anymore. It was a sad day. But
then we were able to contact another investigator and she showed us
her new apartment. We also did some service for her and cleaned her
new place. As we finished we didn't really know what to do. We had
about an hour and it was cold. Earlier this week I had contacted a guy
who owns a Döner Laden while he had taken a break to smoke. I gave him
a German Buch Mormon and told him I would bring a Türkisch for him
later. We decided this was later. We walk into the restaurant and here
is a husband and wife and their son there ordering Döners. He was
staring at my name tag so I started talking to him. Then chaos erupted
in this Laden. The owner, seeing that someone else was interested,
wanted his Book of Mormon. The family was confused as to who Mormon
was and wanted to sit and meet right then. Sister Helmick went outside
with the family and tried to get contact info while I talked to the
Türkisch guy. Set up another appointment with him. Then we went and
met with the family in an Eis Cafe right then. It was way cool and
they had so many questions. We needed to go catch our bus so we could
get home and they suggested we come over and meet with them again. As
we went to end with a prayer, the Italian Eis Cafe owner came over to
see what we were doing. He then joined in on our prayer. It was so
cool! We then walked home because we missed the bus, but that was ok.
This week we have really just seen so many small miracles. I love it
when you can see God's hand in your life. It just makes life so much
better.
I think the thing that made me most happy this week was that I found
my favorite quote in German! "soll euer Leben von viel Freude und
Lachen erfüllt sein. Wir sollen das Leben genießen, nicht nur
ertragen." So cool! That just like made my day. We are here to be
happy. Not just to endure to the next moment, but to enjoy the moment
we are in. This week I have also been ponderizing 2 Korinther 4:8-9
Von allen Seiten werden wir in die Enge getrieben und finden doch noch
Raum; wir wissen weder aus noch ein und verzweifeln dennoch nicht. Wir
werden gehetzt und sind doch nicht verlassen; wir werden
niedergestreckt und doch nicht vernichtet. I love  the wording it uses
in Germn. It still means the same thing, it just words it slightly
differently and it think it is way cool. Instead of persecuted, it
uses gehetzt which is similar to hunted. In die Enge getreiben is more
likes being pushed into a corner verses being surrounded. It is really
cool just how much fear we don't need to have. I love God! He is just
so amazing! He loves us so much. Even when we are so imperfect and
mess up so much.
I hope everyone has a wonderful week! And sees miracles! I will try
not to freeze. You don't melt. Mann you would think we are living in
different worlds or at least at different times of the year. But no.
It is October and I have been wearing my jacket everyday. It is so
weird!
Ich liebe euch!
Liebe
Sister Carroll

Last week we got lost in Gelsenkirchen trying to find the church.
Instead we found this way cool place.

Elder Vogle and Elder Heinner ended up in a tree

Silly elders.

This is Bruder Gollnick. We sing with him every week. I was showing
him pictures of my family and got a picture with him. He is way cool.

You can't tell, but it is snowing. It started snowing more, but i
didn't get a picture.

Wow!

Wow so much happened this week! Hopefully I can remember everything!
And share it the way it happened because so much awesomeness happened!
This week was long, but not in a bad way. Just so much happened! I
don't really remember what happened at the beginning of the week.
Everything happened more in the second half of the week. We finished
watching conference for our district meeting. I love conference!
Wednesday was just a normal day. Every Wednesday night we sing at the
church with a member who is active only because he likes to play the
organ and that is his calling. As we were singing, we got a call from
the sister training leaders. It was probably almost 8. We had zone
training the next day at 12 in Dortmund. I was talking on the phone
and Sis Terry asked, "are you giving a Thema tomorrow in zone
training?" I replied, " not that I know of." Well turned out we were
giving a Thema in zone training! Let's just say sister Helmick was
slightly upset I agreed so quickly to do it. But then she was ok with
it. We were speaking on keeping the sabbath day holy. It ended up
being an ok Thema. It was just really funny how it got assigned. Then
after zone training we had interviews with president and we were last
so we got to hang out with Sister Stoddard all day! Then president was
like, "your Thema today was really good." I told him the story behind
it and he just laughed. It was super funny!
Friday morning we were supposed to go get flu shots in Dortmund, but
the appointment ended up being cancelled as we were on a train to
Dortmund, but the events leading up to that were just funny. Sister
Helmick was having a bad morning and as we went to leave, we realized
we accidentally had left our door slightly open all night. As we
walked out sister Helmick yelled, "Great! I might have cancer and we
could have been murdered!" No worries, sister Helmick does not have
cancer and we were not murdered. That has just been our quote for the
week, because it was so funny as we left that morning.
As we waited for our train to Dortmund, this guy from Tebet came and
talked to me because he heard us speak English. He was atheist and
pretty set with that so I didn't push too much that we wanted to talk
about God. We kept talking and finally he was like," ok tell me about
Christ." He ended up with a restoration pamphlet and we had a way
awesome conversation about God and prayer. He was so amazed that we
had only been in Germany for 7 months and could speak such good
German. He has been here for 3 years and still struggles. Every time
he commented on my German I told him," well God helps us" . That is
what finally got him to ask more. It is so cool how just little things
we say can spark intereste in people who would otherwise not care.
Saturday we met with a less active who is really struggling with
taking care of her family. She has 5 kids and no money and is having
problems with her Mann. It was so cool to just tell her that the
little things she does are a great example to her children. It was
cool to speak for experience and say that I had 5 siblings and the
little things may parents did made a huge difference for us, even when
it was so chaotisch. That was a super spiritual lesson.
Sonnday after church we had an appointment with a member who also
invited a couple other guys from the ward. One is a recent convert and
he is from Kenya, which was funny because he doesn't speak German and
this couple doesn't have the best English. We were talking with him
and the other member was asking about snakes in AZ. This guy from
Kenya kept asking if I ate snakes and frogs. I was really confused but
kept telling him no. Later he turned to me and said," I am just so
thankful to see a missionary from Asia. There aren't very many of you
and i think it is really cool." At this point me and sister Helmick
couldn't contain our laughter. I told him I was from Arizona not Asia
to which he responded, " are you sure? Maybe your dad is Chinese?"
Still laughing uncontrollably I told him no. He then said, " well if
you ever go there you will fit right in. All the people will think you
live there and will be asking where your house is." The laughing just
continued. Apparently I am Chinese.
After that appointment we traveled out into the middle of nowhere to
meet with this guy. He is really cool. He has 4 daughters and they all
sat and listened as well. When I found him he told me he was already
meeting with people from our church, but that we could come too. We
found out they are meeting with Jehovah's Witness. But they were super
willing to listen. They got really excited when we told them they
could have the Buch Mormon and that we would bring more for the other
daughters. They are pretty cool. That was also a way spiritual lesson.
Wow long email, but there was just so much good! I love it! Something
I have really been thinking about this week was the talk from
conference about ponderizing a scripture a week. I need to re read the
talk, but I really liked that. This week I have been working on making
sure I have our scripture of the month memorized. LuB 59:9-10 und
damit du dich selbst noch mehr von der Welt unbefleckt halten mögest,
sollst du an meinem heiligen Tag ins Haus des Betens gehen und deine
heiligen Handlungen darbringen; denn wahrlich dies ist der Tag der dir
bestimmt ist von deiner Arbeit zu ruhen und dem Allerhöchsten deine
Gottesverehrung zu entrichten.
I think it is just really cool that Sunday is really the day for us to
rest from our arbeit! God wants us to use it to praise Him and stop
worrying about whatever we worry about the rest of the week. The
scriptures are true. The sabbath was made for man. Use it for what it
was made for.
I love you all! Sorry Arizona is still so hot. It is freezing here!
Almost literally so........ Ja this winter will be interesting. I
can't wait!
I have liebe euch
Liebe
Sister Carroll

More watching conference. There are 3 missionaries on the front row. :)

Sister Helmick likes popping balloons.

Alena was bored during a stake choir concert

Sunday naps on a U-Bahn?

Sister helmicks idea of this week. We had different experiences this week......

What happens when I take lots of pictures.....

General Konferenz !!!!!!!!!

So isn't conference just amazing? That was most defiantly the best
part of the entire week! I love conference!
Außer conference, this week was pretty good. I had a split with Sister
Terry this week which was fun. And while on the split we got a call
from a number we didn't have saved. This guy on the other end
explained that he had seen us on a bus and that he wanted to meet with
U.S. Then he specifically asked to meet at our church. That was really
cool. We were able to meet with him on Friday and gave him a church
tour and ended up just teaching the first lesson! The spirit was so
strong! It was so cool! He is Catholic and he just isn't satisfied
with the Catholic Church so he chose to look into our church. He even
researched on lds.org! He is so cool.
This week we spent a lot of time lost. That was fun. I don't think
Sister Helmick thought it was as fun as I did, but I thought it was
fun. We got to see some really pretty parts of Herne. Ja we missed an
appointment, and ja we missed our service, but the member was really
understanding and we have service every other week so we will get
another opportunity to try to find this place. I think the best time
we were lost was when we were at Herne bahnhof and wanted to get to
the church. All we have to do is take a bus and it takes us basically
to the church. We got on a bus and I talked to this really cool guy
who gave me a German card game. Then sister Helmick was like "sister
Carroll we are getting off here." Turns out we took the right bus just
wrong Richtung. Sister Helmick felt really bad. I thought it was
awesome. And I got a cool game out of it! I also gave the man a Buch
Mormon. We tauscht.
Now to conference! It was so wonderful! Our ward was all going to
Dortmund to watch it with our stake so our district got together at
the Herne gemeindehaus to watch it. Me and sister Helmick got there
early and watched the women's session. Then we tried to watch the
Saturday morning session live, but the internet didn't like us so we
watched the women's session again with the  elders while sister
Helmick painted their faces. It was really fun. Sunday we all got to
the church and did studies together as a district. It was surprisingly
more effective than I thought it would be. Then we watched all the
sessions shown on Saturday including priesthood. We still need to find
time to watch the Sunday sessions. I think we are watching one during
district meeting on Tuesday. But what I saw was awesome! It was so
cool to see the new apostles get called. I can't wait to hear their
testimonies. I have heard they are way good. I loved how many of the
talks talked about how we can really talk to God. That we can ask him
anything and he will answer. This was something I knew but it was cool
to be reminded. And to be reminded that literally anything! I can
really have a conversation with God. I can ask and I can listen and he
will answer. I was reminded that perfect love is the best way to
teach. And that to be centered on Christ is the only way to really be
like Him. Just so many amazing gems from conference and I still have 2
sessions to watch! I can't wait!
I hope you all have a wonderful week! Thanks for being so awesome!
Don't forget that you are children of God and that he will answer you
and tell you what to watch out for. He loves you!
Ich liebe euch!
Sister Carroll

Us being lost. In the middle of nowhere too. :)

Me and sister Terry on our split. Both lessons we had that day were
with French guys. We thought French food was important for dinner.

Sister Helmick gets cold easily during studies. The heater wasn't good
enough for her.

Us Being lost

Us Being lost

The first night Of conference

Watching conference

Break between sessions

Birthday Week

This week was pretty good. Sister Helmick was feeling better so that
made it a lot better this week. Last Monday we went shopping. All
pday. Yep. I did find a toy store though and I made sis Helmick go
because I was done at looking at clothes.
Tuesday we had zone conference in Düsseldorf which was really fun
because I got to go back to my old zone. Plus zone conference was
really good. It was really spiritual.
Thanks for all the birthday stuff on Wednesday! It was really fun. I
loved the packages and pictures. We also left our apartment all day on
Wednesday so that was wonderful. We met with a less active who yelled
at me for not telling her hat it was my birthday beforehand. And
somehow Athi got our number and I was able to talk to her for a
little. It was a pretty good birthday.
We talked to some cool people this week. I got us really lost because
for some reason I got put in charge of finding directions to get to
places. I was asked by the relief society president what I did so
wrong to get transferred to Herne. I was asked by Germans why I would
choose to be in Herne. So ya it's been a pretty good week!
This week I was studying the final testimonies of the apostles who
past away. We have to give a spiritual thought at our ward fhe tonight
and we chose to talk about general conference. It is so close!!!!!!! I
love conference! I read elder Scotts last talk from last October
called make the exercise of faith your first priority. It is really
cool at the simple things he points out.
I promise I do exciting things. Today we played a cool dodge ball game
in Essen today. We are just waiting for investigators to come home
here in Herne, but we are still having lots of fun!
Ich liebe euch!
Sister Carroll

Herne!!!

So much happened this week ,but I don't remember all of it. It has
been a looooonnng week. I said a lot of goodbyes this week in Bonn. I
left Bonn. I had to pack my stuff and get all my stuff to Frankfurt
then back to Dortmund then eventually to Herne. It wouldn't have been
so bad except that the bus ride from Frankfurt to Dortmund was so
long! The bus was 20 min late and we got into Dortmund 2 hours late.
Then when we got there, Sister Pettit was there to pick me up instead
of Sister Helmick because Sister Helmick was sick and not allowed to
leave the apartment. So for my first days here in Herne I sat in the
apartment. At least it wasn't the hospital. And the apartment is
bigger than the Bonn apartment so that was also nice. What I have seen
of Herne is really pretty. Not in a Bonn pretty, but still pretty.
Lots and lots and lots of trees and green. Herne is lots smaller than
Bonn and there aren't as many people just out on the streets. We have
to go find them. The church building is really nice and big. The ward
is really nice and small. It was kind of sad sitting in church
yesterday, because they have this wonderful chapel and hardly anyone
was there. But it is a ward, not a branch. And I will just have to
find people to fill the beautiful chapel. The wars is really willing
to work with us too. I am excited to get to know them better.

I don't know if we really have anything else. We taught a family in
Arabic this weekend. Yes now I speak Arabic :) And we watched the
Testaments like 5 times and almost all the Mormon messages I have
downloaded on my iPad. I also read lots of conference talks. (Side
note: conference is in 2 weeks!!!!!!!!!) this week I read the Greatful
in any circumstance by president Uchtdorf again. I think I have shared
that before, but I really like it. I love how he talks about how we
will really be grateful IN our circumstances when we understand more
fully what Christ has done for us. Then we can be happy with whatever
we are given. It is so important to be happy. If you aren't happy life
is just miserable. And God wants us to be happy.

Hope you all have a wonderful week! Have a great time in Arizona!
Don't get too warm. It was weird seeing pictures of the boys in
swimsuits because it was defiantly pretty cold yesterday. I don't
understand weather outside of Arizona. But I love that it isn't hot
anymore! Ich liebe euch!
Liebe
Sister Carroll