March 10, 2014

BBBBRRREEEETTTTT!!!! OH. MY. GOSH. I seriously can't believe YOU ARE GoinG TO GERMANY/AUSTRIA/SWITZERLAND/LICHTENSTEIN/ITALY. AND the England CCM?! You're practically gonna see all of Europe (all the cool parts at least!) What the heck, your mission is SO freaking cool! And it looks like your German isn't going to waste after all! Seriously, I freaked out when I read your letter and watched your video. I am so excited for you. You are going to be such an amazing missionary there and have so many experiences. I already know our missions are going to be sooo different from each other, but I know that you're also going to have a really amazing experience there. It's going to be a challenge, but at least you'll have pretty scenery and grocery stores! And congrats on DECA, 6th in state is awesome! Wow you don't have much time to prepare! How did you get so lucky? You already have your passport and everything, right? AHH I'm SO excited for you right now!!!! Love you, you're going to be an AWESOME missionary. 

Mom, look, you've got two kids leaving the country living in TOTALLY different places. I don't think that Brett's mission could be more opposite of mine, but that's so awesome. It's going to be so fun to compare experiences. Let's plan on Peru and the Alps then, I'm totally down for that. I can be our translator here, and Brett can be in Germany! Sweet, let's go! 

Wow you've got a TON going on, but all things are super exciting and I'm so happy for our home. We have a lot of amazing miracles happening for our family! Love you Momma!

Jake, glad you had an awesome week! What was your youth fireside about? Love you!!!

TJ! How cool you got to work on a bike, and I love the picture of your new glasses and your bedhead hair haha. It's awesome! Love you!

Kace, sorry it's been hectic but just keep trudging on. Before you know it, it's going to be Summer again!!! Love you babe! 

Dad! Seriously, I don't think the missions could be any different, but how cool!! Haha yeah, we're both in pretty sweet missions! Wow, it sounds like the fireside was awesome, and Sister Smith's talk sounds fantastic. Hermana Cueva told me a little bit about her final interview with president...yep all about marriage haha. I'm glad work is still going strong, that's fantastic to hear.Thanks Daddy, I'm so lucky to be your kid. Seriously. Love you.

OKAY. Once again. BRETT. AHHHHH! Seriously, I'm so excited for you! You are going to be such an amazing missionary and do a world of good in all of those little countries! I'm so amazed, so excited, so jealous, but yeah...you're mission is going to be awesome. You should call up Kyle to get an idea of what it's going to be like. Awesome. So excited.

This. week. was. nuts. Seriously. Monday we went to Huaraz as a district just to get some good lunch and go to the giant artisan market. It was really fun but we all wanted to go to the lake...pretty sure everyone is there right now and I'm mad haha. But it's all good. Tuesday we had a good day of hard work...until we got a phone call at 4 in the afternoon saying that BOTH OF US were headed to Lima, Wednesday at 12. WHATTT?! We had NO warning and Hermana Cueva was freaking out, and so was I, because we were BOTH coming to Lima. Either way, we kept on working until 8. We found a MARRIED couple with 5 kids, and I'm just praying that my new comp and I can find them again and teach them more. They are really great people and I think that they can progress. We came home, and H. Cueva said her goodbyes to Hermana Flor's family and Hermana Juana. Then we packed and talked and cleaned and blasted music until two in the morning.

We woke up the next day and headed to the combis with all of Cuevita's things and my duffel bag. We made it to Huaraz, then headed to Lima. Ew. To be stuck in a bus for 8 hours ALL. DAY. LONG. is a terrible thing. We made it that night and then Hermana Cueva and I talked with the President for a while in the offices. He showed us his board of pictures in his office and told us he has the same one in his house where he does cambios. My picture was solo in the Caraz part of the board. He kept teasing that there were five new sisters coming in and asking Hermana Cueva if I'm ready to train haha. Then Hermana Cueva had her interview and I talked to the office elders. Then Hermana D and Hermana J came to pick us up to take us back to their house. Hermana Cueva talked to President Archibald about me, and he told her that I probably won't be training this time because of where I'm at. He says that he doesn't want to send new kids to my zone anymore because it's just really rough, and that unless the Lord REALLY wants it, he isn't going to send me with a newbie back to the middle of nowhere. That took a lot of pressure off and now I'm pretty calm about cambios tomorrow (So yeah, I don't know who my new companion is still). 

Thursday Hermana Cueva left for her special 'goodbye day' with the President and the other Elders that are going home. I was in a trio with D and J and they are seriously the coolest girls. Hermana D is from South Jordan and Hermana J is from Mexico City. They are really hilarious and fun to work with. We had SHWARMA for lunch. It was divine and super cool, because the men that own the restaurant are from India. Some speak really good Spanish, others speak really good English, and it was really cool to talk to them and share a little about the gospel with them. I kept thinking about how Mom said I always used to pray that I would go on my mission to India...I guess that was my little taste of what that mission would be like. Lots of people that practice Islam and Hindu and don't know much about the Savior...that would be a hard mission, but really cool. It was an awesome experience.

Friday we went to a training with President Archibald which was really cool. He was talking about the same points from the training I had in Huaraz, but there were different things that I learned this time and it was really cool. We got PAPA JOHNS for Lunch! I'm talking about food a lot, but you have to understand how amazing that is, NO PAPAS, NO ARROZ! Then Hermana Cueva and I contacted in the evening for the Hermanas while they had their interview. 

Saturday we decided to have a contacting activity. A free lemonade stand! It was really fun to prep things and to go to the market and contact people that way. I don't know how successful we actually were, but it was really fun and I got to hold a baby monkey! Yay for cool days!

Yesterday was really great and really hard. We went to church and it was fantastic, I felt the spirit so strong in Sacrament meeting and then we went on splits in the sister's area. That night we packed up our bags and went back to the offices. There was another sister going home for medical reasons so I'm now her companion's companion---hermana leva, she's sooo cool. She's from Peru but she studied at BYU for three years! She's really sweet. Hermana Cueva and I said goodbye at the offices. She bought me an amazing Christmas ornament from incamarket...that fool, I gave her money to buy something for HERSELF. She's such a thoughtful person. I've learned so much from Hermana Cueva. I love her with all my heart and I can't tell you how sad I am to see her go. We've developed such an amazing friendship and I'm sad because we're finally at that point where we understand eachother and just get along so well. But I'm looking forward to finding out what my new companion is like, and for all of our new adventures together.

I love you familly! So excited for you Brett! Have an awesome week <3 Oh and congrats to Peter on his mission call!

Hermana Carr 

PS: SHOUT OUT TO SISTER SHERMAN AND LEO SOSA for their awesome letters, totally made my week. and MEGA SHOUTOUT to Aunt Liberty! Seriously, thank you so much for my package. You made my whole month with all of that good stuff. Everything I wanted was in that package and it made me so happy. You're the best! 

Baby Monkey--How cool is that!

Last picture together

Us with O

Our impromptu lemonade stand