Vivo En Peru: Sister Stevie Carr

June 16, 2014

Dear Family-

Wow. I seriously can't believe how fast time is flying. Brett, how the heck are you already leaving for your mission?! Didn't you just barely get your call?!

Momma, thanks for raising such good kids. I hope you can see the impact that Brett's made for so many people, and FOR GOOD. And you're allowed to take a lot of credit for that...being his mom and all. I'm so glad that the Wikas came to church, I'm sure that they felt the Spirit there. Looks like it was fun to have Julian's family come up, and it was cool of the Tracy family to come too. Brett's going to make it just fine, just remember he's probably going to be with tons of other 18 year olds that haven't left home before...they'll figure it out haha. Thanks Momma, Hermana Kim is seriously the best. We work so well together.

TJ, glad your leg is feeling a little better! I hope it keeps on getting better! Which room are you getting? Is Jake moving into Brett's room or are you?

Daddy, Love the temple pic. You guys all look great! I'm so glad the spirit was strong in Brett's farewell and that Jake and Spencer are good friends now. Thanks for the scriptures, I'm printing out the references and I'm going to use them in my studies this week. Hahaha every time we sing Called to Serve I laugh because I think of you singing that part. I love you Daddy, I hope your fathers day was great.

Jake, I don't think there was a single word of Spanish in there, but thanks for trying bahahaa. Sounds like you had a fun time at Silverwood. What was your speech about? Sounds like you and Spencer are becoming awesome friends, I love it!

Kacey, glad you get to have a fun, careless summer now! Have so much fun at work and read some good books for me! You're going to be the oldest in the house now, so help mom and dad a ton okay?!

Brett, I seriously can't believe you're headed out!!! I'm glad you feel ready, that definitely means it's time to head out. What did you give your farewell talk on? I think it's funny how the Lord surprises us with the way life pans out, I never in a million years thought I'd be a missionary, and I really didn't think I would be one before you... I'm glad that we're going to be able to have this experience together though. Seriously the Lord knows us so well, and I think He knew that we'd learn so much more if we served at the same time. You're going to be an awesome missionary Elder Carr, I can already see you changing the lives of ALL of Europe. I love you tons.

This was an interesting week. Well let's be honest I was humbled in a lot of ways and it hurt...but I'm doing better haha. After the Hermana Carr smash down...we had a good week.

Our investigator C. is the bomb.com. Seriously, she's the coolest. When she says YES to something, she sticks with her decision. We taught her the Word of Wisdom the day before she had to go to a work party where everyone was drinking. She denied all of her favorite drinks and even with the peer pressure she was able to keep from drinking because she knew it was wrong. Luckily she had some LDS friends there with her and they sat in a corner and had a great time drinking their Inca colas. She comes to every activity, every baptism, and hasn't missed a Sunday...despite the business of her life she's making the Gospel a priority and it's beautiful to see how it's changing her life.

We went to visit E. to see what her desire is about the Gospel, because she just hasn't been keeping her commitments...I was afraid that we were going to have to drop her. We showed up on Wednesday night and I realized that the fault was really ours. We hadn't taught her well enough. She was confused about the requirements for getting baptized and she didn't take her decision very seriously. So we helped her to understand the importance of what we ask her to do and of the decision of being baptized and how to recognize her answer. We read in Moroni 10 and she told us that all of the sudden she just got really warm. I explained to her that it was the spirit. It was a really spiritual lesson and she, L. and S. committed to coming to church.

Sunday I was playing the piano in Sacrament, which is right next to a window. During the Sacrament I was looking out the window just thinking about if the Lord was proud of me and what we are doing, and trying to figure out what I need to change. Then suddenly out of the corner of my eye, I SAW R!!! L's husband! Followed by L., their three kids, and E with her "friend". It was so fantastic! They stayed all three hours, R. participated in everything. I can't wait until we find him again to talk to him about being baptized.

Well it was a good week. More than anything Brett, I just want to tell you that what you're getting into is going to be the hardest, sweetest, most important time of your life so far. You're going to learn things you never knew, have experiences you couldn't have had anywhere else, and you'll grow closer to the Savior than you ever imagined was possible. Before you go, make sure Dad gives you a Father's Blessing. When you get there, make some goals for your mission in every aspect of the work. Remember that your responsibility is to BAPTIZE, RETAIN, and REACTIVATE...and that when you BAPTIZE, you keep people active and bring people back to church. Learn to LOVE the people and the good parts of their culture and BE OBEDIENT. Seriously, just do it. You're going to have the temptation to do stupid things that don't seem like a big deal, but when you decide to be exactly obedient, that's when the real miracles start. I love you brudder. Seriously you've been such an awesome example to me in my life and I know that you are going to change the lives of so many people. I'm sure your German will get so good that people will think you're from there (you already look like you're a German, so just work on that accent haha)

I LOVE YOU BRETT! BE SO SAFE. WORK HARD. HAVE FUN. STRIVE FOR THE SPIRIT. This is the work of the Lord. It isn't the work of anybody else. The moment you get set apart...you covenant to be the Lord's servant and representative. You're going to wear the name of our family on your name badge and the name of our Savior. Always remember that. Even when you don't think people are looking, the first thing they notice are the words "Elder CARR and Jesus Christ". Keep that in mind. I know you'll make the family, and more importantly, the Lord, very proud.

Mom and Dad, more Mom than anything, don't be saddddddd! I know the family jokester is leaving the house for the first time, but just remember that he's doing the greatest thing he can possibly do with his life at this time. So many more blessings are going to come to our family for this.

I love each of you so much. I hope that you have a wonderful week. Brett have a safe flight. I love you.

Con todo mi amor,

Hermana Carr