Feb. 9, 2015

Querida Familia, 

Mom, I love how every time you teach the lesson, it's the same lesson that we have in Sociedad de Socorro, it's such a testimony to me of the organization of the church and how everything is always connected. I love it. I hope you're surviving having all the kids to yourself! I'm glad Grandpa and Grandma came over for a while to be with you! And thank you for signing me up for everything and getting things figured out. TJ, great job with your Arrow of Light!!!! I'm so proud of you and I loved the picture! Jake, congrats on your new calling. I hope you realize how much the Lord trusts you right now with that. It's funny because I was thinking about you the other day when I was reading an old conference talk from a Priesthood session. A general authority was talking about a deacons quorum president that felt like he couldn't fulfill his responsibilities...his bishop reminded him that he was one of 4 people acting with priesthood keys in the ward. Then the deacon figured out how to help his quorum and fulfill his responsibilities...he had a quorum of 5 people and at the end he had 12 people in his quorum! The Lord's trusting you right now to be a light and help to everyone in the ward, and I know you'll do a great job magnifying your priesthood. TJ, don't worry, I'll pray for baby Donivan! 

This was another very special week for us. I just love Hermana Alonso so much, we're waiting for cambios right now and we're afraid she might be leaving me...but I'm grateful for the six weeks I was able to have with her. She's taught me SO much. 

On Tuesday... we were with the P.family.... they had some problems with their marriage and refused to talk to each other...with the magical convincing skills of Hermana Alonso we were able to get both of them together and talk things out. By the end of it the upset couple were hugging and holding hands and told us that they would do everything they can to find out if the gospel is true and get baptized on the 28th. Please keep them in your prayers! They're such sweet people. They humbled us this week by surprising us with gifts. They gave me a pair of turquois shoes... I couldn't believe it, and I didn't know how to respond. I just feel so much love for them, and they recognize that we're helping their family, even though they still don't exactly understand HOW. 

This week Hermano J. got baptized. I'm sure I've talked about J. before. I'm just SO amazed by the changes he's made in his life to embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we met him... he was a depressed widower who'd found solace in cigars, alcohol and casinos. One of those ¨rough around the edges¨ kind of men, but seriously one of the most noble people I've met in my life. Every time we invited him to do something, whether it was to come to church or live the Word of Wisdom...he did it. He has so many hopes to help his wife, and as he comes to better understand obra vicaria, I know that he's going to find even MORE joy than he already feels. When he came to his baptism, he had cut his hair, and bought dress pants and a button up shirt. He looked so ELEGANTE:.. in the words of Hermana Alonso haha. When we saw him we both let out an audible WOW. When he gave his testimonio, wow.... he was so emotional and the spirit was SO strong during his baptism. We're working hard with Hermano J. and I know that he's going to be a rock solid convert. 

HERMANA ALONSO IS STAYYYYIIIINNNGGG WITH MEEEEE!!!! Just found out about cambios...we might be crying de alegría hahha. 

Wellllp that was my week in a nutshell! Pray that we find more people that are prepared for the Gospel, because we're planning on baptizing hasta el fin, there are SO many people waiting for the Gospel here, we just have to find them! 

I love you all and hope you have a wonderful week,

Hermana Carr 

Feb. 2, 2015

Hola Familia!

Sounds like you're all having a great week. Thanks for signing me up for classes and getting everything worked out for me, I really appreciate it. 

 Jake, good luck with basketball! I'm sure you're the ALL STAR of your team! TJ congrats on your arrow of light! 

This was another awesome week with Hermana Alonso. I seriously love how much we're progressing together! She's an amazing missionary and I'm learning a lot. 

More than anything, I'm just so happy for the S. family this week! I already told you all about what happened last weekend...If you saw them now you'd think they were a completely different couple. Seriously. On Thursday, they were the FIRST ones at the chapel, waiting for us to arrive. Hna Alonso, Hna Lily (my pensionist) and I sang Come Follow Me.... they made me have a solo and I was super nervous, but it turned out fine. The spirit was so strong, especially when Maria bore her testimony. I felt soooo blessed in that moment to see how that family has progressed in the Gospel. 

We're still working with J. and M.... they each have unique challenges but I'm positive that they'll get baptized. Please just pray for them.

This week, we also came in contact with a family that we visited twice at the beginning of the transfer. For some reason or another we lost contact with them for over a month. Well, the other day, the mom, J., ran into us in the street and asked us to come visit the family. We went to visit and found out that they're in debt and working double. We gave them the promises of the Sabbath day and invited them to come to church and not work on Sunday. They came, and they absolutely loved it. They've gone to tons of different churches searching for the truth. They loved church so much that they invited us over for lunch. Since they're investigators, we couldn't turn them down and Jenny cooks REALLY well. We were so happy to be with them! They accepted a baptismal date for the 28th...so just pray for them too. We want to help this gorgeous family of four! J. also told me that the first night when we visited them and had a Noche de Hogar, is something that they've never forgotten as a family...that they absolutely love us for bringing they're family closer together. 

I love Barrio Pedro Beltran and I love my comp, I love this work! I've learned so much in this cambio and it's flown by. I can't believe we're starting week six right now! 

Love you guys and hope you have an amazing week! Thanks for all your support and your prayers,

Hermana Carr 

Jan. 25, 2015

Querida Familia,

Wow. What a miraculous week we've had. Every week the Lord surprises me more and more by how much He trusts us as missionaries. I've always had so much faith in Him, but it's been amazing to witness His power in changing and healing families and individuals. 

This week I had a work visit with Hermana Kim. It was fun to be reunited with her for a little bit. 

On Wednesday we had a cool experience. We went to visit an investigator of Hna Alonso that we've been trying to help. K. was supposed to get baptized a month ago...but didn't. We went and had a really inspired discussion with her. We realized that she hadn't received a personal witness of the Gospel and still wasn't sure how to recognize an answer. We were able to explain it to her. On Friday we went back and she told us that she had received an answer and was ready to get baptized. It was a sweet miracle. 

Thursday we had interviews with President Archibald. It was the most positive, uplifting interview I've had in all of my mission. I was surprised by how much he talked to me about home, and  the things that I can do to make the most of the time left. Something that I liked that he said was that ¨At the end of your mission, you're going to wish you could have done more...but you can't. We all have that feeling, it's part of being Celestial Beings living in a telestial world. The Lord will be happy with your sacrifice¨. He also reminded me that when I come home I should come as the person I've BECOME, and I don't have to go back to who I was. I loved that. I feel so blessed to have all of my mission experiences. I'm definitely not the same person that got on a plane 16 months ago. 

Thursday night we were supposed to have a cita with D. and M.. We were in shock when we called M. and she said she wasn't in town. That was odd. We found out later that she ran away from home with her son S.. D. was devastated.  He told us that he had been praying and reading the  Book of Mormon without stopping. We don't know what happened...but D. called us on Saturday and said that M. was coming Sunday morning to pick up her stuff and leave for good. We were so scared but we knew we needed to intervene. We showed up Sunday morning right when she showed up. We sat them down...not knowing at all what we were going to say. (We were lucky because this Sunday we had Stake Conf. and it didn't start until 11). I was so sad to see them there. M. was firm in her decision to leave. We talked with them for an hour...then we stepped off for a minute to let them talk alone. We came back and M. said that she had made a decision and had to stick with it. We hugged her goodbye...feeling disappointed but not defeated. She hugged Hermana Alonso like normal..then she came to hug me. When she hugged me it was like something melted in her heart...and mine. .. I don't know how to describe it...but as I hugged her she started to cry and wouldn't let me go. Hermana Alonso told me that M. in that moment felt like she was receiving a hug from Christ. We left for the Conference...and at 1pm we received a text from D.d saying ¨Hermanas, I adore you. Don't call M., she's coming back home TODAY. Thank you, Thank you¨  We called them at night and they were together at home. Today... the Lord used to me to save a marriage that was breaking apart. I'm amazed by everything He does.   

 We're also teaching M.. The sweetest girl that's older brother and boyfriend are members of the church. Her boyfriend is inactive but he wants to come back to church, so they're both in the process together. Love it! 

 

Also, if you guys could pray for J....he's the widower we're teaching that has some problems with the word of wisdom. He's a great man and he's trying hard to find the truth, but I think bad habits sometimes get the best of him. 

So pray hard for everyone

I love you and I'm so grateful for you! 

Hermana Carr 

Jan 18, 2015

Querida Familia Carr, 

I'm so glad that my package got to you guys! I was a little worried that it wouldn't make it haha. I'm glad you liked the keychains! I'm glad you like the pamphlet... now you can get to know all the missionaries that I talk about haha. Awww I'm so happy for Vanessa!!!! I'll definitely try to make it up for her reception when she gets married! Kacey, good luck with your finals! I'm glad you all like your keychains! Jake you should learn to love scouts...it's going to teach you a lot of useful stuff! Good luck with your math finals! TJ you're welcome, I knew you'd like the whistle!!! Dad, I'm glad Kacey's doing a good job for you...she's definitely the biggest animal lover in our family! Glad you liked the package! Love you all. 

This was an interesting week for us. Oh man, every week we have great experiences, and some disappointments as well. I've never worked as hard, nor seen as much success as I am in these weeks. I'm really excited because we have a lot of people with a lot of potential, and every week we're meeting more people that have family members in the church. 

The sad news of the week... our "miracle baptism", C..... didn't get baptized. Everything was going fine, she passed her interview, she  told us she was excited about having an eternal family and a ton of stuff... but I always felt like she was going to flake. We showed up to her house to go to the baptism, and she absolutely refused to go. She said she didn't want to get baptized...basically it's because she doesn't want to live the commandments... it's not just because she's afraid of water. We had a really sad, hard meeting with her and her husband. Her husband was super sad too, all he wants is to get sealed in the temple. 

I'm just going to rave about M. and D. S. for a little bit, because I love them. D. and M. are progressing a ton. They're going to get baptized on the 31st! They love coming to church and every time we come to their house they tell us about how different life has been since we showed up and how much the Gospel is helping them out. They both are developing really strong testimonies of the Gospel and of the Book of Mormon. We taught them the word of wisdom this week, and they gave up smoking, drinking, and coffee on the spot. M. is from the Selva, and there they drink coffee every day of their life, including when they're babies...but she gave it up! They have so much faith. We taught them the plan of Salvation and they're excited to be able to go to the temple. I love them so much, they're going to be great leaders in the  church. 

Sunday was cool, we had 10 investigators show up to church! It was a lot to handle for two missionaries solos in a ward! But it was fantastic. We're working hard with the B. family...please pray for them...it's just hard because we can only see them on Sundays. We want to help them so badly to be baptized as a family and sealed in the temple. 

Things are going well! I love my area. I love the members in our ward. I love my comp. I love our investigators. I feel useful here and I love it! And this week I get to do a work visit with Hermana Kim! I'm excited!

I love you guys so much. Thank you for all that you do and all of your support! You're the best. 

Hermana Carrrrrrrrrooo...Caren...Carla.....Carr. (Nobody ever calls me Hermana Carr.... I always have some letter attached to me name haha) 

Jan. 12, 2015

Hey family!

I am SO much happier... the moment I came to Ventanilla I knew this is where I'm supposed to finish the mish. 

This was another great week with Hermana Alonso! I forgot to tell you she's from Honduras. She's just hilarious and a super missionary. She's the most successful sister missionary we have in the mission right now, and so it's obvious that I'm learning A TON from her. She's awesome. 

On Monday, we got permission to go to Plaza Norte, a mall...to buy shoes, and we got to eat at CHILE'S !!! We were stoked, and took pictures haha. We also found a Cinnabon!! It was a fun day...and mom I found a special surprise for you too when I get home! 

The rest of the week went by so fast, but it was fantastic. I had a work visit with Hermana Jimenez. We found a lot of new people to teach, we'll see if some of them progress.

I'm most excited about the S.family right now. M. and D.  I think I wrote about them last week...but they are just the most amazing couple. They both have so many desires to change, and commit to everything we invite them to do. They love coming to church, and they truly ANALYZE the scriptures...it's super cool to see their progress and their commitment to being baptized. On Sunday during Sunday School, David gave a small testimony about how he feels when he comes the church and since we've come to his home, it was really special for us to be there. 

We also had a miracle this week. Hermana Alonso remembered about a girl that almost got baptized...literally in the baptismal font, but got scared of the water and didn't get baptized. We decided to go visit her. She accepted the invitation to be baptized this Saturday. Neither of us had ever taught her before, Hermana Alonso went by one time....but that was it. We had no idea that all the missionaries before us had tried to visit C., and that she never accepted to be baptized...but with us we hardly had to say anything for her to accept. 

Please pray for the B. family, the family of four that we found last week. They're really great and have all the desires to progress, but the problem is both of the parents work from early in the morning until 12am (pretty typical in Peru), and so we can only see them on weekends. It's hard when we can't have daily contact with them or visit them during the week. But they're a great family and I have faith that they'll get baptized. 

I'm kind of freaking out about the time crunch...but I'm not even close to being trunky, DON'T YOU WORRY haha. I'm just sad. Yesterday Hermana Alonso and I had to give talks, and in her talk she said something like... there comes a point in the mission where every day more... is one day less... and it's painful. That's basically how I feel. I LOVE the people of Peru. I LOVE the Gospel. I LOVE being able to share it every day. It's been an amazing experience to see how the Lord has used us as instruments in His hands. This mission is such a blessing for me...thank you for supporting me in my decision to serve and for helping me with EVERYTHING. I love you guys.

I love you and hope you have a great week!

Hermana Carr 

Me and Hermana A. with frozen lemonade

We found CINNABON!!!

Jan. 5, 2015

Querida Familia,

Feliz Año Nuevo!!! It sounds like you guys had a great new years with Julian and Sheri, Jake I'm sorry you were sick! Also shoutout to the Colbert Ward young men that sent me a Christmas Card, and to Kelsie Barnes for her Christmas card. So thoughtful!

Mom and Kacey, good luck with your tests! Brett, I LOVE your Christmas Card!!! 

Soooo......TRANSFERS.

I'm now serving in Pedro Beltran in Zone Ventanilla. And I'm serving with the wonnnderful Hermana Alonso!!!! I'm soooo excited. We have the most beautiful area! Seriously, it's a gorgeous neighborhood with pretty parks and sometimes I feel like I'm in the states. There are a ton of families here, my apartment is beautiful, and I'm just super stoked. 

This was a hectic week for us. I had THREE meetings this week. The first, Transfers...which included a STL meeting. Wednesday we had Consejo de la Mision (Hermana Archibald cooked us lunch, YUM!), and Friday Multizona. All of them lasted ALL DAY LONG so our work hours were cut down a little bit. 

New year's we fell asleep haha. The fireworks woke us up for a minute but we were both sooo tired we only watched them for a minute them went back to bed haha.

New Year's Day we contacted an amazing family. Two MARRIED parents and their two teenage daughters. They're all so adorable. We had a Noche de Hogar with them and they were excited about coming to church on Sunday. The best part is, THEY CAME. AND THEY LOVED IT. The dad, Martin, knew a ton of people there in the ward... and family that recently got baptized is also a great friend of their family. It was awesome to see how comfortable they were to be there. Sunday night we taught them the Restoration and I felt the Spirit throughout the lesson. They accepted to work with us to know if this is true and to be baptized in Febuary. Keep the B. family in your prayers. They're amazing people!

This week we also found an amazing couple, David and Maria. They just barely moved into town this week, and Hermana Alonso and her old companion contacted the family their first day here. We went to have a first lesson with them and the husband told us all about how they're trying to start from scratch and rebuild their lives. He said that's why invited us to his home. We taught the Restoration and the husband said that he was willing to keep whatever commitment that would bring them this peace and unity in their home. They came to church, participated, loved it...and they will be getting baptized at the end of the month. 

The people in this area are so friendly. My pensionist is the funniest, kindest lady and she doesn't mind that I don't eat rice and potatoes! YAY Mamá Lily! I'm super excited about these next two transfers... I know that we're going to see amazing progress, because I already feel really comfortable and unified with Hermana Alonso...and she has an amazing teaching style and just way of being.

It's a BRAND NEW YEARRRRR. 

Love you all,

Hermana Carr 

The new sister training leaders

Dec. 28, 2014

Querida Familia,

I hope you had an amazzzinng Christmas and that you enjoyed our skype time as much as I did. Seriously, the time flew by like never before...there was so much I wanted to say and tell you guys but I guess we'll have time soon enough! Thanks for the Christmas gifts and for just making me smile on Christmas. It was the best gift just to talk to you (we were only missing Brett!) 

This was an amazing Christmas week. So much better than last year. I feel like we saw some miracles this week and I felt the spirit stronger than I have in a while on various occasions throughout the week.

Something I loved was that on Christmas Eve, Hermana Aliaga had the idea to sing Christmas carols in the hospital next to our church building as a district. So before heading to the bishop's house for dinner, we went to the hospital. It was kind of a fiasco trying to get in haha. There was a very grumpy security guard ( i understand he was there on Christmas) that told us that we could only enter one at a time to ask permission...obviously we can't separate ourselves. So an hermano that lives nearby came and asked permission. He was in there for a good 10 minutes, and we were getting a little worried. Then suddenly he came back with a big smiley secuirty guard that shouted "where's my Christmas Choir?!" haha he was so cool! He led us in and were able to sing in all the hospital wards that had people. It was a really special experience to greet each of them, to sing for them and wish them a Merry Christmas. Many were so grateful and hugged us and it was amazing. My favorite part was when we sang for the moms with their newborn babies. There was a special spirit in the room as we sang Away In A Manger and all the babies were sleeping! We left feeling so happy and I know that they appreciated it as well. Then we went to the bishop's had had a fun, simple Christmas dinner. It was the best! Then we went home and atmidnight went off the "deer park on steroids" firework show haha. It was great Christmas...the best part was on Christmas day when I got to see you guys!!! 

Then later this week we had something really cool happen. The other night we were up in the hills. You know how I told you guys that we don't go very high up because almost everyone that lives there isn't married? Well......we were on the hill ready to visit one of our contacts...when a little girl came up to us and said hi. She's probably 8yrs old. We said hi to her and asked where her parents were. She explained to us that she only lives with her mom, then pointed to a lady walking up the path with a giant piece of plywood on her back. We ran up to her and offered to help, and carried the plywood...up...and up...and up...the path got narrower...and narrower...and me and my fear of heights started freaking out....and up...and up...and wow. We finally got to a tiny little house at the point of one of the lower cerros. As we arrived...like 7 kids ran out of the house, and some adults. We found out that they were all part of this lady's family. She has 10 kids, and one of her daughters is MARRIED and her husband was HOME. So we had a family home evening with them, and all of them were laughing at my jokes and there was just a really special spirit there. It was awesome. We're headed back and they all have desires to learn about the Gospel and come to church... I know that the Lord works through simple means and simple service for us to accomplish His work...because we NEVER would have showed up to that house on our own. 

This week, a young brother in our ward passed away of a heart attack. It was really sad. He has a young family. His sister always accompanies us. Sunday was his funeral. He had his family come from all over Lima, Huaraz, and the USA. His daughter (6) and son (4) gave the prayers. I was asked to play the piano for the meeting. There was a very special spirit as the family sang If you could high to Kolob and Come thou Fount. They know that they are an eternal family. I'm so grateful for that truth, I can't imagine what life would be like without that knowledge. I'm grateful for the Savior and for the Restoration of the Gospel that have allowed us to have this precious gift. 

I love you and I hope that you had an amazing Christmas. I hope that the start of this new year is great for everyone. It's weird to think that in 12 short weeks I'll be headed there with you...buuutttttt I'm trying to keep that out of my head haha. It's just weird as I've been setting 2015 goals that not all of my goals are focused on ths mission. 

I love you guys!!!! HAAPPPYYYYY NEEWWW YEEARRRRRRR!!!

Hermana Carr 

It might be cold in Spokane,but is is hot enough for ice cream down here!