Nov. 3, 2014

Hey familyy!

 Sounds like you had a fun Halloween. It's something that's just barely starting around here in Peru...most people say it's of the devil... We had fun last Pday though! We made pumpkin pie from scratch, with a bogus recipe haha. We were kind of just making things up as we went along. But it turned out really delicious. It was fun. We ate pumpkin pie, played the mummy wrap game, and carved pumpkins as a zone. I'm finally able to send pictures today, so get ready haha

Well this week was another week haha. We had a few miracles though and it was an eye opening week for me. 

President Archibald has been stressing on FINDING new investigators. After all there isn't any teaching until we find someone to teach. So we've been asked to come up with some creative ways to find people and introduce the gospel to them. So on Wednesday, literally all of our citas fell through and we decided THAT'S ENOUGH. So we went to the chapel, borrowed a small table, made some signs, bought some candy and went out to a busy street and started contacting people. We had a giant sign that said "who are the Mormons?" and some people started coming up to us. It was fun. We contacted a lot of people. Most live in the Elder's area, but it was still a good activity and it helped us get excited about finding other ways to contact people. 

One of our other finding ways is to teach Family Home Evening to people with little kids. We teach something super small, we teach the "if you have a frowny face" song and play don't eat pete. We found a family yesterday that just LOVED it. It was super cool. I contacted the dad with his daughters on Halloween night, and we went on Sunday to teach them. We gained their trust super fast and they were all laughing and singing and playing the game. It was super awesome. THEY invited us to come back tonight to teach them the Restoration. I'm hoping that they're a turning point for us! 

I hope you all realize just how important the Atonement is. I've been thinking about how that really is the focus of the entire Gospel. Everything we have is thanks to Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made for us. I know that our Savior loves every one of us. He has gone through everything we have gone through, and He sees us for our potential. Sometimes I feel like I'm failing and can't get to the point that He wants me to reach. Nevertheless, I feel the strength and comfort that He gives me on a daily basis to let me know that I AM enough, that HE LOVES ME, and that He's making me more than I could ever be on my own. I'm grateful for parents that have always taught me to trust in the Lord and obey His commandments. Thank you for helping me develop a relationship with my Savior.

I hope that you all have a wonderful week. I can't believe that yesterday marked an entire year in el campo misional. A year ago I met President Archibald and got shipped off to Caraz with Hermana Cueva. The time has flown by. I love you all!

<3 Hermana Carr 

Oct 27, 2014

Hey fammmillyy!!! 

Mom, it sounds like you're having some amazing experiences in the nursing program! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much! Haha Kelsie is such a ray of ssuunnsshhine. I'm glad her talk went so well! love yyouu!

TJ, I'm so excited you're playing volleyball! Sounds like a blast! I miss the Fall :( We don't really have fall here. It's getting warm and it's almost summer here. Love you dude!

Dad, I'm so sad you missed Kelsie's talk :( But I'm glad you got to listen to her report, and her mission president is awesome...his talk hit EVERYTHING I needed to hear at this point in my mission. Love you! 

Querido poco chancho...I hope you realize that name doesn't make any sense haha. sorry BYU is getting beat up in everything :( Are you wrestling AND playing basketball this year? Way to go with your grades!  Love you! 

Kacita, I hope all your tests go well this week! I'm so proud of you and everything you're doing in APUSH. I hope you do well on everything! I think it's cool you have a friend from Germany now too, you can connect a lot with Brett that way! Love you girl, and BE SAFE ON THE ROADDDSSS!!! 

Well we had a.....week. haha. Okay...Monday thru Saturday was just the worst...but Sunday came and we saw a lot of miracles. Hermana Gomez and I figured out that we spent about 35 hours in the street this week...walking, talking...but not teaching. It  was horrible. It was hot and we were tired and nothing happened. But we kept getting up each morning with the hope that we'd find somebody soon. We always spent so much time in the street...but we also always ended up finding someone to teach at the end of the day.

Then Sunday came...okay first off, Sunday was the ward primary program. It was seriously the cutest thing ever. It was even more disorganized than ours are hahaha, but I felt the spirit as the little kids bore their testimonies, and was amazed by how adult-ish some of them sounded as they gave their talks. It was super cute. 

In the afternoon we had two citas fall through, but we managed finding other people to teach, so that was good! Then we met a girl name Milagros that seriously is so much like Carmen! She was really receptive to what we taught and accepted a baptismal date! She's twenty and looks like someone I know from BYU haha. The spirit was so strong as we taught her. She doesn't participate in any religion right now, but she wants to make those changes in her life. Then at the end of the day we found a familiy of four that are really awesome and live really close to the chapel. We had a lesson with them at 9 so we were only able to teach them a short message about the family: proclamation and bear our testimonies of the Gospel...but they were super excited about what we were teaching and invited us to come back, they are so prepared.

I just keep praying that we're going to figure out the way to start baptizing in this area. It worries me a little bit because we're already halfway through the cambio and we haven't had a ton of progress here....but whatever happens will happen and I'm just going to keep moving forward with a smile on my face sharing the Gospel with anybody that's ready to listen. I'm determined to find families to baptize and I feel like I'm doing my part to make it happen. The Lord has humbled me in so many ways in this area, and I'm grateful for the lessons I'm learning about myself. 

I love you all. I'm so grateful for this Gospel and I'm grateful for the chance that I have to share it with the people of Peru. My testimony grows stronger every day as I learn to rely on the Atonement of my Savior. I know that this is His church. I know that this is HIS work. I know that I'm in HIS hands and that He is going to continue helping me to find success.

I love you and hope you have a Happy Halloween and wonderful week! We're going to attempt to make pumpkin pie and carve pumpkins today...so it should be a fun PDAY :) 

Hermana Carr   

Oct. 19, 2014


Dear Family:

I can't believe Kelsie's home....didn't I just drop her off at the MTC the other day? Man... a year and a half flies by in an instant. I'm glad that she's happy and home. haha thanks for giving her my picture, Mom! I'm glad that school's going well for you! I loved Grandpa's experience, and I'm glad that they were finally able to go to Hawaii! Awww, do you know how often I think about Greenbluff this time of year? This is my fourth fall that I haven't been able to go... I was just talking to Hermana Gomez about how this is my favorite time of the year October-December.... there's always such a special spirit in our house during that time and I've missed it so much... I miss our fall memories! Awww TJ, I hope he sang with a smile haha. We have our ward primary program this Sunday! My pensionist is the 1st Counselor, and she's a recent convert of 2 years, so she's freaking out about it haha. Thank you for sharing your comment about the Savior, Mom, I have an experience this week that I'm going to share with you guys all about that. Love you! 

Kacey, don't worrryyy! Everything's going to be fine. Just keep working hard. I'm proud of you with your APUSH essay! That's seriously awesome! I'm glad you had fun going to the movies with dad! Love you!  

TJ, sounds like you had an epic week! I'm glad you had fun playing. Did your teacher go on a trip to Africa? I miss you too! Love you! 

Goooooddd Morrnnninnng Jakers. Glad you had such an awesome week! 2nd on the all time list! That's seriously awesome! Sounds like things are going well for you! Love you!

Daddy, everything's going great here :) Still looking for some progressing investigators...but I'm happy and working hard. I'm glad you got to see Kelsie and that you're taking her riding, I'm sure it will be super fun! Uhhhh, I don't think I knew Sarah was pregnant!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS SARRRRAAHHHH!!!!!! Ahhh, they're going to have such a cute baby! Love you! 

 

Well...this was another week of SEARCHING... but we're working hard and staying happy. I think the Lord is just testing my faith, diligence...and patience. I can promise you though, that once again I'm learning a lot about the ENABLING power of the Atonement and growing very close to my Heavenly Father through this area. Each area is so different, and you have to learn to work in a totally different way than you had in your old area... but I'm adapting and I have an amazing companion that keeps my spirits up and helps remind me that we're doing our part in bettering our ward and searching for people that need the Gospel.

Two experiences I'd like to share this week...

First... normally as missionaries we work with something that's called UNKNOWN ADDRESSES...or something like that in English... and we have to search for less active members that are in a database of old information. Well our ward still doesn't know how to work with that list, and still hasn't given it to us...so we've started working with our ward directory. We've been randomly selecting names to use to talk to their neighbors and then go to their homes and ask for references....but I can promise you that the Spirit has really been helping in this...because almost every one of the families we select from the directory end up either being less active, or they don't live there anymore. The Lord's helping us kill two birds with one stone haha. 

Second, to hit on Mom's comment, this week we had a really inspirational moment. It was the end of the day and we were just about frustrated because it was 8:30 and we had only had 1 cita the entire day. We were searching for someone to teach...and thought that we'd just head to the house of the menos activos we've been working with. Well... then my companion had the impression that we needed to go knock on a random door a few blocks away... somehow I knew which house she wanted to knock on. We went and knocked and I was so surprised when I saw who answered the door... it was the first woman that I contacted when we arrived in this area. When we met her the first time in a store, she was super disinterested and didn't want anything to do with us. I tried many times to ask her for her information and invite her to learn about the Gospel, but she didn't accept...so that was that and we left. Well now..two months later...she's standing in front of me as I'm at her doorstep. I smiled at her and she explained that she remembered us perfectly....Ohhhh boyyy.... and reminded us that she is C.A.T.O.L.I.C.A. Oookkkk...well we start talking and then out of nowhere she starts sharing with us that her husband passed away two years ago and that through that experience she knows that God exists. She started crying as she told us how much she misses her husband. She said she never shares anything with the neighbors, but that she suddenly felt so comfortable with us. I was able to testify to her of the power of the Atonement, and share the Book of Mormon with her as I explained that it helped me a lot when someone close to me passed away. I explained to her that my situation was nowhere near what she was experiencing, but that I understood at least in part, and that I knew the Gospel of Christ could heal her. There was a strong spirit as the three of us stood there and tears filled my eyes. I gave her a huge hug and she held on tight. All of this was in the doorstep of a stranger's house...someone who I inicially was afraid to talk to because of a previous experience, but someone that really needs the Gospel. We're going to visit her this week and I know that this Gospel is exactly what she needs to bring hope into her life. It was a beautiful reminder to me that the Lord is near and knows His children, and that He often works through us to bring them to the Gospel.

I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm so happy to know that His Church is on the Earth today. I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that through Him all things can be made right, He can give us strength when we have none left to give, He can help us find happiness when we feel like giving up. I know that this Gospel can change lives, I know that families are forever through the blessings that come through the ordinances of the Priesthood. I'm so grateful for my friends and family that have served and completed missions, reminding me that my efforts aren't wasted and this is exactly what I need to be doing with my life at this time.

I love you all! I'm so glad Hermana Barnes is home and well :) I hope that you all have a wonderful week. You're constantly in my prayers <3

Hermana Carr  

Oct. 12, 2014

Dear familia:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! I hope you have a wonderful day! Thanks for everything that you do for me and for all that you've taught me growing up! 

Mom it sounds like you're having an amazing time in Sacred Heart. It's interesting, you and my friend Kelsie are both in that same unit right now, and both wrote me the same thing about how sacred that experience is. I want to see Meet the Mormons so bad! I'm glad that it was a good movie, I guess it will be one of the first to see when I get home! It's an awesome missionary tool. Thanks for the talk suggestion, I'm printing it out right now! mommm, stop making me trunky haha I still have SO much to do here, the time really isn't running out just yet! Love you! 

Kacey, I'm glad you are doing well in AP US! AND WE WON BATTLE OF THE BELL! That's seriously so awesome! Go Cats haha (because I've always had such school spirit :P ). Sounds like you're a social butterfly this year and having lots of fun with lots of different people. It makes me happy to hear all about your adventures! Love you! 

TJ, I saw a picture of our new goat! Is he cute? What did you build in the building competition? Sounds like you had a fun week! I love you buddy!

Jake, glad you got 7th in the race, that's awesome! Do you still have some races left or are you just focusing in basketball now? Love you dude! 

Daddy, HAPPY BIRTHDAY...AGAIN. I can't believe this is the fourth year I haven't been home for your special day...it's been a while since I've had mom's carrot cake haha. I really miss you and hope you know how much I'm thinking about you today. Thank you for everything you've done for you and for being the kind of dad that focuses on his kids and their personal happiness, The best lessons of the Gospel that I've learned have come from simple moments with you and mom. As President Eyring spoke on Sunday about his mother, I thought about both of you. My feelings are the same as his. I'm glad that you've had a good week and that the YM presidency is working hard for our stake. I'm so excited that Tyler and his family are going to be moving up in time for Christmas! It's going to be so awesome to have so many members of our family close! Love you Daddy! 

This week has been a good one. Humbling. But good. We're still working hard trying to find the Lord's chosen. I feel like the life lesson of my mission is just how little patience I had in the past. The Lord is constantly teaching me to be patient, humble, and to rely more on Him than on myself. He constantly leads me by the hand and reminds me that even when things aren't going my way...they ARE going HIS way and I just need to trust in His timing. We aren't having the most SUCCESS at this moment...but we're learning so many lessons, and I feel the Spirit constantly witnessessing to me that my Heavenly Father is proud of my efforts...so we move on, searching, finding, teaching...repeat. 

I found a quote that Sister Rogers sent me a while back...it's become something that's keeping me excited and helping me trust in the Lord "Seek to be personally converted, obey the rules of the mission, strive to have the spirit of the Lord in your life, and WORK HARD. These are things every missionary can do. If you do those things, I promise you in the name of the Lord and with the authority of my office, you are a success in His eyes." Elder Holland. 

This week we dropped Jose. We had to leave him because he isn't willing to pray and ask God if the things we teach are true, and he won't commit to being baptized. He doesn't want to rely on the Lord nor His will. We had a very spiritual lesson about Joseph Smith's first vision and the restoration, and how Joseph's prayer is a pattern for all truth-seekers. The Spirit was strong, and I invited Jose to pray on the spot and ask his Heavenly Father if this was true, and if he should get baptized. He refused to do so. So we closed with a very direct prayer. We had explained to him that we'd taught him everything we could, and that we couldn't help him more until he decided to pray to God and progress. He told us that when he finds his answer, he'll contact us. He still comes to church. He came to General Conference this weekend. 

We're still searching for families. 

We had a special experience with a menos activo family we're teaching. They've been sealed in the temple, they're a young family, but they haven't been active in three years. Nothing we seemed to teach them had an effect...until yesterday. We had one of the most powerful lessons teaching the Plan of Salvation, focusing on the Atonement and how we need to act NOW...how TODAY is the DAY of our REPENTANCE. We realized that this family didn't have a good grasp about what Jesus Christ did FOR THEM...personally. This is the biggest problem for people to accept the Gospel, many times people just don't understand who Jesus Christ really is. We were able to explain the Atonement and bear powerful testimony to them. You could see the change in them during the lesson as understanding came. Both had tears in their eyes. As we left, Brother Hernani told us that yes or YES they would be at churchon Sunday. We're making progress.

I love you all. I'm grateful for my mission and the lessons that I'm teaching as well as the lessons I'm learning. General Conference answered so many of my personal doubts and needs. I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God, and that the Apostles are as well. I know that the Gospel and church of Christ have been restored through Joseph Smith. I know that this is the Lord's church, that continuing revelation is real, and that if we follow our church leaders and the words that come from our Heavenly Father, we can return to His presence and find happiness and peace at this time in our lives.

Have a wonderful week,

Hermana Carr 

Missionary selfie-Hermana Gomez and me!

Saw Hermana Kim and Carmen at the mall

Oct. 6, 2014

Hey familllyyyy!

I'm so glad that General Conference was amazing (as always). I'm looking forward to this weekend when I'm going to be able to watch it. Mom, thanks for all your efforts and for getting things put together for me. Seriously, you're the best! I can't believe Kelsie's headed home, it freaks me out! Time is flying waayyyyy too fast. Give her a huge hug for me.

And I'm trying to send pictures...it's just my new area is a little boring and there aren't a lot of opportunities to take pics, but we took pics as a district and for our goodbye celebration for Elder Almazan haha, I'll send them today. LOVE YOU! 

TJ. Sounds like you had a lot of fun at the lego thing! And I'm so happy that you were able to watch General Conference and feel the Spirit. There's a special spirit when we get to listen to the Prophet and the Apostles. We're so blessed to have the Gospel in our lives. I miss you too buddy, I think about you and I talk about you all the time. But don't worry because when I come home it will be your birthday and I'll be there to spend time with you guys the whole time! Just keep being good for mom and dad :) . I love you! 

Dad, the General Authorities spoke in their own languages this time?! Don't you worry, there's nothing that can keep me from this faith now... I'm rooted in forever :) I'm so grateful for your examples as parents! Glad that Bolt is doing good and that the Barnes' are so excited, you'll have to let me know how her report goes.  Love you! PS. I miss pumpkin. I'm jealous of your pancakeeesss!

Jake, sorry you had a bad week, but seriously 9th in the whole city is awesome! Make this week a good one :) Love you!

Kacey, don't stress too much! This is the most intense year of high school, but you're going to do great! I still can't believe you're a junior... Just make sure you do everything in order...and read your scriptures before you start your homework. It's going to help you and you're going to feel a difference. Just drive TRANQUILA. Are you driving stick?! Just take deep breaths and say a little prayer before you leave each day. Everything is going to be ookkaayyy! Love ya!

Well, I don't have too much to report this week haha. This was a really weird week for us. We didn't have church on Sunday, nor did we have General Conference. This Sunday was election day in Peru, and it's required that all citizens vote, and nobody can have meetings that day...so we just spent Sunday like a normal day...working hard and walkinnnggg in the streets haha. 

I don't know why it was so hard to find people this week. We spent most of our days in the streets desperately knocking on doors, talking to people in the street. It was just really hard to find people that were willing and ready to listen to the Gospel. I don't know if it was just because it's election week, or what...but it's all good.

Our District meeting this week was hilarious. Okay the MEETING was very spiritual and awesome, but afterwards we had a little surprise for my Zone Leader, Elder Almazan. To put things in perspective, Elder Almazan is a trickster. He's constantly playing jokes on people and is super hilarious. He's finishing his mission and headed home today...so our zone surprised him with pizza......and raw eggs haha. There's a tradition here of smashing eggs in people's heads to celebrate. So we took a picture of all the elders with him in front...and they smashed eggs in his head. it was so unexpected, and hilarious! We were all dying of laughter.

Well.... sorry I'm not that exciting today. I'm learning a valuable lesson of PATIENCE and PERSERVERANCE these days. There's a quote from Elder Uchtdorf that defines things perfectly "Discipleship is a journey. We need refining lessons of the journey to craft our character and purify our hearts. By patiently walking in the path of discipleship, we demonstrate to ourselves the measure of our faith and our willingness to accept God's will rather than ours"

I love you and I love this work. I know that the Gospel is true and that this work is the most important thing I can do right now. I'm so grateful for the chance the Lord has given me to serve His children in Peru, for the people that I'm serving with, and for the trust that I'm gaining in myself and in my Heavenly Father. Kelsie wrote something SO true in her email about how our confidence in the Lord really grows, and it changes who we are.

I love each of you and I'm grateful for everything you do for me! Thank you for your prayers and support <3 

Love

Hermana Carr

Elder Almazon after the egg prank

Zona Los Olivos

September 29, 2014

Hey family!!!! Glad that everything is going well! MOM CONGRATS ON PASSING YOUR TEST! I knew you'd pass it just fine. I said a prayer for you right when you started haha. I'm glad you get to keep on moving forward with your studies! KACEY CONGRATS ON YOUR LICENSE! I knew you'd be able to get it! How's the driving alone going this week? Which car are you driving? Jake, sorry about your race...but there are always others and you're going to be able to get better! Just remember it's about having fun, not about winning! TJ glad you had fun at the carnival! Dad, say hi to Katherine Hyer if you see her! I can't believe she's home now!!!!! And also... I don't know any of the people you're talking about... I think I've been away from home for a few years haha. 

PS... WE ALL LAUGHED at the picture when Brett was dressed in his lederhosen. The elders got a kick out of it haha

Well this week was another week of WORK. We're working hard and coming home tired everyday. We were lucky enough to have training with President Archibald this week and I learned a lot from our training meeting. We focused on how every area is really "Ripe and ready to harvest" President Monson has said that every area in every mission in the world is ready to harvest if we just keep working hard and searching for people. President then taught us how to be "champions"...not winners..."champions". He talked to us about how we need to do what we do...and do it well. He said that it's not about winning, but is about having a fire in your heart that gets you up in the morning to work hard. He then asked what we want our family names to represent...right now...and what we want our children to be like. What do you want your future family to represent? He talked about how the things we do right now in the mission, and the lessons we learn... really are more for our future lives than for the here and now. Our mission will determine our future and the type of families we're going to have. It made me think a lot...and it made me think about how grateful and proud I am to be a CARR. 

Well...we're probably going to drop Hermano Jose. He comes to church, reads, keeps some commitments, but he absolutely refuses to pray to God, ask if these things are true, and be baptized. He's a little prideful and wants to figure things out on his own...but the Gospel doesn't work that way. He refuses to ask the Lord on this one, so we can't help him very much. 

We're constantly searching for new people to teach. I know that we're so close to being super successful! We found a family of four yesterday that is really awesome. I  think they're going to progress. I felt comfortable with them the moment I entered their house. They laughed at my jokes and we all just felt really good...and then to teach the spirit was so strong and THE DAD said that there has to be a reason that we contacted him the other day, and that he believes the Book of Mormon is going to give him the answers he's seeking. That made me so happy.

I hope you guys got to watch the Women's Conference! I watched it in Spanish, but it was awesome! This time I understood haha

Well...enjoy General Conference for me. I still have to wait until October 11 to watch it....

I LOVE YOU AND HOPE YOU HAVE AN AMAZING WEEK

Hermana Carr 

My district with President and Sister Archibald

Elders Almazan and Arnett with Hermana Gomez and me

September 22,2014

Hey family!

This week was a mix of a lot of different things. My companion got some hard news from home and we had a rough start to the week. A lot of our citas fell through and it was a little hard to get excited about finding new people. But we did it. We work really good together and we figures out how to help each other get excited about the work again and it worked. 

The sad news....Jose still feels too Catholic to accept to be baptized. Really, he doesn't feel like he got an answer to his prayers yet...so we don't have a baptism this Saturday...but he's progressing a lot and a light goes off in his head every time we teach new doctrine. He's recognizing that this is the true church and I know that he's going to get baptized this coming month. We're going to challenge him with a new date and help him out. He's a really great person. 

We had Stake Conference this week. It was AMAZING. Have you guys heard of Elder Calderon from Ecuador? Maybe not...but he's one of the funniest, most inspirational 70s that I've heard so far in my LIFE. We had an amazing Stake Conference, surprisingly it was the first in my mission. He gave a great talk about how fathers need to treat their wives and daughters better, and about how parents need to teach their children the principles of the Gospel through their EXAMPLES. He talked about how President Packer tells all of the general authorities that they need to see how they can treat their wives better and help them more. It is their primary responsibility to help their wives feel loved and appreciated. He said that we can ALWAYS do better. He also talked about how people's kids grow up and still go to tithing settlement because they went with their parents. He said that if we pay a full tithing always, we won't ever fall away from the church. I know that is true and I'm so grateful for the opportunity I've had to grow up in a household that keeps  the commandments of God and that I've been taught by your examples.

We found Leslie this week and her whole countenance has changed. Like I said she and her kids have been super sick the last couple of weeks and we haven't been able to help her progress, but we went to visit her yesterday and she bore testimony about how she feels so much better when she's around us and studying the things of the Gospel and she feels so much more at peace. She quickly accepted a new baptismal date and I'm sure that this time she's going to be baptized. 

We also found two families...TWO FAMILIES...that are MARRIED this week! They have a lot of potential to progress, and I'm super excited. I want to baptize families SO much. 

That was basically my week. PS...I love my district. Just thought I'd tell you that again. I finally feel like I'm in a group that cares about my success individually and our success as a district. I'm super excited to see the progress that we're going to have. 

I love you guys! I know this Gospel is true and that this work is the BEST thing I could be doing right now. I can't believe that this week I'm going to hit my year mark. Things are happening way too fast. 

Have an awesome week!

Hermana Carr