Week 53: How Can We Be Extraordinary Missionaries?

Hey everyone! :)

Another week has come and gone. Actually, an entire year has come and gone!! Where in the world did the time go? I feel as if I just left home. The Lord has blessed me with such great opportunities to serve His children in the past 12 months. I have learned so much, especially about myself. I have been able to reevaluate myself, and see where I stand in this great Gospel. I have been able to learn and grow tremendously. I have been able to see how the Atonement of Jesus Christ works in my own life and in lives of the people I am privileged to serve. With the help of the Lord, I have been able to improve myself in becoming more like Him. I have been able to strive even harder to achieve the attributes that Christ has instructed us to live by. I love this mission and my great God. I am eternally grateful for this miraculous work that I am able to be even a small part in. I have learned that the Lord provides. He blessed his faithful saints. He blesses the meek and humble. He is so loving and wants the best for ALL of his children. Being able to work with so many different types of people and hear all of their experiences in and out of the Church, I've seen that this Gospel brings ultimate happiness. If we stay close to the teachings of our Lord and strive to be like him in our everyday lives, we will be blessed.

By way of tradition, I burned one of my white shirts to celebrate my 1 year mark in the mission. 

This past week, I was able to go on a 24-hour companion exchange with one of the AP's (Assistant to our Mission President). I went down to their area in downtown Salt Lake City and had a great all-around experience :) Companion exchanges are meant to help missionaries help each other learn and grow in our missionary efforts. I am so grateful for the missionaries I serve with. I am able to learn so much from them and it helps me to become a better missionary and a disciple of my Savior. I have made so many friends being out here and I know I'll be friends with some of them for a loooong time! :)

Clyde (from one of my old areas) was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints yesterday in church! It was a privilege to be able to stand in his confirmation circle. His Stake President (also a great friend of his) gave a wonderful confirmation and blessing to him. Clyde was in tears by the end of it. Clyde was raised Southern Baptist and has told countless missionaries that he will NEVER be baptized Mormon. It just goes to show that the Lord prepares people in His own time. It also show us that people change all the time. The Atonement and the principle of Repentance are so real, and for that I am so grateful.

To end this email, I'd like to introduce a book to you (if you haven't heard of or read it already)! It is an amazing book to help members and missionaries become more united in the Hastening of the Work. It is called "The Power of Everyday Missionaries". If you have not read this book, I STRONGLY encourage and invite you to do so! If you feel that missionary work is too hard and inconvenient for you, this book will help. It was written by Clayton M. Christensen. He has written many books and it was named as a "New York Times Best Seller". He helped to put things in perspective and helps us realize that sharing the Gospel isn't as hard as we think  and that it can bring sooo much joy into our lives by doing so.

If you wish to find even more joy in your life, I can promise you that sharing the Gospel is a marvelous way of obtaining it. Being able to serve the people of Salt Lake City has helped me gain a strong testimony of that.

I love all of you and thank you all for the lovely letter and packages you have sent!! It means so much! :) Keep up the good work, and I promise that the Lord will bless you! Stay close to Him in all that you do :) Stay busy and stay safe!

Love,

~Elder Carroll

"We'll call in our solemn assemblies in spirit,

To spread forth the kingdom of heaven abroad,

That we through our faith may begin to inherit

The visions and blessings and glories of God." - The Spirit of God, Hymn #2

D&C 88:77-78 "And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom. Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand."

Week 52: Zander and Clyde Were Baptized!

Too cool for school! lol

Hello!!

Another successful week of missionary work has come and gone!! The days can be long, but the weeks are so short!

Zander (10) was baptized on Saturday and it was an amazing service. He is such a bright kid and super smart. Definitely a lot Gospel smarter than i was when i was 10!! He knows why he was baptized and made the decision completely on his own. I am so happy for him and his mom.

The day before his baptism, we went over for his Baptismal Interview. Before we left, Zander gave the closing prayer. I love it when children pray. They are so pure. In his prayer, he only thanked God for things. He thanked him for Jesus, for preparing him to get baptized, for sending the missionaries to help him, for his life, and his family. He didn't once ask for a single thing. It made me think, when is the last time I did that? Since then, I've taken a few prayers and only thanked my Heavenly Father for things he's given me. It gives such a good feeling. Try it sometime if you haven't ;)

An investigator from one of my old area's was also baptized on Saturday!! His name is Clyde. He was raised Southern Baptist and has told many missionaries in the past that "There is no way in hell [he] is getting baptized into the Mormon church!!!". Hahaha But as usual, the Spirit worked on his heart and he accepted to be baptized after years of being married to his Active-Member wife. They are awesome. Clyde is an outdoorsie kinda guy, and was actually baptized in a river! In Montana!! We weren't able to attend the baptism, but I am so proud of Clyde and his willingness to follow our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We are teaching a lot of people, and 3 of them are so close to baptism! 2 of them are all married to Active-Members of the Church and all 3 attend church regularly. Please pray for Chelsea, Amber, and Alexis so that they may receive a witness of the complete truth of this amazing Gospel :)

Yesterday at church, Elder Robert D. Hales was at one of our sacrament meetings! So many General Authorities just randomly come to the wards around here for baby blessings and things like that! Perks of serving in Utah ;)

I have enjoyed so much, being able to interact with all of the missionaries here in the Bountiful Zone. They are awesome and i love being able to serve them.

The mission is so awesome. I love it. The other day while visiting with a family, I felt a great sense of love and hope. It's so amazing how the Gospel brings us together. We are like a giant family. Everyone is so nice and accepts us into their homes no matter what! We get fed dinner 7 nights a week and the families are incredible! I am so grateful for this Gospel and the love that it brings into our lives. Christ's love is amazing and I love the feeling of being able to feel it through His saints.

I know Christ lives and I know his Atonement is real. I have felt his love and wish for all others to feel it as well. That's why I'm here on a mission--So I may share the feeling of love and joy and happiness that I have felt in my own life, with others. I have a testimony of this Restored Gospel, and I have to share it with everyone. I am so blessed to be able to do so. The Lord is amazing and works in mysterious ways. I know I can always trust Him. He gives us trials for a reason. Even if we do not understand that reason, it is still there.

Love you all. Stay close to the Lord, stay busy, and stay safe!

Much Love,

Elder Carroll

My favorite scripture this week: 1 Nephi 1:20 "..But behold, I, Nephi, will show unto you that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen, because of their faith, to make them mighty even unto the power of deliverance."

Week 51: Elika is baptized & Money is falling from the sky! (Well...almost! haha)

Family & Friends,

Hey!  This week has been a great one as usual :) I cannot express through words the enjoyment I have for this amazing work.  It has brought me such happiness.  I am so grateful for this opportunity I have to serve the Lord full-time in spreading His word.

Elika (fa'afafine) was baptized on Saturday!!  Since I'm still near North Salt Lake, I was able to attend and support him on this amazing day.  I am so happy for him.  It just goes to show that people do change. We are all able to repent and are able to come unto Christ, at any point in our lives, no matter what we may have done in the past. The Atonement is real and is in effect for anyone who truly and humbly repents.

So my new area…We cover 10 wards and the members are freakin' awesome!!  Best member missionaries I've ever worked with.  This area is (kind of) a new development and pretty much just has young families.  To put it into perspective… one of the wards we cover has 700 active members and as a result has 5 nurseries!  I thought my home ward was loud with kids screaming during sacrament meeting.   I could even hardly hear the speakers because of all the rambunctious kids everywhere in this ward haha!   But it's a good sound; it's a sound of families that are together :)

Just to give you a little glimpse of what it's like to be a missionary in the Utah Salt Lake City Mission… I'd like to share a little experience we had this week! (Sorry, this isn't at all a spiritual part of this email.   Hahaha!)

So the other day my companion Elder Taylor, and I were standing in line at Subway to get some lunch. While we're waiting, a lady came up to us and gave us $20 for lunch! We thanked her and continued in the line.  When we got up to the cash register, some guy was waiting for us and offered to pay for our food.  We thanked him, grabbed our food and sat down at a table.  While we were eating, another guy came over to us and threw $10 on the table.  We thanked him and continued eating.  After we were done, we had a little bit more time for lunch so we decided to go to a Hawaiian shaved ice place (that is free for missionaries).  As we were standing in line to get some shaved ice, another  lady comes up to us and gives us $20! We thanked her.  Right after that, the guy that was in front of us turns around and says "I know she already beat me to it, but here you go." and hands us $8... All of this happened within the hour!! hahaha I love the people here.  They take such good care of us ;)

Ok, so now on to the more spiritual part of the letter!  haha :)

This past week Elder Taylor and I were able to give training for Zone Meeting, on a talk called "The 4th Missionary".  It is an amazing talk and I invite you to read it if you haven't! :)  While reading and studying it, I have been able to evaluate my progression as a missionary since day one of my mission.  The training went great and there was much participation from the zone, which makes meetings so much more enjoyable :)

"The Fourth Missionary" by Lawrence E. Corbridge

DOWNLOAD HERE

We are currently teaching so many people!  It's so good to be busy.  We had the opportunity to take one of our investigators name Ga (from South Korea), to Temple Square for a lesson!  It went really well and she committed to drink “less” coffee! :)  She told us she couldn't promise that she would drink none.  So she is progressing :)  I am amazed of all the different nationalities of people brought here to Salt Lake City.

We are working with a young boy named Carson (10), who was just baptized a few months ago.  A few days ago, we had a lesson and had him teach us about Joseph Smith and his story.  The feeling that can be felt when learning about that Great Prophet is amazing!  I am so grateful for him and his courage to ask a simple question.  [“Which is the true church?”]

There is another young boy named Zander (10), that we are working with and he is on date for baptism on July 12th! :) Smart kid, so happy for him and his family!

Yesterday at church as we were walking in the hall, the Primary President of the ward stopped us and asked if we could teach their CTR 7 & 8 year olds due to lack of teachers.  Man, those kids are smart!!  At least a lot smarter than I was when I was 8.  We learned about prophets and what they do for us :)

With yesterday also being Fast Sunday, we were able to bear our testimonies in 4 wards (8:30am, 10:30am, 1pm, 2:30pm)! I love the Spirit that I can feel when I have the opportunity to share with people what I know to be true. (D&C 62:3)

I love this work!  It brings such happiness to me when I am able to share the joy of the Gospel with others.  My testimony is strengthened each time I am able to do so.  I invite you to take every opportunity that you have to share this amazing message so that you too can feel of the joy that comes with it.

Love you all! Stay close to the Lord, stay busy and stay safe!!! :)

Much Love,

~Elder Carroll

My favorite scripture this week: D&C 88:77-78 "And I give unto you a commandment that you shall teach one another the doctrine of the kingdom. Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand;"

My favorite quote this week: “After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel." -The Prophet Joseph Smith

(6/26/14) My old companion Elder Smith and I!