November 7, 2016

Hi Gang,

It was a slower week here just like yours. We had Zone Conference so that absorbed a lot of our week prepping and planning for all of that. I love getting together with the Zone and they announced we will now hold ZC every transfer as opposed to every other that we had been holding previously. 

On Tuesday we got to metro down to DC to teach a YSA lesson. Our YSA ward covers the Suitland and Silver Spring Stake (HUGE BOUNDARIES) and the Suitland stake has the Capitol Hill area in it. So of course I'm very happy cause I get to be back in DC sometimes!! So we went to teach this YSA referral and this guy is nothing like what I'm use to teaching. This guy is 27, got his undergrad at Yale and masters at Duke. He now committed to take the lessons and we are going back tonight to teach him!

Zone Conference was on Thursday and went great. It was fun to see the Morgan's and hear him talk about how much I've grown after he was there for our workshop. We taught on teaching the Plan of Salvation. We talking about emphasizing the Atonement in each point and using the Book of Mormon. Then there was other workshops by the APs and President & Sister Johnson. Another highlight was we got to see the churches new Christmas video!!! It's so great you will love it! 

Since I'm so short I'll tell you about our investigator who will be baptized on the 27th. His name is Tim and he's in his late 30s. He's from Ohio and is out here working in a lab trying to find a cure for malaria. He has a PhD, is super smart, and has some dope tats! He's the best, like is reads everything before hand and has great questions. He's committed to live every commandment we have taught and is good to go for later this month!

I'm glad it was a good week for all of you!! I love you guys! 

Love,

Austin 

The stake boundary is 2nd/ St (road right behind me) so the Supreme 

Court and the Library of Congress is in our YSA boundary!

Some fall colors at the temple. We stopped by the Visitors Center to pick 

up some language BOMs for the Zone when I snapped this. 

 

October 31, 2016

Hi everyone!!

Well sounds like everything is going good back home! As far as for us with Halloween it's just an all day P-Day with us having to be in our apartments from 6 until the end of the night, so a little different if I was at home haha. But I agree I can't believe that we are back into the holiday season! That's fun about the World Series! We have got a little info from on of our investigators but not tons. 

The last week was a pretty good one. We had Zone Training earlier in the week and we felt like it went pretty good. We talked a lot about faith and we got feedback that the missionaries really liked it. We talked about them having faith to find and baptize, but also having faith that if they tried their hardest and those things didn't happen that the Lord is still proud of them and their service. We used a lot from a talk by Elder Bednar where he asked a man if he had the faith enough to not be healed. As well as the Parable of the Seed Grown Secretly which is talked about in Jesus the Christ. 

This week was a lot of checking on referrals, this area gets so many!! Tons of bible referrals for African names we can't even pronounce, so that's fun. This area is a really diverse area, lots of different cultures. As well it was a catch up week where we tried to get a hang of things with the YSA Ward since this is new to all of us. The ward has been covered by the Chinese missionaries as their English area but President changed it so language missionaries now just focus on their language program so we picked up the YSA ward (Glendale) as well as our family ward (College Park). 

YSA is so weird, it kind of feels like hanging out with other kids and then taking about Jesus occasionally haha. But really I'm not use to talking to kids my age anymore, so this will be good to get me back closer to normal before I come home haha. And going to institute on campus is bomb! Holy cow I can't wait to go when I get home cause we get to go and it is so awesome!! Also YSA is tons of fun since I get to work with the Morgan's. Like yesterday I went on a mini split with the Morgan's to the YSA Ward Council and my comps stayed with an investigator in Sunday school. Luckily both wards share the chapel so it's not too bad but it does make for a long day, 7:30-4:30 at the church. 

I do wanna share the story of one of our RC though. It's a long story so I'll give the abbreviated and maybe I can tell the full story at Christmas. So his name is Anwar and he's from Pakistan. So he was in the armed forces there and after he got out he started doing a lot of charity work for the Christians in the country. And some people there didn't like it, and he had a lot of close encounters. Long story short he's been shot, beat, and had his family threatened because of his belief in Christ. He became a religious refugee and got expressed a visa to get him to Bangkok, where there he was transferred to the US. When he got here he prayed for guidance, and no joke as he got up off his knees there was a knock at the door and there stood missionaries. He was then baptized on July 24th. It is so amazing to get to work with him and keep teaching him his new member discussions. His English is pretty broken as he's trying to learn, but he is such an amazing man. I'll get a picture with him this week and send it next week!

Hope you all have a great Halloween!! 

Love you all!!
Love
Austin 

We climbed the steeple at our chapel. It's just a ton 

of ladders, quite the adventure!

 Knocking doors with 3 of us is pretty interesting.. it's a little 

too much on people's porches

For the District Activity today we carved various fruits and 

veggies.. cause pumpkins are too basic

October 24, 2016

Hey Fam!

Sounds like things are going good back home! Bummed about BYU but that is an awesome CC win!! Glad we could get the win over Alta!! 

Well things are doing good out here now! I think I was just shocked to be transferred but now that I am here I have really enjoyed it! I am now serving in the College Park area. So it is the area that surrounds the University of Maryland. It has been quite the adjustment from the ghetto to a college town haha. But I really like this area so far, we are on the DC-Maryland boarder so we have a little area that feels like DC which I love! Then we have the UofM area, some upscale stuff as well as some semi ghetto, lower income areas. So it's a great mix!! Plus there's a lot of work! 

We are double covering wards right now. So we are in the College Park Ward as well as we cover the Glendale YSA Ward. So it was a long day at church yesterday.. 7:30-4:30.  But it's fun! And that is how I serve with the Morgan's, they are assigned to coordinate YSA across the mission so they work here as well as with the other YSAs. But they live within our Zone. 

I am in a trio right now with Elder Warnes and Elder Tutu'u. Elder Warnes goes home mid transfer in 3 weeks because he would have missed 3 Thanksgivings. It has been really fun so far being with both of them, Elder Warnes has been here for 3 months so we are trying to pick the area up from him quick before he goes. Elder Tutu'u only has 2 transfers left after this one so I could be in this area for a little bit which so far I'm cool with. 

Not much to note from this week as it was mostly taking care of transfers for the Zone but we also got to teach some good RC and Investigator lessons. So it will be nice to get a full week of working this upcoming one! So I guess the only thing to note was MLC. I love MLCs so much just getting to see how much the leadership cares for this mission and our missionaries. We did get another rule from the Area Presidency that no one likes.. we can't work out in our Apartment gyms anymore, so I'm gonna be fat when I get home. But they followed up with telling us we did get approved to have a full mission Christmas party so we are so excited for that!! Also Trey, former Elder Tanner, was out visiting with his family so he dropped into the end of MLC to say hi to everyone. Then we came with us to our traditional post-MLC Chipotle. So awesome to catch up with him!

Well I don't have much more to say about this week, but things are going good! I hope everyone has good weeks back home! I love and miss you all!!

Love,

Austin 

Goodbye to Suitland Districts at their District Meetings last week before transfers 

                                

October 17, 2016

Hi everyone! 

First things first, some stuff made for a hold up on transfer board so we don't know anything about transfers until tonight, so it's been a pretty nerve wracking weekend, but only a few more hours! I'll send an email later after I find out to let you know what's going on for the new transfer. 

This week was a pretty good one! I was able to go on some great exchanges. One of them I got to be in a trio with Elder Schank and his trainee. So it was a great posterity time! We tracted, had a member meal and grabbed some ice cream. So all in all was a great time!! Also this week we did some service for a friend of a member and helped build a garden fence, so it was nice to do some manual labor and get some dirt under the fingernails for the first time in a while.

Also this week we were able to go to the temple for the Recent Convert Baptism trip! It was so nice to be back in the temple. Even though it wasn't a full trip to do an endowment session it was great to be in the baptistery with all of these recent converts doing the temple work for their direct ancestors. Such an amazing spirit. We took Clarisee, a convert who was baptized in August when Elder Zocca got transferred down here. She speaks only French and her brother is in the ward so she didn't want to go up to the French branch. So really a miracle Elder Zocca came down and was able to teach and baptize her. 

We then had Why I Believe on Sunday and I got to see the Morgan's! I'm sure they will text you with a picture of us today! It was so awesome to see them and get to talk with them. I sat next to them for the meeting and Clarisee was one of the RC who bore her testimony to start the meeting. So it made for a great night with also getting to see all the old friends from around the mission! Crazy to think it's already been a month since the last one!

Love and miss you guys! 

Love you!!

Austin 

An e-mail we got later with his transfer information-

Calls just came out. So I will be moving again. I'm going to the Silver Spring Zone staying as a Zone Leader in the College Park Area. It's up around the U of M. 

I'll be with Elder Tutuu and Elder Warnes. Elder Warnes is going home mid transfer so that is why we are in a trio to start. 

More info to come, I'll talk to you next week!! Love you!!

Austin 

Exchange with the posterity!!

Anacostia Boys! With Brother Mason, one if our favorites. He has slight mental 

disabilities and he's all the Elders buddy!

October 10, 2016

Hi everyone! 

Sounds like things are going good back home, I'm glad CC and BYU were both able to pull off good wins this week!! And sounds like Jamal has been having a monster season!  

I haven't been able to see the Morgan's yet, but we have Why I Believe this Sunday so hopefully I see them there! Like you said this area has opened my eyes tons. I feel like DC 3rd was like the warm up for this ward. So many tough situations, people who are in bad places in their lives. And sadly usually because of decisions they have made themselves. There is so many drug and alcohol problems. And I swear everyone is smoking when we are out and about. The ward is still struggling, we still only have about 50 people TOPS at sacrament. Of the 6 people who do sacrament, 2 to bless and 4 to pass, it was all of the missionaries in the ward. And then this will show how interesting out ward is, get this...so we had a child of record baptism yesterday and I conducted the service. We were missing so many ward leaders Sunday that they asked if we could do it, so a little unconventional but add it to the mission journal.

We had a pretty good week. We have been getting a TON of Mormon.org Bible referrals that we had to go check on. And then also did quite a bit of tracting this week. Kiawana is really struggling, we wanted to pick a new baptismal date with her but she just isn't ready. Her life is really kinda falling apart and it's super sad. But she finally came to church yesterday!! She just wanted to talk so we skipped gospel principles and had a lesson in a spare room. We were talking about trying to find blessings Gods given her even in all this hard stuff, and all she said was "I haven't smoked Crack Cocaine again and I still have my kids". Let me tell you we aren't in Kansas anymore Todo. 

But Valorie is doing awesome! We went and taught her yesterday and she's been reading the BOM! And she said she believes the Plan of Salvation is true. And yesterday during the lesson she started doing The whole, "if I did believe this and join your church..." game. So we really feel like she's going to commit to baptism soon! 

To top the week off we had Elder Bennett of the Seventy come and speak to the mission! It was such an amazing meeting! It was soo long but so spiritual! I took away a lot of awesome things from it. Plus we were combined with Rockville and DC Zones so I got to see some friends!! I sat next to Elder Jenks and it was awesome so see others there too!!

Well you counted right Mom, Transfer call out is this Saturday! It is so crazy how fast this one went, and I only have 6 more after this one. So nuts!! But it will be interesting to see what happens, I really have no clue. I could see it going both ways of going or staying, but I'll be happy either way. 

Love you all lots!!

Love,

Austin 

Tracting in the rain.. here is the difference in our companionship haha

 But it's okay cause we still love each other hahah. Oh man I love this guy!

October 3, 2016

Hi Everyone!! 

Sounds like it was a good week for you all. A little low key, but those are always good weeks to have. Sounds like Caleb and Hailey are doing great in the activities and I'm glad BYU could get the W!! I'm sure the colors in the mountains are great as they usually are! It hasn't started to get that cold yet. It is starting to change though, we are in the low 70s to 60s on most days. And it is going to be a little off and on rainy for a few weeks. The colors will usually turn here at the end of October to early November if it follows like last year. 

Well with General Conference it was a little slower week. We taught some good lessons and things are going really good with Valorie. We have taught her a few times and she knows it is true, she's made comments that we know she does. Now it's just getting her to let go of the social side of her church, which she's only been a member for 6 months. We are hopeful! Sadly thing with Kiawana have made it that we are gonna have to bump her baptismal date, but we are hoping she will find her desire again and keep progressing!

Big event of the week (besides Conference) was interviews with President! He's said he's going to keep up trying to interview every missionary, every transfer. And props to him cause those are some long days! Ours went SO long! Since he's still new and getting to know people he talked an average about 20-30 min with each missionary when he is slotted 10. Then we had a few problems come up in the zone so a few missionaries took as long as AN HOUR!! Holy smokes! It was such a long day. We showed up at 9am to have a pre interview meeting with him and then we didn't walk into our interviews until around 9:45 pm. My interview with him went great, I love that man! We talked about some problems in the Zone, then he looked at me and said," Elder Carroll I so appreciate you" kinda teared up and said "We are gonna be friends a long time". I'm glad I have developed such a close relationship with him, and he's helped makes this transition to all the new rules and policies so much easier. I'm in a good place with them all now. 

Then we talked about the transfer to come and how Elder Zocca and I will most likely get broken up since there is a need to train new Zone Leaders. (Earlier that day he had said he was on the phone with Pres. Morgan the day before the Morgans will get here this week I think and he's assigned them to live in the Annapolis Stake but will serve with all the YSA wards in the mission) I jokingly said "so you're gonna move me to DC 2nd YSA to be a Rockville Zone Leader so I can work with President Morgan right?" And he laughed, then looked at me and said he actually liked that idea a lot and would think more about it. So fingers crossed! We ended the night with the Johnsons wanting to take us to dinner! So we went to dinner at 10:30 with them to Applebee's haha. Not many people can say they have been in a restaurant with their mission president until 11:30 at night! But it was great, a more casual environment to get to know them even more! 

Then of course the big event of Conference!! Wow I can't believe that I can say I only have 1 more as a missionary!! It's so crazy! But I love Conference so much now. Like I don't know if it's just I pay way better attention than I did back home, or if being set apart helps, but I get so much out of each talk. Like so much!  So we weren't able to go up to the Visitors Center for conference, we tried but we couldn't get an investigator or recent convert to go. Since we are over the Zone we went on an exchange to WP1 and actually got to watch Conference at the Beal's! So I got Conference crab again! Then we watched Priesthood at the stake center. Then both sessions on Sunday at the Stake Center. Like you Dad I can't wait to be able to go to Priesthood with all of you. Only thing that's a little sad during conference weekend is for sure after Priesthood session knowing you all are going to dinner together. But like you, I'm glad I'm here, it will be all too soon we get to all go together next fall. We got to watch all the sessions and the talks were great! I can't really pick a favorite but I did really like Elder Hales, Elder Cornish, President Nelson, Elder Yashita, Elder Oaks, Elder Uchtdorf (Priesthood Session), Elder Eyring (Priesthood Session) talks, wow that got a lot longer than I thought as I was looking at my notes. But you get the idea haha 

Well I hope you all have great weeks! I sure miss and love you all!! But guess what, 83 days till Christmas! 

Love ya tons,

Austin

here's a pic of me watching Conference with my friends

from our district Activity today

September 26, 2016

Hi Fam,

Congrats to Leby on his game! And yeah a huge bummer for BYU.  It was crazy with how many members were in town. I'm sure the DC 3rd Ward was packed! On the metro Saturday I felt like a celebrity with BYU shirts everywhere trying to talk to me haha. That's where I ran into Adam Blogett. I was talking to him and his friends, they asked were I was from then he said Draper.  So of course we asked each other where. And then when we were taking Bellevue I saw the light go off and he realized that I was "the Elder Carroll from my ward!" So it was pretty cool haha. But we are all so jealous, a lot of senior couples and even Pres Johnson went to the game.

Well it's been another pretty good week here! Elder Zocca and I have been seeing a lot of good things happen. Early in the week we did some weekly planing and made some good goals for the transfer as a companionship I think we will see some great things happen from them. Plus we did the planning over an early dinner at 5 Guys so that always helps haha. 

It was kinda a same old, same old week so it might be a thinner email. We are still meeting with Kiawana and her kids and hoping to keep the same baptismal date, but we will see. There are a ton of hurdles we are dealing with. It's so sad to see these good people be gripped by all of these horrible things in their environment and situation.  The other person we are excited about is named Valorie. She was a Mormon.org referral and we called to see if we could visit her and she said we could come over right then. We went and taught her and she told us her daughter is a member so she knows some stuff but had tons of questions. And it's so awesome to teach her cause that's all we do is answer her questions. And it's been cool for me to see us answer these questions and just again show me the church is true. We have to answer all of her questions first with the Bible and then the BOM and we can answer them every time. I'm so glad I'm serving in a place like this, cause my whole mission I've had to learn the Bible to be able to answer all of the questions that people who already are in Christian denominations have. And I've gotten pretty good at knowing what scriptures to use and like I said it just confirms everything. #ChurchIsTrue

Then Saturday was the best!! Former Elder Herring was in town for the game since he's red shirting at the Y. And him and his parents took a few of us out to breakfast! It was so sweet to see him! We was the AP when I came into the mission and he's such a stud! After that I got to go down to WP2 on an exchange!! I got to see the Vances, Heaths, and of course I had dinner st the Chamberlain's! Ah it was the best. I'm glad I've got to stay connected with them my whole mission. Things are slowly still getting better! Sister Chamberlain, even said.. "ya know when the kids finally get to be baptized you better come down to baptize one of them". Ah man that was the best to hear!! All in all that day ended up being 14 hrs.. out at 8 back at 10 at night. It was a killer one 

Sunday was then filled with stake coordination meetings in the morning. Which was nice cause we got to see Elder Torgerson and Jenks, love those guys! Then church with our always interesting congregation, and going to the refugee community for Elder Zocca to teach in Swahili. 

Hope you all have great weeks!! I sure miss and love you guys! Time is going so fast though plus 90 days till Christmas so 90 days till Skype! Have a great General Conference too!!

Love you all!!

Austin

#NoFilter....like really. There is no filer on that!