Great week, but awwwww mannnnn

October 13, 2014

Good morning all!

It's a great Monday isn't it?

It was another eventful week here in Clinton. We had a lot of successes this week, and I'm definitely seeing growth in myself.

So on Monday night we had a dinner and "bible" study with a couple members. The dinner was yummy! Sister Tyndall made homemade biscuits and some yummy beef/cheese/sausage dip! So good. Then we ended up studying Preach My Gospel because it was only members there. We're gonna try to invite nonmembers this week so that next Monday is productive with that.

On Tuesday we had Zone Training Meeting to learn and account as a zone. Kind of like zone conference, but no President or assistants. I learned a lot about....missionary work haha. I did learn, but I can't think of what what was talked about at the moment. After that, Elder Wilkinson (one of the zone leaders) came to our area to help Elder Ostergar and I out. Elder Salvatierra went to their area with Elder Dewey. Oh and I forgot to tell y'all, Elder Dewey is my zone leader. He actually stayed at our apartment a couple weeks ago and I traded ties with him! He heads home next week actually, so we'll be getting a new zone leader I think. So anyways, we had a great lesson with O and P...and K. We walked into their trailer and K was there sitting on the couch next to O. Turns out he was O's brother and came to learn. So we started the lesson out and K just starts blazing! He just screamed southern baptist with the way he handled himself. He was drilling us with questions and concerns and we didn't even get to teach to the needs to O and P. So eventually he calmed down because he realized that we (like good little missionaries) didn't want to bash. So we started to teach him the Restoration. We taught all of the points and throughout the whole thing he kept asking us where the Book of Mormon came from. Finally we got to that point and were able to answer that question. So in the end, he was quiet and I think he felt the Spirit. He agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. I was really proud of myself after that lesson. We managed to keep the Spirit in there, regardless of his attitude toward it all .So he'll be there tomorrow so hopefully he feels good about the Book of Mormon.

On Wednesday we went to the Temple! This time was especially spiritual for me. I definitely caught some things that I didn't notice before. One thing that was emphasized to me was (not to reveal anything) that Christ truly did and does the will of the Father. There was nothing done in the Plan of Salvation without instruction given to Jesus Christ from Heavenly Father to prepare something. I just thought that was interesting. I also felt very peaceful in the Celestial room this time. I was just sitting in there and I felt nothing but peace. No worries, no grief, no anxiety. Just pure peace. And that's just a piece of what is to come in the eternities. After the temple we ate lunch and then later ate dinner with Rudy and Yamara. They're the people that tagged me in a picture on Facebook(but I wasn't there). We had some carne asada and it was super good!

Thursday nothing special happened.

Friday we got two new investigators and we were convinced they were golden! We had a good starting lesson, and they agreed to come to church. Their names are L and T. We were looking forward to seeing them!

On Sunday, all three of us Elders were assigned to speak on testimonies and how to get one. We spoke really well and definitely feel like we helped the members grow a lot. But L and T left during the rest hymn. I thought that was strange. They called us later that day and L left a message that said "Hi this is L. I'd like to cancel my appointment that I have with you guys at 4:30. I appreciate y'all inviting me out to come check out your church and see how your establishment works. I am interested no further." That really broke my heart. The truth was right there in front of them and they wouldn't accept it! They probably thought we worshiped Joseph Smith or something because of the talks we gave. Something I've learned from this is to respect people's agency. It's a real bummer, but that's how to we know who is elect and who's not.

The good news is that I'm feeling good about the area and myself as a missionary. The work is great and I can already say that I've changed a lot just from being out here and serving the Lord.

Love you all,

-Elder Landon Carroll

Zone Conference and General Conference

October 6, 2014

Muy buenos dias!

It was another great week here in Clinton, NC. I thought I would never be able to replace Pinehurst, but this place is definitely living up to standards. I love how much work we do and how the branch is so dependent on the missionaries here. This puts a lot of pressure on us that we're willing and ready to take care of the needs of the members here.

The first thing to write about is Zone Conference on Wednesday. We had the opportunity to head up to Fayetteville to the Scotty Hill building to meet with President and Sister Bernhisel, the assistants, and the rest of the zone to receive instruction to better ourselves and our areas. It was really uplifting and I learned a lot about the importance of teaching to the needs of investigators. That's something we as a companionship have been working on and we've definitely seen the effects of it. As we really listen to the investigators and the Spirit, we're able to deliver our message much more effectively, to the point that it changes lives. I've really grown as a teacher here in Clinton just from having more experience and learning from Elder Salvatierra. He's a really good teacher, and it's helped me a lot listening to him. The other highlight of the meeting was....wait for it.....we got to watch MEET THE MORMONS early. President Bernhisel got a copy and it was fantastic. Family, the candy bomber guy is one of the the six people the film follows. His story is great! The others were great too, and I know y'all will enjoy it in theaters. After Zone Conference, I went up to Dunn to go on exchanges with Elder Mora, the district leader. We had some fun times and I was able to help him out in his area WHILE learning of course. Then we switched back the next day and continued on.

Just some information on some of our investigators. O and P are an old black couple(actually bro and sis) who live together. P is 70% blind and does not let people in the house. Interestingly enough, he told us that when we knocked on his door he could feel that we were good and he let us in. That was almost four weeks ago. They're both progressing amazingly because they're humble and ready. O is already in 2nd Nephi in the Book Of Mormon and he says "I don't understand how anyone can't believe that this is the word of God. All you got to do is read it and the truth speaks for itself." She's awesome. She then looked at me as I was teaching the Plan of Salvation and said "You have been through a change. Something in your past has made you a joyful person." I told her that it was because I was serving the Lord and she let out an "AMEN!" " Haha. So then we asked her about everything we were teaching and she said "I know it's all true because the Holy Spirit speaks to me every time you teach me." Golden I tell you! Then she said that she had been praying to find a church that would give her the knowledge she was looking for and then we showed up on her doorstep three days later. Miracle. She was especially excited when we told her about Spirit Prison and that everyone will have an opportunity to hear the Gospel and be baptized. She does this funny thing when she gets excited: "Ay ay ay ay ay ay! Lord have mercy!" She's the best. We have not committed them to a baptismal date yet, but they will be baptized in time. We invited them to pray about baptism and we'll follow up with that tomorrow when we see them next.

We're also teaching M and A. They're both in their early twenties. and they're looking for ways to be successful in life. They're very hard to teach because all they want is money....that kind of success. But they're hilarious and they actually have their own YouTube channel. I'll get the info for that next time so you can watch they're stuff. But they're not progressing very well due to lack of understanding, but we'll get there. I have faith.

So those are just a few investigators. There are many more, but those are just some of my favorite.

The next highlight of the week was General Conference. This conference was excellent. It's clear that we need to:
1. Gain our own testimonies at an early age
2. Listen to the prophets.
3. Fast
4. Understand the importance of the Sacrament.
5. Understand how to receive personal revelation
6. Literally prepare to meet God.
7. Don't get caught up in worldly distractions that limit progress

With that, I especially enjoyed Elder Nelson's talk (I took a little pride in telling my companions that he operated on my great-grandpa.). It's extremely important that we not only sustain the prophet, but follow Him. God tells us what we need to do through His prophet and we need to follow his counsel. I also loved Elder Oaks' talk. He always has an emphasis on "the world may change but God never changes." This is so true. There's so much in the world that just DOESN'T MATTER. We need to focus on what's important if we truly want to be happy, otherwise we'll just end up thirsting forever. We need to focus on the things that help us progress in this life. Is that not the purpose of life anyway? To progress?

So I hope that y'all enjoyed conference as much as I did. I'm really enjoying my mission so far. It's brought me a lot of growth and allowed me to see my potential. Thanks for all the prayers!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Landon Carroll

Birthday and Popped Bicycle Tires

September 29, 2014

Good morning everyone!

First of all I would like to say that I had a WONDERFUL birthday. Even though I wasn't at home to celebrate with my family, I definitely felt the love of them. My mom sent me the best package ever, I ate some authentic tacos, and went to a Quinceñera! What could be better than that? Haha. 

Also, the work is amazing here. We have so many investigators it's super hard to keep up with them, but I'm sure that's a problem most missionaries wouldn't mind having. We taught a lot of great lessons, and I really saw the importance of teaching to needs this week. The people in Clinton are great, and they, like us, all have different issues/problems that they're going through. As my relationship with Christ has grown since I've been out here, I am now really able to testify of the healing and enabling powers of Christ's Atonement.               Every problem that any of us have can be directly overcome through the Atonement. It was in that dark hour of Christ's mortal life that He suffered every single thing that we can ever go through. I often think of that when I'm feeling down. The fact that Christ suffered everything I'm experiencing means that He's walking right beside me and knows how to help me.

Some funny things that happened this week. Haha get ready for this. On Tuesday, my rear tire popped, so we had to patch it at the apartment. On Thursday, Elder Salvatierra's rear tire popped as well, so we locked it to a sign and walked the 3 miles home. In fact, the bike is still sitting there haha. On my birthday, we rode like 8 miles to the Quinceñera and both of Elder Ostergar's tires popped, so we called the branch president and he took us home. So after Elder Salvatierra's bike flatted, we borrowed one of the sister's bikes, and now Elder Ostergar is using one too. But.....last night one of the sister's front tires popped on a nail! So that's a total of FIVE flat tires this week. We think it's a curse and that it won't cease until all the bike tires are popped. So we are on a journey today to buy new inner tubes. Oh the life of a missionary. 

As far as training goes, it's really fun. It's interesting working in a trio, but it's also really fun because we all like each other. The only hard part is making sure we all get our say in during lessons. But we actually do it really well.

We partied super hard at the Quinceñera on Saturday! Nah just kidding. We just ate some Hispanic food and then headed out. So worth the long bike ride! We sat with Freddy, our investigator, and he was super excited we came. I'll send some pictures of the event.

Well that's all the REALLY interesting things this week. It's not like Pinehurst where I can just write about every single thing we do because we are so busy. It's good to be busy though. It keeps us sane and happy.

I love you all and hope everything is well at home. You are all in my prayers. The work is amazing here and I'm really starting to find myself as an individual and as a missionary. Thanks for all the birthday wishes as well.

-Elder Landon Carroll

A view from Landon's new area, Clinton

Landon always sends pictures of cool cars and trucks

Landon has always called our Morkie dog "a buddy".  He sent this picture and said it was "a buddy".  

Landon's Mama (that's southern for Grandma) sent him one of her homemade cakes.  It got there all in one piece!

Doing So Much Here

Landon with his friend, Tony that he met at the US Open

September 22, 2014

Hey y'all!

I don't know what it was, but this week seemed really long. I feel like I wrote my last letter like a month ago and that I've been in Clinton for way longer than I have. I guess maybe I need to have a little more fun this week!

First big news of the week is......Max and Alberto got baptized in Pinehurst! I was so happy to see their picture on Facebook on Saturday. They will be SOLID members and will be the source of much growth in Pinehurst. I could see Alberto being the first branch president there.

In other news, my new area is great. Clinton is soooooo busy and we rarely have time to even breathe. With that, I've seen a lot of growth in myself as a teacher and as a missionary. I've had to really rely on the Lord more than ever because now that I'm training, He expects a lot more of me. Speaking of training.....it's all great! Elder Ostergar is really solid and he came pre-trained. Training is a little unbalanced right now. Elder Salvatierra is more experienced and has trained before so naturally he kind of takes control of things. So I'm kind of just a support right now. We all have discussions about how to do things and I'm learning SO much from Elder Salvatierra. He's fantastic. Like really great.

The work here is a lot of fun. It's a lot of less-active work and we teach a lot of lessons. On Wednesday we did a split. I went with a member named Nick and the other two went with Brother Tart. Nick and I went over to P and K's to teach them. Their situation is so strange. They've been together for 15 years, but P speaks Spanish and K speaks English. So we have to teach them in two different languages.....it's super weird. They're also not progressing at all because they're not married, but live together and they can't get married because P can't get a divorce from his wife in Mexico. So we're thinking about dropping them. The other two Elders went to go visit O and P. They're an old black couple(actually brother and sister, but look like a couple) and they're super religious. O loves to prayer talk and she thinks she's super spiritual or something. There was one point in the lesson when she apparently covered her eyes with one hand and held out her other hand and started saying "Listen to the words of this woman. Listen to the revelation she has for you." I love her. She's the best! They said they would get baptized, but wouldn't commit to a date because they wanted to know a little more.

Our only investigator with an official baptismal date is Freddy. He's like 30 and he's from El Salvador. I might have already told you about him. He's progressing well. It's funny the different accents you get out here. He'll be baptized on October 18th if everything goes right.

There's so much to write about! We do so much here! My time on the computer is running out, so I have to close soon. On Saturday we went up to Fayetteville to translate Stake conference. Interestingly enough both President and Sister Bernhisel spoke! So that was fun translating for them. We also translated yesterday, but we stayed in Clinton to watch the meeting being broadcast. Okay I might have to go!

I love the work and I'm feeling satisfied with the way the mission is progressing! Testimony is growing, faith is getting strengthened, everything is great.

Well that was a very short summary of my week. There's seriously so much to write about, but I can't get it all in. So I'll be sure to write lots in my journal so you can read it all when I get home!

-Elder Landon Carroll

 These are the men that Landon helped teach who got baptized over the weekend.  He was so incredibly happy for them.

I grabbed this photo from Facebook last week.  

Landon with the Brock family

So Much to Say, So Little Time

 Landon with his new companions, Elder Ostergar and Elder Salvatierra

September 15, 2014

Good morning folks,

I have so much to say, but so little time to write it.

So first off, I got transferred this week! I'm now in an area called Clinton. It's just a country town and the main industries are tobacco, soy beans, pork, and some other stuff. It's definitely a change from Pinehurst, but a good one none the less.

So as far as the work goes down here, it's incredible! In Pinehurst we were lucky to get over 10 lessons a week, but here we rarely get below 20. That's because of the people here and the humility of the area itself. Most of the people here live in trailers, and it's about half Hispanic. The branch is very small. There's close to 300 members, but only 80 usually attend on Sundays. That means there's a lot of less active work to be done. The Hispanics here are mostly from El Salvador and Honduras, so the culture and accents are a little different here. Needless to say, I'll have to try extra hard to understand these people when they speak. They use some different words and speak with a different accent. 

My new companions are great. My first one, co-trainer, is Elder Salvatierra. He's from Charlotte, NC! He's originally from Mexico so he's a native speaker. That will definitely give me the opportunity to improve my language skills. Elder Ostergar is the new missionary. He's from Holiday, Utah and is barely 18 years old. He has a lot of fire and he's willing to work. Training has been fun so far, but the main adjustment for me is the new area. It's just SO different. Oh and Papa Carroll, there's a lady here that is related to Rosemary Cantrel, who works in the baptistery in the Atlanta temple. Do you know her? Also, mom and dad, this same lady is related to the Clantons. They apparently live in Sugar Hill. Do you know them?

So now some specifics about the work. We have so many investigators, so it'll be hard to get them all in, but I'll do my best to talk about the main ones. So first is F. He's in his 20s, from El Salvador, and has a baptismal date for the 18th of October. Then there's a bunch of others. Oh jeez. Most of the other people are just your basic southern or Hispanic person. Oh and I forgot to mention that. We do English work here as well! It'll be a lot of fun and it will be interesting experiencing both sides of things. Oh and one of the members I sat next to yesterday in church was like "They sent a Georgia cracker here?" And I said "I know can you believe it?" That's the kind of humor I appreciate. Blunt, sarcastic humor. So as far as the other people we taught, there's just too many to describe. But I can assure you that the work is great here and we will be baptizing and reactivating.

I'm running low on time so I'll include more details next week.
Tengan un buen dia!

-Elder Landon Carroll

Landon with the Barbours

Landon with Philip Philips and Elder Wolf

Landon and Brother Swope

Farewell to Pinehurst

September 8, 2014

Buenos!

This week was another good one, but also a sad one. That's because I'll be leaving Pinehurst for another area tomorrow! So yesterday at church I said bye to everyone and bore my testimony and almost cried BUT I DIDN'T. Then I got pictures with most of the people I wanted to. I missed a few, but hey, what can you do?

Landon and Elder Moses

So as far as what went down this week we finished the transfer out strong, with our best numbers in like 4 weeks. On Monday for preparation day we went down to Fayetteville to go explore the mall. Yes, we stateside missionaries are spoiled and get to do stuff that we take for granted. So we walked around and "shopped." The other missionaries bought clothes and stuff, but I didn't feel the need to waste money on stuff that I wouldn't even be wearing. So then we headed back up to Pinehurst.

The Bickford Family

On Wednesday we did a bunch of service and got really sweaty, so not much to report there. We did have the opportunity to play some basketball with a few non members, but no fruit came from that.

Thursday we had Zone training meeting in the morning and then weekly planned and ate at Chili's with a member couple. That was pretty great. I got the honey chipotle chicken smackers and some mac n cheese with chips and salsa as an appetizer. It was also super rainy, so we got drenched in water.

Friday we at lunch at Brother Gross's restaurant, Brix. It's pretty great. I think I've told y'all about it before. It's kind of like Mellow Mushroom, but a little different style of pizza. So that was yummy. Then we went out tracting the whole day. It was a challenge by the Zone Leaders because apparently the missionaries in this mission are lazy and refuse to tract. I actually kind of enjoy it. People say it's not fruitful, but Max and Alberto were found by tracting, so there's no room to argue anymore. Those guys are golden. So we headed out to Southern Pines to see if anyone was playing street ball. No one was, so we left. Then we had dinner with the Bickford family. They're from Georgia, so it's easy to relate with them. Then after dinner, we went out to Robbins to cover everything before I leave so Elder Johnson can take over the area. We went and stopped by Jose and his family, and we invited them to church. They didn't come, but if we can continue to get out to Robbins, they'll get baptized. I love that family. Jose is just hilarious. He's about 65 and he LOVES to talk. He's what we in the mission call a "talker." He just rambles on about stuff and you have to strategically butt in so you can get your lesson in. It's also super funny. He just tells stories about being a police officer in Mexico and stuff like that. I'll miss him for sure. 

Landon, Elder Wolf, Brother Gross, Elder Johnson, Elder Murphey

Saturday we went out to Hoffman to attempt to teach some lessons. There's a few trailer parks out there, so we went searching for Hispanics. It's funny, trailer parks are either black or Hispanic, so whenever they're black, we get really disappointed because we have to turn those contacts over to the English speaking Elders. So that was the trailer park we went to. No Hispanics. Then we went and had dinner with Brother George and Rock, one of the Enlglish Elders' investigators. He's in Special Forces and he boxes so he's just kind of a man. I got a picture of that evening, so I'll send it. We had burgers and while I was holding my hamburger I got stung by a bee, and then I sort of flung my burger at Elder Johnson. Whoops. That was embarrassing....but funny right?

Sunday was just my last Sunday. Full of goodbyes, hugs, and picture taking. I really grew to love the people in this area and ward. They're all just like....I don't know how to describe it. I guess simply put, you love the people you serve if you do it right. And I definitely grew to love them.

I'm excited to go to a new area and experience some change, but I'm also sad to leave. It's weird knowing that I won't be here to take care of the Pinehurst ward anymore, but change is good and promotes growth. I can't wait to meet my trainee and my co-trainer. It'll be good fun! Pray that everything goes well and that I train correctly!

Love you all,

-Elder Landon Carroll

A response Landon received from a Facebook friend request

Landon with Brother Gathers

Landon with the Mellors

Last Week in Pinehurst

This family had a collection of stuffed otters that the Elders just had to have their pictures taken with.

September 1, 2014

Good morning everyone,

Sorry I'm writing a day late this week. It was Labor day yesterday, and we have permission to email on Tuesday so we can get more done on preparation day.

So for starters I'll tell you the big news. I'm getting transferred next Tuesday! President called me last Wednesday before district meeting to tell me that I would be training in a three man. Could be super challenging working with two other missionaries, or it could be amazing. I'm just hoping I get along with the other trainer so that we don't pull the greenie's hair out. I'm hoping we're on the same page as far as training goes too. So with this, I'm super excited for some change to happen, but I'm also really sad considering we have 5 baptisms this month. That's okay! They're still my baptisms (well technically the Lord's), I just don't get to be there to perform or witness them.

So with that, M and A are almost ready for baptism. We have a lesson with them tonight to wrap up a little, and then hopefully their interview tomorrow sometime. I can't tell you enough just how amazing these two guys are. So humble, so ready, so Christ-like.  Sunday at church they had to leave early. A came up to us and told us: "I'm sorry I have to leave today. We have to go work so we can help pay for the bills of a man who has cancer. He's been out of the job for two months and he has a family of 5, so we have to help him." They're literally giving up most of their paychecks just to help out this family that they barely even know. They plan to, if necessary, let the family move in to their (M and A's) apartment while M and A live with a friend. Like, they're not even members yet, but they do all this stuff that the church teaches. We suspect that their dad might have been a member or something. Whenever we teach them, they understand everything well, and they say it's because their parents taught them everything.

As far as R and K go, they're still progressing nicely. Their focus is on the temple and Eternal Marriage, and they want it bad. So we taught them the Plan of Salvation this week and they understood everything well. They're happy to hear about how we make mistakes in life, but because of Jesus Christ, we can overcome all of them and be made clean. They'll be baptized on the 20th.

This week in general we visited a lot of members, did a lot of service, and played a lot of basketball. MY call must be inspired or something, because I get to play a lot here. It's actually a really great way to find investigators. You go into the ghetto or wherever the court is, you play a pickup game, and then you share the gospel after you beat them. Simple as that.

We also had a ward activity Friday night that we attended. We all met at a park and barbecued, played basketball, ultimate Frisbee, and softball. I was super fun, and it wiped me out. 

Yesterday we got to play some more indoor soccer with some of the youth and members. We just play in the gym. It's super fun! I love bouncing the ball off the walls and stuff, and it actually gets really competitive. Maybe a little TOO competitive at times. But I enjoyed it.

So that was my week in review. I hope to finish out strong with Pinehurst and somehow manage to take pictures with all the members. We'll see how that goes haha.

-Elder Landon Carroll