Whats up everybody!
So ya... Like 2 weeks left in the CCM then I am on my way to Barcelona! That hit me on Sunday and I started to liek freak out! I am pretty nervous to go into the field and start actually teaching! Whith the natives here, I have learned how much spanish I dont know ha ha! I dont know how I am going to survive in Barcelona! This week has been amazing though! It has been way fun with the native spanish speakers here! We play soccer everyday AND I hang with them pretty well! ha ha! It has been hard speaking with them but they love trying to help us with our spanish and speak to us all the time to help us out! Some of them speak a little english as well so its not that hard to get our point across! My favorite part has been teaching them english! They all want to learn way bad so almost every night we all sit around at the tables in the cafeteria and we teach them out of the books we were taught spanish with. We teach them how to bear there testimonies and how to pray. Easy stuff! It is way fun!
So Nick scores a 20 on his first ACT... Not bad! I do have to say, just because im the older brother, that my first ACT i went blind into, I scored a 21... Im just saying! ha ha nah nice job bud! With a little bit of studying you will do a whole lot better! After taking a couple of them, the become easier and you can find patterns within the test! The more you take the better! Nice job bud! O and to answer your question from your last letter about Sarah´s older sister, I cant remember if we hung out with her or not... If she was super tall and looked like Sarah, then yes! It was her sister!
So Dad is the new executive secretary? That is legit! ha ha Good luck! That is a lot of work! At BYU the executive secretary was like the worst job! ha ha I am sure you will do great though! That is a perfect callign for you! And Holly with a new calling as well??? Primary Secretary! How does she feel about her new calling? I know she will do great as well!
So ya all the American missionaries ini here are pretty bummed our Fourth of July wont be the same this year! Back in the states July 4th was never a huge deal to me, but now that we wont be having it we are all like what the heck! ha ha We are plannign on trying to do as many American things as we can, like the plege, national anthem, etc. They are planning on serving us hamburgers that night, but we have had them before and they are nothing like a good ole burger from the states! Its all good!
Thanks again for sending that package! and thanks again for figuring the music out for me! I really appriciate it! Mom really talked this package up so I hope it lives up to its expectations ha ha! Please tell grandma thank you for the package from me! Anerican candy goes for a high price here! ha ha even the teachers want it! I bargined off a couple of skittles for the lyrics to a song ha ha! The teachers here are awesome! We have so much fun!
So P day was kinda lame this week because we werent allowed to go into the city... I guess this weekend is Gay Pride Week of something ha ha. President didnt want our eyes seeing things ha ha. Unfortunately, we probably wont be able to go to the park eaither... Kind of a bummer! Its all good!
Well guys! I love you all! Thanks for all the support you give me! I know this gospel is true and I know this work is true! I have grown so much closer to the Savior in these first 7 weeks and I havent even entered the field yet! I cant wait to see what is in store! I know it will be a lot of hard work, but Elder Holland said it best in a talk we watched yesterday. He said, "You think missionary work is hard? Now you have just barely scratched the surface of how the Savior felt! Maybe now you have realized what it feels liek to walk down a path you dont want to take! Maybe now you realize what it is like to drink from the bitter cup, and yet you dont even have to drink a teaspoon!" This hit me deep! This work is true! And I cant wait to bring the joy this gospel has brought to my life, to the people of Barcelona!
Love you all!
Elder Carrigan
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Thursday, June 28, 2012
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Que Tal Familia?
Que Tal Familia?
This week has been great! Today 13 new missionaries arrived to the MTC. 12 Elders and 1 Sister. Some of them speak a little english, but not enough to talk to them! They all laugh and laugh at our spannish and our gringo accents, but its all good! Its fun! I cant pronounce my new companion´s name let alone spell it but he is cool. He speaks a little english but he said he wasnt going to speak any to me to help me out! He is only going to help me with words I dont know! Hopefully my spanish improves! Out of all the new missionaries here, none are from Spain! All of them live in Spain, some for many years, but they never say they are from Spain. For example, my companion has lived in Spain for 10 years, but if you ask him where he is from, he will say, I live in Spain, but I am from Argentina. They are all this way! It is really interesting! I love them all already though! They are a solid group of missionaries! We had a meeting today to get to know everyone and it is amazing what these guys give up! I thought I was giving up a lot when I left, but then I hear there stories and it makes me look like I live a perfect life! It has really opened my eyes on how blessed mt life has been, and how I have taken the little things for granted! Some of these guys are the only members in there family and have been rejected! one talked about how a year ago he had an opportunity to fufill his life long dream and that same week the missionaries knocked on his door. His family refused to listen but he was baptised. He waited a year, gave up his family, and his so he could go on a mission! There testimonies were all amazing! Its was awesome!
I loved Dougs letter this week! I was laughing the whole time while I was reading it! I cant believe he is coming home soon! Two years goes by way fast! it definitely doesnt feel like it to me but Im sure it will start to feel like it is going way fast soon! I loved all the pictures! I am sure Aunt Wendy is really excited for him to come home! What are there plans? Is she going to go down there with Justin and pick him up?
Well, the rest of the week was the same as usual so I am glad you gave me all these questions! I will just answer all of them!
So first I will answer Mom´s questions!
What is the park like? How many missionaries go there? Do you like it?
I love the park! This week me and my comp got 3 references and passed out 10 Booksof Mormon! It is always the highlight of my week! It is bigger than central park and it seems like it is! There are always tons of people there and lots of tourists! We go every Saturday with all the missionaries so this week we will have close to 10 companionships going! People go and just chill, walk around, take yoga classes, there is a huge lake wear people ride little pattle boats! It is an awesome place and I love going! It is a little intimidating because the people there are hard to talk to! They all speak really fast and most the time use words I dont know. Sometimes they will go off for like 5 minutes of pure talking and I just sit there smile and say si! ha ha The name the park is Parque de Retiro. Maybe you guys can google earth it or something!
Now Dads,
So I have gotten both packages... The one with the DP came almost a week ago! I thought I said something in my last email but I guess not! The other one came today! Thanks! I just gave my shirts to president! He said they will go to good use!
So I like the picture Idea! I dont know if that would be hard or not... I love all the pictures you guys send! I need to go buy a little photo album or something so I can keep all of them! I would enjoy seeing videos! Maybe not too many... I dont know. I dont really have an oppinion on the subject!
The food is alright... Like a said before, lots of fish and lots of french fries or some kind of potatoes! Overall the food is pretty good! They tiy to feed us burgers every Wednesday but they suck! ha ha Nothing compared to the good ole USA!
So yes we play soccer everyday but not at the big field you see! There is a small park we go to where there is a futbolito court! The small court is just like two blocks North of the temple! Maybe you can find it on google earth. It will probably look like a mini stadium!
we havent been to the Prado, Maybe next week with our new companions... Not sure.
Yes I use the sheets I brought! ha ha
And I actually dont get Derek´s and ty´s emails! I would love it if you forwarded them to me! That would be great thanks!
O music I want...
So try to figure out why some of my songs end and random times... Its really weird! Also if you could add the following to my ipod
Kalai... He has some hymns that he sings that are on our Itunes...
More John Schmitt
There is a song on our Itunes called Prayer of the Children, I cant remember who sings it but I know its there!
Primary songs! (They are the JAM!)
And anything else you think would be cool! I am really enjoying just like chill piano music!
Lastly, could you send me the addresses of the following. If you can find them out... It might take some digging. Maybe nick can ask them from my facebook!
Aaron Stoddard
Natalee Christensen
Kenzie Maxfield
Thanks! I love all of you guys! Thanks for all the love and support you all give me! I love hear form all of you every week! Until Next week!
Elder Carrigan
This week has been great! Today 13 new missionaries arrived to the MTC. 12 Elders and 1 Sister. Some of them speak a little english, but not enough to talk to them! They all laugh and laugh at our spannish and our gringo accents, but its all good! Its fun! I cant pronounce my new companion´s name let alone spell it but he is cool. He speaks a little english but he said he wasnt going to speak any to me to help me out! He is only going to help me with words I dont know! Hopefully my spanish improves! Out of all the new missionaries here, none are from Spain! All of them live in Spain, some for many years, but they never say they are from Spain. For example, my companion has lived in Spain for 10 years, but if you ask him where he is from, he will say, I live in Spain, but I am from Argentina. They are all this way! It is really interesting! I love them all already though! They are a solid group of missionaries! We had a meeting today to get to know everyone and it is amazing what these guys give up! I thought I was giving up a lot when I left, but then I hear there stories and it makes me look like I live a perfect life! It has really opened my eyes on how blessed mt life has been, and how I have taken the little things for granted! Some of these guys are the only members in there family and have been rejected! one talked about how a year ago he had an opportunity to fufill his life long dream and that same week the missionaries knocked on his door. His family refused to listen but he was baptised. He waited a year, gave up his family, and his so he could go on a mission! There testimonies were all amazing! Its was awesome!
I loved Dougs letter this week! I was laughing the whole time while I was reading it! I cant believe he is coming home soon! Two years goes by way fast! it definitely doesnt feel like it to me but Im sure it will start to feel like it is going way fast soon! I loved all the pictures! I am sure Aunt Wendy is really excited for him to come home! What are there plans? Is she going to go down there with Justin and pick him up?
Well, the rest of the week was the same as usual so I am glad you gave me all these questions! I will just answer all of them!
So first I will answer Mom´s questions!
What is the park like? How many missionaries go there? Do you like it?
I love the park! This week me and my comp got 3 references and passed out 10 Booksof Mormon! It is always the highlight of my week! It is bigger than central park and it seems like it is! There are always tons of people there and lots of tourists! We go every Saturday with all the missionaries so this week we will have close to 10 companionships going! People go and just chill, walk around, take yoga classes, there is a huge lake wear people ride little pattle boats! It is an awesome place and I love going! It is a little intimidating because the people there are hard to talk to! They all speak really fast and most the time use words I dont know. Sometimes they will go off for like 5 minutes of pure talking and I just sit there smile and say si! ha ha The name the park is Parque de Retiro. Maybe you guys can google earth it or something!
Now Dads,
So I have gotten both packages... The one with the DP came almost a week ago! I thought I said something in my last email but I guess not! The other one came today! Thanks! I just gave my shirts to president! He said they will go to good use!
So I like the picture Idea! I dont know if that would be hard or not... I love all the pictures you guys send! I need to go buy a little photo album or something so I can keep all of them! I would enjoy seeing videos! Maybe not too many... I dont know. I dont really have an oppinion on the subject!
The food is alright... Like a said before, lots of fish and lots of french fries or some kind of potatoes! Overall the food is pretty good! They tiy to feed us burgers every Wednesday but they suck! ha ha Nothing compared to the good ole USA!
So yes we play soccer everyday but not at the big field you see! There is a small park we go to where there is a futbolito court! The small court is just like two blocks North of the temple! Maybe you can find it on google earth. It will probably look like a mini stadium!
we havent been to the Prado, Maybe next week with our new companions... Not sure.
Yes I use the sheets I brought! ha ha
And I actually dont get Derek´s and ty´s emails! I would love it if you forwarded them to me! That would be great thanks!
O music I want...
So try to figure out why some of my songs end and random times... Its really weird! Also if you could add the following to my ipod
Kalai... He has some hymns that he sings that are on our Itunes...
More John Schmitt
There is a song on our Itunes called Prayer of the Children, I cant remember who sings it but I know its there!
Primary songs! (They are the JAM!)
And anything else you think would be cool! I am really enjoying just like chill piano music!
Lastly, could you send me the addresses of the following. If you can find them out... It might take some digging. Maybe nick can ask them from my facebook!
Aaron Stoddard
Natalee Christensen
Kenzie Maxfield
Thanks! I love all of you guys! Thanks for all the love and support you all give me! I love hear form all of you every week! Until Next week!
Elder Carrigan
Thursday, June 14, 2012
REAL Madrid Stadium
First off! Happy Fathers Day this Sunday Dad! I hope you have a great one! Thanks for always being there for me and supporting me in everything I have done! You have been a great example to me and have taught me everything I know! I am who I am because of you! I have always felt like you are more of my best friend than a a grumpy old Dad! (Not always, but most of the time!) Thatnsk Dad! Love ya!
This week has gone by super fast! Which I guess is a good thing! This week has been crazy! Today for Pday we went to the Real Madrid Stadium which was awesome! It was huge! It definitely puts little ole Rio Tinto to shame! ha ha! We took a tour of the whole stadium! I cant wait to see the Barcelona Stadium!
On Saturday we went to the Park again! I was paired up with one of the French Elders so it was up to me to talk to everyone! It was good because the French Elder wasnt scared of talking to anyone so he would go up to some random people and forced me to talk. It put me out of my comfort zone a little bit but it was good for me. We placed 5 Books of Mormon and recieved 1 reference! Not bad... ha ha
This week will probably be my last week with Elder Pearson as my companion. Some new Elders come in this week and are all Elders from Spain. Rumor has it that President is going to pair us up with the natives... Im a little nervous because I still dont think my spanish is very good, but I guess I will be speaking a lot more spanich for the next couple weeks!
So dad I got the package with the card reader and luggage tags, I havent seen the other 2 you sent me... You said they went through Spanish customs on the 12th so my guess is they will be here in the next couple days! I do have one problem. My Ipod for some reason, some of the songs only play like half of the song and then end... What do you think I should do. I could keep it but its just kind of annoying... I was thinking of maybe sending it home, maybe you or Nick could figure it out and then send it back. Tell me what you think.
Trevor got his call to Uganda????? That is crazy! It will be a good mission for him! Please tell him good luck, I love him, and to hit me up with his address when he gets it!
I have been sleeping a lot better this past week! I dont know what it is but Im not waking up as much, so thats good! I will go look for some vitamins at the farmicia this week. As far as alergies go... I have felt fine. I havent been using them and I dont seem to have allergy symtems. I will let you know if this changes while I am here or if they come again when I get to Barcelona!
Mom, well done on the no Diet Coke and the 10K! I dont believe it ha ha Just kidding! Thats awesome! We go to the temple every mornign on Pday, except we couldnt this week and we cant this next week because it is closed for cleaning, but other than that we have been every week! The Madrid temple is beautiful! The the celestial room is amazing! When you walk in, it is so bright you have to squint when you walk in! It is really cool because people come from different parts of Europe to go through it, so the session is in like 5 different langauges. Everyone wheres headphones, when you take them off, it is fun to listen to all the different languages going at the same time! As far as a package goes... Your going to hate me... Suprise me! Ü You havent sent a bad one yet! Plus, its more fun that way!
Congrats to Ryan for winning the championship! Thats awesome bud! I knew you guys would win it! Our family is just full of winners! ha ha We are all humble though so its good! Well done buddy! Annie good luck with KNVB camp! Tell all the coaches hi from me! KNVB camp is so much fun! You will have a blast!
Well fam, Thats it from Madrid! I will be on the computer emailing for another 30 min. So you can try to send one back quick if you want!
Love you all!
Elder Carrigan!
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Beautiful Day
Hey everyone! It is 5:57 AM in the United States right now! I hope you are all waking up to a wonderful morning! It is a beautiful day in Madrid today! Blue Skys, partly cloudy with just a small breeze! Perfect!
So this week was pretty epic! Lots of studying but lots of fun as well! On Saturday we went to the park to try and place some Books of Mormon and get some referals. I didnt get any but the group ended up getting around 10. The park was definitely a humbling experience of how much more I still need to learn! There were some people where we walked up and said something, they responded, and we just turned around and said adios! ha ha some people speak so fast it is a joke! ha ha Im not worries though, the Spanisg will come! I did have an awesome experience though where we talked to an older man. We asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and responded to something along the lines of, I do believe in Jesus Christ but he said it was too easy to say you have repented of all your sins and "be a good member" he said that he doesnt believe that anyone REALLY has faith. Everyone just goes along with it. I shared a couple of scriptures with him and bore my testimony and I know he was like dying on the inside, I just didnt know what else to say... Plus, I didnt understand too much haha. It was cool though! It was my first REAL experience teaching someone with the spirit rather than just one of my teachers. Overall it was a lot of fun. As we walked around the park, a couple people would see us and yell go Mitt Romney! ha ha or we had one guy that asked us how many women Mitt Romney had... I wanted so badly to say some outragous number, but I figured it probably wasnt the best idea! haha
Other than that, My week was fun of studying and teaching in the classroom! I am constantly tired! I dont know if it is still the time change or if this is just the feeling I am going to have to deal with for the next two years of my life ha ha. Probably both! We joke around here that the first thing you think as you wake up every mornign is "O man, I cant wait for bed tonight!" ha ha. Everyone tries hard to stay awake though because if you fall asleep, it is a known fact that another missionary is going to mess with you somehow! Its fun!
So thanks for the updates on things at home! Sounds like everyone is doing well... This week has kinda sucked because I havent got any mail, but it was nice to get on today and have so many emails from everyone! And I know Ty and Derek said they have sent me some mail so I think it will get here sometime this week! Hopefully... Im happy to hear about the NBA playoffs haha. We are so clueless! We have been wondering all week but are all afraid to ask the president, ha ha, so when we are out on the street and we see some members we ask if they have heard anything! Most havent but it is always worth a try!
As far as the language goes... Its coming... Im trying to learn conjugations right now. And in Spain the past is kinda hard because it is a little different! The food is a lot better here! Lots of fish, and I dont know why, but the lunch ladies always feed us just tons of French Fries! I think they think we all love them but there not that great! Most the food is pretty good though! Different but good! I did over react on the package a bit. They had just drilled us on not having a ton of food but it is fine! They didnt care at all! They just didnt want the food in our rooms! I just put it up in the cafeteria and everyone enjoyed it a lot! Thanks! Its was all really good! Things are going well with my comp! It is still Elder Pearson, he is pretty chill and a great missionary! I swear the kid is always working! I try hard but there are sometimes when I just need a break! He never stops! I feel like we teach really well with eachother! He is pretty good at spanish and he can tell when I am struggling with the language during a lesson so he either helps me or fixes my mistakes, which I like.
So as far as Annie using my Blue Knights gear. She can wear whatever she wants EXCEPT my first jerseys, my last jerseys, and state championship shirts. The rest is fair game! Congrats again on making the team! have fun!
As for me! Im good! So far there isnt anythign I need! Everything I need, we can just walk to the stores that are close by and buy it! Its real easy! Thanks again for the love and support from everybody!
I miss and love you all!
Elder Carrigan!
So this week was pretty epic! Lots of studying but lots of fun as well! On Saturday we went to the park to try and place some Books of Mormon and get some referals. I didnt get any but the group ended up getting around 10. The park was definitely a humbling experience of how much more I still need to learn! There were some people where we walked up and said something, they responded, and we just turned around and said adios! ha ha some people speak so fast it is a joke! ha ha Im not worries though, the Spanisg will come! I did have an awesome experience though where we talked to an older man. We asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ and responded to something along the lines of, I do believe in Jesus Christ but he said it was too easy to say you have repented of all your sins and "be a good member" he said that he doesnt believe that anyone REALLY has faith. Everyone just goes along with it. I shared a couple of scriptures with him and bore my testimony and I know he was like dying on the inside, I just didnt know what else to say... Plus, I didnt understand too much haha. It was cool though! It was my first REAL experience teaching someone with the spirit rather than just one of my teachers. Overall it was a lot of fun. As we walked around the park, a couple people would see us and yell go Mitt Romney! ha ha or we had one guy that asked us how many women Mitt Romney had... I wanted so badly to say some outragous number, but I figured it probably wasnt the best idea! haha
Other than that, My week was fun of studying and teaching in the classroom! I am constantly tired! I dont know if it is still the time change or if this is just the feeling I am going to have to deal with for the next two years of my life ha ha. Probably both! We joke around here that the first thing you think as you wake up every mornign is "O man, I cant wait for bed tonight!" ha ha. Everyone tries hard to stay awake though because if you fall asleep, it is a known fact that another missionary is going to mess with you somehow! Its fun!
So thanks for the updates on things at home! Sounds like everyone is doing well... This week has kinda sucked because I havent got any mail, but it was nice to get on today and have so many emails from everyone! And I know Ty and Derek said they have sent me some mail so I think it will get here sometime this week! Hopefully... Im happy to hear about the NBA playoffs haha. We are so clueless! We have been wondering all week but are all afraid to ask the president, ha ha, so when we are out on the street and we see some members we ask if they have heard anything! Most havent but it is always worth a try!
As far as the language goes... Its coming... Im trying to learn conjugations right now. And in Spain the past is kinda hard because it is a little different! The food is a lot better here! Lots of fish, and I dont know why, but the lunch ladies always feed us just tons of French Fries! I think they think we all love them but there not that great! Most the food is pretty good though! Different but good! I did over react on the package a bit. They had just drilled us on not having a ton of food but it is fine! They didnt care at all! They just didnt want the food in our rooms! I just put it up in the cafeteria and everyone enjoyed it a lot! Thanks! Its was all really good! Things are going well with my comp! It is still Elder Pearson, he is pretty chill and a great missionary! I swear the kid is always working! I try hard but there are sometimes when I just need a break! He never stops! I feel like we teach really well with eachother! He is pretty good at spanish and he can tell when I am struggling with the language during a lesson so he either helps me or fixes my mistakes, which I like.
So as far as Annie using my Blue Knights gear. She can wear whatever she wants EXCEPT my first jerseys, my last jerseys, and state championship shirts. The rest is fair game! Congrats again on making the team! have fun!
As for me! Im good! So far there isnt anythign I need! Everything I need, we can just walk to the stores that are close by and buy it! Its real easy! Thanks again for the love and support from everybody!
I miss and love you all!
Elder Carrigan!
JFK pictures
The day James flew to Madrid, he flew through JFK. Jim's scheduled flight also flew through JFK into the gate right next to James's gate. An emotional farewell...
Jim talked the Captain of James's flight
into upgrading James to first class :)
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