Bishop Brewster

Hey Everyone!

So I am sad to hear that Bishop Brewster passed away.... That is a huge bummer! Such a great guy! He will truly be missed! Please give the brewster family a huge hug from me! :) I can honestly say that Bishop Brewster helped me become the man I am today! As I was sitting here thinking about him and some memories I had, all I could think about is he is the most patient man I have ever met in my life! Anyone who can deal with that many scouts for that many scout trips is my hero! haha Love you Brewster Family! 

This passed week was a good week! We are working really close with the bishopric here in trying to find the menos activos in the ward. The ward list here is SUPER long and the bishop doesnt know like half the members on the list.Because of this, we spent the week passing by a ton of houses! We found a good mix of everything! One reason I love the mission is because you honestly have no idea what you are going to experience everyday! You always plan, but at the end of the day, your plans always go differently and the things you see and hear are incredible! haha We passed by people who didnt want anything to do with us, people who had died, people who havent lived in there for over 30 years, everything! haha It was a mess! we also found a couple people who let us in and we were able to talk to them! 

We found one family from Gautamala that is super great! Its a mom and here 3 daughters. They are all really great! The mom has been inactive for some time now, but the 3 girls are starting to come to church activities and to church! We had the whole family in the Family Home Evening we do in the church each week! It was a great sight! So we have some work to do!

We also found a really great lady from Bolivia named Ana. We knocked on her door and got to know here a little bit but she would let us in. So we just talked with her and got to know here a little bit. We set up a visit to come and visit her later in the week and she kind of hesantly agreed. As we were ending I had the feeling to leave her with a prayer right there in the doorway. I said a reallly basic sincere pray and prayed for her and her needs. As we ended, we all opened our eyes and she was bawling. It was a touching moment. I asked her if she was ok adn she just started apologizing beacuase she felt bad because she couldnt let us in. Its was amazing how the Holy Ghost touched her heart during the prayer!  I love prayer! we had a lesson with here yesterday, and she is great! She has some problems, but she is great and has a desire to come back to church! we can help her with that! 

Other than that, we are looking for new investigators like always! Talking to lots of people! Tomorrow we have a visit with a family from the Manilla, Phillapines! Maybe Julie and Branigan can give me some advice on what I can talk about! Any food I should have them make us or should I stear clear from that? haha Help me out a bit! What do the people usually love to do or maybe a funny saying in their language! haha

Well, all is well! Lots of love! 

Elder Carrigan

P.S. Mom, last week you asked us what kind of food I eat and I forgot to answer. We eat alot with the members and they normally make tipical food from their counties (Which is amazing!) I honestly can say I have traveled south america´s food! haha and when we eat at home, I usually make something easy. a sandwich, pasta, easy stuff. To sum it up. I eat like a college student! haha Loves! 

P.S:S Loved the school pictures! We have such a good looking family! What are we going to do for our Christmas card photo? If im not in it.... There will be some major problems!! haha 

Great Week!

Hey guys! 

Alright I am going to apoligize now, this letter is going to be a short one! I have been doing a ton of stuff with all the pictures I have because I havent touched them in 3 months. I had to pass them all to pin drives so I can send them home to you guys! Hopefully I can get that done soon! 

Well Everything is great here in Barcelona! Elder Seegmiller and I are working really hard to find new investigators! Maybe thats why he is always sleeping! haha He is a good kid and just a new missionary! It has kind of been hard for me to slow down and actually train him. I had gotten used to working with someone who already knows what they are doing that my patience has definately been tried this past week. It has been a stuggle to stop and explain what we are doing, where we are going, why I we are doing this and that, where we are goign next... ETC. but it has been good for me as well. 

Like I said, the biggest thing we are doing is looking for new investigators... We are stuggling to find people who live in our area. We have been talking to a ton of people but all of them live somewhere else in Barcelona! I know the Lord will bless us! We have started going with the basics again and we are trying to find some less active members that live in our area. The bishop is really excited to have more missionaries here in the ward and we are creating a"plan of action" about how we are goign to work effectively! 

Nick Well done on the homecoming date! She looked like a cute girl! 

Ryan, Way to take one to the throat! Thats my boy! I would love a picture of that nice bruise you have! 

Annie, I heard about your goal! Nice job! Nad against your rivals! Thats awesome! Keep up the good work! 

Other than that I am still lovign Barcelona! Im not sure I have much more to tell you all! I love you all tons and I am glad you are all having a good time at home! 

Sorry its short! Talk to you all next week! Loves

Elder Carrigan

A New Son is Born!

Hey

Sounds like a great week at home! I found out this week that I am the worst older brother ever because I forgot to wish my brother happy birthday! I still cant believe he got an Iphone... Such crap! haha I feel like as soon as I left for my mission, everyone at home started recieving sweet stuff! Wow I am sure everything has changed at home! Today I hit 8 months left in the mission... ARE YOU KIDDING! It goes by way to fast. Got to enjoy what I have left! 

So this week was nuts! Like I told you guys, 45 new missionaries arrived this week to the mission and it has been absolutely crazy! I havent been in my area like all week and it was tough but now everything is settled down! 

So I do have a new trainee, or son! His name is Elder Seegmiller! He is from Troy, Idaho. Never heard of it! He tells me its in the North of Idaho! He comes from a large family of 8 kids and is the youngest... Classic Idaho mormon family! haha His dad is some sort of scientist and he wants to be one too! He is a really great kid who is excited to be here and is ready to work hard! 

Unfortunately Benito wasnt baptized this week.... He has dropped smoking a lot. he has gone from a pack a day to about 2 or 3 a day which is good, but unfortunately its not stopping. We are still meeting with him and hopefully we can get him to stop completely! The only problem is that h eis going to Brazil soon for a wedding and will be gone for a couple of weeks... So we will have to wait for him to get back for him to be able to be baptized...

After that, investigators are running dry. We are headed back to stage one and we are looking, looking, looking! We recently dropped some investigators that werent progressing and then I actually just barely recieved a text from an investigator saying that she doesnt want to meet with us anymore... Lovely! haha But Im not worried! There are prepared people everywhere! :) 

Claudio recieved the Priesthood this weke! So that is great news! Only problem is that he found work and now wont be able to come to church for about a month.... Bummer! But he did say that he is going to come to all of the activities and everything during the week, plus we will still visit him during the week as well! All is well here in Barcelona! Still loving life! 

Love you all and I am happy you guys are doing well! 

Loves! 

Elder Carrigan

Traslados

Hey Guys!

So I guess I will let you guys in on transfers! I am super excited! I will be staying here in Barcelona for another transfer! :) Elder Feller and I will not be companions, but we will be living together. Like we thought, President split us up and both of us will be trainning! IT should be really fun! I am going to stay in our area and Elder Feller is going to go take over a part of the sisters area in the upper half of Barcelona. It should be pretty exciting! We are trying to get the members excited as well! With so many missionaries in the field, we could see a lot of amazing things happen, but only if the members help us in the work! We had a meeting with the bishop yesterday, and next week we are going to sit down with the bishopric what we are going to do to be the most productive has possible! We are going to see miracles! 

This next week is going to be nuts though! Becasue we live here in Barcelona we have to help all these new missionaries with residency and all this stuff! It is going to be a disaster! haha 45 new missionaries will arrive in Barc Sants (The Train Station) tomorrow at 9 O´clock in the morning! The will all come up the esscalator together and Im not going to lie, it is going to be an epic sight! haha I am glad I get to be apart of it! Then after we have to take them everywhere and do a bunch of paper work for them and all that stuff... That part im not excited for! haha It will be an interstign week for us! Thursday afternoon I will recieve my new companion and then get back to work! It should be great! 

So as for this week... A lot caught us by suprise! On Thursday morning we received a call from a member of the church and he told us that some one had broken into the old church building and had made a mess. They needed help cleaning up, so we went as soon as we could.. On the outside of the church, everything looked normal, but as soon as you took one step into the church, it look as if a hurricane had hit the place! It was destroyed! It made me sick! It wasnt like someone had broken in, stole some stuff, and left. No, people had broken in like 3 months ago and they had been living there for who knows how long and in the meantime just destroyed the place! It was terrible! There were beer cans everywhere, paint all over the walls, and the whole place smelled terrible! They had taken one of the fire hoses and just wet the whole place down! The basement was flooded and it was just an awfull sene. Something I deffinately didnt think I would ever see in a chruch... So we spent the morning cleaning the place up, but I cant say I did much... There was way too much to clean up. I think they just ended up hiring a professional cleaning team to just go in there and take out everything! It was nuts!

This week we dropped some investigators and hopefully in the future they will accept the gospel. Its always hard to let peopel go, but if they dont do their part, we cant do anything for them... The good news though is that Benito is going to be baptized this next week! At the end of the month he is goign to Benito for a couple weeks and he wants to get baptized before then. So, he is lettign smoking go this week, and he will be baptized on Saturday! Please pray that he can stop smoking!! He needs the prayers! Dad, thanks for the program. We are using it! :) We think everything will go well. We know it will be hard for him, but everything is possible with the Lords help! 

Well thats about it for this week! I still love the mission! haha Nothing better! O I do have one request! I need a special marking pencil... I know it sounds lame, but they are the best adn I cant find one anyone here! You can buy them in the MTC store and i am sure in deseret book as well. It is just a marking pencil wih tons of colors. Ty knows what I am talking about... Ask him. 

Well, sounds like all is well at home! Love you all lots! Dad, dont dream about me too much! Dont worry, the Mediteranian Sea´s waves arent that crazy and President will never find out! Im way too sneaky! haha 

Love you all lots! 

E. Carrigan