The End of the World

Whats Up! Whats Up!

 

First off I need to send a huge thanks out to everyone who sent me something! I just in the office today and I walked out of the mail room with all the (White) packages and mail I had singing "Im Dreaming of A White Christmas" I thought it was pretty funny but some of the other elders in the office didnt find it very funny! haha You guys are the greatest family in the world! I really am so grateful to have a supportive family! I dont know how some Elders do it! If it werent for you guys, It would be so much harder!  But the list is long, I got ones from Mom (2) C Danas, Grandma and Gene, Grandpa and Cindy, Browns, and I know I am missing one... Sorry... haha I cant remember! But thanks again I love you all!

 

So anyway, Speaking of a white Christmas, We did have a baptism, but we didnt baptize all five like we were expecting... Cecilia dropped out like last second because her husband in Honduas messed some things up... We have a visit with her tomorrow and we are going to try and land another fecha with her. We will see ho wit goes! Also a fecha of the other elders dropped out last minute... We will see what happens!

 

So the big news for the week is yes I have a new companion! His name is Elder Garcia and he is pure blood Spanish! Both his mom and dad are converts and both are from Spain! He is the first missionary in his family! Im not going to lie, I am pretty stoked! I talked to him about how although he is the younger missionary and I am his trainner, this means absolutely nothing, and how hew has so much power as a native Spaniard! I am hoping to start working with some strong Spanish families and I think with him it will be a whole lot easier to get in with them! Mo one wants to listen to two kids from the states who can barely speak the languagem but some one from their own country... I think we will see some success! At least I am hoping we will! Yes, it was hard to see Elder Wiscombe go, but he is so great! Honestly, the most obedient missionary I have seen so far on my mission! He will do great things on his mission and I am glad I had an opportunity to be companions with him!

 

So that is about the news for the week... Nothing else really went down!

 

Just so everyone knows... On Christmas we are planning on Skypimg around 7 Oclock our time, I think that is like 11 oclock there... We still arent totally sure, but I will confirm it on the 24th or maybe a couple of days before! President still hasnt said anything about it and to be honest I dont think he will so we will see what happens! I am stoked to Skype and hopefully I can see as many of you as possible!

 

Parker Timmerman! Thats my BOY!!!!! BIG PHILLY! Yeah Buddy! Im stoked for you! Congrats!

 

Well I think that is it for this week! I will Email you guys on Monday and then we will talk on Tuesday! Yeah Buddy!

Love you all!

 

Elder Carrigan

 

Staying Focused!

Good Morning Friends and Family!

First let me just throw a shout out to my LITTLE bro! Turning the big 17 this week! Happy Birthday buddy! Although you get older every year, and this year I am in Spain. Remember who is in charge! haha Love you buddy! Keep up the good work!

This week went really well! Elder Wiscombe and I have been trying hard to keep focused and this past week it really wasnt that hard, we have tons to do right now and it is always so much easier to stay focused when you have stuff to do! I love it!

This past week we worked hard progressing our two fechas, Cecilia and Sofia! Right now everything is looking really good! Sofia is pretty much set! She came to church yesterday and we only have a couple of the commandments left to teach her. I do have to say, it is SUPER hard teaching a ten year old! haha You have to teach so simple and some things I dont even know where to start! We taught the 10 commandments and the word of wisdom last night and... It was interesting haha! The summary of how it went was, Dont eat or drink anything bad for your body and always obey your parents! haha It has been a really good experience though. Sometimes as missionaries I feel like we get a little caught up on trying to teach and explain every little detail that the investigators just get lost. It has been good to just take a step back and try to teach just the basics. Bottom line, Sofia is super excited for her baptism and so is her dad! It will be awesome to see them both in white on Saturday! We just need to keep praying!

Cecilia is progressing as well! We continue to work with her and need to start teaching her the commandments this week! From what we have seen, we dont think there should be any problem. She is amazing and super prepared! The only potential problem is her working... But, luckily she works for a member´s mom, so we should get everything worked out! Just the minor details!

Other than that our week was pretty average! We continue to work really close to some Menos Activo families and are trying super hard to get them back to church. I have been here for almost two months and stories are just barely starting to come out... This week we found out that I guess some time ago a branch president offended a bunch of people and that is why there are a ton of Menos Activo Families here... Stupid! So there is still a lot of work to do in that part of the work.

We also found out that a couple transfers back a couple missionaries did a bunch of stupid stuff here and lost the trust of a lot of the members... More stupid! For this the members havent given too many references to us. The other day one of the members came up to me and Elder Wiscombe and gave us a couple of references and said I am glad they sent us some good missionaries again. It was a super nice compliment and just made me pumped! Hopefully we can get the members involved in the work again! We think they will start helping us out again. Yesterday in Sacrament we announced there is going to be 5 baptisms on Friday and everyone was super suprised/stoked. I guess what I am saying is I think things are going to start speeding up here and I am really excited! Tarragona is an area with a lot of potential. Great Members, Great Area! All they are missing is a Chapel! haha

Now that I have said all this I am sure I will get transferred... haha Its all good! Come what may and love it!

Well thats about it from Spain! I hope you are all loving the Christmas season! Although it is a little different this year I am really loving it! It feels good to be sharing the message about the real reason of Christmas! Hope you all have a great week!

Love
Elder Carrigan

Just Keep On Truckin!!

Whats up! Whats up!

This week was one for the books for sure! First off I just want to thank a ton of you for the things that have been sent! C Danas, I got the package I think you were talking about. It had all the pictures from the kids and a great letter from Clarker D! Loved it! I loved reading what was going on with you guys and it sounds like all is well there! Loved the pictures of the kids! The picture of Jack player soccer! That is a soccer FACE!! So focused! Thats what I am talking about! haha Clark it is funny that you know Elder Tirado! He is my Zone Leader right now in the Hospitalet Zone, and such a stud! Honestly one of the greats! Knows how to work and knows how to make those around him better! Great Missionary! BUT, he definately remembers you and said you were a stud, even remembers your kids! I think I scored some brownie points just by being your nephew haha.

Baers! Thank you as well for the Christmas package! I loved the tie and I am actually wearing it right now! Great choice! Bring a little lavender into the mix! Love it! And the Christmas decorations will go along nicely with our little christmas corner! haha

And Last, Family, Thank you much for the Pre-Christmas package! I loved it! Everything was great and we now have a great little corner of the piso filled with Christmas joy! haha

So like I said this week was a rough one but Elder Wiscombe and I just "Put our shoulders to the wheel" and went hard! First it started off with getting your package... Dont get me wrong! I loved it, but I got SO trunky! haha I mad the stupid mistake of trying to bring a little bit of home here! I turned on that christmas music I had and set up our little christmas corner one night... TERRIBLE IDEA! haha I learned my lesson! Luckily it didnt last long, but it was a rough night!

So then for 2 full days, literally, we got fired on left and right! It was the worst! And it wasnt even like a good fire where they call you like a couple hours in advance and you can try to make other plans, it was just straight up show up at thier house and then they are either not there or they forgot and we need to reschedule! I dont understand! How can you forget? I call you the day before and they remember then, I confirm the visit, then... Not there! I get so mad! haha

But even with all of this we were able to land two baptismal dates this week! Miracles! One is with a lady named Cicilia that just showed up to church last week. We had our first visit with her and invited her to be baptized and she said yes! It was awesome! Didnt have any doubts! She was only scared that she wouldnt be ready in time! No problem! She will be ready! The second is with thhe daughter of a menos activo family the bishop assigned us to visit. They are from Nigeria and have a daughter who is 9 named Sofia. We have been visiting them for the past couple weeks and every question was asked Sofia would answer it on the spot! Honestly, she is so smart! She speaks Spanish, Catalan, and English! Its crazy! But anyway, in the prayer at the end of the lesson, Prince, the father, asked to have the Lord touch Sofias heart and help prepare here for baptism. Until this point we had no idea that she wasnt baptized. We talked to him a couple days later and told him that she was ready and that we can help her finish preparing! They are both preparing to be baptized on the 15th! The other elders here in Tarragona also have 2 fetchas for the 15th of December! We are working hard to getting all of them baptized! I want to see a white Christmas!!!!! haha

So anyway, This week I learned something interesting about Spain and about Santa Claus that I didnt know! It involves the little gifts mom sent me... Those little Pez things. We went to there house this week to give them to them and we were talking about Christmas, but I learned that Santa Claus actually doesnt pass by some of the childrens houses. Some of the kids here dont even write Santa Claus. In Spain, the 3 kings bring presents to everyone on Januray 6th! Everyone writes the 3 kings and they come the night of January 5th. Wierd/Cool right?

They also have these little things called Tios that come down from the mountains. They walk down from the mountains every winter because it gets really cold up there. They feed the tios and put blankets on them to make them warm. As they feed them they get bigger and bigger until finally on the night of December 24th, the tios poop out presents for them! Yes you read that right! haha. The kids sing to them the night before and the next day they find the present that they pooped out! haha pretty awesome right! I dont have any photos of Tios yet but I will take some this week! haha

Well anyway... Thats about it this week!... We continue to work hard with the other investigators we have. Hopefully we can land some more fetchas this week! Please keep praying! The prayers are definately felt! I also would love to see everyones Christmas cards. If you all have extras will you send me one to the mission office address! I would love it! Thanks!

Mom, stop worrying about singing infront of everyone! Everyone knows you are going to kill it!
Nick, stop being a punk in Physics haha! Good luck on the ACT, DO WORK! And, of course, Jade Jones... Need I say more? Well done! I approve!
Ryan, I heard you had a guy rub your but this week... NICE!!!!! haha
Annie, Keep being beautiful!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love
Elder Carrigan

P.S. I hope you enjoy our Christmas Card... Merry Christmas from Elder Carrigan and Wiscombe! 

Thanksgiving!

Good Morning everybody!

This week was was a great one! We worked really hard and it is amazing how the work pays off! We did a lot of finding this week, or i guess I should say searching but nothing really came of it. We knocked a lot of doors and got shut down time and time again! haha I feel like it has turned into a compitition between Elder Wiscombe and I to see who can say the most before the door closes or before they hang up the timbre... We try to make it as fun as possible! We knocked for about 4 hours and found one person that said to come back! It honestly is amazing how good those words sound! Since we are close to Christmas, I will just have to compare it as if you opened a present on Christmas morning and you got exactly what you wanted! O its so great! haha So we will call him this week and see if we can set something up! Hopefully the number isnt fake! haha

We did see miracles though and I honestly think it is because we put so much effort into knocking doors this whole week! At church yesterday, we had 5 people show up to church that we have never even seen before! we talked to them after church and they all said they loved it! They said they were going to come back next week and we have visits with 3 of them this week! Miracles I tell you! Miracles! I know God inspired them to come to church! Before we started knocking doors before, I said a prayer and I told Heavenly Father that we were going to put in the effort to find those ready to hear the gospel, but he needed to help us and put them in out path. After we knocked doors and only found one person, I was a little down, then Sunday hit... I knew it was the answer I was looking for! Coincidence? I think not! haha

So Thanksgiving wasnt too bad! It was tough because I kept thinking about the Turkey that was cooking at home with the Football and all of the goods that come along with Thanksgiving, but we had a conference in Valencia that was pretty sweet! The 2nd councilor of the area presidency came and talked to us! He did a great job and got us all motivated! I always love the conferences! They make me want to go out and work that much harder! Afterwords, the whole zone sat down and ate a GIANT Piealla (Not sure how to spell that) There is a member in Valencia that has won a ton of awards for his piealla! It was super good! So although I didnt have turkey and football, I had a conference and Piealla! Thansgiving Spanish style! haha It was pretty great! After the conference, President Pace gave me the opportunity to have a one on one visit with the area seventy and it was a really cool opportunity! We talked about some things but those are personal! haha Sorry! It was an experience I wont forget! One on one interview with an aposle of the Lord!

So Christmas is in full swing here! Lights, a big Christmas tree, Christmas music in the streets! Im not goign to lie! IT SUCKS! haha How in the world am I supposed to stay focused and not think about home when I cant even walk down the street without hearing Ill Be Home For Christmas! haha It will be tough being away from home but I am sure I will live! I am still super nervous I am going to be transfered in these coming weeks... We are like 95 percent positive that one of us is going, we just dont know who. President kind of spilled the beans at this conference! haha We were talking to him and he said something about how him and Hermana Pace are going to come down here in January for a fireside, about halfway through it he caught himself and you could just tell he knew one of us was probably not going to be here! I dont know, we will see! I could see it either way, either one of us could go! Either way I am stoked to be able to talk to you guys soon! I am pretty sure that we will be able to skype, but we still dont have details! That will definately be the highlight of the month!

Well Guys, there is much left to report! All is well and we are working hard! Hopefully we can get some baptismal dates this week from these potential investigators we have! I love you all much and I miss you all tons! Cant wait to talk with you guys on Christmas! we are now less than one month away!

Keep it Real!
Elder Carrigan

Definitely an Exciting Week!

Hey everyone!

This week was incredible! Had some great visits this week and we really worked super hard! In return we also had A TON of fun! That is what missionary work is all about right? It was probably the best week we have had here in Tarragona!

So to update you all on Jose and Carmen... This week we taught them the Resturation and it seemed like they accepted the principles pretty well. They have a really complicated schedule so it is hard to have a nice sit down visit with them, but we do what we can. This week was the first week we had the chance to sit down with the whole family and teach them together. It was really special. We still havent invited them to be baptised because of a few reasons... 1. Like I said it is hard to get a sit down visit with them 2. When we do have a sit down visit, it is hard to get the whole family together. and 3. Jose still has A LOT of doubts! Everytime we sit down to have a lesson with him he always asks one of those stupid questions and sometimes they are so funny! We are working with him though and I am possitive this will change really soon! It is already amazing how much he has changed. At first he didnt even want to talk to us, but now he loves us! Before he wouldl have people in his store and complete ignore us when we walk in, but now he could have the whole world in there and everytime we walk in he yells "CHICOS!" Its awesome! We are also spending a little time on Sundays teaching him english to gain his trust! He loves it! And I love teaching him! Its great! They have a lot of potential! Im really excited for them! Please keep praying for them!

We also had a suprise baptism here in Tarragona this week! It was a huge miriacle! She lives in the other Elders area but we all have been working with her a ton! She has been investigating the church forever, decided she wanted to get baptised, then there were problems with her mom not wating her to get baptised,  and finally (I think Thursday) called up the Elders and said, Hey I want to get baptised this Saturday AND My mom said it was OK! It was awesome! Definately a miracle from the Lord!

So like I said, We also played HARD this week haha! On Friday we had the opportunity to go back to Madrid to pick up my companions ID card. Elder Tyler (My last companion) and his new companion were also there for the same thing. We got there in the morning and didnt leave until the afternoon so the 4 of us had a great time in Madrid together! There are a ton of pictures I will send soon, but this Locotorio computers are getting filled with Viruses so I am scared to plug my camera in... I will find a way to throw them on a USB and send them off soon! They are so great! The street performers in Madrid are hilarious and they all know the Elders because all the CCM Elders are always there! So they all were calling us out! We had a lot of fun! One street performer was dressed as spiderman, but he is super over wieght! It is hilarious! We took a ton of photos with him! It was a lot of fun to go to Madrid and actually a lot of fun to be back with Elder Tyler! There is no doubt in my mind we would have had a blast together in Vitoria! Maybe even a little too much fun! haha

Then today for Pday we went on an incredible hike! One of the members here is a die hard climber! So he took us on this awesome hike in the "mountains" of Spain! haha It was a good hike, we went with all of the JAS and really had a blast! Took some lunch up there, chilled, it was good to get out! It definately didnt beat our man trip that we take every summer, but it was really fun! The whole time I kept thinking about out Timp trip... I swear Pdays just make me trunky haha! I have some good photos for this as well, but I will have to send them another time...

So that is about all I can think about this week... I am feeling like I am just finally getting settled here, and I have been here a transfer and a half... I also was talking to Elder Tyler about this coming transfer, He said he could definately see me getting transfered this transfer.Just a heads up... Transfer day is on the 18th of December so if anyone is planning on sending anything, I would send it well in advance just in case...

Well we just got a call from the ward secretary saying our church is flooding so... WERE OUT! haha Thanks!

Love you all!
Elder Carrigan

Transfers!

Hey everyone!

Hope everyones week went well! Sounds like it was a good one! The snow storm looks like it was super legit! It would decided to snow a ton while I am gone! The past two years we got absolutely nothing!!! LAME! haha Its all good though! I loved all the photos! Someone go tear the slopes up for me!!

So transfers were this week! Pretty crazy that I have been in Tarragona for a full transfer now! Time just flies, and at the same time it doesnt... haha As mom pointed out, this past week I hit six months! Pretty wierd to think about! It doesnt feel like it it has been six months at all. It feels like last month I was just entering the MTC in Provo! It kinda freaks me out! Then at the same time a year and a half still feels like forever! haha I love it though! So with transfers came a couple suprises... Would you believe me if I told you I got transfered!!! Well, dont believe me! I am still here in Tarragona! Elder Wiscombe and I are still companions and will work together this transfer! This is good and bad. Now we are both nervous that one of us is going to be transfered a week before Christmas, which would be terrible, but I guess we will see! Elder Frenzel, one of the Texas elders, was transfered and Elder Magallanes is now here with us in Tarragona. Remember him? He was my native companion in the CCM. We will see how it goes! I am glad there is a native here that can help me out on my spanish. I cant believe I am saying this, but I actually really miss living in Vitoria with three native speakers! It was SUPER dificult at the time, but I learned so much and it was so much fun! Hopefully he will bring something new to the table!

So as far as this week goes, Elder Wiscombe and I hit it hard! We spent one full day in every pueblo that we have searching for members, menos activos, old investigators, and futures. It wasnt a very successful week as far as numbers go, but it was good because now I know exactly who we can visit, and pass by, and where the most productive areas are to work. And, in the proccess, we saw miracles!

I dont know if I have talked about Carmen much... She was a reference from a member that owns a tiny little store here in Tarragona. We always try and pass by, but either she is super busy working or her husband was there and didnt want to talk to us. So this week we passed by to talk to her and she wasnt there, only her husband was there. My first reaction was to act like I wanted to buy something and then just get the heck out of there! haha But it was incredible, the spirit hit me HARD and promted me to talk to him and set him straight! haha So we started talking about what we had, the message we share, why I am here, all the above! He fired questions and I fired right back! Sometimes I didnt even know what I was doing but I was just throwing down doctrine and speaking truth! It was awesome! From what I could tell, he just didnt know who we were. He was scared of something new! He had heard all these things, things that obviously arent true, and when I set him straight, he was glad we were there. At the end of the lesson I bore my testimony about how I am super far away, I cant speak spanish perfectly, I miss my friend, family, and many other things, but that I left all of those things at home, to share the message I had with the people here in Spain. I left it all because the message i have changed my life and has brought me more happiness than anything elses in this world! I honestly bore probably the strongest testimony in my life, and by the end of the night. His whole self changed. He admitted to us how he wanted this peace and happiness in his life, and how he truly respected us for being 19 years old, sharing a message about Jesus Christ, while every other 19 year old is out on the street doing drugs and partying there life away. He went from not wanting us there at all, to inviting us back whenever we could! I am suiper excited to start teaching this small family! Please pray for them! Jose and Carmen!

This week we also found the most amazing family who have been less active for some time. Both the mom and the dad are returned missionaries, and they have two little kids! The whole time we were over there, I could stop playing with the little boy. He is like 3 years old and just reminded me of all my little cousins! I couldnt help it! haha I miss all those little guys so much! Anyway, it was a super wierd lesson! They kept talking about their missions and how great they were and the experiences they had and this and that! At the end of the lesson I was so confused on why this family is inactive! They are so great! So I am excited to start working with them as well. There is no doubt in my mind we can get them back to church! I really dont have an option! The thought of letting those kids grow up outside of the gospel kills me! I have learned a lot on my mission, but my eyes have really been opened on how nasty this world is! Maybe it is because I grew up in the church or maybe in Utah, I was a little shielded, but it is terrible! I hate leaving piso every friday night and seeing teenagers with huge bottles of alcohol in there hands while smoking! It kills me! I swear yesterday we passed like a 13 year old boy smoking a cigarette! I cant even express how greatful I am for the way I grew up, the teachings I learned, and the friends I had. I think it is sad that kids have to find fun in things like that....

So anyway... That is about how the week went! Nothing else to really report. We continue to work hard and to do our best to find those who are prepared to hear the true gospel of Jesus Christ! Some days are rough, but I love it!

Love you guys all a ton!

Elder Carrigan

BAPTIZED!!!

Whats up everyone!

First off, Happy Birthday to the OLD MAN! O I mean Happy Birthday Dad! haha Hope you have a good week! Thanks for the support and everything you have done for me! I wouldnt be where I am without you and all you have taught me. Love ya!

This week was a rough one, but it ended really well... It seemed like Satan was just throwing everything he had at us. It started on Monday. A night full of cancelled visits. Didnt land anything. Then Tuesday we had zone conference and after zone conference we had a really important visit! Well, we went to the train station in Lleida to come back home, well, little did we know that the train company was on strike.... Ya, so we had to cancel on a new investigator and havent been able to get another opportunity yet.Then just more searching, rejection, and getting called out on the street! I think this is the first week where we literally got called out by someone on the street everyday... Sometimes its funny and most the stuff they say is just stupid but it gets old... One night this week we had a drunk homeless guy follow us for like 10 minutes just yelling stuff... The Bible is this, Jesus Christ that.... Everyone was just looking at us and ya... It was a joke. The good part was we did end with a baptism! Ana passed her interview and was baptized and confirmed this week! It was pretty sweet! I think Elder Wiscombe really enjoyed the experience and I think she did too! The only bad part is we scheduled the baptism on the same day as a wedding in the ward so we only had like 5 members at the baptism. Out of the 5 members, 4 of them were there just because they had to do something on the program... I felt a little bad but I know she really enjoyed getting confirmed on Sunday. the ward is so great here! She was the most popular person there on Sunday and was always talking to someone! It was great! Difinately ended the week right! Other than that ... Just an average week.

Teaching is a little slow. Right now, we have a lot of potential investigators and have taught a lot of first lessons but cant land a second lesson with anyone... Elder Wiscombe and I have really been studying hard and doing a lot of practices to figure out how we can inprove our first lesson. We have some lessons set up this week and hopefully we can see some success and begin to have some solid investigators!  We have been searching a lot for some menos activos as well. We got once lady named Belinda from Bolivia to come back to church! She hadnt been in a really long time, but she has been to church two times in a row! Its great! She is so amazing! I am really glad she is coming back! Yesterday she was talking with the bishop about recieving a calling! I am really happy for her!

Other than that I really dont have much more to write... I am super stoked for the elections this week and Im not even in the states! haha I hope Romney can pull it out! I sent my vote in awhile ago so I think it got there in time! People here in Spain dont really like Mitt Romney because of some comment he made awhile back... It is kinda funny! I dont really say much just so I dont make them mad, but I dont know! We will see! Im sure we will here about it!

So I guess I will explain these pics for ya...
Pic 0632 Ana at her baptism! No one knows why she doesnt look happy, but I promise she was haha
Pic 0626 So this is a Roman Ruin in Tarragona. It is a collosium (Not sure how to spell that...) But it is super sweet! Litterally way close to the ocean as well! People faught wild beasts in this thing!!!! Awesome!
Pic 0630 Haha I love this picture! This is the Lleida zone! There were like 20 cameras all sitting on 1 table on the timer setting... This is the best one I got and we are missing a couple of the other Elders!
Pic 0631 Me enjoying some wonderful homemade chile! haha It was great! Thanks Mom and Dad! :)

Well thats it from Spain this week! Thanks everyone for the love and support you all give me! Love you all tons and I am already excited to hear from you all next week!

Love Elder Carrigan