Last week in France.. and 2 baptisms!

Well this will be my last blog ever so I will try to make it a good one. This week was super busy but I think that's the best way to have it. I had my last district meeting ever and it was pretty strange to say goodbye to the missionaries. Also on Friday one of my best friends Elder Peterson came and did an exchange with me. He is from my MTC district so it was a lot of fun! He also did the interviews for our baptismal dates and they passed! So on Sunday it was crazy! So first I taught the lesson at church, then I had to bless the sacrament, then Elder Schow and I had to give 5 people the gift of the Holy Ghost, then because it was fast and testimony meeting I gave my testimony and then we had our 2 others baptisms after church!

It was my craziest Sunday ever but I loved it so much! The baptismal service was really beautiful and the spirit was really strong! Well that's been my week pretty much haha. I would just like to thank all my friends and family who have been so supportive and kept in touch over the past 2 years! I am really grateful for you all and love you a lot! I am going to miss France so much! It has become a really special place for me and I will never forget all the people I have met and the friends I have made! I can say that after 2 years choosing to serve a mission was the best decision of my life! I have no regrets and I had an amazing time and I have never felt closer to God! I hope to see lots of you on Thursday and very soon! Love you all! For the last time ever... ELDER KARL

Colmar Mountains

Peterson and I hiking a mountain

10 days!!! .. and 2 more baptisms!.. and lots of pictures!!

hello everyone! So this is my last week here on a mission...
Can't believe I'm saying that. 2 years has been so fast! But anyways
this week was a really good week. We taught a lot of people but
specifically 2 girls who will be getting baptized this coming Sunday!
(My last Sunday) one is 18 and the other 17. They are sisters and they
are super awesome. They are really excited for their baptism and so am
I. So my last Sunday will be very special! But things here are
wonderful and coming to a beautiful end! This weekend I missed my
sister Katie's wedding! But I just want to congratulate her and her
husband and wish them the best for the future and that I love them!
Sorry I could not make it! But things here are awesome and I could not
be more grateful for my mission or for my friends and family! Also
anyone who would like to come to the airport Thursday October 15th at
5:21pm ... Your welcome to come and of course I understand if your
busy but just want to throw that out there! Love you and all and can't
wait to see you in a couple of days! Love Karl ❤️✈️

 

The countdown begins!

hello everyone I'm so sorry I have not written a blog in such a long time. Mostly because I have been lazy... But I will try to be better for the last 2 weeks haha. So big news yesterday we had 5 baptisms.

It was a really big blessing because there has not been a baptism in this area for a long time and white washing with a blue is not easy! White washing is when you and you companion get put into a ville at the same time and both of you are lost lol. And a blue is a missionary straight out of the MTC. (Missionary Training Center) So it has been an adventure but my companion or aka son is amazing. He is fresh from America so French and teaching is hard for him but he is such a cool guy. And when you and your companion get along and become real friends that's when the work can really take off. So when we arrived in Colmar 11 weeks ago their was nothing going on here. We had no Amis and no information for anything. But Elder Schow and I decided that it was a fresh start for the ville and that anything was possible! So for the next 11 weeks we worked really hard and tried so many different ways to get things moving here and get people excited about the work. And after 11 weeks we had 5 baptisms and have 3 more in October and we have 15 people coming every Sunday to church! It is the biggest miracle I have seen on my mission. Watching a place go from zero work to one of the most thriving church branches I have ever seen! The lord works in such a beautiful way. All you have to do is believe it will happen and the lord will put you in opportunities to be successful! As my mission comes to an end it's hard not to be sad and happy. Happy because I will get to see my family and friends again. But sad because I have to leave my new family franc friends I have made during these 2 years. It is impossible for me to explain my thankfulness or gratitude to Heavenly Father for sending me to this mission and for putting me in each city and with each companion I have had! I have learned that the world is much bigger then myself and that the world does not revolve around me. At 18 years old though that's all I thought. But deciding to serve a mission has been the best decision of my life. Helping the people I have met come unto Christ has only strengthened my own personal testimony of the Savior and that he truly loves me. It's funny how truly when you lose your life for the lord you find it. People would think that leaving 2 years you would lose a lot of things.. But really I have never received more in my life then in these 2 years. Because at the end of the day you only remember the good times. The laughs you shared with people you meet on the street and the tears you shed for the strangers who become family. I am eternally grateful for all the love and support I have received over the past 2 years and for your prayers. I love you all! Elder Karl
🇫🇷❤️

Counting down!

Baptizing a family of 6!

Things here are good we found a huge family this week and they accepted a baptismal date! So we will be having 6 baptisms on the 27th of September. So that's a big blessing! 
I am pretty excited to come home! I just hope I'll be able to find a car when I get home haha!
I can't wait to go to the temple! After 2 years of not going it's been pretty rough even remembering what you do in the temple haha! Yikes...
But I am pretty pumped to see you in a couple of weeks! I will try to keep going strong!

A hike up a mountain!

Elder Schow and Elder Karl

hello everyone sorry I have been terrible at writing a blog! So this week was super cool! It was a holiday on the 15 th of August and no one was outside! So my companion elder Schow and I decided we would walk to the village right beside Colmar which is about 4 miles. So we walked there and once we got there we arrived into a wine festival. Haha it was beautiful but mostly tourist so we looked up and saw a huge castle called "Des trois château" and that was about another 6 miles up through a giant vineyard and through the woods.. Let me remind you that we are in church clothes. But my companion and I feel like we should go up this mountain. So we started our journey to the 3 castles and as we are walking we keep eating grapes off of the vineyard. About half way up we meet a family from Belgium. They were trying to get to the 3 castles as well but were a little lost. So we decided we would all go up together. They were confused why we had white shirts and ties so it was a great time to explain what we do and about the church. And also because I live in Brussels, Belgium for about 4 months we talked a lot about that! Fast forward 2 hours and we all make it to the top! It was incredible that the Lord gave us a prompting to climb up a mountain to teach a family from Belgium! Also the view was amazing you could see all the same villages around Colmar and also Colmar itself.

So we hiked 12 miles on foot to get to this mountain in church clothes... 

They asked us how we got their from Colmar we said we walked ... They asked if we used buses but because it was a holiday there were none so we told them how we have been walking all day. They thought it was incredible and had a lot of respect for what we do! It was so awesome! Also we have a 22 year old French girl that we teach now! Her name is Manon I might have said it before but she is awesome! She has a baptismal date for the 27th of September! It's crazy how fast time goes and that I will be home Ina couple of weeks!
I love you all! ❤️

King of the mountain

Colmar from a mountain

Flight Home Itinerary!!

"This week we set a baptismal date for the 23 of August with a 22 year old French girl named Manon she is dope. " Elder Karl



Elder Karl is flying into Pittsburgh International Airport at 5:21 on Thurs Oct 15! 

New Address (and last!!)
les missionaries Elder Karl
3A Rue De La Bageatelle
68000 Colmar

Winding down!

Only a couple weeks left.... Thank goodness haha I am so tired plus I can't wait to be back in America! Such a beautiful country! But things are going super good here! The work is going really well. We have 5 Amis come to church. it was amazing! The branch was shocked! Haha that's what's up 😏. But we are doing really good work here.

Colmar, France

Colmar, France

A Move and some pictures!

hello everyone! Well my first week in Colmar was crazy! We got lost everyday and walked like 12 miles everyday haha surprised my blue is still alive! (His new companion)

Elder Karl and his new companion, Elder Schow!

But Colmar is the most beautiful city I have ever seen! It is small but so rich with culture! And when we got here there was zero missionary work going on but this week we
worked our butts off and found 5 new amis and have some really good things coming our way in the future! Only 11 weeks left! Work hard play hard! Love ya 🙌👌❤️

Baptizing Jess

Jess, Elder Karl, Emillie and Luis

Luis, Emillie and Etienne

Another baptism! and photos

hello everyone!
Hope you all are doing well. Things here are going really good and we
are having a lot of success! The two people we just baptized are doing
super well and we have another baptism this Saturday! It will be the
son of Luis who is 12! He decided that he wanted to follow the example
of his dad and sister and now we will be baptizing him too! So many
miracles going on here. I am so grateful for my mission. Also on
Sunday my old companion Tanner Stucki came and visited me and that was
awesome!

A visit from Tanner Stucki (2nd from the left)

(This week we received this email and the above picture:
Hello Sister Karl,

Our son served in the France Paris mission so we've come to France to visit the areas in which he served. During our travels, we came across these awesome missionaries! (Our son, who has been home four months, is the one with the beard.) :) We enjoyed our visit with your son. He looks great, is happy and working hard.

Best,Sister Holly Stucki)

One of my best friends and meet a lot that he would take time
out of his trip to Paris with his family to come and see me! Really
love that dude. Things here are good though just trying to enjoy every
minute that I can before it all comes to an end! I love and miss you
all! ❤️😇🇫🇷

Elder Karl and Elder Lucas

(We also received this email with the above picture!

Hello Families Karl & Lucas,

We ran into your Elders this morning while visiting Nancy and took a picture so we could send along a mid-week hello! It sounded like they'd had a somewhat rough morning but were unwaveringly cheerful and radiant in their goodness and good humor. It was a joy to meet them even if only for a moment; thank you for sending them out into the world!

Best,

the Rhondeau family)

Happy 4th!

hey everyone! Happy 4th of July! 🇫🇷🇫🇷🇫🇷 so this 4th of
July was the best of my life. We had 2 baptisms. I got to baptize Jess
the guy from Tahiti. And also Luis's daughter Emilie got baptized by
Luis. The guy we baptized just 3 months earlier.  It was so amazing
seeing the people I have come to love so much choose to change their
lives in such a huge way and let me be a part of it! I really cannot
express in words how grateful I have been for this past year and
9 months. I have seen miracles happen and God's love in my life and in
the lives of those I care for most! I will be forever be grateful and
I hope you all know I love and miss you! Elder Karl 🇫🇷👌🇺🇸

Short but sweet :)

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I wrote but just
been really busy and sadly I don't have that much time today either.
So I will try to fit as much as I can in a short time. So this
Saturday the daughter of Luis is gonna get baptized her name is
Emilie! I am super excited for her and it's gonna be awesome! Things
have been going good hear in Nancy. Transfers are in 2weeks so we will
see what happens. Pretty crazy I only have a little bit of time left!
Already July, man oh man crazy. But I love you all and can't wait to
see you all soon  🇫🇷😘✈️❤️😇

Finally another blog entry!

Hello Everyone! Sorry I have been so bad about writing on this thing. Life has been crazy out here but I will try to catch you all up. So our ami Jess from Tahiti is doing really well.

Jess and me <3

He is such a cool guy and we have been seeing him a lot. He loves to take us out to dinner :p But he is still good for the 4th of July for his baptism. So we are really excited about that. Also Luis and his kids are doing amazing. the kids are also good to be baptized on the 4th of July! Update on new things we have met a new family! It is a husband and wife with 5 children. His name is Remey. Pretty funny story because we didn't find him but he found us. One day we were at the church because we had to fill out a paper online at the church and we hear a random knock. So I went out and found Remey standing there. I remind you .. normally no one would be at the church at this time but we were.. luck or just a blessing? Anyways he asked if he could have a book of Mormon and i told him we could figure something out ;) haha so we ended up teaching him for 2 hours and he was so excited to tell his family. Then he came to church that Sunday! He is really amazing and we are really excited to see what comes from that. The transfer is next week but i believe that i will be staying in Nancy for another 6 weeks but Elder Velazquez will prob leave :/ Makes me sad because he has become like a brother to me. But in good news is that it is June already :D CCrazy right? Only A couple more months and I will be finished! So I will try to live every min up while I can! Love and Miss you all! Elder Karl 

Beauty night ;)

Cheese burger art work in Lux  

Tea Party with one of our amis Madelyn!!!

Elder Player came to visit (Old missionary) And his family took us out! 

Happy Mother's Day!

Sunset from my view of my window! 

Hello everyone sorry my blog has been so bad and I have not written in a long. I will try to do a little bit better if I can. Well I am still in Nancy with Elder Velazquez so we will be doing another transfer together which is super cool. Also we have an amis from Tahiti named Jesse and he is so cool and we will be setting a baptismal date with him this week. The work here in France is going really well and the weather is very beautiful. I'm not sure what more you could ask for right? Yesterday was mother's day so I got to call home and that was awesome. Last time calling home before I go home. Man the time really does go fast only about 5 months left and I will be back. I am gonna try to really enjoy these last months I have here. But everything is going really good for me and I am really loving life and just trying to stay real and myself. Thank you all for the support and love you guys are amazing! Love you all! Elder Karl 

Miracles do happen!

castle in metz

Hello everyone sorry I have been so lazy with my blog I have had like no time to rest. But I will fill you in on what's been happening. So next week will be transfers and we will see if I stay or what happens. Also on Monday we will be getting I-pads which is pretty awesome. I am pretty sure we will be able to use facebook which will be cool. Last night we set 2 baptism dates with the 2 kids of Luis. The guy we baptized about a month ago, so super grateful for that. Okay story time- So this week I spent 2 days in Luxembourg for an exchange. I was with a blue or a missionary who has been here in France for about 4 weeks. Anyways I was excited because that means I would be doing most of the talking which if you have ever met me I am a talker haha but we go into a lesson with a man named Palo. Palo has been meeting with missionaries since 2004 so that's 11 years give or take. So we go into this man's home and he is holding a baby and his other child is sitting on the couch playing a video game. I begin to ask Palo how he found the church, why he still meets with missionaries and just about his faith. This continues for about 20 mins then I brought up baptism. This of course is not new to Palo who has been meeting with mormons for 11 years haha. He says " I know the Book of Mormon is true and that the church is true but I don't fill that I am ready and I am waiting for the lord to confirm it to me". Then at this moment I get a very strange feeling from the spirit that it's time for this man to get his anwser. So I ask Palo if it would be alright if we got on our knees and asked Heavenly Father right now if he was ready and if this was what the Lord wanted for him. He said yes so we got on our knees and then he asked if I would say it. I of course said yes but right before I was gonna start I felt that I should not say it. I felt that Palo needed to say it. So I asked him if he would say it. He was a little surprised but agreed. He began to pray and about half way through a miracle happened. All of a sudden Palo's son turned off the video game and the room went quite. The son then listened to his father pour out his heart asking God if he was ready and if this was true. All at once the whole room was filled with the spirit and I have never felt it so strongly before. When he said amen I looked him in the eyes and asked if he felt that. He said yes I feel the spirit. I said I do too and the Lord is with us. Then I said Palo "will you be baptized?".. with tears in his eyes he said yes "Elder yes.I know that I am ready and that the Lord is with us." I have never been more grateful in my life then I was that day Praying on the floor of a man's apartment in Luxembourg. Palo will be getting baptized the 17th of May and I could not be happier for him. I love my mission so much and I love all of you! The Lord is great, the church is true. -Elder Karl 

cool stuff in Luxembourg

Luxembourg!

(sorry this is so late getting out this week!) Hey everyone sorry I have not been able to write in a little while but we have been so busy here. Things are really good and i can't complain about anything. This week has been really cool because I finally got to go to all the countries in my calling.. That's right this week I went to Luxembourg!!!

Luxembourg 

It was really beautiful and so nice. Everything there is pretty fancy and like everyone is rich so it's a pretty exciting place! We had to go there because one of our zones is there and we had to go to a meeting so we were really lucky. And we had another BAPTISM!!!

Olivier's baptism!

 Olivier was baptized on sunday and he was so excited! He is blind but always has a smile on his face and is just such a huge example to me of "come what may and love it". While he was being baptized he began to laugh when he was put under water when he came up he was still laughing. When I asked him why he was laughing he said because i have never been happier in my life! Moments like that just confirm to me that i am where I am suppose to be in my life! There is no other place I would rather be then here in the service of God. Super grateful for that and just hope that i can continue to keep getting so lucky. I have been having the time of my life out here and there is no better feeling then when you can help someone find the love of Lord.I have never learned so much about life and just myself then in the time I have spent out here in the mission field. And I thank all of you who pray and support me! Thank you so much! i love you all Elder Karl<3  

polaroid picture..

I think Shane forgot to write a blog this week! Here's stuff from our emails:
We get ipads april 29th! The handball player is good, he trusts us a lot. we went to another game and it was really cool. He is making progress but it is slow.. :( but I have a baptism this sunday with olivier! P day will prob be cleaning haha we had 12 missionaries stay at our place for stake conference and the place is wrecked! But tonight we have an FHE (family home evening) with guilliaume! but idk what else! I love you so much! Really miss y'all :( 

I took a polaroid! 

Staying in Nancy!

Hello everyone! So transfer information came out the other day and I will be staying in Nancy for another transfer with Elder Valezquez as Zone Leaders which is super tight. Really excited to stay here and to get to work with one of my best friends more! So this week we had a really fun family home evening with a family named L'Homel. They are really awesome and we had a lot of fun. Also we went to Guillaume's house for pizza night and he shared a spiritual message and showed us a small clip from "the Giver" and it was really good and it was a super cool message. We also had our last district meeting and it went super well. Also we have another baptism date for the 29th of march with a awesome guy named Oliver. He is a blind man but is so awesome! He knows everything about the gospel and just wants to be baptized. So that was really lucky and super grateful for that! Super excited what this new transfer will bring! Love you all so much! Keep smiling and always be grateful<3 Elder Karl 

the district! 

Me and my comp

The district

Me jumping over my comp haha