The Rolla Holla! Saturday, June 20, 2009

I am FULL of excitement. The work rolls on like a gigantic bolder and my back is sore from pushing. At the same time, my heart is happy and I feel priviledged to be an instrument of the Lord. This week, through much prayer and hard work, we were able to find 15 new investigators (and the week isn´t even over) and 3 of them were families, 1 of which I would, again, describe as Golden. We did it applying principles from our leaders (such as never ask a reference without getting at least 100 names of ALL the people the person knows), and then following up with Faith that they will work (taking those lists, for example, and taking the person who helped make it to each of the famillies on it, to share a gospel message and invite them together to learn more). I know that I am turning into a missionary (not just for 2 years, but FOREVER) when my greatest joy comes from seeing a family that is united and prepared for the sweet fruit of Jesus Christ´s gospel.

I am also having tons of fun. This morning at 4, Elder Vail (the money guy) woke up at 4 to investigate a strange noise. He found a kitten outside our window. He put it outside the gate and went back to bed. 5 minutes later, the noise was back, and louder. So, he went back outside and put it high up in a tree across the street. By the time he left the house in the morning (even though it was P-day we had to get up early to go pick up a new Sister missionary that arrived on a special change), there was the cat, and it followed him and his companion to the office. We locked him outside and kept working. When the work was done, we were going to play Football against the Asunción South Mission Office Elders (the Paraguay classic as we like to call it) for our Pday activity. We drove 2 or 3 miles to the park, played, and when we got to the car, THERE HE WAS! How it got there, none of us know. Well, we put him in the back of the truck to take him back to his home (assuming he must have some how got in there to follow his special friend, Elder Vail all the way to the park). And that is how we got our new friend McGiver (because he´s so resourceful). Pretty dang cool cat, and we all had a good laugh over it. We are just trying to figure out who is going to ask President, ¨can we keep him?¨

Overall, I´m really happy with this week and look forward to another one in the office. I never feel like I get everything accomplished that I want to, but am learning to be more effective and to help President more and more, moving the work forward. I am learning skills and attributes that will bless me all my life!

I love you all!

Elder McCarty

Just 2 Pics this week and neither have me in them (sorry, I´ve gotta get better at this again).

Paulistas: We get to go here with President and all the missionaries that are going home every change. It´s just like Rodizio Grill and it rocks, plus it has a desert bar which is free. That’s why I´m getting fat (coincidence that there are no pics of me? I think not…lol)

Double Climb: I found this tree and wanted to climb it but kept sliding down due to weak shoes. Elder Vail and Elder Williamson successfully climbed it and I snapped this cool pick.

The Rolla Holla! Saturday, 6.13.09 The Office,the Zoo, and the Work of God

Today we went to the zoo and it was awesome. I bought popcorn and ice cream and smiled all day long. We saw a monkey that throws bananas and spits water at the people. The elephants were supposedly closed off because one killed a kid…and then ate him (so much for Paraguayan news, since afterwards the security guard told us it was just because they were building a new wall). We saw a little monkey just like the one I sent you pictures of before that had escaped from its cage. Leopards, lions, exotic birds, we even saw some BYU students over there (seriously, we did…maybe they were fellow customers, I couldn´t really tell…hahaha) all for the price of 20 cents in American money. One more grain on the heap of reasons I LOVE PARAGUAY!
The first week in the office was GREAT! We did changes this week and so it was a little hectic. There were lots of nights until 2 or 3 finishing projects for President and then getting up to take missionaries that are going home to the airport or picking the new missionaries up. My companion and trainer, Elder Hansen moved out, so now there are 7 of us in the house. My companion now is Elder Williamson, which applies at all times, even though we split up into our separate offices when we arrive for the work day. Email is a lot easier since I just do it here on my computer, as well as sending pictures (of which there are fewer cool ones, since we´re in an office all day and only go out at night).
My official title is Executive Secretary. In some missions, all office Elders are considered APs or Assistents to the President, but here there are 2 APs and then 4 office Elders. It seems like a good organization, although I could also see the benefit of having more Assistents that could go out and do divisions or help struggling Elders in their own areas. My work is mostly in preparing all of the legal work for the 140 Elders to stay here in the country, keeping updated documents and information on them, producing media for the mission (DVDs, newsletters, etc), preparing mailing lists, communicating with parents that need help (don´t try to call the office just to talk with me…lol), organizing and assisting with President´s personal schedule, and whatever other task needs to be done. I am also responsible for helping and encouraging the other office Elders to finish their assigned tasks.
I have gotten completely over the disappointment and have begun to see the little miracles—finding the new investigators that we set out to find; being helped to teach them well and prepare them to take important first steps toward a lifetime of covenant-making. I know by experience, by faith, and by the spirit, that those little miracles will lead to the big ones we are promised as missionaries, and especially as office Elders. We are praying and striving to find 3 families and to prepare at least 1 of them for baptism by the end of this change.
I KNOW that Heavenly Father will make it happen through me, and feel overwhelmingly privileged to be that instrument in His hands.

I love you all!

Elder McCarty

Temple: Here is the Stake President from the desert. My 2 companions went through the temple with them to take out their endowments and be sealed for time and all eternity. I just arranged everything...lol.

Baptism: We baptized 8 year old Arami and 9 year old Ricardo last Sunday. We taught them both all of the lessons and it was fun to try to keep it interesting for them and be their friends.

Ostrich: Pretty close to a life-size ostrich. Pretty crazy. Long neck.

Double: Don´t know what this sign was all about, but it was at the zoo, upside down and said ¨Double Meaning,¨ so we took a picture of it.Thrower: We were amazed when he climbed to the top, made tons of noise and then threw bananas at us. We almost got wet when he grabbed some water in his mouth and spit it at us at a pretty amazing distance. When he started throwing poop, we decided to go…lol.

The Rolla Holla! 6-7-09

Last Sunday night I packed my bags, cleaned up, and cooked a pound of bacon to celebrate the end of an excellent, enjoyable, and effective companionship. As we waited for the office Elders to come pick me up and take me back again, the familiar feeling of going back to somewhere I´d been before came over me. Elder Hansen, my ex-companion and now trainer and predecessor as secretary, took me to the large, though still Paraguayan, office-Elder house, where there are now living 7 Elders for various reasons—Life there is crazy. Ever since I have been enjoying, adjusting, learning and preparing to serve in the best way I know how.

This week was exciting. We started off the week preparing everything for the personal interviews President gives to all the Stake Presidents in Paraguay. Preparing and printing reports, confirming appointments, and arranging schedules so that the work can go on, coordinated between member and missionary, Ward and area, stake and zone.

On our Pday, Saturday, we went to the house of recent converts Derlis, Ceferina and their 5 kids. Remember the family we found and started teaching last time I was here? Well, all 7 of them got baptized and now they are one of the most solid families in the ward! We did a service activity and then they cooked up the pig head that we brought so that we could see for ourselves if it really was the delicacy they promised. It was actually pretty good. While I didn´t venture to eat the eyes or the ears, some of the other Elders here did. We laughed and had fun and took lots of pictures for you all to see.

President is supervising the opening of new branches and districts out in the desert of Paraguay and we arranged this week for a new District President to take the 8 hour bus ride here and back, participate in training meetings all day, and upon finding that he had never entered the temple, arranging for him to take out his endowments and be sealed for time and all eternity to his wife. Wow, what great experiences I am being blessed to have.
Thank you all for your love and support that makes it possible.

I love you!
Elder McCarty

Pictures (Hint: Click on them to open up big then click back on your browser to get back to this page)

3 Derlis and his family mentioned they liked Pig head (as a delicacy) and so we planned a service activity last Saturday and brought it along with us so they could teach us how to eat it. My 2nd companion, Elder Williamson about to kiss it.

4 Elder Hansen about to cut a huge tree that we cut down to make fire wood.

5 and 1 Here we are, before the blessing and the feast. It was actually pretty delicious.

8 Derlis wanted us to save all of these leaves from the tree we cut down to use them as medicine…the guy is as Indian as it gets.

9 Me cutting up firewood too, with a machete and an angry look on my face.

2 Elder Vail the financier putting the pig tongue in his mouth. Wow, yeah, gross. I ate some of the other head´s tongue.

6 The bones after we ate it all

7 Us four missionaries and the whole family!

928 Hangin out with my peeps. The Hermana Aurelia, Ana (who we baptized, 13 years old), and her little brother Fernando.

947 Luis and Jorgelina before their marriage. The best marriage and family baptized of my mission!

952 A jumping baptism. Edgar, 17 years old, and his best friend, Milka, a 3 month convert and one of the most solid youths in that ward.

953 Catalina, the miracle baptism, and her Mom, Blasida.

956 The first night of my second turn at the office.

Big News Again 6-1-09

Family and Friends,
I have found my way back into the office! Sunday morning as we were out picking up our investigators, I heard a distinct ring coming from my cell phone and pulled it out to see ¨President Wade.¨ Wondering what it could be, I answered, and after some small talk, was told, ¨Elder Mccarty, I´m calling you to be my secretary, you´ll be coming into the office tonight to begin training.¨ Dealing with the rush of emotions--the dissapointment mingled with the excitement to fulfill a new calling--I told him that I was willing and ready to serve along side him again in the office.

The best part was ending on such a great week. We were able to see Luis and Jorgelina baptized (the most amazing family I have taught in my mission...he even asked me to help him fill out his tithing envelope last week), as well as Edgar, and Catalina (an old investigator who, without knowing I was going, told me she wanted to be baptized that day), and Ana found the courage to pass in front of the congregation to be confirmed.

The goal of 5 baptisms for this month was met, even IF it was all in the last day. So many things came together to make it an unforgettable experience, and to only increase the pang of knowing I may not have such experiences in the near future. Then I realized that I can! Not only CAN I, but my Father In Heaven wants me to! And so, I am committing to FORGET about the downside and doing ALL in my power to serve with the same intensity here as I did out there! I love you all!

Elder McCarty

The Rolla Holla 5-25-09

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is constant. I´ve seen it clothed in mockery by children with misguided parents or by adults who hope to dim its glow—draping it in the very same lies that can´t even hide their own emptiness. Yet the gospel shines through. Those who don´t cast it out, but recieve it, find themselves putting off power bills to pay for weddings so that they can be baptized, or overcoming chronic shyness to be confirmed in front of 120 near strangers. Though Luis and Jorgelina may find their lights turned off for a time and Ana may tremble, the gospel shines on—giving light and calming fears.

At the end of the day, the mission is so great because it gets us beyond the Fair-Weather Faith that says ¨I will go and do...as long as it isn´t too hard.¨ Nephi`s faith didn`t have any minor clauses and neither should ours. I learned that yesterday as the streets were full of water up to our knees from torentious rain the night before. We suited up and waded through to collect our investigators, some of whom needed this ONE last attendance in a Sacrement meeting to be eligible for baptism this week. Just as we prepared to cross the deepest section, where the ACTUAL river had overflowed its banks and the water may have reached our waists, my cell phone rang, and the Bishop informed us that there wouldn´t even be the usual bus to take us to the chapel (which is far away since our own chapel is under construction). At that point we returned home and waited for the Bishop to pick us up and take us to the church in his four wheel drive vehicle, without investigators in hand. Looking back, I realize that I didn´t do ALL in my power. The pioneers who crossed frozen rivers had far greater excuses, and never used them. Now I am committed to doing ALL in my power in every opportunity.

Luckily, Luis and Jorgelina who are sheduled to be married and baptized this week, have attended church enough to continue forward with those plans. They have saved a portion of what they need to pay for the wedding and Luis is hoping his boss will pay him for his work today and tomorrow immediately instead of at the end of the week. Lets pray that they can...and that there light doesn´t turn off...or that even if it does, they will have the faith to carry on, and the comfort of our loving Heavenly Father which we all know so well.

I love you family!

Elder McCarty