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.