Rolla Holla! Saturday, July 18, 2009

Family! I miss you! Sorry for not writing last week. Turns out that during the week it´s even more impossible to find time to write than P-day. Well, here I am again. A whole 6 week transfer period has come to an end and now this week we have to go about the crazy, busy work of preparing for and picking up the new missionaries, and debriefing and taking the old ones to the airport.
The work in our area is still moving along. It is a big deal to baptize a family as office Elders and I´m excited to feel the joy that one only feels seeing others make important covenants with God and steps towards becoming an eternal family. Marcial and Saide are moving along. Their 1 year old son just started walking, Aldo, and he loves my companion and I. Marcial got sick last week and we gave him a blessing. A few nights later in a moment seriousness and powerful feelings of the spirit, he told us of how he felt something lifted from him. He expressed his desire to someday have that same power and bless his family with it. I love that family and am so excited for them.
Several weeks ago we contacted Javier, a one legged man who was fiercely catholic all his life. That is, until recently, when he found himself in disagreement with his church, searching for something, and in front of 2 young ¨Mormon missionaries¨ one chilly humid night. He too has a goal to be baptized, and every day finds himself more convinced of the simple truths that we teach.
One night, as we taught him, a youth from the ward was with us and decided to play with my camera while we taught. Without wanting to, he erased ALL of my pictures! Pictures of the beautiful Lord of The Rings-like views from last weeks trip to Caacupé and Tobatí, where we cut our way through Paraguayan jungles and took Captain Moroni pictures on windy mountain tops with a torn cloth tied to a stick (the Title of Liberty) that we conveniently found. Pictures of me preaching to a multitude of tourists, scriptures in hand, atop a mountain of Indian-carved faces overlooking the lush Paraguayan valley. Pictures that are now just memories. Unfortunately that happened 2 days ago and so now have nothing to show.
I am loving the opportunity to be around our President so much. He is a wise, loving, and hard-working man who expects excellence. At times, the pressure is great: pressure not only to achieve excellence, but to balance office work and field work excellently. It is a great opportunity for growth, and I am learning so much about how to organize and establish the church, as well as how to be a great missionary.
I did a division with Chief (Elder) Frutos last Sunday. The man speaks and teaches in his deep profound baritone but with clear, easy to understand examples. He too is a great mentor and has given me several talks to read or scriptures to study, always following up the next day here at my desk with some powerful, touching application that makes me want to be more like my Savior.
I love the mission! I am so happy to be here and to know each and every one of you! I miss you so much and love you. Thank you for your support and your prayers. They make miracles happen!
With Love,
Elder McCarty

No Rolla Holla - July 11th (too busy)

Mom, a couple of urgent, surprise weekend office projects and I didn´t have time to write. I´m going to try to get permission to do so on Monday. Love,
Elder McCarty

The Rolla Holla! Saturday, 7.4.09

There are people who, when they speak, make you want to listen. Elder Justo Frutos is just such a person. Weighing in at 260 pounds, about a foot shorter than me and with a kingly English dressed in a slight Paraguayan accent, Elder Frutos has become a great friend and mentor in only a short time. Having come to know him only a little my first time in the office, and then having made the arrangements for his flight back into Paraguay for his 2nd or 3rd mission here with his wife and maybe 5th or 6th all together, I have thouroughly enjoyed the many little opportunites to associate with this wise Elder as I help him get settled in. Sometimes he will randomly call for a set of scriptures and teach a seemingly random principle that, when brought full circle, solves a problem or trouble that I didn´t even know I had. He is a man who speaks with the spirit and with love, and makes it hard to be discouraged and easy to smile and laugh.
Speaking of smiling and laughing, we are having a blast here in the office. We decided to assign an office photographer since we all realized we were slacking on taking pictures. We sponsored the first annual part-your-hair-down-the-middle-day. We´ve been playing some sweet basketball 2 or 3 times every morning. We have exciting conversations about going to the northern border of Paraguay and baptizing all of the Chamacoco Indians that paint themselves naked and dance on the mountains (aparently there are some members up there that are trying to get the church started but don´t have the authority to baptize everyone that wants to be baptized). I´ve been working on projects to help Paraguayan missionaries get out of Paraguay and into other parts of the world, tried to help solve the divorce problem (that marriages are cheap and divorces WAY more expensive, making it nearly impossible for many who want to be baptized), and worked with church head quarters to get missionaries their lines of authority and prove that they are connected in an un-broken chain to God the Father himself. The office work is amazing.
Out in the field, there is a lot to be done. We are working with 2 wonderful families. Benancio and Sulma haven´t been able to leave town yet, and so we continue to work with them. Another family, Marcial, who works in a water bottle factory (so we never leave without quenching our thirs) and Saide, his wife who always cooks us food, are progressing well and have promised us they´ll come to church this week. They are honest people and truly want to know. I believe they will progress if they can find the courage to follow the truth. Another young man, Darío plays guitar at the nearby catholic church to attract the youth (and it is working), but has also committed to coming to church and to pursuing the truth through sincere prayer. This gospel is so wonderful and perfect. Anybody who strives to apply its teaching WILL KNOW IT IS TRUE. That is my promise! I love you all!
Elder McCarty

The Rolla Holla! Saturday 6.27.09. Zone Conference Scramble

Zone conferences began this week. In the office, you never know what to expect. Towards the end of the office day last Thursday, 2 hermanas came into the office, one of them crying. I didn´t know what it was about, and didn´t ask. All I know is that the President´s wife, Hermana wade, hugged here for about half an hour, and then told Elder Davis (the paperwork guy) and I to take them to McDonalds to get some dinner, and then back to their areas. We talked about how often we eat there (averaging probably once a week), and said that it was only different during zone conference week…oh, and c hange week…oh, and the week before change week, and before zone conference week, and…well, when all is said and done, pretty much every week. Really funny considering I promised myself I´d enjoy Home Style Paraguayan food all throughout my mission and never give into the temptation of McDonalds. Luckily, we have an office cook during the work week, but sometimes we don´t even have time to stop by the office and have to grab something from a drive-up window. Life in the office. They call us the fancy Elders because we roll in nice trucks and vans and eat really well.
McGiver escaped (surprise, surprise) from our little back yard/storage area and we haven´t seen him since. Probably off to new and exciting adventures.
The family that we found was progressing excelently. Benancio and Sulma are their names and they have 3 cute little daughters 6, 4, and 2. Unfortunately, Benancio found work far away and is planning on moving as soon as the money comes for his travel. We are just waiting and teaching and hoping they make it to church this Sunday, then the next, and can learn enough to be pilars of the church out in a place where it practically doesn´t exist. Every time we teach them, I leave feeling a deeper happiness than can be described, and know that God is with us.
I love this work and know God wants me here in this place and at this time. I love you all and thank you so much for your support! With all my love,
Elder McCarty