The change is in. Drum roll…..dubah-dubah-dubah…ching: San Pedro! (in case you missed the title :-). About 3 hours away in a speeding vehicle from Asunción. A place where missionaries from God’s only complete and restored church have literally NEVER before been. Wow! I can’t explain how excited I am. Excited…and somehow anxiously nervous at the same time. The responsibility of being these people’s ONLY contact and experience with the church is humbling. A big part of the nervousness comes from knowing just HOW much is possible. From our 3 day preparatory visit this week, I have seen how humble these people are and how WHITE the field is, ready to be harvested.
Most have never seen Americans, let alone missionaries in their lives. Many think we are representatives from the bank or from the President of Paraguay. The message of the restoration and that Jesus Christ came to visit the people of the American continent is, to them, both incredible, and inspiring. A big change from the attitude I’ve seen so many times each and every day of my mission: “Oh no, it’s the mormons again.” I suppose now my task will be less of overcoming obstacles in people’s current, incorrect conception of who we are and what we do and more CREATING understanding and INVITING powerfully to come unto Christ. How exciting.
The interesting part is that the population is relatively well-established and well-educated. In fact, those that have been most receptive so far to the message have been those that are towards the top tiers of San Pedrano society. Apart from teaching and getting to know the people of this city of 36,000 inhabitants, we were able to find a building that will serve as both our apartment and our chapel (after a few slight modifications and repairs), to get to know some of the smaller satellite towns round about, and even enjoyed a little fishing early this morning (still my P-day, until it changes to Monday the 11th next week), all before coming back to Asunción at about 4 pm this afternoon. It was an incredible adventure!
More than anything, right now, my desire is to remain humble and recognize my dependance on God. My biggest task is to STEP out of the way so that He can do His work through my hands. I am thrilled to have the opportunity. Thank you for your prayers in my behalf. They have a greater affect than ANY of us know. Keep ‘em coming, I’ll be needing them. I love you all! Have a wonderful week!
Elder McCarty
IMG_1005.JPG One night we set a goal (among other, more important ones) to take cool pics to remember Paraguay and our missions. Here was one of them…maybe we didn’t achieve the goal.
IMG_0990.JPG Another attempt at the goal, sitting on a wall, thinking we’re cool.
IMG_0074.JPG Here we are at a cool dock on the side of the river. There was a nice breeze and a beautiful view. We ate breakfast here and someday might do baptizms there as well
IMG_0061.JPG We fished all morning (spent too much time fiddling with the line and trying to find the “perfect place”) and this was all I ever caught :-)
IMG_0043.JPG Here we are at the side of a beautiful lake where we tried to fish (among like 3 other locations, since my companion was very impatient). He also fell in almost up to his waste
IMG_0038.JPG We got tons of food to eat in our hotel on New Year’s eve, but were so tired, we fell asleep before we could finish most of it. Of course, we woke up to all of the exploding fireworks at midnight, and then promptly fell back to sleep.
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