The Rolla Holla! Saturday, October 10, 2009

"Mangy”
Funny story: we showed up at the Troche Family’s house to drop off their 15 year old son that had gone out teaching with us one night. My companion was almost attacked by their little, crazy looking dog with mis-match colored eyes. His mom told us the dog had gone crazy and was attacking and jumping up on everyone that passed by. The neighbors were all frightened. Then, with that introduction, she asked us that we put him in our big blue van and take him far away and leave him there.
Maybe not using our best judgement, we agreed to do it. We spent 15 minutes trying to get him in the back and finally, unexpectedly he jumped in FRONT! I hesitated to drive with him there, but my comp sat between me and the dog to hold him down. Half way to the far away place he jumped on my lap and I had to drive with a nervous, shaking, vicious dog all the way to our next appointment, where we glady dropped him off. Crazy things that happen in the mission
We’ve also got another youth in the ward that comes out with us (there are like 3 that are absolute studs for doing divisions). This one is named Felix and he is a machine for saying stupid things in our lessons. The other day after a profound testimony from my companion, Felix shot off saying, “You know, if you ever wanted, I’d be glad to come over here and clean your house up a bit for ya.” Last night, as we were about to invite 3 ladies to be baptized on the 24th, Felix explained, “yeah, Baptism is great, but you knowwhat ISN’T fun? Getting baptized for the dead. They just dunk you under, time after time.” My companion and I just looked at eachother, like, “no you just didn’t,” and then spent 15 minutes briefly explaining vicarious ordenances and trying to get back the spirit.
Life is great on the mission. I am really happy and the office is a great, if challenging experience. It is definitely humbling, since the rewards aren’t as vivid as one out in the field who SEES lots of people changing their lives as a direct result of our service. One finds out why he really IS in this work in the first place. I know I am here to serve my Lord in the best way he needs me. I have seen Him guide me and trust him with all my heart. Thank you family. I love you all.
Elder McCarty
001 This is me driving with that dog. You can see my scared face in the rear view mirror.

011 We went out today for empanadas and they had like 20 different kinds. One kind, the Chilena, had RAISINS in it, gross.

020 (Just for you Mom) We went to this cool hand-made store in Luque, a city just outside Asunción and I saw these little dresses (they stuck this sombrero on me just as we were taking the pic to send it home to you). Anyhow, they cost about $8 each, Mom. I could buy some to send home to Anika, Aspen, Brindley & Caedence if you wanted. I don’t know if they’d like them or not.

029 We found an open door to this soccer stadium on Pday and went in to explore. It felt pretty cool, like professionals down on the field. We even grabbed an old soccer ball and shot some goals.

31 Here we all are inside an old broken down train. It was pretty cool.

The Rolla Holla, Saturday, October 03, 2009

Tears of Joy
Rejection. Here in downtown Asunción we get a lot of different kinds of rejection. Fancy, rich person rejection; opened and then slammed door rejection; through the speaker looking into the lens of a camera rejection; and just normal, Paraguayan, “another day” rejection. This week I experienced my first English rejection. We decided to contact the American family that lives in our area. We went to their house and I spoke through their speaker to a little American girl, a lot like my nieces back home. She called the Paraguayan maid and they told me the father wasn’t home. Several minutes later he pulled up, and we spoke through the window of his Landrover.
I explained to him our message and why I left my family to be here so far away. As I testified of the powerful affect of our message, I felt something I hadn’t felt in a long time. I was almost brought to tears and I realized that those scripts I memorized so long ago in the MTC to learn Spanish, are actually EXACTLY how I really feel. Somehow things just hit me on a deeper level in my own language. Truth be told, after feeling those truths so deeply, the cold rejection hit me on a deeper level than it ever had before as well. But since that moment, I have testified more powerfully and recognized once again, in a cycle of ever-deepening sincerity, that I KNOW what I know, and I want everyone else to know and be blessed by that knowledge.
Last Thursday we heard a knock here at the office door at 10 in the morning. We welcomed Cristian and his Brazilian girlfriend, Lisa, into the waiting room and sat them down on the couch. It was the day of the interview. Most baptismal candidates don’t come to you, but the mall in which Cristian is opening his restaurant is situated about 4 blocks from our office. Elder Vail, who speaks Spanish excellenty, but with a heavy American accent that makes him seem even MORE authoritative to the Paraguayans, greeted him and invited him up to President’s office to do the interview.
They were up there for a while, almost an hour, and I honestly started to get worried, even though we had taught and retaught and verified and re-verified all of the baptismal questions. When they came down, Cristian’s eyes were puffy from weeping. He went straight to Lisa who stood up with a somewhat worried look on her face and stretched his arms around her. They stood there in a tight embrace for several minutes, both of them crying. Elder Vail and I stood by, feeling the importance of the situation and the spirit touched our hearts: this man is converted.
This morning was his baptism. After the service and the talks, he himself stood to bear solemn testimony that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. Even more unexpectedly, his father who we had never before met stood to bear testimony, even though, in his own words, he is “not a member—At least not yet.” I felt the spirit deeply as I saw all of the moistened cheeks in the room, and testified of the deep spiritual importance and undeniable truth of what we were doing there. We wept together, and then laughed together as we ate the brownies that I attempted to prepare at 6 am this morning and the juice we had bought last night.
It was a great experience. I hope you SEARCH for moments like those in your own life. I love you with all my heart!
Elder McCarty

Pics
005: Elder Rodriguez and Cristian and I. The son was shining brightly in our eyes. A beautiful morning for a baptism, as one Hermana from our ward said in her testimony.

003: Here’s Elder Vail, our District Leader, the financiero, but more than anything, a great friend.
002: We had a huge ward activity and played soccer and ate Sausages (Chorizo). It was delicious. 2 investigators came and we even managed to have a spiritual experience as well!

001: We got to go to the temple 2 weeks ago. Here I am with Elder Vail and the old Financiero, also a great friend, Elder Guest. 004: Here is Cristian with Lisa, his girlfriend, far left, and both of their families. The man in the blue is Cristian’s dad who bore his testimony.

he Rolla Holla, Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Wisdom of Chefs and Old Men

78 year old Braulio told me today that he worked in Miami for 4 years as a security guard. He said he was blown away by it’s beauty, cleanliness, and organization, but that he would never exchange it for home. For him, Paraguay was the place. As we did service this morning at the old folks home here in a local Catholic Church, I pondered life and the experiences I’m having, and some that I may be missing out on. As much as I love Paraguay and it’s beautiful, humble people and striking countrysides, nothing can ever replace home.

Braulio also told me that life is just too short to spend time hating people or even to just forget to appreciate them. He said that however much hate you show to others, that is really just how much you hate yourself. Sickly and sometimes alone, he finds himself regretting those little moments of hightened temper or shortness with loved ones that he no longer sees and sorely misses. The beauty of my mission is that I will see you all again, and I will not forget my determination to love and appreciate you with all my heart.

The work carries on. Cristian, a professional Chef is working from morning until night opening his new restaurant. Among buying all of the cooking machines and supplies, training a staff, obtaining necessary funds, and launching an advertising campaign, he finds time to listen to our message, and to sincerely inquire as to its truthfulness. That inquiry will lead him to the waters of Baptism this coming Saturday, the 3rd of October, early in the morning, to fit with his hectic work schedule that day. As my brother Drew said, when God prepares something, no obstacle is too great. An immigrant from Argentina who comes from a struggling, divided family, this sincere, humble young man will make an excellent member in the restored Church of Jesus Christ.

It is exciting to be here building it. It’s not all about baptizing, though a lot of it is. Establishing the Lord’s church is demanding. It must be balanced. Yet, at the same time it is the most rewarding endeavor I have ever or will ever experience. Thank you for being by my side. With all my love,

Elder McCarty

The Rolla Holla, People Who Get It, Saturday, September 19, 2009

Let’s be people that get it. We come from all different walks of life; dancing to the rythym of our own, personally selected iPod music; seeing this world through a lens that is uniquely our own, complete with judgements, biases, and insecurities. Why is it so hard for us, sometimes, to just accept? I include myself. Why is it so hard for me to just accept? Those few, choice moments where I am more focused on my love for people than my disapproval; where suddenly I count myself lucky to be blessed by their presence and I swear to myself that I won’t miss one happy moment, or hardy embrace—the perls.
I love this life too much to not enjoy it. Sometimes I forget that. Put me in the smoggy Utah desert weighed down by too many classes and a full time job, or in a musky Paraguayan jungle, resisting the urge to scratch 13 different mosquito bites while wondering why Emilio won’t stop drinking to help his family. Heck, even stick me in the office where my skin turns pale and I can only get out 3 hours a night because I’m too busy designing, printing, and cutting up invitations for other missionaries to use to invite people to general conference. This life is not short on trials or on people willing to complain to you about them (like I just did :-).
But let’s be people that get it. People that patiently and lovingly listen, and then offer those simple, savory words: “I understand.” People that show their love because they feel it, and then even sometimes when they don’t. Let’s be people that make this world a better place.
Because when all is said and done, the Savior of us all was someone who got it. He was one whose entire life and death was based on understanding: suffering what we would one day suffer to understand and to feel what we would one day feel.

I love Him for that.
Elder Kyler James Rolla McCarty

PICS
00 Send 1 Here’s us office Elders at the museum here near our office where we went for Pday. This is the giant bug part. Pretty cool.

00 Send 2 PRETTY exciting office pic. Lookin pretty fat, but at least I’m happy :-)

Send 3 Speaking of fat, my companion and Elder Haskell, one of the assistants signed a Diet plan and asked Elder Vail and me to be witnesses and sign with them. We are also the enforcers, which mostly means eating in front of them and laughing because they can’t.

00 Send 5 Here we are in the museum next to the stuffed lions. The great thing about having the zoo right next to the museum is that whenever an animal dies, you just stuff it and have a sweet new addition for the museum.

00 Send 4 Here we are at the Botanical Garden (the same place where the Zoo is and the museum, and there are also some soccer fields. We had a blast.

00 Send 6 Me looking debonair (in my opinion…I know, cool word…I think it’s a word) a while back at a going away dinner for the old missionaries.

The Rolla Holla, Sunday, 9.13.09

The unwritten rules of God’s true church. There are so many and they sure keep things interesting. President Wade taught us that when you are asked to give a talk for 10 minutes, you give one for 8 (something I need to work on, especially in Spanish when I never feel like I say exactly what I want to and so just say A LOT), or that you always offer the presiding authority an opportunity to speak at the end of the meeting, or that a meeting usually has to be pretty short and really good to be better than no meeting at all.
sometimes here in Paraguay they have their OWN set of unwritten rules (mostly because nobody in their right mind would write them). Nestor, a convert of 2 or 3 years in our ward has assumed the post as guardian of the door during the sacrement. It would be an excellent calling for a new convert…except Nestor takes it a little too seriously. Wrestling with door handles against late church-goers until he gets the startled glance and then understanding nod of the Bishop that it is ok to let them pass. Then opening the door just enough for them to get in and closing it right behind them, sometimes knocking up against their heels.
It is also an unwritten rule that you do not drink Terere (cold water poored over the same type of herb used for Mate) in the Sacrament meeting room or in any of your classes and so, consequently, you must miss many parts of important meetings in order to be in the kitchen with your best friends in the ward, participating in one of Paraguay’s favorite pass times.
I guess it is better than outside of the church where there sometimes are no rules whatsoever (written or unwritten). Every night we office Elders come home from fun-filled nights out in our areas and tell the funny stories of things that happen to us. Elder Vail and Elder Vance told us last night of an evangelical lady that they figured knew enough about religion to offer the last prayer on the first visit. Boy did she know. Upon being asked she immediately stood up from her chair, grabbed the two Elders by the head—one in each hand—and proceeded to give them a shouting, chanting, blessing.
Of course, strange prayer experiences aren’t limited to those that aren’t members of our church. My companion and I were lucky enough to be blessed so that we could find ourselves in Heaven one day with Mahatma Gandhi, while praying with one of the less active members we visit. I guess that wouldn’t be so bad…or unlikely.
Well, all is well. I am enjoying life and learning a lot. I love you all!
Elder McCarty

Philosopher Investigators and Troubled Youths

The Rolla Holla,Saturday, September 05, 2009, 4:00 pm

(2:00 pm back in the states, and the latest I check my email)

Elder Kyler James Rolla McCarty

Mission Paraguay – Asunción Norte

Capitan Miranda 1681

Casilla de correo 1871

Asunción – Paraguay

I imagine my letters could get boring talking about the office too much. It is a lot of the same: a rotation that takes place over and over again, doing different tasks—changes, zone conferences, President’s trips, etc. The most interesting stories come from the work in the field. I realized I didn’t send pictures last week of the family that was baptized, so here they are.
Some sweet stories this week. Looking like a philosopher with his 50’s style golf cap and button up sweater, sitting on his porch pondering life, we met Luis, golden of golden’s. We set the appointment and he was thrilled about being able to go to church. He called us today to inform us that he regrettably wasn’t going to be able to make the appointment, and my hopes dropped. Then he asked, “but, will I still be able to come to church with you tomorrow?” I told him yes and he proceeded to tell me that he had studied the pamphlet we’d given him and underlined it, but then given it to his daughter so he needed another one. Some people are just prepared.
I’ve been wondering how to talk with this young man that goes out on divisions with us. We have heard that he has been getting involved with a dangerous crowd and was drinking and taking other misguided steps into a world he was prepared and didn’t want to enter. Last night as we did contacts we went and sat down at the park. It was raining just slightly and I talked to him frankly about it, trying to be his friend, but also sharing experiences and trying to help him. He is now talking with the Bishop and on the road to repentance. He is a great young man, with an open heart, who will someday be a great servant in the kingdom of God.

Thanks for everything family, I love you all!

Have a great week and write me an email, even if it is just a SHORT one!

It is so great to hear from you!
Elder McCarty

061 The family we baptized last week! They are happy and excited to be members. They have a great future ahead of them!

003 Sweet soccer action pic. A cool game my comp taught us where you have to stand at the other goal and try to score, where the goalie can’t use his hands. I lost every time to him, but it was cool.

083 Walking with my companion, Elder Rodriguez down a street in our area. Javier, who we baptized lives about a block away.

Wedding Bells Changing Lives, The Rolla Holla, Saturday, 8.29.09

Our ward came out in multitudes for the harvest season. The long hours weeding out corrupting doubts, overcoming halting obstacles (a barrage of friends criticizing the decision, a gravely sick mother, and financial difficulties), and sewing seeds of faith and happiness have finally paid off. Marcial and Saide were married last Thursday, at 7 pm, and baptized together, as they will remain for eternity.
The ceremony, the talks, and the celebration afterwards were beautiful and well prepared, thanks to a responsive and supporting ward—an essential part of keeping the fruits of all of our labors when we go and they don’t. Seeing the power of effective coordination for a wedding and baptismal service has lit the fire inside of me to coordinate more effectively throughout the conversion process. The work of building God’s kingdom is a great one indeed.
Meanwhile, I made important breakthroughs in my personal organization in the office (I know, exciting, huh?). Planning every day out thoroughly with the top 10 things I need to do to move the work forward planned into specific time slots and carrying forward those I don’t finish has alleviated the stress and doubled my productivity. Small and simple things, eh.
Today we played soccer at our chapel with the south mission again. The heat is back in full force and I got a healthy sun burn. When I came home I gave myself a haircut and sat down here to write you all. This week we do changes, so it will be a crazy one. I love you all! Carry on! Find out who the missionaries are visiting and make friends with them. Maybe even visit them. Even better, make a list of 100 people you know that aren’t members and start taking steps to invite them to develop a testimony (start small, gaining trust, then share your testimony or gift them a Book of Mormon…the possibilities are ENDLESS!). Onward family! I love you.
Elder McCarty

Pics
New Haircut: This is the haircut I gave myself minutes ago. I took this pic between typing letters. I have a sweet picture of the Paraguayan temple on my computer desktop.

Soccer Today: You are probably tired of soccer pics, but I like em. Here is one of me looking huge because I am way closer to the camera.

American BF: President took us out since we worked so hard on the leadership conference through the nights the previous weekend.

Elevator: All of us crammed into a little elevator going down the 15 floors of American Breakfast, the fanciest restaurant/hotel in all of Paraguay, in my opinion. So different from life 3 months ago.

Jump Start: A few weeks ago, the cars battery was having problems and so this was a common scene.

Popcorn Robbery: Elder Polatis’s birthday party and I was eatin some serious popcorn. That is one thing Paraguayans do better than Americans since they eat so much of it!
Vatata Azul: The blue potato (Vatata), is what we call the big blue van. Here we all are crammed in it one Pday going out to play.

Wade House: A going away dinner for Elder Polatis and Elder Davis (who left the office a while back). Hermana Wade always makes us breakfast for dinner with her famous cinnamon syrup!