Miracles!‏ July 22

Why do I ever think I'll have enough time to write at the end? There's never enough time.This week Nychang Reath and Ban Reath committed to be baptized and comfirmed. It was amazing to me that the answer to their 5 year investigation was as simple as answered by my last email! The temple. As soon as we made clear that their family will be eternal as the attend the temple which they can do 366 days after Nychangs and Bans (her son) baptism! Simon (the father) is beginning to show his true colors of a righteous priesthood holder and holding family prayers each day! They're a wonderful family from Sudan and next week I hope to be able to send some pictures of them! I'm SO pleased with what's happening. It's amazing that truly in this work all we have to do is SHOW UP. Sometimes we don't do that well enough or with enough heart and mind but when we do, the powers of heaven distill upon our souls and upon the souls of those we teach. I love you all and I can't believe how close you are!Love,Elder McCarty

I've got a picture of Shawn dunnington a Less Active who has come back in the last few months. He fed us at the church and gave us porkupines! Dun dun DUN!?It was good. Lots and lots of meat! It was a new dish for us.
(picture 30)And the second was a picture of me today. My poor camera is failing. I figured out a tricky way to make it shoot but the quality is poor. I'll be getting a new one soon so that will be healed!

Life is like a box of chocolates... 15 July 2009‏

Except this box of chocolates is full of the really really delicious kind! So you know EXACTLY what you're going to get.I love life.It's so wonderful that through the RESTORED gospel of Jesus Christ there can be such a practical and thorough application like that of simply finding JOY through life's stumbles.Yes truly life can be full of scabbed knees, scuffed shoes, torn sleeves and tripping on stumbling blocks. BUT, the beauty of a modern Church calculated to equate our happiness is that we can smile and press forward through our trips, stumbles, and rolls on the pathway toward perfection.Last week in the temple the spirit witnessed to me that as we follow the example of the people of King Benjamin and pitch our tents with the doors toward the temple our purpose in life and as missionaries becomes rich.Don't all rush out and camp temple square I of course mean recognize the eternal implications of the daily menial chores. If you're a factory worker who stands with a stamp in hand and stamps all day, think of the importance of that job in bringing you to your eternal destiny as a son or daughter of a loving Heavenly Father. If it's not... Set goals to make it so!Happiness there lies.This week My companion and I had several wonderful experiences.Firstly we went to eat sushi and a local place called Banzai. It's a Japanese cuisine that serves a lot sushi. I in my cultured past have never tried wasabi OR sushi. I ate the different sushi's with no problem and actually quite enjoyed it (yes it's true mom and dad I'm no longer afraid of new foods.)Next I endeavored (with some encouragement from Elder Mckay) to try a dab of wasabi on my sushi. It tasted good! My dab was a tiny one but it still added to the flavor and I was glad I tried it.After we had all finished there was about 2 teaspoons of wasabi on my plate and a tablespoon of strips of ginger which I learned are meant to clear your pallet between sushis.We rock paper scissor tournamented to find who got eat the whole tablespoon of ginger. Elder Richards was the lucky man and put it in his mouth!... chewed..... chewed again leaned forward and left it in a napkin.As Elders do many of the missionaries gave him a hard time. I just patted his back. Next the missionaries turned to the wasabi. This time however we started with a number guessing game. Momma you raised a furious rock paper scissor fighter but a lousy number guesser. Yes it's true the lot fell to me. To my surprise I actually ate the teaspoon of wasabi and I'm still alive!Now either I was a victim of peer pressure or i'm growing in that I'm no longer afraid of trying crazy foods.The other day Elder Williamsen and I found ourselves in a first appointment with a french family from the Kongo. They're extremely kind and we had a great talk.Noah, the head of the house, stated "I've met with many missionaries from your church in the past. I agree with EVERYTHING except joseph smith."Beginning with prayer we taught and testified. We used scripture and testified some more. He agreed to read from the Book of Mormon with an open heart and pray according to Moroni chapter 10 verses 3-5 to know the truth of the prophet Joseph Smith.Nearing the end he revealed to us that he was once a Jehovahs Witness and now is a Pentacostal PREACHER. He thanked us for our commitment and several time told us God would bless us. He explained he has never read from the Book of Mormon and that he's going to begin a serious study of it.His heart seemed softer than at first and his demeanor seemed altered by the spirit that has that power. I'm grateful to be a part of this work and that simple lesson.Another quick experience. Kyla is a young woman that falls on the opposing side of the scale. She was raised going to Catholic school and doesn't remember much of what she learned.We showed up on her porch last night and she said she had half of one hour. We began having a discussion outside her townhouse porch where all her neighbors could see. She told us she has a lot of things she needs to change in her life.We bore testimony of Mosiah 5:2 and told her that the changes she wants in her LIFE will come because of the change the spirit will wrought in her HEART.She has committed to read the Book of Mormon and watch the Restoration DVD. We'll be taking her on a church tour Saturday!There are many experiences like these that all bear witness to me that the hand of God is what drives this work. For the secular and spiritual growth (that really isn't so easily separable) that I have experienced undoubtedly testify that there is greater power than man in this work of saving souls.I love you all and bear my witness that the temple is the house of the Lord. I testify the church of Jesus Christ is restored and I praise eternally His name for it.
Love,Eldre McCarty
P.s. No pictures again. It turns out my camera is broken

How much can be done? 8 July 2009‏

How much can be done?To my mortal mind such a question seems impossible to answer. However the Lord in His wisdom is showing me the answer each day. Last week as we toiled there was little accomplished up until Friday-Sunday. The Lord somehow provided that we were given 5 investigators with appointments that came to the appointments within the three day time span. On top of that He provided members of the church to accompany us! That was an awesome experience for me to see. 4 days of the week we worked and had 0 of those lessons and in the final 3 days the Lord simply provided.So far this week has begun with similar experiences as last week. The Lord simply provides everything.We've seen such great things this week. We met once again with the Vercella family from Haiti. They are GOLD. The member who came speaks fluent haitian creol and in fact knows their cousin and brother from Haiti on his mission! The small world the church becomes is amazing and these investigators are suddenly super excited about the church. I've come again to the conclusion if I have daughters I'm going to be in trouble because the Vercellas girls are SO cute that I don't know if I could ever say no! (Josiah and Adam I don't know how you do it!)Today we get to go to the temple and our District leader arranged Monday for the Temple President to train us on how to use the endowment more in our missionary work and the significance of it! My mind was spinning with amazing thoughts and I'm extremely excited to go and feel the spirit of the Lord and recieve revelation!
I love and miss you all! I look forward to the someday I'll see you again!
Eldre McCarty
(No pictures sorry, I for some reason took ZERO this week!)

Exhaustion! 2 July 2009‏

Yes it's true I'm writing a day late but it's by Presidents orders since yesterday the libraries of canada were closed due to CANADA DAY! Dun dun DUN. It was a nice day. We really had a good time but I'm feeling exhausted! We played several games of Rugby with a bunch of people along with some Ultimate frisby pretty well all day yesterday until supper at six at which point the mission asked us all to stay in!

The day previous we biked for the better part of 2 hours. There were some pretty rough hills but we had a good time.

To add upon it all this morning we were moving a sister in our ward and there was a good bit of food storage!

WHEW no time better than now for "my life [to be] like my shoes... to be worn out in service! -President Hinckley

I had the awesome opportunity the other day to speak french with a four year old girl! We found this family as we walked by and they turned their heads so we started speaking with them. They're from Haiti and are a wonderful family! Creol is pretty much french but twisted. They speak french and creol though.

It's hard to go back to french after being so used to spanish lately but I had the chance to try a few sentences as four year old Joyce fed me imaginary soup with a plate and a fork! She's a very cute little girl and the family actually turns out to be related to a very well known stake president from Haiti whom a few of the members of the ward knew from serving their missions there! Heavenly fathers plan is intricate and perfect and I love it!

I love and miss you all!

Eldre McCarty

P.s. my mom will be seeing some members from our ward soon so if you happen to have anything wonderful to send me feel invited to talk to my mom! Her Email address is: beckylanewarner2006@hotmail.com

614 FOUR! Just brushing up on the golf skills I've never really had! It was a lot of fun to hit a whole bucket of balls! By the end I was doing pretty alright for an ametuer! Look out Dad and Josiah! ha ha

615 Cinderita is a wonderful woman who is raising two kids in a wonderful way despite the declining society that so many of her people fall into. She's determined to be a key player in their redemption and says she feels the church is the only way her people will be redeemed! Yeah she needs to be a member.:D Love you long time!

The power of Conversion! 24 June 2009‏

Welcome to this weeks edition of "Me trying to help you get a taste of how PHENOMENAL my experiences are!"Last week as we walked away from the not-as-rare-as-they-should-be dodged appointment (where the investigator doesn't show) we spied a woman sitting on her porch.

I turned to my companion and whispered "have you ever spoken with her?" he shook his head. We approached her and for the next 20 minutes discussed with her the plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ and the eternal truths that have graced our lives!

Leerena St. Louis has known members of the church for YEARS. As it turns out her childrens Father is a member who is "non-practicing." We taught, invited and bore solemn witness that happiness will come into her life through our Savior.

We set up an appointment and agreed to meet at her home. When we arrived she was dressed in her sunday best, children in stroller ready to roll. We apparently were in for a trip to the church just across the highway overpass and a few streets!

How did we respond? As if we EXPECTED it of course! The tour was good and she had loads of questions. She agreed to come to church and followed through! Last night we had appointment numero 2. As we taught and testified of the Restoration she intensely paid attention (for the most part) and said that her praying with us at the end was "negotiable." Well we may have lost that negotiation but she promised to pray with us next time and committed that she'll pray on her own about what we taught!

On top of these many miracles she committed to set a goal and pray about baptism on July 25th. We're thrilled with her decision and faith and anticipate with faith that she will shortly realize the wise choice she's made. Thus is the power of conversion.

Last Saturday night I was on the phone for 2 hours sorting out a ride for one investigator to go to a church on the other side of town in order to have an Amaharic speaker! I'll tell you this moment that two years ago if you had asked me to spend two hours speaking on the phone to get one person to church I may have looked at you as if you were mad! Now I can say that I have experienced the power of conversion.

Sa-ada was picked up and taken to church way up on the north side of Edmonton where she spoke with Banbi Mulatu (yes Elder Asay THE Bambi!) and as they discussed she became very excited and explained to him her desire to come into the fold of God and be baptized! Could it be that this too is the power of conversion?

A mighty change of heart, the blessing which only the spirit of God can bring. Truly that power can wrought within us a change for the better to rise up to the stature that measures our eternal potential! I have felt this conversion, my companion has, many of those whom I adore and respect have also. I testify to you that TRUE conversion only comes through God and His matchless power. It is the power that caused the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, and the leper to be made WHOLE. As Christ did all of those things in His earthly ministry, so He will do in the ETERNITIES for all those who come unto Christ. I love the experiences and perfect plan of the Almighty.

I love you. I miss you. In a coming day we'll meet again. Not yet.

Till we again greet!

Eldre McCarty

599.JPG This was the day that we parted ways with Andrea Casca. She has become thoroughly converted to the gospel and is in every way desirous to act on her conversion. Her situation is such that she is not able to. She's a strong woman and I felt the spirit testify to me as I told her that she will have the opportunity someday to become a member of the church of Jesus Christ. She's a wonderful girl.

600.JPG It's me on a train! Yeah I know I was impressed too! I think that's pretty clear by the picture! Choo choo