To all You yankees! Well... Most of you at least. 02-27-08‏

It's ok! I'm a yankee too. Just a canadian one for a little while. Today has been a brilliant one. Yes indeed the sun is shining. The snow is melting and that brings some interesting effects.During the winter there are trucks that basically just go out and drop dirt on the roads for increased traction on the snow that gets so packed during winter. As a result as the snow melts there is mud everywhere! Brown is now the dominant color here in Rocky but I can tell things will get beautiful.I may not get the chance to see that change! Zone Conference was this week! AMAZING experience. We had our interviews with President and afterward Elder Frost (my trainer + companion since I've been in Canada) turned to me and said "One of us is getting transfered." I asked "What makes you say that?" I was curious because he had been convinced one of us was being transfered before. This time he seemed more certain.He said "I told President that I can't teach you anything more."Shocked may be a good word to explain how that made me feel. So there it is. It's quite likely I'll be transfered. I would say it's nearly a 50 percent chance! Pretty intense eh? Zone Conference though was so good! President stands at about 5' 5". When he speaks though, he feels like a giant. His voice is not loud or tumultuous. It's much like I imagine the voice in 3 nephi 11:3 sounded. As he bore solemn testimony in words I had heard thousands of times before, my heart was pierced.My family and friends the spirit can do wonders in our lives! I am blessed with the opportunity to find that on my mission but I have faith that the lessons I'm being taught do not apply strictly for the next 20 months. They're ETERNAL principles. Doctrine and Covenants section 130 in verses 20 and 21 (I believe) talks about a law irrevocably decreed before the foundations of the earth upon which all blessings are predicated. If any man recieves a blessing from God it is by obedience to the law upon which it is founded. That's vaguely paraphrased but pretty close. If the law is from before the foundations of the earth I submit it follows in the eternities to come.This past week a kind lady named Sister Kay Mckenzie let us borrow her hymns book. It has in it written all the chords necessary to play the songs! How much fun do you think I've been having with that? If you guessed as much as I have time to give it You're right on! It's amazing to learn to play the songs that have always been dear to my heart along with a few I'm only a little familiar with.The work here is progressing. I think there is a lot of potential here and I hope to soon be able to unleash some of it. I have still not had hardly any chances to really teach the lessons to investegators. All the experience I have is from the MTC and the role playing we do occasionally in the mission.I have hope for each of you that you'll be able to feel many of the feelings I am so blessed to feel. I have a testimony of the truth of this gospel. I have witnessed miracles by faith.There is a member in our ward named Sister Laidler. Her husband Bob is a carpenter and has never been interested in the church. We came by their house to have supper with them and he was in his big lush chair eyes clenched closed in pain. His hand was wrapped and on a large pillow with Ice on the top of it. Through the course of dinner we discovered he had fallen from a ladder and broken it. The doctors said there were chips from the bone. By the end of the night his breathing grew heavy and he literally began to writhe in pain. Bob is a big man and a very tough person. He looks similar to a biker and to see him near tears was hard for me.As we gave the lesson on faith I had the impression to ask him if he wanted a blessing. Certain he would decline I waited to see if the prompting would come again. It did. I was nervous. We ended the lesson and prayed before preparing to leave. As we put on our shoes I said to him "Now Bob, I know you're not a member of our church, but faith in Jesus Christ can bring miracles. We have authority given to us to act in Gods name. Would you like a priesthood blessing?" I then explained that the results of the blessing would be according to his faith. He said "I believe."That was enough for me. Bob asked me to anoint him and to have Elder Frost pronounce the blessing. In short the blessing was that he would be healed and recover quickly.We left and I continued praying that I would be able to have faith to add upon the power of the blessing. Two or three days later we were driving by the Grocery store. I'm certain it was Bob Laidler I saw walking with a large cup in his hand (that had him less than a week before in near tears.)The healing power of Christ extends from the physical aspects to the most spiritual injuries we can have. Let's have the faith to be healed. With love,Elder McCarty