Guadalajara- Week Six

i know its a little late because i totally gapped it last week, but none the less i wanted to wish you all a great easter and hope you enjoyed yourselves. i had quite the past week here this last week, especially friday. for those of you who noticed, this past friday was friday the 13th and well my irish good luck kicked in a little bit you could say haha. i crashed hard core on my bike this past friday haha, as you can see from the pictures included it was pretty gnarly. the worst part was that it was on this back road in the middle of nowhere and of course elder briz was way in front of me so i ate crap and we had to limp myself to the nearest members house for medical assistance. 

going hard wearing my cola cola custom missionary wear tie

anyways heres a little more of the story of how it all went down, so we were headed to our food appoinment and i was cruising down this hill trying to catch up to elder briz, and the pedals on my bike are broken and so there not even pedals really there more like just pegs haha, but anyways so im pedaling pedaling pedaling trying to go faster and my foot slips off the pedal and i kick my front tire and it just throws me and i go flowing and just eat crap hardcore into the dirt and gravel road. and it hurt. not gonna lie. because its not like i was on a nice little ride through the park, i was booking it like lance armstrong on the final stretch of le tour de france haha and so ya i went down hard. and because elder briz was way ahead of me and we were on some random back road no one was around to see it happen or to help me. so i laid there for a sec then got up and onto my bike and pressed on haha. 

this little gem came out of my forearm....ya i know haha

when i got to elder briz he was like oh crap what happened and so i explained and then we went to the members house for the food appointment and medical treatment. they put this weird natural ointment stuff on the wounds that basically just made the cuts ooze liquidy puss stuff and ya it was gross. the worst part was this happened at about 3 in the afternoon and we had a bunch more work to do that day, so i just took some drugs, and then that night when we got home i spent about 45 mins pulling off the freshly formed scabs to dig the gravel and rocks and dirt out of my skin. that was probably the worst part if i must say so myself aha but its doing alot better now thankfully. 

also i have a cool story to share with you all about the person we baptized this week. hes the son of one of the members in the ward. anyways so a few weeks ago he got into an accident and he basically died for a little bit and his dad gave him a blessing and he came back too (i dont know exactly what kind or many details cuz i couldnt understand what was said when he told us haha sorry) and he said that after the experience he decided that he wanted to start looking more into the church seeing as how his father and two other brothers are members and he had been to a few meetings and all before but he really wanted to know what it really was all about. so he told his dad that he wanted to know and his dad gave him a book of mormon and said read this and youll find out all you need to know. so he was reading and he came across the scripture that says somethings along the lines of do not procrastinate the hour of your repentance and he said when he read that scripture he just had this feeling and he got his answer. he said that he just had a close encounter with death, and what if he had died without being baptized and being cleaned of his sins? so he went to his dad and asked him what he needed to do to be baptized. so his dad gave us a call and said hey you need to come talk to my son, so we went over there he said he wanted to be baptized and we said great awesome and starting teaching him with the help of his father and brothers and weve been meeting with him for the past couple weeks and he just got baptized this past thursday. 

baptism...sorry its so blurry

his dad had the pleasure of baptizing him. since joining the church about 20 yrs ago he has been able to over those years baptize each one of his sons and is getting ready to baptize his fourth son who turns eight this may. how awesome of a blessing is that for him, to be able to see over the years and with much patience love and trust in Lord watch each of his sons come into the waters of baptism, make that covenant with God, receive the Holy Ghost and become members of this wonderful church. i think its a miracle and im so happy for him. and he is planning and preparing to go on a mission as soon as he is eligible too. so that is definitely something that i think is just outstanding and something that im very glad to have been a part of. 

another cool little thing that i came across this week that i wanted to share with you all, in the 3rd verse of the whole book of mormon, 1 nephi ch. 1 verse 3 says that the book of mormon is true! i never noticed that before really oddly enough but ya i think its way cool that by the third verse of the whole book it says its true. i hope you all really do take advantage of the book of mormon and how great of a blessing it is in our lives and how priviledged we are to have. ill admit that before my mission i wasnt the best at reading at studying the scriptures, but being in the mission one of my favorite things to do is read the book of mormon, its actually one of the most looked forward to parts of my day is when i can read the book of mormon, i just love it! there is ALWAYS something new that i learn each time i read it and i just love it and i wish i would have really discovered the true blessing of it before my mission and taken full advantage of it. i challenge you all to really discover the true magic of this book for yourself, because it really is a book of secrets to help us live this life and become what our Heavenly Father has planned for us. i think part of this true love  for the book of mormon is the fact that im constantly sharing it with people, testifying of its truthfulness and power, and ultimately how it truly is a gift from God. 

a member modeling with his spiderman doll

when we excersice and really share our testimonies of the truths we know it not helps another come closer to our Father in Heaven and the gospel of His son Jesus Christ but it helps ourselves also. it gives us the opportunity to really just let our testimony grow. it reminds me of something i heard in a talk from Elder Holland while i was in the MTC when he said "id rather see a testimony than hear, dont let your testimony to be hard to detect" and this is something i strive to exemplify each day of my mission and something i want to continue doing my whole life. and so i ask you all to really think about those words and how they can be applied to yourself and then ACT!! i know that as you share your testimonies and beliefs you will become more converted to this gospel, ive seen it happen in myself and i can testify that it too will happen to you. always remember that we should never be scared or timid of sharing what we know, we have the knowledge of so many things why not share our happiness with our friends and other people! i can vouch for all the missionaries in the world when i say that we love when a member comes to us and says i have a friend i want you to teach, will you teach them. because its truly an honor to be given the opportunity to teach someones friend or family member and really know that they trust us with this persons eternal salvation really. i love all of you and thank you for all your efforts in helping to build the kingdom of God in whatever part of the world you may be in. stay strong and stay faithful, and remember we have been saved for these latter days for a reason and its truly a blessing to be in the final dispensation and to be preparing the world for the second coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. i love you all and have a great week!!

 

Much Love Elder Maccarthy