Guadalajara: 9/17/12 + an "operacion"


the ingrown toenail from hades

pretty uneventful, but still eventful week haha. so for the past 5 weeks i've had this gnarly gross ingrown toenail. and i was just kinding living with it and just waiting for it to maybe go away. and well it wasnt. so i called the hermana (this being about 2 weeks ago) and she told me to start soaking it in salt water every night and it'll go away. so i'd been doing that and it still didn't work. 

im not a new member...

and as you all can imagine the roads here in mexico, especially where i work at, here in apatzingan, are pretty rough and hurt to walk on enough as it is. and also my toe seemed to have this magnetic attraction to rocks in the road and i'd kick rocks about 5 times a day haha. it was a nightly ordeal to come home and find that the part of sock around my toe would we soaked with blood and puss. it was not a fun ordeal and i know alot of you are thinking psssh an ingrown toenail cmon elder maccarthy, but i'm telling you this thing was gnarly haha. 

mine and elder nielsons cute little date haha

and then well finally wednesday night of this past week i just couldn't handle it anymore, i'd kicked about a bagillion rocks that day and my toe was all bloody and filled with puss and well ya it hurt pretty bad. and so we called the hermana the next day and told her that we were going to go a see doctor because my toe was really jacked up, and so we go see the doctor, and he was like woah.... holy crap kid.... this thing is jacked up! and i was like yeah i know, now just do something to fix it haha and so we talked to him and then called the hermana to get the permission to go ahead and do this operacion where they would just take out the root of my nail in that part and clean up and get rid of the infection that i also had, but she said no haha because she didn't trust the guy. 

gauze stuff from my my operations :) it hurt taking it off

i was cool with that because i don't want to get something from some nasty doctor dude, so she hooked me up with a good doctor and friday morning i went in for them to take out the nail. and so to start off they give me this shot in my toe, and it must've been a joke shot or the lady didn't like americans cuz she took about 45 seconds no joke squeezing the liquid into my toe. and so i was sitting there dying cuz this lady is taking forever giving me the shot and elder nielson is sitting next to me telling me he wished he would've brought his camera so he could record my face haha cuz well it hurt pretty bad. and cuz i had to get one under my nail too. so ya that sucked. and then my toe goes completely numb and she grabs these gnarly cutters that i'm pretty sure you could also use to cut chain link fence and she starts cutting the nail where its infected until she gets to the base and then she grabs some pliers and pulls out the piece of my nail and it was pretty gross. and it was pretty big too haha i was surprised. and she then continues to clean it and pull out all the infected gross stuff and ya it was pretty messy looking. 

gauze stuff from my my operations :) it hurt taking it off

i'll stop grossing you guys out there haha but so they took out the nail chunk and then i have to go back in a couple months and there going to use some acid stuff to burn the root of my nail so i don't get ingrown toenails anymore. but it stinks at the same time cuz i have to wait for the ingrown toenail to come back and then go back and do the process all over again but this next time there gonna get rid of it for good. and don't worry folks the mission is going to pay for it. and so anyways these past couple days i've been "guardando reposa" waiting till i can walk again. 

independence day party!

and so these last few days i've been sitting in a hammock all day just being a vegetable and just dyyyiiinnnggg. it was so stinking boring haha i couldn't wait till be able to get up and leave the house haha i feel bad for elders that get sick and have to do that for a couple weeks. it really stunk. especially cuz i was super worried about our investigators because i wanted to leave and go visit with them but if i did that the hermana would kill me haha and it would only delay the healing of my toe. 

playing with my chicken nuggets haha

and so nothing to special went on haha. saturday and sunday though were the celebrations for mexican independence day, saturday night at 11 everybody goes downtown and the governor of the city goes up onto a balcony and shouts viva mexico! and then the names of all the heroes of the revolution and then viva mexico a bunch more times and there were fire works and people shooting guns off and ya it was a pretty interesting little experience haha. 

playing with my chicken nuggets haha

we weren't allowed to leave and go watch it but we could hear it from our house and so that was cool. we stayed up and shouted viva mexico from the back patio of our house haha. but ya so that was the big new from the past week, i never knew ingrown toenails could be such a pain in the behind haha. but all is good now and i'm going to be back in action this week! but i gotta wrap it up now, have a great week and ill be talking to you again soon!! love you all!

playing with my chicken nuggets haha

much love from mexico, 
     Elder Maccarthy






DISCLAIMER: THIS IS KIND OF GROSS


its the icemans pet dog haha

Guadalajara: 9/3/12 + a new puppy friend


another normal week haha

power stance!
i considering modeling when i get home haha

well im glad to hear that some people are getting a kick out of the blog, i always had a feeling that it would be a cool idea. and thanks a ton nicole for taking care of it and making it look so cool. and for those of you that havent checked it out yet, go check it out! i gotta say this is one of the most inspired works that exists upon the face of the earth. i cant think of anything, nor have i ever lived anything so spiritual in my life...its is just so awesome being able to see how perfectly everything just falls into place and then afterwards just having that feeling like you were in the right place at the right time kind of thing. 

chupacabra nest!!

bird eye view of the city, its pretty huh?

yesterday was a really great testimony meeting also in my ward. the first person who got up to bear their testimony shared their love and appreciation for missionaries and how much mission work has changed her life and then just about every single testimony after that that was shared touched on us missionaries. and well as missionaries we definitely dont feel that special, or even like we do anything out of the ordinary. but just sitting there in the meeting hearing testimony after testimony giving thanks and love to us missionaries really touched me. and then being able to hear from my mom and nicole about the effect my stories are having on people has really made me realize how truly inspired and marvelous this work is. i mean really im just some punk 19 year old kid bee bopping on around down here in apatzingan haha. its way cool and humbling really to hear stuff like that, so hope you all keep enjoying it. 

bird eye view of the city, its pretty huh?

the hunch back of apatzingan!

anyways though so this week...i cant really think of much of what happened this week, my mind just kind of took a blank....something i started awhile ago thats been an awesome experience has been feasting upon the scriptures, but in SPANISH! its funny too because i totally remember picking up book of mormons in spanish or hymnbooks in spanish with connor and trying to read the stuff on the pages and not being able to do it haha. but anyways its way cool being able to study the scriptures in spanish...its such a cool language. and so ive begun to read the book of mormon since the beginning in my new native tongue and its been very rewarding. because ive also begun to read the new testament to familiarize myself with it, and well i cant help but think "man i wish i wouldve gone to seminary" so to all you future missionaries or all those kids out there...go to seminary! alright theres my invitation for the week. 
i like making funny faces haha

elder bate, elder hosch and me...the 8 month club!

but anyways i want to invite all you people out there to go grab a book of mormon and start to read from cover to cover. its a challenge that i extended to the ward yesterday also, and im not going to promise you anything, because thats not my job, but i will give you my testimony and surety that if you do it you will be extremely extremely happy you did haha. i cant really think of anything to talk about in this email, my mind just isnt working right now...sorry my life is boring haha. oh so this past week i found this lady who was selling hand made ties for 1 peso and so i bought 6 of em haha because it made me think of nicole and how she makes rad handmade stuff so i figured id do this lady a favor and take some merchandise off her hand. the ties are pretty cool too...im wearing one them in the pictures of me and the gross puppy from the streets, and also of me doing the crazy war cry pictures. 

my little bud named winston he was following me around all day haha and then he stopped and it made me sad

oh and so about that puppy, so me and elder nielson were just walking around doing our thing and then hes like hey elder maccarthy that dog is following you! i was like woah what the heck it is! and it was like cute little gross puppy that had some gross liquid on its hair and it had bald spots here and there (zoom in on it and check it out in the pictures, its a gross little thing) and well ya it followed me around all day haha like literally. wed go to lessons and itd follow me or itd sit outside and wait for me to come out again and it was really cute actually and funny too because it didnt really like elder nielson haha like itd only follow me and not him and so elder nielson was happy when the puppy ran away. but i was sad because i liked having a little homie here. 

my little bud named winston he was following me around all day haha and then he stopped and it made me sad

my little bud named winston he was following me around all day haha and then he stopped and it made me sad
also cool news...so out of alll the missionaries in the mission elder nielson and i were 1 of the 5 companionships to complete the standard. when the times get tough the tough get going!! but ya so im gonna go now...were gonna go play some soccer! woohoo! have an awesome week and stay safe! love you all!!

i dont think theres a caption that can describe this picture haha

much love from mexico,
   Elder Maccarthy


PS-

this is why you don't drink the water in mexico haha