Acueducto 5/13/2013


so the mothers day phone call is now in the books and its super crazy thinking how the next call home will be in the upcoming december...which is around the time when ill be ending my mission. ....booo..... but it was nice seeing and talking to all the family, 
it was a really nice experience. 


its hard to believe that it was less than a day ago that i called home because it already feels like weeks have passed by ...haha... the mission is such a strange experience. i didnt share any of the experiences in the call for the sole reason of being to share them with everyone in the email, but now that im here im drawing a total mind blank. things here in acueducto are alot slower than in apatzingan so its taking some getting used to but day by day were seeing progress.

 right now we have an investigator named claudia thats progressing really well and she has a baptismal date for this upcoming 25th of may. with her this past we had some cool experiences, the first was on monday when we went to go visit her with the relief society president and we show up and she begins to ask us a bunch of questions about the importance and role of women in the church, because shes heard alot about the priesthood and what the men do for church, but she had questions about the woman half of the church and by total inspiration the relief society president whipped out the relief society manuel of daughters in my kingdom (hijas en mi reino) and told claudia to take it and read it because it would be able help her find the answers to her questions. after the lesson we were talking to the hna about and she was totally blown away about how before she left her house to come to the lesson with us she had the impression to take this book with her but had no idea why because it didnt have anything to do with what we were going to share with claudia but she decided to take it with her anyways and she was just totally surprised about how it was exactly what the hna claudia needed. so that was a really cool experience for all of us because something that our mission president has asked us to focus on is helping the members to have spiritual experiences as they participate in mission work and help them to see and live the miracles that we as missionaries live each day. and so that was a really cool experience. also later on in the week in another lesson with the same claudia we were teaching her and some of her friends about the plan of salvation. 

the lesson itself was super rad and at the end of the lesson we asked one of the guys there, named galo, to offer the closing prayer. we have previously talked to him and hes told us that hes atheist and doesnt really believe in God, but he must have felt something in the lesson because when we invited him to pray he agreed to do it without question and offered one of the most beautiful prayers ive heard in my life. in all honesty i cried. but so did the hna claudia and my companion so i wasnt the only one. but it was a way special moment, listening to a child of God talk with his father for the first time in years. its something that doesnt have an equivalent, listening to the first prayers of the investigators are some of the most cherised experiences of my mission. 

also cool news, this next upcoming monday the 20th Elder Christofferson is going to come to talk the us here in the mission and also the other guadalajara mission. so dont worry next week when i dont send an email home on monday, because we wont be having our preparation day till tuesday. but im personally super stoked for the visit, im sure its going to be a great experience  for all of us that will be in attendance. the following letter ill be sure to let you all know how things went in the conference and the other experiences that id have in the transcourse of the week. i hope you were all able to enjoy your mothers day, especially all of those moms out there who were able to talk with their sons...have a great week everyone and youll be hearing from me again shortly. oh and also real quick...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNOR!!!

with much love from mexico, 
              Elder Maccarthy

Morelia 5/6/2013


hey folks so im back again to finish the story from last week, sorry to have kept you all hanging for so long. okay so i left where it was saturday two hours before her baptism and the hna called us telling us she didnt want to get baptized anymore. and so of course the first thing that comes to my mind is oh crap what do i do what do i do....and so i just kept listening to her and finally she stopped talking and i just told her hna those arent your feelings, you dont really mean all of that...and then i told her that right away we were going to stop by her house and so sure enough we hopped on the bus and off we went to go see what happened to the hna and help her out and i just remember the whole bus ride we were praying our hearts out haha elder garcia got super nervous but i just told him not to worry because everything was going to work out fine and we just needed to pray for the spirit to be with us and her and we get to her house and sit down to talk with her and one hour later we left her house with smiles on our faces and at peace because in the end of it all we were able to help her find the strength to pull through and sure enought that evening she got baptized.


 it was a nice little miracle to end my service in apatzingan, man do i miss that place. other cool story that happened that same week. so the other elders had a baptism planned but the kid decided last minute that he didnt want to get baptized anymore also ...haha... and so i told the elders to not worry about that i was going to do his baptismal interview and so anyways we get to the house and i start the interview and all was going smoothly and anyways i felt impressed to ask him to share his testimony of Joseph Smith with me and so he starts to tell me about how the night before in his prayers he asked God to let him know if Joseph Smith was a true prophet and through teary eyes he told me that as the words left his mouth he felt something come over him that he had never felt before but that it was the best feeling he had ever felt in his life. and well i cant really share with you all the rest of what happened in the interview because its confidential ...haha.... but leaving the interview the kid was super stoked to get baptized and one day be a missionary like elder maccarthy. included in this email is a foto of me with the kid in the baptismal service, his name is Yahir and he has my nametag on my shirt; and well he really helped me to strenghten my own personal testimony of Joseph Smith and really the true beauty of the way that our Heavenly Father answers our prayers. im thankful for the ability i have to be able to communicate and have a personal relationship with my Heavenly Father. its one of the most cherised things that i have gained here on the mission is an ever stronger love and relationship with him. 


also included is a foto of me, elder garcia, and elder collins. elder garcia is now training in good ol apatzingan and so its a picture of father, son, and grandson haha. have a great week everyone and enjoy mothers day and the time you have to spend with your moms...i miss my mom a tons but ill be seeing her and all the family here soon. cherish the time you have, because you truly dont realize what you got till its gone. i love you tons and hope that God pours millions of blessings upon you all! have a great week and until next monday!
 
with much love from mexico,
               Elder Maccarthy