so, pretty stoked for this upcoming week, this thursday we're going to zamora for a mission conference and guess whos coming...elder de hoyos from the area presidency! its kind of a cool stoked, but at the same time kind of bummed thing haha. because its gonna be rad being able to go to the conference and learn and stuff but its gonna stink because the conference is going to be in zamora and so that means super long boring bus rides haha.
this past week we finally were able to meet up with that one family i had mentioned in a past email and were able to put a baptismal fecha with them! super stoked on that, the fecha is for the 24 so be keeping him and her in your prayers that theyll be able to follow through with everything and be prepared to be baptized this date.
weve been struggling a bit here in apatzingan but it feels good to start to see things picking up again. its been of a bummer as of late because we keep getting references from the offices but have of them are practically pointless because its impossible for us to contact these people haha. for example we got a reference of a young man who recently had a father that passed away, somehow found a book of mormon and read the whole thing and ended up getting into contact with the mission offices and asking for missionaries to come talk to him because he had questions that he feels that we could answer...the only problem is that the kid lives in a pueblito about 2 hrs from apatzingan thats run by well, really bad guys, and its one of those places where unless youre a local if you enter in its not to easy to get back out of there haha.
and so its really kind of sad to be honest because i personally want to get out and help people like these kids, but its not the smartest thing to do, especially being an american. sometimes it really is like being one of the sons of mosiah being a missionary amongst the lamanites haha i just keep hoping that one day these people will be able to meet the gospel and hear and accept this great message. it is a promise though of the Lord so I'm just gonna let it go into his hands haha and he'll take care of all these people that we won't be able to visit and share our message with.
on another note, awhile ago we invited one of our investigators (the kid thats in the picture with me that i sent last week) to read the book of mormon from cover to cover. hes been through some rough stuff, his moms a testigo de jehovah and doesnt want to give him permission to get baptized and so weve been working on keeping him animated and maintaining his desires to get baptized, and so after having taught him every lesson that comes in the book we decided that it was now time for him to start teaching himself, and the way he could do that was through the book of mormon.
the kid is such a stud as it is, as ive commented in older emails, he comes with us on visits sometimes to teach people stuff and is way smart. but anyways its been so cool to visit with him and listen to him teach us and tell us about the things hes read, questions he has, and its an amazing learning experience for us both. and i personally think thats the ideal hoped for atmosphere, where both the teacher and student are able to learn. i sometimes find myself writing things down as were in these teaching visits because he points things out that spark something in my mind and its like having little revelation parties hahaha its so rad!!!! one day this kid is going to make a great missionary and be an outstanding member in the church. because now he's able to receive a strong testimony of the book of mormon and the restoration of the true church of Christ on the earth again.
if i could have one wish in the world right now it would be that you all could feel the same joy happiness excitement and just every feeling that is accompanied by being a missionary and the great experiences and changes that you're able to see with people. this is the best decision i have ever made in my life and I'm so happy that I'm a missionary! its funny too because today mom commented on how I'm coming up on my one year mark here, and oddly I'm not too excited for it haha i don't like that time is ticking down. don't get me wrong that i love my family and miss them, but its weird how at home i feel here, even being in desolate forsaken apatzingan hahah.
I'm started to really notice the genius behind my Heavenly Father sending me here to this mission, its exactly where i needed to be. i love you all and hope that you too are able to find the true happiness that this restored gospel and church has to offer to each and every one of us. you guys are awesome and i love you all oodles and oodles :) have a great week and ill be talking to you again here soon.
with much love from mexico,
Elder Maccarthy
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