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