Dearest fam,

Its getting harder and harder to leave! There are so many people im going to miss here! Change is always good though. I am excited to see you guys! This week we didnt find any new people but we have 5 investigators that have progressed a lot this week. I was having a hard time last night because all of them are so close to baptism but i wont be here to see them get baptized. Except one hopefully. We invited Karen to be baptized last night on the 26th and she said yes. Looks like ill have one more before i split! It is so amazing to see how they all have such great desires to change and become clean. I wish i could be here to see their baptism but as i was praying last night i felt an incredible spirit of peace and comfort sweep over me to tell me that they will be taken care of. I was worried that if i left they might not go through with it or i just wouldnt be here to help them but i felt the spirit confirm to me last night that everything will be alright and that this is what im supposed to do right now.

Im really not sure what i need for Christmas till i get home. i think ill probably need some new clothes and stuff like that. Which day are we celebrating Christmas? Im excited to talk this weekend. Pres. Barry has cracked down on several small rules and so we can only talk for 30-40 min. I think that will be perfect though cause i just wanted to talk for a little bit, say hi, make sure everything is coordinated to come home and then we can save the conversation for the 29th.

On Christmas day we are going to a members house for breakfast, another for lunch and another for dinner. lol. ill probably call around noon our time so that would be about 10am your time. We have gotten so much food from members its ridiculous. And we have dinner appts almost everyday this week. Zone conference was really long! It lasted 11 hours! It was really good though. We talked a lot about finding new investigators.

I am mailing home 3 more boxes today. I didnt realize how much stuff i have collected until i started packing. I packed everything to see if it would fit and it was way overweight and i couldnt fit it all. They are pretty heavy boxes. That should be all i will have to mail home. We are going to go play ultimate frisbee again today. Ill tell you more about our investigators and other things going on when i call home this weekend. Cant wait! Thanks for everything! And thanks for the christmas letters and card and fudge. They were great! The $20 will help a lot to mail the boxes home. Merry Christmas!

Love,

Elder Carty

12/13/10

Dear fam,

We continue to see miracles in the lives of many people here. A sister(Karen) of an investigator(Leslie) became very interested this week and attended church. She is progressing great, more than her sister. They have a brother and another sister who are members of the church. The boy, Henry, had gotten into some bad stuff but told us he is completely ready to change. He went out with us teaching all day saturday and came to church sunday and met with the bishop to get things straightened out. He even introduced himself in priesthood again and said he is proud to be coming back to church. Also Alberto and Jason, the boyfriends of 2 different members are progressing. Alberto was sick and couldnt come to church but we had an awesome lesson with him and his girlfriend last night. Jason only had one real concern, that we used the Book of Mormon instead of the Bible. When he found out we use both he was relieved and very open to everything. He also attended church sunday and enjoyed it. Unfortunately 3 of the 4 investigators need to be married or move out to be baptized but 2 of them already have intentions of being married soon. It may take some time for everything tobe accomplished but i have no doubt they will al be baptized and be solid members of the church. Also we set a baptismal date with an eternal investigator, "Uncle Jim". He has been investigating the church for about 2 years now. He is praying about the date but i believe he will follow through this time. We have a few other investigators we are working with as well but not as much progress has happened with them. We are definitely really busy with spanish and english work combined now but its great to have lots of appointments right?

We are going to go play ultimate frisbee today with several missionaries which should be fun. I really cant believe how time is flying by! 2 weeks! It still hasnt really hit me too hard yet that im going home and that life will be different. This is all i can seem to remember about what life is like. It will be strange doing other things than what ive done everyday for the past 2 years. I really have no idea what to do the day i get back. What do normal people do again? I cant remember... lol. A movie might be a little weird. Unless it was a kids movie or something. Maybe we could go sledding? Is there enough snow there to go? Im assuming there is but ive also forgotten what snow is like...haha. What ever the boys want to do is fine with me. Wheres a good place to eat in Missoula? Do you guys have any suggestions or ideas? The new car looks awesome! Maybe the accident wasnt such a bad thing after all...jk. What are you guys planning on doing while Rachels home? Any skiing trips planned? I definitely want to do a lot of skiing!

Oh my new companion is Elder Jacobs and its just us 2 in the apt now. We thought we would get a third but i guess they are going to send someone else here when i leave. Also I will need several pairs of new garments when i get back. I was hoping to go to the temple within a week or 2 so maybe we can plan a trip there to do a session. Thanks for putting my bike away. Im glad it made it alright. Well its about time to get going. Talk to you on Christmas!

Love,

Elder Carty

12/6/10

Dear fam,

Holy cow! i cant believe dad totaled the car! Thats crazy! Im glad youre alright dad! Is the car fixable? It looked pretty bad. Does the insurance cover it? Thats funny that it was someone you know. I cant believe 5 other cars wrecked too. Did any others hit your car?

Well i got my trunky papers! (flight itinerary) I actually got it just before thanksgiving but forgot to tell you last week. The office said that they mailed you a copy as well but just in case it is as follows: I leave Jacksonville at 8:05am eastern time and arrive in Minneapolis, Minnesota at 10:23am central time(that will be a 3 hour flight), then i have an hour layover and leave Minneapolis at 11:30am and arrive in Missoula at 1:36pm mountain time(that will also be a 3 hour flight). The flight number is DL5732 which is Delta Airlines. Wow, only 3 weeks left of being a missionary. When i get there i may need to stop at Walmart in case i have to leave some bathroom items behind. I will need my winter coat for sure. I can put a pair of clothes and shoes in my carry on for afterwards though. Im not sure what i want to do... definitely eat! After that im not sure. Any ideas? Ill probably end up leaving my banket and pillows here cause they will take up too much space. Transfers are also tomorrow. Elder Baker is being transferred and i am staying here my last 3 weeks. I will be in a threesome companionship with Elder Jacobs who lives with us already and then whoever will be transferred in. We arent sure if it will be a spanish or english missionary but we will be doing both this transfer. Im hoping its a spanish elder because we have some really good investigators right now. i was worried that they were going to completely close the spanish area and i would be transferred my last 3 weeks. Im glad im staying here. Elder Jacobs has actually been with us in a threesome for a few days because his comp had some medical issues and has to go home for a few months. Im not exactly sure what it was but i think it was but it wasnt anything too serious.

That guy you mentioned (Alberto) wasnt able to meet with us this week cause he had to work a lot but he called us andstill wants to meet this week which is awesome. We also are teaching 2 other awesome people. Im not sure if i told you about them last week. One of them is the older sister of 2 members. About 8 months ago, 18 yr old Keidy and 14 yr old Henry were the only ones baptized in their family. Their dad works in Chicago so they stay with their 20 yr old sister and her boyfriend who have 2 little girls. A week ago the older sister Leslie told them she wants to start coming to church and learn about it. We have taught her all week and she loves it. She said if she feels good about about it she would be baptized. Then we taught the american boyfriend of a hispanic member yesterday. His name is Jason and they are expecting a child. She recently moved in with him for that reason and they plan to be married. She speaks little english and he speaks a little more spanish, enough for them to communicate anyway. The lesson went great and he seems really interested in joining the church. I think he feels a little embarrassed about the baby and coming to church but he really wants to be the same religion as her and be a good father. He was really impressed about the emphasis on families in the church. He is about 35 and has a landscaping business. Things are going very well. My goal is to baptize at least 1 more person before i leave. 2 of our investigators may take some time to be able to get married but i have no doubt they will be baptized. I think Alberto could be baptized right before i leave. Tomorrow night we are going to a members house to celebrate Hannukah! I guess she grew up in the middle east and so they celebrate Hannukah every year. Im not sure what it entails but it sounds pretty cool. They invited their neighbors as well who arent members. They live in the biggest house ive ever seen!

Today we are going to go look for shark's teeth on the beach. A lady told us about a spot where there are a bunch that wash up on shore. She said she collects almost 100 every time! She has a collection of 3000! Kat got up and bore her testimony in Sacrament meeting yesterday. She did a great job! And she had an awesome experience fasting for the first time. She knew everything she was taught was true but she wanted another greater confirmation before she went to school so she would have no chance of falling away. She felt the Spirit really strong in the meeting and said she couldnt contain herself and had to get up and bear her testimony. Then she had an awesome experience reading the Book of Mormon after church. It was awesome! Thats about all the news for now. Have a great week and dont crash any more cars dad!

Love,

Elder Carty

11/29/10

hello!

This week has been great. Kat was confirmed on sunday and we also had a miracle on sunday. Well first we visited a member on saturday who hadnt been to church for a month and apparently her boyfriend wants to marry her but she will only marry a member of the church so he started looking into the church and has been reading the Book of Mormon with her and she told us he wants to be baptized. he showed up at church on sunday and fit right in. He really enjoyed church and even made several comments in Priesthood. He then called us today to see when we could come by to teach him. he is 31 and said he is ready to change his life and focus on God again. I was asked on friday to speak in sacrament and gave a talk on prayer. I learned many valuble lessons while preparing and received some very personal revelation from the Spirit. It was a wonderful experience. I have felt an urgency recently to strengthen my relationship with heavenly Father and this talk spurred me to do so. Wow God really gives you a lot of strength when youre on a mission. i woke up sunday morning with a sore throat and body aches and i had to give a talk and translate sunday school. Then we had a pretty busy day planned afterwards. I have felt many times when i was sick on my mission like the sicknes is there and i can feel it but its like its in the background. Its hard to explain... I have felt all these symptoms come on before and i keep expecting them to set in all the way but they never do. I still feel sick but the Lord has given me a lot of strength to accomplish everything hes needed me to.

I sent my bike home today as you may already know. I had it shipped to the hospital and it should be there by friday or monday they said. It was cheaper to ship it to a business rather than a residential address. I decided to just box it up myself and it was actually pretty easy and it saved me $40. It cost $58 dollars to ship it and i put it on my home card. I sent it through a bike shop because they get good deals on shipping. It will come through UPS. Did the box i sent home make it ok? I sent a box of books last monday so it should be there by now. Just leave that and my bike boxed up till i come home. And please keep my bike inside the house till i get home so it wont rust or freeze outside. Thanks!

Oh and tell the primary thanks for all the letters! They were great! And thank you Aaron and Caleb for the tape! That was the best gift ive ever gotten! Thanks for sharing all the cool stories. I cant wait to come home and see you. Only 30 more days from today! Thats 4 weeks! We can go skiing, snow camping, watch movies, go sledding...more skiing. be sure to plan out some awesome stuff to do when i get back. I will do my best to send the tape back this week. How was Nevada? What did you do there? Talk to you soon! Actually, ill talk to you in 26 days on Christmas! Have an awesome week!

Ya youre right about the room. I dont think it will be that big of a deal. I have moved past it already too and i think it will be ok, especially if it looks different. Thanks for the tip dad. i will try it out. I actually havent had to memorize it on my mission but i have definitely read it a lot.

Thanksgiving was really good. We only ate at one house cause we ate a ton! We probably only ate 1/4 of the food that was there! Then we went to another members house that evening and had a ping pong tournament. lol. They are a brazilian family and theyre son is leaving for a mission to Portugal in january. Im glad you all had a great Thanksgiving and a safe trip! Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Carty

11/22/10

Good morning,

Our baptism went great on sunday! Kat was skipping with joy through the halls right before the service and could hardly contain herself in her chair. She has been waiting for this for a long time. It has been great to watch the light increase in her countenance day after day as she changes bigger things in her life and then smaller and smaller things. She is afraid to break any commandments and wants to learn everything as fast as she can. We recontacted a former investigator and she was interested again so we'll see what happens. A member also told us last night that he went on a date and shared with this girl the plan of salvation and about the Book of Mormon and she was very interested and he is trying to set up a time to teach her. Everything else is going well.

Today we have to wash, wax, vaccuum, and detail our car and then take iot to the office to trade them for a new car. Its a 2011 Chevy Malibu. We are over at Sunnys house to clean it. I cant really think of much to say right now... As far as Christmas goes dont worry about sending anything. Im not just saying that either cause whatever you send here i wont be able to take home cause im already going to have to send home 1-2 large boxes of stuff and i wont have time to eat food or goodies if you send those. Id rather just have fresh goodies when i get home anyways. I wouldnt send anything, packages or letters, my last two weeks in case they dont make it in time cause of the holidays. Thanks for waiting for me for Christmas! I am excited for a white Christmas. I have vowed to never have a nonwhite Christmas again! lol. For Christmas presents when i get home...i could use some new ski boots. Mine are pretty beaten. Those are expensive though. I also may need a winter coat cause mine is pretty well used. I would have to try stuff like that on though. My suits are actually pretty nice still. I have only worn them for church and baptisms and i always change right after church. i recently dry cleaned one and im going to dry clean the other right before i come home. I do need a new for church though. Mine are pretty worn. I will probably need a laptop for college next year but i still have time to get that. Ill probably need some regular clothes actually. I dont think i have many pants. I dont know...I cant remember what normal life is like anymore so i dont know what ill need. Oh also is there a gym in St. Regis or Superior? Can i get a membership to it? I really need to go to a gym when i get home to strengthen my hip and back. I just dont have the time or means to do it very well here. Ive been pretty careful though not to injure it. If im going to be skiing a lot though i will need to be lifting weights for my back or i know ill injure it again. It does feel like its healed a lot but im not sure if it will completely heal. Luckily Sunny and the guys had an extra queen mattress in the garage that they gave to me. Its the first bed ive had with a box spring and a frame! Its helped out my back though. My hip is doing very well though. I can run pretty well actually but i do need to do some strength training for it. Oh i was going to ask which room mom is making for me. Is it the one downstairs where i was before? Does Rachel still have the same room? Where do Aaron and Caleb sleep? Im not sure i would be able to stay in Josh's room. I dont know why but i think it would be too hard. Sorry this is kind of a boring letter. I am doing really well though. Just trying to stay motivated and keep going. Anyways have a great trip to Nevada!

Oh i almost forgot!! Happy Thanksgiving! We are going to 2 different members houses for dinner. And happy 50th Anniversary Grandpa and Grandma Barr!!! Enjoy 50 more!

Love,

Elder Carty

11/15/10

Hey!

Everything is good here. Except for the hours of cleaning our apt this morning. I think i killed some brain cells from too much bleach soap. I spent 3 hours cleaning and scrubbing every surface in our bathroom. It was pretty disgusting. Mold and marks all on the walls. I spent an hour scrubbing the dirt out of the tile floor. Kat is awesome! Her baptism is set for this coming sunday. She has met with us everyday for over a week. I think she has been one of the most prepared people i have ever taught. Man i know i wasnt going to talk about it but i cant believe i only have 6 weeks left from today! Thats 1 transfer away! I am getting excited but a little nervous and sad. i have gotten really close to a couple guys here at the house where we teach Kat. Especially Sunny. Hes Indian (from India) but grew up here. We do our emails at their house every week now. Its pretty much the coolest bachelor pad ive seen. Theres like 8 computers here! Ill have to tell you about our fun times when i get back. Im glad you were both able to use something for your talk. The message i shared about drowning is one of those few that will change my life. I dont have much time again because it took so long to clean and im having a hard time focusing cause the bleach gave me a headache. i may need some cash soon to send home my bike. I also may send home one or two boxes of books soon cause ive collected a few that are too heavy to send on the plane. I havent been able to find out a price for the bike yet but im guessing it will be around 75 - 100. Hopefully ill be able to get that package from the primary soon. We dont have conferences very often anymore they just did a leadership training so im not sure when the next chance will be to get it. Does it have food in it? Well i gotta get going. Have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Carty

11/8/10

Dear fam,

Things are going well here in the beaches. The spanish work has been tough to get going. However we did contact a less active family who have a lot of desire to come back to church. They recognized how hard life has been without the blessings of the Lord in their life. We are also having a baptism this month which is great! i believe i mentioned her last week. She will be baptized ion two weeks. She is really excited and has been keeping every commitment we give her. She wants to read two chapters everyday in the Book of Mormon till she finishes it. We havent really found any new people to teach though. It has been a bit difficult to get in the members homes to teach them but we are working hard and i know the fruits will come. I am doing great and feel very motivated for the work. I honestly thought it would be hard to focus my last 2 months but it hasnt felt any different than the rest of my mission.

Im not sure what we are going to do today. I want to go to the beach but im not sure if everyone else does. Today isnt too bad but a big cold front came in (finally!) and it has been sweater weather here. Winter is finally coming! The heat seems to hold on forever here. That new room sounds awesome mom! I dont really have too many preferences on colors. The ones you listed sounded cool. As far as a favorite animal...maybe some sort of eagle or hawk or falcon. If not those then a wolf or a bear.

For my bike i was going to send it home later but i didnt think about the holidays coming up. I start trying to figure out how to ship it home. I dont think i could sell it to a missionary and get enough money for what its worth. Ill check UPS and some bike shops and call the office and find out how much it would cost to bring on the plane.

I cant think of anything on faith at the moment but I want to share something a lady shared in her testimony yesterday. She told a story of a lady whos children fell into a river and were drowning and she didnt go in after them because she didnt know how to swim and would have easily drowned as well. She stood helplessly screaming on the shore but couldnt do anything to save her children. I know thats kind of a morbid story but then she shared a powerful spiritual application. She applied it to parents and children but i think it applies to anyone who has stewardship over others in any aspect and especially to missionaries. She said that we must always be prepared to save someone from spiritually drowning. But how can we save someone else from drowning if we ourselves are also drowning? If we are not prepared ahead of time, armed with the word of God because we had read it that day, filled with the Spirit from having prayed that morning, having power to act in the name of Christ because we are living worthily, then when the moment of crisis comes and a child or a friend is drowning, we will have to stand helpless on the shore and watch. We cannot "procrastinate the day of our repentance" because it is more than just our own soul at stake. Others are counting on us as disciples of Jesus Christ to rescue them from the torrents of sin. I never want to be caught unprepared. There is a great lesson here for all parents and also Priesthood holders.

i cant think of a specific experience of faith but heres something ive learned about faith. Faith is a principle of action. Too many people think of faith as simply believing, almost as if it were only a state of mind. When we pray and ask for God to do something for us but dont get up and do something about it, how can we expect an answer to our prayers. God rarely ever just gives us what we want or need. He consecrates our efforts for our gain. He takes what we do and magnifies it to be able to do more than we thought possible. If we give all our effort but dont pray to the Lord we cant expect the blessings just like we cant expect them when we pray only and dont act. Belief + Action = Faith. All of the miracles i have seen on my mission have come from this principle. We plead with the Lord to consecrate our efforts for that day. We pray that will will find someone to teach. Then we get off our knees and go to work. Thats when we see the miracles. When i find someone who has been prepared by the Lord it is almost always the last door i knock. The Lord waits to see how far we are willing to go to obtain our blessing. Enos wrestled with the Lord all night before he obtained a remission of his sins. Jacob in Gen. 32:24-26 wrestled for a blessing until his thigh was out of place. Well thats about all i can think of to write at the moment. Hope that helps! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Carty

11/1/10

Buenas!

Como les van las cosas? How is everything going? I am doing great of course. OH how i love the beach! We went this morning at about 7:30 and spent the morning kicking a ball around and doing our studies on the beach. Elder Tenney and i ran about 1.5 miles on the beach cause noone wanted to play a soccer game and i needed to get some energy out. There are 3 companionships in the ward which complies our district. Elder Baker and i, Elder Jacobs and Elder Tenney, and Sister Joslin and Sister Capua who is brand new in the mission. Sister Joslin has the most time on the mission besides me. She goes home 9 weeks after i do. Its a pretty fun district. I am living in the same complex i did before but the spanish elders used to have a separate apt there and now we are packed into one. Its actually one of the worst apts in the mission. Lots of bugs and cockroaches and its been a missionary apt for so long that there are holes and marks all over the walls. Right now i am sleeping on 3 couch cushions i put on the floor. The office is working on getting a bed for me, hopefully soon. i dont mind though cause we're never home much anyway. The office recently renewed the lease for the apt. without looking at it. All is well though.

The work this week has been alright. We had some great success on sunday. Apparently more hispanics came than usual and we had 3 less actives at church. We also contacted a lady who i taught and baptized my last time in the area and she was recently married. We are trying to contact the husband and are praying he will be interested. We also contacted a less active family who is definitely ready to come back to church. They said they have been feeling recently like they need to go back. They havent been for over a year but they said they noticed that things have been a lot harder while they havent been attending. They are prepared to return. We received a great referral from a young single adult. We are having a lesson with her tonight. We contacted her briefly and she said when she used to live in Arizona she attended an lds sponsored school and went with her friend to church for 3 months. She was about to get baptized and then moved back to Florida and her mom wasnt to supportive of it so she was never baptized. She is over 18 now but we will also do the best we can top obtain family support. Besides that we havent found many new investigators yet but things are looking up. Several members were exctied to see me back which was encouraging.

Last night we went spiritual message trick-or-treating at several members houses. The last one we went to were the Mortensens. I found out that his mom graduated from St. Regis high school(i guess there used to be a high school there?). They have been to Calisbel and Flathead Lake several times. He was the ward mission leader last time i was here. Him and his wife were really excited to see me back. He actually gave me a great compliment in combined Priesthood/Relief Society. I raised my hand at the beginning to introduce myself and afterwards he stood up and said told everyone how when i was here the first time i was brand new and the mission president called and told me to learn spanish and that i couldnt speak anything before and now i can speak fluent spanish. He said it was a great testimony builder for him that the Lord works through and teaches his servants. It actually looks like i will be doing a lot of translating here because we have to translate sacrament meeting and now they want to do combined spanish and english sunday school. There are only like 4 members there each sunday. A lot of people move in and out of this area or are less active. Well its time to get going. Thanks for the email Aunt Cathy! I received it just fine. Im glad you are all doing well. Keep up the faith!

Love,

Elder Carty

10/26/10

Dear family,

Things are going great as usual! It turns out that i was transferred. Our pres switched pday during the week of transfers from monday to tuesday and we now do the transfer meetings on tuesdays. I am really short on time but ill write as much as i can. I was transferred to the jacksonville beaches area again! Also i am with a familiar companion, Elder Baker. He was my companion for one transfer almost a year ago. Im pretty excited about the new area even though i didnt want to leave Ocala. I felt like i would have loved to finish my mission there but it looks like the Lord needs me here. Ive heard its pretty slow for the spanish work here and the group hasnt grown much in the past year but we'll have to change that i guess. I have know about the Trahan's and sent here a card when i first heard but i havent heard from them for a few months. Thats great that she has recovered enough to go home! What a miracle! I hope that will soften the dads heart so he'll come back. He has denied his testimony and hasnt been to chruch for a long time. Maybe thats why i have been sent here again. The children still have strong testimonies though.

I just got an email from Jason and he had some sad news to share. Im not sure if you have heard but this is what he said:

"Also, I'm not sure if the news about Spencer Nelson has passed to you yet, so if it hasn't, here it is. I'm sure you remember him - he played soccer in high school, he was a year younger than us. It was a while ago, but on August 14 he was up climbing the Maroon Bells with his dad and some friends. From what I understand, they were crossing a couloir with loose rock from one summit to another, when another hiker above dislodged some rock which in turn fell and hit Spencer. He fell about 600' and when they finally reached him he had already died, most likely during the fall. You can read more about it here --> http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_15789510 and about 50 other places online. He was the CU athlete of the year in skiing and it sounds like he was going to go for the 2014 olympics."

Its hard to know how much time we have left but i know that the Lord still works miracles and does everything for a reason. Thanks for the emails! Im glad you are all doing well. Heres my new address:

3709 San Pablo Rd. S Apt. 402

Jacksonville, FL 32224

Oh real quick...a miracle this week. A lady from Mexico that has come several times to volleyball on thursdays after class walked up to us and asked if she could be baptized! She needs to be married to her boyfriend and never wanted to but said that one morning she woke up and felt the Spirit very strong tell her to get married and be baptized. She has alwasy avoided the missionaries and said she was catholic but she had a change of heart. Unfortunately i only got to teach her once but i knoe she will be baptized. That always seems to happen though right? I find a sweet baptism and then get transferred. I dont mind though. Im just glad she is going to be baptized and change her life. Theres another family that will on day be able to be sealed in the temple forever. Well...have a great week!

Love,

Elder Carty

10/18/10

Dear fam,

This week has been really slow. It has been very difficult lately to find new investigators. We finally found a man yesterday while tracting. It was an excellent lesson and he felt the Spirit spark something inside. He has recently left his church because of something bad that happened with the pastor. He was taught once about 4 months ago but was involved in his church then. Now he said he is open and willing to read and pray to know for himself. We both felt like the Lord has prepared him to receive this message. Besides him we arent teaching anyone else. However we had a great lesson on the doctrine of Christ with a member family. They havent been coming to church as often because they just started a new business and said theyve been really busy trying to get it started. We barely even talked about missionary work and just focused on teaching doctrine and they were very excited to share the gospel afterwards. They were especially excited about the mormon.org cards. Then this morning she called and said that she was talking to a lady about God and bore her testimony about the church and gave her a card. The lady said she really liked the website and wants to learn more so she is going to give her a Book of Mormon this week and we will hopefull teach her on Friday. Hopefully these are a sign that the work is picking up.

So what exactly is geocaching? Sounds interesting. Thats great that you are doing so much missionary work. I would imagine they would let you teach them if the fulltime missionaries cant. I would get the number for the mission pres there and just call him directly. I think its been done here before when they had taken missionaries out of one of the branches. Better get studying Preach My Gospel! A missionary in our district is going home next week. He's letting me copy several talks and cds cause he has 2 massive cases full. Ive listened to all the ones i have too many times so i need more. This email may be a bit short cause its taking a while to figure it out. Im glad everyone is doing well in all of your individual pursuits. Im doing very well here. Just so you know we get transfer calls this sat. and then transfers will be the following tuesday. Pres. Barry decided to change pday from monday to tuesday on transfer week and do transfers on tuesday instead. Also the brethren have decided that instead of coming in at 8:00 on sunday we need the extra hour and we now work till 9:00. Also they said that missionaries can no longer go to the temple for any reason, not even for recent converts because they said that our work is for the living and not the dead. It wont really affect me much though. Jason seems pretty excited for me to come back. He sent a short email reminding me im almost done. He really wants to do a lot of skiing and climbing with me this winter. I hope i can be a good influence on him and he'll eventually come back to church. I dont think i really need anything right now. Im surprised how well all my clothes have lasted. My socks are still in good shape, shirts, pants, everything is great! Is everything staying caught up with my loans? Have you had to pay any of them or are they all still on forbearance? I cant remember what we did with one of them. Oh have you checked out the new mormon.org website? Im not sure if my email about it sent a couple weeks ago. I dont think it did so im gonna send it again. Have a great trip to Utah!

Love,

Elder Carty

10/11/10

Yo!

Things are going well here. We havent found many people lately and no one really progressed this week. Alexis Perez is still very interested but we werent able to meet with him this week. Actually last night we found a great investigator. He is a son of a recent convert. He never met with the missionaries before because he worked a lot and didnt really want to but we were finally able to catch him last night and we had a great first lesson. He said he would want to be baptized if he feels good about it and is able to go to church. He has to cover someone on sundays for the rest of the month but he said after that he should be able to change his schedule to have sundays off. He is 18 and pretty much provides for his mom and brother. he is taking night school classes to finish high school this year. He had to switch to nights to support his family. He is Puerto Rican and is named Axel Rodriguez. We have some good plans for this week. We also had a great lesson with a member family that got them excited about missionary work. We have been working with them for a while and they have great desires but said they seem to be lacking something. We prayed about it and felt strongly to share a talk with them by Elder Bednar called, "Ask in Faith." Then talked to them about how we should pray and then act. How we shouldnt just pray for the missionaries but for how we can help the missionaries find people and instead of praying for less actives to come back, praying and then going to visit them. They said thats what they are lacking and starting talking about what they can do to change that. Then she came to our class thursday and invited a recent convert over to their house. It was probably our most successful member lesson so far.

I requested in my email to Pres Barry if i would be able to be senior comp my last transfer so we'll see what happens. There are two more weeks left in this transfer and then its my last whole transfer! I must admit i have felt anxious the past month about going home. I have done pretty well controling it though. I am learned a lot about enduring to the end. Its always hard to have patience when a biog change is coming. Most people dont like change but ive always been someone who loves change. Florida has definitely grown on me but i couldnt ever live here. A job with the forest service would be great! I think either that or a ski instructor would be awesome jobs. I would be happy with either one. As far as school i wasnt saying that im not going to USU i was just saying that i am going to explore all my options again just in case. I definitely want to go to USU but i dont want to rule everything else out either. I think it would be fun to live with Rachel in Utah for the summer. Maybe after a year we can find a small house to stay together and rent out another room or something. I really want to invest in real estate for some reason.

Great job Aaron on your goal save! Way to tough it out! And great job on scoring goals Caleb! Way to go! I cant wait to play soccer with you soon! Way to work hard! This sat. we are going to Jacksonville to the hispanic festival put on by the San Jose branch. Hopefully we can get a ride. I did get your postcard. Thanks! Well i dont have much time today but i hope you guys have a great week! Thanks for the uplifting emails!

Love,

Elder Carty

10/4/10

Famish,

We had an awesome miracle this week. A member brought a friend from his English class to our weekly class. We taught together the restoration with a big focus on the need for modern day prophets which was great because that seemed to be a huge theme in conference. His name is Alexis Perez. He also came to General Conference on Sunday and really enjoyed it. We gave him a tour of the building between sessions. Several members bore their testimony to him and showed a lot of love towards him. This next statement may sound a little strange. I never thought i could learn so much from studying sheep. Elder Toney says i should write a book called "Of Folds and Flocks and Sheepy Things." Just Kidding though. But i really have had some great studies lately. I was thinking about how to reactivate some people and i felt prompted to study about the fold of God, how Christ is the sheperd and we are the sheep. I learned a lot and felt inspiration of how to help some less actives we are working with. I noticed how all of the followers of Christ are referred to as a fold. However we are all divided up into small flocks to keep us safe from the ravenous wolves. As a church there are stakes, wards and branches, and quorums as a system of support. As missionaries we are divided into missions, zones and districts for strength and support. If one wanders away from his flock he is more likely to be attacked by the wolves (or the influences of satan). Of course, first and foremost we must have a solid foundation and testimony of Christ, but without the support of the flock it is so much harder to remain firm. I have never felt such a need to make sure that each recent convert and less active has home teachers, friends, and a flock that can provide protection. It is similar to penguins during a heavy storm. They all gather in a large group and each take turns rotating to the edge to take the blow of the cold for the rest. (I remembered that from Happy Feet.) At some point we all have to face the cold of the storm and that is when our solid foundation of Christ will matter most. But if we're out on our own, we may not stand a chance. Anyways, enough about random animals. I have been fascinated recently of the connections between nature and the gospel. After all, God created both. Our recent convert Crystal wen to the temple on friday with the branch and loved it. She had an amazing experience and couldnt stop talking about it. We are doing everything we can to make sure she is firmly planted in the gospel. I am doing well and am excited for the month of October.

How are you all doing? Sounds like you enjoyed conference as did I. I love conference! I always thought it was boring but its meant a lot more since i began my mission. A huge theme i saw was the need for modern day prophets and apostles and the importance of listening to them. I plan to find all the council i can when i go home that prophets or apostles have given in the last few decades about financial things, food storage, family history, computers and technology, and everything else i can find and follow their council. I also really enjoyed Pres. Monson's talk sunday morning as well as Elder Uchtdorf's talk on Pride. I keep a copy of the talk he referred to by Ezra Taft Benson in my scriptures. I have read it several times. It was actually given the year i was born. Im not sure what we are going to do today. Its 1:00 and we are pretty much done emailing, our laundry is done, we shopped, had our studies, cleaned the apt. Maybe a five hour nap? I here there are several bike trails in the national forest close by but my comp doesnt have a bike. I havent gotten a your postcard yet dad but maybe its here today. Congratulations on the grant! Thats awesome! Transfers are the last tuesday of October. I believe i will either be transferred and finish my mission in another area or My comp will be transferred and Ill finish here. I dont think i would mind either way. Well hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Carty

Oh i forgot, have you guys looked at the new mormon.org website? Its awesome! The church is doing a media blitz and has awesome commercials now. You can view them online and also make your own profile with a picture and an explanation of who you are and why you are mormon. You can share personal experiences and also link it to your facebook, twitter, or blog. It is a great tool for mssionary work because nonmembers can see that we are normal everyday people and how our faith helps us. You should each make a profile. We are one of the missions selected to test out several designs of their new website cards. We are counciled to have each member make a profile and give the cards to everyone we meet. We also got to make our own profiles. It doesnt have any personal info which is good. i havent been able to put a pic on it yet so mines not posted yet. See ya!

9/27/10

Dear y'all,

This week was great! Crystal was baptized on thursday and confirmed on sunday. She had a lot of support which was great. We had like 40 people at her baptism. Her friends dad was able to baptize her. Normally he has to work for a few hours thursday night. He drives to Orlando everyday to bring the dirty clothes from a hotel and wash them at a warehouse. We went and helped him and his family so they could make it to the baptism. We had to sort all of the dirty towels and sheets from the hotel. Nasty! Who knows what was on them! We went really fast and finished in like a third of the time they normally would have. It all worked out perfectly. On sunday they had two speakers on missionary work and Pres Barry spoke a few min at the end. In between the speakers Elder Toney and i sang a duet. Yes, you heard correctly, I sang in sacrament. We sounded really cool though. We sang the spanish words of "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" to the tune of "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing". We sang the first verse together and the next two verses i sang the melody and he sang a harmony and then the last verse we sang together but made soft and slow at the beginning and then it got louder in the middle and them soft again at the end. I didnt realize our mission president and his wife would be there though so i was a little more nervous. I think thats the only duet ive ever sang in public. I really would like to be better at singing. I feel like i could be a lot better if i had some training.

We heard some devastating news yesterday. A very active couple in the ward who have four boys, two in college in Orlando and two teen age, are going through a divorce. We felt like something was wrong since we got here but never would have expected that. They were married in the San Diego temple and everything. He served a mission and is willing to do whatever it takes to work it out but she just isnt. We had dinner with them yesterday and they were all really depressed. Then after dinner she took her mom home and he told us that last May she asked him for a divorce and last week the Sherriff showed up and gave him the papers and said he has a month to respond. All the kids are telling her not to do it cause its against everything she taught them but it sounds like it wilol happen now. It all simply comes down to desire and humility. Anything can be worked out if we are willing to work at it and are humble to receive counsel and help then we can overcome anything. We can never ever give up when times are too hard. He wants to go to marriage counseling but she wont do it. She is such a nice lady. I am really surprised. I have learned a lot on my mission that i can apply to marriage. The gospel simply covers everything that will will ever need to know in our lives. Its great!

I got the package you sent. Thanks! It was great! The cookies went well with the Pumpkin ice cream i bought last week...i mean...what ice cream? I actually dont buy it very often anymore. Maybe once a month. I really dont eat out much either. My comp eats out a few times a week but i usually dont eat with him. I really havent eaten out much for a long time. I have saved a lot more money and probably wont eat out at all when i go home. I learned a long time ago that you can waste a lot of money that way. Did you get the box i sent mom and dad? I surprised its not there yet. I sent it over a week and a half ago. I should have sent it priority cause it was only a dollar more. It should be there any time. I know you told me not to send anything but i got them a couple months ago. Happy belated anniversary. Ask Rachel if she got something from me. She still hasnt email back and i need to know if she got something i sent. It was about 3 weeks ago. Let me know! Thanks for everything! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Carty

9/20/10

Greetings!

This week was excellent! We had a conference on thursday with Elder Pearson of the first quorum of the seventy. It changed my life! It was by far the best conference ive ever been to except maybe Elder Nelson. I have a completely different outlook on my mission and on life. I decided the next morning to make a list of everything that i needed to change, sacrifice, or set as a personal goal. Then at the end of each day i have taken that list to the Lord in prayer to account for how i did on each thing that day, ask for forgiveness for what i lacked and make another firm resolve for the next day. As a companionship we feel greater direction and need to make great plans. We have been spending twice as long planning each day to make sure we can be effective the next day. I have seen a huge difference in how our day goes if we had a great planning session. We have made a firm resolve to make planning a priority each day. I have also made a resolve to never talk about home or going home to other missionaries for the rest of my mission. Ithink that will help me stay focused. We have a baptism on thursday for Crystal Tirado. She is 16 and pregnant but has such a great desire to change her life and follow Christ. She had an interview with the branch president and she said she felt great afterwards. We currently dont have any other investigators who are progressing but we have a few potentials. We hope to find many miracles this week! We didnt know she was pregnant till thursday but we had a great lesson talking about the healing power of the Atonement and the steps to sincere repentance. SHe is really excited for her baptism. I know the Lord sent us to her right now to help her with this because she doesnt have much help at home. Her mom wants her to go to church but wont go herself and is pretty wild. We are actually pretty sure she is a prostitute which of course is why Crystal didnt have any guidance of what was right and wrong. She is half Puerto Rican and half Dominican.

Way to go Aaron and Caleb! Nice goals! What have you both been up to besides soccer and school? Does dad run you hard in practice? How is school going? Do you have good teachers? What kind of stuff are you learning about? Im not sure what we are going to do today after emails but i need to do something active. I cant seem to keep in shape and im gaining some fat and losing all my muscle (if i ever had any). lol. On sat. night we were going to our last app. and it was dark out. We stopped at the stop sign and noticed that the car on the other side was smoking and cars were going around it. We got out to help and it was a mini van with 7 of teenage girls...great...haha. They were really close to their house when they broke down but we helped them push it home like 400yds. My quads were burning the whole way cause theyve gotten so small. My legs are about 2/3 the sized that they were before my mission from so much soccer and skiing. The girls offered to give us a ride back to our car and one wanted to buy us ice cream for helping. Of course we said no and gave them all pass-along cards and walked back.

I am excited to be the best missionary i have been yet for my last 3 months so that when i do go home i will be firmly founded on the principles of the gospel. Thanks for sharing your notes dad! I dont have mine with me or id share some. The most inportant thing i learned is just how improtant the Book of Mormon is in conversion. If we are not studying and praying each day, we will not be coverted completely to the gospel. I hope you have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Carty

9/13/10

Dear family,

Im doing pretty well here. No real complaints. We had transfer calls this week and i was kind of hoping for a change but looks like we're both staying here. We are getting 2 more hispanic missionaries from Miami and i was kind of hoping i might get to train one of them. I think it would really help stay focused my last couple transfers. I mostly just want to finish my mission how the Lord wants me to. Our baptismal date is still doing great! The family that she rides with to church was sick and her mom wouldnt let her ride with anyone she doesnt know so she couldnt make it. But we are going to still keep the same date cause it works out better with the branch. We actually moved it up to the 23rd cause of a branch activity. She cries in every lesson and is so excited for her baptism. It will be great! I have felt like i work the best with younger people or people around my age. I think thats why the Lord keeps sending me youth or college age people. I feel like i can relate much better to them. We also found a really sweet family this week. We met them in the Walmart parking lot and taught them in their home on friday. They werent able to make it this week but they want to go next week. They all read from the Book of Mormon on their own and the daughter believes its true. They are awesome! The only holdback may be the oldest daughter who seems a bit rebelious. The father is actually in jail in Georgia right now. They dont have papers and he was driving without a license which normally he would just have to pay a fine for but apparently the plates were stolen and he didnt know when someone gave them to him so now he may be in jail for 2 years. They are struggling to survive right now cause he was the only one working. The Lord always sends us when people at at their most humble state.

I have struggled a little bit this week about Josh. I think a lot of it is because i just feel ready to be with family again. Im doing well with everything though. Well the mission has sure made a lot of changes. We have new key indicators and we also have zone conference this week which will be great cause i really havent seen Pres Barry much and now that hes settled in and has a better vision of what to do i think there will be a lot of good changes. Its hard to switch to a different type of missionary work and focus on different things so late in my mission. Its been hard to make so many changes but its been good. Im glad everyone at home is doing great. There are so many more things i wish i could fit into every email to tell you about everything but there is never enough time! I hope you all have a great week! Keep up the great soccer Aaron and Caleb!

Love,

Elder Carty

9/6/10

Fam!

This week has been one of miracles! The girl that a young woman brought to church last week loved it and now has a baptism date for the 25th. We had a great first lesson with her and she said at the end that she was going to cry during the lesson but held it back. We helped her recognize that she had felt the Spirit and she got really excited and said, "Yes! I felt the Spirit!" She is really excited about the book of Mormon as well. Also on Monday night we invited a family who just moved here from Miami to a family home evening at a member's home. We thought they were both members cause they had come to church the first week they moved here and he acted like a member at church. We taught a lesson about the Restoration and several of us shared their testimonies. Then he started asked questions and we found out that he is not a member and she has been less active for a while and they came here for a new start and wanted to to start coming to church again. It was perfect because the Spirit was so strong already and then we clarified some points about the lesson and invited him and his 9 their nine year old daughter to be baptized. They accepted a date for the 18th. Unfortunately they have been really busy this week and we havent been able to meet with them since. They are all very prepared. All of our efforts with members have begun to bear fruit which has been very exciting. We had been visiting the member family and they've all been inviting their friends to church which was great. I feel like we have been preparing them to fellowship this new part member family. We also had a successful visit with another family. The teenagers committed to invtie their friends to scouts and two of them came on Thursday night. Overall we are doing well. I feel that my prayers have become much better with more sincerity and real intent. I love the joy that comes from living the gospel and sharing it. I have been trying to really improve my prayers this week and it has helped me teach a lot better and more powerfully.

How goes life at home? How is the soccer team doing? Won any games yet? We played this morning for like 3 hours with the young men which was a lot of fun. Our branch is playing volleyball right now and we'll probably join them soon. We are doing emails in the family history center because everythings closed for Labor Day. What are you guys doing today for the day off? Well I havent heard from you yet so maybe ill check back in a little bit. I pray for you all everyday. Hope ya'll have a good time now ya hear!

Oh and also if you are interested there is a picture on the mission blog of me at the wedding we had a few weeks ago in Orange Park. If you want to check it out its at: www.floridajacksonvillemissionnews.blogspot.com

Its towards the bottom of the page.

Peace

Love, Elder Carty

8/30/10

Fam,

Hello hello hello! Hows the northwest? The southeast is pretty good. We had a fun week with so many activities in the branch. Man hispanics love to dance! I really want to learn some of their dances. There was a farewell of a missionary on sat night and afterwards everyone started dancing. And not just the teenagers! A lot of adults were dancing just as crazy and as good as the teens. Even a couple old ladies were throwin down! haha! We just made our rounds talking to members and trying to teach nonmembers. A few really good friends from Gainesville were actually there which was a great surprise to see them. Did i tell you about Daniel Johanson? Hes married now! I got to see him a week before he was married which was great. We met for lunch after a meeting in Gainesville. On fri night there was a baby shower which apparently in most hispanic culture the men go as well, we were a little uneasy. lol. There were some nonmembers though so it was good to go. Not to mention free food. I dont think we could handle any more food! We are fed a ton between member dinners and fiestas. So much for trying to eat healthier. I was determined to eat healthy and run every day at the beginning of the transfer but it hasnt been working out so well. I feel like im starting to gain weight cause of so much unhealthy food. Not good! Im going to have to work out a lot when i go home.

That ski instructor job sounds great! I would definitely want to do that! Sounds like soccer is starting off well. I wish i could play more. Im glad my date was changed for the 29th cause ill be able to see rachel now and also have a better change at getting that job or something. I really need to make money! The 19 mile bike ride sounded sweet.

Thats great to hear about the couple who came to church. I am sure they will be baptized. Great missionary work! One of the two ladies we found ended up being lame but we havent been able to contact the other yet. She seemed more interested anyway. A youth brought her friend to church on sunday so we will start teaching her. She really enjoyed church. Thanks for the letter mom! It really helped improve my prayers and to be more grateful for what i have been blessed with. I dont have much more time to write today... We're short on time cause we woke up on time but after 20 min we both laid back down and fell asleep on the couches for 3 hours! oops! I am doing well here and trying to make the best out of the time i have left. Its going by fast but i feel like im starting to be a little more anxious to see home. Im doing my best to be patient though. Thats probably on of the greatest things ive learned on my mission- how to endure with patience. I have found that a lot of enduring to the end has to do with love. Love for Christ and others. Not only long term patience but patience with others, with the Lord, with getting the things that you want. The world is all about now now now but recalling Pres Uchtdorf's talk on patience he said that the ability to wait for the things we want can have a great effect on future succes in life. I know thats true. Thanks for everything you all do! Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Elder Carty

8/23/10

Dear family and friends,

We are doing well down here in Ocala. We are enjoying the work and slowly beginning to see some fruits of our efforts. Yesterday as we were searching for a less active member we met his two sisters and they were both very interested. They committed to read from the Book of Mormon and pray and said if they felt good about it they would be baptized. They seemed like they just needed someone to ask them to start going and they would go. We also began a missionary work plan with several members and will start it with the rest of the members this week. A few families responded very well to the plan and have made some great goals for what they can do to share the gospel. It has been a slow start to the member work here but i feel that we just have to be patient and the Lord will bless us for our efforts. The hard thing about members work i think is that it takes more time to get investigators but i think once we do they will be much more solid once they join the church.

How are you and mom doing with Rachel gone? Your done raising your first family and on to your second. jk. Thats what it seems like though. How is Rachel doing in her new place? Is she staying in the dorms or in an apt.? Whats her new address? I have something i want to send her. Its a college warming gift i guess you could call it. What car is she driving there? Did her roommates seem like decent girls even though they arent members? How are the dorms there?

President Barry has us email him every week instead of weekly letters so i told him about our situation and asked him if there was any way to leave the 29th or if not then, then sometime between the 14th and 18th cause that would be at least a week before Christmas. Ill let you know what he says next week. I hope he doesnt get the feeling that im just trying to go home early. I think it would just work out best to leave then. The week of Christmas really is the least productive week of the year anyway. We were told we are only allowed to look at other websites if we call pres. so i called last week to see if i could look at Utah State just to see some options for classes or scholarships and he said no. Im not in a big rush though. Do you guys know of any place where i could get a job when i come home? Are there even any jobs there? Im kind of worried there may not be many there since Rachel couldnt find one. I think it would be best if i could start working pretty soon after i got home.

Well we couldnt play soccer today cause everyone started school and the 2 guys who are graduated cant play. Im not sure what we'll do today. I did get your package. It was great! Thanks! I put the plane together and it actually flys pretty well. The shirt was huge though. I still wear a medium. Thats alright though. As for being a leader i really dont care to be one. I would like to be senior comp though. But whatever happens is for a reason i suppose. I think its more of whoever the Lord needs to be in a certain area whether that means im junior or senior comp. Im having a good time here. There isnt much else to do on pdays though. Im gonna write Rachel a quick email so ill talk to ya next week!

Love,
Elder Carty

8/16/10

Hola!

Hows it goin? Im doing pretty well here. We just started a member missionary work program and hardly have time to tract anymore! Not that im complaining. Its been really good though getting to know all the members. It was harder before to get to know them when we never really visited them as much before. Im doin great on money though! I still have $100 left of my "pros" money and the months already half way over! Thats a record! We had dinner given to us every night this week! My new comp and i are getting along great. At first i was pretty worried because he is the district leader that i didnt get along with before. But we have both changed a lot and we are having a great time. Im loving Ocala!

This morning we played soccer again which was fun right up until the end when i got the wind knocked out of me! Ow!!! Someone from the other team passed it to the center about 20 ft from their goal. He passed it about ten ft in front of the other player and i was about 20 ft away fromt he ball but i lunged forward cause i saw a chance to score (the other guy wasnt too fast) and he got there just before i did and put his hip out to protect the ball as i threw my legs forward to hit the ball. I kicked the ball but because my legs went first my chest was at his hip level and my right lung slammed right into his hip at full speed. I couldnt breathe for about 30 seconds but then it went away fast. Needless to say we decided to stop playing after that. Ouch! Im good now though its just a little soar. It wasnt quite as bad or intense as i made it sound. Sometimes i get a little carried away when i tell stories. lol. Dont worry im being careful about how hard i play. But i probably should have listened to your advice dad and not gone for it. lol Uncle Doug sent me a belated birthday card with a gift card to Olive Garden so my comp and i went there for unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks. Delicious! Tell him i said thank you!He has been out for 3 months less than me and is the district leader. Hes learned a lot since he was my leader before and hes doing a good job. He is going to a 3 day leadership training in Jacksonville so ill be with a set of english elders for 3 days. We will have to do english and spanish work so we'll be pretty busy.

As for my bike i will probably send it home cause i doubt i could get much money for it selling it to a missionary. Plus it will be nice to to have a mountain bike for college. Im not sure when ill send it home. Ive just been transferring with it. Ive used it here and there for trade offs or when our car was in the shop. Ill probably wait till the beginning of my last transfer and send it home in case i need it. Its a pretty nice bike.

What day does Rachel start school this fall and also the spring semester. I cant go hom the 29th of dec. now because Pres Barry found out you have to tell Salt Lake 6 months in advance to buy a ticket within 7 days of Christmas. I feel good about the 5th though. Would that work with Rachel going to school? Its still up in the air though so we'll see. I have decided 100% that im going to wait till the fall for school. I feel like it will be too rushed to start it then and i want to take some time to really research out all my options better and make some future plans and then go for it. I still want to be a pilot but ive changed a lot and i want to make sure ill have a solid future career and find a good back up plan as well. I would love to do something where im able to learn languages and see other countries and cultures. Ill figure it out when i get home though. Woah i didnt notice i had a second email from dad. -Pause to read...- I think that sounds like a great idea dad. To sit down after i get back and make a plan to stay worthy. Its easy now but i have worried once in a while what it will be like and how much harder it will be at home. I think the temple will be a huge key. I can definitely see how easy it can be to fall into old habits or just get lazy. I am loving my mission but i have also been really excited to face all the new challenges of life when i get home. Im short on time this week so next week ill make sure i tell you about a few things about what ive learned on my mission. Have a great week everyone!

Love,
Elder Carty

8/9/10

Hey!

How is everyone doing? Im doing great here! I was transferred to Ocala which is about 30 min south of Gainesville. Its at the southern border of the mission. Heres my new address:

3240 SW 34th St. Apt. 103
Ocala, FL 34474

There are so many things to talk about! Theyre all good things though so dont worry. Im not sure where to start. My new comp is Elder Toney. We were white washed into the area but this is actually where he started his mission so he already knows the members and the area which is good. I have to drive everywhere because he was in an accident a couple months ago and got a ticket for it so hes not allowed to drive the rest of his mission. He was supposed to serve with the missionary from Miami who doesnt have a license because he doesnt have papers, but Salt Lake called and told Elder Toney he cant drive now so they had to switch the other guy and i so that someone could drive the car here. I was really sad to leave because I made so many close friendships there and we have so many sweet investigators there. I am really excited about this new area though. I thought we werent going to baptize anyone last transfer but... Miracle!!! This lady Betty that we have been teaching forever finally started coming to church for the last month. She lives with her boyfriend and 2 kids and with her sister in law who is a member. The husband was always lame and would always avoid us and wouldnt get married or support her baptism. Then last Sunday Betty was at church and someone was bearing their testimony about baptism and she leaned over and said, "I really want that but i cant because im not married." She felt the Spirit very strong and was crying. Then this week her and her boyfriend Manuel got in a fight and then the next day he had a complete change of heart and told her that he has been thinking and that he wants to be married and start taking the lessons with the missionaries. My old comp Elder Williams just happens to be in town for the week and Betty called him and asked him to baptized her. So yesterday we found a ride back to Orange Park and She was married at the church and then baptized. It was amazing. The Spirit was so strong there and it was wonderful to watch their family become more united as they decide to follow Christ. I really felt like they will eventually go to the temple to be sealed. They already have 3 children. He will hopefully be baptized in a few weeks.

Pres Barry was at the baptism and i had an interview to renew my temple recommend because it expires this month. This one will last until April. I talked to him about my release date and he gave me a few dates of when other missionaries are going home cause he wants me to go with a small group at least so they dont have to make as many trips to the airport. I was hoping to be able to make it home for Christmas but i dont think ill be able to. The options are Dec. 29, Jan. 5, 14, or 19. Let me know what you think or if any of those dates would be better or worse than others. If it doesnt matter to you guys ill just pray about it and let you know.

This area seems great! They just got a new apt here and its really nice. Probably one of the nicest in the mission. There are trails and sidewalks to run on around several ponds, a decent weight room, 2 computers in the clubhouse that we can email on. Its sweet! The members here are great too. They have a dinner calendar and we get fed almost every night! Ocala is a a mix of a small city and the country. Its really spread out and very green. There are a lot of horse and cow ranches on the outskirts but a mall and a couple Walmarts. I am really excited about everything. Every pday they play soccer here with a few recently graduated guys and the missionaries. It was really fun to play again. Just got your email! You can send one in the mail if you want cause i probably wont get on again this week. Take care!

Love,
Elder Carty

8/2/10

Que pasa!

The trip to Utah sounded like a blast! Lagoon sounds like it has a lot more intense rides. Its been forever since ive been on a roller coaster. And far too long since ive done anything crazy! Im doing good here. Working hard, playing hard(on pday of course). We went to the beach this morning to watch the sunrise. It was awesome except nobody wanted to play soccer. Another missionary and i kicked around for a while though. It was pretty fun. Elder Webb is really trying to get me to go to laser tag and mini golf with several Elders but im not sure yet. We woke up at 4:30am! Well on sat we had transfer calls and i found out im staying. Then 5 min ago the APs called and told me im getting transferred! Im not sure if they forgot or made some last min changes. I would have been happy either way. Theres plenty more work for me to do in this area still but i enjoy a change of scenery. Ive decided about 3 months is the perfect amount of time for me in an area. Thanks for sharing the miracle about the guy who came back to church. Thats great! Its a perfect opportunity to share the gospel and get a few baptisms up there! Thats weird to hear about Camy in college. I only slightly remember what she looked like 13 years ago! I heard they are remodeling the Ogden temple to make it more attractive for weddings. Maybe they have too many weddings to do at other temples and noone wants to get married there. You wouldnt have to buy a wedding cake if you did though cause it looks just like one! Ok, bad joke... Thank you for putting my name in the temple. I feel like i could use the extra blessings. My back is ok. It still really bothers me when i sit or stand for too long, which i do a lot as a missionary. Riding in the car for very long also really bothers it. Its hard to focus sometimes cause im trying to focus on sitting up straight when it hurts during lessons and sometimes i miss what comp said. I dont feel like i have enough time to work it out well enough. 30 min just isnt enough time and i feel like its gotten weaker since physical therapy. Therapy actually helped a lot. Maube there will be a gym in my next area and ill be able to work out better there. We stopped going here a few weeks ago cause we were using too many miles in the car. I may talk to Sis Barry about how i can do more excercise or something. Dont call her or the office though. Ill let you know how it is this week. I also havent been working out as much because ive been reading extra every morning. I forgot to tell you about my goal! I decided i would read the Book of Mormon out loud again but this time write down every word i dont know and look at the meaning in the English one. My goal was to finish it in a transfer which is 6 weeks since i didnt the first time. In Spanish its 642 pages and im on page 440 with a week to go. Im gonna have to read a ton this week! Im doing well with Joshua's passing. Once in a while i think about it but i think the Lord has really helped me not to focus on it as much. I think it will be harder when i come home. I think im going to focus a lot on prayer this week. I feel like i could be closer to my Father in Heaven through more effort and heart in my prayers. Also please pray for Sis Trahan. She developed a type of cancer from her pregnancy and has been in the hospital for a few weeks. Im not sure how serious it is yet. Well i love all of you and miss you! Thanks for the great emails! Oh yeah Rachel, a missionary here said he wants to meet you cause he goes home next week and is going to to Weber State. I told him fat chance cause shes not dating anyone till i get home! haha. You better back me up on this one! jk Have a great last 2 weeks of summer!

Love,

Elder Carty

7/26/10

Dear family and friends,

This week was pretty good. We had a great miracle on Sunday I want to share. A Cuban man named Roberto woke up yesterday morning and really felt like he needed to go to church somewhere. He lives close to the church here and was walking down the street and saw it with the parking lot full. He was worried they would only speak English but he felt led to go inside. He walked in right after the sacrament and found our Spanish group. We were able to teach him afterwards and he stayed for all 3 hours and then a baptism from the other Elders. He really enjoyed it and asked some good questions. He is very interested and wants us to come teach him this week. We also found 3 other really cool guys who loved the Book of Mormon and really want to come to church and also like the idea of baptism. We arent able to set a very fixed date with them because of their work schedule. Their boss just calls them when he has work for them and they go to Tampa and Orlando a lot. There are tons of hispanics in the same situation. They never know if the work until the morning of when their boss calls them and picks them up. I have taught many people who I truly believe would have been baptized if they were able to live under normal circumstances. But sometimes all we can do is pray and work and hope for a miracle.

It has been hot here too. It hit 100 degrees plus there were a couple really humid days. Now you guys have a little taste of living in the heat! A lot of the houses or trailers we go into dont have much AC either and its really hard to focus sometimes to teach well. I find out if im being transferred on sat so ill let you know next week. I kind of hope i do but kind of not. I think ill be satisfied either way. I like this area a lot but i like changing to new scenery. It keeps me on my toes and i feel like i work harder and am happier and time goes by faster when you mix things up. I hope you guys have fun on vacation this week in UT! My emails a bit short but I have a headache right now and my back is hurting from sitting here so i need to walk around and do something. Today has been kind of lazy. We still got up on time and exercised but then we played Monopoly for 3.5 hours afterwards. lol. And our game still isnt done! Grandma and grandpa sent me a check for my birthday and im still trying to figure out how to cash it. I dont know if i can have someone else here with a bank account do it or not. If not i may just mail it home this week and you can deposit it in my account. Ill let you know. Well, have a great week!

Love, Elder Carty

7/19/10

Good afternoon!

I hope everyone is doing great! Thanks for the card grandma and grandpa! It was very much appreciated! I got it from the mission office at zone conference this week. I found out we will only be having zone conferences every three months now so if you send mail i would send it too my apt address or i may not get it for 2-3 months. I am doing well here. I just realized exactly 6 months from today i will be on a plane flying home! Holy cow! Time is going by really fast! We are seeing some success. The miracles we found turned out to be lame. They were still miracles but they just decided to harden their heart and not listen to the spirit they felt. We have had so many people really close and then fall through. We arent getting discouraged though. We'll find them. The golf tournament sounds fun! Great job on 2nd place! Today a 81 year guy took us to St. Augustine and we went to the beach and threw a frisbee around and then looked and some shops there. It was a pretty fun day. I have decided i need to live or at least have a house close to the beach. Maybe ill buy a small property in central or south america some day and then when im a pilot ill just fly down whenever i want. i am serious about going to Nicaragua though. My main purpose of going there is to perfect my spanish. I can get pretty good here but there are just a lot of aspects that are missing because i havent lived in their culture. I dont know how long i will go yet but everything would be free there. Eduardo will pay for my flight and ill just live with him. He has already talked to his wife and family about it and said they would love to have me come and stay with them. The longer i have been here the more fascinated i have become with different cultures. I feel like whatever i do in life it will have a lot to do with seeing and learning about other cultures and languages. I heard there is a sister missionary coming this transfer from Brasil! I hope she serves around me because i really would like to learn some portuguese.

Have you ever read the talk by Elder Bednar called, "Things As They Really Are"? It was in the May or June Ensign. It warns about being caught up in fantasy and cyber electronic worlds instead of enjoying "real" life and "real" conversation. You should have Rachel read it. Maybe you could study it for a family home evening or something. It was really good and changed my perspective on many things. I feel like i will never be the same after my mission. I have learned so much about what life really is and how to enjoy it instead of being caught up in the virtual reality of tv, movies, video games, etc. I was never as bad as a lot of people i meet here but i still used to skip more productive things i could have done for movies and stuff like that. I missed it for a while but now i really have no desire to watch tv or play video games or even text when i go home. I have so many more things i want to accomplish when i go home that i dont want to waste my life away on that. Ill probably still watch a few movies to catch up but i have several goals ive set when i go home. I would like to continue studying Spanish and also learn Portuguese. I regret not continuing more in music. I want to learn the guitar and piano as well. Will you give me piano lessons when i go home mom? Well i better get going. Ill share with you some more ideas ive thought a lot about throughout my mission next week if you want to hear them. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Carty

7/12/10

Happy week!

How is the clan doing? Im doing pretty well here. We played some indoor soccer this morning and went bowling this afternoon. It was a pretty fun day. We had many miracles this week and then some disappointments. Leo still hasnt gotten baptized which is unfortunate. We keeps giving us false promises so we may just tell him to call us when he is ready. We did find some awesome people though. A guy from Nicaragua and his son, both named Luis. And also his 18 yr old neighbor from Puerto Rico. We had a great lesson with them and set a baptismal date for the 18th. But then noone showed up to church so im not sure what happened. Usually if we can get them to church they will be baptized. They came to the Tues class and loved it. They really got along with all the members. I think i could finish my mission in this area just because there are so many cool members. The girl we baptized last transfer just moved back to Puerto Rico to stay with her mom. Hopefully she will still go to church there. Ive heard that its really bad there. A lot of poverty and also no laws for minors so ive heard that there are a lot of guys there who go after girls who are way too young. I hope she stays strong. We also had an awesome lesson with a guy from Argentina and he came to church. Im pretty sure he will get baptized this weekend, though he may not know it yet. I think part of the reason there are so many prepared people here is not only because of our faith but also the faith of the members and their willing nes to serve and fellowship. Between us and the other spanish companionship there has been a baptism almost every weekend. We are very close to becoming a branch. We have enough members and Melchizedic Priesthood holders, we are just waiting for the stake pres to feel that we are ready. The bishop is inviting him to speak in a couple weeks to the spanish group to feel their spirit and hopefully get the ball rolling.

Thanks for the hymn cover mom! Its great! My comp and i sing at every lesson now so it will keep it from getting wet. I havent gotten a chance to read your letter yet though. The trip to Florida sounds great! Which weekend in march would it be? I am planning on going to Nicaragua sometime around then so let me know. I wanted to go to Nicaragua there sooner rather than later when its not so hot. Im about 99% positive i will wait to go to school till august. That will give me time to make better career plans and also some money before i start. I would like to pay off most of my loans before i start again. That business sounds great! You should do it! Do you have to know how to make the sights or would you just manage it? Sounds like a great way to bring in the dough! How much is he selling it for? Al your pics have gone through dad. Ill have to remember to send some next week. Transfers arent for another three and a half weeks. Neither of you mentioned anything about a trip tomorrow?! Where are you going? I want to go! Well i ran out of time faster than i thought and i still have to write my mission pres. Thanks for everything! Oh yeah, awesome job on the flag ceremony Aaron!

Love,

Elder Carty

7/5/10

Hello!

Another week in the field of labor! Thanks for the awesome birthday gifts! I got all of them before sat. We have been listening to the book on cd in the car and in the apt. Its great! I ended up ordering the scripture covers last mon and they came really fast. Thanks for the package too! My birthday was great! We went to the flea market to contact which was fun. I used some of the money to buy some cologne. You can buy it for like a third of the price there. Ive never owned cologne before and probably wont use it too much on my mission but ill need it after too swoop up the ladies! lol. My comp bought me a small hand towell from a Baptist church stand there that says "Elder". Later that day we went to a chinese buffet with our roommates and the sisters. My comp wouldnt let me buy my meal! His birthday is actually in 2 weeks so ill have to buy dinner for him. Im gonna run to JCPenney or Ross and get some pants after emails. I sent you a small box on friday mom so it should get there the middle of this week. Sorry its so late! I should have waited till sat though cause i could have gotten you something cooler at the flea market. Thanks again for the gifts! I have a spanish hymn book but i dont have a cover for it. My is just a cheap green one i got for 4 bucks. Is his a nice one or is it the one with a green cover and regular paper pages? I could at least use the cover cause ive been using it a lot lately cause my comp likes to sing in our lessons. If his is a nicer book then send that too.

Well we almost had a baptism on sunday! He'll be baptized this week for sure though. The bishop invited his Cuban neighbor to the class on tues and he came. He was taught about 8 months ago but wouldnt commit to baptism and was struggling overcoming another issue. But he has since put that away and is really excited to come back. We had a very spiritual lesson with him, gave him a blessing to quit smoking and committed him to be baptized on sunday and he agreed! He's been to church like 6 times before so we were just going to baptized him on sunday. His family got in the way though. They are really into a pentacostal church and his brother-in-law is the pastor. He doesnt like it though and knows its not true. Anyway on sunday his wife was upset and called her brother the pastor and some other people to come over and he said they were yelling at him and telling him all sorts of bad stuff about us and just tearing him down for wanting to join the mormon church. (If you dont know anything about pentacostals, well, theyre kind of crazy and intense sometimes...) They are the church that thinks that yelling and rolling around is feeling the spirit, not that im putting them down at all, theyre just crazy. But he said it was just another confirmation that he needs to be baptized here cause he knew it was satan trying to stop him. He said he will definitely do it this week.

We met a few other less actives this week. One girl im not sure will come back but im pretty sure this lady from Spain will. She said she'll cook us some Spanish food! Im kind of worried about the Puerto Rican girl we baptized last transfer. She doesnt seem to have to strong of a testimony and shes going back to Puerto Rico in 2 weeks. Her mom is Catholic i believe and wasnt too happy about her baptism but she still let her do it. It will be hard for her to go to church there since she cant drive. She doesnt seem to have too strong of a testimony cause she wont read much. But when i was in high school i didnt read much either. Its harder for her though cause her family arent members.

Sorry if i havent answered your questions. I always seem rushed at the library to do them so i forget to look back at what you asked. My comp is actually the district leader. It was a little frustrating at first cause ive been out twice as long as he has but i know he was called for a reason that the Lord knows. Hes a really good missionary and works very hard. I dont really have a desire to be a leader. I really would rather just be a normal missionary the whole time so i dont have to deal with all the extra stuff. But its just a little frustrating cause ive been junior comp almost my whole mission and i dont feel like pres. newman ever really gave me a big chance. He always called the guys that were the loud "jock" type as the leaders. They all had very good leadership qualities cause they are outspoken but a lot of them just dont handle things or treat people in a very Christ-like way. Anyways, i really like my comp and its pretty much like we're both senior comp anyway cause we just work together on everything anyways, plus i know the area and the people better. Everything is going really good here. I have been happy which is the most important thing. I learned something in Gainesville after a few months in the mission and it has stuck with me ever since. Happines is a choice. This statement has literally changed my life and who i am. Choose to be happy. Everytime i get frustrated, or impatient, or sad, i have gotten better at recognizing those thoughts and feelings and then choosing to be happy and enjoy the moment. Rejoice in Christ!

Our new mission pres is awesome! He came in ready to run! We had a 2 hour conference with him and his wife. They are Pres. and Sis. Barry from Provo, UT. He is a dentist there. His wife taught us first, which was great cause sis newman never taught much. Her and Pres Barry are very good and very powerful teachers. I learned a lot from them. I havent had an interview yet though. I think in my August interview ill have to renew my temple recommend cause it expires Aug 31. The new mission pres wants us to email him instead of write letters every week. Hopefully it wont take up too much time every week. We are at a members house emailing cause the library's closed for the 4th. We didnt do much last night. It gets dark late here now so it was way too late to see any fireworks. I just went out in our parking lot and watched some people set off some small ones. After church a member invited us all to come eat at their house. They are native american and made us some delicius Navajo tacos. Oh yea i never told you about the car we drive. My whole mission ive driven a Corolla but last transfer right before i came here, we got a 2010 Chevy Malibu. Its really nice. Now the missionaries are riding in style! We also got new phones from Sprint. They have a big screen and a full keyboard and a camera. They look kind of like a small blackberry but without all the extra features. Im not sure why they gave us a phone with a keyboard and camera and we're not allowed to use either one. lol. Sounds like you had a great birthday mom! Happy late birthday! Let me know if your box comes. Tell Aunt Cathy that she can email me if she wants. I wont have time to email her back specifically, but i can answer questions and comment in my general email. Ask her if she got my letter i sent last week. Well I hope everyone has a great week!

Love,
Elder Carty

6/28/10

Buenas Tardes,

Hows everyone doing? Im doing really good. We had a pretty good week. My new comp is a different Elder Johnson. He is from Manatua, UT which is right next to Logan. I remember flying over it a lot. He loves the outdoors and would fit in perfectly in MT cause he loves fishing and hunting and camping. He likes to work really hard so i think we'll see a lot of success this transfer. The new mission pres. lands today at 4:00. The Newman's are picking them up and then they leave tomorrow i believe. On wed. we'll get to meet him so im pretty excited. Last night our ward had a special fireside for pres. newman and they spoke and a lady in the ward made a quilt for them and had everyone sign it. It was the last time ill see them! for a while at least. Im sure ill see them again. We set a baptism date with a guy on sat. but i think he ditched out of church to watch the Mexico vs. Argentina game in the World Cup. Serves him right though cause Mexico lost 3-1! I get updated a lot from the people here. We actually played soccer this morning. The church is next to the high school and about 8 kids that play for the team came and asked if they could play. It was really really hot though. I was dying! The humidity has been really intense lately. We ended up teaching all of them the first lesson afterwards. They were all fairly receptive and a couple may come to church. If not i know they felt the spirit there.

Thanks for the scripture cover! I think im going to exchange if thats ok. Its a little too big. The one i was looking at has an individual case for each one that zips around. Ill send it today and they should just reimburse your card. I think to make it easier ill just order it with my home card and then you can just put money in my account if you want. Ill tell you how much it was. Hope thats ok! I wouldnt mind the Parley P Pratt audio book but only if its not going to be too much. Id rather have the case and the bible first. I found it for $27 at Seagull Book unless you can find it cheaper. Other than those and pants i dont think i need much else. Just send money if you want for the pants. Theres a mall right across the street with a JCPenney. Dont spend too much money on me cause you're already paying a lot for my mission. Ill be happy with whatever you want to send. Thanks for everything! You guys are the best!

Hey Uncle Rick! I hear its your birthday! Happy Birthday! I hope you and Aunt Kim are doing great! I havent heard from you in a long time. Shoot me an email or a letter if you have some extra time and let me know what you guys have been up to. Im not sure if you read my emails or not but hopefully you'll get this part. My mission has been full of miracles. I have seen the power of God and Jesus Christ work incredible changes in people's lives and i know with all my heart that they live. I know that Christ has restored his church to the earth and that families can and will be eternal through his holy temples. Thanks for being such a cool uncle! Hope to here from you soon.

And also speaking of birthdays...Happy Birthday Mom! And you thought i almost forgot! jk. I have been thinking all week about what to send. Youre a lot harder to buy for than dad for some reason. Ill send something though. I hope you have a wonderful birthday! How old are you anyway? I think i lost track now that youve had so many! lol just kidding! 47? Thanks for everything you do mom!

As far as my copay goes, the church pays for everything except a $10 copay that we are required to pay for each doctor or therapy visit. I actually found out that the insurance will only cover 2 more p.t. visits so ill be done after that. Its helped strengthen my back a lot i think cause they have me do excersises i would have never thought of. I know enough by now i should be able to just keep it up on my own, especially since we go to the gym everyday. After these i wil have spent $110 for the doctor visits. Even if you guys could help me out with some of that instead of many birthday gifts i would be happy.

Well i hope everyone has an awesome week! Pray that we will find miracles cause we dont really have any investigators right now. Thanks for all your prayers!

Love,

Elder Carty