2/2/10

Hello!

Sorry about not emailing yesterday! The main server for all the Jacksonville libraries crashed so we couldnt email yesterday. This week has gone by unusually fast! There are only 2 weeks left in the transfer! Time just keeps going faster and faster and faster the longer ive been out. It was an ok week. It has really been difficult to teach lessons and find people to teach in this area. We tract at least 4 hours each day and barely even see any hispanics and we havent had anyone at church for 2 weeks. We are defenitely working hard though so i know we'll find some more. I had a really good interview with president Newman this week. He leaves in 4 months! He told me that during the next 4 months he will be looking for his "anchors" in the mission, those who he knows he can count on when he leaves to be leaders. He gave me a really good compliment and said he will be looking to me to be one of those leaders. We talked about my comp and he gave me some advice and said that he will probably be transferred and ill most likely be staying.

Aarons birthday sounded like a blast! I will be mailing a small package for him today so look for it in the mail. We went to St. Augustine yesterday and looked around in some of the shops there so i picked something up for Aaron. Ill write something for Aarons baptism tonight and mail it out tomorrow. Ill try to write more letters to him from now on. Every baptism that ive had Satan always throws every temptation and negative feeling he has at them the week before to try to stop them from getting baptized. Maybe thats why hes been a bit angry. There is always a trial of our faith before we can progress. I think thats also true for children, though maybe in a smaller degree. Ive really missed Aaron this week!

Thanks for applying for school and scholarships for me! I still cant decide if thats what i want to do. Ive thought a lot lately about coming home for a few months and then living in central america for a few months and returning to school in the fall. I know a lot of people down there and could probably find enough places to stay for a while. I really want to visit Mexico, Ecuador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Ive actually learned a lot about those places from talking to people. I think it would be great to perfect my spanish and ive always wanted to live in another country. I think that may be the only time in my life i would have the opportunity to do something like that. It also may be easier to get scholarships that way. Maybe i could do some online classes before the fall. I think i only need a few more credits to be considered a junior because of the dual credit in high school. If you want to send me the essay prompt i can make time to write it. How soon do you need it done? Or you can just write it, it doesnt make a big difference to me. I cant really think of anything special to put in it. Some of my life goals are to have a family, become a pilot, own my own business, learn several languages and travel the world! I dont know. Just make me look good if you write it. lol.

We will be seeing a member family today. We really dont have too many members that actually live in our area. Most of them live in the other area. Thanks for the tips about member missionary work! We are hoping to have a baptism this weekend for the Nicaraguan that we found. Pray for him that he can overcome drinking because he drank again on sat night and couldnt come to church. His name is Walter. Also pray for Vinicio to be able to come to church. He has had to work every sunday and we cant seem to get him to church one more time to be baptized. Well thats about everything thats going on here. Oh yeah i got your postcard! Thanks for thinking of me while you were skiing! That plus the winter olympics advertising everywhere has made me miss skiing! Hope everyone has a great week!

Love,
Elder Carty