2/22/10

Buenas tardes!

Everything is going GREAT here in Florida! We had 2 baptisms on sat and they were both confirmed on sunday! We also have on this coming sat for a guy named Jose Luis. Thanks for all your faith and prayers. It helps a lot! Before i forget, i just got my allergy shot this morning so all is well. I had the perscription all week but i was really sick so i decided to wait. Please erase the following before sending to others: I had severe diarea for over a week! I spent every morning in the bathroom and my stomach was a little nautious all week. Its finally gone away. I hardly ate anything this week though and i think i lost a little weight from it. I had to drink a ton of water to stay hydrated. I think im gonna start eating healthier because i just started working out again. I ran 2 miles this morning and lifted weights at some other missionaries apt gym.

Good luck on the second trip to D.C. dad! Ill be praying for you! Today we are probably going to the beach again to play soccer. My new comp is awesome! His name is Elder Johnson from Draper, UT. He has been out for 8 months i think and was switched Spanish right when he got here. He speaks pretty good Spanish. He has been learning for one less transfer than me. He plays guitar and piano and basketball. I am really excited for this transfer! He is a really hard worker and has a lot of faith. I think we are going to get along much better. We will probably be doing a lot of tracting this transfer but it should be fun. When i was first switched Spanish i hated tracting but now i love it! As long as there's plenty of people to teach.

The mission this year has been changing a bit. Last year we learned how to run hard and fast for a long time. Now a lot of the meetings and conferences have been focusing more on Christ and the Atonement and repentance. We use the same approach but really focus it on repentance and Christ. This transfer i am going to study anything and everything about Christ to really increase my testimony of repentance and the Atonement. I started Jesus the Christ a few weeks ago and im about a quarter of the way through it. It is blowing my mind! So many little and big details of Christ i never knew! Did you read it on your mission dad? I was also interesting that a lot of the big words that Talmage uses that we normally dont use in everyday language are very similar to many Spanish words. Without knowing the words in Spanish i would probably not know what it meant in English! Its interesting how much i have learned about the English language by learning Spanish.

Well i dont have too much more to say. I feel like my testimony of Christ has really grown this transfer. I know without a doubt that He lives. I know that the repentance process truly works and how exquisite the joy can be if we are humble and repentant each day. Ill share something else i have learned in the last several months- the key to longsuffering and enduring to the end. It is diligence. A couple months ago in Live Oak i was feeling really homesick and the end seemed too far away to endure. After much thought and prayer the Spirit simply told me what i had to do. Be diligent. I have always worked pretty hard but i learned how to sacrifice more and run faster and harder and be diligent in everything- studies, tracting, teaching. I found that the more diligent i was, the less i thought of home or was distracted by worldly things that dont matter. I found a greater happiness and satisfaction in the work and time seems to dissipate even faster and all i can think about are my investigators and how i can better help them come unto Christ. So if anyone who reads this cant seem to see the light at the end of the tunnel and aren't sure how you can possibly endure...BE DILIGENT! And i promise all feelings of sadness and discouragement will disappear. Times up!

Love,
Elder Carty