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