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