Borrego is amazing!

Hello my wonderful family and friends! I love hearing from you every week! I am so happy that Kyle's and Katrina's party went so great and that everyone was able to be there together under one roof :) I love family and I love all of you!!
Life as a missionary is incredible. Seriously it is the best! Everyday we get to go out and talk about the thing that is most precious to us! The best news in the world! The restored gospel of Jesus Christ! The gospel has been restored!!! I just want to shout it from the roof tops :) I am so grateful to have this gospel of Jesus Christ in my life. It is my life! Everything that I have I owe to my Savior. I feel so blessed to be a missionary in this time when the work is beginning to hasten. I am so grateful to be a full time servant of the Lord and put His name on my shirt everyday to show the world what I believe and who I represent! How great is my calling!?
The branch in Borrego is amazing! The sisters in the Branch asked us our favorite colors (in secret) all though they weren't the sneakiest, they are so cute! Anyway at the Christmas Party they gave us the most beautiful quilts! I almost cried haha. I think it is one of the most precious gifts I have ever received, which I will treasure forever. All of these women working together to make us this amazing gift.. I feel my Saviors love everyday. The people in California have stolen my heart. I love them so dearly.
We had 2 investigators at church on Sunday! One was the Dad of Christen, his name is Jose. He was also at the Christmas party. I love him. We need to get into his heart, I know that him and his two sons will get baptized. Salvador wasn't able to come to church but he has been reading! And he came to the party. AND MAX came to church!!! which was an amazing miracle because we haven't been able to talk to him in over 2 weeks. He just came on his own, this little 17 year old boy. He is amazing and I know once we start teaching him he is going to be baptized. He is an honest seeker of truth.
All I want is for everyone to be baptized. To have this incredible gift of the Holy Ghost, to live happier and better lives! To know who they are and where they are going. It is all in the Lord's time. Heavenly loves His children and He wants them to be happy and to live with Him and His son again one day.
I love you all so much!!! Remember who you are: you are a son or daughter of GOD! The most glorious being in the universe. Strive to live the best you can everyday. And read the scriptures. There is protection there and from also saying your prayers. So will you read your scriptures and pray daily?... (I'm imagining you all said yes) :) Thank you. (do I sound like a missionary to you??)) I promise as you strive to live each of the commandments and align your life with God you will find a better sense of love and gratitude for the people around you. You will do better in school and work and you will find greater happiness that you didn't know was possible!
I love you all!!
Con Amor,
Hermana McCartt
PS Mom you are hilarious and your stories kill me! I'm printing them all out to read later :)

Transfer dos!

Hola familia!
What an incredible week it has been. The Lord is pouring out His blessings! We picked up 9 new investigators last week!
We put another boy named Louie on date, he is 14 and comes from a part member family. His family is incredible. I love them all so much. His parents are not members and his brother who lives at home is less-active (not for long). Last week we just talked with his parents and told them that we wanted to start teaching their whole family and then afterwards we invited them to be baptized when they know the gospel is true and they accepted. I couldn't help but get a little teary eyed when I told them how our goal as missionaries is to get them to the temple and have them be sealed together for ALL TIME AND ETERNITY. What an incredible blessing. I can just picture them all in white. I cannot wait for that day. We are teaching them again tonight! I cannot wait to see how the gospel will bless them. They are already so good and I know the Lord has so much in store for the Hernandez family :)
We picked up 5 kids who are all from a part member family. Their dad has been very less-active for many years, but he is allowing us to teach his children. They are all so good and desire to know who their Heavenly Father is and what His plan is for them!
Salvador is another of our investigators, he has been to church 4 times now! Sunday was the first time that we finally were able to teach him! He says when he knows they Book of Mormon is true he will work towards baptism! The Book of Mormon combined with the Spirit is the most important converting tool. I am so grateful for it. Without this divine book we have no religion. We all need to be reading from it everyday, as a family and individually.
As we go through the holidays let us all remember the true meaning of Christmas; serve one another lift and bear each other's burdens! Live in the spirit of Christ, Always. I love you all!
Thank you mom and dad for your incredible testimonies every week. They give me so much strength and I can feel the power of the spirit every time I read them.
You are always in my prayers,
Hermana McCartt


                                 She fell asleep while I was praying! So I covered her with clothes :)

                                                       I love sister Torres and her daughter!

                                                              Pretty hike we went on!

                                                                      I found a cave!

                                                   Now this is what they call multitasking

                                                     We have a common friend from efy!

Last week in the transfer????

Hola my familia bonita!

This past week has flown by! It seems like just yesterday I was sitting at the computer emailing you all! This week has been amazing. Yes, we have our hard times, but it is these hard times that make the sweet times so much sweeter. I am starting to glimpse a portion of what our Savior did for us.

Sister Jones and I were on an exchange this past week and we ran into two men at the park, one of them was really nice to us, but then the other one just exploded with anger like I have never witnessed in my life. He was yelling at us at the top of his lungs and said some of the most profane things to us. As we turned and walked away from them with tear filled eyes I couldn't help but feel hurt. I'm not telling you thins to make you feel sorry for me, I am grateful for this experience. But it wasn't until later that night when I was reading my Scriptures that I read a quote from a talk by Jeffery R. Holland, and I'll just paraphrase it, "missionary work isn't easy because salvation isn't easy to obtain, how could we expect it to be easy for us when it was NEVER easy for Him. Be prepared to walk along the path that our Savior walked. We have to pay a token of that price." As missionaries we get to walk side by side with the greatest missionary that has ever lived. He had people spit upon Him, torture Him and crucify Him. And He did that willing for us, His brothers and sisters. My pain was nothing compared to what He went through, and I feel honored to be here and to be His servant and to feel a glimpse of what He felt for us. I love my Savior and I feel so sad for that man who felt that way towards us and the church. I wish he could understand how perfectly He is loved by the most supreme being ever created.

I love this work. Last night we put this amazing 17 year old boy on date, he has been prepared to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ! We asked him how his reading in the Book of Mormon went and how he felt when he read, "I felt warm and happy inside even though it was cold out!" Ummmmm can you say elect?! Then we asked him if he prayed to know if it is true and he said yes, when he was at the Catholic mass, which I thought was funny, he prayed to and asked if the Book of Mormon was true and the first lesson which we shared with him and he said he got the chills all over but it was a warm chill and it filled his whole body! December 31st he is preparing for baptism and we couldn't be happier. The Lord is preparing His people. I couldn't help but think of you mom when you were just 17 hearing and accepting the gospel, and I shared that with him :)

I love you all and pray for you always. Make sure you are reading the Book of Mormon everyday and opening your mouths and sharing the gospel :) This is the most precious gift that anyone can offer! SHARE IT!

Love your favorite California girl

Hermana Shea McCartt

                                    Sister Stark took us out to a lovely Thanksgiving dinner a resort!

                       The cutest girls ever!! I love them. Even when they won't look at the camera :)

                                                                California sunset :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Oh how I love life!!! I love being a missionary :) It is seriously the best! Everyday we get to go out and tell people that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been RESTORED!! How great is my calling!?! Everyday I am absolutely astounded by how beautiful this earth is. Every night sister Jones and I look up at the skies, at the countless stars and say, there is without a doubt a God and He is SO good to us. Mosiah 4:9,"Believe in God, believe that He is, and that he created all things, both in the heaven and in the earth. Believe that he has all wisdom and all power, both in the heaven and in the earth. Believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."Oh I believe!

Sister Jones and I spend a lot of time in the car, so we try to be as productive as we can. We have been memorizing scriptures in both Spanish and English. And that scripture is one of them. I love the scriptures so much! The Book of Mormon is true! It is the convincing evidence that Jesus is the Savior and Redeemer of the world. If you haven't read it, read it and pray to know if it is not true, and I know you will receive the answer that it IS! It will change your life, I know this because it changed mine!

This week we taught a 17 year old boy, Christen and his father Jose from the Book of Mormon and it was so powerful. They want to know more and Christen, said that he will be baptized when he receives the answer that the book of Mormon is true. Right now we are just finding tons of people and opening their hearts, I know that we will be baptizing soon! The people are ready, we just need to show teach them and build their faith and show them how much they need the gospel.

Tomorrow we are holding the annual Borrego Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at our church!! All of the churches in town are going to be coming to our little chapel and all of the churches get to share thoughts about Thanksgiving, sister Jones and I are going to be singing and there is going to be TONS of people there! We feel so blessed that it is happening at our church! We know that this is going to be a great finding experience and that people will feel the spirit in our chapel :)

We find most of the people we are teaching by just opening our mouth and talking to EVERYONE! We have seen miracles by doing this. On Sunday we met this really sweet woman and talked to her for a bit and are going to come over and teach her later on this week, and then yesterday we met her sister on the other side of town!! Coincidence?? I think not!!

I love this work! In Spanish it is called obra, which means masterpiece. I love that. This is my masterpiece :) I love you all and hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Shelby, don't have too much fun Black Friday shopping without me!! :) and J-Boy do as many puzzles are you can!! Love you bunches!! 

                        This is how you know you are working hard. (after planning for the night)

                                          On exchanges again with the sweet Hermana Howe!

                                                      Borrego is so beautiful! I love it here!!!

                                                 We spend A LOT of time in the car!

                                                        We went flying!!! Just kidding :)

                                                   Sister Polanco and her sweet madre :)

Week 3??

Another week has flow by in the field! I am already half way through my first transfer! We have so many people that we are teaching but no one is on date YET. This Sunday we had 6 investigators at church and I about had a hard attack with excitement!! We haven't had anyone come to church yet and then to have 6 in one week was a miracle! God is truly touching the hearts of the people here in Borrego Springs!
We are starting a Spanish class on Wednesday nights at 630! We have a lot of people who seem interested! We are so excited, this is a great way to find people to teach! It is going to be held in our church so it's a perfect way for them to feel the spirit and introduce them to members of the ward.
We met this young man named Max this week, we prayed and told Heavenly Father that we would be at the church one afternoon to do some planning and to put someone in our path this week that we could find. When we pulled up Max was walking down the road and we asked him if we could give him a tour of the church and he agreed. We should him all around and then invited him to church and HE CAME!! :) That happened with two people this week. All we had to do was invite them!
This Saturday we had the opportunity to go to a mission wide conference. It was incredible! I was so uplifted and motivated from everyone of the speakers, our mission president invited all of the stake presidents and Bishops from our mission to come and speak to up. It was amazing  to see how truly inspired it was. All of their talks somehow linked in with one another and half of them didn't even hear what the other speakers spoke about because they were all coming and going at different times. The spirit is amazing :) One thing that President Van Cott shared that Elder Ballard shared with all of the mission presidents from the west is: The Savior is ready to come but the people are not ready. That blew my mind!! We need to be prepared for the 2nd coming. It is so soon! That is why the work is hastening. That is why the mission age was dropped. We need to teach every person the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess :)
I have so much to work on and learn and shortcomings! But through the Savior Jesus Christ those can all be made up for. I am so grateful for my Savior and the perfect life that He lived and the example that He is to me!
Yo se que la Iglesia de Jesucristo es verdadera. Yo se que Thomas S. Monson es el profeta hoy y es la boca de Dios. Yo se que el Libro de Mormon es la palabra de Dios y Jose Smith tradujo la. Yo se que Jose Smith fue un profeta y restauro la Iglesia :) Me encanta esta mensaje y la oportunidad ser una misionera!
Until next week!
Herman McCartt



                                                             Hermana Michalsky and I!

                                                         My district at the MTC!

                                                                  My new temple! :)

                                                                      Stake Party :)

                                                                     Beautiful Sky!

                                                                       Beautiful Sky!

                                                             Right outside our house!

Hola!

Oh what a week!!!

This gospel is incredible, I have no other words to describe this week other than WOW. The work is truly hastening. The Lord is preparing His people to hear the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. We have just seen miracle after miracle this week. I am in awe by the hand of the Lord. This is truly His work. Missionaries, are NOTHING without the Holy Ghost. It has lead and guided us in so many ways this week.

One amazing experience just happened a few minutes ago right outside of this library that I am sitting in right now, we said hello to a young man, Kelsey, and we started talking to him and he asked us what we are doing, and we told him and ended up teaching him the Restoration! And gave him a copy of the Book of Mormon, which he said he would read. He told us that he knew that he was supposed to meet us and that this is what he has been searching for.

Another incredible story: My companion and I planned Saturday night to stay in Borrego Springs on Sunday and teach, but all day Sister Jones felt that we needed to go to Salton City, which is part of our area, but is about 45 minutes away, so we decided to go! We had no idea why we were going, but we had faith that there was something that we were supposed to do. We had a referral we wanted to contact first, but we couldn't find the house. So we turned the corner and saw two boys outside their house and we started talking to them. One of them got a little freaked out... I don't know why!? haha and got his mom, and we started talking to her, and she invited us in. We then taught her the Restoration of the gospel and when we came to Joseph Smith and how he didn't know what church was true, she stopped us and said, "that's my question!!" Perfect :) We then taught the rest of the Restoration and invited her to be baptized and she said yes! She isn't ready to set a date yet, but we are going back to her house tonight to teach her and her two boys and husband! Please pray for Dalia and her family!

These are just two of the incredible accounts that I have seen this week. We have seen miracle after miracle.

Today we had a zone meeting and in it we discussed how we need to teach simply. And one of the sisters, who also speaks Spanish, shared that she is so grateful for the language barrier, because all she "knows how to teach in Spanish is simple truths." And that is all I know how to teach as well, and that is all we need, just the small simple truths of the gospel.

Mom, I am singing! Sister Jones also sings and we have SUNG a lot! We use it whenever we feel it is appropriate. It is incredible how the Spirit works though music. On Saturday we are preforming an incredible arrangement of Savior Redeemer of My Soul in front of the WHOLE MISSION. Sister Jones will be playing the violin, an Elder will be playing the piano and I will be singing....... Ummmmmm WHAT!? Keep me in your prayers :)

I love you all. Remember: everyone is a missionary, you don't have to have a tag on your chest to be one. I will be a missionary for the rest of my life. Invite the missionaries over and have them teach you. Learn as much as you can about the gospel and then SHARE it! Don't be afraid, Open You Mouth. When in doubt testify. We have left people speechless when we have testified of this truth. There is no denying the Spirit. Invite a friend to church, to a youth activity (Shelby), and then invite them to be taught by the missionaries!! What's the harm in one lesson! Just tell them to listen to them. We need you! This work is truly hastening:

"Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him. He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work."

I know that as we work together as missionaries and members that we will find more peace in our lives. We will find people, friends and family who are prepared to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and there will be baptisms! I know that this is the Lords work and that it is the best work that we as members of this gospel can do! I know that Christ lives and that He lived every day for us and still lives for us! I know that God wants all of His children to come back to Him and the only way is through our Savior Jesus Christ, by following His example by being baptized. I know the Book of Mormon was written for US. It is the word of God and contains the fullness of the restored gospel. I know that by reading it daily and living the teachings that are taught in it we will find more peace and joy and light then we thought imaginable. I know that Joseph Smith saw God, the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ and he restored the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the Earth! We have this gospel! How blessed are we! Remember this incredible gift that we have and SHARE IT!

I love you all!

Hermana Shea McCartt

Week 6! Soon to be going to the field

Hola mis babies!!

Como están! El mision es super! Ahhh this church is so true! The days are flying by the closer that it gets to me leaving.

 We had an incredible fireside on Tuesday. Elder Johnson from the 70 spoke to us about getting involved with the members as much as we can. It got me so excited to go out and do this work!! I know there are people who are waiting and preparing to hear this gospel and I can not wait to go and find them.

Our investigator Patrick, committed to getting baptized this week! And we taught Jorge again and he received an answer and is getting baptized next week! It is so incredible the power that the spirit has. I know that the spirit is the teacher, not me. It is so important to always be worthy of the spirit and constantly be seeking it and recognizing it. That is definitely something that I have learned here, I can not teach with out it. So many times in lessons I come up with questions or responses and thoughts that I know are not mine, and they are exactly what the investigator needs to hear. I am just an instrument in the Lord's hands, this is His work and His gospel and I am so grateful that He trusts me enough to be His servant.

Speaking of the spirit, I gave a talk on it last Sunday, yupp in Spanish!! Haha I knew that I was going to be called on to give one, but I it was perfect subject for me and I learned a lot. As nervous as I was to stand in front of a large crowd for 5 minutes and speak for 5 minutes in a language I barely know I know that I definitely needed it and learned a ton and it was great practice! And now hopefully I don't have to speak next week ;) I love my barra (branch) Presidente, Presidente Suaste, he is so sweet and teaches with such power and authority! He served His mission in California, English speaking!

Today we went to the temple and I was able to sit next to two Latino Hermana's and I was super nervous because I didn't think I would be able to understand them... But I was able to understand pretty much everything that they said and we talked for the whole 40 minute ride! I guess I know more than I think :) They told me that I spoke very well and they could understand everything. I had a fun of fun talking to them. At one point we were singing and a hermana told me that I should definitely be in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir haha. I was very flattered. The bus driver always takes out his phone and records us when we sing. I love that the Spirit speaks all languages. I got some really cool scripture cases, one says Mexico on it! I will send pics next week. I haven't been taking pictures lately! I will take mas these next few days. I know I am going to cry a ton when I leave, our district has gotten so close and hermano Silva (one of our teachers) is probably one of my favorite people in the whole world. He is so funny, spiritual, hard-working and uplifting. He has taught us all so much. He gave us the goal to all speak 100% Spanish, or use what we know. It ha been really hard, but definitely worth it. I won't receive the gift of tongues if I am not using the language and doing my part!

Daddy, thank you for your incredible letter, it has uplifted me immensely and I know the words that you said are true. I am so grateful for your example and how hard-working you are. Thank you for being such a good Dad and husband to my amazing mom.

Mom: yes, I want you to use my jumping picture on my plague ;), I think the Bishop would love that! I am so grateful that I knew Spanish before, although I forgot a ton that I used to know, and yes I think the extent of what I knew ended after 2 days! haha so I was struggling along with the rest of my district! One big happy family :) We have all come so far in so many different aspects, the power of this gospel is so real. One of my teachers, Hermano Silva is Mexican (he told me to tell you hi!), the other, Hermano Hopoate is Polynesian, he is from Utah and is going back to American next week with us! They are both so amazing and I love them both so much. The food is SO Mexican! It's funny though, they like to give us American food sometimes though and everyone goes crazy! I remember the first time we had french fries, I was so excited and had probably about 5 servings haha. And once we had burgers :) mmm hahah. Their big meal is lunch, there is always beans and usually rice and some kind of meat, lots and lots of fruit and salad! Lunch is the best :) One day we had whole mango's, they were yellowish brown? and the most delicious mango I have ever had!! The Hispanics are from all over the place! But most of them are from Mexico. Conference was incredible. One of my favorite talks was by Elder Uchtdorf about how the gospel is for everyone! and we want everyone to come join us! and I also really loved Elder McConkie's talking about how to be a teacher, I related it to missionary work! It's exactly like what is taught in Preach My Gospel!

I AM SO EXCITED FOR CALIFORNIA!!! I can't wait to get out and share the gospel :) I am excited and nervous but so excited, I feel ready. I know that I know hardly any of the language but being engulfed in it is going to help me so much and help me stretch and learn more. I AM READY because the Lord thinks I am ready and He has my back! We spend about an hour on the computer a day on a program called TALL, it's through BYU and is where we learn how to Speak, Read and Write in Spanish. I didn't really learn it correctly until a few weeks ago, but it has been really helpful. There are probably about 15 rooms with 20 computers in them! Mucho mucho! And no, we haven't called any real people! And nope, the temple is the only reason we leave, it is too dangerous out there for us.

They have been really celebrating this week, more fireworks than usual, they send them up for weddings, deaths, weekends, births, parties (they sound like canon's. They sometimes go off at 5! and one morning they went off at 4 in the am haha. The Mexicans sure now how to party! haha. A lot of the people have loud speakers in the houses and on the weekends they announce when they are having parties. Can you imagine if we did that in America?? haha I love it. I love the culture and the people. I sure will miss it!

I love you all and love reading your letters and hearing about your lives! Miss you!

con amor,

Hermana McCartt

                                                                  I love you!

                                                           Hermano Silva and I!

                                                 Part of my district in the TALL lab

                                               
                                     Rules for tall (they are in every room!) we're famous :_

Week 5!

Hola mis amigos y mi famila!!! Coma estan!? I miss you all!

Wow what an incredible week. It truly flew by, I can't believe that I will be in California in 11 days!! I am so ready but at the same time so nervous! Hermana Michalsky and I had a really low point the other day, we taught a lesson to a couple of teachers who were "investigators" and afterwards they told us that our Spanish was bad, but that our lesson was good... well not exactly like that but it hit be like a ton of bricks and I felt sick to my stomach. I was feeling really discouraged, so I prayed and opened my scriptures and asked our Heavenly Father to tell me what I need to do. And I came across a scripture in Enos that calmed my troubled soul : 12 And it came to pass that after I had ^aprayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy ^bdesires, because of thy faith. I know that I am capable of doing this. I am going to struggle, but who the Lord calls He qualifies. I need to rely completely on the Lord, and do all that I can do and HAVE FAITH. I felt so much peace and comfort. I am so grateful for the gift of personal revelation. Hermana Michalsky decided to speak Spanish for the next 24 hours after that. We need to be diligent in our labors, it was difficult but we did it! And I truly think that it helped a ton. The next day we had a meeting with one of our teachers and he told us that in order to receive the gift of tongues we need to ALWAYS have our investigators in our minds and think how we are going to help them in everything we do. I believe that and will be better at doing that. I am so grateful to be here that the CCM in Mexico, I feel so blessed! I love the natives, the culture, the food, the spirit, everything! But I am so ready to get to the mission field and find the people who are waiting to hear the message of the restored gospel. It is so true! I can't wait to make people as happy as I am because of this amazing gift that I have. I know that it won't be easy, I know that I will get rejected over and over again and but I know that my joy will be so great when someone accepts the gospel and comes unto our Savior Jesus Christ and has their lives changed for the better because of Him. I am so grateful my incredible parents who decided to become members of this church years ago and are such incredible examples. Thank you mommy and daddy, I love you. Thank you all for you support, love and prayers. I am so thankful to have you all in my life.

I pray for you everyday. I love you!

Hermana McCartt

                        Hermana Freeman and Whipple and Us! (Herm. Freeman is hilarious!)

                                                                    PDAY!

 

Week 4!

What a week! It has seriously flown by. I can't believe that I have already been here for almost a month! I will be in California 19 days! Ummm what!? I still have so much to learn. I feel that everyday I learn so much but I still feel like I know nothing! My companion and I were having a really tough with the language and were being really hard on ourselves. Then we had the most incredible lesson with a teacher, we were reading in the Book of Mormon, we all had questions that we wanted answered and we came across.

Ether 12:27  27 And if men come unto me I will show unto them their ^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them.

Afterwards we talked about that scripture, our whole district talked about how we were all stressed about the language. and she pointed out all of the action that we need to do in order to gain the Gift of Tongues.

1. Come unto God

2. Be humble

3. Humble ourselves

4. Humble ourselves before him

5. And have Faith

And then she bore her testimony in broken English, to show us the power that is still there because of the spirit. I couldn't stop the tears from pouring down my face. The spirit was so powerful and even though she didn't say everything perfectly at all, we understood her and the testimony was beautiful. I know that it won't be easy but if I follow this pattern I will gain the gift of tongues. I know that this pattern works for anything in our lives, I have already seen it work wonders in mine.

Yesterday we had our 3rd lesson with Jorge, one of our investigators, I committed him to baptism and he said yes!!! The smile that was on my face lasted all day. This gospel is so true! There is a reason that it is the one of the fastest, if not the fastest growing faiths.

We also taught another man named Ebere, I told him that I sing at the beginning of the lesson ( He asked what we like to do) and he wanted me to sing!! And I told him that I would after the lesson, but then he made it known that he wanted to know what happened after this life, I then felt the spirit telling me to sing I am a child of God. I then told him that I wanted to sing a verse of a song to him. The spirit that was there was so powerful as Hermana Michalsky and I sang. At the end of the lesson we committed him to be baptized and he  said yes!! The spirit works so amazingly. This church is so true. I have so many hard times, times that investigators don't read, or pray, but it's those times that make me see that I need to change something, I need to come unto Christ and HUMBLE MYSELF and become a better teacher and missionary. This isn't the gospel according to Shea, it is Christ's gospel. I need them to come unto Him and believe in Him.

I am so grateful for the experiences that I have already had here at the CCM. It has been life changing, I have already seen myself developing and changing in ways that I didn't know I could.

Thank you mom and dad for your incredible spirits and for supporting me through everything. Daddy, your humbleness and testimony has strengthened me immensely, I am so grateful for your words of encouragement and strength. Keep them coming. I love my family and am so grateful that I get to spend all time and eternity with them. I love the work that is done at the temple, we went there today. Go as often as you can, some of these people have been waiting so long for their work to be done. 1815, was year that the woman that I got do her work for was born. This is the most important work that we can do in this life!

I loved general conference, I am so grateful for prophets today who lead and guide us and give us advice and the help that we need to make it in this crazy world. I love you all! Until next week!!

Ps the food is good!!! I've gained a few pounds!! Uh oh. haha

Love you all

Your favorite oldest hermana

Week 3!

Wow i love hearing from my family! Momma thank you so much for your email. It made me so happy to hear everything that is going on at home. I'm glad to hear that everyone is keeping busy and having fun! I miss you all so much!!

Oh man I love my district we have so much fun together! Sometimes, okay all the time, Hermana Michalsky and I have to remind the Elders that we are supposed to be studying, they are getting better though! I think the closer that it gets to us leaving the more real it becomes to them and they realize that they need to focus more. I am proud of them and they are really progressing.

As for my Spanish... It is coming... Haha. I do a pretty good job at understanding it.. as for speaking it, I´ve got a long way to go. I have the most incredible support on my side though, Jesus Christ. He is with me every step of the way and I know it is because of Him that all things are possible. I definitely should use the song method mom! Good idea :)

Mom guess what! The Coopers were in Hermana Michalsky's ward until she was 12! What a loco pequeno mundo. And yes, I think that a memory card would be great! Although I am really hoping that we have computers in Redlands that will read my card.. I will let you know!

My favorite part of the CCM is the teachers and the spirit that is here! It is so incredible. I love how we all have one purpose here and we all work together and support one another in that purpose, to bring others unto Christ. It is a beautiful site to see all of us together and singing hymns, even though the are in Spanish, the spirit knows all languages, so it is always present. Meal times are the best times. We love them because it means that we aren't studying haha. The food took a little bit of getting used to, but now I love it. I always eat so much. It is no buneo haha. And plus they have nutella!!! I have some at least once a day haha. Hermana Michalsky and I woke up early today to make sure we got in a run because we both have been eating so much of that fatty goodness.

The hardest part of the CCM for me so far has been adjusting to the language. It's frustrating when you want to say something in Spanish and I know how to say it in English, obviously.. But I can't. I got upset with myself one time during a lesson and I froze and couldn't say anything because I was upset and it threw me completely off. I left the lesson feeling a huge doubt that I could ever learn the language and be the type of missionary that I need to be. And then I remember the fact that I was called to a Spanish speaking mission by the prophet Thomas S. Monson. I realized that I needed to humble myself and come to the knowledge that it is not what I say or teach that is important, it is was the investigator, or whomever I am teaching, hears and feels. The spirit that is felt is the most important thing in the lesson, the communication between the spirit and the investigator is what testifies of the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These past few weeks have been so humbling and I have my testimony has grown immensely. I have learned to rely on the Lord in more ways than I ever have before. This work is not possible without Him because it is His work. I feel so grateful that He has entrusted me to be His servant and help others come unto Christ.

I had a really amazing Spiritual experience, I got to be an investigator in one of our classes, we came up with different situations that we could see different investigators being in. I was a girl named Carmen and she knew that the church was true and everything but she wouldn't get baptized because her parents said that the church was of the devil and they would disown her. I thought that there was no way that this 18 year old girl would join... And I was her! But as my teacher testified of families and how the only one who could reach them and help them and then asked if would be baptized there was no way that I could say no. The spirit is so incredible. It is what testifies of the truth of all things. it was incredible to feel her accepting the gospel and knowing that it was true. Without the spirit there is no conversion. I hope one day to be the type of missionary that my teachers are, to be like Alma and Paul and Jesus Christ. To even come close to being the type of missionary that my Savior was would be incredible.

This work is hard but it is worth it.

 Doctrine and Covenants 18: 14-16

14 Wherefore, you are called to ^acry repentance unto this people.

 15 And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one ^asoul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!
 16 And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the ^akingdom of my Father, how great will be your ^bjoy if you should bring many ^csouls unto me!

We get to watch conference this weekend!! I am so excited. I can't wait to hear revelation given to our prophet and apostles from God. It is the best part of the year, and I love that it happens twice a year! The sisters will be watching relief society while the Elders are watching Priesthood. I can't wait til we can watch conference together again momma :)

I am so grateful to have such loving and supportive parents. I have truly been born of goodly parents. Thank you daddy and mom for teaching me the gospel and being the most incredible examples to me. I couldn't ask for anything more.

I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and for the blessings that I have seen and received. The church is truly the Lord's kingdom on this earth. I love all of you and pray for you everyday. I miss you all!

xoxo

Hermana McCartt

Pictures to come!!

                                                   Our Texan, Hermana Lister!

                                           
                                                       Our district on Sunday

                                                        Our beautiful CCM

                                                      Our clase aka our 2nd casa.

Week 2!

Hola lovely famila!

Wow it has been a crazy incredible week. The spirit is so strong here!! I have already learned so much. It almost seems impossible that I will learn the language, but I know my call is a divine call and the Lord wouldn´t have sent me spanish speaking if he didn´t know that I could do it. I truly know that nothing is possible without the Lord on my side. Apparently the first week is the longest, and oh it was LONG! haha I think it was mainly because we didn´t have a P-Day until today, which is 9 days! But looking back the time seemed to fly. Last night out whole district was saying that it felt like it was Christmas Eve because we were all so excited. Not because we don´t love it here, but because we wanted to talk to our families so much and go to the temple and have a break from studying our brains off. I feel so blessed to be here in the CCM (MTC) learning the gospel and Spanish. It is so gorgeous!! And we have so much space, the whole 90 acres is all of us. There are so many fields and basketball, volleyball and tennis courts. The workers keep it so well maintained. They are constantly working to keep it beatiful. Outside the walls of the CCM is a different world! The CCM is definitely the nicest place around, apart for the temple, which we had the amazing opportunity to go to today, it is gorgeous! The spirit that is at the Hous of the Lord, is like no other spirit, I could stay inside all day. The sessions are all in Spanish, it was exciting to see how much Spanish I could understand, or not understand haha. Either way, it was a great learning experience and I got to do the Lords work. There is no better feeling than that. On the way up there and back we were all scared for our lives; they all drive so LOCO haha. There dont really seem to be any rules... But we made it safely there an back reguardless of the circumstances.

My companions  name is Hermana Michalsky, she is from Las Vegas and is going to New York, New York on her mission. She is really great and we really get along. We help motivate each other. This past week we have been teaching an investigator name Daniel Silva, we had our first lesson on Friday, and it was all in Spanish!! Uhhh what!? I have come to realize though, that it´s not what I say that matters its what they (the investigators) hear and feel that matters. The spirit converts, not us. The joy that comes when your message is accepted, and they say they know that it is true and they want to be baptized is incredible. The joy that I feel when I am teaching by the spirit, and helping change someones life is unlike any other joy that I have ever experienced. Yes, there is the disappointment and sorrow when an investigator doesn´t accept your messages, or doesn´t pray to know that it is true or doesn´t read when yoou made them promise to, but the joy that I felt when they know it´s true over powers it. Either way the message is true. And I will not give up on that person. Okay so something crazy-everyday like at least 20 times a day there is something that sounds like a gun shot that goes off, which really woun´t surprise me, because of our location, but apparently they are fireworks?? haha it´s kind of scary. I love my district, they are all so funny, they all call Hermana and I mom, they tell us all the time that they don´t know what they would do without us because we keep them in line haha. I always have to remember that they are only 18 and 19, I could have been their EFY counselor!! I acutally saw one of my EFY kids here, His name is Elder Chaney, it was so funny when I saw him because I didnt´t know that he was here, so I called him by his first name Ethan, but then quickly corrected myself. Small, small world. I have made so many connections with people here with the outside world. The Mormon world is seriously so small. Sunday was the best day ever. The spirit was so amazing the whole day, I guess that is why everyone says to just make it to Sunday, it made everything worth it.

Sorry that everything is so jumbled!! I miss yáll like crazy and think of you todos los dias.
Write me!!!

Hermana Shea

                                            Hermana McCartt and Hermana Michalsky

Ethan!

Temple!

                 
                                                         Our first night at the CCM

                                                                La cuidad!

And so it begins!

Well this is it! In a few short hours I will be set apart as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Tomorrow I will fly out to the Mexico Missionary Training Center (MTC) where I will learn Spanish and how to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the people in Redlands. I am filled with mixed emotions as the time gets closer and closer, I will miss my family, friends and loved ones but I am so excited to go out and serve the people of California. I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and I can't wait to share it with the people I will come in contact with. I know that the journey will not be easy, but with the Lord on my side I can do anything. Because I have been given much I too must give. Because I have been blessed to have the gospel in my life I must share it! I can not wait to see lives change because of our Savior Jesus Christ. It is through Him and by Him that we are made clean and are perfected.I am so excited to grow closer to our Savior and Father in Heaven.

My hope is that as I share my adventures with each of you your testimonies will be strenghtened and you will be filled with joy, as I have because of the love of our brother, Jesus Christ.Se que JesuChristo vive. I will see you in 18!

-Hermana McCartt