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!