Transfer 4!! But only 3rd in the field!

I LOVE SAN JACINTO!!!

I love my new branch so much! Missionary work is alive and blazing! Our branch president is so great, his name is President Parks and he is so hard working!

My new companion's name is Hna Sudweeks and she is from North Carolina, we have a lot of friends in common too!! She lives across the street from one of my old co couneslor's, Harrison, and her sister is best friends with one of my EFY girls. Oh EFY, giving me all of these connections :) Anyway, she is incredible and I love her!

We are teaching some incredible people :) Hugo is great, he has a baptismal date for March 3rd, he chose that date himself, and that is what he is striving for! The only thing that is keeping him back is coffee... He wants to be baptized so badly! He actually had a baptismal date for the same time last year, he just needs to give it up! I am excited to be the Savior's representative and help Hugo see that with the Savior's help he can do anything!

Funny comment, I love when Mexicans tell me, "Se parece como una mexicana" You look like a mexican. I love it haha, this has happened several times on my mission and it really surprises me.

I have already seen so many miracles here! We went over to visit a member of our branch the other day and she wasn't there, but her son's girlfriend, Gabby, whom we have never met, was. Oh my goodness she is incredible!!! So she invites us in and we start talking with her, then she says, "Oh how I hope that one day my little girl will grow up and be a missionary."

Hermana Sudweeks asked the question I was thinking, "Are you a member?"

She replies, "No, but I want to be!"

And I can't help but exclaim, "Well we can teach you!!!!!"

And that started on our beautiful journey with Gabby :) She is amazing like I said. Every time that she talks about the gospel her face lights us. She is the mother of 3, although her daughter is living in LA right now. She is so cute and excited to learn and wants to get baptized! We left her house, after we said a prayer with her and her beautiful children, so happy and full of the spirit. I can't imagine how happy that our Heavenly Father is that one of His children desires to follow the example of His son Jesus Christ and come back to His fold :) I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY.

There is no better feeling than knowing that you are doing your part in helping the Lords work move along.

I had the opportunity yesterday to give a talk, in Spanish, in front of a whole congregation of people that I didn't know (yet). It was thrilling :) Anyway, I spoke on the conversion of Enos, he was an incredible man. He spoke of how he had remembered the things that his father, Jacob, had taught him concerning eternal life. As he remembered these things and pondered them, he said that it sunk into his heart. And I know that this was the spirit testifying to him that this things were true.  He allowed the spirit to change him! And it truly did. This just proves that the spirit is the teacher, nothing else! He then goes on to describe the "wrestle" (in Spanish the word is luchar, which translates to, to fight, which I think gives it more meaning, I love Spanish!) Anyway, after he prayed for a very long time the Lord told Him that he was forgiven of his sins, because of the mighty faith that he had shone the Lord. THEN!! Because he was so happy he wanted others to feel the way that he did and wanted them to have the gospel, which is what I strive to do everyday. My favorite scripture in Enos is the last verse, because he had been so faithful and Diligent (I love this word!) in serving he had no fear of what was to come after this life: 27 And I soon go to the place of my ^arest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall ^brest. And I rejoice in the day when my ^cmortal shall put on ^dimmortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the ^emansionsof my Father. Amen.

I love what the Savior says, Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the ^emansions of my Father. Ahhhh I can't imagine anything better than that.

I love my Savior, I am so grateful all that he did for me, because truly without him we are nothing and we could NEVER enter into the gates of Heaven without His perfect grace and love. I love the invitation and promise in Moroni 10!

32 Yea, ^acome unto Christ, and be ^bperfected in him, and ^cdeny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and ^dlove God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be ^eperfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.
33 And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye ^asanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the ^bblood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your ^csins, that ye become ^dholy, without spot.
I love all of you! Thank you for your love and example that you are to me!!
Until next week!
Love, your favorite Spanish, Californian missionary;
 Hermana McCartt

                                                         The incredible Rodriguez's in Borrego

                                          Heavenly Father spoiled me on my last run in Borrego :)

                                                       Visiting Donna's art at the Library

                                                          Saying goodbye to la igelsia

Mira! Love our church sign :) Only in Borrego!

Saying goodbye to my cute little church

 Goodbye Borrego!

 She gave me the skirt that I am wearing!

 I love them!

 Last planning session

 Cutest baby ever

Sister Sudweeks!

Transfers!/crazy computer problems

So this week is transfers and guess what!! I am getting transfered! I cried and cried when I found out... Sister Jones and I have really loved being down here together singing Borrego Springs the gospel! The people of Borrego Springs truly have my heart, but I know that La Quinta is where the Lord needs me now. I am so excited to start my adventure up there! I will be in an all Spanish Branch so I am hoping my Spanish inproves quickly! I already love the people SO MUCH! I have gone on exchanges with Sister Howe (the Sister that I am replacing) a few times and I loved it there and told here that I hope that I serve here one day...and what do you know! I know great things are going to continue happening in Borrego and GREAT things are going to continue happening in La Quinta! I am excited. I am not really looking forward to the rest of the day because I will be saying by to everyone! They are all my family. I am so grateful for the love that I have for all of them and that the Lord allowed my to be down here at this time.

The time I was in Borrego truly flew by! 12 weeks?!? How did that happen?? I think the Lord is speeding up time! You know what that means! He is preparing to come!! I love the Book of Mormon so much, over and over again it states that if we are prepared we have no need to fear. When I first arrived on my mission I was so nervous for ever lesson that we had! Well mainly because they were in Spanish haha. But anyway, the longer that I have been out the more and more and I see that the scripture is true! If we are prepared we have no need to fear! The Lord has promised that if if we treasure up His words, in the very moment we need them we will know what to say! The spirit will speak through me. I am so grateful for that promise. I know that the first 3 hours of my day, when I study are so important, because we are preparing for the day. President often says, "puny preparation=puny revelation!" I testify that that is truth! We all need to be prepared in so many ways. I love the word prepared, it's in the scriptures over and over! I love you all! Family I would love some hand written letters! They are the best! hint hint ;) love,

Hna McCartt

Ps sorry this email is all over the place! The computer doesn't like me very much today... I had to write a few things over and over again! Hopefully this works!!

Last Week of the Transfer!

Can you believe how fast time is flying!? Every week hna Jones and I look at each other and say, "where does the time go?" We are really hoping and praying that Heavenly Father wants us to stay in Borrego Springs together for her last transfer! But in the end it is what the Lord wants and I will go where He wants me to go :) I have loved the people in Borrego Springs more than I ever thought possible. We have seen continence's change from us singing to people. We truly know that it was inspired that we were supposed to be in Borrego Springs together these past 2 transfers.

This past Sunday we had one of President Van Cott's counselors come down and speak to us. He was speaking to all of the members about how they can share the gospel, and how at anytime you share a message of the gospel you have had a successful missionary experience. I felt that he was talking directly to me when he said this, I have been thinking and trying to figure out why hna Jones and I aren't having baptisms like we should, why people aren't keeping their commitments (getting baptized on their date) that we are leaving them. "We are doing what we know we need to do! We are being obedient! Why aren't we having success?!?" After he said that though it hit me. We are having success. It may not be in baptisms right now, but we are making a difference, we are helping others draw closer to their Savior. We have planted a seed in all of them. I know that all of the people we are teaching are elect and I know that one day they are going to get baptized.

We are teaching this really incredible kid named Gonzalo, I seriously love him! He has so many questions and concerns about why the world is so corrupt. He said the only reason he wanted to learn from the missionaries, is because he wants to be able to bible bash with his friends. I knew there was something deeper there after teaching him more he desires to follow the Savior and wants to have a family who is centered on Christ. I am so excited to keep teaching him. He is such a good kid. I know that he is going to follow the example of Christ more in his life by being baptized :)

I love you all! I hope that everyone feels better! I heard everyone has the stomach flu!! Stay away from me ;) LOVE YOU

Hna McCartt

                                                                   Sweet little angels

                                                              Time for new shoes?

                                                                 Marisol says hi

                                                               Pretty Chilly day.....

                                                                  This was his idea...

Feliz Ano Nuevo!!

Wow what another wonderful week. We weren't in our area too much because we were going exchanges but we still had plenty of success! I love the hastening of the work that is happening :)

Last night we met an incredible family. We have really been working on teaching simply. So we taught just the first principle of how God is our loving Heavenly Father. Then we sang I am a Child of God with them. There were 4 little girls there and they were all engaged in what we were teaching and singing. I love how simple the children hymns are. They teach the basic doctrine's of the gospel, which is all we need to worry about teaching as missionaries. Sometimes I see myself teaching something more complicated than it needs to be... If we just step back and teach as simply as if we were teaching children all of the time then I know that our investigators will learn and understand and progress. I am so excited to keep improving on my teaching skills and teaching by the spirit.

I cannot believe that is 2014! I am so excited to see what this next year holds! Sister Manning Hermana Jones and I went out to eat at one of our favorite places in town (there are only 5 restaurants, I LOVE IT), Kendall's. Sister Manning was so excited to get dressed up and go out :) I love her.

About a week ago we met this man named Paul in the park and he is so great! We then saw him again this week and were about to teach him a bit more and we gave him a book of Mormon, he loves to read so he said he is going to read it quick :) He lives up in Arizona so we're going to have to send the missionaries up to him as soon as he gives us his address! I told him he already is Mormon haha.

The other night we were leaving our favorite trailer park, Santiago Estates, and we saw one of our investigators Dennise who is 12, walking by herself. We stopped and starting talking to her because we could tell that she was upset about something. She told us that she was moving to San Diego the next day... There are a few things that are happening in her house... I was devastated! She is my little girl. She told us that we are the sisters that she never had. I was so heartbroken. I hadn't done my best to teach her all that she needs to know! We knew that this moment in her life, with us, could make or break the rest of her life. As we stood there testifying of how perfectly here Father in Heaven loved her and how Jesus Christ is her Savior, I couldn't help by cry. I love her so much. I know that the things that we bore witness to her are true because I felt them as we were testifying. We gave her a book of Mormon with our testimonies in it and told her that this book would offer her more strength and comfort and protection than anything else ever could. And that is because it is true. It testifies of the divinity and love of our Savior over and over again. I shared Alma 18 :21 And now, if thou wilt tell me concerning these things, whatsoever thou desirest I will give unto thee; and if it were needed, I would guard thee with my armies; but I know that thou art more powerful than all they; nevertheless, whatsoever thou desirest of me I will grant it unto thee.

I know those words are true. I have felt to power of my Saviors love everyday. He is what gives me strength. I know that when I think that I can't do anymore that He gives me the help that I need when I need it. He will never leave us. He is always there. He is our constant and everlasting friend.

I love you all! Sorry for my scattered thoughts and feelings! Seems like we are always on the run! :)

Love your favorite Spanish Speaking California loving missionary :)

Hermana McCartt

Happy New Year!!

What an incredible week it has been! I don't know how I am so lucky to be here in Borrego Springs! Especially at this time of year with all of the holidays! It is definitely tamale season! All of the Hispanics start making tamales after Thanksgiving and trade them and eat them and give them to the missionaries! Hahah I have eaten more tamales in the past month then I have in my whole life! All of the families we go to always want to feed us. I think one og my favorite dishes is mole. ESTAN MUY RICO!! I love it. I love la comida mexican. Soy una gordita!!! Daddy you should learn how to make mole :)

I loved seeing all of your faces this past week. I am the luckiest missionary alive to have such an incredible family. I feel so blessed to sealed to my family for all time and eternity. No greater blessing than that. No to help others learn that they can have this gift for their family!

Our mission president came down on Saturday with his wife, we went to a few families together and taught. We stopped my one of our favorite families houses, the family Arlias, they are amazing!!! We taught them the Restoration, but they are very Catholic, and although they believe that Joseph Smith saw God and Jesus Christ, they didn't understand the significance that this means to the world!!! We just need to keep being their friends and loving them. We went over to their house after Christmas and they surprised us with presents. They bought us both nice jackets and a California shirt!!! They knew we wanted one and Linda must have noticed that I didn't have a jacket... haha. I love this family more than I ever imagined. I knew I was going to love the people, I loved them before I met them, but nothing can describe how much I love them. I would do anything for any of them. They have truly changed my life. President and his wife also went to a few less-actives houses which was so great!

We had the wonderful opportunity to hear from Elder Richards for the 2nd quorum of the 70 this past week. We learned about the power of teaching simply. It was amazing and I learned so much. We were all uplifted and edified together :) We were truly blessed that we were able to hear from him. We didn't have a Christmas mission get together because President Van Cott didn't think that we should, and then two days we heard that we were going to be hear from one of Christ's special witnesses! President didn't know that he was going to call and say that he wanted to come, but if we would have had a party we wouldn't have been able to have him come speak! What an incredible blessing!

Christmas Eve was a real joy :) Our stake president had 30 missionaries over for dinner!! It was two zones combined. It was so fun being with such an amazing family and being with other missionaries!

After skyping on Christmas we went and delivered cookies and cards all day to the members and the Less-actives. We sang Christmas hymns and watched eyes and spirit's brighten :) I am so grateful to have the gospel in my life. I love being a missionary. I love my Savior and I love all of you!

Happy new years!! Have fun at the Johnson's familia! Les quiero muchisimo!!

Hermana McCartt

                                                         My sweet girls Alandra y Marisol

                                                                      Julisa :)

Carlos! We met him outside the library. He was so funny! After I showed him the pictures he said, Ahh!! Soy muy guapo!! (I am so handsome) He was so cute! haha

                        All of the sisters in our stake!! :) I have been on exchanges with 4 of them!

 I am a spoiled missionary!! Thank you Dallin, Sister Seely, mi familia, mom-mom, pop-pop, aunt pat and Tracy and uncle Tommy and Paul for all the gifts and goodies!!

                                                                   Skyping Devynn!

                                                                   My family and I :) :)

                                    Brother and sister Scott! (we used their computer to skype you)

                                       Hermana Web and I! We arrived to the field the same day

                                             Sister Jones and her "kids" She trained all of us!

                                                                      my new quilt!!

                                      Thought I should send a normal one before I sent this one... :)

I was so happy to see a Virginia license plate! I never thought this would happen in California

                                                               Grandma Navares :)

Outside the Redlands templs :)

My Christmas dress ;)

                                              Some of the amazing women in my cute branch!

Feliz Navidad!

I can not believe that it is Christmas already! I can just picture everyone running around wrapping presents and trying to finish up the last little things!! Then it's time to open our one present from the family and listen to the Luke's account of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ. I think this is my favorite part. Growing up I don't think that I quite grasped the true meaning of Christmas. There was a talk that I was reading by Robert D. Hales the other day, and he said, in order to understand the true meaning of Christmas we need to understand the Atonement. Our Savior Jesus Christ lived and died for us. If He didn't do that for us then we would have nothing. The Atonement is everything. Jesus Christ is the center of God's perfect plan. He came to the earth in the form of a servant, He was born in probably one of the most humble places I can think of, a animal stable. He is the most perfect being that has and ever will set food on this earth. He lived a perfect sinless life so that we can look to Him as an example of how we should live. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ we are made whole and clean. Though our sins be as scarlet they can be white as snow. :) I love that promise. I love my Savior. Everyday I grow to know and love Him more. He is my rock. My best friend.

This week has flown by! (I think I say that every week). Tomorrow is Christmas and I get to Skype my beautiful family!! I am so happy and excited! My Skype name is shea.mccartt so daddy and mom add me! I will be skyping Devynn first for 10 minutes and then you're next!! So that will be around 1215 pm your time when I will talk to you!! I can't wait!

I love this work! I feel so blessed to be a missionary right now when the work is truly hastening! The Lord is preparing His sheep. And we are finding the Lost sheep. We had a woman come to church this past Sunday that everyone said wouldn't come. We went to her house and invited her and then she came! I knew that she would :) Words can not describe how happy I get when I see Heavenly Father's children doing what they need to do! It is the best!

We have been baking cookies and writing cards for all of the less actives and members in our branch and last night we delivered a card and caroled to a less-active family who happened to not be living there anymore! In other words we found this perfect little family whom we are going to start teaching! She was so happy that we caroled at her door and I know that God us go there and do that because He knew that was how we were going to be able to get into their hearts. Heavenly father is aware of us all and is in every detail of our lives :) Look for those miracles!

We had the chance to sing at the Boys and Girls club this past week! It was so much fun and the little girls loved us! And I think "Las Hermana" are going to be in the newspaper! Talk about good advertising ;) hehe

I love all of you and I just think my family is the best!!!

Until next week!!

Orrr Tomorrow!!! 8D :]

Hermana McCartt