Mateo in MEXICO: February 2013

Friday, February 22, 2013

I think these are his roommates

P Day

We love Sam!

The infamous bunk bed

Working Hard

Mountain View Toros at the MTC

Sis. Tingey

After the Sunday Devotional Sis. Lattin

Working hard

Hermano Macdonald and Hermana Parry

Imma cut you so bad, you wish I NO cut you so bad - Feb 22, 2013

The title is a quote from Elder F... the big one. Enjoy.

So on Friday was our Pday as you know. We get up at 5 AM IN THE MORNING, YES, to beat the rush of missionaries for the computers. It is a fight to the death, so we try to just avoid it. We go to the temple every friday at like 1:30 I think. It is perfect because it gives us time to nap, which we do, after laundry until the temple. So yeah, I tried to nap last week but it sounded like the triwizard tournament was going on above me. No joke. Either that or a sumo wrestler practicing river dancing. Something was SO LOUD and none of us could sleep. One of my roommates, Elder D, screamed at them after like 30 minutes of it going on. We eventually found out they were making bunk beds two floors above us. Loverly. NOT. We later found out that week - that we needed to make bunk beds for two new people to stay in our room. Yeah that bunk bed is cursed. Not only did we have to wake up early to make it, but It is RIGHT BESIDE my bed so when I get up, and it is pitch black, I slam my face into the metal frame that is the bed and get bloody noses. Yes, that is true.

A few districts in my zone left this week on their missions! All of the Mexican missionaries couldn't get visas, so they got reassigned to SLC... One of the kids got reassigned to his home neighborhood. Yikes. lol. But it was kind of sad saying goodbye to them. They were so kind to us newbies and taught us how to survive the MTC. They will all be great missionaries! I'm so stoked for them.

I saw Sam Oslund on tuesday and she followed me around the whole cafeteria.. creepy. Just kidding. We talked for a good few minutes before she was starting to get in trouble. Haha. She is doing great and it sounds like everyone at BYU is having a blast. I see Elder Turley everyday here. We basically have the same schedule. Even though he has only been here like a week and a half he got his visa and is heading to Brazil on Tuesday! Crazy!! Sunday walks are awesome. I saw Sister Tingey and Hermana Parry. It is so nice to just walk out of the MTC for a few minutes and remember there is a world outside of here. Haha. On sunday there was a Mountain View PIcture by the map. I am going to try and send pictures so hopefully you get them. I also saw Shelby on sunday after the Devotional and talked to her for a little. She is going to love the MTC and was doing great.

So my lessons have been going a lot better. Elder H's spanish is improving so much! It is great for me cause luckily when I dont understand what someone says he does, and vice versa. We had TRC this week, which is where we teach members that come in as volunteers. Since our lesson was in the AM we only had to teach old peeps. They were so sweet and practically helped us with our spanish when we needed it. But we are really doing a lot better. We are trusting in the Lord to bless us. Through faith anything is possible! One of the old guys commented on our accents and said he was really impressed with them. Hey, I'll take a compliment when I can get one! Our progressing investigators are A and M. (aka my teachers acting as people). We visited with A and she is going through rough family stuff. She has been taught by sisters before, but doesn't really understand the gospel and the crux of what we believe in. I wanted to talk to her about trials on this Earth and that we are given them to grow. But the spirit wasn't leading it in that direction. Instead we taught her the first lesson about the restoration and testified that reading the Book of Mormon can give her great comfort, as well as praying to know if it is true. We ran out of time to commit her to do anything. Some more background on her is that her marriage is getting iffy, and she has a twelve year old son doing drugs. I really am praying to know what we need to help her understand and feel so she wants to accept the gospel! It is hard, especially with the language barrier, BUT this is about her. So I know the spirit can help me identify these things even if I don't know a lot of spanish. Our other investigator is M and he doesn't believe in God. He loves to learn, however. I think we are going to tell him he will learn a lot about history if he reads the Book of Mormon. We haven't met with him yet, so I will tell you how it goes when I do.

So my teacher, Hermano R, came up to me while I was blowing my nose and asked me if I had any other ties... Hahaha. I was wearing my square bottom tie and I guess he didn't like me wearing it. So I don't think I am allowed to wear it in the MTC anymore. On a side note a few people came up to me and told me it was the coolest tie they had ever seen. I knew when I put it on in the morning that someone would tell me I probably shouldn't wear it. It was worth a try I guess. Hopefully I can wear it in Mexico. But it was so awkward. He came up to me, mid blow of the nose, and was speaking to me in spanish asking if I had other ties.. I was like duh I am on a mission, Ties are mandatory. Anyways...

So Hermana Parry told me she got my letters and told me that they are embarrassing... WUT. lol. I honestly don't remember anything I write in these emails so feel free - MOM - to edit anything I say. Except I kind of like my letters to be authentic. So yeah jk. But if these are embarrassing then sorry. #sorrynotsorry People keep writing me letters and quote my emails and I dont remember saying any of it... Just saying. Oh and by the way, I am feeling a lot better. My cold is basically gone and my jaw is gradually getting better. WOOT!

This weeks devotionals have been great. I learned about prayer and something else. Sorry, it is hard to remember everything on these emails! AHH. But someone talked about prayer and receiving answers. He explained it like a slower process than most imagine. He talked about receiving answers little by little and building upon your faith to act until you got another piece of the answer. It is God's way of teaching and preparing us. Also, he mentioned that if we don't get an answer then we need to just make a decision and move forward until the spirit prompts us to do otherwise. That's one way to learn I guess. It teaches us patience and faith. I have been learning how prayer works in my life here at the MTC. The MTC is seriously an amazing place to receive revelation and it is so possible if you really try. And it is most important to try so you can learn what you need to learn for your specific investigators needs. Its pretty pretty cool. Well I am really out of time.

I miss you all sooo much, but I'm not homesick. We don't have time to be homesick. I love all the letters and packages from ya'll, so keep em coming. I love you all! I am stoked for all the friends that have got mission calls this past week. I am genuinely excited for you. The mission is amazing. Get pumped. Start learning the language if you can. Just look at flashcards. AND read the scriptures. I regret not really trying to comprehend what I read when I read it. The scriptures are SOO COOL and I am just now figuring it out. At least I am figuring it out this early. Give Scout a hug for me. Keep dear eldering me. It is quick. Love ya. ADIOS

Love, Elder Macdonald

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Feb 15, 2013 "It's Friday, Friday, gotta do laundry Friday"

Okay, HOLY COW. I cannot believe it is already the second week. By that I mean I can't believe it has been longer than a week!

I need a few things. Okay so maybe send me one of the small suitcases. I just realized that I have like 8 more pounds of books to bring to Mexico and my two big bags were already overweight. Obese, actually. Morbidly. Tell me what you think in a Dear Elder? I am sick with a cold and I want to die, except I am getting better. Send me maybe some more of the fluticasone propione nasal spray if you can. I think I will be better in a few days. It is so annoying though because all the snot is causing pressure in my sinuses and my jaw hurts from the pressure. I'll be fine though, this has happened before, I think. Send some deodorant spray or some kind of spray that smells good. The hand lotion you get from the Kocherhans was left behind... I don't really need it now but maybe later I will. I also want another white long sleeve shirt because I spilled on one and the spot was microscopic, however I am OCD and tried to fix it with the TIDE TO GO (thanks so much btw), and when I ironed it the stain set it. It is currently washing right now so hopefully it gets out. BUT one more long sleeve would be wonderful. Last thing! Dad, I love the pants you got me from that website... The Lands End traditional fit size 32? Yeah get me two more pairs in like earth tone neutral colors. Thanks! I already have two blue kind. I want more because one of my pairs from Pomeroys has a whole in it from the letting out at the waist. Idk.. okay now I will talk about the week.

This week was really amazing and it flew by. I love the MTC soo much. My district is awesome. We have cray cray personalities which makes it super fun. We are always laughing - which is fun, but we get distracted from studying easily so we constantly have to remember to shut up and not talk. Haha, we have to separate ourselves and hide in the hallway or other class rooms so we can focus.

My first few lessons with Jesus were awful, but I was able to speak the whole half hour in spanish to him! It is really awful spanish, but I still really enjoyed it. It is scary to invite people to baptism, but yesterday we really studied that in 2 Nephi 31. You should look it up. It talks about our purpose as a missionary which is also the Doctrine of Christ. Even though Christ was PERFECT he still had to get baptized. Not just to be an example... He had to get baptized because God asked him to - it is a commandment. Because I truly know the purpose and importance of that I feel so much better about inviting others to get baptized. I really want what's best for these people, and salvation is supes important so ya. I am still learning though, obviously. But I love what we have been going over. By the last lesson with Jesus we prayed and asked if he should go to church over playing soccer on Sunday. WOOO. Haha, but now he is our teacher and he is super funny and cool. We also learned a lot how we should be studying and teaching and preparing our lessons to teach our investigators. I am excited to start that on a better foot this time and have faith that the Lord can help me!

I have seen Paige Tingey, Nick Olsen, Stevie Bues, Austin Turley, Jacob Henriquez, and Daylon. I see Daylon like every day because we have the same schedule. On Wednesday I was running on the track upstairs and saw the Lattins get in their car after saying goodbye to Shelby! It was sad to watch because I remembered saying bye to you guys, but the MTC is so great so there is really nothing to be sad about. I have yet to see Shelby and talk to her though. Tell the Lattins I say hi and I was knocking on the window, but they were too distracted to see me. haha.

Once I made it to SUNDAY, the time has flown by. It is insane. Sundays are super relaxing. I never thought I would love attending so many meetings. It is a great break from studying. The musical numbers are interesting to say the least. So ya I am going to prepare something to sing somewhere so send me solo music if you can. I will look in the music library here today since it is my pday. I love pday. It is wonderful. We wake up at 5 in the morning to email and do laundry before the rush. lol. wut. 5am? kill me. Oh yeah, so I saw Mackynzie on Tuesday at the Devotional and it was super fun! We only talked for like 5 minutes. I miss her a ton. She is doing so great though and loving every minute here. Copy and paste her emails to a dear elder to me please. That'll be nice to get.

Everyone watch the Character of Christ by David A Bednar. It is life changing. I don't have time to talk about it here, but LOOK FOR IT PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

Spanish is really coming along. It is hard because my companion is really struggling with the language so it is basically be carrying the lesson and conversation to the investigator but I have faith the Lord with bless him. He is having a hard time because he thinks he is the worst in the class and that is getting him down. Pray for Elder Hammond! He is awesome btw. Love him. So nice. Sometimes too nice. Just kidding. Elder Dixon is in my room and Stefunny Connely's friend. He is a hoot and quite the character but I love him too. Seriously my whole district is just amazing.

AHH I don't know what else to write - this is hard. Maybe I will write a paper letter too. Maybe not. idk. lol. My Branch President is amazing. He is the funniest old guy ever. Seriously I was so blessed with great people here in the MTC!!!!

oH YEAH. I laughed during a prayer when Elder Hammond said something really wrong and it was awkward. Jesus laughed at me laughing. and in another lesson, jesus FELL SLEEP. Like what? I didn't realized we were that bad at Spanish. But I don't blame him. We are pretty bad at Spanish.

Well I am sick a little so maybe pray that I can get better. Thanks. THANKS FOR ALL THE LETTERS EVERYONE. I appreciate them so much so please keeep em coming. They make my day. I love you guys so so much.

I have been studying so much on Jesus Christ in the Book of Mormon. I love him so much. I am truly coming to him and being converted to him. I can't believe he loves us so much that he would feel all of our pains just so that we could stand in the presence before his/our Father, spotless. The Atonement is real. It is a gift and we need to use it. Praying in the name of Jesus Christ is amazing. I love him so much. I wish I knew what scriptures I had been reading but I don't have my notebook. Anyways I have to goo. I am great, loving the MTC. I love you all and miss you. Thanks for the letters and love. Be safe.

Love,
Elder Macdonald

Feb 9, 2013 "And so it begins..."

FAMILY! hey hey hey. Okay so right now I am on my half P-day since it is the first week. Next week, and the rest of my time here my P-day will be on Fridays!

Okay so the MTC is actually really amazing. The transitions into a very structured and early schedule is kinda hard but I am already getting used to it. On my flight here there were 15 or 20 Elders. Once we got dropped off they basically kidnapped us and threw us into the life of a missionary. I guess I expected nothing less though. I was the first one in my room to get here so I had first dibs on a bed, booya. Then I was walking around with my tour guide missionary guy and within 30 min of me being in the MTC I ran into HERMANA PARRY. Soo cool! Yes, we hugged. But I don't think we are allowed to do that anymore... It was a super quick "hey, how are you?... love you" kind of thing and then we had to part ways. I really considered that a tender mercy from the Lord. I am very grateful for that because it really helped calm my nerves a little bit. PS, I already wrote a paper letter home but I haven't sent it yet so sorry.

Once I got to my classroom I was the only one there. And yes, my Teacher only spoke Spanish to me and I died twice... Laughing of course. She probably hates me. Her name is Hermana Dana and I really have learned to like her as a teacher since lately. Once I met my district I really loved them immediately! My companion is Elder Hammond from Bear Lake Idaho and he is super chill. We will be good for each other! I met Stephanie Connely's friend from her high school because he is in my group too and he is going to my mission! We have six hermanas in my district and they are all going to Kentucky, Spanish speaking... They are all super smart and probably fluent in spanish.

My Zone, which is basically my hall is full of nice guys! There is a district next to me full of 18 year olds, and they are very rambunctious. My zone leaders are basically angels. Every night they come in our room and ask if they can do anything for us and then tell us they love us. So that's interesting... But kind, nonetheless.

I have really enjoyed the classes and workshops I have been to - the one's for new missionaries! The spirit is so strong in the MTC and I am really growing to learn how it works in my life so much more than before the MTC. Everyone here is so happy and nice all the time, and I really am starting to understand why. Waking up early and going to bed early is tough but it keeps us healthy and productive #happiness. My spanish classes are really great. The first day my companion and I were dying and wanted to die. Could I be any more clear. However, the spirit is working on us to learn the language and I think we are getting the hang of it. I pray for the gift of tongues every time I pray. I could use some help toooo ;)

LOL OKAY. So Yesterday we had to teach our first lesson in Espanol and if you imagined it going bad, imagine it worse. First, I was able to get us in the door in spanish pretty well. (some other comps had problems doing that). But once we sat down and asked how what he likes to do I was a lost little puppy. I tried to transition into religion and how it plays a role in his life, just to get some background... But he didn't understand me so we kind of just sat there as I was signing and saying spanish words to him. My companion is awesome, but he took even less spanish then me so he couldn't save me from the depths of my despair. We even had books, which we later learned we weren't supposed to have, and they just confused us even more. Anyways, the awkward silence was too much for me so of course I just started laughing... YEAH I LAUGHED. I knew I probably shouldn't have because I am supposed to be a professional or whatever but the pressure was too much and the situation was to perfect to laugh at. I felt so sorry that he had to sit there with us... Well after a few minutes of utter silence and broken spanish up the wazoo, I realized it wasn't going ANYWHERE so I just said "lo siento, adios..."- I'm sorry, bye. lolololol. I didn't know how to say anything else so yeah that's what I said. He kinda laughed at us and I ran away cracking up. Most people cry and feel depressed... I rofl'd fur dayz. OH good news. He is my new teacher in three weeks. HA, funny, and it isn't a joke... uhh.

Ahh I am running out of time. A few more minutes. Well I saw Mackynzie one more time and we realized we have completely different schedules. We have both been searching for each other in the cafeteria every meal but she is an hour after me so it was no use. Sad, but I have hope that we will see each other in crossing.

One thing that really stood out to me these past days was my purpose as a missionary. We recite it every day in class. As a missionary I am to INVITE others to Christ. That is all I can do. I can't force someone or be manipulative. I have to simply state truth, invite, and let the spirit do the rest. The spirit is my best friend as a missionary and I am stoked to get to know him more personally. This was a hard transition and I definitely miss you guys, my friends, and the life I had before... but I am really excited to start new and fresh as a misoneria de la iglesia de JesuCristo de los santos de los ultimos dias. This is such a blessing in my life and I can already feel the change in my heart, desires, and testimony. I love it here.

I hope everything is going just SWELL back in mesa and down the street from me at BYU... haha.

PS when letters came the first night I got like 5 letters and everyone else basically got none so that was definitely awkward. I am not trying to brag... I am merely trying to express my love for all of you who wrote me and have been thinking about me! I am going to try to write you back asap... hopefully today?? Idk we are super busy but I will make my best effort!

I LOVE YOU ALL. Be safe and remember that this church is true. Read the scriptures. Be a missionary in your daily life. Pray for the spirit. Okay time is up. I love scout. lol. ADIOS.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Ready or not... HERE I COME!

Thanks to everyone who came to my open house! It meant so much to see you all before I left. I have been so BLESSED to grow up in an area of people that care about, and love me... So many of you have taught me lessons of this gospel through your examples! I am just two hours away from being set apart... so my emotions are a little bipolar. It is sad to leave my family and friends for two years, but it is a small sacrifice I am so willing to make for the Lord. This Church teaches that true happiness can come from faith and hope in Jesus Christ. My testimony of that is real and I can't wait to share it with eeerrone. This will be one heck of a life-changing experience and I am ready to rock it.