Crazy good, scary and stressful, and congrats to Emmy!

AYYYY THIS WEEK WAS CRAZY GOOD, BUT SCARY AND STRESSFUL - BUT GOOD I THINK. 

So it was good because our investigators are great, we had lots of good lessons, I had a District Leader training and I got to go in intercambios with Elder W. and it was soo fun. It was scary because we moved houses and the owners of the old house HATE me. It was stressful because it’s always stressful and we just had like 500 more things to do with moving houses and with all the meetings I had. So is that sufficient for the email....? No? Ok. Now, I will explain.

OKAY. So this Tuesday we had the first lesson with a fantastic new investigator. She is apparently good friends with a recent convert and we didn’t even know. I had always seen her walking in the street and we would always greet each other, but I always chickened out to contact her because we were either too busy or whatever. So that was dumb of me because the spirit was TELLING me to contact her. Finally after like the 6th opportunity to contact her I finally listened to the spirit and did it! She was so nice and was excited to learn a little bit more. We made a cita for the next week and didn’t think too much of it. Then on Sunday a member came up to us and told us she has a reference for us and we realized it was the girl we just contacted. I guess this member had talked to her about the church the day after we contacted her and was like OMG I’m totes coming to this cita you have with the missionaries! It was just a big testimony that this girl NEEDS the gospel. The spirit was throwing her at us and at members for like 2 weeks and I was just silly and didn’t listen to His promptings. But I learned and whenever I get that same prompting, defs going to contact like a crazy man. The lessons we had with her this week were great. She has lots of problems with her x husband and life with  young kids and work and everything. Really she needed this message so bad. She cried when she offered the closing prayers and the message of the Restoration just really made sense to her. I hope she can start progressing more because we haven’t seen her for a few days.

Update on grams... SHE ACCEPTED A FECHA. hahaha it was hilarious. We offered the baptismal date as a tentative goal. She eventually accepted and was like trying to be all cool about it like "okay, I guess I will...." it’s really cute because I know she really wants to, but she is just a little too prideful to admit that she has been stubborn and wrong. We explained to her that we don’t want her to be baptized from the pressure of her family, the ward, or the missionaries (US). We told her she really needs to want this because she has a testimony of it. Hopefully she will be a little bit more humble and pray to ask God for a stronger testimony. If all goes according to plan she and her son will be baptized the same day.. NOVEMBER 15TH! Then the family will all be members (except for one son who isn’t interested) and they can get SEALED in one year. THEY ARE SO STOKED. 

We have another guy who is going to get baptized PROBABLY THIS SATURDAY, but we aren’t sure. First he has to get married legally. I think he made an appointed with the judge, and if he did, I think we are going to a WEDDDING. boooyaaaa. After planning like 5 I can finally attend one. He is so great and so willing to do WHATEVER. Seriously he is always like "I am yours, tell me what I need to do to be baptized, and I will do it...." hahah. It is hilarious and so great how willing he is. Makes our job easy and fun. 

Other people are great but I can’t remember what happened. Forgot my journal... hehe.

So this Friday Elder W. and I were COMPANIONS until Saturday afternoon and it was like the best thing ever. I remember when we were in the Immigration thing together (like when we had been in Mexico for 2 months) and I told him we would be companions some time in the mission. And ya, my words were MARKED. It was so great. Seriously he is probably the best missionary ever. It’s the best because this whole time in Mexico we have just had more opportunities to talk, vent, and get to know each other. It was definitely a tender mercy for us. We just get each other and it was just a treat to be able to talk to someone like that. We taught a few lessons in his area and were fed so much. That night we were just reflecting on the growth that we have both had since the MTC and all the things that have happened to us. We laughed, cried, and it was just a good time. Then the next morning we went to a training for us as new District Leaders. It was such a tender mercy to hear the President talk again. He is my role model. Seriously, he literally is led by the spirit. He said some great things on how we can be good leaders that really stood out to me. He said our strength as District Leaders comes from the strength we bring to our areas and the strength we have with our companions. He told us to not be the crazy leaders that just focus on planching other missionaries. We will be strengthened by the Lord, if we do our part in our ward and with our companions. WOW. Loved that. Then he said our virtud (righteousness, virtue) as a leader comes from our personal work ethic. The influence we can have on the missionaries in our District will come from serving them. And finally he said that a good leader is a better follower. So basically we just need to follow the example of Christ. HA, well that’s good advice. It is so interesting because W. and I have seen so many politics in the mission and missionaries being corrupted by the "power" they are given. But President made it clear to us that it is truly something simple, we just have to follow the example of the Savior, and yeah the rest will follow. He explained to us all of our responsibilities and how we can accomplish them... like give interviews, have district meetings, and everything else we are supposed to do. It got me to feel really good about this opportunity God has given me to share my time and serve the missionaries in a more influential way. So that’s what I will try to do. I actually need to plan my District meeting because I haven’t had much time.... waaah. But I have ideas. Bummer, I’m already failing. I'll start getting better. But yeah that was a great weekend break from the stress of the mission. One, to be with my best bud elder W., and two, to have the President teach and train us. 

Okay so now I will explain the crazy house situation. hhahahahah IT WAS AN ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE. i wanted to die. But it all started out great. So Thursday we found a house, let President know that we found one, and then we expected to wait like a long time for him to actually come out and see the house... But it was meant to happen apparently because he texted back and was like "okay I will be there at 6 o clock to see it....", which was in like 2 hours from that point. Anyways he came and was like "WOW I LOVE THIS HOUSE. WE ARE RENTING IT!" And so he gave the guy 500 pesos to hold him over thirty minutes until we returned from the bank to pay the rest. SO yeah he kind of rented the house and everything really fast and did it all before we could say anything to our old landlord.... ugh. So when we were leaving we randomly ran into a guy we know with a big van so we were like hey can you help us move tomorrow morning and he was like OKAY. And so we went to go teach some more.... but then the van guy called us and was like hey I can’t drive tomorrow so can we do it tonight.... I WAS LIKE UUHHH OKAY? And it was kind of dumb of me because it was like 7:30 at night and we NEED to be in our house at 9..... But I already said yes so we ran home started packing like maniacs and then the land lady freaked out on us and was like YOU CAN’T LEAVE and I was like WHAT? YOU CAN’T SAY THAT. It was crazy and stressful. So we continued to pack as she ran away. Then the van guy got there, took our beds apart, put like everything in his car and then the landlady came back with A MEMBER from the church, our neighbor grandma friend, and she was like ELDERS YOU CANT LEAVE and I was like T. what the heck - why are you here?!?1 So I guess the land lady was angry (for good reason) because the apartment has a bunch of damage and she needs money to repair it.... but she was silly and didn’t make the missionaries pay a DEPOSIT before (like 8 years before) and so she kind of got her self in trouble with that and was stressed because she thought we were going to leave and never come back with President to see the damages and get money to fix them. So she almost didn’t let us leave but I was just like okay well we HAVE TO BE IN A HOUSE AT 9 or we DIE so sorry we are leaving.... And she was really mad at me. But we left and miraculously moved almost everything before 9....!!!! We also left a few things in the house until this morning because we didn’t have time to get them Thursday night. So hopefully the President comes today to see the house because I am afraid to walk over there in that part of town. The thing is... there is a lot of damage.... But it isn’t all from the missionaries... it is from water damage and humidity. Like there is mold all over the walls and so much water damage and it is just a dangerous place to live... I am convinced. So I hope that President gives her some money, but I don’t know if he needs to because it is kind of the landlords fault for not maintaining it for 8 years with like 400 missionaries. I don’t know... I don’t want to be involved. I just moved because the President paid for a house and it was crazy... So right now we live in a new house that is bigger, newer, and NOT HUMID. It is great and still super close to everything.... So yeah it was weird and awkward and I was just the missionary in the middle of it all.

Anyway. Sorry to bore you with my weird missionary life. ALL is well. I hope to fix everything we ruined with the changing houses, but I really think it was meant to happen because the people that live below us and our new landlords seem to be interested in our message. Let’s hope that that stays to be true, otherwise I will continue to feel like a bad man without a cause...

LOVE YOU ALL. Thanks for the emails and letters. Life is good. Enjoy your lives...

Oh PS - congrats to one of my great friends EMMALINE WRIGHT for being engaged. You have to name your first son after me. Okay. But really, CONGRATS I am very happy for you and your fiance! 

Con amor,

Elder Macdonald

Saying goobye to ELDER R. So sad.

We went to Provo for the night.

We are brothers.