Obedience and Old McDonald

So this week was FULL of so much stuff. 

We had to plan a special Zone Training out of the blue and do it on Friday. It turned out really well. We focused on how studying and planning can help us be better teachers. And then we did a fun activity about obedience. We blew up a bunch of balloons of all different colors and sent the missionaries in to gather as many as they could with only using their bodies. Haha it was hilarious. Everyone got super crazy and excited. It was like a bunch of children in a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. But when they came back into the room we explained to them what every color meant. Only two colors meant "exact obedience" and the other ones were like "wake up late" or "get home late"...etc... just simple disobedient stuff. And when we explained that they had been "disobedient" it was interesting cause they all felt really bad. We had a nice discussion about how we need to always make better decisions by being more aware and conscious of the consequences of our actions. It worked out pretty well. I think it was exactly what we all needed to hear. 

Then we did two divisions back to back. And it killed me. Hahah I honestly love working with other missionaries, it’s the best... BUT I WAS SO TIRED AND SICK THAT I DIDN’T want to do it. But When I did it I was happy because I learned lots of valuable things. 

Yeah, I am still sick. I am better. But still have a cough that kills all within a 10-mile radius. It was actually really cool because I just prayed to be able to sing in the baptism with my comp on Saturday. And I was able to sing the song, not too well, but I could at least sing all the notes. And it invited such a great spirit to the baptism. But then the next day I kept not being able to sing. Hahaha. So the Lord helps us when we really need it. The baptism was fantastic. Seriously. The spirit was so strong. Everyone at one point cried. I loved it. And even the investigators that came were crying. One lady came that has a brother on a mission. She isn’t a member. But she was reminded so much of her brother and what he is doing that she couldn’t hold back the tears. The spirit works in miraculous ways. 

Sunday we, the six missionaries, had to give a talk and sing a special musical number. Thanks Bishop #tenminutesbeforesacramentmeeting. Hahah. It worked out pretty well. We all talked about the gifts of the Holy Ghost... and of course, we applied it to missionary work. Duh. 

L. came to church. She loved it so much. Her son (2 years old) is named Mattias. And he fell in love with the teacher in the nursery and was blowing her kisses by the end. Hahaha - that made the mom super happy that her son loved church. She learned lots of stuff. They talked about the Word of Wisdom, and later in the week, she rejected the next time she was offered her coffee. What a great gal. She is progressing fantastically. 

L’s are the ones that got baptized. They are super happy and content. Her sister in law is a crazy lady member in another stake and whenever she saw me she would start dancing and sing OLD MCDONALD HAD A FARM EY AY EY AY OHHH. Hahahaha. I was honestly about to shoot her cause I saw her literally all week ... in the lessons, in interviews, in baptisms, in confirmations and I was getting super annoyed. Hahahahahha LOST MY CHARITY. I know. But if you met her, you'd know what I mean. She is a great woman. Love her. But yeah - so the new converts are doing fantastic.

We had 4 or 5 investigators go on Saturday morning to the Visitor’s Center. They all loved it and couldn’t stop talking about it.

In other words- LOTS OF PROGRESS. This is a good and marvelous work. I love it. Can’t believe everyone is coming home. Still don’t know if I will ever come home, or at least when. (Oh, he’s coming home, says the mom)

LOVE YOU ALL SOO MUCH. My comp and I are doing great together. Best friends since birth. Literally - the mission birth. And we are working great together and doing great things and I think I just said that. I’m out of words. Literally. 

I can’t think of anything funny. WHAT WAS FUNYY?!?!? Nothing, my life is just normal. 

I might go to the doctor/hospital because I am dying with this cough. Still cant sing and it’s just about the most frustrating thing ever. I had patience for 3 weeks. But for 4 weeks? Ya no. I can’t do this. I might cut out my vocal cords, clean them out and put them back in the best I can.

LOVE YOU ALL AGAIN SO MUCH. ENJOY SCHOOL. 

Les amoooo muchismo,

Elder Macdonald

We made the ants angry.

The Jehovah Witness missionaries outside our window.

Baptism de las L.'s

Put a lime on it - it can cure anything

Halo everybody. Well today we are doing like a little bit of P-day. Well, just writing. We are going to finish P-day tomorrow. We’ve got lots of things to do. Today in the morning we had to go to an evaluation for new missionaries and help them with their teaching abilities. It was super fun being able to evaluate them. I got to evaluate Elder H. and his child. They did well,  but it took a bit of time. And today in a little bit we have lots and lots of appointments. So we are about to go eat and then we have to teach. And then we are going to have a baptism this Saturday!!! (Las L.´s) We have to give a special Zone training meeting on Friday and on Thursday Friday and Saturday we have to do divisions. Hahaha. I honestly don’t know how we are going to do it, but hey. We will. Oh. And on Mondays we have to go in the morning to the mission offices to report with the Assistants and pick up all of the letters, packages, and materials. So to answer to your question... we don’t have P-day on Monday because we don’t have time in the morning to do anything P-day-ish. Nor do we any other day because we are always busy. SO it is just crazy. But I really do enjoy it a lot! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAPA AND LISA DINGDONG. AND HAPPY ANNIVERSARY OLD PARENTS THAT USED TO BE YOUNG AND ATTRACTIVE. Don’t worry. You’re still attractive, Just a little bit more old and wise. Hahahahhaha. LOVE YA. :)

And last, but not least, happy birthday Scout. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

SO this week was craZY. I am still sick and dying because I haven’t been able to sing for 2 weeks and its really frustrating - Just annoying actually. I am actually a lot better. But I still have my massive infamous cough that scares innocent bystanders. Everyone that sees me offers me some type of voodoo magic to get rid of my cough. Hahah. Honestly. Mexico is hilarious. If you are sick, ill, or afflicted with anything.... just put lime on it. So everyone asks me.... HAVE YOU USED LIME? And I tell them... yes. But they don’t believe me. I have been taking my medicine all week... I got your medicine that you guys sent me.... so hopefully it works well and quickly. I don’t remember how to use it. But I’ll just swallow it and be fine. Thanks for the package. It is fantastic! hahah loved the CHEESE ITS. Everyone was jealous. I shared a little bit. But come on... 

We taught the Zone Conference. It was mega awesome. Went well. I was so relieved that it was over for a month but now we have to do another one on Friday. So that is just fantastically not awesome but whatever. I’ll get used to it. 

The investigators we have are progressing SOO MUCH. L. and L. are mother and daughter. They only have like a month with the missionaries and are soo ANXIOUS to get baptized. I honestly can say that God has prepared people in a different way lately. Everyone is just so perfect and ready now. We don’t even have to do anything. They just do it all. The daughter L. is the girlfriend of the Elders Quorum President. They are going to get baptized this Saturday. I am so excited to go and see them get in dat water. They are going to be fantastic women in the church. ahhhh TIME CRUNCH.

The Bishop is fantastic. I LOVE HIM. He is the funnest and funniest guy ever. His classes are superb and I just laugh the whole time. He has a good sense of humor. He is a super young guy too. Like 30 years old. He has one little son and his name is Mateo. The whole time he was in sacrament meeting he would look at me with the greatest stink eye you could imagine and CLICK CLICK CLICK with his tongue. I don’t know if that means he likes me or not? But he is a cute little guy. 

There is another investigator that we are teaching. Her name is L. And her son’s name is Mattias. Apparently Mateo and Mattias is the same but there were two Mateo apostles and so the other one changed his name to Mattias. Haha I didn’t know for sure. But she loves me now because I have the same name as her son. Her son is so cute too. He is one and a half. She saw us like 50 times this week and decided that she wants her son to have a life like we have. She has been so prepared with such great examples in her life by members in the church that she is finally realizing that she needs to know more about the church. She ditched out on Sunday. But I know she will start progressing soon. She has received so many answers from God that she can’t keep rejecting it. 

M. A. is our motor boy. He has had so many difficulties in life. Already had a baptismal interview.... but he wasn’t’ quite ready. But we are working with him to get baptized in 3 weeks. He has shown so many fruits of repentance that I am just inspired. What a good man. 

The members love the missionaries here. They wash our clothes and give us lots of food. Haha. I like that.

Well I am basically all out of time. Ugh. Blah. But the mission is fantastic. Thanks so much for your examples and love and prayers. I love you ALLL. Keep doing good things. 

Well I can’t remember anything else! OKAY BAI

Con Amor, Elder Macdonald

The small bathroom.

Everything is nice, but so small and HOTOTOTOTOTOT SOOO HOTTT

That is the door to the bathroom right next to the kitchen...

The study mixed with the hallway and kitchen. hahahah

bedroom 

Dr Simi is the Mickey Mouse of Mexico

Divisions with the District Leaders. And it rained and hailed.

Burger King run

Elder R. and I

We are so fun

The District lunch date every day

New area, old comp/new comp - great friend!

WOWWOWOW hey guys.

SO uhh super sorry I didn’t write you yesterday. But for now on my p-day is on Tuesday. I was assigned to be a Zone Leader and our p-days are on Tuesdays. But other days it changes to Monday and so just be patient if I randomly don’t write you when you expect. Haha. (Patient is my middle name says his mom – haha)

SOOOOOO my comp is freakin awesome. Guess who it is... ELDER R. It is my buddy from Chinampas - my first area. We started the mission together. And now we get to work together for a few months. It is going to be awesome.

Tuesday, we went to the changes and everyone was like “hey congrats”.. and I was like “why?” And then I found out I was assigned to be a Zone Leader, so that’s why. So I got to help with the changes and tell everyone where they were assigned to go.

So far it has been super awesome. My area is fantastic. The area is called Iztacalco. I am in a WARD that functions. The Bishop is a hoot and such a good guy. The church building is beautiful. And there are like 150 members that assist every week. So that’s pretty good for our mission!! I am excited to get to work here. We already have lots of great investigators!!! I am super limited on time... eep.

We are going to have a baptism in two weeks. It is the girlfriend of the Elders Quorum President. And then we have a few others planned out. We are working hard and loving working together. My comp is the best teacher in the world so it’s fantastic. I am learning so many things from him. It’s weird. Because we already knew each other and now we are like getting to know each other again, or better.

I do enjoy being a Zone Leader. We get to work closely with the President. On Friday we had a leadership counsel, and we planned basically all of the next three months. It was super awesome. The other ZL’s are super cool too. It’s so different from when I was a newbie.

We have 6 elders in the ward. HAHAHA. Six! What the heck? So many. It makes lunchtime so much fun. Seriously it’s a riot. If you want to laugh, invite 6 missionaries to eat in your house. The members love us because we are all just so funny. And super humble. I love it. I have never laughed so hard in a comida.

WHAT ELSE. I don’t remember. Oh yeah, I got to church late and didn’t partake of the sacrament and I was PEEVED because the member that took us to get an investigator got super lost and took so many wrong turns. We got there 17 minutes late. I was depressed. But it was for a good cause, right????

My house is absolutely TINY. But it is a pretty nice apartment. Just so small. We are looking into changing. But if not, it’s fine.

Tomorrow we have a Zone Training... PRESSURE. Hahahaha probably the only thing I don’t like about being a Zone Leader, is having to lead and train... HA. Super fitting, right? But it’ll be good. I already planned a super good lesson. It'll be daa bomb.

WELL I LOVE LIFE. The mission is great. I am considering staying until March. What should I do...? Would you be mad? But idk. I need to tell the Pres asap cause I have waited so long. I tried to receive revelation but it’s like not working or something. Maybe it just doesn’t matter.

The church is so true. Read your scriptures. Say your prayers, and be nice to EVERYONE.

PS- I was soo sick all week and still am a little bit. I couldn’t talk at all for 3 days straight and I still can’t sing. Imagine. I am an absolute mess.

LOVE YOU ALL SOOO MUCH. I WILL TRY TO WRITE BETTER MORE SPIRITUAL STUFF NEXT WEEK BAAIII

Con Amor,

Elder Macdonald

the Zone Leaders

new ward with 6 elders!

Barbie the dog

MY NEW COMP. Elder R and I are back together!

Changes, perspective, charity, and a positive attitude

Ughh. Ironic topic father... you DID give me horrible sinuses. I AM SO SICK AND MISERABLE. The past two nights I haven’t slept and my comp hates me because I sound like an elephant blowing my noise. Poor guy probably didn’t sleep either. It is raining super hard right now and I think I will get wet. More sickness. yaaay. (In Eric’s letter he had complained to Matt about his sinuses.)

SO I got changed. But I don’t even know where or what I will be doing. And so I had to pack all day, and it was pretty miserable being sick. Lovin it. Also, the President is being super silly and NOT TELLING US WHERE WE ARE GOING UNTIL WE GET TO THE STAKE CENTER, tomorrow morning... That is a rather dumb idea if you ask me. Apparently he is doing it so we can keep focusing on missionary work between the changes. But I still don’t like the idea. It just makes me even more stressed, the worry and stress of NOT KNOWING, but it’s whatever. I have finally come to know that change is a good thing, and it always happens for a reason. And I just need to enjoy every minute of the mission WHERE EVER I AM. Why? Because these past two changes (three months) in Aculco have been fantastic.

I remember getting here and being so mad because everyone was just so mean and annoying and grumpy about the ward problems. And I didn’t even have the pleasure to KNOW ANYONE yet, in that moment. But then, as the days and weeks passed, I realized that the ward is fantastic, the Bishop is a great man, and the area had SO MUCH POTENTIAL. This area hadn’t baptized (according to the Bishop) in 12 months. We baptized 4 new converts in the past two months. And I know it is not because the missionaries here were so good. It honestly just has to do with perspective. If we keep a positive attitude throughout trials and doubts, our faith will bring to pass miracles. 

We had two more baptisms this past week. A. and A. L. Honestly the Lord has so much in store. We just needed to be more positive, and trust in HIM to be able to see these great plans. The 4 new sisters that have been baptized are 4 sisters with GREAT capacity to learn, teach, serve, and help. The Bishop had a small meeting with the new converts and us missionaries in his office this Sunday. He said he wants a new generation of members that are WILLING to work and serve with excitement. That made the new converts so happy and excited to work. He even assigned them, all 4, to give talks next week about missionary work and THEIR conversion. He also invited them to prepare a special musical number. NO ONE DOES SPECIAL MUSICAL NUMBERS IN MEXICO. But we did one at every baptism, so they all caught the wave and want to invite the spirit to the sacrament meeting in a new way. And to top it all off, they are all in a new class to learn about the temples and family history. Seriously. This past Sunday was a gem. It was perfect. It was even a fast and testimony Sunday... and I totally forgot that every time that happens, I get changed. I was seriously so excited to help them with the song and their talks. I was so excited to see them get callings in the ward. I was so excited to see them change the outlook on the ward, because that is what they are doing. Sadly, I won’t get to see it all... But I am going to hope that it all goes according to plan. haha.

It has been a fantastic past two changes. I have learned to love people in their imperfections. And I have learned to love myself in my imperfections and know how to change them. As Pres. Uchtdorf said in the last conference about an attitude of gratitude, it is EVERYTHING. 

I don’t know where the Lord has sent me. But I sure hope to still be happy and positive. I know I am going to miss these wonderful people. But I am so blessed to know that soon, through technology, I will be able to communicate with them. 

Before A’s baptism, and after her interview, on Friday, we didn’t have time to see her. We were FULL with new citas. And obviously God wasn’t okay with that. That WHOLE day, He went and canceled all of our citas so that we had time to see A. Good thing too, because she was on her way to a party where she probably would have been tempted to smoke and drink. But right when she saw us, she knew that she couldn’t go. We talked about the Anti-Nephi-Lehites and their story of repentance. We talked about HOW they understood that it wasn’t worth the time or energy to fall back into their same sins AFTER making a covenant with God. We explained to her that the covenant isn’t made in the waters of baptism, but rather, it is made in the interview, when she testified before someone that she was willing and ready. It was a really great experience. I know that the Lord guides our every foot step. He is in charge. 

The baptism was great. A. L. invited her family! They loved it and even cried when she was baptized. The missionaries will be working with her family soon enough. A. cried giving her testimony and LOVED the feelings that she was feeling. Everyone that was there, FELT something fantastic. 

I am sad that I don’t get to work another 6 weeks here, helping these fantastic new converts rise to the challenge. I know God put them here for a reason. The ward is becoming something better. God is molding them. 

I did exchanges with Elder T. It was super fun. I like that guy a lot. Hope he has another fun transfer in Contreras. My comp and I learned a lot from each other. I am grateful I had him. 

Well I think that is all. I love you all so much. This work is true. It is so true. Keep doing work. Keep working with people that have rejected the invitation. Help them feels Gods love for them. Bring new souls to the Church of Jesus Christ so that they can reach their full potential. LOVE YA ALLLL. I will let you know next week where I am and what I am doing. That’s exciting.... ha...oh and shout out to Papa MAC FOR YOUR BDAY. I.LOVE.YOUUUUUU

CON AMOR INFINITO,

Elder Macdonald

I love when babies spill sugar on my shoes.

KFC

The new Cokes are awesome. MATEO. and that's my friend J.

my favorite couple

saying goodbye