Fun Christmas activities, Costco pizza, and the Plan of Salvation brings joy!

Howdy again.

So it was fun to talk to you guys! That day after we Skyped, we went and had a District party, (with party being defined by missionaries). So it was a joy. We all brought a bunch of yummy snacks, we had white elephant and secret Santa gift exchanges.... we played some funny games, AND we watch 17 miracles. Haha – every time I see that movie I feel like a loser for every complaining. What diligent souls they were. It is such a testimony to me that the church is true seeing people like that who represented our church and died for such a cause. 

It was a fun party and we are going to have another one on Thursday. hahaha. Our p-day moved to Thursday because of Christmas and New Years Day.... but we still can write today. So yeah. But it’ll be fun. I think we will celebrate my b-day on Thursday by going out to eat! Woohoo. I can’t believe I actually made it to 21 years of age. I am an old fart. Tooting away at life. It goes by fast.

We had lots of success with the investigator pool this week. We had 4 investigators at church! R. went and so she keeps progressing towards her baptism on January 17th! S., the little girl that thinks the Holy Ghost is an animal went! She actually changed a lot this week and we can see a lot of progress in her and in her mother. We taught them the plan of salvation and they loved it. S. LOVED church. She said that being with a bunch of young men and women her age made her feel great. She learned about the second coming of Christ and dating! lol. Haha. Soooo she wants to keep going to church. I think we can finally put a baptismal date with her....

UMMM. We ate Costco pizza this week.YUP. Costco exists in my area... who would’ve thunk?... Haha. That was fun. 

Our microwave stopped working. That wasn’t fun.

We keep finding new people. But man is it hard to find them. Seriously, the people’s schedules here are out of control. It makes having investigators really a challenge. We apparently have super good investigators that were going to get baptized but they just disappeared. One went to the cena navidena.... and then she disappeared for a whole week? No one knew where she is. And the other one is wealthy and has lots of work and when he isn’t working he goes on expensive vacations.... So it’s like. You gotta get your priorities straight.

Well, I just hope to help R. get to baptism. Not for vain desires of having a baptism my last week, more because I want to be doing missionary work until I am done.... and baptizing people is missionary work! wooohooo. Just pray for her. Well, I hope to keep finding more chosen souls. 

Oh fun question. What is the difference between a soul and a spirit?  A catholic brought it to my attention. And I was like NOTHING. But then I studied it and there also is a difference. soo ya. Let’s see who wins the big award....

Oh fun story. We taught a woman the plan of salvation. Her son, when he was 4 years old, fell off of a roof and was left mentally and physically handicapped. He was in that state until he turned 16. And then he died. This family was in grand need to hear the message of the plan of salvation. When we taught the principle of the resurrection, her tears could not be contained. It was a beautiful thing to teach and testify of this glorious plan that is all made possible through the Son of Man. She accepted baptismal date for February. Her son doesn’t believe in God, but I know he felt something that night. I am sure this Gospel will open their eyes to see THE bigger picture.

Love you all! Have a wonderful New Years. Wish me a happy birthday. lol

Con Amor,

Elder Macdonad

Christmas caroling on Christmas Eve

Good morning. What did Santa bring?!

Opening presents from Santa

So tired. But sooo happy for the socks Santa brought me. 

Paseo Acoxpa. The nice mall.

yaya cute fam

Our Christmas District party

white elephant gifts... so awesome

A Virgin candle. The best gift. I was jealous

This wasn't my gift at the end. I got some cool Mayan calendar thing

Going to get bookshelves for the house.

Missionary correlation with our Ward Mission leader. He is going to move.... ah man.

dead rat.}

We invited him to be baptized for the dead.

Walking aimlessly without a direction. I will miss it. 

Christ is la Navidad, #heisthegift

MERRY CHRISTMAS FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

So that’s funny that I told you I wasn’t going to write today so you guys didn’t write me, but then my President was like “hey you all can write today” and so I get on and realize no one loves me. (FYI – I have written this boy every week for 2 years…from Liz)  It’s okay. I mean, it’s just so that I can learn to not depend on others, that’s all. No one remembers me on Christmas, but that’s okay.

Haha this week we found 13 new investigators. Ugh. Talk about a lot of talking and talking and talking. I was tired of it but I also LOVED IT. Because 11 investigators went to the Christmas dinner. WAHHOOO. It was a blast. Haha. But then only 1 of those 11 went to church. How adorable. Typical. I’m  used to it. I am prepared for this. hahaha.

I was pretty worried because R. couldn’t go because she had to take care of her mom. But her fecha (date) is exactly in 4 weeks.... Soooo we are worried. But we are convinced that if she goes the next three weeks, she will get baptized. She is still super chosen. We saw her after the services in the afternoon and we taught her the Gospel of Jesus Christ. She got super excited to put her faith into practice by having good works and reading her scriptures every day. She was like.... “I am going to try my best, no actually... I am going to DO it”. She is super driven and such a chosen spirit of God. She has been so prepared for this moment. I really hope I can be here when she gets baptized. Pray that R. can get baptized on January 17th and confirmed on January 18th!

The other people we found need more time. They aren’t the jump the gun type of investigator. We are still looking for the elect. But the families are nice that we found. It is just hard to teach them because they need the explanation like 20 times before understanding it. And one of the 14-year-old girls really is strange. I asked her what she imagines the Holy Ghost to be like... And she responded.... I think the Holy Ghost is an animal. ....what? And that God is a sphere of light. And again... what? And then I would ask her other questions and she just responds so strangely and weird that I just don’t have patience because I feel like she is just wanting attention and so it kind of drives away the spirit. And then if one person says yes... the other 10 say yes.... and if one says no... the other 10 say no. So it’s just a difficult situation. But at least we have people to teach! We should always look to the good in every situation. Haha. lol.

The members are helping us a lot. They get super excited when they see an investigator and they are so good at fellowshipping them. And that is something that all wards DO NOT have. So that is a huge plus. Our Bishop is funny. I still kind of don’t know him very well. But we are getting there.

Our ward Christmas dinner was nice. But the investigators liked it and enjoy the piñatas and dinner after the Devotional. 11 people went. I was like WOOOOAAAAH. Some of them were friends or family of the investigators. But still. That’s AWESOME. So that was definitely the highlight of my week.

We had our Zone conference. It was hilarious. My District acted out how the Grinch stole Christmas in 5 minutes. haha it was super inspired and funny. And the other Districts all had super good acts too! aha I was shocked because last year was so bad that I even felt uncomfortable watching the skits. Hahahhaa. It was an achievement. The food was yummy. Then we played sports. I played volleyball and my arms got sore from moving in directions that they have never moved before. Because we can’t play sports in my mission except for this day. So basically everyone went all out and died at the end. The fun thing was that we got to go to Iztacalco! I loved it. Hahah.

I have been super calm about the whole last transfer thing. But then later on comes bipolarity and I get really sad. Hahaha. Uh oh. I said good-bye to lots of my good friends on the mission in the Zone Conference. I have been so blessed to have so many great comps and friends on the mission.

Well this week is Christmas. I will Skype you on the 25th at like 12:30-1:00.

Our house is decked out with Christmas lights and a little Christmas tree. We decorated it. And this week we are going to do secret Santa with the sisters and white elephant with the District. So we should enjoy giving and receiving presents. Haha maybe I will give them frankincense.

This week I love to remember that Christ is la Navidad. HE is the Gift that our Father has given to all of His Children so that we would have a way back to his presence. His Atonement can and will carry us whenever we need it to accomplish great and hard tasks. I love Him and His gospel!

LOVE YOU ALL. ENJOY YOUR WONDERFUL DAY AND WEEK AND SHARE "HE IS THE GIFT" ON YOUR FACEBOOKS BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT YOU SHOULD OF DONE ALREADY, BUT IF YOU HAVEN’T YOU CAN DO IT NOW  -I WILL GIVE YOU A SECOND CHANCE. Love you!!!

Con Amor,

Elder Macdonald

Putting up the Christmas tree

and the lights

our house

the acts that the missionaries did

that's the President and his wife. hahaha LOL

saying goodbye to some of my favorite missionaries

children singing

Finding the elect, the Lord is aware of us, and baby it's cold outside.

Well, Buenos Dias my family and friends.

I am living right next door to the ESTADIO AZTECA. It is a very big stadium where they have huge soccer games every week and it gets quite hectic here - Let’s just put it that way. We live in the ghhhheeehhheeettttttttooo. I walk by marijuana puff clouds every day. It’s scrumpshis. Mmmhhmmm. But, my area is super nice in some parts. We have Sister Missionaries in our ward that work with us. We have the most beautiful outlet mall I have ever seen in my life. It has CPK and PF CHANGS, along with other American luxuries. I feel like I am in the US. IT’S ridiculous. But it’s fun. We want to go Christmas caroling in there. Pretty sure they will kill us. But it’s chill. 

So yeah. My comp just finished his training. He is a very good missionary from good ole' Wyoming. Haha. Such a cowboy. He is very laid back and willing to work. So everything is working out great.

I am just a normal senior comp. My District Leader is the one and only Elder Y.! haha woohooo. It is his first time being a District Leader, so I will be able to help him out a bit! It’ll be a good time. 

The members here are great. We live right next to the church! All of the members are basically returned missionaries, and they are couples. Haha. But this ward hasn’t baptized in forever. And we don’t understand why. All of our investigators are well, pretty much crappy. They aren’t progressing. So we were contacting a butt load this week to be able to find at least ONE of the "elect". Saturday night, we found her. She is a friend of a member from another ward. She already has a Book of Mormon and has been reading it. She said she already knows that the church is true! She is such a nice girl. Haha she reminds me of Lisa dingdong, but in Mexican version. Haha. She is a spiritual GIANT. So chosen. She accepted to be baptized on January 17th. Ahhhhh - My last baptism. So we are going to work super hard to help her. 

I know that the Lord is aware of our situations. He knows WHO is prepared, and who isn’t. But he lets us take part in this work to learn how to be humbled and work diligently. And then, when he feels it is right, he hands us over the people HE is preparing. That is what happened to us. We keep working hard, but all of our hard work doesn’t really do much, just because we don’t know WHO. But once again, he shows us who and trusts us with His beloved children. 

We are just going to keep working suuuuper duuuuuper hard to get this area pumpin again. I want to leave it with lots of people that can truly progress. I am not into leaving areas dead. My last five weeks are going to be full of fun and hard work. I am surrounded by wonderful missionaries. Hahaha. I have never worked with sister missionaries.... hahaha yikes. They are something else. Just kidding. Great missionaries. It is super fun. We eat lots of good food too, in this area. yummm.. 

Our house is small, but it’s fine. Elder G. served here last year during Christmas. Haha. I feel like Christmas is already over. What’s that all about?

Okay, funny story.

So I called the secretary to tell him that I need my blankets because I am FREEZING at night. And so he gets all Hitler on me and was like HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE?.... And I was like... two. And I want 3 more because I am really COLD. And he was like. No. 2 per missionary in every house. And so I told him. I AM COLD. WHY CAN’T YOU GIVE ME BLANKETS... but he didn’t budge. Okay. So I threatened him... and said... So I am going to call the President and tell him that I am cold at night but that the secretaries won’t give me more blankets. And I was thinking that the threat would make him budge. but... NOTHING. And so I had to call the President. It was ridiculous. I was like... President, they won’t give me more blankets unless you give them permission to give me more than 2 blankets... and he started cracking up. Hahaha And apparently I was on speaker phone because I hear his wife yell... "Elder Macdonald, needs some blankets”. It was hilarious. And they just started crackin’ jokes about how he needed to be in the military. And so he called the silly elder and got me more blankets. It was stupid. It made me laugh.

Anyways... I love you all so much! Next Monday I won’t write you guys. Until the 25th! bai bai bai!

Con amor,

Elder Macdonald

more goodbyes

My new area is in the center of our mission. We have views of all of my old areas. Wahooo

We had to get home early of the Day of the Virgin, so we ordered cheap Mexican pizza.... and watched church movies.

Add caption

Add caption

Dairy Queen

The urinals...with pictures of girls staring at you. lol...creepy

I felt like I was at a quidditch game

we painted

birthday girl!