Mateo in MEXICO: Learning to keep on keeping on

Well this week was super great and stressful. All of the amazing people that we have baptized recently are going through the craziest trials and they are disappearing and it is frightening. However, I want to start with a fun story.

So we are teaching E. L. She is awesome. All of her family is members except for she and her husband. She has gone to church activities with her family for ten years. But she has never wanted to accept the invitation to talk with the missionaries. About 2 months ago, she finally softened her heart and made it to one of our baptisms. She bawled the WHOLE time. It made her remember about her brother who is serving a mission in SPAIN. So I found out this past week that her brother is about to finish his mission. He is serving as an Assistant to the President, and his companion is the one and only Elder Skousen. Hahahaha. I saw a picture of them that her brother sent on his email day. I am going to send you guys the photo. Super cool how Elder Skousen and I have connections to the same family in Mexico City. It’s a small world when you're a Mormon. She is progressing soooo well. She is going to get baptized the weekend I get home so that her brother can baptize her. But no one knows. It is a secret. So don’t tell Elder Skousen.

G. and D. are going to get baptized. D. passed her interview. G. needs a special interview with the President. But last night, we visited D. and she told us that is isn’t sure about getting baptized anymore. And I just thought - SATAN Please stop touching my investigators. She is letting the doubts and worries get to her. ayyy no. So we are in communication with the members to communicate with her and get her excited again. I am worried about her. Hopefully G. passes her interview to be able to get baptized this weekend. I will be stoked if she can. Yayay. But we will be patient and wait and see.

O. and M. are disappearing from my sights because she never works at it anymore. Her dumb brother is verbally abusing her and her mother. She is stressed out about her kids because they are rebelling against her because their dad doesn’t live with them. So she is thinking that it would be better to get back together with the dad of her kids.... (they aren’t married) so that she can leave the verbal abusiveness from her brother and start to better her family again. But she doesn’t have money to get married and she is afraid to talk to the Bishop and I just see Satan destroying her life by giving her half truths to make her break the commandments and covenants she has made with the Lord. Ahhh my gosh. It is stressful. I am freaking out because I did not have the intention to baptize people that would eventually become less active. So please pray for her to make the right choice. We taught her well. She understands the doctrine. But now we have to let her decide.

The L.’s got sick this week and weren’t able to go to church so that scared me.

M. de J. and her daughter C. finally got home from their vacation. She is staying strong against the cigarettes and hasn’t smoked since she dropped the habit. Her daughter is preparing herself to be baptized on December 6th... my last weekend here in Iztacalco. WOOhooo. She doesn’t live with her boyfriend anymore, so that is a plus. She is ready to change her life so she can have the spirit more abundantly with her.

M. M. A. is freaking lazy and not going to church, but I love him. However, I do have to battle with him. I think we have come to the conclusion that he is not ready. But we will let you know everything that happens this week.

C. still can’t drop her smoking habit. She has tried and tried. But she just doesn’t do it. We are praying and praying and visiting her every day to help her stop. But she WON’T. The problem is the whole world knows she smokes so she isn’t embarrassed about it. But she is finally starting to feel badly when she smokes. She is down to smoking 1 cigarette every day. But the great thing is she doesn’t even smoke all of it. She does like 2 or 3 smokeys and lets it die out. It is silly. I KNOW THAT SHE WILL DO IT SOON. She honestly doesn’t need it. Crazy. Her daughter E. is a recent convert from before I got here. And she has a dumb boyfriend that is ruining her spirituality. She hasn’t gone to church in more than a month. And we are trying to get her active again, but she is honestly so not worried about it right now. Her poor children cried when they didn’t go to church... but now they are used to not going. So I am stressed for her. Her other sister and brother in law that are my converts are still doing good but they didn’t go to church because of a dumb commitment that they had with the Catholic Church a long time again.... rrrr.

Needless to say, everyone and everything is working against us. It is so classic. So I am just going to get over it and work, work, and work some more, because soon we will see the light.

We had a cool Stake Conference that was a transmission from Salt Lake. Elder Anderson, Sister Reeves, and two seventies SPOKE IN SPANISH. HAhah What? It was pretty adorable to watch them give their best effort. They got super nervous. I loved it. It was so fantastic to see that they love these people so much that they gave their talks in Spanish. They actually did a really good job and the spirit was very much present. I learned a lot about sacrifices. We give away something good for something better, or even something excellent. We had only 2 investigators go... it was in the Stake Center, so that had a lot to do with it because it is farther away from my area.

Well - The mission is the mission. It can’t all be happy go lucky. But something I have learned is that I need to be grateful in any circumstance. And I am. I am grateful to represent the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that if no one else lives what I am living or feels what I feel, it doesn’t matter, because I am living it and I am feeling it. It produces happiness in my life. And that is all that matters. I keep on swimming like Dory said (Finding Nemo), and the Lord with help me be strengthened in my trials and weaknesses. He has done it my whole mission. I am so grateful that I decided to come on the mission. I don’t even like to imagine what my life would’ve been without it. This church is true. I have come to this knowledge through fervent prayer and scripture study. The little things in this life count. And as long as we keep on keeping on, we will be victorious in the end. Love you all.

Love,

Elder Macdonald