Moving, hard work, and God knows us perfectly.

Transfers always come even when we don’t want them to… It is really frightening because time is going by extremely fast and I only have 6 more transfers. But guess what? All I can do it keep working and enjoying the work.

President changed me to Aculco in Contreras. I am still a District Leader and I am still training. I am pretty sure I will die training at this rate. I am actually super excited to go to Contreras because it is supposed to be super beautiful like here (Topilejo) with trees and rivers, but there in Contreras, I think it is a ward with lots of people! So that'll be fun. But I really actually have no idea because I have never heard anything about this place - And that’s life. Tomorrow we have changes. I really hate packing because curiously I have accumulated more THINGS that aren’t fitting in my suitcases. HELP. Haha. I think I am going to leave lots of stuff in the house here.... Sorry, say good-bye to dads huge warm winter coat. Awk... Frustrating.

The other side of me is super sad because I LOVE TOPILEJO. Hahaha. I know this always happens. I always end up LOVING my areas. So I just have to remember it is a good thing. Hopefully this area doesn’t let me down. Yoyoyo. But I didn’t get to see all my efforts harvested. But that’s the mission right? Some of us are planters and others are harvesters. Fun stuff. I have already said good-bye to lots of good people. Tears. So depressing. I HOPE that the branch keeps fasting and keeps working hard to baptized every week. We have set up the way. Keep going. 

Hilarious drunk grandma came up to me and Elder H. and told us that we were in her dream and that she needed to know who we were.... umm. And then she kissed us on the cheeks. Hahaha it was super funny because it was like an eternal struggle trying to tell her we can’t kiss women as missionaries and she was like "that doesn’t MATTER" and so she grabbed our faces like a cute little drunk grandma would and slobbered all over our cheeks. How loverly, right? Haha so yup definitely feel violated and it’s just wonderful. Hopefully she gets baptized someday. hahaha

We taught 40 lessons and it felt like it too. Seriously. IT IS TIRING.  Practically running everywhere. Being a missionary is really hard but I think that the Lord makes us super humans for 2 years without even knowing it because we walk SO MUCH. I don’t think I could’ve done this before the mission. I didn’t even realized this before. But yeah. We are super humans. 

F. and C. and progressing a WHOLE lot. They read and everything but the silly little fritos didn’t come to church. I wanted to nail them to the pulpit by their toes. But I know they will get baptized. I feel good about them. Everyone else is also doing well. They are gunna be baptizing lots here soon!

I ate a whole pig this week and wanted to die. Thank you very much. Wakala. 

Okay seriously we found 9 new investigators this week and I was super PUMPED. But now I will never be able to see them progress. It’s really a sad life. 

Topilejo is going supér well. I am honored to have had the opportunity to teach and work here with these great souls. I am going to miss them with all my heart. But soon we will visit them right? Yeah. 

The other elders in the branch had a miracle baptism! It was super fun to be able to interview him and see HOW READY he was. I love it. God loves all of his children so much. And it boggles my mind to know that he knows us individually and PERFECTLY. Its soo true but I just don’t get it. So great.

It was a pleasure talking with you FAM. Can’t believe the next time we skype I will be on the road to Calvary coming home. hahahaha. Love y’all. Pray for me to love my new area and people. I just want to be a better missionary and I am really trying. Hopefully I can make it by the time I am finished. 

I love you all soo much and I know this is true! I will go where HE wants me to go even though I don’t want to. Haha. Love ya.

Con Amor,

Elder Macdonald

Walking miles to teach.

wut?

bootiful

mi companero y yo

you folks!

meee

family R.

A great week, a month long fast, and God watches over all of us.

HELLO hola, bonjour and ya that’s it.

This week was super good. Some minor things changed in the mission. This transfer is almost over and I am terrified because I DON’T want to get moved out of Topilejo, and we are getting ready to baptize every week. SERIOUSLY IT’S NOT A JOKE.

Lots of fantastic things happened this week. We taught more than 40 lessons and we are finding lots of potential. It’s super interesting because the standard of excellence is to baptize every week. And when you hear it at first you think. WHAT ARE YOU DUMB? But really, the Lord has called us to do it because he KNOWS we can do it. It’s a little bit of pressure, but pressure makes for good hard work. All we have to do is stop focusing on numbers and have more frequency. Love it. 

District Leaders had a meeting yesterday with President about all of this. They changed some other stuff about the way we are going to report and how we will do District meetings and stuff like that. WOOP. Not too big of a change. But we really have to be sincere in this work and strive to receive power to be able to accomplish it. 

So on Tuesday we had a cita (appointment) with E. at 12:30 and we got there super on time and I was like woohoo. But when we got there a testigo (JW) WAS THERE AND I WAS LIKE “HEY NOT COOL WE HAD A CITA”. haha. But it was whatever. We just went around close looking for other people to teach. In the meantime we taught a Pentecost Pastor and confused him super bad - I actually kind of felt bad. Finally after an hour and a half, the Jehovah Witness left and we could talk to E. She apologized and said that the JW wouldn’t STOP TALKING. lol. E. is still being super stubborn about baptism. It’s like “COME ON ALREADY - GO SWIMMING. I promise the water will be warm”. But she is like no. But they were able to go to church for the 5th time. This Sunday was a fast and testimony meeting. The spirit was the bomb.com and I died because it was SERIOUSLY SO GOOD. Like I didn’t know Topilejo had it in them. But sure they do. Everyone bore testimony that THIS is the true church. They also bore testimony about trials. I think both of those things are what E. needed to hear. Her son J. came to know that this is all true - I AM SURE OF IT. But we have to talk to them. She got interested in temple work for the dead and we started explaining that and also about the twelve tribes and patriarchal blessings and she got super excited. Hoping that this might help her get in da water. CAUSE SHE IS SOOO READY. If we have a surprise baptism, I'll be happy. 

Okay we are doing something fantastic in the branch. A MONTHWIDE FAST FOR MISSIONARY OPPORTUNITIES. It was my idea and I feel like a genius. It is getting everyone super excited and we are seeing miracles from the fast. I started the fast on Thursday. Guess what? I ACTUALLY LIKE TO FAST. Haha. I think I am going to do it again soon to just be able to know HOW to baptize everyone and to see miracles. The members are starting to understand that this is a church wide force. It is not just the silly young stupid missionaries that have to teach, preach, invite, baptize. It is the members’ job TOO. Now is the time for the members and the missionaries to join forces and work together! We have to do it. Come on peeps. But the fact that we filled in the May calendar with families that are going to fast for missionary work makes my heart super content. Topilejo is surprising the world. HAha. We are going like you aint ever seen before. Good things are happening. Hoping this fast makes things keep moving.

So F. and C. are perfect. All they have to do is get married and have permission since she is a youngster. But yesterday was her FIRST TIME IN THE CHURCH. She went up to the pulpit and gave a sweet and powerful testimony about how she KNOWs that this is the true church. She felt so good afterwards and C. did too. I wanted to cry because they are just true examples of Disciples of Christ. Once they heard it and felt it, they started applying it and sharing it. Love it.

Other people came to church. A total of 12 investigators came to church! Some of them left after sacrament meeting. But they loved it and felt such a peace. Seriously. A testimony meeting can make it or break it for an investigator. Sorry, but its true. This Sunday MADE it for LOTS. 

A less active hermana told such a powerful story about how she had separated herself from her brother and family for 5 years. There was NO COMMUNICATION between them for five years. Her brother and family lived in Veracruz while she lived here in Mexico City. But one day she just felt the need to surprise visit her brother and family in Veracruz. She went in the moment. When she landed in the airport, she got off her plane and started walking to find her bags. While walking in the Airport she saw her whole family in the airport saying their goodbyes. Her brother was about to leave on a mission... She arrived JUST in time to hug her brother and wish him luck and he was about to serve the Lord for two years. God works in mysterious ways. But it is such a testimony builder to know that GOD knows everything. He watches over us and blesses us to be able to bear the trials of this life. Love it.

I hope your bday was AWESOME DADDY.

So I did intercambios with Elder H. and Elder S. two days in a row. Can I just say hilarious? H. and I were talking about BYU and when he saw one of the pics I have with Nate Tingey he was like “WHAT?” haha I was like “do you know him???” He said no, but that he knew his x girlfriend. So we had some funny moments and it was really funny in the moment but I am not going to go into details. Haha. I will explain later when we skype. lolol. And Elder S. is perfect and was super nice. Everything was good.

I love the mission. I love the miracles. My comp and I get along so great and work super good together. It’s nice. Everyone is gunna get baptized soon. Starting this month. It’s real. 

Can’t wait to SKYPE Y’AALLL. Can’t believe it is that time again. Time isn’t a real thing. Haha. Next week I will know the changes. 6 transfer left. WUT?

Con Amor,

Elder Macdonald

Morning.

planning.

clouds

There is room in the House of the Lord for a repentant sinner!

Okay. Well something a bit concerning happened after emailing you all last week... I left my MICRO SD card in the computer place and when I came back to find it... It was GONE! So I was super sad and worried and stressed because the person that was working there had left... but the other workers couldn’t get a hold of her to ask her if she had taken it to keep it safe, or if someone else had used the same computer and maybe taken it. Lots of thoughts went through my head like... WELL THE PERSON THAT STOLE IT BETTER SEE MY PÍCTURES AND DECIDE TO GET BAPTIZED. Because if not… it would’ve been a waste. hahahah. I also thought... How sad that all of my pictures since Christmas are gone... it was slightly depressing. And then I thought of you, parents, and thought how you would’ve killed me. Ha. (FYI – there would have been no killing)  But guess what? We went back the next day and the lady had my micro SD card. I was so relieved. Anywho...

This week was wonderful. I felt loads better about lots of things.

We had a Zone Conference and it was just great. Hermana Valadez talked about Moroni 6:1-4 about how the investigators need broken hearts and contrite spirits to be baptized. But she said that we as missionaries need to have a broken heart and a contrite spirit to be able to exhort someone to have and do the same. A broken heart is a repentant heart. A heart that feels displeased and disappointed from ANY sin. A broken heart is something we need constantly to be constantly repentant of our sins. But what balances this sorrow is a contrite spirit - A spirit that knows that Christ forgives us in his infinite grace. When we feel the spirit of the Lord, we can then know that God has forgiven us for all of our sins and that he has entrusted us with the Holy Ghost. We then need to use that Holy Ghost to guide us and do what the Lord would have us do. That is how one becomes a repentant sinner. Because there is room in the house of the Lord for a repentant sinner!

Then the President talked about the importance of the members and how we need to work with them! Hear that, members? Work with us! lol. The work will run so much more smoothly if we do it all together. 

This week I also went to the temple to see the doctor! I don’t like going all the way to the temple... It is SOOO FAR. And traveling in the busses and stuff makes me even more sick. Loverly. But it was good. Saw lots of other missionaries there. Haha. He just gave me some meds to take. I guess I have an infection in the stomach or something. So I am taking antibiotics. yummy. Still have to buy one. I am almost positive it was a worm... But the doctor didn’t think so. Lucked out...

We are teaching lots of great potentials! E. is supposed to get baptized this week but she kind of declined.. But we are still working with faith that she will get baptized. HAH YAYAYA. She even knows that this is all true. She is just afraid with the very small chance that it isn’t and that she might lose herself in the religion. QUIEN SABE EH. I just know she gots ta get in dat watuur Fast.

Her son J. got mad at us cause we told him he needs to remove his piercings to get baptized. lol. SOWWWY boi. We will see what happens. 

But they came to church!

A new investigator fell from heaven and wants to get baptized asap. He is young. He is 20 years old. His girlfriend is 17... They have two kids. So we are like well even though she is a minor, you need to get married to get baptized... and plus... YOU HAVE TWO CHILDREN. So she needs to ask permission from her mom and supposedly she is a wee bit difficult. We will see. HOPING THAT THEY CAN BECAUSE HE IS SUPER EXCITED TO GET BAPTIZED. Obstacles. Everywhere. }

Lots of people went to church this Sunday. It was fantastic. Topilejo is growing a WHOLLLLE LOOOOT EEEH. I really hope I don’t get changed in two weeks. Changes come so fast. Weird. I have learned a lot through hardships. It’s the only way I suppose- The refiners fire. 

Well it is almost MAY. So that means its almost my dad’s bday. Happy birthday this week day! 30 de abril. Que divertido no?¡¿ Love it. Are you like 100 yet? Who knows? Love ya lots

Also congrats KT LU. U DID GOOD. Now enjoy the real world. haha sucks no?

Oh yeah. We are going to skype on Saturday the 10th of May!!! Tell me what time would be best. I am thinking around 12 or 1. Haha or idk. Whenever you want. Send me my username and password again. Love ya lots 

Con Amor,

ELDER MACDONALD

In my jungle.

grapes?

MY DOG. He smiled for the pic. He always finds us and works with us.. hahah.

We ran in super fast for pictures... hahah.

Touch screens at the Visitor Center

Family rooom

llavero

My true love

PIGGY ON THE LOOSE.

Kitties kill me

Earthquakes, TMI, and #prowalker

WELL THANKS FOR REMINDING ME ABOUT THE EARTHQUAKE.

lol... why did you hear about this one but not the other THREE that have happened in my entire mission? haha. (I had heard about the other ones, but they weren’t 7.2 earthquakes.)

But don’t worry I will give you the deets. So this week I got sick from some type of food that I ate... I don’t know what... But it gave me hardcore stomach pains and diarrhea. So I was miserable Tuesday night and wanted to die. I called Hermana Valadez in the morning and she told me to take two pills. Well these two pills made me constipated. (HOW FUN RIGHT.... actually, no. I would rather have diarrhea). And so the stomach pains kept on going... AND I couldn’t poop... and because of all the bad nights sleeps I had I got all muscle cramped and wanted to die. Because of my neck pains I got super bad headaches, which made me dizzy. So yeah this wasn’t the fun-est week ever, but I mean I worked... So I give myself credit. 

Besides being sick and miserable with walking all day every day... We had a good week! One day a youngster of 14 years came with us ALL DAY. What props. I remember NEVER wanting to go with the missionaries. Granted we didn’t have missionaries assigned to just our ward at the time and so I didn’t really know them... But I still remember we had the option of going on splits with them…which never sounded delightful. So I just was so proud of G. for coming with us. HAHA by the end of the day he was DEAD. We walked to the ends of the earth and back. I didn’t really realize that we do walk so much as missionaries. I am obviously used to it all. #prowalker  He gave good testimony and was able to help us put a baptismal date with E.!

E. is progressing super well. We saw her everyday. The day we invited to her asked God if Joseph Smith was a prophet, she did it that night. HAhA and that night.. WE (the missionaries) were in her dream. HAHA. She said we were like yelling at her to know if she was going to go to church or not... HAHAHAHAHHA FETCH. I was like “uh awkward”. But hopefully she takes it as part of her answer lolol. I don’t know why everyone thinks I yell at people. But anyway - She also went to church and liked it a lot and is adapting better to the church and everything. Her fecha is for May 3rd... WOOHOO. 2 weeks. Hopefully we can see her everyday this week to make sure she keeps this goal running and does it! Her son J. is being a turkey and is not showing interest right now.

V. also went to the Visitors Center that day and liked it a lot. But he didn’t like one thing... One of the sister missionaries asked him.... “WHY HAVEN’T YOU BEEN BAPTIZED YET?” and he didn’t like that and ignored the question and went off about how he doesn’t want us to force him to be baptized and blah blah blah. Drama. Haha. No. He is a good guy- Super willing to do whatever to change. But he WON’T pick a fecha bautismal. So that makes our work harder. Anywho. 

P. is an older guy that isn’t really understanding our message. So we are going to try and change the way we teach with him so he understands better this week.

My companion is super great and is working hard!!

Okay so about the EARTHQUAKE. It was on Friday morning. We were doing companionship study in the house and my table started to move. So I gave my comp a quick glare like “QUIT IT” because I thought he was moving it to be funny. Haha And then I realized that my chair was moving too... And he was facing me on the other side of the table... SO he couldn’t have moved my chair. That’s when I realized that the whole HOUSE WAS MOVING and so I jumped up and was like “AHHHH WHAT’S GOING ON?”. ahhahahahahah it was super funny. So we ran outside and I saw the trees and plants all moving up and down and back and forth and that movement made me motion sick and got me dizzy. SO I had to sit down. And ya. But then the cell phone service was down when I tried to call my District to find out if they were okay so I freaked out and thought they died. And since that day we haven’t had cell service in the house which makes it super complicated because we have to go to members houses at night and use their house phones.. Anyway… the earthquake was super little. No one was hurt. But man did it cause me quite the fright. I have never been awake or alert in an earthquake... So this was a first for me. 

Easter Sunday was CRAY CRAY. Everyone was drunk, lighting little demons on fire, and of course in Iztapalapa they were having a real crucifixion - So that’s super normal and cool right??? It was super nice and helped me remember the real reason of why we commemorate this day. Haha. Love apostasy. 

Sunday there were lots of investigators. Topilejo is doing super great! This week we have a Zone Conference with the President and I am excited to hear from him! Life is good.

Love you all SO MUCH!

Con Amor,

Elder Macdonald

Dog with dreads. Noooo manches.

Dogs attacking me in the street.

He's a deep sleeper, the work moves forward, and Happy Birthday to Katie!

Okay this week was a whole lot better. I struggled a little bit still, but right now I feel so much better and happy.

Satan knows our weaknesses and tries to get us down. But we can’t let him do that.

Something really crazy happened. So every night my District calls me to let me know they made it home... Then I call the Zone Leaders and let them know... Then they call the Assistants and the Assistants let the president know... So that way they know we are safe and sound every night. HAHA. Well on Tuesday night Topilejo lost all phone service. And I was freaking out okay. I knew it was going to end badly. I couldn’t communicate with my District and no one knew what had happened to me and my companion - if we were okay or not... So in the meantime, we were looking for service in our house (because we can’t leave the house past 9) the whole mission was having a panic attack... But I didn’t know this... So, I gave up and just trusted it would all be okay... MISTAKE. Haha. We planned, and went to sleep. So President was worried sick about the missionaries in Topilejo. It turns out that the other missionaries in my District had service in their house! So they were in communication with President. He called them and told them to run to a members’ house at like 11 at night while they were still on the phone with him. As they were running to a members’ house to get a car to look for us, their cell service disappeared WHILE they were on the phone with President. Imagine the chaos - it was bad. So my District went with a guy in his car to find us and see if we were in our house. When they got here we were sound asleep... So their banging on the door didn’t do anything. (We sleep deep) They went to the house of the landlady and freaked her out cause everyone thought we had been abducted. So they got the house keys from her and barged into our house finding us in our beds sound asleep... When they walked in I got up and was so confused.... “like hey... why are you guys here?”.... HAhaha. But I went back to sleep. I was tired. When the other missionaries got back to their house the President and the assistants were there!!! Ah. SO bad - at like 12 at night. They had to drive super far just to find us asleep. Needless to say everyone hates me and wants me dead. But they were understanding and got over it. But I felt super bad and super awkward. I thought I was going to get sent home. lol. 

Well that was funny right? 

Okay we have lots of great investigators that are finally progressing! yayayayay.

So many miracles happened. So E. and J. are mother and son. They are struggling a whole lot because her husband left the family for another woman and she has been a wreck. She had never progressed before because she never went to church! Her son J. had gone lots of times and had a baptismal date in March but he got depressed because of his dad and we lost contact for a while. But I never lost hope in them. I knew they were going to be baptized some day! We assigned a family to befriend them and fellowship them. They have done a fantastic job. Seriously. They invited them to General Conference and they went! E. was a little bit confused because it wasn’t live... But the prophet’s message hit her heart... J. liked it too. And yesterday they went to church again!!!! AHH. E. was confused because they talked a lot about Joseph Smith and she isn’t used to that... But they liked it. And then after the church they went with the Branch to the Temple Visitors Center!! The Visitors Center is magical and everyone that goes is baptized in their own due time. So we were stoked that they could go. I really hope they felt the spirit there. Also V. went. He is Frenchman who moved here from France. He is a crazy kid and a good man. He also went to church and liked it a lot. He ALSO went to the Visitors Center. We hope he loved it too. This week we are going to invite them all to baptism. We are hoping and praying that they have the desire to make covenants with the Lord and follow Jesus Christ. 

I know this is the only true church. I am so happy to be a member of it. I love Jesus Christ and his example. I am so grateful for his Atoning Sacrifice. I am learning to apply it better in my life. I know it is real and I know we need to trust in it. Thanks so much for your thoughts and prayers. The mission is super hard, but so fantastic. It has made me understand the Lord’s plan so much better. When you, parents, tell me that you wish I could be home with you right now but that you KNOW I can’t be - that I need to be here – it is just the same as what our Father in Heaven feels. He loves us so much and WANTS us to be in his presence. But he knows we can’t be there right now... We have to be here learning through trials and difficulties. We have to be here and learn to trust in the Atonement of Christ and endure to the end. The mission is the same. We are getting a little glimpse of life inside of our life. It’s like Inception (the movie). haha. I am so grateful for my testimony of this all. I know God loves us and wants to give us a HUGE hug. But right now we are here and we have to trust in the faith we have. We have to gain a knowledge of these things to get through the tough times. LOVE YOU ALL SOO MUCH.

Shout out to KATIE my seester. Hope your b-day is fantastic this weekend. Enjoy it!!

Con AMOR,

Elder Macdonald

The long lonely road of looking for references...

But we make it fun!

lost.

even more lost.

lots of selfies.

Selfies is a new word. Did you know?

Blowing up balloons in the Casa de Oracion!

dying

Juggling

Short and sweet - loved General Conference.

Hey family and friends!

This week was interesting but really good. Lots of strange emotions and thoughts. But hey... that’s the mission.

I was seriously so grateful for the General Conference. It was fantastic. I learned so so so much but guess what.... I am coming directly from a meeting... so I don’t have my notes. I don’t remember which one was my favorite. But I do know that both the morning sessions (Saturday and Sunday) were like personal conversations to ME. I loved it so so much. I loved what Uchtdorf said about having a attitude of gratitude. It really put into perspective to me to always be grateful for the many blessings I have received especially when hard times come. I can't feel disappointed when things don’t happen my way... because God has already given me so many wonderful blessings to be grateful for. Also I really loved Bednar’s talk about the Atonement. I don’t completely understand what he was saying... But I am excited to be able to read it and study it and apply it. I loved the talk from the Prophet also because he really put into perspective loving others. So many more great things and such great inspiration I received... But I don’t remember what more... hence I don’t know what else to write... But I LOVED THE CONFERENCE.

The greatest thing was when I went to the bathroom between the Sunday sessions and saw two of our investigators there. I was convinced that no one was going to come... BUT A MIRACLE HAPPENED and they were there with members. It warmed my heart to see them there. I am really hoping they enjoyed it and learned some valuable stuff there.

My companion is super good. Haha. I am not training Elder T., he came pre-trained. hahahaha. Quoting The District. Oh my. He is really good though. I am happy about having a Mexican comp. He is from Veracruz. That's awesome, no?? It is going to help me a lot with my Spanish. A huge blessing. I hope I can help him a lot with everything he needs. 

The other guy in my district is Elder H. and guess where he lived at BYU?? Building 9!!!!!! hahahahhahahahahhaa. But we never met. However we know lots of the same people. It is a small world when you are a Mormon. hHAha. He is a fun guy... glad he is in my District. 

Well my mind has kind of gone blank. I really love you all and hope your week was fantastic. 

Con Amor, 

Elder Macdonald

English room.

Getting slushies after conference.