We go to church to be perfected in Christ, Krispy Kreme, and adjusting to changes...

WOW. Lots of things happened this week.

So did I mention I don’t like changes. I don’t know. Maybe the mission is preparing me to move from state to state every year. Who knows? Haha.

I really miss Topilejo. But, oh well.

I really also am starting to like my new area. But I don’t think I am going to be here very long. 

My new area is called Aculco. The attendance is WORSE than my branch. Haha. WUT? Only 30-50 people go every Sunday... and there are about 550 members on the records. HOW EXCITINGLY FUN! Haha. Apparently everyone is super delicate here and gets offended about everything and it’s just a mess down here. Seriously. ALL I have heard are bad things. Everyone is so negative.  And so it’s just a little bit weird. I mean I have to admit that some of the leaders have a super sarcastic sense of humor... But it’s like... they aren’t that bad???  There is so much work to be done. 

On the bright side my house is TINY and super gross and ugly and I HATE IT. jk. It’s not that bad. We did a deep clean today. But going from my mansion in the mountains to my closet in the hood hasn’t helped give me a positive outlook. 

The area is SO BIG - So big. And half of it is the richest of rich and the other half is normal or super poor. It is strange. I have never had so many REAL restaurants in my area. There is a Chilis!!! We went to go eat THERE TODAY... But it is so expensive and so I am asking permission to buy myself and my comp a lunch there next Monday with the card? What about that parents? HAha. I haven’t eaten Subway and PIZZA. ohhmg. There is even a Papa Johns!! HAha. I have only seen Dominos. NO YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT. I ate Krispy Kreeeeeemes! HAHAHA. I died. I saw it and peed and cried and ran over and the donuts are like 16 pesos which is like SOO MUCH but I didn’t care and so I ate it. SO the best thing about my area is the FOOD. Which is good because the hermanas here apparently don’t feed the missionaries. I don’t know.... Lots of crazy things happened here with the missionaries and the members and now they don’t trust us.... I don’t know. It’s a different world. One of my Zone Leaders is ELDER R. That’s super fun. I really like him and missed him.

OH my. You won’t believe it. We have some guy in our ward that is a less active that graduated.... wait for it..... FROM MOUNTAIN VIEW.... TOROS BABY.  I was shocked. Utterly. Strange no? HAHA.

We have really fun investigators. I am loving the people here even though everyone tells me I should hate them. I am thinking about doing a unity building activity. LOL. 

We should have baptisms in June. We will see about that. 

I really am happy. This week was just hard to get used to everything. I have LOTS of work to do. It should be good. I am in physical shape because my WHOLE mission I have had the hilly areas. I think he loves me or something... He also sends me to the wards with the least attendance in the mission. It’s like he thinks I am good at getting people to go to church? 

Haha.

There are lots of beautiful houses here. I am going to baptize one so they invite us over to eat. 

I am happy and adjusting. Love you all so much. The church is true. The members aren’t perfect. Get over it. That’s why we GO. To be perfected in Christ. So have patience and keep going. That’s all I have to say. 

LOVE YOU ALL.

con amor,

Elder Macdonald

#sayinggoodbyes

Love this District

 

favorite family. 

doooogy fat dog

My mansion, my clean and beautiful mansion. 

I SAW MY RABBIT FAMILY AT CHANGES AND I WAS SOO HAPPY. minus grammy and M.

big stuff.in da city

TOPILEJO IS ALL THE WAY OVER THERE IN THE MOUNTAINS. pain.

Forest

wooohoooo

the beautiful house in the hood.

SUBWAY YUMMMINESS

KRISPYKREEEEEME WUTUUUTUTUTUT. 

found a poncho in the house... hahahahha so weird.

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