8/21/2017

Life is good folks! I hope everyone is enjoying life in your own cool

way. August in AZ sucks! Endure to the end (of summer) hahaha. I don't

know if y'all have heard but there's this Eclipse thing happening

today throughout the whole country and it just so happens that middle

Tennessee is the best place in the entire world to be to view it!!! So

I'm stoked not going to lie! Not a crazy amount of things happened so

I'll keep this one brief:) shout out to my cousin Elijah Wade for

finishing his mission from El Salvador! All our investigators are

Salvadoreños so I'll keep it going! Cool things:

Zone Conference: So good. So many spiritual punches to the face, and

also things that edified me and others. The main focus/objective was

for us to become a "White Handbook mission". In other words, raising

our level of obedience. President Pickett created A conference layout

that totally changed the game. The Cookeville Zone (mine) and also the

Chattanooga Zone (my first Zone) all met together in Rockwood,

Tennessee. Woke up at 4:50 AM and drove 2 hours to the chapel. Super

beautiful and elevated. Not going to lie I was exhausted and Red Bull

saved my life! Another amazing focus was upon loving your companion

and having unified districts! I loved this a lot because it gave me

many ideas. Not going to lie President Pickett threw down on the

mission. He said we were an average mission and we always refer to the

mission as the "Great TKM". That was a solid punch to the face but

also definitely needed. It is very easy for a mission culture to leak

in disobedience. He talked about how distractions in life may not

always appear to be bad. For example back home, smart phones are not

necessarily bad themselves but you can allow them to distract you from

more important things in this life. How miracles will we miss if we

let ourselves get distracted or  by being disobedient? Don't miss

those miracles. They are around every corner! I also was given the

random opportunity to bear my testimony in front of two zones for some

reason. Wow, it was hard fighting back tears. I hadn't felt that way

in awhile. I testified of how I know Christ lives and how I've seen

his Atonement change others and me.

Speaking of miracles! We finally got Ivey Villanueva to church! She is

an inactive member that we found (who was not in the records) and she

brought her whole family to church! It became apparent that the

husband didn't really want to stay and Ivey was getting a little

bored.....but.....their KIDS🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼🙏🏼 absolutely loved church!!

They didn't want to leave. So they all stayed all 3 hours and it was

legit!

This past week was a little muerto pero lo qu pienso es que this week

is going to be unreal! We are going to be diligent and obedient and

all the above (not that we haven't been) but there are always things

we can improve on. From the last Zone Conference, my greenie fire got

a nice ignition. Grateful for that. Being in 1 area for this long can

take a toll but I'm loving the Hispanics and we are having success!!:)

we are making big goals for church Attendance next week! Miriam didn't

get to come because she doesn't like being late. Elder Ney and I are

doing are best to work in unity being Spanish and English Elders and

only teaching Spanish. I've been taking him to English areas as well!

That's all I go for this week! Love yunz Les amo Ciao Pescao

Elder Mac

1-4: Peachy's Birthday

5: Buzz Lightyear

6: Guapo

7: Parley Pratt

8-12: Eclipse Party (more pics coming) Texas Brisket!!

 

 

8/14/2017

Familia how it goes for all those back yonder Oeste, ustedes parecen

tan triste especialmente con la comienza de escuela jajajaja! This

week was pretty sweet not going to lie. I will give you a money update

on some of the investigators this week and some of the action out here

in the South.

Monserrat Castillo: I might have elaborated on her already but

basically she is an eternigator because her less active boyfriend

(have2 kids) and her won't get married for reasons of the unknown. She

isn't baptized and it is a difficult subject for her because she knows

what she needs to do. We met with her two days this week and we read

with her 2 Nephi 31 and talked to her about the importance of obeying

God's commandments and then she listened to a talk by President Eyring

called "Este Dia". Really trying to help her have the faith to talk

with her boyfriend about making steps towards an eternal family. The

BF has no testimony and so we really want to meet with him and teach.

Prayers all day every day.

Ramon Rodriguez: Honestly this is one of my favorite people I have met

on my mission. Ramon is the nicest most humble hispano Ive met here

and he has a sincere desire to learn about the Gospel and learn

English! He has such a sad story. Back in November his wife had passed

away from cancer and before that she had been previously pregnant for

7 months and lost the baby as well. Sobbing both him and I talked

about are experiences relating to death and the Plan of Salvation. I

am so thankful to know that God's plan for us is to be together after

this life in his presence. That the relationships we build here are

eternal and matter to God. And now he is here with no family working

and sending money back to Mexico. He came to all 3 hours of church and

really loved it. We were teaching him awhile ago but he fell off the

wagon but eventually one of the members he works with reached out to

him and basically set an appointment for us! Miracles baby.

Miriam Nunez: Lost sheep alert!! Elder Ney and I were out contacting

on a street and we peeped across to the other side and saw a few

Hispanic little girls! We went and talked to the family and their was

Miriam (who is the Mother) and we introduced ourselves and she told us

that she is a MEMBER!! Has been inactive for a few years and was

baptized a few years ago. She is in a really tough situation right now

and we are not sure if she is going to stay in town but we went over

last night with our Branch President and we hope that will help. She

is a really nice lady but really needs the faith to take some steps in

life back to te Gospel. Will update more on her later!

Bug Fest: One of the companionships here was helping someone move from

one government project housing to another. The place was absolutely

filthy. I have never been in a hope of that magnitude of sucio. Pero

lo qué pasó es que we were moving furniture in and out and I pulled

off the back on a recliner and I Kidd yall not, the sand storm of bugs

erupted from the furniture. Someone bought us poison and so we went on

a cockroach rampage which I will not lie I felt like I got a Chopper

Gunner in Call of Duty hahaha.

Elder Ney: great guy, still adjusting to mission life, spanish, and a

crazy companion hahaha. I sometimes feel bad for him with the language

barrier but I have been taking him to English areas as well to give

him some experience! I am going to help him speak this language and to

teach the people!

We are still riding bikes:) squad pic next week!

Prophecies in 1 Nephi 13 are unreal. Give it a read. Love y'all y Les Quiero

Elder Mac

1-2: Montando bicicleta

3: Luna girl

4: Ramon :)

5: Hey KYLE

 

 

8/7/2017

This week was absolutely nuts out here in Leb Town! Hope everyone is

doing well and getting in those final vacations!! Some crazy changes

happened this week that I'll talk about later. All in all life is

pretty chill right now!

Area: so I just became the oldest missionary in my district being at

just a year out, coming on 13 months! We have two brand new

missionaries as well as 2 others who have been out 6 months or less

and another who has been out about 8 months. So this is the first time

I've had the grandpa feeling in the mission! Also our area became a

"car-share" are so they took away the 2017 Malibu and now we are on

bikes!! I love it! So much fun and getting in shape! I could also

potentially stay her for 6 or 7 and 1/2 months so time is climbing in

my 3rd area!

Trainee: speaking of grandpa, Misión lineage wise I just became one!!

My goodness what is going on hahaha. My new son is named Elder Ney,

from Peoria Arizona!!! He was called as an English Elder and knows

very little Spanish (and we only teach Spanish) and so I have the

challenging responsibilities of running an area district, training,

and teaching Spanish. Lehgo! He is a pretty cool kid and has two

sisters and is the 2nd missionary is his family! I felt bad for him a

first getting called here and speaking another language. It was pretty

rough his first week but we sat down the other day and talked a little

bit mainly because his attitude wasn't in it. Pretty understandable

when you get thrown into a Spanish Branch. I told him some things

which touched his heart and he ended up in tears and kneeling down

with me and asking the Lord for forgiveness for doubting his call.

Pray for me that I may be able to provide him with a marvelous

missionary experience his first couple weeks!

Oscar and Iveth Lopez: One of the most beautiful experiences I've had

on my mission. My companion back in Dalton, Elder Reyes, had baptized

Oscar here in Lebanon over a year ago. His wife Iveth is a return

missionary from Mexico 🇲🇽. They were sealed this Saturday in the

Nashville Temple and my companion and I had the amazing opportunity to

be in the sealing room during this sacred ordinance. It was such an

amazing experience and it was nice to feel the Spirit of the temple

again. That was the first time I've been since the Mexico City temple!

The District: the Sisters are killing it with 5 baptismal dates and us

Elders are still slacking! There's only 3 companionships in the

District but this past week since we had a new companion is each

companionship I gave a training on "How to Love Your Companion". This

week will be an interesting training so stay tuned.

This will be our first normal week of this transfer and we are hoping

to dive in with a lot of faith and hope for some miracles!! Love all

y'all , Les Quiero mucho ciao

Elder Macdonald

1. Mi Hijo y Hermano

2. Mesa Boi Alston off

3. adios Allen :(

4-9: Templo, new comp, and La Pareja del Año