Sunday, September 10, 2017

9/4/2017

Prayers to the fam out in Houston and all my missionary friends!! Hope y'all are all safe. The Hispanics here all have family out in Texas so we have been saying a lot of prayers with families here affected by the storm! Familia it has been a pretty fun week here in Lebanon. Elder Ney and I are just doing all we can to work with the potential we have. Good stories out here. We got slammed by rain 

Javier Francisco Rico: this dude. Referral from the Sisters out in Cookeville! So since we cover the whole stake we drove and hour a a half out to Monterey Tennessee to go teach him! Supposedly he wanted to be baptized after watching the Restoration DVD so we went over and did just that. We asked him what his expectations are and he was super sincere! He lives alone and is also looking to start a family! We set a baptismal date with him for September 30! 

Sheccid y Zahred Xiquin: ahhh yes. They are great. After giving their family a church tour last week and coming to church we had a lesson with them in the chapel! It went pretty well. The girls are super shy and have had a lot of trials so we are still working on trying to get them comfortable. We taught them the Restoration and showed them the DVD. Ended up putting them on date for September 17! Not super firm but hey we will keep helping this beautiful family:) 

Ivey Villanueva: literally spent 3 hours and her place and had a great time. Even had members of the Relief Society come with us! Friday is when the weather got really bad haha...but anyways long story short we were hopeful their family would come back to church this weekend but they ended up going "flojo" again. Aka didn't show. But hey we'll keep it rollin

The Good Samaritan: actually bore my testimony on this story this week. But we were biking late Thursday night out in the streets haciendo la obra de Señor. We received a few calls from the other companionships in our district that a rain storm was coming in (Harvey's leftovers)....but we continued to press on and work while we could! Eventually we decided to head back and it was lightly sprinkling. However as we were turning onto the main highway heading towards our apartment, I ran over a nail and yeppppp there goes my tire. By then it was POURING rain. So Elder Ney and I just shrugged and happily walked home waving at passing cars and enjoying getting soaked. It felt so good not going to lie. We walked for about 20 minutes until this guy, who had previously passed us in his sedan and went home to get his truck; came to our rescue and loaded up our bikes and took us home! We got to talk to him about the Gospel on the way and I believe we made a good impression. Anyways, that gave me hope for the world:) 

Church:  Miriam and the whole Xiquin family came:) Esther y Raul as well came! One fantastic thing is the Hispanics always have a "Break the Fast" on Fast Sundays so basically we just eat a ton!

Also, we are meeting with ANOTHER lost sheep. Joana Ortez is the daughter of a less active named Vilma. And Vilma's sister has been investigating the church forever. But we had a pretty good appointment with them last night:) stoked for that. 

Im sitting here just grateful to be here. I will find out on Saturday if I'm finishing Elder Nay's training or not! Stay. HAPPY LABOR DAY TRABAJADORES GUAPOS Y GUAPAS 

Elder Mac 

1-2:  Celestial Housing 
3: Bomb dinna 
4: idk 
5: Pollo y Waffles 
6: Storm
7: Miley 
8: Squaw 
9: Chucked this at Elder Peterson 











Sunday, September 3, 2017

8/28/2017

Familia,
 
Life is Good. This week was so great I just love writing these weeklies because it is another wonderful opportunity for me to count my blessings and literally name them one by one. We have had some slow days, fast days, miracles, and failures! The whole cycle baby. New announcement are member meal rule for changed so that was nice:) the work is moving along here in Leb. It has probably been the best time here in over a year missionary work wise.

New Missionary Orientation: so every missionary has to go to this so Elder Ney and I along with two other elders took off to Knoxville for this meeting. This is like the 4th time I've been to one of these meetings but every time I go it is a nice refresher! Best part was seeing friends and people I've served with! 

College: is back. We've definitely noticed a change. Cumberland University is right next to where we live! It is nice to see people my age and to talk to them about the church and their views! Also, the amount of times we get insulted or yelled at through a car window has increased dramatically hahaha. Had some guy tell us the other day we are going to hell lol roasted him. I hope y'all all will stay safe with school back in session! 

Eclipse: absolutely unreal. Pretty sure central Tennessee had the best view point in the world. We went to a members house out in the boonies and ate some bomb Texas Brisket and a ton more and enjoyed the view! It was absolutely insane. Never have seen anything like it!!! Best PDAY 

Miracle: so this week we gave Miriam Xiquin and her 3 daughters a tour of the church! Great:) we even invited the two daughters who haven't been baptized to do so. Hesitant (they're shy) but their Momma seems up for it:) absolutely love their family....but here's more. They all came to church on Sunday! It was the first time they've been back in years! They loved it and stayed for 2 hours...but here's the catch...while they were at church they got ROBBED!! 2 televisions, tablets, and $3,000 worth of Jewelry was gone all while they were at church! I couldn't believe it....but I instantly knew that the Adversary is working so diligently against this family so they can't have the blessings of the Restored Gospel...we went over with our Branch President Ueki and all the girls still had smiles on their faces and President comforted the Mom and we all were super positive! I was so impressed! After talking with them and having a bit of fun, we all went to dinner at President's house together and Miriam was really longing for a "wonderful message", so I promised her our best. We shared the "Mountains to Climb" Mormon message and talked about even the easy and hard times we can find joy as long as we rely upon Christ to help us overcome our challenges. They went home with happy hearts. Also secured their house haha. 

Ramon Rodriguez: did a mini exchange on Saturday. Elder Hess came with me to this lesson. My older brother Alex gave me this Plan of Salvation template to help teach and and we used just that! Elder Hess doesn't know Spanish so I taught half the lesson and then translated everything Elder Hess was saying! Ramon is a stud, I'm excited for him....he didn't come to church when he committed though so keep him in your prayers🙏🏼 Hess also wrecked on his bike in the middle of the rode and like destroyed his wrist pray for the man. 

Training: is tough and extremely important. Trying to set the tone for someone else's mission. I'm learning so much about myself and about how to be patient and a Christ-like person. It's been a bit difficult to gauge Elder Ney's progression especially because he cannot speak Spanish. Learning bit by bit. I'm going to focus more upon how I can get him more involved. Usually I just translate during lessons. There's just very little time to teach him the language. We are doing well though. 

Wilson County Fair: the biggest fair in Tennessee year round right here in Lebanon! 5 minutes down the road from us and right next to our church building! We went with La Familia Diaz on Friday night! It was a blast!! We went on a few rides with them and ate some FRIED OREOS! Dowww! I've never seen so many people on my mission and the amount of people who said "Mormons!" was exponentially high hahaha. 

Personal Study: One thing that always comes up is what is in the Book of Mormon that isn't in the Bible? I mean Gospel teachings wise. One thing that stood out to be is the Book of Mormon more deeply and clearing outlines the importance and gift of the Atonement. It gives is better instructions of how to come unto Christ and develop a more meaningful relationship with him! Love the Bible and the BOM! 
 
Good week. Hoping, praying, and fasting for the Lord to keep our success flowing. There's much to be done. We need to find more new investigators as well that are truly seeking for the truth! 

Les Amo love yunz Ciao

Elder Mac 

1-2: Eclipse tho
3: Would you like to hear a message?
4: Miriam y Familia  
5-8: President Pickett, comps, my son with his son with my other son 
9-10: Fair and Fried Oreos! 
11: swung on this and it eventually broke....supposedly was there for 20 years hahaha