1/22/2018

Hola Familia and friends this has been an absolutely insane week! Transfers came this week and my trio with Prueitt and Frederick got split up. My new companion is Elder Rosengren from Las Vegas!! He is a beast and at the same time a teddy bear. He goes home on March 1 so I will be his last companion! We are working harder than ever and I am thankful to be working with him. I have already learned so much from him that will help me out for the rest of my mission! We had an insane week. I am so tired. I kinda love it. Every time we get home we pass out within 20 minutes of entering the door! Rosy is also going to BYU Provo so it is cool to make a new friend. 

Transfers were crazy. On the day of, a huge snow storm came and a lot of people in the mission couldn’t get a ride out there. I ended up doing like 6 hours worth of driving that day due to some Elders in Kingsport that needed a ride. Honestly I just love being busy and it was a crazy adventure for us. My college time up in Utah also prepared me for driving in the snow. When it snows here Tennessee completely shuts down due to there lack of equipment in the state for salting etc etc. Elder Rosy served in Kingsport as his first area and so we toured around that and even went on a sweet minty hike. So far it is going really well. 

I am grateful for living prophets and for the historic announcement of the New First Presidency! I know President Nelson and his counselor and so forth are guided by the Lord. There is no doubt. This is the buffet of blessing. The fountain of fortune. Try it out! Love this Church and what it teaches me. 

Our first day together we taught Brandyn Myers. Please pray for him and his family. Him, his girlfriend Elizabeth, and his son Peter all want to be baptized. Brandyn is looking to move out so he can come in compliance with the Law of Chastity and Elizabeth (who smokes two packs a day) is fighting to overcome that addiction. They are very financially unstable as well. The path of discipleship and repentance has and never will be easy but we are trying our best to help them have more happiness in their lives. 

Miracle!! After meeting with Angela this week she has been having doubts about the church. She had that amazing experience at the temple in Washington DC and then during this lesson kept saying, “I just want to know from God”. After asking her some in depth questions, I remember bearing testimony about my mission and how hard and rewarding it has been. I testified of how we CANNOt forget about spiritual experiences and answers we have received, because there is always opposition. After class on Sunday, she told us that she wants to be baptized on February 3!! We were so stoked. 

Another miracle we had was when we got to sit down with Alberto Castro, one of my favorite dudes!! He is from Portugal, actually from an island chain in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean called the Azores!!! He is awesome. Served in the military, two tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and helped protect NATO leaders. He grew up Roman Catholic but did not quite agree with the teachings and practices thereof. We had a wonderful lesson with him about the Plan of Salvation! He is so prepared. I love the guy. He said that he will be baptized on February 24!!

As I come on the last leg of my mission, I cannot help but look back upon all the pains afflictions, and mercies that have come upon myself and others. It has been awesome. Honestly. It has been awesome. I love my mission because I get to walk with the Savior. Yes I have a comp, mish president, etc but in reality I am on a walk with the Savior. I know he lives and I know that he loves me and wants the best for all of us. Love y’all so much!! 

Elder Mac 

1. New District yo!!

2. Rosy boi

3. First Self Reliance Initiative class in the Kingsport Stake 

1/08/2017

Family and friends do I love all of you!!! Thanks for all the supportive emails and awesomeness I have received the past 2 weeks and just throughout my mission it has been awesome. This week I had so many crazy experiences and some very very spiritually moving moments! There are 4 people I want to talk about today and so I will keep my week at that! 

President Thomas S Monson: Our beloved prophet as you all have heard has passed away this week at the age of 90. It was quite expected on my part and I am glad he is rejoined with his wife and Savior!! It is strange to think that the teachings in which he has shared have affected me nearly my entire “childhood” life ranging from 6th grade to now. He is the prophet that called to me to be a missionary. It was really neat to see the world react to his passing over social media and in the community. All positivity from my viewpoint was derived from my observation of those areas, I did however have an amazing experience last night with the Spirit. There Is a “party” which we go to every Sunday night with this investigator family. They have a taco night every Sunday and so of course we go if we can. On this particular night, they had me take the “16 Personality Test” (super famous online, do it!) and my results came out that I was an ESFJ. Look it up. It is pretty spot on. But anyway we were talking about our personalities and we started talking about how we need to enjoy the moment more in life. It is SO easy for us to think in the past or even n the future; but staying focused on the moment is a tough task that requires practice. We talked about how the most humble people are the most grateful. We came to this conclusion talking about pride and what considers someone to be a prideful person. Many people associate Pride with someone who boasts a lot, talks a lot (especially about themselves), etc. Which is true but there are also other forms of pride. And going off of the statement above, there are also a lot of very humble people who tend to talk a lot or even dominate social situations, doesn’t mean they are prideful because they talk a lot or even about some things they’ve accomplished/done/ seen. It is almost a feeling. But anyways he told me about how Moses called himself a “meek” person. Called himself that. So does that make Moses prideful? Well, now lets look at Jesus...he called himself the Son of God and proclaimed salvation comes through him (though fact, from perspective of the Pharisees/ Sadducees/ etc it was prideful of him). But really being meek and humble has a different sense and vibe to it. Moses and Jesus were very humble and very meek especially in their expressions of gratitude. I promise y'all this conversation made more sense in person but through this I was able to talk to him about living prophets and the passing of Thomas S Monson because I distinctly remember reading something by the Huffington Post about Monson being the “nicest man in the world”. Now categorizing him as that may be biased, may or may no be accurate, but I am so grateful for his life of meekness, humility, and service to the Lord. He has taught me so much about what it means to be a follower of the Lord and how I can best honor my priesthood. He has taught me how crucial it is to follow the Spirit. Loor al Profeta! Service is what life is all about!:) 

Angela Soumastre: I know I have talked about her so much but I am going to give you her full story today! She is dating on of my homies in the ward, Brian Green, and moved from FLorida after te hurricanes to live closer to Brian and to get a new start in life. In the moving process she was having a HUGE problem with finding an apartment. She literally applied for like 50+ apartments and had no luck because she has a dog. She really wanted one that was super close to Brian but she got denied. After that, she was super stressed on finding a place that he had the impression to “pray over the Book of Mormon” that she had. She did. And immediately afterwards she received a call from the landlord of the EXACT apartment that she wanted confirming her request!! That was insane. Our first lesson with her was amazing and I remember walking out the door with her and she did the “air guitar” with me because that’s just her hahaha. It has been such a blast teaching her. Her ultimatum to being baptized was that she really wanted to go visit the Washington DC Temple. During the holidays her and Brian went on a trip. At first though, Angela went home to Florida to visit her family. She ended up seeing a lot of the “old crowd” of friends and even went to hang out with one of the girls she considered to be her best friend at a social swing dance club. Her friend, being a Jehovah’s Witness, then took her sweet time in attacking her with Anti-Mormon facts and trying to talk her out of following the Savior. This really was hard for her, because she had never faced opposition like that before and it was fro someone that she considered to be her best friend!! Doubt and confusion crept into her heart and she even told Brian she didn't think that she wanted to join the church. After Florida, they went to DC together and on the way to the temple she was praying for a confirmation of the things we had been teaching her! As they were going she remember the temple creeping over the horizon as she was on the freeway and a spiritual bomb just engulfed her entire being. She said she had never felt that way in her life and was almost moved to tears in the car! She even thought for a moment that like the AC was on but they had heat on full blast. Anyways, she had a wonderful experience and has come to know for HERSELF that this is the only true and living church of the Lord Jesus Christ. She got up and bore her testimony in Sacrament meeting yesterday and seriously it moved me to tears. Edna (the Nigerian) bore her testimony as well and so everyone was on a spiritual high note all day! Angela is such an awesome example to me and even to others whom I will talk more about now!

Brandon and Elizabeth: Brandon is probably my favorite dude on this Earth. They said I could be there children’s Godfather haha. Anyways, at this moment they are fully committed to joining the church and having a temple marriage and eternal family. We have had some really great lessons the past two weeks. They are in a tough spot currently...We are trying to help Elizabeth out a ton. She has been smoking for more than 10 years and she told me after church (after hearing the testimony of Angela) that she was going to quit “cold turkey”. Pray for her that she may have the strength to get rid of this addiction in her life! Also, she has not been divorced from her previous marriage so we are working hard on how we can get that cleared up. Brandon cannot move out because they are incredibly unstable financially so that isn’t an option; however, with the help of the ward and the Lord I know they will be able to have the blessings of the Gospel in their lives soon!! They absolutely love church and the Lord. Pray for them! 

I spent some good time setting some goals for myself spiritually, physically, and mentally. I like where I am heading. I am so thankful for the Lord! A quote from a talk I studied this week really stuck out in my studies: “The Savior’s Atonement is a conduit for the constant flow of charity from our Father in Heaven. We must choose to abide in this love in order to have charity for all.”

Love yall les amo mucho ciao 

Elder Mac. 

1/01/2018

Boy was this week nuts!!! Christmas, best gift was being able to serve the Lord at this time. I will be honest though, the holiday cheer out west destroys Tennessee. I got to talk to my family and friends for a little bit. Classic quote from that was, “Hey man, there’s even waves in Shiverpool”. Haha if anyone knows me you know what that means. We had an absolutely amazing dinner with one of my favorite family, the Wells. He is an oral surgeon so we talk a lot about that and they cooked us some fantastic Prime Rib roast. SO RICO. New Years doesn’t really feel like New Years at all out here there wasn’t too many celebrations but we are going to celebrate ourselves!!! We are going to die today from a workout with Jake the Snake.....played basketball this morning with the ward. I am still out of shape but I am coming up on my last 6 months!! Time to work out more. 

We are currently in a Trio right now which is pretty awesome. We have transfers again in 2 weeks..the changes will be super interesting and I am pretty excited for them! We are going to work hard together for the time while it lasts. We are guessing Frederick is leaving and Prueitt for sure is as well, but he will still be my District Leader! 

So many awesome experiences this week! We had a power-up exchange and I got to go with uno de mis hijos Elder Ney!! We had an awesome day. Good to see the guy again. 

My sisters who were with me in the MTC, Sister Yauney and Sister See went home this past week...We got the entire Mexico MTC crew at transfer (Vellinga and Detiege). Glorious day. 

I officially conquered the one full year I would be in the mission field! 

We are still teaching Brandyn Myers and his family that are all on date for January. We are waiting for Angela to get back in time. She should be going to the temple grounds soon! I am honestly so stoked for the holidays to be over. All the college students are gone and our other investigators! 

We also adventured all the way down to Columbia, SC to take my recent convert Edna to the temple for the first time! Her husband baptized her for those who have passed on and then I got to baptize Oduwa and Elder Frederick! Definitely something I will always remember! 

It has been an awesome week for real. Lately I have been gaining a stronger testimony about praying to the Lord with a vision and for help with the goals you set. I know that if we pray daily and with real legit intentions that the Lord will bless us! I hope that we all can develop our own visions of who we want to become for the year 2018!!! WRITE THEM. Somewhere where you’ll always see them. I will give yall my goals next week love yunz les amo Ciao

Elder Mac 

12/25/2017

MERRY CHRISTMAS YALL!!!! I hope everyone is remembering the reason for the season! Johnson City TN is still awesome and the work is going well! We opened all our presents this morning. Love yall! By the way I will be in a Trio for the next 3 weeks!! We had a mid-transfer because of all the missionaries going home! Elder Prueitt (our DL) will be with us! So stoked! Elder Detiege just got called to be a District Leader so he is peacing out!

We had some wonderful dinners last night with Brandyn Myers family and the Mathson family! 

Highlights: I went on an exchange with (straight up my role model) Elder Leavitt one of the APs! Loved it though. Seriously look up to that guy so much. He is such a homie! 

Brandon Myers, his girlfriend Elizbeth, and son Peter are all on baptismal date for next month! Angela will be getting baptized in January as well we just need to schedule with her!

We had a wonderful lesson with Sarah Platt! She told us she wants to become a member of the church! We will set her on date for next week as well! We are just so stoked with everything that is going on! 

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

I am so thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that he lives and I know that what we teach is HIS gospel and it is what HE desires for all of us to have. I love my family! 3/4 FaceTimes calls down only 1 to go! Love you all:) 

Elder Mac 

1. ZC w/ Sister 

2. Elder Leavitt and FRANK!!

3. Apt

4. Bristol Speedway 

5. Brett

6. Model 

12/18.2017

Hey yall this week was packed full of fun stuff!!! We are doing well the with the work! This area is always been pumping since I got here. It is kinda like. Flame that can just never be doused! We had tons of festivities and meetings this week tambien! Just a quick update on the work..: 

Angela: She is still coming to church and doing really well. Her baptismal date is for this coming weekend but we aren�ft sure she is quite ready. She said she has a ton of questions for us and the next time we meet with her we will have the opportunity to see when she would like to be baptized. She said that she really wants to go to the Washington DC Temple before she makes her commitment! 

Brandon and Elizebeth: these two are absolutely solid! Brandon was being taught by the other elders in our ward but since we took over the entire ward we have started teaching him! He is so solid. He absolutely loves the missionaries and really wants to improve his life. Elizabeth is his girlfriend and he introduced her to us and they both came to church this week! We set Brandon on baptismal date for January 13! 

We have a lot more investigators that are new in which we are meeting with this week! It should be a very momentous week for us:)....

The college students of ETSU are on the way out this semester so things might die down here in JC. Hopefully the energy stays. 

We had MLC this week! It was fun to see some good friends and to receive some wisdom from the leaders of the mission. We talked a lot about visions and setting goals and plans for ourselves and for everyone! I am coming up on my 6 month mark really soon....So I am diligently trying to think about where I want to be and where I want to see myself! 

CHRISTMAS PARTY! We did a skit this week and we lip synced The Chipmunk Song (Me, Sisters See & Hall, Elder Prueitt). It was absolutely legendary. Video has been taken but screen shots will suffice. We had 3 zones roll up! So awesome. My and dad I love y�fall. Definitely saw that Nacho Libre vid tho! 

We had 5 investigators roll up church! Awesomeness. I recently finished Book of Mormon! So stoked. I am going to finish Jesus the Christ this transfer. Hopefully. Just a lot I want to do this transfer. 

We had 2 really significant miracles happen this week with the gift of healing: 

#1: Brother Parker from the ward had a friend who had recently suffered from a stroke. He took us to the hospital to visit him and when we got there he was in brutal condition. He had so many wires and tubes coming in and out of him and he was out in a coma with stitches in his head. He was like a vegetable. Brother Parker asked us to give him a blessing but his head was so messed up that I couldn�ft even put my hands on his head so I just prayed over him...we left and a couple weeks later (this week) he got news that he is basically completely recovered! Doctors were astounded! I�fm so grateful for the priesthood!! God is good. We will go meet Charlie (the guy) this week! 

#2: the day after we set Brandon on baptismal date he went to the ER with an injured disk in his back and nerve damage in his hip! He asked us that night to come over and give him a Blessings he literally couldn�ft get out of bed nor move and the night before he had seemed completely normal! After the blessing we left and he said that the swelling and pain he was experiencing instantly went away and he was able to come to church! 

This week was insane! Lovin life and just trying my best:) merry Christmas family and friends! Can�ft wait to talk with the fam!!

Elder Mac