Hey don't have to much time this week so I'm going to jump
straight into it!!! Loving life though!!! My PDAY was switched to
Wednesday for ONLY this week just because of our Half Mission
Conference!
Tuesday (Dec 6): we traveled to Farragut today for New Missionary
Orientation for Fillingim and I got to say once again every time I am
in the prescience of President Griffin I learn so much. But the
highlight of today was that Liz's baby was born!!!!!!!! We went to the
hospital and visited her and Manuel (her soon to be husband once we
get them married). It was honestly such a spiritual experience to see
such a tiny slice of heaven. The baby's name is Josemanuel!
Wednesday: We met 6 new investigators today including 3 in one family
named the Ramires's! They are super solid. Each of these investigators
we obtained using the introducing video to the Church's Christmas
Initiative: Ilumina Al Mundo. Such a beautiful tool and the message we
carry about Christmas continues to touch the hearts of others..and
mine:)
Thursday: we went on splits today and made Elder Fillingim go with a
member who knew no English whatsoever so he was pretty scared about
that, but we encouraged him and he went to visit a list of people I
had compiled for him. This is a miracle because the last guy I put on
the list named Baltazar, was a complete impression from the Lord and
wasn't near any of the others on the list. Everyone that Elder
Fillingim tried on the list wasn't home or "didn't have time" and then
he saw Baltazar and set a baptismal date with him!!! I was so stoked
for him! Meanwhile Elder Reyes and I were teaching Liz and ate pupusas
after.
Friday: we spent the ENTIRE day doing service. No lessons no nothing.
The first thing we did this morning was help clean of the new property
one of the Hermanos en nuestro barrio just bought. The best thing we
did was help Hermana Lemon pack and coordinate medical shipments in
her warehouses. She owns two medical practices and coordinates medical
missions to South and Central America. Mainly Guatemala. We were mov
no machines and equipment well over $25,000 and carrying boxes filled
(each with over 170,000 worth of antibiotics). It was increíble to
help in that effort to get things ready.
Saturday: My momma sent me a little Christmas tree but we have this
investigator family, the Ramirez Family, who didn't have a tree so
ended up giving it to them and they loved it haha, we started off
teaching only the mom but as the time went on more and more of her
Family members walked in and listened to the message of the
Restoration. So awesome!
Sunday: Liz came to church with her baby and everyone was so happy for
her. Her smile was the biggest I've ever seen it. We visited Edy Ortiz
randomly and instead of just sharing a small message we had the
impression that we were going to commit him to baptism that night, and
they were home thankfully! After reading 2 Nephi 31 and showing a
video of Jesus Christ being baptized, we invited and he accepted a
date for January 7!!!! So stoked for him. I've been working with him
since I got here! He's really grown to be a great friend as well.
Monday: spent the day contacting referrals. Nada. We traveled to
Knoxville to get prepared for the Half Mission Conference the next
day. It was pretty fun to because we stayed the night in the mission
home and President Griffin chilled with us for awhile and answered all
our questions about life and the mish and so forth. Favorite guy.
Tuesday: words cannot describe today. So I'll just share the notes I
took from this conference. We had the wonderful opportunity of hearing
from a General Authority of the Church, Elder Nielsen. He is the
Executive Director of the Missionary Department, so basically he runs
and operates everything mission related everywhere in the world. He
meets the Quorum of the Twelve on a weekly if not daily basis; and has
traveled the world in every little corner. His wife was amazing as
well. So thankful to have heard him speak. I even asked him a question
which was: "How and when did you know you were personally CONVERTED to
the gospel?" Answer was like 15 minutes long loved it so much.
Amazing.
Love you all. I'm doing so great. If any of you would like to send me
anything for Christmas my address is :
1403 Mack Street Apt#A
Dalton, Georgia 30720
Feliz Navidad 🎄🎁
Elder Macdonald
