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Sunday, October 9, 2016
Sunday, October 2, 2016
9/26/2016
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Friday, September 23, 2016
9/19/2016 "His grace is sufficient for you"
I would like to invite all of you to listen to the talk given by Brad
Wilcox at a BYU devotional in 2011 entitled "His Grace is Sufficient".
This talk is one that everyone needs to listen to. It dives into the
Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ with absolute full force.
First off, this week was a roller coaster of awesomeness. And of
course difficulty, like every week. But I learned a lot about myself
through all of the experiences I had had. Strengths and weaknesses.
Which is why I brought up the talk that dives into the Atonement,
because through the most wonderful gift that has been given to us we
have the opportunity to experience this:" And if men come unto me I
will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they
may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble
themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and
have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto
them." (Ether 12:27)
Through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I have the wonderful
opportunity to take my weaknesses, and with his help and with his
counsel I may be able to overcome any obstacle in my way. And to admit
it, one of these obstacles of mine is patience. Mainly patience with
others. But that is okay. I have a weakness, and through the Atonement
and the sufficient grace of Jesus Christ he has ALREADY helped me
become better and continues to.
I guess what I am trying to get at is I want everyone to know you can
overcome anything when You let Jesus Christ walk with you in your
life.
Anyways let me dive into my week:
Sept 12: PDAY of course. Didn't really do much during the day. Not
really much to do around here in the Carpet Capitol of the World,
especially living on a missionary budget. So we balled out all day and
had a day of "preparation". Had Popeyes for the first time. Sweet.
This sweet sister called us today, a sister who had been
excommunicated years ago, and she has a very sincere desire to come
back to the church and be baptized. We went over to her home and had
the opportunity to leave a blessing there as well. Great person. Can't
wait to work with her!!!
Sept 13: ZONE CONFERENCE!!! Zone conference is when everyone from our
zone (Chattanooga Zone) and the Mission Presidency gets together to
discuss how to become better missionaries and better people. President
Griffin is an inspired leader of God, there's no doubt. The Spirit
that man brings is unbelievable. I learned so much there, especially
about the role of the Holy Ghost. After that we picked up 3-4 new
investigators. I couldn't stop talking to ppl. Everyone we saw we
talked to, even if they blew us off, it was so fun. This city is
loaded with Latinos by the way too. It's like a mini Mexico out here
haha.
Sept 14: once again we start off every Wednesday with doing service at
Providence helping serve food to people! Always money. Today we
decided to take a different route than planned when going out tracting
through the guidance of the Spirit and we met two people. The first
guy's name was Juan Diego from Guatemala and he's about my age or
younger and we had a great first lesson with him. He spoke a different
dialect that us but still seemed to understand hahaha. We then ran
into this woman who has been a professed Catholic for almost 30 years,
and she was very interested. Most of the lessons we give are on
doorsteps because people dont usually let us in so I have gotten used
to teaching while sweating like crazy haha. Met more potentials and
investigators that day and also taught a less active fam!
Sept 15: we had another service opportunity to help set up for the
"Annual Taste of Dalton" Festival at the local art guild and met a lot
of great people, including this guy who loved football so we connected
with that right away! He couldn't believe Todd Heap is in my home ward
(Shout out to Heap)! Service is the best though, even if you aren't
proselyting. So something we have been trying to focus on was trying
to get the members more involved in the work, and the first place to
start of course is with the bishop. And coincidentally we spent almost
3 hours with him this night, and we had the opportunity to get to know
him so much more and got to serve him. We visited a new member who had
just moved in and also he needed help with some sketch property he had
bought to rent out, and then at 9:00 pm were eventually at a Circle K
having hot dogs w him hahaha, super random but a great start to
getting member presence rolling. He has an amazing conversion story as
well. Shared it with us on the way back to the church, he was in tears
just talking about how thankful he is for the knowledge and Gospel he
has in his life.
Sept 16: The highlight of my day today, even though we had some great
lessons, was the ward activity! Many Latino countries are celebrating
their independence days this weekend and there's are people in our
ward from all over. From Mexico to Honduras to Guatemala and even
Peru!!! Everyone brought table decorations, costumes, and most
importantly food!!! 'Twas a feast, and there were patriotic
performances of course too! Elder Mitchell and I sang the star
spangled banner in front of a bunch of Latinos and we got a standing
ovation, classic hahaha.
Sept 17: Some of our top, most progressing investigators names are
Ariseo and Rocio (spouses) and they just had a baby!!! So we came over
and read over The Family Proclamation with them all the way through.
The lesson was amazing, the Spirit was there, they had a lot of
comments, especially about marriage. When we talked about temples and
eternal families they were so stoked. These two have a desire to be
baptized but want to make sure they are 100% ready before they commit
to a date. We will continue to work with them, we are on their time.
They're awesome though. Also had dinner and a lesson with Hector Rios
and his family and we did the same lesson! They loved it and we had a
good time with them. Hector is in the same situation, won't commit
till he feels ready.
Sept 18: El Dia de Reposo. Ward council went well and with the help of
the bishop we focused hard on how we want to get the members active in
the missionary work. We had one investigator at Church named Karrie
Rodriguez. She was excommunicated years ago and now wants to come back
and has a very sincere desire. Stoked for her. Her husband is a less
active and he came as well and fully supports her. Tracting was so
weird today. We met an old lady who stared at us then just shut the
door, another lady then screamed at us while waving her arms "NOPE"
like 10 times hahaha, then a hardcore 85 year old baptist guy who said
"I don't listen to no one I saved" or smtn like that it was classic,
and then another old dude came out completely shirtless on the porch.
We were so confused hahaha then we knocked on a door in a straight
Hispanic neighborhood and this black guy walked out and said "didn't
expect to see me did ya" hahaha. We also taught a full lesson to this
guy named Santiago and still not sure if he understood a word we said.
Interesting day! I also finally met my ward mission leader who has
finally gotten back from a business trip to Boston. He was there since
I arrived here. His name is Hermano Sanhueza, and he is actually the
guy on the front cover of every single missionary's first packet they
receive in their mission call envelope hahaha! Celebrity tho.
This week here in Dalton I learned a lot about Christ-like attributes
including: patience, humility and diligence. Each of them are super
important in not just mish life but throughout. Though these are only
a few, these are what I'm focusing on to turn from weaknesses into
strengths. And I know through Christ's grace and I can do so. We had a
lot of adversity this week, and a few mistakes. Mainly appointments
falling through but it is another week, and it is time to make goals
and plan to conquer them. Every day is a challenge. I love it. This
work is freakin tough, but I love it. Have the best week:) Muchismas
gracias para todo del apoyo!! Les amo🙌🏼
Elder Macdonald
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