Alex mail 10-14-2024: "Gorditas"

 

Howdy, howdy. How's everyone doing this week? Hope everyone is having a great October and enjoying the fall weather! It's started to get a little cooler in the mornings and nights here but still hot in the afternoon. Haha. I still don't believe it's October! I'm writing from Matehuala this week. We're back up for exchanges which will be super fun! So awesome to be back in an old area but more stories to come next week! Elder Hunter and I have just been having so much joy in the work these last few weeks it's been awesome! The Lord has blessed us with so many miracles and each day I'm just more and more amazed at His hand in this work! I can truly testify that this church, this gospel, and this work truly are JOY!! If you want to feel true and lasting joy, follow Jesus Christ! It's that simple!

This week started off by celebrating Elder Hunters birthday on Tuesday! My dawg hit the big 20, he's an old man 🫣😂.  For those of you who don't know haha there's a tradition here in Mexico where the person whose birthday it is, gets their face slammed into their birthday cake on the first bite haha. The members we ate with on Tuesday brought a cake and let's just say, I gave Elder Hunter a biggggg face full of cake🤣 check out the pics below to see, haha.

Got to go on exchanges with my boy Elder Dayley this week in Boulevard-2! Dayley and his comp share the ward with us so we're always around ‘em but it was awesome to spend a full day with my boy!  We went to work and just grindeddd all day but had a ton of fun doing it! We saw some really cool miracles and found some amazing people! We focused on just seeking to be charitable in all we did and even though we met some crazy people who had absolutely no idea what they were talking about and just tried bashing, we kept it cool, haha and just sought to love and testify and it was really cool! I promise that no matter how difficult it might be, as you seek to replace contention and frustration with charity, patience, and understanding, I promise that the Lord will be with you and help you grow and become more like Him in more ways than you can imagine!

Finally just wanted to share one of the coolest miracles of my mission that happened this last week! This is also the reason for this week's title, “gorditas” haha. So, basically gorditas are a type of food here, they're pretty much mini-Quesadillas, and we have a lady we're teaching who makes and sells ‘em for her work. We've been teaching her for probably a month, but she hasn't been able to come to church since she sells on Sunday and it's her busiest day. On Tuesday we stopped by her house, and she basically told us she wasn't super sure about the church or getting baptized, not because she doesn't like it or doesn't feel like it's right, but because none of her family is very interested and she doesn't want to be the only one who joins in her family. On Tuesday when she told us this, we just shared our testimonies of the church, of baptism, and of the power of prayer and invited her to pray that night, asking Heavenly Father directly if she should be baptized regardless of what her family decides. We came back on Thursday, asked how her prayer went, and she said "yeah, I prayed just like I do every day. But this time I asked Heavenly Father if I should be baptized and I got my answer. I know this is the true church and I will be baptized regardless of what my family decides". As you can imagine, our jaws basically hit the floor haha, it was sooo cool! I testify that the power of prayer is real and that if we truly have a desire to follow God and receive guidance for our lives, He will always deliver!  She came to church on Sunday and told her family that from now on, she won't work on Sundays so she can come to church! Eloisa truly is an inspiration of faith and trust in the Savior, and I hope we can all be a little more like her!

Love you all and hope you guys have a fantastic week!! Feel free to reach out if there's anything I can do for you, I gotchu!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Mordita (Bite) this is what they chant during your first bite of birthday cake right before they slam your face into it 😂!

Invitation of the Month: FOLLOW THE SPIRIT!!  How's it gone so far trying to listen to and act on the promptings of the Spirit? I promise that no matter what situation you find yourself in, as you seek to follow the promptings of the Spirit you will be guided in all you do!

**Happy Birthday Elder Hunter 🥳💀**

**Sock tie game / Exchanges with Dayley**

**Alfredo and Mireya the goats!**

Alex mai10-07-2024: "GETHSEMANE"

 

What's up everyone how we doing? Hope everyone had an amazing conference weekend! I LOVED General Conference, it was sooo good! So many amazing talks and I loved all the themes of Joy! Joy in the gospel, joy in repentance, and joy in the Savior! Along with that this week's title has a few different meanings. First of all, by far the best song in all of the sessions was "Gethsemane" by the children's choir! The Spirit was so strong and so cool to see that army of angels testifying of Christ! And as was mentioned several times in conference, I'm so grateful for the amazing gift of the Savior's atoning sacrifice and the joyful blessing of repentance! I want to reemphasize President Nelson's invitation to study the atonement these next 6 months! I promise you will gain a much deeper and personal relationship with the Savior as you do so!

We had transfers this last week and Hunter and I are running it back for a 2nd! We're super excited and are just hyped to keep the momentum going and keep seeing miracles! For the work though, it was a pretty weird week haha.  We only had about 1 & 1/2 days in our area which meant we were running to try and fit in the most important visits and lessons that we could. On Wednesday, we were at the bus station - literally all day welcoming and sending off missionaries for transfers (gotta love Latino bus time lol). On Thursday, we went back to the bus station to get all the new missionaries. Friday, we had a 9am-3pm zoom-meeting, and Saturday and Sunday we had General Conference! While it was a lot of time out of our area, we were still able to see so many miracles and have some awesome lessons with some amazing families! I testify that the Lord will magnify our efforts as we will just do our best to give him our all, whatever that might look like!

I just want to end by sharing my testimony that the Leaders of the church, the apostles and prophets are truly called from God.  They lead and direct us under God's watchful care today! Some of my favorite talks were Sister Kirstin Yee, Brad Wilcox the GOAT, President Nelson of course, Elder Patrick Kearon, and Elder Jorge Alvarado! I promise that whatever doubt or question you might have, as you diligently seek the words of the prophets, you will be guided and directed in all things! Have an amazing week and love you all so much!!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Pintura (painting) I loveddd the example of the painting in sister Yee's talk! I promise that God is not finished with you and has so much more in store than you can imagine!

Invitation of the Month: FOLLOW THE SPIRIT!! I hope everyone was able to receive revelation during conference, now the invitation is to act on it! Trust the Spirit and move forward in faith! 

**Trio Poderoso 👀/ Hour 12 of waiting in the bus station 😭**

** In da Streets / Ghostbusters Krispy Kreme**

**Amazing artwork**

#missionnotes #15 Light from the Windows of Heaven

#missionnotes #15

Light from the Windows of Heaven

 

Alex mail 09-30-2024: "Joy in the work"

 

What's good everyoneeeee! Hope it was another great week! We're already at another transfer day I can't believe it! Time just be going too fast I can't believe I'll hit 14 months next week 😭  Elder Hunter and I have just been grinding though and having so much fun! We should be running it back this next transfer so we're just gonna keep cooking!

 The highlight of this week was by far the 5 baptisms we were able to have on Sunday after church! Our friends Saira and her 2 sons William and Jordan, and then Diego and his brother Jesus! They all sacrificed a ton to get baptized, Saira wasn't married but as soon as she heard she needed to live the law of chastity to keep God's commandments, she basically kicked her boyfriend out so she and her sons could get baptized! And then Jesus and Diego were able to set the example for their parents Mayra and Jorge, who still aren't married, but are in the process of getting there, and their sons are amazing examples of faith! President and Hermana Webb were also able to be there which made it super special! Definitely a day that I will remember for the rest of my life! There's nothing better in this world than helping people come unto their Heavenly Father and make covenants with Him!

We got to do a couple more exchanges this week, one with my boys out in Sauzalito and one with Elder Dayley and Elder Sanchez here in our same ward of Boulevard!  In Sauzalito, I got to see my dawg Elder Horoba, from the MTC but, I went with his comp Elder Burke! I think that was one of the funniest exchanges I've ever gone on.  He's hilarious and had me laughing all day! With both exchanges we focused a lot on being direct and helping people see the blessings of baptism in all we do! I'm so grateful for the amazing missionaries we have in our zone it's been so amazing to work with them this past transfer and can't wait for what's on the way!!

Finally, just wanted to end with some Elder Hunter bars from the week! The first thing he said while we were contacting a super Catholic lady was "we're not here to change your religion, we're here to change your blessings. There's only one way to live with your family forever, don't miss your chance".  And the second was "Everyone always says, God is always with us and of course that's true, but what are we doing ourselves to be with God?"  These quotes from my comp really stood out to me and I can testify that they are true! This went along perfectly with my study in Come Follow Me this week.  I love the story of Christ's personal appearance in the Americas and His personal ministry!  I love that He invites each person to come unto him, one by one, until all had a personal testimony that He is our Savior! I testify that Christ is ready to give us the same opportunity, we simply have to do our part!  Don't miss your chance, now is the perfect time to be all in!  Love you all, and have a fantastic week and an AMAZING GENERAL CONFERENCE LETS GOOOOOOOO!! 🥳🥳 

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Peso (Weight) my dawg Elder Burke benched 315 before the mission 🤯 bros a tank lol

Invitation of the Month: FOLLOW THE SPIRIT!!  This week with general conference is a perfect opportunity to receive personal revelation and follow the promptings of the Spirit! I promise as you constantly seek to follow the Spirit in your life, greater miracles await!

**DAWGS / Elder BURKE**

*Baptism of Saira, William, and Jordan! / Jesus in the Americas*

*Baptism of Jesus and Diego! / Mayra, Jorge, Jesus, Diego*

*Bautismo con Todos!*

*Member made keychain  /Classic Mexico Vibes*

Alex mail 9-23-2024: "Best Lesson Ever!!"

 Feliz lunes a todos!! Hope everyone had an awesome week filled with joy and that you each were able to feel of God's love for you personally!! Another great week out here in Boulevard! The miracles just keep coming haha! 

This week I was able to go on a couple of exchanges, one on Tuesday in Popular with my dawg Elder Miller, and the other, in our area - with one of our APs, Elder Summers! It was awesome to see how much Elder Miller has grown since I first did an exchange with him at the start of his mission - like 5 months ago.  He taught me a ton about being more loving and to just be confident in all that we do! Super fun to go back to Popular again, that area will always be my home! Then, I learned a ton from Elder Summers in our exchange as well! He's such a great missionary.  I love how he never gets stressed or too caught up about the little things.  He's always just calm and relaxed and his example of trust in the Lord's plan is super inspiring! Definitely an awesome week of exchanges!

As I've focused on being more diligent in recognizing the miracles the Lord has given us, it's been awesome to see just how many there truly are around us every single day! This week we were able to find more people who are ready for the gospel, than I think I ever have in my mission before!  This didn't magically happen because of anything Elder Hunter and I did, but rather because God is able to use us as instruments in His hands!  As we've made a more diligent effort to look for and recognize miracles, we've been blessed to see more and help others come unto the Savior! If you're ever having a hard time seeing the good around you, pray for strength and help to see the miracles the Lord is blessing you with, I promise your eyes will be opened!

We had interviews with President this week, which was super special as always! I always learn a ton from him and just feel so spiritually refreshed haha! This time he shared the scripture Helaman 3:35 with me, which talks about how the righteous purified their hearts through their faith and diligence to the Savior! He shared with me how as we come to truly seek to do the Lord's will and cheerfully submit to His plan in all things, that is when we're truly able to become instruments in His hands and work miracles in the lives of others! So, I want to invite you all to do just that! Seek to align your will completely with the Lord's and I promise with time, your heart will truly be sanctified and purified!

And now for the title of this letter; Saturday night I think we had the greatest lesson of my entire mission haha! During interviews Saturday morning, President asked us if we had any lessons that night, where he could come with us.  We decided to bring him to a lesson we had planned  with an inactive sister, who's husband wasn't a member. The Spirit was so strong in the lesson, and the couple just kept sharing their desires to have a better marriage and stronger family with their 2 little daughters. We were able to testify about the atonement of Jesus Christ, the possibility and reality of eternal families, and how covenants bind us together as families and with God!  The Spirit was so strong.  It was an amazing experience getting to teach with President Webb! We were able to put the husband, Daniel on date for baptism in the middle of October and they came to church the next day and loved it!! Definitely an experience I will never forget! 

Love you all and hope it's another great week! 

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Chócalas! (Fist Bump!) We've had 2 times now this transfer where Elder Hunter has gone to give someone a fist bump, they haven't been looking, and so he tells em "Chócalas!" But they still don't do it 💀😂  people are ruthless out here lol!

Invitation of the Month: PREACH MY GOSPEL!! I love how Preach My Gospel is filled with invitations to act, followed by promised blessings! Pick a few invitations to do this week and I promise you will be blessed!!

**Mexicooooo**

**Strawberry Lemonade Arizona 👀//10/10 would not recommend the Oreo-Coca 😂// Elder Miller with da doggo // Some dude who wanted to take a pic with the Gueros 💀🤣

Daniel's Family - lesson taught with Pres 🥹

Alex mail 09-16-2024: "Día de Independencia!!

 

What's good everyoneeeee!! Hope everyone had an awesome week! Today we celebrated Independence Day here in Mexico and it was awesome! We had a huge Zone P-day and had tons of food, Mexican games, Mexican line dances, lol, played some good old futbol, sang the national anthem, and finished the day off with the classic piñatas! Definitely a day I will never forget in the mission and super fun to experience the culture! Mexico really is just the best haha!

 It was a super awesome week and Elder Hunter and I saw a ton of miracles! We had exchanges up in Matehuala on Tuesday and Wednesday, which was super fun to be back in the old area! I got to go with Elder Nygren on Tuesday and run it back with my dawg Elder Smullin on Wednesday! Elder Nygren and I had a ton of laughs and I learned a ton from his ability to make everyone smile and feel comfortable and just spread joy! And then my boy Elder Smullin is just an absolute work horse, haha, it was a ton of fun to just go out and grind like we used to! Super awesome to see the area and some of the members and friends I was teaching and so grateful for my time in Matehuala!

Something that Elder Hunter and I have been focusing on a lot is how we can increase the Spirit that we teach with, and we saw a ton of miracles from it this week! The first thing we tried was singing hymns to start and finish lessons, especially with the families that we're teaching! The Spirit was so strong, and it was amazing to see the big change something as simple as music could bring!  The other thing was saying more gratitude prayers! We always tried to just say prayers of gratitude whenever we saw miracles, and so we were constantly stopping in the street to pray, and it was special! We were able to recognize God's hand so much more and just have so much joy in the work, give it a try!

Finally, one of the biggest miracles that we saw this week was with a new family of 3 that we found! One night we had about 1 hour left of work and didn't really have much to do since some lessons had fallen through. We decided to go visit a reference we got, to see if they were home, and ended up teaching a super Spirit-filled lesson focused on the Savior and His Atonement with this amazing family! We were able to set baptismal dates with all of them, and it was just a huge miracle and testimony builder to me of just trying to give our all and trust in the Lord, even when we don't know where it might end up! I can truly testify this is the greatest work on the earth and I am so, so grateful to be a missionary! Love you all and have a fantastic week!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Grito (Shout) we gotta do the classic “Independence Day” shout for Mexico, ya already know it went crazy 😏 

Invitation of the Month: PREACH MY GOSPEL!! Another one of my favorite chapters is chapter 3! Obviously, it's the lessons we teach as missionaries, but I love how simple it makes the gospel! When we focus on teaching and building faith in the basics, our testimony will continuously grow!

**Dia de independencia!!**

**Nygren & Yolanda**

**Smullinnnn /Matehuala bulk season/ Suspender Drip 💀**

**American store run / Bee movie game 👀**

Alex mail 9-9-2024: "Happy Birthday President Nelson"

 

Happy Mondayyyy everybody! Hope everyone has had a fantastic week and is hyped for the new week! Before we get into the highlights of the week, just gotta give a shoutout to our Prophet, President Nelson for his 100th birthday today!! It's not often we have a prophet who lives to be 100 haha but with that, I just want to share my testimony real quick.  I know without a doubt that President Nelson truly is God's living prophet on the earth today! The fact that he is still leading the church perfectly at 100 years old is a huge testament to me that he truly has God's power to aid him.  But most importantly I can testify that his counsel and guidance in this crazy world is exactly what we need to be truly happy and overcome any trials that come our way! I'm so grateful to know that we have a living prophet on the earth today and that God truly does still want to speak to His children! Can't wait to hear him and the other apostles in less than a month for General Conference!

Now for the week! The miracles just keep coming hahaha! Elder Hunter and I were talking, and we felt like the song title "I Stand All Amazed" is just the perfect summary of how we have felt this week! We were able to put 5 more baptismal dates with some of our friends, giving us a total of 10, which is by far the most I have ever had at one point in my mission! And then, to top it all off we were able to have 11 people come to church on Sunday, also the highest I have ever seen on my mission! But putting aside the numbers, I cannot describe the joy that comes when seeing people walk into the church building for the first time looking for peace, hope, and strength, or the joy that comes into their lives as we help people come to truly know what the Savior has personally done for each one of us! I can testify that Elder Hunter and I are far from perfect and have lots and lots of shortcomings, but it's amazing to see how the Lord looks past all those weaknesses and blesses us immensely, if we just have a desire to try and be a Better each day! Next time that hard times or trials come your way, choose to trust that so much good is on the way, and that your Heavenly Father is preparing something even greater than you can ever imagine!

We had zone conference this week on Tuesday and it was amazing! I learned a ton from President and Hermana Webb about how we can better help people understand the importance of the atonement and coming to church which was super special! Elder Hunter and I also taught a little breakout room about the power of the Book of Mormon in conversion! It gave me the great opportunity to reflect on what the Book of Mormon truly has done for me.  I can testify that that book has changed my life! There is a reason why it's the most powerful tool in conversion, because it truly is God's own words written directly to us and for our day! If you have any doubts or questions or simply need anything at all, choose to turn to the Book of Mormon!

Also, this week I got to do an exchange with my dawg Elder Woods, out in his area in Fresnos.  We saw a ton of miracles as we sought to apply what we learned in Zone Conference, especially being even more bold about baptism and helping people understand the importance of the sacrament! We met some amazing families and we were able to put 4 more people on date to be baptized! It's amazing to see the Lord's promise be fulfilled - that the field truly is ready to harvest! It's been an amazing week and I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!! I'm so grateful for this amazing blessing I've been given and am so, so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ! I testify He lives and loves each and every one of you! Keep smiling and know God has got your back!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Prisa (Hurry/Rush) man, welcome back to the San Luis Prisa hahaha, can't tell ya the amount of times I've heard that on the street when we try to contact people lol, don't worry we’re not even fazed though, we'll just keep grinding 😏

Invitation of the Month: PREACH MY GOSPEL!! How did week 1 go of studying preach my gospel?? If you're looking for a good place to start, one of my favorite chapters is chapter 6, Christlike attributes! Tons of good stuff in there and we can always improve in these!

**Real de Catorce!**

**Mexico Independence day prep / lizard homie**

**Guatemala drip /Fancy Grilled Cheese/ Elder Horoba my dowag**

**Zone Conference!**

#missionnotes #14 Peace