Monday, December 4, 2023

Alex mail 12-4-23: "Festival of Lights🎄"

 


Happy December everyoneeeee! Ya'll excited for Christmas?? This is my favorite time of year so I'm super excited! Super grateful for the time each year to celebrate and remember our Savior Jesus Christ! This week was crazy busy and super fun but here are some of the main highlights!

We had my last new missionary training mission wide meeting this week, crazy I'm almost done with 3 months in the field! Got to share my "farewell testimony" since it was my last meeting with a lot of the people in the mission. It'll be sad to leave here I've loved it! The people, the area, all of it! I know God needed me here and has a plan for all of us! I also know Mexico is where I am needed now and so excited to get there!

We got to go to Cheesecake Factory this week because of a member and it was soooo good! Definitely the best food I've had on the mission and while it's definitely not the norm, it was such a blessing haha.

We got to help out with the kickoff for Festival of Lights this week! Elder Renlund was here to start it off and I didn't get to talk to him but I did get to see him! And his like 8 bodyguards hahaha. We got to help set everything up for their ambassador night and then we helped with parking. It was pretty cold but super fun with a bunch of elders and lightsabers 😂 . Also super cool to see like representatives from 50ish countries! The lights were beautiful definitely not as many as temple Square but still really cool!

We got Chick-fil-A again this week with Hermano Garcia, the goat!! Gonna miss my Chick-fil-a in Mexico, gotta enjoy it while I can haha.

I became an AP for the day 😎 . Just kidding not really we just did exchanges with them one day and so Elder Kenison and I got to go with Elder Awit in their area! Super awesome Elder this guy is 25, from the Philippines, served in the military for 5 years before the mission, but loves the work! I learned a ton from him about diligent and hard work but also having fun while doing it! We also went to the Amish market in their area which was hype 😁  they have some moneyyyy ham and cheese pretzel rolls things too, highly recommend!

Had a lot of really good lessons this week! Our friend Allison is progressing really well! She's the 11 year old daughter of a part member family but loves learning about the gospel and coming to church! She's really close to getting baptized and just wants to pray about it to make sure it's the right decision for her, she's so legit!

We had a ton of people come to church this week! We had 5 friends and 9 new members or returning less-active members come, so 14 total! So cool to see people show that faith and choose to come to church to grow closer to God! I'm so grateful for church and the opportunity to strengthen our faith with others each week, don't take it for granted!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week this week and a great Christmas season! If you didn't have the chance to watch the first presidency Christmas devotional I invite you all to do so! It's a great message of hope and joy from our prophet and other church leaders! Jesus Christ is our only source of true joy and lasting happiness and he is the reason for this time of year! Love you all tons, have a great week!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Helado (ice cream) No real reason for this one haha but just a fun word!

Invitation of the Month: LIGHT THE WORLD! Stole this one from the church haha but it's my favorite! Do something each day to share the light of Christ and spread joy!

*Festival of Lights*








*President and Sister Clarke*

*Scaring Acosta / Cheesecake Factory*



*Elder Ingles every night right after 9pm*






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