Alex mail 06-24-2024: "Mexico Got Flooded⛈"

Hellooooo everyone! How was the weekkk?? Estamos felices?? Haha hope everyone is doing good and enjoying summer! We got hit by a ton of rain this week which was actually sooo nice! It was a nice little break from the heat haha we'll see if it keeps going and we start hitting the rainy season! Only bad side is all the streets get crazy flooded and the dirt roads just turn into straight mud haha but it's a party!

Had exchanges with my dawg Elder Whitaker this week which was super fun as always! We were in his area this time and it was the day the rain hit the most, so we were grindinggg haha! They're opening their area and so they don't have a ton of people in their teaching pool, so we did a ton of knocking and it just took me back to my D.C. days especially my first area in Odenton! Definitely some good memories of knocking for days in the rain haha good times. We found some awesome people though and saw some really cool miracles! This is God's work, we just gotta give our all and he'll do the rest!

My testimony of prayer and gratitude has grown a lot this week! We had a lot of lessons fall through and I'm sure every missionary can testify it's one of the most frustrating things on the mission haha but I found a lot of strength and comfort in prayer and gratitude! I really focused on turning those frustrating moments into moments of gratitude and just talking to Heavenly Father through prayer and it made all the difference! Every single time I chose to turn it over to him those feelings of frustration and disappointment were replaced with feelings of joy, gratitude, and hope! Next time frustrating moments or disappointments come your way, give it a try! I promise Heavenly Father will never leave us alone!

The highlight by far of the week was the baptism of Fatima on Saturday! She's so amazing and already has such an amazing testimony of the Church and of the Gospel! She's the friend of a lady in our ward who basically is a full-time missionary lol, she's always helping us out it's awesome! Ever since we met Fatima like 4 or 5 weeks ago we've seen the Spirit touch and change her heart, and now she's just so excited to be in the Church and be such a great example to her 2 little kids! The baptism was amazing and besides the water heater not working 😂 everything went pretty smoothly!

This week I've just reflected a lot on how grateful I am to be a missionary! I truly can testify it's the best decision I've ever made and the most joy I've ever felt in my life! Helping people come home to their Heavenly Father is the greatest joy we can ever experience in this life! If you want to be happy, share the gospel and see the blessings that come!

Love you guys and hope it's another fantastic week! Hasta Luego!!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: veneno de Rata (rat poison) we found this dude this week who apparently drank rat poison 💀 🤣 somehow, he's still alive lol. Dude’s kinda crazy but lowkey wants to turn his life around so we'll give him a shot lol

Invitation of the Month: SERVICE WITH A SMILE!! Last week of the month! Let's finish strong and go help those in need, pray for opportunities to serve and I promise the lord will provide!! 

 **Fatimas baptism!!**

**Panic Button/ Most green I've seen in Mexico!**

**The Floods**

**Me and Whitty / Mexico Vibes**

Alex mail 06-17-2024: "San Luis Plague"

 

What's up everyone! Hope it's been an amazing week for you all! This week was awesome we saw a ton of miracles and the work just continues to progress here in Popular which is amazing! If you're wondering about the title for this week it's because literally half our Zone got wiped out by a nasty stomach bug sickness this week 😂. Luckily Elder Nielson and I've been safe so far but it started Monday with one of our ZLs Elder Hooley and throughout the week like half the Zone got it 💀  don't worry though, basically everyone is better now haha!

We had zone conference on Tuesday! Such a spiritually uplifting meeting and so awesome to see President and Hermana Webb and all the missionaries here in San Luis! We focused a lot on the blessings of daily repentance and doing all within our power to achieve our goals and see success while completing relying on the Lord! Amazing to see how the revelation we received at Zone Conference has lined up perfectly with what Elder Nielson and I have already been trying to focus on as companions, the Spirit is truly guiding!

Had an amazing lesson with our boy Manuel this week! We found out that he had been taught the last few weeks by some other Elders and just recently moved into our area but he's golden! He's got a baptismal date for the 29th and so this week we talked about the word of wisdom and law of chastity to see if we had any problems and he accepted them both so quickly!! He has such great faith and is ready to leave behind anything that is against the commandments of God or that would prevent him from getting baptized!

Last cool miracles this week was my boy Oscar! I talked about him last week and how he's had some big problems with alcohol but this week we found out that he got an infection in his neck. The miracle of this though was that the medication he was on to help with the neck infection also helped him have no desires to drink! So now he's through the hardest part of getting off alcohol and is like 9 days without it! God truly works miracles when we have the faith in him to help us change!! But yeah, that's been about it this week, stay tuned for Fatima's baptism this upcoming Saturday! 👀  Love you guys tons and have a great week! Keep smiling and reach out if you need anything at all!

Also shoutout to my cousin Elder Casperson who finishes the mission this week! Can't believe the GOAT is done!!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: peluquería (barber shop) got haircuts today and the dude was from Dallas Texas, spoke fluent English it was so weird hahaha

Invitation of the Month: SERVICE WITH A SMILE!! How have you seen service bless your life this week?? Keep going and keep smiling!!

**We fried our shower 💀/ They're just too fire 🔥/ Drip coin pouch from Javier**

**Happy Father's day!! / Axolotl Heat 👀**

**Elder Woods my dawg / La Popularrr**

Alex mail 06-10-2024: "JAVIER THE GOAT 🌊"

 

Happy Monday everyone! How was the week? Hope you all are enjoying the summer weather and having a blast! This week actually got a little cooler here and we've heard the worst of the heat is over so hopefully it's true! It was another week full of miracles and man, each day I'm just more and more grateful to be a missionary!

OK, first off - story time haha, so every Monday night after district council we have a mission-wide devotional over zoom. And every first week of the transfer, it's a trivia game run by President Webb 😂. Let's just say it gets intense because whichever district gets the most points, President and Hermana Webb take to dinner one night during the transfer! So you already know the White-boy district was locked-in and guess who got the dub 😏 😏. We were going crazy, it was awesome haha stay tuned for updates on how dinner with President is 👀 

Had exchanges with my boy Elder Whitaker again this week and we grindeddd, it was awesome! We ran it up here in Popular and this time we had way more lessons go through and had some amazing visits with some less-active members working to help bring them back! Let me tell ya from what I've seen life inside the church is always so much happier and better than outside or anywhere else! Make your Savior, His gospel, and His church your number one priority and everything will be just fine 😁.

We had some powerful lessons with some amazing families and friends in teaching this week! I'm amazed at how the Lord has just provided so many people who are so ready for the gospel! Two that really stood out to me were with our friends Oscar and Manuel! Manuel submitted a reference to us and we met him this week and taught him the restoration! While explaining how Christ established his church and gospel during his earthly ministry, he jumped in and basically explained the apostasy to us 😂, how so many people created their own churches and changed teachings from the Bible, and how he wished there was just one book that had it all and one church that had all the teachings of Christ perfectly. You can imagine the smile on my and Elder Nielson's faces when we introduced the Book of Mormon and the restoration of Christ's true church! I'm so grateful to know that this is Christ's complete and true church once again on the earth today!

Our boy Oscar is just inspiring. He struggles a lot with anxiety and depression and because of that has resorted to alcohol most of his life. However when we first met him he told us how he believed it would be a "privilege to be baptized" and has now made it his number one priority and goal! He's put himself through some very difficult trials to get off of Alcohol this past week but he already has some of the strongest faith I've seen and is seeing miracles from it! I think we could be a little all more like Oscar, do we each view our covenants as the most important thing we could ever do on this earth? Would we view them as worth it even if we had to struggle through some of the most difficult trials we've ever faced, solely because we love the Lord that much and want to be bound to him forever?

Finally we had the baptism of our boy Javier this week! He's just the sweetest guy ever and it was such a special day! It was amazing that Elder Nielson and I got to help him all the way! From finding him, teaching him everything, and seeing his baptism and confirmation! I got to baptize him and it was definitely a moment I hope to never forget! So grateful to be part of the Lord's work in bringing Heavenly Father's children home! 

I think that's it for the week but hope you guys all have a great one! Reach out if you need anything at all! Smile, look for the good, and just give it your all every single day, the Lord's got the rest! 😁 

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Aguas (watch out/be careful!) Yes, don't worry, I know "aguas" directly translates to "waters" hahaha but here in Mexico they also say it when telling someone to "watch out" or "be careful". It's from when they used to throw all the used water out in the street haha (which they still do by the way 😂 

Invitation of the Month: SERVICE WITH A SMILE!! How'd week one of serving go? There's always someone who needs your help, everyone is struggling with something and the Savior needs you to be there for them!!

**Plaza de toros (Bull Fighting arena) / Claudia with a tree *

*Fire cans, Fire drinks / Got da fam*

*Javier *

Missionnotes #11

 

Alex mail 06-03-2024: "Run it Back!!"

 

How we doing how we doing everyone?? Hope it's been an amazing week for ya and hey if not, we've got a new week let's make this one a great one! This week we got transfer news and found out that both Elder Nielson and I are staying here in popular for one more! We also found out that "white-boy season" lives on 😂 we lost Elder Ramsay the GOAT ZL but our new Zone Leader is also American so we got the "White-boy district" again 😂. Elder Nielson and I are hyped we're just in the groove and ready to go see Miracles this transfer's gonna be awesome!

Elder Nielson and I got sick this week which was a little tough, but don't even worry we still grinded! Having a cold on the mission is just the most annoying thing ever, but luckily it only lasted a few days and we still saw the Lord help us out a ton! I think that's definitely a big lesson I learned this week, sometimes we just have to give the best we have and then trust that the Lord will make up the rest, and I promise he always does! God's got your back I promise! 🙏🙏

We had some amazing lessons with our friends in teaching this week, especially Adrian and his family, Oscar, Fatima, Anabel, another Adrian 😂, and Alejandro and Tita! I'm just amazed at the amazing people who the Lord has provided in our lives to help bring the gospel to! They're each just so ready for the hope and joy the gospel brings.  I'm just amazed daily at the Lord's ability to direct his work! Nothing better than being able to bring people the hope, joy, and light they've been looking for, being a missionary is the best!

And lastly my boy Javier has his baptism this upcoming Saturday!! He's so ready and I'm just so impressed by his faith! This week we talked about the commandments and he just kept saying "of course that makes so much sense!" Really, take time this week to appreciate how the gospel truly just makes perfect sense and all the knowledge we've been blessed with! Keep Javier in your prayers this week, that all will go smoothly with the baptism, if you can it would mean a ton! But yeah, I think that's about it, love you all and hope you each have an amazing and super fun week! Elder Nielson and I got some big goals this transfer so stay tuned, BIG things are aboutta go down in popular! 😏👀 👀  

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Campaña (Campaign) This is one of Javier's favorite words he says it all the time 😂😂 the Presidential election just happened here in Mexico and he was a big campaigner and always would remind us 😂  love the guy hahaha

Invitation of the Month: SERVICE WITH A SMILE!! This month we're focusing on turning outward with joy! Who can you serve, help, or uplift this week? I promise it will fill you with so much joy!

*I found the REAL lightning McQueen & The Fieldsssss*

*Javier hooked us up with Claudia drip 😂 & Our Ward Secretary's Rap Album 💀/ Costco Shopping Spree!*