Que ondaaaa how we doing
everyone?? Hope it's been another fantastic week for you guys! Winter weather
finally started to hit this week it got a little chilly! 🥶 We had a good
amount of rain and cold so at times it was a little hard to find people out in
the streets, but hey it was a nice break from the heat! It was a solid week out here in Jesus Maria! Definitely lots of times just had the vibes of
‘put your head down and grind’ haha, but at the same time those tough moments
were followed by so many miracles that make it all so worth it! I really
learned that there truly is opposition in all things but that's such a blessing
that we can never take for granted!
Started the week off on Tuesday
with Zone Conference, my first one in Aguas! It was super good as always and I
felt a major theme that stood out to me was to recognize opposition will come
but that we have to let our trust and confidence in the Lord be greater than
any trial that comes our way! Hermana Webb
talked about 2 Nephi 4, (phenomenal chapter y’all should study it 😉) and the eternal
blessing of God's grace. President
talked about the Savior's 2nd coming, the importance of preparing the world for
His return, and the trials that we will face and overcome in preparation for
it! Finally, my Dawgs Elder Hunter and Navarro, our APs, talked about the
importance of Spiritual power and urgency in this great work of saving souls!
Super grateful for the blessing of Zone Conference every transfer, and all the
revelation that I'm able to receive as I seek the Lord's counsel!
On Wednesday, I had an exchange
with Elder Guerra, my ‘brother’ in the mission! We both were trained by the
same missionary in Mexico, so it was fun to finally run it up on an exchange!
He's an amazing missionary with only 8 months in the mission and he taught me a
ton about the joy and power that comes from truly showing interest, love, and
care for every single person we meet!
Finally, the second half of the
week is where the opposition really started to hit, haha. We had a ton of
lessons planned for Friday and Saturday, had members lined up all day to
accompany us, and were ready to go teach and serve everyone we met. However, on
those days, almost all of our lessons fell through and almost all the people we
met just didn't have a desire to listen or progress. I won't lie, it definitely
can be frustrating when we feel like we are doing our best to follow the Savior,
and we end up facing lots of trials and struggles. However, what I learned from
this experience is that if we are going to overcome the Craziness, opposition,
and trials of this world, we have to learn how to completely rely on the Savior
in all things and trust in His plan - more than our own! As Elder Valencia and
I humbled ourselves and seek to turn our all over to the Lord, and do our best,
we began to align our view with the Lord's and see Miracles!
Two of those big miracles were
Jorge and Carlos and his family! Jorge sent us a reference from Facebook and he
is easily one of the most prepared people for the gospel that I've ever met! He
kept asking great questions that led us from one point of the restoration to
another and he's been looking for the truth for a very long time! And then
Carlos and his family are actually our neighbors, who, without much convincing
needed, came to church on Sunday! I can truly testify there's nothing greater
than seeing a family of 5 walk into the church for the first time. I was filled with so much joy and love for
these amazing people! I testify that whatever opposition you might be facing,
whatever trial or sorrow or fear stands in your way, there truly is light at
the end of the tunnel! The Savior is right beside you and has a plan that is so
much greater than you can imagine! Give your all to him and all things will be
consecrated for your gain! Keep your head up, keep smiling, and keep following
the Savior! I love you all and hope it's a great week!
Love, Elder McDonald
Word of the Week: échame
porras (hype me up) We went bowling with Pres. and Hermana Webb
today, and let's just say there was lots of trash talk going down haha!
Invitation of the Month: THE ONGOING RESTORATION!! Something Elder Navarro mentioned in Zone Conference that really stuck out to me - is that Satan has a very good testimony that Christ is the Savior of the world. That's why he works so hard to stop us and stop His work from progressing! Do we have an even stronger testimony of the Savior and what are we doing to help His work roll forward?
*Zone Conference*
