Monday, January 13, 2025

Alex mail 01-13-2025: "Opposition in All Things"

 

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*


**Rosca de Reyes/ McDonald's feast & Wendy's frosty**

**Distrito Jesus Maria**

**Cerro de muerto**




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