Alex mail 02-10-2025: "TAXI HUNTING🚔"

  What's gooddddd how's everyone doing? Hope you have all had another great week! It's been a wild one here in Jesus Maria with transfers last Monday! I got my new comp Elder Smith on Tuesday and he's such a dawg! He's from Bountiful, Utah.  He actually knew my trainer in DC, Elder Ingles, from before the mission, which is wild haha - shoutout to the goat! Elder Smith has jumped in with both feet since the first day he got to this area and it's been awesome to see his desire to help everyone we meet, share the light and love of Christ, and give his all in each aspect of the work! We actually have the same amount of time in the mission, which is awesome, so we'll be going home at the same time in July! It's been a little wild now having the Hermanas area merge into ours. Since we're the only missionaries in the ward now, but we've been grinding, trying to get into contact with everyone who truly wants to learn! We've seen a ton of miracles though and the work is aboutta boom! 👀

We saw some really cool miracles this week.  One was with our friend Mauricio and the other was with Benjamin! Mauricio is a reference from a family in our ward.  He's actually a family friend living with them right now and he's got such a cool desire to learn and follow Jesus Christ!  Then Benjamin was a reference from the office Elders, as he came into the office one day asking questions and wondering how he could go to church!  He shared with us this week that he felt for a long time he had lost his faith, and never wants to have that happen again.  He is so grateful for the truth he's found in the church of Jesus Christ! Both have baptismal dates for the 23rd of February and we're hopeful everything goes well.  If you can please keep them in your prayers!

We had another awesome lesson with our friend Yola and her husband and 2 kids on Saturday! They've got a wild story, they were living in Zacatecas, but ran into a ton of danger and problems with the cartels there and so they were forced to leave everything they had and come to Aguas for safety.  They shared how they've always struggled with the question of why bad things happen to good people.  Man, the Spirit was so strong in that house. We felt so much love for them as we bore testimony of the fact that Heavenly Father knew us before this life, that He is aware of our circumstances and trials during this life and will do whatever it takes to bring us back home to Him! Whenever you face trials that seem too hard to bear, remember that you were chosen for these exact moments and last days because of how faithful and devoted you were to the Lord before this world began! He knows you personally and He will help you overcome all things! Love you all and have a great week!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Taxista (taxi driver) ok crazy miracle this week, I left my phone in a taxi and right as we got out, I realized I left my phone in it. We started sprinting after it, but it sped off. Miraculously there was a Cop right on that same street and we asked him if he could help us, he said hop in and we chased the taxi down and got my phone back 😂  God is in the details everyone!

 Invitation of the Month: SHARE THE BOOK OF MORMON!! How can you brighten someone's life each day this week by sharing the joy the Book of Mormon brings? It doesn't have to be anything big or complicated, just try and Christ will magnify your efforts!

** Buffalo Wild Wings with the Boys / Mi Presidente de Rama Elder Smullin/ Elder Baughh**

**Bro robbed the stuffed animal vending machine 💀🤣/ Cherry coke in Mexico 👀 / Hasta luego Elder Valencia**

**The new Crib/ Moved un buen de boxes**

**Ciudad teran & trio life**

#missionnotes #19 "He called for their little ones"

 

 "He called for their little ones"

Alex mail 02-04-2025: "18 and 4"

 

What up, what up… happy Monday everyone, hope y’all are having a great start to February! Another fantastic week down here in the good old Jesus Maria! This week was the last week of the transfer, which is wild, especially with it being 7 weeks long! If you were wondering about the title this week, it goes along those lines.  This upcoming week I'll officially hit 18 months and only have 4 transfers left, time to grind! We found out transfer news today, and I'll be getting Elder Smith! He's got the same amount of time as me in the Mission, but I've never been super close to him or served around him much, but I'm super excited, I’ve heard lots of good things! We've got a lot of big stuff on the way here in the area, and we'll for sure have our hands full this upcoming transfer.  The Hermanas’ area, where we share the ward with, is closing.  That means our area is about to double in size, haha.  I'm super excited because I know the Lord has a plan for each one of his children and will continue to guide and direct us to those who are ready!

We saw so many miracles this week to end the transfer, including a ton of new people we're teaching, who are so prepared and ready for the gospel! Mauricio, Vianney, Benjamin, Yola, Miguel, and Frida, were all references that we received this week.  With each we had some very Spirit-filled, powerful lessons.  It was amazing to answer some of their deep questions and resolve doubts they've been carrying for so long! Something that I've loved in studying the Doctrine and Covenants this year, and teaching the restoration so many times, is that the Lord is always willing to answer us, guide us, and give us the council that we need, right when we need it! All 6 of these references are super excited to learn more about the church and make covenants with God.  A lot have already come to church!  I'm so grateful to know that the Lord is right beside us in this work, ready to bless us and provide us with so many miracles.  I promise that whatever opposition you are facing you can and will overcome with the Savior and you will receive so many miracles, blessings, and eternal joy in your lives! 

Finally, we had Leadership Council on Friday at Pres' house, which never disappoints! Amazing food as always (credit to Hermana Webb 🐐), Elder Valencia and I gave a training about gaining the confidence of the members in the work, and last, we learned a ton about teaching in the Saviors way! I realized that there's a very big difference between being ‘called to the work’ and being ‘qualified in the work!’ As we studied Doctrine and Covenants 4, I was able to see that to be ‘called to the work’ we only need to have a desire to participate.  While to be ‘qualified in the work’ we have to constantly be seeking to develop Christlike attributes! I'm so grateful for the perfect example our Savior set for us and his perfect, never-ending love!  You guys are amazing, keep seeking to become more like the Savior a little bit each day and he will do the rest! Love y’allll!!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Chuy Merry (Jesus Maria) it's the slang way to say it haha

Invitation of the Month: SHARE THE BOOK OF MORMON! This month I want to invite each of you each day to find a way to share the Book of Mormon and your testimony of it!  I promise it will change your life and the lives of many people around you!

**Fire Food!**

**Un amerix or que? // Padel Timeee // Dog drug rug**

**Giant mansion (prolly cartel lol)// Found a cybertruck 👀// Hermanas clipped us waitin for the bus**

**Consejo de Lideres**

Alex mail 01-27-2025: "Families can be Together Forever"

 

What's good, what's poppin, How we doingggg?!? Hope you are all having a great start to the week and can I just say,  ain’t no way we start February this week 😭.  I officially hit 6 months left on the mission, so you already know it's grind time! Can't wait to give it my all this last lap and see all the miracles in store! It's been another awesome week down here in Aguas so let's jump right in!

This week started off with us facing a ton of opposition, with tons of lessons falling through, everyone rejecting us on the street, and just lots of work for what seemed like not a lot of results. However, as I was able to take time to reflect and ponder on the Lord's will for us and how we could trust and rely even more on Him in those challenging moments, the words of the Lord in D&C 122 brought me a lot of comfort, hope, and even joy. When the prophet Joseph Smith was at probably one of his lowest points, trying to do everything right and build the kingdom of God on the earth but facing some of the heaviest persecution imaginable, the Lord counseled him with these amazing words. "know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?" (D&C 122:7-8). 

As I reflected on that inspired counsel from the Lord, my whole perspective switched. I began to feel so much more joy in the street, regardless of the amount of rejection that we faced, and I began to see myself constantly looking to the Savior in gratitude and faith for this amazing opportunity to be tried and tested.  I testify that no matter how low we may feel, how broken, alone, forgotten, tried, stretched, and pushed to our very limit, it is not too far for the Savior’s amazing grace and love to reach us. I know with all my heart that He is walking besides me in this great work, and I testify He is beside each one of you as well. It is purely the adversary who wants us to be sad, frustrated, angry, or feel like we are alone with no hope.  Those feelings never come from the Savior!  So, choose to look to He who is the light and life of the world, and choose to find eternal joy! I promise as soon as you reach-out, He will be there to grab you and never let you go!

And right on time, as the Lord always does, after lots of trials and opposition in the first half of the week, we saw a lot of really cool miracles to finish out the week! We were able to help our friend Abi be baptized on Friday.  It was such an amazing experience! She struggles a lot with extreme anxiety and so we weren't sure if her baptism was going to happen at the beginning of the week, but after inviting her to pray and turn her fears over to the Lord, she was able to act on her faith and make her first covenant with God! Her husband, Salvador, who got baptized about 2 months ago, was able to baptize her.  It was such a sweet experience! I testify that families truly can and will be together forever.  I’m so grateful for this blessing, to help unite families for eternity!  Then on Sunday, we saw miracles with our friend Aset coming to church for the first time and a member family bringing a friend who now lives with them!! All I can say is God is good haha, He will always deliver in His time! Keep looking up and keep trusting in Him, one step at a time! I love you all and hope that it is an amazing week for you.  Feel free to reach out if you need anything at all! Nos vemosssss!!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Fuga (let's dip) it directly translates to "leak" haha but just some slang for let's dip

Invitation of the Month: THE ONGOING RESTORATION!! I have loved studying Doctrine and Covenants and Joseph Smith History this month! I'm amazed by the faith of the prophet Joseph Smith and so eternally grateful for all the truth that has been restored through him and the early church leaders! What can you do to share that truth and show faith like they did?

**KFCCCCC / Downtown Aguas**

**Julissa Baptism (Found her in my first transfer in Mexico) / Abi's Baptism **

**Tacos with the boys/ Burger time / Del Valle Fam 🐐**

**San Luis Templo 👀/ Squirt/ Puro Servico**

**Hugo and the APs / Osuna Fam 🐐**

Alex mail 01-20-2025: "Bounce Back"

 

 Heyooooo happy Monday everyone hope y’all are having a great start to the week! It was another great one down here in Aguas, and definitely a bounce back week in lots of aspects! First of all, in the weather, after one week of colder weather we're right back to the heat and chances are that's all the cold we'll get haha. However it was also a great bounce back week work wise, in our area, in the district, in the zone, and even throughout the whole mission! We again broke the mission finding record with almost 700 people and we were able to get some really good work in with the members and help a lot of people come to church! Super grateful to know that the Lord is truly right by our side and regardless of the opposition that comes our way, we can confidently trust that we'll overcome and come back better and stronger with the Lord!

We got to do 3 exchanges this week which was a lot - but super good! One with the APs on Tuesday, one with Pabellón, and one with the Office Elders in Trojes! On Tuesday I was with the goat Elder Navarro and he's such a dawg haha. We had a ton of fun together and spent the whole day just laughing and having joy in the work and found a ton of people! Super grateful for his example to me of complete devotion to the Lord and His work! Fun fact, at one point some little kids started tossing little pebbles at us haha but as soon as I hit ‘em with some English, they were too stunned to do anything else 😂. On Wednesday I was with Elder Alston in Pabellón, and we again saw a lot of success.  But, I think my biggest takeaway was some really good conversations we had about what makes a true, Christlike leader.  I learned a lot about how I can improve! Finally on Friday with Elder Bennett in Trojes, we focused a lot on just giving our all and trusting in the Lord's plan, and we saw some really cool miracles! So grateful for the opportunity to work with and learn from so many amazing missionaries and disciples of Christ!

An amazing miracle this week was meeting our new friend Asat! He sent us a reference and as soon as we contacted, he was super eager to meet with us as soon as possible. Although we might've had a little bit of doubts or fear that he was just someone crazy, with how urgent he was, we decided to follow the Spirit and trust that God was with us as we met him. Turns out he's an 18-year-old kid who's been so well prepared for the gospel! He had so many perfect questions that led right into the restoration and the blessings of Christ's restored church on the earth today! It was amazing to see his faith and desire to follow the Savior.  I can testify that our loving Heavenly Father is preparing His children every single day to receive the message of true joy that each one of us can and must share! Keep smiling, keep looking for the good, and keep sharing this gospel and church of Joy! Love y’all, have a fantastic week!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: entrevistas (interviews) we had interviews with Pres. this week and it was super special as always! So grateful for his guidance and council for my life and missionary service!

Invitation of the Month : THE ONGOING RESTORATION!! What can you do this week to help people know personally that God has restored His true church and all His teachings to the earth again? 

**Elder Alston and I / The streets of Pabello'n**

**Mi lider Elder Navarro & the Batman trike**

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**

#missionnotes #18 "Oh How Lovely Was the Morning"

 "Oh how lovely was the morning..."

 

Alex mail 01-06-2025: "Pabellón!!"

What’s good everybody happy 2025!!! Hope everyone had a great new year and is off to a great start in all your goals and dreams this year! We had a super awesome week in the area and in the Mission as a whole, we found almost 700 new people to teach as a mission which is by far a mission record! It's amazing to see that the Lord's work continues to roll forward and that He is preparing more and more people to receive the blessings of His gospel and of the covenant of baptism!

I got to start the week off with an exchange up in Pabellón! It's a little pueblito about 30-45 minutes north of Aguascalientes.  There are 2 sets of Elders out there who are a part of our zone! I got to spend the day with Elder Wadsworth from Nevada, and he's super awesome! Definitely one of the most sweet and loving people I have ever met, I learned a ton from his example of Christlike love! We had some really good lessons, we helped an older lady who was trying to get to the hospital, walking by herself 😳, and we had some fire food with a recent convert family to celebrate New Years Eve! It brought back vibes like my Matehuala days, so you already know I was loving it!

Saturday was an awesome birthday!  My comp Elder Valencia and the APs, Elder Hunter and Elder Navarro made the day super special for me! We got some fire chilaquiles for breakfast and then we did a quick blitz in the AP’s area to help them find a lot of people, which went really well! I gotta run it back with my boy Elder Hunter for a couple hours and we just had a bunch of good laughs and saw a lot of miracles! Then for food, an awesome member took us to eat and then drove us around the whole rest of the day, going to different lessons with us! A lot of ‘em fell through, but we found a lot of really cool, prepared people - by not giving up, knocking random doors, and just persevering when plans changed! I think that is one of the biggest lessons I've learned on the mission: a lot of times, our plans fall through, and things just don't happen as we would have hoped.  However, as we continue to focus on the Lord and keep trying to press forward, He will direct us to what we truly need, and all we be ok! Thanks for all the birthday wishes this past week and for all the love and support you guys give to me.   I couldn't do it without you! Hope each one of you has an amazing 2025 and keep smiling! Love you all!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Chilaquiles (salsa nachos) basically it's a plate of nacho tortilla chips but covered in green salsa, cream, cheese, beans, eggs, and carne asada, it's soooo good hahaha

Invitation of the Month: THE ONGOING RESTORATION!! This week as we started studying the restoration and Come Follow Me, I was super amazed and grateful to know that the restoration of Christ's church continues today, and we are a big part of it! What can you do this month to share the message of Christ's restored church with everyone you meet? 

**Birthday blitz with my dawg/ Chilaquiles with the boys**  

**Mordida 💀/ Birthday lunch**

** Jesus Maria Navidad**

**New Years Surprise 💀/ Huge dog/ Making cement**

**Elder Wadsworth / Coconaranja**