Alex mail 07-21-2025: "I Stand All Amazed"

 

Words cannot describe all of the emotions that I have felt over this last week, and truly over the last 2 years. I am so incredibly grateful for the privilege and blessing I have been given to serve as a representative of Jesus Christ. It's gone by faster than I could have ever imagined, and I have truly grown and changed so much over these last 24 months. I would not trade these experiences and memories for anything. I have truly come to know that Jesus Christ is MY Savior, that His church truly has been restored, that His gospel and atonement truly change lives, and that God really is a God of miracles. 

There's been a phrase that constantly has gone through mind throughout my whole mission. Through both the good and the hard, I've always pondered and felt the words "I stand all amazed" stir my soul. I stand all amazed at the love of my Heavenly Father. I stand all amazed at His patience and trust, especially when He knows we have to suffer and endure trials to become more like Him. I stand all amazed at His ability to magnify our efforts and provide constant miracles, even as a very imperfect and flawed servant. And, I truly stand all amazed at the joy and redemption offered through Christ, His atoning sacrifice, and the plan of salvation. I will stand by Him forever and never fall away, and I will praise His name forever.

It was an incredible last week here in Rioverde. We started off with an amazing Zone Conference on Tuesday, got to share my final testimony with my companions and heard some amazing training from President and Hermana Castro! They are going to do so much good in this mission and the work is going to progress so much! Then we had the miracle of Leticia's baptism on Saturday! Thank you for all the prayers and fasting, I testify that God truly worked miracles in her life to help her be ready to make a covenant with God! She overcame so many trials but the joy we felt seeing her make a covenant with God made it all worth it. Sadly, our friend Abi will need a little more time to get there, but we trust completely in God's timing and know that one day soon she'll also be able to make covenants with her Heavenly Father!

I cannot express just how grateful I truly am for every one of you! You have all impacted my life and helped me keep going every step of this journey and I am so grateful for all the constant love, support and prayers! For those who would like, this upcoming Sunday (July 27th) I will be blessed with the opportunity to testify of Christ and all the experiences that I've had on my mission! All are invited! Love you all and see you soon!!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Misión México Aguascalientes!! The greatest mission on planet earth 🥹

Invitation FOR LIFE: FOLLOW CHRIST!! Do everything you possibly can each day for the rest of your life to follow the Savior! Follow Him, testify of Him, and share His light! I promise you joy beyond anything you can imagine!

**LETICIA THE GOAT**

**Rama Rioverde**

**Mision Funeral 😭**

**Shower Scorpion 😁/ Dragonfly/ Friends!**

**Last Zone Conference**

**Gonna miss la comida!!**

Alex mail: 07-14-2025: "Homestrech"

What is upppp happy Monday! Hope everyone has been having a fantastic summer! I've got one full week left as a missionary and we are sprintinggg this last 100 meters. Another week full of miracles, opposition, and God's hand in Rioverde! I feel like I've experienced every emotion possible haha, but what's kept me steady through it all truly has been my Savior Jesus Christ! My Faith has been tested and strengthened every single day, and I know without a doubt Christ has been walking by our side daily. I'm so eternally grateful for these last 2 years and the conversion to my Savior that my mission has given me! 

Overall, we've been seeing some good progress with our friends and families in teaching! It's incredible to see how while every person's situation truly is unique and different from anyone else, the gospel perfectly applies to their needs. I truly testify that whatever trials or obstacles we might face in this life, Jesus Christ and his restored gospel are the answer! Please keep Celia and her family, Delia and her family, Abi, Leticia, and Gonzalo in your prayers that they can keep progressing in the gospel and make covenants with their Heavenly Father soon! We're hopeful for the baptisms of Abi and Leticia this weekend which would be such an amazing way to finish out the mission! However regardless of the outcome I know Heavenly Father has a perfect plan for every one of us and I'm so grateful to be part of his work!

Finally we saw a huge miracle with our friend Florencio, this week! We found him a week or 2 ago, and we were finally able to find him again and teach him. While teaching about the Book of Mormon, we opened to 3^rd Nephi 11 and read Christ's first words to the people here in the ancient Americas. We talked about how he truly invited us to come unto him one by one, and the way to do so is through baptism. We then asked Florencio if he had that desire to be baptized as Christ taught and make a covenant with God. He responded, "I mean maybe it's a desire I have, but I feel like it's more like a necessity." He then accepted a date for baptism for the beginning of August and then came to church on Sunday! Please also keep him in your prayers, that he can continue progressing and complete with the true necessity that baptism and covenants are!

Love you all, and never forget the privilege and blessing it is to truly be bound to the Savior through our covenants! Have a great week!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Poncho (poncho haha) finally got a poncho today 👀👀 you already know it's got an axolotl on it haha

Invitation of the Month: FOLLOW CHRIST!! This week in finishing up “My Plan” (goals we set for after the mission) there was a prompt about what I want the rest of my life to look like. Simply put, everything I do will be to follow my Savior Jesus Christ and keep my covenants with Him. True and Everlasting joy comes from following Christ!

**Mi Templo / Mayra Got Baptized!!**

**Poncho 😲/ My Plan 🥲**

**Mango Time/  Chilaquiles/ Coca y Jello??**

**Goodrich celly/ for me Hunter 👀/ Distrito Cardenas**

Alex mail 07-07-2025: "Power of the Priesthood"

 

Heyooooo, happy 4th of July everyone! Hope y’all had a great 'merica day, haha.  We celebrated a ‘lil down here with some sparklers and by hearing some fireworks (but those go off every day in Mexico)😂. We had an awesome week and felt like we were sprinting-in-the-work, just trying to give it our all! Here are the highlights!

On Tuesday we had interviews with President and Hermana Castro, which was so special! They've both got so much energy and excitement for the work and it's contagious! They're going to do such great things here in the mission over the next 3 years and are just keeping momentum rolling with everything President and Hermana Webb were able to accomplish! In my interview with President, we talked a lot about the importance of our authority as missionaries and the power the priesthood truly brings. He invited us to really focus on promising people very specific blessings with that authority and seeking to bless others through the power of the priesthood every chance we have. It was super cool to see that as we put a bigger emphasis on those things this week, we were able to recognize so many more miracles, see the Lord complete those blessings, and help people recognize and feel the Spirit so much stronger in their lives! Never take the priesthood for granted!

Also, on Tuesday after interviews I got to run an exchange with my dawg, Elder Hales, one last time! It's been so cool to see how much we've grown over the past 2 years as missionaries and disciples of Christ! We saw an awesome miracle that night, in finding a less active member and being able to teach him and his non-member family, give him a priesthood blessing, and feel just the immense love the Savior has for them, especially while they've been passing through some very difficult challenges! I'm so grateful for the hope and joy the gospel offers to each one of us!

Other than that, everything has been going pretty well! Abi didn't end up getting baptized this week, just because she had to go out of town this last week, last minute. Keep her in the prayers, that all goes well this week with her baptism! We also have a lot of other people progressing really well.  So, send up lots of prayers that we can help a lot of people make and keep covenants with God these last 2 weeks! I love being a missionary and I love my Savior Jesus Christ! I testify this is His church with His authority, and I know that He has so many blessings waiting for each one of us! All we need to do is turn to Him! Have an amazing week!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Migada (Rioverde Quesadilla) tried one today for the first time and it was soooo good, definitely a must if you're ever in Rioverde haha!

Invitation of the Month: FOLLOW CHRIST!! What can you do this week to more fully devote yourself to Jesus Christ? How can you replace pride with humility and the faith to fully trust and follow him?

**Goodrich found a churro tree/ Migada y crepas**

**La Tierra**

**Exchanges with mi Herrera**

**Grubbin**

#missionnotes #24 "He Lives!"

#missionnotes #24 "He Lives!"

Alex mail 06-30-2025: "I'm happy because I'm here"

 

What's goodddd, how we doin? This week absolutely flew by! I'm so grateful every single day for the amazing privilege and blessing it is to be a missionary and representative of Jesus Christ! However, even more importantly, I'm so grateful for the blessing of being a disciple of Christ and member of His restored church! While my time as a missionary might not last forever, my time as a disciple and member of Christ's church will, and that brings me so much joy and hope for the future!

This week's title was actually a quote from our friend in teaching Leticia, and it really made me think. If you guys remember I've talked a little about her but basically, she's got a lot of health challenges (physical and emotional) and is passing through some pretty difficult times with her family. However, for the past 5 weeks or so she's made the effort every Sunday to come to church. We thought she wasn't going to make it this week due to some family stuff but on Sunday morning we got a call, and she said she would be there! When we saw her walk in and ask her how she was, with a big smile on her face she replied, "I'm happy because I'm here". It made me pause and think about just how much joy the gospel and church of Jesus Christ brings me, Leticia, and millions of people around the world. Sometimes I forget just how big of an impact the gospel is in my life, but as I was able to pause and reflect in that moment, I realized the gospel truly is everything to me. That's a blessing I never want to take for granted and I hope each one of us can always remember the blessing the gospel truly is!

We've made some awesome progress with a lot of the families we have in teaching and should hopefully finish the mission out with some awesome baptisms! The biggest miracle this week was with our friend Abi! She and her husband have been progressing really well but are always super busy, and so we didn't know exactly how they were feeling about baptism. However, on Sunday after church we were able to talk to Abi and she really opened up with us and shared a lot of all that she's been through throughout her life, and let's just say she's been through a lot.

However, as she was sharing all of the trials and difficulties she's experienced, she started to cry and said "I feel like I've finally found my purpose and this is where God wants me to be". There's nothing that has brought me more pure joy in my entire life than seeing God change people's lives through the gospel. I testify He knows us personally, has a plan for every single one of us, and no matter how dark the night may be, light will always come in the morning! Please keep Abi in your prayers that she will be able to continue with her desire to be baptized this upcoming Saturday, and her husband Jaciel soon after! I love you all, our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ love you, and I'll see you all soon!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Presidente y Hermana Castro!! Our new mission president and his wife, the Castros arrived this past week and they're amazing! We'll meet them in person this week, but they've got a ton of energy and are so excited to be all in here!

Invitation of the Month: FOLLOW CHRIST!! If there's one thing I could invite everyone to do after serving as a missionary this past 2 years, I would simply say Follow Jesus Christ! Give your all to Him. Be all in on keeping His commandments and covenants. Testify of Him. Study His Atonement. Share His light. Nothing else will bring you greater joy and blessings!

**Templooooo 👀**

**Mi Pres para siempre 🥹**

** Car life in Rioverde / Pan with me Goodrich**

Alex mail 06-23-2025: "Foundation of Faith"

 

Happy Monday everyone, hope y’all are doing great! I've got 30 days left to be the most consecrated, all in, and hardest working missionary I can be! It feels like yesterday when I only had 1 month in the mission haha, but regardless we're gonna finish sprinting! 

It was an awesome week full of miracles and full of rain! We got soaked almost every day, but the Lord blessed us a lot for our efforts to persevere through opposition. We faced all different types haha, some big storms, getting spammed blocked again on whatsapp😭, lessons falling through and plans changing, but through it all we saw the Lord perfectly guiding us every step of the way! We were able to have some amazing lessons with our most progressing people, able to find some awesome new people, and help put more people on date to be baptized! The biggest miracle was seeing 7 people come to church, a couple of those being families! Nothing brings me more joy on the mission than seeing people act in their faith to take big steps like coming to church and making covenants with God and I love being a firsthand witness to God's miracles in the lives of his children!

One of our friends that I haven't mentioned but deserves some recognition, is our boy Gonzalo. He came to church for the first time like 6 or 7 weeks ago after we just invited him super quickly on the street. Ever since then he has come 4 more times and is on date for baptism! The most impressive thing though is the sacrifices he has made. He’s a little bit older, probably about 70. He also can't speak super well and doesn't have a phone so communicating and teaching him has been a little difficult. And then on top of that he lives on a ranch a little ways out of Rioverde and for 5 Sundays now has walked 2 hours both ways to get to church, including this Sunday in the pouring rain! I've been truly amazed by his faith and desire to change his life and come closer to the Savior!

Also, on Sunday we had our friend Abi and her husband come to church! If you remember she grew up as a Jehovah’s Witness but a couple of years ago she and her husband started looking for a different church. She's loved everything about the church of Jesus Christ but still sometimes has some worries about changing what she's always known. However, on Sunday, after church I went to talk to her to see how it was.  She shared how even though she's heard all of the same stories about Christ we talked about, she felt that us taking about those same stories of Christ helped her reaffirm her faith and realize that this is truly where Heavenly Father wants her to be! It was a super cool testimony to me of the foundation of faith and made me realize that while I've spent the last 2 years teaching the same principles every single day, I've never felt it get repetitive. In fact, it's only strengthened my faith and love for the Savior more than I could imagine! I love this gospel, I love my Savior, and I'm so grateful to be a member of His church! Next time you feel like you might just be going through the motions, take a step back and realize how much your foundation of faith has grown!

Love you all and have an amazing week!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Cocoholico (Coca alcohólico or Coke addict) a member said my comp Elder Goodrich is a alcoholic but with Coke and it's so true hahaha

Invitation of the Month: GATHER ISRAEL!! I promise that as you seek to share the gospel every day of your life, you will be blessed with greater spiritual power, joy, peace, and strength in every single aspect of your life!

**La Lluvia**

**Playera Pic**

**Frog time/ Rhino Beetle**

**Costanzo / PT Cruiser**

**Best Mission in the game / The goats 🥹**

Alex mail 06-16-2026: "Alma 26"

 

 What's good everyone, I hope it's been a fantastic week! It was an awesome first week to my last transfer! We found out transfer news last Monday night and Elder Goodrich and I are running it back for one more here in Rioverde! We're hyped to just keep momentum rolling and hopefully we've got some big things here on the way!

Today for P-day, we had an all-the-missionaries in the state of San Luis together to be with President and Hermana Webb one last time. It's crazy that they go home in a week, I can't believe it. It was definitely tough saying goodbye for now, but I'm so grateful for the amazing experiences I've had with them and for the countless love, support, and guidance they've shown me! I'm also super excited to be able to meet President and Hermana Castro soon.  I know they'll do an amazing job as well!

Overall, the work has been going good! We've hit some opposition with some of our people on date, but it's normal in the process and I know the Lord will help us as we work through those trials and challenges that get in the way! We met an amazing older couple, Karmen and Juan Manuel.  They lived in Texas for like 50 years and actually talked with missionaries and went to church a ton in the past! They said how they've been praying and looking for a church since they feel like they haven't found the true church.  Then they mentioned that a few days later we showed up! We were able to have an amazing lesson about the restoration and the Spirit was so strong and present, testifying of the truthfulness of this gospel and church!

I won't lie knowing that this is my last transfer in the field has lowkey been rough this past week. I've been hit with all of the thoughts and emotions you could think of as I've reflected on how amazing this experience has been for the past 2 years. However, I was able to find so much comfort through prayers and the scriptures, especially through my new favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon, Alma 26. I don't think there's any better way to describe missionary work than how Ammon did in this chapter, and I invite each one of you to study it this week. I love how much he focuses on the eternal joy that can only be felt through serving God and His children, and I testify of his words in verse 35: "Now have we not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began." I testify that this truly is God's work, it is a work of joy, and even though this chapter in my life will shortly come to an end, I will serve my Heavenly Father and praise him forever! Have an amazing week and love you all tons!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Payasadas (charades) we played charades with everyone today and Pres. was cookingggg haha he's the goat.

Invitation of the Month: GATHER ISRAEL!! As we truly realize what is at stake and why the gathering of Israel is so important, any sacrifice the Lord requires of us will be worth it so that His children can have eternal life and joy with their families forever!

**Day one boys / Mi Goodrich**

**HEB Breakfast 💀/ Mexican Chick-Fil-A**

**Reppin BYU/  Rioverde Squad**

Alex mail 06-09-2025: "Bell Lap 🔔 "

Happy Mondayyyy hope everyone is doing great! It's been another awesome week and we saw so many miracles!! It was the last full week of the transfer which is wild to me I literally feel like I just got to Rioverde. 😭 So, for all my "track people" out there you know that means we just hit "bell lap." I've got 6 more weeks to give my absolute all as a full time missionary and I'm going to do everything in my power to consecrate my all to the work of the Lord and to be an effective instrument in His hands! We'll get transfer news tonight, but hopefully I'll be staying here in Rioverde for my last transfer!

The mission is gonna be full of so much change over the next few weeks haha. A bunch of goats go home this week including my old comps Elder Hunter and Elder Dominguez. We also get a new mission president in like 2 weeks which is sad but exciting! It was awesome though, on Tuesday this last week, I got to run one more exchange with my dawg Elder Dominguez. It was so much fun to be with him for one last time in the field and see just how much we've grown since our time together in Industrias, at the beginning of my mission. We were in his area - in downtown San Luis and we definitely faced a lot more rejection in the "big city" hahaha, but we grinded through it and found some awesome people! Elder Dominguez has taught me a ton about hard work and fighting through adversity and has been such an amazing example to me during my mission! Super grateful I got to run it back with him one last time!

The rest of our week here in Rioverde was so awesome! We saw so much help from the Lord, for the first time in my mission we put different people on date for baptism every single day this past week! We've just been guided over and over again to those who are ready for the gospel message! Obviously it hasn't been easy and we still face lots of opposition, but it's been awesome to see the Lord continue to deliver on His promises!  Two of the people we have on date are Abi and Leticia. Leticia has some pretty big struggles with depression and other health challenges, but has made the effort to come to church 2 weeks in a row now! The light that enters into her eyes when she's at church is so special! Abi also came to church a couple weeks ago and while she has a tonnnn of questions it's so cool to see the Spirit perfectly guiding us in our lessons with her and she's super excited to get baptized! I think a lesson the Lord has tried to teach me over and over again on the mission is that as we really just try our best to do His will, keep the commandments, and be diligent, obedient, and act in faith, we can confidently trust He will constantly work miracles in our lives! Trust in that promise this week and I promise, you'll see the Lord deliver! Love y'all and have a great week!

Love, Elder McDonald

Word of the Week: Miel (syrup) had a spicy syrup today with waffles, lowkey was not bad at all haha

Invitation of the Month: GATHER ISRAEL!! I love that president Nelson has repeatedly talked about how we truly have been reserved to come to the earth during these last days to gather Israel! What can you do this week to fulfill with that responsibility and privilege?

**My Dawg Jose Juan**

**Just your normal Shepard**

**Taquitos/ Waffle Pollo/ Been too long 👀**