Vida Misional #8

Vida Misional #7

Drew mail 7-27-20: "Miracles and Blessings"

 Hi everyone! How was your week? I pray that each one of you is feeling the love of God in your lives and seeing His blessings each day! We have had an incredible week this week. We got to celebrate Pioneer day which was fun! Just celebrating all their sacrifices and remembering some of the great blessings and miracles God has done for them! A lot of great blessings have happened for us too this week, and I want to share some of them with you!

First of all, Elder Hafener and I went down to St. George on Tuesday to pick up two new reassigned missionaries to join us in Beaver. Since then, it has been difficult to coordinate all the work being divided between two sets of missionaries, but it has also been really good! So I have a new companion now, whose name is Elder Solano. He is from California and was serving in Guatemala (Same as my Dad!) for 4 months. I am grateful to be here with him, he does a great job at explaining principles clearly in lessons and wants to help people here in Beaver! Elder Hafener now has a new companion whose name is Elder Anderson from South Carolina and was serving in Argentina - really close to me in Uruguay! He also uses the same accent that I do which is super fun :) We all share the same house still, but have divided the stake so we each have 3 wards to work with, and we are sharing the work with Spanish speakers. It has been good to have more missionaries here, and I'm excited to see what comes from it! 

Another AMAZING thing that happened this week was that Tom got baptized on Saturday! This was such an incredible experience for me, and as we filled the baptismal font with water and got everything ready to go, I felt so happy and felt the Holy Ghost so strongly. It has been such a neat experience for me to work with Tom. He has made some big changes in his life, and has worked hard to learn and draw closer to Christ. He has been meeting with missionaries for the past 5 and a half years, and it is so incredible that I got to be here when he decided to be baptized. My testimony has been so strengthened of the importance of baptism, to keep following God and make promises with Him, and I know that it is a sign of His love for us that He enables us to do these things that allow us to have greater light, knowledge, and power in our lives. The only way we can do this is by following in the steps of the Savior, and becoming more like Him. I love that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is one of love, and progression. We take one step after another, and Heavenly Father helps us, heals us, and forgives us all along the way if we keep trying and looking to Him. 

The last thing that I want to talk about this week is a neat experience I got to have with teaching Nestor. Yep! Nestor from Uruguay!! So on Friday, the Sister Missionaries who are serving in the last area I was in in Uruguay messaged me, telling me they were going to have a lesson with him, and asking me if I could join in. I was so so excited and happy and it was one of the best things to see him again and help in one of the lessons. What is even more neat is that he has a baptismal date for August 2nd! I am so excited for him, and am amazed that Heavenly Father will answer our prayers and bless us as we keep doing our best. I have been praying for him almost every night since I left and it has been incredible to me to know that he is continuing forward and wants to be baptized. I know Heavenly Father touches hearts and performs miracles in today's world! I mean, how incredible is it that the sisters messaged me and that I have gotten to be a part in helping not only Nestor, but others come closer to Christ. 

I testify that Heavenly Father knows each one of us perfectly and answers prayers and will perform miracles in our lives if we exercise faith in Him! 

~Much Love, Elder McDonald

Vida Misional #6

Vida Misional #5

Vida Misional #4

Drew mail 7-20-20: "Good things ahead!!"

 Hi everyone!! I hope that you all have had a fantastic week! We are seeing some great things starting to happen here in Beaver, and I am really excited about it! We have some possible baptisms coming up in the coming weeks and we are receiving some great help from members and leaders in helping those in need. It has been really neat as we've worked to develop relationships with the people here, and help them to think of those who are in need of some service or support, and see the Holy Ghost inspire them to tell us to talk with someone in particular. As we have followed up on those invitations and promptings, we have seen some pretty great things happen! One experience in particular which was neat was that my companion and I had our lessons fall through one night, and we were listing our options of things to do, and he suggested we call a lady we had received a reference for. She had recently had some health problems, and now was having problems with her relationship which we didn't know about. We got to talk with her for a bit and share some things that uplifted her a little bit. So moral of the story is to follow up with spiritual impressions, and to help those who are in our thoughts. 

We also are going to be splitting our area tomorrow! woo-whoooo!! We are going to be traveling to St.George to get two more new reassigned missionaries and will be working together with them here in Beaver. I didn't think it would happen at first, but I am excited about it and know that good things will come out of it! I know Heavenly Father is helping move His work forward and we are seeing some great blessings and guidance from Him through our leaders and the Holy Ghost. I know that as we follow that guidance and put our love and faith in Him, we will be blessed!!  

Testifico que Dios está guiándonos por medio del Espíritu Santo y por nuestros líderes y las personas en nuestras vidas. Sé que Dios va a ayudarles a poder ayudar a los demás y ver más bendiciones en sus vidas.

~much love, Elder McDonald

Drew mail 7-13-20: "The blessings do come!"

 Hi everyone! How was your week? I am so thankful for the great experiences I have been able to share with my companion here in Beaver this week! We have definitely been able to see some great blessings and help from Heaven as we have been working hard and trying to help those here.

We have a stake correlation meeting each Sunday, which is done over zoom, and we are able to meet with different leaders who are working to help us in missionary work throughout the stake. This last one we had, we really pushed having lessons with members and getting to know them better, so we asked for lots of help with it, and we definitely got it! We were able to have lots of good lessons and share simple thoughts, that so often were what the people here were needing. I am so thankful for the great opportunity we have had to see how the Lord answers prayers and will direct and help us fulfill our duties if we do our part! 

We also have been able to have some neat lessons with the people we are working with. It has been a special thing to see people open up to us and be completely willing to share what they think and feel. It isn't an easy thing, but I am amazed that as they trust us, and more importantly trust in the Savior, He is able to work through us to help them. I know that He knows of everyone's needs and will help and bless us according to His will. We are starting to see some cool opportunities and miracles unfolding, and hopefully next week I will be able to report a bit more, but I want each one of you to know that Heavenly Father loves you perfectly and is aware of your efforts. If you keep doing the best you can, He will bless, guide, answer, and heal you in His time and way! I promise! 

Much Love,
~Elder McDonald

Hump Day! Halfway through the adventure!

Mission Note #13

#Missionnotes  on to month 13 - Defending Truth

Drew mail 7-6-20: "Freedom and Obedience"

 Hi everyone! How are you doing? I hope that this 4th of July was a great one for you! We were super blessed in being able to have a p-day (preparation day) and enjoyed spending time with our district, making root beer floats, messing around with Coke and Mentos, and watched the Disney movie "Coco" with the mission, it was awesome! 

This week seems to have flown by, with lots of incredible things happening! First of all, I have a new companion! His name is Elder Hafener and he is from North Carolina. He was serving in Peru for 3 months before being sent home to be reassigned here. I am so thankful to be here with him, he is a hard worker and super nice!

We have worked super hard this week and have tried to help as many people as we can, while being as obedient to the mission rules as possible, and it has been pretty neat to see the blessings that have come from that. One of the biggest has been finding an even greater joy and gratitude for being here. We have been able to have some pretty neat lessons with people here and have been having good experiences which I know are because of our efforts to be obedient!

I know it can seem like obedience is restricting at times, or is a hard thing to do, but I recently heard an analogy that I really like. Obedience is like flying a kite. We may want the kite to fly higher, and think that it would do what we want to cut the string (not be obedient,) but the result would be that the kite just falls to the ground. We need the guidance and direction to hold us in place and help us get the most out of the experience that we can. I hope that makes sense, but really what it comes down to is that Heavenly Father loves us so much and asks us to do certain things for our benefit. It isn't always easy, and can be hard to recognize the blessings or reasons sometimes, but I know that as we put our faith in Him and act in obedience, we will be blessed. He knows each one of us perfectly and has a plan for us! I know you will be happier and feel greater changes and blessings in your life as you work to be obedient to what Heavenly Father asks you to do :)

Much Love

~Elder McDonald