Tuesday, July 28, 2020
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
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Monday, July 20, 2020
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
Monday, July 13, 2020
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!
~Elder McDonald
Saturday, July 11, 2020
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