The language, the work, and the far away TEMPLE!!!

so being a missionary in basically another country... within the same country... is pretty interesting.

first off, every morning i now do language study, or at least attempt language study!

the language is pretty crazy. first off theres no google translate for it, i just wanted to say that because i wanted ya'll to know there are like no translation aids for the language haha. we have this one book... and our marshillese bud, andy... and thaaaats about it!

So please pray for us!  We need all the help we can get.

i've figured out how to pray in marshallese and then it will be on to bearing my testimony, but i figure if i figure out the grammar the rest will fall into place. but if i'm going to get good at it i have to struggle first!!! thats what preach my gospel says, who knew i'd ever actually use the learning the language section in there.

the work is good here, we have plenty of people to see every day, and if they dont work out one day we can just go see them the next day! we always have plenty to teach! i finally have another baptism this sunday! i've only had one my whole mission so far, so this will make two!! but we have 5 other investigators with dates so i'll get plenty of baptisms while i'm here... im pretty excited.

and last i was able to go to the temple! which is VERY VERY rare for missionaries in this mission since the closest temple is four hours away OUTSIDE of our mission boundaries, so we spent aaaaaalllll day on saturday heading to oklahoma city, the temple there was so tiny but it was so pretty, i'll send pictures soon to show you the big group of youth we went with, it was their first time!!! i was so exctited for all of them to do baptisms it was really beautiful.

its been a crazy week, i love you all so much

take care

Elder Macdonald

Hanging out with the Pacific Islanders - 2/13/14

wow my experience this past few days has been culture shock!

okay not really, the Marshallese people are pretty easy to get used to.

let me just put a few bullet points on the subject:

- shoes come off when you're in the home
- they will always have a big ol' rug for sitting on, occasionally they'll have couches but they like the floor more
- favorite meal, chicken and rice, i will be eating plenty of that
- they have a lot of parties and the parties have lots and lots of food of all kinds (including fish heads)
- its disrespectful to turn down food, which is fine because now i dont have to get groceries haha
- you don't need too much detail or ways to convince them things are true, they believe what we teach, they feel the Spirit, and they are very very humble

i'll probably be here for quite a few months, six probably or more. and i get to do language study every morning, it is so much fun. basically im in a different country too, i don't talk to many non Marshallese people anymore, so it will be weird leaving this area when i'm done!

anyway not much news to report! i do have a new testimony though of when nephi said he would like to speak plainly (2 nephi 31) but there is a lot of revelation when you teach with simplicity, because the holy ghost is the converter, so the details will come clearly through him, when you speak plainly there are multiple ways to interpret things, that way when one interprets what we teach it become their own testimony not the testimony of another. and being out here i have to speak very plainly when i teach, because just like i don't know detailed marshallese, those i teach wont know detailed english, but they all do know english, so i get the blessing to teach... plainly, just like nephi does.

i think thats alls i gots!

love you all

Elder Macdonald

The Next Chapter for Ol Elder Macdonald 1/27/14

welp... transfer calls came, and as much as i really thought i was staying in clarksville.... i'm not!
actually i'm going to an area called "marshilees 2nd" in the springdale zone (still in arkansas)
i get to hang out with the pacific islanders in arkansas! what the hey!
but evidently its one of the highest teaching and baptizing areas in the mish, so i'll have plenty of work to do up in springdale!

man i dont even know where to start with this! last week i said the lord works in strange ways but now i have proof!

so don't ever think if you're doing everything right and your plans just look like they're going to work, that the lord wont pull you to a grinding halt and change everything for you.

seriously though, i'm so excited to get a taste of a different culture, i honestly have no idea what its all going to be like, but i hear so many good things about this area, its one of the lucky ones i guess. but i guess president felt the prompting to put me somewhere where the lord will truly test me.

anyway to change the subject, i guess i should put in something spiritual! these past few weeks most the people we have taught have all had some pretty hefty trials come their way, and i have done a lot of studying from 2 nephi 2 on the subject. really showing people the need for opposition.

for if we have no opposition we have no blessings. or at least i should say we have no idea what a blessing is until we face trials.

its basic simple stuff that basically simply means everything. (woah.... deep)

but when we go through these rough trials, i truly think that that is a blessing in itself, because it gives us the opportunity to come closer to christ than we were before. because when we begin to sink in the sea like peter did, that is when we must call out to christ for him to personaly pick us back up.

so when we enjoy a good day, we enjoy it like any other good day. but when we get an average day after countless days of storm and cold and who knows what else, it makes that average day become the greatest one we've ever had. trials build even the smallest blessings, making it bring us great joy. so when we face these times of trials, be grateful that the lord trusts us with them, knowing we will become stronger in our own knowlege, but also in our faith.

anyway, thats the news.
love you all

Elder Macdonald

Milestones - 1/20/14

so i feel like i've really crossed a major point in my mission. thats why i title this milestones. i wrote a letter to my mission president all about my expereince of being in a tripanionship this last month, and i really had a good feeling about it. so here you go:

hey president,

you know, at the begining of this transfer, being in a trio was pretty rough. It wasnt much fun being the third wheel. but i feel i have been blessed with the unique opportunity to not only learn when i'm with the zone leaders, but then to teach when i'm with the alma missionaries. and i've just had this feeling lately that this was all supposed to happen for me, and that because of it i can be the missionary i'm suppose to be. i want to try even harder to find people to teach, and i want to fail and sift through plenty of potentials to find that one golden investigator. i'm not afraid of silly things anymore. Im ready to work even harder, and if i wouldn't of gone through this tough transfer, i don't think I would've been able to realize these things.

and the weirdest and coolest part was the fact that you had an impression that elder c needed to go home for his surgery, and when elder c told me you said that, i think the holy ghost then told me, that he needed to go too. but i felt it was because he had work to do back at his home, which he probably did, and i was just going to get thrown around and then put back and things would go back to normal. but thats not the case... things have changed, i just feel like i have a new purpose, and its all because i've been in the right place at the right time.  theres been a lot of those "right place right time" moments for me by the way. if i wouldnt of been in alma at certain times i would never have been able to teach certain people and bear my testimony to them, and its vice versa with fort smith. things just seem to have been working out finally for me, and i truly feel it is because i'm doing my best.

just wanted to let you know my testimony is stronger, and that the lord works in strange ways, but they sure are the greatest ways.
love you pres.


Elder Macdonald


so that was my letter... things have been tough yeah, but like i just mentioned, there have been many miracels i've been a part of. and not enourmous pillars of light that you just KNOW are a miracle, but little things like knowing if i wasn't there then i wouldn't have been able to say what i feel to a certain individual.

an example was this weekend, i could have gone back to alma with the missionaries who i have more in common with, so my p-day would be a lot more fun, being able to do stuff i'm more interested in. but i felt i needed to stay a little longer with the zone leaders, whom i don't have much in common with. and i would have to awkwardly follow around n stuff. and i prayed about if i should switch back or not, and i felt that i shouldnt so i didnt. the next morning we went and worked out and i payed 8$ for a gym pass, and i was waaaay sore when i finished, but i began talking with this cool old man, and we ended up talking about the book of mormon. and heres the cool part, the day before we did a mission prep class with the youth in the ward and one of them was at the gym that morning not even knowing we would be there. that kid had made a goal to give out 5 pass along cards this week, and he showed up out of the blue talked to the guy with me and we were able to not only give him one of those pass along cards but a book of mormon too! cool stuff like that keeps happening!

so yeah things have been tough being a third wheel, but just one of those opportunities to spread the gospel makes it all worth the while

love you all take care, stay warm!
Elder Macdonald

A Long Awaited Letter From Me - 1/13/14

welp, i haven't had a chance to write to you all in a while, i only have an hour to email peoples and i'm a well loved guy so i get a lot of pretty sweet emails!

anyway for those who dont know my companion in Clarksville Elder C had to go home on medical leave and he should be returning after that.

so for now i'm stationed in either alma arkansas with Elder B a new missioanry and Elder H his trainer, or im in fort smith arkansas with the zone leaders Elder L and Elder G.

so let me tell you the experiences i've had. when i first started with alma being in a trio i was pretty much on idle, kinda just going with the flow, because i was pretty bummed that i didnt have a comp anymore, and i didn't have much to worry about either. but at the end of that first night i was able to really bear my testimony to Elder B the new missionary because he was a little ashamed of the reason he left on his mission. so i told him that his reason was good, his reason was to set the expample for his brothers and follow the example of his dad, AND that his reason will change while he's on his mission, and he'll soon realize that people are out here waiting for his personal testimony, and because those people need HIM, its important to understand that the LORD needs him. and thats so cool to know, to have that knowlege that our heavenly father needs each specific missionary for a specific purpose, and that he knows how to use us to preach his gospel (words of mormon 1:7) it was a pretty cool experience.

so anyway i was still in idle when it came to teaching people. once i got put with the zone leaders though, things really started cranking out, that first day i was with them, we went and taught 11 lessons that day, there wasn't a moment of rest. and i spent a week with them doing those kinds of days, going on exchanges with them, they're nuts! it really got me thinking though. because i struggled with getting out of my comfort zone when it comes to finding, the zone leaders didnt go and do the normal tracting, they had a tactic they called clover tracting they went and did, where they would go and see someone and then knock on the surrounding doors. it just occured to me of how truly easy it was to get out and get stuff done, and then my thoughts were turned to what i can do to in my old area clarksville when i get back to it. i just feel ready to go and get stuff done, the reason i didnt before was because i didnt really know how because I wasn't trained to do it that way! but that doesn't matter... what i do know is that if i have a plan then the Lord can work with it and make things happen, if i dont have a plan, then how is He suppose to help me? (thats something president said, it was pretty good)

im gettin back to writing in my journal again, i'm trying to remember everything thats been going on, that way i can look back through it rather than dig through my emails, (that will never happen right?)
so anyway! hope this fills in some of those lost details, i'll get trying to write more when i can!
take care everyone!

Elder Macdonald

ice storms and praying ourselves over the hill.

this week was pretty great.  we had our first ice storm of the season, and a lot of people's power went out, but luckily ours stayed on! during an ice storm, ice will continually stack on power lines eventually ripping them down, so when an ice storm hits you're lucky to still have power!!

we weren't allowed (really encouraged not to) use our car during the weekend due to the storm, and our church got canceled too, so we were kind of stuck at the apartment all weekend due to the weather.  we only went out with members in the evenings.  but we did end up driving the car anyway (veeeeery slowly, of course). we couldnt get up a hill on this abandoned road, so we said a prayer, backed waaaay up, and then gunned up the hill and made it!   we high fived and kept trucking on down the icy roads.

we dont need to spend very much time finding people here because they just always seem to find us first! we are busy and teaching a lot of lessons.  we are working with a gal that is soon to be married, and another younger gentleman, and we have come across another gal who is less active, but wants to start coming back to church.  we were able to give her and her husband blessings, and that was really great.

also... this one very kind elderly lady was very sick and we gave her a blessing for comfort a couple weeks ago. she passed away last wednesday.   kind of a weird thought that i was the one who gave her last blessing, probably the last set of missionaries to ever see her. she was a pretty awesome lady :)

looking forward to christmas, and talking to my family.

whelp that's all I got this week.  peace out.  take care.

love

Elder Macdonald

     

Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving, and Christ's Burdens

nothing new to report this week.  taught some lessons, did some service.  i'm enjoying clarksville and my companion. it seems a lot of people here want to get into debates over religion, so i'm learning to just not engage in those debates.  we can't convince anyone, we have to let the spirit do the converting. we just do our best to share our testimonies and search for people who the lord has prepared for us to teach.  have had many great moments where the spirit is felt.  the highlight of the week was thanksgiving, so ill write about that.

ok, thanksgiving. i had three different dinners, one on wednesday which was with an awesome family that is a lot like my own, we played apples to apples and told jokes left and right, and then they had the missionaries do their classic tradition drum roll please.... we had to tell our most embarassing poop story, i was unphased by the challenge and blurted out "oh piece of cake" and proceeded with my story, my comp however didnt even know what to say where to start or how to begin, he did it though and we all laughed about it, they then told us what other missionaries said, it was soooo funny.
so thankgiving number two, the most classic red-neck feast you can imagine, food everywhere ranging from deer ham pork beef turkey chicken, over 6 different ways to prepare potatoes, 20 different pies and cakes, and the greatest fruit punch ever. tons of people just all goofin around laughing, it was just a blast!!  I just love these people.
thanksgiving number three was great too.  they had me pray and i said their name wrong (as usual), thus after i finished they all laughed at me. oops. they had some really good pudding though. after the dinner they all went and watched football while we talked about bee farming with the brother who invited us. very interesting. it was a lot of fun, and we had a lot of laughs.

It was a great day with so much to be thankful for, especially being able to serve as missionary and be with these wonderful people in clarksville.

alright i got 6 minutes left, so let me tell you the scripture i reviewed this week that was just awesome and meaningful. it's in mosiah 24 where amulon is persecuting alma and his people and after they had prayed for help, the lord says to them that he will ease the burdens that have been placed on them because of their faith, and in verse 15, it says, "the burdens which where laid upon alma and his brethren were made light"  and in the scriptures I'm using, my mom had circled the word light, and put as a side note instead of the word "light", she wrote  "christs burdens" so you could read it as "the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made "christ's burdens".   the word light does not only mean "not heavy" but it means that when we turn to christ and have him make our burdens "light" our burdens and trials dont just disappear they become HIS trials and burdens, because HE is the 'light'.  we often forget this. you can find a similar meaning in the scripture matthew 11:29-30. "take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.  for my yoke is easy, and my burden is LIGHT."   Again… another way of looking at it… the lord's burden is to be our savior.  there is so much doctrine in that one scripture, so that is my weekly message to you, to remember that the lord can and will ease our burdens if we pray and keep our covenants and stayed 'yoked' to HIM.

love you all!!
Elder Macdonald