HELLO WORLD

WHAT A WEEK FILLED WITH BLESSINGS! I hope all are well and all are happy in this very moment. I indeed am. This Saturday, Angelica got baptised and what a baptism it was. She is literally an incredible daugher of God. Such a good Spirit of service and such a desire to share what she´s learning and feeling. How I have grown to love her and appreciate her example over these last months of her growth in the Gospel of Christ. Seeing her gain a testimony that this Church truly is Christ´s church and is truly led by Christ this day has done nothing but strengthen my testimony. There was such a joyful Spirit around her this last Saturday as she was baptised, and yesterday as she was confirmed a member of the Church and received the Holy Ghost. I know with all of my heart that her decision to entre this path of Eternal Life is blessing her even now, and will continue to be a blessing to her and her family for the rest of her life. We´re already talking with her daughter Eleanora and I know that she has felt the truth of Christ´s message just as her mother has.

Man I love the accent here! Some people we talk to have real thick Argentine accents, which a wonderful. Yes, a bit harder to understand, but still way more exciting! Every one keeps saying I speak really well which is bad for my ego, but to be completely honest, whenever any one says some thing like that, my heart automatically turns to a thankful prayer to the Lord. He has blessed me incredibly with the Gift of Tongues during these last three months, and Spanish has been a huge part of my exercising my faith here. At this point, I really want Latino companions. I know that the Lord has me speaking Spanish for a reason, and especially know that if I can perfect my Spanish, I can perfect my teaching of Christ´s Gospel - Especially to Argentine personalities. I had a teacher in the MTC tell me that we should all make a goal of being fluent in six months, and after that, make a goal to speak Spanish better than we speak English. That hit me. And that´s my goal! I know that learning the language and doing my absolute best to perfect it will bring other blessings, and especially help me bring the Lord´s blessings to the people of Argentina in a way that they can understand it as they should. Neither is the language I am learning just for my two years in another county! I know that my knowledge of the Spanish language will serve me for the rest of my life, and, more importantly, help me to serve others for the rest of my life. HOOKED ON CASTELLANO. And hooked on the Gospel in Castellano. The Lord´s work and His glory is moving foward, however slowly it needs to, but always steadily. This Gospel isn´t just for us to feel the Spirit and know that we are going to be saved after we die. This Gospel is for our lives here on earth, and for our happiness here on earth. The best and only way to have a happy, loving and secure family in through following Christ´s teachings and commandments. I testify of that. As we rely on the Lord in all that we do and utilise His teachings in all that we do, he will one hundred percent of the time bless us with joy and with strength. And for that, how much more indebted are we to Him! How many more desires we should have after seeing blessings to work harder for our Father in Heaven and show our gratitude. I know that as we tell our Father about our gratitude and then act on that gratitude, our joy will become full and we´ll need nothing more.

Bless all of you and thank you every one for your love! HALLELUJAH.

CHAU,

Elder McDonald

Apparently Elder Starr had too much asado?

Who knew you could acquire a Rolex watch for 100 pesos (less than $10) in Argentina?

Angelica's baptism!

Angelica's family

The Gospel Brings Joy ALWAYS

HELLO ALL! i HOPE THIS WEEK WAS MERRY AND FILLED WITH JOY FOR ALL. 

We had a solid week this week and I feel really good about it. I love seeing blessings from the Lord! As our Father in Heaven, the Lord wants to bless us. All we need to do is stick to the straight and narrow! This week I´ve been thinking a lot about the blessings of this Church and Gospel. I love reading in the Scriptures because of the incredible works and testimonies of Christ and His love. But even more I love the testimony that the Scriptures provide of the Gospel that Christ gave. This Gospel is such an evidence of God´s love for us - it was created for His children. And what a blessing it is to know that just as in times of old, we have apostles and a prophet guiding our lives today, and helping us understand the Gospel and what we need to do to allow it to guide our lives best in these dangerous times. These times are dangerous, and there is much to impede, but how blessed we are to have modern revelations for the dangers of these modern times! 

This week Angelica had her baptismal interview and I can´t imagine any one more ready than her to be baptised and confirmed in the Kingdom of the Lord. She is already an incredible missionary and the happiness I have from seeing the change this Gospel has brought to her life is incredible. I can´t imagine the miracles she is going to experience in the future - especially when blessed with the guidance of the Spirit! There really is no greater joy than letting others experience the joy of the Gospel that I feel in my life. I´ve not much more time but I want all to know that I one hundred percent love Jesus with all of my heart and I testify that He is the Christ. He is our Saviour, and as we learn of Him, worship Him, and follow His example, our lives will be molded and shaped in to some thing incredible. In to tools in His hands. That is all I want to be is a tool in the Hands of the Lord, because I can´t do any thing on this mission on my own. I love you all and I pray for you all! 

Chau, Elder McDonald

DOS KILOS POR CIEN PESOS

I don´t know how this happened but I took them off and there was just a hole..

Left our keys in the apartment.... I used what I learned from Man Vs Wild and used tree bark to tie two sticks together and fish the keys out of my bag. Thanks Bear Grylls.

BUEN DIA COMO ANDA QUE TAL COMO LE VA

HOOOLLAAAAAAA. I SINCERELY HOPE THAT ALL ARE WELL, ALL ARE HAPPY. And I hope that all are grateful for how the Lord blesses us day by day. I hear that California is being assaulted by El Niño this week! That´s pretty exciting, right? California sure needs it. Argentina doesn´t though! How I love the rain. My companion hates it, and I just don´t understand why. Like I guess you get all wet when it rains and there´s a lot of mud because asphault streets are about as common as neutered dogs around here, but rain is beautiful and I really like water. Maybe it´s just because of how much I like water. 

This week we taught two kids of our capa investigator Angelica who is super seguro on her baptism. Her whole family is golden, and I think all of them will definitely get baptised and experience the blessings of having an eternal family eventually - especially as they see the change the Gospel is bringing to Angelica. How I love to see the joy that Christ´s teachings are bringing to her life. She has been such an example to me of openly relying on the teachings and Atonement of Christ to help her in the problems she has. That is our message to all, and she´s taking advantage of it! This life is difficult. No one has ever had an easy life here on the earth, but for this, we have our Saviour Jesus Christ, right? How comforting is that? I absolutely know that if we utilise Christ´s Gospel in our lives, the blessings will flow! Through that Gospel, contained in the Book of Mormon we have answers to our questions, our doubts and our problems. It´s kind of like a circle actually, because the answer to all of these things is always Christ. This life is difficult, but we always have Christ right there to help us along. But we have to work at it! We have commandments to follow, and covenants to make with the Lord in order to receive the blessings that he is waiting to pour out upon us. This isn´t a life of laziness, even though laziness is easy! Just as wickedness never was happiness, niether is laziness. There´s work to do, and I absolutely know that if we work for this Gospel, if we work to show our faith and to let others see the joy that our faith brings, we will all be able to experience a joy beyond comprehension in the kingdom of God. 

Woo! Am I stoked on the Gospel or not? It is seriously for every one. No exceptions. I´m also stoked to hear that my family is happy and healthy! I love my family and I love to hear from all of you. Nothing is better than when I feel your prayers and support every day! Next week I´ll send pictures of Elder Stuart and my Man Vs Wild stick we created to fish our keys out of my bag when we locked our selves out of the pench. Until then, chau and God bless you, every one!

Nos Vemos,

Elder McDonald

FELIZIDADES

FELIZ AÑO NUEVO BLESSED FAMILY. I HOPE EVERY ONE IS SUPER STOKED ON THEIR LIVES AND ON THIS NEW YEAR OF 2016. That´s pretty weird, right? Years pass really quickly. We had to come back to the pench early on New Year´s Eve so we didn´t get attacked by any overzealous Argentines, so we took the opportunity to make a sweet Asado Yankee. Which is a barbecue. We bought ground beef, hot dogs, french fries and some killer cidro sin alcohol and killed it on the grill. Since the meat here is some how always more delicious than any meat in the US, I´m gonna be honest and say it was one of the better burgers I´ve had. Then we set off those cool little mini hot air balloon things that are in Tangled. Really popular here. Mine ran in to a telephone wire and burst in to flame, which worried us quite a lot until it went out with out further damage. Also real quick story that isn´t a big deal at all - We may have almost burned the house down trying to make the papas fritas. But like don´t worry about it at all. They were just a little freezer burned so when we dumped them in the boiling oil all the frozen water stopped being frozen and did that cool thing water does when it reacts with boiling oil and set of a beautiful fireball that that may or may not have reached our ceiling. All we wanted was some french fries and we got a bonus of early fireworks! 

But this has been a week and a half, as well as a week of many opportunities to see the Lord´s hand in this work. So my papi Elder Ozcariz Choi left me to guide this area as a missionary still in training. I may or may not have been a little worried, seeing as the last time I guided my area for a day on splits with another missionary we pretty much just got lost. But how the Lord has blessed me this week! My first few days were real rough on the planning side of things, seeing as I really hardly knew where any one lived. But Elder Stuart and I got along all right. As I continued to pray for guidance and trust in my Father in Heaven, the next few days brought about some miraculous situations of me some how knowing where to go most of the day. How grateful I am for the blessings of guidance the Lord provides to those who ask! And not just physical guidance. Heavenly Father is just that, our Father. And as a loving Father, he wants to help us as His children. As we show our desire for His help through faithful obedience to His commandments and faithful prayer, He will always provide us with what we need. 

So Elder Stuart is my new companion! He´s from Fresno, played water polo and we know like a couple of the same people from my short stay in Clovis. So that´s weird. As two Californians, we have some good common ground. He's super chill and also is some how ridiculously fast at learning the area, so that´s nice too. This companionship is also a good trial of my diligence in the language, because it is ridiculously hard to speak Spanish all the time when your companion is a Yankee. But the Lord continually blesses me with learning every day. There are so many things to be grateful for in this life, right? Try and tell me there aren´t. We have lives and families and friends and other loving people who surround us. Also God has given us a beautiful earth that provides really great food and really incredible things to look at with our really incredible eyes. I love to look at the great fields here and the spacious skies. Like Alma said, all things testify of a God. And all things testify of a loving God as well. He didn´t just give us an earth that has the bare necessities, He gave us an earth to wonder at, to learn about, and to appreciate the beauty of. And as for me, I am grateful beyond words to be here in Argentina, sharing this wonderful Gospel of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Love you all immensely and am always grateful for your support and example!

Chau,

Elder McDonald

Papas REALLY REALLY REALLY fritas!

Yay for sparkling apple cider!!

We had a sweet Asado Yankee for New Years because we had to return to the pench earky. WOO.