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.

                       

FELIZ AÑO NUEVO

HELLO LOVED ONES. MAN ISN´T LIFE GREAT? It was such a privilege to be able to talk with my family on Christmas Eve! I am grateful and joyful that all are healthy and happy. I´m so grateful for my family, and have a wonderful peace in my soul knowing that I can be with them for eternity! There is no happier work than I have here in Argentina helping families receive this opportunity for eternal joy as well. 

Before I talk about Christmas festivities, I want to get things started with a story. Every one loves stories, and I haven´t had a good one to tell yet, I don´t think. Last week, Elder Ozcariz Choi and I were talking to a family and one of their friends was there with us. He shook my companion´s hand and then looked looked at me and asked, "Are you a Yankee?" I responded in the affirmitive and told him I´m from California. His eyes lit up and he immediately walked up to me, shook my hand really hard (that kind of hand shake where you use both hands, you know), got really close to my face and whispered, "Obama said that he´s going to help our president" Not entirely sure how to respond, I told him that that is great. He talked about what Obama said for a time and then shook my hand really, really hard another like five times before we left. So every one! Argentina has nothing to fear.

Also, my papi is getting transferred! Normally you have one trainer for twelve weeks but I´m getting a new one. His name is Elder Stewart. From California! I don´t know him at all! But I´m excited! Elder Ozcariz Choi was an incredible example of obendience and diligence to me, and I am grateful for his training. He is a wonderful missionary! Here´s to changes for a new year eh?

CHRISTMAS! This week was grand. On the twenty-third, the entire mission headed up to capital to go to the Buenos Aires Temple, and that was wonderful. How I love the Temple and the incredible peace and joy that always abounds within its walls! After that, we all took a giant pictures, ate milanesa sandwiches and headed to the mission offices. There we had a nice little Christmas devotional and President and Sister Robertson´s family put on a Nativity act for us all. So I got to coninue the family tradition of acting out the Nativity every year. It was just as wonderfully funny as always. After all of that, we were serenaded by a little mission choir during a video presentation about Christ and the importance of following His example during our mission work. There was a little segment of Elder Holland´s Feed My Sheep talk. Holy smokes, I forgot how incredible that talk is. It is such a wonderful example of the Christ´s loving character. After Christ was resurrected, He found Peter and company fishing again. Just as He had done at the start of their calling to the Holy Apostleship, he asked them to cast their net and just as before it was filled. As Elder Holland related the story of Christ´s thrice-asked question, "Do you love me?", I thought about how any normal man would have been annoyed, if not angry with Peter for after all that had happened, returning to his old work after Christ died, thinking it was finished. But Christ, always loving and ever-patient, calmy taught Peter that there was work and always will be work until the end. Could there be a better example than our Saviour´s? That talk was a wonderful reminder that with all the love I have for Christ, I should have a better desire to feed His sheep. That is the best way we can show our love for our Saviour is by bringing others unto him. I promise that as we focus our efforts on that, our love for others will grow, our love for Christ will grow, and the love we have for Him will as well.

I got some wonderful asado for Christmas almuerzo and got to spend it with families that I love as well. Christmas was in the four hundred and thirty thousand degree air. I love all of you and am ever-grateful for your prayers and support! This is the Lord´s work!

CHAU,

Elder McDonald

Our mission trip to the Buenos Aires temple!

Ward Christmas Cena!

Los Dos Carloses! The one with the knife is an AWESOME investigator.

Familia Discepoli! My favourites, I think. Such Argentines.

Elder O.C. and I on the tracks!

Familia Gaitan Christmas almuerzo! Wonderful family.

Carlos making some interesting thing that was interestingly delicious.

Familia Colque! Awesome investigators.

The homemade oreos do not work too great with Argentine ingredients. But they were still relatively delicious. Nothing compared to yours!

Made them with two families. Carlos with the better batch!

CHRISTMAS OR NAVIDAD?

FELIZ NAVIDAD MY BELOVED ONES. How faireth all of thee during this lovely Christmas week? I´m feeling real real wonderful. How I love Christmas. Even though it feels a little weird because I´m eight trillion miles away from my family and am constantly sweating, the Christmas Spirit is still strong here in the bowels of South America. I love Christmas. But before I talk about the blessing of this holiday, I want to come clean and confess that I did mourn quite a bit on the eighteenth. I tried not to, and I´ll probably regret it in a few months, but it was impossible not to. I wish joy and peace to all those who were able to partake in the Star Wars events this past week. 

That aside, this week was still wondrous! There´s nothing better than teaching 

about our Saviour every day, especially right now, when every one´s minds are on Christmas. One of the new videos the Church released is entitled some thing like, The World without A Saviour. I love it! This world with out the birth and life of our blessed Redeemer Jesus Christ would be a dark world indeed. I can´t imagine a life with out a knowlege that all of us can be free from our sins, our sadnesses and our sicknesses. Yet there are so many people who live their lives heaping up their sins and their sufferings upon their own shoulders. No one needs to! Christ already did it all. Every single piece of it. All He asks is that we accept that and ask for relief. We´re going to recieve it if we answer our doors! That´s why I´m here in Argentina. As a representative of Jesus Christ, I can´t take away any one´s sins or sufferings, but I can sure help them understand how. And that´s all I want to do. Show them how they and all of us can return in happiness to our Father in Heaven to live with him and our families forever. 

Even though it´s important during this week to have fun and spend joyous time with our families, I hope we can all remember why we´re celebrating - why a Saviour was born over two thousand years ago. I am so incredibly grateful for Jesus Christ and love Him more than I can write. This Sunday all of the primary children sang Christmas songs and read the prophesyings and stories of Christ´s birth during church. I love the primary programs, Especially Christmas ones! There are no better testimonies of Christ than those of children. Even though their knowlege is simple, their love is great. What an example our little children should be to us. They have such a pure, worldless love that I strive to have for every one every day. Even though children are on occasion a handful, Christ has commanded us to be like them. I know that in doing so, we can all better realise the pure love that Christ has for us and desire to share this love with others. 

I hope every one has a wonderfully joyous Christmas and stuffs them selves full of Yankee Christmas goodies that I may or may not miss a little bit. I´ll just eat a lot of dulce de leche. I´m not worried. I´m excited beyond words to be able to talk to my family this week! Woo! ¨That´s going to be the most English I´ve used in one sitting in over a month. I love all of you and can feel your Christmas joy from the bottom of the Americas! Peace be with you all.

Chau,

Elder McDonald

BUENAS

HEY. HOW IS EVERY ONE? Wonderful. I´m doing super well. I hope I can say every thing I want to in the time I have. I think I can. 

This week has been killeeeerrrrrrrrrrr. Like every week here. Love it all. 

Let´s start with my fun story for the week. Back up first. I´ve now realised that all of the years since my first day of elementary school being made fun of for my last name have been preparations for this mission. Never have I gotten more laughs when I introduce my self as Elder McDonald. Every one keeps asking me for hamburguesas and I can´t figure out why.. Chiste. I love it though! No better way to start a conversation. Any ways, because of all the hullabaloo about my name here, I figured I had to go to McDonald´s and see if I could get any sweet deals for flashing my missionary plaque to the cashier. I ordererd some fries, looked at the lady working the register and go, ´¡Mire!´ She barely looked up and just said, ´Mm.´ The worst reaction I have every gotten for my name was in my own restaurant. I´ve never been more offended. 

This week we had a family home evening with Flia Meza, who are all incredible. Carlos is technically an investigator but he is honestly so ready to get baptised and just needs to get married! The rest of the family have already been baptised and I love all of them dearly. And Carlos´ pizzas. My favourite part about the night was their kids´ prayers. Both of them spoke specifically about each member of their family and how grateful they were for each one. What an example that was to me. When we pray, we shouldn´t just say that we´re grateful for our family. Talk about each member to our Heavenly Father and what you're grateful for about them. Our Father doesn´t want us to be lazy while we talk to him! He loves it! As our Father in Heaven, He wants to hear from us often. What loving father doesn´t want to know how his children are doing? Our Heavenly Father is the same. Pray to Him and tell him how you are! Express gratitude for the things He´s given you, and ask for the things you desire His help with! As we continue to go to our Father in true, honest prayer, I know that we will see the difference in our lives. 

I hope every one is remembering the importance of this Christmas season! I have never appreciated Christmas more than here on my mission, where I´m not weighed down by my desires for worldly gifts in the slightest! Even though I´m far from my family, I know how much they love me, and I know how much I love them. How great is my joy as I try my hardest to teach as many people as I can about our Saviour Jesus Christ during the season of the celebration of His Birth! There´s another video the Church released about what the world would be like with out a Saviour, and I love it! With out our loving Redeemer Jesus Christ, this world would be a truly bleak place, with out comfort, and with out forgiveness. How incredibly filled with gratitude I am for my Saviour´s birth and following life. Truly, with out our Saviour, we wouldn´t have His teachings, which provide us with all of the guidance we could ever need to prepare to live with Him and our Father again. And I shiver at the thought of this world with out the blessed Atoning Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. With out our Saviour´s Atonement, all of us would be truly lost. No way to receive peace and forgiveness, and no one to understand our trials and pains perfectly. Luckily, through Jesus Christ, we have all that we could need. I know my Saviour lives, and I know that as we try to follow His example of service and love this season and always, the blessings will flow. 

I love every one here and I love every one there in the USA! I AM SO HAPPY. God bless all of you and I am eternally grateful for your support and love.

Ciau,

Elder McDonald

Putting my blow dryer to good use!

That´s Daniel Discepoli! He´s the husband of my favourite member family. So so awesome. His wife took the picture. I need one with both!

Argentina Campo

Elder Roman, sweet Chilean Zone Leader, completing his first year by burning a shirt

First Vianda--lunch to go from a member

I had to go to McDonalds and get a picture. You´ll see why in my big email.

TIME

THIS EMAIL MIGHT BE SHORT BECAUSE EVEN SHORTER IS MY TIME. BUT HOW GREAT IS THAT? I have way more time to share Christ´s wonderful Gospel with more people. Every day here is more joyful than the last! Even when things go as planned every day, some how the Lord blesses me with a wonderfully joyful spirit. Who cares when things don´t always go the right way? I don´t. Nothing can every go completely wrong when we utilise Christ´s Gospel and especially His Atonement! Please please please utilise it! And utilise the blessing our Father in Heaven has given us in the ability to speak with Him through prayer. Book of Mormon, Helaman 3:27 and 28. All I have is a Spanish copy, so here goes: 27:Así vemos que el Señor es misericordioso para con todos aquellos que, con la sinceridad de su corazón, quieran invocar su santo nombre.

28: Sí, así vemos que la puerta del cielo está abierta para todos, sí, para todos los que quieran creer en el nombre do Jesucristo, que es el Hijo de Dios.

As we kneel in prayer with real intent of soul, the Lord will pour out blessings to us! And as we accept and always remember our Saviour Jesus Christ, the gates of Heaven are always open to us! Nothing can ever go permanently wrong through this blessed Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

This week has been wonderful as has every other week. My time is short and I´m terribly sorry for how short this email is, but how I love Villa Posse and this mission! Nothing but absolute joy can come from sharing the words of Christ with people who need them. This week we had a lesson with a familia called Aguado, and all of them are wonderful. As we spoke, each one of them, even their sixteen year-old daughter, expressed their deep desire for the truth. They had been to multiple different churches and not felt completely right at any of them. How comforting it was to know with all of my heart that our message was a message of complete truth. There are so many seeking for truth and guidance every single day. I testify that Christ will bring that truth. The Book of Mormon will bring that truth. Read it! 

Much love to all and to all a good night,

Elder McDonald