Sunday, April 19, 2015

4/13/2015

hey dad como esta? 

how was the orthodontic study group going? and its okay don't worry! i know when you get older that you start to become more like dory from finding nemo! hahahahah... but even when you are young you forget things.  especially in the mission when you got so much going on! this week was pretty good! we had some cool moments that is for sure.  for example one day we were just walking in an area that we had never been in before and my companion decided to walk the other way but i told him hold on, we are going to stay here a bit longer and see if we find something... as we were walking down the street the road came to a dead end... there was a few people outside and we started saying hello and greeting them when we heard a voice from the heaven... aka... from the roof of a 4 story building saying... my neighbor is Mormon and she is less active! it was really interesting to as we started talking to this family and they invited us in and we found out that the mom is a member and the rest of the family is not...and the mom went on to tell us that they had recently moved about 2 years ago and they had stuff still in boxes and about a few days ago she wanted to organize the boxes and she found her book of Mormon in the box... she went and put it on the shelf and a 2 days later, we showed up at her house! at an instant she recognized that the lord had sent us to her and how she had left her book of Mormon in the box and then when she finally took it out it was just interesting how we found her and her family.  but it makes me think... 2 years the book was left in a box where its cold, dark, dusty, and hard to breathe... i feel like that is the same for us when we leave the book of Mormon behind like she did because she was stuck in a spiritual darkness for quite some time and now we are doing our best to help this family out and find the light! but it was a cool lesson to me that i always need to read the book of Mormon so that i am never find myself in a black hole cutting of the light to my spirituality.  we also had another cool experience while we were teaching he family villafuente the plan of salvation... Jaime the father who had never heard of it was just so shocked to come to know that plan that god has for him and he come to understand that god has saved him from death a few times to be able to experience this moment with his family and come unto Christ... today is his birthday and we are going to pass by. we have 2 more weeks to really work with him and get him ready and his daughter.  we also have found a family of 5 and the story of this man is just insane... i will let you guys no another day but when we went back to his house it was very cool to just see this light he had on his face as we had the father telling us every single detail about the first 5 chapters of the book of Mormon and he and his wife and one of his children came to church and they really had a good time.  he is really interested and already wants to start showing some of his co workers about the book and read to them out loud to all those who want to listen to him.  its just so cool to see how the gospel works in the people that really want to know more about god! 

one of the talks dad that you should listen to as a family would be of oaks and of nelson.  awesome talks! and i am just loving what i am seeing on this new boat! it looks awesome! how is the wake that it throws? and you are right, i am going to study that talk because i really want to make sure i do all that i can for the lord and that i learn everything i need to be ready when i get home.  that is what i am really focused on is enjoying every little detail of my mission before it comes to an end.  i need to build my trust more in Christ and be more accepting to the things that i don't have control over and know that through the atonement for what i cant do, will be done. something i will study more this week for sure.  but anyways, how is everything back at home? anything else that is new? my time is coming to an end here in Puente Piedra soon i believe! my birthday is next Monday! going to be sweet! anyways, love you!

your son,
elder macdonald 

On Mon, Apr 13, 2015 at 2:51 PM, Keith & Lori Macdonald <kekelolli5@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hey bud,

 how is everything going?I am at my orthodontic study group right now and I just remembered that I forgot to email you last night. That's what happens when you get old. You forget things! I'm glad you enjoyed conference so much. I have been listening to the talks as I have been running or walking on my phone.they are truly inspirational. It is the kind of inspiration I need on a weekly basis. We have listen to a couple of talks as a family for family night and that is what and we will continue to do.  I sent you some pictures of the boat. It is very nice. It is 24 feet long whereas our other boat was 21 feet. It has an incredible stereo system and a very cool tower.  It seems to me like your missionary work is going very well. It seems like you have a lot of people to work with. You are so blessed to be able to teach and baptize on a regular basis. There are so many missionaries that don't have that opportunity.  We listen to Elder Bednar's talk last night about fear. It reminded me of your fear of not doing enough good on your mission. I would like you to take that thought and put it to rest. You are working hard and your sacrifice is enough.  do what you can do and then trust in the Lord enough that he excepts your work. None of us are perfect and need the atonement of Jesus Christ.  Enjoy the last few months of your mission. Enjoy the people, their humility, their humble circumstances. You will not find that when you come back to the states. I gotta run. Miss you. Love you so much.

Dad

Sent from my iPhone

4/06/2015

From: Alex Macdonald <alex.macdonald@myldsmail.net>
Date: April 6, 2015 at 2:57:58 PM MST
To: "Keith & Lori Macdonald" <kekelolli5@yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: All scheduled.
yoooooo! que tal? como estan! bueno, this week was definitely a good one after listening to the prophet and the apostles! they is no doubt in my mind that they are men called of God and the more i listen to them, the more convinced i am of them.  they really know how to get the spirit right up to the heart and it is impossible to not let into our hearts.  once again my main man uchtdorf pulled through very strong with his talks... i love both of them in priesthood and in Sunday morning! also bednar, renold and wilford anderson... what i have noticed is that the saturday sessions have some very special talks i i really think that the brethren are trying to help us listen to all the sessions especially Saturdays.  i had a great time listening to them... it just doesn't compare to listening to it in your native tongue that in the tongue that you are learning... it really is a blessing to be able to listen to the prophets and that they speak our native language... if i only speak Spanish i would do everything possible to learn English to be able to hear them with a translator! this week we had the family villafuente come to church again! they are doing very well and progressing towards their baptism on the 25 of April of the dad and his daughter...the wife is already a member.  the father was stoked to finally be able to listen to the prophet and the apostles and when it was over i asked him how he felt and he told me that he loved it and when we first met him it was very hard to set up appointments with him and now he is all for us coming over and teaching him... he was quite interested in the atonement of Christ because he heard it so much so we will have the pleasure to teach him about the atonement and how we will be able to come clean through the greatest gift known to man.  its just so cool to see how the spirit works and changes the people ever so slowly when we let him do it.  after priesthood session, all the fond memories came back to when we would always jet to the car to get to the restaurant and eat and all that cool stuff... however our recent convert hermano toledo was taking us home and during the session he had recorded all the talks and when we got in the car, we put it on and wanted to listen to it over again because he loved it so much! it may have not been physical food, but i learned that you can never get enough of spiritual food given from the prophets. young and old! this week we invited a family of 5 to be baptized and they accepted for the 16 of may! pretty exciting! we have made alot of contacts this week and hope to pass by and visit them and see the out comes! 

its quite sad to be honest after doing all that you can to show the people the way back to salvation, its such a sad feeling to see people who prefer to stay in places that are bad knowing that they are wrong and fear of trying something knew like a family that we are teaching that want to know the truth but the wife doesn't want to leave behind her false ways... bueno.

i jealous once again that you guys went to Carlsbad! you really need to listen to the talks... they were awesome... i have written Kyle a few times but hasn't responded me but would you tell him a happy birthday for me and give him a hug for me! cant believe that he is 18 today! that just crazy and that in two weeks, i will be turning 21! that's even crazier!  

the work is going good! the president is really pushing our mission to the next level... its been so drastic what has gone on our mission since i started to where it is now! its been quite awesome! wow awesome to hear about jack and jared! how is kyle feeling about a mission? and i cant wait to talk to cessy in spanish! quiero dos carne asada tacos y un burrito desayuno con tocino! it will be awesome! haha... and wow dad when did you buy this new boat??? did you sell the tige??? send me a photo  i am very intrigued to see what it looks like! 

anyways pops, all is well... the time is trickling down... i am doing all my best i can for the lord but i feel like when i come to the end that i could have done a bit more, is that something normal and something that you felt? my biggest fear is that i didn't do everything i could for the lord and that i didn't learn everything that he wanted me too... but anyways, love you guys! please watch the conference. there is some things that we could change as a family! love you

your son, 

elder macdonald 

On Sun, Apr 5, 2015 at 9:44 PM, Keith & Lori Macdonald <kekelolli5@yahoo.com> wrote:
Yo Alex;

Happy Monday.  We are driving back from Cbad right now.  We went for Easter weekend. It was beautiful.  Had some good waves especially  on fri.  Surfed the south jetty fri and had head high waves.   Very fun.  We let Kyle drive the truck out with four of his friends for his 18th bday.  The weather was awesome and the water was nice.  Love cbad.  I only heard several talks from conference but plan  on listening to them over the next couple months.

I got all of your classes.  Your religion section was all full but I got a good/easy professor but an afternoon time.   Best I could do.

How's the work going? What talks did you like at general conference?  Jared Gygi got called to Argentina and Jack Knight was called to Federal Way, Washington.   English speaking.  Cessy asked about you again.   We got a new (used) boat.  It's a Supra.  24'.  It's pretty awesome.  Has a sweet stereo system in it.  Gotta run.  Hope all's well.

  Love. Dad

Sent from my iPhone