Feliz Navidad

Dec 29, 2014

Hey sorry dont have much time but this is what happened this week!

 

A. well this week we almost did the impossible and it was awesome we set a goal last week to find new investigators and we found 2 very solid investigators and 5 potenials that will be very good for the missionaries here in the next couple transfers! But that is not all we had a tons of miracles! and fantastic christmases it was awesome! so were going to start with miracle number 1 and her name is Florencia! we found her the other day and she said she had just come here from mexico and wanted to learn about our church! So we taught her the restoration! and she asked us if we could come back and read in the bible tomorrow (saturday) so we did and we read the birth of jesus christ and it was awesome and she said the last prayer and it was AWESOME ok beyond AWESOME maybe beyond infinite it was pretty great!

 

Number 2! we have been working with the Bishop in finding all the less active to see if they still live there and guess what we have found 2 awesome familys we are going to start teaching they said not to come back until after 2014 so we will be going back this weekend! hehehe I love miracles!!!

 

Number 3! Number 3 happened on a more awesome level, it isnt about Oxnard but it is about me. I have called it the Miracle of the challengling and testifying Elder Mackay. We found this awesome person (he is a friend of a member) and he taught him about the book of mormon and I thought I would try something different. That is to challenge him. So I asked him to read the book and pray. Normal. But then I asked him if it is true if he would get baptized, not a normal for me (yet). and he said YES!! But he said he will need time to read and doesn't want to set an apointment up until he is ready because he knows it will change his life.

 

C. Elder hernadez is awesome I have learn a ton from him, mostly this week is love for other people that he shares with them.

 

T. This week I read the challenging and testifying missionary, and applied it. And it seems to have worked pretty well.

 

S. WE MADE TAMELAS finally!!! and the results were tasty from one family we helped, the other family we haved seen yet...

remember I love you and care for you!!

 

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Feliz Navidad

Dec 22, 2014

Hello there how is it going?

 

well.. Who wants cookies and milk as they read? Well take your time while the rest read!

 

A. Oxnard is awesome we are working so hard and it is awesome! we had a couple of great lesson with Juliette.

 

Man I love Christmas but I also hate it, people get so caught up in giving gifts, which most the time ends up in getting head aches, that they forget the real meaning of this season. I believe that it was Thomas  S Monson who put it so well "if we drop the last 3 letters, it becomes the season of christ" so true that is and man I wish I could just have an infinite supply of money to make sure that every child in my area could get a gift but I am doing the best I can with the talents I do have whether it be a paper dragon or a flower the reaction is the same they love it and cherish these gift which reminds me I need to get a new letter pad!!

 

Oxnard is a great place and I can definitely feel what I need to do here and its about time that I hike up my socks and work even harder!

 

C. Elder hernandez is in the top 10 of my companions I love him! There is no one else that I would reather spend christmas with, well other then my family.... but he knows the jesus loves him and why he is on a mission and he loves to work!

 

T. well I did it,  I finsished jesus the christ and I need to read thourgh and compare the 4 gospels together and how they are different and how they are the same!

 

S. well last week we could help out alot but now people are starting to make tamales and are asking for help! I am excited, tamale making here I come!

 

you made it (almost)

 

PICTURES WITH SANTA!?!?!

 

have a merry merrry christmas

#sharethegift

 

-elder Joshua Mackay

Another week in the Sun, oh and Merry Christmas!

December 15, 2014

Hello there greetings from the shores of cali! (not literally the shore that gets me sent home...)

so I am Staying in Oxnard with Elder Hernandez for another 6 weeks!

So lets get this thing moving!

A. Oxnard is awesome as ever, but I learned I need to be careful with my bike.... some kids wanted to race me for my bike and every time those kids see us they yell at me to try to get my bike.... its awesome but other than young teenagers we had a interesting week this week full of hard work and other stuff!

One person we have work hard with is Juliette she is a recent convert and is very interesting. We had to go over some lesson with her because she didn't understand why we have these commandments (word of wisdom) and she even threw away her stuff she had after a little bit of encouragement and support it was awesome, but for her it was very hard. She is progressing so much we talked yesterday about her serving a mission and she said she isn't going to and we talked about it, and had to go to another appointment but we left that appointment and the phone went off and she asked "how can I get my mission papers?" but she is only 12 so she has a long wait ahead of her.

So to allow ourselves to work more with the members we have been giving them 3-10 He is the gift cards and talking to them about giving them out to there friends it has been pretty awesome to see them first look very scared and then second, after discussing about how they could do it to see the "fire in there eyes" to go and do it.

C. I love Elder Hernandez. That is all he is the best. case and point. Yep he is awesome why well because he is a child. But that is great for now, his is in the kingdom of god.

T. Jesus the Christ will strengthen your testimony 100 fold and if you don't believe me go read the first 200 pages and say that your testimony wasn't been strengthened.

this week I read about the Saviors last week in mortality and his betrayal and suffering and then his glorious rise from the tomb to never leave his body down again. 

S. this week we helped at a thrift store sorting moving and unloading thing it was pretty fun, and we got to find some pretty cool treasures and hidden treasures and even a little bit of knowledge!!

yep tons of fun!

there are some picture of christmas here in oxnard!!

well have a good one!

-Elder Joshua Mackay

December 8?

December 8, 2014

What the heck has happened with the past 2 months gone way to fast, time should get a ticket for speeding. No really

So transfers are next week what do you think is going to happen?

This is what happened this week!

A. well this week was nuts! the zone leaders challenged us to get 7 member presents (members at lessons) and guess who reached that goal...... WE DID. We had some awesome lessons and some miraculous ones as well we worked hard and it payed off!! We had awesome lessons with Marithza and her mother a recent convert and she was going to get baptized but doesn't know anymore and we are going to start to work with the father to get him baptized because then the kids will follow, hopefully!!

We also have been working with a less active family that rents out their room and we had 2 great lessons there with 2 diferent people! I love spanish houses!!! We then had one other lesson with a less active mother and her son who just turned 10 and has been baptized. It was awesome to see that we had a goal and we didn't think we could have made but then God leads the way and prepares it for us to reach our worthy goals!

This week was also the start of a new advertisement called "He is the gift" if you haven't seen it your nuts. But it was awesome to try a give out at least 10 cards a day but we only made it twice... but there is always this week!

C. Elder hernandez is awesome he is working super hard to become a better person, and from stories I have heard he has done a pretty good job and there is only one way he can go and that is to the best!

T. Well where is my question? What does the atonement mean for you?

This week I learned something that has changed my life forever. I learned that Jesus Christ could have only died if he wanted it to happen, He gave the ok for him to give you his body. And that is what he did after he suffered so much, was to bring him to ask if there is no other way and he finished his test and because he did that we will all see our loved one again and we will all live again!

S. This week we did a ton from lighting up houses and giving out food, to make Christmas trees out of food cans.. yes trees made out of cans. It was awesomely fun.

I never thought making a can tree would be so fun.

Anyways have a good week see you next week!

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Food can trees

In the car with Elder Barlow and Elder Sorenson

Happy Thanksgiving!

December 1, 2014

Well for the entertainment of all of you we had 2 thanksgiving dinners all within 3 hours...... we were stuffed quite literally.

But this is what happened!

A. Oxnard is nuts. but its a good nuts! we have been working super hard but this week being thanksgiving I am thankful for the opportunities that I have been given to be here. I am thankful for my awesome family that has been behind from day 1 and untill day 700 and BEYOND, I am thankful for the bike problem that I have finally taken care of and they haven;t come back yet!.

But lets get back to that later its time to talk about lessons that have been happening. This week Elder Hernandez and I went around looking for people that Elder Hernandez used to teach when he was here a year ago. and it has been working we have found 2 less active families and a couple of potential investigators. It is awesome!

Last but not least we found a new man named Emanuel! He is awesome had a ton of good comments about what we teach (the restoration) he is so ready for the gospel but can only meet on saturdays... but its going to be awesome to see what happens!

C. Elder Hernandez is awesome he is the best missionary I could have asked for. but I didn't have to ask, God gave him to me for a transfer and maybe more! He listens to the spirit a ton and follows the promptings.

T. This week in my studies a went over all the talk the I have collected over the past year and re read them because what good do they do collecting dust on my desk!!

S. I don't think I had any service this week only elder Hernandez on a blitz. oh well always next week!

yep thats all folks see you around!!

-Elder Joshua Mackay

After 2 thanksgiving dinners! 

Nov 24, 2014

good to see you welll so i wrecked my bike!

yep it happened and hopefully wont happen again!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING eat a ton for me!

Well lets get into this week! oh and we got shot at! With a BB gun, so don't freak out mom..... but Elder Hernandez got hit in the ankle.

A.  Well here in oxnard everything is going awesome we are having a great time! And hard times. Meaning on Thursday I crashed my bike. It is all in good condition, the only thing that happened was my pants ripped and I got a good road burn on my leg it was pretty funny. What happened was I turned to sharp and my bike tire slid and I went with it. :) But it was awesome for some reason it seemed to strengthen our relationship with the recent convert in the area.

 But other than crazy bikes and teaching people we had an exchange this past week and it didn't go to well... well it was great but we never taught anyone! We went to an investigators house and they weren't there, but we found a desk and we managed to get in to our tiny car to give to a family that has nothing and noticed we were late for lunch with a member so we rushed over there ate and because we were late there, we were late to pick up the other Elders for correlation. but remember we had a desk still in our car so we ran that over to the family and set it up, and then got the Elders. Then our ward mission leader cancelled correlation and so we got more time to talk to people to find no one home and then it was time for dinner and then sat in stake conference for 2 hours. It was the best exchange and the worst exchange! But it was so fun!

C. Elder Hernandez is the best artist I have seen in a while and drew me some pictures this week they are pretty cool!

T. Well this week at zone conference I have been reformed! You could say, and I have a new desire to be a better missionary and so this week I have studied the white handbook and wrote down anything that I could improve on and to my amazement I have a 2 page paper of improvements so now I am going to start on working it down to a clean piece of paper!

S. Well the funnest service this week happened right after I wrecked on my bike and we did 70 push ups to help/motivate our recent convert Juliette do her 70 push ups that she had for gym class

Yep that was fun hope this week is twice as much fun.... well minus the bike wreck and shots fired.....

Talk to you soon!

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Another Week in the Port

November 17, 2014

Hello everyone!

well lets get straight into it

A. Well Oxnard is awesome! We worked very hard this week to get someone with a baptism date and who would have thought it worked!!! We got a little girl named Marithza with a baptism date for the 6th of December! It was awesome we are so excited!!

This week we didn't teach as many lesson as we hoped for but we had a great week none the less. It is interesting how each area that you serve in works differently, Ventura we spent a lot of time with member and they lead us to their friends. Fillmore we spent all our days running from appointment to appointment. and Carpinteria we walked and talked to our investigators, and in Oxnard we walk around and try to talk to people but they take the card and walk away.  It has been so much fun to see the difference in every area because each area shines you in a different way, makes you a better person for the next one. Like Juliette reminds me of Elizabeth, of course Juliette hasn't seen as much as Elizabeth but I can tell by being with Elizabeth prepared me to meet Juliette and this is how I know that God really is at the helm of this work everything you young kids do know it will come back to you to do something later.

This week we also had an interesting experience at the Rodriguez's house, living there is a man named Jose who was baptized in 2006 who needed a blessing of health, so we show up and we give him the blessing and went to talk to Hermana Rodriguez and she was in such a bad condition it hurt her to move even an inch and she never even thought about asking for a blessing. So we told her that she should get a blessing and she said yes, and so we located her husband in the kitchen about to jump into the shower and we told him what was going on. He didn't want to do it, so we tried to tell him again, and he finally said ok. So we walk back into the room where the hermana was lying and Elder Hernandez anointed her and Antonio (the husband) read through the missionary hand book and with out a second thought gave his wife the most beautiful blessing I have ever heard and it was awesome the spirit was so strong, after we asked him if he had given a blessing before and he said he has never given one before and that's why he was nervous at first. Now that was awesome!

But back to Marithza we taught her the restoration and the 10 commandment and she took it pretty well and then Saturday night her dad came home from work and they haven't seen him in over a month and so we taught him the restoration and turns out he was been meeting missionaries for over 3 years now! they are awesome, but just moved in and literally have nothing. We gave them a bed and so they rotate who sleeps on it the 2 boys and then the 3 girls. such a humble family when we teach them we all sit on the ground in a circle and they listen intently and quiet there children (2 girl and a boy) they are just the best thing to happen to this world. well ya.

C. Elder Hernandez is awesome, he is very good at explaining thing so people understand  and making sure that they do under stand! It is the best! 

T. Well for a zone goal we are teaching the parables of Jesus at set appointments, so I figured I better read and study the parables so I know what I am talking about and turns out I learned a ton so far my favorite is the parable of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price! 

S. This week we had missionary landscaping and we did a great job it looks good other then we couldn't fit everything into the bin so we left the extra branches on the street in a pile, like the person directed us to do it is funny how when people tell you how to do it they are happy but when they don't they are not happy!

yep awesome week!!

hope you have a good one!

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Hello Port Hueneme

November 10, 2014

So turns out that I am not in Oxnard but the Navy base called Port Hueneme it is pretty cool!!

Well it also turns out that I have walked all week and not biked so I haven't yet lose the 15 pounds.....

But this is my awesome week!

A. I LOVE OXNARD AND PORT HUENEME!!! it is awesome here, things are really looking good here. But here is the bad news.... I am awful with names and forgot my planner.... but here is something cool that happened (well I hated it when it happened but now I am fine with it :D) so I got a new tube and lights for my bike grand total of $28 and went home put it all together and pumped up my tire and we rode off about 2 blocks when I rode over a pin and PPWWSSSSHHH (all my air gone sound) and I had a flat!! So we walked the bike home and walked the rest of the week! Turns out that was a blessing for us we had so many opportunities to talk to people we would have missed riding our bikes, at first I was mad at God. But he told me just a little longer and we had an excellent week! God really does work in mysterious ways! So turns out this week was one of the best weeks in my mission!

C. I love Elder Hernandez he is putting his sickle in with all his might and trying his best to do the work of the Lord! He is also someone who can make you smile no matter what!

T. Well this week I read something that has been very profound this week, other then flat tires are blessing... but in Jesus the Christ it talks about what we shouldn't do, talking about repenting for a sin and putting yourself in a place where you can commit the same sin, mainly talking about addictions how if we want to quit we need to build a thick barrier around it so we don't go near it. I thought that was pretty good! I also read something the David O. McKay said, prefacing he said everyday we need to take time to meditate and come closer to God through meditation, he also said that meditation is the door which Christ is knocking and we have to open it to let him in!

S. Well not much happened this week other then we helped a man fix his bike light on the corner!

And dont forget about those pictures!!

There is proof I haven't lose 15 lbs yet....... and That is Hermana Kieth and I at transfer meeting!

Hope they open up right!!

Anyways a great week LOVE YOU

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Elder Joshua MacKay with mission buds for life, Elder Thatcher Smoot and Elder McKay Parrish
Elder Smoot and Elder Parrish grew up together, and Elder MacKay adores them both.

Bye Fillmore!

November 3, 2014

Well Hello there!

Well next time see hear from my it will be from Oxnard CA. and I will have lose 15 pounds on my new bike!

Well its time for business!

A. Well i am leaving Fillmore and it is the most bitter feeling in the world, more sour then an unripened orange or something... but the lord was a plan here and I cant interfere with that as sucky as it is.

But on a good note we had a great time here I met a ton of awesome people, Bryanna, the Peralta family, Ramirez family, Bernard and his family, both the Zavala families, Lucia and her 3 boys Eddie, Salvador, and Israel.

We had a couple with Bryanna this week and she is So ready to be baptized its awesome we are going to see her tonight and have one last lesson with her before we hand her over to the new Elders to Baptize her who knows maybe i could see it! We finished teaching her the laws and ordinances and gave her the baptism interview and she passed the practice run and will definitely pass the real one in 2 weeks.

 Bernard has started to show less interest now that he is getting sicker then ever but his sister Cynthia is awesome and wants to get baptized the first week of December! We taught her a lot this week and she read a ton and is going very well towards her date she just needs to come to church and we feel that Bernard will get baptized with her! That is all the good stuff happening in our area that I can remember!

C. Well lets be honest I love elder Moreno and was looking forward to maybe having another transfer with him, but then I thought it would be cool for him to be a zone leader and leave me, but what ever. I have learned a ton from Elder Moreno and he is one of the best District leaders I have ever had. He will be missed here in Fillmore for sure and maybe even more then me!

T. well i am trying my best to learn and grow my testimony and it is working for sure I have learned a lot this week and I feel like it is only going to keep on growing stronger and stronger. It is awesome isnt it! The thing that has been awesome this week is learning about all the stuff Jesus Christ went through even before he was sold away. It is crazy to think that all the people did was tell him he was breaking the law when really he was the law!

S. Well this week we helped some people gleam some orange trees and man was it fun and tasty! Hopefully the other elders can help out as well!

Yep that is what happened here in Fillmore land of the loved! And guess what I got pictures!!!

So there is our ward mission leader acting Chinese.... Elder Moreno and yours truly :), Bernards sister Cynthia (her baby is William) and mother Carmen, that's Bryanna and Rachel, and the Peralta boys with there sister jenny

anyways i hope you enjoy and i wish you all the best of luck... and to the one person who i know reads my blog see you soon..... stalker....

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Another Fun Week

October 27, 2014

Hey everyone what is up?

So what are your Halloween costumes this year?

Anyways time for the lo down.

A. This week we had 6 investigators at church! 2 of them have never been and they loved it we're meeting with one of them tonight and are going to teach the Word of Wisdom, its going to be awesome! They also came to the Halloween/fall festival party we had on Saturday it was pretty fun but I got out eaten by a skinny man in a hot dog eating contest........ and that is all I will say on that! But Brianna helped at one of the game booths and at a trunk during the trunk or treat it was awesome, Carina the other investigator brought us a TON of questions that we answered all night and then she rode the bus to get to church it was awesome, her 2 little girls loved primary.

 All in all the party was awesome, we had 3 boys show up (1 skeleton, and 2 zombies) and they had a blast the next day we stopped by to see them and there mom hid their candy it was pretty funny. We had a couple less active families show up, and a less active young women brought her boy friend and her cousin it was pretty cool they had fun!

Back to Brianna we taught her the Restoration and when we were talking about the book of Mormon she stopped us and asked if we had a extra copy for her, and so we gave it to her to read and she said she wants to get baptized so we set her with a date of the 22 of November. So I am praying that I get more time in Fillmore. 

Carina is awesome as well her boy friend who is a less active and the missionaries found him on the street and then they went to look in Santa Paula for the starting time and ran into the Hermanas there and they gave them a tour and gave us a referral and the rest is history, the Hermanas also gave her all the pamphlets and when we went to see her 3 days later see had read every single one! She has a baptism date for the 15th of November. and that is why I must stay in Fillmore!

C. Elder Moreno is awesome we have been working hard and it feels like were hardly working. I will miss him when we do leave which won't be for a while.

T. Well Jesus the Christ is a great book and I have learned at least 3 thing everyday, I have made a goal to finish it in 3 transfers which means I must read 200 pages a transfer, which I can do for sure!

S. Well this week missionary lawn service proved to be awful....... the other Elders (Elder Lopez and Elder Simpson) found a lawn that needed work. so they got permission from the owner to work on it so they signed us up to help rip out what was left of his mans lawn. Now its dirt and the man isn't too happy..... I guess its the thought that counts.

Anyways have a great week love you all!

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Sweet Home Ventura!

Sept 20, 2014

Why hello there!

Well as you might be able to tell this week I went to Ventura, 3 times - Monday (oil change), Friday (interviews) and Saturday (exchange)

On Friday I also got to talk to an old friend who got reassigned to my mission, she lived in my ward in Provo until I  moved to Spanish fork it was awesome to share some story and to hear the other side of her stories I heard from her parents. (Hermana Kiana Keith)

But its time for some ACTS

A. Well to be honest this week felt like a long month it feels like ages ago when I last wrote/typed letters, but we had a awesome time in Fillmore this week, why because we found a new family!!!! We were looking for a lady named Dulce and knocked on her door and a girl named Sissy (sissi not sissy) opened it, so we talked about the restoration with her after she told us she had moved in 2 weeks ago! We then met her mother and had a very powerful lesson with her it was AWESOME, well minus the fact I didn't understand one word she kept using so I thought she said she didn't feel worthy to pray, but what she really said was she can't forgive someone for some thing........ oh well I am learning little by little, but we both bore powerful testimony about the book of Mormon and it was AWESOME!

And another AWESOME this week was exchanges with my Trainer Elder Fairbourne, the best part in Ventura!! I got to talk to my old investigators and some new people it was awesome and this time I didn't get hurt with Elder Fairbourne! that's always the best part! We got to talk to an investigator that I found in Ventura my first week, David Hernandez and turns out he wants to get baptized soon! So I told him that it will totally be worth it and that he should continue to listen and learn from the Elders. It was a great time in Ventura!

C. Well this week Elder Moreno and I had some fun we went to a movie Meet the Mormons and it was really good it was a great rally cry to get us to work together in more unity.

T. this week we watched Meet the Mormons and it was awesome I loved the whole thing and I hope that I can be like them and live a good live and love all those who I come into contact with my personal favorite was the candy bomber that was a very touching story and some day who know maybe I can leave an impact like that on a group of people.

S. well Elder Fairbourne and I had a great time on Saturday crushing beer cans for someone so that they can recycle them easier. It was the most satisfaction we have had in crushing beer cans.

And that my family/friends and others is how one has the best week in his/her life. Hope you have a great week and talk to you soon! And sorry I forgot my cord to get pictures on the emails.

-Elder Joshua Mackay

The fun week take 60 something i think

Oct 13, 2014

Well hello there is been 7 of the most fun days of my life.

So it time for some acts!

A. I might have said this before but business is booming here in Fillmore. The biggest thing is that it is because the Lord is at the helm, but the biggest thing we saw this week is in the Paralta family the father left town to go work somewhere in a 2 hour radius from here, so we had to cancel his baptism date for this week but we talked to his 2 boys Edward and Reuben and Reuben is a little nervous to pick a date but Edward said that he will get baptized on November 1st. They are awesome kids and they remind me of my brother and me by the way we acted and the way they are acting.

We also found Lucia she is VERY full of potential and its going to be awesome to see her this week and get to know her and how we can help her. I met her once and Elder Moreno found her on a blitz with Elder Lopez.

But that is our area in a nutshell!

C. Elder Moreno is the best. that's it no more needed to be added.  He is the best.

T. This week I have learned a very important thing. In the white handbook it says that God should be our first source of knowledge if we have questions and I have always taken that for granted and just asked my companions, and or mission leaders. But this week I had a real question that I needed a real answer too, so I studied the white handbook looking for ruling on my question but I didn't find it there, so I turned to preach my gospel again wasn't there either, and so I went back to the white handbook and read that paragraph about how God needs to be our first source for answers. so iI stood up snuck back into the bedroom and prayed, and prayed and that is where I found my answer and my new testimony. On my knees talking to God.

S. This week is the service side of things we had a awesome time helping a food share move there pantry it was very interesting. And food share run by the LDS church, held in a Methodist church, with a ton of Jewish food. That was pretty cool and now we have food we can eat over the Passover! (they gave us some food to take home after we finished)

and that is the week in a nutshell!

PICTURES!!!!

Meet the stripling warriors! aka yours truly and his companion Elder Moreno Elder Lopez and his companion Elder Simpson

have a great week i love you all <3

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Best week ever

October 6, 2014

Hello this was an awesome week with a great week end!

First of all how was conference for all those who watched it?

Anyways this week was great as previous stated.

But I am doing something crazy called A.C.T.S. area, comp, testimony/studies, and service.

A. our area is awesome! we have had a lot of fun here in Fillmore we have set Bernard with a baptism date for the 27 of December He is getting a lot stronger the more we meet with him. He even watched conference with us during the priesthood and Sunday after session.

Elizabeth is doing great as well. We have been writing her questions and helping her answer them, we did D&C 122 this week and she told us that she learned a ton.

We also had Veronica watched conference with a member and she said she loved it and we're going to talk to her tonight at family home evening at the bishops house its going to be great!

C. Elder Moreno is doing great he is really learning how do be a great district leader. slowly but steadily I am sure one day he might even become a great assistant to the president! just kidding, but seriously he is awesome I only have good things to say about him. This is the most unified district and it is so awesome we learn so much from district meetings and well general conference. and that has been Elder Moreno in a nutshell.

T. this week I re read the whole General Conference from April and got some questions ready, and looking back the lord light up all the questions that I brought to him, I loved Elder Bednar's talk, I sat with Bernard as he was speaking and after that he said he feels like he needs to get baptized as soon as possible.

S. this week in the service department we did many thing like bring super glue to an old lady to glue her fake tooth back in... and break some couches with Bernard. the wrecking missionary services is very reliable, if you want some destroyed.

but all in all this week has been GREAT.

sorry no pictures this week forgot my camera cord at the apartment...

with tons of love and broken couches,

-Elder Joshua Mackay

ps Fillmore was the hottest city in the nation on Saturday at 107.

Week 1 was Awesome

Sept 29, 2014

So hello again this week was been super duper fun with Elder Moreno

But again I am changing the format of my email to use my time better! 

hope you enjoy this weeks adventures cause I sure did!

Our area is going great we found a new investigator named Veronica and she went to church and the womans conference Saturday night and Sunday night she asked if we could talk to her and asked us "what is the baptism process?" so we told her what we need to teach her and told her to pray about her baptismal date it was awesome she even had a talk with her friend and talked about how it is her choice so her friend should respect that.

We also meet with the P family and they are going great! We taught them an English class and the restoration, and Carmen (the mother) went to the womans conference as well. it was a great restoration lesson and as far as we are aware they are going to stay in Fillmore we helped them find a job for a strawberry farm field thing. We gave them the plan of salvation pamphlet to help them prepare for us to teach that to them this next week!

That is the biggest highlights of the week. We also have been meeting with Bernard and we found out that he can travel to Santa Paula but not to the lake in Piru so we asked him to pray about where he should get baptized, were going to follow up on that this week when we see him next. 

 Elder Moreno is the best! I was so excited to be able to serve with him it is going to be a great 6 weeks! He is learning how to be a great district leader and its going to be great to see him grow and progress!

 This week was been a great week in studies, and Elder Parrish taught me something really profound about Ether, well the brother of Jared, he had 3 problems and the lord gave him 2 answers and he brought the 16 stones to the top of the mountain and prayed the the lord would touch them and one by one the Lord touched the stones and gave him his answers, and compared that to bring questions to conference and how 1 by 1 the lord will answer us.

 This week we had a lot of fun helping Bernard changing his spark plugs, but just like his oil we sucked.... and only changed 3 of the 6 and tomorrow are going to finish the project. :)

and of course pictures!

so the disrict Elder Moreno and Me, Hermanas Miller, Clark and Shepherd, Hermanas Young and Killpack, and Elders Lopez and Simpson

and some camels and zebras we pasted looking for a house. turns out we passed the turn :)

hope you have a great week!

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Transfers??

Sept 27, 2014

Well its that time again and I am staying and Elder Moreno is coming to work in Fillmore!

Elder Parrish is heading to Oxnard

Well this week is going great and next is sure going to be better I cant wait to start working with Elder Moreno! anyways here are some highlights.

Well here in fillmore its going great we are working very hard, and we got a family set with a baptism date for the 18th of october, if they find work and dont move to bakersfeild that is. so i am hoping they find work we have been keeping our ears open for work! but its a family of 5 but the young is 1 and a half so she wont get baptized with her family.

We have been working hard with bernard as well and he is doing good but is feeling very sick so he didn't come to church again, I hope and pray everything goods well. 

And on thursday we went to a part members house and invited (last minute) to a fire side with elder malm and she said she would go if she could bring and friend and we said YES OF COURSE YOU CAN. So she brought her friend Brianna and Brianna enjoyed the fireside better then Nicole so we started to teach her this week and sunday we found out that her best friend is a member (very active member too) so things are looking up here in fillmore.

Well this week was been a blast sorry its so short but i love you all I and I am writing my testimony whether you like it or not!

But i know  that Jesus Christ live and that He died for all of us and the we can truly be saved through His grace that He gives to us, and that you can discover this truth through reading and praying in the book of Mormon. As a representative of Jesus Christ I invite all of you to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it to find that it is true and after that know that nothing else in this world can take that away from you, because you are built on a testimony of Jesus Christ.

Anyways no pictures this week forgot my cord at the apartment sorry!

with tons of love and prayers 

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Some more fun in the sun!

Sept 8, 2014

well this week was a great week it was awesome we had some good fun!

I am going to try doing this email differently so I will see how it turns out but I will talk about everything that happened still!

This week we meet with Bernard a ton and he even had his baptismal interview with Elder Carter yesterday (but he doesn't currently have a baptism date) yet he passed! Me and elder Parrish have just been in some many appointment he didn't see him until Sunday morning at church. But he still wants to learn more and keep reading the book of Mormon and praying so that he will still be ready for when he feels healthy again. But he came to church and we had a great talk after church!

We saw Fred a couple times this week and we helped him build a TV stand for his church it was pretty fun he had to do all the cutting, grinding, and drilling, but we help with everything else it looks pretty nice (nicer then our churches TV stands) and then yesterday he helped us download I'm a Mormon videos for the open house on Saturday, Elder Parrish and Elder Lopez saw him on exchanges. 

Thursday we meet with Claudia, Willie, and Salma. They wanted to feed us and talk more about our church after we met on Monday and talked about the Restoration, they are awesome Claudia and Willie met in Cube (deployed to Guantanamo bay) and got married 2 years ago and Salma is Claudia's daughter from a previous marriage. Salma is going to a Christian school and asked us to help her on her project on the baptism of Jesus. It is going to be cool, they all go to the catholic church but are very open to changing religion after we invited them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, Willie said that "I have never received an answer like that, but I believe I will get an answer"

We also had an exchange with the other Elders, Elder Berg and Elder Lopez, I was with Elder Berg in his area biking all day I was tired by the end of it, but we did alot of good work and talked to alot of people we talked to a man named Jose, and I thought he was going to beat us up (he was holding a baseball bat, and is super strong) but we talked to him for a little bit and then a cop started driving on the bike path...... and he ran off cause he thought he was coming to check him for drugs it was pretty weird, we saw Jose later that day as well so the cop didn't take him to jail. And once we walked into our apartment I was so tired I fell asleep during planning like 3 times.....

but that was the highlights of the week!

see you next week BYE

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Last week in this transfer!

Sept 15, 2014

Hello everyone is has been 3 seconds since i wrote last week

But as it is the last week where am i going? (elder Parrish and i have been together for 3 transfers now)

But on the best note our week was great and this next week is going to be greater! This week we are having a mission tour with Elder Malm of the second quorum of the 70, and hopefully we will have an investigator go to his fireside so we can see him again.. :D

But we saw a lot of good stuff this week and we had a church open house on Saturday with a chili cook off it was a lot of fun Elder Lopez and I were suppose to be judges but he chickened out so Elder Parrish did it for him, and a person from Santa Paula, there were some pretty good chilies there but they all hurt Sunday night..... but at the open house we had 24 non members there (i counted 24 but Elder Parrish counted 29) but we had 2 familys we have been teaching come and we gave them church tours and then one of the families came to church on Sunday.

the 2 families were Fred and his wife (Maria) and the Paralta Family (we found them this week) Fred had been helping us set up the open house by getting us i'm Mormon videos off of YouTube and he LOVED our church he thought it is awesome to have classes where different ages learn differently so we had a couple of great lesson with him watching Mormon.org videos it was pretty cool my new favorite video is because of him. oh its so good i invite you all to watch it for me! the Paralta family are awesome as well they were waiting outside for us and the Gonzales family brought them in for us and sat with them and they are pretty good friends now its crazy to see how once the missionary work is sparked in someone they can do anything, they even invited them to the movie coming out "meet the Mormons" but it is a family of 5 Father (Valeriano) Mother (Carmen) 2 boys and a girl Eddie (14) Rudy (12) and Jennifer (3) we have only taught Valeriano and Carmen though. 

Bernard is still doing good he was feeling sick over the weekend but we helped him wash his car this week which was pretty fun, Thursday night we had a lesson with him in the Baptism Font room and it was awesome he felt the spirit there a ton he asked us how we knew he felt different and we told him it was cause we felt it to and then he asked what that was and we dropped the ball.... and taught the plan of salvation..... ... but we repented and we asked him to study about the holy ghost and to teach us about it so he is preparing a lesson for us for Tuesday (tomorrow) so hopefully all goes well with that.

but that is the highlights of this awesome week i hope you all had a great one as well take care and see you next week!

enjoy pictures of the rock gorilla and the oil well we found during correlation!

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Week 51 - Another FANTASTIC Week

September 1, 2014

Well hello there how was your week?

Well i had a awesome week-  on Monday we had a district potluck and played croquet it was pretty fun! But we then went to visit N. she is awesome we talked about the restoration and reviewed it a little, it was pretty good for some reason it is hard to teach her with her mom around, but that is not the first time that has happened.

Tuesday was great we had a zone conference with the Santa Barbara zone so I got to see Elder Cavazos again and boy he has gained a little weight!  But it was a great conference i learned a lot. When we made it back to Fillmore we had a lesson with a investigator and we talked about how they felt about baptism, they said they felt ready spiritual but not physically, so asked if we could postpone the date to a later time. But let us back track to the beginning of the day when a member called us at 7 asking us for help to move her friend out of a house so we loaded up and tried to help but the lady is a hoarder and nothing was packed so after moving everything out of the way to make a path we moved a desk out and had to leave to change and head to Ventura.

Wednesday morning we went back to go help S. the lady who needed help but this time we waited tell after studies, but we packed up all her sons nintendos and some games, dvds and dvd players and anything else that we thought he might want back it was pretty fun helping. Then we went to see Bernard and we talked about Peter and what we had learned in zone conference it was pretty cool. He felt the spirit and asked for another blessing but we forgot to ask for permission to give it so we haven't done that yet.

Thursday we meet with N again and we talked about her past experience with missionaries (we found an old record looking though the area book trying to find new investigators) and she told us she hated being told when she is getting baptized that she will do it when she wants to and we talked about when she wants to get baptized and she told us she will pray about it, but wants to do it before transfers so we told her to pray about the 20th and set that as a goal for her baptism.

Friday, after weekly planning we meet Bernard at the church and had a lesson at the church, then we drove to Santa Paula to exchange companions. Elder parrish went to my Beloved Ventura and I stayed in Fillmore with Elder James.

Saturday. It was a normal day in Fillmore we talked to S in Piru and she told us she wants to get baptized in December before Christmas, so we set a date of December 6th and she is excited about that we talked about Baptism and what it is and what it means. We also had a lesson with Bernard and we just read from the Book of Mormon. It was a pretty great day.

Sunday we had 5 investigators at church and we meet with Bernard and how we can help him the best! My time has run out and I got to go!

Figure out the picture and good luck have a great week!

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Some sort of ramp made out of scriptures...

One year finished celebration.

1/2 way done package

Elder MacKay and Elder Berg(?)

Elder Parrish and his muffins, somehow it has become a joke that he will be my son in law...

Week 50 -Well time flies when your having fun!

August 24, 2014

Well its official i am half way there.... :S

But i had the best week of my mission, until next week!

Monday, we had a lesson with Bernard and we read from the book of Mormon with him and answered some questions it was a great lesson we all felt the spirit that is for sure i can't wait for his baptism he is so ready it is crazy!

Tuesday, we went to the Zavala family and talked to Marco and compared soccer to the studying, how you get batter at it the more you do it. We also met with Bernard and his mother when he went to get ready we talked about prayer and our humanitarian work and she thought that is really cool that our church does so much, and then Bernard came back out and we reviewed the plan of salvation. it was a great lesson!

Wednesday, we had a blitz with the zone leaders in Santa Paula to help the Hermanas find some new people to teach, it was very good we found a couple good people that seem very promising! After we meet Bernard at the church with Sister P (ward family history person) and we taught him/she taught him how to do family history he loved it a lot and is working on his pedigree chart and is going to bring it on Wednesday again, if he wants to come this week. But that was a awesome miracle it was pretty cool to see him searching for his family.

Thursday, after district meeting we went to Piru to see Susie she wasn't home but Katie came out and talked to us and we talked about what she believes in God (she is catholic) it was a great lesson we taught her about the nature of God. And we saw Bernard and we watched part of the special witness of thirst movie it was pretty good we also watched some Mormon messages.

Friday, we meet with the Ramirez family and Elizabeth's daughter Nicole and we taught her the restoration it went pretty good, she liked it and said "wicked but in a good way" she then said she would come to church if Elizabeth made custard. we then stopped by Bernard's and we read in the book of Mormon a little with him, it was pretty good he asked us what the house of Israel is so we talked about that a tiny bit.

Saturday we meet with Fred and he asked us if our church believes in the promise God gave to Abraham so we talk about the Abrahamic covenant and talked about that with him. And we meet with Bernard and we went for a walk with him and we talked about obedience and obeying the laws of the land. He thought that was cool how the more obedient we are, the more blessings we receive.

Sunday. We had 7 investigators come to church (Nicole,Bernard, Eva and her 2 girls, Jerry, and Luis) it has awesome, we had a lesson with Bernard and we planned his baptism out to the T. it was a great lesson with him.

That was my week in a nutshell!

Hope your have a great week! the picture are from our walk with Bernard (he lent us some cool shades)

 

-Elder Joshua Mackay