Monday, July 21, 2014

Week 45 - Ventura

July 21, 2014

so this week was great and had a blast in Ventura!

so not a lot happened on Monday. but he had a lesson with a less active family the K's and we talked about family history and we brought a member Bro P who is a family history guru so he got them set up with it all and it was awesome! 

Tuesday. so Tuesday was great for dinner we were going to have a less active come with us so we could talk to her but she texted us about an hour before and said she was bring a friend with her. so she is the best! so we had a great lesson with A, S (the less active) bore her testimony about the Restoration. it was awesome. then we went on a walk with B and we talked about the word of wisdom cause he was a friend in mexico who is Mormon and doesn't drink or do anything so we talked about why we have and what is is for, but he is sick so he doesn't do any other that anyways. and after he went to take a nap and we taught his mom, C. and we talked about the power of pray and the holy ghost! it was a great lesson as well.

Wednesday! we had a great English class but only one person showed up which is alright. we then went to see a less active Wesley and his non member sister! we had a great lesson we talked to them about baptism and what it means and all that fun stuff. we then went to stop by a potential investigator named M we talked about the book of Mormon he took a copy and said he would read but was sure when we could talk again. and finally we talked with S! it was a great lesson we talked about what she thinks about baptism and we just let the spirit ask the questions and stuff so now we know where she is at and how we can teach her!! its going to be great!

Thursday, we had district meeting and then drove to Ventura for interviews with President and Sister Felix, it was good they are awesome! after we helped Fred and i learned how to bend re-bar and the twist wire to hold it in place yep it was pretty fun! i also learned that Elder Parrish is part gofer and can dig holes/trenches like a mad man. but we had another walk with B and talked about baptism and how it is needed and he thinks that he wants to get baptized into our church cause he didn't get the gift of the holy ghost but isn't able to come to church yet so little by little.

Friday, we went to walk with B again but he was feeling under the weather so we taught him and his mother about the Restoration. it was a good lesson it was a little hard as well cause we forgot to ask if they could turn off the TV, but never the less, we did teach and they did understand a little bit and they said they will go to church this coming Sunday! oh and then we drove to Santa Paula to meet the zone leaders for our exchange and i went to Ventura!!!

Saturday in Ventura!! so i got the teach the D family and it was awesome we just read from the restoration pamphlet it was pretty good it was awesome just to see them again! yep and then we went to teach B and hna C was there so we had a great member present lesson and we taught the restoration and we all bore testimony and right as Elder Clough was going to invite her to be baptized the rest of the C family walked in the door and pretty much ended the lesson due to volume level... oh well it was great to see them as well the are going to start the temple prep class on Sunday and soon get sealed forever!!!!!!! yep we had a great day in Ventura, but i had to leave. oh well

Sunday. we talked to R! it was a great lesson we finally found him home but we talked about how in the world we live in today we need god more then ever it. he competing agreed and we talked about how he can come to church (rides) but he said he wants to ride his bike there. it was a great lesson anyway.

well that was my week and it was funny!

pictures are of piru (small town in our area) and lake piru we went up there on p day to see it!

-elder joshua mackay!



Week 44 - Another Week with a lot of Work!


July 14, 2014

well hello again its been a great week here in Fillmore California

well last week on Monday a member offered us breakfast so we went at 10 and we had a lesson with J the members boyfriend, he is a pretty cool guy, he thinks god is just anything more advanced then we are and believes that we are clones from another planet. but we had a great lesson until his girl friend came into the room and started to argue with him about what god is... it was interesting but we testified what god is and the spirit was there and ya. He believes the church is true but just God is an alien.. He also wants to be baptized but he is on probation.

On another Monday note my mother asked me to share a story with everyone so here we go!
so on the 30th of June Elder Parrish and I were walking though the store, and we stopped to get Elder Parrish's 3 gallon of milk for that week and a lady asked us if we were almost done shopping. confused we said yes cause well we were almost done, she then said ok well i want to pay for your food so find me at the front when your done. so we finished our shopping and we found her at the front and she then told us she was a member of the Oxnard 1st ward, she paid for our food we thanked her and then we left.

but back to last week!

Tuesday, the only lesson we had that day was with members after dinner. it is one of the zone goals here in the 4s zone to teach members the lessons we teach investigators or edpep with them (edpep is just practicing how to teach) so after dinner with the G family we taught them the restoration, and they helped us a little with our Spanish and it was great. yep that was Tuesday.

Wednesday were went on exchanges with Elder Berg and Elder Hernandez, so i was with Elder Berg in my area and Elder Parrish went to the other side of Fillmore with Elder Hernandez. but Elder berg and I taught H, he is the boyfriend of a less active and we shared with the family and he was there 2 Ne 25:26 it was really good, the father really liked it cause he has been working with this lady to try to get her to take the lessons with the missionaries. he said he might share that with her to see what she thinks about it. we then taught E who is still stuck on the question of why did Jesus need to appear in the america's why couldn't Peter, James, and John go. but he talked about how on tv earlier that day there was an article about the Church talking about the Word of Wisdom so we talked about that, and then his wife came into the room and said "i heard Mormons can't eat fast food" she then said that an old man told us that and he was wearing his embroidered underwear. so we talked about how we can eat fast food. it was a very interesting lesson.

Thursday. all that happened was a sister asked for a blessing for her surgery the next day so we gave her a blessing, and turns out the hospital wasn't ready for her and they had to wait for 3 hours so they cancelled the surgery but her knee felt a lot better.

Friday. so we stopped by S's house but she wasn't home but we talked to her daughter B and her friend D (who came to church on Sunday) so we talked about what she thought about church which wasn't the best. she liked fast and testimony meeting but hated the young women's class. but were slowing working with her.

Saturday. we taught F the Plan of Salvation he asked how the Mormons stand on being saved his church believes that once your saved your saved. but we talked about the plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ and how its an on going thing. we also meet with B and we talked how reading the scriptures and pray can help with our day to day lives. it was a good lesson he is very sick so he asked us if we could come walk with him every other day.

Sunday. a lot happened but i only going to talk about W. W is a less active young man who is a public speaker pro (ok he only won in the region but came second in the county) he is very cool he is the only member in his family but his sister and mother and coming to church with him when he does go (once a month) but he said it would be cool to baptize his mom and sister cause he is 17 and could do it. were going to start to work closing with him so he can do it. 

anyways that was the week in the nutshell

so there is some pictures of fillmore and orange trees and some awesome missionaries!!

love you all your the best
-elder joshua mackay





Week 43 - Another Great Week


July 7, 2014

hello there we had an awesome week this week, and it was hot here in Fillmore (90 almost all week)

Monday, we had dinner with the V family and we planned a ward open house that will take place in Sept. but we are so excited it is going to be huge, the V's are doing good we are working with Bro V to get him to church and we found ways to get him there!! Now we just need to put the plan into action!

Tuesday (HAPPY CANADA DAY). so in the morning during studies F sent us a text put we didn't read and kept studying and then we went out and taught E, she told us about her weekend she spent in orange country on a marriage retreat sponsored by the catholic church and how after watching the movie passion of Christ (don't watch it. i have heard bad things about it) she felt like there was a bad spirit in there bed, so we talked about prayer and Alma 37:37. and we went to go eat and F sent another text and then we remembered about the first one that asked if we could go help pour concrete at 4 and the second said he got work off early and can come anytime after 1, we were planning on seeing him after dinner but figured before would work to, so me and Elder Parrish learned how to mix, pour and lay concrete. we finished at 6:30 ish and he feed us some dinner. it was pretty fun!

Wednesday, we taught an English class in the morning (Elder Berg and Elder Hernandez joined us for that) and we had 2 people show up A and S, so we taught how to introduce yourself and how to meet people, we then realized that we should have started with the alphabet and taught them that :) it was great we had Hermana V come and Hermano F said he would be there but never showed up. it was great! I felt like hermonos B and C for about an hour :D but in the evening he went to mutual with the young men and our investigator A! they played basketball for about an hour and we had a lesson with them and we used the scripture Alma 53:20, A loved playing with them it was awesome.

Thursday. we taught a couple lesson, and did some more service!! I love service! so after lunch we got a text for H (semi former, meaning her husband doesn't want us to teach her but he likes us working on his yard) asking if we could come pull some weeds and so we changed and headed for Piru! and pulled weeds for an hour and finished the job, turns out her nephew is getting baptized in Santa Paula so she is really excited for that. she is totally golden other then her husband doesn't want her to change. but we changed and headed back to Piru for an appointment with S and she told us about how her reading in the bible is going, and how she applied to her life, her boyfriend M just had shoulder surgery (removed a spur off his rotater cuff) and how Joshua in the bible was awesome and relied on the lord in his trials. (i never told her my name is Joshua...) but it was a great lesson we shared the scripture in the book of Mormon 2 Ne 4:20 and it was perfect!! i love times like that. but we then stopped at a less active family the Z's don't let there name fool you none of them speak Spanish. and we had a great lesson with them but they were heading up to Bakersfield area for the 4th of July so they weren't going to be at church but the wife has Sundays off so hopefully soon she will come with the kids! 

Friday. we had weekly planning lunch and an hour to talk to people before having to go to Ventura to meet President Felix and Sister Felix, but we got a few decs in that hour as we walked around the HUGE car show for the 4th, we hear one man say he would leave his wife for one of the cars..... :/ the world is going places and i am glad that i am not in it. but we had a great time in Ventura meeting the Mission President and his wife and we came back to fillmore to eat dinner and then had to be in our apartments by 7.

Saturday. we went to see F and his yard sale which was doing pretty good on his new cement. ;) but then we had to go to Santa Paula for a Baptism it was awesome tell i ate some raw chicken at the BBQ after the baptism, lesson learned check color before eating. i felt sick for a little bit so i took a nap well Elder Parrish took care of some District Leader stuff  and then we went to see A and we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and he said when i gets his answer that is the true church he will get baptized.

Sunday. after church we did some walking to try and find new people but it was 94 so everyone was inside a car or house with the ac on. we had a awesome lesson with the R family about sharing our faith in Chirst with other people it was a good lesson the spirit was very strong.

anyways i got to get going love you all! tell next week!

so the pictures are a lizard that was hanging out on our porch so we caught him and named him lizzy!

-Elder Joshua Mackay



Thursday, July 3, 2014

Week 40 - Week 1 take 2

June 16, 2014

well after being in Utah for 2 and 1/2 months i am finally back in California! serving in Fillmore!

so Monday i learned that i hate airports and airplanes but i landed in Santa Barbara 15 minutes early so that was good and then i meet with President Castro and he took me and the Assistants to dinner with his family Sis Castro and Samuel and Hannah (his 2 kids) and then the Assistant drove me to Fillmore to meet up with elder Mckay Parrish my new companion!! he was my district leader in Carpinteria!

Tuesday we started the day by  visiting the Lien family Paul and his wife Linda, Paul is waiting for a heart for a heart transplant and so they were packing their bags to go somewhere to try and find a heart. they also wanted to take us to that movie "God is not died" but we cant go :( oh well maybe in 14 months i will see it. we then went to visit the Ramos family who both speak perfect English and Spanish so that was cool they are less active members and are so much fun to be around so we shared a scripture with them that i read in the morning 1 peter 1:8. and in the evening we meet with another less active who wanted to do a Book of Mormon class with us so we started to read the Book of Mormon and then she fell asleep, mind you she is 85 or something like that so after we read 2 chapter she said that was good for today and we prayed and then she went to bed. it was an interesting lesson.

Wednesday we had exchanges with the Zone Leaders (elder James, and elder Clough) and i went with elder James who served 3 months in this area so he knew it better then i did, but we taught alot of lessons, the good one were with Cinthia and Rosielia, Bernardo, and Mucio. Cinthia and her mom Rosielia were walking down the street and couldn't stop to talk so they asked if we could walk with them so we walked with them for 2-3 blocks having a discussing how faith in Jesus blesses our lives it was really cool to talk to them and after they told us to go talk to there brother/son bernardo, so we did. in the lesson with Bernardo we talked about the Book of Mormon and the Restoration, its was a great lesson he told us how his "so called friend" peer pressured him into taking drugs that have made him sick for the past 3 years but he also said that is has brought him closer to his family and Jesus as well. it was pretty awesome. after we finished that lesson we were walking down the street and ran into Mucio who stopped and talked to us and we talked about the Book of Mormon and we gave him one to read and all that fun stuff and he asked us to come to his house on Thursday. he is awesome!

Thursday me and elder Parrish learned that God has a sense of humor.. but after District Meeting we came back to Fillmore and went to work. he then learned in is impossible to teach Spanish people when the world cup has a game going... but we stopped by Mucio's house and talked to him who taught his wife about the Book of Mormon and she is reading it a little (he doesn't like to read so he thought it was better for her) but it was hard to teach them cause they couldn't turn off the world cup cause mexico was playing some team so during commercial break we had a quick prayer and left them to there game. in the evening we returned to Santa Paula cause one of the sister asked for a blessing. that was a awesome experience the spirit was so strong it confirmed to me that this is where i need to be, i didn't even give the blessing so i can only imagine what was going though his mind.

Friday so I had my first weekly planning since and a long time and it was good. but we talked to Jonnie and she is getting pretty old and we shared a scripture from the Book of Mormon that had applied to some stories she told us it was pretty awesome. but after we said the prayer and cop pulled up and asked elder Parrish and I to come and talk to him, we were and little scared but didn't do anything wrong we thought but turns out he wanted our help in looking for an escaped mental patientand told us to call 911 if we see her. after that we took a deep breathe and kinda went detective mode looking for this person well heading over to our next lesson with Susy. Susy is a honey farmer kinda, she has 3 hives and make her owe honey (we have a couple jars its so good!) but he taught her and her boyfriend Marci. we talked about Alma 34:32-34 after she shared a story that happened early that day when her mom asked her to give a bag of chips to a homeless man she said no and felt bad repent and gave the man a bag of chip it was a pretty cool story it goes into more detail then that but thats the jest of it.

Saturday, in Fillmore California there was the National BBQ contest on Saturday, it smelt SO GOOD!! but we never tried anything... oh well. but not a lot of people showed up in the morning so we talked to a few people and left for correlation and then we made some stop after and learned that everyone went to the BBQ contest so we went over there and talked to one of the cooks and he cooked alone but his team name was Give it to God and he was teaching people about the bible as he cooks so he talked to us about what we do and we talked about have faith in Jesus it was pretty awesome.

Sunday was different. we tried to see a lot of people but no one wanted to talk to us. but we finally found someone who wanted to talk. Mucio we saw him across the street and he saw us and we talked for a little about families and then out of the blue he told us that he was a house in mexico and we can go stay there if we wanted to... it was a great offer but i was a little interesting so we talked about his house and he said when we finish our missions we can take our families down there. so i don't know what to think about it. 

Anyways i had a great week here hope you had one where ever you were but i love you all see you next week!

-elder Joshua Mackay

Week 42- New Mission President


June 30, 2014

Well hello there i cant see you though the computer screen!

so this week was great Friday President Castro and his family returned home and President Felix and his wife came in. (also new planner this week so i brought the wrong one and am going off memory)

but Monday! Monday was a little rough we didn't have much success but we worked hard and had fun doing it that's for sure

Tuesday, well it seem ,my memory is failing me but this week had some highlights!

Thursday we had a lesson with Ernie and he only had one question that he has been stuck on for 2 weeks Why did Jesus need to go to the Americas and start a church if he had one in Jerusalem? but he is slowly starting to understand why he needed to do that. but he takes everything we teach him to his bible study class at the catholic church and asks the pastor about it. its awesome he is really searching for the truth.

Saturday we had a lesson with Fred it was awesome he had a ton of questions about everything and we had him read about them in the topical guide and it anwsered most his questions. then he bought us some lunch, and we finished and went to see a less active member and he opened the door and asked if we were hungry and elder parrish foolishly said yes and he took us out to eat for the second time in 1 1/2 hours so we both ordered something really small and forced it down and then we had a lesson about his book of Mormon reading, which he hasn't done in a while he said. but we finished the lesson, and checked our phone and a member (less active) asked us to come help move things around at there house, so we did that and they offered us food but we had to decline so they gave us a doughnut each (they didn't let us leave with out one) and then we went to correlation and the ward mission leader gave us a bag of lemons and grapefruit growing off his trees! (soo good) and then a member wanted to take us out for dinner for our 4th meal of the day.... but were sitting there eating and these kids walk by and elder Parrish said hi and the kids looked at him and ran to there mom and said super loud "Mom some man said hi to us and we didn't say hi back!" then the mom said "I am so proud of you" hahaha me and Elder Parrish just started laughing so hard it was awesome!

and that's about all i remember i will do better next week for sure but tell then look at these pictures of bunnies, elder parrish saying the pledge of allegiances to his pufferfish with forever stamps, my district Elder Parrish and me, Elder Berg and Elder Hernandez in the back and Hermana Wallice, Hermana  Haliday, Hermana Killpack and Hermana Newlend. and elder Hernandez and i on a blitz

love you loads take care Bye!!
-elder joshua mackay

Bunny
Elder Parrish and his blow fish
My district Elder Parrish and me, Elder Berg and Elder Hernandez in the back and Hermana Wallice, Hermana  Haliday, Hermana Killpack and Hermana Newlend

Me and Elder Hernandez

Week 41 - Another Day another Victory

June 23, 2014

Hello everyone!!

well this week was cool i didn't hurt myself on p day which is always a plus! XD

so Monday, we had a lesson with a less active family (Ramirez) about blessing and how they work! it has really interesting. the father said that they don't work, so we talked about that and how they do work, he then said when his wife needs one he will "lay her a good one" it was awesome. more to talk about this lesson later in the week.

Tuesday, we had a lesson with Susie and she asked us about family history and temple work, but her daughter's (Brittany) best friend is a member (less active) but Stephanie was there and we were testifying of the spirit we felt in the temple and Susie asked Stephanie if she felt that spirit too. it was awesome Stephanie bore her testimony of temples and how families are together forever, the spirit was very strong. and then we found a new investigator named Erica and we taught her the restoration it was a pretty good lesson, she took a Book of Mormon and said she will read it. ya that's about it for Tuesday

Wednesday! was are only day with a dinner this week.. but we did some service for them to. and i learned how to plant a garden!! ya it was pretty awesome we did that for the Heiberger family and they are a fun family, and we talked about getting them to the temple and getting patriarchal blessings and they said that they just started a plan to start working towards going to the temple and hope to be there as soon as possible.

Thursday was interesting, instead of a district meeting we had a zone meeting so we could see President Castro, Sister Castro and there children before they head back home for Idaho. they will be very missed in this mission, but i am sure President Felix will do good too! but we had a short lesson with a new investigator named Ramon we were following up on him to see if he had read from the restoration pamphlet we gave him and he read it and so we had a lesson to check for his understanding. it was awesome to see people who actual do what they say they will!

Friday. it has links to Monday just you wait!! so after weekly planning we had a lesson with Erine he is very catholic but love to meet with us but believes that the catholic church is the true church and so ya, he is a nice guy though he talked a lot about the Restoration and who god still calls Prophets today it was a pretty good lesson. and we went to the Ramirez to see how they are doing and the father walks into the living room and says "just the 2 people i wanted to see, i need a blessing" that was awesome!! he went from not believing that they work to asking for one, he is a great man so we gave him a blessing of health that he asked for and shared a scripture with him and had to go home before 9.
Saturday we did service for Fred again and this time we even had a lesson! and we talked about the Plan of Salvation and how the more we learn from science the more a line we get, if that makes sense. but it was a pretty cool discussion we had with him he told last week he wasn't looking for a church but now we see he is still searching for the truth. after lunch we went to Santa Paula to find some new investigator for the hermana's and we found a few people with potential.

Sunday, was very interesting as well, i Love Missionary Work!!! but after church we set up chairs for our Spanish members movie night that we invited every Spanish speaking person in Fillmore too, had we stopped at Carmita and Ali's house Ali was at work and Carmita opened the door crying. and we found out for dog had past away the day before. that was a new one for me and Elder Parrish but we said a prayer to comfort her and tried to help her out and it seemed to work but we don't know what happened when we left. but we headed to the movie night and only 8 people showed up. all active members of the church so Elder Parrish and I caught a ride with are Bishop to go to President Castro's open house party in Ventura, it was a lot of fun and i got to talk to some of the branch members as well.

also today was transfer calls and me and Elder Parrish are staying together!!

and the pictures are President Castro Sister Castro and me, Samuel Castro and me, Elder Parrish and his puffer fish (its pretty cool), and a Chinese wedding we passed several time

anyways hope you have a great week i love you all and your in my prayers!

-Elder Joshua Eric Mackay

Wedding they kept passing.

Elder Parrish and his Blow Fish
President and Sister Castro
Samuel Castro