Tuesday, August 25, 2015

It is finished.

August 24, 2015

Well it is over and I am at a loss for words to say... so this is it

A. Paso is doing awesome, this week was insanely hard, it was hard to stay focused but I did it.

Well this week we stopped by a lot of people to say good bye/see you later, man I love paso.

We stopped by the Villa family and taught them a lesson using parts of oil pumps... -when your companions family makes race cars weird thing happen like that- but it was a great lesson but they didn't come to church Elder Weiss and I are stumped on what to do with them.

C. Speaking of Elder Weiss he is great, dont think I could have asked for a better last companion.

T. With this week I studied for my talk on the atonement I gave yesterday- that went very well its crazy good a lot better then i thought but i guess that was the spirit.

S. This week I roofed and thingy don't know what you would call it...

Sorry its a super short one but I dont have any words to use....

I told you it was finished... and that is the Kerr family minus one who left to go babysit.

Well talk to you all soon!

-Elder Joshua Mackay



Sunday, August 23, 2015

103 Down 1 To Go

August 18, 2015

So yesterday we didn't have time to email so I am doing it today but it was great!

Well its crazy to think this is going to be almost the last time I get to email!

But this is how the week went!!

A. Paso Robles is great we are working really hard in the heat it has been great!!

This week we had an awesome lesson with Nelly!  We went to her house and her brother (a member) opened the door and sat us down and they said they were going to call us to help him give her a blessing of health! It was pretty cool to be in the right place at the right time its has been to story of my mission.

We also meet with Cynthia again this week she is doing good she loves her new job which is great!! But she still isn't coming to church so we are going to keep working on her!

The last person I wanted to talk about today is Victor. He is a less active member who on fast and testimony meeting said he is going to go on a mission! We have been meeting with him to help him prepare to go on a mission and it was been awesome to see his growth!!

C. Elder Wiess is awesome he is humble about everything that he does it is maybe something I could do better in.

T. This week I was asked to prepare a talk for the 23rd on what I have learned from my mission and I have learned a lot and it was been awesome to see the growth over the past 2 years! I am thankful to my savior Jesus Christ and for everything he did for me. My family has been a huge blessing and it is funny, I haven't seen them in over 14 months but I love them more then ever!

S. This week we continued to paint the Gonzales house and were almost done.

Yep it was a lot of fun!! This morning we went and helped some more and now its time to get back to work!!

So we went to Hearst Castle yesterday totally worth it!! There is a pool there that was plated in gold!!! Then we went to see the ocean afterwards. 

Well have a great week its time to get back to work!

-Elder Joshua Mackay
 
Pictures
Hearst Castle
Elder Anderson and Stewart (Anderson goes home with me)


Monday, August 17, 2015

9 days (moms count down)

August 17, 2015

This is Heather... and the second last email I will get from my Elder... It was super long and thoughtful... He only sent it to me... not the group... Be jealous..

hey mom so we are alive we are going to hearst castle and might not email today but we are fine dont worry talk to you soon!


Pretty amazing hey... haha

Well another bites the dust (might have used that one)

August 10, 2015

Well this is going to be a great week,but this was last week!

A. Paso robles is doing great, we have a lot of less actives coming back into active its being great. We have hna Cabellero who we thought was reading anti stuff and other things has been to church the past 3 weeks and has changed her view on the church and its member completely I dont know what God did but it worked!

Speaking of her we went to her house this week and we had a great dinner and shared a message with her non member husband and nephew it was awesome, but being crunched on time we shared a quick message and the nephew said "I love the short one!" it was pretty great we said he would love to hear more messages like that.

Moving on this week Cynthia got another job at a bank this time, so we haven't been able to catch her, but we met with her family a couple of times. It was great but her grandma isn't doing to hot, but she is getting better little by little.

C. Elder Weiss is the best, he has been a real good companion he is there to get stuff done so we get it done and go bed and repeat!

T. This week during studies I filled in my papers and I put a lot of thought and prayer into it so hopefully it is what the Lord wanted me to write down.

S. This week we moved a chicken coop a long ways... by putting it on a wagon, Elder weiss dropped it on himself too but he is fine!

yep it was pretty fun I thought elder weiss was going to die so I ran to lift the chicken coop were he was lying, he left with a tiny scratch... it pretty funny.

pictures!
that is our ward mission leader pedro out side the san miguel mission (catholic church)
and we went back to chapel hill in shandon.

well have a great week cause i am going to!

Elder Joshua Mackay



I'm out of ideas for subjects


August 3, 2015

Well this week has been weird everyone got there trunky papers, but me which is pretty funny. Because I told my dl that I got them 2 days early.... oh well

A. Paso Robles, well the fair finally ended!! It's going to be great people, are going to be home and its going to be awesome. 

This week has been great! We had some great times this week, a lot of less active people we went to go see, was pretty great we had a good lesson with Cynthia, we read in the book of Mormon, it was awesome and then her friend showed up and she asked if we could just re read it to him as well it was good. but he said he doesn't want to waste our time cause he isn't looking for a church right now.

C. Elder Weiss is doing great he was a good work ethic and love to work hard

T. This week I have thought a lot about the lessons I have learned and how much I have grown, it has been interesting to read my journal and to just see the growth, it has been weird but in a good way. It has been something that has shown me that the price we pay the 2 years is worth every second of it.

S. This week I laid some tiles outside it was very messy and fun!

so it a short one this week. but ya it was pretty great

pictures!!
the district! elder walker and rosenlof, me and weiss, waite and hatman, anderson and stewart, and sister woodland and scoresby

see you next week!!

-elder joshua mackay


One more down couple more to go:(


July 27, 2015

Well a member this week told me a had 3 weeks left and so I corrected him! It is 4 its a lot more then 3!

But hope your all are doing well it has been fun up here in Paso with the fair in town lots of people coming to the fair and we cannot even go....

But this is how my week went

A. Well Paso Robles decided to have the state fair come to town so this week flew by fast again... but everyone was there after 3 we had a hard time finding things to do and to stay busy but we lived. We had a lot of less actives come to church yesterday, none of the weekly comers were there it was all less actives and we had about the same number as people as we do normally.

So this week we meet with Rosa and it was great we talked to her about coming back to church and she said she would try because she had this weekend off! She made it to church but didn't stay for the linger longer thing the branch did. We watched the mormon message "after the storm" and she seemed to enjoy it, it was great to watch it with her, the spirit was very strong.

We also meet with Cynthia this week and she has been having a tough time again she finally found a job and then Monday she got let go... it has been rough on her but she is working on finding a better job now instead of working on coming back to church....  she is great but she needs to learn that God will help her out in all of this! Maybe we should go over that this week!

C. Elder Weiss is awesome he is very relaxed when its time to be, but he likes to work when its time to work and that has been a huge help this week!

T. This week I have been going over ch. 6 in PMG and studying the christ like attributes and seeing what I need to work on this transfer I have set my goals and we will see what will happen next!

S. So during the storm a members house got flooded and I, I mean -we- got to rip out the carpet and trash and ton of stuff, I didn't think I could throw a toilet as far as I did... it was great!! i a lot of fun!!

It is was pretty great I threw the toilet like 15 feet it was pretty fun! maybe a should have taken pictures too but I did not take one!

So that is a picture of ice on our A/C to keep us from melting...

so have a great week hope to hear from you soon!

Elder Joshua MacKay


One more down the drain


July 20, 2015

Well this week went by way to fast and that is not fair, I want a good solid transfer not a fly by.... but I will take what I get.

This week has been awesome mainly because we can use the car again, but yep

A. Paso Robles has been great Saturday night we got a crazy thunder storm and we couldn't sleep which made church even harder..... but we didn't fall asleep!

So this week I have been taking Elder Weiss to meet all the people we could meet and we have had a pretty good week we met with Jose Tacuba and his daughter Martha twice and we started to read the Book of Mormon with them because they haven't been doing a good job of doing it themselves. We also met with Juana and she is doing a lot better then when we first met her but she isn't really interested at this moment in her life, she just wanted to practice what she has been learning with the JWs on us, but she has a long ways to go with them.

We met up with a lot of the less actives in the branch this week and we made it a transfer goals to meet them all and to see how we can help them come back to church and back into activity. The biggest problem is that all of them work on Sundays so it is hard for them to come to church. Hopefuly we can work on that one and get some to come to church.

C. Elder Weiss is what I needed for a companion, I have learned so much from him and its only been 1 week I cannot wait to see what else I can learn from him in the next transfer.

T. This week it was been awesome, I have been able to reflect on what I have done as a missionary with some of my past companions and been able to set goal to make this transfer the best transfer every because - well every transfer needs to be better then the last one.

S. This week we help a family move into there new home it was pretty great I miss moving heavy thing its so much fun!!!

Yep it was pretty grea,t a lot of fun in the rain it rained all day Sunday and Saturday night it sucked.....

Sorry but no pictures this week maybe next week I will have some more for you. but all is well on this side of things!!

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Transfers, and this is the last one:s


July 13, 2015

Well hello there hows it going? Good! Well I am going to roast out here.

So I am staying in Paso and Elder Weiss is going to be my new companion!

and this is how the week went.

A. Paso is doing awesome so a great/weird thing happened this week Elder Jones and I were lying in bed and then are phone started going off with text from a unknown number turns out it was the Branch Presidents son telling us to go see his friend Pepe, and then the next morning we were texting him and our ward mission leader calls us and said "you need to see Pepe" so now we were trying to see this "Pepe" but we can't find him, but he sounds like a solid referral and I am excited to find him,
This week we did a lot of biking and it was great until we stopped then our legs just turned to stone.... we were able to have some good lessons with Frida and Lupita, they are doing good but are super busy all the time and they can be hard to find but we managed to catch them, but we talked with Frida about a lot of different things she was a lot of different questions and it was an awesome time to answer some of her questions about the word of wisdom and other commandment that we have, with Lupita we talked about the Book of Mormon and how important it is in our lives and hopefully she will start to read it.

C. Elder Jones is great I am going to miss him next transfer but I am excited to work with Elder Weiss next transfer it will be fun and I will learn a lot!

T. Well this week prayer has played a huge role, praying that we can get rides and prayer for more strength to get up this hill. Pray was helped me through a lot this week!

S. This week we did a lot from food bank to painting to moving a movie caster who casted suits on the loose and mobsters and Mormons... it was fun and he had a great view in his back yard.

yep its been pretty fun working with Elder Jones but now its time to move on.... it sucks but it will be great!

picture time!
yep I burned a suit... it was fun but ya it was fun!

anyways have a great week love you all!

Elder Joshua MacKay








End of Transfer


July 6, 2015

Well its been a great week, it has been hot!

A. Paso Robles is doing great it is been really hot this week we went out and did some biking and after an hour we had to go back in to change our shirts cause they were bad..... it was awful but after we got that taken care of we went back out to work but this time we walked so we wouldn't have to do it again...

This week we had 2 exchanges, the first I went with Elder Waite into his area and so it was good we had dinner with a part member family and she is getting baptized on Saturday, so Elder Jones is interviewing her on Tuesday and Saturday will be awesome. Elder Waite is also having a brownie cook off with this person and round 1 he lost bad but everyone won cause we all got brownies.

Then I was with Elder Payne in my Area and it was a good exchange but no one was home and since it was the 4th no one wanted to talk to us.... they thought that we were JW and it was great.... but it was fun we got to meet with and awesome less active and part member family but they were English so.... it still on the lords team!

C. Elder Jones is doing awesome he really wants to get transferred down to simi valley where he loves the branch but even if he stays here I know that he will work his butt off!!

T. This week I re-read the Saviors last week alive and then on Friday when we got the new that Boyd K Packer passed away. It was interesting I didn't feel sad or anything it was great I just knew that the Lord needs them somewhere else and that how it is.

S. This week we helped someone pack up to move out it was very fun she had a LOT of pictures it was fun!!

Speaking of pictures I forgot the cord so it sucks to be you!! but the 4th was great the members bought some fire works and we lit them off - well they did. and since I had a suit that is wrecked... I thought it would be fun to well you'll see next week...

Have a good week see you soon!!

Elder Joshua MacKay

Another week in Cali!

June 29, 2015

Well it has been a great week here!!

But this is what happened

A. Paso Robles is doing awesome the members have been a huge blessing and have been able to help us out a lot sine the fact we cannot use the car... But we have been able to talk to a lot more people since we are not driving every where,

This week we had some exchanges with the zone leaders and our district and they were all great exchanges!!
the first was with the zone leaders and I went down to slo (san luis Obispo) and it was just a funny day the first thing was doug a man that was referred from the sisters and then dinner, at dinner we were sitting down talking about something and then the member that came to eat with us asked me about the 5 lbs burger I ate 2 weeks ago.. so we talked about that and turns out he was there and it was super funny, and then Doug (we were talking to him)  started to tell us that Jesus appeared to him and was twisting his beard so he know it was Jesus.... and so there we shared a scripture, 2 Nephi 25:26 and he said he is thankful we shared that scripture with him and then told us that he is the new jesus..... it was weird, so we prayed and left as soon as possible.

the second was with Elder Magoon  and that one was great it was a hard day but we made it though and we had a great lesson with a less active family and the spirit was very strong it was a solid lesson.

the third was with Elder Rosenloft, it was a fun exchange we did and a lot of knocking and no one was home it was just one of those days but we had a great dinner message that I learned from the exchange with the zone leaders and we talked about testimonies of the book of Mormon, it was a great lesson!

C. Elder Jones is great he is very humble and wants to work hard all the time! He is a great elder!

T. This week I was reminded how important it is the share our testimony cause sometime it just takes one person to share their testimony to change someone's life forever!

S. this week we did some yard work for someone who was a companion to a member in our ward.

Well hope you have a great week!

and now picture time!
so we checked the mail this week and we won!!!!! and that is a sticker our ward mission leader made me!

Happy Canada day and 4th of July!!

Elder Joshua Mackay






One more week in Paso

June 22, 2015

Well this week has been a fun one, a lot of driving and walking too!!

It has been in the 100's all week we love our cars A.C,

A. Paso is doing great, we have been getting a lot of help from members and it has been working out good. Saturday we went to see Cynthia but she wasn't home. We talked to her brother Edson, he is a less active member and we had a great talk and man did he brighten our day. It was great to see him and to be able to tell him that he should come back to the fold, he knows were he should be and everything but he just works too much to do it if he isn't working he is working out or playing soccer. But we are going to work with him more.

This week we had a member of the Seventy Elder C. Scott Grow come and visit and it was great and a great reminder of hundreds of things! It was awesome to be able to listen to him and everything he talked about was great, when he talked about hope I thought - oh I never will need this - and then we ended up using what he said the next day in a lesson with Anna another less active member, we asked her what she wanted to know about and she said the law of chastity, so we talked about it and talked about blessing for living the commandments and then she asked about the word of wisdom and committed to quit using some drug she started to use. it was great and we were able to use what Elder Grow used to help her it was awesome. Plus a good eye opener for me.

Another awesome thing that happened is the car, we cannot use the car for a couple weeks, so we have been walking and biking in the sun. We have been able to work closer to the members and since walking to where everyone lives takes 2 hours we have been able to find people closer to our apartment and open up our teaching pool! We have found about 3 family that want us to come back, and 5 people that want us to come by as well. its been a blessing!

C. Elder Jones has been a huge blessing after not being able to use the car I felt burdened to say the least and he was there to lift it me up and it has been great to see that.

T. This week I learned that everything happens for a reason and sometimes that's a good reminder to think about how God is in the helm leading his work.

S. This week we were able to stop by the food bank for a little bit we had appointments to go to so we could only stay for an hour but it was a fun hour!

Yep it has be a great week! This one well be even better!

So this week with elder grow we took some pictures! 
Don't drive and throw gang signs!!! 
But I miss the smell of the ocean.
and Elder Phillips went back home for medical stuff, so we went to see him in Morro Bay and found a sub....

Hope you all have a great week I love you all have fun!!
-Elder Joshua Mackay