Week 22 My Weekly report (Mostly in Spanish)

November 18, 2013

hello everybody glad to hear from you all

So this was great como siempre!

ok so well start with Martes (tueday). we had distract meeting and an exchange with the zone leaders Elder Hofhienz y Elder Van Every. it was great. and we talked about the coming up (Manana) Zone Conference my first one its going to be fun! and after that we went to work and we worked hard to create a lesson for one of our investigators and then 3 hours before he called us a cancelled cause his mom came into town but all is well in the west! and i learned how to say green beans ajotas or something like that. pues Martes fue muy bein  apprender mucho como ensinar ninos. Elder hofhienz es un bien misionero. el es de Beaver Utah (so I told him about the beaver curse) pero que es Martes.!

Mericoles. ensenamos mucho personas y tenemos dos neuva investigatoras. (magaly y esmeralda) entonses en Martes durante los encambios mi companor mirar un neuvo area por tocandos los portas entosnes nos vamos y habler con magaly despues pregunamos ella si necescita ayuda con limpando su carro ella disa no pero hablemos y dar un trajeta con la templo de Salt Lake con nuestro numbero y nombre y ella envio un mensage pedinos ensanar ella Lunes a las 6. entonses hoy ya vamos. despeus hablamos con la famila bribiesca y ello tenia 2 hijos y 1 hija que no sabemos ensenamos la hija y invitemos por cena por le dia de gracias en la 16th de esta mes. y en la noche ensenamos un investigator llame Ricardo sobre el evangelio de jesuchristo.

Jueves. recibimos dos packages (gracias la famila de Sandberg y mi mommy te amo) pero Jueves ensinamos maria carrera sobre el plan de salvation y yo peinse que ella gusta mucho peus tambien mi campanero. ella es preparando por la evangelio ella es muy especial. pero cuando passemos la famila diaz miramos Ricardo y ensinamos sobre la poder de el libro de mormon.

Veirnes. no mucho paso en Veirnes despues planamos de esta semana. despues comemos mucho duleca de canada damos los misioneros en mi rama un pocito y una de las misioneras gusta los Smarties y los canadaes kit kats pues si es esta veirnes.

Sabado. en la manana tratamos un hombre llamar gatilupe entonses tocar la porta y un murjer abier la porta y hablar con nosotros por un larga tiempo y mi companero ensina sobre y como orar y el dijo yo oro y despues orara y ella dica si!! y despues hablamos con los ninos de la famila vera de la luz  y hablamos sobre un descourso llama "happily ever after"

Damingo. hablamos con los ninos de famila diaz Allison y domanic. hablamos sobre mat. 4 y depues ellos salen por dormir y Ricardo y hna Arenas comrando en la casa (hna Arenes es la madre de hna Diaz) y mi companero hablando a ricardo sobre hablamos con los ninos y Hablo con hna diaz sobre Emma Smith y que paso con ella.

Great week right? sorry i got into spanish mode but here is the translation   

Wednesday. we taught a lot of people and we had 2 new investigators. Tuesday during the exchange my companion found a new area to knock so we went there and talked with magaly for a long time after we asked her if she needed help cleaning her car she said no and we gave her a card with the salt lake temple with our name and number on it and she sent a text asking if we can meet her monday at 6, so today we are going. after we talked with the bribiesca family they have 2 sons and a daughter that we didnt know about so we taught the daughter and invited them to the thanksgiving dinner the 16th of this month. In the night we taught Ricardo about the gospel of jesus christ.

Thursday we got 2 packages (thanks sandbergs and my mommy I love you) but thursday we taught maria about the plan of salvation. and I think she liked it a lot well my companion as well she is prepared for the gospel and is very special. But went we passed by the diaz family we saw Ricardo and taught him the power of the book of mormon.

Friday. Not much happened on Friday after we planned for the week. After we ate alot of Canadian candies we gave a little to the missionaries in the branch. Ane of the sisters loves smarties and canadian kit kats. Ya that was friday

Saturday. in the morning we tried a man named Gatilupe so we knocked the door and a girl opened it and we talked for a while and my companion taught how and about prayer and he said i will pray and after will you pray and she said yes! 

After we talked with the Vera kids and talked about a talk called happily ever after.

Sunday. we talked with the Diaz kids. We talked about Matthew 4 and after they went to bed Ricardo and hna Arenas walked in and my companion talked to them about what we taught the kids and i talked to hna Diaz about Emma Smith and what happened with her.

Sorry I

 

Sorry have gone over my time got to go love you all!!

-Elder joshua Mackay

Here is a link if you want read about Matthew 4

I am not sure what part of Emma's story Elder MacKay was sharing with Hermana Diaz but if you want to learn more about Emma, here is a link Emma's History told by her great great granddaugher She was a remarkable woman, who went through so much.

The best gift ever...

I was given a priceless treasure this week! Elder MacKay's dinner appointment sent this to me

Elder MacKay and Elder C, are they not the cutest, healthiest and totally alive boys ever!

 Then I got this, which I am sure you can imagine how many times I have watched it, over and over again!

A Halloween package

I decided to send Josh and his companion a Halloween package.

Ideas came from my friend Mel and Pinterest of course!


I did up a bunch of these Pumpkin Seeds package (this picture is of the ones I copied off of Pinterest, I will try to find the link to give credit where it is due)(I cannot find a actual link, but I think it might be sugardoodle.net)

 

We found these Evil Twin candies, so put a picture of our sweet twins on the back.

We filled is with glow sticks, candy, some costumes, decorations, and these cute Mummy chocolate bars, again from pinterest! I will look for the link!

 

I decorated pringles chip containers for each missionary and filled them with pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I also included these halloween marshmallows (probably taste nasty)

Decorated the box inside and out with pictures and die cuts from my friend K

 

The result was perfect, Elder C loved his treats and took pictures of himself with his mummy and Josh in the costume Meliah picked out for him! Are these Elders not the cutest on the planet!

Week 21 Time has flown by and left me in the dust!

November 11, 2013

Hello every body how was your week!

Well that sounds great my week was fantastic I love it here

Anyways so lets start with Tuesday. Tuesday Elder Cavazos taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to 2 different families and in 2 different ways. 

First we taught the Vera family using science and stuff so we got a bowl of water, pepper, dish soap, and something to wipe your hands. so we got the bowl of water and put it down and put my CTR ring in it and told one of the kids to touch it with out getting dirty, then before they could put their finger in the water we poured pepper in the water (pepper floats) and they couldn't touch it with out getting dirty so we asked Steve (the helper) to wipe his finger off and get cleansed from sin (or pepper) and get baptized and receive the holy ghost (dish soap) so we put dish soap on his finger and told him to touch the ring and he put his finger in the water and the pepper all went to the side of the bowl and he could touch the ring without getting dirty or sinning. It was pretty good, they understand that they need baptism now. 

On the other hand we taught the Gonzales family were we talked about and alot about baby baptisms and why they don't need it but they didn't understand that part of it so tomorrow were going to talk about it, other then that that lesson went great they understand that they need baptism and we also talked about temples and marriage.

Wednesday. we found a new family of investigators! It was a referral from a recent convert and she said that they want a blessing for their son (Luis) so we went over to there house and meet the Bibriesca family we talked about how we do blessing and what they are we gave the son a blessing and talked a little about prophets and they asked us to come back latter that week.

Thursday not a lot happened on Thursday. I'm kidding we had a great day we did a reenactment of Samuel the Laminite with a family, we did some more service and talked to some less actives about going on there mission.

Friday. we found another 2 investigators Esperanza and Roxanna. Esperanza we talked to early that week and asked us to come back any day after 5 than we got her address and went our way but Friday we were with Roxanna we have talked to her a couple times and she said she was busy every time but this time she want time and so we taught a quick lesson and how to pray and she said the prayer and asked us to come next week so where going tomorrow but after the lesson we looked at our watches and it was 5:05 and we looked up and we saw where Esperanza lived so we took 13 steps to the door knocked and she had just finished cooking for her kids so we shared another quick lesson with her taught her how to pray but she didn't want to pray so we asked her if next time she will say and she said yes got another time to come back and we prayed and left her to eat with her kids.

Saturday. so remember the Bibriesca family well Saturday was the day we went back and we taught them the Restoration, they loved it before we could invite them to church they asked where and when our services are! So we answer there questions and talked about baptism they said they will if they find that the church is true it was great. Then we ran home got some service clothes on and helped destroy a roof. later that day we were walking down the street and one of Elder Cavazos old investigators flagged us down and told us her son had ran away we talked about faith and we offered a prayer that her son with get home safely.

Sunday morning we got a text saying her son got back home safely! The rest of Sunday was great Elder Cavazos had to translate the talks from the high counsel. We talked about the plan of salvation in gospel principles. and of course all of the people who said they would come to church didn't.

So that was my week in a nutshell lots of fun and lots of work

Week 20 Another Great Week

November 4, 2013

Hello again my good friends

I hope your week was just as good as mine or even better!

Lets start on Tuesday cause that when stuff happened. Tuesday. we had a great day as always but Tuesday we found a new person Delia is her name we have been meeting with her daughter we invited her to go to mormon.org and watch some videos and she did that and said she really liked it. so we talked to her mom a little bit and shared some scriptures and talked to her about prophets and set a return date, said a quick prayer.

Headed down the road where we meet with the Vera family and taught them the 10 commandments and invited them to church and they said they will try to come but Sunday is there bowling day so they couldn't promise anything. 

After dinner we went to another family's house cause the father wanted to teach me Spanish so for the first 30 minutes he taught me the Spanish numbers and how they work, and for the next 30 minutes we taught the plan of salvation and they loved it a lot and then they said "we love your teaching but we don't like what happens at the church "and we asked "what do you mean" they told us how they thought we still believe in polygamy and were concerned that they would enter the church with one mother and come out with another so we explained that and they said they are coming to church this week. and that was Tuesday.

Wednesday. We did exchanges with the distract leader so I was with Elder Smith. OK mom skip the next sentence. so here in Ventura they has been a lot of murders 6+ in the last 2 weeks. So we went over too our investigator's house Karen and we taught her the Plan of Salvation and she liked it a lot and after she asked if we could say a prayer for her friend who was recently shot and killed just down the street so we said a prayer and she was very thankful and we walked away counting blessings. Wednesday was a great day.

Thursday. Halloween so we had to return to the apartment at 7:00 pm. but never the less we worked hard. We had found 4 new investigators that day!! Blessings. All older guy and Catholic. But in the morning we went to find a Guadalupe and we found him, he had just got home from work and we asked if we could teach him a quick lesson he said sure and let us in. We started with a prayer, taught him the restoration and when we finished he asked "How can I know that what your telling me is true" we replied "You got the read the Book of Mormon" he responded "well give me one" so we ran to the car to get one and brought it back and he said he will see us Sunday so we told him what time it is at and left so he could shower and start his day off work. 

Then walking down the street we saw 4 guys staring at us so we walked by and said nothing the person we planned on see wasn't there so we decided to go talk to that group of man. So we walked over there said hello and they asked what we are doing dressed up in white shirt and ties so we explained that to them and they asked us to teach them something that other churches don't have so we taught the restoration and one of them left cause his phone went off and soon after one more guy showed up and he asked a question about where our spirits go and so we answered him using the bible the book each of them was, they were surprised we could do that. They then asked were my companion is from and he talked about where he if from and how he changed from Catholic to Mormon they started to laugh at him and teasing him about why he changed he then asked "do you have the gift of the holy ghost?" they said "No" we then flipped to where Peter is talking to a group of people who were baptized by John the baptist and how he only had authority to baptize but not to give the holy ghost, they asked "well do we have to get baptized again?" we replied " yes until you get the gift of the holy ghost and our church the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints is the only church that gives that gift to people after they are baptize"they were quiet for a little bit and asked us to come back he set up an appointment and just as we were leaving they asked us "are we bad man for offending you" my companion said "you guys are great man its OK I forgive you" and we left great day!

Friday. we went back to Maria Carrera house because that referral wasn't in Ventura so we asked her where it is and she told us and she got talking about her son and what is going on and how she doesn't know what to do so we shared some scriptures prayed taught about fasting and she asked us to fast for her family this week so we did. We talked some more about thing we can do to help prayed again and left. That night we had a lesson with Ricardo we taught him the Plan of Salvation. he liked it he told us more about why he wants to get baptized in December and told us a little bit of his history we set up another lesson prayed and then we headed home for the night.

Saturday. Saturday we went to go meet with Guadalupe but he wasn't home but his son was so we talked to him a little bit and he said that he went to our church back when he was 13 so we talked to him and he said he was going to be there and told us a better time to catch Guadalupe we said a quick prayer with him and asked if we can come back and teach him and he said sounds great Thursdays are my day off work, so hopefully Thursday we meet with him again.

Sunday. was a normal Sunday not a lot happened a lot of people out with there family but not even a single person who said they were coming came to church so we felt alone but it was all good.

so anyways have a great week I love you all take care

-Elder Joshua Mackay

Week 19 I ran out of idea for topics so - weekly email!

October 28, 2013

OK this week was been a lot of fun

So after transfer meeting Elder Cavazos and I where driving to get some food for the week and we seen a red truck in the road with a dirt bike on the ground and a biker get up and moving it to the side of the road so we pulled over to help and we seen Elder Hernandez get out of the truck to back it up (missionary rules) and it turns out that they didn't have a phone to call anyone so I got to spend an hour with my older companion after they got hit by a dirt bike!

Just 1 funny story this week.

So Monday Elder Hernandez packed all day and then we went to the cross to write in shout out journals. (I will send pictures)

 

(Side note from Heather, for those of us wondering what the Cross is, here ya go!  The Cross)

Tuesday. Transfer meeting and the car crash, and not much after that.

Wednesday. we had a lesson fall though so we went to go see a part member family(vera de la luz) and we taught the kids so at the beginning of the lesson we asked them if they had read the book of Mormon at all and they hadn't so I asked if they had any questions about anything and Steve the oldest asked "how can we make God happy"  I responded saying I don't know can I see your book of Mormon so he handed it to me and I opened it up and read the first thing I saw that scripture talked about how God is happy of what we have done already and what makes him happy and he was surprised that I answered his question like that then Kimberly asked "does every one make it to heaven" again I said I don't know and opened the book of Mormon and that scripture talked about healing people that are lame and deaf, wounded and many other illness and I told her we are all spiritual sick and deaf but though Jesus Christ we will all make it to heaven. that was a powerful lesson and they said they are going to start read the book of Mormon.

Thursday. Thursday we found a new investigator named Maria Carrera she is catholic and doesn't think that God talks though the pope like he talked though the old prophets we told she is right and there is a prophet on the earth right now and he is in our church we shared a couple scriptures with her about that and we asked if we could pray with her and she said we could but she wanted to give us something. So she went back into her house and 2 minutes later came out with a piece of paper with her sons address on it and said I want you to teach him this as well. We then said a prayer and created a return appointment and went our different ways.

Friday. one of the members of our branch took a tumble down some stairs and ended up in the hospital so we went to make sure she was OK we went to the first hospital and she wasn't there we then got a call from the branch president (President Rivera) saying he had checked both hospitals and she wasn't at either but we tried the other one regardless and we found her there so we talked to her made sure she was alright and went back to preaching the gospel. Of course after we shared a message with her and her son and friend that was there but they live in the other Elders area.

Saturday. so Saturday was a good day as well we meet with some investigators that want to get baptized but can't cause their dad doesn't want them to get baptized but we talked about taking steps of faith stepping into the darkness and the light will follow. So we created a baptism service program. We then met with the Gonzales family the father doesn't like transfers so we were scared what might happen with having a new companion but they opened the door said come on in its very nice to meet you, when can we feed you guys dinner and teach Elder Mackay some Spanish? We looked at each other and said How about Tuesday? they said OK that sounds great! we then did some get to know you stuff and talked a little bit about the plan of salvation and told them that is what we will talk about on Tuesday. They are something else they are better then golden investigators.

Sunday. so after church we went to a lesson that forgot we were coming and asked us to come back some time later this week so then we went and had some lunch studied Spanish and headed back out the door and we went to see the Vera family and there was some older man there that we have never met before but we knocked on the door and Steve opened it and the man said that they aren't interested and to go away then the kids (Steve, Jakie, and Kimberly) all looked at him and said "What!?" and it was really funny but he didn't want us there so we said OK have a great day be careful and stay safe. We're planning on going back either today or tomorrow or both:)

well that was the week in a nutshell it was great!

love you all see you later

-Elder Joshua Mackay

This is what Josh's area looks like...

Week 18 Transfer Calls!

October 21, 2013
 

Hello everyone.

So I am STAYING in the San Buena Ventura Branch for 6 more weeks and Elder Cavasos is coming to work with me.

So a lot happened this week but I have forgotten it all, so in a nut shell:

We are having a baptism on Nov 2nd for 2 investigators ages 10 and 9. Their mother we have re-activated (Hna. Diaz) its going to be pretty fun. We have taught all the lesson there interview is on Thursday and then we will set up the program!

So were also teaching a family of 4 (mother and 3 kids) the mother is a member but has coming in a couple mouths and she works all the time (3 different jobs) so we have taught her kids over the past couple weeks and they all got baptized Catholic but don't think they need baptism again so we talked about authority and they understood.

This week were also dropped a man named Ricardo because he kept falling though with appointments. But Saturday he called and said we forgot about him and he said he wanted to meet up later that day so we did and he told us he wants to get baptized on Dec. 7th so we said ok and this is how your going to have to do it. set up more appointments (2 a week) for the next couple weeks and he is good to go.

anyways love you lots!

-Elder Joshua Mackay