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

Week 49 - We are mechanicsP

August 18, 2014

well this week was great lots of fun!

Monday was crazy we helped Elder Berg and Elder Hernandez pack up and move in and we meet with bernard (bernardo) and we watched a church movie the restoration it was pretty good he enjoyed it.

Tuesday well Elder Berg left for transfer meeting to get Elder Lopez and Elder Parrish and I went to work (after grabbing a couple thing from the old apartment, Elder bergs bike, area book, and there phone charger) we talked to a couple of people on the street and then the Zone Leaders (Elder James and Elder Carter) called and asked us to get the Santa Paula hermanas area books for the new english elders so we did that and helped them get settled in (showed them where to buy food:)) and then we met with Bernard and we talked about what he read in the book of mormon the night previous and he said he wants to get baptized in a river/lake so we went with him to check out lake Piru but it was dark and we couldnt see very much and rushed home to get in on time. which we did!

Wednesday, Bernard called us and asked us if we knew how to change oil.... we said yes.. after about 2 1/2 hours of trying to get the plug out to drain the oil, we finally did it (we thought we could change oil) but we had a very good talk with bernard and he changed his baptism date to the 6th of September cause that is when he wants to get baptized. and we had a great discussion about baptism as well.

Thursday after district meeting and district lunch we got to do more service and cleaned the Ramirez familys carpet and move some furniture around it was fun! in the evening we met sarah pace at bernard's house to watch the prophet of the Restoration (the hour long one) and then after we had to go somewhere else but they were not home and bernard called and said he had a question so we went back and had a second lesson with him about temples and the pioneers and we went over the baptism interview questions and he passed with flying colors but wanted to learn more about Thomas s Monson.

Friday. in the morning we prepared a special lesson for Bernard, but never got to meet him on Friday he had family in town. but we talked with Hope and we have been trying to find her for a while now but we talked about prayer and how it can change peoples lives for good. We met with the Zavala family and read 2 Nephi 18 it is where they are at in reading the book of mormon. and we also met with the part member foy family they are awesome and we talked about the book of mormon it was a great lesson but it doesnt seem like the dad was very interested.

Saturday we helped fred re-dig some holes and then fill them back up... it was a pain but we had fun like we always do. After Fred, Bernard called us and asked us to help with something. he resently bought a new car and didn't understand what the guy he got it from was trying to say but turns out he forgot to get it registered in his name so the old owner got charged by his insurance... oops. For correlation Bro compton wanted to go see the lake and see if we could baptize bernard there so he paid $13 to go see the lake... but after all that was over we went to Bernard's house to get him to come to Sarah Pace's farewell open house thingy so we went to that together after it ended we went to see the Ramirez family cause manuel turned 77!! He is so old!! But we had some cake with him and he has happy.

Sunday, we got Bernard to come to church to see Sarah's farwell talk it was really good a boy does she talk fast, fastest speaker I have ever heard it was crazy I felt bad for the translator but Bernard had to leave sacrement cause the smelly perfume girls like to hear made him sick so he went home for a little bit and came back for the 2nd and 3rd hours. so after church and lunch and studies we finally had time to give Bernard the special lesson he wanted about Thomas S Monson it was really good he told us many times that he felt the spirit. and that was sunday and our week!

Pictures the district (elder parrish & me, Elder berg and Lopez, hermana Shepard & hermana wallace, Hermana killpack and hermana young),bernard and us, pear ish...., the next 2 are piru lake, a 77 year old man with a big smile, and us going to bro comptons house.

well hope to see you soon!

-Elder joshua Mackay

Hermana's Shepard, Wallace, Killpack and Young
Elders Parrish, MacKay, Berg, Lopez

Elder Parrish and MacKay Sandwiching Bernardo

Pear Ish

Piru Lake

Piru Lake

Elder Berg, Parrish, MacKay

77th Birthday

Week 48 - Fillmore Round 3!

August 11, 2014

Hello so transfers are this week and me and elder Parrish are staying together for another 6 weeks!

So this week was great and it went a little like this:

Monday we had dinner with a nurse and she asked us about how Bernardo got sick, so we told her the story (well what he told us) and she asked us about his diet and she said that he might have crohn's disease and from what she told us it totally makes sense so she gave us a book because she has crohn's as well. So we went to Bernardo's house and he said he would take it to his doctor and see what he thinks. and then we talked about church and how we could get him to Ventura for stake conference and talked about how church attendance is important.

Tuesday. we have a sister in the ward heading on her mission (Dallas Texas mission) her name is sister Pace, so we had her join us for a couple lesson with Bernardo, Carmen, and Anthony. So with Bernardo we had him ask questions to Sister Pace and it was pretty good and then we went over tithing and he didn't really like it at first but we will talk about that later... Carmen is Bernardo's mother so we talked to her about the restoration before Bernardo came out to talk with us, it was a good lesson but Sis. Pace could not participate as much as she wanted because she doesn't know that much Spanish, but it was a good lesson and she said she was going to read all the pamphlets that Bernardo has. Then with Anthony we talked about the book of Mormon and really stressed the importance of reading it because you can't learn the church is true unless you read it. and then Sis. Pace left and we went to Ali's house to talk to him about reading the book of Mormon it was almost the same lesson as the one we had with Anthony.

Wednesday was great too. We had Angel come with us to go visit Bernardo and we talked about tithing some more just to see what he thinks about it after a day and he said "I don't like how it is worded but it is a commandment so even though i don't understand it i will pay it" WOOOH WOOH!! So we talked about the blessing that he will receive from doing this. an hour later he wanted to know if we could go to dinner with him, so we got some food and after dinner we reviewed the restoration and it was very good he understands a lot more then he did before! After having 2 lessons with Bernardo we decided to go see Susie and so we talked to Susie about miracles and how there is a God and he can do anything it was a great lesson.

Thursday was good we talked to Bernardo about the 10 Commandments it was pretty good until his sister needed to go to the hospital (she has been having pain in her gallbladder) but once the house settled down we had a lesson with Carmen and she read the Gospel of Jesus Christ pamphlet and asked us some questions about what she read. Then she wanted to make us some tortas (mexican sandwich) and Bernardo came back so we talked to him again and we talked about temple and family history work and it was pretty good he can't wait to go to the temple.

Friday after some weekly planning we went to see you guessed it Bernardo! (note to readers we do try to see other people but they are never home or cancel appointments it might seem like we live at Bernardo's but we don't.) and we talked about the Priesthood what it is and who has it and the offices and all they can and can't do. it was a good lesson thats for sure and it all started cause he had a friend tell him he should be a deacon and he told him that he could be a priest!

 Saturday we had 2 lessons with Bernardo.... and Fred so we helped Fred pour more cement and bury some water pipes and we talked about how church building and special and should be kept clean and spotless we then after to give him a tour of our church and then he offered to give us one. and then we talked to Bernardo to see if he would come to church and talked about the blessing he could receive by going to stake conference but he didn't feel to go so he didn't come.

Sunday. so after stake conference and talking to some people we got sis Pace to come see Bernardo with us and we went to the church and watch the John Tanner story and reviewed everything that we learned and he said he had a question. and he asked us why god made the tea plants and coffee bean if we cannot drink tea and coffee and we told him that there needs to be opposition in all thing. it was a great lesson and he told us that he feels something and we asked him what it was and he described the spirit and we talked about that and that was a best!

anyways hope your week was as good as ours!

-Elder Joshua Mackay 

Week 47 - Well, Welcome to Week 6!

Aug 4, 2014

Well this week was great but this next week is the end of the transfer so what do you think is going to happen?

We worked very hard this week and this is what happened:

Monday, it was a pretty good p day we went to the church in Santa Paula to play some sports with the Hermanas and they were taking out all the old pictures in the church and getting new ones (as well as hymn books and other things) but I found in the discard place a picture of my favorite temple, the Cardston Alberta temple! so I grabbed it, Elder Parrish grabbed a ton of pictures too but we gave them to investigators and some less actives and they all loved them!

Tuesday, Elder Parrish and I went to Ventura to get our Tiwi fixed (a little box in our car that keeps us safe) and so we met Elder Ruse and walked around Ventura for a bit and went for a test drive to see if it worked, and then we met Bernardo at the church and we watched the restoration video it was pretty good!

Wednesday. We went to see the Ramirez Family and Elizabeth talked about how we are always around when she needs us to be and we talked about how god listens too and answers our prayer in many different ways and sometimes elders are part of it. Then she talked about how she is going to get her kids back next week maybe. Then we help Sister Tanaka take out her trash she fell last week and has been in bed almost all day every day so we have been calling her and giving her a daily scripture. After dinner we had to go the church to practice for the music festival on Friday and the Practice went pretty good it went a lot longer then we were told it would be.

Thursday after District meeting we meet Bernardo for lunch and we talked about the law of chastity it was a pretty good lesson, we could tell that Bernardo felt a little uncomfortable that we were talking about the law of chastity but we had Angel meet us there as well and so that might have been why he was uncomfortable. Then we went to the Zavala family's house and talked about being in the world but not of the world and did a little thing using veggie oil and water it was pretty good Marco really enjoyed it (he likes sciencey thing) and then we headed to the Ramirez family for dinner and we walked in and Elizabeth got her kids back and she was so happy it was awesome she has almost done a complete 180 turn around and has started to become active and living all the commandments it is awesome to watch her change!

Friday, it seemed like everyone went out with there families because no one was home! But we ended up finding the Hieberger family at home. They are doing good, we shared 1 Nephi 3:7 and talked about how God will prepare a way for them to do the things that are pleasing to him. Then we had the music festival.. where we sang "i am glad they called me on a mission" and then the final number just fell apart it was pretty funny but we all had fun doing it so YAY.

Saturday. we had correlation with the bishop in the morning and then we went to Piru to find people to teach and we went to a less active/part member families house and they were doing some yard work and we had our service clothes in the back of the car from Friday because a service appointment fell through, so we got changed and helped them set up a fence around their pumpkin patch so the rabbits won't eat them. We then hurried home showered and got cleaned up from service and went to the church to give Bernardo a blessing and we met him there and his whole family came (mother, and 2 sisters. father lives in mexico) so we gave them a church tour and then gave Bernardo a blessing after we finished his whole family said they felt a weird burning feeling in there chest but it was a good one. Then we had to go to correlation with our ward mission leader.

Sunday! Oh my goodness we had the best thing ever! So Bernardo said he would come for 30 minutes of sacrament meeting cause he was very tired, but stayed the whole hour, he then said 15 minutes in the next class and we will leave, again stay the hour. and he wanted to go to the last hour!! he is the best so after church we had a member give him a ride home. We met with Ramon who is doing alright, but was lost interest in the church but asked us for some more reading material, then we ate some dinner and met with Bernardo because we wanted to give him his picture we got from the Santa Paula building (John baptizing Jesus) he loved it and we talked about what is going on this week for church (stake conference) and asked him what he thought about church and he said he wants to go every week!! he is the best i cant wait until the 30th when he is getting baptized!

well i got to run love you all have a great week!

-elder joshua mackay

Week 46 - People are Awesome!

July 28, 2014


Hello awesome people though out the globe!

Well this week was great a lot of good things happened!

Monday was a normal p day, we went to Santa Paula to a members ranch and picked fruit (a ton of fruit) which was very fun!

Tuesday is when the real fun began we taught 6 lessons that day so briefly: Daisy we shared a scripture - Ether 12:4, it was just what she needed to hear it was a great lesson until her friend came to the door half dressed and we need to leave.... Then we went to Carmen's house and taught her about the book of Mormon and why it is important to read it. Erika had the same lesson with but she wasnt sure if she wants to meet with us because she likes the Catholic church. Then we met with Paul (recently returned missionary) and went to Bernardo's house and took a walk a talked about the Restoration it was a great lesson. At dinner we had a non member eating with us and we talked about the 13 Articles of Faith it was an awesome lesson and he had a lot of questions about the lost tribes. Finally we had a lesson with a someone (I forgot to write her name down) we talked about the plan of salvation and she liked it, but said she is going to stick to her church. That was Tuesday in a nutshell!

Wednesday: well after a day of super awesome things and being way busy we had nothing happen. We did give service to our ward mission leader. We dug some more trenches for water lines.

Thursday,  after district meeting Elder Parrish had to do an Interview for the Santa Paula sisters so we stayed down there for a little bit and ate lunch. Then we met with Bernardo again and followed up on his reading and he read 1 Nephi 4 and he didn't like it at all, neither did his mom, so we talked about why Laban needed to be killed and why God had commanded it. He was still a little confused but understood why it had to happen. In the evening we had a lesson with Ramon and he asked us what happens to those who aren't saved, so we whipped out  2 Nephi 2:27-29 and talked about how we need to choose to not be saved first and then what happens. It was a great lesson.

Friday, we had a great day after we finished weekly planning we brought one of the young men out with us and we visited 3 families with him. First we visited the Zavala family and we just read Mosiah 18 with them because they haven't been reading. Then with Anthony we talked about how the Book of Mormon can help us if we read it and pray to know it is true. Then Angel (the young man) and Anthony set up a time to play basketball together, we wished we could go too. Next we met with Bernardo for the 3rd time this week and he asked us to explain 1 Ne 4 again so we acted it out in his living room it was pretty fun! Then we talked about baptism and he set him self the date of August 30th!!! He is so awesome and ready he just need to come to church! Next we ate dinner and dropped Angel off (he spent 4 hours with us almost! he is the best!) and then we were walking through a park and we saw a family playing so we went to talk to them and turns out it was Bernardo's mom, sister, and nephew, so we talked to the mom as the nephew and sister were running around and we talked about service and shared Mosiah 2 (when your in the service of your fellowmen your only in the service of your god) and she loved it and said that she wants to start sitting in on lessons with Bernardo.

Saturday, its that special day, the day we get ready for Sunday, but we do that on Monday as missionaries... so we went to a baptism in Santa Paula instead it was pretty good. After that we went back to Fillmore/Piru and helped Fred remove some roots from the ground (under some concrete) it was fun we ended up towing it out with his truck. He asked us about the Mormon stance on the Pyramids and we didn't know what that was, so we talked about Moses instead and how they journeyed through the wilderness for ages. Then we went to Fillmore and talked to Bernardo, and walked with him while we talked about the Plan of Salvation (well really just where we came from). it was good he was really excited to hear the rest of it.

Sunday. After church a member asked us to give her a blessing so we went to her house and her non member boyfriend Jerry was there and so we talked about what blessings are and what you need to give them and we gave her a blessing and went to eat lunch. After lunch we stopped by Bernardo's (I am surprised he wasn't told us to leave him alone!) but we finished the Plan of Salvation and he said "in a year i want to go the church in Salt lake with you two" (by church he means temple) :D Then we asked him if he wanted to see the church in Fillmore and he said yes, so we got into our car and he followed us to the church and we gave him a church tour. He LOVED IT, he said he felt peaceful in there and is going to try to be there for church on Sunday!! He is the best but that concluded our Sunday.

Well our week was awesome hope your was a least half as good XD love you all till next week!

-elder Joshua Mackay

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