January 3, 2011

Dear family,

We are teaching a new guy Elkin, and he is super awesome and golden! I am so happy that I am staying here in Tampa to work with him. He is amazing! I am so happy to be able to work with him. I had an awesome experience with him. While he was talking to me yesterday, I remember that I had a dream about this exact story and there was a man in my dream, and it was Elkin. This was a dream that i had right before my mission....and now I am here teaching him. It was a really cool experience, and I am so happy to be here and having the opportunity to work with him and to try and fulfill my purpose as a missionary. It is really hard to serve a mission, but it is worth it. My Spanish is really coming along too. I am very happy about that. I finally understand jokes...not all but some, and it is fun because Elkin tells a lot of jokes, and it is so cool to be getting to know him, and to be working with him. He really is super special. I am so happy to be a part of his process. I am going to try and set a date for baptism with him tonight! He is wonderful and i cannot wait for you all to meet him someday. He is from Columbia and friends with my Liliana....he is like a brother to her. It is wonderful. That family really is like my 2nd family here...I am so blessed to have them.

Well, I am staying here in Tampa, and training again in a 3 some. I am nervous because my comp is going a little crazy about this....pray for us! Pray for the work, and pray that I will be able to focus. I love you all so so so much!

Love, Hermana Jenna

December 20, 2010

Dear Family,

Wow! Christmas is so great! Thank you so much for all the support and packages and stuff! You are the best ever!!!! I am so grateful for you!

Well, we are teaching a new guy and he is amazing and so ready for the gospel! He is Liliana's friend and he lost 3 fingers in a work accident and through his trials he is more humble. I just know that he is going to get baptized soon! His name is Elkin, and I found him yesterday at church (Liliana brought him...she is so great!) I am thrilled to be here and I am so happy in the work.

I get to talk to you all on Sat!!!! I am thrilled, so this will be short, and I love you all so so much! I am so happy that you got a puppy!!! I am so sad that I can't hold him!

Be safe and I am excited to talk to you soon! I love you!

Love, Jenna

December 13, 2010

Well Family,

Not much to report on for this week. We had A Night in Bethlehem program here and it was really beautiful. They re-enacted the entire Christmas Nativity here complete with a set and everything all set up outside of the Stake center in a huge field that they have there. It really was incredible. I got to be there passing out hot chocolate and cookies afterward to all the investigators that had come. It was really fun. I greatly enjoyed that.

I also had a scare this week when my sweet little Daniel Santos told me that if he is not married by 2012 that there is no way that he can continue to follow the law of chastity... I stressed about that a great deal, but then the next day we went and taught him, and I found that I had misunderstood, and that he meant that he needed to get married quickly in the temple, because the new change in his life style is hard. So that was a relief.

We also had our Christmas conference this week which was really beautiful and special. I really enjoyed it. I got to see lots of people that I have not been able to see for a long time who were transferred and that was fun.

Everything is going well. Thank you so so so much for the 12 days of Christmas! It is so awesome and really gives me a lot to look forward to everyday. Also, the pic of Danny was so super cute! I love him so much. I heard that his farewell was amazing and I am so happy to hear that! I love him so much! Please give him a big hug and kiss from me and tell him that I love him. He is going to rock the mission! I am really so excited for him to get out there and get going with it! He is amazing! All of you are so amazing and wonderful! Be safe and have a Merry Christmas season!

Love, Jenna

November 29, 2010

Mi Familia Bonita

When in the crap did ya''ll go on a cruise?!?!?!?!?!? I loved the package this week...and I was so pleased to see that you are all living the GOOD LIFE while I am here killing myself! Thank you so much for the package! I really loved it so much!

Well, everything is rocking it. I am loving life. Thanksgiving was amazing. We went to a wonderful Puerto Rican families house for breakfast, and then played futbol, then went to my Liliana's house for a thanksgiving feast (lunch) with my boys, then watched a movie with my awesome and newly baptized Dominicans Clara, and Jasmine and Melany, Clarissa, and Senor Diaz (the coolest man in the world, and I cannot wait until he joins and this beautiful family is sealed for time and all eternity) we watch How to train a Dragon, which I LOVED! Then I ate my main Thanksgiving feast there with them...and it was just like home. Clara made it all so cute and wonderful and I was so grateful for all that she did and it was wonderful! I really enjoyed it. Then we all played games and stuff together. It really was just like being at home. We ate with our Elders (Lindberg and Robinson) and also Tampa 4 (Jensen, and now Taylor cuz Johnson got transfered) It was so wonderful!

Well, I love you all so much! I hope that you are all happy and doing super well. You are the best family in the world and I am so grateful for you! I LOVE YOU!!!!

Love, Jenna

November 22, 2010

My Dear Family!!!

So, Dad asked about the kinds of things that the Hispanics do for
Thanksgiving....and he thought that it might not be a Latino
holiday....but the great thing about the Latino's is that it takes
very little for them to bust out a big party! On Saturday
after our baptism (which was absolutely beautiful!) we had a
thanksgiving party! Everyone came and ate, and then they moved the
tables and had a DJ and had a big dance party! It was just about
the most interesting Thanksgiving dinner experience that I have ever
had. And during the dinner the Dj was there bustin out all kinds of
Latin music (my favorite is bachata....I love it!) Then afterwards
everyone bust a move on full stomachs, but didn't seem to mind.
It was hilarious and I loved it! Even Daniel Santos danced, which was
completely new...he has never done that before. And he SUCKS!
I love to sit there and watch....but I have NEVER had to do
it before in my life....and it is so hard to sit there and watch everyone else dance and have
fun...while I have to sit there. Finally, I could not take it
anymore, and I got up and danced with Hermana Gallegos! I am probably
the worst trainer in the whole world....but I am not perfect....it is
so hard to sit there and watch others dance, and not dance. However,
in my defense, I perused the white "missionary handbook" beforehand
and it says nothing against dancing....just touching men....so I think
that it was fine! Plus, we bust a move in front of the whole
ward including president at the last party....so yeah. :)

My baptisms were amazing! Clara and her daughter Jasmine got
baptized and so did Marlon! It was wonderful! I loved
it.....everything during the baptism fell completely apart though. For
example, the day before the baptism Clara told us that she was still
drinking coffee because she didn't understand that it was against the
w of w....I am not sure how that happened....with all of the craziness
of getting her sis her from the DR and everything.....Satan had to
throw us a big curve ball. So, I spent like 2 hours on the phone with
President Summerhays and then the area president, and everyone trying
to get the ok to proceed with the baptism....I needed a commitment
out of her to quit...and she had a hard time with it but then we could
go forward (they are supposed to be completely clean from all the BIG
5 on the W of W for a week before the baptism....that was why it was
such a big deal) then, when we got to the church, the hot water in the
font wasn't working.....then the drain wasn't working.....so the water
was cold and shallow...and when it was time to perform the baptism I
had to be in the stairwell with Clara coaxing her and then Jasmine
into the water and demonstrating how to bend the knees and everything
from the sidelines while they were getting dunked.... it was INSANE!
Satan really didn't want them baptized. Marlon was fine in the cold
water and he is super short...so it was not such a problem for him.
The bishop was out of town, and no one else in the ward knows
what is going on but him, so the 2nd counselor did not look at the
temple recommend of the guy that baptized Clara before the
baptism....and I had no idea because I was running around like a mad
chicken getting everyone into their whites and taking pics and getting
everything finalized...and then I was the one that played the piano
for the baptism. Complete madness! I am going to start learning the
art of delegation ( and my wonderful comp bless her heart is wonderful
but doesn't know a thing....and so I really do have to do
everything....it isn't like serving with power house Hermana Murray
who would do everything and I would sit there all the time and wonder
how everything would always turn out so perfectly)

I love you so much!

Love, Hermana McDonald

November 15, 2010

My Dearest Family,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY LITTLE DANNY BOY! My little man brother! You are
so cute and I am so proud of your decision and strong conviction to
serve our Lord!!!! Happy Birthday little Boo! You are the
best! I am sad that I can't be there with you in this grand moment of
your life. I feel somewhat disconnected to all of the going-ons in
your life....and I am sad about that. However, we are soon to be
connected on a much grander level. We will be serving our Lord at the
same time, and in 2 different parts of the world. I am so excited for
that. I am so excited to write to each other while we are both going
through this experience. I just know that this will bring us closer
than we had ever imagined....

So, family! I have 5 baptismal dates right now, and I have 11 other
investigators! This work is REALLY taking off! Clara and her daughter Jasmine
are for sure getting baptized this week and hopefully her other 2
daughters Melanie and Clarrissa too! They are a bit cold but hopefully
they are on board as well! Her sister is flying in from the DR for
the baptism and I am thrilled! Also, a man that we are working with
from Honduras accepted a baptismal date for Saturday as well, and he
too will be baptized! His daughter just died from
Non- Hodgkins Lymphoma....so that is sad and crazy ! I could not
believe it, but we were able to teach him and he was receptive to the
gospel and I think that his grief has really helped him to come unto
Christ and accept the principles of the gospel. It has been hard
though and I feel really sad for him, and kinda connected to his
daughter in a strange way since we had a similar sickness.

Oh, and Daniel Santos has been an incredible fellowshipper for
him and another one of our investigators and it is so wonderful to see
his strength and his powerful testimony! I love him so much!

I love you!

Love, Jenna (Hermana McDonald)

November 8, 2010

Dear Family,

This week has been great and awesome like usual. Clara and her kids are getting baptized on the 20th of November because her sister is coming out for the baptism form the Dominican Republic! I am super stoked! Still no true contact or explanation from Jose Rojas....bummed about that! Daniel Santos (my sweet little recent convert) is doing great and is hopefully going to the temple here shortly.....I am so thrilled about that of course!!!!!

Life is great! I am loving the mission and I am loving life. Hermana Gallegos and I have loads of fun together, and it is such a treat to serve with her and train her. She is from Miami (well originally Chile) but she can have this little attitude kinda like a black girl....which I am assuming is like her Miami high school that she has told me about! It is so funny! She said that at her high school it was for the most part cubans (which Cubans are very beautiful people) and other Hispanics, and then blacks, and a small percentage of whites and they were mostly rich and Jewish....this was kinda surprising to hear. But she is so sweet and we are doing so well together. I really could just serve with her for the rest of my mission and be so perfectly happy about that!

Well, nothing much is really new this week.....we got a flat tire in the car the other day and low and behold, there was a man in his front yard, right where we had to pull over fixing his own tire. So, he graciously offered to do ours as well...and while he changed it we taught him the restored gospel and he accepted a DVD and a possible return visit! Sweet huh! The Lord really does put us in the most interesting of situations to be continually teaching the gospel! It is wonderful and so great. And the tire just slowly let the air out....it was not even a tire blown out or anything.....really the Lord just wanted for us to talk to that man. It is incredible the way that the Lord protects us!

I LOVE THE MISSION and I LOVE LIFE!

Love, Hermana McDonald