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

November 1, 2010

Dear Family,

Well this week was wonderful as usual! We had interviews this week, and President met with me for almost 2 hours! During my interview he told me that I am a Mission President's Dream, and that he is very very very grateful to have me here and ready to train all of these new sisters... especially Hermana Gallegos, and to be here for her and to help her be prepared as a missionary. I felt so happy! Then I talked to Hermana Summerhays about how I feel super old at times on the mission, and she told me that makes sense. That didn't help as much. Although she was trying to be understanding. :) That day was truly special and I loved it! She also told me that she felt strongly impressed to tell me that the Lord is pleased with my service and that He loves me very much, and to stop feeling like I am not doing enough. Anyways, it was incredible and I felt so very happy. The day was incredible and I feel so special about it. I really am blessed to have such a great President and Wife! I am so blessed.....

Sister Gallegos is a dream. We are best friends and it is a treat to serve with her. I love her! President also told me in interviews that I will be staying with her for another transfer which makes me thoroughly stoked! (I guess that could change if the Lord says, but he told me it was pretty much for sure!) I am so happy because we are rocking this area and she really is like my most best friend ever! (besides my fam of course...and my pink lady (my new sister Mae)

I LOVE TAMPA!!! I asked president to leave me here for my whole mission... I don't think that he will but at least I will be here for Christmas...and hopefully longer!

Clara and her kids are getting baptized in 2 weeks! I am so thrilled! We are trying to teach her husband too! WOW! an entire family is every missionary's dream come true! Also, we are reactivating another part member family and teaching the husband! We are so blessed here in this area! Also, we found Jose Rojas this week, and he seemed sorry, but then he didn't show up again to our appointment! That doof! I am mad at him...but he will come around! I KNOW IT!

I am so blessed to be here on my mission! And blessed to have such a wonderful family! Keep learning more and more about the ATONEMENT! The more I learn, the more I know I need to keep learning and progressing forward with it.

I love you all so much!

Hermana McDonald

October 25, 2010

Dear Family,

This week has been great, and hard because my baptism with Jose Rojas fell through. He was good to go on Friday, and then on Saturday he did not show up for his baptism. I am sad about this... and after this we have not been able to find or talk to him yet.... so I am still clueless as to what happened..... it kinda makes me look like a freak show of a missionary, but oh well.... I believe that I am trying my best (but we can always be trying harder right...and that mentality is throwing me over the edge right now) Oh well.

Hermana Gallegos is wonderful, and my only fear now is that President is going to recognize that he made a mistake about me being a good missionary and is going to put her with another better missionary. JK. (well, I sure hope I am kidding) Anyway, the mission is great and this life is wonderful. My mission is officially halfway over this week.....because I am in the smack dab middle of my transfers.... I am in the middle of my 6th transfer, with 5 behind me, and 5 in front of me. (those five in front of me look like a mirage in the desert....and I am dying of thirst....I feel like I am starting to lose my mind out here) JK. (again, I hope that I am just kidding) Anyways, life is amazing!

We are working with an AMAZING family out here right now, and I am loving it!!!!!! We are going to set a date tomorrow and I am thrilled! The mother is Clara and the daughters are Melanie, Jasmine, and Clarrissa. They are wonderful! The girls make fun of my Spanish a lot, and that is great because it is pushing me to be better!!!

Really it is like me and Hermana Gallegos were best friends in the premortal existence, and it is so wonderful. Sometimes she has very passionate views toward the Spanish people that I cannot relate with, but we are helping each other out and teaching each other so much. Hopefully sometime soon the language and everything will be perfect for me.... because I am sick of having a language barrier and I think that it is time for me to be fluent. I feel that I am so close at times and then so far away in others..... really frustrating.

Well, pray that we will find Jose Rojas, and that Clara y sus hijas will be baptized SOON! I love you so much!

Love, Hermana McDonald

October 18, 2010

Holy cow!!!! I have so much to tell you! I am SO HAPPY!!!!!! Life is AMAZING!!!!!

My new comp just turned 24, she is from Chile, and she is so COOL!!!!!!!! She lived in Miami since the 3rd grade and she is a blast! We have so much fun and she is so cool and chill, and we have a blast! And she and I are trying to speak so much Spanish, and I am learning so much about the Latin culture from her!

My weekend was the coolest and most interesting one of the mission so far, and I loved it!!!! We danced the boot scootin boogie and sang the National Anthem and the ward LOVED IT!!!! I taped it on my camera so when I send it home at the end of the transfer you all can see it! I am super stoked!

I sent a package home today with my camera card from last transfer and I sent a couple pics from the thing on saturday. We got permission from President to wear jeans and boots and dress like cowboys....and the elders and us danced and it was so funny! I loved it so much! One of the highlights of the mission for sure! Right up there next to the beach! I loved it so much!

The bedbugs are gone, or so the people say....I still have them come and check every other week...

Oh, and it was funny because the elders and us had to practice the boot scootin boogie for 2 hours on friday to get it ready for the performance, and it was so funny to be in there with Elder Lindberg and Elder Robinson practicing that song over and over! CLASSIC! And my cute new comp too, cuz she is so new and didn't really understand how weird it was to be dancing! So funny.

The two of us are so close...I just know that I knew her in the premortal life....it is like we have known each other forever. I hope we are comps for at least 2 transfers! I am asking president if we can stay together for the rest of my mission and she is too!

Pray for us to baptize Jose Rojas....we are having issues there! We are teaching a new family and they are awesome!

The mission rocks! I love you!

Love, Jenna

October 11, 2010

Hey Family!

So transfers are here again! Tomorrow I am getting a new little greenie! I am so excited! To be honest I am pretty heartbroken that I am losing Hermana Lopez....we have really bonded and we are having so much fun again. It is kinda hard to lose her. I am pretty sad. But maybe we will serve together again. I will have another 5 transfers after this next one (right now I have 6 transfers left) So, this transfer is the half transfer....I have 5 done and after this transfer 5 to go....kinda weird and kinda awesome.

There is a white sister coming in and another native! So, pray that I will get the native because I still need so much help with Spanish!!!! It really is starting to come, and I am LOVING IT! I am pretty obsessed to be honest. But I still need help. This native sister is an interesting situation because she does not have papers. Her family is from Florida and they are driving her here.... she can't go to the MTC or anything at all.... so that will be interesting and different. Kinda hard for her I think....but I hope to get her...although I think it might be really hard...but oh well. Interesting. I really wanna learn Spanish! I told pres. that so I think that I will be with the native sister. I hope SO!

Well, Juan G. was supposed to get baptized next Sat. but he is moving on Wednesday to Virginia for work. DANG SATAN! Hopefully, we will get his new address and get the missionaries to him out there....cross your fingers. Jose Rojas is supposed to get baptized on Sat too, but he has fallen off the earth. Not at church...not at our appointment. Nowhere. Please pray that we can find him. I want to get him baptized ASAP!

Some really fun news is that next Sat is the famous culture activity for my ward that everyone talks about and gets excited for all year round! I am so thrilled! They are having me and my comp sing the national anthem (hopefully she knows it) and then the elders and we are all doing the boot scootin boogie and the YMCA. Yeah, super awkward.....imagine the call that we had to make to president to get permission because the ward refuses to let anyone (including missionaries) not participate. "Uh....President, is it ok if the elders and us all dance in front of our entire ward....and anyone else, including our investigators, that choose to come.....and EVERYONE will come, be assured of that." and it was approved....I for one was shocked..... maybe they wanna show up and mock us in our humble state. I love to dance and all, but in my missionary clothes, with the Elders, in front of a bunch of Hispanics I am trying to teach is not my cup of hot chocolate. But it will be a blast I am sure. I am sad that Hermana Lopez is going to miss it....she is a lot of fun and it would have been a blast with her. But it is going to rock I am so sure. I hope that my new comp is cool and secure with herself...otherwise this may be a problem for her.

Well, that is my life right now in a nutshell. All is well....and kinda sad at the same time. But welcome to the mission. I am excited to train again, sad to lose Hermana Lopez after we have been through thick and thin together, and being tried in the work.....but we have a great deal of fun and it really is so rewarding. I love life. I am still a control freak...and I am working on that, but overall everything is rocking it. Be safe and know how much I love you all!!!!!

Love, Hermana McDonald

October 4, 2010

Dear Family,

The work is good....but hard this week. My awesome Jose Rojas was drinking before our lesson on Friday, and then didn't show up to any of the conference sessions....so I was bummed about that. Also, my other baptismal date Juan G. is thinking about moving to Virginia. So, the work has been hard this week....very hard. I am feeling a bit weighed down in all honesty. I am feeling like I only have 9 months left, but that these are going to be the longest and most strenuous 9 months of my life and that there is no end in sight.....but then I know that in like 2 hours I am going to feel the opposite, and that is how it will continue with the polar mood swings for the rest of the mission. The mission is all about the happiest and hardest times of life.

I LOVED CONFERENCE!!!!!!!!! During conference I felt like I NEVER want my mission to end.....and that in just a few short months it is going to be over....and that I am not nor ever will be ready to enter back into the lone and dreary world!!!!! I feel this very strongly too. I never want to go back to being my old self. It is so easy to fall! Satan is so quick to confuse! I hate him, and I hate the way the world tears us down!

Everyone know how much I love you!!!!!!!! Be safe! and PLEASE follow every word of counsel that we received in conference! Don't be lazy! There are several modes that Satan tried to use to take us away and lazy is one that I fall into often, and also procrastination is another that I sometimes fall into (in my past life) learn from my experiences (as I am trying to) Don't let Satan give you a false sense of security!!!!! Follow the advice of the prophet and apostles NOW! TODAY! Don't wait a minute.

Well, I love you all so much. I am very grateful that I have been blessed with the most amazing eternal family ever!

Love Forever, Jenna

September 20, 2010

Dear Family,

This week has been truly great! We had tons of success and I am shocked as I watch the work around me fall perfectly into place. It is truly magnificent! I can't believe that I am the one in charge of this area right now.....it is going beautifully. Truly it is another example of the Lord's hand in his work. This truly is his work, and I am so lucky to be a part of it.

One example of this is a really cool situation with a new investigator that we have here named Jose Rojas. This is a guy that I tracted my first week here in Florida! Crazy huh? Well, this man, Jose, wanted a Finding Faith in Christ DVD back in March after we tracted him, and he also said that he was going to be coming to conference back in the Spring. However, to my dismay my greenie week, he did not show up, nor were we ever able to contact him again to give him the DVD. Fast forward 3 months later, when we were teaching Liliana and her family for their baptism July 2.....one day while we were there teaching a guy comes walking into her house carrying all of her laundry, and she explains to us that this is her new friend Jose, who lives in her same apartment complex, and he is helping her out because she had her lesson with us that day. IT WAS JOSE ROJAS!!!!! However, at that time Jose was always busy and never had time for us or anything....but we began to see more and more of him when we were at her house and he would be there helping her out. Through this whole time I have felt that Jose is one that the Lord has been very patient with, and the Lord wants him to join the church, but Jose has been kinda stubborn. However, recently Jose decided that he is in love with Liliana (well I don't think that the love part is recent) but he has asked her to marry him. He is a Cuban guy and he is very attractive, I must say that I think that the match is pretty cute....However, Liliana refused him for 2 reasons....1- he is not a member of the church and she is dead set on a temple marriage and an eternal family (GO LILIANA!!!!! MY FAVORITE PERSON IN THE WORLD!!!! MY BABY IN THE CHURCH) 2- her sons are super against her being in a relationship with anyone right now, and they are her life. So, Jose decided that he wanted to learn more about the church....FINALLY!!!!! 6 months after we found him, yesterday I was finally able to report him as a new investigator, and we taught him the 1st lesson, and gave him a church tour! It was amazing! The spirit was there and was so strong! It was so incredible! I could not be happier about the whole thing! He came to church and partook of the sacrament. I am truly thrilled.

Also, our investigator Juan is coming along nicely....kinda slow, but I think that things are looking up. Right now we have a baptismal date with him for next weekend, but I am thinking that it probably won't happen until after conference, because he is kinda being weird, and I think that he may need more time. Plus, he is in love with Hermana Lopez....so I need to make sure that he understands that this is eternal life we are dealing with....eternal salvation....not a way to get a date in the future. So, kinda interesting, but isn't it always?

Well, I love you all!

Love always, Jenna

September 13, 2010

Hey My Family!

This week has been better. I feel like the Spanish really is starting to pick up and come along and Michael you are so right! I should just do Spanish all the time, but after we do that for awhile, my comp gets sick of it and starts thinking that we need to speak in English for a bit because she is afraid of losing her English accent that she has worked on. So there is a bit of a conflict there and so we kinda do a mixture of both. But I learn so much from her! I love hearing her speak to people and I am getting MUCH better and being able to follow the entire conversation....even if when I try and speak I generally do not conjugate things correctly, but it is really coming....and I feel that I really will be able to learn this language!!!! I have felt for the majority of my mission thus far that I was never really going to get it, and that my Spanish would always be sub-par, but I really think that I know have the opportunity to really learn this language! I pray about it, and I feel strong feelings that the Lord really does desire for me to get it, and I know that through faith, and my blessing, that I will learn it. So, this brings me such comfort, and even though I sound like a fool still, I know that it will come and that it will rock! But the Lord is really blessing me!!!!!

I have had an amazing week! Daniel Santos got baptized on Saturday! It was amazing! I loved it and he is now clean and pure and he is wonderful! The baptism was a huge success and Hermana Lopez got to see a baptism her 2nd week out here which was awesome! She really liked it I think. We also have a baptismal date with a guy named Juan Gregorio. He is awesome! He is from Central America. He just got his heart broken by a Cuban girl he really wanted to marry, he is such a good guy. He is really humbled right now, and he is ready for the truth. The only problem is that he LOVES Hermana Lopez. A lot of the guys love her, because they love her Chilean accent....and then they love my blonde hair and blue eyes, so together we are having problems....but at least I am getting fat again....so that is helping. (but it is also really bad!) Anyways, we have a date with him for the weekend after next, and I am stoked! He is great!

Anyways, I love Hermana Lopez. My Spanish is coming and I love her accent. I love this work and things are coming along beautifully. We are getting along great and I laugh a lot. I love working hard and I see that as I work harder and harder, things become a whole lot easier. (Why in the crap did I not figure this out before?!?!? ) Working really hard is something that I know that I am going to have to implement into my career when I get home...all it takes is confidence and then the work really takes off, and I know now what I am capable of through Christ, and it really excites me. I love it.

I love you all so much. I hope all is well for you all and I hope that you know that you are everything to me!

Love, Hermana McDonald

September 7, 2010

My PERFECT Family,

Well, this week has been great and new and interesting! I am training....and the Lord has blessed me to train a native spanish speaker!!!! She is initially from Chile, but she is fluent in English too because she and her fam have lived in Utah for like 5 years, and then she went to BYU. Her name is Hermana Becca Lopez. (Hermana Lopez to me). She is fun and I am loving training her....but this is of course a little bit different than a regular training situation....because I am NOT FLUENT. There have been a couple of really interesting things that have happened as a result of my new training experience....

The first day of training her I was shocked into the realization of the situation that I am now in when during the lesson. She went off in the conversation...and I lost it for a second not being able to catch every word, because I was with 2 natives, and when I got back into the conversation I realized that she was describing the translation of the Bof M and how Oliver Cowdry was the scribe and among other things... AHHHHHHHH!!!!

This week we had a member of the 70 come and give us a WONDERFUL training! The AP's asked me to give a talk at this and I was nervous since there was a member of the 70 there.....but I did it and I felt really good about it....and then he referred to my talk (which was on obedience) several times throughout his training. This was also good for my greenie because several times throughout his training he said things that I had said to her (exactly the same way) in my attempts to train her this week. She commented about that and that I really did know my stuff out here....so I think that it will work out well for us.

I am loving the mission!!!!! I really am. I am used to the life out here now, and although it is true that the Lord never lets us "Stay comfortable" I am super happy with the new responsibilities that I am having to take on. I am loving it. I love working harder and harder....it makes everything better. I also know that with my new and wonderful comp I am going to be learning alot more spanish! (even though it is frustrating at times!) I am utlizing her fluency a lot and she is great! I am learning a lot and I have the goal to become fluent, and I have prayed for that a lot and I know that is why the Lord gave me hermana Lopez.

I love you all so much! You are all everything to me and I love you! Write me!

Love Forever, Hermana McDonald

August 16, 2010

HOLY BANANAS!!!!!! I am so excited about Danny's mission call!!!!! That is so super incredible! I cannot believe that he is going to such a dangerous mission!!!!!! I work with tons of Mexicans here, and yesterday at church I was telling them (and everyone else) that my brother just got his call to Tijuana, and they would say, Oh my wow! That is so dangerous! But the Lord really will protect him, and I am so excited that he is learning SPANISH!!!!!!! I am really going to have to get my spanish better and better because both my cute brothers are going to have better spanish than me!!! JK....my spanish is getting better and better every day....but full immersion in a language does help. :) I am sending a couple things home to Danny this week from my Mexican friends here...and I burned him a CD today with my favorite spanish church songs on it :) Danny you are really gonna love spanish! Spanish gives my heart wings! It is so beautiful and when I speak in it, and when I hear it (especially Columbians accents are my favorite) it just mesmorizes me. The bottom line is that I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!!!!!!!!

Cierra is getting baptized next Sunday which will make my birthday week extra sweet! She is awesome! Also we set 2 more baptismal dates with Carmen and Jesus, ( they are the cutest couple in the whole world and they are from Venezuela... and I love their accent too) so that rocks it! Also, Daniel Santos (WHOM I ADORE!) is being tricky....he is not wanting to get baptized, and that peeves me a lot. I told him that my birthday was this week, and it was funny because he thought that I was only 22... and we found out that he is turning 26 in oct. so I am actually 2 months older than him. He thought that was funny.....I thought that it was kinda annoying...haha! He told me (Spanish people are VERY BLUNT) the only problem with the fact that we are both turning 26 is that we are both old and not married. He then told me that I need to be sure to be married before I am 30 because white people don't age very well.... and I still look rockin now, but after 30 I will have a very tough time getting someone to marry me. I assured him that I would do my best to be married by then, and thanked him for his concern. Then he told me that he was going to have us over to his apt. on my birthday night and he would order pizza for us or something...because he said that he will never cook :)

We only have 2 weeks left of this transfer, and then I will either be training or be senior comp.....that makes me nervous...and I hope that I am ready. I will be one of the olders after this transfer becasue we have 4 spanish sisters going home this transfer, and 1 the next, and 2 the next....and then I will be the OLDEST! Crazy huh?!?!?!? The turn over rate on these missions is crazy fast. And in about a month my mission will be half way over.

Well, I am so excited fro my Birthday presents, and I am so glad that you all love me so much! I really appreciate you all.

Thank you for being my family! You are the best!

Love Forever, Jenna

This week has been great! I am doing better and loving the mission. I have had so many good days this week and was able to spend time with some awesome people out here! I am loving it. Hermana Murray and I have been bonding a great deal and it has been really fun! I am loving the work and I am loving the mission in general. Some days are easier than the others, and some days are tough...but overall, things are great and I had fun this week and I am looking forward to all the success that is right around the corner.

We have 2 baptismal dates right now...one with Cierra, and the other with a guy named Luis who is new and has a great attitude about life. Also, Daniel Santos (one of my favorites) is not ready for his baptismal date (problems with la ley de caridad) therefore, we are holding off for a week or two with him.... but the work is coming along nicely. We also have the opportunity right now to be working with 2 awesome couples that I have high hopes for bringing into the gospel. T heir names are Carmen and Jesus and the other couple is Nancy and Wilson. I LOVE bringing families into our gospel!! Nothing is sweeter! Well, and bringing all of Gods children into the gospel is of course the bomb as well. But anyways, this is what we have been up to.

So last week we did end up going to the Aquarium with almost the whole zone which was super sweet and way way fun! We even ate sushi afterwards. My favorite!!!! And we have a new Tongan Elder here from Hawaii who played football for the University of Utah and we talked alot about Hawaii. It which made me want to bust into a Hawaiian reggae song and play the ukelele on the beach (but in a good and not trunky way). Also today we went to the Airforce base with Elder Andreason because he is in the Airforce or something like that and it was super fun too! And next week our entire zone is going to MOSI which is an awesome museum here with a planetarium and everything for MY BIRTHDAY!!!! So P-Days are getting more and more fun as I am out here longer. Up till now they have been pretty lame to be honest. But of course the work is the coolest and most important thing out here and I love it the most.

Danny's call is a this week...and I cannot tell you how excited I am about that!!! I have been talking about it all day with my zone and I made them all guess where he is going. I think that they got sick of guessing because I kept asking everyone. So, my guesses are these: foreign: Taiwan or India...and stateside: New York, New York Spanish speaking!!! I am so so so so so excited to find out where he is going. I love him so much and I know that he is absolutely going to rock it out there!!!!!

Well, I love you all so much and I wish you all the sweetest happiness in existence! Be safe and remember I love you!

August 2, 2010

This week is a special week because it is Mom and Dad's anniversary!!!! Happy Anniversary! It is crazy that it is August already!

So, this week has been a very trying one for me. It was very sad. For the past couple of moinths we have been working really hard with a part-member family, and trying to reactivate the members and teach the non-members. It was going pretty well and we were getting through to the family members. The mom's name is Minerva and her sons name is Sam. We were especially getting through to Sam. He has been living in Miami for the past 15 years, and they are from Nicaragua. We ate with him at his house last Friday....(he loved to cook so so much) and the food was always so delicious.

Well, we were planning on him bringing his girlfriend who was here visiting from Miami to church with him on Friday...and none of the family showed up....and we had another appt. with them on Tuesday all set up. So, Monday night we called to confirm and see why they were not at church, and his phone was off....so we called his moms phone, and his girlfriend answered and she told me that Sam had died on Friday and that he was now an angel in heaven and to please pray for him. I was shocked and in denial because we had been with him on Friday until like 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and he was fine and loving life and so excited about the future and he had just gone shopping and bought all these new clothes and he was running around the house showing us all of his new clothes and his new shoes and his new watch. He was so excited about opeing up his own restaraunt in Nicaragua, which was going to be taking place in 3 months...and he was SO passionate about cooking and he loved life.

So the next morning (Tuesday morning) we went over to his house and everyone was there.....and it was true. He was dead. He died Friday night at 8:45 PM in a car accident. He had taken the car and gone out to get drunk (we didn't even know that he drank) and he was speeding really fast and running red lights and stuff, and he went around a corner too fast and ran into a pole, and the car split in half and half of it lit on fire, and the other half that he was in went down a cliff.... they they say that the car hit so hard that he died instantly with the impact so he didn't suffer or anything and I was happpy to hear that. This all happened only a few hours after we were there with him at his house and he had cooked us a wonderful meal. I took a picture of it and I asked him if I could take his picture and he said no, bt that I could on Sunday because he was going to wear his new clothes to church and look really good.

So, his girlfriend arrived the next day to see him, and they could not find him for 2 days...he had just gone missing since Friday....and they called the hospitals, but he didn't have ID on him. Finally Monday afternoon they recieved a call and went into the place and identified the body as his. The investigators had been trying to figure out who he was for 2 days. Such a sad story.

But on another note, we have a really great couple that we are teaching. Nancy and Wilson....and they are great. They are from Columbia. Also, we are teaching a white 12 year old from the white ward....and she only wanted sisters to teach her and there are only Elders in that ward.. and she wants to be baptized. She is super cute and her name is Cierra. I Loved her and she is a bright sunspot in the dark world. So yep....she will be my 13th baptism on the mission so far. I really love her! I think her baptism will be the 15th which is the week of my b-day!

So, that is my week. You are always in my thoughts and prayers. I love you with my entire heart.

July 26, 2010

This week has been great because we are teaching a new guy named Daniel. He is awesome and seems to be golden. I hope to get a baptismal date set up soon. Everything is aweseom!

This week we worked hard, and are teaching alot of great prospects, but nothing is solid right now. I am hoping that will happen tonight with Daniel or another couple we are workling with named Wilson and Nancy from Columbia. Daniel is from Honderus.

The language is starting to really come along nicely.....I still struggle, but I am to the place now where I can really understand people, and I can say many things.....not everything yet, but soon I hope.

Love Forever, Jenna aka Hermana McDonald

July 19.2010

I have wonderful news! I was not transferred! And I am staying with Hermana Murray!!! And this is her last transfer which means that I am going to be taking over this area in 6 weeks.....which means that I am going to be here until at least the middle of October!!!!! YIPPEEEEE! I could not be more excited about this! This is as consistant as the mission gets. I love the people here with the entire magnitude of my heart and soul and it would have killed me to get transferred....

This week has been great. Hermana Murray and I had a few really great bonding times, and I am grateful to be staying with her and strengthening our relationship. Something has happened to me this week which really changed my outlook on the amount of time that I have left in the mission...and I am now feeling like I don't have much time left at all, and that I need to really start getting better and better because these missions go by fast! My spanish is still kinda crappy.....but it is getting better through faith.

Anyways, the mission life has really become just normal for me, and I am loving it. At first I struggled with not being able to watch movies and listen to music and that kind of thing....but now, none of that matters and I am just trying to live up this short amount of time that I have not having any of that to distract me....I am in the process of molding myself into a new and improved version of myself. I am loving the mission and I am loving making sense out of all the things in this life. Life is amazing!

So, this week Hermana Murray and I did splits for a day with the St. Pete sisters...and I was with Hermana Budge, who has only been out for about 5 weeks (at that time)...which meant that I was the one who had to be in charge, and we were in my area, so Hermana Murray was excited for me because she told me that it would be really good for me to see that I could take the area over right now if I needed to. So, I went with Hermana Budge who speaks very little spanish....and we taught 3 lessons all in spanish...and I was the one to do it, and I gave her the little easy parts that she could do.

Well, I love you all so mcuh and I am glad that you are happy! Tell Danny to write me and tell me how he is feeling about all this misison stuff! It goes so fast! In 2 seconds he will be gone and I will be home and he will be home again! I love you all!!!!!!

Love Forever, Jenna

July 12, 2010

How are all of you doing?!?!? You are always in my thoughts and my prayers and I am hoping that each and every one of you is happy and living this life to it's fullest (which can only be done through our Savior).

This week has been awesome and hard in some ways. Good thing that last week was the bomb diggity because the amazingness of it could carry me through the eternities, I am thinking. Things really have not been bad at all really, but we keep tracting and looking and we are not really finding anyone golden to teach and everyone is somewhat flo-jo about the Gospel. However, that is NOT the case with my wonderful Familia Perdoma! Liliana and her 3 sons are rocking the world still! They just keep growing in the gospel and I love to visit them and teach them, and feel of their spirits. It is truly a miraculous treat!

Also, it was fun this week to go and visit some of the ward members. The barrio (ward) in this area is sensational! I love them and they are so much fun! It was a treat to watch some clips from a ward party back in Feb. where one of the ward members showed us at their house really quick after dinner one day. They have so much fun and they are really like a family here. It is not like wards in Salt Lake where there are so many people that you are just acquaintances with most of them.... these people are in many ways all each other has, because their familieas are all in their respective countries. The church has a beautiful way a uniting people. I love it.

And also this week I was able to meet the new mission president and his wife and they are AMAZING!!!!!!! HE is the typical coach to the max! His talks and interviews and everything are super inspirational! He uses all kinds of sports metaphors while he is talking and I love it! It reminds me of Dad! And his amazing motivational speeches that he has always given me! Yes, I love him and his wife so much! They are going to let us possibly go to the PGA Tour when they come through Tampa! That would be super awesome! And he is going to set up things for us to hear the pro golfers talk who are members of the church...so that should be awesome too!

Sister Summerhays is a gem. We really connected and I connected with President Summerhays too. Sister Summerhays and I met and at the end she said that when she looks into my eyes she sees the pureness of my desires and my large desire to be a great missionary and be a disciple of Christ. It made me cry and I love her so much. Also, while President was talking I thought a lot back to high school and the drill team that I was a part of... I know that this was long ago, but I feel that the words of Pres. Stringham when he said that my mission will help to put together the random pieces of my life into a beautiful tapestry that is wonderful, is coming to pass. I feel that I needed to be a part of that drill team to better connect with my President. Pretty soon here, I am going to be one of the older sister in our mission..... next transfer we have 5 spanish sisters leaving. It is crazy, but I have been thinking a lot about things that I am going to do to help inspire and uplift others comps. I love the mission and I love life! This rocks it!

The bed bug situation is still a problem for me. I know I need to not focus on it, and that causes me more stress.....I think that we have a handle on it....I am just still finding bites, so that stinks, who knows, maybe they are not bed bug bites, but I can't be sure.

I love you all so much! You are everything to me. Good luck Danny with the mission papers! I am praying for you! I am super excited for you! I love you all so so so much! Write me!

Jenna

July 6, 2010

My Dear Family,

This week has been the most awesome week EVER! I am so happy and I am so thrilled to be writing to you!

Last Monday Liliana told us that her and her sons did not want to be baptized this last weekend, and we were heartbroken. We went home and cried and prayed and looked for bed bugs and killed them to get our anger and sadness out. Then we prayed some more and we put our faith and trust into the Lord's hands.....

The next morning we got a call from a ward member telling us that Liliana was getting baptized on Friday and that we needed to get the program and everything ready. We just assumed that this ward member was still on the schedule from Sunday, and that she was confused because it was supposed to be on Sunday... so we didn't think too much of it.
That night we went over to her house to teach her family again, and she told us that she had decided the night before that she was going to get baptized, but that she wanted to change it to Friday!!!!!!! The member had a feeling to call Liliana that night, and so she did, and this member had no idea what was going on. She just listened to a prompting from the Lord. Therefore, she was able to address Liliana's concern, (Which had to do with the behavior of the other Colombian family...who are members...and how they just accepted so much help from the church...so she didn't want to just join so that the church would think that they had to help her family) and she decided to be baptized!

So, on Friday night was the baptism and it was the most amazing experience in my life so far!!!!!! I was the one to go in the font with her, and I had her towel, and after she came out of the water, I stood there with her at the top of the stairs hugging her as her 3 sons were baptized. After each one was baptized they each turned and looked at their Mom with such a look of happiness and made excited gestures, and had big smiles, and I was filled with the spirit. It was such a phenomenal thing to witness. I am so lucky to be here and to feel this. After it was over we went into the bathroom where Liliana changed her clothes, and I just cried with joy. (Kinda dramatic I know...but this is truly how I felt. I was overwhelmed by the strong presence of the Spirit, and the purest of all pure joys that I have ever felt)

The next day we went to the beach for the activity with the ward and it was a BLAST! I loved it! It was beautiful and fun, and I got to watch Liliana and her sons play in the water with the cute other Colombian family and all the other ward members. It was great.

Then yesterday we could not e-mail cuz the Libraries were all closed, but the day was awesome! We went out to eat with the Little Chiapanecos and it was so fun to see them in a very touristy and Floridian place! They were so out of the element! It was fun and there was a live band playing Eric Clapton songs including but not limited to "Layla" and I thought of Mally Mae. Then we went over to the Colombians house for a celebration for the baptism and FHE, and the little 3 year old boy who they call Negrito turned on a Michael Jackson music video and started copying all of the Michael Jackson moves EXACTLY!!!!!!! It was the most cute and the funniest thing that I have ever seen! It was so much fun and I was so happy! If only Michael Jackson had known the kinds of cultural barriers he is breaking haha!!!! They know NO english and have been here for about 1 month! It is super classic!

I love it here and I love my mission! I am so happy and the bed bugs are all leaving I think! Yes we found more last week, but I think that the treatments are working and I hate them...but not even they can pull me down now! I am loving life and I am so happy! Life is the BEST!

I love you all and I hope that you are incredibly happy and that the 4th was a blast! I love you with my whole heart!

Love, Jenna

June 28, 2010

My Dear Family,

So this week has been quite the event!!!!!!! For starters.....I FOUND A COUPLE BED BUGS IN MY NEW APARTMENT!!!! Well, it is technically not new, but it WAS clean of bed bugs... and now it is not. These things are killing me... and the chemicals that I have been spraying all day onto my bed and around my room and all over my pillows are for sure not good for me either. In fact, I am trying to decide now which is worse for my health... the bed bugs or these chemicals. So yeah, we took this morning and we sprayed everything and put our mattresses into these white coverings things that we bought at Wal-Mart. Hopefully they will not be a problem for us. There were only a couple that I found...and they are not everywhere the way that it was in Bradenton, so I am not as worried...but still. I am super annoyed with these stinking things, and I am trying so hard to stay focused because they keep distracting me from the work... and that is NOT good!!!!!!

The work is going amazing!!!!! We ended up having TWO baptisms on Saturday!!!!! Juan AND Alejandro got baptized and it was beautiful! Last Monday we went over to their house at the end of the day and Alejandro told us that he had thought and prayed about it and that he felt that he was ready to be baptized now! And the way that he told us was funny because when we were walking up, he ran out of his house and said in spanish, "I am going to need a white shirt and tie immediately!" with a big smile on his face. It was wonderful and we we were so happy. The baptism was wonderful and afterwards both of them asked to bear their testimonies and they got up there and Juan thanked us for finding him and sharing with him the truth that he had always been searching for. It was so wonderful. I loved it, and the spirit was incredibly strong.

Also, the Colombian family is getting baptized this next Sunday and I am so very excited for that as well! This week could not be any sweeter!!!! Not even the bed bugs can fully dampen the glory! (Although I really loathe those creepers!...I wonder what the Lord is trying to teach me with those stupid blood suckers) But the Colombians are beyond wonderful!!!!!!! I love them and they are so great and they have such a wonderful light in their eyes.

Then the following week we have another baptism with a man named Santos Diaz, and to be completely honest.... there is something not right with him. I feel like he lies to us a lot, and when we teach him I (and Sister Murray also) have a uneasy feeling. I am not sure what is going on with him, but I am sure that the Lord will enlighten us. We scheduled his baptism with 3 weeks extra just in order to feel things out because he wants to be baptized immediately. He will be the 13th baptism that I will have had the opportunity to be a part of out here.

Also, this week is my 6 month mark, which is weird to me. I cannot believe how fast time flies by out here.....I still feel like I am going to be here forever, but I already have less than a year left out here, and I cannot believe that.

Oh, and another massive thing that is happening this week is (Dad you already know about this...) that we are getting a new Mission President! Yes, he is a Professional Golfer, and only retired like last year! Sweet huh! His name is President Bruce Summerhays. He is also from Utah, which will make it easier for me to stay in contact with them after my mission. President Colten lives in Virginia, so it will be harder for me to visit him but I still will because he and Sister Colten are wonderful and I will miss them so much! I really do love them! They are wonderful! I am super excited for President Summerhays though! It will be sweet getting wisdom from 2 wonderful men and their wonderful wives out here on my mission, and I will be with President Summerhays for a lot longer than I have been able to be with President and Sister Colten, so it will be a sweet thing for me! Everything that I have heard about him so far is super awesome and so I am very excited to meet him! He also coached the golfers at Stanford University for a while!

Oh and one more thing!!! Guess what I get to do next Saturday for a ward activity for the 4th?!?!?! GO TO THE BEACH!!!!! For my first time since being out here! Yippee! And President even said that we can wear jeans!!!!!!!! can you believe it?!?!?!? I am so excited! We have to stay far away from the water, but it will be BEAUTIFUL! I cannot wait!

Well, I love you all so much! Everyone should write me!

Love, Jenna