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