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