And since we've got go outside and preach the gospel????

I don't think I will ever be cold here in El Salvador.

So... we did it. We finished the year. like... what? Anyone else still
remember 2010? I still sometimes accidentally write 2008 on my papers.
What is happening to time!!!!!!

Time passes faster in the mission, I am convinced. I mean, I`ve got 5
months already. 5. months. like what? 2015 is kicking the bucket, and
with it comes 2016 ready to party.

So, in tradition of the new year I am busy making goals. But, there
area a couple goals I want you, and your friends, and your neighbors,
and everyone that wants to to make with me.

The first? we are going to read the Book of Mormon 4 times this year.

Six pages a day English, 7 pages a day spanish (number of pages x
4)/365 pages in whatever other language you want to read it.

Now, there are a couple rules that come with this.

These 6 or 7 pages a day cannot take place of your personal daily
study if you are a missionary, or if you have already read the Book of
Mormon. your daily study should be careful, thoughtful reading of the
words to be able to apply them to your life.

 I want everyone(myself included) to be able to say they`ve read the
book of Mormon cover to cover several times, to really get to know it
and its stories, and to come to know our Savior Jesus Christ better.

Which brings me to my second goal for all of us.

Omni 1:26

 26 And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto
Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation,
and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your
whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and
praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be
saved.

This year I want us all to come unto Christ in a very special and personal way.

So that it remains special and personal, you get to decide exactly
what the plans are, but we know what the goal is. To get to know the
Savior this year, so that he is one of our best and most cherished
friends.

Now, these are just the goals, according to Preach my Gospel there are
at least two more steps.

The first is making plans to achieve your goals, you need to decide
when you are going to read your 6 pages every day, what you are going
to do if you miss a day, and how you are going to mark your pages. you
need to make the plan to come unto Christ and write it down.

The second is you need to be accountable! to the Lord and to Yourself.
Also I`d really like it if you`d tell me (pretty pretty please) so I
can hear about your progress and help encourage you on.

So a lot of this is up to you but I`d love it if you would tell
everyone, your friends, enemies, neighbors, bishops, cats, dogs, and
children and invite them to do this with me.

Let me know what you think!!!!!!

Now about this week.

It started really slow because my comp was recovering and I got sick a
little too, but we are full blown healthy ready to go missionaries and
the last couple of days we have worked so hard! We ate a LOT of food
on Christmas and I LOVED talking to my family!!!

I have a really important lesson with the family I talked about a
couple weeks ago called the Sosa Family, I'll tell you more about that
after the lesson tonight, but if you get this now I could really use
your help with some prayers specifically for them!!!

Thank you thank you all

I love you soooooooooo much.

I know that God lives. and that Jesus Christ, though dead, lives and
directs His work here on the earth.

I love Them with all my heart.

Have the best week

Elder McFarland

This is Elder Portillo. one of the APs i got to know pretty well while
Elder Torres was in the hospital! he`s finishing this change, so I
took a photo:)

oz pedal iced: in which my long week gets even longer

Attached is a photo of everything I did this week. Everything
now, after you figure out my mad gad, and before you freak out no I
was not the one who was in the oz pedal. After my companion`s surgery
we were there in the hospital until the AP`s drove us home tuesday
night. I ate free food from President, and really enjoyed Wendy`s,
McDonald`s, Taco Bell, and Subways. It was the first time eating
McDonalds and Taco Bell in the mission

So that was a pretty big landmark.

So after the surgery the doctor ordered my comp to rest for a whole
week. yup, a whole week. The first day was pretty fun, I cleaned the
house, finished half of Alma, played christmas music on my little
guitalele, and had our food brought to us by the cocinera

The next day was even better, because it was the mission Christmas
party, so we got to leave the house for half the day.

Then it got better.

The plan was for me to go out on splits with some members and get some
work done, but I started feeling a little weird, and it got a little
worse, and by the time I got to our house I pretty much collapsed on
my bed and slept the rest of the day. Until about 3 in the morning. I
woke up shiviring, well... shaking. I had a fever and I was cold. I
put on a jacket(keep in mind, its not winter here and I don`t even own
a jacket(there was one in the house)) and slept fine till morning.

In the morning I woke up, the fever had broken(I was covered in sweat)
but my body ached, my back and my stomach. But, de todos modos I was
going to go out for the day and do splits. I called the ward mission
leader, and he said he would call me back and tell me who could go out
with me. He never called back. It was probably a good thing  cuz I
started feeling sick again. So... I slept somemore.

I eventually reached a point where i just wasn`t tired anymore, so we
played uno, ate food, played guitar, and after a long day. Went to
bed.

3 in the morning. High fever again. this time I feel hot. Body hurts, not tired.

4 in the morning. Sleep.

Saturday I was a little better. I called the nurse and Sister Hintze
and they said I might have a  little virus called Zica, It`s short,
fun, and not dangerous, so they told me to keep taking
acetomenophen(dont`worry mom, drink lots of water, and good ol pepto.
They said that if it got worse or didn`t get better to call them.

I got better. after a blessing and faith and water.

Then today we went to Elder Torres` checkup and we can work again! I
can`t wait to get out this week and preach the gospel!

WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT

This letter has been super negative up to now!! I`m so happy and this
week was a blessing although it was rough at times. I`m a lot closer
to my goal of finishing the BoM in spanish before the end of the year,
the house is clean, I no longer feel tired, I`m not sick. I got to
sing a lot, I got Christmas presents from my family, I didn`t have to
walk all day in the sun. I got to eat lots of food. I am a missionary,
we are having a white Christmas this week(throw in a couple prayers
and faith right there, i`ll cover the works part:) and.....


I GET TO TALK TO MY FAMILY THIS
WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God is behind everything, Everything shall work for our good( that
doesn`t mean everything is good)

Have a great week

Elder McFarland

this might be my weekly email

David Oscar McFarland	Dec 14 (7 days ago)
to me

Who really knows what truth is anyways

ok so now that your all confused here´s the story. My companion is
super sick and had to have surgery today, so I am in the mission
office right now writing a little bit. I´m not sure if I will be able
to write more later so this might be my weekly email.

Super quick version of the week: We worked really hard,found a couple
new references, are planning a mega baptsims the 25 and are calling it
a White Chritmas, my comp got sick, we had an open house activity and
the temple, we had stake conference. I learned that Tithing is not a
temporal law, but a spiritual one and so its blessings are primarily
spiritual, although the temporal ones still come.

That´s my week, I hope to be able to send more, sorry for the shortness!

Elder McFarland

I went to Jessie`s dream job to feel less like Hannah did.

I`m sorry if only my immediate family gets that title.

Here`s another one.

Silence:

So this week I went to the Temple!!!!!! we got on a bus and went to
San Salvador as a zone and went to do a session. I got to see lots of
my friends from the mission and even Elder Rojas again! it made me
happy to see him again!

I honestly love the temple. It is the most sacred and beautiful of all
places on earth. In the temple we have the opportunity to learn from
our Father in Heaven and to escape from the cares of the world.

Lots of people don`t understand why only active members can enter into
the temple. I really like what Our Search for Happiness says about
that. It explains that every person in the entire world is invited to
enter the temple, but, no unclean thing can enter into the presence of
God, so it is necessary that a person prepares to enter before they
can go in. They must be baptized and cleansed from their sins and
learn for at least one year about God and His true church. If they do
that anyone in the entire world can enter the temple:)

So we were in San Salvador almost all day that day(wednesday) and I
got my christmas packages and we went to Wendy`s(what does fast food
even exist still?) and I was happy.

Thursday my ears started to feel weird. It started in the left ear,
and I couldn`t really hear very much. I made the mistake of trying to
clean it with a Qtip. anyone that knows anything knows that is a huge
mistake, but I don`t know why I did it. Long story short I ended up
not being able to hear very much at all out of either ear, so Friday
we called sister Hintze and the mission nurse and ended up going all
the way to San Salvador AGAIN to see an ear doctor. turns out my ears
are completely clogged from a build up of ... wax... from the last
couple YEARS. He prescribed me some ear drops and I have to go back to
San Salvador AGAIN tomorrow for an ear wash. Yeah... embarassing.

But because of that this week has been really exhausting. Its hard to
hear things and we`ve traveled a LOT and walked a lot. God helped me
make it through it all though, and so we saw a lot of success despite
all that!

The crowning moment of the week was Saturday night. Natali (the
daughter of Juana, one of our eternal investigators) was baptized!!!!
She had started asking us when she was going to be baptized, and her
mom finally let her be baptized! it was a really happy night, and it
motivated Juana to want to be baptized even more! the only problem is
that her boyfriend(who is a member and they are living together(not
the 15 year olds I talked about last week they are like 40 years old))
doesn`t want to get married yet! I know that she will get baptized we
just have to get them to feel the spirit telling them its time!!

So it was a really good week, even if I didn`t hear super well.

God gives us experiences so that we learn to become more like Him. He
helps us to know how we can improve. He allows us to go through trials
so we get stronger.

I`m so happy. I love being a missionary. I love my family. I love my
area. I love life. This morning I decorated my apartment for
christmas. It makes everything so great!

I love you all, have a great week!!!

sonsafuego

Well the rainy part of the year is officially over.

I remembered that I`m in the hottest zone in the mission again.I like being a missionary. I feel like I`ve really grown up these last 4 and a half months. I`m not the same kid that stepped  on the plane that day in July. I like the older me. I`m a lot more focused, I have a lot more willpower and desire to work hard, and I speak Spanish. 

I especially felt old this week teaching a few of our investigators. Well, one is a less active member and the other is an investigator, but they are living together and so in my mind they're both kinda investigators. She wants to get baptized and he wants to be good. So we have to get them married... right? oh yeah there`s one thing I missed. They're 15! Telling them about marriage or separating and the law of chastity made me feel old.


So this week was thanksgiving!! I made it all the way until 9:00 in the night that day without even realizing it. Haha They don`t celebrate it at all down here. But last week we celebrated it as a mission so... I wasn`t upset!

This week we found another english investigator. We were walking down the street and he called out to me in English. I started talking to him (poor elder Torres couldn't understand) and he swore a lot; like every sentence. But, he shared with me a great desire he has to change his life and to come to Christ. I really hope he starts to progress. His name is Rafael. I struggled SO hard to speak English with him. Maybe it's the fact that I speak Spanish 24/7. Maybe it's the fact I haven`t had a gringo companion to talk about gospel things in English since the CCM, but I kept accidently speaking in Spanish, It was hard to teach a lesson in English. HAHA I love Spanish so much!!!

Me and my comp started a band. We play only in our house from 10 to 10:20 every other night or so. Ok so we`re not a band. We just both like to play the guitar. He bought a uke and I am teaching him how to play it. I feel like my letters are getting progressively more and more boring. I haven`t had any fun rants in a while... This week it snowed black! ok not really they were burning sugar cane so they could harvest it(im not sure how that works, but hey) and a bunch of the ash was falling from the sky. super cool stuff you never see in the states that`s super normal here.


This week I've learned a lot about God. I know that he is there, and I`m starting to see His hand more and more in my life. He very carefully is guiding everything that is happening. This week I was starting to catch the vision that He has for my life. I can`t explain it, and I don`t know what it is, but Ive learned to love it when life is hard and to submit myself to God`s will.


If we let Him, God will shape us into more then we ever before imagined. If we do his will we will learn wonderful things about us and about Him. We will begin to change. One day we will stand before Him and will thank Him for purifying us so we can stay in His Presence. I love this Gospel. There is no doubt in my mind that this church isthe Church of Jesus Christ aqui en la tierra. He guides us through a living prophet, who leads us back to Him. God`s plan is perfect. Just think, everyone who comes to this Earth will live forever in a state of Glory. If we keep our covenants we can live forever with our families in the highest of all Glories. How amazing is that? I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me. I know that He lives!! all of us can be happy in this life through Him. He is the only bread that fills to never hunger again. He is the only water that forever quenches thirst. His perfect Atonement saves us from the Fall, and lifts us to exalted hights. I am so grateful for Him and His love!!!


I love you all!!!
Elder McFarland

Himni

Hey so I kinda got distracted emailing Tyler and the fam so I hope you`ll forgive a shorter letter.
This week was a really good one!! We went on splits three times (I was with a different member every time!) this week! There is an area in our area called Santa Emilia. It is about a 10 minute bus ride(or 2 and a half hour walk... we take the bus.) from the rest of our area and I spent a lot of time there this week! Lots of potential there, but we can`t just work there so my comp stayed in the center while I went to Santa Emilia. It was really great.

Lastimamente Ricardo wasn't quite ready to be baptized this week. He smoked Thursday, and so we couldn't baptize him Saturday. He has a really strong testimony and a desire to change so I know he`ll bebaptized real soon! I had a really reflective week. Wednesday morning I had a quick 2 minute party in which I ate an Oreo and took a picture to celebrate Tyler getting home this week.  I thought a lot though about how different I`m going to be when I get home, and how different I already am, and how much exactly the same I am. I dunno if I exactly came to a realization of anything, but I just reflected a lot. I am so grateful for Tyler`s example. I want to finish my mission like he did. Giving everything that I have and am to the Lord so that when I finishI can be proud of who I have become.

I have a really strong testimony that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of the Earth. There is no doubt in my mind that He lives and that He directs His church here on the earth through living prophets and apostles. I know that He answers my prayers. I know that He answers yours. I know that immediately after the storm the peace and strength He sends can heal us to the core. I know that His Atonement can do all things. I know that through Him I can be saved from my sins to an everlasting state of strength and Love. I know that The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know as sure as I am here in El Salvador that the prophets in the Book of Mormon lived, and that they testified many centuries before the coming of Christ that He is Lord. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to restore the fullness of the truth to the Earth, and that he was given power and authority from God to lead the church. I know that that power and authority, which came from Jesus Christ through His Apostles, has been transferred down through the years to us today. I know that Thomas S. Monson holds that same power, and that with it he receives revelation from Christ to direct us here on the Earth. I know that my family is forever. I knowthat if we hold faithful to the end I will live with them for all time and all eternity with my Father and my Savior. I know all these things through the power of the Holy Ghost, and I bear them to you with all my heart and soul. I know that the Holy Ghost will tell you the same if you ask God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ. I know He will help all of us live according to what we know. All these things I bear to you, knowing that they are true, as a servant of Jesus Christ, whom I have been called to represent here in Las Delcias, Sonsonate, El Salvador. 

In His sacred name, amen.

Love you all
Elder David O. McFarland

Himni.

Hey so I kinda got distracted emailing Tyler and the fam so I hope you'll forgive a shorter letter.

This week was a really good one!!

We went on splits three times (I was with a different member every time!) this week! There is an area in our area called Santa Emilia. It is about a 10 minute bus ride(or 2 and a half hour walk... we take the bus.) from the rest of our area and I spent a lot of time there this
week! Lots of potential there, but we can't just work there so my comp stayed in the center while I went to Santa Emilia. It was really great.

Lastimamente Ricardo wasn't quite ready to be baptized this week. He smoked Thursday, and so we couldn`t baptize him Saturday. He has a really strong testimony and a desire to change so I know he'll be baptized real soon!

I had a really reflective week. Wednesday morning I had a quick 2 minute party in which I ate an Oreo and took a picture to celebrate Tyler getting home this week.  I thought a lot though about how different I`m going to be when I get home, and how different I already
am, and how much exactly the same I am. I dunno if I exactly came to a realization of anything, but I just reflected a lot. I am so grateful for Tyler`s example. I want to finish my mission like he did. Giving everything that I have and am to the Lord so that when I finish
I can be proud of who I have become.

 I have a really strong testimony that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Savior of the Earth. There is no doubt in my mind that He lives and that He directs His church here on the earth through living prophets and apostles. I know that He answers my prayers. I know that He answers yours. I know that immediately after the storm the peace and strength He sends can heal us to the core. I know that His Atonement can do all things. I know that through Him I can be saved from my sins to an everlasting state of strength and Love. I know that The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know as sure as I am here in El Salvador that the prophets in the Book of Mormon lived, and that they testified many centuries before the coming of Christ that He is Lord. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God to restore the fullness of the truth to the Earth, and that he was given power and authority from God to lead the church. I know that that power and authority, which came
from Jesus Christ through His Apostles, has been transferred down through the years to us today. I know that Thomas S. Monson holds that same power, and that with it he receives revelation from Christ to direct us here on the Earth. I know that my family is forever. I know that if we hold faithful to the end I will live with them for all time and all eternity with my Father and my Savior. I know all these things through the power of the Holy Ghost, and I bear them to you with all my heart and soul. I know that the Holy Ghost will tell you the same if you ask God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ. I know He
will help all of us live according to what we know. All these things I bear to you, knowing that they are true, as a servant of Jesus Christ, whom I have been called to represent here in Las Delicias, Sonsonate, El Salvador. In His sacred name, amen.

Love you all

Elder David O. McFarland

No, not Parisians.

This week was the best worst week I`ve had this week.

Are you confused yet? ok let me explain:

Let`s start at the very beginning:

Do Re Mi.

Dang it i`m sorry, I`ll get to the point.

I got parasites this week!!!

I love how much this country is trying to kill me!!! I`m not being sarcastic I really am so happy. so what happened is that Monday, I was feeling a little bit ugh and my stomach started to hurt me pretty bad. That's relatively normal here to have one day like that, so I waited it out to see if it would go away. Wednesday, I called the mission nurse. She told me to go get some tests done at a clinic close to where we live, so I did. Let me let you in on a secret they didn`t take any blood to test if I was sick. Can you think of another way they would find out what`s inside me? I`ll let you stew on that one. It was a really long day because we had to make four trips to the clinic by the time the day was over. And when we picked up the results? yep, sure enough I have parasites AND an internal infection!!! I'm on medicine now though so don't worry I'm feeling so much better.

But enough about me, this week a couple of really exciting things happened.

The first is that we had a baptism!!! Dolores Flores was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ and became a Latter-Day Saint! she is so powerful. If she sets an appointment, or agrees to be somewhere, or to do something, she does it exactly as she
promised at the time she promised to do it. That's really rare here in a country that runs about 20 minutes late and where people are afraid of commitments. When we taught her the Word of Wisdom she stopped drinking coffee from that very moment onward, and always tells us how well she is doing.

The second is that we are going to have another baptism! Ricardo, our investigator who we had to push back his baptism a couple of weeks ago for Word of Wisdom problems said to us this week(rather unexpectedly) Thank you thank you for all you have done for me! I`ve been able to change my life so much, and I am eternally indebted to you and the Lord. I`m going to get baptized this week, but I`m a member of the church(we explained to him later that only after baptism do we become members of the Church, but what he meant is that he`s all in, fully committed, etc.) If he can hold out strong with the Word of Wisdom
this week he'll be baptized Saturday!!!

this week I learned something really powerful. I learned that the good times always follow the hard times, and that God gives us strength to carry on, even when we don`t know where that strength is coming from. I know without a doubt that God is with me and that he bears me up when I am falling down.

There is a Mormon Message called The Will of God. We've used it a lot this week with our less actives, and so its been on my mind. It talks about a currant bush, and about why we experience trials in our life. I want you to go look it up. Even if you`ve already seen it. Think
about how God is directing your life, and have the courage to be grateful for trials.

I love you all, and I pray that you will have a great, no, an amazing, no, the BEST week this week.

Elder McFarland