wait is it Monday again!

sometimes I feel bad because I don't know what to write about... but this was a super week!

I'll just focus on the people.

First off, Edwin Guevara and David "Beetoh" Young. Edwin and Beetoh are two super sweet young men investigators. Edwin is the little brother of the sisters' recent convert that we kinda took over teaching, and Beetoh is his best friend. Actually they met at the church. Beetoh and a horde of his little brothers and nephews-albert, bigs, milky, leelee, thug(all of them have cool nicknames) have been coming to church for a long time every Saturday for sports night! when I was with Elder Smith we started to teach Beetoh more, and he started coming to church. Him and Edwin have been coming to church a lot this month, and right now we are just hoping to get the permission for them to get baptized this next week! Then we hope to get them the priesthood and get this branch some solid young men!

then there is the Tate family. They were baptized about 2 years ago, but they are inactive right now. This week we went on spilts with the AP's for one hour and we went with the Tates. For the first time, we found Sis Tate home and not busy and had a super sweet lesson with her! She has had a lot of super difficult trials and is super sick right now! I feel so much desire to just help her and her little family!!

Shawn and Reyna Vazquez are still doing good. Shawn was gone pretty much all week last week, so we didn't get to see them a ton, but tonight we are going to have a super huge family night with them and we'll get to talk to them again!

We met a cool new inactive guy named Marco last week. He hasn't been to church in a long while, but he knows, he KNOWS! haha we're gunna start working more with him this week to see if we can't get to know him and his difficulties a little better this week!

Sis williams is doing good still. Still having some problems, but this week we got her started on Family History and she got super excited and is going to start working a lot on that!

We met a cute little family named Marvin and Ashley, and we made super good friends with them. After we gave Marvin a Book of Mormon he read it and had a lot of questions! we'll see where that goes this week!

I'm doing good this week! I'm happy and strong! I'm also super skinny and getting into shape! I learned how to play a small harp thing this super old member named Brother Griffith has and I decided I like banana smoothies!

I know Christ lives! and Loves us all!

Have the greatest of weeks!

Elder McFarland

Keep Your Head Up

Only Rainbows, after Rain,

The sun will always,

shine again.

but its a circle, 

circling,

around again,

it come around.

I said

Only Rainbows, after Rain,

The sun will always,

shine again.

but its a circle, 

circling,

around again,

it come around.

And I know it's hard,

yeah its hard

to remember sometimes.

But you gotta keep your head up :)

If there is one single thing that I have learned on the mission, it is to be grateful for trials, because I know that they are all part of God's plan and that He is trying to teach me something!

Now before you think that I have been crying and sad all week, don't think that. Andy Grammer helped me to make it through the week. I made a conscious decision on Monday that I was going to be happy regardless of what happened. And it worked! But it was still hard for me. 

So my comp got in a disagreement with the Zone Leaders on P-day. He got super mad and demanded that we go home(that's when I made the choice to be happy;) So we went home and slept all P-day instead of going back to the ruins with the zone. But God's tender mercies are there for all of us! On the way home we ran into a Mormon Family from Sacramento, California that gave us a ride and bought us some food! they were super kind and they asked us to give them some Book oves Mormon(plural of Book of Mormon) to give away! Brightened my day. Then I had a super good nap!

Then I guess my companion wanted to play the silent game for the rest of the week, so I mean, I walked around and talked to a whole bunch of people this week while he followed and occasionally helped out when the person spoke Spanish. 

But then on Friday we had a Zone attack, and all the missionaries from the Zone came to my area and helped us to find some new people to teach(which was desperately needed)

But the best thing that happened this week was that Sister Williams came to church! she is a returned missionary that hadn't been to church in YEARS, but finally was ready to make the big step and go again! I was so happy for her. I am thankful that God let me be here when she made that choice! Friday my comp made a cool Dominican dish and we had dinner with her and her boys(2 less active young men and 1 9 year old kid who is actually her nephew but is not baptized yet!) it was awesome

so yeah, being happy is a choice, going through trials is not. Only through Jesus Christ can we make the choice to be happy and to press forward in faith! Only by Repenting of our own transgressions and forgiving others of theirs can we be truly at peace with ourselves and the world! It's hard but it's possible because of the Atonement!

Anyways, I love you all. SO SO much

Have the greatest of weeks!

Elder McFarland

Belizean residency!

sometimes I fell lazy like I won't right a weekly letter this week. 

and then I repent and do it for my mom!(love ya mom!)

here's a story for mom this week.

Saturday and Sunday was District Conference(remember that a District is a small Stake). The District President called me and asked me to play the piano in all of the sessions. so I did! I don't know how its possible, but my piano skills have gotten so much better on the mission! I know that it is really God who is working through me, and I am greatful for Him and my mom, who always pushed me along to do what I love! Also Sunday morning Elder studebaker(the mission presidency counselor) asked ME to translate for him in the Spanish Session! It was a lot of fun and a lot of thinking on my toes!

also a shoutout to my awesome older brother who is the best missionary ever(every member a missionary) and continues to inspire and encourage me!

a story for him! my mission son Elder Mayen is STILL in Zarzagoza. Ty did you ever see a missionary be in one area 6 CHANGES? haha needless to say he loves Zaragoza.

and while I'm doing shoutouts, Dad I love you to death!

Dad, this week I said a joke and nobody laughed, and I could almost imagine you grounding me for making a bad pun....

also Jeh I love you!

I see cute couples come from the states and I think about  you and Josh!

Hannah, I know that God DOES answer little girls prayers. Thank you for praying for me and my investigators, I can always use some little girl prayers!

Adam. Adam! Adam? I love you so much more than you could ever imagine! you are my little brother, even if  you keep getting so big!

so this weekly letter I guess is dedicated to my family, parcially on account that the week was kinda slow. The only days we had time to work were Tuesday, wednesday and thursday, but I promise next week I'll have better stories for you all!

Love you all to death

have the greatest of weeks!

Elder McFarland

Of haircuts and hurricanes

Sometimes I wonder if my life is a movie. And then I remember they don't pay me enough for me to be a professional actor, so I get sad and remember that there is no background music nor soundtracks...

This week there were a lot of changes in my life and in the country.

My new comp is Elder Cuevas! He is a super cool missionary from the Dominican Republic. He is a real people person. He is good at getting people to just open up and trust him. I am learning a lot from him. He has almost 21 months in the mission, so there is a lot of experience which he has and he knows the scriptures backwards and frontwards. Also he is super good at cooking food. We talk a lot about life. its pretty cool. One super cool thing he does is offer anyone he sees a free haircut, something that breaks down barriers and makes people super happy! The second day together he gave me a haricut and it looks super sweet!

Elder Cuevas has had a hard life. He is the only member in his family and they don't really support him like at all. He was born super poor into a broken family. His life is very different from mine, and his testimony is super strong. It has made me very grateful to have the family that I have and to have been born into the Gospel!

Also he is learning English, so that's fun. 

As for our investigators, this week was kinda slow because of the hurricane. 

oh yeah, the hurricane. 

Wednesday night the hurricane hit. at 6 it began to rain super strong, and our zone leaders were like "GET IN THE HOUSE!" I called the sisters in my district and told them to hurry home.

6:10 we get to the house and it stops raining... like, perfectly calm and quiet. for about 3 hours nothing happened.

and then it hit. 

super windy and rainy all night. You could hear the trees breaking and the cats flying through the air(don't worry hannah, I'm kidding about the cats!) More than anything else it was SUPER strong winds that blew in every direction. I tried my hardest and managed to sleep a LITTLE that night.

And in the morning?

It stopped.

The next two days we spent picking up branches that had broken and even cut up an entire tree that had fallen on the house of a member(don't worry the house was ok!!) It was a great opportunity for service!

The damage was minimal and not a single house fell in my area!

so that's what its like to go through a catagory 1 hurricane.

my comp says where he lives they get category 3 and up almost every year. That's when you really start to worry and you see entire palm trees flying through the air! the highest he lived through was a category 5 named Hurricane David(haha, I didn't do it.) and it was super loco crazy!

So ya that's pretty much my week in a nutshell. 

Please pray for Reyna and Shawn still! Reyna and all the kids but one came to church on Sunday, but Shawn had to stay home with the little baby who was sick.

Life is super good and I am super happy.

Ain't no hurricane can blow this guy down!

love you all

Have the greatest of weeks

elder McFarland

Pictures

The Golden Fleece

If Mom can find out this title, so let it be.

first off.

*screams* **emotional outburst**

I was not expecting changes to happen. I mean, I knew we were going to start a new change, but because my whole district whitewashed the district last change, we were assuming no one would have any changes.

And you know what they say about assuming Dad. (it makes an ASU out of M and E ;)

Elder Smith is leaving! Maybe I haven't said a ton about Elder Smith, but that's just cuz I thought we were going to be together at least one more change! 

But here is a shoutout to one of the best companions ever. 

Elder Smith is from Glendale, Arizona. He has 1 more change than me in the mission. We have a VERY similar sense of humor. and taste of music. Pretty much the whole change we were just walking under the sun singing songs and making lame(but totally awesome) jokes. Elder Smith is the most obedient missionary I know, which comes from his very strong testimony of the church(and a very touching story as to how he got it) and we work really well together. I will always remember this change forever(cue redundancy police)

dang it I ran out of time.

I will tell more about our investigators next week, and my new comp, but please keep praying for Reyna and Shawn, and also for Victoria August!

Also last pday we went to Xenantonich(See photos) a really cool mayan ruins place in Succotes(a nearby town)

Love you all, have the greatest of weeks!

Elder McFarland