When the Weeks feel like hours

When the Weeks feel like hours

... and the hours feel like seconds. But changes are like months and days still kinda feel like days, is that weird?

Really after so long in this area with the same companion and same Elder in the same house, every week kind of starts to blend together. The days go really fast and time just starts to slip through your fingers!

this week was a really great week! Once again we put some really high goals for ourselves to start it out and I am super glad because we were able to meet them! As a result we found many new investigators and some of our old new ones are starting to progress rapidly! this week we have even more new goals and so I hope that this helps us to find the people that are waiting to hear us! 

Lets talk about people.

Victor continues to progress rapidly! he has gone a week and a half (10 days!) without trying a drop of alcohol! He didn't come to church on sunday though...but we found out why! he told us that he felt embarrassed to come because he didn't have any clothes that he felt were fit to come to church in. We explained to him that the Lord doesn't care what`s on the outside, but what`s on the inside.(but we're definitely going to find him a shirt and tie to go in next week)

We went with Jander yesterday after about a week and a half of not seeing her. She told us that she and William broke up:( it makes me super sad to here that. We are hoping to be able to get ahold of him this week(because he is now living in Lourdes, a city about 30 minutes away) and see how we can help them to keep on progressing! maybe they`ll just have to get baptized separately... 

we had a lot of less actives come to church yesterday and even more that should come the week after! I`m super happy about that!

But like I said, the hours feel like seconds and I`m already out of time to write... :(

But I hope you know that I love you all and that I know that this is the work of the Lord. It is absolutely inspiring to see the change that God is making both in my life and in the lives of the people with which I am working.(you see that, spanish helps me not dangle my participles...) 

I am grateful for trials. We get acquainted with God in our extremities(see Our Heritage)

I am grateful for happy times.

I am grateful for life!

Have the greatest of weeks

I love you all

Elder McFarland

With Faith In Every Footstep

I haven't used that title before, have I?

Oh well.

It's kinda an ugly thing when you fall into a routine. so this week we tried to up the anty and get work done! we saw a lot of little miracles as we worked hard with our less active members and looked for a lot of news!

One miracle came as we went out to work with the Chavez family in our ward. We went with them to visit another family, a less active one, named the Zalazar family. Doors were opened where they had never been opened for us before and we finally met the wife and one of the sons, Angel. Angel is not a member, yet, although he absolutely loves going to church and being with the members. We are currently working with him and hope his example and faith will help his whole family come back! Several Baptisms are possible.

The next is an inactive member named sister Loli! She yelled to us in the street ``Elders`` and we stopped to talk to her. She hasn`t been to church in 20 years but she told us she wants to come back! She has a 20 year old son who isn`t a member. he has a broken leg but says as soon as the cast is off he'll come to church!

Sometimes I wish I was better, wish I was more talented, wish I had more visible success, but then we talk with just the right family at just the right moment, and I know that God is here, and that he is guiding me in every aspect of the work!

I kinda burned my time writing my siblings today, so I`m all out, but know that I love you all and that I am praying for you!

I know that God lives!

and loves me too!

Have the greatest of weeks!

Elder McFarland

You can take the guitar away from the man, but you can't take the music!

Let me just say that this title hurts just about as much as it sounds!

I trust President Hintze and I love the Lord more than anything else!

But when President told us there was a new rule that we can't have musical instruments it still hurt a little. on saturday I turned in my little guitar to the zone leaders.

Like I said, I trust President Hintze and I love the Lord more than anything else.

but it hurts a little still

But in every other aspect this week was an amazing one!

First off, we didn't have transfers! Elder Mayèn and I will be together a good while still! also, Elder Sweat and Elder Riasco (the two other elders in the house) didn't have transfers either. This makes 3 that we have been together the 4 of us(for those unacquainted with our mission that is super super rare!

Second off we found a lot of new investigators! this week we walked super SUPER far in our area and found a little pueblo called Asuchillo! there is a ton of potential there and we have started to work there! We found one really positive man named Jerson and another named Edwin, both of which have families of 7! Jerson was meeting with the missionaries before and already has a testimony of the Book of Mormon! Edwin doesn't have much of a religious background, but he has a lot of faith and is super friendly! I`ll let you know as things progress...

Jander and William came to church today! They are both still super motivated to get baptized, but now neither one wants to get married because they have been passing through some super tough times as a couple and need to fix things between themselves. Honestly I don't know what will happen. We are just going to do our absolute best and see what miracles the Lord Provides!

Still super happy to have talked to my family like a week ago. 

fifth off I know that God is behind this wonderful work! I know that despite my weaknesses and shortcomings God is good. In Fact, God is great! He is helping me to improve day by day and He loves me and knows who I am! It`s great to know that he doesn't expect us to be perfect yet! he gives us opportunities to learn!

Hope you all have the greatest of weeks!

I love you all so SO much

Elder Mcfarlandavid

Dear mother the flowers remind me of you!

I love my mother so so SOOOOOOOOO much.

So I got really caught up in talking to everyone today that I kinda forgot to type out a big long group email, but If you have any questions ask my mom, I tlaked to her YESTERDAY!

This week we have been looking for new investigators. While we haven`t given up on all of our dear friends, we need more people to teach. That was where we found a real miracle this week!

His name is Victor. he is a struggling father with a heavy alchol problem. He want`s to change his life to help his poor little family, and he has a lot of faith in Christ that he can move forward and repent. He accepted a baptismal date! We are going to have to help him SO much though, its a hard task he has set out to do! I know that the Lord will help him!

Transfers are this week. I don`t know If I will stay or go, but I trust that whatever happens, I will be where the Lord needs me to be!

I know that God lives, and that he loves me. I have seen his hand so much in my life, and I KNOW that he watches and guides and protects me. I know that he is in charge and that he will make everything turn out right, if we trust in Him!

Did I mention I love my mother?

Have the greatest of weeks everybody!

Elder McFardavid

Pila and Papusas

Better Days

So you asked me what I want this year

I`ma try to make this calm, and clear. 

Just a chance that maybe we`ll find:(see title)

cuz I don`t need boxes wrapped in strings, 

or desinger love, or empty things.

just a chance that maybe we`ll find:(See title)

So take these words, and sing out loud.

because everyone is forgiven now.

and tonight`s the night the world begins again.

Name that song?

This week was one fun thing after another. So last Monday I told my mom we were ready for the wedding of Jander and William on Saturday, and she warned me that the adversary would try with all he can to stop it. I knew she was right, but I didn`t know HOW right she was.

Monday at 11:00 (just as we finished writing.) began the first problem. One of the families in the branch who is really good friends with Jander had been talking to her and asking questions like ``are you SURE about this`` and other things, so when we talked to her to pic up some papers for the lawyer she was pretty indecisive and scared and nervous. We had a good lesson with her that night which helped her trust in the Lord. 

Tuesday my comp had an ultrasound on his ankle which has been bugging him because of an old surgery. They were not very kind to him, and he left the doctor's office barely able to walk. at 4:00 we limped over to one of the members that was going to be a witness for the wedding, and she got super angry because WE had been the ones who asked her to be a witness, not the bride. She refused to help us whatsoever. we had had an appointment with the lawyer and the family at 5:00 to finish the paperwork, but at 5:30 limping our way to the chapel without someone to be a witness we missed both the lawyer and the couple

Wednesday the lawyer wasn`t going to help us anymore, but after struggling ALL morning to find a witness and taking the papers to the lawyer, she accepted.

Thursday we still couldn`t leave the house because of my comps ankle, but in the nighttime was the interview and they both passed.

Friday the bride`s family told her that if she got married they were going to kick them out of where they are living if they get married because the lot belongs to the grandpa.

(Friday night they decided to postpone the wedding until may 26 so they could find somewhere to live before getting kicked out of the house, but they still wanted to get baptized, so they decided the groom would just live in his aunt`s house until the wedding and they would keep the law of chastity and still get baptized Saturday.)

Saturday morning the lawyer told us that it was REALLY hard legally to change the date of a wedding the day of, but we got it worked out. 

Saturday night 15 minutes before the wedding the couple got in a fight and decided that it wasn`t a good idea for them to get baptized that day because the wife was angry that the husband might get jealous because they weren`t living in the same house and he might think she was cheating on him and so they decided it would be better to just keep living together because they couldn`t promise to live the law of chastity.

I have a lot of faith that this week I am in for some BETTER DAYS.

I love you all, and I know that God has a plan, which is sometimes different than what we think our plan is. I trust God fully and know that he will help me to do what`s right.

I will forever remember what William said when trying to calm down Jander and make a choice.

I JUST WANNA DO WHAT`S RIGHT!

Amen, Brother William.

Love you all!

have a great week!

Elder McFarland

The Highway to Comasagua.

Every week it's harder and harder to come up with a cool title, but luckily this week I still have one.

First off shout out to Dad! I have one of the coolest Dad`s in the world, and I may have stolen half a title from him...

Second off shout out to Mom! Her Birthday was on the 14th, but I'm still celebrating a little bit, because she is so dang cool!

Third off I`ll start my email. 

This week we're gunna start things out with a little heart to heart ok?

So this last change I`ve kinda been struggling a little.  sometimes I see the great potential that I could be achieving, but I keep falling short. It`s hard for me to admit it sometimes, but I have a lot of faults and a lot of struggles. But this week I`ve taken a lot of strength from the fact that I don't have to be perfect. I don't have to have it all figured out. As a son of Adam I have the inevitable heritage of weakness. But I have a lot of hope that comes from a much more powerful eternal truth: As a Son of God I have the potential for so much more. Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ I can improve and get stronger every day

I invite you to think about that this week. I know we all have struggles, but I know we can all overcome them if we rely on the Lord and remember where we come from and where we are going!

Ok heart to heart over!

This week we are going to have a wedding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jander and William are going to go through with it! 

This week William received his answer! It was very inspiring to hear him say ``this is it, this is the path I need to take, I know its true!`` Jander had already received her answer, but now they are going to be so perfectly united in the Gospel!

 As part of the preparation, Elder Mayèn and I had to go to get the birth certificate for Jander (Williams was in the area of different missionaries. The cool part was this. she lives in a small city that is really secluded in the mountains called: Comasagua. they day we decided to go felt like a true adventure, we called Emilio cuz he kinda knows how to get there and asked him for help. He told us where to go and which bus to get on. We got up into the clouds on this small winding road until we finally ended up in Comasagua. I think we may have been the first missionaries in Comasagua for a really long time, if not the first ones ever. We talked to some people and found some new investigators there. I`ll give you an update on Comasagua in a couple weeks. 

Alberto and Manuel and Isabel are needing to get married, and we are trying our best to work out the problems and get what needs to be done done. 

I love the Lord, in Him my soul Delights!

Love you all

Elder McFarland!

Sometimes it Rains.

We are just getting into the rainy season here in good ol El Sal. What does that mean? plastic bags and umbrellas!

When it rains here it rains hard. do you remember the pics I sent you from the Delights.(las delicias) last time we were in the rainy season? we haven`t quite hit as bad as it was there, but we are starting up. Everything is clowdy and its dumped rain like 3 times.

I love rainy season because everything gets so SO green. anything and everything can and will grow.

The problem is that there will be lots of mosquitos. I`m gunna get ready with a backup supply of OFF just to make sure they don`t eat me alive.

This week we almost had a miracle baptism. Do you remember Maria? The lady that we found that was progressing so well and then just stopped because her old church scared her? well we visited her again on Tuesday, read from the Book of Mormon with her a little while and then she said she actually did want to get baptized. she had all the attendences, so we called the district and zone leaders and got permission and everything to baptize her on Saturday. We visited her Wednesday and Thursday was the interview. she passed with flying colors and was excited for Saturday. Then we came back Friday. She told us right away that she didn`t want to be baptized. She told us she would be lying to God if she got baptized again. We tried to explain and teach and do everything we could, but I think someone from her old church had visited her again and scared her pretty bad that she had to go back there or she would be lying to God. So our almost miracle baptism ended with her telling us not to come back. Ouch.

But life goes on! We found a couple really solid new investigators that we will visit this week and we still have our 3 weddings that we are trying to get solid for the end of this month. We also found a less active family, the Cruz family, that were baptized almost a year ago and are really really positive to come back to church!

We showed up right in time yesterday to help them move some big rocks in their yard that the sister couldn`t move cuz she is super sick and that the brother couldn`t either because he has a slight physical disorder. God answered their prayers through us and we helped them really quick and taught them a lesson. The sister asked us for a blessing and we felt the spirit very strongly in their home! they have an seven year old boy that`s about to turn eight in July(only one month older than Adam!)

And so,

Although sometimes it rains,

The sun always comes out to shine again.

Sorry I don`t have a lot of time to write more, but remember

The church is true.

Have the greatest of weeks.

I love you.

Elder MacFarland