Week 29: Growing Like Bamboo in Mexican Mission

Hey family!

I love you guys! Both my families..The McNamara and the Christensen! haha

Well today is the start of new cambio or transfer. Im still with my old comp Elder R.  Another 6 weeks with him that is until August 4! Its going to fly by. He has 20 months in the mission and he is starting to die..in missionary terms. I dont know how i feel about another 6 weeks with him. He lacks work. Its a little frusterating at times but i know there is something i can learn from him and from these next 6 weeks! 

A few things have happened since the last time i wrote you guys on wednesday. Elder R. and I found a better way to travel to the other side of our area accros the  river besides walking all the way to the bridge and then to our investigators house which takes about 30 mintues walking...I tell you about that a little later on. 

So we went to teach a menos activo that hasnt been to church in who knows how long. He was baptized like 25 years ago. He is a little crazy haha  Last week we were talking about christ and the atonement and then he said that jesus died on thursday and ressurrected on saturday...so i told him no he died on friday. and rised on sunday. 

The this week we went back to planchar him a little bit. I found the scripture where it says that the jew didnt want to leave the bodies on the cross on the sabbath which was saturday so they took him down the a little later on it says that on the first day of the week mary went to the tumb which was sunday. He still didnt believe us...haha then he went on telling us how the light of the moon can do many things. Like if you want to have a son instead of a daughter..you and your wife should do your busy on a full moon and you{ll have a son.  And that he heard that one man had really deep cuts on his arms so he slept with the window open with the light of the moon and the next morning he was healed! hahaha He is a bit crazy. 

But after an hour of talking about the moon he show us a better way to go to barrio which was on the other side of the river. He has a little paddle boat! SO he took us on that accros the river! haha it was fun. 

so we went to go teach the lesson but they werent there so we went back to where he dropped us off and called him and he came for us...so my companion got in a little shakey and then it was my turn to get in and i was slowly going down the steep mudding hill being cautios. And apprently Clemente, the less active, told me to wait but i guess it didnt connect right away because it was spanish. then...BOOM i slipt and fell into the river haha all the way to my waist then i climbed into the boat! We were all laughing so hard haha it was pretty funny. 

Then on sunday we had church and one of the speakers talks i liked a lot. He talked about bamboo and how it takes about 5 to 6 years to come out of the ground because its streghtening its roots and he compared that to us. THat god never leaves us that he is always there. that when we have problems and challenges in our lives that all of it is for our good. That sometimes its really difficult to overcome the problem but god doesnt allow anything to happen that we cant overcome! And that God is strenghtening our roots! That he is preparing us for something great either in this life or in the life to come. BUt the promise is there all we need to do is press forward with hope and faith in christ! 

But faith has 2 parts. The belief and the action! SO we need to do our part }. Which is all the things he asks us to do. ALl the primary answers and serve others! I added a few more things to that but his talked really effected me! I liked it alot. 

Then we went to eat and came back to the church for the special leadership training thing. I started to get really homsick before it started. I dont know why. I was about to cry! I would have cried if i didnt held it back. But then it started and i loved it! 

The missionaries that are in the MTC sang and her was funny. I thought that the Elders were empty seats in the background! There is so many missionaries now! And a ton of sister missionaries! 

Holland said that now there are 70,000 missionaries. Just this past conference there was 64,000 missionaries. 6,000 MORE missionaries in that short space of time. The Lord is really hastening his work and preparing for something great! 

BUt they showed a video clip of a young boy getting baptized then recieving the priesthood then doing some activities then a group of friends watching their friend open his mission call then getting set apart as an Elder then saying bye to his family at the MTC and then recieving his name tag. Then they showed a bunch of different missionaries around the world teaching and preach the gospel. 

It was so cool. I started to cry during the little video clip. Because i just thought about all that happened to me! Me getting baptized by michael when i was 8..took him 3 or so times haha then me recieving the priesthood then me filling out my mission papers and then opening my call at katies house with you guys on skype and then getting the higher preisthood. Going to the temple. Then finally saying goodbye to you all at the MTC and now me here in Mexico! 

Its definately a blessing that I am here on my mission and im so grateful for this opportunity. No doubt that it is really hard at sometimes. Being away from you all and with spanish and teaching. BUt this is the best thing that i could ever do!

Well here is some pictures for you guys! I love you all so much!:) 

Love,

Elder McNamara

Email Elder David McNamara at: David.McNamara@myldsmail.net