Week 32: Elder David McNamara Prays for Nedi to Feel the Spirit

Hey family! Hows everybody doing?

I miss you all. This week was pretty good! Last monday we changed houses. After i wrote you guys we went and moved all of our stuff. The x president of the rama owns a really big construction company here so he sent a driver and a truck that has a flat bed to help us move. But guess what? It started to rain pretty hard haha so we moved all of our stuff in the rain. and we all stood on the bed making sure the stuff wouldnt fall off so we all got soaked! It was pretty fun!

So our new house is pretty tight. It has 2 floors and the bedroom is pretty big and has a high techo. and the bathroom is pretty nice for mexico. I really like our new house!

Okay first foto (above) is me with a bat in our house! We came home one night and it was flying around!! We were freaking out! haha   the next is me feeding a caballo!

This week went pretty fast and we.had some good lessions. We have taught this one lady named Nedi. She is so big and has the biggest behind i have ever seen in my life!! haha but she is nice. We taught her the first lesson like 2 weeks ago and this past week we taught her about the book of mormon. Her daughter is a member but hasnt gone to church in like 10 years or so. 

So when we went to visit with her she said that she had a dream. I dont really remember that much about what she said. But then her son told us that he had a dream when the missionaries first came over to thier house. He said he dreamed he was in a big flied of wheat following this wierd path and thinking to himself. Where the heck am i going. then all of the sudden her saw this huge tree. The biggest tree he has ever seen. And then the fruit he saw was shining white and then a bird came and started to eat the fruit and the bird started to shine really bright white! then he woke up...what does it sound like to you guys? the tree of life huh? haha i was about to pull that out and read it with him but he said the other missionaries already did that! haha 

Then we taught the lesson about the book of mormon and we finished and asked her to say the last prayer. And she didnt want to but was scared to so after 10 minutes she finally said it. And oh my gosh! It was so powerfull! You could tell she was praying with her heart and she prayed for her family and for her problems she is having right now. And she started to cry. While she was saying the prayer i was praying in my heart just asking PLease let her feel the spirit please let her feel the spirit. And she finshed and looked at us with tears in her eyes and just smiled. I couldnt stop smiling back at her. And that was honestly the first time i found myself praying and wanting so bad that someone could feel the spirit! And im pretty sure she did! It was a really cool experience for me!

me feeding the hourse again but with it in my mouth! ahha

Well nothing really else happend this week! Just being a missionary you know! SOunds like your pretty busy dad with all your speaking in different states and stuff. And mom with you working with the chinos! haha 

Well sorry this is a little short! I love you guys! 

Love,

Elder McNamara

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

Week 31: Me So Happy ....Love You Long Time.

What up fam?

Well i first got to give a shout out to someone. Yo brandon!! I got your dear elders letters you sent me! Thanks man i really appreciated them. I have played all the call of duties they are so sick. But halo is so much better! Thats awesome that you started school. Well back on the 20 of June or something like that. You got a 100 percent on a test? well im speaking another language everyday and the people can understand me...BOOOM!!! haha i want to here your boom you got. Thanks again for the letters man, it made me feel a little piece of home here in mexico! Love you brandon! 

So as you can see i got letters from when we went to Victoria! We left on thursday night and stayed until friday night. I got 12 letters!!! I was so excited. I got 8 from the most amazing girl ever:) and 3 from brandon and 1 form Wendi. It definately made my week!

Well this week was pretty decent. Not a lot happened to be honest. So im going to catch all you guys up on some stuff! I forgot to tell you all that on my second day here in soto la marina guess what we ate?....We had shrimp. Oh my gosh i about threw up! She served about a pound on everybody's plate. I have no idea how i finished it. Everyone finished and i was still there trying to eat the rest. About after 10 miuntes after everyone finished i managed to eat it all. 

First time i ate sea food on the mission. it was funny because the night before elder rojas and i were getting to know each other and he asked me what kind of food do i not like and i told him all kind of sea food. And he told me that the whole time he has been here they havent had sea food. And the next day we had shrimp! haha I felt sick all that day back on May 14! Then 2 weeks ago we had sea food again! but i kinda liked it...it was breaded fish. I used a lot of Limon so that help the nasty fish taste! I actually had seconds that day so i think im started to like fish...a little bit! 

So this week when we went to victoria on thursday night we got there at like 9 because its 3 hours away from our little town. so we stayed with 2 other elders. One american and one from Peru! The american he name is Elder Cardinal. Hes from Bountiful Utah. Well pretty much all the americans are from utah! haha He graduated the same year with me but didnt leave until January. He is pretty cool. And the peruvian? he is funny and nice guy. But they didnt have extra beds at their house so the elder from peru pulled his matress off the frame and told me i could sleep...on the frame! haha it was probably the most uncomfortable i have ever slept in my entire life!! Im not even exactrerating ( i cant spell i know) 

Then we had the zone conference. It was good we talked about how we can and serve with all our hearts, might, mind, and strength. Then we had president Jordan talks to us. He talked about repentance for about an hour. It was pretty intense. Im pretty sure every elder there was questioning themselves. It was good though! Then after i got all my awesome letters. We went to say bye to pres. Jordan. And i shoke his hand and he said to me.. Elder McNamara, You seem happy all the time, Why are you so happy?.. So i told him. I dont know, im sorry. and i put my hand over my face and made a sad face and moved my hand and said is that better? haha he laughed. But that was nice of him to say that. I really needed someone to say that to me because i feel pretty lonely here in a small town in the middle of nowhere! Dont worry though! Im all good.

Then we went to little ceasars and then we went to the bus station to wait for our bus. So i had to go to the bathroom so bad so i tell my comp. and he tells me it cost money, 4 pesos! So i pay it and go in and oh my gosh....the most disgusting bathroom i have ever seen. Which didnt bother me that much. But until i see the toliets..because i had to go poop. First of all..none of the toliets didnt have toliets seats and second of all. No toliet paper! There wasnt even a place to have toliet paper. They dont put paper in the public bathrooms! So i left and jokingly complained to my mexican comps! haha they all just laughed. 

So today we packed up all of our stuff and our house because we are moving to another, better house! We are moving our stuff later today! Well thats all i got for you all this week!

I love you all :)

Love,

Elder David McNamara


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

And, Katie is back home, enjoying Independence Holiday with her family at the lake. 

Week 30: "Count Your Blessings," Starring David McNamara

Que onda familia?

Voy a escribir esta carta en español. Espero que pueden entenderlo! jaja Esta semana pasada fue bien. Tuvimos lecciones y predicamos el evangelio a las personas aqui en soto la marina! Ayer recibimos dos mas referencias que quiza van a bautizarse. Pretty exciting! 

Okay im just kidding im not going to write the whole letter in spanish. But the first week of the new cambio has pasted and i have 7 months in la mision! Crazy. The time is going pretty fast. The days seem like they are going faster. I wake up and study then we teach one or 2 lessons then we eat and after we eat the day flies and then im laying in my bed again. Thats what it feels like to me!

The first picture is of me doing a back fliip! I was a little scared to do it on the dirt ground so i had an elder spot me! I landed it!

haha the next is of me and my companion. Yesterday it was so hot so i decided to roll up my pants and i walked around for little bit like that! So i struck a pose on the dead tree trunk 

We found this one lady named Nedi. Well actually she found us! So every tuesday there is a rodante. Which is where everyone sets up stands in the street and sell of sorts of things. So the street that everyone does it is on our street we live on! Its pretty packed full of people. So we were walking and she called us to her stand she has. And we talked with her and she wanted us to sing a hymn for her! She had count your blessings printed up and told us to sing for her. So we sang the song and set up a cita with her. That was like 4 weeks ago. 

We finally found her again this past tuesday. We talked with her and got to know her better. Her daughter is a member but doesnt go to church and Nedi was listening to the missionaries but like 10 years ago but she didnt get baptized because her husband didnt want her too. But she told us about her experience she had when she went to church. She said when she first went to church and steppped in the building she felt a strange feeling that she has never felt before. She said that she felt at peace. And when she took the sacrament she felt the same wierd feeling that she has never felt before! Then when she left she said the feeling went away and she went again the next week and felt the same feeling! 

While i was listening to that i was amazed how the spirit is so powerful at church. Us as members we get into the habbit of just going every week and sitting there then going home. But we need to pay attetion to the spirit that is there and LOOK for it. Because the spirit is only with us if we constantly look and seek for it! Because the spirit is there in ever meeting it depends on us if we want to feel it or not. That was a testimony builder for me about the power of the spirit at church! We taught her again on thursday about the restoration and it was good. And we invited her to church and pray about the message. But the sad thing is that she didnt come to church! AHH. We just have to be patience and try to help her in every way. 

Oh yeah. At our district meeting, of four elders, we took some time and we shared a spiritual experience that we have had on our missions. It was cool to hear other elders experiences. I shared my experience of when i baptized the little girl and felt the power of the preisthood through my body as i said the words. And another elder shared when he comfrimed a new convert to the church. It was the first time and he said as he said the words recieve the holy ghost he felt power, or i dont know how else to describe it, go from his hands to the persons head and that the person kinda jerked a little bit! ha cool huh! 

WEll thats what i have for you all this week! I love you all. Im going to Victoria again on wednesday. I get to get my letters that have been waiting for me in tampico. The zone leaders say that i have like 10 letters! haha im excited. And its the 4th of July this week. I will be missing out on some fireworks. Thats too bed..
Oh well. I love you all!

I forgot something! So the Branch presidents wife finally came back from texas! She was there taking care of her mom. So i met her for the first time yesterday at chruch and after church we started talking and we talked for like 15 minutes. Just her and I! She is so cool and she told me smoething that made me laugh, She asked if i was the youngest of the family and i siad no, Then then said that i have the face of the youngest one! I kinda laughed and asked her why does she think i have the face of the youngest one and she said because you just have a good looking face and that you dont do anything bad! haha It was cool.

(see more pictures below)

Love,

Elder McNamara

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

okay so the first picture is me after we got water at like 6 30 in the morning. I got my hair cut last week!

Next i let one of the elder try to hit the clothe off of my head. haha

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

Week 28: First Baptism ... Done Three Times ...HaHa

Hey guys what up?

I miss you guys! Looks like you all are having fun with katie. Im kinda jealous im not there but its a good bonding experience for all of you with kaite:) Thank you for sending me some pictures all of you guys look pretty good!

This past week was pretty much the same as always. Teaching people the gospel haha..on like tuesday or wednesday of last week i was feeling a little down. Because my teaching isnt where i would like it to be and also because my comp is lazy and some days he doesnt really want to do anything. so when that happens is pretty hard to get him to go somewhere to teach some people. It gets pretty frusterating. He has 20 months in the mission so thats why he is kinda lazy now. 

So  I was feeling a little down so the next morning when i woke i prayed normally but then i decided to ask if heavenly father acepts me as a missionary. I never prayed about that before but i did that time. And when i said that i felt the spirit testifying to me that heavenly father does acept me as a missionary! It was pretty cool.

Then this past saturday i got a chance to baptize!! I was so excited. Like on tuesday we went to the house of the little girl and her mom and we asked her who she want to baptize her.. and she thought about it and then she looked at me and smiled but didnt say anything.   Then i said..¿Yo? .. then she said yes i want you to baptize me elder mcnamara. I started smiling so big. That was the first time i actually smile for real and was really happy! Before that happened i was praying the week beofre for a chance to baptize her and that she would want me to baptize her and i did get to! 

So saturday was the baptism at our little branch here in the soto la marina. The baptism fount..well its like a giant kiddy pool really haha i send a picture of it. So i get dressed in all white..by the way i look pretty good in all white haha.. then i get in the font and help the little girl.. her name is Belem. And then i explained to her how i was going to baptize her then i put my right arm up and started to say the pray...,Habiendo sido comisionado por Jesucristo, Yo te bautizo en el nombre del padre, y del HIjo, y del espiritu santo, Amen.... 

When i first put my arm up right away i felt the spirit and the power of the preisthood throughout my whole body! It kinda surprised me but it was so awesome! Then i baptized her! Her toes were poking up so i had to do it agian and again her toes were poking up! haha so it took 3 times to finally baptize her correctly. 

After the devotional and stuff one of the other elders was talking to one of his investigators that came to the baptism and he told me that she said when she saw me put up my arm and started to say the pray that she felt a wierd cool chill run through her body and she had never felt that before! Isnt that cool!

Then on sunday my comp confirmed belem as a member of La iglesia de Jesucristo de los santos de los ultimos dias. I took part in the comfirmation and again i felt the spirit as he was comfirming her. It was another testimony to me that this church is true! and the preisthood is real!

Okay so monday we went to Victoria!! Victoria is not tampico mama. Victoria is the capital of the state of Tamaulipas. All the zone went and we played dogeball! Oh man it was so fun. and we all got jersey with numbers and our names on the back. Its pretty tight. Then we played kickball and basketball and tug of war. IT was pretty fun.

Then my comp and i and the other elders in our area we went to the soccer stadium for the team of victoria!  We took pictures and stuff. And there was a track so you know me...i had to run on it. I raced a elder the full 100 meters. He thought that he was going to win but that didnt happen.

I about passed out after! First time i ran a 100 meters full out since last year! Im so sore right now from it.

That was pretty much my week and a half!

I love you mom,dad,michael,brandon,julie, and katie!

Elder McNamara


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

Week 27: Trust Falls and Playing in the Dirt

Que onda familia y amigos?

Les amo un buen! This week went by pretty slow. A lot of things happened! Well wedensday we went to the city of victoria again! We went for the zone conference for our zone. We had to wake up at 5 in the freaking morning so we could get to victoria on time! It sucked. I dont like waking up that early haha 

We had the meeting and everything. I got to see and talk with some other americans which was nice. Im not the ¨youngest¨ in terms of mission time anymore. The other americans have like 3 4 and 5 months in the mission. Its crazy that i have been out for more than 6 months! I know that i shouldnt compare myself to others but i can see how far  my spanish has come. Which made me feel better about my spanish! 

In the zone conference we did this one game thing. Where we had 2 missionaries blind folded come into a room and climb on top of 2 tables and fall backwards. We had like 6 missionaries there to catch them. It was so funny watching them climb up the 2 tables. And one of the missionaries started cry a little bit because he was freaked out to fall back. A trust fall thing. 

Then after i got letters!!! I got 3 letters from my baby girl Kaitlin (who just graduated from Alta High this past week), and another letter from a fan i have now! She saw my plack at the stake center and read my blog. I got a fan now! haha its was nice.

Well we didnt get back to soto until like 8 30 so we just went back home and yeah. Thursday we just went around setting up citas for the next couple of days because my companion wasnt feeling well. He said he felt weak and couldnt think straight and all that. I told him he was dihigerated and to drink water. But he didnt want to go to the house and rest. So we walked around all day. Friday we actually taught some lessons! Fianlly! 

We taught this one less active named clemente. He was baptized like 25 years ago but hasnt been going to church for the past 10 or so years. He has a little store that he sells beer. And he told us he wants to go to church but he cnt because sundays are the best days to sell....somethings not right there right? Well he had some question for us about the bible and told us that the sabbath day was saturday and all that, so my comp had to explain the law of moses to him then he said that jesus died on thursday and resurrected saturday so i had to explain to him that he died friday and all that. So after that lesson full of apostasy haha we walk about 1000 miles to one of our investigators house. It was so hot that day about died! The investigotr lives in the middle of nowhere! Its on the outscruts of town! And shade doesnt exist there...

Okay the picture with me eating the food item which are called tamalis (i dont know how to spell it) the worst food item here.  But the elder next to me in this picture is my companion!

The picture with the tortillas..oh baby those are hand made tortillas de harina! Flour tortillas. The best thing in the world! the other one with elder ramirez is where we eat today for p day!

The picture with all of us looking trashy...well is because we had a wrestling fight on the dirt ground last night. It was so much fun! It was me elder ramirez and elder rojas against the elder flores and the two members that you can see there. The first one to pinned the other teams back to the ground wins!

Then we went to the comida...with the old president of the branxh. He is loaded out of his mind. He is nice and all and a good guy. During the food one of my companions asked me some question like do you guys in the U.S. eat with bread in every meal. (Because here they eat tortillas with every meal) And i was going to answer it but the ex-president answered it and went off about it. Then my comp asked another question about america then i was going to answer but the president answered for me. i was kinda getting irritated at that. Then he started dissing the u.s. a little. I started to get a little mad but i didnt say anything. I just let him talk his heart out. I just brushed it off my shoulders...

Then saturday We taught the women named carolina. About the book of mormon and the holy ghost and the role it has in conversion. She accepted it pretty well but she didnt come to church yesterday. Its so frusterating when they dont come to church!! Then we taught a menos activo and her daughter. Her daughter is 8 and getting baptized this sautrday! and guess what?.....I will probably get to baptize her! We arent allowed to baptize as missionaries but if its a baptism of the ward or branch we can baptized them. Doesnt count for the mission but it counts for the Lord! The other elders here and having a baptism this saturday as well! 

Then saturday night when we were walking back to our house this drunk guy started walking with us and talking to us. haha I told him that we were missionaries then he started asking if he could sleep at our house for the night and we said no. Then he said what would jesus do. and went off about that and so we gave him a card of jesus and he started kissing it and went off rambling on about something. My comp couldnt even understand him. haha i was laughing. Then he wouldnt leave us alone because we said we couldnt have him spend the night with us so my comp said wait here in the center square and we will come back for you in 10 minutes to spend the night. haha oh my gosh. estos barrachos ! 

That was pretty much my week this week. We didnt have many lesson but this week we are going to have more! 

I love all of you guys! 

Please write me! Stay strong in the word and hold on to the iron rod! 

Love,

Elder McNamara

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

Week 26: First Vision Interruptions and Chopping Down Palm Trees

Well oh well...what a week.

Probably the hottest week here so far for me! I about always drenched in sweat haha 

Well the week started off with interviews with the president in the city of victoria! We got there and waiting for awhile then my districted got interviewed. I was good to talk with the president. We talked about you guys and katie. Because I told him that im still having a hard time missing all of you. Some days are easier than others! If i taught a bad lesson or my spanish is sucking i start missing home and all of that. But he asked me what i do when i start missing you guys and i told him that i pray. 

Then he went on telling me stories from his mission and how he had a girlfriend and some other stuuf from his mission. He talked to me about girlfriends most of the time....then he told me that now that i have 6 months in the mission he is going to expect more from me. That i need to keep on improving my teaching and my missionary skills.  Then he asked me to start taking the intiative for a day then after for a week. I think he is preparing me to be trainer!!! I want to train a newbie! haha 

So we spent the whole day there pretty much. I had some time to speak with the other gueros or in english white boys haha it was fun and good to speak english and feel myself in my own language! The rest of the week was alright. We didnt have as much lession as we wanted. But on saturday i got the special privilige to cut down a palm tree with a machete! hahah it was so awesome.  The mom wanted the flowers that were growing on the top. So we first try to help her cut them with a knife on a long pole but after 5 minutes it didnt work so she said..just cut down the whole tree!! Okay sweet! haha 

But this mom is the mom of this member. She isnt a member but we just starting teaching her this past week. She is such a sweat heart but she talks a ton! We had to do leccion 1 in 2 two days! She is starting to understand everything. But when we were about to say the first vision. We were building up the moment, explaining the he had a question and he read james 1 5 and all of that. Then we are about to say it then the phone rings and she talks for 3 minutes..then we try again..the phone rings again! So after we try again then someone comes to thier door and they invited her in..so then we finally had a chance to give the first vision. 

Then we explain the book of mormon and all of that. The mom, her name is Carolina ,she seemed excited to know if all of this is true. I think she will get baptized! But with the women that walked in. I felt like i should give her a pamplet so i did! And guess what? She told us that we can visit her son too! Its crazy how everything works out!

So we had church yesterday and all that fun stuff. And today we played baseball! In the back yard of the church!! It was so fun. Just us 4 elderes. My comp and I won because i hit the ball over the church. Oh we used a small stick as the bat. Then after that one of the elders decided to put palm branches together and put their trash there and set it on fire!  Hes a little crazy !! 

Well that was my week. Im doing good. My spanish is coming along just good. I miss all of you and i love you guys!

Love

David,

Elder McNamara

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