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

Week 25: Six Months Down .... 18 to Go!

Hey family!!

This week was just alright. Some days were pretty hard. Well we did what we always do as missionaries. That is preach the gospel!! haha Its starting to get really hot here. More than it has. Like in the nights I just lay there and my whole body is drenched in sweat and i cant really sleep because its so hot. SO i havent really slept that much this week. I just sweat all day haha like in the morning when i'm sitting on the toliet with sweat dripping from my face and from my thighs haha hope you guys can imagine that!

So here there is a colony of menonights or however you spell it. And every tuesday the come into town and they just stare at everyone and especially at me! Its kinda creepy haha but one day this week my companion and i were walking accross the bridge and we stopped to throw rocks over into the rio. Its fun haha because the bridge is really high! 

Well anyways while we were doing that a guy came out of nowhere and was staring at me and then finally i shook his hand and he asked me if i was a menonite.. i told him no im a missionary for the church of jesus christ. But then he said no your a menonite, you have the same type of hair and eyes and your face looks like a menonite. I kept trying to tell him i wasnt and my comp kept saying it to but he just didnt understand i guess haha well we set up a cita with him and we visited him and his family yesterday! haha

We figured out that him an his wife and his 2 kids have listen to the missionaries before but it has been like 5 years ago. They said they were listing to the missionaries but then all of the sudden they stopped coming. My comp. said that the mission closed this area for 2 or 3 years for some reasons but opened back up 2 years ago. SO we are going to visit them later this week. But yesterday while we were going to vist that family we couldnt find the house because they were no numbers so we past this women sitting outside here house. 

Then i thought we should ask her if she knew the man or where he lived. So i asked here and she knew him then we were about to leave then i thought that i should ask her, her name so i did. So she tells us then tells us that she is the mom and grandma to some members here in our branch! And she never has listened to the missionaries before so i give her a pamphlet of lesson 1 and explain it a little bit then we left. Then we were walking back and we saw her reading the pamphlet! It was so cool haha that was my first contacted that i did!

Here in Mexico we arent really allowed to contact like from door to door or in the street. But if we feel like we should to talk to someone or knock on a certain door we can.

Friday we did divisiones. It was the worst day ever! My spanish just like disappeared or i dont know where it went. My teaching sucked and that made me in a bad mood. Then when that happened i started missing home. So that day pretty much sucked. But im doing better today!

Yesterday at Church i spoke in front of everyone..in another language!. There was about 25 members there with about 5 men haha a lot of people huh? I was kinda nervous but it was good. I worte a few things on a piece of paper and went off from there. I talked about the Atonement and how we can find comfort, peace, happiness and forgivenness through christ and his atonement. Then i started talking about how we need to show that we are grateful for the atonement by doing what he asks and just doing what good ALL the time. I talked for about 20 minutes! Cool right! haha just remember i did all that in SPANISH! Thats so cool that i can speak another language. Thanks to the spirit and gift of tongues! I have a strong testimonio of the gift of tongues and how real it is!

Here in Soto there are 4 missionaries and we pretty much are together a lot of the time. Well on p days and sundays. and us 4 eat at the same house. Its pretty cool. BUt there is like nothing to do here on p days. A small town with pretty much nothing. But i like it a lot. To be honest i dont konw why haha 

This morning my companion closed the bathroom door and it locked so we couldnt get in. So we tried to pick the lock then we tried to push in the thing that points out the goes into the frame( i dont know what thats called) We used the kitchen knifes that we have, which are pretty crappy. Then we finally decied to take the door off the hinges. We used a 5 pound wieght that my companion has and a scripture marking pencil to tried to take off the hinges. Didnt work....I broke the pencil with the first hit or pound of the wieght. Then i firgured out that the pocket knife thing that i have as a wierd tool that all it is a small metal stick thing. I always wondered what the crap i could use that tool for.. and i guess for taking a door off its hinges haha So we spent about 20 mintutes on that stupid door. But dont worry we got it!

Well my camera is still broken. The member is going to the capital (victoria) today to see if they have a part to fix it. So hopefully its there. So i dont have any pictures!! Sorry. I love you guys!

Love

David   

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

Week 24: Greater Love Hath No Man .....

¿Que andan?

what up family and girlfriend and friends:) This week was pretty awesome!  Im really loving this little town here in the middle of no where. Because we dont need to walk as much and the members here are really cool. So here we have 6 investigators and some less actives. Here its a little tiny branch with about 25 people that go each sunday. I met some of the less actives and members here and its so much better to be able to communicate with them in the begining, unlike in monte alto where everyone would talk to my comp because i couldnt understand them. 

I've made some good relationships with the kids and parents here! I have surprised myself with my spanish. I can understand about everything except some words that i havent heard before and i can speak! haha gracias a dios! and the spirit! Im loving it here a lot. My comp is from Ciudad de Mexico. He speaks a lot faster than my last comp from urugauy. But i have gotten used to it. He is a little lazy with some of the rules and certain things. 

So on like wednesday we ate with the president of the branch and his wife is in texas with her mom taking care of her. And guess what? All of his family lives in the US, like his brothers and sisters and stuff. He said he is going to move there next year.  He was talking with me about texas and his family pretty much the time haha in spanish..he doesnt know english. He is a really cool guy! Oh and his sister lives in Sandy!! haha He called her last night and i talk to his sister that lives in sandy! She speaks like perfect englsih. and her 2 daughters went to jordan high school! It was pretty cool to talk to her. She was nice. 

But anyways at the comida with the president after he was talking to me about one of his sons.. and he was using words like el vivia and hacia eso y eso y eso..and stuff like that and i didnt really catch onto the spanish part. so i asked where is your son? Is he on the mission? then he said No elder, he is dead. I felt so bad and then he showed me a painting of jesus where he is knocking on the door and there was a newspaper article in the picture frame and he told me to read it.... The headline said Sacrificio y un hero. which mean a sacrifrice and hereo. 

The story was sad but cool in a way. So 2 years ago his son and some of his friends after school went to the river that is here. And they were all hanging out then some kids decided to go swiming. a few guys and 2 girls. but his sons didnt because he knew it was dangerous and the current is pretty strong. But after a few minutes the guys came back in but the 2 girls did not. BUt his son noticed that they both were struggling, trying to swim in. So with out thinking he jumped in the river and got the closes girl first and brought her in and went out for the second girl...but they both couldnt make it back in. They both drowned in the river... 

The story went on explaining it more. But it said that no man has more love for his friends that gives his life for them. (thats in the bible somewhere ...John 15:13 Greater ^alove hath no man than this, that a man lay down his^blife for his ^cfriends.)  I didnt know what to say after i finished reading it. But i turn to the president and asked him when that happened. He told me 2 years ago on the 27 of may. Then i told him im sorry and i couldnt even imagine how he feels..he was looking at the ground the whole time until he looked up at me and said.. I miss him so much elder..and he started crying. 

The other elders where out side. then he moves over to the couch and sits down then i go and sit next to him and put my arm around him for a little side hug thing. Then he starts telling me the story again and says how much he misses him and how he is grateful for his other 2 sons but the son that died was special and was the best and was always happy and always helping everyone around him. Holy cow i did not know what to say at all. I was on the verge of crying, trying my hardest not to! But then i thought about sharing that one scripture that the elder in  the MTC shared with me in John 14:18.  (I will not leave you ^acomfortless: I will ^bcome to you.)  

So he reads it and feels a little better. After a bit we left! It was a sad but cool experience for me. I was praying while i was listening to him to know what i could say to help him and i recieved an answer to share that scripture! A learning experience for me. 

Friday my comp went to Tampico for a meeting for the liders of the mission. So i traveled with him to the city of Victoria and i stayed there with another elder! That city is freaking sweet! There are mountains that look pretty similiar to the utah mountains! It made me miss good ol utah! So i was there until sunday afternoon! We were supposed to return here on saturday but nope! and i forgot to bring more garments! so i wore the same garment for 3 days! haha pretty gross huh? Yeah  i know! BUt we taught some people (duh im on a mission) and walked a ton. Its so hilly there. 

We where in a area called Lomas.. which means Hills haha so a lot of walking up giant hills! I wished i could take pictures but my carmera is being fixed by a member here! Oh yeah i forgot to tell you guys another cool thing that happened...so on saturday in Victoria we were looking for some old investigators and i looked behind us for some reason for a second and i saw the police truck that has the turrent on top with 5 other guys with weapons pointed out. 

So then i look back again and kinda stare for 2 or 3 seconds because i thought it was cool. I guess thats a bad sign because they stopped, reversed, and went down the street we were walking and "pulled" us over. They got out and 5 guys surrounded us and asked what we were doing.  My comp said we are missionaries just looking for people to teach. Then they want to search our back packs and i tell them "solo tengo biblias en mi mochila" but they stilled wanted to look. 

Then they told me to open the smaller pocket in the front and i had that pocket knife thing that katie and her family gave me.. and he asked why do you have that. I didnt say anything just said "no se" I dont know. Then they said okay and left...

After my comp asked me why do you have that!!! They could have taken both of us to jail for you having that!.. but then he laughed after and said how lucky i am. So i guess im not allowed to have a pocket knife here in the streets haha I was pretty nervous the whole time! haha it was pretty funny after!!!

Well family thanks for your email! Mom and Dad! and Kaite! Julie im glad you got my letter! I love you Mom, Dad, Michael, Brandon, and Julie! and Katie and her family! Welp till next week,,,,

Love, Elder McNamara

Any questions??????!!!!!!!!!!!!

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

Week 23.5: Just Photos from First Area in Mexico

David sent these photos to Katie.  He is in his new area, and these are all from his first area in Mexico.