In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

Greetings!

All is well here in Colorado Springs and I hope your are doing well also. Elder Housley, my companion, and I are teaching some great people right now and are always looking for others interested in hearing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

On the 14th of August (Saturday) we had a baptism! Elder Housley performed the baptism, and I confirmed him the next day at church. It was so awesome! We have a few people we are teaching who are growing closer to baptism as well, so I anticipate the next two months to be exciting!

We’ve visited the Mingo’s (Sam’s family) once. For those that don’t know, the Mingo’s were on Okinawa with me and Sam is one of my best friends. By chance (heh…yeah…) my first area (well actually, my apartment) is in the same zip code as the Mingo’s. So we visited one evening, which was pretty cool. It was great to see them again. Sam is currently studying at CSU, so she was not there. We have dinner scheduled with them on the 8th of September, so I am looking forward to that. Hopefully I will be in the area long enough for Sam to come down and visit so I can see her too.

Transfers are in three weeks, so there is a chance I could be moved to a new area. There is also a chance that I could stay. I love the Black Forest area. It’s so beautiful! The people are really awesome as well.

I am doing well. Continually learning. Working on battling large hills on bike better (grrrr). For those interested…yes…I am being fed well (grins). Perhaps too well. hehe.

I send my best too all of you! Take care! Feel free to write back if you desire.

Greetings! First I want to thank all those who have written and shared words of encouragement. It is great to hear from you!

I am now in Colorado Springs serving in the northern part of the area. I serve in the Blackforest ward for another five weeks. I’m enjoying it greatly. The only thing which has been a bit tough is all the hills in the area. I am serving in a bike/car mission which means we drive out to a general location and then bike to wherever we are going. I’m not quite used to biking uphill…but I believe with time I will get used to it. I think I also struggle a bit biking while in the higher altitude. I find myself getting out of breath pretty easily…but that too with time will pass. I am loving the work. I love talking to people about the gospel. Sometimes we will go through whole neighborhoods and only speak to one or two people, but it is those oppertunities that keep us going.

My Missionary Training Center experiance was great! The Spirit is so strong there. There we times when I thought that if we could just bring those who we teach to some of the meetings at the MTC, they could not deny that what we say is the truth. Perhaps that’s the point of the MTC, so send the missionaries out carrying the same Spirit that exists there.

Oh! Altanga (sorry I don’t know how to link users) and I met at the MTC. He came up to me and said “I think I know you!” Pretty crazy!