In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

Greetings from Beautiful Colorado!

It’s that time again…the time to catch a small glimpse into the life of a missionary…in paticular…me! I always have trouble remembering things to write, but I’m going to try really hard.

Last Friday my companion and I did a three hour service project which consisted of moving a large pile of fire wood for Gene, who is sort of a former investigator. Real cool guy. We had a good time as he had us use his ATV to haul the wood. Gene has just about any auto part you can imagine and he specializes in military vehicles. He has his own military hummer, a huge military wrecker, and a few old jeeps. His basement is like a musuem filled with uniforms, guns, medals, daggers, and other items from every war going back to the Revolutionary. He handed me a WWII Nazi medal, I believe it was an Iron Cross, and said it was worth about 5 grand. Amazing. He runs a little ebay business where he buys and sells this kind of stuff. Pretty cool.

The ward here is growing very fast. It had split only a month before I arrived and now I think there are more members than before the split. The entire chapel and overflow/gym is filled.

We have a baptism this Sunday, the 19th, so we are really excited about that. I suppose we are teaching about seven people right now. A few are close to baptism, so things are going well there.

I’ve gotten used to the altitude a bit more, which is a huge help. I no longer sit on the couch, doing nothing, and still feel out of breath. Now it takes effort.

Had dinner with the Mingo’s last Wednesday, which was wonderful! Thanks Mingo’s! You’re awesome!

Transfers are next week, on the 23rd, so we’ll see what happens. I would love to stay here, so that is my hope.

I’m happy to say that my family down in Florida survived the hurricane minus a few areas of damage to the house.

I turn 20 in 10 days! ::does a little dance::

My two month anniversary was yesterday, leaving me with 22 months minus one day left in my mission. Time is flying by so fast.

Elder M. Russel Ballard came and spoke to young adults, including missionaries. It was my first time hearing an Apostle of the Lord speak in person. Direct quote from him, which is advice we could all use, “Don’t be goats”. Ask me exactly what that means if you aren’t too sure. ::smiles at his casual plea for e-mails::

I hope all is going well for everyone. I wish you the best!

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Here’s a couple pictures from a while back…

Me & Elder (Drew) Mierzejewski reconnecting @ the MTC after two years
Me @ the Provo Temple