In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

Heeeeellllooooo!!!!!!

One year ago tomorrow I left Virginia Beach, Virginia and arrived at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. How time flys. Now I get to count down the months instead of counting them up. How fun.

We did get a Chevy Colorado. It’s been fun to drive and definitely handles the dirt roads out here a bit better than the Mercury Sable did. Roads can be rough on cars out here. Unfortunantly I don’t have any pictures of the truck yet, but I have a few ideas for some neat pictures, so perhaps next week I’ll be able to entertain you a bit more.

The work is speeding up out here, and for that I am grateful. We are making some wonderful contacts and commiting people to do those things which will help them know of the truthfulness of this Gospel.

Monday was an interesting day. It was as if the Lord was pushing me along, getting me to do certain things that I would not think (or would be bold enough) to do. Sometimes we are led to do/say things and we don’t understand exactly why, or even after doing/saying them, we wonder if things are going to work out. So, this week has to be a week of faith and prayer that things will work out.

It has been hot here lately. Hot, dry, and dusty. A member loaned us a swamp cooler for our warm apartment. For those of you who don’t know what a swamp cooler is; it’s basically a fan that evaporates water and blows cooler air. We’ve been experimenting on how to use it best. For the first day we just made out apartment muggy (reminded me of home). Today we’ve successfully kept our apartment about 10 degrees cooler than outside, which had been nice. Just changed the setup before we left to do e-mail, so it might be even cooler when we get back. I’m excited.

Last P-day was a ton of fun!! As well as playing some sand volleyball, the member who’s house we were at has a 150 foot water slide down the hill in the back of their house. We had so much fun, and captured some wonderful pictures. All the pictures I have to share with you today are from last P-day. Only one picture of me though. Hard to take pictures of yourself. My companion is the one in the green shirt. The others are just for fun, and their is a group shot of both the Castle Rock and Parker zones. Some of the pictures came out a little distorted in a resize…man I wish I could install Photoshop on these computers. Enjoy the pictures…we did!

I hope you are doing well. I would love to hear from ya! Take Care!

God Bless,
- Elder Joel A. McDonald Jr.
Colorado Colorado Springs Mission