In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

4 Days Till Christmas. 7 Months Till Release.

For those of you who read this update who are planning on serving a mission, I hope I haven’t portrayed a mission to be a breeze. It’s not. I read a quote last night by President Gordon B. Hinckley about this very subject. He said, “We should also build the attitude that there is nothing of a vacation, nothing of a holiday, in this great missionary service. It is hard, and at times discouraging, work…Let those who contemplate missions realize that they will work as they have never worked before”, however he went on to say, “they may expect such joy that as they have not previously known.”

It is all too easy on a mission to fall into the offenses of idleness and apathy. The Lord requires diligent and enthusiastic missionaries. He requires faithful missionaries. That is my goal: To be a more faithful missionary and follower of Christ.

So with that opening…let’s take a look at this past week…

Wednesday: Woke up with a bit of a sore throat. I hate sore throats. I had been feeling like I was fighting a coming cold, so this indicator was a bit worrisome. As the morning went on, and after a hot cup of cider, it seemed to be a bit better. First task of the morning was laundry. Second was doing the usual getting ready routine. We had our weekly lunch appointment with the Mexican Chef in our ward, Hermana Perez. I was really looking forward to her cooking, but as it turned out we went to a Chinese buffet. After lunch with the Perez’s we went to the Library where I sent out my weekly update and also discovered that Verizon has launched a FTTP service (Fiber-Through-To-Premises) called FiOS. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this. My companion is also a tech geek, and we were just talking the other night about how America is behind in running Fiber cable to homes for broadband services. Now, with FiOS, we are going to be able to have internet connections three times the speed of cable with (probably) more stability in speeds! That is amazing! In essence, for the same price of cable you will be able to download about 300 MP3 songs a minute compared to cables 100 songs a minute. Anyway (stepping down for soapbox) I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully it will be available in Virginia Beach by the time I return. Later in the evening we had dinner at the Bishops house. It was decorated with a beautiful tree and Christmas villages. I have to admit, it really made want to be home this Christmas. After a wonderful dinner we went to the church building and had a Spanish class with a few non-members, including two Mennonite girls. Elder Larson taught a great class. Unfortunately it was his last as he is leaving Kansas next Wednesday and will return home next Friday.

Thursday: Wow. What a great day this was! We started the day by finishing laundry, studying, doing some planning, and then having lunch with a great member couple (Chinese buffet…again). After lunch we rode around with Elder Larson and Rubio. I was under the impression that we were going to visit a bunch of people on the ward list. There is a bit of a problem with record keeping (and perhaps home teaching). I tried to visit random member the other day and neither lived at the address that is on the list. That was a little annoying. They decided to visit a bunch of the media referrals they had on hand, so we went to visit Kara and Lisa, who we have been teaching for the last couple of weeks. They are the best tracting contacts I’ve had on my mission. We had a short visit with them to set up a time on Saturday with them and their families for us to teach. I don’t know if their families are going to be there, but hopefully we can get them to come to church on Sunday. It is so hard to explain why coming to church is so essential to one’s progression. Elder Adams and I then tracted the surrounding apartments and townhouses around our apartment complex. We ran into a lot of Spanish speaking people. Thankfully I put together an approach in Spanish that morning, so I was prepared. It went pretty smoothly and we ended up with about seven referrals for the Spanish Elders, taught seven people, and have one return appointment for Monday. It was a little cold outside, but I am so glad we tracted the area. I think that missionaries often don’t work close to their apartments, and no one ever visits that area. I’m glad we did today. We had a wonderful time testifying. Team-ups with our Ward Mission Leader fell through tonight, who was also our dinner appointment, so Elder Adams and I picked up a late dinner at Wal-Mart (clam chowder, a crab cake, and crackers). It was pretty good.

Friday: Still fighting off a cold. Woke up with sore throat (again it subsided) and a stuffy/runny nose. Hopefully it won’t get any worse. We went to Garden City this morning for the last District Meeting of the transfer. After District Meeting we went to the Garden City Zoo. It’s a nice clean zoo. It was cold out though, and many of the animals were not out and about. We returned to Dodge and shortly after had Elder Larson’s farewell party/dinner. A couple members in the ward wanted to do something for him, so we coordinated a surprise party. It went over fairly well. Elder Larson acted as though he knew what we had been up to, but I don’t think he knew how much we had going. Unfortunately a bunch of kids playing in the kitchen knocked my digital camera to the floor and broke the plastic piece that holds the battery door in place. The camera seems to be working, but I am really upset with myself for leaving it out the way I did. There is really no way to fix it. We didn’t do too much in the way of testifying today, we tried to talk to a few people in passing, but nothing really came of it.

Saturday: Snow!!! It started snowing Friday night, and snowed throughout the night. Huge white flakes! It was cold. The snow prevented us from doing a lot as we could not drive, and walking anywhere was a mess. We ended up spending the evening at the former ward mission leader’s house where we had dinner.

Sunday: Church was almost cancelled due to snow, but we had services. Not many people came in from out of town because of how bad the roads were, but surprisingly we had a good attendance, all things considered. Church was good; we sat in on the older youth Sunday school class, which is taught by a wonderful sister. The class was great! For dinner we went out to Cimarron. After dinner we had a lesson with a young man who is dating one of the young women in the ward. We showed “The Restoration” video as part of the lesson. I asked him what he thought about what he saw, and he replied that it was a really good story. I then asked him if he thought it could actually happen (”The Restoration” is an account of Joseph Smith and the First Vision where he sees God the Father and Jesus Christ). He replied that he didn’t think it could happen. We then talked about Bible prophets, and how they were called to be Prophets of God. I then asked, “If God could do it then, why not now?” He thought for a moment and then said he thought that God could do it today. I cannot describe the feeling of the Spirit that testified to me, and I hope to all in the room, that God can call a Prophet and he did call Joseph Smith to be a prophet. By the time we had the closing prayer, I was having trouble talking as I was so overwhelmed by the Spirit of God. That night we had a Youth/Young Single Adults Family Home Evening, and this young man came. We had a great time. We’ve set January 1st as a baptismal goal for him.

Monday: We spent much of Monday running around trying to prepare for transfers this week. We had dinner in Montezuma.

Tuesday: Road Trip. The zone was invited to attend a Christmas dinner and party at the Stake President’s house in Ulysses. We traveled from Dodge by way of Guymon, Oklahoma. Elder Larson served in Guymon before coming to Dodge. He served there for nine months and had close connections to the people there, so we went to visit a few people. For me, the trip meant visiting my “native state” as I was born in Oklahoma. I don’t remember anything about Oklahoma though. Still, it was kind of neat to go and take some pictures. We were about four hours east of where I was born. The dinner/party was nice. We were all glad to return back home though, as we had been driving all day.

We received our transfer calls on Tuesday morning. Only Elder Larson is leaving Dodge (he is going home as he is finished with his mission), and I am succeeding Elder Larson as District Leader of the Garden City District in the Kansas Zone. Another six weeks in Dodge! After this transfer I will have been here for six months The longest I’ve ever stayed in an area was six months in the 9th and 10th wards in the Colorado Springs East (now North) Zone.

Christmas is in four days! Oh my Gosh! I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Please keep in mind the reason for the season. As the wise mean traveled afar to present Christ with precious gifts, ask yourself what you can give the Lord. Ask God what he wants for you and of you. Remember, “wise men still seek Him”.

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