In the Rough - The Blog of Joel McDonald Jr.

Transfers are coming up. We’ll get a phone call tomorrow evening telling us if we should pack or bags, or if we are staying. My companion and I think that we are both staying.

I gave a somewhat untraditional talk (sermon) in church yesterday. The Bishop had called the night before and asked that I give a brief talk about the restoration. I had a talk, which I had given in Dodge City, that I thought I would give. However, being inspired by my recent ponderings and studies, I wrote, very early in the morning, a talk which presented my thoughts on the restoration as being a personal quest to understand the singular truth of God, or that is God, and how we need not to build walls around what we have comfortably considered to be truth, but should also be striving for a better understanding, and must back away from the cultures that form our understandings to do so, and how, in my opinion, the Kingdom of God, even Zion, cannot be established without this principle. The talk was well recepted, even if, as one brother commented, it was a tad “pedantic” (I’ll leave it up to you to look up that one…I had to.)

I was sent a quote that I absolutely love, as it describes well the feelings which I have had for a while. I thought I would share it with you. “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it or who has said it, not even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” -Buddha. Amen to that.

I wish everyone well and hope that the providence of God will sustain you in the days ahead. Until next week…

Hi,

I hope everyone had a nice Easter. Mine was fairly quiet and uneventful.

Not too much to write about this week. We helped some hurricane Katrina refugees move out of three apartments in our complex. They were heading back to New Orleans to rebuild their lives. They showed us pictures of their house. I was amazed at the damage.

Yesterday we took a trip to Garden of the Gods and the Air Force Academy. I had visted both before, but I wasn’t able to tour the famous Cadet Chapel. This time we were able to and it was amazing! I should have some pictures to send out later this week.

My grandmother, on my dad’s side, is currently in the hospital and not doing well. I humbly ask for your prayers on her behalf.

I hope you have a good day today.

Hello From beautiful Colorado,

Wow. I stepped outside this morning and it was so beautiful. I love spring. The temperature is just right, the air is sweet smelling, and things are starting to turn green. I just stood there enjoying the feeling. Of course spring also signals the start of allergy season, which I am not looking forward to.

This past week has been great. We’ve redoubled our efforts in our area and have had some success.

We had Zone Conference this past Friday and it was wonderful! The testimony meeting was amazing. How could simple statements of faith cause such a burning in my heart? Friday was also my 4 year anniversary of being baptized, and so I gratefully had the opportunity to bare my testimony on that special day.

Sister Ruggles of the 10th ward, even though I served in her ward about 10 months ago, remembered my anniversary and surprised me with an ice cream cake. I know she’ll probably read this at my website, so I just want to express my gratitude for her thoughtfulness. I was truly touched. It is a delicious ice cream cake by the way!

Even though I have passed through some low and very rough times as a missionary, I am grateful for this time which I have had to serve. I have learned, and continue to learn things about myself that I didn’t know before. Hopefully through it all, I will be a better person.

Thank you to everyone! I hope this season, Easter, will bring continual reminders of the love of God and the mercy of Jesus Christ.

Dear Family and Friends,

I want to thank everyone who continue to pray for, love, and support me while I am serving as a missionary. I have a lot to share with you this week, please forgive me for missing last week. Please forgive me for any typos. I don’t have spell check and I’m in a time crunch. This is the second time writing this e-mail. I suggest to everyone never to buy a keyboard with the Print Screen Key above (or even remotely next to) the Insert key. Wiping out clipboard contents is way to easy. A real bummer when your mail server times out and you need to paste the e-mail you just copied. Here we go again.

– CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE -

We had the wonderful oppertunity to listen to the leaders of the Church during General Conference this past weekened. The speakers addressed many of the personal and spiritual concerns that I have been dealing with. It seemed to be that much of the Conference was tailed to me personally, even though I am one of 12.5 million Latter-day Saints throughout the world who may have been watching and listening.

I had a wonderful experience during the Priesthood Sesson of Conference. The experience did not occur during of the the talks, even though they were wonderful. However, it was when President Monson was announcing President Hinckley, who we consider a Prophet of God, as the final speaker of the evening. During his introduction, President Monson looked up and said that President Hinckley was “a man of God”. At this moment, a charge went through my very being and I could not deny that President Gordon B. Hinckley was indeed a Prophet of God in our day. The Spirit of the Lord bore strong and powerful witness to me that President Hinckley was a Prophet. Lately I had been seeking the confirmation of the Spirit about the church. At that moment, I received that confirmation that reaffirmed and strengthened my testimony. It was an amazing experience.

– NILDA’S BAPTISM –

My companion and I had the opportunity to attend the baptism of Nilda yesterday. I mentioned Nilda in one of my updates a little while back. She was the person who felt that God told her to stop drinking coffee even before we taught her about the Word of Wisdom, which is an inspired code of health that includes abstaining from coffee, tea, tobacco, and alchohol. She stopped drinking coffee the morning of a lesson we had scheduled with her. During the lesson, which was deeply spiritual, I extended the invitation to be baptized. She could not make that decision at that time. Usually, the invitation to be baptized comes at the end of a lesson. Normally, we would not have taught any more at that time. I felt however to teach her about the Word of Wisdom. I then asked her if she would live this health code. She replied by telling us of the experience she had earlier that morning and that she would indeed live the Word of Wisdom. As one who has at times doubted the Word of Wisdom as being a revelation from the Lord, my testimony was strengthened by her experience.

I spoke at Nilda’s baptism. It is interesting to note that when I woke up yesterday, I had a brief vision of me speaking at her baptism. I also felt that I should reach out to her husband, who is not a member and has not shown much interest. However, I had not been asked to to speak. I didn’t think to much about it until later when Elder Cohen called and asked me to speak at the baptism. At first, I declined. I then remembered what I had seen and felt earlier and then accepted the invitation. I spoke of the nature of God as our Loving Father in Heaven, our relationship to Him, and our divine potential as we follow the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I spoke of the need for the Restoration and how The Book of Mormon is truly another Testament of the truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as a companion to the Bible. I tried to direct my comments toward Nilda’s husband and Son who were in attendence. After the service I encouraged Nilda’s husband to read The Book of Mormon and testified of how it changed lives. I hope he does.

– RELIGION AND TESTIMONY –

While serving as a missionary I have tried to understand my faith and the faith of others. I have thought about what has brought me to believe what I believe and I have considered how others come to different conclusions. During this time, I have tried to rationalize religion…to the weakening of my faith. I even bagan to consider Deism as an alternate for me. My testimony was being chipped away, one piece at a time. My experience during conference has change all this. The Spirit testified to me, in a way that only the Spirit of God can, that what I believe and what I represent is true.

A loved one wrote me not to long ago and said something to the effect of, “You can have all the knowledge of the world and still not know the truth.” I agree and so does The Book of Mormon….

“O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish. But to be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God.” (2 Ne. 28-29)

There is one God and one Truth. In order to know the Truth, untainted by the fallen minds of men, we need only to ask God in humility. The scriptures teach us that the Holy Ghost is the means by which we learn truth. If we asked God in faith, we will be answered by the power of the Holy Ghost. You will feel the Spirit testify of the Truth.

I stand as a witness to the power of Truth. I know we can know the Truth. God wants us to know it. I know, by the Power of the Holy Ghost, that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior. I know that His Gospel has been restored to the earth, to all people, by a modern Prophet. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only fully true Christian church upon the face of the earth. I know this not because someone told to believe in these things. I know these things are true because God, through the Holy Ghost, has let me know they are true. I also know that all people can know of these truths for themselves if they will but humble themselves and open their minds and their hearts to receive the truths of God. I bare this, my testimony, will all of my soul and do so in the name of Jesus Christ.

HAPPY DAY AFTER SPRING!
4 MONTHS LEFT!

I hope you are doing well. The last week has been pretty good for me. My new companion, Elder Larsen, and I have been able to be a part of a couple of uplifting experiences.

On Saturday we attended the Denver Temple with Ron Buchner. Ron was the first person that I sat down and taught and the first person that I literally baptized. His baptism was one of the most spiritual I have ever attended. He recieved his temple endowments on Saturday and it was so wonderful to be able to be there with him. It was also nice to have some time to just sit in the Temple and enjoy it. Most of the time it seems like, as a missionary, you rush to get things done and leave. This time, because we had to wait a while, I enjoyed just sitting and meditating. I definantly had a good experience and I’m glad Ron did as well.

Sunday we went out to Calhan and attend a baptism of a gentleman that Elder Larsen had taught while he was there. It was a nice baptism.

Yesterday Elder Housley, my first companion in the mission field, called me. He’s been home a little over a year now. It was good to hear from him. He mentioned that his the company his wife (yeah…he’s married already) works for is looking to redesign their web site and he thought I should look into it when I get home. It’s a large company in Utah and they paid about $50,000 for the current site they have. I’d have to learn a few more things, but those things were already on my list to do. I’ll most likely look into it when I get home.

I took a wrong turn on the way home on Sunday and ended up at the airport! I couldn’t turn around, as it was a one way road, my companion and I laughed the whole way around the airport, especially at the fact that we were in the “departures” lane almost the entire way. He even took pictures. It was strangely very exciting to be there.

I want to badly to e-mail pictures but, alas, I am using a library public computer that won’t let me do it. It’s frustrating.

I hope you are doing well. Feel free to write out e-mail me. I’d love to hear from you. Have a wonderful Spring!