Super Tranquilo in Mexico

Notice the faces on the sides of the buildings.

June 29, 2015

Hey guys!

It’s been... another week!!!   Wow they fly by! 

This lovely week has been a bit of a boring one to tell the truth.  Nothing super awesome happened ... sickness came among our district and 3/4 were sick this week, on and off--the other 2 with stomach and me with a cold.  But it didn’t slow down the work much.  

Hmm, what else?   I didn’t get chased this week, didn’t step in too much dog poop, and really it’s super tranquilo here in DF.

La Hermana Carolina wasn’t baptized so that’s a bummer, but in a few weeks I think that’ll take place!  We are also teaching a guy named Domingo.   I think I’ve mentioned him before, and he’s sooo cool.   He’s like my bro and we are teaching him and waiting patiently for him to receive an answer from the Spirit.  He comes to Church every Sunday and man I love the dude.  He also asks for a priesthood blessing after every lesson; so just with him I’ve had a TON of practice with the whole blessing thing.

We have new investigators, an older couple, and they are absolutely delightful!  The husband wasn’t all too interested at first, but yeah now they are both soaking up what we have to teach! 

It’s the last week of this cambio (transfer) and also my president took off today!  [His mission president is just finishing his 3-year mission and going home.]  So sad!  The new prez gets in tomorrow.  We are sending lots of prayers his way!  I’m pretty sure I’ll be transferred to another area so that’ll be the news for next Monday ... I should know by then, if I’m leaving!

Our mission is number 1 in referrals or something like that.   My prez sent us all an email with a lot of !!! because he’s so proud of us.   Our mission is also one of the strictest, if not THE strictest, in all the world and really I love it!  We have so many rules, but it just makes us stay on track better.

I’ve enjoyed being a trainer, but man I’m worrrrrnnn out-- kinda grateful it’s the last week. Elder McClure needs a Mexican companion so he can learn him some Spanish!

I’m healthy-ish and happy and workin’ hard!   Gonna go enjoy some Mexican pizza in a sec and really ... life is GOOD! 

Oh, something else that’s cool, Fernanda who just got baptized ... yeah she’s a famous singer here in DF (Distrito Federal)!   Totally just found that out!  I can totally say I baptized a famous person now!!  WOOO!!

Lovin’ it,

Elder McClure

Over and Out

Tomas’ shack is just past these buildings.  You can see all the shacks in the distance.   All is getting destroyed and they have no say in the matter even though it’s their homes.

Hermano Tomas--he lives is this little shack and it’s also his work, a shoe store.   He just got word that he and his whole area have to evacuate in like 2 days cuz they are coming in and bulldozing the place.  It’s sooo sad.   He’s a counselor of the ward mission leader and helps us a ton with everything.

Ho, Ho, Ho from Mexico!!

Christmas in June!!

Hermana Fernanda with her Mother and Sister

June 22, 2015

This week’s been a good one! 

We be doin’ a whole lot of walking, but hey my gut could use that so really I’m quite content! With the new rule of not visiting women without a man present, our numbers have dropped from 30 some to 20 some or even 10 some per week and with this new change it’s very hard, because it just means we walk a ton, but really it’s all good!

Hermana Fernanda was baptized on Friday and confirmed on Sunday!   She’s number 3 out of that family and all we have left is their dad to teach ... but he’s not interested so that might be hard.   Who knows.   It was a wonderful service with almost warm water in the font and she bent her knees and sat down in the water just like I taught her and man it was so quick and easy.  I just love ordinances that go smoothly!  Afterward she bore her testimony and started crying and so, of course, I’m sitting in the audience crying my little eyes out, too.   She told the story of how her family is more united now and her little sis believes in God now and it’s all because God heard her prayers; and soon after the missionaries showed up.  It’s been a true pleasure to spend the past 6 months teaching her and her family.   Having 3 separate baptismal services is just fine with me!   Oh how blessed we are here in this area.

Fun story... last night we were walking home in the dark and a drunk teen came after me with a broom... lucky for him I didn’t have my umbrella on me and pull out some light saber moves on him that I’ve been practicing. 

We have a new family to teach and I really honestly don’t remember their names, but I do remember that they have a pet bunny and yeah that’s pretty much all I got to say.  I’m in heaven--Seriously the best surprise all week.   I held that thing for forever and it was so hard to concentrate on the lesson!  I’ll try to get a picture of it this week.

Carolina is set to be baptized this Sunday.   She’s a young mom with the cutest baby ever and she’s been a golden investigator.   She’s been ready for baptism since day one so really we have just been trying to get the lessons done with her so she can be baptized.

I already mentioned the new rule about visiting women in houses and so really some days we only have 2 lessons...which means we spend about 7 hours straight walking...just so you have an idea.

All is well.   My comp and I took Christmas card photos to send to you all as we are ready to celebrate half-Christmas on Thursday and my half-birthday on Friday.

I, Elder McClure, am loving it all sooooo much I can’t complain about a thing. DF(Distrito Federal - Mexico City) South is where I belong and man I love this work.

Elder McClure

Well Howdy!!

Riley with Elder Walker in the hospital

June 15, 2015

Hey guys,

This week’s been a real crazzzy one!   There’s so much I wanna tell, but really I don’t know how to tell it all and so you might just have to wait for the whole story until I get home.

But for a really quite lovely summary, this week started off with a real great P-day (Preparation Day) and then went downhill from there very fast!   We left real early Tuesday morning for a zone conference and on the bus ride there my comp got a little sicky-sick.   We got to the zone conference without having to clean up a mess, thankfully;  but then I pretty much missed the entire conference because we were in the bathroom ... a lot!   The saddest part for me was missing the testimonies of my Mission President and his wife.   It was our last conference with them because they leave in 2 weeks.   But anywho, my comp was hurlin’ and moaning and not doing good at all.   Long story short, the President and his esposa  (wife) rushed us to the hospital where my comp could get some medical attention.   As my comp got plugged in with the IV and all, my president took me to the restaurant nearby and I got to have 45 minutes of one-on-one time with him and that was probably the highlight of the week and a super cool experience.   I really feel like I got to know him and of course that happens right as he is about to end his calling!   Anywho, we were at the hospital for 24 hours and I got to know the nurses real well and learned how to fill out pages and pages of info that were all in Spanish!   I got to sleep on a couch in the room--but no pillow or blanket-- and those darn nurses kept coming in and flippin’ on the light and waking me up and having me sign things!

What an awesome experience!  Anywho, we spent the rest of the week recovering and now it’s Monday again and I just pray this week goes a little better than last!  My comp is all better now.   Something had been wrong with his stomach and he said the whole experience was the most painful time that he’s ever felt in his life.  I’ve learned that hospitals are actually pretty fun to explore in and that IVs aren’t really that scary when they are in your comp and not you. 

This week we have a baptism planned for Hermana Fernanda, the sister of Rebecca and the daughter of Silvia. 

I’m healthy, ready to work, excited for this week, and ready to preach some Gospel!

Love,

Elder McClure

 

Mission President and His Wife along with Riley's Comp from the Missionary Training Center

Three Things I Love!!

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June 8, 2015

Hi Folks,

I’m doing just swell here in Mexico!  I’m very happy and content and working my booty off, just how it should be!  We had a great week of health and success and just about everything that a mish (missionary) could ask for.  The work has slowed down a little bit in this area, but not a big deal, just means we walk a couple more miles each day.  As I reflect on my past week I think of three things that I, Elder McClure, love so very much:

1.   I love when investigadores come to church!  Hello--that is a missionary’s dream!  We are talking like the best feeling ever when they start rolling in the chapel door 15 minutes late, like yes, if they could get there on time that would be great too, but hey, I’m sure darn happy that they came!  That’s all that matters!   Yesterday we had 6 investigators and 3 inactives at church and man what success that was!  It felt so good-- sooo good; and man if there’s a gift I could ask for as a missionary it would be the gift of attendance.

2.   Fast and Testimony meetings have always been a fav for me, but here in Mexico and in this ward that fav of mine has grown quite a bit.  The bishopric member that’s conducting starts the meeting, bares his testimony, invites the congregation to also bare testimony, and then half the ward makes a mad dash for the pulpit!  Like we are talking people throwing elbows and little people getting run over and, holy cow, there’s hardly anyone in the audience to hear the testimonies because they are all on the stand waiting impatiently for their turn!  It’s truly wonderful to watch and see the great faith these members have.  They are so eager to share and that is something every missionary dreams for--especially when there are 6 investigators listening in the audience! 

3.   I love when your recent convert that you baptized goes with you to teach an investigator and bares testimony of this gospel and the change they have seen in their own life.   We are talking Spirit-slap to the face!   You who know me know that I’m a crier when I get Spirit-back-handed and man it’s so hard to hold back those tears as you watch and witness a beautiful testimony being shared.

Well, yeah those are three things that have hit me hard this week.  The work is real.  It’s fun, and it never gets old! 

I’m doing good and growing like crazy.

Elder McClure

Oh, and don’t worry--no one is hurt during the mad dash to the pulpit!

Healthy Again! Ready to Work My Mexican Tush Off!

"You're in My Heart"

Hey All,

Took me a sick week--fever and stomach problems galore--so really I had quite a relaxing week (haha) sipping Gatorade with ibuprofen and watching The Restoration movie in my bed for days!  Really couldn’t ask for anything more!  (It was his worst week yet!)

Only other thing that went down this week is I got a new District Leader and his name is Elder Schow!   He’s from Idaho and I’m pretty excited to learn from him! We have a junta (meeting) tonight so really it’s a make-it-or-break-it deal going on with me approving him as my leader!  NOT!   He’s a great guy and man Idahoans just know how to work.  I love it!

Oh, also we had a world record of 4 investigators at church yesterday!!!!!  I’m super pumped about that and man, oh man, that might just mean we be having ourselves 4 baptisms this cambio!  (transfer)  That’s our goal so wooooo ya looking good so far!

Other than that ... pretty much nothing happened this week ... I fed 60 hotdogs to our dog trying to prove that she could get full ... she didn’t get full.  It’s a work in progress.  I’ll try 120 this week.

All is well.  I’m happy and currently healthy and back ready to work!  Let’s have us a good week!

Love,

Elder McClure