"I Love to See the Temple!"

 August 31, 2015

Happy day at the Mexico City Temple Open House with his district.

The Ajusco Branch headed to the Mexico City Temple Open House.

Well this week was a pretty special week!

I love to see the Temple,

I went there on Thursday,

I felt the Holy Spirit,

and I love, love, love DF!  (Distrito Federal)

(it rhymes if you say it Spanishly)

The Temple was everything I expected it to be and more!  We are talking tears flowing from my eyeballs just about the whole time!  We went as a branch in a bus and oh how wonderful it was! The DF Temple is AMAZING and I just want to go back!!!  (We might go again this Saturday.)  Oh man.  I love how the tour starts in the baptistry and then goes up, up, up (on escalators) all the way to the Celestial Room!  Oh how beautiful.  I’ve waited 9 months to enter into the Lord’s house.  9 months and I truly can’t describe the joy I have felt!

Besides going to the temple we had a quite normal week without many lessons.  We are thinking of maybe starting over in our area and just starting from scratch because nothing else seems to be working.   President told us to focus on contacting families (there’s tons of families in the streets right now because it’s almost Independence Day here;  and so everyone’s out partying) and so that is what we are going to do!  We work, work, work and boy oh boy we walk, walk, walk and I am just quite well doing it!

Sunday morning I got a splendid text from my mission president asking what time our church services were.   Earlier in the week I had invited them to come check out Ajusco ... and so that’s what they did!  We had President and Sister Mecham with us all 3 hours.  I taught the gospel principles class with Elder Galindo and they (President and Sister Mecham) were there listening to us ... and it was the best Sunday I think I’ve had here!  Then we didn’t have anyone to feed us lunch so Prez took all 4 of us back to his house (2 hour drive down the mountain) and we ate AMERICAN FOOD!!!!!   I ACUTALLY HAD A GREEN SALAD!!!   IT’S BEEN 9 MONTHS!!!!!   Oh joyful day!   I actually told everyone at the table that I felt beautiful ... really American food is all it takes.  We had a wonderful visit and Prez taught us many, many things.  I feel so lucky for this chance I had to be with him in his home and be taught by him!  Wow, it was incredible!  After a day at the temple and then a day with the President, I have felt so at home and what a blessing that has been for me in a time when the work is slow and depressing at times.

. 

All in all it was realllll fun and I’m learning a ton (still) and this week we are ready to get a whole bunch of new families to teach! 

Oh how I love being a missionary!

With Pres & Sister Mecham on Sunday in front of the "House of Prayer", the little branch where they meet for services.

The little chapel, "House of Prayer", where the Ajusco Branch meets on Sundays.

A flash flood . . .

Elder McClure: "The flash flood was real cool!"  

Chillin' Like a Villain!!

We are in nursrey chairs ... I personally picked them!  Its was awesome!

My new companion, Elder Miller from Dallas, TX, fresh from the CCM!!

Tortas . . . yum!!!!

August 24, 2015

Hey, Hey Hey,

Elder McClure has a new comp, and who do you think he is?

Elder Miller is his name and he’s my kid!

Elder Miller from Dallas, Texas is my kid!  (Kid = terminology for when one is training a brand new missionary.)  We’ve been chillin’ like villains this past week and totally working hard as we do it!  He’s super cool!  It’s so fun training!  He’s fresh from the CCM and knows as much Spanish as I did when I had 4 months in the mish, so really he’s doing good!  We’ve had fun talking in English (and a little of Spanish) and man it’s been great!  We are working hard and we don’t have much to do here, but we are contacting and beggin’ the members for references and doing just about all we can do!

The most exciting news for this week is that THIS THURSDAY I’M GOING TO THE TEMPLE WITH THE BRANCH!!!!!!   WOOOOOOO,  I’M  SO,  SO,  SO  PUMPED!   We are talking the best field trip any missionary could ask for--especially Elder McClure.  So pretty much my smile is even bigger and my adrenalin is pumping and it’s only Monday!!  Wow ... it’s only Monday, rats.

Hmmm, but anywho, this week I tried elotes for the first time ...  I’m not sure if that’s how you spell it, but its corn of the cob with butter and Mexican spice and it’s super yummy!!!! 

Right now there is a marching band going past our internet cafe and it’s so loud I can’t think!!!!!!

Ok, they are gone. 

Anywho, we are working hard to establish a house of order that is nice and clean so we can feel the Spirit better!  No one came to Church this week, which was real sad.  We had 4 promise us they were coming ... so yeah, lots of disappointments, but I’m still loving it!  For lunch today we made our own tortas ... a Mexican sandwich ... and it was super bad for our bodies, but yum, yum, yum I do like them.  There are only like 3 sisters in the branch who can give us food and they are overwhelmed feeding us missionaries, so we talked to Prez Mecham and we are getting extra money each month so we can eat here.   It’s real sad, the situation; but at the least we are receiving help from the mission! 

Well, I’m doing just great and I’m going to the temple, so really I’m very happy and my son hasn’t rebelled against me yet, so really all is well.    

Elder McClure, Over and Out

Behold, the Power of God!

 August 17, 2015

Gonna keep it short this week.  I have too many other things to do on the computer in 1 hour.

This week was a sick week!   SOO sick!  Not as in cool... as in sick!  My comp suffers from real bad migraines and was out of order for 3 days this week.  It’s real hard to build up an area when you don’t work in it!   But it’s all right.   I got some good studying done and rest which was greatly needed!   Also Elder Galindo had a fun field trip for 4 days to the hospital so I got to worry myself sick with that situation.  Visiting him one day was very very fun and the restaurant there was delicious!!!

Other than that... nothing much happened!

Oh wait!  I had a wonderful wonderful phone call the other night from my son (the elder who Riley trained) who is still in Jardines Iztapalapa!  He called me letting me know how everything is good there and that he baptized a family of FOUR that he and I found and taught before I took off for Ajusco!  BEHOLD THE POWER OF GOD!   What absolutely WONDERFUL news that was to receive.  As I laid in my bed that night thinking I realized my Joy was truly full--just like the scripture in Alma 29: versus 14-16! [See scripture below.]  Wow!   It was an experience I will never forget and I am so incredibly happy for my son, Elder Walker, and the success he is having! 

Cambios (transfers) tomorrow!  A new comp is coming!  Please keep me in your prayers!

Love Elder McClure

Alma 29:14-16

14 But I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren, who have been up to the land of Nephi.

 15 Behold, they have labored exceedingly, and have brought forth much fruit; and how great shall be their reward!

 16 Now, when I think of the success of these my brethren my soul is carried away, even to the separation of it from the body, as it were, so great is my joy.

 

Smiling and Singing as I Go!!

Eating Rabbit

My New Mexican Pants

Roofin'

August 10, 2015

We totally have a ton of new investigators this week--like a lot and they all seem genuinely interested which is a first ... let me tell you.

We worked our bum-bums off all week walking like crazy and in the process set 4 fecha bautismales (people with baptismal dates).

4 siblings came to church yesterday!!!!  I’ve waited and prayed for a month to have an investigator come to church and it finally finally happened!!!!!!

My comp and I gave a 40 (minute) teaching time thing in front of our zone, assistants and mission prez and it went.... well.

We are finding, teaching, and loving as we work work work every day.

So tha’ts the awesomeness for this week all summed up real nicely so even the young’uns can enjoy what went down this week.

Now, for the awesomest of awesomeness that went down ... dun dun dun dunnnnnn -- today we went to a super, super, super, super nice restaurant with a member and 3 other sets of missionaries and I ate RABBIT!!!!!!!!   Wow it was so hard to do. Every bite I took was just another memory of lit’l Muffins (Riley’s pet rabbit); but hey I did it and I’m so proud!  I even kissed the dead thing.   Right on the smackers.  It was good tastingish ... mostly like chicken but much more tough and hard to get off the bone.  I think I’ll never eat it again, but hey I’m so proud of what I have done and accomplished as a missionary--all the way!

The work is finally picking up.  I’m smiling and singing as I go ... and changes (transfers) are next week! dun dun dun!  We think my comp is a movin’ out but we´ll see.

Other things that happened this week:

I bought Mexican pants

I rode a part of a train 

I hit a piñata

I juggled hail balls

And I also got lost with my district for many hours on our way home from a zone conference that took place down the mountain.

Elder McClure. Ya

Cowboys and Indians!

Oh, Thank the Heavens!

August 3, 2015

Well this week has been a real sweet week and I have so many stories and cool things to share and, oh man, it was a super good week. 

We finally have started finding new investigators!  We have 4 new investigators and 2 with fecha bautismales! (baptismal dates!)  So super sweet!  We worked super, super hard and with that had some success! (FINALLY)   Oh, thank the heavens.   Also we found lots of cool walls and cliff things to jump off this week and so I took a lot of pics and videos and almost broke my leg today and really it was all super awesome!

This week I’ve been praying really, really hard for a family of 6 that we can teach and baptize.  Also this week we contacted 2 families of 6.   Bam--prayer answered like that!  I’m not sure what’s going to actually happen with these families, but what a blessing it has been for me to see this response and heavenly help sent our way.   One of these families owns a ranch that is HUGE and I’m really looking forward to teaching them.  They seem super awesome and have ponies so what more could I ask for?   We will be teaching them this Sunday and maybe even eating with them ... please, please, please!!!!

I didn’t know snakes were a thing here in Mexico but ... yeah they are.   We came across 2 this week and one was a rattler, so we got some cool photos and went on our way.

Today we had the opportunity to climb a volcano and relax inside the bowl.  It was sooo cool.  By that time in the hike my camera died, but my fellow missionaries have some cool panorama photos of us that they will send me next week of us inside the volcano.  Also we found an abandoned house at the top and it was super sketchy and didn’t have any stairs so we climbed around and took pictures and had a real great time.

The work is finally picking up.  We are having fun WHILE working and I’m learning a lot, lot, lot ... not with the language, but just with other missionary things-- like how to live Mexican style and how to eat super fatty foods and still have energy to work and how to use my whiteness to contact (we’ve contacted like 20 people this week just because I’m white).   It’s awesome.