Dearest Family and Friends,
A film needs to be made documenting the activities of my roommates and I today. When we left our apartment this morning to go switch our laundry at the laundromat, we made a grievous error: we locked our keys in the apartment. Thus began today's adventure. Until the landlord gets back from work to unlock our door, I am stranded in Brooklyn with a trash bag full of my laundry, two notebooks, my nametag, and a quarter. So, I am writing this email from the computer in the clerk's office at our church building where my roommates and I temporarily reside. After we realized that we locked our keys inside, we switched our laundry, got the number for our landlord, and then attempted to scale the fire escape to get in through the window. I was the one elected to climb, and after climbing over a van and a wooden shed thing in order to get to the back of our apartment building where the fire escape is located, I realized that the window was shut and locked. So, we all went to Subway to collect our thoughts, and there we determined that we would buy some trash bags so that we could carry our laundry and then make our way to the church building. It feels a bit like The Darjeeling Limited to me. It's actually been really fun, though. So, Mom, I'm glad that I didn't end up having to do the bank account switch today, because I don't think I could have seeing that I lack any kind of identification. Things work out!
It's been a fun first week of the new transfer. My new companion is Elder Tremble, and he's from Atlanta, Georgia. He's really cool, and he's a lot of fun. Plus, he is almost done with his mission - he leaves in December - so he has a lot of great insights and lessons to share. It's good to have the perspective of someone who has been through it all, because sometimes it's hard to see the end from the beginning when you're out tracting all day. I think that Elder Tremble and I are going to end up getting along well, and I'm excited to acquire as much wisdom from him as possible. I'm convinced that my mission president is going to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve someday. He's only in his early fifties, and he is one of the most inspired and spiritual people I've come in contact with. I just realized that he and I are the same age in mission terms. We both started our missions about two months ago! I think it's kind of cool to "grow up" with my mission president in a sense. I use the phrase grow up because everyone is born and dies on their mission. I'm sure a lot of you know the terminology, but when you start your mission, you're born, and when you go home you die. For the first few days of my mission, I was very distraught because people kept referring to missionaries and their demises. It would be like "Ya, Elder Jones, he died a few months ago." It was very disturbing to hear everyone discussing all these deaths in such a casual manner. And I was concerned to hear that the death rate was so high in the mission. I came out knowing that New York could be a little rough, but the fatality rate I was hearing about was off the charts. I felt a lot better once I someone explained the lingo to me. But, going back to President Calderwood, I think that him becoming a Seventy is a sure thing, but I am thinking Quorum of the Twelve for sure. He is the coolest.
I know that only a few of you will appreciate this, but I went to this pizza place the other day, and it is probably my favorite of all the places I've been so far. The pizza was really good (I don't know what I'm going to do when I leave New York and don't have access to New York pizza. It really is the best.), but the best part was the decorations. They have a big banner on the wall that says "Welcome New Recruits" and it has the Dharma Initiative logo on it. It's actually in an episode of Lost, season 6 I believe, somewhere around the middle when they go back in time. Anyways, I thought it was cool, and I resolved to eat their just to support such good taste, but I came to find out something that made the place go up at least seven notches in my book: The banner is the actual banner that was in the show. It was taken directly from the set. How cool is that? I touched it, of course. That pretty much made all my dreams come true for the day.
Unfortunately, Qua didn't make it to church this week. We did have a great lesson with him, though, and when he said the prayer at the end, his son sat with him and joined in, and towards the end of the prayer, his girlfriend quietly came in and sat in for the rest of it, so that was really cool! I think his little son totally felt the Spirit. You could see him light up after the prayer. And, hopefully his girlfriend could feel it too, because we need to get her on board in order to get them married so Qua can get baptized. Of course, the best thing would be to get her to start taking the lessons and become interested. But another one of our investigators, Floretta, is doing really well. She has been really receptive, but she hasn't been able to come to church because she works on the weekends. Elder Tremble and I taught her a lesson about church attendance and also a little bit about having the faith to follow God and let everything else fall into place, and a few days ago she texted us saying that no matter what, she was going to try to make it to church this Sunday, even if she has to quit her job! Elder Tremble and I were stoked! So, I really hope she makes it this week. I think she will, because she sounded pretty determined.
Are you all getting totally excited for General Conference? I can't wait. I think it's going to be like Christmas when conference comes. It's always interesting to see what the theme is. I think that this conference will have some really powerful and timely messages, and a very strong central theme. But, I suppose that you could say that for all conferences. I'm really excited.
I was just thinking of something that I think would be fun. You guys should tell me where you are on your family scripture reading, and we can pick a chapter each week that we both read, and then we could talk about it through email a bit. That way, we can still have family scripture study! What do you guys think? I loved all the pictures this week! Jacob, you are huge man. And now that you are doing water polo, you're going to be a force to be reckoned with when I get back. Keep up the good work, and have a ton of fun in school. Jase! You tackled someone! Good job! It's not that bad, right? I thought that you would feel a lot better once you just went for it. I loved that picture of my sibs with their Sonic drinks. I'm glad to see that you are carrying on the Sonic tradition that went on hiatus during our Oceanside days. I love my family so much, and I'm so grateful for you guys. Also, thanks for sharing the story about the missionary who just came home. What he said is so true. I think that the biggest thing I learned in the MTC is that without the Spirit, I'm absolutely nothing. It's impossible to do missionary work without the Spirit. I could formulate this amazing lesson plan and teach the doctrine like a Harvard professor, but if the Spirit isn't present, then it's pointless for me to teach. One thing that someone pointed out I think in the MTC was that the Spirit brings all things to our remembrance, and we already know all the Gospel truths because we learned them before we came to Earth. We've just forgotten them, and the Spirit can help us to remember them. I imagine that hearing the Gospel as taught by the Spirit for the first time is like coming home. And who doesn't love coming home after a long trip?
I love you all so much, and I'm so grateful for the support you give me. I hope that everyone has the best week ever!
Love,
Elder McDonald
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