Nugget Fridayssssss

August 31, 2020 

Hey everyone! What's up!

Before I get into this week, I just want to say that being a missionary is the best. It's definitely not easy, but it's the best. I basically just help everyone around me and it feels so good! We've been doing a lot of service recently which has been great. It's also a little different being a missionary during covid, but I've grown to love it. I really hope the temples and churches open up soon! I am so excited to meet all the members in the kingston ward in person! Me and Elder Wilson are doing are best to meet as many people as we can (members and nonmembers).

We met the Jenson family this week and they are way cool. Sister Jenson fed us a piece of blueberry pie and it was GODLY. It was no joke the best pie I've ever had. It had cheesecake crust and the pie was made with blueberries, custard, and cream cheese. It was probably super unhealthy, but it was worth it! 

Me and Elder Wilson have also been doing a lot of service to stay busy and it's been awesome. The whole district went over to Brandon's house (a less active member), and did some yardwork. Some people cut wood, while other pulled up blackberry roots. I got the job of moving a giant pile of sticks to the front yard, which wasn't very hard but just took a long time. It was fun talking with everyone and brandon really enjoyed it too. He also made us ribs which were way good! Brandon is the best. We ate with him and gave him a spiritual message. 

We also did some service yesterday at a nonmembers house. His names Mike and he is so nice! He looks like this big, tough guy, but he's super great. He's friends with our bishop, so a couple of us went over and helped him move a bunch of boxes from the moving truck to his house. He has the longest driveway and it's super steep! We had to haul like three boxes at a time and it was a lot of work. It took about 3 hours to move them all and then we stayed and brought them into his house, which took another hour. My body was dead afterwards, but it felt really good to help him. He was sooo grateful for us and our willingness to help him all afternoon. He gave us both $100 when we finished! We told him countless times that we can't take his money, but he wasn't having it.  The bishop said that we could donate it as a fast offering or use it towards our meals... so I have $100 I currently don't know what to do with haha. He also fed us pizza and we just talked. We told him we could come back again and help with his yard, and he was so happy! 

Also, this week was transfer calls! That basically means that the mission president or one of his assistants calls us and tells us if we are staying or going somewhere else. Me and my companion (Elder Wilson) are both staying which is awesome! I definitely feel like I haven't met all the people I want to meet, so I hope I stay in kingston for a little while. One of the elders I live with is leaving which was kinda sad. Elder Waddoups is heading to soundview. I really wish he wasn't leaving cause he's so cool and I hope I can see him sometime in the future.

Finally to address the title... Me and the three other missionaries started this thing called nugget friday. Its basically where we go to Burger King every friday and buy a crap ton of nuggets. I know it sounds kinda dumb, but it's way fun! You can get 8 nuggets for a buck, so we just go ham. Its just a fun thing we started a couple weeks ago and I thought I'd share it haha.

Hope everyone's doing well,

Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1: Ribs at Brandon's house

Pic 2-3: Nugget friday with the whole district! (but on a monday... haha)

Also Elder Hilleshiem is the designated selfie taker apparently 

SERVICE4DAYS

August 24, 2020

Yo everyone! 

This week was great and went by so fast. Some days feel longer than others, but when I look back... time just flies! I've been out for a month and it feels like I'm still brand new, but it also sometimes feels like I've been out for a while. Transfers are next week which is crazy! I will most likely be staying in kingston, which I'm glad about.

We did a bunch of service this week which was so awesome. Me and Elder Wilson haven't been super busy, so we basically take any service opportunities we can. We went over to the Snedegars and helped Brother Snedegar build a shed. We aren't suppose to use power tools, so we were hammering in nails most of the time. It was loads of fun and Elder Wilson was nailing stuff on the roof the whole time (it's not a very tall shed). Brother Snedegar is so funny and loves talking to us. There family is super sweet and Sister Snedegar even gave us a TON of food to bring home. 

No joke... she gave us two huge boxes full of food. That was so kind. There family is just the best. 

We also did some service at a less active members house. His name is Brandon and we didn't know he was a member before we showed up. It was great talking to him and he is so nice. He fed us food as well which we weren't expecting. We didn't teach him very much cause he basically knows everything, but we just talked about his needs and got to know him more. He told us he used to go to byui and would do temple work there weekly! That blew my mind. We're going back to there on Saturday to do some more yard work and we're also bringing the whole district!

We had comp exchanges with the zone leaders on Tuesday and it was the best! The ZLs in Silverdale are Elder Nieves and Elder Flittion and they are way cool. We were basically just in a quad the whole day. It was honestly my favorite day of the week and maybe even my favorite day of the mission so far. We literally just worked on facebook posts for a majority of the day, but it was great just talking and laughing together. They both are big soccer guys and they both played c1, so maybe that's why I like them so much. It was great cracking jokes to each other and making a fire facebook post in the process haha

The mission president came to our apartment this week to do interviews with all of us. I thought it was pretty cool that he did that. President Metts is such a nice person and he DEFINITELY is lead by the spirit. It was good talking with him and just sharing more about myself and getting to know each other more. It made me really want to be a ZL or AP  (in the future)

ALSO... I had my first nonmember lesson this week which was way exciting! We met with this woman named Lou and she's so sweet. We talked on the phone with her and it went pretty well. We basically just got to know her better and didn't teach a whole ton, but that's okay. She loved talking with us and said we had a "special spirit", which I thought was really cool especially cause it was just over the phone. We are gonna go over to her place on Thursday to do some service and I can't wait!

Elder Macfarlane 

Not a lot of pics this week...

Pic1: Elder Wilson on Brother Snedegars shed

Pic2: Elder Waddoups with the boxes of food the Snedegars gave us

Living it up in Kingston!!

August 17, 2020

Heyy friends!! Hope everyone's doing well! This week has been pretty uneventful tbh, but it's been good. We're still staying inside basically all day, which can be hard at times. I definitely enjoy the small moments when we get to go outside way more now.  

First off... kingston has been HOT this past week and its been no bueno. We don't have any air conditioning in our apartment and let's just say... it's been hot. We have fans going 24/7 which are basically mandatory at this point if we don't want to die of heat stroke haha. It honestly hasn't been too bad but I'm just kinda a wimp to warm weather. I think it's been in like the 90s which isn't super hot, but the humidity is what gets ya. Washington usually has great weather though soooo I can't complain too much :)

Last Monday our district all went hiking together and walked along the beach which was really cool! The view was amazing. We basically just walked around and talked, but it was fun. We had to wear masks when we were on the hiking trails which kinda sucked, but I'm used to it at this point. We found a bunch of tiny crabs under the rocks at the beach and played with em for a bit. Elder Wilson cut his thumb on one of the rocks, but it was all good after a couple hours.

On Tuesday we had exchanges for the first time which went really well. I spent th e day with Elder Waddoups and he's great! He's really quiet but also really funny. We had a good day just getting to know each other more. Me and Elder Wilson live with Elder Waddoups and Elder Evans, so it wasn't really a big change. It was honestly my favorite day this week though, just cause it was different from the everday routine.

We also had a district activity today and it was SOOO fun. We went to a members house who lives in Bainbridge and did abstract paint! I loved it cause I am really bad at painting... but it doesn't really take a lot of skill to do what we did. We basically but a bunch of colors into a cup and then dumped it on a blank canvas. It was a blast. Mine was a mixture of white, baby blue, and yellow. It came out a little boring so I added some black and white to it. The member was this old guy who was super funny and really good at painting. We also had icecream afterwards which was awesome (especially because it's so hot out).

I also met with the Morleys and they were the best. We had lasagna which was really good. I requested lasagna because I don't really cook a whole ton, but it was really hot that day. Probably should have requested something not super hot... oh well. They are so awesome and they have me and my companion a bunch of snacks to bring home. 

I said this week was pretty uneventful at the beginning... but I guess it was kinda eventful haha

Elder Macfarlane

Pics 1-2: Painting at the members house!

Pics 3-5: Hiking with the district 

Pic 6: The zone

Getting outside!!

August 10, 2020

 Hey guys!

I am loving Washington more and more every day. The weather is amazing... not too hot... not too cold. I love how green it is and how many trees there are. The members and missionaries here are the coolest people you'll ever meet. The mission is still hard, especially during covid, but I feel like I am getting better at dealing with it and keeping a positive attitude.

Me and my companion are still kinda stuck inside all day, but we are trying our best to meet members and get outside. We met with the Boyntons on Tuesday and they are super nice. They're an older couple and have one daughter who still lives with them. I think they are the first member family we met in person outside of the bishop's family. It was really good talking with them and they had the same feeling. They said it was sooooo nice talking to other adults and I felt the same way! It's definitely different not having that social aspect of a mission. 

The other family we met this week was the Shanes. They are the BEST. They are so welcoming and offered to feed us dinner which was so cool. We ate this chicken and rice meal but before we ate, Sister Shane said that it's sometimes spicy. I was a little worried because... spicy foods... is a no go for this guy. BUT it turned out to be way less spicy then it usually is (according to Sister Shane), which was a blessing for me.  That was a little tender mercy I had this week. They also have a son who is currently doing the online MTC from home so it was fun talking to him! He has to do it for 9 weeks though, so I wished him the best of luck. I thought 3 weeks was a good amount for the online MTC, but he has to learn two languages which is kinda rough. They were so awesome though. They also had a non-member friend over, so we gave them a little message. Missionary work is so much more enjoyable when you can talk to people. We have a couple more appointments with members this coming week, so hopefully we get to meet more awesome families in the Kingston ward!

I think I mentioned this in a previous email, but my companion and I are currently living with the poulsbo 2nd elders (Elder Waddoups and Elder Evans). On Thursday, we all walked to a nearby park and took some pictures. It was a pretty small park, but we are just trying to find reasons to get outside tbh. There was this fish sculpture made out of wooden sticks which was pretty cool. We also have been doing alot of Facebook posts because we are stuck inside. We get assigned a certain topic every week and then we have to make a quality post and a quick post from that specific topic. It hopefully can help people find the church through social media but I think it's still a little too early to tell if it's working or not. 

Finally, I've been having really good personal studies which I have been so grateful for. I decided to start over and read the Book of Mormon. I made this study plan where if I read two chapters basically every day, then I will have the whole BOM finished by the end of the year! I'm also actually studying the scriptures and not reading just to read. I have enjoyed reading the BOM so much more when I write stuff down and annotate the scriptures while I read. I like to  use the Come Follow Me and watch the Book of Mormon videos after I read. It helps me understand. I have learned soooo much from the first 10 chapters of 1 Nephi. Nephi is a great example of obedience and the blessings that come from it. God literally saves his life because of his faith. His brothers tie him up at one point and leave him to die, and God just says yeah no... and unties the bands and sets Nephi free. God only did this because Nephi was righteous from the start. We have to first obey before we can receive the blessings that come from it. I have learned so much about obedience these first couple weeks and I'm still learning. A mission is hard, but can be possible if we obey.

Have a great week!

Elder Macfarlane 

Pics at the park we went to on Thursday 

Lots of Service!!

August 3, 2020

Hey everyone,

Not a lot happened this week. We kinda stayed in our apartment most of the days and tried to find people to teach. It turns out it way harder to find people during quarantine because we can only call them. And most of the time we just leave voicemails. We've starting teaching members which has been good. It's nice to finally start meeting people in the area and gaining a relationship with them. I think that's also been really different... I always thought missionaries just talked to people all day and tried to hand out Book of Mormons, but it's not like that at all during covid. We did meet this super kind member at Walmart today and she paid for our groceries! That was a tender mercy. She wasn't even in either of our areas but it was really nice. We also talked with a couple other families that were members at Walmart. This might sounds kinda weird... but it was GREAT talking with them just because we don't get to meet people very often face to face. 

Elder Wilson and I were not very busy this week, so we decided we might as well do some service! We went to our bishops house a couple times to help garden and cut down weeds in his backyard. He has this weed cutter that basically has a saw blade at the end of it and cuts anything in its path. Elder Wilson had a good time using it. I also tried it for a bit but I didn't love it as much haha. We were there for a long time and both got a little sun burnt. We decided to go back to bishops only when it was cloudy  We also brought along Elder Evans and Elder Waddoups (who we live with) the second time we went. Me and Elder Waddoups would basically just smack giant weeds with a stick. It was a blast. We had this particularly large stick that we called the "yeeting stick" cause it was big and we would smack the really big weeds away. It sounds stupid when I write it out but trust me... it was a blast.

On a more serious note, I'm slowly getting used to being a missionary but it's still a little weird doing church stuff basically 24/7. I've gotten a lot better at personal study which has been such a blessing. I've kinda struggled doing personal and companion study in the mornings but these past couple days I've really enjoyed it. I absolutely love Moroni 10 it's cool that it's the last chapter in the Book of Mormon. Me and my companion meet with this guy named JP every monday, and he told us to give him our favorite chapters in the scriptures so he doesn't just have to start at the beginning... and I'm definitely giving him Moroni 10.

Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1: Elder Wilson with the weed cutter

Pic 2-4: Bishops house

Tacoma is GORGEOUS!

July 27, 2020

Hey everyone!!

The Tacoma area is GORGEOUS and the weather is amazing. There are trees everywhere. Literally everwhere. I am currently serving in the Kingston area with my companion Elder Wilson!

This has been a crazy week. I have been loving the mission so far but it's also been hard. I've learned a lot about missionary work and myself this week. It has been a huge adjustment but I think I'm slowly getting into the routine. Another thing I wasn't expecting was the amount of planning and scheduling missionaries do. We literally plan for HOURS haha. I never really planned back home so you definitely could say it was an adjustment. It sometimes feels tedious but its actually really effective.

Missionary work is also really different right now because of covid. We aren't allowed to knock on doors and we have to kinda stay inside all day. Are only way to find people to teach is to call them. If you know me... I hate calling people. BUT I have gotten much better at it. 

Now that that's out of the way... Tacoma has been great!! I've met so many awesome people and the mission president is way cool. The missionaries here are the nicest people you'll ever meet. I met my companion on Wednesday and he's super nice too. His name is Elder Wilson and it's his first time training someone. We both get along well cause we both have pretty chill personalities. I learned how to actually play pokemon a couple days ago and it was the best haha! 

(Still haven't won once though... )

I'm currently in the Kingston area which is right next to the water. Its literally soooooo beautiful. It reminds me a lot of Alaska. There isn't an apartment complex in Kingston right now, so we are staying with the paulsbo 2nd elders. We are kinda in a quad. Elder Waddoups and Elder Evans are both super nice. Literally all the missionaries are the best. On the very first day, they treated all the greenies like family and its basically just a big family. All the new missionaries I flew in with and met the first couple days were so awesome. I know I keeping saying this but the missionaries are awesome. Even our district leaders and all the older guys treat us like we're one of them.

I've learned sooo much this week. I've been reading a lot about Joseph Smith recently and the strength that he had. It kinda helps me put things into perspective when I have a hard day. The difference is that for me... it's just one day... and for Joseph Smith it was his lifetime. I also love Alma 26:12 and you should definitely read it if you get the chance :)

One last thing, teaching on the online MTC is way different then teaching in person. I went to teach a less active family the very first day! I literally met my companion and we just went straight to there house. They were really cool but I definitely had to learn quickly how to teach. They were the Andersons and they loved the "mormon missionaries" but just hadn't went to church in many years. We gave them the first lesson which was good because that was the only lesson I ever taught at the MTC haha. The difference thought is that I could write down everything I was gonna say when we taught online, but its way different when you have to memorize everything. It was a really good experience and the family was awesome. They also cooked hotdogs for us which was a bonus ;)

-Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1: On the plane to Tacoma

Pic 2:The MTC squad 

Pic 3: Me and my companion (idk what kinda face he's making )

Arriving at the mission!

July 24, 2020

Dear Parents

Your missionary has arrived, have been through some training, have met their trainers and are in their new areas. Attached is a picture of them at the training. 

Also attached is our WA-TAC covid-19 guidelines, which we thought you would want to be aware of for the safety of your missionary and others.

We are so happy they are here, and love them!

Also please follow us on instagram: washingtontacomamission2020.


Sister Allred
Washington Tacoma Mission

Saying Goodbye!

 July 21, 2020

Saying Goodbye to Austin was hard, not gonna lie. I love that kid. He was ready to go and the Lord needs him, so I had to let him go for now. Makes me teary eyed writing it down. He's going to do some great things for sure. We LOVE you Austin, I mean Elder Macfarlane! Washington is lucky to have you.