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