Thanksgiving Vibes

 November 30, 2021

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hope everyone had a super great Thanksgiving this year and talked with lots of their distant friends and family! I got to call my family back home but I talk to them every week, so it was just a bonus :)

Me and my comp had the best Thanksgiving ever. It was so fun! We both said afterwards that it might have been the best Thanksgiving we've ever had haha. Isn't that crazy!? Missions are the best and you get to have so many great experiences. We went over to a family in the ward basically all day. In the morning we had turkey bowl with a neighboring ward. That just means we played football... but I assume you already knew that. Around 3pm we went over to the Prices house. They are literally SO cool. Super nice family and we both just felt home while we were there. That's my new favorite family. We played tons of different board games and had some good laughs. After our visit was over they asked "well do you have dinner tomorrow?" We did not. Sooooo we went back the next day for leftovers!!  We played another game or two and share a spiritual message about gratitude. Speaking of gratitude, I am SO grateful for my family back home and all the friends I've made here in Washington that I now consider my "family". Love yall so much.

Last thing, we had a big service project on Saturday with some of the missionaries in the zone. They had us organize trees again. We did the a similar thing last week. That was fun, but then... we got a call from some elders in Bremerton that asked if we were available to do more service the same day! We of course said yes. We helped move a less active member into the ward and it was so much work!! She lived on the 3rf floor of an apartment complex. Luckily, there were two Samoan guys that helped us. We had a really good conversation with them. They weren't members of the church and asked a lot about what missionaries are and why we chose to serve. That was a great opportunity to bare a normal and natural testimony and to gain some new friends. I love serving others, especially when they truly need it.

Have the best week ever,

Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1-2: Zone service at the mall

Pic 2-3: Thanksgiving at the Prices!

November 23, 2021

 Hey!!

This week was wayyy good :)

I got to go to the temple and do baptisms!! Thats was so fun. We went with a recent convert family. It was a special experience. I got to show the husband how to baptize and then watched him baptized his family (for their ancestors). Some elders that taught the family got to come back and see them which was really cool! 

We did a TON of service this week too! We had service with the whole zone and basically organized like 100 Christmas trees into different categories. It was a work out. We didn't know the different types of trees very well so that was a struggle. You could say I'm not a "tree expert" 

We had a super coop lesson with one of our friends this week. We showed up and they were heading out the door... BUT... they said their parents were inside and we could talk with them. We were a little confused but did it anyways. It turned out to be an amazing lesson. We taught the resto and gave them a Book of Mormon! Super nice family.

Our zone has been focusing a lot on finding and being creative with it. Me and my companion, Elder Lindsey, decided to do trash can finding. We made it up. Basically we went and picked up trash cans that had fallen on the street (it was a SUPER windy day). It wasn't extremely effective finding wise... but we had a good time and served the community :)

Have the best Thanksgiving ever,

Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1-2: Temple trip

Pic 3: Trash can finding 

November 10, 2021 

Man I LOVE washington! It is so beautiful. The weather here has been crazy the past week. It'd makes for some great stories and experiences that I'll never forget!

If you don't know, I am currently serving in the south hill ward and I'm on BIKE. It was hard at first. I love it now and have gotten used to it. One thing I've learned is to plan for the weather. It is not fun biking in the pouring rain. It has rained so much these past couple weeks. Almost every day me and my companion have to go back to our apartment to change clothes. Even with all the rain... THE WORK GOES ON! We are still teaching and serving the members in the ward. It's actually been a blessing in a lot of ways because the members sympathize for us. We get rides a lot :)

We had a tornado warning yesterday during zone conference. That's crazy

We went blitz knocking as a zone which was way fun! We all swapped companions and knock doors for an hours or two. While we were all knocking, it starting HAILING. There were literal small chunks of ice falling from the sky haha. Me and my comp both didn't have hoods so we were getting absolutely pelted. We had a good laugh.  I will never forget me and him running back to  a bunch of trees to take cover. Our ears were red from getting hit so many times. The weather has been crazy but it makes for some great memories!

I mentioned zone conference which was yesterday (that's why they moved pday to today). It was awesome! We had a general authority visit the mission and give us lots of advice. He is in the Quorum of the 70. His name is Elder Bowen and he was really cool. He talked to us for like 4 hours about how to be better missionaries. His main focus was on obedience and the importance of doing the small things. I think the mission really benefited from it. I know I did. It good to have those reminders. He said he had 6 things for us that would change our missions if we did them. They were:

1. Get up and out of bed at 6:30

2. Daily plan for the full 30 minutes 

3. 30 Testimony contacts per day

4. 30 Lessons per week

5. Urgency 

6. Quiet Diligence 

It really helped motivate me to be a better missionary. One thing he said that I loved was "if you aren't the best missionary you've ever been the last day of your mission, then your doing it wrong". It's so true! That applies to everything. It doesn't matter how we compare to the people around us, all that matters is we are a better person than we were the day before! Miss you all!!

Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1-2: Planting trees with the zone

Pic 3: R a i n b o w

Halloween in South Hill

 November 2, 2021

I can't believe it's already November!! This year is flying by sooo fast. On the mission there's a term called your "blackout year" which means it's the year that you are a missionary for the whole 12 months. My blackout year is this year (2021) and I can't believe it's already over. I forget how long I've been out sometimes. I hit 16 months yesterday!! Luckily, I still have quite a while to continue being a missionary ;)

I didn't write an email last week so here a recap if the past 2 weeks...

We had transfers!! It was way sad. My boy left to Scotland and one of my roommates left too. We were all super close. It's always a little sad but also excited. I've never been good at change but I've gotten a lot better at accepting it. My new companion is Elder Lindsey and he's way chill. It's so different because I am a pretty chill/quiet guy but he's even more chill and quiet. It was an adjustment at first. I love it now though! It forces me to be more outgoing and talk to people.

We had Halloween this past week! We had a ward activity on Saturday and it was so fun! There were like 150-175 people at the church which was a lot more than they expected. We had dinner and a trunk or treat. A member in the ward gave us a huge bag of candy to hand out. The issue was we were on bikes so we didn't really have a trunk. We just pulled our bikes into the parking lot and pretended. People thought it was funny. I handed candy out and my comp tried sneaking pass-along cards into kids baskets. Sometimes they didn't notice... sometimes they did. It was hilarious

Today for pday we went to the temple! It was my 3rd time. I learned so much and had a great time! We were running late because of traffic which was a little stressful but we made it. Once we got there I was so calm. It felt so peaceful. It's hard to describe what it's like but I love it. I'm going again on Thursday to do baptisms with a recent convert family in the ward! So exciting!

Love you all,

Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1-2: Saying bye at transfers

Pic 3-4: Temple trip