Very White Christmas

December 28, 2021 

Hey everyone!

This week has been crazy. It snowed here in Washington for two full days!! We were basically stuck inside cause we weren't allowed to drive anywhere. Those days were cool but also hard. This whole week has been super different than a normal missionary week (in a good way).

First off we went to the temple on Wednesday AS A MISSION. Literally the entire Washington Tacoma Mission went to the temple on the same day. That was special. They split us up by conferences cause obviously the whole mission couldn't go through at the same time. We also had a QnA with the temple presidency! That was so fun and I really learned a lot. After all the sessions, we had dinner all together. It was SO fun getting to see so many wonderful missionaries and past companions. We were gone all day. I think we left around 9am and got home around 9pm! Definitely a day to remember!

Thursday we did bell ringing in Gig Harbor. That was fun cause me and Elder Stanger served in gig together a year ago! We got to stop by the Gig House too :)

Friday was Christmas Eve!! We made cookies most of the day and them distributed them to all our friends and members in the ward. We made these non bake cookies and they were not too bad. They were edible and that's most important haha.

Saturday was so awesome. It was CHRISTMAS! We had a brunch at our bishops house and then right after we went to IHOP with the district  I was stuffed. We got to have a zone activity for 2 hours too. We played chair soccer, scatterball, and lightning! After that we had Christmas dinner at a members house. We were busy a day but it was a good time.

Sunday it started snowing A LOT. We went to church cause we didn't really have a choice... I was giving a talk! Crazy story actually. I wrote all my notes on my phone for my talk and you wont believe what happened. I got about 30 seconds into my talk and when I looked down... it was gone! My phone was there but the notes I had written vanished. I found out afterwards that I accidentally deleted it somehow while I was speaking!! The crazy part was I still manage to give a 15 minute talk with ZERO material to go off of. I was so proud of myself cause I'm NOT a good public speaker but the Lord helped me out. I told Elder Stanger afterwards and he had no idea. Thats a good sign I guess. After church we stayed inside and did a lot of calling and facebook work. Monday was kinda the same thing. This week was super fun

Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1-3: Mission Temple Trip!

Pic 4: Bell ringing 

Pic 5: Visiting the gig house

Pic 6: Christmas Comfys

Pic 7-8: SNOW

Week Full of Smiles

 December 21, 2021

Super busy week this week! This coming week is also going to be SO fun!

First, we had zone conference. It was super good and I got to say hi to so many friends I've made on the mission! (other missionaries) I gave the spirit thought in front of everyone too. It was actually super cool cause I talked about prayer and how it's important to be sincere. Later, the APs gave a training about the exact same topic! I was shocked. It was a testimony builder knowing that this is God's work and if we rely on the spirit, God will put words in our mouths.

On Friday, the office needed help with Christmas packages. They had me and Elder Stanger organize all the boxes into different zones and relabel them. It sounds mega boring but it was soooo fun! It was a good change. Can't believe Christmas is coming up.

We had bell ringing this week for the Salvation Army. That was a lot of work cause me and Elder Stanger were in charge of organizing it all. It all worked out. We actually had extra slots so we ended up doing toy distribution instead of bell ringing. That was a really good time. Cars would pull up and we would get their number and get the bag that correlates with their number. It was a good system and we were like the only ones working. It was a ton of work but im glad we got to help. The best part was seeing these families receive the gifts and how grateful they were!

Oh we also drove to the airport this week to drop off a couple elders. The APs and office elders were all busy so that's why they had us do it. It was kinda cool. I haven't been to the airport in 17 months haha.

Tomorrow we are going to the temple as a mission!! I'm so excited. AND there's Christmas this week!

Love you all, 

Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1-2: Zone Conference with the boys

Pic 3: Mini MLC (top right)

Teaching the Gospel brings Joy

December 14, 2021

 This was my first week in my new area! I'm in the Highland Hills ward in north Tacoma. It's su fun and so different! I got my old companion back who I follow up trained in gig harbor (Elder Stanger). We had a blast this week! Tacoma is crazy but the people here are elect! We have had soooo many lessons. I've taught more this week then the past like 6 months haha. That's an exaggeration but you get the point.

We had a lesson with our friend Angela and she is so ready. I know the Lord has been preparing her and guiding us to her. We had our first lesson with her on Saturday and taught the restoration. She was balling the whole time. The spirit was so strong. She literally asked us if we do baptisms in our church haha! We were like "uhh... YES!" We didn't quite put a date on it but she said she wants to be baptized around the Christmas season. So cool. Experiences like this reconfirm my own testimony of the gospel. We gave her a Book of Mormon and are going back with fellowship. She has two teenagers that she also wants us to teach! Such a miracle!

We had our ward Christmas party this week. Can't believe it's already Christmas time! It was a really good opportunity for me to get to know the ward cause I basically know no one. We had a little brunch and sang some Christmas songs all together too. The ward mission leader signed up us and the Sister missionaries in the ward to sing a song together. We sang Feliz Navidad with two ukuleles and it was interesting. It was not good haha

We had a get together with the zone and our stake president. That was really fun and a little stressful. Me and my companion had to lead the meeting which doesn't sound like a big deal... but I was stressing. It was good though

We taught this dude named Sam this week and he's a straight baller! Or at least he used to be. He's like 80 something but he's played with players from the Seattle Supersonics and even knows Jason Terry! He coaches AAU too. That was sweet... assuming he's telling the truth 

Great week, Miss you guys,

Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1: Santa at the Christmas party

Pic 2: Meeting with the stake president 

Bike repairs!

December 7, 2021

Hey!!

Sooo the title is pretty self explanatory. My bike got a flat tire and needed to be fixed. I just had to buy a new tube and it was all good. My comp on the other hand had some issues. He broke the valve on his tire and it took us a full day to replace it! It was a lot of fun tbh. We had to go to like 3 different stores to find the right replacement. Luckily, I am not staying on bike!

We got the transfer board and I am leaving! I love the south hill ward but I’m happy to go. My new comp is gonna be Elder Stanger!! I follow up trained him and he's one of my favorite elders ever. I was so pumped when I heard I was gonna be with him. This next transfer is going to be AWESOME. I'm going ZL too which is cool and hopefully not too stressful. 

We had a crazy service project this week that took like 4 hours. It was a lot of fun and with most of the zone. We helped this family move out and there house was disgusting. It was fun just cause of the people there. 

Last thing, we got a box of these cookies from a member and we didn't know how to transport them home (cause we're on bike). Elder Lindsey came up with the idea to use the BIKE LOCK to strap the cookies to his bike. Lowkey kinda genius... or we thought. We almost got all the way to the apartment before the incident happened. Let's just say, there was a bump in the sidewalk and the cookies went a tumbling.. haha  we tried our best. It be like that sometimes 

Love yall,

Elder Macfarlane 

Pic 1: Cool pic I made for Facebook (#LightTheWorld)

Pic 2: The Zone

Pic 3-4: