The Last E-Mail

Elders Valenzuela, Jensen, Bravo & McFarland with Dany.

Hola! Hola!
So you guys already know, but great news! DANY IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!!! Woooohh!! He had his interview Friday and all went well, so now it’s confirmed. He`ll be getting baptized Friday May 27th at 6:00. We decided to do it Friday since Saturday there’s a ward temple trip. I’m super pumped and extremely grateful to be able to see him get baptized before I go home. He also asked me to baptize him so it`ll be really special. Elder Bravo will confirm him on Sunday. So we are all pretty stoked. Dany is really excited. He`s been waiting for this for three years. It`ll be a great way to finish off the mission.

Gisela and her son, Facundo are coming along great. They have a new baptismal date for June 4th but it`ll probably get moved back another week since I don’t know if we`ll finish teaching them before that. They came to church though yesterday!

Graciela and Nahuel are also progressing. It was a really special week because Nahuel mentioned in a lesson that he’s starting to feel a desire to be baptized. So we talked with them after he commented that and had a super spiritual lesson. We commented how, with time, he`ll have the desire to do what we are doing right now - serving a mission. He said he already has felt the desire!!! How awesome is that!! So we set new baptismal dates for both of them for June 18. The only obstacle as of right now is that he still hasn’t come to church.

We are also teaching Yhosep and Daniela who are friends of Dany. They aren’t married so their baptism will likely delay a little bit until they can get married but they are super awesome. They went to stake conference and went to church yesterday. So we have a good group of investigators that are progressing but we`ll need to work on finding new ones this week.

Last week we had the temple trip with Hermano Luna on Saturday and it went well. Since there was bad weather early in the morning, only Dany, Graciela and Nahuel ending up going, but it was still great.

This week we have intercambios with the Assistants Tuesday night, so I’ll be with Elder Pribyl again. Then Thursday is the capital tour and afterwards a self-reliance class. Then Friday we`ll go to the temple to do a session with President Thurgood, go back to the mission home to have lunch and then have our exit interviews. Normally the Hermanas would be first but since we have our baptism that night at 600 p.m. President Thurgood scheduled me first at 2:30 p.m. and then I’ll head straight to the baptism. It`ll be a super awesome day for sure.

Wednesday and Thursday night I’ll stay with the other two Elders that are going home in the Zone Leaders pension in Banfield. Elder Bravo will stay here in 9 de Abril in a trio with Elder Jensen and Elder Valenzuela during those days. Saturday and Sunday will be normal. Then Monday morning I go to the mission home. We have a meeting with President Thurgood and eat lunch with President and Hermana Thurgood and the Assistants. Then in the afternoon, we head to the airport. So it’s a busy week but there’s still lots of time to work!

Well this will be the last time I`ll be writing you guys. It feels weird and in all honesty, doesn’t feel like it at all. A lot of emotions. There’s not much time and it’s hard to describe all I feel about these last two years. I don’t know if you can put how I feel into words. It’s been a blessing and a great joy to serve the Lord and the people of Argentina for these last two years. It has been, without a doubt, the hardest two years of my life, but it’s also been, without a doubt, the best and the happiest two years of my life. It has been an enormous blessing for me to be able to serve my God these last two years and be an instrument in His hands, and along the way experience my own conversion. I will be eternally grateful for these last two years; for the experiences I`ve had, the things I’ve learned, and for the people I`ve met.

I will close with my testimony.  I know that God is our Heavenly Father; that He knows and loves us. I know that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God; that through him, the church of Jesus Christ was restored again to the earth. I know that by the power of God, Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon and that it is the word of God. I testify that God created a great eternal plan so that we can return to His presence. Jesus Christ is the center of that plan. The Book of Mormon testifies of that plan and testifies of Jesus Christ and His preordained role in that plan. I know that families can be together forever. Thanks to the resurrection of Christ, death has no victory. As a missionary set apart by priesthood authority to represent Jesus Christ I testify, with all my heart, that He lives; that He is our Savior and Redeemer. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I love you guys. Thanks for supporting me these last two years and for your many prayers. I look forward to seeing you guys after a week of hard work!

Love
Elder McFarland