Elder Payton MacLay: I am so grateful for the Atonement! WE WOULD BE CRAZY NOT TO USE IT.

Hey people it's Elder MacLay! I wasn't able to send out a group email last week but this week my email will be JAM PACKED with two weeks worth full of action.

So two weeks ago I said that we had 6 baptism dates for September 28. Well, all 6 baptisms fell through. I'm not too frustrated though because we are still working with them and helping them become more prepared for their baptisms.

I went 10 weeks without playing basketball but FINALLY GOT TO PLAY. The past two P-days, I've gathered the self-proclaimed "ballers" of the zone. Out of the many people that claim to play basketball, there's only 1 (MAYBE 2 ON A GOOD DAY) other guys who can play. The hoops were only 9 feet tall, but I was still having the time of my life. I dunked on everybody at least once, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself considering the circumstances. Also, we played a little bit of soccer and it was a very good opportunity for me to learn humility.

I'll just make a list of all the little funny/interesting things I have from the past 2 weeks:

-During a contact on the street, a guy said, "you got a weird way of talking... you from México?"

-There's another missionary in the ward named Elder Ocampo who I'm really good friends with. Some members started calling him "Elder Obama" because they couldn't remember his name. The name Obama stuck and I thought it was pretty funny until they started calling me Elder Trump just because of the simple fact that I'm a blonde American. In conclusion, my new name is Elder Trump.

-I saw this guy spraying his couch down with soap and water.

-Me and my companion were doing contacts. A bunch of kids had just gotten out of school and they saw a tall white blonde american (ME). I got swarmed and it was the funniest thing. They were asking me how to say a bunch of random stuff in english. It was hilarious and I was wish I could've gotten a picture of the swarm.

- We knocked on a door and a kid answered saying "my mom told me to tell you that she's not home right now"

-I was on the bus with my companion and I was asking him for help with pronounciation of the word "Roeva", which means "red-head girl." UNFELIZEMENTE, there was a red-head girl sitting two rows ahead of us. I had said "ROEVA" about 4 times (and pretty loud too). She looked back at me and I quickly realized what I had done. Luckily, she thought it was funny because I am obviously not from around here.

-My last companion Elder Young recently got famous on social media in Brazil. He did this challenge at a restaurant to eat this GIANT hamburger with like 6 burgers, a couple of hot dogs, and a couple other random stuff thrown in here and there. He finished the burger and got 100 bucks for it. The restaurant posted it on social media on people went nuts about a giant American coming in and owning this challenge.

I don't usually talk a lot about the people we teach in my group emails, but I want to talk about this awesome lesson we had with this family. Yolanda (21), Jasmin (8), Arthur(17), and David(13) are cousins of my super good friend Ruy. They are young and super fun to be around. Their parents always give us the most amazing food and ice cream. But after we had an amazing dinner with them, we talked about the Plan of Salvation. They have a really good understanding of the Bible, so we were able to get more deep into conversation than usual. We talked about how the Plan of God is not possible without the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Atonement of Jesus Christ enables the plan to work. Together, we listed off the reasons that the Atonement enables the Plan of Salvation to work. Here are my reasons (if you have more, send me an email so I can add them to my list to teach people):

The Atonement of Jesus Christ:

1. Allows Christ to fairly judge us and forgive us because it GAVE HIM AN UNDERSTANDING of our hearts

2. Payed the "'PRICE" for our sins. We don't have to suffer like He did if we repent.

3. Allows us to overcome physical death. We are guaranteed Resurrection

4. Allows us to overcome spiritual death through REPENTANCE

5. Gave Christ the understanding of "how to succor His people"

Some of these things are closely related, but you get the picture. It was a really good discussion and we all felt the Spirit really strong and felt a deeper love and appreciation for Jesus Christ.

I am so grateful for the Atonement! WE WOULD BE CRAZY NOT TO USE IT.

Mosiah chapter 14 and Alma chapter 7 are super good chapters to learn more about the Atonement

Well I could probably put a lot more but I'm about out of time.

Have a good week! Find ways to focus more on Christ in your life! I promise you will be happier!

<3 Elder MacLay

PICSSSS. I actually have a few more that aren't working that I'll have to send next week instead

1. RUY and LUAN. The real bros of Pedregal

2. Ruy took us to a waterfall for p-day

3. Elder Obama, Clarice, and Elder Trump

4. Familia TOP

5. My buddy Jasmin

6. Ruy's new ride