Beco=pegado

Hey people hope you had a great Christmas!

My Christmas was great. We ate a lot of Brazilian barbecue and visited all of  our favorite people here in Cristalina.

We got our calls for transfers last night.... I'll be going to Porto Nacional! Today I have to take a 2 hour bus ride to Brasilia and then a 14 hour bus ride to Tocantins.

I'm going to that area with my old companion Elder Almeida. I trained him in Pedregal a  few months back, so it was a surprise that we would be comps again. We had a really really good transfer together in terms of work, so I'm excited because I heard the work is really good in our new area Porto Nacional. 

Me and Elder Teran had an interesting transfer here in Cristalina. The work was slow but we had SO many opportunities to serve and bless people in real times of need. 

One example of this happened this week.

We were walking down the road on Christmas Eve and we came upon this lady named Maria. We talked to her for a while and she introduced us to some family. 

We  were walking down the same road (by her house) yesterday and it  was  pretty obvious that something was going down. Her husband (obviously drunk) was walking around in the road yelling and shouting. Then we saw Maria sitting down on the side of the road, with a huge gash on her forehead. We came to Maria and looked at the gash- it was so bad that we could see her skull. There was blood running down her face and she was crying. We got talking to her and found that her husband had hit her with a rock. We called some paramedics to fix the up and stayed with her while her drunk husband yelled at us. The paramedics showed up and started to fix her up. Then a member came and gave Maria a ride to her daughter's house, who lives on the other side of town.

We've seen a lot of bad situations this transfer and every single one of them has been caused by alcohol.

My two favorite families threw a birthday party for me. They gave me a bunch of cake and lemonade. I ate so much I almost threw up. Really getting into that birthday spirit.

Thank you all for the birthday wishes! I don't have time to respond to all the emails today haha

The highlight of my birthday was that my homies Ruy and Luan came to visit me. We had lunch with them and caught up. They are the absolute coolest doods. Luan gave me a mug with a bunch of pictures of the Pedregal gang.

This week we had 15 investigators at church. This is a personal record that I don't know if I'll beat. I think there were more investigators there than actual members lol. We invite a bunch of people to go to church every week, but people usually don't show up. This past Sunday was different and we ended up having a bunch of people there. It was an amazing sacrament meeting- our stake president showed up and gave a powerful talk. We are teaching a lot of really good people and I can't wait to hear how they progress.

Have a good week!

<3 Elder MacLay

Elder MacLay's BIRTHDAY!

Boa noite, Mrs Vicki e Mr Stuart!!

Primeiramente quero me desculpar por não escrever em inglês, my english don't is very good. (kkk)

Venho escrever como Elder MacLay entrou em minha vida e na vida de minha família, bem como do meu melhor amigo de infância Ruy. E de como eu e Ruy atravessamos 104 Km hoje (26th) de Pedregal para Cristalina para vê-lo em seu aniversário e levar um pequeno presente.

Elder MacLay entrou em nossas vidas sem falar quase nada de Português, era muito tímido, porém nunca deixou de realizar suas simples orações com um poder muito forte. Logo com o passar dos dias, ele aprendeu Português impressionantemente rápido e começamos uma amizade incrível. Minha família o acolheu como se fosse da família. Minha mãe pergunta dele até hoje, mesmo após a transferência!

Eu e Ruy, MacLay e seu companheiro de missão, ficamos muito próximos e ele nos ajudava sempre. Minha mãe fazia almoço ou jantar para nós quase todas as semanas e partilhávamos sobre o evangelho e sobre diferenças culturais entre Brasil e EUA. Aprendi muita coisa em inglês e I love it so much! E MacLay falou muito sobre vocês. Eu e Ruy esperamos poder conhece-los um dia. <3

Quando chegou próximo a transferência dele, fizemos uma fogueira com jantar e violão para nos despedir e desejar sorte para onde fosse, e que Deus pudesse usá-lo para levar luz a todos os corações que precisasse aqui no Brasil. Ficamos muito tristes com a despedida, porém muito felizes que outras pessoas poderão o conhecer. Levamos ele até a rodoviária para poder passar um pouco mais de tempo juntos e conhecer o seu novo companheiro.

A forma como MacLay vê o mundo é incrível, e somos realmente gratos por ter o conhecido. Ele sempre terá uma casa aqui no Brasil ou melhor duas casas, a minha e a do Ruy!

Hoje (26th) eu e Ruy tiramos o dia de folga dos nossos empregos e fomos a Cristalina para dar um abraço e um presente, e desejar o melhor para nosso amigo, foi muito perfeito vê-lo novamente e poder compartilhar dos últimos acontecimentos e de como é Cristalina, e claro, sobre Dave e Flávio.

Good evening Mrs Vicki and Mr Stuart !!

First I want to apologize for not writing in English. (kkk)

I come to write how Elder MacLay came into my life and the life of my family, as well as my childhood best friend Ruy. And how Ruy and I crossed 104 km today (26th) from Pedregal to Cristalina to see him on his birthday and take a small gift.

Elder MacLay came into our lives without speaking much Portuguese, was very shy, but never failed to perform his simple prayers with very strong power. As the days went by, he learned Portuguese amazingly fast and we started an incredible friendship. My family welcomed him like family. My mother asks him to this day, even after the transfer!

Me and Ruy, MacLay and his mission mate, were very close and he always helped us. My mother made lunch or dinner for us almost every week and we shared about the gospel and cultural differences between Brazil and the USA. I learned a lot in English and I love it so much! And MacLay talked a lot about you. Ruy and I hope to meet you one day. <3

When his transfer came near, we made a bonfire with dinner and guitar to say goodbye and wish him luck wherever he went, and may God use it to bring light to all the hearts he needed here in Brazil. We are very sad about the farewell, but very happy that other people will be able to meet you. We took him to the bus station so he could spend a little more time together and meet his new mate.

The way MacLay views the world is amazing, and we're really grateful to have known it. He will always have a house here in Brazil or better two houses, mine and Ruy's!

Today (26th) Ruy and I took the day off from our jobs and went to Cristalina to give a hug and a gift, and to wish our friend the best, it was very perfect to see him again and to be able to share the latest events and as is Cristalina, of course, about Dave and Flavio.

Thank you, Mr and Mrs MacLay!

I hope you understand everything!

A big hug and a merry Christmas to all.

FELIZ NATAL MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

FELIZ NATAL MERRY CHRISTMAS HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!

This week was great in terms of fun but slow in terms of work. We left our area for FOUR DAYS. In those four days, we visited 10 different areas for various reasons: to christmas carol as a zone, to work, to eat lunch, to travel, to sleep, and to go to a big mission christmas conference. It was absolutely nuts, but really cool to see a bunch of areas. I even got to visit my old area Pedregal for a day.

The mission christmas conference was amazing. Almost the whole mission was there, so I saw so many old friends. I was able to catch up and share stories from my homies from the MTC. It was Christmas for me haha.

The baptism with Elisangela fell through again because she had to go out of town, but we had a really proud moment with her. When we were visiting with her and her family, a neighbor came over and asked her in a quiet voice, 'Why do you let these guys in your house?" Elisangela replied loud enough for everyone to hear, "Because they are men of God, because they show love for our family, and because I know everything they've said is true." It was a pretty powerful mic drop. The neighbor didn't stay much longer.

Well I don't have a lot to share or a whole lot of time but I would love to share a brief testimony. 

I know that Christ is the Savior of every person who has ever walked the earth. He is literally the ONLY way to find salvation and true, lasting satisfaction and happiness. I am so grateful for Christmas- a day to remember Him- and grateful to serve a mission -two years to learn about Him, teach about Him, and feel His love and presence even stronger in my life. 

Have a great Christmas! 

Seja uma luz do mundo.

<3Elder MacLay

Flavio, o gato amado, e Dave, um amigo verdadeiro

Hey people, it's been a minute since I wrote a good email.

Last pday we went on a hike with a family of members. Eu gostei. I'll send some pics of the hike.

The past few weeks have been kind of slow. We've had to leave our area every week for various reasons and each time has been a 1 or 2 day ordeal (because travel in and out of our area is TUFF).

A baptism with Elisangela fell through yesterday. She had to go out of town for an emergency and didn't make it back in time. She's really solid and the baptism was remarked for next Sunday.

I had one of the heaviest experiences on the mission this past week. We're teaching this awesome lady called Mariah Neive. She was an alcoholic and drinking was ruining her life. After being taught the word of wisdom, she stopped drinking. She was really one of my favorite people to teach and the lessons always went ridiculously well with her and her family. She was a real light and was really happy without alcohol in her life.

We went to visit her this week and found that she had been drinking again. She had been having family problems and turned to drinking again. She was really drunk when we got there and was all over the place with her emotions. She was in a really really dark place and needed a lot of help and comfort. It was really hard to see her in her drunk/depressed state of mind, after seeing her so happy for the past few weeks. 

We were able to lift her spirits and give her a blessing. Keep her in your prayers,

Like I said, the experience was ALL OVER THE PLACE. At one point she tried to kiss me. She got extremely close but thankfully I escaped. lol

We caught a lizard and named him Dave, but then we let him go off to the wild where he belongs.

One day it was raining really hard and as we were walking down the road knocking doors, we heard this animal screaming. We found a little baby cat that was absolutely tweaking. It wouldn't stop screaming and it was really sad but hilarious at the same time. So we put him in front of a member's door and ran. The family heard the cat screaming, so they took it inside and fed it. We visited them later that day and they wouldn't stop talking about the miracle they had of saving a baby cat. We didn't have the heart to tell them that we put the cat there, but I named the cat Flavio (after our mission president).

I don't have a lot more time to write more but I'll finish with a quote I really like. Holland told a story about a successful swimmer. (I don't remember his name). Someone asked him why he was having the success that he was having, and the swimmer explained: "I kick when I don't want to kick and I stroke when I don't want to stroke."

Have a good week and enjoy these pics!

<3 Elder MacLay

OI ALEMÃO

Well I don't feel like writing much of an email this week but I'll sure as heck send some pics.

Thanksgiving was bleh. We ordered a pizza and it was a gross Brazilian pizza with a bunch of weird vegetables and no pepperoni. But I got to call my fam and that was SPLENDID.

Me and my comp got a cute lil Christmas tree. 

I'm learning a bunch and my testimony of Jesus Christ and the Restoration grew so much this week. I'm reading the book 'JESUS THE CHRIST' and it's the top 5 swaggiest books ever. 10/10 would recommend to a friend.

It does a really good job of connecting the teaching of the Book of Mormon and the Bible to see how they work together to testify of the life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ!

Have a good week! Enjoy these pics

<3 Elder MacLay

Week of November 25 "CRISTALINA"

Hey my doods! Week 1 in my new area Cristalina was great!

First off, I'll give a quick summary about the area. It's a small and beautiful little farmish town. We find little crystal on the ground all the time, hence the name Cristalina. We are teaching some really awesome people and the branch here is awesome. There's this group of young adults in the branch that are big ballers swagsters and spiritual swagsters. It's hard for me to adjust to a new area, especially after loving my old area, but this place is a good one for sure.

We have some investigators from Venezuela. They only speak Spanish. GRAÇAS A DEUS my comp is from Mexico and speaks spanish. I taught about half the lesson using my Portugese and the little tiny bit of Spanish I learned messing around in high school. It was pretty sweet. The spirit was strong and when I asked if they understood, the mom said "todo", which in spanish means "everything." 

Friday was one of the best and most interesting days on the mission. We had so many opportunities to bless peoples' lives.

First, we were walking to our lunch appointment and this dude came up to us and said "hey you guys are of Jesus, bless me." So we said a prayer with him.

Later in the day we were doing some contacts and it started raining pretty hard, so we went to the house of a lady called Marienede, that had been baptized recently (still not confirmed though). When we showed up the family said that we arrived at the perfect time and they were just about to call us. Marienede was struggling really hard with depression and had just expressed to her family that she was having suicidal thoughts. We gave her a blessing and we had a really powerful discussion with their family.

We were on our way to the hospital to give another blessing to an investigator (which went really well) when a lady stopped us on the street and asked for a prayer with us. She just said, "HEY, I want a Christmas prayer." We didn't really know what that meant, so we said a prayer and included the word 'Christmas' in the prayer lol. 

Me and my comp watched a part of a talk in general conference that morning about the beauty of prayer. I can't remember who gave this talk, but he said something along the lines of "God is all knowing and all powerful. He is creating worlds and doing so many things beyond our comprehension, but we can kneel down and talk to him literally anytime we want, with having to schedule an appointment." I think it's important to remember the power of prayer and not take it for granted.

In other news:

-I almost died playing soccer. I scored 2 super lucky goals right off the bat and so all the competitive doods switched the teams, putting me at goaley and all the guys that kick really hard on the other team lol

-Flamengo (everybody's favorite soccer team here) won this huge game this week and so everyone started lighting off a bunch of fireworks all at once. It was terrifying and I thought I was in 'Nam for little bit 

There's so much more I could include but imma stop it right here.

I'll throw in some pics of my departure from my homies Ruy and Luan. And maybe some other pics.

TE AMO

<3 Elder MacLay