Flooded Chapel and I am a Dad!!!

Hola

This week has definitely been an interesting week! It was a lot better week as far as the work goes. This week we were preparing for the baptism of Brother David. This week was the last week of the cycle and Elder Garcia and I were looking for more people to teach to help for this next cycle that is coming up. This week Elder Garcia rolled his ankle pretty bad running so we weren´t able to work much. This area Volcanes can be tough because most of the houses are locked off so you can´t knock on doors here. We have been focusing on contacting in the street a lot. Lately I have been studying a lot on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and I can not be more grateful enough for it. Everything that Jesus Christ did for us and the sacrifice he made is nothing comparable to what we feel here on the earth. Our sacrifices or pains are nothing compared to what Jesus Christ went through. Thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ we have the opportunity to repent. We are not perfect here but thanks to it all we can return to the presences of our Heavenly Father.

This Saturday we had the baptism of Brother David. What an experience it was! Well we get to the chapel Elder Garcia and I to set everything up and I was told  that the chapel was filled with water. The Sisters had turned on the baptismal font at 10 in the morning and didn´t turn it off until 3:30. It was running for 5 and a half hours and the whole chapel was flooded. It took us like 40 min to get all the water out and to mop and dry the floor. When I saw that basically I was swimming in the chapel I was in shock. It threw me so off guard. I don´t have pictures but I really wish that I took some hahahaha. The baptism was supposed to start at 4 but we didnt end up starting until 5:30 because the bishopric didn´t show up until then. I was a little frustrated that we started so late but the service was so awesome! I had the chance to baptize Brother David and after he shared his testimony and the Spirit was so strong. He talked to us about when his Dad passed away and told him to read The Book of Mormon so that is what he did and when Elder Garcia and I found Brother David he was already in Alma. He now wants to get baptized for his Dad in the temple and wants to do this work. Honestly I was so happy to see him get baptized and to hear his testimony and see how powerful the Book of Mormon really is. It changed Brother David´s life and has changed a lot more. It was a really special service!

Well you guys are probably wondering why the title says that I am a Dad. President Mann has asked me to continue as District Leader and I am going to train a new missionary as well! Today I recieved him and am excited to get to know him better. His name is Elder Diaz and he is from here in Mexico City. He is waiting for his visa because his mission is in la Dominicana Republicano but he is going to work here while he waits for it. I am going to train him and help him out to adjust to the mission and with several things. I am looking forward to this opportunity. It was a good cycle working with Elder Garcia, I am going to miss working with him but I am grateful from what I learned from him. We will have to see what the Lord has prepared for Elder Diaz and I this cycle. Hope all is well and you guys have a great week!

Elder McCain

The fotos are of the baptism of Brother David and my new companion, Elder Diaz

Things Can Not Always Be Easy

Hola

This week was honestly a tough one. This week Elder Garcia and I had 12 citas that fell. We just kept wondering and wondering why the citas kept falling and my comp was starting to become un poco desanimado. This week I was studying and thinking about why the week had gone for us so far how it had and what we could do to make it better. I was reading in the Liahona this week and I was reading a talk from the last General Conference. I don´t remember who said it but it was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. There was a story of how a mom sold a necklace that her Dad had given to her before he passed away and she sold it so that her daughter could get into school. This story made me think a lot on what a sacrificio this mom made for her daughter and then there was a line in the talk that really stuck out to me. It said "but none of the sacrifices we make here en la tierra is anywhere near to what JesuCristo sufrío en el Jardin de Getsemane." I really thought about this quote all week and then I heard the talk La Expiacion y La Obra Misional and that really hit me. It is a message to misioneros and why the mision can be so hard. He says that we can not become to learn the importancia de la expiacion hasta que lo sentamos nosotros. This hit me hard and it really motivated me to keep going and work harder. Even though this week was hard but there are people that are suffering more and JesuCristo far more than what I was feeling this week. This week I really thought a lot about the Expiacion de JesuCristo and what it means to me. I have really come to appreciate more this week the Atonement and am so thankful for nuestro Padre Celestial por uno mandar a su hijo aca en la tierra y dos JesuCristo for the pain that he suffered and how he has given us the oportunidad to return to our Padre Celestial and to arrepentirnos. I can not thank him enough and serving for 2 years and suffering a little bit of what he suffered is the least that I can do. He was sangrando de cada puro cual me asombra la verdad. I am so grateful for these 2 years to serve the Lord and come closer to my Savior!

Although this week was tough we had some bendiciones that I am extremely grateful for. We had 4 en la capilla and we have a baptism this Satuday! I am so excited for it as we are going to baptize David and he is so ready! His testimonio is so strong and I think it is so awesome because his Dad has already passed away and he wants to get baptized for his Dad. He wants to be able to do this work and that he can see his Dad again after this life and live with him forever. I don´t know many 20 year olds that are willing to do that and I am so grateful for the oportunidad to meet him and prepare him to enter el agua del bautismal! 

Shoutout to Elder Garcia (my comp) and los Estados Unidos as it was thieir birthday on Wednesday and Saturday and we celebrated Elder Garcia´s with a family. Today we went to Chili´s with other misioneros and I had HONEY MUSTARD for the first time in a while and let me tell you, it hit the spot! JAJAJAJJA it was a good day today and I hope you all have a great week! Hope everyone had a great 4th of July as well! 

Elder McCain

The fotos are of el Chilango Elder McCain, Elder Garcia´s birthday, and today at Chili´s 

Families and Elecciones

Hola

This week was a pretty good week. Elder Garcia and I are really focusing on finding new people to teach and helping the members to get involved in the work. The ward here in Volcanes is getting better. The last few weeks there has only been like 40 people in la capilla. Elder Garcia and I tambien have been focusing on activating miembros to help the growth in the ward. Yesterday there was 70 en la capilla and it made me so excited because there are people going that we have been visiting. My goal in every area that I put for myself is to strengthen the barrio and help it feel like more like a familia. This week we had un noche de hogar with a familia that has been having problemas entre ellos. We had a noche de hogar sobre la familia un proclamación del mundo and it was such a good night. I felt the Spirit so strong there as Elder Garcia and I testified of the importancia de la familia. I can not express the love that I have for my family and my Padre Celestial for sending me here in one. The family is so important here in the world, always stick close to them because al fin de cuentas ellos serán sus mejores amigos por todo la eternidad. We can learn so much from our families, I can tell you that I am where I am today because of the influence my family has on me. Something we did with this Familia Hernandez was make a poster and put a picture of JesuCristo in the center and had them put metas para llegar a JesuCristo as a family. I invite all families that they will make goals and work together to complete them because you will see so many bendiciones in your lives and those around you especially in el hogar. Keep close to your family and always look for what you can do better to mejorar su familia. I encourage all to read the Proclamacion el Mundo as a family and to invite some family or friends that may not know what it is to a noche de hogar to read it together. Take from that what you can do as Dad, Mom, Son, and Daughter to mejorar as a person in your family. I am so grateful for mine and love them so much and the example they are to me. 

This week I have been thinkign a lot about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how I can better apply it in my life and the life of those I am teaching. I am just so grateful for el Señor JesuCristo y todo que habia hecho por cada uno de nosotros! There is a scripture that I love en el Libro de Mormon that comes in 2 Nefi 25:26, it says 

26 Y hablamos de Cristo, nos regocijamos en Cristo, predicamos de Cristo, profetizamos de Cristo y escribimos según nuestras profecías, para que nuestros hijos sepan a qué fuente han de acudir para la remisión de sus pecados.

I love this scripture, we do everything in Cristo and something that I have focused on lately is helping the people realize what an importance JesuCristo has in their lives. We can not thank him enough, the sacrificios that we make in this life are no where near comparable to what JesuCristo suffered en el Jardin de Getsemane. Once the investigadores realize that, after that through the Libro de Mormon y el Espiritu Santo indicando las cosas they feel the change in their lives and the need to get baptized. I am so grateful to be a misionero and to get closer to my Savior and learn more about him and help others to recognize and get themselves closer to him! I know that through him we are able to get to the presencia de nuestro Padre Celestial de nuevo y el es la roca de nuestro religion. This Church is so true and the teachings that we can learn only make us stronger and closer to our Padre Celestial. 

Ayer there was elecciones here in Mexico for presidente so we were locked in house. It was not fun being in the house but it was a nice break too jajaja. Today as a zone we went to a place called rio frio and it was so awesome! I felt like I was in Colorado again with all the green and mountains! I love the mission so much! Hope you guys have a great week! 

Elder McCain

The fotos are of hoy con la zona en rio frio

Accountability

Hola

This week was an up and down week. This week Elder Garcia and I have really focused on making metas diariamente. Something that we have seen is that the metas diariamente has really helped us to achieve lots of things this week. We strived to look for more people to teach this week because we could use some more investigators and I know there are more people here that could use the Evangelio. This week we found a whole soccer team that plays here in Mexico and 17 of them live in a house in our area. It was so awesome, it honestly made Elder Garcia and I super happy as we talked with them for a little bit and they were amazed that two Gringos could roam around Mexico haha. This week for my Junta I talked about being accountable. It has been something all my life that I have held high as a standard not only in life but in sports and everything. This week I talked to my District about doing the right thing aunque pres no nos esta viendo. Honestly it has been on my mind all week long and something that I have thought about all week is how important this work is and how we are here on the Lord´s time. We need to work as if the Lord were always watching us well he basically is and realize why we are here as misioneros y representantes de  Jesucristo. Our time here is so important and we have to be accountable in everything that we do. There are a couple scriptures that have been on my mind this week, se encuentran en Doctrinas y Convenios Sección 101: 35-36. 

35 And all they who suffer persecution for my name, and endure in faith, though they are called to lay down their lives for my sake yet shall they partake of all this glory.

36 Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full.

I love these scriptures, those that suffer and endure in faith in the name of Christ shall partake of his glory. Not only will we partake of his glory here but we are helping others to be accountable and get on the path of glory. Those scriptures were on my mind all week, I love being a misionero and helping others to get on this path of glory that everyone needs to be on. We are currently working with one investigador that has a fecha for 14 de Julio named David and it is so awesome because he wants to be baptized to be able to do the work later for his Dad that passed away. How beautiful of a blessing is that, that we can help la gente que no tuvieron la oportunidad conocer el Evangelio. The Spirit hit me so strong when David told us that he wanted to see his Dad again and wanted to do the work for his Dad so that it would all be possible. I love this work and the chance I have to have experiencias like that that really help me to strengthen my testimonio!

This week my comp Elder Garcia got pretty sick so we weren´t able to work much to finish this week but we were able to go to church yesterday. We had 2 investigadores en la capilla and the two that were there were investigadores that we have invited to go to the capilla a lot and they kept telling us that they couldn´t but they were able to drop their jobs for the day and go and they felt the Spirit a ton and so did I having them there and seeing how they reacted to everything. It was an awesome experiencia! I love this work hope you all have a great week!

Elder McCain

The fotos are of me no longer American and with Elder Garcia jajajja