Blog of Elder Hamish Macpherson

I had French Toast this morning. It was delicious. But the best part of it all was having that French Toast with my Uncle Gary, Aunty Cheryl, and all my sweet Cousins; Madison, Sidney, Thys, and Ellie! They drove up from their home in southern California yesterday, stayed the night at a hotel, and we met them this morning for a wonderful breakfast. We had a fantastic visit, I got to give them all hugs. It was great to see Ellie, since I’d never met her before! I love ‘em all. I’ve attached a picture, so check it out!

We had a good week. A great week in fact. We taught Jennifer, the referral from last Sunday, and she accepted to be baptized on February 5th! It was fantastic. So Elder Castillo and I have a lot work ahead helping her prepare for that. It’s a miracle. We were really praying and working for one. I’m glad it finally came. I know there are more out there.

Otherwise things are a little slow. A little cold. And like the title suggests, we’ve had some opposition. You see, every night when we come in, we take our bikes inside and park them in our living room area, right next to the front door. Nothing special. But, we woke up Friday morning to find that Elder Castillo’s bike… was gone! Yup, someone came into our apartment in the night, took the bike, and left. Mine was still there, fortunately. I guess they only had time to take his. It seemed as though almost everything else in the apartment was untouched. (I mean it’s not like we have anything valuable in the open) — terrifying, right?

Well, we’re fine! Elder Castillos had insurance, he’ll have a new bike in a couple days. The police caught someone with a gun near our complex that night. But I guess our apartment wasn’t on the report… so according to them “no on was in our apartment” — *sigh* I’m just glad we’re all safe. We always lock our door… but I guess someone forgot that night. I was passed out in bed. I’ve been fighting a nasty cold the last few days. Mostly sinus congestion, headaches, and fatigue. Bleh! Better now though, just getting my voice back. I sound like I’m hitting puberty all over again.

Went on a blitz last night. I was paired up with Elder Marcheschi, from Ogden UT. He’s my “Grandson”, since I trained his trainer. He’s a solid missionary! We met this guy named Steven who started off our conversation with a bunch of anti-Mormon stuff. I cracked a big smile right away. I’ve come to love people like this guy. He was throwing all sorts of stuff at us. He knew a lot. Pretty impressive really. He was very passionate. “You can’t prove the Book of Mormon”, he says, “Cities in the Bible can be found today, but in the Book of Mormon… blah blah” … “You can’t trust feelings!” he said. But that got me thinking…

“Sir, are you Christian?”, I asked.
“I sure am.”
“Sir, how do you know that Jesus is the Christ?”
“Well, it’s clearly recorded in History that in the Roman empire two witnesses were used to establish historical fact… blah.. Josephus… blah… So Christ’s ministry was well known and recorded.”
“I agree. But that’s not my question. Clearly Christ existed, and walked, and taught, but how do YOU know that he is the Christ, the Son of God, and your Savior?”

He then tried to explain his testimony of Christ. But sadly, he missed the mark. His testimony was not based on any witness from God. It was based only on fact. Only on his limited knowledge.

It was fun talking with him though. I smiled the whole time. People like Steven used to scare me. Now I loooove it! Ah… the things I’ve learned on my mission, and the people I’ve met!

Well. Three more weeks, my friends. It’s impossible not to think about it. Everyone I talk to seems to bring it up at some point. Trunky! :X

There’s so much work to do! Till next time!

Love,
Elder Macpherson

Each day is like a building block. I work, and I sweat, and I toil until hopefully by the end of the week there’s something to show for it all.  Hopefully. Some days are just a drag, others I feel like I’m at the top of my game — really I just want to do my best so I can look back at a week and say “That’s good.” In the end you see what went well, and where you can improve. Often the “pay” for a week of hard work doesn’t come until the end of the week. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to come at all. But you have to remember; building blocks. The reward will come, in His time.

That’s missionary work. But it applies to real life too. Better put that in the book of “What I Learned on My Mission.”

Anyway…

Elder Castillo and I had a good week. Last Sunday we met the Foothills Ward for the first time. It’s mostly “old people”, a few younger families, a couple youth, a small chapel. Feels like home. Ha ha. But who’s thinking about home? I love the Bishopric. Bishop Keele and his counselors are great guys! We share the building with the Tala’ofa Tongan Ward. They meet right after us. We’re at 9am, they’re at 1pm. Our ward loves missionaries too, although our members keep seeing the Sister Missionaries in the Tongan ward and they try and invite them over for dinner. “You have great elders!” they say. Besides, the Tongans wouldn’t be happy if we took their sisters. (Fact: You gain a lot of weight if you serve in a Polynesian ward)

The work is picking up. This week was a little rough at first. Still trying to get our heads around this area. We don’t a have a whole lot of solid people to teach, right now at least. Seems like everyone they were teaching before is either sick, or hard to contact. No worries though, we’re searching for people!

Yesterday we got a referral from the Bishop. A lady named Jennifer. I don’t want to jump the gun, but I think she’s an answer to our prayers. Her husband is a member but hasn’t been to church in a while, but they’ve been talking for sometime about coming back to Church. She’s interested. They just had a kid recently. Anyway, we have an appointment tonight, so I’m excited for that!

Well, this time next week I get to see my Aunt & Uncle Hallen out here. They’re taking me and my companion to breakfast. Can’t wait to see them!

Oh, and by the way, it’s COLD here.

Till next week,
Elder Macpherson

Happy New Year everyone!

I can’t believe 2010 is past. My only full year as a missionary. And what a great year it was! My personal journals tell a story I will never forget. Many of the people, the places, and experiences of this year will forever be impressed upon my mind. Thank you everyone who made this year what it was.

Now for 2011.

So my new companion is Elder Alvin Castillo, from Los Angeles California (Area code 310, he says!) — his actual hometown is San Pedro, but it’s close enough to LA and not far from Long Beach. He’s a great kid, he’s short, he’s Filipino, and he’s as green as they come. These last few days in the Foothills Ward have been very interesting. We met the Bishop the first day; he’s a fantastic guy and seems very supportive and excited about missionary work. We also found out that a young girl the elders were teaching (before we got here) was getting baptized, that night! So we went to the baptismal service and met some more people from the ward. Elder Castillo got to see his first baptism as a missionary, on his first day!

I’m back on bike again! In the cold. Ah, I knew this was going to happen. Why couldn’t my last transfer be in the spring? Haha. Oh well, I’ll survive. So far it hasn’t rained too much. Just a little. But the temperature is dropping, and the wind can be bitter. It doesn’t help that I left my jacket in someone’s car when I was getting transferred. He won’t have it back to me until Monday, but that’s fine, I have a temporary one thanks to our kind Bishop. I also have some mittens to keep my hands warm, and a really awesome person I taught knitted me a scarf, back in my last area. It’s great :)

We’ve been busy. Elder Castillo is a literal blank slate, ready to be written on. And I’m the official scribe. In some ways it’s a blessing because he has no preconceived ideas of how things should work. But on the other hand, it means I now have the mammoth task of not only “training” him, but also teaching him what I learned in the Missionary Training Center (3 weeks of classes, all day), in a much much shorter period, and with much less resources. We don’t have the luxury of classrooms, teachers, and special training programs here. I have a copy of Preach My Gospel and the experience under my belt. It’s not much. I definitely feel inadequate. But I’m going to do my best, and pray that God will bless us with success. Elder Castillo is willing, and teachable. The other missionaries in the zone, and in my apartment, are helping too. Foothills Ward has a lot of potential. I think it’s all going to work out.

We live far away from all the other Elders. But, the North Sacramento Zone is awesome. There are lots of different languages up here. We have Hmong and Laotion speaking Elders, and Sisters in the Tongan ward.

We have a lot of work to do. I’m looking forward to Church tomorrow. I’m going to do my best to win the trust of this ward. We’re going to work our butts of this week.

Hope to hear from you all soon.

Till next time!

Love,
Elder Macpherson