Friday, February 24, 2017

"Did You Know Today Is The Best Day Ever?"

February 20, 2017

Yo Yo Yo,

This week was good but in a different way than you might think. It wasn't like things were really bad or that things were really good, but it was a good mix of both and it was a great test of ATTITUDE! t’was fun. jaja.

New York is kind of in a bad mood in general right now because of politics so we try to avoid the marches and such as much as possible. Life is fun in New York.  jaja

On Saturday we decided to try something new, we took our massive whiteboard and set it up outside of the subway station and after a while we went back to our usual spot in front of the church again. We had some great responses at both places. We switched up the questions on the board to see what would best create a dialog, the one that got people's attention the most was; "Did you know that today is the best day ever?!" We stood next to the sign with a huge smile on our faces as we repeated the question as people walked by.  We got a lot of different responses, but the most common response was;  "Yes it is! Every day is the best day ever!" It was awesome!!!  We got so many smiles – the most smiles I think I’ve ever seen in one day in New York. Jaja  Some people would stop and ask us "Why?" And we would reply with something along the lines of "Well, we woke up! That means we have one more day to repent, serve God, and be happy!"   Our answer actually comes from Alma 42:4!  Overall it was a positive experience, a lot of fun and I personally loved it.  Another plus was that we made a lot of good contacts to follow up with.

Not only was a great week to see positive progress in people, but while standing out front of the temple asking people if they knew it was the best day ever, out of the temple walks Brother Somerset from my old area! It was a great surprise and made me sooooo happy to see a familiar face I hadn’t seen in a long time. We worked really hard with this man and he is seriously one of my favorite people ever. He received the Melchizedek priesthood a couple of months ago and attended the temple that day for his very first time.  I was sooooo excited! I gave him the biggest hug. It really was the best day ever!!

Also in terms of progress, Freddy prepared and blessed the sacrament for the first time yesterday. It was a great spiritual experience and I could just feel the love that Heavenly Father has for him. I'm grateful that I have been able to know him.

ON A FUNNY NOTE:  We started talking to a guy on the street last night and he lied to us about his beliefs in an effort to get us to go away. He started to try and say all of these extreme beliefs to scare us away but we were persistent and eventually he started laughing and said "Man, y'all are too nice! I’ve  been trying to lie to y'all to get you to go away but y'all are too loving and won't leave! Al’ight, lemme tell ya the truth 'bout my beliefs.."  We ended up have a really great conversation and he was really cool. jaja. Good old Steve.

Love you! Did you know that this week is the BEST. WEEK. EVER?!

Elder Mackintosh


 The White Board





Church with Freddie (an unusually warm February day) 


 This is what it looks like when you don't want to wear your basketball

shoes outside.  jaja

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Never and Always

February 13, 2017

Hiiiiii,

So I'm not going to write much, just write simple. This week Satan tried to get us down with some things, but there is power in attitude.  

There are two things that stuck out to me this week out of what happened. In my personal studies I have been studying a Christlike attribute a week, and this week it was “virtue”. I studied a lot and then I felt like I needed to figure out what I had learned. I decided to make a split list of "I will never..." and "I will always..." in regards to virtue. It was powerful to clearly state my standards on the subject! I highly recommend doing this. I also recommend writing a few sentences as to why I desire to live like that. Once again, I highly recommend doing this! If you get the chance to do that list this week, let me know how it went!

The other thing is the importance of "real intent" when asking questions in prayers and specifically about the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. I always thought it meant sincerity but that is mentioned as a separate thing in Moroni 10:4-5. So that means it has to be something different! In a talk on Sunday it was defined as setting out clearly your intent of action once you receive the answer. For example, "if the Book of Mormon is true I will be true to its teachings and will strive to build the kingdom of God. If it is not true, I will search and work until I do find the truth." It’s kind of an interesting way to look at it, right? I love it! I connect with this because this is how my prayer was when I asked if I should serve a mission. I know that prayers are answered as we have faith in Jesus Christ, sincere hearts, and real intent.

I love you all! Freddy received the Aaronic priesthood yesterday and it was sooooo awesome! He has changed a ton. Also he was able to go to the Stephanie Nelson fireside last night and it was amazing. Go check out her blog if you haven't seen it already! Inspiring woman.

Elder Mackintosh

On top of a members roof





Dodgeballllllllllllll

Monday, February 13, 2017

D & C 82:10

February 6, 2017

Hola familia,

So first off, to update on life, I am no longer in a trio with Elder Cottrell and Elder Tabor. Elder Tabor became an assistant to the president for his last 3 months as a missionary. So, now it’s just Elder Cottrell and I, but that is awesome because he is a great guy and missionary.

Sweet Miracles: We decided as a companionship to ask everyone for referrals and to keep ourselves accountable by doing 10 push-ups for every person we talked to without asking for referrals. The first day we had to do 140 push-ups each, the second day 100, the third day 40, and the fourth day only 20. We weren't seeing many results from this but knew it would pay off.  The reason for our faith and hope is because  “Preach My Gospel” talks about the importance of asking for referrals as well as we had Elder Bennett promise us that if we ask everyone for referrals then we will have enough people to teach. The following Sunday, two members brought their roommates to church for their first time and they both loved it! Then to add to that, that night our bishop text and said he got a call from a member in California and she gave him info for someone that lives here that is interested in the church because of the Book of Mormon and our high morals. D&C 82:10 is true -  when we do our part, the Lord always does his. Faith.

If you are wondering, D&C 82:10 says: "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." And I just think that is awesome! Have faith and keep the commandments, and then in return we get the promised blessings. Every. Single. Time. 

Yesterday I was also able to confirm Freddy as a member of the church and give him the gift of the Holy Ghost. It was my first time doing that and it was so special! I love Freddy. It will be hard to say goodbye to him one day. He has grown so much and just has such great desires to keep growing spiritually! 

Love you all. Genuinely! Thank you for your support. Yesterday was my 18-month mark! I’m grateful for your love and support. Time is flying.):

Elder Mackintosh 


The happiest trio ever


 Love Elder Tabor and Elder Brasileiro!


This guy was part of a short film about ordering a dictator online. Idk, we just saw him dressed like this and asked for a picture. jaja 


 HOPE for New York