Repentance Is For Everyone

Hiiiiiii,

So this week has been quite the roller coaster with our investigators. In a nut shell we had some investigators take some really big acts of faith and steps of repentance, so that was awesome! Then on the other side of things we had some investigators that were to be baptized this weekend decide to not do so and one decided not continue to meet with us. So it has been really hard at some times but it has also been really sweet at others. But like the scriptures and my dad have always taught me, we experience the lows so that we can recognize and enjoy the highs. There must be opposition for all
things. That is how it must be.

So the reasoning for the title of my email is because it has been on my mind throughout my whole mission and especially on my mind recently. Everything that we do as missionaries is to help people repent. We help people go through the steps of the gospel of Jesus Christ which are Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the end. Repentance is a part of every single one of those points and it is 100% needed to be able to live where we want to live after this life. It is the most amazing thing to see people repent and see the weight come off of their shoulders and happiness to come into their lives. It is hard to see people want to carry those weights instead of giving them to Christ. There is a better way! Repentance isn't shameful! We all need it! Sin is bad, not repentance! This is something that I have become passionate about as a missionary. This is what matters. I'm so happy that I get to help people repent and that I get to repent every day of my lifesaver well. I love it!

I know that we all go through hard times and that is okay, they pass. In this life we experience highs and lows and that is how it has to be. Enjoy both! Sorry for always trying to be happy but that is honestly how my mind thinks. jaja.

If you have things weighing you down and you don't know how to go through the repentance process, I would invite you to talk to your bishop. If you are a non member I would invite you to talk with the local missionaries or to email me and we can talk about it. Repentance is real and it is so cool! Christ lives and I love the brother that he is for me.

Love you all!

Elder Mackintosh

 Us eating breakfast with one of my favorite people ever. Él se llama Harvey

We played basketball anda it felt very refreshing!

Modesty Is Important

Hey, it's really hot!

I titled my email "Modesty is Important" because it has been on my mind lately. It is really warm here right now and people are starting to wear less and less clothes. It's terrible! Modesty is important. As we understand the importance and sacredness of our bodies, we strive to treat them with respect and to help others have respectful thoughts

while looking at us. Modesty and the respect of the use of such bodies is crucial. Random thought, but it has been on my mind and I felt to share it!

Things are going really well here in Poughkeepsie! The zone is improving a ton and it is so fun! Last night we set a baptismal date unexpectedly with someone we were teaching and it was just so cool to be guided by the spirit to extend that date at that time. This calling is so special!!

Miracle moment: We have 3 investigators with a baptismal date and two weeks ago at the end of church they said that they would not come back to church. They said that it stressed them out and that they wouldn't come. The oldest one called later that day and apologized and set up an appointment for the next day. We met with them and talked about the experience and how it could be better next time. (Coming 15 minutes

early, sitting up front, etc.) By the end of the lesson they were willing to go to church one more time before they would give up on it. We told them that we would be fasting on Sunday so that they could have a good experience at church and we invited them to do this same. Well Sunday came around and us and one of our investigators were fasting for the purpose of a good experience. Well by miracle, the sacrament was blessed in Spanish this time, I gave a talk, the ward members all talked to them, and the second hour lesson was great! They loved it and it was a true miracle that those things all happened.

It was a great week! I appreciate your prayers! Love you!

Elder Mackintosh

 Elder Cruz said "take a picture, I look really good."

Elder Colson is a good friend that flew home today. He is awesome - I will miss him. 

Also my roommates and companion are in the picture as well. Life is good!

It's Hot Outside

May 25, 2016

So I will start off with something that took my heart on a roller coaster this week!  We had invited an investigator named Lilli to come to church and she said that she probably would be there. We called her a couple of hours before church and she said that she was still working and it would be hard to make it but that she would try. Well right before church started, she came walking in with her two daughters! After sacrament

meeting I asked how she enjoyed it and invited her to stay for the classes. She responded with "I didn't like it. It stressed me out. I will not come back. Don't expect me to come back. I will not come back."  We then went into the hallway where a ward member ended up talking to her and realizing the stress was more from work and lack of sleep and not the church service. She still went home though.  After church we received a call from her and we were scared that she was going to drop us.  She said "Hi, I'm calling to say sorry. Today wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault. I will see you tomorrow at the normal time."  BEST.NEWS.EVER! We met with her the next day and all is well. J  Praying for her to have a good experience this week.

But really when she told me her feelings about church, my heart was ripped out of my chest! A lot of planning, thinking, praying, fasting, and love go into working with these investigators and that makes it hurt so bad when they don't progress. This is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and literally everyone would benefit. That is what keeps me going. I have accepted the call to help my brothers and sisters here in this mission to repent and to follow Christ. It is not easy, but it is the most rewarding thing in the world.

Thank you for taking the time to read his email! I would like to invite you to think about ONE thing that you can do this week to show God that you appreciate him. As we are grateful, we are happy.

Love you!

Elder Mackintosh

We got up real early and went hiking

We went mini-golfing today and I'm still a champion! (my legs are long)

Elder Colson is going home next week. I will miss him. We have

lived with each other for about 7 months and he is a true friend.

Personal Revelation is so Special

¿Cómo están?  

So, I went to the temple today and that is the reason for the title of my email. It was amazing to be in the temple. The feelings while in the temple are that of peace and love. It is just so special every time that I am able to go and do work for those on the other side. I also am so grateful for a Heavenly Father that answers prayers and does so on a very personal level. I can't describe it very well or with as much feeling as I would like to, but I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father and we also have Jesus Christ as our loving brother. I grasp that just little by little and each little realization is a testimony grower. So cool!

Miracle moment:  Right as we showed up to give a lesson with some progressing investigators they said "We didn't read. None of it – we  didn't read." We were a little caught off guard but proceeded to talk about it and then started the lesson. One of the investigators said,  "Today I was praying and I asked God if I should even keep meeting with you." And to that we were a little scared that she was about to tell us to stop coming over... we didn't really know where to go with it, but then our member that was with us said, "Let's go to Moroni 10: 4-5" and he then continued to explain the background and read it. After the scripture and hearing his testimony, the investigator was completely different. She said, "That scripture just touched me.. While you read that, I felt it. When you leave here I will read anything that you want me to and I will start to pray tonight. You will also come back tomorrow and we will talk about it."  Wow!  We went back the next day and had a wonderful lesson! They now have a baptismal date for June 11th and we are so excited for them!

Life is good.

I love choosing to be happy everyday. I testify that obedience to God’s commandments brings happiness! I love this gospel so much. I hope that you have a great week and that you may try to do something to show God that you are grateful for what he has done for you.

Love you!

Elder Mackintosh

PHOTOS:

1. Temple

2. Zone conference

3.  Conducting zone conference. jaja

           

Casi el día de la madre‏ (Almost Mother's Day)

Hello from Poughkeepsie,

So this week was fun of course! Every week is fun. On Sunday we had a man come to church that told us he’d only a been to church about 4 times in the last couple of years. Miracle! We had another member give him a ride and it was just so great to see him there.  Well, during Sacrament/testimony meeting I thought that I had gotten out of translating for the day but then he comes up and taps my shoulder to ask if I would go up with him and translate for the ward. So now two weeks in a row I have translated two full 15 minute talks for the whole ward. It is fun but also very hard! I can testify that the gift of tongues is real and that when we act on our faith, God supports us. I found that to be true as I translated this man’s story about how he ended up coming back to the church. The spirit was strong and I am so grateful for the times that God uses me to bless other people's lives.

Something that has been talked about by my mission president is the question,  "Why do YOU go to church?" And it is a good question to ask yourself. There are lots of great things at church that could be the answer. We go to learn, to support each other, to serve, to feel the spirit, to teach, to do a lot of things. But why do we go to church every week? To renew our covenants. We go because Christ suffered for us and we promised at baptism (those of us that have made this covenant) that we would remember him and his suffering. That we would keep his commandments. That we would repent continually. That we would follow him. The sacrament may all be taken in a sacrament meeting with a lot of people present but it is as personal as personal could get. We individually partake and renew our covenants. This has helped me so much to really think about why I go to church. I go to show Christ that I am grateful for what he did for me and to continually strive to repent and change. I would just invite you to ponder about the atonement and why you go to church. I know that it will strengthen your relationship with Christ.

Well everyone, I love you all and I hope that you know that I am genuinely happy. Being a missionary is the best thing in the world! I pray that you may be able to catch the vision of missionary work and help out our brothers and sisters in this world. Have a great week!

Con amor,

Elder Mackintosh

PHOTOS

1. Classic double thumbs up missionary picture over the Hudson

2. Mustaches for my companion, Elder Brasileiro's 20th birthday

3rd and 4th pictures are of my first day with my trainer Elder McBride and then when I saw him two days ago. I look different! I know... I have put on 15 pounds... Jaja

"Trump all the way!"

YO,

Okay so I bet you are wondering why I titled my email "Trump all the way!"  I will start with telling the story that will explain it. (jaja)  Sorry if it isn't funny for anyone else but it makes me laugh just to think about. (jaja)

Here’s the story: This week we were tracting and this guy opens the door and my new companion, Elder Brasileiro from Brazil, says to him; "Hello sir, what is your name?" And the guy replies to us with a fist in the air, "Trump all the way!!!"  My companion having English as his second language says, "Okay Trump, we are missionaries..."  I chuckled a little bit, but I just go with it and we teach him part of the restoration – he  tells us he’s not interested.  Well afterwards, as we were walking to our car, my companion says,  "So what did he say that his name was?" I said "He didn't tell us his name." I then explained what happened, and my companion thought it was hilarious (jaja) he said, "That makes sense! I had never seen someone so excited to say his name!" Now it's funny to us and we continue to play on it… "Brother Trump" or "Brother all the way" (jaja oh Elder Brasileiro)

(Also, on a side note, my email glitched out and I lost my drafts again... Soooooo if I never respond to you. That's why. Sorry!)

Now to be serious, life is so great as a missionary. We have seen so many miracles this week and just crazy huge blessings. I would to share all of them but that would take too long so I will just write one out. Here it is…

We looked up an investigator named Juan. When we got to his house we knocked on his door only to be told by his daughter that he was not home. Right then a truck pulled partially into the driveway and it was him! Well unfortunately, the truck then pulled out and drove away. (jaja) The daughter called him and told him who we were and that we were there waiting for him. Juan turned around and came back to his house immediately so that he could meet with us. We took him through the lesson on the restoration and it was an all-around solid lesson. We told him about Joseph Smith and how he prayed to know which church was true, and Juan said "yeah, and that's what we have to do to. We need to ask God."  He nailed it - we were just so excited for him. Then we talked about how we have a prophet today and he stopped us and said "Wait, we have a prophet on the earth today?!" I responded "Yes, he lives in Utah." His wife then enters the room and he says to her "Do you know that we have a prophet?! We have a prophet! He is in Utah!" He was so excited about it and so excited to pray and ask God about everything that we had told him. He set up the return appointment with us instead of the other way around. (jaja) Golden.

Life here is great. This whole week I have been dissecting Alma chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon, and it has been so amazing. I would like to invite you to study that chapter and set goals after reading. Repentance isn't an event, it is a process.

Love you all and I wish you a splendid week!

Elder Mackintosh

P.S. Elder  Brasileiro and I jogged across the Hudson River today but I took pictures on my camera and can't get them to load onto my iPad right now, so will have to send them next week.

PHOTOS:

1. Elder Cruz and I (he is my roommate from the Dominican Republic)

He’s a cool missionary.

2. My companion holding up the walkway over the Hudson. Boo-ya!

Change is Good!

I'm excited to write this email! (jaja) The things that missionaries get excited about are weird.

This last week was transfers and it was most likely that I would be leaving. Well Saturday comes and President Smith gives me a call in the afternoon and says, "You will be going to a new area and...  and I will call you back later to tell you your area and assignment."  After hearing that, my mind was going through all of the possibilities, but really I had no clue where I would be sent...


A few hours later, I received another call from President Smith and he says, "So you know how I said that you would be going to a new area? Well, I have been praying and pondering a lot and..."

At this point my heart is just pounding out of my chest and then he continues, "You will be getting transferred to Poughkeepsie to serve with Elder Brasileiro and I'm calling you to be a Zone Leader."   When I heard that, I had an immediate calmness come over me and felt peace instantly. It was so cool to have that spiritual confirmation so quickly and so noticeably!  I know that I'm supposed to be here in Poughkeepsie and I'm very excited to do the work here. 




My new companion is from Brazil and speaks Portuguese and understands Spanish, but he doesn't know how to speak it - he was called to speak Portuguese and then got switched yesterday to Spanish with me. (jaja) So lots of growth.  He is so cool! I'm so excited. Also, I will probably learn a little Portuguese now, so that's awesome!

Another cool thing that happened when I was saying goodbye to members on Sunday.  I was talking to brother and sister Tavarez. (I have worked with them ever since I got here and it has been super hard honestly. What it came down to was that I just kept on loving them and tried my best to show them that love. Well through a couple of miracles and huge blessings, they have come to church for the past two weeks and it appears that they are committed to continue coming!) Well, I was talking to them at church and sister Tavarez looked me in the eye and with total sincerity and gratitude said (in Spanish) "Thank you for loving us. Thank you for always visiting us and for helping us. You (and obviously other missionaries) are the reason that we are back in the church."  It was an incredible moment and we both had tears as we continued to talk. I am so grateful to be here on a mission... There is nothing that I would rather be doing. Those moments of joy completely surpass the moments of difficulty. These blessings are incredible.

Love you! Have a great week. I know that I will and you know why? Because I already chose to.

Elder Mackintosh

PHOTOS: 

Elder Brasileiro and I eating some great tacos.

The missionaries from my last Zone. 

My last picture with Elder Cruz Santos before he went with his new companion.

 Picture with the brother and sister Tavarez.

Megan Yates (my brother-in-law's sister) is funny.  

Elder Smith finished his mission today and I shall miss him.