Week 2 in Jerome!

Hey all yalls!!

What a crazy week!!! haha we had a ton of great stuff happen and i'm not really sure where to start.. We got our new mission president on Saturday!!!! President and Sister Curtis! that was nuts! We had a big meeting to get to know them and they seem really awesome and just ready to get to work! thats my kind of mission president! they are form utah but have been sereveing a mission in Georgia when they got there call to come here! so thats cool they know what it feels like to be a missionary!

*(note: all the pics in this post are flashbacks from LaGrande - not from Jerome)

The Chadwick fam! haha we taught a lesson in there home every week for 6 months! so awesome I love them!!!  

They told us about some crazy changes and stuff.... drum roll.... we aren't aloud to wear backpacks anymore... haha the church instead asks us to use man purses... or "saddle bags" that stinks... so ya I have 3 months to find one that I like to replace the good old backpack.. but the cool thing is the reason we wont wear backpacks anymore is because we wont be carying that much materieals any more!! because by the end of this year we are going to be a completely digital mission and each companionship will have an ipad for record keeping and teaching!! haha thats pretty crazy! other things changed now to like we can wear kaki pants now!!! haha I know sweet!!!! I'm pretty excited lol! but ya they just really relaxed the dress code and the church is letting more personality through in the way we dress! haha still white shirts and ties though! but ya theres a bunch of new stuff going on! 

And DOUG!!! At his goat cabin in the mountains!! - Holy hard it was to say goodbye to this guy but I love him so much!

In the area we were without a car for a few days cuz the other missionaries put a nice dent in it.. so we walked in the heat and we were blessed for it! we were able to teach so many LA members!!! it was pretty crazy! literally everyone seemed to be home! We also found a guy who invited us in for some water and asked us for a BOM!!! That was legit!! haha too bad he's moveing in a couple weeks but he is just full of questions!

We taught a coulple kids named Chloe and Trevan who are 11 and 13 and holy cow they are so prepared! They are like spiritual giants and have a way better understanding of the gospel then I did at their age! They will get baptized soon! the only problem is they go to church with their grandparents up in Burley Idaho soo it makes the whole baptiseing them in this ward kinda tricky! they are so solid and read and pray everyday though! That seems to be the case with alot of the young people we teach in this area! The kids are thirsty for it and have to drag their parents along! It goes to show that this comeing generation is even more rightous and ready for the world then mine was! ummm The family we live with is super awesome!

Me and Mallory and the Royers!! I love those ppl!!

The Powells have a son on a mission and take super good care of us!! we had a big breakfast with them this morning on their poarch over looking the valley which was super cool! We also tuaght a guy this week named Chase who promised his wife that they WILL have a Temple marriage so you can say he's pretty golden! he's super cool to and will get dunked here pretty quick! Me and Perdue have been getting along super well! I love that kid! he is an awesome teacher and is just a spiritual giant! I think we'll be able to have some good sucsess together!

Me and one of the Royers

Our wards are really good! Bro Black is a ward missionary in one of our wards and he seriously would come out with us every day! he spent probably a solid 6 hours teaching lessons and driveing us around this week! I've never seen such a devoted member missionary! His love for everyone is just incredible to! He tells us literally everywhere he takes us home much he loves the people we are going to see and it show in our lessons! We started teaching a new family this week! Terrian Jenkins and her son Tory and his friend Suga Shane Moses lol haha he's like the only black kid in Jarome! but they are awesome and super solid! They have had a really rough life and Terri says that literally everytime we come over its an awnser to one of her prayers!! wow! its really feels good when someone understands how much you want to help them and how much the message of the gospel will do for them! 

That's about it! We have been super blessed in this area and I know its because how hard we are working to be deligent and obedient! It crazy how much Heavenly Father loves us! We gave a blessing to a woman last night and as soon as we walked in ther door the spirit was there and I felt this unbeleavable love that can only come from a loving heavenly father! Bro Black gave the blessing and it was really powerful! Its incredible that the power to administer to the sick is back on ther earth! It made me really grateful for Dad how he was always willing and worthy to use use the Priesthood to bless our family. I deffinitely want that for my future family! I've seen to many broken homes who don't have access to that and it really does affect everything!

I love you all so much! Share the gospel and all of that jazz!

Love Aaron

6 months out!! and Happy Birthday Dad!

My Family!

Hey Everyone!! Holy cow this was a hectic week! Yet awesome! 

Well I'm not sure if yall know this but I hit my 6 month mark this week! Pretty crazy right?? time flies but I've heard as long as you can keep your focus it will only speed up from hear! Soo first off, Miranda, Micalea, and Kera(so sisters) you should send me emails so I have your individual email addresses! I obviously suck to the highest at getting you individual letters so I would love to beable to shoot you at least a quick email each week! Miranda!!! I'm so sorry to hear about your collar bone... Get feeling better ok?? I know how tough injuries can be.. I am flippin proud of you though! I can't believe that you had your senior night already! your awesome and I know that you are going to be freakin awesome in college!! Just try not to beat yourself up and stay positive! Your definitely an all-star in my book!!!(sooner then you think everyone else as well !!

My week as I said be fore was craycray lol! Having to cover both areas in Lagrande is a challenge but awesome! We got to go to Elgine Oregon which is about 40min out of Lagrande and teach some super cool hill billy people up there lol! hahaha they called Lagrande the city and Lagrande has maybe 10,000 people in it and yeah... is pretty small but these people were so funny about it! They have a 100 year old opera house in Elgine that the community runs so we got to do some awesome service for awhile helping build sets and dropping backgrounds!! Learned a ton about theater and stuff lol! Those big canvas drops weigh a flip ton! haha The other elders have a guy who is getting baptized up there named Jeff 2 Horse lol! he legally changed his name after having a vision about him riding 2 horses at the same time... haha its apart of his native american heritage.  

We taught Jon Jian 2 times this past week!! He is seriously awesome! we tought him the restoration and Joesph Smith and he on his own time researched all about early church history! He calls it "our" churches history! He told us how touched he was that they sacrificed so much to bring us the truth! Sooo yeah he's getting baptized on March 2nd!!!!! I am so happy for him! He is seriously a spiritual giant and I know that he is going to have a big part in bringing the gospel to the people of China! We met with Mallory twice this week as well and after allot of praying we decided on the 2nd of march for her baptism as well!! She told her family and they said they would support her and still love her even if she is a member of a cult lol! She really is awesome and way strong! She has an awesome knowledge of the scriptures and a real desire to learn the truth! She texts us gospel questions all the time throughout the week! She is awesome! 

We had a bunch of cool experiences with less active members this week as well and It is so amazing to see someone who knows they need to make a change and then go out and do it! It is even better when they tell you how much happier they are because of it! It just feels rewarding! haha so that was my week in a nut shell! Lots of driving around and a ton of miracles! 

I love you all and hope your doing well! I am doing awesome! Love Elder Macfarlane!!

P.S hey so cool experience, Saturday I got super sick with a head cold flu thing that has been going around.. Everyone told me that it took them 4 days to get it out of there system and that I had the worst ahead of me.. I received a blessing Saturday night and by the morning I was feeling alot better! Today almost all my symptoms are completely gone and I'm just a tiny bit tired from it! I'm being looked after for sure and I know it because I have work I need to do and I need to be healthy to do it! Love you all! I'm looking forward to an awesome week! hope you all are to!

P.S.S DAD! Happy birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope all yall Mac's do something awesome to celebrate!

Answered prayers and priesthood blessings

Hello everyone!

Its pretty crazy as all ways, Mondays keep rolling around and I have know idea where my weeks have gone.. Haha anyways it was a good week! We took 2 of our investigators to the temple on Wednesday night and it was way cool! Byron and Francis are their names and they have been investigating the church for like 3 years and haven't been progressing and yeah its gets frustrating at times. But anyways we took them through the temple on Wednesday and by the end of the tour they were both in tears and I like had to hold my self back I was soo happy! Byron was looking at the picture of John the Baptist baptizing Jesus after in the church building and he told us that he's been dragging his feet for awhile now and he needs to just take the step forward! holy cow what a miracle! we are going to set a Baptismal date hopefully with him this week and yeah it will be so awesome! 

I prayed like the whole tour that their hearts would be softened and their spirits receptive to the promptings of the holy ghost and wowza! Does Heavenly father answer prayers or what!!!

haha so Tuesday night and all of Wednesday except for the tour we did missionary exchanges.. haha I got put with this brand new missionary for the day and he was a pretty ummmm strange in a good way i guess haha. It was a good experience though I'm so glad I got the opportunity to lead the area and well train a greeny lol haha he's a good kid! anyways while I was with him one of our investigators called and said she was in the hospital about to have surgery and she wanted a blessing, so we rode over straight away.. I'm not going to lie I was crazy scared and nervous(its the first blessing I've ever given) I can tell you though that the blessing she received was not form me.. I was so nervous I could hardly think when I was about to start yet the words flowed out and yeah.. It was a awesome experience! Her surgery went well and she got out of the hospital the next day and is moving around great now! 

The Lord is truly amazing in his ability to bless people.. I am glad I was worthy and want to always be worthy enough to allow Heavenly Father to bless people through me. 

I Love all of you! I'm praying for yall like crazy! that storm sounds pretty crazy! I hope it stays away from yall and everyone will be safe! Love Elder Aaron Steele Macfarlane!