Dando Gracias (Semana 13)

¿Cómo están y'all?

Well this week was Thanksgiving!!! And we celebrated by doing, well, by doing what we usually do everyday haha. To be completely honest I totally forgot that it was Thanksgiving this past week. On Thursday we didn't have anyone to feed us so we went out to eat at Carls Jr. so that was kinda like a celebration I guess. Oh and they had TVs and were watching soccer so I guess it was sorta like Thanksgiving. American food and Futbol.

Ok so this past week was a pretty fun but normal week. Pues voy a hablar de 3 awesome people that we have been talking to this week

Evan; so Evan is a joven that we have been teaching for the past couple of weeks and he is like my favorite dude ever.  First of all he is from Texas!! So that's super awesome! Second we talk en Ingles together. But he is such an awesome joven and really loves to talk about the Gospel! He is always so excited to talk to us and loves going to church with us. He is also inviting his friends to go to church with us too! Such a cool dude.

Jorge;  Jorge is one of my favorite guys that I have had the opportunity to meet. He was actually the first lesson I taught. We taught Jorge for about the first 6 weeks here but then he moved to the area of the other misioneras in the ward. His baptism is actually this Saturday and he asked me to give a talk at his service!

Juan; Juan, the son of Rocio, is a ball of energy. He is actually planning on being baptized this next month which is flipping exciting!! The lessons with him are by far my favorite. Every time we go its like a game between us because we speak about the same level of spanish, well he probably speaks better than me haha. We also color and talk about Book of Mormon stories during the week which is really fun!

Ok so something flipping amazing this week was on Sabado. There was a stake youth actividad and it was all about the Mexican Revolución! It was a celebration de mexico and its culture. It was actually such an awesome event with a bunch of Mexican dancing and singing and it made me proud to be a mexicano for the next 2 years!!!

Finally this week we focused on the Book of Mormon in our studies and it was so so fun!! My testimony of  el Libro de Mormon has grown so much and I have found so many awesome things that have helped me so so much in these first few months! Este libro es un libro de Dios que contiene Su palabra. Les invito a todos a leer este libro. Pueden encontrar mucho paz y gozo por medio de este libro!

les extaño y les amo!!!

con amor

elder mcclellan

super big and bien rico piratas

y pics de la actividad

Estoy Muy Feliz (Semana 12)

¿Que hondas?

What's up y'all?! 

Well here in Mexico it's the Mexican Revolution Anniversary!! We celebrated this morning by playing futbol for about 4 hours and eating tacos!! Which is just about what we do every Monday but today was extra fun. Also tomorrow is cambios so a bunch of people in our zone are leaving, which means a bunch of new missionaries come tomorrow which will be really exciting!  

Ok so today we have even less time than last week because it's a holiday so almost everything is closed or will close early. But three really awesome things happened this week that I want to talk to!

SO first this week mi compeñero y yo found this kid named Evan and his mom. We started talking with them and teaching them and they are really really acceptive. They really want to find the truth and have more peace in their lives because they have been having a hard time seeing the Lords hand in their lives as of lately and are trying to grow closer to Him. Its hard at times to teach Barbara (the mom) because of work but Evan is always in the street when we pass by so we like to take our time and talk with him. We are actually becoming pretty good friends and he is making even more friends in the church. He was really excited when we went to church this week and is looking forward to the youth stake activity this week! Oh and the best part is that they speak INGLES and actually prefer it! So now I have to take the lead in the lessons and sort of become my trainers trainer because he is not that great and confident with his ingles like me y mi español. It's pretty funny because one day after talking with them Elder Diaz turned to me and said "I know how you feel now, its freaking hard. How the heck are you doing it in español?"

Ok, the second cosa is pretty short and cool. There was a Face to Face event last night for the YSA and the Missionaries were invited. It was Elder Ballard y Elder Oaks and its was actually really good. Well part of it. The part talking about the importance of continuing doing the small and simple things was good. The part talking about marriage and dating was not cool. hahaha.

AND finally the most amazing thing this week was the baptism of Rocio!! It was so so amazing and she was so Happy!! Her testimony of the Gospel and of Jesucristo is so so Strong! Her story is really sad. Her husband was really ill and passed away a few months ago and she was really depressed. The first time we met her you could she the pain and sadness in her face because of the loss of her husband. But now she is so so happy. It's amazing the fact that familias can be eternal. This gives her so much peace and hope!! Yo tambien. The knowledge that I can live with my family forever is so amazing and that is part of the message that made me want to serve a mission. To help others know this for themselves

Well thats all I got today!! Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!

I sure am grateful for all of y'all!!

Estoy muy muy agradecido por todos de usteded!!

Les amo y les extrano

elder mcclellan

Rocio and her son Juan de Rios!! Look how happy they are!

Selfie with Juan de Rios.  He is one loco and chistoso nino.  

The mountains here are beautiful. 

final semana de cambio 1 (Semana 11)

Zona Andalucia

YO YO YO

Wow I find myself saying this every week but time really does just fly by! This is week 6 of my first cambio. It's crazy to say that because I can distinctly remember my first few days here like it was yesterday. Just straight up crazy.
Ok so this past week was a pretty good week. It has been getting cooler, like 15ish grados, and it has rained almost everyday so that's been fun. Wet and cold and always working which is actually really awesome! I am loving learning how to work here and am really really grateful for this opportunity.
This past week we met a young familia con una niña that has 2 years. The dads name is Carlos and we met him trying to find a member named Victor. So when we started talking to Carlos we were asking him questions about Victor and when we could find him and stuff like this but then he says to us, yeah Victor was talking to me about yall's iglesia and then said that he really wants to learn more. He said that he wants to become closer to our Heavenly Father and wants to rely more on Him and Jesucristo. We talked a little with him, set up una cita, and left cause we had to get back to our casa cause it was late. As we were walking my compañero y yo just looked at each other, fist bumped, and asked what just happened. It was so awesome. SO we then came back on Sabado and had a little lesson and invited them to church, we weren't expecting them to actually go because we had only talked this one time but their response was amazing. Before we had even told them the time or location they asked what they needed to wear. They even had something but they decided to move it to another day just to go. We ended the lesson and Hno Carlos prayed, and he offered one of the sweetest prayers ever. It was also the first time he has prayed in his life. He is such an awesome dude.
Well today we had our last zone activity and played some futbol, basquetbol, and hand ball. Then ate some delicious campenchanas and took a zone pic. Its weird because its not gonna be the same next week but it'll be just as awesome.
Well I don't have as much time this week but want to just leave a quick thought. This past week we had Zone Conference and talked about Jesucristo and about Christlike attributes. We were challenged to pick one and study and help us develop. So I studied charity, or the pure love of Christ. As I was studying I realized that Charity is like fe in that it leads to action. When you have charity and want to show it you do it by showing it. I just want to share 2 verses of the Book of Mormon with y'all real quick
Mosiah chapter 18 verse 9
"...mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places.....that ye may may have eternal life."
Mosiah chapter 2 verse 7
"And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."
Always try ways to show your love through your actions!!
 

Well thats all for this week!!
Love and miss y'all lots!!
elder mcclellan

Another fun one from Zone Conference

dinner for 3 days because we are poor :)

Finally got money so I got a pirata

  

yeah, it was wet and cold

Que Paso? (Semana 10)

Group activity today.  Someone thought this was a good idea.
(Me, Allred, Diaz, De la Cruz)

Hola!!!! Well its has been such an amazing month here!! So much has gone on and it is so crazy to think I have been here that long. At times it can feel slow but for the most part it has been flying.
Ok so this week has flown by and it was pretty busy but sadly I can't remember all the details but it was such an awesome week.
This week was a week full of Holidays...well two. So Tuesday was Halloween and that was a great day to experience in Mexico. All the kids were dressed up and went trick-o-treating and so it was pretty hard to go out and do stuff so we ended up going to the familia de Roman and eating some muy muy bien rico pollo y hot dogs. They are such good people and we ended up helping them out a bit, cleaned up, did a little bit of cooking, ate, shared a scripture, then left. It was a pretty good Halloween if you ask me. On Thursday it was Día de Muerte. It was a pretty awesome day but we really didn't get to do much. The best part though was the Pan Muerte. It was so rico and was so amazing. They only eat it on Nov 2nd so I am really glad I was here to experience that.

So we have been teaching an hermana that has recently lost her husband and this dia was a little difficult for her. But her faith and courage and trust in God is so so strong. When we had visited her the next day she told us that it had been really rough but that she felt so much comfort reading from the Book of Mormon in Alma captitulo 7 in verses 11-13. It talks about the sacrifice Jesus has made for all of us that we might return and live with him again. This gave her so much peace and when she shared that with us my testimony was strengthened so much. She also has a goal to be baptized next week!!
The last short story from this week that I would like to compartir about a man named Manuel. So the beginning of this is pretty funny and really cool. SO we had planned on visiting a reference for someone that lived in these apartments in our area. So we went to visit and knocked the door. We had been told that it was a young woman with a new baby. But the man who opened the door did not fit that description. First of all it was a man. He was single and in his late 50s. He opened the door and started talking to us for a bit. We found out he has a son that is Mormon but he never really was interested. Well that is until now. He told us about some stuff that had recently happened and that he is pretty sad and that this is a message from God that he should follow Christ and change his ways so that he can find the peace and joy that his son has. That was such a cool thing to hear from him and we are planning to meet with him later this week.
Oh!! We had intercambios with the Zone Leaders this week and the elder that I was with (Elder Tirrell) was sick and was losing his voice so we had one more lesson to go and his voice was totally gone so I ended up having to teach most of it. Which was a pretty scary experience because mi español isn't the best.

So yeah that has been my life this week!!
Les extraño y les amo muchisimo!!!!
Con Amor
elder mcallen....(Lol, no one here can say my name so they all say mcallen, gringo, guerro, mcdonalds, MC, mac and trump...these are the names I get and it's pretty entertaining if you ask me)

We got a machete to protect us.....well actually to cut our lawn

Mi y mi bici

Look at this sunset

If you zoom in, someone painted "familia pueden ser eternas"on the wall with a temple.