Cool Lamp!

March 21, 2016T

This week was awesome!!! 

Tuesday we visited the Fellows and helped her move some bags of stucco. We also accidentally let her dog out so we went and got her.

 Friday we got snowed in so we were not able to do a whole lot.

Saturday though we vested the Menos and talked to him! We also taught the Tranburgs and we invited him to church!

Elder Sanford played the Piano in church so we were able to have the Kendricks come as well! The Kendricks said they would come next week for Easter!! :D 

The Kendricks also gave me a Nazi lamp! (it's not really a Nazi lamp but looks like it could be)

 I will be sending it home!

Love to all!

-Elder Mackin

PS I'm missing Torchy's Tacos :(

Picking up the opportunities

 March 14, 2016

We are now living in the Lewis' home! They are super cool!!!

We also met with 2 of the 4 referrals we got from the Walkers! One of them was not interested. But the other we went with a mind of service! We are hoping to build a ramp for his deck.

 (he is wheel chair bound) We hope to serve and teach as well!

Our Mission President and his wife came to the Loen Tree ward to speak and Sister Rehm said something I really like. She gave a definition of missionary work.

"Picking up the opportunities that God gives you (to serve others)" 

I love you all!

-Elder Mackin

A new Address and 4 Referrals!

WOOO END OF TRANSFER!!! Elder Sanford is now half way through training!! This next transfer is odd because it will be a 7 week transfer (due to the MTC going back to about 3 weeks of training for English speaking) 

WE ARE MOVING!!!!  They prefer to only have missionaries stay in a members home for around 6 months so It does not become too much of an imposition. So even though I will be serving in the same town/ward we are moving into a different members house. We are now moving to the LEWIS family! Brother Lewis was the former Bishop of our Ward and Sister Lewis is super nice!!! 

The new address is 6712 Handiespeak Court, Castlerock CO, 80108

If you recently sent something to the old address its OK, we can go pick it up from them!

Some quotes!

"A plan without action is just a wish!

An action without a plan.... Sucks"- Elder Mogle my Zone Leader

"The Lord does not call the qualified. But qualifies the called!"

As most of you know when I came to Castle Pines there was very little work. Somewhat due to past missionaries that lost the trust of the members.

We have regained that trust and have received 4 Referrals last night! Referrals are people that members would like us to teach. The members that gave us the referrals felt comfortable and ready to share their friends with us. I fell honored to reach out to these dear friends of theirs to bring them the Gospel. 

These photos are of me and Rosco- Sister Fullers dog and me working!

I love you all!

-Elder Mackin

Investigators yeah!

2/22/2016

This week was somewhat slow. But we did lots of service!! We helped out Sister Cox who is the daughter of a member and we helped the Kendricks' move a lot of furniture.

Cade and Elder Horse? from a District meeting

We also went on exchanges on Friday! (where we swap companions for a day with the District leader)

I went to the Spanish Elders area and had dinner at a house where they only spoke Spanish.

They had me say the prayer. But I was ready to bare my testimony! "Jesucristo muy bien!"

We also had stake conference! We had Elder Deshler of the 70 come and speak to us! 

I love you all!

-Elder Mackin

2/23/2016

This is Cade's mom here. I received an awesome text from a great Sister in Colorado where Cade is serving. It brought me to tears and I had to share.

Sister Mackin! I wanted to let you know how much we, especially my boys love Elder Mackin!!!

Before he came, my boys were just lukewarm about missionaries. Then they met your son and everything changed! They have related to/with him in a way I wasn't sure they would with any missionaries, And it was immediate. Now they love to have the missionaries in our home. We will be really sad when he gets transferred. So, as a mother of boys, to a mother of boys, I say thank you for everything you have done to help shape your son into an amazing influence on my sons!

 Celeste McNeil & family

2/29/2016

This week was great! 

Tuesday we met with a person who called us asking for reading material about our church. So we  gave him the Book of Mormon, a Bible, and all of the pamphlets we have!

We also taught Sister Cox who is one of the ladies we have been doing service for. We shared about where we came from before this earth, why we are here and where we are going! 

We have also been teaching missionary lessons during church! We have asked people to write down names and pray about how they can help them bring them into the fold! Whether it be inviting them to dinner with the missionary, having them over for Family Home Evening or  bringing them to church.

Or even inviting them to take the missionary discussions!

Cade and the Kendricks' Fat Wiener Dog Dandy!

I love you all!

-Elder Mackin

Pride is like BBQ Sauce of our life!

So this past week we had Zone Conference! 

The quote that I love is from one of our AP (Assistants to the President) 

"Pride is like the Barbecue Sauce of our life!" 

Ok, let me put that into context.

We as missionaries are tools for the spirit. 

(The APs then took a Nerf dart and had some PVC pipe) the Nerf dart represents the message and we are the PVC. He shot the dart out of the PVC but it did not go very far.

(the APs then put PAM cooking spray to "Prime" it) The cooking spray is our preparedness and our studies in the morning. When they shot the dart  with the "primed" PVC the dart  flew very far!

The APs then put BBQ sauce in the tube and said that the BBQ sauce is like the pride in our life. Sometimes we think,

"We already know the scriptures so why study them?" That is like putting BBQ sauce in our PVC.

He then shot it and it fell out in a big BBQ splat (this was in the Gym btw not the chapel :) 

We did a lot of service for members this week.

The Woltuis family (the Brother who I believe is Batman) are moving. They are downsizing from a huge house to a ranch down south. We also helped Sister Cox who is not a member but the daughter of a convert. We helped her move some furniture so she could vacuum!

Don't forget to "prime" each day!!

I love you all!

-Elder Mackin

Snowed in, flat tire and teaching about Lehi

Woo!! Week 3 of training Elder Sanford!!!

He is doing great!!! He and I get along very well together!!! We each teach differently but we both realize that how the other teaches is how we want to learn how to teach! I teach using objects and analogies. He teaches using questions! I need to learn how to ask better questions! So, I will be learning that from him!!!

So Monday we had a snow storm!!!  We got 14.5 inches Monday February 1st, 2016. On top of the 6 inches from the day before. Due to the amount of snow, we got parked at our dinner appointment. (parked means we can't drive anywhere except home IF we feel safe about it) and Elder Sanford being from CA and I from TX we don't like driving in the snow a whole lot. Luckily the Fellows (a terrific family) live close by to where we were having dinner and let us sleep at their house! Tuesday we had 12 MORE inches of snow!! So, were parked the WHOLE DAY! We stayed at the fellows again that night. Wednesday morning the roads were clear so we felt comfortable driving home! 

On Friday we ran over a nail!!! 

Elder Sanford just took hold and did it so I took pictures!!! 

Our dinner appointment had a family emergency and left for Utah- so we went and got sushi from King Supers!!! Yeah Sushi!!!

 

The possible investigators that we have are doing well!

Tina is from a family of members and has grown up in the church. She is used to having Home and Visiting Teachers come over so she has asked us for those! Yeah!

The Kendricks are still the Kendricks! But we went over to their house on Thursday and shoved their driveway (or what little snow was left). They had a neighbor over (Erick Elder  yea his last name is Elder!) Karen asked us to shovel their front stairs because it was covered in snow up to the door! So we did!

David Kendrick is a talker :) so Elder Sanford went and talked with him (when David talks he carries the whole conversation) so I was able to talk with Mr. Elder! We talked about his religion (Decides of Christ) and we also talked about the Book of Mormon. He asked, " So the people in the book came after Jesus Christ right?" I explained to him that Lehi and his family traveled from Jerusalem about 600 years before Christ's birth. He asked "How did they get there" So I shared with him that they came by a boat that they had built! He also asked how the Aztecs and Mayans fit into the book. I shared that they are decedents of Lehi and his children! 

The work keeps growing but no fruit has been ripened that we have found to pick yet!

I love you all!

-Elder Mackin

I'm a trainer! Possible investigators!!!

So there was transfers last week.

 The Mission President decided to have me stay in Castle Rock and train a  "greenie"!

 A "greenie" missionary is someone straight out of the Missionary Training Center. They are like a green banana that has not ripened :) I picked him up from Colorado Springs Tuesday. That night I had our dinner and two member lesson appointments wearing green shirts for him!

My new companion's name is Elder Sanford!! He is from California and knows how to drive in the snow!!! YAYY!!!! I will be training him here in Castle Rock for the next 12 weeks. By the end of it I will have spent over 25% of my mission in Castle Pines Ward!!! Pretty awesome! I love it here!

My last companion, Elder Hunter was transferred to Limon, CO 

(the plains area).

Here is a picture of Elder Hunter and I (my last comp) and 

Sasha- the dog!

We have a total of about 6 possible investigators!!!

The Tranbergs (part member family)

the Kendricks

The Dwyer Kids

Tina!

and Yosh!

If you could all please pray that they may feel the spirit in their lives and be directed to the church, so that we can call them investigators officially! That would be great! The more prayers the better!

A little bit about Elder Sanford! 

He is 19 years old and came from the Bay Area of California (Cupertino) and worked at a ski shop! He made about 1/3 to 1/4 of his mission funds from that and playing the video game League of Legends!!! He MADE MONEY PLAYING VIDEOS GAMES!!! SO COOL!!!

He was born in Korea but was adopted at 3 months to a family with a Caucasian dad and a Hispanic mom from El Salvador! He has a younger brother also from Korea (no blood relation) and a older sister born naturally and a sister adopted from Mexico!! He is an amazing teacher and has already started to lead the lessons!! Whoop Whoop!

This week I also gave a talk in church about Feasting on the words of Christ!

The scriptures are amazing and are used for many different things! But the main thing to sum it all up is to help us grow! As we read the scriptures we can find stories that we can liken unto ourselves! For example if you are about to move and change homes and you don't feel good about it follow Nephi's example and pray to know if it is the right thing! 

I love you all!

-Elder Mackin