Week 46 - kamusta po kayo?

Madangdang Hapon! Not a single one of you understands what that means, but it is evidence that my Tagalog is coming along! It is official we are now the Tagalog missionaries for the Canada Edmonton Mission-while we are still the Zone Leaders and assigned to our area! Not sure what will happen in the future, until then we will just keep pluggin' along and doing the Lord's work! It has been a little overwhelming at times, but that is okay! I am slowly getting things. Actually quicker than I thought I would. I could not do this, nor would I even want to do this, without the help of the Spirit. It really is such a miracle in learning languages on a mission, now I get to experience that a little bit for myself.

To start I will go with our area…the work in our originally assigned area is sort of slow.. We do have the one investigator and her family, but nothing is really moving along with that. Hopefully it will pick up. It has been hard because she is pregnant, and her body does not respond well to that.  She always seems to be sick or tired; not seeming to be like a lack of desire, she just really doesn't feel well.  But good news, pregnancies end! So we will see what happens. The finding we have done in our area has been a little discouraging, well at least among the white people... haha I say that with all respect possible, it seems like I just look for Filipinos now wherever I go! But it will come around!! I know it will. We will continue to work at it. The ward just announced and implemented the new ward mission plan, which we had a role in creating, and I think it really will excite the people. It is a really well put together plan, and I think the ward will all get in line with it and the work will move forward. The work will hasten! I think with the maybe "less likely candidates" in our eyes, it really will come down to the members and us coming together not just in teaching, but in finding. It can be challenging in the more wealthy areas as their priorities seem to have a different focus, but I hope to never hold anything back from them or the opportunity from them because I think they are not ready or willing to accept the gospel. They deserve the same chance that anyone else does. They just simply have different problems, or different trials they go through, all of which the "cure" is the same--the gospel of Jesus Christ. I hope I can keep that in mind in all situations.

The work as a Tagalog missionary is actually been pretty fun!! I love the Filipino people--especially the food! ha They are just really fun to be around, and from what I have seen they are some of the strongest members. We have just been trying to go around trying to find the different families and then work with them and who they know. Also we have then gone around and tried the potentials and formers from the areas surrounding us. We have gotten a few people we can then try; hopefully we can find a family who is willing to accept the message. It is a little difficult not knowing really where to start. In a way, we are starting like our own mission; it is just us two out there trying to find these Filipino people. The mission president is on board though, even texted us yesterday of a family we should try in another ward on the other side of the city! ha it is pretty nice to have him on our side. It has been discouraging at times when we go into these "filipino interractions" and I have no idea what is going on! BUT! they speak English too, so I will always still be involved if it comes down to it! That kinda takes the pressure off in a way, but  I want to learn the language so bad!

This last week we had exchanges and things like that, except it was with the other elders in our ward, so  I didn't leave the area...which was weird sort of! ha It is fun being a Zone Leader though because we get to work with so many different missionaries and be an influence to them--hopefully it is the right influence! It is a very spiritual experience to help another missionary become what your Father in Heaven would have them be.

No crazy things happened this week up here! The weather is cooling down, the days are a lot shorter, but the people are the same! We will keep on keepin' on! I love the people up here! I can't believe how fast time has gone already.. Conference is already around the corner and upon us! We will see if there are any wild announcements this time. This time last year in the world, there were about 40,000 fewer missionaries, who woulda thought we would be in this situation! I love you all! I'll talk to you soon!

Love, Elder McFall

Sorry it took so long to get you this picture! I just haven't really thought about it! But now you see how "new age" we are! 

In front of our good 'ol apartment complex. 

Week 45 - The Life of Elder McFall

Well life is definitely going great up here for me. Yes, some times the work is slow, okay yes the work is kinda slow right now in our area. It has been a bit of a trial of our patience. We have been thinking,  you know we have both been out for a little while, we have seen success on our missions, but why can't we do that here?! Now with that said, I can put it in new perspective after the conversation we had with President Manion this week with our interviews. He pretty much said, we are doing exactly what we need to be doing and should be doing. Just because we aren't seeing the fruits of success, doesn't mean we are no longer good missionaries! He said he went through the same thing on his mission, which was in Germany, and said that is just the nature of the work. I knew all of this, but when you hear it from your Mission President it seems to pack a little extra punch! So all is well! Nothing to complain about at all! In fact, we may even be seeing something pretty good happening soon... We were talking to our Mission President and we have a new idea that we are currently trying out and will continue to do so.. Here is how it all happened...

Sooo... Since Elder Laceste is originally from the Philippines, and speaks fluent Tagalog, why don't we use our resources? When he called me in he asked, "So Elder McFall, how do you feel about learning Tagalog?" I was just like well let's go for it! He wasn't originally aware of the number of Filipinos in the area. He has had some Stake Presidents asking for a set but hasn't been too sure... He is thinking, since there is such a high number of Filipinos here in the Edmonton area, we will become Filipino missionaries and test it out. So like I said, right now we are in the testing phase of everything, we aren't for sure doing it, but we will know by this week. We have started it a little bit so far, and while we haven't found anyone to teach yet, it has definitely brought such a new dynamic to the work here. I am pretty excited to see what will happen. So what does this mean for me? Well I am now learning Tagalog! Not sure how to really start learning a language, I am 10 months out and didn't go to the MTC for that, but I am sure it will all work out! Exciting times I say!

I will go to our investigator lesson now! Well since we only have one, okay they are a family, we spend most the time doing finding--so it is nice to have this family! They are named Lisa & Allen! They are super nice! Well we went into the lesson and it went really well. Lisa has family members that are members of the church, so she has the background with the church. We taught her the first lesson, and really explained to her the restoration, how the church we have now is the restored church of Jesus Christ, that part went well! We talked a lot on Baptism, and that is something that she does believe she needs to do. The only thing is, she thinks right now she just has too many questions to be answered before she could commit to that. It went well though! She really wants her whole family to learn what we have to share, and they are excited to be a part of it. The only hard part of all this…well she is pregnant so sometimes she doesn't feel the greatest! We will keep working at it though! We will see her again this week, hopefully we can make a lot of progress and get things going.

One other thing that happened this week was while we have been doing all of this finding, we have been focused on trying to be creative. So we went to this basketball court and started talking to all these probably 16-24 year olds.. It was pretty epic. Most of them(there were I think 8) were Muslim, and well studied at that. So they first tried to come at me to disprove what we believe, and try to prove the faults of our religion. Well there is nothin' so sweet as confounding someone with some good true doctrine! It was one of those things you see where I was sittin' on this bench, surrounded by like 5 guys, basically preaching what we believe! It was a pretty neat scene in my mind! At the end of the conversation we had really come to a much better understanding of one another... I fixed a lot of their misconceptions of our religion. Most of which were taken terribly out of context. Now while they may not have said come teach me more, we were able to help someone understand what we do believe, and allow them to understand for themselves, it was a pretty memorable thing!

Well, we will see what this week holds! We will keep on with the Bearspaw work, get that going even more, and hopefully see a rise in the Filipino work also! I will letcha know what happens! I love you all!

Love, Elder McFall

Week 44 - Hello my friends & family!

What a change to be in the city and being a Zone leader! It definitely brings a lot of different experiences that are so new to me as a missionary! I guess first thing is, the amount of people I see every day! ha It is nice to be around the city and being in these big neighborhoods and whatnot. The area I am really in is pretty much how it was like at home, just suburbs and park, etc. I like it. It is different than the country in we don't have to schedule travel time for anything, but it gets traded out by different responsibilities we have with being Zone Leaders. Pretty much we have a lot of different things we plan for and everything, schedule in exchanges and meetings, get all those types of things figured out. There are not too many things that are stressful though, okay not really anything so far has been stressful. We look after 10 other companionships, but within that 10 it includes the Assistants, the Sister Training Leaders, then three companionships with District Leaders, then the rest are pretty much training, with two of those training just dropped from being Zone Leaders, so honestly our life right now isn't too bad. There are a few things that inevitably come up, and everyone still needs to have that help and motivation--which we can bring! But for the most part, they know what they need to be doing!

This week was basically filled with tracting and trying to find new people to teach. This last week we did find 3 people to teach, one of which I was here to actually find. We found this guy named David sittin' in the park. We were just walking around the park talking to everyone trying to just chat. We ended up sitting next to him, talking to him for like 45 minutes in the middle of the park on the grass! The conversation was basically us emphasizing and testifying that God loves us, and that through Christ we can overcome our addictions and pains. We ended up teaching him how to pray right there, and he said a prayer! It was pretty cool! At the end of it all, he was just talking and said, "Usually when guys like you come up to me and try to talk to me, I would get up and probably swear at you and try to fight you. But there is something different about you, I really can feel something when I chat with you." So that was a great testament to the spiritual integrity that we can bring so long as we do our part! Anyways, we were in the area the next day, and ran into him again as he was walking his dog! It was something else! He really is a great guy! He said he wanted to come to church and things were lookin' so promising, but then Saturday he basically said, yano, I gotta think about all this.. gimme some time and I will call you.. NEVER a good sign. So honestly, not sure what to think about all of that. We will follow up and see what goes on! 

Another thing I was thinking about this week as I was leaving my old area.. Why is it that you can be so close to some people after spending really so little time together? What I really believe is because the relationships you have when you are a missionary are built around the spirit, and the spirit is what binds us together. This is something that I once again think can be something that as a missionary we need to learn for the future. When you have relationships and friendships built around the gospel and spirit filled experiences, you are bound to become close as you are united in a great cause. 

This week will be lots of finding, going on exchanges, interviews with President Manion we got to put together, all sorts of fun! I am lookin forward to it!

OH!!!! My COMPANION! haha his name is Elder Laceste! What a guy he is! He is originally from the Philippines, but came from Vancouver! I will send a pic of him next week! We have a great time serving together as we have a lot of little things in common, but especially the way we go about missionary work. It makes it nice when you and your companion agree so readily and easily! I really look forward to serving with him for a while! I love you all! Talk to you next week!

Love, Elder McFall

Week 43 - I say hello!

I say hello!

Well, I am not sure where I should start for this week..Maybe I will start from the big news one might
say. It is transfer this week, and lo and behold I am gettin' shipped out of Rocky Mountain House. I will
be moving up to the Big City! Not too sure how I feel about it, I will probably feel out of my element as
I have been in the country for about 10 months now.. but it will be a good change. I will be going up in
the Millwoods West Zone in the Bearspaw 2 area serving with Elder Leceste, we will be serving as Zone
Leaders together up there! It should be a good time I imagine... it will be a lot of change for me because I
was never a District Leader so I have never done all of those types of duties and now just jumpin' into all
of it, I am excited though. It will be a great experience to be working much more closely with the Mission
President for the mission, and then the Stake Leadership up there in the Stake. It will help me gain a lot of
experience that will help me along the way I am sure! We will see how I adjust to it all though!

This week we did have out ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) which was definitely a good one. We talked
about a lot of things, but something that really stuck out to me was the training we had on Spiritual
Integrity. We broke it down to a bunch of different levels of conversion I guess you could say, and then
we took it into the idea of how all things we do, the faith we obtain, the actions that accompany that,
contributes to this spiritual integrity. Undoubtedly others see us, we stick out in our white shirts and ties,
so do our actions and words reflect that calling? We say we are representatives of Jesus Christ, but are
we really doing what He would Do? Saying the things he would have us Say? It was pretty soul searching
I tell you! Always lookin' to become better and there is no place better than a mission to have yourself be
refined! Two years in the refiner’s fire!

One pretty wild thing did happen this week.. So we are out at this less-active lady who decided okay yes
I will let you come back and do some service. We love that, it means they are starting to let the church
back a little bit. Well we get there and she just said well just move all this wood over to here and stack it
up, it will be for the fire. We say well okay we will move it, but also we will split it so it is actually usable.
So we start going at it, we are making some good progress.. I am splitting wood about 10 yards from
Elder T and then I look over and he is clenching his shin and I am immediately thinking, "hmm, looks
like something has gone wrong.." I get closer and yeah, there is blood dripping down his leg. Okay now
calm down, he didn't miss the wood and chop his leg off, he had the axe in the log, pulled it out and it
came and just sliced his leg, it was epic. Well basically we tied a shirt around it, finished the job, went to
the drug store picked up some simple first aid stuff and I went all doctor on it.. Well I KNEW he needed
stitches, this was no paper cut. But since he is not a citizen, and pretty stubborn, he wouldn't go to the
hospital regardless of my advising. So we bandage it all up, he bled all night.. it was no good. We then
had our ZTM the next day, the Mission President was there with his wife and they wisely advised us to
seek some professional help! hah well we got it all checked out, with a doctor who is actually a member
(How lucky!) and he ended up with 6 stitches! So that was a pretty wild moment up here in Rocky!

The work is still going a little slow, still lots and lots of tracting. We have had some solid conversations,
but nothing has come of it. We have even had a media referral, well that was nothin' either.. That was
pretty frustrating. But the ward really is starting to come along. I really wish you all could feel the spirit and
how it is changing everything. Not in our time, but truly in the Lord's time. The Bishop we have now truly
is a man that has been called to be in that position for a specific reason.. we have had a couple meetings
last week and the whole attitude is changing. Even though I am leaving, I am really excited for what is
going to be happening here in Rocky Mountain House.

We did teach our little investigator Michael yesterday. He is such an awesome kid! He really understands
what we teach so well, even at the age of 9. He was asking such good questions too. We taught him
simply just our pre-earth life yesterday, as we go principle by principle. He asked questions like, "so does
that mean that my spirit goes on forever?" and then later on "So does that mean that after this life my
spirit lives with heavenly Father forever too?" I mean it may not seem like much, but if you could see it!
It is so fun for me to teach children the gospel. We are always advised in the scriptures to "become as a 

child.." and that is because they are so pure, so willing, so ready to accept the truth.

Anywho, I hope all is well back in the U.S.A! Things are starting to cool down up here, leaves are
changing, last night I even had a dream it snowed. I would consider that to be a nightmare! Things are
comin' around though! We will see what the future holds! I will send pictures next week of the change!

Love you all!

Here are some videos - you need to watch all 3... Keep it real. I love you!
The Mormon Channel http://www.mormonchannel.org/video/mormon-messages?v=2649250157001#.Ui4zJ7Jb4rQ.email


Love, Elder McFall

My new area: Edmonton Millwoods West Zone in the Bearspaw 2 area

Week 42 - Talofa!

That is hello in Samoan, so you just all learned something new today! Man this week was definitely a trying one. To be honest, the situation is looking bleak. Not to say that I am in the place of,"Oh ye of little faith" but it just seems like we are stuck in a rut right now with the work. Most of our days are spent tracting, just knocking on doors and trying to talk to people. It has been a while since we have had someone really seem interested in the message we have to share, usually we don't even get words out and they say go away. We did have one guy who we came across on Sunday who was like yeah I have a few minutes.. but I am in the middle of supper. So we were like well okay can  we come back another time, maybe tomorrow morning? And he was like absolutely I will be lookin' for ya. Okay now this seems like someone who actually does want to hear the message. So we go out the next day, and got stood up...twice. We will try back for sure, it is just a little frustrating when things like that happen. It gives you all this hope, and then it is dashed away in the knock of a door. 

I guess one of the highlights of the week didn't even happen in my area! ha we were on exchanges, I was over in Innisfail, and we went tracting. There I could have so many good conversations with people in such a short amount of time! And ended up getting a return appointment with this lady, something that really hasn't happened in quite some time over in Rocky! So it was good in that regards! I just wish it was happening here.. 

We will probably find ourselves doing more tracting this week, probably will have the town tracted out in the next little while, then hopefully things will pull through with member referrals or other ways of finding. It can prove to be discouraging, but we are doing all we can to stay diligent and positive in the work regardless of what we may see occurring. I think that is all we are really asked to do anyways. not just in our missionary life, but in our entire lives. That is what the Atonement is for, to make up the rest, after all we can do. 2 Nephi 2:25 "It is by grace we are saved, AFTER all we can do." How true it really is. That is something that I am always trying to keep in my mind as I am serving.

It is weird to realize how fast the time is going.. 10 months this week. It seems like I just came out a couple months ago. Who knows what the future holds, I am sure it will be good though! Hopefully this week will go well, not just for me in the missionary life, but for all of you! You are in my prayers!

Got to keep you spiritually fed! Also check out http//www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormon-introduction-videos?cid=HPTH082213083Love you!

Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1999/04/find-the-lambs-feed-the-sheep?lang=eng

Love, Elder McFall

Mission tour photo