Week 80 – Memorial Day

I hope you all enjoy your Memorial Day since I can't because it doesn't exist up here! It exists in my heart though. I guess it got me thinking not just into the lives that have fought for such things as our freedom, don't get me wrong, I am extremely grateful for that, but I have been focusing I guess on a different group of people who have fought for what they believed in. The early Latter-Day Saints forsook all that they had, because they believed in something that was far greater than anything of themselves. I think those early saints really understood what it meant to, "lay up for ourselves treasures in Heaven" and to consecrate all to our Father's kingdom here on the earth. Think about it, what sacrifices have you had to make in order to be where you are at right now as a member of the church? What changes have each of you had to make to be at the level of conversion you now experience? What I love, even though looking back and me saying how much those saints had to sacrifice (homes, family, even their own lives) in many ways we all have had to make similar sacrifices, or sacrifices that weigh on us just as heavily. Be grateful for what you have given up. Be grateful for what your own families have given up to bring you what each of you has. In or out of the church, there has been someone along the way that decided they were going to change their Heritage's course, I am grateful for that in my own life. 

So! The new comp is a blast! Elder Ustare is a good man, which is without a doubt in my mind. He is right from the Philippines, the first one to come to this mission straight from the isles on the sea! He is 24 years old. He has only been a member since Feb 2013... now that is wild. I have been on my mission 3 months longer than he has been a member. That is just too weird. Good guy, strong testimony, great desire to serve. Being reassigned as a Tagalog Missionary though is a real trip. We have SO much work to do. Honestly. Mind blown. Covering our ward we still have a lot of work to be done, lives to bless. Okay now really look at things with the stake we cover, it is like where to begin. Good thing God answers prayers. Our area by geography is honestly ginormous. Technically we cover all the way up to the North Pole, which is my area. But I don't think too many Pinoys are up there. Oh Pinoy is a slang for Filipinos. We just let the other missionaries tract to find the other Filipinos throughout, we just street contact and contact at public places, seems to work for us. The look on their faces when they see big old white me is fun though! The work is hastening though. “And he gathereth his children from the four quarters of the earth; and he numbereth his sheep, and they know him; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd; and he shall feed his sheep, and in him they shall find pasture.” 1 Nephi 22:25

Hey! We picked up a new investigator this week, her name is Tanya. Real cool lady from England. She was having a tough time, missionaries knocked her door, she takes that as her answer! It was proper. Sorry more slang terms... I don't know what is happening to me. It is the Canadian language. But she considers herself to be a more spiritual type, never got into the big church scene with everything. Things are going well there though; she wants to learn more and really desires to see what we have to offer. Just need to get her out to church! Seems to be the big thing with all our investigators right now though! Just got to get them out to church, that is a huge sign of real intent. That is what we need though! We got a cancel of going to church by this Filipina and her son, a PM family up in St. Albert because they decided to go to the Catholic Church instead, that one hurt. They just need to receive that true answer that our Father is anxiously awaiting to give everyone that asks. 

So lately I have been really thinking about patience. Usually as I consider this I think of the typical patience like someone is annoying and you can deal with them without becoming frustrated or upset. But now lately I have been thinking about patience in regards to God's will and plan. It seems that most all things we do in our lives we are naturally going to face opposition, which is okay since that is even doctrine. (2 Nephi 2:11) It helps us see and feel and realize the great blessings that in store for those who persevere in faith. I think lately I have been thinking about this a lot in trying to realize why blessings don't come, or aren't recognized (maybe that is the bigger problem) when someone is doing what is right, when someone is being obedient, when someone is following God's plan to their best ability. You can't help but ask, why? Why aren't the righteous continually blessed especially those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" and seek after the Kingdom of God with sincerity? The only answer that I have come to is simply that it is just another step in us developing our faith, another step in our refinement process. When we aren't blessed with those things it isn't that the Lord is frowning down upon us, but rather allowing us to become who He needs us to be through experience. In many of those situations I think we will be blessed if we continue faithful, but maybe we are not ready to receive the blessing, maybe there is someone who needs to be blessed and be a part of that answer in your life but they aren't yet in that position. God is in charge, that much I do know.

Well, that should be sufficient for the day. Stay sweet! I love you all!

Elder McFall

The Tagalog Group!

My new companion, Elder Ustare

Me and Connor Groskreutz (November 2013 and May 2014) kinda cool with the 18th month difference in these pictures with Connor.. weird!! (not that we look too much different... maybe I just can't see it! eh..)

Week 79 – God is Good

How was your Victoria Day? Wait. Mine was good, more of those strange Canadian holidays that get in the way of things. I can tell you this though; the Lord is hastening His work. Miracles are occurring and souls are waiting to be saved! This week we have been smiled down upon! So to tell a story first of how one came to be. A couple weeks ago now I was looking in our Area book at names we only had numbers to, one stuck out to me so I called it. This lady picks up and just is like "oh! I haven't heard from you in so long! I have been waiting for your call!" So that was a good start! Her name is Cathy, she is from the Congo! From that call we set up an appointment and went to her house. So in our minds we are thinking that this could not be a more solid prepared person for the gospel, she just told us how excited she was to have us over! We go, she isn't there. No answer. We even snuck into the apartment complex to knock her actual door. (I think God understands). So we go back out in the parking lot and our talking to our Ward Mission Leader who came with us and just getting caught up. Our appt. was @ 6, by this time it is 6:25, we finish talking and walk back to our car... then! "Wait! I am the one you are looking for!!" WHAT?. Who is this crazy lady running through the parking lot right at us!?!?!? Turns out it is Cathy, and she was so excited to see us she was running to catch us so we wouldn't leave! We go in, her husband is actually a member back in Africa, she has taken the discussions, wants to be baptized, has all the pamphlets, the entire canon of scripture, the whole nine yards! It was the coolest! Sad bit, we won't be teaching her, the sisters in our ward will as it is in their "half", but she is still going to be taught so that is blessed!

We taught our new investigator Larissa this week. She too is extremely prepared for the gospel. She was the type who would be like "well yeah, there would have to be another prophet" or other questions that you only get in role plays in comp study! ha so that was really neat. We really got talking about a few different things and then followed up and as of last Saturday she had read over 40 pages in the Book of Mormon, the entire pamphlet, the whole bit. She accepted the invitation to be baptized, but still working out the details of when. Once more, God is Good. 

Another cool experience was out while tracting. We were pretty well having zero luck with any doors, which was garbage. But then we round this corner and there are a few people out surrounding some round grill looking thing and so we abandon the doors and go talk to this people. We ask them all about their grill, this and that’s, then they invite us to just join in on the BBQ and enjoy some time with them. More and more neighbors started coming over and we had a really good time. We were able to invite them to learn more, but we were really able to help them as we talked about what the gospel does to bless us and our families in such a natural way. You can really teach someone gospel principles without them noticing, pretty nice! So while nobody there initially accepted the invitation to learn more, that is one more time that we can help them on their path. 

Transfer calls came in! So there is a new assignment coming to Elder McFall. I will now be not just here in the Castledowns ward, but also covering the entire Edmonton North Stake working with the Filipino people. Oh, and I am training again to add to that! I will be receiving a new missionary straight from the Philippines and I don’t know how much English he knows! I am STOKED. It will be too much fun! Especially since we picked up a part member family this last week up in St. Albert, just outside of Edmonton that wants to be taught; the mom and son that is. I really love getting the opportunity to train again and be able to really keep things moving forward. The Lord is putting some serious trust in me, better not let Him down! There are miracles that lie ahead! 

I'll talk to you soon! I'll send pictures and my new comps name next week when I know the spelling for sure! He is straight from the Philippines! Hope my Tagalog will improve! 

Love, Elder McFall

Good ole service time!

Burning of the pants (the burning pants was for 18 months.. I ripped them and so I decided to go for it.)

Good Times

My district! Last transfer...

Week 78 – Woah

It is like a spiritual power play right now with being able to talk to my family yesterday, well two days ago now (where did Monday go?), and then being able attend the temple this morning! Seriously what a blessing that is! Every time I get the opportunity to find solace in that Holy House, it just brings a new level of understanding and a sense of God's love for each of us. I think I have just begun to realize how much he is working to bring us back to him, in whatever way we will come. With talking to all different people, that is something that I really do feel that people want. They want to feel His love. Only we can offer that true love and closeness through the Restored Gospel. One other thing that I guess stuck out to me was just how we are all on this path at a varying level of conversion, whether we are just finding faith, steadily growing, struggling, our conversion is something that grows and shrinks with the winds of life. We really are here to never lose sight of our eternal purpose and goal, of doing all that is necessary for us to return with our families to our Heavenly Home. 

This last week we saw some real good things happen. Work is still moving right along with the less-actives we have here in the ward. They are starting to get the big picture and we are really helping them to establish goals within the gospel, while also working with the members of the ward. We are getting there though! "How great is his joy in the soul that repenteth!" I love being able to help someone find that testimony again. Things with our investigators are a bit stagnant in some areas, but in others things are growing. Our pool is really seeing an increase, well just the one last week, which is still good, but this week we have already scheduled to get 3 or 4! Keep us in your prayers! Things are coming around... I know that these hearts are being prepared and softened. A really neat experience was this week with a brother named Cedric. He was brought to our Stake Carnival by our bishop; they have only known each other for a little while. He came there and we had a good chat to begin with, but then ended up giving him a church tour, even amongst the chaos, and teaching him most all the restoration. We ended the tour in the chapel, and even though there were kids all over, a carnival going on, there was an absolute peace and solitude only that room could bring. He felt the spirit so strongly, and then wanted a copy of the Book of Mormon and to learn more. He will be meeting with the missionaries in his area and going onward! Good things. 

Right now we are working really hard as a mission to really baptize. A scripture came to my mind this last week while in our Zone Meeting... Acts 5:29. "Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, ‘we ought to obey God rather than men’." It just hit me that the only person who has ever said we cannot baptize consistently is man, God has and will not ever say this is not possible. We need to have more faith in him and his promises! So that is what I am doing! 

The other sweet part of the week was going on exchanges with Elder Winnie from back home! It was wild I tell ya! Never in a million years would I have imagined that happening! He is a great missionary though, super stoked to be serving around him even more. The Lord has been too good to me!

I'll talk to you soon! Love you all!

Love, Elder McFall

p.s. don’t forget to write… drake.mcfall@myldsmail.net

Me and the comp.. super artsy

Week 77 – 18 Months!

Too weird I tell you. I am going to finish my “sister mission” in a couple days when I hit the 18 month mark! Who knew! Doesn't seem right. This last week and everything that has been going on lately I feel that I am actually beginning to understand a little bit more of why things happen the way they do, and how our Father in Heaven will give us these different opportunities and experiences in our lives simply to help us as we move forward so we are best able to help those that He places in our paths. I cannot reinforce the importance of being who you are at all times and staying true to what you believe in because this is all the refining process that our Heavenly Father has in store. 

"Here then is a great truth. In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, wepass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. In this way the divine image can be mirrored from the soul. It is part of the purging toll exacted ofsome to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd." From a talk by Elder Faust back in '79. I have really just come to realize that part of this whole process we go through in life is realizing our own Divine Potential and identity that we inherently possess as spirit sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven. Although we pass through terrible trials and tribulation, most of which we simply wish would be taken from us, we are given those moments because He loves us and knows who we can become. 

We taught a man named Ibrahim this week! We found him through our area book. The missionaries have been trying to get a hold of him since December and finally this week was the first time something ever went through. We met him at a Tim Hortons, which if you are familiar with Canada at all, which you aren't, is basically like meeting at your own home. It is a culture up here to "make a timmy's trip". Anyways! We met him there and he described how he wants to really learn more about what we teach because what he has now just doesn't fit his life. We ended with giving him a copy of the Book of Mormon and a Lesson 1-Restoration pamphlet and setting a return appointment that he is excited to come to. As we were talking with him in the parking lot for a minute before we left a brother from the ward came up to him and was like, "When I met the missionaries they changed my life. The Book of Mormon is the best book you could ever get your hands on. Seriously, this is exactly what you need." Now what makes that even more neat is this is a brother who hasn't been out to church in a while. He is from a family we have been seeing weekly and working with. It was the neatest experience; really beginning to see that although some may not come around, this or that, they each have a testimony that we just have to let them reignite on their own. This Sunday, that same brother who hasn't been around in months made it out to Sacrament meeting and we were able to enjoy that with him. The Lord is seriously blessing us I tell ya. 

I think one other thing this week that I was praying and fasting specifically for was a better understanding how I can increase my faith that truly the Lord is Hastening His work, and that our Father is softening the hearts of the children of men. As I was in sacrament it kinda just came together. Interesting part was that it wasn't something new, but something that I had thought of in the past but haven't been actively working on nearly as much. It comes down to developing true Christ like love, or charity. We will see how I do though! 

Other than that the weather brought snow this last week, which was not cool. Things are coming around though. We will be meeting with a few people we found last week and had great conversations with this week so praying that all will go well! Can't wait to talk to the fam here on mother's day! Too weird that it'll be my last phone call home! Talk to you soon!

Love, Elder McFall

P.S. Due to the temple pday next week my emails will be coming in on Tuesday, rather than Monday. LOVE YOU!

Coolest Thing - All of these are hand made by this old Italian Guy.. it was sweet!

                                                                       Look, no snow (today)!

Week 76 – Happy Day!

There is no reason to be sad, if you are stop. On that note, things are picking up right now in the life of Elder McFall. Things seem to be coming together, just not really in the way that I had pictured or imagined. It seems that so often as missionaries we are focusing so much on that goal of baptism that we fail to realize that our Lord rejoices over ANY soul that repents and returns unto him. I love the scripture in Moroni 10:32 (maybe that is why it is my missionary scripture) about inviting all to Come unto Christ. That is the essence of missionary work; it is at the core of our defined missionary purpose, which is also synonymous with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. With that in mind, we have been doing a great deal of work with Less-actives recently. It is so neat to help some I guess rediscover the gospel and how it can bless and affect their life. Complacency seems to be our biggest offender right now. People just stop doing those simple things in their lives. They stop going to church for a multitude of reasons. They no longer read from the scriptures. They fail to say their prayers. Honestly it is sad. Those are 3 things that truly are simple, they don't cause us to expend any great effort, but doing those will ALWAYS keep us on the path, if we want that. I am just grateful for how simple the gospel of Jesus Christ is. We have been seeing these less active members start to come to church, one for 2 weeks in a row now, and we meet weekly. She wants to be that great example for her 10 year old daughter and she wants to make it to the temple. That is the common thread with all those that we teach, we focus on the temple and to any other covenant we have made, or will make and put that in the center of their minds. When we begin to get a glimpse of what we could have, that sacrifice doesn't seem so hard anymore. The blessings of the gospel are innumerable, simple as that. 

We did teach our investigator Tanis, her husband Quinn wasn't around. She is the one we are really focusing on right now. She does want this, she wants to develop her faith and see that really come back into her life. What she needs, just as we all do, is a true knowledge of the Atonement. The enabling, redeeming, and exalting power it brings. I think if you even glimpse what that can actually bring you will want to at least experiment on it. That is where we are at right now. 

Our other 'gator named Ken we taught a couple times this last week. It has been a huge blessing working with him. The only unfortunate news there is he is moving, just an area over though so we will pass him over this week and he can continue on to his baptismal date at the end of May. Exciting though because the missionary, okay one of them, that we will pass him to is Elder Winnie who I know from home and is from our same stake! So that is neat! 

A scripture that has special meaning to me, I would say most recently, is one that is consistently on my mind is D&C 84:85, "Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say; but treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man. " I honestly have seen that over and over. When I teach, not sure if this will make sense, but I go in there with a game plan but when we teach I do everything I can to allow my mind to go blank. Now that probably sounds terrifying at first, but it isn't. As soon as I do that I have felt over and over as I have treasured up experiences and the many things I have studied that scripture and word just begins to flow.

One scripture that has come to mind over and over again recently has probably been "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?" from Luke 15:4. Well really anything from Luke 15 as it has 3 very illustrative parables of finding that which was lost. I guess it has been on my mind for a couple of reasons. One would be for the fact is that is what I feel a great portion of my time and effort is spent doing, and in doing that it is just as valuable to our Savior, as it states in verse 7 of that same chapter. He finds great joy in the soul that repenteth, so should we. There are some lost sheep I tell ya, but we can find them. I guess I am beginning to get a glimpse of how our Father must feel. Makes me think of the scripture in Moses 7:29, "How canst thou weep?" He does so much for each of us, and I do feel that he weeps over His children that stray and will do all that He can to bring them back unto him. Honestly as much as I can sit here and tell you that things are great and I find great joy in teaching the less actives, it has been hard to find that same joy as you feel over someone you are bringing into the church for the first time. I don't feel burdened, but rather comforted? Sometimes you fall into that thought trap, even when numerous scriptures say otherwise, that He is only proud or happy with the work you are doing when it is connected with baptisms. But really the scope is much larger; it is about Covenants as a whole. We need to help ALL of our Father's children on their covenant path. Baptism alone is insufficient to return to Him if you do not have the Temple Endowment, Priesthood for males, and Sealing. We focus so much on the first that we fail to realize when we baptize someone, really the cross hairs are on the temple. 

Other than that things are moving forward. We are working our absolute hardest to help each person here in the ward begin to understand their crucial role in the Work of Salvation and how they each can be ministering and teaching as the Savior did. Interesting how when we emulate the example of our Savior not only do we become like Him, but we then have a greater desire to help others find that joy for themselves. Gosh, the gospel is good. 

Love you all!!!

Elder McFall

Week 75 - Okay and Okay

Well I sure do hope you all had a great Easter weekend and were able to really enjoy the whole time. I know I did! It sure is good to hear from all of you though, glad to hear that you are all doing well! At least from what I hear everyone is doing well. Things up here in Edmonton are just moving right along, which is good! I will start from where I was this last weekend with everything at church with Elder Soares of the 70 coming up to our Stake. He has been touring around with Elder Christofferson and visiting different stakes and everything to give leadership training, which is generally done about every 3 years. So that will explain why he was here and addressing us. from what I hear he was over in Sister Davis' mission over there in “Winterpeg”, sounds like fun! It was just really powerful to hear the testimony of someone who has had the gospel truly effect and change their lives, and have responded to the face of adversity with such great faith. He shared some personally experiences and everything that were really eye opening, I just hope that I can develop my faith to be able to respond in that same way when things go wrong. Well okay, hopefully things just won't go wrong. 

Teaching this week we had a few really great experiences, the Lord is blessing us greatly right now with some choice opportunities. We were able to teach Quinn and Tanis two times this week. We are focusing on the Plan of Salvation due to life and what she has gone through. Really just trying to help someone reconnect with God and realize that He loves them infinitely you would think is easy, but it is a rather difficult thing to do as this all comes from experiences they need to have. And from what we read from the Book of Mormon in Alma 32 it comes with first having that desire and that desire will lead to faith, or at least faith promoting experiences. That is what we are working on now; having that desire turn into more than simply a desire.

Another experience we had though was just incredible. We went to go get a hold of this brother that previously Elder Spencer and his companion couldn't really get a hold of. We knocked his door, he was home and he invited us in... okay actually his roommate invited us in and his name is Ken. They are both from Uganda, and they are just the coolest guys! We sat down and Ken was talking about how he was hoping we would come back and talk to him sometime because his mom and sister had gone to church before with John (the less-active guy). He has incredible faith, a great desire, and this just led one thing after the next and we taught him the first part of the restoration. He ended by saying how we made his day! We then saw Ken last night and we finished the restoration, really gave him a good intro to the Book of Mormon, and then he accepted the invitation to be baptized on May 31. What a guy! So excited for him and the changes that he is making, but also I am excited to see the blessings flow into his life. 

Other than that we have been visiting a lot with different less-actives here in the ward. There are some that we have really been able to establish great relationships with; the type where they will call us and invite us over because they are having just a bad day and need to have a good message. But that is all on top of the regular visits we have with them. Now we just need to take that and get them back to church and then onto the temple! More and more the less-actives we are working with are from the Philippines also, I love it! They are all such good people. One we are working with made it to church for the first time in a long time this week and has plans to make it a regular thing, life is good! 

Okay well, I love you all! The sun is starting to shine up here! Things are warming up! I will talk to you all very soon! 

Love, Elder McFall

Week 74 - Happy Easter!

Kamusta po kayo? I guess I should start getting back into the Tagalog since that is just a month away before the flood gates open. Should be fun though! So I have decided I will finish up what happened in last couple days of Bearspaw. We found a new investigator down there named Carrie, she has two kids. We actually invited her out to the potluck we had last Sunday, she came, and then we taught her last week also. It went so well. She is Christian and wants to basically just come to Christ and learn more about Him and His message. It is something that is so neat to see, so prepared! Hopefully all will go well for her down there. We also found a new investigator down there named Ted, taught him the Restoration really simply, ended with him saying the prayer. It is so powerful to see someone prayer to our Father for the first time. You can just feel the spirit reach out to them, and really work to have that individual feel that God truly does love them. What I love asking people is basically if there really is a God and He really does love you, do you think He would want to communicate with you? Then you can talk all about the spirit and revelation and how we are able to feel those things. We are essentially enabling others to find conversion and receive answers to prayers, it is a beautiful thing. We also taught Amanda and her kids last week, really got the kids into it this time in talking more about Christ and His church, basically the message of the Restoration. Each time I teach a child it just makes me think of how we must all become Childlike as we learn, so pure! 

Okay so basically the Castledowns ward is a new adventure entirely! I am excited to be up here though! This seriously is exactly what I need right now. The ward boundaries are huge and a ton of different places where people are quite frequently, which is good cause we can talk til we drop. This ward has a lot of less active and part member families that we will be hopefully working with, so that should be good. We have a great bishopric up here though, they are on key. I have only met two, but both are not Canadian, super diverse! I love it though, our bishop is hilarious. We are really focusing on bringing everyone together and working together as a ward in this Work of Salvation. There is so much work to be done, we must work together and they are doing all they can. It seems that I seem to be a breath of fresh air for the missionaries here though. I guess being really positive and talkative is something they missed! We will see how that goes! My companion is Elder Spencer, from Boise, Idaho! Things are going well so far! We are doing all that we can to get things in order and hit the pavement running. I am excited for all that lies ahead of us and what we will be able to accomplish. I don't want to be that companion who just drags his companion around, he wants to work don't get me wrong, but just a young missionary! It is exciting! So many adventures lie ahead I tell ya. We found a new investigator couple the 2nd day I was here, their names are Quinn and Tanis. They are real good people, really have enjoyed our visits so far. They are both completely non religious, not too much of it ever in their lives. We basically testified of the Atonement the first time we were in there and it just hit home. We will see where it goes, things are looking good though! We also taught this lady named Aileen. She is what we call an "eternigator", basically meaning she has met with missionaries forever. But me, being me, went in there and really established expectations and asked the questions that needed to be asked. We now know she is wanting baptism and all things in the church, she has a testimony of everything already, now we just need to fill in the gaps and figure out why she hasn't been baptized. 

Well, hopefully this week you will have a chance to really look to our Savior. You should look at the site easter.mormon.org... good stuff people. I am looking forward to things this week as we will have the opportunity to talk about our Savior even more! I am excited to be where I am at right now, Things are going well and going in the right direction. We have been doing a lot of less-actives and lost-sheep, some really neat experiences. Always neat to be there and realize that you are an answer to a prayer. I love you all! Have an amazing week! 

Love, Elder McFall

drake.mcfall@myldsmail.net

P.S. here is a great clip for each of you to watch 

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-00-006-he-is-risen-john-the-beloveds-witness-of-the-resurrection?category=topics/easter&lang=eng

I'll be emailing next Tuesday; another made up holiday up here.. HAPPY EASTER!

My new companion, Elder Spencer

Last zone training meeting (ZTM) in Bearspaw