"Well then, I can be your first baptism. In fact, I want YOU to baptize me". -Investigator Rudy

"I am in Fort Walton Beach area, and I love it so much"!

What's up!?  I made it!  I'm in Fort Walton Beach area, and I love it so much!  My companion is Elder Bravo and he's the coolest ever!  He's a stud, speaks Spanish as a native, and is a hard worker.

 

Okay I'm gonna jump right into what's happened since I've already had some dang awesome experiences!  So first is Rudy. Elder Bravo and his companion (five days before I arrived) met a guy named Rudy.  He didn't have time to talk, but he said he'd love for them to come by because he knows a ton about the church.  So yesterday, me and Elder Bravo were knocking doors.  Then Elder Bravo out of nowhere, said "Let's go visit Rudy".  Rudy was close by but we weren't planning on visiting him or anything before that.  So we went to his apartment.  And we sat down and Rudy told us he was waiting for us to finally come (like 2 years) and he's read the Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants, and a bunch of church literature.  He's done his research for sure! So basically he told us he wants to be baptized and he wants us to guide him and direct him in whatever he needs to do to be baptized!!  He's such a stud.  Then he asked me how long I had been out for.  I said five days.  And so then he patted me on the leg, and said "Well then I can be your first baptism, in fact I want you to baptize me."  So sick.  So we're going to go through all of the lessons with him now!  September 14 is the planned date.  It was completely the Lord that guided us there, and prepared Rudy for this. 

 

Next guy: Luis.  We teach English classes on Friday and Wednesday.  We normally have about 8 people show up and the class is super fun.  It's hilarious to watch the Hispanics do scripted role plays with each other in speaking English.  I don't know how to describe it. haha  Anyways, Luis had come for two days and on Friday he asked about what we do as missionaries.  So we told him, asked him if he wanted to learn more, and he is super interested in learning more.  He loves to learn.  He's from Ecuador and is becoming an electrical engineer.  So we taught him about the restoration of the church the next day and asked him if he would be baptized and he said YES!  He's awesome.  He came to church too the next day.  He walks like an hour and a half just to come to church and the English class.  The problem with him is he's going back to Ecuador in three weeks.  So we'll probably send him as a referral to missionaries in his homeland to be baptized and continue lessons but I'm so pumped to be part of his conversion too.  He also lives with this guy named Jonathan who seems pretty legit and wants to learn more too.  We haven't had a chance to teach him yet though.

 

So basically I only teach Hispanics.  If the person speaks English then, or prefers it, then we refer them over to the English missionaries here.  It makes it hard to find people this way since there's obviously not a majority of Hispanics.  People are pretty interesting here actually.  The majority of white people are rednecks, there's a lot of black people, and then there's the Hispanics.  Florida is super different. Super different.  At least the area I am in. I've only been in one house that's an actual house.  The majority of people we're working with are in trailers, or ghetto apartments. It's so tight.

 

Story time.  My first two days here I didn't feel like I was doing a whole lot as a missionary.  I didn't feel like I was working that hard or getting much out of it.  So I prayed and asked to feel like I was working as hard as I could, and promised I would.  And in return I asked for miracles to happen and for success with people.  And then the next day, we biked 24 miles.  It was so hard because I haven't biked in forever and if you know my leg cramps... I got a sunburn on my arms and the whole day we were knocking doors, having no success, and having appointments fall through.  So then I actually felt like it was super hard! haha And that night we had our second English class, and that's when we talked to Luis and Jonathan!  So my prayers have totally been answered and I'm super blessed with the people that have been put in my path. 

 

So guys don't like to wear shirts here.  It's ridiculous how many guys answer the door or walk around the street, showing off their fat hairy stomachs.  

 

Okay as the Spanish missionaries we cover the whole stake, and even a little more.  Which means a lot of biking, but we use our car a lot too.  We go to an English ward.  And because of this, we translate sacrament meeting and relief society for the Hispanics that come to church. Elder Bravo obviously did it yesterday.  I tried to translate like 2 minutes of relief society and I was super lost. You have to listen, translate, and speak into the little headphone set all at the same time.  So hard, especially since my Spanish is still pretty bad.  Its mainly hard for me to understand people.  They talk so flippin fast and mumble like crazy.  So I've got a ways to go, especially since I use English half the day with people since I am in the states.  Its a struggle.

Alright I love you guys and miss you!  Hope you're doing awesome!  I'm flippin pumped about everything here!  It's so fun and I love it! Paz!

Elder MacLay

 




Trevin's companion Elder Bravo in front of their apartment.

 



Aldred B. MacLay is an early settler of Tallahassee.  He donated his gardens and home which are now a state park.  The MacLay name is known in the area.  We are looking into how our genealogy lines cross.