Fiesta Patrias

Cupcakes

So there's this nice man whose friend gave him an English class invite and he was so excited and came to class and was like "your home is so nice!" Hahaha poor guy thought we live here. We gave him a church tour and he's the nicest. His name is Oscar.

Hermana Benitez (the Little Rock one not the Memphis one) gave us a GIANT dinner. (Eggs, spicy spicy pico de Gallo, tuna and cucumbers, chicken, and veggies.) Pictures to follow. They are so cute and she's going to give me a haircut soon woohoo!

Benitez Dinner

My companions

So we had our specialized meeting this week which was great and exactly what I needed. But then we went on blitz after and Sister Forsyth drove our car. We had sung Dearest Children God is Near You and she was like "hey! Are you related to that Macfarlane? I'm related to Charles Walker!" And it turns out our great great great great grandpas were friends. Cool.

FIESTA PATRIAS: the best. The branch threw a fun party to get to know their countries that they do every year and some of the Russellville members came!!!! :) It was so so fun. And Nitzia (she came to one English class and we taught her once and she came to church) came to the party and she is so awesome. They asked us to look at the tables and then after like 20 minutes we should start eating. She just started eating anyway. We like her. :)

We were Columbian, Hna Barrientos (green) was Bolivian, Hna Lopez (blue) was Chilean. We are not very good at the skirt holding thing.  

We taught relief society about being honest. I never really put it together that when we are dishonest (small lies, cheating, gossiping, denying truth, etc) the spirit leaves us. And the opposite is true too. When we are honest with our leaders and families and honest with ourselves and God, the spirit will be in a much greater abundance and we will be strengthened to tell the truth and be blessed because of it. Honesty is a commandment! It was a cool thing for me to study.

Have a happy week!
Hermana Macfarlane

HOLA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS!!!!

Hermana Macfarlane and Hermana Thornton

This week was a week of miracles! Well, mostly the weekend. We usually go to "Baseline" which is like a really long street with a lot of apartments. It's kind of a ways to bike there but there are always people outside who are prepared to listen to the gospel!! It's so fun. Hermana Thornton is great at talking to everyone and we just give out all the pass along cards and invite everyone to English class.

One of the guys we found, his name is Isidro, I think. We just talked to him briefly but we went by again to see him and he and his wife just let us right in and their kids were so polite and listened very intently. They were curious about the Book of Mormon and mostly the little kids were so cute they all came up and shook our hands and introduced themselves. So sweet.

Another person we are teaching is named Meli. She is a younger adult who is so nice and asks a lot of questions and came to church WOOHOO. She and her mom have been listening to the missionaries and they love the Plan of Salvation. She came to church with her little brother.

We have been studying a lot about baptism and the Atonement. I learned this morning that I need to focus more on The Savior's Earthly Ministry and Atonement but focus on the Atonement part in order for people to understand the purpose of baptism. Because He paid for our sins, suffered on the cross and was resurrected, we can have faith, repent and receive a remission of our sins and be baptized.

Hermana Thornton is SUPER great and I'm so grateful to be her companion. I just want you all to know that.

Hermana Thornton

How is Utah?

Hermana Macfarlane

Goodbye to Hna Madsen y hola to Hna Thornton

Hna Madsen and Hna Macfarlane Retainers and Feast Mode T-shirts.

Here are the tender mercies for my first week in LITTLE ROCK

Monday- The Little Rock sisters had a baptism on Monday and it was a miracle for Hermana Hudson to be able to come! It was so sweet.

Tuesday- We had to bike Tuesday because we were out of miles, and Little Rock doesn't have very many sidewalks or shoulders so we were riding along and a giant nail went through my tire. It was super hot outside and we were halfway between home and the super far place we were going. This nice member saw us try to figure it out and he offered us a ride but we couldn't because it was just a single man, but he referred us over to the Goodyear down the street. So we walked over there and the super nice Goodyear guys, after trying everything they could to fix it the manager hopped in his truck and got me a new tube and tire and came back and fixed it up for me! It was so so nice. (And it's still working woohoo.)

Wednesday- We have been talking to a lot of the kids who are just hangin out and there were these two who were asking about God and like after life and stuff and it was really fun to teach them! Then they took us to their mom who wants us to come back. Later that night we were heading home and we decided to stop by this lady who has been coming to English class, and SHE GAVE US YUMMY ENCHILADAS AND THEY WERE SO SPICY AND GOOD. Tender mercy. And we biked at super speed to get back home and we got home just in time.

Hna Macfarlane and Hna Thornton

Thursday- Last minute, Hermana Barrientos was able to come teaching with us. A few days earlier we were biking around and Hna Thornton talked to a cute Hispanic couple outside and we went back to teach them and they really liked the restoration and they have the cutest little daughter too! 

Friday- We had some good planning on Friday and Hermana Roper came teaching with us! She was really sweet and we found this giant trailer park which we are going back to.

Saturday- NAUN. It was so cool. Hermana Thornton had felt all week that we need to teach this investigator with her whole family and we need to find a way to get them all to sit down with us. We went to see them and the son, Naun, answered the door and long story short he is a member from Honduras and is wanting to learn English and he didn't know where the church is!!! It was so cool. He's the sweetest young guy and we gave him an English Book of Mormon to learn English.

Sunday- We went to see Crescenciana (who came to church! woohoo!) and Hna Lopez helped her feel more comfortable with baptism. She is really in a lot of pain and can't be baptized right now but we helped her overcome her fears and start considering baptism! 

Sorry this might be boring but it was really a great week! Hna Thornton is super awesome and I'm excited to be here in Little Rock.

Read your scriptures and keep the Sabbath Day holy!

 :)

Hermana Macfarlane