Because of Him - Apr 13, 2014

Hola Hola. 

Sometimes..i write these emails and I am 100% lazy. Sorry if this email is lame in advanced. haha. 

HAPPY EASTER! whoo!! I never really considered Easter as one of my favorite holidays or anything but I feel like now that I understand The Atonement a lot better, I understand why this holiday is so great. I am pretty excited.

Also, shout-out to Hermana Pierce and Hermana Jones. They go home this week. I want everyone of you to pray tonight and thank our Heavenly Father for sending me those 2 angels in my life. They really got me through my mission. I am so grateful for the friendship I gained and the many memories we have to come. They did work. Love you mommas :)

This week was great. Me and my companion finally found our groove and we are ready to light this place up. We had interviews this week and the mission president told us both that it is super rare that 2 really experienced/power-house missionaries get put together. He told us that he expects a lot of us and our area because he knows we can do great things. Whoo...the pressure is on. But it feels kinda good knowing that the mission president trusts us so much. We are really excited and pumped. We don't want to let down!

We had a little bump in the road with Marlen. It is a personal issue that I won't write about in my email but pray for her. She really wants to be baptized but we are just gonna have to work a little harder. 

Margie...ya know the one who gave us makeovers? ya she is still a boss. She gave us 3 bags of food. I love english people. We spoke in her relief society class on Sunday and I was legitimacy in culture shock. Going back to an English ward is going to be SO weird!!

This week that comes is gonna be cool. We have lots of cool potential coming in. We are excited to see what happens. 

Spiritual:

1. In my interview with President Clayton he asked me where I see myself in 1 year. I didn't really know what to say. School...Work...Boyfriend..(probs not)..Life. I contemplated my answer in my head for a few seconds and told him that in one year from now I still want to be a missionary. I want to share the gospel and not let "well..i live in Utah" be an excuse. I want to read my scriptures everyday and pray 10+ times a day. I want to serve others and be a representative of Jesus Christ at all times. I want to paint my name tag on my heart and never take it off. When Jesus Christ went to Peter and the Apostles after his resurrection he asked them to leave their nets and never go back. I am changed from my mission. I am still crazy goofy squishy Madison McBride. But I am a representative of Jesus Christ and I will be forever. 

2. EVERYONE GO CHECKOUT easter.mormon.org

The church is doing a world wide media campaign for easter called BECAUSE OF HIM. The video is SO GOOD! I love it.  

Funny: Yesterday we were talking with a member who is SO cool. She just was re-activated with her family and is planning on getting sealed in the temple with them in the next few months. She was talking to us about how she really wants to live the commandments with exactness. Reguarding the Sabbath Day she said..."Hermanas..me and my family don't buy ANYTHING on sunday. NOT EVEN TORTILLAS!!!!"

hahahahaha. I was trying so hard not to life. Tortillas in this place= Life and Death.

HAPPY EASTER. I love you. 

remember because of him, we are here and we can return. 

xoxo. be you.

-hermana mcbride

1. Making cookies for our ward members with our district

2. We sang with Hermana Hess and BARNESY at a fireside this week

3. We are painting little Ori-Dianna's Play house right now :)

4. THROW BACK TUESDAY? 1 year ago with my 2 favorite peeps! (yes i know i am skinnier..don't judge..the tortillas will do that to ya..)

Short & Sweet - Apr 8, 2014

Hey FamBam!

I kinda started this email late so I don't have much time. I was just signing up for classes in the fall..how weird is that?! 4 months. weird. This week has been alright. Conference was amazing..as always. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY GPA DIPPO! Love you old man. I got attacked with a cold this week. Sinus headaches for dayyzzz. But I have been recooperating and trying to prevent infection again. 

It was hard to say goodbye to Sister Hyde. She was a homie. But our theory is that we shouldn't have even been companions in the first place because we are so tight. hahaha. My new companion is Hermana DeAngelo. She is way cool. She is from a small town in Nevada. We both go home at the same time so there is a big possibility that I will get transferred again before I leave :(. BUT HEY! Good news. Hermana Barnes and Hess are my new sister training leaders..which means EXCHANGES! whoop whoop! I am so pumped. 

General Conference was just amazing. I loved the talk given my Gary A. Stevenson about the olympics. I feel like my mission is just like a mini-version of my life. We were prepared before in the MTC, then we came here and we are just learning everyday, then we go home to our family. Life is only a second in the eternal perspective. 

I have started to slump a little bit this week. Change is always hard. And sickness sucks. But I am not gonna hit low again. The Elders gave me a blessing the other day when I started getting sick and it was SO legit. I have been serving with Elder Bone (my District Leader) for the whole time I have been in Cali. We are besties. So the blessing was super personal and very comforting. 

Spiritual: I was reading over a talk that my grandpa Dippo gave to me a few months ago. It is called "the miracle of a mission" by Jeffery R. Holland. It is definitely one of my favorite talks. There is a part that says, "I had a missionary ask me once if I would give my life for the Church. I said, “Elder, I am giving my life for the Church.” I know what he meant. What he meant was, “Would you die for it?” Well, that’s the easy part. That’s a snap! On some days it looks really appealing. That’s the easy part, to die for it. Well, what God needs is people who will live for it, people who will go the distance, people who are in this race we’re talking about that will go all the way to the tape. And some may die along the way and that’s wonderful, but He needs people who will finish the work. He needs people who will wrap this up, and that’s the pledge I make to you, and that’s the pledge He asked. We’re in this together.". 

I have pledged my life to this 18 months. Sometimes I am tired. Sometimes I want to just quit. But I am going to live for it. Because Jesus Christ lived for his mission too. 

Funny: We ate with one of my favorite members this week. She is just as crazy as I am. Well, the whole dinner I was showing her all the weird things I can do (put my fist in my mouth, sound like a transformer, bark like a dog etc.). She was laughing HISTERICALLY and she thinks I am insane. We are now called LAS LOCAS in her phone. hahaha. 

Sorry so short. HASTA SEMANA. love you. 

xoxo. be you.

-hermana mcbride

1. Me and Hermana DeAngelo

2. Me and my Homie Elder Bone

Shock - April 1, 2014

What upppp!

nothing is up. Why? because transfers suck. Wahhhhh :( Sister Hyde is getting transferred tomorrow. I am so sad. It was a complete shock. We are HOMIES. But..life goes on. 

on the up side..my homie from the MTC had to come home early for health reasons and she was at the same activity as me (she lives in cali). SURPRISE!!! I WAS SO HAPPY. she was the one that I was friends with on instagram before the mission. Her name is HERMANA JAEGER. WHOO!!! I was one happy camper. 

One of our eternal investigators is progressing a ton. Her name is Karen and her sister is Abby. They are both juniors in high school. They came to church and Karen finally set a baptism date. WHOO!

Marlen is still a boss. We didn't see her for 2 weeks and we were super worried and then we stopped by yesterday and she told us the COOLEST story. Like one of those stories people tell at their homecoming but don't actually happen to real missionaries. So..she had a dream that God showed her the whole world. Then she looked at Him and Jesus Christ and said.."is the book of mormon true?". And He looked at Marlen and said "Yes, the Book of Mormon is true and Joseph Smith was a prophet". SO COOL HUH?! the crazy part is that she has never doubted it but still prays to know. And..she wasn't even expecting it! She is so awesome. She is talking to her new boss today about getting sunday off because she wants to follow the commandments. WHOO WHOO!

On more of a sad note, we went by that new family's house (the diaz family) to see why they didn't make it to church. We went in and she just looked at us and very sadly told us that her husband is SO angry because they wanted to come to church. He told them NO WE ARE CATHOLIC. It is so sad. The dad still won't talk to one of his daughters. They still want us to come and teach them though so that it is good. We taught them a lot about hope and trying to keep on going. 

Spiritual: My spiritual thought comes kinda from that experience with the Diaz family mixed. Yesterday after we left the Diaz's house, I was so grateful for agency. I am grateful for parents and siblings that love me and support me no matter what I choose to do. God is a God of Love, not control. In the plan of Satan, control was key. In the plan of Jesus Christ, love was the key. Thank you so much to all of you who support me and love me no matter what. I love you so much. 

Funny: Okay. Culture shock this week. These english members from pointloma randomly pulled us over in their mini-van and took us to a Mediterranean restaurant! Like..where are the tortillas? #pitabread THEN Let me tell you about my good friend Margie Johnson. She is this lady from the English ward and she gave us carrots with brownies and crystal light and she FREAKING GAVE US MAKEOVERS yesterday. Oh AND her 5 year old was running around accidentally saying the eff word. haha.  I just didn't know what to do. Me and Hyde were DYING. The English world is honestly another world. I was in culture shock. I might be a little weird when im home hahaha. 

Love you all. Pray that I get another homie companion. 

have a great week!!!

xoxo. be you.

-hermana mcbride

PICS

1. Me and Jaeger REUNITED

2. Margie

3. Photo Shoot..?

4. Me and HESSIE!!!

5. Our district drew the plan of salvation with side walk chalk :) 

Lovin' the Laughter! - March 25, 2014

Hola Hola..

So this morning started as a little bit of a doozy. We locked are keys in the trunk. Luckily me and Sister Hyde just laugh at everything and ended up just laughing it off. The elders tried to break into the car but failed so we just made sandwiches and had a picnic until someone came to the rescue. Me and Sister Hyde are doing awesome. We just laugh at everything. Nobody else understands why we are laughing but its all good. We both just talk as if we were tweeting to each other. Transfers are coming up and I am going to cry if we get split up. WE HOMIES. I don't think we will though. After this transfer, I only have 3 transfers left. HOW WEIRD?! I am trippin out a little bit. 

Its been a little weird of a week. The work is going good. We have had some really up days and really down days. Days that you question why you are even a missionary.  Here are some of the random updates:

-We had 2 days this week with PACKED schedule and everyone of them cancelled and then we couldn't find anyone home. It was comical. Me and sister hyde just came home and sang "YOU HAD A BAD DAY, YOU TAKE A WALK DOWN, YOU SING A SANG SONG JUST TO TURN IT AROUND..". Then we laughed about 1990's disney movies. so all is good. We ended up having a pretty decent week though. 

-Marlen called us and told us she got a job and can only meet with us once a week. That was a bummer. Her baptism will be pushed off til April. They still came to church though!

 

-Last night the elders came to give one of our investigators a blessing cuz she has epilepsy. Then we taught her the plan of salvation with the elders. I think it might have been too much information or too overwhelming. Cuz when were saying our goodbyes she had a siezure right in front of us. It was really scary. :/

-I found out that one of the elders in my zone (from new york) is my 2nd cousin. That was awkward. haha. His step mom is my great aunt vicki. We even have been at the same family christmas party. #SmallWorld

-We added a new family, La Familia Diaz. There is a mom who just survived cancer, 19 year old and 17 year old daughters, and a dad who we haven't met yet. They seem super promising and we are excited to teach them. 

Spiritual: In our lesson with the Diaz family we wanted to really emphasize the Book of Mormon. Sometimes we just go and tell them what it is and give it to them. We often forget how freaking incredible The Book of Mormon really is. So at the beginning I just started by saying, "Today..we are going to change your lives. We are going to teach you about a book that can help you with so many things." It was so cool to see how different their perspective was of the book of mormon was. It was almost as if they were hungry for it. I realized this week, how important the book of Mormon is. I am so grateful for it and I know it changes lives. 

Funny: We were going out of our apartment and we were going to find a blue mailbox so that we could drop our letters off and they could go out that day. As we were driving down a main road, I saw that there was a mailman next to us. Mailmans drive on the right side of the road right? okay so I am driving, going about 30 miles an hour, and I stuck my head out the window and said "AY! MAILMAN! WE GOT LETTERS!" He acted as if this happened to him all the time. We just reached across the cars and I handed the letters to him going 30 mph. It was pretty legendary. Only a missionary would do such a thing. It was pretty legit though. hahaha. 

I am headed off to downtown. Going to go walk into a Nordstrom for the first time in a year. It should be a good day. YEAAAYEAHHH!

Love you all so much.

xoxo. be you.

-Hermana McBride

Pictures time...

1. We got 1 dollar matching t-shirts..#Irish

2. Me and Hermana Rivas..the worlds best ward missionary.

Step It Up - Mar 18, 2014

iBuenos Dias!

This week has been a little crazy. Definitely has been one of the best weeks in the mission. We had a bunch of trainings and meetings and baptims and exchanges. It was cray. But it was really good. I learned so much and my battery was charged. AND I GOT TO GO TO CHULA! whoo! We are on that rebuilding flow right now. Sometimes it is tough but we are just talking to everyone and expecting miracles. We saw SO many miracles with that yesterday. We added 3 way solid people on the street and we got to teach some cool lessons too. 

Here is kinda a run-down of my week.

Wednesday: We had Zone Conference. It was amazing as always. President Clayton taught us so many cool things. We hit my all time high record of dinners in one night. 3 FREAKING MEALS BACK TO BACK TO BACK. That is like 15 tortillas. So much for my diet huh? I thought my life was going to end that night haha. It was rough. 

Thursday: We had Trainer/Trainee meeting and got to learn more about how to be better trainers. I was just pumped to see sister pendleton from chula haha. 

Friday: Exchanges.. On exchanges I learned a lot about the importance of doing things out of love rather than obedience. Sometimes as missionaries we get in the habit of talking to everyone because we know that is what we are supposed to do. But now, we are trying to talk to people because we genuinely want to. 

Saturday: Ivette and Freshte got baptized! It was such a good day. I was so happy. They were both glowing and just so ready. There was SO many people there. It was so good to see all of my peeps in Chula. Especially the Cocas, Chavez, and Manuel. Manuel didn't know I was coming and I scared him and he almost started to cry! haha. It was so great. I played the ukulele for the Cocas while they sang at the baptism. It was so cute. President Clayton came to the baptism as well. 

Sunday: To top off the week, we got to go to the mission president fireside. Me and Sister Barnes sang with 2 other Elders to "Senor, te necesito" and I played my ukulele. Manuel shared his testimony to the congregation. I was just so happy. Moments like those can not be replaced by anything in the whole world. 

I am a happy missionary this week. 

Spiritual Moment: (Pops you are going to love this one..its a track analogy) We had district meeting and at the end, Elder Bone was giving his closing thoughts. He was talking to us about how when he was in 8th grade, he ran the mile in track. The most important laps in the mile are the first and the last. Our district has half of us that are brand new and the other half are about to go home soon. We have some who are just starting the race and some who are ending it. The first lap is important because you are finding your pace. The last lap is important because even though you have no energy left, you are going to push as hard as you can until you get to the end. He then looked at each of us and said.."I invite each of you to step up. Do better. Run Faster. Set your expectations higher." 

It was then when I realized that I really don't have very much time left here. I am going to step up. I am going to sprint. And when I get home I want to be completely exhausted

Stupid Moment: Okay..this is a really sad moment in my life. The other night, me and Hermana Hyde were talking about "specific prayers". She was telling me that a specific prayer is when you pray about something very specifically as an "if..then" situation. So..I decided to put it to the test. For some stupid reason, i decided to pray about that one school called BYU. I said in my prayer, "If I get my 'trunky papers' (the letter that the mission president sends when you are going to finish your mission soon) on p-day then I will think about transferring to BYU". So...we went to go get mail on pday and i grabbed my mail and just fell to the floor. I started yelling and sister hyde hahaha. MY STUPID TRUNKY PAPERS CAME. I was pretty ticked for about 10 minutes. So..we will see what happens. BYU could be a possibility in the next few years. I will wear RED every single day though. #GoUtes

Funny Moment: We were contacting some black guys on the street yesterday. One of them was wearing a shirt that said "como se llama" with a llama on it. hahaha! The other one was wearing an Allen Iverson jersey so of course we talked about sports for a bit. We argued about the lakers and agreed on the 49ers and it was pretty funny. Just these 2 white chicks in skirts trying to act cool. Well, as we were going to knock on the door, one of the guys yelled..."ayyy! Be careful..they got doggs!" Sister Hyde says (in a very unintentional thick black girl accent) "WE AINT SCARED OF NO DOGS". We were all just laughing so hard. SISTER HYDE YOU ARE WHITE. haha. You can take the girl out of Rose Park but you can't take Rose Park out of the girl. We both still question why we were called to California..like send us to Loisianna or something!

I hope you all have a FAB week. (see picture)

xoxo. be you.

hermana mcbride

1. Ivette and Freshtes Baptism!

2. Me and my homie on the street...haha

3. HASTEN THE WORK..ITS FAB (apparently this is the new sign that the kids are doing nowwadays)

 hasten the work! 

ivette and freshte baptism

homies....

F O M O - Mar 11, 2014

Hello Family!

Happy MISSIONARY APPRECIATION DAY! bahaha..ya that is my own made up holiday and I am pretty sure that I am the only one celebrating it. haha. its all good. Welp, today was going so good and then i found out that freaking MOMMA PIERCE AND MOMMA JONES are back together for their last transfer in the mission. If there was ever a time to miss Washington..today is the day. I AM SO JEALOUS. Back in my first few emails in Yakima, i talked about how we came up with a phrase called "F.O.M.O". It means, fear of missing out. I HAVE SO MUCH FOMO RIGHT NOW. nothing can top the 1st transfer in Yakima though. That was legit. 

Anyway...besides that sad piece of news. I am doing well. I love my companion. We are doing work here in City Heights. It is getting toasty up in the 619. This week, we hit 83 degrees and I was wearing tights. bad idea. The 5 months to Flaca is going fairly well. I lost 3 pounds already but I am pretty sure that the 5 tacos I got fed last night counteracted that. I am also still the little pianista here in Barrio 20. I have a testimony in the gift of tongues (spanish and piano)..thats for sure. 

Last week we had a way fun BBQ with the zone and I was put in charge of being the new "P-Day Coordinator". This, with many other random planning activities on my mission have persuaded me to change my degree. I am going to probably major in marketing and minor in spanish. I want to be an event coordinator for like the NFL or something cool like that. I think it would be pretty fitting since I have planned my birthday parties since I was 3 years old. Idk..

Marlen and Chrisleen are doing so good! They are super pumped for baptism. We went to the Mormon Batallion with them this week and they LOVED it. Junior, her 5 year old, is so good at saying prayers and this week in his prayer he said, "thank you for the sisters to be here because when they come here my life is just happy". It was so freaking cute. I just wanted to squish his little face. 

We are on the grind trying to find more people to teach but we are working hard, being obedient,  and expecting miracles. 

IVETT AND FRESHTE ARE GETTING BAPTIZED THIS SATURDAY! whoo!! I get to go back to Chula. I am so pumped! Also, me and Hermana Barnes are singing at a fireside in the Mission Valley building this sunday. I am playing the uke. whoo! We are excited for that too.

Spiritual: I have been reading Jesus the Christ a lot lately and this week I read about the difference between pleasure and happiness. It talked about how Satan has used the last 5,000+ years to figure out how to work his magic and he is doing all he can to keep us from being happy. He has a whole workshop of tools that he is ready to use on us. We need to be ready. Happiness is forever and everlasting, not just temporal. We have to strive everyday to stay away from the sadness that Satan wants us to feel. He wants to win this battle. We need to win. 

Funny: I was talking to Hermana Hyde about how she thinks her Spanish is coming along and she says.."honestly, all you really need to know is 'hi we are missionaries from the mormon church'. By the time they hear that, they just leave anyway. So ya..I would say my spanish is doing pretty well." hahaha. sad but sometimes true. 

Love you guys. (except pierce and jones. im mad at you.) 

have a great week. 

xoxo.

Photo:

Guadalupe (mom of marlen, member)

Marlen (right)

Chrisleen (little girl)

Junior (little boy)

Pics - Mar 4, 2014

 me and sistah hyde

deserted san diego due to rain!!!