Happy New Year!

Well good afternoon everybody! Happy New Year!

I cannot believe that it is already a new year. Seemed just like yesterday I was boarding the plane heading for Salt Lake to start my mission and now it’s already almost been one whole year! Wow how fast time goes!

Union City is great.

New year’s was fun but pretty uneventful just trying to bless people’s homes and being able to go around and see the less actives and the members that haven’t been visited in a while. I’ve experienced a whole new side of GA. On New Year’s instead of popping off a few fireworks for the new year...the gangsters pull their guns out and start shooting up into the night (shows how ghetto of an area I live in) but it was a neat but scary time of the night waking up to gun shots outside my apartment...Makes for an eventful night haha.

I actually cover a couple different towns but my area of Union City. It’s a nice suburb of ATL that has the busiest airport in the world, I think in the world, just 10 minutes away from my house so when I say it can get quite loud I mean it gets loud with all those planes flying over. It’s so cool to watch and hear them all.

But we get to occasionally ride MARTA, the local train and bus system; it’s so fun riding on it. Everybody thinks I’m annoying to ride it but there’s so much to see and so much fun watching people get on and off. Interesting people on MARTA. You can virtually ride anywhere in the city of Atlanta on MARTA. It’s just fun. Got to go to ATL the 1st to play some basketball. The big city. Not sure how used to it I am or how much I like it but it’s really cool to go walk around and see all the buildings and all the engineering that goes into this city and all the work that goes into having the city run.

This week has been really slow but it’s really exciting starting this week. We have zone conference on Friday so that means President has more tools we wants to give us to be better stewards of the Lord’s work. It’s really exciting. I love getting to hear President and all leadership in our zone giving trainings and stuff. Then on Saturday we have a baptism of a lady that really loves the church and really wants to follow Christ. So it makes for a little stressful week. With all the planning for that and all the work we still have to do.

Elder Smith and I are doing well. He gets on my nerves a little bit but what can you expect from a kid you never knew until transfer day. He just does stuff that picks at me but obviously it’s a 2 way street. I know I do stuff to annoy him but sucks for us just what it is.

This mission has really taught me a lot. The things that I am experiencing and the things that I am doing in life are really hard but probably the most rewarding. I just think about the things that I have been entrusted with and this responsibility to find our brothers and sisters and invite them to follow Jesus Christ’s example. It’s so tough but so fun! There are still a lot of things that I have to learn and a lot of things that my investigators have to learn as well and it’s all just a fun trip that we get to take together. I love being able to share the gospel and be able to learn as much about this gospel that I can. You know as well I never really had a testimony of the gospel before I came out on my mission (really, that I knew of) but it’s been so fun to watch and feel how the spirit grows in a person. The spirit is real and it changes lives if you want to and just ask.

It amazes me to see that really if we just ask we can receive. All we have to do is ask! It’s so crazy... If you want to feel the spirit more just ask than figure out your answer. If you want to learn the gospel better then just ask. Heavenly Father knows what we want but we can do receive it if we do not ask! Be like the Brother of Jared in Ether... His faith is so strong that he saw the Lord! We probably won’t she him but we sure can feel his love and spirit if we just ask and that’s what I have really been re-teaching myself this past week!

Thanks so much for the gifts and cards for Christmas! You guys are really trying to kill me with the sweets :) but I’m not complaining at all :) haha. You’re the best any missionary could ask for :)

Love you all so much!

Love,

Elder William L. Macoubrie