boom-pow

Today we went to lunch with our newest recent convert. Roberto took us out to eat pizza. We went to a park and sat and talked. He is so funny("puchica"), and he has crazy experiences. We read a scripture, I sang a song, and said goodbye. It is hard to be transferred. 

While driving to the park, I got a call from President Taggart. They told me last night that I would be moving areas. I am not too shaken up about it because I saw it coming. President was proud of me and what I have done throughout my mission. It was nice to feel like I had pleased my leader. But now I am going to have a new companion in a "dynamite" area. President wants me to help this missionary to grow. 

I am sad to leave. But I know that God wants me somewhere else. Every single transfer has led me to amazing new people. I feel overwhelmed with all of the love from all over New Jersey, and I know I will meet special people in my next area. 

Tuesday I got to spend with Elder Cuyan. He is from the Philippines. He is a very spiritual guy and is very sensitive to the whispers of the Spirit. He would ask questions and bear testimony directly to what they needed. It was a good reminder of who is the real teacher. 

We visited with Leo and Yari last Tuesday. We invited them to be baptized. Yari told us that she doesn't feel it yet. That is ok. She will feel it. Yesterday Madelyn (her cousin) shared her testimony in sacrament meeting. Yari bawled. It was a very touching moment. Leo didn't answer when I asked him to be baptized. He was moaning all during the lesson, and we could all tell he wasn't ok. He looked down at his lap as he sighed. His mom stood up, walked over to him, and stroked his head. She then looked me in the eyes and said, "help me. Help me with him. He needs to go to a doctor."

I felt so helpless. I can't make Leo go to the doctor. I can't convince him to get better. I realized how pathetic we really are, and how we do really depend on God for everything.

One of the things I can do for Leo though, is pray and be his friend. 

And that is all we can really do to help anyone. Pray for them and be a real friend.

My companion and I get along really well and we had a good time this week. He is a good kid and is very kind. He is super funny too. But don't tell him I said that because then he will get a big head... Haha.

The pope came to Philadelphia this week. The roads were ridiculous and everywhere we went we heard about his arrival. I personally think it is awesome. Millions of people showed up to show their devotion. It opened many hearts this week as we were talking with the people. I like the Pope. He seems like a loving person.

We had a correlation meeting with President Stokes. He is the Stake President. He has been a great example to me when I was in Freehold and now while I am here in Trenton. He is intelligent and loving and focussed. A wonderful man. 

Roberto was baptized Saturday morning in a river in the Pocano's Mountains. Everyone said the Spirit was present and that it was a beautiful experience. We weren't allowed to go, but we were happy that it was done there. Roberto loved it. He is a happier person. The time finally came for him to enter into the path back to his Heavenly Father. That is exciting.

He bore his testimony to me today. He said, "with our heavenly father, nothing is impossible." He said more, but I felt the Spirit when he said that. It reminded me of my patriarchal blessing. I am grateful for Roberto and for the advice and counsel and love he has given me. Hopefully I get to see him again before he leaves to Guatemala next year. 

Roberto asked me to confirm him. That was a great experience. I love being part of peoples' stories.

So today is a lot of "see ya laters" because I am coming back as soon as I can to New Jersey. I love it here. I think I might live here for part of my life. Obviously not in Trenton, but some quaint township out here would be awesome!

As I prayed last night, I felt my relationship with God grow. I know there is a god. I know that he loves me. And I know that I love him.

Was good 

Jersey Strong

Life is good in the gospel

Love you

Elder McFarland

One more transfer

I am going to start writing this letter first. By the time I get to this letter, I am annoyed with emailing, and I just throw some words on the screen. Ergo my letters home aren't very good. 

but here we go... last week was a good week!

Roberto scared the living daylights out of me. He didn't answer his phone all week. Finally on Thursday he picks up and tells us he is working and to call him on Friday. We did and set up an appointment with him. He and we didn't want to rush through the material, so we decided to push it to this Saturday. Saturday and not Sunday because General Conference is the following week, and the week after is Stake Conference. He wouldn't be able to get confirmed for 3 weeks. So we are going to baptize him on Saturday. He is ready. We all feel it. It is way past time... a couple decades late. But it is happening this Saturday. Please keep him in your prayers.

Yari and Leo aren't doing so good. I mean, they are progressing and reading the scriptures, but Leo's health is getting worse. We need a lot of prayers on his part. They are getting exhausted of the hardships and struggles. Poor friends. They are so desperate for a cure. I have faith that their cure will come as they continue learning the gospel. As they pray for guidance, they will know which doctor to go to to receive help. 

The members here are doing good! There is a huge possibility that this branch will become a ward at the beginning of 2016. D. Todd Christofferson came and opened a new stake in Central Jersey. We didn't get to go because our stake wasn't a part of it, but our president said that it was powerful and that he left some special blessings on the Jerseyites. It is fun to be in a place where you can contribute so much to a ward or branch. Being involved is awesome! I want to continue to be an involved member my entire life. There is so much good we can do.

We had a 3 day exchange with our assistants this last week. He listened to our opinions on how we think the mission should be run, and then he gave us some good feedback on how we can improve. We worked hard and laughed hard. It has been a blessing to serve the missionaries here. I wish I had been more focused on loving the missionaries around me instead of trying to be better than them. 

Maybe you could also include Tyler McFarland in your prayers this week. This is the last week of the transfer, and I am nervous that President might take me out of Trenton. Just pray for me that I will be happy with whatever he chooses. Wherever I am the next transfer, pray that I will know that that is where God wants me.

It is fun to be a missionary. I would choose to serve for another year if I could. 

I love the guidance I am given as I read the scriptures. 

I love my people here in New Jersey. They are so special to me.

I love you family and friends.

Waz Good

Jersey Strong

Life is good in the gospel

Elder McFarland

Roberto is cool.

Buster the turtle. Empanadillas from Zulay. 

And me and Zulay.

Ylonka gave me a pilon.

Banner Week

This week was a banner week for us.

It had stressful moments but most of it was fun.

We started out by going on some splits with our members. I took a
priest with me named Leo. My companion went with another member named
Roy Zuniga. Leo and I went to roberto's to teach him about the plan of
salvation. There we had a fun surprise. The member that referred
Roberto was there and he helped us teach. Roberto wanted to get
baptized a long time ago. Problems with the family came up and he
ended up procrastinating it. But now he wants to be baptized because
he knew that this church was true when he first listened to the
missionaries. He is a good listener, but he also likes to talk. He has
crazy stories. He has life threatening moments spread throughout his
life. He is super funny and expressive as he tells his stories. He
came to church yesterday, and he is so pumped for his baptism next
week. We still have some lessons to teach him, but I think we will
make it. Your prayers would be much appreciated.
Monday we killed it. Tuesday was just as good. We do service at a soup
kitchen for dinner and I got to represent our church and do an
interview! It was just for a school assignment, but small and simple
things will help us become more known. It is a fun place to serve. We
got to visit with Yari and  Abi. They cool. So nice. They should be
getting baptized soon as well. I want to stay here til the end of my
mission. There is so much work to do here, and I love it here.

Elder Packer and I got to be on an exchange. He is the great grandson of THE Elder Packer. We enjoyed our time together. He finishes his mission this month. He is a Korean missionary so I was trying to learn Korean. I am so glad I was called spanish speaking. Korean is hard. We gave a blessing to a less-active who may have to get deported... but I realized how much God has let me use the priesthood to bless the lives of others. That is so cool that he has given man the authority and the power to bless others as long as it is for the good of others. God loves his children. 

We also do some service at a food pantry on Wednesday mornings. It is fun to work there with the other missionaries and our member Juan Cobos. He runs the place. He is a good example to me of serving others freely. He does so much for others, and he loves them so much as well.

We worked hard throughout the rest of the week. We saw a lot of miracles as well. Our investigators seems to understand better what we are teaching them, and they are becoming more receptive to the invitations we offer them. 

We had a random trip to the NY Temple this week. It is important to know that we cannot use our mission cars to go to the temple, so we had to get a ride. Stefani and Elder Welch and another Elder were all suppose to go while I went to a meeting in Morristown that we were suppose to be at. We had it all figured out, until the member who was going to take us got called into work the night before. We woke up at 4:30 on Saturday to meet at the chapel and leave at 6. We got there not knowing if Elder Welch and the other Elder would get to go due to shortage on seats, but they made arrangements so Elder Welch and I could ride up with them. We thought that we would still be able to meet up with the other elders and do the exchange but as we were driving to the temple, we realized that we couldn't meet the other Elder where we had thought we could because we took a different way. They didn't know how to get to the temple, so I ended up going with Elder Welch. I am sad that the other Elder didn't get to go, but it was absolutely amazing! One of the funnest times I had in the temple. One of our members baptized me. He struggled to do the baptisms because it was his first time and he has terrible eye sight because of his age. Also, hispanics can never say "McFarland." In the NY temple they don't do name tags or anything. You just have to remember their name. So as he baptized me in the most interesting ways, my name got progressively worse. It eventually ended up being "Hermano Fanny." He baptized me about 5 times with that name. Now everyone in the branch calls me Elder Fanny. But I don't mind. It was hard for me and the members who heard it to not ruin the sacredness of the temple with our outbursts of laughter. 

Although it was one of the most enjoyable trips to the temple... it was also one of the most stressful. We had to be at a meeting at Morristown at 10 a.m. Because the other elder and I couldn't exchange places, we had to figure out how to get to Morristown. By the time we left the temple it was 9:30. We got dropped off at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike at about 9:50.  We manage to get to a neighborhood where someone could come pick us up. After a couple of phone calls we had a ride coming for us by 10:15. Our goal was to make it there by 11... haha. pathetic I know. They told us they would be there in 15 minutes. 35 minutes later we were picked up and started to drive to Morristown. Our goal by then was to just get to morristown so we could get a ride home to Trenton. Those missionaries saved our behinds. So grateful for understanding missionaries. 

By the time we got to the meeting, it was 11:35. We walked in and the office elders said," wow. You are late. But that is ok. President just got here 5 minutes ago." I had been so stressed out that I felt I was going to get ulcers. When I heard that President was late and that it wasn't just a meeting for zone leaders, I felt so much better. We got to listen about serving others for about 45 minutes. Then the meeting ended. We got lunch and headed back towards home. When we got to the chapel, the elders left and I started reaching for the car key. I only found a hole in my pocket. I started to panic. We decided that the hole wasn't big enough for the key to fall out, so I must have misplaced it. After searching my pockets and my bag for 5 minutes, i found it in a pocket I had checked 3 times. I am so grateful it was there though.

I think this trip taught me something about life. First, never overbook yourself. Second, make sure you know how to hitchhike (that is a joke). Third, to not stress too much. Everything always works out. Sometimes I am a drama queen. I just need to realize how small the problems really are. 

After that crazy day, we had a good day of proselyting. I love serving others. These have been the happiest years of my life. 

We all know numbers don't really matter, but it does show the people we got to serve. This week we had the highest numbers this area has seen in a long time. Numbers don't always show how much we work, but it seemed backwards. Miracles came without us deserving them. We had 4 investigators come to church and we taught 8 member presents. If you asked me if it were possible to get those numbers in this area I would have said "yes," but not because I truly believed it. I know that if we do our best, God makes up the rest. And sometimes the miracles are shown in the numbers, and sometimes they are not.

Keep praying for Roberto and Yari and Leo and Zulay.

Waz good

Jersey Strong

Life is good in the Gospel

Love you

Elder McFarland

p.s. I just liked the name of this hood restaurant.

us at the temple with stef

a sister that had to go home for a little while

Elder Packer and I at Rita's.... love that place

oh i saw leo andino a couple of weeks ago at a meeting i had with the stake president. He was visiting family. love those kids

Trunky picture and deer outside of district meeting.

WOOHOOO

Woohoooo!

My mission is awesome. New Jersey is so fun.

Zone meeting was good, and I felt the spirit. We got some good feed back from the zone and the assistants. It always feels good to have a meeting turn out alright. I got to go on exchange with Elder Larsen again. He is a good kid and it is fun to talk about people we knew at home. It was a good exchange. He is a really smart kid and helped me
answer some of my questions and doubts. We enjoyed our time together.

Yari and Abi are doing a lot better. We had a great lesson with them yesterday. Our president from the branch came with us, and man... He was awesome. I haven't felt that strong of a spirit in a long time. It was energizing and reassuring.

Roberto is going to get baptized the 20th. We called him last week and he asked us if he could still get baptized on Sunday. We hadn't taught him more than the restoration so we couldn't... But now he is excited for the twentieth.
So keep him in your prayers.

We really connected with Zulay last week. She opened up a ton. I love that lady. Her time just hasn't come yet for her to be baptized. It will though. She is honest and determined so she will change eventually.

I feel so happy this week. I feel like I can conquer the world. I love serving others. It is wonderful to see how much hope this message brings others. The friends I am making are amazing and mean a lot to me.

I think I understand more now about why returned missionaries say that they had never been happier than when they were on their missions.

Waz good
Jersey strong
Life is good in the gospel
God will provide


Elder McFarland

Good Glory

Time is flying. 

I don't really want to come home anymore. There is too much work to do here. 

This week was kind of a downer. But we are staying positive. 

We haven't been able to meet with Roberto. He says he has been working a ton. He told us he was coming to church, but he didn't come. I am sure he would have come if he could have. We are going to keep the faith, though, and hope he can meet with us this week.

Zulay is doing okay. She isn't willing to come to church, but she wants to listen. Maybe it just isn't her time yet. We are going to find where her desire is. 

Although it was a somewhat disappointing week, we saw some awesome miracles. Yesterday, one of the part member families came to church. I like that family. They are from Ecuador. There are two amazing kids, but Fabian is one of my good friends here. He is 14... but he is hilarious. I can't remember the girl's name, but she is a hoot. She is so funny. Their mom is not a member, but she came. And then after the meeting, she was collecting all the garbage left by our members who were just chit-chatting. It was pretty humbling. Pray for her and her husband. Their names are Fabian and Mery. They are cool. 

Alba is one of the cousins of a recent convert named Madelyn. She hasn't heard too much about the church, but she also came to church yesterday. She asked us to give her son a blessing before the school year, so apparently her cousin is doing amazing work there! 

On tuesday I got to go on exchange with a stalwart missionary from England! He was Elder Gossner's last companion so we talked a lot about what we learned from him. It is nice to be in leadership positions because one can learn a lot from others, but more importantly, you get the opportunity to make new friends as you serve them! I think I don't take advantage of that enough.

We had a lot of meetings this week. We got to work with President Stokes. He is the Stake President here, and he is my hero. He is so genuine and kind. He is so smart too. He is a spiritual giant. I met him in Freehold, but working closer to him now is awesome! We had a good council on Friday with President and again I realized how important it is to help the members here in Jersey. I can help other members continue on the path of conversion, and what will help them become more converted is sharing the gospel. 

This week is going to be fun. Zone meeting and an exchange with some other great Elders.

So pray for your elder and his companion. pray that we will find those that we are suppose to bless and save.

Waz Good

Jersey Strong

Life is good in the gospel

God will provide

Love you

Elder McFarland

p.s. I randomly saw Leo Andino and Roselyn in East Brunswick! Love and miss them so much

Elder McFarland's Statement on Missionary Work

This is my letter to bishop. I call it Elder McFarland's statement on missionary work.

Hey bishop,

I received an email from Brother Swallow. Here are my thoughts of missionary work.

I wrote a lot of paragraphs with a lot of words. but i erased it all and put what i really feel about missionary service.

Karina grew up in Colombia. After a lot of suffering from fatigue and hunger and violence, she finally arrived to the land of the free. She had no bed to lay on, but had a room in a nice place called Freehold, New Jersey. Karina engaged in many different activities just to make it by. Searched for many jobs in many places, but still had to resort to some dangerous and unacceptable behavior. Her new boyfriend was put into jail, and now she felt very alone. As she was looking for a job, she met with the two young men strangely dressed for the summers heat. She listened to the young kids as they stumbled in their spanish. They shared a scripture with her about how jesus never will forget about us because we are engraven in his hands (1 hep 21:15-16). The missionaries could see the understanding in her eyes as she realized what jesus had done for her. She looked into her lap and it was quiet. In her lap she remembered all the years she had been tossing and turning on the floor, all the time she suffered the embarrassment and pain of selling herself to strange men just to get through the week, every single time she was scared for her life while she passed those substances to the angry man. In her lap she saw all of it. and although she had passed through all these things and more... it was ok. Life was good. She felt something warm and loving. Life had hope and promise and love because of a stranger that laid his life down for her. She cried. And the strange young men sat there. The warm and loving feeling came from them and from above.

Karina didn't get baptized... But the young man will never forget that afternoon in that strange place far from home. He will not forget what it meant to him or to her what Jesus Christ had done for him and for her, and for all of the broken hearts in the existence of man. He will not forget the love God has for all of men.

Young men... Don't be selfish. Be a missionary.

Young women, you too can serve God as a missionary, but always pray about your decision before you jump into it. Truly seek the Lord's will, and he will guide you where you are needed. 

The Book of Mormon is true. No man taught me that. No man can ever teach me that. God the Father revealed it to me through his Holy Spirit. We can know. We can change. 

We can be happy. Happiness is all we ever wanted, and all we will ever want. And happiness is sharing the gospel. 

 13 Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life.

Thanks bishop.

Elder McFarland

Week One

Here we go! Another transfer! We are so pumped.

It is awesome being in Trenton. Although the air is probably more chemical pollution than oxygen, I find myself taking deep breaths and enjoying the fact that I am a missionary.

My companion is named Elder Welch. He is from Bremerton, WA (right outside Seattle). He enjoys sports... so we will get along just fine. He had served here for 6 months and got sent back. It was unexpected for all of us, especially the members. They treated him like a son coming home. It was amazing to see how much missionaries really mean to these people.

Roberto Castillo came to church yesterday. He fit right in. We never got the opportunity to teach him this week, but he told me yesterday he is reading his assignments. He seems to be ready for the gospel. And that is when missionary work is the funnest. I love to teach people about things that I was taught my whole life. It is fun to see how they enjoy it as well. Not everyone likes to hear about it, but it is a good feeling when someone does want to learn. 

We are now enjoying A/C. Elder Mendez and I sweat all night. Our A/C was broken and we never called and asked them to fix it. We got someone over this week to put it back together. A/C is a blessing from God.

Last monday we enjoyed a day at the beach. It was so much fun playing sports, catching crabs, and singing to the uke. I can't wait to do that with my family. Good times. We started on our way back and  found out that our tire was completely flat. We switched it to the donut, and we were on our way in less that 15 minutes. I am learning life lessons as well as the gospel. Missions are sweet. 

Each transfer conference gets harder and harder. First off, because I am tired and getting ready to go. They make the meeting so dramatic and emotional that it wears me out. Second because there is a part of me that regrets the day I say "see ya later" to New Jersey. 

By the time we were on our way home it was around 5. We drove to the hospital to give Stefani a blessing. She got her gallbladder removed. After her pregnancy and the surgery, she is feeling pretty tired. Please keep Stefani in your prayers. Also pray for her sister valerie that she will open her heart to God.

Zulay has been working. We are seeing her tonight, but please pray that she will accept the gospel when it is the right time.

Yesterday was a miracle. Besides having 3 of our investigators come to church (that always makes me happy), we got to see the baptism of Laura. Laura is about to move on to the next stage in life. She is so frail and so sweet. She isn't that old, but just doesn't have good health. My companion was lucky enough to get to interview her, and she passed with flying colors. I sat outside and played with her four cats. She expressed to us her excitement for her baptism and her commitment to the Lord. Where do these amazing people come from? She was an amazing ballerina and had the fame of the world. But she came to know Jesus somehow. I love conversion stories like that. They are powerful.

We gave a blessing to one of our members yesterday. The poor guy broke his leg a couple of weeks ago. He is looking healthier and stronger, but we asked him if he wanted a blessing. He accepted and asked my companion to do it. Sadly, I didn't pay too much attention to what was said, but I do remember that I felt that I had done something good for this man. Although I was just a member of the circle, I felt that I had served him in some way. I don't know why I felt like that, but it has helped me change my motivations. I want to serve others ALWAYS. 

I love being here in New Jersey.

waz good

jersey strong

life is good in the gospel

god will provide

Love you

this guy reminds me of david when he was little... 

love ya dave :)

elder allred and i got to do another exchange! Love that guy

this is my companion... elder welch

ninja... beach.... we got a flat on our way home from the beach.... classic 

phew... this is the zone. there are a lot of names. sis carter sis tonga elder laceste elder fisher elder cuyan elder mendez elder alforeza elder spencer elder larsen elder marquez and the guy squating is elder thresher

some mermaid washed up onto shore.

some cool street in Trenton... and some abandoned building... so cool... we have the hoooood.