7/13 Sizzled, Quenched, Spiderless & Baptized

Hello Family & Friends!

I hope you all had a great two weeks! Sorry I you didn't get an email last week, I swear these computers drive me CRAZY!! But all is well in Elsinore :)To catch you up on the latest two weeks: my 4th of July ... hum hmmm, well lets just say there's no 4th like Cache Valley's. We went to a pancake breakfast in the morning with one of the wards and it was pretty darn good. I was so excited for fireworks (I heard every year they shot them off over the lake!) Well that morning it hit the newspapers that Lake Elsinore was running low on funds - so they couldn't have ANY fireworks - L A M E! haha but thanks to the fam I had fun throwing firework poppers at the other elders ;)Last Monday me and a couple of elders from the zone went out into the mountains to scout for some terrantula's! We went up to one of the highest peaks and found a trail and started hiking. We brought some equipment with us to catch these deadly beasts: a Box, a Broom (to sweep him in), and a mallot (just in case things got out of hand). - You could imagine what you'd think if you saw a group of boys in the mountain with equipment like that ..haha. Oh and a crucial part of the story - we didn't bring water (who needs that right??). So we hiked in 5 miles up and down the riggerous terrain ..and NO terrantulas. Then hiked back 5 miles - scorched, quenched, and spiderless!! So going down the mountain we thought that we would stop at the nearest restaurant to get a drink of water - and yes the place that was nearest was a biker bar called "Hells Kitchen" haha and we were realllll thirsty.... haha and the rest is another story ;)This weekend was a blessing in itself. Jan Judd decided to get baptized and wanted me to come back to baptize her! And President Reeves being as nice as he is; let me! Bro. & Sis. Teter came and picked me up - Oh, it was so great to see them! Seriously I miss Corona soo much! The ward put together so much for Jan for her baptism: her own scriptures, family home evening stuff, music, etc. And being it was my first baptism.. I was ... A little nervous - Jan is a tall lady! haha so I took Jan into another room and told her we were going to practice - I told her not to be scared and just trust me and BEND her knees... we did a demo and she screamed so loud! haha... I told her she might not want to do that during the real thing, lol. The baptismal program went amazing and then it was time. I said a prayer to my Heavenly Father to help me through this baptism and He was there all the way - Helping me through it all. All me and Jan could do is smile at each other and then after saying the prayer she was baptized [just once ;)]. There is probably not a lot of things in life that could make you as happy as I was at that moment. I am so proud of Jan and for all the progress that she has made! I know she will be a great member of this great Gospel! And I am so thankful that I could participate in her baptism and that I chose to come here on a mission and meet her! The night ended a little too fast and as soon as I knew it - I was back in Lake Elsinore away from one of the best experiences in my life... well I guess it makes me want to have more of those experiences if anything... oh and Ruby got baptized on Sunday... I was sad that I didn't get to go to that one but am so proud of her too!!!Well I hope you are all doing fantastic! I am getting fried down here! The temperature hit 111 degrees yesterday... ya - burn baby burn! haha Stay safe, I love you all!!!
Love Elder McBride

6/29 Short and sweet :)

Dearest Fam & Friends,

Sorry, I only have like 10 minutes, but I loved chatten with all of you! This week had acctually gone by really fast - but each day as the sun came and shined its rays on my head seemed to drag for a couple of hours... It got seriously up to 110!!! AHHHHahah, so funny story... w6/29e went out tracting one day and we knocked on this one persons door and it was just kind of a scronny looking guy and we asked him if he wanted to hear more about our message and if we could help him out in any way and he said... "No, but I have attack dogs if you want to meet them.." HAHA, wow, we almost laughed... rude but funny!So we got this one referral to visit this "Eve Lee Sweeney" girl who called into the MTC and wanted us to come visit. So we went over there and talked to her and she invited us in and started crying saying that she got on the MTC site to bash and just as a joke but she actuallly liked what she saw and wants to convert... haha - funny huh! But she keeps looking up anti stuff and so we are going to have to ween her off that!!!Sorry for the shortness, hope you are all doing great!!! love you all sooo much. Stay safe!Love Elder McBride/Sunshine

1st transfer

From Sister Teter:

Hello McBrides. At this moment I am sitting next to one Elder McSunshine (aka Patch). He wants you all to know that be is leaving our home and moving on to the land o' the disgusting missionary apartment. Yes he is being tranferred to Lake Elsinore/Menifee. For those of you who don't know the area this is the place where old hippies go to die. It is a very interesting area with a diverse group of people. I don't have his address yet, he doesn't either. However you can still send his mail here so that I can read it and forward it. Just kidding. We are going to miss him terribly. This is the only downside to having the missionaries live with us. It hurts like crazy when they leave. Elder McBride is one of my favorites. He is a great missionary and the people love him. He will give you his new address as soon as he has knows it. Thanks for sharing him with us.

June 8th

Dear Family & Friends,

Hey Hey, how is everyone up down and all-around - wherever you are?! haha :) Hope you are doing Great! I heard you are getting a couple of snow flurries up there.. HAHA! oh what a laugh! it is gonna snow till Christmas!So we had President Interviews this week and when we got there Sis. Reeves had a movie there for us... Planet Earth .. haha she was freaking out on how amazing it was - And it kind of was! The Video was about amazing things and creatures on the Earth and how great Gods creations are. Wow, I miss watching TV! but hey, it was good stuff. So Sis. Reeves gave a really good training to us on how much God really loves each and every one of us. She told us about how there daughter who was about 13 died about 3 years ago in a car accident and how she could still feel her daughters presence at hard times in her life. And that she knew that she would be able to see her again. It was really sad, I really don't know if I could be as strong as she was about it... Everone better stay SAFE at home!!!So happy day... Pres Reeves said that I could play card games like 5 Crowns - he basically said the only thing I can't play is poker and gambling. And I asked him about disney music and he said that it was fine. :) So wahoo for me - I will be sending you MY score-sheets!! Muahhahahaha! So this week has been good. I told you about Ruby Bonilla right.. If not then bah ram me! She said she wants to be baptized on this coming Saturday... but her inlaws are springing a surprize baby shower for her that day.. then she might go out of town.. but she said she for sure would the next week and anytime durring the week too........ lets just hope I'm here though.. and don't get transfered... [President Reeves said Pres. Monson wants missionaries to stay in an area for at least 6 months, but he will transfer me if he thinks he needs me somewhere else.. so I really don't know.. 50:50 {transfers are next monday} ~wahoo how many fun symbols can I put~]I'm still trying to get the hang of playing the piano... I really forgot everything!! UGHH! why did I ever quit? WHY!!!! President Miller was right on the money with what he said before he set me apart as a missionary.. Obedience is Everything! So I am striving to be the best that I can be and follow all the rules as best as I can so that I can have the Spirit with me!So I had no idea about how big my testimony/feelings were about the temple! We have been trying to activate this elderly woman so we can get her into the temple and sealed to her husband. So we went over and talked to her and she was having problems with excepting that she had to wear garments FOREVER.. haha we told her that she would be doing it to show her love for God, and she said that all she wanted to do was get in and get sealed than get out and never go again... It really made me feel bad about how she didn't even care about what the Temple means!! Well I hope all is well back at home.Hope you are having a great start of the summer!Good luck Nicole on the Race! You're my #1!! I'll be rooting for ya!Thanks again for all the prayers and everything you do for me, Stay safe!Love Elder McBride

June 1st

Well Hello there my Fam & Friends!Happy June!Well I hope all is well back @ home! Can you believe its already JUNE!... So I am pretty much thankful that I live close to the ocean, because there is something called the "marine layer" of clouds that comes over the mountains and lasts till later in the afternoon so it pretty much gives us shade from the hot sun.. but it's called 'June-Gloom' which means it's only here till June then we have the full fledged SUN!! AHHH, I am gonna come back looking like Brack and Nayvie!! hahaSo life in Corona is going good... this week has been a little died down.. meaning not too much has happened. Haha, I don't know if I should share this or not.. well it will make ya laugh.. we went to one of our Investigators houses (Kathleen Palmieri) who is a really old lady.. and speaks her mind whenever she has something to say. So when we got into the discussion we were talking about faith and she said that she wanted to share a story.. so we let her and she told us about that one time she was sitting on the toilet and she was constipated and that she blew her colon (you could imagine our faces at this point) then she said that she didn't want to go do surgery because that would be serious... so she didn't do anything about it and is just having 'faith' that nothing is wrong... aAHHHHaaaa, we were like .. um, ya faith like that ..and in Jesus Christ.. wow, if she converts we will have to tape her mouth shut in release society! ;)The Judds are doing good.. Adam is still waiting for his answer.. He told us he had a dream and there was this mad who told him that the answer to his question [Is the Book of Mormon true] was "25 of 32" Adam questioned him and said "what does that mean" and the man said "you know what it means...".. then the next day Adam saw tons of things dealing with '25 of 32'! Hmmmm, haha kind of cool huh! Anyone got anything special on what "25 of 32" means???? oh and for Nicole.. Jan wants the Homemade Oreo recipe... she wants to make me some :)I am not going to say we are going to have a baptism this Saturday.. because it always never happens when I say that.. knock on wood or somethin'. But Ruby Bonilla is getting really close and we have a good feeling about her. She is ready - a little nervous - but ready. She is having a baby in a couple of months and is dating a less-active member who we are reactivating with her :) And that is about it... haha most everthing is going good The Teters are great... Transfers however are coming up in two weeks ... uhhhhLove you all! Stay safe, congrats on all the Graduations! Have fun on having No school! [Sorry if this letter is too graphic.. just laugh :)]Love Elder McBride

May 26th

Holla mis Familia y Amigos,
This past week has been good and filled with spititualness...& yes that's a word ;) I don't know why but some weeks just seem to fly by and this was one of them... I feel like I just was sitting here yesterday... even though it was 8 days ago!So I hope everyone is doing well - recovering from sicknesses, surgeries, and all! It sounds like it is warming up over there... and as for over here.. it is warming up squared!! haha, everytime I see a pool (which is everywhere you look) I am like, UGHHHH! hahaSo we have this Investigator Ronda Clark who was introduced by her kind of boy-friend Ron. We have not met with Ronda because she and her boyfriend keep breaking up and getting back together... so it kind of makes it hard for us to create a trusting relationship. However when they got back together this time, we went over to her house and we decided to talk to her finally about getting baptized... She is a very great lady (she has a lot of trials in her life: a son in the military, a son in jail, and a son who is handicapt and can't move.) But she really loves reading the scriptures - and she even made a chart of who was who in the BOM!! haha, pretty funny! Hoping for a baptism in the next two weeks for her!We didn't get to meet with the Judds that much this week :( ... Adams foot fell into a gopher hole and got twisted up so we couldn't meet. But on Saturday we met and played a game for the ten commandments doing little role-plays haha. Then afterward we had a talk with Jan & Adam about how when you get baptized you will be blessed and asked if Adam would be willing to let Jan, Jessica, & Jacob go on with baptism and (not showing a lack of faith) him wait for an answer. We know Adam will get his answer in time.. for me I think it will happen when the family gets baptized. So we are hoping for the best with them :)Haha, on Wednesday I went on an exchange with a spanish Elder: Farrington and the whole day I was just shaking my head in lessons saying: "si" "gracias" "uh huh" haha but it was still very fun. I actually talked to this Indian lady on the steet and asked if she spoke English.. she said yah, so I asked if she spoke spanish too (just to get more aqainted) she was like "no I'm not Spanish" .. (lol, NEVER ask if someone is spanish because of their color!) haha, but she was really nice and I started sharring the Gospel with her and she said that she had read the BOM and believed it to be true.. I was like "HUH? You sure?!" lol, but then she said that her parents wouldn't let her join :( how sad! That night we went to a members house to eat and when I walked in the door the guy was like "Elder McBride?? Do you have a brother?" I was like "uhh, ya" and he asked if he served a mission and where.. I said Cochabomba Bolivia and he was like "I served with your brother!!" Lol, SMALL WORLD! His name was Elder Boots and he was a really cool guy haha, all the other elders really didn't get a word in between us.. Do you remember him Ryan???So have you ever tried Indian food... Cause I can now say I have! and it is ... well lets just say my American stomach is just not used to that kind of food. hahaha Really Hot and spicy... and for the desert they had these soaked in milk cheeseballs ... what the... that not desert!! I want Molten Choc. Cake!! haha, no complaining though ;)We went over to this one investigators house (Lydia Enriques) and asker her to get baptized and she was like "Yes Yes Yes"... then she was like " oh wait... maybe I should pray about it first..." haha.. and since we by any means don't denounce prayer in our religion... we said that was fine ;) hahaMemorial day was good ... At a members house we had a couple of fun experiments... along with some mentos, diet coke... and some dry ice.... haha tons of laughs and fun!! Well I love you all and hope you have a great week! Stay safe! see ya next week :)Love Elder McBride

May 18th

Hello My Dear Family & Amigos!, I hope your past week has been amazing and Grrrreat! Thank you for all the letters and packages! lol, I loved hearing from all the family on the phone call and I loved reading what you all had to say after it too ;) haha.

So I haven't been up to too much ... just missionary work - if you could imagine that ;) lol, sorry I am just in a funny mood today. This week went by really fast (which is good - because that means we probably taught a lot.)Last Monday the Citrus Hills ward had a F.H.E.-in-the-Park & it was really fun... the whole idea of it is for the families in the ward to bring non-members so they can have fun eating and playing games. [which of course we went to ... non-members + missionaries = you know what!!] This is actually where the Judds and Brett Moore was first brought to and then they got to know the missionaries :) I really love the ward, everyone is soo nice... haha, and (you'll get a laugh out of this one) out of the corner of my eye I saw some of the ward ladies playing a card game with *purple cards... so my heart jumped and I ran over and sure enough.. they were playing 5 CROWNS!! haha, so I watched them play it (i can't play face-cards so that is out :'( but it was still fun).The Judds are doing good! They are committed to preparing for baptism on THIS Saturday May 23, 2009!! We decided to fast with them to have the Spirit help them throughout the week and for them to get more of a surer answer. We are going over there tonight and want to go over there at least once everyday for the next week so we can check up on them! So Darla Sauceda was one of our investigators... but her mom didn't want us to teach her anymore because we were scary mormons!! ya know lol. But anyways, she has a bad back and no furniture, so we have been looking for free furniture out on the sides of the road for like a month to give to her... and hopefully get back into her life to teach her :) .... then this week at one of our appointments we went in and was talking to this lady and sat down on this couch in her garage.. and @ the end of the appointment she turned and looked at us then had this weird look on her face, and said i don't know why I'm asking, but do you want to have this couch? We were like " .... Chaahhh, YA" It is so awesome how the Spirit works! So we got the couch with the Millers help and took it over to Darla and she said the we answered her prayers!!! AWESOME!!!The Millers were very fun! It was so fun to hear the I am "related" to someone out here! (thanks to you Mary) lol.Thank you for all of your prayers I love and feel them in my behalf and in the lives of my investigators.Stay safe and Love you all so much!Love Elder McBride