May 14, 2012

May 14, 2012

Well I don’t have much more to say.
For those of you who weren’t on the phone, it’s been a fun week! We’ve been super busy with everything. I did divisions three times this week and had a zone conference apart from it. Man I don’t even know what to talk about - everything is good. Today we got our hair cut, we played basketball and baseball. We ate crepes. It’s just been a lot of fun. Elder Sosa and I get along really well (look mom after so many times of saying things backwards and speaking Spanish for two years almost, my English has improved!). But really it’s a blast. We have some sweet families here. The biggest thing that happened this week was we had a baptism! It was with a sister that isn’t super literate. Like she doesn’t know how to read, but she is pretty sweet. I was talking on the phone with everyone and the house where we teach her is like a referral mine. We have the goal to get everyone in that house to church. It’ll take some work but we’re getting there. Some drink, and smoke so we’ll see how things go.
If I didn’t mention in one of my last letters, we are covering three areas so it’s pretty crazy to get everything all done. We had to send some of our best investigators to another area because we found out that they live there. It was so sad but oh well. Maybe they’ll invite us to their baptismal service.
Really there’s not much to talk about.
Hey mom I need that information as soon as you can about the stake president as fast as you can. Preferably this week. Dad asked a while ago so I’ll spill the beans in case everyone doesn’t know the rest. I’ll be coming home on the sixth of September. That is really weird. I feel like I got a bit over a year maybe. I finally got figured out more or less what I’m doing. I guess that will be to keep me on my feet!
As a spiritual thought, I was watching a clip on the plan of salvation and how it answers a ton of questions that we have in the world today. They compared life to a three act play, the first act being the pre existence, the second act earth life and the third act being after life. The problem we aren’t just watching the play, we are in it. Many times we see injustices in life that we don’t understand when the “and they lived happily forever and ever” part comes in. That’s because we are only focusing on the second act. There is so much more to this life than what we see here in the world. We shouldn’t expect to know everything, but we can study the scriptures and have faith that everything will be fixed. Our judge is perfect and not one injustice will pass by Him. All things are within his view and when we stand to be judged in the third act, every good or bad deed will be complete in consequence.
Con Amor,
Elder Mackay

May 7, 2012

Well… life’s crazy as a zone leader I have discovered. I’ll try to go through a day by day schedule of what’s happened.

Ok Tuesday. We had to go to the mission office to get some stuff and drop off stuff. We worked super hard for a few hours then we had to go out to a little bity town because they are going to open up the area. We walked for probably two hours looking for a house. We didn’t find one but it’s ok. We are working hard so that they can get things done there. We have a house in mind but it would have taken a week or so to get ready. So then we came back super tired. For now they are going to stay in the “church” until Sunday, then after that they are suppose to move in to a different house.

Wednesday: it was a normal good hard working day. We taught six lessons and got some people getting ready for baptism. We are teaching a part member family. They are so into the gospel. Just a good day.

Thursday was fun. I had my interview a week ago but it was my comps turn for his interview so we had to go back to the mission office. Then next we had weekly planning and a little bit of planning for the consejo (I think that’s council in English). Consejo is where we go over a bunch of stuff for the zone. Then later on in the day we had a lesson with a new guy. He’s a little bit older but knows Maya and he taught us how to say “don’t sin anymore” in Maya.

 Then Friday early morning we had to go to Centro for consejo. It was super, super, super, super but super sweet. Normally we have to present a bunch of numbers and things like that but we just sat in awe of the stuff that president was teaching us. In consejo, there are the zone leaders (20 missionaries) and the APs and president. It was cool.

Saturday was divisions with a district leader. I feel so weird being in a new position. I remember when I was district leader and now I have to be the boss of the district leader. But it went well. In the food appointment that we had, the sister was going through some trials. Her sister had died recently and she hadn’t talked about it to anyone so we were the ones there to listen to everything. She broke down crying but it was nice to be sent. I thought about Mosiah 18:8 that says, "morn with those that morn…"  it is always fun being a missionary.

Sunday was stake conference. We got to see our mission president again. He talked super sweet. We worked a bit. Oh yeah, in the night my comp got super sick and I got to help him. But any who… afterwards, we worked and then we had to pass numbers to the assistants. Life is always full.

This week in the meeting that we had with president, he talked a ton about repentance. It was super sweet. Something that he talked about was that pain and repentance go hand in hand. I thought about how it all worked. It made me think a lot. Literally it’s so important that we repent. Every time we do something wrong and we know that we do something wrong, we feel it deep down inside. That is the feeling in our soul, that justice will have claim over us and we will not be claimed by mercy. Then in contrast when we do repent, the peace that we feel is the peace that we are accepted. And the pains of justice can only start to go away when we repent. The other thing that I love about repentance is that there isn’t a limit of repentance, as long as its sincere repentance.

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay

April 30, 2012

                                                                 April 30, 2012

Well it’s been a really, really good week! Man I can’t believe how much has happened.

Ok Tuesday and Wednesday regular working days. Nothing too crazy. Then on Thursday we had a rough day of not getting much done. First was weekly planning, then we had to go to Tulum (a little pueblo an hour away by van) to do a baptismal interview. Then next we had to wait almost an hour for him to show up. Then we went back and I had to hurry and pack, and go to another pueblo (half an hour in the other direction). We got there and on Friday we had a great day. We just worked hard and were two normal missionaries. Then after, on Saturday we did divisions again but this time with another area. It was super sweet. We had so many lessons. We had eight lessons in one day! And one of them was in English! I hadn’t taught in English since the MTC! It was hard, and I didn’t have any scriptures, but it worked out ok. He had the pleasure of reminding us of a few cuss words and dirty jokes. I hadn’t heard those words in a long time.

Well it was about time I got changed wasn’t it! Now I’m in Merida. It’s a lot hotter here, and you sweat a lot. I’m with an Elder that I already knew from when I was in Merida a few months before, his name is Elder Sosa. We are in an area called Chicheniza. It’s in the same zone were I started the mission. Oh yea… remember how all my brothers and dad were zone leaders? Well, I’m following prophecy. I’m a zone leader now too! That was a little bit crazy. I was up till one packing last night. Then I got up at six. Then I was on a bus for five hours. I’m here in the internet and I haven’t done much, but I’m super excited. He’s got a few changes more than me but we’ll see how it goes.

So the coolest thing think this week was teaching on the changes. We had a lot of lessons were we said, “Why do you think we are here? Or what do we want to accomplish?” Also there were a few times when we helped people recognize the spirit. “You feel that? That’s called the Spirit. This is how you can know that what we teach is true. The is the way you can know that is what God wants from you.” Pretty sweet. I’m going to miss teaching.

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay

March 26, April 2, 9, 16, 23

 

                                                                                    April 23, 2012

Well, a great week!

First we had the visit from Elder Anderson. It was quite a show getting everything together. Imagine in a house that normally fits two missionaries, we crammed ten. In one room, there was one elder in his hammock and one on the floor. In the living room, there were three on the floor (and when I mean on the floor, like literally on the floor, not a mattress or anything. Then in the other room there were three on the floor and two in hammocks. And to make things better we got up at four to get good seats. I didn’t fall asleep in his speech, but when I got home at the end of the day it didn’t take very long to fall asleepJ. It was such a cool time to see an apostle close up. We got to shake hands. One of the things that he reminded us that have a little bit more time in the mission is that the mission does end and that we need to be prepared to go home; kind of felt like he was talking right to me… and not wanting to go home. But it was such a great talk. Ok so that was Tuesday.

Wednesday: we had a few lessons but the best lesson was with George and Irma. Oh but first I have to put this in so it makes more sense later on. We went and visited Consuelo and when we got to her house, her neighbor told us that everyone had moved out and she didn’t know where too. In this time our phone didn’t have any credit so we were a bit worried. Anyway so back with George and Irma, we found out that after 42 years being together they haven’t gotten married! I was so shocked! We talked about a ton of stuff and the spirit was super strong. I remember sharing the story about when Mom and Dad went to London (well at least I think I got all the details right. There weren’t any lightning bolts crashing down around me in the lesson so I don’t think I was teaching false doctrine). I described that they were getting ready to go to London and were going to cross the ocean in the plane. Then later Dad leaned over to Mom and said, “Honey if anything happens to us, I’ll see you in a bit.” It was a sweet lesson.

Thursday, we had a few sweet lessons. The biggest thing was that we finally found Consuelo! We spent about three hours looking for her (we got a bit distracted with teaching few lessons in between). Anyway we found her and we got all the details figured out for her baptism on Saturday. It was a super hardcore lesson.

Then on Friday, two baptismal interviews. It was super good. We tried coordinating the baptisms, but it wasn’t going to work. So we got things figured out. A few lessons, but nothing too crazy. A missionary that ended his mission in my area came to visit. I knew him so it was pretty crazy to see him without his name tag.

Saturday was two baptisms! One at twelve and one at seven. To make things more complicated, this week was also stake conference so in the evening baptism, there wasn’t hardly anyone. And also, one of them forgot to bring her bag with clothes! In other words, she didn’t have white clothes, a change of under clothes, sandals or a towel. We rushed a few things to get them together and everything worked out good.

Sunday was stake conference. We had two miracles show up to church. The problem about stake conference was that it is an hour away (made me think about home how we have to go to Missoula). Then at night we had to go to a family home evening that accidentally got canceled without telling us. We had a good talk with the members though, (they are a bit less active).

One of the cool things that I understood this week comes from a bit from each day. In the conference that we had with Elder Anderson, he had a cool quote that talks about the importance of the work and success. He said, “you can count how many seeds are in an apple but you can’t count how many apples are in one seed.” Our job as missionaries isn’t to count numbers. It is to work with all of our heart might mind and strength to preach the gospel to those who are in need of repentance. In the process there will be many who accept and many who do not. It is not however, our job to force the gospel upon them. I have been stressed out a lot because sometimes the people don’t accept, but I hadn’t understood that I couldn’t do anything more. I had planted the seed, and who knows how much someone in the future would be able to harvest thanks to that one seed. I’ve come to this conclusion: work hard to preach the gospel, and don’t worry about anything else.

Con amor,

Elder Mackay

 

                                                                        April 16, 2012

Well a good week. I’m really tired so I think that’s good.

First things first, I have to give a big thanks to Sister Everson. I got her package this week and it was awesome! Thank you so; make sure that she knows how much I appreciated it. I really wasn’t expecting anything and I was super excited when I saw the package so once again, thanks.

In other news, we have a big treat tomorrow. I am going to see an apostle! ¡Estoy tan animado que podría explotar! But it’s going to be interesting. The whole mission is going to be in Cancun, (it’s a pretty good sized city, with two or three zones), and we are going to be sleeping in the houses of the missionaries there tonight. It should be pretty crazy because every house is going to have three or four companionships extra!

As far as the past week, we had interviews with president. It was super crazy! Normally president is really on time and really strict as far as scheduling. There was a big problem with roads and he was almost an hour late. We were the first companionship to get there so when we got there, and had to wait, we got worried. But everything ended up really good.

 As far as investigators, we had some interesting lessons. We have a couple of young adult type. They are family and friends of a few recent converts. They are going to take a bit of work. We went there one day and they were drinking…. Oops. They were going to go to church but they didn’t show up. There is the hermana Consuelo that was getting ready to be baptized this week. She drank coffee this week so she couldn`t get baptized. Grr…. Oh well. This week on the 21 then will be her baptism. Everything is good. On Saturday we had a good lesson in the morning. We read Mosiah 18 and we talked about baptism (we just happened to be in the baptismal font). It was pretty good.

Then last on the list is a couple. They are a bit older, but are really sweet. They are the ones with the laundry mat (George and Irma). We are trying with them. The husband knows a lot so we get a bit off topic some times, but we try hard. He’s reading the Book of Mormon so that’s where they are at.

I had a few cool experiences about repentance this week and it made me think a bit. I understood why humility is required in order to repent. Firstly, a prideful person would never think to second guess their actions. They have such a high opinion of themselves that they forget to think about their own imperfections. Secondly, they have to admit that they are wrong. This is something that a prideful person would almost never do. And finally it takes humility to accept something new, and not come up with your own solution. The majority of the time when Christ was on the earth, his tone of voice was soft, and did not want to hurt anyone. But now I understand why a good chewing out is important. Like he did with the brother of Jared, he had to make things known that they were wrong. Interesting how the more I learn the more imperfect I see myself.

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay

 

            April 9, 2012

pero no hay coneja = but no rabbit

Well, a really crazy tiring week, but at the same time I don’t even know what to write about. One of the crazy things is it’s starting to warm up. By the end of the month, we’ll be in the good oven.

One of the things that I think was super cool is a couple that we are teaching. They were a reference a long time ago. We went there and they have a laundry mat type thing (it’s a little bit different because here in Mexico, you leave your clothes and they wash them and fold them then you come back. There are a few like in the states where you do it by yourself.) Anyway we got to take a trip with them to the church so they could see the inside of it. As soon as we went in there the spirit hit and it started working. You could tell because they started talking quieter and quieter. We went in to the sacrament room and it was amazing. The wife said, “Nobody has done this for us. We have gone to so many different churches and nobody has treated us like this. They felt the spirit super strong then we went to the baptismal font and it was super sweet too. We are working pretty well with them.

Apart from them, we went and visited an old investigator. He said that he had been having some family problems and who would know but we just happened to call. He doesn’t even remember that we had his number. We also went and checked out the church and he loved it. The only thing was because of Easter break, there are a lot more tourists so his work got complicated.

Apart from them we have three investigators that we are having a ton of problems trying to get a hold of. They are just floating around waiting to get baptized. In football terms we are good at driving the ball down the field but we are having some problems in the red zone. They are ready and could get baptized this week if everything went well. They are Josias, Consuelo, and Mari. Consuelo is pretty likely because we have a better opportunity to find her. Josias just got a job where he works from 9 in the morning to 9 at night so that’s making things hard. And the Hermana Mari (that’s the lady that her husband died so now she can get baptized) just disappeared on us. We call her and go to her house a bunch but we can’t find her.

This week was good as far as Easter goes (minus there wasn’t an Easter bunny… maybe he doesn’t like the heat) it made me think a bit. (Just a cool quote that I heard this week as well, we don’t celebrate so much the fact that Jesus died, but we choose to focus on the fact that he resurrected)  Its super cool to think how perfect God’s plan is. He knew exactly what we needed and he gave it to us. Because of the effects of us being mortal, we have the inherit problem of dying. With this trait, we cannot bear the full presence of our Heavenly Father physically. Therefore, we needed a way to live again with an immortal body after death, (because if there was no time, there would be no end to our probationary period.) This is overcome because Christ broke the bands of death and made it so that every child of God that would receive a body would take it up again in immortality to be judged. Were it not so, we would never be capable of being judged and the plan of God would fall short. The other obstacle that we have is being less than perfect. Because we do not reach perfection as our Heavenly Father, we cannot be with him. Our filthiness would in turn make him filthy and that could not be. Therefore, we need a way to overcome this imperfectness. Once again this is possible only through the Atonement of Christ, and unlike our physical inability, this solution is not free. Forgiveness is not attainable without considerable effort on our part. Only after we have done all that is within our power to repent and to come unto Christ will we be able to overcome this obstacle. Having things planned out of this manner perfectly satisfies the demands of Justice and Mercy; satisfying the need for punishment of sin, while extending a helping hand to a learning soul. Our Heavenly Father’s plan is so perfect, is there any doubt that it wasn’t created by a Divine creator? Is there any doubt that it can’t be foiled? This is the plan and it has been placed before the birth of man. Our Heavenly Father knowing the beginning from the end has placed all the pieces to make salvation attainable. I have also come to one more conclusion. I imagine that our Heavenly Father is an awesome chess player.

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay

P.S. Last week I forgot to mention, I ate fish head soup. It was eatable especially because as a desert, we ate homemade yogurt that the sister sells at 4 bucks a liter.

                                                                                    April 2, 2012

Well… a crazy week!

I loved conference. We had a great time. The rule here in the mission was that we can only go to a session of conference if we had an investigator with us. One of our investigators usually is stuck in the house all day because he doesn’t have a job right now so he was our ticket into every session of conference! It was great, although there were a few difficulties. First is that there was a screw up on the scheduling so the first session on Saturday we only got the first half. Secondly, in the second session on Saturday we had computer problems so we missed elder Holland’s talk (I almost wanted to cry. We just heard enough to know that it would be him speaking then it cut out). Then on Sunday in the evening session the computer cut out again. But what we could get went well

The investigator that we took with us to conference is named Josias. He’s a great guy. He’s a member’s brother so we got some pretty good connections. The problem is that a lot of what he knows is from the JWs, so we got a lot of fixing to do. The good thing though is he has a ton of questions. I remember when I was scared in high school if they were going to ask something. After a little bit of practice I feel so much more confidence. He’s praying, reading the Book of Mormon, and went to every session of conference, so I think he’s progressing.

We had a super sweet investigator named Consuelo that was progressing and going to get baptized this week. We went to her house on Tuesday and she looked like there was something wrong. We asked and she just laid it out that she doesn’t want to get baptized. We tried a ton of different ways of asking “why not” but she had a pretty good lock on her mouth. We’ll keep trying. And the other lady that was going to get baptized this week had some health problems so she couldn’t go into water above the waist. It should be good this week though. Not really helping the situation out though.

Another lady that we are starting to work with is a reference that we contacted a long time ago that we are starting to visit again. Two cool things. First yesterday, we had a really good lesson on how the Book of Mormon can answer the questions that she has about life. She had five really good questions that we answered with the Book of Mormon; so that’s the first part. The second part is that she gave us some HUGE bananas! Like, I’d say twice as big around as a normal sized banana. So it’s going good there.

Also we found a new couple. They are a little bit older, but are really sweet. We went to their laundry mat and when I we offered to help she gave us a hug. It felt really awkward. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like when I’m at college in a LONG, LONG time. But they are reading the Book of Mormon as well. They are a good prospect.

One of my favorite phrases from conference turned out for my spiritual thought. Elder Uchdorf said, “being grateful is one of the most important ways to show our love to our Heavenly Father. I have thought a lot about gratitude. And it’s true. It’s not fun to work with people that are ungrateful. They are always unsatisfied no matter what you try to do. But when someone says thank you, for a little thing, it completely changes your day. Gratitude is a Christ like attribute, that we should all poses. It will change our lives, and turn the tint, from a blue downcast, do a bright optimism.

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay

                                                                                                March 26, 2012

Well, a crazy week! But it’s been a good one. Full of work so that makes things go well. The harvest is coming!

This week we had a fun time for investigators. The lady that I talked about last week Mari (that her husband died so she could get married) well we couldn’t find her the whole week until Saturday. We talked to her and she wants go get baptized. We didn’t even have to twist her arm or anything! So that’s going to be this week.

Another investigator that we were talking about is Consuelo. She is a super sweet story. We were talking with her for a really long time and it was looking good but she got a job in Wal-Mart so that cut her Sundays out of the picture. We talked to her this week and she came to church. We found out that it meant that she had skipped work! That’s a lot of faith and I’m not sure how she is going to be rewarded, but it should go over pretty well. She also is going to get baptized on Saturday if everything goes to plan.

We also have a few young single adults that are going along well. They are relatives of a few members. They have a ton of questions. One day this week we went over for a lesson and it was an hour and a half of straight questions. They are also good looking candidates for baptism.

A lot of other small business, but it isn’t worth writing about. As far as something crazy going on, well there’s not much. Just a bunch of work to get going on. Something, maybe I haven’t talked a whole lot about it in other letters; we have a pretty special ward as far as church goes. Every week there are tourists that show up for sacrament meeting.  You get a new group every week. It’s fun to practice my English with them. A lot of them don’t understand Spanish, but they still come. It’s hard being translator though sometimes because I get my English line and my Spanish line mixed up. I end up either speaking English to a Mexican or Spanish to an American. And even some times half the sentence is in English and the other half in Spanish. It’s going to take some work to get back to normal.

This week I had a fun opportunity to have a spiritual moment. I got to give the lesson in a family home evening with some less actives. I got to speak on prayer. I had never studied it out so much. I realized how big of a role prayer has had in my life. I understand now how lost we are without prayer.  That we really need it in order to be ok. Many investigators talk about how just praying every night and every morning helps them to change so much. Prayer is an inexhaustible tool that we have to change our life. It doesn’t have batteries or a limit on time. It is free of these things due to its spiritual background. The question is "are we really using this tool to its full capacity?"

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay

Feb 27, Mar 5, 12, 19, 2012



Elders in Play del Carmen on St. Patrick's Day!



                   

     March 19, 2012

Well, another week down and it was the end of the change so last night was changes! But don’t worry, nothing happened, I’m staying here with my son. It’s crazy though, to think about how much time has gone by and things like that.  I feel like the time is like sand running through my fingers and I can’t grab a hold of it.

This week was fun as far as teaching. We had two really cool experiences of finding people that are prepared to learn the gospel. First there was a lady that has already listened to the missionaries and wanted to get baptized. She couldn’t because she was living in with a man who she wasn’t married to and her husband wasn’t a big fan of marriage. Her daughter is a member though so they came to church this week. We wanted to help her but we didn’t know how. The Lord answered in a mysterious way. Unfortunately the husband died so that made her sad, but the good news is that there is nothing that impedes her from getting baptized! Not exactly what I had in mind but that works.

Apart from that we had two really sweet references (named Luis and Apo). They both accepted baptism in the first lesson. We just showed up to their house unexpectedly, did everything by the book, invited them to be baptized, and then it all just happened. And they both have family members that are members. So that really helps things out.

Also we are teaching a really cool lady from Uruguay. It’s so fun to go with her. This week we went there and guess what Allen. She was drinking Maté! I recognized the funny looking straw. My companion wasn’t too sure about it but I think its drinkable. Right? Like there’s nothing against it in the word of wisdom? Any who, she is really, really churchy. She knows a ton of random scriptures from the Bible that I have never heard from. It’s interesting to teach her though. She randomly brought up the topic of the Sabbath day on Sunday when we passed by and when we told her that it was the day we should respect is Sunday, she said decided to close after we left. It’s all really crazy how fast she accepts things. She just started reading the Book of Mormon this week and she is already in First Nephi chapter thirteen.  So things are going along

One of the cool experiences this week that made me think a little was when I got to teach the gospel principles class, improv - with no time to prepare. Well, I managed. The cool thing was we got to talk a lot about covenants. I understood a lot how to relate it to the class and so because I was teaching I got to look at it in a whole new different way. I understood the importance of covenants, that if we don’t make and keep them, we have no way of being blessed eternally. I imaged all of us before, in the pre existence, promising to do our best. I understood so much, and I was the teacher. This is one of the big perks of being a missionary, being in the teaching chair, doesn’t mean there’s no learning; there is even more.

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay

  

                                                                        March 12, 2012

Hello fam!

It’s been great here in playa!

Well the biggest thing this week was that we had Elba’s baptism. We kept on going this week and she had changed so much in just a week! It was crazy. The elder that came to the interview had already come to her house and talked to her before. He said that she had changed a lot. It was fun to help her out. When we were going down into the baptismal font, it was pretty cool. She said the water was really cold, but I thought it was ok. So I had to help her going through the steps. It hit me that I was guiding her through these steps just like I had helped her take these steps in the last three months. It was good on all aspects.

On the disappointing end, two investigators that we had planned to get baptized this week had found work and they have to work on Sundays.  So that put a bit of a setback in the work. We’ve still had some pretty sweet lessons in the work with them.

Friday we had a pretty cool training. In the end president showed us some cool stuff. He talked about how a lot of elders were expecting to be “directed by the spirit” by hearing a voice. Backing up a bit he helped us understand how the spirit works. First we focused on what it was like when the spirit wasn’t there. Then later, he said, “if the switch is down its not up. And if the switch is up it’s not down,” (meaning if you feel like you don’t have you spirit you probably don’t. but if you don’t feel those feelings, it means you do).

As far as a spiritual thought, I had an interesting experience. In church, they needed an emergency teacher for the teenage group (14-17). We got assigned the plan of salvation. It was a bit crazy. I remember thinking about them and trying to think of what they would need in order to get through this stage in life. It turned out being a pretty sweet lesson, but later it made me think about how cool and how nice our Heavenly Father is to give us this knowledge; this knowledge of where we come from, why we are here and where we are going. How many people know these things, but really aren’t sure about them. How loving our Father in Heaven is to make these things known unto us.  If anyone has any questions about these things, we’ll talk in six months!

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay

Hermana Elba's baptism

                                                                                    March 5, 2012

Well a tiring week,

This week we finally had a miracle happen. I have written many times about the Hermana Elba; how she says this and didn’t like this and things like that. It was a super good week for her. On Thursday we went over there and we had a long talk, like a three hour long talk. At the end my companion asked if she would prepare herself to be baptized on the tenth of March, and she ACCEPTED! I was going crazy on the way home it was so nuts. All three of us cried. We had a few more talks this week and everything is a lot more intense now that she has decided to get baptized. She is always a little bit more smile; she has that little glint starting in her eye. Its way cool to see it.

Other crazy things that happened this week… well, also we found a new lady. She was cleaning in front of her shop (she sells dresses for a living) and we offered to help. She said, “Oh no don’t worry, but come in and sit down and we’ll talk about God!” She is from Uruguay and has the funniest accent ever. Speaking of accents, this week a few Americans talked to me and they said that I had a Latin accent in my English.

Part of our area is a type of resort. We went there to find a less active family. The dad is a dentist and the mom is in charge of a sushi restaurant. I tried the sushi for the first time and it was pretty good. The fun thing was it was with chopsticks. I had a good time with them because of a lot of practice but my companion struggled. After they gave us ice cream but it was a little different. They put a type of dough around it and then fried the dough. It was super good.

Also as far as investigators go, we have a lady, I have already talked about her a time or two. Her name is Consuelo. She is still reading the Book of Mormon and things like that. It’s so true that the Book of Mormon is a great power in conversion. She has gone to church several times and if all goes well, she is going to be baptized as well this week.

Things are going good. I have been really doing well this week

This week as a spiritual thought, the biggest thing that had stood out was patience. I realized how being patient with Elba had helped her so much. Several times, my companion or I decided that we wanted to drop her, but we didn’t. We kept going back and going back. It was a crazy journey but it finally paid off. It made me thing about how our Heavenly Father must feel when he is preparing us for something. I understood a little bit more his infinite patience for those who are doing what they can.

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay

           February 27, 2012

So it’s been a pretty crazy week. And I don’t need any reminders about how much time I have in the mission. I have plenty reminders from members and elders in the district.

This week has been fun. First on Tuesday I had divisions with the zone leaders. It was interesting. One of the cool random comments is that the lunch we had was pure homemade food. First was some beans meat kind of dish. It was made from scratch not from the can. Then she did a cream and salsa with real jalapeños not store brand. They went with some bread. Then for desert, we had papaya (it’s a Mexican fruit) with homemade yogurt. And to drink it was a type of drink made with limes and tomato. It was good.

As far as investigators we are starting to see some daylight. Not this week, but next week we have a baptism planned for two people. It is a dad and his daughter. They are pretty cool. Their names are Arturo and Consuelo. Arturo still talks a lot and tells a lot of story (like how I talked about last week), but Consuelo is coming along great. She has read in the Book of Mormon and is in chapter five. That is including the introduction and the testimonies. So she’s pretty cool she also said that the more and more she reads, the more sure that this is where she should go. We taught the plan of salvation and it is the typical, “yeah, that sounds about right.”

With the Elba we are finally seeing some light! She admitted to feel the spirit. We couldn’t go for almost a whole week because of different things and problems, but we finally went Friday and we talked. Because we hadn’t gone for so long she noted the difference it had made in how she felt so it’s all good. Now we just need to keep pushing. She’s walking at least.

Apart, just an interesting note, we went back with an old investigator and she asked if we knew how to play chess. I said I did and we made a deal that if I beat her she would go to church. She is going to have to go to church next week J

It’s been fun training too. I remember seeing a lot of what he is talking about in my personal mission. He’s saying the same things that I use to have inside of me. We all have our own obstacles but it’s the same principles.

Well… as a spiritual thought, faith has come up a lot of times. Faith I’ve come to understand as a missionary is the belief that through Christ everything is going to be ok. One of the things that I will always remember is that in a basketball game, when one team is far ahead, the loosing team stops trying because they have lost faith. Meanwhile in a tight game, everyone is trying their hardest because everyone believes that they can still win. This is one of the effects of faith. It gives us a motive to get up in the morning. It gives us a motive that even if the opponent is well trained, we can overcome it. If there a big problem that is coming up, instead of ducking down and hiding, faith allows us to hold our heads up high and be sure of a better future. One of the scriptures that we shared this week was Ether 12:4, saying that those who believe in God have the firm hope for a better world. Through our faith in Christ, we can believe that he will come. We can believe that we will receive help. We can believe that tomorrow will be a better day. When we don’t have faith, there is no reason to get up because tomorrow will be as bad as yesterday and today. The faith filled days are always the best ones.

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay

PS, this is a sky look here at about 6:30 or so. Hope you enjoy

February 13 and 20

                                                                                    February 20, 2012

Well… I’m very tired. I don’t know if I have ever been as tired as I have been in the mission. I remember when I use to complain about having to walk a few blocks. Now I walk blocks and if it’s more than fifteen, then yeah It’s a Little ways away but oh well. It’s the investigator and we do everything for them.

This week we had a bunch of stuff. I don’t even remember what all happened. We did have a sweet conference. It was based on obedience. I’ve talked a lot about obedience in the last few weeks so I won’t talk too much about it. But it was a lot better done than I did. The whole room was so silent that you could have heard a pin drop.

This week as far as investigators go... it’s been ok:

First we are still working with Elba. There is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. She started reading the Book of Mormon on her own! And she is praying so things should be going good in no time. She is still in a lot of confusion but we are hoping that everything goes well. So that’s the progress report on her.

Next is an older guy named Arturo. It’s hard to teach him because he’s a bit like Grandpa Woodward (as in he gets off topic really easy and has a ton of stories). He’s one of the guys that you listen really hard and when he says anything remotely that you can use for the lesson, you just go for it. But there was a cool thing that happened with him. We went there this week to pick him up to go to church and he wasn’t there but we had a nice little chit chat with his daughter. She had a bunch of questions (she came last week to church but she was only able to come one hour and we couldn’t get a hold of her the rest of the week. We talked to her on Sunday and it all went really well! Then on Sunday in sacrament meeting there was a little bit of “help from above”. An area seventy came and talked. That helped stir the pot. She has a ton of questions. During church she had a bunch of questions about Doctrine and Covenants and things like that. I gave her a Book of Mormon to get things started and she didn’t want to listen to the speakers, because she wanted to read. Never had an investigator so interested in the Book of Mormon.

Also we have another guy that is coming along. It might take a while but we are trying hard. He says that he wants to come closer to God. We had a great first lesson a few weeks ago. Since then we have only been able to see him a few times. But because we keep trying he said that he’d start taking it a bit more serious because of us being persistent. That’s nice! He’s a dad with a wife and three kids. It could take a long time to get to the rest of the kids but we are starting.

Well the time has run out so I will be quick. In one of the lessons that we had with Elba we had a nice little analogy. All of us have a type of illness. It’s called mortality and human error. With this illness we are not able to go back and live with our Heavenly Father. To get rid of that illness, we go to a hospital. There we get treatment and we are given guidance as to what we can do to help control this illness. Sometimes these instructions are a little different and even difficult to follow. But we always have the head doctor’s phone number to ask if this is really what we need to do. And also while we are in the hospital, should we be surprised to see that the health of the other people isn’t so good? No, they are there for the same reason. To get better.

Con amor,

Elder Mackay

                                                                                          February 13, 2012

Well, it’s been an interesting week! We have been working hard and we have been trying to get things organized. It’s been fun working though. We have found a few new people.

This week we are continuing with Elba. She has progressed a little bit. Before she didn’t like to pray at night, but now she prays on her own. Also her sons are starting to warm up to us. We are penetrating little by little. She went to church this week so it’s ok with her.

This week also we found a cool guy. He says he wants to start his life over. We talked about baptism and how it has the power to cleanse us from sin, like we were starting over. He likes that idea, but he was drunk Saturday and Sunday so we got a little bit of work to do.

Also we found a guy named Arturo. We knew him a long time ago but we haven’t gone back with him in a long time. We talked about baptism and it worked out pretty well. He said that a long time ago he got baptized, but that he later found out that the church that he was going to was a hoax so he felt like that baptism wasn’t right. Pretty well prepared I’d guess. Later on Sunday, he brought his daughter with him to church. It worked out pretty well.

We are just trying to get things done and get everything organized. It’s interesting breaking in a newbie. He’s really cool. He is the only active member of his family so that gives him a little bit of motivation. He works fast too. He worked in an office before so he understands time well. We are starting to gel too. Although he is my first companion that’s taller than me. He’s got me by about an inch and a few pounds too. I put in a picture of him so that should give you an idea of how it is.

This week I was studying in my personal study about 2 Nephi chapter 9. Things are set up so well in the plan of salvation. But could I really expect something less from my Heavenly Father? All of this makes so much sense. And how long did I wander around leaving my scriptures untouched and on the desk? If I could I would love to study for hours and hours. There are so many things that reading the scriptures they just "click". I understand now how important it is to study the scriptures. I understand why our Heavenly Father wants us to study them. They literally guide us to do what we need to do. I love my hour of personal study. I remember before doing Duty to God and I would leave it till the very last days. Why did I do it like that? It wasn’t worth it. Studying the scriptures help us so much to know what to do. There are unlimited answers there to those who look and search for them.

Con amor,

Elder Mackay

January 30, February 8, 2012

                                                                                       February 8, 2012

Well… things are going to be a little bit different around here… otra vez in Spanish is again. That’s because again I am training…! It was quite a shock. I had to ask the zone leaders something and they had to go up a level more and ask the assistants. They said it would have been better if I would have called because they needed to talk to me anyways. That I needed to go to Merida and pick up another son! I couldn’t believe it. And a little miracle happened but I’ll save that till the end. But for right now that’s the big news. His name is Elder Badillo and he is the only member from his family again! That’s so nice when an investigator wants to say that it’ll be hard. Another cool thing is that he got baptized about a year and a half ago. He’s worried a little bit about knowing everything but it’ll work out good. He’s from Monterey were things are a little bit crazier. He was shocked that there were so many motorcycles and cars parked outside not doing anything. But it’s kind of interesting him being my son because he’s about an inch taller than me and two years older!

In the area things are going well. This week we had a ton of new investigators. It was pretty awesome. We worked hard and especially a better attitude and more obedience helped us out a lot. We finally got a hold of guy that we have been looking for a long time. His name is Rodolfo and we found him looking for a reference actually. We talked to him and he said that it would be ok to stop by. That was about a month ago or so. We have tried to find him and things like that but it hasn’t ever really worked out too well. Finally we did and we had a good sign. He has a ton of questions about how everything works with baptism! That’s pretty cool. And also on Sunday, we had things figured out to go to church he invited his best friends. He accepted to be baptized and everything is looking good.

The Hermana Elba is still looking good. We had a long talk one night and she said that she thought we were saying that the Church of Christ and the church that Joseph Smith was found in were two different churches. Don’t know where she got that idea but we cleaned that up real fast. Well… not real fast. We ended up talking for about two hours or so. Then the next day we came because she was going to do something with corn. We did some service for two hours hoping that his would free her up so that she could go to church… nope. But her two kids went instead. We are pretty sure that we gave them a guilt trip that two young men and come and helped out their mom instead of her own children helping her. We are getting more and more into this family.

And also we have a couple that we are teaching. They need to get married. The only problem is that the “wife” is 15 and the husband is 22... Not exactly what you’d find in the states. It’s ok though. She’s got a goal to read the Book of Mormon in 3 weeks so… I think that’ll deserve some blessings.

Well so for the miracle (next week will have to be the pictures. I tried passing some but my camera died while I was trying to pass them so next week! And I’ve started on the new flash drive. Thanks Sis and Brayden and Mason).

I was walking along (he he he) and I had just gotten off the bus in Merida on Sunday night. I had my backpack and my little suitcase. I flagged a taxi and went to the mission offices (all by myself! Scary!) I was talking with the taxi driver and it was a very interesting conversation. I paid the taxi and got inside the offices. I said hi to everyone and turned around to start getting ready to go to the hammock. To my shock, there was only my backpack! I had left my suitcase in the taxi! I started calling the taxi company trying to get a hold of them. I tried for the next two hours with a prayer in my heart. Just to put the importance on how important everything was… my journal that I have been using for my whole mission was in my suitcase, along with my hammock that is probably worth 100 dollars and a pair of “g´s”. I went into the bathroom and pleaded for the Lord’s help. I put everything I could into it. After I realized that if God wanted it to be this way that it was for a reason. Asking for some spare clothes to get everything ready to go to bed in a borrowed hammock I heard a car horn. The taxi driver remembered where I was and whose suitcase it was and after two hours of terror had come back to the offices. I thanked him very much and returned to that same bathroom and offered thanks. It was a pretty sweet way to open the week. I know that I was answered. And I know that my faith in Christ and my diligence in keeping the commandments were the two biggest things that I could have done to affect the outcome. I know that God answers prayers and that everyone can pray because they are a child of God. If you don’t believe me… try it.

Con amor

Elder Mackay

January 30, 2012

Well an interesting week! This week there was something fun going on. I got to go to immigration to do some papers. As most paper work it took forever! But I am happy to say that I am still legal in Mexico. Another thing that was a bit out of the ordinary was we had interviews with President! We had plans to have it in the house so we had a few good cleaning sessions and it feels a lot better now. We did a good job of keeping it that way but we got called and ended up having the interviews in the church.

This week something really cool happened with a couple. Last week we saw an accident happen and my companion had a dream about them. We went looking for them and we passed three times on that street looking for them and we couldn’t find them. Finally, we started asking people and we ran into a couple that the “husband” (quotations because really they aren’t married) is a member. He said that he saw us pass by a few times and that he thought that we were going to stop and talk one of the times. We ended up talking and it was a really cool experience. They are really good at feeling the difference of the spirit.

Another cool person that we are teaching still is Elba. She was drinking coffee and she was having doubts about Joseph Smith and everything. We taught the word of wisdom and she accepted it really well! My companion and I were really surprised at how well it went. We came back a few days later and she had drunkL. We had a talk and I love having cool experiences in the mission like this. We helped her to understand that it wasn’t obedience to a prophet, but to Christ and that we should do it not because it is just another rule, but because it’s Him that is asking us.  We taped cards that have pictures of Christ on them on the front of her coffee jars (her kids that still aren’t listening to us and still drink coffee so that’s why we didn’t just take it from her). It went well. Also now she is giving us food every time we go over there so that’s helping me get my pre mission shape back (I don’t know if I have mentioned it or not but, by force I have to wear a belt because I have lost so much weight if I don’t I try mixing the gangster look in with the missionary style).

A really sad thing that has happened is that we had Sindulfo going well and we found out how complicated his case just got. He can’t get baptized because he isn’t married with the woman he’s living with (so it’s a law of chastity problem). Normally we would say that it’s not that big of a deal because we are experts on getting people married here. The problem is that he is married to someone else that is in another state and there are a ton of problems. She doesn’t want to get divorced from him either so that’s the problem. But he is going to still keep coming to church and everything so that’s cool.

Well as far as a spiritual thought this week it has kind of come around the same topic. Obedience is something that I saw in investigators, in my interviews with president and with my area. It is so fascinating to think that everything is bound by it, and that even before the earth was created even it being the first law of the heavens. I liked how it says it in Doctrine and Covenants how inseparable obedience and blessings are. No matter how we look at it, we cannot fully expect to be blessed if we are not obedient. And when we give in to our pride or vain ambitions, or we intend on covering past mistakes, or we unrightfully try to use our dominion over someone, the spirit is gone and we are left alone. Talking with my companion that it isn’t so much that the Lord punishes us, it’s that being the one who has given us everything chooses to withhold certain blessings; this isn’t a very foreign idea. We see this attitude in houses that a child looses privileges when he disobeys. We are governed by the same rules. I have figured out this week that I love being obedient. Thanks for all the help and support. I feel it.

Con Amor,

Elder Mackay