Well… this has been an interesting week this week. First well, Ok mom, I didn’t tell you some stuff because I didn’t want you to worry. A couple of weeks ago I had some stomach issues and the bathroom became my very close friend. Sunday, it stopped, and then Thursday night it started again. I called the doctors and we got everything figured out and everything’s all better. SO DON`T WORRY. I GOT IT TAKEN CARE OF.
That was just another stressful part of the week. I got a letter a while from Aunt Julie a while ago (by the way thanks A TON Julie, they are so great and it’s better than emails. I’ll have to do something ginormous when I get home to say thanks) and Spencer Luke told Elder Luke that he needs to be outside his comfort zone to really be learning. That phrase has proved prophetic for his cousin too. I was really starting to get the hang of Kanasin. I never got lost anymore, the ward was getting a lot better (we started out with about 120 people in sacrament and finished with about 150 when I left). We were finding people to teach and things were really going well. I got comfortable and changed to a new area. And getting to know a new area is a little bit different. Neither one of us know the area really well. We get lost a lot and things like that so thanks a lot Spence for prophesying my problems. Na, actually it’s true I’m learning a lot, one of them is learning to trust on the Lord. If I have The Spirit with me I will know if I am doing something wrong, and will receive the guidance to do things better.
Another challenge from this area is that the people are a lot more closed up. It kind of reminds me of when in Alma the people were dressed in fine clothes and wouldn’t listen and then the people that were “more humble” were ready to listen. The contacts here are really hard. They really don’t want much to do with us. In Kanasin, you had about a 15-20% rate of someone accepting a visit, then after were all the probabilities if they would be there, if they would accept our visit and things like that. Here it’s like 5%. The thing that I'm going to need to learn to master here is to squeeze references out of people. References weren’t a big part of it in Kanasin. The people were more accepting. Well I'm out of my comfort zone again. Thanks a lot Spence. =)Of the people that we are teaching, one of them was a sweet reference (a ward member knocked on our door and showed us where the reference lived and told us that we had to go with him right now to go see him). His name is Angel. He listened to the missionaries for a couple weeks about five years ago, but it wasn’t really all that for him. We wentback Tuesday and we were talking a lot about prophets and things like that. We taught the first lesson and the ideas of prophets today are really scary for him because he doesn’t want to follow a false prophet, but he is super willing to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. He also asks a lot of good questions. He doesn’t know ityet, but the things are looking pretty good for him. He took his Book of Mormon to work with him. =) Also we actually got contacted by a guy that was pretty sweet. His name is Emir. He is from Belize and speaks English and Spanish. He asked me what time it was in English and from there we started talking. I had just been talking to my companion a few minutes earlier about The Atonement and so I talked to him about it. We kept talkingand turns out that he has already made some big changes in his life. He was a drug addict and an alcoholic and is still in the fight with alcohol. When it got the time to ask if we could come by and visit him he was really acceptive. We were super close to his house and we walked to his house to show him. We gave him the restoration pamphletto read and when we came by later on in the week he had read it. It was really sweet because it got him thinking about if his baptism was done under the Authority. I remember talking to dad before the mission about how explaining “no’ nicely to that question is one of the hardest and most delicate things to do. But he was really into it. Wecame by the next day to do service but the problem with him is that he left Monday to go get his wife and kid from Belize and bring them here. In a few weeks we’ll check back with them.Well those were the things that made the week get along. Being sick wasn’t the funnest. Thursday night and Friday morning was the really long battle. This was before I went to the doctor and I was having strange thoughts. My mind settled on the idea that I had stomach cancer and the President was going to have to send me back home even though Ididn’t want to go. Kind of a strange night. But I do not have cancer, just a weird bug. Took my pills and my phantom cancer went away. I`M BETTER MOM.The new house is nice. We don’t have over head fans like in the old house so it’s a little bit hotter. It is bigger though. We have two rooms instead of one and the kitchen is just as nice (with one counter!). So far in this week I have seen five cockroaches so thatcould be interesting in this house. My new companion has 3 changes more than me and doesn’t know that Elder, Mom. He’s a convert to the church too! I didn’t know that and we had a long talk last night how we both came to know the truth through our own ways. He lived with his mom and step dad. His mom supports his decision, but not financially. Ifelt about three inches tall when I talked about my whole family being members and having a small army of support behind me back home. My respect grew a lot for him.Well gotta run. The spiritual thought for the week is hope. There’s a Mormon message by Elder Holland who had to do some pretty rough stuff. His message is what I’ve learned this week and what I Echo to everyone else. “Don’t you quit. Don’t you quit. There is good times and help ahead. Don’t you quit.” Well I'm not going to quit, even if I do havephantom cancer. I won’t quit. Even if it is blazing hot outside (which by the way, it is getting really hot too). There are people who need me and they exist. Those great spiritual experiences will only come about if I keep working and don’t quit.Well now I really got to run. Love you all. And don’t quit! (Well theGood Race, don’t quit it).
Con Amor
Elder Mackay
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
April 18, 2011
April 18, 2011
Well… this week was the changes and I got to…. Leave! There were a lot of mixed emotions about all that but I’ll talk more about all that in the end. Make all of you read the stuff in between first.
One of the cooler lessons that we had was with a lady that has been going with the Jehovah Witnesses about six months. We baptized her daughter a few weeks ago and it sparked a little bit of interest. We taught the restoration and it worked out pretty well. One of the big shocks for her was that Jesus and Heavenly Father aren’t the same person. She’s got some pretty deep Catholic roots, but is trying to find ‘her church’. We talked with her the second time and she was a little bit more open for one reason or another. We read 3 Nephi 11. We talked about baptism and she was open to the idea of this church being the right church. If she receives an answer that this church is the true church and has the authority, we committed her that if or when she finds out all this that she would be baptized. There’s a lot of stuff that could still go on here but I hope that she progresses. She’s got to do the little things and she needs the help of the members.
Thursday we went to Telchaquillo. We were talking to a guy that his wife and his whole family is a friend and he isn’t. We talked about what holds him back and he says that he doesn’t believe in the same things that they do but he thinks that the church is good because of what it does for his family. Last week, we committed him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. He said that he was going to read it with his wife, but later he decided that he wanted to read on his own. During the week, his daughter caught him reading and he put the book down fast. When we came back (Thursday) he still hadn’t prayed. We taught about how important prayer is in knowing the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. We read the first chapter and in the end I asked if he would pray about… and then things specific about Lehi and his family. He said he would. I then asked him, “If this book is true and these things really did happen, do you think God will answer your prayer? “ He said, “I think so.” We’ll see how he progresses.
The other coolest thing from this week was we took a lady to the park around the temple. We taught the plan of salvation and incorporated the part of the temple and how it fits into everything. Also we committed her to baptism. She was living with her boyfriend and knew that this impeded her to be baptized. She not doesn’t like her boyfriend because of how lazy he is and how he does this things (they actually are important reasons) so she talked to him and they are going to separate. When the separate she said she would be baptized. She said that she’s willing to do it a few days after he leaves. She’s already carrying her book of Mormon to work with her and reading a lot. When we went to the temple we talked about all of this for a while then just sat and looked at the temple. She said that she couldn’t stop staring at the temple. And also that she wants to be a part of what was the temple. Not just to go inside to see what it’s like she wants to be as much as a part as a pillar. In fishing turns, we got the hook set pretty well in her. She then took us out to pizza later and I wasn’t complaining.
Then Sunday came around. In the evening we made trips with the young single adults to visit the less actives. It was pretty sweet to bring the spirit to the rooms where the spirit hadn’t felt it in so long. We made probably four or five visits. It’s crazy to think that if I wasn’t a missionary and if I didn’t do the things I had done, I could be them. When we finished the activities we came home and got the changes. I am now no longer in my “crib” (were I was born). I am now in an area called Pensiones and it’s deeper in Merida. My new companion is Elder Hutchison. He is also the district leader in our district. He’s got about a year in the mission (crazy to think that that’s only four months more than me). He is from Tuscan and a pretty cool kid. One of the crazy thing that we are going to do this week is we are going to basically start new in the area. My companion was here for ten days before and doesn’t know a whole lot about the area. One of the cool things about the area is that it was the area of one of the elders from my district in the MTC. I left my area to come to where he was born and he left this area to where I started. So right now he‘s in Kanasin. It was way cool to talk to him and tell him “hey watch out for so and so. Hey watch out for this.” But now that I’m in Merida things are going to start being a lot different. For lunch that we just ate, The lady gave us two big hamburgers and the oven type fries. It was soo good. Well, I gotta run. Hope that you all have a good week. And mom, if there’s one thing that I’ve learned in the mission, is that the heavens are not sealed. Love you all (close your eyes and I’ll be there).
Elder Mackay
¡Oigan acepto cartas!
Well… this week was the changes and I got to…. Leave! There were a lot of mixed emotions about all that but I’ll talk more about all that in the end. Make all of you read the stuff in between first.
One of the cooler lessons that we had was with a lady that has been going with the Jehovah Witnesses about six months. We baptized her daughter a few weeks ago and it sparked a little bit of interest. We taught the restoration and it worked out pretty well. One of the big shocks for her was that Jesus and Heavenly Father aren’t the same person. She’s got some pretty deep Catholic roots, but is trying to find ‘her church’. We talked with her the second time and she was a little bit more open for one reason or another. We read 3 Nephi 11. We talked about baptism and she was open to the idea of this church being the right church. If she receives an answer that this church is the true church and has the authority, we committed her that if or when she finds out all this that she would be baptized. There’s a lot of stuff that could still go on here but I hope that she progresses. She’s got to do the little things and she needs the help of the members.
Thursday we went to Telchaquillo. We were talking to a guy that his wife and his whole family is a friend and he isn’t. We talked about what holds him back and he says that he doesn’t believe in the same things that they do but he thinks that the church is good because of what it does for his family. Last week, we committed him to read the Book of Mormon and to pray about it. He said that he was going to read it with his wife, but later he decided that he wanted to read on his own. During the week, his daughter caught him reading and he put the book down fast. When we came back (Thursday) he still hadn’t prayed. We taught about how important prayer is in knowing the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. We read the first chapter and in the end I asked if he would pray about… and then things specific about Lehi and his family. He said he would. I then asked him, “If this book is true and these things really did happen, do you think God will answer your prayer? “ He said, “I think so.” We’ll see how he progresses.
The other coolest thing from this week was we took a lady to the park around the temple. We taught the plan of salvation and incorporated the part of the temple and how it fits into everything. Also we committed her to baptism. She was living with her boyfriend and knew that this impeded her to be baptized. She not doesn’t like her boyfriend because of how lazy he is and how he does this things (they actually are important reasons) so she talked to him and they are going to separate. When the separate she said she would be baptized. She said that she’s willing to do it a few days after he leaves. She’s already carrying her book of Mormon to work with her and reading a lot. When we went to the temple we talked about all of this for a while then just sat and looked at the temple. She said that she couldn’t stop staring at the temple. And also that she wants to be a part of what was the temple. Not just to go inside to see what it’s like she wants to be as much as a part as a pillar. In fishing turns, we got the hook set pretty well in her. She then took us out to pizza later and I wasn’t complaining.
Then Sunday came around. In the evening we made trips with the young single adults to visit the less actives. It was pretty sweet to bring the spirit to the rooms where the spirit hadn’t felt it in so long. We made probably four or five visits. It’s crazy to think that if I wasn’t a missionary and if I didn’t do the things I had done, I could be them. When we finished the activities we came home and got the changes. I am now no longer in my “crib” (were I was born). I am now in an area called Pensiones and it’s deeper in Merida. My new companion is Elder Hutchison. He is also the district leader in our district. He’s got about a year in the mission (crazy to think that that’s only four months more than me). He is from Tuscan and a pretty cool kid. One of the crazy thing that we are going to do this week is we are going to basically start new in the area. My companion was here for ten days before and doesn’t know a whole lot about the area. One of the cool things about the area is that it was the area of one of the elders from my district in the MTC. I left my area to come to where he was born and he left this area to where I started. So right now he‘s in Kanasin. It was way cool to talk to him and tell him “hey watch out for so and so. Hey watch out for this.” But now that I’m in Merida things are going to start being a lot different. For lunch that we just ate, The lady gave us two big hamburgers and the oven type fries. It was soo good. Well, I gotta run. Hope that you all have a good week. And mom, if there’s one thing that I’ve learned in the mission, is that the heavens are not sealed. Love you all (close your eyes and I’ll be there).
Elder Mackay
¡Oigan acepto cartas!
April 11, 2011
April 11, 2011
Well it’s been a very good and quick week. The best part of the week was the baptism that we had on Saturday. This baptism had the most support that I have seen in a long time. We had three girls baptized (I’ll send pictures later on). That kept us pretty occupied this week. They are pretty cool kids (ages 15, 14, 11). One is Guadalupe that I’ve been talking about every week. Her little sister that was baptized about a month earlier came and helped her out. It was so fun to see the excitement in each of their eyes. Part of the program we sang “Called to Serve” (in Spanish). It wasn’t quite the same as singing with 500 missionaries in front of Prophets and the rest of the world, but it still brought the same message of who I am as a missionary. When we did the actual baptisms, all who were being baptized were really excited and wanted to watch each other. There were smiles from ear to ear on all of them and those that were helping. Also, two of the girls that were being baptized don’t have very much support from their parents, but they do from other relatives. This however could be a big stepping stone because their parents (one of whom is studying with the JW) came and watched the baptism. There’s a lot of work to do.
Another cool experience that we had this week is I did divisions with another elder that has been in my zone for all my changes and in my district for all but one. We get along super well and are fairly new so we got a lot of fire with “growing” direction. The coolest part was the first thing when we left in the morning. My companion was looking through the area book and found an old investigator that he didn’t recognize. We went out there and knocked on his door. After we asked a neighbor if he still lived there (the neighbor didn’t want to listen to The Message). We went back and knocked again and he came out right. We talked a little bit about who he is and what he has been up to. He’s a heavy alcoholic. He went to alcoholics anonymous and was clean for six months or six years (I don’t remember which). But he fell again and wants to change. He even admits that it’s an addiction. In all of that he said that all his life he’s been looking for the church that’s true if there is a true church. We taught the first lesson and promised him that the things that he does in the church such as baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost would help him fight his addiction. We extended and he accepted the baptismal invitation. He said that he had to because in this church was his salvation. Even though I probably won’t get to go back and see him, its still an experience that I’ll always remember.
Also that day something pretty funny happened. There is a custom among the women here. It’s the shaking hands idea but instead it’s a kiss on the cheek (you know what I mean you’ve seen it in the movies). we went to an appointment that was getting ready for her baptism that should be on the 16. My companion (it was still the day we did divisions) had taught her there for about three weeks or so and knew here pretty well. She shook my hand and then went to give him a kiss on the cheek! He was super scared (even though he is a black belt in tae kwan do) He couldn’t pull the words out of his mouth for a little while then he started to explain why and he couldn’t pull the words out fast enough. Kinda made the situation awkward but I couldn’t help laugh inside.
The last cool/sad part of the week was Sunday. The food appointment was set to go to the people that I had baptized first. We went there and she said that we would go the relatives who live just down the road. We went there and when I asked how school was going they said not so good. Here, they pay to go to school every day. The kids haven’t been going every day because there isn’t enough money to go every day. We finished eating (by the way, they asked for two blessings and revelation even comes in Spanish broadcast), and went back to the house the conversation went something like this
Elder Mackay : Hermana how have things been?
Hermana Ana : more or less, ok.
Elder Mackay : Well... I heard that your kids are having a tough time going to school because sometimes there isn’t enough money. Is this true?
Hermana : (looks at the floor) yes
Elder Mackay: Why didn’t you tell me? We’re here to help you. The church is here to help you.
Hermana : I know...
Elder Mackay: You guys are people that I have baptized. Therefore you guys are very important to me. (Starts tearing up)
Hermana : You likewise. (Starts tearing up and crying). Explains what’s been going on and that they want to do what’s right, just feel so trapped by the economic side.
Elder Mackay: If I could I’d give you a hug right now. Hermana is it ok if we talk to the Bishop about this to start figuring out this problem?
Hermana : Yes
Elder Mackay : We’ll come by later this week to check and see how you guys are doing and we’ll talk with the bishop
I felt like such a shmuck for not visiting them earlier on. I figured out something though. We can’t leave anybody behind on this earthly trip. We’ll be checking with the bishop. Afterwards, we went home and made a list of all the problems/todo lists items that we can’t forget about. Well gotta run. Hope you all have a great week. Don’t forget why your here and what your sent here to do. Love you all, and as often as you write me I will right you
Con amor
Elder Mackay
Well it’s been a very good and quick week. The best part of the week was the baptism that we had on Saturday. This baptism had the most support that I have seen in a long time. We had three girls baptized (I’ll send pictures later on). That kept us pretty occupied this week. They are pretty cool kids (ages 15, 14, 11). One is Guadalupe that I’ve been talking about every week. Her little sister that was baptized about a month earlier came and helped her out. It was so fun to see the excitement in each of their eyes. Part of the program we sang “Called to Serve” (in Spanish). It wasn’t quite the same as singing with 500 missionaries in front of Prophets and the rest of the world, but it still brought the same message of who I am as a missionary. When we did the actual baptisms, all who were being baptized were really excited and wanted to watch each other. There were smiles from ear to ear on all of them and those that were helping. Also, two of the girls that were being baptized don’t have very much support from their parents, but they do from other relatives. This however could be a big stepping stone because their parents (one of whom is studying with the JW) came and watched the baptism. There’s a lot of work to do.
Another cool experience that we had this week is I did divisions with another elder that has been in my zone for all my changes and in my district for all but one. We get along super well and are fairly new so we got a lot of fire with “growing” direction. The coolest part was the first thing when we left in the morning. My companion was looking through the area book and found an old investigator that he didn’t recognize. We went out there and knocked on his door. After we asked a neighbor if he still lived there (the neighbor didn’t want to listen to The Message). We went back and knocked again and he came out right. We talked a little bit about who he is and what he has been up to. He’s a heavy alcoholic. He went to alcoholics anonymous and was clean for six months or six years (I don’t remember which). But he fell again and wants to change. He even admits that it’s an addiction. In all of that he said that all his life he’s been looking for the church that’s true if there is a true church. We taught the first lesson and promised him that the things that he does in the church such as baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost would help him fight his addiction. We extended and he accepted the baptismal invitation. He said that he had to because in this church was his salvation. Even though I probably won’t get to go back and see him, its still an experience that I’ll always remember.
Also that day something pretty funny happened. There is a custom among the women here. It’s the shaking hands idea but instead it’s a kiss on the cheek (you know what I mean you’ve seen it in the movies). we went to an appointment that was getting ready for her baptism that should be on the 16. My companion (it was still the day we did divisions) had taught her there for about three weeks or so and knew here pretty well. She shook my hand and then went to give him a kiss on the cheek! He was super scared (even though he is a black belt in tae kwan do) He couldn’t pull the words out of his mouth for a little while then he started to explain why and he couldn’t pull the words out fast enough. Kinda made the situation awkward but I couldn’t help laugh inside.
The last cool/sad part of the week was Sunday. The food appointment was set to go to the people that I had baptized first. We went there and she said that we would go the relatives who live just down the road. We went there and when I asked how school was going they said not so good. Here, they pay to go to school every day. The kids haven’t been going every day because there isn’t enough money to go every day. We finished eating (by the way, they asked for two blessings and revelation even comes in Spanish broadcast), and went back to the house the conversation went something like this
Elder Mackay : Hermana how have things been?
Hermana Ana : more or less, ok.
Elder Mackay : Well... I heard that your kids are having a tough time going to school because sometimes there isn’t enough money. Is this true?
Hermana : (looks at the floor) yes
Elder Mackay: Why didn’t you tell me? We’re here to help you. The church is here to help you.
Hermana : I know...
Elder Mackay: You guys are people that I have baptized. Therefore you guys are very important to me. (Starts tearing up)
Hermana : You likewise. (Starts tearing up and crying). Explains what’s been going on and that they want to do what’s right, just feel so trapped by the economic side.
Elder Mackay: If I could I’d give you a hug right now. Hermana is it ok if we talk to the Bishop about this to start figuring out this problem?
Hermana : Yes
Elder Mackay : We’ll come by later this week to check and see how you guys are doing and we’ll talk with the bishop
I felt like such a shmuck for not visiting them earlier on. I figured out something though. We can’t leave anybody behind on this earthly trip. We’ll be checking with the bishop. Afterwards, we went home and made a list of all the problems/todo lists items that we can’t forget about. Well gotta run. Hope you all have a great week. Don’t forget why your here and what your sent here to do. Love you all, and as often as you write me I will right you
Con amor
Elder Mackay
Monday, April 4, 2011
April 4, 2011
Well who would have known that this point would get here so fast! It’s really crazy how fast the week goes. And this week, has been a little bit crazier than normal. First thing is that we have been blessed with help. Two returned sisters have given us three references this week. One is a girl who we ate with the week before (she is a cousin of one of the returned sisters.) We talked with her through lunch and then last Sunday, her mom asked if we could give her daughter the lessons. We scheduled an appointment for Wednesday. When we got there, the returned sister also invited another teenage cousin to come listen to the lessons. They both accepted baptismal dates. More people who were just going to church but just didn’t get baptized. The fifteen year old Guadalupe is still going strong. One day this week we are going to go visit her friend and family. Her friend came to a ward activity this week. Guadalupe is going to invite them to her baptism. Its going to be super sweet if it all works out (hopefully it does). Also the other returned sister is bringing her neighbor to church. He is eight years old. He wants to be baptized too! Also this week we contacted a reference in Telchaquillo that I think will progress. He says that he wants to change and that he has tried, but he doesn’t have any friends to help him. He’s stopped drinking before, but after about two months started drinking again through his friends. He said that sometimes he can’t sleep at night for what his life is like.. He also wants to set a good example for his kids. It’s pretty nice to find someone who wants to change. He is a pretty faithful guy and he saw another guy (who now is member) change a lot. He wants there to be something that helps him change. This got me going on what it is that make a person start to listen. First is the desire, then the exercising of a particle of faith, how these young kids are teaching me something different and I’m going to try it. Hopefully by the end he gets the changes in his life that he wants. He looks really promising. That’s not so good about Bill. I hope he gets going better. Tell him that he’s got to hang on. Its not the end. Also a thing that’s starting to change is the weather here. Its getting hotter. Like really hot (yes mom I’m drinking lots of water). I don’t think I’ve ever sweated so much on an average daily basis. Its really getting hot though. Conference was good! I didn’t get to watch all the sessions, I missed one. But from what I saw it was really good. It’s in Spanish here, but with English captions. I don’t get why they have English captions but its nice. I’ve gone through half my conferences away from home, now I just got to watch two more and I’ll almost be home. I did think about you guys at home watching. We are really blessed back home. Some people had to go on a bus for about an hour and then walk a bit. We can wake up and watch it in our PJ´s. It’s really interesting how all that works. One of the really good talks that I liked was about the difference in to be, and to do. Its interesting that its not the things that we have done once make us who we are, its our talents and habits that make us who we are. Well, gotta run. Things are great and really hot here. Ill come home with some nice lines. Thanks for your prayers, and know that I pray for you too. Con amor, Elder Mackay
March 28, 2011
So can’t believe it but its Monday again. This week I'll complete SEVEN months in the mission. Next mile stone is eight months which is a third of my mission. Its going by way too fast and I can’t believe that I only got seventeen more months. I know that seems like a weird phrase but really I had like two weeks in the MTC and about a month in the field. Or so it seems. This past week I completed four months in Kanasin. Who knew time could fly by so fast! Just a few statistics for all of you. This week was capacitation. It was really cool. It was two days and by the end I was tired of sitting down. All the days we did practices and it was really neat some of them. Even though they weren’t real investigators, it was about feeling the spirit and learning to go with what it’s telling you. Its also kind of cool to see some of the elders that I've done splits with that are really young in the mission grow too. We’re getting better and better. To help demonstrate some of the ideas, we watched some of the movies from The District. The District is the set of movies that I watched before I left for the MTC. It made me remember how pumped I was to serve and some of the memories. As far as investigators, we still really are holding on to Guadalupe. Saturday we had a little testimony meeting. First I bore mine, then my companion, then her. I said, “now you told us that you had an experience, what was it that made you feel that the book of Mormon is true?” She bore her testimony and said that she knew that the church is true. We had a nice little chat and she is super pumped for her baptism. This week also we went to Telchaquillo. Nobody we had planned to teach was ready. We even went to a guy’s house and said that he was tired and that he didn’t sleep all day. He works in the nights and said he needed to sleep some more. We chit chatted with his family outside while we waited for our ride to come pick us up. It was really nice to talk with them though. Hopefully if we can gain the trust of his family members he’ll open up a little bit. A few miracles that could be pretty big. One is that we ate lunch in a part that we haven’t really ever been to. The family who gave us lunch just had a daughter come home from her mission. We thought all of them were members but the mom of the family came up to us and said, “can you guys give the lessons to my daughter?” ah shucks do we have to? :) Another is that our leader in Telchaquill stopped by the church afterwards. I asked him how everything was over there. He said that he’s got a friend that really wants to listen to us. Some of the people there are kind of wishy-washy and say that they’ll listen because its, “The word of God.” They hear it, but they don’t listen to it. He could be a really good prospect. And another member said we could come to his house and teach his wife. He’s a member and was going to serve a mission. The only problem was that he had to get married because of other things. Can’t really be a full time missionary if you’ve got a wife at that age? Oh well. We gave some service this week. One is that I'm helping a less active kid understand his math homework. He really tries hard, but just doesn’t click all the way sometimes. He didn’t have a mom or dad to check his answers or give him math problems to do during sacrament meeting. Also we visited an old investigator and moved a couple or rocks for her the next week. By a few I mean about 50. We got sandwiches afterwards though so that was nice. The only problem is she is still living with her boyfriend and doesn’t want to get married to him and can’t kick him out. Shoot darn I guess. Well lots of hopes for a good week this week. Hope that all is well from you back home. If you’re wondering for things to put in a package still mom, an elder here taught me to do a rubix cube. It’s nice to let off some steam in the nights when 4 appointments fall through and it’s been a rough day. If there’s anything else let me know. Congrats on the baptisms of Weston and Ashlynn. I think I already said that for Ashlynn but if not I'll say it now. You guys are taking big steps in your lives and in the right directions. Carry on Carry on CARRY ON! Elder Mackay P.S. Anyone excited for general conference?
Monday, March 21, 2011
March 21, 2011
Well another week! It’s been really hectic but can’t complain because there has been success too. This week on Sunday we had the baptism of the two kids from Telchaquillo and this week we had two baptisms on Wednesday. The baptismal service was supposed to start at four but we didn’t start until 5. Oh well.
At the beginning of the week we found a guy while we were tracting. His wife had died a month ago and he was home alone. He’s really humble in his house. He doesn’t have any chairs. One of the crazy things about this guy is that his hands are huge! Especially for a Mexican they normally have smaller hands especially if they are from Mayan descendants. But when we got in his house we taught the Plan of Salvation and he said that that was more or less what he already believed. However, his wife when she was in her last few months said to him that he should find a religion and take care of their daughter. When invited him to be baptized, he accepted and we helped him to understand that in order to be married and live in the celestial kingdom, he has to be baptized first. It was the first step. He’s a pretty cool guy. He really misses company.
Another person that’s really progressing is the daughter of Maria. Her name is Guadalupe. Last week I wrote about her success story and how she is already starting her testimony. She is in First Nephi chapter 10 or so. Also she went to church. So she’s really progressing. A few more weeks and she’ll be baptized (April 9th). Basically anything that we teach her she keeps eating it up. Also when we read and explained First Nephi 8 and the tree of life with her, she said that she had a friend that she talks with at school that she might be able to talk into coming to a lesson. Who knows how many people will be blessed because of one door knocked. The problem is that you just got to know which ones to knock. And if you don’t you gotta knock all of them.
Also (the area where we are working in is more of a humble area). We found a 12 year old kid who had been baptized about six months ago. The coolest thing with him is that he is a good kid on his own. Normally if you leave the kids to be their own boss here, they do what they want. His mom works a lot. She leaves at 7 in the morning and gets back at about 10 (or so she says). We are going to have another lesson on Saturday with her and a neighbor. Things are going great. Sometimes the people in the mission give me a rough time but that’s the fault of the people not the mission.
Oh yeah, we changed bishopric here too. So we got to get them use to what we do. The old first councilor is now the bishop, the elder’s quorum president is now the first councilor and the second councilor was a high councilor. It should be a pretty good bishopric.
Well don’t have a whole lot to say this week. My companion and I get along good. Even though we are from totally different places we still have the same goal. And that is to build The Kingdom here on the earth. It’s been a pretty crazy week but its all going by way too fast. I can’t believe its pday again. I hope that all is well and that you all are doing well. I wouldn’t know from some of you because I haven’t heard in a while “HINT, HINT”. Love you all, take care and do what is right
Con Amor,
Elder Mackay
Pictures!
Just from the baptism of Maria de Jesus and her daughter Aurora. Oh yeah, the third one, can you tell which one is the white boy?
At the beginning of the week we found a guy while we were tracting. His wife had died a month ago and he was home alone. He’s really humble in his house. He doesn’t have any chairs. One of the crazy things about this guy is that his hands are huge! Especially for a Mexican they normally have smaller hands especially if they are from Mayan descendants. But when we got in his house we taught the Plan of Salvation and he said that that was more or less what he already believed. However, his wife when she was in her last few months said to him that he should find a religion and take care of their daughter. When invited him to be baptized, he accepted and we helped him to understand that in order to be married and live in the celestial kingdom, he has to be baptized first. It was the first step. He’s a pretty cool guy. He really misses company.
Another person that’s really progressing is the daughter of Maria. Her name is Guadalupe. Last week I wrote about her success story and how she is already starting her testimony. She is in First Nephi chapter 10 or so. Also she went to church. So she’s really progressing. A few more weeks and she’ll be baptized (April 9th). Basically anything that we teach her she keeps eating it up. Also when we read and explained First Nephi 8 and the tree of life with her, she said that she had a friend that she talks with at school that she might be able to talk into coming to a lesson. Who knows how many people will be blessed because of one door knocked. The problem is that you just got to know which ones to knock. And if you don’t you gotta knock all of them.
Also (the area where we are working in is more of a humble area). We found a 12 year old kid who had been baptized about six months ago. The coolest thing with him is that he is a good kid on his own. Normally if you leave the kids to be their own boss here, they do what they want. His mom works a lot. She leaves at 7 in the morning and gets back at about 10 (or so she says). We are going to have another lesson on Saturday with her and a neighbor. Things are going great. Sometimes the people in the mission give me a rough time but that’s the fault of the people not the mission.
Oh yeah, we changed bishopric here too. So we got to get them use to what we do. The old first councilor is now the bishop, the elder’s quorum president is now the first councilor and the second councilor was a high councilor. It should be a pretty good bishopric.
Well don’t have a whole lot to say this week. My companion and I get along good. Even though we are from totally different places we still have the same goal. And that is to build The Kingdom here on the earth. It’s been a pretty crazy week but its all going by way too fast. I can’t believe its pday again. I hope that all is well and that you all are doing well. I wouldn’t know from some of you because I haven’t heard in a while “HINT, HINT”. Love you all, take care and do what is right
Con Amor,
Elder Mackay
Pictures!
Just from the baptism of Maria de Jesus and her daughter Aurora. Oh yeah, the third one, can you tell which one is the white boy?
Monday, March 14, 2011
March 14, 2011
Well it’s been a long week, but again a short week. Just like time in the mission it’s really hard to describe how it all works. This is the first week with my new companion and it has been a stretch. Not only do I have to show him where everything is and how everything works in our area, but also it all has to be in Spanish. It’s a little bit challenging, but he understands the language barrier. It’s really nice to have a patient companion. I can’t imagine what it would be like with a companion who isn’t.
This week has been full of ups and downs. The ups are that we had a baptism! (That was also the cause for a lot of headache). It was Sunday at about 1:30 (scheduled to start at 1). It was two kids from Telchaquillo that just basically said, “Hey missionaries, baptize me!” The blessings of doing what you’re suppose to I’d guess. They had a lot of faith in us though. They were super excited though. During the program I talked on the importance of baptism and then my companion talked about persevering until the end. Then one of the sisters from Telchaquillo bore her testimony. It was really strong. Next was a little problem with the water. We had the water in there before all set up. The younger kid just barely turned eight and is way short. He comes up about to my waist (going to include pictures). The water would have been about up to his neck if we just put him in on his own and we couldn’t pump out any water because the pump is broken. So we put a little chair in there for him to stand on. He wasn’t too confident about walking out to the chair on his own so I put the chair down and carried him out to it. (Just a little side note: That little kid is a way cool little kid. Even though he doesn’t understand everything, he knows that this is what Heavenly Father wants of him. During the program he was teaching his dad how to sing, “I am a Child of God”. That was one of the songs that I helped him to sing one time. Take a picture with your heart). Any way, then was the older boy. Just before the baptism he was looking at his parents on the front row like, “Come on guys get in here already.” He is twelve and is super grown up for his age. The next Sunday I’m going to go to Telchaquillo for their confirmations.
The other big thing that is progressing right now is Maria de Jesus and her family. She did have a problem with the Law of Chastity to start out with (three weeks ago or so, I don’t remember if I’ve ever written about her before). She was living with her boyfriend who was sealed to someone before in the temple. And now the boyfriend is living in a different house but later they are going to get married. The mom (Maria de Jesus) also has a daughter and they basically knew everything already. We just taught a little bit more and secured a few things. They are going to get baptized this week on Wednesday because it’s the mom’s birthday that day. That makes things a little bit special. Also we didn’t know before but she has another daughter. We had the first lesson with her on Thursday and we explained the restoration. Friday we read the first chapter in the Book of Mormon together. That night we left her with the second chapter and the homework to pray to read if the book of Mormon was true. When we went back on Saturday we asked her,
“Did you read?”
“Yes”
“Did you pray?”
“Yes”
“Did you have an experience?”
(Some of the sweetest words that I have heard here in my mission) “Yes”
She went on to explain that she prayed to know if the book was true and to see if she had enough faith to make a sacrifice like this family did. She couldn’t describe how she felt but she knows that the book is true. She has a baptismal date set for the 9th of April.
Well, as for downs, they exist, but I try not to pay attention to them. They really don’t have much weight in comparison to the good times in the mission. Right now the hardest thing is finding people to teach. We’ve got a lot of work in front of us and only a few weeks to do it. It’ll be fun and interesting to see how everything plays out!
I know that this church is true, I know that because I have felt the spirit testify too many times when I’ve taught, talked or performed an ordinance in the church. I know that our Heavenly father knows our needs and knows what’s best for us. I know that because I feel his love for me and for those I teach. I have had so many experiences that have helped me to grow and it’s only the beginning. Who would have known, that a kid from the middle of no where Montana could have such experiences? Nor do I suppose that anyone would have guesses that anyone knew that a boy in Palmyra, New York would have had such an impact on the world. ¡Sigan adelante!
Con Amor y
Elder Mackay
Pictures!
The first ones are from the Baptism of Manuel and Leadro (kids from Telchaquillo)
The one where it’s just two is me and my dad (of the mission, Elder Brixey). It was the last day I was with him
The one with three of us is with Elder Brixey and my new companion Elder Alfaro!
The last one is the one with the millipede!
If I missed any of them well... tell me!
This week has been full of ups and downs. The ups are that we had a baptism! (That was also the cause for a lot of headache). It was Sunday at about 1:30 (scheduled to start at 1). It was two kids from Telchaquillo that just basically said, “Hey missionaries, baptize me!” The blessings of doing what you’re suppose to I’d guess. They had a lot of faith in us though. They were super excited though. During the program I talked on the importance of baptism and then my companion talked about persevering until the end. Then one of the sisters from Telchaquillo bore her testimony. It was really strong. Next was a little problem with the water. We had the water in there before all set up. The younger kid just barely turned eight and is way short. He comes up about to my waist (going to include pictures). The water would have been about up to his neck if we just put him in on his own and we couldn’t pump out any water because the pump is broken. So we put a little chair in there for him to stand on. He wasn’t too confident about walking out to the chair on his own so I put the chair down and carried him out to it. (Just a little side note: That little kid is a way cool little kid. Even though he doesn’t understand everything, he knows that this is what Heavenly Father wants of him. During the program he was teaching his dad how to sing, “I am a Child of God”. That was one of the songs that I helped him to sing one time. Take a picture with your heart). Any way, then was the older boy. Just before the baptism he was looking at his parents on the front row like, “Come on guys get in here already.” He is twelve and is super grown up for his age. The next Sunday I’m going to go to Telchaquillo for their confirmations.
The other big thing that is progressing right now is Maria de Jesus and her family. She did have a problem with the Law of Chastity to start out with (three weeks ago or so, I don’t remember if I’ve ever written about her before). She was living with her boyfriend who was sealed to someone before in the temple. And now the boyfriend is living in a different house but later they are going to get married. The mom (Maria de Jesus) also has a daughter and they basically knew everything already. We just taught a little bit more and secured a few things. They are going to get baptized this week on Wednesday because it’s the mom’s birthday that day. That makes things a little bit special. Also we didn’t know before but she has another daughter. We had the first lesson with her on Thursday and we explained the restoration. Friday we read the first chapter in the Book of Mormon together. That night we left her with the second chapter and the homework to pray to read if the book of Mormon was true. When we went back on Saturday we asked her,
“Did you read?”
“Yes”
“Did you pray?”
“Yes”
“Did you have an experience?”
(Some of the sweetest words that I have heard here in my mission) “Yes”
She went on to explain that she prayed to know if the book was true and to see if she had enough faith to make a sacrifice like this family did. She couldn’t describe how she felt but she knows that the book is true. She has a baptismal date set for the 9th of April.
Well, as for downs, they exist, but I try not to pay attention to them. They really don’t have much weight in comparison to the good times in the mission. Right now the hardest thing is finding people to teach. We’ve got a lot of work in front of us and only a few weeks to do it. It’ll be fun and interesting to see how everything plays out!
I know that this church is true, I know that because I have felt the spirit testify too many times when I’ve taught, talked or performed an ordinance in the church. I know that our Heavenly father knows our needs and knows what’s best for us. I know that because I feel his love for me and for those I teach. I have had so many experiences that have helped me to grow and it’s only the beginning. Who would have known, that a kid from the middle of no where Montana could have such experiences? Nor do I suppose that anyone would have guesses that anyone knew that a boy in Palmyra, New York would have had such an impact on the world. ¡Sigan adelante!
Con Amor y
Elder Mackay
Pictures!
The first ones are from the Baptism of Manuel and Leadro (kids from Telchaquillo)
The one where it’s just two is me and my dad (of the mission, Elder Brixey). It was the last day I was with him
The one with three of us is with Elder Brixey and my new companion Elder Alfaro!
The last one is the one with the millipede!
If I missed any of them well... tell me!
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