January 4, 2011

January 4, 2011
Well another week down. We didn’t really have a whole lot this week. One we couldn’t leave the house until four on New Year’s Day because of all the drunks in the street. Another day we couldn’t leave because Elder Brixey was sick (got to give him a blessing though and that was pretty cool). Two other days we went to Telchaquillo and so we had bus trips there and back. Every trip takes an hour or so to get there and an hour back. That’s rough and takes a lot of time. It would be nice if I was there all the time. The cool thing that happened there is that even though they didn’t get their ten baptisms President is going to make it into a branch. The people there are so humble and just want to do what they are supposed to. We had an investigator that after the first lesson where we had the word of wisdom he handed us his cigarettes. How much faith is that? These people need daily visits and lessons but we can’t really and there’s only one family that feeds us so it would be hard on them. I really don’t know how it’s going to work out but I hope it does. It’s funny that you talked about getting the momentum that we needed because this week has been really chaotic. I want things to work better but it’ll take more time and more patience.
Nice work everyone downstairs (and foreman Brayden - How does he always end up with jobs like that?) Anyway how about we do that next Christmas too eh? Looks like a lot of fun. That’s one of the things I didn’t think about before, is I really miss working with my hands. The only thing that we can do is clean (which I did a lot of this week while we were stuck in the house). You'd be impressed mom. You can really feel the difference. I used one of the sheets and put it over my desk. It’s a red sheet and I have a brown desk. When I get my camera I’ll try to send some pictures. Elder Brixey did it and it really looks classy. Now that our house is free from all the clutter you can really feel all the difference.
Studies are going way good. The hardest thing is getting everything in that I want. I was thinking one day how much “Preach my Gospel” really is a missionary manual. I wish I would have studied more in that. That’s one of the things about a mission, is that it teaches you things that you should do after. When I go I have no reason to not do things because I know now. And I suspect that this is just the beginning. Just a little side note two kids on horses just walked past. I know you’ll call me an air head and say where did that come from but this still is Glenn but version 2.0.
Hope you all have success and know that I love you.
¡Espero que segamos adelante!
Elder Mackay


December 27, 2010
So... I already said all that happened last week. Not a whole lot happened more. Except our family that has been doing really good didn’t go to church this week. We played with their family a minute on the twenty fourth but they had a mini fight afterwards. The wife wanted to stay in the house because it was the first time in Kanasín, but the husband wanted to go visit family. Eventually as always the wife won but there was a lot of contention in the house. We went and visited them and you could feel it. Some other things I finally remembered…
When I was telling that story about Telchaquillo, the punch line that I totally forgot was that I threw up later that night. Mom you asked if I had been feeling better. Yes and no. This week, is New Years and we have the same rules as Christmas, which we have to be in the house on the thirtieth and have to stay in the house until four the next day. Kind of blows our numbers and our goals but we’ll see. Our goal for this week with lessons is that we have 10 lessons with a member present, fifteen other lessons, and five lessons with less actives. We have a lot of ideas of how to do it, but we just need to be super diligent with our time. That’s one of the things with Mexico is since its so calm and tranquil its hard to put fire in people, and when none of them have fire it’s hard to feel it too. We played soccer this morning and the gringos got their trashed kicked. It’s still fun though. One of the things that I got to keep telling myself is that I just barely got here and that I need to be more patient with myself. My trainer told me that the first six months of your mission is really to get you in to the language and the role of things. As always I want to go faster but time doesn’t go how we want.
The work goes but its rough this week and next because of all the drunks and the Holidays. I don’t know if I told you or not but we got contacted by a drunk guy. Even he knew that we were representatives. He said that he wanted us to teach him about Jesus. We said we had to teach sober people. So we left him the address and the time of church…. Didn't show up.
I’ve been sharing the caramels with Elder Brixey. He says thanks and really likes them. Not a whole lot more. If you or anyone that reads this has an idea about how to get people excited about the gospel (specifically going to sacrament meeting) please share. Getting people to the church for the second and third time is one of the hardest things in the mission right now. People don’t see the need to go every week. Any ideas that you have would be helpful.
Les amo! Gracias por sus oraciones
Elder Mackay