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
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