Dear Family of friends,
Well it's definitely been a challenge but we're slowly making progress. The zone leaders had a baptism this Sunday and I did the interview. The brother's name was Moorthy and he was a great young man. He is from a different state but recently moved in with his cousins who are members here in Coimbatore. It wasn't long before he agreed to meet with the elders and four months later he was baptized. This week Suresh and his family came to church this week for all three hours and the baptismal service afterwards. Suresh is the one who is unemployed who was looking to get a job in Saudi Arabia, but it looks like that idea is dropped. Now he's just looking for any kind of work and it has softened his heart to the point where he is extremely teachable. He needs help following the Word of Wisdom but he is willing and he wants to come to the church as much as possible. We still have not been able to meet with his whole family for a lesson and that was mostly due to our fault but this week we will definitely teach all of them.
We have had some big news with the big extended family we are teaching. Punitha and Antony were having some concerns about the Book of Mormon and we did everything we could to resolve their concerns. Punitha seemed to even be a little flustered because she was asking very pointed questions. We left them with a chapter and told them to read and pray about but we weren't quite sure if they would. Well I called the next night and a miracle happened--they read. Punitha said they all read and prayed together as a family (children included) and that she was now convinced that the Book of Mormon is from God. This happened last Friday and they didn't come to church on Sunday so I don't think we're quite out of the doghouse of concerns quite yet but we're moving forward. I'm suspecting she didn't come to church because of some problems they are having with a plot of land they are trying to build on and had to attend some legal issues.
Punitha's nephew, Rahul, is also doing really well and probably progressing the best out of all his family members. But we met him last night and he expressed how lonely he was. He tried to get all his direct and extended family members to church but none came and by the time he was done trying church. He even expressed how lonely he was at school and how he feels like he is an outcast. I don't know why he would be though, he is a sweet and bright young man. I know he'll fit in with the young men at church so we told him to just come to church and establis himself there and then his family would follow.
An investigator of the sisters in our district had a cool experience this week. Her name is Shermilla and she is a muslim orphan. She is the maid of one of our recent converts and as the family was learning the gospel, Shermilla became interested. The sisters began to teach her the gospel as well as English and she absorbed it all so rapidly. Well Shermilla works at the orphanage she grew up in and and the other day the owner told her to make food for the 50 children that were there and he gave her 2 kgs of rice. 2 kgs may sound like a lot but not when it's all you eat, and definitley not for 50 kids. But Shermilla didn't lose faith. She remembered the story of when Christ fed the multitude of 5,000 with only a few loaves of bread so she got down on her knees and prayed to God saying if God could feed 5,000 then surely he could feed the 50. After that she got to work and prepared the rice and curry and she was able to feed all 50 of the children until they were full and still have rice left over. Another time she was feeding the children again but she forgot about two of the children who had smallpox and therefore couldn't attend the mess hall. By the time she remembered the rice was all gone so again she prayed and she was inspired to look in a cupboard and there she found a small bag of rice. She took the rice and looked for the pot but she then found the fire was put out. She had no other source of heat then the left over embers but she made use of what she had and put the rice in the pot. Some time went by and she opened the lid to find the pot full of fully cooked rice. Next time I think something is impossible, I'll just think of Shermilla.
Sorry I couldn't write so much today but I hope you are all doing well and I love you all so much. Thank you for the recipes and support.
Love you a million miracles,
Elder Mackay
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Brownies and Cakes - July 22, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Thank you so much for your letters and love. Paige I am so proud of you. I remember when I had the flu over at BYU. It was during the winter time and I was just like you. All my friends brought over saltines, cranberry juice (yes, I did drink it Jocelyn and you were right, and it had a pretty good effect), and gatorade. Byron also came over and gave me a blessing, immediately after which I puked into our sink. Byron called it the quickest healing he's ever seen.
And Carly you have such a photogenic crowd of people asking to hire you. Must be your amazing newfound talent. I was going through some of the gallery pictures while reading your letters and their really good. And with Dad's new book he's reading about conceptual focus I think our family is pretty well rounded to reach both parts of our brains. Altogether we should be able to come up with some killer business. And I'm so jealous you get to go to the temple Mom, I'll make sure to attend with you in Spirit. I can't wait and start to answer some of my own questions. I've been so busy answering others that I forget to think of my own. Luckily I learn a lot from teaching. I did a study of the Bible's prophecies of the Book of Mormon and found a lot of interesting insights. My favorite was comparing 2 Nephi 26 with Isaiah 29, Nephi explains clearly Isaiah's meaning in such a way that you can't deny that Isaiah was talking about the Nephites.
Anyways as for my week it was the like the Himalayas: big ups with big downs. No one came to church this week but we did still manage to make some progress. Renald and Deepa are doing really well, they are the newly wed couple with a new baby. They've been being taught since February and now we're almost to their baptism. Last week we met them and committed Renald to follow the Word of Wisdom by July 28th. This Monday we met him and we watched the Restoration with him and Deepa. We then followed up with his word of wisdom and he said it was just going on. Then our member who was with us had to take a phone call and went outside. Renald then got a little serious and told us that he was really struggling. He wasn't sure if he was going to make his goal date and he really wanted to but the temptations were getting the better of him. We offered to give him a blessing and he accepted. Afterwards we told him that the Elder that first taught him, Elder Hullinger, would be coming on exchange and visiting him on Saturday. He was so happy to hear that, and he said "Elder Hullinger is the man who changed me. Before I listened to so many pastors but I didn't care what they had to say or offer but when Hullinger talked with me it made me change. Before I would never have let anyone give me any blessing but today you just saw me accept." Thank our Heavenly Father for Elder Hullinger.
We also found out the concern for our struggling investigators, Lukas and Nivedhana, another newly wed with no children. They are Hindu background but want to be baptized. They also want to come to the LDS church Lukas' auntie who lives nearby calls them every morning to ask them to come to the Assembly of God church with her. Solution no. 1: Go to the Auntie's house and teach. Solution no.2: tell Lukas and Nivedhana they're just going to have to explain to the auntie that they can't go with her. If they feel it's true than they shouldn't have to worry if they are making any mistakes, plus I don't think the auntie will be that offended. So with a plan, testimonies, scripture, and a lot of Spiritual guidance we can make this happen.
So as for the subject of the letter, I've been having fun with the new oven. We were able to find some pillsbury cake and brownie mixes and we all pitched in to make delicious desserts for the past week (don't worry Jeevan your baked goods will still be an oasis in the desert for me). But it has been fun to scramble together to make good meals. Elder Valluri and Korrayya make the main Indian course, and Elder Hullinger and I make the dessert. And one time this week I somehow whipped up Shepard's pie. Don't ask me how I remembered but it was pretty good, minus I put too much flour in the mixture (I think you know what I mean Mom). The home-made food is a good motivation booster for us. The resturaunts are not good here at all so having good food keeps us going, even if it takes a little extra effort.
Another transfer is finished and my year mark is coming fast. We're discussing new goals for the zone this week and we decided we want to focus on finding. So this is my request, if you could all think of ways we can find more people, whether it be by ways to increase the Spirit during finding, methods of finding, ways of doing service, or whatever it may be to find people that are interested, please send your suggestions. I know finding is different in all places but maybe one of your ideas will inspire us to do something more.
Thank you so much again for all your letters. Keep it up Matt and Jen, the Lord will work a way for you. Just remember when the Apostles were crossing the sea of Galilee and the storm was tossing them to and fro it was until the fourth watch that Jesus Christ came up to them walking on the water. The fourth watch is nie so keep you eyes open for that piercing hope that will show you the way.
Love you a million brownies,
Elder Mackay
p.s. Mom if you could send some easy bake recipes, that would be great. Also the shepherds pie recipe so I can know the right quanities.
Thank you so much for your letters and love. Paige I am so proud of you. I remember when I had the flu over at BYU. It was during the winter time and I was just like you. All my friends brought over saltines, cranberry juice (yes, I did drink it Jocelyn and you were right, and it had a pretty good effect), and gatorade. Byron also came over and gave me a blessing, immediately after which I puked into our sink. Byron called it the quickest healing he's ever seen.
And Carly you have such a photogenic crowd of people asking to hire you. Must be your amazing newfound talent. I was going through some of the gallery pictures while reading your letters and their really good. And with Dad's new book he's reading about conceptual focus I think our family is pretty well rounded to reach both parts of our brains. Altogether we should be able to come up with some killer business. And I'm so jealous you get to go to the temple Mom, I'll make sure to attend with you in Spirit. I can't wait and start to answer some of my own questions. I've been so busy answering others that I forget to think of my own. Luckily I learn a lot from teaching. I did a study of the Bible's prophecies of the Book of Mormon and found a lot of interesting insights. My favorite was comparing 2 Nephi 26 with Isaiah 29, Nephi explains clearly Isaiah's meaning in such a way that you can't deny that Isaiah was talking about the Nephites.
Anyways as for my week it was the like the Himalayas: big ups with big downs. No one came to church this week but we did still manage to make some progress. Renald and Deepa are doing really well, they are the newly wed couple with a new baby. They've been being taught since February and now we're almost to their baptism. Last week we met them and committed Renald to follow the Word of Wisdom by July 28th. This Monday we met him and we watched the Restoration with him and Deepa. We then followed up with his word of wisdom and he said it was just going on. Then our member who was with us had to take a phone call and went outside. Renald then got a little serious and told us that he was really struggling. He wasn't sure if he was going to make his goal date and he really wanted to but the temptations were getting the better of him. We offered to give him a blessing and he accepted. Afterwards we told him that the Elder that first taught him, Elder Hullinger, would be coming on exchange and visiting him on Saturday. He was so happy to hear that, and he said "Elder Hullinger is the man who changed me. Before I listened to so many pastors but I didn't care what they had to say or offer but when Hullinger talked with me it made me change. Before I would never have let anyone give me any blessing but today you just saw me accept." Thank our Heavenly Father for Elder Hullinger.
We also found out the concern for our struggling investigators, Lukas and Nivedhana, another newly wed with no children. They are Hindu background but want to be baptized. They also want to come to the LDS church Lukas' auntie who lives nearby calls them every morning to ask them to come to the Assembly of God church with her. Solution no. 1: Go to the Auntie's house and teach. Solution no.2: tell Lukas and Nivedhana they're just going to have to explain to the auntie that they can't go with her. If they feel it's true than they shouldn't have to worry if they are making any mistakes, plus I don't think the auntie will be that offended. So with a plan, testimonies, scripture, and a lot of Spiritual guidance we can make this happen.
So as for the subject of the letter, I've been having fun with the new oven. We were able to find some pillsbury cake and brownie mixes and we all pitched in to make delicious desserts for the past week (don't worry Jeevan your baked goods will still be an oasis in the desert for me). But it has been fun to scramble together to make good meals. Elder Valluri and Korrayya make the main Indian course, and Elder Hullinger and I make the dessert. And one time this week I somehow whipped up Shepard's pie. Don't ask me how I remembered but it was pretty good, minus I put too much flour in the mixture (I think you know what I mean Mom). The home-made food is a good motivation booster for us. The resturaunts are not good here at all so having good food keeps us going, even if it takes a little extra effort.
Another transfer is finished and my year mark is coming fast. We're discussing new goals for the zone this week and we decided we want to focus on finding. So this is my request, if you could all think of ways we can find more people, whether it be by ways to increase the Spirit during finding, methods of finding, ways of doing service, or whatever it may be to find people that are interested, please send your suggestions. I know finding is different in all places but maybe one of your ideas will inspire us to do something more.
Thank you so much again for all your letters. Keep it up Matt and Jen, the Lord will work a way for you. Just remember when the Apostles were crossing the sea of Galilee and the storm was tossing them to and fro it was until the fourth watch that Jesus Christ came up to them walking on the water. The fourth watch is nie so keep you eyes open for that piercing hope that will show you the way.
Love you a million brownies,
Elder Mackay
p.s. Mom if you could send some easy bake recipes, that would be great. Also the shepherds pie recipe so I can know the right quanities.
You are all wonderful - July 14, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
I love being able to read you emails first before I write mine because it inspires me so much and puts me at a more cheerful mood. Thank you so much for your encouragement because this was the week that I needed it. For some reason this week was a tougher one and it put me down a little bit to the point where I asked, like you said Matt, would I spiritually survive. Most all of our appointments cancelled, leading out the area is tougher than I thought, having a new companion changes everything, and all of it mixed together just puts me way out of my comfort zone. So hearing your words really helps me to know that it will be alright and that I really am on the right path.
But I don't mean to complain because we still had a great week. Maybe not all of the things went perfect and maybe there were a couple of disasters but looking back on it, it all turned out alright. My favorite part was getting three separate families to church on Sunday. I want to also mention Renald and Deepa. They have been investigating since January and just now they are really progressing. We got Renald on his way to be tobacco free, they are both reading the Book of Mormon together, and we almost got them committed to a baptism date. Renald just wants to make sure that he quits tobacco before commiting to a date. Only one obstacle left to remain: the parents. A few weeks ago I learned that Renalds parents live right above him on the second floor and I was a little bit nervous about what they think about the church and how much of an effect that will have on Renald. Renald talked to us about baptism and he said he wanted to but he would need to inform his family first. He sounded really confident that everything would be alright so we'll just pray for the best. He is definitely doing the right thing by informing his family, especially as that will open up the door for more potential missionary work. President Nichols always tells us "parents are not the enemies, they are potential investigators". It's hard to see that at the moment but the Lord has a plan and timetable for everything so we'll just wait and see.
Elder Korrayya and I are getting along great. I'm pretty lucky to have had some time before getting a native companion because 1. I can understand him now after having my ear accustomed to Indian accents, and 2. I know the culture better so I know what to talk about with him. But the problem is he has a tough time understanding me. The truth is Elder Korrayya didn't understand English before his mission, he tells that to everyone he sees and I know its true because when he came on his mission I couldn't tell if he was speaking English or Telugu. He's learned a lot by now and although he still stumbles he can get his thoughts out. It's really fun though to teach him English, and we have a blast. The other day I was helping his pronunciation so we sang an old pre-school song, the one that teaches all the vowels, it goes "I like to ate, ate, ate apples and bananaes...I like to eat, eat, eat apples and banenees" and so forth. He really enjoyed it and sometimes as we are finding we'll sing it.
I also learned a lot from him about Indian culture. Now I have a native companion at my disposal to ask any questions. I've learned a lot about the relationship between men and women in India, Hinduism and even circumcision...mostly I taught him about that.
We've had some exciting news, we're going to be holding a open house in August to give tours to the church building. If you haven't seen the picture, the church building is big and white, but not many people know it's a church because there's no picture or cross on it. Even worse many rumors are spread around that we are Satan's church and that we don't worship Jesus Christ. Well to absolve all doubts we are holding a grand open house on Indian Independance Day and we're advertising it through pass along cards and newspaper ads. Even two weeks before we're releasing an article about the church and our beliefs. The focus of the open house will be to show people that we are a church of Jesus Christ and that we do worship Him. It's amazing what some people believe without finding out for themselves. On Sunday my companion and I had to go to a big meeting to represent the missionaries so we could plan for it. I really hope it helps because we do get a lot of people who tell us that we are not Christian or who have heard something bad about the church and so they won't listen to us.
Okay here's individual messages. Paige I still need to hear your story about you going to Idaho. You can send that one to me directly so you can tell me all the details;) And don't worry, College gets better. Just keep yourself motivated and set goals and plans and stick to them. Find out when you study best and study at that time everyday, that was one tip I received from a couple missionary who did a lot of research on study. And Byron please keep me updated on this girl so I can have some influence. I don't mind if you get married to her, I'm just going to prolong it so I can be there:) Just kidding, but send a picture if you're able to. Thanks. And Harry Potter 6 is out! Man, I wonder if I'll see the 7th in theaters. Just keep the theater till I come home so one night we can rent them and watch them on the big screen. And o my goodness so many people are getting married. I don't it has really hit me yet but I think my friends will be cut in half when I go home. And Dad there are carbon tipped drills and didn't Han Solo get freezed into carbon (carbon freezing?) anyways that could be a fun one.
Thank you so much for all your hard work to write me letters. I know it's not easy.
Love you a million midnight showings,
Elder Mackay
I love being able to read you emails first before I write mine because it inspires me so much and puts me at a more cheerful mood. Thank you so much for your encouragement because this was the week that I needed it. For some reason this week was a tougher one and it put me down a little bit to the point where I asked, like you said Matt, would I spiritually survive. Most all of our appointments cancelled, leading out the area is tougher than I thought, having a new companion changes everything, and all of it mixed together just puts me way out of my comfort zone. So hearing your words really helps me to know that it will be alright and that I really am on the right path.
But I don't mean to complain because we still had a great week. Maybe not all of the things went perfect and maybe there were a couple of disasters but looking back on it, it all turned out alright. My favorite part was getting three separate families to church on Sunday. I want to also mention Renald and Deepa. They have been investigating since January and just now they are really progressing. We got Renald on his way to be tobacco free, they are both reading the Book of Mormon together, and we almost got them committed to a baptism date. Renald just wants to make sure that he quits tobacco before commiting to a date. Only one obstacle left to remain: the parents. A few weeks ago I learned that Renalds parents live right above him on the second floor and I was a little bit nervous about what they think about the church and how much of an effect that will have on Renald. Renald talked to us about baptism and he said he wanted to but he would need to inform his family first. He sounded really confident that everything would be alright so we'll just pray for the best. He is definitely doing the right thing by informing his family, especially as that will open up the door for more potential missionary work. President Nichols always tells us "parents are not the enemies, they are potential investigators". It's hard to see that at the moment but the Lord has a plan and timetable for everything so we'll just wait and see.
Elder Korrayya and I are getting along great. I'm pretty lucky to have had some time before getting a native companion because 1. I can understand him now after having my ear accustomed to Indian accents, and 2. I know the culture better so I know what to talk about with him. But the problem is he has a tough time understanding me. The truth is Elder Korrayya didn't understand English before his mission, he tells that to everyone he sees and I know its true because when he came on his mission I couldn't tell if he was speaking English or Telugu. He's learned a lot by now and although he still stumbles he can get his thoughts out. It's really fun though to teach him English, and we have a blast. The other day I was helping his pronunciation so we sang an old pre-school song, the one that teaches all the vowels, it goes "I like to ate, ate, ate apples and bananaes...I like to eat, eat, eat apples and banenees" and so forth. He really enjoyed it and sometimes as we are finding we'll sing it.
I also learned a lot from him about Indian culture. Now I have a native companion at my disposal to ask any questions. I've learned a lot about the relationship between men and women in India, Hinduism and even circumcision...mostly I taught him about that.
We've had some exciting news, we're going to be holding a open house in August to give tours to the church building. If you haven't seen the picture, the church building is big and white, but not many people know it's a church because there's no picture or cross on it. Even worse many rumors are spread around that we are Satan's church and that we don't worship Jesus Christ. Well to absolve all doubts we are holding a grand open house on Indian Independance Day and we're advertising it through pass along cards and newspaper ads. Even two weeks before we're releasing an article about the church and our beliefs. The focus of the open house will be to show people that we are a church of Jesus Christ and that we do worship Him. It's amazing what some people believe without finding out for themselves. On Sunday my companion and I had to go to a big meeting to represent the missionaries so we could plan for it. I really hope it helps because we do get a lot of people who tell us that we are not Christian or who have heard something bad about the church and so they won't listen to us.
Okay here's individual messages. Paige I still need to hear your story about you going to Idaho. You can send that one to me directly so you can tell me all the details;) And don't worry, College gets better. Just keep yourself motivated and set goals and plans and stick to them. Find out when you study best and study at that time everyday, that was one tip I received from a couple missionary who did a lot of research on study. And Byron please keep me updated on this girl so I can have some influence. I don't mind if you get married to her, I'm just going to prolong it so I can be there:) Just kidding, but send a picture if you're able to. Thanks. And Harry Potter 6 is out! Man, I wonder if I'll see the 7th in theaters. Just keep the theater till I come home so one night we can rent them and watch them on the big screen. And o my goodness so many people are getting married. I don't it has really hit me yet but I think my friends will be cut in half when I go home. And Dad there are carbon tipped drills and didn't Han Solo get freezed into carbon (carbon freezing?) anyways that could be a fun one.
Thank you so much for all your hard work to write me letters. I know it's not easy.
Love you a million midnight showings,
Elder Mackay
New Companion - July 7, 2009
Just finished picking up Elder Korraya. He's a great guy and I feel we're going to get along great. Hope everything is doing well with you.
Love
Curtis
Good Evening, Morning, and Afternoon (depending on where you are),
My morning today was bitter-sweet. I lost Elder Smith to Erode but I got Elder Korraya now. And good news, Elder Korraya can ride cycles. He's actually been riding them for a few months in another area and it seems he likes it more than walking which I can imagine. He doesn't have a clubbed foot like I thought he had but he has polio sadly. But it doesn't seem to get his spirits down. He was so warm and happy to see me and I him. His English is a lot better than I remember it being at the beginning of his mission but I have to make sure I don't break mine so I can bring him up to the next level.
We have our work cut out for us. We have plenty of families and referrals we need to integrate into the branch that are progressing fairly well up to this point. There is the Francis family who we met on Friday with the first counselor of the Branch presidency, president Charles. Charles did the most wonderful interpretation of the plan of salvation, listing every piece of important doctrine with promised blessings. He put it in such a simple and easy way to understand, and in perfect English (Charles is the official church translator for English to Tamil and he knows both languages pretty darn well). After the lesson he talked with the family about music and told how he was the former organ player for a local Roman Catholic church and he told us "Elders you can go home, I'll take care of it from here." Well I just love to hear those words. Francis came the Sunday alone because his daughter had school in the morning so his wife went to go get her and he came to church. He came for the first two hours and loved it so much that he told us he would change his daughter's school timings so they all could come to church.
We have a very interesting situation with a few families. Last week I think I told about how we met two brothers and a sister in one home. Well we met with each of their respective families and on Sunday one member from each family came to church for a certain period of time. To make things easier to explain I'll list the names of the families. There is (oldest brother) Poopathi's family, (sister) Punitha's family, and (youngest brother) Stanley's family. Stanley and Poopathi's son, Rahul, came to testimony meeting. They both loved it so much. I talke with Rahul later and he said "Your church is so amazing. I've never seen a church like that before. Thank you so much for inviting me, I'll definitely come again next week." Punitha's family made a small visit for five minutes so we showed them around a little bit. Punitha's children loved the church so much that they may be the reason for them coming back next week. I've been really excited for these three families and also a little nervous. I feel like the situation is so good that some opposition is on the verge of happening. But we'll stay strong, work hard and involve the members in our efforts.
On Sunday we had some great news. I went to the Priesthood Executive Committe on Sunday and the branch presidency told us that for the past four months they've been focusing on the less active members of the branch and haven't gotten anywhere with them. So they decided after much prayer that they would leave the less active responsibility to the Elders Quorum and focus the most part of their efforts on missionary work. My heart flipped when I heard this. We have such an amazing presidency, and their spirit and authority is going to move our investigators. So the plan is set and the work will go forward. I hope to have some good pictures of many baptisms to send home:)
Just to make the week that much more spiritual we had an amazing testimony meeting. The members have had so many difficult yet great trials. They ranged from financial problems, family problems, down to the sincere question of if there was a God. But I was able to see, hear and feel the power of the gospel that has blessed these people's lives. There is one Anglo-Indian sister, Teresa, who got up and shared about how much she had to fight her way into the church. Before she never knew the gospel even though she was Roman Catholic but her sister introduced her to the church and after almost a year of family and personal struggles she was finally baptized and confirmed a member. It's so great to hear testimonies of the gospel proclaimed when the rest of the world tries to push it in the attics of their minds.
Well I love all of you so much. Thank you so much for your prayers. Jen I hope a week without Matt around wasn't(isn't?) too horrible. And Paige I can't wait to hear from you. College is a blast but just be careful as finals come up. You don't want to be caught empty handed, or I should say empty brain-dead, when the exams are passed out. As for not having the name-tags in the auto picture, we were in Bangalore and there you have to take off your nametags when you go outside. If you serve there one companion will have to wear a colored shirt a neither can wear ties outside. They're just safety precautions but the work is still going on there so there's not too much hinderance.
Love you a million bright faced companions,
Elder Mackay
Oh yeah and I forgot to tell you about the rain. So far so good, there hasn't been much more than a few sprinkles here and there. Definitely though when it gets heavier, we'll be using less cycles (and hopefully more members will feel sorry for us and take us in their cars:)
Hugs and love
Love
Curtis
Good Evening, Morning, and Afternoon (depending on where you are),
My morning today was bitter-sweet. I lost Elder Smith to Erode but I got Elder Korraya now. And good news, Elder Korraya can ride cycles. He's actually been riding them for a few months in another area and it seems he likes it more than walking which I can imagine. He doesn't have a clubbed foot like I thought he had but he has polio sadly. But it doesn't seem to get his spirits down. He was so warm and happy to see me and I him. His English is a lot better than I remember it being at the beginning of his mission but I have to make sure I don't break mine so I can bring him up to the next level.
We have our work cut out for us. We have plenty of families and referrals we need to integrate into the branch that are progressing fairly well up to this point. There is the Francis family who we met on Friday with the first counselor of the Branch presidency, president Charles. Charles did the most wonderful interpretation of the plan of salvation, listing every piece of important doctrine with promised blessings. He put it in such a simple and easy way to understand, and in perfect English (Charles is the official church translator for English to Tamil and he knows both languages pretty darn well). After the lesson he talked with the family about music and told how he was the former organ player for a local Roman Catholic church and he told us "Elders you can go home, I'll take care of it from here." Well I just love to hear those words. Francis came the Sunday alone because his daughter had school in the morning so his wife went to go get her and he came to church. He came for the first two hours and loved it so much that he told us he would change his daughter's school timings so they all could come to church.
We have a very interesting situation with a few families. Last week I think I told about how we met two brothers and a sister in one home. Well we met with each of their respective families and on Sunday one member from each family came to church for a certain period of time. To make things easier to explain I'll list the names of the families. There is (oldest brother) Poopathi's family, (sister) Punitha's family, and (youngest brother) Stanley's family. Stanley and Poopathi's son, Rahul, came to testimony meeting. They both loved it so much. I talke with Rahul later and he said "Your church is so amazing. I've never seen a church like that before. Thank you so much for inviting me, I'll definitely come again next week." Punitha's family made a small visit for five minutes so we showed them around a little bit. Punitha's children loved the church so much that they may be the reason for them coming back next week. I've been really excited for these three families and also a little nervous. I feel like the situation is so good that some opposition is on the verge of happening. But we'll stay strong, work hard and involve the members in our efforts.
On Sunday we had some great news. I went to the Priesthood Executive Committe on Sunday and the branch presidency told us that for the past four months they've been focusing on the less active members of the branch and haven't gotten anywhere with them. So they decided after much prayer that they would leave the less active responsibility to the Elders Quorum and focus the most part of their efforts on missionary work. My heart flipped when I heard this. We have such an amazing presidency, and their spirit and authority is going to move our investigators. So the plan is set and the work will go forward. I hope to have some good pictures of many baptisms to send home:)
Just to make the week that much more spiritual we had an amazing testimony meeting. The members have had so many difficult yet great trials. They ranged from financial problems, family problems, down to the sincere question of if there was a God. But I was able to see, hear and feel the power of the gospel that has blessed these people's lives. There is one Anglo-Indian sister, Teresa, who got up and shared about how much she had to fight her way into the church. Before she never knew the gospel even though she was Roman Catholic but her sister introduced her to the church and after almost a year of family and personal struggles she was finally baptized and confirmed a member. It's so great to hear testimonies of the gospel proclaimed when the rest of the world tries to push it in the attics of their minds.
Well I love all of you so much. Thank you so much for your prayers. Jen I hope a week without Matt around wasn't(isn't?) too horrible. And Paige I can't wait to hear from you. College is a blast but just be careful as finals come up. You don't want to be caught empty handed, or I should say empty brain-dead, when the exams are passed out. As for not having the name-tags in the auto picture, we were in Bangalore and there you have to take off your nametags when you go outside. If you serve there one companion will have to wear a colored shirt a neither can wear ties outside. They're just safety precautions but the work is still going on there so there's not too much hinderance.
Love you a million bright faced companions,
Elder Mackay
Oh yeah and I forgot to tell you about the rain. So far so good, there hasn't been much more than a few sprinkles here and there. Definitely though when it gets heavier, we'll be using less cycles (and hopefully more members will feel sorry for us and take us in their cars:)
Hugs and love
No interesting subject Sorry - June 30, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Well we had emergency transfers because we have a batch going home mid transfer and Elder Smith will be leaving me after such a short time. I was just barely getting to know him too. My new companion will be Elder Korraya and he will be my first native companion. I know Elder Korraya because we were in the same zone in Hyderabad. He came in one batch after me and he is a really sweet guy. His English is not very good though and he has a clubbed foot but he is so humble that those challenges don't stop him. I haven't seen him in a long time so it will be cool to see how much he has progressed since we both started our missions together.
On Sunday I was really sad because we didn't get anyone to church and for someone reason everyone gave the same excuse that they were out of town. It just seemed to be a series of unfortunate events. After church all of our appointments canceled on us and we were scrambling to find something to do. We did a little bit of tracting but didn't find anyone than we went back to the church to meet a last minute appointment we made. The guy was told us he would meet us at the church at 5:30 but when we got there he said 6:00. We took the opportunity to meet and talk with the Branch President and receive some assignments from him. After that we called the guy back and he again postponed to 6:30. We waited for a little bit, tried calling him back and he didn't answer so we just left. We were both really frustrated at this point and we didn't know what to do or where to go because the places where we wanted to go were too far out and it was too late. I said a prayer at the bustand and asked what we should do. Immediately after I said my prayer and man about 24 years old came up to us and asked us what we were doing. We quickly explained and he introduced himself as Charles and asked us if we wanted to meet his family. We jumped on it like a child jumps on a trampoline. We caught the next bus and took a 15 minute busride to his home. We met his Father, Mother and Sister and we shared with them the restoration. Interestingly enough the Father seemed more interested than the son, usually from what I've seen the younger people accept the restored gospel much faster than the older generation. But we got a return appointment (which people here are reluctant to give for some reason. In Rajahmundry it was easy) and then we were on our way.
Monday was a little bit better. I first finished my registration and mailed off my passport and regristration papers to Bangalore. I didn't want to say earlier in case it wasn't such a big deal but I had some problem registering into Coimbatore and they were giving me a lot of grief over not having a paper. Unfortunately the India Foreign Registration Office is not very organized and the city which I came from did things differently from Coimbatore and Coimbatore didn't like that and tried to put the blame on me. But one letter to the comissioner solved that so now I'm on my way.
That night we met Renald and Deepa. We had a great lesson where we taught the ten commandments. It's funny how the ten commandments is one of the most universal beliefs among most religions and yet people do not understand or even know what they are or how to follow them. We focused on the Sabbath Day and the Sacrament and Renald (who missed church the last Sunday) said "Well I told you I can't make it next Sunday because my work is having a huge anniversary that I'm in charge of but I have to come and take the sacrament". What a star! His wife Deepa is much more amazing. If it were up to her, they would have both been baptized by now. But slowly and surely they're making progress.
I had a pretty cool finding experience yesterday. Elder Smith and I were tracting all afternoon and we were running thin on time and we hadn't found anyone yet. Our legs were very tired but we were trying to pump each other up and keep a good attitude. As we were walking down our last street we noticed a Christian home and we knocked on it. Inside we found 6 people that made up parts three individual families. Actually they were all family techinically. A Sister and two brothers were all meeting together with some of the their kids and they were just having a good time playing games (can someone say family home evening). We came to the door and they told us to get in--that seems to be happening more and more frequently. We got to know them and we met Stanley, Punitha, and Poopathi (hehe). Each had their own families. We also met three of the kids: Alexander, Francis and Rahul. It was a strange situation but we made the best of it. We taught them the restoration and it seemed to click pretty well. The amazing part is that we got return appointments with the individual families at their homes on different times. It was quite a feat to organize. But I can just see this whole family come into the church and be one of those power house LDS families. The hard part is now we have to meet their spouses, that's always a bother because usually one will accept and the other will be hesistant makes a strong influence on the other. But we will bring our spiritual blow torch on them and give them the spirit.
Well I better get going and read your letters. I'm trying my best to get the pictures on here but for some reason the computer is being really stupid and not reading my SD card. I'll keep trying though.
Love you a million moments when the computer works the first time,
Elder Mackay
This one of us glowing is a cool trick we found in Golconda fort in one of the dungeons. The light coming down from the ceiling makes you look like an alien in the camera
Schools out for summer - June 24, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
First family business: Paige, I am so glad you are having a great time at BYU. Make the most of it because it does go by fast. And Matt, at the start of your letter I thought it was Dad writing and I scrolled down really fast to see it was you...so I guess you fill Dad's shoes pretty nicely. I almost got tears in my eyes when you told me about Reese being sick. I don't know what it will be like when it's one of my children having to go through that. And as for you Dad, losing weight, huh? Well if you can't do it this summer than definitely the next because you might be my only workout partner when I get home. Sorry I haven't sent pictures in a while. I am sending home a CD that should get there by next weekend. But tomorrow I will be going to the Mission Home for our interviews and they said they will have two computers there for us to email on if we haven't emailed yet so I'll send some pics that way.
Well we had an amazing Zone Conference. The theme was recognizing the Spirit. We talked about the difference between revelation and inspiration and how we can receive and recognize the spirit. President Nichols made an interesting point: The speed at which prayers are answered varies with the importance of the request. He said we have to be more patient, and the reason why we are not patient is because we are simply unexperienced and childish. He compared it to how a young child is always looking forward to their birthday. The child will always ask their parent "is it my birthday yet?" a the mom or dad will usually respond "no we just had your birthday you have to wait nine more months". The mom won't give in and celebrate her child's birthday again just because he's begging for it. Instead she makes the child wait until the proper timing. Basically we too often request certain things and think that they are important enough that we get the answer right away but God in His wisdom prolongs and waits for the proper time to answer our prayers. Simple fact but interesting.
This past week was pretty wonderful. We found two new families at odd times of the day, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. But for some reason the families were home and both are great. One, George Anthony and Agnus Rose are CSI (Church of South India) members and they soaked up the message pretty well...well George did, Agnus doesn't speak English. George is retired from the Air Force and is now a lecturer for Aeronautical Engineering at a local College. He speaks great English and on our last visit he said he was really interested in the Book of Mormon and wanted to read it for himself. This was before we told him of the promise in Moroni, and after we told that he said he would definitely pray about it.
The second family was a pretty miraculous find, not for the manner of finding them but for their present situation. It was a young couple Lukas and Nivedhana. We were walking down some dirt roads in a poorer area and we hear a woman's voice "hello who are you?" We look over and see Nivedhana. We tell her we are from the Church and she said "great, get in". We were taken aback by her accent, it was almost british, and you don't argue with someone with that good of English. So in we went a we met her Husband. Ironically both are Hindu by birth, despite Lukas' name but them and Lukas' family was looking to convert into Christianity. Lukas and Nivedhana are two month old newly weds, they just moved into Coimbatore after their marriage, Lukas speaks great English and Nivedhana's first language it English, followed by Hindi then Tamil. What a perfect family to bring the gospel to!
Elder Smith and I were amazed at the findings and we remembered the prayer we offered on Monday during our weekly planning session. We picked out three areas where we wanted to go finding and we submitted our decision in prayer to Heavenly Father and requested His help in finding the families we needed to find. Well, Byron I have to throw my hat off for you, you told me there was a big difference between doing something, and praying and doing something. I have a sure testimony of that.
The new area is pretty beautiful but I don't have very many pictures of it yet except for the church building. It's a massive building! It will be the future stake center when India gets stakes but it looks more like a mini temple. Unfortunately we get some pretty nasty rumors about what goes on inside the church. Many people in the area call it Satan's church and other say we worship the devil inside. It's ironic because the first thing you see when you go inside is a picture of Christ inviting the Rich Man to follow him. I guess it's reminder that you have to swallow your pride if you want to come into the church. The Branch President wants to really change the public appeal of the church. Right now he's working on getting his friend to publish a newspaper article about the church.
At church this Sunday we had Renald, Deepa and Daphne come. Renald is a medical transcript worker and Deepa is a brand new mother with their three month child Daphne. Daphne was a steal after Sacrament meeting as the whole relief society piled in rows around the baby. We also had Binny, a young man doing his studies, come along with his friend Godwin. Both of them are a little immature and the texting craze is just as strong in India as it is in America so they were just texting during church. I wanted to scold them but they were far away from me and I decided to do it later. We were also surprised by a visit from Nathan and Jyothi. They only stayed for forty minutes but they are an old Roman Catholic couple. I never thought in a thousand years they would ever set foot in the church but I guess I was wrong. They really enjoyed Sacrament and found they had plenty of old neighbors and distant relatives in the branch. So it seems we have them interested. Nathan even said he would come to church every other week, which was music to my ears.
Had a little bit of a scary experience the other day. Elder Smith was mergin lanes on his cycle and as he was going a lady tried to dash by him on his right side. He didn't see her, she didn't honk her horn, nor did she brake so they locked up and fell over. They skidded a few feet and kicked up the dust pretty good. To me it looked like a slow motion action shot from a movie. I quickly pulled off to the side and got to the crash site but already a mob of tamilians beat me to it. Suddenly the mob was surrounding us yelling every which way in Tamil. Finally an English speaker came to translate for us and explained that the lady wanted us to pay for the damages. Her bike was fine and all she had was a few scrapes but I was worried that we would get tied in some legal situation. I called Sister Nichols to see what I should do but as I was talking to her I guess the lady decided it wasn't worth her time because she drove off. So we got off pretty good. Elder Smith's pants were a little chewed up but other than that he and his cycle amazingly enough were completely fine.
There is only one more thing I need to talk about. I wasn't able to talk about him much because the day I wrote about him the computer crashed. I had an investigator in Rajahmundry who we were teaching for about five weeks. The week before I left Elder Loomis and I challenged to set a baptism date for June 28th and then to pray about it and ask God if he should be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on that day. He was hesistant to take a baptism date before but this time he agreed. I wasn't sure how committed he was but we left him for a week making small visits but nothing major. On my last Monday we went back to his house and asked him if he had received an answer. He cracked a small smile and said "yes brothers, I will be baptized!". Hallelujah! Both Elder Loomis and my mouths dropped and soon enough he brought out chicken curry and chapati for us to eat. It was one of the cooler experiences on my mission, but sadly I had to leave before his baptism. But I just got an email from Elder Loomis confirming that Efraim was baptized and is now a strong celestial member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Now they're just working on his wife Mary:)
I have to get going and Sri Lanka is in the Bangalore mission, it used to be Singapore but changed about a year ago. But no missionary is in Sri Lanka except for a set of couple missionaries (we're having visa problems but we're trying to get missionaries back in right now). The couple is doing an awesome job. They are baptizing more converts than two of the zones in the mission. That's pretty impressive. The Church is true, what more can I say.
Love you a million spiritually confirmed testimonies,
Elder Mackay
First family business: Paige, I am so glad you are having a great time at BYU. Make the most of it because it does go by fast. And Matt, at the start of your letter I thought it was Dad writing and I scrolled down really fast to see it was you...so I guess you fill Dad's shoes pretty nicely. I almost got tears in my eyes when you told me about Reese being sick. I don't know what it will be like when it's one of my children having to go through that. And as for you Dad, losing weight, huh? Well if you can't do it this summer than definitely the next because you might be my only workout partner when I get home. Sorry I haven't sent pictures in a while. I am sending home a CD that should get there by next weekend. But tomorrow I will be going to the Mission Home for our interviews and they said they will have two computers there for us to email on if we haven't emailed yet so I'll send some pics that way.
Well we had an amazing Zone Conference. The theme was recognizing the Spirit. We talked about the difference between revelation and inspiration and how we can receive and recognize the spirit. President Nichols made an interesting point: The speed at which prayers are answered varies with the importance of the request. He said we have to be more patient, and the reason why we are not patient is because we are simply unexperienced and childish. He compared it to how a young child is always looking forward to their birthday. The child will always ask their parent "is it my birthday yet?" a the mom or dad will usually respond "no we just had your birthday you have to wait nine more months". The mom won't give in and celebrate her child's birthday again just because he's begging for it. Instead she makes the child wait until the proper timing. Basically we too often request certain things and think that they are important enough that we get the answer right away but God in His wisdom prolongs and waits for the proper time to answer our prayers. Simple fact but interesting.
This past week was pretty wonderful. We found two new families at odd times of the day, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. But for some reason the families were home and both are great. One, George Anthony and Agnus Rose are CSI (Church of South India) members and they soaked up the message pretty well...well George did, Agnus doesn't speak English. George is retired from the Air Force and is now a lecturer for Aeronautical Engineering at a local College. He speaks great English and on our last visit he said he was really interested in the Book of Mormon and wanted to read it for himself. This was before we told him of the promise in Moroni, and after we told that he said he would definitely pray about it.
The second family was a pretty miraculous find, not for the manner of finding them but for their present situation. It was a young couple Lukas and Nivedhana. We were walking down some dirt roads in a poorer area and we hear a woman's voice "hello who are you?" We look over and see Nivedhana. We tell her we are from the Church and she said "great, get in". We were taken aback by her accent, it was almost british, and you don't argue with someone with that good of English. So in we went a we met her Husband. Ironically both are Hindu by birth, despite Lukas' name but them and Lukas' family was looking to convert into Christianity. Lukas and Nivedhana are two month old newly weds, they just moved into Coimbatore after their marriage, Lukas speaks great English and Nivedhana's first language it English, followed by Hindi then Tamil. What a perfect family to bring the gospel to!
Elder Smith and I were amazed at the findings and we remembered the prayer we offered on Monday during our weekly planning session. We picked out three areas where we wanted to go finding and we submitted our decision in prayer to Heavenly Father and requested His help in finding the families we needed to find. Well, Byron I have to throw my hat off for you, you told me there was a big difference between doing something, and praying and doing something. I have a sure testimony of that.
The new area is pretty beautiful but I don't have very many pictures of it yet except for the church building. It's a massive building! It will be the future stake center when India gets stakes but it looks more like a mini temple. Unfortunately we get some pretty nasty rumors about what goes on inside the church. Many people in the area call it Satan's church and other say we worship the devil inside. It's ironic because the first thing you see when you go inside is a picture of Christ inviting the Rich Man to follow him. I guess it's reminder that you have to swallow your pride if you want to come into the church. The Branch President wants to really change the public appeal of the church. Right now he's working on getting his friend to publish a newspaper article about the church.
At church this Sunday we had Renald, Deepa and Daphne come. Renald is a medical transcript worker and Deepa is a brand new mother with their three month child Daphne. Daphne was a steal after Sacrament meeting as the whole relief society piled in rows around the baby. We also had Binny, a young man doing his studies, come along with his friend Godwin. Both of them are a little immature and the texting craze is just as strong in India as it is in America so they were just texting during church. I wanted to scold them but they were far away from me and I decided to do it later. We were also surprised by a visit from Nathan and Jyothi. They only stayed for forty minutes but they are an old Roman Catholic couple. I never thought in a thousand years they would ever set foot in the church but I guess I was wrong. They really enjoyed Sacrament and found they had plenty of old neighbors and distant relatives in the branch. So it seems we have them interested. Nathan even said he would come to church every other week, which was music to my ears.
Had a little bit of a scary experience the other day. Elder Smith was mergin lanes on his cycle and as he was going a lady tried to dash by him on his right side. He didn't see her, she didn't honk her horn, nor did she brake so they locked up and fell over. They skidded a few feet and kicked up the dust pretty good. To me it looked like a slow motion action shot from a movie. I quickly pulled off to the side and got to the crash site but already a mob of tamilians beat me to it. Suddenly the mob was surrounding us yelling every which way in Tamil. Finally an English speaker came to translate for us and explained that the lady wanted us to pay for the damages. Her bike was fine and all she had was a few scrapes but I was worried that we would get tied in some legal situation. I called Sister Nichols to see what I should do but as I was talking to her I guess the lady decided it wasn't worth her time because she drove off. So we got off pretty good. Elder Smith's pants were a little chewed up but other than that he and his cycle amazingly enough were completely fine.
There is only one more thing I need to talk about. I wasn't able to talk about him much because the day I wrote about him the computer crashed. I had an investigator in Rajahmundry who we were teaching for about five weeks. The week before I left Elder Loomis and I challenged to set a baptism date for June 28th and then to pray about it and ask God if he should be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on that day. He was hesistant to take a baptism date before but this time he agreed. I wasn't sure how committed he was but we left him for a week making small visits but nothing major. On my last Monday we went back to his house and asked him if he had received an answer. He cracked a small smile and said "yes brothers, I will be baptized!". Hallelujah! Both Elder Loomis and my mouths dropped and soon enough he brought out chicken curry and chapati for us to eat. It was one of the cooler experiences on my mission, but sadly I had to leave before his baptism. But I just got an email from Elder Loomis confirming that Efraim was baptized and is now a strong celestial member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Now they're just working on his wife Mary:)
I have to get going and Sri Lanka is in the Bangalore mission, it used to be Singapore but changed about a year ago. But no missionary is in Sri Lanka except for a set of couple missionaries (we're having visa problems but we're trying to get missionaries back in right now). The couple is doing an awesome job. They are baptizing more converts than two of the zones in the mission. That's pretty impressive. The Church is true, what more can I say.
Love you a million spiritually confirmed testimonies,
Elder Mackay
I've come to the Garden of Eden - June 16, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
Well I made it to coimbatore and it is a wonderful place. The heat difference is about 10 degrees celsius from Rajahmundry so I've been enjoying even the hottest of afternoons. It is really beautiful here, probably even more than Rajahmundry but it is definitely more crowded. The streets can get pretty thin, buildings pack up the area, and there are no hills so you don't see the horizon very often. But when you do get to a farming area it is beautiful to see. And there are plenty of trees and shrubs to make the area very pretty. And they have pizza hut and dominoes here! Right now I'm trying to convince my companion to go but he says it's too expensive, I say eat, drink and be merry;)
Speaking of companions, my new companion is Elder Smith. He is from Idaho and he comes from a family of 14! He is the oldest boy with two older sisters but he is the first in his family to serve a mission. A very nice and humble guy, and he teaches really well too. He has told me he worries a lot, at from what I have seen so far that's true but I just laugh when he worries and sing Bob Marley to him. At the beginning it was a little rough because we had very few good investigators so we spent a lot of time finding and the appointments we did have seemed to cancel on us. One thing I don't like about Coimbatore is the schedule everyone has. Everyone who is free is uneducated and doesn't speak English and everyone who speaks English works at some corporate job and works from 7am to 9pm. I know that sounds ridiculous and I can't believe that someone works that much at one job every day with only one day off a week. But amazingly enough we found some people to teach and we started to progress with some of the investigators we had already.
Another and probably the bigger challenge is getting members to come with us to appointments. In Rajahmundry it was very easy to have members come with us and it was suprising if we had a lesson without a member. But here with everyone's busy work schedule it's harder to schedule lessons with members present. But we're making do and our goal is to get one member with us to an appointment every day. Yesterday we brought a recent convert young man to two appointments and he did great so hopefully this is just the start to some awesome member fellowship.
I know this area has a lot of potential. In the Coimbatore branch there has been 26 baptisms already, 11 of them on the same day. There are a lot of families to teach and people speak a lot better English here so language will not be a factor. The elders before were really hard workers too. The area is really big and it takes a lot of cycling to get to appointments (by the way I'm still cycling and the cycles are so much better here!) so you have to go really fast...in a safe manner of course. And the people seem to be a little more hesitant to meet with the elders than Rajahmundry but nevertheless I looked at the numbers and the elders are finding just as many, if not more new investigators every week.
Right now we have a great newly wed couple we're working with, Renald and Deepa. They have a newborn baby and the elders met them at the beginning of the year. We met with them on Monday and had a taught them about baptism. We asked them to set a goal date for baptism in July but Renald was hesitant and didn't accept. They both said that they wanted to be baptized but they wanted to be absolutely sure that they were doing the right thing. Also Renald wants to be completely ready and sure he won't go back to his former ways. For him the Word of Wisdom is his biggest stumbling block but from what I've heard he is doing a lot better now than he was doing before. He already quit tea and coffee and just the other day he went to a party and didn't drink. Now he's just working on his tobacco addiction and he'll be home free.
It's been quite the experience so far and the district here is great. We have the zone leaders as well as the sisters in our district and let me tell you it was weird following up with the sisters at night. They are the only sisters left in the mission because all the Indian Sisters now are being called state side, which is a really cool thing. One of the sisters, Sister Yadav, is sick right now though with a stomach infection so were hoping she gets better soon and doesn't need surgery. Luckily they are in a threesome so one of the sisters goes on splits all day with one of the members while the other two stay inside, so at least the work still moves forward.
The Zone Leaders are a funny pair. Paige you would love Elder Hullinger. He is an amazing piano player. Apparently you can see a video of him on Youtube playing the piano in the MTC so check it out. But he's also a very femmy kind of guy. He would fit in as a host for what not to wear. Than there is Elder Valluri who is from Rajahmundry so we talk about how good Andra food, how nice Raj is, and how Tamilnadu doesn't know anything about taste. Elder Hullinger said I'm Indian because Elder Valluri made us dal and rice and I ate a portion three times as much Elder Hullinger.
Anyways I better get going and read your letter. I'm glad that you are safe Mom and please take care of yourself.
Love you a million cool breezes,
Elder Curtis Mackay
Baker, Huh Dustin? Well I agree that the other destinations are cool but I think I have to shake my head at the last one. So i guess since Paige went on a date with Elliott he has been released and won't go back out or is there still a chance? Thank you so much for your letters, I love every little bit of it. Eat some Texas Doughnuts for me will ya? Love ya
Well I made it to coimbatore and it is a wonderful place. The heat difference is about 10 degrees celsius from Rajahmundry so I've been enjoying even the hottest of afternoons. It is really beautiful here, probably even more than Rajahmundry but it is definitely more crowded. The streets can get pretty thin, buildings pack up the area, and there are no hills so you don't see the horizon very often. But when you do get to a farming area it is beautiful to see. And there are plenty of trees and shrubs to make the area very pretty. And they have pizza hut and dominoes here! Right now I'm trying to convince my companion to go but he says it's too expensive, I say eat, drink and be merry;)
Speaking of companions, my new companion is Elder Smith. He is from Idaho and he comes from a family of 14! He is the oldest boy with two older sisters but he is the first in his family to serve a mission. A very nice and humble guy, and he teaches really well too. He has told me he worries a lot, at from what I have seen so far that's true but I just laugh when he worries and sing Bob Marley to him. At the beginning it was a little rough because we had very few good investigators so we spent a lot of time finding and the appointments we did have seemed to cancel on us. One thing I don't like about Coimbatore is the schedule everyone has. Everyone who is free is uneducated and doesn't speak English and everyone who speaks English works at some corporate job and works from 7am to 9pm. I know that sounds ridiculous and I can't believe that someone works that much at one job every day with only one day off a week. But amazingly enough we found some people to teach and we started to progress with some of the investigators we had already.
Another and probably the bigger challenge is getting members to come with us to appointments. In Rajahmundry it was very easy to have members come with us and it was suprising if we had a lesson without a member. But here with everyone's busy work schedule it's harder to schedule lessons with members present. But we're making do and our goal is to get one member with us to an appointment every day. Yesterday we brought a recent convert young man to two appointments and he did great so hopefully this is just the start to some awesome member fellowship.
I know this area has a lot of potential. In the Coimbatore branch there has been 26 baptisms already, 11 of them on the same day. There are a lot of families to teach and people speak a lot better English here so language will not be a factor. The elders before were really hard workers too. The area is really big and it takes a lot of cycling to get to appointments (by the way I'm still cycling and the cycles are so much better here!) so you have to go really fast...in a safe manner of course. And the people seem to be a little more hesitant to meet with the elders than Rajahmundry but nevertheless I looked at the numbers and the elders are finding just as many, if not more new investigators every week.
Right now we have a great newly wed couple we're working with, Renald and Deepa. They have a newborn baby and the elders met them at the beginning of the year. We met with them on Monday and had a taught them about baptism. We asked them to set a goal date for baptism in July but Renald was hesitant and didn't accept. They both said that they wanted to be baptized but they wanted to be absolutely sure that they were doing the right thing. Also Renald wants to be completely ready and sure he won't go back to his former ways. For him the Word of Wisdom is his biggest stumbling block but from what I've heard he is doing a lot better now than he was doing before. He already quit tea and coffee and just the other day he went to a party and didn't drink. Now he's just working on his tobacco addiction and he'll be home free.
It's been quite the experience so far and the district here is great. We have the zone leaders as well as the sisters in our district and let me tell you it was weird following up with the sisters at night. They are the only sisters left in the mission because all the Indian Sisters now are being called state side, which is a really cool thing. One of the sisters, Sister Yadav, is sick right now though with a stomach infection so were hoping she gets better soon and doesn't need surgery. Luckily they are in a threesome so one of the sisters goes on splits all day with one of the members while the other two stay inside, so at least the work still moves forward.
The Zone Leaders are a funny pair. Paige you would love Elder Hullinger. He is an amazing piano player. Apparently you can see a video of him on Youtube playing the piano in the MTC so check it out. But he's also a very femmy kind of guy. He would fit in as a host for what not to wear. Than there is Elder Valluri who is from Rajahmundry so we talk about how good Andra food, how nice Raj is, and how Tamilnadu doesn't know anything about taste. Elder Hullinger said I'm Indian because Elder Valluri made us dal and rice and I ate a portion three times as much Elder Hullinger.
Anyways I better get going and read your letter. I'm glad that you are safe Mom and please take care of yourself.
Love you a million cool breezes,
Elder Curtis Mackay
Baker, Huh Dustin? Well I agree that the other destinations are cool but I think I have to shake my head at the last one. So i guess since Paige went on a date with Elliott he has been released and won't go back out or is there still a chance? Thank you so much for your letters, I love every little bit of it. Eat some Texas Doughnuts for me will ya? Love ya
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)