Healthy - March 24, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

I am healthy and well and so is my companion. He somehow contracted some illness that made him naseaus, diaretic (spelling?) and in pain. Sunday night some members wanted to feed us and I was about to say no but Elder Chagoya cried out "Yes!". He hadn't eaten very much since the Tuesday before, probably only a few bites of oatmeal and one slice of toast, so he was literally starving. Luckily his body accepted the food and he was 100% soon after that.

Well we are running into our next set of obstacles--the parents. We have many investigators around the ages 18-21 who are really good and really want to be baptized. Unfortunately their parents are not as optomistic. The problem we're facing is actually a pair. 1. The father is working and so we can't ever see him and 2. both parents don't speak English. So as much as we want to resolve the parents concerns and even teach them, they can't understand us. The solution is usually a visit from some one in the branch presidency but they too are also busy so scheduling seems to be our biggest obstacle.

But meanwhile as we wait for these events to happen we are making great progress with the investigators. I was on exchange but my companion told me that he visited Manikiyam, Manindra, Sagar and Vijay. Manikiyam, Manindra and Sagar are brothers and sisters and they're a little hesitant to talk with their parents about joining the church. We asked Vijay, the neighbor, about if his parents had any objections and if we needed to speak with them and he said "Not me brother. I'm ready to make a promise to God!". I wish I was there but seeing my companion describe it was pretty entertaining.

Also the anglo-indian we've been teaching, Angelica, is set with a date. Again I was on exchange but Elder Chagoya described it to me. The appointment was supposed to be of the 'do-or-die' fashion and I guess it was so inspiring that Angelica committed to baptism. It will be really interesting to see what happens with that. I can only imagine what exchanges with her would be like.

So I did go on exchange with an elder from Mt. Pleasant, Utah. His name is Elder Frederick and we had a blast. We were talking to a girl who had just gotten back from school and she told us there was a house down the street that might be interested. The house was huge and green (Mom your favorite!). Their was a large entrance patio going up to the door so this guy was pretty posh. There were also a ton of Jesus stickers, which means two things: A pastor or a converted Christian. Converted Christians from Hindu background love to put stickers everywhere that express their religion. We knocked on the door a met Sudakhar and he was a friendly guy and as I guessed, a converted christian. He seemed pretty good and we got a return appointment and then he asked "how did you see Jesus?". I wasn't quite sure how to answer so I just said I know that Jesus is the Christ through the Holy Ghost. Elder Frederick and I laughed but I've actually heard stranger things.

I'm not sure if I told this story before so forgive me if this is a repeat but one elder told me that he was teaching a guy that said that he saw God also and told him how he could see God also. He said that you have to fast everyday for 40 days and then at night spread a white sheet on the floor. On the first night you pray for 1 minute, then the next night you pray for 2 minutes. Then the next night 5 minutes, then 10 minutes and so on until you get up to 4 hours or something like that. Then after you pray on the 40th day you will see God. You find some pretty crazy things on a mission.

Sorry there isn't much to update on. Since Elder Chagoya was sick we were inside for a few days so not too much happened. Anyways I'm going to go read your letters.

Love you a million healthy companions,

Elder Mackay