It is good! - May 19, 2009

Dear family and friends,

Okay here it goes:

Anand and his family (hindu background, family of four, never came to church...until now) came to church last week! And they came an hour early, early enough to catch the first branch's baptismal service. They stayed and listened intently to all the classes, we had members accompany and sit with them everywhere they went and it was just super awesome. Anand told us to meet with him on Monday night and he would tell us about his family's baptism. We had high hopes but it sounded kind of strange that he wouldn't tell us at that time. But we went and brought the first counselor of the branch presidency with us. We shared our testimonies and then he told that his whole family loved the church, they are inviting their neighbors to join them and that they will be baptized May 31st. Wow! I was so happy and both Elder Loomis and I ate ice cream that night.

But it doesn't end there. I went on exchange with Elder Singh last week and we had an amazing day. Every lesson was so spiritual and effective. We met with Kranthi Kumar, one of our former investigators who we picked back up and he is just so humble now. He told us he wants to quit smoking so bad and he wants to follow Christ. He said that whatever we told him to do he would follow because when we were with him before he felt so much peace but when we were not there or when he didn't read the scriptures his life seemed much to hectic. Now he is starting his journey to quit smoking--this is the same guy with the smoking problem and child problem before. By the way for some reason Sri Mayi, formerly devil child, went to be nice and playful. She says hi to us, she'll leave the room if she makes noise and she just seems a lot more mature. Anyways miracles are just filling this home. Kranthi called us Sunday morning and told us that he didn't want to gradually quit smoking, he was so fed up with it that he just wanted to quit cold turkey. We were so shocked but we went over before church and gave him a blessing to help him and so far so good. He has gone 3 full days without a cigarette, the longest he has ever gone before!

But the miracles have stopped yet. Elder Singh and I also visited another former investigator, Rinju. He is from a Roman Catholic family, and although he felt a witness from the Book of Mormon he wasn't so sure if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true and if he needs to be rebaptized into the Church. But we had a good sitdown and Elder Singh listed out the doctrine to both him and his father Paulson. Paulson is an old man and he says the reason why he is stubborn is because his mind works slower (it's kind of funny to meet someone who admits their stubborness). We met them again this week and continued to open up the scriptures to them and bear our testimony, but it's now up to them. We have to be very patient, even though they have excellent English they don't seem to get what we're trying to say. Just goes to show that language does not convert but the Spirit. I feel as if they are rock hanging on the edge of a cliff. All they need is that small budge and they will begin to roll.

And Manikiyum and Sagar are still progressing and we have set a goal to get them baptized before I leave. We will do whatever it takes to get them to church on time. Manikiyum knows everything. Just the other she joked that she would come to America with us, then she paused and said 'no wait, I have to go on my mission first, then I'll come to America.' The desire is there now we just have to get past the distance for church. This week Manikiyum is planning to fast her lunch to come to church because she has to go to church in the morning with her mother and if she eats lunch it will cause her to be late to church. So we'll see if her words match her intent this week. Cross your fingers and pray hard I guess.

Anyways this week has been great. We are still finding people to. We got plenty of potentials and referrals to work with and still a plethora of people we still have to meet personally. I'm learning so much about studying and planning for lessons. I feel the spirit so much stronger in lessons. It's a pretty amazing time right now.

I love you all so much. I'm a little bit jealous of all the fun you're having but it's not so bad here. And Matt I'm jealous that you get to go back and do the Father and son campouts. I hope it was a blast. Well I'm going to go and read your letters.

Love you a million gratefully answered prayers,

Elder Mackay