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