Minha bicicleta me odeia (11-25-13)

Oi yall,

So this week was a good one.  We taught 17 lessons as our quad, which we are kinda all companions because we work the same area, and that is the most I have EVER taught in a week.  So that was otimo.  We also had a mini MTC for the youth which was super stressful because everything went wrong.  But some of the youth were touched so it achieved its purpose.

We taught Wilmur again this week.  Twice actually, AND HE IS PROGRESSING!!!!!  He read the Restoration and the Plan of Salvation pamphlets and he started reading the Book of Mormon.  SO EXCITED!!!  I don't really know what is being said during the lessons but Elder Drollinger tells me he has good comments and questions and he can understand me at the end when I testify in Portuguese.  I can feel the spirit hardcore when we teach him.  So that is sweet.  Other than that we saw another investigator named Porfirio, and one of his roomies moms is up from Honduras for like 4 months.  And she sits in and is super interested.  Which is awesome because she tells us when to come next when before he was like, "eh whenever" so that is muito otimo.

Now for my bike hating me.  Well I replaced the brakes because they were like gone.  No rubber at all.  So I did that, but the thing that made me know that it hates me is that on the way home from church yesterday I went to change gears after like 1 pedal the then the chain snaps.  So I then thought we were going to walk the 2ish miles home in the cold humid wind.  But then Elder Drollinger says WE AIN'T WALKIN'!  So he made a tow cable out of 2 bike locks and tows me home.  It was sick.  I didn't think it was going to work, but it did.  It worked super well actually.  I have some sweet videos that yall will have to wait to see when I get home.  But I have pictures that yall will get in this email.

So that was my adventure of the week.  Gotta love mission life!  No news on the visa as of yet.  Which is the story of my mission haha.  But I am happy to serve here in the bayou :)

Happy Thanksgiving yall!  Please pray that I won't die when I finish the 4 or 5 meal appointments we have on Thanksgiving.  I'm going to need it.  And they are Hispanic, so I don't know how much food they are going to shove down my throat haha, but it will be good food.  :)

That is all for this week!  Stay classy e otimo yall!

Elder Mackay

Jason and his broken chain

 The Missionaries' ingenuity

 The tow of the missionary bike and the Missionary...Elder Mackay!

Miracle of the Week (11-18-13)

Boa tarde,

So this week has been pretty sweet.  We met this less active who hadn't been visited in a while because he had bipolar and I guess the last time the missionaries were there it didn't go very well.  But we haven't seen anything out of the ordinary so we are trying to work with him.  We also taught this Salvadorian named Juan and he was maybe crying (IDK) after we taught the restoration lesson.  That was cool, he is a sweet but shy dude and we think that he has a ton of potential to accept a date.  But we haven't seen him for a few days.  BUT WE STILL TRY!!!!!  NEVER GIVE UP!!!!!  NEVER SURRENDER!!!!!  Other than that we don't have many other stories about lessons.

MIRACLE OF THE WEEK!!!  I had interviews with President Wall last week and in it he said to fast with my companion Elder Drollinger and the other two elders in our apartment for my visa and to have Elder Drollinger give me a blessing and say whatever he wanted.  So we did that and while we were fasting the office elders called and said that they were coming to get me to do fingerprints for my visa reapplication.  That wasn't very unusual because like the week before they sent me a thing that I had to sign and sent back to Salt Lake City for my visa.  But they said that the fingerprint part was sent super fast after the first part which usually meant that the person's visa is really close SO I MAY BE IN BRASIL FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!  FINGERS CROSSED!!!!!  So that was the cool miracle for the week.  And also, Brasil played Honduras in soccer on Saturday in Florida.  And Crasil won 5-0.  I only care because it is Brasil, and the ward is mostly Hondurans.  hehehe  IF ONLY I COULD BRAG IN SPANISH!!!!!  Oh well.

I am really liking Metairie.  It is really busy and you don't know if that car sees you or not.  But it is the grand ol' life.  And also my companion Elder Drollinger has taught me some really fun card games that aren't with face cards and those are Killer Bunnies and Magic.  But don't worry, we are faithful missionaries and only play them on Pday (they are approved for their mission).

So that is all from the wet and swampy state of Louisiana!  I love yall tons and may you all have a grand and classy day!  Stay Classy.

Com muito amor,

Elder Mackay

 Elders: Crane, Walker, Drollinger, Mackay

They are living the thug life...they put tinfoil on the teeth for grills

A Wyoming sticker on a car in Louisiana

How Yall Makin' Out? (11-13-13)

How yall makin' out?

I decided to speak southern for the heading.  hehe

Well this week was action packed and crazy.  I still don't speak Spanish so that makes the struggle real. But I get by.  So I don't know how many people know this of those that read these letters, but I do an AMAZING Smeagul voice and I enjoy showing it off.  Well one night I realized that these other Elders that I live with had not heard it yet.  So it was night time and we had just said our prayers and turned off the lights, and I sleep on the top bunk of one of the bunk beds.  So I face the wall and I start acting out the scene from the two towers where Smeagul had just been beaten up by Farimir and his boys and he starts arguing with himself whether "master" betrayed him or not.  So I go about this and they all freak out.  It was hilarious.  One of the Elders said that he felt like he was in violation of the white handbook because he felt like he just watched a movie.  Then I started saying some lines from the Riddles in the dark scene from the hobbit and then went to bed.  It was hilarious. (He really is good at sounding just like Smeagul from the Lord of the Rings movies!).

So now for spiritual stuff.  We had interviews with President Wall yesterday.  And they were awesome.  He told me how I can be involved in the lessons enough where I don't feel bad that Elder Drollinger is doing all the talking.  So that was awesome.  And he told me of a way to know what the Lord's plans are for me.  And that is to have an apartment fast.  We are doing that on Friday.  I love talking with President Wall, he is awesome.  We talked about some other stuff too, but those were the highlights.  But we both think that my time in Louisiana is drawling to a close.

And another cool thing.  The Elders in an adjacent area found a Brazilian so we went to his house.  But no one was home.  So we left a mormon.com card and we are going to go back another time.  SO I MAY TEACH A PORTUGUESE SPEAKER!!!!!  AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!  Well that is about it.  Enjoy the pictures of me and my companion and of the gorgeous 2013 or 2014 Stingray Corvette we saw.  It was glorious.

Com muito amor,

Elder Mackay

Street Ball (10-21-13)

(Sorry this is out of order!  Enjoy anyway!)

Bom Dia Tudo Mundo,

This week was good, it wasn't much different than any other week but it was still really good.  We went on exchanges this week and I went with my district leader, Elder Hansen.  We went to my area so I had to take over.  It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  The hardest part was finding who to visit because we couldn't visit any of the Hispanics we visit because I don't speak Spanish and neither does Elder Hansen.  But it was still super awesome.  We were biking trying to find something to do and we biked past this house with some 15 year old black kids playing basketball in their driveway and we totally played them.  And we were in our shirts and ties.  it was legit, the backboard was broken and had tons of holes in it so it was total street ball.  And we only lost by 1.  If we had better shoes we would have had that game.  After the game we invited them to our Tuesday night basketball.  They were super interested so hopefully they come.

Other than that our investigator Leo came to church.  That was super awesome!  He only stayed for sacrament, but it was better than nothing.  Church was interesting anyways, but it was super good that he came.

We also went to the temple and did baptisms.  Actually we watched.  Elder Hansen's recent convert Sister Van Matre went for the first time and her husband was baptized and confirmed.  That was one of the most spiritual experiences that I have had at the temple.  It was sweet.  And the Baton Rouge temple is TINY!!!  But really pretty.

So that is about all for this week.  Eu amo voces and stay classy!

Com Muito Amor,

Elder Mackay

Crazy Two Weeks (11-4-13)

Bom Dia!

Well this has been a crazy 2 weeks.  We had a Halloween Party where I never want to have pie again because of the pie eating contest I joined.  NOT FUN!!!  And best of all there was this guy who came and he didn't even know there was a party but he came because he had recently seen the Book of Mormon Broadway play that came here where it just makes fun our our church and he wanted to know what was crap and what was legit from the play.  So we talked to him and gave him a Restoration pamphlet and a Book of Mormon and then on Monday before our dinner appointment he calls us to tell us he read the pamphlet AND THE TESTIMONIES AND HE WAS IN 1 NEPHI 3!!!!!  It was crazy and I was super excited to teach him, but then I got transferred.

I am now in Metairie (met-uh-ree) North, which is about 20 minutes from New Orleans.  I am still in the same zone kinda.  I am in the New Orleans Spanish zone rather than the English one.  And I live with 3 Elders now.  My new companion is Elder Drollinger and he got here at the same time as me.  He is from Colorado Springs and he knows exactly where my family used to live when they were there.  But I am kinda comps with the other two elders I live with because we are working the same area and that is quite interesting.  It took us a long time to figure out what we were going to do and I have only had like 2 days with E. Drollinger because we went on lots of exchanges so that we could learn the area a little bit.  So that was fun.  Everything is in Spanish here, the ward, everyone we teach, EVERYTHING!!!  And I just speak Portuguese.  So I try my best to understand these people.  Church was very interesting.  I had to bear my testimony during church and the member who conducted said this when he was saying that I was going to bear my testimony, "And we will have Elder Mackay or MaCay or whatever he calls himself go next."  I didn't learn of this until after the fact haha.  So this will be a fun transfer.  I really like my comp and the other two elders.

My birthday was super sweet on the 1st of November.  We had District meeting and like everyone knew about it.  And I only told the people in our apartment.  The Sisters made me cake.  So that was really sweet.  First Bday in the field!!!

Oh and right before I was transferred we went to the aquarium!  IT WAS MUITO OTIMO!!!

Well that is all for this week!

Eu amo voces!!!

Elder Mackay

P.S.  Elder Mackay's new address is:  3400 Kent
                                                           R105
                                                           Metairie, LA 70006

 LaPlace missionaries at the Baton Rouge Temple

 Missionaries showing their "cool" side

 Pie eating contest

 And more pie!

 I think the point of this picture is the camaro!

 Eels at the aquarium

Missionaries on their way somewhere...

Say what?...

21 Hours (10-14-13)

Oi Tudo Mundo,

Well this week was very spiritually filling.  We had zone conference and zone training this last week.  We were supposed to have zone training the week before but tropical storm Karen postponed that...even though nothing came of that storm in these parts.  And all the zone stuff is in Metarie which is a suburb of New Orleans.  So it is far away, not super far but far enough.  So, we didn't teach many lessons.  But they were awesome.  In zone conference President Wall and his wife talked to us about hope.  It was really awesome.  He talked about how with his fear of elevators that a crowbar was his hope to escape an elevator if needed.  It was hilarious and then he compared the crowbar to the gospel and that we go and give people hope.  Which is so true.  We go and teach people how they can be happy for eternity.  Which is a long time.  We also had an area 70 talk to us, Elder Bluth.  he was cool.  Our zone leaders also talked to us, and they talked to us at zone training.  Both of the instructors were really good.

Since we didn't teach much we did a ton of service.  21 hours between me and Elder Arajuo to be exact.  We helped a referral to the other Elders paint.  She has an injured shoulder and had her house power washed and it took all the paint off.  So we are painting it for her.  She is super awesome and we are hoping she becomes an investigator.  I mean she already does missionary work.  She is a social worker and when people are having struggles she sends them to missionaries.  So we want to teach her, haha.  We also helped a recent convert paint and hang screen.  I got to use a staple gun.  That was fun and very easy.

So the only funny story that happened was tonight actually.  We were walking back home from contacting and as we were walking past a house a door opens and this guy in a towel or shorts in in the doorway and when he sees us he says "whoa" and shuts the door.  I don't know if we actually startled him or if he was afraid we would baptize him.  That doesn't matter, it was hilarious.

Also just as a side note, people here go ALL OUT for Halloween.  It is like Christmas!  And I am getting some sweet ideas for when I get my own place after my mission.

Well that's all for this week.  If you are sad that your college football team lost just remember, Wyoming won this weekend.  THAT'S RIGHT!  And stay classy.

Con muito amor,

Elder Mackay

I Loved Conference!! (10-7-13)

Oi Tudo Mundo,

So I'm just going to start by saying I felt like I was in the west again.  It was 75, no humidity, and there was a light breeze with super blue skies without a cloud to be seen.  It was gorgeous.

So, I'm going back to writing letters for the next few weeks.  The library here in LaPlace is closed for renovations til the 21st.  So now we have to use member's computers and we are only going to read the emails to save time.  But that will start next week.  Maybe.  Plans could change...hahaha.

Well first off, I loved conference!  I have never gotten more out of a conference before.  But that may be that I am a missionary.  I loved all the talks, but I really liked Elder Bednar's talk on tithing.  I had never thought about those small and subtle blessings we get through tithing and it was very enlightening.  I also liked Elder Holland's talk because I am finding that I know more and more people who are affected by depression.  And that stinks, but that talk was very comforting.  But probably the best thing of all of conference...Leo came!!!  We invited our Filipino investigator Leo to the Priesthood session and he came!  I was so excited, and I was even more excited when Elder Perry started talking about the thirteen Articles of Faith and that was what his whole talk about.  That was awesome.  I hope that Leo paid attention and now has a greater desire to progress instead of not dooing anything.  So that was the spiritual part of the week.

And just so everyone knows...tropical storm Karen was weak and scared of me and my glory (Jason is so modest!! haha).  So we were never affected by it.  Didn't even get rain.  So that is all I have to say about that..

Now for the more worldly/not spiritual side of this week.  This last Thursday was a festival called Battle for the Paddle.  What it is is a bunch of teams, mostly companies and organizations, make gumbo and/or jambalaya and the people vote for the favorite and the winners get a trophy.  Well we went.  And I had had gumbo before and it was good (gumbo is a soup), but jambalaya is OVER 9000 times better!  It is rice with meat and sausage with whatever seasonings they feel like.  It was glorious.  And it felt like they were all missionaries for different churches, except they were saying, Here, have my jambalaya, it is the best one.  And amidst this war of words and tumult of oppositions I decided to act on the words of Elder White, and go to the fire fighter with a sweet apron.  And his was the best.  Did you like my Joseph Smith rephrase?  It was pretty good right?  Haha

Well that is all for this week.  This next week should be awesome.  Zone Conference and Zone training should be great!  And here is some Portuguese I learned from the dictionary.  Vamos dar uma espiada which is lets have a look see.  I don't know how legit that is though...hahaha.

Eu amo voces and stay classy.

Elder Mackay

Jason & other missionaries

 Jason and Elder White

Fire fighter & the awesome apron

 

Kissing Gators! (9-30-13)

Oi, tudo mundo,

This week was a very slow week for us and the other Elders in this area.  Just bad luck all around.  But this week will be better.  We only taught 1 lesson to an investigator and we tried to hammer in the importance of the priesthood.  it went well and I think that he understands now.  He may come to the Priesthood session (of LDS General Conference) on Saturday.  So that is legit.  We also had interviews with President Wall on Tuesday.  That was awesome.  He compared waiting for a visa to Russian Roulette.  We talked a lot about patience and how it is not a passive action.  That was really cool and I learned a lot.  That was about all that happened spiritual wise.  I feel bad that these emails are mostly about the fun things and not about investigators and such.  But hopefully that will change soon.

Well this week was gator fest.  We went and I ate fried gator...and it was.......AMAZING!!!!  Check that off the bucket list!  It was way good!  They had a booth where you could hold a baby gator and I had no money, missionary probs, but this old guy heard me say that if I had the money I would do it.  So he gave me the 5 bucks to do it!!!!  I got a picture with him to show my gratitude.  I would have given him a pass along card, but there was a cop eyeballin' us because there was no soliciting at this festival.  But I got to hold a baby gator and I kissed it.  BOOM!!!!!!!  It was sweet.

Other than that nothing much has really happened.  Although we did help some people move which was nice.  We carried a bookshelf like two blocks because we didn't want to make two trips HaHaHa.  Gotta love when you move down the street.

Well that is all for this week.  Sorry it's kind of short, but oh well.  I love you all, and as always stay classy.

Elder Mackay

 Jason and a baby gator

 Jason and a bigger baby gator

 Jason kissing a baby gator

 Jason and the gentleman that gave him the money to hold the gators

 Deep fried gator

Joao the gecko

Answers to some questions (9-23-13)

Bom dia todo mundo!

Well this week has been another slow one, but it was good.  First I am going to answer some questions that minha mae (my mother) asked me.

What is a typical day like?  We do studies from 8 to 11am because I have language study.  Then we go and try to see investigators or less actives, or do service.  At 6ish we usually have dinner appointments with members and after we try to go and visit other people.

How many miles do we cover in a typical day?  I have no idea but it may be anywhere from 5 to 15 but I honestly have no idea.

What do I do on p-day?  Well we do email and buy food and such, we usually play sports and just hang out.  We don't have miles to go to fun places every week so we just usually stick around here.  But sometimes members have us do stuff with them.  It just depends on the day.

My favorite thing about the mission.  Well I don't know.  We hardly teach and it is half in Spanish so that isn't my favorite part, but I would have to say service.  Everyone that we serve is super grateful and has a real need.  It makes me feel good.  We did some service for a guy with a super rare cancer in his leg where he had to have his entire left upper leg (his glute) and other muscles removed.  We just mulched his garden and he was super appreciative and that was awesome.

The most powerful lesson I have learned.  Well that would definitely have to be patience.  With everything that has been going on...my lack of a visa, no one remembering our appointments and no one keeping their commitments I have realized that I may not have been as patient as I thought I was.  So having patience is very important and something that we always have to work on.

So that is about all of the questions.  So about this week.  We had transfers this week and only one person in our district of eight was transferred and that was Elder Larsen which was sad.  Now we have a greeny straight from the MTC and before that South Jordan, UT.  So I am now no longer the greenest banana in the grocery store!  But he is super awesome and super enthusiastic.  He will do great things.  This week we also did that service for the guy with cancer.  His wife works with our ward mission leader and is not LDS.  He really isn't that old.  He is like 41 but because of the loss of his upper leg he can't bend down very much.  But he is super awesome and loves the fact that we give up to two years to serve.  He almost passed out when I said I was going to Brasil and that a guy in the ward here is going to Ghana in December.  That was cool.

Then we had a baptism in our district.  Down river on the other bank is Luling and they had a baptism.  She is super good friends with a member who was baptized in our ward just before I got to the MTC (end of June).  It was awesome.  I loved seeing how excited they both were that this was happening and her testimony was super awesome and the Spirit was definitely there.  We did teach two lessons about the Book of Mormon to investigators and we read with them both times to stress its importance and that we need to read the Book of Mormon.  So hopefully it sunk in.

As for funny/other stuff.  Everytime I bear my testimony in Portuguese in a Spanish lesson they understand, and they think I'm Brazilian, which is awesome.  That makes me feel good.  I had gumbo for the first time yesterday and it was made by a real cajun.  IT WAS AWESOME!!!!  As part of living here I have learned that I like crab and crawfish, at least in stuff.  I don't know if I like it by itself because I haven't had it.  But it was awesome.  And this weekend is going to be awesome too.  IT IS GATOR FEST!!!!!!!!!!  I FINALLY GET TO EAT ME SOME GATOR!!!!!  That is one item soon to be off the bucket list.  I am so excited!

Well that is all for this week.  Enjoy the pictures and I will talk to you next week!

Com muito amor,

Elder Mackay

 The LaPlace Elders

 Goodbye picture for Elder Larsen (the one with the notebook in his belt)

 It was too good to be true...Blockbuster is closing!

  This is George the gecko that has been on our door almost every night for the last 3 weeks

Lots of Service (9-17-13)

Oi, tudo mundo!

Well this will be a short one, like no time to write.  And nothing really happened this week.  Lots of service though.  We got a new Ward Mission Leader and he is hooking us up!  It is awesome.  So I didn't get transferred so feel free to send more letters my way at the same address.  You have NO IDEA how awesome letters are.  It is like Christmas Day.  So send them, But this week should be better.  I will try to make it the best week ever!  And every other week!  Sorry for the shortness but I have pictures this week!

Oh and two of the sisters in my MTC district got their visas.  SO ALL OF YOU PRAY FOR MINE!!!  haha.  I WANTS IT!!!

Well Stay classy and I'll talk to you all next week!!!

Com Muito Amor,

Elder Mackay

I got a Duck Dynasty shirt!!!

Heat Index was 110! (9-9-13)

Oi Tudo Mundo!

Well this week was definitely super slow.  All of our appointments decided to cancel so all of our plans were just shot in the face over and over and over.  Luckily, the only plans that didn't cancel were our dinner plans.  So that was a good thing.

Well since nothing really happened this week I shall tell you about our zone training meeting.  It was about Preach My Gospel and how vital it is with missionary work and how we always need to study it.  One quote that we went over from PMG (Preach My Gospel) was "the scriptures and Preach My Gospel are sufficient for missionary work."  I forget who says it, probably Boyd K. Packer, but it is awesome.  After that we went to eat lunch at this place called Canes.  It is a fast food chicken finger place.  IT IS AMAZING!!!!!  Eu amo ele muito!!!  It is so good.  Too bad the west doesn't have any.

We went to help the Spanish speaking sister in our district find Hispanics to teach.  We went to this apartment building and it was basically Blacks and Dominicans.  That place was hoppin'.  So many people out and about and about 3/4 Spanish speakers.  We found some pretty solid people for them to teach.  One of them was a Mexican who was covered with crazy tattoos.  He had a Mexican soldier from the 1800's with a sombrero.  It may have been an Apache but I don't know.

Other than that nothing much happened this week.  So now funny stuff.  On Wednesday or so it was like 90 degrees but the heat index was 110.  When I go home just before our dinner appointment I changed my white shirt.  When I took off my tie and looked at myself in the mirror I looked like I was straight from Biggest Loser!  My sweat marks were crazy!  It was gross.  So I changed and ate like 5 otter pops.  This morning before we left the other companionship's apartment there was a gecko running around on the floor.  I caught him and tried to hold him on my hand.  He wasn't very big and i thought he would stay still so I could admire his awesomeness.  Well he had different plans.  He would run and jump off my hand so then I would catch him again and then he would jump off again.  It was ridiculous.  So I just caught him and let him go.  Geckos are sweet.

Well that is all for this week.  As always stay classy.

Com muito amor,

Elder Mackay

Did My Sister Send You? (9-2-13)

Bon Tarde Todo Mundo!

Well this past week felt better than last week, even though we taught about the same amount of lessons.  We got to see the people but they were busy so we made return appointments.  This week is super busy.  It will be awesome, I am super excited for it.

This week we did a lot of service.  It started out at a specialized zone training.  We went to Metairie just west of New Orleans, and we did a service project for one of the members.  We were building a shed for him.  We had to level the pads it was going to stand on.  The pad that I helped do was the most perfect of them all.  I'm not bragging or anything!!  Oh wait...yes I am!!  It was awesome.  The President sent our district home.  There were too many people and not enough work.  And this was going to be a two-day, all day thing.  That was super disappointing.  But that night we were driving back from a dinner appointment and saw an older lady doing yard work.  We stopped and helped her for about an hour.  The funny thing is that she is the sister of one of the sisters in the ward.  We knew this when she asked, "Did my sister send you?"  We were like "Who is your sister?"  She said, "The crazy lady on Country Club."  We were all like, "Sister Smith!"  Haha.  It was pretty awesome.  Sister Smith came over and took us to Sonic for ice cream.  A couple of days later we served a recent convert.  Her porch floods whenever it rains so there is a ton of mud in it.  We washed that all out and cleaned all her porch furniture.  We got to use ammonia.  DANG that stuff is strong!  And it would hit you like a wave!  It was crazy.  She fed us lunch...pulled pork!!!!!  It was glorious and then we washed her car.  So we were quite productive service-wise.

Nothing really happened this week.  We didn't teach much so nothing happened there.  But we got a new ward mission leader so that will be sweet.  He sounds like he will be good.

Today was fun so far.  I'm writing this letter late because it is Labor Day and the mail doesn't pick up today.  We went to the Rich's house.  They are a young couple with a two year old and they invited us over for a BBQ.  We played some intense games of croquet.  That game is so legit!!  I thought it was super dumb, but I had never player it until now.  And it was awesome!  Now we are going to go to another BBQ with another couple in the ward.  COMER TODAS AS XEESEBURGERS!

That's all for this week!

Te amo!

Elder Mackay

 There is a gecko on the Elder's shirt.  Jason said they are everywhere!

 Jason working on the shed

Jason was surprised to see many people using their front yards as a driveway!

Ghost Pepper Extract (8-25-13)

Oi Todo Mundo!

First off, tell Conner happy birthday for me.  You have probably gotten the card already but tell him happy birthday for me.

Ok.  So you all are probably DYING to know what I did in New Orleans last p-day.  Well I shall tell you.  so we went to the French Market.  It is in or by the French Quarter of New Orleans and it is just a huge flea market with tons of cool stuff.  And all I got was a t-shirt.  I had to get something because I may never go back there.  And we also went to some of the stores by the flea market.  And one of them is by the name of the Pepper Palace.  And almost all of our district was there.  It was us four Elders in LaPlace and the two sisters in Luling.  The two Luling Elders could not get a ride.  But anyway, at the said pepper store, they sell hot sauce there.  And have samples.  And a heat scale from 1 to 10+++.  Well I guess that it is tradition that all the missionaries that go to New Orleans partake of this sauce.  You just have to dip the chip and you can have as many chips as you want.  Well this sauce is made from ghost pepper extract!  Which makes it even hotter!  And you have to sign a waiver to do it!!  Well I did it.  AND IT WAS AS IF THE DEVIL AND ALL HIS SATANIC SPAWNS WERE DANCING ON MY TONGUE AND SLIDING DOWN MY THROAT!!!  IT WAS LIKE A LOCAL ARSONIST WAS LIGHTING A FIRE IN MY MOUTH WITH THE FEROCITY OF A ROARING T-REX AND THE INTENSITY OF 73,903 NEUTRON STARS THAT WERE ALL EXPLODING!  So it was terrible.  It lasted for a good 20 minutes.  The other Elders had done it before and they liked it more the second time.  And what made it worse was the Sisters had never done it AND it did nothing to them.  NOTHING!  And Sister Allen was all like "I don't handle spice well."  And then she had it and was all like."Oh was that it?"  It was an injury to our pride but it was still pretty fun.  I will never do that again though.

Now to the spiritual stuff.  We hardly taught any lessons this week.  It was a tough week.  Every time we went to see people we made appointments with they were not home.  It was frustrating.  But we were able to meet with Ivan and Margarita Marin.  They are Honduran and don't speak English.  But they are super interested and have been taught before.  And they kept their reading commitments and understand the Book of Mormon. I can't say much but at the end I always bear my testimony in Portugues so that way they can kind of understand me.  So that is cool.  But Ivan had to go out of state to work and won't be back permanently till December.  So that stinks.  And we also met with a less active guy named Santos Paz.  Also Honduran.  He is a different one.  He asked us why we spend so much money on temples when we could use that money to help people.  And he asked us other out there questions.  He even saw my patch of the Brazilian Flag on my bag and asked me about it.  And I said I was going to Brazil when I get my visa, in Portugues.  And in English he says, "Why do you speak Portugues when you should be speaking Spanish."  Well, the answer is simple.  Eu nao falo espanol.  Eu falo Portugues e ingles.  That was funny I thought.

Well nothing else really happened this week.  I did have to give a talk in church today.  It was on how seminary and institute helped prepare me for a mission.  It was pretty good.  But other than that nothing happened.  Hopefully we can get more done this week.  Well, talk to you all next week.  Eu amo voces.  Ate logo!

Elder Mackay

 New Orleans

 The Silver Man

 Street Performer

 The Pepper Palace

 Missionaries at the Pepper Palace

Jason thought these were a part of the past!

Rain in Louisiana... (8-19-13)

Boa Tarde todo mundo!

This week has been pretty good.  It was definitely better than last week, number-wise.  And by that I mean we taught more lessons.  Last p-day was great.  We did laundry, went shopping where I bought a box of twinkies, and we had a tie swap with the other Elders in LaPlace who live in the same complex as us.  I got a pretty awesome green tie for one of my purple ties.  That trade took like 30 seconds because I didn't bring any ties with sentimental value.  But my companion, Elder Araujo, took like 30 minutes to come up with a suitable trade for two of his ties.  It actually ended up being a three for two deal where my companion got the two and raw end of the deal.  But he has 70+ ties.  It is utterly ridiculous.  I'm pretty sure he could go for two transfers and not wear the same tie twice.

Then on Tuesday we met with our only investigator.  His name is Donald.  He is an older, handicapped black man.  He walks with a limp and his left arm is curled against his body so I don't think he can use it.  He told us he had a stroke when he was a teenager.  But he loves Jesus.  He is always asking for pamphlets with pictures of Jesus on them.  So that time we gave him a Book of Mormon and he freaked out.  The good kind.  He was all like, "I've never heard of this before, but if it talks about Jesus I'll read it."  But unfortunately we haven't met with him since.  He is gone every time we go by.

Wednesday was terrible.  We were going to the library to do media studies, Mormon messages, conference talks, that kind of stuff.  But if was raining.  And rain in Louisiana is like buckets for each raindrop.  And I don't have a rain jacket.  So I used the outer layer of my coat.  It kept my arms dry for the most part but not my back.  When we finally got to the library we went straight to the bathroom.  I almost was able to wring my pants out.  Then after that we went to do roster clean up.  There are a lot of records in this ward for people who don't live here anymore.  Well every house we went to, there was no answer.  So we went to the neighbors, and they didn't know anything about them.  We talked to one of the neighbors through her door.  We knocked and she said "Who is it?"  We said "missionaries."  And she replied, "Oh I'm sorry, but I'm not dressed for visitors, maybe another day."  It was funny, but we asked about her neighbor and it was the guy we wanted.  And we returned to that house and can come back.

The other days went like the other days, except no rain.  And the humidity has gone down.  But yesterday (Sunday) we went to a trailer park to talk to a Hispanic family.  So we went to a less active family first.  I could only understand about less than half of the whole conversation, but they had me give the closing prayer in Portugues.  That was cool.  And then we went to the family we really wanted to visit.  Their names are Ivan and Margarita.  Also Spanish.  So again, I was no help during the lesson.  But they have met with missionaries before and Ivan at least knows the Book of Mormon is true.  I think Margarita does too, but they don't go to church for mainly two reasons.  It is in English, which they don't speak any English, and their two year old is super noisy.  But they went one time and loved it.  We are going back on Tuesday.  They really want to see us before Ivan goes to El Paso till December for work.

But here is a funny moment.  Well, I don't think it is funny but you all might.  So we ride bikes everywhere.  Well I dread riding them because I'm afraid that my companion is going to kill himself.  We ride primarily along highways with large shoulders.  So here I am as far as possible to the right side.  And then there is my companion riding the white line, with no hands and zig-zagging all over the place.  It scares the crap out of me because he is like going to die.  Crazy Mexicans!  Well, that is all for today.  Today for p-day I think the whole district is going to New Orleans.  So that should be fun even though I don't know what we are doing.  Tell Grandma thanks for the twinkies!  Talk to you all later!  Ate logo!

Eu amo voces,

Elder Mackay

 A cute but very skinny puppy they found one day.

 Jason's tie from the tie swap.

 Just saying...what is this?!

The People In This Ward Are Awesome! (8-12-13)

Oi Tudo Mundo!

So it has been about five days since I wrote last and in all likelihood you will get this maybe the same day as the letter for last week (he was right...we did).  Mail is weird in this apartment complex.  I put in a ton of letters and that was Wednesday or Thursday and they are still there last I checked.  And now it is Monday!  But oh well.  Hopefully they get sent.

 So these couple of days have been crazy.  Me and my companion have no idea where we are and we don't know anybody.  The struggles of being double transferred.  But we have gotten to know the Bishop and Ward Mission Leader.  And they are awesome.  The ward here has only like a 40%, if that, attendance rate, so there is like 60 people max that show up.  So we do a lot of less active work and trying to get them to come back.  But we are trying to find investigators too.  We have two that we have contacted so far that want us to come back.  We were going to go to one yesterday but he had to cancel last minute.  And he speaks Spanish.  So I would probably just sit there during the lesson because I don't know any Spanish.  Or I would try to communicate in Portuguese.

The people in this ward are awesome.  They love to feed us which is awesome.  I never realized how much I would love it when members feed you as a missionary but it is super awesome.  They are also super willing to help us with our investigators.  And that is super awesome too.

So I have come to find out that biking with a shoulder bag is terrible.  It is just super awkward.  I am so glad I will just be walking in Brasil.  also, riding a bike in this humidity is terrible.  The second you stop moving you just start sweating and it is like a water faucet.  And it won't stop until you get moving again.  I carry a bandanna in my pocket to wipe away the sweat and it gets soaked by the end of an hour.  And there has been like one or more thunderstorms like everyday.  And it rains every few day.  Luckily I haven't had to ride in a rainstorm because it pours.  I even got a picture.  There have been dome days I have had to change everything but my pants because I get so sweaty.  What else is there to say but Idaho/Wyoming boys don't do well in the humidity.  At least this will get me used to Brasil.  I am so excited to get to Brasil.  I want my visa to come soon.

Well, that is it for this week! Ate logo! (means bye)

Eu amo voces!  Lembre quem voces sao :) Fucam boa escolhers!  I love you all.  Remember who you are and make good choices.

Elder Mackay

President and Sister Wall, Mission President of the Louisiana Baton Rouge mission met Jason at the airport.  Elder Mackay looks so happy!!

Days At The MTC Are Over (8-6-13)

Oi tudo mundo!

So my days at the MTC are over.  And it is a bitter-sweet moment.  I really wanted to leave and at the same time I didn't really want to leave my district.  I know I say this a lot but I love my district.  They are no longer my friends, but my family and I care for everyone of them individually.  When we all started to leave for our reassignments it got harder and harder to say goodbye.  But now I am here, in the................Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission until I get my visa.  It was a very long day to get here.  I woke up at 2am.  But I didn't leave till 4:30am.  And I did this because we had Elders leave from our district at 2:30, 3:30, and 4:30 this morning.  And all the remaining members of the district woke up and saw them off every time.  I then had two plane rides to get here to Louisiana.

Louisiana is very pretty.  There are lots of trees and it is very green here.  But I knew something was up when I met my old foe from Pennsylvania (Jason is referring to our family trip to PA in 2007).  And he took my breath away when I felt his wet warm presence.  It was like walking into a wet wall as hot as the fires of Mordor (Lord of the Rings reference...he loves those movies).  It is really humid here, if you can't understand my stories.  It is so humid here!  It is ridiculous.  Well enough of that.  My first day here was nice.  President Wall and his wife are super awesome.  Tomorrow is transfers and President Wall told me my area and I don't quite know what it is called and the name of my companion.  But it is a hybrid area where it is half English and Spanish.  So I will have to teach in Spanish or teach in Portuguese.  This is going to be an adventure.  A really hard adventure I think.  I have heard that my companion has been here awhile and is a Spanish speaking missionary.  So we shall see how it goes over the next week.

Well that is all I really have for this week.  So I shall write you all next week.

Te amo!

Elder Mackay

P.S.  I am going to loose soooo much weight from biking in this weather.  My area is LaPlace and my companion's name is Elder Aravjo.

New Address

Just received a quick email from Elder Mackay and he has a new address:

Elder Jason Mackay

101 Ormond Blvd.

#F-4

LaPlace, LA 70068

New Assignment!!!

Elder Jason Mackay received his temporary new assignment while he waits for his Brazilian visa to arrive. He will serve in the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission!  He is very excited!!  I was able to talk to him for a few minutes yesterday as he was on a layover in Dallas, TX.  I received an email today letting me know that Elder Mackay arrived safely in Louisiana.  His new address is:

Elder Jason Mackay

3300 Wall Blvd., 2-J

Gretna, LA 70056

I know that Elder Mackay would love to receive letters from anyone who has a minute to write to him. Elder Jason Mackay's EPIC Mission continues!!!

By the way...if you are interested in know more about the Louisiana Baton Rouge Mission, you can find it here:  http://www.louisianabatonrougemission.org/home

My Last Week at the MTC (7-30-13)

Boa Tarde Todo Mundo! (Good day everyone)

It is crazy to think that this is my last week here at the MTC.  What is crazier is that I don't know where I will be next week.  I could be going to Brasil straight away, but the more likely situation is that I will go somewhere stateside.  But I will find out on Thursday or Friday.  It is also crazy to know that I can almost say everything I want to in Portugues.  I can go most of the day speaking Portugues.  I just can't tell stories.  Stories are hard with my knowledge of Portugues.  And teaching about the priesthood is still hard.  But I don't care, it will come.

So we got a new companionship in our room because we only had 3 in a room for 6.  And to haze them on their first day we talked more Portugues than we usually do and when we went to do companionship prayer we said to them, "Voces vao juntar nos?  Nor oramos somente em portugues.  E ele e sua vez."  That translates to, "Will you guys join un?  We pray only in Portugues.  And it is your turn."  Their faces were priceless.  They were of horror and confusion.  Then we said, "Nos estamos brincando."  That translates to "we are joking" or playing if it is literally translated.  It was quite a funny night.

We still haven't had a really well known General Authority speak.  The only one that spoke to us was the General Sunday School President.  That was the first week.  We have had all our other speakers be Emeritus General Authorities, mostly Seventies but on Sunday a former Primary General Pres. spoke.  I kinda want a member of the Twelve to come so I can rub it in the faces of everyone back home. :)

So one of my teachers, Irma Pittita got engaged on Friday.  Everyone was super excited, especially the Sisters.  Even Elder 'longi was crying as she told the story of how it happened.  That was hilarious.  Her favorite movie is Up and there is a replica house in Provo that she was proposed at.  And her boyfriend made this card like the adventure book and had a picture of Paradise Falls but had the Sao Paulo Temple next to the falls.  And it said "Thanks for the adventures, now lets start our eternal adventure."  All the sisters freaked out.  Probably because they were living their lives through her.

So Sister Gold got her visa today.  She went through the D.C. Consolate.  But she doesn't know if she can go because she still has a broken foot.  But she will get better, hopefully sooner than later.

We have started teaching each other during class.  My and my companions teach Sisters Taylor and Gold and they teach us.  We are playing people that we know or have met that were investigators and then were baptized or are current investigators.  I will let you all guess who I'm playing because I'm not saying who.  Haha!!

Well I have to go now.  Please remind people to continue or to start writing me.  Preferably in letter form because I only have 1 hour of email time.  Eu amo voces e en von ouvir para voces mais tardes!

Me Ame, (Love Me)

Elder Mackay

I Love It Here (7-16-13)

Tudo bem minha familia e meus amigos,

Things are going well still.  Portugues is still coming along well.  I have the Primera Visao (1st Vision) memorized and verses 1-5 of D&C 4 memorized all in Portugues.  I don't remember if I have told you all this yet but we got 2 new investigators.  They are played by our teachers.  But it still kinda feels like we are teaching the people.  It is pretty cool because we can get through most of the lessons without pausing to think of how to say it in Portugues.

Elder 'longi has gotten letters so he doesn't need to you write letters.  His parents sent him gummy bears. We have quite an impressive stash of food & soda.  Elder Bigler is from Provo so he is getting tons of packages of food & caffeinated soda.

I saw Sister Hansen (Sadie) & Elder Eliasen (Clark).  I am sorry for the spelling.  It is so hard for me to spell & it is even harder with Portugues in my head.  But it was super awesome to see them again.  I also see Elder Moomey a lot.  But he is leaving in 5 days or so.  I am very excited for him to go to Belgium & the Netherlands.

More & more missionaries have been getting their visas.  But it is only sisters that have been getting them.  So my visa may be coming soon.  I kind of don't want my visa till I finish here.  I like my district too much and I kind of don't want anyone else in the district to get their visas.  I have heard that when the wold cup stuff that is going on right now in Brasil that the visas will start to come a lot.  I have also heard that they might start getting through in like August or September.  But it is whatever.  The joke between the other district that got here when we got here is that they will get their visas.  They are in our branch and the sisters in that district are going to Portugal and the Elders are going to Mozambique with one going to Angola.  But we don't care because we just say that we are going to 2 missions and that our visas will come.

Well I don't have much else to say.  I love it here and how you always feel the Spirit here.  Thank you all for the prayers for me and please, keep the stream of letters flowing!  Ti amo!  I love you.  Tchau!

Elder Mackay
de Otimo

The days have messed together (7-9-13)

Dear Family & Friends,

I suppose that this is going on my blog so I shall just title it as Family and Friends.

The days have messed together & I don't know what day it is half the time. Portugues is still coming along.  I don't have an issue learning words, I just can't say them right.  I am really trying to do Falar Sua Lingua (speak your language) and that is really helping.

I've seen more people that I know here than I expected.  I've seen Elder "Mark" Moomey several times & I saw Elder "Payton" Macdonald before he left.

Portugues I have come to learn is a pure language, with it you can understand Spanish, Italian, and French but they can understand you.  It is jolly good fun to use this against the Spanish speakers.

I still love my district.  One in particular, Elder 'longi,  I really get along with. He is hilarious.  He wrote a song because he still hasn't gotten any mail and it is hilarious.  I shall write the lyrics right now.

Ahem,

Nobody loves me but me.

The nights are lonely, the nights are so sad,

I got no letters from my mom or my dad.

And I'm crying inside.

Because nobody loves me but me.

I sit here and wait for an email or 2,

I get a message, no emails for you.

And I let out a sign (sigh).

Because nobody loves me but me.

I got a girl waiting, said I'd write you everyday.

The girl never sent any letters my way.

But I still feel fine.

But nobody loves me but me.

(Guitar Solo)

Aint got no postage, aint got love.

Then I receive revelations from the heavens above.

God says hear ye.

Nobody loves you but me.

It is so funny when he sings it cause he gets choked up.

So the investigator we were teaching, Joac, agreed to be baptized.  So we don't teach him anymore.  Which is good because he is our teacher now.  And his name isn't even Joac!  It is Felipe Messias.  But he is super cool & a really good teacher.  He also gives all the Elders a hearty Brazilian hug at the start & end of class.

Well that is about all that has happened this week.  I miss you all and I would like to receive letters from my friends!  Letters from my family is great!!  I'm still in America so it is cheaper than when I'm in Brasil!!  Tal to you all in a week!

Love,

Elder Mackay

Modo de beste

(Beast Mode)

We sing lots of hymns (7-2-13)

Minhn Familia,

So this week has felt like an eternity it is crazy!  We have already taught Joac, our investigator 3 times & we teach him Wednesday & Thursday.  I have learned so much Portugues in this week I have been here.  We sing lots of hymns and it is super awesome.

My district is super awesome.  Elder 'longi is a Tongan from Portland & he is hilarious.  He likes taking selfies with his camera.  Everyone is super cool in my district.  My companions are still pretty cool too.

The Sunday Devo was pretty awesome.  Brother Swenson spoke & he is the new Pres of the Brazilian MTC.  He was hilarious & talked about how to make your mission great.  It was really great.  There is a devo tonight that we are going to go to.  It should be pretty great.

You should put DearElder on the blog.  DearElder.com is basically a snail mail email hybrid.  You to to the webiste & typer my mailing address and it send me and email & they print it out and send it to my mailbox.  So you should put that in my blog.  And it is free.  This doesn't mean that I don't want written stuff because I do want them.  But DearElders will be good too.

Well that is it for now.  Love you!

Elder Mackay

Didn't understand a thing! (6-27-13)

Minha Familia,

That means my family, btw.  It is the second day at the MTC and I am so tired.  And all we do is sit in the classroom all day it seems like.  But they are just shoving so much stuff into your brain that it makes you sore & tired.  The first day here was crazy, our teacher spoke nothing but Portugues.  I knew some languages did that, but I guess it is all of them.  I didn't understand a thing.  Most people have some Spanish background so they can pick up some stuff.  But I have a German background & there are no similarities.  The hardest part so far is the pronounciation.  I just killed that spelling.  It is just so foreign that it is hard for me, especially the nasal sounds, like nao which means no.  But I'm picking up quite a bit, which is good because we have a real investigator to teach tomorrow.  In Portugues.

My companions are super cool.  I have 2 because Elder Smith, we say it like Smich because that is how Brazilians will say it, had a companion but he never showed up yesterday.  My assigned companion is Elder Richardson, we call him Hicharson for the same reasons.  He is super nice & very enthusiastic about the gospel.  My district is super cool too.  There are 13 of us & most are going to Sao Paulo East.  4 are going to my mission & 2 are going to Santa Maria.  There are 2 sister companions & they are super cool, just like the Elders.

I am really learning a lot, especially in Portugues.  Pretty soon we will know enough to follow speak your language.  But my favorite phrases are Que Isso?  What is this? & Bem fildo...good job.  I know it is the Lord helping me with this.  And He knows I need it.

I am also super excited to get to Porto Alegre.  There is an Elder on my floor, Elder Canterelle, who is from Porto Alegre.  And that is where Elder Smith & Richardson are going to so he was telling us how much he loves that area & what to expect weather-wise and kind of what to expect from the people.  I learned that lunch is the biggest meal of the day there & that Nalgene water bottles are super expensive.  I am so wanting my visa to come soon.

Well that is all that I have for now.  I miss you all & love you all!

Elder Mackay

Super Crazy!

Ola,

I don't know if you have gotten my letter yet because I sent it last week.  I think that I will just write you letters and tell you how I'm doing at least while I'm at the MTC.  It is super crazy here and I don't have lots of time.

Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.  I shall write you all another letter today and send it off today or tomorrow.  Love you all and miss you.

Love, Elder Mackay

And off he goes...

This past Wednesday, June 26th, was the day that Jason entered the MTC.  I took him there as Scott had to work and the other kids stayed home.  It was an emotional day for me but for Jason there was nothing but excitement.  We walked to the MTC and were met at the corner by two young elders and one of them was Jason's escort.  I gave Jason a hug, told him I love him, and away he went.  I held it together really well until I couldn't see him anymore.  I find that I think about him and wonder what he's doing but I don't worry about him for one second!  What better place could he be than in the Lord's service.

I'm not sure when his p-day is but I will begin posting his letters or emails as soon as they arrive!