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