The Castle at Helsingborg

 Me sitting on the 'Throne'

Me on top of the Castle in Helsingborg

Beautiful sunset down by the water on Thursday night.

Week in Review

Hello everyone! It’s good to hear from you all like always! Sounds like it has been a busy and eventful week back home! I totally forgot that it was Memorial Day back home today! So... happy memorial day! I always did love seeing all the flags and flowers out at the cemetery. It’s always so peaceful and pretty. I was telling Aubry in an email that it really does not feel right that Mya graduated preschool and will be going on to kindergarten in a few months! Man can someone please hit the pause button for me! Too much is happening and changing while I’m gone! I don't like it! Ha-ha but I guess that's what happens when you fall off the face of the earth for two years. ha-ha. I’m glad to hear that the Nick and Ginny's farewell went good and that they both spoke well. I remember my farewell talk a little bit, it is pretty stressful! Man dad, it's sounding like you have become the designated smoke master these days! You ought to start charging a fee per piece of meat you smoke. ha-ha I can't wait to get back and try some of your delicacies!


Sounds like you both have plenty to do in the yard mom and dad! And dad, I want you to know that even though those Saturdays in the yard were possibly not the most fun days, I really am so grateful for them. They did more for me than I think I realize. So thanks for dragging me out of bed and putting me to work all of those years. I wish I was there now to help out with everything! I miss good old manual labor. We don't get too many opportunities to do that here. Mostly because no one has yards because everyone lives in apartments. It’s a bummer some times. It’s nice to serve with your hands. Gives us an excuse to get out of our white shirts for a bit. ha-ha So did Walkers sell to 7 eleven or what? Whatever it is I’m excited. I love 7 eleven slurpees! ha-ha They are best. There are 7 elevens here but they are insanely expensive and they don't even have slurpees. So it’s not worth it. ha-ha

I’m glad you guys were able to see the new clip I sent you. That ice cream place we were at was sooo good! Swedish ice cream is really good. I wouldn't say that it is better or worse than American ice cream, it's just different. It’s really good though. I can't really explain it but it is super creamy. I love it. We get a lot of ice cream here too. ha-ha Like basically every time we get fed by a member it is ice cream for dessert. I’m not complaining though :) So the member that posted the picture of our hamburgers was Syster Hedberg (head-berry), we were at their house for dinner on Saturday night. She was so nice, she asked us the week before if there was any specific food that we longed for or were craving and we said burgers so they grilled up burgers with all the fixin's for us. It was sooo nice and sooo tasty! They are a great family. Her husband was the stake president of the Malmö stake for 7 years and just recently got released and put in as our ward mission leader. So needless to say, he is awesome and on top of things. ha-ha So that is great. They also have a son named Anton that just got off his mission in Texas about three months ago. So he got home like ten days or something before I got transferred here. He is a really good guy and is always willing to help out with teaching and things.

Things with our investigators are going well. We were able to get in contact with one of our investigators, Alexander, again after not hearing from him for three weeks. He is doing well and is still very positive he was just sick for a while. So we are hoping to start to teach him regularly again. Otherwise our biggest news on the investigator front is that our investigator, Tabi, is amazing! She came to church yesterday and loved it. After church we taught her and when we asked her about baptism she said "after coming to church today, I want to be baptized now! I don't want to wait anymore" so we took that as a good indicator that she is ready and had received her answer so we set up a baptismal date with her! It’s for the 2nd of June, which is next Sunday. We set it for next Sunday because she has only come to church once and we have a rule in the mission that all investigators must come to church at least twice before they can be baptized so if all goes well she will be baptized on Sunday right after church! It has been so amazing teaching her. She is so incredibly prepared. It is such a testimony to me to see how much her life has changed in such a short amount of time because of this gospel. She was raised in a very strong atheist household and religion was a very foreign environment for her at first but now she feels right at home and loves learning more every time we meet. Please pray for her this week. We are really hoping that all will go well for her to be baptized on the 2nd.

We will be traveling like mad men this week. On Thursday we will be in Göteborg all day for a mission tour with Elder Richards of the area presidency presiding. Then on Friday we will turn around and take a train up to Stockholm for mission leadership council, then on Saturday we may or may not be going to the temple in Copenhagen. If all goes well with Tabi and the baptism we will probably delay the temple to another day so that we can be here on Saturday to prepare everything for the baptism so we'll see what happens. Pray for the best!

Well that is about it for this week I think. I’ll work on attaching some pictures quickly too but I hope you all have a good week and I’ll talk to you next week! I love you!!!

With love-

Äldste McKay.

 Elder Brown and I at Lucy's house eating dinner with Lucy and Herminia. They are the best little Philipinno ladies you will ever meet! they are hilarious!

Also a couple pictures of us in front of a raps flower field. I haven't been able to get a good picture of one of these fields yet but they are so bright yellow and gorgeous! 

I Almost Forgot

 So, I almost forgot to tell you guys about this! So we were in the city of Landskrona on Thursday and we saw this awesome church so we took a few pictures and then we saw that it was open. We decided to go in and take a look.

 It was the coolest old church! And then we walk up to the front and see this amazing painting of Christ! 

 Well, a priest comes up to us and is like..'You guys are from the Mormon church huh.' and we're like 'Yeah!' and he pointed to the painting and said that it is a Carl Bloch original and has been in Salt Lake on display for the last year and they just barely got it back. The church borrowed it from them.

 The priest told us, 'We must say, it came back in a lot better shape than when it left. It was cleaned, repaired and everything.' So that was pretty cool! He welcomed us to look at it and take pictures. He was a really nice guy. So that was pretty cool!

After Skype Blues

Well, I'm not gonna lie, it is a little hard to email after skyping last night! It's just not as fun when I can't see and talk to you guys! ha ha. But that's okay, I still love it:) So it really was so fun to Skype and see all of your faces and talk to you! Happy mothers day again mom! I love you so much! And miss you like crazy! I hope you know that. It was so fun to see the girls and talk to them! It seriously amazes me every time how much they grown in between each time I see them! It's kinda scary to be honest! ha ha. Mom, you asked what the biggest thing is that changed since last time I talked to you all? Hmm...it's hard to tell actually! probably the girls, a new little one added to the ranks, and I noticed a new decoration or two on the desk. ha ha What's the biggest thing that changed about me?


So today we will be heading in to Malmö. I need to go in to the migration offices there to renew my visa so that I don't get deported. ha ha So that should be fun.

Nothing else too exciting happened this week that I didn't already talk about yesterday. We were able to set a baptismal date with our new investigator Alexander. Please keep him in your prayers along with Robin. We are really hoping that they can both be baptized before the prophet comes.
Oh I almost forgot! I have an important update on chill kitty! ha ha We saw him again on Saturday! He was chillin' outside our apartment when we left the other morning so we paused and pet him for a while and then had to go. It was pretty funny to see him again though. ha ha.
Well family I know that this email is really short and I feel super bad but we need to get going to Malmö so that we have time to get through all the immigration stuff I have to do to renew my visa but please know how much I love each and every one of you! I miss you all so much and can't wait to see you again, but until then, I love this work and I love Sweden! I truly love this gospel and am so grateful for it in my life and the joy it gives me. There really is nothing like sharing this gospel with others. It is the most gratifying thing ever! I love it! I love you all! Have a fantastic week and I'll talk to you again soon!

Love-

Äldste Keetch.

Hey there everyone!


Man it seems like just a few day's ago that I was emailing home... oh wait... it was! ha ha It was definitely super nice to just have to go from Wednesday to Monday instead of Monday to Monday this week! ha ha.

I'm glad to hear that all is well at home! Thing's are going so so so well here! So earlier in the week we got some really exciting news! (I'm not sure if i already mentioned this) The prophet is coming to Sweden!!! He will be here on the 9th of June. He will be in Stockholm for a Nordic regional conference that will take the place of stake conferences for Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland. We are not sure if they will do anything special for the missionaries but we are all hoping that we will get to go up and see the prophet. So then on Thursday we flew to Stockholm for mission leadership training and president and the assistants announced that we will be having a mission goal of every single companionship in the mission baptizing before the prophet comes! We are so stinking excited! As they announced it it just felt good and felt like this was truly an inspired goal from president. So then on Friday we had zone training and we presented this goal to the rest of the zone and it went really well. We read out of Ether together about the bother of Jared and how he smelted the rocks out of the mountain and took them up to the lord. We compared that to our goal . We can't just decide this goal and then just say "okay heavenly father, help us baptize" because he will just respond as he did to the brother Jared and say "well... what do you want me to do about it?" ha ha So we have to pray and do all we can with our investigators and then take their names to the lord and pray for his help with the rest. So what we did is after reading about this in Ether and discussing it we pulled out a bag of white, decorative stones that we had bought at the store the day before and gave one to each member of the zone and had them write the name of the person that they are going to baptize in the next month on the stone and then take the stone and call down the powers of heaven and ask the lord to "touch the stone". It was really a pretty good meeting and I think everyone liked the thing with the stones and the brother of Jared.

So then, on Sunday, it was fast Sunday and as a mission we fasted for this new goal that we have and wow did we see the blessings from that fast in church! We met with the bishop before hand and let him know about this goal and then in testimony meeting bishop got up and bore his testimony about member missionary work and then told the ward about the goal and it feels like they are all really excited for it too so that is awesome! All in all, on Sunday, we taught 7 lessons, which is really good seeing that we usually average 20 for the whole week, we had three investigators at church, we got a new investigator, and we set a baptismal date with Robin! So that was amazing! He decided to be baptized on the 25th of this month and I'm pretty confident that it will happen. It is looking like Elder Brown and I could have 2-3 baptisms before the prophet comes, not just one. So please pray for Robin! Also if you could all pray for a man named Alexandro. He just randomly walked into the church from the street after church and wanted to see a priest. We told him we didn't have a priest but that we were missionaries and could talk with him. Well he wasn't in a very good place. He was on the verge of suicide and had already tried twice before but had failed. We talked with him for about an hour and testified to him oh the atonement and the comfort that comes from the savior. We prayed with him and then set up an appointment with him on Tuesday so hopefully we can continue to help him see the hope that is in Christ. So please pray for him!

As for the mothers day call! Would 5:30 our time work? So that would be like 9:30 am your time right? We should be able to Skype so if you could send me your Skype name again mom that would be great! Ah man I can't wait!

Well family sorry this is pretty short but I need to head for now but I'll talk to you all on Sunday!

Love you all so so so much!

I Ate Trees!!

Oh man what a week! so, I'll start out by just reiterating that my p-day is not permanently on Wednesdays, it is just for today. so I will be email home again on Monday the 6th, just to avoid any confusion! ha ha


So man I've got a lot to tell you about this week! But I'll start by responding to everything that happened at home this week.

So congratulations to Tyson and Hallah! I'm glad to hear that the wedding went well. Thanks for all the pictures! It really looked like a great day so that is good. Man I still can't believe that my baby brother is hitched! Ah, so weird! ha ha I'm glad to see that I was able to make some kind of appearance at the wedding, even if it was just my head. ha ha That is super funny. I can't wait to see more pics once the professional ones come back, and mom, if you include a wedding video in my package I would be able to watch it. Each apartment has a mini DVD player to watch Church movies and stuff so I could play it on that. So definitely send a copy if you can! Thank you for sending a package by the way! I really appreciate it. I'm glad to hear that the few words I wrote for Ty worked well. I really had no idea what to write so I'm glad you all liked them, and hopefully Ty did. ha ha. It sounds like the wedding was an all around great day so that is good.

Man, I've got a lot to go through from this last week and a half so I guess I'll get to it!

So last Tuesday morning Elder Whitworth and I got up and he got all ready and finished packing and then I drove him to the airport to catch his flight up to Stockholm, then, about 15 minutes later, Elder Brown's flight from Umeå landed and we got his luggage and headed back to the apartment. Elder Brown is awesome, he is one of the funniest guys I have ever met. He is like perfect mix of my friend Cameron Tribe, and Jack Black. ha ha So needless to say, we get along great together and are having a lot of fun! He is from San Diego California and has been out for four months longer than I have. So he's about to his  six month mark. So on Tuesday night we had a couple lessons set up and then we went back to the apartment for the night, Elder Brown got unpacked, and then we went to bed. Well, right before bed, Elder Brown pulled out these essential oils that he had gotten from a member up in Umeå and he had one that was frankincense... ha ha like what the wise men gave baby Jesus. Apparently you're supposed to put one drop under your tongue and it's supposed to help your memory. ha ha So I decided to try it. Well, the best way I can describe the taste is trees. ha ha It seriously tasted like I was eating a forest. All in one little drop. It was crazy. ha ha So anyways, we went to bed afterwards and I felt fine. Well, I woke up at about 3:00 and felt awful. I laid in bed for about half an hour and then I couldn't stand it any more and I got up and threw up. After that it was like clock work, every half an hour, for the rest of the night and into the next morning. About 8:00 or so the next morning I finally had had enough and asked Elder Brown to give me a blessing. After the blessing I didn't throw up at all the rest of the day and was able to finally get some sleep so that was good. The best part of all of this is that the assistants were on their way down to do exchanges with us. So at nine o'clock I had to muster the strength to put some sweats on and walk down to the car so that we could go pick them up at the airport. The car ride almost killed me and I about passed out walking up/down the stairs in our apartment building, but I made it okay and then we just went back and I went back to bed. The assistants ended up taking a train down to Malmö and working with the missionaries there for Wednesday and then came back up and worked with us on Thursday once I was feeling better. I had a pretty consistent fever the whole day but it broke later that night so that was good. I lucked out and didn't hallucinate like I usually do when I get fevers. ha ha. That dang frankincense really did it to me! ha ha Nah I'm just kidding, I'm pretty sure it was just the flu, but we decided to blame it on the frankincense. ha ha.

The rest of the week was really good. Our investigators are still doing well. Danii and Rebeka were not able to make it to Church on Sunday because their car broke down the night before. But they are still very positive and are keeping all of their commitments. We are working right now on helping them receive an answer that they need to get married. Other wise, we are really working hard with an investigator that we have who's name is Robin. Robin has investigated the church for a couple years now and comes to church every Sunday. The whole ward loves him and he has been taught everything multiple times. He just can't quit drinking coffee. We also think there's something else holding him back, we're just not sure what right now. So we are hoping to help him figure that out and take the step of being baptized.

Another crazy event that happened this week is that we got a visitor on Friday night! ha ha So we had just parked the car and were walking into the apartment when this cat came out of nowhere and just walked straight up to us, so we pet it a little and then started walking again. Well, it started following us. It followed us all the way into the building and up the three flights of stairs to our apartment on the top floor. ha ha So we just let him in and let him chill with us for a while. We named him chill kitty. He had a collar on so he must have been one of the neighbors cats. But yeah, we just let him chill with us for an hour or so and then we took him back outside. ha ha it was just so funny though because he just came right up to us and then just followed us all the way into our apartment. We haven't seen him since.

So last night, Tuesday, was the Valborg celebrations and it was so awesome! The ward here does a Valborg party every year at one of the member's house's that live out in the country a little bit. So we went to that and it was a blast! It's kind of hard to describe Valborg, but it's basically a Holiday where everyone gets together, lights a huge bonfire, and then bbq's and plays games together. Sounds kinda like America huh? ha ha It was great. We played this awesome came called kub, which is a fun, lawn game, that I'll have to introduce to you all when I get back. Then we did like a scavenger hunt and things and then ate hot dogs and hamburgers and all sorts of good stuff. It was a blast! The reason why we switched p-day to today even thought the festivities were last night is because, like all Swedish holidays, they are at least two, if not three days. So yesterday was the festivities but today is the actual holiday. So everyone is off school and everyone is basically home just sleeping off their hang-overs today. It's whats called a red day today, which means it's a national holiday. So yeah, that's why we have p-day today. So our plans are to finish emailing here, go to H&M (I had another pair of pants give out so i think I'm going to buy some slacks today, if that's okay! I promise I'm not getting fat! My clothes are just starting to get worn) and then we are going to head down to the beach for a while. Helsingborg is such and awesome town and has really nice beaches. Helsingborg is definitely on the top of the list of places to bring you guys when we come back. I love it here. So yeah we'll probably head down there for a while and just hang out. May skate a little bit. Elder Brown got it okayed by president and bought a skateboard at the first of his mission so we got skate for morning exercise sometimes. It's super fun.

The rest of the week looks like it'll be super fun. We are flying to Stockholm tomorrow for mission leadership council, then we will be in Lund on Friday to teach zone training, then we got Saturday which is always a good day, then Sunday, and then p-day again! So that will be fun!

About mothers day mom: yes it looks like I'll be able to Skype home on mothers day:) The computers here are pretty slow but one of them does have a camera and then Elder Brown has a web cam too so it looks like we'll both be able to Skype so that'll be fun:) We can work out details on time and things when it gets closer but I'm excited to see and talk to you all again! Especially you momma :)

Well fam, that's about it for this week! I am still absolutely loving life here in Helsingborg, but I definitely miss each and every one of you each day! I know that this gospel is true and man do I love sharing it with others! Everyone go out and find an opportunity to talk with someone about the gospel this week and see how good it feels! I promise you you'll get addicted. The gospel is like Pringles, once you pop, you can't stop! ha ha.

Well I love you all so much! Have a good week!

With all my love-

Äldste McKay.

Another Swedish Week

The Hive! A few weeks ago Elder Whitworth and I found this huge apartment building and the entire thing is unlocked (most apartment buildings in Sweden have codes on the outside so that you can't get in) So we dubed it the hive and started going there and knocking doors every time we had an extra few minutes or an appointment would cancel on us and this week we finished it. We conquered the hive! ha ha

 Hallå min älskade familj!


So good to hear for you all this week! Thank you so much for the emails you each send, they really do mean so very much to me! Reading them is definitely one of the highlights of my week each week :)

So this week was a really good one here in good old Helsingborg. spring is definitely in full swing here. This week has been a little colder than last but it has still been nice and sunny for the most part. It's actually decided to be a little murky today and there are some rain drops starting to fall. But hey, that's just the first signs of a Swedish summer. Rain, rain and more rain. ha ha. It really is beautiful though! Everything is starting to be green and the flowers are starting to bloom. Down here in the south of Sweden everything is just huge rolling fields and in the summer the fields turn bright green and yellow so the whole landscape basically changes. I'm so excited to be down here for summer! That is why I think it would be better for us come back around May or June instead of you guys picking me up in March. Everything is still dead and dark in March, but come May/June, it is light all the time, and everything is green and blooming. It is amazing. nothing beets a Swedish summer. I seriously can't believe that this is my second summer in Sweden already! So crazy! It really is scary to think that I have less than 11 months left now. But at the same time nice. ha ha... but no worries, I'm not trunky! Not in the slightest. I absolutely love it here, especially in Helsingborg. Ah I just love Sweden!

So mom, it's funny that you talked about change and embracing it in your email today because we got a call from president this week and there is about to be some change here in Helsingborg... ha ha. Elder Whitworth, will be transferring tomorrow to Täby as an assistant and I will be getting Elder Brown down here in Helsingborg. I'm not gonna lie, I am really bummed to be losing Elder Whitworth. We are super good friends and had a lot of fun together. He is definitely my favorite companion on the mission so far, and he actually said the same thing about me. So it kinds sucks to be getting split up after just a couple months together but hey... that's life as a missionary for you. I'm actually really excited for Elder Brown to come down. He is from California also and is one of my really good friends in the mission. Me and him have pretty similar personalities and will get along great I think. He is a super good missionary so hopefully we will baptize like crazy!

As far as investigators go, this week was great! Things are going forward with Danii and Rebeka. We continue to meet them twice a week and they are making progress towards their goal of the 18th of May for baptism. They both have a very long way to come seeing that they basically have problems with every single commandment, but they are both very willing to learn and very humble. They came to church for the first time yesterday and had a great experience. The talks in sacrament meeting were not on topics that you would consider the best for first time investigators so we were a little worried but Elder Whitworth and I silently prayed all of sacrament meeting that they would be able to feel the spirit and sure enough, after the meeting ended they both began to tell us how amazing the talks were and how much they loved it and what an amazing feeling of peace and comfort they had as they sat and listened. gotta love the spirit! It was a really great first experience with church for the both of them and they both expressed their desires to begin to come to church on a regular basis. So that is awesome! Molood and Azar, our two investigators from Iran are still looking positive. We weren't able to teach them this week but we did swing by their work mid way through the week and made contact with them. They are both so nice and want to learn and come to church but they both are just so busy so that makes it really tough.

Dad asked how my clothes and things are doing or if there is anything that I want like in a package or anything.... hmm... well clothes wise I'm doing pretty good. Like I said, one of my suits gave out a couple weeks ago but that is okay. We don't have to wear suits that often in the summer anyways. But I might need to replace it once winter comes around again. But we can take that one as it comes. As for a package... you are never going to believe this but man I am craving peanut butter lately! I never liked peanut butter back home but now I love it. The only problem is... peanut butter here is awful, and really expensive. So that would definitely be much appreciated. One thing that Elder Whitworth's mom did is she took a big thing of Skippy smooth peanut butter from Costco and put it in of of those vacuum bags that you put like meat and stuff in and then suck all the air out. You know what I'm talking about? I can't remember what they're called. But yeah... that's just an idea. Other than that, the only thing I can thing of that I've been missing lately is cheese its. ha ha I had the most random craving for pepper jack cheese its the other day.... ha ha So yeah. there's just a couple of ideas. Of course, as always, American deodorant is always greatly appreciated. I still have a stick and a half but you can never have enough good, American deodorant! ha ha.

So Elder Whitworth and I started something crazy last Tuesday. ha ha So last Monday night we both were talking and we were like man, we are fat! We need to lose weight! So we decided to go on a diet. so... the next morning we made a quick trip to the store and bought a blender and about 300 crowns of fruits and vegetables. Now, for the past week we have been on an all natural fruit and vegetable smoothie diet. So for two meals a day (breakfast and lunch) we drink a smoothie made of just straight fruits and vegetables and then a little bit of milk and yogurt. Then for dinner we eat a light, high protein meal. Am i hungry all the time? Yes. But have I lost 2.5 kilos (5.5 lbs) already? You better believe it! And I feel a ton better! So hopefully Elder brown is down with this diet because I'm definitely not stopping. ha ha You should see our fridge, it just looks like a wild garden on the inside. It's chuck full of fruit and vegetables. So yeah, that was our random impulse decision last week. ha ha.

Man I really can't believe that Tyson is getting married on Friday! So crazy! Baby brother is all grown up! ha ha I'm sure it's really stressful but I'm sure everything will go great and that they will be so happy. Make sure to send lots of pictures!

That antique boutique you went to sounds like a blast mom! I'm glad you found a cool typewriter too! You will definitely have to send me a picture of it one you get it all cleaned and fixed up. I love old stuff like that.

That is so sad about the bombings in Boston! I'm glad they have caught the suspects though. I hear that a factory exploded in Texas too? Was that just an accident of something more? And what's the deal with North Korea? I hear they have been freaking out and threatening everybody with nuclear war? Man... the last day's seriously are here, the world is going to crap.

Well family... that is probably it for this week. I hope you all have an amazing week and know that I love you all so very much! Good luck with the wedding and everything else this week and know that even though I can't be there, I'll be thinking of everybody on Friday. Especially you Ty! Love you buddy, good luck being a married man. ha ha

I love you all so very much! This gospel is true and I love it! I'll end with my favorite quote from the man himself, Brigham young, "I wanted to thunder and roar out the Gospel to the nations. It burned in my bones like fire pent-up, nothing would satisfy me but to cry abroad in the world, what the Lord was doing in the latter days"
Get the dop!

love-

Äldste McKay Vance. 

 This week we went on splits with the elders in the area of Växjö and we saw this awesome viking rune stone! It dates back to around year 1000.





An awesome Rapunzle tower in the city of Landskrona in our area!



Hej men tjäna familjen!


How is everyone this week? This week was really good here in Helsingborg! It wasn't as action packed as last week but it was still really good! Elder Whitworth and I still continue to strive forward in the work and we are seeing success. Hermina's baptism went really well! It was a very simple, small baptismal service but the spirit was amazingly strong. There were only about 15 of us there total but everyone was so excited for Hermina and she was so excited to finally be baptized! She came to church for the first time back in 2011 with her member friend Lucy. So ever since 2011 she has been coming now and again to church and has always felt the spirit here. She had received a book of Mormon from missionaries before but had never been formally taught. So when Elder Whitworth and I started teaching her it went so smoothly! She was so prepared and ready. She was just waiting for us to get our act together and teach her what she needed to know! ha ha For the opening hymn we sang "I am a child of God" and as soon as we started singing both her and Lucy started to cry. She was just so happy and so grateful to have the gospel in her life. I have never seen someone with such innocent and pure faith. She accepted all we taught her without hesitation because she felt the spirit, and recognized his voice testifying to her of the truthfulness of this message. Just before the baptismal service started she began to cry and hug me and just kept saying thank you, and then, as I baptized her and she came up out of the water she just looked me and in eyes and kept saying "Thank you, thank you!" It was a really amazing experience! That is why I love this gospel! Nothing else in this world can give one such simple but perfect and pure joy. This gospel is happiness. The plan our Father has for us is one of love. I am so amazingly grateful for the great blessing I have to walk among these people in Sweden and spread the good message that we have!

Other than the baptism, The week was a fairly normal week. We went on exchanges with the elders in Lund on Thursday so Elder Whitworth went to Lund with Elder Roberts and I took Elder Roberts' greenie, Elder Mangum, back to Helsingborg with me. Elder Mangum is one of Sammy Draper's friends and he is a total stud! He has only been here for three weeks and he is fearless! He didn't hesitate to bear testimony and participate in contacting people and teaching lessons. It was a super fun exchanges. We got to know each other better and had quite a bit in common to talk about. He also was a lacrosse player so he played with Scotty on the high school team a little bit. But yeah, I can see why Nate Lords loved Lund so much. It is one of the coolest little towns! That is where we always have our zone trainings because they have a YSA center there. It is one of those classic towns that you would imagine when you think of old timey Europe. Cobble stone streets and all.
Well family, I know that this email is pretty short but the Internet is being really picky today and giving me a headache so I'm gonna call it a week. But I hope you all have a great week and know that I love you all so very much and that I

love this gospel and my mission so much!

with love-

Äldste Keetch.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles!

Hey family! How are you all?! So this week was definitely another week packed with memorable experiences and stories! Me and Elder Whitworth were talking the other day and it seriously feels like we go, non-stop, 24/7 as zone leaders. Probably because we do. It's good though. I really like it and it makes it so we sleep really really well at night. ha ha. So this week was zone leader council on Wednesday. Zone leader council is a meeting for just zone leaders and the assistants and president once a month up at the mission home in Stockholm. So Wednesday morning our alarm went off and 4:30 and we got up and headed into central station here in Helsingborg and caught a bus to the airport just outside of town. Yep! We got to fly! It was really cool! I did not think that I would sit on a plane again until next March! ha ha But here in Sweden flights are actually super cheap sometimes so it was cheaper to fly up to Stockholm than to take a train. It was only like a 55 minute flight on a pretty small plane with tiny seats but man it was a heck of a lot nicer than sitting on a train for five hours! We got to Stockholm around 10.30 and had zone leader council until about 5.30pm. It went really well and was a great meeting. Well after zone leader council we found out that the office had not booked us a flight back but instead, were going to take us to central station in Stockholm and have us book our own train back. Well, by the time we got to the station it was 6.45 and guess when the last regular train to Helsingborg left Stockholm? Yep, 6:30. ha ha So we were like okay... what do we do? So we went to the booking window and the lady said there was a night train leaving at 9.30 that we could take. Well, actually, when she said this she didn't mention that it was a night train, so we were just like oh sweet! Give us two tickets! So she gets it all booked and hands us our tickets and we are all like okay awesome! When do we get home? Expecting it to be like 1 or 2 in the morning. We look down at our tickets and see departure time: 9:21, arrival time 6:03am!!!! ha ha Oh man both our hearts just stopped! The thing with night trains is that since they just go all through the night they go slower and make lots and lots of stops. So it takes twice as long to get somewhere. But usually it's not that bad because you book a room with a bed and just sleep the whole time. Well, seeing that we had no idea that it was a night train we hadn't gotten bed rooms. We had just booked regular seats! ha ha and the tickets that we bought were non refundable so we couldn't do anything about it! So Elder Whitworth and I went to a near by grocery store, bought some dinner, sat in central station for three hours, and then got on the night train..... lots of crappy sleep, two kinked necks, and eight and a half hours later we rolled into Helsingborg, the sun already starting to come up. Then we had to walk to the church where the car was parked which is fifteen minutes away and then drive home. We staggered into our apartment at about 6:30am Thursday morning. we both quickly got undressed and climbed into bed. But i forgot the best part! We had to be in Lund by 9:30 so that we could teach a zone meeting to the whole zone about what we talked about the previous day in zone leader council. Lund is forty minutes away by car! ha ha So we were able to get an hour and a half nap in before getting up, showering, and then heading to Lund. ha ha It was definitely an adventure! It really wasn't that bad. It was just a very loooong night!


The one up side to the eight and a half hours on the train is that is gave us plenty of time to plan a really good zone training message. We trained on the doctrine and why of baptism. Why our soul purpose as missionaries is to baptize. It went really well and the spirit was so strong as Elder Whitworth and I read from the scriptures and expounded on them and then bore solemn testimony of the truths. Towards the end of the meeting we gave everyone ten minutes to go out on their own to pray and contemplate their own individual purpose here in Sweden. To find their own vision and to feel of their own worth here in Sweden at this time. It was a very spiritual experience and as everyone quietly came back in after those ten or so minutes and sat down there was such a quiet calmness in the room and the spirit was there so abundantly! Elder Whitworth and I were talking after the meeting about how strong the spirit was there. We both noticed how it was a very unique feeling in that room. Almost comparable to the feeling of the celestial room of the temple. Obviously nothing close to that but that is the closest we could come to describing it. It was really a neat meeting and I think everyone really enjoyed it and got something our of it personally.

The other exciting news this week is in our investigators! First and foremost is Hermina, who had made the goal to be baptized this coming Saturday. She came to general conference yesterday and was able to watch a session in her native tongue (tagalog) so that was awesome! She really loved it. Afterwards we sat down and taught her and also planned out the baptism and everything. She is still looking super solid for this Saturday and is really excited to be baptized. She has actually chosen me to baptize her and Elder Whitworth to confirm her. I'm pretty excited because although this isn't my first baptism, it will be my first time performing the actual ordinance. So we are all looking forward to this Saturday and two o'clock when Hermina will be baptized! Other news on the investigator front is that we got to pick up two old investigators again this week. Their names are Danii and Rebeka. I met them once when I very first came to Helsingborg but then they had a baby and moved apartments and a bunch of other stuff so for about a month there we had to take a break from teaching them but now they are ready to start back up again. We went on Thursday afternoon and helped them move and then had a small lesson and it went really well. They have a long way to go, but are great people and are open to our message and want to change their lives.

So conference was absolutely amazing! This was my third conference while on the mission and each time I still just get so giddy and excited! It's the absolute best! So here in Sweden how they do conference is on Saturday night at 6.00 everyone comes to the chapel and watched the Saturday morning session live (because of the time difference) then on Sunday morning we watch the priesthood session, then the Saturday afternoon session and then we watch the Sunday morning session live again at 6.00 that night. All at the church. And the best part is since basically everyone can speak or at least understand English here they always play conference in both English and Swedish. Most the Swedes prefer English so that they can hear the prophet's and apostle's real voices instead of the translators. So we always just watch it in English. So that is nice! There were so many wonderful, bold, and simple talks this conference. I loved it! President Monson is always a favorite of course! He was really on one yesterday with the facial expressions! ha ha Russell M. Nelson's was a favorite also with his whole "catch the wave" talk. I really hope the members here were listening! ha ha. I also really enjoyed L. Whitney Clayton's talk! Even if it was a little trunky.... ha ha. :) It is always just so spiritually uplifting and refreshing to listen to conference! I love it! We were not able to see the Sunday afternoon session so we will have to watch that sometime this week.
Man I can't believe the wedding is coming so soon! What date is it going to be on again? And when would you like me to send a picture for my cardboard cut out? Or do you already have one? ha ha Just kidding, if it doesn't happen it doesn't happen. I have no idea how much those things cost anyways.

Oh and before I forget again! Do you remember Nadia from Täby? She was one of our investigators that was really solid but just couldn't quit drinking coffee. Well she got baptized last week! The Elders in Täby sent me some pics so I'll have to forward them on. It's so good to finally see her get in the water!

Well I think that is about it for this week. Keep me updated on who wins the NCAA championship dad! And keep me updated on anything else in the sports or home front! I love you all so very much and hope you all have amazing weeks! I'll talk to you next week! Love you all!

Love-

McKay.

Nadjia´s Baptism‏

Here's the pictures from Nadija's baptism! It really stinks that I couldn't be there.
I taught her for three and a half months. But it definitely feels good just to see her baptized finally.

It's FINALLY Spring!



My destroyed suit pants. May they rest in peace.

Happy late Easter!!!

Well here we are again! I feel like when I first got transferred down here to Helsingborg that time slowed down for a little while. zthose first two weeks went by really slowly. But now time has sped back up to its regular, break neck pace.

So this week was a pretty normal week. We had a good p-day of just relaxing on Monday. I took a nice, hour and a half nap while Elder Whitworth lay on the floor in the little box of sunlight that came through the window. It has finally decided to be spring somewhat here. It is supposed to be about 7 degrees (45 F) all week here. Which will feel super good! Hopefully it will just go up from there! On Tuesday we went to Halmstad to have district meeting with them. It was a really good meeting by Elder Simpson and then, afterwards Elder Simpson took us outside and said we would be doing a "fun activity"... well... that fun activity was... the dreaded surströmming... ha ha yep. He had bought a can of it and it was time for round two. And it didn't go any better than round one! ha ha I don't know if you all remember when I ate surströmming for the first time last summer but yeah... I threw up. ha ha It was a repeat this time. ha ha It was awful. And it was even worse this time because this time, instead of having a tiny bit on a piece of bread with cheese and stuff, we just opened the can and did whole fish! ha ha So we just picked them up by their tails and ate them whole. ha ha It was the worst! I could only bear to chew mine for about ten seconds before it came back out. It is seriously the worst smell and taste you could ever imagine. Like seriously that stuff should be on fear factor. So nasty! I don't know if I explained this before but surströmming literally translates to "sour herring". ha ha So anyways, after district meeting we went back to Helsingborg and had a pretty normal day and then that night we went to a members house, the Malmstens, to have dinner and celebrate their son Daniel's birthday. It was really fun. The Malmsten's are... well... a little crazy... but they are awesome and they love the missionaries so much! haha They will definitely be a family I take you guys to meet if/when we come back. They are so amazing and they have the missionaries over for dinner like every week. The ward really is amazing here in Helsingborg. They take good care of us. We get fed probably 3-4 times a week on average. Which is the most I've had on my mission. Then, on Tuesday night, something tragic happened.... as we were walking from the car to the apartment Elder Whitworth and I started running up the stairs and stuff and in the process my pants ripped... big time. ha ha So I am now down one suit. It was my blue suit with white buttons that I bought last summer from H&M. I was so mad! ha ha I love that suit! It is my first Swedish suit. ha ha When I looked at the pants that night I just kinda laughed because all I could think about was a picture that Tyson sent home while he was on his mission of him holding a pair of his shoes that he had walked in to the point that they had fallen apart and gotten holes. I just thought it was a funny contrast between our two missions. He walks his shoes right off of his feet and I tear the crotch in my tight Swedish pants. ha ha But yeah, so no more blue suit :( May he rest in peace.

Wednesday was a normal day and then on Thursday we went down to Malmö, went to their district meeting and then went on splits with them. I was with Elder Hitch who is still a pretty young elder, he just finished his training, and then Elder Whitworth was with his comp, Elder Martinsson, who is also kinda young on the mission and is kinda having some issues right now with laziness and disobedience. That's why we went down there on exchanges. So we worked the rest of Thursday there with them and then stayed the night and then went back on Friday morning. It was really good and helped them a lot I think. Other than that the week was pretty mellow.
As far as investigators go, things are going great! We had six investigators come to church yesterday, three of which were Hermina, who has a baptismal date for the 13th of April, and Molood and Azar, who are referrals from a less active member in the ward. We sat down in the first hour and taught Molood and Azar the restoration and it went really well! They are both very interested in the church and accepted the invitation to be baptized when they receive an answer that it is true. They are from Iran and are the sisters of a less active member's wife. They live in Helsingborg but it is hard to meet with them regularly because of how busy they are with both work and school. They are very positive though. I'm really looking forward to meeting them more. They are awesome! In the second hour we sat down with Hermina and taught her both the plan of salvation and the gospel of Jesus Christ along with a couple commandments. It was a lot at one time but it went so well! She accepted all of it very readily and looks very positive to be baptized on the thirteenth so that is awesome. We are also teaching a kid by the name of Gregor who is the boyfriend of a girl in our ward. We met with him on Wednesday I believe and then again today and things are going really well. It is kind of hard to read him during lessons but he really likes it and wants to continue to meet with us. He is leaving on vacation to turkey this week though so it will probably be a week and a half or so until we can meet with him again.

It sounds like Easter went super good back home! I can't believe that this is my second Easter away already! It feels so weird! ha ha. But I'm glad the picnic went well any that the girls had a blast. ha ha I can't believe how goofy their conversation was on the blanket mom! ha ha oh man... that is priceless.

So holy congratulations to Aubry and Cody! Hayze is so stinking cute! I'm glad everything went well with the delivery and that he is healthy and everything even though he's a little early. Man, my first nephew! He's gonna be a football player for sure! I'll make sure of it... ha ha. Man it's weird to think that I won't be able to meet him until he is one! That is so nuts! So, speaking of birth, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA! I hope VP gets you something nice and you eat some yummy food :) Know that I will be thinking of you on Wednesday and that I love you so much!

Easter here was really good. We had a special Easter program in church that was... a little dull... but good. ha ha It was very Christ centered though so I can't complain. Then we got invited to dinner by the Höglunds in the ward. It was super fun! They live in an old theater that they have converted into a house so it is pretty big and then it just had this huge, open room with massive white wall they they project movies onto so that was pretty cool. We shared a little movie for our message so we got to watch it on the big screen so that was fun. In Sweden they actually celebrate Easter just like they do Christmas. They celebrate for three days not just one. So Saturday was Påsk Afton (Easter eve) Sunday was Påsk (Easter) and today is Annandag Påsk (second day Easter.) ha ha So that is a little different. As far as food goes, they eat kind the same stuff they do for midsummer and Christmas. But then they also eat this stuff called sill which is pickled herring. It is not nearly as bad as surströmming, which is fermented herring, but it is still definitely not my favorite! ha ha But that is more just for traditions sake. They don't eat too much of it.
Well fam I'm gonna head for now but I want you all to know how very grateful I am for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know that he died for us, and that he lives today. He truly is, as it says in 2nd Nephi 22: 2, my strength, song, and salvation. I love this gospel so very much and I know that it is true!

With all my love-

Äldste McKay Vance. 

Me, Whitworth, and the Malmsten family. They are so awesome!




This is called the turning torso. It is apartently like the tallest building in Europe. Me and Elder Hitch tried to get in it to tract when we were on splits in Malmö. It is so tall that you can see it from Helsingborg!



Comin' in HOT

Hallå Familjen!


I'm glad to hear that you all got a kick out of the zombie lesson that Elder Whitworth and I gave at zone training last week. ha ha It was definitely a lot of fun :) This week wasn't nearly as much traveling as last but we still had a little bit. It was zone conference on Thursday up in Göteborg so on Wednesday night we took a train up to Halmstad which is the northern most area in our zone, and stayed the night with the elders there and then took a train the rest of the way into Göteborg on Thursday morning. Zone conference went really well and then we turned around and went back to Helsingborg that night. Other than that we were in Helsingborg all week so that was really nice to have a full week here in our area. We had 5 investigators in church yesterday, two of which are looking very positive. The first one is a lady named Hermie. She is a referral from Lucy, a Philippino member in our ward. Hermie is also from the Philippines and is very interested in the church. We actually sat down with her and Lucy during Sunday school and taught her the restoration and then invited her to be baptized. She said yes very willingly so we then felt good about extending her a commitment to a date. So we committed her to be baptized on the 13 April and she accepted! So that was pretty awesome! We will have to teach her really rapidly to get her ready by that date but we have faith that she can be ready to be baptized then. The second really positive investigator that we had in church yesterday was another member referral! His name is Gregor and he is the boyfriend of one of the young women in our ward. I guess Moa, the young woman, was feeling sick a few weeks back and Gregor wanted to help her in some way. Well he didn't know what to do but he knew that she was a member of the church so he decided to try praying for her. Well, the next day Moa felt fine again and Gregor was like, holy crap! Prayer works! ha ha So he became interested in the church and wants to learn more! How awesome is that! So yeah, we met him for the first time in church yesterday and set up a time to meet him this week! So definitely keep both him and Hermie in your prayers!

So that is awesome that Barry Holman will be the new bishop! He will do great! He is a really good guy. Mike and Korman will make great counselors too. Mike is a great guy, I really like him a lot. He was always one of my favorite leaders in the ward. That is fun to hear about all the new mission calls in the ward too! I can't believe that we have close to twenty missionaries in the ward! That is so crazy! I think I am starting to forget how big the church really is back home in Utah. I'm so used to being in sacrament meetings with 70 people max (and I've been in what are considered big wards here in Sweden) that it will be crazy to come home to our huge ward again!

So mom and dad, about picking me up next year. I think it would be really fun, but I don't think you guys want to come here in March. It is still pretty cold. Down south here in Helsingborg theres not much snow but it is still pretty chilly and up north in Stockholm they still have quite a bit of snow. I'm not really sure if I'd want to be picked up... it would be really fun, but I think I kinda want to have the experience of coming down the escalator and seeing you all for the first time:) But we'll see. I've still got a long time left! But if you were to ask me I would say lets just come back in June of next year. Because then it is for sure summer, you will be able to experience seeing the sun at midnight and, if we plan it right, we could come for midsummer which is one of the biggest Swedish holidays and it is in the middle of June. So that is what I would say. Obviously that would be more expensive because then you would have to pay for my flights instead of the church, but I think you would be able to get a better experience of Sweden if we did that. What do you guys think?

ANYWAYS! enough of this trunky talk! ha ha

So it sounds like you guys had a good weekend filled with good food as you celebrated Tyson's late b-day! Man I miss dad's BBQ skills and your rice pudding mom! That will have to be one of the first things we have once I'm home. So you asked about some of my favorite Swedish dishes mom... hmm... lets see. I still love the classic köttbullar och potatismos (meatballs and mashed potatoes with brown sauce and lingon berry jam. Like what you get at Ikea) I also really love flygande jakob (flying Jacob) it isn't really a Swedish dish at all but Swedes like it a lot. As for deserts, my favorite has got to be kladdkaka, which is like a super gooey, molten chocolate cake. It is amazing! If you could get a kladdkaka recepie down I would kiss your feet momma! ha ha It is soo yummy! Don't worry momma, I will be filling a suitcase full of Swedish food to bring home with me! There is going to be so much that I miss!
Well that is about it for this week I think. The work is going really good here in Helsingborg and I am still loving it. I hope you all have an amazing week and I will talk to you next week!

Love you all so much!

- Äldste McKay.



Slay The Zombie!!

Hello everyone! So this week was a crazy one but was super good!

So on Wednesday we took a train up to Stockholm for zone leader council and it was really good. We all got together and discussed with President about what the mission needs right now and what we are going to do with our zones specifically. During that council they gave us some time to to sit down in companionship's and really discuss specifically what our zones need and me and Elder Whitworth came up with the best plan! Our whole training would be focused on "slaying the missionary zombie inside of us" We just felt like our zone had lost the fire and the love for missionary work and were just going through the motions of it like a zombie. So we planned our a whole lesson, all about slaying the inner zombie! ha ha So then, on Friday we had a zone training with our whole zone in Lund and it went so awesome! We started out by presenting everyone with three "weapons" for killing the zombie. #1. Prayer #2. Obedience and #3. Love for the people. We trained on the "why" of each one of these things and read the doctrine behind them and the spirit was so strong! Then, at the end of the meeting, it was time to slay the zombie. ha ha. We started up a really epic song, the x-men first class theme song, and gave this huge speech about choosing a weapon, standing up, facing the zombie, and taking him down. Then Elder Whitworth pulled away a sheet that we had hung over the white board to reveal a zombie drawn on the board, then I pulled a Nerf gun out of my bag and called the first member of the zone up. After asking him which of the three weapons he would be using(prayer, obedience, or love), I handed him the gun and let him take a shot at the zombie. We did this for the whole zone and it was so fun! ha ha You could really tell that everyone got really into it and had a lot of fun but at the same time, they had felt the spirit and were ready to go our and hit the streets and kill the zombie and get the dop! ha ha It was so much fun! Me and Elder Whitworth felt really good about it and even had the assistants call us and say "Hey, what did you guys do for your zone training? We keep getting texts from people in your zone saying that they just had the best zone training ever" ha ha So that felt really good! I love being a zone leader for that right there. I love being able to be my goofy self and use it to pump other people up and get them stoked out of their minds for missionary work! ha ha

So then on Saturday, we took a train up to Göteborg and had a weekly planning training session with Sister Newell and the Göteborg zone leaders. It was really long... but there was a lot of good stuff. After that we went out to our favorite kebab pizza place in Göteborg and popped a bottle of magnum (like martinellies) because it was Elder Whitworth birthday that day. ha ha So that was fun.

Yesterday in church we had ward conference and the stake presidency came and pretty much just hammered the ward on missionary work so that was super awesome! We got three member referrals after the meeting. ha ha So at least a few of the members got the message. We also had five investigators there at sacrament meeting so that was pretty awesome!

Those were probably the highlights of the week... sorry, I'm trying to move fast and make up for lost time.

That is so awesome that Aaron Massey is going to be in Denmark in July! hey...if I'm still here in July you might want to let him know that helsingborg is only like a 40 minute drive away from Copenhagen.... just saying... ha ha.
That's awesome that Sammy went into the MTC on Wednesday! She will do so amazing! I can imagine that Mike and sSuz are kind struggling though... poor guys. ha ha It gets easier as time goes by though right?! ha ha

It is pretty nuts to think that I am on the down hill half of my mission! It doesn't seem real... time goes by way too fast!

Well fam, I'm going to call that good for this week and head. I am loving it here in the south and never want to go north of Göteborg again! ha ha The work is great as well as Elder Whitworth and I strive to find, teach, and baptize the prepared.

I love you all very much and will talk to you next week! You're in my prayers as always!

Love- McKay.

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Just some pretty pics of Helsingborg

Sorry about all the email troubles.

(Hey everyone! I have no idea what happened to last weeks email/why it got cut off so I'm just gonna keep going with this email and hopefully cover everything important from last week and this week.)


Hey family!

So... sorry about last week! I logged on to my email this morning and the first thing I see is a bunch of emails all titled "no email last week?!" ha ha and I was immediately like..."oh crap..." haha I was just in such a rush last p-day and stressed out trying to get everything done before I transfered the next day that I must have totally spaced to even click send. Well... I feel retarded... ha ha.

But anyways... So here I am in Skåne (the very southern tip of Sweden) and I am loving it! Ah, I have been dying to come to Skåne ever since I was in the office with Elders' Hart, Leirimaa and Asp because they had all served down here and loved it. And I can see why! The south of Sweden is pretty comparable to the south in the U.S. I would say. It's a lot of farm land and wide open fields with rolling hills. The people talk funny and the architecture is amazing! We have the ocean right next to us! Ah! I am in love! I love Sweden! I am serving in a town called Helsingborg, it is right on the beach and you can see Denmark on the other side. I haven't really had time to take any pictures yet but plenty will be on the way no worries :)

My comp is Äldste Whitworth. He is from Glendora California and has been one of my best friends in the mission since day one. He is in the same group as Sanders, my trainer. We get along really well and have a ton of fun together so that is nice :) It's a nice change. ha ha But yeah me and Elder Whitworth have a ton in common when it comes to our personalities and our taste in music and stuff so that is really nice.

Being a Zone Leader is pretty awesome so far. We are zone leaders of the Malmö zone, which is all of the southern tip of Sweden, from Göteborg down basically. There's not too much crazy about being a Zone Leader, we just keep working like normal in our area but then, at the same time we have some extra responsibilities. We go on splits/exchanges with all the district leaders in our zone and train them in things that president directs us on. We go to what's called zone leader council with all the zone leaders once a month up in Stockholm where we are trained by president so that we can then train the rest of the zone. We teach a zone meeting with the whole zone once a month, and then we help teach and run zone conferences once a quarter. Then we have smaller weekly things like calling all the zone members and giving them "pump up" calls, adding up numbers, and keeping track of baptismal information in our zone. Stuff like that.

So dad asked if I would be traveling much because of the new position and I kinda laughed because, the next two weeks are going to be crazy. ha ha So this week we will go to Stockholm all day Wednesday for zone leader council, then on Thursday we will be in Lund with the whole zone for zone meeting, then on Saturday we will be going to Göteborg for some specialized weekly planning training from Sister Newell with the göteborg zone leaders. then, next week is zone conference! haha so we are going to be super busy for the next little while. What an initiation. ha ha But normally, dad, we will only travel like twice a week. Once on Tuesday for us to go to our own district meeting and then once for us to visit someone else's district meeting on thursdays to go on exchanges. We have a car here in Helsingborg since we are zone leaders so that makes it not too bad.

Our apartment here in really awesome. It is super old and pretty small but I actually really like it. The kitchen is basically just a closet but other than that it is fine. ha ha. We live basically right in the middle of town so that makes things really nice.

The ward here is about two hundred members on paper but we only have about sixty active members. So there is definitely a lot of work to be done here, building the ward from the inside and out.


Nicklas' Dop!

So I'll just go over Niclas' baptism real quick from last week since that kinda got cut off. Everything went really well! He was so excited and everything went really well! He was super nervous that he would have to get dunked more than once but the member who baptized him made sure that didn't happen. ha ha And then on Sunday I got to confirm him and give him the gift of the holy ghost and it was so awesome! The spirit was just so strong durring the confirmation. I am really greatful for the oportunity I had to be a part of that.

 This is how I had to clean the floaties off the top of the water.... with a ladel and a strainer from the kitchen.

Sounds like you have had a good time in California and the temple Mom, Dad and Tyson! Thats good, I'm glad everything went well and that Hallah had a good experience. I love and miss the temple so much! I'm really hoping I'll get to go to the Copenhagen temple while I'm down here! It only takes like a half an hour to get there from here! ha ha. Because we live so close to Denmark down here in the south they speak Swedish with a heavy Danish accent and it's called Skånska. It is seriously like a different language some times. I'm still getting used to it. ha ha I honestly have to idea how to describe it so you'll just have to wait until mothers day and then I can immitate some for you guys. It's nuts.

I'm really sorry, this email probably feels really rushed and scattered but I'm trying my best to include as many details as I can in the little time I have left!

I will have pleanty more time to email next week so feel free to bombard me with questions about things I'm forgetting to mention. But for now I have to go. I love you all very much and I'll see you in a year! :)

Love-

Äldste Keetch.

The Lost E-mail...

Well this week is full of a lot of stories and a lot of news! So I'll guess I'll start with the "old" and end with the "new". So like I mentioned last week, on Tuesday Elder Cheney and I were able to ride up with the assistants to Arlanda airport to pick up the Boyer's. It was so fun! When they first came out I think there were so many kids in white shirts and suits around that they didn't recognize me, so when I went up to Stan, he just went to shake my hand like every one else and then he realized who he was and was like "Oh! I know you! You get a hug!" ha ha It was super funny but yeah they were really excited and we got some pictures together and everything it was super fun.

(Elder Christensen wrote this next paragraph while I went to the bathroom. ha ha) On Wednesday this week Christensen and I went on splits to do Niclas's baptismal interview. I wasn't actually in the room but it went really well and Christensen said that he was really prepared. After that we ended up going around teaching the crap out of people. Like I have always said there is always someone waiting to be taught. So I couldn't just sit down and relax. Could you imagine if Niclas wouldn't have ever been found because we were lazy? That's just not me. Anyway... We went out teaching and it was super fun. Christensen and I go way back to Göteborg. We laughed, we cried it was special. Then we went home and had some O'boy chocolate milk! I don't know if I have talked about this yet but it's the best stuff in the whole world! I will totally send some of it home for you all to try. But there is a special way to eat it. You have to put two scoops in the bottom and then pour the milk in. Before mixing it too much you eat the chocolate that floats to the top. IT IS DELICIOUS. Then you can stir it and drink it. If you feel that your thirst has not been satisfied then you can have another glass to fill the empty spaces in your gut.

Ya so we had the Baptism this week and it went super good! I would normally say that baptisms don't always go as planned but this one really went smoothly and we had no problems at all. Niclas was a little bit nervous but nothing could have stopped him from getting thrust under that water by Brother Olsson ha ha. He was like a member that just hadn't gotten wet. He walked in the door with his suit and nobody could tell that he was the one who was getting baptized. At the end of the service Niclas actually ended up being the one who said the closing prayer. It was a super cool experience and the ward was super excited. the next day in church I confirmed.

A Really Huge, Important PS!!

Hallå där mina älsklingar!


So this week was definitely another great one with a lot to share about! So first off, like I said last week, to celebrate Valentine's day (alla hjärtans dag) and show our love for the Swedish language, the whole mission did an SYL week last week and spoke nothing but Swedish. So this email is essentially the first English I have used since last Monday. ha ha It actually feels kind of weird. but yeah it was actually a really fun week and helped everyone's Swedish a lot! Me, Elder Cheney, and the other two that live with us, Elders Christensen and Jenkins, have decided to just keep speaking Swedish as much as possible, we won't be as strict about it as we were last week, but we are going to try and speak Swedish a majority of the time. It seriously helps so much just having your mind in Swedish mode all the time instead of having to constantly translate from English thoughts to Swedish words. Plus, it's kind of cool to catch yourself thinking or dreaming in Swedish. ha ha Even after eleven months I still can't believe I can speak another language!

So I didn't realize until I read your emails this week how much I failed to explain last week! ha ha Sorry about that! Let me go a little more in depth of where I'm at and who I'm with. So I am in the Vendelsö area and the Vendelsö ward, our area is basically just suburbs and tons of apartment buildings but yes there is a national park in our are too so that is probably why it looks so wooded on google maps dad. Well that and the fact that all of Sweden is basically one huge forest. ha ha. Our area is the smallest geographical area in the entire mission by a long shot. More or less we have like three neighborhoods and that's it. So it's kinda tough to find things to do sometimes, and we get yelled at a lot when we knock doors since every single door in our entire area gets knocked every time new missionaries come in. Elder Cheney (the one on the right of me, my left, in the b-day picture) was here with his original trainer for six weeks before I came in, so I am just finishing up training him for the second half of the twelve week training program. So what happened is that the Handen are, needed a new zone leader, and so president transferred Elder Christensen, Elder Cheney's dad, to Handen and then moved me in to take his place. ha ha So Elder Christensen "transferred" to Handen aread but he didn't even have to move desks or beds. ha ha. So yeah there are four of us in the apartment; myself, Elder Cheney, Elder Christensen, and Elder Jenkins. It is really fun, but I'm not gonna lie, I really miss Elder Hart and Elder Leirimaa. Elder Cheney comes from Lindon but went to Timpanogas High so I had never met him or heard of him. He is a really good kid... but a bit of a challenge. for me and for the rest of the apartment. He is just childish at times. For example, if he gets upset over something, he tends to storm out of the room and lock himself in another room or throw some other sort of fit. And that happens about once a day. So that is kind of hard to deal with. But he is a really good kid and works very hard so that is good. President Newell has talked to him and told him he needs to chill out so hopefully he will grow out of all of this with time. I don't want you guys to feel like I'm ragging on my comp or anything! He really is a great kid and all! He's still just very much so a greenie and needs some more breaking in. ha ha

So things are still going great with Nicklas! He is seriously the definition of a golden investigator! He came to Church again yesterday and is coming with us to the YSA center in Stockholm tonight for family home evening! Everything is looking very positive for him to be baptized on the 2nd of March! We also have another pretty positive investigator, Victor, who is very close to baptism. He has had a baptismal date before but didn't quite make it. His situation is interesting, with the baptismal interview questions he can answer yes to every single one of them except for the very first one, which is, do you believe in God as our eternal heavenly father and in his son Jesus Christ as the savior and redeemer of the world? He really likes church and everything and comes often but he still feels like he hasn't received an answer that God exists. We are actually kind of stuck on what to do with him right now so if you guys could keep him in your prayers that would be great!

So this past week on Thursday I had the opportunity to hold my first baptismal interview! For a lady named Louise who was baptized in Väster Haninge on Saturday. She is African and is so awesome and amazingly faithful! It was a really neat experience to sit down with her and just talk about how much god and Christ mean to her in her life. It definitely helped and uplifted me in my testimony! Her baptism went really well and Nicklas and Victor were both there to watch so that was really good!

I'm glad to hear that everyone had a good Valentine's day! and I'm really glad that you didn't have to serve jury duty mom! ha ha.
That is super cool that you got to see Rea in the temple the other day mom! Next time you see her give her a big hug from me! I love Rea. She definitely has a special place in my heart. Especially after putting up with me and Spencer on a daily basis through out high school. ha ha Oh man, we were such weirdo's.

Sounds like you guys had a great stake conference! I always just keep thinking back to D&C 88:73, "se, jag skall påskynda mitt verk i dess tid" I'm not exactly sure how it goes in English but something like "ye, i shall hasten my work in it's time" well, the time is now! the lord is showing us that he is ready to hasten his work and bring about a second harvest, we just need to show him that we are ready to labor for it.

Have so much for in the Bahamas this week mom and dad! Like you said dad, it's tough work but hey, someones got to do is so it might as well be you VP! ha ha Well I think I'm going to had for this week but I hope you all have amazing weeks and know how much I love and care for each and every one of you!

Love-

Äldste McKay.

P.S. Everyone! I almost forgot to tell you the most important thing that happened this week! I fulfilled one of my life long aspirations! I learned to juggle! ha ha ha I was so excited when I finally got the hang of it. It's something that I've wanted to do learn to do forever. Anyways... talk to you next week! ha ha