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

Cat's Out of The Bag!

Well it looks like you all already know my big news (or at lease mom and dad do) so it won't come as as big of a surprise but yep, I have been transferred. It was a pretty sudden transfer but that is what happens when your mission president doesn't follow any set transfer cycle. ha ha So here I am in the area of Vendelsö, it is in the Stockholm south stake/zone and is a really tiny area, at lease compared to the rest of the areas in the mission. My new companion is named Elder Cheney. He is from Lindon and lives kind of down by Walmart. He got here on December 27th. He was part of that group that got delayed in Virginia for a while. His original dad was Elder Christensen but president needed a new zone leader so he moved Elder Christensen to a zone leader position and brought me in to finish training Elder Cheney since I haven't trained yet. So I am kind of like his step dad... or maybe his weird uncle. ha ha We haven't decided yet. So yeah, Tuesday night is when I found out that I would be transferring and then Thursday morning I was moved. It kinda stunk that it was one day before my birthday and President actually felt kind of bad about transferring me right before my birthday so he told me on the phone when he called to tell me I was going to Vendelsö that I would be allowed to come back in on Friday night to celebrate with the Erickson's and the assistants and everybody at the office since I had gotten to be really close with them there. So that was really nice!


My birthday went really well actually! So Thursday morning we had some specialized training from Sister Newell on planning so we went to that and then headed out to begin proselyting. Well on the train to our area we got a text from the office with a referral. It was for a 21 year old kid named Niklas Molander who had gone onto Mormon.org and had clicked the "meet missionaries" button. So we decided to give him a call right then. So we got a hold of him and met him at the centrum in our area called Brandbergen. So we meet him there and just sat down on this bench in the middle of centrum and started teaching him. As soon as we started to teach him I just felt like we needed to commit him to baptism. The normal pattern is that we invite everyone to be baptized on the first lesson and then on the second lesson we commit them to a specific date. But Elder Cheney and myself both felt good about committing him to a date right then. So in the middle of the lesson we pulled out the phone, looked up what three Saturdays from now would be, which is the 2nd of March, and asked him if he would prepare himself to be baptized on the 2nd of March. and he was just like "yep" ha ha it was seriously the easiest baptismal commitment I have ever given! It felt super good to call the office back and be like, hey you know that referral you guys sent us like two hours ago? Yeah, he now has a baptismal date for the 2nd of March! ha ha It was so awesome! The spirit was just so strong there on that bench as we testified to him about the blessings that will come from his decision to be baptized. It was such a good lesson! (just a side note, he came to church on Sunday and loved it! He just kept saying how much better it was than the Swedish church where he usually goes. ha ha) So after we taught him, we went into the center in Stockholm because we had another YSA aged investigator named Johnathan coming. So we took him there and introduced him to all the YSA's and played some ping pong and stuff with him, it was super fun and he had a great time! I actually ended up ripping my pants playing ping pong.... ha ha Dang Swedish pants are a little too tight some times! It's okay though, it wasn't too big of a rip and I actually did a pretty good job of sewing it up the other day if I do say so myself! I think you'd be proud of me momma! ha ha So then, after the center we took the tunnelbana (subway) in to Täby and then caught a bus to the mission office and had a little party with everyone there. It was so much fun! The Erickson's seriously spoiled me rotten! They had decorated everything and had balloons and all sorts of stuff. So we all ate pizza's and then Sis. Erickson made me a cake from her amazing s'mores bars that she makes. They are so good! So we all ate that and then opened my presents. The Erickson's got me a bag of my favorite Swedish candy bars, Kex, and then they also gave me a book but the book is wrapped up and says do not open until I go home. ha ha So they made me promise to just tuck it into my suitcase and not open it until I'm home. The assistants were so nice and got me these awesome Swedish cuff links that are gold and blue with the Swedish three crown design on them. They are so nice! I wore them to the baptism on Saturday and to church on Sunday and I love them! I miss Elders Hart and Leirimaa so much! They are the best. So then, I saved the best for last, my package from you! Oh man thank you so much for everything! That was like the best package I have ever gotten! You know me too well momma! ha ha everyone laughed so hard when I pulled out those beautiful pictures of me and that wrestling book. ha ha that was a fun little surprise :) Thank you so much for both the ties! I love them! That banana republic one is really good looking and I had really missed my knit tie so I am glad to be able to sport it again:) ha ha and the tie clip is perfect! I love it! It looks so good! Oh and I love the sweater too! I needed a new one because my blue one got a whole in it so that was perfect! Thank you so very much! For everything! This really was an amazing birthday. I was blessed with amazing spiritual and social experiences and am so grateful to have spent that day in the service of the lord!

So yesterday was a great day too. I think I made a good impression on the ward seeing that we had two investigators in church, which isn't very many at all, but I guess most of the ward can't even remember when the last time they had two investigators at church at the same time was. So that was good to see them get excited about that.

Elder Hart, Me, Bell, the member that dop'd her, and Elder Leirimaa

Oh and I almost forgot! Saturday we had another baptism! Bell got baptized! She is the Thai girl that me and Elder Leirimaa found and started teaching at the center about a month and a half ago. She is so solid and her baptismal service was amazing! Seriously probably the best I've been. I was really lucky that I didn't get transferred very far so that I was still able to attend. Seeing that it was myself and Elder Leirimaa that found, taught, and set the baptismal date with her. She was so incredibly prepared! It is the same way with our Niklas. I can't wait to continue to teach Niklas and help him along that same path.

 Picture of Bell with all the YSA's that helped fellowship her.

So you were asking about my mood lately mom because of the darkness and everything. I'm not gonna lie, it is starting to get to me. I don't feel depressed or anything but I am always unbelievably tired and just not as perky I guess you could say. ha ha I am really sick of the constant darkness and freezing cold. Especially now that I don't have a car any more. ha ha. But oh well. It is getting lighter day by day here so that is good. It's not pitch black until about 5:30 now instead of 3:00 so that is nice! ha ha. I feel like I am starting to come down with a cold so that is no good. We actually live with the zone leaders in an apartment in Jordbro and both the zone leaders are really sick right now so I think I got it front them. So that kind of stinks. But hopefully it won't be too bad.

Well that is about all I can think to write about this week. I hope you all have good weeks this week and mom, I will pray you get off the hook for jury duty on Valentines! That would be an awful way to spend Valentines! I love you all so much!

Love- McKay the 20 year old

P.S.- So this week we are having a mission wide SYL(speak your language) week. Since it's Valentines week and we want to show our love for the Swedish language and people. So as a misison we are going to speak Swedish 24/7, all week. ha ha It should be fun, especially seeing that I am with a greenie right now. But yeah so it looks like this is the last English I will use all week. Wish me luck!

Birthday Dop!

Tjabba Familjen!


Man this week was a good week! Where do I even start?! ha ha I guess I will start with the only let down of the week and then go up from there ha ha. We didn't get to see the king :( it was just a rumor that he was going to be there. ha ha But they did have the changing of the guard ceremony at the palace and so we watched that. They have knights that stand in those booths like they do at Buckingham palace but they are not nearly as up tight as the English ones. Like they don't act like statues. ha ha They hold really still but if you go up and talk to them, a lot of times they will talk back. ha ha So we just watched that and then went and hung out with a bunch of missionaries because is was sister Spjut's birthday. So that was super fun.

So this week we had what is called a Leadership Training Conference for the whole mission. They do it every other month for one day but at the first of the year they do a more extended one for three days. So we bring all the leadership in the mission (district leaders, zone leaders, and assistants) in to Stockholm and have training on how to lead the mission basically. And since I am a district leader I got to attend and it was seriously so good! It was three LONG days of sitting in work shops and doing role plays and things but it was seriously so good! The spirit was so strong and it was just rejuvenating. So for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, we were all in the Täby chapel from 8 am to 5 pm and then at 5 pm we would go out and proselyte. But since we had so many extra people here in the area for those three nights we had to all split up and divide and conquer ha ha. So I got to go out and proselyte with Elder Hart's "son", Elder Svensson. He is the sickest kid in the world! I love him so much! We automatically just hit it off. He is actually Swedish and comes from a city called örebro. Me and him got a long really well and by the end of the three days we were telling Elder Hart that he has to talk President into making me and him companions. ha ha. So anyways, that was really fun!

Then, the highlight of the week came on Saturday with Zaya's baptism! It was so awesome! Zaya and his whole family were so excited that I was able to come and they kept asking me why I had left and telling me how much they missed me. I was really touched by that. Everything with the baptism went really well. A young man from the Stockholm ward who had been a really big fellowshipper to Zaya baptized him so that was super awesome! Especially because that kid, Jerry is his name, is 17 and is getting ready to start his papers. So that was really good for him to have that experience before his mission. It was so cute, after Zaya was baptized, his little brother, Tower, kept coming up to me and asking if he could get baptized next Saturday. ha ha The rest of the family has a date for the 23rd of February and we would really like them all to be baptized together so we kept having to explain to him that he had to wait just a little bit longer. ha ha But yeah, after the baptism this weekend it is looking very positive that the rest of the family will follow on the 23rd.

So thank you all for the birthday wishes! It will probably just be a normal day, but tonight after proselyting we are going to go over to the Erickson's and have a little celebration so that should be fun:) I'm excited! Thank you so very much in advance for my package mom! You're the best! I picked up my back pack last Monday and it is the greatest thing every! ha ha I seriously love it so much! It's called the Haglöfs Corker and it is so nice! It fits really flush with your back so you can hardly feel it when it's on. I have been carrying my English quad, Swedish scriptures, an English BoM, a Swedish BoM, my PMG, a ward list binder, and a note pad, plus my camera and stuff like that and it feels like nothing when you put it one. It's nuts! ha ha So thank you for letting me get it! I love it.

Grandpa said in their email that Baltimore won the super bowl. That's good I guess. ha ha I honestly didn't have an opinion this year. Probably because I haven't seen any games, and I'm not really partial to either team. But I probably would have taken the Ravens over the 9ers anyways.

Well fam, I think that is about it for the week. I will send some pics of the baptism and my back pack and stuff in another email. I love you all so much and hope you all have awesome weeks! Here's a big puss and kram from Sweden!

Love- McKay