Another Week in Sweden

Hey everyone how are you?! So another crazy Swedish week has rolled by and things are going great! Mom, you were asking about the Swedish people and why I think it's so hard for them to change and accept the gospel. Well there are two main reasons that come to mind. One is just like the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon, they are caught in the wicked traditions of their fathers. Once upon a time Sweden used to be a very christian country. You can tell just by looking around each city here, there are churches everywhere dating back to even the 1600's! But these past few generations have rebelled against that lifestyle by going the opposite way. The second reason and probably the bigger reason is because Swedes are content. They are happy. They make good money, the government pampers them, they are content in their ways and have convinced themselves that they are happy so it's hard to open their eyes and show them that there really is more to be had in this life. They are a pretty prideful people. The reason the church grows so quickly in Africa and South America is because the people there are humble. They don't have much and are willing to accept that there is more to be had. So yeah, those are my thoughts on it. It is definitely tough to have been out seven months and not have a single baptism, but it's okay, I know that as long as I can maybe improve a few people's opinions of the church then I'm doing my job. About investigators, Jill and Mellie are doing...well. We had a dinner at a members with Jill this week and watched the full restoration movie with her. She liked it, but it seems like all she really got out of it was that Joseph Smith gave all he had and all he got was a bullet in return. She is very angry with God and has a lot of "why" questions like "why would God let this or that happen?" So it's kinda hard to get through to her. Mellie is looking possibly more positive as of now, she is definitely more humble, but she is harder to meet with. As for the mormon.org referral, her name is Emillie Nilsson-dag. She is really nice and seems pretty interested but has a hard time meeting with us because she is a college student in a different city so it's hard to catch her at home. She lives in Uddevalla(about 30 min away from Trollhättan.) so that's the update on the work for this week. Things are going forward slowly so that's good.

This Friday we will have zone conference here in Göteborg, I'm super excited! We will have personal interviews with President so I'm hoping to find out what President's plans are for me. If he still plans on taking me to the office or if I'm staying here for a while. we'll see. I love Trollhättan but I am definitely ready for a change. Trollhättan is a really hard ward to be in. To put it bluntly, they don't really like the missionaries. So it's hard to trust them with our investigators we bring to church. It's just not a very strong ward so that makes it hard. That is why me and Elder Saldutti are trying so hard to strengthen the ward with the PMG lessons. Mom, that is so awesome about the PMG studies that you are doing now! I love that book and have such a strong testimony that it is scripture. 

Oh man I can't believe that the world series is already almost here! I don't quite know who to root for Dad, what about you? Let me know who the final two are and I'll pick from there, haha.  That way I'll  have a 50/50 percent chance of getting it right, haha.  Good luck to PG with Bingham! That's always a tough game. Man I miss sports! Sounds like those chickens turned out great Dad! Man I can't wait to come home to a smoke master for a dad! I'll never move out. I'm sorry Dad, but I can't say I'm sorry I'm not there to help you pull up the garden... haha but I hope it's not too big of a project! 

Well fam, I'm gonna head for the week but know that I love you and miss you all so very much! I am so grateful for my chance to be her in Sweden! I really do love this place and these people even if it isn't a very fruitful work. I just revel in the small victories :) 

Love you all!-

Elder McKay.

Man, I LOVE Conference!

Hey fam, How is it going! Can you believe that it was conference again already!? This was my second conference in the field, so nuts! So we were blessed and were able to see all but the Sunday evening session and because of the time difference we actually got to watch the Saturday and Sunday morning sessions live. The same time that you guys were sitting in the living room watching those sessions at ten in the morning, I was sitting in the chapel watching them at six at night, haha crazy to think about huh? Since I live in Sweden where everyone speaks English, they had conference available in English and Swedish. like half the ward watches in English so that they can hear the general authorities actual voices instead of the translators. We watched in English. Theres just something about those men's voices that gives their talks even more power. Mom wanted to know how the preisthood session worked. Well Saturday night at six we watched the Saturday morning session, then on Sunday we watched the preisthood session, then the Saturday night session and then the Sunday morning session at six. It was a day full of conference :) I loved it! That is seriously crazy about elders and sisters being able to serve earlier! I feel like the biggest effect it will have is more girls serving missions, so that'll be good. If I could do it over again I'm not sure if I would leave at eighteen. that semseter at SUU was so fun and really helped me get ready to go on the mish. I think I would still wait to nineteen. but at the same time it would be nice to just leave right out of high school. A few of my favorite talks were definitely Elder Holland, Elder Echo Hawk (what an awesome name!) and I also really liked Elder Gay's about how there's too much self justification of sin. That really hit me because there really is too much, "It's just a few dollars, it's not a big deal" stuff like that. It made me realize I need to stop self justifying and own up to my short comings and trust in the atonement more. I feel like that's why people justify their sins is because they don't trust in the Saviors atonement like they should. I know I need to be better at that. I love talks that really make me step back and analyze myself. So it's really good to hear that my new card is here! If you guys could put a little money on it, I think I'm going to start to buy some more layers and things. It is starting to get cold and dark here, fast. The colors are slowly starting to change, but not as vibrantly as they do back in Utah. That is cool to hear that that sister from Idaho called you guys! She was so nice! but yeah, It was her and her Swedish friend who I was talking to in that experience I shared with you guys. I didn't tell you guys that she was planning on calling you because I wanted it to be a surprise :) haha so surprise! Mom, about the package, hmm... if you could fit in a stick or two of deoderant that would be great. I'm on my last stick. other than that.... hmm... I'm not sure other than that! Surprise me! Thank you for the package in advance! You have no idea how much mail means to a missionary. Wow sounds like there were some crazy close games for football this week! Man I love it when we beat Lone Peak! haha Keep me posted on baseball for sure too. I miss American sports... but innebandy is amazing here! Well that's about it for this week. Elder Saldutti is feeling better now so that's good. I am in good health recently. I've only been sick enough to stay in the apartment once since I've been here in Sweden. I've had a fever once Mom, but don't worry, the ceiling didn't fall in on me! haha. It was just a low one. The work is still moving slowly forward here in Trollhättan. Our investigators have been... difficult... to say the least. Haha we can just never meet with them the past couple weeks, but hopefully it'll get better. Know that I love you all so very much and am so greatful for the environment I was raised in as a member of this church! I know it's true and that this is a chosen work that I'm a part of. I love my mission and love this gospel!


love you!

-Äldste McKay.

Sorry...

So the subject of this email is sorry because i think this might be a short email again this week! I am so sorry but me and Elder Saldutti need to get back to Trollhättan a little early today since we have an appointment right at six tonight. But I'll try to type as much as I can in the short time I have! So this week was a good week but a slow one. About mid way through the week Elder Saldutti got pretty sick so there was more sitting in the appartment than usual. So on Tuesday we went to the Shropes house and had dinner with one of our new investigators! Her name is Jill, she is 40 years old and has three kids. A girl who is five, and two boys who are eight and fourteen. they are all christian and have really good standards which is crazy rare here in Sweden let me tell ya... just the fact that they are christian makes them a minority here. So we had dinner and had a really good discussion with Jill about her religious background and then we sat down with the kids and everyone and watched the restoration movie. She really liked it and said she was excited to read in the book of mormon and find out more! ah it was so perfect! it was definitely the highlight of the week! other than that we just did some more less active work this week and began this thing where we are going to visit the members in the ward and teach them how to use PMG in there daily lives and help them realize that its not just for missionaries. PMG really is so amazing! I wish I would have realized how amazing it is before my mission! haha but I think these PMG lessons will be really good, the biggest problem here in trollhättan and the biggest reason it's one of the most unsucessful areas in the mission is because the ward isn't very enthusiastic about helping the missionaries or about missionary work in general so this should be really good.


It's starting to get pretty cold here! haha It's scary, and it's getting dark! I guess by the end of October/first of November the sun will be setting at 3 o'clock or something crazy like that! So we'll see what that's like.

Sounds like Cedar City is a blast! I would love to go to the shakespeare festival one day, I think I'd like it. Anyway, I'm sorry this is so short but I've gotta head! I love you all so very much! Thank you again for all you do for me! I feel each and every one of your prayers. I'm so greatful for each and every one of you and for my chance to be here in sweden! It is definitely hard work, but I wouldn't trade it for the world! I love you all!

ps. I can't wait for conference!!!

pps. I love you all!

ppps. yeah elder saldutti plays guitar. he is super good! he was in a couple bands before his mish that we're pretty famous.