God Jul!!

Hey everyone! So this is going to be a super short email because, even though it's p-day today, it is also Christmas! ha ha in Scandinavia the main celebration is on Christmas eve (julafton) and then they keep celebrating through the 25th (juldagen) and the 26th (annandag) ha ha Swedes love their Christmas! So yeah, we are leaving to spend julafton with a member family in down town Stockholm here in about an hour so we need to get ready. But I'll share a little bit about my week quickly and a few things I forgot to tell you all last week.


So we got some exciting news from Salt Lake two days ago! The greenies got their visas! wooohooo! So they will be getting here on the 27th! We are so excited to finally get them here! It is definitely an answer to many many prayers that they were able to get their visas before the end of the year. So this week will be crazy with all the Jul celebrations and then with the greenies coming! So I forgot to tell you the new situation here at the office! So now the assistants are Elders Hart and Leirimaa, and we are doing the split companionship's thing like we did before when I was with Elder Lamb for proselyting. So now I am with Elder Leirimaa for proselyting but, since we are low on missionaries right now, we don't have any Elders in Stockholm, as in down town Stockholm in the city itself. So that is now mine and Elder Leirimaa's area! Elder Leirimaa was just there as a zone leader before he came to the office so he knows the area and the investigators so we now go into Stockholm to proselyte and teach and Elders Hart and Asp stay here in Täby. It's kind of confusing at times but it is really cool! Elder Leirimaa is awesome and since he is Finnish he is fluent in Swedish so it helps me with my language a lot. So yeah that's update from the office now a days. I really do love the office so much! It's a really fun place and from the looks of things president is planning on having me stay here until March and then leave in March to train a greenie so that would mean
I would be here for the Boyer's when they get here! So I hope that it works out like that! Tell them hi from me and that I can't wait to see them! oh and tell Elder Boyer god Jul och gott nytt år!

So I am so excited to Skye everybody! Lets plan on doing it at 8 o'clock my time tomorrow, so that would be like noon your guys' time wouldn't it? I hope that works! If not email me back as soon as you can. but if I don't hear from you I'll just plan on that:) I am so excited!

Well fam sorry this email is so short but hey, we'll be seeing each other tomorrow! Even if it is just through a computer! ha ha thank you all so much for all you do for me and how loved you make me feel! I love you all so much and I'll talk to you tomorrow!

love-

McKay.

p.s. thank you so much for my pre Christmas package momma! We ate the jerky in one sitting and the Santa hats have been a hit in the office! ha ha and I may or may not have freaked out when I saw all the emergenC! You know me too well momma! ha ha

p.p.s. and the caramels are a hit and I love the vinylmation! Thank you so much momma! You are the greatest! I love you so much!

Pics

From the Editor: Finally have access to internet at my house so I have put all the pictures McKay has sent into the posts they go with. So, feel free to scroll back and enjoy the goodies.

We got the Dop!

Hey family how are you?! So just as I said in the subject of the email, we got the dop this week! haha Dop is the Swedish word for baptism and you pronounce it "dope" haha so we always say stuff like "go get the dop tonight!" or "that guy definitely needs to get dop'd" haha anyways, yeah, Björne got baptized on Saturday and it was such an amazing day! Björne was just glowing and so happy! The best part is, his 86 year old father in law baptized him! haha Before the baptism Elder Lamb went up the the father in law and was like are you going to be okay baptizing him? He just looks at Elder Lamb and is like "obviously! Watch this." and gets down on the ground right there and starts doing pushups. haha It was so funny. But yeah he had no problem baptizing Björne and everything went super well so that was awesome:) It felt so awesome to just sit there on Sunday and see him confirmed and then welcomed in by the whole ward throughout church. He is going to make such an amazing member. Well other than that this week was a really crazy week. We were very very very busy all week getting everything prepared for zone conferences on Thursday and Friday and then had zone conference, then the baptism, then church, and now it's Monday again all of the sudden. haha So that was pretty nuts. Elders Lamb and Marchant go home tomorrow so that is defnitely depressing.... I love those guys so much. Elder Marchant has been with me my whole mission basically since he was my zl in Göteborg and then came up here to be AP. So it will definitely be weird with them gone but the new assistants, Elders Hart and Lerimaa will be awesome. They are both such amazing missionaries and really cool kids. So since Elder Marchant and Elder Lamb's group is going home tomorrow we get to help driving people all over and get everything ready for that, so I've been up since five and unfortunately, we don't get a p-day today, just some time to write really quickly before we need to leave again. me and Elder Asp will probably take like a half p-day on Wednesday afternoon just to go get groceries and things like that. So I am really sorry but this email is going to be kind of super short :( So dad and mom, the mo-tab concert sounds like it was awesome! and wow that is so cool that you guys got to hear that guest singer belt out those Les Mis songs! I bet that was amazing! Don't worry dad, the Lord will "bring me home" in my due time :) about 15 months or so. haha. Thank you for getting me and ornament from Vegas this year even though I'm not there! It looks so cool! Thanks for the picture! Tell Kurt and Brooke congrats on little baby Tatum! She looks so cute! How's Aubs doing with her prego-ness? Is eveything coming along well? I pray evey day for her and the little guy :) So momma, I haven't seen any packages with my name on them yet other than one from megs but i'm sure they'll be here soon :) Thank you so much in advance! You are too good to me! I can't believe that my package already go to you guys! That is awesome! I was really worried that it wouldn't get there before Christmas so that is awesome! I hope you all like what I sent! But yeah that is the only package. Sorry there's not more! haha I would love to send you guys so much stuff but stuff is so darn expensive here so I have to be careful! haha. Thank you so much Dad for putting some money in my account. I will probably get a new suit or possible some ties or something after Christmas when everything goes on sale. So that will be awesome. Thank you so much! So in answer to the question about how Swede's decorate, some of them do lights but not many, mainly because almost everyone lives in an apartment, but something everyone does is they hang these big, lit up, stars in their windows and put these neat candle holders in all their windows and light candles. Just google image search Swedish christmas candle holders and you'll see what I mean. But yeah every window in the whole town basically has one of those two things in it so that is really pretty :) Anyways, I'm so sorry this email is so short but I need to go! I love you all so much and hope you have an amazing week! I can't wait to talk to you all in like a week and a half!


God Jul!
Love-

Äldste McKay.