As the Clouds Roll In

It was somewhat of a slow week by way of events and in this case words. For starters, we had a few baptisms which went well except for one slight factor. We originally had four baptisms scheduled, but one of them was swayed away by what appeared to be friends and family. I guess all we can do is hope that our influence will make it easier for her to accept in the future. Anyway, this is the last week of the transfer. It is very well possible that next week I will be writing from another LAN house. In my opinion, though, I think not because of the way things work with the new President. He prefers we stay in an area for longer periods of time. If I do stay here, it sounds like I'll be well fed during the holiday season. Everyone loves to give the missionaries food. There are already several individuals who are baking cakes for my birthday, which is exciting even though it's still a month away.

It sounds like the elections were pretty crazy back in the States. The people here would ask me if I knew who was going to win, like I would really know, but I guess they figure as an American we seem to have an answer for everything. I also found it quite interesting that they had a huge party to celebrate the presidential elections with cardboard cut-outs of both Obama and McCain. They are concerned politically a lot more about the United States than it seems the U.S. is about the rest of the world. I guess I am guilty of that as well. I've been here close to five months and still couldn't tell you who the President is here.

The weather has been ridiculous lately. Every day it is crazy hot and sunny until it comes time for our P-day, the one day when the sun might be appreciated but instead it rains all day...I don't get it. It's not too big of a deal, though, since we really can't do anything too different on P-day with the rules and such.

The teaching is going good. People are progressing and it appears that James' family is really interested in learning more, which would be awesome for the family as a whole if they made the same commitment as he did. In my area, the life of a member of the Church compared to those who are not is extremely different. Unfortunately, a lot of it has to do with the lack of laws and lack of obedience to them. You never really appreciate laws until you live someplace where they are basically non-existent, and if they do exist, they aren't enforced like they should be.

This past week I saw something you normally don't see everyday...a guy laid down his motorcycle on the pavement around a turn. Crazy! Something else you don't normally see is me making corn cakes like I did earlier today, which was pretty monumental.

Congratulations to USU Men's and Women's Cross Country teams. It's good to hear that both teams won championships...last time that happened was back in 2006! It seems like ages ago.

Kyle, it sounds like football season is going well. You'll have to let me know which college you end up choosing. If you end up picking Utah State, I've got a decent size list of things to do there. In closing, I'm pretty sure next week will bring much more for me to report. As for the pictures, one is of me with some of the local children and the other is our recent baptism. I hope all is well. Tchau.

Um abraço,
Elder Mackay