Elder Mackey's May 16, 2011 E-mail

Dear Family,

Thank you very much Mandy for the e-mail. It is very interesting that
you put that in there about obedience because my new companion is not
very obedient. Man the mission is so fun!! I just love it when my
companion and I get in a conflict with each other and then the Spirit
leaves but right when we go to work nothing matters except the people
we are serving and all negative feelings we had with each other leave.
I knew I was going to love this companionship! For real. I have been
learning so much about how to better relate to all sorts of people. We
had an awesome week!! We averaged talking to 39.1 people a day with
13.5 of those being good conversations. Oh also one of our
investigators who we have been trying to get to church actually came
yesterday!!!! I was so surprised! Her boyfriend wasnt able to make it
because someone was trying to break in to their apartment so he stayed
there to hold down the fort. Now these investigators are jobless so
they resort to drinking and smoking. The last two appointment we had
with them Edward was way drunk and we kept saying to Patricia that
they cant get the Spirit unless they leave these addiction (but in a
nicer way) At church yesterday she told us that she was sick of
getting drunk and said that she was tired of Edward getting hammered
as well and just wanted a change! :D How the Spirit works in
mysterious ways. I tried something new that mom would tell me to just
smile no matter what. Soo I have just been smiling so big everywhere I
go: tracting, church, apartment, giving direction to my companion. The
response of those has changed so much! They are more interested, they
are nicer, I council with love! Thank you very much for your advice
Mom!

Thank you very much Katie for your package and the pictures. Socks is
a Mackey present. That bubble gum is so good haha I just eat until the
sour goes away and then throw it away. It was good to see the kids and
Grandma and Grandpa Lee. Thank you very much Luke and Zane for the
letter and picture. :D I am doing great and loving the mission! Zane
the joke about the green grape and the red grape is so funny! The red
grape asked the the green grape, "Man, are you ok? You seem like you
are going to barf." He said this because the green grape looks like he
is sick. hahahaha so funny. Hey Dad I will be needing some money for
meds next week. Thank you all for your prayers!!!!!!

  Love,
Elder David Mackey