Elder Mackey's April 25, 2011 E-mail - Pictures!

A family we stayed with

BOMB cake

Tavirus and his mom

How about this Rock, Dad?

Elder Steele

Elder Mosley

Awesome car

Dear Family!!
Vern and Jess you better watch those bunnies. haha Thank you everyone
for the cards and the gifts! Thank you Shirley for the movie, it was
awesome! I liked Wes's and his brother (I forget his name) wrestling
match! That was very sneaky Luke. Zane you are getting so big now keep
your hair as long as you can before you turn out like your dad. :D Hal
and Whit are cute plus their younger brother. I am forgetting names.
Brandon's kids thank you and Carter and Gavin it was so cute watching
you guys sings. :D Ella, Caden, and Tay Tay plus Jill and Zack are
really good at singing. haha Where was Jeremy? Val thank you very much
for the sweet card and for the chicken making some macaroni. Did he
get deported? haha Thank you very very very much Sister Tryon and
Rachelle for the letters you send me and for the Easter package.
Sister Johnson and Lauren thank you so much for your presents and
candy and your letters! :D THANK YOU EVERYONE!!! Plus for mom and dad
for your love and prayers for me!!! I LOVE EVERYONE! (even when I dont
remember your names)

So this week was awesome! We had great success! So on Saturday I kinda
should of shut my mouth but we were talking to some kids that came out
of the house right after we talked to the mom. I asked if the adults
in the house were doing bad stuff because they were cussing at us and
ya. Well we got a voice mail of this lady yelling at us for telling
their kids that they were doing drugs. I felt so bad. :( That day too
I prayed to have a trial to follow Elder Christoferson's counsel. Well
I got through it. On Wednesday we had a dinner with a member where a
non-member is living with them. I did not know this. So she walked in
during dinner and got some dinner and sat down and I started teaching
her. She knows the Book of Mormon is true and love the Mormons because
she was raised around Mormons her whole life. Her only problem was
that she was already baptized in the Catholic church. We were going to
give the Sister that lives there a blessing and I asked her if she
would like one because she was going to have surgery the following day
and she was really scared and nervous. She wanted one. The Spirit was
so strong in there and right when Elder Holmes started the blessing
she started crying. After the blessing she said that she had a lot of
fear and nervousness before the blessing but right when it started she
felt it all leave and then the Spirit come and give her peace and
comfort, it was so cool! Very spiritual.

I didnt get any mail on my birthday but that was ok. :) I had a lot of
mail before and after. What I have written in my Journal is about a
handicap black boy. He is so funny and I love him so much. We tracted
into them and the mother became an investigator. We go on bike rides
up and down the street with him for like 10 min 2-3 times a week. He
loves it as do I! His name is Tavirus. On Thursday we went by to go
bike riding and we caught them just leaving and Tavirus was asking us
when we were going to come over again (he asks us that every time we
meet with him) and I said tomorrow at 4 and his face lit up and his
smile was so heart melting. I love this kid. As we were riding down
the street (this whole street is 90% black) he was asking/telling
everyone to come to church with him. We asked him to come to church
Sunday. (He didnt make it because he forgot. His mom had to work in
the morning.

Friday was awesome! The Spirit was with us the whole day. Cool
experience: So I learned that every street we pray to tract during
planning the night before, there is always at least one person there
that Heavenly Father wanted us to meet or talk to. We were tracting
this one street, Peters PL NE, and we knocked on a few doors and then
came up to an apartment where you had to buzz in but the buzzers were
on the other side so we skipped it and went to the next building. The
next one was apartments where you had to buzz in and I felt or the
Spirit taught me to look at the number or names and buzz one that you
feel you need to talk to. So I felt like I should push 106.... nobody
answered so I pushed 203 and the door opened right away. I didnt know
who opened it so I went to 106 and the kid was walking down the hall
and I acted like we have already met before and he acted like he was
waiting for us. He wanted us to come in and we taught him a short
lesson and we invited him to be baptized on 6-4-11 and he accepted but
with the intent on when he finds out. His name is Juan and he is 19
living with his girlfriend. His gf is a Jehovah Witness and was having
them come over and teach him but he wasnt really into it. I could see
some of his answers were similar to the JW's teaching. He works at the
Marriot and said that he could read the BoM there (we didnt have
anymore on us at that time). So we learned that when we come up to an
apartment with a buzzer to look at the names/numbers and feel for
which one you should buzz. So the next one I tell Elder Holmes its his
turn to receive revelation at which one to buzz and a lady came down
that looked really depressed. I offered to give her a blessing and she
accepted and so today we will be going over to give her a lesson and a
blessing. Then the next apartment was my turn and we find another guy
who wanted to come to church (never did) and learn more. The day was
very Spirit led. Then we had a sesson planned at night and we were
going to do a Restoration chapel tour and it was awesome and we
invited the investigator to be baptized and he accepted for 6-4-11.
His name is Nate. He is 22 years old and we contacted him while he was
walking drunk. He didnt want to meet with us but gave us his brothers
address and told us to talk to him. We stopped by and he was there and
we taught him a lesson. (he lives there as well)

The next day was awesome as well. I am guessing it was for my birthday
but I hope not. I want it to be awesome for the rest of my mission. We
read the Bom with a member who as Alzheimer's in a rest home and he
wasnt there on Saturday. One of the workers there knows I play piano
so asked if I could play for them. So I just played for 45 min then
taught the worker. (she is so awesome! he three year old son is always
asking questions about Jesus so I gave him a Jesus picture) Then we
helped on of our investigators move (she is going to Wisconsin) and
had a great lesson. Then went to Tavirus to ride with him and then
teach his mom which was a great lesson and invited her to be baptized
and she said when she knows but she also said that she felt really
good about the lesson. Then we came home a little early so I wanted to
go to the apartments behind ours and check up on an investigator and
stop by a potential. Well the Investigator wasnt there but we stopped
by the potential and her whole family was there. They believe in the
rapture I didnt know what that was and they told me. (its bogus, I
didnt say that but something similar) I told them that when the
tribulation has come and she is still there to give us a call. They
laughed A LOT about that and they said ok. On our way out we were
stopped by a lady (everyone in the apartment building is black) who
see's us all the time and didnt want anything to do with us but then
all of the sudden she wanted to know what we do, why we do it, and
whats so important about it. We gave her a BoM and told her to read
it. Then we wanted to have a pot-luck lunch and have it be mexican, we
got chicken for really cheap, then everyone was like ya lets do it and
all the blacks there became our friends. The only thing is we dont
really know how to cook the chicken in a crock pot but it will work.

Then Sunday we had another Spiritual day with many blessings. We did
the same thing while we were tracting and found a new investigator and
then we taught a kid who felt shameful and bad about drinking the
night before and then we met another black kid who does wrestling in
college and has three really cute kids and we taught them and it was
just awesome! We taught 21 lessons that week and our numbers were so
high. The Zone Leaders called us wanting to know what we are doing and
how so they can apply what we are doing. :D it was cool. :) I love you
all! I need to write my Pres. Letter. I got some pictures here. One of
me and my trainer, my new companion, a picture for dad with me on the
rock with the question, "How about this rock dad? You think we can get
this one?" haha one of the family in the last area we stayed with.
Tavirus and his mom. Elder mosley. One crazy thing....BYU Idaho was
here doing a singing thing and Jordan Curtis was in the Choir and I
though he looked familiar. Me trying to make the BOMB cake and failing
at it. haha and another one of me and this awesome car i wanted to
buy.

My shoes are great and I dont wear my jackets in a bike area. but no
we dont have to anymore.



--
Love,
Elder David Mackey

Elder Mackey's Letter dated April 18, 2011

Why thank you for all your birthday wishes!!! Well I dont know what
events are going on. haha we did have a lesson yesterday (yesterday
was awesome!!) and we were trying to set a return appointment and she
kept saying that she will just see us on Sunday. I just looked and her
name was on Thursday. I asked my Companion and he said that he had it
too but we dont remember setting an appointment. Maybe its a gift. I
have not received G' Flaherty's email. :( My mailing address 5931 W.
96th St Bloomington, MN 55432 and this is to the mission office. So
this week was awesome! We did a lot of good work. We talk to 34.9
people a day and had to quality gospel conversations with 9.6. the
week before was better though 12.6/47. But we taught 17 lessons that
week and obtained 9 new investigators. I would have pictures but this
computer is not working for my camera. It wont show up in the My
Computer window.
Anyways...So our dateset Chue dropped us last Wednesday. :( Her
husband finally moved back and he said that she cant meet with us.
Then another one of our investigators who was pretty solid and genuine
dropped us as well. Although he did say that he will come to church so
he will come back and be baptized after he comes to church. Yesterday
we taught a lesson to a very sincere guy who really just wants to find
truth. He use to be a youth pastor for 10 years and now when back to
school because he felt the Spirit direct him to be a cop. He is a
school cop for the Middle school and he says that he has more action
in one day than most cops get in one week. There is lots of gangs and
stuff downtown. Anyways, he met with missionaries once before but they
just said that if he really wants to know to read the Book of Mormon.
That was a while ago. He has read almost the whole book and he said
that he has been praying before during and after reading and he has
never received an answer. Now this guy is very humble and I told him
that maybe he is not praying right nad gave him the pamphlet and
showed him the correct way to pray. He said that he will try it that
way to pray. This man really made me humble by he being very
submissive and really wanting to know. I ask for everyone to pray for
him to receive his answer please. His name is Brian. Thank you for you
letter Jeremy. I knew there was some rebel in you. I am so excited for
this week. It could be for all the presents I am going to get or maybe
we are going to get some awesome success!!! I have been having some
really good conversations with the members here in New Brighton and it
really is helping me find my reason or helping me towards the reason
of why I am here. I had an interview with President and the Spirit
told me that I am tyring to make this mission mine when its not and so
I stopped studying spanish. I just needed enough to contact with.
President did say that I should stop for right now. Well I love you
all and I thank you all for all your prayers. Oh Trevor I love your
letter. It was perfect for what I needed for when I got it. Ella and
Caden I will write you a letter, I just need to get on it. It just
stinks because I dont have that much time in one day. The weather has
changed a lot. It did snow again two days ago but it melted the day
after. They have a Cub foods and a Rainbow but we mostly shop at
Walmart and Cub. Rainbow is kinda far with the Target but we go down
there for deal and ya. I am in my short sleeves now. I thought I would
never get to that point. haha but it gets really hot here even in the
50 degree weather on your bike. I love you Dad. I hope you stay alive!
Grandma and Grandpa I love you too! Man I have a lot of relatives!
Welcome Shirleys new baby. (i dont remember his name...i think its
trey) Anybody else pregnant? How is Jimmy and is new wife doing? When
is Adam sending in his papers?

Love,
Elder David Mackey

Elder Mackey's April 11, 2011 Letter

Dear Family, (Mandy)

I am so happy that far off tangent helped someone out. :) This past
week I have been under the weather. I got pretty si O MY
GOODNESS!!!!!!! I wrote this HUGE letter about this awesome story and
it got deleted!!!!!! >:( Stupid Computer!!!!! Danget I dont want to
write it again. I will write it again but there might be stuff left
out and may sound all over the place. Man my wrist was starting to
hurt from typing so much.

Well lets just say I got sick but I kept working hard and the Lord
blessed us so much with many miracles. :) We have 5 new investigators
where the majority seem pretty solid! One of our investigators Chue is
so awesome that is Golden. She was a referral ffrom a different set of
Elders and her story is like so: She was going to get something from
the bank and she saw the missionaries. The Spirit told her that she
needed to tell them her miracles and she didnt think it was God and
said that if I see them agian I will tell them. she got to the bank
and was gathering papers to go in and then looked up and saw the
elders again. She was like whoa ok well then if they wait there then I
know it is from God. They waited there and were actually walking
towards her. (I would like to know the elders side of the story)  She
got out of the car and yelled, "hey Mormons, I have some miracles to
tell you." They got her information and refereed her to us. They
taught her a short lesson on the BoM before I was Transferred over to
here. We tried to get a hold of her two times but was unsuccessful. We
finally got in touch with her and we taught her about the Spirit and
it was strong there. We challenged her to be baptized on april 30 and
she accepted but then said that she wanted to be baptized by some guy
from another church. We told her that she cant and said just a little
about authority and then left. Oh we also found out she smokes but the
Spirit has been telling her that she needs to quit and she has been
doing it. Before the next meeting she was going to drop us 30 min
before nad i tlaked to her and the Spirit was with me and I boldly
told her that you need to read the BoM (she was saying that the Spirit
was telling her to read the Bible) and that you want one of us to
baptize you. She didnt know that we could baptize. I then said that we
are coming over in 15 min. I think my filter left me haha its actually
weird because my companions sya that the things I say would make
people mad or whatever but in the way i say it or something happens
that they dont. So I need to work on that and I have been doing a lot
better. We taught her the first lesson and it made more sense to her.
We told her to read the BoM and come to church. The day before church
she told us how she got her answer to the BoM.

She had a dream 2-3 months ago and in the dream she was at the bottom
of a staircase and a women in the middle with a man at the top. the
man handed the women goden plates and handed them to Chue. She siad
that she didnt know what they were and that they were not her's and
handed them back and the women handed them back to the man. The man
saidthat they were not his and handed them back to the women and the
women handed them to the man syaing they were not her's but for you
chue, its a gift. (the women and the man could have been switched) She
woke up and didnt know what it meant. Well she started to read the BoM
at the introduction and she read "golden plates" and the Spirit
brought her back to that dream and then she under stood. That God
wanted her to have and read the Book of Mormon.

She came to church for the first time and bore her testimony and it
was legit. Afterwards the bishop wanted to meet with her and we were
waiting outside for him and she was saying that the Spirit has been
teaching her stuff that we havent even said like that the Bible is the
word of God and that the BoM is the Power of God. and much more but I
dont remember. She is such a sweet lady. oh also we found out that she
is only traditional married so we will see if her husband will want to
get married. he didnt want her to meet with us. but ya we are so
blessed with her. :D

Last thing is that we asked president if we could study spanish for 15
min after compaionstudy and he said yes. We have a lot of spanish in
our area and so we wanted to be able to contact them. So we have been
contacting like crazy!!! I love it! I am not that good but I can at
least say: Somos misioneros de la inglesia de Jesucristo o mormones.
Tiene Fe en Jesucristo? Queremos compartir un mensaje de jesucristo
con ustead. Nuestro mensaje no quita de sus creencias solo ayuda a
usted a: -aumentar en su fe -acercarse mas a Jesucristo -realizar que
las families pueden ser junto para siempre. Esta interasado(a) en
nuestro mensaje? Tenemos amigos que pueden hablar espanol. Cual es su:
-munero de telephono -direccion -nombre. A que hara es mejor para
usted? We are starrting to pray in spanish as compaions but we need
more. I dont know very much vocabulary and I know how to conjugate but
i dont know like all the grammar stuff. I would like some books if any
have any. a vocab book would be awesome with verbs. I feel the power
from on high helping me. its way cool. I have faith that I will learn
spanish! Well I need to get going. I hope this is ok. :/ I love you
all and please pray that i will acquire the gift of tongues. :D

--
Love,
Elder David Mackey

Elder Mackey's April 4, 2011 Letter - Conference, A New Area and a New Companion

Mandy,
Well really I think or thought that I would write you the e-mail for
everyone to read so I would write a lot of whats going on so everyone
could know as well. If someone writes me an e-mail I will try to write
them back but I will always leave all the main stuff in the e-mail I
send you. I LOVED conference! There were a lot of talks I liked. The
last e-mail I said I was transferred and the new area is very
different. It looks like downtown Phoenix except without the nice
building. I live in an apartment now and the church is right across
the street. Its real nice to wake up and look out the window and see
the church building. Its probably the nicest building around. So
anyways, two days before conference we met a guy at a bus stop and
invited him to conference. He said he would like to come and he did.
We had a lesson before the first session with him and we gave him the
Ensign where the Apostles give their testimonies of Christ and stuff.
It was a special one that they put out. He liked it. He also liked
conference and said that he would come for both session on Sunday but
he never showed up. :/

It snowed this morning while we were inside. Stopped before we got out
so we were lucky. The snow is going down a lot. Its awesome. I had
this thought come to me right now. There are some places were the sun
doesn't reach. In those places there are still heaps of snow. Where
the sun does reach the snow is gone or almost gone. The sun is very
powerful, when its really cold outside but you stand in the sun, you
feel the warmth that it gives. Same with Jesus Christ, when you dont
let Him in your life you will feel the cold and your sins will never
melt away. We need to step out of "hiding" and bask in the sun. Let
the Savior warm our hearts and open our minds. Even when I am out in
the cold and I am walking around, I dont feel the sun. The sun is
shining on me I just dont recognize it. But when I pay attention to it
I feel the warmth. We may be walking in life and have the Spirit with
us but we dont recognize it. We we stop and listen we then will feel
the warmth. (I think it goes along with Elder Bednars' talk) Ya that
was just what I was thinking.

Anyways, my companion is pretty fun. He is actually only one transfer
older than me. We both are learning a lot. He is from Utah and he
loves to hunt and camp and stuff. When I came out here there was no
success. They havent had baptisms for a while here. Way different than
my last area. The people are not too friendly out here as well but we
do find those that are friendly. When I got here there were 5
investigators who are very hard to get a hold of. We now have 4 more.
One of the 5 is an awesome old man. We had such a great lesson. We
were just going to stop by to see if he was there because they couldnt
get a hold of him. He was there and I started to talk about the Book
of Mormon but felt that I should teach the whole first lesson. My
companion felt that too and he was just right on the ball. Oh when we
talked to him at the door he was in a lot of pain because of his leg
and I asked him if we could just share a short 10 min message. He
agreed and then thats when we both felt like we should do the first
lesson. We were there for 40-45 min and he was understanding and the
Spirit was strong there. At the end he said his leg did not bother him
at all while we were talking to him. Our joint teaching gave him a
blessing and we left. It was amazing. The work out here in this area
is tough but those experiences give me hope that we will find another
one like that.

Thank your so much for all your prayers! They are very much needed.
Please pray for the area that I am in. I love you all and this will be
continued till next week.

Elder Mackey

Elder Mackey's March 28, 2011 Letter - First Transfer

Mandy,

Man you wrote me so much!! I hope I can get it all in here and plus
write Jessica, Katie, and Jeremy! So You have a awesome new job! I
knew you would be bringing in the big bucks! hehe Did you pass the bar
yet? Man I miss the big family parties with all the food! Out here we
get fed soooo much and I feel so fat! I am officially 205 now. :( I
need to work out. I like saying tho that I am only weighing so much
because of my massive thighs (muscles weigh more than fat). :D I was
excited when I got a letter from Shirley! I was hoping for a written
letter and everything but then I open it and its just an announcement.
Why do women like to take naked baby pictures? I could so see you
driving a huge truck! haha I have in my mind an only lady in like a
monster truck. haha

I am doing better. I understand that a mission will be hard is never
going to get easy. :/ That is how life will be. Transfer calls were
today and actually we were called last night and my trainer will be
training again (I will have a younger brother) and I will be
transfered to New Brighten. My companion is Elder Holmes. They say is
way cool. He has been out two transfers before me. Its another bike
area. A few days ago the snow melted a whole bunch but then it snowed
once again. Now it is warming up and everything is starting to show
and snow is dissapearing! YEAH!!!! Its still cold though. They say
that last winter there was a total of 40 inches and this winter was 90
inches. I was here on a very very snowing winter. Made 2nd place for
record breaking.

We find a lot here in Apple Valley. We have had a total of 18
investigators but they either drop us on the next visit or they dont
meet with us again. We set a date with a 19 year old who is a black
hole therian. (look it up) We are passing him off to the sisters
though because  they are over the singles ward. We taught 20 lessons
the week before and just this last one we taught 20 again!!! We are
getting bad though on Member presents because we will have lessons
planed for with a memeber and then all of the sudden they cancel. We
found a family tracting and we kept stopping by the house trying to
catch them but the mom would never answer the door or say that they
were busy. We finnally knocked when the husband was there and he let
us in and the wife was driving up and saw our bikes and stopped and
backed up and drove away. The husband was wondering what her problem
was. She came later after he texted her and we taught them a lesson
and they liked it. we are teaching them again tuesday and hopefully
they wont drop us.

I am excited for my new area! I am also stoked for my new companion. I
need a change! I love Elder Steel and all but I need something
different. We both need a change. He is way excited too. Oh guess
what!!! I am soo excited about this too! One of our Zone Leaders is a
spanish elder and he was on exchanges with me. I asked him if you
could tell me how to contact in spanish so I wrote them on cards. I
carry them around with me everywhere. I keep meaning to memorize them.
Well we ran into some spanish peoples and I contacted them in
spanish!!!! I was so excited afterward. Like it was crazy the feelings
I had! I have a spanish pmg, bom, bible, and the study stuff they give
missionaries. I got them from Elder Steel because he was wanting to
learn but never did so now he is giving them to me. I will hopefully
learn spanish when I get home. :) Well I need to get going. Thank you
very much and I love the Quotes!!!! I love you very much!

Love,
Elder Mackey