Elder McKay

Hi family!

Well, this was a rather blah week.  The hurricane that everyone was making so much fuss about blew right over Jacksonville and only gave us a slight rain.  We were out biking in it. (bummer).  All the missionaries were let down since we were hoping to use this as an chance to give service and have more teaching opportunities.  Apparently it hit pretty hard up in the Carolina's though, so the northern end of the mission may have seen a bit more from it than we did.

Luckily, the library just upgraded their PCs today!  Bahahaha!  Maybe it's because they could see the frustration in my eyes last week when we left.  However, they still restrict time very severely, so this may be another brief update.

I'm glad to hear Collin's wedding went well - the photo was pretty cool.  It's odd, but looking at that photo, I realized that Collin is losing his boyish features and looks a lot older now than I ever remembered him.  =P  Go Mike!  Was that to his girlfriend that was out selling with him?

I'm glad to hear the Howell legacy of running dominance continues. Maybe someday I'll put my own foot into that ring and try my hand (legs?) at it.  I'm probably in better shape now than I ever have been though, so who knows, anything is possible.

My companion is very much in love with his violin and takes it everywhere with him when we have a car and sometimes on bike. He tries to work music into nearly every lesson we have with a progressing investigator.  I guess some people just express themselves differently, but it is pretty cool sometimes.  Most musical instruments are banned,  but one elder out here has a ukulele and Bennion has a violin, so I guess not all instruments are outlawed.

Well, we had a few baptismal dates lined up, but they fell through when no one came to church. On the bright side, I did get to go back up to Brunswick for a few hours to be there for John's baptism.  He was the older gentleman that we spent an hour every morning with for a whole transfer.  =P  Haha, fortunately, it only took about a week for the seed to be planted and grow on it's own. After that, it was pretty much hands off for us missionaries and just watching his testimony of the Book of Mormon grow.  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I'll have to try and get a photo from one of the Brunswick elders sometime in the future.

I'm glad you were able to make it to Chantel's farewell. Her grandparents also took me through all of their photo albums of the time they spent here, so I had a preview before I ever came out.  Lol, I'm glad you enjoyed yourself and "got to know" the family!  ;)

Photos: all from my last P-day in Brunswick when we went out and hit up St. Simon's island and had some fun at the old Fort Frederica ruins.  Seeing the ocean was pretty awesome too even though we are forbidden to set foot on the beach.

Missionary moment!  The girl across the table on another computer just asked me what religion we were from and what the difference is between Mormons and roman catholic!  (Heavenly light!)  Gotta go!

Love ya!

Elder M.