Elder McKay

Sorry for the delays. The library was closed on Monday for Labor Day and we aren't allowed to use member's computers, so we had to wait until this morning for an opportunity to get online.

Mom, the easiest way to resize photos would probably be to use iPhoto or GIMP or some other free utility to scale the size down or add some compression to the image.

 

So this past week was rather fun. Sunday especially.  Elder Bennion and I were invited down to a member's home in the furthest part of our area for dinner, so we hopped on our bikes after church and started biking.  Talk about a hot day!  We were both pouring sweat before we were even half way there.  Anyway, so we arrived kind of worn out to meet these people that we've never seen before.  It turns out they're from Taiwon and have an authentic Chinese meal lined up for us - some sort of glass noodle stir fry with battered eggplant and fried bananas.  And watermelon.  It was all awesome and I was having fun trying different things like kimchi (pickled cabbage) among others, but Elder Bennion was a bit squeamish about all of these new vegetables.  He was definitely not raised vegetarian!  =P  I got a bowl full of noodle/stir fry stuff and was chowing down when the husband brought out several different kinds of hot sauce.  Most of you know how much I love hot things, so I asked him which one was best and would provide a good "burn".  He immediately handed me a bottle and I poured it all over my noodles.  (Note to self:  look at ingredients on bottle in future before pouring all over food.)  Ahem, a few bites later when my face was red, my mouth was steaming, and the acid was burning a hole in my stomach, I asked him what it was.  "Crushed habaneros and garlic." 

 

It is hard to describe the point where pleasure and pain intersect, but I think I found out that night.  It was the most tasty hot sauce and noodles I could have ever imagined, but it hurt.  I guess you could say it hurt real good.  =D   Hopefully, I'll regain some ability to taste my food over the next few days.

 

What was that you told me once, Mom, about hot stuff being good for circulation?

 

I attached a photo of my companion, Elder Bennion.  He says he has a couple of videos online of him playing and I've gotten a few more, but you can see him by checking YouTube for this username: zviolinking

I'm glad to hear the Howell running legacy continues.  Go team H!  I expect to hear good things about Joe's soccer skills this fall as well.  Is Lou back up and running yet?  This journey that Dad and Jacob are taking sounds like it will be epic.  I'm kind of sad to miss out on that one, but it will be good for both of them to have some time off, I think.  How long will they be gone?

 

Well, Benjamin, I have discovered some of what it is like to be in a tough area.  We are having a hard time finding new investigators.  I think we have pulled in like 4 over the past 3 weeks here in Jacksonville.  We do get a fair amount of referrals, but I've done way more tracting than I've ever done before in the mission.  Sigh, maybe it's city people - people in the Georgia country towns were a lot easier to talk to.  Good luck, brother!

 

Love ya'll,

 

Elder M.