So i FINALLY found out about the baby today with Shauna's letter!! it's been killi
ng me. i still need more details though...My month here has been eventful. First of all let me start off by apologizing for not writing for so long, this is the first opportunity i got. i would have been able to write last monday....except i had MALARIA!!!! Four of us brand new elders got sick within the first week out in the feild! it takes until like two weeks after the mosquito bites you for the malaria to make you sick, so i must have gotten bit in the mtc. I'll just say that malaria was the worst experience of my life and leave it at that.
I'm all healthy now, i just get tired very very quickly so i need to get my strength back. I am SOOOO skinny now, you won't believe it when you see the pictures. i actually gained like 5 or 10 pounds in the mtc, but that and more is long gone now haha.
The mtc was way cool. there were like 62 elders and sisters or something, which may not seem like alot, but it was like double the size of any group they've ever had. we ran out of water one day, and the workers were really stressed i think, but for the most part it went smoothly.
My companion was Elder Darko from Accra and he's 25 years old and is serving in nigeria. he was was cool. he's like 6 ft 3 and has as black of skin as you've ever seen. he said he loves to play basketball so i was excited to play with him...but whe
n i did it was the funniest thing i've ever seen. Watching an African play basketball is like watching one of these American Elders try to play soccer...Darko, like most of the africans naturally just woke up at like five oclock every day. it was ridiculous. all of us americans hated the mornings
because these guys are so loud. he tried to make me feel guilty when i would still be in bed at six oclock. one time i asked him what time he usually got up when he was back at home. With a devilish look in his eye he was like "sometimes i sleep in until 8 oclock!!" he has no idea.those days in the mtc were long...very long. they generally consisted of waking up (earlier than we needed to) every morning, getting ready, personal study for an hour at 7, then breakfast at 8. then we were in class until 12:30 usually and that was rough. Lunch for a half hour the
n companion study for an hour. then a little bit of class before gym time. that was about an hour and was so crowded that it was usually boring. we could play soccer, basketball, volleyball, or ping pong. i never even played volleyball with them it was bad. i played alotta ping pong (there were some WAY good pongers here it was sweet). After gym we showered then ate dinner. then it was usually class from 545-9. long. the classes were awesome though, its amazing how much the spirit will teach you when you devote all of 
your time to studying.Well, my time is running short here on the internet, but tell me everything that's happened at home!!! ask me any more questions you want about the mtc and i'll answer em next week then tell you about life outside of the mtc.
i love it here!! it's hard, but i love it. i love you all and thanks for everything!!!!
LOVE, Elder MacKay
