Are you kidding me?

This week we asked Jesse if he knew his release date yet.

man, that's so crazy that lisa's due date is august 20. that'll be right when i get home. it'll be interesting to see how it all turns out.

wow, that's sweet to hear that about bro. harvey. it kinda hit me as i was reading it. he would be very welcome at the airport when i get back.

well, mom, while we're on the topic - about my release date, i don't really know yet. let me tell you what i do know. normally, in the week that the transfer ends, on monday the missionaries who are going home go to the mission home and have their final interviews and do some other stuff. then on tuesday they drive to accra and go to the temple and eat food, etc. then, depending on when their flights leave, they'll leave on tuesday or wednesday.

so for my mt group, that week would fall on like the 22-24 of august. now i also know that president sabey asked (soon to be president shulz) about it, and wants to have missionaries either go home 6 weeks early, or else on time, so that they will just go home at the end of a transfer. so, mom, my options are like the 23rd of august, or else july. i think you could guess which one i prefer... :) but i'm also open to your ideas about it all...

(Are you kidding me? Jesse wants to come home on August 24th and start school in Provo August 29th? Are you kidding me? Please say you are kidding me.)

well, this week was nice. we had interviews with the mission president. normally the assistants instruct at those, but this time the zone leaders instructed and they did well.

i don't really have too much to say. a ton of stuff happens every day, but i'm not convinced that it will all interest you. do you really want to hear about how we took some bikes to get repaired and took them out to the makessim missionaries to use?? haha maybe a better way to do it is for you to ask me questions about what life is like for me now.

one sweet thing did happen yesterday. there is a guy that i might have mentioned in a recent email named samuel laing. he is a sweet guy, and i love their family sooo much. anyways, alot of his family have been baptised over the past few years. when elder wright was saying bye to samuel's mother, mary (a woman in her 60's or 70's, baptised by elder woodhouse a couple of years ago.), we asked her if she had gone to the temple yet (she hadn't). then we asked her if she wanted to go. she responded with an emphatic "yes!" we then asked her if she wanted to be endowed. same answer! we next asked her if she wanted to be sealed to her husband in the temple (he died some years ago), and she gave us a very flat "no." we were kinda caught off guard, but didn't have much time to talk to her, and we had to go. so yesterday, elder adams and i sat down with her and her daughter (samuel's sister) and just resolved their concerns about the temple. they were really concerned about it, and their countenances really lightened as they began to understand what it is that we are doing there. man, if you could have seen nana mary's face when she understood that she could live with her husband again...

then later on, we found out that samuel's wife, rhoda, hasn't been sealed to her parents (her brothers and sisters have but for some reason she hasn't) who are the afrifra's (old, solid members from takoradi. all the members in the takoradi area know that family). so samuel had the idea to go with all of the laings and the afrifras to the temple so they could have one big sealing party. how sick would that be?? you don't know the way i was happy when we were walking away from that house.

well, it's late here, and i'm really tired. i asked permission from president sabey to sign up for classes , but i'm just too tired to do it tonight, so i think i'll start on that next monday. i'm really excited for this week, were going on alot of splits.

love, elder mackay

p.s. greet the zolls for me and tell them we're really excited to have them come.