Jonah's Week 17

Monday, February 23, 2015

Hey everyone! So I also have good news, I am learning Spanish!! One thing I have realized is that I just need to be confident and open my mouth! The Lord helps us soo much it's crazy!

As you all know confidence never really was a problem for me but here in Honduras things change pretty quickly! The confidence was there in the first couple days and slowly started to fade. Not knowing anything about what's happening around you really has a special way of humbling you! I used to be a person who knew everything and never asked questions but that is no longer the case!! haha I have asked more questions in my 3 months here then I ever did in the rest of my life before!! But guess what it's paying off! The Spanish is coming to me super fast and I can feel my eyes just opening to a whole new world that I never knew before!! I think that if everybody would just learn one more language then this world would be a whole lot closer to achieving world peace! That is an honest and true opinion! haha We are all just so ignorant to what is in our world that God has created for us!

My biggest lesson this week is that God is the God of diviersity and He created us in all shapes, sizes, colors, and with different languages! But in the end we all have one thing in common! We are God's children and He loves us all equally! If you want to understand how much of the world you don't know then learn a new language and embrace a new group of God's children whoever or where ever they may be. I love this opportunity I have to learn Spanish! It's hard but it's coming along!! Thanks for everything and for the examples each and everyone of you were for me in your own diverse and various ways!! God loves you and so do I!

Elder Jonah McKee

 

 

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 42

Monday, February 23, 2015

So the last week was terrible. I basically lived it knowing the whole time that I was going to leave Tucuman, which was just dreadful! I am really going to miss my companion Elder Ellertson and the people here!

We had two baptisms which is always a good way to leave an area! Grizelda and Alvaro went down to the waters of Jordan on Saturday! It was amazingly a stress free day! Normally baptism days are way stressful with the interviews that happen and all of the other factors that are virtually out of our hands. The baptisms were beautiful! Grizelda seemed to be shocked as she stood in the water! I thought she was going to pass out for a second! When she came out of the water she was silent for a good 20 seconds and then just started giggling! It was a miracle that we were able to prepare her in such a short time! We met Grizelda about a month ago and have only been able to meet with her on Sundays because she works like crazy. The only reason she was able to progress without meeting with us so much is because she is very professional and committed. She never once slumped church, always read, and just did awesome. I wish everyone was true to their word! The world would be a much better place! Álvaro is awesome too! He is the son of the first counselor of the ward and he just recently moved here from Buenos Aires where he lived with his mom. Álvaro was a gift from the heavens!

I have to go! My time is out. But I love you all so much! Thanks for all the love and good vibes and for thinking of me! We just had transfers and I got sent back to Jujuy!  I will be serving as a zone leader with an elder from Canada and I'm sure it will be a great experience! I honestly didn't want to come here again but I'll go where He wants me to go!

Love you all,

Elder Spencer McKee

Jonah's Week 16

Monday, February16, 2015

Okay, well hey, this week was way cool! It was seriously so fast I can't even believe it and right now thinking back about my week the coolest things that we had were two big conferences!!

We had one just with the Area and Mission President and it was way cool! The President, President Bowler, had assigned each of the APs to speak on one of the principles our mission uses and what we need to do to improve! The whole meeting was really just mind blowing because they began with a power point of the average stats our mission reports every week! The average for our mission is only 12 lessons a week and that is absolutely terrible!! In my three months here my lowest number for weekly lessons was 17 and that's still 5 higher than the average! But yeah enough about that. They continued by showing us the number of baptisms we had in the last year for our entire mission, which was 1179 in total. The number looks really impressive right? Well no... it's terrible! They showed us how each month we were averaging less then 100 baptisms. In our mission there are 246 missionaries and if each of the companionships only had one baptism every month then the growth in those two numbers would be drastic!

Our mission president then spoke and took it a step farther. He reminded us of the missionary objective to invite others to come unto Christ by faith, repentance, baptism by immersion for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and persevere to the end. He reminded us that our work is to bring others unto Christ by baptism. That is our main goal here in the mission for two years and the numbers aren't showing it! He told us that if each companionship had at least one baptism a month then it would be a huge step forward. He then asked us to imagine how quickly we could change the world if every individual missionary had one baptism every month. In the world there are 80,000 missionaries and if we each baptized at least one person every month for an entire year then the difference by the end of the year would be  unreal! I can't even imagine it but I want to be a part of it!

In Matthew Chapter 10:39-40, it says:

He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it. He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

This has been my goal in this mission, to lose myself in the work! This mission has brought both the hardest and the best moments of my life up to this point!  A huge part of missionary work is described very briefly in this scripture. Those people who accept us into their homes are accepting two young men or young women with the name of Christ on their chests! Our goal and our purpose is to help people to accept Christ and be perfected in Him. After they accept us they have the opportunity to hear this beautiful message of our Savior and Redeemer as well as the pleasure of learning more of our Father in Heaven. This work is marvelous and I won't trade one second of it for anything in the world!  

I really have learned the importance of taking up my cross and walking in the way of Christ! Taking up our crosses is an act of our faith, diligence, and our love for our Father. Christ showed us the way and now we need to follow Him with complete fidelity and trust in God, the Eternal Father that He will always be there and that He will always provide a way for us to accomplish the things we need to if we follow the Son of God with faith!  I love the scripture my brother, Elder McKee shared about trusting in God and not in the flesh! For us all to lose ourselves in this work we all need to take up our crosses having faith that God the Father will make those burdens (your cross) light on your shoulders! I know God lives and I am blessed to be here sharing this message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son, with these amazing people in Honduras! I love you all and I miss you all but  I am here and this is my work, the work of our Lord and I wouldn't trade one second of my time here for an entire year at home!

I want to be one of those missionaries who changes the world. Please all of you help the missionaries in your respective areas to achieve this marvelous goal! Please help each and every one of those Elders and Sisters in the world baptize one person every month! That's the new missionary motto! Every missionary, every month! This work is our work but it's also yours! Let's make a difference in the world and share our message!  

I love you all and I love this work! Together let's make the change and bring 80,000 people into the waters of baptism every month! Thank you all for your prayers! I really can see and feel the difference in the blessings I receive as a direct result of your prayers! Please continue to remember me and the others in this work daily as you speak with our Father in Heaven! This week is a week to put my shoulder to the wheel and work my butt off to meet this new goal! Thanks for everything and hey don't be afraid to write me!

 

Siempre,

Elder Jonah McKee 

 

 

Spencer's Take 2, Seman 41

Monday, February 16, 2015

This week was a good one. We had leadership conference so we went to Salta yet again! It's always a nice little mini vacation when we go to Salta but I think that I actually get back home more tired!

This time in the leadership conference we talked about how to achieve goals. It was interesting to hear all the input about the subject. When I prepared myself for the conference I studied more about the literal act of achieving goals such as doubling efforts and working with the goal in mind. Every conference 2 people are randomly called to share what they learned from studying the theme and luckily I wasn't called. The Sister and Elder that talked shared a completely different point of view then what I had prepared! They talked about the changes that are needed not in physical work but in spiritual dependence in the help from heaven and the changes of heart that we need to have.

I really like 2 Nephi 4:34:

O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea,cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm.

When it comes to this life if we want to achieve our goals, we need to put our trust in the Lord. We need to work really hard and pray even harder! I love this work. We had the opportunity to share with the zone a talk that's called "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary". It would be to the benefit of us all to read and apply the teachings found in the wise words of Elder Tad R. McAllister. He teaches us that to have real success we need to consecrate ourselves to the mission. He compares the changes we make to putting our bad traits on the alter of sacrifice. In our zone training we made an altar and burnt it! It was epic! I invite you all to become better missionaries and to consecrate yourselves even more to this gospel and the sharing of it.

I love you all! Keep me in your prayers as you are in mine!

-Elder Spencer McKee

Jonah Week 15

Monday, February 9, 2015

I want the scripture 2 Nephi 16:8 !! its super tight!! or Isaiah 6:8! It's the same scripture, just one is in the Bible the other is in the Book of Mormon! It says "Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said: Here am I; send me."

And hey mom, sorry I didn't write you about my week last week, it was just a super weird day for us and I almost didn't have time to write. But hey this past week was awesome!!

We taught a ton of lessons even though it was a super weird and super scattered week with my comp leaving to Tegucigalpa for an emergency meeting with all of the leaders. He was gone for two days and so for those two days I was left here in Paraiso with a different elder from the opposite side of the city. We worked in his area for those two days and it was pretty cool having the opportunity to explore the other half of the city! A ton of members live over there and it's always funny when we pass by members because they all know my name and call me Elder Mickey Mouse! We were just walking from one lesson to another and everytime we were outside we would just hear my name get shouted from every which direction! haha I love this place!

One of the things I learned today that absolutely blew my mind is that 9 of the young men and women in my ward were patients at the clinic and all of them remember me as the kid who was shoving a piece of metal into their mouths! haha I never really understood why so many of them talked to me all the time; I thought it was just because I'm a silly looking gringo with an even sillier name!! haha I just found out this week that all of the families in our ward know me because that first Sunday here all of the young men were talking about how I was a kid from the brigada! haha So yeah I guess you can say we all have some sort of a special bond!  But yeah that seriously blew my mind when they finally told me that this last Tuesday!! haha Well yeah! But that's not all! I have a rep here in the mission because of the dental mission!! haha I have a rep in the whole mission as a total flirt and also as the romeo of the mission because of that poem I wrote on the board when I asked Brette to prom!! haha A ton of people here know I'm back and I don't even know how! haha

I was at a conference the other day and a ton of Elders and Sisters were coming up to me and asking me why people in their ward know me and I just kept repeating my story that I have been here before the mission and I was here for a dental mission. Not all of the Elders believe me because they don't think it's possible for me to get my mission call to return for my fulltime mission after being here already! haha They all think I came here after I got my mission call so I could experience it before I actually entered the mission. haha I always just tell them that they have little faith and that God knows what He wants which is for me to return and continue my service here in Central America!

But okay that's enough about that! Just know there is somehow a word spreading that I am here once again and a lot of people are telling the missionaries in their wards that they want talk to me. haha It's bad but at the same time it's kinda cool because I know that no matter where I go I'll have friends!

Okay but yeah in other news I had my first baptism on Saturday!!! I baptized a man named Tranquilino Soreano! He is super cool and he is super old! I think I have written about him once before about how he can't walk up and down stairs so every time he is at the church I pick him up and carry him up the stairs! Well yeah I just baptized him!! It was so cool! I can't even express it to you!! I was so excited for him and so nervous I would forget the baptismal prayer in Spanish that I couldn't stop my hand from shaking!! It was going absolutely crazy!! haha I somehow managed to remember the whole prayer and began to dunk him into the water! All was well except for his knees are bad so his left foot shot up out of the water at the last second! I then raised my shaky hand back to the square and recited the prayer once again. This time as I dunked him into the water I stepped on his left foot and stopped it from shooting forward, but hey guess what, this time his right foot decided it wanted to be dry!! haha For a third time I recited the prayer and then basically back tripped him and pushed his feet and his body into the water. It was so cool and at the same time it was so spiritual! I helped him raise from the water and he just chuckled and said "Is that all? I'm cold". I couldn't help but smile and then just said congratulations and yes that's all. It was an awesome day and it was an awesome baptism! 

I honestly am so glad I have the opportunity to be here serving the Lord. It's a beautiful thing seeing the light of Christ enter into the life of another person. I am a blessed man to be here in Honduras and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world!!  This is where I belong. Once again serving the people of this beautiful land of Honduras!  I will always feel a special attachment to this country and to this people. This country has changed my life!!!

Love you all,
Elder Jonah McKee

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 40

Monday, February 9, 2015

These past couple of weeks have been a little rough. Not that bad actually but we have had low numbers.

 

One thing that comforts me is knowing that the numbers don't always reflect the effort! I honestly can say that we have been working our butts off but for some reason have not been seeing the fruit; until yesterday! Yesterday we had 5 people in church and they almost all have a baptism date for this month!

 

It was such a good day in church yesterday. Oscar Chaile, the brother that got baptized like 3 weeks ago received 2 callings! He is now the ward activity leader and together with his wife they are ward missionaries! On a scarier side, Oscar had a heart attack on Friday! He is apparently alright because he came to church! Also Alejandra, one of our converts from about a month and a half ago came back to church for the first time in a  month! She got a little lost for a couple of silly reasons but God put us in her path the other day and we were able to talk to her and set up a lesson. We helped her get through all of her worries and doubts again, and apparently it worked because she came to church and loved it as she always does! Another special guest in church was Lourdes! She is the female rugby player that doesn't live here but comes to visit her aunt who is a member in the ward. She brought more gifts this time! She brought me a rugby ball! It's pretty sweet!

 

Last night we taught one of our investigators named Grizelda. She is progressing really well! She told us last night about how about 2 years ago she almost died! Well, she did die but only for an hour and was then resuscitated. She told us that when she was dead she was taught by angels and saw the state of those people who misbehave and also that of those who behave in this life! She said that in this life we basically are writing a book with our actions. She said the people who were obedient in their time on earth were relaxing doing whatever they wanted to do; they were in paradise! She said that the people who misused their time on earth were all crammed into a room where they stayed and suffered as they held their book of life and grieved as they pondered on the dumb things they did in their lives! It was crazy what she said! She saw the spirit world! Pretty crazy huh? I swear all Latinos have an extra spiritual gift and as they dream the veil becomes more thin for them! They always have crazy dreams! I feel like half of my mission I have just interpreted dreams!

 

I hope you are all good! I love you all! And congratulations to the Shadow Ridge Wrestling team for becoming the Region champs! Now lets go get the state title!!!!!!! 

 

con muchisimo amor y agradecimiento,

Elder Spencer McKee

Jonah's Week 14

Monday, February 2, 2015

I wrote the boys this week and told them about their younger brother Alec and his experiences on the wrestling team. All of the boys have wrestled and they have all cried over a loss here and there. Sometimes, I think that the crying is not such a bad thing because it means they are emotionally invested in what they are doing. They REALLY want to win for themselves and their teammates. BUT I wish that they wouldn't cry in front of their opponents! So after a rough match with Alec, he shed a few tears over the loss and I talked to him about taking the opportunity to learn as much as he can from every loss and win. And that loss is something that will happen his whole life so it's something that he has to learn to come to terms with.  The following is Jonah's advice to his younger brother on how to deal with losses on the mat...

Hey tell Alec to get over himself because there will always be somebody better than him, that's why we work out our hardest everyday so that we will be able to be better than we were the day before! Nobody wins every match and the earlier he accepts that he won't always be the best, the better! One of the reasons I worked out so hard everyday is because I knew that if I didn't then somebody would be better than me and I wouldn't be able to beat them. He can't let the team down on the day of competition. You let the team down everyday if you're not working out your very hardest. The result of everyday workouts is the performance you put out on competition days. If he was truly working out his hardest and still didn't win then it just means he needs to work out harder the next week! He didn't let anybody down unless he wasn't truly working out to the best of his ability. Tell him to keep his head up and leave everything on the mat!

So, after Jonah wrote, I waited and waited for him to send another letter about his week, but I think he forgot after he wrote this to Alec. As a mom, I have to say that wrestling has been  the best investment for my boys! This sport teaches them so much about life, endurance, hard work, dedication and commitment. I am so grateful for the teammates and coaches that have helped to shape them into the men they are today!Can't wait to see what he has to say on Monday! 

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 39

Monday, February 2, 2015

This week was a tough one! We worked so hard all week long but we saw very few results. It's always hard to work without seeing the fruits of your works! I suppose it is about diligence and patience....

We do have an investigator that is progressing really well! Her name is Grizelda and she is way cool! She was a referral from Paula Galindez, the sister who recently got married to Oscar, our most recent convert. Grizelda went to the reception party for Paula and Oscar's wedding and noticed that everyone present was having a blast and there was absolutely no alcohol present! That night she met a little girl who was also a member of the church and the little girl who has only 9 years started teaching Grizelda about the gospel right there in the party! Grizelda told us that she learned from the little girl that it is bad to do and sell drugs. I hope that all you latterday saints out there, big and small, know that your example really does not go unnoticed! Even though Grizelda recieved some of the most basic doctrine and learned about the basic commandments she was really impacted by the little girl! I hope that we can all have the confidence and bravery to share with and invite all to come to the church of Christ!

This week was rough but it was fun. It was a real test of diligence and attitude! On Saturday basically the whole day crashed within the first half hour. We left the apartment and realized that my companion left without his backpack. We had to walk back about 5 blocks. Then after that we called the bishop, with whom we were supposed to eat lunch and he had forgotten and left on vacation. So we were without lunch and then last but not least the meeting we had set up with out ward mission leader crashed as we came to find out that he also went with the bishop on vacation! According to "Preach my Gospel", diligence starts when and only after we are already tired or discouraged. We have to work as hard as ever to really exercise diligence! After all our meetings and our lunch failed us it became evident that it was going to be a diligence filled day because I already had lost my desires to deal with the jokes that Argentina has to offer! We made the best with what we had! 

 

My companion has not been sleeping well this last week and it's all my fault! He and the other missionaries we live with all told me that I go crazy in my sleep. My actions vary from teaching gospel lessons to basically having seizures. I felt so bad but I was innocent as long as I was unconscious!  

 

Today was a good day. We didn't go and play soccer because my legs really have been needing a rest. My knees are killing me lately. Instead of playing we went to the city and I finally bought myself a Christmas present! I got a soccer jersey from one of the local teams here in Tucuman called Club Atletico de Tucuman! And I also got a sweet ball. Elder Ellertson got some soccer cleats so now we are super stoked to go and pass the ball around in the mornings for exercise time! 

 

Sorry for not sending pictures! I need to fix that this week! 

 

I love you all so much! 

Elder McKee