Jonah, Week 26 - Seeking Real Treasures

Monday, April 27, 2015

Yeah it's safe to say that it's time to update the 72 hour kits!! We also just updated ours and I am positive that I will be ready for anything!!! I'm super stoked to be here and having that 72 hour kit gives me the peace of mind that if something truly does happen I am ready! Are you all ready? If somebody dies, are you ready to face the truth? If everything you own vanishes over night, are you ready?

 

I have been asking myself questions like that a lot! I'm still not sure why I have been asking myself those things, but I have been, and I have truly been able to better myself by changing the things necessary to be ready for anything!! I also had a very deep conversation the other day with the youth of the ward because I saw something among them that needed attention. Just for you all to have a small idea of what I mean, two weeks ago some of the youth were caught smoking in the church bathroom during the second hour! SO, I decided I needed to talk to them! I created a small example I thought all of the kids could understand. "If there was a man who was selling diamonds made of glass and another man selling diamonds, genuine diamonds, who would you buy from?"

I used this question and showed them all a picture of a fake diamond and a real diamond I asked them which was real and which was the diamond of glass. About half thought the glass diamond was the real one and it really showed them that just because two things look good only one (the real diamond) is of any worth. We as youth began to talk about the things that are real diamonds in their lives and about the things they have that are false diamonds, or in other words the things that have a true genuine value and the things that are just for show or short lasting joy. The following is a small example of the things they said.

TRUE DIAMONDS:

School

Family

The church

Friends

DIAMONDS OF GLASS:

Friends

boyfriends/ girlfriends

I wrote these lists down and asked them what was the difference between those two lists. They all told me that they have more true diamonds in their lives. I then shared a little story about my life before the mission. I told them all about the parties I would go to in Vegas and how I watched people do things to themselves that might look like it was super fun to do, but without fail those same people who were having such a good time drinking, smoking, hitting different drugs were always the people that ended up being sad. I then asked them if they wanted to add anything to those lists and they began to put things down that truly were the distractions in their lives. By the end of the small meeting we had, a good amount of them left crying and asking how they can change.

 

I just wanted to invite you all to think about the diamonds you have in your lives. Which ones are genuine and have true value, which are only there for appearance? Once we recognize the things that are truly important in our lives and the things that are just for looks it gives us a new perspective and helps us focus. The difference is this: the man that sells those diamonds of glass is Satan and the man who sells those precious gems we call diamonds is Jesus Christ. It's true that the real diamond costs a little bit more money and you're going to have to work a whole lot harder to obtain it but in the long run only the genuine diamond is going to be for you benefit! In the gospel we have so many precious truths that I can't even express how lucky we are! Don't let those false images of happiness that the world always presents distract you from working for those diamonds of blessings we have waiting for us when we show our faith and work hard to be obedient loyal followers of Christ!

Please go look in your vault of life and clean out all of those false diamonds you have in there. They are not of any value today and they aren't going to be of any value tomorrow. Thank you all for your faith and your example!

Elder McKee (mickey)

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 51 - I Love This Work!!!!

Monday, April 27, 2015

This week was a good week. As usual there are always things that I need to do better but I feel like we had a good week! The weekend was especially amazing! We had interviews with President Chaparro on Friday! I had a great interview. He asked me how I feel in this time of my mission. I told him that I finally feel like I am completing my responsibilities well as a leader and am just as excited to be here as I was when I started the mission! I really do love being here.

  

The mission is the best experience anyone can have! If you are trying to decide on serving your mission, stop thinking and just go. You will not regret it! One thing that has been on my mind is my experience that I had while I was at home waiting, very impatiently, to come back to the mission. If you crossed paths with me while I was at home, I probably told you that I would give up everything at home (freedom) just to come back to the mission. I have to admit that sometimes, while on the mission, I find myself missing movies, music, and all other worldly things that are found in the real world. I have to remind myself often that those things don't matter. I will find a cell phone, computers, facebook, youtube, xbox, longboarding, snowboarding, girls, cars, and a ton of other nice things waiting for me and I will be able to enjoy them for the rest of my life. The thing that only is available for 2 years is the mission. I will probably never again have the opportunity to focus all of my thoughts and efforts on the Lord's work like this again in my life. I am a weak, carnal man. I have carnal desires but somehow my spiritual man always reminds me of the important things in life.

I love this work. I love the memories that are made on the mission. I would never trade this experience for anything! 

Love Always,

Elder Spencer McKee

 

Elder Velasquez & Elder McKee

Stake Conference

Jonah Week 25 - Danish Baptism in Honduras

Monday, April 20, 2015

This week I asked the boys to tell me about their most spiritual experience, here is what Jonah shared:

Mom this week I only have one spiritual experience that I feel is worth sharing.

So to begin I must start off by saying that I know I have zero control over the actions of others but I have the control over my actions! So this week I was eating at Burger King and these two girls with blonde hair and white skin were there so automatically I thought "hey they might speak English!" I began to talk to them and it turns out that they are from Denmark! I started talking to them about Aksel and how I have two other friends there and then one of the two girls asked me if I was a Mormon. During the entire conversation I never told her I was Mormon and when I told her "Yeah I am a Mormon" she had a huge smile and said "Hey I have been reading your book on this app I found and I really like it!" I started to talk to those two sisters about the Book of Mormon and explain why it's super important to us. I explained that our church is only separated from the others by the evidence that this book contains. She began to talk to me about how she doesn't attend any church but she has always been curious and wanted to go to our church. I asked her how long she would be here and she told us that she was leaving in 9 days! haha I told her I was going to send a white missionary to teach her in her house here in Teguc so she could receive the lessons in English. Needless to say, Elder Gardener baptized her after only 3 days of teaching! She got a plane ticket to leave a little bit earlier back to Denmark and she wanted to be baptized before she went back so president gave them the approval! Now as a result of just asking if two girls speak English one of them was baptized and there is now one more member in the country of Denmark!!!! Cool, right?!?! haha I wish I could have been the one who baptized her but at the same time I was super glad to know I was a part of her conversion or at least one of the tools that turned her to somebody who could help her finish her conversion!

It's amazing that God has truly prepared people for us and at times we feel like there is nobody who wants to listen to us but this girl helped me remember that I  just need to keep looking for those people that are ready right now in this very moment! The church is true! Keep looking with eyes wide open and you'll have more missionary experiences then one could possibly handle! I love you mom.

Elder Jonah McKee

Just a side note:
In the letter Jonah wrote to his dad today, he mentioned that the missionaries have been told to pack a 72 hour bag and be ready to leave and return to the mission home if needed. Apparently, there are some threats from Isis there that have people pretty worried. I know that the Lord will take care of his servants, but prayers for the missionaries and people of Honduras would be awesome! Thanks!

Jana

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 50 - Teaching of Paola

Monday, April 20, 2015

Well this is weird. If a certain series of unfortunate events hadn't happened I would be home now! Oh well, consequences right? Or the plan of God????.... Who knows? :D All is well here in Alto! All of the Kit Kats I received in my package are gone! I don't know what happened to them.....  I received a package from Miss Sims! It was full of peeps! For those who don't know, I love peeps! I like them fresh and squishy and then I like to leave the box open and out for a day or two to eat some crispy. The sad thing is, is that here they don't dry out! It is too humid!

 

We went to Salta on Monday for leaders counsel. We are going to be having a big multi zone conference here in Jujuy the  8 of May with Elder Viñas from the Quorum of the 70! It is going to be awesome! We are going to have a meeting with him before he speaks to everyone so I'm pretty stoked about that! 

 

This was the best zone conference so far! Not because of what was said but because alllll of my best mission friends and comps are now zone leaders! Elder Ellertson, Elder Contreras, my current comp Elder Velasquez, Elder Cowan, and last but not least.... my son Elder Reynolds! It was the sweetest reunion seeing him! He got to the house super late so I waited it out and tackled him when he entered the door! He makes me so proud to be his trainer! 

We had a really busy week this week. Monday and Tuesday were blown because of the leader counsel and traveling. Wednesday we lost the morning due to baptism interviews in Monterrico, a small plantation town about 45 minutes outside of the city. Friday we had to plan which takes like 4 hours on top of the 3 hours of mandatory studies. Saturday we had zone conference in the morning. It went really well! We played a game and if you lost you were forced to wear the wig of shame! It's funny how the same people repeatedly end up with the wig! After the zone training my comp and I had to prepare a training to give to the ward missionaries in order to get the missionary program started rolling here in Alto! With luck and the help of God, that training also turned out nicely! 

We had another gift baptism given to us. She hasn't been baptized yet but she is surely ready! She has been coming to church for about a month now and is also attending institute with her cousin! Her name is Paola and she will be our next baptism I'm hoping! 

I love you all. Thanks for the prayers and the words of encouragement you always send me! I'll see you all later!

 

Elder Spencer McKee

ps. That pic with the old man and us is of a man named Richard Bay. He served here as a missionary in Jujuy. He spoke a little in sacrament meeting, although his Spanish was super hard to understand, he shared some words that really inspired me. He said that when he was here there was only a branch in Jujuy. Now there is a stake that is about to be split into two pretty soon! He said that his mission president always told them at that time that they were planting seeds. Now my president always tells us that we are here to harvest! It's so true. He also said that another thing his mission president always taught was that to be on the mission is a privilege! More wise words from my boy Richy Bay! He's from South Jordan,   Utah. 

 General Conference

 Me and Elder Reynolds, mi nino

Birthday cake time! Warm Delights straight from the microwave, yum!!!

 The wig of shame pictures from Zone Conference

 My Zone

 

Jonah's Week 24 - Opposition in All Things

Monday, April 13, 2015

Hey, so sorry but my computer stopped working so I had to sit and wait for somebody to finish so I could write you all. I only have 7 minutes before its 6 and time to go work so bare with me as I try to cram my whole week into 7 minutes of writing! Okay so to start off, for the week we had a great set of lessons! We spent a whole lot more time than what is normal for this area in the houses of investigators which is super good so I guess that was a sign that the week was a good one! But there is just one thing!!! We all know that there is always opposition in all things so the week naturally wasn't allowed to be full of only good things!

This week as I was walking, one of our investigators named Victor was super drunk and he began to talk to me! Every time he is drunk he always wants to talk to me and for me it's fine because it's always funny! Without fail he always starts the conversation the same. "Hey 'Mickey' I speak English, did you know that? I also speak Spanish and when I don't speak one of those two I sometimes just speak bologna!" It's always hilarious and I love hearing him then continue and tell me about how he thinks I am just such a good guy and how he has only loved 3 people in his whole life! His mom, his wife, and me! haha I love Victor!! He makes my days! But, drunks aren't always a good thing!!

This week while I was walking to another appointment I was stopped in my path by a man who was super drunk. He told me he had to talk to me and his eyes began to water up. I don't know about you but when a full grown man starts to cry it is never a good sign... He began to ask us a series of questions about our beliefs and if we are truly representatives of Jesus. Then after he had come to the conclusion that we truly are Christians and that we are representatives of Christ he told us, "I have made some bad decisions in my life and now I don't know what to do. I am going to shoot myself tonight, I just want to ask you what will be my punishment from God if I do it." We began to talk to him and tell him that it is one of the unforgivable sins and how we need to go to his house and talk, we went to his house and he walked out of the other room with a pistol. He said this is the gun I'm going to use. I asked him for the gun and then gave it to his mom and told her to hide it.  We continued our conversation and he told us how he has a drinking problem and he uses cocaine. I didn't know what he wanted to hear but we stayed in his house and talked to him for 2 hours. By the end of the conversation and our time in the house we had called a rehab center and made an appointment for him to enter the center the following day! 

On Sunday we returned to his house to make sure he had gone to the rehab center but when we got there things didn't look to good. His door was wide open but his gate was locked shut. We started to shout and scream for him to come to the door but nobody answered and now we don't even know if he is alive! I just want to know if he is alive.

Like I said, this week was a good week but there is opposition in every single thing in this world!! There will never be a moment that is completely perfect. Or at least not in this life. Remember one thing. God is perfect and He didn't create anything bad. God created light but we all know there is darkness. Now, with that knowledge that God created light but darkness is something we know, ask yourself, what is darkness? The answer is this, darkness is the absence of light. That is the scientific definition of darkness. Now, in the world there are things that are bad, sad, and even horrible, but every single one of those things are the result of this: the absence of God in your heart. The absence of the GOOD, MARVELOUS, things that God created for us. There is opposition in everything but God made the good knowing the negative would naturally follow. 

Be happy and choose to look at the positives! Keep God in your heart and know He wants us to have joy. I love you all and I know you are all safe and sound in your lovely homes, with your lovely families. Take a second and look around. We are a blessed people!

I love you all and I can't wait to write home next week!

Elder McKee 

 

 

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 49 - With Christ, All Things are Possible!

Monday, April 13, 2015

This week marks the 2nd package that I have received in the mission! It is a true miracle! I forgot how delicious kit kats, peeps, hi chews and nutella were! The funny thing is that you can find nutella here, but nothing beats a Costco double value pack! I'm going to be eating nutella banana crepes for breakfast!

 

This week was awesome. I love Elder Velasquez! He is an awesome missionary and just a really cool person! I admire him a lot! He makes me want to learn every language! Other than Spanish he speaks English, Portuguese and is learning German! He really has the gift of tongues! Also he does cool things like parkour and capoeira! 

 

We had a good week. We taught a bunch of lessons and spent the whole week working on committing the investigators to come to church! We taught one of our investigators 3 lessons based on obedience and the need we have to attend church. She came, stayed for the first hour and then escaped from us! It was really sucky because we were so excited to see the fruits of our labor but she left. We called her and she said she felt weird in church. At first I was so shocked! I had no idea what could have been the problem!!!! As I thought, I began to reflect on what was shared in the class in elders quorum.

 

The teacher talked about the importance of a testimony of Joseph Smith. He shared the part in Joseph Smith History where he shares his account of the first vision. Normally when I read this part I focus on the beautiful words that are used to describe the miraculous appearance of God the Father and Jesus the Son. Not this time; I was most impressed by the words that Joseph uses to describe the dark forces that fell upon him as he prayed to our Heavenly Father. It became very apparent to me as I pondered that the opposition is strong. So strong that it almost overcame a 14 year old boy who had extremely strong faith! As I thought about the opposition that is before us as we press forward in the Lords work I realize more and more that we have a lot against us. We are mortals with bodies that get tired. We have so many weakness; our faith being the first. On the other hand, Satan is a spirit without a body to slow him down and he is also backed by a legion of a 3rd of the sons and daughters of God and they are realllllly angry!

 

We have a lot to do. There is so much to do that at times I feel hopeless. When I think about my weakness it just about seems impossible to complete the Lord's task. 

 

The one thought that gives me hope and strengthens me.....

IN CHRIST WE ARE PERFECT AND ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE! Thank heavens for this reminder that no matter our imperfections and weaknesses, the Lord will use each of us if we allow Him AND He will make it possible for us to complete His work.

 

I am grateful for this knowledge, I am grateful for the gospel. I love you all!

 

Elder Spencer McKee

 

 

Jonah's Week 23 - General Conference and Fortifying houses

Monday, April 6, 2015

This is a portion of the letter I wrote to Jonah and then his response:

I loved the talk about the guy that was called to be a mission president and when he told his work, they were upset. They asked him, why didn't you tell us your intentions and when did you decide to do this. He said that he then answered that he had decided as a 19 yo boy to follow the Savior and that he would always follow the Savior. I thought that was awesome!!! So many of the decisions in life boil down to this one decision. You either decide to follow the Savior, or you don't. And once that decision is made, every other decision in your life will be simple because it will either fall into line with following the Savior or it won't.

A family favorite talk was Elder Holland's when he told the story of the brothers free climbing and how the younger brother saved the older brother's life. I loved how he likened that to the atonement and how the Savior is our lifeline, He saved us from eternal death. There really were so many great talks, I HEART conference!!!!

Jonah's response:

Hey so that talk you're talking about was by Kevin W. Pearson and it was by far my favorite talk! I loved that in one part of his talk he said this "When you make a covenant with God, there is no backing out". I was thinking very hard about that line and I was thinking about the baptismal covenant we have all made and that we all took the name of Jesus upon us and how everyday we need to embrace the attributes of Christ and live as He would! We took the name of Christ upon our shoulders, to bear His cross, take it up, and walk with Him! We are meant to live that covenant everyday and there is no backing out! There is no excuse like "but hey my friends made me" or "sorry I couldn't go to church, the tire on the car blew out" we never have an excuse. We made a covenant with God and the covenant is everlasting! I have been in deep thoughts about how I can fully take up my half of the covenant and live as Christ would. I know I'm not perfect but I am trying to be better everyday! 

This week was very interesting. Here in the Easter season they celebrate the semana santa or the holy week. This is the last week that Christ lived here on the earth. Everybody takes the entire week off of work so none of the markets are open and just about everybody who lives in the city leaves to the smaller barrios outside of Teguc! So since I'm in Teguc, I and probably 50 other people were the only people here in Valencia! It was honestly a very slow week but that is to be expected when the whole world takes a pause for the entire week. But since we couldn't really visit very many people we ended up doing a lot of service and that is always nice. It's a good way to press forward in the work of the Lord but in a different form. 

 

In our main service project the entire zone rallied to help this family stop their house from falling down the mountain more than it already has. It turns out the way you do that is by digging a really deep trench lower on the hillside and then jamming this trench full of huge rocks and securing posts in the rocks that are there to support the home. After all of this you fill it in with sand and cement. So that's what we did. I got put on the boulder crew and all we did was lift huge rocks up into the back of pickups and then unload them. Not going to lie some of those rocks were pushing 300 lbs. There were two rocks that I nor Elder Pauu could lift solo so we had to tag team it and after all that good stuff we all were left exhausted! I like the change of pace we get from service and this week was a week when a change of pace was well needed.

The change of pace was needed because the mission president was alerted that my companion is super disobedient and he called us into the mission office to meet with him. I'm not gonna lie my comp isn't the best missionary in the world but shoot we all have our faults! During the interview he made me tell him all of the things I have seen my companion do that he shouldn't be doing and then after my comp and I switched places and I waited for him and president to talk. They both came out and president told me I am now the senior companion and that my companion is no longer to have the phone or be given the opportunity to write other people besides his direct family on Monday... He then told me that if he doesn't change in the next week then he is going to send my comp home... shoot. I don't know what exactly he did but it can't be good. 

So, this week I will be doing my very best to help my companion recognize the importance of being here in the field and helping him change to be the obedient missionary the president is asking him to be! I love you all and I am so thankful for the examples you have been in my life. I am hoping I will be able to mirror those examples you have all been for me and guide my companion by example and invitations. Remember you're covenant of baptism always and live the most like Christ you can!

always,

Elder McKee

 

Service project

 

 

 

Ice Cream after Priesthood session, some traditions stay the same!

 

 

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 48 - General Conference and Elder Fillis Transferred

Monday, April 6, 2015

So we had transfers this week! Before I get to that I'm going to tell you from the beginning to the end of the week.

This week was awesome. We saw real fruits from doing our street contacts. About 2 weeks ago I talked to a nice woman named Ana in the bus stop. To be honest she was the only one around so that's why I talked to her. It was a very normal contact. She didn't start crying as she saw our placks or anything like that and she gave us her address and basically told us good luck finding her at home. A couple of days later we contacted the house; nobody was home. A few days later we knocked again and met her husband Emanuel. Emanuel surprisingly accepted us with doors wide open. No convincing was necessary to enter into his house. We had a good chat with him that day. We set up another date to return which miraculously came through! This time, Emanuel was accompanied by Ana. Ana was very interested in what we had to say. The pamphlet of the restoration was open on their kitchen table which gave us the hint that they had been studying. Our first lesson with them together was awesome! Two  days later we had a 3rd lesson with them. This time a young married couple named the Baez family accompanied us. They did an awesome job befriending Emanuel and Ana. (from here on out Emanuel and Ana will be know as the Yanos family when referring to the two together) We talked about the Plan of Salvation. The Baez family brought pictures of their sealing in the temple of Buenos Aires and it was just the sweetest little cherry on top!    The Yanos family are the miracle of the week! They couldn't make it to the General Conference due to work but there is still a bright bright future ahead! 

 

TRANSFERS. Elder Fillis is gone. He got transfered to Salta and there he is going to be a district leader. My new companion is named Elder Velazquez from Chile! He is a stud. He speaks Spanish, (obviously) Portuguese, English, and is learning German!! I envy him so! He makes me want to be a translator or something when I grow up haha. I'm excited for this transfer. It is going to be funnnn!

 

I hope you all loved the conference as much as I did! The general theme seemed to be marriage and the family. The talks were beautiful. I especially loved the talk from Elder Uchtdorf from the morning session of Domingo (Sunday). 

 

I love you all so much! Thanks for all you do for me! I hope you enjoyed the conference as much as I did!!! 

Love,

Elder Spencer McKee 

a.k.a. Elder Mickey Mouse

 

 Elder Fillis

 General Conference