Jonah's Semana 34 - I'm Not a Little Kid Anymore

Monday, June 22, 2015

Hey, so I have a huge question that I need to ask... WHY IS EVERYBODY GETTING MARRIED???? haha I am here in Central America and I have one chance a week to hear about how life is passing at home and it’s great to hear about but at the same time it’s crazy how quick and how drastically my home is changing! haha Before I know it I’m gonna get home and all of the girls I once knew are gonna be married and with kids! Also every single one of those people I call my friends are going to be away from home! haha

I know I’ve been gone for like 8 months but I never expected soo many things to change in such a short amount of time!! haha It’s good to hear that life keeps rolling on but at the same time it truly strikes fear into me! Pretty soon I’m not going to want to come home just because of the fear of all the things that will have changed!! I love being here in Honduras and I’m going to love every second of my time here but shoot, all these letters I’m getting are really putting into view the reality that I’m not a kid anymore! I always knew that this day would come but I never thought that his is how I would come to know I’m no kid anymore. haha I am growing up!

I am here in Honduras with my comp, a kid I never knew until 3 weeks ago and I am happy! I love my life here. I am growing so quickly in the language that I almost never think about it anymore I just open my mouth and stuff comes out! I am soo grateful to be here in the mission and I think with all of the personal growth I have done here in the mission I’ll be ready to face all the new changes and things at home. Now I’m stronger and have a wider perspective of life. I’m ready to continue progressing and one day when I’m getting off the plane in the McCarran airport I’ll hit the ground running. But for now I have a lot of work to do for all those people who I meet here and I have a lot of thinking to do about who I want to be in 16 months’ time!

I have decided I’m going to lose myself in this work so God can shape and form me, making me the man I need to become. Soooo, Jesus take the wheel! I trust in the Lord and I will trust in Him forever! God has something planned for each and every one of us. We are all in our own journeys and I love reading all about the journeys all of you are on. Be safe and always choose the right :)

Con mucho amor,

Elder Jonah McKee

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 59 - Ready and Willing

Monday, June 22, 2015

This week was rough! We had a lot of days where we passed the whole time in the street! That wasn’t too fun but hey, I can’t cry! Jesus passed through a whole lot more than me!

This week, while studying in Luke 5, I came across the calling of Peter and several of the other apostles. I love how in verse 5 or 6 Jesus tells Peter to cast his net and Peter says something along the lines of, “we have been fishing all dang day but we haven’t caught anything!!! But, because it’s you Jesus, okay." And then he throws the nets and they catch so much that they fill two boats to the point that they start to sink! Crazy huh?

I wish that it were like that all the time. Why do we hesitate to respond to the counsels of our leaders whom are inspired of God! Why does God give us commandments; to make us unhappy perhaps? NO!!!! He only wants our happiness and for that reason He does what He does! I love that guy. I hope to respond with such willingness as that of Peter when commanded to do whatever it might be! I hope that you all may as well.

I would like to make a couple of shout outs now....

Eris! I love you! Congrats on the decision and I hope that you feel my love on your big day!

Congrats also to Heather for the wedding! I hope to hear more about it! Your husband looks like he is a stud. I approve! haha.

Alec, bro, I’m so sorry about the hombre (shoulder) bro! Get well soon!

Sorry but my adapter for my sd card broke so I will not have the luxury of sending pics this week!

I love you all and hope you have una semana excelentísima!

con mucho amor,

Elder Spencer McKee

Jonah's Semana 33 - Elder McKee-Garono Hunter

Monday, June 15, 2015

Hi!!! So I guess I’m going to quickly write and tell you how my week has been! To start it all off I’m going to tell you a story about two hunters. The hunters are named, Elder McKee and Elder Avila! These two hunters are young men of 19 and 21 years of age and they spend their time preaching the restored gospel to all who they encounter. Also those two young men live and serve their missions in what could easily be found on TV channels like animal planet. The area is a tropical desert and so since it falls in two extreme categories of climate, the weather and the animals one runs into are always very interesting!!

This Tuesday I and my jay were walking around contacting and as we were walking around we found a lizard called a garobo. These lizards are a lot like iguanas but they don’t have a beard of spikes. Besides that, they are pretty much the same with one difference, here in Choluteca you are allowed to kill garobos whenever you want and killing iguanas is highly illegal! Soo, its super important that if you’re going to kill a lizard you know the difference before you kill it!

So, to continue, my comp and I were walking and we spotted a garobo! We also happened to be walking around with a slingshot and a couple of marbles in our pockets. My comp slowly pulled out his slingshot and let a marble loose! The marble pegged the lizard in the head and it jumped like 3 feet into the air and then died. We ran and collected our kill knowing we had completed one of our weekly goals of one garobo!!! We then began walking through the streets with a big, dead lizard thinking, “Hmm, who could teach us how to cook this?” We went over to a friend’s house named Javier and we learned how to skin, clean, and cook garobo!!! The way we chose to cook it was fry it like KFC chicken!! We waited and prepped our meat and then ate it all and to my grand surprise it was soo good!! I loved it! It was sweet and really soft! We ate the entire lizard and then called our other friend and asked him if he could make a wallet out of the skin for us! We currently are waiting for our wallet to be finished and it’s going to be soo cool!!!

Oh and also this week I got sick.... It rains every day from about 5 in the evening to 3 in the morning. This Thursday we were just so lucky to get caught on the wrong side of a river that splits our area in half and trapped us away from our house.  We thought we would be stuck there at the house of a member for the night but we just went to our cook’s house and hoped that the rain would pass so we could get home and sleep. After about 3 hours the rain started to recede and the water level of the river began to fall again so we could cross! We made it home and were safe for the night but as a result of running and teaching in the rain I and my comp both got sick and are slowly but surely recovering! So, as for now, I think that is all of the notable things I have done so I will write again next week!

Love you all!!!
Elder Jonah McKee

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 58 - Where You End Up

Monday, June 15, 2015

This was a really good week! On the mission I am slowly but surely coming to understand the process of repentance. I had a deep talk with my companion on Thursday where we reflected on the time we have lost together. I love Elder Velasquez. He is awesome! Sometimes in the mission you have to pass time with a companion whom you don’t get along with all too well. That is not the case with me and Elder Velasquez.

We get along really well but we have really not been worthy of the Lord’s help for the majority of our time together. We have not been super dooper disobedient but just through the little things here and there and a little bit everywhere we have really lost the guidance of the Lord and we have not had any success in terms of converts. In our talk I expressed to him the regret I have in my heart for the lost time and the waste of what could have been an amazing companionship. He counseled me with my own quote that I use all the time. He told me "Elder, don’t worry, the Lord does not judge us on our past actions, be them good or bad, He judges us on how we end up. Our time together isn’t over, we still have 2 weeks!" We raised our voices to the Lord and repented from the depths of our hearts! It was great. After, we stood from our kneeled position and hugged it out like two bros who were ready to go out and do some serious work! We had some really beautiful experiences after that!

On Saturday we met a lady named Maria. She was really closed off to us in the beginning but after we talked for a little bit she opened up and confessed to us that she was really sad because her son, who is really stuck in the whole drug scene, steals her things and sells them to earn drug money. He stole her gas tank which hooks up to her water oven stove. She was so sad and told us that now she had to go and search for firewood. I felt soooo bad for her in that very moment! The people here hate asking for help, especially if you are wearing a white shirt and tie. They don’t really understand that it is our work clothes. We offered to help her but she didn’t accept. We asked to borrow her machete but she denied the request. I told her that we would be back soon with firewood whether she liked it or not! We then proceeded to search. Our search led us to a part of the area where I had never visited before! We found a fallen tree from which I, with my Nephi like strength (with Elder Velasquez on the other end) carried a branch the size of a small adolescent teenage tree all the way to her house! She was so happy to see that we had actually returned! The only bummer is that I don’t think that the branch is going to fit into her oven so we are going to have to borrow an axe from someone so that we can go back and cut it up for her. We had other pretty experiences but I’m out of time!

 I love you all!

 I hope all is well back home and I send a special hug to the Jackson family! I love you guys so much! Take care!

Elder  Spencer McKee

 

Spencers's Take 2, Semana 57 - What the Fetch?

Monday, June 8, 2015

Here I am in a church in Jujuy, Argentina and I have just received the biggest, fattest wave of news: good, bad and ugly from the USA.... I have no idea what to say!!!! So weird! Here I am walking through dirt streets all day and all of that is going down? In Argentina they would say QUE KILOMBO!!!! Wow. I have no words. I love you. The church is true. God loves us and I know it!

This week in my studies I learned some awesome lessons! I was reading in Luke chapter 9 where Jesus and his crew are on their way to Jerusalem and they try to pass through Samaria.  The Samaritans don't let them pass through because they are Jews so Peter and John get mad and ask Jesus if they can cause fire to rain down on the city. Jesus said no. I thought that was pretty funny. They acted pretty melodramatically I think.....

I did divisions with an elder whose name is Elder Gongora. He's Mexican from Oregon. He is cool. He just arrived to the mission so it was fun asking him about life back in the states! I really shouldn't worry about that stuff but it's always interesting to hear about it! iPhone 6.... I had no idea!

Like I said before, the church is true! I love Jesus and He loves me! He loves you too and I am right by his side loving you all!

Elder Spencer McKee

photos....
There is a circus in front of our house.....
I made a pretty flower tie and gave it to Elder Ellertson for his b day June 1st.
I bought myself a really late birthday present! gymnasio y esgrima! lobos jujeños for life!

Jonah's Semana 32 - Open Your Mouths

Monday, June 8, 2015

Okay, well, this week, where to start? I don't even know! I guess I should begin by saying I had a baptism!! I didn't get to take pictures because my camera was dead.... :(  BUT, the two people that were baptized were Enrique and Ashley Grandez.

 

They have been investigating the church for 11 years and just this week they decided it was time to be baptized. My companion and I spent a good moment in prayer this past week asking God what we, as his servants, should do to inspire them to continue progressing  and our answer was that we should share a scripture from the bible with them. We shared with them the story about the lady in the temple courtyards who was sick with an illness in her blood and how she, as a faithful woman, saw Christ walking with His apostles and how this lady of faith thought, "if I can only touch his robe, I will be healed", as Christ passed her she did just that. The sick, weak, lady extended her hand and touched the end of the robe Christ was wearing and as she did so Christ stopped and asked, who touched me? The apostles looked at him and thought that it truly could be anybody since they were walking through a courtyard full of tons of people! Christ, however, knew that somebody with an endless faith touched his robe for He felt their faith and the divine power leave His body to meet the needs of this faithful Christian lady.

 

We took this story and talked to them about how Christ is walking passed them and they in their faith have the decision to make to extend their hand and touch his robe so God can work a miracle in their lives or just sit and watch as He passes. They took this to heart and thought for a day. The following day they called us and told us they are ready to be baptized. My companion and I then got to work and put some plans in place so they could follow through and enter into this eternal covenant with God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. The baptism was a beautiful change and a giant step of faith for them! I am so happy that I am here and have the honor of being a part of these types of miracles daily! God loves us more than we could ever imagine and if we go to Him in fervent prayer then He will show us His love. God inspired us to share this story with them and now the church is two saints stronger. Be wise and open your mouths. A small phrase truly can change somebody or something forever.

 

I love you all,

Elder Jonah McKee

 

 

Jonah's Semana 31 - Transfer to Iberia & a New Companion!

Monday, June 1, 2015

Hey, so just to start off I am in a new area in the south and it is actually the hottest part of all of Honduras! The area is called Iberia and I literally have not stopped sweating since I got off the bus! haha I truly get out of the shower and towel down then think, "shoot why am I still wet" and realize that it's actually sweat and not water! haha But yeah, apart from the constant sogginess of my body I have been having a great time here!

 

The people are super open to us and my companion is truly a blessing sent from God! He and I hit it off from the very beginning and so I know this will be a great time together! He literally is the same person as me but he is from El Salvador and not from Vegas!

 

I'm so stoked to be here and I am so honored to be in my new calling that I received to serve as a district leader! Yeah, you read that right. Haha, I am now a District Leader (DL) and I am seriously sooo nervous I can barely handle it! I feel like I still don't know much of anything and that there are so many other missionaries who are more cut out to fit this position! But who knows??? haha I guess God called my mission president to his position and my president called me to be a DL so I guess it was meant to be! haha

 

So just to be clear, I am very happy and I am very anxious. It will be fun to see how I will be able to learn and grow in my testimony as I serve the Lord and the missionaries here in the Zone Choluteca as the DL. I am going to be patient and pray always so I will know how to be the best leader I can possibly be! I love the Lord and know He has sent me where He needs me! I will gladly go and do what He needs! I love this church and I am ready to serve!

 

I love you all so much and if I don't die from the loss of water from sweating soo much then I'll write more next week! Love ya!

Elder Jonah McKee

 

 

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 56 - Exchanges in Monterrico!

Monday, June 1, 2015

This week I went on exchanges with Elder Morgan in Monterrico! It's always a blast to go to Monterrico! It is a small little town that really only exists because of the huge tobacco plantations there! It consists of the huge houses of the millionaire plantation owners and the little pueblito where the workers live.

I hate smoking and tobacco but there is something about the chemical process that is used to make the tobacco "smoking ready" that releases such a delicious aroma into the air! I have been in Monterrico a couple of times now and I have finally come to a conclusion on what it smells like. It smells exactly like chocolate covered raisins! I love those things!

There's nothing like a box of those little brown guys and a huge bucket of popcorn in the movie theater! The bummer is that they are so small and if one slips from your grasp you are for sure going to find a warm melted chocolate stain on your butt or in between your legs!

That was a weird tangent....

Elder Morgan is a stud. He is like a skinnier version of me. He wrestled in high school, likes to skate.... that's pretty much me! For exercises in the morning we layed a blanket out and did a little bit of scrambling! I have about half of Monterrico convinced that we are cousins. I said that my dad and his mom are siblings.

It has been a good week. I have learned a ton. In sacrament meeting yesterday a brother gave a talk about the importance of being a dad. He ended his talk by saying,"Son, you are unique. You are going to accomplish great things in the world." That touched me so much. In that moment I knew that my Heavenly Father knows me and He knows that I struggle and He knows the intentions of my heart. It was the classic warm chills that a lot of people feel when the Spirit makes himself present!

Life is good!

I would like to make a couple of special shout outs...

Alec: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! YOU ARE A STUD!!!

And I have been thinking about Kyle and Ashton Buckner this week. I haven't heard about you guys in a while but I hope you are well and that life is treating you guys alright! When I get home we need to hang out!

I love you all so much! Thanks for the nice words this week! I received a bunch of emails today so that was nice! (thanks Brandon)

 Elder Spencer McKee