Spencer's Take 2, Semana 77 - To the very end....

Monday, October 26, 2015

This is so crazy. My buddies have been asking me what I’m going to say in this, my last letter home. I guess it is like custom to write a last testimony or something like that. But I, hipster Elder McKee, will not do that. Why you ask? Because the mission is still not over! I still have a week left!

I watched a video the other day that really made me think. On the Mormon channel there is a series called 2 brothers 2. It’s real good. Anyway, in the very last episode the oldest of the brothers in the series shares some thoughts about the mission. He said something along the lines of how the mission is set up to be a failure. There is no such thing as a perfect day in the mission. There is no such thing as a perfect missionary. If you expect to have a perfect mission and be a perfect missionary you are going to be a sad, sad man. At the end of the day everyone can look back and say, “Man that sure was stupid. Why did I do that?” it’s true! I know I have had many days like such!

In these past couple of days I have thought a lot about if my efforts have been enough. Now, there have been days where I have been on it way more than others. I have lost months of blessings due to disobedience and a lack of faith. I have had periods of time where I could really feel the presence of a third companion (the Holy Ghost) and others where I felt as if I was walking blind folded. It’s sad to think that I have let days go by. In the end, I guess I really can say that I had a great mission. I have learned a lot. I know that nobody is perfect. If there is anything I have learned from my mission, it would have to be the importance of repentance. I am really, realllyyyyy good at it now.

The mission is preparation for real life. I think I’m ready. I hope so at least! If anything, I would really just like to know what my Heavenly Father thinks about my mission. One thing I learned in my mission is that to God, it doesn’t matter what you did yesterday. What he cares about is what you do today and tomorrow. I have one week left!

I love you all. See you soon!

Home means Nevada, home means the hills.....

xoxo

-Elder Spencer McKee

Jonah's Semana 52 - Playing Nurse

Monday, October 19, 2015

Hey everybody!!

So hey, this week, I don’t have very much to say because we have been inside for 2 of the days this week. My companion was sick so I have been taking care of him and tending to his needs like the great companion I am J! Haha I will be honest, I hated being in the house! Haha, I know you all have had days where you’ve stayed in the house and you were just bored 100% out of your mind. Well, imagine having another one of those days but this time you can’t watch TV, play Xbox, call a friend to come over, sit in the pool, go outside and skate, or even look up new music on YouTube or sound cloud. Haha. Those 197 songs I have can only be listened too so many times before you just can’t take more of it.

I did get to read 2 Liahonnas I didn’t read before and also I am now in chapter 25 of Alma Reading the BOM for the second time through but besides read a ton I truly had nothing else to do. I was going crazy! Luckily we didn’t have to stay in for a third day because if we did I know I would’ve lost it. Haha it was worse than prison! But I survived it and now going into this week with a healthy comp, I am hoping I’ll be able to get out all of this slothfulness I built up during that time. Tomorrow is the Zone conference with the misión president so I’m very excited to see how that goes and see what direction he has been inspired to give us. I love you all and I hope you’re all well at home. Also pray that I’ll be able to have a more successful week this week :)

Te amo,

Elder Jonah McKee

It's official! I have been out for 1 year! Time is flying!!!

 

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 76 - The Great Culmination!

Monday, October 19, 2015

This week was a special one! I got to check off an achievement in the to-do list this week! For the first time in my mission I helped a couple unite themselves in the not so holy bonds of marriage! Here, no other church, besides the Catholic church, has any rights to perform marriages so Marilin and Nazareno got married civilly. This next week, well, this Saturday, Marilin will be baptized! It is the culmination of the work of many missionaries throughout the years. They have been engaged for 3 years they said and just barely tied the knot. It was a super cute little ceremony. Nice and short. It’s tradition here to throw rice at the newlyweds as they walk out of the church, or in this case, the municipal building. You already know that they got bombarded by a tooonnnnnn of rice! Everyone, even the babies participated in the volley of rice throwing! Afterwards they had a little reception party lunch after. It was nice. It’s a tradition also to dance with the newlyweds. I’m not so disobedient to dance with Marilin but you bet your bottom dollar that I danced with Nazareno! We showed the world how the waltz is done!!!!

Here on Sunday, and I think exclusively in Argentina, was mother’s day. I honestly felt more of the mother’s day spirit on Sunday than I did in May of this year. The branch president in the sacrament meeting shared a memory that he has of his mom who passed away about 25 years ago when he was just 13. He told how his mom did not know how to read or write and she was mortally ashamed of it thus impeding her from enlisting her kids in school for fear of having people know about her weakness. President Voitina then proceeded to tell how he was forced to enlist him and his brother in school alone. When he was of age to go to high school he finally went to school and he was terrified to make the change. The first day his mom ironed his favorite shirt and shined his shoes for him. When he was several blocks from his house on the way to his first day of high school, he was struck with fear and he peeked over his shoulder only to find his mom standing in the middle of the street in support of her son. He said that seeing her there gave him the confidence and support he needed to proceed toward his new school. As I heard that story I couldn’t fight the tears. I have been blessed in this life with such an amazing mother that loves me and has supported me through everything. She has forgiven me and has even smacked very much sense into me when I needed it. I love you mom for all that you have done and do for me to this day. Te amo. 😘  

My second to last week. Weird.

I love you all sooooo much! Please pray for the Rodriguez family. They are going through some rough times!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Spencer McKee

Jonah's Semana 50 - Miracles Happen Every Day!

Monday, October, 12, 2015

I am always amazed to see the miracles that happen every day!!

This week was a week full of moments of service and good vibes. I have always loved being able to serve and work with my hands and this week there were so many golden opportunities to do exactly that and serve the people that surround me! I don’t know why, but that just makes the time fly by.

I was lost this week because the time went so quickly that one day seemed to run into the other and I lost track of time! I guess you could say it was thanks to my new companion and I being lost in the service of our fellow man. I won’t lie; this is going to be a very interesting group of weeks serving with my new companion Elder Gonzalez. He is a great elder and I truly love being with him but he is at the end of his mission and he can’t wait to be home!! Haha. I know he is still working but his heart is at home and I know this is going to be a true challenge for me to stay focused on the reason I am here while he talks about home all the time. Luckily, I will have a transfer full of baptisms so that should help me to focus and keep my eye fixed on the work of the Lord!

I actually had the pleasure of having a baptism this week of two girls! One is 16 and her
name is Mayra, the other is Viviana and she is 9. They are cousins and for about 2 months I have been working with their family trying and fighting alongside them to help them get to the baptism font. It has been rough and a battle full of arguments from parents who just didn’t understand but now they do. The spirit did something that I don’t think I will ever understand and one day the mother of Mayra came and told us she could be baptized and that she is happy her daughter is searching for God. I don’t know what it was that changed or how but I know it was just one of the many miracles I have witnessed and it was in the lives of these two daughters of God! I know He loves us and he helps us accomplish our deepest desires if we are accomplishing what He desires of us.

I truly know without a doubt in my heart that I am in the service of the Almighty God and I know I am a son of God and that He loves me as well as He loves each and every one of you! I testify that this is the great work of salvation that is mentioned so frequently in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. Today the gathering of Israel is coming to pass and I am a part of the gathering forces! I love being a missionary!

Love,

Elder Jonah McKee

P.S. our shower broke so I rigged a cool thing made out of plastic cups and tape so we could shower!!! I guys you could say I’m a pretty handy man :)

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 75 - Tucuman!

Monday, October 12, 2015

This last week was strange. We had very little time to actually work in our area.

Last Monday at the butt crack of dawn, as my mom Jana banana would say, we arrived in Tucuman at about 5 and had to be up at 7 to eat breakfast. The hotel we stayed at was super nice and it had a nice continental breakfast. I have really come to appreciate a continental breakfast here in Argentina. Of course, it was no continental breakfast at a Marriott or Days Inn but it was tasty.

Monday was the more eventful of the 2 days that we were in Tucuman. After not actually achieving what we went there to do in the morning, we ended up writing letters and then going to lunch. At lunch there was a sister who was the first convert from the province of Cordoba and the missionary who baptized her was Richard G. Scott, which was cool. After lunch we had the rest of the day to explore so we went and bought some cool trinkets from the hippies in their little hippie plaza. It was funny because some of them remembered me from the many times that I passed through before! They are so cool.

Here in Argentina the hippies are just like traveling salesmen that stop along their unbeaten trail and sell their artisanal crafts and goodies. You bet your bottom dollar that I have bought a bunch of stuff from them!

In the afternoon we went to visit some of my converts in my previous area in Tucuman! It was soooo nice to see them! I love them all soo much! It’s such an intense love that I have for them all! I HAVE to come back one day to visit them all again! I can’t wait till the spirit world! I thought I was going to have more time to see them and the others on Tuesday but we ended up doing all of our document papers early so we left to go back to Frias sooner than expected.

General Conference was awesome! I learned a lot and received a lot of personal revelation that was well needed! Our investigator Jose also had a lot of good experiences at the conference. He went to 4 of the 5 sessions and loved it. I hope he has a change of heart and that his faith will grow so that he gets married finally! He and his family need to get dunked before I go!

I love you all.  Take care!

#3weeks.

Elder Spencer McKee

Jonah Semana 49 - It's Stttiiiiilllllllll Raining!

Monday, October 5, 2015

Oh man it is still pouring here and making it very difficult for the internet to work.  I will try to get a better letter in next week, hopefully it won't be raining so hard! I am happy and working hard! I love you!

Elder Jonah McKee

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 74 - Let us Not Shrink

Monday, October 5, 2015

This week was a good one. Truly we are being soooo extremely blessed here in Frias!

Our investigators are progressing like a dream. Marilin and Nazareno are going to get married the 16 and then Marilin will be baptized the 24!

The Rodriguez family also is running like a dream car! They are so prepared! They accept every commandment like nothing. As if they were mad for not knowing about them before! Last night we taught the principle of the tithing. The tithing lesson is always a sketchy one! On one hand it’s sketchy because it’s hard for some people to accept and on the other hand it’s awesome because it’s soooo easy to teach because it’s such a simple commandment. The parents are progressing great. Another of their kids, the oldest son named Santiago also jumped onto the progress boat! More and more of them are getting really excited for their baptism. Jose needs to make the decision to finally get married. He worries a lot about their economic state. I guess it makes sense but I know that with just a little bit more faith they will see big blessings!

Elder Christensen also is progressing really well.

Unfortunately we did not have the chance to see General Conference. Here in Frias the internet connection is not fast enough to watch on a live stream. We are going to watch it this upcoming Saturday and Sunday. So please, give me spoiler alerts at least!

This week I learned a huge lesson. A while back I had studied a talk by Elder Bednar that’s called 'let us not shrink'. It talks about the faith that all of us need. We need to be faithfully strong enough to not only be able to accept the blessings and the good times but also the bad and not so pleasant times. My zone leader Elder Hampton asked me: “Elder McKee, do you have the faith to be okay if things don’t turn out how you want them to?" referring to the possible 9 baptisms that we could have before I leave. Truly it would be a dream. Help two families get married and baptize them!!!! That would be a dream come true and a big bang to go out to on the mission! The question made me think a lot. I said yes after considering the possibilities. I know God is a God of miracles. He is capable of changing even the hardest of hearts. I have faith. I know that the promises that God has made to us are real. I’m grateful that I was able to testify and share personal experiences about the power of paying tithing. I know it’s a commandment of God and that it is at times a hard test of faith but that the windows of heaven open unto us if we are obedient.

I love you so much. I’m in Tucuman today doing legalization paper work stuff. Sadly the computer I’m on doesn’t read my SD card so no pictures today. Sorry.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Spencer McKee

Shout out to Brett and Mason! Congratulations and wait till I get home so I can come to your weddings!

Jonah, Semana 48 - It's storming!

Monday, September 28, 2015

Hey everybody I guess I have to say that I have had a really fast week this week!!

I don’t know why but the days just seemed to fly right passed me!! I have truly been busy all of the days of the week doing service projects and it was really fun!!I had a ton of fun and now my body is tired and I know it’s because I’m sacrificing my all to the people I am serving.

I have changes this next Wednesday and it is going to be very exciting to see what happens with me and my companion because nobody ever knows what changes bring besides a ton of surprise!!!

I am sorry but there is a storm here and the internet is moving extremely slowly so I can’t write much but I love you all!!

Love,
Elder Jonah McKee

Spencer's Take 2, Semana 73 - What a Week!!!

Monday, September 28, 2015

What a week! We are still working like crazy with the Rodriguez family and Marilin!

The Rodriguez family is so awesome! If all goes well with all those that are age eligible in the family to be baptized, we will have 8 new members! It’s hard to get everyone to sit down and listen to us because they are so numerous and just crazy kids. Their interest and attendance in the lessons is the biggest challenge for them! Jose and Karina, the mom and dad are deciding on a date to get married! Marilin and her member boyfriend are getting ready to be married on the 16th of October!

We have two other families, the Dominguez and Herrera family. They are also really cool but are progressing a little bit slower. We have faith in them and in the Lord! All will unfold as was set in place by the plan of God! We need to find new investigators reallllly bad. I don’t want to leave Elder Christensen here with his next companion and leave them with nothing to work with! That would really blow!!!!

Yesterday we had a great day at church! When I got here we had an attendance of about 10-15 at church. Last week we had 31 and this week we had..... 40 people in church!!!!!!! All thanks to Elder Christensen of course! He is a beast! He is progressing really well and his Spanish is really coming along. Poor little guy has been pretty sick for the last week or so. I think that his body is finally adjusting to the Argentine life. The water, food... all that good stuff!

I am seriously sick and tired of pasta! I never want to eat pasta ever again! It is the most common lunch here from the members. Four and a half months of pasta with the same sauce 2 times a week...... I’m done. I appreciate it, but I am ready for some rice J

The branch became a part of the stake here in the province of Santiago del Estero so we had some representatives from the stake and President Chaparro in some meetings with us Sunday. It was soooo funny seeing President and Sister Chaparro in Frias! It was his first time I think! Oooooooh Frias..... the city of friendship they say! 

I love you all so much! I’m so excited to see you all! I’m going to give all of you the biggest fattest hugs and kisses!!!! Prepare yourselves for a super touchy, contact deprived ex elder mickey!!!!!!!

Con mucho amor,

Elder Spencer McKee

 

I love how here in Argentina people choose to paint thier houses with

 the most vibrant and pretty colors! They may not all match sooo well

but I love it! im going to have a super colorful house like this!!!!!