Jonah's Last Week! Semana 104

Monday, October 24, 2016

Hey there!!

Well to start off, this is quite an unexplainable emotion I'm feeling right now. How do I sum up one of the greatest adventures of my life in one letter?  It is truly hard to believe that this moment has come! I have known all of my life that one day I was going to serve a mission and that this, the very same mission, would one day come to an end. 

Since I was a little boy singing "I hope they call me on a mission when I have grown a foot or two," I've known I was going to serve. I never knew where exactly or when, but I was hoping that no matter what happened, that the growing a foot or two was one of the benefits of service. I don't think I ever grew that foot or two that I was so very much hoping for, but it's fine because I did get to be a missionary! 

Coming on the mission was a decision that I made years and years ago. Despite the challenges that life threw at me, I knew that nothing would keep me from serving the Lord. My path may have had some bumps along the way, but I wouldn't change it one bit. My name is Jonah, and like the prophet of old, I am loved by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The prophet Jonah had ups and downs along his path too, but in the end, all of those experiences helped to make him a better and more effective instrument in the hands of the Lord. 

My mission has been perfect, even if I was not a perfect missionary. I came to the field willing to serve God and my fellow man with all my heart, might, mind, and strength and in return, I have had the opportunity to learn and grow in ways that I didn't even know that I could. No matter where or what the circumstance I was asked to serve in, there was always something there for me to learn and add to my experiences. There were truly moments that I asked "why me?" and without fail, the Lord would show me the reason "why". Every time I found myself reflecting on the "why" I would be reminded that I needed to be a better disciple and my thoughts would turn to Christ's first disciples, the 12 original apostles.  When Christ saw them while they were fishing on the sea of Galilee He called to them and this is how they responded:

17 And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. 
18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed Him. 

Without questioning "why me" they just dropped everything and followed. One of the greatest lessons I have learned on my mission is that we don't need to know why or how, we just need to simply act and be faithful until the end, no matter what. 

I am so very grateful for my mission and for all the new things I was able to learn by giving these two short years to serve and love my neighbors. 

I'm content with the sacrifices I've made and I can't wait to return home and see each and every one of you in 4 days time! Because of the Lord's help, I will leave here without even an ounce of regret. He has helped me to leave it all on the mat... the whole three periods and then some overtime as well. Because of Him, I've come out on top and hope to be closer to the man He needs me to be.  This is the end of my time here in the mission and I loved it and I'm so grateful for the many blessings I've received! 

Love,
Elder Jonah McKee

PS these are some pictures of my funeral that we held as a zone on Friday. It was pretty funny :)

Jonah's Semana 102 - More Baptisms!!!

Monday, October 17, 2016

MOMMY!!! How goes life?!?! I am so incredibly excited to see you sooooo soon! 

Anyhow, this weekend we had more baptisms!!! It was awesome! We baptized the family we were planning on baptizing next weekend. They told us on Monday night that they didn't want to wait anymore and that they were ready. So, we prepared them for their interviews and 4 new people were baptized on Saturday!! Actually, there were 5 but one of them was an investigator of the sister missionaries that share the chapel with us and we generally do our baptisms together to make it easier for everyone. 

Really though, life is good! This week the mission president informed us that the last day I'll be in the mission, Dallin H. Oaks (one of the 12 apostles) is going to be here giving a talk and I'm stoked out of my mind!!! 

Well, hey, my time was up like 10 minutes ago but I love you and I'll see you in a little over a week! 

I love you!
Elder Jonah McKee

This is the family we baptized! The parents of the 3 kids 

were inactive members that we reactivated and baptized

 the kids as well as the grandma! GOOD STUFF!!!

Jonah's Semana 101 - It's Gettin' Real

Monday, October 10, 2016

This week we had a baptism and it was awesome! We had lots of investigators present and they all loved the baptism! Actually, thanks to the baptism one of the investigators I've been working with for the past 3 months wants to get baptized and so now we are working with her to get baptized this next Saturday!! It's going to be amazing if she really goes through with it! Although I'm super close to going home I know I'm here for a reason and I hope to make sure I fulfill it until The Lord doesn't need me anymore.  Well anyways, speaking of baptism, on Saturday we got to baptize a little girl named Mia. She has been attending church faithfully for the last 3 months and just never received the discussions.  So Elder Fonseca and I started teaching her and saturday she got baptized! Hopefully her mom was able to see how special that was for her and she will follow her daughter's example and make the same decision to be baptized and follow God.  

Really this mission has been one of a kind! This week we had 3 meetings with President Bowler! The first one was a trainer's meeting to see how the new kids are adjusting. The second was our zone meeting on Friday and then later that same day I had my last interview with him. It was so funny because in each and every one of the meetings President continually made an example of me and thanked me for my mission service in front of those present. In the trainers meeting he called me to the front and addressed the missionaries present and told them all to look at me as a example. It got super real! haha. He continued by telling them all about my achievements in the mission and how many times I had trained. He told the new kids that if they were going to follow the example of a missionary then they should model their missions after mine. I didn't really feel worthy of all the recognition he was giving me so iI stopped him and told him I was no perfect missionary. He said it's true, but that I had served a perfect mission, doing everything the Lord asked of me in health or in sickness and no matter where I was he knew he could rely on me. Later on Friday, in front of the zone, he called me forward again and every time he talked about the importance of working hard today because our missions are short, he looked to me to affirm his statement! Haha, it was quite a week! I can truly say that up until that moment I haven't really felt a difference, or that feeling that I'm going home, but with the help of President Bowler I am most definitely aware now of how close I am to going home. 

I miss you and the family but I have two more weeks and I plan on using every second of them! Oh mom I am so excited about seeing you and the whole family again!!! I love you and I'll see you soon!

Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 100 - Missionary Superbowl, aka General Conference

Monday, October 3, 2016

Oh man this week came up on us with a great big surprise!! Haha! This last week while my companion and I were doing our weekly planning session we completely forgot to plan for General Conference! When we realized the mistake, we had to go back and scratch a bunch of plans we had made like contacting an area we haven't touched in about a month, two family home evenings, and also a dinner appointment we had set for Saturday at 6. Haha! I don't know why we forgot about conference especially considering that it is basically the Superbowl for missionaries all over the world but oh well, what do you do? 

In the end I truly enjoyed the conference and I loved the part in the talk by Dallin H. Oaks when he laughs at his own joke and then continued onward. I love to see the apostles and know of their humor. Not only did I enjoy his joke but I absolutely adored the words he shared. The way and the form the church works today is faster, easier, and much more efficient. I hope that when I get home I will be able to live the words of Elder Oaks and continue sharing the gospel through other mediums. 

Hey my ankle is pretty tender and I don't know why but it's super weak! I keep twisting it over the littlest things and I can't help it!! It hurts pretty badly sometimes but I don't really plan on telling the nurses about it cuz I really don't think I broke anything I Think I just hit it really hard and it's bruised or something like that. Some days in the night when we get home my ankle is a bit swollen but doesn't usually swell up a whole lot. So I mean shoot, I just have to last 3 more weeks with all this walking and stuff, so I can't let my hinges run out of oil just yet. 

As for the rest of my life, this week we are planning on baptizing a little girl named Mia! However, this all depends on her mother. She is not a member of the church but I have been teaching her on and off  for the past 4 months that I've been here and well, she has finally given us permission to baptize her daughter but she is just not ready yet. I hope she is sure about her decision to let Mia get baptized and that this week we will be able to help them in these last steps to baptism. 

I love you a ton and I miss you! Be safe and laugh often!

Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 99 - Leaving It All On The Mat

Monday, September 26, 2016

Mommy!!!
How goes life? Are you still sick? I'm not sick right now. But I am hurt! 

So listen, today we were playing soccer and it was super fun! We played at one of my favorite places to play in the entire mission and I think of my 3 favorite places, it is ranked in second place! Well, anyways, we were there playing today and it was great! The teams were all pretty well balanced and the games were tough. So yeah, we were all playing for maybe an hour, or a little more, and I was running full steam for the goal. I was dribbling it like a pro and as I was about to kick the ball into the goal, one of my good friends attempted to steal the ball from me and he stepped right on the inside of my right ankle. His weight made my ankle fold over and I rolled it super bad!! It hurts pretty good right now and it's a bit swollen but whateves! I'm just gonna tough it out for now and see if it keeps bugging me later. 

Alrighty well in other news... This next Saturday and Sunday are General Conference!!! I'm so excited for conference! Also, the week after that we should have a couple of baptisms!!!  Oh man, I really like being here right now!

My highlights of the week were the following: On Friday we had zone conference and in the zone conference I gave my last testimony and it was something crazy!!  I felt so nervous about life, that all the thoughts I was trying to organize together just kept falling apart; leaving me with a blank page, not really able to center myself. It was insane. In the conference I saw a ton of people I haven't seen in a long time and that was really nice too! 

Later on Saturday, in our area, there was a huge carnival to celebrate the 438th birthday of the capital and there was literally no way to escape all the craziness. So we had to pass a lot of time that night in member's homes so that we weren't dealing with a bunch of drunks and all of that jazz. 

And lastly, this Sunday my companion and I spoke in church and we were able to rebuild our relationship with the ward members a little more by showing them that we want to work. Truly though, it was a pretty good week! I feel satisfied with life because I know that these last few weeks of my mission I'm going to be doing everything in my power to have success. I know with the Lord's help, at the end of day, I will be able to say I left it all on the mat.

I love you!
Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 98 - I LOVE TRAINING!!!

Monday, September 19, 2016

HEY THERE!!!

First and Foremost I'd like to start off by telling you that I'm training! I love the training experience so much! Throughout my entire mission the changes I have enjoyed the most have always been the ones that I have been training. It might have something to do with the extra strong mission spirit all new missionaries bring or the fact that I'm a lot more strict in my studies but whatever it is, I LOVE TRAINING. This is my 5th time training and my new kid is named Elder Fonseca. He is from here, Honduras, and he is only here waiting on his U.S. Visa to go to the Provo MTC. He is called to serve in the Calgary Canada Mission and his reporting date to the MTC is November 1st so I think he and I will be on a plane sitting together in 5 weeks time.

Up to this point we have only been together for one week but it has been fantastic! It is awesome having a new companion who wants success as badly as I do and we are starting to actually achieve it. This week we spent a lot of time contacting old investigators and some of those old investigators include Daniela, Alejandra, and Victor. Yes, for a moment we had to drop them and give them some space but now we are once again teaching them and it's great to see them again! Not only are we visiting them but we are also visiting a family whom we had left behind months ago to allow them to fix some personal things before they were truly ready to change their lives. This last Friday we were with them, the Flores family, and we spoke to them all about coming to church and baptism. Four people accepted and we're now working with them so they can be baptized the 8th of October.

Like them,we are starting to work with other old investigators and we have seen blessings. I know that with this change we have a high potential to do great things. I am so very blessed to have this great opportunity this close to the end of my mission! It is allowing me to work and learn to love this labor once again before returning home.  The highlight of my week was most definitely yesterday in church. Thanks to many things falling into place we were able to see 8 investigators in church as well as 3 inactive families. It was truly an amazing sight to see and I was so very proud to hear all of the positive comments from the members about how they can once again trust in the mission work. I hope to do great things in these last weeks I will be here and I hope and pray to be able to leave all of me here in the mission field.

Con Mucho Amor!
Elder Jonah McKee

My new companion is the one on the far right. The two on my sides are two of the others I trained and the one on the far left is being trained my boy Elder Rogers (my grandson).

Jonah's Semana 97 - I'm Gonna Die a Grandpa!!!

Monday, September 12, 2016

Hey mom! I am super sorry but my companion has exchanges and since he is leaving the area and going to the hottest place in the world, in the middle of nowhere, he had to run some errands so I got online late. I didn't have time to write everybody; basically I just read everyone's letters. 

Alright well to start off my companion has tranfers!!!!! I'm so stoked about it!!

I'm going to be training again! I'm so excited! Legit, this is everything I wanted. I still don't know if my kid is going to be American or Latin but I'm gonna find out at the trainer's meeting on Wednesday. Seriously this is the coolest thing ever! I am almost positive that I am gonna love this last 6 weeks of my mission! 

Unfortunately, I never got the last letter from Carter. Was it good? Man it's so crazy that we are all done with our missions! I can't believe that this adventure we have been preparing for our whole lives is coming to an end! I hope we were all able to learn what we needed to. My hope is that now that I'm training I'll be able to have a companion that really is ready and wants to work. 

I'm stoked about life! Also hey, my kid Elder Rogers, one of the kids I trained earlier in my mission, is in my zone and he is training too! That means that I'm gonna have 2 of my own kids here in the zone and 1 grandchild! I'm gonna die a grandpa!

Anyways today I went to Valle de Angeles and hiked to the waterfall. One of these days I'm going to have to take you to see them especially since we will eventually come back here. It's beautiful!

Con Amor!
Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 96 - The Lord Has a Plan

Monday, September 5, 2016

Hey Mom!!
How's life? Mine is fine. I can't say it's been anything super special but I also couldn't say it's been something bad either. This week has been much like the last two, quite grey. Truly I'm just waiting for this change to end so I can have a new companion. I know that sounds bad but it's the truth. 

I think it's difficult to enjoy working when you don't work well with the person you're stuck to 24/7. It gets super difficult. We have kind of come to find peace between us but I think the only reason we have found a little bit of peace is because we haven't done anything new or different or visited anyone more than we did the last two weeks. I feel like the work is just at a stand still and I feel super uncomfortable about it but I think in a small way it is better that the work just stands still right now rather than it diving down into deep, deep water that it can't recover from. Unfortunately, we have lost a handful of open communications with investigators and members alike as a result of a couple of very unintelligent comments my companion has made in very untimely moments. For now, I am just trying to do damage control and make sure that our time is spent in places that no damage can be done. We have spent a lot more time than normal in member's houses and not even with inactive or struggling members; for the most part all of the members we have been visiting are super active. I just know that no matter what comments happen to slip out of my companion that they won't do any harm to these people.

I know it sounds weird but I know if we keep visiting some of our investigators that pretty soon we won't have any due to a lack of caution with the world's greatest weapon, our tongues. Two weeks ago we lost 2 homes or groups of investigators for some very inappropriate things that were said. In an attempt to save them as future investigators I dropped them and told them we would come back in the not so distant future. For that same reason the work has come to a stand still but I hope that later these people will feel better with us as missionaries and progress once again. It's just a matter of time before those changes and I know that the work will progress once again.

 The Lord knows the situation I'm in and I hope I am doing what is right. He always knows what we need and what we should do no matter the difficult situation we may be in. I feel I am doing all in my power and I know that in a week's time things will change and I will once again be able to do the Lord's errand. I've learned a lot in my mission and I know that this church is true. Not only do I know that this church is true but I know that God exists and that He, through His Son, is guiding this church today. I know that God loves us and He wants us to progress always.  No matter where we are, whether it is in the beginning of a journey or the end, there is always more work and progression to be done. Once we feel our progression has ended God always helps us see what we lack. I know God has been watching me in my mission and I am so grateful for the opportunity He has given me in these last days of my mission to continue in my growth; teaching me to be more tolerant, patient, and accepting. 

Con Amor!
Elder Jonah McKee

This is the lost temple picture I just got.

Jonah's Semana 95 - I Love Monopoly!

Monday, August 29, 2016

Hey MOM!! Love you! Can I just start off by saying that? Also hey, I wanna go hiking everywhere you told me about, it's so pretty! But when I get home it's gonna be pretty chilly so I think we are gonna have to hold off for a bit.

In other news my week really wasn't anything super exciting. We dropped some investigators and that sucked because they were way cool! But out of nowhere they just stopped doing the homework we were leaving and then they stopped coming to church so I don't think we are gonna go there anymore.

I think the best part of my entire week was that this Sunday we went to a family´s house and for the very first time in my life I played monopoly!!It was seriously so much fun! I love that family! Haha. do you remember the girl I tortured with that huge sensor when I was taking x-rays and the freaking film couldn't fit because her mouth was so small and she kinda started crying? And she wrote me for like 3 months after we got back on facebook every once and awhile? Yea well, anyways, her name is Jossary and we played with her family!! Haha she is in Nicaragua serving her mission but seriously I love her family!! They all were cheating so much it was just too funny for life! Everybody that was playing was cheating so much and it was hilarious to see all of the mistrust and everybody laughing super evil like when their schemes functioned. Haha! Can you believe I hadn't ever played monopoly before? It was legit too funny!

Besides that the week was super average and boring. Its been raining everyday all day this week and so it makes it hard to contact new people so we have been asking for member references. We will probably do that all weekend.  I'm sorry but I didn't take any pictures this week! I'll try to take more next week!

Love you forever!
Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 94 - Life is Super Good!!!

Monday, August 22, 2016

What's up!¡?!?! Life is super good! 

This week on Wednesday we did divisions with one of the areas in my district "The Honduras" and guess what!! The Elders that serve there are both kids I know super well, Elder Hirschi and Elder Rogers! I went with Rogers because I trained him and was assigned with him for 3 whole months!! It was super awesome to be able to work with him after all of this time and see how much he has grown! Legit. I love that kid! I'm not even saying I love him just because I trained him but seriously you better believe that when he finishes the mission that we are gonna kick it.  

For real though, this week was super chill. The divisions were awesome and it was fun to spend the whole day with Rogers! After the divisions the rest of the week flew by because we as a region were invited to a symphony presentation about the restoration of the church and it was really well prepared!! We brought some investigators and they loved it! One of the people that sang was my good friend Jake from one of my past wards and it was awesome to see all of the people from three of my past areas!! It was the biggest reunion in my mission life! 

The concert was very good and the message was beautiful! Now that I'm getting to the end of my mission I had a ton of people come up to me and said goodbye. It was super sad to think I won't come back to see them for a very long time and maybe never again. It was rough but it was okay. 

This week Daniela, Alejandra and Victor went to visit their grandparents so they couldn't come with us to church but they are always progressing and making strides to be closer and closer to God.

I am nervous about these changes that are in 3 weeks because I don't want to leave this area. I want to stay here and finish the work I've started. But who knows!! I will go, I will do the things the Lord commands me to.

I love you all,
Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 93 - 2 Legit 2 Quit

Monday, August 15, 2016

Hey Mom!!!! 
So this week has been pretty different than most of the other trillion weeks I've had here in Honduras and well, I mean what should I have expected after all that has happened?! Hmm, Where do I even begin?!?! 

So I guess I'll start off by telling you all about Wednesday; so, the day generally was pretty slow and boring but that all turned around when I got hit by a car!! Haha I wasn't really paying a whole bunch of attention and since I work in a pretty busy part of town a taxi was driving maybe like 10 mph and hit me on the left side of my body! It was basically like if somebody hit a super good double leg takedown and just swept my feet right out from under me. I fell on the taxi hood and got off his roof and apologized to the taxi man and went on with my day! That night we had a super awesome family home evening with 3 of our best investigators: Daniela, Victor, and Alejandra. Also Daniela´s family was there and we taught them how to make scripture stickers and read a chapter of the BOM! It's super funny being with all of them because they're seriously insane and have zero filters! It's kinda like eating dinner at home, a whole bunch of people talking and nobody is shy about anything at all! The family home evening brought that day to an end.

Thursday in the morning we had a member family invite us over to eat and so we were on our way over there when we ran into a reporter for the most popular news channel of Honduras "H.C.H" and I decided I wanted to talk to her to see if I could take a picture with the microphone just because it's something so predominate here in Honduras the three letters "H.C.H." In turn she handed over the mic without a fight or a complaint and let me take some pictures! As my comp snapped some photos she joined in and took some pictures too. She started asking me some questions and then out of nowhere the simple act of asking to take a picture turned into her interviewing me and me showing up on H.C.H!! It was pretty cool to start the day off with a big screen presentation! Since then almost everywhere we go people always seem to tell us they saw us on H.C.H!! Its pretty amazing the way the tables have turned from us going up to people and telling them we want to introduce ourselves to share the gospel, to them coming up to us introducing themselves and then we try to share a gospel message with them. Its pretty nice when the mission work basically covers itself! :)

The rest of the week went a little something like this, us walking and somebody screaming they saw us on H.C.H and us teaching them or them telling us we don't drink coffee and we are weird for not doing so. Almost every member in the ward on Sunday had something to say about our unexpected appearance on tv and on the internet. I guess you can say that even though we don't have tablets we are still trying daily to get the word out in any way possible!! All in all the week was 2 legit 2 quit!

But as you all know, there had to be some opposition somewhere and the opposition came on Sunday after church. One of our investigators and 7 others were shot and killed. He, our investigator, was introduced to us by another family and his death left many of our friends here in the Kennedy devastated. All good things eventually come to an end unless its Eternal Marriage because that lasts forever but besides that, all good things have to end at some point. At any rate, the week flew by and this next week is going to be interesting to see how the cards all fall. Hopefully the death of David  is something we will be able to help many understand and come to terms with and that in the end all Goodness and all Godliness will prevail. I love you and I miss you! Be safe and know I'm happy!

Con mucho amor,
Elder Jonah McKee

H.C.H News reporter in the making :)

 All the meds I get to take before I come home

Jonah's Semana 92 - Investigators Bringing Investigators is AWESOME!!!

Monday, August 8, 2016

Hi mom!! 

This week has been more anticlimactic than yours I promise. I feel like the week was super fast and wish that we could have used the time better. I am going to be staying with my companion Elder Otero another 6 weeks and I think I'll survive but it's gonna be rough. The first thing he said to me when he found out we didn't have changes is, "I know what you like and what you don't like and I'm going to make this the worst change you have ever had". It's rough but it's fine. I can tell he is truly trying to make good on what he said; this week has not been the most delightful for me. Almost every day is the same with him; him doing the opposite of what we should be doing and when I ask him what he wants to do he says it's my responsibility to make the decisions and then when I make a decision he fights me on it.... It's fun. 

On another note though, this week we had a super awesome and productive lesson with one of the families we are teaching.  They are all young people but they're super awesome!! Daniela is 20 years old and almost every time we have taught there she has brought us a new friend to teach; this week the friend she brought us is named Lessie and the lesson we had with Daniela, Lessie, Alejandra, and Victor was super awesome. We committed them to a baptism date for the 27 of August and we hope we can fulfill it!! We started teaching them 3 weeks ago and since the day we taught them they haven't missed out on any activities or Sunday meetings. I love them!!! Not to mention its super nice when your investigators bring you new investigators! I think if all of the people in the world would invite one friend to hear the message we bring after hearing it for themselves, the church would triple in size in just a year's time. Most of the days of the week we stop by their house to do a short 3 minute lesson and to see if they are reading The Book of Mormon. Almost every single time we go we have to give them a new assignment because they have already finished their last one. Its sad, I think they might read the Book Of Mormon faster than I do!! I mean I read it every day but they read it and answer the questions I leave them in the same amount of time I take just to read it. It's a pretty good sign if you ask me that you can see true interest.

Me on the other hand am doing fine. I could be happier but I'm doing the best I can with my situation. This Wednesday I'm going to start one of the last medical treatments necessary to be back to full health when I get home. I heard from the nurse that due to all of the antibiotics I'm  going to be pretty tired for the next couple of weeks! It's gonna be interesting to see how the two things, my companion caused stress and the medicine caused tiredness, get along. All in all it's only 10 days of treatment so I'll be back to normal before I know it! 

Thank you and dad for your examples to me and my brothers and sister. Congrats on your anniversary and thanks for being the best!

I love you mom. I hope you know that.
Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 91 - Grand Master Plan

Monday, August 1, 2016

Man I seriously love our family!!!! Literally they are just the best bunch of good looking people you can possibly run into! I was so incredibly surprised to see Keagan and how big he is! When I left he was a short chubby kid and now he has pecks and everything! Wow. I was amazed to see everyone. Alec and Conner still look like jocks trying to one up each other in EVERYTHING but they look like they have fun doing it. Man it's gonna be so crazy getting home and truly seeing how you all have changed. 

This week I got a call from some missionaries who had found my memory card and on Friday they're going to bring it to me. (I think that was a blessing from God) So don't worry all of the 18 months of pictures will be returned to me shortly!

In other news this week is the week of changes but you will be surprised to hear that neither one of us will be moving and so I will be spending another 6 full weeks with my companion. Sometimes I think it may be because God doesn't think I learned what He intends me to learn so He's gonna let me suffer a little more.  It's good though because I am learning more about myself and I can see that I share some of the same flaws that he has and it inspires me to be better. 

Like last week, this week we also had a good amount of investigators in church and it's nice because when you see new people in church you know your work wasn't a waste of time. 
This week the best thing we did was a ward missionary activity on Saturday and it was nice to see the members a little involved in the mission work! Hopefully now they will understand a little more their role in missionary work and how important it is that they help us because even though we can do all of the work alone it's more successful when the members contribute. 

Little by little my grand master plan is coming together. I'm looking forward to the next 6 weeks here in the area and I hope in the end my goals will become reality. I have set a goal of 4 baptisms in this transfer and I hope that with the Lord's help we will be able to achieve it. I love you all and I miss you. 

Love, 
Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 90 - Ups & Downs

Monday, July 25, 2016

Hey guess what!! I'm super stressed right now!! I brought my old memory card with the intention of storing all of my pictures on dropbox today because my memory is full and guess what!! I lost the memory! All of my mission photos from the first 18 months gone!!! I'm stressed!!! Once I finish writing you I'm gonna go retrace my steps and look for it. I think I know where it's at but it's gonna be hard to find! That if it's still there. 

But hey! This week was a super busy week for us as missionaries! On Tuesday we had conference and it lasted basically the entire day! We didn't leave there until like 4:30! It was way too long.... not to mention I feel like every conference they talk about the same thing!! In the beginning of my mission I loved conference because I felt pumped up and animated when it was done but now I just sit there and think to myself, ¨Why do these things take so long?¨; but in the end I realize the reason they take so long is because the zone leaders that talk try to make a huge elaborate lesson that really isn't necessary at all just so they can explain the importance of talking to people in the street and contacting. I thought that Elder Uchtdorf said it best when he spoke in general conference about the importance of simplifying our discipleship and teachings.  

After that, on Wednesday we had a pretty average day of work and the following day we had divisions! We left our area and worked with some other Elders in another area called La Honduras. It's a nice community built on the side of a mountain and round about are a bunch of students in apartments. The divisions were nice and a change of pace that was well needed.  Friday started off with another district meeting as always and well our leader didn't really have anything planned so he decided that he wanted to do a testimony meeting. It was cool I guess but I don't think anybody was ready for that. Everybody should always be ready to bear testimony in all places at all times but truly it's nice to know ahead of time that testimonies will be shared. It's like if on the third Sunday of the month out of nowhere the bishop stands up and says, ¨hey I didn't assign anybody to talk, so today is testimony meeting¨; its awkward.

However, the week came to a very solid end with us having 8 investigators in church and it was awesome!! Not only was the morning super successful but that afternoon we organized divisions and we were able to recover a ton of lost time! So all in all it was a good week; ups and downs but in the end more ups than downs!!!  I love you all and I know you love me. 

Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 89 - Follow Him

Monday, July 18, 2016

Hey mom! So this week has been a little better than the last! We have been working more with the members and that has been nice since it's hard for me to sometimes teach with my companion it gives me somebody else who I can count on to support me in the teaching aspects. Not only has that been nice that I have a new mouth that helps in testimony but also its soo much easier to commit people to change when you can assure them that WE and the MEMBER will be there to support them. Changing is something that requires sacrifice and lots of time people can't make sacrifices alone and need somebody for the emotional and physical support. It is a huge blessing to work with smart, positive members because they can be that support and we can be the addition to them. It allows us so much more time and so much more energy.

This week I think the highlight of my days was that we made a huge step forward with one of our investigators. She is an old lady named Gloria. I have been teaching her for about a month and the reason I haven't let her go is because she has a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon but can't connect the dots between the restoration and baptism by the authority of God. We kind of have stopped talking to her about the authority and we started talking to her about the form in which we should be baptized. I told her baptism is something that must be performed by immersion and she told me that Paul wasn't baptized by immersion and that is the reason why she doesn't need to be either... I invited her to study a few scriptures and told her that we would come back and talk later so she could show me where it teaches that Paul was in fact baptized without being immersed in water. In the end, the next time we showed up to the house, there sitting on the couch was the pastor of the church she is attending. We determined that the conversation would require us to take turns so that we wouldn't be talking over each other and we began to discuss the baptism of Paul. The pastor provided his points using a map and stating that on the street that Paul was on there was no river and so he couldn't have been baptized by immersion. Then we provided points from the teachings of Paul in Romans where he teaches we must be buried in him by baptism and born again in new life. The pastor told us we were wrong and that his map was right but I asked him why would Paul teach something he did not practice? The pastor ran out of arguments and right there in front of the pastor Gloria said she is willing to be baptized again in the church so she can fulfill what God has taught.

I was so stoked!!!!! Honestly I thought that in the end everything was going to be a disaster but no, God touched her heart and she alone chose to say she is willing to be born again through the true form of baptism. Honestly I can say that the Holy Scriptures are so clear and if we only make ourselves familiar with the lessons and teachings inside that we will see and know without a doubt that we are members of the true and only true church on the surface of the earth. God has restored His kingdom and invites all to enter into it by the gate of Baptism. I know Christ is our Savior and He gave us the perfect example. Follow Him. I love you.

Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 88 - Groundhog Day

Monday, July 11, 2016

Hey mom! This week was pretty eventless and quite boring but in the end I guess it's the same! Here in the mission, sometimes the weeks are just so similar that it doesn't feel like it was another week. It's like Groundhog day, a repetition of the week before and when that happens it feels like life will never end. This entire week I have been dreaming the same dreams of me teaching our current investigators how to pray and it made the week really long!! All the hours of the day even the hours of the night were full of the same! In the end I won't lie it got annoying not being able to sleep and have some random dream of absolutely nothing of importance. I mean dang!! Why couldn't I dream about cyborg tigers or me falling off a cliff or something just random!?!?! I just want 8 hours of a break sometimes. It's fine though I guess my heart just wants me to live up these last couple months only thinking of the mission! 

This week the only things that happened out of the normal are the following; We taught our newest progressing investigator named Yarkony and we had a taco eat out as a ward counsel on Saturday. Yarkony is a really interesting girl who is actually pretty receptive! She came to church with us yesterday and that was nice! Besides being receptive, she is super mysterious! I feel like even after seeing her 3 times just this week I still know nothing about her!  This week it's my main goal to learn more about her and her family because up to this point I have no idea who she is or anything. It's funny because she struggles to speak spanish but she looks like a latina. She isn't originally from here but doesn't tell us where she is from. Its interesting! 

Then the ward counsel cookout was a blast! Now that the second half of the year has begun the bishop decided it would be a good moment to let out some stress and so we, as the ward leaders and presidencies, played soccer and ate good tacos! It was super fun! I feel like the leaders all enjoyed it and I most definitely enjoyed it too! I think the bishop did just the right thing in giving them a day off and helping them release some stress. The ward got a new breath of fresh air and I hope they will now be able to support us in the next half of the year. I am looking forward to the adventures to come and love the work that we are doing!

Love Always,
Elder Jonah McKee