Jonah's Semana 72 - Leaving San Marcos

Monday, March 28, 2016

Man!!! I can't believe you wrote me!!!!!!! HAHA I'm joking!  :)

Listen I am so jealous you got to go to the Color Festival! I love that place! I think it's such a fun experience to run and throw powder at people!!! I seriously love going way too much. Thanks tons for the pictures too! You guys killed it on pictures this year. Seriously I loved seeing you all smiling and living life up! It's funny to see you all how you are now and not how I left you in the house 18 months ago. You're all getting skinny and even more good looking than before!! I'm so happy to see you all! Truly though I hope Spencer one day finds the girl he is looking for but until he does I hope he is just having fun with life and doesn't rush into anything. I would love to have the opportunity to meet the future wife of Spencer before he marries her but if that's not how it works then that's fine too.

This week was super awesome for me! This was my last week here in San Marcos and not only was it a last but it was also a first for me here. This week I had the incredible opportunity to baptize Mariela!!! She has been trying very hard to come to a decision about baptism for quite some time now and about 2 weeks ago, out of the blue, she told me that she had a dream that I baptized her in a river and that she knew it was inspired of God. In that same instant, she told us that she knew the church is the kingdom of God here on the earth and so I invited her to be baptized and only weeks later we were able to make her dream a reality and I was so blessed to have taken part in that!  

I will be sad to leave San Marcos behind but I'm excited to start my new adventure in my new area! I will be serving in the capital, Tegucigalpa, again. I'm going to be serving as a Trainer once again but now I won't be a district leader. I'm excited to have less responsibility as a leader and be able to focus as much as I can on being a trainer. I am a little nervous though because serving in the city is much different than serving here in the south and a part of me feels like I have forgotten how to teach people who truly grasp the message. I almost feel like I'm gonna be a kindergarten teacher trying to teach high school kids. I'm nervous but I know I'll be able to do it. I love the Lord and He is at my side always.

Also I had a huge gift presented to me this week!! One of my favorite drunks ever finally came to his senses and allowed me to help him!! I made a deal with him that if he went to his house and showered and shaved then I would buy him some clean clothes and cut his hair and luckily he did it!!! This week we were teaching this one friend of ours, Gavo, and out of nowhere came Chepito the drunk who wasn't drunk anymore. He had shaved and showered and he came to sing and play guitar with us. In the end it was an awesome way to spend one of my last days in San Marcos and I won't ever forget it!

It has been a huge blessing to serve here and I have learned so much! I look forward to the new adventure the Lord has in store for me, I know it's going to be great!!!

Love,
Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 70 - I was Robbed!

Monday, March 14, 2016

Wow! Mom can I just start by saying I am so incredibly lucky to have a mom as pretty as you!!!! I am positive that its thanks to you that I'm the brown child and not only that but I have the coolest mom ever!!! I can't believe you went to Rio!!!! That's awesome!

This week wasn't the same as yours but I did have quite the interesting week. I guess you could say that at least... But hey so I guess to start off I should first tell you that last Monday for p-day my companion didn't want to go hiking but my ZL, Elder Scott and I wanted to go so we did divisions because Elder Scott's companion didn't want to go hiking either. Scott and I went hiking and it was awesome!!! Later on we met up with our comps and made our way back to our own areas. We ended p-day and went to work but then something happened at dinner and it really wasn't anybody's fault. I forgot we don't have anybody who cooks us dinner anymore because Wendy is super pregnant and she is supposed to be due in this next week and so she can't be spending a lot of time next to the open fire cooking anymore. By the way I'm gonna be the god-father of their baby girl!!!  I totally understand that she can't cook but I forgot about it and so we walked over to her house and they reminded us that we aren't going to be eating there with them. So we have to make our own dinners from here on out. 

I was chill about it but then when I was in the market buying food my comp looked to me and told me he didn't have any money and asked if I could lend him some. I didn't think anything of it so I lent him 100 lemps and then at the house after we bought food I asked him to pay me back because I thought maybe he just didn't have money in that moment. But no!!! Haha. When he was on divisions he blew all of his money on ties!!!!! We were 8 days away from the next deposit on our cards and he didn't have even 1 lempira.... Dude! I was soo annoyed about it!! But yeah, so I didn't want him to suffer for the whole week and not eat so this week I have been buying his food and everything. It kinda sucks because I feel like I should've just let him learn the hard way. But yeah so this week I have been pinching pennies and its been rough! Especially because he doesn't seem to understand that the money he spends isn't his!! Its mine... Its chill though. I just have to suffer with patience because tomorrow we get money and tonight I'm just gonna eat some bread and water for dinner.

But hey I wont lie, the whole money thing was fine really. I mean luckily I had money that I pulled out from the white card but then today something amazing happened to me!!! I got robbed!!!! Haha. The 800 lempiras I had in my wallet were all stolen!!! That left me with 100 lemps. I just so happened to be lucky enough to store the 100 lemps in my front shirt pocket last night. Haha. I won't lie, money has been a real struggle for me this week! However the week with hunger and low budgets has been one very rich in blessings! The man or woman who stole all of my money from my wallet was kind enough to put my wallet in my bag after stealing the cash out of it and so I still have my cards!!! God sometimes shows His love in funny ways I guess :) In the first instant I was shocked. I was 100% sure that my wallet gone for good because it wasn't in my pocket and I thought I was screwed for sure!! But then I was at the bishop's house turning some stuff into him and when I opened my bag to pull everything out for him I found my wallet and all of the money was gone but that's it. SO, whoever stole from me probably noticed the wallet had some sentimental value for me and gave it back. For that I'm thankful but still being robbed 40 dollars is not a fun thing especially when cash is tight in the first place.

But hey I'm glad you had a good week!! This week I might have a baptism so keep Mariela in your prayers and thoughts because she might be my first and only baptism here in San Marcos!! I really hope I can baptize her!! This area has been a real struggle for me and I knew from the beginning it was gonna be hard so it's pretty great that this weekend I might baptize! Pray for me!! Love you mom!!!

Also, hey, by the way yesterday a little girl's older sister died and that same day was the little girl's birthday and I felt super bad for her so I tried super hard to cheer her up and I was able to do it! Her name is Margarita and she just turned 8! This weekend I'm also going to be baptizing her because in her family there isn't anybody with the priesthood and truly I'm stoked about it!! I love that little girl and yesterday I was super happy to see her enjoy her birthday even though there was a pretty big complication. Anyways the family is full of members and we reminded them of the plan of salvation but not too much because they need to have time to mourn for their dead. I love God and his perfect plan. In fact I love the plan He has soo much that I was willing to forgive the person who stole from me!! I don't know who did it but I forgive them because they don't know what I know and if they did they wouldn't have done it. But hey! Everybody one day will come to know the plan and love of God.

Love you,
Elder Jonah McKee

The little girl in the purple shirt is Margarita!!! Yesterday she turned 8 :)

Jonah Semana 69 - Shaved by Elder Alonzo

March 7, 2016

Dude! I can't believe you're in RIO!!! That's so cool! Are you just with Karen on a business trip or what's up? Man I'm so jealous you get to be on such a pretty beach and eating awesome food! I haven't been to a good beach in days! And I haven't eaten any kind of fish except for whole fried fish since I've left the states! It's whack!!! I won't lie though, I love being here! This week literally flew by! I was mind blown at how quickly the week went by! If the mission keeps going the way it has been, then I'm going to be home before you can blink twice! Honestly, I'm very grateful to be here and to be where I am in my calling. I know my time here has been good and I'm trying hard to not waste any of it!

This week on Wednesday, we had a conference with Elder Alonzo. He is the second counselor in the area presidency and one of the Quorum of the 70. He came down to the mission to speak to us and it was epic! I loved the message he brought with him and I loved how frequently I got to participate. It seemed like almost every 10 minutes in the conference, somebody chose me to speak or to answer a question! It was insane! I didn't know if I was being targeted for being an idiot or if they really just felt inspired to call upon me. It was pretty fun because the 70 shaved me in front of the entire southern part of the mission which is about 100 missionaries. He shaved the crap out of me by asking why I thought we were here and then telling me I was wrong. He told me I needed to simplify what I told him into less words but I didn't know how to and then he pulled out a scripture in Doctrine and Covenants and destroyed me in front of everybody by making me read it and then tell him what I had just said in less words. I won't lie, I loved being shaved by him and I won't ever forget it because he did it so well! I felt good after he shaved mad and that's not normally what one feels after they are made into a fool in front of everyone in the mission. Things are whack! But it was cool and I won't ever forget it!

After the conference we had a pretty average week! On Sunday, my companion had his birthday and it was super funny because the water in the building we live in ran out on Saturday and it is still off. So these days we have been suffering without running water and it's awesome! Haha! He didn't shower on his birthday! SO Gross!!! But hey, the mission is dope and I'm loving life! Please send me lots of pictures of Brazil!

Love,
Elder Jonah McKee