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