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

Jonah Semana 68 - Prayer is a Powerful Thing!

Monday, February 29, 2016

Hey mom!! I missed hearing from you this week! I heard you have been preparing to go to Rio and that's soo cool! I love the idea of traveling all over the place and meeting my brothers and sisters that are all over the world! Really it just brings me so much peace to know the plan that God has for me and for all of us as His Spirit Children! I love our Heavenly Father with all of my heart and I love reading the scriptures. 

Since I received the package from you all I have had that smaller Book of Mormon which I carry on the daily and every time I sit down in a house or anywhere and i'ts not with the intention of teaching a lesson to investigators then I pull out my Book of Mormon and I read 10 verses. In just 3 weeks I read the entire Book of Alma and I was super afraid that while reading Alma I was going to burn out but I didn't! I powered through it and all of the wars it talks about and now I just truly admire so much the missionary Ammon. He was such a good guy that truly was a huge example of service and teaching with clarity. Since reading the Book of Mormon once again I have learned two things! First is that I love speaking very frankly about things like Jacob does in 2 Nephi 9 it says that his soul delights in plainness. I am a strong believer that my soul also delights in plainness. Second is that I am not the teacher but the teacher is God and no matter what if I am teaching and the person receiving our message has any questions or doubts then we should pray in that very instant so God can clear that thing in their minds. Prayer is a great and powerful thing and I know that when we use that tool that God gave us then we will be blessed in many miraculous ways! 

This week my companion and I started to work in a part of the area that I had never even once set foot in before because all of the people here say that that place is dangerous and I was afraid. But this week we focused our time and energy in finding new people to teach over there and we were blessed! We found 3 new families and I truly have the faith that if they continue as they are now, then they will be baptized. I know they most likely won't be baptized during my time here but I know with patience they will enter into the covenant house.

Really though this week has been awesome. Today we had our pday activity up here in the area and we invited another zone to come up and hang out with us! In total there were about 30 missionaries in San Marcos today and it was super fun! We all went to this one place called the house of teens and there we played some ping pong and pool! It was super chill and everybody had a blast! I know I am not the only one who was deprived of playing pool since they left US soil and so for that reason it was a ton of fun to play after a whole 17 months of not even seeing a table! I love being in the company of good people because it's always a good time! Truly I know that with good company and good intentions there are bound to be made good memories! I wont forget today and I know I don't want the day to end but all good things have to end so a new one can begin. I love you all and I miss your faces!

Always,

Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah Semana 67 -- Meetings in Tegucigalpa

Monday,February 22, 2016

Dang mom, I can’t believe that guy died!! I think I told you about the time I gave a blessing and told a girl she would have time to say goodbye but afterward she would be joining God. It’s pretty whack the things that leave one’s mouth when they give truly inspired blessings! But hey it’s cool! 

SO this week we had a meeting in Tegucigalpa as a group of trainers and newbies! It was fun to be able to go up to Teguc because I seriously love the kids that are training right now!! Really though I have so many friends that are training! So on Friday I basically spent 9 hours on a bus chit chatting with my buds here in the mission!

I really don’t know what the purpose of the meeting was because it was mostly just reading the first 3 pages of the “Preach my Gospel” book and then we ate and left. It was good maybe for the new kids because they got to see President Bowler and his wife as the leaders and the heads of the mission and that’s always good for them to see but besides that I really didn’t see any reason for us spending so much time to go up there and receive such little new instruction, but hey! I don’t receive revelation for the mission so maybe there was a much bigger purpose to it all then I thought! After all, like I said, I enjoyed chit chatting on the bus!

Besides the meeting this week I must say that I was rather disappointed. One of our investigators who has been progressing so rapidly recently stopped answering our phone calls and stopped almost all communication with us and that sucks super bad because he’s great!! He asked us for a Book of Mormon in the street one night and since then he has read up to Alma! He is awesome! And I thought he was going to be my first baptism here in this city but I don’t know now... I have been praying day and night to know how I can reach out to him but I’m lost. Please keep us in your mind and prayers because we need the blessings right now.

I love you mom and I always will!! Also thanks soooo much for the package!

Love,

Elder Jonah McKee

Jonah's Semana 66 - My Third Son

Monday, February 8, 2016

Hey mom, so I guess this week has been a pretty good one!! On Tuesday, I had to go to the capital and I started my bus ride all alone!! Haha, did you know that?!!?! Literally, for like 10 minutes, I was all alone on the bus and that was chill! However, I still don't know how this happened, but somehow I got tasked by the Zone Leaders, who were supposed to be in charge of the bus organization and trip, to take all of that responsibility and that was whack!! Haha, I thought I knew how to do it all because I always watched them so I thought I could do it without a problem but I was wrong!! This time wasn't like the other times! Haha, well to start off I should explain that this bus was full of trainers and new missionaries and that's it!! All of the new missionaries had their bags and they were all a little shell shocked because they had literally landed in the country only hours before and so none of them really knew where they were going or how to take care of their stuff. So a ton of people were asking me to help their kids get their stuff and all of that and in the end there were a ton of things left on the bus from both sisters and elders and it was awesome!!! Haha, I tried to find out who it all belonged to but in the end, I just left a lot of stuff at the ZL's house and told them it was in their hands now. 

I won't lie, I did enjoy the bus ride a lot and I will be going up again tomorrow for a leadership workshop!! Hopefully that will be fun too...?

But I mean I am sure it will! Really though, I should back up for a second. I really enjoy being able to train m new kid! His name is Elder Aguilar and he is from Puebla, Mexico. he isn't super familiar with the scriptures but it's fine because every single missionary has glitches when they enter the field and my big glitch was definitely that I could not speak Spanish at all! Now I feel like I can speak sufficiently and that's good, but I still have a lot of work to do before I am 100% fluent. Luckily, my new kid is Mexican and Mexicans speak very fast and  during this 2 month I'll be passing with him, I know my Spanish is going to sharpen up a lot! Also, I know I'm going to become a whole lot more familiar with the scriptures as I teach Elder Aguilar to navigate them. All in all, I think he is going to be a good companion because we are very different and I think that's IMPORTANT!!!! This week we found a ton of new investigators and we have a couple of people we really think might get baptized. Only the Lord really knows, but we have faith that we can help Him make it all happen so that more of His sheep will make their way home. 

But yeah, tomorrow I'm gonna be going up to Tegucigalpa and getting instruction on how to be a better and more effective leader and so that will be fun too! Also, I hope that tomorrow I get my package because if I don't then I'll have to wait till March!!! Haha, I've already waited 9 months for this package and if I have to wait another one, then I think I'll just be better off never expecting it to get to me! But I guess I'll see!

Love you a ton mom and I hope you have a great Valentine's Day!!!

Elder Jonah McKee

Hey I am fine now. I had a pretty gnarly fever, but I did everything I could to get rid of it! BTW, I recently heard that the virus I had is now worldwide??? Anyways, I had the Zika virus! Don't worry, I am okay and now I'm working as strong as ever.

Jonah's Semana 65 - Coffee and Cows

Monday, February 1, 2016 

Hey there! Everything is good here. How’s it over there? This week has been a pretty fun one!

This week in church we had three male investigators come and that is awesome!! They all have a baptism date and that means potential priesthood! Up in San Marcos that is something we seriously need desperately! For the moment my companion, the group president, and I are the only priesthood holders that are active. And unfortunately, none of the other men really want to come back to church so that is hard but now we have three potential priesthood holders!  I'm stoked about it!

Also today is the day of changes! I am going to be continuing in San Marcos and I'm gonna be training! This will be my third son here in the mission and I'm super excited to see how that all works out for me! Training can be very stressful sometimes, especially when your new companion is not one who wants to work or came onto the mission for the wrong reasons! I am hoping and praying that whoever I am going to be teaching is going to be willing to listen to me and my counsels! But, I guess tomorrow once I get to the capital then I'll know who he is!! Exciting right?!

Well, this week was a pretty good one I guess. There wasn't anything super duper exciting that happened but we did have a pretty fun opportunity to go and see the cow herds of one of our new investigators! His name is Jose and he is sooo funny! I think the best way to describe him would be by saying he acts just like Mr Fredrickson from the movie UP and I just love the guy! But yea so on Saturday morning we went up with him to go see his cows and all of his land,which by the way is 90 acres, also he showed us his coffee plants!! Haha.  He taught us about why coffee grows so well in Honduras and about how he and many others here ship their coffee to the states to big companies like Starbucks that buy their coffee from here! He also showed us how to pick and strip coffee! Haha, I never once thought in my life that as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints I would learn so much about coffee! Haha. I guess it was just one of those many unexpected lessons i learned here in the field. Truly though it was a lot of fun to go up there and learn all about him and tend to his cows and he worked the land with him. As we were leaving it was funny because he sat us down and told us that this was the promised land and so we affirmed everything he was saying with scripture and it was awesome to see him come to the realization that he has always known a simple truth he just wasn't ever sure of it! That moment we were with him he had more light enter into him and now he knows.

I really do love being here as a missionary and always helping others to come to know these simple things. I love the church so much and I know God loves each and every one of us! Also I know that Jose, our investigator, knows now that God blesses us because He wants each and every one of us to be happy! I love you all!

Elder McKee

PS Jose is the older man in the white shirt