Sister Malena McKee : Sprinkler Girl, 1st week

Mom got a message at 6:30 AM on p-day, from Malena saying she wanted to talk to dad and me. I rushed home from exercising, and she called about 7:00. We thought something was wrong. But she was just excited to get to talk to us. haha. We got to FaceTime her a couple times during the day, and we messaged back and forth for most of the day. Mom is LOVING the technology mission and new rules!

Hey everybody!

This week has been my first week at the MTC! and in my opinion, it has also been my BEST week at the MTC! I've learned a lot but I've also had soo much fun! My companion's name is Sister Haws and she is AWESOME!

We get a long really well.

So I'm gonna share some highlights of my week::

So a funny experience we had was Sister Haws and I were writing in our journals on the grass one night, and there weren't a lot of people, but we would say hi to the missionaries as they walked passed. Around 9:00 a huge class of maybe 50-60 elders got out and all the sisters were near us to go inside our building when THE SPRINKLERS CAME ON. BELOW US. We were sitting on a sprinkler. So we were getting soaked and we were trying to pick up all our stuff while also just getting all wet. Everyone was laughing at us, and later that night two sisters asked us if we were the "Sprinkler girls'

Another funny thing is THE ELDERS! like 85% of them are super chill and like to talk to us, but that 15% of them have no idea if they're allowed to talk to us or what to do when we talk to them. It is our favorite thing to observe them. When Sister Haws and I were going up to class on our first day, there were two elders in the elevator with us, and Sister Haws said "hey where are you guys going" and they wouldn't look at us and mumbled wherever they were going and when the doors opened they literally RAN OUT! It was freaking hilarious. I also got to watch another elder have an internal breakdown deciding if he was allowed to stand by Sister Haws to fill his cereal bowl with milk.

But we also love the elders for doing the Lord's work.

So as many of you know, I'm a night owl. I like to stay up late. but I can't do that here, so after lights out I just lay awake for 30-40 minutes. But anyways I was so tired on Sunday night, that I actually went to bed right at 10:30, and then the alarm went off. But not the normal sleeping alarm, no the FIRE ALARM! so we grabbed our stuff and went outside and turns out some girl ran up and down the hallways of the 3rd floor banging on doors yelling "SISTER"S WAKE UP! THERE'S A SMELL!!" because she thought it was a gas leak. Then she pulled the fire alarm and turns out its a SKUNK! Freakin city kids. I was not happy. But everyone was taking cute selfies so Sister Haws and I decided to take our own. The fire department had to come and clear the buildings. I’m glad I’m “sprinkler girl” and not “skunk girl”.

AWKWARD MALENA MOMENT:

We had to learn about how to lead a normal conversation about the church with non-members. So we had to practice in our class, and I was with Sister Anglesey first, and we were talking about how she loves theater, and I didn't know what to say so after a minute of silence i said "so, do you like Jesus?" and we both started laughing and the teacher heard me and ran over and made me try again with a more normal question.

Another time I was talking to Elder Sloan and he mentioned his "old grandpa" so immediately my mind went to the plan of salvation so I said "is your grandpa dead?!". He wasn't but it was very awkward and super funny. I've gotten better at it, or at least I will be.

My Companion might have seen a sign that says "stay off" but I didn't see it until I was already on it. Oops.

Along with all the fun I've had making poor elders uncomfortable and learning about animal smells, I've also learned a lot spiritually and I want to end with my testimony of this church. While I've been here I've come to the realization that there is no doubt this is the true church. Everything fits together and make so much sense that it can't not be divinely created. I love the Book of Mormon and love reading it here because I feel like I'm reading it with new eyes. It's amazing how the Book of Mormon can answer any questions we have if we read it with an open heart. It's great!

I love you all! I pray for you all every night.... my prayers take 30 minutes.

Also, write me because I want to hear from y'all and can read emails at anytime. It gives me something to do, i'm almost NEVER busy here ;). jk, but I can read them in the bathroom or something. malena.mckee@missionary.org

LOVE, SISTER MCKEE