My Name Is Malena!

Hey Everyone,

This week we had exchanges and they were SO FUN! I loved it! I got to go to the Tongan area and be with Sister Whetton and she was so sweet. And the area was so cool! Alot of Tongans come to Texas so they can work for the airlines.  

There was a guy named Sam and he is around our age and took the lessons when he was 11. But his parents didn't approve at the time so he didn't get baptized but now his parents are baptized so he's taking the lessons again! He's awesome! He remembered practically all of the first lesson, he knew everything about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon! I was so excited to teach him the first lesson!
Sister Whetton

We also had Bobbie's baptismal interview this week! She is the sweetest woman and is so excited to be baptized next week. But she's getting older and can't remember stuff very well and when we were reviewing the commandments she couldn't connect the name with the commandment, but when we remind her what is it she knows what we're talking about. It goes like this:  

Sister McKee: "So what do you know about the word of wisdom?" 

Bobbie: "well I don't exactly remember, but wisdom is like being smart, so when we listen to the word, we get smarter" 

Sister McKee: " uhh well.... no"

But she passed her interview and will be baptized this Saturday! We are soo excited! 

My creative Pass-a-long card:

We tracted into this 14 year old named Taylor. She told us she was interested in a message so we set a return appointment and went back on Thursday and sat outside and talked to her about the power of prayer. She had a lot of questions and seemed interested but after like 20 minutes of talking we asked her what she thought and she said 2 things 

1. She is hesitant to try and pray because she doesn't want to have to wait for an answer 

2. She gets distracted when people talk too much

So it was funny cause we were just like "okay... sorry we talked a lot..?" And she said "oh it's okay!" So we committed her to pray and left. 

Awkward Malena Moments:

•Yesterday in ward council there was a woman named Melina  and I wasn't paying attention and then everyone started saying her name, and I thought they were talking to me,  and I had a mini heart attack and said “Wait! That's my name!" 

•There's this family and they love the missionaries and we've already ate at their house 2 times in the past 2 weeks! But the husband asked us at the ward party who wants to play him and his wife at corn hole and of course I volunteered me and my companion.  And he kept trash talking my throwing, So I just said “As a missionary, I can't be competitive but I'm gonna beat you!" Then I lost and somehow got roped into tiling his bathroom tomorrow. 

•I made a deacon cry. So last Sunday we were in Sacrament and my deacon friend, Kaleb, was passing the sacrament. But there was a shortage of deacons and so he passed it down the row and there was no one on the other side. I motioned for him to come grab it and I think I embarrased him becsuse he's still pretty new. But after sacrament he wouldn't talk to us and he had been crying and had carpet lines on his face from laying on the pew. 

But anyways we also made up at the ward party so he wants to be our friend again. But I was scared his parents would yell at me, so I'm glad he wanted to be my friend again. He always yells “Hey McKee" and gives me high fives. 

Not a super exciting week! This next week is gonna be awesome! We have a plan to find the golden investigator for Sister Swenson's 6 months tomorrow! 

A scripture I read this week was Helaman 13: 38. What stuck out to me was: “Yea, for ye have sought all the days of your lives for that which ye could not obtain, and ye have sought for happiness in doing iniquity." 

We cant be truly happy in this life by not following the commandments. My companion always say “You cant be satisfied with the things you don't need." And that's so true! So, I encourage you all to see those things that may distract you from your purpose on earth. When we realize our purpose, our entire lives have more meaning.

Love, 

Sister McKee 

Princess at church

 Beautiful Texas Sunset

The air in our apartment went out.  We were dying for a few days, but got it fixed today.

 Even my coconut oil melted!

Work Hard, Pray Hard

Hey yall, 

It's been a good week down south. A very hard week, but good. 

This week we had a ton of appointments that fell through, and did a ton of tracting and not a lot of finding. 

It was really weird, one night we knocked on this door and a man answered. He saw our tags, said "are y'all mormons?" And we said “yeah, well sorta" and then he help up a "one second" finger and slammed the door! We are so confused and he comes out like 7 minutes later, now dressed, and starts asking us how much money we want! So, we start telling him we don't want money, we just want to talk to him, and he starts saying he's already baptized into our church! Turns out his uncle or someone was a member and baptized him. We asked him if he wanted to come to church and with finger quotations he says "Rich winwood, million dollar air" and I just hold up finger quotes and say "12 o'clock, 1500 california lane". He didn't come but he did want our numbers to take us out to lunch so we could "have a break from church stuff."

We also met the weirdest guy! His name was Joshua, and we were walking to a building and said hi, and after like 25 seconds he yelled back "wait are y'all new to the area?” So, we go back and talk to him, and he is really nice, tells us how we aren't that far apart in age and talks all about his life and how he wants to be honest in all he does. He is super enthusiastic and I can tell y'all that his teeth were like all weirdly the same size, and I'm only divulging that fact because he talked a lot.  After talking to us for like 10 minutes and seeming SUPER enthusiastic, I said "would you be interested in us coming back and teaching more?" And he goes, while smiling and nodding "no!" Then tells us he is just being honest and we say goodbye. 

We met the coolest woman on the planet. A few weeks ago we tracted into this woman named Wanda, and she invited us back. She told us of how she had met with missionaries like 15 years ago and lost contact. We had a good first lesson, invited her to read the first chapter in the BOM and left. Then we went back this week and said "how'd your reading go? Do you have any questions?" And she said "I just have one… when Jesus Christ is talking to those three men that want to live forever-?" And I say "you read to 3rd Nephi?!" And she goes "oh I read the whole thing! And then I had nothing else so I read the index!" SHE WAS FREAKING AWESOME!! then we asked her thoughts and she said “oh, I know its true, no man could write this". It was amazing. The Book of Mormon literally changes lives. I don't know how ready Wanda is to change, but by having that testimony of the Book of Mormon, she is already working her way down the road.

On Saturday we has 6 appointments set up, and all of them fell through. So, we did our studies and went to A1 wards super Saturday. I offered to take out the trash and when we were out there, we saw tons and tons of church materials in the dumpster! So obviously I jumped in and fished out like 45 old Ensigns and spent some time reading them. But of course, we made sure no one saw the missionary hop into the dumpster and then very awkwardly-and in a skirt- climb back out. It was so awesome. 

Awkward Sister Mckee Moments:

This week are some moments that Malena wouldn't care if they happened, but Sister McKee wears a badge so she gets embarrassed easier. 

1. So, as we were leaving our apartment the other day, I was jamming in my head to a favorite Queen song of mine, 'Somebody To Love'. As I was going to the car I was singing and jumping and then stopped on the sidewalk to have my own drum solo jam sesh. Just doing my thing, till Sister Swenson informed me that our neighbor was watching us from his balcony as I belted Queen and danced down the sidewalk. Very awkward looking back and seeing a man looking very confused that I'm not humming 'Nearer My God To Thee'.

2. At district council the district leaders brought watermelon and we were eating it and talking. I tried to  break my piece in half because it was huge and it literally flies everywhere, watermelon goes all over the floor and my hands are flaring all over. Everyone stared at me and started laughing and I just ran to find paper towels and started cleaning it up. One of the elders just nicely stood while holding all the broken watermelon pieces. 

I doubt any of my devoted readers are surprised by either of these, but Sister Swenson told me to include them. haha

Today we went and toured the Cowboy Stadium! It was really cool and huge. I really just wish I liked football. 

 Sister Swenson and delicious fries!

I've LOVED my mission so far! It's been hard and so longgggggggggg sometimes, let me tell ya. But I love that I have a purpose! As many of you know, college was really hard for me. I really struggled to make friends, live on my own, and the whole dynamic was just  difficult. I was really worried that I would have the same struggles out here, like I wouldn't be able to talk to people or would be homesick all the time. But I love it here, I feel like I have a purpose and something that means a lot to me. I also have had hardly any trouble talking to strangers (I gave a door approach to a video doorbell on Saturday) and although I miss home like crazy, because I love my family and friends, I know I'm supposed to be here! I love that my purpose is to help other people find out their purpose as to why they're here too! 

Love y'all, 

Sister McKee 

Cereal box scripture case I made to keep my scriptures from bending in my purse.  Those Ensign pictures came in handy.

 I switched purses and added my Texas pin.

Studying Lehi's Dream...if you know what I mean...

 

 Sister Swenson and I after 7 hours of church.

 Mini Sister McKee, and we even share the same birthday.

Our calling card.

Day 40 and I still haven't seen a real cowboy!

Hey everybody, it's p-day again! I bet the weeks pass for all you just as quickly as they do for me. You're probably thinking "dang, I just got her emails yesterday”,  if you haven't sent me to spam yet. 

Soo, this week was awesome! We did tons and found 6 new people to teach! I'm so excited because teaching lessons is so fun! I still stutter a lot, and my words fumble and Sister Swenson said today that I need to breathe in between my explaining, but i think it's so cool. And they seem to understand what I'm saying. haha 

One of them is a man named Sean. We got him as a referral on Thursday and went and met with him today. He was awesome! He talked a ton about his recent experiences and he had a ton of drinking and substance abuse problems, but he had a big breakup and that opened his eyes and he threw all of his alchohol and drugs in the river behind his house, called his member friend for help, who sent him to us and he is so ready to make a change! He was so cool.and he said to stay on this path he wants to meet asap, so we are meeting again Tuesday. 

On Wednesday night our dinner appointment cancelled so we ate a ton of food at home, then had a meeting with a less active family. When we got there we started talking and the husband told us this amazing conversion story and in the middle of it his wife stood up and went in the kitchen and started serving her kids dinner. She asked us if we wanted any and we said "oh no thank you." And her husband kept talking. She seemed a little offended and after like 15 minutes her husband said "are you sure don't want any? She makes this only once a year! She made it because you guys were coming!". Then we felt super bad, So we apologized and she gave us HUGE plates of food. It was enchiladas. And we started eating and her daughter told us "hey, you guys are new to the family here, but when she cooks YOU EAT!" So we shoved so much food inside us. It was so funny but they like us now. 

If y'all think Utah weather is crazy, one day we were tracting. And well

1. We had the funniest rejections this week. One guys dog started barking so he walked over to the door, LOCKED THE DOOR and then walked away. Another person started knocking very angrily back to us. Some people would just slowly open their blinds, look at us, and then close them while we pretend we hadn't seen them. My favorite is when they come back to the door and double lock it after they've said no thank you, as if we're gonna break in and start yelling doctrine at them, whipping around pass along cards like ninja stars. 

But anyways back on topic. 

2. The weather here is psycho. One day we were tracting and after like an hour and a half it was so hot I literally couldn't breathe. I think it's just my wimpy old lungs though because it was only 103⁰ and 75% humidity. I'm training my lungs to not be lame, don't worry. But that night we had to book it to our car because it was pouring literal sheets of rain and my raincoat doesn't work. It's cute though. So it's crazy here. I love it. The rain is soo amazing. Everything just floods. 

One day this lady, who reminded me of a Southern Grandma Munoa, called us and told us she is picking us up at 10:45 for a lunch at the tea room! We had the STLS over for a blitz so we all went. (A blitz is when we have a certain amount of time and we just knock on as many doors as we can).  She gave us all gifts and we had this lunch and she did a raffle drawing. It was awesome and she gave us all presents with our names on them. She was so funny. It was a 2 hour lunch and then a member took us back to our apartment to start our blitz, but she hates freeways so it took another hour to get home. It was a blast actually! I love the STLS!! And then we got a good 45 minute tracting time. Haha.

 “Southern Grandma Munoa is trying to hide behind me, just like California Grandma Munoa would do."

So I only have one Awkward Malena Moment this week: 

So yesterday, on Sunday we literally leave our apt. at 7:15 and don't eat or return home for 14 hours. We have 3 sacraments, then meetings and lessons and stuff. And we're missionaries so we're just in our church clothes all day every day.  Anyway, we had a lesson yesterday with this guy, and there wasn't a 3rd female so we told him we would have to be outside. Well he wasn't done eating, so the first awkward part was we stood outside for 13.5 minutes waiting for him to eat. I just had a mint though, so it was fine. Then, he came out and we started talking and he has a Catholic background but has gone to our church a few times. We asked him what he likes about our church and he said “Well I like how conservative your church is, like it doesn't have rock bands or light shows. It just focuses on Christ. And I like that everyone wears their best dress. Like the men wear suits and ties and-" *he gestures to us* "-you guys probably wouldn't (WOULDN'T) wear that, because everyone just dresses really nice and its so cool to me!" 

and we both just went "uh what?" And I was thinking "dude, what's wrong with my clothes!" Then we quickly moved on. But yeah, I guess someone should ship my prom dress down here, I don't dress nice enough?? 

Anyways. I know this gospel is true. I know Jesus Christ is there for us. We just have to call out to him and he'll be there. Take the time to evaluate your relationship withJesus Christ and how it can improve. That's always our first question when we meet someone, and I think everyone should constantly ask themselves that. 

 

Love y'all. Have a steller week. Try to refer someone to the missionaries. They don't have anything else to do. (That wasn't sarcastic, we really don't do anything else)

-Sister McKee 

Write me an email:  malena.mckee@missionary.org

And I Thought Rejection in High School Was Hard!

So my second week has been AWESOME. We've gotten a lot done, and I've learned a ton about being a missionary. If you ever want to know how to be good missionary, just Google how not to ever say the wrong thing. I don't have Google so I just look it up in the scriptures.

But anyways, 

This week we did a ton of tracting and knocking doors. And no one answered them. We would walk neighborhoods and maybe 1 out of 7 would answer. A man was in his yard and we said hi and I think I was in a different dimension or something because he ignored us really well. Some people will answer only to tell us that they are busy or to read their no soliciting sign. Its been fun though! We found 3 new people! 

85% of the people who do answer are soooo nice! They usually love to talk about their faith in Christ and how it's helped them. I love that about Texas because everyone is so open about their faith and everyone is so diverse! 

One instance was so funny:

Sister Swenson: Do you have faith in Jesus Christ?

Man: No

Ss: Oh, would you like to gain a better testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ?

Man: Oh I believe in God, just not Jesus Christ. 

Ss: Oh, well we believe- 

Man: Well your church is just a made up religion 

Ss: Well, agree to disagree (she was really nice)

At this point we started walking away and I called back “Have a happy 4th of July! And he yelled back "no, it is NOT a happy 4th of July!" And slammed the door. It was so funny. 

People are usually really nice! Everyone tells us we are welcome back if we need water or anything, but have their own church. At one point a lady sat outside and talked to us after we got rejected at 15 houses. She was sooo nice! 

I've seen a ton of tender mercys in my life this week!: 

One night we were knocking and no one would answer and one guy said he had homework so he couldn't learn about Jesus, and we walked back to our car and it was dark and they're was a single light above our car shining directing on us. We felt like it was Christ shining directly on us. 

I also found my chapstick, which I haven't seen in over a month. I was so excited. 

Also! I hit one month on the 5th! It's so crazy how quickly it's passed! I've loved it so much! 

We also had a bbq on the 4th and I got ribs and dang good guacamole. That was definitely a tender mercy. I love that stuff. 

Now it's time for everyone's favorite segment: 

AWKWARD SISTER MCKEE MOMENTS! 

So I didn't think I had any, but I asked Sister Swenson, and she said she can think of a few: 

1. So one night we went to members house and they offered us this soda or water. To be nice I took the soda. And it was an orange/citrus flavored soda. I hate orange. So I wasn't drinking anything but then I had a ton of really hot salsa and didn't know what to do!! So I made another taco and I was scooping tomatoes and I brought it over my drink and just dropped a few in there. Then I said "oh no!" And I got to dump out my drink out and get water. 

2. We were tracting and we knocked on a door and this man answered, and he was shirtless. Which is normal here. But he started talking with his hands and not his mouth so I thought "yes! My time to shine!" And started speaking sign language. Turns out he had been eating and his mouth was full. He wasn’t deaf.  He was this 65 year old shirtless Cuban man who talked to us for like 15 minutes on his porch. He wanted to know all about us and then told us we can'tlcome in because he has all sons and they'd be distracted (???) and that was fine by us. Then he told us to be careful out there because we are too pretty to go walking out by ourselves. We shook hands goodbye and he said "no, that is not how we shake a lady's hand! Men these days have no respect! None of them shake women's hands right!". It was so awkward. 

3. So while I was studying this week I was in the end of Mosiah/beginning of Alma, when the sons of Mosiah were leaving and Mosiah was worried because all 4 sons were leaving but God promises Mosiah that his kids will be protected while their doing the Lord's work. And that reminded me of my mom, so along the top of the page, I wrote “Mosiah: the original missionary mom". 

Then later at district council we had to share a verse we liked and I was reading one off that page and Sister Swenson saw the little note and pointed it out so I had to explain to the district why I had “Mosiah: the original missionary mom" written on the top of my scriptures. And I thought it was funny but none of them really laughed. 

One night a sister sent us pizza for dinner so we set up the Joseph Smith restoration movie (the long one) and had a pizza and movie night. It was super great. 

I loved that movie because it reminded me of the faith that the early members had. Especially Joseph Smith for all the things he went through. Throughout history when people make up religions or lie about heavenly visions and are about to be killed for it, they deny it. But Joseph Smith never once denied it and that was such a powerful testament to me. I think we will all be put in a situation  where we are given the opportunity to stand up for our beliefs and it will be a real test of our conversion as to what we do. I encourage and invite everyone to share their beliefs in one way or another this week. Here in testimony meeting there is not a free second at the pulpit. Everyone gets up. In all 3 meetings I went to. and I kept thinking if all the moments of silence I experienced in my home chapel and encourage you all to share your testimonies! Shout it from the rooftops or whisper it from the basement, just share. It will help others and help yourself. So get two people to heaven with one step stool, that's what I always say. 

I love you all! Have a good week! 

Sister McKee 

Pictures! 

•In case y'all wanted to see where I live. 

•Fourth of July timer pictures 

•Me at the beginning and end of the day, guess which is which.

 Bird in a window

 Metal Flower that made me think of Grandma Munoa

 A german lady gave me this shirt.

 Dinner at Sis Van's house.  She sent this pic to mom.

 Saw the TV on in the 2nd story window and just watched it for a minute.

 P-day.  We were going to play games, but everyone is talking to their parents.  I'm playing guitar.