Sister Malena McKee : 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.