Sister Malena McKee : Classier, but in a more humble way...

Hey everyone! Thanks for tuning into my weekly epistle!

I had to give a talk this week in 1st ward and was searching like crazy on a topic and I came across a talk called “Taking Upon Ourselves the Name of Jesus Christ" by Elder Robert C. Gay. It talks about how we can better take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ by seeing as he sees, serving as he serves and putting our trust in him. I liked the suggestion of trusting in him and wanted to include the part of my talk in here. If it's too long for y'all, I'll put a divider so you know where to skip too. I have been on the other side of missionary emails, I understand.

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The most vital step to taking upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ is to trust in him. This can be the hardest step. I personally struggle with giving up the metaphorical steering wheel of life to someone else when I have a set destination in mind, but as we let "Jesus take the wheel" (yes, I did say this and no, no one laughed) and trust that he will take us the way we need to go and we will be so blessed and be taken on amazing paths in our lives that we never imagined!

In Helaman 12:1 it reads

1...yea, we can see that the Lord in his great infinite goodness doth bless and prosper those who put their trust in him.

An experience I've had with putting my trust in the lord started when I was 15. I made a 10 year life plan. This included my graduating GPA, where I'd go to college, what my major would be and even who I hoped to go to prom with. But, life got the best of me. And so far, in the past 4 years, not a single thing on that list has gone the way I wanted it to. But, I realized that my plan led me to receive many worldly joys. And Gods plan for me has led me to grow my testimony and if my plan had worked out, I wouldn't be here. I wasn't planning on a mission, but I am so glad I was able to trust the Lord and take this big step of faith and come on my mission! It's already been such a great blessing in my life! And as we all work towards trusting fully in the Lord and his miracles, we will also have so many great blessings and experiences we'd never dreamed of!

As we pray to Heavenly Father for guidance and support, knowing that He will answer and help us, we are learning to depend on Him, trust Him and learn from Him. And then we are taking upon the name of Christ because we are constantly turning to Him and depending on Him. It's like how I have a companion. You may know me as Sister McKee and my awesome companion as Sister Swenson, but because we are together all the time, you associate us together. If we constantly have Jesus Christ and the spirit with us, those around us will recognize it and associate us with the spirit and therefore, with Jesus Christ.

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I encourage you all to go read this talk, it was so good and I was tempted to stand and read his talk aloud. After me, a man in the ward spoke and he also was told to choose his own talk. So, he got up and gave a 15 minute description of the whole entire plot of “Meet The Robinsons" with character development, foreshadowing and great detail. He then spent the next 10 minutes talking about how that movie relates to the scriptures and the atonement. Its lucky I was hidden behind the podium because me and the 1st counselor were cracking up. It made me think of Amber (Sister Alldredge) because she loves that movie.

This week we didn't meet a whole lot of people because of the heat. People didn't want to open the doors in 103⁰ weather and we tried our best not to go outside during it. When people did open the door, we got a lot of sympathy water, so I'm super hydrated. I am not even a little upset about the heat though because I am just glad that I'm not somewhere cold.

We started new member lessons with Bobbie and she is so cute. She tells all her friends about the church and talks about how she wants to go on a mission. She actually texted us and said she can't have a lesson this week because she is ministering all week. I hope this excitement for the gospel never wears off. The world needs more people like her. I am a little worried about what she's teaching though, because we went over to have a new member lesson and she pulled out her Bible and Book of Mormon and her Bible was different. I asked her what Bible it was and she said the one we gave her. But turns out she got mixed up as to which missionaries in the past gave her what and was using a Jehovah Witness Holy Scripture. I read some, it was cool.

We actually were going to a members house last night and knocked on the door and she asked who it was. So we said “Sister Missionaries!" And she said "no thank you!" So we were very confused and then she called and we explained and she let us apologized! She thought we were Jehovah's Witnesses.

People also ask us if we are nuns. And when we tell them no that always say "are you sure?" One guy we talked to named Brandon was interested in our missions and I was explaining how it works and how we leave behind worldly things to serve the Lord for 18 months and he asked if we have internet on our phones. We said no and he said “What! That's crazy! Well, you can come over here if you need internet any time!" It was funny, he was so worried that we don't have google. Then he asked if we wanted paper towels for our faces (I wasn't even that gross looking, it was only 101⁰ outside) and we said no because we were leaving and he said "ohh... are paper towels against your religion too?” Hahahahaha, Sister Swenson just said “We're not amish!" It was sooo funny.

On Friday night we went to dinner at a members house and she said “Do you have any appointments after this?" And we said no and she said “Great! You can stay longer!" And it was this huge Philippine birthday party (a lot of them were from where my friends are on missions!) and she wanted us to stay because she invited some of her nonmember friends. As we were talking to one of them I hear "MALENA!" And I jump and flip around and this guy is talked to his wife and pointing to this girl and saying “Her name is Melina too!" And I broke missionary character and said “Hey dude, me too!" So we got a picture with the 3 Malenas.

We were walking in the dark home from a lesson and we saw this security guard walking towards us. We said hi and he said “Are you girls on missions? Are you missionaries?"

Me: "yeah! How'd you know?"

Him: “Well, just how you're dressed... its not…."

me: “normal?"

Him: "I wouldn't say not normal... I'd just say.. classier but in a more humble way"

Us: “Wow, thank you so much.” haha

This week we had another lesson with Therese. Therese is the sweetest person in the world. She saw the previous sisters on their bikes and pulled her car over and said “Are you guys Mormons? I love Mormons!" And invited them over. She is a strong Catholic but her little sister is a member and has been discussing ours and their beliefs for years. So, we set an another appointment and we thought she was just interested in a discussion and spiritual message but she had her Bible, Book of Mormon and iPad sitting out so she had all the resources to learn. She told us that she loves the Catholic Church, but has felt a shift in the vibes (yes a 65 year old woman said that) and is willing to go wherever is true and wherever the Lord wants her. I love her. We taught her about the restoration and she loved it! She is one of the most open people I've met. A lot if people say their open, but that's usually only if we're teaching something they agree with but she actually accepted it and said she needs to pray about it and get back to us.

Awkward Malena Moments:

•so yesterday at church we were welcoming people and I was playing with my hair tie on my fingers and just as a woman walked into the chapel it flung off my fingers. Very luckily it did not hit her face, but she did step on it so it was wrapped around her shoe. And it is my only my only hair tie that fits my wrist. So I had to crawl on the ground and get my hair tie off of her shoe and she was so confused as to why the Sister Missionary was touching her shoe. But I got it back.

•In the next sacrament I was sitting up on the stand and playing with my rings and I dropped one and it landed like 4 feet away, in the middle of the sacrament. I was nervous the Deacons would step on it, so, during the prayer I very silently stood up and grabbed it and then when I was sitting down the chair squeaked very loudly. I don't think the bishopric saw me but a couple in the crowd were giggling after the prayer.

I love you all! I hope you enjoyed reading my own personal Book of Alma.

- Sister McKee

Saw this whale rug, and loved it.