My weekly's have really gone downhill

Guys this week was so good! 

We found 4 people, and 3 people came to church! Not to brag anything, but we're killing it! Woot Woot!

So, on Wednesday we went finding!! And, it went well! We found 2 new people on 1 street! I don't know if either of them knew what they were agreeing to, and one may have said she wasn't interested but we set a return app anyways, because #languagebarrier but, the highlight of this was the bible bash of the century. 

So we are knocking and this car drives past and we wave and as we go to the next door he pulls up and he had TURNED AROUND TO TALK TO US! And he starts quoting scripture and telling us what we believe. And, I looked him straight in the eye and said "you literally turned around to Bible bash us? That's so messed up!" And he tried to play it off as "gentle discussion". We (mostly he) had a long talk about faith and works and he kept saying he agrees with us and then saying "but some Mormons believe..." and just goes off again. He was quoting scripture after scripture and I know he was just making some references up and then he said "ok it's your turn" so Sister Mabila spoke and then he said he has a 1 minute video to show us and it's an ANTI-MORMON VIDEO so I said "we are not watching that" And we both just walk off. It was my fault though, I always like to hear people's thoughts and stay too long in the bashing ring. 

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On Thursday we had dinner with this family and the husband is a member but the wife and his daughter and granddaughters are Catholic and they love having us over! But, we go in, and her husband had forgotten to tell his wife we were coming… so, she starts rattling off in Spanish and then says "tv?" And I look back and know I'm stupid, but in the moment, I just said "yeah!” So, she walks us in her house, turns on my favorite R RATED movie (I'm joking) and walked out! So, we quickly mute it and I spend 15 minutes trying to find the BYU channel or literally anything else, and we don't want to offend her and turn it off. So, we sit and stare at our shoes and wait.  After 25-30 minutes she comes in and starts making dinner. And she makes us microwaved ribs, lukewarm lobster bisque, which I could only describe the taste as “pale”,. and old brown salad. And, we ate all of it. I literally felt so sick that night. But, they loved having us over and his daughter asked a lot of questions about the church and told us she would try to come sometime!! So, it was really good, you know, opposition and all that! Then, that night on our was home, we went to get cookies because we had a really terrible lobster bisque taste in our mouths for like 3 hours. 

Thursday night, after dinner we went to mission prep. And, they always have the missionaries give a spiritual thought and I always kindly let Sister Mabila do it. Well, it was my turn, and so I got up and read 2 Nephi 31: 20-21 and quickly ran through it and bore my testimony and was trying to sit down when the instructor stopped me and said “Sister McKee, please open to that again. Guys, if you were to read like that with an investigator, they would have no idea what you are talking about! Sister McKee, please try again and show these guys how to really teach! I hope you don't actually do that” So, that was super awkward, but I had everyone open their scriptures and tried again, to be a good missionary. #awkwardmalenamoment

On Friday we went with the other sisters to help an older woman with her yard. We just tagged along so we didn't bring service clothes, but thought it'd just be raking leaves or something. No. This woman owns a forest and wanted us to cut all her thorn bushes out. It was fun, until fire ants climbed up my legs again because I stood on their log without realizing. It was really fun either way! 

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Friday night our bishop asked us to go visit this member who recently hit a hard time and moved into our ward. To get his records we needed his apt number. So, we started knocking this complex and luckily, he was the second door! His girlfriend said he wasn't home but asked if we come back tomorrow and we said yes! 

We went back Saturday and they wanted us to teach them! I think first lessons are so awkward so we had a long 'break the ice’ conversation, and then started on the first lesson! Savannah had been Catholic her whole life and wanted to get more spiritual, while Dave just wanted a refresher and the first lesson went so, so good! And, near the end we invited them to pray about what we are teaching and Savannah praying right then and it was so cool! She really has a desire to know if this is true!  And, we invited them to read and she wanted to read the Book of Mormon right then! But, we told her she has a week. They are so awesome!

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So, yesterday we were sitting in our first sacrament and I look behind me and in walks Hazel and her daughters!!! Hazel hasn't been to church in a long time and we taught her girls last week (Ahna was the one that cried at the plan of salvation). We were so shocked! We hadn't even told them when or where church is at! And, the whole congregation was so excited to see them! After sacrament they were surrounded by friends and I went over to say hi and Ahna looks at me and says “Paige!! How did you get here?!" And I said “Who's Paige!" And she said "oh, you looked like my penpal for a second. Haha". So, I reintroduced myself and they were so excited to go to primary! Y'all know that song "I believe in miracles, since you came along..."? Well, it was stuck in my head all day. Haha.

 

All my life, I felt like church is where we go to learn more, see our friends, and worship. And it is, but also church is such a blessing, because we get to take the sacrament, which is the only ordinance we perform for ourselves more than once. It's where we can be spiritually refreshed for the week. I know church can be long, and sometimes boring, but the blessings and peace that come from taking the sacrament are so worth it. I have really gained a testimony of the sacrament since I've been out. It's really like being baptized again, if we treat it as such, and it's our time to pray and repent and remember Jesus Christ. I really appreciate the sacrament a lot more now. It's a gift. 

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Sunday night we had a lesson with Luca, and his host family. Luca is from  Switzerland and has been coming to church for like 6 months now! We taught him all about the Book of Mormon and promised them all that the Book of Mormon can answer our questions. So, we had each of them take a piece of paper and write down questions they have and no one in their family gets to know them, and we get to answer them with the Book of Mormon. So, we will see how it goes because they are really good questions. If anyone can tell me where God came from using the Book of Mormon and how souls were made, please let me know! 

Hey yall, I love you. I'm sorry my emails are a wreck. But, if you get anything out of them, let it be that I love this gospel, it blesses us as individuals and as families in bigger ways than we can imagine. There's no worldly thing that can surpass the blessings God can give us from following his commandments. 

Love,

Sister McKee 

Quinn saw me use my scrunch and ran into the  other room and grabbed her scrunchie and had me put her hair into a bun.  Then she put on my name tag so she could be Sis. Mckee

 We found this great fence at someones house and took some pictures.

 Malena and Sis. Johnson taking a break from painting a house.

 Sis. Wind with her protein balls that mom sent her.

My Dad is my District Leader

Hello everyone. Thank you for coming to my email today! 

This past week was pretty good! Lots of ups and downs. We got news on transfers and everything is staying the same except we are losing the Highland Village Ward which is sad. It was my favorite ward so I'm sad, but luckily we will still be in the same building. 

Tuesday we went and had a lesson with the Van Wagoners again! Sister Van Wagoner is so excited and said she reads whenever she has a free moment but Brother Van Wagoner won't read. I tried that bold with love attempt though so we will see if it works out.  Sometimes my bold outweighs my love. 

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We went to the Hyer's to talk about a fast to help them get to the temple and they said they really want to do it! So, we set a time to do our fast and decided to come over Saturday and do it until Sunday! When we went Saturday we started it and also helped each of the boys pick something besides food and so they all fasted their video games and tv for 24 hours. I also brought a bunch of card games and we played some with them and then ended the fast on Sunday! When we went over on Monday we told them we aren't over Highland Village anymore and the kids were so sad :( we played one final round of 'Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza' and promised they will love these new elders. 

We had to have some final lessons with some awesome people which wasn’t fun and some ward members who really loved sisters. 

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We had a lesson with the Eastman's which went pretty well except Sister Eastman told us we can teach her daughters but we cannot mention the word baptism. They are two 8 year old girls and they are just darling. So, we went and had a lesson about the plan of salvation and the girls had never heard any of it, and one of them started crying! I felt so bad! But she said it was more overwhelming but also good. Sister Eastman was also excited to learn it all again because she was baptized 8 years ago and loved having new lessons. They said we can definitely come back this week! 

So, one night we went contacting and then we went to this members house and her husband isn't a member. Her husband answered and he let us right in and talked to us, which is surprising because usually we are avoided like lepers! But, it was around 7 and we told Sister Hurlbut (her actual name) that we go home after 9 and she kept talking and talking and saying "oh we have time!” And, it got on the topic of how I hit that girl (not my fault) and her husband was just listening and I said "to this day, my family and friends still give me crap for it!" And keep talking and Brother Hurlbut said "give you crap for it...?" And I said “yes, like they tease me about it" and he said "oh I know, I just didn't think that word would come out of your mouth!" Oops hahah #awkward. Then, I also was explaining Arlington and said "they have some super sketchy parts" and he thought that was funny too. He came to church the next day and when I shook his hand he said "hey, what the crap!" And lost it as he walked into the chapel. It was so funny. 

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We switched our p-day to have a MLK day service project but our zone couldn't find one so we painted a fence and helped someone move. It was so fun.  

There is an Elder McKee in my district and I met this funky 14 year old who said “Do you know there is an Elder McKee?" And I said “Yeah!" And he said “Is he your dad or something?" And I said  “Yeah he is!!" And it was so funny. Someone else asked me if he was my brother and I just said yes. I hope my actual brother comes here so we can mess with people. 

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We met a woman named Misty. She has met with missionaries in the past, and has a lot of anger and questions about God. The questions were confusing and all over the place. As we tried to explain to her, she would close off and didn't believe that God loves her. She told us she feels like Gods plan doesn't apply to her because of the things she's done in her life. It was so sad. We told her the story of Paul and how he was so evil but through the atonement he was able to find repentance. She agreed to meet with us again!! Woohoo! 

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I love you all!! I know there is no sin beyond the atonement. There is true joy in repentance. The joy we feel in worldly things is temporary and shallow compared to the joy that comes in the gospel. 

I love yall! 

-Sister McKee

Cute new skirt from Becky and Mandy

 Water Coloring

 Crocheted Sister Chamanga a Texas beanie.  She goes home this week.  I'll miss her.

 Crocheted a tie for one of the elders going home 

 Sis. Chamanga

 Sis. Johnson

 Figured out that my 4th great grandpa is buried in Texas.

Whatever!

The Great Median

Hey everyone! I'm so happy y'all are here!

This week was long, but it all led up to the best day on Saturday!

A member made us homemade curry one night for dinner which was so good and I love Indian food! Then, after we played sculptionary with play dough and the word was philosophy and so I was just pointing to my playdough (for plato) and no one got it so I tried to make a little man laying on the couch but no one got that either. It was so fun. Not gonna lie though, I got really competitive when someone from the other team guessed what the sculpture was from mine and not his teammate. And we had to change some rules in sculptionary so this blatant cheating would end. #awkward

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The next day we had one of the best lessons ever. These girls are a perfect example of planting a seed. So, we went by last week and the girls, Peyton and Angelina, told us we could teach them again! So, we went by and we were worried their mom wouldn't approve or wouldn't be interested but we went in and it was sooo good! They still had all their Book of Mormons and pamphlets from the elders 2 years ago and they answered questions and wanted to pray! And Bella, the mom, sat in and participated and told is how her family is members and she seemed interested! It was so awesome! Ahh see now, we just need a spanish speaker, because Bella may have only seemed interested because she didn't understand us and was nodding along. hahaha. 

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That night we went to mutual and when we walked in a girl looked at me and said "look it's my favorite missionaries!!” 

So, that made me feel good.

Then, we went and took down decorations on trees in the median between lanes of traffic for service. 

Speaking of... so my subject line has multiple meanings. One is sister Mabila was driving the other night and was about to make a left turn when she went on the wrong side of the median into ONCOMING TRAFFIC!! and I was screaming and yelling "wrong lane, wrong lane!" And she said "oh oops!” And, nearly killed me. So, I took away her driving privileges and called the vehicle coordinator so I could drive to the conference on Saturday. So, that's my near death story of the week. 

Friday was crazy. We had a lesson at 2-3pm and then the lady who was feeding us dinner asked if we could come over and help take down her tree so we did and then all her big crazy family came over and we had another crazy dinner, we have now ate 3 times with them because they all keep signing up. Haha. And then, it started to storm, and it was hailing and lightening and super scary and we knew we had to go out and we were about to go knocking (I know, we're psycho) when they told us it is too dangerous and we just need to stay a little bit. And, they tried to teach us a card game called Canadian Salad, which is like Hearts, and then I swept the floors because: if one is going to require that all shoes come off at the door, their floors should be clean. And then, we got a notification to go home so it felt really weird going home at 7:30. And the storm raged around us. But no tornados came to Lewisville. Which is disappointing to be honest. 

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SATURDAY!! This was such a cool day: First we left at 6:30 and drove to Fort Worth and I drove because my comp tried to kill me, and when we got there the whole mission was there and I got to see Sister Wind and so many other awesome people that I haven't seen in so long. I was so happy and kinda adopted Wind as my companion again for a few hours. When I came on my mission I didn't really believe when people said I'd make more best friends, but wow, they're right. Then, we broke unto small groups and had mini sessions with ELDER AND SISTER RENLUND, AND ELDER COOK, OCHOA AND GOFFERSON FROM THE 70! it was soo good! I felt like I recieved so many answers there. At one point he said something and I just started crying, which is very unlike me but that's okay and wow it was amazing. They are so amazing. I felt the spirit so strong while I was there. 

Then we went to In-and-Out and went back to our apartment for like an hour and The Hendrix' drove us to ARLINGTON for a baptism and It was so awesome! I was pointing out  all the scenery like "this crazy lady lives there..." or "that's my apartment complex that looks sketchy but isn't that bad..." arlington is magic. And the baptism was so good! And I got to hangout with my friends which was so fun because wow, these past 5 weeks have been hard. I loved it, then to top it off, we went to Olive Garden. So like, the perfect day.

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Yesterday, we finally had a lesson with Mark and Tammy!! We met them at a members house and the lesson was crazy, but it was also good! We talked about the restoration, but get this, Mark knows so much about the church. He grew up a Freemason, and he was so knowledgable about everything. He even started talking about how we need the Book of Mormon because the Bible is missing parts and we just threw our hands up and said “Yes!! Why aren't you baptized already!" And then he tried to Bible bash us, but we let the members take care of it! But, Tammy was so awesome! She had all these awesome questions and said she reads the Book of Mormon every night and attends Relief Society activities and it was a hectic, but a good overall lesson.

I love y'all!! You are all so amazing and I know this church is true, and I know it has blessed my life and will bless all yours too! What a blessing that we have knowledge of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ!! That's so incredible! And, there isn't anything on earth more important!  

Keep up the good work! 

Love, Sister McKee 

1. A day on the farm (the lady was very excited I didn't wear my Tom's, I'm still working on the appropriate shoe thing. 

2. A big horse we found 

4. We got snow!! Yay!

5. Lunch with the STLs 

6. Sisters Crandall and Muhlestien

7. Sister Wind aka the biggest nerd in texas :)