Corona Isolation

Hello everybody!

I thank you all for tuning into my weekly update on my life as a representative of Jesus Christ. I'll try to keep this interesting, but I know y'all are all trapped inside, so hopefully you'll find ANYTHING interesting by now. 

As far as missionary work goes, we had some good lessons with Tammy about commandments and the word of Wisdom! She is so ready to make a next step but is hesitant. Her husband was in the room and we have been trying to teach him too, but he wouldn't stop talking. So finally I butted in and said “Hey Mark? We're gonna talk to Tammy about her getting baptized! Is this something you'd like to do too?" And he left. But, she is so amazing and said we will start talking about setting a date once all this corona blows over. 

This week a "shelter in place" order was sent out, meaning we can only leave for essential business. And all churches are closed until May and if we are caught using a church, there is a chance of a 1000$ fine. So, we stay home now. We do studies in the morning and the afternoons are usually empty. We do puzzles and painting while watching church movies or listening to Saints or Jesus the Christ. And we make facebook posts and record videos and try to message people. But messaging strangers on facebook is more scary to me than knocking doors and street contacting, so I'm being stretched in a lot of ways. We also have 2 weekly phone devotionals with our whole mission and a weekly prayer and departing testimony zoom meeting! 

We have also been having a code contest with 4 of the elders, but we have them stumped right now because Ssis. Elkins translated it to Spanish, then put it in code. I'm so proud of her. 

I also have realized I love being outside! So, I sit on the balcony and study or we take walks for long times because I'm sick of my 7 walls, our apt. is shaped weird. When all this is over, missionaries are going to be so so excited to get out, and people are going to be so excited to listen because everyone is a little socially starved right now. 

We took a walk on Saturday and a sweet old woman walking her dog talked to us and kept moving closer to us and we kept back up and it was funny and we all were so happy to talk to anyone in person! 

Just for stats, the Corona cases in my county are 168 and 2 deaths, but we are totally safe. 

On Sunday because there's no church, we went to the elders apartments and they had a living room balcony so we all sat and had an opening hymn, a prayer, sacrament hymn, took the sacrament, a spiritual thought, closing hymn and closing prayer, just the 6 of us. It was so cool. I loved that we can still meet, even if it's just in small groups! 

I love you all! Have a good week! I had a good thought to share, but no time. 

Sister McKee 

Finished my 1000 piece puzzle and was missing 1piece.  Found it in the washing machine later.

Sis. Wind

 Sis. Elkins

 Crocheting masks for the sisters.  

 Sis. Wind

I had 2 Baptisms and 0 Corona! WOOT WOOT!

Hello everyone! 

Fun fact, I am in self-isolation now. which is pretty much quarantine except I don't get to brag about having Coronavirus-19. I just have sadness and 4 walls around me at all times, but we are making the best of it! It's actually been really great! I also have a sore throat but haven't told anyone because I'm scared. I'm kidding.

 

Bu, it actually hasn't been too bad. I'm still happy and I'm happy to be out on a mission, and whenever I feel like I'm not happy to be on a mission I think about Tammy and the family I baptized this week and know that if we all went home, their journey halts, and I don't want that. So, really I feel like I'm out here for Tammy, and who ever else comes our way.

 

So, Tuesday- pre-social distanced- we actually had not much to do. Because everyone else got the stay inside memo two days before us. We contacted a TON and then we wrote thank you cards and took them to the Walmart workers! Which was SO fun and a great idea for all y'all who don't know what to do with your time. Then, we visited members which was so fun! They let us right in and we all just sat on opposite sides of the room. I love meeting members that remind me of my family because I feel right at home, except I keep my shoes on-don't worry, I learned that the hard way, though. 

We started meeting with the family that told us they want to get baptized and they wanted to get baptized ASAP!  They have been coming to church their whole lives, they had just been waiting for their dad to get on board and he was okay with it so we baptized them SUNDAY!!!  Their names are Madelyn and AJ and they are the cutest kids ever! We sped taught them everything because they already knew it all and then interviewed them and had video call lessons and they got baptized yesterday (Sunday!) and it was so awesome! Because of Covid-19 (have you heard of it?) it was just us, their family, and the bishop and his wife. Now this bishop is a tsunami baptizer, and if you don't know what i mean, lets just say we are lucky there is glass around the font because when they went under, the water was everywhere! And poor Madelyn had to get baptized twice and it was a huge tsunami. haha. BUT EVEN CORONA COULDN'T STOP THE WORK! WE GOT 2 BAPTISMS IN THE MIDST OF THIS CHAOS. 

Don't tell anyone, although my STL gets my emails, but we got the news that we were going into self isolation at 5:35 Wednesday night while we were at the church. Well, here is the thing, we were 5 minutes late for dinner and really didn't want to go into self isolation, so we just went to dinner and had correlation and then went home! It was very productive and we needed one last hurrah. And, we got free hand sanitizer. we were bummed though because we had plans to go to members homes with masks, gloves and Clorox wipes and offer to wipe down doorknobs and light fixtures. So, that was a bummer, we will do it soon though! Then, that night we borrowed an elder's  projector and laid in our beds and watched The Restoration Movie! 

So, in my email last week I wrote about a guy who wanted to bash us and I said we will most likely call him out. Well we did, and it went great. Actually it was awful. He got very upset with us and sent us a bunch of stuff and was being lame so he's gone, we aren't talking to him anymore. 

On Thursday was our first day isolated, and it was a blast!  Well, sort of. We doorbell ditched a Book of Mormon, then went to the church (to use the wifi) and had our lesson and then contacted people, and ran laps in the church parking lot to get our energy out. Friday was the same and so was Saturday, except we had another lesson with Tammy and invited her to get baptized, for the second time now, and she said not yet. Don't get me wrong, self- isolation is super fun and we have a blast and I've counted all the ceiling tiles in the church and wrote songs about corona and all. I actually think this has opened up a lot of really cool opportunities, as lame as it is! Families get to spend time together, more people are outside walking and everyone is stepping up to help each other! Only 24 people have confirmed corona in Denton county so it's no big deal, and we have had a lot of fun recording videos and texting our people to make sure they haven't had respiratory failure. 

On Sunday the elders offered to give Sister Elkins and I the sacrament, so the 6 of us met at the church and it was so amazing. We had an opening hymn and prayer and blessed and passed the sacrament and then all just sat and prayed for a while and then had a closing hymn and prayer. It was so spiritual and so amazing and I feel like the sacrament is more personal this way. We had time to sit and ponder and pray and reflect. The spirit was so strong as we all sat there. Then we had a group comp study and the elders answered a lot of my questions I've had for a while and so it was so great. 

I also started a 1000 piece puzzle because I love puzzles, BUT its actually stressing me out more than it is relaxing because its super hard, so pray for me.... To find people to teach via Facebook, and also with this puzzle. Just kidding, Pray for Tammy, if you pray for anyone.

Also just fyi, our heater broke. we woke up to our apartment 63 degrees the other day. So, this week has been pretty grand let me tell you. But really, no place I'd rather be :). 

My only Awkward Malena Moment was while watching a movie an elder compared me to a girl in the movie in front of all the other missionaries and I laughed, and then he said “well, she's pretty so it's a compliment", and I didn't know how to respond so I just said "she's blonde." And it was so awkward and I didn't know what to say and wow my life is so crazy right now.  

UPDATE:

So, we just were told we are not allowed to leave our apartments now. So that's  SAD BUT THE WORK WILL GO ON! If anything, we will study and read Jesus the Christ and finish my huge frustrating puzzle and drink lots of water and we will come out of "Isolation" with clear skin, strong testimonies and a lot of deep doctrinal knowledge. And, I will be super excited to knock doors!! WOOT WOOT! 

But if you have any jokes or uplifting messages for a sad girl in self isolation, or any doctrinal questions you want me to study, I would love that. Shoot me a message. You know where I'll be. 

Love  ya’ll.  

Sister  McKee    malena.mckee@missioanry.org

 St. Patrick's Day.

Corona Virus is ruining everything!

No church, no mutual, no mission prep, no service with old people, rain, rain, rain and no one wanting to answer the doors to strangers. Let me tell you: this week was HARD! But, we also had some very good experiences and some awkward Malena moments, so make sure your shoes are tied, cause I'll be all over the place in this email. Did that make sense??  

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We had a lesson with Joyce and Misty this week about the plan of salvation and Joyce told us she really wants to read the Book of Mormon but can't read the little print. We told her we can get her a large print Book of Mormon and she was so happy!! It was such an example to me of having a true desire to learn! We went back on Friday to see if they still want to meet despite Corona and Misty said, straight faced, "what's in my head scares me more than Corona." She's an interesting woman.

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There is this family that comes to church every week, but only the mom is baptized, and there are 3 kids and a husband. And in the bio it said that they have asked that missionaries don't contact them, only the bishopric. But, we have been hearing more about them lately so we were in the area and felt like we should visit, but we were so nervous and we prayed and thought about it for like 20-30 minutes and finally decided to just go. We were so nervous, but they let us right in and we all sat and talked for a while but didn't share a message because we didn't want to weird them out. 

Well yesterday, the bishop texted us and he said the family reached out and their two kids want to get baptized!!! So that's super exciting!! We are going to teach them this week!! 

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 A man came up to us and asked us to meet with him, and he said he knows a ton about our church and has some questions he needs answered and then he texted us all these anti questions and wanted to know our hometowns and set up a lesson and it was so weird. We talked to my friend and she confirmed he is most likely anti and then gave us a bunch of prep to explain things so he can't anti us (essentially bible bash) but we didn't feel too good about it. Then, we learned he is actually a member! Not active, but he's in our records so that's crazy. I don't know what to think. We most likely will call him out and then not go. It was a weird eerie feeling.

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So, on the day that the church cancelled Sunday services it was one of the worst rain storms since I've been here. I know it rained like 10 inches in like an hour. Isn't that crazy!! 

At the Coffman's house for Sunday lesson.

So that day was pretty bad and we didn't know what to do because our service cancelled and our lessons so we did a lot of member visits. The rest of this week was the same, but we also managed to find some good people who hopefully will message us back without being scared of Covid-19. Jesus will overpower Covid-19 in the end, they just gotta chill. 

It's funny because people are all either really worried (one man pulled out his AK47 to show how he is going to defend his food storage 😂) and another woman is planning her 250$ trip to Hawaii (it's me, I'm that woman). 

But anyways, we need things to do, because like 25 hours opened up. It's tough, but it'll be fun to look back on eventually. 

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Awkward Malena Moments:

•this week at dinner I was pouring water into my cup and the lid came off and water spilled all over me, my dress, and my food. I almost ate my pizza soup but she took it away. It looked like I peed my pants though so that was awkward, but it dried by the time I left 

• we were leaving dinner and I opened the door and stepped aside and as I looked at the doorway a hand appeared and picked up the package on the doorstep. It scared me and I gasped and jumped back. Turns out the Amazon guy just delivered a package and picked it back up to hand it to us. But it scared me and the members thought it was so funny. 

I love y'all!! 

Sis. McKee

HALF WAY!!

Celebrating Half Way!  And my funny mom sent me a camel, so I had to do a photo shoot!

9 Months and a Baby

March 9, 2020

Hello and welcome to my email, it has been a super fun week so buckle in for the ride of a lifetime, jk its not that exciting.

On Wednesday was transfers and Sister Elkins in my new companion! She is fresh outta the MTC and has so much Fire! I love it!! She is so quirky and laughs at her own jokes all the time and it's so funny. I love her. And she is so excited to teach literally everyone! It's helped me get my excitement back after being trapped inside for 2 weeks with sickness. 

We went over to Misty's to drop her again, but she wasn't home, so we asked Joyce (her mom) if we could teach her. And she said definitely!! The discussion went so so good and Joyce loved what we taught and said it made a lot of sense!! She has trouble reading but we promised if she will read the Book of Mormon for 5 minutes a day her ability to read will improve!! I'm excited to see if she believed us tomorrow!! She is so ready for the gospel!! Joyce's neighbor Benjamin, who was completely wasted, was sitting on the porch our whole lesson and fell asleep while we talked. And Sister Elkins is sure we can have a breakthrough with him, so hopefully we will see him around again. 

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Luca, the foriegn exchange student, dropped us this week. He told us that he comes to church with his host family every week but zones out and doesn't see the point in coming, and also is going back to Switzerland soon and probably won't do the “Mormon thing" when he goes back, so it was sad. But, it's just about planting a seed! He will join someday. I've really come to see how God has a path for everyone. Like we won't baptize whole cities, although that would be cool and we would have books and movies about the occasion. But everyone is at a different point on their path, and some people are ready and some people aren't yet! And, I've also learned that no one is really too far gone, God will give them unlimited chances to come back to his fold in this life. If they want. That's why missionaries are sent to the homes of those who have left the church, because God loves them and misses them. 

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This week with Tammy was super awesome, she really just needs to get dunked already. On Monday night we went to say goodbye and we told her if she gets baptized Sister Mabila could come back and she seemed really excited about that, and we had a really cool experience with her mother in law, Carol, where Carol talked to us for a while about her relationship with Jesus and then told us she's actually studied the Book of Mormon before and would like another one! And on Saturday Tammy said she has been reading it but we haven't gotten to talk to her yet. 

On Saturday we had a lesson with Tammy and it went really good! We went over the first half of the plan of salvation again and she just kept testifying about how it fills in the gaps and how it makes sense! We are just being patient with her own journey because she is taking it slowly but surely. I love her so much! She said she was gonna come to church, but then didn't because she forgot it was daylight saving times- it was a lie but it's fine. 

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This week 4 people we were teaching dropped us, and a lot of the rest of them haven't contacted us, it's sad but that's just the way the world goes round I guess! Keep your head up boys, the best is yet to come!! 

I love y'all! You're great, hopefully next week will be more exciting! 

Love, Sister McKee

Urma Thurman

March 2, 2020

Hey hey hey everyone! It's another week in Lewisville! 

This week Sister Mabila was sick a ton, and we had to take a super fun trip to the ER. Well, it was fun for me, she was bent over in half in pain, and we got to make friends with a bunch of grumpy nurses and watch .2 seconds of Avengers Winter Soldier until we turned the tv off. But, we spent a lot of time at home so I got some really good studies in and I read all of Saints 2 and crocheted 2 ties for elders in my district. So, it was good. And, she's starting to feel better so that's good. On Saturday night we had a phone lesson with Tammy and Sis Mabila felt so sick she slept on relief society chairs (the soft ones of course, I'm not an animal) and I had to teach alone and it was crazy! It was so weird to teach alone, but Tammy wants to get baptized, she just said its not her time yet! She wants to learn more. We taught her about the plan of salvation and Adam & Eve and she really liked it! I love her so much! 

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On Tuesday we tried to drop Misty because she wasn't progressing and told us she will never believe the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and she said "you guy's haven't even tried hard enough to teach me about the Book of Mormon" which we totally have, we don't totally stink. She got offended and went in and got her Book of Mormon and we read a chapter with her, and she again repeated that she will never believe its the word of God, gave us hugs and said “Well, I guess ill never see you again!" The sass was high.

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We went and a visited a family and they said "let us know if you need anything!" Which they don't really mean, but now they are taking us out to dinner next week! They say to use our members!

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So, yesterday we got the bashing of the century. We walked into Maggie and Travis and they had researched a lot. Travis said "I have a question about John Smith and the Urma Thurman" (urim and thummim)  and I died on the inside. They had some weirdly specific questions that they couldn't have just thought of so finally i said "ok, so it sounds like you've done some research on unreliable sources, but really y'all just need to pray.” Then, they bashed us for so long and we were able to explain some stuff but, really they weren't that open. It was really sad, because I know they would love the gospel and find the joy they are looking for but they are focusing on all the wrong things. The gospel is simple and God's love for us is so simply beautiful but we can't let the hard parts or confusing parts or the parts we don't understand completly get in the way. 

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I love you all!! Have a good week! Thanks for tuning into another crazy week in Texas! Transfers are this week and I am training so stay tuned on my greenies first week!! 

Love, 

Sister McKee 

•for those of you who remember my mutual stories on instagram,

 I get a lot of elders messaging me, so with my comps permission, I couldn't help but respond 

 helping a cute old lady Rita with her yard!! 

•the Exbys 

Sister Hunter and her family, Lake City 2nd Ward