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.