Getting Punched with the Priesthood

So, I know I say this every single week, and based on my lack of leaving the apartment you probably will sigh and roll your eyes when I tell you that this week was absolutely crazy. But this week it really was. Let me tell ya:

Monday Night we started our first exchange with Sister Elkins and Sister Dixon. I knew it'd be so weird if I went back to be with Sister Elkins in my old area after only 3 weeks so I stayed here with Dixon. It was so fun! That night we were calling people to find and found 2 new people! Both of them told us they were super interested and wanted us to call back the next day! We did and they told us no, but still such a fun day!

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On Wednesday at noon we started another exchange and this time I went with Hermana Vestal to her Spanish Area. That's right, I still know close to no spanish. So, while calling I would introduce ourselves "somos los missionaras..." then she would say the rest. But, an awkward moment that happened: Vestal was teaching a member on a phone call and they told her that "the girl who speaks english could give the closing prayer" so I started praying and halfway through the prayer my mind blanked and I said "and please bless that they can have...fun... in their house..." and then I just ended it. Hopefully they don't speak too much english but Hermana Vestal lost it. It was so fun! Then Vestal and I went and chalked the words "Where did I come from? Why am I here? Where am I going? Find answers at "Come Unto Christ.org!" at a park and these two Indian men, (So many people from India here) named Al and Mayank stopped and talked to us and answered our questions and we ended up having a long conversation to them about religion! They both were really interested in meeting again and so we set up a return app. Al was kinda eccentric and kept interrupting us and saying "no, listen-" and then say some crazy religious stuff, while Mayank was a Jehovah's witness, so we thought he'd bash us but he had legit questions! They are great. We had to refer both of them to other missionaries though because they aren't in our area. They were awesome.

On Thursday night we had a member dinner, which was SO awesome! These members are incredible and from India and they made us curry which is my favorite and wow. It is so great to be in members homes again! We had to wear our masks in, take them off to eat, then put them back on to share a message. But, what a blessing. I love it

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Friday we had the Lewisville zone conference, and we were asked to give a training. We didn't mean to stay the whole time but we ended up doing so and at the end President was saying his goodbyes and it was so sad and I cried, even though I knew I'd see him the next day at my own zone conference

At our zone conference we had a training on using phones because no one knows how to talk on the phone or leave a voicemail as a missionary. So, we had to practice and we called Elder Olsen and his fake name was Albert, but Sister Menlove called him Elber so she lost a few points on that, but overall we did pretty well. 

After the Zone conference was over we had to say goodbye again and I cried again when we all sang “Called to serve" and sang "forward, Texas Fort Worth" because going to a new mission for 5 months is gonna be so weird and I was so sad but It's chill. I'm good now. 

I crochet’d President a tie.

Right after the Zone conference we had ERICA'S BAPTISM!! It was so amazing! The night before we learned she could have 20 people which was great because her husband was trying to bring 14 to the baptism and was super mad the bishop wouldn't let him. But, Ericas was so excited and crying the whole time and her mother in law gave her all these gifts and it was just incredible. She was so excited.

 

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So, Sister Menlove and I are just having a blast working with these Zone Leaders, and it's super easy and they love to communicate with us, and hate asking us for help last minute. All that was a lie. So, we decided to speak their language and we had a FISHING ZONE LEADER COUNCIL. And, it was so funny. I think they were annoyed because I wouldn't put my hand in the bait bucket, so I'd sit and wait for someone else to get bait so they could hand it to me, but it was a blast. We had been practicing our fishing and Sister Menlove was actually the only one who caught a fish, and I think the elders were bitter about it, but it was great and we just sat there and talked about goals and stuff. We are planning on making it a weekly thing, rather than sitting at the church. 

So yesterday, Sunday was amazing, We had church in the morning and the attendance was like 25 and 30 for both wards. But Erica got confirmed which was so awesome.

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Then, we had a lesson with George, who was referred to missionaries back in December but because they could never contact him they stopped trying. We called him and he told us he is VERY interested! We kept confirming with him all week because we thought he'd cancel, but we had a lesson with him yesterday and WOW so amazing! 

He is from China and didn't believe in God but while working in Australia he went to a Christian church and then came to the US and met a guy who was a member! He was so excited to talk to us! The coolest part was that he didn't know anything. I mentioned the New Testament and he had 0 idea what I was talking, about until I referred to it at the Holy Bible. But, we explained the Book of Mormon and read part of Alma 32 with him about growing his faith. And, you could see in his glasses reflection how he just kept reading as we were talking and he would get so excited while he was reading! He told us he knows he needs to read and pray, and then at the end he prayed for the first time ever! We had asked him to pray and he said yes, and started but half way through we saw his head was still bowed but he wasn't saying anything, so I said "Uhh Amen?" and he laughed and told us he just wanted to whisper his prayers. So, we just sat and waited and then he told us he was done. haha. But, it was incredible!!

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Then, last night we had a lesson with Jaxson, I wrote about him in the last few weeks, the guy who is agnostic and difficult to teach. Well, he is willing to keep meeting with us so we had a lesson and invited the family who we had dinner with. The father and son came and we met at the church in our masks, spread out across the room. We had an idea that if he doesn't want to listen to us, that maybe his soul will recognize the plan of salvation and he will feel it. WELL NOPE. We started with the premortal life and then Menlove said "have you ever heard of Adam and Eve?" and he said "yeah, but I don't believe it. I believe in Science. Like evolution" (insert stupid nacho Libre quote here about only believing in science). But, Brother Murala told him he isn't allowed to have scientific arguments in a religious discussion. But WOW, it was amazing. Brother Murala told him how he is also a scientist and built up his credentials by telling him all he's done for the scientific world, and then Me, Menlove and Brother Murala's son Keith all just sat back and watched them hash it out. Brother Murala was incredible and shared all these cool facts and bore such a strong testimony, but Jaxson was still apprehensive. Brother Murala was trying to explain how the gospel is like tasting salt and we can't explain to someone else how it tastes, and Jaxson says “Well, what if I don't want to try salt, What if I'm content with flour?" And I couldn't help it and burst out laughing, but they ignored me. 

Bro. Murala told his conversion story how when he was 17 a senior missionary couple gave him a blessing and it changed his life. I kept feeling promptings to ask Jaxson if he'd want a blessing and he said Yes very quickly, and Bro. Murala gave him one. WOW. The blessing was incredible and so personal and promised all these things to Jaxson. And usually blessings aren't super long in these cases, but this one must've been 4-5 minutes. and The spirit was so strong. Afterwards you could see the change in Jaxson, he was quieter. As soon as Bro. Murala sat down and Jaxson said "When you first started talking, it sounded like the voice speaking wasn't you, it was like from inside my mind! Like, it was, like..." and we said "like it was a higher being" and he said "YES!" and then he told us "I feel like I'm standing in a room, and a window opened. And I think I should look out that window." He told us he is going to read the Book of Mormon. But mostly he just seemed really quiet. We all could feel it, and it seemed like he got punched in the face with the Priesthood. As soon as we said the closing prayer he bolted out and we were all just in shock. All menlove and I could say was "wow" because it was just amazing. I can't even fully describe it here. It was just WOW. 

Then last night we had our final zoom call with our whole mission, and we all had to say goodbye and it was so sad. I never thought my mission would be this way, but hey, it's good! What a fun adventure.

Also another Awkward Malena Moment. Some elders took this picture during our weekly zoom devotional. I told them I was praying so they changed my name to Enos on the group chat and sent this picture. 

Hey, I love you all! You are all amazing! Just remember not to be content with flour, there is so much more out there! 

Have a great week! 

-Sister McKee

Beautiful Sunset.

I think we are all "Queens of Corona" now- Paul Simon

This week was so exciting! Prepare for a long and overly detailed email:

On Monday night our president had an important announcement! He made the announcement that WE ARE NOW IN PHASE 1! WOO HOO! That means that we can now go to member's homes for lessons and dinners, and we also can do exchanges! Which is so exciting! We have two back to back exchanges this week, and a lot of dinners set up!

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This week was pretty good! We set a goal to find 1 person a day! To start, on fast Sunday we both fasted to find people this week and then to reach our goal we set aside an hour of "dedicated, spirit led finding" and we just pray a lot and then call a ton of people! It was so amazing! 

So, Monday night we messaged our cool friend Lonnie (who we found when I was climbing out of the dumpster), who was excited last week to read the Book of Mormon, and this week we sent him some stuff, but he wasn't having it. All week he was sending us Bible verses and getting mad when we sent him Book of Mormon scriptures. So, he was one of the people we found, and then dropped. 

Another woman we found is named Vivian. She was in our area book as a former taught, and when we called she just said "call me tomorrow!". Well, we called the next day and she hung up on us, but then we called again later that day and she was chill and let us talk to her and send her the Book of Mormon app! We gotta call her again...

Our coolest find this week was a man named George, who was referred to missionaries in December, but the sisters were never able to contact him. When we called he said he is very interested but doesn't want to meet because of Covid. When we told him we could call over zoom he was so excited! We have a lesson set for next week! 

And we also got 2 referrals!!

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We also have been trying to use geneaology more for finding, which has been cool. I've met some really cool people from it, and found some distant connections! It's help me learn more about my geneaology! 

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We had a lesson with Erica and she is getting baptized this week! She is so excited! She is so solid and so excited! Her husband is a member and the district leader told us that it was a super easy interview! She is so excited! It's sad though because we can only have 10 people at the baptism so we were trying to decide who to kick out. Luckily it wasn't me. 

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We had a district council this week and then a zone leader conference. Sister Menlove and I decided to make a cake for the occasion, and we made it really cool by putting a ceramic Manti temple on the top. it was fun. 

These elders are all super into fishing, and so we decided to do our next council as a fishing council. The elders all doubted we actually would and one elder told us he doesn't want to do that because he knows he will just have to help us the whole time. BUT NO. we are fishers of Women. We bought our cheapo 10$ poles today and had to call the elders to know what type of hooks to buy, but we are gonna go practice. While exersizing one morning the elders were also at the park fishing and they had an extra pole and I had to put the live bait on the hook. it was so gross. But we are going to just practice with bread and hopefully we won't catch anything while practicing because we don't have pliars to get the fish off, and I hate doing it with my hands. Stay tuned, we are excited. 

On Friday we had a lesson with Jaxson, and his mom is a member, and the sisters have been teaching him for a few months now. I remembered the sisters telling us in DC it was hard to teach him, and so I was a little nervous. I haven't taught someone like him before, he doesn't think God doesn't exist, he thinks it'd be really cool if he did, but he thinks very logically and doesn't have any proof that God does exist. He won't read the Book of Mormon because he is learning from different sources. It was so interesting to talk to him, because he loves the church because of the people and sincerity of them, but doesn't believe anything. We committed him to reading the Book of Mormon, but he doesn't believe in prayer. We don't really know what to do with him, so if anyone has any ideas, let us know.

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On Sunday we got to go to church! It was so crazy! We have two wards, so we got to go to both sacraments. The first sacrament we had 42 people, and everyone had to sit a row apart. For the sacrament we had a separate tray to collect cups with, and we weren't allowed to sing. Looking at each other must be illegal too because we were excited to meet members, but no one really wanted to talk to us. We just helped clean and welcomed people. haha. 

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Our mission has been doing a Book of Mormon challenge, where we are reading the Book of Mormon in the month of June. I was hestitant at first because we have to read like 8 chapters a day, but it's actually been really awesome! While reading I have been focusing on marking passages that talk about God's love and blessings to the people, and it is so amazing! I am beginning to see more how much God's hand is in the Book of Mormon peoples lives, and in mine! It shows so much humility that the people credit so much to God! Our mission has also seen so many miracles since we have started! It is amazing! 

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Corona is spiking again, which is just so great. Some people have told us we will probably be in phase 1 for a while then go back to isolation once the fall hits. I didn't think my mission would be THIS hard. 

So many missionaries have been transferred to our mission from out of country missions, and they all have been a little shocked. Once they get over telling us how our mission is a party because we can play games, hangout together on p-day,  have phones, and washing machines, then they accuse us of being lazy/apostate missionaries because our numbers are lower than in their last mission. Then, they are calling us for help on finding and teaching people because ALL MISSIONS ARE HARD and they are all hard for different reasons. Don't disvalue someone else's mission because it's different. It's all exhausting and it's all God's work. HURRAH FOR ISRAEL.

Love, Sister McKee 

Pictures: 

My dad kindly teaching me how to tie a hook to show up these elders. I'll let y'all know how the fishing trash talk goes 

 Sis. Menlove posting a question, answering it, and liking it.  

Just some more awkward Elder/Sister McKee interactions!!

Hello everyone! It has been quite a week. So fun

So, on Monday after P-day, we were trying to figure out a picture to send in for our milage reports (no details on what that is needed), and we were trying to make it funny. We tried climbing onto the shelves of our closet, but Sis. Menlove was too scared, and stalled, and broke the shelf she was standing on, so we had to try something new. We had the idea to get in the dumpster like we had thrown it away. So, for the 2nd time on my mission, and probably the last, I got on my rain boots and jumped in the dumpster. Well, we took the picture and as I was jumping out a man was walking towards us!

He wanted to make sure we were okay, and even though I was wearing sweats and rainboots and had jumped out of the dumpster, he recognized us as missionaries. I apologized for my appearance, but he didn't care! We ended up talking to him for around 30 minutes about faith and the Book of Mormon! He kept trying to guess our Bible knowledge and then told us he wants a Book of Mormon! His name is Lonnie! He is going to get back to us this week on how his reading is going! But it was such a miracle! 

Then, our maintenance guy saw us in the parking lot talking to Lonnie and told us that our neighbors below us are flooding. Turns out our A/C was flooding her, but he was chill about it, and she was fine after they fixed it! He told us he's seen the missionaries around in the past and I said “Oh, are you a member?" and he said no, And I said "Do you want to be? We can help you!" and he said no again! We mentioned him to another sister and she said "Talk to him! His name is legit Joseph Smith!” So, the next time we saw him I yelled "Hey Joseph Smith!" and it was great.

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This week the APs also messaged us all and said "We are having ZLC on Saturday at 3!" and all 4 of our APS and our two Sister APs and both sets of Zone leaders from both zones and us were attending. And, all 6 of us Zone leaders had never done a Zone Leader Conference before. But Tuesday night, they text us and say "Surprise! We are actually coming tomorrow at 3! Have an agenda planned! We are just going to support." 

This was probably the most stressful time of my whole week. 

Working with 4 elders, from 2 zones is totally crazy. Fun Fact: Our president met his wife on their missions, but if he wants me to, he needs to stop making us work with them. 

Jk, it wasn't that bad, we made an agenda and it was decent for 6 whitewashing missionary leaders. The ZLC was so awkward and funny, but it went pretty well! We set some good goals for our zones, and then had walk exchanges and got totally lost!

We also knew it would possibly be a wreck, so we made no-bake cookies to soften the blow. Well, the sun softened the cookies so the elders took the no-bake cookie soup home to eat with a spoon. haha. 

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So, I've heard some stuff about all the rioting, but haven't witnessed any in person. Some elders saw rioting from their apartment, and just when we were starting to have lightened rules for self isolation, we got a new curfew of 7:15 because of the rioting. But that was only for this week, so it's ok. 

We've had a lot of zoom meetings this week with members and also for pathway gatherings now, which I am the lead teacher on, for who knows why. haha. 3 other missionaries are participating in the class and taking the classes, but I am now teaching or "facilitating" the class.

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But we have learned the importance of the Mute button on zoom. This week a woman on the pathway gathering was talking about her baby, and how the baby has gone from 3-6 month clothing to 9-12 month clothing. Sister Menlove, barely listening mutters "thats a BIG baby!" and we both started laughing because we werent muted. I cried from laughing and my mascara was all over my face and all the pathway people were so confused. 

During the pathway meeting a woman started going off on a tangent about temple covenants and receiving revelation, and she seemed slightly crazy, and I was trying to decide if I should stop her, because the lesson was on the birth of Jesus Christ, and when I finally unmuted, she stopped talking right at the same time and the whole group heard me going "uhhh uhhhhh" trying to interject, so that was so awkward too. 

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We are trying to hype up the zone, so we tried to have everyone set a daily finding goal, because everyone's stamina and joy for living has been significantly falling. So, we set a goal to find 1 person on Thursday, and no one else stated their goal, but that night the elders had found 3 people! Which was great! But, we needed to find someone

So, on Friday we had something we call "dedicated, really good, Spirit led finding" and we must've called 50 people, and texted members and no one answered. But, then a woman said she'd like to do a Bible study!!!! Her name is Kesha and we had an amazing lesson with her! We found our person! 

I hit my one year mark this week! It's so crazy! I still feel so new to all this! I can't believe how much the world has changed, and how much I have grown in the past year! I don't even know what I believed a year ago, but I have learned so much that I can't imagine who I'd be without my mission! I think everyone should go on a mission, even if they don't stay out the whole time, they will learn so much!

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Also, Awkward Malena Moment: an Elder messaged me to tell me he couldn't come to service, and instead of sending a frowny face I sent a kissy face. My companion could not stop laughing at me and I felt so awkward. He never got back to me. 

We also had a mlc this week via zoom and we were put in little groups and it was 4 companionships of sisters and the APs.  We were all sharing our ideas and afterwards an AP says “Wow. Such great ideas! You all are such beautiful daughters of God!" And one by one we all just said "hey thanks....you too?" 

I love you all!

Sister Mckee

one year old

 We put a sign up in our window, and our neighbors came to tell us we got the G backwards.  

We fixed it.

Message from President Chapman

Dear Parents and loved ones: We wanted to send out an update about your missionary regarding recent and upcoming events impacting the Texas Fort Worth Mission. First and foremost, please know that all of the missionaries in the mission are safe and healthy.

Here are some events we wanted to address more specifically:

• COVID-19 Pandemic: None of our missionaries has exhibited the symptoms of coronavirus. That has been a remarkable blessing to the mission. Your prayers have played a huge part in that protection. We largely continue to shelter in place due to the pandemic. Last week, due to decreasing numbers of COVID-19 cases within the cities and counties of our mission, approval was given by our area presidency for missionaries to have additional outdoor time on preparation days, an increase in service opportunities, the opportunity to begin meeting again at the church buildings as districts on a weekly basis, and the opportunity for missionaries to teach friends and members at the chapel. There are social distancing requirements (and wearing of a mask) that the missionaries must follow in these settings. We also anticipate sacrament meetings beginning within the coming month.
• Public Protests: Dallas and Fort Worth both saw large protests in the downtown area this past weekend. The missionaries working near these communities are still working from their apartments and have not been affected by this situation.
• Tornado Clean-up in Bowie: The community of Bowie, TX, which is located in the Denton Texas Stake, experienced a tornado on May 23. Gratefully, no serious injuries were reported (our missionaries who are assigned to Bowie live 30 miles away in Decatur and were not in the vicinity of the tornado) however, over 200 homes and businesses were damaged. Yesterday, May 30, missionaries from many of our northern zones participated with members by helping with the on-going clean-up. Pictures of our missionaries aiding in the clean-up can be found on the Chapman-Fort Worth Missionaries Facebook page. 
• Readjustment of Mission Boundaries: July 1, 2020 will see the creation of two new missions out of three existing missions. The two new missions are Texas Dallas East and Texas Austin. The current Texas Dallas mission will be renamed Texas Dallas West. All of these missions are receiving new mission leadership. The Texas Fort Worth Mission currently has fourteen stakes and we will contribute 5 stakes into two of the missions--
  • Texas Austin Mission-President Scott and Sister Brittan Fox : the Waco and Killeen stakes where 36 missionaries are currently serving will become part of this new mission. The Texas San Antonio mission will send six stakes to this mission.
  • Texas Dallas West Mission-President Duane and Sister Kristi Farley: the Lewisville, Carrollton, and Irving stakes, where 46 missionaries are currently serving will become part of this renamed mission. Six stakes will come from the current Dallas mission. 

The faith of our missionaries in the face of these challenging times has been deeply moving to us. We love them and can't bear to part with any of them. Yet we are so proud to send some of our own to help establish and unify these missions. We've had the chance to meet both the Foxes and the Farleys and are so excited by the enthusiasm and love they are feeling for the missionaries and look forward to the work we will all be doing together. Thank you for all the support and faith you continue to show to our missionaries as they work to fulfill their purpose to spread the Gospel and share the love of our Savior.

Much Love from Texas,

President and Sister Chapman
Texas Fort Worth Mission

Fake it til you make it

Wow this week was a rollercoaster, in all ways but physical because I'm technically not allowed to ride rollercoasters. But it was quite a ride!

I listened to a talk about how riding a rollercoaster that stays flat the whole time is super boring, and how that is why we have ups and downs. Just like that, our lives need ups and downs so we can have a ride worth riding! 

So, this week I had to leave Lewisville on Tuesday, although I thought I was leaving Wednesday so packing was a riot. And we drove to the mission home. While there I had to say goodbye to a lot of dear pals because I am leaving Fort Worth and going to a new mission. I told yall I'll let you know how I feel this week. I am not excited. But I already told God a year ago I'll go where he wants me to go, and he took me seriously! It'll be great when I get there, I'm just really worried and I have a small idea of how the reassigned missionaries feel, and it doesn't feel great! I'm glad they are here though, I've made a lot of great friends!

So, I got my new companion, Sister Menlove, and she is freaking awesome! We whitewashed into the area (which means they took two missionaries out and put two new ones in) and we have been scrambling to find work and be efficient and meet people from our apartment, and it's been crazy but really good! 

There is a woman named Erica who is on date to get baptized on the 20th and she is amazing! We had the awkwardest lessen ever with them, but it was good. At one point we were reading the Book of Mormon and after I read we all just sat in silence for 5 minutes because they wanted to discuss the chapter, but had NO insight. But, it was good after that, the ice was broken.

We have met some members and they are AMAZING! They are so missionary oriented and we asked a member for people to contact and he spent 45 minutes telling us people in the ward he has been thinking about! The whole ward is so into gathering israel! 

It was such a miracle! All missionaries were told if we can find a ride we can go to Bowie, Texas and help with the Tornado clean up! We were scrambling because we don't know anyone and a member called us and offered to drive us! So that was such a cool experience and we spent a good 2 hours driving around trying to help people, but a lot of people were already helped. I knocked a door for the first time in 4 months, and just like usual, this huge guy answered shirtless and then said no. Nothings changed.

Then a member had a friend in Bowie who had a ranch and we got to go out and help him and it was great! He has this huge house and tons of land and so many animals! He is about 70 and has been trying to repair stuff on his own and it was so fun to help him and we saw some cool critters like turtles and frogs and humungo spiders, which a little boy tried to gift me. I also saw a storm celler too, but we had to leave but it was quite the day in the country! It was so fun to see the country, and I saw a legit cowboy with a huge hat and I almost took a pic of him. 

My Uncle Phil and Aunt Candy are missionaries in Nauvoo and we got to set up a zoom meeting with them and tour Carthage and it was so amazing! Even though we weren't there in person it was so amazing to see where the Prophet was martyred and to feel the spirit! There is an amazing talk by Elder Holland about the Book of Mormon where he talks about how their testimonies were sealed with their death and I love it! I just searched for about 15 minutes trying to find it but gave up, but its good.

Awkward Malena Moment:

~so just today (pday) we were at a stop light and the car in front of me had his windows down and was talking to the car next to him, and I said to Sister Menlove "that's fun! we should talk to our neighbor" and as I rolled down my window I made eye contact with the man in the big truck next to me as it slowly rolled down and he kept staring at me, and it was so awkward and I just looked at my comp for the next 3 minutes until the light FINALLY went green and it was so funny.

Not much this week... I love you all! I hope you all have a great week!! 

Sis. McKee