Sister Malena McKee : What does Darth Vader Say???

Hello everyone! and welcome to the final countdown of my mission. This week was pretty cool.

On Monday we had a call with Jash, who got baptized on Sunday, told us he only wants to read the scriptures in chronological order, and wants to read the Bible and then the Book of Mormon. While we promptly explained, "no, that is not how it works" he got upset and so we decided to read in chronological order, and in the middle of Genesis chapter 11, we told him about this cool book in the BOM called Ether! Which is all about the tower of Babel and he was all for it! The Lords work will go on. He also told us he now believes in the trinity, so we are worried because we are super confused. Pray for Jash.

We had a lesson with Jenni, and she had bashed us so hard last week but then came to church and so we were excited to hear her thoughts. She told us she believes in divine intervention and wants to learn more and we explained our purpose is to help people grow closer to Christ through the Book of Mormon and baptism and she skedaddled. She is so great though and told us she will give us rides to our lessons if we need it!!

We had an amazing lesson with a girl we will call other Anna because we are also teaching another girl named Anna. Other Anna was way cool, but then proceeded to drop us afterwards, so that's a bummer.

We had our lesson with Kristy and she is so cool! Her bf wanted to join in and we talked about the restoration and she already knew so much of it! She is really excited to learn more and her only set back was she had never prayed before. Her bf and her were very phone flirty during the lesson and it was kinda awkward because as a missionary, and as a person, I did not know how to respond. She is really excited though!

We also were asked to visit this member who hasn't been In a long time, but has a lot of questions about the plan of salvation. As she asked some really hard questions Sister Dixon shared Mosiah 4:9 with her:

"Believe in God; believe that He is, and that He created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that He has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend."

And when we shared that her whole countenance changed and she told us how although she has a lot of questions and worries about the next life, she knows that God is in control. We told her how God loves us so much, and if we keep his promises, he won't let us be unhappy for eternity. She was so sweet! I am so glad we were able to meet her! It really helped me to understand that although I like to know things, I don't get to or need to know all the answers! That is why we have faith. I also realized that there isn't anything that is worth giving up your family for. We can be with our families forever through the gospel, and there isn't anything on this earth that should be ahead of that. Now, some people don't want to be with their spouse or children for eternity, maybe they don't like them THAT much. But God strengthens those that work towards it. There are so many blessings that come from families. Did any of that make sense??

Saturday and Sunday were conferences and they were wonderful!! We had a good set up in the church with all the district and it was really fun. I loved the talks. I feel like I have received a lot of guidance for the next few steps of my life!

Now is the time for AWKWARD MALENA MOMENTS!!

So, I have learned that a lot of the moments I have are moments that I don't realize are awkward until after, and someone tells me.

We were walking to the park and there was a little boy in a ninja costume. I was chatting with him and he told me he is going to be Darth Vader for Halloween. I asked him for his best Darth Vader impression, but he is 4 and had no idea what to say. So, I did my best impression, which started with a Chewbacca groan and a really deep “Luke, I am your father". He just stared at me for a minute and his grandpa also just stared at me as we walked away. I wasn't thinking anything of it until Sister Dixon almost fell over laughing because apparently i'm just the most awkward person in the city of Dallas. It was really funny.

We also call our recent convert Jacob every few nights and he is ultra depressing and so I'm trying to infuse sunshine in his soul. A few days ago it was raining and we asked how he is doing and he said "ehh, I'm fine, it's raining" and the first thing I thought of was to say "I love the rain because then I am the sun!! Be your own sunshine!" and now Sister Dixon keeps saying "I am the sun!” Then, last night We were kindly encouraging him to endure to the end and I said "Jacob, have you ever seen Meet the Robinsons?" and he said no, and I said "There is this slogan, "Keep moving forward! Keep moving forward!" But I didn't just say it, I sang it opera style into the phone and then there was a good 30 second silence and he just said "okay..." and it was really funny and Dixon and I couldn't stop laughing.

I love you all, I love the gospel and I love being a missionary so much. There are so many blessings that come from the gospel and I am so grateful I have it in my life! We are all on the Lord's team! Make sure you are doing your part!

Love,

Sister McKee