I had my first missionary discussion!

Y'all, this week was quite the adventure in isolation.

So, I am on day 31 of self isolation. It's been a crazy month. And, we were told this will probably go until May or into the middle of May. So, that is really exciting. I love that.

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A member brought us Torchy's one night (Mexican restaurant),and we had a ton of gifts from members of the ward, and also decorated our door and it was so cute and wow, the Lantana ward is great. 

We taught 16 lessons this week which was so cool! A lot of Bible studies on growing closer to God and we'd read John 14-17 and then say "hey have you heard of this book?? It can help you grow closer to God...! :)" Boom we found 4 new people this way!

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2 are from South Africa and they are so cute! We could not figure out how to pronounce one of their names (Ngyue) and we asked her when we called and she said "oh that's not my real name, I just made that up! My real name is Faith!" So funny! And the other lady accidentally turned her camera around so we were staring at the floor the whole time and called us back later saying "my children told me you cannot see me! I made a mistake! Can you see me now??" But both of them want to learn about the Book of Mormon! What a blessing technology is because there aren't a lot of missionaries in South Africa and they wouldn't have been reached if we hadn't reached them! 

Another woman lives in St. Lucia in the Caribbean and she has been taught in the past! Actually all 4 people we are teaching and someone else we referred, had all had run ins with missionaries in the past! It's so awesome! 

The fourth is a woman named Patricia from Missouri and she is so cute! But an awkward Malena moment for y'all, we were cooking dinner while on the phone with her and I went to pull it out of the oven and the fire alarm went off! So I'm waving a towel at the fire alarm as Sister Elkins is talking to her. Haha.

We also met Jade, who is a member in England, and really struggling right now. She happened to see our music Monday live (tune in btw, 7 o'clock pm Monday nights, Utah time) and reached out. We were able to talk to her and set up a time to call and read the Book of Mormon. She told us she's been going through a hard time and hasn't felt the spirit in 4 weeks. We decided to read Alma 32 about faith with her and it went okay, but then she went live on her Facebook about Alma 32 and another struggling friend saw it and because Jade had talked about faith, her friend told her she needs help and Jade helped her out. Jade then messaged us and told is she'd felt the spirit during her live stronger than ever and her faith is back! It was so exciting! I loved seeing how God works in small ways and was able to help both Jade and Jade's friend!! 

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We tried to get out more and went on some fun nature walks this week. We found a cool trail to a cemetery and a cool trail to a baseball field and a cool trail to a lake (I think that one was just a park). But, it's a good way to start the day, and we aren't dying inside all day! 

I had the best day of the month on Friday. We went to the chiropractor, and it felt so good and I loved it, and then we went to In and Out, because its not in our area so we had to while we were close, and then on the way home we went to Buckees (Big Texas Gas Station) and got t shirts as a 1 month boost! Woohoo! 

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Ok, yall better be ready for the highlight of my week. Probably the funniest thing ever. Although I think my humor levels have deteriorated since self isolation: 

So, Sister Elkins had put out an offer on a Christian page for a Bible study and we got over 300 responses! It's so wonderful, and we had to get help from other missionaries in teaching them and it's so cool! 

But, one woman(Veronica) responded so we reached out and she said she’d like a Bible study, and her friend will join. Well, Sister Elkins was worried that she was establishing dominance because in the messages, Veronica was planning the time and topic and even messaged to confirm, so of course we had studied the topic and discussed how we were going to go about it and lead the conversation.

Well, we get on and her friend is named Danny, and she starts our Bible study by introducing herself, telling a bit about her and asking Veronica to do the same and each of us. Turns out, we had somehow gotten signed up to do the Bible discussions FOR ANOTHER CHURCH! and Danny was taking us through the Bible and asking questions and it was so funny! I don't think she liked us much though because we knew the answers to her questions and we interpreted them differently. She asked us how we would rate our relationships with God on 1-10 and we both said 9 or 10 (and explained how have literally devoted 18 months of our life to God) and she didn't know what to do, she just moved on. She also asked us if we read the Bible every day and when we said yes, she just committed us to do it anyways. It was so awesome. We even were fellowshipped with Veronica. I was cracking up, and at one point I just started asking my own questions and sharing my own Book of Mormon verses until Danny stopped us. It was really interesting though, and I think Veronica has serious potential and we could help her, so we are going to reach out. Haha! I was chatting with Veronica about humility at one point and shared some scriptures and it was really good! We are also going to steal some of her study tactics! I liked it, but we told them no when they asked if we'd like to continue. Basically, we are the worst investigators.

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Our new ward mission leader is a very interesting man and called us and said we don't need to do a correlation because there is no work, but he wants to train us on how to use body language to change our lives. He called us yesterday and drilled us on our personalities and said "he is going to tear us down to rebuild us" so we can get 27 baptisms in 6 months. Total clickbait. He said that what he is going to teach us will change how we do missionary work, future job interviews and will help us get more dates in the future. So basically, this man holds my whole life in his hands. Stay tuned.

 We had this amazing devotional this week! The speaker said something very profound to me, (well he didnt say it just to me, I found it profound). He said "we are not based on the Bible, and we are not based on the Book of Mormon, we are based on what they are based on, which is revelation from prophets." Then he said "the true church can't be based on the Bible, because in the Bible the true church was based on revelation from prophets". And wow. I don't know if y'all have ever thought of that before, but it just hit me! We pray to know that the Book of Mormon is true so we know Joseph Smith is a prophet, so we know the true church is on the earth! That's why we have the Book of Mormon! I'm literally so in awe. I hope that made sense.

I love you all! Stay safe in quarantine! 

-Sister McKee

Amber and Malena were able to do a zoom teaching with Maia.  

 Mom asked if she was good?  This is the picture I got.

 Sis. Wind and Malena 

 Got the package of TP mom sent.

On the plus side, it's been 26 days of no shoes!

Hello fellow covid prisoners. 

There is not much new to report this week, it's been kind of a slower 7 days. A lot of lessons cancelled, so we tried to do more facebook finding or we would constantly be asking ourselves "how can we be productive for the next 45 minutes". I have been banned from a lot of Christian Women pages because I post about Jesus. It's funny. I joined another one and a man sent me weird stuff. Life is good. 

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We had a lesson with a Bible study request and I think the scariest part is how to introduce the Book of Mormon without scaring them off. 

Her name was Steffi and she is from India and so sweet! We have been having lessons for a few weeks and finally we asked her if she's ever heard of the Book of Mormon. She was raised Pentecostal, who believe in just the bible, so we were nervous but she said she actually tried buying one once on Amazon but it was too expensive, but she wants to read it someday!!! We told her we will come drop one off at her apartment and she has been reading and really likes it! 

We also asked Mindy, another Bible study request if she knows about the BOM and she is a Southern Baptist, so I was nervous, but she said she has but doesn't know what it is and when we explained it, she said "ok, makes sense" and liked the verses we shared! 

I'm not scared about sharing the Book of Mormon, obviously it's like super cool and true or I wouldn't be staying in Texas during all this mess, but we just want to ease into it correctly. And, they were the only 2 who haven't been scared off, we got blocked a lot this week. hahahaha. 

We also had a lesson with Jasmine from Missouri and that was great. We did a Bible study and she loved it and told us she is looking to learn more about her purpose. We asked her if she has ever had the questions "why am I here, where did I come from and where am I going" and she said yes, and we are going to talk about those this week!

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We also had a lesson with the Van Wagoners and they agreed to pray about getting married and going to the temple!! Woot woot! 

That's about it. 

This week I've been thinking a lot about unconditional love. It's crazy to think that God loves us no matter what. Despite all our flaws, bad days, and mistakes, that love's still there. We had a discussion with a member who told us when she wasnt coming to church, it amazed her that God still loved her as much as he loved the prophet, or her family who was going to church. She said that she felt that love a lot stronger when she came back, but knew it was always there. 

It confuses me, but I'm working on it. This week I've been thinking a lot of my flaws, weaknesses and complete sky high imperfections. That scripture where the people realized they were "less than the dust of the earth" (Mosiah 5:3 I think, I'm just guessing) has been running through my head this week. It's crazy to think that there is still someone out there who loves us an infinite amount despite all this. I'll keep working on this, and will complete this thought next week. If you have any thoughts on the unconditional love of God, feel free to send them over. I'm trying to study it. 

Yesterday was Easter and this week I loved reading the scriptural accounts of Holy Week. I love reading the Bible so i was so excited to share the scriptures in Matthew 26-28 about Jesus Christ's ultimate sacrifice. Those are so special. I was talking to a member on the phone last night and she pointed out that without all the Easter egg hunts and commercialized Easter events, people have had more time to focus on the real meaning of Easter and the effects will have a spiritual side effect for a long time! 

I love you all! 

-Sister McKee 

Pictures: 

Blue Bonnets! I was so excited we drove all around town looking at them!!

Some crosses we found and it was so spiritual and beautiful 

Our last district council 

The elders made us shirts. Mine has a whale on it. But don't worry, they dropped them from the balcony, then we took pictures from 6 feet apart.

Masks

The Lord is Huge

Helllooooo everyone! It's been another great week deep in the heart of Texas! ❤🇨🇱

It's now day 19 of self-isolation. This week some changes came that we can't have members feed us, we aren't allowed to hangout with other missioanries at all, (before Tuesday we could hangout with one other pair), and now we have to make masks to wear in public because the CDC has recommended all wear them, and we are law abiding citizens. What an exciting time to be alive! It's so crazy! I feel like every week we get on higher and higher alert. I've included my counties latest corona update from yesterday. 

Even though we were trapped inside some more, it was a pretty eventful week.

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We joined a bunch of facebook Christian groups and there were some interesting ones out there. Then, I offered to put together a Bible study group and got over 30 responses! So, I reached out to each of them individually and asked to set up a time! A lot actually got back to me, some went better than others. Let me tell you about the cool people I've met: 

•Eriko, A woman who really wanted a Bible study because she doesn't like her current church and believes there is more out there to learn. I asked her if we could teach her about what we believe and she said yes. Once I said our church name she dropped us like a sack of flour. I actually was super sad, because she is so ready, but blocked me on Facebook.

•Beth, she asked for a Bible study and when we called it turns out she is actually a less active member and is trying to get her records removed! It was so cool to talk to her and she agreed to meet with us if we help her learn the Bible! Which is great because I love the Bible. 

It was actually quite a miracle because I had arranged this whole group Bible study and all these women said they would join, and we got on at 1 like we talked about and no one got on for about 10 minutes, and then Beth got on! And it was such a miracle that no one else joined (and a major bummer cause we planned an awesome Bible study but whatever) because we were able to talk to Beth and get to know her needs and she is willing to meet with us! 

•Mindy: a Southern Baptist we had a phone lesson with who was so excited because her church is cancelled and she wants to have another next week too! 

•Oligair: a man from the Dominican Republic who didn't really understand what my purpose was and kept calling me "honorable sister in Christ Malena McKee" and inviting me to come save starving orphans in the DR. 

And a bunch of other cool people. 

Then, a lady asked if anyone knows any good Christian literature, and I, of course, commented, the Book of Mormon, and my comment got deleted and my Bible study post got deleted, and all my post requests get denied. So, that ain't cool, so I just comment everything I would pos, on other people's posts. Nothing can stop this great work. Some of these posts are actually pretty good, so I've included a few. Something I don't understand about other religions is people's Idea of "Jesus's blood". It might be a Southern thing, but people throw that phrase into everything, and me and Sis.Elkins love to see how people use it. I'll try to find a few. 

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We also had the chance to teach some of our family at home and it was so fun! I would love to share a short 20 minute spiritual thought with all yall! I'll make you feel like you are right in Texas by showing you my big hair from the humidity, say Y’all, and also help you learn about the necessity Jesus Christ has in your life. Hit me up! Really, don't think we are too busy, we want to uplift anyone and everyone and are encouraged to teach people at home, too! 

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Conference this weekend was so amazing. I loved how it didn't focus on our current situation. Like that one talk that spoke about how a home should be a refuge from the storm, I feel like conference was a time for us to not worry about everything going on and just focus on the Restoration and joy of the gospel! It was so great, I loved it. I heard a lot about recieving personal revelation and how we can all gain our own personal revelation.

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Ok yall: this may be my most Awkward Malena Moment ever, because I don't get embarrassed that easily, but wow, this was a dousy.

So, we had a zoom call with all our mission, and Sister Elkins sang a special musical number. Then, right after, I muted our phone and turned off the video so we could just listen. Well, we were commenting on it the whole meeting, then at the end President Chapman got on and was speaking and I made a comment to Sister Elkins and we laughed, then made another comment, and turns out our phone HAD GOTTEN UNMUTED SOMEHOW and apparently the comments sounded really mean and I interrupted President and we laughed, and wow I was humiliated and felt so bad and ahh. It was so awkward and all the other missionaries were messaging us "McKee mute your phone!" And it may not sound that awkward, maybe you had to be there, but Sister Wind called me after and said “Awkward Malena Moment!" So wow. I felt so bad. 

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So, a few weeks ago me and Sis. Elkins were watching a video, and I wish I could remember it because its stuck with me for a while, but I think it was Jeffery R. Holland. He was talking about how we all get addicted too suffering. How we all focus on the hard stuff, and get caught up in the suffering, and the mode we are in, thinking we are important because we are suffering for the Lord. And it's been hard, especially with everything going on, and other stuff happening, and it's so easy to be caught up in suffering. But, what was said next is so cool,  because he said that if we were focusing on the right things, we wouldn't be suffering, because if we were really focusing on Jesus Christ, we would have joy. Because no matter where we are, what we are going through, and what we are suffering, we can find joy in Jesus Christ. And I wish I could express this better, because I've been planning this spiritual thought in my head for 2 weeks and it was so good, but really, I feel like it snapped me out of the negative, like something told me "yeah Malena, this isn't great, and life is hard, but it's always hard, get over it, you have a chance to be happy and you're wasting it focusing on the suffering.” So, this week I have been trying to focus on Jesus Christ and joy and studying joy. And life is still hard, but I feel more hopeful. So in conclusion...

- don't get addicted to the suffering 

- life will always be hard, but we don't have to be swallowed up in the negative 

- focus on Joy and Jesus Christ and we will have hope. 

- email me/facebook message me so we can have a spiritual thought. 

That's all folks! I hope you have a great week! I love you all! Stay healthy! 

Love, 

Sister McKee 

ALSO! IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE IN MY GOOGLE DRIVE FOLDER WHERE I HAVE PUT MY QUARANTINE VIDEO DIARIES, PICTURES AND POTENTIALLY FUNNY SONGS, LET ME KNOW. LOVE Y’ALL 

Sisters in the rain

 Beautiful Sunset

 A wonderful family brought this to the sisters for conference.

 Going Shopping.

 News from Lewiston, Texas

 Playing on FaceTime.

Jake

 Dad

 Mom

 Memes