April 1, 2017
Hello. I KNEW ZAC WOULD GO TO
JAPAN!!! I started yelling when I
watched the video. He’s going to leave
before I get back though. I might have
to meet him at the temple or something before he leaves from the MTC.
(Zac
Baker is one of his best friends, who will leave July 5th.)
I wanted to tell you guys
something. So, my date had been changed
from the 6th of June, to the 18th of July because of my
visa, but the longest I could stay would be the 7th of August. I decided I am going to tell President that
I’m willing to stay until August if he needs me to. I know you won’t believe me because it’s
April Fools, but I’ve already talked with President. It would only be until the middle of the
transfer, I don’t know if he will need it, but I want to stay. It’s only another 3 weeks. I am not messing with you. I’ll talk to President later today about it. But my Visa really expires August 18th. And families are eternal but my mission is a one-time
thing. I want to take advantage of what
I have. (This
turned out NOT to be a April Fools Joke.
Jake got back on his email later in the day and sent this
message: “Hey mom. I’m back for like 3 minutes. I was talking to
President right now and we decided that its better for me to just come home
normally on the 18th. Where
I’m the assistant it wouldn’t really help much because he would still have to
call the new assistant on the 18th, so we would be in a trio. So, I’ll just be coming home on the 18th. Sorry this was all on April Fools. I didn’t know it was until after I read your
email. Love you guys!”
I traveled all
week, AND I GAVE A BANANA TO A MONKEY THIS WEEK!! I went to Urugaiana, which is on the border
with Argentiana, separated by the river.
We aren’t allowed to cross. Then
I wend to Sao Borja, which has monkeys in the park and turtles in the
other. I used my waterproof camera. We were in a park and I saw a sign with old
Brazilian presidents,and wanted to be in it.
Then, I saw the monkeys and yelled, “We need to buy bananas!” So we bought like 6 bananas
for about a dollar and I went under the tree.
As a gringo American I didn’t know how one calls a monkey, so I tried
everything I knew, holding the banana above my head. Remember this is in the center of the city at
about 11 in the morning. I whistled,
called them like a horse, like a cat, yelled, “Hey, monkey come eat a
banana!” Then a crowd came and watched
as about 4 or 5 monkeys started eating my bananas. The people were laughing, most people think
I’m nuts.
Then yesterday at
11 at night randomly comes a shipment of 100 pillows to our house, so I say,
“Hey, put them there, I’m going to jump off the porch onto them!”
I love you
guys! Stay safe at Powell this
week. Have a great week.
Love, Elder McKee
Vanda, Thalia, Ana, Elder Santos, Jake, Gean
Vanda, Thalia, Ana, Elder Santos, Jake, Gean
April 8, 2017
Soooo... today I
finish one year and 9 months in the mission.
That’s a flippen long time.
This week was super,
super good, but really tiring. Today was p-day, and I slept for 3 and half
hours before we left to talk to our families. I was super, super spent. And
after we talked with our families Elder Santos and I will probably watch a
movie because this is the only p-day we have that we don’t have to do something
tonight.
So we have this
investigator. Here’s her story: Elder
Santos and I did this thing where we folded paper into little shirts, and put
some questions on them like "is there life after death?" "what’s
my purpose here?" and then we put a date and time that we would return to
answer the questions. Then we left them in about 10 different apartments. When we
came back on the day we marked, nobody wanted anything. But, even though we
were super tired and worn out, we continued. At the LAST house, we found a
woman named Priscilla. She didn’t want anything to do with our message, but
noticing my accent she asked about the English classes that are going on in the
church. Then she said she would go the next time. AND SHE ACTUALLY WENT!! This
was last week. Then she went again, and again. She liked it a lot, and has a
friend who was born in the church, so that helps a lot. Anyways, in the class
on Wednesday, we marked with her to come early to the next class, and we were
going to teach her a little. So yesterday, she came with her friend early. It
was one of the best lessons I’ve had on my mission. She was super honest and said,
"I can’t honestly say I believe in God, or any one religion. But I want to
believe, and I know I need to believe in something. That’s why I keep coming
here." She had read the Book of Mormon we gave her, and we read Alma 32
with her about the seed of faith. She said she was feeling a lot better, and
she is honestly interested. Her friend bore her testimony, and the two of them
were crying together. Man, it was a super, super good lesson. Then she went to
the English class, and said "next Friday I’ll come early again for us to
keep talking" WOOT WOOT!!!!!! IM SO EXCITED!!!!!!
Also, one thing
super funny that happened this week was I was in an exchange with Elder Baker,
from Minisoda. (This is his
spelling..haha) He came in the mission with me and we´re good friends. Anyways,
we were talking while we were walking, and he asked me about what kind of music
I liked. I said I like everything except rap, and there are few country singers
that I like. He said "Me too. I only like country from Taylor Swift,
and..... ahhh what’s her name." But
for some reason I knew exactly who it was he was talking about, and I said
"Same! The other woman is.... ahhhh, I don’t remember her name! She sang
in the Stadium of Fire when I went!" So we walked for a while trying to remember,
singing her songs. Then, I can’t take it, so we call Elder Hyland, from Texas,
and put him on speaker phone. We sing the songs we remember to him, and he also
can’t remember the name. We're all getting frustrated, so I call Elder Shepard,
and put him on the line together with Hyland and us. We´re all singing her
songs, walking in the street, trying to remember the name. So we´re all walking
in the street, talking in English, singing "Maybe next time he´ll think
before he cheats" and "Jesus take the wheel" then, we call Elder
Ostergaard, another American, and we all start singing to him. Then he thinks
for a little bit, and says, "is it Carrie Underwood?" and us 4 start
yelling and cheering because we got it.
Ha-ha it was the best thing.
We also have
another family we are teaching. They are super, super poor, and have a TON of
kids and grandkids. This week we went there, and the dad was the only one home
with the kids. He isn’t too interested in listening to the messages, so I
focused more on the 6 kids under the age of 10. We taught them how to pray, and
each one took their turn saying a prayer. In every single one of their prayers,
they asked for more food at home. They have nothing. So, later that week when
we went back, I came with 2 big chocolate bars and a box of little candy bars,
and they went crazy. All the little kids sharing and eating and
making a mess. It
was awesome.
My week was super
good. I’m worn out and its hard to find the energy to walk sometimes, but I’m
doing great. I stayed in Santa
Maria this week but went on splits with 4 different Elders. Elder Santos was traveling.
Elder Cordoza, Elder Costa, Jake, Elder Baker
Did you try the Peep Oreos? YES! I THOUGHT I WAS SICK! I thought I was
pooping blood. I came out of the bathroom
yelling. Then, I figured it out when
another elder noticed the packaging of the Oreos, and we put two and two
together. Freaked me out! I am saving all the rest of the Easter candy
for our egg hunt. All the eggs opened, mom,
but I’ll fix them back up.
So, the other
elders in our house and me grabbed a bunch of pieces of railroad tracks to use
as weights in our house. We’re all
working out. I feel happy and healthy.
I love you guys. Thanks for
everything!
Elder McKee
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