Dear Family, So, I had this idea. One hour isn’t enough time for me to write
all that I want to tell you guys about.
So, I started writing, along with my journal, in a notebook what I
thought was cool about that day. Every Day. I tried to do one spiritual experience and
one that was funny or made me happy.
Then I took a picture of all the pages (There are 15 this week) and I’m
sending them to you guys. I hope it
works! Then I thought, Hey, I’m like
Nephi! I have my large plates. The ones I write everything that
happens. That’s what I share with you
guys. Then in my actual journal I write
the more personal stuff that I don’t want the world to know. ;)
It’s pretty great and it gives me more time and I don’t feel near as
rushed. Which is super nice!
SO…Here is his letter this week. He split it up by days and it’s long, but
sooo good and gives us a detailed look at his missionary life.
Terca: (Thursday)
Splits! I went with Elder Pompeu
for the day and Elder Santos Melo went with Elder Hull. Elder Pompeu has 2 months in the mission and
speaks very little English, which he would not speak with me. Which was awesome. I like struggling through Portuguese because
it makes me better. We got 20 addresses
to contact latter, which is good and bad.
Good because it’s a ton of addresses.
The weekly goal was 30. It’s bad
because it means that we aren’t in houses teaching. One thing I had a love-hate relationship with
was the fact that Elder Pompeu would say, before we clapped at the door, “This
one is you”. Then he would clap and I
would do the door contact. Beginning of
the day, I struggled hard. But by the
end of the day I felt very comfortable with it, until they talked back. One time I did a contact. I said, “I’m Elder McKee. This is my comp Elder Pompeu. We are representatives of the church of Jesus
Christ, and we have a message of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and how it
can bless you and your family. Could we
please enter and share this message with you?”
The common reply of “No, come back”.
Then Elder Pompeu, a native Brazilian said almost the same thing I
say…almost because when he said it, it made sense. The person then replied, “Could you come
tomorrow?” haha. Being American is awesome. Everyone thinks I’m a Brazilian until they
hear me talk. Then it is pretty
obvious.
Quarta: (Wednesday) Today in a lesson with a guy we
met on the street, legit he pulled out marijuana, the paper stuff they use to
roll joints, and with the help of his wife because he is missing half of his
right hand he rolled the joint and started smoking, while he was listening to
and talking about the restoration of the gospel. But him and his wife were very
religious. They had two very used bibles
on the TV and were very excited when we gave them a Book of Mormon. I’ve learned today that sometimes people just need
to talk. One lady, when we started
talking to her, just started going off about all of her problems. Complaints about kids, handicap daughter,
work, all sorts of stuff to two missionaries she didn’t even know. We’re called to serve. Any form of showing Christ-like love fits
that job description.
Saw another spider during lunch
at a member’s house. It was eyeballing
me from the wall. But I was chill about
it. I smashed that thing with a
broom. Also, I’ve lost weight, and I eat
lots of tomatoes now. So good! I’ll tell you what, nothing in my life felt
so good as going to a house, and 4 kids come running out, ranging from 3 to 12,
yelling, “Elder, Elder!” And they start
telling me about their day and I ask them about school and they sometime try
their English out on me. We have secret handshakes. They are honestly so excited to see us every
time. I love it more then anything. One thing about here is everyone shakes
hands when greeting, leaving, talking, and whenever you make eye contact it
seems. The girls usually just stick
their hand out and you grab it and let go.
No grip or shake. The men
sometimes don’t let go. There’s many
different ways they do it. Legit, I shook
hands with someone I hadn’t even said anything yet, and he said, “Oh, you’re
American.” Haha. I’ve learned the ways now. Also, everyone here is pretty much
short. 30 years old men and a head
shorter then me. And it’s getting to
where we’re tight enough that they hug me.
When they hug, they like nuzzle their heads into my chest, which is
strange. Another thing worth
mentioning is that EVERYONE listens to American music. English lyrics that they don’t
understand. But I swear they know the
music better then I do. They all always
sing along, and they totally know all of the words. And I think they’ve all just grown so used to
having background noise that now they have to have it. At the Bishops house we were talking to the
Bishops wife and she randomly picked up the remote while she was talking and
without stopping her talking or breaking eye contact she turned up the TV. Everyone is like that. Music, TV, video games. And, all the video games are in English so
they don’t understand the words. Let me
tell you, I’ve taught lessons with some pretty profane backgrounds. We try to get them to turn it off, but they
don’t always do it. I’ve taught lessons
to people smoking, with dogs on my lap, on couches I wouldn’t even consider
sitting on normally, twice during a lesson I’ve had mothers start breast
feeding right in the middle of a testimony, and once more in Gospel Doctrine
class in church. But I’ve also taught
people who were more prepared for this message than I think I’ve ever
been. A 14 year old boy, who looked like
Christmas had come early when we gave him a Book of Mormon. And he was so excited to talk about anything
religious we could give him. People who
have straight out said, “I don’t know why there are so many churches, but I
don’t think they could all be true.
There’s only one God.” It’s
amazing and humbling to me to actually see people who don’t know where they
came from, why they are here, and where they are going. People who don’t know they have a Heavenly
Father who loves them. Basic things that
I’ve known my whole life and have taken for granted.
Quinta (Fifth): I
knew today was going to be a great day as soon as I put on my newly shined
shoes and saw how fresh they looked on my feet.
Legit I was smiling as I walked down the streets, watching my prime
shoes walk. It didn’t last long, though,
because they soon became dusty and non-fresh but it set the mood for the
day. Today was a very good day for
understanding. It’s finally starting to
begin to almost click. (You may have to read that last line again for it to
make sense). We have 3 people marked for
baptism on the 19th. (All for
the 12th fell though). But
these three are prime. Thomirdes, who
has 12 years, but looks like she is 15.
Edi who is old. Granddaughter of
Edi, who loves the lessons. I think they
will all be ready for the 19th.
Funny story about Edi, today we were teaching her the law of chastity
and she loved it! She said “No other
religion has this!” Then we said, after
going over the whole no relationships, outside of marriage, we said, “will you
live this law of chastity?” and she replied, “Yes, of course. I already have been for four years.” SHE IS 75 YEARS OLD! Hahahaha.
I died on the inside a little bit.
I thought it was hilarious. So,
Elder Hull just came in and told me something very cool. Remember how I mentioned the 14-year-old boy
who looked like Christmas had come early when we gave him the Book of
Mormon? We gave it to him at about 6:30
last night and committed him to read a little bit. Elder Hull showed me where that boy (Kevin)
read to. He literally did not put the
book down until 3:00 am, then picked it right back up when he woke up, and when
they stopped by about 24 hours after giving him the book he was in 4th
Nephi!! AHHHHHH! They talked for a little bit, and Kevin said
it doesn’t all make sense, but this book is incredible. He said every time he closed it and went to
put it down, he would just be dying to pick it up again and read more. They had a member with them in the lesson,
and they told him about the seminary class at the church, and he hurried and
got dressed and him and the member left for the class right then. I’m flipping out. Amazing how God prepares people. Another cool story from today was we were
knocking at the door of a contact, and she wasn’t home. And by knocking I mean clapping. And by clapping I mean making every dog on
the block have a barking contest.
Constant dogs. Anyways, a
neighbor came over and told us that she wasn’t’ home. We asked if we could share the message with
him, and he invited us into his house.
We taught and talked with him and his wife. I literally could not understand a single
word that they said, but the old man started crying when I was explaining the
plan of salvation and bore testimony that I know we can be with our families
forever, and live with God again. Then
he said, “You two are always welcome here.
I want you to know and say hi every time you pass this house.” I understood when he said that just
fine. So cool. So I saw the coolest job today. I’ve actually seen a lot of it, but today I
decided to write about it. This guy
drives around randomly through the streets on a motorcycle and with a speaker
about the size of my blanket chest in the living room strapped to the back and
this speaker plays the same advertisement over and over and over again. So loud literally you can hear it from a mile
away. The people driving around on the
bikes never look too happy, but I always wave at them to try and brighten their
day. Dinner today was a real treat. 6 reais, about 2 US dollars, for a ‘complete’
hotdog. I ordered the complete from the
ghetto hotdog stand our neighbor owns because when she listed off the 50
ingredients they could put on it, I just looked at the first thing written on
the menu and read it. Complete. All-inclusive. Nothing left behind. Let me tell you about this hot dog. They grill the hotdog, cut in half longs
ways. Then, they put in in a huge bun
along with other ingredients, and Panini grills it. SOOO good!
But they weren’t kidding about the complete. Tomatoes, rice, corn, lettuce, ketchup,
mustard, mayo, beans, and a ton of other stuff I didn’t even know the name
of. Hot dogs and tomatoes. I welcome them both now and ask for
more. The Lord really does turn our
weaknesses into strengths.
Sexta (Friday): Well,
President and Sister Parrela randomly showed up at our house today and called
us and told us to come to the house.
After a very thorough cleaning check, Sister Parrela saw my bed and that
I wasn’t using sheets because I just lay on top and wrap up in that soft
blanket mom gave me. She did not
approve. She is a very funny lady, who
speaks the fastest Portuguese I’ve heard yet.
She stripped my bed down to the mattress and had me get out my sheets
and then she remade my bed, the whole time saying, “Esta e sua coma” (This is your bed). Then she went walking around the house, and
had me follow with a notebook as she told me stuff we need to buy for the
house. I could hardly keep up. President Parrela is an awesome guy. He speaks English to me, but makes me speak
Portuguese with him. He interviewed me
and started by asking what I thought of the area and the people. I got through my first sentence about the
area and he stopped me and said, “Did you speak any Portuguese before the
mission?” I replied no and he said, “You
have truly been blessed with the gift of tongues, Elder McKee.” Then we continued talking. He served in this mission, too. Though I didn’t know what years Uncle Roy
served so he had me write down his name because I guess there is some sort of a
conference coming up and he will see him.
He already knew who he was.
Also, We went to a member baptism/birthday. Haha.
It was interesting. Trampolines
and a ball pit in the big room of the church, (they don’t have a gym, just a
big room) and EVERYTHING decked out in ‘Frozen’. The father of the girl owns a bike shop and
is on the city council of Santa Maria.
Big deal. Very wealthy,
especially by the standards here. Anyways, they had this dessert thing. I can’t remember the name of it, but it was
SOO good. And an investigator I’m pretty
good friends with said that she would teach me how to make it on Monday
P-day. They are like balls of fudge, but
so much better. Entao, (Then) with
President and Sister Parrela coming and this big grande fiesta of a baptism we
didn’t get much teaching today. But there
were a lot of people at the baptism and we talked to all of them. We set up a table with pamphlets, Books of
Mormon, and pass a long cards that they could take, but one guy took our
restoration movie that was set out cause it’s cool and it was our only
one. No big deal though. Oh!! I totally forgot, but yesterday I think
I saw a baby get revived back to life.
Scariest thing in my life. We
were at the house of Sondra and her 10 year old daughter was holding the baby. We were talking to Sondra about stuff (she is
less active) and the 10 year old girl screamed and ran with the baby over to
Sondra. Sondra grabbed the baby and
tried to hear it breathe. But it
wasn’t. She screamed for the mother,
because the baby is her granddaughter, and the mom came running out. Sondra was holding the baby belly down,
hitting its back, like the hymlick for babies.
The mom yelled and grabbed the baby and started doing it harder. Then felt for breathing, then went back to
hitting its back. Elder Santos Melo and
I were going over to where they were, to see what we could do, and the 10 year old
aunt of this baby was freaking out. Then
I sat back down on the couch and said a prayer, something like, “Dear Heavenly
Father, please bless this baby to be ok.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”
Then I started to get back up and the baby coughed and started
crying. This all took about 90
seconds. Super Scary moment.
And now for a funny moment.
At the baptism when we were talking to everyone I was chilling with
Elder Pompeu and then he said, “Alright, now you pick someone to talk to.” I was looking around for someone who looked
like I would be able to understand them and I made eye contact with a lady and
she smiled at me. So I went over with
Elder Pompeu and said, “Hi, I’m Elder Mckee.
This is Elder Pompeu. Is this
your first time to come to this church?”
haha not the best opening line, I know.
She replied, “No, but I think it might be yours.” Then Elder Pompeu put his arm around me and
said, “ She’s been baptized and very active for 16 years.” Yes, I tried contacting a member. I don’t know if that counts as a baptism or
not.
Sabado (Saturday): So
I will start off with my funny story for the day. Lunch at a members house and the other
companionship is there with us. Coconuts
come up and they start talking about the price, sizes, and how they like to eat
it. I was very confused and grossed
out. And let me explain why. I thought they were saying Coco’ when they
were actually saying coco. Coco means
coconut and coco’ means poop. Haha. When I made this connection I couldn’t stop
laughing. But I kept it quiet so nobody
would notice. I got my laughing under
control but then someone would say “I usually pay about 6 reais for my cocos”
and I would start laughing again.
We had a lesson today that was AMAZING. A man and his wife (they’re actually
married!!) who are evangelical. But we
taught them the restoration, and it took an hour and a half. You aren’t supposed to go that long usually,
but they had so many questions and comments.
So good! And we had a member with
us who is their neighbor who bore awesome testimony and when they asked one
question that was tricky to answer, he turned right to a scripture and read
almost a whole chapter while they followed along and it was perfect. The investigator is missing all of his left leg
and he goes around on crutches. At the
end of the lesson he said, “don’t you guys have church tomorrow? What time?
I think we want to go.” YES YES
YES! He asked before we could even bring
it up. SO COOL! He listened so intently to every word and so
did his wife. They told us that they had
been having 2 missionaries from another church teaching them, but that they
were going to ask them to stop coming.
So yesterday, before the baptism/birthday party we stopped by Daiana’s
house, an investigator whose whole family is just prime. They were cutting wood for their fireplace
with a hand saw. Just little pieces, but
they had a lot to cut. So Elder Santos
Melo and I took off our jackets and took the saw from them. Elder Santos Melo started cutting, and I was
scared for my life a little. Haha. So I took the saw from him and went to town,
like I do. Behind me Raphael (the member
guy who is really good family friends next door) whistled and said, “McKee
isn’t American. He’s a worker.” Haha
What is that implying? I don’t
know. I think it embarrassed Santos Melo
a little, because he tried again. So we
timed how long it took to cut all the way through for him, then for me. Let me establish my section was a good half-inch
thicker than his. He cut his in 7
seconds. I cut mine in 4 seconds. That’s right, amigos. Then I just kept cutting while Santos Melo
talked with them until we left. J It felt good to do something besides talking
and walking.
Funny story I remembered today from the MTC. At the devotional where Elder Nelson of the
12 spoke, an Elder sitting next to Sister Doyle (a sister in my district) asked
if he could borrow a piece of paper to take notes. She gave him one. Then as President Nelson started talking, he
passed the paper back to her and he had written, “Want to trade emails? Yes or No? “ or something like that. Sister Doyle wrote back, “Please pay
attention to the apostle.” Haha. Como Se Diz
(How do you say) “roasted”. Score
for Sister Doyle. Haha. I just remembered it today and it was so
funny.
I dedicated an investigator to an amazing commitment
today. He’s going to teach me how to
make Churrasco! WOOT! WOOT!
When I speak better Portuguese though.
Then we scheduled dinner at his house next Domingo (Sunday), and he is
going to make us Churrasco. And guess
what else. Our lunch for next Sunday I
also committed to making us Churrasco!
TWO Churrasco in one day!! Isso
Ai Amigos (That’s it Friends). Also,
remember that green earth drink Joci and everyone that goes to Brazil talks
about, Chimarrao (pronounced she-ma-how)?
Well, I’m not allowed to drink it.
And seriously everyone is always drinking it. Sister Parrela is way into health and know a
lot and she said it has a lot of caffeine, so none of the missionaries can
drink. Same with caffeinated sodas. But Guarana is 4 reais for 3 liters!
DOMINGO (Sunday):
Everton, the guy with one leg that we met yesterday, came to church;
carrying his Book of Mormon we had given him.
And he loved church! I was
watching him and he was hanging onto every word. And he went around with a smile the whole
three hours on his crutches saying hello and talking to literally
EVERYONE. So awesome. He is an amazing man. We stopped by his house later in the evening,
and after I explain what we talked about you’ll probably respect him even
more. He told us about his accident with
a motorcycle, which was how he lost his leg.
Then he lifted his pant leg and the leg he still has was all deformed
and messed up with scars and he showed us all the locations of the plates and
pins in that leg. Then, his left arm,
which he has full use of his hand, some with his elbow, but at the shoulder he
can’t move his arm at all. So, the part
of the arm from the shoulder to the elbow has no movement at all. He grabs his left arm with his right, and
pulls it to what he wants to grab. He
showed us the police report and everything.
I understood very little of what he said, but it was very serious. When he got to the hospital he was basically
paralyzed, with his jaw messed up and his arms and hands numb and unable to
move. While he was telling the story he
kept saying how grateful for the grace of God he was. How much his faith was strengthened. Then he stopped, and asked us if we wanted
water. I said, No thanks, but Santos
Melo said yes. So he got up and limped
to the kitchen. He is the most prepared,
happy, humblest person I have ever met.
Then we talked some more about baptism.
He’s been baptized twice already in other churches, but he believes that
it wasn’t by the right authority, and he needs to be baptized again. Como se diz (How do you say) ‘Prime
Investigator?” Oh, he is awesome. When he was explaining how he was saved by
God, I started crying. This man is
absolutely amazing. Then all the sudden
he said, “I need to make a call” and he called a woman for a few seconds, hung
up, apologized because he needed to take some meds. Then he showed us some of his meds, and he
had a lot. He took these aspirins that
were about the size of a quarter, then apologized again and said we needed to
leave. A blood vein in his head is
messed up, and sometimes it doesn’t let enough blood to his brain. Which is problematic. I think he just needed to lay down and take
some meds for it. He’s amazing.
So we stopped by Renan’s house for our last stop today. He’s a 15 year old member who is less-active
with his family. He is AWESOME! We got there and they had a lot of family
over. Renan, who is a good friend of
ours, let us in and then left to the other room, for about 15 minutes. When he came back he had made us dinner. Haha. It’s a dinner I’ve had a few times,
they hollow out a roll and put diced hot dogs with some salsa thing, and it is
so good. He kept making them, and I ate
like 6 of them. Then his family finished
making their dinner. And they asked me
if I was hungry and wanted any. When I
said “No, thank you." They must have
heard “yes, please, give me a pile of rice, and meat the size of my head,
because I am starving,” because that’s what I got. Then Renan asked if I wanted any coke, which
I can’t drink. When I told him this, he
said, “Oh! But you like Guarana right?”
I said, “yes” and then he said to Elder Santos Melo “And you like
Saco.” Then he left the room. 15 minutes later, he came in with a grocery
sack. He had walked to the store to buy
us drinks! I felt so bad, but honestly
everyone down here is so giving. It’s
like a whole country of Uncle Jr’s and Aunt Han’s. J haha.
One of them asked me where I was from, and I replied “Rio de Janeiro”
but I said it like an American. And they
all thought that was so funny. Have you
every tried singing the battle hymn of the Republic in Portuguese with the fastest
speakers in Brazil? It’s not easy. I gave up on trying, and I would just join in
on the chorus. This was during a sort of
Naite Familiar (like FHE) with a member family and family of investigators that
are very close and we are good friends with.
I was the only one signing during the chorus because they were all
laughing so hard. It’s crazy, I’ve
already hit 2 months total on the mission.
I’m 1/3 of the way to being ¼ of the way done with my mission. (that’s ½ total). Honestly, I feel like it is going too
fast!! It’s going to be over before I
know it and that scares me. But I’m loving
every moment of this mission while I can.
If you’re
wondering what I do on p-days after shopping and emails, while everyone else
takes a nap or does something similarly productive, I watch the district with Portuguese
subtitles, and read em voz alto (in a deep voice) the subtitles while listening
to the English to try and help me learn to read fast. Because I need it. haha.
I love you all,
Elder Mckee
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