SEGUNDA (Monday): So, let me tell you about today. Elder Donoso got his wisdom teeth taken
out. Because of this, no mail, so that
will wait until next week. I mailed a
bunch of letters, so that’s cool.
Right after
the surgery, Donoso called me, and he was a happy guy. When I saw him, he had a big old bloodstain
on his shirt, and a mouthful of it too.
I took a video, saying he wasn’t going to be that happy in a few hours. I had already frozen yogurt and had cold
things to put on his face when he came in the door (He decided in his numbed
state to still go do lessons.) I took
one pictures while he was drugged, of when he, in his own blood, wrote on the wall. No
idea why, but I made him clean that up.
Also mom, I
searched and asked and searched today for a nativity scene to send you. Nobody knew where to find one. The closest thing I found was the cheap
plastic kind you would buy at Wal-Mart, but I’ll keep looking.
Also, I
found a SWEET present I’ll send home, one for dad, Josh, and Andy. Don’t worry Mom and Malena, your times will
come, but these things are SO COOL!!
I’ll send them home next P-Day if I can, but if I can’t, it’s only a
year and a half of waiting! Today was a
good day. Today was day 146 of my
mission.
TERCA (Tuesday): Happy December!! Man today was great!! With Elder Donoso on bed
rest for a week, Elder Jawwad is with us.
(Donoso has permission to stay in the house alone), so we had to pass by
a few commitments they had. The first
was Sandra and Carlinhos! Ha-ha. Elder Jawwad knocked, and I hid at the side
of the door. They opened the door, and
nothing really happened. They said hi to
Elder Jawwad, hi to Elder Felipe. Then I
walked into view and they all flipped!
Laura jumped off the couch and ran to shake my hand. Sandra yelled form her bedroom. Carlinhos got up from the couch too. Then, they sent Camila, in the rain, to by Guarana,
because they always gave me Guarana after I had climbed the huge hill to their
house. They were literally so excited
and I was too. I gave Laura a hankie
that grandma made, and she loved it. She
showed everyone, was very excited. Then
I shared a message about the danger in thinking we’ll do today’s duties
tomorrow. The first time you tell
yourself you’re too tired to read the scriptures/pray, and that you’ll do twice
as much the next day, you are starting down a dangerous path. The next time you’re tired, it’s that much
easier to leave it for later, and before long your habit of reading has become
a habit of adding it onto tomorrows reading.
The next
commitment they had, ALBERTINHA! WOOT
WOOT! Man, I was so excited about
hat. Denise and Mauricio are SO CLOSE to
being married. They only lack money,
which is coming here shortly. We taught
the two of them the plan of salvation, and when Albertinha bore testimony I
wanted to cry. Elder Jawwad asked her
how the knowledge of this gospel has changed her life, and she cried as she
talked about the differences she feels, and the new happiness and peace she
has. She said that she spent years
searching for the word of God, and had finally found it. She’s working to have the baptism of her
husband done and then in a year be sealed to him. There is no greater feeling that I have ever
felt then when I heard her bearing testimony, knowing I was the tool used to
guide her to the truth, and that now her family will follow. Denise and Mauricio are close to
baptism. Luana, the other daughter of
Albertinha, who never really showed much interest, told me today that her and
Luca’s want to start going to our church to see how it is. That’s how Denise and Mauricio started,
too. Ha-ha. I am so happy!
So, today
Elder Jawwad and Elder Felipe were arguing and Elder Jawwad said that Felipe’s
ego is way too big. Then Felipe said
something like, “Yours isn’t much better.”
Then Jawwad said, “I think we can all agree that the only humble person
in this house is Elder McKee.” Felipe
said, “Yes, that’s true.” Then there was
a pause in the argument long enough for me to say, “Dang right I’m the most
humble!” Then they started yelling at me
and teasing me. But the argument
stopped. So it was all good.
Also, I
gave one of Grandma’s hankies to Albertinha also, and she held it and looked at
it like it was gold. When she looked back
at me, she had tears in her eyes, and she thanked me very profoundly. Then sent blessings to me, and my family, and
my mission. Really I can’t even put in
words how truly grateful she was for the gift.
She was crying and trying to talk.
Thank you, Grandma!
We also did
a service project for Eva, in the house we are going to fix. We went to cut her grass. She pulled out a weed eater, and handed it to
me. I wasn’t sure if we are aloud to use
those or not, so I’ll ask President this p-day and if we cant, I won’t do it
again. I won’t pretend it wasn’t fun
going to town on that grass. But I had
to be careful, because Eva is old and crazy.
If she saw a stick or rock, she would just go for it to move it, even if
the weed whacker is there. We made it through
without a problem, but I had to tell her many times to stay back.
Today was
day 147 of my mission. 21 weeks. Man, it’s passing fast!
QUARTA (Wednesday): So I want for today’s journal entry a few
tender mercies that have happened to me recently. Honestly, they are more of miracles. Also, today was a good day.
First, in
the MTC, we receive a paper, small enough to fit in your wallet. It has the Prophets signature on it, and
certifies you as a missionary of the church.
Most missionaries will never have to use it, but if you need to get into
a hospital to give a blessing, to prove to some police that you really are what
you say you are, it is crucial. Well,
about 2 weeks ago, I lost mine in the street.
I talked to the assistant to President about getting anew one, and he
said he would see what he could do, but nobody thought I would be able to get a
new one. He said, “Really, all you can
do is pray.” SO that’s what I did. After some time, I forgot about it a
little. Then, yesterday at our District
meeting in a chapel about 30 minutes walking from our chapel, a member came in
and asked if one of us was “Jacobe, March, Mickey” (My name pronounced
Brazilian) I saw that she was holding my license! Everyone was laughing because I
FLIPPED!! I got so excited!! She said
she had found it in a street. Just
think, my area is for only our ward, a ways away from the other chapel. But when it fell out of my book, the person to
find it, and think to pick it up, was a member!! AHHH!!
I take this as a sign that one day I am going to need it.
Second, So,
there was a HUGE storm here a month and a half or so ago, and it ruined a lot
of houses, knocked over trees and telephone poles. Well, one of our investigators has a son,
Daniel. Daniel, who is in his 30’s, I’d
say, was sleeping in his bed when the storm knocked over a tree onto his house. It smashed EVERYTHING!! This tree is HUGE! About 3+ feet in diameter. So, now he’s
cleaning everything out to rebuild his house from scratch. Today, we marked a time to go help him clean
it up. So we went and I’m hauling a
bunch of bricks, and after I drop them in the pile, as I take a step I feel
something in my shoe. Thinking it’s mud,
I kick/stomp the ground, but it doesn’t come off. Here’s the miracle, I look down, and it’s a
small piece of wood, with a big ol’ rusty nail, which stuck into my shoe. Now, the wood was flat against my shoe, and
the nail was completely in, without any sticking out of my shoe. I reached down and pulled it out, and the
nail in my shoe kept coming and coming.
When I finally got it all out about 2 inches of nail had been stuck
directly into the bottom of my shoe. I
looked at my shoe, and the sole is NOT that thick. I don’t know how it didn’t stab my foot. It should have been a great deal into my
foot, especially when I tried to stomp it off.
Elder Jawwad was watching me the whole time, and he just said, “Elder,
now you know you are a missionary of God.”
These are
the 2 I wanted to share with you. Also,
Elder Jawwad found out my fear of spiders.
Now the whole ward knows. There’s
a young woman who now carries a big plastic spider with her everywhere, just in
case she runs into me. Everyone teases
me about it. Time to be
transferred. Today was day 148 of my
mission.
QUINTA (Thursday): Today was a good day. Elder Jawwad got sick and stayed in the
house and slept. So, Elder Felipe and I
got to focus on our area. One of the
lessons that we had was with Neli. She’s
the mother of that one woman who smacked me with a sandal. We entered and she said, “I want to tell you
both something. I won’t be baptized by
you guys.” She said she was already
baptized, and that she is too old to be baptized again. We had a good lesson, and explained baptism
to her a little better, but I don’t know.
She seemed to feel better at the end, but really I don’t know how she’ll
progress. I always find it hard to cut
the investigators. I have this fear that
in the spirit world they’ll come up to me and say, “Elder Mckee! Why didn’t you just come one more time!? I actually read what you left that last
time!” Or something like that and I’ll
be like “Tche! And the other 17 times? Just one of the new fears I’ve developed.
I am not
proud about anything of our numbers this week.
We haven’t’ met a single goal. Yes, numbers aren’t important, but these
show an absolute lack of diligence and effort.
Numbers for this week so far that are the same as my numbers for the day
before. If the numbers are low, but we
gave our best, tudo bem. The servant
that doubled his lot of 2 talents got the same reward as the servant who
doubled his 10 talents. A good
missionary is judged by his efforts, and our efforts are sad, this week. President Parrela told me to let Elder Felipe
lead, and so I’m trying to do that, and still do things right. AHHHH, it’s frustrating, but I have the
patience of a mountain and the Lord to strengthen me. So, all is well. Today was day 149 of my mission.
SEXTA (Friday): So, let me tell you a story all about how,
today got flipped, turned upside down.
But it ended up great, so let’s all stay calm. I’ll only mention the good so we don’t upset
mom. (Put the above to the tune of Fresh
Prince) ha-ha.
Today was a
good day. Elder Donoso stayed in house
again, so Elder Jawwad and I went to his area and Elder Felipe left with a
member preparing for a mission to our area.
It was awesome. We had the
baptism interviews of Duda and Daniel.
Their baptism will be tomorrow. I
will baptize Daniel, and Elder Jawwad will baptize Duda. Man, I am so excited, and they both are,
too. And, it will be the first baptism
of Elder Jawwad. He’s excited too. Also, today, we managed to get 4
references! All on the same street, IN
MY AREA!! WOOT WOOT! Man, Am I excited! Let’s baptize some people!!
Also, we
stopped by the house of Eliziane, the woman that mom talks with. She came home from work while we were there,
and when she shook my hand, she pulled me into a hug. Ha-ha, then she said she had been commanded
to do it, and showed me the text from mom.
(MOM NOTE: Eliziane friended me on fb and last week sent
me a cute little message about how wonderful Jake is and that they love him in
their family. I wrote back to thank her,
because it’s so nice to get random messages about my boy. And asked her when she saw him to give him a
big hug and tell him his mama loves him.
This is what she was doing. I
love the kind people in Brazil.)
Also, Mom, I met another person
with 2 tribes in their patriarchal blessing!
Ephriam and Manassa. Cool,
huh! Today was day 150 of my mission
SABADO (Saturday): BAPTISM!! I baptized Daniel like I
mentioned. I was talking to the
Bishopric about getting gas for the church.
We didn’t succeed. They were
baptized in cold water, which with 2 kids didn’t invite the spirit much. But it was still amazing. But, the baptism was awesome. The first one of Elder Jawwad, and it was
much needed form him. Me, him, and
Daniel took selfies in the bathroom.
Ha-ha
Also,
something I learned today. When ironing
baptism pants, use heat setting 1 not 4.
I melted a hole in my pants.
Literally as soon as the iron touched them, ja era tche. But nobody
noticed, because it’s on the inside of the leg, and they still work the
same. Rita and some others did a special
music number that was very good. Also,
Terein, the grandmother of Duda and Daniel, and also their guardian, came! It was her first time entering the church, so
Jennifer, a member grabbed her and showed her everything. Very cool.
I think she will come to church tomorrow, which is awesome.
We didn’t
manage anything in our area today, because with Elder Donoso on bed rest I was
doing all the last touches on planning and preparing the baptism. And we did our mandatory 2 hours per week of
cleaning the chapel. But today was still
a good day. And tomorrow is SUNDAY! Today was day 151 of my mission.
DOMINGO (Sunday): Today was very good. We didn’t have any investigators in
sacrament, but we confirmed Duda and Daniel so that was awesome! It’s amazing to see the end results of what
you started and that everything worked out.
Now, their grandmother is showing interest in the church. Today was her first itme coming to
church! WOOT WOOT!
We had a
good lesson with Israel today and his daughter was there, too. We had a very good conversation/discussion
about Corinthians 10:13. There was a
good spirit there, and we also met more of his family. Let’s baptize them all!
In 5-ish
days we’ll get calls about transfers. I
hope I stay, but I’m also ready for a new area.
Well, this
week all in all was a good week. Elder
Felipe and I talked and some things will change, and so this next week should
be better. I sure hope so at least. Today was day 152 of my mission.
So, in honor of finishing 100% of
this notebook, I will use the last 2 pages to share my testimony:
As a
representative of our Savior Jesus Christ, I can say that I know HE lives, I
know I represent His church, and that I know He loves us. I know that our Heavenly Father hears and
answers prayers. I know that when things
get hard, they’re hard from one of two reasons.
1) Either we’ve forgotten to pray, or 2) we prayed, and are being
strengthened. I know that God
strengthens us through the trials that we have, and that he’ll help us through
these trials.
I know that
this gospel blesses families. I have
been blessed with the greatest family possible: Parents, siblings,
grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who know the gospel, and always set a
high standard through example. My family
is very unified and I know that this is because of the church in our lives. I was raised with the expectation to always
help others and work hard.
I know that
God calls prophets and apostles in these times.
I know they receive revelation directly from Him, and pass it to us.
I know that
Jesus Christ established his church, and after his death and the death of his
apostles, after some time, He restored that same church to the earth through
Joseph Smith. I know that Joseph Smith
received the priesthood keys that I now hold, and that it is the same authority
that Christ gave to his apostles.
I know that
the plan of salvation is real, and is proof of God’s love for us. We could have all stayed with Him, as
spirits. But knowing that we could never
have the happiness that He has, knowing that he would lose some of His children
forever, he made the plan for those of His children who would remain faithful
and true. I know that through this plan,
we received the atonement of Jesus Christ.
I know that no matter the sin, nothing can drag us into the darkness so
far that Christ’s light can’t reach us.
I know that we will all be judged of God, and those who chose to use the
atonement will enter into His rest, will enter into His kingdom. We will have the happiness He, as a parent,
wants for us.
I know that
faith is the first principle of the gospel.
This is because faith is where it all starts. Just a small desire to believe and you’ve
created generations of converts, who will in turn generate generations more.
I know that
our faith requires work (James 2) and only through baptism, because we will sin
again after baptism, but daily repentance.
Daily striving to stay worthy of the Holy Ghost we received at baptism. I know that the sacrament is a crucial and
important ordinance. It is how we
complete our repentance cycle and start over each week, through the renewal of
our baptismal covenants. It’s through
this that we endure to the end. Endure
to the end does not mean do your part, and then wait until the end. It means we are, until the end, working to
better ourselves. Through study, prayer,
and repentance, we can little by little turn more Christ like.
I know that
my mission is EXACTLY where I need to be.
I know I am here to be a leader and a tool in God’s hand. This is my testimony that I leave with you,
the few things I know to be true. In the
name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
A few extra’s from Email:
I don’t know if I will be transferred. I hope not. And two of these
elders, Jawwad and Donoso, said that its kinda sad that they’re getting a
package from my mom before they get a package or letter from their own moms. Jawwad
has the same time as I do in the mission, and Donoso has a year and 3 months. Really
mom, you are the best, and I don’t think you realize how much these little
things you send the other missionaries help them. :) I really love you!!
I’m so glad you guys found the letters!! I was worried they would
still be there when I got home. :) I hope you all liked them. (Jake hid letters for each of us in our Christmas tree decorations. We found them when we
pulled the Christmas stuff out. It was
an AWESOME surprise.) The Jake head on the tree is HILARIOUS! I just called
Elder Jawwad over to look at it. He said he adores our family.
I love you
guys, until next week! Elder McKee
Elder Felipe eating dinner.
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