Hey hey!!!
Thank you for the package first of all. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!!! Everything is so awesome. I have worn something new every day which is so nice. Sounds like everyone is just busy as ever with weddings and missionaries and life! Kiara - Captain of colorguard! Wahoo! And Seminary is starting soon! You will have to be captain of seminary too! Captain of everything.. that is so exciting! And Aubrey in trouveres this year! That is exciting! You will have to record both colorguard and trouveres for me so I can watch one day! How are all the babies?? I hope you will keep sending pics! I have had a crazy great week. The weirdest thing is that I feel like I just emailed you yesterday.. yet soo soo much has happened!!
So first of all I just want to say that I am being tested and I am growing so much at this time. I love the feeling of just being exhausted every night knowing you have tried to give your all to the Lord that day. Another thing is that the Lord truly takes care of us. We are getting about 4-5 lessons in our area now with our new and exciting schedule which is great and we are so thankful for those hours we do get. It is amazing how the Lord uses experiences to help us completely rely on the atonement. I am so thankful for everything that I am learning every day. So last Tuesday we met with David and he was on the fence with a lot. He is a lot like me in that he thinks through everything way too much. I told him that and we were able to tell him pretty boldly with love to just do it. He knows it is all true now comes the action part to show our willingness. There was a huge long pause and he agreed and said yes I know it is what I need to do. We are so proud of him. He is such an asset to the ward already so we are so excited that he is getting baptized and will soon hold the priesthood. He is getting baptized this Saturday and one of the converts in our ward will be baptizing him. He is so great. ?He is in one of the other pictures. Also Andrea came to church Sunday and wow she is doing amazing. Her countenance is just shining and you can tell she has really made a commitment to come unto Christ. She was a little discouraged for a while because her family did not agree with her decision. Well one day we went to her home and she was not there and we were able to just chat with her mom about what it really means to be a mormon and how it means we are entering into promises to be committed to God. Andrea said that her mom's heart has been softened ever since and that she is now excited about the baptism and will be there. It will also take place this Saturday!! Wahoo!!! The Lord takes care of His prepared people.
We have also been blessed with referrals like crazy and really solid referrals who are planning to be baptized. Helix is continuing to see an increase. President Schmitt came to our ward on Sunday and it was so fun to have him there. He is just great. Reminds me so much of dad. Just cares so much about people on an individual basis and does not put himself above anyone at all. We had a mission presidents fireside this week and it was so awesome! Andrea and David came and the spirit there was so strong. We are losing members of our ward soon for school so that is sad! However we are building it up as well!
Last week we had MTE's - Missionary Training Exchange. I was able to go and serve with Sister Lehmitz and Owens for the day and it was amazing! These sisters are so great and the taught me so much. They are so prepared and ready to work. We have MTE's for the next couple weeks so I will be gone. Sister Xia is so patient and willing to go with other companionships as this is taking place. I love her! We also have training meeting every Thursday morning. Sister Bermudez and I taught about being a consecrated missionary and laying everything on the alter. The spirit was super strong and we threw everything that is holding us back into the dumpster outside. We will be talking more about that this week at training meeting. If any of you have fun ideas for trainings let me know! I love the ones from Nashville. It has been fun to implement them into this work.
Well the church is so true. That is all that matters and because we know that we know that everything we do makes a difference as we focus ourselves on Jesus Christ first. I know that the atonement is real and that the Lord makes up the difference when we just do what he has asked of us. A lot of sisters have a hard time being at the Mormon Battalion. We get comments often about if this is a real mission or how easy our mission is. That is hard to hear when they work so so hard and it is hard just in different ways. And We also know that is does not matter because what matters most is that we are doing our part and giving the Lord our all. Whether we serve in the Library, Bishopric, or General Relief Society. It is what God has asked and that is what we are going to do. We also follow our leaders because they are inspired for us specifically. I am so thankful that I have a knowledge of the gospel and that I get to share it with the world. I know that miracles happen every day. I also know that trials happen every day and as we see the blessings in the trials they will always be there. I love you all. I love the sisters here at the Mormon Battalion. I have such a deep love for them. I know the Lord will qualify who He calls as He has been doing with me. I love my mission. I know our Savior lives.
Love,
Sister McKee
