Merry Christmas to you all tomorrow! It is looking like I will be calling around 3 or 4 pm. We will be at the temple tonight visiting with people and then tomorrow we are at the Battalion in the morning. It was such a great week! We have an investigator named Janey who is 50, but we get to teach her because we are the only sisters in the stake. Well it took us about 7 visits before she finally agreed to let us teach her, she calls it "Bible Study with my girls" it is so great. We love her. We finally taught the restoration and she loved all of it, we invited her to be baptized and she said she would think about it. We planned to teach her the Plan of Salvation last Thursday and on Wednesday morning we got a call from her in tears and she informed us that her 8 year old grandson had been stabbed to death the night before and she wanted us to come over right away. It was in Ohio, you should see if it was on the news! Pretty extreme. When we got there we asked her why she called us first and she said, "Right when I heard the news, I looked at my Book of Mormon and started to read it and your number was right there and something just told me to call you." It was pretty powerful. We taught her the plan of salvation and extended another invitation to be baptized. She accepted and is going to be baptizedJanuary 18th. It is amazing how the right timing affected everything. She called us Saturday and said, "So.. Who is gonna take me to church?" She is ready and prepared. Amazing how sometimes it takes hard things in our life to realize the truth. We also have been able to contact referrals like crazy this week. We have met with some so far and are hoping to meet all of them by this weekend. Miracles are happening! We had Zone Conference last Friday and it was great! It is so crazy to be the missionary in the Zone Conference, but I love it! We also had a Christmas party with the whole mission on Saturday. Every single missionary was in the gym at the church and it was a blast! Dad- I would recommend doing that next time you are a mission president:). It was an overwhelming feeling of happiness to all be there united in the same cause. I have met a lot of people this week. I gave a tour to a family that has a daughter who just got back from BYU-Idaho. Her name is Ali Larson and she knows Dallin Mower really well. She also is cousins with Jason Chris and Meghan Lyons and their family haha! Crazy! She is super sweet. She will be in my branch as well so I will be seeing her often! I also gave a tour to a girl named Meghan Rowley who is friends with Hayden McKee! He served in her ward in California. At the temple last week I was visiting with a family and they saw my name tag and asked me if I was related to any McKee's in Pocatello, Idaho. I said, yes I sure am! They are the May family from Boise, Idaho and they said that their parents know Dad really well and that they go to the Petting Zoo all of the time. Later at the temple I saw Elder Shatzer!! It was so funny I did not even recognize him. We talked for a little bit and I met his Wife! Crazy! It was so great to see him and he looks really good. It has been so fun to make connections. Oh and I also ran into a family, the Draughton family from Temecula. They were in the McDermott's ward there and they said they know Breanne and their parents really well. You will have to tell them for me! We have been trying to find people to teach like crazy. People are not super friendly here in California, but we are trying new ways to strike up conversations every day. We will get them! We are going to be meeting with a sweet family I met at the battalion this week. They are great. They will be baptized soon, no worries. I also had a really neat experience last week. A lady and her son walked into the Battalion and asked me what is was. I explained to her about the tour and she said ,"Oh okay well we have to leave soon and we are catholic so we will just go." I said, "That is great that you are catholic! We love people who are catholic! Why don't you just stay for the first few minutes of the tour and then you can leave!?" She agreed and we started the tour. Well I was expecting her to get up and leave after the first room and she stayed, she ended up staying the whole tour!! In the last room of the tour we have an opportunity to share our testimony and the Spirit spoke really strong through me and I talked about how we need to endure hard times just like these men in the battalion etc... As we were gold panning, she came up to me and started bawling. She said, "Sister McKee, I know that I was led here for a reason. I was just passing by and I felt like I should check this out and I now know why. Your message in the last room was so powerful. The reason I am in San Diego right now is because I was getting away from my life. Today is the anniversary of my husbands death and I was just about to give up on everything and took my son and went straight to San Diego and I know that I was led here so I could here that message in the last room. I have never felt such a peace and comfort." It was a powerful moment. It is very humbling to know that God trusted me to say what she needed. I love this work with all of my heart. I am grateful to be a little part of it. I am trying so hard to give my all every day. It is not always easy, but I will never stop trying. I know this gospel is true and I love it. I know that there are so many people prepared to here the truth. I know that as we are in tune with the Spirit the Lord will continue to guide our words and actions. This week in Zone Conference the 1st counselor in the Mission Presidency President Morgan spoke to us and he read form John ch. 17 as Jesus was praying for Us. In ch. 17 It talks about how He was not only praying for us, but for our investigators and the people we will be leading every day. He knew we would need the extra help and strength. He prayed for each one of us. I love him so much. I love this gospel. I know it to be true. I know that "for this cause [he] was born" for us, to teach us how to live a perfect life and then atone for our sins. I am so happy to be a missionary!! I will talk to you all tomorrow! I have 40 minutes and that will be a great 40 minutes:) I love you all! Oh and Thank you to everyone who has sent me things!! I have been getting so many things from the ward still. Sister West sent me a great letter that I love. Dad and Mom thank you for your package!! I am going to gain weight!! haha. I also received a fun Christmas package from Kris and Shane Bell family which was so thoughtful. I feel so supported. I pray for you all every day and I love you all so much. Merry Christmas!!
Love,
Sister McKee
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