Week #16: San Diego

Family!

          Wow, Thank to everyone for letting me know about the Parrish family. What an incredible family, the Lord is really trusting them with this trial in their life right now. It is sometimes hard to accept the will of God and see an eternal perspective. One of my favorite analogies is from Elder Ballard's book , "Our Search for Happiness" It talks about imagining a rope across space and you cannot see either end but  you look and see a knot holding the rope together. This knot is symbolic of earth-life and the rope is before and after this life. Our earth life is so small, but so significant and I know that the Lord is so proud of Bill, Ross, Jensen, Ean, Keegan and Liam. And not only them but the whole Parrish family. Because they have chosen to make the right choices here on the small earth life. It is devastating, so so devastating and it is amazing to know that we get to rely on the atonement during times like this. Jensen is one of my closest friends and examples to me, she is so strong and has such a powerful testimony. She helped me through so much when we were at BYU-Idaho together. I will keep praying for this sweet family. I love them dearly! Please tell them I love them all so much and as dad says to expect the miracle:)

 This week has been a great week. Candice's baptism was on Sunday. It was a sweet baptism. Two members from the branch spoke and Sister Sanchez and I sang a song that her grandfather wrote. It was a spiritual baptism. We had over 40 people in attendance. Her whole family came and loved it! She was so shocked they came and it was a great surprise! She will be getting confirmed this Sunday! Well I am staying in Santee YSA and I am so happy!! I have a new companion Sister Owens!! She just got here last week and is loving it! She is so funny and we have a good time. She is a hard worker! She is from Palmer, Alaska! She has a super funny personality we love working together! Sister Sanchez went full proselyting so she is not at the battalion anymore for 2 transfers! It is weird to not see her! I took a tour with a guy from Inkom and his wife from Pocatello, they were awesome and he said he went to school with Aunt Margaret. His name was Craig Monson. Super nice guy. We said goodbye to one of our senior couples the Afflecks from Sandy, UT  and the Rasmussens just came in. They are staying in Patty's home here in San Diego. Super funny! Sister Baker from Pocatello is here and we are having a great time catching up. She is being trained by a great sister here Sister Dunaway who I love so much.

I cannot believe Angelee leaves this week!! Woah!! She will be awesome!! Sounds like her talk went well, holy moly she is so popular!!!! So many people came to see her talk that is awesome. She is the best! Koltin emailed me this week and he sounds great! It is so fun to know that tomorrow 5 of us will be out! :) I love it! Sounds like Brock and Tyler did a great job teaching the Mission Prep class, they are some great guys! Tell them hello from me! There are so many miracles that come from being a missionary. I have learned so much and I am so thankful to be a missionary especially at this exact time. Tell Sierra Thank you for my Valentine Package if you see her and Mom thank you for the package!! I haven't been able to open it yet, but I am excited:) I love this gospel and I know it is true. I love the amazing precious time I have here on my mission. Time is going by way too fast and  we are working hard here. Please let me know if I can do anything! I think that I am going to need to buy a GPS here pretty soon. I think I have enough to buy one, but I would have no Idea where to go for one. Any suggestions?! I Love you all so much!! Thank you for your love and support!

Love,

Sister McKee:)

Pictures 1-2: Candice who was baptized!

Picture 3: My new companion and I!

Picture 4: Sister Owens, Sister Sanchez and me!

PS-Angie leaves tomorrow morning for Ecuador! I will be updating a blog for her as well. 

www.hermanaangiemckee.blogspot.com

Thanks! -Aubrey

Week #15: Transfers!

Hello My amazing family:)

                       Happy Birthday to TREY!!!!!!!! WAHOO I love birthdays and I love being from a big family so we can celebrate them often!!  I am officially done with my 12 week training which is insane. I cannot believe it is already a new transfer. We just got our transfer calls and Sister Sanchez will be leaving the Battalion and going Full Proselyting tomorrow and I will be staying in Santee and training a new sister starting tomorrow. It is crazy!!! I have so many different emotions, but I know that the Lord will guide me and that as I am following the spirit that I can do it through Him. It is just insane! Very unexpected. Sister Sanchez and I have had such an amazing transfer and have seen so many miracles. I will miss her while she leaves the Battalion, but we know that it is the Lord's will for us. It has been a weird week and a great week! Candice is on fire! She is getting baptized on Sunday and she is just thrilled. She has such a strong testimony of the gospel and she has been helping us meet with Less Actives and bring them back to church. She is so excited for her baptism! Sister Sanchez might not be able to attend because she is leaving so we are very sad about that, however the most important thing is that this day is happening for her and what an amazing day it is. This will affect her whole life ahead of her and she has such a confirmation this is true. She asked us to sing for her baptism, we sang last week in sacrament meeting and she wants us to either sing that same song or one that her grandfather wrote before he passed away. Miracles are happening. We had another week of miracles because we dropped about 4 people and wow that almost takes more faith then adding someone. That is so hard, but we know that we are being blessed for that decision. In Jacob 5 it talks about Pruning and Grafting the tree in order to have good fruit and that is exactly what we are doing. I had another weird experience yesterday. I was at the Mormon Battalion and there was a guy sitting alone on the front lobby area. I went to talk to him and he automatically started yelling and going off at me about how I had been deceived my whole life and over and over again yelling things that I never want to repeat. It felt like I was talking to Satan through him, and I hated it. I calmly told him I would love to talk about it later and he grabbed my hand and said "Listen to me stop believing what you believe....." and so much more. I invited him to keep praying and to have a good day. I felt so stupid after that and I went back to get one of the senior elders to help and burst into tears, it was hard! I had never felt like that before. I was so shaky the rest of the night. However, I have been thinking about that experience a lot today and I feel so grateful that no matter what I know what I know and I will always stand behind the truth.  I love this gospel and I know it is true and I know that even if I were the only person on the earth who believed it that I would still know. I hope that all of you know that for yourself and have the faith to do what is right no matter what. I know the church is true and we are extremely blessed. Sister Salinas went home today! It was so sad, I attached some pictures of us this morning
( It was right after working out so I look pretty great;) )and then me with all of my companions so far! I love them all. I have been blessed with incredible companions. Angelee!!! You leave next week!!! Holy Moly Guacamole!! You are going to be stellar, wow whoever gets to be your companion is so blessed. I would love to be your companion!! How is Koltin doing?! Is he liking the mission? Tell him to email me! Also, the sister that went home last transfer that I want Elder Brown to take on a date came back to visit this week and she said that she wants to go on this date! So, will one of you tell elder brown to email me please? Thank you so much!!!:) I love being a missionary. I will let you know who I am training next week! I already know she is awesome. I can feel it! The church is so true!! Let me know what I can do to help you all! Sounds like the institute class has been good mom and dad!! They are so lucky you are their teachers:) I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Love, 

sister kylie mckee:)

Week #14: San Diego MB

HEY Family!!!

             Happy birthday to my cute nephews Gavin and Charlie! It has been such a great week of miracles! We met a less-active last week and he has not been to church since primary. He kept saying to us that he wants something different in his life and he thought he was happy but that he didn't know what that change meant exactly. We invited him to come to institute that night and he came! He said he loved it. He also came to Family Home Evening yesterday and said that he would love to start coming to church. He is such a sweet guy and knows the need for the gospel. He does not know much so we are starting completely over with him and we are excited for him to truly gain his own testimony of the gospel. At the Battalion I took a tour with a family of 5 who was with their grandfather. At the end of the tour, I said, "These men were able to overcome these obstacles because of their faith in.." And this man yells out Jesus Christ with tears in his eyes. I talked to him after the tour and he said that he does not attend any church because he strongly believes in agency and choosing for yourself to do good. I said that is perfect that is what we believe!! We discussed the gospel and his daughter who is 22 said," How can I learn more about this church!?" The grandfather also expressed his desire to learn!! I referred them to their missionaries and they are going to start taking the lessons. The amazing thing about that is they were just walking down the street and a non-member visitor said, "You have to take your family to the Mormon Battalion before you leave! It is something you will not want to miss while you are here." Amazing how the Lord works through little means to bring great things forth! We found out this week that Matt actually lives right outside of our boundaries so we had to pass him off to the elders in another YSA ward. He will do great, and we will get to attend his baptism! A new investigator Candice will be baptized a week from Sunday and she is so solid. We brought a less active to FHE and Candice gave him the tour of the church with us and she has only been there once! She is amazing and will be such a solid member of the church. She has already referred us to 3 people that she wants to hear the gospel. I have a feeling she may be serving a mission in a couple years:) This week I feel like my thoughts have been drawn a lot to last year and the pains of watching mom suffer so much. I have taught a lot about the atonement this week and it is a blessing to be able to testify of this gospel to people. I  know that thousands will be blessed because mom went through what she did as well. As we were visiting another less active this week there was a man on the street that we started talking to. He said he lived alone and that he was a "Church Hopper" because nothing had the truth. He said that last year he had a heart attack and he died, came back and went into a comma. I was able to relate right away:) He kept saying there was a reason that he was alive and he was figuring it out.  We boldly stated to him that We knew why. We explained the gospel on the earth today and he was so touched and said that he would learn and he accepted our Book of Mormon. He promised to read and he said" Please come back anytime. Even if you just need somewhere to eat please please stop by and say hi anytime." It was so amazing. So thank you mom for going through so much. His life will be changed forever and I know that he was receptive because I knew what he had gone through. There is so much happening in Santee and I love our Branch!!! They are all incredible missionaries and our ward mission leader and assistant are incredible they support us so much. They contact us almost every day asking us what they can do for us. This week I met Sherrie Ward. She knows my roommate Swiss really well and her family is from Almo, Idaho. I also met some very close friends of Aunt Jolynn and Uncle Bob. It was funny because the women reminded me of Jolynn and then they said they were from Tremonton and knew them really well! Roger and Gloria Nelson and Lynn and Trixie Ewer. Great people! Also I am glad to hear you got my gold! That family was so sweet:) Brittany Baker comes in next week! It is insane that transfers are already here. I am excited to be serving with her. She is such a cute girl!! Sister Salinas goes home next week too which is crazy! you will have to connect with her after! She is such an incredible sister. Tonight Clayton Christenson is coming to speak with us as missionaries and then give a fireside for investigators. We are so excited. It will be such a good night! We have a few investigators coming! Congrats to Kirsten and Mike! A girl! That is so exciting and Crazy!!! We don't even know what that means to have a girl. That is so exciting! I want to hear what names you are thinking about. And Steven and Rachel let me know what you find out this week too! Destini sounds awesome. She is going to be a movie star! How is Kiki doing?! Tell her I love her. I have not heard from her! Sounds like Aubs is dating like crazy. I am sure she is loving that! And Angelee leaves so soon!! How exciting! Time flies, it is amazing. Tell everyone hello!! Sounds like everything is going great in the ward too! I am still so grateful for everything that they have sent me, which was way too much! I have my cute pillow case with members of the ward quotes on my bed and I read it almost every night if I have time! I love it! Well thank you all for being such a great support. I love the work and I love being a missionary. It is insane how fast everything is going. I know this gospel is true and I know that member help is so important when it comes to missionary work! Think of ways that you can invite someone to something this week. Even if it just a family dinner and find the connection to the gospel. It is always there. I want to hear about your missionary opportunities and experiences and share them with the members here!! Thank you all so much!!!! I LOVE YOU!!!! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!!!!

Love, 

           sister Kylie McKee

PS: Here are pictures of our 10:00 pm candle light dinners after planning haha and The hot chocolate and granola bars left for us at the temple from members. It was so sweet. They wrote Sister on each cup and just left them while we were talking to guests. So so kind! Love you all:)

Week #13: San Diego MB

Hey Family!!

             I do not have much time to write, time is flying, but this week has been full of miracles!! We got a referral last week for a girl and we visited her and she said she did not even know what God was, we taught her and she is super solid. She is amazing. We asked her to read the introduction and she read the first 7 chapters of 1 nephi. She is going to be baptized February 23rd and is so ready and prepared. We taught the Plan of Salvation last night and she Loved it, but I guess who couldn't right?! IT is amazing!!!! So please pray for her! The members have reached out to her so well and she already feels at home and she hasnt even gone to church yet so church is going to blow her mind! We also had a member, Alyssa Larson bring her friend to church last week and he came again this week, we have been meeting with him in the mean time. He is catholic, but in Sunday School on Sunday( haha) Our teacher said, "What are some decisions that are hard to make in life?" Matthew raised his hand and said, " Telling my catholic parents that I am going to be mormon." It was the best, he is great and he will be baptized a week from Saturday! The 15th! Miracles! A less active we are meeting with has not been able to go to church because of work is going to come with us to one of our investigators lessons, this investigator comes to church every Sunday, but does not see the importance of Baptism and this Less Active is super solid in the church and wants to help us with her, but he struggled with not coming to church. Anyway, we feel super good about it and feel like they are going to fill in each others gaps as they help each other, we are excited for that miracle! This week my testimony has been strengthened regarding members. So many people have helped us. We met with a LA last week and her family is also less active and we had the most amazing lesson with them and everyone was in tears at the end. They all did everything to give us something after that. They gave us about 30-40 lbs of food that night and other necessities from their home. they also all went to church this week and that is the first time they have gone in over 10 years. We could see the gratitude in their eyes and the girl in our YSA branch loves it and she has been going to activities also! Miracles! We had temple shift this week and it was pouring so no one was there, we were studying at the tent we have and members just came by and dropped us off some granola bars and hot chocolate. It was so nice. I also had an orthodontist appointment this week and I got up to pay after and the orthodontist said, "You are good to go, do not worry about it" He was so Christlike and kind. It makes me want to be the best member I can be when I get home and help the missionaries out all of the time. And I appreciate referrals so much more! The church is truly amazing and so true. I had so many connections this week, I want to tell them all so you can tell people, I have to write them down now so I am just going to hurry and write my list! I met Elder Dietrich that knows the Lovelands and Koty Cook from Blackfoot!, Elder Grube who knows Tyler Teske and their family in Ashton! I met a woman at the Battalion who has a son that served with Jared in Perth. Timothy Glen. She was super sweet! I also met the mission president and wife in the Carlsbad mission- the Kendricks- who know the Andersons in NAshville really well and they were asking about mom and how she is doing. They are great. I also randomly ran into this lady at the church from Pocatello who is Michaela Figaroa's grandmother. Cody Christenson's parents came to the Battalion this week form Pocatello. At the temple I met a guy names Kirk Wooley who grew up in Pocatello and Inkom and knows the McNabb's really well, expecially Bill. The other people he was with also know the Andersons in our 2nd ward! So fun! I love connections. Well I have been reading a lot about faith this week and how we cannot have faith with unbelief. We have met with so many people that are set in their beliefs and are not open to a new idea and concept, so we have been challenging them to come to our lessons with an open mind in order to feel that faith and the spirit. I know you all can apply that to your lives as you doubt, remember that when we doubt we cannot progress! Ever! It is amazing how when we allow our minds to be open and allow the Spirit to speak to us, He will I know that to be true. I have so many more miracles to write about but my time is short!! I love you all though and we are working hard. I love my compainon, we are striving to be consecrated every single day and we have seen the miracles because of that. I love this gospel. It is true and here for us to use. Use the atonement! It is for YOU! I love you all:) Email me your missionary experiences!! 

Love, 

 Sister McKee

PS: Pictures of the LA family and the food they gave us - the mom just got done with having cancer, she is amazing!

And me with my branch president and wife at their home! They know Dallin Fisher really well.