Transfers!

Well, it was truly the end of Kearns, at least for now. Both Elder Cleveland and I were transfered. We were replaced by Sister missionaries. We are both in Sandy now, but different zones. My new companion is Elder Niupalau. He is from San Matao (no idea how to spell it) California. So the bay area. I'm killing him, which means I am his last companion before he goes home. We are serving in the Midvalley stake. We cover the whole stake. There's 7 wards. He has been in this stake for 10 months already. Sandy is so much different than Kearns. Houses are much bigger and people are not quite as humble you might say haha. My companion is the District Leader and we have a car. Him and his companion came to pick me up on Wednesday and to drop his companion off in a nearby area. I found out Elder Niupalau doesn't have a drivers license so I have to be the one to drive. Having not driven for over 4 months and barely having driven before the mission... I was terrified. I'm driving a gold corolla though so it was at least a car that I had driven before. After five days I'm still alive so I think it will all be good. I'm sure the only reason for that is because I'm a missionary. There isn't much happening in this stake, like we don't even have any investigators right now and we are only working with like two less actives. So I'm excited to get this place going :) it'll be a lot of tracting until we can get the members to start doing some work. That will be the hardest part. I have to learn the area fast though because Elder Niupalau is gone in the beginning of March. So other than that there isn't much to report. We have just been trying to find new investigators and we've gone around to the auxiliaries to introduce me and stuff. There is a member that has their own small gym basically and they let us use it for workout in the morning. Its got treadmills weights all that good stuff. There is even a rock climbing wall that rotates around so you can just keep climbing until you want to stop. Its really interesting. Haven't tried it yet though. Went to a few wards on Sunday to bear our testimony and show my face some. There was one ward that had four baby blessings that day. It was supposed to be five but one of them opted to do it another time. It was crazy. Cool, but crazy haha. We live in the basement of the high councilman over missionary work and I have to say, it is so much nicer living with only two elders in terms of being able to shower in the morning and get ready. It was fun having four elders, just really messy. The high councilman also teaches the mission prep class on Sunday and he is really awesome! He has caught the vision and so we just have to help the rest of the stake catch it too. I think that's all I have to tell you today, but I have come to appreciate the Atonement so much more in my life. I know that it is real and I know that it can help each and everyone of us it we allow it to. It can help us be freed from the burden of our sins and can help us to develop the faith and strength we need to face our trials. It is the reason the whole plan of salvation works. It is the reason we are able to return to live with our Heavenly Father again someday. It is such a blessing and I have seen it work in so many peoples lives. I hope you all have a great week!
 -Elder McKinney

A few things I forgot to mention. Elder Niupalau (new-pa-lau) is Tongan. There is also a Samoan ward in our stake. Which means they will eventually feed us and I will either die from eating too much or just die because I can't fit it all in. It's not till May though so maybe I will leave before then, who knows. Oh yeah and we got absolutely no work done during Super Bowl. Everyone was having a party. Heard the Broncos got smashed though. That's got to be embarrassing.

Clif posted this to my timeline...and it's all true!   Signed, Missionary Mom