Halloween...a BRIEF note to the Mom

Got the box, thanks! Last halloween we got to go to the temple, but this time we are just having a zone meeting after dinner until the end of the night. Send my bike back as soon as you can, you're probably right that I won't need it, but just to be safe. There have been a few times the past couple weeks I could have used it. So... I think I lost my camera. Well, I lost my camera. I don't know where it is or where it could be. I've tried looking everywhere I would have taken it. So.... yeah. I'll continue to look, but my hopes aren't too high. Anyways, I can't think of too much else. Thank you again for the package. Love you!

-Elder McKinney

Changes...

This week.... was wonderful :) Malia was baptized!! It was a super spiritual baptism and she was basically in tears the whole time. You could tell it meant a lot to her. She is only 12 years old. Both her parents attended the baptism and the confirmation the next day in sacrament meeting. Neither of them have come for many years. Now, you are probably also wondering why there are three of us in that picture. I will tell you. We are now a trio companionship. Elder Baclawski has been in our district ever since I have been here. He has served in the stake west of ours for about 6 months now. There were a few emergency transfers this last wednesday and his companion got transferred to another area and there was no one to take his place. So he is with us and we are covering both stakes. As if 7 wards wasn't enough haha. Its good though, being a district leader it gives me a better opportunity to work with him more than a few times here and there. I get to be with him all day everyday now and see how he works. So that's really the big change this week. It should only be this way until the end of the transfer. When I was first on my mission I lived with another set of Elders so this brings back a few memories :) Its a little more crammed in our apartment though and we don't have as long in the morning to get ready since we have to share the bathroom with three now instead of two. So Malia got baptized and Hernalen right now is still on for the 18th of November. She is our only other investigator really right now, but we will be finding more this week. So that's what's going on. Things are going well and I am happy :) Hope you all have a great week and know that you are loved.

-Elder McKinney

Time Flies...

I can't believe how fast time is flying. Elder Koo has already been out for two months. Malia did not get baptized this last week. She passed her interview but her granpda couldn't do it this weekend. We are unsure whether he can baptize her, his reason for not being able to make it was he was going dirt biking with friends. We are going to try to see what we can find out this week and make sure it happens this weekend. Hernalen is also on date for the 18th of November. I actually haven't met her yet. Every time we teach it is when I am on exchanges in another area. Things are going good though and we are excited to find more miracles in this area. I've been here for about four and a half months now. Longer than I have been in any area before. We had our zone conference this week which was fantastic! I can't remember what we talked about... but I have it all in my notes! haha. I also had a district leader training the next day with all the other district leaders. Those are my favorite meetings :) probably just because we talk about doctrine a lot of the time. This time we talked about the oath and covenant of the priesthood. We also talked about a lot of the disobedience going on in the mission and missionaries that struggle with things such as why we set goals. In other news in the district Elder Alder was transferred to Kearns to be a district leader. Elder Walker is now with Elder Austin who was serving in Africa until he got sent here because of the Ebola situation. I went on exchanges with my zone leaders on Friday and got to see a few people from my last area. It was really weird. One of them was the ward mission leader for the Samoan ward and one was the old ward mission leader for another ward, he was released right before I got transferred. Things are going well and I am excited to be here in this area! I think one of the few things I am looking forward to when I get back, is to only go to three hours of church again. Elder Koo and I were in some sort of church meeting from 7am to 4pm yesterday, and it was exhausting. Well I hope you all have a great week! Love you all!

 -Elder McKinney

Short letter!

Transfers!!! Nothing happened. Elder Koo and I are staying together :) There was only one change in the district so nothing too big. We have zone conference this week so I am excited for that! I'm trying to think what happened this week.. this could be a really short letter. Elder Evans of the Seventy lives in our stake and we got to meet him this Sunday. We went to the Sacrament meeting that he was in and we bore our testimonies and he came and talked to us for a few seconds afterward. He was actually one of the speakers for the devotionals when Elder Koo was at the MTC so it was cool for him to find out he lived in our area. We also had dinner with someone who used to be a Seventy. We shared a message with him about fasting and at the end he shared Alma 45:1 and talked about how fasting can be a way we can worship and praise our Heavenly Father and give thanks for our blessings. I had never thought about that before. Okay so this is really short... I feel bad. Cat is doing well. She went to the YSA for the first time yesterday. She also met with Bishop about getting her patriarchal blessing. We haven't heard how that went yet. Malia should be getting baptized this Friday or Saturday so we are excited for that! Our only other investigator is Hernalen, we have had trouble getting a hold of her though because she is busy with school and work. So that's the update on the area. Hope all goes well for you. Love you all!

 -Elder McKinney

(the editor dislikes days like this when the letters are super short!  Especially after waiting all morning for the letter to come!)

On the other hand, we are happy that he is busy and happy!  So I made this picture to make myself feel better!

General Conference

This weekend was General Conference and it was amazing! I learned so much and the spirit was very strong. I love being able to hear from the prophet and from the apostles. I was actually able to attend the Priesthood session. I got a ticket from the mission the day before the session. It was really cool to be able to go to the conference center and see all these people in person! I went with a group of missionaries probably about 20 big. We got to sit pretty close too! Unfortunately I didn't get to meet anyone, but I got to sit behind the MTC mission presidency. They were there because the choir was made up of Elders from the MTC. I missed the second session on Saturday though because we had to go early. I'm excited to go back and read them once they come out. We got to watch the movie Meet the Mormons this week! We got together as a mission and watched it. It comes out on October 10th. It was really amazing! I encourage all of you to watch it when it comes out, because it is really inspiring and the spirit is very strong. It is simply a movie that shows the lives of 6 individuals or families and their journeys through life as members of the church. It's not to make money for the church because all of the proceeds go to charity and it doesn't push any beliefs on anyone or anything like that. It was very well done and even very funny. There is one man in it that is a bishop in Florida or Alabama or something and we actually saw him at conference! It was really funny, we just saw him on the trax. We realized we were probably the only ones who recognized him though because we are the only ones to have seen the movie before it comes to theaters. Anyways, it has been a great week and everything has gone well. Cat is doing great and is working on getting her patriarchal blessing. We also started teaching a woman from the Philippines. She moved in with a family in one of our wards and was previously being taught by missionaries in downtown Salt Lake City. She will get baptized, it is just a matter of when, she doesn't quite feel ready yet, but she knows its what she wants. Malia is doing well but the mom kind of keeps pushing her baptism back, so we are working on that. Transfers are this week and I have no idea what is going to happen. I guess I'll let you know next week :) I hope you have a great week! Love you all!

-Elder McKinney