Mission Changes...

The mission changes where supposed to happen on Wednesday, July 1st. For some reason, unknown right now to us, it has happened today. We are down to seven zones and around 130 missionaries now. The stake I am in is on the boundary. Most of my mission has been on the boundary. So that's about all in terms of news about the mission. We have a meeting this Wednesday as zone leaders with President Chambers so I'm sure we will learn more there. It will be interesting because there were a lot of changes this transfer because of the boundary changes, but there will also be a lot of changes this transfer as well. A lot of missionaries came out in the July transfer. In fact, it was the biggest group that this mission has had. My companion and I calculated it last night, there will be one new assistant, five new zone leaders, and about 8 new district leaders. That's a lot more than usual. That's approximate though, because President could do things differently than we expect. Things are going well in the area. This week was a lot better than last week. We found two new investigators and taught a few lessons. We met with a man who had been taught before and taught him on his doorstep. We brought the elders quorum president with us(who lives a few houses down) and it was a really powerful lesson. He didn't accept baptism, but seriously considered it and said he would pray about it. He was the same about coming to church. He ended up not coming however. His name is Robert The other new investigator was a great miracle. We have an email that we use just for this stake. When we got in the area we sent an email to all the main leadership in the stake. We got a response back from a relief society president who said there was a man who wanted us to teach his son and that his son wanted to get baptized. We went by and taught the boy, he is about ten years old. He also has been taught by the missionaries before. He didn't get baptized though because his mother wanted to be there for it, and lived in another place. She is in town now and there is a lot better chance of him getting baptized now. We are shooting for July. He was going to ask his mom for permission this week so we are excited to see how it went. His name is Ashton. We also met with another little girl who was being taught before. She has been taught everything and was just waiting for her dad to get back from Korea. He is back now and the parents are going to figure out a date for her to be baptized. Her name is Lacie. So things are going well in the stake. We got posters up in all the buildings we cover with our picture and names and such. Church was good, except for the fact that no one came to church of our investigators. We were able to go help out with one wards primary. We sat in with the 10-11 year old boys for must of Sunday school, then went in to the younger kids and shared a message about the sabbath day. Then we stayed for the older sharing time and sang and shared another message on the sabbath day for them. It was fun. A little draining after 7 hours of church though ha. More and more as I go on I grow in faith that all things are possible with Him who created the worlds. As I read in Mark about the storm tossed disciples on the Sea of Galilee crying out to the master, it helped me realize that if He created the world, and the universe and all that, why couldn't he calm the storm? We sometimes fear, or lose faith in our lives. We should not however, because He is Lord of all. There is not anything He cannot do. If we but ask, remembering that fact that He has all power, it can be given us. Thank you for all of your prayers, letters, and support. I appreciate it, they truly do help. I hope you all have a wonderful week! Love you all!

- Elder McKinney

And the SHORT LETTER to his Mom...Good thing there are only 11 more email days!  " I don't know what else to say this week. Sorry. Sounds like a lot going on back home. A lot going on here too. Hope all continues to go well. I'm sure you won't appreciate this email, hopefully my other one will suffice a little bit ha. Love you!"