Ayuno y Milagros!

Dear Familia,

For you non-Spanish speakers out there, this subject means "fasting and miracles" and that is exactly what happened this week! So last week Hna. Day and I started the transfer off fasting together that we can find and teach people who are truly prepared for baptism and have a testimony of the restoration (which is the key to EVERYTHING...eternal marriage, word of wisdom, tithing...everything!) 

I told you all about how Esther needed to go back to Ecuador but wanted to be baptized before she left. Well, we taught her about the power of fasting and she was soooo down for fasting for help to be baptized. She fasted and the next day we got permission to baptize her and give her the Holy Ghost 24 hours before she left the country! It was pretty crazy! She really is SO amazing and has a stronger testimony of the Restoration than I did when I came out on the mission! She bore her testimony after receiving the Holy Ghost and everyone in the baptismal service was floored! She's so pumped to go to the temple in Ecuador and do baptisms for her grandparents and has already been in contact with the ward she'll be in in Ecuador! Dang, I love that girl! 

Rebeca has been a little harder of a nut to crack. Her son is an ex-missionary and the only member in the family. He got home from the mission in Jan. and has been working with the missionaries since then to help him with his family. (I love this because it shows how important the family is and how precious it is that we do everything to share it with the people we love most). Rebeca is the most receptive and has progressed a ton since her son has been home. Last month she got married so that she could be baptized (a GIANT miracle in and of itself), but since her marriage she has had 2 baptismal dates that have fallen through because the day of her baptism she never showed up to church!!! Hna. Day and I didn't know what to do to help her, because she's reading, praying, going to church, living the word of wisdom (which also has been one of her struggles), and in the interview for baptism she passes with flying colors, but she's always saying how she's still not ready. So what did we do....WE FASTED! We then made a list with her of all the things she thinks she needs to do to be ready for baptism.  After, we set a day this week to fast with her so that she can know the date that she should be baptized and we can work with her for this date! Please keep her in your prayers! 

I know the power of fasting is real and that through fasting we can witness miracles. If you can, you should read the talk "Is This Not the Fast That I Have Chosen" from General Conference in April. It teaches us how we can truly receive the blessings from truly fasting! I promise you that whatever doubts, worries, struggles, questions, help, or support you need can be answered through fasting and faith. 

I love this sector, it is BEAUTIFUL! I love the mission! I love being with Hna. Day! I love this ward! I love the Lord! Dang, life is good! I hope you all have a great 4th of July and think of me while you're eating hot dogs watching fireworks! 

XOXO-Hna. McKenna 

Fun Facts:

On Sunday, a member asked us to help here with her Primary class and teach them what we do as missionaries. According to the 5 year olds of the Olmuè Ward, what we do as missionaries is give out stickers, eat, and receive fruit from their parents...haha they also think we teach Chinese classes. 

As a mission we're going to fast for rain in this region of Chile because it's SOOO dry! 

Scripture: 

I read in Mormon 8:3-5 and got sooo depressed. Here Moroni is saying how he's all alone and it doesn't even matter if he lives or not! It made me really reflect on our purpose in this life. Having a purpose makes all the difference! Moroni had so much do to! He was going to be the prophet that was going to write chapter 10:4-3 the very promise of the Book of Mormon!!!!!! God had a HUGE plan for him, and he has a huge plan for each one of us! Live life with purpose and always remember God has a plan for you! 

Why a Mission?

Well family and friends, the transferes have come and gone and they shipped me out of Tierras Blancas and sent me to Olmuè! I don't have a ton of time to write about how CRAZY it is here because Bishop Parker asked me to write something for the YM so I just decided to send you what  I wrote to him for the Priest camp out thing and fill you in a little with fun fact about what the sector is like. But please pray for Ester and Rebeca. Rebeca is a investigator that is really struggling with droppìng tea and Ester is an investigator that is SOOOOO receptive but has to go back to Ecuador on the 27th. We're praying that we can get permission to baptize her and confirm her on Wed. before she has to leave!

BISHOP

I just want to share with you guys how irreplacable the mission is in your lives and how there is a reason it is a comandment of God for all worthy young men to go. I wish it was a comandment for the girls too, because I know the mission has blessed me more than any other decision I could have made at this point in my life. And I want every last one of you to make the same decision. My hope for you is that this weekend you can feel the spirit testify to you that the most important thing you can do in these next couple of weeks, months, or years, is prepare yoursleves to come join me, and all the other thousands of missionaries in the world, in the Lords Army. 

The most important things I could share with you is how much God loves you, is aware of  you, and knows your name, knows where you're going to be called, your companions, your mission presidente. He knows the lessons you're going to have and the challenges you're going to face. He's preparing the mission for your arrival, and you, as young men, need to start preparing yourself for the mission. The mission is the most important thing you could ever do in your life. As a missionary you are engaged in the saving of the human soul. And that is the highest and holiest work in the UNIVERSE! And God himself has commanded you to come join the ranks! And work side by side with the prophets and aposteles in this life saving work! Being called to the Lords work is 1,000 times better than any vertual "Call of Duty" video game the world could EVER make! 

It's kind of "grow-up" time. God will send you to the temple, give you the most important covenants a man or woman can make on the face of this planet at 18 or 19 and invite you to come and do the work that God Himself has labored over and toiled over, and wept over, and pursued since before the beginning of time! And He's asking for your help! You Karsten, Blake, Jackson, Isaac, etc....(sorry at this point I don't exactly know who all is a priest it's been so much time!) But He's asking for your help, you specifically! 

I'll be the first to tell you this work is hard! There are hard days, long days, challenging days, troublesome days when Lucifer is real, when evil is rampant and problems abound, and things are going on in the house, and going home will look dang nice! But if you have any fellings about going home, you cannot. you must not. Not for the Church's sake, the Church wouldn't miss you that fast! you cannot go for your own sake!  Plan right now to work your heade off! You'll never work so hard in your life. And when you're tired and sweaty and dirty and hungry, you'll know how Paul felt, and you'll know how Peter felt, and you'll know how Mormon, and Moroni, and Alma felt! And you'll give the same amazing legacy to your younger syblings and the decons in the ward that these amazing missionaries left for you! When things get rough just remember God loves you, knows you and called you to the work. Reach down, pull up your socks, and go to work! Jack-Atack sent me a little plaque on the mission that says "forget yourselft and go to work," and reminds me every day to keep going. I plead with you to have a 24-month mission! Not 23, not 22, not 19, not 16, not 14...to have a 24-month mission! 

When I left on the mission I had no idea what to expect, I just knew it was a decision I needed to make. This past year I left behind precious school time, good food, comfy clothes, free time, a boyfriend, time with the family, my car, my friends, marriages,...and the list goes on! But there is no doubt in my mind that serving a mission is the BEST decision I have ever made in my life! In the mission I have come to know my Savior like never before. I testify of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose restored gospel we are called to share. I know He lives, I know He loves us, and I know His perfect gospel has been restored through Joseph Smith, and thanks to these precious truths we can have eternal life. I would not be here in Chile, in a freezing cold ghetto computer shack if this wasn't the truth. Give me a little more credit than that! This is the truth, and I invite you to do everything you can to know these truths for yourself and share them with the world! In the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. 

Fun Facts:

-Where I'm serving is a TON like Duck Creek! 

-I was in a trio with Hna. Carlson and Hna. Mariscal for a week because the companion of Hna. Carlson finished her mission. I'll send pics next week! 

-I saw my lovely hijita, Hna. Prates, in the reunión de cambios and we bothed cried! Boy do I love that little Brazilian....even though she gave me more than a couple grey hairs! 

-My new compaion is Hna. Day from Arazona!!!!  I don't know if you remember, but we were compaions in the CCM!!!!! I't sooo fun to be with her again! 

Last Week With My President

Dear Familia,

Because I've been slacking on the picture sending I figured I would let the pictures do all the talking this week, and spice them up with a couple fun facts. ENJOY!

Hna. Milka, She's a recent convert and always used to wear the grey hat that I'm wearing. She gave me the hat last Sunday because she said it matched my hair....I didn't know if it was a complement or not!

An activity we did as a zone because we had the most baptisms in the mission. Sorry the quality is terrible, but the activity was SUPER fun! As you can tell we played soccer and it was cool to be able to hang with some real fútbol players :)

All of the STL and Hna. Kahnlien in our last consejo before the Pres. and Sis. Díaz arrive.

Pres. y Hna. Kahnlien in our last consejo! Boy oh boy am I going to miss those guys!

After the consjeo Pres. took us out to eat at a way fancy restaurant!

At this quite fancy restaurant they gave us these lovely looking sausage things.....don't trust them!!!! It turned out to be blood sausage and it was disgusting!!!! However, the meat was good :) 

Hna. Hansen was my first STL and this next transfer she's going home!!! Crazy how time flies! But don't worry she's not going home because of the boot...she actually had the option to go home early, but she said she'd rather walk 6 more weeks in the mission with the boot, than sit at home for 6 weeks without it! DANG I love that girl! DANG I love the mission! She taught me well!

This is Hna. Veronica. She's the sweet member that washes our clothes every Saturday, we also skyped home from her house.

FUN FACTS:

La Copa America is going on right now in Chile and every night when we walk the streets we hear people chanting CHI CHI CHI-LE LE LE VIVA CHILE!!!! And there is absolutely NOBODY in the streets when Chile is playing! NOBODY!

When we sing hymns to start companionship study, Hna. Mariscal makes me sing solos when there are high notes...the thing is if anybody knows me they know I can't hit those notes either. I think she does it to get a good laugh in the mornings...actually I know that's why she does it!

Argentina played in La Serena last week which is pretty much 10 minutes from my sector. Do you know what that means...yes, it means that this past week I was only 10 minutes away from the best soccer player in the WORLD, MESSI!!!!! Who knows, maybe I'll bump into him while I'm contacting!

I love you all and hope you have a great week!!!!
XOXO - Hna. McKenna

I Believe in Miracles

Dear Familia, 

This week was AWESOME and filled with all sorts of miracles, thanks to the love and patience Heavenly Father has for his children! I can't imagine how frustrating it must be for God to have to work with someone as imperfect and hard-headed as I am in order to perform his miracles and help his children progress in the Plan of Salvation.

 I want to start things off with a little story, about a little missionary, that was serving in a skinny little country called Chile. She didn't have a lot of investigators that wanted to progress and she and her companion had been praying good and hard for the past 2 weeks to find people who were really prepared to receive the Gospel. They were looking high and low and walking to the Boondocks to try and find these prepared children of God. However, this whole time the little old man that lived in their apartment building was sitting and waiting for them to come visit him. He had received a Restoration pamphlet from some missionaries he met in the street and placed the pamphlet in the window so that the 2 little sister missionaries would pass by his house. But these little missionaries were too busy with other grand plans they had made to find people ready to receive the restored gospel that they never listened to the thelittle spirit telling them that there was a prepared soul right outside their front door. This past week when they finally saw the pamphlet and went to talk with the little old man, who wants to be baptized and has already received an answer from the Holy Ghost that the Restoration is real, they couldn't believe how hard headed and silly they had been this whole time,searching high and low, doing all these grand and extravagant things, when the answer was so simple and easy. 

Sadly, this isn't some made up story, but is the life of your sweet friend and family member, Hna. McKenna. The little old man's name is Marco and he's AMAZING!!!!!! However, I can't even express how embarrassed I felt that I had been praying so hard for so long, literally walking to the corners and limits of my sector, when he was right there the whole time! 

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from this miracle that was waiting for us on our doorstep.

1. The importance of talking with EVERYONE about the Gospel!!! Especially the people that are closest to us in our lives…family, friends, neighbors...it doesn't matter how many times you've passed by, or how many times you've talked to them about the Gospel,you never know when Heavenly Father is preparing them for YOUR testimony!! 

2. Heavenly Father has a sense of humor...and is SOOOOO patient with his children. 

3. Heavenly Father always listens and responds to our prayers, we just need to be receptive to the promptings of the Spirit and recognize the answers. 

4. Even when we're hard headed, make mistakes, or are inadequate instruments, Heavenly Father loves us and is still willing to work with us. 

Also, this week Erica received an answer to the Book of Mormon!!!!!!!! One of my favorite parts about being a missionary is listening to people share their experiencias about how they've received an answer that the B of M is true. Erica described it like her life was like a lake and the water was all rough, but when she kneeled down to pray about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, everything became really peaceful and the water became totally calm. I LOVE IT!!!!! How beautiful is that description!? This gospel brings peace! 

This week there were a lot of high moments, and a lot of low moments. During the week I was starting to let Satan make me think that all the low moments canceled out the good that was happening in our sector. Because of a talk my comp. shared with me I started thinking of all the high moments as drops of awesomeness in the bucket of life/mission, and that couldn't be effected by the low moments. An investigator read the B of M...drop of awesome. I wrote two sentences in my journal...drop of awesome. A lot of recent converts came to church...drop of awesome. But at the end of the day I'm never going to be able to fill this bucket with my tiny tiny drops of awesome...and that, my friends, is where the giant pitcher of the Atonement comes into play and fills this bucket until it starts overflowing!!!! The Atonement is real and makes up for everything we lack in awesomeness, spiritualidad, charity, etc....Christ is always here to help us, to change us, so that one day we can be as awesome as him.

Love you all! You're all awesome!

XOXO-Hna. McKenna

Fun Facts: 

-Monica had her baby!

-Millary and Paula shared their testimonies on Sunday. It was SOOOO sweet! Paula shared about how God loves us and that He was watching over her little brother in the pre-earth life...she started to cry...so did I...ya, I'm still a cry baby. And Millary bore her testimony on the B of M and Joseph Smith. She's a powerhouse and is currently in Mosiah 26.

-Jesuan is currently passing the sacrament, said the opening prayer last Sunday, and has memorized D&C 13. 

-Thanks to my Latina compañera and the other hispanic missionaries, I have discovered that I am learning the worst Spanish in all of South America...I apologize if nobody can understand me when I get home. 

- A Quote that I LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Remember, if you have not chosen the Kingdom of God first in your lives, it will make no difference, in the end, what you have chosen instead." Pres. Boyd K. Packer 

We have so little..He makes up the difference

Dear Familia,

Sorry about not getting a group email out last week, things were pretty crazy, and I got wrapped up in writing a letter to President Kahnlien...and boom, before I knew it the time was gone...ha, I think that is how time works in the mission. Last week my rock solid, awesome companion was really having a struggle against herself. She is 26, got baptized 3 years ago, was born in Ecuador, grew up in New Jersey, comes from a super rough background, all of her family members were baptized, but her sister is the only one active in the church. And although she has had more success in the mission (as far as baptisms go) than any other missionary I know, the past week she was having a really rough time. During companionship study she really broke down and told me that she wanted to go home, and that she wasn't making a difference in the lives of our investigators, converts, less actives, members, and that she couldn't even help her own family. It was really hard to see her like that, because she is pretty much my idol in the mission. I think the world of her and I couldn't believe how much Satan was attacking her. We talked a lot, read some scriptures, read some talks, and by the end we decided to study different stories of Christ's life and get to know more our Savior and His infinite love for us. Doing this helped a TON with how my companion was feeling with everything. Something that I love that I learned this week in my study of the Savior's life is how he takes our insufficiencies (no idea how to spell that) and helps us where we fall short. In the Bible there are countless times when Jesus does this but what I studied this week was the story of when Jesus took the bread and fish and multiplied it to feed thousands of people. I love it because it starts off with a lack of something...in this case food...in my case, it's a lack of knowledge, patience, charity, understanding, love, faith (long story short, it's a lack of everything!)  Jesus first asked them to bring what they had...a little bit of bread and a couple fishes. And after the people give all that they have to Him is when Jesus performs the miracle, and provides sufficient food for everyone. As a missionary I often feel that way. That when it comes down to it, I have very little to offer the people, I'm lacking in every area, but if I bring all that I have...if I bring my tiny “loaf of bread and fish", He will perform the miracle and make it sufficient for what the people in Tierras Blancas need. The Savior is waiting to perform the miracle, we just need to give Him what we have first. In the case of the mission, my time, talents, energy, thoughts, and most importantly, heart. Wow, this gospel is AMAZING! 

As far as the updates go on our investigators, the lovely Lira Family has gone on vacation and we haven't been able to have contact with them for almost 2 weeks now...but we have yet to lose hope! They're a family worth waiting for! We have started teaching Natalia and Joselin (sister in laws, who's Mother in Law is a recent convert). They are both married, WAHOOOO, and have cute little hijitos :) We also found 2 "escojidos" Sunday night, "escojido" directly translated means "chosen one", but in Chile missionary lingo it means "someone whom God has prepared to meet the missionaries". His name is Carlos and his wife is Erica. They also are MARRIED!!!! (I have never learned to appreciate married people as much as I have on the mission). They are both sooo good! The wife, Erica, does the little homework part of the pamphlets that we give her and Carlos' friend is a Bishop in Antofogasta! They both are reading in the Book of Mormon and accepted baptism, however, Carlos works in the mines and is hardly ever home, so finding time to teach him is hard, and attending church is also difficult...but thankfully, not impossible.  Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers! 

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! 

Love,

Hermana McKenna

Dating Tips for Jack-attack:

Develop every attribute of Moroni! (Alma 11-12, 17)

Fun Facts:

Some guy that we met in the taxi going to District Meeting gave us a lucky rock.

I now LOVE milk!!!!