I Have An Amazing Family

Dear Familia,

Haha dang!  Your weekly emails are a good reminder that life goes on without me! It sounds like so many things are going on in the ward and I can't believe I'm going to be the oldest missionary out! I still feel like such a newbie! It freaks me out seeing photos of Jack and listening to him speak! He's changed SOOOOOOOOO much physically, and from the sound of your letters, he's matured a lot spiritually too! Go Jack-Man! But seriously...can someone please tell him to stop growing up?! The photos I show to the members here don't look anything like what he looks like now. Ha, the photo I have of him is one with me and him fishing and he looks so little and still has his braces. The guy in these last couple of photos/videos is a full blown teenager! I hope he's minding his "P`s" and "Q`s" and is getting good and prepared to come out on the mission. It really is the BEST decision EVER! I don't regret for un segundo my decision to serve and feel SOOOO blessed to have the support that I do from the homefront. Last week I told you I was going to fill you in about my companion, so I hope you are all comfortably seated because her story is a good one.

Hna. L. is from Paraguay, and if you haven't googled it yet, it's a 3rd world country here in South America that is land locked...it's a lot like Bolivia in a lot of respects, and listening to her talk about how amazing Chile is compared to where she lives really makes me take a step back and count my many blessings. But her country isn't the only thing that makes a big difference between our backgrounds, she also happens to be a convert and the only member of her family. She was baptized when she was 13 years old and has faithfully attended church by herself for the past 7 years. Her parents are separated, she lives with her dad, and he was really against her decision to go on a mission. The past week she didn't get an email from anyone back home, and she said that she's gone months without getting a letter from her family! So needless to say she's AWESOME, and such a fantastic example! We don't talk a lot about the family because the contrast is striking, but this past week I got a FANTASTIC package from Timette that was such a blessing. The package had a lot of stuff to share with the people here, but the thing most precious was the Libros de Mormon that she sent with a photo of her family and her testimony inside. While I was reading the little letters from the YW I looked up at Hna. L., who was reading the testimony written in the LDM, and she was crying. She said that it was the most precious thing and that she couldn't believe I had family members that would do something like that. Together we looked through the Disney pins and she picked one to have, I told her that she could pick a pin for each member of her family too, and that we could send them in a package. She loved the idea, I then asked if she wanted to send a LDM to her family. She started to cry and said that she would really like to. So we are currently in the process of marking parts that we really like, and then we'll send it off to Paraguay.

Shout out to Timette and her family: Thank you so much for taking the time to send the package and translate your testimony. I know that it will make the difference in the lives of SO many people!

Shout out to the whole Fam-Bam: Thank you so much for supporting me, for writing me, for sending me packages and letters, for encouraging me to serve a mission, for setting the example for me, for raising me in the Gospel....thank you for EVERYTHING!

The amount of blessings I have in my life really is overwhelming! And I owe sooo many of them to the Gospel...at the end of the day having the Gospel and being able to be part of an eternal family is the blessing màs maravillosa en mi vida! And how amazing is it to share the gospel with the amazing people of Chile! This past week I found out from Hna. M. (companion in Coquimbo) that Millaray and Jesuan went and did baptisms in the temple, and Rebecca has the goal to go the end of this month with the Relief Society. Diego fasted with Hna. L. and me yesterday, and tonight he's going to talk with his dad about his baptismal date for this Saturday! Please keep praying for all of them!



XOXO-Hna. McKenna



Scripture: Mosiah 2:41

Fun Facts:

-I love riding in the metro to do interchanges because there are always crazy music performers.

-It has rained SO much this week and has been FREEZING! I have used the scarf that Mema knit me everyday! I think it'll become like the nasty scarf Dad had from Chile...I really do love this thing!

-In church yesterday we didn't have any electricity because of the weather...ha glad to know it's not just our casita that has problems here in Olmué :)

-We got permission from Pres. Dìaz to switch our casa! WAHOOO

P.S.    I haven't received your package yet :( I'll continue looking for it, I haven't lost faith yet!