Inviting a Child of God to Be Baptized

Dear Familia,

What an amazing week you guys had! It was so fun to hear how amazing the weekend was and all the blessings our family has received! Serving here in Chile I really and truly am SO humbled to see how much the Lord has blessed my life and how much he has blessed the lives of each one of you. The very fact that you have family that cares about you is a major blessing in and of itself, and the fact that you live in the United States is an AMAZING blessing God has given you! I loved hearing that Thanksgiving was a ROARING success :) and that the surprise 50th anniversary was a night to remember! What a great time to spend together as a family and get everyone together for the big farewell talk! Thanks for the shout out Nana :) and I'll make sure to be on the lookout for Hna. Olsen.

Now on to the investigators, remember María Jose, the investigator we were going to put a baptismal date with...well folks, she now has a baptismal date to be "reborn" the very day I was literally born, Dec. 12 :) How fun is that?!  María Jose is such a sweet and pure spirit, and started to cry when we invited her to be baptized. I think that is one of the things that I love most about being a missionary, inviting a child of God to follow our Savior, Jesus Christ, and be baptized. It's the most rewarding thing I've done in my life up to this point, and will forever cherish those special moments when they say yes.

This week the church put a new video on their web page called, "A Savior is Born." And at the end of the video it says, "More than 2000 years ago God sent Jesus Christ, our Savior. Discover why." Wow! It gives me chills just writing it!!!! This video is SO GOOD! I invite you all to watch it and afterwards spend this Christmas season learning and searching and discovering and feeling the love God has for us and why he sent us a Savior. You can find the video at LDS.org.



Have a fantastic week and know I'm praying and thinking about you all!



Con amor,

Hna. Mckenna



Fun Facts:



Hna. Lopez made some horrible garlic concoction to drink in order to clean her stomach (yearly Paraguay tradition) and the whole house smelled like garlic for days, and my companion also....it was not fun.



We are visiting a family that has a 6 year old little girl, and the other day when she answered the door she went running to find her mom and yelled, "Mom, the twins have arrived!" haha it was the cutest thing!



Photos:



The activity last week



District photo



Priest Quorum President (This man and his family have changed my life FOREVER. I'm so excited for you to meet him and his wife.)



Thanksgiving Dinner :) it turned out pretty dang good if I do say so myself!



Helping Hna. Cecilia put up her Christmas decorations

"Conozca a los Mormones"

Dear Familia,

Well folks, the miracles just keep on rolling in! This week we had a mission activity in the ward that Hna. Lopez and I planned called, "Conozca a los Mormones." (Meet the Mormons) We put flyers in every bus stop, in every little street store, and we had a giant poster made to put in front of the chapel. We really went the full ten yards, and the most amazing part is that the bishop and the ward leaders were right behind us supporting us all the way! On Friday we had the activity and over 70 people came, which is a huge success coming from a ward that has an average attendance rate of 74 :) A lot of members invited their friends and family members that aren't active and a good number of investigators that went to the activity showed up in church on Sunday.  Yes, we are two very happy little missionaries. Also, the mayor of Olmué came to the activity, which was HUGE for all the members! The mission work is really getting this ward moving! :)

Esteban came to church on Sunday, which was an amazing answer to prayers. We have a lesson with him in a couple hours, so we'll see how things go! María José (20 years old) is an investigator that came to the activity and then showed up to church the following day and stayed after to see a baptism the elders had. She's fantastic, and on Tuesday we're planning on putting a baptismal date with her.  After coming to the activity, her mom is also willing to listen to our message. God is working miracles in Olmué!

It's been great to see the progress of this ward and to feel so much love for all the people here, but unfortunately I don't think I'll be in Olmué for my last transfer. This morning one of the investigators we've been teaching (Warner… 35 years old from Germany) declared, "En mi búsqueda por Dio me enamoré contigo." (In my search for God, I have fallen in love with you)  Every time something like that happens we have to inform the leaders, and because he has attended church for about a month now, and has plans to be baptized, the elders are going to start teaching him and most likely they are going to ship me out in the next cambio...which is December 2. I'm really hoping that I can open a new area and train a newbie. That is how I started my mission, opening an area and being trained by an ex-sister trainer leader. I'm willing go wherever the Lord sends me, but a couple extra prayers on my behalf wouldn't hurt :)

We all know that this week is Thanksgiving (yes I will be eating my Thanksgiving dinner from a box...which I am EXTREMELY grateful for), so I can't sign off without a message about giving thanks. Ammon taught in the Book of Mormon, "Let us give thanks to God, for He doth work righteousness forever." Isn't that such a wonderful reminder? In the talk by Elder Russell M. Nelson, "Thanks Be to God" He states "Our degree of gratitude is a measure of our love for Him." We need to be always giving thanks to our Lord and Savior, showing our love for Him and all He does for us.

I love you all and am SO grateful for everything you do and for the blessings you are in my life!



XOXO-Hna. McKenna



Fun Facts:



I GOT THE PACKAGES!!!! wahoooooo!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH! I got Mema's package, The Wankier’s package, and the Thanksgiving and Christmas packages from Mom :)

I found two long black hairs in my lunch on Tuesday, Yummy yummy! (daily missionary life)

In the bathroom of Luis and Laura they have shower curtains that have the song "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine"... It made me happy :)


In the neighborhood where we live half of the houses are members and the other half are JWs (Jehovah’s Witnesses).  These past couple of weeks we've been having turf wars …Mormon missionary style ;)

The blankets we use in the mission are similar to the prison blankets in the movie "Get Smart" …and I think I found a human tooth in one of them...

"Who wants to live with God in his Celestial Kingdom?"

Dear Familia,

Well my lovely friends and family, this week two more souls took the first step back home to their loving Heavenly Father. Thanks so much for your loving prayers on behalf of Fernanda and Luis. It truly is so amazing to watch people take these first steps to be ready to return back to their heavenly home.

This week I was thinking a lot about that concept. About our return back home to God. It got me thinking, if someone asked the question, "Who wants to live with God in his Celestial Kingdom?" I'm sure everyone would say raise their hands, I know I would. And if they followed up with the question, "Who believes they would be worthy to live with God in His Kingdom if they died in this moment?" Ha ya, that follow up question really made me stop and think. What am I doing? What do I need to start doing? Thankfully, being a missionary I feel like every lesson God answers my questions through the investigators that we teach and their own personal questions.

This week we taught an investigator named Esteben. He's around 45 years old, crazy smart (in worldly terms) and loves reading the Book of Mormon. We talked with him about our purpose here on earth, the atonement, and the final judgment day. In the start of the lesson he wasn't getting how important it is to accept Christ/the atonement in our lives and follow the steps and guidelines he has given us. But when we got to the final judgment, things finally started to click for him. We talked about how nothing impure can live with God and how the only way to be made clean is through the atonement and accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior. It was an AMAZING experience being able to see his testimony of Jesus Christ growing right before our eyes!!! The spirit was super strong and after a pause in the lesson he looked at us and said, "Now I understand. Now I realize why baptism is important." He accepted baptism but is struggling with setting a date, prayers on behalf of Esteben are more than welcomed!

Love,

Hermana McKenna



Photos:









Baptism :)

The sisters I do exchanges with and Hna. Díaz.



The screen saver in the house of Luis and Laura :) FAMILIAS ETERNAS!

Promise We Are Not Spies From the US

Dear Familia,

Me gustan mucho los planes for our Chile trip in March! :)  We can change a little bit of the plans in my mission because Coquimbo is about 8 hours from Valpo, it would be best to visit Valpo, Olmue, and then Coquimbo because it's really far north, who knows, maybe we can fly out of Coquimbo or La Sarena. You had mentioned before the possibility of visiting Machu Pichu...I don't know if that is still in the plans, but it would be really neat to visit those ruins after studying the Book of Mormon. Just a thought....but I'm good with whatever :) the trip will be great no matter what :) I sure do love you guys!

What an amazing experience to have Elder Holland at Sacrament Meeting! That's something that everyone will never forget! Please send my love for the Shipp family. I sure love you, Mom, and hope that all is well. I'm still a STL and one of the sisters who I did interchanges with went home this week for some serious problems she was having in the mission. I'll tell you more about it when I get home. But we became really close and I'm going to write her and I also have to send a letter to the President about the interchange. I'll send a couple photos and fun facts, and next week I'll give more details about the sector. Please keep Luis and Fernanda in your prayers.



Fun Facts:



We had 3 people this week tell us we were spies from the United States....that comment always makes me laugh

We got the package with the BYU goodies and the package from Megan Brindley! SHOUT OUT to my South American sister: Muchas gracias por todos tus regalitos! Me encantó y estoy disfrutando todo los dulcesitos :)


I accidently scraped my forehead and now look like a blond-girl version of Harry Potter. Don't worry, I don't think it'll leave a scar quite like Harry's :)


For the first time in 16 months I ate SUBWAY!!!!



PS.  Thanks so much dad. I loved the letter, and it was a precious reminder. Have a great week :) Te amo!





Photos:


Lookie Lookie! My sweet mother is famous even in Chile :)



When Rebeca and her husband helped Luis, Laura, Fernanda, and Jose move.



The brother in the middle gave his farewell talk. The closing hymn was "I'll Go Where You Want Me to Go." It brought back SO many memories, and I may or may not have shed a tear....time passes way to fast!



Hna. Lopez and I enjoying the lovely package we received!!! Thank you SO much! She LOVED the package, and is currently wearing the BYU sweatshirt :)



Check out the flowers in the background!!! It's BEAUTIFUL here in Olmué and there are wildflowers everywhere you look! Even though we have to walk about 2-4 miles to get from one lesson to the next, it's definitely worth the walk!

We Are All 'Swans'

Dear Familia,

This week it was really fun to see how much the Chileans are getting into Halloween. According to what the members have told me, these past couple of years they have really started celebrating Halloween here in Chile. It was fun to see all the little kids running around with their costumes, it brought back a lot of fun memories of good ol' Santa Clara and all the craziness that goes on over there this time of year. This past week while everyone was preparing for Halloween and planning the costume they were going to use and who they were going to pretend to be, Hna. Lopez and I shared a lot about the importance of our true identity. There's a great Mormon Message called "Our True Identity" that is based off a talk by President Uchtdorf. In the Mormon Message it starts off telling the story of the ugly duckling and how it felt unaccepted, big, ugly, unwanted, and of little importance. It shares how the other ducks teased and made fun of him because he was different. He leaves the others and lives by himself, only to discover one day while looking in the water, he sees his true reflection. He discovers that he's not an ugly duck, he's not even a duck, but rather a beautiful and majestic swan.

Like the swan, most of us have felt at one time or another that we don't quite fit in. Much of the confusion we experience in this life comes from simply not understanding who we are. It's so sad to see, but here in the mission I've seen so many people go about their lives thinking they are of little worth when, in reality, they are beautiful and eternal creature of infinite value with potential beyond imagination!

Part of our purpose here on earth is to discover who we really are. Growing up in the church I have been blessed with the answers of why I'm here on earth, where I came from, and where I'm going after this earthly life. As members of the church we have the answers not because of someone's educated guess or because we found a scientific explanation. We have the answers because heavenly messengers and personal revelation have revealed these mysteries to man. This knowledge that we are children of God changes us. It changes how we act, how we make decisions, it changes everything. There will always be voices telling us that we are foolish to believe that we are swans. But we know better, we've seen our reflection in the water and have felt the love of our Father in Heaven testifying we are his children. We are not ordinary beings...we are glorious and eternal.

Never forget that even though we might dress up as someone different for Halloween, or the world might try telling us we're unimportant, and just an ugly duckling, we should never forget our true identity, that we are children of the most powerful and glorious being in the universe!

 I love you all and I love sharing this message with my lovely Chilean brothers and sisters.



XOXO-Hna. McKenna 



P.S

Look up the Momon Message, It's SOO good :)

hahahahahaha OH MY!!!! Did Megan and Ashley dress up as Bolivians!? HA that is to funny!

WAHOOOOO I HAD NO IDEA KYLIE WAS CALLED TO SERVE IN CHILE!  Ah she is one lucky duck!

"More Used Would I Be"

HOLA,

This week we had a bit of a surprise! We have been teaching La Familia Valenzuela these past couple of weeks, we're helping Fernanda (11 years old) prepare for her baptism on the 7th of November. She wanted her stepdad, Luis, to baptize her, so we talked with the Bishop in order to make goals with him so that he could receive the priesthood before her baptism. While trying to get his records sent to the ward here in Olmue, we found out that his records don't exist! We talked with the mission office and with a little research we discovered that he was baptized when he was 8 but he was never confirmed! SURPRISE! When we told him that his baptism isn't valid without receiving the Holy Ghost he asked if that meant he could be baptized again. We told him yes, and his whole face lit up! He said that he has felt such a strong desire to be baptized and start everything over again and that this time he was really going to follow Jesus in this new life that he wants to have. He and his family are so excited and are progressing SO much! They have started saying family prayers every night and are all reading in the Book of Mormón. The spirit that is in their house has changed 100%, and just in these past couple of weeks Hna. Lopez and I have been able to see a grande change in each and every one of them!



This past week I have been reflecting on how important it is to really follow Jesus after our baptism and become more like him. I have been meditating a lot on the hymn "More Holiness Give Me".  I have put the lyrics here and I want to focus on the last couple lines "more used would I be, more blessed and holy, more Savior like thee." I know that when we try a little more to be a little better, to be more holy, to be more like our Savior, we become better instruments in the hands of our Lord and Savior to help bless the lives of our brothers and sisters in this world.



1. More holiness give me,
 More strivings within,
 More patience in suff'ring,
 More sorrow for sin,
 More faith in my Savior, 
More sense of his care,
 More joy in his service,
 More purpose in prayer.

2. More gratitude give me, 
More trust in the Lord,
 More pride in his glory, 
More hope in his word,
 More tears for his sorrows,
 More pain at his grief,
 More meekness in trial, 
More praise for relief.

3. More purity give me,
 More strength to o'ercome,
 More freedom from earth-stains,
 More longing for home.
 More fit for the kingdom,
 More used would I be,
 More blessed and holy--
More, Savior, like thee.



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



XOXO-Hna. McKenna



Fun Facts:



-La Familia Valenzuela has three little weenie dogs that are SOOO CUTE!!! I LOVE them so much :) The other day the grandma was making costumes for them for Halloween, I'll try to send photos next week.



-In the Metro there are always people singing...some are good singers, some are bad, some are entertaining, and some are down right weird. Well, the other day we were in the Metro headed to Viña and the guy that started to sing and play the guitar decided he was going to sing about everything I did! His song went a little like this, "The blond is sitting looking out the window. She closes here eyes. She opens them again. She scratches her nose. She tries not to look at me. You can tell she's not from around here. She doesn't speak our language. Maybe for that reason she's not looking at me." I finally look at him and give him a smile telling him thanks for the song. It was the most uncomfortable train ride I've had here in Chile!





PS… I'm 100% ok with Jack and Carrson coming with us to Chile in March. I think it will be great for them and great family memories. haha Also I think every young woman, investigator and convert that has seen photos of my family is looking forward to meeting my brothers ;)



I'm so happy for Amanda!!! And I LOVE the idea of touring Europe, haha sign me up :) OH how precious is little baby Aaron! He and Indy are going to have so much fun!



Indy’s nursery is SO, SO, SO, SO, SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!!!!!!



PHOTOS:

I might not have been able to be part of the adorable Baby Shower for my adorable little Indy, but I did get to help Karina with her Baby Shower for sweet little Alicia :) I love the little tender mercies God gives us.

Chilean Pride...would you check out that view! Haha yes I did have to climb the hill/mountain in order have the view. There is a recent convert that lives in the 2nd to last house on the tip of the mountain.

Our District Leader gave Hna. Lopez and me little candy dolls modeled after a photo we took as a district....I may or may not have done a photo shoot with mine.

The infamous CHICHA...aka moonshine.

Felipe´s Baptism!!!!

The photo of our District that inspired the candy doll.

An FHE we had with La Familia Figaroa (the husband is the President of the Priest Quorum.) and La Familia Valenzuela (Laura-less active, Luis-investigator, José-less active, and Fernanda-investigator.) 

Our neighbor María Virginia. She was an investigator, but we stopped teaching her because she wasn't progressing in the lessons.

Felipe is Baptized!

Dear Familia,

Felipe got baptized!!!!!!!!! It was by far one of my all time favorite baptismal services. There were so many people there to support him and his decision, and so many of them were family members that had traveled from different cities in order to be part of his baptism. Seeing them all there gathered together supporting him reminded me a lot of our family and how we always get together and are one big crazy bunch! Haha that's how this baptismal service was....a lot of little kids running around everywhere, a lot of noise, a lot of food, and a lot of love!

Hna. Lopez and I knew that the baptismal service was going to be a big deal so we prepared everything PERFECTLY a week in advance and had it all ready to go. But heaven forbid we have a baptismal service without any complications. Ha 5 minutes before the baptismal service is about to start the mission leader informs us that he doesn't know where the keys are to open the curtain for the baptismal font...which means nobody is going to be able to see the baptism! We have 50 people (members, nonmembers, investigators etc...) waiting to see his baptism and the curtains won’t open! We decide that the bishop is going to start the baptismal service while the mission leader figures something out and is running around trying to find a key to open the curtain. While all of this is happening I'm trying not to stress...which is hard for me to do when there are investigators involved (Fernanda and her family came to see the baptism). While I'm silently praying that the curtains will open a thought pops into my head that my family has been praying for Felipe's baptism and that everything is going to be ok. That thought really calmed me down and 10 minutes later the mission leader gives me the thumbs up letting me know that the curtains are opened and after we finish with the musical number everyone is going to be able to see the baptismal service. Just another amazing testimony builder that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.

The following day in Sacrament Meeting all of the testimonies were on how families can be together forever. Felipe got baptized with that goal in mind and he and Karina are already planning their sealing in a year from now. It's the most beautiful thing my little missionary ears have heard, and little missionary eyes have seen. And not only did Fernanda (investigator) and her family (Luis, Laura, and Jose - all of which are less active) attend the baptismal service of Felipe, but they also all attended church on Sunday and LOVED it! Luis got baptized when he was 8 and became less active immediately, Laura was baptized 4 years ago with José in a different ward and when they moved 3 years ago they lost contact with the church, all of them hardly remember anything about the church, but they loved the lessons, especially on the family.

 I love being a missionary. I love being able to share this beautiful message with the people of Chile. I love my family I have here in Chile among all my companions and members. And I love my family that supports me and helps me from the home front in Utah!



XOXO-Hna. McKenna

Fun Facts:

-In Limache, the neighboring town, there is some crazy Chilean that is always dressed as a clown! I've seen him about 5 times now and it's the weirdest, creepiest thing!

-Rebeca (recent convert) called us at 10 o'clock at night because she was so excited to share with us the symbolism she found in Jacob 5 while she was reading! Bless her heart!

-José (Fernanda's brother) was playing soccer with one of his friends in a field by his house. Hna. Lopez and I passed by and started talking with them and made a deal that if they did more juggles than us we'd buy them an alfajor (chocolate covered cookie with manjar) and if I did more juggles than them we'd have a lesson with them. Needless to say I still got skills while juggling in Danskos and a skirt! José did 14 juggles and I did 15...I didn't want to embarrass the poor guy :) Soccer skills=Saving souls :)



SHOUT OUT: GO SC WARRIORS GIRLS SOCCER!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't worry, you're in my prayers ;)