Christmas Week

Greetings Everyone! :)

This week was soooo awesome! Thank you all for the packages, I loved all of them!! I had a most glorious Christmas day. I was so happy to see my families smiling faces!!! :) 

This week was so good work wise as well. We just buckled down and went to work, relying on the Lord. Saw a lot of little miracles this week. One day we were at this families house that hadn't been to church in a while and we committed them to coming (They did end up coming by the way, they were at church yesterday!) and then when we left there house we just decided to knock there neighbors door. It was this single young dude, named Jamison who is going to college here in Topeka. He is a pretty classy dresser and kind of a hipster so we all related pretty well I think. haha

But ya, he totally just let us in and we taught the Restorartion and he was super receptive. The spirit was so strong, especially during the first vision part. My favorite part about teaching the Restoration is reciting the Fist Vision, it just brings the Spirit in so strong. But ya we have a return appointment with him this week so hopefully he works out! So my mom asked me to say in this email something that I've taken from all my companions. So here it goes. Elder Smart was a great example to me of just loving everyone. Elder Jones was a great example of hard work and being service oriented. And Elder Pututau is a great example of making the work fun, being likable, and teaching by the Spirit. I'm so grateful for all the missionaries I've come in contact with though. And I'm grateful to be out here and be a missionary myself. I hope everyone's holiday was the awesome, and i luvv you all! 

-Elder McGee

Hey Ya'll

Hey Ya'll

So this week was awesome! It snowed, so me and Elder Pututau had a lot of snowball fights. hahaAlso, Dakoda, the teenagerr we teach got baptized on Saturday. I got to speak at it. It was such an awesome day! His grandpa and grandma are in our ward, so his grandpa baptized him. He lives with his grandparents cause his parents are not in good spots. His grandparents never pushed the church on him. One day a couple months ago he was fishing with his grandpa and just started asking questions about the church. So they started having the Elders come over. But I guess it just wasn't happenin. But when me and Elder P started teaching him you could tell he got it and his testimony just kept growing and growing. He also really likes us a lot, Cause me and Elder P are both mega goofy, so we're pretty tight with him. I love that kid! The coolest thing ever that his grandpa said to us is that he believes Dakoda hadn't gotten baptized until now is because he was waiting for us, that he needed us to teach him the gospel. That was so awesome!! Dakoda is the first person I've met on my mission that I feel like they needed me specifically. It seriously means the world to me!But I love all of you, and I hope you all have a phenomenal Christmas! :)-Elder McGee

My Mission & Stuff

Helloooo Loved Ones :)

I just wanted to quickly express my love for the state of Kansas and the people whom occupy it. I have met some of the most genuine, nice people on my mission. I already can't wait to bring my family back here one day! :)

My mission has been so awesome! But you should also know it's not always a walk in the park, even though I'm sure you already that. This has definitely been the hardest thing I've ever done! My faith and patience have never been tested like this in my life. And I've never had to rely on Heavenly Father and the Atonement this much either. I've learned a lot about the Atonement on my mission. It blows my mind. I have to repent everyday and plead for strength almost everyday. It's hard cause i just want to handle everything on my own. But Jesus Christ performed this great act of love, but he's not going to make us clean against our will. We need to take advantage of the Atonement. And use the enabling power of it as well for strength in times of trial. But hey, I love ya'll! Have a lovely Holiday Season! #SharetheGift #LifeisaHighway #LoveisanOpenDoor #Can'tStopWon'tStop

-Elder McGee

Christmas Cheer

It was a blessed week here in Topeka, Kansas! The Christmas cheer is finally here! :) 

Christmas time is such a sacred and cool time to be a missionary! I don't know how many of you have heard of the "He is the Gift" video going around. But if not i'd definitely encourage you to watch it and then #SharetheGift. 

This week I am very grateful for all the inspired leaders in the church whom have been called of God. They're guidance and counsel is awesome! 

This week I was talking with my district leader Elder Howell on an exchange and we were talking about the difference between happiness and joy and we were getting into some deep stuff. And anyways it made me look back on the past few months of my mission and also before my mission as well. And i finally get how to have lasting happiness or how to stay happy I guess. It's being selfless. Which I've been told before that helping others is going to bring more happiness and stuff. But I don't know that I really believed that back home, I just loved thinking of myself to much. Selflessness. That's what it's all about. It's flippin hard though! I'm trying to apply it first by at the end of the day thinking about how much of the day I spent doing my will and much of it was me doing the Lord's will. It's all about just aligning your will with Heavenly Father's will. But hey, I love you all so much! Sooo ya, keep it real! :)

-Elder McGeezy

Dec 2014

Hello Loved Ones!

This week was just marvelous! So there's this activity going on at our church building on the 5th and 6th called Nativities and Noels which is this thing where there's gunna be like hundreds of different nativity scenes and live music and stuff. And we have a bunch of invites for it! So to hand them out, Me, Elder Pututau, and one other set of missionaries went to the mall on Black Friday with a hymn book and a bunch of the invites. So we just went to town singing Christmas songs to people and handing out these invites. It was really cool! But Thanksgiving was really good! I've never eaten so much food in my life! And something very exciting will be happening on the 13th this month! A kid named Dakoda Self, whom we teach, will be getting baptized! I'm so excited for this kid! He's the coolest 15 year old ever! He's been through a lot and he just moved in with his grandpa and grandma who are in our ward. But ya, the work is definitely moving along! It's super exciting! But I just want all you to know that I just love being a missionary and I love this gospel and the Plan of Happiness! :)I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! And I hope that as you go into this Christmas season that you are able to remember the "Christ" in "Christmas" and not get to caught up in it all. :) But I love you all! Stay Classy:)-Elder McGee

end of my first 3 months in the field...

Hello Everybody!

This was a good week, we had some really good lessons where the spirit was felt strongly. We're seeing miracles everyday! I did receive some sad news though. A recent convert that I worked with in Colby named Henry passed away this week. It was really sad to hear, but at the same time he was in quite a bit of pain all the time and I know he's in a better place. I'm so grateful to have a knowledge of our Heavenly Father's Plan of Salvation or Plan of Happiness. Having that knowledge makes me so so happy! And I've been thinking about what makes me genuinely happy and I've come to realize none of them are temporal, they are all spiritual things. Like when I feel the Spirit work through me, my family, the knowledge of the gospel, sharing the gospel etc.Temporal things used to make me really happy, like getting a new watch or my car or whatever, and I'd be lying if I said they still don't make me happy, but I'm working on having a more Eternal Perspective. I love my family so much! And this week is the first Thanksgiving that i have ever spent apart from them. Which is kind of sad. But I promise this holiday season I spend apart from you guys will not go in vain. I will work my tail off to bring as many people unto Christ as I can with the Lord's help. And I will do it the Lord's way because this is the Lord's work! :) And feel free to keep me accountable to my promise. I challenge you guys this Thanksgiving, if you go around the table and say something your thankful for this year, to say some spiritual rather than temporal. And don't worry bout me at all, I'm going to get fed very well on Thursday! Which reminds me! I've gained 10 pounds since I've been out on my mission. So ya, I'm getting pretty stacked...But Happy Thanksgiving Everyone, I love all ya'll :)-Elder McGee 

me and elder howell

 me and elder pututau

This week in Topeka

Hey Peeps! :) This week was freezing! Me and Elder Pututau share a car with these other Elders so we get it every other week. This week we didn't have it...so walking in that weather was extremely cold! But ya, Elder Pututau has only been in this area two weeks longer than me so we're both pretty new to it. And the the investigators the other missionaries left for us were not the most committal people. So we've been working on just building up a pretty much whole new teaching pool. Which is rough. But we're trying to do so as effectively as possible. So we're trying to find through member referrals a lot. We're also visiting less actives cause our mission President wants us to make reactivating less active members more of a priority. But ya, it's going good. Me and Elder Pututau are having a blast! I need to get better at basketball though. Cause every week we play with bishop and some non-members we're trying to get to church and stuff. And anyways I am a horrible basketball player so ya...but hopefully I'm a baller by the time I get back. haha So, a quick funny story for ya. So our heater broke earlier this week in our apartment so we called the maintenance guy and he came over the next day to fix it. So he's over fixing the heater and we leave for the day while he's still fixing it, and we forgot to bring our house key. So when this guy leaves, he locks the door behind him. When we get home later that night and try to open our apartment we came to the sad realization we were locked out in freezing cold. So Elder Pututau being the heroic, beastly, polynesian guy he is instinctively decides to bust the door open! And he does it with one kick. It was the most legit thing I've ever seen. But it broke the door a little bit so we fixed it the next day. No one will ever have to know! ;) haha Well keep it real everybody! Love you!

Hello Topeka!

heyy everyone!

This week was real crazy, I got emergency transfered to the capitol of Kansas. The wonderful city of Topeka! I love it here! It is sooo pretty! Don't get me wrong I loved the small town of Colby but I totally dig the city! hahaBut yeah, My new companion is awesome. It's the craziest of coincidences! I don't know if you guys remember my first email in Kansas. Buuut this really stacked polynesian guy named elder Pututao took me out proselyting. Well, guess who my new companion is?? Elder Pututao! He is so awesome! I freakin love polynesians! hahaBut yeah, the work is going to be great here and I'm super stoked! It's starting to get real cold...so pray for me. hahaBut yeah, that's about all i got...so how about i share a scripture of the week?? :)Alma, Chapter 7. It's about the Atonement and everything Jesus suffered for. It's really amazing and I really have learned a lot about the power of the Atonement. It's so amazing, and it's something we need to use and take advantage of to show him we appreciate this ultimate sacrifice. I know this church is true, and I love that i can look people square in the face and say that to them! I love this gospel and serving the Lord! :) I love all of you so much, and hope all is well. Keep it Real!-Elder McGee

This Week

Hola!

So this week it was a little bit chillier than usual. So i'm just kinda trying to physically and emotionally prepare my self for the horrid winter everyone says is around the corner. hahaI am thoroughly enjoying myself, the work REALLY picked up this week! We found the coolest dude named Cody! He has been so prepared by Heavenly Father! We put him and his girlfriend who he's marrying this month on date for baptism. He's such a humble, good guy who wants to know more about God. I really admire his humbleness, humility is definitely one of the Christ like attributes I am working on. It was definitely a miracle and a blessing we were able to find him!And yesterday at church this new family moved into our branch that has like four young men in their family which is legit! We only had one young man in the branch, so this is awesome we can actually kind of have a young mens program! No young women though. hahaThere was just a lot of people at church yesterday! It was super cool to see, that our branch is growing! I've really grown to love our little branch here in Colby, Kansas hahaA lot of really great, humble people!I also found out that a member of the Seventy is coming to our mission in two weeks to speak to all of us, so that'll be cool! Apparently before i got here Elder Bednar came and spoke to the mission! How legit would that have been?? But I still got pretty much two years, so I'm crossing my fingers for like Elder Holland or something. hahaBut yeah that's all i got for today, but i hope everyone's doing good. And feel free to ask questions for next week:) Peace!-Elder McGee

Good Ole' Kansas

Hello Loved Ones :)This week was quite a week. I'm learning a lot from Elder Jones! He is very knowledgeable.  Elder Jones and I get along. He's definitely a lot different than Elder Smart, who I really liked. But hey, how boring would it be and how little would you grow if all your companions were the same!? hahaWe are definitely going to try and build up our teaching pool a lot this week!! Cause we have some good investigators, who will commit to things like coming to church and stuff but are hesitant to commit to baptism. We do have two people on date for baptism though. Sometimes I wish their was just this perfect investigator. hahaBut I just gotta push those kind of thoughts out of my mind. Everyone's got their struggles. Those impatient and selfish thoughts are the "natural man" inside of me! :(Something really cool that me and Elder Jones have been doing is taking a service approach with the people we meet. I now definitely have a testimony of how service softens the hearts of people. Then they are more receptive to the wonderful message about Jesus Christ that we have to share with them! :) But service is not a tactic or strategy to get people to listen to us but an attitude to have. Well, I don't have a ton of time today so I will see you all off, but I hope you are doing well!
                                                             Love, Elder McGee

The past week of my life...‏

Why Hello Everyone! So this past week I got my new comp, Elder Jones. He's pretty sweet! He's really into health and fitness. There's actually surprisingly enough a cross fit gym here in Colby and he want's me to go with him to it and I'm like, "Nah, that ain't me.." so ya. haha
But this week was SUPER productive as far as missionary work goes. I think it's because we've been walking a lot more and using our car a lot less, actually. This way we've just been able to street contact a lot more. We've found a lot of investigators this way! I like street contacting a lot more than tracting. If you are unfamiliar with these terms tracting is more door-to-door and street contacting is more just walking up and down the streets and talking to people already outside of their house. It's super fun! I've seen so many miracles the past few days! So, our area covers more than just Colby, it covers a few small towns nearby as well such as Oakley, Seldon, Levant, and Quinter. I don't know if any of those mean anything to any of you...haha
But anyways the senior couple missionaries took us and the sisters to Quinter the other day to visit two less actives over there and to tract it out. So, we go there and we stop at the first less actives house and the sisters and the Arritts go inside and me and Elder Jones decide to just go tracting. So as we're tracting along this guy just walks out of his house and is like "Hey Elders!". So we walk over to him and we start walkin and talkin with him and he said he used to go to our church like 10 years ago when he was a kid and stuff. And what we do is we walk over to his girlfriends work to pick her up with him and then he asks us if we want to walk with them over to his parents house, so we do. And we're walkin and talkin with his girlfriend as well. Then we get to the house and meet his mom and after talking we realize that was the other less active family we were going to go see later on. So I just thought it was cool how they kinda found us, you know? And then like right after that we see these kids playing basketball on a court and we ask them if we can play with them and they're like sure, why not? So we do, and we get talkin to them we realize they are all in this Boy's Home that's right next door. And we share a little bit of church stuff with them and they thought it was cool and would like to hear more. So we talk to this lady inside and she say's that they're are service opportunities there if we would like. So we jumped on that! But yeah, that is just gunna be perfect! Like these are all good kids who just did something stupid and now they are in a low point in there lives. So they are all at a point where they need the gospel and they are willing to make a change in their lives. So ya, I just see legit miracles all the time and it's sooo sweet! Be on the lookout for little miracles and tender mercies from the Lord in your life! I promise if you are being obedient to God's commandments and you have faith that they'll happen, they will happen! Well, keep it real everyone!
                            LOVE, ELDER MCGEE:)
My Apartment...

Coming to you LIVE from Kansas!

Greetings Everyone! :)

So this week a lot of change and news of change came my way. A Missionary Senior Couple arrived in our area this week. They are from Virginia and their names are Elder and Sister Arritt. They are pretty legit!  Also, on Wednesday is the end of a transfer and we found out me and Elder Smart are going to be separated :(

He is going to some town called Ulysses and I am staying here in Colby. I'm pretty bummed not even gunna lie. Elder Smart is so legit and he has taught me a lot! One of the Sisters in my district is going home on Wednesday as well. Her name is Sister Tapusoa and she is Polynesian or Samoan or something like that....Idk, I'm not very cultured. But anyways! I'm sad about that as well cause she freakin cracks me up! She is sooo funny! And the Elder who gave me a haircut (Elder Mejia) is leaving as well! So, I'm just gonna really miss the crew. It's amazing how much you get to know and bond with these missionaries you're around! I genuinely care about all of them. But me, Sister Pack, and Elder Jensen still get to be in the same district and we're all really tight! But my new companion is gunna be this dude named Elder Jones, who apparently was a marine before he came out. Sooo, we'll see how this one plays out... haha! Totally kidding though, I'm sure I'll learn a lot from him as well! :)

But yeah, all our investigators are doing good! We've got a few people on date to be baptized on November 9th so hopefully that works out! But yeah, I'm just loving teaching and preachin good news to all! Cause that's what the gospel is, good news! :)

Well, hope everyone is doing alright! :) PEACE OUT!

                                      -Elder McGee

Just another week in Paradise:)

Wassup everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well! This week was definitely interesting! Me and my companion Elder Smart actually had a tour of a Catholic Church. An investigator that I think I've talked about before whose name is Allison wanted to take us on a tour of it. When she asked I wasn't sure if we were aloud so I looked at Elder Smart and he said sure, so apparently we are...

And don't worry she's already had a tour of our church! haha

But yeah, she kinda explained how there Sunday services go and different things they do in there and what was cool and what I think helped her a lot actually is I tried to point out as many similarities between our Sunday services and theirs cause she has been to our church a few times before. But ya, that was definitely an interesting little experience.

I've also already given 2 blessings to people since I've been out. Before I left I had done that anointing part for illness blessings but I had never given an actual blessing before. But yeah, one of them was to this guy Henry who is a recent convert and he was crazy sick one day! Henry is flipping awesome! He has some sweet stories from his past! haha

And the other blessing was to a sister missionary in my district who just wanted a blessing of comfort.

Like two days ago I made the mistake of letting an Elder in my district give me a haircut and it's pretty hideous so don't expect to see any super recent pictures of me for a little bit. haha

But how about General Conference! It was awesome! I loved the Saturday sessions! Which is funny because if I were back home I probably would've never saw those ones. This was actually my first time watching every single session of conference. haha But yeah, I loved it!

Well, the church is so undoubtedly true and I love you all!

                                                                -Elder McGee 

JuWassup everyone!

Another week in the life of a Kansas missionary

This week there was a few days where I'm not gonna lie it was kinda hard to not be a little discouraged. We just had a few disappointments. BUT, ain't nothin going to get me down! haha

But I am loving it out here in Colby, Kansas. It is just a treat! I really am loving the people here and the people in my little Branch! Yesterday was Fast and Testimony Meeting and it amazes how a little Branch can fill up the entire time during the meeting. There is never a time when someone's not bearing there testimony. It's so cool! And there testimonies are so powerful! My testimony grows stronger everyday that the church is true and I just LOVE this gospel!!!

      There's this one family that are recent converts. Well, it's this mom, four of her own kids from a previous abusive realationship, then she has an adopted kid, and like two foster kids. This lady (Karen) is like super mom, no joke! I just love their family even though it is freakin crazy their all the time!  One of the foster kids, who is going to be adopted is like this 11 yr. old boy named Tristan, who acts up a lot because he's already been through quite a bit. Karen doesn't think he's ready to be baptized, so he's the only one not baptized. But we really want to get him baptized! So we're trying to get Karen to see that being baptized and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost will only help him. And I just see so much good in this kid, and I've really been talking to him and I've actually kinda broken through. And he knows so much about the gospel too! I don't know, I mean I really love all of the people we teach and genuinely want the best for them! It's nice change of pace from back home, cause not going to lie I thought about myself most of the time. I want you all to know I love you, and appreciate the part you played in my life :)

                                                            -Elder McGee
Service Project

 Matrix Missionary walking on walls

Hello Everyone!

Hello Everyone! I hope you are all just doing swell! This week I had the opportunity to go on exchanges. So basically I went with a different missionary in a different area and my companion went with his companion in our area. So, I went to Garden City, Kansas and was with an Elder named Elder Brown who is freaking legit because he's Australian and has a sweet accent. But anyways there's way more members in Garden City than in Colby. They actually have a ward not a Branch. But anyways what was cool is that we took this 17 yr. old priest out with us to a couple appointments Elder Brown had set up.  And it was the weirdest feeling. Cause like in my Branch we don't have any priest age kids to take out with us. So, I mean we had taken members out with us to appointments but never a priest. And it was so cool doing that! Cause it was not that long ago that I was in that kids shoes, In the back of the missionaries car, going out with them, getting a glimpse of missionary work. And it was weird to be in that same situation but as the missionary. So yeah, time flies! Another cool experience I had was with this very recent convert named Diane. She is like 45ish but has DEFINITELY gone through some hard stuff. She is like the sweetest lady ever though and she LOVES me, my companion, and the pair of sister missionaries in our Branch as well. Anyways she was talking to the sister missionaries one day about some trials in her life right now. And one of the sisters I had told that I play the ukulele and like to sing. So, this sister goes on to tell Diane that I would write her a song. haha

(oh, and I guess I forgot to mention my companion has a ukulele coincidentally enough, so I've been jamming on his on P-Days and stuff) So anyways, Sister Pack tells me she volunteered me to do this, and I said I would so I did. So when we all went over to her house I played and sung it for her and Diane started balling she loved it so much. And I felt so shocked but good inside, that it was me that made her cry. God knows our gifts, our talents, our skills and if we use them for good like building up his kingdom, bringing others up, or service than he will bless us tremendously and we'll even get better at what we do.

But yeah, missionary work is the bomb and I love it! I finally get what people meant when they told me " My mission was the hardest and funnest two years of my life". When my leaders and such told me that I didn't really believe how something could be both to be honest. haha

But now I get it for sure! One day in our apartment, I was sitting down contemplating after an appointment. I was contemplating why people that I had only met once or twice before are so willing to just tell us their whole life story and all their struggles. And it's not like this just happened once! This happens all the time, where people just lay it all on us and I was just wondering why these people trusted us like that. So I finally said that to Elder Smart (my companion) and he asked me, " what name is written on your name tag besides your own?" and I said "Jesus Christ". And he went on to tell me that we are truly representatives of Jesus Christ, we are acting in his name when these people are talking to us about their problems it's almost like they are pouring their soul out to Jesus Christ. And that hit me pretty hard obviously. I am so glad I get to put this name tag on everyday! And I am so grateful for all of you! And I love you all and hope you are doing well! :)

                                                                          -Elder McGee

They like me so much in Kansas they decided to name a street after me...nbd.

This is right next to my apartment. Welcome to Kansas.... haha

Hey peeps!

Heyy peeps! This week was definitely interesting. We did a good amount of tracting and trying to find new investigators this week. And through that I've definitely realized why they call Kansas apart  of the Bible Belt. There was this one guy we ran into that was quite the experience. We knock on this door and this guy comes out and the first thing he says is "I know exactly who you guys are, i used to be apart of your religion, and i've got a lot to say. Do you still want to talk with me?". And we're like well yeah. And long story short this guy talks to us for like 45 minutes on his porch trying to shake our testimonies basically before i cut him off and said "well we better get going, have a nice day sir" and started walking away. As we were walking back to the car Elder Smart must've noticed I was pretty mad. And in the car ride back we were talking about what just happened and he is bringing up scriptures here and there in the bible and stuff that would've totally stumped that guy. So eventually I'm like dude, why didn't you say any of this stuff to that guy??. And he's like do you really think that would've changed that closed minded guys mind? And yeah, thats how i learned my lesson about why it's not worth it to Bible Bash with people. haha

But despite the trouble we have had finding new people the investigators we do have already are awesome! I genuinely care about all of them and am grateful for all of them. There's this one in particular Allison. She's a fifth grade teacher but she should be a professor cause she's flippin smart. The first time i met her she had me at a complete loss for words because she had these questions that just went straight over my head. But I'm grateful for that because these questions make me grow more because then i go and look them up and further my own knowledge of the gospel. But yeah, it's been really fun! Sundays are definitely a little different then i'm used to. It's not a ward it's a Branch of about 40 to 50 people. So PRETTY small. But it's good, I absolutely love the members! I love you all and hope you are doing OK :) 

                                                    -Elder McGee

My first few days in the mission...

Hey Everybody! So today is my 6th day out in the field and it's been great! On the second day I met my knew companion for the next while, he's my trainer. His name is Elder Smart. The area I'll be serving in for the next while is the very small town of Colby, Kansas. I've already gone tracting quite a bit here so I've seen a good portion of the town. It's interesting there's times when we're strolling along and I'm looking at the houses thinking, "Wow, what a charming, small town this is with colorful houses, white picket fences, and a porch" and then there's other times when I'm looking around and I feel like I'm in an episode of "My Name is Earl" and if you've never seen that than I feel like I'm in an episode of "Honey Boo Boo". Haha But It's great though! The people are humble and kind! So my first two days were probably the most eventful so i'll just tell you about those. So my first day we woke up really early at the MTC and had a long day of traveling. But around 2:00 p.m. we land in Wichita airport. In the airport we found our mission president, his wife, and some Elders they brought along to pick us up. So we get our bags and they help us load them up into this horse trailor type deal which is hitched to the back of this white van. We drive to this park where the whole group takes a picture. Then they surprise us by telling us we're going to go proselyting for a little while. So this Elder whose been out for like 8 months or so, whose like this super stacked Polynesian dude named Elder Pututao claims me to go out with. This guy is HILARIOUS  by the way! But anyways me and him go proselyting in the straight up GHETTO. Like this neighborhood was the legit, real life ghetto. So we knock on a few doors and Elder Pututao is doing most the talking. But then we get to this house and he's like, "Ok this one's all you" So I do. And let's just say I did horribly. So we try another. And lets just say I did horribly. Anyways eventually it's time for us to head back to the van to meet up with the other missionaries. But on our way back Elder Pututao says "one more house" so we go up to this house and knock on this door and out comes this 22-23 year old dude with out a shirt on. I  take the lead in talking to him and this is just being super receptive and is telling us all about his life and I'm asking and saying all the right things and Pututao made a return appointment and it was awesome! So we briskly walk back to the van and on our way Pututao asks me, "So what was different that time?". And I realized it was because I was relying on the Spirit and listening for this guys needs as he talked. And before, I was being prideful and relying on my charisma and good looks, and while they were talking I wasn't really listening cause I was too busy thinking about what my next question would be or what my next move was. If you are familiar with the material and have faith, theres no need to pre-meditate what you say when you walk up to a door. The Spirit will put words in your mouth. So that was the first day story. Now for the second day story which isn't very spiritual but it's pretty cool. So the second day is when I met Elder Smart. So we were driving to Colby from Wichita it was quite a treat. Literally looking out the window of the car, on both sides, all there was to look at was fields and crops for HOURS! I couldn't believe it! But anyways we were following this other companionship there and it was sup windy that day, so they so they straight up went off the road, launched off this this grass hump, nose dived in the field, did a full flip, and landed on this farmers fence. And I saw the whole thing. It was so scary!. We stopped, ran out of the car and got them out of theirs. They are completely fine, it's amazing! I'll send pics, I took plenty! But yeah, that's all for now. Love you all!

                                                                 -Elder McGee

 The car crash...

Second letter from the MTC!

     Heyyy! How's Everybody doing?? I am doing splendid :) I'm learning a lot and having fun doing it :) Something I'm learning big time here is that in any lesson I teach creating an environment where the Spirit can be there is the most important thing. By far. If I don't allow myself to teach by the Spirit than I'm just going to sound like a weirdo to any investigator. It doesn't matter how convincing or charismatic I may be ;) haha

        I am literally just a tool or instrument in God's hand. I say words, the Spirit confirms them.

 I've learned a lot about prayer as well. Be sincere in your prayers, with real intent. That's when someone's going to get something out of their prayers. I am saying a lot of prayers! No joke, I am either saying or participating in at least 10 to 15 prayers a day. 

         This week someone in my district was this close to going home (imagine my index finger and thumb being held really close together) and it was crazy to witness for me. It just proves how much commitment this takes and also how guilty you can feel if you leave thing unresolved. I was really bummed out, cause he's like this big goofball like me. But he's still here, and he's a great kid! I can't wait to send you pictures of me and everyone. My companion, Elder French is really cool too! We get along really well. He's really into guns though so sometimes I have no clue what he's talking about with all his gun lingo. But he says we'll keep in touch so I can shoot all his heavy duty guns and i'll teach him how to longboard. haha

           But yeah all in all things are going great. On Tuesday I leave to Kansas at last! Not that the MTC hasn't been great and all buuuuut I want to be in Wichita like yesterday so yeah...haha

Anyways I hope everyones doing good :) 

                                                                 Love,

                                                                 Elder McGee

Elder Mcgee is on his way!

 Saying our goodbye's at the Phoenix Airport.

Elder McGee first letter from the MTC!

Hey Mama! So here in the MTC my P-Day will be Friday but i dont know about in Kansas yet. So these first few days in the MTC have been pretty intense. Even the first day! i expected the first day to be a kinda chill, settle-in sorta day with maybe like an orientation or something. But no, we got right to learning! And we are learning a lot and i can't believe how involved I am already. My companion is Elder French, he's from Canada. He's a pretty cool dude, i like him a lot. I like my whole district a lot! They're all really cool and hilarious, so we get along real well. There's this one guy in my district, Elder Alspaugh who cracks me up like no other, he looks exactly like Adam Sandler! Anyways, the spirit is very strong here and i love it! It's cool to be around so many guys my age who can all just talk about the gospel without any adults or teachers around to lead the discussion. OH! And mama, just real quick so i dont forget, will you send a blanket to my mission home. Not the Mtc. Well tell everyone i love them and want to hear from them, Love you especially :)

                                                                                                                      Sincerely,

                                                                                                                      Elder McGee