Elder Dylan McGee
Kansas Wichita Mission
7011 E. 13th St. North
Wichita, Kansas 67206-1219
dylan.mcgee@myldsmail.net

Monday, September 29, 2014

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

Monday, September 22, 2014

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

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

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




Monday, September 8, 2014

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...