Alma 34:38

Family and friends, (and that ye may live in thanksgiving daily for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you) - Alma 34:38

Thank you SO much for the tender mercies you have all shown and continue to show for the McKee family. As you all gathered together today, all ten of our children and spouses gathered as a family around Sister McKee's hospital bed. We sang hymns and then k

nelt down around her bed in prayer. We pled to The Lord that her life would be saved as well as acknowledged to him that "Thy will be done." The spirit was strong in the room as we all parted. I requested some alone time with Sister McKee for the afternoon. As all ten of our children returned this evening, We began singing hymns of joy. During this experience, Sister McKee opened both eyes and moved her left foot. This lasted for over a minute and we could all see her communication with us. It will be a wonderful step for continual recovery. We know that The Lord answers prayers and thank you again for your faith and prayers in our behalf. We also know that this is only a beginning and trust that The Lord will build upon this foundation for further progression. We will continue "Doing all things in prayer and Thanksgiving" as we seek to follow him. We Love All of you and will keep you updated.

-The McKee Family

Thy Will Be Done

Dear friends and family,

We thank you all again for faith, fasting, and prayer. Sister McKee continues to be in a self induced coma. We are all gathering on Thursday at 11AM Mountain Standard Time to kneel in prayer on her behalf. We know the Lord can produce miracles, and pray daily that His miracle will be for her to return to our family. At the same time, we have faith in Him, and trust Him, and will pray for (Thy will to be done) as we know that He knows what is best for all of us, eternally. We have strong faith in Him and testify of Jesus Christ and His atonement. The atonement blesses our lives daily as we use it to heal pain, suffering, and sorrow, and all kinds of affliction. We invite any who are willing to gather in prayer with us on Thursday, and thank you again for your loving support for the McKee family.

With love,
The William McKee Family

November 26, 2012

Greetings from Nashville! We hope that everyone enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving week. I have to say that as I know that Sister McKee would say something bright and cheery like that and want a

ll of you to know that she loves you. We all love you and will be forever grateful for the prayers, and faith in our behalf. We feel your prayers and feel so much support from each of you. As many of you know life does not always turn out the way we have planned. This week is no exception of that.

As many of you know this is a week where we get to practice even more the powerful truths that are taught to us by our Savior. He loves us. He knows our hearts, He will always help us grow and He is the basis of everything that we do. We are using the atonement this week in every way to deal with sadness, heartache, hurt and fear. We express gratitude and love for those thoughts, fasts, and prayers in regards to Sister McKee. Your prayers in Sister McKee’s behalf are heard and truly felt by our family and we know they are being felt by her this week as well.

On Monday afternoon Sister McKee was feeling chest pain so she went to the heart doctor. He recommended that she do an arteriogram on Tuesday which checked out fine. Our Australia daughter Miranda stopped in for a one day visit on her way to New York for the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Since Sister McKee was not feeling well Angie, Aubrey, Kiara and Destini took her around Nashville and enjoyed a few sites like the Opryland Hotel. Wednesday morning we had a nice breakfast with Miranda and then took her to the airport.

By Wednesday noon Sister McKee still was not feeling well. She stayed down most of the day determined not to go see a doctor. Her pain kept increasing throughout the day and she started into nausea as well. As she went to brush her teeth, I turned around and she blacked out cold onto the floor. We helped her back into bed wondering if maybe she had a touch of the flu but she kept telling me that her chest hurt worse than ever. I called the doctor and we made a decision that it was time to go to the ER. By the time that we made this decision Sister McKee was in so much pain that she was ready to go quickly As evening came, there was no other alternative and I took her to the ER that night and stayed there with her as we tried to diagnose why she was in so much pain.

About 5 am on Thanksgiving Day they finally admitted her into the hospital but could not diagnose the pain. Later that day we experienced our first miracle.



I had invited the missionaries to spend a 2 hour Thanksgiving dinner with a family and them share 10-minute messages throughout the day with as many families as you can. I received a knock on the door from a nurse telling me that two missionaries were here to talk to me. I couldn’t understand how they found us, Seeing how the missionaries were never informed about Sister McKee and her condition. As I walked down the hall their jaws dropped as I asked what they were doing here. They had no idea Sister McKee nor myself would be here. They said they felt prompted to go to a hospital and give blessings. This hospital I asked? On the third floor? I am told that there are 17 hospitals in Nashville area. These Elders had been guided by the spirit to come to this hospital at this time and on this floor and start requesting door to door if anyone was in need of blessings. We were, and I invited them to give Sister McKee a blessing.

Her pain was still at a level 12 by 2:00 and I felt that we should use the missionary force to help Sister McKee. I asked missionary’s and family to stop and pray on her behalf at exactly 5:00. At exactly that time She began to rest and was soon asleep (another miracle) as she had no relief of her pain for the last 24 hours. About 15 minutes later her oxygen rate went down into the 60s and she was rushed to the ICU to keep a better eye on the situation.(another miracle) as this move is what led them to find out that she had actually had a heart attack in the hospital right after they had tested her blood levels which had shown no sign of a heart attack.

The following day they were testing her for pulmonary problems when the heart doctor came by to check on her for her doctor who was out of town. He Immediately found that Sister McKee had had a heart attack that the previous tests did not show. This discovery would not have happened without her oxygen levels dropping and her appearance in the ICU. She was immediately moved to another ICU for the heart. He scheduled for another arteriogram so he could fix the heart Saturday morning. During this surgery they found a blockage in a stent and put in another stent. After the surgery she made hand movements and tiny sounds to communicate to me about her pain levels so she understood me well.



Two hours later while sitting the room with her she experienced cardiac arrest. The room began to move with every able body reviving her. There was a Dr. Scoggins just outside the door that stepped in (another miracle) and directed the action and she was quickly brought back.

Scott flew in from Boise Saturday morning to be with the girls. They had been alone since Wednesday as I never left the hospital. They have all been amazing. They sent me a picture of their Thanksgiving meal. It was beautiful. One of the girls even said,”Boy mom really works hard to prepare these big meals doesn’t she.” (another miracle). They did wonderful but I think it was a blessing to have a big brother around after no parents for four days.



After the cardiac arrest on Saturday there was very little response from Sister McKee. All agreed that she had been through so much and probably needed to just rest. There was no movement Sunday morning so they took her in to look at the brain to see what was happening and much to our surprise found that the brain was bleeding and that she had had a stroke. Again she went immediately into surgery. I called all ten of our children on a conference call and they made a choice to all come immediately. Some very good friends here in the mission field helped us so much by arranging flights for all of them. These families are truly angels to allow our children to come out and be with their mom. They cut into her skull and drained the blood and removed the hemorrhage. The surgery was a success and worked out as planned but with no guarantee. It was done by Dr. Li (yet another miracle) who was on call at the time. 



Michelle, Steven, Kylie, Mike, Kirsten and their 3 boys flew out on Sunday night. It was great to see them. Andrew our grandson that was born ten months ago reached his sweet arms out to hug a grandpa that he had never seen. On Monday afternoon Jared, Brittany and their boys, Steven , Rachel, and Seren flew out to be with mom. Kason is another grandson that we have not seen. What a blessing to be able to see and hold these new grandsons. (Charlie, Peter, Andrew, Ethan and Kason)



On Monday all of our children, spouses and grandchildren were here for family home evening except for Travis and the Draper boys who stayed behind to stay in school. We had a spiritual time together as we gathered around Sister McKee’s bed and sang and shared spiritual insights. I am sure that Sister McKee could hear the music and for me it was a huge blessing to gather our family around and hear them all sing again. Grandpa McKee and Jim even showed up and shared in the event. Grandpa said that it was one of the greatest nights that he had ever experienced . The spirit was there as we try our best to make sense out of this interesting trial.



For now Sister McKee is resting peaceful. We have seen very minimal movement of arms or legs but are also told that this may take a few days. I am very clear that the Lord is in charge and that He will guide us through this situation. We love the Lord and trust Him. We know that there are so many praying for Sister McKee and we thank you again for so much support. We will keep you updated and want you to know that WE BELIEVE IN MIRACLES and pray daily that the Lord will grant us this one. We are also very clear that we are in His hands and that “Thy will be done” will be the basis for our pleading.



We ask that you would please remember her in your thoughts and prayers this week.

Missionary Miracles this past week:

-- “ Aaron ….. told Sis Escobar and I that he is going to serve a mission!!!! We are SO PROUD of him! He is a huge example to us of a disciple of Christ. He helped us teach a lesson Saturday night. You would have never thought that only a few months ago he didn't believe in God. He has truly been spiritually converted.

“he thanked me again and he told us he wants to make a change. He came to church yesterday for the first time in his life. …………. He is a ex member to Hells Angels, and so it was really different for him, he only came to sacrament and loved it. Half way thru church he called us and said......... how can i be baptized? Can i Be Baptized soon?? so we will be having another baptism soon!!!!!!”

”“We currently have 16 dates set some shaky but some solid and a few to reset. There is so much to do and that is going on with such short amount of time it almost seems impossible to do it all. But i know that is what satan wants us to think. Each day we strive to teach all that we can and at the same time talk to each person we can. (My companion) is really good at doing that. But were always looking for more of Gods children who are ready for baptism and he has blessed us tremendously. Only two weeks ago we maybe had 1 member a week come out with us but within the last week in a half we have had more members than we have had in a month come out with us. We have so many splits we are doing now cause the ward sees how much success this area is having and they now want to help. It’s so nice because (my companion) and I can go see many more people and get more work done. I hope that we can continue to do this and do all we can do to invite people and prepare them for baptism.”

“had a baptism on Saturday, and that was fantastic. She was confirmed yesterday and also we set a baptism date yesterday as well. woooooohhoooooooooo!!!!!!!”





With love and appreciation,

President and Sister McKee, (Mom and DAD)

Angie,Aubrey, Kiara, and Destini

November 18, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving’s Day Week to all of you!   It doesn’t even seem possible that Thanksgiving Day is this week.  The weather has been beautiful this entire week  and was up to about 68 today.  Every week there are fewer and fewer leaves on the trees which makes the colors of the hills looking much duller than they have been—I suppose winter is coming even if it doesn’t feel like it in the air.  I’m certainly not complaining about that, however.  I LOVE  warm days!

Just had a rich experience with my kids.  I got to talk to each one of Michelle and Travis’ family, all 6 of their little boys and Travis and Michelle and share scriptures with them tonight. What great readers each one of them are!   They are all growing up so much and  I can’t even recognize the voice of Brayden, her oldest—14.  Sometimes I worry that those boys won’t even remember usl!  We got a video clip telling us that Mike & Kristen’s Andrew  (10 months old!)  is now walking (whom we haven’t seen yet!) and you should hear that Charlie read!  Peter is doing great in pre-school as well.  Jared & Brittany’s Ethan celebrated his 3rd birthday last week and we need to get more pictures of little Kason who was just born.  We hope Scott and Seren, Steven and Rachel, and Kylie are doing well.  It looks like Steven and Rachel and Kylie will be coming to spend Christmas here-----we are SOOO  excited!!! How we love and miss y’all!!!!  By the way, Angie posts many pictures on our family Facebook Page of Bill and RaNae Family, and also on our blog at presidentandsistermckee.blogspot.com. 

This week has been a VERY full and great one.  We started off on Monday  saying our goodbye’s to my sisters, Janet & Bob, and JoLynn & Bob who came to visit us and were flying back to SLC.  We  had such a fun time having them here!!!  The girls said they had never seen us have such a fun time together.  Angie said, “I felt like I was watching the golden girls LIVE!”  Aubrey said, “I have never seen them laugh like that before—Your sisters are really fun!”.    It was very hard for me to tell them goodbye—but they promised they would come back!

After my family left, we went up to Russellville for another choir practice.  We took a set of sisters from Franklin and then picked up a set of Elders from Madison, then drove about 2 hours to the northeast where we met another 20 Elders and Sisters who are singing for some Christmas Interfaith Programs the last of this month in Clarksville  and another one in December in Bowling Green. We practiced for a couple of hours then returned home.  The kids have been bombarded with homework in preparation for Thanksgiving week  (which they have the entire week off this week!) 

Elder and SIster Perkins, SIster and President McKee

Sister and Elder Perkins, Elders Payne an Andrew

Tuesday, after having to go to the dentist to get another crown glued back on, we went out to the airport to pick up Elder Anthony Perkins of the First Quorum of the Seventy and his wife who were here doing a mission tour for us. He spoke in the last General Conference in the Priesthood Session. It is always such a great experience for us to have general authorities here…and it is a bit stressful as you can imagine. 

Hopkinsville Zone

 Elder Perkins and his wife lived in China for about 8 years and then he was called to be a Mission President in Taiwan before he was called to be a General Authority.  He is a very intelligent man and we all learned so much  from him. He spoke about the importance of all of us becoming “master teachers”.  That as we speak with boldness, not being timid, yet not being overbearing with people, that people would be able to feel the Spirit and know of the truthfulness of the message we bear.  That all comes from learning to love them and teach them for the right reasons.   

Paducah Zone

We had a nice dinner for him and Sister Perkins on Tuesday night here at the mission home, and then on Wednesday, we all left at 6:30 am and drove up to the Clarksville building where he interviewed some of our missionaries and we had a zone conference/ mission tour for the 3 northern zones of our mission.  It was really a great experience for all of us.  He asked all of us to change the term MEETING to “a revelatory experience”.  So instead of going to Sacrament Meeting, to say we are going to have our “Sacrament Revelatory Experience” trying to teach us that the importance of any meeting in the church is to be able to get our own revelation for our lives. We do that by bringing questions to the meeting that we want answers for and then by attentively listening to the spirit as the spirit will give us answers that are often not spoken.

Zona de Espanol!! 

On Thursday, we traveled to the second half of our mission down in the Franklin Stake House and had a little bigger crowd with the other 4 zones of the mission. Each day, both President and I were able to train, then Elder and Sister Perkins spoke, we did several “real plays”,  and ended with the missionaries sharing their testimonies.  It was a powerful meeting!  We have such great missionaries in this mission.    Both days were just incredible and we learned so much from Elder Perkins. At 4:00, we left the church and headed for the airport where they had to catch their flight back to Utah.  The Nashville traffic is really something else –especially at that time of day so the fact that we made it there and they were able to get on their flight on time was quite a miracle in and of itself. 

Murfreesboro Zone

Friday,  I spent at the doctor’s office with one of our Elders who had a broken bone in his hand—yes, from playing dodge ball on P-day!!!. President was at the office welcoming and interviewing a new Senior couple, Elder and Sister Bishop from Meridian. They will be serving on the Fort Campbell base in Clarksville. He then met with Elder and Sister Wilson who will be going home this weekend. In the afternoon the rest of the office couples came in for a couples outing to the Opryland Hotel. It was a planned preparation cultural outing for the Senior couples.  They toured this amazingly big hotel that has 2,881 rooms on the outside with huge running waters and outdoor scenes (even with indoor boatrides) inside.  It really is a beautiful, but huge place. It is like walking through a gigantic park in Hawaii without the beaches and the sand. There are three separate parks inside as well as a mini shopping mall, restaurants, etc.  After that, we went with them to the original Grand Ole Opry setting called the Ryman Theater where they were able to watch a live show on that stage.  There were many stars that country western fans would know, like CharleyDaniels Band,  Riders in the Sky, Connie Smith.  Even Diamond Rio performed . It was a great program.

Saturday, we were to be at the Madison Stake Conference, where President had to speak for the afternoon Priesthood session of conference, we attended their evening session and both of us spoke at their Stake Conference today. President had to do a couple of temple recommends afterward and then we went in for a nice luncheon with the Stake Presidency. President Abernathy (convert to the church) is a great man and his wife and family have become very good friends of ours.  They have 3 daughters that are Kylie, Aubrey and Destini’s ages, so the girls love to go over there.  They always have a very nice luncheon for us  and spoil us after their stake conferences .  Such great people.

Miracles in the Great TNM this week:

1)“ We found a family that is really great, we were out walking to an investigators home and it started sprinkling a little rain. They were outside their house about to leave when we walked by them. We greeted them and asked them if we could serve them in anyway, they said no and we went on to go to the investigators home. The investigators we wanted to see weren't home so we walked back and this time they initiated the conversation, "aren't you guys getting wet in the rain?" We started talking to them and it stopped raining, which I don't think was a coincidence. They asked us if they could come to church with us and we gave them each a copy of the Book of Mormon and set a return appointment. There are close to 7 that could progress to baptism soon, and they have relatives that they mentioned might be interested in meeting with us, we are going there tomorrow to follow up on that and teach them more” 

2)“We are always helping each other become better. This week we had four investigators at church, and they all said they really enjoyed it. I have a goal for this week to love my companion to help him with just little things.”

“We've set a goal to set 5 dates this week and we have prayed about it and both feel they are ready. It will be an exciting week.”

“ We had two baptisms this past weekend!”

” He has been investigating for years now and has set his own date for sometime next week! He has an AMAZING testimony of the Book of Mormon, Christ and His atonement, and the restored church!! It is awesome.”

“our main investigator, Roman ……., got up and bore his testimony about what a great experience he had getting to meet and shake hands and talk with an apostle and how ever since that night he's just felt peace and joy all the time!”

“ This quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf helped me make that transition—

“Doesn’t it seem foolish to spoil sweet and joyful experiences because we are constantly anticipating the moment when they will end? Do we listen to beautiful music waiting for the final note to fade before we allow ourselves to truly enjoy it? No. We listen and connect to the variations of melody, rhythm, and harmony throughout the composition. Do we say our prayers with only the “amen” or the end in mind? Of course not. We pray to be close to our Heavenly Father, to receive His Spirit and feel His love. We shouldn’t wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available—all the time! Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect.”

I learned, I think, the most important lesson of my mission (thus far) last week on a dusty old couch in the dim front room of a less-active member's home. I'm not even sure why I learned the lesson when I did. We were reading the Book of Mormon. I found my mind drifting to mistakes I had made earlier in the day—not talking with a woman on the side of the road, failing to reprove a missionary for an inappropriate gesture he had made, the list goes on. I realized in an instant how silly it was to continue bludgeoning myself over the head with past mistakes. No amount of worry now could change what had happened in the past. In fact, worry could only add to my list of regrets because it was keeping me from being involved with the lesson.

3) We also found two new young families this week to teach the Gospel to. The first came by us knocking on a door and asking if we could come in and pray for her family and bless their home. Katerina said, "Well, the house is a mess, but give me a minute. I could really use this." We ended up sitting on her living room floor for a half hour after the prayer just teaching her about the Gospel and hearing her story. She said she's been looking for a church and this was an answer to HER prayers. What a miracle!
The second came from a Mormon.org referral. Tricia has been looking for truth but feels that all the congregations she has attended contradict each other. She lives with her fiance and her parents, all who warmly welcomed us into their home.

It's not that we haven't been doing the wrong thing, we just hadn't been doing the right thing for long enough. Now we are receiving miracles for our efforts!”

May we just bear witness that we know this work is true and that it is His and that WE LOVE IT!.  We love working with these amazing missionaries—the young ones and the senior couples!!!   As we see people come into the Church and see the happiness that has come into their lives because of receiving the fullness of the Gospel of Christ—it is just amazing to see the changes that occurs in people’s lives.  I love the Book of Mormon and love the truths that are contained within it.  I am so grateful for a living prophet upon this earth today, President Thomas S. Monson and testify that He is the Lord’s spokesperson upon the earth today.  I am SO grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ,  for His life, His example to me, His sacrifice for me, but most of all for the promises He has given to us---to ALL of us!

Have a GREAT week and don’t eat too much on Thanksgiving Day!   We love you all,  both family and our dear, dear  friends and love hearing from you !   Thank you for those of you who have written and kept us up on the happenings of home!  You are the best!

Loads of love,

President & Sister McKee,  Dad & Mom, Grandpa & Grandma, Bill & RaNae……and  Angie, Aubrey, Kiara and Destini

Miracles in the Tennessee Nashville Mission!!

“ We found a family that is really great, we were out walking to an investigators home and it started sprinkling a little rain. They were outside their house about to leave when we walked by them. We greeted them and asked them if we could serve them in anyway, they said no and we went on to go to the investigators home. The investigators we wanted to see weren't home so we walked back and this time they initiated the conversation, "aren't you guys getting wet in the rain?" We started talking to them and it stopped raining, which I don't think was a coincidence. They asked us if they could come to church with us and we gave them each a copy of the Book of Mormon and set a return appointment. There are close to 7 that could progress to baptism soon, and they have relatives that they mentioned might be interested in meeting with us, we are going there tomorrow to follow up on that and teach them more” 

“We are always helping each other become better. This week we had four investigators at church, and they all said they really enjoyed it. I have a goal for this week to love my companion to help him with just little things.”

“We've set a goal to set 5 dates this week and we have prayed about it and both feel they are ready. It will be an exciting week.”

“ We had two baptisms this past weekend!”

” He has been investigating for years now and has set his own date for sometime next week! He has an AMAZING testimony of the Book of Mormon, Christ and His atonement, and the restored church!! It is awesome.”

“our main investigator, Roman ……., got up and bore his testimony about what a great experience he had getting to meet and shake hands and talk with an apostle and how ever since that night he's just felt peace and joy all the time!”

“Sister Luanne ….. will be baptized on November 24 and yesterday when her and her husband came to church she said that she LOVED it, and really felt the spirit during sacrament!=) Heavenly Father has DEFINITELY prepared this wonderful woman, and her family!

She also made mention about her husband wanting to make their marriage eternal! I LOVE IT!...FOREVER FAMILIES is what we are out to give, and it is ALL made possible through our Savior, Jesus Christ and His

Gospel!”

“We received a referral the other day from members in a different ward.  They referred us to one of their friends in our area.  Her friend went to a Baptist church here in Hendersonville.  In church they handed out Anti-Mormon pamphlets to their congregation.  It got her so mad that she left the Baptist church.  It led her to start reading the Book of Mormon.  She loves the Book of Mormon and wants us to meet with her.  We will be going over to her house this week.  How cool is that! “

“We have two baptisms coming up! Lou's is this Saturday at 1 and then we have another one the Saturday following! It’s going to be awesome!”

“What a beautiful week! We had a baptism! It was a fantastic Baptism and the spirit there was so strong.”

“The people are so great. We had Liliana's baptism this weekend, and it was such a great experience for everyone there. We had 10 investigators! :) There were 97 people there!”

“On Wednesday night we attended a Church of Christ service. We had previously been teaching Chris, the Minister there. We are currently teaching Otha, a woman who is a member there and she invited us to come. She was thrilled to see us walk through the door and just about every person in the congregation introduced themselves after the service. We had a chance to talk with Chris for a few minutes and he said that although we haven't been able to meet recently he's been following my blog. He asked if he could share a few things that I've written in their church bulletin! Um...of course!!!”

“ We went to church (Not expecting anyone to be there... I know, expect miracles...) and three people came to church! One of my favorite friends here, Stephany …… came. completely surprised, she told us that she wasn'tgoing to come, or be able to come. She told me as soon as I saw her "Miracles do happen!" The same thought was in my mind when I saw her. Thank you Heaven for watching over my companion, our area, and our friends.

“LILIANA GOT BAPTIZED ON SATURDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaahhhh so happy!! ,”

“he thanked me again and he told us he wants to make a change. He came to church yesterday for the first time in his life. …………. He is a ex member to Hells Angels, and so it was really different for him, he only came to sacrament and loved it. Half way thru church he called us and said......... how can i be baptized? Can i Be Baptized soon?? so we will be having another baptism soon!!!!!!”

“The zone had 30 people at church this past week!  Many members brought their friends to church.) Anyways it was awesome because at the end I shared my testimony and talked about how I didn't ever want to be a missionary and how I wasn't really doing the right things in my life. Then I talked about how how the Book or Mormon changed me and changed my decision. I talked about how I read the whole book in 2 weeks and that night I got a text from one of our investigators. She said "I really loved your testimony today you are an inspiration to this generation. If it took you 2 weeks surely I can do it in 4. I want to know. I want that assurance. I want the spirit that you and others possess." It was so awesome to hear that! It just proves to me that the Spirit truly does carry our words to the hearts of the people that we teach. It was an awesome experience!”

“ I'm grateful for my opportunity to serve here and I'm continually seeing more and more how this mission is converting ME more and more to the gospel.”

“ Aaron ….. told Sis Escobar and I that he is going to serve a mission!!!! We are SO PROUD of him! He is a huge example to us of a disciple of Christ. He helped us teach a lesson Saturday night. You would have never thought that only a few months ago he didn't believe in God. He has truly been spiritually converted.”

“We currently have 16 dates set some shaky but some solid and a few to reset. There is so much to do and that is going on with such short amount of time it almost seems impossible to do it all. But i know that is what satan wants us to think. Each day we strive to teach all that we can and at the same time talk to each person we can. (My companion) is really good at doing that. But were always looking for more of Gods children who are ready for baptism and he has blessed us tremendously. Only two weeks ago we maybe had 1 member a week come out with us but within the last week in a half we have had more members than we have had in a month come out with us. We have so many splits we are doing now cause the ward sees how much success this area is having and they now want to help. It’s so nice because (my companion) and I can go see many more people and get more work done. I hope that we can continue to do this and do all we can do to invite people and prepare them for baptism.”

Happy Veterans Day from Tennessee!

November 11, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Veterans Day!  We went to stake conference in Paducah today and before the meeting began, President Okuda asked everyone who had ever served in the military to stand and be recognized.  I always feel so grateful when I see these courageous men and women who have risked their lives for this great country of ours.  There are many dressed in their army fatigues whenever we go to the airport  and attend church in Clarksville because of the Ft. Campbell Military base here in Clarksville.  We always make a conscious effort to go up to them and say thank you for their great sacrifice in our behalf!

This has been a WONDERFUL week!  We hope you have had a good one as well.  The weather has been absolutely beautiful!  A titch on the cool side—especially in the evenings, but beautiful. This week will be Jared & Brittany’s son Ethan’s 3rd birthday on Wednesday.  Happy Birthday Ethan!  We certainly appreciate the emails from home for those of you who have taken the time to write to us.  Thank you so much! 

Last Monday started with us driving up to Russellville (2 hours to the northeast) for a  missionary choir practice.  The Tennessee Nashville Mission was asked if we could send a choir to an interfaith Christmas presentation in both  Clarksville TN on  Nov 30 and then in Bowling Green a week later.  Because our former choir hasn’t been together for several months now and many of our members have gone home, we are recruiting new choir members from only 2 zones for these programs.  Angie and I drove up with a set of sister missionaries and then picked up a set of elders on the way.  We have about 24 choir members and had a great rehearsal with them. President did staff meeting and his Skype calls with the zone leaders. 

ZONE LEADER BREAKFAST

When we arrived home, we had one of our very dear families come to the mission home to tell us good-bye.  This family had come to pick up their daughter last week and have been in Nashville for the past 5 days.  This is the sweet sister who lost her brother about 9 months ago.  They are some of the greatest people you could ever meet!  But they came just as we were beginning our ZLC Overnighter, so as we were visiting with them, all of the zone leaders came in.  President was so good.  He just included the missionaries in the visit with them as they arrived two by two and they all got to meet this great family.  At one point, the parents shared with all of the missionaries their feelings about what happened when their son had been killed and it was really a spirit filled evening.  By the time they left, all 25 zone leaders were here and we fed them and they began their training downstairs.   I spent much of the time in the kitchen preparing breakfast for them for the following day.

Elder Olsen and Sister McKee

Tuesday morning, we took all of the zone leaders to Radnor Lake for their work out time.  It was a glorious morning---beautiful, blue sky against the red and gold leaves of the trees---as we all took a walk around the gorgeous lake.  I would guess that we saw about 25 deer that were less than 25 ft. from us.  Even without their proselyting clothes, these missionaries are impressive.  They would see people on the path and  smile or talk to them.  It finally got to the point that people were asking them who they were and where they were from.  They were able to practice some finding skills,  no doubt.

We came back to the mission home and they all showered while I got breakfast going.  We ate breakfast and then proceeded to the basement for Zone Leader Counsel.  It was nice because our kids were out of school that day so they got to go walk with us, helped with breakfast and some even came into the training.  The Zone Leaders were doing “REAL plays”  and all of our  girls picked a companionship to be in.  I was quite impressed when Destini came running in to me when they were finished.  She said, “Mom, I’ve never EVER felt the Spirit so strong as I did while the Elders were teaching today…..they are GOOD teachers!”  And she is right.  They are pretty incredible teachers!  We had a great ZLC and I think everyone went home motivated to increase their finding this week!

Janet, Angie, JoLynn, and President McKee at the Airport

Wednesday, I had been invited to come and speak to the Murfreesboro Zone to their zone training.  I jumped in the car and drove over there, spoke, and then returned home.   We were SO excited!  Our son, Jared, found a way to be able to fly into Nashville, spend almost 2 whole days with us and then was able to fly on into New York  where he was going for some continuing education credits. He looked wonderful and it was SOOO great to see him.  We only wished he would have brought his whole  family with him   Destini had a special Achievement Days at the church that night, and the rest of us were waiting to go to the airport to pick up Janet & Bob, along with JoLynn & Bob.  It was WONDERFUL to have them here.  I really couldn’t believe that they actually came here. What a GREAT sight that was, seeing them walk towards us at the airport!!! 

Janet, JoLynn, and Sister McKee at the Airport

We, luckily, were able to take two, much needed P-Days with our family while they were all here—still answering phones and handling things alone with way, but nevertheless—it WAS a P-day.    We have awesome assistants  who even fielded our phone calls during the time they were here.  Thursday morning we got up and took them all for a drive around Brentwood to see some of the amazing homes and other sights in the area.  Then we went over to the Opryland Hotel.  Now if any of you haven’t seen this---it’s time to come to Nashville and visit.  This is a ginormous (thank you Steven for letting me use your word!)  hotel that is so incredibly huge that it holds a running river on which they actually let you ride in boats all the way around the river which is inside the hotel.  They have 2,881 rooms in this hotel that actually look out over the big display on the inside of rock walls, even Christmas trees and other Christmas decorations were starting to go up.  They have a life size Pure White Nativity on the outside of the hotel.  It really was very fun to see.

Entering the Opry Hotel

Walking around inside the Hotel

After Opryland, we ran over to our friends, the Tolks.  I had called Marilyn last week to see if I could bring my family to meet her and her husband, and to have them see their home.  We saw her two big grand pianos in her beautiful living room upstairs.  She had made some crumb cake and lemonade for us, but first  took us around to see all of the photos on her walls that her son-in-law and daughter had painted.  Next we went downstairs to her music room, where she agreed to perform some numbers for us on one of the two pianos she had downstairs as well.  She is one talented lady. She was so kind and accommodating to us. We were also able to get some of her son’s Christmas CD’s that are beautiful. 

Jared and Angie

We then ran everyone over to Aubrey’s MID STATE CONCERT which was held at the Brentwood Baptist Church.  Everyone was SO good about running from one thing to the next.  We were able to get there in plenty of time to hear Aubrey sing and she did an awesome job!  The family  was such a good sport to come to every family and missionary thing they could while they were out here.

Three Sisters in front of the Christmas Tree

Jared, Sister and President McKee, Angie

On Friday, we took Jared out to the airport to catch his flight, (how we wish he could have stayed and come with us!)  and then we were able to go on the GENERAL JACKSON CRUISE SHIP.  This is a big 3 level ferry boat that started out at the Opryland Hotel, and floats up the Cumberland River toward the city of Nashville. There was a sit down dinner on the ship as well as some great entertainment.  As they introduced their band, we heard, “and  we have Audi on the steel guitar”.  We knew it had to be Audi Shields, our friend from the Chubbuck 1st Ward from many years ago.  Sure enough it was him and we had a great visit with him afterwords.  We felt badly to hear that his dad, George Shields, had passed away about 2 weeks previous. The two hour cruise was very nice.  Good food, good entertainment, and it was a beautiful day to just float the river for a couple of hours!   It was SUCH a treat to have my sisters there with their husbands.  We had SUCH a good time!

Aubrey and Jared at Aubrey's Concert

On the General  Jackson Showboat

Saturday, President drove south to Spring Hill to be at a baptism and upon his return, we all took off to drive to Paducah where President was to speak in the afternoon Priesthood session of conference.  We dropped him off at the church and then went back to a Steak and Shake to eat.  While there we started talking with the man who was seating customers. The discussion was first about Romney vs. Obama, and then later about him being a Jew.  He seemed very intrigued with us for some reason.  After we were seated, he came over and told us that he really had been impressed with some things about Romney and REALLY wanted to find a copy of the Book of Mormon to find out more about Mitt’s beliefs.  I told him that I just happened to have one just for him. (We always take one if we eat at a restaurant and leave a message with the waiter).  I told him I would give it to him if he promised  to read it and to call me when he was done.  We attended the evening session of conference and had to speak in Sunday morning’s conference.  We quickly drove home, had some dinner and then headed over to a Nashville YSA fireside where the girls had been asked to sing and President was one of the speakers.

It was fun to have the Jex's and Johnson's visiting! We Love You!

Some  TNM missionary miracles this week:

This Sunday, we were not able to make it to the stake conference. But instead, We taught a group of 30 Episcopalian's at their church! We taught them about the Book of Mormon and Bore our testimonies of the truthfulness it's content. We also challenged them all to read, ponder and pray and ask God that it's true. We were able to give them all a copy of the Book of Mormon! They all gladly accepted and asked us questions about our mission. It was a great success! Lot's of seeds were planted that morning President. I love this work! And i love this Gospel”

“Our biggest miracle this week……..! And it was so cool because just before we met with him we were in our car and I called an investigator to invite her to church. She told us she was no longer interested in meeting with us. I hadn't even met her yet but It really made me so sad. We hung up the phone and I felt so sad! I think I really felt Godly Sorrow, this sweet sister is missing out on the greatest message! I know she still has chances to hear it again but it still made me sad. So me and Sister ……. said a prayer in the car. 

I felt that morning I was going to commit someone to be baptized that day and had even made promises to the Assistants and my companion so I know I needed to do it! so we prayed for extra faith and help from our Heavenly Father. Then anyway we went into the assisted living home to visit a Brother on our agenda. We assumed it was a member because we couldn't find any information on him. When we got there we found out he isn't a member and the other sisters had given him a Book of Mormon last week. So we discussed it with him and he said he felt so much peace. His name is …… he is 54 and lost his legs in Vietnam. He is african american and the sweetest guy. We taught him about Joseph smith and bore testiomony of the Book of Mormon, Then I invited him to be baptized and he said yes!!!!!! It was a soft commitment but still.  We got him to come to Sacrament Yesterday and we visited him last night. He said that he told his friends about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon and we were able to share a Book of Mormon with a friend of his. 

He got our addresses and told us first thing he will do when he gets to Texas is find the church and then right us each a letter. He said we touched his heart forever and told us to always remain true. He called this morning before he got on the plane and left a message and said he is going to be baptized in 3 weeks because we said he had to go to church a few times before he gets baptized. I will love than man forever! He also said that he knew he would see us again and that we were his sisters in the gospel! It was amazing! One attended stake conference with us, and told us on the car ride back that he really felt the spirit. We were able to put him up front to shake hands with Elder Christofferson, and afterwords he said he had to step out because he was getting emotional. It seemed every single thing spoken that day was meant specifically for him, and I'm grateful for it.”

“Saturday night we went to a Catholic church that we were invited to by the Pastor, Father Randy. We walked in a found Father Brendon Moss, a Monk from St. Meinrads Arch-abbey in Indiana. He was filling in for Father Randy because he had to go to his other church a little south outside of our area. Father Brendon was the kindest and funniest (and only) Monk I have ever met. He taught on the 2 great commandments and he walked up to us in the sermon and told the congregation that they should "love these Mormon boys as your neighbors!" It was amazing! …. Afterward everyone was so kind and they welcomed us and invited us back. 

Father Brendon then invited us to come to dinner with him and talk with him. We rode with him to an Italian restaurant and were stared at profusely as we walked in and ate dinner. Imagine 2 Mormon Missionaries with a Catholic Monk dressed in his black robes. As we sat and ate he asked us many questions and he had a strong spirit of respect for us and us for him. We taught him many truths and he was amazed at the similarities and the depth of the doctrine. He also taught us about the similarities and differences of the Catholic church. Before we left he told us that he has a role at the Arch-abbey as a ecclesiastical teacher and that they do classes on other faiths each year. He told us they have Buddhists and Orthodox Priests and others come and teach about their beliefs and he asked us if we could provide local Missionaries in Indiana to come and teach. We accepted and got his information. I shared with him Moroni 7: 37 about how miracles have not ceased and he thanked us profusely for our fellowship and encouraged us to continue to work hard sharing the word.  We have met multiple people from the congregation since then that were so kind and welcoming to us because we visited their church. Miracles do happen and it is all because of the Lord.”

What a great time to be a missionary!  We love this work, and the people here in the TMN.  We love being able to observe first hand the “miracles” and the “tender mercies” that are handed down to different missionaries every day.  We know it is true.  There is no doubt about it.  We know that the gospel will bring peace and happiness to anyone who accepts it.   Please know of my deep and abiding love for my Savior, Jesus Christ.   I know He lives and loves us and knows us and cries when we cry and laughs when we laugh.  I know we have a living prophet on the earth today, just as we did in times of old. And I know that Pres. Monson it the one for the job.  May we be better at taking Books of Mormon with us wherever we go and look for opportunities to share it.!

Much love,

President & Sister McKee,  Dad & Mom,  Grandpa & Grandma, Bill & RaNae….and Angelee, Aubrey,  Kiara, and Destini

NOV. 4, 2012

November 4, 2012

**Pictures will come later!**

Dear Family and Friends,

     Happy November to all of you!   We hope you all have your voting done---or at least soon will have and are getting over any remaining sugar highs from Halloween!!!  We saw a few darling pictures of some of our grandchildren in their Halloween Costumes, ( we have SUCH creative mothers of our grandchildren!!!)  The weather here has been quite nice this past week.  It is supposed to stay in the upper 60’s –lower 70’s this week so Janet and JoLynn, we have ordered good weather for you for when you come on Wednesday.  We are still very excited that you are coming this week!!!  We also found out that Jared will be flying here for a day or two as he has some continuing education credits he will be getting.  We love it!

         This has been a MONUMENTAL week here in the Tennessee Nashville mission.  Not only did we get 9 new missionaries here in the mission, and 8 finished their missions, but today a brand new stake,  the MURFREESBORO STAKE , was created here today by Elder Christofferson.    

            Monday, we greeted 9 new missionaries at the airport.  They are a strong group and they will all be a blessing to this mission.  We received 8 elders and 1 sister.  We brought them in, had a dinner, the trainings, the testimony meetings and the TNM slide show.

             Tuesday, the AP’s fixed them the traditional animal pancakes for breakfast and then we went out to the Franklin Stake House for trainings.  We had a great transfer meeting but it was very hard.  We had 2 sisters leaving, Sister Jensen from Idaho Falls, and Sister Birch from Syracuse, UT who are just two of the top missionaries in the whole mission .  Sister Jensen is so talented, she sings and plays the piano for almost every event, and Sister Birch is the sister who lost her brother about 6 months ago.  They are both great missionaries and will be SO missed.  The other 6 elders were also great missionaries,  Elder Hill from Malad (who served as an AP for a few transfers)  Elder Hyde from Idaho Falls, Elder Donohue from Nampa, Elder Dallof from Murray,   and Elder Cawley from California. Elder Adams from California who has been serving as Assistant to the President. He has been doing a remarkable job and is one of the most balanced young men we know. He is always so happy.   We will really miss them.  We took them all to the temple, had our dinner, testimony meeting and slide show, and again, stayed up until the late hours of the evening singing around the piano and playing games. 

            Wednesday, we had to leave by 5:30 to get them to the airport, which means I got up at 4:00 am to get breakfast for them.  By the time we make it home from the airport, we are just kind of staring into space!!!  These transfer weeks are great but I think I am getting old!!!

            I had to hurry and run to Destini’s Halloween Party for which I was a room mother that afternoon and then we took the kids trick or treating around the neighborhood  in Brentwood on Wednesday evening.  They LOVE to go to the big, beautiful homes in Brentwood—especially on Halloween.  They know how to give GOOD treats!!!

            Thursday, the girls all had dentist appointments for which I had to make the rounds checking them out of school and then taking them back.  We finally found a dentist here in Brentwood which we like very much and who also takes our dental insurance, so that is great.

            Friday, President and I were able to take an hour to walk around Radnor Lake.  This is the lake that is only 3 miles from our home and is just gorgeous---especially this time of year.  The leaves aren’t quite as beautiful as they have been, but it was still a great sight and it is one of our favorite things to do. There must have been 50 deer out around the lake. They are in the rut so there were many bucks that had come down.  President had to rush back to the office to do some paperwork and I played catch up at my office here in the mission home.

            Saturday, we had the opportunity to drive to McMinnville  (70 miles to the east) where they had their evening session of Stake Conference where Elder Christofferson was their special guest.   President was asked to speak at the special leadership session on Saturday afternoon, then we were invited to a special dinner in between sessions.   We had the privilege of sitting right across the table from Elder Christofferson.  He shook my hand and asked how our daughters were doing.  I’m sure there must have been a look of unbelief on my face that he would really remember them from when he was here a year ago, but then he said, “Now how old is Destini ?”  I couldn’t believe that he would remember her—even her name.  Last year Destini wrote him a letter after he had spoken here to the missionaries, and within a week, she received the nicest letter from him that she has framed on her wall.  Both President and I had the opportunity to speak in the evening session of conference and were excited to enjoy the Sunday session without having to worry about speaking.

            This morning, we drove into Murfreesboro (30 miles away) , where the new stake was created.  Because this change involved the Nashville Stake, the McMinneville Stake and one ward from the Franklin Stake and another ward from the Madison Stake,  conference was held in a huge room in the Embassy Suites Hotel.  There were at least 2,400 people there, and it was piped into an over flow and into other ward buildings in other areas of the stake that are far away.  It was exciting to see such a big group.  Elder Christofferson said, “This sight reminds me of being in the Conference Center,  but I can’t seem to find the monitors!”   

     The bitter/sweet of this experience is that President Watson, who has been the 1st counselor in the Mission Presidency was called to be the new Nashville Stake President.  We will miss him so very much.  This is the man who runs all of the iron man competitions and owns 39 Sonics.  He will be wonderful.  The former Nashville Stake President, President Tipps, became the new Murfreesboro Stake President.  He, too, is a great man and will do well. President Crawford will remain Stake President of the McMinnville Stake, it will be just a bit smaller. Each of these new Stakes will still have 10 units in them so they are still quite large.

    Today in the meeting Elder Merideth, the visiting authority with Elder Christofferson (who, incidentally was also a counselor in our mission presidency until last April when he was called to be an Area Authority Seventy)  told of a man named Dale Shumway who was the 2nd Branch President when Murfreesboro was only a branch back in the 1970’s.  Dale Shumway was there  today and he had him stand up in that huge crowd of people.  I wondered if any of my Shumway relatives might know  if they are related to him!  It was also reported this week that what used to be a branch 50 years ago is now 6 Stakes.

    We did get permission to call a man named Robert Johnson (look out Bob!)  as the 1st counselor in the mission presidency.  He was a counselor in the Nashville Stake but was released.  He and his wife are outstanding people as well and they will do well in the mission presidency.  

    Well, we are gearing up to a great week.  I am driving to Russellville (2 hours north) in the morning to conduct a choir practice with some missionaries who are going to be doing some Christmas performances, and then come home to start our ZLC which they decided to do a sleepover and then it will go all day on Tuesday.  I’m not sure when I will have time to prepare the food for that, but I’m sure somehow it will all work out!

  Here are some miracles:

1) I am so thankful the presentation  at the Catholic Church is over. It was getting very stressful but it was all worth it. I thought the people who came were so great.

Valerie  was so awesome! I talked with her afterward and she told me that one of her sons joined the Church and her grandson is waiting for his mission call and her granddaughter is going to BYU-Idaho. She took a copy of the Book of Mormon and a bunch of pamphlets about the family and she loved that we were so focused on strengthening the family. She told me, "I think this is where the Catholic church went wrong was stepping away from family. This building we're in is just a building. It doesn't matter." I thought that was pretty neat. There were some great people there and they all enjoyed our presentation. We got a couple new investigators because of it.

 Going out with Father Drury and Bill Davis afterwards was a neat experience. We made kind of a funny picture. It was 5 missionaries in this little Mexican restaurant with loud music that smelled like smoke with 2 old guys, one of them a Catholic priest, having a religious discussion. It was pretty great. But they both had awesome questions. Bill wanted to know  more about the missionary program and why we go out and pay to leave home for 2 years. So the elders were talking about that and then Bill said that if he'd had the chance to do something like that his life would have been completely different. We all thought that was really cool. Also Father Drury thought it was great how we put so much emphasis on a personal witness. He loved that there we bore our testimonies so much. He made a great comment that you could talk theology for hours on end and no one will get a single thing out of it. But when you add your personal witness it brings so much more. And I completely agree. I mean, I wouldn't be out here if I didn't have a witness that what I'm going around teaching is true. I found it interesting that that was what he enjoyed most about our presentation.

2)I love the power of the gospel. There is nothing that compares to it and I think it's amazing! I've loved being able to see how it changes people. I feel like the more I think about every little aspect of the Church, the more I realize how true it is. I love that there are so many more people preparing to go on misisons. I've been thinking a lot about what you said at interviews about how if every member brought one person into the church each year, that's 14 million new members. I actually told my family about that and asked them to go out and find someone to share the gospel with. We'll see how that goes.

3) “What a beautiful day!  Barbara was baptized tonight.  After investigating the Church for over 10 years, she became a member.  The couple who started fellowshipping her were there.  They also were radiant as they shared in this glorious occasion.  Sister Cope doesn't remember all the missionaries who have taught her, but two of the sister missionaries names were Sister Morar and Sister Heinz (she was from Arizona).  She also remembers there were two elders who had an appointment with her and didn't have any transportation so walked to her home which is 8 miles from town.  So over the years many missionaries have been involved in this conversion process.”

 I sure hope all of you know how much we love this work.  Every day we realize how this is truly the Lord’s work and what a blessing it is to be a part of it.  I know the Savior lives and loves each one of us.  He knows us and knows our names and our concerns and our shortcomings.  And even so, He loves us and wants us to be with Him again someday.  I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  How I have come to love this great book.  I don’t think I realized how powerful it is until I came out here! 

We pray that each of you have a great week.  Here is a thought for you.  Today Elder Christofferson told how one day each week,  each one of the 12 Apostles meet in a meeting and report on things they have done during the past week.  He told about President Monson.  He talked about how even though he has a world wide focus in running the church, he still takes time to minister to “the one”.  None of us can be too busy to visit our neighbors, to invite people to come to church or to teach them about the gospel! 

We love you all,

President & Sister McKee,  Dad & Mom, Grandpa & Grandma, Bill & RaNae…..and

Angie, Aubrey, Kiara, and Destini