A Homecoming gift...

We had the mother of a sister who served in our mission in Nashville attend our homecoming back in August. She wrote a beautiful article: mormonsoprano.com/2013/08/21/mckee-homecoming-tennessee-nashville-mission/

And made this beautiful video of such a memorable day. Thank you for this sweet homecoming gift. We loved getting to see all of our friends, family, and especially our TNM missionaries!

article:

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We also took Kylie to the MTC today. She will be a wonderful missionary! We love you Kylie! 

You can follow her mission experiences at: www.sisterkyliemckee.blogspot.com

www.sisterkyliemckee.blogspot.com

"See that you serve Him with all of your heart, might, mind, and strength."

Dear Friends and family,

“A marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. Oh ye that embark in the service of God , see that you serve Him with all of your heart, might mind and strength”. D &C 4

The Lord knew what would happen in this dispensation as the gospel was restored to this earth. He talked to us in the 180’s about how a marvelous work would come forth but little did we know what He has in mind and little do we know what will happen in the future. It is so imperative that we listen to a modern day prophet and be guided by his counsel. When I served as a missionary ( several years ago) there were around 25,000 missionaries and the church had around 3 million members. Today that marvelous work is taking place and there are more than 80,000 missionaries and over 15 million members of the church. The Lord is witnessing to many of the truthfulness of this work. What a blessing to be part of this wonderful teaching moment and to work together to give our ALL as we prepare for His return.

Our daughter Kylie spoke in sacrament meeting today in preparation for her departure to join this 80,000 rank as she prepares to go to the San Diego ( Mormon Battalion ) Mission. She will leave on November 6^th. We thank so many of you who came today and so many who support us spiritually, in words, deeds, finances and other personal support. What a gift each of you have been to us . We thank the Lord every day for relationships that we have with you. We were so blessed to see so many of our missionaries today and to feel of your love and commitment to this gospel. We were also blessed to have you come to our home and visit and eat dinner with us. Our home is your home and we hope that you always feel at home there. Kylie, Angie and Aubrey sang today in sacrament meeting and certainly brought the spirit into that meeting. We love our family and love serving with them.

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Angie flew in from Hawaii to open her missionary call and attend sacrament meeting as she tells Kylie goodbye before flying back to Hawaii for school. Angie will be going to Ecquador Guayaquil  mission in February. It will be such a blessing to have them both be out serving at the same time. They are becoming a part of that “marvelous work” in these latter days.

There is simply nothing on the earth today like the missionary  program in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. While serving in Tennessee , there were several leaders from many faiths that requested to duplicate this missionary program. One in particular asked me, “ I think I have this program down now, but how do you motivate your young people to actually leave for two years?” My answer was simple, “They are called by a living prophet and would do anything to support him and the Lord and that’s really hard to duplicate.” He smiled and said, “You have a good point there.”

This missionary program in a miracle on the earth today and it is rare to find anyone who has served a full time mission , that regrets any time that they spent there.. The missionaries all pay their own way, work at a vigorous schedule with little or no free time, and study and learn constantly, testify of Christ all day long with many rejections and still come out smiling. It is by far the “hardest thing that you will ever love”. Most walk away with a stronger commitment to serve and wonderful memories of those special experiences with a testimony that blesses not only their lives but future generations. Our missionary experience in Tennessee certainly was one of our greatest and humbling experiences. I’ll never forget Sister McKee saying to me a few weeks before we left, “ Bill, Do you really think we can do this?”. My response was, “ Of course we cant but He can and He will use common ordinary people like us to assist Him in accomplishing His purpose. We sure love all of you.

Sister McKee continues to progress but now without complications. We discovered this week that two of her stents are not working and are not repairable. She will be going through further testing this week to find out if she could be a candidate for open heart surgery which will include bypass surgery. There is a  possibility that her heart would not be functioning enough to do this  but we will not know for a few weeks. We are going to hold a family and friend prayer this Thursday at 11:00am to pray for healing for her. We so appreciate all of your prayers and faith in the past and would invite you to join in with us if the spirit directs. We sure love and appreciate all of you.

William and RaNae McKee

Welcome Home!

Dear friends and family,

After being home from the mission field, you would think that my schedule would be a bit more free or maybe I have just relaxed a bit too much but my children reminded me that  I have not put an update on facebook for far too long. We have been thinking about all of you and the precious way that you continue to support and show love to so many. We are grateful to be recipients of your prayers and your love. (Sister McKee) RaNae is still progressing and was doing so well until this week. We were actually walking a half mile everyday until this week. We have seen  a bit of a set back as we have changed to Idaho/Utah doctors and experienced a few med changes so she has been blacking out often and does not walk as well. They tell us that this will hopefully pass as we adjust medications but it has been almost a week with little progress. There is no doubt that we miss our wonderful medical support in Nashville and those medical professionals who may be reading this, please know how much you are loved an appreciated. We will adjust though. RaNae still has her double vision. We are going down to the Moran eye center in October where they tell us that she may possibly be a candidate for surgery that may correct this. With medicine changes, her severe headaches are back and so life has slowed down quite a bit for her. She is a woman of faith though and continues to trust in the Lord and “His will”.  In the midst of challenges we watch for the blessings. Our daughter Kylie surprised us with sending her missionary papers while we were preparing to leave Nashville. She received her call and will be leaving November 6^th for San Diego , California, serving in the Mormon Battalion Visitors Center as well as proselyting. She is so excited. Angie, who is now attending BYU Hawaii will be sending her missionary papers in October, so both will be serving at the same time. Aubrey 16 and Kiara 14 are both attending Highland High School. Aubrey is very involved with choir, powder puff football, and possibly basketball. Kiara made the flag team and gets up every morning at 5:00 am to practice with the band. It is very familiar to those early morning seminary classes that we loved in Nashville. Destini is attending Franklin middle school and just got a part in the “Wizard of OZ” at the Mystique Theater. Scott and Seren just bought a house and moved to Boise on our return. Scott is teaching seminary there. Steven and Rachel are buying a home in Chubbuck and tell us that they will soon be moving. We will miss them as Rachel is a nurse and very convenient for RaNae in taking that blood pressure on a regular basis.

Before leaving Tennessee I had a wonderful opportunity to speak with Elder Widman and Elder Meredith at a multi-stake Boy Scout camp outside of Nashville. The setting was amazing and the spirit there was remarkable. These were young men preparing for missions with such a strong desire to serve. We miss the mission field and all of our missionaries. We love and miss our Kentucky /Tennessee/Illinois friends and hope that you’ll know how grateful that we are for your influence on us.

Welcome Home! (Photo: Kirsten McKee

After returning home we found another wonderful blessing. Our ward members got together with our children and planted a lawn and garden around our home. We have enjoyed garden produce from their hands which reminded me of how many early pioneers planted gardens and crops for others coming after them. What a Christ like gesture. We took a large bag of corn to the ward party last week and said, “This is the Lord’s corn and the ward’s corn. We hope you enjoy.”

We reported our mission this month which was another wonderful day for us. We spoke in the Chubbuck 1^st ward at9:00am Sunday morning with around 400 in attendance. The spirit brought there by the members was so very special. How we enjoyed seeing our good friends there again as well as many of our missionaries. At 1:30 we spoke at our Highland 2^ndward with around 700 in attendance. We were overwhelmed with the love of great people. The Lord blessed the room with the spirit as we witnessed over 70 missionaries in attendance. I just had to have them stand and repeat “our purpose”. Inviting all to “come unto Christ” is the most important thing that we can do. We so enjoyed all of the friends and our missionaries coming up to the house afterward. There must have been 3 or 4 hundred people there that night. The house was overflowing with love.

The TNM Missionaries that attended our homecoming

It reminds me so much of the scripture in 1 Corinthians  chapter 12 that says, “ For the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body , being many are one body; so also is Christ……For the body is not one member , but many, IF the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? IF the whole body were an eye where were the hearing? IF the whole were hearing , where were the smelling?....And now are they many members, yet but one body. The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you…………………..Now ye are the body of Christ , members in particular.

This passage is such a gentle reminder that everyone of us are important and that it takes each of us to build His kingdom and each of us to do our part. We cannot define that one part is more important than another part and we cannot say that our part is not that important. All parts function to assist the whole body and all are one , just as all parts in a family , ward family or community are important. We have need of each individual and together we produce and function as the “body of Christ”. How essential that we see our own personal value in every situation and what a gift each individual is as we strive to be “more like Him”.

This passage in fact helps so many to understand the Godhead as they are all separate but one in purpose. God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are one  and are also separate beings creating a single purpose. What a gift to the world this is as each carries their individual responsibility. We in turn get the opportunity to carry our own responsibility as we strive to become more like them.

Thanks to each of you again for doing your individual part and blessing our lives. It is not the big things that we do but those “little things” every day. Each of you play such an important part in our lives and in the lives of so many that you touch every day. That part is essential no matter how small. We love you and pray for your happiness as well.

Happy Birthday Grandpa McKee ---He will be turning 85 this Sunday!!!

Love and prayers

William and RaNae McKee, Steven and Rachel, Kylie, Angie, Aubrey, Kiara, Destini...

A Whirlwind of Emotions... Because We Love the Lord

Dear family and friends,

The last two weeks of the mission field moved so quickly that I do not think that any of us had time for the sadness that we were feeling. We held specialized trainings throughout the mission so that we could do one last training and also take the afternoon to have a testimony meeting and hear from each of our missionaries. This gave us an opportunity to see them all again as we told them good bye. We have been blessed with such remarkable missionaries. They are filled with the spirit and a love for the Savior. Their determination and dedication far surpasses any expectation that we could have. We put together a video about the missionaries and miracles that were happening in the mission and also showed a portion of Sister McKee and her healing. We wanted them to know that each had been a part of her miraculous healing. Most had never seen her in the hospital and were quite surprised to see the pictures of her in a comatose state and then see her teaching today. I encouraged them again to record in their journals that they had experienced a miracle. We traveled throughout the mission every day and ended each meeting with a sad farewell and a strong determination to keep our mission pure and to keep the successes coming. Each committed to serve the Lord with the knowledge that He is in charge and that Mission Presidents come and go. They know who they serve. The feelings were strong each day and the knowledge of knowing that there are many who we may never see again in this lifetime was overwhelming at times. Their eyes ranged from Samoa to Mexico, Canada, India  to Australia. Our hearts are full. There is no plan on earth like this missionary plan where people come from all over the world, pay their own way, volunteer their time, commit to a high obedience standard, and serve with total strangers, receiving so much rejection all day long and keeping big happy smiles on their faces. I am so grateful for this precious missionary program and the miracles that we see in it every day.

We were able to visit with Jackie Steubbel again over in Blackman. She is the Episcopol  Priest that was baptized several weeks ago. I had her address the missionaries at the conference. She boldly talked to them about how important it is to be bold and loving. She said, “ Lord protect us from timid members”. I followed up with “Lord protect us from timid missionaries”. Jackie talked about her 25 year search for truth and how she had spent a life time trying to save Mormon missionaries only to be gaining her own testimony through their testimonies. She has a strong and precious testimony. We have all bonded to her very quick.

Each night we would attend correlation council with Stake Presidents in the area. How we love them as well and their vision for the church here. The Lord is blessing this area so much. We have 59 people meeting in Family Home Evening in Polaski and 85 that are meeting in Springfield. The Family Home Evening groups are so successful and there are 12 throughout the whole mission that are preparing to become Branches. This will happen very quickly as they continue to gather the returning members together. Winchester is still going strong, meeting in their mortuary and setting so many dates there. They are a tiny town of 7000 people and missionary work is going so well there that they still have 5 sets of missionaries in one Branch. They will baptize 20 people in one month. Livingston is still boasting 45-50 people meeting for sacrament meeting in their small two car garage. We will miss this excitement.

On Thursday the movers called and said that they would be packing all of our things on Friday morning so we stayed up through much of the night to prepare everything for their arrival. Friday morning  they packed as much as we felt they could take and still leave us enough to live with for the next month.

Dr. Austin and Liz Rich with Sister and President McKee

with Dr. Jeff and Paula Webber

On Friday night we hosted a medical dinner in the Mission Home. We invited all of Sister McKee’s doctors and nurses that have cared for her. Many were out of two because of the 4^th of July weekend but we had 20 that attended. The spirit was strong there as we hosted a dinner and showed a DVD that Jared and Brittany had put together showing Sister McKee in a comatose state to her present ability to teach and express her feelings to them. Our office angels put together gift bags for each of the doctors and nurses filled with Gospel DVDs and information about the church. We are so blessed for these incredible medical people. We told them that we know that we have experienced a miracle and that these things were not possible without their hands and their expertise. It was a blessing to acknowledge their spouses as well for their constant support of the profession. Tears filled all eyes as we watched the transition that had happened over the last six months. Sister McKee still has no memory of three months of her life and when meeting doctors like her brain surgeon she still feels like our stories about her are somehow about someone else although she knows that we are telling her truths. She was able to express her humble appreciation to them as well.

with Nurse Carolynn

On Saturday our ward hosted a beautiful open house for us . We agreed to the Open House if we could do a missionary fireside and ended the open house with a fireside for unbaptized members brought by the members and missionaries. We were so blessed to have many attend and several committed to baptism that night. A Sister in the ward made a beautiful teddy bear for us and the ward members signed it. They also presented us with a beautiful engraved serving dish . People drove for several hours to be there which was such a blessing for us to see those that we have grown to love so much. On Sunday we both spoke in church and the girls sang. It seems unreal that we will not be attending this ward any more. On Monday we went right into transfers . We thought that only 5 missionaries were coming in but were surprised to find out that we were receiving 14 missionaries instead so transfers were very busy with interviews and assigning them their new areas. We brought them to the Mission Home but it looked very different with all of our pictures off the wall and the Grand piano shipped back to Idaho. We knew that we had to be out of the house on Wednesday and had found a house to rent for the month of July but could not move anything into it until after 4 that day so while we were interviewing for transfers, the girls started hauling our food , clothing and essentials to the rented house. We all got to bed so late that night and the next day we took the new missionaries to transfers, had a wonderful training and transfer meeting and then began interviewing the 9 missionaries that would go home on Wednesday. We took them to the temple and then back to the Mission Home for dinner and testimony meeting. On Wednesday morning we took them to the airport at 5:30 to fly home and then Sister McKee went to girls camp to speak. Angie and Kiara had gone to Girls camp on Monday, Angie came back and forth between camp and transfers,while Aubrey chose to stay and attend transfer meeting. Sister McKee did and amazing job speaking at Girls Camp --even though I think we were all sleep walking -- the girls seemed to really love what she spoke about.and afterwards we returned to the Mission Home. The Cleaners were there by then and so we were throwing the rest of our things in boxes as fast as we could, loading them into the Missionary trailer. We will never be able to thank our assistants enough as they hauled loads from the Mission Home over to our new locations and also updated the transfer board for all of the new missionaries as well as the computer system. We all rushed so fast so that we could have the Mission Home ready for the new Mission President and his wife. We then raced to the airport and met President and Sister Andersen and took them to the office and to the home. We updated them on all that we could think about knowing that our exchange should be brief and only a few hours. They are a wonderful couple and this mission is so blessed to have them. It was at that point that we realized that we had to say goodbye to our assistants that we had raced around with for so many weeks hardly pausing for a breath. It was time to say goodbye to our office angels who walked the mission through every day. We had not planned out that moment and the tears began to flow as we looked into the eyes of Elder Horner and Elder Monson who had walked us through so much of this transition. We stood in a bit of a shock as we looked into the eyes of Elder and Sister Hunt and Elder and Sister Rodak who carried us through so much. There was no more time to say goodbye as we knew it was time for President Andersen to begin and yet we knew that we must move forward. We hugged two giants of men(our assistants) and will always feel that special sacrifice of love and service that they have given to our family.

Elder Andrew's (belated) Birthday! (3-days till we all went home...)

Elders Horner, Monson, and Andrew with their mission sisters!

A family we will never forget.

Greater love hath no man than he give up his life for a friend. These two young men had truly given all to support the Lord , this mission and our family. These two sweet couples have done so much for the Lord, our family and this mission. How we love them. “As I have love you. Love one another. This new commandment, love one another, by this shall men know, ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another”. We have taught our missionaries to love and to be motivated by love. This level of love also can bring heartache when you say goodbye. We are certainly feeling that heartache. We know that we will keep doing missionary work all of our lives but it will be different as we take these missionary tags off. I am convinced that there is no greater feeling than being a full time missionary and wearing this missionary tag that states that you represent the Savior Jesus Christ. How thankful we are to Him. Our lives will never be the same as tomorrow we work to be the greatest member missionaries. We tell our returning missionaries that they can now become the member missionary that they have daily prayed for. Thank you all so much for your support for our experience here in the Tennessee Nashville Mission. It has changed our lives. We will be staying for the month of July in Nashville to follow up with Sister McKee’s medical appointments and to keep consistent with her therapy. She is progressing so well and hopes to be able to be fitted with glasses this month that will help her not see double. She is my hero . We love you and will continue to serve the Lord in every way possible. He is our salvation.

Many have emailed to ask when we will be speaking on our return. Our home ward Bishop emailed us and asked us to speak on August 18^th at 1:30 in the Highland 2^nd ward. We will be gathering at our home at 8621 Buckskin, Pocatello, Idaho that evening and all are welcome to attend. We love you all and look forward to seeing you again. Our hearts feel so close to all of our friends in Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois as well and we hope that you know that you have impacted our lives in ways that we cannot begin to describe. We feel like we have two homes now and look forward for the opportunity to return here in the future. We know that you will continue on this great missionary effort here.

Love, William and RaNae McKee, Mom and Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.... Kylie, Angie, Aubrey, Kiara, and Destini.

   

Miracles and Miracles...

Dear Friends and Family,

“For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam , and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticing of the Holy Spirit and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient , full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.” Mosiah3:19

I have decided that the Lord is still working to get some of that natural man out of me by challenging us to use the atonement once more and to remember that He is in charge. Sister McKee has been doing so well. She has been out teaching and training at some of our recent meetings and has recently gotten prism glasses that help her not see double or triple when walking. She tells me that it feels like she is seeing all things underwater so nothing is real clear but it really helped to stop her bumping into walls. On Tuesday we were meeting with our missionary from India ,Sister Thulasidas as she was preparing to return to Temple Square for the remainder of her mission. Sister McKee was standing in the entry way and suddenly collapsed with no warning, falling forward and striking her head on a granite counter. I rushed to hold her and she told me that she was nauseated and wanted to go to a different room. I assisted her to a nearby room and then she immediately quit breathing and it looked like she was passing on, while in my arms. I yelled for the children to call 911 and within three minutes she began to respond again and soon was talking to us.(another miracle). We cancelled 911 and I drove her to the hospital to get an MRI to make sure that the brain was not bleeding after such a hard fall. The cut on her head was minimal but of course head wounds bleed a bit more. The MRI checked out fine which was another blessing.(miracle) but the doctors told her that she was in a category of “sudden death” syndrome with her heart as a result of her previous heart attack and that she had 45% chance of passing away immediately if she experienced another heart attack and they recommended that a defibrillator be put in her heart. Sister McKee was in the hospital for four days with this heart surgery. She has been in a fair amount of pain over the weekend healing from a sizable incision in her left clavicle. We were scheduled to travel to Winchester, Tn Sunday morning to speak at their sacrament meeting but she was unable to travel so Aubrey traveled with me while Kylie stayed with Sister McKee. This wonderful branch has grown to 140 active members from 20 in just 6 short months. They had 13 investigators in their sacrament meeting and plan on baptizing 20 new members in the month of June. Their energy was amazing and their enthusiasm for the gospel spread quickly. They have no chapel and found a local mortuary to meet in. The owner(who is not a member of the church) is so kind and lets them meet there for free in a beautiful chapel. Aubrey smiled as she said that she attended Young Womens in the casket room.   After the meetings we were invited to attend a beautiful dinner put together by Grace and Malcom Engineer. Grace is from the Phillipines and Malcom is from India. Malcom just joined the church and has such a strong testimony of Jesus Christ.

Later that night we drove to Springfield, Tn which is two hours north of Winchester. We met with a group there who are meeting each Sunday night to see if they can gather enough people to build a Branch. There were over 60 people there meeting in a member’s home. A beautiful lesson was given on the atonement. Kaylee Allen was there with a beautiful baby boy. Kaylee is the granddaughter of President and Sister Allen of the Chubbuck Stake. What a blessing to be there with our Chubbuck friends. On Saturday there were 14 people in the mission that were baptized new members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This Saturday there are 30 people scheduled to be baptized. The miracles are happening throughout the mission. This Saturday there is another Minister that is being baptized. These spiritual leaders will get answers as they read and study the Book of Mormon (a second witness of Jesus Christ).

We of course have such mixed feelings as we begin packing and prepare the Mission Home for a new Mission President. We will need to stay close to Nashville for the month of July as we do follow up with medical professionals. We are so anxious to do more treatments for Sister McKee’s eye. We love our missionaries. They are all like sons and daughters and we will be meeting with each of our zones next week as we travel through the mission for specialized trainings and to tell them all goodbye. This is probably one of the hardest things that we have ever been called to do but like Nephi, “We will go and do” because we know the this gospel is led by a living prophet and we know that the Lord is in charge. Our faith is in Him and we trust those leaders whom He has called. We are so grateful for this wonderful opportunity and thank you all again for your faith , love and prayers. While in the hospital last week we had several visits from nurses that cared for Sister McKee last December. They all love her so much. She smiled because she has no memory of them but they certainly remember everything about her. Relationships in this life and the life to come are so meaningful and important. We pray that each of you will strengthen family and friendship relationships as we progress toward our Heavenly home.

With love and appreciation for y’all,

President and Sister McKee, Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa

A Special Thank You to Family and Friends

We met with all of our missionaries on Monday. What a glorious sight. Over 220 missionaries here in our mission now. The spirit was strong as we expressed our desire to follow the Savior and follow a living Prophet no matter where the call. We are so grateful to each of you for your love, prayers and pleading to the Lord on our behalf. We will always be missionaries and will always be serving together as we do everything in our power to "invite all to come unto Christ" We testify that He is our Savior, He is our redeemer and His atonement heals all. HE is the Light of the world and we are so blessed to have His gospel on the earth today. We love each of you and pray for your happiness and eternal joy.
President and Sister McKee

Update from President and Sister McKee:

Dear Family and Friends,

We have continually been blessed with new missionaries and recently because of receiving missionaries waiting for visas, we have had three weeks of new missionaries or transfers in a row. One Monday we will receive 17 more missionaries (12 of which will be Visa waiters) going into Columbia, Denmark, Argentina, Mexico, Australia and Brazil. These missionaries are allowing us to put missionaries where we have never had them before and we continue to see success in these out lying areas. We have another group in Livingston , TN that will hold their very first sacrament meeting in their city tomorrow. There plan is to have 57 people there. Winchester Tn continues to grow . We are getting so many member referrals there that I am going to place ten missionaries in this small city. We have over 300 referrals to go and teach. With no chapel, they continue to meet in their precious donated mortuary. These times are so exiting for the members of the church here in the Tennessee Nashville Mission. “A marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men” D&C 4. We are a witnesses of this marvelous work.

Today we traveled to Paris Tennessee. Our good friend Alvin Travis and his son Andre were baptized there. Alvin was a minister for the Kingdom Vision Church and the first time I met him I knew that he was feeling the spirit of this wonderful message and I challenged him to follow the spirit and be baptized by one having the authority. He has traveled a challenging road but he always knew that this gospel was true and knew that he would actually have to change his livelihood in order to be baptized. We talked to the whole congregation and invited them to come with him but they have been hesitant. Alvin has come to the point where he has made a stand and chosen to follow the Savior by being baptized into the restored church of Jesus Christ. He knows that the Book of Mormon is true and wants to stand for that testimony and knowledge. Sister McKee and I have had him in our home several times even though he lives over two hours away. This gospel will bless him so much. We love him and are so blessed to have him stand as a witness to this great work. The members in Paris, TN were so loving and supportive as they came today to witness these wonderful baptisms. They will be a wonderful ward family for him as he strives to find another job and begin his new life. This step takes so much faith and we love him so much for his willingness to follow the Savior.

Love to all of you and thank you for your continual prayers for Sister McKee. Each day she becomes stronger and has been speaking often to members and the missionaries. She is such a blessing to this mission and to the Lords work and such a blessing for each of us. We love her and love all of you!!

Here is an article from the Tennessean on local sister missionaries. It was also linked on MSNBC for local stories.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130518/NEWS06/305180041/Young-sisters-share-Mormon-message-at-younger-age?nclick_check=1 

President and Sister McKee  

Howdy from Tennessee!

May 19, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

         “Hallalujah!  Praise the Lord!”  Those were the first words out of the minister’s mouth who was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints yesterday.  As President brought him up out of the water, he shouted his praises and it caused everyone to smile.  Minister Alvin Travis from Paris Tennessee finally got baptized with his 10 year old son Andre’.  It was a great experience to see this large, black man dressed in white sitting next to his son knowing that they had true testimonies of the gospel.

        We drove up to Paris again this morning (about a 2 hour drive) to see him confirmed when 5 minutes before we arrived, the Stake President from Paducah called to see if President and  I would be the speakers for the meeting.  Of course, we told them we would.  As I ended my talk, Alvin rose to his feet and began clapping and saying “Hallalujah!”  again.  I told him that I loved his enthusiasm.  Sometimes I think we, Mormons, need to adapt to some of that great enthusiasm.(Sister McKee gave a talk that touched their hearts so deeply. There were many tears shed as she testified from the pulpit about how the Lord is in the details of our lives. I clapped as well inside along with Alvin for her)wm  One of the speakers said, “Sometimes it is easier to have faith when we are healed after we have prayed for that healing, but do we have faith in the Lord when we are NOT healed? “  He proceeded to teach us that faith isn’t just getting what we want, it is knowing that God’s way is the right way and it is when we can align our will with His will that we demonstrate our faith.  That taught me a great lesson. 

       After we attended the meeting in Paris, we drove another 3 ½ hours to the opposite side of our mission where there was a group (I call them a twig) who are working hard to become a branch.  This was in Livingston TN and there were about 40 people attending church in an unbaptized member’s garage.  It was very exciting to see them there—it reminded me of movies I have seen about the early days of the church.  There were about 9 investigators there and these members are determined to invite their friends and neighbors so that they can hold church there in their own city and not have to drive 45 minutes to church.

         We got home tonight at about 6:30 , just in time to go to the church to see Angie’s Seminary Graduation.  She was asked to speak at it—there were about 20 kids graduating, 5 from our ward.  Angie did an outstanding job as she always does.  She always knows just the right thing to say and how to say it.  I was so proud of her.  Both she and Aubrey got the Stake President’s Award.  And while we were sitting there in the chapel, Hermana Gold, Elder Knighton, and Elder Brown (one of our 1st AP’s) had come back to Nashville and surprised us.   I love it when they come back—they all looked so good!  They actually came back to go through the temple with one of the families they had baptized , They had four children sealed to them.  They are staying here at the mission home tonight.

        This week has been an interesting week. Steven and Rachel came on Thursday.  It is SO great to have them here.  I love it when my family is here.  Steven will be here for about three weeks, but I think Rachel has to go home a little earlier.  I hope we can do some fun things with them while they are here.  I also hope Kirsten had a great birthday last Monday. 

       I got my glasses from my eye doctor last Monday, but they don’t really help my vision, they are made so that there is a tape-like substance over the inside of both of the lenses, which is supposed to force my eyes to separate.  He told me that I have 100% movement in my left eye now.  Now he gave me more exercises to do that are supposed to help the muscles of my eyes connect to my brain.   I’m working hard on them but somedays it seems hopeless!  I know that as I continue working,  things will all come together!

      Tomorrow is our next transfer week.  We are getting 7 new missionaries plus 10 more visa waiters.   We will have 34 visa waiters in our mission after they arrive tomorrow..  We are losing 6 wonderful elders and sisters.  It always saddens me to see them leave.  I always pray that they will come back and see us! 

TNM Miracles:

1)“ On Thursday we got stuck in Paducah for about 2 hours because Sister Russell had an interview with President Okuda and we weren't going to be able to make it back in time for her to drive all the way back to Paducah for it. So we called the zone leaders and asked if we could go on exchanges with them during our time there. They were busy with some previous appointments, so we asked where a good place to tract would be. After some debating on their side, they decided upon a small neighborhood about a five minutes walk from the church. We spent two hours tracting, we only had time to tract about 45-50 houses because we found 10 new investigators, three of which we scheduled on the same day in the afternoon, one we invited to church, we passed out three books of Mormon and the rest received restoration pamphlets.”

2)“This week was so great!! We ended up having 23 member present lessons, we handed out 28 copies of the book of Mormon and we have 9 new investigators. It was so awesome! The difference was in our attitude about the work. As soon as we went out with the attitude that the Lord will provide and we were willing to be bold and talk to everyone, that’s when the miracles started happening. I'm sure He recognized that we showed that we cared for the people that we teach and come in contact with throughout the day because we recently recommitted to update our area book in detail every night after nightly planning”

3) My cousin emailed me today and my mouth just dropped open.  I didn't even know she was ever baptized, and now she's telling me her fiance reactivated her!  This is my cousin that lives in California.  Her name is Ashely.  I knew my aunt was less-active, but I had no idea Ashley was baptized.  Who knows, maybe the rest of my cousins were too!  Then my aunt emailed me telling me she gave a talk in sacrament meeting and is going to the temple!  We are talking about a woman with the craziest background you've ever heard”

We love you all and are loving serving the Lord here in Tennessee.  Thank you for your love and support.  When we see lives change as they accept the gospel and begin living  Christ’s teachings, we know that this is what the Savior would want us to be doing.  We love this work, the gospel, the mission, our family and good friends who continually support us and help keep us going.  I know God lives and that Jesus is our Savior and Redeemer.  I especially love the Book of Mormon and all I learn from it daily.  May each of you have a blessed week.   

Much love,

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

     Angie, Aubrey, Kiara and Destini

Howdy from Nashville!

May 12, 2013
Dear Family and friends,
          It has been a couple of weeks since I have written.  Thanks for your patience.  Also, thank you to all of you who have written to us.  We appreciate your letters so much!   There has been a lot that has happened in the past couple of weeks. First of all we were able to attend the Mission Presidents Seminar in Orlando the first week of May.  It was so great to be able to see our friends that we made at the MTC and at the other seminars we have been to.
          Right after that, Roy, Debbie and Anna came out for a few days.  It was so good to see them.  They came the Sunday we arrived home and we took them to a fireside put on by the Nashville Tribute Band in Hopkinsville, Ky.  They have 3 CD’s recorded.  One is a tribute to the prophet Joseph Smith, one is a tribute to the Pioneers called “The Trek’ and the last one is a tribute to missionary work called “The Work”.  We have approved each of them for our missionaries to listen to, some because of the messages and some because of the culture in the music.  Roy seemed to love the fireside—in fact at one point I thought he might just walk up and start playing with them!  The Tribute Band also came to our Train the Trainer meeting in Nashville, we had last Thursday and just sang a few songs for the missionaries.  They have a great spirit about them and the messages in their songs are wonderful!
            It was sad to see Debbie and Roy leave but just a few days later Scott flew out  here and we were able to spend about a week with him.  He was a great help to me in driving me to my doctors appointments and physical therapy.  He would take me to appointments in the mornings, and then take me to zone conferences in the afternoon where I was able to acknowledge missionary birthdays and speak to the missionaries.  I really appreciated Scott for all of his help especially driving me places. 
            It was really hard to see Scott go home.  And a few days later he called with the news that he has been officially hired as a seminary teacher and has been given the assignment to teach in Boise next year.  Luckily Steven and Rachel are still living in our house so I guess they will take over living there for the next year!  Steven and Rachel are flying out for a week or so this coming Thursday and will be helpful in driving me to rehab appts, so we are anxiously awaiting their coming.  Steven is graduating with his masters degree on May 15 the day before they come.
      Angie and Kiara will be flying home on May 22 for Angie’s graduation onMay 22 in  Lehi , Utah and then will stay there for a couple of weeks.  They will come home in June and then Angie will leave for Fiji on July 22 for a couple of weeks.  She is still deciding  when she will do her mission.  She was accepted at BYU Hawaii and thinks she might do a semester of school before she turns in her missionary papers.
     Last night we went to Destini’s elementary school play “Annie”.  Destini played the part of Cecille, the maid.  She did such a cute job!  We were really proud of her.  Aubrey is rejoicing that this is her last full week of school.  She has done well in school out here and keeping up with everything she has going on.      Kiara also just made the FLAG TEAM for next year at Brentwood Middle School.  She worked really hard the weeks of tryouts and we are so proud of her.   
         Many of you may remember Reverend Alvin Travis (our minister friend)  whom the missionaries taught about a year ago.  He couldn’t get baptized because his girlfriend was not legally divorced.  It took him awhile to get it all worked out, but he is FINALLY getting baptized  this coming Saturday. 
    Things are going about the same for me.  I am still overly dizzy  to the point that I can’t walk straight and I  am still struggling with my vision, but most everything else is doing well.  I am supposed to get glasses from my Ophthamologist tomorrow.  And then tomorrow night the missionary choir is singing the “National Anthem” for the Sounds Baseball Game.  I am planning on leading them, so if I get someone to walk me to my place I will just pray that I can  stay standing  up during the whole National Anthem. 
  President McKee is working hard doing both of our jobs.  I  will be forever grateful to him for how he has supported me over the past 5 months especially.
TNM Miracles:
1.  The Winchester Miracle:
     6 months ago we placed two missionaries in this small town and assigned them to gather the less active for Family Home Evening and baptize preparing this city for a Branch. Two weeks ago we organized the Branch with 153 people attending. They are meeting in a funeral home. The funeral home director donated this location for free for them. He is not a member of the church but wanted to do something to help God. It is an ideal location and soon will become a ward. They have applied to Salt Lake already to build a chapel there. They held a Dogwood festival last week and ended up with 273 solid referrals so we have sent 8 missionaries down there just to teach all of the people. This has all happened so  quickly that no one can believe it. The Lords hand is in every detail
2.  “On Saturday night we received a call from our Bishop telling us that on Wednesday, him and his daughter were eating at the local Sonic when they noticed a family of five that they thought would be great in our ward. They went up and introduced themselves and gave them his number. On Saturday night during the stake conference session our bishop received a phone call from Tony, asking if they can still come to church!!! Tony called again Sundaymorning to double check! The family is great! We sat behind them during the broadcast”

3,  “Synthia got baptized on Saturday! It was wonderful. She came from a Pinnocostal church and has always "felt" the spirit quite differently. We were a little bit nervous about how she would act during her baptism and confirmation but she sat really still and tears just streamed down her face. She asked if everyone felt that burning and we explained, again, that it was the Holy Ghost. Then after her confirmation she wouldnt let anyone hug her because she didnt want them to take that feeling away from her. It was so cute! She felt the spirit so strong and i think she finally figured out what it is all about.” 

quickly that no one can believe it. The Lords hand is in every detail.
We love this mission.  We have testimonies of its truthfulnesss.  We love working with the missionaries and we rejoice in our Savior and in His Atonement.  We know that through Him all things and people are made whole and we are so grateful for His help in our behalf every day.  The Book of Mormon is a marvelous book.  Read it again and again.
Loads of love,
President & Sister McKee, Dad & Mom, Grandpa & Grandma, Bill and RaNae
Angie, Aubrey, Kiara and Destini.