Power of Christ's Atonement

Today is Sunday and our 25th day in the Intensive Care Unit. As I got up from my cot and 

looked out the window to the Nashville high rise of businesses, I’ve been thinking about how 

many of us will be partaking of the sacrament today and the wonderful blessings of the 

atonement. As Sister McKee comes out of the coma a

nd becomes more aware of her 

surroundings and her body, she is also more aware of her pain. The pain of the trach, the pain 

of a tube into the stomach, the pain of a previous tube in her head and the back of her head 

being sutured as well, the realization that arms and feet do not want to move when commanded 

by the brain, the shear fatigue of being in bed for three weeks produces so much weakness 

which is difficult to tell what is stroke or what is atrophy of the muscles. All of these painful 

feelings and frustrating thoughts take me back to so many things that the Savior has taught us.

 The atonement is the ultimate gift for each of us. It takes away our sorrows, sadness, 

frustration, suffering and pain and, oh by the way, it heals our sins as well.

As many of us will be partaking of the sacrament today may we hand over to the Savior through the atonement , suffering , sorrow, sadness, frustration and pain. We are so dependent upon Him in all aspects of our lives. He has given us so much and we owe all to Him. Those things that are out of our control , we must hand over to Him. This is a huge act of faith and also requires us to do all that we can do first. Every day I decide (ALL) that I can do with my family, with Sister McKee, with 170 missionaries , and then clearly know that I must hand the rest over to the Savior, to the atonement , that heals ALL things.

Sister McKee is breathing through the trach still and is on the respirator 18 of the 24 hours each day. Today they will try her off the respirator and breathing on her own through the trach for 8 hours. She is still moving feet, hands , eyebrows , trying to mouth some words (as she cannot speak) and can also move her tongue. Again we rejoice in “small things” . We love you. Thank you for your cards, your kind gifts, your humble prayers and your incredible faith. Today one of the nurses over her oxygen came in and sat by me and said, “ Ya’lls faith is pretty impressive. I’ve never really been around Mormons but I have to tell you that I can see that the Lord is performing a miracle on this woman. Even those in my department that are not God fearing are beginning to believe that there is a God and He answered ya’lls prayers. There is no way that any of us expected to see her come through this and start responding. Praise be to God.” The sincerity and faith of some of our caretakers is very supportive. Our nurse from yesterday only works here once a month. He loved the message we shared and took a “Finding faith in Christ” video home with him. The Lord continues to give us many missionary opportunities.
As we hand “ALL” over to the Savior today while partaking of the sacrament we will also be filled with gratitude for such great friends and family. May the Lord bless you on this beautiful Sabbath day.


William McKee family

"Thumbs up," "Ok," and "I Love You"

Thanks Kirsten McKee for the photo--very cute. 

I’ve been reading a few quotes from Lorenzo Snow a modern prophet of God as it will be part of our lesson manual for this next year. He stated:

“Every man and woman who serves the Lord, no matter how faithful they may be, have their dark hours; but if they have lived faithfully, light will burst upon them and relief will be furnished.”

“Trials and tribulations have been the experience of the Latter Day Saints. God so designed that it should be. I daresay that in the (premortal) spirit world, when it was proposed to us to come into this probation and pass through the experience that we are now receiving, it was not altogether pleasant and agreeable; the prospects were not so delightful in all respects as might have been desired. Yet there is no doubt that we saw and understood clearly there that, in order to accomplish our exaltation and glory, this was a necessary experience; and however disagreeable it might have appeared to us, we were willing to conform to the will of God, and consequently we are here.”

I have received several phone calls lately asking what had actually happened with Sister McKee. So to dispel all rumor, The night before Thanksgiving she had an undiagnosed stroke, she then experienced an undiagnosed heart attack on Thanksgiving day. On Friday the heart attack was discovered and she went into heart surgery Saturday morning. On Saturday afternoon she went into cardiac arrest and she almost died. Sunday morning she was diagnosed with a hemorrhagic stroke and I was told that she need immediate brain surgery and that she very likely would not make it through the surgery. Following the surgery she went into to a self induced coma for almost two weeks. After much fasting and prayers she began to come out of this coma. We thank you again for your continual faith and prayers. There are so many that continually pray in her behalf. We feel your prayers and your love. THANK YOU!!

We have been in the Intensive Care Unit now for 23 days as she fights for her life. She began to make a change beginning last Thursday as so many prayed and this week we are seeing miracles take place in her life. She has come completely out of the coma now but is still on a respirator tube. She is breathing on her own today for four hours without the respirator tube but with the help of oxygen. (miracle) She can move both feet and both hands.(miracle) She can cross her hands across her lap.(miracle)She can understand everything that I say.(miracle) She can communicate (yes) by raising her eyebrows. She can mouth the words (I love you) and (bye). (miracle) She can give a “thumbs up” and an “OK” sign and “I love you” sign with her hands. With her return from the coma also comes a new awareness of pain. She has had no pain medication for two weeks. Those of you who know Sister McKee know that she is determined and that she has a spunky personality. That is beginning to come out with her determination to keep her feet moving and to roll her eyes from time to time especially when her husband does not quite figure out some of the sign language. Jared (our son) is here working some physical therapy with her. We are so grateful for our children and so many friends supporting us in so many ways as we keep the mission going and deal with this opportunity to grow.  We all love Sister McKee so much.  The missionaries are working so hard as their way to support her when they know that there is so little they can do beside faith and prayers. We have wonderful missionaries who serve with a constant love for the Lord. We love and appreciate all of you and thank you for your cards, prayers , faith and support.

The William McKee Family  

Update on Mama McKee

A good friend sent us this beautiful scripture that helped them through a critical time. It is found in the Book of Mormon,   II Nephi 2:24:

“But behold all things have been done in the wisdom of Him who knoweth all things”

Each day that I look up and say , “Yes we are here in ICU one more day and Sister McKee is still alive, I feel gratitude in my heart. The Lord really does know all things and does so much that we do not understand and yet all things have been done in His wisdom. We trust Him. I often tell the missionaries how the Lord trusts them to go out and share His very important gospel message and also trusts them enough to allow each of them to carry His name and represent Him. The real question is “Do you trust the Lord?” We know that the Lord trusts us and allows each of us to represent Him in some way. Do we really trust Him or do we only trust Him when things go well. He is in charge and we do trust Him even though we do not always understand.  What we do know is that He is there and that He will lift and carry us, especially through difficult times. Our responsibility is to trust Him enough to know that all that we will experience is directed by Him and that He really is in charge of the details of our lives.

We are so grateful that all of our children were able to come out and for those who helped them in this effort from plane flights, baby sitters, bosses letting them off work etc. So many kindnesses(many miracles). Steven flew back home on Sunday, Scott flew home on Monday, Mike flew home on Tuesday and Michelle flew home on Wednesday. How we appreciate and love them and their physical, spiritual and emotional help.

Sister McKee had surgery to put a  trach put in on Monday. She is still breathing through the ventilator tube through the trach. On Tuesday they turned off the ventilator for an hour and she took her first breaths on her own. It was a huge moment for celebration as we (the family) and staff cheered, tears streaming down our faces. She breathed with only the oxygen tube and no ventilator for an hour. They will try this twice a day for awhile to see if she can be weaned off of the ventilator over the next few weeks. ( a miracle). She even gave me a thumbs up while she was doing it. (another miracle).  Dr. Li came in a took the tube out of the top of the head which was draining liquids out of the brain. (another miracle). He stapled up the hole in the top of her head and then he  took all of the stitches out of the back of her head(a miracle). They were able to put water on her head and rinse out her hair for the first time in three weeks. (another miracle). What a blessing to wash through that dried blood and massaging that head for the first time. No hair products but Michelle (a very sweet nurse and friend now) made a bow out of hospital gauze and put it in her hair. She said , I can tell that this woman likes to look nice when interacting with others so we need to do something here. I’m not sure that Sister McKee would appreciate that bow style but we loved it.

The physical therapists are working with her now as well moving arms and legs and trying to sit her up. The doctors also took her feeding tube out of her mouth and did surgery to put it directly into her stomach. This will help to clear her mouth of tubes and hopefully allow her to heal the mouth area after having tubes in for so long. (miracles)

We received 14 new missionaries in on Monday. I left for a period to meet them at the airport and interview them. On Tuesday the assistants did all of the training and I went over to transfer meeting and interviewed 12 missionaries going home. After the interviews we brought all of the departing missionaries over to the ICU to tell Sister McKee goodbye. I have not gone into detail about her health with the missionaries and so it was quite a shock for them to see her in this state. Many tears and much love. She waved to each of them. I know that she loves them and they love her. It’s all about miracles. 

The William McKee Family

Missionary Miracles in the TNM:

“… a random car pulls up to us with two women in it. She said," Your the elders right?" we said yes she then said, i want you to come over to my house and start teaching me please...... i will be there all day tommorow and the next few days also can i get a book of Mormon....... we gave her a book and off she went….. We went over and started teaching her and said she is so interested and that life is great whenever the missionaries are in her life. MIRICALE # 1. SO the next day we are walking by the same area and a guy name Tim comes out of his house and says.. "HEY, your from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints right?" we said yes and he said can i borrow two dollars, then can you please come over and start teaching me more about Jesus Christ????...... Lastly Thursday night we are in the elevator and we are heading up to Billys and we recieve a call from a investigator who we just barley contacted us, we met him twice before and said he my brother in law will be in town on the 22 of December i want him to baptize me into the CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS........... O my heck it was awesome to see all the incredible miracles that have taken place, it is crazy to think that although president is in the hospital it was able to receive revelation in our areas.   I am amazed how if you have faith God will provide….   Brittany will be baptized Saturday at four thirty.”

“Another miracle: the family that we were helping move is a less active couple with two children, we had been helping them move over the weekend and invited them to church and also invited them to join in fasting for Sister McKee. They both arrived on Sunday even though they had street clothes (all of their "dressy" clothes were packed) and were present for a wonderful fast and testimony meeting.”

“Today has been an exciting day.  We feel we have found a perfect location (and building) for the “historic meeting” scheduled on January 6th.  To us, it is an answer to prayers.  We asked Sister Mardi Veazey to accompany us because of her business knowledge & personal skills with contracts and renting real estate.  She has been a great help.”

“This week we had 4 investigators at church and 2 less actives. Pat ….. is already being a missionary and she’s not a member yet.”

 “ We'll be having that baptism of the family of the Investigator you met at Stake Conference this week, so that will be exciting.”

“The Gospel does not take the hard situations out of our life, but it Does give you the strength to get through them! I know that to be true from my own experience and this is only building upon that testimony!”

“ we have one investigator that has been to church 3 times and we are inviting him to be baptized on Thursday!”

“ Guadalupe and 3 of her kids are getting baptized on Saturday.”

“Jesus is someone we are working with, he said this was the first church he has been to that he actually likes!  He is doing real well.”

 “Tuesday we received a voicemail from our dear Brother Cunningham informing us that he was going to be baptized next week in Texas!!!”

"Excuse me, is there a pastor here that I can talk to?" I was shocked. Our district leader and his companion went out to talk to him, they were gone pretty much the whole time. They came back in at the end and informed us that he is going to be baptized on the 29th of December. After we closed the meeting, Elder….. told us … this man and his family are in our area! He also said that this man was in the military and had killed a lot of people, so he felt extremely burdened with guilt, insomuch that he was going to step out in front of a car in front of the church, but something nudged him to go in to the church!!!! What a miracle!!!!”

“ I'm sure this thought has already crossed your mind, but I can hardly believe it is coincidence that of the 15 prophets, seers and revelators visiting our mission this weekend, the one the Lord assigned to come is the heart surgeon, Elder Russell M. Nelson. I'm sure this brings peace to your family as he will be able to offer comfort, counsel, insight and understanding that no one else—not even one of the other apostles or prophets—could do in quite the same way.”

“We were really bold with an investigator yesterday. It actually felt good.”

“ We baptized two Korean girls Saturday, … Seo and …. Seob, and it was a great experience. They have come so far from the stories I have heard…”

“We discussed President Monson's stories that he tells and found that there is always a lesson tied to a story. We concluded by deciding to write one lesson that we learn each day. This gives me more reason to write in my journal. Afterwards I flipped through my old pocket notebook (my new one is filled with combat scriptures) in which I had written some profound things that people had said. The ones which I had written down the persons name with the statement. I was able to remember everything about when it happened. I am determined to write one thing that I have learned each day in my journal.”

“Our companionship alone had 6 investigators at church yesterday and four of them are new investigators who have a desire to be baptized. We will be setting dates with 2 of them tomorrow. The other 2, (a father and son from Nepal) will be baptized on the 14th of December!! I am thankful for the change I have been given to labor here among Heavenly Father's children here. I love this work. There is nothing more fulfilling that I can be doing!! This is truly a happy way to live!!”

“and we intercepted him and said, "we are messangers of Chirst and we have a very important message for your family."  After we said that we were immediately rushed inside, greeted by the family and they all sat down to listen to us. We taught them about the restoration and committed theThe father and the son to be baptized and they accepted and said they would come to church. My companions are such great teachers! It was so powerful. While the boy was explaining to his father about the role of the Book of Mormon, he paused and said, "do we need to read the whole book to know if this is true?" with a willingness that they would if they needed to.”

“Be sure to tell her we had a double baptism on Saturday of 2 Korean girls just for her. The Spirit was so strong and they were confirmed the next day. We had an investigator at church as well who told us that he knows he needs to be baptized he just doesn't feel knowledgeable enough. Our next lesson will be on the importance of baptism and how it is the gate and first step. We will set a date with him this week, for Sister McKee! just 20 seconds of insane courage!!! I love you tons. Have a great day!!!!!!”

“Starting on Thanksgiving and continuing even now we've been sharing a special message with our members. We've typed up notes from the apostolic blessing Elder D. Todd Christofferson left with our stake just over a month ago. We printed this powerful blessing on a small card for members to place on their refrigerator door, bathroom mirror, etc. So many members have been touched by this simple reminder of a powerful blessing. One member said she would purchase a frame for the card and hang it in her living room. Another said he would treasure it for years to come. The universal response has been one of gratitude and awe—awe that an apostle of the Lord would invoke such a powerful blessing in such uncertain times. As part of our message we've often shared Jacob 4:6, reminding members that there are prophets in the land again, and that they truly hold the power to "command in the name of Jesus and the very trees...[and] mountains...[and] waves of the sea" obey. Since sharing this message we've nearly tripled the number of referrals we've received from members.”

“Another miracle came in another church.  We attended a Pentacostal service Wednesday evening.  The preacher, a kind elderly sister, asked if either of us played the piano since their usual pianist was sick.

I offered my services and was able to play for the church, though quite poorly. However, the best part was during the sermon, the preacher asked Elder Oliver and I to come up and share why we were there.  We took the opportunity to bear testimony of Christ and invited all to learn more”

“we sat down and talked with her and she told us that she is ready to be baptized. Its truly amazing how when you try and be obedient and trey and become like Christ that miracles happen.”

“We had a great miracle we had a baptism this weekend. It was a great experience. Her name was Bonnie Stevens. Her husband has been inactive most of his life and last Sunday we gave him the priesthood and he was able to baptize his wife. It was a remarkable event. always expect miracles. we need to use the small little things to make great things come to pass.”

“ Our baptismal date, Delilah, has experienced spiritual conversion ….. She is now very confident in her date and she even bore her testimony during testimony meeting yesterday! She is having surgery for cancer next week so we are going to try to move her date up to this Saturday. We also set a date with another one of our investigators, Mike, and he is solid! He is going to be a great member and kingdom builder.”

“I was a stubborn Catholic and after 18 lessons with the missionaries I finally committed myself to pray and ask. Before my knees even hit the ground I heard a voice said to me "You already know it's true" I was gone after that." So amazing.”

“ We baptized a family of 3 last weekend and it was a beautiful service. They went through so much opposition and I was amazed to see them dressed in white walking into the water after thinking about all of the trials and struggles they had gone through. The Lord hears and answers prayers. There is absolutely no doubt of that in my mind”

“I read one of them called "A Consecrated Missionary." By Ted McCallister. Oh my. It changed my life. I want you to know President that becoming a consecrated missionary is my quest here in the Tennessee Nashville Mission. I have this huge ball of potential burning inside of me. It talks about how changing behavior brings to pass a changed nature. It tells you exactly how to be and what things we have to put of the "sacrificing altar" so we can make our will His will. I prayed to Heavenly Father and promised Him I would do all that I can and give all that I am to become one of His consecrated missionaries”

“This past week of missionary work has been great. we had a baptism Saturday and set a date on Sunday with one of our investigators, AJ……. His first time ever attending a Mormon church and he decided to get up and bare his testimony saying that he knows the church is true, and that the Book of Mormon is the true word of God, and that he can't wait to be baptized into our ward!”

“Jeffery is being baptized this Saturday! …... He is doing really well. He has received a priesthood blessing for quitting smoking, and for opposition, he knows what we have taught is true. He says he is going to hold on to that truth.”

“had 2 amazing blessings from doing role plays in companion study! One.. we went to a part member family, aubrey is the mom and she knows the gospel is true, so we role played and felt like we needed to invite her to be baptized. So after supper we drive out to their house, and not even like more than the first five minutes, we follow up and link to Christ, and she comes out and says she is ready to be baptized!! And elder …… and i looked at each other like what?? It was so cool! So we read 2 nephi 31 with her and the spirit was so so strong! I love those teaching moments.”

“We were prompted to go and visit a potential investigator that we had not seen in a while. When we showed up she invited us in. She started to share with us how life is so hard for her and her kids and how she needed a spiritual boost and peace and comfort at this time in her life. As we talked we related the Book of Mormon to her and how it could bring that happiness and comfort in to her life and we also taught her how Christ true church was restored to the earth and that it is still on the earth and that there is living apostles and prophets on the earth today. As we taught her about all of this she was in awe. She also committed to being baptised on December the 29th. As we were leaving she told us that we had showed up just at the right time in her life she also said that she knew that God had sent us to her.”

“Jeffrey is getting baptized! He is a stud. he had been smoking since he was 13. he is now 23. and week committed him to stop smoking and he gave it up that very day! it is awesome to work with those people who understand and recognize the spirit and even better when they act on the promptings they receive! Jeffrey has changed and become a new person! It is such a testimony builder to me to see the atonement of Jesus Christ heal and change men. there is an awesome quote from one of the apostles the says, " the gospel of Jesus Christ makes bad men good, and good men better." That is exactly what is happening to Jeffrey.”

“We found 6 new investigators this week”

“We were able to solidify a baptismal date with Carly ….. Carly told her mom that she prayed and received an answer to join the Mormon church, and her mom consented and said she could get baptized!!!!”

“Many wonderful things have been able to happen in the past week.  On Saturday four missionaries were able to participate in a parade float, and were able to use ward members to pass out more than 75 copies of the Joy to the World DVD's along with copies of the Book of Mormon.”

“we'll be having a baptism this Saturday the 8th! Katie …… has agreed that she is ready to make this commitment with the Lord by entering the waters of baptism. We're all very excited and so is she!”

“All the member and our investigator bore testimony on how they knew the church is true. Jeanette our invetigator discribes the spirit as "a possum ran over her grave" meaning that she feels it like a tingle running up her back. She said that "although I am not a member I believe this is the true church" she also spoke of the love that she feels.”

“We talked about The Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When we were explaining the Gospel of Jesus Christ she started to cry. We were feeling the Spirit and asked her to be baptized.”

“We finished our week with 31 lessons taught, new investigators found, and with amazing experiences. Time and time again I have the spirit bear witness to me just how true this gospel and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints really is.”

“ we had a baptism this past weekend it went really well the lady that got baptized is so enthused”

“we just baptized a a wonderful sister named Bonnie ….her husband was able to do it. it was the most wonderful thing I have seen.”

“ I learned something new this week that I never really had taken advantage of before in missionary work. We were teaching one of our investigators and she was really stuck on the fact that her baptism wasn’t valid. We shared a scripture with and he and committed her to right then and there pray and ask her Heavenly Father if what we had taught her was true and if indeed she needed to be baptized again. It was a very spiritual experience for me and my companion, we committed her to be baptized on the 15th of December.”

“I was just reading through my email from my father and he said that he received a missionary visit this last week and that he has invited them back. It put me to tears immediately and I know that this is a miracle from Heavenly Father. This is such a boost for me. The Lord is very much aware of us and even this small and simple thing has given me so much joy. I love my mission so much. It has changed my life and it is preparing me for my future as a Priesthood Holder, Husband, and Father. I am learning more about the gospel every day. I am being converted to the Lord more and more with every experience”

Howdy! December 10, 2012

Dear family and friends,

We stand all amazed at the Love Jesus offers us as we embark on another week in the Intensive Care Unit. It is really concerning when our new social group is quickly becoming those of the medical profession. We are so grateful for their expertise and the loving  way that they care for Sister McKee and now our family. We are so grateful for all of your prayers. Today is our 19^th day in ICU which seems unreal. My office has been for the past two weeks on a little round table in the corner all set with a fold out make shift bed. It works and allows me to be with Sister McKee through this ordeal and keep the mission running. My assistants come up to the ICU and we hold our planning meetings there. They have taken on so many assignments and are truly blessings to this mission. Elder Payne and Elder Andrew never thought they would have this experience either but I tell them often , “We will all learn and grow and watch out because the Lord is molding you to become more than we could ever do on our own.” The challenge is to find sleep somewhere in there along the way as nurses come in all hours of the night with tests, CT scans, baths, blood work, meds and turning Sister McKee in bed. I have learned to really appreciate those 2-3 hours blocks of time.

This week all of our children have been here which is also quite a blessing. They have rotated in on the nights which gave me some time to do transfers and to get home to a shower and a different bed. I will always be grateful to each of them for that support this week. Steven flew back home on Sunday. Scott is flying home this morning. Michelle and Mike will also fly home this week. Jared had to fly to California for a training but will be back for a few days this week. I know that they all need to get back to their families and work but it has been a huge blessing to have them here. Kylie flew home last week to finish finals and flew back on Friday. She will be here through the holidays. Steven and Rachel had planned on being here for Christmas as well this year so they will be coming back. Angie , Aubrey, Kiara and Destini are so strong during this time. They have enjoyed their adult siblings here and somehow have kept up with school. I have not spent enough time with them. I love and appreciate their consistency and determination to do what is right.

Monday night Kiara sang in her school choir. She sang a solo in the performance. She has become quite the singer. On Tuesday morning  Sister McKee started a very severe fever and by noon many doctors were working over her again. Her blood pressure went way down. They knew that she had an infection but did not know where. Her surgeon came in and took samples from the brain to ensure that it was not there. Those checked out well thankfully , so they pulled out all of IVs in the neck , upper arm and lower arm believing that the infection was but after the fever was gone we started to see the hand and feet movement again.

Aubrey sang in her school choir concert on Thursday at the huge United Methodist Church. It was wonderful this week for Kiara and Aubrey to have all of their brothers and sisters come to their concert in Tennessee.  Jared flew out on Friday to California for a training that he had previously paid for with his physical therapy. On Saturday Elder Russell M. Nelson spoke to all of our missionaries in a missionary conference in Nashville. He had previously planned to stay with us but had to make another arrangement because of the situation. I asked a ward member to come and sit with Sister McKee (Heather Rollap) . She read to her and gave her a hand a foot rub again. It was wonderful to be with all of the missionaries again and teach them how the Lord would want us to deal with adversity. I love to look them in the eye and give them a hug. The Sisters have to get their hugs from Sister McKee so they missed her even more. Elder Nelson gave a powerful talk along with Elder Hymas our area authority Seventy. It is such a blessing to have a living Apostle here to teach us. He told the missionaries that he set me apart and that his mother was a sister to Sister McKee’s grandmother. The missionaries were all touched by the experience with him. We all went outside after and took a mission picture.

Saturday night I sent all of the children to Stake Conference and I stayed in the hospital. President Johnson (one of my counselors) spoke for me in the session. I had mentioned to Elder Nelson that I would not be there for the conference and had a counselor speaking for me. At 11:30 Saturday night President Watson texted me to see if I would be speaking on Sunday. I called him back and harassed him for being up so late and told him that I had already arranged for President Johnson to speak for me. He said that Elder Nelson had left me on to speak on Sunday and he was just checking. He told me that I could come in for just my talk and then leave to go to the hospital. When I realized Elder Nelsons expectations, I called Kylie to see if she would stay with mom and I went over and attended the morning session of the conference. About 3:00 am Sunday morning I woke up and the Lord told me what to say at the conference that day. I knew that I was to be there and that someone needed to hear the message on adversity because the McKee family does not have the corner market on tragedy and challenges in life. I also shared with the Stake that if Sister McKee could do missionary work in a comatose state that the rest of us could do our part as well. (We have two of our nurses who are listening to the missionaries now) and another that is activated.  The spirit was strong in the conference and I know that there were many   testimonies strengthened by having an Apostle there. The focus was strong on missionary work.

After the conference Elder Hymas and Elder Nelson came to the hospital to see Sister McKee. What a blessing to have them both here. Elder Nelson spoke to all of our children and said, “Some people teach about the gospel. This is a family living the gospel by the way that you are handling this situation.” He complimented them on how they trusted the Lord with their mom’s situation. All on the 6^th floor knew that someone very special was there. I went out and found the charge nurse (Michelle) and said you must come and shake hands with Elder Russell M. Nelson. She has been less active for 25 years and did not know who he was but as she shook his hand tears came to her eyes and she hugged me and thanked me afterward. She told me that she made a commitment last week to come back to church. I told her to call her parents and let them know who she shook hands with today and they would not believe it. I introduced her to Elder Nelson as my Charge Nurse Relief Society President of the 6^th floor ICU. She just laughs because she wanted to make sure that I did not send her hometeachers. Elder Nelson’s visit will be a powerful memory of love and compassion in our minds.

Today they took out Sister McKee’s drainage tube from the top of her skull. Dr. Li removed it and then stapled the hole shut. He let Mike and I watch the procedure and then he removed all of the stitches from the back of her head. He tells me that her CT scan looks good and that the bleeding has stopped. He is very positive about her healing and progression today and also reminds me that it will take a very long time. It’s a good thing that we have an eternity.

Today they will also remove her respirator and will put a trach I for her to breath through. She has had the respirator for 15 days now and they tell me that if we do not do this it will start creating damage to her. They will also insert her feeding tube directly into her stomach and not through her nose which should feel a little bit better. This morning she is raising her hand a bit and moving her feet. She has also tried to mouth a few words which also gives us so much hope for the future. I have always said that once she sees what needs to happen that she will shock all of the doctors. IT seems like if she tries a movement for five minutes however minute, she must them rest for several hours as it takes everything out of her.

Today we have 14 new missionaries coming in and 12 going home on Wednesday. I am going to meet them at the airport and interview all of them while the kids are her at the hospital but my assistants will do most of the normal training so I can return. I will be taking some time for the exiting missionaries as well and we will bring them to the hospital to say goodbye to Sister McKee. I know that they all love her very much and I want them to be able to tell her goodbye as I know that she can hear them.

Again we thank you for your love and prayers. The Lord has blessed us and I know that HE loves each one of us. I am going to send a copy of missionary miracles that I send out to the missionaries on a separate email. Sure love all of you.

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

Kylie , Angie, Aubrey, Kiara, Destini

Michelle and Travis, Mike and Kirsten, Jared and Brittany, Scott and Seren, Steven and Rachel

December 8, 2012

While contemplating some of the challenges that Sister McKee has gone through over the past couple of weeks, I've been thinking about 2 Nephi 2:11 "For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things." If there is never any difficulties, we would never enjoy the good times. 
Sister McKee continues to fight this battle. Her fever has moved to low grade. She continues on the ventilator and feeding tube. They are adjusting the drainage tube from the brain with hope of removing it soon as swelling in the brain has leveled off. She continues to respond with small finger, toe, and eye movements. We continue to be ever so grateful for any tiny movement that she makes. The missionaries gathered together today to be taught and trained by Elder Russell M. Nelson. It was a wonderful blessing for the Tennessee, Nashville Mission to be taught by a living apostle. They all agreed though that the conference was missing their "mission mamma". We all continually thank you for your faith and prayers and the many kind cards that you have sent and express to you our love for the Savior. He continually does so much to ease all burdens through the atonement. We continue to serve him faithfully.
"I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants. (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 2:21."



Love The William McKee Family

Thankful for small and simple things...

As I sit beside Sister McKee today, I and our children are so thankful for the little miracles and tender mercies of the Lord. Little did we believe that we would be watching our wife and mother with such detail, looking and waiting for a little toe movement, eye movement, or hand movement. We get so excited for those little things and remind all of you as you gather around your family and friends

 to enjoy the little things. I always tell the missionaries that it is not about the big things, It's all about the little things. When we notice and handle the little things the big things take care of themselves.
In Alma 37:6,7 the Lord states,"Now you may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass, and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about His great and eternal purposes and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls,"
The Lord called a young boy of 14 years old to prepare him to restore the gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth. This small and simple event is changing the world as our missionaries go out door to door with this important message. Two of our missionaries left a Book of Mormon with a man not long ago and he read it through the night. He called them to come and talk to them quickly about being baptized after receiving confirmation that the Book was true. He said, "Young men do you really know what you have here?" They responded "yes". He said I don't think you do or you would be running from door to door telling people about this book. Both looked up with a wide grin and said, "We are." We encourage our friends to connect with Mormon.org as there is so much information there concerning the "small and simple things" of the gospel. Two of our nurses are now listening to the missionaries. We love and appreciate them so much as they give kind care to Sister McKee. She is moving toes today and fingers again. We are so excited about those "small and simple things". She is still on the respirator and feeding tube. After ten minutes of practicing small movements in those beautiful piano fingers( I've never seen anything that she couldnt sight read) she then needs to rest for two hours to gain an ounce of energy again, but she is working on this progression today. We love you and want you to know that your "small and simple " prayers and love do make a difference. We love the Savior and are so grateful for the atonement and its guidance to us over these last 15 days especially.
William McKee family