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.

Miracles for Marshall

This is our cousin, Marshall, you can follow his journey at http://ajmjensen.blogspot.com/. We love you Marshall! We are praying for you and we believe in miracles. Keep fighting! 

The McKee Family Presents

                   

Miracles for Marshall

Marshall was diagnosed with ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia) at the age of 27.  After 6 months of chemotherapy and full body radiation, he was finally in remission and received a bone marrow transplant in June 2012.  After all of that, he received the devastating phone call in February 2013 that his cancer had returned.  Recently he was sent to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Texas to undergo an experimental treatment and trial drug to try and get him back into remission.  This treatment in itself is a miracle, but comes at a huge financial cost.  Please do what you can to help this young optimistic musician and his family in their fight for survival.

Mystique Theater

185 E. Chubbuck Rd.  Chubbuck, Idaho  83202

Monday, May 20, 2013     6:00 to 9:00 PM (Variety Show 7:00 to 8:30 PM)

This is a benefit for Marshall and Amanda Jensen.  Donations will be taken at the door. There will be a variety show, bake sale, raffles, silent auction, Marshall Jensen’s own CD “The Plan”, and more.  Please come, have a good time, and give to a great cause and young family.

For more information on how you can help or donate, please e-mail: miraclesformarshall@gmail.com

To Give Monetary Donations Anytime:

·        Wells Fargo: Go into any branch and tell them you want to give to the fund “Marshall and Amanda Family Trust”

·        Online: www.giveforward.com, Search “Hope for Marshall” (or)

https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/nj22/hopeformarshall

Happy Monday!

April 28, 2013

Dear Family and Friends,

We hope y’all are doing great!  Thank you to those of you who have written.  It brightens our days when we hear from you! I will give you an update on my health first.  Unfortunately not much has changed.  My eye is still the same,  double vision that moves around in my left eye. I am still very dizzy all of the time, and I had an MRI two weeks ago that confirmed that I have “frozen shoulder” in my left shoulder.  I’m still waiting to find out what I will be doing about  that.  I still go to physical therapy twice a week and my eye doctor felt confident that when I go see him next time ( 2 more weeks) that he will have some glasses ready for me that I should be able to see better with.  I really am grateful that with all of the things that could have gone wrong and could have been a permanent condition for me, that these are the only things I am struggling with.  Even though I still have my “pity party” days, I really am grateful and am grateful for the great medical help I am still getting.

    Today, Roy, Debbie and Anna came to see us.  It was SO much fun to see them.  They look wonderful!   They will be staying here for a few days and it has been fun today to visit and catch up with them.  We went to a mission presidents’ seminar this weekend and just returned late last night when we found out that Roy and Debbie needed to be picked up at the airport this morning.  We got our assistants to pick them up for us, as we had to leave by 7:00 AM to drive to Winchester where they were creating another branch. This Branch was created after only a few months of us assigning missionaries there. They went in and gathered less active members or returning members as we call them now and within a very few months with this gathering and baptisms there were over 100 people in this group ready to now become a Branch. It will be a ward before you know it.

Yesterday when we were in the Orlando Airport, we noticed a cute little  family walking by.  President McKee and some of the other presidents stopped to talk to them and then I heard the mom say in a rather loud voice” I prayed for you!” Come to find out this was Dr. Liljenquist  our last year’s mission doctor’s son, his wife and children.  He has been such a great support to me even since he returned to Idaho Falls, it was just a privilege to meet his great family and I’m sure it was NOT a coincidence! As I walked over to meet them, she hugged me and of course asked how I was doing.  She told me how she had prayed and fasted for me and didn’t ever think she would get the chance to meet me.  

Tonight I had another man who said the same thing “Sister McKee” I have been praying for you.  He said, “let me tell you of my experience.  I was deer hunting and was up in a tree when my wife called and said it was time to pray for Sister McKee”.  I  jumped out of the tree, got on my knees and prayed for you.  For the past several hours there were no deer in sight, but after I got up off of my knees, there were 3 deer standing right in front of me!”

  Organizing the Branch in Winchester  was an exciting event!.  Both President and I had to speak and then they had asked the girls to sing a special musical number.  They fed us lunch right afterwards and then we left and came home and got to spend some time with Roy and Debbie.  We then took the whole crew up to Hopkinsville where the Nashville Tribute Band was doing a missionary fireside.  We knew Roy would like that, which he did!

    Last week we took all of our senior couples (about 8 of them) on the General Jackson Luncheon Cruise ( a special preparation day).  It was a fun but very cold day.  As we were in the buffet line, the MC of the show came down and started talking to our assistants.  He asked them if they knew anyone who could sing.  He pointed to Kylie, Angie and Aubrey whom we had brought along. He said to him, “Tell them to get prepared to sing!”  Elder Horner told the girls while they were eating dinner and before they were  done, he announced that somewhere in the audience were three sisters who sing together and would they please come up on stage.  They went up  on stage and sang accapella “I Need Thee Every Hour”.  They really did a nice job.  On the chorus, they broke out in 3 part harmony and you could really feel the spirit!  It was a good experience for them.  

We now have 220 missionaries.  We have increased our numbers by about 80.  Our office couples have been efficient in finding apartments for them and we really do have some great missionaries here.  Three transfers ago we received 25 missionaries, the next one we got 24 with 7 visa waiters coming the following Monday.  It is a  lot of missionaries, but they are outstanding!   

   Miracles:

1) “Rosie came to church again yesterday!! She was crying during Sacrament Meeting…… we talked about what she was feeling. She said, "It just keeps getting more and more inspirational every time I come to church. I feel so much peace." Wow! We set a baptismal date with Rosie for May 24th (her mother's birthday). We are sooo excited and so is Rosie!”

2)   “In my mind I thought it was a total waste of time and that she was never going to be interested in the gospel. I guess you could say that the world was very stamped on her….. On Wednesday we had a lesson with her with one of the member's Sister Abren. Something just clicked during that lesson. The spirit was so strong and I found myself saying things that I did not think of myself. She committed to read from the Book of Mormon and we set up an appointment for the next day. On Thursday Sis V and I went over there are she was so excited to see us. She had read the first 10 chapters of the BOM and loved it. She wrote down a bunch of questions that we answered. She asked us why the people in Jerusalem were so mean to Lehi, so I explained that he was telling them that they weren't living right and he was telling them they needed to change. She said, "Oh that makes sense...I would be really mad if someone came in my house and told me that I needed to stop smoking or something like that".....uhh...Sister V and I look at each other panicked and decided we would talk about that another time. We gave her the restoration DVD to watch. That night she texted and said "I loved that movie, I wish it was longer, I've already watched it 3 times." WHAT! The next day we went back and taught her more and she was totally eating it up. She finished 1 Nephi in 2 days basically. In the middle of the lessons she said, "Oh guess what, I decided to stop smoking, this is my last pack!" We were blown away. We said nothing to her about the word of wisdom yet..but the spirit was working with her! In Preach My Gospel there is a quote by President Packer that says, "The study of the doctrines of the gospel will improve behavior quicker than a study of behavior will improve behavior" We saw that happen in Amber's life so clearly this week. She committed to come to church on Sunday. She, her husband, and there 3 kids all came to church and LOVED it. The lesson in gospel principles was on the Atonement and she cried. Her 14 yr old son had friends from school there, and the little kids loved primary. When they got the kids from primary they were crying because they didn't want to leave and the Dad said, "I promise we can come back next week." YAY It was so amazing. Her husband was baptized as a kid but has never been active so we basically have the entire family to teach. We are so excited for them. We stopped by last night and the feeling in their house is so different than it was last week. The spirit is starting to be there, and it is changing them! I learned that you cannot give up on people...because everyone needs the gospel!”

 

We love our family and how willing each of them have been to come out here and help me out. How we have appreciated ALL your help!!!!     We love this work and our missionaries.  We are so grateful to have a living prophet on the earth today. Tonight as we listened to the Nashville Tribute Band, I remembered tender feelings about the prophet Joseph Smith, the pioneers, and why I love missionary work.  They performed songs about each of them and it was very touching. I know this is HIS work and I love being a part of it.  

Have a great week, y’all!

Love,

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