Wow! Already like 11 weeks in baby!

Wow! Already like eleven weeks in baby!

I'm truly having a blast. I just keep meeting the most amazing people and having so much fun!

Springfield, unfortunately, is not the only place with Pineapple Whip! We ran into a guy this week that not only sold something like Pineapple Whip, but better! Go figure! It was amazing though! But I doubt I will find anything better than Andys! Because I am and will always be devoted to my love of Andys! (:

I feel like there are so many things to write about and I don't know where to start.

I had my first couple of dreams in Spanish this week, so I defenitely know that Spanish is somewhere inside of me! My companiion says that he talks to me sometimes while I am sleeping and we have full conversations in Spanish. I'm not sure if he is telling the truth or not, but I wouldn't doubt it. I will say though, I can understand most of what's going on now. If someone asks me a direct question I tend to freeze up, but all is good (:

This week we were really struggling finding someone new to teach! We didn't find anyone until yesterday. It was so amazing! After a long week of trial and tribulation, the Lord will always bless us after we have given all that we can give. We went a visited a less-active (menos activo) in the church, and she was so excited to see us. In fact she was so excited that she told us to come back on Sunday and she would have two friends to hear our message. So we went back yesterday and sure enough she had two friends over which was amazing!  Already to have a less-active doing missionary work. We watched the movie of the Restoration with Joseph Smith, and it's an absoultely amazing movie. I tear up a little bit every time I watch it because its so beautiful and the message is true, and the Spirit lets you know that! After the movie they both teared up and told us that this is what they were searching for. They said they knew it was true and they want to learn more! God truly prepared us to go and find that less-active and excite her about missionary work. We knew they were being pepared because after fourteen years of being together they are wanting to get married next month which means that baptism and visiting the temple will be possible since they will be married! That was just one of the many blessings we received this week.

Another is a boy named Daniel. He is a twelve-year-old seeking the truth of God and religion. He's so awesome! How many twelve-year-olds do you know who want to know the truth about God and religion?? He has been reading The Book of Mormon and has all these awesome questions about it! It's so awesome the people we are running into and teaching!

Last week was my companion's birthday which was pretty fun! One of the members threw a little party for him. Here, you have to smash your face into a cake. It's a tradition. So he had to do that three times because different people made him cakes (:

Im glad to hear everyone is happy and doing well! I still pray every day and every night for you guys! I miss everyone at home, but this work is so important!

So this week I have been thinking alot about the second coming. I have this song on my Ipod that is absolutely beautiful. It asks a couple questions that I have been thinking about alot this week and maybe you can think about them too!

When Jesus Christ comes with all of his Glory and brightness, will you be ready? If it happened tomorrow would you feel your life is in harmony with his example? When Jesus comes, and calls you by name and asks if you have done everything in your power to choose the right, and build his kingdom, will you look him in the eyes and say Yes, I have done all I can? None of us are perfect, but we can always try a little harder. This week take something you want to work on, and either start doing something, or stop doing it! The 2nd coming is coming soon, and we all need to prepare this day! I feel every day like I am coming closer to God, and you guys can too! So my challenge for this week, Read Alma 34:32-34 in the book of mormon, and think about if you are ready to meet God, and Jesus Christ. Its not something to be scared of, its just we all need to be a little better and try a little harder. So go and either start doing something good this week, or stop doing something bad. You can do it through prayer and faith in Christ, because all things are possible through our Savior, and Redeemer, Jesus Christ!

Im doing good, and happy! So dont worry about me! Im safe andf protected by Angels of God! (: I would like some letters or packages (; It takes like 3 weeks so get to it (;

I love you all so much and everything is going awesome! Time is flying by, and we are already done with our first change! Well, we will be this week. Hey this weekend is General Conference! So get your notepads out and take notes because we will be taught by living Prophets!

I love you all so much!

Have an awesome week!

Love Elder McGee

Hello family and friends! (:

Hello family and friends! (:

Another good week here in Chile!  Glad to hear everyone is happy and doing well!!

It was a pretty hard week for a couple of reasons, but everything is alright now!

This week was the Chilean 4th of July, or Independence Day, only it's on September 18th here!

It was pretty fun on Wednesday, because we had a party at the Church! Chile shuts down for a couple of days during this week because everyone is enjoying the Holidays. No one was home to hear our message! The parrty was fun though. One of the members DJ'ed and it reminded me a lot of home! Which was fine, they have a lot of traditional dance music here called cueca! It's cool. We did some fun games, and then everyone flew kites! Flying kites is super fun! (: Im totally getting some of these kites shipped up to the States when I get home. Time is flying by though. I feel like I was just barely writing home last week!

One day this week our electricity shut off in the middle of the night, so our hot bed things turned off too. It wasn't very fun to be freezing all day! We had to shower with the lights off and everything. Chile isn't too different from the states, it just doesn't have a lot of nice amnenities like dryers, nice showers, and restaurants! But it's pretty good!

Spanish seems like it's just barely coming each week, but then I remember I have barely been here enough to learn it. With time, patience, and the Gift of tongues, someday I will speak Spanish!

So I had a pretty tough time this week, just struggling with Spanish and home and what not. I lost a lot of sleep, and just couldn't really pay attention. I relied a lot on the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ -- because through Him all things are possible! My testimony grows of Him each and every day. I feel closer to God each and every day as I pray a little harder, study a little more, and let my faith grow even more!

I'm having a blast in the mission, but not every single moment will be good -- just like our lives. We are here to have joy and to enjoy the things here on Earth, but just like we experience happiness and good times, we will also experience tough times and sadness. I know that if we build ourselves on the Rock of Christ that we can make it through any trial! Jesus Christ atoned for our sins so that we could live with our Heavenly Father again. We will never feel as bad or as low as He did in the Garden. Through Him we can make it through anything.

I'm working hard out here, and I am one-tenth of the way through the mission. I'll be home before I know it, and can't wait to see all of your smiling faces again.  (:

I love all of you and thank you for the support!  Have an awesome week, and pray a lot!

Love,

Elder McGee

Well hello familia! Este es mi segundo mes en Chile!

Well hello familia!

Este es mi segundo mes en Chile! I can't believe it. Already two months down in the mission? Where is the time going? I'm gonna be home so fast! (Which isn't good, because I love it here!)

Has anyone written me letters yet? I would like some please (: I will send a picture of the address. I believe it has changed!

So, starting with last Monday night, we had a noche hogar with Bishop and his wife, and some less active members. Bishop is a super funny awesome guy! His son is serving in Bolivia, I believe! But the family home evening went really well! The spirit was strong, and we watched "Finding Faith in Christ" in Spanish, of course! haha. 

Then the next day we had an awesome Zone Conference! I can actually understand what's going on at meetings now! At the end of it we all shared our testimonies of Jesus Christ and his Atonement for our sins! I bore mine in Spanish. The spirit was so strong, and it all came out exacty how I wanted it too! This week I have been really focusing on every single word that comes out of peoples' mouths. If I don't know a word, I write it down! 

My most spiritual experience this week, actually happened twice! The first time we finished a lesson, and we asked this girl to say the closing prayer. She told us she had never prayed before, so we told her we would help her. She said one of the shortest, but most sincere prayers I've ever heard in my life. The spirit was so strong that my eyes watered up! It was miraculous! I never thought something like that could be so amazing! But it was. 

And then it happened again! We were at a guy's house. He is eighteen just like me. He works every single day, and there is no way he would ever have time to listen to us. That morning we prayed that we could find someone who needed to hear our message. We were about to give up for the day on finding that person, and go back to the house. But then, we both felt that we should go to one more house. It was that guy! He answered and said we had woke him up from a nap, but it was good because he missed work because he fell asleep! So it was amazing because he accidently missed work so that he could hear what we had to say! We asked him to say a prayer. He said he hadn't prayed in a while and he might need help. But he said a perfect prayer! The spirit was so strong again that my eyes watered up. It's just amazing at the divine connections God sends us missionaries out to find! The work is pressing forward, and everyone needs to hear this message! It's so important!

I'm having a blast though! It's hard, and every single morning feels like it was five seconds ago. The days are super long, but the weeks are short. I didn't quite understand that until this week. Its awesome though!

On the 11th, we had to go in to the house early because September 11th here is interesting! Everyone like does crazy stuff in the streets, like blowing up cars and throwing rocks. So we had to go in at 7:00 pm instead of 9:30 pm! I guess it has to do with something about Chile becoming a free country. I don't know -- Look it up!

This week is September 18th. Its super cool because that's their Independence Day! So it's like the 4th here this week. We have a party at the church on the 18th. I'm pretty excited! Everyone flies volantines. Which are like kites! There are Chilean flags everywhere! Honestly, I think Chile has more pride in their country. Everyone is excited this week!

Umm what else! If you have any questions, let me know!

I love all of you and am glad to hear that everyone is doing well, even though I didn't hear from many of you this week!

I love you all, have another good week! Remember, I'm praying for you guys all the time.

Love,

Elder McGee

Wow (:(: Another week!

Wowwwwwwzaaaaa! Another week gone!

Guys, my time is going by too fast): Im loving the mission so much and its only been a few weeks! Im just enjoying it more than anyone could ever enjoy something. The mission is like every amazing experiance Ive ever had put together, each day!! But it doesnt make sence, because Im working my butt off each and every day! Every night, I feel like Im climbing a mountain to get to the second floor of our apartment, then I finally lay my head down on the pillow, and its morning again! I dont ever remember sleeping, its crazy! If anyone could like send me some more time in the mail, that would be great!

So I guess you could saying that I am absolutely loving it! Yes, its hard, and yes sometimes I just wanna go home, and be with everyone, but I wouldnt trade this experiance for the world!! How cool of an oppurtunity it is, to be in freakin Chile, learning Espanol, and not doing anything but serving the Lord! You couldnt pay me to come home or do anything else than this! I love it (:

Im so glad to hear that everone is doing amazing!! Im sorry if I dont have enough time to write back individually, but hopefully the mass can have enough info to answer your questions(:

But this week was great! Not as successful as the first week, but still a great week! We still have 4 baptismal dates coming up, and possibly a fifth! Spanish is coming along, and I can now understand alittle better, and speak a little better as you can imagine. But its not me, I know for a fact that without God on my side, and having him so close, that theres no way, Id know this much! I strive so hard every day, to keep my thoughts super clean which includes not judging these people! If I can keep myself as sinless as possible, even the smallest of things, I know the spirit will guide me and help me to the things I need! And the coolest part, is Im not doing anything special! I dont have any extra power, and I dont have anything more than any of you! The secret is in the small things! This week, I want everyone to try your best just to pray morning and night, and read the scriptures once a day! How hard is that?? God gives us so much, the least we can do, is communicate our needs, and show our grattitude, and study his doctrines to make us better people! I cant stress to you how important these things are! JUST DO IT! Also check out Doctrine and Covenants 6:36 and 37! Wow! If that doesnt explain how to live our lives, then what does??

Dallas: Yes, last week, I did bare my testiomony in Spanish.. Try that(; haha! It was like not even a minute long! And eveyone was just staring at me! But Like our promise, I bore it! (: (we made a promise that we would never miss an oppurtunity to share our testimony and beliefs)

Umm its cool having the assistants to the president in our ward! They are in charge of the 250 something missionaries in the Rancagaua area! And Im getting to be tight with them! This sunday we ate with the stake president and bishop, and Im also getting pretty tight with some other zone leaders in a differant zone! Its kinda cool having these oppurtunites because They are all like leaders, and Im barely a new missionary with a few weeks under my belt! But every missionary I have met has been way awesome! I love all of them! (: I also met a sister that is from Columbia missiouri! Kinda cool to meet a missionary not from the factory! (Utah) We see other missionaries all the time in the streets, and at the stores! its pretty cool because there are soooo many here! And the coolest part is that we are all here for one purpose. Giving up our lifes, and everything that we are, to invite everyone to come unto Christ! If you are reading this, and have not met with any of the missionaries, find some, and talk with them! Thats why we are here (: Check out mormon.org! We are all over the world in 405 different missions! Crazy!

Lets see... What else is going on in this crazy country!

Oh! Today we went shopping, and I got some freakin cool soccer jerseys! One from the Chile international team, and one of the Ohiggins team here locally! Kinda like the springfield cardS?? Anyways, on thursday I think, Chile literally shut down because they were playing in the world cup. They won! But no one would talk to us because they were watching the game, so we went and watched it at a members house. Its so cool here! Take the superbowl, which is a pretty big deal in the states, and multiply that enthusiasm times 100! EVERYONE loves soccer here! There are public courts everywhere! Its so fun! We play at the church with members and investigators every saturday! Its so much fun! I love futbol!!

The food is still good every day, and theres so much of it! Ive learned how to eat a ton and make it last for 24 hours because they only have one big mneal here! I have cereal in the morning, but not much because I have to be starving when its time for almuerzo because its so much food!

I have also learned how to yawn with my mouth barely open. Its quite useful because I am always exhausted, but my message is so awesome and important that I am happy and excited to share it. I cant really explain it (:

Oh and the mountains here are amazing! They surround the whole place! I cant really take pictures becuase its more than panaramic!!

Im loving this place like crazzzzzzzzy! Im not gonna wanna come home. Like I said in the last letter, can everyone not move here?

Also noone has dryers, everyone has washers, so we just wash it and then hang it! Kinda interesting!

Send me letters and packages in the mail! That will be nice(:

Well I hope that givces you an idea of whats going on here! Im happy to know everyone is doing good and happy! Because happieness is all that matters!! (:

Always trust in the lord! He knows whats best! I will see you all very very soon! The time is flying!

Love,

Elder McGee

HOLAAAA from Chile!!

FAMILY AND FRIENDS!! (:

Hi. I'm in Chile.

I absolutely love this country, these people and everything going on!

It's only been a week, and I don't know if I ever want to leave!! Can everyone just move down here??(:

I mean wow, what an awesome week! The first night I got here, I didn't even get to unpack - we just went right out and starting teaching people of The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am currently serving in Tupahue, which is in Rancagua. The mission goes about an hour north of Rancagaua, and five hours south. In the next two years I'll be all around, but I'm glad that my first area is in the city! 

Septemper 18th, is their Independence Day, so it's coming up very soon! The whole country goes crazy. Everyone's passion to live here is way awesome! Their Chilean pride is "muy bakan"! (awesome in Chileano) Everyone flies kites here. It's soo cool. Some investigators gave us some kites this week, but we didn't get to fly them today on Preparation (P) Day because it was raining! 

I only get an hour and fifteen minutes to e-mail every week, but I love hearing about how everyone is doing, and it sounds like everyones doing awesome! (: It's still Winter here, so it's moderately cold. We don't have heat in our apartment, but we have a little heater which does a pretty good job. It's still cold. But one of the most amazing things ever is that we have what they call 'caliente camas.' Which are like hot things that go under your blankets. It makes sleeping amazing every night!! (: Although, as soon as I hit my pillow, I wake up. The days are flying by! I cant believe its already September! 

Umm, all the food is really good! Everyone serves us so much, and it's so hard to eat it all. So far I've had lots of rice and chicken. Some weirds things I've tried are maple syrup on Jello, and people put mayonnaise on everything, which is actually pretty good! Like mayonnaise on rice, and salad! I've had a ton of empanadas which are like the best thing here! Also, everyone only drinks soda, so I have to try to find water! Lots of avocados on everything too, which is amazing(: 

Everyone has to fly a Chile flag on their house during September -- it's a law! My trainer, Elder Peñuñuri is so awesome! We are a great team. He grew up in Mexico, and is from Arizona. I am from los estados unidos, which is America. All the kids thinks is so funny, to say "Hello, how are you?" They yell it and then run away! It's awesome. One of the families here is just like our family. They all live pretty close to each other and are in the same ward. They even have a Chileano Rob here! His name is Ricardo. He's a pretty funny guy! 

One of the best things I've had so far was like horchata, it was rice and milk, but it was wayyy better than horchata!

Mom, I would seriously kill for a massage every night! We walk so far and so much every day (:

Umm here, everyone eats one breakfast and then a huge lunch, and sometimes they eat an "once" (11?) but that's usually an avocado every night for me. However, the members feed us lunch every day which is awesome. We get 95,000 pesos every month which is close to 200 dollars. So it's nice because we don't have to spend much of it!

This week, one night while we were looking for peopple to teach, after about four hours of getting turned down (which I don't know why anyone should ever turn down our message, because it's so important) But after the four hours we decided to say a very specific prayer. We prayed that if we walked 500 steps north, that a man in a white shirt would be there and we needed to teach them. So having faith that God can grant small gifts, we headed out and walked exactly 500 steps north on this street. As soon as I said 500, a man in a white shirt walked around the corner! My heart swelled, because my prayer had been answered so soon. It's amazing how if we truly have faith, that things will go our way. We talked to him for a little while, and he said we could come back this week, so I hope he's the one! 

I know that if we have faith, and let God know of our desires that anything can happen. The Spirit is so strong on the mission, but anyone can have this. All you have to do is all the small things like study the scriptures, pray a lot, and follow the commandments! That's all I do every day, and I'm exactly obedient to everything, so the Spirit can dwell in my life and guide me! It's so important that we do these small things every day! There's not a day that goes by that I don't see the hand of the Lord in my life. He is there to help us! All we have to do is ask! 

We have four people with baptismal dates. We found five new investigators this past week, and five people came to church with us! It's amazing! I am loving the mission. All the missionaries here are soooooooo cool! I've met so many cool people already!

As far as Spanish goes, I'm killing it! I can understand a lot of things which is crazy, because these people talk soooo fast!! Hopefully another week, and I'll understand more. I can tell the God is truly helping me learn this language, because it's coming way fast. I know I'm not capable of learning this myself.

I really love Rancagaua Chile, and all the people here. This is going to be the best two years of my life, and I'm not going to waste a minute!

Today for P-day, we went to a Feria, which is like a cool outdoor market. I bought a Chilean flag for 8 dollars, and it's a nice one! I also bought a freaking cool jacket. I love it here! Everything's way cheap! The 30 minute bus ride there was two dollars... crazy! I also found Elder Loveride there (my buddy from the MTC) Oh, and I met Elder Archuleta! He was pretty cool. Everyone here greets you with a handshake, then a hug, and then a handshake. So we talked for a little bit. Haha, pretty cool!

I love all of you, and thank all of you for forming me to the person I am today. I don't regret anything, and I wouldn't change the life I have had or the influences you have had on me for anything!  Thank you all for impacting my life so much!

I love you all and I will try to be more descriptive next week when I have more time!! (:

Love, Elder McGee