Hey there! This week was super great!

Hey there!

This week was super great!

We booked more flights, booked hotel rooms for president, work with lots of passports, visas, and government workers.

One day we found out we were missing a passport, and the missionary didnt know where it was either. We looked and looked, and called people and did everything we could do to find it! We decided to say a short and simple sweet prayer, asking Heavenly Father to bless us with finding this because its super important. We did everything within our power we could, and sometimes we just have to put a little faith into our Maker and he will bless us for being diligent. We ended up finding the passport with one of the zone leaders. Its amazing how just the small things have such an impact on you.

Chile lost their game today against Brazil which means we dont place in the next round. But the States are still in for the run, so good thing I have 2 countries to root for. Its funny, you dont even have to watch the game to know how we are doing. If there is a goal, you know!

We got invited to a Noche de Hogar ( family home evening ) with the new senior couple here in the office. They were invited by a super awesome family from my first sector, The Godoy. The senior couple doesnt speak spanish too well and invited us to come along, which was awesome because I would see such a great family who impacted my mission alot! So we went and had a really good time, with some good music and good time with friends. It was weird going back because they treated me more like a family member than a missionary! haha. It was a good night (:

I got a hair cut this morning! I did it to myself! 0_0

We were invited over to the other senior couples house twice this week! They moved into the same building as us, so they have us over alot! We live with 4 Elders in our apartment, then 2 more live on floor 5, 4 Hermanas live on floor 13 and the Senior Couple lives on floor 11. So its super fun living in a building with 12 missionaries!!

I got up one night at 4am.. and all my food came back out. That was fun! I went back to sleep and acted like nothing happened! Little did I know that I had woken up the 3 other Elders and none of them got back to sleep.. Ooops.

So I think the craziest thing of the mission happened to me on Wednesday! We went up to Santiago to get some visa work done for a bunch of missionaries. Its a short hour drive up to the north. We did all of our work, but we usually take the big main road called Alameda. But the whole road was shut off and we had to travel by back roads the whole time. There was so much traffic and we didnt know why. We finally decided to leave the car so that we could travel to a couple of places to finish our work. We asked someone what was going on because we were walking along the main road and there was a huge group of probably like 5000 people in the middle of the road. As we were walking we noticed light poles had be knocked down, and street lights were on the ground, and there were policemen everywhere! Here they also have these big trucks with metal all around the cars and Turrets on top! There were just tons of crazy stuff Id never seen before! Apparently a whole bunch of college students were rioting the government about college prices of something! Anyways, a part from all the crazy stuff we had seen, we were walking back to a car and starting going up a street, when we turned the corner and the street was full of poeple coming our way with their mouths and noses covered! We hear someone say "Ya empezaron!" (They already started!) They threw tear gas bombs in the streets to get poeple disperssed! We made it half way up the street before we realized what was going on, when I just started tearing up and my throat was like tingling! Such a weird sensation. We immedietly headed back to the car and got to Rancagua as fast as we could! It was just such a movie scene to see all these hundreds of poeple walking away from the tear gas, and hearing someone yell they already started! haha. It was a fun south american experiance. And Im safe.. so dont worry (:

Todays crew.

We duct taped Elder Raldas bed shut.

Hermana y Hermano Godoy

Anyways, the last thing I wanted to share was a favorite scripture and one that I pondered a little more this week.

1 Samuel 16:7

​"​

But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the

 ​ ​

Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward

​ ​

appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

 ​"​

Its interesting how what we look like or what we have done have no importance to the Lord, but rather how are desires are, and what are intentions are. If only we could always look at someone upon their heart rather than their previous actions and what they look like. We are so ignorant sometimes and just go away from the will of the Lord. Hopefully we can all get a little better about this principle including me.

​Have a good week (:

Elder McGee​

HEY! Crazy week!

HEY!

Crazy week! We had changes for all the missionaries, The USA won against Ghana and Chile beat Spain! The culture down here is sooo different! Everyone just loses their minds when there are partidos (games).

So lets see, where do we start. I rented my own car for 2 days! Aparently here you dont have to be 25 to rent. I rented a van, and we had 4 cars in the mission for the weeked to transport people to the airport and new missionaries back to Rancagua! I hadnt driven stick in a while and it was interesting to drive that thing out of the parking lot knowing they were watching me. I revved it pretty high a few times to find the perfect clutch timing. We sent 13 out and brought 21 in! We had one flight really early in the morning so we headed out at 3 in the morning. We swung by the training center and picked up 21 missionaries and their maletas (suitcases). It was a fun plan to be in charge of and decide the best way to do things! We had a blast! I was awake for 20 hours, and I think I drove for 11 of them, trips of to santiago and back and trips back to all their sectors! It was a blast! I was with Elder Harding the whole time. We are super good buds and have a good time! The game against spain was crazy again! Thousands of people in the plaza and horns of cards going off for the next 2 hours! Last week on Fathers day we decided to talk to a man on the way home from church (we had to walk because the assistants had the car). He seemed like he was homeless and we simple tried to make his day a little better becuase he looked very sad. We told him that God loves him and that his son Jesus Christ died for him so that he could be happy. We then gave him a picture of Christ. He held it in his hands (one of his hands only had 2 fingers) and he started to cry. He looked up at us and said "Look boys, he was a good man. The only perfect man there ever was, he was one of the greatest hippies there had have been, but he wasnt a bad hippie with drugs. He never smoked drugs. He was the greatest hippie because he smoked the spirit of the people." It was an interesting way to put things! We had a good chuckle about it finishing our walk home. The rest of the week we worked in the office doing legal work for all the new people and getting everything ready for this change so that the mission can continue to progress forward!!

Heres a picture of a weird baby.

A picture with presidents plack... shhh

and Elder Sevillano, who we took home at 3AM departing to Peru.

This week I can across a really awesome scripture in Revelations.

​[

He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will

 ​ ​

confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

​]

over·come

​; ​

verb \ˌō-vər-ˈkəm\

: to defeat (someone or something)

: to successfully deal with or gain control of (something difficult)

​How awesome of a blessing to those who overcome things. Whether it be a bad habbit, the natural man, or sin. To take it, and defeat it comes with awesome blessings in heaven! Our name will be mentioned in heaven!

Later in doctrine and covenants we learn:

​

[

 Verily, thus saith the Lord: It shall come to pass that every soul who forsaketh his sins and cometh unto me, and calleth on my name, and obeyeth my voice, and keepeth my commandments, shall see my face and know that I am

 ​.]

Through repentance, and overcoming​, and aligning our will with that of God´s, we can change our lifes, recieve blessings and see and know God, our loving heavenly father. Who wouldnt want that? Who wouldnt want to change their lives to have everlasting joy! I know I want 

Repentance.

 ​ 

Change

​. Progression.​

 ​

 Happiness.

​

There are 7 days in a week and "someday" isn't one of them, so get out there and make a change.

 

Love,

Elder McGee​

Another week in South American Paradise.

Another week in South American Paradise.

Otra semana en Paraíso de Sur América!

Well were here coming up on change week! I am finishing my 3rd change here in the office, and will be entering my last change here in the office, and then Im ready to get back out to the sector and give it my all for my second year!! Im super stoked. When I leave the office, Ill have the same amount of time in the office as I did in the sector! We had lots of running around and getting different tasks done this past week!

Some of them included:

Looking for a new house for all the office Elders to live in. (6 People)

Printing another map for presidents house and buying the frame for it. Which brings me to a funny story. We were buying the caudro (frame) from this little hole in the wall store downtown, and the lady was super nice. We sat down and did the business and she goes "You know, I have family that are from your church." So we got to talking and she had opened up facebook and started talking to her cousin in California about how the Elders were in her office. He replied back and said to go and get whatever you have, cook it up, and give it to them because they do hard work every day. She was so nice and apologized becuase she had no food for us. So we told her that she should invite the missionaries in and feed them when they pass by her house next. So we got her adress and sent some missionaries over to her house. So hopefully they got some good food (;

We did alot of contract work for the new Senior couple of missionaries who are coming to live in one of the apartments above us. Because last week one of the Senior couples got sick and went home early, so we had to book their emergency flights and do some emergency paper work to get them out of the country. They actually left illegal. Funny story too. I had been waiting for their papers to finish some legal work for them so that they could be legal when they left, and they called me up and said they were leaving the next day. So I scrammed and worked pretty hard to get their papers, and we actually sent them off lacking some important documents. I just prayed for the whole after noon in my heart that they would make it out of the country safely, and somehow they did! So I said a wonderful prayer of thankfulness to our Father above.

In the act of getting the new house all set up, we were meeting with the owner of the apartment. He was a pretty funny guy, and after working with us for a few days in a row, we started to rub off on him with our happiness and the joy we have as missionaries. He started greeting people in the street like we do, and starting shaking peoples hands, becuase we had been with him for a little bit going to different buildings and what not. We were in the elevator and going down, and the elevator stopped at another floor and another old man got on. So it was 4 Elders, the apartment owner, and another man who was around 75. The apartment owner was just in a good mood, and greeted him saying Hola, como está? The old man replies "I'm fine, how are you?" Then they started to talk in english. "These are my friends," " Oh, great, they are my friends too." It was just so funny to hear two Chilenos speaking english to each other, but super cool to see the differance one can make by having a good-to-be-around attitude like missionaries have.

We got all the change plans together and we presented them in the office meeting we have on mondays. Its was funny, because we named all the cars. This week we will be driving: The Striking Eagle, The Swift Wolf, The Warranator (For presidents car, becuase his name is Presidente Warne, and Big Bertha. Oh yeah (;

Last night, all the missionaries had to be in the house at 6PM because of the first World cup game chile was going to play in. So we helped the senior couple move in, and then we cleaned our house! Chile beat australia last night, and we for sure knew it! There was a huge party in the plaza until like 11. They honked and screamed and yelled "VIVA CHILE" for ever. It was so awesome!! Everyone just went crazy for hours and there were hundreds of people in the street and thousands in the plaza, there was a huge tv in the middle too. Their countries pride is awesome. Chile literally shut down last night. When the super bowl happens or any big sports go on at home, we divide ourselves with our own sports teams. Here in Chile, its chile vs the world, so they are so united! It was really cool to be apart of. After we cleaned, we welcomed the new comisario to the office who came out with me! Elder Hall. We all did work outs in the dark for an hour with glow sticks on! Pushups, running in place, situps, and occasionally a pledge of allegiance (; Like literally reciting it.

Today we went up the a place called Coya, but this time we went up into the mountains until we found snow. It was a blast and super beautiful.

I saw a good quote this last week:

YOUR BEST TEACHER IS YOUR LAST MISTAKE. Life always offers you another chance, Tomorrow. So get to it. Make the changes you need too. Find the happiness you want. Start doing something different than you are right now.

Thanks for your support, and until next week, Chau.

Love Elder McGee

Hey family!

Hey family!

this week was awesome! Its super cool to have 2 seventies come 2 weeks in a row! Thats why I didnt write yesterday. Elder Robbins from the presidencia of the 70 came down to Talca, which is about 2 hours from here in Rancagua. It was our p-day and we all wanted to go down there to listen to him, so we wanted to ask president if we could go, knowing that he might say no. So we asked him and he said wow, the office elders are not normal missionaries. They want to go listen to talks on their p-day. Yeah you guys can go for sure, ill see you there! Haha it was awesome! Our mission president is way awesome!

We mainly did a bunch of calls and legal work this past week. One day we went up to santiago on a bus because we didnt have a car. We went around in the metros and had to deal with some legal problems we were having with some missionaries with their visas. That was super fun and we got some progress done! Ive been practicing making awesome breakfasts! This week included corn fritters, and french toast roll-ups! Yum! Last night we learned alot about how to become more like Christ. One of the quotes that Elder Robbins said was "Los Problemas son tesoros," (Problems are treasures). Basically through the problems that God puts in our life, we can show Him and others who we are. If you think about it, the times that you have grown the most were through your biggest problems. The times that you found out what you wanted to do with your life or who you are were because you had a problem in front of you. So he was saying we need to desire challenges so we can grow more.

(Im going to see if Logan read my letter this week by putting this in the middle of it) (;

This past week I was studying the last chapter of John in the bible when Jesus had come to the lake where the apostles had started to fish again. Basically Jesus had been crucified and the apostles had decided there work was done and they were going to go back and fish again. They went to fish and fished for the night and didnt catch a single thing. Jesus had appeared on the bank and told them to cast their nets on the right side. As soon as they did that, the nets were filled and they couldnt even bring them into the boat! This story is just so awesome! They realized it was Jesus Christ himself, and Peter got so excited that he jumped out of the boat and swam over to Jesus. Peter and Christ have a little talk on the side of the ocean. I can just imagine them too enjoyng a nice breeze as the sun goes down, and Christ asks peter 3 distinct times if he loves him. Peter answers 3 times saying yes with all my heart. Christ replies to him 3 different times to "feed my sheep." Christ asks him if he loves him more than all the fishing and his old life. And peter says yes. Its just awesome to be able to relate that into my own life. That I have made special commitments and covenants to share this message with everyone. Even when my mission is over, if I truly love Christ enough, I will leave my old life and become a true disciple of Jesus Christ. Check out John 21. Its wonderful.

Awesome quote of the week: IF WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS NOT MOVING YOU TORWARDS YOUR GOALS, THEN ITS MOVING YOU AWAY FROM THEM."

I didnt take any cool pictures this week...sorry

I love you all so much! Thanks for being someone who made an impact in my life.

Elder McGee