Last week here in la oficina!!

Its been a good run for my money. Ive been here working for 6 months now. I feel like I barely got a grasp of Spanish before I got here, and with all the work that needed to be done, I sky rocketed to being able to get things done in the moment. It was awesome to look back and see some of the miracles I was able to perform making sure missionaries were legal and making our process much more smoother. I definitely saw the hand of God in my life as I worked hard in the office. Thats a fact.

I found a good quote this past week: "Being sad with the right people is better than being happy with the wrong ones." I contemplated a little bit about that, and decided you could always be with the right people, its your choice. I have defniitely been sad and been happy with some of the greatest people here in the office and the ward Im in called Recreo. Its gonna be hard to say good bye, but its part of it. (:

Last monday, we had a meeting with President, and the other senior couples here in the office like we do each week to discuss matters of whats going on in the mission, and how we can improve. President always goes last in his report, and he gave me a warm goodbye and thanked me by saying that I brought my own spirit here into the office and the mission. I took it as a great complement.

This week I also did my last Santiago trip to pull out peoples visas and licenses for them. We had a fun day, and finished with eating at taco bell. I dont think you guys know how thankful I was to see a refill machine. It had been a while. Let alone eating taco bell (even though they only have have the menu).

We also got to eat at my favorite empanada store here in Chile. Its called "Lasagnas," and they sell amazing over cooked emapanadas! So good (:

One day we went down to Talca which is the farthest city south in our mission, which is about 2 hours away. We helped the comisarios (who are in charge of houses) paint a house. It looked super good after we spent the whole day painting and scraping the floor. We ended that day by burning a white shirt, which is a missionary tradition after you pass one year! I did it kinda late, but my companion and one of the comisarios passed one year too!

Ive been working on my family history alot when I have some down time. I have found a whole bunch of poeple, and added a bunch to my family tree on familysearch.com which is super awesome!

All in all, I had a good week! This week I head out to the sector in Pichilemu! Which is the surf capitol of the world. Google it. They have huge surf competitions and big waves there! Im super stoked! Its 1 of the 2 beach sectors in the mission! Ill also have a companion from Chile who only has 6 weeks in the mission, so Ill be finishing his training. Fun stuffffs.

Love you all,

Elder McGee

The glass is more than half full!

1 Jordan 6:14​

"And thus ended his first year​"

3 Nephi 7:26

​[​

And there were many in the commencement of this year

​(my first year)​

 that were baptized unto repentance; and thus the more part of the year did pass away.

 ​]​

​Im officially and sadly half way through! But not half way done, for this work does not ever stop!

We had a good one! We are going to be burning white shirts tonight in honor of all the hard work we have put forth so far!

I have a hint of where ill be transferred to! Its not in Rancagua, and it might be located along the coast! WOOOO. (;

We got home late almost every night this passed week with all the stuff we have been doing! Lots of flights for people going home, lots of visa work, and other good stuff that President wants us to do. This is my last week to give it my all here in the office, and then back to work in the sector! Woooo!

I spent my one year helping out the comasaries paint a house! It was super fun, we had a minor paint war and ended up painting ourselves. Good thing it was water base.

Yesterday we had a big reunion for all the new missionaries for the past two changes! We had some 90 people there. We had chilean completos (hot dogs with mayonase and palta(avocado)). We bought all the bread. It was like 100 dollars. We had to get 180 freshly cooked pieces of bread. It was good to see alot of my good buddies who came out with me, who are now training people! (Ill probably be training this next change or 2)

Pretty basic week, but lots of fun as usuall!

I love all of you guys!

Babe Ruth once said: "Its hard to beat someone who never gives up."

​So whatever you are working on, don't ever stop!

​James 4:1​

4 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what isyour life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away

​We dont have much time. Get things done. Change your life. Come unto Christ. Thank God for everything you have daily.

I took no pictures this week. This is a picture of Harding and I just to show you we are okay. (:

I guess I also have a pictue of all the coins here in Chile I took today.

​

Elder McGee​

My last week being less than a year old in the mish! Ahh!

My last week being less than a year old in the mish! Ahh!

It was a pretty relaxing week here in Rancagua, Chile.

Lets see. Last week in church an hermano from the ward had a heart attack and like all the men from the ward left. It was pretty weird because the meeting kept going on like normal, but like half the people left to go see what was going on! The hermano was fine, and everything worked out, but it was pretty dramatic in the moment! 

This change has been pretty crazy. In the first 4 weeks (out of 6) We had to have special changes 5 times now. Which means that 22 people were affected to make everything work with companions and what not! Thats why you gotta be obedient and not be a bad missionary! Being in the office, Ive learned a lot more of the administrative things of the church and the mission rather than what most missionaries are called to do with ministering the church.

On Mondays we always have a meeting with all the office elders, the finance elder and the senior couple in charge of the houses as well as President and his wife. This Monday, my companion and Elder Harding's companion went to Santiago to do some visa work, so out of the 12 people that are usually in the meeting, we were only 10. Then the comisarios (who are in charge of the houses) left too. So usually we have this meeting in Spanish, and there are only 2 Latins in the office. So when they left, there were no Latinos, and we all just finished the meeting in English. It was just kinda funny! 

Tuesday we took another senior couple up to santiago to help them finish their visa process. Something we usually send the missionaries up to do by themselves, but with the senior couples, we usually help them out. It was a fun day, and we cut through all the lines because they are senior citizens. We finished the process early, and headed over to a... SUBWAY! I haven't eaten a nice sub with sweet onion and mayo for a year now! Wow. nice. huh?

The zone meetings are going on right now (Where president and the assistants travel to every zone and teach how to be better missionaries.) We went to one on Wednesday which was here in Rancagua, and then yesterday we went down to Talca which is the farthest point south in our mission. Chile is a country where you can really only travel north and south. So that's interesting!

We had one house in an area here close get hit by a car. The hermanas weren't home at the time, so everything was good. But that resulted in the hermanas needing a house while their house is being repaired. So that turned into them moving into the house where the other office elders live. We live in an apartment with 15 stories, and 4 apartments in each level. Its like the 5th tallest building here in Rancagua. Anyways now there are 6 elders living in one house. As well as 4 hermanas living on level 5, and another 4 living on level 13. There is a senior couple that lives on level 11, and we live on level 9. So in total, there are 16 missionaries living here!

Today we wanted to go exploring so we went to a nearby city called Doñihue because its located very close to the mountains. We just kinda went and found a sweet mountain and climbed all the way to the top. It took all morning. It was super fun! After, we went to what the call the Safari. Its like a little cool zoo, and they have a thing where you can get into a little cage jeep and go into a field where lions jump on the car and eat meat and what not! Cool stuff. Check out the pictures (:

Anywho. That was my week.

Its interesting. One year ago, wearing a shirt and a tie with slacks was the worst thing and it needed to come off as soon as church was over. Now its the opposite. Its so nice just slipping back into some nice slacks, and a freshly ironed shirt. (:

I think one of the greatest things Ive learned here in the mission is just to love everything that God has given us. The ability to breath each day. The opportunities we have to be with our families, to learn how to communicate, and love. I think this video really explains the idea of just being thankful for what we have:http://www.mormonchannel.org/more-videos?v=3641596636001&cid=HPTH070314304

Awesome huh?

I was reading an old talk this week and found a quote I really liked:

"A man and a woman can come together and bring forth life, but a missionary can come forth a bring eternal life."

Prepare for missions. Be a missionary. Share your feelings. What we have can change others lives forever, and bring eternal life!

Love you all.

Elder McGee

¡Feliz Nacimiento de América!

¡Feliz Nacimiento de América!

Uno de los mayores días nunca!!

I hope everyone had fun blowing up water dynamites, and bottle rockets! I was here in the office working with missionaries visas’! haha. We had a pretty good 4^th though. We made a huge American flag, and everyone in the office wore American flag ties, even the Latinos, and president!!

Today we celebrated the 4^th with all the senior couples and Elders here in the office. We all went over to president’s house and one of the Senior Elders spent a bunch of money and we grilled a TON of meat. It was super fun! I kinda took charge and organized it because the 4^th is one of my favorite holidays. It was super fun to organize another party. I realized how much I had missed that! We got stuffed, and after had a little concert with people playing guitar, piano, and I played some harmonica I’ve been working on. (:  I had a really good week though!

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzP8WWdTiti0LTN2MUs2amZRdnc/edit

We had 3 different special changes this past week which affected some 15 missionaries... They aren’t good because usually something happens with the missionaries and they have to change areas so that there are no more problems!

On Tuesday, we had an awesome leadership council and president said “No hay ninguna persona quien logrará el reino celestial haciendo lo minimo.” (There is not a single person who will achieve the celestial kingdom doing the minimum.) I learned a lot, and it’s always fun being in a room full of the best missionaries in the mission.

One morning this week I woke up super tired, and went to go pray in my study room. I turned my heater on, started to pray… fell asleep and woke up 45 minutes later to a small earthquake.. Good prayer huh?

I’m just having such a blast! The mission is the best! I hope everyone had a fun 4^th of July for it is like my favorite holiday besides Christmas.

I saw a good quote this past week: “The Whole Idea of Mormonism is Improvement, mentally, physically, morally, and spiritually” –Lorenzo Snow.

I love it, it’s everything we are and what we are trying to accomplish in this world!!

Another food for thought this week:

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you?

I love you all, and hope everything is going good!!

Elder McGee

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