Treasure

If I were to say, “I loved every minute of my mission!” that would be a lie.

I didn’t love every minute.

But every minute was worth it.

I will say I love being home. Nothing beats spending time with the people you love most,
in the places you love most, with the food you love most, and with a phone that has
access to Siri and your favorite music (c’mon, let’s be honest here).

I would not, however, trade my mission for anything. I grew and learned so much, and I
really realized how unprepared I was for… well, life. The experiences I had were
priceless.

The funny thing about that is that I really, really didn’t want to go. Growing up, and
especially just before I left, the idea of serving a mission was terrifying and unpleasant.
Talking with people, knocking on doors, sharing the gospel with people I didn’t know (did
I even know how to share it?), and putting myself out there in numerous other possible
ways for 18 months straight was probably the most unappealing experience I could think
of at the time. 

So, I’ve been asking myself: what changed? What’s different now?

The thing is, my mission taught me to love.

Love life.
Love the little things.
Love learning.
Love myself.
Love other people (especially those who didn’t share my beliefs).
Love the gospel.
Love the Savior.

How could I trade any of that for the life and perspective I had lived before my mission?

I couldn’t. I wouldn’t. I won’t.

I know that this gospel is meant for every person, because every person is loved. My
mission taught me that.

I will forever cherish the invaluable treasure God granted me when I decided to heed
the prompting He sent me to embark on a mission for Him. It has truly changed my life.

~Sister Amory

Did You Ever Think This Day Would Come?

I didn't.

It's my last week as a missionary and I'm determined to make it my best.

This week, I felt the Spirit so strong as my companion and I taught about the plan of salvation to members.

I want y'all to know that God's plan is a plan of love.

Commandments are meant to bring us joy, right? As we keep God's commandments, we feel freedom from the sadness and bondage of negative consequences as a result of our actions.

What's the first and great commandment?

Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul.

As we love God, we'll be willing to do anything for Him. We'll keep His commandments willingly, and everything else will fall into place: we'll learn humility, patience, charity, faith, diligence, obedience, virtue, etc.

And as we do this, we'll be blessed with understanding.

As we love God, it will become easy to love others, thus obeying the second great commandment, which is to love others as ourselves.

And as we do all of these things, we'll not only experience the freedom that comes from not being subject to the consequences of making poor choices, we'll experience the love of God, which is the purest joy.

Thus, all of the gospel ties together. The whole purpose of this life is to have joy: "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy" (2 Nephi 2:25). We can have joy as we obey (first law of heaven) the first and great commandments.

Loving God is wonderful. It makes everything worth it.

See y'all in 6 days!

Sister McKay

From mom:
For those interested, she will speak at our church in Herriman on July 15 at 10:30. We will stay for church until 1:30 and then have an open house at our home until whenever time that evening. You are welcome to stop by! She will also be speaking in our old ward in Sandy on August 19 at 11:00. Message me for addresses! We are so excited! -Sarah

Not Trunky

What an amazing week!

I'll tell you one thing. We haven't seen oodles of progress with anyone this week. But I've seen it in myself over the past few.

Every week we email our mission president to let him know how we're doing. He also sends an email to all of the missionaries at once to let us know of anything important and to help encourage us in the work. Sometimes he quotes missionaries in that email from what they've written to him that week or a week before. This time, he quoted me! This is what I told him in my email last week.

"I've had some of the happiest days on my mission here, even though some may not have expected the day to be called happy or good, simply because I've had a good attitude: the attitude of faith, hope, and trust."

I really have learned that to submit to God's will is what makes us truly happy. Never think that you know better than God. Because you really don't! He's omniscient. And He loves us so much that He will always help us do things that will make us the most happy.

Love y'all!!!

13 days (and super not trunky),

Sister McKay

Trunky. The attitude of being so excited to go home that you lose focus of your missionary purpose. Don't worry I really am not trunky. But there's nothing wrong with being excited to go home as long as you stay focused. ;)

Memories and the Strength of God's Arm

Every day I make memories. I live, learn, laugh, and love. And every day gets better.

Looking back at the beginning of my mission, I was an entirely different person. I remember so many good things and so many hard things. But the hard things always made my life better in the future if I made the effort to learn from them.

Lately, I've had to put in a lot of effort to stay focused. You can't help thinking about home in your last couple weeks, but you also want to make sure that's not all you think and talk about. And as it gets closer, I've found myself wanting more and more just to go now! Sometimes I do get homesick. It's kinda painful. But I've found that as I pray for faith, hope, and strength to finish strong, the days go well. The past few weeks have been some of the happiest in my life.

We all have our struggles. I have struggles that I haven't detailed here but that are very real to me. But I have learned that every, EVERY day can be a good day if I choose how I react to my situations and choose to be happy!

God is with me, and God is with YOU. He loves you. I love you.

Be a pineapple! Wear a crown and be sweet (happy!) on the inside.

Love y'all!

I Don't Like Oatmeal

Over the course of the past two weeks, Sister Morrill and I have discovered that we are complete opposites. When we compared using the Myers-briggs 16 personality types system, we noted that I am an INTJ (or close to it) and Sister Morrill is an ESFP, which are essentially polar opposites.

For instance, this morning Sister Morrill was making breakfast.

S. McKay: Whatcha makin'? 

S. Morrill: Oatmeal. Do you like oatmeal?

S. McKay: Nope.

S. Morrill (almost before I finish saying it): That doesn't surprise me.

What I don't like, Sister Morrill eats for me. What Sister Morrill doesn't like, I eat for her.

We're opposite in this and many other aspects. What I don't sense emotionally, Sister Morrill points out. What she doesn't understand logically, I explain. I love doing the dishes; Sister Morrill puts them away. I don't love vacuuming; Sister Morrill does it! My favorite thing is NOT to talk to people on their porch; Sister Morrill will talk to anyone, and we go forward together.

We support and balance each other in our differences. In district meeting yesterday, we talked about spiritual gifts and how we all have different ones so we can share our talents, strengths, and abilities for the benefit of others. Our district leader (shout-out to Elder McKinnon!) shared this scripture:

"And again, it is given by the Holy Ghost to some to know the diversities of operations, whether they be of God, that the manifestations of the Spirit may be given to every man to profit withal." -Doctrine and Covenants 46:16

We collectively have a "diversity of operations," or different spiritual gifts, so that we can all profit or benefit from each other's unique attributes, abilities, and strengths and create one big, balanced world. God designed it this way on purpose. We wouldn't want a bunch of Sister McKays running around! That would frankly be boring (and I think I might go crazy).

I'm so grateful for Sister Morrill and for everything I've learned from her and with her so far. We make a great team. I know we're meant to be companions. We're daughters of God. We're here to work together to build God's kingdom and use our unique gifts to bless people's lives.

I know that everyone on earth is a child of God. We are all given different spiritual gifts so we can uplift and strengthen one another, and every person is important and essential in God's plan.

What spiritual gifts do you have, and how can you use them to bless someone's life?

Sister McKay

P.S. You thought this was going to be about me upchucking oatmeal, didn't you? ;)

PICS:

1. We made a video. I'm not in it because I filmed it, but this is the picture I took of our hilarious district! If you would like to see the video find someone with Facebook and look up my profile! We've been laughing since we filmed it yesterday, and I know you'll like it! It's Spanish for, "We have a friend who loves us, and His name is Jesus!"

2. There are two elders in my district who go home with me. This is them telling me that their flight itineraries came and to hurry up and find mine!

3. My flight itinerary came in the mail! *distant screaming*

4. Laurel Bay is a military base in the Beaufort area. It's always fun to go on base!

5. Elder Smith, Sister Morrill, and I got to go fishing with the district! We saw dolphins that day!

6. A member's little boy found this snail and showed it to us before dinner. The animals and bugs around here never cease to amaze me. They are so different from Utah!

7. We had to follow this thing in the downtown area for like 5 minutes straight! But it was kinda cool.

8. There was a trailer hitch in the middle of an intersection. We were stopped at the front of the line at this intersection. Sister Morrill said, "Should I go run out and grab that trailer hitch?" I said, "DO IT!" So she threw off her seat belt, jumped out of the car, and ran into the middle of the intersection. She picked up the trailer hitch as the light turned green and someone yelled at her. She ran it over to the sidewalk (we have real sidewalks in some places here!) and then booked it back to the car. We were not able to survey the damage done to her dress until we got to the church. Mosiah 2:17 says, "When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God."

Solid As a Rock

Well, the gospel is as true as it ever has been. It doesn't matter where you are, the truths of the gospel are eternal and can never be changed.

Here in Beaufort, SC, that is still true. Sister Morrill and I cover all of Beaufort, including at least 65 islands. There are bridges everywhere! We also cover a large island called Parris Island. This is where the recruit depot/military base for the marines is. We go there for sacrament meeting every Sunday and go to the Beaufort ward afterwards. It's the first time in my mission that I am going to two sacrament meetings! It's actually really cool!

We have met so many great people here in Beaufort so far. It's also a huge blessing to be around lots of other missionaries! 

It's been a great week, and I feel solid. Making sure that my foundation is in Christ and His gospel gives me the strength I need to go forward with faith and optimism every day.

Never forget who you are. Remember the Savior. Make Him your Rock. He won't ever let you down!

Sister McKay

New Things

I got transferred to Beaufort, SC, for my last 6 weeks. Sister Morrill and I are whitewashing.

Miracles happen, and we are going to see them here. I'll let y'all know what they turn out to be.

Coincidences are not a thing.

Don't let the devil get to you.

Love y'all!

Sister McKay