The Mish in Tifton

July 18, 2017

Mish. Short for "mission."

Tifton is amazing. I've been here 3 weeks. It is the place you want to go if you want an authentic southern experience!

Language

Prayer talk. When you're praying at the end of your lesson and your investigator (or whomever you're praying with) says things in the middle of the prayer like, "Yes, Lord. Hallelujah. Praise Jesus." Yes, this happens to me. Pretty often, actually. It's weird to get used to because you feel like you have to stop and let them talk before you keep praying. But you just gotta keep going! It's one of those awkward moments I mentioned in my last post.

VBS. The abbreviation for Vacation Bible School. It's like girls' camp in Utah, but it's for all religions. Mormon families with younger kids and teenagers will send their kids to a vacation bible school every summer. There are also no Mormon preschools here, so I've heard stories of little 3-year-olds coming home and telling their parents they'll pray over the food, and then they start reciting the Lord's Prayer. It's pretty great though!

A missionary saying I learned: "Knock once for their salvation, twice for yours." Sometimes you can just tell someone isn't home. But lots of people don't have cars, so sometimes you might be wrong. People will also "blind-check" you (look out their blinds to see who you are) and then just not answer. So you knock once to get them to answer and twice to give them a second chance.

Rain

Yes, it rains all the time here. It's rained every day for the past week. On Sunday, we planned Windows of Heaven, which is where you plan a solid couple of hours and a place in the neighborhood to just talk to everyone you see. Well, we pulled in to the park in Tifton on Sunday during a thunderstorm and looked at each other, then looked around at the depressingly empty parking lot. While we were trying to decide what to do, lightning flashed super brightly in front of us and there was an immediate thunder crack. We decided to go visit less actives instead. It turned out alright though! We met a few people we hadn't been able to get to before, and we planned Windows of Heaven for exchanges on Wednesday. It'll be great!

Y'all, I know God lives. I also know that that sounds super cliche, but it's true. You have no idea how few people realize that God is their loving Heavenly Father who absolutely loves them, to the ends of eternity. Something I've learned on my mission is that He is ALWAYS there for me. Always. No matter what. And He is ALWAYS there for you. If you were the only human being that came to earth, He still would have suffered in Gethsemane for you, and He still would have died for you, just so He would know exactly what you're going through and be able to help you along this rough road we call life. He's there. Remember that.

Love y'all! #prayforjoy

Love,

Sister McKay

Pictures:

A bunch of pictures some little girls took while we were visiting them.

Pictures of water towers (they're all over the place) and old buildings painted crazy colors.

Love Avenue and 4th Street.

A horse statue at ABAC college in town.

An actual swamp. (It's a really  bad picture but it's totally awesome.)

Me trying to take old fashioned selfies by holding my camera backwards.

Awkward is My Middle Name

July 10, 2017

I don't really know why I chose that title other than it is SO true. My new companion, Sister Harward, came up with that phrase this week after a few mildly awkward situations happened in a row. There's really no avoiding it. As a normal person, I tend to avoid awkward situations. As a missionary, you find yourself in so many different situations and with so many different people that you literally just cannot avoid those awkward situations. Just go back and read some of my previous posts. Maybe I'll try to remember some more hilarious ones for next week's post.

Tender Memory

This week, I thought of a sweet memory. I was contemplating what makes me happy in missionary work (because let's be honest, sometimes times get rough and you just need a reminder). This little story came to mind.

In Aiken, we had an investigator whose multiple grandkids (of all ages) lived at her house with her. She was talking to us about the two who were sitting on the couch next to her.

Now, people in general out here are very open an honest. About everything.

Our investigator was talking about these two grandkids who were sitting on the couch next to us as if they weren't there. She described how one of them was very quiet and sweet and the other one could be naughty and mean. His name was Nahlen. She was describing a couple of the things he did sometimes.

When she started talking about this, I looked over at him. After a second, he put his head in his hands and was very still. I could tell he felt bad. While our investigator talked with my companion, I sat down next to him on the couch.

"Nahlen? You okay?"

Silence. He put his hands in his lap and looked straight ahead.

"Hey. Guess what. You're pretty awesome."

Silence.

I thought for a second. What to do? How to help him?

I pulled a pass-along card out of my bag, a picture of Christ. (It's the one where He's walking out of the tomb.) I showed it to him and asked, "Do you know who this is?"

Nahlen looked up and shook his head no.

"That's Jesus. Here."

I gave him the card. He looked at it for a second while I thought of what to say next.

"You know what, Nahlen?"

He didn't say anything, just looked at the card in his hands.

"Jesus loves you," I told him.

He kept staring at the card.

"Now, who is that?" I pointed at the card.

He said the word: "Jesus."

"He loves you, right?"

Nahlen nodded.

"Yep, He does," I said. "Guess who else loves you."

Nahlen looked up at me.

"I love you."

What I didn't realize up till that moment was that I did. I really did love him. He was a child of God, just like me.

I think I got teary-eyed, too.

Nahlen kept staring at the card.

"Now, remember, that's Jesus," I said. "He loves you."

Nahlen nods.

Our investigator, Nahlen's grandma, turned and said, "It's true, He does love you. Jesus loves you, Nahlen! I love you, too!"

I smiled and got up off the couch because it was time to go.

"Nahlen, put that next to your bed, okay?"

Nahlen nodded.

"Remember that Jesus loves you. And I love you, too!"

Nahlen nodded and got up. We all gave each other hugs to say goodbye.

That's one of my absolute favorite little tender moments.

Now, since I'm out of time, here's my quote of the week: "Sorrow is not forever... Love is."

I saw that on an old man's wall. We call him Grandaddy (because he told us to). He was telling us about his wife who passed away just under a year ago and how much he loved her. It was so sweet.

Always remember that, y'all. Never forget it.

Love all y'all!!

And never forget that Jesus loves you, too. Remember Him.

Love,

Me

(Sister McKay)

Below the Gnat Line

Yes, that's a thing. Let me 'splain.

Bugs are bad in the south. But as you go further and further south, you pass an imaginary line called "The Gnat Line." It's where the bugs get really, really bad.

If you stop walking, you'd better have a free hand to wave the gnats and mosquitoes away.

Quote of the week: "People think us Southerners are real friendly, but it's just because we're waving away the gnats!" -Brother Flanders

#Whitewashed

Whitewash. 1. To get sent to an area of the mission that hasn't had missionaries for a while. 2. To reopen an area to missionary work. 3. To go on an adventure!!

I said goodbye to some good friends I made in the last three transfers, but I've met some amazing people out here! My new companion is Sister Harward, who goes home at the end of the transfer, leaving me to take over the area in a whopping 6 weeks. And she's the designated driver until right before then, so I'll have to learn how to get around in just the 2-3 weeks before she leaves.

Heh?

Yeah, I'll make it! I hope. :D

We've met some incredible people out here. Everyone has a southern accent, including (and especially) the leadership in the ward. I mean wow. I'm living in a story book.

The roaches here are 3 inches long, all the animals have fleas, and the gnats getcha. I've had to shoo so many out of the car.

I've learned not to leave my bag on the floor during lessons. You just don't. It's too risky (see previous paragraph).

I've also learned so much from Sister Harward. Oh man. She is a powerhouse. I'm learning to be myself and, most importantly, to be bold about the gospel. Always be bold about the gospel. There's nothing that has blessed my life more than knowing I can repent, than knowing I can be with my family for eternity, than knowing I can bring souls unto Christ.

Welcome to the Ward! Bear Your Testimony.

This always happens, so I wasn't surprised when the 1st counselor in the bishopric waved us up on Fast Sunday.

I bore my testimony about joy. That's been the theme of my mission. When I got into the MTC, I was struggling big time.

"What am I doing here? Why am I on a mission?"

I decided to pray for joy.

Oh it worked.

I became the craziest person in the district. I had more energy than I ever thought I would, and I was SO happy.

I know it was because Christ knew exactly what I was going through and what I needed. There's no way it was a coincidence. I was scared and apprehensive and anxious and worried, but I felt so much joy. I felt like I could take on the world with the Savior on my side.

Never forget how much God loves you and wants you to be happy. 2 Nephi 2:25 says, "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." The whole reason Adam fell was so that we could come to earth, and the whole reason we came to earth was because God intends for us to have joy.

And yes, that means even in the hard times.

It's called the Plan of Happiness.

Love all y'all!!

And so does Jesus.

Sister McKay

#transferred

In reference to the hashtag title: I've found that lots of missionaries use hashtags or make other social media jokes because we're basically all social media wannabes. It's just one of those things we don't have, so we have to make up for it somehow!

Last Sunday in Aiken

I don't have much time left to write this, so here are the highlights for my last Sunday in Aiken.

Sunday is always the day that missionaries go visit people before they leave because transfer calls are Saturday nights and Mondays are Preparation Days. Plus, people are usually home and you can just stop by.

As we stopped by the houses of all the friends I've made, I realized how much I was going to miss them, but also how grateful I was for the time I had with them. I got pictures with all the coolest people out here, some who have reached great heights and come a long way, and some who have so much potential.

Working with the ward in Aiken has been absolutely incredible. The people have become my family. Shout-out to Brother and Sister Karchaske, who never cease to make us laugh; to Sister Novak, for always being willing to help us out; Sister Keaton, for those drives in the country and "warshboard roads," to Brother Day for being an awesome ward mission leader, to Sister Day for being a ray of sunshine in the hard times, and to Sister Brede for having us over for game nights and dinners. I missed so many people, but know that you are right there, close to my heart.

Testimony

Brother Novak, the 1st counselor in our ward, had me bear my testimony in sacrament meeting. I've learned so much in the past 18 weeks that I didn't even hardly know what to say. I learned that charity is real and that, when you look to the example of the Savior, it's so easy to love just about anyone. I learned that God is always there for me. He wants His children to have the joy that comes from hearing the gospel. That's why I'm here!

Love all y'all to pieces!

Sister McKay

Investigators at church! 6-19-17

Duke, Cookie, and the Kids

Remember them? Yeah, Duke and Cookie came to church for the first time! It was so awesome! They were late, and they only stayed till the end of the first hour, but they CAME. I was so happy!

We have an appointment with them on Wednesday, and they're really close to being on date for baptism! Hopefully we can get them to come to church consistently. They don't have a lot of income and have trouble getting gas for church sometimes. Prayers needed. We love them so much already!

Tram and Eric Simmons

These are our other investigators that are really close. They've been coming to church consistently ever since I've been in Aiken. Tram's family is devout Catholic, so she was concerned about that for a while, but she has progressed leaps and bounds since I first met with them. We have them praying about baptism, which is a monumental step in the right direction!! They've also started to work on the Word of Wisdom. Whoo!!

Other News

Transfers are coming up and I've been out almost 5 months.

Heh?

Yeah. I have no idea what just happened, but it was awesome, whatever it was. I've made so many memories here in Aiken, and I ain't finished yet!

Fun Fact: Did you know that kids in high schools around here are allowed to use "ain't" in their assignments and essays?

Transfer calls are this Saturday. Stay tuned to find out whether I'm staying in Aiken or traveling to some new and unknown world.

Dun.

Dun.

DUUUUN!!

Adios, y'all. Keep being awesome.

"Every day is a new day with no mistakes in it."

-Anne, Anne of Green Gables

Sister McKay

Wow.

Note from Sarah: I forgot to post this when it came last week so you'll get two this week instead. ;)

Yep. That's about all I can think to say about this transfer so far. Taking over the area has been insane, Sister Wagner is basically perfect (except not really because only Christ is perfect), and I can't believe it's already week 5 of the transfer!

People

Duke and Cookie met with us this week. Their other daughter, Ebony, joined us for the lesson partway through, and we gave her our last Book of Mormon. (We had to get some more from the elders a few days later.)

Ebony asked us, "So, how long does it take to read the Book of Mormon?"

Us: *awkward laughing* "Well, uhh... we've heard stories of people reading it in 24 hours, but it just depends on the person!"

She wants to read it ASAP. She's already talking about getting work off to come to church. She and Cookie both said they would be baptized if they got an answer. This is the first lesson, people! We got 3 new investigators in that lesson, and we're working to get them all the church. This week, we think they slept in again, but we have plans to meet with them on Wednesday, so hopefully we can work something out to help them get themselves and the kids (Ja'Kobi, Ja'Layia, Jaliyah, TJ, Zaden, and (update) Talisha) to church. Pray for them!

Millie has been texting us. She has to work more hours now and can't meet with us because she's either at work or asleep. We're praying for miracles because she's really prepared.

Fanny is a lady we met by going through old potentials. Every now and then we'll look in the area book for potentials that people never ended up teaching and see if people are still interested. Fanny let us in and pulled out her Book of Mormon and pamphlets. She has trouble with getting to church, but she loves us and wants to meet with us. Hopefully something will go somewhere there!

Language

I never really included these tidbits.

"Have a blessed day!" Everyone says this to each other all the time. I've picked it up and usually say it as we walk away from someone's house who didn't want to listen. People really show how much they care about people, and that's one way I figured I could do it back.

Old man. You know how people refer to their dad as their "old man?" Well, out here, your "old man" is your husband. I'm still not used to that.

For example:

Us: "Hi, is Kaneesha home?"

Person at the door: "Ah, nah."

Us: "Oh, okay. Do you know when she might be home?"

Person: "Well, she and her old man went shopping for some stuff for the new baby, so I dunno when they'll be back."

Us: "Oh, okay! Well, we'll try to stop by another time."

Person: "Alright, Ah'll tell her you stopped bah."

Us: "Thanks! You have a blessed day!"

Miss/ma'am and mister/sir. Everybody out here uses these. When I noticed that people started referring to me as "ma'am" and to each other as "Miss So-and-so" and "Mister So-and-so," I decided to pick it up. People also say, "Yes, sir" and "Yes, ma'am" all the time. (Like, all the time.) So I picked that up too.

We've started a daily text group called "Power from Heaven." We have two people on it so far: Brother Seker and Tram Simmons (one of our investigators who keeps coming to church and is super close to agreeing to be baptized!). It's a scripture text we send out every day to hopefully help people learn from the Book of Mormon. It's really neat! I highly recommend doing something like that with a couple friends.

I love all y'all!

Quote of the week: "Do you believe God can forgive other people's sins?"

"Yes."

"Do you believe He can forgive your sins?"

Love,

Sister McKay

Blog post: Little Teachers and Lightning Bugs

Well, the weeks are totally zooming past. I've been out 4 months now. That's 22% of my mission! (Yes, I used a calculator.)

Tender Mercy: Little Teachers

Sister Wagner and I were walking down the street to an investigator's house one day. We spotted some people sitting in front of their house and, like the good little missionaries we are, we walked up to them. There were a bunch of little kids playing around outside, and they swarmed us as we introduced ourselves. Turns out, these were the same kids that Sister Hale and I had given Jesus cards (Book of Mormon cards) to a few weeks before. (For future missionaries, always give Jesus cards to little kids. It's so genius.)

The people on the porch were a black couple. They introduced themselves as Duke and Cookie ("Our real names are John and Natalie, but we go by Duke and Cookie"). We started talking about how we believe Christ's church was lost but has been restored (i.e., the Restoration!) and were giving Restoration pamphlets to them when all five of the little kids started asking for Resto pamphlets too.

Sister McKay (to self): We're almost out of Restoration pamphlets, what are you doing?!

Sister McKay: Everyone deserves the gospel!!

Sister McKay: Well, there goes our supplies. Oh, well. You're right. Everyone deserves the gospel. We'll make it!

The little kids were all over us. Apparently, because of the Jesus cards and pamphlets, we had become some sort of idols to them. We asked them what their names were and how old they were. Two of them were neighbor kids named TJ and Jaliyah Goodwin. I think Jaliyah was around 8 or 9 and TJ was probably 7-ish. Their three kids were 9-year-old twins named Ja'Layia and Ja'Koby and Zaden, who's around 6. Okay, so. We have TJ, Jaliyah, Ja'Layia, Ja'Koby, and Zaden. You know how hard it is to keep those names straight? But hey, I remembered them all! The only reason I know how to spell them is because, as we were leaving, we were trying to get their names down, and one of them suggested that they could write them down for us somewhere. Of course, out came our planners. We gave them our pencils and let them write their names. Now I have the handwriting of 5 little kids in my planner. It's adorable.

We set up a return appointment (we're seeing them on Wednesday!) and kept walking towards our investigator's place. She couldn't meet with us right then, so we turned around and headed for the car. On our way back, we passed Duke and Cookie and the kids again, and you'll never guess what we saw. 4 of these kids were sitting on a bench in front of the house, their backs facing us, and one of them (I think it was Jaliyah or Ja'Layia) was reading from the Resto pamphlet while the rest of them followed along! Yeah, our hearts melted. They spotted us and called out, "Heeeeyyy!! We're reading your books!!" Of course, we called back, "Good job!! Keep reading!" It was totally adorable, and that was a tender mercy that lasted about the whole week.

Bucket List: Lightning Bugs

Ever since I was little, I've wanted to see/catch a lightning bug. It made it to the bucket list a while ago. Well, there aren't really lightning bugs in California (where I was born) or Utah, but when I got called to the South, that dream was suddenly made possible! What I didn't know was that lightning bugs only come during lightning bug season (a.k.a. summer). I had kinda forgotten about them until a few nights ago.

We were on our way home from bible study at the church when Sister Wagner said something. The sky had been overcast all day, so I thought she said, "Oh, I just saw lightning!"

Me: "Lightning? Where?"

Sister Wagner: "No, a lightning bug! OH I JUST SAW ANOTHER ONE!"

Me: *almost dies* "WHERE?!"

Sister Wagner: "They just fly around and light up sometimes- OH LOOK RIGHT THERE!"

Me: *GASP* "I SAW THAT!! WOW!"

I think I had a spaz attack. It was hilarious. I haven't seen one since, but they were everywhere that night! It was so. Cool.

We're hopefully teaching Millie again this week, along with Duke, Cookie, and the gang, and hopefully another investigator named Nikki and maybe a guy named Rayvis. Whoo! The members have been a lot better about helping us out lately too, which is totally awesome! I'm really excited!

Love y'all!

Sister McKay