Ooooohhh... Aaaaahhh...

Yes, that's right.

General Conference.

It's amazing.

I don't know if I've ever been so blown away in my life.

Let's put it this way: I know President Nelson is a prophet of God. I know the revelation the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has received comes from God. Some amazing changes have been made. I am so excited to see how they affect the hastening of the Lord's work. Please, please go watch Conference if you haven't! And if you have, study the talks! Especially President Nelson's talk on revelation. I promise you, the Lord will bring inspiration into your life if you follow President Nelson's counsel.

Update on smartphones: They are amazing and SO useful! We've been a lot more productive lately when it comes to contacting investigators and others, and using Facebook to share gospel messages is so fun!

Y'all, the Lord really is hastening His work. It's a privilege and blessing to be a part of it. I hope each of us utilizes the tools the Lord has given us.

I love y'all!!

Go spread some sunshine!

Sister McKay

Shall We Say... A Day in the Life? (But Not of Zack and Cody)

Request: Tell us what in the world you DO every day!

Response:

Well.

Last Tuesday (because I consider this the start of my week since it's P-day)

Not much! We get up, plan the day, study, write letters (last week I wrote... 8?), shop, go to the church to email for 2 hours (groceries get temporarily stored in the church fridge... we basically live here), then hang out at home. Maybe take a nap. After that we try to find stuff to do - visit someone, contact people nearby and talk about the Book of Mormon, call people about rides, etc.

Wednesday

Wednesdays here are hardest because we don't have any rock solid activities planned in except Book of Mormon Class at 7 and maybe a meal with a member (which must be at exactly 5pm). So. We invite people to Book of Mormon Class, plan Book of Mormon Class, knock on doors, visit people, and walk around (if it's not too cold, which it has been lately!).

Thursday

Two planned activities take up a good chunk of the day: RMT (Referral management Time, which is now just Sister Pitchford's time to do her online "going home" program called My Plan) and service at either the local food bank or Rebecca's Cafe. After that, we do the same thing as Wednesday - talk to people, organize rides (yes, we need lots of rides), ask people if we can come visit, actually visit, and so forth.

Friday 

This week we had Zone Conference! This happens once every 6 weeks. And this time we got...

*drumroll please...*

SMARTPHONES!

Goodbyyyyyye dinosaur phone! WHOO!

Now.

We.

Have.

Emojis.

I am so happy.

But you know why I'm most happy?

Do you know what having smartphones means???

We can now reach so many more people and see so much more success in our proselyting efforts!

There is so much potential, and it's truly amazing.

I know God made it so we could have technology so we could turn the trickle of spreading the gospel into a flood. I am so excited.

Saturday

It was weekly planning day, and since planning is on phones now, we spent most of the day trying to figure out how to plan using our planner app. It was crazy. Still is. We're working out all the kinks still as we learn how to use these Samsungs (especially being used to iPhones). But we were mostly successful! Spent a lot of time at the church using the wifi.

Sunday

Church! Then our weekly biscuits and gravy meal with the members here. Then an appointment with a new investigator! She's now on date for baptism! WHOO! Then dinner at another member's. Then picking up stuff from a member. Then we were out of miles for the day and had to go home so we worked on updating our electronic area book. *fist pump*

Finally, Yesterday

Not very eventful. We had a good new member lesson with our recent convert Stephanie about prophets and General Conference! And guess what we talk about with our other recent convert! General Conference!

Watch it. It's amazing.

https://www.lds.org/general-conference/live-viewing-times-and-options?lang=eng

Today

We played frisbee golf with the elders, and we've been emailing.

Gotta go! I hope you watch General Conference because it's awesome.

Also, I love you all SO MUCH.

Okay bye.

Sister McKay

Us Missionaries Have to Stick Together!

We tracted into a lovely lady last week. We had actually offered her a card a few days earlier, and she didn't take it because she was in a hurry, but she was nice. It was a little awkward when she answered the door since we had already met her, but we got past that real quick.

We asked her about her beliefs, and she explained how she was part of an outreach ministry of some sort (I don't remember what it's called). We shared some of our beliefs, then we offered her a Book of Mormon card. She accepted it and said, "Can I give you mine, too?" We said sure! As she was grabbing her cards she said, "Us missionaries have to stick together!"

It's so true! We should all be missionaries. A huge part of being a missionary is being examples of Christ to everyone we meet.

Sometimes that means taking cookies to your neighbor for no other reason than just to have a nice little chat because you're neighbors.

Sometimes that means saying hi to someone at school or work or the store who you wouldn't normally say hi to.

Sometimes that means going out of your way to be kind to someone in your home! Sometimes I think that one gets overlooked. We think, "Okay, if I want to do service, I have to dedicate two hours a week to helping at the food bank (or fill in the blank)." Guys, all you have to do is do your sibling's chore once in a while or write someone a sweet note.

Invitation: Do one tiny sweet thing every day this week.

I promise (promise promise promise) you'll be way happier if you do it with love. Think of the Savior.

I know it works 'cause I've tried it.

That's all.

Love y'all!

Sister McKay

Georgia on My Mind

Y'all, I LOVE Georgia.

The people, the culture, the beauty.

The scenery here is amazing.

Every night as I'm driving home for dinner or whatever it might be, I look at the sunset. Sunsets here are always incredible. They shine through the tall pine trees and just look miraculous. They make me smile and remind me of God's love for me. He created this beautiful earth and beautiful skies for me to live in. It reminds me of this song my parents sang to me when I was younger: https://www.lds.org/music/library/childrens-songbook/my-heavenly-father-loves-me?lang=eng

Everyone here is so friendly and polite.

On multiple occasions, I have ordered something in the McDonald's drive thru, and when I thank the lady taking my order she says, "You're welcome, baby!" It gives me a cute little warm fuzzy feeling, every time!

The culture here is diverse and wonderful.

Everyone talks to you like you're one of them. Because you are! Everyone is a child of God, and everyone here knows it! Everyone knows not only who Christ is but also what He did and why it's important, and everyone wants so badly to follow His example. Everyone wants to do and be good, and it shows in their actions.

Be your own kind of southerner.

Be awesome.

Love y'all!

Sister McKay

Just Keep Swimming...

I've just thought lately... You really have to keep on keeping on sometimes. That's why we have this thing in the gospel called "enduring to the end."

Never stop feeling. Don't let yourself become numb. I promise that when you let the Spirit work with you, you'll be able to see God's blessings and tender mercies in your life.

Love y'all!

Sister McKay

Always Act

There's this funny thing about the gospel.

The gospel requires you to do.

Act.

Become.

A couple weeks ago, I was having a rough time. I was really pretty depressed. I missed my family, was so done talking to people who didn't want to talk to me, and frankly wanted to go home. It seemed that no matter how hard I prayed or tried to have more charity or tried to have a positive attitude, nothing was getting better. No matter how hard I tried to increase my faith, faith just didn't seem to be enough.

Until I realized something.

I had been so caught up in the fact that I didn't want to talk to people that I really hadn't for a while. I wasn't doing what God had called me on a mission to do.

After getting a blessing of comfort, I knew I had to take action. (There it is again.)

I started trying to be more obedient to the mission rules every day, and I started trying to talk to people even when it was awkward.

You know what happened?

I felt the Spirit.

I felt more strength come from God.

And I was happy.

Y'all...

Do!

Act!

Become!

When you actually follow the instructions the Lord gives you, that's when the blessings come.

I know it. I have no doubts about it. You can know it too.

Love y'all!

Sister McKay

1. Stake conference with all the missionaries!

2. Zone conference. Sister Grayson loves to snap pictures without warning us! I kinda like my hair in this one though...

3. Also stake conference!

4. Leaving technology conference (a.k.a. smartphone prep) with our chill ride. We got cat-called on the street. And all the other missionaries loved us.

5. Last p-day.

6. After Stephanie's baptism. "Uh. Ma'am? Could you, uh-... Oh. Nevermind."

7. Blueberries have become our best friends.

#Dunked

Stephanie got baptized!

It took us 5 hours to set up for the baptism. That's a long time! But it was worth it.

Quote of the week: "This is the best baptism we've ever had. Every baptism needs to be like this." -Brother Briley, Ward Mission Leader

*YES!* #success

Update on phones: We get them a month from Friday, and I am so excited!

Here's pictures from the baptism. She made it in! ;)

Love y'all!​