Questions, questions, questions!

From Sarah/mom: We want to know the scoop on Amory's life! Here's a list of questions we sent her along with her answers:

1- What did you have for breakfast? Uuuhhh... well. My mom sent me pink sugar cookies. So, I had those? And... toast? Wait no. Rolls.

2- What songs have been going through your head? Oh, good one! A Thousand Years, Don't Stop Believing, Battle Hymn of the Republic, Hallelujah (the popular one), and "I'm alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic!" My companion hates that one.

3- What is your new address? Where should we send physical letters or packages? My mom has it! Send everything there. :D

4- Did you receive the package we sent to Georgia? Oh yeah! I did. But stop sending treats, haha! Too much sugar is BAD. I also don't have time to eat it, so there's that. ;P Send me handwritten notes! And pictures for my photo album! 

5- How hot and humid is it right now? The other day it was 80 degrees, but that's hot for February, apparently. It hasn't been very humid yet. It feels like Utah still.

6- Does it stay light later in the day? A liiiitle bit, but not much.

7- What new southern words have you come across so far? Oh, I've started saying "y'all." One of the APs told us a story. He said he was teaching this one lady and a couple other people, I guess, and he said, "you guys." He said she kinda freaked out and said, "Ah am naht a 'you gahys!' You gotta say 'y'all!'" So, he told us to say that. There's also just little things like the fact that barbecue out here is actually, like, smoked meat and such. NOT barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers.

8- Did you stay in the mission home the first night? What did they feed you? Yes we did! We had turkey loaf (basically meat loaf but with ground turkey, I guess), rice... and something else...? Salad? Yeah. We had carrot cake for dessert. Oh, and the next morning we had cereal. I haven't had anything weird yet.

9- What is your companion's name? How awesome is she? Where is she from? How long has she been there? Her name is Sister Hale. She extremely awesome! Is there a scale for that? She's from Boise, Idaho, and she's been out about 14 months. She's an entire foot shorter than me! That means that I'm getting double the attention because I'm already the new sister out here.

10- Do you miss having an iPad/ tablet? Yes! But the only reasons are because it has my marked up scriptures and because it made it so I could look at my emails (without replying, but still). Oh, and because of the music and family history apps.

11- Are you ready to go out there and change the world and INSPIRE everyone around you? :D :D :D YASS! I've met so many people! It's so amazing here! I'm so not ready, but I am at the same time, I suppose. I'm learning a lot from my companion.

12- Tell us about your first appointment! So, out here people are super chill, so most of them tell us they don't know when would work and just to come over whenever. It makes it kinda nice, actually, because then we just plan a bunch of people that are in the same area and get 'em all at once. ;) The first lady I visited is named Mary. She's an older black lady, and she was so hard to understand! We taught her the restoration (again. It's been a while for her), and Sister Hale invited her to be baptized. We had our first "But doesn't my baptism count?" discussion. That was interesting. We invited her to pray about it and read her BoM.

13- Have you noticed any different bugs yet? Well, not really. It's still winter out here (even though it feels like early summer in Utah), so not many bugs are out yet. There was one dead cockroach in the apartment when I got there, though. It was super gross. I vacuumed it up this morning.

14- When will you send pictures of your companion and your apartment? I'm working on it! ;)

15- What kind of car do you drive? Do you have a GPS? Yes, we have a GPS. But I can't drive because I'm not the designated driver, so it's weird. I've had to get used to being the passenger. It's a Nissan... something.

16- Did you talk to anyone at the airports or on the airplane? A little bit. I wasn't sitting in a position on the plane where anyone near me wasn't a missionary, but we were friendly to people at the airport. Mostly, we were in a hurry to get food and call our families and board the plane and didn't really have time to have a conversation with anyone.

17- What things did you buy at the BYU bookstore in the days before you left? Uuuummm... mints. And... I actually don't even remember. Oh, I got a bunch of pictures of Christ and some scripture lists or something.

18- Who drove you from Macon to your new area? We took a three-hour drive from Macon to Aiken (hah! That rhymes). The Brights, an older couple, drove us. Brother Bright is legally blind, so Sister Bright drove the whole time. Brother Bright is so funny! It was a good drive.

19- What have you learned about leadership? Leadership is leading by example, not telling people what to do. Oooohhhh, man, did I have to learn that in the first week at the MTC. That was a fun experience. I also learned it from my trainer. She's so amazing. She doesn't tell me what to do. She just does it, whatever it is, and shows me in the process.

20- Dad wants to know what the building is that you were standing in front of when you sang I Am a Child of God? Is it a garage or shed? Is it at the mission home? Yeah, that was at the mission home. It was a tiny little shed in the back yard.

Isabelle Palmer How's the weather up there? 

A: It's great! It's SO nice. Everyone I talk to about it just laughs and says, "Heh. Wait till summer."

Laine James Guy Holman Have you found out what it really means when people say "bless your heart?" 

A: Haha! Fortunately, I already knew what that meant when I got out here. ;) I actually haven't heard anyone use it yet.

Nick Ellingson Have you picked up a southern accent yet? 

A: I don't think so! I already started saying "y'all," but that doesn't quite count. I started that because of a story one of my APs told the new sisters coming in. It's in an answer to one of the other questions. :)

Mason: How are you doing? Sister Farley says hi! 

(Sister Farley is a teacher at his school and her room is next-door to his so they say hi all the time after school.)

A:  I'm great! Tell her I say hi back!

Sariah:  Is it crazy moving around all at once? 

A: YES! It's nuts. Both my suitcases weighed 49lbs when I got on the plane. It's the journals, haha. ;P

One Uponce a Time...

The most unexpected things happened to me on my first day in the field.

1. My companion is super short. A whole foot shorter than me.

2. I went to South Carolina! Wasn't expecting that one...

3. Well... the very first day, my companion got sick. She must have eaten something bad at the restaurant we want to for lunch with some members. That was... unfortunate. I felt so bad for her. But she felt bad for me! So. We're good. ;) Adventures, am I right?

Learning the Language

You know how people say that Southern is a whole new language?

IT'S TRUE.

There are three "languages" out here (courtesy of Sister Hale's explanations):

Southern Belle: This is the one that's light an airy. e.g., "Hey, y'all! How's it goin'?"

Southern Redneck: e.g.,"MR ducks." "MR not!" "OSAR! CM wangs?" "LIB. MR ducks." (Ask my dad about that one.)

Southern Ebonics: e.g., "Whatchoo gon' do wid it?"

That's all I got time for, y'all! Pictures next week!

Sister McKay

Death comes..... UNEXPECTEDLY!!

I mean... leaving?... comes unexpectedly?.......

(Note from mom/Sarah: The title of this post is a quote from Pollyanna, in case you aren't familiar. ;)

I have 6 days left.

*screaming can be heard around the valley*

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Okay, not really.

But yes, I'm freaking out slightly.

Funny how my last post started out with me talking about the fact that I had been there 6 whole days, and now my post is about how I only have 6 short days left.

Here's the good news.

I.

Love.

My.

Savior.

It's incredible how much a testimony can grow in so short a time. I've learned so much and have so many more questions. But the reassurance that Jesus Christ loved me enough to suffer and die for me, and that He would have done it even if I was the only human on the planet, tells me how true the gospel is.

I pray for joy every day. It's hard to be here. But the enabling power of the atonement is real. I get so happy and feel so much joy. I know I'm here for the right reasons.

Sometimes Heavenly Father gives me things to laugh about. For instance:

You would not believe how many times you hear "Welcome to the MTC" on your first day. It's because of the orange dot you wear on your name tag as a new missionary. People can see it from a mile away. It's become a joke. It actually got really old after the first week, but it was so funny while it lasted.

Remember how Elder Chowen reminds me of Noah? Read this with Noah's monotone voice when Elder Chowen speaks.

Elder Chowen: Sister McKay.

Me: Yes.

Elder Chowen: Will you accept an assignment from your district leader?

Me: Sure!..... 0.0

Elder Chowen: Will you say the closing prayer in district meeting tonight?

Me: Yes.

Elder Chowen (with a straight face): Thank you, Sister McKay. Welcome to the MTC.

Me: *facepalm*

Good news! I got my travel plans! 

I'm gonna miss my district so, SO much. I already miss everyone from home. Part of making friends is knowing you'll have to let go at some point and knowing you'll miss them. That means I'll be letting go of some more friends. Hurrah.

It's hard. But hard things make you grow. I'm growing a lot. A LOT. There is so much to learn and so much I have learned. I can't wait to share it.

Sister Chase left yesterday morning. It was sad. But! It was amazing. It made the idea of leaving seem a lot more real for me.

I leave in 6 days.

I love the gospel.

Sister McKay

Two Ends of the Spectrum

There are two extremes here for our reactions to the Elders' behavior.

Extreme #1: "Wow..... I can't believe you said that! That was... really insightful and thoughtful."

And then there's the 2nd extreme: "-_-..... WOW........ I... I can't believe you said that..... I have no words."

Example #1: Elder Iglinski pointed out during BoM reading, in 1 Ne 4:6, how cool it was that Nephi just followed the Spirit, among other insightful comments. He's one of the goofier elders of the four in our district, and I thought, Wow, that was really, really cool that he shared that. The other sisters agreed with me.

Example #2: Elder Iglinski and Elder Gingell left to use the restroom ("for about the 5th time!"). When they got back, Elder Iglinski opened the door and then just flopped against it and walked forward to push it open. Elder Gingell walked in behind him and said, "What were you doing? You were, like, dead-fishing it." He then proceeded to ram against the door and flop so violently it looked like he was being electrocuted. I just sat staring at them like they were ridiculous, laughing. Then Sister Fielding leaned over and said, "It's that end of the spectrum." I laughed harder.

There are also two ends of the spectrum for how I feel lately.

I think it depends on what I pray for and how I decide to think and direct my attitude.

Some days, I don't want to talk to anyone. I feel discouraged, and kinda like a black cloud of negativity, to be honest. Other days, I run up and down the stairs and to classes. (Literally. I'm not exaggerating.) Yesterday, I prayed for help to have joy. And then, for some reason (because I don't know where it came from... except probably the Holy Ghost), I got "Rejoice! The Lord is King" stuck in my head. And then I skipped around and ran up and down stairs between classes. And it was 8:15am.

WHOO!

On the first day, the opening song was, "Army of Helaman," but they changed a few words in the chorus so that it was like this:

"We are as the army of Helaman.

We have been taught in our youth.

And we are now the Lord's missionaries

To bring the world His truth."

The only time I have shed actual tears so far was when we sang that song at the opening devotional. They cued the words up on a screen for us, and I definitely cried.


Everyone here knows one thing: The days feel like weeks, and the weeks feel like days.

I'm on my 6th day. And there's 18 months left.

But I'm on my SIXTH DAY. I can't believe I've been here this long already.


Oh, by the way, MAKE SURE YOU DRINK WATER.

I got so dehydrated. But I'm good now.

Just drink water.

Do it.


Oh, I should probably introduce my district.

In the picture I'm sending, we have (left to right):

Sister Campbell and Sister Fielding
Elder Gingell and Elder Iglinski
Sister Ashton and Sister Smart
Sister Kapcsos (my companion) and me
Elder Hoskins and Elder Chowen

So, Gingell is pronounced with a hard "g" in the first syllable and a soft "g" in the second. "GIN-jell."

Iglinski is pronounced like it's spelled.

Kapcsos is pronounced "CAP-sis."

And Chowen is also pronounced how it's spelled. "CHOW-in."

Elder Chowen is our district leader. He is so funny!! He reminds me of Noah, except he's extremely sarcastic. It makes me laugh so much.

Elders Gingell and Iglinski were made our zone leaders and were immediately humbled. They're the ones that are always like, "Yeah... we lift weights... I play basketball... Wanna shake my bicep?"

Like... really??

Anyway. They were humbled. It was great. But they're still goofy. I love it.


The "make it to Sunday" principle is an actual thing.

Someone named Matthew O. Richardson came and talked to us on Sunday. He's a stake president in Provo, and he sends out about 700 missionaries a year. He sent out 17 on Sunday. He said he was talking to a sister in her interview and asked her why she wanted to go on a mission. Her response was, "I've been so blessed. I want to pay the Lord back." He said it was a common response and figured a lot of us missionaries went on missions because of that. Then he pointed out something interesting.

It's hard to pay the Lord back, he said, because it's like this.

The Lord gives you bread, so you want to pay Him back.

You give the bread back to Him as a way to pay him back.

And then He gives it back.

TOASTED.

So you try to give it back again.

And He gives it back to you.

BUTTERED.

You give it back to Him again!

And He gives it back, with jam on it!

So you try to give it back AGAIN!

AND HE GIVES YOU LOAVES!

So, peeps. You can never really pay the Lord back.

Sorry to break it to ya.

He loves you too much.

Which is actually impossible because He's God.

So. He just loves you that much.


I love you all! Don't forget who you are.

You.
Are.
Children.
Of.
God.

You.
Are.
Enough.

Some missionaries serve for 18 months.

Other missionaries serve the Lord.

Sister McKay

Packages, Boxes, and... Letters!

Send letters or packages here. She will be there until about Feb 20:

Sister Amory Jennifer McKay
FEB20 GA-MAC
2005 N 900 E Unit 131
Provo UT 84602

Send her a physical letter for FREE until about Feb. 20 (I've heard missionaries love this.) (Side note by Amory: They do. ):

http://www.dearelder.com/index/#

AFTER Feb. 20, we will update with her new address in Georgia.

I'm here!

Heya!

I made it!

So, I met my companion. She seems amazing.

Dad, I'm staying in the Legrand Richards Building. It reminded me of Grandma Thornton. I'm pretty sure she always told us stories about him.

My classroom is in the Parley P. Pratt Building. Literally everything here is labeled after a prominent Church member. Just thought that was kinda fun. And I'm not surprised at all! Haha!

The dorms remind me of the dorms at American University when I stayed there during my trip to D.C. It feels kinda like home because of that and because of all the names on the buildings.

I'm shaking as I type this, but I'm grinning from ear to ear. Which... now that I think about it, I guess it's a bit creepy that I'm just grinning while staring at this computer screen... that isn't mine... after watching a gym orientation... and my hands are shaking.

Whatever.

I'm taller than all the sisters here. No surprise.

I've already met two other sisters that are going to the Macon Mission. Whoo!

Aaaaaand now I'm heading to class. No unpacking yet!

AAAAHHHH!!

Overwhelming much?

I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Love,

Sister McKay

P.S. Caden, gotcha. I knew I'd make you cry at some point.

Mom, I love you. I'm safe. :)

Dad, I'm forgetting myself and going to work.

The Gospel is so true!!

Love you,

Amory

Disasters, Desires, and Determination

Well.

Apparently Satan wants me to stay home.

Let's take a look at all the disasters that have been happening around here, shall we?

A few days ago, a couple relatives came over to help Mom take care of some things she was stressing over. One of these things was taking our big white van (affectionately know as the White Dragon) to get an oil change.

Well, uuuhhh...

This relative went to back the White Dragon out of the driveway and suddenly couldn't find the break pedal. Understandable. It's high up, and that's even happened to me before. It's weird.

But... White Dragon came out of the driveway... and didn't stop. It ran into and knocked over our neighbor's tree. Once White Dragon was back in the driveway, Mom attempted to assess the injuries. None. Besides the tree.

.....Or so she thought.

A few hours later, I used White Dragon to take my friend and her siblings to Chick-fil-A. I noticed that there was some snow streaked across one of the back windows but didn't bother to scrape it off because I could see out the other window, and I knew it would melt soon anyway.

In the drive-thru, a couple of my friend's siblings complained that it was cold in the back. One of them subsequently asked, "Uhh, Amory? Are you aware that your back window is gone?"

My thought process went something like this:

GONE?

WhatdidIdo?!

Oh. That snow on the back window wasn't snow. It was shattered glass.

Okay. It wasn't my fault. It was like that when I left.

Mom's not gonna kill me.

But, ooohhh, she's gonna freak...

Out loud, it sounded something like this:

"WHAT? Oh, that's bad. Umm... Well. Let's get home and figure out what to do. How did that even happen? What the even?....... Wow."

I called Mom once we got back to my friend's house and told her what happened. She kinda freaked at first, but then she stayed calm and called the glass repair place, and now it's all taken care of. *whew*

Alright. Disaster number 1. #conquered


Disaster number 2.

Um, less than conquered?

The same day, my totally awesome relative took my little car to get safety and emissions checked, only to find that it didn't pass safety because, surprise! (...Not. Because, believe me, I already knew.) The heater's broken! We asked our mechanic about it, and he said to check the coolant compartment to make sure there was enough coolant in there. My mom went to put more in and found... sludge. Like cookie dough in the first stage when it's just sugar and butter and eggs. Only it was coolant. And oil.

Apparently, there's a blown gasket somewhere that means oil is getting into the coolant.

HUZZAH!

.
.
.
.
.

No.

Not huzzah.

More like, "You're kidding."

Well, good thing we were gonna get rid of that car anyway.


Disaster number 2. #accepted


At some point last week (after disasters 1 and 2) one of our neighbors from my home ward, who sent a missionary out almost a year and a half ago, told Mom to expect at least three more disasters before I left.


Well.


Disaster number 3:

My parents were trying to leave the house Sunday to see me speak in my singles ward (the week after I spoke in my home ward) when a major toilet disaster happened.

*BOOM*

Yeah, that's a problem.

But! It was fixed. They were just late. *shrug* Ah, well.

The same morning, Mom's skirt ripped and was totally ruined. Sad day.

And now for disaster number 4:

I'm sick.

Last night, my stomach hurt. A normal phenomenon as of late. For the past week or so, I've gotten up, had a stomach ache, and then just put up with mild stomach problems and felt kinda lightheaded all day. Not a super big deal.

Last night, though, it got way worse. After dinner, Mom came down to my room to help me pack because I was feeling especially lightheaded and couldn't seem to concentrate on anything. Plus, she wanted to. She likes doing that sort of thing.

Well, pretty soon I couldn't seem to move. Then I was sorta losing it and getting really loopy. Like, I suddenly started laughing for no reason and couldn't stop. For about 5 minutes.

It got so bad that Mom filmed me. The video is 25 seconds long, and that was towards the end.

It got so bad that I started coughing. That was when I had to stop.

It got so bad that I realized I was really, really stressed. And then my stomach started hurting a lot more.

It hurt so much that I couldn't really move. And then it hurt to laugh. And then it hurt to talk. In fact, those things seemed to make it worse. And then I thought I might throw up if I did... like, anything.

I finally asked Dad for a blessing. He had been with Mom and me for a while, just hanging out with us and making us laugh. Even after I asked for a blessing, he made jokes and got me chuckling. I had to tell him to stop because it hurt and that was just not fair.

After the blessing, I knew I could and would get better quick.

Not after some intense battling, though.

It was the middle of the night, maybe 5 o'clock. I had been putting off going to the bathroom because I didn't want to move, but I finally really had to, so I got up by myself. At one point, I couldn't move at all because I knew I would either throw up or pass out, and it hurt too much. I just prayed. Really hard. My ears started ringing so loud that I couldn't hear anything. My arms felt limp. I almost did pass out.

But I prayed.

And it went away, enough for me to get back in bed.

The rest of the night and today have been... fun... But I've actually gotten way better.


Here's what I've learned.

You guys, Satan doesn't want me to leave.

Satan is determined to keep me home.

Well, lemme tell ya somethin'.


I'm taking that as a compliment.


"What? How is that a compliment?"

It means Satan's afraid that I'll be an absolutely incredible missionary. He's doing everything he can to make me stay home.

I, however, am deciding to disregard the disasters, roll with it, and go anyway.

I have a desire to go.

I am determined.

(DISCLAIMER: I wouldn't actually say this in real life..... but the devil might.)


So, I'm going to press on.

I got better quick.

There's a reason for that.


Sister McKay