Oh Hi!

 Queridos Amigos y Familiares,

Holy heck.

Maybe I should just leave the email at that because it perfectly describes these last 2 weeks. 

I arrived home safely last week after about 40-ish hours of traveling. The Church chartered a flight from Buenos Aires for about 570 missionaries. Because my mission is one of the northernmost (is that a word?) missions AND all of Argentina was on some sort of lockdown quarantine with all the province borders shut down...we had to stop for about an hour at every province border we passed through. What should have been a 20ish hour bus ride ended up being about 27 hours so that was awesome. Not to mention, the bus was 13 hours late to pick us up in Jujuy. Once we got to Buenos Aires, they dropped us off at the MTC right next to the temple. That's where the rest of the 500 or so missionaries were waiting. There were missionaries from Santa Fe, Rosario, etc. and I actually got to run into some missionaries from my MTC district who were in Santa Fe! That was a really happy moment. At the MTC, we ate and waited for more buses to arrive. I think we were there for about 5 hours, all I really remember was arriving at the MTC at around 11pm and leaving to go to the airport at about 4am. There were a ton of hermanas getting super dolled up to see their families and I.....well I looked like a toe who washed her hair with grease (paints a nice pic huh?). I just kept thinking, "They know we have a 12 hour flight right?....in 8 hours.....?" The Church basically opened up this airport to get all the missionaries out. Sitting at the airport was super boring because the big room with all the front desks to check bags wasn't big enough to keep all the missionaries 6 feet apart from each other #distanciamientosocial, so they ended up sticking some of us outside where it was freeeeeezing. It was actually super funny to look pretty much everywhere and just see a lot of really tired missionaries, nada mas. 

I was lucky enough to make it on the early flight, 8am, with about 230 other missionaries. I said goodbye to my cute companion Hermana Parker and boarded the plane. Fun fact! I ended up sitting next to my MTC district leader, who served in Santa Fe. It was so funny because we sat next to each other 6 months ago on our flight to the MTC! I think I mentioned this in one of my first emails but I let out a couple solid snores on the flight to Mexico and he held it over my head the whole 6 weeks in the MTC. Well........history repeats itself. And may I mention quite often on a 12 hour flight. Literally, I woke up on the flight home just to see him laughing. He looked at me and seriously said, "history repeats itself." We were like 2 hours into the flight so I knew it would be a long one at that point. I pretty much just watched the little flight tracker for the whole time we were in the air. The other elder I was sitting next to was finishing up his mission and so we talked a lot about our experiences in Argentina and it got me feeling pretty sentimental to be honest. When the pilot announced we would be landing in Salt Lake City shortly I think it finally hit me. I didn't really ever plan on seeing the pretty mountains in Salt Lake until March of 2021 so the emotions took control once I stepped foot off the plane and my glasses got pretty foggy to say the least haha. We had to wear these masks that looked like take-out boxes and made it super hard to breathe so that just made it worse. I said goodbye to all my buds and started walking for my flight to Fresno when I decided I needed a pick me up. Cafe Rio's pork nachos do just that. #priorities My flight to Fresno was insanely empty. I think 9 out of the 15 people on the flight were missionaries. It felt surreal to see Fresno as we landed. And walking to see my family? Yeah don't even get me started. 

I've been home for about a week now and I'm happy. It was really sad and strange to come home under the circumstances I did, but I feel blessed nonetheless. I've been doing video calls with Ariel to help him gain a greater testimony of his Savior and I guess now he wants to learn English and come visit the States so I don't really know how well the lessons are working hahaha. My awesome cousin, Elder Bassett, is home too, so we've tried to keep our communication to Spanish only, even though he needs to work on his Spanish ;) #chilevsargentina #teamomateo

Everyone keeps asking me how I'm doing, adjusting, what I'm doing, "where I am", etc. and I think the truth is I really just feel grateful for the time I did get. My companions, my areas, the people I taught. All of that made my experience so special and while I don't exactly understand why it all played out the way it did for me, I thank my Heavenly Father for those 6 months every day. I don't at all feel angry, ripped off, or that my mission got "cut short." I feel such peace when I get to look at my missionary plaques and think about the streets I walked and people I visited while wearing them. Being a missionary is so cool. 

It's been interesting to be home in California this past week. It's weird seeing everything so dead. If there's ever a time people need the gospel of Jesus Christ, it's now. It was cool being able to celebrate Easter in a more intimate way this year. Definitely a holiday that is not as understood or appreciated as it should be. General Conference was, like anticipated, a very special experience, along with the worldwide fast. 

I am so thankful for my Savior Jesus Christ and what He did for me. I know He lives. 

I love so very much how Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin stated it: "He paid a debt He did not owe to free us from a debt we can never pay. Because of Him, we will live forever. Because of His infinite Atonement, our sins can be swept away, allowing us to experience the greatest of all the gifts of God: eternal life."

The gospel is true folks and there's really no other way to put it. Please open your heart to Jesus Christ, your Savior and Redeemer. Let Him in and let Him change you. You will see miracles. 

Love love love,

Hermana (although not as of right now) Katie McKinlay

Because of Him Video (my favorite video ever): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3TI4bYerU

ps, got really good at scrapbooking during my 10 days of quarantine in Jujuy