Hermana McKin

¡Hola Familia y Amigos! Holy freaking HECK these past two weeks have been inSANE! I don't even know where to begin. Missions are crazy. Two weeks ago, Hermana V. and I were walking around in Santiago contacting. Contacting is where you basically just talk to everyone and introduce yourself as a missionary. I contacted this lady who was selling fruit on the corner of the street and when the conversation started lagging I sort of panicked and was like, "hey can I buy some grapes!?!" Bought some grapes and she committed to come to church so that was that. So there we were, walking around with a bag of grapes, sweating, and looking for more people to contact. We started talking to this guy named Domingo who is super atheist and has no interest in the church yet he always calls us over to talk to him. To make a long story short, he gave us a mango. For those of you that know me well, I love mangos. So that REALLY put a skip in my step. So THEN there we were. Hermana V....

¡Hola Familia y Amigos! I was listening to Hermana Steed make her nightly phone calls to all the members she and her companion have been visiting this past week when I heard her say that sentence. Ahahahaha I don't think I have laughed that hard since being out here in the field. I hope the Spirit carried that to Yolanda's heart in a way that didn't offend her because the way Hermana Steed said it was pretty straight up. I keep telling Hermana Steed ONE day we'll know Spanish and won't have to say things awkwardly but to be totally honest I hope Hermana Steed never learns because she's my comic relief out here.  So this week was a TOTAL bust. All the missionaries that were "born" with me (came to the mish at the same time as me) had to go to Salta to do a ton of paperwork to become legal citizens! Sooooo Hermana Steed, Hermana Rennick, Elder Rodriguez, and I caught an 8 hour bus ride to Salta on Tuesday. We spent the night in Salta and then spe...

¡Hola Amigos y Familia! Tuesday morning, 2 seconds after turning off my alarm, and that's the first thing I hear from Hermana V. To translate into English: "Sister, don't scream." There was a pretty gnarly looking bug chilling next to me in my sheets. I woke up pretty quick after that.  Zone conference was Tuesday and it was awesome! Mostly because I understood the majority of what was being said. "Majority" = 65ish% but that's progress! President Orquera always feeds us really well except this time no one really ate breakfast because we took the lids off of the factura boxes only to find the bread COVERED in dead bees. That was such a bummer. Hermana V. and I were asked super last minute (welcome to the Argentina Salta mission) to play a music number during the conference. Hermana V. plays the violin so I hopped up onto the piano, said a little prayer, and whipped out "Joseph Smith's First Prayer." It went really well and when we s...

¡Hola Familia y Amigos! Hahahahaha I love the movie Megamind and for some reason this week I was walking around and that quote popped into my head. That's pretty much missionary work in a nutshell for ya.  This week was another week of ups and downs. Sometimes it feels like the downs are taking over the ups but I realized this week that the things I was getting caught up on are things that a progressing missionary worries about!....so hopefully that means I'm growing. This really is the whole "refiner's fire" story. Satan worked reallllllyyyyy hard on me this week and once I realized it was Him trying to kick me down, I kicked back...hard. Hermana V. and I did a lot of good work this week. We've got some awesome investigators who are working towards baptism. This week we had a girl named Fiama (she's 14!) attend church all by herself! She was a miracle for Hermana V. and I for sure. Her story is super long but basically she worked with the miss...

¡Hello Amigos y Familia! So there are these workouts in every apartment called "Insanity Workouts" and towards the end of one ab workout the teacher yells that phrase. Sometimes I'll be walking around, really drained, really sweaty, and really not knowledgeable in Spanish, and I'll think about him yelling "It's! Ok! If! You! Want! To! Die! It's! Ok! If! You! Want! To! Max! Out!" I feel it.  So I kind of forgot everything that happened this week and realized as I sat down to write this that Christmas happened! I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas! I spent my Christmas......drumroll......in my APARTMENT! After talking to our families, Hermana V. and I went back to our apartment to lay low until our dinner with the Bishop and his family. We weren't allowed to proselyte or contact on Christmas, mostly because everyone is hungover and sleeping, so I was really looking forward to dinner with the Bishop. His family is going through some real...

¡Hola Familia y Amigos! Before I get into the moment that justttttt about broke me (but also left me laughing) I want to wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS! Or as they say here, although I have yet to actually hear it from anyone, Feliz Navidad. It's actually kinda sad here. You wouldn't tell the people in Santiago del Estero celebrate Christmas if you walked around the streets. No decorations, no lights, no snow......yup. But I think that actually might be more of a blessing for me than I realize. Hermana V. is feeling it pretty bad. Her family is celebrating Christmas about 3 hours away from us....in our mission. Also she has yet to receive her Christmas package. She's holding it together pretty well but I think some hugs are down the road. It's a good thing there's no language barrier when it comes to hugs. Why can't it just be January already haha My story: Because I'm officially in my second transfer of training (whoop whoop) I'm in charge ...

¡Hola Friends and Family! We're OFFICIALLY in my second out transfer here in the field. Still with Hermana V. because I'm a baby and am in training but in 6 more weeks I'll be the real deal. I am not ready to be out of training but at the same time I'm ready to get this ball ACTUALLY rolling. My Spanish skills however, beg to differ. This week was my first really hard week in the field and WOW did I let it get to me! I think I thought I knew where my limit was, but Heavenly Father knows us better than we know ourselves and doesn't give us anything we can't handle. ENTONCES, He knows my limit and will take care of me these next 15 (woah 15) months.  But here's some fun stuff: Hermana V. and I were talking to this lady named Maria about faith this week. She's pretty old and has a lot of health problems, like not being able to walk. She just sits in a plastic chair outside of her house and watches the street. For the majority of our little l...