Elder McKinley's Stint Across the Pond

Morning all. First, disclaimer: my preparation day is Wednesday next week. We're going to see Wicked next week for my last preparation day. Yeah, I know you're jealous. Our mission president permits us to see one musical during our time in the mission. We get to choose between Lion King and Wicked. We chose Wicked haha. Anyways, that's next week and so don't expect any emails on Monday. Also, next week will be my last email. So yeah, time flies. This week was a fairly normal one. I had my last interview with Sister Checketts. She is amazing. She has become such a good example and friend to me as I have been here in England. She asked me what my first meal would be and I told her there was a 24 hour Mexican restaurant not too far from the airport. Mom, Dad, I hope you're reading this :-) Anyways, we talked about how the next chapter of my life looms (that sounds ominous, it's a lot more exciting than that) over me. It's a strange place of mind to b

First, I just want to give you a pat on the back. Seriously. You've made it this far. This is the official 100th email of my mission. You have read (hopefully) up to 99 emails I have taken time to send, whether they were my photos, voice recordings, or ramblings, long and short. Congratulations. You will only have a few more now. Honestly, 100 is such a good looking number that I think I will stop here. Thanks for reading! Only kidding. You know that. When I come to these "bookend" moments, I can't help but reflect on the times now past. This week was full of bookend moments.  I had my last Zone Conference as a full time missionary.  That's right. The last one. For those of you who somehow managed to skip the other 16 weekly emails I have written over the course of the mission recapping zone conferences for you, first let me congratulate you. No amount of random avoidance could have accomplished such, and I applaud your efforts. Second, Zone Confer

Photos: Piccadilly circus Telephone booth Lego edition Fred armisen asleep in an elevator  The real big Ben

The title of this email is in response to Elder Rosenvall who expressed his disappointment my sparse emails recently. Also, I felt like you all deserved a more thought out email considering my recent ones have been a bit lacking. So, in honour of me only having five more of these to write, here is the book you've all been waiting for. This, my family and friends, is pontificating at it's finest. I've been thinking about structure. A good friend of mine,  @David Petersen   (by the way I had no clue you could tag people in emails, that's way cool), once showed me an object lesson I will never forget. Ask me to do it for you some day. It loses it's effect if not experienced in person. Anyways, the point of it was to remind us that all success in life comes from meeting expectations and those expectations are often set with a structure. As a volunteer for the church, right now, my life is extremely structured. Our feelings of success are resultant of meeting

so it's official: I will finish my mission in the City Ward, speaking Portuguese and working in the office.  I'm elated. I'm ecstatic. I'm excited.  Just wow.  It's been a wild time this last week. I missed my trio life #oxford and this week has been quite the throwback. Good thing we perfected that whole "three people teaching one person" thing. It was a blast. We taught loads of lessons, met 3 times as many Brazilian people, and made memories to last a lifetime. Elder Grimaldi is off to the coast and will be serving in Southend. Keep an eye on him friends, he's gonna be a legend. Elder Coelho and I are staying together as well. We are also moving even closer to the mission office. I'm excited. Comp Comic: Elder Coelho and Elder Grimaldi fell asleep on the tube :-) Scripture of the Week: Hymn 266 Food of the Week: Pizza - brazilian pizza may or may not include sweet corn, egg, olives, and heart of palm. Interestin

Well, believe it or not, we are here once again. After the events of the last few months here in London, I didn't really think that things could get much weirder. I was already working in the office and speaking portuguese. Then Friday happened.  Long story short, we're now in a trio.  Haha our new companion is Elder Grimaldi from Brasil. He arrived Saturday at Heathrow. Elder Coelho and I went there to pick him up.  *disclaimer* being at Heathrow with only 7 weeks left on your mission is a sublime experience. It may or may not make you think about the impending events WAY more than normal. But hey, we were there with a purpose, so it was all good. But wow, what a blast.  Other than our new companion (he's only companion's with us for the week and then he will get assigned his official missionary trainer next week during the transfer), this week has been pretty typical. We have had a lot of lessons, dinners, and crazy portuguese conversations. I love bei