This week has been full of so many things but I am just going to jump write into it. We managed to see many miracles this week even with the departure of Elder Burton looming over our heads. Thursday was DLC in Reading. Basically, we decided that moving forward we need to just be nice people as the mission boundaries adjust and not think we are better than the other missionaries. It was great and it only took 4 hours to come to that conclusion :-) but really it was a great meeting and we were able to see the legendary Elder Palmer, who is headed back home to canadia (shoot me those photos friend) and the amazing Elder Parcell, who will no longer be in the England London mission but in fact the England Birmingham mission. He is going to be just fine though because he is headed to Guernsey. After many cool photos, me preaching the gospel to the jazz tunes of Elder Burton (do not worry I have a video but do worry because it is too big to send and so you will get to see it in fourteen months), and some more goodbyes, we made our way back to oxford. We helped the Pakynteins paint their fence and garden walls and then had a barbecue. The best part of the whole thing was that none of us there actually knew how to use a charcoal pit barbecue, so Elder Burton and I, mostly Elder Burton, just faked our way through it until it actually started working! Eat your heart out Bobby Flay.
Friday we had district meeting and we were able to hear the parting words of wisdom from Elder Clement, Elder Dos Santos and Elder Burton. I will touch a bit on those later. Other than some fairly unsuccessful sports contacting, and introducing Sister Loader and Sister Cryer to the world of kebabs, we did not do much. It was still a good day though.
Saturday was fantastic. It was one of the best days of my mission. We started the morning off with basketball with our friend Francis from Togo. He is so cool. He also is pretty great at basketball. I am not. thankfully we had two other americans, a Brazilian and a Hong Kongese man who were. We talked with him afterwards, invited him to come to church and he said yes! We then made our way home, changed, and went to meet our friend Bea. She is awesome. She referred herself online to meet with missionaries and said in the lesson that she was looking for a church that was full of the Holy Spirit. We talked with her for almost two hours, answering questions and discussing what has lead her to this point. She is an amazing person and we are seeing her again this afternoon. Honestly, when we were teaching Bea, I felt more like myself than I have ever felt in a lesson before. It was a surreal feeling, and I had the Holy Spirit tell me that what I was sharing was true and that I was where I needed to be, doing what I needed to be doing. We ended the day with a curry night at Jamie's house and it was an absolute blast. I loved the whole day. It was a tender mercy from the Lord.
Sunday was also great. We were able to find someone new to teach and he seemed fairly interested (spoiler alert, he did not show for our appointment yesterday so he was not interested). We had church and francis came! He loved it! He stayed for all three hours and he asked questions and said that he really enjoyed it! It really was a miracle. The bishop gave a really great talk (again, I will touch on this a little later), and it was almost like the whole set of meetings was set up just for him. We finished the day with dinner at the Petersens, who are always a blast. Sunday evening Elder Burton, Elder Man, and I had a really amazing conversation. I won't share all the details but just know this: moments can exist that seem suspended in time and bring you so much joy and fulfilment; this was one of those.
Monday came. It was a long hard day. We helped with a move, talked with other missionaries about the work, let Elder Burton finish packing, went to FHE (a family night thing with the students here) with Francis (who absolutely loved it), had a final district dinner and then spent our evening helping the other elders, who were staying at our flat, get everything together for their journeys in the morning.
Yesterday was longer and harder. We had to send our friends off early in the morning. I said goodbye to Elder Burton. Well it was more like a see you later because we are both still in the same mission and in the same zone and we will be seeing each other next Tuesday but still, it was the end of an era so we said the appropriate farewells for the situation. Then I was back to just being in a set of two missionaries. It is so weird. I am still adjusting. I never thought I would say this but I really miss the trio life. Maybe one day it will happen again. We cleaned up the massive mess that was left behind and we attempted to find some people to no avail, but had an amazing dinner with the bishop and his family.
That brings us to today. It has been a little slow and oxford feels a bit emptier now. However, we have done some necessary cleaning, reorganized our flat, and I bought two pens and some sticky notes. Riveting I know. We are going to do some things with the sisters this afternoon though. We still don't know what, but you know what they say: doing nothing is always better when you do it with someone else.
British Food of the Week: doritos - let it be known that the Dorito flavours here correlate as follows: tangy cheese - nacho cheese, cool original - cool ranch. Weird, I know.
British Word of the Week: gutted - I may have already used this word but I may also have felt this way multiple times this week, marvellous - I thought I should balance out my nuanced mention prior to this one with this gem of an adjective
Companion Comic: so he is not my companion but this guy visited church from Utah and oh my gosh he was a trip. He sits down in the very last hour of church and he sits next to elder burton, slaps him on the shoulder, and introduces himself. After class, he gives a proper introduction and it goes a bit like this. he looks you in the eye with his head slightly leaning to the left (your left) and says "I'm Peter" and then makes the sound of gun cocking and shifts his smile to the upper left side of his mouth and says "Peter Johnston". He was super nice and he definitely left an impression.
Scripture of the Week: D&C 121:33
Okay so here are my closing thoughts. In church, our bishop mentioned the idea of microhistory. The concept is seeking out the seemingly small details, events, and stories of the world, focusing in on them, and telling their story. As crazy as this may seem, the Lord works in this way. Jesus Christ ministers to each one of us and He knows our stories. He knows all about the towns we come from, the experiences we have been shaped by, the indelible fixtures in our memory that mean so much to us but so little to others; He knows them all. I wish, oh how I wish, I could tell you the many bits of microhistory I have gathered. I think about the amazing and profound people I have met, places I have been, and events I have watched unfold. I could not tell them all to you if I tried. However, they mean so much to me and shape me on a daily basis. I have been so privileged to be a part of other's microhistories and I love learning of others, not matter how small. If you want to tell me about your hometown, do it! If there is a place you loved growing up that no one knows about but it means the world to you, let me hear about it. As someone representing Jesus Christ, I want to do everything I can to become like Him. So tell me your seemingly insignificant stories and how they mean the world to you, and they will mean the world to me to.
I love you all so much. Thank you for your continued love and support. Keep well.
Elder McKinley
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