Elder McKinley's Stint Across the Pond

Hey friends. So disclaimer. We have some new technology guidelines that I wanted to make you aware of. I will be deactivating my old facebook for now and creating a new one to only use with people here in England. So bye bye for now on Facebook. Also, I only have 90 minutes to email home each Monday now. So that means this weekly email is about to get a lot shorter. That being said, this week: So we had some really great ups and some really low downs this week. First the downs: So a friend of ours we have been working with was planning on getting baptised this weekend. Given some circumstances, he is now going to be waiting until December. There are a lot of details I will not get into but the important thing is we are still really close with him and are going to keep seeing him. We are just going to do everything we can to make sure that nothing derails him from his desire to be baptised between now and December. Another thing is that this week has just been draining. Hon...

Hello everybody. I am just gonna go for it because I feel like there was nothing super major this week so yeah: So the latter parts of last Tuesday were spent wandering oxford taking some artsy pics. That was a blast. Wednesday we did not have anything major. We talked to a bunch of people and did our normal missionary things and the day came and went. We were able to go to institute, which is like a religious class held by the church where students can learn in a more formal setting about principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We had some really great discussions and it made me miss BYU a bit. @byufriends I look forward to when we can have these profound gospel chats again. and anyone else who wants to join for that matter :-) Thursday was more of the same. We did see some super cool miracles and we were able to find two really nice people that we are meeting with this week. One of them even confirmed our appointment by email! No one has ever done that for me on my m...

Hey friends, family, fun people, and cool beans. Welcome to this weekly update hosted by the one and only Colin Yost. Just kidding it's me. Sorry I had to scare you there for a bit. So this weekly email will probably be a little shorter because I really can't think of what to say about this week other than tourists. There are so many tourists. Like so. so. many. Ugh. And I am basically equivalent to a tourist in certain respects but I have been here for at least four months so I feel entitled to say I am a local. So yeah. Tuesday was finding people to teach. Good stuff. Sadly we were told by the Europe Area Security Department that missionaries in England needed to be inside their flats by 6:30pm so we did not get to watch the game. Let's just say Elder Man was...disappointed, or in his words, dead. In the final few moments before we needed to be home, I was able to buy some chicken nuggets and ice cream so the night was not totally depressing. Thursday w...

Howdy there friends, comrades, and all around good people. This week has been a little ridiculous and utterly draining but I will get right into it. Tuesday we got to meet our new mission president and his wife, President and Sister Checketts. They are amazing. I absolutely love them already. They are so kind and determined to help us all grow closer to Christ. I am so excited to be serving with them for the next 14 months. I also went to London. Like London London. Not just the train station but Hyde Park. We had our meetings in the chapel where President Nelson had his first stop on his recent global tour. It felt awesome. It also felt super weird and there is going to be some interesting days ahead as these two mission cultures blend and everyone gets their footing, but I am excited. I got to see some of my missionary friends which is always fantastic. We also met some missionaries from the old London mission and it was really different interacting with them. It was kind of...

Hello all! I was taking a look back at the emails I have written in weeks past and I have realised I write so much. So, I am going to cut it back a little bit so I can send some other personal emails. But yeah this week was good. Also, it has only been 5 days so what could have happened? Well, here we go. Wednesday and Thursday there was an extra estimated 15,000 people in the city because all of the colleges had open days for prospective students. We went out and attempted to contact people but basically all of them were either students, their parents, or, wait, no, it was just them. I guess everyone else in the city knew they were coming and took adequate shelter. Thursday night was pretty great because we had a really amazing lesson. It was really full of the Spirit and earnest questions and answers were shared, and we all walked away from it feeling full. Oh! also, Thursday, we were invited to attend a faith walk put on by the oxford council of faiths. It was so in...