Elder McKinley's Stint Across the Pond

So here we are. The last one. The final email.  I know all of you were expecting this next Wednesday. It's a long story, one I'll tell you in person soon enough. In the words of an original Disney Channel movie song, "oh, things change when you least expect them too" (bonus points for anyone that can tell me the name of the song). But really, you're not here for logistics. You're here for upliftment, excitement, entertainment and hopefully enjoyment, right? We shall see with the time provided what I can bring into your lives one last time as I write to you all under call of God from the land where that call has been manifested.  First and foremost, God lives.  Second, Jesus Christ is His Son, the Saviour and Redeemer who atoned for all humankind and through whom salvation cometh. Their divine love for us in incomparable in depth, breadth, and purity.  Third, The Book of Mormon is the word of God, and, linking arms with the Bible sets for...

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 ...

I find it hard to believe we are at this point once again. This week was a blur. We welcomed 8 new missionaries into the mission, had interviews with President, and followed up on technology use with those missionaries that arrived a few weeks ago. I was less bothered by the fact that I only have one more regular interview left with President Checketts and more bothered by the lack of time I had to go out to teach our friends. Nevertheless, the interviews I had with President and Sister Checketts were wonderful. They have become good friends and beloved mentors. They are such stalwart figures of faith and dedication, to the Lord, to the people they serve, and to each other. I love them.  The capstone of the week was the baptism of our friend Francisco. He is such a good soul. He was confirmed a member of the church this Sunday. He sent us a text later that day saying that he felt so happy and excited about this responsibility and feels it's one of the best decisions he...

This week feels like a blur so it probably was haha. Anyways, that means very little photos and a bullet list of highlights :-) - exchange with Elder Norman (love him, great man, but somehow we took no photos #tooconsecrated - super MLC aka big meeting full of the Spirit, counselling, and discussion  - Our friend we've been teaching had his interview for baptism and he passed! His baptism will be Saturday! - we inventoried the office and got rid of loads of excess junk #D&C132:8 - long days and good conversations  The Portuguese is coming right along. I won't go into details because they are personal and sacred to me but I've really seen God strengthening me these past few weeks. I love being a missionary and serving His children.  Food of the week: kibe - like a meatball but full of cheese; Brazilian  Scripture of the week: The Book of 1st Kings - it's interesting and symbolic haha

Bom dia todos! Wow this week was really intense. Let me jump right in with a few updates: - My portuguese is rapidly improving. I understood everything at church yesterday! I was able to have some good conversations in portuguese as well. It honestly still blows my mind to know that I am learning and speaking portuguese right now, but I feel the Lord strengthening me and helping me learn faster than I would be able to on my own. I am able to carry a pretty detailed conversation with people on the street and talk about all different kinds of things, including the gospel. One of the most interesting things about all of this is praying. I am trying to pray in portuguese once per day. When I am talking on the street and in front of other people, I sometimes forget words or do not remember how to say a specific thing. However, when I pray, I feel like the Lord helps me remember what I need to say and how to say it. I am so humbled by the help He has given me and the time I am spending s...

Elder Coelho loves that song and it applies aptly to my current situation. I know I said I'd email. But time got away from me again. Sorry for the shallow promise. Know that I read everything you send and I love you all! I will reply sometime in the future. For now, enjoy these photos.  Scritpure of the week: Alma 13:28 I love you all and know that I'm loving serving the Lord out here! Little Venice  And the new comp  I ran into a friend from BYU at church! Wow it was insane! 

Hey everyone! I am staying in the City ward and the office for another 6 weeks! I am pumped. Alas, my companion is leaving me, but I am getting a brasilero :-) We are going to have an amazing time. I love you all and here are some pictures (I have no time because I am doing transfer stuff). I love you all! I will attach pictures as a reply. Elder McKinley

Yep, that's how you spell wow in Portuguese. Word of the week right there. Salutations everyone. Honestly, this week has been very much of the same kind of stuff I do every week. Here are some of the highlights. Wait. Before I share the highlights, I want you to know that I have contemplated not writing a weekly email anymore. The time on my preparation day gets shorter and shorter and my desire to write an email about my week decreases bit by bit. However, I am on number  90 . I feel like I need to stick it out to the end. I know what you're saying: "but Elder McKinley, sunk costs are irrelevant!" well, I never really liked economics anyways so I shall carry on.  Highlights: - I had exchange with Elder Bleyl. He also happens to be from Virginia, the other side of Richmond to be precis. He is pretty cool. We did this thing called Good Gym which involves going on a run, doing a service project, and then running back to where you started. It was terrible in th...

This week was absolutely and insanely busy but amazing all the same. Jumping right in: We went to the temple this week! We attended a meeting called Mission Leadership Council or MLC to discuss how the mission is doing spiritually, emotionally, and physically and to set some goals and make some plans to help all the missionaries grow closer to the Lord and more fully dedicate themselves to serving Him. To help aid in preparing the mission leaders for the meeting, we went to the temple and did a session at the temple. A session is where we go through the temple and reflect on the promises we have made with God and we learn how we can better keep and understand those promises (check out this link for more detail:  https://www.lds.org/ general-conference/2019/04/ 54bednar?lang=eng ). It was absolutely amazing and so spiritually uplifting. I am excited to go more often when I return home. I cannot wait for when they finish planning and building one recently announced for Richmond,...

Bom dia a todos! I hope you are well and have had a great week. Life in London is good. Every day is an adventure and so much happens. I am coming to love this city and the people I meet each day. Speaking Portuguese had it's challenges but the miracles we've seen alongside the people we have met make it all worthwhile.  This week was the first one we've had this transfer where we could really focus solely on our area. We were able to get out and find some people to teach, and I have high hopes for their future. We also taught this super cool guy named Rodrigo and he only speaks Portuguese! We were at the Hyde Park c hapel and luckily an elder from another area walked in with his companion and he was able to help us teach. Most of the time, since we don't fully speak Portuguese, we end up showing a video about the restoration that has been translated in Portuguese.  I have now seen the video "ask of God" in Portuguese about 10 times haha. It's really ...