Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Working Hard


Hey everyone!!
 
So this week we didn't get very much news but we have 4 new dates for baptism this month!!  My companion and I are working so hard!!    So we had one date falloff for this 22nd only because the mom didn't know how old there kid was and she said he was 8 years old but he was born in 2005 so its not possible that he is 8 years old.  But yesterday my companion and I set a date for the 26th for a family to be baptized, so I am excited for that date!!!
 
I'm so grateful for my dad teaching me to work hard even though I never tried it out in my entire life, but because he taught me I knew what hard work was.  But you all knew I couldn't try working, because my favorite hobby is being lazy.  Unfortunately I have had to sacrifice that hobby  for these 2 years, but don't worry guys when I get home I'll pick up my hobbies again and be lazy!! hahaha but thanks dad for teaching me the knowledge of hard work and now I am actually applying it in my life and yup I have started to be actually able to tolerate work.  Only tolerate it though.  I am not going to say I like to work,  just can tolerate it now.  So don't worry mom when I get home in a year and half I'll be sleeping on that couch tell 4 in the afternoon just like good old times!! 
 
Hey Ry guy and Jacob thanks so much for your example to me to come and serve a mission.  I can't even image how hard that had too of been for Ryan to be the first in the family to serve a mission.  I don't think I could of done that, actually probably wouldn't of done that to be honest.  But because of your example and faith to put the tag on I learned a lot from you. and Jacob thanks for your example to do the same thing and learn a language and live in a place that doesn't have all the same blessings we have.  I never realized how blessed and lucky I was to be born in the states!!   Man like carpet!!  Who would of thought I would dream about carpet!! and putting my bare feet in it every night and day!! well some times in the day.
 
So the other day proselyting (knocking doors)  this guy thought we were CIA and was like take out your bible so I took it out and oh boy was he scared he was sweating and everything.  I know this is kinda mean but I couldn't stop laughing because people think I am CIA, little old me!! hahaha so funny!!!
 
So the other day a baby was crying, she was like 2 years old and the mom told me to get her and oh my gosh she was 120 lbs the same as me, oh man I could not even pick her up I was like trying so hard man I almost just fainted!!!
 
Elder McKenna

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Happy!



Hey Everyone!!!
So I am pretty much having the time of my life!!!  I  talked to my companion about everything.  I shared with him my goals and talked about how I can't complete them without his help and talked to him about how I know that if we are really obedient we will have more success.  I just decided to be myself again.  When I wake up, I just tell myself today is going to be a great day!! And now I am my happy self all the time again!!  I have never been happier, this last week has been amazing just everything makes me happy!!  My companion came to me the other night and said  I don't want to be a regular missionary anymore, I want to be the missionary that I used to think missionaries were angels, can you help me!!  Man I love my companion, we are having so much fun, but working so hard!!  This last week we had 30 lessons with members and this week we're shooting for 60!!  We really have got our ward working hard and my companion is super chill, and now we are talking non-stop, joking around, goofing off, but of course we play hard and work hard!!  Yesterday my companion helped me be obedient!!  Because as you all know, I love sugar!!!  Apperently the coke here is made with real sugar cane so when the member offered me some I said yes, but then my companion said no not today!!  Saved me from that crave I have for sugar all the time!!!

So on a cooler side my converts of last week bought me 3 live ducks!!  I am going to kill them and cook them this christmas with there help!! super cool!! Except I kinda don't want to kill them, there cute and it's not true what people say about ducks not being friendly!!  Its a lie they are so friendly and fun to play with!!

Okay I need you guys to pray for family Hernandez still, we are going to baptize 3 of them on the 30th but the parents can't be baptized until Carlos wants to get married and its super sad because the kids and the mom pray every night for him to want to get baptized.  I'm also baptizing a family Dec. 30th too!

Supposedly I am going to be made district leader and training  this next change but as of right now its just rumors and the zone leaders suggested that for me. But honestly I don't want any of that!!! I just want to be minor comp my whole mission, I mean jr. its nice!  I get to work hard and don't have to worry about others! perfect!!  I especially don't want to train, especially if it's a gringo not knowing spanish because I myself don't know spanish well enough.

I hope I get to go to Belize and learn creole though that would be legit!!  But I have a feeling I will have the opportunity eventually, because even before I got my call I always felt I was going to serve in 2 countries!! But it turns out part of Guatemala is in my mission also, so we have 3 countries and 2 islands in my mission.  I want to get sent to San Pedro, the island super cool
.
Well see ya guys, I am going to go play volley ball.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Loving the Mission


Hey Family & Friends,
So I have a question how come lots happened in the world after I left it? All the good movies are coming out, Soccer:  Messi has more goals then Pale now, Christiano Ronaldo had 2 hat tricks, American womens tean won the gold medal and The Giants won the world Series.   I'm darn good at soccer and speak the romantic language but no girls to impress!! Even my mission got ten times better except peanut butter that is not better that is super expensive here!! Oh one more bad thing I had to take more money out because I had to work with eveyrone in the district and while I was gone my companion was I guess on the phone for long times in the night and the bill was $155 so I had to pay it, because he has no money, so I payed all my mission money for the month that I had left and had to pay some of my personal money.  I'm sorry mom and dad about that, I should be reimbursed in December!
 
So the hardest thing still for the whole mission is not having candy, especially mike and ikes and red vines.  Can you guys believe I have not had candy for like 4 months!!! Man it sucks, I used to not be able to go a minute with out some delicious mike and ike's in my mouth!!!  But honestly you all know me how I always was the goof ball, so every one liked me and I  was just super friendly with people.  Well, candy is now not the hardest thing for me in the mission, it's knowing I am living with people for 2 years that absoluletly hate me!!  Only because I won't do the disobenient things they want to do.  They are not really bad things, but we commited to the lord not to watch any movies or do any of that for 2 years so I am trying to do my best and yes I am hated for it.  But  just like the scriptures say, " love casteth out all fear" so that gets me through it. But I can see how some disobidience affects the whole mission. Even when other missionaries are disobident in other areas, my members and stuff talk to me about it!!  So it's more than a little frustarting.  So we had a couple baptisms drop, I'm super sad about that.  But we have some baptisms tomorrow, so that will be good!!  This december were having a christmas recording of baptisms for the 22nd or something like that.  Changes is the 5th of december I am going to get a new companion. I have been really praying for an obident companion wanting to work hard,  because I have a lot of goals I want to accomplish, but its hard to accomplish if I have a  lazy companion.

But I am working hard and loving my  mission.  Oh and Elder Van Camp (Chris) my soccer buddy from American Fork is now in my zone.  Remember him Jacob and dad!

So while I have been out here I have remembred that god works though people and revelation works though people!! I remember when I was in seventh grade and i just remember sitting down stairs thinking and remembering mom and dad always telling us to pray if this gospel is true! So one night I decided to pray and I got a feeling to go look in my scriptures and as I went to my scriptures on the front cover there was my mom´s testimony taped to it. I don't know when my mom taped that there or when she got the feeling to put her testimony there. But because god knows all of us and we are his children he gave my mom the feeling to do that!!  Now I don't know if my mom thought at the time that was the spirit telling her to do that or not but i know that was revelation from god for my mom to put that there because god knew I was going to pray and ask. So for this email I am here to tell you guys to stop worrying and just focus on being our selves and doing what's right.   God is going to use us and put us in the path of his children because god knows each and everyone of us more then we do! So like Nephi if you just go and do and be your self and be a good person your going to be guided by our father in heaven to do what's right! That right there is revelation! We might not see it as revelation because we might think I just did that to be nice but god knew you were going to do that and that's why he put that person in your path.  So just remember be like Nephi and go and do and focus on whats right and the lord will bless and magnify you!!!

On another note!!!  So you all know I like change and P-days are supposed to be fun. I feel like I do the same thing every p-day.  I have to write home and do stuff and now its starting not to be fun. So is it okay if I don't have to write every week? I mean I'll call on christmas and when not writing home is not fun no more I'll start writing again maybe we can compromise one month I write next I don't, what do you guys think?
 
Love all you guys!  Elder McKenna

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Earthquake!


So this week was crap, a lot of fun, but crap!!!  We had only one investigator in church this week and that's with us getting up at five in morning and trying to get everyone to church. We had 60 in attendance and that is so bad, because usually we have 90 in attendance. The mission is getting super hard again, in the way of the work!!  I feel like I have been slowing down a bit on the work. I'll be honest my mission is very disobedient and I am quite honestly surprised how many elders are still in the mission.  The president should send them home.  But any ways! Because my district is kinda of lazy, I kind of, have let some things slide.  Not big things, just like sleeping in and stuff, but I wish I didn't, because it obviously affected our work this week. By letting my companion sleep in and be a little lazy. When I was doing splits, the missionaries were idiots and watched a movie, a Disney movie, but still so frustrating!!   Because I won't lie, you all know me, I am super lazy, and man I am so tempted every day to just be like, hey lets just relax one day or something.  But I know I can't do that because then I'll want to do that every day! The other missionaries call me "fletchon" sometimes but I am not here to watch movies!!  I can start to feel my self returning to the lazy me little by little!!  So I am just trying to hang on right now and get focused!!  But it's so hard for me because that's just who I am or was before the mission, just chill let everything go! But I am trying to work hard and do my best!!

About the earthquake, it was super funny!!!  We were in a zone meeting and our zone leader felt it and just bolted out side and all 21 of us just sat in there and just road the quake.  It was fun and I wasn't scared at all surprisingly!!  I don't know what it is, while I have been in the mission and when the gang members say stuff and do stuff  I have not been scared at all, I just feel The Lords love and just am happy. But yeah the quake, everyone here is great, it was mostly in Guatemala.  I am worried about my buddy, Elder Ashcroft.

But yeah, I would love your prayers on being obedient, because I need so much help so I don't break!!  Especially in this last change, I got some gringos in my district that are super fun, but they take it over the line and do stuff I want to do so badly but I can't because I know it's against missionary rules.

Love you all, Elder McKenna

Monday, November 5, 2012

Busy!


Dear Family & Friends,
I could really feel your prayers for me this past week.  Thank you so much for all your prayers.  
 
So this week was super fun!!! yeah!! Monday was my birthday and that was way fun!!!  Except it's a tradition here to get your face slammed with a cake and we had four families plan a surprise party for me, so I had to get my face slammed 4 times which was awesome!! But here you don't waste food so you have to eat everything even the face mark in the cake  Yeah in 2 hours I had to eat 8 popusas, 1 pizza, chocolate bananas, 4 big cakes, chicken sandwiches and 2 2litter sodas.  Yeah it was super fun, but it sucked so bad at the same time because it's very rude not to eat what is given to you (since they don't have much) so i had to eat all of that!! no wonder i am getting fat!!

So this week was super fun with my companion he is teaching me a lot.  We work hard and we have 7 dates for baptism this 11 of November and a matrimonial on the 10th we are having so so much fun together and working so hard.  I just made compromises with him, if we work and study all the hours we are supposed to, we can have fun at night in the house!! and believe me we are having so much fun!! especially since the holidays are so big here and everyone here knows how to make fireworks and they have taught us the ways.  I have some cool videos and pics I'll be sending next week because I don't have a lot of time right now.
 
We have 30 investigators and so don't have a lot of time this week but next week ill send them!!  i feel really bad but good about the leaders of our ward the bishop, young men's presidents, and all those leaders because last week we gave them a list of investigators they needed to visit.  Because we cant visit all of ours because we have so many  and they all promised they would invite them to church and visit them.   But they didn't, so yesterday I held a meeting with them and we asked them to raise there hands if visited the in active members and investigators we had assigned them and not one raised there hand.   Even the bishop didn't even visit a member that is inactive. So we shared a scripture in Jacob that if you don't help the children of god, then the sins is on there heads, so yeah we totally machetted them!!  At first I felt bad but we were guided by the spirit to do that and guess what yesterday all of them visited at least one person so it turns out it worked out!! So we hope to see more people at church this up coming Sunday!! This past Sunday we had 7  investigators and 4 in active at church.

So yeah I am having a lot of fun!! Teaching people about Jesus is so much fun.  Have a great week bye,
 
Elder Daniel McKenna

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Improved!

hey!!
yes mom got all the packages loved them thank you!!! and got the letters love you all!!!=) thanks for the packages loved them made my day!!

so my lessons in spanish have really improved super fast!! i remember my first day in the MTC and my companion Elder Hanson was like "so what think we should teach our investigator" and i just looked at him and said "lets just kill her with optimism" hahahaha so the funny thing is every missionary says they can understand what people say before they can speak the language!! hahaha i think i am the opposite but then again i always was a better talker then a listener!! i just have problems with conjugating to past and future because the past conjugations have 2 different ones!! and the people here speak in vos!! so that is super frustrating some times!!! i always thought vos was the form vosotros no its a totally different meaning!! so its hard because i have to use Usted but when the latinos here use vos its hard to practice hearing the correct form i need to use and because i was taught usted in mtc and ccm its hard to understand the people a lot of the time!! but some people here will change to usted for missionaries!!

so your never going to believe this but i had to buy some new pairs of pants because i have gotten fat!!! didnt fit in them no more!! and it turns out i had a worm but dont worry the doctor killed it so just think if i didnt have the little friend in my belly how fat i would really be! i would be a sumo trotting around!! dont worry mom about the worm i had; deciding if i should hang it on my wall for a prize! or if i should just send it to you so you can feel part of the culture!! hahaha just joking!! maybe not, you will find out in a couple weeks!!

hey i know this is going to be kinda trunky of me but i heard Christianaldo Ronaldo had a hat trick? is this true?

so i found out That the best way to be lazy is to prepare!!! because proselyting here sucks, i worked with the zone leader for 2 days! which is weird because splits is usually only one day but he wanted to work with me 2 days and the president told him too! so worked with him for 2 days! and he has 24 months on his mission, he leaves this week! and he said he has never once baptized someone proselyting and man it is sucks proselyting especially when it has rained for 2 days strait and your walking in water up to our knees all day! so i was laying down one night and i was thinking there has to be a lazy way to do this and bring in more results!! and then it hit me!! a movie night invitation so for the members i made a invitation flyer for a movie night this friday and they all have to write down 5 people they will invite not members or inactive members! then we will go contact those 5 people with that member!! ill let you know if this helps us get more investigators or not!! but so far we have received so many referrals doing this! we are going to contact them all this week! hope it works!! my soccer idea kinda didnt work i made a soccer tournament but to proceed to the next game they have to take lessons with us!! after about 4 times they all dropped out, kinda sucked!!
 
so spiritual thought for this week is
I am so grateful for the simplicity of the gospel to help us understand and come closer to christ. but because we are (men) we tend to make simple things difficult!! it saddens my heart when a person here wont take 1 min out of there day to just pray or read a scripture to see if this message is true!! and wont humble themselves just once for 2 min to ask god!! this simple 2 min can bring them to the knowledge of our savior and bring us to who we are meant to be!! if you think about god of course made these simple things for us! because 1. we are in our Carnel state and make simple things hard. so what if he had made it hard how much of us would have the knowledge of the gospel not as much!! 2. because god loves us he made it simple so he can have as many children as possible come unto our savior jesus Christ!! it brings me to tears every time when the investigators wont take this simple step and come to the knowledge of our father!! because i know that doing these simple things will change our lives for the better!! i my self did not do  these simple things as well as i should of and now that i am here i can see how great the blessings we receive and know when we do these simple things!! i have so much love for our father and savior!! and it breaks my heart to see his children deny just one simple step to know the truth just because they cant humble themselves for 2 min!!

well i love you all have a great week!!!!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Loving the Mission!

Hey whats up? hey so the picture idea through email not good idea it takes 10 min to load so i dont have time to send them in email and its 1 dollar for one picture here! so instead I had this guy burn all my pictures onto a cd for only 1 dollar and like 5 dollar to send so i sent you guys a cd of pictures!! sorry i wish there was an easier way!!
so everyone talks about tropical birds in jungles right? well not here you look up in the trees and literally floating above your head  about 2 feet above is spiders the size of my hand!!! so crazy so crazy the biggest webs i have ever seen!! Jacob i am mistaken they do eat frogs here but not in my area i think its more of a san salvador thing!! its crazy i got to go to san salvador for a bit last week, man it is a whole different country it looks like salt lake city!!! those missionaries have it easy!! its incredible how big a difference santa ana and san salvador are when there just 1 hour away in a car!

so the people here have 3 major problems!!
1.Law of chastity yes  i swear everyone is related its kinda nasty, even 12 year old girls have babies yes plural and with different people! its so crazy!! and weird
2. Sabbath day is also a big problem here its so sad actually because i feel bad telling them they cant work on sunday when they work 24 hour shifts for about 5 dollars a day!! and its not easy work what they do here its manual labor!!! and they all have like 20 people living in there house and 5 dollars is not even enough for 1person so hard here!!
3.coffee is big problem here and we as missionaries cant drink coke, pepsi or anything with caffeine in it! which is super fine with me because i dont even like soda!! so i dont have problem with it!! i love it because man they have the best fruit drinks here! and the horrchatas are the best thing in in the world!! mom i am a professional chef of the massa too! if you wanted to know.

I am so in love with the mission, dont get me wrong its not easy there is not 1 easy day here in the field!! but i am starting to really love the mission and my companion is so funny, we decided not take no for an answer for anything!! when they say they cant receive us we are just like oh thats fine we just wanted to share and then start teaching about families or something haha then they accept us in the house so funny!!! or when they say they dont need service i just ask if i can go wash my hands then start doing there dishes!! yeah fooled  them!! hahahah my favorite is when i lie!! yup i know i am a naughty missionary but its my favorite when they are like sorry im catholic cant receive you and then i say oh my mom is catholic then they let us in then i say oh sorry i am just learning spanish what i ment to say is my mom was catholic hehehehe tricked them again!!! but dont worry mom ill repent!!

so yeah the mission is incredible!! but i wont lie it is super hard!! and i think my sicknesses are a trail of faith!!! because at first i was just like i can just go home get surgery and be fine! but then i realized those are just excuses to go home!! and from what i know now i never want to go home!! and actually i am scared that my 2 years is coming up fast because i feel like if i go home i will become the person i was before my mission!!! and i dread that person!! and i am scared that if i have to go home for some medical thing i wont be able come back out because ill go back to who i was!! and when my 2 years is up i am scared ill become the person i was before also!! my mission presedent lets missionaries extend and i was going to ask to extend my mission but i received my answer that after my 2 years the lord has other plans for me!! but i honestly dont want my 2 years to end!! and i fear for the end of my mission every day!!! i dont really have much time to explain right now about all this because today we only had little time for p day because tomorrow were going to san salvador temple

so love you all bye!! 

Sunday, October 7, 2012

3 Months


cool things for this week is 1 i had my first baptism!! ill send pictures through email of the ccm and part of my first weeks in the field ill send real pictures explaining them next week!! 2nd cool thing is a guy here who doesnt speak english got called to leads england!! cool huh. 3rd cool thing is my pink eye is gone but i got tin worms this week hahaha but dont worry there dead now and i am healthy now!! i am actually glad i am getting all these cool things because i would be so bored if i didnt have these because i dont understand my companion at all. 4th cool thing i worked in a different area this week i worked with the zone leaders and the assistant to the president in there areas so i didnt get to use my machete this week because they were in a more civilized area so didnt see bulls much in the streets but i did see a lot of drunks!! they are so funny they just randomly open there door and try running and they just fall (face plant) passed out in the middle of the street!!! hahaha so for service we picked up passed out drunk people out of the street hahahah!!! they are so funny!!!

so i love that i am changing so much and fast here but surprisingly i am changing a little too fast!! because yes i am trying to be obedient with exactness and because my companion and i dont communicate that well because my spanish is bad and his english is bad. and some times he doesnt like to be obedient i have kinda turned into an obedient Nazi so this week when with him i have started changing and i know surprisingly i have forgot to have fun some times!! but dont worry i am going to make up for the fun loss!! because in our house there is a random fishing rod so tonight i decided im going to try to make pancakes with that fishing rod and try flipping the pancakes over with it!! i know so cool huh!! best idea ever!!! and tomorrow since half our house is out side im making smores!!! its hard sometimes at nights because i want to talk to someone and do this stuff with someone! so i have realized i do a lot of praying and when i think of something funny i find my self praying and telling my jokes and funny things to our lord!! hahaha which is funny because he knows the punch line every time but i think he still laughs!! and enjoys making smores with me!!

so candy down here is so different candy is bread!! but believe me most of the bread is the best bread i have ever had!! they do some pretty crazy delicious stuff with breads!! and papusus is the best food ever!! messy but good!! the second thing is that candy down here is a special tree you can just chop a branch off then carve it to the middle and you suck the sugar out its actually really good and addicting!!!

so i realized my decisions to come out for the mission werent the very best  but i have come to realize the best reason to serve a mission is for the savior no one else!!! i mean dont get me wrong the family friends and myself is good reason and every time i put that name tag on i do represent the McKenna family but i wish my first reason was for the lord and because of this i have tried my best to consecrate all my time to the lord!! because to be honest the mission is very short!! i have already been out for 3 months it feels like only a week!! i really need to focus hard and consecrate my time for his work!!

mom and dad i can see why you felt so sad when i didnt  go to church ! its so hard for me when the people here dont want to change!! people say central america is an easy mission but its really not as easy as everyone says it is because every one here has a believe in jesus christ but dont want to change there ways and be more like him!! so its hard to help them see the truth when they have a firm believe in other things!!

oh ps before i go i just found out my friend Chris Van Camp is in the same mission as me!! he has been here for a year!! he is in belize right now!! i hope i get to see him!!! okay well i got to go

love you guys bye!!


Sunday, September 23, 2012

El Salvador!

Hey guys so let me explain how first week is going to and living in el salvador was. i have changed so much just in this last week so on the way to el salvador apparently a bus on the road flipped so my bus driver decided to just drive on the wrong side of the road because it was faster to el salvador. hahahah its so weird here. so i get there and some guy was hugging me and in my head i was like why is this guy hugging me and who is this elder. ya it was the mission president so first day just stayed with the mission president and the assitants . so next day we go and get our companions and get to work. we get to our area to teach oh my companions name is elder Ñañez and he is from lima peru!! and we get in our house and its half out side and half inside and there was trash every where and lizards and bugs. so yes surprisingly i didnt buy treats the first thing in the mission i bought garbage bags, soap, and toilet paper. and cleaned the entire place. and now i keep the place clean every day. because i dont want  bugs or animals living with me. even though the animals understand me more then the people do. the 2nd surprising thing  other than i cleaned and washed everything and make my companion wash his hands and dishes after use. i have a goal to wake up at 5:30 every day and so far i have kept it. because i want an extra hour to study!! but time to talk about some funny things 1. i live  in the jungle part so when i have to pee i cant pee at the first tree i see because the trees our peoples houses here.  so instead i pee on the first house i see. just joking i dont pee on the houses either i just have to hold it for 2 years. people here dont know how to read and those that do cant say my name. but those who watch t.v. think i look like zoolander. i also own a machete so i am the latino indiana jones around here. i have to use my machete a lot. yup havent had time to buy my big umbrella so i get soaked a lot. i thought i knew what rain was until i got here nope this is real rain. it actually pours and is thick and fast. i get socked so today i bought my boots and umbrella. i'm sure i'm out of money in my account dad i get to visit the san salvador temple every 4 months and the families i baptize that can get sealed there' i get to take them.  oh and all those who want to send me a package it has to be through normal us mail with value less than $40. if not in normal us mail it will cost me 100 dollars when it gets here but us mail is free for me, less than $40. but time to talk about what i went through here. first week out in the field i was miserable first couple days. day number 1 was really misersable i cant understand my companion dont understand the people taught 6 lessons in my first day. which was the best part but nope dont know any spanish again. i have no idea whats going on here. i lived in the dirtiest house . but now i cleaned it so dont worry. and i just felt like the frist 2 days that (i cant do this)  (i just cant do this). (i cant do this)  (i just cant do this).  it was miserable but on friday i was talking to guy named renay and i asked him to be baptiside dont know the word in english. baptisized or something like that. sorry i am forgetting my english. but when i taught him i could see the change in his eyes and i felt the spirit so strongly through me to him it was increable and that is why i am here!!! i had a family that i was teaching who is learning english ask me to pray in english yeah  i didnt remember hahaha so bad. but then yesterday i contacted a person on the street taught a first lesson and she committed to baptism and she was crying and i could just tell her life has been changed and she wants to come unto christ. mom i am so grateful you accepted the gospel i wouldnt be here if it was not for the gospel i love the gospel. sorry i cant spell because i am trying to learn spanish and now applying it to my english sorry. so the people here are incredible and different. i mean they all live in grass mud houses and you will be teaching them and there cow will just walk in and sit with us. so i probably could of baptized like 80 cows by now. there is animals every where in the houses people just sleep with there animals i swear in every house there is like 50 chickens 4 cows 15 dogs and 3 cats. and a billion lizards and there house is probably as big as our kitchen or smaller. and families have like 15 children all from different fathers. because here they dont believe in marriage so the law of chastity is big here!!! and they dont have marriage license here they dont exist. so its hard to get people married. its incredible!!! and so it went from being the hardest most miserable first day of my life. to getting better. but just like the scriptures say "love casteth out all fear and doubt". and i love the lord!!! i am sorry to hear that some of my friends have come home!! that makes me super sad!! i love you all have a great week i pray for you all!!!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

I love the Gospel!


Hey so this week has been quite the adventure.  We went proselyting and we just decided to work hard and we set some goals.  We completed all of our goals and more! We placed lots of el Libro de Mormons and pamphlets.  I think that’s the English word for them. I am starting to forget some English words hahaha. Anyways we were talking to this one guy in the street and it took me five min to realize he was speaking English.  I was like wow you speak English and he was like yup. hahaha so then I resumed talking to him in English I found out he lived in Louisiana. He was in their prison.  He bore his testimony about the book of Mormon and how he knows joseph smith translated the book of Mormon through the power of god. It was so cool.  I asked him where he got his lessons and he said he received them in prison. hahaha so funny.  I asked him to be baptized and he said yes!!!  I sent the missionaries in that area to him.  I hope he gets baptized.  He said he wanted to be ready on his own terms before he gets baptized.  Time to be serious. I want you to know I have grown so much just in these last 9 weeks. These past 9 weeks only felt like an instant. The first week in the MTC in Provo I was just wishing and hoping the 2 years would already be over but still would have all the experiences.  I just wanted to go to college and get married and see my friends. I was stupid for thinking and wanting that.  these past 9 weeks went by way to fast. I want you all to know I love the gospel!!! I have come to love this gospel more than anything!! Even laughing!!! This gospel is true!! Our father and savior Jesus Christ know us all personally and wants to have a personal relationship with us. our savior Jesus Christ, who is perfect in all things, showed us the example of being baptized (2nephi 31) and showed us how to preserver hasta el fin (endure to the end sorry forgot the English way for a second) and then he being full of charity went into Gethsemane and suffered incomprehensible pain, bleeding from every single pore, solely for all of us. I say solely because we should all have a personal relationship with our Lord to feel like it was solely for ourselves. Our savior has gone through all I have gone through and everything I still have to go through. Not just emotional pains or physical pains but he has lived through all of our trails. We just have to turn ourselves to the lord. He wants us to and we have to if we want to be the best we can.  We have to put our faith in the lord. He wants us to and feels the promptings of the lord. I always asked myself how I know if it the spirit is talking to me but just as Elder Bednar says stop worrying about it. If we are a good boy or a good girl and trying to do our very best then it’s the spirit talking to us. Another way is what president Hinckley said, if it is an influence for good it’s the spirit. I know our savior suffered on the cross. I just get so teary eyed every time I see our savior on the cross!!! How hard that must have been. So hard for peter to have the savior be crucified on the cross and not know what to do for a while. I testify that joseph smith translated the golden plates.  There is no way a young man could translate the book of Mormon, establish the church and have it last this long on earth today if it wasn’t true. As I am writing I can feel the spirit testify all this to be true. I feel it through my entire body. I love the lord and our father in heaven. I am so honored to be able to give up 2 years of my time to the lord. I am sad that these 2 years are only going to feel like only a moment of time. Because this time is but a blink of an eye I need to make sure I don’t waist a moment of it. My savior, yes my savior, has done everything for me.  Suffered everything for me being all charitable.  I would feel awful to waste time in my two years that I dedicate to him. I am so honored to be his instrument. I can’t do this work without him. I have come to realize you can’t give more to the lord than he has given to you. Every time I feel like I just served the lord I still come to realize he is blessing me ten times more than what I have done for him. I love the lord. And I say all this in the name of Jesus Christ amen!!
I love you all!! Have a great week your all in my prayers
Daniel

Sunday, September 2, 2012

One more week! 9/1/12


So great news I get to leave in one week to El Salvador (fist bump with elder Ashcroft even though he isn’t going there but we just still fist bumped).  I am so excited to go teach and tract. Tracking is so much fun! I love doing it here. I get to go this Monday again.  I’m so excited. I have a new favorite song "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing".   I love it!!! It’s so funny, here there is a street sign that says "don’t read the book of Mormon it’s how they get you" of course it says that in Spanish though.  Hahaha so funny!!!  Since I have gone on a mission I have been thinking about what I want to be and for some reason I have a got good feelings about joining the military or being an ancient world history major.  They are two very different things and I don’t want to join the military, but I have a good feeling about it.  That sucks. So I know I talk about the language being the hardest part a lot but I have been a liar. Don’t get me wrong it is hard and I feel like I am behind everyone else but honestly there are 2 harder things.  1. Not having any candy or snacks. I have a harder time being awake and focused because there is no candy or snacks all day!!!  I pretend like my vitamins are candy sometimes.  Now that my pee is a different color though I decided maybe I shouldn’t take 2000 milligrams a day.   So I went back to only taking 500 milligrams a day. I never realized how good vitamins were until I got here. The 2nd thing is, and I am sure you all knew this before I came out here on the mission, self-discipline.   I will always plan to study something at certain times of the day but when the time comes I change that to something else because I would rather study something else. I feel really good though, my teachers tell me I understand the gospel very well and that I should just worry about the language and not stress. This is funny though because the only time I get stressed here is when we have to watch the videos on how to have good stress while we are out here.  I start getting stressed that I am not stressed.  Then I worry I am not growing or working hard enough.  When the video is over I feel good again and not stressed anymore hahahah.  Really I am most excited about leaving in a week because then I can have snacks and track my two favorite things!!! Well I miss you all and love you all!!!  I want to wish Savannah and Martin a happy birthday. I am sorry that I am two days late saying happy birthday Savannah and 1 day late Martin!!  I love you guys!!!!!

Adios

Adventure! 8/25/12


This week was a big adventure!!! On Monday we went to town and it was so much fun!!! Everyone here is kind of lame though.  They said their favorite part was eating at Wendy's, but no it was definitely the market!!!! Because of my mom, great mom, I ran a hard bargain to the market people.   I got a Mexican poncho for 75 ketz that’s like 10 bucks. They were trying to sell it to me for 150 ketz, but nope I won’t be scammed! Nope nope nope. It was funny, I understood more Spanish than ever before at the market bartering.  Like I was telling you my shoes ripped in half from all the calle soccer, so I got my new shoes at the market!! They tried selling them to me for 300 ketz that’s about 40 bucks but I bought them for 200 ketz which is like 26 bucks.  These shoes are nice! Don’t worry mom these ones won’t rip!! I won’t play soccer in them; I’ll just play bare foot!! Hehe.  Lately for pday and free time we play volleyball!! The 3 biggest sports here are well of course football, by a long shot then surprisingly, its baseball and third volleyball. So I chose the better second choice, volleyball!! I got a pretty good spike going on.  On pday and free time I spend most of my time with Elder Ashcroft y Elder Anderson.   Elder Ashcroft is from Colorado and we are so much alike. We are always laughing non-stop and having the best of times. He is super chill!! We both work really hard and of course have fun while were working and get a lot done!! We have the best of times.  He loves to relax, laugh and have fun. I know Elder Ashcroft is here to help me through the CCM with the companion I have. My companion is Elder Jones and we are complete opposites!!! I don’t think he has ever laughed or smiled in his life. I thought I was emotional but not compared to him.  So the other day I was talking to him and I asked him if he was ready.  I asked him in Spanish of course and the only way I know how to ask that in Spanish is listo. He said yeah he was ready, so we start going to class and he exploded.…… I mean exploded. I was like what’s wrong and he was yelling at me that he wasn’t ready and he was super frustrated that I asked him if he was ready. By this point I couldn’t help it I just started laughing because if you weren’t ready why didn’t you just say you weren’t ready?  He was like you need to ask it a better way. So then I asked him how he would like me to ask and do you know what he told me? He doesn’t know how to ask it a different way. Well how does that help me, help my companion, it doesn’t.  That is just one example. Here’s another one.  We were sitting down talking and when he stood up there was red stuff on his pants and I was like elder you got something on your pants.  He started yelling at me because it’s not nice of me to point flaws out. I was just trying to let him know so we could go change his pants.  His anger doesn’t help me because it just makes me laugh. Don’t get me wrong my companion is a very smart guy and he knows so much more Spanish then I do, and I am learning a lot from him on staying organized and focusing. I know god put me and him as companions to help me learn to focus more and use time more wisely. It’s hard because when I try to help him he won’t humble himself. But it’s all good. I am having a great time here!! Loving the work!! I love my investigators. I just got Marisol to commit to baptism.  We set a date this September 24 or something like that but sadly I won’t be here for that day!!!
Elder McKenna

Monday, August 20, 2012

Feels like Spring

Hey!  I am having a great week.  Here the ties are only 1 ketzal and they are all handmade.  That’s like 10 cents inAmerican dollars, okay more like 20 but I don’t like math. My goal is to have at least 300 ties when I get home. Hahah chiestie, maybe like 150. The food here has been really great until yesterday.   As I was cutting my meat I saw a dead worm in it! Hahahaha my biggest fear here is the flies. They lay larvas on you!   They get in your skin and then you have to suffocate them out with duct tape.  I hear you can feel them crawling in you.  Lucky for me I have not had this happen, but I did have a massive spider on my notebook.  As I was teaching a lesson I smashed it in my notebook!  Don’t worry I laminated it.  I’ll try to send him home.  I named him aragog like in Harry Potter. He is huge, like the size of my hand.  I went tracking with my Latino campenero this Monday, Elder Querz, he is way legit!! In 2 hours of tracking we placed 3 Books of Mormon.  One of them he made me do all the talking to practice my Spanish!! It was way cool.  We placed 15 pamphlets about the restoration of the gospel and plan of salvation.  We also got 7 peoples contact information for the
real missionaries that actually got called to this area. It’s weird realizing how much freedom we
don't have just because we are in a different country.  When we go to CRE, that’s where we go teach inactive members, we have 2 body guards in front and behind us.  It’s fun. Everyone here has shot guns and stuff.
The ccm has cameras and guards everywhere. Last night a guy came in with a hat, sunglasses and was covering his face. He had a big coat on and he was asking us where we slept. The old me would have been scared but for some reason I wasn’t scared at all. I just thought the Nino was weird.  My roommates were scared!  They wanted to lock the door and close the windows. The weather here is amazing. It’s spring every day! It rains like every day, it’s
amazing.


Well I am having a great time!

Elder McKenna

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Learning all the time!

To family:
Yeah, I need a copy of my patriarchal blessing.  That will be super helpful! When the things exploded I lost a lot of paper stuff and that was one of them.  My shoes ripped in half from all the calle futbol so I am going to buy new ones.
So I went the Guatemala temple this week.  We had to proselyte for an hour before going in because our wait was so long!! But it was a lot of fun.  I understood like 25% of what they were saying.  And yes mom my head does start to hurt really bad from all the learning. I don’t think Jacob had it as bad, because Jacob got to take it easy at the Provo mtc. At the mtc here no one speaks English. It’s either do or die!!! In Provo you could speak Spanish outside of your classes and at lunch, here it’s Spanish 24/7. It gets super frustrating only getting like 25% of what they’re saying and what’s going on.   I have 3 investigators. Laura, I don’t really know her last name because she speaks so fast!! I have to keep telling her “Mas expacio por favor apriendido esponeol” (Sorry can’t spell Spanish words) that means please slow down I’m learning Spanish. Hahaha! She is married and has 3 kids.  We just got her to commit to baptism first thing in September.  Her husband is never there. She has 3 kids and she reads the Book of Mormon to them. The other investigator is Palmira.  She is living with her boyfriend or spouse not really sure . . .  can’t understand language. She had an accident and can’t remember things that well.  I don’t think she will remember our last lesson we taught her. Hahaha no clue what to do with that. Noe is my difficult investigator.  He doesn’t believe in anything but he loves reading history books. He loves history!  He has a hard time paying attention to our lessons because I don’t think we are really finding his needs and what interests him. My companion really wants to teach lessons, but I feel like we need to become more of a friend and we can still teach him through history. I think he would love the history of Nephi going to the Americas and the history of Moroni and all he did.  I committed him to reading those stories.  He loves to read it but he doesn’t feel anything.  He needs to have faith. It’s hard because he doesn’t believe in anything, and he doesn’t seem to care to understand.  I am confused on what to do. Classes are 6 hours every day and it’s super hard because they are in Spanish.  If you don’t understand then you are pretty much dead.   My whole district took Spanish for five years
before the mtc so they practically speak it fluently.  They know all the conjugation’s and past and future participles. I use practically only present tenses and hope they understand when I am talking in past or future. Hahaha it’s frustrating being behind but its fine we all have our own gifts right? The mission president at this mtc is super cool. I go tracting for 3 hours on Monday with my Latino campenero. I feel sorry for him because I don’t understand what people say...  This week was a lot of fun though. Elder Lundberg was my companion because we had a 3 way companionship.  His companion went home so he was paired with us.  He just got switched to another companionship which is a bummer, because he is so funny.  And you’re not going to believe it but his smile is ten times bigger than mine!! It’s great!  Except he drools a lot but still he is the happiest kid I have ever met. I’m glad he is still in my district though.

I love all of my family and friends.  I pray for all of you!! I am having a great time not understanding people and teaching the gospel best I can in a language I can’t understand!! It’s an adventure every day even though I am sitting down all day!! I love you all!!!           
Daniel

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Letter for Elder McKenna

If you would like to send Elder McKenna a letter while he is in the Guatemala MTC dearelder.com is a great way to do it.  All letters to the Guatemala MTC are free through dearelder and all you have to know is his name.  Get writing!

Guatemala!

I made it to Guatemala safely I love it here.  It feels like spring every day! I only can send letters on Saturday but I don’t really understand the system here, so sorry if don’t get my letters in good condition. The kids here, the Latinos, are so good at calle futbol.  I love it!!! So not only is my Spanish improving, muy mal, but my futbol skills are muy mal compared to theirs.  They all want me on their team because I’m white. I said Latinos because <natives> is offensive here!! My miestro (teacher) went to Peru on his mission and his el libro de Mormons cover is a real cheetah skin.  It’s so legit!!! The weather is so nice.  It rains every day but it feels so good! I got two El Salvador bags! I’ll be sending home.  Jenn don’t worry yours is in purple!! I got an El Salvador tie with the temple on it.  So sweet!!! Saturdays are pdays for me.  The system here is a bit different then the Provo ccm. We’re not allowed to sit with girls during eating times.  I don’t know why.  Maybe some boys and girls were feeding each other. I don’t know!!! The food here is so much better then in Provo.  They have a legit chef and he makes the best food!!! I don’t even know what I’m eating but it’s so good! Questionable but good. I don’t understand what the Latinos here are saying.  I might get 2% of what they’re saying and they probably only get 1% of what I’m saying because me Espanola as muy mal y gringo!! But when we're on the soccer field I really feel like we connect!  Still my biggest problem is the language, but I’m not worried about it because last night I had a dream and 1/10 of it was in Spanish.  Did I have a clue what my dream was about? Nope!! Ha but it was in Spanish.  So that was exciting! If you’re dreaming in Spanish then you’re doing something right hahaha ¿right? Sorry I know my grammar sucks but like I said this is a Spanish keyboard I don’t really know how to capitalize, space or enter on here!! So any ways I’ll be sending some stuff home!! I love you all I am having a blast!! God has blessed me so much!! I love it here!!!!! I hope you guys are all doing okay please let me know how you are doing.
 I love you all.  I’m having a great time.  The people here are amazing.  I have come to love them so much in past couple days.  Even though I have no clue what they or I am saying!! Hahaha love you all.

Friday, July 27, 2012

7/26/2012


To family,

 No I haven't received the martinelles yet bummer =( Thanks so much for all the letters Jenn!! I hope I can get your letter for the prank on Elder Knox before I leave!! I am sending a package home with pictures so you guys can all look at that. Dad my watch broke so I had to buy a new one and I have to pay 71 dollars for my shot today!! =( Mom great job hiking!!

Ryan! Dude one of the kids in my zone is just like SpongeBob!!!! He is going to be the best missionary ever!! He has this great spirit about him and he sounds just like SpongeBob and acts just like him! I’ll be sending a pic home of the two of us! He already left to the field.  He went to New York Spanish speaking mish!! He is so funny! There is this kid in our zone who is an amazing beat boxer. He can hum a song and beat box and talk all at the same time.  Elder Nelson (SpongeBob) was like here I’ll rap and he started doing opera!!! He wants to be a music teacher but he actually was way good at opera.

So this week has been so spiritual. I love it!!!! Sundays are the best.  Every Sunday we all prepare a talk to give in sacrament meeting in Spanish! Only two people are chosen to give the talk. Then we go have a temple walk. Which I don’t think I am aloud to tell what time my temple walk is because then people would come to see us.   It really distracts from the spirit and what we are trying to do for the next two years. Today is my pday.  I just got back from a temple session.  I did my first sealing session.  It was incredible!!!! =) Sorry my English is bad from all this Spanish speaking (un chieste).   My English was always bad.

Today I volunteered my companion and I to teach next Sunday in our priesthood session.  It’s on hope charity and love!! Which I think is so amazing. So in my gospel journal I decided to choose an attribute of Christ each week and work hard the whole week to become more like Christ in that attribute! This week I chose hope.  My favorite scripture is Moroni: 7: 40-48. I believe it is 48 that is my favorite but it might be 41 because it talks about why we need to have hope.  Any ways I advise you all to read it.  I love it!!!

So last night I had a way cool experience.   I was praying for like a good 20 min and was trying to be very sincere, fervent and calling out to our Father in Heaven.   I don’t really remember what I was saying but I was filled with the spirit so strongly.  I couldn’t really even think.  I know this experience sounds weird but it was so incredible!!! =) Plus it’s hard to pray in Spanish for 1 min when you know so little.  Yes we are to pray in Spanish and no Jenn I am not gringo in my Spanish if you wanted to know. Okay maybe a little, but they help you with it. What makes me feel better is that there is another guy here that is tone deaf and the language he has to speak has 13 different tones. So at least I was blessed with only being a gringo Spanish speaker.

So I am sending some packages out from the Provo mtc with pictures if they will let me develop them. As of this upcoming Monday I’ll be in Guatemala so don’t send things to this mtc after this upcoming Monday.

I just want you all to know I love it here!!! I am so grateful for the opportunity to be here.  I really do just love it here.  We have a devotional every Sunday and this last one was on Pioneers of course. They were talking about the faith of the Pioneers and how they came unto Christ.  I always thought the Pioneers were so incredible to have so much faith to just leave everything behind for our Lord and Savior!!! When we were in the devotional it made me think of why can't I have that? Why can’t I be a Pioneer today!! It made me think of D&C 4:4 and to come unto Christ and to bring everyone to our Savior. To be strong like the Pioneers who devoted themselves to him. If I devote myself to Christ and be strong like the Pioneers I can be the very best instrument the Lord needs me to be!!! I am honored to be a missionary and an instrument to the lord and I don’t want to leave this place!! I know I haven’t brought any investigators closer to our Heavenly Father yet or baptized any one yet, but here at the CCM (MTC) I have watched videos on it. So I am already kind of a pro at it. Joke but really watching those videos on district 2 and how they changed people’s lives and brought them to their Heavenly Father is incredible!! I can’t wait to be out in the field.  Those videos give me a spiritual high.  I just want out of the CCM to be out there!!

I can’t wait to be at the Guatemala CCM.  I think we get to go tracting and get to go into the city, the real world!! I mean yeah I won’t understand one person and they probably won’t understand me but I can’t wait to teach people what I know to be true and to build that relationship with their God!! They don’t have to understand me, they just have to understand the spirit; it does practically all the teaching!! But yes Spanish does help, trust me!! I said I was embarrassed in one of my classes and apparently that sounds close to the Spanish word to be pregnant.  So I said I am pregnant.

I really am glad to be going to Guatemala. I think it will help me learn Spanish faster because I have to be able to understand what is going on there!!

I want you all to know I love you!! I pray for all of you and you all mean a lot to me!!

Elder Daniel McKenna

Thursday, July 26, 2012

7/19/2012

Hey! The CCM (MTC in spanish) is great. The past 7 days have been amazing. My whole life has just flipped around for the better.  I know I am not the best I can be at all because I still have two years left to grow even bigger. I don't know why people don't like the CCM, it's so spiritual and it is just so fun!! My companion is Elder Hansen your not going to believe this but he is just like my brother Jacob except he is 10 times slower and talks 10 times less. Most relaxed kid I know. The other day he was telling a story about animals and this was his story. "My mom took in a stray cat once." That's all he said to me like that whole day and when I asked him to finish his story he was like "thats all I had to say." He is way cool though. My other roommates are Elder Foster, y Elder Lythgoe!! He is my favorite.  We do splits all the time together.  He is super funny and chill!! He was a temple worker in the san diego temple.  How sick is that?
My district is way sweet.  Everyone is way chill!!! Elder Passamore is from Cali and he is the biggest Cali bro surfer. He has been in the Volcom house and everything! Big surfer!! He is so funny and knows the gospel well!! Then there is Elder Rindlessbacher (love that name) he is my favorite. He has such a strong testimony. He came here two years ago and had to return home early. He came back again a couple weeks ago and on the first week he broke his leg. So he had to be here another 3 weeks, but then he got another missionary call from President Monson saying that he is now in a spanish speaking mission. He just got moved to this district and is in here for another like 7 weeks!! He is a little older, but I really admire him because you can just tell he wants to be here and he really has the strongest testimony ever. You just know he loves the gospel and loves it here.
So spanish blows! I have taught 4 lessons to my investigator Ana in spanish. First lesson sucked. I didn't understand a word she said and I didnt understand a word I said!!! Second lesson went a little better. I asked her to be baptised, wish I did it on my first lesson, but got rejected.  To be honest even though she's a real member pertending to be an investagator of the church I was sad to hear her say no. Then 3rd lesson we taught her how to pray because she would just randomly stand up walk into the corner of the room and start praying.  Honestly weirdest, funniest, thing I have ever seen. The first time I prayed to start the lesson she just stood up and did that. When I finished my prayer she just kept going for like 20 min. I didn't even know what to do because I was happy she was praying. She would pray to the trinity though, which a lot of catholics do. We fixed all that. She prays good now, like normal. Our 4th lesson we gave her a Book of Mormon and she said she would pray about it to see if she should, but she commited to at least reading 1 verse =) It doesn't sound like a lot but it really is a lot coming from her!!!  It's a little frustrating when teaching because I'll feel the spirit to say something and my companion will just say no in the middle of saying something, because he is scared that we wont know how to answer her question in spanish or something. It totally takes the spirit away. It's really frustrating!!
If there is one thing I have learned here it's - we are not here for us!! We are here for our investigators. Everything we do is for them and their needs!! I mean yeah we may not be able to communicate that well, but we need to know her or his needs to help them get a better relationship with their Father in Heaven!! It is frustrating some times not being able to understand them 100 percent, but thats why all my efforts go to the investigator.  Personal study I study doctorine and scriptures that will help Ana get closer to Heavenly Father. When I'm doing language study I study the vocabulary I will be using in my next lesson to help her. That's why I am here. I'm not here to just increase the members of this church. I am here so that we can bring people closer to their Father in Heaven so they can live with him again!!
The other day we were practicing and I was teaching my companion, pretending to be an investigator (germon). I was bearing my testimony on why we should be baptized and how much our Heavenly Father loves us! As I was doing this the spirit just hit me and I thought of my family and friends and how much I love them. I want them to be able to live with our Father in Heaven too!
Elder Daniel McKenna

Friday, July 6, 2012

Farewell!

It is almost here. I leave for my mission on Wednesday! If you would like to stay updated with what is going on, this blog will be the best way. My mailing information will be updated here, weekly emails will be posted and occasional pictures will be up. My Farewell talk is this Sunday, July 8th, at 9:00 A.M. My church if on the corner of 350 W. 700 N. in American Fork. All are welcome!