ALOHA

Aloha!
Things seem to be going great over on the other side of the pond as mom and dad head off on an adventure in Hawaii for moms big 30 :)… well… I’m not going to lie I didn’t get one E-mail today except two very short ones from mom and dad so this part is going to be short since I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING THAT IS GOING ON! I DON’T KNOW HOW IT IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE POND! YOU MIGHT HAVE ALL DIED IN A FREAK ACCIDENT FOR ALL I KNOW! I hope you have all learned your lesson from this and next Wednesday you will send your brother some love in E-mail form :(.

I guess it’s good that you didn’t E-mail me because there really has been quite a lot that has happened this week. First things first, It is FREEZING over here in England, they have gotten more snow in Manchester then they have in the past 45 years, the snow has reached about 3 inches and at night it freezes over with temperatures like -4 Celsius! I AM SO COLD! But, I am now a licensed driver in the UK! I finally passed my practical driving test and they are sending me my UK licence! HOW COOL IS THAT :). And there can only be one thing cooler then passing a UK practical driving test and that is the baptism of Christian Leikinge (AKA Miguel) who was baptised November 29 and confirmed a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints on November 30 2008! The baptism was a wonderful experience but I have to say that there were a few things that I wish didn’t happen… The first being that the baptismal font’s water was scalding hot! When Christian and I went to get in, we couldn’t, it was just too hot! And so we had to wait while they took huge pots of freezing cold water and threw
the water into the font to cool it down! It was basically the most embarrassing thing ever! And then when I thought things couldn’t get any more embarrassing… when I baptised Christian I told him that he was going to have to basically baptise himself (Christian weighs 210 lbs. and is about 6’1) because he was just to big, so I told him that when he went down he needed to keep his knees locked and basically just fall back in the water and then bring himself back out of the water and I would just steady him as he did so. So that was the plan, but when I finished what I needed to say Christian went down easy enough, but when he got under the water he basically just pushed off and let his legs go limp! There was no way that I could lift a 210 Lb. giant out of the water or even stop him from flying into the side of the font… when he came out of the water he was rubbing his head and I asked him if he was alright, he told me that he was and then he said, “Elder McKenna, it is done, thank you so much” and he gave me a huge 210 Lb., 6’1, bear hug. All though the baptism was probably the worst baptism that I have ever seen and or heard of, the spirit that was felt when he
was finally baptized was so strong that all thoughts of how horrible it was faded away… Baptism truly is a requirement of the Lord, as Christ himself said, “Unless a man be born of water and of the Spirit he can not enter into the Kingdom of God”. I know that the Lord was happy with Christian’s decision, and I am so grateful for the blessed opportunity it has been to be a part of Christian’s life. Jesus Christ does live, and he does love us, I know that he did appear to Joseph Smith with God the father, that he called Joseph Smith to restore his true church in all of its fullness, I know that the priesthood is the authority to perform sacred ordinances such as baptisms and I know that it has been restored to the church and is now with in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! I love you all so much and I hope that you are all still alive :).

Love,
Elder McKenna

P.S. I sent Audrey’s birthday package about 3 weeks ago, could you give me notice when it arrives so that I know that it made the journey safely :).

P.P.S. This Christmas it would be ace if you could send me a pair of shoes from Rock Port, if you got the same pair I have now it would be amazing! I’m wearing the Rockport waterproof shoes, in a size 8 ½ M with those cool shoe sole things on the bottom. :)