Hello!
Once more my E-mail is a day late because of the lovely bank holidays that
both the English and the Welch love to celebrate! The libraries were closed
yesterday, so my apology for being a day late. It would seem that a blessing
has come out of me being a day late I was able to get an E-mail right from the
Beach house and it seems that everyone is enjoying memorial day (the day were we
memorial Elder McKenna :) ) with some amazing games of Family Feud, some boogie
boarding, and a dominated talent show by Mum, Pa, and Chelsey! The Memorial Day
campout seemed to be a total success and to top it all off it appears that a new
Star Trek movie came out, so basically everyone is on cloud nine despite some
challenges that needed to be overcome :(. It seems that the McKenna’s still
know how to party!
Well, over here in the EMM we have had a Transfer! I am still serving in
Wrexham with Elder Eichelberger but my zone has changed quite a bit… which is
good and bad at the same time. Good in the idea that we have some new blood but
bad in the idea that we had to make sure everyone was able to get to were they
needed to go. It was a major pain, but we were able to overcome and it seems
that everyone is settling in quite nicely. As for my self I am doing really
well especially because this Saturday we’re still ‘green light’ for the baptism
of Zoe Clarke who is still one of the most amazing investigators ever! She is
way excited and nervous at the same time! Simon is doing much better; he has
gotten back on the horse again and has thrown out his fags and alcohol willing
to give it another try! The work continues to be the Lord’s and I was reminded
of this truth yesterday… Elder Eichelberger and I were going to go to a tea
appointment at around 6 O’clock with the Edward family. But when we arrived
they were gone! They had forgotten about feeding us in all the excitement of
the Bank Holiday weekend! Normally it wouldn’t be to big of a deal, we would
just go back to the flat and make our own tea; but because yesterday was our
P-Day and because it was now past when our P-Day ends (which is at 6 O’clock) we
felt that it wouldn’t be right to go back home and make some food, so instead we
hit the doors. We knocked doors for about an hour and a half with a some what
good reception but then… on our last door, on our last street, just before we
went to our appointment with Simon, it happened. We knocked on number 2
Summerfields, at first there was no answer and so we knocked a second time,
still no answer then we heard a sound from the side of the house; we poked our
heads around the side of the house to see a man poking his head through his side
door asking what we wanted. He was about 50 years old, close to my height, with
gray hair but bright eyes. We introduced ourselves and began talking to him
about the Book of Mormon and the Plan of Salvation, our conversation was riddled
with questions and answers in the which we were able to find out that he had
been studying with the Jehovah Witnesses for an extended period of time but had
stopped because he began to feel uneasy. He said that the things they were
saying sounded good but he just didn’t ‘feel right’ about it and that he is
still looking. We bore witness of the Book of Mormon and more importantly the
Spiritual witness that he could receive through a diligent study of its writings
and a sincere prayer. He was most excited and is so prepared for the Gospel!
There was something that was said during this past general conference by the
newly called Apostle Elder Anderson which was said to him a few years back by
President Boyd K. Packer which continues to echo in my soul… President Packer
0Asaid, “I know who I am.” Then after a pause, he added, “I am a nobody.” He then
turned to Elder Anderson, sitting on the stand behind him, and said, “And,
Brother Andersen, you are a nobody too.” Then he added these words: “If you ever
forget it, the Lord will remind you of it instantly, and it won’t be pleasant.”
Those words ring truer with the ending chime of every day. This is the Lord’s
work; he knows which of his children are ready to listen and which aren’t. If
there was one thing that I have come to understand more then anything else it
would be that I am truly… nothing. I hope that all of us will always remember
the council given by President Packer so many years ago, for it applies to all
of us today. I’m so grateful for a Lord who supports me and cares about me, and
I’m so grateful for a family who rocks!
THE CHURCH IS TRUE!
Elder McKenna
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
MOUNT SNOWDON
Hi, Hello, and happy mothers day!!!
We all know what day it was yesterday so in honour of such a wonderful day I
thought I would start off this E-mail with a bit of wisdom from Sister Packer.
She said that one of her sons was disagreeing with a request that she had made
of him and his bigger brother hearing this disagreement walked over, smacked his
brother in the back of the head and said ‘don’t you know yer suppose to mind the
one that born ya!’ How true it is and with the tradition that comes from an
extraordinary day like mothers day I would like to apologize, to me mum, for all
the dumb things that I have done over the years to cause you grief and hope that
you will forgive me for the many more to come :); I guess I just want to say
that I LOVE YA MUM!
Now with all that mushy stuff aside lets discuss the action going on back home…
The St. George McKenna’s continue to fight for the win in the football
tournament with Meghan up against two teams in one day! The *^&(*!”’s continue
to live the good life as Madisyn continues to excel in gymnastics DOING ROUND
OFF BACK HAND SPRINGS! And Aidan has finally forgiven his mother for not
allowing him to get ‘Nana’ a monster truck which he was just certain would bring
joy to her very soul :). Chelsey is living in an upscale black community (with
Lawyers, bankers, Etc.) and is enjoying some of the most delicious, scrumptious,
and finger licken good fried chicken, though the wait for a portion is about 45
minutes :) [By the way that was from Mom not me]. Overall, life is good, and
the Lord continues to watch over our family, giving us joy and happiness in
these times of trial in the world.
Let’s see, I have been pondering on how all of you get to go to Disneyland like
every other week (which makes me a little jealous) and so I have decided that
for this E-mail I’m going to fire back by making you ‘green’ with envy by
showing you just how amazingly beautiful Wales really is so that you can see
were I get to live and work every day (so take that you Disneyland goers :P).
But I also want to share with you an experience that I will not soon forget.
Last Monday the Rhyl Distcrict (Elder Phillips, Driscoll, Hyde, Forward,
Stanger, Tonks) and ourselves decided that we were going to hike the biggest
mountain in Wales called Mount Snowdon. Now, there is just no way that I can
describe to you the amount of pain and suffering that happened on that mountain
but I will attempt to explain it in 4 scenarios: The start, The Journey, The
Climb, and the Top…
The start: it was a nice beautiful sunny day in Wales, we had arrived at Mount
Snowdon at around 0730; I was wearing about 4 shirts and 3 trousers as were some
of the other elders but Elder Driscoll and Elder Phillips came wearing nothing
but some shorts and a sweatshirt. They made fun of the rest of us because it
was hot and talked about how we were all going to melt on the hike, we talked
and laughed as we found the trailhead and started on our Journey.
The Journey: It was a fairly tall climb in the beginning but nothing to serious,
as we journeyed we would chase after sheep and talk about how out of shape all
of us ‘old’ missionaries are getting. We started to notice that it was getting
a bit cloudy and a bit chilly but we took no thought, and laughed and played as
we continued on the Journey until we got to a place called the halfway house, we
spent about 5-10 minutes there enjoying some liquid refreshment and preparing
for the next part of our hike.
The Climb: this is when things started to get a bit different on our journey,
the rocks started to become more jagged and the climb a bit steeper, it was
starting to rain pretty bad, the clouds had now moved over the mountain and fog
was thick all around us, the hot sunny day had quickly turned into cold and
rainy, and though a sense of cold was prevailing upon us all (especially on
Elder Driscoll and Phillips) we still had a determination to make it to the top.
The top: Our clothes were drenched, the wind cut through our bones like a hot
knife through butter, Elder Driscoll had snot frozen on his face but no one took
any notice, Elder Phillips hair had turned white and was beginning to freeze,
tears were running freely as the freezing wind continued to stab at our eyes.
In these conditions we held a council at about a (unknown to us) 10 minute hike
from the top there were many nominations to go back and a few to press forward,
Elder Forward in his determination to keep us moving began to climb onwards
quickly disappearing into the fog, and in a moment of desperation Elder Phillips
(epitomizing our pain and suffering) screamed, with spit spewing from his mouth,
‘Elder Forward it’s not worth it’ and began to sob. With those words lingering
in all of our minds we pressed forward having to now follow Elder Forward into
what seemed like eternity but was in reality about 15 minute. We eventually
reached the top and descended back down to safety… Truly a moment that will
never be forgotten.
Now, the pictures are just a bunch of different locations on Mount Snowdon and
one of me on a pier at the beach in a place called Llangollen.
Love ya all,
Elder McKenna
A picture of the beginning of mount snowdon
Elder Phillips is chasing a sheep
A beautiful picture of how green it is here.
Elder Phillips drinking a juice box with the rest of us
A picture of most of the group on the mountain
An awsome picture! but notice how the fog is beginning to come
A picture of the Fog
A picture of when Elder Stanger and Elder Phillips helping each other to keep
moving.
A picture of when we all took shelter in a little rock bunker
A picture of when Elder Hyde saved my life
We all know what day it was yesterday so in honour of such a wonderful day I
thought I would start off this E-mail with a bit of wisdom from Sister Packer.
She said that one of her sons was disagreeing with a request that she had made
of him and his bigger brother hearing this disagreement walked over, smacked his
brother in the back of the head and said ‘don’t you know yer suppose to mind the
one that born ya!’ How true it is and with the tradition that comes from an
extraordinary day like mothers day I would like to apologize, to me mum, for all
the dumb things that I have done over the years to cause you grief and hope that
you will forgive me for the many more to come :); I guess I just want to say
that I LOVE YA MUM!
Now with all that mushy stuff aside lets discuss the action going on back home…
The St. George McKenna’s continue to fight for the win in the football
tournament with Meghan up against two teams in one day! The *^&(*!”’s continue
to live the good life as Madisyn continues to excel in gymnastics DOING ROUND
OFF BACK HAND SPRINGS! And Aidan has finally forgiven his mother for not
allowing him to get ‘Nana’ a monster truck which he was just certain would bring
joy to her very soul :). Chelsey is living in an upscale black community (with
Lawyers, bankers, Etc.) and is enjoying some of the most delicious, scrumptious,
and finger licken good fried chicken, though the wait for a portion is about 45
minutes :) [By the way that was from Mom not me]. Overall, life is good, and
the Lord continues to watch over our family, giving us joy and happiness in
these times of trial in the world.
Let’s see, I have been pondering on how all of you get to go to Disneyland like
every other week (which makes me a little jealous) and so I have decided that
for this E-mail I’m going to fire back by making you ‘green’ with envy by
showing you just how amazingly beautiful Wales really is so that you can see
were I get to live and work every day (so take that you Disneyland goers :P).
But I also want to share with you an experience that I will not soon forget.
Last Monday the Rhyl Distcrict (Elder Phillips, Driscoll, Hyde, Forward,
Stanger, Tonks) and ourselves decided that we were going to hike the biggest
mountain in Wales called Mount Snowdon. Now, there is just no way that I can
describe to you the amount of pain and suffering that happened on that mountain
but I will attempt to explain it in 4 scenarios: The start, The Journey, The
Climb, and the Top…
The start: it was a nice beautiful sunny day in Wales, we had arrived at Mount
Snowdon at around 0730; I was wearing about 4 shirts and 3 trousers as were some
of the other elders but Elder Driscoll and Elder Phillips came wearing nothing
but some shorts and a sweatshirt. They made fun of the rest of us because it
was hot and talked about how we were all going to melt on the hike, we talked
and laughed as we found the trailhead and started on our Journey.
The Journey: It was a fairly tall climb in the beginning but nothing to serious,
as we journeyed we would chase after sheep and talk about how out of shape all
of us ‘old’ missionaries are getting. We started to notice that it was getting
a bit cloudy and a bit chilly but we took no thought, and laughed and played as
we continued on the Journey until we got to a place called the halfway house, we
spent about 5-10 minutes there enjoying some liquid refreshment and preparing
for the next part of our hike.
The Climb: this is when things started to get a bit different on our journey,
the rocks started to become more jagged and the climb a bit steeper, it was
starting to rain pretty bad, the clouds had now moved over the mountain and fog
was thick all around us, the hot sunny day had quickly turned into cold and
rainy, and though a sense of cold was prevailing upon us all (especially on
Elder Driscoll and Phillips) we still had a determination to make it to the top.
The top: Our clothes were drenched, the wind cut through our bones like a hot
knife through butter, Elder Driscoll had snot frozen on his face but no one took
any notice, Elder Phillips hair had turned white and was beginning to freeze,
tears were running freely as the freezing wind continued to stab at our eyes.
In these conditions we held a council at about a (unknown to us) 10 minute hike
from the top there were many nominations to go back and a few to press forward,
Elder Forward in his determination to keep us moving began to climb onwards
quickly disappearing into the fog, and in a moment of desperation Elder Phillips
(epitomizing our pain and suffering) screamed, with spit spewing from his mouth,
‘Elder Forward it’s not worth it’ and began to sob. With those words lingering
in all of our minds we pressed forward having to now follow Elder Forward into
what seemed like eternity but was in reality about 15 minute. We eventually
reached the top and descended back down to safety… Truly a moment that will
never be forgotten.
Now, the pictures are just a bunch of different locations on Mount Snowdon and
one of me on a pier at the beach in a place called Llangollen.
Love ya all,
Elder McKenna
A picture of the beginning of mount snowdon
Elder Phillips is chasing a sheep
A beautiful picture of how green it is here.
Elder Phillips drinking a juice box with the rest of us
A picture of most of the group on the mountain
An awsome picture! but notice how the fog is beginning to come
A picture of the Fog
A picture of when Elder Stanger and Elder Phillips helping each other to keep
moving.
A picture of when we all took shelter in a little rock bunker
A picture of when Elder Hyde saved my life
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
hiya
HELLO! Thank you for the amazing E-mails! And I have to apologize for the lack of E-mail on Monday. It was a bank holiday and in Wales that means everything shuts down :(. Now I don’t have any time today because Elder Eichelberger and I had to train this past Tuesday and are now on an exchange with the Elders living in a place called Rhyl… So this will have to be quick.
This E-mail I feel needs to be one of sincere apology and one with my deepest love as I try to convey through words the comfort that I am sure only the Spirit can bring. I am sorry for the lack of recognition in my last E-mail concerning the passing of Gordon, I didn’t know if I should mention anything because I felt that if I did it would only reopen wounds that might have been healing but I obviously made a mistake. I am sorry for the loss, of the entire family, by the passing of Uncle Gordon but I send my condolences especially to a loving mother whom I would fain have the rocks fall upon me before hurting her feelings. I may not have known Uncle Gordon very well but from what I have heard in the past and from what I have read this day there is no real doubt in my mind or heart that he must have been a great man. I wish I could write something that would touch your hearts, something that would bring solace to your soul, anything that would bring you comfort and peace… but all I can really think to do is to bear my sincere testimony of our Savoir. I plead with you to look past my failings in communication and open your hearts as you read… For I know with a surety that can only come from our Father in Heaven that Jesus Christ does live! I know that because our Father loved us so much he sent his only begotten son to be the exemplar, the master teacher, the bread of life, to perform for us what we can not do on our own, for surely he hath bourn our grief’s and carried our sorrows, he has suffered for our pains our afflictions our temptations, and he has taken upon himself death that he may loosen the bands of death! There are many things that I don’t know in this world and many things that I don’t understand… but if there is one thing that shines in my soul with more clarity then the sun on a cloudless crisp day is that because of Christ’s love and because of his sacrifice we can be with our families forever. The Plan of Salvation is real, it is from God, Joseph Smith did restore these precious truths, and our families are eternal.
With all the love and solace I can convey in such a short amount of time,
Elder McKenna
PS I’ll be calling in the morning around 7 AM :)
This E-mail I feel needs to be one of sincere apology and one with my deepest love as I try to convey through words the comfort that I am sure only the Spirit can bring. I am sorry for the lack of recognition in my last E-mail concerning the passing of Gordon, I didn’t know if I should mention anything because I felt that if I did it would only reopen wounds that might have been healing but I obviously made a mistake. I am sorry for the loss, of the entire family, by the passing of Uncle Gordon but I send my condolences especially to a loving mother whom I would fain have the rocks fall upon me before hurting her feelings. I may not have known Uncle Gordon very well but from what I have heard in the past and from what I have read this day there is no real doubt in my mind or heart that he must have been a great man. I wish I could write something that would touch your hearts, something that would bring solace to your soul, anything that would bring you comfort and peace… but all I can really think to do is to bear my sincere testimony of our Savoir. I plead with you to look past my failings in communication and open your hearts as you read… For I know with a surety that can only come from our Father in Heaven that Jesus Christ does live! I know that because our Father loved us so much he sent his only begotten son to be the exemplar, the master teacher, the bread of life, to perform for us what we can not do on our own, for surely he hath bourn our grief’s and carried our sorrows, he has suffered for our pains our afflictions our temptations, and he has taken upon himself death that he may loosen the bands of death! There are many things that I don’t know in this world and many things that I don’t understand… but if there is one thing that shines in my soul with more clarity then the sun on a cloudless crisp day is that because of Christ’s love and because of his sacrifice we can be with our families forever. The Plan of Salvation is real, it is from God, Joseph Smith did restore these precious truths, and our families are eternal.
With all the love and solace I can convey in such a short amount of time,
Elder McKenna
PS I’ll be calling in the morning around 7 AM :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
