LOVE YOU ALL!

Wow!
First off, I am so thankful for how amazingly blessed this family is, and the wonderful comfort and joy it brings me to here from you all. Second off, TIMETTE is the luckiest person to walk the earth! I can't believe that she has the opportunity to do a test show for Deal or no Deal! First Price is Right and now it's just a matter of time until she wins a million dollars on national television! And not only is Timette doing some amazing things; Carson is going to be the next Babe Ruth, Ellyse is on her way to being the Senator for Utah, Jackson is a spiritual giant after watching so much conference (in the tabernacle on Temple Square!) and then smashed the goalie with two unbelievable goals at a football match (I can see it now Jackson goes left fakes right and SCORE!), and Meghan is the next queen of the pitch for football! Then we have baby Cate taking first steps and the Zurflueh clan heading for Disneyland, not to mention Max being the production stage manager for 'Savior of the World - His Birth and Resurrection' that had to be an amazing production! We truly have been blessed by the Lord! Something that is temporally exciting is that even
though I may be riding around in buses at the moment, my companion (Elder Davies) is beginning to take driving lessons so that he can get his UK license and it's just a matter of time until I have to do the same (scary to think of me driving a manual, on the wrong side of the road, with round abouts). The weather here in England is so peculiar, you'll wake up one morning the sun will be out not a cloud in the sky and two hours latter it will be snowing/raining/hailing or a combination of the three and then an hour latter not a cloud in the sky! You never know what it's going to be like. The Altrincham area is doing amazing! The people who we are teaching each have an amazing talent and even though they all have weaknesses they understand that God
gives unto men weakness that they may be humble; for if they humble themselves
before him, and have faith in him, then will he make weak things become strong unto them. It's amazing how humbling it is to feel the presence of your Lord is you do his work and to know that the person you are teaching is a beloved son or daughter, of God, who has lost their way and to know that their Father in Heaven cares for them beyond anything that the human heart can understand. Every time I have the opportunity to teach and feel the presence of the spirit my heart is softened and opened as I embrace the pure love that can come only from that great comforter given the beloved title of Holy Ghost. As I begin to focus on those around me and the problems that they face and as I face these problems with them, my desire for the work has grown more than ever before. As I have seen the lack of understanding and doubt leaving the faces of those who the Lord has allowed me to teach and watch as their expression becomes one of love and understanding, my own understanding has increased. I have come to truly understand that we are here on this earth to be tried, we are here to prove not to God but to ourselves that we are worthy of the blessings that he has in store for us in the eternities. We were not sent to this Earth only to receive a body but are sent to learn for ourselves the choices that will bring us the most joy
and to realize that wrong choices will not bring us happiness for I know and bear witness that wickedness never was happiness. Please, with all the energy of my soul I beg of you to not allow yourselves to be drawn down the easy path, the path of least resistance, but to hold to the path of the refiners fire to become what God our Father intends for us to become, to fulfil every soul's deepest and strongest desire, that is to be with our Father again... I know that the way is hard I have seen so many who have failed to endure to the end but I know that if you will press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ Ye shall have eternal life. The way is hard, but a relief has been provided. The Savior didn't go through the pains of Gethsemane and Calvary to save a few, but to save us all if we will but humble ourselves and become meek and lowly in heart. I have gained
a witness that this Gospel is of God, Jesus is the Christ and it is only through him that we can be saved, Joseph Smith was the man chosen in his youth to lead the dispensations of the fullness of times and that through him the priesthood keys were restored that we may be able to perform sacred and eternal ordinances. I pray that my words may bring you joy and a stronger conviction in following the Savior for my purpose as a missionary is exactly that to 'invite others to come onto Christ' and I love every second of it.
With all the Love a mortal man can possess
Elder McKenna