LOUIS GOT BAPTIZED

WOW! I am stunned by the amount of E-mails from this week :). I usually
receive around 2 (THAT’S RIGHT 2) or so a week, but there were loads this week.
It’s funny but missionaries always talk about repentance post towards the end
and it would seem that it’s true :) but what ever the reason for the influx I’m
defiantly not going to complain :). So, THANK YOU FOR THE LOVE VIA E-MAIL! By
the way Sandy Ford E-mailed me and said that she called dad up and was surprised
when he told her that I was turning 20 this February because she thought I was
turning like 18 and I was surprised because I thought I was turning 21 so there
seems to be a bit of confusion there :) so let dad know that I’m turning 21 and
that my name isn’t Missy it’s Tristan :).

There is loads happening back home. Ellyse is deciding which University she’ll
be attending! Meghan continues to plan for her trip to Japan! Jackson and
Carson are developing their biking skills! And Jeff is beginning to feel his
age (he didn’t write that but I could just discern :) ). Kai’s football team is
dominating, while Chynna destroys the opposition by scoring 2 goals and
assisting in 2 others in a game were her team won 4 – 0 (yeah, that’s right she
was a part of everyone of their goals [HOO-RA]) and she is getting braces… now
braces may seem like a pain but take it from someone who has lived in the land
of crooked teeth and trust me when I say, ‘you don’t want crooked teeth, so wear
the braces’ :), Irelynn is on the BOWLING TEAM and she plays at SUNSET STATION
which means that not only is she following in her uncle’s size 7 bowling shoe
footsteps but she is bowling where I use to work! And to top it all off the
Zurflueh clan is heading out to Disneyland for some Halloween fun! Mom is
recovering from her illness and making preparations to go winterize the cabin.
Timette is having to deal with the pressures of a new Jet Blue system and
calming her Disneyland withdrawals while being pregnant with the newest edition
to the clan, and I just found out that Aidan is in love with Poo…… Pooh Bear
that is :) [I’m sorry I just had to write that :)]. And finally it would seem
that everyone is getting addicted to these new green, ooze, slimy, chunky, but
apparently delicious spinach things and that mom and dad have even purchased a
vitamix blender so that they could create there own concoctions. In answer to a
question that was asked… No I didn’t have the swine flu but Elder Larson
defiantly did and it was way lame being quarantined in the flat with him.
Overall life is good back home and let Charlie de Chinchilla know that I too am
excited to be reunited with him even though he does poop more than anything I
have ever seen in my life, and the mention of a movie being made when I get back
is an amazing idea and we should think of a really cool story to make it with…
suggestions would be nice :).

Well, this past week has been miraculous! I can’t even begin to describe all of
the amazing things that have happened this week! Louise and Jane want to get
baptized; Louis Villoing got baptized and then bore his testimony in front of
the whole congregation yesterday after his confirmation, Nickie Holden is going
to stop drinking, and we had one of the most amazing lessons I have ever had
with Phil and Rachel, not to mention Ann is still progressing nicely and a few
new people we picked up! The Lord is drenching us in his blessings! But of all
the amazing things that have happened I know exactly which one I want to share
with you :). Phil and Rachel have been going through some difficult times and
Elder Larson and I were worried that we were becoming more like friends to them
then missionaries and we didn’t want that to happen because we need the
influence that comes from being a missionary more then the influence that comes
from being a friend to truly help them through their problems. About 3 days ago
we had a lesson with the two of them (it had been about a week since we saw them
proper) and we just read from the Book of Mormon with them (we read the story of
Ammon and related it to the fact that we all face problems in our lives but that
the Lord can give us strength just like Ammon) they loved it and it went really
well… after we read the story we then told them, ‘Rachel and Phil we love you
tons and you are like our best friends but right now we’re missionaries, we can
be friends forever but for this short amount of time we have the chance to help
you understand what can bring true happiness into your lives and it would kill
us if we left this area feeling like we didn’t fulfil what we were called to do’
not much else was said after that, we closed with prayer and went our way. We
next saw them Sunday evening and it was probably the best lesson I have ever
been in… Rachel had read a ton and even Phil read, we asked them about what they
read and they totally understood everything and they even expounded on it and
made connections with other things that we had read together in the past, but
two things in particular were amazing… first, we asked why they decided to read
so much and Rachel said, ‘We were thinking about what you said a few days ago,
we love being your friends and were defiantly going to stay in contact, but we
understand for this amount of time you’re missionaries (then she paused for a
bit) we know that we can be your friends forever but for now (another pause) we
want you to teach us and we’re ready to learn’… the Spirit was so strong it
filled my heart with love and appreciation for a merciful Father in Heaven…
Second, we watched the Restoration DVD with them (the Spirit was way strong) and
at the end we asked Phil how he felt about it (now Phil hasn’t been against the
church but defiantly hasn’t been supper excited about it) and he told us he felt
way ‘peaceful’ we jumped at a chance to identify the Spirit and when he
understood that the feeling was from God he connected all the other feelings he
has had since we’ve been seeing him and recognized that it’s true… It was an
evening that I will never forget.

The Spirit is real, The Church is true, Jesus is the Christ, and Joseph was his
prophet.

With all of my love,
Elder McKenna

P.S. next week is transfers and so I'll be E-mailing either Wed. or Thur.