One year anniversary!

January 25, 2016

Hey Family,

So this week has been an okay week. Just trying to deal with the death of Monica and to be honest, it really hasn't hit me yet. It doesn't feel real. But I'm just keeping myself busy, which has been good.

We have gotten to spend a lot of time with members this past week. I love the members here. They are so loving and caring. We got to go see Adrienne this past week with the Zieber's and it went very well. Her family was all there and we got to talk with her about Personal Progress. We invited her and her mom to go through it. Then we went to the church and met with Bishop Williams to go over the ward roaster. It was very helpful to figure out who we need to visit. 

Wednesday we had interviews and we had to get there early so Elder Schliep could get there for a meeting. So we got there and just did our personal studies. But first we had a World-Wide Missionary Broadcast. This has been the first broadcast that has gone world-wide for about a decade. It was pretty cool. We learned so many new things and things that just add to what we know. Then we went out to lunch to Crackle Barrel. It was pretty good. Then we had interviews with President and of course we are near the end. Interviews went okay. He did something different this time. We only got to talk for about 5 minutes then Sister Poulson came in and we did a role play teaching the Restoration. It went good. I just felt like the interview was rushed and wasn't personable. But oh well :( Then we went and had dinner with Bobbi Scaturo. I always love going over to her house and hanging with her family. Then we went to the church for a meeting. Well when we got there, the elders weren't there so we decided to go hang out with the Young Women. We decorated cakes that would show a scene from the Book of Mormon. Me and Nissa got Captain Moroni burying the golden plates. Ours was pretty legit, if I do say so. 

Thursday, we got to go out with Katie Morgan. She got her mission call a couple of weeks ago and she is going to the Czech Prague, Mission. She leaves in May. So we got to go out with her and visit a couple of the less-actives in the ward. Most of the people weren't home but the ones we visited were really spiritual. We got to visit with Thelma and Sister Morong. Sister Morong just had a baby and she was telling us that she quit her job so that she could be a stay-at-home mom. We got to talk with her about miracles and it was just amazing. Then after we went and had dinner with the older ladies in the ward. We had dinner with Sister Maisch, Sister Stewert and Sister Agradi. I always love going over to her house and visiting with these sweet ladies. We got to talk with them about the Book of Mormon and how it is such a sacred book. I got really emotional sharing my testimony about it and that it is a true book. The spirit was very strong.

Then when we got home. It has been storming the whole night. With a lot of rain, wind, thunder and lightning. It was insane; we actually were in tornado watch during the night. Friday, we got to go out with Sister Chesley to visit with some people and we had a lot of fun. Then we had dinner with the Cardon's. We had soup which was very nice with it being cold. I shared them the story from Huge B. Brown with the God is the Gardner. It was really great being able to talk about how trails make us stronger. Then we got to read from the Book of Mormon with the Thomas's.

Okay so Saturday was so crazy and busy. We had Bishop's Storehouse in the morning and that was pretty crazy. Then we hurried and got ready and went back to the church for a funeral. So the big Oliver family, their father passed away back in December, so we went to help out with that. It was Sister Poulson, Sister Golder, Sister Thompson, Bobbi Scaturo, Sister Necaise and me helping out. We were having a good ole time with setting everything up with the lunch. The funeral was really beautiful and a lot of people showed up. The whole family was very thankful that we helped out and the family didn't have to worry about anything. It was such a great time talking with the family and most of them are less-active so hopefully this will help bring them back and know that they are loved by many. After cleaning everything up, we went out with Sister Ganschow to go visit with people out in Vancleave. And of course, no body was answering their doors. So after a while, she dropped us off at Bobbi's house for dinner. So at Bobbi's house, she had invited a bunch of her friends to come over for dinner. We made pizzas in their pizza oven and it was so much fun. We had a bon-fire outside and made pizzas. What was great about it, is that one of her friends is from Italy and we got to talk about it for a little bit. Then she asked us about our missions. I got to tell her how we were called on missions by a prophet and then got to talk about prophets. And she was interested about that. Then later on during the night, a bunch of the little kids would ask us about our mission and we would answer and tell them that we were from Utah and we are serving here in the south for 18 months. It was a great opportunity for them to see us just laid back and not being pushy with the gospel. We had such a great time and had some good laughs!!

On Sunday, we had to give the lesson in Gospel principles and it was about Temple Work and Family History. I didn't have time to prepare the lesson, so I just relied on the spirit. And everything went very well. Everyone shared great comments and it just felt so good talking about it. I was so happy. Then after church we got to have dinner with the Chesley's. They are such a great family. We got to share with them the God is the Gardener and I asked them how they were able to see the blessings after the trial. We then got to watch the Mormon message of it and it was a great way to finish the night.

So this week has been good and bad. I can't believe that i have been out for a year. It has gone by so fast and it is weird to think that I have about 6 months left. I love y'all so much and am so grateful to know that Families can be together forever!!!! Wish y'all a great week.

Love and miss y'all!!!!!

Sister McKenna O'Connor

Young Women's activity. Nissa and I making our cake.

Sister Poulsen and young women

Our cake Moroni burying the plates. I love how it turned out.

Beautiful ocean picture. The water was low tide.

I love visiting these sisters in the ward.

Valentines package

Happy Valentines Day!

Stake Conference and meeting lots of great people

January 18, 2016

Hello Family,

So this past week, we had transfers and my new companion is Sister Poulson. We came out together and she is from Ephraim. We had a pretty okay week. Sister Poulson is kind of sick, so rested a little bit this week. Also I have been really exhausted/stressed and needed to rest too. We also got a new Elder. Elder Nabu is with Elder Schliep. He is from Washington and has been out for about 6 months.

So this past week, we got to see Lona and have a lesson with her and we had Sister Cardon with us. The elders gave her a blessing before the lesson. She is going through a lot right now and need a lot of prayers. We talked about the Plan of Salvation and focused a lot on that Heavenly Father loves and knows each of us, and knowing that she is a Daughter of God. Sister Cardon then challenged her to read the Book of Mormon every day for a whole week. So we need to follow up with her on that. But the lesson went very well and you could feel the spirit. Later that night we had a lesson with Steve and Debbie. They were super excited to see us. They told us that they were going to go to church today. But their car wasn't working and the church bus didn't pick them up. Then we showed up. They were saying that everything happens for a reason. It was pretty cool. We talked about the Articles of Faith and went into a little more detail with some of them. Then they brought up Joseph Smith but it was pretty late and we told them that we would talk about it next time. They really love to talk about Jesus and we were there for what felt like forever. Hopefully we will see them tonight and talk about the Restoration. 

Bree Thomas had her Birthday this past week so we went over and had a little birthday party for her. It was a lot of fun with eating and playing some games. So we went a little early to their house and their dad was there. We got to talk with him for a little bit and he was just talking about how life is crazy and giving us advice. It was basically a miracle because that has been the most that he has ever talked with us. He normally stays in his room when we come over. Also we had his music in and while we were talking, he slowly turned the music off, and then he put it away. Heavenly Father is slowly working on him.  

Then after we headed over to the church to go to Ashton's baptism (Brother Bahr's son). They had a lot of family there and many people from the ward came. It was really amazing and it kind of reminded me of my baptism. And all the people that attended because they love me. Then after we went and tried Takina. We have been pretty excited because she has been coming to church the last couple weeks. We got to talk with her and her kids about Ashton's baptism and I shared 3 Ne. 9:14. It talks about coming to him and having Eternal Life. We then invited her to think about eternal life. What she would like it to be and who she would want there. You can see the light of her testimony starting to come back. 

Sunday, we had another stake conference. It was broadcasted from Salt Lake City. Elder L. Whitney Clayton, Elder Rasband, Elder Hales and Sister Reeves were in the meeting. The broadcast was throughout the southern states and some northern ones. It was really nice to hear from each of them. Talking a lot about the temples and Family home evening.  After the meeting the waters were going to feed us, but before we left we looked at the meal calendar and nobody was feeding us this week. The elders had some appointments. So before we left, I went up to a couple of members and asked them if they would be willing to feed us this week. And after going to a couple of the members, we are getting feed now every day this week. I would have never done that before my mission, ha-ha!!! 

So we went with the Waters out to their place and we had dinner with them and the Mallya's. We had potatoes, roast, carrots, and some cobbler. It was really good. After we went to the Thomas's real fast because I had left my camera there. We got to talk with her for a little bit, but then we had to go. After we went out to go tracting. We were a little behind on tracting and we had about an hour left of daylight. So we tracted by these homes and people were answering but telling us that they weren't interested. We knocked on two homes and they told us to come back. Then it was starting to get dark, so we decided to knock on one more house. So we knocked on the house and a guy answers. His name is Danny and he told us that he has Jesus in his life. He had gone through 3 brain surgeries, multiple seizures; fingers cut off and survived a ship wreck. He has gone through out in his life. Then he was starting telling us about his life and growing up. He had the best parents and he had some crazy stories. Then we talked about music and how with every song you listen to, you could switch a couple words in it and it would make it a Christian song. We were talking with him outside and it was pretty cold out. We were both kind of freezing. Then we were able to say a prayer with him and he was telling us that we were doing a great job and blessed us that we would be safe and find those we need Jesus. Danny is such am great guy and it was just great to talk with him. After, we were walking back to our car and we were sooooo cold. It was pitch dark outside and we had talked with Danny for over an hour and a half. As soon as we got home, we got all of our warm clothes on and cuddled up in our blankets.

SO happy to hear that everything is going well back at home. So jealous that y'all went to Tucanos. Hope y'all have a great week!!

Love and miss y'all!!!!!!!!!!

Sister McKenna O'Connor     

 Sister James wedding reception

Great week teaching and transfers!

January 12, 2016

Hey Family,

Hope y'alls week has been awesome and a little warm. It's starting to get cold here and pulling out the tights. This past week we went on exchanges.  I went with Sister Uffens and we worked in Ocean Springs. We started off tracting and the second door we knocked on we were able to teach him about the Book of Mormon and about the church. We gave him a copy to read and we are seeing him tomorrow. We tracted about an hour and a half and we had 4 lessons and 3 copies of the Book of Mormon. We were really excited. It has been a while since we have had that many lessons in a short amount of time. Then we got to see Thelma and she is awesome. Later we took Shunta to Iona's to have a lesson. We talked a little bit more about the Book of Mormon and decided to have her start from the beginning. The lesson went very well, but then later on in the day, Lona called us and  told us that we can't have lessons at her house anymore. They got a little offended when we were there so we are now trying to figure out what we can do now.

We had Zone Training Meeting this past week and we talked about things for the mission. We have set a goal for the mission to get 1200 baptisms for the year 2016. Also we have been focusing on the "Vision for the South" by Elder Vaughn J Featherstone. And how that is coming soon. Also they told us of some important news. I'm not sure if you know but the MTC is extending the amount of time to be in the MTC so we are getting our mission extended by a week, so I won't get home until a week later my originally date of coming home. Not sure of what we want to do, little bit stressed about it. 

This past weekend, we had Stake Conference and we had Elder Hymas from the Seventy could and speck to us. It was pretty cool to hear from him and President Olson. The Conference went very well and was able to learn a lot of new things. The Cordon’s had us over for dinner Sunday and we always love going over there. They are such a great Family. Also we got calls and found out that Sister Burgess is going to be an STL up on Jackson. I am so excited for her and told her about it up there. She will have so much fun up there. 

Monday we got her all packed and had to go say bye to people. We took pictures also with the other missionaries which I will probably get to you next week. Then we had dinner at the Chesley's and they are awesome. We got to talk about the same shows we watch and all of this geeky stuff. It is so much fun going over there and just getting to relax and be myself. Then we went to the Shumaker's right after to have dessert and say good-bye or see ya later!! Then we got home and Shunta and Janae  come over to say their good-bye's. We have been so tired with running around seeing people.

We woke up at 5 this morning to get all ready because we had to be at the church by 6:45 am which the elders alarm didn't go off so we were a little late but not really. We got everything unloaded and said our good-byes to everyone. Elder Ross is also leaving so we will be getting two new people. Then after everyone found out who they were getting and of course my lovely Zone Leader forgot who I was getting. So I was the only person who doesn't know. Then we all went to I hop to get breakfast. We all had a lot of fun. Then we got back in the car and he remembered who I was getting. And you will never guess... I am getting Sister Poulson!!! Crazy right, I am pretty excited.

Hope Mikey had a great Birthday! Also hope the EEG went well for Ashleigh. That is so cool about the Clew and having Chris and Nick there. It has been so long since I have seen them. 

I love y'all and hope you have a great week!!!

Sister McKenna O'Connor

Beautiful picture of Sister O'Connor in Ocean Springs, MS

 White sand beach!

Christmas morning

Local church sign

License plate

I hop before transfers.

Happy New Year

January 4, 2016

Hey Family, 

Hope y'all had a great New Years!!!! Can you already believe that it is 2016, that means I come home this year which is kind of weird. I enjoyed being able to talk with y'all and the family. It was so nice to be able to see everyone. Our family has grown so much. These past few weeks have been pretty crazy. 

We didn't get a P-Day last week which was different. We got the car back which was really nice. This past week we got to go see Lona. We taught her the Restoration, which it has been a while since we have taught that so I was pretty nervous. But I could feel the spirit very strongly, which was nice. We were going to invite her to be baptized but it didn't feel right so we asked her to pray about it. We got to visit with Takina and Shunta. It has been a little bit since we have seen them. We got to talk with them and share lessons with her kids. We then invited her to come to church. It has been a long time since she has come since she was baptized. So we hope she comes. When we tracted this week, we didn't get much success but a couple of people opened their doors and we got to share a message with them.  

So the Senior Missionaries, had given us a referral, The Stay’s and we got to help them move in. They moved in form New Orleans and they are a really nice couple. We got to see them yesterday and they were excited to see us. Steven had his guitar out so he started playing and singing Gospel music. It was pretty cool. He really loves our Savior and he was kind of all over the place. We were there for a long time. Finally we left after an hour or two. So for New Year’s we just tracted, helped the family move in and we went and hung out with Thelma for a little bit, but we didn't stay very long because Lord of the Rings was on TV so it was kind of distracting. Then we just hang at the apartment. So much fun right... not! But Burgess and I have had a lot of fun and a lot of laughs... at me, haha!! 

On Sunday we didn’t have any investigators at church. Our church time has changed from 11 to 9 so it's a change for people, because they have had the same time for about 3 years. But we were pretty excited to see Takina there. 

As you can see, nothing much has happened this week. It's getting cold now and it's still break. But everything will change. 

We get transfer calls on Saturday. We are thinking Burgess will go because she has been here for about 4 and a half months, but we will see. 

Oh so the Family member that sent me that letter was Kevin and Jeri. 

Hope y'all have a great week with school starting back up. I want to wish Mikey and Dad a Happy Birthday and wish I could be there.

Love and Miss y'all!!!!!!

Sister McKenna O'Connor