Elder McKinley

This was another week of miracles!

I had the opportunity to do a companionship exchange in Goiana, which is wayyyy up north....it's almost on the border of Paraiba (which is the João Pessoa mission)....I was there with Elders Smith, Sousa, and L. Ribeiro. Boy was it a fun exchange. They have a good chemistry among those elders there. Elder Sousa taught me something that I will never forget.

A good shot of our house....it's wayyyyy good!

He's a convert of about 6 years....he's from São Paulo, and at the time when the missionaries found him, he was living in a favela (slums)....it was seriously a miracle that the missionaries found him. He accepted the message, even though no one in his family did. He continued on until his mission call to Recife....I have never seen an elder who is more genuine, more loving, or more Christ-like than this Elder. It's hard to explain exactly, but I literally was just blown away watching and seeing his example. Even when we had some of our appointments fall through or people tell us that they didn't want to hear our message, he managed to show real love for them. I'm used to smiling and just saying "ok have a nice day!" and then turn around and leave....but this Elder stopped and bore his testimony to them of how indebted he is to the Lord for having received this message in his life. It was more than just a testimony....it was really a pure demonstration of his love for these people.

 the only other redhead I have seen in 6 months! She's a member her in the ward....too funny

The next day I got to spend a bit of time with Elder L. Ribeiro, who showed up with me in Recife on the same day. He's from Curitiba, which according to Elder Barkdull, is a satellite bubble of the U.S....haha. But boy did I have a hay day working with those Elders for 2 days. I met a less-active family that had been baptized about 6 years ago by an Elder Romney, who just so happens to be Mitt Romney's nephew! Small world huh?

The Elders in Goiana! They got a good dynamic going there....a fun bunch for sure

Someone told us this week that they thought that Mormons are all cannibals and only eat human meat....I've never heard that one before!

When I finally got back to Abreu e Lima with E. Bochio, he was already a bit depressed....he was infuriated with me because he thought that I had marked a verse in his Bible...He is a little bit (I forgot the word....darn portuguese....it's like when you are super sensitive about other people touching your stuff). I had to patiently explain to him that I did NOT mark his bible, even though he was convinced it was me. He finally got over it...our companionship is extremely better....Elder Bochio is still fixed on July 14th, the day when he will finished his mission and go home. It's sad that he doesn't even care what happens between know and then....he just wants the time to pass fast. We are finding ways to work together and to accomplish our common goal to help people accept the Restored Gospel here.

Well we had a HUGE miracle here....maybe it won't translate well from here to you folks back at home, but you can trust me on this one....it's a miracle.

A less active family that we taught in Goiana....they were all baptized by Mitt Romney's nephew about 6 years ago when he served as a missionary here in Recife!

Well I talked about this Cintia last week. We had been teaching her Grandma, Mical, and one night she showed up there (unexpectedly) and wanted to hear our message. She is 20 btw. She had just gone through a difficult breakup with her boyfriend, and was really turned towards God recently. She said that she had visited every kind of church that exists, and that she never felt the same as she did when she sat down with two young missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ. She said that this was exactly what she has been looking for, and knows that God has been preparing her to accept this message. The difficult part is that she was saying that her job (she works as a full time nanny) would take her a way for 15 days at a time, and that it wouldn't be until next month that we could teach her. We knew she was as gold as they come, so we gave her a Book of Mormon and all of the 6 different pamphlets (The restoration, plan of salvation, gospel of Jesus Christ, word of wisdom, chastity, and tithing) and told her that we would talk next month. We went home and prayed. We asked the Lord to provide a way so that she could be baptized and open the door for a transformation in her life....

A member family in Goiana that is super cool...the husband just got called as the Ward mission leader and is super excited to help the Elders! 

The next day, she called us....she developed a "freak" allergy to air conditioning over night (the house where she nannies is super nice and has a/c in every single room....that almost doesn't exist here in Brazil) It got super difficult for her to breathe, and she had to leave the house.... The kid she nannies has a health problem and has to stay in the A/C, so what did she decide to do? She quit her job! She said that she felt it was the right thing to do! We went there that day and started teaching her more. That night she had a dream in which she saw herself entering and staying in the church, marrying a returned mission in the temple, and having a happy, successful family.....WOW. 

An FHE we had....Cintia is there in the middle in the black....she is AWESOME. A real miracle

I couldn't really believe what I was seeing. She is going to be baptized this sunday after church (we would have baptized her sooner, but we just have to wait for her to go to sacrament meeting two times). She is a walking miracle. She can't stop talking about how happy she is how different she already feels. This miracle has not only given me a boost, but a huge kick in the pants for Elder Bochio, and even a good spark for our ward here.....everyone all around is excited and full of the Spirit of the Lord....really, I have seen this week how the Lord's hand is sooooo large and sooo present in this work! Let me be clear....NONE OF THIS IS BECAUSE OF ANYTHING I DID. The Lord did 99.99%, and just needed us to seal the deal. I have such an increased testimony of miracles now....the Lord knows what we need....What an awesome blessing it is to be A MISSIONARY. 

Until next time, 

-Elder McKinley

P.S. Congrats to Elder Hafford on his mission call!!!!