21 Jan 15

Subject: Transfer 16 Week 6

Well.

It didn't hit until two days ago that i'm actually comin home. I was packing and Anziano Malzone was doing calls and he got off the phone and said "We have an appointment with a preacher of so and so church on Saturday!" I got super stoked because I love teaching people that actually care about religion, and then it kind of hit me "You're going to be normal on Saturday." So I just kind of sat on my bed for a second and had a "What is happening" moment. It was a really stressful moment, but then I realized that i'd be watching BYU basketball and it made it easier.

This week was a really good week. The sisters had a rough one, two of their investigators (who we've been telling to drop) got checked into the mental hospital. One of them had a little freak out during their lesson. I'll give you all the deets when I get home. Our week was good though. Sunday I gave my last talk and it was sad. Then our branch president spoke at the end and said thanks for my service and he was crying (because of the humidity he kept saying, haha) and it was a really sad/good Sunday. Then we went and ate at one of my favorite member family's house, then ate dinner with our branch president.

Monday we cleaned our house and packedish. I'll just say that packing without a billion white shirts and sheets is the BEST thing ive ever done. Yesterday we saw some more people to say bye, and now i'm here. I have to put the last couple of things in my suitcase tonight and yeah. We're going to hang out with some members today and then come to the church and say bye to more people. Then we have english class and then as my friend Anziano Guzzle is sayin "Peace out freaks."

Tomorrow we go to Milano and have exit interviews, etc. Then Friday morning i'm on a jet plane.

So I guess that this is it. I hope that i'll never have to use email this much again.

SO i'll end with this. Im still trying to get my thoughts and feelings together because everyone in the world says to me "How do you feel?" The answer that I keep giving is that "I'm ready." At first I thought it was just because i'm exhausted and warn out and ready to be with my family again. But as i'm thinking about it more, i'm ready because I feel like I did what I needed to do. I've made mistakes and I have some regrets, but I know that everything will turn out ok. I know that my Heavenly Father will make everything ok. This wasn't the mission that I expected, and looking back it probably wasn't the mission that I wanted. But it was the mission that I needed, and I am so thankful that I could have this time to get beat up a little bit and grow. I like the person that Heavenly Father is helping me become, and i'm excited to keep moving forward when I get home. I'm thankful for the testimony that i've found here, and i'm thankful for the trials that helped me get it. Like I said before, i'll share all the deets in a more spiritual setting (and not over email), but just know that I know that it's true, and I know that it's real. I love you all, and i'll see you soon.

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

14 Jan 15

Subject: Transfer 16 Week 5

This week super flew.

We have officially started the "Good bye, i'm leaving, I'll probably never see you again" phase of my mission. Last night we saw a part member family for the last time. It was a super good lesson and I think that we've made progress with this non member husband for the first time in (literally) 4 years, so we'll see how it goes. I'll fill you in on the details when I get back. But Anziano Malzone thinks he's funny and has decided to ask everyone we meet for marriage advice because "Anziano will be married in three months and he needs all the help he can get." So last night I got these gems:

1. Marry a girl who is "super sweet". Because after 20 years she'll become "sweet," then 20 more she'll be "a little sour" and then if we make it 20 more she'll be a witch. I have to marry someone super sweet because if I don't i'll get to the "a little sour" and "witch" phase sooner.

2. When she gets past "sweet," when she gets mad, I just need to suffer in silence. Then I can do what I want.

3. Don't marry five women (I guess there's a show on RealTV about some dude with five wives)

So i've got some solid guidelines to follow now.

It's kind of weird where i'm at because we've got a full schedule until next wednesday, so I feel like everything is going to fly.

I'm glad everything is ok with Brandon! In the future (next week) if anything crazy happens just tell me, don't say "I dont know if you heard" because I haven't heard haha. But i'm glad everything went smoothly. The first thing I saw this week was a picture of Brandon in a neck brace and I was super confused.

So the mission really developes you in ways you never thought that they would. Last Saturday we went to a baby shower. We went early to help set up, and I guess a baby shower is an american thing. So they turned to me and said "You're American, how do we decorate for a baby shower?" Yeah. We just taped some balloons to the wall and made little paper people and put them on the blackboard. It was a success.

That's pretty much it. We've got a pretty killer line up these next couple of days with lessons, so i'm excited about that. Sunday i've got a talk and then it's gametime.

I love you all so much! I can't wait to see you all, so make sure to CTR and stuff so it can be a happy reunion. Have a great week!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

7 Jan 15

Subject: Transfer 16 Week 4

Welllll I hate trains. We got stuck in Parma for a really long time so we got back late. So this email has to be super short. 

We have interviews tomorrow, Monday I gave my last testimony at zone training, I did a scambio in Modena with Anziano Guzzle from my group. Next week should be a super great week! 

I deff might have the flu, but we'll find out for sure some other time. I owe you all a great big hug or something because this email sucks, but what can you do? I love you all so so so so so much! CTR!!!!!

Love

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

Christian's Homecoming!

For anyone who may be following Christian's mission blog, he will be reporting on his mission on Sunday, January 25 at 9:00 am.  Our church is located at 2675 E Mount Jordan Road, Sandy, UT. We'll be eating lunch after the block, around 12:30. I'm sure he'd love to see you!

31 Dec 14

Transfer 16 Week 3

Well I have stories this week.

We'll start with the funny ones. So there was a Christmas market that was selling Christmas hats. So I picked one that looked really warm and bought it. When I got home Anziano Malzone decided to tell me that the hat I bought was a girl hat. So of course I swore never to wear it. He tried to convince me that it wasn't really a girl hat but I didn't believe him. Then on Christmas, for my present I made him swear to tell me the truth if it was a girl hat or a boy hat. He said it was a boy hat, so a few days after I wore it for the first time. We went to do grocery shopping, and we get into the store and there is a girl in there wearing the exact same hat. Soooo I took it off never to wear it again.

So then I went to church and asked the sisters and some trusted members what they thought, and they all decided that it was a neutral hat. So I was thinking about just wearing it because it was warm. Then that night I got a call from one of the sisters who said she had a very serious question for me. She said "Anziano McKinnon, if you decide that you don't want the hat, can I have it? Because it's really cute." So that was the last straw and now she has the hat. Normally i'd take this story to the grave, but it's Christmas. So Merry Christmas.

Yesterday we ate the biggest pizza ever. Some members told us about this giant pizza and that there was no way we could eat it all. Challenge accepted. So we went and got the pizza and it was giant. While I was ordering, I told the lady I wanted the gigante and she laughed, but I got it anyway. The rule was the we didn't have to eat the crust, and I almost made it. I stopped only because it wouldn't look good for a missionary to throw up in the middle of a resturaunt, but if I ever go back i'm getting revenge. I'm attatching a picture.

Here's the sad news. So there are these investigators that i've been working with for like 7 months now. The Dad and son are a little farther behind on the conversion process, but the mom knows that the Book of Mormon is true and everything. So we went and saw them on Sunday and she said she decided that for New Years she couldn't have a foot in our church and a foot in the traditions she grew up with, so she said that she had decided to stick with her traditions. It was super super super bummer. We've still got time though, and I think that they'll get baptized eventually. 

That's all the big news for now, but i'll let you know if there's anything else. I hope you all have a great New Years and CTR. Tell the fam that I love them and stuff! I love you!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

PS Other big news, my companion says that i'm the best American foosball player he's ever seen 

24 Dec 14

Subject: Transfer 16 Week 2

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

Well unfortunately this one has to be fast because today we have half a p-day because it's Christmas Eve....yeah.

So this week was pretty insane. Anziano Malzone makes everything interesting all the time, so my last X amount of time will not be boring. 

We've had a lot of success finding recently, especially with leaders of other religions. It's going to be a lot of fun teaching and we're excited to see some miracles!

I know this is a super lame email, but i'll talk to you more tomorrow!

I don't know what time i'll be able to Skype, but it'll be around 4ish probably. At least that's my guess. Like I said last week just put all of your phones on loud and we'll get it worked out.

I love you all so much! Talk to you tomorrow!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

17 Dec 14

I wish that words could explain this week. This email finishes well, so hang in there.

This week has been full of the worst luck ever. It started with the whole moving apartments thing. We were in a hurry because they gave us two days to pack, clean, get everything over to the other apartment, unpack, clean the other apartment. To make matters worse there was some miscommunication between my last comp and the office. Mallari understood that he can have two bags plus the carry on that could weigh 50 pounds each. We found out on Wednesday that it was really two bags could be 50 pounds and then 30 pounds for the carry on. So he was tryin to get his 3 barely under fifty pound bags to become twenty pounds lighter. But we got all my stuff to the other apartment and cleaned the sister's apartment to a respectable level (I swear I did my best). 

Then we went to Milano for transfers. There was a bit more miscommunication because my comp needed to get there early so we took a 7:10 train. We got there at 8 and just kind of waited because we were really supposed to be there at 11:30. 

So we waited and I got my new comp, Anziano Malzone. As one of the sister missionaries said "I need to film you (Malzone), because if I explain what you're like, nobody will be believe me." You'll probably talk to him on Skype. Anyways, i'm with him and the new sisters, and all the ticket services are down in Milano Centrale. So we end up having to wait until 3pm to take our train. It wasn't that bad waiting though, I hung out with Anziano Johnson and Anziano Anderson. Johnson played volleyball at Olympus and we've become really good friends and Anziano Anderson was in my group. They're all going to Utah State so that'll be fun. But it was good to hang out with them for awhile. 

So we get on the train and go to Piacenza. We get there and get on the bus. Some ticket checkers got on and threw a fit because we didn't buy tickets for all the luggage we had with us. So in the end they gave us a "Christmas deal" and only fined us for two "passengers" without tickets. So Malzone and I took the fall and both got fined 65 euro. Dont worry though we talked to the mission office and they helped us out. 

Long story short, after bike problems, apartment problems, cleaning our new apartment, everything, I think everything is back to normal now. I think.

So here is the happy thing. During district meeting, the doorbell in the church rang. So one of the sisters went and answered, and it was this lady. She said that she met with the missionaries a year ago but lost their number. There was something special about the missionaries, so she decided to re find us. She got our address off the internet and came to the church right when we were there. I was bummed that she didn't show up a week ago when there weren't sister missionaries (i'm only half serious), but she seems really cool! So there's the miracle of the week.

Other than that, we haven't had time to sit down. Yesterday we had enough time for language study for the first time in a week, so we've been keeping busy.

As far as Skype, It'll be at 7 or 8 in the morning. Maybe later. Just have your phones with you and i'll send you all an email when I get on. We've got a place to go so everything is ready to go!

I love you all so much! Make sure to be extra righteous for Jesus' birthday! CTR and have a good week!!!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon