12 Mar 14

Well I think you can accept this as doctrine now, the Lord uses my weakness of food to help me find people.

We had just finished a loooong morning of doing strada, and grabbed some doughnuts (3 for 2,40, bargain) and right as we finished this guy walked up to us and said "Hey how are you guys? You know that Jesus is Jehovah, right?" And we said "Yeah, we do!" and he was suuuuper confused. So we started talking to him and we have another appointment with him on Friday and he's probably getting baptized. So that was sweet.

Remember that "My grandpa was a king in Ghana" guy? Hes accepted a bap date for April 4th, so were praying that he makes that date. 

Were having a competition with Anziano Matau and Windley called the Bible Scavenger Hunt. Weve found the two Johns, Abraham, and Jehosaphat. We got bonus points for him. 

We did a scambio on Monday, and it was my first time in Verona without Anziano Garner. AKA I had no idea where I was going the whole time so it was super easy for the Spirit to guide us. We found three new people and a sweet potential WHO IS ITALIAN AND HAS A FAMILY. The rest were African, Ablanian, and Turkish. 

Everything else is going well! I told you about how I had an appointment to see a doctor about my migraines. I decided not to go and just deal with it, and I havent had any problems. I cashed in my man points for blessings I guess. 

Im really good friends with everyone in my apartment, nobody bothers me at all so im really happy about that. 

Im trying to think of other stuff to report on....oh! One of our investigators, who weve been teaching since November came to church for the first time! It was sweet! I told a member that helps us with his lessons that this guy was coming, and he said "I dont believe it." And he came! 

I would send pictures home this week but I forgot my camera at home. Today has been weird because a few days ago someone screwed up while cooking and didnt thaw their meat or something. Long story short, the meat wasnt cooked as well as it could have. So this morning we got hit with the effects of undercooked "Eurospin" meat. Cioé im probably going to die.

Thats all ive got for this week! Im glad the family is doing well. Please make sure Amanda doesnt bully Scottie to much because id really love for him to be at least semi sane by the time I get home. Anyways I love you all tons! I hope you all have a great week!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

05 Mar 14

Ill start off by saying that yes, I do get all your emails, and ill try to do better at commenting on them.

I got the package! I was nervous cause it was totally ripped open, then thrown into a bag, so the shirts were kinda dirty, but everything was in there. I have the card, but I havent tried it yet. Ill let you know next week. 

THAT'S SO SWEET JIMMER GOT TRADED TO THE BULLS!

That probably shouldnt be very high on my email list, but thats ok. Im just glad I never have to cheer for the Kings again.

Anyways, this week was a little slow. Anziano Garner got sick and was inside Saturday and Sunday. So I stayed with him Saturday, and Sunday I went out with Anziano Matau. We ran into a guy with red spectacles who told us to watch "Jesus Christ Rockstar." Then we ran into a family of three named Stephen, Stephen, and Stephany. If they forget someone's name, the dont have to ASK me, but ask Stephen. Sorry if no one but Dad gets that joke.

We had to drop our pretty cool investigator last night. He believes that it doesnt matter what church we go to or what doctrine we believe in, because its all the same. We just have to believe in Christ. He just kept saying that our doctrine was the same as every other Christian church. We were very clear, but he just didnt see us. He's still praying about if he should be baptized on April 4th, so we'll see what happens.

We found a cool guy on Monday. Here is his story: "My grandfather was a king in Ghana, but said that it isnt right for a Believer to be a king, so he gave up his kingship and moved to Minnesota, where he was baptized as a Latter Day Saint. I came here and have been looking for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, but I havent found them yet." So we have a return appointment with him for tomorrow and yeah.

Im trying to think of stuff that would be interesting. Matau's new companion is an Anziano Windley from Pleasant Grove, so maybe Maddie Conlee knows him. He's one of my favorite missionaries, so its been super fun living with him. 

Thats all ive got for this week! Hopefully BYU makes the NCAA Tournament. When is Selection Sunday? Anyways, shout out to Sophie for her missionary work! Ya done good kid. I love you all so much, and I hope you have a great week!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

26 Feb 14

Another good week! We set a bap date with one of our investigators for April 4th, so hopefully he makes it! He loves God and Jesus alot (both good things) and is soooo close with the doctrine. Everything he says is seriosly just barely barely off from the truth. When we invited him though, he said "A man can be baptized 100 times, but unless it is the right church, it means nothing." So its a good thing he found the right one!

Were excited also because one of our investigators just got back from Africa. He would have been baptized already, but he had to go work out some stuff for a will. But hes back now and were stoked!

So I find myself being forced into musical things here. I really dont get why though. Im sure you remember the stake choir incident. Other than that (I dont know if I wrote about this stuff) ive had to sing in sacrament meeting with the other missionaries, and sing (still with other missionaries) in a concert. Well last week we had another concert. Luckily for me though, Anziano Garner and I were the MC guys. It was super fun. Anziano Matau took some videos so ill see if I can get those from him. 

We found some milk in our fridge that expired in November. That was pretty gross.

Weve got a conference tomorrow morning down in Bologna, so that will be the farthest ive been away from Milano my whole mission. I know thats not very exciting to anyone else, but I dont know what to write about. If anyone has questions, let me know, because missionary life seems pretty normal to me haha. Sorry im becoming more and more boring. Im still having a blast, but all my funny stories are just "Had to be there" moments.

Thats all ive got this week! I hope everything goes well for everyone! Im glad BYU beat Gonzaga. Crazy to think that this time next basketball season, ill be back at the games. Anyways, I love you all! Have a great week!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon 

19 Feb 14

Hey again family!

So Anziano Garner and I are staying here in Verona. No big changes that I can think of. Anziano Mata’u is still here, but Anziano Burton is going down to a city called Ancona. Other than that though, no changes that would interest you.

This week was a pretty good week. One of our investigators had a baby, so we went and visited them on Saturday. We’re really excited because we had an awesome lesson with them about eternal families. Before the baby was born it was hard to go and visit them, just because they were so busy trying to get everything ready. The lesson we had was super powerful, and we’re hoping to use it as kind of a launching pad into the baptismal font. 

There is another guy who we’re teaching that’s going pretty well. We’ve had a string of really awesome lessons with him, and he's praying about a baptismal date now for the 4th of April. We’ve kind of got our eye on that Word of Wisdom lesson because he owns a bar, but we'll see how it goes. 

We’ve been doing a lot of door to door lately. I think I already told y'all that were going to a city called Bussolengo a lot. Most of our active members live up there, and President asked us to really push member work. We decided that it was a good time to make that shift, so we’re kind of starting from scratch up there. It hasn’t been raining as constantly lately, so that’s been good. 

I made it a goal a few weeks ago to gain weight. It is officially impossible for me. Goal failed.

Other than that though everything is good with me! Anziano Mata’u put it best this morning, "Where are the cameras? Because we're all way too funny not to be documented."

I really have no idea what to say in these letters anymore. So I’ll just send some pictures! We’re doing internet in the church today and not some sketch internet point so hopefully it works!

I love you all! Keep CTRing and being good people!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

12 Feb 14

Hello again!

It was a pretty interesting week this week!

So far in my mission, ive gotten inside 9 times going door to door. Up until this past week, we got in two times! So thats a pretty cool miracle. 

The weather has still been pretty bad, but its starting to get better (I said that like two weeks ago, and it hasnt stopped raining since. Hopefully I didnt jinx anything.) It been really good though, Anziano Garner and I just have a blast.

We had a lesson with one of our investigators that was super sweet. At the end, he was saying "Look, I havent read everything in the Book of Mormon, but up to now I really like what I see." Then a lady walked in and said to him "Are you becoming Mormon?" "Im studing with them, and reading and stuff." "Bravo." And then she asked us to come and teach her. Were really excited because finding work has been close to zero effective thanks to the weather, but we made it a goal to be outside as much as possible. If were outside, good things will happen, and it paid off here.

We had a zone training on Monday and that went really well, then last night we had a meeting with a member of the high council. After that, we had a meeting with more high council guys, and then the zone leaders from Modena and Bergamo came up. So I got to see Anziano Simcox! I know that none of this is very excitng for y'all, but its been a change. 

Im trying to think about what else I can write about but im drawing a blank.

Oh! This morning, we went and helping some of the Senior Couples. They are working on the biggest geneology project in the world right now. They are taking pictures of old documents to be used for indexing. So we went to the Archives and helped them clean books. Theyre working on records from 1914 right now. It was cool to help with missioanry work on the other side. Im really excited to do geneology when I get home. 

Thats all ive got for this week! We find out about transfers on Monday, but im nervous for Saturday. Saturday is when President calls the new Assistents, and im pretty sure Anziano Garner is going to be called. I really hope not, because weve become really good friends.

Hope everything goes well for you all this week! CTR and read your scriptures! I love you all!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon

05 Feb 14

Soph, youre just growin up so fast! Im so proud of you!

Everyone else, stay off the roads.

This week....flew. And this next one will probably fly again. We have a meeting in Milano with the AP's and President Dibb that all the zone leaders go to, then on Monday we have a zone training, so thatll make things a little more interesting.

We made kind of a big change this week. We havent had a lot of success in finding solid people to teach. We decided that we need to work a lot more with our members, and we decided it was a good time to switch things up. So weve been going to a city in our area called Bussolengo. 80% of our members live there, so we'll be able to get a lot more members to our lessons. It means that were doing a lot lot of finding work.

This change resulted in one of the worst weeks in my mission numbers wise. I still feel really good about it though. We had lots of cool lessons that are considered lessons according to preach my gospel. A lesson according to PMG is two prayers, a gospel principal taught, and an invite. So we were visitng one of our members in the hospital, and his roommate was there and listened/participated the whole time until his daughter came and stole him away from us, so we didnt get an invite in. In the closing prayer we prayed for him, and him and his daughter were just beaming at us. We had a lesson with a lady on the street for 30 minutes, but before we could say a closing prayer with her, she bolted cause she was late to a doctors appointment. So weve had some success in our work, but it doesnt show on paper.

It rained and rained and rained and rained and rained and rained this week. It literally didnt stop. So that was kind of frustrating considering were outside all the time. There was one night where there were literally 3 people on the street to talk to, and one of them was a pizza guy asking for directions. Then, on our way home there was a guy kind of in a hurry so we stopped him. It was the most elect street contact ever. "How would a prophet help your life?" "I think it would help put my life in order so I can spend more time with my family." Only problem is that hes a PROFESSIONAL RACING DRIVER so he will be in Australia for the next two weeks. So we'll just see him then. So if the Hutchins family sees a racing driver running around, remind him to read the pamflet we left him. Sorry if I mispelled any words, I cant ever remember if I use an F or PH anymore.

Those are all the stories I have for this week. I keep telling Anziano Garner that he's going to be an AP next transfer, but I really hope he stays. We have a blast together, and ill be really bummed if one of us gets transfered.

Again, Sophie, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Dont kiss any cute boys! Or any ugly ones. I love you all so so much!

Anziano Christian Fife McKinnon