McKenzee's Missionary Moments: April 24th, 2017

So this week has been pretty crazy and busy.

And I cannot believe that this next week is my LAST WEEK AS A MISSIONARY! Woah!!!! I will literally be home next week!!!! AHHHHHHH I'm so pumped but I'm also so nervous!!!! Haha. Some moments it feels real and others it still seems like it's not going to happen. Lol. I'm just trying to stay focused and enjoy it! :)

So here's to my last week!!!!

Anyway, so Monday night we went to our branch presidents house for a meeting and I guess there was some communication issues because they ended up having dinner prepared for us! Which might not be weird to y'all but Monday nights we feed ourselves so we had already eaten dinner and I was not hungry at all. Lol. And plus they made chili, and I've come a long way with food from where I use to be, but I still hate beans and so chili has never been my favorite. I can't stand it, so I had to eat it quick and I basically swallowed it whole haha.

Tuesday we had to go get our oil changed and our tires rotated for our car. Again it was boring because they didn't have complimentary popcorn haha. Then we went to have lunch with some other missionaries. Nothing too fancy.

When we finally got to cathlamet we went to an investigators house, S, and tried visiting with her for a little bit. It was pretty crazy though because she was all over the place. Literally. She was moving all around her house doing random things. Eventually she had us help her hang up her clothes because they were all over her house. Then we tried to help her match her socks haha. Which was basically impossible because she had boxes and boxes of unmatched dirty socks. It was gross haha.

Wednesday was my very last district Meeting. It was so weird! But also good. Haha I had to give a training about the things I've learned on my mission so it was nice to be able to reflect on things that I've learned out here. So that was fun for me.

Afterwards we went to get ice cream with one of the Spanish sister missionaries because she celebrated her year mark and I told her it's important to celebrate so we went to get some ice cream. I enjoyed being with some other sisters.

Then we went to cathlamet and we went to a clothing bank. So I've never heard of something like that before but apparently it's like a Goodwill. So what happens is people in the town donate their clothes to this place, it's held at the seventh day Adventist church, and then us volunteers get to go through the bags and bags and bags of clothes and decide if they are worth keeping. We hung up the good clothes and had to throw away anything that was dirty or had holes. You'd be surprised how gross some of the clothes are that people donate. I felt so dirty afterwards lol. But it was a lot of fun to help out. We've been really looking for service opportunities in cathlamet so we were happy to finally find an opportunity!

Thursday night for dinner we went to a family in our branch, the K family. They are such an awesome family. There are 8 kids in this family, ranging from 3 years old to a boy on his mission. They are such a cute family! The mom is from Africa and so we had African food for dinner! It was so good! It was literally like a party since there was so many people. Haha it kind of reminded me home with so many people running around. It was nice!

Then that night we drove to woodland to sleep over with another set of sisters so in the morning we didn't have to drive as far to get to Vancouver to go to the temple.

Friday morning the departing missionaries met at the mission office and then president and Sister McAteer drove us in the big white marshmallow van to the temple. And omg it was a gorgeous day! The weather was so perfect, it was warm and sunny! It was an amazing day to go to the temple. And it just felt so great to be in the temple. It was a little sad to be going there for my last time as a missionary but I really enjoyed my time there. And it was so much fun to be with Sister Nilson and Sister Mortenson. After the session we got to go eat lunch in the cafeteria and that was a lot of fun. The food was great!

After that we started driving home and we got stuck in pretty bad traffic so we just got to hang out and talk and it was fun. The one elder that was with us gave someone in their car a Book of Mormon. It was pretty funny. I'll send home the video of him doing it.

Then we really weren't ready to go back haha and so we convinced President and Sister McAteer to take us to the mission office so we could have ice cream. Haha it was so funny because he told us he caves to peer pressure so we just kept begging him to do it. It was a nice break. Then he told us that he is slowly preparing us to have more and more fun. Hahah it was so sweet of him.

After that we went back to the mission office and I had my departing interview with President McAteer. We pretty much just talked about my future and the things that I've learned. It felt like a normal'ish interview except that it was my last one. Haha.

Still so weird that I'm having all my last things. And now I'm on my last week. Ahhh!

Saturday night we had a stake Chuukese party. In Longview we have a pretty big Chuukese population. It's a type of people and a lot of them are moving to Washington and they aren't feeling very welcomed because of the culture difference and so we had a party to welcome them and it was such a great turn out. We decorated it all amazing like an island. It was fun. They had fish and shrimp and a bunch of food. The fish was so good! I have to say that I really enjoy fish since being on my mission. If it's done right! Haha

Sunday I got asked to give a talk next week. Haha so my last Sunday, pretty much my last day I have to give a talk. Lol. But it should be pretty easy. It's over 1 Nephi 3:7. And it doesn't have to be very long. I just can't believe that next Sunday is my last. So crazy!!! I also can't believe that I can say next week I will be HOME! Woop woop:)

So we just got back from our hike. It was pouring the whole entire time but it was really pretty. I'm soaking wet. And just really grateful to be warm and dry hahah.

I'll send y'all some pictures!

Well I don't even know how I made it to this point in my mission where I will be coming home so soon. I'm so thankful for all that I've been able to accomplish and for all the things that I've learned. My advice this week would be to never give up. Ever. Keep holding on you amazing things will happen, I promise. Heavenly Father promises to bless us and He always keeps His promise.

I'm so grateful for temples and the spirit that it there. I know that the temples are the house of the Lord. I know that the priesthood is on the earth again and that it is Gods power to help and bless us.

I know that missionary work is hard but it's also possible with His help, it's His work after all. I also know that there is so much to learn on a mission and that missions make good people better and that they give us the opportunity to see miracles everyday. I'm so thankful for the last 18 months and 10 days. I love my mission. I love my family. I love this gospel. I love my Savior. And I love my Heavenly Father.

See y'all soon! (What the heck! Haha)

LOVE AND MISS YALL TONS!!!!

"Have faith, have hope, live like His Son, help others on their way."

Xoxo

Sister Batey