May 14, 2012 Letter

Dear...Everyone,

 

This week has been absolutely amazing. I love my companion. Not that I didn't love the one that I had before him, but this one is especially awesome. We have been working very hard this week because we had to leave the area for two whole days! That is a LOT of missed opportunities. Somehow we still got all of the work that we needed to done. We had some pretty amazing things happen along the way as well.

 

Most of this week was spent on introducing Elder Sproul to all of our investigators. One particular lesson seemed to outshine the rest of them. We were teaching Fred and Lisa. Lisa is the lady who volunteered to translate for Sacrament meeting, even though she is not a member. She is also the one that wanted to get up and bear her testimony the first Sunday that she came. Anyway... So we start going over what we left them with. A couple passages from the Book of Mormon and the 4th and 5th articles of Faith. We reviewed the Gospel of Jesus Christ, teaching mainly about how we can build our faith. Lisa chimes in and says, "You know, when I read what Alma says about that seed that we need to plant in our hearts, I knew that that is what I needed to do. I think that is what we all need to do." At that point we really debated having Lisa teach the rest of the lesson, but alas, the Spirit continued to prompt thoughts so we expressed them. We led into the Restoration and shared the Joseph Smith story and discussed the Book of Mormon. We simply explained that Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ and the only way that they would ever know that that was true was if God told them it was. We then led into prayer. At about this time Lisa started to cry. We asked if she knew that what we were sharing was true. Through the tears she nodded her head saying, "I know...I know it's true." We bore testimony that only the Spirit could teach that. We invited both of them to be baptized next month. They both said that they would love to. We then talked about the rest of the lessons that we needed to go over and set up a return appointment. 

 

After the prayer, as we were leaving she said, "Before you go, can I tell you something?" Uhh...YEAH! Tell us anything that you want. She then proceeded to tell a story. "You know that one day that you and the other Elder talked to us? Well, when you found us, we had just gotten kicked out of our house. We were waiting there at our friend's house for our friend to come and pick us up. I had been praying, asking God to help us; That He would show us the way and help us out of that situation. Then you showed up. I believe that you were sent by God, and I am so thankful that He did. That is what I wanted to share with everyone in my testimony. I know that God answers our prayers." I live everyday of the mission for moments like those. It is truly a miracle that God would allow 19-22 year old kids to be the answer to someone's prayer. I echo the words of our beloved prophet when I say that there is no greater joy than knowing you were an answer to someone's prayer. I think that I cried for 20 minutes straight as we made the long drive that night to Mt. Pleasant. I will never forget the Spirit that I felt that night.

 

I will definitely have to write more at another time. Sorry, I only get an hour. Thank you so much for talking to me last night! I loved every minute of it.

 

Love,

Elder McNinch

May 7, 2012 Letter

**Disclaimer...may bring tears to your eyes so keep the tissue box close.**

Dear...Everybody,

 

This was one of the most spiritual weeks of my entire mission. I don't even really know where to start. I guess that we will start with the biggest miracle of all. Last week we were on bikes. (miracle that I survived). So you remember that lady that we found from the Marshall Islands? This is the coolest story ever. We have this senior missionary couple that comes up here to work every week. They help us with all of the new member lessons and less actives in the branch. They came up this past week and told us about an amazing contact that they had. 

They were in Walmart looking for a pair of shoes for a service project when they were contacted by a man from the Marshall Islands. He said that he was a member of the church back home, but had since not gone to church. He told them that he wasn't aware that there was even a church here. The missionary couple then asked him where and if he was going to church. He replied that since he didn't know there was a church here that he decided to start a church of his own. He and his friends and family from the Marshall Islands get together every Sunday to have "church". It was just a year ago that this man got his "preaching license" and the congregation became a recognized church in the community. 

The senior missionaries of course asked if they could go and meet everyone that attended and invited him to come back to church and see how he felt. They set a return appointment for this coming Saturday and left. After the couple had told us the story we were dumbfounded. We teach a lot of people from he Marshall Islands and heard that there was an Assembly of God church here that was all Marshallese. We have been looking for this Marshallese pastor for months. We had no idea that he was a member though! We asked the couple where the man lived. They responded that he lived on the north side of Broken Bow on Cherry Lane. I said, "Cherry? Are you sure? I don't think that there is a Cherry lane in Broken Bow." They responded that they didn't think so either. They had gone looking for it and weren't able to find a Cherry Lane anywhere in Broken Bow. I thought to myself for a second and then said, "Pretty sure that there is a Sherry Lane though. In fact some of our investigators live on Sherry. Let's go by them and see if they know this pastor." 

So off we went. We got to the house that we played volleyball at the week previous and asked the less active lady if she knew this pastor. She told us that it was her brother and that he lived in the house right next door. Amazing. So we talked to her about coming to church and inviting her brother to come with her. She happily said that she would attend with her family. I was floored. We asked more about her brother's teaching. She said that he teaches from the Bible and the Book of Mormon every Sunday and that there were 60-70 Marshallese people that attend every week. Most, if not all are non members. We then asked her where the church was. She said, " We hold our meeting in the Assembly of God church in Broken Bow. The people in that church are nice enough to let us use their building for one or two hours every Sunday." This whole time we have thought that they were an actual branch of the Assembly of God church, but turns out that they just let them use the building. Miracles are real. We are going to start meeting with this group of 60-70 every Sunday. I always wondered why we couldn't be like the missionaries in the Book of Mormon that saw such great miracles and had scores of people join the church. I cannot wait to tell you how everything plays out with this group of people.

Sunday we had 8 investigators at church, 3 of whom are new investigators from this week.. All of whom are Marshallese. We had a wonderful testimony meeting. One of the Marshallese recent converts went up and bore her testimony. It was amazing. There was not a dry eye in the room. After the meeting we went to the home of the 3 new investigators and talked to them about the meeting. One said that she absolutely loved the meeting. She asked how they picked who would go up and speak. We simply told her that anyone who wanted to go up, could. She said, "Oh really? I was going to go up there but I didn't because I thought that it was just for members." We told her that she was more than welcome to go up and bear her testimony in the next testimony meeting. She then asked if there was a translator for the Marshallese people who attended, and said if there wasn't that she would gladly help translate. We of course said that we would appreciate her help in translating. She then said, "Oh wait, do you have to be a member to do that?" Before I could even answer the question she said, "Speaking of which, how can I become a member?" Wow. Umm...Wow. Well...you're doing it right now. We explained the process and talked about a day that all three of them would like to be baptized and become members of the church. Amazing. I have never seen so many prepared people in all my mission.

 

There were so many wonderful and spiritual experiences this week. I have so many stories to tell but I am not quite sure if I can write them. I would have to ask the people who are involved if I can share their story. Some are just so personal and spiritual that I do not know if I can really describe them in an email. I will try to talk to y'all about them next week after I get their permission. 

 

 Speaking of next week, I would love to Skype on Mother's Day. Plan on me calling at about 8 o'clock Sunday night. I don't know what time that will be for y'all but pretty sure that y'all can handle figuring it out. Wish that I had more time to write but, alas, I do not. 

 

My companion is getting transferred so I will have to stay the night in Mt Pleasant, Texas and wait for my new companion to arrive tomorrow. I love all of you so much and want you to know that I miss you terribly.

 

-Elder McNinch

April 30, 2012 Letter

Hello,

 

Moving really doesn't matter to me at this point. If y'all move...well...I won't be there to help. If you don't move...I'll share a room with Patrick. It's not like I haven't shared a room with another guy for the past two years or anything. Logan's talk sounds pretty funny. I'll have to hear the story in person later. Speaking of in person, the day of Mother's is coming up, would you like me to Skype home or call. Let me know either way.

 

This week I became a "real missionary". We were on bikes. Yeah...rough. We were really low on miles for the month, therefore my bum suffered much affliction. My rear end hasn't been so sore in my whole life. It was way fun though. I loved it. We had people waving, screaming, and honking at us left and right. Most likely because I don't know the hand signals to turn left and right on a bicycle so they were all trying to get my attention before they hit me, but all is well. Not a bump or bruise. Except for maybe my tailbone; and no, I haven't checked. We have had some minor adjustments to make with some of the people who are getting baptized but, everything seems to be alright. Just got to figure a few details out and keep it moving.

 

We had the confirmation of Edith King on Sunday, April 29, 2012. It was awesome. She asked if I would be the one to confirm her a member of the church. Well YEAH! She bore her testimony again in Gospel Essentials and again I cried. She is such an amazing lady. I will definitely be sending pictures soon. In other news for the week we met some really interesting people. We were out tracting and we came upon a lady who was a little bit tipsy. She was on her 3rd or 4th glass of wine if I am not mistaken. As we proceeded to share what it is we do, she kept interrupting and talking about "the good ol' days when I [she] was hot." So, the contact wasn't really going in the direction that we wanted to, so we decided to set a return appointment for when she was not that intoxicated. Next house two young women answer the door. Tried to share things about the Gospel, but alas they were not very interested in the Gospel. I left the door to go get my companion, who was taking a phone call, to start walking back to our bikes when the two young women opened the door again. They invited us to a keg party for the local college that night and said that they would be my dates if I wanted. Ummm...No thanks...God bless! Bye! Somehow the nametag that says Jesus Christ really reads "I love to party". Whatever. On to the next door. We meet another Marshallese person. Sweet! Find out that she is sisters with someone that we have been trying to get ahold of since last month and she's a member. Sweeter. They invited us to play a game of volleyball and eat dinner. Even sweeter. Finished a plate of food and game of volleyball in just under an hour and said that we needed to go. We got the information for about 10 people who we're going to be contacting this week. Super sweet. As we are leaving I had a woman who asked, "What is your name?" I of course told her that my name was Elder McNinch and my companion's name was Elder Whicker. She asked if I knew any Elders that went by the name of Michael. I said...umm...well that's my first name. Why? Then she asked, "Are you single?" OKAY....Gotta go...BYE! Ha ha ha I have never ridden my bike so fast.

 

We had a lot of really great experiences this week but I cannot cover them all. I'll have to write about them later. I only have like 3 minutes left on the computer. Love y'all so much.

 

-Elder McNinch

April 23, 2012 Letter

Hello,

This week we helped our branch mission leader with his chicken houses. We didn't have to pick up any dead ones this time so that was nice. We did have a wonderful baptism on Sunday. Edith King was baptized April 22, 2012. She is the funniest lady that I have ever met. She was baptized by a man in the branch named Brother Melton. Brother Melton is probably the funniest man that I have ever met. Together you get the cutest little old couple that you ever did meet. We're pretty sure that they have a secret crush on one another but won't admit to it. Edith gave him a big hug in the font after she came up out of the water. It was so awesome! Another note to add is that Edith is deathly afraid of water. She nearly drown when she was a child and has had a severe fear of going under water ever since. She was a trooper. I felt her nervousness as I watched her hands shake in Brother Melton's. Then, as soon as he finished the prayer, the shaking stopped. Then before you knew it she and Brother Melton were hugging and everyone had a smile across their face. I think that my favorite part of the day was not necessarily the baptism itself but the Gospel Essentials class that was held just a few hours before. Edith answered one of the questions asked by the teacher, and then proceeded to expound on why she knew it was true. The lesson was about the Church of Jesus Christ in former days. She bore a powerful testimony of her conversion to the gospel. Of her whole testimony, the part I enjoyed the most was hearing her say, "I feel like I have been a Mormon all my life; guess it was just in my heart and I didn't know it." I LOVE those kinds of experiences. They provide you with a spirit that is unparalleled. Being a missionary is one of the greatest gifts that I have ever been given.

Other than the baptism, nothing really too exciting around here. The Branch Clerk jokingly said that he is kind of upset with us because of all of the records he has to create. He said that it is the best problem he has ever encountered since being the clerk. Don't worry, there are more still to come. We have 9 dates scheduled with another 4 to be set this week. I have never felt more apart of the Lord's work than I do now.

 

Tell Jake congrats for me. I understand his not waiting for me to be home. That is awesome. Tell him that he will have to wait a little while to be invited to my wedding. That won't be for a long time. Betcha he'll have a kid before I get hitched. Anywho...so I got a call today from the mission office informing me that you'll be getting my departure papers soon. Please do not let me know when you get them or what they say. Tell Shannon that she is a turd for not writing me for a while now, but I'm glad that she liked the card. It's the least that I could do. Tell Patrick that he is a player (baseball and ladies man) and he'll have to show me some of his skills when I get home. Tell Ryan that he's a punk and I miss his guts.

 

Much love,

Elder Michael McNinch

April 16th Letter

Hello,

 

This week was great. Yesterday we had the confirmations of all of the Pate children. Never had 4 confirmations on one Sunday before, so that was pretty cool. President Durrant called us the other day asking us about all the work that is going on here. He asked if I thought that it would be beneficial for him to call another missionary companionship to serve in the Idabel Branch. I told him that if he did we could definitely find some work for them to do. So, President sent a senior couple that is currently serving in Marshall, Texas up to "survey" the branch to see whether or not another companionship was needed. It was so fun to have them up here. We got to go and introduce them to all of our investigators from the Marshall Islands and all the families that we are teaching. They loved it up here. I hope that they give a good report to President Durrant because there is plenty of work for two companionships.

I would have to say that the best day of the week was Saturday. Even though we had 4 confirmations on Sunday, Saturday was amazing. We had the baptismal interview for a lady that we are teaching. Her name is Edith. She is a rock. We had the zone leaders come up from Gilmer to do the interview. We all drove over to Edith's friend's house to have the interview out on the porch (because we can't be in a house with no male present). Well, we thought that it would be a big waste of time if Elder Whicker and I just sat there and watched the interview being conducted from the car. So, we left Elder Fisher there to watch his companion from the car while we tracted. We went to the house right next door to the interview first. We thought that it might be awkward and all with the interview happening directly to our left, but hey, we're missionaries. We embrace the awkward. So we go to knock on the door and find that there is a young man sitting on the porch. We start talking with him and getting to know him; he's a great kid. He's sixteen and goes to Idabel High School. Turns out that he knows a few of the kids in the Branch. So we start talking to him about how they act at school and stuff and he kind of shocked himself when he realized that they were the only kids at the school that didn't smoke or drink. I just kinda chuckled to myself on that one. We then asked him who some of his hero's were in his life; people he looked up to. He mentioned his uncle who was in the Army. That was all he had to say. I had just read about Helaman and the stripling warriors (funny because Idabel High School's mascot is the warrior). We asked him if he liked reading and hearing stories from his uncle. He said that he LOVED hearing his uncle's stories. We then asked if he'd like to read some military stories from a book that we had. He of course said that he would. So we gave him the Book of Mormon, not telling him what it was, and told him that he should read that chapter and that we would be back to talk about it the next day. By the time that we left Marcus (the sixteen year old kid) with a prayer, Edith was done with her interview. With tears rolling down her face and the biggest smile I have ever seen, she came running up to me, threw her arms around me, and gave me a BIG hug. There was no stopping this woman. Her fit of joy was too much to withstand. I was hopelessly destined to be hugged. She said, "I have never been so happy in all my life. I cannot wait to be baptized. This is the true church, I know it is." I then said, "I am so happy for you Edith. But I am sure that you and I will be much happier the day of your baptism." I then motioned towards our new friend Marcus and said, "Guess what Edith? Marcus is going to start meeting with us tomorrow." She paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. Then in a shaky voice said, "You have no idea how happy you are going to be. This has changed my life forever. I am so excited for you to feel the way that I do now." It was amazing, I tell you! AMAZING! As soon as we left the porch Marcus began reading the chapter. On top of this great event, we went back to talk with Marcus after church on Sunday. He was going to come to church but got called in to work at his friend's shop. He apologized for not being able to come, but proudly delared that he had finished the chapter and couldn't wait to continue reading. He said, " That was an awesome story! What is this book? Is is like a history book?" Ha ha ha. We said that it was a history of a people that used to live here. A people that knew and loved God. We assigned Alma 43 to introduce him to Moroni and gave him the Introduction as well. We are going back to visit with not only him but his whole family on Wednesday.

 

We are seeing great blessings in this area and they are only going to continue. I love it here. Can't wait to hear from y'all next week.

 

Love,

Elder Michael McNinch

 

ps- I'm alive and well. We had a tornado almost touch down in Gilmer when I was on exchange there, but no harm done. At least not to me.

April 9, 2012 Letter

HELLO!

We had an AMAZING week. SO SO busy. I'd say that Sunday was was one of the top two best days of my mission. Well...you know that we got our investigator couple married last Monday. Well, they were baptized on Saturday. They didn't want a very large baptism so it was only the Branch Mission Leader, the Branch President, the Branch Missionaries, and yours and my favorite Brother Raymond Melton who were there. I'll have to tell you more about Brother Melton later. Or you can ask Kaitie about him. I am sure that I have shared something in our letters about that awesome man. Anyways. So Ranny and Elna Lautona were baptized on April 7th, 2012. They were the 10th and 11th baptisms for the Branch this year. After their baptisms we got to clean up and prepare for Sunday when the Pate family members were getting baptized. After much preparation we drove out to Broken Bow to visit with another investigator family. They had invited us over for dinner and dying Easter Eggs. So awesome! While we were waiting for all of the kids to finish dying their eggs, Tim (the dad) was teaching me how to rope a steer. Ha ha ha. It was great! That is way harder than I thought that it would be! After dying eggs and roping Gatorade coolers, we got to teach the egg lesson to about 10 kids that were there. They LOVED it! We picked up all of the kids and the families they belong to as potential investigators. The parents all told us that they would like to have us come by and teach them more. AWESOME! Then came Sunday. AMAZING. We started off with Ranny and Elna being confirmed in Sacrament meeting. We had 13 investigators there too! Then the day pressed on. We had a little bit of a wardrobe malfunction with all of the Pate kids, but we figured it all out. All four of the Pate children were baptized by their father after church on Easter Sunday April 8th, 2012. It was one of the most spiritual baptisms that I have ever attended. To see all but the mother and grandmother of the family dressed in white sitting in the front row will forever be one of the most vivid mental pictures of my mission. As each one of the kids came down to meet their father in the water the tears became harder and harder to withhold. Then as I watched the father pause to wipe the tears from his eyes and struggle to keep his voice from shaking before baptizing his youngest girl, it became much too difficult for me to try and maintain my manly composure. The tears just started pouring out uncontrollably. I felt so privileged to be apart of such a wonderful service. The joy that I felt for that family is indescribable. Then even more joy came when I realized that their road to the temple is much shorter than most converts. Since all of those who were baptized were children, they can be sealed in the temple in just a few short months. This is what a mission is about. This is why we do this work. That perhaps we might be the means through which God can work to unite families forever. I feel so blessed to have even met this family. To top off the whole day, following the baptism we went into the Branch President's office to witness the marriage of another couple that we are teaching. The husband said that he wants to become a member of the church. He agreed to be baptized on May 6th, 2012. Happy Mother's Day! After that wonderful lesson, we went to go stop by the family that we dyed eggs with; Just to check up with them and confirm an appointment for later this week. Well, wouldn't you know it, we got into a gospel conversation right there on the doorstep. Man, it's like we're missionaries or something. There too, the husband said that he would like to join the church. I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY! I love the people that I have to opportunity to teach and be taught by. I love feeling love for those that we teach. It is such a wonderful feeling.

So yeah...that was my amazing week. I am still kind of in shock. Don't know that I will ever really get over it. Anyways...to address your last email:

I am glad that Ryan had a good time in Hawaii, just tell him to stay away from the girls. Save all that surfer charm for after the mission. Umm, no I don't remember your friend Gregg. I am sure that they last time I saw him I was about 3 feet tall and a lot skinnier. AJ IS MARRIED!!!???!!! What the?!? When did that happen!?! He has kids too!?!? Or wait...are you talking about Steven? I know that he is married. Well...maybe you did tell me that AJ was married before...I don't know. I can't remember. I have slept since then. Yes Mother I got your wonderful package. I LOVE that little memory game. The kids that we teach love it too so thank you much. Anyways...I got to go...my hour is up on the computer. Love y'all so much.

 

-Elder Michael McNinch

April 2, 2012 letter

HELLO!!!

I'd be doing my gurl an injustice if I didn't send her a shout out first, so a big THANK YOU goes to a MIZ BUFFAY LUKEACE!!! The package that you sent made me laugh so hard! I love it. Rockin one of the ugly ties as we speak. You best be expecting a letter with pictures from yours truly soon.

Idabel is the promised land! We have had a great start to the week so far. This morning we got to be the witnesses at the marriage of two of our investigators. IT WAS AWESOME! I felt like I was doing some official business signing my name on a marriage certificate and all. Just glad that it wasn't MY certificate. It's been a really tough process helping this couple get to this point and it seems to have all paid off today. What is even better is that they are going to be baptized THIS SATURDAY!!! YAY!!! So all in all we are expecting to have 12 baptisms this month. We are pretty excited about all of it.

We met a lot of angry people this week. Bumped into more than a few disgruntled persons who blame the church for their problems. Had more than just a couple of doors slammed in our face, but all of those moments seemed to melt away with conference. The only other times of the year that missionaries look forward to beside Christmas and Mother's Day. Oh man, I loved this conference. Too many favorite talks to mention. I think that I set a personal record for notes taken at any meeting with about 8 pages front and back. Sad to think that this was my last conference in the mission, but glad to think that at the next conference I might be able to enjoy some of those wonderful pancakes, huh mom! I am really enjoying the mission at this point. Times when I thought that I was before, pale in comparison to now. I don't know what it is, but I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY. I really don't even have to think about how to share the gospel anymore, it just sort of comes out in every conversation. Maybe it goes a little something like this, "Hi. How are you today ma'am?" "Good. Howboutchew?" "Doing great, you just waiting for a ride?" "Yeah, can't wait to get home to my family." "I know the feeling. I'm sure that your family can't wait for you to get there either." "Yeah, I'd rekon that they'd like to have something to eat tonight, guess they need me for that." "Ha ha ha, I'm sure they would. Ya know, just like your family can't wait for you to come home I know that the Lord can't wait for us to come home too." I have found that ANY conversation or topic can be related or diverted into a gospel conversation. I invite all y'all who read this email to create a gospel conversation from the most random topic possible. Email me back with the starting topic and the gospel transition and I'll see if my companion and I can't one up you on the "randomness of topic" scale. It'll be fun. Please humor me...I live in the middle of nowhere.

Nothing much else to report on from this past week. No chicken farming or calf pulling to discuss, so I'll have to get back to y'all on that one. In other good news we tracted into a former investigator (investigated about 15 years ago). She took all of the lessons, believes in what the church stands for, just wasn't ever baptized. We asked her why and she said, "...I dunno?" Ha ha ha. Miracles, I'm telling you. They are my favorite thing to experience. She and her husband invited us over for dinner this next week. I'll have to get back to y'all on that one as well.

Glad to hear that my little brother is just chillin in HAWAII!!! No big deal or anything. Don't worry Ryan, I'll sweat for you! Idabel and the 90 degree heat in APRIL thank you very much. This summer is going to be a hot one folks. Just pray we don't have 100 days over 100 like last summer. For Easter I would like an elephant and a side of world peace. PSSH, I don't know what I want for Easter mom! I've been on the "six months to sexy" missionary program, so not TOO much candy please. I've been cooking some pretty healthy stuff lately. Don't ask me why I agreed to this program, just know that the Lord is the only one that is going to make it possible for me to be sustained on this green stuff. I didn't even know that half of this stuff was edible. I'm just playing, send me anything, or nothing, it doesn't really make a difference to me.

Much Love,

Elder McNinch