May 30, 2011 Letter

SORRY!!!!

 

     The email last week wasn't working so that was poopy.  I printed out the email and sent it as a letter so hopefully you will get it soon.  The Texas mail is retarded though so I don't know.

     Well this week was awesome.  We had another baptism so that was nice.  The count is now at 16 baptisms for my mission thus far.  That's almost 2 a month, which is way sweet.  The family that we have next in line for baptism is the Gonzalez's .  They are so cool.  Right now we are really working on getting them some good friends in the ward.  They would get baptized today if they felt like they had a good set of friends so we're working on it.

     The work is going really well.  My companion is going home soon so it's been kinda weird hearing him talk about the luggage situation and what not.  I just have to worry about what I am going to say on the next door step.  None of that trunky stuff for me. (Trunky is a missionary word to describe thoughts of home)  My comp isn't that trunky at all right now...which is way nice.  We still are working really hard.

     So in regards to football for Ryan...pretty much he is probably going to have to pick choir or football in the end.  Trying to schedule both is a real pain.  I had a lot of friends who did it and I did too...but you have to be way disiplined with your studies.  I say that you give him a trial period.  If he keeps his grades up and can do football and choir...all power to the kid.  I think that he could do it but he'd have to sacrifice some time with his friends.  Probably would end up having a whole new set of friends actually.  Maybe this is a good idea...ha ha ha.  I don't know.  Pray about it.  That's what I tell all my investigators and it seems to work for them.

     So this sweet family invited us to a bbq today for food and games and sports and guitar...it's going to be super fun.  Their littlest girl Reese says that she is my girlfriend.  We were over there for a family night one night and we went on a walk.  While we were walking she reached over and held my hand...well actually it was just my index finger.  Ha ha ha....just so you know this little girl is three.  Okay well I have to go so bye.

 

love,

Elder McNinch

May 16, 2011 Letter

Hello Family,

 

I am doing very well.  I am still in Texas so that's good I guess, right?  So we just got done playing a game called Acquire at the ward mission leader's house.  Definately not my kind of game.  Bunch of numbers and stock trading...not a good time really.  More just a waste of a P day.  We are going to play golf with an investigator soon so that will be really fun.

 

We have been working with this investigator for about two weeks and he is kinda on the fence right now.  He wants to believe that the church is true and feels that what we say and teach makes sense...he just doesn't want to be wrong.  He doesn't want to commit to something that he is going to be ridiculed for if in the end it wasn't right.  Obviously we know that it is right and that he shouldn't have that worry but he doesn't.  So right now we are just doing everything that we can to build up his testimony.  This past Sunday didn't really help.  He had gotten the typical anti of "Y'all worship Joseph Smith."  To which of course we said that we do not and that he should continue coming to church so that he could understand that.  Well, Sunday came around and the opening hymn just happened to be "Praise to the Man".  Awesome.  Then two of the talks were given by members who talked about how they came from pioneer families who were related to, you guessed it, Joseph Smith, whom they felt so privelaged to have a distant tie to....AWESOME...Then to top it all off the closing hymn was "Joseph Smith's First Prayer".  This day just keeps getting better and better.  Then on top of Joseph Smith Sunday, the lesson in Gospel Priciples was on eternal marriage.  The teacher for whatever reason decided to teach about how eternal marriage was necessary for exaltation.  So instead of clarifying that we do not worship Joseph Smith it only made it worse and then for an added bonus threw in eternal marriage, exaltation, and man's potential to be like God.  Sweet...needless to say we have our hands full with what to teach this man.  We love him so much and we are so excited to see him and his family get baptized.  They all have a sincere desire but are just afraid that they don't understand enough.  I'll tell you more about them later. 

 

So I hope that Shannon does get back into Concert Choir.  You need to remind Mrs. D about the cd's I asked her to send to me.  Just go into the choir room one day and say that you are there on behalf of me.  Talk to her about the cd's I asked of her in my letter and see if you can get them and send them to me.  I would appreciate that very much.

 

Tell Shannon that I am very sorry for not being able to send her present this week.  I promise that it is coming....along with a letter =).  Tell her not to worry about being popular or having a ton of friends.  If you don't make enemies you automaticallly make friends.

I would have to agree with you mom, Vietnamese food is not very good.  I had some last week.  We walked in and there were shrines all over the house.  We weren't quite sure if they were members but...what the heck...I'm hungry.  So we sit down at the table and there it is...a plate of some kind of noodles with a rather large pile of eggs in the middle.  I don't know what kind of eggs or noodles they were and frankly...I don't want to know.  I cannot accurately describe how it tasted but I know that if I dipped it in the toilet it probably would have tasted a little bit better.

 

Well I will write you more next week...we had two baptisms this past weekend so I'll write you all about those next week.  Love you all very much and thank you for all your support.

 

love,

 

Elder McNinch

 

ps- Tell the children that they are not allowed to wear my shoes.  I don't mind the clothes SO much but I don't want them to wear out my shoes or my hoodies.  I would like to have nice things when I get back.  So tell Ryan that his big feet will have to find another home.  Tell them to save up money to buy shoes of their OWN!!!  That's what I had to do.

May 2, 2011 Letter

Hello,

 

My Easter was very nice.  I had a lot of really cool stories from that weekend...BUT none of them compare to what happened on Saturday last week.  I got to meet Elder Flukiger of the sixth quorum of the seventy, Elder Rasband of the presidency of the first quorum of the seventy, and (drum roll please)... ELDER DALLIN H. OAKS OF THE QUORUM OF THE 12 APOSTLES!!!  It was the coolest experience ever!!!  All of them had some pretty deep insights to talk about.  We got to take a huge picture with all of them and then got to shake each one of their hands.  When I got to Elder Oaks he looked at my name tag and grabbed it.  I was so worried that he was just going to take my tag from me...but he holds it and says, "Elder...how in the world do I say your name?"  Ha ha ha ha.  I love it.  So I talked with him for about ten seconds about the origins of our ever so weird last name and he said, "Well Elder, I am glad we got some good Scott-Irish blood in the Texas Dallas Mission." ....okay?....thanks Elder Oaks.  But really it was an amazing meeting.  One of the missionaries in my district recorded it so we are going to transpose it to text.  That will be sooooo cool!!!

 

Well so I don't know if I told you this but last week we had a baptism.  That was pretty awesome.  I am printing off pictures this week and hopefully will be able to send them in the next letter.  To answer a couple of your questions...

 

- yes I got the package and I lub it

- no I don't think that I would be able to go to the the BYU game Brent. My president likes me but not that much.  ha ha ha.

- Yes i will skype you.  It will be around 7:00 pm your time on Sunday night.  I don't know how all of that works but we will figure it all out.  Email me y'alls number again so I can call and figure it out next week.

-  Tell Shannon to stop being so weird and just do normal teenage things.  No more food fights.

- Tell everybody that I love them as well.  I miss all of you very much.  I will talk to you more next week.

 

LOVE,

 

Elder McNinch

April 25, 2011 Letter

Hello,

 

     Yes I did have a good easter.  I had steak for dinner so yes that was a very good meal.  I have not got the package yet but every time I say that in a letter I get it that day...so I should be getting your package today.  Tell Shannon to write me back.  She is a poop head.  I am not going to send her her birthday present until I hear from her.

     I am sorry to hear that Pappaw passed.  He was an awesome man.  I wish that I got to know him better.  Please send my regards to Grandma and Grandpa.  Tell her that everything is alright and he is well taken care of.  I know that they miss him a whole lot, but heavenly father missed him a lot more.  He was more than an amazing missionary in this life and I could not imagine him being any different in the next.

     Man, Patrick sounds like a funny character.  I miss you guys a lot.  No one here gets my jokes.  Ha ha ha.

     So I forgot to tell you that I had to sing in a ward in the stake I'm in on Sunday.  It went pretty well but that is not what was cool.  I saw a man there that was in my first area.  His name is brother Rios.  When I first met him he and his wife were going through a divorce.  It was a really rough situation.  I remember going over to his house for dinner and sharing the infamous "message" at the end of dinner appointments.  I remember reading out of 4 Nephi and talking about the love of god.  Then went to John where perfect love casteth out all fear.  Well now six months later he said that he had read those verses over and over again and it dawned on him...his wife didn't know that he loved her.  He did everything he could to show her that he was willing to work it out.  It took six months but they did fix it.  When I saw him in the church he ran up to me and gave me a hug and all he said was,"Thank you.  I have my family back and I don't know how it happened, but thank you."  It was an awesome experience.  I love seing that joy in people's faces.  That is the greatest feeling in the world.  I will do anything and everything I can to see that joy in someone's eyes.

     Tell Shannon that if she is going to punch someone to wear a lot of rings. =)  I don't mind if she punches boys.  Look at it this way mom, if she is punching them that means that she isn't kissing them.  Anyways, the work is grand.  I love this zone that I am in though...everyone here is like a best friend.  I miss you all a lot...please write.  I love you Patrick, I love you Ryan, I love you Shannon, I love you Mom, I love you Dad.

 

Love,

 

Elder McNinch

April 4, 2011 Letter

"YOU DESACRATE THE HOUSE OF GOD!"

     Loved the quote from Knight's Tale.  Oh and the pebble one is Ever After obviously.  So this week we are emailing at this member's home that missionaries live with in our zone.  She is the nicest lady ever.  We do laundry over here and we email.  Ballin!  So  I was talking with this member and she was saying that her son was serving the Tacoma Washington Mission.  I was like NO WAY!  That's where Jordan is!  So turns out that her son is the assistant to the president there and knows Jordan pretty well.  Small world.

     This week wasn't half bad.  We have had so many appointments cancel on us it wasn't even funny.  Then again conference was this week so that made up for it.  This conference was pretty interesting.  The Saturday sessions were pretty straight forward and general but then Saturday night came and priesthood was like BAM!  OATH AND COVENANT BAM!  It was so cool.  The presidency gave the last three talks and it was awesome.  I almost peed in my pants from the excitment.  The apostles are getting more and more funny from the pulpit.  President Eyring and President Monson were the funniest in priesthood.  "If you haven't read the Book of Mormon...READ IT!" - President Monson  Ha ha ha I was dying.  Definately put a new emphasis on the priesthood and made me study it out more.  It is amazing how much the scriptures contain and we just don't read into it.  I loved how they related the priesthood to a school or an institute of God.  That was pretty awesome.  I think that it was Uchtdorf that said the preisthood is a training for our potential as sons of God.  That was pretty deep.  Hahaha.

     The highlight of this week was obviously conference.  Other than that I have nothing much to report on.  The work is way fun.  I think that this is the one time in my mission that I am actually excited to tract.  Ha ha ha you just meet so many people that are absolutely insane it's great.  I love being here.  It is hilarious.  I did receive my ipod so thank you very much.  I enjoy listening to my piano concertos while doing my work outs.  =)  Please thank Kami for the package.  I was in dire need of sweets.  Well.. maybe not...I think that I am at 180 lbs right now...maybe I'll save those for later.  Okay...love you bye!

 

Love,

 

Elder McNinch

 

ps- shirt size is 16. =)

 

Quote: "Buzz's girlfriend, wuff!"

March 21, 2011 Letter

OH MAN,

Being a zone leader is a little bit crazy.  We have to turn in numbers every week for the zone and that takes forever.  Numbers are just all of the things that we keep track of in each of the districts.  Like lessons taught, new investigators for the week, etc.  It's kind of a big pain.  Every Sunday night I can expect to stay up til about 12.  Dumb.  The zone is way cool though.  This is the first time that I have ever had sisters in my district so that is kinda weird.  I feel like I am not supposed to talk to them or something.  Anyways...so I am in a city named Garland.  It is pretty much like Henderson except a little more ghetto.  The people are way awesome though.

Okay so the cool story.  It's not as cool as it could have been but still really cool.  So when I had just gotten to Longview I kept having dreams about this kid in my last area.  His name is J.  J is like 13 and hadn't been baptized yet.  His family was going through a rough patch and went inactive when he was turning 8.  Since then the family had been coming back to church but J didn't want to be baptized.  He had gone through about six sets of missionaries all telling him that he needed to be baptized and he just didn't want to.  Well . . . I got there and we started talking and got along really well.  He is really into guitar and loves music so we would go over there I would play guitar with him and Elder Harrison would teach the rest of the family a lesson.  Well...I got transferred to Longview.  Like I said I kept having dreams about this kid and I was impressed that I should write him a letter about being baptized.  I told him about my life and how I came to know that the church was true and how I probably didn't know what it felt like to have 12 different missionaries come in and tell me I need to be baptized but that I new what it felt like to be pushed or pulled.  I told him that if he ever was going to be baptized that it was absolutely his choice and that he should study it out for him.  Not for me, Elder Harrison, not for Elder Frost, or Elder whoever.

I received a letter back about a month later and he said that he appreciated the letter that I had sent.  He said that he would study it out and do all that he could to find out if it was all real.  To do it for himself and not for anyone else.  At the end of the letter it said...

PS-  I don't know when yet, but I would like to invite you to my baptism.

SO COOL!  AH! I was freakin out!  I have never been so happy in my life!  So for a while we were trying to figure out how I could be there to baptize him but it didn't work out.  There is a rule in the mission that you are not allowed to go back to an area to baptize so whatever.  He is getting me a program from the baptism and a picture.  I think that Elder Grondel is the missionary that is there right now so that is way cool.  I was just really glad that I listened and felt the impression to write that letter.  It is pretty cool the way the spirit works sometimes.

Anywho.  This new area is broken and Elder Hall (my zone leader when I first came out who is now my companion) and I are called to fix it.  That is straight from the mouth of our mission president.  This area is awesome though.  The members feed us everyday and come out on splits every night.  I have never taught so many lessons in my mission.  I am just really happy where I am at in my mission now.  I feel like there has to be some bad news coming or something to knock me off my spiritual high place.  We'll see this next week.  We have right now seven new investigators and a possible baptism date so I am way pumped.  The stake president and the bishop here are big time on missionary work and that is almost never the case.  Alright well I gots to go now.  I do hope that the package comes soon because that would be really awesome.

Love,

Elder Michael McNinch

PS-  there is a family here named the Sisomphou's (sis umm poo).  That has to be the coolest name that I have ever heard in my life.  We also drive the coolest car in the mission.  2010 Ford Fusion.  So tight...very fast.  Love ya!

 PPS- Just send all my stuff to the mission office address (13747 Monfort Drive).  I am so close to the mission office that it will get here really fast now.

March 15, 2011 Transfer Day

Michael's new address will be posted as soon as we get it. Until then...here are some pics of him from Transfer Day. (Pictures downloaded from Texas Dallas Mission Facebook Page)

In this last one I think he is whistling Dixie. It's just got to be a requirement in Texas ;)