December 5, 2011 Letter

Hola,

This week was an interesting one for Elder Jones and I. It has now rained for 3 days straight. Makes tracting super fun. Other than that everything else has been pretty typical. We have some really exciting news that I will have to address at the end of my letter.
We had heard from some youth in the ward, as well as missionaries in Prosper, that there was a kid who lived in the ward boundaries that wanted to take the discussions. The kid's name is Hunter Lions. His father is getting baptized in one of the Prosper wards. His lives with his mother in our boundaries. The only problem with this wonderful referral was that we had no idea where he lived. No one did. The Elders in Prosper tried to talk to the dad about it, but he never told them. So we said, what the heck...we'll find him ourselves. So we had heard from a kid in the ward that he lived behind some apartments on the very east part of our area. We have tracted there about a billion times before. We have talked to everyone on every street in that neighborhood. Well, we decided that it was our best bet and that we should just tract it all out anyway. We said a prayer and just asked that we be able to find Hunter. That's when it started to pour. No lie, I had no sooner ended the prayer when thunder crashed and big ol' fat rain started coming in sideways. ("Sting-ing rain, big ol' fat rain, rain that flew in sideways, and rain that even seemed to come up from the ground!") We decided to push through it, hoping the Lord would answer our prayer. After about the first three doors slamming in our face and watching a hawk fly down and take out this squirrel about 10 feet away from me we came to the fourth house. Knocked on the door, soaking wet, shoes filled with water, kid comes to the door and the first thing that my companion says is, "Please say that you're Hunter!" Ha ha ha. He said, "Well yeah I am Hunter. Hunter Lions." So we found Hunter, exchanged information, and set up a lesson schedule. It was great. We decided that we should tract the rest of the street because it would be a wasted to just tract 4 houses of a street. Well...we should have quit while we were ahead. Not a single person after that answered the door. Ha ha ha good times on the mission.

So last week on Preparation Day I almost broke my ankle. I rolled it again. Really bad. I had to go and get it x-rayed it was so bad. The doctor said that the only reason that I didn't break it was because I had rolled it 4 months ago and the ligaments were already stretched. I felt like the cowardly lion calling Sister Durrant up to tell her that I had rolled it again. She didn't even have to ask what I was doing. She just simply asked, "Elder McNinch, what did you learn from this?" I really had nothing to say. I just kind of sighed and hummed on the other end of the phone for awhile and then she said, "Now Elder McNinch, I would hope that you won't be back out on that basketball court anytime soon." I said, "Yeah it'll probably be awhile before I can get back out there." She said, "And by awhile you mean when you get home off your mission, right?" "I...uhh...I guess...yeah...that's what I meant." "Good. Thank you so much for calling and I hope that you all have a great day." Ha ha ha. Yeah so definitely got banned from playing basketball for the rest of my mission. Sad days.

These next weeks are going to be awesome! This is the exciting news that I was waiting to tell you about. Drum roll please?!?! We get to have a Christmas party as a mission on the 23rd of December; AND on the 30th when BYU comes to play in the bowl game at SMU we get to go!!! Y'all will see me on TV! Ha ha ha my companion and I are so excited. It'll be great. So watch for me at the game. I'll be the one in white shirt and tie with a sign. (good luck)

Isn't Sister Hermansen's daughter like 12. Umm...yeah...that's kind of weird. Glad to hear that Dad got a new car. That must be nice. It doesn't smell like smoke like the last one does it? Don't worry about my transportation when I get home. Elder Sinclair says that he has an extra 1980's moped that he and I will fix up for me. It'll be great. Alright well I got to go. Hope that you have an awesome week and I love y'all very much.

-Elder McNinch

October 17, 2011 Letter

Hey!

Sub for Chap huh? That must have been interesting. I don't think that I could ever take a foods class. That's about as fun as sitting in the High Priest's Group....well...actually...sitting with the High Priests is hilarious. I will have to tell you about our High Priest Group in Garland. Oh dear it was great.

A new Footloose? Are you serious? That's so weird. Man, everything is changing. Jordan is home. Zach is home. Mitchell is coming home. Jessica is prego. Goodness. I don't even know what is going to happen next.

So this week was pretty uneventful. Both I and my companion have been sick so we are trying to work through it. It's kind of funny actually. We will be at a door and totally pretending like we are fine. You know, all bright eyed and what not. Then after they shut the door were like coughing up our lungs and sniffling. It makes us laugh.

 

Glad that Zach is doing good. Is he weird or the same? I bet you that Jordan is a lot different. I can't wait to see them again. Well...I can...but you know what I mean. I got a letter from Rachel the other day. That girl is hilarious. Do talk to her much? you should. She always talks about Aruba in her letters to me.

 

Oh dear, Sister Borden. I love her! Ha ha ha. Ask her about the hair spray incident she had. It was totally my fault but I had forgotten that I had left it there. Kaitie told me about it in one of her letters.

 

Speaking of letters...Shannon...I thought that you were going all high tech on me and going to email every week? What's up now sis? Where is the love poopsie?

 

Living with the Barnhouse family is amazing. Yes Dad to answer your question it is Greg and Diana Barnhouse. They are so funny! Brother Barnhouse kind of reminds me of Syl. Like a young version of Syl. Just that type of humor. Sister Barnhouse is the nicest lady in the whole world. She is also a bomb cook! Holy Bible her cooking is great. Both of them can cook. It's like watching a tag team wrestling match but it's in the kitchen and you eat their opponent at the end. In short, " It's d best!" - Nacho Libre

Other than that there is not much to report on. We taught a lesson at a dinner appointment the other day and the investigators didn't know that we can't hug girls. The mother surprise attacked me so I kinda just gave her an awkward pat on the back. Then I saw the terror in my companion's eyes as their 15 year old daughter came in for a huge hug. He shriveled up, tucked his arms in, and squealed like he was about to cry. It was hilarious! I about peed myself.

 

Anyways...missionary work is as grand as ever. I love being a missionary.

Love,

Elder McNinch

October 3, 2011 letter

Dearest family,

Yes yes yes. We had 4 investigators at church last week and had 5 come to sessions of General Conference (I would write more about general conference but I do not have nearly enough room on one email to tell y'all how much I loved every minute of the sessions) One of our investigators is from Zimbabwe. Her name is Yolanda and she is getting baptized on Saturday the 8th! So exciting. She came here to come and take care of her kids that she hadn't seen for five years. Now when she was in Zimbabwe she had taken the lessons from the missionaries but she left before her scheduled baptismal date. It was the only day that she could get her ticket that would work with her visa. So she left and came here...Now she's going to be baptized here! Ha ha ha. I love that miracles that you see on your mission. My companion and I have been praying really hard to find someone who is prepared so that we can show the Zone that it is possible to find, teach, and baptize in a rich area. Then Yolanda sent her information through the referral center in Salt Lake and we got it the next day.

Awesome.

So that's Yolanda. She is awesome.

Next cool thing that happened this week was the quicenerra (forgive me if the spelling is wrong. If you didn't figure out what I am talking about by now it is the party for a 15 year old Hispanic girl) so the people that we are teaching invited us to go to the party. Well...I knew that those parties were kinda crazy and most of the time they ended when everyone passed out from consuming too much alcohol...but still they persisted...so we went. It was Saturday night right before the priesthood session of conference. We went into the ballroom and...yeah. The music was alright...just not the music video that was playing on the rather large flat screen in the middle of the room. The family invited us to sit down at their table and they could clearly see by the expression on our faces that the music video was inappropriate. Ha ha ha. so they went and turned it off for us which was cool. Let me tell you that the food was amazing. That came next. So so so so good! Then came our time to shine. We walked out to the middle of the dance floor and set a chair in the middle for the girl, Mariah. Asked her who she would like to give the blessing and she pointed to me...great...about 100 non members...priesthood blessing by the spirit...great.

The blessing went well. We then started teaching right off the bat. We started teaching about the For Strength of Youth and what it means to be pure...pretty much just taught the Law of Chastity to everyone that was there. We told them who we were and what we do. We left them with 100 pamphlets and our name and phone number. After we finished they gave us a standing ovation. Ha ha ha. It reminds me now of Elder Eyring's talk about speaking at the university and being told that he wasn't going to be able to be a witness of Christ at the ceremony. I had my doubts about teaching at a quincenerra but it turned out great. They loved it.

Yes yes yes it is more than fine that missionaries play my guitar...just let them know that if they break it my heart will also break and then they will have to buy me a better one.(guitar not heart). Ha ha ha glad that y'all got to watch the video of the Ver Hoef girls. Aren't they the cutest girls ever!?! That was so much fun.

I did not get the g's yet but I sure hope that I do...sometimes packages are stolen off of the porches here. So yeah...the guy who steals that package is in for a rude awakening. No electronics in that one buddy. Just a bunch of underwear. Joke's on you now!

Tell Shannon that Homecoming is dumb.

Tell Dad to not get any more of those Cataracts. Those are bad news.

I am so pumped for the Star Valley temple! You know that we are going there when I get back!

I'll make a list of the songs that I want from choir and I will send them to you. That way there is no mistake. Okay? Okay. Love y'all very much...BYE!

-Elder McNinch

September 26, 2011 letter

Hey!

2000 referrals! You gotta be kidding me! That's so sweet! And I would definitely have to agree that Blue Bell is the bomb! That stuff is a missionaries best friend. So so so good!

So I am short on time so I will give y'all a recap of the best day of the week...yesterday. so the Sunday started off and we had a whopping 4 investigators at church. That is like unheard of here in Frisco. My companion and I were asked in the last Ward Council meeting," So...what is going on here? How are there this many people that y'all are teaching?" I seriously think that that was the best question that I have been asked on my mission. Well besides the famous," So...how do I go about getting baptized?"- David Vasquez, Longview, Texas. It was awesome. Sacrament meeting was great. A little awkward but great. So it was awkward because one of our investigators is 18 and happens to be a very beautiful daughter of our Heavenly Father. No...I am not attracted to her but she is beautiful nonetheless. So we are walking in to the chapel in a line. Me, my companion, Logan (who happens to be friends with this girl we're teaching), then the girl that we are teaching. Somehow before we sat down my companion wandered off and sat next to another investigator, and the girl and Logan switched spots. So now I am sitting right next to her and all three of us are in the middle of the pew in between two families. So there is no chance to change seats or anything because of the family blockades of about 8 children each on either side...so here I am...sitting next to an attractive young woman...without a companion. Great. You have no idea how many double takes I got from the members that were looking around the congregation. After the meeting I had to go around and have Logan introduce her as his friend as to be certain that rumors did not spread. I AM NOT A FLOOSY MISSIONARY!

 

Sacrament was great. It was the primary program so all of the investigators loved it. Sunday pressed on and we had a pot luck for the 3rd ward after church. We had 4 investigators show up to that as well...which was awesome. The members were just swarming them, showing them around the building, introducing them to the other members, again...awesome. After the pot luck we were supposed to go to a Ward Mission Leader Training but when we got there it had apparently been cancelled and no one told us. We went to ask a man that was in the gym where everyone was and he introduced himself as Elder Roberts. So instead of going to a training for 2 hours we got to meet a member of the Seventy...not too shabby of a trade. We then had an extra hour of time to go out and work that we had not planned for so we decided to go by all of the people that we had invited to church but didn't come. We stopped by this one family...knocked...no one...knocked again...still no one... My companion says, "I think that we might have to drop them Elder." Just then the door springs open. She is so excited to see us. So we chew the fat for a minute or two and then she says," I need y'alls help." ...uh okay... "My daughter's quicenerra is coming up and we don't have anyone to pray over her at the beginning, would y'all mind doing that?....uh...NO, we would LOVE to do that! So we got it all arranged and everything and then my companion asked do you want us to do the blessing at the beginning? "Yeah, that would be great. After the blessing, if it's not too much trouble, would y'all mind speaking on purity? That's the whole theme of her party this year." ...Uhhhhhh... NO, we'd LOVE to speak about purity at a bithday party about purity in front of about 50 kids. We asked her if it would be okay to bring a pamphlet for each of the kids that they could take home. She LOVED the idea1 Said that we should definitely do that. Ha ha ha so on Saturday after conference we are going to give a blessing and teach 50 or so kids about the For Strength of Youth pamphlet. Ha ha ha. It'll be so fun.

 

Welp...that's all folks...love ya!

- Elder Michael McNinch

Michael making beautiful music

Letter from a member

Hi Anne,

We have loved having your son here in our ward. He came in just after we moved here from Utah, so we were both new to the ward. You have definitely raised a great young man and we are glad to have worked with him.

I do have a video of him playing and singing to my kids. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQv00NkzFwE

If you look at my videos on youtube you can see another one with his former companion Elder Hall doing the same thing. I wish I had thought of doing videos earlier and posting them, cause I will do it from now on for all the missionaries (gives the families a chance to see their kid in action).

I hope you enjoy.

On a side note... Look for a new family in your ward by the names of Joseph and Jenn Watson. They are dear friends of ours from Provo and I am under the impression that they are in your ward. Tell them hello from us if you meet them.

Thanks!

September 19, 2011 Letter

Hello,

So I saw brother Woodrum just the other day. We were going to our stake president report and he was in the meeting just before we were called in. I saw him down the hallway and was like, "Brother WOODRUM!!!". He was so stunned. It was pretty funny. I should be going into his ward for exchanges soon so I will definitely send you some pictures.

I am so glad that Bobby served a mission. What is he doing with his life now? Going to school? Married? Speaking of marriage...has Jake tied the knot with that model chick that he was dating yet? I am dying to know. Everyone and their dog is getting married. Jordan Reese is married, Megan Reed is married, and there's like 4 other people from high school that are engaged. Crazy stuff.

Y'all will definitely have to tell me how your Houston trip went. I am excited to hear how many referrals will be given out. That is always my favorite statistic. I'll will probably end up getting some of those referrals here too. That would be so cool.

So my Walmart bike is shot...go figure. It's pedal will no longer attach to the bike. The whole thread is stripped. I called the warranty place and they asked me all sorts of questions and I really didn't know how to answer. Then we got to the point in the conversation where I had to give them my address and I was just about to be transferred so I didn't know where I was going so I just told the lady that I'll cancel this one and just return the bike when I get to my new area. She said fine and hung up the phone. Well...apparently she didn't because I just got a check in the mail for $160...uh...yeah. This is going to take a while to resolve.

Other than that everything here is just groovy. I love being here in Frisco. We are currently teaching two couples, and two families (one of 4 and one of 5). It is the greatest thing ever. Turns out if you do a little service, people are a lot more willing to listen to you...wiod. It's like that's what missionaries are supposed to do or something.

I am really trying to figure out how I want to highlight my scriptures. You think that being out this long I would have already figured that out...but I haven't. I have been too scared to highlight anything because it is all soo good. So I did a test chapter highlighting different pieces of doctrine for the different lessons in different colors...not such a good idea. Second Nephi 2 is now just one big blotch of color. I am convinced that is one of the best chapters ever written in any book. Lehi's testimony at the end is so powerful. He sums up everything that he has said into the last 3 verses to create the perfect testimony to his family. Not to mention his precursor to the whole oratory in the first 8 or so verses. (I'm at the library without my scriptures otherwise I would reference directly).

To sum up this past week into one word it would MEETINGS. We had like 3 or 4 meetings throughout the week and they were all in Dallas. That burnt up so many of our miles we are like scrapping to conserve for the rest of the month. I really did enjoy all of the meetings though. I took a lot of notes so they must have been good. I think that President Durrant is probably the most charitable being on the face of this whole Earth. Everything that he does, he does with love. At first I was really opposed to this whole lovey dovey missionary bonding thing. Just go out and work already!!! But it's kind of growing on me. It's kind of sad really. I thought that Texas was supposed to make me really rough and tough...really it's just made me the big boob that cries at every testimony meeting. Anyways... I love the Lord and I love His work. I am as happy as I have ever been and more. This church is TRUTH because it is His.

Love,

Elder Michael McNinch