Sister McKenzie Tate

Hey y'all!  First of all, I hope everyone in Houston this week has kept warm somehow and survived the winter storm. Every time we contacted someone on the street this week and I told them where I was from, they were all like oh no I'm so sorry for everything that's been happening in Texas... sooo people out here in California are worried about y'all!! But we had a great week! We have continued to teach Blanca and Wilbert consistently and they are progressing well. Sadly they need to commit to get married before they can get baptized, but I know that the Lord will provide a way. We actually had a powerful lesson with them last night where we were very bold with them and helped them see why they need to make changes in their lives for this gospel. That is something that is often difficult to help people understand. But I know that the changes and sacrifices we make for Jesus Christ and His gospel to become more like Him are worth it. Our small sacrifices are ultimately mo...

  Hey y'all!!  This week we got to have exchanges which were super fun!! I got to go with Hna Stahley on bikes!! I have only ridden a bike now for 2 days on the mission during exchanges, but I kind of wish it had been more because it was SO FUN!! We got to contact a ton and found many people for them to teach! It was really fun to be with Hna Stahley who is still in training, while I am on my last transfer. I remember being in her shoes like it was yesterday!! I also got to go on exchanges with Sister Morris and it was a PARTY! That girl is seriously so fun to be around because she is so positive and grateful for even the smallest things! We were able to find many people for their area as well! It was neat because at the beginning of the day we set goals for how many people we wanted to find and miraculously at the end of the day our goals were met! I know the Lord provided us with those miracles, big and small.   Meanwhile in our area we found a new lady named Glori...

  Hey y'all!!  I don't have a ton of time but I just wanted to highlight some miracles that we were able to see this week!! First of all, lately I have been struggling to have an attitude of gratitude and deal with the daily stresses of missionary life, so I decided to take more time to thank God for the tender mercies of each day. And it has made a HUGE difference!! I have been able to recognize the Lord's hand in my life daily and see the miracles that He has blessed me with. Our personal tender mercies may not seem huge or mean that much to others, but they are simple ways that we can recognize and feel of God's love in our lives!  This week we found a lady named Mercedes!! We were actually looking for a member's house but we could not figure out which one was the right house. So we basically went tracking and knocking/ contacting from door to door looking for Hermana Rosalina. And Mercedes was her next door neighbor and actually turned out to be intere...

  Hey y'all!!  I'm sure y'all are probably sick of hearing from me by now haha, but I've come this far without missing a week in my mission sooo I'm gonna to try to endure to the end lol  This week was miracle filled for our entire zone!! We decided this week because it was the 7th week of the transfer (transfers are normally only 6 weeks) to put an extra effort to find new friends. We make a "new friend" when we teach someone a lesson after the initial contact basically. Normally our zone collectively as a whole finds about 25-40ish new friends but we worked really hard this week and encouraged each other by keeping a countdown of how many new people we needed to find in order to reach our goal. And we ended up finding 54 new friends!! It was so crazy and a real testament to me that the Lord really sees our desires and will magnify our efforts.  For us, out of all the new people we found to teach this week in El Monte, Blanca shows the most promise! S...