Elder McKay Philip Pett: Petting Whales

What's up Fam!

- driving around one night and saw a group of people throwing flame sticks in their front yard. #WelcomeToMontana BillingsEdition™

- Office staff got our stockings put up... most savage stockings ever... I got a Y picture in mine and Wells got a U one in his. #WellPlayed

--- Also got a picture of a girl "petting a whale" in our stockings... I took it one step further and did some slight photoshopping... don't know if I ever have seen the office sisters laugh so hard. I'll agree with Sister Wadsworth that it is a little strange seeing my head on a female body.

------ today's prank was us getting "bacon mints" in our stocking from Sister Baird... and we gave some to President and Sister Wadsworth, it was priceless. It's #SavageCentral in here. Those mints are disgusting lol.

------- Seems like something Jim would do to Dwight and Michael... they could honestly make a reality TV show of the office staff, they are so funny..."The Mission Office". It could be like The District but actually entertaining #ShotsFired

- so... the "Petting Whale" photo edit is officially our Christmas card and is hanging up in the mission office. #SorryMom

- Tender Mercies of the week were hearing "Old Time Rock and Roll" and "Anything but Mine" while at a gas station. "cause in the morning I'm leaving making my back to Cleveland and tonight I hope, that I will do just fine. Baby I don't see how you could ever be, anything but mine".

*I think of Elder @teambetaalpha every time I hear that song. #OCM

- Christmas conferences started last week. We travelled to Helena for that and this week we will go to the two in Wyoming and one here in Billings.

- Elder Wells and I do a lot of driving... and I think we have consumed roughly 4.8 trillion sunflower seeds this transfer. #LifeIsAHighway

- Helena Christmas conference rocked... the Bozeman Zone was there and it was a great reunion. I have missed them all a lot. If you guys only knew the adventures we had in the #BozeForce Zone.

--- while I was sitting on the stand, Elder Bennett and Elder Hunter were on the back row trying to force choke me. I struggled acting mature up there with stuff like that going on but my goodness I am so proud of them. If the only legacy I left in that zone was light saber battles and force chokes than I'm satisfied. #BozeForce

- yeah, I really love this mission. Going to these zone conferences is a good reminder how much fun it is with these missionaries. I have some solid family up here.

- 3 hour drive back from Helena was fun. We were going on an in depth analysis of Interstellar and the Gospel then our heads started hurting too much so we stopped. Also, going through the Livingston Pass in a blizzard was a lil sketchy but we survived #AchievementUnlocked.

- Friday was a piano concert that missionaries got free tickets to... I'm sure he did great but quite frankly when it comes to musical performances Elder Wells,myself, and @pettbryan have about the same attention span.

--- We were about to start a "USA USA USA" chant during his patriotic song part but then Wells and I remembered it's not the '96 Olympic Basketball Dream Team and/or Trump Rally we were watching so we refrained. We will stick to sports. #SorryMom.

That's it for last week. The 2 baptisms mentioned last email are being pushed back a few weeks, both are still good though. Then Mark Brown (not my uncle) is still set for baptism on the 17, he's awesome. His wife bore her testimony yesterday and they are one awesome family. QOTW came from their home this week as Sister Brown had to tell 3 year old Taggart "Tag, no hunting during the prayer." #WelcomeToMontana. Tag is a boss. We hunted monkeys, tigers, elephants, and dinosaurs this week after our lessons. Funny kid. He's helping me overcome my fear of raptors by killing them all. Next up: ticks.

Like I said. This week we have some more Christmas conferences and I'm pumped for those. Then we babysit the departing missionaries Friday and Saturday #TrunkFest2k16. Won't be in our area much but I'm excited to see all these missionaries. We are losing some great ones this week as they get drafted into the NLW (normal life world).

It's my favorite time of year. The traditions are different, can't watch Christmas Vacation and no camping in the cave with @pettbryan watching Bowl Season but the Christmas message is the same.

It's all about the Savior.

Everything we do in this church is because of Christ. There's a lot of stuff piled on that sometimes gets us to forget that He is the foundation of everything we do. At the end of the day every meeting, every commandment, every principle, every prayer, every scripture study, all of it, is to help us become more like Him. It's why we are on this earth, to follow his example. Focus on being more like Him, it's what the gospel is here for.

I couldn't help but think of eternal families all last Thursday and it wasn't till the end of the day that I realized it was the first of December. Eternal families are real, I'm so grateful for that. I wonder why I love and defend the Book of Mormon so much, well it's the foundation that upholds the knowledge and revelation that we can be with our family forever.

Love ya fam.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ABBY - thanks for being an awesome sister and giving me Diz and Kurt and soon to be mini-female Kurt number 2.

and of course happy birthday s/o to uncle Walt. ❤️️🐭🍗

- Elder K

Pics

* weekly selfie taken by Kayden