Elder McKay Philip Pett: Be Better

What's up Fam!?!?!

- so the hike last week was sweeeeeet. Still snowy but it was fun. We will be going again soon when the weather is better so I'll take some pics then.

- while on the hike, Brimley (my Disney nerd elder) and I were having a deep doctrinal conversation on which Disney characters we would want to share the gospel with. I put a lot of thought into this as you could imagine... Obviously Belle cause I wanna #WifeThatGirl, then I went with Nemo/Marlin & Carl Fredrickson. Eternal families all the way!!!

- So there's this dude named Wizard that has a portable keyboard that he takes around playing on Main Street. We get to jam out to him during our lunch hour since we live on Main. Don't really know how to describe Wizard other than... If Filmore from cars was a person it'd be him. Such a cool guy.

- Show up to our ZLC and Meinhardt (the one who knows @teambetalpha) and I were wearing matching ties. That was a big deal.

- Brace yourself for this one... I know I #Goals a lot... But this is the ultimate #Goals... So we show up to a nursing home to check on a member and she isn't there... They must have been extending arts and crafts time by 4 hours that day... ;) ... Well we are on the second floor walking back to the elevator and Metcalf and I hear a pretty familiar sound... Couple seconds go by and we hear it again. Almost simultaneously (#Unity) we say "are those sounds from a Wii???". We obviously haven't heard a Wii in a while and didn't expect to hear one in a nursing home. So we go over to the edge and look down onto the first floor. Next thing I know I am witnessing a elderly gentleman in a wheel chair cussing up a storm as he misses a 3 foot birdie putt on Wii golf (imagine a 90 year old Happy Gilmore). We just busted up laughing! That's what life is all about, make the most of what you have. I want that to be me in 70 years... Just with cleaner language.

- this weeks BoM reading jam sesh over at Josh's house featured "Jamie's crying" "won't get fooled again" "don't stop believing". Solid line up right there.

- out street contacting Saturday morning and we meet this young mom and are talking with her then we hear a loud scream come from a kid... I thought someone died haha... Next thing we know a bunny comes booking it around the corner of the house with 2 dogs and 2 cats coming in hot. One of the kids must have let it out. The mom yells "GET THE BUNNY!"

#OperationIsAGo #RetrieveTheSpecialCargo

Next thing you know... 2 dudes in shirts and ties are sprinting with cats and dogs to get this bunny. We got the hostiles locked up in the yard then went #StealthOps to find the special cargo. Found Cookie hiding in a corner behind some cinder block and got him out. Proud to say he didn't try to bite my thumb off like that field mouse did when Christensen and I captured it last September. Nobody makes me bleed my own blood. But ya, it was fun. Go Mormons.

#BunnyIsSecured #SpecialCargoRetrieved #CrisisAverted #LightTheU #ChurchIsTrue

- So our boy Greg I have told you all about runs the chess club at the school. We decided to go check it out and Greg had us play some of his students... I got wrecked haha. These kids were awesome, we had a lot of fun. Then later that night we had Greg come teach the merit badge for chess at young men's. Josh was there also so we technically had 2 investigators there! It was so much fun! We set up a bracket #MormonMadness and Josh challenged me on in the first round. I beat him but we played again... And this time it was a little different. We were making up our own rules on what pieces can do so we had Jet packs, exo suits, light sabers, spawn kills, quick scoping going on, all that stuff. It made absolutely no sense but we were laughing so hard. Such a fun night, can honestly say I have probably gone to young men's more on my mission than back home haha. #SorryMom #WednesdayNightRecBall

- We gave a blessing to a LA a few weeks back before she took a college exam, then they invited us over for dinner this past week. She was telling us how much the blessing helped, how we said something that really got her through not just the exam but through the last week. I never remember what I'm prompted to say in blessings, but she did. I'm so grateful for the Priesthood, wow my testimony in it has been strengthened out here. You can feel the person's faith as words come to your mind and I love it. I just love this family too. She reminds me of Nancy Pereira and her husband rocks the most classy looking pony tail I have ever seen #GibbsStatus. He loves trains (showed them a pic of the village in grandmas basement and he was really impressed) and he wants a remote control air plane but she won't buy him one... Sounds like someone... (@pettbryan). I told them once I get a drone for my go pro I'll bring it up and we can fly. I just love them! They fed us ribs and great odins Raven... Told them if I ever date I'm bringing her up to see how she handles their ribs as a potential #WifeThatGirl requirement and they are all in haha. Before we left, the husband (not a member) told us how much he values who we are and what we do. I think I have said this like 3 times already, but I love this family. They feed us, they comfort us, they look out for us, they give us huckleberry jam (which is amazing btdubs). One of those families I'm gonna have a strong connection with for a long time.

- Lol, this is a good one... So a lot of missionaries have some pretty revelatory dreams. Heck, Christensen would teach me about the Book of Mormon in his sleep, #ProudTrainer. Well... And then there's Elder Pett's dreams... I dreamt one night this week I was sharing the gospel to Greg Popovich... It was like during half time and I'm interviewing him about what he thinks of the gospel...

"coach, how does it feel knowing the gospel has been restored through a modern day prophet?"

... "Good."

"What are you planning on doing to stay on track in the gospel so you can have an eternal family?"

... "Play better"

Yep. You know you are becoming consecrated when you dream about missionary work... With a future NBA Hall of Famer. YouTube a Greg Popovich half time interview if this made no sense.

- Started reading Alma again this week. You know those butterflies you get when an episode of 24 starts and Jack Bauer says "the following takes place..." I get those same butterflies when I open up Alma and read the chapter heading. Such good stuff in the book of ABRO.

- So we had dinner over at the Equatores. It escalated quickly... We are talking about guns and the dad asks what our input is on self defense...

*** So I turn to alma 14:35 "and they have taken up arms to defend themselves, and their wives, and children, and their lands."

--- This got the dad and boys super hyped up (the mom, only female in the house, just sat there shaking her head while giving me that "do you realize what you have just started" look). So for the rest of dinner we were talking about modern day self defense and scripture. Cuttin off arms (Ammon) slings and rocks (David) javelin to the heart (Teancum) cutting off a guys head then putting on his clothes (Nephi). It escalated quickly haha, only for self defense purposes though, we aren't total psychopaths. Then we got spiritual and had a cool lesson on the Holy Ghost with them, I love the Equatores, they remind me of the Thackeray's. Anthony is just like my boy Will. #HailHydra

- we were talking to this guy and he was telling us how everything on the news is depressing and evil, he said that someone needs to come up with a news station about only good things... BRUH!!! RON BURGUNDY DID IT IN ANCHORMAN 2!!!

- Elders Quroum invited us to join in on their March Madness bracket challenge. I don't have a clue what's going on but heck freakin ya!!! It's funny... A year ago at Alexis's baptism the zone leaders looked at me like I was speaking blasphemy when I brought up March Madness with them... A year later and I'm still filling out a bracket... Am I a bad zone leader!?!?

- had elk again at the Della Silva's... This time in the form of taquitos. #ILikeFood

Ya, that was the week!!! Work is good here in #HamTown. We are finding plenty of people to talk to but no one wants to commit and really try it out which is a little tough, #OnwardEverOnward. A lot of people think religion is a bunch of Bologna...

Ok time for a rant, #BuckleUp, I'm sick of this excuse of "you just convince yourself it's true cause it makes you feel good... The Holy Ghost is really just yourself trying to convince you there is a God..." Ahhh heck no. People, the gospel can be a warm and fuzzy feeling, I'm not denying that, but it's not some feeling you just convince yourself of. Its not some common calm and peaceful feeling you just dream up. The gospel offers a feeling far different than any feeling the world can offer, a feeling so powerful that truly only a member of the Godhead can bring it unto you, not something you just make up.

Ya, there are things in the world that make you feel good. I'll admit that I feel warm and fuzzy inside when the worker at Disneyland hands me a turkey leg, or when I see Tom Hackett punt a football, or when I complete a shovel pass on NCAA football for a touchdown... BUT that is 100% different than the feeling you get when you see Brian Robison baptize his family, or when you baptize one of your friends, or when you give a blessing, or when you hold your best friend minutes after he is born, or when you pray with Troy and Jason for the first time or when you hear a 6 year old girl say "I want to meet Jesus", the list goes on. Things of the world can make you feel good, but it's nothing compared to how the gospel can help you. It's not made up. The Book of Mormon isn't made up. Priesthood power isn't made up. God isn't made up.

This gospel can be a warm and fuzzy feeling, but in reality it's a fire that makes you be better. That's what it is to me, a fire that makes me want to be better. Dang, I have changed a lot out here. I still fill out March Madness brackets and carry a light saber key chain while making Anchorman references but I have changed a lot in terms of being the Son of God our Heavenly Father wants me to be. That's what the gospel is, helping us reach our full potential. I pray for the day people get it through their heads that God's plan brings more peace and joy than anything the world has to offer. That's the battle we are fighting out here, the world is losing God. Buckle up and get to work cause this stuff is serious, it's game time. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. #IWill

Alright that's my rant for the day. A lot easier to rant when you aren't limited to 140 characters, I still love you Twitter <3

Alright I'll wrap up this incoherent rambling mess by saying how much I love all of you. I write in my journal every night... "I'm either freakin crazy or I must have a solid testimony for being away from them". Dang, I just miss you guys! These families I build relationships with out here, I can make a connection with each of them to my family back home and that's why I love them so much. You have probably noticed that but here's some I don't think I have mentioned...

Bishop Carlson = Brian Goldsberry

Sister Della Silva = JoLynn Tidwell
Sis Fife = she's practically my mom
Brother Warner = Beb
Richards = Lords
Bro Boo Ya = @teambetaalpha
Bishop Hawkes = Coach Scalley
Sister Briggs = Aunt Jenny
President Wadsworth = @pettbryan

The list goes on. Don't even get me started on Z, Diz, Bay, and Eli cause I see them everywhere. I love you guys. I freakin miss you all but I'm so grateful I've got family out here that remind me of you. I was a little bummed I was only going two states north and a 7 hour drive away but now that seems almost too far away, I really love it here and my family here. Then I have my brothers out here. Ma boy Elder Jaques. My Chewie - Elder Asbury!! My rock kickin, flarpin, patriotic, goof ball of a brother Elder Christensen, my splash elder - Elder Potter!!! . Missions are hard but man these relationships make me love it.

Book of Alma says it best in 28:8 - And this is the account of Ammon and his brethren, their journeyings in the land of Nephi, their sufferings in the land, their sorrows, and their afflictions, and their incomprehensible joy, Suffers... Sorrows... Incomprehensible joy. That's missionary work in a nut shell haha. Thanks for everything, I love you all. Little crazy being away from life back home but I know this is where I gotta be, it'll all work out.

Hope everyone enjoys celebrating Elder Cody Lightfoot day this Thursday. Pretty dang lucky to have a best friend who is a leprechaun. love ya Elder Lightfoot, #IronShamrock #MarshmallowPower

Oh and s/o to Diz for getting kicked out of nursery yesterday. After the space mountain incident of 2k15 I'm a very proud uncle. Hopefully the nursery didn't call Disney security on you. #ItWasntASelfieStick

- Elder K

Pics

- #SpecialCargoRetrieved. That little girl was so happy haha.