Kangaroo & Emu Burgers

So my week? IT’S BEEN SO AWESOME!!!!

This past week we had about 8 baptisms in our zone which is about a tenth of the whole mission’s baptismal goals! SO AWESOME!! The work is truly hastening!!  The work is tough though. But it is so worth it when you meet those special people who seem very prepared to hear the gospel! One of these people was this guy named Gary. Super awesome native social worker guy. We tracted into him this past Saturday. We walked with him for a couple miles actually. But it was a super awesome way to teach someone! We basically taught him half of the plan of salvation, let him know that god loves us so much that he wants the best for us, and we got a return appointment! It was so awesome!!

We also had district meeting in Courtenay this past week which was awesome! We shared something that was assigned to us and I was assigned Helaman 5 and was asked to talk about Nephi and Lehi. I can’t believe how powerful that chapter is! Within the first 15 verses it states the word remember about 14 times I think. And recently, someone in our ward gave a talk on remembrance and how we can replace the word "remember" with "to be mindful of", so basically Helaman was throwing down on his sons to be really mindful of his teachings. So awesome! We then went to Bamboo Garden, a Chinese smorgasbord place. It wasn’t too bad.

Soon after Bamboo garden, the district leader and his companion came back with us to Port Alberni and did exchanges. Elder Johnston and I went to go see this lady named Florence Michael. She is this wonderful small and sweet native lady. So soft-spoken but so humble. We were heading to the lesson, trying to figure out what to teach her and I had absolutely no idea what to teach her since I just briefly met her at church. It’s always awesome how the Lord works because we figured out about 10 minutes of being there that she was preparing to go to the temple!  Poor Elder Johnston had no idea that I was going to change the lesson right then and there, but I just went with it. And it was the best lesson ever! We had "The Birdies" story with us and a sweet sweet spirit filled the room. Such a good lesson. Exchanges are definitely the best.

This past Friday probably had the best lesson though. We met with this recent convert named Elaine. We decided to talk about temple work again and kept it along the same outline as Florence’s lesson. What a beautiful lesson. I shared "The Birdies" story again once more, and I felt the spirit so strongly as I read it, and she did too. My eyes started to tear up and she was crying a little as well. It’s so amazing how talking about the temple can bring such great emotion. It’s always a spiritual recharge to see these people prepare for the temple and I am ever so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of their conversion.
The rest of the week failed in comparison to the spirit that I felt at that lesson. It was still a good week however. I am really starting to get my Canadian accent though. I say "eh" a lot... I’m starting to say bag like beg... pasta is past-a now...

Other than that things are going pretty good. We have transfer calls tonight. I wonder what is going to happen tonight... Imagining my companion leaving is kind of hard because we have learned to love each other, and I can’t imagine thinking that Port Alberni is going to become more of my responsibility if he does get transferred. But I KNOW that the Lord is there for me constantly no matter how many mistakes I make, and I take great comfort in that. I am coming ever more closer to my Savior each day and I am loving it!

I hope thanksgiving is going to go well! This past week, we got these cheap rolls from the grocery store and had jam in the fridge.... it truly failed in comparison to the homemade lion house dinner rolls and homemade strawberry jam...

Pday was pretty good though... nice and relaxing... we went to this place called Boomerang Cafe.... and guess what.... I HAD A KANGAROO BURGER AND EMU BURGER!!! I think I failed to mention that I like burgers now, partly because Canadian beef is so much better, but I have to say, the Emu burger was a lot better than the kangaroo. Kangaroo was a little gamey. But other than that, we really just relaxed.
I sure hope everything is going great at home and I love you all so much!

Love,

Elder McCown

Charity & Miracles

So, weirdest thing happened this past Saturday... I realized that I have been out in the field for a month! Such a crazy thought! I can’t believe that I have been away from home for about a month and a half now! I have seriously lost all concept of time! This is honestly the weirdest thing ever!

Elder Stock & Elder McCown ~ EFY Friends

This past week has been pretty good though. But it was super slow. A lot of our appointments fell through, and going out and tracting really didn’t have a lot of promise either sadly.  It wasn’t until this past Friday when things started to get a lot better. Friday we did a ton of service for the Householders. They have a big bed and breakfast that needs cleaning up and I don’t think I have ever seen so many leaves in my life! No wonder why the Canadian flag has a maple leaf on it! But that in itself was fun because service is just awesome. It’s by far my favorite thing to do! And not to mention it got us out of our proselyting clothes! We got tacos which is fantastic by the way. Tortillas are super expensive up here! After we had finished service, I realized that we had left the phone in the car and we had a couple voicemails to check. One of them was from one of the stake high council, who was asking if one of us could give a talk because his other speaker had gotten sick. So guess who got to speak in sacrament meeting. Of course that would be me! I knew I was going to end up there somehow! So in total, I only had 30-45 minutes to prepare this talk. Something I chose was charity. I really love this topic! It is something that we all can use a little bit more in our lives! And it is simply stated in Moroni 7:45-48 that we are basically nothing without charity, and that charity is the root of all of our christlike attributes! It’s so true! The christlike attribute section in preach my gospel is truly amazing just to let ya’ll know. I highly suggest studying it if you are seeking to make yourself more like Christ. And who isn’t?!? So the talk went off without a hitch which was awesome!

Elder Webb

There was an awesome miracle that happened on Sunday though. Right before church started, Sister
 Sexton and her granddaughter Gracie came up to us. Before we were able to say anything, she said "Gracie would love to be baptized" I was kind of dumbfounded and I had this dumb look on my face with my jaw dropped. Kind of cool eh? Such amazing miracles!  After sacrament meeting though I was asked if I could play the piano for the kids who were preparing for the primary program. That was awesome even though I messed up terribly ha-ha! It was so funny seeing the guy in charge of teaching the kids to sing (brother Johannesson) jumping up and down and helping them! He was jumping up and down and getting all into the little fun songs like "Do As I’m doing" and "Once There Was A Snowman". He was sweating because he was getting into it so much!

After church we went over to the Bishops house and helped him move a piano. And man! That thing was heavy! This thing was a beasty grand piano! It was so hard to carry even with 8 men crowded around thing carrying it. The wheel even broke on one of the dollies! It was awesome though because
we got fed afterwards. It’s amazing what you will eat when you are starving and how much you will eat. I was never a fan of egg salad sandwiches, but, now I really don’t mind them as a missionary. As a missionary, I think our taste buds are automatically dulled when we are set apart so that we can eat almost anything that the people give us.
After that, we went walking/tracting to our next appointment. It took us an hour to get there on foot, but it was sooooo worth it! We ran into this guy named Daun on our way there! He seemed very interested. We got his number, gave him a Book of Mormon and he seemed excited! The lesson went great, but what was even better, was when we ran into two more people that seemed very interested in the gospel! One of them had actually come up to us, recognized us, and literally asked "what is the difference between Mormons and Jehovah witnesses?" Before we could even say hello. So cool! The other person that was semi interested was this native lady named batina!

The mission is going great so far! Pday has been very relaxing. We went and dropped off our laundry at the householders, and they told us to come back for lunch which is something us missionaries are always excited about! We went out and went thrift shopping for ties! I got around 4 ties needless to say. Then we got all of our groceries and came back to the householders for lunch, and I was very surprised to see what she had made! She made green chili enchiladas again! No I wasn’t as homesick when I was eating them, but they were still awesome!

Yes, it's an orange tie!!

It may have been a rough week, but I have come to realize that the rough weeks, are preparations for the awesome but most of the time sparse moments of exhilarating happiness! I am so happy that I am out here even though it is hard sometimes, or even very hard sometimes. But it is so much fun! I love the ward here and I don’t want to leave! I might be getting a new companion soon. Transfers are next week. That is so weird thinking that I will be here in Port Alberni for 6 weeks next Monday! So weird, but so awesome! I love this work and I know it is so true! I hope everything is going great at home and I love you all!

Love,

Elder McCown

Blackberry Scones & Green Enchiladas

HEY FAMILIA!!!!

So it’s been a great week here in Port Alberni! WE HAD A BAPTISM THIS PAST SUNDAY!!! It was so awesome! My companion got to do the ordinance and I got to give a talk and play the piano during the service!!! SOOOO EXCITING!!!! The boy that got baptized is Isaac Johnson and let me tell you, this kid is crazy awesome and very energetic. Sooooo besides that.... everything has been great!!! Lessons have been awesome! There is this lady named Marilyn that has a baptismal date though! She can’t stop drinking tea though :/. We just keep praying for her though.  The best part of my week besides the baptism of course, was probably when we were at the Housholders. This couple is awesome! They are so supportive and loving towards the missionaries! It was awesome being able to help them out since they have been helping us out before I even got here! I just love doing service! So much fun! Before we got to do service though, we got breakfast, and omg... best BREAKFAST EVER!! She had blackberry scones, crescents with jam, you name it... and it was there. SOOO GOOD! Then we helped Brother Housholder with moving a bunch of wood because they had a huge tree that they needed to get rid of, or else it might have fallen on the bed and breakfast that they own. Elder Webb and I worked for about 1 1/2 hours. They told us that they had lunch ready for us. You can only imagine how grateful we are as missionaries to get one meal, but to get two meals in one day... THATS JUST AWESOME!!!! But, nothing could have prepared me for what they brought out to eat. I actually got a little emotional when they brought out the GREEN CHILI ENCHILADAS!!! It reminded me of home so much!! She did such an awesome job with it and it was literally dripping with cheese!! I savored each flavor cause it reminded of what you made all the time mom! Although... it’s not as good as yours... but it was still pretty awesome. My mouth is kind of drooling right now because it was so good.

But besides that, Port Alberni is still doing awesome. It’s still a giant retirement home though. But the ward is still awesome!! The ward mission leaders help us out so much and definitely go out of their way to help us out!

So we got to spend our Pday with the Elder Camp and Elder Huni. They are our zone leaders and we got to go to Stamp River today. Dad....this place is GORGEOUS!!! The river is just flowing rapidly right now!! So many rapids and the surrounding area is just gorgeous!! SOOOOO AWESOME!!!

That’s awesome that you were able to go down to Mexico though!! I know it is really stressful because every moment of your lives right now is dedicated to worrying about me... but I am glad that you were able to go to Mexico!! I sure love and miss you all though! I’ve been a little homesick this week but not too bad. I guess that Green Chili Enchilada made me a little homesick. But the work is awesome out here! There is so much to learn, so much to do, and so little time! I’ll send some pictures soon!

I LOVE YOU ALL BUNCHES

Love,

Elder McCown

Sour Blasted Cherries & Big Gulps

HEYYYYYYYY FAMILY!!! HOWS A GOING?!?!?

Everything has been going great here in Port Alberni!! I got to go to Nanaimo this past week! Such an awesome place! So much fun! I got paired up with one of my zone leaders! Such an awesome example! Well so much has happened this week! As I said I spent a couple days in Nanaimo! Nanaimo is awesome! SOOOOO much bigger than Port Alberni!!! In Port Alberni we spend most of our day going door to door. In Nanaimo though, you can actually go street contacting! So awesome! Kind of scared for the first time though. The first time we did it, we went to a bus stop next to a mall, so it was pretty busy. Sooo, for the past couple weeks I have been with my companion for nearly every conversation I have had. I think the lord realized I was getting too comfortable with that, and decided to give Elder Camp the revelation to go to the bus stop. Well, as people we only grow when we are out of our comfort zone. So, oh so wise Elder Camp said "you go over here, and I will go over there to talk to people." kind of FREAKY RIGHT?!? To talk to someone about the gospel by myself was kind of freaky at first. I’m pretty sure he thought I was the weirdest person ever but that’s ok lol. I got used to it though! I really learned what works better for me and that the lord really does speak through you! So awesome! AND IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! I have grown so much just from that experience!!! We then went and got pizza, big gulps and the most delicious candy ever!! SOUR BLASTED CHERRIES!!! sooooo gooooood.... but yeah. We then planned for the following week because we couldn’t be out on Halloween.  Before we went to the bus stop though we were out going door to door. We then decided to go into a mobile home area.  Mobile home areas are AWESOME to go tracting in because they are so close together!  We were going door to door, and this old hobo looking guy opens the door. As missionaries we do our usual shpeel and he cuts us off in the middle of it. He says "I’m a Buddhist!  Get out of here! YOU ARENT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!" he also added a variety of colorful words in there if I might add. As missionaries, we have to be nice with people of course the only thing I could muster was a smile. Thank goodness Elder Camp has some more charity and experience than me and said "have a wonderful day!" next thing we know, as we are knocking on another door, a truck pulls up next to us and told us to get out of the area. Turns out, it was the person in charge of taking care of all the mobile homes. Now I can say that I have been kicked out of a mobile home area! So much fun with Elder Camp! Sunday was awesome too!  We got to go pick up this elderly man at the hospital who can’t walk because of an injury and can’t speak because of a recent stroke. It was awesome to see him there at church! So many miracles have happened this past week! I have learned so much!  Another thing that I learned from Elder Camp this past week was how to help your weaknesses become strong. He told me that he would go to the Christ like attribute section of preach my gospel, pick a subject and study and apply it for a week. I’ve learned so much from that!

Monday was awesome too! We spent the day in Victoria and got to go to zone conference! We got to watch MEET THE MORMONS!!! SOOOOO AWESOME!!! I learned so much from my mission president!  He is so inspired! He and his wife are so loving and awesome! MY favorite part about the movie was the candy bomber. SO AWESOME!!! I ALSO GOT YOUR PACKAGE!!! I AM SOOOOOOO GREEN!!!! AND THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!! everyone was super jelly!!

SO I have been to Hole in the Wall! and it was awesome! We went to cathedral grove this morning. That was where they filmed part of the Star Wars movie. Dad, I can’t imagine what it would be like for you if you were here right now. You would be running on 5 hour energy drinks for a week straight and I can promise you that you would not be able to capture a fraction of beauty that this place holds. it is so out of this world!

Walmart is where we usually shop and DQ sometimes!  We do laundry at a couples house, they own a bed and breakfast. Members are awesome!  We also got to play volleyball this morning too! Bet ya’ll can’t imagine how happy I was!! So much fun with about 7 other elders there!!
Well hope everything is going great at home! I can’t believe that I have been out a month already! Time flies by soooo fast!! God be with you till we meet again!!

Love

Elder McCown