Harlem Globetrotter in Port Alberni

So, guess what? IM STILL IN PORT ALBERNI!!! I got a new companion. He’s pretty cool. His name is Elder Hansen. ANOTHER Utah missionary. Who would have guessed.... Anyway, crazy but fun week! And SOOOO many miracles! This past week after Elder Zieler was gone and after visiting with all of the members to say good bye, I picked up Elder Hansen in Nanaimo, and we went straight to work. Elder Hansen is such a good missionary already though. He’s 15 months out and he SOMEHOW puts up with me already. Anyway, we go straight to work. We wind up on running into this guy named Bill who Elder Zieler and I knocked into a couple days earlier. Anyway, we set up a return appointment for a couple hours later, and he just seemed to soak it up. We did however, figure out that he has dementia, so he has trouble remembering things, but he does feel the spirit. We just keep hoping and praying that he remembers the things we share with him.

We met with Marilyn this past week. We unfortunately had to move her baptismal date back, and, we figured out today that we are going to have to move it back further. The progress is slow and steady though.

We didn't get to share a lesson with Francois this past week which was a bummer. We did see him though and just let him know that we are there for him and that if he needs anything, we are willing to help him to the best of our abilities.

So, crazy thing happened this past week. We were knocking doors and we come up to this house. Of course, we naturally knock on it because that's what missionaries do. Anyway, when the door opened, this giant guy opened the door. This guy was huge! We start talking, and then it took a split second for me to realize who this guy really was. I remember seeing these posters for a charity event from a church here in town. I also remember reading the details on who was going to be there to sponsor the event and who was helping and all that sort of stuff. It all came rushing back to me, and I remembered the name. THIS GUY WAS LEFTY WILLIAMS who played for the Harlem Globetrotters!!! Out of all places in the world to wind up, he was in Port Alberni! Turns out he was a pastor for one of the churches. We talked about how people needed God and stuff while I just kind of stood in awe of this guy. Anyway, he complimented us very heavily on us knocking doors and doing the hard work. I have to admit, I felt so cool.

Let’s see, what else, oh yeah, we have a baptism this Saturday!!! So, there is this girl named Ivy Nelson in the ward, and she is about 9 years old. Her parents are divorced, so her dad lives in Utah. Anyway, turns out her dad is coming to visit for a couple weeks and he really wants to baptize her. Even better, she wants to get baptized! We went and taught her yesterday, and I could not believe the knowledge this little girl has. She knew so much! We breezed through the Restoration, Plan of Salvation, 10 Commandments and Word of Wisdom, in about an hour, and she taught about 60% of it! I learned so much from this little girl! I didn't even know as much as she did before my mission. Kind of embarrassing actually, but SO COOL! We are going to go see her tonight and, instead of teaching, I think we will be learning.

So everything has been going great! The new companion is awesome! So easy going and fun! The area is still good same old Port Alberni! I am just so happy to be able to serve here for another 6 weeks. I can almost guarantee that I will be getting transferred next transfer. "I can feel it...in my belly"

P- day was awesome. We played pool, did our laundry, got our groceries, bought a native tie which is AWESOME! We also went up to this lookout which was pretty sweet. Got to see all of Port Alberni from the top of this mountain.

I sure love and miss all of you though! Just keep being SUPER AWESOME!

Love,

Elder McCown

Francois’s Roommate

Oh no....its transfer week!

Oh man, these days always keep us missionaries on our toes. Sometimes we know what is going to happen, but most of the time, we have no idea what the heck is going on. All of our "prophecies" are so off the mark sometimes, it’s ridiculous.
Anyway, regardless of transfers coming up in the next, hmmm, I dunno, 3 hours, we had a great week! This past week we had zone meeting! It was super awesome! We talked about President Uchtdorfs talk about the plane that was a few degrees off course, and how, such small and simple things can eventually lead a plane to a snow covered mountain, and cause traumatic damage, and kill all on board. Isn’t it amazing how a few, simple degrees can put us off course. To put things into perspective, if we were to circumnavigate the globe on the equator, but we were 1 degree off, guess how far we would be off,  when we were supposed to get off?  500 miles! It’s amazing how one simple thing can cause such a shift if we don't correct our course immediately. I love this talk! I highly suggest it!

So, zone meeting was great! The rest of the week was too! I went on exchanges with the Courtenay elders, and I was in Courtenay with Elder Shin. It was a lot of fun! He is such a great missionary! His first name is Thummim and he is from New Zealand. Pretty cool, eh?

Ummmm, let’s see, what else...? We met with Marilyn and Francois. Marilyn is progressing slowly but surely! Francois we met with yesterday. It was actually a super awesome miracle. A couple months back, when I was with Elder Webb, we ran into this guy named Gary, and basically had a 30 minute walk with him talking about the plan of salvation and stuff. He was an awesome potential! We got his number and stuff and we were so pumped! Bam... he dropped off the face of the earth... we called his number and no one ever picked up! Well, yesterday, when we went to Francois, there were these people that were unloading some beds. Turns out it was Francois roommate who had bought the beds. So, naturally, Elder Zieler, Andrew Geddes and I helped them carry the beds up. We introduce ourselves to Francois roommate, who turns out to be Gary! It took me about 5-10 minutes for two wires to connect in my brain to tell me that this was Gary! This was the guy we talked to over 3 months ago! Crazy eh? We now know where he lives and we have plans to act on it soon! Such a miracle though!

We met with the Adair family, who are less active. We actually went and gave them a priesthood blessing with Brother Johanesson. Such a good experience! Her daughter, Brianna, reminds me sooooo much of Megan... I felt like it was just talking to a 10 year old Megan.

Roy and Gail took us out to dinner this past Friday. We went to the Starboard grill and we got prime rib. Soooooo good! They are so nice to us and they do so much for us! They also got us dessert. I have never had crème brule (I don’t even know if I spelled that right) before until this past Friday. It was pretty good!

Well, that's all I got for this week! Today we went to the driving range and went out to Stamp Falls. We are going to the Johanessons tonight and are having enchiladas I think. I’m so excited!

I sure love and miss you all!

Love,
Elder McCown

Kylie's Umbrella

So, weird thought..... another week went by... who knew??  This week was such a good week! Crazy too!

So this past week we went to the mainland to go to a doctor’s appointment for Elder Zieler. He broke his neck about a year ago and met with the stake president. He got acupuncture. His neck is still sore though. While that was going on though, I was on exchanges with Elder Crowell who is one of the Assistants. This guy is such an amazing missionary. So, while Elder Zieler was with another one of the assistants, Elder Baker, I went to downtown Vancouver with Elder Crowell. That was quite an experience I will never forget. We first off went on a subway, which was a first for me. I have never been on a subway before. It was SO COOL! Anyways, we arrived in downtown Vancouver. Oh sorry, let me rephrase that, Hongcouver. Yeah....about 50% of the people on the street were from Asia, and I am too white to speak to them... lol... Anyway, it was such a culture shock to me. The area was just full of people. Hundreds of them! I’m sure that there were more people on that street corner than in Port Alberni all together... IT WAS NUTS! Anyway, it was weird not having a companion with you to talk to someone. It was so hard to stop and talk to someone. Everyone was so busy, and was just trying to get to where they needed to be. It was actually, quite exhausting! But it was such a cool experience. The coolest experience I had was on one of the corners of the street. After crossing the same intersection for the fourth or fifth time, I noticed this homeless lady on one of the corners, holding an umbrella just to keep her dry. She looked as sad as could be. She sat there with her dog, all curled up in a ball, trying to stay warm.  A man, who was as ignorant as could be, probably rushing somewhere, knocked over her little container that had a few pennies in it. She scrambled to pick up the little coins, and returned to her curled position. I pulled out my wallet, took a $5 bill out, and I walked over, bent down, and handed the money to her. After asking if everything was alright, I figured out her name was Kylie. She didn't talk much. I was talking most of the time. I asked if everything was ok, and asked if I could help, which was probably the most cliché thing to say, but what else could I do? I talked to her for a little bit more, with a few awkward silent moments in between each sentence. After not much else could be said, I told her, that God Loves her, that even though she is going through these tough times, she can pull through. I said goodbye, and I began to notice so much more. I looked along the streets, and on a few of the corners, and I saw people in the same situation. I have never felt so much gratitude for the things that I have had in my life. There is so much that I have that I take for granted. The food I have to eat, the clean water I have to drink. A roof over my head  and walls that hold them up. There is so much to be grateful for, and so much that we take for granted. As I have relayed this story, the thought comes to my mind of our savior. How much do we take for granted? How much has he given us? He has given us everything, and he has given his all, even his life. I have become so grateful, and I have come to a realization that I need, we need to give our all. He gave us so much, and is willing to give us so much more, if we heed to the things that he has commanded us to do.

Not much else has happened this past week. That moment on the street just keeps replaying in my mind. P-Day has been a good day so far. We have just been relaxing. We just went and did laundry and got haircuts. Not much else. It has truly been a humbling week though. I have realized that I need to be more grateful for the things that I have, and not be jealous of the things other people do have. The questions that come to mind are "How can I be more grateful?" That's an easy answer. We must do His will and give our all. He has given us his all for each and every single one of us, has suffered for every single one of us, died for every single one of us, for our own salvation. We have to share this with people. There is somebody each and every one of us knows that is being prepared at this moment to receive this great gift. It is just our job to find out who, and to let the missionaries know if we feel prompted to.

I sure love you all! I miss you so much and I hope for the best for each and every single one of you!

Love,

Elder McCown

Scallops…Clams…Eel…Tuna

Wow, I can’t believe another week went by... Crazy eh? As of yesterday, I have been out for 4 months! WEIRD! Anyway, super awesome week! This past Tuesday we met with Francois which was awesome! We had man time I guess you could say. We brought the pizza that Mom ordered for us because he really isn’t that well off, which is kind of a bummer. He really appreciated it. That was a lot of fun though. He was so happy that we were there, that he got all dressed up in a white shirt and tie, and wanted to take pictures with us. We even traded ties too, so I now have a Francois tie lol. It was probably one of the most spiritual experiences that I have had on my mission so far. When we were over there, we talked about baptism, and I just completely testified that it will be the best thing for him and that I can’t wait to see him in white clothing one day. That same night we went to mutual and played basketball with the youth, hoping that some less actives would show up that we had invited. Sadly none of them did, but Brother Lee took us out to DQ which was pretty awesome!

Let’s see, what else did we do this week.... We went to Courtenay and did exchanges. I went on exchanges with Elder Robinson. These missionaries are doing really well in the area, and it has truly been prepared by the Lord. They are just constantly teaching and teaching, going from appointment to appointment. Within that one day of me being there, I think we taught about 6 lessons in about a 7 hour period. It was AWESOME! It was so cool though. One of the appointments we went to was this lady named Shayla. First off, Elder Robinson starts throwing pinecones at her sliding glass door to let her know we are here, which I thought was pretty interesting. We got her attention and she came down the stairs to let us in, and she was carrying this red tub. Before we could really say anything she said "I’m sorry, but we won’t be able to meet today, something came up, but I wanted to give you this." That’s when she hands Elder Robinson the red tub which is a coffee container. She continues "I am giving up coffee and I had my last cigarette today. Maybe we can just meet later in the week." I just stood their astounded. I later learn from Elder Robinson that she has apparently been struggling with these things for quite a while, and she just gave it up right then and there. WHAT A MIRACLE!! I have never seen anything like that happen before! SO COOL!

This past Friday was quite an experience. We went to dinner with Roy and Gail (she is a recent convert), and they love the missionaries. They took us to the Timberlodge which is a sushi restaurant... The sushi wasn’t that bad. I could eat the BC roll as well as the California roll. That wasn’t that bad, neither was the lobster. It wasn’t until we got to the really fishy stuff, that I thought I couldn’t get it down. I tired so many different types of raw fish that I honestly had no clue what they were until they told us what it was. I had tuna, eel, salmon, halibut, minto soup, and some other things that I don’t know. Worst one was the clam and scallops though. I couldn’t even chew the clam, and the scallop I could barely get down. I don’t see how this is a delicacy.

Saturday we met with Marilyn. We just read the book of Mormon with her, and talked to her about how she needed to quit cold turkey on the coffee and tea by next week so that she can be qualified to be baptized by the 28th. I sure hope and pray that she will make it!

Sunday was awesome! Francois came to church! He really liked it, which is shocking considering that it was fast and testimony meeting. I even found those kind of a drag before I came out on the mission. It was awesome to have him sit there with us though! That afternoon, the Housholders took us to Ucluelet which was such an awesome experience! The drive there was GORGEOUS. Dad would spend a week just on the drive there. Ucluelet is gorgeous though! I can’t believe that the members out in Ucluelet drive for over an hour through rougher and narrow roads to get to church and back! They are honestly incredible! Anyway, the Andersons have the most gorgeous home! Their front porch looks out to the ocean, and they had an Eagles nest right outside of their house! That night we had dinner with the Andersons, Housholders and the Manttas. Sister Anderson made the best lasagna ever! That meal was incredible! The best part was the dessert. She made peaches and creme dessert, and I could have eaten the whole platter. WAY YUMMO! So we stayed the night there and spent Pday in Ucluelet and visited Tofino. We went on a hike, played football on Longbeach, had lunch on the beach, and spotted 15 eagles. Crazy eh? Such a cool experience, all because of these awesome members! It was so cool, and Elder Zieler and I were so lucky to be able to take part in something like this.

Monday night we met with the Johannessons which was awesome! We really talked about the progress in the area and really wondering what else we could do.

Well I gotta go! Sure love and miss all of you!

Love

Elder McCown