Monday, April 27, 2015

26 ft U-Haul

So this has been a fun week.  This past week we spent a lot of time doing service. Like A LOT of service. Not just a little. A LOT. It was this past Friday when this man named Cran Campbell moved into our ward. He is from Richmond and  is about 70 years old, so he of course needs help moving all of his stuff. So, all this "stuff" filled a whole 26ft U-Haul. The thing was stacked from top to bottom with boxes! And who shows up to help this guy move? Us two and four other people, and we had to go to a lesson we had set up 2 1/2 hours from when we started. We moved so fast unloading this whole U-Haul! And we barely finished in time for our lesson which we had scheduled. The following day, we realized how much stuff this guy had, because he had us over to help clean up the boxes so he can find stuff. Even though we were there 2 hours, I feel like we barely made a dent in the piles upon piles of boxes. The following day, we even spent another 2 hours helping him and I could still barely tell that we made a dent in the pile. Long story short, we are still helping him clean up this coming week as well.

Other than that, this week has been busier than usual. We taught quite a few lessons and things have been picking up a little. We have been trying so many different things, whether it be contacting potentials, formers, you name it. We have really taken to heart the counsel of Elder Bednar. He said in one of his talks that "If you keep doing the same things, you are going to get the same results." So this week, we are going to be spending a lot of time doing member work if we can. Hopefully someone in the ward has someone for us to teach!

Everything has been going great though! I can’t believe that in 5 days I will be out on my mission for 7 months....That’s so weird.... Kind of crazy how time is flying! It’s so much fun but so hard!  Let’s see, what else happened?  We went and had dinner at the Bodens which was AWESOME! Sister Boden marinated some steaks for us, and it has honestly been the best, best meal I have had yet on my mission! The steaks were so flavorful, she told us that she marinated them for 3 days! SO GOOD! She even had this really tasty stick of unhealthy. Like this stick of unhealthy was SOOO good! Basically what it was is four different types of cheese, all melted together with butter. It was so good over the potatoes! Gosh....I’m gonna get fat....

Anyway, I sure love and miss you guys though!

Love

Elder McCown

Monday, April 20, 2015

Bus Loops

So yeah, another week went by....  This week has honestly been one of the longest weeks in my whole mission.  We only had about 4 lessons this past week and that is about it.  It probably has been one of the most inactive weeks ever! However, it was still awesome! We talked to SOOOO MANY PEOPLE!!! there were two consecutive days where we had over 50 gospel conversations with people, and we have gotten about 8 potentials out of it.

One of these potentials is named Albert and Elin. Crazy story about meeting them though. We were walking toward the bus loops talking to everyone we see. There was literally no one we didn’t talk to because we were walking on both sides of the street. We then talk to everyone at the bus loops, and no one was really genuinely interested. We got a couple numbers and such. We started walking back to our apartment, and we were about half way back when I started talking to this one guy, and we ended up on walking all the way back to the bus loops. So then we end up on staying at the bus loops for another hour, talking to everyone we see, and we got some more people to contact. We then decided to start heading back to the apartment. Elder Tan of course then has to use the restroom so we had to wait another little while. We then start heading back and just outside of the apartment is Albert and Elin. He seemed very interested in the gospel as well as his wife and we are going to see him sometime this coming week. He was very interested in the fact that we have a modern day prophet here on the earth today just like the ones of old. It’s crazy how God is willing to provide a way, and he does it in so many different ways, whether it be through the man that I walked with all the way back to the bus loops, or my companions tiny bladder. Who knows? There is always a way!

We have been praying for people  to teach so much because we have had no one to teach, God has given us. Now it’s all up to us to act on it!

I sure love and miss you guys!

Love

Elder McCown

Monday, April 13, 2015

Social Media Blitz

Crazy how another week went by huh?  Anyhow, things are going great here in Brookswood. Nothing out of the usual but things are going great!  I finally got to meet the ward which was awesome! Such a huge ward! There were kids everywhere!  Lets see, we had zone meeting this past week which was awesome! We showed up like 15 minutes late though because we were rushing from an appointment that we had. After zone meeting we went on splits with our district leader. I went with Elder Ringer and we went and had dinner with this man nicknamed old coot.  Anyway, he took us to this place called Boston Pizza, and they apparently had hot wings... They really weren’t that hot to my disappointment.

That night we stayed with Elder Ringer and Elder Jorgenson and talked all night long.  Saturday had to be the best day though and that was because of the social media blitz. It was constantly on the go for us and there was no stopping. We started off with Brother Leonard and he did studies with us. Then we went and visited the Baines and the Sanhueza's with Matt Wilson. We then went and did service for the Henris at their Hydrographics shop which was fun! We then played basketball with this recent convert named Jesse, and to end the day off, we visited this guy named Rob who seems pretty interested and wants to know the answers to questions like where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going? So yeah! Pretty awesome! Sunday we had dinner with the Shen's which was awesome! That was the first time I had to shell my shrimp. They had some really good tasting Chinese food though.  So this past Sunday I got asked to baptize one of the Sisters investigators. The little girls name is Michelle and I think she is around 9 years old.

Other than that, everything is going great!  Sure love and miss all of you!

Love,

Elder McCown

Saturday, April 11, 2015

1st Transfer

Hi family!

So, I am in Brookswood right now. Kind of crazy since I have been in Port Alberni the whole entire time.   Anyway, this has been a somewhat stressful week.  My companion is only 3 months out and we haven't had that many people to teach which has been a bummer!  There have been some awesome miracles though. For one I am serving in the ward that is right next to the temple which is awesome! It’s so cool seeing the temple every time I walk out those doors!

General conference was awesome! So many good talks! I really enjoyed one of the quotes that was in the one of the talks. It was actually Nelson Mandela who said it. "A saint is a sinner who keeps on trying". Such a cool quote and I have continually thought about it over the past couple of days.

Another miracle that happened this past week was when we went and met this man named Cordell. This guy needs the gospel so much! We simply testified of the power of the atonement and how it can affect his life for the better and he was starting to tear up. After all was said and done we asked him how he felt, and he said "He felt peace." This guy is so awesome! We are hoping to be able to meet with him this coming week.

My new companion is Elder Tan. He is from Singapore, served in the army, and is 23 years old. So, it’s kind of weird serving here in Brookswood. There are actually people here who are under the age of 70! Kind of crazy! It’s so weird talking to someone my age but at the same time it is so cool because I can relate to them so much better!  Well, I am really starting to like the area more and more.

I sure love and miss you guys!

Love

Elder McCown


Elder McCown & Elder Tan