So this was an awesome week! To start off we had dinner at the Rosales! They are just so awesome! They always know when we are hungry! She made such good pasta and we had family home evening with them as well as this family that lives in Delta! Super yummy though! She made the best cheesecake! WAY YUMMO!!!
So, not much happened Tuesday. We went and met with a couple people and taught them about the gospel. Ya know, missionary stuff. Anyway! Wednesday rolls around and we are scrambling to district meeting because we had a lesson beforehand. Long story short though, it was a gong show. Yes a gong show. One of the Elders was giving training, and realized that he had studied for the wrong thing. Another Elder didn’t get to prepare for his training because they were missing the DVD which had the training on it. So, needless to say, the meeting wasn’t as spiritual as it could be.
So right after district meeting, we went on exchanges and Elder Lawlor came with me to our area. Was super fun! Elder Lawlor is such a goof! We worked hard though and got to talk to some pretty cool people!
I would have to say that the best day of the week though was Friday! I GOT TO GO ON EXCHANGES WITH THE SPANISH ELDERS! So that was so much fun! I got to try out my white boy Spanish, and man! IT’S TERRIBLE! But by the end of the exchange, I learned how to pray a little bit in Spanish! It’s so much fun though! I hope that I get transferred to Spanish work! I could be in Spanish work for the rest of my mission, and not do anything else, and I would be SO happy! So yeah! We went and taught a couple lessons in Spanish! That was crazy! I tried reading from the Book of Mormon in Spanish but, I’m pretty sure that no one could understand me.
There was an awesome miracle though! So, earlier in the week we had helped this lady and old guy move. Well, of course nothing works out according to schedule, so the truck had showed up 30 minutes late. So, of course, that means that we start 30 minutes late, and we had an appointment in 30 minutes to get to. So we flat out sprint to the elevator, running stuff back and forth to the truck and back and then all the way back up to get more stuff. Well, we were just about to leave because we had cleaned out the apartment of all furniture, and the old dude said there was more stuff to get at the basement. We roll our eyes a little cause we knew that we were going to be late, and we literally book it to the basement and unload all the crap down there into the truck and we showed up to the appointment a little late. So why do I tell you all this? So, we were teaching this guy named Juan. He is used to rich lifestyle and loves to spend money, however he doesn’t have any because he lost his job. He however wants to take us out to dinner but we only have 30 minutes. He starts driving and we follow and we notice that he is taking us to this nice fancy restaurant. It’s called Boston Pizza. Anyway, Elder Woolf tells him no, and that we only have 30 minutes to eat. So, we go across the street to Wendy's and guess who is there? The old dude and the lady we helped move! So when we got up in line, the old guy comes up and tells us that he is going to pay for us because we helped them move! So that was an awesome miracle because the guy that wanted to take us out is already in debt! GOD IS JUST SO GOOD!
Church was awesome too! Valentino and Gus came as well! What’s even better is that we were able to hit standards this week! It was so much fun! So yeah! Miracle never cease! God is just so good! I have been learning so much and I am so happy that I am able to serve here!
Love you guys so much and I hope you have fun in Mexico!
Love
Elder McCown
Monday, July 27, 2015
Monday, July 20, 2015
TEXX Burger
So, this week was pretty eventful! We have been teaching a TON lately! Monday, was fun. I don’t remember what happened but it was still fun...man, I am getting old...my memory is basically useless. Anyway! I remember playing chair soccer...again...still fun though!
Tuesday we walked around, and talked to people, A LOT of people! We got to see Sunny which was awesome! This guy is so weird sometimes but he loves the Book of Mormon, so no complaints!
Wednesday rolled around and we had district meeting, and man, I had a lot of improv to do. So, I had to assign some other people to give trainings on the Sabbath day, and of course, there really isn’t much to the Sabbath day. A couple scriptures here and there. Well, the other people who trained took all the scriptures I had and all the references as well, and thank goodness for the spirit, otherwise I would have no idea what to say or what to do. So, that was fun.
Thursday rolled around and we had weekly planning. This is when we plan for a full week of things to do in 3 hours. Of course, we are already scraping by to finish it all off, and I get a call from one of the Elders saying that his companion is not feeling well, right in the middle of weekly planning. So, needless to say, we may or may not be scrambling to plan for the rest of the week! Anyway, crazy miracle! That night, we were knocking doors and we come to this one house, and we don’t even get to knock on the door, and this guy comes out, asks if we are missionaries, and we of course have this dumb look on our face and say "YES!" cause that rarely happens. Anyway, we find out his name is Jerry and he tells us to come back the following night! Crazy eh?
So, Friday was fun! We went and did service at the soup kitchen! We washed windows and stuff, and unloaded this giant U-Haul full of food! I don’t know where they are going to put it all though! After that, a member took us to get milkshakes! Man, these milkshakes were the best! Apparently this place called White Spot is famous for its milkshakes...and I found out why! After that, we went and taught this guy named Roody. He’s pretty cool! Just wants to study with us for the time being but is very truth seeking!
We then floored it over to our miracle named Jerry! He’s pretty cool! Went over the restoration with him and he just sat there quietly. It was kind of a weird lesson. He was either soaking it in, or just dozing off. Don’t know what to think yet!
Saturday...oh boy...Saturday was by far the hottest day so far! It has been getting so hot and humid here! We walked everywhere, knocked doors and met with a couple random people, but that’s about it. Then we went with the Spanish Elders to this place called TEXX burger. So... Elder Hall and I made the dumbest decision...we tried the Super Texx Burger Challenge. Literally...this burger was bigger than my face...and what’s even worse, is that they brought out this huge bag of fries, and the challenge is that if you eat it all in less than 30 minutes, you get it all for free. So, before all this happened, Elder Hall and I are just getting super pumped. It wasn’t until they brought it out that we realized how big the dang thing was. So, they start the timer and we just go to town on the fries. If you eat the fries last, you literally kill yourself because it’s so starchy. Anyway, took us like 12 minutes to down all the fries. Next thing I know, I am on the burger, and, I’m about an 1/8 way through the burger and I just tap out right then and there...We were so full...I just wanted to die after eating all of that food.
So yeah, the next day I fasted for some odd reason...Sunday was awesome though! Valentino, this Fijian dude that we have been teaching lately who just loves god and such, came to church! We also had Gus there, as well as a couple less actives! God is just so good! The best part was the Valentino loved sacrament meeting! He loved the speakers and everything that went on! He was even crying while one of the speakers was talking about the atonement and Jesus Christs suffering. SO GOOD!
It was such a good week though! We were able to hit standards again, which was awesome! God is just so good though! I sure love and miss ALL of you and hope for the best for every single one of you!
Love ya tons
Elder McCown
Tuesday we walked around, and talked to people, A LOT of people! We got to see Sunny which was awesome! This guy is so weird sometimes but he loves the Book of Mormon, so no complaints!
Wednesday rolled around and we had district meeting, and man, I had a lot of improv to do. So, I had to assign some other people to give trainings on the Sabbath day, and of course, there really isn’t much to the Sabbath day. A couple scriptures here and there. Well, the other people who trained took all the scriptures I had and all the references as well, and thank goodness for the spirit, otherwise I would have no idea what to say or what to do. So, that was fun.
Thursday rolled around and we had weekly planning. This is when we plan for a full week of things to do in 3 hours. Of course, we are already scraping by to finish it all off, and I get a call from one of the Elders saying that his companion is not feeling well, right in the middle of weekly planning. So, needless to say, we may or may not be scrambling to plan for the rest of the week! Anyway, crazy miracle! That night, we were knocking doors and we come to this one house, and we don’t even get to knock on the door, and this guy comes out, asks if we are missionaries, and we of course have this dumb look on our face and say "YES!" cause that rarely happens. Anyway, we find out his name is Jerry and he tells us to come back the following night! Crazy eh?
So, Friday was fun! We went and did service at the soup kitchen! We washed windows and stuff, and unloaded this giant U-Haul full of food! I don’t know where they are going to put it all though! After that, a member took us to get milkshakes! Man, these milkshakes were the best! Apparently this place called White Spot is famous for its milkshakes...and I found out why! After that, we went and taught this guy named Roody. He’s pretty cool! Just wants to study with us for the time being but is very truth seeking!
We then floored it over to our miracle named Jerry! He’s pretty cool! Went over the restoration with him and he just sat there quietly. It was kind of a weird lesson. He was either soaking it in, or just dozing off. Don’t know what to think yet!
Saturday...oh boy...Saturday was by far the hottest day so far! It has been getting so hot and humid here! We walked everywhere, knocked doors and met with a couple random people, but that’s about it. Then we went with the Spanish Elders to this place called TEXX burger. So... Elder Hall and I made the dumbest decision...we tried the Super Texx Burger Challenge. Literally...this burger was bigger than my face...and what’s even worse, is that they brought out this huge bag of fries, and the challenge is that if you eat it all in less than 30 minutes, you get it all for free. So, before all this happened, Elder Hall and I are just getting super pumped. It wasn’t until they brought it out that we realized how big the dang thing was. So, they start the timer and we just go to town on the fries. If you eat the fries last, you literally kill yourself because it’s so starchy. Anyway, took us like 12 minutes to down all the fries. Next thing I know, I am on the burger, and, I’m about an 1/8 way through the burger and I just tap out right then and there...We were so full...I just wanted to die after eating all of that food.
So yeah, the next day I fasted for some odd reason...Sunday was awesome though! Valentino, this Fijian dude that we have been teaching lately who just loves god and such, came to church! We also had Gus there, as well as a couple less actives! God is just so good! The best part was the Valentino loved sacrament meeting! He loved the speakers and everything that went on! He was even crying while one of the speakers was talking about the atonement and Jesus Christs suffering. SO GOOD!
It was such a good week though! We were able to hit standards again, which was awesome! God is just so good though! I sure love and miss ALL of you and hope for the best for every single one of you!
Love ya tons
Elder McCown
Monday, July 13, 2015
Game Over
So a little over two weeks in Surrey and nothing has gotten past the usual threats, cussing out, and other numerous things. But is so much fun here! It’s crazy how fast time flies though...I am struggling right now to even remember what even happened this past week...I just know it was AWESOME!
So Monday was fun! We normally just do chair soccer and stuff, but we had to get a haircut which was an adventure in itself. We decide to go to this barber shop. Turns out it is run by Punjabis. AND NONE OF THEM SPEAK ENGLISH!!! That is honestly the hardest part! None of them can communicate with us! And I don’t speak Punjabi!
So, back to the haircut...we go in and tell them what we want. Next thing ya know me and Elder Slack walk out of there with the haircuts we weren’t expecting....and they were AWESOME!! I bet you were thinking that I would have said that they were terrible, but NOPE!!! I was surprised on how good they did! Wasn’t what we asked for, and we may or may not look a little faddish, which isn’t the most approved thing to do on a mission, but hey, it was borderline, and super good! So, that was fun!
So Tuesday rolled around. It was hot...yes it gets hot here in the great white north... We went and saw Gus which was good. We watched the Lords errand which is all about Thomas S. Monson. Such a good video on what he’s all about!
Poor John though. So just to let you know, there is this awesome soon to be missionary in our ward, and he literally walked around with us for a couple hours dropping by potentials and talking to people which was pretty sweet. He's going to be such a prepared missionary!
Wednesday was hot too... We got to go to the Soup kitchen again though! No...There weren’t any fights so you don’t have to worry mom... It’s crazy seeing all the needs of these people though. Us missionaries don’t have much, but these people have nothing... Wednesday had to be the worst night of sleep we ever had though. We were tired, hot and thirsty so at like 5pm we went and got this Mountain Dew Kickstart slurpee. Bad idea. I swear that thing had caffeine injections like no other! We were up until 1 am because of that dang thing! So, I think that slurpee did me in, and what didn’t help was that I was feeling sick too. I didn’t "Game over". For all you missionaries who know what that means, you know what I had. For all of those who don’t, go ask a missionary and they will tell you...
So, that was quite an adventure. What was even worse was that we had Zone Conference. Basically a 7 hour meeting with President and all the while I had that "game over" feeling. Not good! Super spiritual though! I got to consecrate oil too! Nothing much happened in between then and Sunday. I felt better that was about it....
Sunday was awesome though! We got to go to the Rosales family for dinner! They had flatas which were super yummy! They also have a pet parrot which is pretty cool! Best part of that day though was when we went and saw Sunny. Sunny is another Punjabi, he is so cool and he actually speaks English! Long story short, a lot has happened to him too. He has come out of his depression though since the first time we met him, and he has been able to cut down on his smoking and has been reading the book of Mormon! It has been so cool seeing how him reading the book of Mormon has changed his life! He has literally seen the blessings of reading the Book of Mormon! He has gotten some good job interviews, he has gotten his car back, and he keeps directing that all towards the Book of Mormon which is so awesome!
So yeah! Honestly one of the best weeks on the whole mission! It honestly is so much fun being on the mission! God is just so good! And the Book of Mormon blesses people’s lives! It truly does! I have seen it affect my life, and I have seen it change Sunny's life which is so awesome! God is SO GOOD!
Love ya
Elder McCown
So Monday was fun! We normally just do chair soccer and stuff, but we had to get a haircut which was an adventure in itself. We decide to go to this barber shop. Turns out it is run by Punjabis. AND NONE OF THEM SPEAK ENGLISH!!! That is honestly the hardest part! None of them can communicate with us! And I don’t speak Punjabi!
So, back to the haircut...we go in and tell them what we want. Next thing ya know me and Elder Slack walk out of there with the haircuts we weren’t expecting....and they were AWESOME!! I bet you were thinking that I would have said that they were terrible, but NOPE!!! I was surprised on how good they did! Wasn’t what we asked for, and we may or may not look a little faddish, which isn’t the most approved thing to do on a mission, but hey, it was borderline, and super good! So, that was fun!
So Tuesday rolled around. It was hot...yes it gets hot here in the great white north... We went and saw Gus which was good. We watched the Lords errand which is all about Thomas S. Monson. Such a good video on what he’s all about!
Poor John though. So just to let you know, there is this awesome soon to be missionary in our ward, and he literally walked around with us for a couple hours dropping by potentials and talking to people which was pretty sweet. He's going to be such a prepared missionary!
Wednesday was hot too... We got to go to the Soup kitchen again though! No...There weren’t any fights so you don’t have to worry mom... It’s crazy seeing all the needs of these people though. Us missionaries don’t have much, but these people have nothing... Wednesday had to be the worst night of sleep we ever had though. We were tired, hot and thirsty so at like 5pm we went and got this Mountain Dew Kickstart slurpee. Bad idea. I swear that thing had caffeine injections like no other! We were up until 1 am because of that dang thing! So, I think that slurpee did me in, and what didn’t help was that I was feeling sick too. I didn’t "Game over". For all you missionaries who know what that means, you know what I had. For all of those who don’t, go ask a missionary and they will tell you...
So, that was quite an adventure. What was even worse was that we had Zone Conference. Basically a 7 hour meeting with President and all the while I had that "game over" feeling. Not good! Super spiritual though! I got to consecrate oil too! Nothing much happened in between then and Sunday. I felt better that was about it....
Sunday was awesome though! We got to go to the Rosales family for dinner! They had flatas which were super yummy! They also have a pet parrot which is pretty cool! Best part of that day though was when we went and saw Sunny. Sunny is another Punjabi, he is so cool and he actually speaks English! Long story short, a lot has happened to him too. He has come out of his depression though since the first time we met him, and he has been able to cut down on his smoking and has been reading the book of Mormon! It has been so cool seeing how him reading the book of Mormon has changed his life! He has literally seen the blessings of reading the Book of Mormon! He has gotten some good job interviews, he has gotten his car back, and he keeps directing that all towards the Book of Mormon which is so awesome!
So yeah! Honestly one of the best weeks on the whole mission! It honestly is so much fun being on the mission! God is just so good! And the Book of Mormon blesses people’s lives! It truly does! I have seen it affect my life, and I have seen it change Sunny's life which is so awesome! God is SO GOOD!
Love ya
Elder McCown
Monday, July 6, 2015
Miracles Never Cease
So this has been such a crazy week! So, to start off, the reason why only had like an hour to email this past week was because one of the missionaries had gotten sick while we were emailing, and he was not doing good at all. Just shivering like no other. So I took him home while the other elders finished up emailing. So later on that day, we played chair soccer which was SO much fun!
So, we were able to start off the week really good! Tuesday we taught quite a few lessons. One of them was Gus. He’s been struggling super hard core with smoking and stuff. So we want to help him as much as we can right? SO we decided that we were all going to fast for him this coming Sunday and that he will set a baptismal date after the fast! SO AWESOME!! So we quickly scrambled to a couple other lessons. The evening was literally chock full of teaching people which was awesome! We taught this guy named Sunny. He’s a Punjabi and he wants help to quit smoking and drinking and stuff! He also loves the Book of Mormon which is awesome! Cool guy though!
Next we scrambled all the way down to Surrey Central and met with this guy named Roody. The guy is just super open to what we want to hear which is awesome! Haven't had any of those on my mission until I came to Surrey which is SO cool! Then we scrambled over to see Janett. She’s super cool. Her son got baptized not too long ago, and it’s crazy because she didn't even believe in God in the first place! Now she has been taught everything, has read the Book of Mormon, and wants to move on to the Doctrine and Covenants as well as the Pearl of Great Price. Crazy eh? So that was Tuesday.
Wednesday we visited this guy named Mike. He’s a less active but is wanting to come back to church. I then had my first District meeting as a district leader. It wasn’t too bad. The assistants were there so they were able to help me realize what I had done wrong.
Later that day we met with this kid named Dillon. Talk about crazy life, and he’s only 15! We were knocking doors the other day, and Elder Toleman was with us because one of his two companions was sick, so we were able to at least take one with us. Anyway, Elder Toleman has the greatest faith! He pointed out a house that we would have completely missed if he had not pointed it out. So that’s when we met Dillon. And Dillon has gone through a ton of stuff, but he wants to get to know God more, and he wants to quit smoking! Crazy how he’s going through all of this and he wants to set aside time to talk to us! So cool! So after the meeting we met with him and we literally talked about Job the whole entire time. He kept asking why so many bad things happen. We all pulled it back to Job though, who had gone through so much more. We also helped him realize that he is so much stronger because of his trials.
Thursday was a bit of a crazy day. More lessons! We went and met with this guy named Mike. Really relaxed dude. Really nice though. Wants to quit smoking, drinking, and wants to come to church! So cool! Talked about Baptism a lot and he said that he would read and pray about it. He also has been looking for a job recently. And guess what! We have the employment services building at our church building! What a miracle eh?
Friday morning we did exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Hall to Delta! Man! We saw some pretty awesome miracles! We went and visited this lady named Alanna! She is such a miracle! When the missionaries had talked to her before, just previously she had been wondering which church she should go to. About an hour passed by and she met Elder Hall, and set a baptismal date right then and there! So cool! So we showed up at the return appointment and we talked all about the Plan of Salvation. Her Uncle had just passed away, so she said that God had sent us to her, because the Plan of Salvation talks all about life after death! What was even cooler was that she kept talking about how what we were teaching was handed down from her Grandfather by mouth. SO COOL!
After that, we ran to Home Depot cause Elder Hall had to use the washroom, so we hang out around there and start talking to people. I for some reason felt the urge to go to the gardening area. We had been looking for someone for the sisters to teach, so I thought that that made complete sense. So, as we were in there, I started casually talking to this one old lady. I kept asking about flowers to keep a conversation going, and she talked about how her husband had just passed away. I was just about to break out about what we believe in, when her daughter came up. Turns out her daughter had almost been baptized back in Fiji! So she knows the missionaries very well! We invited her to come to church and her mother and her both said yes so we gave them our address!
Saturday we exchanged back. We met with this guy named Neeraj who was pretty cool. He is just super open to hearing what other people have to say, and we will be handing him off to the Delta Elders soon. We also met with Sunny and Mike again.
Sunday rolled around, and I have to say, that this was like, the longest day on the mission so far. I was SO hungry! Time slows down like crazy when you are hungry. Anyway, we met with this guy named Valentino. He’s pretty cool. Really fired up about the Bible and stuff. Talked the whole entire time too. After a couple hours of walking around and knocking on doors in the heat, we got to go have dinner at Brother Smith’s house. They are honestly so cool! This has been the only member visit we have been able to get besides the Bishop!
So yeah! Crazy awesome week! We have been so busy! But it has been so much fun! Sure love and miss all of you! God is so good! AND MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!!
Love
Elder McCown
So, we were able to start off the week really good! Tuesday we taught quite a few lessons. One of them was Gus. He’s been struggling super hard core with smoking and stuff. So we want to help him as much as we can right? SO we decided that we were all going to fast for him this coming Sunday and that he will set a baptismal date after the fast! SO AWESOME!! So we quickly scrambled to a couple other lessons. The evening was literally chock full of teaching people which was awesome! We taught this guy named Sunny. He’s a Punjabi and he wants help to quit smoking and drinking and stuff! He also loves the Book of Mormon which is awesome! Cool guy though!
Next we scrambled all the way down to Surrey Central and met with this guy named Roody. The guy is just super open to what we want to hear which is awesome! Haven't had any of those on my mission until I came to Surrey which is SO cool! Then we scrambled over to see Janett. She’s super cool. Her son got baptized not too long ago, and it’s crazy because she didn't even believe in God in the first place! Now she has been taught everything, has read the Book of Mormon, and wants to move on to the Doctrine and Covenants as well as the Pearl of Great Price. Crazy eh? So that was Tuesday.
Wednesday we visited this guy named Mike. He’s a less active but is wanting to come back to church. I then had my first District meeting as a district leader. It wasn’t too bad. The assistants were there so they were able to help me realize what I had done wrong.
Later that day we met with this kid named Dillon. Talk about crazy life, and he’s only 15! We were knocking doors the other day, and Elder Toleman was with us because one of his two companions was sick, so we were able to at least take one with us. Anyway, Elder Toleman has the greatest faith! He pointed out a house that we would have completely missed if he had not pointed it out. So that’s when we met Dillon. And Dillon has gone through a ton of stuff, but he wants to get to know God more, and he wants to quit smoking! Crazy how he’s going through all of this and he wants to set aside time to talk to us! So cool! So after the meeting we met with him and we literally talked about Job the whole entire time. He kept asking why so many bad things happen. We all pulled it back to Job though, who had gone through so much more. We also helped him realize that he is so much stronger because of his trials.
Thursday was a bit of a crazy day. More lessons! We went and met with this guy named Mike. Really relaxed dude. Really nice though. Wants to quit smoking, drinking, and wants to come to church! So cool! Talked about Baptism a lot and he said that he would read and pray about it. He also has been looking for a job recently. And guess what! We have the employment services building at our church building! What a miracle eh?
Friday morning we did exchanges with the zone leaders. I went with Elder Hall to Delta! Man! We saw some pretty awesome miracles! We went and visited this lady named Alanna! She is such a miracle! When the missionaries had talked to her before, just previously she had been wondering which church she should go to. About an hour passed by and she met Elder Hall, and set a baptismal date right then and there! So cool! So we showed up at the return appointment and we talked all about the Plan of Salvation. Her Uncle had just passed away, so she said that God had sent us to her, because the Plan of Salvation talks all about life after death! What was even cooler was that she kept talking about how what we were teaching was handed down from her Grandfather by mouth. SO COOL!
After that, we ran to Home Depot cause Elder Hall had to use the washroom, so we hang out around there and start talking to people. I for some reason felt the urge to go to the gardening area. We had been looking for someone for the sisters to teach, so I thought that that made complete sense. So, as we were in there, I started casually talking to this one old lady. I kept asking about flowers to keep a conversation going, and she talked about how her husband had just passed away. I was just about to break out about what we believe in, when her daughter came up. Turns out her daughter had almost been baptized back in Fiji! So she knows the missionaries very well! We invited her to come to church and her mother and her both said yes so we gave them our address!
Saturday we exchanged back. We met with this guy named Neeraj who was pretty cool. He is just super open to hearing what other people have to say, and we will be handing him off to the Delta Elders soon. We also met with Sunny and Mike again.
Sunday rolled around, and I have to say, that this was like, the longest day on the mission so far. I was SO hungry! Time slows down like crazy when you are hungry. Anyway, we met with this guy named Valentino. He’s pretty cool. Really fired up about the Bible and stuff. Talked the whole entire time too. After a couple hours of walking around and knocking on doors in the heat, we got to go have dinner at Brother Smith’s house. They are honestly so cool! This has been the only member visit we have been able to get besides the Bishop!
So yeah! Crazy awesome week! We have been so busy! But it has been so much fun! Sure love and miss all of you! God is so good! AND MIRACLES NEVER CEASE!!
Love
Elder McCown
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