So, another stinkin week has gone by... this just goes way too stinkin fast... So, crazy week. We were so busy, that I don't even remember the whole week... I guess this is what getting old feels like, just forgetting stuff all the time. Anyway! From what I can remember the week was awesome!
Coolest miracle this week was this guy named Suki. So, Elder Anderson and I were making phone calls one night, trying to weed through these numerous pages of just phone numbers and names and I gave the phone to Elder Anderson cause I had to go use the washroom. Well, when I got back, Elder Anderson had had a conversation with this guy named Suki. Turns out that he was about to commit suicide, and told us to come and visit him tomorrow. So Elder Anderson got off the phone and that's when I walked in. I basically flipped when he told me that! So, the following morning we meet up with him and that was a flipping awesome lesson! He just unloaded all of his problems and he was just so happy after we talked with him! He took a Book of Mormon, and, what is even cooler is that Elder Anderson set a baptismal date with him for October 4th! It’s so freaking awesome!
What was even cooler was the following day! We had set up a lesson with him to go over word of wisdom and law of chastity because this guy is just SO prepared! Before that we had some service to go and do, just helping an investigator move some stuff. We came back to the apartment to change and we heard a loud snap outside, and then we heard from upstairs, "the tree fell on the car!". Well, you can guess what happened...our car got hit by a branch. Our roof is bent in, and the windshield was just shattered. So we called President Burt and, well, that was fun explaining to him. "A tree fell on the car." I could only imagine what he was thinking!
So after that, we went straight to work and thank goodness for the coolest old dude ever! Brother Brown is a lifesaver! We were meeting with him at the church to go to the lesson together and we went to meet with Suki. Well, while we were there, nothing was really going anywhere, partly because McDonalds was playing some music that I had never heard before. Hearing songs that I had never heard before really makes me feel old in the mission. I still have a year left of that too...So yeah! We were there and some weird old dude started coming up and talking to us, which is always fun to bump into when we are teaching the law of chastity. You honestly have to be so stinking bold in teaching it, otherwise things might get confusing. So you can only imagine telling someone not to look at pornography, have sex outside of marriage, as well as the other things that it entails, inside of a busy McDonalds. Well, the day before we figured out that there was going to be a baptism on Saturday, which was that day that we were meeting with Suki, and, he was just so cool! We invited him to the baptism which was 45 minutes after that lesson and he just came! Bro. Brown just drove us all over! COOLEST OLD GUY EVER!!!
We also got to meet with Valentino! We were able to set a baptismal date with him for October 4th as well! Other than that, not much. We always meet with Gus and this past Saturday was his 3 week mark of not smoking! WOOHOO!!! Now he just needs to get off of the drinking and he is a go! So awesome!
Not much else happened. We burned 2 hours of our P-Day driving to Richmond to get an estimate on how much the car would be to fix. The guy who was taking the pictures said it was going to be pretty expensive. Other than that it was an awesome week! Everything is just going great! God is just so good though!
Love you all!
Love
Elder McCown
Monday, August 31, 2015
Monday, August 24, 2015
Not Giving Up
So this week was a blast! Long some days, but the other days in between seemed to fly! So, starting off Monday we met with Gus! Always love meeting with Gus! Man! This guy is so dang solid! As of this past Saturday, it’s been 2 weeks since he last smoked and a week since he had a nicotine patch on! Anyway! We call him up and the cravings are just killing him! We meet with him as much as we can so that we can give him that support that he needs to be able to pull through each day! He is just so good!
Tuesday rolls around and we are just sweating like dogs that day. Walking and talking to everyone. My shirts are starting to get a little yellow because of how humid it is outside XP. We walked so much, dropping by potentials and just finding people to teach!
Wednesday was another hot and sticky day, again, but we got to meet with Gus and talk to some pretty cool people! Thursday was a gong show. We had weekly planning and apartment inspections. I don’t think we left the house for 5 hours that day. We were just stuck in doors getting everything planned for the week! Friday was awesome though! We went on exchanges! I went with Elder Samis and Elder Tolman, and it was just a blast! We talked to so many people that day! They have been struggling a little bit with finding some people to teach, so, what do we do? We go out and we start talking to people! And what’s more important than going out and talking to people?! Looking for humble people! So, we just jump into the heart of Whalley and go up and down the sketchiest street ever talking to everyone we see! While we were there though we found some awesome people that can really use the gospel!
Saturday comes around and we had an appointment set up from the previous day and we couldn’t find the person at all because he lived in a homeless shelter which is terrible. Anyway, we were on our way out and, we were just about to get into the car, and I get an impression to go and talk to this homeless guy. I really had no idea what he was doing. He was scraping a tree when I went and started talking to him. Anyway, we were able to share the whole restoration with him! It was so cool! Not able to do that with many people on the street! The spirit is just so good at telling you what to do and say! It’s just a matter of listening!
After that we went all the way to Langley for a meeting! It was so cool being back in my old area! Got to see a couple of people there! Anyway, we had a really cool meeting with Elder Johnson from the seventy which was really good! He literally called everyone to repentance there. Bishops, missionaries, you name it! It was awesome!
We then went and saw Sunny which is always good! He reads the Book of Mormon all the time and what’s even better is that he got a job! Now it’s even easier for him to not struggle with smoking as much!
I would have to say Sunday was the best though! Started off slow though. Gus showed up for church which was still good! He was struggling super hardcore the day before with smoking. He is doing so good though! I read part of Enos with him, all talking about when he "kneeled down before his Maker" and "cried unto him all the day long". He told me at church that that had helped him get through that night! So awesome!
Later that day we met with him as well and he said that the cravings were still there but that he is not giving up! Thats what we wanted to hear! It was awesome though because we were able to set a baptismal date on October 24th for him! Yeah, it’s a little ways a way, but it gives him that time to be able to conquer that temptation as much as he can! He is just so good!
Now, this has to be the best part of the week! We were finally able to meet with this lady named Kamal and her son Shivam. It was so cool! I had never met them, and they are so prepared to have the gospel in their lives! Shivam was wanting to become a missionary like us! That’s so stinking cool! We also had one of the most spiritual lessons I had ever had! We were talking about the Restoration, and the Book of Mormon. Once we opened up the gospel to them, they opened up to us! She has gone through so much! She came from Fiji and she worked her tail off to get her family here into Canada. What’s even crazier is that she is the happiest person alive! It was at a low point in her life that she realized that God was there. Her whole family was of Hindu faith, except for her aunt who was Christian. There was this one night where the world just seemed to be on her shoulders. She was breaking down in her car, thinking about how much easier it would be to just end everything right then and there. She however, found herself in front of a Christian church, and she called up her aunt, and she said to just give it all to him. I don’t know, if many of you know this, but Hindu's are very resolute in the religion. There aren’t many that are willing to change. Willing to listen, but not to change. She however changed! She became a Christian, and when I read Alma 7:11-15 I think it was, she was just crying. We promised her that she will be able to have whatever she is going through at that time, alleviated by Jesus Christ. That is when we challenged her to be baptized, and she readily accepted September 20th as her date! The lesson was just so powerful though! Elder Anderson recited the first vision perfectly, speaking as if he had been doing this for a very long time! I had never felt the spirit so strongly before! God is just so good! We walked away from that so excited! God is just so dang good!
Well, I sure love all of you, and miss every single one of you!
Love
Elder McCown
Tuesday rolls around and we are just sweating like dogs that day. Walking and talking to everyone. My shirts are starting to get a little yellow because of how humid it is outside XP. We walked so much, dropping by potentials and just finding people to teach!
Wednesday was another hot and sticky day, again, but we got to meet with Gus and talk to some pretty cool people! Thursday was a gong show. We had weekly planning and apartment inspections. I don’t think we left the house for 5 hours that day. We were just stuck in doors getting everything planned for the week! Friday was awesome though! We went on exchanges! I went with Elder Samis and Elder Tolman, and it was just a blast! We talked to so many people that day! They have been struggling a little bit with finding some people to teach, so, what do we do? We go out and we start talking to people! And what’s more important than going out and talking to people?! Looking for humble people! So, we just jump into the heart of Whalley and go up and down the sketchiest street ever talking to everyone we see! While we were there though we found some awesome people that can really use the gospel!
Saturday comes around and we had an appointment set up from the previous day and we couldn’t find the person at all because he lived in a homeless shelter which is terrible. Anyway, we were on our way out and, we were just about to get into the car, and I get an impression to go and talk to this homeless guy. I really had no idea what he was doing. He was scraping a tree when I went and started talking to him. Anyway, we were able to share the whole restoration with him! It was so cool! Not able to do that with many people on the street! The spirit is just so good at telling you what to do and say! It’s just a matter of listening!
After that we went all the way to Langley for a meeting! It was so cool being back in my old area! Got to see a couple of people there! Anyway, we had a really cool meeting with Elder Johnson from the seventy which was really good! He literally called everyone to repentance there. Bishops, missionaries, you name it! It was awesome!
We then went and saw Sunny which is always good! He reads the Book of Mormon all the time and what’s even better is that he got a job! Now it’s even easier for him to not struggle with smoking as much!
I would have to say Sunday was the best though! Started off slow though. Gus showed up for church which was still good! He was struggling super hardcore the day before with smoking. He is doing so good though! I read part of Enos with him, all talking about when he "kneeled down before his Maker" and "cried unto him all the day long". He told me at church that that had helped him get through that night! So awesome!
Later that day we met with him as well and he said that the cravings were still there but that he is not giving up! Thats what we wanted to hear! It was awesome though because we were able to set a baptismal date on October 24th for him! Yeah, it’s a little ways a way, but it gives him that time to be able to conquer that temptation as much as he can! He is just so good!
Now, this has to be the best part of the week! We were finally able to meet with this lady named Kamal and her son Shivam. It was so cool! I had never met them, and they are so prepared to have the gospel in their lives! Shivam was wanting to become a missionary like us! That’s so stinking cool! We also had one of the most spiritual lessons I had ever had! We were talking about the Restoration, and the Book of Mormon. Once we opened up the gospel to them, they opened up to us! She has gone through so much! She came from Fiji and she worked her tail off to get her family here into Canada. What’s even crazier is that she is the happiest person alive! It was at a low point in her life that she realized that God was there. Her whole family was of Hindu faith, except for her aunt who was Christian. There was this one night where the world just seemed to be on her shoulders. She was breaking down in her car, thinking about how much easier it would be to just end everything right then and there. She however, found herself in front of a Christian church, and she called up her aunt, and she said to just give it all to him. I don’t know, if many of you know this, but Hindu's are very resolute in the religion. There aren’t many that are willing to change. Willing to listen, but not to change. She however changed! She became a Christian, and when I read Alma 7:11-15 I think it was, she was just crying. We promised her that she will be able to have whatever she is going through at that time, alleviated by Jesus Christ. That is when we challenged her to be baptized, and she readily accepted September 20th as her date! The lesson was just so powerful though! Elder Anderson recited the first vision perfectly, speaking as if he had been doing this for a very long time! I had never felt the spirit so strongly before! God is just so good! We walked away from that so excited! God is just so dang good!
Well, I sure love all of you, and miss every single one of you!
Love
Elder McCown
Monday, August 17, 2015
YOU! Yes!
SO, I can’t believe another week went by, just as unbelievable as how last week went by so fast. Crazy eh? I’m going to be out 11 months in 2 weeks. FREAKY.
So this week was a little bit slower than the others, but it’s still so good! To kick it off, we played chair soccer AGAIN! Elder Anderson got nailed in the chest though. He had an imprint of a soccer ball on it for a little while. Let’s see, after that we called Gus. So, literally, coolest miracle ever! We called up Gus, and we were calling to see how he was doing and he said that he was on nicotine patches but that he was having a bit of a craving for a smoke. So, I just stopped him right there and said "Alright, we are coming over." Didn't wait for him to agree. So we started calling members up and NO ONE was open to come to a lesson with us! GAH! The struggle! If a missionary calls you up to ask if you can go to a lesson, that means that they need YOU! Yes! SO, we called EVERYONE! No one answers, or they say they are busy. We then remember we have some return missionaries upstairs staying with the family that we live under. We run up there and we grab one of them and take him to the lesson! It was really cool though because he (Elder Waldron) had served here about a year ago. So we go to the lesson and he is just living the dream! He was just soaking up the time he had with us! What was so cool though was that he really pushed me and really showed me some different ways of going up and talking to people! It’s been a while since I had been with a missionary that has been out that much longer than me! It was awesome though! Really got out of my comfort zone!
Let’s see. Tuesday through Saturday we spent cleaning out our area book. We did drop by nonstop because past missionaries did not know how to keep an updated area book. Super painful but we have cut down the area books size by at least half. At least it feels like it.
So, this past week, I forget which day, we were at Bear Creek park and we were teaching this lesson with Gus, and we were about to leave, when John showed me this tree. I had literally seen this tree like 50 times. He just walked into it though and disappeared. I was so excited! I raced into the tree after him and I looked up and there were just a ton of branches going up! And I just climbed that thing like a monkey! So much fun!
Other than that, it was a great week! Sunny and Gus came to church! God is just so good though! Love being a missionary! I told President Burt today that I am not going to leave ha-ha! It’s just too good! Sure love and miss you guys though!
Love
Elder McCown
So this week was a little bit slower than the others, but it’s still so good! To kick it off, we played chair soccer AGAIN! Elder Anderson got nailed in the chest though. He had an imprint of a soccer ball on it for a little while. Let’s see, after that we called Gus. So, literally, coolest miracle ever! We called up Gus, and we were calling to see how he was doing and he said that he was on nicotine patches but that he was having a bit of a craving for a smoke. So, I just stopped him right there and said "Alright, we are coming over." Didn't wait for him to agree. So we started calling members up and NO ONE was open to come to a lesson with us! GAH! The struggle! If a missionary calls you up to ask if you can go to a lesson, that means that they need YOU! Yes! SO, we called EVERYONE! No one answers, or they say they are busy. We then remember we have some return missionaries upstairs staying with the family that we live under. We run up there and we grab one of them and take him to the lesson! It was really cool though because he (Elder Waldron) had served here about a year ago. So we go to the lesson and he is just living the dream! He was just soaking up the time he had with us! What was so cool though was that he really pushed me and really showed me some different ways of going up and talking to people! It’s been a while since I had been with a missionary that has been out that much longer than me! It was awesome though! Really got out of my comfort zone!
Let’s see. Tuesday through Saturday we spent cleaning out our area book. We did drop by nonstop because past missionaries did not know how to keep an updated area book. Super painful but we have cut down the area books size by at least half. At least it feels like it.
So, this past week, I forget which day, we were at Bear Creek park and we were teaching this lesson with Gus, and we were about to leave, when John showed me this tree. I had literally seen this tree like 50 times. He just walked into it though and disappeared. I was so excited! I raced into the tree after him and I looked up and there were just a ton of branches going up! And I just climbed that thing like a monkey! So much fun!
Other than that, it was a great week! Sunny and Gus came to church! God is just so good though! Love being a missionary! I told President Burt today that I am not going to leave ha-ha! It’s just too good! Sure love and miss you guys though!
Love
Elder McCown
Monday, August 10, 2015
Baby Boy Elder Anderson
Well, the pregnancy is over, and after 30 minutes of labor...I had a beautiful baby boy! Haha! So yeah! It’s been awesome! Training is so much fun! It’s even better when he is such a good missionary! I named him Elder Anderson by the way, not that I really had a choice, but yeah! He’s a healthy baby boy!
This was quite a week though. I literally felt like a taxi driver this past week! So, to start off our taxi business we drive to Richmond, which is about a 45 minute drive, to pick up an Elder that had flown in from the north. Drove back and virtually lost all of our time to work because it was a P-Day. Next day, we drove all the way back to Richmond to take the missionary that we picked up to a meeting. And then we drove and saw a couple of people, picked up another missionary, and then drove all the way to Langley to drop off Elder Slack. Drove back, and on the way, picked up another missionary, and drove him to the far side of Richmond so that he could catch a ferry. I may or may not have sped the whole way because we were going to be late for his ferry...Then we drove back, got dinner and had a lesson and then had a meeting.
The following day Elder Hall and I drove all the way to Richmond AGAIN! Picked up Elder Anderson and then drove all the way back. So, now that we are actually back in our area, we could actually go work! Psych! We actually did weekly planning! So yes, weekly planning is when you plan for 3 hours straight nonstop for your following week! Well, I have only been here for 5 weeks, so I just crammed super hardcore for a week... So, now we can get to work!
We went and saw Sunny for Elder Andersons first ever appointment! Haha! Crazy Punjabi! He just cracks me up! Probably freaked him out but that’s about it! Then we taught some Muslim dude named Yaroon. Yeah...he got the hard stuff right from the get go.
Church was good! We met with Gus right after church! He’s getting off of smoking which is good! He’s so awesome!
Well, that’s about it. I drove all week almost. 3 days straight of driving!
God is good no matter what though! No matter how many times I got lost on my way to Richmond, it’s still good! Love you all!
Love
Elder McCown
This was quite a week though. I literally felt like a taxi driver this past week! So, to start off our taxi business we drive to Richmond, which is about a 45 minute drive, to pick up an Elder that had flown in from the north. Drove back and virtually lost all of our time to work because it was a P-Day. Next day, we drove all the way back to Richmond to take the missionary that we picked up to a meeting. And then we drove and saw a couple of people, picked up another missionary, and then drove all the way to Langley to drop off Elder Slack. Drove back, and on the way, picked up another missionary, and drove him to the far side of Richmond so that he could catch a ferry. I may or may not have sped the whole way because we were going to be late for his ferry...Then we drove back, got dinner and had a lesson and then had a meeting.
The following day Elder Hall and I drove all the way to Richmond AGAIN! Picked up Elder Anderson and then drove all the way back. So, now that we are actually back in our area, we could actually go work! Psych! We actually did weekly planning! So yes, weekly planning is when you plan for 3 hours straight nonstop for your following week! Well, I have only been here for 5 weeks, so I just crammed super hardcore for a week... So, now we can get to work!
We went and saw Sunny for Elder Andersons first ever appointment! Haha! Crazy Punjabi! He just cracks me up! Probably freaked him out but that’s about it! Then we taught some Muslim dude named Yaroon. Yeah...he got the hard stuff right from the get go.
Church was good! We met with Gus right after church! He’s getting off of smoking which is good! He’s so awesome!
Well, that’s about it. I drove all week almost. 3 days straight of driving!
God is good no matter what though! No matter how many times I got lost on my way to Richmond, it’s still good! Love you all!
Love
Elder McCown
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Expecting New MTC Missionary
So yeah...crazy week... To start off, P-Day was awesome! It was the last P-Day for some elders so we went all out and played basketball and chair soccer for 3 hours! So much fun! Had a blast, as well as probably lost some weight which is awesome!
So, we also went and saw Gus. We have actually been seeing Gus every day, trying to get him to overcome smoking and drinking. So sad. He seems to be trying so hard! GAH! Satan is just so strong sometimes!
Tuesday was fun! We went and saw Sunny! Man! The guy is just so awesome! He loves the Book of Mormon! He reads it all the time without us even asking us to! Talk about a miracle! I have never had that happen before!
Wednesday was so much fun though! We went on exchanges and I was with Elder Erasmus! He is such a stud! Love that guy! John took us to IL Uk Jo which was even better! IL Uk Jo is this Japanese buffet. No, I did not eat the sushi! I already had a terrible experience with that before... but I just loaded on Teriyaki! SO GOOD!
Thursday rolls around and we go on another exchange! I went with Elder Samis which was a lot of fun! Found some awesome people for them to teach which they have been struggling with a little.
The next day was Zone meeting. All the Elders and Sisters that were leaving went up and bore their testimonies. Kind of freaked me out because I only have 14 months until that happens to me...FREAKY!
I would have to say that the freakiest/most nerve racking day of the week was Saturday. To start it off we went and helped someone move for 4 hours. I was so exhausted already, and we just wanted to die because the furniture was so heavy and everything else. Super hot outside too. So, imagine, I am just super tired and we go to a lesson at 6, and it was a GONGSHOW. We were planning on meeting this less active who wants to come back to church, and he is just super awesome about inviting people to hear our message. So, we are super pumped about this because the members aren’t all that excited about missionary work. It turned out on being crazier than we thought. We got questions thrown at us that we didn’t even have time to answer, food was being passed back and forth, and somehow we were able to fit the message of the Restoration in there somehow. So, we walk away from that, and we are just still dead tired, we go out and talk to some more people and that’s about it. We come in for nightly planning, exhausted, and we were just about to finish when we got a call from the mission office. Well, we got transfer news earlier than we were expecting, and, well, I figured out I am pregnant. Yep, I am. So, for those who don’t know the mission lingo, that means that I am going to be training a brand new missionary! Yep, straight out of the MTC. SO, THAT FREAKED ME OUT! Elder Slack is also going to be transferred to another area to follow up train, so we were both a little on edge. Needless to say, neither of us slept that well that night. I don’t even remember what went on Sunday. I was just too exhausted. We were also fasting which didn’t help, and we didn’t even have time to eat dinner the night before, so, I was running on very little steam that day.
So yeah, I’m sitting here, about 9 months pregnant, due in about 2 days...yeah, no big deal... So, great week! I am exhausted, but God is just so good! Thank goodness for the spirit, or else I would not be able to function right now!
I sure love and miss you all!
Love
Elder McCown
So, we also went and saw Gus. We have actually been seeing Gus every day, trying to get him to overcome smoking and drinking. So sad. He seems to be trying so hard! GAH! Satan is just so strong sometimes!
Tuesday was fun! We went and saw Sunny! Man! The guy is just so awesome! He loves the Book of Mormon! He reads it all the time without us even asking us to! Talk about a miracle! I have never had that happen before!
Wednesday was so much fun though! We went on exchanges and I was with Elder Erasmus! He is such a stud! Love that guy! John took us to IL Uk Jo which was even better! IL Uk Jo is this Japanese buffet. No, I did not eat the sushi! I already had a terrible experience with that before... but I just loaded on Teriyaki! SO GOOD!
Thursday rolls around and we go on another exchange! I went with Elder Samis which was a lot of fun! Found some awesome people for them to teach which they have been struggling with a little.
The next day was Zone meeting. All the Elders and Sisters that were leaving went up and bore their testimonies. Kind of freaked me out because I only have 14 months until that happens to me...FREAKY!
I would have to say that the freakiest/most nerve racking day of the week was Saturday. To start it off we went and helped someone move for 4 hours. I was so exhausted already, and we just wanted to die because the furniture was so heavy and everything else. Super hot outside too. So, imagine, I am just super tired and we go to a lesson at 6, and it was a GONGSHOW. We were planning on meeting this less active who wants to come back to church, and he is just super awesome about inviting people to hear our message. So, we are super pumped about this because the members aren’t all that excited about missionary work. It turned out on being crazier than we thought. We got questions thrown at us that we didn’t even have time to answer, food was being passed back and forth, and somehow we were able to fit the message of the Restoration in there somehow. So, we walk away from that, and we are just still dead tired, we go out and talk to some more people and that’s about it. We come in for nightly planning, exhausted, and we were just about to finish when we got a call from the mission office. Well, we got transfer news earlier than we were expecting, and, well, I figured out I am pregnant. Yep, I am. So, for those who don’t know the mission lingo, that means that I am going to be training a brand new missionary! Yep, straight out of the MTC. SO, THAT FREAKED ME OUT! Elder Slack is also going to be transferred to another area to follow up train, so we were both a little on edge. Needless to say, neither of us slept that well that night. I don’t even remember what went on Sunday. I was just too exhausted. We were also fasting which didn’t help, and we didn’t even have time to eat dinner the night before, so, I was running on very little steam that day.
So yeah, I’m sitting here, about 9 months pregnant, due in about 2 days...yeah, no big deal... So, great week! I am exhausted, but God is just so good! Thank goodness for the spirit, or else I would not be able to function right now!
I sure love and miss you all!
Love
Elder McCown
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