So this past week was pretty awesome! There have been so many miracles this past week! So this week, we started off with exchanges. Elder Lewis is such a miracle worker! He is the zone leader and he stayed in Port Alberni while Elder Hansen went to Nanaimo. Anyway, super awesome miracles happened! We found 6 potentials that night and about half of them are new investigators right now which is sweet! It’s nice to have a bigger teaching pool now and I am so excited to teach them all. Anyway, the following day the Senior Couple, Elder and Sister Burns came and visited Port Alberni with Elder Lewis and I there. Such an awesome time! The Burns bring the spirit and they are so kind and loving. So that was an awesome day. We visited with Ivy and her mom. We also visited with Marilyn which is always an awesome visit!
That day we gave two church tours and got two new investigators, all from the labors of the previous day which was awesome! Mark already has a baptismal date for April 10th which is awesome! He just has to start living the word of wisdom and he is golden! He also came to church this past Sunday as well, so he is progressing quite well.
Marilyn is doing AWESOME! She is progressing towards her baptismal date this coming Saturday! She has been holding strong and passed off her baptismal interview with President Deyel which is President Burt’s counsellor. So we are planning on meeting with her every day this week so we can give her that spiritual boost that she needs!
Let’s see, what else?
We did quite a bit of service this past week which was fun! We helped the Baverstocks paint one of their rooms which was fun!
I always love getting out of the white shirt and tie. Then we went and taught this man named Eric. Really nice guy. Super into the Bible and studies it thoroughly. He is stuck on only one thing though, and that is that church is to take place on Saturday. Kind of bummer eh? He would be awesome as a new member!
One of the best parts of the week though, was when we went to Victoria. We had an awesome Zone conference and we got some extra training on updating our area books which is something we really need to do. It literally took all day Friday for the meeting, which was tiring, but at the same time, it was an AWESOME spiritual recharge!
Saturday we helped this guy named Scott with his drywall business. We helped clean and vacuum this place that he is working on. It was a lot of fun!
That same day, we met with Gail and Roy and they fed us Pork Tenderloin which was SUPER YUMMY! She is such a good cook! They are so gracious towards us missionaries as well! They knew that we weren't getting the best of foods, so what do they do? They tell us to walk down the street with them, down to grocery store, and buy us a TON of food. They are so nice! I don't think we have to spend any amount of money on groceries for the next two weeks I think. That night we met with this lady named Sherry and Scott. They are quite an interesting couple. The first time I met them was when Elder Lewis and I were contacting in a Saveon grocery store. First off, it’s awkward talking to people in grocery stores because you can’t go up and suddenly start talking to random people about the gospel. So, I saw Sherry and Scott near where all the potatoes were. I then noticed that they were sniffing the potatoes. I was kind of weirded out, but when I went up and asked what they were doing, I figured out that you can tell if potatoes have gone bad or not by their smell. So now I know how to tell if potatoes are going bad or not! Lol. Anyway, the lesson that we had with them went pretty well.
Later that night we met with Marilyn which was awesome! Kimmy, (her 6 year old granddaughter) wasn't there, but apparently, according to Marilyn, Kimmy has a little bit of a crush on me, so, while they were in Nanaimo the other day, she got me this cool looking, fuzzy, giant pen and a stuffed Olaf. She is so cute!
So Sunday eventually rolled around and we had stake conference, and guess who came?!?! Marilyn and Mark! We had 2 investigators at church! It was so awesome! So Marilyn stayed for the whole entire time which was awesome and she enjoyed it a lot! Mark on the other hand had to go shortly after he arrived which was a bummer. It was still awesome to see him there though!
So, as you can tell, this has been an awesome week! There have been so many miracles going on! And what’s even weirder is that I am coming up on my 6 month mark! SO CRAZY!!!
One thing that came up this past week, after one of our lessons with Marilyn, which I thought was pretty cool, was when Justin Johanesson told me about our purpose on a mission, and how, there are certain people that we were meant to find or baptize. He told me that I was the one who was meant to baptize Marilyn. After almost 6 months of working with her, I believed it. There were times when I didn't think that she was ever going to get baptized. There were times that she wasn't progressing, and I felt that she was making up excuses, but God does reward us for our efforts and our perseverance. I am so glad that I am able to be here, and find that person that I was supposed to baptize, and it is going to be this coming week!
I love you all so much! God is good! Keep doing what you are doing, and keep moving forward! I love you!
Love,
Elder McCown
