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
