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
