“Remember”

This is the end....
So the chopping block is coming and I have no idea how it came so fast! It has not hit me and it probably will not hit me until I am on that plane comin home! I can’t believe I have to fly to Denver first... I had my interview with President Burt this past week. Love that man! It’s been a quick two years. He told me to paint him a picture of my mission starting from square one. It only felt like yesterday that I was sitting in Port Alberni. Well...anyway...General Conference was great and I loved it! Jeffrey R Holland layed down on that home teaching which I am sure drove a heart wrenching guilt trip into every home teacher! Hope that kicks some butt because that is so important!

I guess, since it is my last email I better go off on a high note, and that is my testimony.

No words will be able to fully convey the love I have had for my mission. I have had and will still have the most loving and caring mission President that has ever walked the face of this earth. I have had the greatest of areas, some of them more refining than others, and that goes for my companions as well. I have had great people to work with; trials that have made me who I am today and will help me define and discern my future. I have had great support from my family and friends no matter where I was. At this point in time it has been the best two years of my life, and will be the best two years for my life. I am grateful for every moment, even the hard ones, even the ones where I even felt completely alone and even felt like I was abandoned. I am grateful for the divine blessings that have been given to me and my family.

I will never be able to comprehend the impact mission has had or will have, nor will I ever be able to be completely grateful for all the lessons and blessings that came in the two years span that has ultimately shaped my life. That is why I can say, and, I not even being home yet, that my mission has meant everything to me. I cannot fathom where I would be at at this point in my life if I had not served a mission, nor would I like to. This has been the most powerful impact in my life. Now why do I say that? Lessons have been learned. Trials have been overcome and I learned how to rely on the Savior to get me through it.

I will forever remember my mission. The impact it has had on me and my family has only been for good. I also would like to testify of one simple word that is completely Elder McCown doctrine because I think the most important word is the is the simple 3 syllable word "remember". Trials that I have surmounted have been because I have remembered my Savior. I remembered who I am. I remembered that I am son of the most High who has created cosmos without number, with no beginning or end. I remembered that I had my family to support me, and often times my mission president who was on speed dial, and will be when I go home. I can never be fully grateful for the blessings of my mission and I can never fully appreciate the impact it has had on not only me, but others as well.

My favorite hymn is There is a Green Hill Far Away. The second verse is my favorite. "We may not know, we cannot tell, What pains he had to bear, But we believe it was for us, he hung and suffered there." I am grateful for my Savior and the power he has to edify and purify us through his loving kindness. I know that he lives, that we are his children, and that he wants you and I, to return to live with Him again. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love

Elder McCown

Who needs to Eat?

So another great week went by and it just keeps on going by faster and faster!  We had some great miracles happen this week which has just been so good and such a refresher for us! We pushed and worked hard!

Zone conference was great to begin with and came ready and willing and the spirit was felt super strongly while I was there! Both uplifting and encouraging and really helped me realize things that I could improve and work on! It was just so good! Had a lot of fun and the Mexican food was just so good!

Besides the refreshing and delicious Mexican food, we worked and sacrificed and pushed hard. We gave up time and miracles happened! One of them happened this past Friday! Weekly planning had just finished and we had no one going to the baptism that night. Well, we sat in the car ready to go and I looked at Elder Melus and I said, "Do you believe that we could have someone at that baptism tonight?" He didn't hesitate to say yes! So we went inside, grabbed our suits, sacrificed dinner and worked straight from the hour we had left till just 30 minutes before the baptism, and miracles just dumped on us. We committed ourselves to invite everyone to the baptism. Every door we knocked, every person we spoke to, and we just made sure we worked our hardest. Within the first 15 minutes of knocking doors the thought came to mind to text everyone in the phone! And that is A LOT of people since I put every single potential in there from the area book! We also texted every former and investigator! We got a lot of no's, a lot of "stop texting me's" and so on. One of them however got back to us and said he would come! This is exactly what he said, "I will see you there :). I need to talk to you guys." His name is Maddox. Well, President Burt, miracles never cease to exist do they? Turns out he was YSA, and the Vancouver YSA sisters were there, and next thing I hear is that he came to church this past week, and has a baptismal date for the 15th! God is just so good!

We were also able to teach Wayne this week. Very simply put, we set the expectation of writing down every question and concern about the church he had, and we promised him that if he came to general conference, every single concern or question he had would be answered.

We have been also able to see quite a few miracles in finding new investigators as well! We were able to find 5 of them this week, one of them passed off to Van YSA, and two passed off to the sisters, and hopefully we will have another one passed off to the sisters by the end of this week!

Altogether it was a great week! We have been pushing and pushing and just digging our heels into the dirt and running with it all. We don't go a meal without sacrificing time, and often times it’s a matter of trying to remember if we had dinner or lunch! God is good and the members are catching some of the fire which is what we are praying for!

Sure love and miss yall!

Love

Elder McCown

Coquitlam, Round 2

So this has been quite a week! For starters we have been just hitting the ground running! I can officially say that I have knocked all of Coquitlam! Round 2!  Had some awesome miracles though! We felt inspired to go to this complex that I had never seen before. I thought it was all closed off but when we walked in we found that we could knock some doors! After finishing off the complex I think we found 5 potentials and we were able to set return appointments with 2 or 3 of them! It was awesome!

Also had the food drive this week! On Wednesday we went with Wayne and were able to drop off bags to his neighborhood! On Saturday, when we picked up the bags, it was pouring rain but Elder Melus and I were just running everywhere and altogether as a ward we were able to get about 7500 lbs. of food for the food drive! It was AWESOME!!!

Saturday was by far our busiest day...well....at least it was supposed to be...We had appointments set up for every hour between 12 and 6. Well....about 5 out of the 7 fell through but it was still awesome! We were able to teach Wayne that day...however...it was not the best for him...he answered the door super glumly and said right off the bat that he should have cancelled, but he let us in anyway. He told us that he went to the doctor recently and was told that the other doctors had lied to him and said that his cancer was all gone. Well...apparently they were wrong and the cancer is still there. We were able to read about the story of Alma and how they were put into bondage by the people Amulon. He liked it and he looked a lot happier after we left!

We were also able to meet with this man Hamid who the sisters had passed off to us. He is a great guy and is going through a lot, but he loved meeting with us!  Andrew came to church this week as well! It was miracle getting him there though! We were out trying to find people and we just happened to be in his area. So we knocked on his door and he came right out and got him to come to church the following day!

Oh yeah...not a crazy story but it just proves that weird stuff happens whenever missionaries are around...We were knocking a complex this past week and all was fine and dandy and we were actually thinking about dropping by a member that lived in the same complex. Well, we are just about to finish and we start to smell something funny. We finish off the complex and as we are heading back Elder Melus sees smoke rising up from the other side of the complex. Because I am unbearably curious we walk over and we see firetrucks lined up blasting this car with water that had just blown up. The engine was on fire and some pieces and flown all over. Needless to say, I am grateful that nobody really wanted to talk to us, because it was only 15 minutes earlier that we were in that same exact spot and I dont like getting skewered by glass!

So that was fun! It was a great week! Mom, I am getting super fat off of those Oreos by the way...Sure love and miss yall!

Love

Elder McCown

Ground UP

Soooo...great week!!!  We have been just pushin so hard to get into those members homes! So we have been working from the ground up! President Burt and I have been going back and forth on this and basically we have decided that starting from the bottom is the best way! So, needless to say we have been on top of our members! I think the greatest way that we can help them in their missionary work is by going into their homes and comparing the differences between missionary work and home teaching...I have scavenged for numerous differences between the two and these are what we have found. 1: We wear name tags, 2: We do this 24/7, 3: They teach people who are members and we teach non-members...and that’s about it! We are both on the same page missionary and member alike! One thing that we have been able to do is make home and visiting teaching more focused on missionary work. We have committed each every single member we visit to first off repent and actually do their HT/VT as well as find referrals for us in those whom they HT/VT.

So the ground work is getting laid out and things are going great!  Wayne is doing great! He has not come to church yet but he is understanding what we are teaching him! We were able to call him up a couple times this week and read the Book of Mormon with him! It’s been great and he is understanding it as well as making a healthy habit! We were also able to teach him about prophets as well and watch "On the Lord's errand". Literally the most legit movie about good ole Tommy Monson! He loved the video and hopefully will receive an answer soon! He is also going to do the food drive this week with us so that will be fun!

Other than that we are hitting the finding grind! I have knocked out probably 90% of Coquitlam, so hopefully we will get the other 10% done this week! After that, haha, I dont know where I am going to go!

Well I sure love and miss yall! And thanks mom for the packages!

Love

Elder McCown

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

"Can you feel that?" blubbered the man as we held hands in a circle together. "That is the feeling of a man of good moral standing...". It was his birthday. He was really, really, really tipsy, and I tried really, really, really hard not to laugh at the irony of it all.
It was still an awesome week though!!!

We have been working so hard with the members recently! We have pushed and pushed to get into their homes and we have come up with a win, win, win situation for everyone! Needless to say it was the spirit that brought this to mind as I was studying it for district meeting this past week, but miracles have, needless to say have occurred!

The training was really focused on learning and serving in the church, and there was a section that was all focused on home and visiting teaching. Every area that I have served in has been, let’s just say a little low on their home and visiting teaching stats. And then another problem came to mind at the same time as I was studying and that was that there are very few referrals as well. Well, we have come up with a super awesome lesson plan that addresses both of those problems so that we can get this ward "convert ready." We go in and help the members first off recognize the impact it has, kind of get after them in a way if they are not doing their home and visiting teaching and invite them to repent, while at the same time we teach about referrals and the importance of hem...Altogether we commit them to do their HT/VT as well as find a referral for us in their individual stewardships! Bishop was on board and many other members and we are excited to see where this will take us! We also took the initiative that very night of district meeting to call through at least 10 members. Many of us have had return appointments with them! We are also tag teaming with the sisters, and even though we have to start from the bottom, we will get this ward convert ready faster than you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!! Just dont say it too fast haha!

Progression in our investigators has come about slowly but surely as well! Some road blocks have been place on our baptismal date with Emanuel because his parents back home are against him doing such a thing. We are determined to meet with him this week and see if we can figure something out.

Wayne is coming along slowly but surely! Getting him to church is another ordeal that is hard to deal with but his testimony in the Book of Mormon is going to be building really quickly! We have set up times at the most unproductive time of the day, as well as at time that we can combine it with lunch, so that we could read one chapter of the Book of Mormon with him over the phone. We have taught him the basics, and now we are just doing everything we can to make it possible for him to receive a witness that this book is just so true! Monday, Wednesday and Friday we do this and in between he reads on his own time! This is a test run so we will see how it goes!

We were also able to have a miracle this week! A couple transfers ago I made the conscious decision to put every number in the area book into our phone that were potentials. For weeks on end I have been texting and calling with every spare moment that there is and we FINALLY saw a miracle from it! After mass texting everyone we get a text back from this guy named Mitchell! Turns out he has had numerous experiences with the missionaries and they have all been positive! We taught the restoration and it all made perfect sense to him! He is a great guy with a great heart that is going to be passed off to YSA! Elder Melus and I both walked away from that lesson with full confidence that he will get baptized.

So altogether it was another great week! We work hard and more often than not, all the miracles come at the end of the day! No matter what though, we are going to endure. We are going to get this ward "convert ready". And if I die here with no baptism, I am at least going to leave something behind for the next set, whoever they are.

Sure love and miss yall!

Love

Elder McCown

So Stoked

"Elder McCown, is it dinner time yet?" Yeah, that question gets asked a lot...Actually, I think that has been the question that I have been asked the most for the past 6 months or so...We have literally just been working so hard this past week and I don’t know where the time went. My new companion is from Palau and he is so legit! Came from probably one of the poorest countries in the world, and now speaks near perfect English after only being out in the field for 18 months...yeah he’s awesome!

I would have to say that this week had some ups and downs...not many of our investigators like to pick up their phones...I think that’s one of life’s greatest questions..."If people have phones why dont they pick them up?"...the world may never know.

We did have some awesome miracles though! We dropped by Tyler and he had dropped off the face of the world for the past week and a half. Turns out his phone committed suicide by magically jumping out of his pocket. Long story short, his phone is about as bad as ours now haha!

Best part of the week? That would be Emanuel! It was an interesting lesson. We invited Freyden and Manfred to come a long cause we are trying to get him to go to YSA...Well Freyden had another friend with him, soooo, we took all 3 of them!!! Laid down the law on the Gospel of Jesus Christ...did he accept a baptismal date for October 1st? Yes he did!!! So stoked!

Let’s see, not much else happened...We were able to meet with Wayne as well...Taught him the Plan of Salvation...Went better than I thought it would. One thing that I do love about Wayne though is that he says his concerns right on the spot and he does not do it in a demeaning way...he loves what we talk about and he appreciates it all, and I love it too, because, even if the lesson is not good, he still gives us cookies...

That’s about it though...I have gotten to that point where I think I have this place memorized. Finding streets that I have not knocked are a struggle.

Sure love and miss yall and keep on being so good!

Love

Elder McCown

Dying in COQUITLAM

So this week had some ups and downs!  So, start with the downs....JACK CAN’T MEET WITH US ANYMORE :( :( XP X'(. Literally the saddest news of my life. He had left for Alberta for a couple weeks and he comes back saying that his family is upset with him for doing this and all that anti jazz that just breaks everything!!! GAH!!! So hard! He is just so good! He called us to let us know and I remember word for word what he said. "I am so sorry, but I do want you to know that I know that you are two good young fellows. And I know what you share is true..."

He is going to take us out to lunch today though and hopefully we can figure something out!  So that hurt!

Of course we should always look at the bright side! We were able to meet with this guy named Emanuel...He is legit. Another pair of elders passed him off to us and we actually figured out that he is YSA. He is actually from Nigeria and understood and loved what we had to say! At the end of the lesson he said, "I want to read that book!" Well...sure...that sounds good. He also came to church and hopefully we will be passing him off to YSA next week!

Wayne’s been alright...kind of had to push him a little. Elder Hsu got all fiery with him during the lesson and it was awesome! Just testified hardcore! We also gave him a blessing for his recovery from his surgery! He should be coming to church soon!

Andrew is doing good. We had a lesson at the Howitts with them this past week and he liked it! Almost accepted a baptismal date. What stinks though is that he has a job for the next 2 weeks at the fair here in town so him coming to church is a no go :(...
OH!! Also met this guy named Tyler! The sisters passed us off to him and gave us 15 minutes to get to his place....Well he is so cool! He is like 28, and, long story short, he has seen and done quite a bit...He was crying while we were there and hopefully things will work out for him!

Last, but not least, we got transfer calls.....I’M STAYING!!!! Nothing like dying in COQUITLAM!!! My new companion is Elder Melus and he is so cool! He is this dude from a tiny island off the coast of the Philippines...STOKED??? YES!!!

Elder Hsu is going over to Burnaby and opening up a Chinese area. That’s spitting distance from Coquitlam so I will still see him! Gonna miss him though!

Sure love and miss yall!

Love

Elder McCown

Sprint My Heart Out

Well this has been an eventful week....OF FINDING!!!!  We were not able to meet with any of our investigators this past week so that was pretty hard...Well that is except for Andrew! He is doing great! He even came to church as well! He soaking up everything that we teach him and he said in the middle of priesthood that he is starting to like it here even more!  Even though we did not get to teach much we were able to find a lot of people this past week, and hopefully we will be seeing them this week! God has been good regardless though!

A little miracle that we had was when Elder Reynolds and I were on exchanges...It had been a long day and we were walking up and down hills and its about 90 degrees and 70% humidity...so needless to say we were sweating buckets... So, lets just say that this road was our little miracle street! We found this lady named Sheri that is super down to listening to what we have to say. We will be seeing her tomorrow! Also, knocked on this Chinese lady's door...Normally when it’s just two white dudes that don’t speak a lick of Chinese knocking into a door with a Chinese lady freaking because she does not know what we are doing, we normally leave them with a card and play charades to show them that you type it into the computer...Well, this time was different...it was awkward while we were just standing there with me trying to call some Chinese elders, but we were able to get someone on the phone! Well, God turned that into a little miracle! She ended up on being very interested! Wait...gets even better! We passed her over to the Chinese sisters, and they were able to set up an appointment for that Sunday...Well it turned out on being a whole family!!!! Grandma and two parents and a little girl! They told us that the lesson was just so good and that they will be seeing them this week! GAH!!! God is so good!
Someone also gave us fudgesicles when we knocked on her door...So literally the coolest street ever!

We also had an okay/really good zone meeting. Okay because seeing your results on the board and how they compare with other companionships, in my book, is not cool, but whatever. It was so good once we hit the end though! The last 7 minutes were spent watching this super cool video that just hit everyone like a ton of bricks...It was about a black man that was in the Olympics for some event in track and was actually predicted to win the race. However, about halfway through the race, something happened to his leg, whether it was a rupture or a cramp, I do not remember, but he could not put pressure on that one leg. Determined to stick it to the very end he keeps on hobbling, but that’s when a man in the crowd starts running out to the stadium, pushing people out of his way, shoving security to the side, saying, "That’s my son." This father, walking beside his son, who is barely hobbling, wraps his arms around him, and tells him, "You dont have to do this son." But that son does not stop. He keeps on going, he finishes that race regardless of the pain that is felt in his leg.  The spirit was so strong and yet lighter than air and many of us were crying after that...One distinct feeling that I remember was my renewed desire to just serve to the very end. Not that I had already committed to sprint my heart out and give every moment I could, but that spiritual renewal and that newfound and heavily bolstered desire is now stuck in me until I die running. Ever since that day, that video has been on replay.

I know that the Savior lives. I know that when it seems like when we are coming to the end of our ropes, that when everything seems hopeless and dark and endless, that when we just keep fighting, that the lesson will be learned, that the dark will be turned to light, and the aspirations for becoming like our Heavenly Father will be attained.

"If for a while, the harder you try, the harder it gets, take heart, so it has been with the best of people." Jeffrey R. Holland

Love

Elder McCown

Members Catching The Fire

SUCH A GOOD WEEK!!! Filled with little miracles here and there which led to us being able to find 6 new investigators this week! Literally a miracle! We worked so hard and are so excited to find where these people will go when we are able to see them in the coming weeks!  Just an update on everyone else that we are teaching, more specifically Stew, Andrew, Wayne and Jack!
To first start off, Stew is someone that we were able to only sit down for 30 minutes with. He is a father of 3 boys that has a desire for something better for them and, before we came to his place, he had already read the Resto pamphlet that we had left with him and already wanted a Book of Mormon! He knew already that that was the key upon learning all of that was true! Good questions were given and we were able to answer them very clearly which led to him connecting the dots that he needed to read this great book! We were able to teach a 7 minute Resto and he is excited to learn more! SO EXCITING!!!

Andrew came to church this week! He is someone with a little bit of mental handicaps but his retention is just so good! We watched the Resto video with him this past week and, we tested out his retention and he explained perfectly what happened in the video! What’s even better!? HE SAYS HE KNOWS IT IS ALL TRUE!! The Book of Mormon! That Joseph Smith was called to be a prophet! Everything that we had taught him so far! We also had some great members that were able to pick him up and bring him to church this week! He said it was different and liked it! Also loved the members and we are expecting a baptismal date soon!!!! SO EXCITING!!! Reading is hard for him but he is able to grasp the main concept of the passages we leave with him!

Wayne we were able to meet with this past Saturday. He is progressing in reading the Book of Mormon and plans on taking it on his trip when he leaves for a couple weeks! Every time we go over he says "this just seems to line up more and more with what I believe!" So it is good that he is seeing the correlation! We plan on giving him a blessing this week as well, so that he can first off, witness the priesthood firsthand, as well as come to church this week! It will be a defining moment!

Jack had to go to Alberta again for his sister that is starting to pass away, but we are going to teach him this week! I am just so excited to be able to teach him this week though! He loves the Book of Mormon and loves the pamphlets that we leave behind with him. Last time we were with him we were able to give him the plan of salvation pamphlet and he said that he would read it. And, without a doubt in my mind, I know that he has read it at least once, maybe even more.

So things are going great! The members are catching the fire just a little bit more! Whether that be through mass texts to come out to lessons or them sharing little experiences with us.

Lets see, we were also able to go on exchanges this week! Elder Li and I just hit up those doors and HE ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!!! NOT! He thought it was so slow going door to door but we had some AWESOME MIRACLES!!! We dropped by the Sherwood’s and we were able to break out that little puzzle with the Plan of Salvation, (thanks mom :D)! Anyway, she sat at the table before her husband could even come and was able to put it in order for the most part. She literally said the things she had problems with, like the three kingdoms of glory and the spirit world, and before she knew it, after explaining it to her, she ended up on liking what we said! That it makes sense to her! That is until we hit brick wall that she has always had trouble with...Women having the priesthood...and she said right off the bat that she did not like it when we explained how men and women have separate roles and how she had heard that over who knows how many times... Well, we sat there and, long story short, the spirit brought to mind that men needed the priesthood in order to get to heaven and how women don't need to be ordained in the office of the priesthood in order to get to heaven...She literally just stopped right there and said, "That’s interesting...." CONFOUNDED! hahahah! So we are curious on where that goes next time!

All in all, it was great! Lots of fun and hopefully some new people to teach! Sure love and miss yall!!!

Love

Elder McCown

Text Bombing

It was so good to hear from you this past week! And I just can’t wait to tell you about all the miracles we have been seeing!

First off! Just want to tell you about the miracle with Jack! Oh man! Just telling you about it just makes me excited! To start off though, we thought we had lost him. He was not answering his phone and we dropped by his place and his daughter answered saying he wasn’t there, and basically, I thought we had lost our most solid investigator. Wellll, we were moving in between appointments and we had about 5-7 minutes until we were about to go in, and Elder Hsu leans over in the car and tells me to give Jack a call. Well! He answered! Long story short he had made an emergency trip to Alberta. Of course, that’s not the best part of the call...he told us that he had read up to Mosiah 21 in a matter of two weeks! So we set an RA for that Sunday and can I just tell you how great of a lesson it was? To start off he loved the member we brought and he testified perfectly! Before the lesson really began though, I asked him a question, and looking back, I realized how much of an inspired question it was. "What do you think of the Book of Mormon so far?" It was definitely not the answer I was expecting...he replied, "Well, I will tell you something. I have a bible downstairs that I have not read in years. I have been so busy because of my trip to Alberta to see my sister who is losing her memory. But I cannot put the Book of Mormon down. I have this very strong urge to just keep reading it." I was stunned. The spirit was so strong in that lesson. He even told us that he would read the whole Book of Mormon to find out that it is true. I about fell out of my seat. I have never had someone do this before. Someone who is so prepared, someone who would have, and he told us right there as well, that he would have come to church that week, but the only thing holding him back was medical problems that prevented him from coming. God has literally given us a miracle. A sincere 80 year old man that can tell that the Book of Mormon can bring the spirit into his life. It is NEVER too late to change.

Nothing else that the week contained can compare to that miracle. We did see Wayne though. His progression is going great. He has read parts of the Book of Mormon and is excited to jump into 3 Nephi 11 and continue on from there. We also had some great less active lessons. Matthew is doing great! Slowly but surely taking one step at a time to the temple! We were also able to meet with Brian. He literally is going through so much. He is surrounded with, lets just say, some of the worst environment someone could have. He’s handling it alright though. We have been able to see some progression in the members as well. Not necessarily in referrals, but in getting them out to lessons. They even mention in Elders quorum that we keep on "text bombing" them. If that’s the way to get them to do their missionary work then I will do it.

Oh yeah! almost forgot! Bro Sherwood is this super cool guy that just loves feeding the missionaries! Anyway, he and his wife, took us out to a Brazilian BBQ! They kept coming out with skewers of meat and you just tell them how much you want and they will give it to you. All you can eat too! We were so full from that, that we did not even eat dinner that night.

I was not expecting this this week, but someone I taught in Port Alberni, her granddaughter got baptized!!! SO EXCITING!!!

Reflecting on it right now, looking back at all the miracles, makes all that blood, sweat and tears worth it. All the moments of rejection and hardheartedness, seeing the blessings and miracles that come from just being willing to endure them, make it all worth it, and there is no better place I could be, or would rather be.

I sure love and miss all of you though!

Love

Elder McCown

Beast Week

The weeks here in Coquitlam just keep on getting better and better! To start off we have 2 progressing investigators! SO EXCITING!!!  Wayne has made progress since last week in reading the Book of Mormon. He also jumped through hoops to try and convince himself that it was possible for Joseph Smith to see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. He researched it and kept on researching it and found the evidence for himself! He is so good! Great intent! The only struggle is getting this guy to church...He had throat surgery about 1 1/2 months ago and is still recovering. He is also on a fixed schedule so him changing it to come to church is really hard for him because he works a late shift and does not normally wake up until 12.

Jack has progressed! We met with him this past week and he had read the Restoration pamphlet two times before we came over! He was prepared with questions and his progress is going smoothly! As we were there we retaught the restoration and he readily agreed with it all, even saying that he knew that it was all true! The invitation to be baptized made sense to him, and it was all flawless up until the point that he gave us his concern, and that is that he had a childhood experience with water, and has never gone fully under ever since. So hopefully that hurdle is overcome soon!

Crazy cool miracle we had as well! We were meeting up with a less active named Brian. Super nice guy but is not in the best place. He basically got thrown into a house with 8 other people who do drugs and drink all the time. Anyway, we go and knock on the door and this guy answers, tells us straight up that we are at the wrong place, and he was being a bit of a jerk about it, and is about to close the door. That’s when I put my foot in the door, tell him off for being a jerk about it and ask him where Brian is. Well...that, did not happen...I was a good Mormon boy and took it and politely asked where he was, and he kind of stood there, and said to hang on so he could go get him.  So Brian comes out and we start talking outside, and I notice that the guy at the door is out on the balcony listening to what we were saying. I reached out and asked what his name was and, cause I could not hear him, he decided to come down and talk with us. Well we figure out that this guy’s name is Ernie...Well Ernie just goes off about the bible, the trinity, and how he just loves God and, he even kind of bashed on us. Can I just say that I love Brian? Once Ernie calmed down and spilled his beans, Brian straight up told him to listen to what we had to say...So he shut up and listened!  Long story short, after numerous bible references and teaching the most beast restoration lesson, this guy, who readily admitted at the end of our discussion that he did not want to talk to us even though he did not know anything about us, hugged us, and now has a Book of Mormon and a restoration pamphlet, is excited to read it, and says to come by whenever! BAM! God is just so good!

So yeah beast week! God is great, the book of Mormon is good, and people are crazy.

Love yall!

Elder McCown

Cloud 9

We had a great week this past week! It was great to hear from you last night, as it always is, and we are just more and more excited for the upcoming week!  We were able to make some headway in finding people to CONSISTENTLY teach...that’s been our problem lately and it finally is seeming to work out! Our progressing investigator at this moment is Wayne. He has not made it out to church yet but he is progressing fairly well! He has read the resto pamphlet and understands it, and even quotes scriptures that support what we say! He has a kind heart and will get baptized! When? Trying to figure that out, but once he figures out it is true, he says he is ready to change and get tized.

We were also able to meet with this man named Jack Ward. He is a very social guy with quite a few stories to tell. He told us of how he almost died in a plane. Well, he at least thought he was. Told us of how his wife is a diehard alcoholic, and basically how his life has been the most interesting life ever. The first time we met with him just tells you how much he trusts us. He told us that he had never told anyone this before; but that he basically had an evil spirit in his home and that it haunted him. Well we were able to teach him about those kinds of things and just from what I was able to pull together, because we answered his questions, he trusted us enough to come back and teach him what we are all about! God is just so good!

Overall the week was great! We taught quite a bit more, which was great, even though quite a few of the people we found were not full of the greatest intent.  So much more improvement has been made this past week and we have been doing it for the past couple transfers but we have been earnestly doing it even more, and that is giving more and more time, whether it be combining lunch with language study, packing lunch/dinner, etc, you name it and we are doing it, just trying to become so consecrated. The spirit has been there even though it’s hard. It’s been so good though!

We were also able to help Matthew clean his apartment again! He has been working at cleaning it up and I think that this is the 3rd or 4th time that I have helped him. Anyway, that apartment if SPOTLESSSSSS!!! He can actually walk down his hallway, his kitchen is clean, his bedroom is clean, everything, cleaning to dusting to sweeping to mopping you name it, it was done and he was screaming "HALLELUJAH!" by the end of it all! YOU KNOW WHAT IS EVEN BETTER!!! HOLY FREAK!!! I almost did a backflip! Matthew has literally taken leaps and bounds and he had an interview with the stake president about his temple recommend anddddddddd.....HE PASSED WITH FLYING COLORS!!! GAHHHH!!!!! He is so good!

So basically I have been on cloud 9 for the past little while and it has been great! Matthew is going to the temple soon and is going to take the mantle that his father has carried for years, which is going to the temple consistently because he can no longer go because he is so old, and we have been able to find people to teach! GAH GOD IS SO GOOD!

Sure love and miss you all!

Love

Elder McCown

It Is Possible

So this has been a fantastic week in comparison to the rest of the time that I have been able to spend here! We were able to see many people coming out of nowhere wanting to learn more about the gospel and we were able to see 6 new investigators this week! A couple of them have been handed off, or have been reflected because of on the spot interest that has died out, but it has been great! It all came from a good district meeting and we have just eaten it up since then!

We have someone who we are consistently teaching now which is fantastic! His name is Wayne and it has been a struggle setting a time to meet with him because he had throat surgery but we were able to teach the Restoration this past week! It was so good! He was attentive and learned a lot from it! He is so good! He also came to the ward activity and was able to make quite a few new friends! We just can’t wait to be able to bring them to the lessons!

We also had a great zone meeting this past week! Something that hit me that I learned while I was in that meeting was not necessarily something that I heard, but something that the spirit told me. While we were in there this thought came to mind...and it was that "it is possible, very hard, but possible, to memorize all of the recordings of the miracles that Jesus Christ performed. However it is impossible for us to understand the depth of love in each miracle, or act of kindness that he performed. It is impossible to measure or even imagine of measuring the amount of grace and love that is intertwined with each simple act." As I have reflected on this over and over again, I have come to recognize more and more of the love of the Savior, and helped me truly realize what is helping me keep going throughout the whole week.

Hardest part of the week was getting sick. Saturday was alright but progressively got worse, then waking up Sunday and resting the whole day was the hardest. I never thought I was going to say this, but I don't think I like orange juice anymore haha! It was rough!

But in the end it’s all good! Sure love and miss yall!

Love

Elder McCown

Game Day

So this has been another great week here in Coquitlam! The ball is starting to roll here which is even better!
I guess starting off with the highlight of the week would be best. So, we have been working really hard with this man named Matthew for the past couple months. He has skyrocketed in his progression, making friends that become family in the ward. Well, in sacrament meeting this past week he got up and blessed it with his home teacher again! Not to mention what happened after! We were waiting for him to come to gospel principle because he was in a meeting with the bishop. Well he sits right next to us right after his interview and flashes out his new temple recommend! I almost fell out of my chair! The members have seen a new joy and light in this guy and he has absorbed the light of Christ into his life! God is just so good! He has been working hard to get that and to see him at this point in his life is just so good!

We were also able to see one of our investigators progressing well! He has not come to church yet but he has gotten through some of the Book of Mormon with him. He has some disabilities but that has not hindered his progress! We were able to teach him the Restoration thoroughly but slowly this past week, and he really understood the pattern of apostasy. Once he understood that he looked at us and said, "Well I guess I better get baptized then."

Well, let’s see, what else? We had a great district meeting. We are calling it game day from now on which makes it fun! Really gets us pumped up for the week!  All in all it was just such a good week! It was hard, it was hot, but it was worth it.

Sure love and miss you all!

Love

Elder McCown

His Name On Our Chest

So this has been fantastic week! I would have to say that it all came at the end of the week though. The beginning was more of a drought. Lots of walking and talking and just trying to follow the spirit so closely! Wellllll...it was all worth it! It was an awesome zone conference this past week and I learned a lot from it. One of the questions that really struck me, that really dug deep into me was "Why did I come out?" and "Why am I still out here?" Really just pierced straight into me and I reflected upon it again and again after zone conference. It was the following day that I got my answer. As we were driving away from our exchanges, I don’t entirely remember the entire conversation with Elder Hsu, something along the lines of what we learned from the exchange. Really ended up on leading to Jesus Christ. Well, I made the remark that that was the reason why we were out here and why we wear his name on our chest. Well the spirit just struck me hard when I said that!

Sunday, I would have to say, was the greatest day we had this past week! This lady named Lisa, that we had only been able to meet with once came to church! She absolutely LOVED IT! She was only able to stay the first hour, but she said, in a very matter of fact way, that she was going to be here next week and try to stay the whole time! God is just so good! She wants to change! Preceding the actual sacrament meeting, we explained a couple things to her, and really going into the sacrament and how it is a renewal of our baptismal covenants! Well, she was really paying attention because she leaned over and whispered to me while the sacrament was being passed and asked, "Can I eat the bread and water even though I have not been baptized?" I of course happily said yes! She has such a great desire to find that greater light in her life! We will be passing her off to the sisters this coming week! No doubts about it, it may take some time because of smoking, but she will get baptized!

That sacrament meeting was honestly the best. As I was sitting next to Lisa, I looked up and saw Matthew Blanks, (the less active that we have been working with), get up and bless the sacrament! You know what is even better?!? HIS HOMETEACHER WAS STANDING NEXT TO HIM!!! It was so good! He is doing great! We have been able to set up family home evenings with him and his home teacher and he absolutely loves it! God is just so good!

Another great thing I learned this past week was the 7 minute lessons! We had a great lesson with a member this past weekend, and Elder Hsu is just so inspired! We have been going around and committing all of our members to memorize the first vision. Well it has gone so well! No better way to bring the spirit into a member’s home than to commit them to memorize the most crucial turning point in history!

All in all I am doing great! This past week was a game changer for me! A combination of zone conference, people coming to church, and a less active that has turned his life around has brought a brighter light into my life! I just have to carry it on throughout the rest of my mission!

Sure love and miss yall!

Love

Elder McCown

I Promise, It Does Work

So crazy awesome week! This has to be the best week I have had so far in Coquitlam! So much fun!

Wellll, for starters, do you guys remember that lady that I ended up on singing the spirit of god as well as Joseph Smiths first Prayer with? Wellllllll, SHE GOT BAPTIZED THIS PAST WEEK!!! Gah!!! It makes me so happy! She is so good! Talk about awesome member work! It’s all because this member was so on about doing his missionary work that this happened! I PROMISE!!! IT DOES WORK!!!  Besides the baptism, which is by far the best thing that could possibly ever happen, we were able to see a lot of progress in the area! We made huge leaps and bounds from last week!

Lisa is one of them! She is this super cool single mom that was just waiting for us to come to her door! She had just recently lost her mother, wants to find a purpose in life, and even wants to come to church! Sad part was that she was not able to make it this past week because of work but she is so GOOD!!!!

Another is this guy named Andrew and we are still determining his accountability, but he is so nice! Has a good heart and wants to change!  We only got to see Greg once this past week...our poor member though. We were meeting Greg at Como Lake and there really is not any protection there. So we forgot to tell our member (Freyden) that we would be outside and all he had on were shorts and a t shirt. Well, he basically froze to death almost. It was windy and pouring rain out, and we taught almost half of the plan of salvation, so that takes a little bit haha!

Well, freaky part of the week...after that lesson with Greg we had a return appointment set up right after with this guy named Ed. Earlier that day I had mass texted everyone in our phone if they were down to meet. Well he had called us back saying that he wanted to. So Freyden came with us, and we got lost along the way. Well we finally get there and the place is like super quiet....like creepy quiet. Well, we go to Ed’s house, and he told us to go and meet him at the gazebo behind it. Well there is this guy smoking up a storm on his e-cig sittin there...We started talking to him for a little bit and he was acting kind of funny, but, he said we could sit down, but before we do that, we have to sign in at some house....We thought that that was kind of weird, but we go and do it anyway. Well, long story short, we figure out why we did not feel the spirit there..... WE ARE IN A FREAKING INSANE CLINIC!!! GAH!!! So we think of what we should do and all and that’s when this big really nice guy pops out of the building that we were walking by and shouted out that he was Ed! So that was a fun lesson...

It was still a good week though! I may be hungry. And I may be tired all the time, but it is so worth it! AND I CANT BELIEVE THAT BRENDA GOT BAPTIZED!! GAH!!! SO GOOD!!!

Sure love yalll!

Love

Elder McCown

Catching The Missionary Fire

ANOTHER AWESOME WEEK! So we were able to see some awesome miracles! Finding and teaching and we will be baptizin soon! We were able to find quite a few people to teach, and basically pass them all off or former them right after. All good though!  Coolest guy ever we met this past week! It’s this giant dude named Angel! Coolest guy ever! We have been trying to meet up with this guy for who knows how long. He basically found the church himself. He had looked up a Mormon church and he came to the service and that’s when the missionaries met him. Well he is honestly one of the most intimidating, one of the most scariest guys I had ever met, but he has the biggest heart. Getting to know him was like getting to know the dark side of life. Went and played football for college...this guy was a beast. We got on to talking about what we share though and he started to cry almost. He said that he has gone through so much, and that he has so many questions, like why he is here, why he had to go through all the things he had to in his life. After talking about the atonement he started to soften. His heart is so good! He wants to change so badly, he wants to find a purpose. He is just so good. After meeting with him, as were walking away from each other he turned to us and said, "Thank you. I just feel so much better." Breaks my heart to see this guy have to go through what he had to go through. Talk about an awesome lesson! He lives over in Surrey though so we have to pass him off.

We were also able to meet with Greg this past week! Talk about miracle! This guy has committed to live the law of chastity and the word of wisdom, while at the same time, said that he believes that Joseph Smith was a prophet, and that the Book of Mormon is true! He is just so good! The only thing that is holding this guy back is work...He is so tied up with financial difficulties that he barely has time to be able meet with us. He is so good though! He is soaking it all up and loves what we are sharing with him! He compared a lot of what we share with him to nature which is even cooler. There was one thing that struck me, was when he compared it to a heron and an eagle. The heron is always patiently waiting, waiting for the fish to come to them, and never bothering or threatening others. The eagle on the other hand, antagonizes and is a natural born predator. He compared this to Jesus Christ and Satan. Jesus is always waiting there patiently, waiting for us to come to him, never forcing His way upon us, whereas Satan comes in and tries to provoke, antagonize and tempt us. I thought that this was such a cool parallel!

All in all, God has been so good to us! The members are catching the missionary fire and I have had so much fun in this area! Sure love and miss all of you and hope for the best for yall!

Love

Elder McCown

Mini Missionary

Holy cow! Another week and I just realized that I have under 4 months left as of today. FREAKKKKKKKKYYY!!! Well we hit the grind this week! Talked, testified, sweated and repeated that day after day. Coolest miracle though! We got a little mini missionary...His name is Elder Jung, and this kid was nuts...he’s heading out on his mission in a couple weeks and he is on fire about being a missionary!

Well, we hit it off by going and knocking doors, and I could not help looking back on the beginning of my mission, placing myself in the kids shoes. It was so hard thinking that that was almost two years ago...gross...
Well, we knocked doors and needless to say, I don’t think he was that impressed. So Saturday comes and we are all pumped, ready to go out and just work our tails off, we had a couple lessons planned and things were going to go great! Wellllll...haha...kind of failed...our first appointment fell through, and the next, and the next, and the next, no one was outside and none of our streets that we have planned in worked out, and no one really answered their doors. So we walked and talked...well more like we walked and they talked. Everyone here in Coquitlam is from a different part of the world, and most of them are from Korea or China. On the brightside though I have learned how to introduce myself as a missionary now in Korean and Chinese!

So we worked and sweated and it came to a point that our little mini missionary, looked at me at one point while we were out talking to people and said, "Why isn’t anyone talking to us? What’s the point of doing this when no one wants to listen!?" I kind of laughed, because that’s what was totally running through my head at the beginning of my mission... I looked at him though and I said, "I don’t remember the full talk, but I remember Elder Henry B. Eyring, at one point in time talk about missionary work, and say, "It always seems to be the last door..."...He just looked at me and, he even said later that he thought I was nuts and that he did not believe me...Well, the Lord has a way of humbling us. As we were just giving everything we got, we got a text from a former investigator that we have been trying to meet with for the longest time, and that he wanted to meet later that evening. I just chuckled and knew that this was what we were working for.

The rest of the evening from then on became so much better! The former investigator is named Greg and he just absolutely loved the idea of the Book of Mormon, he loves Jesus Christ (and who doesn’t?!?), and he has the most sincere desire to change and has some of the greatest intent! So after the refiners fire for the past six weeks of not teaching anyone, we found someone to teach!!!! XD XD!!!

It was after that, that our little mini missionary was even more excited about missionary work!  Sunday was awesome as well! Our mini missionary got up and bore his testimony, not failing to mention to the whole ward that at one point in time this past week, that as he was saying the prayer in the car, Elder Hsu and I fell asleep because we were just so exhausted! Of course he got everyone laughing and in the end, I think he loved his mini mission. He told us what he thought of us when he first met us, and that he thought I was the most straight faced, stone cold Elder he had ever met, and that he did not know what to do because Elder Hsu can barely speak English. He readily admitted that he thought that this was going to be, in the very least, interesting. I readily tackled him...

So this week, all in all was awesome! I have a new companion named Elder Hsu and he is so funny! Craziest little Taiwanese guy I had ever met! He is so good though! Even though he has only been 3 months out in the field, and this is his first time in English work, he is doing so good!

Just want to let yall know that God is good! He always answers our prayers in his own time, in his own way. All we have to do is patiently wait for it! I testify that we are all sons and daughters of God, that this is His true and living church on the earth today, that it is led by Jesus Christ himself. It has to be...otherwise, how can a bunch of kids, typically between the ages of 18-21, go out and help save peoples souls, and bring joy into people’s lives? It couldn't, unless it is true! I bear witness that it is! I love and pray for you all!

Love

Elder McCown

Personal Walking Bathtub

This has been a crazy awesome/long/awesome again week! So to start it off, we had exchanges this week with the zone leaders...Guess they started freaking out wondering why we were not teaching anybody so they came out and we saw some awesome miracles! Talked to a lot of cool people...not too interested though...the seeds will be reaped later!!!

It all came down to Saturday though...this is of course our day of the week where we dont even touch the car and we look outside and it is raining cats and dogs x10...So we start walking and walking and walking, and we keep on getting wetter and wetter and wetter...As we were walking I had this really strange epiphany...we are out walking, in the middle of summer, and we were freezing cold, sopping wet from head to toe...and I just kept thinking..."What the heck! Its freaking summer and I am cold!" So we keep walking and walking and I have become my own personal walking bathtub by now, my shoes having a couple of inches of water in them. Well, we get to the apartment building and we ring the buzzer. So, backing up a little bit, Elder Vanatta and I, because we did not have anyone to teach, spent weekly planning, (which was this past Thursday), going through and planning in times for us to go by formers, potentials, less actives, you name it, and we just tried so hard to follow the spirit...  One of those people that we planned in was actually Greg.  So we rang Greg's buzzer, told us who we were, and he came right down so quickly! Well talk about a miracle! He remembers talking to missionaries quite a bit and from the records it looked like they were not able to teach him much...He was just so willing to learn though! He wanted a Book of Mormon right off the bat and we are hopefully going to be able to meet with him later this week! So excited! It was so relieving to be able to find someone that you could actually feel and see have potential as well as a desire!

After a long day of walking and walking some more, we were not able to find anyone else, but it was still so good! Later that night, transfer calls were going on, and I think that this has to be the best part of the week!
The assistants normally make the calls from about 8-130...so we were sitting there in our beds after planning, and Elder Vanatta is just so on edge...1030 rolls around and lights are out...Elder Vanatta says, "Well there goes transfer calls!" Well...not even kidding, 3 seconds later the assistants called and Elder Vanatta just looks so confused...So yeah! I am getting a new comp! His name is Elder Hsu...bet you can’t say that the right way! It’s actually pronounce "shoe"... Who knew right!? Elder Vanatta is heading over to Maple Ridge, so I guess he gets to spend his last transfer in the mission in peace cause he is not with me...  SO yeah! Great week! Little miracles here and there!

Sure love yall so much!

Love

Elder McCown

Striving To Be Exactly Obedient

So this has been yet another week in such a good area! Just so good even though it has been so rough! We have been working just so hard, questioning what we can do differently, what we can say differently, really taking a strong self-evaluation on where we are at, where we need to be and just being so diligent and striving to be exactly obedient.

Lots of ups and downs came throughout the week. We had been able to build some really good relationships with our members but yielding a referral out of them has been like pulling teeth, but we have been able to commit them to do a couple things that will yield great results if they apply them!

This area has indeed been a refiner’s fire. We have been trying to follow the spirit so closely, and we just can’t seem to make dots connect here. I often wonder why that this has to happen. It was this past week that I was finally able to come to the conclusion that this is the hottest, and the deepest depths of the refiners fire that I have ever been in. Results have come at a downward spiral, and all this time I have been wondering what I am doing wrong. Well, I officially was able to come to terms with just having an increase of patience. We were listening to a talk by Elder Jeffery R Holland the other day and something struck in the story he related about the man who got stranded in the desert with his family.

He said  "Thirty years ago last month, a little family set out to cross the United States to attend graduate school—no money, an old car, every earthly possession they owned packed into less than half the space of the smallest U-Haul trailer available. Bidding their apprehensive parents farewell, they drove exactly 34 miles up the highway, at which point their beleaguered car erupted.

Pulling off the freeway onto a frontage road, the young father surveyed the steam, matched it with his own, then left his trusting wife and two innocent children—the youngest just three months old—to wait in the car while he walked the three miles or so to the southern Utah metropolis of Kanarraville, population then, I suppose, 65. Some water was secured at the edge of town, and a very kind citizen offered a drive back to the stranded family. The car was attended to and slowly—very slowly—driven back to St. George for inspection—U-Haul trailer and all.

After more than two hours of checking and rechecking, no immediate problem could be detected, so once again the journey was begun. In exactly the same amount of elapsed time at exactly the same location on that highway with exactly the same pyrotechnics from under the hood, the car exploded again. It could not have been 15 feet from the earlier collapse, probably not 5 feet from it! Obviously the most precise laws of automotive physics were at work.

Now feeling more foolish than angry, the chagrined young father once more left his trusting loved ones and started the long walk for help once again. This time the man providing the water said, “Either you or that fellow who looks just like you ought to get a new radiator for that car.” For the second time a kind neighbor offered a lift back to the same automobile and its anxious little occupants. He didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry at the plight of this young family.

“How far have you come?” he said. “Thirty-four miles,” I answered. “How much farther do you have to go?” “Twenty-six hundred miles,” I said. “Well, you might make that trip, and your wife and those two little kiddies might make that trip, but none of you are going to make it in that car.” He proved to be prophetic on all counts. 

After recounting this story he expanded upon it and this is what he said that hit me the most. "Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come till heaven; but for those who embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they come." Just as Joseph had pondered and reflected upon James 1:5, I too reflected on this greatly. "I am doing the best I can, what more can I give?" was what the spirit brought to my mind.

I am so grateful for this area, for the refining process that it has put me through. We may not baptize, we may not teach, and we may not see the fruits of our labors until we account before the Lord, but I know that I am meant to be here. There is a lesson to be learned, and I am becoming more and more grateful for them.

I love you all so much and pray for you continually!

Love

Elder McCown

My Son Wants To Meet You

Another good ole week in Coquitlam! Even though we have seen a HUGE drop in teaching this past week we still saw miracles! We have been hitting the pavement hard and we have been just working so hard, and it has been so good even though it can be hard to see the silver lining in all things. It was so good though! We were able to find yet another person for the sisters to teach! AND IT IS PERFECT! We just had a baptism this past week and it is this lady named Maliheh. Well, she only speaks Farsi and broken English but she loves the gospel! WELLLL! We were able to find this lady that has basically the same situation as Maliheh! What is even better is that Shayla (the lady that we knocked on) has already read half of the Book of Mormon and has a pretty good idea it is true, and she is from Iran which is where Maliheh is from! That and she believes our doctrine! God is just so good and we cannot wait to hear how Maliheh's testimony will grow because of this! It is such a tender mercy because Maliheh gets to exercise her testimony right off the bat! God is just so good!

Other than that, Elder Beck and I were able to see some miracles on our exchange. It was so cool! We knocked onto this Iranian ladies door. Well she just started off by asking "Why are you doing this?" "Such a waste," ya know, all that fun stuff. Well, as she was about to close the door her son Sepehr walked by and asked "Are you Mormons??!" And that opened a good conversation with him! We stated our purpose and he was uneasy about it, and said no. We then said good bye and started walking away. Well, after we were down there steps, we hear them open the door and they offer water and fruit. Well, he still was not interested, but we were able to build some good trust. We then proceeded to go down the road even further. Well, long story short we finish the street and not knowing where the next street was we proceeded to the car, and just as we got to the car we saw that we had passed the road along the way. We start heading towards the road and all of the sudden we see the Iranian lady drive up and say, "My son wants to meet with you!" Well we freaked out (in a very professional way of course)! We got all the info and as we were walking away, I imagined just how many different ways she could have taken to leave, as well as the different amount of spots we could have been in that could have easily lead to her not driving by us. I am just so thankful that it worked out that way!

We were also able to see a member doing his missionary work! And it is actually a less active! He invited his friend to church and we are seeing them this Tuesday!

So needless to say, we have seen a lot of progress. It honestly was the best week I have had here and it just keeps on getting better and better!

Love

Elder McCown

Is He Proud of Me

So this has been quite a week! Just working hard and just giving our all has brought some miracles into our paths and judging from our results and just how much we feel better about ourselves from experiences we had together, has just made this past week so good!

We were able to teach a decent amount. Appointments seem to have fallen through on a more regular basis as I have gotten here, but I have recognized it is more of following the spirit and separating the "wheat from the tares". That has just come into my mind so much as I have been here and we have been working just so diligently, even though we are so imperfect. We have had a lot of fun and the time just keeps on moving too fast.

One of tender mercies I learned this past week was a lesson that our ward mission leader taught us. Having had a mildly stressful day, with a possibility of the one of our two investigators we have not wanting to take the lessons really put us on edge. As we contemplated what to do we talked with our ward mission leader as well as the bishop and wanted to get a fast going this coming Sunday for missionary work. As we told them of our idea, our ward mission leader could tell that there was something that was up. As we headed back from the lesson we had that night, we got back to his house and he really uplifted us and encouraged us to just keep going. We noticed that we had gotten a little too down on the appointments falling through and, even though we were being exactly obedient, giving up time whenever we possibly could, we were expecting results. That and we kept on comparing ourselves to the "Standards of excellence". So basically we were just beating ourselves up. Well he said something that rang just so true. He told us to pray and ask heavenly father if he is proud of me. I almost started tearing up. We had just been too busy giving our all and we neglected to ask Him if he was proud of us.

It was so good to see all of you though! That skype call seemed to only last 5 minutes! It was so crazy seeing all of you growing up!

I sure love and miss all of you! God is great and people are crazy!

Love

Elder McCown

Silver Lining

So crazy week up here in Coquitlam! We have been just hitting a grind up here and we have been just working so hard!  Just a low down of the week...tracting, sweating, a little bit more tracting and sweating some more, all with the same scratched up name badge that I have worn for just short of two years. No matter how many times I get yelled at, no matter how many times I get cussed out, belittled or pushed around, the name of Jesus Christ makes it all worth it.  Besides that crazy low down we saw some awesome miracles this past week!

We were able to do quite a bit of less active work. These people are literally gold mines! They know people that obviously aren’t affiliated with the most beautiful thing ever put on earth! So we have been dropping by every once and a while and they let us in because they still love missionaries! So we hit up that less active work and things have been picking up over here!

One of the coolest miracles was Moyra! She is so awesome! She is living with this less active and they just have the cutest little family! Long story short, her ties with her family as well as her church were broken because of issues in the family. Well that just pushed her away from them and towards us! Needless to say God works miracles! I was so close to crying in that lesson though! I just remember one specific moment where the spirit just took over. We were about 10 minutes in and we were just setting expectations, basically giving a nut shell story on what we do, when the distinct impression told me to just testify of families. I dont remember what I said, but she just started tearing up, and how she was sad that her family did not have the same. This little family is going places, and by that I mean of course the temple! She felt the spirit so strong in that lesson and we are teaching them tonight!

We are also teaching this guy named Terry! He is such an honest and very solemn and quite man. Really unhappy with his church and things are just falling apart at the seams with him at church as well as at work. We were able to teach him the Restoration and the spirit just hit me like a brick wall. Not just some two foot pretty brick wall but a very big, thick brick wall. But it was so good! We are also meeting with him tonight as well!

One of the best parts of the week was when we were dropping off a member and his parents place after a failed lesson. Being sad that it did not go through, as well as the multiple others that did not go through this past week, I just got frustrated. Elder Vanatta was looking at the back up plans we had and he looked at me and just knew something was wrong. He started rattling off ideas and one of them was just to say a prayer. "Well duh! That’s always a good idea," I thought to myself. Well, in answer to that prayer, I received this impression, "Go back to the Tolman family, they know someone." Well at least something along that line. So we acted on it, got out of car and talked to them for a little bit. After relaying that experience to them, the spirit brought to mind someone that he should invite to the next ward activity! That and they invited us over for dinner that evening! Double win!

So, even though it was a hard week with many hardships, disappointments, as well as a lot of sweating, we were able to see a lot of miracles! Even when it is just so tough, when you feel that you are just lost in the dark, there is always a silver lining.


Sure love and miss you all!

Love

Elder McCown

Coquitlam

So, it honestly has been quite a week! I honestly freaked out when I came back to the lower mainland! After 6 months of literally none to very small street contacting, I got tossed back into bus loops and people just walking everywhere! I felt like such a greenie all over again but its alright now!

To be honest Coquitlam has nothing much really going on when I got here. Some past missionaries left the place with nothing much. Fortunately Elder Vanatta and his previous companion were able to come in and whitewash it and try and revamp the whole attitude of the area. Not much has been happening but we are so ready to kick butt in this area!

Everything is going great though! Elder Vanatta is from good ole AZ. Gonna hit it up after the mission cause he is only in Scottsdale! We have a lot in common which is kind of crazy!  More than anything, I am just excited to set this area on fire! We have just been praying so hard and we have learning so much from just the past week!

I sure love and miss you all! Just know that God is good and people are crazy!

Love you!

Hasta la bye bye Kelowna :(

So crazy awesome week! Saw a TON of miracles! Met this guy named Ashquiza...pretty cool guy. Besides meeting Ashquiza we did see some other awesome miracles! Went out and just worked our tails off and that farmers tan is settin in real good.  We were able to teach Jerry this week! After hashing out a time with the bishop and the ward mission leader and him we were finally able to set a date that satisfied everybody! So he is gettin tized on April 28th! So stoked!  Brenda (the lady who likes to sing) came to church as well!

So coolest miracle! Last week we were out walking in the southern part of our area and we ran into this cool YSA dude named Dylan. We have been texting him off and on for the past week and were not able to see him until this past week! Turns out he is the most solid guy ever! We were able to pass him off to YSA and I went with Elder Ushio to do service. Literally the most truth seeking guy ever! He came to our ward because he was busy during the time YSA meets and he absolutely loved it! He was lingering around talking to people and he is so ready to hear the gospel! While we were at church he told us about all his travels around the world, and then started talking about his dad who he lost about 2 years ago. After church we got a text from him and he said "Thanks for the invite, I owe you one" and we just had such a good conversation texting back and forth after! He said "It feels good already!" God is just so good! Love this guy to death and I barely know him! I am just so amazed at what the gospel does and how it can just cause you to love people, to see them for who they really are!

So of course all these miracles start happening and we get transfer calls:'(. Literally the saddest day of my life! We have been working so hard and have been able to meet so many people who are ready to hear the gospel! I just sat in my bed that night, not wanting to leave, and that is when I said one of the most sincere prayers I had ever said in my life, to just know if Coquitlam is where I needed to be. Well...God always answers prayers and even though it is not how we want it, or more importantly, when we want it, he still gives it to us.

I am so grateful for the gospel, for its power to bring a greater love, and to also mend that love when it is separated! I am so ready for Coquitlam and am just ready to tear it up with my new companion Elder Vanatta!

Love you all and God bless ya!

Love

Elder McCown

The Spirit Testifies

Man so this was a crazy/super hard week! Literally so good though! JERRY IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON APRIL 20th! Just one of the coolest old guys I know! He is so funny and loves the gospel! He has been wanting this for quite a while!

Besides that, it was still a great week! Had an awesome lesson with Brent! Happiest guy I know and we were able to set a date with him for May 7th! He has such big heart and loves what we have been teaching him! Literally love the guy to death!

Rob has been doing awesome as well! We had such a good lesson and the spirit testified that this church was true right in that lesson! I mean he knew it was true already but it was awesome! Elder Weingarth and I were kind of going into that lesson with a very vague plan on what to teach because he has been taught everything already. Well, we talked about baptism and the spirit told me to commit him to look at his calendar, and pick out 3 dates that he finds right for him, and then to ask heavenly father which day is his. So we left that lesson, feeling like the lesson went great and Elder Weingarth just start freaking out and said "That’s the exact same commitment that I thought of too!" The spirit testifies...

So that was awesome! Much of the rest of the week was walking, running into some awesome people, as well as getting a crazy farmers tan... God has been so good though even though Sunday was a grind. We were fasting and it was so hot. Just completely dehydrated and everything...can’t wait to see the miracles that come out of it though!

Sure love and miss all of you!

Just know to do your best, and God will do the rest!

Love

Elder McCown

The Spirt of God

So another week and Kelowna and things are going nuts here!  I honestly don’t remember what really happened this week though...things are just moving too fast for me to remember anymore...

I guess to start it off is the best miracle! We were chillin at general conference and not many people showed up which was pretty sad :(. Well, the 2nd to last session ends and a member comes up and introduces us to this couple that he invited. Turns out that husband has been a less active for a very long time, and the wife is not a member, but loved general conference! We talked for about an hour after, jumping from temples, to the Book of Mormon back to Word of Wisdom. IT WAS NUTS! We were so excited! We were able to drop by later that night and they let us right in! Literally just a miracle! She practically flipped out when we told her about the LDS Library app! She started scrolling through the hymns, picked a random one and got so excited, she connected it to the TV and blared "The Spirit of God"! So yeah...we belted out to it too. Literally got the coolest divine intervention right after singing all 4 verses, and told her to go to "Joseph Smiths first Prayer". Literally the spirit came in like a ton of bricks and we were able to hop right into the restoration and teach about the Book of Mormon! God is just so good! I had never had that happen! She was so excited and wanted to come to church the following week!

I was also able to go on exchanges with Elder Tan! Literally so good! Hit it up like old times! Brought back so many memories of Brookswood! He freaked me out though. He told me that the day we were on exchanges that it was exactly a year ago when we first met. Literally almost passed out! I feel so old and I have exactly 6 months and 1 day left!

But things have been going great! God has just been so good! People have been popping up out of the woodworks and the miracles never stop!

Sure love and miss yall!

Love

Elder McCown

Singing?

That’s another week gone by...which is just nuts!  So this week was just chock full of miracles! Best ones yet!  We were able to teach this guy named Brent! Literally the coolest native guy ever! We had called him up last week and he is just so solid! He believed in God when he was younger, and then rejected him for about 10 years, got into some things, and just recently was able to get out of some them! Well, all but one...he knows drinking and smoking is wrong and has been able to conquer both of them except for some slight drinking. The one hole he can’t get out of though, is that hole with God. Of course, THATS WHEN WE COME IN!!! He loves and believes everything we teach him! The week before we talked about baptism and set that expectation with him. Well he thought about it and yesterday we were able to teach him the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he just soaked it up like a sponge! Literally just ate it up! Most sincere guy ever, and has noticed the impact it has had on his life so far! After teaching him the lesson he found that baptism was the way and said he would "meditate on it". SO GOOD! He just so awesome!

We were also able to teach this guy named Allen too. So we leave behind stuff all the time, and something that we left behind with him the first time we met him was a pamphlet. Well, apparently he went to the back of the pamphlet and answered the questions in the back and said that "it all just makes sense!"

We have also been able to just see a ton of miracles all around us!  We were invited over by sister Bonion and she is the sweetest lady ever! SHE COOKS SO MUCH FOOD TOO! She invited us as well as the Carullos and we just got stuffed! Every time, before something could disappear on my plate, she would ask "Elder, you have no more (rice, adobo, pizza, beans, etc.)" and before I could say anything, she would put another helping on my plate! Literally so full! Then, to top it off, she gave us fried banana and ice cream...so good!

Other than that things have been just going great up here! The Sisters had a baptism as well and all the missionaries that were there got to sing...and that is just a scary thought in itself...

And guess what?!? My companion (Elder Ushio) is famous! He played the bass for his band back in Japan and also wrote the lyrics to the songs that his band now sings. His bands name is My First Story and they are just starting up. Pretty cool eh? My comps famous....
Sure love and miss yall!

Love

Elder McCown

Jumping through Hoops

So, ya know how last week was just a rough week and all...WELL IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!

So we kicked butt this week! Literally just worked our butts off, had an awesome zone conference with President Burt, (even though it was 7 hours of straight sittin). But it was so good!

So there is this guy. His name is Jerry Joy. But, anyway interesting story on how he was found by the missionaries. He was actually talking to a member and said that he wanted the missionaries to come by because he remembered them from about 40 years ago give or take. So, when you tell a member that you want the missionaries to come by, you better expect 2 guys in white shirt and ties to be there shortly.
So he let in Elder Robinson and Elder Ushio and they figure out that he is a less active.  Wellllll, interesting story, this guy literally does not remember his baptism. His ex-wife got baptized, and so did his son, but he does not remember it at all. He can literally remember the type of car he drove as well as the interior of the car way before his wife and son got baptized...so we have been jumping through hoops and bending over backwards through the bishop, to stake president, back to bishop, then to SLC, and then back...well, we just got back from bishop on Sunday, and you bet we were screaming like little girls in ward council! Well...not really...I screamed like a little girl on the inside, but anyway, JERRY IS GOING TO GET BAPTIZED! Literally! Miracles! Dont know when but he is!

I was also able to hear about this family that I found in Surrey. Elder Anderson and I were just working hard out there in the sun and we knocked into this less active mother and she said we could come back! So, I never saw her again after I left but her kids just got baptized! Crazy eh!?!? I literally thought I left Surrey with nothing but it’s been crazy being able to hear about how Gus, Esperanza, Jerry, Jassly Ja, and now two kids named Jattinder and Jasleen! CRAZY!!!

Well God has just been so good! It’s been crazy up here in Kelowna and we have been just going hard, hittin the grind every day! We were able to teach this guy named Allen and his dad named Harold. Harold is the coolest old guy ever, (besides you dad). He’s like 94 and served on the beaches of Normandy back in WWII...nuts eh? Well Allen is super down!

We were also able to teach this guy named Rob and he is progressing well! He was taught about 20 years ago when he was going to college, and was close to getting baptized. Kind of broke apart when his girlfriend, died in a car accident. Other than that, things have been just going great! Sure love and miss yall!

Love

Elder McCown

Patience

Soooo, going by formers one day...had an interesting conversation with this one guy. Told us very respectfully that he does not believe the Book of Mormon and that we were damned...yeah I get that everyday...anyway...I learned something new from this guy...In the middle of the conversation. He said "everything is a lie!"   Well, long story short, he told us right after that the world feeds us lies about how the world is a sphere...he said that it is actually flat, that NASA is a hoax, that no astronaut ever landed on the moon, and that God put this invisible dome thingy over the earth and we can’t get past it...He told us we probably thought he was crazy...well...he was right...

So that was the kick off to our week! Just getting told that we were nuts...not new lol  Also hit up some doors...found some cool people...talked to some crazy ones...

Best part of the week? Well, can’t pinpoint that but the weather is up and down here...we were walking around this past Saturday and it was nice out in the morning...then it got hot, like wearing just a sweater was making me sweat like a dog. Then, we went knocking for about ten minutes and all of the sudden it started getting super windy, like pinecones and some branches falling out trees windy. Then, about 20 minutes later it sprinkled, and then 10 minutes later it was pouring...so yeah that was fun!

Thinking about it now, the best part of my week was my studies! I had to give a training in district meeting this past week about patience...never thought I could get that much out of my studies, especially on just one word. The whole focus was on Jesus Christs example of patience. As I dove into it, I began to realize only a fragment of the amount of patience that this man had. It’s crazy how he endured through so many things, just because he loved us so much! I can only imagine the patience he had with his disciples, when they fell asleep during the most critical, and let’s not forget, the most painful event in history. He came back a couple times and I can only imagine the level of patience he had to not look down on his disciples. Not only this event but also, when his beloved apostle Peter had fallen into the trap of fear, denying that he knew Jesus Christ thrice.

After this, I can only merely understand what he did for me. Often times I get frustrated with myself, thinking that I should be doing better, but often times, it is hard not to look over the necessity of patience, and its heavenly virtue. We often times expect instantaneous results to fix our problems, and an answer to our prayer just because we got down on our knees. Much like a seed, it needs nourishment, sunlight, water, and most importantly, time...

God has just been so good to us though! I sure love and miss you all!

Love

Elder McCown

Kelowna Awesome

So this place is so cool! Literally reminds me of Tucson! I’m already walking outside with short sleeves on! To start off, I honestly have some of the coolest companions ever! My new comps are Elder Weingarth and Elder Ushio. Elder Weingarth is from Atlanta, Georgia and Elder Ushio is from Tokyo, Japan. Talk about a melting pot in a tri, eh?

Let’s see, so we have the coolest teaching pool ever! Ranges from Ken who wants to quit smoking and wants to be baptized, to your agriculturalist named Rob who investigated the church with his girlfriend about 25 years ago, to this Vietnamese woman who knows absolutely nothing about God or Jesus Christ.

So we were able to see every one of those people this week and they are so solid! Literally just searching for the gospel!  Coolest miracle this week! Well...one of them!  We were sitting in the mall, just eat'n my good ole KFC... and we see this girl that is like 4'1 with a longboard walk by...she turns around and just looks right at us! She started talking to us saying that she has seen missionaries 3 times in the past two days. So we invite her to sit down with us and she just starts talking about everything that has happened in her life, and said that she feels that she should become a Mormon...weird eh? Wish that happened every day! Anyway, she’s solid.

We were also able to teach this Jamaican family that just had a baby...literally my dream in the mission...to teach someone that is Jamaican...and to teach a family...I can check that off of my bucket list now! So cool!

Other than that Kelowna is awesome! Some members fed us last night and literally, they were our saving grace. We had been fasting all day and I swear that my stomach was going to eat itself!

Well I sure love and miss all of you!

Love

Elder McCown

Talk To Everyone

Holy cow! Another week gone by and we are just seeing miracles up in here!  So we have been able to see the fruits of our labors here! Last week was spent all tracting, finding, calling and such, one of the most exhausting weeks of my life! We had found so many people though, even with knocking the town for the 5th time.  Cray eh?

The best miracle that happened this past week was when I went on splits with President Moore. We went and met with this lady named Rita. We actually ran into Rita a couple months ago. Elder Westergard and I knocked on her door and it was one of her kids birthday parties and all she said was "Come back another time!" Did not even have time to get her phone number, so we have dropped by quite a bit in the past couple months and, we were pretty lucky, her husband was pulling up the driveway a couple a weeks ago and gave us her number. So we texted her and were able to set it up! So I went with President Moore and she just told us about her experiences with missionaries! Every time when she was feeling down in life, or things were just rough, the missionaries would just pop up out of nowhere! Said that she was even parked out in the middle of nowhere one time and they showed up! She was so curious about why that happens, because whatever bad feelings she had at the time, the missionaries seemed to just take it away! Crazy eh? So we taught the Restoration after that, and she said she knew it was true, that it made sense! So cool!

So that miracle literally blows all the other miracles out of the water! We have been finding and teaching quite a bit though! Even in a town of 3-4000, and you think you have talked to everyone, you figure out just how wrong you are really quickly.

God has just been so good though! I am sad to leave, but, I learned so much from this area! Working even though you have felt that you talked to everyone, giving it all even when there are so many hills to climb (literally). Such a refiners fire up here in the north!

I am excited for a new adventure though, especially in Kelowna!

Anyway, sure love and miss yall!

Love

Elder McCown

Topley

So this week has flown by! Everything has been going great and they just keep on getting better and better!  Even though it was a rough week of finding, we were able to find quite a few people that were interested! We also have quite a few lessons lined up for the week which has gotten us really pumped up to go out and work even harder!

There was a really amazing experience we had this past week. We were out knocking doors and I just felt that we were not in the right place. No one was answering because it was a weekday morning. Everyone is at work. So we prayed and both just listened to the spirit super hard. We both got the impression that we needed to go to the west of town. Because I have almost memorized the area book, I remembered that there were 3 potentials that had been written down, but they were 30 minutes out of town, burning about 45 ks just to get there. So after that prayer we just started talking and moved out towards the west of town, and the more and more we were talking about it, we realized that we needed to go to Topley (the area that came to my mind). So we drove there and went by all 3 potentials and they either answered and were not exactly sober, or they just did not answer, or the person moved. So we went straight to work and taught the Restoration to quite a few people. There were not that many people who were away which was nice for a change. Last house we knocked on was not interested at all, but they told us "Go by the Brodies" while pointing her finger to the house. Well, we drove over to the house and, we had knocked it before, but no one was home. Knocked on it and we got let in and taught the Restoration! And the best part was that he came to church too! Turns out that he had met with missionaries in the 70's in New Zealand, and that seed had been nourished ever since then, by members and missionaries! It was so awesome! He has read and studied the Book of Mormon, and knows its true, but whats weird is that he does not want to get baptized. We will work on him though!

It has been so great up here in Burns Lake though! Studies have been so good though. This morning was crazy though. I was reading up in Acts 8 about Phillip and something I had never used was the maps in the back. Well, turns out that Phillip was in Jerusalem and an angel told him to go down to Gaza. Well I flipped out the maps and figured out that they were a little under 100 kilometers from each other. He just went out and worked, followed the spirit, probably talked to everyone on the road to Gaza, talked to an ethiopian eunuch, and baptized him. Made me think about our trip out to Topley, I just did not have to walk thank goodness...

Sure love and miss all of you though!

Love

Elder McCown

I Screamed Inside

So this week was pretty crazy! Did not spend too much time in our area but it was really good!
First part of the week we were able to meet with Justin! Man! He is doing so good! Wants to make a huge change in his life and we are just helping him anyway that we can! We have been able to meet with him at a members home and the members there just give solid testimonies that just add the power of the atonement! He is just so good though! He has been absorbing a lot of what we have to say is on board with a lot of it! We even taught the word of wisdom, and he was a little iffy on it but he wants to change really badly!

We were also able to meet with this guy named Bill and he is so prepared to hear about the plan of salvation! He grew up not even believing in God until his wife just recently passed away! Really humble old guy...

Coolest miracle this past week though...we were out knocking doors and I remembered seeing new people moving into this place. Elder Westerguard and I went there a lot but no one ever answered...that is until this past week! We just bore a quick powerful testimony of how God loves us so much and how we know where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going after this life...Rob then said "Cool, can we meet on Sunday?" Well, I kind of screamed inside and he is so ready to hear about the gospel! He is wanting to make a change, not only for him but for his kids! So we were down for that! We taught him on Sunday and he just listened super intently and asked where and when church was! Said he could not come this Sunday but he is so ready! So that was the coolest miracle ever!

Other than that, God has just been so good! We had an awesome Zone meeting this past week. Literally writing down notes to the point that my hand just hurt like crazy. Best part though was at the end when one of the zone leaders came up and asked two people to bear their testimonies...well, I guess since I am talking about it, you already know one of them was me...Well, I whipped out one of my favorite verses that has grown on me more and more...and Dad you may recognize it...

26 And I saw that I must soon go down to my grave,having been wrought upon by the power of God that I must preach and prophesy unto this people, and declare the word according to the truth which is in Christ. And I have declared it in all my days, and have rejoiced in it above that of the world.
27 And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen.

I bear solemn witness of the power of this scripture. It rings truth to all those who have shared the gospel. This indeed is something we should share, and something that we "can rejoice in" "above that of the world". For as we share it, we are helping others come to know that there Father in Heaven loves them, that "in Him they shall rest" and that as they come to know that it is true, our friends will come to know that he is declaring this unto all "Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father." The power of this truth beckons us all to recall upon one of the most sacred pieces of doctrine that was restored fully about 200 years ago, and that is that God is our loving Heavenly Father. He knows us, loves us, and entices us to reach out to Him. As we do so, we will have a mighty change of heart and will receive answers to our prayers. I testify of the power that this simple but mighty truth brings, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love

Elder McCown

Guns Blazing

So, we have literally been hitting the grind up here in Burns Lake and crazy miracles have just been happening like crazy!

Besides that it has been fantastic this week! We first went on exchanges with the Vanderhoof Elders and they have been going through a rough spot. Well, Elder Lopez and I just went in there with guns blazing and we got that area some fire in it! I went on exchanges with Elder Johnson and we just lit it up over there! Did some service for an ex con and then went hard tracting. Well we got let in one house and we were not too sure if we could go in. All we could see was the mom and the daughter and just as I was thinking, well you know the Lord provides, and I saw a 20 year old dude walk by and we came right in! Taught how much God loves each individual more than we can comprehend and just testified hardcore. Well, we ended up on making the daughter cry...said it was the deepest thing she had ever heard! So that was awesome! Can check that off my bucket list...  The miracle did not stop there though...turns out that they know some members and the daughter is pretty close with one of them, so we called up that member right after and we went right over and made a game plan for this little family! SO AWESOME!!

So we left that area with a blazing fire.  We then came back to our area and saw some pretty cool miracles too! We were out knocking on the rez.  His name is Justin and the missionaries had taught him a little bit about 2 years back. We went up and started talking to him. Well turns out that he has three kids that he is pretty much taking care of on his own. He made a huge decision in his life to quit smoking weed on Christmas and literally God just took that desire to smoke weed away! I immediately flipped to Ether 12:27 and he just started to cry, that he has been trying for years and that he sees himself in that scripture more than ever! He also came to church this past week with 2 of his kids and it was awesome! He wants to change so badly!

Other than that things have been going great and we have just been working our tails off! The members are great and they help us out with everything! One of the members brought us to one of his friends and told him "These are the missionaries, and if you want to learn more about our church meet with them!" Well, yeah, that cool little miracle happened right in front of us and I think the member was pretty shocked when his friend said "Sure! I would love that!"

God has just been so good though! We have been finding people that are so prepared for the gospel!

Love and miss you all!

Love

Elder McCown