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

My Studies

So crazy week! Spent the whole week running, and running some more! 6 months to sexy is almost here so I guess I gotta start early!  Anyway! Awesome week! Tom came to church again! Really, like the coolest old dude ever! He is so ready for the gospel! He came up to me right after church yesterday and he came up and asked "What do I need to do to get baptized?" Well I pretty much freaked! He is so cool! He has been soaking up everything like a sponge and he realized just how much the gospel means to him! It’s been helping him get over the loss of his wife! God is just so good! Best miracle of the week!  Besides that we have been just working as hard as we can and God has been blessing us with so many people!

I would have to say it all came down to my studies though! I have been memorizing things more and the spirit just seems to carry us where we need to go because we do so well in our studies! Really, the best time for studies is in the morning. I now know why Grandpa doesn’t just go back to bed at 3 or 4 in the morning...wish I could do that, but I am pretty sure I would pass out dead!  Something that I learned this past week was just how important the message of the Restoration is. I mean I knew it was important all along, but because of the visitation to Joseph Smith by God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, we have the fullness of the gospel, and that evidence is the Book of Mormon. Because of this recent revelation, we know more about the atonement than anyone else on earth does. Isn’t that just crazy?!? Man, God is just so good.

Well, I sure love and miss you guys! I promise you guys that as you come to know more and more about the Book of Mormon that you will receive your personal revelation upon what you can do better. I testify of the power of the atonement and its power in its entirety. Even though I will never be able to comprehend the whole magnitude that the atonement covers, I promise just what Elder Jeffrey L. Holland said in one of his talks:

"However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines."  I echo his call, for this has been one of the hardest, but most rewarding weeks of my life. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Love

Elder McCown