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
Monday, June 27, 2016
Monday, June 20, 2016
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
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
Monday, June 13, 2016
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
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
Monday, June 6, 2016
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
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
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