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
Monday, September 26, 2016
Monday, September 19, 2016
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
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
Monday, September 12, 2016
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
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
Tuesday, September 6, 2016
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
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
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