Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Mother Nature can't make up her mind: sunscreen or rain boots?


I just don't get it!! I thought I could pack my rain boots in my luggage until winter, but Mother Nature had her own ideas! This whole week has been so cloudy and the Oregon spit (constant drizzle) has dragged on this whole week! It's been crazy, and a little sad, because I was JUST starting to get tan lines from my watch, rings and knee-length clothes! Oh well, maybe this is a blessing in disguise: this gives us more time to figure out how to install our AC box before the sweltering heat comes back. 😁

Other than the drastic change in weather, this week has been good!

We had a lesson with a cute 9-year-old named Lillie who was baptized last year. She's been struggling to come to church because she doesn't have any friends and doesn't think it's entirely entertaining. For our lesson, we brought over fun activities to go along with the lesson. When we pulled out our rainbow pack of 20 colored markers, her eyes got so big. She yelled, "Ooh, La La! Those are pretty!" She jumped off the couch and gave us a big hug when Sister Leifson said that she could keep the markers. I guess you can say we won her heart and 

I'm excited to teach her again soon!

This past weekend...I also got sick...again. AGAIN! It's bad enough to get sick once while being a missionary, but twice?! It was also only about a month ago that I got sick last time, but oh well! We did our best to keep busy while I rested (or at least, as much as a missionary can rest...). Sister Leifson was so good to me and helped me to not over-work myself. She was like my own personal nurse and took all the initiative when we walked outside to talk to people. What would I do without her!!

This past week we met the coolest girl! Her name is Teresa and she was walking to work when we talked to her.
This is how our conversation went:

Us: "Hello! How are you doing today?"

Teresa: "I'm doing okay, I'm just really stressed out" (proceeds to tell us her crazy work life of covering for her coworker who had surgery)

Us: "that's crazy! Is there anything we can do to help you?"
Teresa (looking at our name tags): "Yeah, can you share a scripture with me?"

[Jaw drop]

We ended up talking to her for just a few more minutes, and all about the Book of Mormon and how it can be a source of strength in our lives. We shared Ether 12:27 with her about how through Christ, we can overcome our weaknesses and afflictions. She really liked it and it was a testimony-builder to me of how much the Book of Mormon can give us peace and an eternal perspective to see our trials as a growing experience! I love the Book of Mormon!!!

Yesterday we also had stake conference and it was amazing! Our church leaders of the stake spoke, and had an unassigned theme that I noticed throughout the conference! Many of them spoke about the Spirit, and the importance of following its promptings. I thought a lot about the things I may be willing to sacrifice in my life to have the Spirit more in my life. If we want to have His Spirit to be with us, we need to be living worthily! I want to do absolutely everything I can to be worthy of His Spirit in my life- not just because that is the ONLY way I can do His work as a missionary, but because I couldn't imagine my life in general without His guidance! I need His help and direction! I know that we can be so immensely blessed as we do our best to be obedient and righteous, and I know the sacrifices we make to have our will more in line with His will cause us to receive so many blessings, much more than what the sacrifices were worth. The gospel is so good and I love being a missionary! It is a great blessing in my life and there is no other place I would rather be in this time of my life!

Request!
I need everyone's help! I'm starting something new with a copy of the Book of Mormon I have. Will everyone quickly email me their favorite scripture in the Book of Mormon, as well as a small note of why it is their favorite or how it has helped them in their life! I would love to receive as many as possible, pretty please! <3

I love you all and I hope you have a great week!

Sister McCown

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