First week in a new area with a new companion with new people to teach...and it has been CRAZY! Holy goodness, it has been an insane past 7 days!
7 days ago I was in
Forest Grove, spending my last night by saying goodbye to members, packing up
and eating a pazookie with my sisters (Sister Christenson, Sister Child and
Sister Johnson). We didn't want to end the party, so we all stuffed our beds
into one room and had a little slumber party, of course, that ended right at
10:30pm. Haha, we missionaries try to have the fun we can actually have!!
First thing Tuesday
morning, a member drove me down to my new area where I met my new companion,
Sister Teters! She is from Oklahoma City and this will actually be her LAST
transfer, so I will only be with her for 6 weeks! She is super cute and I like
her a lot. Kinda crazy that I will be taking over the area soon and will have
to know everything about the area before she leaves, but hey- I can do all
things through Christ!!
Sister Teters and I
hit the ground running with visiting the people we were teaching, talking to
people in the streets, etc.
Hermana Seamons
actually joined us for Tuesday and Wednesday because she was waiting for her brand-new
missionary to come on Thursday morning, so that was fun! Trios are always super
fun, so I enjoyed it a ton!
Sister Teters and I
have been diving into our area book, going through the dozens and dozens of
people that showed initial interest but that have been sitting there for
months! I was shocked because many of them showed so much potential, so we've
been making it a priority to sift through them and try to teach them.
By doing this and
talking to people in the street, we have been able to find so many prepared
people! I could make a whole list of cool conversations we had and how many of
them I felt the Spirit in.
We had, what Sister
Teters called, a "celestial weekend". Heavenly Father was literally
spoiling us with miracles and it has made me realize how many more things I can
be grateful for, especially all the little things.
One of these
miracles was Mike!
The sisters have
only taught him a couple things when I got here, and he wanted to meet with us
and bring his wife along, but meet at a more casual location. So where did he
want us to meet him? McDonalds!
I've never felt the
Spirit more in a fast food restaurant, though! We came planned to teach him and
his wife a simple lesson, but when he pulled out a sheet of paper with a bunch
of questions, we tossed our lesson plan over our shoulders!
Some people who
bring questions can come with the intention to make the conversation
contentious, but his questions were GOLDEN! They were questions such as: Can
the Book of Mormon bless my family? How can I feel peace in this world? How can
I feel peace?
Those questions gave
us so many opportunities to teach him about the Book of Mormon and how it can
bless his life. We shared experiences with him about how it has specifically
helped us to feel peace and guidance. It made me feel so good when he would
reply, "Hmm...good answer!"
Many of the
questions he asked reminded us of a page in Preach my Gospel (a book we use as
a foundation of what we teach). It is a section where it explains how the Book
of Mormon answers questions of our soul, or in other words, questions that many
people have and then gives specific chapters in the Book of Mormon that answers
the questions. We showed him the page and he almost flew off his chair! Some of
the questions he wrote down were almost word-for-word identical to the
questions in Preach my Gospel! He looked up at us, saying, "The Book of
Mormon can really answer my questions?"
I felt so much love
for him and his wife, and how much their hearts were opened to our message.
Linda, his wife, said she grew up with the mentality that she shouldn't study
anything except the Bible. It gave us the opportunity to testify of God's power
and if He wanted to bring forth another record of His Son, He could. Towards
the end of the lesson, I felt the Spirit wash over me as she said, "I know
I need to open my mind to it and soften my heart."
She accepted to read
the Book of Mormon and pray about it!!
Another amazing
miracle is Robert!
Robert is an
exchange student from Taiwan, who is attending the local community college here
to study English. He speaks Chinese but actually speaks really good English!
We stopped by one
day to meet him and he was super nice and open to having us come back again! We
stopped by again on Saturday and invited him to church!
AND HE CAME!!!
It has been so
interesting trying to teach him, but it has been the best challenge. Not only
has he never attended church before, but he also knows close to nothing about
God and Jesus Christ. While we were in church, I would lean over to him
periodically to explain to him what would happen next in the meeting or explain
something that someone said. It was almost like I was translating everything,
just only into a language of simplicity!
He really liked
church and so much of the ward greeted him warmly. One member actually served
her mission several years ago in China and was able to communicate with him a
little bit in his native tongue.
Robert loved how we
can learn more about Christ here. I would talk to him about the concept of how
Jesus Christ is like our best friend. He never leaves us and He will always
help us.
It was so funny-
yesterday was the first Sunday in the Oak Creek Ward, but SO many more people
introduced themselves to Robert than to me...but it was THE BEST! I mean,
that's how it's supposed to be!!
Robert was glowing
and we had a little mini lesson with him as we were waiting for his ride to
take him home. We talked to him about temples and eternal families and he is
excited to have us come on Thursday.
Our mission
president speaks Chinese, so we're hoping he might be able to come to the
lesson on Thursday.
That would be so amazing!!
I'm sorry if this
email sounds so sporatic and crazy- this week has been insane and there is so
much I want to say, I just don't have the time (or energy in my fingers) to be
able to type it all down!
I hope that out of
everything, all who reads it may be able to know how much I love being a
missionary, and how much I actually take it for granted. Every day, when we
recite our Purpose to "helping people come unto Christ by helping them
receive the restored gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement,
repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the
end" we also say, "how great is our calling!"
Because it truly
is SO great!!
My last spiritual
thought of the week:
I love the Book of
Mormon! It is my strength and my song, my guide and my comfort, my sword and my
shield. Without it, I could not survive here on a mission. As much as I truly
do love it, it is so hard and the Book of Mormon keeps me going!
This past week,
Sister Teters and I watched this awesome trailer of the new Book of Mormon
videos that are coming out soon! I literally teared up while watching it...to
see the Book of Mormon literally come to life in that way.
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/season-three-filming-book-of-mormon-videos
I learn so much from the stories in the Book
of Mormon; all the examples of the characters and the lessons we learn from
them when they follow Christ.
I know that the Book
of Mormon is true. It is here for us and it was written for our day. We need
it, and we need to study it each and every day. It gives me the peace I need
that I could not muster on my own, and I have been reading it a lot this past
week. The comfort that God wants to give us can flow out of its pages and into
our hearts, because He wants us to know it will all be okay and He wants us to
know that we love Him.
I am a living
witness that Heavenly Father loves us and knows us individually. If we reach
out in faith, He will bring us into His arms. I have felt the love and strength
that can come into our lives as we accept Him and work to put Him first into
our lives. After that, everything falls into place.
I love my Savior. I
know He lives, and I know He loves us!
I invite everyone to
read the Book of Mormon and feel the power that comes from it as we do so with
an open heart and real intent (willingness to act).
I love you all and I
am thankful for your support! Have a wonderful week!
All my love
Sister McCown
No comments:
Post a Comment