"One By One" . . .

April 28, 2014

Dear Family,

It was so great to hear from all of you this week!!  The rocks are looking amazing, and the yard too!! Congrats on the new car!!  You guys are very lucky to have that!!  Definately something that I miss!!  We walk lots here, but we get to appreciate lots of beautiful scenery!!  Also, Mitch and Clay look great, just like the missionaries that they are!!  So proud of them and everything that they have done!!

So on Wednesday, we went to Chili's to get some food for Elder Pedersen's birthday!!  They charged us an arm and a leg, but it was definately worth it!!  It was really good, and we got to just enjoy a good American Lunch!!

Thursday we had a zone conference, and it is most likely the last one that we will have with President Rodriguez.  Because of their housing situation, they need to leave to go live there this next week...  In CANADA!!  Not quite sure why they chose Canada, but that will be tons of fun for them!!  I got the Easter Package, we colored eggs, and made a cake for Pedersen's birthday!!  Also, we put up balloons, and I got him a basketball!!  FUN DAY!!!

Elder Pedersen's Birthday "Party"

Everything is going great as usual in the mission!!  Just loving the work, and really trying to consecrate myself to that!!!  We have been working really hard lately, knowing that the Lord is going to bless us one day!!!  We recently decided that we were going to find all of the members in our half of the area, and so we set out with the list and are going street by street, alley by alley, looking for these people!!!  We have taken on the challenge that is given in the Book of Mormon, going "one by one" to rescue the lost sheep!!  It has been a crazy adventure, and I am sure that people think that we are from the CIA.  I am not going to lie...  I sometimes lean my head over to the side and whisper something into my shoulder, but my hand to my ear like I am listening to something, and click my pen when we walk past a group of people!!!  We were talking with Erika, and investigator that we have had for a while, and she is really nice!!  But anyway she was joking around that people see to Americans walking around and think we are from the CIA, and I said that we were!!  She said she didn't believe me....  Challenge Accepted!!  Finished the lesson, prayed, and got up to leave!!  Walked out the door, and I just held my pen up over my shoulder, popped the top off, dropped it in the middle of her front room, and took off running!!  My comp got the joke and took off too!!  She freaked out and jumped behind the couch!! Came back in, dying laughing, and it was just a good old time!!!  Hopefully we can just get her to church now, and she can start to progress more!!

Love my Easter basket!

So now on to the others, starting with Darline.  This is a situation that just kills my heart.  She does not have the means to move out of her exboyfriend's house, and so she sleeps on the floor to keep the law of chastity.  She comes to church every week, and now has 8 times consecutive in church!!  She is truly amazing!!  She is working so hard!!!  It is awesome to see her progression, and I have truly felt the spirit manifest itself in our lessons!!  She is also teaching me French, so hopefully by the time I go home I will have that as well!!  

Next we have Yackeline!!  She asked us a really profound question this week, about how she could REALLY get an answer!!  She told us that she is a person that wants to know, and so we talked a ton about prayer and the spirit!!  She has been praying very hard, and hopefully we will be able to help guide her down the path!!

The mission really is the most fulfilling part of my life that I have lived.  The level of my conversion to this gospel has grown at an amazing rate!  The Lord didn't need me personally;  there would be others.  But I was the one that needed the Lord.  I was the one that needed the help, the change, the opportunity to help others have the joy that I feel!!!

I love you all so much, and just want to let you know that I know that the gospel is true!!

I LOVE YOU!

Elder Garrett McEwan  :)