Happy 4th of July, New Comp, & Loving It . . .

July 4, 2014

Dear Family,

I want to start off this letter saying Happy 4th of July! It is so great that we have the amazing country of the United States to call home! In honor of this day, I strongly encourage you all to read 1 Nef. 13. It talks all about the Restoration, but that a necessary part of the Restoration was that America needed to be founded, that we needed to have the Revolutionary War, and that specifically the United States needed to be formed as a country. Any way, Happy Independence Day!

So now on to the weird news . . . I have a new companion. His name is Elder Gallo, and he comes from Bani, where he was a Zone Leader. It is a special transfer, and Dabady is now ZL in Bani. I am District Leader here, in a place where I have only been here for like 12 days! A little bit weird, but it will be good. Elder Gallo is from Colombia. He is 21 years old and has 21 months in the mission. He is a cool guy, really amped up about mission work, which I like because I just want to work super hard! We have been doing great work here!

So how did you all celebrate the 4th? I had a Zone Meeting and the closing hymn was "The Star Spangled Banner." In the night, I ate a layered jello that I made and wore my American Flag do-rag that Stef gave me. Overall it was a really good day! Also taught a ton of lessons to lots of people.

July 7, 2014

So yesterday we had church in Las Charcas, my first week there as the Branch President. It was fast and testimony meeting, and Reyes (a house comp.) told me that no one ever stands up to bear their testimony, so the missionaries have to fill all of the time. I didn't want that, so I decided that I was going to invite people to share their testimonies. We finished up with all of the Sacrament, then I stood up and spoke for a few minutes about testimonies, then invited Hermana Milania up to share her testimony. She shared a beautiful testimony about faith and the Plan of Salvation. She sat down and I was expecting to have to call on someone else, but NO! Her husband got up! More and more people got up and shared amazing testimonies. One of my investigators, Edailin, got up and talked about how much of a blessing it is for him to be able to know about this gospel, and he can't wait to be "in buen misionero" like we are! So cool!

I also collect tithes/fast offerings! That is a very interesting thing! It is definitely helping me prepare and is giving me the experience if I ever get called as a Bishop in the future! God is definitely helping me take full advantage of my mission! I love it out here!

I Love You!
Elder Garrett McEwan