An Unexpected Surprise and "Killing the Cow" . . .

October 20, 2014

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for your email this week, it is always so great to hear how well all of you are doing and the great things that are happening in your lives!!  I can not wait to be a part of all of that soon!!

So anyway, the area and the people are doing really well!!  We are still contacting lots, and trying to find lots of new investigators that truly WANT to know more about the gospel!!  We got shut down pretty hard this week, but we are still pushing forward!!!

Bags all packed for the transfer

So the unexpected surprise....  On Saturday night, I was called as the new Asistente to the President.  My new companion will be Elder Paulino, who is finishing his mission in December.  I will be taking the place of Elder Polanco, who finishes in two weeks.  I will be going to my new area tomorrow, and I will be traveling alone.  I will receive a brief two week crash course of Asistente, and then I will be doing it all.  My role will be the person in charge of the physical health of the missionaries, as well as the trainers and trainees.  It is cool because that is what I want to do after the mission, so that is cool to be able to have this opportunity to be able to prepare a little bit for that!!  It will be a big blessing!

So this week we had a Zone Conference, and we had the Area Seventy, Elder Cornish, there to speak to us.  He is a really cool guy!!  He told us that we need to "Kill the Cow"...  And we all just kind of looked at him?  He then told us the story of a man who saw a struggling single mother and her young son, and that all they had for income was the milk they sold from their old cow.  So what did he do?  He killed the cow.  He then was walking by the same place 20 years later and saw a huge mansion.  He asked a person in the street who"s house it was, and he told him that it was the single mother, with her now grown up son!!  The man said  "I knew it"  and walked away. 

So why did he kill the cow?  It forced the people to work even harder.  It took away every excuse they had, and took away every possible source of life that they had.  So why did he do it?  It was the only way for them to be able to see and to work and achieve their potential.  SO in the Zone Conference, he killed our "Cow"  and challenged us to discover our top potential.  I challenge each of you to do the same thing, and to find out how much we can really do in this life that we have!!

I also had to give a surprise talk!!  The president stopped me in the conference during a brief break and asked me to speak, so I did!!  It was fun, and I was able to give a good semi pep talk about the work, and how we can never give up, that we need to find our true desires for the work!!  If you want to know more about it, study Mosiah 28:3!!

That is pretty much all that has been going on this week!!  I did not get your letters yet, but that will fall under my responsibilities soon as well, to collect all of the mail!!  I hope they come soon!!  Also, just so you know, I will be in the District of Altagracia again, and I will be in the area of Bella Vista, so that should be fun!!

There are opportunities for EMT courses that I would like to do before college starts in the fall so that I can have a job!! Mom, If you could look into some that would be great!! Even if you can talk to the city and see if they do any that would help me be able to get a good paying EMT job, preferrably before I have to go up to college!! Thank you so much, I love you so much!!

I have got to get going, but I love you all so much!! Thank you for your examples to me, and for all that you do!! LOVE YOU!!  Have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Garrett McEwan  :)