February 22, 2015
Dear Family,
Congratulations on all that you were able to accomplish this
week!! Seems like lots is going on for
you. It was cool to hear about the
things for school!! Hard to believe that
I have been gone almost two full school years.
It hadn't really hit me until Dylan started talking about all of his
classes, and saying that he was finishing up some end of year testing! Time sure does fly by.
So this week was just packed full of Zone Conferences, and
let me tell you, it was sooo busy!! We
had a meeting every day, Monday through Friday, from 9 in the morning to 4 in
the afternoon. That doesn't even count
the preparation for it all!! We were
there on average at 7:30, so on the day we left for Azua we had to be out the
door at 6:15, so I woke up at 4 in order to be able to work out
and get everything prepared that we needed to do. It took a real toll because I was the one who
had to do all of the driving, which, I am not sure why, really takes a lot out
of a person. I was exhausted by the end
of the week!
The topic of the Zone Conference was all about baptism. We talked a lot about how to help someone
commit to be baptized, as well as about covenants and the importance of keeping
covenants. It was awesome to be able to learn about all of those, and
to be able to teach. It is always
interesting to see how people respond to being taught. I was able to see lots of different styles of
how people accepted being taught in the conferences. There were some people who were very engaged,
taking notes and participating. There
were others who were listening, but passively.
Then there were others who were just not listening at all. For me it had a big impact to see these
different styles of accepting the teaching that was being given. The ones who WANTED to get something out of
the conference were the ones who learned.
It is not like we were teaching anything radical that no one
knew... In fact, I assume that the
majority of the people knew exactly what we were talking about and understood
it fairly well before hand. It all just has
to do with the willingness to learn and to seek out new things that we can
apply to the mission and life. Over all
though, it was a really good conference. My main participation in the conferences were a little
teaching practice and the acrostic that I made up about "Ser
GENIOS". My companion and I taught
the doctrine in D&C 20, especially verse 37 when it talks about the
requisites to be baptized. We were able
to teach that each and every part of that is important, and that we cannot
overlook any part. The people
who get baptized are the people who are committed to living the principles that
are found there. My other teaching
moment went really well, and I was very happy with how it went. I know have taught it five different times in
five different meetings, so I guess that I am pretty used to teaching
that! Any way, everything went well.
I guess that my big news is that I am getting released from
being the Assistant to the President at the end of this transfer. The president told me on Friday night, and I
will begin the process of training my replacement, Elder Merrell, on Tuesday of
this week. That will be really
good. The president talked to me a lot
about the leadership role that I have had in the mission, thanked me, and told
me what he appreciated about me, which made me feel really good, and was
something that I really needed. He
talked about putting me as a Zone Leader, to try to do the same things that we
are doing as the assistants while also infecting a zone with my work
ethic. I guess we will see how it all
goes. I have very mixed feelings, but I think that it is time to get back out
there.
The most important things that I have learned here in the
office are patience, organization, and time management. They were things that I already knew fairly
well before, but it was amazing how much more was required at this level. I am very thankful for the opportunity to
have been the assistant to the president these last 5 months, and I am very
excited to find out where I will be going next.
At the same time, it is a little sad because I know that I will be
heading to my final area in the mission, and there is still so much to do!!
I hope that you all have a great week!
Love,
Elder Garrett McEwan
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