February 15, 2015
Dear Family,
I am just going to jump right into the week. It was full of work, and lots happened, so I
guess I will just get right to the exciting stuff!!
So on Monday, we began our final planning for the Zone
Conferences that are coming up this next week.
We are trying to make sure that it all turns out the way that we want it
to, and are just trying to take advantage of all of the tools that we have for
teaching. The main theme is going to be
on Covenants, and remembering the importance of all of our covenants and
holding them to the sacred level of which they should be held. We also decided that we were going to start
another big project, for us to work with as many of the district leaders as
possible, and to work with all of the Zone Leaders. We started the preparations for that on
Monday as well.
On Tuesday we went to the Zone Meeting of Las Caobas, and it
was really good. It is always
interesting to see how different people act in certain situations. We saw one missionary who we thought was very
serious acting like a goofball, and another who we thought was a goofball
brought out a very spiritual side of himself, so that was fun to see. Then we had an exchange with Buenos Aires,
Elder Weiss and his companion Elder Millward.
It was a lot of fun, and I got to work with Elder Weiss. We were able to find a lot of new people, as
we were contacting a TON, and were able to also visit a woman that they reactivated
who is going to be going to the temple on Mom's birthday.
On Wednesday the exchange was with Manoguyabo. They were struggling a little bit in their
area, and have literally no one to teach.
We spent the entire time contacting, and when the people had time, we
went in and taught them on the spot!! It
was a cool experience. I was with Elder
Campbell, and I don't think that he had ever contacted a house and then
immediately started teaching a lesson!
It was a lot of fun, and we ended up teaching a lot and having a ton of
contacts as well.
Thursday's exchange was with Ivan Guzman, Elder Saavedra and
Elder Hodges. I went with Elder Hodges,
and it was the same type of deal. We
were contacting almost the entire time, but found some interesting new
people!! We did start off the day with
one planned lesson, and it was a little bit difficult! They had been teaching a 23 year old and his
14 year old sister, and the Pastor had always been there with them, the Pastor
from their church, so the Elders were having a hard time getting the opportunity
to speak! Luckily, the Pastor wasn't
there and we were able to have a good conversation. They were being taught the plan of salvation,
and had lots of questions about things after this life, and that was tough
because they wanted a scripture from the bible for every single one, and they
just couldn't move on without the answer!!
We were able to answer all of their questions, with the majority of the
answers coming from the New Testament and the life of Christ. We also had to pull out some Old Testament to
talk about the premortal life, but overall it was a good day.
Friday we went with the Zone Leaders of Las Caobas 2, and it
was a lot of fun. I was with Elder
Jardón, who I used to live with here in the office. it was a lot of fun!! We got fired a lot, lots of people tried to
make fun of us, and not many people even wanted to hear anything that we had to
say, and it was still a great exchange.
The thing that I have realized is that the people in this world right
now are like the people in the time of Christ.
Christ himself said that He spoke to people in parables so that only the
prepared people would understand and want to continue to learn. That is how it is with us. God has sent us, and has provided the way for
us that we can find the prepared people.
Sometimes it is not the perfect system that we use, but it does get the
job done. Process of
elimination.... Always worked in school,
and definitely works here in the mission too!!
We just eliminate houses by the simple act of offering the gospel to
these people. When we find the prepared
people is the best feeling!
I think that the biggest thing that I learned this week is
that I know, more than ever, that this work that we are doing is real, and that
it is worth the time that is put into it.
I wouldn't rather be anywhere else.
It is not easy. There is more
stress than I ever could have imagined coming from many different places. Satan tries to tell me that I have very
little impact on any one. He tries to
make me feel inferior, and tells me that I will never really make a
difference. I just think of it as the
story of the little boy throwing starfish in the ocean. For every single soul that I help to teach
and help change their life in some way, it is worth it. I know that this is the true church and that
God loves us and has a plan for us. If
we are willing to listen, He will guide us.
I love you all and I hope you have a great week!
Love,
Elder Garrett McEwan
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