Christmas Package Information

Information from the Ohio Columbus Mission regarding Christmas packages being sent to missionaries:

Dear Missionary Parents/Others:

We are fast approaching the Christmas season!  Because of the volume of packages we receive and the logistics associated with distributing them to the missionaries by Christmas, we need to ask for your cooperation in the following ways:

1.  All packages MUST be received by FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2019.

2.  All packages must be sent to the Mission office:

                    Missionary Name
                    19 Clairedan Drive
                    Powell, OH 43065

We cannot be responsible for packages stolen when left at the doors of missionary apartments (this happens frequently during the holiday season).

3.  Christmas packages will be distributed to the missionaries at Zone Conferences, the week of December 9.

4.  Please address your package clearly so that we can easily identify the recipient.

Christmas is always an exciting time for missionaries.  We thank you for your continued support.  We love these sweet missionaries and appreciate your willingness to part with them during this important time in their lives.

Wishing you a lovely holiday season--

Ohio Columbus Mission Office

Biking . . . What is That?

Hey guys! :)

How goes it back home? How was everyone's week and adventures had? This week was an interesting and very rewarding week (physically and spiritually).

So on Tuesday, we did service in the morning for good ol' Brother Hartman, and he needed us to clean out one of the rooms in his house to put a bed in there. So we spent the morning cleaning and I checked and double checked to make sure the room was 100% MCEWAN clean :). We visited a lady named Alice Vitiello who was baptized a year ago, and we got to pet her horse and visit with her. We then went up to Kirtland to spend the night with the other elders for district council.

Wednesday, we had district council in the morning and then the new "greenie" from Herriman, Utah bought us pizza and it was so so good. Me and Elder Henshaw went back to Chardon to the church and took Fall pictures by the trees and updated our facebooks. We knocked a street later that night and were able to talk with a guy who seemed interested and even took a restoration pamphlet from us, so we will just have to hope and pray for it.

Thursday we were supposed to do a district leader mtg with President and the other DL's in the mission, but  . . . We forgot, so we didn't do it . . . We did service for a nonmember guy in Chardon who is pretty old, and his wife passed away last year. It was a pretty slow day today.

Friday we helped the Hartmans in the morning with burning about 5 tons of leaves . . . Well okay it probably wasn't 5 tons, but wow it was a lot :). It took us 2 hrs to put them all on fire and burn them and mow them down. Then we got up on the roof of his house and put insulated calk on his chimney so it wouldn't leak this winter. We had a new member lesson with Bethany and Sarah, watched the Book of Mormon lesson, and ate subway for dinner.

Friday we also had Elder Allison (Housing Coordinator) come in the morning and did an inspection and we passed:). He also said if President okays it, we could very well be moving to Burton or Chardon soon. I'll let you know though. We also had the cleaning specialist come and help us shampoo our carpets and deep deep clean everything. President made this a trip assignment this transfer. So instead of proselytizing, 3 elders go to every apt in the mission and clean it this transfer.

Too bad we weren't on these bikes :)

Saturday: This was a great day on many things. First off, we had a great phone call lesson with Mitch, who is in South Carolina now for the next month. We are short on miles til Thursday this week so we had to either walk or bike this day, I chose bike ;). But it just so happened that this day was rainy and windy and wet and rainy and cold all rolled into one. While we were riding our bikes, I truly felt like I was on Mona road back home because it was long and plain, and cars were like 3 inches from us, and it felt like my tire was flat and it felt like 50 miles! We decided to ride 25 min to Burton to Carol Bradshaw at the assisted living. We made it there in 30 min (it was uphill . . . Both ways !) and she is in the hospital so we had no one to meet with. We rode back to Middlefield and stopped at the ATV store for Henshaw to look at four wheelers and side by sides. He did that before his mission. We made it back to the apt and I said, "Wow, what a great 2nd workout of the day". And Elder Henshaw said, "No, that was not fun. I'm cold, I'm wet, and my legs hurt." But it was pretty good. We had dinner at the Wheelers too that night and they served us BUFFET style food with chicken, stuffing, cake, and salad :).


Sunday morning came and we weren't ready. We were both pretty tired as we had a 7:15 a.m. mtg to get to 25 min away. We went out with Brother Hartman and Maryana Walter who are both the branch missionaries. We were at the Shepherd family house and all of a sudden Brother Hartman stops talking, we waited and just thought he was having a flashback of his time in the military. He said he was having trouble breathing and his head was spinning. We watched and very gradually he got back to normal. He said he was having a pre-heart attack (I forget the correct term. Mrs. Grant would not be happy with me.) Me and Henshaw and Brother Shepherd gave him a blessing and the next 30 min he regained his vision and was back to normal. He turned to me and told me he was sorry he had scared me and everyone. I laughed a little bit and said, "Brother Hartman, don't you remember I am going to be a doctor and needing to do this stuff everyday for my career?" It was a good conversation with him.

We have zone conference in Talmage on Tuesday this week. We are driving the Malibu and going to get either a Rav4 or Rogue that they have there for us. We are pretty excited to get a new car!! We will have to be inside by 6 pm on Thursday night because of trick or treaters.

What are your guys plans for Halloween? Costume ideas?

Letter from my little Lola made my day!!!!

Challenge time: I challenge us all to pick a General Conference talk from the past, and really read and ponder it, study it out in our hearts. Highlight, and mark it up. Learn and grow from it. I promise we will learn more from our church leaders than we ever thought possible.

I love and miss and pray for you all everyday. I'm so grateful for all your prayers and support for me. Keep being great and amazing, the Lord needs us all to be on His team with faith unwavering.

I am so very excited to talk to everyone today!

I love you forever and always,
Elder Dylan :)

Faster, Faster, Faster

Hi everyone!

I hope you all have had a great week and that you had some great experiences :):) This week was so very amazing and I'm excited to tell you all about it :) it was a fast and very busy week :)

Thursday: It was raining and freezing and raining some more, all day long. We were out knocking in the morning and my hands were about to fall off because the wind chill. We were able to talk with one lady named Hannah, and do the survey with her. She said she was sick that day but that she would think about possibly having us come back. Keeping our fingers crossed. Also, me and Elder Henshaw started a new workout routine; I get up before him and workout for a little bit, and then me and him go on a run outside until 7. It feels so so good to be running outside again and to be eating super good too.

Friday: We went up to Kirtland on Friday morning to meet with the Stake President, President Johnson. All of the missionaries in our zone were there and we got to meet the 2 new elders from the MTC as well. It feels weird that that isn't me anymore. After the mtg, we went back to mentor on the lake where the Kirtland Elders live and we did comp study and watched the Book of Mormon video. Me and Henshaw then went out and talked to 2 people for about 1 hr 45 min. Dale and Frank were so awesome. Frank is very skeptical about joining our religion, but we assured him that all he had to do was ask to know. We went to the mall for dinner that night and I got a delicious Philly Cheese Steak sandwich.

Saturday: We all woke up and went for a run at 6:30 down to the beach (Lake Erie) and back. Henshaw asked me afterwards if that is the same type of run I was used to back home. I told him for my warm up run it was ;). We had a missionary broadcast with Elder Christofferson and President Ballard for the whole North East America missionaries area. They both spoke on the power of the Book of Mormon, and about Jesus Christ's true identity. They said we as members need to fully understand who Christ is and come to share that with everyone around us. We headed to Chardon after that.

Story time: We got back to the apt at 12:30 on Saturday after having not been there for 24 hrs. I was in the room putting my suitcase away and I hear the smoke/CO alarm start beeping. I thought it was weird and so I told Henshaw to come look at it. He said it was wired so the batteries couldn't have been bad; but then I started to smell something not so good . . . So I called the housing coordinator and . . . He didn't answer. After about 40 min of it beeping, it FINALLY stopped and we could relax. I just thought I'd share it and say that I did pay attention to the safety zone videos before I left ;). we are both okay; just a false alarm I guess.

We had a 2nd broadcast on Saturday night with the YSAs of the northeast America area and Christofferson and Ballard spoke at it. At this one they spoke of the importance to be one in family and to always remember that God calls individuals and then helps them to magnify his calling for them. We helped Mitch Silvius prepare his talk for today, he is speaking on faith.

Today we have church, and then we are going out with the Hartmans to go visit members in the ward. He said he really wants to start talking to more families and getting them involved in what we are doing. We have a final broadcast tonight at 4:00 for families in the north east area with Christofferson and Ballard, so we are super pumped for that!

Something we learned in Sunday School today was putting on the whole armor of God. I was able to pull out my armor up coin and tell everyone in Sunday School about Kodiak and the amazing experience it was. And how vitally important it is to always always armor up, and double check you are reading your scriptures and praying/going to church, in order to withstand the fiery darts of the adversary.

We carved our pumpkins and it was so much fun! I carved a Y and SH in my pumpkin (I also bent a metal spoon trying to get the core out after I cut it . . . :) it was very messy but so much fun! We stuck the pumpkins on the front porch for all to see :)

It has gotten so so so so frigidly cold here, I almost didn't even know what to do with myself. Maybe should start packing around hot chocolate in one bottle and spark in the other ;). Everyone has started putting Halloween decorations up, and it is making me so excited for the holiday season! I tell everyone about the amazing and fantastic nutcracker collection my family has.

Also, we now have district council on Wednesday's in Kirtland instead of on Thursdays. Now all the zones in the mission are on Wednesday and it'll make it easier for Mission Leader Conferences.

I believe we have zone conference next week too, but I'll find out for sure and let you guys know. President Stratford let us know that we will be getting our new car, probably a Rogue or a Rav4, and will be getting it at the upcoming zone conference, so that will be good.

I invite us all to do a random act of kindness this week, and then write in our journals every night starting tonight. I know it blesses those so much who do it, and it has blessed my own life and helped me to see the love and blessings God sends our way everyday, even the small blessings.

I know this Gospel is true and that Christ himself lives and reigns. Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and did translate the Book of Mormon. It is the word of God. Study it out in your minds everyday, and pray to know the truth of it in your own lives. Be full of the spirit everyday. I know when you do these things, the Lord will add His power to your efforts, and you will be an effective missionary and instrument in His hands.

How was fall break? End of term 1 is this week, GOOD LUCK! :) Halloween is next week, yaaaay! I hope you guys had a great fall break!

I love you all so so much and it makes my whole week to be able to hear from you. I love you, pray for you, and miss you so much everyday. I'm so excited to talk with everyone today!

I love you all forever and always!
Elder Dylan

Transfer Week

Hi everyone,

How did your week go? How is school and work going? I hope you all have a great fall break. They have fall break out here for a whole week for the students, haha I was pretty jealous ;).

Transfers are this week. Me and Elder Henshaw will be staying together here in Chardon. Henshaw is our new district leader.

It has been a great and amazing week! We had training visits up in Kirtland from Tuesday to Thursday last week, and I was able to go out with the district leader, Elder Kamerath and go explore the city of Kirtland and mentor. We went over to lake Erie, and were able to see the waves and he said that on the other side of the lake is Canada, so that was a cool fact I didn't know.

We did service for a guy in Kirtland on Wednesday. He had built a basketball court, and wanted to extend and expand his court. So we helped him level the ground, pour a lot of gravel rocks down, and then put dirt on top of it. It was a good little workout to say the least. We also went to a gospel principles class in the village by Newel K Whitney's store on Wednesday night. We read from the gospel principles book and had a really good discussion with the other members of the Kirtland ward that were there.

Thursday we had district council and wow! It was the best one yet. We talked on the atonement and the importance of making it personalized to each of us so that we can teach it better. We then went around the room and we each bore our testimonies about the atonement of Christ. Two sister missionaries had their 6 month mark last week so they made homemade oreos for everyone. Mom, yours are still the best :) :).

On Saturday we went knocking doors all day long. It was quite an adventure. We went to a trailer park in the morning and one lady told us that we couldn't be there because there was no soliciting. I then proceeded to tell her that we were going around talking with families about religion and she should listen to our message. :) People are so interesting when it comes to listening for 5 min and having a conversation . . . oh well. We also called 3 referrals that we had got last week, but sadly 2 of them are no longer interested and the third one didn't answer his phone, so we will need to try back another time.

On Saturday afternoon, Burton was having their city fair so we stopped by and walked around the booths and tried some maple sugar and maple cream. It was super good! Everyone was drinking who was there, so we decided to head out afterwards.

Sunday was so cool! It was Fast Sunday and so I got up and bore my testimony. I also helped bless the sacrament and we had our 2 mtgs in the morning for branch mission and branch coordination mtg. After church we went back to the apt and ate lunch, and then went to visit a member who isn't able to go to church because he lives alone and is deaf partially and blind partially. It was so good! A very fabulous Sunday :)

Monday the 14th, we helped Brother and Sister Hartman winterize their yard and make sure it's ready for the cold temps. It is getting pretty chilly here, especially with the humidity. They took us to lunch as well. We went to Brother Mclellan's house on Monday night and helped him make a small oven

out of mud. That's what he does for his job is makes houses and huts out of mud (newspaper with glue, the mud then goes on top). It was super cool! A very time consuming job too. it took us 2 1/2 hrs to finish it.

Tuesday the 15th, we went out knocking doors and finding members who we haven't met yet. We are really trying to push the emphasis of getting member support in our branch so that we can cover more ground. We really want this branch to become a ward, so we are trying our very best to get everyone excited for it.

We were able to teach the YM on Tuesday night about mission work and seminary. Hopefully they are able to start preparing now. I know that that definitely helped me to prepare well in advance.

We have a mission broadcast on Saturday this week up in Kirtland. Elder Ballard and Christofferson are speaking to us via internet, so we will see what they will talk to us about.

I invite each of us to reflect on the goals we currently have in our life. Are we making every possible effort to achieve those goals and improve towards them? And then I want each of us to write down 2 or 3 goals that we are going to start doing today. And make them a part of our lives and who we are. I promise that when we focus on Jesus Christ and ask him for help everyday to achieve our goals, we will find that He is always there for us, and we will be a different and more Christlike person.

I love you all, miss you all, and pray for you all so so much! Its so crazy that I'm at the end of my first transfer. Time is going by so fast, and the work is hastening.

I love you all forever and always!
Elder Dylan

P.S. Momma -- I would love to send the white shirts in my closet with Matt to Havana. Will you please get them to him? I hope they are able to help all the kids down there :).

General Conference Weekend

Hi everyone! :)

How did your week go? :) How is school and work been going? How did Salem hills do against Provo on Friday? Sounds like Salem is doing very great this year! Who knows, this could be our year :)

I had a very great week and it brought with it lots of opportunities for me to learn and grow.

I got the greenie package that you guys sent :) I opened it when we got back to the apt on Monday night and it made me so so happy to see everything :) It is good too because I use a lot of the stuff for day snacks and take them with us in the car because we are usually gone for 4 to 6 hrs at a time. Thank you for the shirt! I wore it this week and it was so nice to be able to have a long sleeved t shirt, I should have taken more :);)

The empty nester's was fun on Monday night! We had about 10 or so people show up and then me and Henshaw were there. They served chicken and mac n cheese and chili, with cookies for dessert. We talked on one of Elder Holland's books that he has written and went into depth on what he talked about to bring in the lost sheep. Super cool and fun night!!

On Tuesday we worked at Brother Hartman's, I was able to mow his lawn with his big riding lawn mower and ah it was so much fun! Brought back the memories of riding grandpa's lawn mower in Adam Ondi Ahman ;) We also had training visits from Tuesday night until Thursday morning. So I was with Elder Carter (he is in Kirtland area) and it was a blast! He graduated from Westlake High School in 2018 and said he played football all through high school, so we talked a lot about sports and how each school is doing this year.

We knocked doors for about 5 hrs on Wednesday and were able to talk to 2 or 3 people about the questionnaire and their opinion on families and how they feel religion has a part to play in their life. We also got 2 referrals this week and it made me so so happy! One is named Cynthia and she is so nice. She is a little older and says she was raised catholic her whole life, but loves being able to talk with us even though she doesn't "intend on joining". Goes along with the talk shared during this general conference, that when the spirit is upon you, their is no point in trying to deny the truth of the Gospel, for it would be like denying the sun is in the sky. And then we have a guy named Steve who we haven't met yet, but are so excited to see who he is and what we can do to help him and teach him.

We had interviews, car inspections, and district council on Thursday. Thankfully we passed the car inspection :) I met with President and Sister Stratford and it was so good. President said he would see if he could give us more miles for each month and also, he said there is a possibility that we may be moving out of the Middlefield apt and moving back over to Chardon (just cuz more members live over in Chardon and the church bldg is also over there), and then we are also either getting a Rav4 or a Rogue for a car because the Malibu will not do during the winter on the hills.

On Friday, we helped Bob White in his yard and really helped him be able to clean his house. I found out that it was his 5 yr anniversary on Friday since his wife passed away from cancer, and so he took us out to eat after we finished at his house. He broke down crying when he talked about the treatments his wife went through, and then I broke down crying because I thought of our experience with Parker and his cancer treatments. I told Bob of the experience we had been through and man oh man! The spirit was felt guys, God puts you in places that you need to be in and so always be on the lookout for these things. We went and watched the 3rd Book of Mormon video with Sarah and Bethany on Friday and had the new member lessons with them, it was so cool to watch!

We had a member support visit or MSV, on Friday night at the McCllelans, who served us chocolate strawberry cheesecake. He read us the messages that both moms had sent back to the picture he sent you guys :).

On Saturday we watched the morning general conference and worked at the Hartmans. It was so cool to see it from a missionary stand point of view. I loved how it was centered on repentance and true everlasting conversion that can take place within all of is when we have the Spirit in us. We watched the afternoon Saturday session at the Potters.

We are watching the Sunday morning session at Bob White's house and then going over to the Jukers house to watch the afternoon session today. We are hoping and praying that Bob White will want to come to church after today because he tells us time and time again how much he loves missionaries because he can call them his friends.

So so cool about the changes in church policy this week! About women and girls being able to witness baptisms and sealings, and also about the new YW/YM curriculum for the organizations. The work is hastening and we must hasten with it.

I would like to invite everyone to study Come Follow Me every week from now until the end of the 2019 year. I myself have started doing it each week and I have truly felt the blessings of what comes when we all choose to walk in His footsteps. None of us are perfect, but because of Jesus Christ, we all can strive to become more like Him.

I'm so excited to Corben to receive his mission call. I can't believe he and Dallin will be in the same mission. This made my whole day. So awesome!

I love you all so very much and hope you all have a very fantastic week! The weeks are going by very fast haha, time is moving forward at "an unprecedented rate" as President Nelson would say :)

I'm so very excited to talk with you all today! It makes my whole week to be able to see and talk with everyone. Remember to work hard and to never give up.

I love you forever and always,
Elder Dylan :)

D&C 4

P.S. I just wanted to let you know that next week, our p-day is on Wednesday the 16th because it is also transfer week too. So we will have p-day on Wednesday the 16th next week and transfers will be the next day on the 17th :)

A Parent's Payday

Hi mom and dad,

I just want to say thank you to both of you for everything you have taught me in my life as I've grown up and now on my mission, that you have taught me the importance of working hard and loving and caring for everyone around you.

Some days, we may not have any lessons or talk with any one new, but I'm so so grateful for what you guys have taught me about loving no matter what and truly "Having courage and being kind".

You guys are the best parents and I'm so so grateful and blessed that Heavenly Father decided to have you guys be mine, Parkers, Garrett's, and Sean's mom and dad.

You guys are awesome and I love you both so so very much! Thank you for all you do for me and for being the 2 greatest examples in my life :)

I love you forever and always! :)
Dyl :)

Prepare

Hi everyone,

Wow! General Conference was so amazing and the talks were so so great! I wanted to touch on the point to of what President Nelson said in today's afternoon session of Conference about preparing for in 6 months for general conference in spring of 2020.

- Go to the temple
- Do family history/indexing
- Watch the Book of Mormon videos

I know that when we do this, it will enhance our minds and allow us to better focus our minds on the savior. And we will all be ready for spring 2020 conference :)

I love you all forever and always :)
Elder dyl :)