Happy Happy memorial day!! Doing anything fun today?? :):)
How are you all doing this week and today? :) How did the week go? anything fun or exciting happen? It's officially summer vacation for everyone!! 😀 That's super exciting! Any fun things planned for the summer? It's so awesome how fast time is flying.
I have officially made it to day 70 of quarantine, so I guess if we were comparing it to me being able to retire, then I would have made it! 😉 And I realized this week that I have now spent over 1/12 of my mission in quarantine, so that was a fun fact of the day for me. We were told this last week that the North America Northeast area presidency doesn't feel that it is time to allow missionaries back outside yet over here on the east coast and such, so we will still be in our apts this week. Governor Dewine (Ohio) says he will re evaluate this Friday, May 29th to either extend the stay at home order or to relax it a little. We will keep our fingers crossed for the best 🤞
So this week was exciting, and I was able to find some new parts of the apt I hadn't yet checked out and discovered, so that was quite the find. And we saw a black squirrel and a vulcher, that was even more adrenaline filled! :)
Tuesday and Wednesday we were able to have a Nepali zoom call with all of the Nepali members in our mission (Talmadge, Reynoldsburg, and Columbus). That was super fun! They are all doing great, and have such bright and happy smiles on their faces every time we call them!! Wednesday we had district council and I was able to give a training at it. I gave the training on, 'Why it's important to master our teaching skills', which is out of Chapter 10 of preach my Gospel. Everyone loved the training and I think we all got a lot out of it, and reminded ourselves how to talk to people in person, and not just in a video call 😉. I think we are all a little rusty on the talking to people IN PERSON thing . . . 🤔
Friday night to Saturday night, we went to the Akron elders apt, who is the district leader here. We had a fun time with them! They had a baptism scheduled for Saturday morning, so we went with them to the church and filled up the font, and then we watched the baptism over a zoom call (which is how they're doing all baptisms churchwide right now). You can only have a maximum of 5 people at the baptism i.e. the person being baptized, bishopric member, 2 witnesses, and a confirmer. But hey, baptizing is still going on and that is so so cool and awesome!
Sunday was a good day. We took the sacrament, had 2 lessons with Regan and with a member family (Krishna is the wife's name). They're all so cool! Regan lives down in Columbus and wants to be baptized as soon as Quarantine is over, please keep him in your prayers. He is 11 yrs old and so funny and fun to talk to.
Here are some fun things we did this week:
- I made a WAY GOOD DELICIOUS pudding parfet on thursday 🙌
- We went on a sunset drive on Sunday night and the sky was orange, which was pretty awesome to see, and made it feel and seem a lot warmer outside
- Played basketball and chair soccer with Akron elders on Saturday (I lost at both 😁).
- Got chick fil a on Saturday night and Elder Borden (DL) had his mom order us Buffalo wild wings on Friday, so much food I know
- It was Elder Pakwal"s one year mark on Friday, so we went and got Chapatae (Nepali rice and peppers, and so so spicy . . . at least for me it is spicy 😉).
I wanted to share an experience I had this week that was way cool and helped me to see the love that our Savior and Heavenly Father have for us. On Sunday night (last night), I was asking myself why I felt like my language abilities to speak Nepali in lessons was not as good as I was hoping they might be by this point. I said a prayer after one lesson yesterday, and immediately I was overcome with the Spirit! And you all know I get emotional about 11 times out of 10. I felt the still small voice impress upon me this feeling and thought: "Be mindful of what I have already given you, use it to bless lives. And be prayerful and patient for me to work miracles." The 'be mindful and use what I have given you' stood out to me. Sometimes it is so so hard to not just jump to the finish line, but to take every step gracefully or maybe even a little wobbly and awkward. But I know, that as you and WE, take each step with our Hearts and our minds turned to the Savior, He endows us with power. He doesn't expect us to do the work by ourselves . He expects us put forth effort time and time again, because He loves effort. 😁
During the 70 days now, that I've been in quarantine, I have learned a lot. 10 months ago, I did not think that I would be having a mission experience such as the one I'm having. I was reminded this week of something that you guys told me before I left 😉 "Its not your mission, it's the Lords". And so I have been reflecting a lot on that thought this week, and how I have been living my life over the last few months. Days come and they go, and I have realized lately that you never get the same day back, so you have to make the most of it. A new day comes and we have to make the choice to decide how we we'll live it. Will we get up and make our beds? Will we learn something new? Will we make good one degree choices? Will we keep our heads up and go to work, whatever that may intel everyday. Because we only live each day once, we must not have any regrets when we go to sleep at night. I miss going outside, I miss talking with people in person, I miss all of it . . . But I know that the Lord is in charge. And because He is in charge, we need not ever fear. He loves us, every one of us. 😁 "Why does He take us through troubled waters?" . . . . "Because your enemies can't swim". If we ever feel that we can't do something, always remember that we aren't the first to ask if there is no other way, the first being the Savior. "Father, wilt thou take this cup from me? Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done". Trust Him, everyday everyday everyday."
I know this Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. He lives, and because He died and rose again the 3rd day, we too will be resurrected and live with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father for eternity. Believe and Conceive, and we will achieve. Never stop hoping and believing, because when we believe, that's when the blessings come, and that's when the Lord works through us, to bless the lives of people around us.
येशू ख्रीष्टमा विश्वास र विश्वास राख्नुहोस्। उहाँ त्यहाँ हुनुहुन्छ, र प्रत्येक चोटि जवाफ दिनुहुन्छ कि तपाईंले उहाँलाई बोलाउनुभयो। उहाँ तपाईंलाई प्रेम गर्नुहुन्छ, र हाम्रो लागि बाँच्न परिवारहरू प्रदान गर्नुभयो ताकि हामी यस जीवनमा प्रेम गर्न र बढ्न सक्दछौं।
Translation: Have faith and trust in Jesus Christ. He is there, and will answer everytime that you call out to Him. He loves you, and has provided families for us to live with so that we can love and grow in this life.
A fun fact too that I learned this week about Ohio. When it's summertime like it is now, and you go outside at 8 pm at night, the sky is illuminated in orange and pink colors. And you can smell the pine off of the trees and it smells like campfire, and you can see the skyline of bldgs and you can see FOREVER in the distance. It's quite the sight 🧡🧡
The challenge I wanted to do this week and "always" is: Pray for strength to make it through life's challenges each day. Ask Heavenly Father to bless you with power and the ability to take on the world each day, because when we do, then we really will Change the World, One Step at a Time. 😉😁
So cool about church being started back up at church bldgs here pretty soon! Any details as to what Salem West Stake is doing with that yet and timing on everything? Mom, I bet you're happy school is over so now you have summer break too! 😉👍Been good weather there lately?? :) Its so hot and humid here, but it's cool, it just makes my hair super red and my hands super slippery hah :)
I miss you all so so so much, and I pray for you guys and think about you daily. I'm so very happy you're all doing well and staying healthy and safe! Keep working hard, and doing and being your very very best everyday. You guys are so awesome! I'm so excited to talk to everyone today!
I love you ALL forever and always! 💛❤
Elder Dylan McEwan
No comments:
Post a Comment