How was the week? So crazy it has already been 9 days, time flies so so fast now, and just the fact that Halloween is in 3 days is crazy too! What's your guys plans for Halloween? What are y'all going to dress up as? I want pictures please of your costumes 😉. Also, I was so happy to be able to hop on the family zoom call and watch cousin Meg come home from her mission on Wednesday last week! So glad she made it home safely from California, and that she is adjusting well to post mission life! Also, thank you guys so much for the Halloween package! It arrived on Monday night, and I made us some chicken noodle soup and put it in the pumpkin soup bowls that you sent! We have so much food now from the members and the package you guys sent, we are definately blessed with food 🤗😉.
Also, my shoelaces on my brown shoes broke/snapped this week. Just on the right shoe though, so I may try and see if Walmart just has a trusty 3 or 4 dollar box of brown shoelaces thta I can buy. It's also okay because I'm going to start wearing my boots now, too, so I have an extra pair of shoes.
Before I begin, thank you to everyone who makes it to the end of my weeklies each week, haha I'm sorry they are so long each week, I guess my mind has a lot to say and hopefully it means I'm learning a lot out here.
First things first . . . 6 weeks have come and gone, and we found out transfer news last night. I am being transferred down to south Columbus to a city called Chillicothe, and I am going to be training a new missionary again. I am super excited, and after 6 months here in Wadsworth I am going to miss these people, and more importantly I'm going to miss Elder Moss (he is also training a new missionary). I have loved Wadsworth and I have learned so much! So tomorrow morning we will drive the 2 hrs down to Columbus and then I will get my new missionary and drive another 1 hr-ish south of Columbus to Chillicothe! Doubling into this ward, I'm very excited. Onto my 6th area and 12th companion!
This week has been a wonderful week. Me and Elder Moss have been so blessed on so many levels. 1.) We had 2 to 3 lessons EVERY day this week. I haven't had a lesson everyday in Wadsworth since I got here in May, and so that was a tender mercy that the Lord is with us in this work. 2.) These Wadsworth members love love, absolutely love to feed us, so we also got food brought to us everyday this week😉 There were so many more, and I just want you all to know that I know, that the Lord is aware of each and every single one of us, and that He never ever leaves us alone.
We had interviews with President Horgesheimer on Tuesday this week up at the Talmadge church building, as well as had the last district council of this transfer. It's kind of crazy that this transfer has come and gone, time really is picking up so so fast out here. We had a very cool lesson with the Klein family on Tuesday night about Christlike attributes and how we can be developing them everyday! It reminded me of during senior year of high school when I tried to pick a Christlike attribute to do every week, and would try and focus on that and on a theme to improve upon that day or that week. So grateful that we have the chance to improve and to become better each and every single day.
Besides lessons themselves this week, it was kind of a relatively slower week for us here in Wadsworth, so I'm going to focus on the lessons and then also some cool things we saw this week as we went through the week. We met with the Spittle family on Wednesday night up in North Hinkley at their house. We left in plenty of time to get there, but GPS decided to take me the wrong way, and so we ended up taking a small little detour through some really super nice house neighborhoods (So I wasn't complaining about that one 😉). We talked with the Spittles about being strong and good member missionaries, and left them with an invite to write out a family mission plan for how they plan to share the Gospel to their family and friends.
We met with Sister Zook at her house on Thursday, and were able to read 2 Nephi 15 with her, and she gave us a ton of food to bring back to the apt, which was super super nice of her. She really is the best of the best, she has touched my life for the better here in Wadsworth, and I'm so grateful I have had the chance and time to meet her and get to know her better. Then we met with Sister McCoy and Sister Arnette and started getting Sister McCoy ready to take the Temple Prep classes starting in 2 to 3 months. She should be able to go through the temple in about April or May of next year, so we are super excited for her on that. We then went over to the food pantry on Thursday night and were able to work there for about 2 hours, stocking shelves and filling grocery bags and carts to take out to people's cars who had ordered the food. I love service so so much, and I would invite and encourage all of us to go and read Mosiah 2:17, which is one of my all time favorites and we can be inspired as to how to fulfill that chapter as we prayerfully seek ways to do so.
We had interviews with President Horgesheimer on Tuesday this week up at the Talmadge church building, as well as had the last district council of this transfer. It's kind of crazy that this transfer has come and gone, time really is picking up so so fast out here. We had a very cool lesson with the Klein family on Tuesday night about Christlike attributes and how we can be developing them everyday! It reminded me of during senior year of high school when I tried to pick a Christlike attribute to do every week, and would try and focus on that and on a theme to improve upon that day or that week. So grateful that we have the chance to improve and to become better each and every single day.
Besides lessons themselves this week, it was kind of a relatively slower week for us here in Wadsworth, so I'm going to focus on the lessons and then also some cool things we saw this week as we went through the week. We met with the Spittle family on Wednesday night up in North Hinkley at their house. We left in plenty of time to get there, but GPS decided to take me the wrong way, and so we ended up taking a small little detour through some really super nice house neighborhoods (So I wasn't complaining about that one 😉). We talked with the Spittles about being strong and good member missionaries, and left them with an invite to write out a family mission plan for how they plan to share the Gospel to their family and friends.
We met with Sister Zook at her house on Thursday, and were able to read 2 Nephi 15 with her, and she gave us a ton of food to bring back to the apt, which was super super nice of her. She really is the best of the best, she has touched my life for the better here in Wadsworth, and I'm so grateful I have had the chance and time to meet her and get to know her better. Then we met with Sister McCoy and Sister Arnette and started getting Sister McCoy ready to take the Temple Prep classes starting in 2 to 3 months. She should be able to go through the temple in about April or May of next year, so we are super excited for her on that. We then went over to the food pantry on Thursday night and were able to work there for about 2 hours, stocking shelves and filling grocery bags and carts to take out to people's cars who had ordered the food. I love service so so much, and I would invite and encourage all of us to go and read Mosiah 2:17, which is one of my all time favorites and we can be inspired as to how to fulfill that chapter as we prayerfully seek ways to do so.
Friday was kind of a harder day for us. We were both feeling pretty down the whole day. We went over to the church building and had a great zoom lesson with the Pratt family, and talked about Mormon 9:9 and how we can find and see God's love Yesterday, Today, and Forever. After the lesson was over, I just started crying. It was at that point that everything just came out of me. Being inside all day everyday during COVID19, not knowing a whole ton of the members here because of COVID19 regulations, and just everything in between that. We had come back here to the apartment for dinner, and I had found a song on my phone by a really good artist and the song is called, "God's Not Done With You". I listened to it, and the singer (Tauren Wells) was singing about the very thing that I was feeling. I just want to say, that I know with every ounce of my heart, that God is aware of us, He is in every stage and in every part of our life (if we allow Him to be). I have felt Him in my life so so much lately. There are days where I feel as though a big huge stumbling block is put in front of me, and I tend to become afraid because I can't climb it. But then I remember, that with the Atonement of Christ, there are foot holds and hand holds to help us climb the steep and often times, very rocky and slippery terrain to the other side of the mtn. Don't lose that Hope, just keep climbing. Strength will be given as we put forth our effort.
Saturday we were able to have a very great lesson with Brother and Sister McEntire, who have been just very wonderful people to us while we have been here. We taught about how we can be seeing Joy and Happiness in our lives, amidst the "loud noises" out the window, we can still be finding peace. Just like President Russell M. Nelson's talk says, "The Joy of our lives has little to do with the circumstances, and everything to do with the focus of our lives". I ditto that💙. We don't find Joy by what we are currently going through (I mean, sometimes yeah, we have that temporary happiness) but only in and through Jesus Christ, can we find true peace and comfort, hope and joy, and love and charity to every part of our life, even when things get hard.
Sunday was just an AWESOME day!! We had a zoom Come Follow Me with Sister Zook, then we went to church at 11 am, and then we had a lesson with the McPhearson family at 4, the Bryan and Tefteller families at 6, and the mission wide devotional at 8 where we learned about Goal setting and Plan A timing and how OUR Plan B is really God's Plan A. I know sometimes it may feel that we are off course, or that we made a wrong turn and decision, and now Heavenly Father has had to recalculate our steps. But in reality, we are exactly where we need to be. Always remember, Jesus Christ went through every ounce of loneliness and confusion, so that when we got off course or when we felt lost, alone, or afraid, we could find strength through Him who descended below all things. Elder Moss always reminds me of this quote, "You cannot fall lower than the light of Christ shines" 🤗.
Monday was such a very great day, and very cloudy cloudy day (there is a funny story with that too that I'll tell here in just a sec). We went over to the church in the afternoon to meet Sister Jackson because she said that she had some food for us, so us not really thinking much of it, showed up to the church and she pulls up and gets out of her car and proceeds to give us 4 big huge grocery bags full of food along with 2 large pizzas! And then we were just visiting in the parking lot and we were talking about how 'Seasonal Depression' is a real thing here in Ohio with how overcast and cloudy it gets in the winter. Elder Moss said he didn't have any Vitamin D3 with him, so sister Jackson said she would be right back. She came back about 30 minutes later with a big bottle of Vitamin D3 pills for Elder Moss, and then she grabs a little bag out of her car and hands it to me. I opened it up and it was chocolate caramel things, along with a really super nice red tie for me. I'm so grateful for the Jackson family!
Monday night we met with the Gaileys in person and we did the smash the can lesson with them, where I smash the can over my finger as it sits on The Book of Mormon 🤗 Then we had a messenger call with the Jackson family and talked about the Member Missionary Nametags and how we can always be striving to be sharing the Gospel. Then we had a zoom call with the Foutz family and also talked about the nametags. It was so much fun to talk about it and I shared some times when I was growing up that I had the chance to invite people to come to activities with me or to talk about my church life, and how much of a blessing it was for me to do that.
Tuesday we drove up to Akron to a food pantry called OPEN M! it is a huge food pantry facility and we helped them bag lots of food and cans of food, and then took it out to 20 to 25 cars. It always just makes me so super happy to be able to help people who are in need. I was also wearing my Cleveland Browns pullover and one of the volunteers at the food pantry saw it and said, "Do you like the browns?" I responded that I did a little, and then told him I had someone from my hometown who currently plays on the Browns (Porter Gustin), and that made this guy so ecstatic and elated! We talked for about 15 min about football and sports and he kept asking every couple min about the Gustin boy. Connections in this world make for a very small world.
I have been pondering and reflecting on things in the Gospel this week, and I wanted to finish this email with a testimony I have gained of "Charity and Love". I always thought I knew what those 2 words meant, at least I told myself that I knew what they meant. I realized though that they truly symbolize who the Savior is to each of us in our lives. "He payed a debt He didn't owe, because we owed a debt, we couldn't pay". That was and is and forever will be the greatest act of love, humility, and charity. I love so much that we can be kind to one another, and as the primary song states (one of my faves by the way) "Love one another, by this shall men know, ye are my disciples". We really are all His disciples and are all walking this path together. We are on the same team, so be kind, have love one to another, and be happy and joyful. I know as we show kindness and as we constantly and sincerely pray for added love in our hearts, we really will see people as Christ sees them, seeing their full potential for the eternities ❤.
How is Salem doing? What is life looking like right now as the snowy winter time comes around the corner? It is still green grass, clouds, rain, and sun here in Ohio (yes and those things all happen all within the span of the same day 😉🤣). Crazy!
Keep up the great and phenomenal work everyday guys!! You are doing oh so very great and I'm constantly praying for you guys each day. Thank you all so so much for all that you do for me. I am so extremely appreciative of your love and kindness and support while I'm on the mission. Also, I would love love to hear about all of your guys experiences and adventures your going on each day, Feel free to shoot me an email and/or message!
I love you all forever and always!
Elder Dylan McEwan
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