What a beautiful and wonderful day it is today, and a very great and incredible start to this week! So awesome that cousin Maya was baptized on Saturday! I hopped on the FB live and it was so much fun to watch her on her special day. All right, onto the week now 😅.
Tuesday: We drove up to "Open M". Which is a food pantry place up in Akron that is actually very big. We worked up there from 9 am to 2 pm, and were able to meet some amazing and very incredible people. That night, miracle time happened!!! We were calling up a handful of people in area book, and this lady answers her phone and asks who we are, and we tell her. She then says she hasn't been to church in a while and asks if she can come to ours this week?!?! I was pretty excited! We gave her the details and she said that her and her dad would be coming on Sunday to our church mtg.
Wednesday: We had a training visit exchange with the zone leaders all day, here in Wadsworth. I went with Elder Muhlestein (he actually started his mission the same day I did -- August 14, 2019). We had some fun that day, and were able to call about 25 people in the afternoon, have a few good lessons with people who were able to answer their phones. We also went to Subway that day, which was probably my favorite 😊😊 Me and Elder Muhlestein went over to the Laubaugh house that night and taught the "Purpose triangle" -- which is about how we can be good member missionaries. They then gave us a bowl of chili and a pumpkin pie from Walmart to take back home with us, so that was a blessing we had that night.
Thursday: We had Zone Conference up in Talmadge starting at 10 am. We got told that the church was encouraging all missionaries to get flu shots. They told us we only needed to provide our Drivers license to get the flu shot. So we get up there to Talmadge at 8:30, I go into the room they're doing the flu shots and the AP's say, "Make sure you have your mission insurance card, they can't give you the shot without it". And of course, because we were told we only needed drivers licences, and I have only been sick once out here and haven't needed to use mission insurance card, I didn't have it in my wallet. I got to the guy doing the flu shots and said, "So I don't have my insurance card, I was told we didn't need to have it". He looked at me and actually was about to tell me that he couldn't give me the shot and so before he could say anything, I said, "You know, I did get one last year as a missionary. So it's not like I don't have health insurance or am not covered, I just need a flu shot please". So he said he would check with the mission office, but he DID give me the flu shot, of which I was very grateful for.
We had Zone Conference on Thursday until about 1 pm. It was so good. We talked about: Our time in the Wilderness, and how we can be reconnecting with our Heavenly home and our Heavenly Father through sincere and earnest prayer. I love that just as Enos did in the wilderness when he cried out to the Lord to forgive him and to give him strength, we too, can cry out with our whole soul unto God and ask for strength and help and guidance in this life. A very great zone conference that day! Me and Elder Moss were able to help out at the food pantry here in Wadsworth later that night, which was such a blessing.
Friday: We were up and moving at 5:30 to be out of the apartment by 7:30 (for the 4th day in a row) to drive down to Canton for a training visit with the district leader (Elder Medlyn and his companion Elder Wallentine). I was with Elder Wallentine. We had a great day filled with lots of walks through downtown Canton, I almost got us in a car accident when I turned right out of a parking lot (since that makes sense to do) but it turns out in Canton, they make one way roads a thing and so I had turned right out of a parking lot and into oncoming traffic. I just very quickly but safely fixed that mistake of mine👎 Ohio driving never ceases to amaze me😊
Saturday was just kind of a regular day here in Wadsworth for us. We had a lesson with Hannah Saylor. She is going out of town on October 23 to visit her boyfriend in New Mexico before he leaves on his mission November 17, so it was good to call her one last time before she leaves. Because by the time she gets back on November 3 or 4, I'll most likely have been transferred with this transfer ending here in 2 weeks. Brother Barfus (the 2nd counselor in the bishopric) and his amazing family brought us Chinese food on Saturday night which was so so good. We have such awesome members who literally take such good care of us when it comes to food and making sure we have the things we need throughout each week.
Sunday (the eventful day👍): We had a zoom lesson with Sister Zook in the morning and studied come follow me with her. I love that it talked about what we can be doing to follow in the footsteps of the Savior, even when sometimes we have a "Myopic" viewpoint, we can still hope and trust for good things to come. We then drove out to the Medina church bldg for our church mtgs. Here is the update on church for the Wadsworth ward:
- Weekly church mtgs
- Live broadcasting sacrament services
- 1 sacrament mtg a week
- Virtual 2nd hour mtgs (except primary)
- No singing for hymns
- 75 maximum people every week
- Sacrament service at end of each service
- (final 10 min with no virtual video)
- Fast Sunday on 1st and 2nd Sunday
- 1st and 3rd sunday for last names A-K
- 2nd and 4th Sunday for last names L-Z
Me and Elder Moss have been asked to come every week, so that made me happy. Jessica and Dan Will (who were the ones who said they would come to church with us) did not end up showing up today. But please keep them in your prayers and hopefully in the future we can meet them in person and be able to start teaching them about the Gospel. Having the sacrament part of the mtg last now was definately something new for me, but that's something I have come to see, is that it matters not what order it is done in or where the sacrament takes place, all that matters is that we focus on Jesus Christ and our covenants and promises we have made with Him.
NO TRESPASSING⚠️⚠️ Now, you may be wondering why those 2 words just appeared . . . So myself and Elder Moss were down in Doylestown on Sunday afternoon on a walk. I told him we were going to be out and about for about 2-ish hours. We started walking and we came to this elementary school and there was a walking path behind it. We got on the path and then I saw an opening in the trees that led to a field behind the grove of trees. Now, at that point, my mind said, "Elder McEwan, don't even think about it". But, I didn't follow the prompting. We went on ahead and got to the middle of a cool grassy field, and we both at that point determined we were on private property from the way things looked around us. We very quickly made our way to where we had come from, only to realize we couldn't go back that way. We walked for about 60 yards, hopped a barb wire fence, and trudged through a cow pasture, hopped another barb wire fence, and got onto the main road. THEN, a guy comes walking towards us from his front lawn. He stops us, and very kindly but sternly says, "What are you guys doing. Did you open any gates in my field? You know there is a bull back there right?" I told him we had been on a walk, gotten lost, and were just trying to get back to the main road. He asked us who we were and we told him, and he said, "Well, it's nice to meet you. but just be careful next time, some people out here would shoot you on sight if you were in their field". We said we would be careful and continued on the way. He said as we walked away with a smile on his face, "If you opened my gates, and the bull gets out, I'm going to come find you". Thankfully, we didn't open any gates😉
I learned a very great lesson from this: Respond to the first prompting from the Spirit that you receive. Often times, we don't do that because we feel that it was just a thought or that it may just be our own conscience telling us something, but my mind goes to the talk from Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, titled "Wrong Roads". He says in it, that if we respond to the first prompting and we in turn 50 yards down the road, find that it wasn't the right road to take to get us home, we then have a SURE AND CONFIDENT knowledge about which road and which way the Lord wants us to take from that point on. Heavenly Father has a way of telling us which way to go, even when a lot of the times we don't see the gate or the bull in the field and we think we are okay and safe. I want to encourage all of us this week to pray for opportunities and strength to follow every first prompting we receive from the Spirit this week. I promise you that it will bless all of our lives and will show Heavenly Father that He can trust us to keep giving us more and more promptings.
I know this Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I feel it deep within me and I have come to understand more of Jesus Christ and the relationship I have with Him. His love is neverending, His arms are outstretched, and He beckons us towards Him. The only question is, "Will we heed His voice and come unto Him so that we may find rest and peace in our lives; to then help those people around us who need it". Come to terms everyday with yourself, that no matter what happens that day -- No matter how terrible your test exam goes for school, how hard of a day it was at work, or whatever it may be -- tell yourself that Jesus Christ can help with that, as we ask Him to and as we furnish and refine our lives, towards Him and Heavenly Father's perfect plan for us.
Updates for this upcoming week:
I will be giving a training at district council this week on Wednesday. I decided to have it be on Elder Utchdorfs talk called "A Matter of a few degrees", and I'm going to do the activity dad would do with the YSA's at our house and have the string be our guide/the matter of a few degrees. I'm hoping it turns out well.
I love you all so very much. I don't know what I did to deserve an incredible family in my life, but man I was blessed with the best. So super grateful for you guys and for your examples and influence to me in my life. Also, HAPPY 14 months on the mission this week on Wednesday! Can't believe how fast time is going!
I love you all forever and always!
Elder Dylan McEwan
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