If Ye Are Prepared, Ye Shall Not Fear

 Dearest family,

How was your week? How was going to the temple with cousin Derrick on Wednesday?! I am so so happy that you got to go, such a blessing. Also, how is the snow and wintery season going in Utah this year? It is green grass, blue and sunny skies here in Chillicothe OHIO. Although we did have to scrape our car windows yesterday before we left for church because there was frost on them (I haven't scraped my car windows since senior year 😉). 

Transfer week is next week on Thursday December 10, so pday is on Wednesday December 9.

I wanted to start this week off by sharing something I feel is very important, and can also make us super happy when we apply this principle. I was thinking about what President Nelson talked about in October 2020 General Conference when he stated, "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear". And the reason I have been thinking about this lately, is because of the blessing that lies behind it. I have learned here in Ohio as a missionary, that when I am prepared (i.e. for lessons, mtgs, conferences, or just for the sake of being prepared for me), I am better able to carry out the tasks the Lord needs me to. Think about the 10 virgins, and what happened to them all? 5 of them were prepared and ready, and when the bridegroom came, they met him happily and cheerfully at the door; while the other 5 were not prepared, were very worried, and then went to the door and knocked, and what did the Savior say? He said, "Ye know me not". Those 5 people had not taken the time to prepare both physically and spiritually. I want to invite all of us today, AND ALWAYS OF COURSE, I want to invite us to be mindful of what we are doing each day, and pray to Heavenly Father to ask for guidance as to where we can be prepared more fully, and ready completely for the 2nd coming . . . Because as President Nelson says in April 2019 General Conference, "Please do it NOW, time is running out."

Alright so now onto the week of cool awesome experiences from your favorite Elder McEwan! We found out this week that beginning on December 10 (so next week), reassigned missionaries to this mission will begin returning to their original assignment missions. By about mid January we should have sent most all of them back. A lot of countries are opening up their borders now, and so the church is sending them back to continue the Lord's work. The missionary dept. said that if missionaries have less than 6 months remaining of their missions, they will just stay in their reassigned mission field and not return to their original call.

Tuesday -- We got up at 5:15 in the morning, and left the apt at about 7:30 to drive an hour and a half to Athens. On the way down, we passed a sign that said the city of Logan was approaching in 10 miles, and so I was joking with Elder Williams that we must've either gotten swept up in a tornado or been sent through a portal to have ended up in 'Logan". Haha but Logan Ohio is pretty nice place too. We did service with the Athens elders for about 3 hours. The member family we did it for, had us chopping up wood the whole morning. They had 4 picks, and 3 sledge hammers to hammer the picks into the wood to split them in half. We got to work,  and began the very fun workout! I had chopped up close to 20 stumps, when I brought the sledge hammer down onto my left middle finger, and not thinking much of it, continued to work. Well at the end of the service, I took my glove off, and realized the sledge hammer had hit into my ring which had then sliced my finger open at the base of it. What a time. But it was good though, just a cool battle service scar now ;) Elder Huchason gave me a haircut that night, which was very much appreciated, and we ordered some Little Ceasars pizza as well, which was also very much appreciated. We left Athens for Chillicothe around 8:45. Lets just say, that by about 9:45 after having been up since 5:15 and chopped wood for 3 hours, I started to fall asleep while I was driving. I drank the last bit of my protein shake, and then just turned the music up to keep me going. We made it home to the apartment at about 10:05. Very fun day. Very tiring AND rewarding day.

Wednesday -- Not a whole ton happened for us on this day. It did rain the whole day, which was kind of nice because it made it feel like winter just a tiny little bit. But I did learn something this day that will stick with me forever. It was, "It is better to first understand, then it is to seek to be understood." A lot of times, I forget that part of understanding someone else's views, and I just mosey on down the lane with my perspective. I promise that as we listen carefully to everybody's beliefs and ideas, we can far more appreciate the outcome of a situation :) Okay so I guess something DID happen this day that I just remembered . . . We had a Thanksgiving Mission wide zoom devotional with the entire mission. It was very fun!

Thursday -- Turkey day! The best day. We had 2 lessons that day with the Anderson family and the McMahan family. They both gave us dinners for the night. And then we went over to the church bldg and had an incredible time with the other members of the district (Elders Watts and Huchason, Elders Henry and Brown, Sisters Masina and Durant, Sisters Bedard and Gossling). It was such a fun time! We all just kind of shared what food we had brought, played some games, and then had district council afterwards! Super awesome time and I was so happy we could get together that night!

Friday -- A great day! We went on a walk and found a new person that day, his name is Rick. We began talking with him, and he said he grew up religious but not lives on the streets and really is just searching for that basic and firm foundation of Christ. So we gave him a shortened version of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as pertaining to Helaman 5:12 and then left him with a pass along card. Then we had another lesson with the McMahan family who had so graciously provided us with another thanksgiving meal for Friday. The ward members really are super kind and generous here. Then we went over to the Barr family house and they too gave us some food from Thanksgiving. Guess what they gave us??? TAMALES!! My very most favorite things! We shared a lesson about gratitude with them and then helped Brother Barr move a weight set and bench press down his basement stairs into their basement. Super fun night, very rewarding!

Saturday -- Well let's just say that this was my happiest day of the week probably besides Thanksgiving day. We called a guy named Jonathan Boggs up in the morning and shared about 3 Nephi 27, which talks about the Gospel and how it can bless us. I asked him if he had a copy already of the Book of Mormon or had heard of it, and he said he didn't. I asked if we could bring a copy by to him that day, and he said YES! So we went and had a nice visit with Jonathan at his apt and gave him a Book of Mormon. Then we went and did a very cool facebook live! Y'all should go check it out :) We next went to a members house named Martin Suber. He said he didn't have the stuff ready for us to hook up his computers, and so we talked with him for about an hour in his living room about the Gospel and how he has been a member for about 9 or 10 years, and the missionaries 10 yrs ago helped him in a very tough spot in his life. He also is working at a homeless shelter here in Chilli and he wants to get us working there too soon, so we are waiting to hear back from the shelter on if we can. After we visited and talked with Martin, he asked us for a Priesthood blessing. I was able to be the voice for the blessing, and man the Spirit was so strong. Every time I give a blessing, I gain a deep love for the people I give the blessing to. I am so grateful Heavenly Father teaches me and grows me with each blessing I am able to participate in. Such a great opportunity. Then we went to the McMahan house for the 3rd day in a row and got more food they made for us, and shared a scripture with them. After that we went on a walk, and we ran into Missy! We met Missy 2 Fridays ago and honestly I didn't think we would ever see her again. But we sat down with her and had a powerful lesson on the Book of Mormon and why we need both the bible and the book of mormon to fulfill God's word for us. Then we kept walking and we passed a house that a lady was sitting on her front porch on, and we passed it and then I all of a sudden had an impression to turn around and go talk to her. So we turned around and approached her. We gave her a pass along card and shared John 3:16-17 with her and she said we could call her back this next week for a lesson and visit and we could talk to her. Super awesome! We had a mtg with the ward mission leader Brother Cain. We came up with the idea to write cards and send them to every household of members in the ward this next month. Then we had a lesson with John over the phone and please pray for him as he is praying currently to know if he should be baptized a member of our church or not. Then we had a lesson with Kris Rothe, who Kris is preparing to be baptized but needs to make some changes physically first, and so keep him in prayers this week also. Then we had our district devotional! It was a busy busy busy day guys!

Sunday -- We went to church at 10 and it was so good. We talked about temples and the talk by Elder Rasband from this October General Conference of 'going recommended to the Lord". It is so important to have a current temple recommend always, even if we don't have a temple nearby or it is currently closed. ALWAYS, have an up to date temple recommend. It is such a great thing to have. It was so much fun being able to hop on the zoom call with my Knoll Park family at home and seeing everyone.  Then after the call, we had 3 lessons with Sister Zufelt, the James family, and the Ward family. We talked about Light the World challenge with the James' and Sister Zufelt. And then worked with Braxton Ward on baptism and he is shooting for December 25th for a baptism but his dad is not really okay with it, and so his mom who is a member is going to see what she can do. Super cool family.

I wanted to leave this email with my testimony. As this Christmas season now gets underway and we begin the hustle and bustle of life that comes with preparing for the holidays, it is important to remember not just that Jesus Christ is at the very center of this season of life; but that when we take moments out of each day, to show gratitude and take time to feel peace and love in our hearts, we truly truly see what is stated in President Nelson's talk, "Let us ever be faithful in keeping the Lord's name in our hearts, so that when someone we come across needs the Lord's help, our heart will reach out to that person in love because the Lord IS love." Remember that the Lord is love, this Christmas season, and always🌲

How is Salem doing? Have sports been able to pick back up yet? I hope so, sports are the best and actually I very much miss playing them and getting together with the teams.

I hope you guys are doing so so well, I know you are, because you are awesome. I love you all so very much and I am so very grateful for your wisdom and love and happiness you guys bring to my life. I think I lucked out on the family part of life ❤

Love you always and forever,

Elder Dylan McEwan