I See the Sun!!

This week was so amazing! From the time 6:30 came on Tuesday morning until 9 pm last night, miracles transpired this week. I am so grateful for what I learned this week about staying full of gratitude, being on top of my schedule, and desiring to improve myself. I have been looking back on past emails and journal entries that I wrote over a year ago, and I find myself treasuring those moments. In the easy, and in the tough times here in Ohio, I am so grateful for what those experiences taught me. 

The MIRACLE highlights of the week are:

• We got a referral from the elders in Independence, Missouri (yep, that is dad's mission). They had put this lady on date to be baptized and then given her to us. Her name is Christy, and she lives here in Chillicothe. We went to meet her on Thursday. We began talking about the Restoration and Jesus Christ's importance in our lives. Christy all of a sudden told her aunt Patti to come into the room. Patti came out and I began sharing with her the first vision and Joseph's experience with knowing what church to join. Christy turned to Patti, and said, "Do you want to be baptized with me on March 20th?" Silence. That is how powerful the Spirit was in the room. Patti said YES! So Christy and Patti are going to be baptized here in Chillicothe on March 20th.
• Myself and Elder Bennett have been so busy this week. We taught 43 lessons, and found 5 new people to teach. We went from south, to north, to east, to west the whole week. My area of Chillicothe covers 4 counties. Ross County is one of those four, and is actually the largest county in the entire state of Ohio. Lots of area to cover, and it has been so rewarding. President Horgesheimer gave a great devotional on Friday morning and said, "Elders and Sisters, you MUST be going to everyone. You MUST be finding and talking with everyone." I echo that statement. And I am so grateful for this last week, and even though I was so tired last night, it was so worth it. I love these people of Ohio so much. 
• We drove down to Jackson on Wednesday for District Council. It went super well. We talked about how we can be helping each of our wards and areas to come back to church. That is the big thing we have been focusing on right now. People don't want to come back to church. At one point in the meeting, I turned to everyone and said, "This is a test for everyone. The final exam is not yet here, but it is coming. We were called to invite others to Christ. We will continue to do that, and we will trust that God will help to soften the people's hearts." After the meeting was over, we all went to a super good pizza place for lunch down in Jackson. It was fun to just get together with everyone in the district and have some people interaction for us. 
• Me and Elder Bennett drove up to Pickerington on Saturday morning for exchanges with the zone leaders. It was such a fun day! My zone leaders this transfer are the best and so much fun to be around. I was with Elder Dansie that day, but we all 4 just kind of stayed together instead of breaking off. We shoveled a couple driveways in the afternoon, and then went to Bob Evans for dinner. Elder Bennett got Food Poisoning from it, so he was sick all of Saturday night. The zone leaders gave me a blessing, and then we headed back to Chilli. I was in charge of the district devotional that night. It was actually super fun! I had everyone get a spoon (and remember these devos each week are on messenger so it usually makes for an even better time ;). So I had everyone get a spoon, and then we went through the 42 points of the 5 lessons we teach as missionaries to people. I gave each person 20-30 seconds to share one of the points and a scripture to go along with it, and if they could not do them both in 20 seconds then they had to eat a spoonful of SALT. If they could do it in 20 seconds, they had to eat a spoonful of SUGAR. It was so much fun to watch and they all had to do salt at one point! The message I shared at the end of it was the principle of "We each have our own SPOONFUL of GRATITUDE and sometimes it can seem like it is BITTER or not very savorable. But that is dimming our light. We may not know the scripture or the answer to the question, but we do have a light to share with people and to keep that light we have to keep our gratitude." I think overall it was a fun time for everyone.

Things to look for this week:

• It is the last week of transfer. Transfer day is next week on Thursday March 4th. P-day will be Wednesday March 3rd.
• District Council is Wednesday this week.
• Exchanges with the ZL's down here in Chilli on Thursday.
• Service at the food pantry tomorrow morning (and we are not in a Level 3 snow anymore so we can go to service tomorrow after 2 weeks!)
• Elder Bennett's 6 month mark on his mission is this week on Friday so we will celebrate and do something fun for him that day!
• Jamie is still unreachable, as well as is Kris Rothe. Keep them both in your prayers the next few weeks as they have some very tough decisions to make. Especially Kris. 

A spoonful of gratitude. There is power in those words. Not in just speaking them, but in acting them out. Too often in our lives, we get caught up in the noise of the world. We begin to look for the "crowd's applause and approval" and we forget the only approval that matters is our Heavenly Father's. Having that gratitude embedded in my life has taught me a great deal about the person I want to be in my life. We have a light in our life that we have been challenged by God and by His prophet's to share with the world. I remember thinking that I could only be grateful if I won the football or basketball game, or if I ran on the state 4x400 relay team my senior year. But that isn't what is going to bring the gratitude nor the happiness you want in your life. Having a spoonful of gratitude is about who we are becoming while we do those things. Are we going to stand up for Jesus Christ even when we lose, even when we are in a COVID19 pandemic, even when we are limited to what we can do, and even when people don't want to listen to what you have to say. I can honestly say with all of my heart, that is where I find my gratitude to be better everyday. I know as we keep that thanksgiving in our hearts, we truly will move mountains and we will beat the cloudy days and just like this last week when the sun comes out after 14 days of not shining, the miracles happen and the gratitude expands.

I miss you all lots, and I am so grateful for your examples and your continued support of me out here in the Buckeye State. I am so grateful for all you do for me. 

I love YOU ALL Forever and Always .  .  .

Elder Dylan McEwan