April 2021 Pictures

 

Hear Him

It has been a good week. I will say one to remember especially towards the end of the week, but we will get to that in a little bit. I have learned so much this week. Especially along the lines of Christlike attributes and the need we have to minister to the one. 

Tuesday: We went over to a members house and taped their living room walls for about 2 hrs. They're getting ready to move soon and need to repaint in some places. It was quite the time taping because they had us tape the ceiling and corresponding walls with a 3 foot step ladder. And seeing as I am still pretty short, I really had to stretch myself to get everything taped. But we got it. Looked very nice at the end of it.

Wednesday: It snowed today. About 6 to 8 inches, so not much but it made it pretty chilly outside. We had an amazing district council where we talked about the purpose that we have as missionaries to preach and teach the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ, as well as having a firm belief in where we are headed after this life. We went to Stake n Shake for lunch which was pretty good not going to lie. The rest of the day we had exchanges with the New Portage Elders. That night we went over to the Labates for temple prep. Bro Labates son who also happens to be Dylan and 20 yrs old, asked us to give him a blessing. He asked me to be the voice. As soon as I placed my hands on his head, it was as though the heavens themselves opened. The words I spoke were definitely not from me, but I know that they were everything that Heavenly Father needed me to say for Dylan. I don't remember at all what I said, and that teaches me more than anything that priesthood blessings are personal and according to the recipients faith and action. 

Thursday (Urgent Care day .  .  . Or so I thought): Brother Labate had requested a tie to wear because his got ruined, so since I only have a few weeks left then I took one of the ties I don't usually wear a ton, and gave it to Brother Labate to have. Then, myself and Elder Sanchez drove down to west Columbus for me to receive the 2nd dose of the vaccine. I got it, then I began driving us the 2 hrs back to Akron. Well, by the time we got off the freeway in Akron I was so tired. We got to the apt, had a member drop us off some dinner and then went to the church for basketball night with New Portage ward. That was a rough 2 hrs for me. I was so fatigued running up and down the court, and my whole left arm was numb. I got back to the apt that night, and I thought I was going to need to go to the urgent care. I had a very high fever, and just felt miserable. I hardly ate anything for dinner, and then fell asleep in the recliner. Only to wake up every 45 min til 5:30 am. A rough night.😞

Friday: We had mission training with the Horgesheimers over zoom. Then had a lesson with a guy in India that E. Sanchez found last week. That went super well until he started arguing with us over the call and saying that we were teaching false things, and so I leaned forward and firmly stated my testimony of Joseph Smith and the Lord's restored Gospel. The guy became silent and then said he understood what I had said. It makes me sad when people don't listen, and it also is tough when you can't even talk to people about religion at all. But I know we are all brothers and sisters. We took some blankets over to Matthew (investigator) who is moving this week. Then had a lesson with Carpenters this night. I started feeling a lot better that night too. Which was glad because I was freezing pretty much the whole day until my fever finally broke at about 7 pm Friday.

Saturday and Sunday were really super good. We had some great interactions with the members and we were able to go to the Alves house in the New Portage ward Saturday night. They're a Portuguese family and it was Bro Alves birthday so we celebrated with them. A super great weekend! :) 

This week was great. I was talking with Sanchez this weekend about how he thought it went, and we both agreed that we really felt the Lord directing us this week. There were many times this week where we had thrown something into the schedule that day, only to realize 2 to 3 hrs later that the Lord had needed us to switch things and in the end we ended up doing 2 to 3 times more than we had planned for that day. I'm so grateful for that. I'm so grateful that the Lord has His hand in all things. It makes me really happy to think about the aspect that we are never alone, even when we think that we are, He is there and He is listening.

How did your guys week go? How did Make A Wish week go? My all time favorite week of SHHS year :) Sounds like many projects are getting accomplished at home which is so awesome! You are all amazing.

I pray for you all daily, miss you all lots, and love you all very much. I'm excited to talk to everyone today.

Love you all forever and always .  .  .

Elder Dylan McEwan

Essential Conversations

I hope you all have had a great week! I have also had a very wonderful and fulfilling week. I was talking with Elder Sanchez yesterday as we were driving around to visit a few members, and was realizing how much I feel my foot has been on the gas pedal the last few weeks. I am so grateful for the chance to work hard and give it my all everyday.

Here are some highlights from the week:

- Elder Sanchez is the missionary I am training. He is such a cool guy! He is from Syracuse, Utah. Graduated in 2020 from Alabama (he has lived all over). He is so brilliant in the Gospel and we have been getting along super well!

- We were able to help do some service for the Adams family on Friday morning. They needed help cleaning many many boxes out of their garage. We showed up at 10:30 and began working. We moved the boxes from their garage to their basement. By about 11:15 when Sister Adam's came outside to check on us and to tell us to make sure we were taking breaks, we were already 85% finished and ended up finishing about 10 minutes later. I am so grateful again for the blessing and gift I have been given to work hard and to dedicate my efforts to helping those in need. Such a huge blessing for me.

- Saturday and Sunday were both super good days in that, we were able to get a hold of many of the ward members via calling and texting them. We set up a few appts with them for this week and so we are hoping and praying they stay on schedule for them.

- Super interesting story. So, about 2 months ago, the apt bathroom sink began leaking from the pipe. The landlord told us he would call the plumber to come and fix it, the plumber came 4 weeks ago but didn't fix it yet. We literally are bucketing 5 to 6 buckets of water from under the sink on the daily. The lady who lives beneath us said that the water is starting to seep through her ceiling and make things moldy for her. We are calling the landlord this week to hopefully be able to get things figured out for that.

Training a new missionary again has been super fun for me. This is the 3rd missionary I have trained, and I can honestly say that each time I train I learn something new. The last few days I have really been studying about the principle of "communication" and how that effects our life. In April 2021 conference one of the speakers spoke on the topic of "Essential Conversations". She said that it is so important that we as mortals know and learn how to have conversations that can help us to learn and to grow to be our best self. As I have been training I have been reminded of my 12 week training which was 20 months ago. The growth and the strength I have experienced and gained since that time has taught me about the need I have for my Heavenly Father to be in every single part of my life, easy or hard.

Me and Elder Sanchez have been working super hard and diligently these last few days on being bold with the people we talk to, and making sure we are always energetically moving forward. We walk many miles a day here in Akron, and have some pretty cool interactions with people as we wave to them on the sidewalk or as they drive by us they honk their horn. I have gained a strong and very distinct testimony of what missionaries are doing really matters. Here in Akron, we usually have until about 5 pm everyday to call/text/and go on walks. By the time 5 pm hits, people are on their way home from work and we can begin having in person lessons. Throughout each day as I am being creative to stay actively busy until that 5 or 530 pm time slot, I find myself referring to Nephi so many times. His example of finding tools to build the Lord's ship. I truly have desired and felt that same way. I want to be finding those tools to build the Lord's ship. Because with COVID19 and everything going on in the world, the Lord needs us all to be apart of the Gathering or Israel.

Overall this week has been super good. Again, I truly am just so happy and so so grateful for each and everyday that I have to open my mouth and to share what makes me happy and what will make me happy for eternity. I am super excited to talk with everyone today :).

I love you always and forever .   .   .

Elder Dylan McEwan

Training for My Final 12 Weeks

This has been such an eventful week, and so I am just going to get right to it.

First off, I have been in a trio companionship for the last days. One of the elders in my district had to go home early. And so Elder Kofoed has been living with us until transfers tomorrow. With this experience, I just want to say, that simple and strict obedience is so important. We had 4 missionaries sadly go home last week because of this, and so I know how important it is to do what we are told and to do so willingly, even if we don't always understand it.

My highlights of the week were awesome:

- Transfer news came last night! And by the title of this email, you guessed it .  .  . I am going to be training a new missionary here in Akron for the final 12 weeks of my mission. Him and I will be here in the Akron ward still. I will also be serving as District Leader, which will be fun. I am so excited for this new opportunity to serve and to continue to build the Lord's kingdom here on earth. This new missionary (and probably my last companion) will be my 16th companion of the mission; and Akron will be my last area. So grateful for all 7 areas I have now served in, and as we like to say in track and field terms, "it's time to finish what we started, and finish strong"! It is crazy how fast the time has gone, but I'm excited for what these final 12 weeks will be like.

- We were able to teach so much this week. With 38 lessons, 7 new people found, and so much service that we were able to be apart of. Honestly I feel like Akron is so ready and prepared right now to hear the Gospel and to feel the Spirit. I am excited for what the future holds for the Akron ward and stake.

- We were able to drive down to Columbus on Thursday last week to take the elder going home to the mission office. We then had 2 lessons that night, and then got to play basketball with the New Portage ward. We have also been covering both Akron and New Portage ward the last 7 days, and wow so many miracles have been experienced and felt. The Lord truly does have a part to play in this work.

- We have a couple people we are really trying to work with. Annette, Matthew, and Zenobia. All 3 have progressed really well so far and are accepting everything we are teaching them. A big part of what they are stuck on is the why we are here on earth?. We have had some great lessons about our purpose in this life, as well as focusing on Moses 1:39 which talks about that purpose being God's purpose for us too. So if you guys could keep those 3 in your prayers that would be great!

- Since we have covered 2 wards this week, we were able to go over to a member family in the New Portage ward. They are from Brazil and so they speak really good Portuguese but also English. We went last night and they are so awesome and so kind! We were there for about an hour and a half. I think that has been my favorite part of being a missionary is just getting to see people from so many flocks of life.

- Honestly so much has happened this week and I know I am forgetting some things (I'll tell you all today because it was a great week). One experience I did want to finish on was this last Sunday when we were at New Portage ward for fast and testimony mtg. People were getting up and sharing theirs, and then E. Kofoed and I both got up to bare ours. E. Kofoed got up and delivered a powerful testimony about seeing God's timing as apart of our life, and knowing that everything will be okay in the end. I loved this, and you could feel the Spirit so strong in the chapel that day. People were in tears by the end of mine and his testimonies. This area has struggled for a long time with testimonies and being able to accept things in life. So to have people come up to us after church and say that what we said was just what they had been looking for was incredible to me. Greatest day ever.

I know that this Gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know it with all of my heart. Today marks 20 months since I stepped foot in the Provo MTC as a young, new, and inexperienced missionary. 20 months later and now entering the final 12 weeks of my mission, I know now so much more than I did then, that God loves every one of His children. He gave us bodies to come to this life to gain experience and knowledge. How we live this life is how we choose to live through eternity. I love this Gospel with all of my heart, and I truly am so so grateful for the Lord giving me this chance to come to the Great Ohio to serve and more than anything else, to be served by these great amazing children of God.

To end this email this week, as I said earlier, I have gained a strong testimony even in just the last 6 days about staying obedient and doing what is right. President H and I had a good conversation on Thursday, Friday, and Monday night about what this mission is going through right now. We talked about the small one degree choices that take us so far off course in the end, and why we must be and HAVE TO BE on the covenant path all the time. I'm grateful that President and I could talk about ways to help the mission here, and missionaries who may be struggling, and that he trusts me to help him with that process.

I love you all so very much. You all are in my daily prayers and I am so grateful for what you guys continue to teach me everyday. Have your best week yet. I am excited to talk with everyone today.

I love you always and forever  .  .  .

Elder Dylan McEwan

Mice in the Kitchen

This has been the best week of the mission. I seriously am so happy, and have loved what I have been able to do this week. I was thinking this last week, that the best way to feel happy and to bring the light of Christ into our life is by centering our lives and focus on Jesus Christ, by serving His people. I get to do both of those things everyday!

Some of the highlight of the week:

- We were able to find 6 new people again, teach 24 lessons, and had about 6 hours roughly of service. It seriously has been so awesome to see the miracle of teaching through our phones. So many people ask us out here how mission life is, and they are so genuinely surprised when we tell them that our mission is baptizing 30 to 40 people every weekend right now, and teaching over 1,000 lessons in a month. So awesome!

- We were able to help a super sweet Hispanic family clean out their house on Friday and Saturday. They had a ton of stuff. And it was super sad because the mom who lives there is really really sick. So we went with the 4 elders in our district and cleaned on Saturday for about 3 to 4 hours, and on Friday took a washer and dryer away. Was so grateful that we could help them to not feel so burdened down with the weight of what was in their house. We even found 7 or 8 mice in their house, they were all dead, but wow it made that kitchen stink so bad.

- On Saturday we were able to go over to Brother Labates house for the Priesthood session and it was so wonderful. He really enjoyed all of the speakers, and you could tell he really felt the Spirit. 

- Conference weekend itself was amazing. The speakers were so spot on with the topics of Kindness and Love, focusing our efforts on ministering to the one and helping where we stand. And 20 new temples!?! So crazy! I was so excited to hear everyone of them. Definitely goes to show that the work of the Lord goes forth no matter what is happening in life, because God is in charge and He will establish His purposes :) 

- It snowed on April fool's day. I seriously woke up and laughed when I walked outside on our little deck and saw the white powder and it was freezing. Thankfully it had all melted by afternoon though. We got together with the New Portage elders and their ward mission leader's family and played basketball on Thursday night. It was super fun to be able to get out and about. We have also started doing 6 to 7 mile bike rides 2 to 3 times a week which has been awesome to do.

- Lastly on the week, we were able to give a church tour yesterday to a lady named Maria and her 6 year old son Adam. They are moving to Oregon in 2 weeks and getting baptized when they get out there to be with family. We took them on a tour of the church building here, finishing up with the baptism font. As soon as she saw it, Maria began crying. The spirit was so strong and permeated the whole room. Super grateful to be apart of such a cool experience.

How has your guys week been? Lola K, "Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Lolaaa (in 3 days), Happy Birthday to you." Happy Birthday monkey, love and miss you lots.🎂 Any fun events this week? Good that it is Spring Break! Parker, good luck starting at Revere this next week for your new job.

I love you guys so much. I appreciate so much all of the support you have given me out here in Ohio. You guys are such great example to me and I love and miss you all so much. I'm excited to talk with everyone today.

I love you all always and forever!

Elder Dylan McEwan