IT'S REALLY, REALLY HOT . . .

August 29, 2016

Hi Yall!

So this week was pretty exciting and it was actually pretty good! We went to find a lot of people last week that are very less active and the ward has kind of given up on helping them come back to church. So me and Elder Benesh are pretty much now home teachers.:).

It been really hot down here and I just want to die because i'ts so hot. The coolest it got last week was on Wednesday and it was 85 with 80 % humidity. On Friday it was probably the hottest it's been the whole time I've been down here and it was 105 and 90 % humidity! I was drenched in my own sweat and it was really really gross.

This is what we made at the Happening. He looks
just like me, don't ya think?

Thursday we went to this event called the Happening, which was held at the university here called Valdosta State University. This is an event where clubs and organizations plus businesses come together and show the students what's happening in Valdosta this year:) We teamed up with the Sisters and the other Elders and went to this and presented the church to the students. Some were really interested in learning more, another just said that Jesus wasn't white. Again I really wanted to be sarcastic (just the way the south is) but figured it wouldn't get me anywhere besides the plane home.Then we went and ate at a members house and that was great:).

The time here has flown by really fast. It is the start of week six and I have been out on my mission 8 weeks (cause the 2 weeks I spent in the MTC). I love the work I am doing here and will most likely stay here for another 6 weeks to finish training:) Transfers are next week.

Love you all and hope you are doing great:)

Love Elder(Parker) M
Still most people cant pronounce my name :) Sorry dad
--
2 Nephi 31:20

JUST STOP IT! . . . A GREAT TIME TO LEARN . . .

August 22, 2016

Dear Family,

So to be honest being I haven't had the right mindset since being in south Georgia. I was convinced that no one was going to want to listen to me. This was my legit feelings that I had and was having and I was considering coming home because of the way I was feeling and thinking. People have a hard time because they feel uncomfortable talking to their nonmember friends so the work has been really slow down here and it made me rethink the reason I came out.

View of Valdosta

In a meeting we had with the President last Wednesday, the answer came to me very very clear and it was to stop it! Stop thinking the bad things about life, stop thinking the bad things about the mission, and STOP thinking that the people are saying no to you. Elder Sitati came for stake conference a week ago and said very firmly "THERE IS NO REASON FOR YOU AS A  MISSIONARY OR YOU AS A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH, OR YOU AS A CHURCH LEADER TO FEEL BAD. THE PEOPLE AREN'T SAYIN' NO TO YOU BUT ARE SAYING NO DIRECTLY TO THE LORD HIMSELF THROUGH YOU."

So this week has been very long because we had interviews with the President and then me and Elder Benesh had the opportunity to drive to Macon for a meeting with the other "greenies" and trainers. This drive was a 2 hr drive there and 2 hr drive back to Valdosta.

On Saturday we biked a total of 23 miles in the hot humid heat of Georgia and it was terrible. Then I thought about why we were biking and I was able to be lifted:) That night me and Elder Benesh went to visit a recent convert in the hospital and that was awesome because she wanted to have a blessing. Elder Benesh asked her which one of us she wanted to do the first part and the second part. She asked me to give the blessing and I had no idea what I was going to do but I said o.k. and gave her a blessing. It was the coolest experience and I have learned that you really have to be ready for any time you are called upon :).

Another view of "my" city

Yesterday was a challenge because we went and saw the Lytle family. They are the nicest people ever. She is a member and an RM and he is not a member. We asked them what we could do to help them and what we could do to be good missionaries. They told us that one elder basically told brother Lytle that he was going to have to get baptized or he will lose his wife and their first child because they wouldn't be sealed in the temple. They also said that we (Me and Elder Benesh) were the first ones to make contact with them since they moved down here and got married. They have been down here in Valdosta since October of last year.

We are doing a lot to help reactivate this area. There were two wards in this area and there was a branch in Quitman (also where we serve) and now there is just one. A lot of hard work to be done down here:).

So Saturday I had to use my baby powder for the first time and I started thinking when the last time was that I used baby powder. Then I realized that it was when I was a baby, but it worked :).

Valdosta Missionaries

Mom -- Do you know a Kim Schramm, because she grew up in Payson from elementary to high school. She lived on 700 West. Her daughter is in my District right now:).

So good luck at school and work this week let me know how everything is going and how ya'll are doing:).

I got a hair cut today. I hadn't had one since Mom cut it before I left for the MTC :). Good luck with the wedding and such and remember the Elder in Georgia, especially since I didn't get to participate in the Bachlor Party and go golfing and to dinner :).

Love you Guys,

Elder McEwan

--

2 Nephi 31:20

WEEK OF GREATNESS . . .

August 15, 2016

Dear Family,

So i guess I will be speaking in a new ward when I get home, kind of weird that you guys would send that this week. I had told my comp that it would be funny if my family moved and I didn't know anyone in the "new ward". So that will be exciting. Why did they do that and who are all the bishops etc?

So this week was definitely exciting because we have not had any success this week.Everyone is baptist and they have been "saved" by Christ. I told them that they should take this card and see what our church has to offer:) We had zone meeting on Thursday and it was super good to hear what other missionaries had to offer for help and guidance. We never truly are humble until we hear something from God through others that are applying those words to their teachings:).

Yesterday we had Stake Conference and it was super awesome. We had Elder Sitati from the Seventy come and it was very needed in our stake. Our area has a lot of in actives. On the prospective Elders list that we have for our ward we have a total of 156 prospective Elders, not to mention the Elders sheet that has a ton of in actives (like 145) so we could potentially have multiple wards down here in Valdosta, but it's got to be a priority to help the ward stay active. Elder Sitati made it very clear that we need more member missionary work in the church in these days because of how much confusion there is in this world.

We met an inactive member yesterday and his wife isn't a member. They invited us to dinner tonight and we are going to hopefully share a message.

Football season is starting up down here and they are good and would wreck any of the teams back home even Bingham.

Thank you for "greenie" package and the blue package!

I know that through patience and hard work all things are made easy through the eyes of Christ.We all just need to realize that through Christ our lives would only get easier and we would be a lot happier.

I taught an investigator on Friday about the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet and he really wants one so that is great:0. We had to drop an investigator because he wants to bash the Book of Mormon with the Bible and that's all he did with our time one day so he isn't ready yet.

So Momma, I now only have one suit because I put the charcoal one in the dryer and the leg seam just ripped entirely :(. Maybe I'll just burn it for the two year mark :).

Well hopefully this week will be great for all and that all the plans will happen. Good luck with school and work and the wedding. I did the tie and the invitation/announcement and have been showing it to everyone! I was going to call and RSVP but figured this would be easier. ;).



Love Elder M ( they still cant pronounce my name)

P.S. Who's in our ward now?
--
2 Nephi 31:20

ELDER vs BIKE . . .

August 8, 2016

Dear Family,

Elders in Valdosta

So time is flyin’ out here! It’s amazing that I have been out here for about 1 month on the mission and I couldn’t ask for a better place to be. There has been so much going on out here but still no baptisms. We have been talking to people and they are willing to listen . . . Finally!

The awesome and funny thing about the south so far is that they "HAVE ALREADY BEEN SAVED" I told Elder Benesh that I wanted to be like, “So if you have been saved then why am I standing on the front porch of your house?” But i didn’t because that wouldn’t have been very nice :).
On Thursday we were biking and I hate biking in the heat because I literally die every day. It started down pouring on us and we were about 15 miles away from our apartment. We went to a bunch of houses and no one was home, or they saw that the Mormons were coming hahaha. We were leaving a house and my bike lost control and I went over my handle bars. It was not very pleasant. My bike and clothes are fine, just my hands and arms got scraped up. We had dinner that night with the members and I haven’t been able to work out because I scraped my hands pretty bad.

Me & Elder Benesh "biking it"

Saturday we were knocking doors and then found three Methodists who let us come in and talk. They said we could come by anytime and talk about Christ. As we were leaving two boys came to me and said how old are you? And I told them Ii was 18 and they didn’t believe me. They asked if I was a virgin and I said yes I am because it is important to save that until you find someone that you marry and can share that with and then went into the law of chastity. It was a good experience to teach that lesson and be completely honest with them:)

So that is cool that ya’ll have had a busy week. Have fun at all of the Salem Days activities this week :).

So how’s the wedding coming along? Garrett, I am the best man because I am getting ready to give my speech.

Love ya’ll so very much :)

Elder McEwan
--
2 Nephi 31:20

MY FIRST AREA -- VALDOSTA, GA . . .

August 1, 2016

Hello Ya’all!

SO where in the State of Georgia am I? I live in Valdosta and yes we are the furthest area south of Macon. It’s about 2.5 hours away.

Me and Elder Benesh, my trainer

Well first off, President Greyson and his wife are super kind and awesome and sweet. Pretty much everything that I was told about them is true. Monday we stayed at the Mission home and had dinner there as well as our first interview with President.

Tuesday: Today was a pretty awesome day besides the fact that the humidity sucks and I need more short sleeve shirts! Today was the day that we found out our trainers and our areas. There were 19 missionaries who were new. My Comp is Elder Benesh and he is from Colorado. A member told us the other day that we looked like we could be brothers J. I did see Elder Rollins and Elder Lane as well and it was awesome to talk to them. I will probably not be comps with Elder Rollins since he doesn’t have too much time left in the mission. We got back to our apartment and I got to unpack but I didn’t really want to. We had the car for the first day I was here and it was nice. We went shopping and then went to visit some people. It was interesting when we got to our first person because a guy came up and started talking to us about how we NEEDED to give him a ride but we told him we couldn’t. I started getting a bad feeling about this guy and looked at him and he had this weird case sticking out of his pocket and then he left. I told Elder Benesh that we too needed to leave and as soon as we did a cop came pulling down the street and stopped by that guys house. I am never going to think I can do this mission on my own again.

Elder McEwan and the Poulsen Family.
Parker and Taj went to school together and they
have been our neighbors until a few weeks ago.
Parker found them in Valdosta, Georgia!

Wednesday we had a service opportunity with helping at a soup kitchen and a storage area with handing out teacher supplies because down here they start school on Wednesday. Then we went out to lunch to a Chinese restaurant. We had a meeting with the ward mission leader and as the other elders came to pick us up, since me and my comp had bikes, they started talking about a kid named Taj who was going to Vietnam on his mission. I said, "Hey, I know a kid who is going to that mission and his name is Taj. They said, “Well is his last name Poulsen?”  Yes! On Saturday we went and saw him and his family and they were so surprised that I was here in my first area and saw them in Valdosta.

Our apartment in Valdosta

Thank you for the package you sent. It was waiting for me when I arrived. It was VERY green J. So dad is in the bishopric now? That’s cool. Sounds like you’re back in the ward we started in on campus.

My bears like my bed

I love this work that I am doing. We have met a few people that are recent converts and they are still wondering if I am really 18 but who are they to judge. I have been peed on twice now in the same day by members animals so that was great :) Good luck on school and weddings and remember that I’m still out here and it’s so freezing cold;) It’s like 105 was the highest last week and that came with a rain storm on Friday. The lowest was 85 and that was last night. We split the car with the other set of Elders, so biking is what we do the last part of the week (Thursday to Saturday).

Love Elder M (They can't pronounce my last name our here) 😂

A water tower outside our apartment. It's also the think I
look for at the end of the day when we have bikes because it's
so HOTTT out here :).

CHALLENGE FOR EVERYONE: Read the entire Book of Mormon and write your thoughts down as you go. Then when you finish look back at your thoughts and reread sections again :)