SEPTEMBER ZONE CONFERENCE . . .

Mission tour with Elder Uceda and Elder & Sister Meurs

Dinner at September Zone Conference

September Zone Conference

PHOTOS . . .

The other Elders slept at our apartment last night, so
Bear and I slept on the floor -- STILL my favorite place :)

Thanks for teaching me how to clean the toilet, Mom.
I'm putting those skills to use.

We love LUNCH TIME!

WE ARE STRONGER WITH THE LORD . . .

September 26, 2016

Hey Y'all,

Some things that I have been told and things that I have been through this past week have made me reflect on the things that I want to share with y'all. With being a missionary, Satan tries his hardest to make you feel very worthless and that no matter what you do you cannot make the day positive. I absolute love being in the South and I love the people, but sometimes it is a real struggle with cause everyone wants to believe but they all have different opinions on how the Savior looks and how he acts (don't know how they know the actions). The one lesson, out of many, that has stuck with me since being in Georgia is how much we need to trust in the Lord and seek His hands that are still extending! We need to stand in holy places and I am reminded of that everyday. The people we see don't see us as people with badges, they see us as representatives of Christ, even though sometimes not very nice things are said about us ;). We need not be afraid of what ifs. We need to think about the 'whens' and 'hows' we are going to rise up to those challenges with boldness and with bravery but with the Lords help in our everyday lives!!!!!!:) We need to stand tall and show people that no matter our size, shape, or color that we are representatives of the Lord!!!!!

SO this week has been really good. I told Elder Benesh that I felt we needed to go tracting (knocking on doors) and he said that we could. So we went on Wednesday to a neighborhood and most the people were open to learning about Jesus but they didn't want anything to do with "the Mormons". We decided that we just needed to keep trying and so that's what we did. We knocked on this house and a lady answered the door. We talked to her and she said that she had just gotten out of the hospital that day and that she was super tired. Elder Benesh started walking away and I said, "Ma'am, why were you in the hospital?" and she said, "cause I have breast cancer." I thought to myself wow everything does happen for a reason! She was pretty nervous about us and didn't really want anything to do with us. I said, "Well I had cancer twice when I was younger and she was like, "Wow you look really good for having cancer twice." She said give me two weeks to recover and then y'all can come back :). I felt so blessed to have had an opportunity to share my story (a little bit) and have someone feel more comfortable with us :). I was so pumped that night. I got down on my knees and prayed and thanked Heavenly father for the experiences that I have had in my life :).

The rest of the week was pretty good in that we were able to find some places to knock for this week and some people that we can go see as just individuals that could one day become members :) .

I love getting the letters from y'all and hearing about all the awesome things that y'all are doing back at home :). Garrett and Sean good luck in life and work this week and always remember that your Savior's love is ten fold. That goes for you too, Dylan. I know high school is tough and it doesn't get any easier cause Satan knows that you are trying your best but that just means you need to work so much harder :0. Mom, Dad keep being awesome parents! I know that we never had it easy growing up and that we were not always the easiest children to teach but we learned life long lessons from two of the best people in the world . I look at the lessons that we were taught about hard work and I see that in the mission life right now. It helps me know that where ever we are Satan will be there as well trying to make us take the easy way out but the Lord knows that we are much better than that and Satan wants to push us to test our faith.

Being positive has really helped me a lot this past week get through some hard things. I know that Satan tries and tries to pull missionaries down. I see that everyday and it is nice to know that the savior is always there for us, 24/7 -- everyday!

Love y'all so much!

The camel back is GREAT!!!

Love Elder McEwan

P.S. Thank you so much for the package! The camel back is working great when we ride our bikes.

--
2 Nephi 31:20

KNOCKING IS HARD BUT THE LORD SAYS 'KNOCK' . . .

September 19, 2016

Hi Y'all!

So this past week was super busy and we had lots of stuff to do, well, until we got dropped by two people :0.

Tuesday was Zone conference and Elder Uceda and Elder Muers (new) came and talked to us for a long time. They talked about the important role of us being a missionary and that we need to first convert ourselves to the Lord. We then talked about reading scriptures and helping others see the importance of reading as well.

On Wednesday we were working at the food bank that we do every Wednesday and that was so much fun. We were able to fill 230 boxes for a disaster relief aid. It was a ton and we were drenched in sweat! Afterwards, we went to visit a lady who seemed really interested in the BOOK OF MORMON and we even gave her one but then we went by and she said that she didn't want us there to teach her. She said she was going to learn on her own and that if she had any question she would find a way to contact us. This is the funniest thing that I have heard in a long time :). The next guy we went to visit was the same way. He said that we and his church taught the same thing and kept saying that he loved the King James version of the Bible but didn't understand why the Book of Mormon was so important. We were just about to leave and I said, "Whats the same about the two churches," and he said, "Well there is a God" and that's all he said. I was trying to teach him the restoration and he didn't want to talk about it so we left.

It has been slow because its been very hot here and sometimes the people just aren't very nice to us and don't see the importance of us being out here. Last night we did an exchange and I went with the zone leader. It was a great time because we were able to knock and find people who showed a little bit of interest. Knocking in the south is hard but we love the Lord and if he tells us to knock then we knock!

The work isn't easy and there are times on the mission where you just think, " . . . and I came out here for doors to be slammed in my face." But it goes deeper than that -- How much of your time and effort are you willing to put into being a missionary? How far are you willing to go to find that one person? The Lord doesn't ask too much of us but he asks just enough from us to make us push ourselves to the end!

The people here feed us like crazy! I feel like I'm getting a little chunky :/.

So that is great that ya'll have been having fun this past week and that there is so much going on. I'm glad that Ricky was able to get married in the temple. We have new member and he and his wife plus their two kids are being sealed on Saturday in the Orlando Temple and that is so awesome!

Keep being positive and working hard and everything will come fast but the way we handle it is through the Lord!

Love Elder McEwan

P.S. Momma -- We can listen to music, so if ya'll want to send me a flash drive with music, that'd be great! Maybe some meditation music, too. I could also use the Insanity work outs :).
--
2 Nephi 31:20

YOU CAN'T CONTROL EVERYTHING . . .

September 12, 2016

Sup Y'all,

So this week was a great week and was very eye opening for me. I realized what missionary I wanted to be when I get done and when I land in Salt Lake.

Elder Swank, Elder McEwan,
Member in Valdosta,
Elder Benesh -- Elder & Sister Swank's
Farewell Party

So You CAN'T CONTROL EVERYTHING! I didn't get this concept until this week and how it came to me was actually really fun to be honest:) I was sitting in our ward correlation and that's when it hit me but the back story was interesting. On Sunday we had Fast Sunday and we fasted of course. I usually break my fast after church because that's when I find my answer or the strength that I need, but this time I decided to fast two meals and this was such a good idea :0.

Tuesday we got two new elders in the district that Elder Downs is training and they are super cool. One is from Pocatello and he says he knows my great aunt that lives up there, even though I forget her name sometimes. The other one is from Vegas and he is super cool as well:)

This week was very good and I was super happy at the end because of all the positives that happened in our week. SO the week starts Monday and goes till Sunday so we had a pretty awesome week:) We went down south on Tuesday and tried to meet with a lady that seemed interested in learning the gospel but she hasn't been home lately and so we decided to go knock in a trailer park and we found a lady who is Methodist and she seemed very opened to knowing more. She is a young mom that has been through a lot in her life. She and her husband have 3 kids that are super sweet, the only problem with them is that both the husband and wife like to smoke and he seems content in the ways he was raised. We then made contact with a potential investigator that has been on the list to visit but my companion said he didn't think we should go. We got to her house and we didn't see any life in the house or around it. We started driving away and I said, "Elder Benesh wait, we need to go at least knock and see. We got to the front porch and she pulled up in her car and she told us that she was wanting to join our church and become a member but she hadn't met with the missionaries for a long time. So we went back on Wednesday and taught her the first lesson and she was really receptive. We think she could be baptized but we need teach her a little more :). We went to a guys house on Saturday to visit him and help him stop smoking. He has expressed that he wants to stop but doesn't know how. So we got him some LDS addiction recovery stuff and took it by and that was a great experience. As we were getting ready to leave he said, "I am going to give my smokes away to a friend that needs them." Elder Benesh said, "Well we will help two people out so you can give them to us." This guy is super funny and he said, "If I hear of my LDS missionaries smoking and they need to know where they got them I will deny everything to your leader person :). We laughed and told him we would never do that :).

Valdosta Ward Missionaries had dinner with
Bishop David & Sister Maren Hyer and their family

Sorry that BYU lost. I was well informed about the game, even in Georgia they too love the blue and white :).

So what's happening in school and with the home life? I recommend and invite y'all to keep a positive journal that you write down all the positives in the day. I know that when we are positive that nothing will break us and no one will make us give our lives away but that we, and that's a WE, can be happier with the positives in our lives.

Love y'all so much and y'all are in my prayers everyday :0

LOVE ELDER M
--
2 Nephi 31:20

HELPING AT THE FOOD BANK . . .

Elder McEwan gets to provide service to those affected by the flooding in Louisiana . . 

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WCTV) -- Many organizations stepped in to help during the recent devastating flooding in Louisiana.

The non-profit Feeding America continues to feed hunger by providing disaster relief boxes.

Second Harvest of South Georgia is responsible for packing all 2,400 boxes.

They started Wednesday morning with volunteers from local churches and schools.

They says they'll be distributed nationwide to those in need, but some will stay locally.

"Given the disasters we've seen in Louisiana and here locally lately, disaster relief boxes are running low in the network and that's why we are replenishing those, so we know that we are ready when the next storm hits," says Eliza McCall, Chief Marketing Officer for Second Harvest.

She says the boxes are bigger than normal and have added paper products, like toilet tissue.

http://www.wctv.tv/content/news/South-Georgia-food-bank-helps-disaster-relief-nationwide--392657271.html

TWO MONTHS, ONE TRANSFER, AND LESSONS LEARNED . . .

September 5, 2016

Hi Again,

So this past week was kind of very different from the rest. We had an exchange on Tuesday and it was going pretty well until we went to this guys house and he asked me a question but didn't specify what he meant so I gave my answer and it didn't sit very well with this other person in this house and she was mad about what I said. I felt really bad about it because I had said that I was never going to mess up and that I was going to always speak what The Lord wanted me to say. I texted President about the situation and he told me, "Elder McEwan, you need to remember that mistakes are to be learned from and if we don't learn from our mistakes then we just are going to keep making mistakes." This really helped me cause I was feeling bad about the whole situation.

On Thursday we were informed that there was a tropical storm that was going to hit us and that we were in the way of the entire thing once it hit the border of Georgia so that was really fun. President texted us and said that we needed to stay inside from 8 pm on Thursday night to about 3 pm Friday afternoon. We were kind of scared because we were watching the storm trackers and it was suppose to be a big huge thing. The storm came and brought heavy rains. It wasn't like Louisiana so that was a big positive. Then we woke up expecting it to be super bad but we saw that it wasn't too bad. The power lines were down in part of the city and the street lights (because they are on wire not poles like at home) SO that was really cool. We went out and saw the people and we were told the storm which was potentially a huge storm had broken up and that we had only gotten part of it:) SO there is a lesson for us all and it explains why we need our mothers in our lives. When you're a missionary you get a ton of moms from the President's wife all the way to the senior couples and the bishop's wife but you can never forget the one that gave you life and I firmly believe that it was the faith of our mom(s) that the storm was not as strong.

Saturday was my first transfer call and I am still in Valdosta for at least another 6 weeks. We will be getting two new greenies down here in Valdosta and we are losing one to be transferred elsewhere in the mission so that means LOOK OUT VALDOSTA, WE HAVE 7 MISSIONARIES!

Glad everything has been going great for y'all back at home.

Love Y'all So much!

Love ELDER M
--
2 Nephi 31:20

HURRICANE HERMINE . . .

At 8 a.m., Hermine had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph, the Hurricane Center said. It was centered about 35 miles northeast of Valdosta, Georgia, and was moving north-northeast near 14 mph.

As Hermine moved north, Georgia Power estimated about 19,000 homes and businesses were without power statewide early Friday. Many of those were in Valdosta and surrounding Lowndes County, about 15 miles north of the Georgia-Florida line. Lowndes County spokeswoman Paige Dukes said crews were dealing with fallen trees and snapped power lines, but no injuries had been reported. Winds exceeding 55 mph had been recorded in the county, with 4 to 5 inches of rainfall, she said.

I have been following the weather this morning. The worst appears to be over. Here are some updates from the mission Facebook page –

16 hours ago
Parents and Families of our great missionaries, wanted to let you know we are keeping abreast of the weather,
especially in areas of the mission that may be impacted greater by Hermione. We have a system set up to report any needs or problems. Tonight and early day tomorrow will see a lot of wind and rain, so we watch and wait.


4  hours ago
Hi Pres. & Sis. Grayson! Just wanted to let you know that all the missionaries (both sets of elders, the sisters and the Swanks) here in Valdosta are safe and accounted for after the hurricane passed through our area. The four Elders are all at the same apartment (Elder Down's apartment) as that apartment has their phone working. We have massive power outages along with widespread issues with downed power lines and we have asked them to please stay in their apartments due to electrical hazards until we can be sure it is safe. The emergency alert call went out saying that there are widespread power outages over north Florida and South Georgia & that crews are working to restore power but there is the possibility that power could be out for a couple of days. We hope all is well in Macon and we send our love.

3 hours ago
Good morning families! All our missionaries are fine! No power outages reported by them and senior couples and leaders. Rain and winds continue in the eastern and southern zones (Valdosta, Tifton Savannah , Augusta) We are central(Macon) winds and rain are picking up. Those west of us in Columbia zones are essentially unaffected .

47 minutes ago

Damage in Valdosta

Weather missionary update: All are fine. There are new power outages in the Savannah area, but no complaints other than that, from missionaries, voiced. Taking advantage of this downtime to study and plan. Phones charged., bishops are aware of their needs. Watch The Weather Channel, they are broadcasting from Savannah.

Dear Parents,

This email is to let you know that the missionaries in the Georgia Macon Mission are all safe and accounted for during our recent tropical storm/hurricane. There is a lot of rain and several power outages but all is well.  Thank you for your faith and prayers.

Sister Jensen

Secretary