Sister McEwan in England: Because I Love God and all His Children

Hello family!!!! It's been an exciting week here in Cannock and Rugeley!!!!

Monday we went to see Dean for the second time. He is seriously a miracle! After his car accident in 2009 he had cancer. He knows that there is a reason he is still here! We had an incredible lesson on the restoration and he knew it was true with no doubt. He asked us what the next step was and we taught him about repentance then baptism and committed him to baptism for November 12!!!!!!!! He's got a lot of work to do because he is addicted to smoking, but he is totally willing to do anything possible to give it up. I can't even explain the happiness I felt that night.

Tuesday night we met Dean at his house and went to the church with him. He only lives a few houses down which is so awesome because he's in a wheelchair. We gave him a chapel tour and he looooved it. He was telling everyone about his baptism. Also, I've never really taken the time to admire the artwork in our church buildings. There was a picture we looked at for a while, it's the one where peter James and John were giving Joseph Smith the priesthood. We were showing Dean that picture and it just radiates the truth!!!!! It just feels so right. Dean calls us "His angels" because he knows God answered his prayer by sending us to his door. He is always so concerned we won't make it home safely and asks us to text him when we have haha.

Wednesday we started with meeting a Russian woman named Tanya we found last week. She let us in and wanted to give us tea so badly and didn't understand we didn't drink it hahaha. It was majorly reminding me of my MTC days with Sister Smyrnova because they had the same accent and misused the same words haha it made me miss her a ton. But I was able to use a lot of the Russian words she taught me which was great. :) Anyways she was mostly telling us about her husband Moses from Ghana. They were married for 7 years and he passed away from cancer. She said, "He was a gift from God and so quickly was taken away." It was so sad. We gave her a plan of salvation pamphlet in Russian that she was super excited about. She didn't have much time so we shared a quick message and she wants us to come again next week. Miracle moment - Sister Price and I were knocking and decided we needed to have more member present lessons but didn't know who we should contact. Two seconds later Antony in our ward drove around the corner and stopped us saying "Hey!!!! I want to go teaching with you guys!!!" We were like what the heck hahaha so awesome!

After some finding we met Steven to teach him the commandments!!! It went SO WELL. Steven is another miracle. He is 20 years old and doesn't smoke or drink he's completely pure which in England is literally impossible to come by. We met a dude this week who said "I know your church is true but I would never give up weed and girls even if it is." Uhg. But anyways. Steven is so fantastic. We taught him word of wisdom, law of chastity, etc., and how it is a commandment to repent and be baptized. We asked him if baptism is something he wanted and he said "Yes when is the soonest day I can get baptized!?" OHHHhh my goodness Sister Price and I were so happy. He went from being an atheist two weeks ago to wanting baptism!!! We set his date for October 22!!!

Thursday we had district meeting in Walsall. The people in Walsall are crazy! There's a reason sisters can't serve there hahaha. We met this guy named Ken from New York. The elders said he is literally in town centre all day every day and his main purpose is just to go around annoying people. No job or anything. Just annoys people. Also the elders in my zone I swear get injured every day. Elder Decker was in the hospital because of broken ribs from his bike I felt so bad for him. We met Steven later at the Morrison's and he was just beaming. He told us he wants to serve a mission he is so great.:) He asked us all about missions and really wants to go. We taught him the law of the tithe and he had no problem with it. For some reason that's the commandment I am always the most nervous to teach - I NEED MORE FAITH!!!!!!

We brought Steven to meet Dean with us after and we taught Dean the 15 step stop smoking lesson. It obviously went well because right after we taught it he pulled out a cigarette and started smoking...He
wants baptism so bad it was so painful to watch. After our lesson Antony, a YSA ward member, came over to Deans. Sister Price and I needed to do some finding because we hadn't all day and we had an apointment at 8 with an investigator. So Antony and Dean and Steven all did some Book of Mormon study together!!!! They said it went great!!!! Dean loves the Book of Mormon. He always texts us and says, "Instead of watching t.v. today I am reading our book." I love it.

We did some finding and ran into a drunk dude who was determined to take us to the pub and get us drunk. We thought we lost him after knocking some doors then he found us again and kept asking if he could kiss us. Finally we just booked it to the church and locked ourselves in and called Elder Wall in panic hahaha. We need pepper spray or something.

The Garners saved us from the church and then we went to meet a former investigator, Terry. He was wonderful!! He is 71 he lost his wife to cancer a few years ago and lives on his own with his ADORABLE 2 Westie puppies. Ohhh myyyy gooodnesss look them up I was crying. And it made me miss Coco and Bean haha. Anyways also he pulled out a McEwan's beer bottle and gave it to me and let me keep it!! Don't worry it was empty. ;) But yeah he said it's his favourite beer (we will work on that lolllll) we had a really good lesson on faith.

Friday we got to see the STLs again because they came to Cannock to do work overs!!!! I GOT TO SPEND TIME WITH SISTER BELNAP AGAIN!!!!!!!!! I love her too much. I learn so much from her it's insane. It was only for about an hour but it was still amazing. We had a DA with the Dentons. They started feeding us every week haha I love it:) they are the sweetest and I feel so at home when I'm there. Sister Denton says that feeding the missionaries is her contribution to missionary work, which is totally true! If she wouldn't have fed us last Friday we wouldn't have been near her house to find Dean!!! At night we taught Oliver actually, no, Oliver taught me!!!! He shared with us what he had been studying which was 3 Nephi chapter 13. It talks about doing things such as praying, and fasting, and going to church, because you love God, not because you want man to see you doing those things. It was just what I needed to hear. I've been so caught up in numbers because Cannock had no investigators when we came so we have lacked in doing less active work. I need to reevaluate my purpose, to invite ALL to come unto Christ!!! Because I love God, and ALL his children.

Saturdayyyy we did some door knocking in the morning. There was the sweetest little girl about 8 years old who was telling us which doors to knock. Every door she told us to knock we got a potential investigator hahahaha. No wonder we are supposed to become as a child!!! ;) We had a train to catch but didn't want to waste any time so we knocked doors on the way to the station. Remember that one creep we met the other week on the streets????? Just our luck we knocked his door. You're kidding. Sister Price and I looked at each other in sheer panic. He kept telling us to come inside and we just ran for our life. Blessed.

We met with an investigator in Rugeley named Emily Saturday afternoon and she's lovely. She's 17 and has been investigating the church for a while. Then we did some gardening at the Garners (lol). At night we were walking home and there was this SUPER drunk guy who had to be held up by his friends he was so drunk and I just started to cry because I felt so bad for him and how wicked the world is and how I just want people to find real happiness. :(

Sunday was horrible and also amazing. We had 6 investigators committed to coming to church on Sunday and then bishop called and said the Cannock building had a gas leak so we had to attend a different ward!!!!!! FLIP!!!!!!!!! The next closest chapel is Walsall which is a good 40 minute drive....... sooooo only 2 of them made it. Dean couldn't because of his wheelchair which is a bummer because he has a baptism date. But Steven and Emily came. It ended up being a blessing because the talks and lessons were fit EXACTLY to the needs of those 2 investigators, and Steven got to be around the Walsall elders. And Emily made a friend. And it's our last week with Elder Wall because we have transfers on Friday and after 7 months of being in Walsall, President has decided to move him haha. Super sad because he is my mission father. The Walsall ward was drooling over sister price and I because sisters aren't allowed to serve in Walsall. So they kept taking pictures of us and offered to give us dinner appointments hahaha. Members like sisters way better than elders;););) jkjkjk. After church Sister Price and I went serious door knocking and found some great potentials woooohoo. We have 30 pots to stop by this week which will be so busy and SO GOOD!!!!!.

While knocking yesterday there were miracles galore!!! It's incredible how mindful God is of every person. One lady named Lydia... I'm not sure if she is ready yet to hear our message, but she needed love and encouragement from Sister Price and I because her cat died the day before. She cried to us and we did everything possible to comfort her. I told her all about Zoey and how she'd see her cat again. Then there was another dude who was out walking his dog last week when the STL's were in Cannock to pick us up! So we never met him, but they did! We told him it was a sign that he needed to meet with us. ;) We also taught a guy who was covered in tattoos and gave him a BOM and he wants us to come back! There were a ton of other incredible people which made all the mean ones worth it. ;)

Today we are in flippin Walsall again because we can't go to our building. We're making French toast and celebrating Elder Wall finally leaving. Kidding we are so sad.

ALSO GUESS WHAT?!!???!!! This is the best part of this email............ ELDER COOK FROM THE TWELVE IS COMING TO OUR MISSION TO SPEAK TO US ON MONDAY!!!!!!! I cannot wait!!!!!!! It was a total surprise!!! I'll be counting down the days. :):):)

Mission life is great. I only miss home when I'm not working as hard as I should be. But I really do love it here. Thank you to everyone for your support. Each email and prayer means the world and I read and reread them all through the week.

Cheers! cheers! cheers! Tarah! Tarah! Tarah!

- Sister McEwan