How Blessed We are to be Apart of Something so Sweet

Hello family! Sooo transfer news!!! Sister Price is leaving for Cheltenham on Tuesday! My new companion is Sister Johnson from Utah and she's sooooooooo cute and I'm so excited!!!!! I'll pick her up Tuesday. She is currently serving in Warwick in Coventry zone training Sister Tarapi from the MTC so I can't wait. :) and also WE ARE GETTING ELDERS IN CANNOCK!!! FINALLY!!! I'm excited for a change.

This week was eh. We walked all over the world and nobody would listen to us. Issss all good though. We found a new investigator named Matt from street contacting. He is 17 and super awesome and open. On Sunday he came to church it was the best thing ever because it's next to impossible to get anyone to come to church. It was super stressful though because at 9:45 (church is at 10) we got a call from him saying "Hey I'm here!" But he was absolutely no where to be found and we were like hmmm... where? And he was like "St Michaels church in Penkridge" and we were like oh freak...... not only is Penkridge out of the area but it's out of our mission hahaha. But luckily Sis. Garner went and got him and he made it just in time for sacrament. :) Nick didn't make it out again. It is hard to not get so defeated when people don't come that you pray and pray will make it. None of our investigators are progressing because they won't come to church.

On Wednesday we had a pretty rough day full of rejection and so we decided to take our dinner hour later at 8 so we could go back to the flat early and eat our sorrows away. We bought pizza and ice cream and all things comforting. Being completely drained at about 9:00 we both accidentally fell asleep :) Completely oblivious to he fact that we had forgotten to text in to our district leader :) we also had the phone on silent as we were in the St. Luke's church earlier that day :). Soooo as my fam knows I am a deep sleeper. Sis Price is too. So this was bad news. At about 10:20 I woke up to a buzz from the phone and answered it all calm and collected and then Elder Devoz was like "Ahhhhhhhhh!!!! You guys are alive!!!!! We thought you were kidnapped or something the zone leaders are on their way to Cannock right now to find you!!!!!" We had like 20 missed calls from the AP's and the ZL's and everyone else you could imagine. It was terrible. Then we didn't sleep the whole night because of all the adrenaline. Yay.

Sheila is the best and kept our spirits up this week. She took us out for lunch and just makes us laugh like crazy. We taught Emily and I love her to bits. The Mawles showed up at our door on Thanksgiving I LOVE them. Met a cool dude named Kane. The elders challenged us to commit a random person to baptism on the streets. So we literally committed some random dude to baptism on the street but then hewouldn't give us his number or address so who knows where he is now haha people are soooo strange. Oliver is my favourite. He keeps changing his baptism date though? It'll be before the end of the year but he's so indecisive haha. Missionary life we are running everywhere all the time from appointment to appointment which is great. We got into a lot of houses this week which was awesome. I have a new technique of getting into people's houses by being nosey and pointing out something I like inside their house and asking if I can walk in and see it hahahaha it's either super awkward or super awesome.

We had an appointment with the Edwards family on Saturday. Their house is quite a walk and so I was praying the whole way there that they could feel the spirit in the lesson. When we got to the door the Book of Mormon and restoration cd were on the porch and they said they didn't want to have a lesson. The Rogers family didn't answer when we knocked and neither did Tina.

It's hard not to feel so down especially when we are working so hard. I've never worked so hard in my life. I think my Heavenly Father needs me to slow down and recognize the small and simple miracles from this week. Like an investigator willing to go all the way to Penkridge to hear our message of the restored gospel. It was the most precious feeling seeing Matt take the sacrament and sing along to the hymns. I hope it is something I can experience again soon. How blessed we are to be apart of something so sweet. I pray that I will NEVER take the gospel for granted ever again.

#LIGHTtheWORLD I cannot WAIT to start using this incredible initiative. :)

Cheers,

Sister McEwan xxx

This is a picture Sunday lunch at sister McCalls with her adorable grandkids Rigby, Monte, Amelie and Wren

Bag Sis. Garner made for me

St. Luke's Church

Made the Elders try grilled cheese and jam

Stupid photo we took at district meeting

The Train

The Garners teaching Emily

Teaching Families

Happy Mondaaaay! Today we went to Walsall because there's a lot more to do there than in Cannock;) We had a really good missionary week. Mostly because we've found some families to teach!

Monday

We did some book club with Nick. He is really learning so much and loves to study the Book of Mormon!!!! It's so fun reading it with him.

Tuesday

The wind and the rain has begun. We saw dean on our way to the chapel for youth. It was super depressing. His entire countenance has changed. He let his doubts get in the way of the spirit he felt when we taught him. His friends and family have been telling him that we are a cult and that he will never be able to stop smoking. He is literally a different person and it kills us. But it was good to see him because whenever we knock by he always has an excuse to say he's busy. We miss him lots though.

Wednesday 

Zone Meeeeeting. Takes our whole day but it's all good. We had some great trainings. We've all been wondering when people need to stop smoking before getting baptised. President made the announcement that it can be literally as they are walking into the chapel haha. The gift of the Holy Ghost will help them to quit then and there. Our mission president received revelation that each companionship will have 1 baptism by the end of the year. After ZM we got our flu jabs and ate at the Garners. We have stopped by Greg several times this week but he's always got company over. We went over with the Garners but he couldn't talk so we went to nicks instead with them. It was the greatest lesson ever though and all worked out. We did book club haha he loves the Book of Mormon. He also invited his friend Kurt who was totally into it and asking tons of questions. And  taught Tonya earlier in the day. She didn't want the Book of Mormon but told us to try back again in a few months... I think she just liked our company and because we would listen to her tell us about Russia.

Thursday

Greeeaat day with lots of knocking. We found some really cool people who we are teaching this week. We didn't have much luck at the beginning. I prayed sooo hard that we would be let inside at least once. All it takes is a prayer. 10 minutes later the sweetest woman named Tina let us in. :) She just lost her daughter with epilepsy a few months ago. She's never been religious but wants to learn more. There's also a family on our street who wants us to come teach them (yay!) they asked us to drop by some material they could read so they'll have questions and stuff ready for us when we come over on Wednesday. So excited. Also got our palms read by some random guy we were talking to at the supermarket. He told me, "Don't bother getting married darling you'll be divorced by 27" ahaha sad. Then we asked him if he wanted to come to church and he said, "Only if I can find myself a dance partner there" then he proceeded to show us the cha cha also keep in mind he is 80 years old. Nick was there too he was dying. 

Friday

Sheila from the poppy appeal asked us to help with a couple hours of poppy stuff. We met the niiiiicest woman named Hyra who want us to come teach her and give her a chapel tour!!!!! She SCREAMS elect but is going to New Zealand next week for holiday until February oh my goodness... but she will be baptized when she gets back. ;) We met a guy named Mel earlier in the week we knocked his door and made a return appointment with him. He was super interested and excited for us to come back. We went back with the garners but he didn't answer it was really sad. We will go back though. We taught Oliver he is adorable. He is like a princess and has so many animal friends like hedgehogs and lady bugs  that just live with him. He has been dating his girlfriend for 36 years though. Which really explains his baptismal commitment issues hahaha. He did have some great news though that he wanted to move his date to right before Christmas. :) Love him so much. We always leave his house with the most random stuff from his garden haha. He is so sweet. Every time he talks about how thankful he is for missionaries he says "Crikey, I just want to weep." So sweet. He told us that each missionary who has taught him was sent specifically for him.:) Miracle: we saw a former potential who changed phone numbers so we couldn't get a hold of her and she lost our number so yay! We will see her soon.

Saturday

We taught the Edwards family!!!!! Oh my goooodnessss the best feeling ever. We taught the resto. Their baby was just Christened and they said, "We hate to admit it but when we were at St Luke's we have to admit we missed that feeling of going to church." We were like YES! Haha. Please pray for this family that they'll be able to find peace and hope in our message:):) Katie and Joseph and they have 2 sweet little boys. We will see them again next week. Also feel like we know everyone in Cannock by now haha I swear every time we walk through town we see like 10 people we know

Sunday

I love church. We taught gospel principles and were supposed to teach young women's but no young women were at church so we just went to relief society. Nick didn't come again... he was really sick. We were really down. Florence didn't come either or anyone else that said they would #missionlife.. Ate at the Mawles :):))). Then we went to Huntington (Sister Price and I decided that all the elect and ready are in Huntington). A 17 year old name Joshua referred himself because he saw the musical Book of Mormon and wanted to meet with missionaries and we had THE BEST discussion with him ever!!!!! Him and his girlfriend both are interested in learning more. The spirit was so strong when we were testifying of the restoration. They are going to Switzerland the next 2 weeks for holiday but will be back and want to learn more:):) it was such a good lesson. Then we taught Tina and her family again and are working on her faith in Jesus Christ because she

didn't have that belief before!!

It's raining, it's pouring but I love it here it's so beautiful. This week I found out that where I am serving is basically like the Tennessee / Louisiana / Georgia of America. Which explains the accent that I do not understand. ;) it's not the posh London accent hahaha I love it thought and am slowly understanding it hahaha. Transfers are next week I'll stay in Cannock but sis price is probably going so we will see what transfer 3 brings!!!! Christmas is early here because there is no Thanksgiving loveeee it. Saw like 800 Shih Tzus this week so that was depressing because they were all Bean but it's fine.

I love missionary work. This week I prayed and prayed for the spirit to be present in the lessons. We are not perfect teachers and sometimes it's hard to blame ourselves for lessons that aren't as good as others. I have been getting really nervous while teaching the restoration I need to humble myself and let the Lord do his part. I studied 1 Nephi 16 and the bit about the liahona. It only worked toward the families "faith and diligence" two things I need to work on. I've also been so caught up in thinking "I will be blessed for going on a mission" but I was slapped in the face during studies this week. "We will not be judged for the things that we have done, but for what we have become." I need to use the next 18 months to become a more humble, loving, patient, obedient, faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. I want to be a missionary not for the reward, but because I love the lord. I need his help to do so.

Hugs and kisses from across the pond. Enjoy your thanksgiving feast I will miss that holiday. 💔

Cheers,

Sister McEwan xxx

"Sister McEwan" Drawn by Sister Price :)

Three months this week! England is home for the next 15!

This week flew by! It was very hard we had loads of rejection. But it's all good.

We taught Manee and I got a haircut at the same time. She had several employees at her shop so we got to teach all of them it was soooo awesome!! Some of them had been taught by missionaries before. I felt like we had our own little Sunday school class haha :)

We got to do some less active stop bys. A lot of them were quite rude and asked to have their names taken off our list. We ate dinner at the McCalls on Wednesday. Oh how I love sister McCall. She is so good to us and always gives us a bag full of food to take home. Her and sister garner took us to a war memorial today in  Burton-on-Trent it was lovely and full of poppies! It was huge but forgot to take many pictures. They made us little sack lunches and we had a wonderful morning exploring and wondering about the arboretum :)

We met with terry and he was drinking some McEwans beer as we were teaching the lesson. I've never hated my last name so much. ;) Thursday was chucking down buckets of rain. It was so beautiful!!!! When we were riding the train to rugeley for our dinner appointment we pass by pretty green hills and it felt so surreal. I was going to take pictures but I was just enjoying it haha. We ate with the Tongs which was so fun!!! Neil, their son, made us an amazing dinner! The whole ward makes such good food. Thursday and Friday I ate soooooo flipping much I am gaining pounds like nobody's business. Sister Price and I have been so busy we haven't been able to make it to the store so we keep running out of toilet paper haha. Last week we had to have the Mawles give us some and this week the tongs did. The tongs were like "Can we do anything for you? Is there anything you need??" Sister Price and I looked at each other like "well............" hahahaha.

After the tongs we went to a potentials house named roger. He has 2 little kids and they're so cute!!!! He's the one who was in the window when we knocked and yelled out "I'm in the shower!!" It was so funny because the next time we came he did the exact same thing hahahaha. This time he told us to wait a minute and he came down in a robe to talk to us haha good guy. He was really interested and wanted the lessons.

Friday and Saturday were the best!!!! So the Royal British Legion has asked that the missionaries in our mission help to sell poppies for the poppy appeal!!! The poppy appeal is a way to remember and show respect for the fallen soldiers who fought in the world wars. The money donated goes to rehabs and medicine for soldiers, for the current forces, education, and to help the community. It's the coolest thing I have ever been apart of. People here are SO respectful!!!! Every single person wears a poppy on their coat for weeks! There are very few people without poppies. Even the dogs wear them! I've never seen something that brings so many people together. We sold those poppies in town centre all day. We had great teaching opportunities and met soooo many people I just want to take home with me!!! It was weird having people be so kind to us haha.

One lady we met her name is Sheila. She is the craziest Scottish woman oh my gosh she is so insane I can't even explain. She's 83 and has always been in charge of the poppy appeal in Cannock. Her accent was so strong. She would call us her "mormormormons" her voice is so deep and she was so stylish and would always dance her way through town centre. EVERYONE in Cannock knows her. She would pass by like an 90 year old woman and be like "oh stop sitting around and picking your nose" and the grandma would laugh and be like oh Sheila. She is literally insane. She gave us so much food and kept sneaking money into our bags to buy ourselves lunch. She's so cute. She said she wanted to feed us because I guess she used to feed missionaries in Scotland. She said she loved our religion but couldn't give up smoking.

Another lady we met was a born again Christian and was telling us for like 30 minutes how we were going to go to hell because we weren't born again and kept trying to bible bash us we just like oh my goodness. She gave us so many weird pamphlets too haha. Another dude kept coming up to talk to us over and over. So many people asked us about America and Donald trump. We met the best and the worst of Cannock hahahaha it honestly gave me soooo many parade of homes flashbacks. I kept wanting to say "follow the numbered arrows on the ground and they'll take you through the whole house."

All in all though Sheila was very pleased with us she was shocked at how much money was earned!! Even the Cannock MP / senator came to get a picture with us to publish it or something hahaha it was awesome. We had no idea who she was and then when she walked away this one guy was like "do u know who that is?!?!" We made so many friends doing this. It was so fun. We also saw lots of formers and potentials which was so cool. We saw kelvin. He wanted us to stop by and say hello. We also saw that one lady who totally flogged our appointment last week which was super awkward.

We had Indian food with nick on Saturday. He didn't make it to church again because his dad was in hospital and he had to go... we were so sad. Still seeing him almost every day. He is our number one priority right now.

All the members know I leave everything everywhere hahaha remember how back home I was the worst at forgetting things??? Amelie Mawle told me this week "You're always leaving things everywhere!!!" At church Sister Denton brought gloves I left, Amelie brought a Christmas ornament I left, and the Gilbert's brought a jacket.:) haha I will always be a disaster.

On Friday we met with Oliver it was by far the best lesson we've had with him. Oliver is the best. Earlier in the week we stopped by to have a tour of his garden (he LOVES showing us his garden) it's so cute he gave us so many herbs to put on our lamb that we were eating at the McCalls that night. But any ways we taught him AGAIN about baptism because the Garners and us have really felt like his date needs to be sooner. We prayed and prayed for guidance and the spirit so that we would be able to help him understand that it needed to be sooner than January. He told us he would make a new date!!!!!!! It was the best ever because Oliver is pretty stubborn and knows what he wants and won't change his mind haha. But he's so beyond ready. He is basically already a member.

Sundaaaay Sister Price and I spoke in church. Me still being the same Madeline I was 3 months ago wrote my talk right before church. :) Haha. My topic was living by faith so it was easy to throw something together. Toward the end though I was buckling my knees and got super light headed so that was fun. I quickly threw in a testimony and ended early haha. Immediately after my talk I had to play intermediate hymn and I literally could not see the page because all I could see were spots luckily I had the song memorized. It was so neat because at 11:00 we had a moment of silence for the fallen soldiers because it was Remembrance Sunday. Everyone had their poppies on it was great. :)

This week we had lots of ups and downs. One lady we knocked opened and said "you are not coming in and teaching about your church - not in my own home." and slammed the door. It made me so sad. Especially walking away thinking "There is nothing greater than the gospel of Jesus Christ that you can have in your home." I don't think I've ever had more rejection than this week. All good though.

3 months this week! Woohooo. Feels like I've been gone 3 days. Also feels like I've been gone 3 years. I missed my fam so much this week. But England is home for the next 15. :)

Love you all thank you for everything.

Your favourite British missionary,

Sister McEwan xx

God does not call the qualified. He qualifies those He calls.

Hiya from Great Britain! Really thankful I get to be here during elections;) 

So because of daylight savings the sun literally begins to set at 3 pm. what the flip is going on. We tract at night because its easier to see who is home and who isnt. At 5:00 we will be knocking and people will be like "Why are you knocking doors so late???????" We're like uhhh this is awkward its only 5 pm and we still have 4 hours of this. 

We have been doing a lot of member work this week because our DL got mad at us for doing too much finding (???) never thought we would hear that haha. But it ended up being a blessing because we found a part member family and one of the daughters, Florence, she is super interested in the church. She is 13 and comes to youth occasionally. Her family was baptised but they never come out to church. She asked her mom if she could have the missionary discussions which is awesome!!! Shes thinking about baptism:) She didnt make it to church this week because the people who were supposed to pick her up forgot to...... man oh man. Such a sweetheart though. She has never had a book of mormon and was so happy when we gave her her own.

Nick and Liam didnt make it to church either. Sunday morning at 3 am we got a text from Nick saying that he had been teaching Liam up to chapter 5 of the book of mormon in preperation for church the following day. Because of their late night studies they unfortunately slept through their alarm and didnt make it church. Haha oh Nick. We saw him several times this week. He makes our day happy no matter what! We went to dinner with him one night and gave him a chapel tour. He will be a life long friend. 

We tracted a guy named Greg a few weeks ago and have stopped by several times but he is always busy and tells us to come back. Finally he let us talk to him. He told us he was so lonely because his wife left him and took his kids and he didnt have any friends. We showed him the because of him video and he couldnt stop crying. It was so sad. He wants us to come back because he feels that there is hope in our message and he wants nothing more than to be happy. It was such a humbling experience for me. Everytime I'm in that kind of situation I can't help but think that I wouldnt rather be doing anything else. 

District meeting was a trial because we had way too many elders at our chapel and they got eggs literally on the ceiling of our kitchen. How do you get egg yolk on the ceiling??? Leave it to the elders. 

On Saturday Sis Price and I met the COOLEST lady on a street that one of the members had prayed about for us to tract. She talked to us for like 30 minutes and asked that we come back the following day to teach her and her daughter because they really wanted to go to church. I was so happy and fasted for help and guidance to know what to teach and that the spirit would touch them both. On Sunday around 4 we headed over. Its a pretty good walk and it was frigid outside. We got there and she said to give her 20 minutes and we were like okay so we just sat in the cold and then knocked again in 20 minutes several times and she wouldnt answer and kept looking out the window??? It was so sad. Something I have learned this week is that when you knock you cant be like "is there a better time we can come back?" you have to teach them right then. It's so hard to get them to listen to you a second time. We felt pretty down and then got lost and it was Guy Fawkes night which is like their fourth of july so their were fireworks everywhere and no one wanted to listen to us. 

Tracting is so weird here because people will either yell through the door and be like "WHO IS IT!!!!!!!!" Accents are hard enough to understand and through a door is even worse. Or they will pop out their window 3 stories high and shout to us. So awkward. This week one guy popped out of his window and was like "I'm in the shower!!!!!!" We scheduled a return appointment with him though... These experiences dont even shock me anymore. 

We met soooo many awesome people this week. One day I was praying and praying we would find a family and we did!!!! The guy was really interested and wanted us to come back. His son had been christened just the day before. We met a dude named Peter who was a sweetheart and wanted us to stop by. Also we tracted into these 2 brothers close by our flat. Later this week we met a boy on the street who was their older brother - what are the chances?!?!? They all wanted us to go back and teach them so we did but their sister answered the door and was like "sorry we are not interested" and we were like "oh but your brothers wanted us to come by!" and she said "no they dont sorry" and slammed the door. We were like oh my gosh its not your agency!!!!! It was really hard not to be angry after that. 

For district finding we went to cannock town centre. Sister price had several nose bleeds so we had to go to the bathroom for like 30 minutes so we had to do some finding in the bathroom hahahahah one lady we found is named Elizabeth she is a granny and so cute. wants us to come over for some tea and biscuits. 

Some days I feel so overwhelmed because there is so much I don't know and so much that I want to study but don't have time to. I feel so inadequate to be teaching people about something I feel like I hardly even know about myself. I have to constantly remind myself of the quote "God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies those He calls." Or something like that. I need more faith. I say that every week. It is something that I feel will take a lifetime to master. 

Good vibes and not very blue skies ova here in England. Haha. Love it here.

Tarah Tarah,

Sister McEwan xxx