Back to Where It All Began - received December 16, 2012

Well people, Elder McClure got his transfer from the mission president and he is going to Lawrenceville, Virginia.  This is south of Wakefield (where I started a year ago), out in the country.  My new companion will be Elder Mathia.  Basically, I will be leaving my favorite area to go to my old district where I first became a Richmond, Virginia missionary. It’s like you have the opportunity to go back in the past and say to yourself in a struggling area, “You’re going to do great things in the future and experience a lot of trials, but don't give up.”  I feel a part of me will always stay in Waynesboro and I will miss it dearly.  In fact, I'm kind of anxious about it because I have made the best of friends with some of the members here.  I know the Divvers family, who I have been teaching, will be heartbroken.  The mission president is sending me to Lawrenceville so I can scope out the area (because I'm so familiar with it) in order to figure out how we can split it.  We need to be able to fit more missionaries in here, because we're getting a lot more since the age for missionary service dropped.  The great thing is that President Perry first asked me to accept the transfer by saying, "Do you trust me, Elder McClure?"  I do - he is an inspired man of God.     

This week was crazy because we had a Christmas mission conference on Tuesday and they gave us stockings full of goodies like toothbrushes and giant meat sticks. In the process, I did an exchange with our zone leader and we tracted in the night which was really bizarre. We found a few people and met a couple of crazy ones, too. When I came back the next day, the zone leaders announced they will be taking Elder Downs with them, so it was just me and Elder Russell for the remainder of his mission life until Tuesday. In that time we were able to teach Isabel the Word of Wisdom and help her understand why addictions to some things (like drugs) are bad because the addicted person has to take more and more in order to have the same feeling.

We also put together stockings for a less active family and did other things to help make sure they have a good Christmas. We just mainly put a bunch of candy in stockings. We helped out with the Bishop’s Storehouse.  We also got to talk with Isabel again while her sister was there – she’s really funny. We also got to teach the Divvers this week.  They are awesome!  Patrick is reading the Book of Mormon now and I got to teach the family a lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ. They want to be baptized - they are just waiting for Patrick to be ready.

I got to go to a Christmas party the ward threw and Elder Russell sat on Santa’s lap. Last night we went to a member’s house and we were just acting like super goobers, being funny and all. I’m going to miss Elder Russell.

Well, if you are sending a letter or anything now just send it to the mission headquarters (the address on Midlothian Turnpike). Love you all!

Elder McClure

Breaking Boards and a Chik-fil-A Lesson: received December 10, 2012

Another email from yours truly, Elder McClure:

 
This week was cool, but I’ll make it short. On Monday we did Tae-Kwon-Do lessons and we actually broke boards with our fists and the knife edge side of our hands. Super cool! We felt really awesome. E. Downs didn’t quite get it; he broke the board but chewed up his hand.

We have been fed by members almost the whole week again so it’s been pretty fattening for me. We are still meeting with a couple of less-actives like Sister Campbell. She is not coming to church. Arughghailala! It’s infuriating but we still love her. We met with this other family named the Fulks and they are really fun to talk to. We saw their daughters in Target while getting aspirin for Elder Russell and they screamed, "MORMONS!" when they saw us. Super funny!

 
Our lessons are pretty good. We had a lesson with a girl named Isabel on the 7th Chapter of 1^st Nephi, which is about the vision of the Tree of Life. I was like, “Isabel, your mom has taken of the fruit and she’s calling you to get some.  She’s saying, ‘Look Isabel, I got this fruit. It’s white and tastes really good.’” Elder Russell was on the floor again with the dog. We got to teach Chelsea and Melissa at Chick-fil-A (I got a free ice cream cup when I bought the first one so I gave it to one of their kids) and we took a picture with a cow so it was really funny. We talked about the importance of prophets, the Word of Wisdom, and our acceptance of homosexuals. I tried to stress how much we love them; it’s just the practice that is not good. They got the picture.

We got to talk to Jeffrey Cosgrove.  He finally got through trucker’s school, which is a lot more effort than you would ever think anyone would have to put in. But now he has time to read and enjoy. We had dinner with the Pincocks and found out that Bro. Pincock served a mission in France with Uncle Greg (Callis) so he’s going to find a picture from his mission and show us what Greg looked like as a missionary. Weird, huh?

Church was really good this last week - it was fast and testimony meeting and Isabel, Chelsea, and Melissa Divver were there. After the meeting, we looked back and Chelsea and Melissa were crying and were like, “Why didn’t you tell us to bring tissues?” They loved the meeting and it was the first time they had come to Sacrament meeting. They said that Testimony meeting was a really unique thing that our church does compared to others. Brother Sweeney hogged Gospel Principles and talked a bunch. We brought Brother Tickal to see a less active and he also talked a lot. He shares his conversion story when we bring him a long, which is great. He also apologizes when we don’t call ahead of time. We ended the night by having the Divvers signing up for dinner and then we played around with the kids. We even played SceneIt at the end. They are a really awesome family. One of the kids even had a Captain Underpants book, which used to be my favorites. Super awesome!  Well, I love you all and enjoy my comments,

Elder McClure

Leadership Training and a Healing from a False Church - sent December 3, 2012

Hello Family and Friends!

This message isn’t going to be really long since it was a hard week from a lot of people cancelling on us. But the up side is that Elder Downs went to leadership training where he can learn about being a better missionary. He wasn’t with us Tuesday through Friday, but he was still doing good work. During that time we had a lesson with Sister Campbell, just trying to get her to come to church so people can see her and so she can get over whatever she is having a hard time with. We also had a lesson with Steve Lawhorne and his member wife on the Word of Wisdom so we can make sure he knows all the things he has to abstain from. The funny thing is that Elder Russell keeps calling them the “Longhorns” so they give him an evil stare and stuff like that. We have just been trying to see these people and trying to get them to church. But other than that, a lot of hard times with low miles for the month, no one answering or if they do, they are mean to us, as well as some people who dropped us right on the phone (Wendy!).  Very sad! But we will get better days.

Some funny and weird things also happened this week.  First, while we were getting out of the car, Elder Russell popped his knee kind of bad so he has been limping all around and using Elder Downs as a staff.  That’s what he calls him now - Staff. We were also able to go to a nondenominational house church (this is where 2 or 3 small families come together in one house) last night.  These people don’t like big, organized church stuff. We got to see a giant bunny and talked with a guy for a while on spiritual experiences.  We also discussed how the Bible was compiled and how that correlates with the Book of Mormon. When we were about to leave, they started singing a song called “Thank you Lord.” The song is just that phrase repeated in song form. Then they had Elder Russell sit down in a small chair and put their hands on his knee and his body and said words of healing. They were really sincere, but no authority. Plus a little girl got involved in it. Pretty interesting. We also got to see the baptism of Joe Webber, the man who has been teaching us Tae-Kwon-Do. So really cool. Elder Wiggins, the senior couple husband, did it and Joe went forward in a crouching position because the font was so small. It was a good experience!

Well, I love you all and will update you next week on what I will be doing.

Love,

Elder McClure

Thanksgiving Fatness and a Baptismal Date - received November 26

Hello my Idaho and Oregon peeps,
This week we had Thanksgiving. Yay, but I have to tell you about the rest of the crazy things that I’ve done this week.

Well, we had a lot of cancelled appointments this week with investigators and a lot of tracting for long amounts of time but no luck. On the good side, we were able to be fed every night this week by members so no complaints there. We are just working hard to help people and stuff. Elder Russell and I are helping Elder Downs get out of his shell and talk more. Elder Downs is getting more responsive.

Thanksgiving: we got to sleepover at the Staunton apartment and so we all woke up and got McDonalds food in the morning because the Staunton elders didn’t have any food. Then we played Phase 10 and other games till they got boring. We played around with this electric guitar with a cool sound changer so it sounds really awesome. Then we decided to go to the old Staunton graveyard where there were really ancient graves and also a big confederate statue with all these bodies under it. We then went to eat at the Iseman’s and they fed us a traditional meal for Thanksgiving.  We ate pie afterward and played a Christmas trivia game and also the house was decorated for Christmas already. We also played Axis and Allies. The Allies won. Then we went to the Barton’s for dessert but it turned out they hadn’t started eating yet so we ate more food and some of it more Southern, like collard greens, ham, and etc. We got to meet their RM daughter from Georgia who is newly married to a Mexican guy who is really cool. We could have had a third dinner when we stopped by a member’s house later that day but we just couldn’t eat any more.

The rest of the week was good.  We got to watch a baptism in Staunton which was really sweet. It involved a part-member family, so it was a really happy occasion. We also got a really long story out of a member who was feeding us on how she married her husband. We also heard of a miracle from the sisters in Farmville.  They told us about a guy whose son wants to be baptized and because of this, the father realized that he needs to be baptized, too. So he wants to be baptized on the 13 of December – very exciting! We couldn’t find where he lived though, at first, and we went to the house where the sisters said he lived but he didn’t live there. I went out with a flashlight at night in downtown in the cold looking for an address.

On another day, we went to see an investigator but his mom came out instead with a loose fabric see-through shirt on and a very see-able bra. She talked with us and then gave us hugs for stopping by, which was very awkward.  I wanted to poke my eyes out. Well everyone, be warm and modest this week and love ya!

Elder McClure

Elder McClure: District Leader, Mover, and Gardener - email received Nov. 19, 2012

Hey, People I Love,
This is Elder McClure speaking. Fun week!  I got another missionary with me (Elder Russell) as well as Elder Downs, which was awkward and bizarre at first, but now is cool. Elder Russell is from California and is a little bit chunky.  He is only with us until he goes home in a couple of weeks.  This situation is known as “killing him off.”  J  We had a good week and tried to get investigators and less actives to church, but no one came.

The week went like this:

Tuesday:  We had to move furniture around our little apartment to make sure we have room for Elder Russell to come and live with us. We had a lesson with Steve Lawhorne and I stumped over my words but we got the lesson on the gospel of Jesus Christ over with him. We found out he is still smoking so we have to get over that with him before baptism and to help get him ready to be baptized. He has a good heart. After this visit, we went to the Footcare Center for the doctor to look at my foot. He jumped into action and took the procedures to remove the ingrown toenail.  He numbed the toe, cut the nail with a pair of clippers, pulled out the cut nail with pliers, and then burned the side of the nail to stop it from growing. And I was propped up and watching it the whole time! It was weird from no pain but I could see the whole thing done. Got the ingrown nail out and bandaged up my foot and set up an appt. for next week. I used Mission Medical – awesome!

We taught a lesson to Chelsea and Melissa Divvers after shopping in a Mennonite grocery store. We brought S. Davis and B. Floyd with us. S. Davis talked really fast and really long till we had to leave. B. Floyd has a strong Texas accent and popped jokes at random times. But the family is golden and they are going to be baptized soon, I can feel it. We got a referral off of mormon.org for a lady named Wendy Liput who is interested in talking with us.

Wednesday:  We did service in a former investigator’s yard.  Her name is Hazel Wright and she has a history of having the other missionaries do it. She will not convert but her son is an active Mormon and is actually an RM. We taught a woman named Wendy about our church service and how things are done and we invited her and she really wanted to come. We taught Isbell Lovett about prayer and asked her to pray to know if she was ready to be baptized. Then we went to a surprise party that Bro. Tickal (one of the members) was throwing for his wife. There was a lot of soda and ice cream and cake. I was super funny by taking the streamers and ribbon dancing with the other kids and they started having ribbon wars or chasing me for them. Super comical.

Thursday:  Nothing much happened except another service help out with Hazel Wright and her plants. She was overjoyed when I told her my mother taught me how to be a gardener. She gave us money for lunch. We also helped move a couch from one member’s house to another and then throwing away a sofa bed.  It was hard getting it down from the apartment hallway, but we got it done. Then we picked up Elder Russell.

Friday:  We went to Walmart and shopped for Elder Russell to get some stuff he needed. We got a bunch of random music from a Goodwill; one CD was Prince of Egypt. We also helped with the Bishop’s Storehouse which was really big that day from all the Thanksgiving stuff going on.

 
The rest of the week was pretty much a dud from lessons cancelling, but I got a cool wristband from Jeffrey Cosgrove about an organization called One with You. People in this organization preach Christ to communist nations and often get beaten for doing so.

Have a good week my people, and know I am fine. I love you all!

Elder McClure

Usuals and Changes

People of America,
This week was super hard and very difficult getting things done. We have really been trying but it takes so much effort to make progress. P-day was like any other day:  had fun and played games. We also learned from Joe how to disarm a guy with a knife. We had to put the car in the shop to get it fixed.

Tuesday: We had a fun day of cleaning our disgusting apartment and had to tell our landlord about the roof sinking in and getting the roof fixed before it falls in on us. We spent the other part of the day helping one of our member’s friends move into their old apartment.  We took so much stuff to the 3rd floor and it was all for one person. Crazy amount of shoes, believe me. They stuffed us full of pizza afterward and their little son Israel, got all up in my face and whatever he did I copied him and so after awhile we became best friends. Think about a 2 year old kid with frizzy black hair stomping the yard in front of me and me copying him. Super funny! Then we had an appointment with Sister Campbell.  We are just trying so hard to get her to church and the members we take to see her have known her for a long time so it totally helps. She called me her favorite and she knows she can trust me.  I’m a little pushy; I’ve already taken 8 packs of cigarettes from her.

Wednesday: We got the car back and found out Obama won the election. It was a very dark day that day. We bought Gatorade to give to one of our potentials and her family. They have been sick for a while so just giving a helping hand. We saw PM families and one got really mad at us from the fact she was on our records even though she had never gone to the Waynesboro Ward and that she was excommunicated about 25 years ago. One guy told us to get our facts straight before seeing people. We visited Brian Frazier just as a helping visit. It’s not easy talking to an RC after he has been kicked out of his home by his wife and he’s wondering what God's plan is for this happening.

The rest of the week was a bust since all appointments fell thru and the people we went to see weren't home. We still had fun. We helped blitz (tract the crap out of another area that is struggling) Staunton after zone meeting. It was a zone wide blitz so a lot of missionaries were helping out in one area. We did a Turkey Bowl football game on Saturday since everyone is leaving around Thanksgiving so the ward decided to have it that day. I covered Elder Downs and he is not that good at football. I caught the ball and got turned around by one guy and the next guy shoved me to the ground. And I wore jeans to play in - silly me.

Sunday we had the Primary program which was funny because some kids were shouting but others were really quiet.

Well, I have been doing good and have been practicing guitar every night and finished the four gospels just recently. My favorite book is John. We are going to learn more ti-kwon-do and I’m teaching these elders free running – it’s going to be sweet.

Love you all,

Elder McClure

Stuck Inside, Miracles, and Forgetful Companion: received November 5, 2012

Hello Family,
This week was interesting and weird. We got stuck inside the Staunton apartment on Monday, thanks to the storm.  That was a little crazy, but we just played games with the Staunton elders all day.

On Tuesday, we thought there would be another inside day but we were wrong. Plus that day it actually snowed really hard. We got everything done in Staunton (email and grocery shopping). We were going to have a lesson with Chelsea but the family was pretty busy dealing with a sick child with the flu and rescheduled with us for Friday (by then half the family was sick and vomiting so not pretty). We had dinner with Brother Bagley and he got me to eat a little bit of a habanero pepper. Burnt my tongue!  We then had a lesson with Joni Campbell and I’m glad Brother Bagley was there. He knows how to help Sister Campbell and get on a personal level. I shared Alma’s conversion story with her as an example that she should pray and believe in Christ. She asked me to give her a blessing to get over the cigarettes. She said she felt a warm feeling afterward. I was happy to do it.

Wednesday:  We reported to our landlord about the leaky ceiling which got worse from the snow and it looked pretty bad. We had a lesson with Mr. Lawhorne and brought B. Rainy to help.  We were able to teach the Plan of Salvation to him. I feel like I teach much better now that I’m the one in charge and talking more. Mr. Lawhorne shared some feedback on what the Seventh Day Adventists believe.  He was very interested in the gospel. I asked him for a baptismal date but he told us he still has to  look into it. We were really glad he was thinking it over. He’s going to be baptized soon, I swear. The rest of the day we went to less actives.  One had threatened to call the cops because he’s in a private community and he told us to go away.  We later found out that if we come by again, he has planned to bring out the shotgun and maybe go to extremes.  Elder Downs was thinking of going back the next day – we won’t be doing that, though! From 5pm to bedtime we had to stay in because of Halloween and so I made a gangster costume out of a shower clock, glasses, VA hat, and a cane. I carved the First Vision into a pumpkin and then tried to update and write a letter. All Elder Downs did was update his journal to Roman numerals for each day. Waste of a Halloween!  J

Thursday:  we had a basic district meeting where Elder Beeton trained on power and authority while Elder Downs trained on less active work.  His lesson only took 5 minutes and was just on basic things out of Preach my Gospel so we ended early and ate lunch. I went on an exchange with Elder Beeton in Staunton which was fun getting to know the area. The records for it are crap - they have next to nothing to work with. So I scheduled a blitz (a bunch of missionaries tract one area that is struggling) and turned it into a zone blitz. Pretty cool. We went to a less active member who has a lot of kids.  One of them tried to put a booger on my face, one laughed crazily at me, and the teenager was just saying weird things.  Plus the newborn kept staring me down. Fun times.  We then taught a lady named Jasmine and it was cool. She is really nice and goes to college so we taught her the gospel in the empty social room of her dorm.  Waynesboro did badly without me since Elder Downs doesn’t know the record system and basically just went back to visit everyone we had visited the day before.

On Friday we helped out with a Bishop’s Storehouse thing where we unload boxes from a truck, lay them out, get order forms and fill out the forms by collecting the items on the list out of the boxes. Very helpful. We taught a new contact:  her name is Teresa Kelly and she is a former member. Our lesson was about the Book of Mormon.  Then I got sized for my suit at the Dennings’ and they fed us.

Saturday:  We basically did our weekly planning, talked with a less active family for 1 hour about things like animals (one of their gerbils blew up from a tumor), had a 4 hour lesson with Jeffrey Cosgrove during which he talked for 3 hours about a number of things and the one hour we answered his questions on the Book of Mormon and other things. He loves to learn and is very interested. He just has a problem with Satan and Jesus being brothers. He thinks maybe Satan wouldn’t have wanted him killed if he knew he would save mankind.

Sunday: no one at church.  We saw a dead kitten when we went to pick up Teresa for church.  Unfortunately, she was sick. We had dinner at 2pm since the husband of that family served a mission in Spain and that was the thing that they do there and he believes it is healthier. We got in early after borrowing a guitar from a member so really cool.

I have to go but love you all,

Elder McClure

Richmond Trips and a Snowy October Day

Hi, Family and Friends,

Well, this has been a crazy week. We had the same P-day of hanging out except we learned some Ti-kwon-do.  I did pretty good at it, but Elder Downs was awkward with it (as usual). We normally email on P-day, but we had such a difficult time getting the computers to work since the internet was broken and stuff so we had to wait.

On Tuesday we took a drive down to Richmond and got to hear from one of the Seventy, Elder Whiting.  He spoke in General Conference on temple standards. He taught us the basis on how to teach with power in the mission:  desire, faith, obedience, and unity.  All together, they establish power and authority in our teaching abilities. When it was lunch time, he came around to give everyone cake and I went around helping the sisters with their plates. It was fun.  Afterward, we retried the computers but failed. So then we got to go to dinner with the Millers to Outback Steakhouse. Really interesting - we got lost because they told us Texas Roadhouse and there were no Texas Roadhouses within 20 miles. But we figured out what they had meant and got there okay.  After dinner, we had a lesson with Joni Campbell, a less active, again and at the end, I was able to get her cigarettes from her by promising OJ in return.  It was really cool. I had fun crushing them when we got home.

Wednesday: we had to drive down to get a tow hitch for these new bike racks that we have that won’t cause damage to the cars. Also, I had an exchange with Staunton so I was able to be with a normal speaking person for a change. We were able to get the last of our emailing done as well as teach some people. One girl who is really amazing is Chelsea Divvers and she is almost finished with 2nd Nephi, which is sweet. We set up a Return Appointment for today and also did a Trunk-or-Treat. Weirdest costume:  a guy wearing a tiger costume (face painted and everything) with a rainbow afro wig on. Super silly.

Thursday: we had interviews with President Perry and he is always happy to see me doing well. I got permission from him to watch my aunt Jamie Hilton’s Today Show video. He is just glad he can rely on me and can ask me to do difficult things. He mentioned that he might have me train now that we have all these new missionaries coming out. We had a lesson with an active, part-member family. The husband is super interested and we have taught him the Restoration. We are also apparently teaching his son, which is the usual thing in the Lawhorne family. We also saw Sister Postma, a less active member who plays too much Skyrim, again and we are really trying to get her to church. Crowds freak her out.

The rest of the week was the same - seeing people on our lists and scheduling a couple of return appointments. One was a guy named Jeffery Cosgrove who is super cool.  He has a long beard and is really knowledgeable about the Bible.  He sees the differences in churches and has been gaining the knowledge to be able to tell which church is the true one. He told us about this stuff called Lamanin, which is an element thought to be able to cure cancer.  Its molecular structure is in the form of a cross. So, really cool. Jeffrey knows his Bible very well and loves to talk about it.

A former member named Teresa Kelly invited us up to her apartment, which was in a weird building. She welcomed us warmly and gave us a big bag of pretzel M&Ms. Also we have been talking with an RLCA whose wife just kicked him out of the house and who has been pretty down. His name is Brian Frazier and we went over and gave him encouraging words.  He came to church the next day.

Well yesterday (Monday) we had a sleep over in Staunton and found out we couldn't leave the apartment for the entire day because of Hurricane Sandy so we got permission to walk to a nearby WalMart and buy a few games.  One was Monopoly Deal and it is super fun and epic. It is the ultimate missionary game and that held us for a few hours.

Now we are back to missionary work and it has been snowing for a while today and I think Waynesboro has gotten more of the snow so we have to drive back through it. But we’re going to have a fun day! Well everyone, have a happy Halloween!

Elder McClure

A Week of Losses and Gains with a Guitar Involved - received October 22, 2012

Hey!

Elder McClure had another very fun week of missionary work. It all started with the Monday when I got Elder Downs who was emergency transferred to the area. So, now that E. Joyner is gone, it’s all on me to keep the area working out which I have next to no experience with.  We have basically shot-gunned the area (not in a violent way!).  I have been a district leader for more than 2 weeks during which a lot of things have happened.  I’m also the driver, but we were able to borrow a GPS from a member (GPS devices are essential to being a missionary).

We spent the week going through a lot of people in the records that have been visited in times past and also less active/ part member families on the list as well. We haven't really gotten into contact with a lot of them because they will either not be home or whatever. On Monday night, we went to the Elder’s Quorum President’s house.  He is going to give me his guitar since he doesn’t play a lot and he just needs to fix something on it and he'll give it to me. On the negative side, I found bedbug bites on me from an exchange last week were I literally slept in an infested bed. We knew it had been infested, but thought they were gone, but not so! Really itchy. 

Tuesday: we cleaned the apartment and after a lot of unsuccessful visits had dinner with the Beidlers and that was fun. After that, we talked with a less active member, S. Postma, again and she went on for a long time about the game Skyrim again and frankly the game is so long it just sucks you in.

Wednesday: another day of seeing people randomly on the list and a couple of them asked us to come back. Funny thing:  we went to a lady’s house and she wasn’t interested but when we offered her a card she was like, “I already have a lot of cards from you guys. I think I’ll be good.”  So that let me know that her area was a tracting hot spot. We also went to a house with a gated yard and a dog was inside barking.  Elder Downs was like, “Let’s go ahead; he won’t bother us.”  I wasn’t too worried about the dog, which didn’t bother us, but Elder Downs took it as an act of faith rather than just that the dog was sheepish. 

Thursday: we had the senior couple look at our apartment and got things written up and then the Zone Leaders asked us if we buy a bunch of ingredients so E. Marriott would have what he needed to make a big batch of pizzas for zone meeting the next day.  We got the stuff, like two big bags of cheese, and then had to run them down to Charlottesville. The rest of the day we brought Brother Bagley to help drive us around. For the first lesson appointment, we went up to the door and there was a note that said “not interested” on the door. The lady seemed really interested, too. Huh? Then we had a lesson with a hispanic teenager on his porch and it was kind of awkward but we got a return appointment. The last person we saw was S. Campbell, a less active member, and she just happened to be the step-daughter of B. Bagley so it was a good time talking with her. She has a problem smoking so I gave her a 12 week program to get over it.  The program is for alcoholics instead of smokers, but it should work just as well. Funny though. 

Friday: zone meeting and there was a lot of pizza after. We talked about this cool new thing they are doing where they are putting a QR code on a pass-along card that when scanned, will download a free copy of the Book of Mormon onto the phone or iPad. Really sweet. 

Saturday: we took a long trip where I was able to baptize Allaya Williams. It was really cool wearing all white.  I had to do the baptism twice from the fact her leg stuck out of the water and I left out one word in the baptism prayer. Really cool!  We didn't do much else but drive back. I forgot to bring extra garments so I had to wear the wet ones. We did weekly planning and saw a few people. 

Sunday: we had to teach an adult lesson in Sunday School and I talked through most of it. It was about 3 Nephi 17-19. The guy that was supposed to teach it volunteered someone else and that guy didn't want to do it so he gave it to us. So that was fun although Elder Downs isn’t the speak up kind of guy. We got a lot of people signing up for dinners and some people for splits and a lesson with a part-member family where the father is interested, so it is going to be good. There is a trunk- or-treat this Wednesday so that’s cool. We talked to a lady named Carrosel for 3 hours about her being raised strong Catholic and not interested in our beliefs.  She also brought up the question about whether animals go to heaven.  She said animals don’t have souls. Weird. 

That’s my week. I love you all,

Elder McClure

Broken Car, District Meeting, and an Emergency Transfer: email received October 15, 2012

Hey people!
I have been having a very weird week and also a lot of things have been going on. First, I sort of scratched the front bumper on the car and tore it off from backing up because it was scraping on the curb and it ripped it off a bit. That was crazy - we went to garage and they slapped a $550 estimate on it.  We had to get the paperwork filled out so we can take it in to get looked at. Because we didn’t want to drive the car with the bumper dangling, we had to tract walk on Wednesday. The tracting went terrible from all the rejection.  Several people told us they go to a nearby church. Two girls that were trying to be funny were walking past us while we were at a door and they were saying to each other "I love you so much" and "I love you" and then when we turned around, they started to fake make out with their hair over their faces. They thought it was funny to fake being lesbians, trying to make fun of the church.  Still, we were able to get a return appointment with a family - they were a little interested.  Sadly, they didn’t keep the appointment when we returned. Besides teaching this week, I also needed to prepare for district meeting.

On Thursday, we had district meeting.  I trained on commitments and was very anxious about doing it well, but when the time came I did a pretty good job. I used President Monson's remarks from the priesthood session in the last Conference.  He spoke about seeing people for what they can be, like imagining them dressed in white about to be baptized. We then talked about our investigators and how to help each other. The senior couple made taco pizza for everyone and it was pretty good. One of the missionaries was able to help out by pushing our car’s messed up bumper back into place. After this we went on an exchange.  On the exchange, I was able to be with Elder Marriot and we taught a guy named Tee Jew from India.  We had to explain the 3rd chapter in 1 Nephi while reading so he could understand. When it came to casting lots, Elder Marriott asked for toothpicks to demonstrate and Tee Jew thought he asked for toothpaste. That was really funny.

We had an interesting few days, but yesterday Elder Joyner got emergency transferred to another area due to a number of issues.  I have Elder Down now and he has only been out for 3 months. So, I am basically taking over the area now. It’s very insane that this is all happening.  However, I did get a GPS on loan from a member, which is helpful.  GPS devices are really important on the mission. 

I sent some pictures of my adventures and I am just winging it now. Well, I love you all and also I burned my name into a shirt to celebrate my one year mark. Yahoo! Enjoy the pictures!

Love,

Elder McClure

One Year Out! letter received October 12, 2012

Hi Family!

I have gotten a lot of packages from ya’ll lately and I’m so grateful!  Thanks for all the candy that I’ve shared and binged on.  I’ve been doing well even through the constant changes.  I was able to help the Zone Leaders in my last area help all the investigators and less-actives.  One family named the Lahafeakis (or something close to that spelling) had us over for dinner and they were really funny.  They had a tiny daughter who kept singing the party rock anthem.

Saying goodbye to E. Capson was okay – the work could go forward while E. Drexler was still with me.  He helped me to continue to come out of my shell when it comes to teaching lessons.  We happened to finally commit Katrina to baptism in the process.  Saying goodbye to E. Drexler was really hard for me to do, because I had to give him as a trainee to a former companion who always seems to get everything.  But, really E. Drexler needed to be his companion so that he could work as a biking missionary – President Perry thought it would help him get over his homesickness, which has been bad.  E. Drexler is a recent convert of only 15 months and the rest of his family is not even interested in the gospel.  His sister even had a big party with drinking the night before his baptism.  It was a big temptation for him and he ended up sleeping in his truck.  Not long after he was baptized, he got into a bike accident which hurt both of his knees and he found out, while at the doctor, that he battered his MCL, so that was bad.  The latest thing that has happened was his grandfather dying.  Now E. Drexler is the only one who can run the ranch his family owns.  That was the turning point which put E. Drexler back on the plane home.

I’m writing after a P-Day activity of basketball/watching “Man’s Search for Happiness.”  The movie gave me a desire to explore the world.  I’m glad I’m here, though, because of all the people I’ve made a strong connection with.  Once I’m home I really want to volunteer during the summers for church related service projects.

Last week was fun due to serving in a trio again and preaching the gospel.  We continued to teach Donald Carter as he was preparing for his baptism.  The lessons were more of reminders because he has received all of them before.  He has a bunch of tattoos on his arms so he wore a white, long-sleeved T-shirt under his baptism jumpsuit.  His mom was so happy even before the baptism started – she was in tears. The baptism was very sweet since his mom was crying for joy that her son was getting baptized and soon they could be sealed as a family.  It was good to see the healing effects of the gospel.  I got to stand in when Donald was confirmed.  It was a really powerful feeling to be able to use the priesthood in that way. 

Last Thursday, I was able to feel and use the power of the spirit. We had a lesson with a man of the last name Hurley.  He is the one who is interested in reading the Book of Mormon, but not to know if it’s true, just to read it.  He doesn’t think we use the Bible enough in our lessons, so when E.Harris and Canova were trying to spark his interest in the Book of Mormon, they used the seed of faith deal in Alma 32.  I had flipped through the Bible for some reason and found Mark 4:3-8 where Jesus talks about how a sower sowed his seeds.  This helped Hurley make a connection between what we were teaching him in the Book of Mormon and something similar found in the Bible.  I think he’s started to feel a little differently about the Book of Mormon.

Well, the last week I had the pleasure of seeing off E. Caldwell (my trio companion) and one of my mission friends, E. Bradfield.   They have served their whole missions and are now going home.  It was very inspirational because it is a little like soldiers getting to return home from war.  After seeing them off, E. Coburn and I were having fun dividing up the areas of Oak Grove/Meadowbrook and Appomattox A/Appomattox B.  We made maps by cutting out areas of bigger maps.  We also moved furniture around so that a second set of missionaries could live in the apartment once I’m in my new area.  We played Oompaloopa Ball last Thursday.  Everyone except one elder played.  That was E. Joyner, my soon-to-be new companion.   

As I packed for my new area, I was able to pack everything to the brim including a comforter (that I got here) and my pillow plus everything else in one bag.  The transfer meeting was interesting because for the second time we had a big group of new missionaries, so 40 different companionships are training.  Crazy stuff.  Since E. Coburn is Hawaiian and I was white, when we left I put my arms in the air and shouted “Hurrah for Israel!” like in “The Other Side of Heaven.”  A member gave me a ride to my new area and it took awhile.  It was so quiet that I got to sleep.  On the drive, it was really nice to see mountains for a change.  The sights are beautiful.

So now I’ve been in my new area as a District Leader for a couple of days and having a new companion, E. Joyner, has been a little awkward and confusing.  He is very quiet.  He told me he had had no friends at all in High School.  He has struggles being bold and extending commitments, which seems to be a struggle for many elders throughout the whole mission.  Oh well.  We had a lesson with an investigator who has set a baptismal date.  Her name is Talia Norton and she has ADD, so sometimes she isn’t fully there.  She is all innocent and sweet around us, but she is really crazy around her mom and has told her mom that she doesn’t want to be baptized.  We moved the baptism date back to October 20, which would be the same day that Katrina and Alaya are baptized.

This last P-Day we spent the rest of the day, aside from emailing and shopping, playing Bang!  It was fun and I was able to get to know the missionaries in my zone better. 

General Conference was cool and 18-year-old males going on missions:  Garry!  19-year-old girls going on missions:  Tessa!  Both could go!  I thought E. Dallin H. Oaks’ talk about families was pretty forceful.  I loved President Monson’s address about prayer and helping people at the end of the third session. In the priesthood session, E. Eyring told about finding a scripture for each of his sons that describes them.  What scripture do you think describes me?

Well, enjoy this week and write me a letter!

E. McClure

District Leader over Waynesboro and the Departure of a Beloved Missionary - received October 1, 2012

This is Elder McClure’s fantastic week with Zone Leaders:

Well, we had a fun week and it was pretty cool.

Monday: we did the whole Tri-zone P-day stuff:  playing ultimate Frisbee and football. We had a fun lesson with Donald Carter, getting him ready to be baptized.  We also had a hilarious dinner with members named the Quadas. Their children were really funny trying to guess my name. I would only tell them that it started with “M.” Some said Marvin or Murial or other things but they got it eventually.

Tuesday: we tried to teach a few people.  We were able to do a blessing of healing for a girl named Makayla to help her to feel better.

Wednesday: we had a district meeting and then had lunch at the Colonial Heights apartment.  Those elders had built a teepee on the third story of their apartment and made some funny poses next to it. Later, we had another lesson with Donald Carter and tried to teach a few other people, as well. Some of them are hard to reach and the week after that was basically the same except for:

Thursday: helped a widow with moving out of her house and she had a lot of stuff. She was just all out of sorts and is a little sad to go to the Appomattox Ward, but she does great missionary work for us. She bought a lot of pizza for us and I was about to burst. Then 2 hours later we did an exchange where I went to Meadowbrook and Elder Drexler went with the Zone Leaders. I was having such a hard time from my bike just not cruising and the many hills to go over. After that, we taught a lesson to a guy that is having a very hard time believing in the Book of Mormon, partially because he doesn’t like that we do more teaching out of it than the Bible.  I found out that Elder Drexler is going home early due to a death in the family and, due to that, he is the only one who can run the family ranch. 

Friday: we helped the widow move more things into the truck.  We took an entire expired food storage to the dump, and that was a little annoying. Plus, we accidentally went to the industrial dump rather than the local one. The rest of the day was a little laid back due to Elder Coburn becoming sick.  He has been very tired and achy. 

Saturday: we had the baptism of Donald Carter and it was so cool. His mom was crying and it had just been a long time and journey for him to make it finally. I bore my testimony during the missionary moment when they wait for the person who was baptized to get dry and stuff. The bishop commented on it and said all my future generations will remember the testimony of Grandpa McClure. Huh - not a fan of becoming old. The rest of the day was all hectic. We had dinner at a member’s house.  She’s a painter and she did a very weird painting of a tree and the trunk of the tree was a lady’s rear end to symbolize mother earth or something. Really weird. Then we went to Sweet Frog (like Uswirl) frozen yogurt. We got our transfer calls there and I am going to be the District Leader of Waynesboro which is close to the top of our mission boundaries. My companion will be Elder Joyner. 

Sunday: Had an hour and a half of fast and testimony meeting (which was very long) and then just visited a lot of different people to see if anyone owned  “The Other Side of Heaven” for a movie watch today instead of “The Best Two Years,” which President Perry doesn’t like. Well, that will be interesting.  I am so glad/ anxious to be the District Leader.  I am a little worried about running the district meeting I have to hold every week except if another meeting is in the way.

Well, I love you all and I have been having fun with my bad self.  And write me a letter!

Love,

Elder McClure 

I'm with the Zone Leaders/Massive Boundary Changes received 9/24/2012

Hello people of planet Earth,

This week has been very crazy and so I’ll try my best to describe it.

Last Tuesday Elder Drexler (my greenie) and I were split up.  Elder Drexler went to Meadowbrook to be part of a biking trio companionship and I was put into a trio companionship with the Zone Leaders. The first few days were strange because Elder Caldwell (one of the Zone Leaders) was on exchanges for two different days.  We also jumped from place to place in the zone to go to zone meetings. In doing so I got to meet some fun people whom the Zone Leaders were teaching. One lady is named Kim - she just had her baptism last Saturday and it was awesome! Her family was there and they were really touched by the service.  However, one of her uncles and his family reacted negatively because he was offended by the statement that our church is the true church.  He also thinks that our church encourages dominion over women because Kim’s boyfriend performed the confirmation after the baptism. We had to stall for the confirmation since the boyfriend (Jared Rhodes) forgot a white shirt so his family had to go out to buy him one.  It ended up costing them $50. Crazy.

Another person I met with the Zone Leaders is Donald Carter.  His dad is a member and is just a powerhouse and knows the gospel is true. Donald is getting baptized this Saturday, which is amazing. He has a bunch of scary faces tattooed on his arms from his past. 

We also taught a lady named Desiree Divine (it sounds like a stripper name but she’s nothing like that).  We taught her about the Restoration.  The member who introduced us to her was bringing in all this deep doctrine (we were trying so hard to get back on subject) but in the end it all worked out for the good. 

The mission had some boundary changes last week:  the Meadowbrook area took half of Belmont and all of Oak Grove.  Now Belmont is half of Belmont and half of Chesterfield.  The Swift Creek area is the other half of Chesterfield and most of Colonial Heights.  I know that doesn’t make any sense unless you’re here, but trust me, it’s insane. Every missionary is still going to be working in his assigned area until transfers, though.  Elder Caldwell is leaving in a week and so we have to deal with that and Elder Coburn leaves very soon, as well. They are so fun and we are just focused on doing the work.

Well, other than that we went to a ward party and we played volleyball with some of the youth members and I totally spiked it and said, "Gird your loins" in doing so and it was hilarious.

Have a good week and I will get back to you on what will be happening in the future with transfers. 

Elder McClure

Less Actives, Less Actives, Less Actives. . .email received September 3, 2012

Hi Family!

Well, this week wasn’t all too exciting due to the fact that we just went by to see all the less active people on the ward roster to help out our bishop and we found that 33 different people plus spouse or kids have moved. Crazy!  We talked to two out of all the less actives and they were nice to us and two wanted their names removed from the records. It is just so sad to see these people deny the blessings and deny the Holy Ghost just to be lazy. They are promised so much more.  

We talked to the husband of one of the less actives and we bashed for 2 hours on their front porch while it was raining…and it was Fast Sunday, which killed us because we were so hungry. First they bashed on the picture of Jesus - in the Bible it talks about His ascended form but we were showing a picture of what he looked like before that. We then got into it about the Book of Mormon and the Apocrypha, which we were basically told is half true and half false, so not worth translating. We had to explain to them that Joseph Smith translated the gold plates into the Book of Mormon, not writing it himself, not riding in the boat with Nephi and Lehi, not being in Jerusalem, etc. Also they wanted to know what tribe Joseph Smith was from. Like I would know that, let alone share it with them.

The other part of the week was the same kind of thing, then coming home to talk with the other elders and then breaking out into a Nerf war that is two against one, me being the one. I got shot in the eye a lot and so I hid the guns.  Whenever they are talking all tall and whatever, I pull a gun out of a secret hiding place and shoot them.  Being with Elder Capson is getting better and I always try to treat him better since Elder Swanson is kind of a bully to him. Other than that just trying to stay busy and also I am the designated driver so I drive us everywhere.

Oh - got a cool letter from Rick Twelves from the MTC and he’s going to the California Arcadia Mission where they speak Armenian. Pretty cool!  Well I love you all and will keep you updated on my mission.

-Elder McClure

Small Email for Small Week - received August 27

Hi Family,

Well, as you may have guessed from the heading to this email, we didn’t do a whole lot. On Tuesday we were in Oak Grove and we had to fix Elder Canova’s tire like crazy because he buys the cheap tires and there is glass all over the streets in Oak Grove. We caught a giant spider in a jar and a giant moth and a wasp. We were watching them fight for most of the night but they all took a break and the next morning the wasp was killed and the giant moth also a few days later.

On Wednesday we taught a few lessons. First, we taught an older lady in Oak Grove and she hugged me and kissed my neck - weirdly enough. She just talked and talked while we were trying to teach her. The second was with Jordan Lee and we taught the law of chastity to him. He was really good about the lesson and accepted our commitment. We then had to pass him on to the Midlothian Zone Leaders due to the fact he is going to college and will be in their area. Then we taught a lesson to Sister Joseph because Jacquan told us that she thinks it’s okay to drink tea and all that. She just has a lot of weird things enter her mind like it’s okay to look at porn as long as your spouse is there and you’re watching together. Weird.

Thursday was transfers, so I had to go early to go into a training meeting where President Perry just told us to love the new elders and get them familiar with missionary work. Found out the Elders were getting taken out of Wakefield for a transfer so Sister Harter ran into President Perry at the airport with all the new elders and sisters there and chewed him out for taking the elders. Ouch!

So the rest of the week Elder Capson and I have just been meeting with the less active people in the area and trying to get more referrals. Elder Capson is a very intelligent guy with Aspergers Syndrome which is a form of autism. President Perry took me aside and said that he is not lazy; he just has a lot of medical issues like he doesn’t get a lot of sleep at night so he sleeps in, he is overweight and in bad health, and he carries a Nook
around with him. It is difficult for me to relate to him due to the fact that he relies heavily on knowledge to start up conversations instead of just talking to people and he is just one of those guys who try to be funny when it’s more awkward than funny. Well, President Perry said he trusted me to stay strong and get the most out of it. It'll only be 2 more whole weeks of him, so if I can be out for almost a year and not do anything stupid  then I can handle this.

I love you all!

PS:  The picture with all the cards in a display case is our ward mission leader’s man cave and I also forgot to mention that I got stung by the wasp we tried to catch for the spider.

Transfer Calls Came. . . email received on August 20, 2012

Hi Family,

Well, fun last week before transfer calls and I got one but you’ll have to read through my long email to get to it.

Fun time on Monday where we did nothing except teach a really cool lesson to this couple, Ashley and Ameall, on the Restoration which they are really interested in and Ameal has a lot of interesting questions. While we were teaching them the TV had that movie on where the bus has a bomb on it and they have to go over 50 miles an hour to keep it from exploding. Then we had dinner at the Dubon’s which is always a really good treat for us because Brother Dubon is really funny and is an RM.

On Tuesday I went on an exchange with Elder Jones in Meadowbrook. I had to use elder Harris's bike (Elder Jones's companion) which is really crappy on brakes and the chains suck. Most of the day everything fell thru and later we had a lesson with a recent convert named Katie and the member we brought with us kept going really deeply into her being tempted by Satan and how Katie will be tried. Crazy weird. Then we went to a member’s house for dinner and they fed us a lot of pie. Elder Jones leaves tomorrow. A lot of missionaries are leaving to go home and we are getting a lot of missionaries in return. Mostly sisters.

Wednesday we had a zone conference with President Perry speaking and he was really sick, but when he spoke to us he didn’t cough once. He talked to us about ward council and other things. I found out that President Perry knows how to juggle. I always help out the sisters with their trash which President Perry always appreciates from me. We spent the rest of the day in Oak Grove where we just biked and talked with some cool people. I really love biking in Oak Grove and being there because of all the cool graffiti and broken down buildings which are really interesting to bike around and the hills are not as big as in Meadowbrook.

Thursday we just taught S. Houn more English and she fed us rice and steak with the most sodium laced soy sauce ever. We also drove around after that and I was able to buy a butterfly knife from the flea market and it is so cool. I duct taped the blade so I can practice cool tricks. We had dinner at the home of the oldest daughter of our bishop and she is so talkative and also her roommate is pretty funny as well.  One of them is the Relief Society president and the other the Young Women’s president in Oak Grove and they are really annoyed with the branch presidency. It is so frustrating how people can get offended so fast and stuff like that.

The rest of the week wasn’t much to brag about since the three way is Elder Durrant and Elder Canova taking over everything and I’m in the background. Elder Durrant is what I would call a “knowledge missionary” which means he will not bear frequent testimony but he will pull things out of the scriptures. Oh well. Funny thing yesterday:  We got out of a lesson where the lady gave me a soda so I put it in my backpack and we were biking around Oak Grove and this lady down the street is like, “Can you wish me a happy birthday because I am having a bad birthday.”  Then she went on about that she didn’t even get a soda for her birthday so I said, “Weird thing is that I just happen to have a soda in my backpack.” Her face got so happy and she thanked me and then the other elders gave her a card and a pamphlet.

Well, on to transfer calls. Elder Canova is now district leader of Meadowbrook with Elder Harris as his companion. Elder Durrant is training in Oak Grove and I have the weirdest transfer ever. I am going to be with Elder Capson, an elder about to go home who is very lazy and uses his Kindle all night and sleeps in till 10.  I will be with him for 3 weeks, then I will either be training a newbie for three weeks if his knee surgery is successful or in a three way with Meadowbrook. So, fun stuff and I will be majorly stretched this transfer so send letters and candy for me to keep my sanity.

Well, love you all,

Elder McClure

Best of Both Areas: email received August 13, 2012

Hello Family,

Really fun week. Nothing much on Tuesday but we taught our investigator Jordan Lee, the Word of Wisdom and he has already been living most of it without knowing except the tea drinking part. We went around seeing other people and when we tracted a street called Coventry, we met a very British black woman. We knew that she wasn’t from around here by her accent and the fact that she knew that Coventry was in England and was not just the name of a convenience store around here. She asked us for a Bible, but what she meant was a Book of Mormon.  She then she asked us if we (Mormons, and elders) could have sex before marriage. When we gave our answer she said, “Well, I feel sorry for you.” Then she said she would pray for us when she gets home in England.

On Wednesday, we got Elder Coon's companion, Elder Durrant, because Elder Coon left for home two weeks early to do school so we are co-taking care of Belmont and Oak Grove. The rest of the day was pretty boring, just dealing with Elder Durrant.

On Thursday we got to do district meeting which was pretty fun and then we went to this Mexican restaurant that has weird paintings of South Americans and some with guys and girls and the girls were very immodest and nasty. We brought one of our members, Jacquan, to some lessons with less actives and recent converts. During our lesson with S. Moore, I almost fell asleep.  Then we had a weird lesson with a less active sister, Sister Thomas. We later had an appointment with Blaine Franklin at the church but he wasn’t there. I saw Brother Harter and he said everything in Wakefield is good and Matt (a guy I taught once then passed off to the senior couple) got baptized and is engaged to their daughter Emelia. Really cool!  I knew that Brother Harter was in my area because I saw his giant tree-hauling truck he had in the parking lot near all the little cars. Then we went to Oak Grove and we played air hockey until it was time to go to bed.

On Saturday, we did all Oak Grove work.  We taught a lot of lessons that were scheduled one on top of the other. First was an old lady they want to have a baptismal date with. She was scared of committing to baptism because she thinks the church might run her ragged with callings and stuff. During the second lesson we were talking and reading with a smoker lady named April and a guy named Persel which was 1 Nephi 16 and it was okay. Then we had a lesson with a do not contact member and she had gotten offended by the Branch President and a member of the branch presidency apologized for the Branch President who had made it clear he would not apologize. So she left the church.  Getting offended is really big out here. Then we taught a lesson with an investigator and then a referral who, upon contacting, wants to be baptized. Oh, and this was all on bikes so really sore butt afterward. Then we went to Belmont to have dinner with Sister Henry (Carribean lady) and the Josephs. Really funny and talked with her granddaughters and they are funny.

On Sunday we had meetings and had to teach a class on the Plan of Salvation. Then we went to the Oak Grove area and taught April again, reading 1 Nephi 18. Then we tried to have a lesson but went to a very less active member instead. His name was Scooter. Major white trash and really racist. He has a bunch of dogs and had his shirt off. He gave us watermelon and peppers.  I bit a pepper and really burnt my mouth. He was growing weed in his backyard and was just talking his head off about things and weird stories using cuss words every other word. Fun time.

Well, have a fun week and I’ll update you on how I be.

Love you,

Elder McClure