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