Long Days, Primary Teaching, Barriers, Extra P-day Time, and Too Much Finding: August 19. 2013

Hey people of my past existence,

This week was long, hard, and seemed like rejection was at every turn, but we kept the faith and our spirits up.

We had a service opportunity on p-day to help set up a booth in the carnival since Sister Hartman recruited us to help out. It was weird putting a bunch of PVC pipes together and other things. The game we set up was a dime toss for cups; it was a fund raiser for the Special Olympics so Elder Swann thought there would be a bunch of special people around it, but there weren’t. We spent a lot of time setting it up and helping run it but we saved the time we used on our P-day to use on a different day. 

We have been teaching this lady and it’s been getting kind of weird teaching her. She will half listen to what we have to teach, especially like the gospel topics, and randomly she’ll say interesting things.  For example, while we are on the topic of baptism she will say that her church is having a picnic and she might get baptized into it. She also asked if missionaries could go see her daughter for the sole purpose of getting the church to move them out of where they are living and provide them a free house to live in that they just happen to have with a swing set.  This is a fantasy, especially if she doesn’t want to actually change her life to accept the gospel. 

We also got to take some youth out on splits with us. This time we took Aspen.  Unfortunately, the day just fell through but we did get to see S. Howdyshell and all her puppies. We also got to take Joe Michael and Delilah out on their first splits with us to go teach Robert about baptism. It was a good lesson but Robert is very distracted all the time and has trouble listening, although he thinks he can learn everything on his own. Which is difficult for a 9-year-old. We brought B. Aidukaitis with us to help teach him and we are slowly making headway with the little guy. We have to teach so simply with him, like on the Primary level, so he can understand. 

Our District meeting was mainly about eternal life and stuff like that - how to obtain it and also to help our investigators obtain it. The Spanish Elders and us used our 3 saved-up hours of p-day time after the District meeting to play a fun game called soccer tennis which is kicking a ball over tennis nets to the other side.  When the ball stops bouncing on the other side then you get a point. 

We have a lot of time on our hands to try to find people so we go to see potentials in the area book most of the time to help things move along. We found one lady that was kind of interested but she’s more of an old lady so we’ll see what happens. We also got in contact with a referral the Spanish Elders gave us a long time ago.  The referral had actually read half of the Book of Mormon so it was pretty cool to finally get a hold of him.

We have hit barriers with our three baptismal dates. Matthew and Madison's mom has now refused to let them get baptized due to misunderstandings that Madison brought up to her about the other life and them being together as a family. It’s been crazy. Robert can't be baptized until he can fully know what baptism means and what he has to do after baptism to stay strong to the covenant he made. We are working on it. 

In Sacrament meeting I gave a talk on the importance of families and how a mission has improved me to prepare for my own. They told me I was going to be speaking for a while but someone from the stake high council showed up to give a talk as well, so I had less time to talk, but it was okay. We had dinner at Joe’s house since she saw how empty our dinner calendar was.  I burned my lips on a tortilla with hot sauce on it. It was crazy.

Well, love you all and have a fun week of school coming back. 

Elder McClure

Knee Pains, Awkward Things, Baptism Dates Set, Stress, and Awesome Ordinances: August 12, 2013

Hey people, 

I had a great, spectacular week which started with Monday. We played more D&D except with the other two elders as well. We lost the boss fight and the person we were supposed to save was killed so we had to walk back empty handed. But Elder Gonzalez was being funny - when Elder Burbank’s character threw milk at a person, he came in and says, "She did that for a reason because you’re butt ugly. You’re all butt ugly, every one of you." Funny. We played chair soccer and in one of the scraps I fell over and my knee was dislocated for a couple of seconds so I sat out for a little while. I played a little bit after and even scored a point with my bum leg. Plus Elder Zimmerman hit me in the face twice with the soccer ball one after the other so it gave me a bloody lip. All I could do was bend over and laugh. We got fed by the Walkers.  Their son is a less active returned missionary, so that was awkward.  There was some funny conversation, though.   

Tuesday: We were going to have a lesson with Donna, but she cancelled. We went to see Ian Benson to talk about Preach My Gospel but he thought we were going out on splits.  He was all dressed up and ready to go, but we just talked about Preach my Gospel. I think he was a little disappointed.  Later, we went to Lineweaver and there was this guy walking around with a guitar carried like a club. I told him he had a nice guitar and he just nodded.  We found out he was a mute although he said, “Mormons” when we gave him a card. He asked me to play the guitar so I strummed a few chords and he took the guitar from me and rocked out with facial expressions and all. Then he motioned for me to help him up and it was a little hard for me because my knee was still sore from being dislocated.  When I got him up, he pointed at my arm and said, "Poquito," which means “little” in Spanish so I guess he thought I was a weakling. It was funny to hear that. Later that day we taught Joe about the 10 Commandments and everything so he could be ready for baptism. We made a funny joke about 10 Commandments with an iPad.  Afterward, Elder Newkirk came to interview him and we had to race to Robert Eshbaugh's to be in time for our appointment to teach him.  Our lesson with him was a very simple Plan of Salvation. We then got to try the best kind of fudge afterward and it was really good. B. Eshbaugh made it himself. And then we went home.

Wednesday: We had district meeting at the church.  Elder Swann trained on desire to preach the gospel and Hermana Myers trained on the same thing. We had a district lunch at the church with the whole district so it was fun. Hermana Olsen was quoting the Nacho Libre song “Incarnacion” with facial expressions and everything - pretty good. We went crazy that day finding people to go to an appointment with us so we stole Elder Zimmerman to go to Donna's to teach her the Plan of Salvation. She literally couldn’t stay awake and it was hard to teach her. We also saw Sister Briggs and her roommate was there. We went over some scriptures from her class. We had a short lesson with Jessie (a recent convert) and he wants to get the Melchizedek priesthood before he goes into basic training. We had dinner with the Weilers and their daughter is so funny and loud. After dinner we drove to the hospital to see Beverly Layman, an investigator who had just had surgery.  While we were there visiting her, we found out that one of the members, Sjaan Smith, was also in the hospital so we went to see her, too.  We had to wear gloves and yellow coverings either to protect ourselves from something or protect Sister Smith from us. 

Thursday: We did weekly planning and tried to set 3 investigators for baptism. We saw Matthew and Madison Huffman. It had been a really long time since we had taught them because they have been away on vacation for a month and half. It was awesome because Matthew was being really serious about the lesson and afterward was willing to set a date on being baptized.  Madison also wants to be baptized. We also saw Robert again and taught him the gospel and he is also ready to be baptized! All three of them have to ask their parents if they will be allowed to be baptized. After teaching lessons, we had dinner with the Jeppsons and I love their kid Hunter for being all over the place and just running rampant with craziness. 

Friday: We had to help get Junior's truck unlocked – he locked the keys in it – and B. Liskey helped. We finally came to the conclusion to force down the window instead of prying the door handle open. We did splits with a cool guy named Stephen Bennett. We had dinner with the Romaros, Stephen, and Ian (a youth). We had a lot of fun but it took two hours because Jo forgot to cook early. 

Saturday: Last opportunity for the McDonalds monopoly game so I bought a Big Mac, large fries, and a medium soda. When my order was ready an old guy took mine instead of his own so I had to wait even longer to get my burger. I was trying to help out Elder Newkirk because he was missing just one sticker of each color. The best thing I won in the game was a $10 EA sport card. Best prize yet. After lunch, we tried potentials and this one lady named Anastasia came to the door, and when we asked for Anastasia she said, “No Anastasia here” and wouldn’t speak English, only Russian.  The awesome part of the day was Joe’s baptism that night. One of the members was late so we waited a long time for him to come. People gave long talks while we waited, and Joe gave an awesome long testimony of his conversion. It was like a 2 hour long baptism, but it was so great. Afterward, we went over to Delilah's to eat and one of the guys at the baptism backed into our car and put a medium sized dent in it. 

Sunday: Church was good and we got to stand in the circle confirming Joe a member and giving him the Gift of the Holy Ghost which was done by Stephen Bennett.  He was the one who gave Delilah a Book of Mormon, thus converted her and, through her testimony, converting Joe.  Kind of a cool story! We had dinner with the Bennetts and saw Sister Smith again in the hospital to check up on her. 

Well, that’s my week. Love you all,

Elder McClure 

August 5, 2013

On the first day, Elder McClure came to the computer and checked his emails. And the emails were good. 

So this week was full of all kinds of fun and havoc:

On P-Day we did something I have never done before:  played Dungeons and Dragons. We created our characters; I’m an elf wizard named Yozu - I know, super nerdy for y’all’s taste but we are bored and boredom brings weird things. The rest of the day we helped B. Liskey pack up his stuff because he is moving across town. He accepted our nerdiness. 

Tuesday was the busiest day yet - one appointment after another.  We taught Donna, William (RC), Robert, had dinner with the Bradys, taught Joe and saw a less active. The lesson with Donna was the restoration.  We taught about the Restoration and she seemed a little distracted, but she’s also dyslexic.  We got the lesson across okay to her but it was hard for her to understand. Our lesson with William was him teaching us the Restoration.  It was weird having a lesson from a recent convert’s perspective.  He added a lot of the teaching styles Elder Moon and I had used. Our lesson with Robert was mainly him bashing with us on points of the Plan of Salvation.  He doesn’t believe most of it , although the scripture about the three kingdoms kind of stumped him and his friend. He dropped us so I’m glad we didn’t bash too much. The lesson with Joe was awesome as usual and he is just the greatest guy. He chose B. Liskey to baptize him since he received revelation through a dream that B. Liskey should do it. It’s been awesome to teach him and see him grow in the gospel. 

The rest of the week was basically finding people to teach.  We also had a lot of service to do which is fun.  A couple of the things we did:  moved B. Liskey to his new house with a couple of other guys and helped rake up these grass mound rows for the Hartmans.  While we were raking, these little bugs were pestering the heck out of us and bouncing off my face; we also got bit by horseflies. They are nasty. We tried to see people but it’s been a little bit difficult to get things done. One cool thing about the week is that we met with a less active named B. Eshbaugh and he has a son about the age of 9.  After we taught B. Eshbaugh, trying to help his believing, we asked if his son was interested in learning so we are now teaching his son and have taught him the Restoration.  He’s a smart boy so we’ll see how it goes.

We also had Zone meeting this week and there were some changes to how we do things.  Now, we have to three-way call sisters in the district with the zone leaders on the other line instead of just one of us calling one of them.  A lot more complicated.  My comp can now call and text while I drive so that’s better because we can now set appointments in the car. After the meeting, we ate at this restaurant which gave us a huge basket of fries that took 4 elders to finish. We did Walk and Talk and it was okay; we found a couple of potentials.

I bore my testimony at church and made them laugh.  I said, "I was having a battle with whether or not myself to go up and bear my testimony or stay sitting down and then it hit me that I bear my testimony all the time during tracting but I usually get the door slammed in my face so I’ll enjoy this a little bit more." That’s what got the laughs. We also taught Joe after church and we had a lot of people sitting in on the lesson, like 10 people, so it seemed more like a classroom setting. And we taught Law of Chastity, the Word of Wisdom, and tithing. Man, that tithing one is an awkward one for people to grasp.

Well, love you everyone and have fun with life!

Elder McClure

July 29, 2013

Hey people from around the U.S.,

Fun week kick off. We played corn hole and chair soccer last P-day and it was really fun. Except for the part of hitting a sister on the chin with a Frisbee.  Oops.  I made up for it by letting them borrow my Joseph Smith CD to enjoy. 

We had two great lessons the next day which was pretty nice. We taught Jordan in the morning and the Liskey family was there.  We taught the Restoration; even though he knew about some relevant things like the Book of Abraham and the Celestial Kingdom, he doesn’t know about the Restoration. Then that night we got to teach a man named Joe who is kind of dating this convert named Delilah.  He’s been an atheist but after a long time of attending church with her and getting a real desire for the gospel by feeling the spirit, he is very interesting in learning and wanting to know. Delilah bears a pretty strong testimony as well so it’s incredible. I am so happy for the both of them.  We scheduled a baptism for another investigator, Joe, for August 10^th.  It’s so awesome getting him on that road. 

Wednesday is our new day for district meetings now.  We have a big district since we have 5 companionships and one is a trio so it’s pretty big. Elder Newkirk had us put up our numbers and talk about them and how to improve our areas.  We also talked a lot about the Atonement. Afterward, we went to Chick-Fil-A and there were a lot of people there, like usual. They really like their chicken in Virginia! We also had a lesson with this lady named Diana.  Her husband is really mean and adulterous and abusive so we had a member, B. Hurd, come with us when we had the lesson with her. We are going to find out a way to help her.  She wants to be baptized when she comes to know the gospel is true. 

We had interviews with President Wilson and we were late actually due to getting the Franklin elders who should have come to our apartment but who are always going to Bridgewater. The interview was pretty good and President Wilson just asked me about my family back home and how I am doing in the mission. I asked him if there was any way I could be helpful to Elder Swann with his language study.  

The week has been good. We also found out this Asian guy named Justin Wang we have been teaching is actually moving very soon so we’ll have to pass him off to the Missouri Elders now. Justin is a great guy and he'll get baptized.  We had a lesson with a less active and she was wearing a dress and kept pulling it up to go over her legs every once in awhile and she flashed Elder Swann her underwear like a bunch of times. It was just crazy. 

Last Saturday we got to live the missionary dream by tracting in the rain. We did Walk-n-Talk and Elder Swann and I found a guy before the little sprinkle but after teaching him the big rainfall came. The whole time we were tracting, people were saying “No,” and “Not now, we’re already Christian” and then telling us to stay dry but not letting us in. It was annoying. It felt good but I got cold after a while so we went home to dry off.  Elder Swann had to dry off all of his stuff, but I was pretty prepared for the rain and put everything in my pockets. 

On Sunday we got ice cream cupcakes, a very spiritual lesson afterward with Joe, and we went to see a less active that is going through a hard time. B. Eshbaugh is having a lot of hard times in life and asked us to come by. We are really thankful for that trust. Also we had a lesson/fighting for her salvation lesson with Jennifer Campbell last night and we basically came to say that you have to try it to know it. Her husband and kids are weirded out by us coming by; they go into other rooms to avoid us.

Well, love you family and friends.

Elder McClure

July 22, 2013

Hello aliens to my mission field,

Well this week was transfer week so we had Elder Moon say good bye to people all over Harrisonburg. Not really, but he did use most of our allotted miles so we have to play it cool for a week and a half. So during those three days we were able to teach Joyce twice and our neighbor's (Delilah’s) boyfriend which is sweet cuz he used to be an athiest but now he’s interested and has already read like 16 chapters in 1 Nephi! Elder Moon pawned two copies of the Book of Mormon to this mentally handicapped guy named Ray Hersler who had the 1830s edition of the Book of Mormon. The first thing Ray said to us when we met him was, “If I was dressed up like you guys, I would preach that evolution was a fact.” Elder Moon offered to trade one of the Books of Mormon we hand out, but that was a no go.  Then he offered a New York World Fair edition.  Ray still said no.  Then Elder Moon groveled and said the New York edition was rarer then the 1830s edition.  After talking to B. Liskey, it turns out that’s true, so it’s a good thing Ray didn’t trade for it. Funniness there.  On the last night of our companionship Elder Dalby and his greenie came by and he burned a tie and then we had the Jeeps side by side with us sitting on top of them posing like models. It was hilariously funny. 

Transfers were different due to the fact we had to sing 8 different songs before the trainees and trainers came out. President Wilson announced the names of the companionships and I got Elder Swann who is a visa waiter for Brazil and speaks Portuguese. So if he gets his visa with me then I’m in trouble and will need another companion. 

I’ll wrap things up for the week. We finally got to teach this guy named Justin Wang and he was referred to us a while back. He’s a very nice guy and he works a lot in the Chinese restaurant near here and is the only English speaker there so he has to take care of the English-speaking customers. We found out that he leaves on August 5th to go to Missouri for college so we might have to fast teach him if he’s ready. We helped move a less active lady out of Lineweaver Apartments. It was the grossest experience touching this dirty smoke smelling couch while going down disgusting hallways and elevators. We also have been teaching more people consistently that we have had a hard time getting a hold of. A cool experience was when we were tracting this neighborhood and it was really hot.  We met this guy in the first house and he spoke only Spanish so Elder Swann whipped into action and talked it up the best he could so we got a referral for the Spanish Elders!  Cha-ching!  The last door we knocked on was this guy named John and he had talked to missionaries in the Dominican Republic so he’s interested, plus he lost the Book of Mormon they gave him so he was super glad to get another one and learn more. We sweat a lot that day. 

We have a lot of fun though because Elder Swann wants to do or knows how to do the things I’m really interesting in doing like parkour, playing guitar, and making jokes. One incident that just killed me was when his bracelet broke while we were on this doorstep. We gathered the pieces and he put them in his pocket and started singing,"I got a pocket, got a pocket full of beads." It’s been really fun with Elder Swann. 

I love you family and friends and random people i allow to see what I do in a missionary week.

Elder McClure

July 15, 2013

Hey people of all lands, 

While I am typing this, the library's AC is off so the whole building is hot. It was a fun week for Elder McClure which started right after I sent my last email – I spent the rest of that P day playing Risk and owning other Elders.
                                                           
We spent most of Tuesday trying to see people and eating ice cream outside with a member.  A fact:  I love ice cream!! We then picked up Junior (Convert youth) and went to S. Rexrode’s house. Since she was single, we brought Junior to get inside. We had some really good barbeque chicken pizza and ice cream sandwiches. The really cool part about going over is that she has a lot of doctrinal books that she will be giving away in September so we literally spent an hour sorting through these books and picking the ones we found interesting. I picked the Discourses of Brigham Young and the Great Apostasy and a couple others as well. Then we met the other elders to hang out at an ice cream place (the day just revolved around ice cream).

Wednesday was district meeting so we met in the primary room because ladies were in the usual room.  We played around with the microphone the kids use and I sat in a little chair.

It was Thursday and Friday where we had most of our fun. Thursday was National Slurpee Day where you get a free small Slurpee from every 7-11 you go to.  I got 4 while E. Moon got 5 that day because he got two from the same 7-11. We also helped the Huffmans move out of their house into a new house not too far away. Bro. Huffman had a lot of things in the basement and it took two truckloads that day and also the next day.

Friday: it was free Chick-Fil-A day so free meals to those who dress up as a cow.  Elder Moon and I wore patches on our shirts made from Elder Quiambao’s cut up pants and went in. We also wore headbands. It was funny to get a free meal by coming in with spots on us and headbands. We helped out the Huffmans again.  B. Huffman’s first daughter from his first marriage was there and I got to know her and had the impression to give her a Book of Mormon.  She gratefully accepted it and wanted to learn about her dad’s faith. That was cool. We had another deep doctrine lesson with Jordan.  We brought B. Herric and he just unloaded with his worldly and religious knowledge of everything. It was pretty cool!  He explained things like the Book of Abraham and the trinity.

I’m pressed for time but want to tell you that William got the Aaronic priesthood.  He was ordained by brother Custer and it was sweet. B. Liskey has a whole plan for missionary work to happen and he’s already recruiting William into it which is awesome. 

So transfer calls are different now. We only get called to let us know if we are staying or going and we will meet our comps and new areas at transfer meeting. It’s very mysterious. Elder Moon has been called to leave and be a district leader somewhere else so I am now taking over this area. It’s going to be another situation where I take over an area, but I have more handle on this area and will enjoy it.
Well, love you all and have fun this week. 


Elder McClure