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