week 59

Well ,yeah. Sorry about last week haha. That was a pretty terrible letter.

This week was much better then the previous, so I have a bit to talk about. The FHE groups are going awesome! We again had the one in Kekana and we started the one in Temba. Powerful! A total of about 25 people between the two, that's over double the amount of people that come to church each week from our area! We are trying very much hard to not do anything besides get them started; we now have local members taking up the weekly organization of it. We have two more we are planning to establish; hopefully we can get that worked out over the next few weeks. 

Keamogetswe is doing really well, we have just a few last things to wrap up with her and then she will be interviewed this Friday to see if she is truly prepared for baptism.  I'm confident that she is and I very much look forward to it. She knows the gospel well, and her testimony is about 10x stronger than mine at the time I was baptized. 

Besides that we have a few new investigators, but since we do not know yet if we are closing the area or not, we are not trying too hard to find new ones. It appears we are about to drop about 5 people, which makes me sad, but they just are not doing anything. 

The funeral for Brother Nhlapo was quite wonderful. Funerals here last a week. 99% of the time the burial is on Saturday  and the nights leading up to it there is a memorial service at the dead persons house. We went Thursday and Friday then also Saturday. It was pretty awesome, lots of singing, lots of stories. Oh yeah, and about 1000 people show up because there is free food haha. Exciting. 

I found out I can do scholarships and FASFA when I get home in November, so my goal of going to college next January is still alive! I'm quite excited for that to be honest. Not sure how it is going to work out, but hopefully it does! 

But yeah, that was my week. 

Love y'ah all lots. 

Elder Kelly McClellan

week 58

Hmm, not sure what to say.

This is my favorite member in the area, Abigail...

The Family Home Evening groups were a huge success. 15 people attended the first one.

A long-time member died this past week, so this one will be full of funeral things.

Yeah. I'm really tired of emailing haha. I'm alive.

Love, Elder McClellan

week 57

Well, this week stats-wise was amazing, but the progression of the area is a bit stagnant. The church is just too far, and it appears that because of this our area will be closing in 5 weeks. I suppose the stake is tired of us missionaries doing everything and the members not trying. I think they are going to try and help them realize their personal responsibility by taking us out.

With that in mind our work has changed a whole lot. We are not really finding any new investigators and we are spending a bunch of time trying to establish 4 group family home evenings. Our hope is that these will strengthen the conversion of the members after we are gone. Unfortunately, they will be pretty much cut off from most outside sources of help when we are gone, so hopefully these will help.

Luckily it appears we will have 1 baptism before the area closes! Keamogetswe is doing awesome! She came back from holidays at her aunt's down in Cape Town and she is super serious now. We are working towards the 8th of Feb. Pretty much every hope I have has been placed on her getting baptized, at least then I wont feel like I wasted the last 3.5 months of my life when I leave this area.

We are really running into the problem of "you can't help those who won't help themselves." We have put a crazy amount of work into this area with nothing coming out of it haha. Okay, that was a lie, we have had little successes, but at times it is hard to see them as such.

Church in Africa can really be quite interesting at times. After the sacrament was finished being passed on Sunday nothing happened for 10 minutes. Literally we sat there in silence. It was bizarre and I'm so very glad we had no investigators there. The Branch President just sat there until finally the Young Men President got up and told him the sacrament was over. After which President just kept sitting there, and finally after a few minutes he got up and continued on with the meeting. Weird.

Anyways, that's about what I've got for now...

Well, hope all is well.

Love, Elder Kelly

week 56: pretty darn spectacular

Well, in all honesty, for New Years week we did pretty darn spectacular! Last year at this time I had 2 lessons the whole week, this week we had 26! And better yet 5 people came to church! Powerful. Best week this area has had in over a year, all on a week that is commonly the worst of the year. It is quite easy to see the hand of the Lord at times life this. 

This week was full of weird things happening. First off, how our investigator Bongani came to church. As Sacrament meeting is about to start, I pan around the room to again be let down by the sight of no investigators at church... but just as I was about to refocus on the front, I see a bright pink blur out of the corner of my eye. Bongani had walked in wearing a bright pink suit, with a white beater shirt, and a diamond cross chain. POWERFUL! It was all I could do to not get out of my seat and go congratulate him for being such a man. I'm very much considering getting such a suit for my home coming talk. In Priesthood meeting when talking about home teaching he raised his hand and said "we need to have a good approach to these people" then fluttered his suit haha.  Anyways, church goes great. Kind of. 

Old people here are... kinda out there. A member of the Stake Presidency was with us and every few minutes he "felt prompted to bear his testimony", but in all reality he was just trying to correct the false doctrines being spread by the elderly.  Then at the end of the meeting our Branch president gets up and reminds everyone to close "in the name of Jesus" to which the stake man  gets up and says "Sorry, but he means in the name of Jesus Christ" to which the Branch president gets up and says "Oh yes oh yes, I was just making a short cut." Seriously, sometimes church here turns into a bit of a comedy because they are so new to the church that they are still learning how to run it. 

President Miamane (Branch President)

Everything I own is kind of in shambles. Yesterday morning the hemming on my suit pants came out. We were running late because my broken alarm did not go off, so I had to try and sew it in the car. I forgot a knife, so every time I would want to sew a new place I had to curl up into a ball and bite the thread. On the back of my pants though I couldn't do it, so very majestically I took the wheel, while my companion was trying to cut the thread with a pen. I believe he still controlled the gas, break, and clutch, but could not see the road. Going 120 kmph. It was awesome. Mission!  Anyone who seeks to criticize me for being unsafe please save your time. We were still by far the safest drivers on the road that day. This is Africa after all. 

Hmm, oh yeah. We got transfer news Saturday and Elder Silvester and I are staying for at least another 6 weeks. This is good and bad. At the very earliest the Branch will be back in 6 months to our area. So, basically, we are spending all our time on members. They took the Branch away because they did not know how to run it. So, we have to train them, and more importantly help convert them, so that the stake will allow us to meet in Temba again. So yeah, no baptism for a while haha, but this work is about building the kingdom, not making your mission look flashy. 

It is so very hot here. I have an expression to use to describe it, but on second thought and at the warning of a fellow missionary I decided that y'all would probably just be offended by it. It is funny, what's just fine here is terrible there and vice versa. Weird how that works.

Anyways, I'm out of things to write. 

I love y'all a lot.

Elder McClellan

week 55: some thoughts/ a rant

Let's see here. Yah know, one thing people always say is that the Christmases you spend on a mission will be the best. Hmm. Last Christmas was hard, but this one... this one was amazing. The kindness shown to us was outstanding. I still can't get over the fact that when the members heard we would not have presents, they went out and got presents for 200 missionaries! Sho!

Meet the Mormons (movie) is absolutely outstanding! President Dunn pulled some strings and apparently we were the first group of people in all of Africa to see it haha. Powerful.

The work is going good, we are starting to have more contact with the stake so that we can find out what to do next. Hopefully, if all goes well, by June we will have a group here. Hopefully. That will take about 100 miracles, but it is so very possible. We have no one set to get baptized. 95% of our work is with the members.

We have a less-active young man that comes out with us by the name of Washington. This dude is great! I've been here like 8 or 9 weeks now, and the change in him has been amazing! He has begun teaching at lessons and, wow, does it make a difference. The other day this black dude was being a fool and asked Washi "Do you really believe we all come from Adam and Eve?" To which he responded "Well, God said it." I think you kind of had to be there and know him to understand the significance of that statement, but his faith is skyrocketing and it is amazing to see.

So, last night when we got home  I was... annoyed to say the least. And when I'm aggravated I write. So what I wrote will just have to work as the spiritual thought for the day because I had no time to make anything else.

Please allow for grammatical and spelling errors. I have 20 minutes to type all this haha.

Driving down the road, a quick search of google, or a brief moment of concentration, will reveal to anyone with faith and a brain that the world is facing a fairly serious problem. Christianity is failing to be of "one mind" (Phillipians 1:27) as admonished countless times in holy writ. Many wonder why unity within belief systems based upon Christ matters. Matthew 7:13-14 is pretty clear in explaining why disunity will be a pitfall and a stumbling block for millions. In main stream Christianity is the path not broad? Is it not acceptable, even common practice, to ignore entire principals of the gospel for the sake of ease and convenience?  Are there not millions who think that simply being "born again" is a free pass through those great and pearly gates? How is it that we have come to consider Christ as a lenient and flexible God? Is He not the one who taught that the very though of transgression is in and of itself a sin? (Matthew 5:27-28.)

In our day there are thousands of creeds and denominations who profess the sacred name of Christ and put forth tampered ideology for the sake of popularity. Don't believe me? Consider this:  it is very clear throughout all of the scriptures that homosexuality is a very abominable sin (Genesis 18:19, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:27.) But what are thousands of denominations doing today? They are accepting, and in some cases, even supporting it because it is now the "cool thing" to do. They fail to do what Christ wants, because they prefer what popular conception wants. They would rather be revered for desecrating the name of Him who they claim to profess than suffer the persecutions of the world. Even the Catholic Church, an institution that used to follow the death penalty protocol outlined in Leviticus, is now showing signs of leniency upon the issue. Just what are these people playing at? Because their actions show quite plainly that they do not seek to progress the work of Christ. (If anyone has a problem with what I have said regarding homosexuality take it up with God not me, they are not my commandments.)

Christ himself has declared "For I am the Lord, I change not" (Malachi 3:6.) Just as the Creator does not change, neither do His commandments nor doctrines. The tides and pulls of the world may effect the desire of common ideology, but now and forever truth will remain truth. Commandments will remain in place and the consequences of transgression will remain in force.

Any church, organization, or creed who fails to uphold the basic doctrines of the gospel is not only a false imitation of a Christian organization, but it is steadfastly leading its followers into the grasp of Satan. Ironic eh? People seeking to follow Christ are actually being led away by those who profess His name and "doctrines."  (If anyone is already offended stop reading now, this is a rant, and by nature it will only get worse. However, if you have an open heart, there just may be a lot to learn from this.)

If we seek to make our faith in Christ convenient by choosing what commandments to follow and aligning ourselves with the popular dictates of men we will fall by the way. If we place our love of man above our love of God the "mists of darkness" (1 Nephi 8:23) will overtake us and the "strait and narrow path" (1 Nephi 8:20) leading to eternal life will be shrouded from our eyes.

Ephesians 4:5 states "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." Who is our one Lord? Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior of the world. Simple... right? One faith? As defined, in one sense (and the only sense that happens to make sense in this context), is a system or set of beliefs. So there is one set of beliefs. Simple... right? One baptism. We are to be baptized in the same manor as the Savior, for was He not the perfect example. Simple...right? But... are there not those who profess that Christ is a spirit? And others who explain Christ possesses a body? Are these descriptions of different Christs? Now, there are those who say that these "little" details are of no consequence because we all pray to God. But if we all pray to different forms of the "same" God, wouldn't they in fact be individual forms of different gods?   (Please note, this could be rewritten in the context of faith or baptism. There is no unity.) Let us for just one moment consider peaches and plums. Both are fruits, and in some ways you can argue that that are the same. Both are soft, both are juicy, and both have soft skin. Yet, the fact remains that peaches are not plums, nor are plums peaches. These two objects in question are fairly similar, but it would be futile to attempt and prove they are unified. So, if two objects being similar are not the same, how could two thought processes based upon the Savior, being diametrically opposed, converge on solid ground? It does not work. It can not work. It will not work.

You see, the world has placed before us a very broad path. The world teaches that any and all beliefs are fine to believe. However, last time I checked, all rational and capable human beings are desiring the strait and narrow path to heaven, not the broad path the hell. Some may ask, where is the common ground? Quite simply, there is none. A principal of religion is either correct or false. There is no meeting half way, there is no conforming to popular vote. Truth is truth, and those who fail to accept it (not find it) will have eon after eon to consider the source of their downfall and the reason for their eternal imprisonment. At this time it is not my goal to teach truth, but to establish the need for it. Which, I suppose, in and of itself is in fact truth. Funny how that works.

Looking back on the past there are quite a few highlights in my existence. Few remain in my mind as vividly as the first time I saw the Pacific Ocean on the coast of Washington. I remember the overcast sky, the cool wind blowing in off the great deep, and the sand between my toes. I am by no means an oceanographer, but one thing I did notice was the reality of tides and waves. Let us for a moment consider that the tides represent the world's opinion, that the shore represents the percentage of true doctrines understood, and the waves are the revelation coming from Heavenly Father.

With the times, the tides will rise and fall due to the forces of gravity. (Let's substitute gravity in this case for the influence of Satan.) What once was abhorred eventually becomes esteemed. What once was a hidden appetite will burst forth and become the next rage. As a whole, humanity is so very willing to change, conform and contort. What we fail to realize is, while a loss of morality constitutes for a gain of popularity in this world, where does it leave us in the world to come? Why is it that a life based upon principal and faith draws the finger of scorn? Well, I can very well tell you that does not come from the influence of the Father.  Most choose to conform for fear of standing alone. Most fake what they cannot make. For example, in the early stages the Catholic church (the ultimate source of all but a handful of churches) would hold councils and allow for learned men to decide points of doctrine. A show of this is December 25th. Who decided what day Christ was born? Show me the day in the scriptures and I will give you a cookie. Here is a lesson of the Jewish calendar at the time of Christ - there were 12 months, in order they are: Nisan, Iyar, Siwan, Tammuz, Ab, Elul, Tishri, Markhesewan, Kislew, Teboth, Shebot, and Adar. Each month consisted of 29-30 days. Fairly similar to our calendar right? In a civil aspect Tishri was the first month, from a religious stand point Nisan was the first month. Since we are considering spiritual matters, we shall assume the spiritual calendar as we move forward. Let us read Luke 1:26. It says that the conception of Christ took place in the sixth month. So add on 9 months and that takes us from Elul to Siwan, which on our modern calendar corresponds to April and May. My intent is not to discredit Christmas (in fact the day matters not, for we do not worship the day, but we worship Christ, so really shouldn't every day be Christmas?) but to show the whole cloth from which 95% of Christianity has been created from.

That, however, is just food for thought. Do we now see how many doctrines are not rooted in scripture or revelation? Many common beliefs today are the ideas of men, mingled with and supported by scripture when and where it fits.

Now, back to tides and waves. At different times, due to tides (opinions) the amount of shore (true doctrine) being displayed in common Christian belief sways. It changes, it is flexible.  Would not the only safe place be on the dry ground? Would that not be the only place that the shore is not changing? So, the only safe place in Christianity is the one that presents 100% true doctrine. Makes sense right?  But what of waves? How can they effect us? Waves can only "make" us wet if we are on the dry ground. So, we already have 100% true doctrine under our belt, how can waves effect us? Well, when I'm dry, 99% of the time I wish to stay that way. So, If a wave is coming, will I not back up out of its reach? The revelation sent forth from God can take us from good to better. While certain doctrines are necessary for gaining salvation, others are about wants and desires. So, If we are on solid ground, can not God make us just a bit better by sending some revelation our way?

I'm having to cut parts out because I just do not have time. Truth is eternal. Truth burns bright. Truth lines the way back to our Father in Heaven. Many claim it is fine to believe what you wish. Many claim that left or right, whichever you choose you will be fine. But the truth of the matter is that only truth will carry you safely to the end. False concepts lead to eternal damnation, while truth leads to eternal life.

It is the job of each and every one of us to find the truth and cling to it.  If we fail to do that, we fail in our purpose in coming to earth. We are to carry the standard of Christ forth, not cling to the beliefs of our pastors. So maybe, just maybe, this year we can be a bit more self-sufficient in our pursuit of happiness. For it is what we know, not what our pastor teaches us, that will get us back to that God who gave us life.

Any-who, had to delete  a lot of my thoughts just because of time. That's what I got. Sorry for the spots of inadequate explanation, the time really is a killer. Love y'all.

Elder McClellan

Merry Christmas!

Thank you so much for trying so hard to send me something haha, hopefully the message I'll share later in this will make you see that all is well.

Lets see, this week was slow. The car was in the shop for 4 days and we were unable to get  to the area. That wasn't fun. 

Alright, here is a message for y'all from things I've been thinking about.

Throughout the centuries preceding the coming of the Savior, heavenly messengers were proclaiming His soon to occur arrival and explaining the signs that would usher in his coming. My favorite prophecy of the coming of Christ is the following - Micah 5:2, "But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

This scripture speaks of a ruler who shall come forth from Bethlehem against the odds, be of the tribe of Judah, and will be of eternal significance. The simple and eloquent language of Micah is astounding and from it we can learn dozens of different things about the Savior, but for the time being we will move on from this scripture and come back to it later on.

The prophets of old knew of the reality of the Savior and many wore out there life in the purpose of sharing their testimony with their fellowmen. Nephi, (a book of mormon prophet) had a particularly vivid vision of the conception and birth of Christ. His words are as follows. "And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the great city of Jerusalem, and also other cities. And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white. And it came to pass that I saw the heavens open; and an angel came down and stood before me; and he said unto me: Nephi, what beholdest thou? And I said unto him: A virgin, most beautiful and fair above all other virgins. And he said unto me: Knowest thou the condescension of God? And I said unto him: I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things. And he said unto me: Behold, the virgin whom thou seest is the mother of the Son of God, after the manner of the flesh. And it came to pass that I beheld that she was carried away in the Spirit; and after she had been carried away in the Spirit for the space of a time the angel spake unto me, saying: Look! And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms. And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father! Knowest thou the meaning of the tree which thy father saw? And I answered him, saying: Yea, it is the love of God, which sheddeth itself abroad in the hearts of the children of men; wherefore, it is the most desirable above all things. And he spake unto me, saying: Yea, and the most joyous to the soul. And after he had said these words, he said unto me: Look! And I looked, and I beheld the Son of God going forth among the children of men; and I saw many fall down at his feet and worship him."

So far, Micah has taught us of the antemortal existence of Christ, and Nephi has explained to us how it is that He will enter the world and gain a body, but the thing most people don't quite understand is to what end was He born? What has His purpose? In Micah He is described as the Ruler of Israel, in countless other scriptures He is said to be the One to destroy the enemy of the kingdom, and unfortunately for the millions of Jews alive at His birth these are commonly misunderstood. His purpose is started quite clearly in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."

His purpose is quite clear. He was born to atone for our flawed existence. Because we choose to not do what we are told, a perfect being had to enter the world and offer Himself as a ransom for our sins. Now back to Micah, we know that at some point in the premortal existence Christ was chosen by the Father to be our Savior. So, Christ has now being given His mission. To atone for us. Thousands of years before He even came to earth he was fully away of what his life would be like. Isaiah 53, "Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

What kind of man, left with thousands of years to ponder the cruelties of their mortal existence, would press forward and carry on with the plan to redeem God's children? Well, a man with perfect love would. Christ chose to be born into this twisted world, in perhaps the most humble setting imaginable, because He loves us. Unfortunately, in the main stream, Christmas has turned into more of a commercial holiday rather than a day to reverence the Only Begotten. But does it have to be so? How would our Christmas change if we made it about the first gift rather then the ones currently under the tree? If we could just remember that the first gift was not wrapped, it did not have a bow, or fancy lights, but was born into a stable. Wrapped in swaddling cloth and placed in a manger came the first gift of Christmas into the world. Would a remembrance of that not bring back the true spirit of Christmas?

I can honestly say, this will be the first Christmas of my life in which there is not a single present to unwrap. There will be no fancy dinner or elaborate family activities. Heck, I'll be surprised if anyone other than a missionary will even make mention to show that this day is set apart from others. But I am absolutely positive that this Christmas will surpass the others by far; for it will be the spirit of Christ I am enjoying, not the spirit of our modern day "Christmas."

Please do not mistake me, I'm not condemning those who are going to give or receive presents. My thought actually is that giving should be our focus of the day. "And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. Behold, ye have called me your king; and if I, whom ye call your king, do labor to serve you, then ought not ye to labor to serve one another? And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!"

Being the celebration of Christ's birth, would it not be wise that we exert a bit of effort giving Him a gift? Fortunately for us, for the Babe of Bethlehem is no longer accepting gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. All He asks is for a willing body and a humble heart. Would serving Him not be the best gift we could give Him this Christmas? Would it not be the best gift we could give Him each and every day?

The first gift of Christmas is a gift that keeps on giving, so why should our show of appreciation ever cease? There are many who proclaim to follow the Christ, but blaspheme before Him by their actions. If faith without actions is dead, should we not choose to be doers of the word? (James 1 and 3). Christmas should not be a question of "what am I going to get?" It should be a question of "do I have enough to give?"

Though it was far from perfect this past year has been the best of my life. I'm not sure life has ever been harder, but I sure know that nothing yet left me in a state of ecstasy as serving the Lord has.

Love, Elder Kelly McClellan

week 53: a few stories

Alright, well basically to answer your question, this is how Africans in my area celebrate Christmas:

Step 1) Spend all your money on booze instead of food (in two weeks they will start begging for money for food) 

Step 2) Go to a rally point (such as a family members house)

Step 3) Drink as much as you can

Step 4) Be a terrible person. 

That is Christmas in Africa. That is why we don't go out into the area haha. 

I told you last week that I was going to send you a spiritual thought, and I totally was. But someone just stole my Preach My Gospel book out of my backpack, so that thought is lost. Sorry... maybe next week. This week was crazy haha. So first I want to start with a few stories. 

Friday I heard tale of a kidnapping. So of course I pursued this, and found out that earlier in the week a group of Totsies (gangsters) kidnapped two Elders (I don't know either well) and dun tossed them in the boot (trunk of the car.) Long story short, after racing around the streets the thugs rolled their car, with the Elders still in the boot. Basically, the Totsies got all messed up, and the Elders opened the trunk after the crash and walked away. Powerful or what? 

Tale 2: This happened a few months ago, but nevertheless, it is still amazing. Two of my buddies went into a teaching appointment, and when they came back they discovered their car had been fire bombed. Crazy, but even crazier still is the fact that every single Book of Mormon in the car was fine. The covers and pages were completely fine, while the rest of the car was just a metal husk. Powerful. 

Also, those are both true stories, not your typical "Mormon myth." I heard one from the Area President, and the other I saw with my own eyes. 

Tale 3:

Alright, so I'm in Africa right? Well, as is to be expected, it is a bit ghetto at times. In my area it is ghetto all the time, because it is just a mixture of townships and villages. So Saturday we were tracking down a contact when there was suddenly a puddle in the road. No big deal right? Well, what was 2 inches deep where we checked was about a foot deep 3 feet further. Never the less, the Toyo did us proud and made it through. However, the grass is not always greener on the other side; we rounded the bend just to discover a fetching swap covering the road. Choices: go back and get stuck (we would not be able to get the speed up to make it through), or go forward and maybe make it. So, we pressed forward. My comp checked it out and pointed out the solid parts of ground. We made it to about three feet from the solid road - again, bam! The ground underneath the front left tire that looked completely solid gave way and we were stuck. The mud nearly covered the tire. I was more than sad at this turn of events haha. After a quick prayer we set out to get it unstuck. In the process I ruined 1 pair of pants and my shoes still smell like that blasted infernal mud. Basically we rocked and pushed the car out of the swap. But I am not sure how. Like, wow it was stuck. Pretty sure we had some assistance of the Heavenly type. The Africans just watched. They were all waiting for us to leave the car and go for help so they could rob it. Ha, we showed them.

(The mud we got stuck in. Powerful.

You cant really tell how swampy it is from this picture.)

Let's see here, now that the tales of the week have been shared, let's move on the the climax. We had mission tour! Elder Cook of the 1st Quorum of the Seventy came and taught us. It had three parts to it:

1) This is what you're failing at

2) This is what you need to do

3) Then a security briefing (I feel like this was due to the kidnapping)

It was awesome! I even took notes, unfortunately they were in the Preach My Gospel that was just stolen... so ... yeah. Can't share those either.

Saturday night we got a text message at 8. We were giving talks the next day. Gosh dang it.  I chose to talk on Page 7 of Preach My Gospel - the foundation of faith. That's what I was going to share today... but yeah. They were powerful talks! All four of us missionaries spoke, and people actually paid attention. I was totally preaching fire and brimstone up there. Totally shambocked those with weak testimonies and then proceeded to tell everyone that they had no excuse for not reading the scriptures every day. It was powerful, I got about a million hugs and hand shakes afterwards. People dun loved it. The Spirit was strong. Then I had literally 15 seconds warning for teaching Gospel Principals. Oh well, I'm pretty sure a year ago I would have died in that situation. Improvement and progression? 

On the downside that one health problem that I had for that time has come back, so I've been sick a bit lately. Sick every morning. Sick when there isn't food to eat. Annoying, but oh well. Worse things have happened. 

But anywho, I'm going to go email President and ask him to get us a Backie. Have a good week.

Love, Elder McClellan