Staying in Murrieta

I am doing great! Everything is going well and we just had transfers and I found out that I am staying another transfer here in Murrieta! Yay! I love it here! And my companion and I are getting along so, it should be a great 6 more weeks ;) I’m excited! We also had the whole stake get split. Our ward boundaries changed a little bit but it’s good because now we have a little bit of new area to work with. We also have a few new members, so it should be good! We also had a baptism this week, it was a kid that was 8 and got baptized but we taught him and a few of the family members because they are less-active. We thought that maybe the baptism of their son and the missionary lessons would help them a bit, but it seems as though they are stuck in a bit of a routine. It must be hard to get out of it once you have not been going to church for so long. Man I can’t imagine what I would do without the church!

The Doctrine of Christ is so simple really if you think about it. None of us is perfect. When we sin or make mistakes, it brings feelings of guilt and shame into our lives. When we repent and take the sacrament the feelings from the mistakes that we made are removed and our sins are forgotten and forgiven.

Isn’t that easy? I am so thankful, and I feel so blessed that I have the opportunity to be on a mission, and to be so fortunate to truly understand the doctrine of Christ as described in 2 Nephi 31. I think if we, as members of the church, studied that chapter over and over again for years it still wouldn’t be enough. Until you truly understand the concept. It’s so profound yet so simple!

Well have a great week! Love you!

The card says, "Hand Made Duct Tape Chest Camera Mount".

Tyler & Halle Baptism

3/12/12
Hey what’s up y'all! I love the weather here it’s going great! I do like this new area but the ward split is coming. However, I do think that we will be covering the same amount of area, it will just be two wards instead of one. I hope to get a car, but we shall see.

So this week went pretty well! Not a whole lot new happening, but we did have a baptism and confirmation this past Saturday and Sunday! Everything went smoothly. Not a lot of people showed up but it was still great. It was 2 younger kids Tyler and Hallee. I baptized Tyler and confirmed Hallee and my companion did the opposite. It was cool! Oh, so check this out, we had a member of the Seventy come to our ward council and sacrament meeting. Then he taught a bit in Elder’s Quorum/Relief Society. It was really good, the Spirit was super strong. After the meeting, I was talking with him his name was Elder Higham (white hair). I guess I said one word wrong in the confirmation. I said “seal” and only patriarchs and temple sealers “seal”. Then I talked to him about leaving a blessing on someone’s home as a missionary and how full-time missionaries have the authority to use the priesthood to invoke blessings upon homes of people and I thought it was pretty cool so I talked to him about that and like when it’s appropriate. It was really good! That was a really cool experience.

So yeah, that’s my week in a nut shell. Oh, we also got a new investigator. His name is Josh. We shall see how legit it is. We did have a great first lesson though!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Love, Elder McNew

communication is key

2/27/12
Hey how are you all this week?

Hey what’s up? I am doing great this week!

We had a multi-zone conference earlier this week and I learned a lot about how to become a better missionary, and how to better the work in my area! Ever since I got this "special assignment" I have been kind of confused and stressed out, but I think I have it all under control now. Elder Schenk is really a good missionary. I just think that he needs a little direction and some encouragement to be the best that he can be! As some of you know, every week we have a weekly planning session. At the end of your weekly planning session, you conduct what they call “companionship inventory”. Well, this week after the multi-zone I, with the spirit of course, laid down the law basically. We had a really good discussion about how we can work together better and how we can help the work improve! I think that we will definitely be seeing some blessings come as we strive to be obedient and to work together. Communication is the key, I have found, in any relationship!

Also this week, we did a few exchanges with the other missionaries. We had some good things come from it, I felt. We met this lady that was super less-active, and I gave her a talk on being offended, challenged her to read it, and set up a return appointment. Hopefully that goes well. Then I also went on exchanges with Elder Tait. He is from Alpine and he went to school with Jamie Summers at Paradigm in Riverton. We didn’t see a ton of progress in the work but I think we both grew spiritually, our testimonies were strengthened when we had some really good deep conversations about the gospel. It seems like sometimes it’s good to have a good open intelligent communication about things. I don’t know if that makes sense but it’s been a while since I have talked that deeply with someone- it was good!

So that’s about all for this week! Oh, well we also had a baptism but I didn’t really have much to do with the conversion I just gave the interview, filled the font, and made sure everything was good!

Well, I love you all! Have a good week! Talk to you soon!
Love, Elder McNew

Missionary Swap!

2/21/12

Hey what’s up! It’s a great day here in Cali. The sun is shining beautifully.

Okay so this week was pretty good! We did some great work! Unfortunately, my companion was sick so instead of hitting 20 lessons we only got about 13 I think, but that is not bad. We didn’t reach our OYM (people contacted) goal either, but oh well what do you expect when you’re not feeling super well. I also got a nasty little cold thing, but with the help of a ton of vitamins and things I seem to be pretty well over it! :) So this week went pretty well. We have a total of 4 baptisms lined up for this month and the beginning of next. Oh, check this out, so there is this family in our ward, the Kuoha family. They have two kids going on missions. Jake is our age and goes out with us quite often and he also works in the San Diego temple every week! Lucky! He is going to Costa Rica. And, the girl, Brittany she just got her call this week and, guess what? She is going to serve in the Salt Lake City south mission and we were looking at the map of her mission area and Bluffdale is included right in there! Ha crazy huh! I’m in her home town and she is going to mine!

Alright, love you!
Have a good week!

Elder McNew

Baptism of Shelby Campbell

2/13/12
Hey what’s up!?

So this week was pretty interesting! I got in contact with Cindy Pagan (Clegg) (a cousin of mine) and she has a referral for me and we will be having lunch sometime in the future. Her friend is a bit busy with school or work for now but in like a couple weeks we will be making some progress there.

So this area is pretty chill! I like it so far. There are a ton of nice houses, always good food, and chill people so I’m living it up! And I think, believe it or not, I think I lost a little weight! I've been doing more of a work out in the mornings I think. Anyway, it’s going well!

I had a cool experience that I wanted to talk about for a moment: So this week I was kind of stressing out because of the new area and a special assignment and just worries, anxiety, and stuff so I asked my home-share for a blessing. It was awesome, I got my answer! It was so simple. Basically, I just need to turn to the Lord in prayer more. I need to communicate with my companion and I know it doesn’t seem like a lot but it was just something that I looked right over! I was looking for these great words of wisdom when all I really needed was something simple :) By small and simple means, the Lord doth bring about his great and eternal purposes right? Alma. Anyway, so I think that things will be getting better!

I also wanted to include this; it’s what my president said to me when I was trying to figure out exactly what my special assignment is, I hope you don’t think I’m being boastful, I’m just proud of what he said!

Thank you for jumping in and looking for ways to help. I am happy to hear your report on Elder Schenk. I am sure there are some minor things that need slight adjustments. That will be true in all areas. If you are happy with what you find upon going there and can adjust the little things that need a small tweak then I think we will be just great there. I am happy that you are there and picking up the work for us. You're a great missionary. Thank you.

I’m doing pretty well and I can tell that things will be improving and stuff soon!

Oh and I also had the opportunity to go back to Moreno Valley this Saturday for a baptism. Shelby Campbell, a girl that I taught there and then gave to the sister missionaries a little before I left got baptized! It was awesome and I got to see a few people again even though I was not gone for long. It was a very good experience.

We should also be having some baptisms of some people here that we have been teaching coming up pretty soon. There are a couple of kids that we have taught and they should be baptized soon. Kind of cool! Alright, well that’s about all for now!

Love, Elder McNew!
Have a good week!
Love you!

PS. Happy Valentine’s Day (tomorrow)

Special Assignment- transfer to Murrietta

2/8/12
Hey! :)

I am doing great! I am now here in Murrieta! Yes it’s always sad and strange to leave an area and come to a new one; but, Murrieta is what they call the Land of Milk and Honey! I had the opportunity to meet
the bishop and our ward mission leader yesterday (the 7th of Feb.) and they are all about missionary work! My new companion’s name is Elder Schenk and he is a cool kid. He seems to know his stuff pretty well. He
has been out for about 6 months and I think after a couple weeks of getting my bearings back, we should be able to tear it up!

So I was called Saturday morning by our mission president, President Smart. He informed me that I was on a special assignment. From what it looks like, I’m a little confused. I think the missionary that was here before me was "sick" a lot with back problems and from what I can tell right now they were still working as
missionaries, but they just weren’t 100% obedient. I think that they have a lot of what I call “hang out houses”. It’s when missionary go teach less-actives. Not that it’s not missionary work, it’s just not super effective when some missionaries have a hole in their schedule, they go kick it at a members home who is more welcoming to have cool missionaries kick it at their house than less-actives you know? So I think my "special assignment" is to make sure that we don’t waste
time and to make sure that we are being 100% obedient so that the Lord can bless us because this is, from what I have heard, the best area in the mission for member- missionary work, as long as it’s done correctly and effectively.

As for me, I am doing great like I said before, it’s always a little bit of a struggle when I first move to a new area because it’s like relearning everything again and getting used to your surroundings all over again. It always feels weird to move. I
will be fine, it’s usually gone after about two weeks and being the Senior Companion and District Leader always helps too!

Alright, well, that’s about all for this week. I will be sending some
pictures on my USB home so you can see some of my adventures previous to leaving Moreno Valley.

Love. Elder McNew