Preparing for Last Zone Conference . . .

December 28, 2014

Dear Family,

It was great to be able to Skype with you on Christmas. I think I wasn’t used to having such good reception on the video or the audio J. We have zone conference tomorrow and that should be exciting. It's my last one so I want it to be nice.

I'm also trying to lose weight and get myself back into basketball shape because wherever i go when i come home i want to walk on...maybe at uvu. We are also trying to plan something out for new years eve so that everyone can be together so we'll see how that turns out.

I love you all!

Elder Sean McEwan

True Meaning of Christmas . . .

December 22, 2014

Hey everyone just wanted to drop a christmas greeting to everyone and I hope that all is going well. We are all very excited for the holidays today actually we are having our zone christmas party and I had one heck of a time trying to get the menu and program and everything set up (all of that was changed multiple times by multiple people) and we are so excited!!

At this time of year I'm reminded of just how lucky and blessed I am that I've met the people that I have not just there in America but here in micronesia as well. I've met people from around the world I feel like and I love everyone single person that I've met through my years. I'm 21 right now and I've been thinking about how lucky I am to have gone through what I've gone through. The last 3 years or so have been the hardest I've ever gone through and I've considered giving up multiple times and yet there is still something within me that says to push on. Even though this is my second (and last christmas) I've been really stressed lately with trying to plan out our dinner and the calls and all that especially now that I'm the senior companion. But today I had the realization: this time of the year is good to have celebrations and greetings and all that but the big thing to remember is the birth of our Savior and even though I'm still thousands of miles away from the ones I love this year, Christmas will still be good.

I found this story earlier and wanted to share it with everyone. And for everyone that may not be able to spend time with family this time of year, know that we are all together if we remember our Savior Jesus Christ. I Hope this all finds everyone doing well and Merry Christmas!!

Love always,

Elder Sean McEwan

Christmas in St. Petersburg

by Elder Greg Nelson Russia St. Petersburg Mission

It was Christmas Eve around the world, but just another frosty December night in St. Petersburg, Russia. This country celebrated no such holiday.

Our zone had just presented a Christmas program in the huge Kazanski Cathedral, where we sang Christmas songs and read from the book of Luke. It seemed as if our words and notes drifted up to the lofty ceiling and were swallowed by the darkness. But the sparse audience, mostly members and investigators, had partaken of the Spirit.

Our missionary work hadn’t been going well. People didn’t want to listen to two humble young men give them a message of redeeming love. Perhaps because of my discouragement, the Christmas celebration planned for later that evening didn’t hold much appeal for me.

My boots kicked up some new fallen snow and I shoved my bare hands deeper into my pockets. My gloves had been misplaced at a hotel a few days earlier. In this country, you don’t just walk into a store and buy gloves. You need to search.

Suddenly, Elder Redd sat down on a bench in the small park in front of the cathedral. I thought, Oh, now what? I just want to go home where it’s warmer.

Home was not the right thing to think about. It brought a flood of memories I really didn’t want to ponder right then. This was my first Christmas away, and I was feeling down. Where were all the decorations and the hustle and bustle of the holiday season? What about stockings, Christmas trees, and nativity scenes?

We hadn’t been able to get through to the international operator, so it looked as if I couldn’t make my phone call home either.

Tears welled in my eyes. I turned around so my back was to the wind. As I faced the cathedral, everything began to grow quiet. I looked at the majestic structure in front of me, bathed in pale, green light. The stars above were pin dots on a black shade, radiating calmness and peace.

“Silent night, holy night; all is calm, all is bright. …” The phrases softly entered my mind and drifted in whispers from my lips. “Sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.” Elder Redd heard me and joined in a little bit louder. There was a feeling of reverence.

As we sang the second and third verses, a warm realization came to me. The joy, happiness, and peace at Christmas come from within. The material things and outward symbols of celebration bring sweet feelings, but only for a short moment.

Instantly, the thought of sharing Christmas with the other elders became appealing. It would be a gathering of friendship and love. We missionaries all needed to strengthen each other.

Christmas is what you make of it. It doesn’t matter if you’re with family and friends or halfway around the world. The real gifts at Christmastime are the fruits of the Spirit. Paul said, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith” (Gal. 5:22). Could one ask for anything more during the celebration of Christ’s birth?

Changes in Companionships . . .

December 14, 2014

Dear Family :)

Thank you for the packages that you sent us! We started the 12 days of christmas with elder afualo. Funny thing is that we had transfers last night (suprising) and...Elder afualo and I broke up. We are no longer zone leaders togther he is going down to the south of Guam (merizo) and I'll still be here with my new companion Elder Matalolo. He is also samoan speaks pohnpeian and loves football and rugby. He's been out for a little over a year now and I'm very excited to be working with him.

I remembered that this is one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE stories to read around Christmas time and thought I'd share it with everyone…

“Years ago there was a little one-room schoolhouse in the mountains of Virginia where the boys were so rough that no teacher had been able to handle them.

“A young, inexperienced teacher applied, and the old director scanned him and asked: ‘Young fellow, do you know that you are asking for an awful beating? Every teacher that we have had here for years has had to take one.’

“‘I will risk it,’ he replied.

“The first day of school came, and the teacher appeared for duty. One big fellow named Tom whispered: ‘I won’t need any help with this one. I can lick him myself.’

“The teacher said, ‘Good morning, boys, we have come to conduct school.’ They yelled and made fun at the top of their voices. ‘Now, I want a good school, but I confess that I do not know how unless you help me. Suppose we have a few rules. You tell me, and I will write them on the blackboard.’

“One fellow yelled, ‘No stealing!’ Another yelled, ‘On time.’ Finally, ten rules appeared on the blackboard.

“‘Now,’ said the teacher, ‘a law is not good unless there is a penalty attached. What shall we do with one who breaks the rules?’

“‘Beat him across the back ten times without his coat on,’ came the response from the class.

“‘That is pretty severe, boys. Are you sure that you are ready to stand by it?’ Another yelled, ‘I second the motion,’ and the teacher said, ‘All right, we will live by them! Class, come to order!’

“In a day or so, ‘Big Tom’ found that his lunch had been stolen. The thief was located—a little hungry fellow, about ten years old. ‘We have found the thief and he must be punished according to your rule—ten stripes across the back. Jim, come up here!’ the teacher said.

“The little fellow, trembling, came up slowly with a big coat fastened up to his neck and pleaded, ‘Teacher, you can lick me as hard as you like, but please, don’t take my coat off!’

“‘Take your coat off,’ the teacher said. ‘You helped make the rules!’

“‘Oh, teacher, don’t make me!’ He began to unbutton, and what did the teacher see? The boy had no shirt on, and revealed a bony little crippled body.

“‘How can I whip this child?’ he thought. ‘But I must, I must do something if I am to keep this school.’ Everything was quiet as death.

“‘How come you aren’t wearing a shirt, Jim?’

“He replied, ‘My father died and my mother is very poor. I have only one shirt and she is washing it today, and I wore my brother’s big coat to keep me warm.’

“The teacher, with rod in hand, hesitated. Just then ‘Big Tom’ jumped to his feet and said, ‘Teacher, if you don’t object, I will take Jim’s licking for him.’

“‘Very well, there is a certain law that one can become a substitute for another. Are you all agreed?’

“Off came Tom’s coat, and after five strokes the rod broke! The teacher bowed his head in his hands and thought, ‘How can I finish this awful task?’ Then he heard the class sobbing, and what did he see? Little Jim had reached up and caught Tom with both arms around his neck. ‘Tom, I’m sorry that I stole your lunch, but I was awful hungry. Tom, I will love you till I die for taking my licking for me! Yes, I will love you forever!’”

To lift a phrase from this simple story, Jesus, my Redeemer, has taken “my licking for me” and yours for you. Declared the prophet Isaiah: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: …

“… 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” (Isa. 53:4–5).

This is the wondrous and true story of Christmas. The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem of Judea is preface. The three-year ministry of the Master is prologue. The magnificent substance of the story is His sacrifice, the totally selfless act of dying in pain on the cross of Calvary to atone for the sins of all of us.

I love you!! Thanks for all you do!!

Elder Sean McEwan

p.s. Haven't shipped stuff yet but I'll try to do that today or this week we are just really busy right now.. Not sure yet when I'm going to be calling but I'll let you know :)

Lessons and Blessings . . .

December 8, 2014

Dear Family,

Thank you so much for the update on what everyone is doing back home. It's good that life is treating you well. Right now we are clossing on the year and we just had our Stake conference here in Guam yesterday (had about 400-500 attendance) and everything is going super well.

Dinner with Elder and Sister Martin, Elder Kata,
Elder McEwan, and Elder Afualo

We have a new investigator family (they're chuukese my most favorite people in the world) and they've been taught by missionaries before but never really made any progress towards baptism. So yesterday I went and met with them and taught them the restoration and suprisingly they remembered a lot of it. That was probably one of the best lessons that I have ever been a part of, and the spirit was so strong that wehen they were asked to commit to baptism they all said yes (about 5 of them). It was such a good lesson and I absolutely love this family.

Last week we were called by a member to help them move out their neighbors who were being evicted from their homes on Saturday. So we all went over and started packing and moving and all that. Then after about 1-1 and 1/2 hours a couple came up and said that they didn't have to move out and that they could stay. Needless to say they were relieved and so were we. But the real miracle happend yesterday. THe member lady who called us pulled me aside before the stake conference and told me that one of the guys was coming to church and if I wouldn't mind sitting by them to assist in translating (he is chuukese). So when the guy got here I talked with him and he said he just felt so much love out of us helping him and his family on saturday that he wanted to come to church and be a part of it. I was blown away and grateful for the things that this gospel has taught me through the last two years. I know that there are things I've learned here that I couldn't learn anywhere else. I'm so grateful and blessed to be a part of this work.

I hope this finds you all well Happy Holidays from all of us here in the Micronesia Guam Mission!!

Elder Sean McEwan

December 2014 Leadership Conference . . .

We have Leadership Conference once a month to be taught by President and Sister Zarbock as well as others in the mission. It's always great to be together with all of us as well as to learn MANY things that will not only help us to be better missionaries and servants of the Lord on our missions but also throughout our entire lives.

Always learning . . .

and singing . . .

and singing some more!

Learning from and teaching each other

My MTC Companion, Elder Vause, preparing to return home from the MGM

Sister Zarbock makes a wonderful meal -- as usual :)

Guam Leadership of Zone Leaders -- Elders and Sisters

5th Sunday Service . . .

For the 5th Sunday of each month, the missionaries have the opportunity of setting up the chairs for church. Always serving and helping those they love.

Pictures from our Thanksgiving Dinner . . .

Love to see these happy Elders! What a wonderful site they are :)

We are always grateful to Elder and Sister Martin (senior couple on Guam) and President Zarbock for sharing pictures of the happenings on Guam as well as the MGM as a whole.

Lots of food . . .

and desserts!

Elder Afualo and Elder McEwan relaxing after Thanksgiving Dinner

Everyone cleaning the church after Thanksgiving. Who needs a janitors when you've got MGM Elders :)

Thanksgiving Miracle through Obedience . . .

November 30, 2014

Dear Family,

Right now things are going really well for me here in Micronesia and I am loving every second of it. We just concluded November in which we had about 45 or 46 baptisms which brings us up to like 700 something for the year and we are all so excited because at the beginning of this year we set the goal of 1000 baptisms for the misiion this year and we are looking forward to what the next few weeks will bring.

We had a great Thanksgiving with lots and LOTS of food! It was a great day :).

ONe HUGE miracle that we saw hapened last week. A little backstory though. With last Thursday being Thanksgiving of course the stake here in Guam wanted to do a turkey bowl..and they wanted the missionaries to come play with them. So me and my companion elder afualo talked about it and we talked with our president and with the district leaders and we decided that it would be a good thing. Then some confusion and contention rose and we decided that we wouldnot play on thursday and simlply go out teaching. Well on that particular thursday we were running around trying to help get everything ready for the missionary dinner that night and elder afualo had the impression to go see a part member family that we hadn't seen in a while. The two kids Ethan and Demitrah are baptized and we have been praying and trying to hlep the rest of the family to prepare for baptism but because of work and not having a car they have not been to church in a while. Needless to say I was a little doubtful but thought okay it's thanksgiving. So we stopped by and were talking with them when the dad says we got a car.. We both stopped for a second an d were like What? Yeah come he said. So we followed him behind their apartmen and there was a brand tnew car parked outside. He told us thw whole story of how they had to pay no money down no proof of employment no nothing and the lady basically gave them the car. We were both speechless and after talking with him we got in our car and drove to the church. As we were driving elder afualo looked at me and said this is a miracle..and it happend because we were obedient today.

How true that statement was and is for all of us. The Lord wishes to bless each and everyone of us with miracles but he asks for us to be obedient to Him first. I don't know what would've happend had we all gone to that football game but I do know that that specific miracle would not have happend and we would've missed it.

Just wanted to share that with you this week. I hope all is going well in your life and I hope to hear from you soon.

Elder McEwan and Elder Afualo preparing to teach for a moment

Lots of love and prayers,

Elder Sean McEwan

Short but Sweet . . .

November 23, 2014

Hello All –

Everything is going well :) I'll send a letter along with those pictures :) I love you all just trying to work hard. Yeah, I know who the Hague family is. They are super good in the ward here. They have a lot of girls!!! I don’t know who teaches them but I’ll make sure that they are taken care of.

I was just thinking if wouuld be possible for you to send me some of my contact lenses things here in Guam are a lot cleaner tahn in chuuk and I get bored wearing my glasses all the time. Also some of my proactiv stuff and some pictures.

Thanks and I love you!!

Elder MCEwan

Charity & Humility Bring Happiness . . .

November 16, 2014

Hey Family-

So this is going to be short but this week was really good for us :) well actually we had no investigators come to church yesterday, we are still trying to help the investigators to progress, the bishop called us out yestrday for not having had baptisms for a while, and I've just felt super stressed out...but on the bright side, we had an aweseom exchange with the elders down in the southern part of the issland (merizo) and I found the oldest son of my branch president from Mechetiw, we also went on splits with our members Joe and Rico, that guy Joshua (if you remember him) he says he really wants to be baptized and seems to really be trying right now, not to mention Elder Afualo and I also just finished up our second to last zone meeting together last tuesday, and this week on Thursday we are going with President and Sister Zarbock to an interfaith dinner with all the different religious leaders and such here in Guam :D Honestly we had a really fun week, and I learned a ton. I'm really trying to work on being more charitable and humble and seriously it has made all the difference in the world for me. I feel happier than I have felt in a long time, and I'm really trying to not let things bother me that aren't taht important.

We are both doing good, Afualo and I. We just found a whole bunch of Pohnpeian and Chuukese investigators in Harmon and one of the the families that we are going to start teaching is the brother of Richard Kuss (a member that I worked with in Romalum whom I love very much) and I'm super excited. They seem really open to us and really nice people, I'm really pumped to go and see them this week.

Man, this week has really opened my eyes to just what type of person that I can become (that's something else I'm trying to work on is seeing the potential not the current) and it has truly helped me to learn and grow. I'm so gratedful for this time that I have to be a missionary and to be here with these wonderful people. I love this work, I love these ilsands, I love my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and I know now that they love me.

I hope this finds everyone doing well and loving life. Thanks for keeping me and the Micronesians in your prayers :D

Love always,

Elder McEwan

Lots and Lots of Finding . . .

November 9, 2014

Dear Family,

We just had transfers and I’m still here in Guam, serving as a zone leader and I love my area.

Right now we are doing lots of finding as we have quite a few referrals and as a result of that we have found lots of new potential investigators. We’re not teaching as much as we are finding so it’s been kind of slow. We have Am and Marlin (married), Shaniah, Merlinta, Happy Sokono, Mayann and Retipo (married), Roger (less active chuukese guy), Joshua and Ralphie (best friends), and...I think taht's about everyone taht we are really working with rightnow. I really apreciate you guys praying for our investigators and for those we are working with it really means a lot.

We've got thanksgiving coming up soon, as well as about 5 or 6 baptisms this weekend.

I'm doing well, just loving being around these awesome beautiful people. I've really enjoyed serving here in Micronesia and I love this work.

Mom, thank you for those recipes! Also, thank you for helping me to get college stuff straightened out. It really takes a lot of stress off of me.

I’m so thankful that I chose to serve a mission and take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. I know I have changed and grown so much ;). I don't want to go back to the guy I was before I left, but I'm grateful that I knew him ;D!

Love and prayers to you all,

Elder McEwan

Halloween/Harvest Party in Barrigada . . .

More pictures from the Barrigada Halloween/Harvest Party ~ The Pie Eating Contest was definitely a BIG hit!! :)

Brother Hague really got into the "spirit" of the pie eating contest

1st and 2nd Place Winners of the Pie Eating Contest

Senior Couples and a member

Sister Davis preparing in the kitchen

Working Hard in Harmon . . .

November 2, 2014

Hey Family!!

We had kind of a slow week, but super great learning days!!

Hey how was Halloween? You know, no one asked us if we were wearing costumes which i thought was kind of surprising!! We had a great Harvest/Halloween party with the Barrigada Ward. Good job on doing all those lifts, we are going to have fun when I come home!! How are your classes?

Bishop Davis and Barrigada Ward members

Things are going really well with me right now, we are just super busy helping with transfers and zone leader meetings and all that we have to do, but I'm hanging in there!! How was the party? Who is your quorum advisor again? Man, keep working hard and doing what's right!! I'm so proud of you little man!!

So two doctors for Halloween – Dr. Parker and Dr. Dylan?? Nice!! HOw was the carnival? What about the football games? Who are your teachers right now, what classes do you have? Still working for the district I see? TRust me, keep working hard and it will help you so much in your mission!! Man, not a whole lot to tell right now, we have just been busy busy busy but I had an experience the other day with a missionary who is coming home early. I just want to tell you to please keep preparing. GO out w/ the elders when you can, do home teaching, read PMG, all that. I love you brother!! Keep working hard and loving life!!

Elder Ladore BEFORE the pie eating contest

Mom, I'm so glad to hear that you are doing okay!! Man, I miss homemade strawberry and raspberry jam, is it too much to ask for that for Christmas/birthday? How's the vinyl business going? Any more big orders? What about this re-charter business? How did that work out? That's awesome that you are staying busy and having fun!! Thanks so much for trying to help me out with college stuff and all that, it really helps to alleviate stress and worry from my mind. Right now, I have this really awesome part member family that we are trying to get back to working with, the Jimmy Retuyan family, and it's been really sad to watch, because when we first started to meet with them they were doing super good but now that light and enthusiasm is fleeing and it just makes me think about my own family and how grateful I am to have the Mom that I do that encouraged scripture reading and family prayer and all the things that we are supposed to do. You are the best Mom in the world!!

So Dad, any luck on "new opportunities" as you put it last week? Any news on the bsktball team? That's so cool that your High Council position is going so well, I know that those men and women are lucky to have someone like you helping and training them. Dad, I don't know why, but I feel like I just need to tell you that I love you. I only want to make you happy and help you, and I look back and feel sad that I couldn't have done better, but I'm very excited for the future and being able to spend more time with you and family that I love. Hahaha I guess it took being thousands of miles away from my family to realize how lucky and blessed I am to have them. I look around and see all these families in the ward that get to go to movies and picnics and do fun family stuff, and I can't help feeling a little jealous but I know that one day I'll be albe to do that with my own family.

The children love to play musical chairs!

I'm doing really well right now, we actually just concluded our monthly Zone Leader/Sister Training Leader meeting last night, and so we are very excited for the direction that the mission is going in right now. We are working super hard right now in Harmon, we are jst super busy with transfers in a few days. I don't think I'll be going anywhere but we'll see...

Right now we are just trying to find new investigators and all that!! Right now, they're super slow!! We set a goal for 22 baptisms last month and found out last night that we only hit 4... We are just trying to help motivate everyone and get everyone excited right now!! We also just found out who the new AP is going to be since the current one, Elder Petersen, goes home this weeek. THe new Ap is Elder Plocher from Chuuk, I've known him my whole mission. He's super good and I'm really excited to be working with him. That's the news from me this week!!

I love you all so much!! Everyone please know that I pray for you all and want everyone to know that I'm okay and that this Church is true!!

Elder Sean McEwan

p.s. Hey Mom will you get email addresses from Brad Graham and Steve Buffo? I just want to start talking with them about options, specifically Brad so that I can be on time for recertification.

The Work is Good . .

October 26, 2014

Dear McEwan Family--

How are you? We've had a great week so far:)

Super busy week, Dylan!! Man, being a Den Chief, the star quarterback, singing in the choir, all in one week??? You da man!! :) HOw's school going for you? Any news on BYU?? I'm doing really well right now, just trying to help get things done here in Harmon and in the Barrigada ward. I also have a less active friend that I'm trying to help right now, I sent you all an email about it, but he's doing super good, we just need to find him a ride to church and some fellowshippers. I'm also still...skinny, but not a whole lot of muscle, we'll see if that can start to change next month!!

Way to go on taking that test early, Parker!! Trust me, the earlier the better!! HOw'd it go, do you think that you did well?? HOw'd the concert go? HOw is Mr. Bills? I've emailed him a few times but will you just take a minute some time this week and tell him hi for me? That's super funny that you talked about the FOotball game, because Elder Afualo also played for Spanish Fork, so please let me know how we did!! You know, right now we have a 16 year old member coming out with us, EJ Ioanis, from Pohnpei (actually he's from a small outer island of Pohnpei called Pingelap) but he reminds me of you so much!! He's really excited about coming out with the missionaries and I thought about you. Are you still going to mission prep? Still reading from the white handbook? I know that it may seem like a lot right now, but trust me, wehn the time comes, you'll be glad that you prepared!!

Mama, nice to hear that you are still doing vinyl, and that you doing well!! HOw'd the Thankful Thursday go? I'm so glad to hear that everything is going well with the family!! You know, yesterday in Sacrament meeting, there was a talk given by one of our Chuukese members, Sister Frittz, and she talked about the importance of motherhood: Mothers are the caretakers of the home and the guides for the children. They should play with the kids, teach them the gospel and help them learn good behavior and manners. I'm sitting here thinking about it now, and I really wanted to thank you, because you have done all those things for me, and you continue to encourage me to do them!! You are the best Mom ever!!

Hey Dad!!! So first off, WOW!!! 30 people in one FHE at our house? NICE!! How'd the ward party go? Anyone I know in the ward? With all these changes that you keep mentioning, is there talk of maybe you changing as well, or are you looking for somewhere else to go to? Man, I just wanted to share some of my thoughts on a talk yesterday given by one of the counselors in the YM Presidency. He talked about the importance of the priesthood and how part of that is not just thinking that in the family, because the man has the priesthood, that his wife is somehow inferior to him and therefore lives only to do what he says. Rather, they are to serve as equal partners in rearing and teaching their children as well as making important decisions regarding the direction of their family. I put this in here because I wanted to say thank you Dad, for teaching me and helping me to recognize the importance of the priesthood. Lately some experiences that I have been having have helped me to realize and remember all the things that you have taught me.

The work is good, we have tons of Pohnpeian investigators and some potential chuukese investigators, and everything is going really well right now!! We also right now are working with two less actives, Joe and Roger, on helping them to get ready to serve missions of their own. Joe is 23 years old, from American Samoa, and he actually got reactivated yesterday, and he's planning on talking with Bishop Davis soon to start the mission prep process. Roger is 22 years old, from Chuuk, my home island of Romalum, and he has been really good to keep meeting with us. I actually first met Roger in Chuuk, he would drive the boat for all the missionaries and he would even come teaching with us sometimes. He's in Guam right now, but he's kind of sort of been off and on with church, it's just hard because his family and the people that he is staying with don't really attend church that often. BUT!! We are going to start talking with members and taking them with us to go and meet with Roger so that we can strengthen his testimony! Other than that, no baptisms, but the work moves forward and I'm glad to be a part of it!!

Everyone is doing good right now, and Elder Afualo and I are trying to work super hard to find people right now. We are going to meet later this week with one of our investigators who wants to stop meeting with us and find out what's going on.

Hey Mom, will you double check with BYU-I and see what I need to do.  I'm just trying to get as much information as possible so that I can know what to do when I get home. Thank you so much for all you do for me and everyone. I love you so much!

Well, I’ve gotta go. I'm going to go do laundry!! I love you all, and I hope you guys know that I am really grateful for the examples taht YOU have set for me!! I wouldn't be who am I today if it wasn't for you guys!!

Ren tong wachemuk,

Elder Sean McEwan

A Mama Letter . . .

October 19, 2014

Well Mom, I haven't decided yet on what I want to do for college yet...but I will hopefully be able to let you know next week, just everyone pray for me and all that :)

Yes, I did get those postcards, very humbling and funny ;) Thanks for thnking about me even though I'm really bad at writing...

The work in Harmon is giong well right now, we have 3 investigators who will hopefully be baptized in November, a Samoan young man named Ralphie, a 25 year old guy named Joshua (he's from Washington, D.C.) and then Lashawn. She should have been baptized this last weekend but still is having doubts. We are goiing to meet with her this week!!

Everything is good, Elder Afualo and I have had some realy good conversations the last few days. We, along with all the missionaries here in Guam, are teaming with the wards to do Home and Visiting Teaching, so that'll be super fun!!

Other than that, how are you? How was work this week?

I love you Mom, and I wanted to also thank you for the things that you have taught me and showed me how to do. I finally reached a culmination of things last night, and I realized that there are so many dumb little things that I am not doing right now, super easy things taht you taught me on a daily basis. I'm really sorry, that I haven't been the best example, I know that I may have appeared to be, but I want you to know how much I love you and how much I really am looking forward to seeing you again!! You truly are my hero, Mom!! There's a good song that I have lovingly added to my music library right now, about missionaries who credit everything that they do and everything that they are to their moms. It's called "M.O.M" by the Nashville Tribute Band.

I love you so much!!

Elder Sean McEwan

P.S. will you also check up on BYU-I? I just want infromation, just like we did it before. Dates for reg., classes, majors, etc. Thank you!!!

Working with Elder Vause and Listening to the Spirit . . .

October 12, 2014

Dear Family,

Elder McEwan and Elder Afualo Studying

I am doing well!! We just ended Conference weekend, so life is good. It was super cool to hear words from our prophet and other general authorities again, as this was the first time that I got to listen to Conference as a missionary. I’m glad Grandma did well with her knee replacement. I’ll shoot her a message right now. That’s awesome that the rental house by you sold. Please give the guy my email address. I’d love to hear from him and see if we can find his family here.

Things are good, we have a ton of new investigators right now, Pohnpeian and Chuukese. We are still working with Lashawn, she'll be baptized this next Saturday. We are also still working with Jimmy Retuyan, his kids were baptized last month and also we picked up a new friend named Joshua (from Washington) who is super solid and really wants to be baptized and change his life.

MGM Leadership Council

Singing Together

I have a really great spiritual experience to share this week. This last week, all the zone leaders had to stay here because of a typhoon that we all thought was going to hit here in Guam (didn't even do anything). So I was working with Elder Vause (he’s serving in Pohnpei) again, my MTC companion, and we were out teaching and waiting for Elder Afualo to come and pick us up. Elder Vause was hungry so we started walking down to a store close by. While doing so, I had this impression to go back to where Elder Afualo and I had planned to meet up that night. After we reached the store, we headed back and I was still feeling that impression. I didn't know why, and I kept thinking oh man, those elders are there waiting on us. SO we hurried back, and they weren't there yet. I was really confused and a little scared. So I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to show me/tell me why we needed to be there. As I closed the prayer, I had one thought: WAIT. So I did, and then I saw a man pushing his baby in a stroller a little ways away. I said another prayer and asked that I may be allowed to talk to this guy and wouldn't you know it, he started walking down to us. Long and short of things, we ended up talking with him (he was Chuukese) and shared a really powerful message with him about families and the plan of salvation. As we finished talking, I had the most amazing feeling inside, and I know that that was why Heavenly Father told me to hurry back. We will try and meet with this man (Tommy) later on this week.

Elder McEwan and Elder Afualo role playing to better their teaching

I love this work, I love these people, and I love this feeling that I have right now!! I loved General COnference and listening to the words of our living Prophet Thomas S. Monson. I know that he is a prophet of God and that he leads us and loves us today. This work is so true, and I don't want to leave. I love you all!!

With love and prayers,

Elder McEwan

Typhoon Vongfong . . .

So grateful our Heavenly Father was watching over these beautiful islands and calmed the storm . . .

October 5, 2014

Dear Family,

I'm doing great!!  That's awesome that you all are busy, hoped everyone loved conference!!  Haven't seen conference yet, but we will be watching it next week!! Nothing to exciting to report from last week, but as we were starting Mission Leadership COuncil weekend, we found out about a typhoon (Typhoon Vongfong) that was supposed to hit here in Guam yesterday. Woke up this morning, NOTHING!!!! We are going to be finishing up our council tomorrow and then we

will hopefully be getting back to normal.

We are doing well right now, hoping to have a big week and a baptism of a pohnpeian girl named Lashawn Epina, will let you all know how that turns out next week.

I love you all!!

Elder McEwan

Service, Service, Service . . .

October 4, 2014: What a great opportunity to help other islands of the MGM, Service project with the missionaries and the ward members in Barrigada. Organized and boxed hundreds of thousands of books that will be sent to Pohnpei.

Bishop Davis ~ Barrigada Ward

Missionaries and Barrigada Ward members