4.2.18 Week #40 Conference Craze

Well this week has easily been my busiest week of my mission we have gone from appointment to appointment starting in the mornings. My companion now is Elder Motuga he is from California but his family is Samoan he is awesome. So on Monday the other Portuguese Elders got to stay the night with us then on Tuesday Morning we headed off to Kitchener. We had a lesson then a dinner appointment then we had English Class and that pattern stuck through the week.

Its nice to see all of the familiar faces and it is cool that both Elder Motuga and I have served here before so we both know the area pretty well. Unfortunately because we have been so busy we have not been able to do our studies yet or our weekly planning so this upcoming week we need to fit those in. It's nice though to see the change in the area since when I first arrived here the work is hastening we have more tools and are slowly becoming better at doing the Lord's work. One cool tool is that we posted an advertisement on a Brazilian page here in Kitchener and we had 10 Brazilians show up for class and some are interested in learning about the church which is really exciting. Another side effect of being so busy is we have been eating out more because we are not home. One morning we had Tim Hortons for Breakfast and then Poutine for Dinner -- there's a true Canadian meal it's pretty Canadian ehh. 

A fruit from our labors is that we have been finding and meeting with some investigators which is really cool. They are all pretty cool and hopefully will keep progressing. One we met on Wednesday first we helped out at the Bishops storehouse then we headed to our weekly service at the Cambridge food bank which has some pretty desperate people. While there we started talking to a guy, after talking for a little while he told us that he had just called his nephew that morning who is a member to call the missionaries so that he could meet with us and he called the missionaries in Toronto and they told him that we would run into him sometime today. Here is the coolest part we didn't know that he was going to be there and we found him 2nd coolest part as we were walking away we received his referral on our phone. So we have been meeting with him and teaching him. We also have another investigator that we haven't met in person but we have been on the phone teaching him for many hours he is very knowledgeable and honestly I am not sure why he isn't a member if he is not. He knows the Book of Mormon inside and out and has studied it and almost every other part about our church while talking to him he quoted the Pearl of Great Price, Articles of Faith, The Family Proclamation to the World, Doctrine and Covenants, The Book of Mormon, General Conference talks and more. We are almost convince that it is just some Area 70 playing a joke on us but it is sort of cool teaching him because we are both learning and we explain things how we see them and why we have the beliefs we do.

We had the opportunity to go to the temple and it was lots of fun we got to see the other missionaries and it's always a blessing to go through a session. Then Saturday and Sunday we had General Conference. Which was amazing! There was so much that happened at it and we had investigators with us and with all the changes it made it lots of fun. And also a little bit tricky to explain to them when they asked questions of things that we hadn't yet heard about. It's is super exciting to see the hastening of the Lord's work and to see it in action out here in the field. I have been reflecting on all the changes that have been happening since I have been out and there are a lot. I love Elder Hollands comment ;) "What a prophet". Conference was great. It was awesome we had conference in 3 different chapels and then had some drop by appointments with members where it was fun to say hello again and see how they are doing. 

Some thoughts that I liked from General Conference are

- The Lord is willing to give revelation; he will help in all righteous desires

- No one can take a witness away from you that was borne by the Holy Ghost

- Knowing for ourselves that Jesus is the Christ is the balm for life's deepest despairs

- Our divine identity(spiritual DNA) allows us the potential to overcome our challenges

- Our failures are for us to learn they are rather steps to success rather than mere failure

- If we receive and believe in the prophet we receive and believe in Christ. He is our Watchman

- We have a responsibility to love and strengthen one another it does not have to be big just genuine. It has a bigger impact than what you think it will do

- Miracles happen as we work together guided by the spirit

There are so many other good things but I will let you all watch and read the talks to find some that stand out to you. I know that these things are true in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

I hope everyone has a good week and that you all enjoyed General Conference and will act upon the promptings that you received. 

Love,

Elder McClellan

Power of Moms

Dagnabbit! I had a post all written and just as I was finishing it up, it disappeared in to cyberspace. I know, I know you are all amazed to see me on here. I will try sometime to rewrite what has gone on but I just can't get myself to do it tonight.

I do want to say that as I have been thinking about life and its/my purpose I have been doing a lot of reading on the power of moms website. My greatest happiness in life comes from my family and my children. While my boys are such great kids, parenting can be hard. Especially with Finn. Sometimes I just hope and pray that I am not screwing up my kids. It was such a rough year last year with all of our medical problems that I feel like we are just pulling out of it. Anyway, for all of you moms or anyone trying to find ideas/helps on parenting and motherhood check out powerofmoms.com. I am amazed at all of the wonderful ideas the Eyres (some of you may have heard of them-they started Joy school and have written many books) have and wish I could follow them around the world as they give talks and speeches to moms all over the world. Don't ya love reading about people thoughts and feelings on blogs and websites. I remember as a kid wishing I could read peoples minds and know what they were thinking, nowdays with technology you almost can. One of my favorite blogs is 71toes.blogspot.com.

As I graduated from high school, I felt like I had the world at my hands, that I could do anything. I majored in criminal justice and dreamed of a life as a defense attorney. While I am still fascinated with the law and love watching The Good Wife, I cannot imagine loving doing anything more than being a mom. Sometimes, it can get easy though to get into a rut of making dinner, cleaning, running errands and helping with homework. I don't know if I am just hitting my mid-life crisis a little early or what but I know that I have a higher purpose. I have found such power in this website and in helping others. I think to find yourself you have to get outside of yourself. As I was reminded at Wood Badge we are all going through hard things. Life is hard. Together we can help each other and that is what life is about.

Just for Dave

I'll have you know that I tried to blog the other day but, well, since it had been so long I had forgotten my password. After figuring it out about a minute ago here I am. :) Where to start when it has been so long. Hmmm...here's what we have been doing since I last blogged.


Iron Girl Las Vegas, cousins out from Texas, Kennecott Copper, Temple Open House, Camping, Forth of July parties, go carts, swimming, game nights, food, trip to Texas, driving through, WY, CO, KS, stuck in traffic in OK, water parks, Gatty Town, kids write and put on a play, more games, Erin and Esplan, Alex's Birthday, Pioneer Primary activity, summer craft club, the smoker, Little Rock, Arkansas, walking along the waterway, the visitor center with the rocking chairs, Memphis, Tennessee, Graceland, Central BBQ, St. Louis, MO, the Arch, soda pop, Nauvoo pageant, Hannibal, MO, Mark Twain Riverboat, Caves, Nauvoo, Illinois, Bakery, making a rope, Browning store, wagon ride, Just Plain Anna Amanda, BYU Vocal Point, Trenton, MO-Grandma and Grandpa Smith's old house, Jamesport-Amish town, Carthage, Adam-ondi-Ahman, Platte City, MO, Grandma Smith, dominoes-of course, bbq, Primary activity at the gym, Steak and Shake, Back to School, Kindergarten, Maple Grove and Rochester, MN, Mayo Clinic, lots of neurologists, playing with MN cousins, Ryan's 16th birthday, Josh's first day of school (alone) and bus ride, poor sick Thomas, birds, Miller's getting ready for adoption, going to Feed My Starving children, home again, soccer....

Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can elaborate on some of these and add the things forgotten, all in all it has been a pretty good year.

Please Vote for Me...

If you guys have a chance to take a look at this website, I would love your vote. I entered a cheese recipe contest with our famous (well, it was on Dave's blog, that counts right?I hope you don't mind Dave that we stole the photo, but here is the recipe for ya!) recipe Berry Brie Stuffed French Toast. I would really like your vote.

You can find the recipe here at http://iledefrancecheese.com/blog/ and I think I am the third one down. You can rate it from 1-5 stars.

Thanks!

Michael's Baptism

We are so proud of Michael. He chose to be baptized on April 11, 2009. He is such a good example to his younger brothers and we are so glad to have him in our family. I'm not sure who was more nervous, him, dad, or mom (who gave a talk on baptism) but everything went great. He was able to go up the next day on Easter Sunday and the bishop congratulated him as the newest member of our ward, a title that he will hold for a few months (he is pretty happy about that).

Eight is great!

Michael is awesome! We love having him in our family. He recently turned eight and it was such an exciting day. For his friend party he decided to play Deal or No Deal like we did at pack meeting. The kids loved getting the prizes (except maybe when they got stuck with smarties). Then it was on to other games like--Who wants to be a Go-gillianaire (apparently a Millionaire is just not enough anymore). Afterward, Michael got to play Warcraft. He had been waiting a long time for this. Dave came up and we set up a table with lots of computers and played for hours. Then we had grandma's and grandpa's, aunts and uncle's and cousins over for BYU mint brownies. Yum! I think all in all it was a great day! Michael we love you.

Share the love...

Kim just posted a little share the love post and it sounded like a lot of fun, so here goes....Here are the rules: The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a share the love post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Have a Happy Day :)