McClain Mission

Hey dad. Thanks for reaching out on my Birthday. I always appreciate seeing emails from you especially because I feel like you are one of the few people out there that understand me and how difficult it can be to be a missionary. I am really missing you all a lot right now. Sometimes I have a hard time seeing the blessings as well, so every morning I write down three things I am grateful for, and that has helped. I have been doing that for a while now, and it has made things better since I first came out into the field, but it can still be really tough for me at times. What were some of the things you did, or think I could do to help me focus on my blessings and be happier in the mission field. I really pray to feel like I am loved, and to help spread the love of the gospel to others that we are teaching. I am trying to focus on my purpose, to help others, and when I focus the most, I feel the best, it is just really difficult a lot of the time because we are in the apartment making c...

Hey everybody! Today marks the end of my second transfer as a missionary! Transfers are blocks of time, usually between 5 and 7 weeks, at the end of which missionaries often switch companions or areas and move apartments. I am staying in Santa Clarita, but I did get a new comp, Elder Ostler. He is a super cool guy, and we're already buddies. We are really excited to get to work out here and see what we can do! In our last week together, Elder Stastny and I spent a lot of time as usual working with members in the branch, as well as working with some investigators. This week I had the chance to do a lot of talking over the phone, and I am proud to say that my Spanish has really come along well. This week, we shared a lot of messages about how privelaged we are to freely choose for ourselves how we will act, our free agency is a gift from God! We are allowed to pick between right and wrong, and given countless opportunities throughout our life to decide the type of person we will b...

Hey everyone! Hopefullt nobody was scared away from reading this by my slightly unoriginal and certainly predictable title, however this week was one of the best. If you've read this far, you are in for a treat. This week began with exchanges with the ZLs, some of the missionary leaders, and it was a great experience. I learned a ton from Elder Clark, who had some profound insights that have really helped me so much. He encouraged me to just be patient, and to not become worried or anxious about taking a while to adjust. I think this is great life advice in general, we need to be patient! I need to learn this lesson more than anyone, but eventually we will see the Lord working in our life, just like we are promised in Mosiah 24:14-15. Then with Thanksgiving, we had a super fun day. We had a service project in the morning, however Elder Stastny and I got assigned to parking lot security to make sure nobody vandalized our cars, not the best job ever but we made it work. Then we ...

McClain Easton Wed, Nov 25, 2020, 11:10 PM to me Dear mom, As you know, this week we have been asked to write a letter of gratitude to someone we are thankful for everyday. Today I have chosen you, because you are the person I am most grateful for in the entire world. A memory that came to my mind this week was a day long ago, when I was in 4th grade, and I remember coming home from a field trip and feeling really sick. You had made peanut butter power balls, and like you always have, you talked with me and cheered me up. Its a small memory, and I don't remember many of the details, but I do remember how you made me feel. That day, and everyday since, you have shown me more love than I can fathom. As I have grown up, I have often spent time resenting your efforts to direct my life, and for that I am forever sorry! I wish so badly that I could go back and tell myself that you know best, because you do! Even when I was rude, forgetful, ignorant, or disobedient, you always patie...

Hey everyone! Week 5 was really fun, now that it is only 2 of us I have a lot more responsibility which has been really great. We have definitely been working hard , and finish everyday exhausted, but that is the best way to go! Nothing too crazy happened this week, although we did see a couch in nice(ish) condition sitting near our apartment dumpster. So naturally we took it. We put some blankets over the cushions to keep it sanitary, and now we have 3 couches. Life is good. They all have their unique flaws, some of them sink to the floor, or come from the trash, but that's what makes it home. This week we had the chance to study some materials about the Savior our mission president recommended, and we learned a lot about Christ's role in the creation. Under the direction of God the father, Christ created all things! And in doing so, he understood that he would have to endure so much for us to come back to our fathers presence one day, but he still willingly suffered. Real...

It's already been a whole month, so excited to be writing this week! Hope everyone is doing well. Want to apologize in advance for my slow response to emails, I always love to hear from everyone and always have time to read, but limited computer access and time to write back make it tough for me to respond, so sorry if it takes me a while to get to your email! This week was super busy, and we finished off the transfer. Elder Stastny and I will be staying here in Santa Clarita and Elder McDonough is headed to the other zone, so I'll be in a companionship of two for the next few weeks at least. Trio is a fun way to go, but the companionship will be great and we are looking forward to an exciting few weeks ahead! We had the opportunity to teach a lot of people this week, several members and investigators, as well as the chance to go to a Streetside burrito shop, which was incredible. For anybody who knows me well, I live for chipotle. However, I won't hesitate to say tha...

Mon, Nov 2, 2020, 2:18 PM to me Hey everyone! It's crazy to think that 3 weeks have already flown by in the field. I came out here at the perfect time of year, its finally starting to cool down a little bit, so at night we have to wear jackets. Unfortunately, I wasn't really expecting that, so I only brought one sweater (called a synchilla), and I've been wearing it virtually everyday. Luckily it is my favorite jacket, but soon the people we teach are going to think it's part if the missionary dress code. We had a super busy week this week, we taught 8 lessons to various members of the branch yesterday! Usually about half the lessons we teach are in Spanish, and about the same amount are in person. Getting out of the apartment and practicing Spanish are two of my favorite things, so yesterday was an awesome day. Recently we have been spending a lot of time reading the Book of Mormon with our members, and just having a conversation about what we have learned. We ha...