If Noah Can Build an Ark, We Can Build a Bridge

feliz navidad mi amors<3 ahhhh i got to skype my familia today and oh what a blessing that was:)<3 even though i terribly miss their adorable faces, i dont think im ready to come home quite yet;)

honestly im just gonna jump right into it!! both my companion and i had lice all week:) :) :) :) #blessed but ya know its like, what can ya do?! make the most out of it, no?? i can honestly say there was a community of lice eggs in my hair just waiting to hatch and build a city. at first i was disgusted with myself but then i was like, honestly if noah can build an ark, we can build a bridge and just get over it ya know????? so we did :) :) i think theyre gone now but ive really gotten to the point where its like honesly if you like my scalp you can have it, i like it too.

this place is so santa hot right now. everything we do, we sweat. *eating* *sweating* *sleeping* *sweating* *sitting* *sweating* *crying happy tears* *sweating* *showering* *sweating* *breathing* *sweating* - everytime we sweat we say to eachother, theres absoutely no way we´re not losing weight right now. so you could say thats the most used sentance we use other than, hola! somos representantes de jesu cristo! usted tiene un forma de religion???;) hahaha

honestly you guys, i have such a problem writing these emails everyweek, because i cannot describe in words how blessed i feel to be here right now. and how blessed are we to have the perfect person, jesus christ as our example and eternal goal? sometimes celestial goals seem beyond our reach, but the lord would never give us goals that he knew we could not do. sometimes i feel like satan turns the inspiration of the gospel into self loating and misery making. but beating up on ourselves is not going to make us the person that heavenly father wants us to become. somewhere in ETERNITY (emphasis on eternity, not within the next month) our refinement will be finished and complete. i am gratefyl to know that inspite of my imperfections, at least god is perfect, that he is able to love his enemies, because too often you, and i are his enemy. at least god can bless those who despitefully use him because we all despitefully use him. our only hope for true perfection is in recieving it as a gift from heaven. we cannot "earn it." the parable of the 10,000 talents isnt about 2 servants arguing in the new testament. its about us! the fallen human family. we need to be a little more godlike in the little things, that we speak, act, love, forgive, repent, and improve at least the 100- pence level of perfection that is clearly in our ability to do! and remember that there have been no flawless performances on this earthly journey we are all pursuing! once, a priest who was cirticized by one of his congregants for not living as well as he should, responded by saying, "look at my life now and compare it to my former life. attack me if you wish, i do this to myself, but dont attack the path i follow. if i know that way home but am walking along drunkely, is it any less the right way simply because i am staggering from side to side?" instead of judging we need to give our help to anyone trying to walk the road back to god! every one of us aspires to be more christlike than we often succeed in living. but if we admit that honestly, and are trying to improve, we are not hypocrites, we are human! surprise hermana mcewan, youre human ha!

continue to strive, even if its clumsily, continue to give thanks, even though it may be inadequately, and continue from grace to grace:)<3

-hermana mcewan<3

p.s. a wise woman once said, "nobody´s perfect" -Hannah Montana

FELIZZZZ NAVIDADDDD BEBES

FELIZZZZ NAVIDADDDD BEBES<3<3<3<3

tbh, at first, being here for chirsmtas seemed more like a sad thing than a good thing. But as christmas gets closer i have been reflecting on how many things i really am blessed with back home and here. And how GRATEFUL i am for my savior and his birth. i got a couple presents (thanks to my cute mama) but ive trul never been so grateful for what ive already got, and the knowlege of this gospel that i have!

I TURNED 2 YESTERDAY!! 2 months down, 16 more faith building months to come baby!;)

right now we have a couple pretty solid investigators. its hard because we have a lot but only a few are progressing really well. But i am grateful for the ones that are! a few of them are 1- emanuel. thee most CAPO 14 year old boy ever, he lives with his grandma and his mom lives in argentina. hes waiting for his mom to travel here in jan. so she can be here. he des all of his assingments, always goes to mutual (cough isabelle cough max cough) and attends chruch every week with us! cant wait to keep you updated on him:) We just found a boy named facundo (18 years old) his family HATES mormons probs cuz they kept from the truth cuz they know not where to find it but i mean HELLO!!! but anyways he loves us and he is BRILLANT. he accepted baptism on our second lesson with him!" we´re hoping his family doesnt talk him out of it.. I think he will get baptized around the end of jan or the beginning of feb:) We also found thee cutest family of three. David, Camilla, and their adorable baby girl. they dont have a religion (score) and they really have been loving our lessons. slight problem doe. NO ONE GETS MARRIED HERE I MEAN COME ON WHO DOESNT WANT AN ETERNAL MARRIAGE?!?!? haha so we´ll have to work on that with them then hopefully they choose to get baptized! anyone who thought uruguay would be an easy place to baptize.. THINK AGAIN!! its fine doe i do love myself a good challenge;)))

i recieved thee most amazing talk from a friend in my mission this week and it was such an answer to my prayers. heavenly father answers our prayers when we have a sincere heart and real intent. he does not answer just to respond to our curiosity (even though i wish thats how it worked;)) our choices allow us to access "potentially" faith building experiences. Like most stories with lamen, lemuel, and nephi- nephis faith was made strong and lamen and lemuel grew more cynical and angry. our response to lifes experiences will often greatly influence our testimonies. do not murmur when asked to do something, and when the success does not come- dont give up! dont have a "we´ve tried what more can we do" attitude. (something i personally need to work on) the lack of certain spiritual habits cause us to forget the times when god has spoken to us! if you do not feel it now, you can feel it again. be obedient and remember the times when you have felt the spirit in the past and ask in faith. your answer will come. it may not come as quickly or in the format that you desire but the answers will come! do not give up! we often forget that when the sons of mosiah began their mission their "hearts were depressed" and they were about to turn back but the lord comforted them. BEAR WITH PATIENCE IN YOUR AFFLICTIONS. our trials can strengthen our faith if we wax strong in the knowelge of truth so we can have a sound understanding because we have searched the scriptures dligently so we will know the word of god. we will all face trials and have questions but remember that we must be continually holding fast to the rod of iron. the words of christ tell us all things which we shall do. we must make scripture study a daily part of our lives, as this will open doors of revelation. And for the sons of mosiah this was not all. they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting to then recieve the spirit of prophecy and revelation. communicating with heavenly father while PURPOSFULLY abstaining from drink and food will allow us to loose the bands of wickedness. prayer combined with fasting will provide so that when we "call the lord shall answer and when we cry he shall say here i am" these personal religious habits- obedience, scripture study, prayer and fasting strengthened the sons of mosiah and the lack of these habits was a major reason that lamen and lemuel were left vulnerable to temptation and doubt and murmuring. if you are tempted by these things, turn to him! if you are one who has turned away or rationalized your behavior, turn to him! answers will not come as an event but a process. as we experience upon the words and begin to exercise a participle of faith the book of mormom will become delicious to us and enlighten our understanding and truly enlarge our soul.

I truly know that the book of mormon is the word of god. I know that joseph smith as a prophet. Oh, i still have things that i do not comprehend but my testimony of truth draws me closer to the savior and builds my faith!!

p.s. we are all traveling to montevideo tonight for our christmas meeting witht the whole mission! Ledesma and I were asked to sing Be still my soul/calma mi alma there so wish us luckkk ahhh!!

<3 con mi amor y besos!!

Deep Cleaned the house

GO ON A MISSION

HOLY HOLY HOLINESS i have absolutely no time to write. BUT may i just say i am so happy GO ON A MISSION. JUST DO IT!!

My week in a nutshell,

- everyone besos here. WE KISS EVERYONE!! talk about mano. except the boys over 12 years of course;) love it doe.

- I have come to the conclusion that its fine that i sleep with spiders everynight. Honestly i hope they are enjoying themselves in my bed cuz i know i am. I HIT THE SHEETS SO HARD EVERYNIGHT

- 3 baptisms! fingers crossed...

-Im a plumber now. Long story short i may have flushed meat with bones in it down the toilet. BUT ITS FINE, hermana plumber mcewan knows what shes doin. (jk our toilet hasnt worked in days we literally just go and dont flush sorry tmi but legit #lifeinuruguay

-no one for the life can say my name

-my comp my best friend

-Every house we go to, me and Ledesma sing for them and the people here LOVE IT (people are so tone deaf here their singing is so adorable)

-THE RAIN IS SO LOUD AND ITS LIKE OH YOU WANT TO SLEEP??? NOPE!!!!

-we are only given lunch everyweek and for some reason some of our lunches fell through this week and we ate all of our food at the end of the week so you could we had a few days of fasting;)

-EVERYONE IS EVANGELICA HERE. you probably dont know what that is because its literally only in Uruguay and im like???????? WHO WANTS ETERNAL SALVATION I MEAN COME ON PEOPLE

-im so sorry im so aggressive on these emails i honestly cant help it

-we literally were talking to this one guy one night and then the next day we witnessed him getting arrested but its chill

-people LOVE getting lit in the late hours of the night and im like the holy ghost goes to bed at 10:30 WYD???

-dogs love attacking us idk they think we look like a snack or somethin

-when people give me compliments ledesma has to tell me when to say thank you because i dont know what theyre saying, i feel like im 3 again and my mom has to tell me when to say thanks.

ill send pics next week, this computer is more ancient than moses

At the end of the day, i am here to invite people to come unto christ and to prech this amazing gospel. It is hard when our investigators dont come to church, but we truly are working as hard as we can (we can always be better of course) and that is all we can do! We cannot convert them. They have to want it and have the desire and heavenly father can convert them. So no matter what, im going to continue to invite and preach. Because this is the most important invitation they will ever recieve and EVERYONE deserves it!!!

 I really am trying to work with my whole heart, might, mind and strength. I was praying to heavenly father and asking him how i can do this. And immedietly i read a scripture that says you must love heavenly father with your whole heart, might, mind, and strength first. Couldnt be more true!! Once we love him with our whole selves (idk if this is proper english i talk like an idiot in english now) he will give us the strength to accomplish all he has in mind for us!!

-Hermana McEwwwwwwannnnnnnnn<3<3<3<3 Besos!!!

p.s. this is so hard. no joke. so hard. but I LOVE it. and i can honestly say my family now, and my future family is what pushes me to do my best everyday. I CANNOT WAIT TO HAVE A FUTURE FAMILY AND THE FACT THAT WE CAN BE ETERNAL IS AMAZING!!!

"All these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."

chao;)

Ever heard of Portuñol??? Yeah same.

FIRST AND FORMOST I AM ALIVE AND WELL IN URUGYAY!! Thank you for all of your prayers, i have felt them tremendously!!

My life-

1. Washing clothes in a bucket, but honestly who needs a washing machine and dryer anyways???!!

2. No A.C. So we are either dripping in sweat, or dripping in rain because when it rains here it POURS!!

3. Speaking Portuguese and Spanish combined. THEY SLUR ALL OF THEIR WORDS SO ALL I DO IS SMILE AND NOD BUT ITS FINE CUZ THE SPIRIT SPEAKS ALL LANGUAGES AM I RIGHT

4. Being a missionary with MY LEGIT BEST FRIEND HOLY SANTA MY TRAINOR IS MY BEST FRIEND. Her name is Hermana Ledesma. She was a cheerleader at corner canyon and i swear to you we we´ve talked before at cheer camp or something because the second we met we were legit best friends. And everyone was just starring at us like wow they were meant for eachother haha. I can for sure say i knew her in the life before this hahaha #BLESSED She just barely got out of her training and this NEVER happens so basically we are both just learning together. But i love it!

5. No speed limit here so basically i almost get run over at least 10 times a day. 

6. You know how stray dogs are a thing??? well here its stray cows and HORSES

7. Frogs live in my house.

8. Food es muy diferente pero im so grateful for it anyways. they literally eat everything that i am not the biggest fan of AND (i will be honest im so picky) but not anymore baby!!!! They only feed us one meal a day and breakfast doesnt really exist and neither does dinner so hopefully with all of this walking (we have the biggest and best area in the field) ill stay in shape;) One of our investigators gave us raw fish and made us eat it infront of him i think he was secretly laughing inside because he knew we would eat it no matter what lol #blessedafterthetrialofyourfaith

9. Best way to get investigators is dancing in the pouring rain

10. The chocolate milk here is unbelievably amazing 

11. People here LOVE water with gas and let me tell you it tastes like vinegar. pray4us

Oh my lanta all of the members here love playing jokes on me POR QUE LITERALMENTE they tell me theyre not a member so i teach them a lesson and then at the end theyre like jk im a member of the bishopric or jk i have the priesthood and i pass the sacrament every sunday like come on!!! The counselor in the bishopric was being so scary and he was like what do you want, what can i help you with and i was like me?!?! Im here for you man!! and then he started laughing and told me hahaha and then the little boy didnt tell me until SUNDAY WHEN I SAW HIM PASSING THE SACARAMENT gosh dangit these people here are NUTS!! but wowzers im obsessed.

I LOVE THE KIDS HERE THEY ARE SO CUTE AND NICE TO ME

Me and Ledesma met thee cutest grandma while contacting and she was such a strong catholic. She was so sweet so we asked her if we could use her bathroom (typical missionary excuse to get into the house) and she was like of course! So we ended up getting into her house and we sang to her and she started bawling, she was so tender. She was like what is happening to me and we were like honey thats the spirit!!! But she was so strong in her own religion that there would be no progress if we kept trying with her:(

Bore my broken spanish and portuguese testimony on sunday!! I can honestly say the last time i bore my testimony in sacrament was when i got baptized so MILAGROS REALLY DO HAPPEN

Holy smokes I met way too many people this week and have had so many amazing experiences already. I WISH I COULD SHARE THEM ALL!! sorry this email is a complete mess.. And the caps is so aggressive but its the only way to tell how i feel HA

But I am here and well, and now its time to apply! time to apply all that i have learned in the past 7 weeks! We as missionaries need to work as though everything depends on us and pray and have faith as though everything depends on the savior!! I truly want to live everyday to its fullest and go home with no regrets! If i lose myself in others, i know i will find myself. But i cant go looking for it! I am trying my very hardest to get past the doubt side and over to the goal side. Heavenly father has high love but also high expectation for us and i refuse to let him down! Heavenly father loves us just the way we are but tomorrow he just wants us to be a little bit better, and at the end of the day that is my goal! Missionaries always talk about how they dont want to be weird when they get home but honestly, i hope i feel weird forever once im home. I am ready to be changed!!!!

I am so excited to be here to learn, to grow, and most importantly draw closer to christ with the people of URUGUAY! I know that our Savior Jesus Christ lives, he loves us, and never leaves us. He is a god of miracles both big and small. He hears our prauers and knows the desires of our hearts. I know and i am eternally grateful for the knowledge that families can be together forever (BECAUSE I LOVE MINE) I know that with gods love and the atonement of jesus christ, we can be transformed into the men and women that god desires us to become. His arms are outstrectched waiting for us to come unto him, and what better time then now?!!

LOVE YOU ALL LOVE THIS WORK LOVE THIS GOSPEL!! Have the best week ever

-Hermana McEwan<333333

p.s. started from the bottom now im 8 weeks in baby

First time me and my comp met (we are a mess)

Final night at the MTC with my District

My favorite MTC teacher