Sunday, December 25, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Happy Halloween
Because yesterday was Halloween all missionaries had to be in by 6 aclock. We had and hour and a half to tract right after church then before we went to our dinner appointment. We now count QGC'S or Quality Gospel Conversations for our key indicators. A mission standard is to get 6 in a day. We only had 1 1/2 hour to tract so not much time. But we achieved our goal to get 6 in that time frame,wohoo. The last few doors was time for us to get going. We rang the door bell and a little kid opened the door with a bowl full of candy. We explained that we weren't in costume. Also when driving to our car to go to our dinner we saw trick or treaters. We barley left in time before we were being mistaken for trick or treaters. On Thursday we went to our ward Trunk or Treat. We passed out Tootsie rolls. We quickly ran out early then expected. So we went to some members to get more candy so we could still pass out some to the kids in the ward. Instead,they were giving us candy to eat. So in result me and my companion didn't have to go trick or treating to get Halloween candy. Last night we had some extra time because we had to be in early so it was one of the few times I didn't feel guilty for eating candy. Last Monday I played snow football,yep. It was pretty cold. Today we are playing football but not in the snow thank goodness that there in no snow this time. It melted from the first big snow. Today was transfer call day. It is officially a new transfer today and I am staying in Beaumont with my companion for at least 6 more weeks. It is always an anxious morning the day that calls are. We had 3 calls none from the president. Every call we got we both jumped to the ceiling waiting to see what would happen. We didn't get a call so we are still together. Well this is a super short email,sorry about that but duty calls. The church is true,people everyday are seeking answers to questions. We are so blessed to know. In the new Duty to God its based off of Learn,Act and Share. I know that if we do those things we will be more chistlike and be able to share the gospel with those who are prepared to recieve it.
Canadian Thanksgiving
Hello once again. Whenever there is a week of no email it seems like a month has passed on. But it is great to be able to write again and inform you of how I am doing in Alberta. This week was fun,I can honestly say that a mission is fun. Its not a walk in a park or as easy as smelling roses but it is fun. Last Monday was thanksgiving in Canada. Yeah,I know what your thinking. Why is Canada celebrating thanksgiving? I thought thanksgiving was about the Pilgrims coming to America and a feast to give thanks. I can't give an answer to my last question but regardless its never a bad Holiday where your reminded on how grateful you are and there is tons of food.
To celebrate my companion and I went to Jasper. Its a huge tourist attraction in Alberta. I would say that its like Arizona has the grand canyon,Alberta has Jasper and Banff. Since Banff is out of our mission boundaries we can't go there. Instead we can go to Jasper once on our whole mission. It was really fun. It started pretty early having to wake up at 3 a.m. to make time for a 3 hour drive there. On the drive there we actually saw the northern lights,that was pretty exciting.We went hiking and adventuring in Athabasca Falls and Malign Canyon. A member in anther ward offered our zone leaders for other missionaries to go. They had a 15 seater van so 8 missionaries in the Millwoods Zone went to Jasper,how awesome.
On other news I found out an investigator who I taught in Red Deer got baptized on Saturday. Since Red Deer is an hour away I would have had to have found a member to drive me there and back to see that baptism. No one in the ward could take me so I wasn't able to attend my first baptism but she was baptized so that made me happy. My old companion Elder Remer baptized her,so that was pretty exciting even though I wasn't there to witness.
Something that was very amazing was Mucho Burrito! While tracting we found an advertisement for mucho burrito. It looked really tasty so my companion and I decided to go. It was the best Mexican food I have had since leaving mesa,Arizona. It was a glorious moment. It wasn't 100% legitimate Mexican food but it was the closest that I have found in Canada. It was so good that I wrote about my burrito experience in my journal and to all of my friends in this letter.
This week has been getting cold. I would say that it was very close to 0 Celsius or 32 Ferlinghetti. I am getting some winter goodies today before it gets any colder.It will be a cold mission I just hope I can deal with it being a desert rat. On Saturday we found a native man on Sunday. So yesterday we went over to Brother Ross' home. He pretty much told us his life story,his experiences,his challenges and what gives him comfort. It was awesome to share about the book of Mormon(a book about his ancestors). He is excited to read the book of Mormon. We are going to his house this Saturday to teach him the restoration. The lesson we had was so spiritual and he gave a great closing prayer. I would love to write more but I am sad to say that my time is up. If there is anything I can say is to be obedient.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
October Conference
Things are going great here in Edmonton. Lots of hard work but good. On Monday I got to meet the zone of Millwoods. There is a missionary who was in the MTC with me,Elder Larson who is here and its awesome. His companion Elder Donaldson is from westwood and we know allot of the same people so its fun to talk about Westwood and Kino people with him. Also Elder Richards is in my zone,I love that guy,he is such a stud. So on Tuesday I gave my first service. We give service at Rendez-Vous. Its a recreation center for seniors pretty much. I help them play pool,shuffle board and to take their walks. Its fun giving service to old grumpy seniors,they are hilarious. We went tracting on 12 avenue in Edmonton. There was this lady standing outside of her garage and so I went to talk to here. I quickly found out that she was less accountable. She showed us her car,new garage and offered to let us in but we declined. We that said we would stop by later and so we walked away. We went acouple of houses down and started knocking,she then yelled at us saying"there not there,lets go to another house". She was trying to tract with us. We quickly had to jump into our car and drive into a different area. But we went back the next day and got lots of potential investigators,which is a blessing.
A little information about my area in which I am serving. I have the very south tip of Edmonton and then a city about 10 miles south of Edmonton called Beaumont. In the Edmonton area that I cover it has lots of Indian's. Not like native running horse Indian's but Indians who speak Punjabi and Hindi and wear turbans.It is quite a different type of group of people then I was used to at Red Deer. But they are just as ready as another other person. Its fun to try to speak to them when they don't understand English.
On Thursday we were invited to go to seminary to talk about the Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood. I had to wake up at 5:30 it was very hard to wake up an hour early. I thought it was so killer for these seminary students to wake up that early. But I did the same thing in high school,not for seminary but for band. Still the youth programs are strong here and the youth are dedicated to the gospel,its a great sight. Later on that day we tracted for 6 hours. We didn't have any appointments so we went and found the lost sheep of the fold.
This week we had 14 hours of pure tracting. It was not easy but necessary and we were able to meet and contact lots of people. On Friday I had an interview with president Campbell it was great. Then started conference weekend,I was spiritually fed. During the priesthood session there was an MTC choir singing.It was awesome and I think I saw Caleb Allred singing in the choir? If anyone is reading this and knows if you could tell me and let me know. I was jumping in my seat because I am almost positive I saw him singing. I could write on about conference Becca's it was such a treat. I had lots of favorite talks. I will say that it was great and I loved every minute of it. I love you and thank you for being the example of the believers in my life,the church is true. We are SO blessed to be on the earth right now it this great time. The Restoration of Christs church happened. We have a prophet on the earth,we have the priesthood power,we have the book of Mormon,we have eternal fa miles. I am so blessed and I give thanks for my Heavenly Father for his love.
Goodbye Red Deer - Sept. 20
Hello again. I hope everyone is doing great. I happy and cheerful in Red Deer Alberta.This week was a great week. Whenever you receive news that you have a new nephew and niece in this world is great news. Also some experiences that happened this week as well. I like to write things in chronological order so here you go. On Monday we were at a members house and a guest was there and she was from inuvick(not sure about the spelling). But where she lives is super cold,like frozen tundra,dog sleds,no light,igloos,yeah. She gave me some pointers on how to stay warm here in Canada. But I am glad that I will never have to go that far north or I would comeback to mesa half frozen. On Tuesday for lunch we went to a recent converts house who's name is mac and he is phillipeno.He feeds us once a week and it is heavenly food,I can't get enough of phillipeno food so that is always an adventure. I also had a air head moment. I did something that I have never done in my whole life...lock my keys in the car. I had to get out of the car to get a pencil that was stuck under my seat then I closed the door and was off to work. Then I realized that I didn't have my keys,but a locksmith came and helped us out. That was the biggest blonde moment in my mission yet. We also had a lesson with another recent convert,Tom. Tom is kind of a hippie guy with Buddhism and fung shway and tiger rugs. His house has a plant growing on all the walls its cool and phydicelic. We had a lesson in his small condo and he turned off the lights and turned on some black light and turned on some surround sound with Motab. Everything glowed and it was the coolest setting for a lesson that I have had,you had to have been there to understand how cool it was. Wednesday,lots of finding and knocking and trying potentials,formers,members all that jazz. It was raining as well but it was sure fun.We also had a dinner appointment with the Jeanottes. It is always fun going to dinner with people who know your people. Sister Jeanotte is Anna Toone's cousin. Its kind of funny,plus we had tacos so that's something to talk about. Thursday we had district meeting and we watched the Preach My Gospel 2 Dvd. If you ever what missionary work is like then watch those dvd's so that was good. Then later that evening we started our drive to Edmonton. On our way we stopped by a place called Tim Hortons. It the the starbucks of canada that sells donoughts. I had my first Timiee's and it was abousolutly delishoush. We made our way to Edmonton and I saw that city for the first time really.We drove right through downtown with the big buildings and the lights and galore.I got so pumped to see edmonton. I was also really excited to meet up with my trainer Elder Chappell. I stayed the night at his appartment and we talked about good times when we were companions. Friday was mission tour. Elder Richard G. Maynes of the quourum of the seventy came. Before he spoke me and Elder Chappell performed a musical number,Lead Kindly Light. That was fun and as a missionary hearing a general authority was awesome as well. Half the mission was there on friday and the other half was on saturday.But Elder Maynes had this huge equation for how to get a baptism. We figured it out that we need to contact 15 people a day and teach 2 lessons a day(one lesson of the restoration). It all made sence to me and what he talked to us about gave me a better perspective to the work here in the Canada Edmonton Mission. Also I received my package. Thank you for the cookies,my El Pato(liquid gold),cd's and other assorted goodies. On the way back to Red Deer I took a nap and then we taught a man named Russell who couldn't talk or walk so he typed his responces while we taught that was pretty cool. Sundays highlight was Bonnie and Aaron. Bonnie is the lady who came up to me and asked what she needed to do for baptism. We taught her and she is very set and is willing to do lots of things. Also aaron is a young man who is very cool that will be baptized when he finds an answer.Today president campbell called and said I am being tranfered Wednesday to Beaumont in Edmonton with Elder Hurst. So goodbye Red Deer. I will fill you in with details next week.
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