Thompson, MB

October 15, 2018

Well here we go off to my possible last area. Got tmail this morning and I'm off to Thompson Mb with elder Allen, and our district is all sisters that are in Winnipeg so we just skype them. 

This week we got our k's given to us, and we found out that we have been allotted 1700 for the month of October rather than 2950 like last month which we figured would happen since we were 400 under 2950 last month. So with us driving back from Flin Flon and out to Regina for ZC and other little places in our area, we have officially gone over k's already....! We are now walking missionaries. 

This week we have walked everywhere that we can (which is everywhere because it's Melfort) but we have had some good success despite our lack of k's. We found 2 new people this week named Mark and Lisa, they are a younger Filipino couple that happens to know one of our member families the Lacnos. We got to teach the restoration and we committed them to read the book of Mormon and yeah it was pretty good! By the way I have no idea if I told you guys about there or not cause me and Black can't remember if we found them this week or last...weeks and days are all one big thing lately out here for us.

Had some nice days this week actually weather wise! Got 3-5° out and sunny with no wind, then we had a couple days where it was - 2 and super windy so it felt like - 15.

Had one guy this week tell us that he was catholic and didn't want to hear anything about Jesus Christ, then he slammed the door. 

Had another lady swing open her door and look at us like we were her kids and she had caught us coming home 2hrs past curfew, then she yelled at us saying we woke her up and slammed the door (it was 4.30) both those guys were on the same block so we decided that must have been the mean area of town, cause that's the first rude people we've had so far in Melfort like that. Made for a good tracting story or two!

ZC in Regina this week was pretty good! We drove down with Flin flon and told dumb stories and stuff the whole way and got to see all the Saskatchewan missionaries for a couple days. Got to see E. Doolen, woodruff, mills, and Nelson so it was a decent time.

Elder Gifford Neilson of the 70 came down with his wife and they did a training on the atonement and ways to teach it basically so that was pretty nice. 

Here’s a couple things from ZC they said. "the more difficult the obstacle, the bigger the miracle" which was related to pres Hitchcock climbing a little mountain in Utah and only going half way and taking a picture with the big Y on the hill and how great that was. Then how sis Hitchcock and her friends a little later climber the whole thing and how hard it was but how worth it was when they got to the top and saw the view.

Another one was "do the home canning thing." and pres Hitchcock related that to studying the scriptures and prayer. He said something along the lines of when we pray before we study we can remember the things we read better than if we didn't pray and when we pray that it's like canning, we bottle it up in our mind and then we can put it on the shelf for later and when we need that knowledge all we have to do is go back to the "storage room" and find that can.

Had a pretty crazy lesson with Sky and Cherish this week once we finally got a hold of them. We taught them the word of wisdom and it took a few minutes to gather everyone up for the lesson but when we finally did the first thing cherish said to us was "wow, you guys been drinking?! Smells like alcohol in here ha-ha." it was a super relaxed lesson if you ask us, everything anyone said today was just funny and they were in a super goofy mood the both of them. Sky calls Cherish his cherry bomb and always bugs her about not talking very much in lessons. When we got to the part about not smoking and that, sky was kind of against that and said that God put everything on earth for a reason and that smokes are for medical things. He told us the next time we come he'll get us all some blunts and we can each have one so we can relax and talk about god. He basically told us we gotta relax and not be so worried all the time. It was a good lesson but we don't think they took it as a commandment really so yeah got some work to do there.

On Sunday me and elder black gave talks on inviting people to join us on the covenant path so basically member missionary work. The talks both went well and I think the members liked it too so that’s always a plus!

Spent most of Sunday at church due to branch counsel and then driving around with pres Wright to see some LA’s so he could get to know them a bit. 

Far as I can remember not a whole lot else this week has gone on but it was a pretty good week I'd say.

Well love ya all talk to you next week! 

Conference weekend

October 8, 2018

Well this week as you already know started off out in Flin Flon doing exchanges.
Got to see a lot of old friends and even teach a few of them! Got to see sis Castel, Shyanne, John, the Davis's and a few others that I remember from door knocking.
Got super lucky while in Flin flon, I got a sore throat which took my voice pretty well right away as we were leaving to drive back home and it stuck around a few days. Made things for black super fun because he had to talk at all the doors since I couldn't hardly talk. After two days of me not able to talk and him doing all the doors we decided we better just stay in Friday to try and get me back to normal.
Had a pretty close call on the way home Tuesday night as we drove through the forest in the dark. We were driving along talking when we saw a bigger truck coming towards us with its bright lights which was whatever we just kept going but just as we were about to pass this truck we caught sight of a little grey Ford truck not very far off the edge of the road (parked right in the middle of the white line) basically last second since that was about how close we were when we saw it I touch the brakes to slow down a little so when we got hit we didn't get wrecked as bad and then I turned so that we barely miss this Ford and we barely missed this other truck too, we had almost no space between us and the two trucks as we passed each other. It was a miracle we didn't get hit by one or the other, or both.
Needless to say we were both extra awake after that close call.
Had a another close call on the way back from doing a Book of Mormon drop in Kelvington, about a 2hr drive S of us. On the way home it was dark by this time, we took a weird back road so we could cut across over to Watson and up to Pleasant Dale to stop by a less active. Just a little after Watson we were driving and taking about whatever when elder back all the sudden was like "Yo! Yo! Yo!" and me with my dad's eyes I can't see super awesome in the dark like him and I didn’t see this moose on the edge of the road till we were basically right there (neither did Elder Black) So I hit the brakes and turned a little away from the moose and we went from 110 to 0 pretty darn quick and luckily the moose got spooked and ran the other way of us and back into the field. Again we were both pretty alert after that close call... We came to the conclusion that we must be doing something right in our area and Satan is trying to slow us down in some pretty crazy ways lol or maybe we are just super unlucky.
Conference was pretty good as most all of you know, got some interesting changes coming up. We had our investigators sky and cherish come to the Saturday afternoon session so that was nice! They by the way also have baptism dates for the 3rd of November!
Yeah not a whole lot happened here this week other than me being sick for most of it and us almost dying a few times, also we got snow up here now.... Not a lot but enough to say it's probably not leaving till I'm leaving the mission.
Well love ya all talk to you next week!

Eagle or a Tiger

September 23, 2018

This week was pretty good! Had a surprise exchange with Flin Flon on Wednesday, it was supposed to be on Saturday after ZC and after they had done exchanges with the zls in Saskatoon on Friday but they figured it better if they came and did it the day before ZC.
Me and Taylor worked together for the day and watched black and Arajuo walk around town since they can't drive on the mission. Me and Taylor had a pretty interesting exchange, we found out from a pretty different lady that told us when we die I'm gonna be an eagle or tiger and Taylor is going to be a red tail fox haha she believed that when we die we turn into animals. She told us that one of their cats is her husband’s best friends that died a while ago...
Had a girl on one door tell me and Taylor that we were hot, she was in her 20s and she was a little tipsy from the looks of it but hey we figured that still counts. It was Taylor's door and he did the little intro to us and what we share and she's staring at us the whole time kinda giggling and then she's like "look you guys are hot and all but I don't think I can do this tonight as much as I want to." so we kinda looked at each other and gave the look like well I think it's time to leave and we finished up with her and went on to the next door haha it was pretty funny though.
Had a pretty good ZC this week on members and missionaries and at the end president and sister Hitchcock gave us all M&M's to remind us of "members and missionaries" work together.
I did the musical number on the guitar for ZC, played a poor wayfaring man.
After ZC we drove out to a little town called Watson to meet with a part member family in the branch that we haven't ever really seen before other than this last Sunday. Super nice family, they live out on a little farm so that was a plus. Visited with them for a good 45 min about things they like to do and all that fun stuff, told them if they ever need a hand to give us a call and we'd try and make it out.
On the way out of Watson they told us we had to stop and see the 30' Santa in the middle of Watson so we did and got a couple pictures. It was pretty cool, they say he's up all yr.
Helped bro Prete this week with cleaning and cracking all his garlic. His living room right now has probably close to 2000 bulbs of garlic in it! Helped him drag it all in his place because he didn't want it to get froze out in the garage.
Had a pretty crazy thing happen this Sunday, pres. Froc was released as branch pres. and we got a new one from PA now pres. wright. Was kinda sad to see pres. Froc go even though I didn't even know him the whole 5+ yrs. as pres.
After church we had a memorial service to go to for a LA member Ashley who died this last week due to OD. Most everyone that was there was a nonmember so it was a different service but it was really good we thought. Played some Zac brown and highway to hell during it haha also did a balloon race after the little service.
Not too much else this week happened other than us finding a guy names Tim so made his own king James Bible because the name of God isn't correct in it.... So that was pretty interesting. He even gave us a huge copy to take home and read for a bit. He currently is working on the Spanish edition of the King James Bible and he doesn't know Spanish so I don't know how that's going for him. Bro turner said he knows Tim and that he was crazy even back when he was serving here 20yrs ago haha
Well hope you all have a good week!
Love ya talk to ya next week! 

Winters Coming

September 17, 2018

To clear this up here with transfers. I'm still in Melfort. I’m with elder Black again!
I was in Saskatoon waiting for the transfer train to come back and everyone that I went to see while I was there in Saskatoon thought I was the new elder in the area.  Also not ZL. I'm just a normal guy.
So this week was full of rain, cold weather and crazy boredom stuff.
Did lots of tracting and we even found a couple potentials! Found one girl named Yana she's 28 she says but we think she's 23, maybe. She's was super nice and let us talk with her about the B of M for a while on her door even though it was late at night.
At one point during the week we had kept a street we tracted in Elder Blacks phone but then he forgot to save it and we lost that streets info so we had to go back and try to remember who said yes and no and wasn’t home, it was kinda sad to see how fast you forget who said what and what doors answered when it was only couple hrs. ago.
Lots of funny/ dumb random stuff happened this week due to the rainy weather and us being bored when the day is over, I'll make group message on FB and send some videos and what not over sometime today.
Ever since e Black got here the weather has been pretty sad and cold.... It got to 3 the other day and we thought we were gonna die! Middle of the week we had already pulled out the long underwear and it was 8 outside.... Winter is gonna be cold to say the least.
Had a good lesson with one of our La's Miguel. He's 17 and was baptized about 3yrs ago now, hasn't been out to church a whole lot in the past yr. or so due to having no ride from St Bruiex which is about 35 min away from Melfort. Super nice kid and he seemed to have a desire to start coming back to church again if we could get him there. Miguel he invited us back out again for next Saturday, hopefully we can keep on with him.
Met with Ron our investigator this week at the Lacnos and did dinner and a lesson.
Taught him about the B of M and did a mini restoration again just to refresh his mind on it again. At the end of the lesson we went around and shared out fav part or verse from the B of M and did a little testimony about it and how the B of M has helped them in their life, it was super good
We had a pretty exciting week but it's gonna make a long crazy email if I told you all about it so I guess I'll have to tell you about some of the stuff when I'm home.
Over all we did lots of tracting and freezing but it was a good week anyway!
Love ya all talk to you next week! 

 

 

Transfer Train

September 10, 2018

 

 

So this week has been kinda crazy due to transfers and packing and leaving and lots of driving.
Spent a good part of the week in Saskatoon with elder Burt from Calgary as sub ZL with him, we had a good time together for the few days as we waited for the transfer train to come back from Winnipeg. Almost sent Elder Black and Roberts up to Melfort so that me and Burt could serve together ha-ha wouldn't have actually but it woulda been fun.
Some of the members I met while I was there for the few days thought that I was the new missionary in the area even after we told them I wasn't... Wouldn't mind serving in Saskatoon after those few days of being there and meeting the members.
Finally the transfer train showed up Friday afternoon with everyone. Got to see Elder Doolen who I hadn't seen since Neepawa so that was nice! Got to see elder k Shaw for the first time since he got out here too so we had a good talk.
Had a good drive back to Melfort with Black talkin about Regina and what happened since we were last together which was quite a bit.
Once we got back we did some figuring with our phones since the Sim card didn't transfer the contacts over with it when we swapped it over at transfers so that sucked. Everyone is taking advantage of us not having contacts too cause they all call knowing we don't know who it is and they try to be someone who's interested in hearing from us or something like that. They got us once pretty good....
Done lots of tracting in the rain the last couple days which isn't too bad you just gotta look at it with the view of God is rain down blessing on you as you do the work.
Had stake conf Saturday and Sunday which was really good! Lots a good things were talked about and I think most the members needed to hear it as well as us missionaries.
Here’s a little quote from stake conf to give you an idea of what was the overall topic, "Don't only show love, speak love."
Well love ya all talk to ya next week! 

Elder Black is Back

September 3, 2018

Hey sorry I haven't got to you all till now been pretty busy helping the Turner's pull their house apart.
Well Saunis gone and Elder George black is back! Same one I served with in Regina about this time last yr. Never woulda thought I'd serve with 2 old companions in a row or ever.
This week was a pretty good week! Had exchanges with the zls in Saskatoon Wednesday night to Friday morning. Did some service with bro Vera helping him around his place again putting some drywall away and cleaning up the mess we made while fixing up the room.
Had dinner with the Turner's and a practice afterwards. Helped bro turner put up some hay in his shed before dinner so that was fun and itchy due to the fact we were in pros clothes, been quite a while since I’ve tossed square bales.
During practice with sis turner she decided I should sing with her on Wednesday (Tuesday was our first and only practice day). And we could do Johnny cash’s "Jackson" and "ain't me babe" ha-ha so we did a couple runs of it that night and we were doing alright so she figured yup let's do it! Wednesday night came and up we went to do our singing and playing for the museum bbq again. Lucy and Baylee they did there couple songs and I played all of sister turners songs for her while she sang and then she had me come in and sing those couple songs with her. Sis turners already lookin for another place we can go sing at...should be fun!
Had a pretty good exchange with the zls in Saskatoon Thursday. I was with elder Darley and elder Sauni was with elder Burt.
Every time me and elder Darley are together it seems that we have an interesting exchange and get all sorts of stories. Did a couple stop bys and we had one drunk native guy come out and talk to us for close to 30min since the lady we were looking for wasn't home (she was drunk) he asked us about gays and how we view them and how God views it all, Asked if we were born in the church, asked why we share God's word. Almost all the answers we gave him he had some way of turning them around on us and trying to get me and Darley to say opposite things if what the other said. It was pretty interesting because he'd ask one question to Darley and he’d answer no, then he'd ask me a different question and I'd say yes and he'd just get confused cause we think he thought he was asking the same question to both of us ha-ha it was just a round and round conversation with him.
Had a drug deal go down while we were teaching one of the potentials they had so that was pretty sweet.
Construction was all over the place down where we were trying to tract so in order to get around we had to drive up and down and around all the roads just to get to one street. On the way back though we just decided to use the alleyways and that kinda got us stuck when we came across one they had road closed signs at the end of it... It was a long ways to back up. While we were trying to decide what to do a car pulled up at the signs and a lady got out and moved the signs and the car drove in and we let them pass and then the lady let us out ha-ha and put the signs back. We were at this point on a construction site so we made a quick decision and elder Darley jumped out and moved the signs that were across road out of the way so I could get through to the other side of the alley and I drove across the road to the other side and yeah that's how we got around that time.
I gave a blessing to one of their investigators out in outlook after we taught a lesson with bro spencer which according to them was very good and what he was needing.
The Frocs boy got back from his mission this week so Saturday we had dinner with them and got to hear about his mission in Croatia (no idea how to spell it)
Had a last half hr. miracle Saturday night after dinner with the Frocs! We were doing some SBs and we got let into the one house we went to and got to teach a guy named Vincent, he's Filipino and has a Catholic background but isn't super strong in it from what he was saying but at the same time he is... Taught him the restoration and commitment him to read the B of M and pray about it. He wasn't too willing at first to do that because he felt he had what he needed and was good but eventually we got him to at least try and see and we didn't think we'd be getting back in with him but we got him to let us back again so that was good! He has lots of questions about us from the things other have told him but he doesn’t want to offend us. He asked a couple but we'll see if we can get him to ask more next time.
Had a lot of people show for Benton’s homecoming on Sunday! It was super good! I can't remember much of what he said but he made we wanna come home and have the change he seemed to have had while out, guess we'll see soon enough how that goes for me.
Well that was our week pretty much. It was a good one with lots a driving and finding new people so it's been nice.
Love ya all talk to ya next week! 

Picking Blueberries

August 27, 2018

This week has been pretty good and pretty busy! Didn't do a whole week of service this week so that was kinda nice in a way. Had interviews and exchanges this week with Pres and Flin Flon. 

Did the usual service at Salvation Army on Tuesday and in the morning before that we helped bro Vera put up some drywall in a room in his place. 

Wednesday we spent baking for Pres and Sister Hitchcock. Made some bread and cinnamon buns for them which they thought was great. After interviews they took us out to subway for dinner so that was pretty nice cause we got to visit with them for a bit about whatever we wanted.

Had some pretty good exchange miracles this week while Flin flon was down. Me and Arajuo had a good last half hour miracle, in 5 doors we had 3 try backs and 1 new investigator! The new investigators name is Kelly and he's 22 does IT work for a living, loves gaming, fighting, and skateboarding. Super friendly guy. We had a hr. long lesson with him on the restoration and learning where he's at with things. He told us that his place when he was young burnt down and that it kinda left a bitter taste in his mouth for a bit when it came to God and religion but that eventually he broke and realized that he needed God in his life and that he could help him. Don't go to church or do much with any stuff like that but he prays here and there and reads a verse a day before going to bed. Part of his reason for not going to church is because he works 4:30-6 every day other than Sunday so he sleeps most of Sunday away. Anyway we had a super good lesson with him and he asked some good things when he felt the need and was very glad that we came to talk with him about this stuff cause he wanted it back in his life but just wasn't sure how to go about it. We committed him to read the B of M and pray about it and he was pretty curious about it all so he accepted the invitation, we gave him 3 Nephi 11 to read. When we asked for a return appointment he was more than happy to take us up on it! He told us to come back the next day at 7:30.
Did some blueberry picking with sis turners dad out in the bush for a few hrs. the next day (he's not a member) Didn't get to talk with him a whole lot due to him scouting out some places to pick as we picked other stuff. Was nice to get out of the place where people are and have nothing but the sound of the trees and grass moving around you. 
Had a good lesson with Kelly that night on the plan of salvation and answered some of his questions. He read 3 Nephi 11 so that was pretty good! After the lesson we invited him to be baptized and turns out he has already been baptized so we had to have that awkward conversation with him where we tell him it wasn't correct... He seemed to take it pretty well though and said he would like a few days to think it over and he'd get back to us about it so we said for sure. Didn't get to set up a return appointment this time due to his work schedule but we got his number and he's got ours so we'll keep in touch and try to keep him going.
The next day Kelly referred himself to us on the internet so that was kinda nice cause now we now he's looking into us in the right places. 
Did some service for the Frocks Saturday helping them weed and pick apples, along with moving a few things around. 
Later got to do some service with Kim and Sheldon doing some baking and cooking so Kim could get it done faster. 
All in all we've had a pretty good week I think so it's been nice.
Everyone thinks that I'm supposed to be home now that elder Berry’s home! I’ve seen a few members from old areas lately and they all thought that I was going home shortly after elder Berry so they're were kinda shocked to see me around still.

Still got a few months left before then.

Well love ya all, talk to ya next week! 

 

 

Service at the Salvation Army

August 20, 2018

This week has been good, did some service as usual and even have to do some actual finding finally!
Ran into an ex communicated member that no one knew about so that was cool. They weren't interested but they visited with us for a few minutes on the doors step.
Found a guy named Trevor and his little boy Tradin. He told us the reason behind the name was because once he dies (Trevor) that his son is going to be a trade in of him so yeah, kinda cool I guess.
Talked with Trevor for close to 2hrs out on his deck. Got to hear a lot of his life story and what he believes in and why. In short he doesn't believe that religion is needed cause all it is people fighting over who's right and who's wrong and why you should follow them and no others.
It's true that's a lot of what religion seems to have become but there's more to it when you get past that. Also believes that religion is just something for people to lean on when they are scared, which is also true. A lot of the things he brought up were true but had some distortion to them but that's just how he saw it all so can't say much there. Super nice guy with lots of past behind him. What Trevor really wants is just for his son to have a better life then he did and to have what he needs. He told us we could come back and discuss things again but that we weren't gonna convert him haha challenge excepted.
Helped out the Salvation Army load up a truck full of clothes and shoes for other places throughout SK and Ab I think it was something close to 1600 bags of clothes... Took about 3hrs to load it all even with close to 20 people helping out.
Pres Nelson, his wife, and elder Anderson and his wife came out to Winnipeg this Friday to talk to the members on temple work and being a temple ready people. I don't remember much of what was said due to the connection we had over the internet but from what I caught it was good! Pres and sis Craig were there with pres Nelson so that was nice to see them again.
Sunday we helped the Kim and Sheldon move some more things into their place for more animals! After we got done moving the new stuff in we were out standing on the deck talking and their dogs popped the gate open and got up where we were and started jumping all over everyone and not listening to them when they said to get our get off. Finally once they got them back down Kim was like yeah we need to get that dog trained better, she just doesn't listen to us! So I offered to do that for them and Kim was like sweet when can you start!? So later today I’ll be going over there to start it, we'll see if they want me back after tonight... I told her yesterday the way we train our dogs are a little old fashioned with no treats other than petting them when they do good and dragging them back to where they are supposed to be when they don't listen but she didn't seem to care. Could be fun!
Had a lesson with a Filipino family last night as we were tracting! The lesson went pretty good despite the fact they couldn't understand English super well. We did find out though that they aren't super interested as of yet due to the fact that they feel all you have to do is believe in God and know he saved you and your good, also don't see much point in the scriptures cause they aren't 100% correct. They did however take the commitment to read and pray about the book of Mormon. No return appointment but they said we could come stop by and see how they were doing sometime.
But yup that was our week basically.
Bro turner invited us out to his place Saturday to help skin his Elk when he gets back from his bow hunt so I'm lookin forward to that! Might get to see Sauni get squeamish so it'll be fun haha.
Well Love ya all talk to ya next week!

Making Homemade Pie

August 13, 2018

 

Well I wish I could remember more of this week but I guess I'll just tell ya what I can remember as best I can, the days are all running together again lately.
Monday we spent making a pie with one of our members LA sons, he was giving us tips on how to make a good homemade pie and it turned out pretty good other then he got nervous and had us add a bit too much cloves haha but it was good anyway.
Did FHE with the old people like usual on Monday and as usual it was a hoot haha old people are funny.
Tuesday we spent driving around to members and Las places and visiting them since some of them are way out there and don't get to church very often. The Mondala’s the Filipino family you might have seen on FB with me and elder Sauni, they are moving close to Calgary so we went out there for a last super with the missionaries as they called it. They told us when we get home that we all have to get together and do something with them so that would be fun!
Wednesday the Flin flon elders were down for exchanges so we went and played balloon tennis with the old people! Me and elder baker were together so we watched these two old ladies fight over who hits the balloon out of turn when the other one misses it haha it was kinda funny especially when the one would growl at the other one haha
Did some service out at bro Pretes pretty well the rest of the day trying to help him get all his garlic in before he leaves this week to work. Me and elder baker had a race to see who could dig the most garlic and clean it properly and all that, just to try and make the time for faster.
Thursday was ZC and I may or may not have fallen asleep during it off and on... It's okay though because I told sis Hitchcock before ZC started that I might do that and she just laughed.
ZC is kinda boring for me now cause I feel like we have been trained on all the same stuff a thousand times and we do all the same practices. I know it's all for us to be better missionaries and all and if P Craig was here he'd say "learning is spaced repetition, so repetition is good." it's still hard to stay alive though sometimes.
When we got back from ZC we had a hr. left so we went and played some kids in basketball in our suites and got our butt kicked haha but we made some friends with them and it was fun so it was good!
Friday was weekly planning and more service with bro Prete doin garlic. I think I might die if u have to smell garlic again...! I don't mind the work but the smell is starting to get to me and yeah it's bad haha
Saturday we had a bday party for Caelynn our investigator so we helped her family put that on at the United Church. Kim (the mom) she had me do up the turkey and make the gravy cause she said she can't do those things very well. Once I had finished that stuff she was like "Sheldon I think I'm gonna take him home! He know how to do stuff!" haha
Sunday I gave me talk in church finally!! I’ve had a talk in church since I first got here but haven't actually gave it till yesterday! Did it on the atonement and Grace which the members said they liked so yup that was good.
Sis turner she put us down for dinner Wednesday night and put on it BRING GUITAR on it haha so I guess we might be doing some singing and playin!
Had dinner out at bro Pretes with bro Harrald and the Reesons, had pizza and peaches n ice cream along with garlic and peanut butter.... I didn't have the garlic though.
Went to a lesson elder Sauni and Arajuo set up while on exchanges but sadly they weren't there. Maybe next time.
Well that was pretty well our week!
Love ya all, talk to ya next week

 

The light of your testimony

The light of your testimony

There was once an old rancher that hadn’t been to church in a while and one day the preacher came out to see him. As the two sat down around the old ranchers wood burning stove the preacher pulled a coal out from the fire and put it on top of the stove. Sitting there in the quiet home they watched as the glowing coal slowly turned from red to black. When the coal turned black that's when the old rancher leaned forward and said “I know what you mean, I'll be at church Sunday."

There are times in all of our lives when we get to the point we feel like our coal is growing cold or is cold, when we feel our testimony is getting weak. It is at times like this that we like the old rancher need to sit back in the quiet away from the noise of the world and ask our self’s what am I missing in my life, what do I need to be doing differently? Eventually as we ask ourselves this question we like the old rancher will know what is missing and what we need to do to get that coal glowing bright again.
We might be missing something that we think is small like praying for example. Prayer is what connects us to our father in heaven, it opens the door for Him to help guide and direct us in our life.
Think of prayer like this. Have you ever ran into an old friend you haven't seen in a long time and when you two get together everything feels as if you had never been a part but there’s also so much to catch up on and it just makes you happy to have ran into them? When you pray it is like that, your heavenly father loves to "run into" you and hear about all the things that happened to you during the day and week. Even though he already knows how it all was he loves to hear it directly from you as you take a few moments out of your day to talk to him just as you would an old friend.
Never give up on the little things we do in life that bring us closer to our father in heaven. Don’t let your coal grow black. If your coal is black find someone whose coal isn’t and ask for help, lean on their testimony and do that until you feel you are in a place you can keep your coal burning on your own, the same goes for you whose coal is growing dim. The lord will not give you trials in your life without a way out. Once the fire is out you can always relight the fire.
Your heavenly father loves you. Sometimes the best people have the worst experiences, because they are the most ready to learn. He knows what you are going through and he knows what you can handle. He know when your coal is growing cold and he knows the way to bring it back to life, we just have to be willing to listen and act.
I know this church is true. I know God and his son Jesus Christ live and love, and know each and every one of us personally. He knows where your heart lies. I know we can overcome the hardest of times with the help of the lord.
I Love this gospel and I love my savior, and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen. 

Nacho...

August 6, 2018

This week has been pretty decent. We seem to do a lot of service around here which I'm good with but that's about all we did again this week.

Did some work over at the Salvation Army sorting and tagging clothes so they could be priced out.

Helped out sis Turners mom with a surprise birthday thing she wanted to do for bro turner out on his driveway. She said "you only turn 40 once so we gotta make it good!" she brought a bright orange toilet from salvation army and a walker (she one of the head people there) 40 flamingos that we stuck up in the grass around everything, a few scare crows holding a big happy birthday sign, and a couple big 40 balloons. It looked like a wreck but that was kinda the whole point haha it was fun though.

Had a birthday lunch with the turners and Boston Pizza the next day which was Wednesday. After lunch we went up to the skate park with them and were gonna watch Lucy ride her skateboard but she forgot a helmet so she couldn't... But me and elder Sauni got to talking with a 13 yr. old kid names Nickolas who was pretty open with us after he found out we weren't FBI haha quite a few kids thought we were cops or something like that.

Played balloon tennis with the old people at the old folks home this week for a half hr. that was kinda different. We get a balloon and some badminton rackets and then we get them all in a circle and we walk around with the balloon and hit it back and forth with them a few times and then go to the next person working our way around the circle, and that's it.

Went and helped out the Friazers (our investigator family) move their other fish tank up to the main floor of their place and then played with the kids for a little after that. Araccellie their 6yr old she came up to me after she talked to her mom 3 times about if she could ask me if we would go on a walk with them later but every time she would come to ask me she would chicken out and go back to her mom. Haha eventually she came over though and asked "will you go on a walk with me later tonight after you help my dad?" so later that night we went on a walk with all of them to the skate park and played around there for a little. Me and Sauni got on Carteea's long board and we went down the street a ways on it together haha they thought we were gonna wipe out but we made it alright.

Saturday we drive down to Manitoue Beach to meet up with the turners and cheer bro turner on as he ate the pound burger and fries to try and beat the record of 24 min, which he did no problem! He finished in 18 min...!! It was pretty crazy, you kinda had to be there.

Sunday we had a lot more people at church then it sounded like we would. Sounded like we would only have us and maybe 2 other families for church but it ended up almost being fun from visitors! Mostly bro Pretes family.

Later Sunday night the branch go together and had a little birthday party for sister Bradley and Caelynn (investigator) at sister Migeachies place which was pretty good. 

This morning at 7 we went and ran hills at the high school in town here and I know what you’re probably thinking, hills what's hills you’re in SK!?.. Well they made a hill by the football field for as good as our guess is probably the same thing we used it for, running hills. So we did that then got the great Idea from FB to make tacos so we ran to the store and got all the stuff for that and made tacos for breakfast! Then the tacos led to us making a little video of us reenacting Nacho Libre the scene where Nacho makes the kids all the salads after they lost their first fight haha

And yeah that’s been us so far this week..!

Love ya all talk to you next week! 

Weeds, the Atonement, and Testimonies

July 30, 2018

So as you have probably been able to tell from my last couple emails we have been doing lots of weeding/gardening the last few weeks. The other day while wedding I was thinking of random things while pulling weeds and I came up with this little analogy.

Weeding a garden is much like the atonement and the gospel in our lives. We have been given the hand book (book of Mormon) and the know how to garden and get our plants (testimony) to grow. We know it's not easy to keep a garden free of weeds and we know it's not easy to keep our testimony as strong as we sometimes wish it was especially in this world we live in now. If we let our garden go to long without being weeded it will be overrun with the weeds and it will be near impossible to keep our plants alive, that is why we must be out there in the garden down on our knees in the dirt every day pulling the weeds from yesterday out from beside our plants making our garden clean again. 
Ways we can keep our garden free of weeds is by reading scriptures daily, going to church, praying every day, and doing the things we know are right, all simple primary answers. When we do these things we can keep our testimony strong and our minds free of all the things the world tries to put in it. God loves you and he knows what you need in your garden. 
"Don't give up... Don't you quite. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead - a lot of it. You keep your chin up. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in good things to come." 

Elder Holland.

 

 

Lucy's Team

July 30, 2018

So this week was another service week for us.

Helped out at the Turners place quite a bit throughout the week. We had FHE the one day with the while clan and Baylee their oldest (she's ten) did the lesson for us on pioneers and what they are and why they are important and at the we got out some cream and made butter as a treat haha sister Turner had us do a little hunt to try and find Bob the man in the tree and whatever team found it had to take a selfie with it. I was on Lucy's team (she's 6) and she jumped in their go cart and told me "get in get in we are going to win this!!" she's a crazy driver but hey it payed off cause we won! Haha

Wednesday we went and played guitar outside and sang for the old people at the museum here in town as they did a BBQ, that was pretty fun. Sister Turner she's trying to get me to sing at those things now with her... We’ll see.

We were back out at the tuners place Saturday and helped bro turner finish up his roof inside the house and building a new add on to their playground. 

Bro Angell from Flin Flon showed up at church this Sunday to speak so that was a nice surprise for both of us! It's crazy to think the last time I saw him was a little over a yr. ago now. Also saw Bro Drennan and Gwen from up there too. They didn't come till after church though, Bro Drennan was looking for bro Angell because he was supposed to get a ride with him back home but bro Angell had already left which they weren't too surprised about. It was good to see those guys again. I'll be seeing a lot more of them in the next bit because the new district is us and Flin Flon! Gonna be weird to go back up there but nice to see it all.

Had dinner out at the Frocs Sunday night and had a good visit with them talking about all the Las we can try to work with and who else would be good to try and get back in touch with.

We are going out to the Frocs today at 1 to have Sis Froc show us how to make her bread so Sauni is excited for that!

We that's about it for this week that was exciting and new.

Melfort Fair

July 23, 2018

This week had been pretty good had FHE with the old people here in the branch that can't make it to church Sundays and that was pretty alright. There is a couple there that is dating and he's 83 and she's 103... They are pretty cute haha I'd have to say she's the oldest person I've ever shaken hands with, and to be honest she doesn’t look 103 yrs. old she's looks like she's in her 90s.
Had exchanges with PA Tuesday night to Wednesday night. Tuesday morning we did a walk with Kim (investigator) and then half service with the Salvation Army place sorting clothes and hauling stuff around for them to other places. We got a couple members that work there so we visited with them a bit and visited with the others that work there, they are all pretty good. There is a lot of crap that comes through those second hand stores... Some cool stuff though. We got a bench for free out of it so that was sweet!
Exchanges were good up in PA only almost hit 10 people.... They don't care up there if a car is coming or not they just walk out on the street anyway, it's crazy!
PA's not as big as I expected but it's a nice size and it's pretty nice. I went with elder Carr on exchanges and we did some tracting and DC (district council) it’s not dm anymore, had lunch at the party Wendy's. We call it the party Wendy's because when you go in the bathrooms there they have black lights in it so people can't shoot up in there... So that was cool haha kinda different.
When we got to PA for the night those goons came to open the door for us and they were in their superhero costumes they made. Wolff was superman with a red blanket as a cape and Carr had a flash bathrobe on haha they thought they were pretty cool.
Sister Turner already has me working on song she wants to sing and play with me so she's keeping me busy. We went out to their place last night to practice and find some new songs we could sing n play for Wednesday and Friday.
Did a whole lot of service with Bro Prete this week weeding his garden.

Friday us and PA went to the fair here in Melfort to try and see if we could talk to people there and see what was all going on there. They had some chuck wagon races, motocross, rides, games, petting zoo, and a few other things. Spent most the time with elder Wolff at the motocross with a few people that we were able to make friends with while we were there.
At one point we had us, PA, and the Tuners' all together and we were watching the motocross when all the sudden there was a cop running around the front end of the bleachers looking under them which got everyone's attention and so they all started looking around wondering what was going on. Looking to the back on the bleachers is when we found 5 police officers with guns out trying to pull a 19-20 yr. old kid out from under the bleachers and that’s when everyone on that section ran off to get away from a possible shooting. The boy wasn't cooperating and was kicking back at the cops trying to grab him even with 5 guns on him! Eventually one cop got in there and he took a couple rounds out of the kid with the back end of his pistol and flipped him over taking his hands and cuffing him with his one elbow in the air and the other toward the ground kinda in a chicken wing almost. It was pretty sweet! A couple girls that me and elder Wolff were behind turned around to us and told us that the boy was in their class and chucked a desk at them once, and pulls knifes on kids that make him mad so they were kinda glad he was gone. The story behind why the cops were after him was because he pulled a gun on a kid over by the rides and then when the cops came he tossed it in the trash and ran, which leads him to where we were!
I can't remember too much of this week due to all that we have been doing service and driving wise. Wasn't a very interesting week other than at the fair and just serving people, maybe this week I'll have some more for you next Monday!
Well love you all talk to ya next week! 

 

 

Emergency Transfer

July 17, 2018

 

This week has been good been doing a decent about of everything it seems this week. Did a decent amount of driving, tracting, teaching, and service.

To start off our week we did a few hrs. of tracting and we caught no one home for basically the whole street... But after and hr. and a bit we finally got someone to answer! They were and older couple named Joan and Wayne kind of like John Wayne haha but they were super nice and let us in for a bit to cool off and talk about stuff. Their house kinda reminded me of Ed and Marilyn’s back in Neepawa. And they kinda even reminded me of them a bit. We talked about farming and the price of grain, planting, home, work, what we are doing knocking on doors, and even got to share a little bit of the gospel with them bit not a whole lot.
They weren't interested in our message but they were nice enough to let us in for a bit and chat so that was good enough for me. Who knows maybe they will hear the next missionaries that come because of us.
Later that day we were knocking a different street but having about the same luck as before with catching people home. Finally we caught some people home and the third one to answer was a girl about my age, a little older named Ashley. It was my door so I told her who we were and what we were doing and asked if she would be interested and had some time now we could share this with her, and to our surprise she said "yes!" and stepped out onto her deck with us.
Ashley hasn't been to church in a while now, said she went all the time as a kid but since then not so much. She told us of a time when she and her grandfather had both been pronounced dead on an operation table and how they had both seen and heard many crazy things while they were dead and how since then she hasn't been scared of dying like she was back when she was younger. 
We taught her the restoration and then at the end had her read Moroni’s promise 10:3-5. She read it on her own since she want comfortable reading aloud and when she finished reading she handed the book back to me, we asked her what she was thinking and she told us she had no words for it she told us she had never felt the way she was feeling after reading something, she said "I have goosebumps. That's powerful." we told her that was the spirit testifying to her that what she was reading and being taught was true. She gladly accepted the book of Mormon and said "Yes! I'll read it."
We met with Ashley again a day or so later and we read 3 Nephi 11 with her and talked about it. Eventually the discussion went into where do people that commit suicide go and how are they judged, along with why does she feel promptings to do something just before someone close to her dies. She told us that her boyfriend who isn't all that into religion was reading the book of Mormon the day we found her, she says "he's further in it then I am I think..." he told her that it answers a lot of questions that the Bible isn't so clear about so that was pretty cool for her to tell us that! So we are gonna try and meet with him next time too.
So I got a little surprise for you all. Thursday morning I got a call from the AP's at 9am right as we were finishing studies and they said "are you two able to hear us?" we said "yeah what's going on?"
"we hate to put this on you elders with such short notice but elder Nelson we need you to pack your bags you’re going to Melfort and you need to be there by 9pm tonight, so do whatever you need to do to be there on time. We gotta ET another elder and we felt that you would be the best one to take his place." so off we went to packing and saying goodbye to everyone we could get to which luckily we got everyone I was wanting to say bye to other then the Buchanan’s in person anyway.
We stayed the night in Saskatoon with the wildwood elders elder Berry, Bloomfield, Russell, and the ETed elder. Everyone in that apartment was Albertan other than the ETed elder so that was pretty cool.
The next morning we got things going and we got put with the new companions well not really new for me cause it was elder Sauni! We were both pretty excited to get to serve around each other again when we found out.
First night here the PA (Prince Albert) elders came down for exchanges here and we goofed around a bit that night and made a fort in the living room to sleep in so that we could stay cool during the night since the AC in this place kinda sucks. Half way through the night though the wind from a storm blew it down... Haha but me and Wolff were the only ones that noticed so we left it alone till the morning.
Had a branch picnic down at Struthers Lake about 30min from our place. It was pretty fun! Played volley ball, catch, magic tricks and ate lots of food. At the end we had a little devotional with everyone around a fire and me and sister turner were the main act pretty well. Pres froc had us play guitar and sing, and believe it or not I sang and played with sister turner and the first song we did was Amarillo by morning haha good church song, we did those later. It was lotsa fun though to go and do that with the new branch and get to know them and all.
Church was pretty good! They have about the same amount show up for church as Weyburn does but way more kids then adults. We had one of our investigators Kaylin come to church, she's 12 and she's pretty great. We ended up over at her place later that night and met the rest of the family she has a sister that 16 names Carteea and a younger one that's 6 and her name is Aracellie and she's in love with me haha she had me push her on the swing and then play with her on the teeter-totter. Once we got back from our walk with them to the park Aracellie had me go with her out to the trampoline and play ring around the rosie and crack the egg haha it was fun, she's like "your fun, I won't leave you!" her mom just laughed and said "I think she likes you a little bit!" when we told her we had to leave she was kinda sad but I told her the sooner she goes to sleep the faster we'll be back tomorrow. We were going to walk with Kim (the mom) Monday morning at 6:30 so she was pretty excited to go to bed after that haha
The walk the morning with the family was good, Arasellie was holding my hand the whole time having me swing her around as we walked with her mom. She keeps asking if she can come home with us haha but her mom keeps telling her she can't. Aracellie once we got back to the house was wanting me to come jump on the trap again but we had to go so I told her Thursday I'd come a jump again.

So far Melfort has been good!  I think it'll be fun. 

Well love ya all talk to you next week! 

 

President and Sister Hitchcock

July 9, 2018

So we got to meet President and Sister Hitchcock this week that was pretty sweet! They are super nice and they are way different then Pres. and Sister Craig. Pres and Sister Craig were pretty soft spoken and not super personal I guess you could say to the extent of like going to every group of missionaries and getting in on the conversation, the Hitchcock’s on the other hand they do that. Pres Hitchcock loves hunting, shooting stuff, and basically anything outdoors so I think we'll get along pretty good. Sister Hitchcock she loves baking, camping, and yeah pretty well all the stuff that Pres Hitchcock likes too. It was funny watching them during ZC cause they were trying to get better at calling each other by Pres and Sister rather than merry (yes it's spelled like merry Christmas) and Craig. They said we are all MPTs (mission president trainers) because they are going to need as much help from us as possible as they try to get started here. We are all pretty excited to see what goes on with them here, he said they weren't going to change much in the mission really so that’s nice. During ZC Pres Hitchcock had us all stand and sing his nomination for the mission song (we didn't have one before) it was I know that my redeemer lives, he told us he wanted us to sing it as if we were baring our testimonies of Him. As we sing that hymn I don't think any of us have ever felt that kind of spirit while singing, more than half of us were in tears (not me though...) and ah it was amazing. I think I now know why that is my mom’s favorite hymn. 

After ZC we had exchanges with sunrise elders again. I went with elder Delano and he's pretty good. He's kinda like elder Berry in some ways like with his jokes and deep voice haha so it was fun.

We went and saw Latisha the mom of the boy thunder that I baptized when I was there and when she saw me she screamed and gave me a big hug! She almost started crying even she was so excited to see me again. We had a good talk with her and her parents for about 2hrs. 
For lunch on exchanges we all went to DQ with our coupons and we all got basically a 2 for 1 meal deal so when they brought us our food we all had to things of what we got... So we had 8 full meals on our table haha they gave us a crazy look when they saw all that food was just for us 4 guys. It was a good deal up till about the time we finished it all... It was a lot of food.

Got back to Weyburn about 7 Wednesday night so we went and visited b brown and talked with him for a hr. or so till he sent us on a drink run for him before we left. 
Weyburn is a busy place right now with the fair going on till Sunday, lots a horses, cows, and people around kicking up all those good smells I love from back home! Kinda sucks but I love it at the same time. Every morning when we go outside it smells like I'm out walking around by our barn.
Had a pretty good busy day Thursday didn't even tract one door, that's how busy we were. Did some service for Kevin unloading shingles from his grain truck for a hr. or so, then he took is to lunch after at the club cafe which is a Chinese food place here in town. After that we had to catch up on our studies we didn't get to do in the morning so that took a few hrs. Once studies were done we went and met with bro brown and visited with him again for a while taking about what he'd been reading and answering questions he had. By the time we got out of there it was dinner time so we went to A&W to get our free root beer they are giving out on their coupons and came back to the apartment to eat. 
Spent the rest of the night taking with Dave and then the other Dave and his wife and conveniently enough they live right beside each other! Got formered by Dave and his wife sadly but they said we were welcome to their home any time. Gamer Dave as we call him he was still interested far as we could tell and we talked with him for 2hrs on his deck, just about any on everything came in that time haha it was good. 
Met with Velda, lady bro brown wanted us to meet with and teach. This time went about as well as we thought it would with her, she told us the book of Mormon wasn’t a word of God and that the Bible was the only thing from God and nothing else. Her favorite thing to say was "it doesn't say that in the Bible." then we'd show her where it does and she'd just shake her head and ask another question. Us being called by elders came up a few times and how no one in the Bible was called by elder (there was) she told us the Bible was a word of God because it hasn’t been disproved, so we told her neither has the book of Mormon but she didn't like that haha it was kind of a stand still lesson so needless to say we probably won't be going back there again.
On the other hand though we had a good lesson with John, Thelma's cousin. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ, we didn't get all the way through it but we spent the time we needed to with him on the first few points of the lesson so he could hopefully understand it all since he doesn’t understand English very well. Committed him to keep reading and praying every day and he said he would so let's hope he does! 
Had a high of 44° the other day.... So that was fun working in that. Luckily it was windy and that kept us decently cool during the day.
Had a lesson with gamer Dave the other day. It went alright, not a lot of progress there but we discussed a few things that he was wondering about and I think he has a slight interest in the book of Mormon and why we would believe every word of it to be true. Dave is a "skeptic" as he calls himself and doesn't have much faith in man made things or written things and he's also pretty okay with whatever happens to him. Basically his view is whatever happens happens and I'm just here for today and that’s all everything else I don't worry about, which I can relate to in some ways. He said he'd read the book of Mormon and we could meet with him next week same time n all so we'll see what happens then! 
Did almost a full day go service the other day helping out one of our investigators, John paint his aunts rental house in town and a few other awed jobs. It was good I think for him to just get to be around us and talk about whatever and get to know one another a bit better. He asked quite a few questions about church type things even so that was good. After we got done with John we helped bro Dudragne unload a freezer out of his truck to his back deck.
Had a full building just about on Sunday! The Shugart family was all there for a reunion I think? So Bro and Sis Shugarts 3 kids where there along with their family and all their families were pretty big it seemed, so we had lots a kids for primary! Church in Estevan was had 9 which was a good turnout actually! Especially for lately. 
Had another lesson with John Sunday night with bro and sis Dudragne. We finished off lesson 3 and John he seems to be understanding faith, repentance, and baptism now. We tried to set a date with him for baptism but he said he wants to have more faith and time to repent so he can be ready which I thought was great! It shows he really does want to know Christ and that he does want to be better, so we just set a goal of baptism with him for the 28tg of July just to work towards.

Lots of teaching, lots of learning and new things this week! It was good.

Well love ya all and talk to you next week!