I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus

January 15, 2018

Well another week come and gone here in the old Regina zone!  Hit my 11 month mark today...

Had ZC this week here in Regina, it was super good.  Did lots of training on how we can better work with the members in our wards.  I also got roped into playing the musical number near the end of ZC somehow... so I played I’m trying to be like Jesus on the guitar.   It went pretty good. During Zc it was raining and it was freezing as it hit the ground so that made this week super fun to walk around for tracting and everything in between!  There were some guys we saw skating to work this week haha that shows how bad it was.  
The other day me and Sauni were looking for a DQ to have lunch at while we waited for the ZLs to meet up with us and we couldn't find one for the life of us.  SO we were at a red light and Sauni is like "I’m going to ask this person here if they know where one is."  Glad I’m quick with locking the windows because he was serious!  He’s like "what are you doing, that's not weird!"  Ha-ha we went back and forth for a few min and he was going to open the door to do it!!!  But I messed around long enough that I made him miss his chance ;) or so I thought.... the next light he did the same thing!!!! but I didn't fight him this time I just looked the other way as he did it ha-ha sure enough we found a DQ after they gave us some guidance.  
We set a baptismal date with a boy named Thunder this week!  He’s to be baptized the 27th this month!  He’s 9 and his mom is a member and wants us to help him have a desire to be baptized and teach him more about it. 

And that's our week for ya really.  

Love ya all, talk to ya next week!     

 

Marilyn's Baptism

January 8, 2018

So a few things this week that I forgot to tell last week.  Remember that older couple in Neepawa I always talked about, Ed and Marilyn?  Well Marilyn got baptized last Saturday!! It was super nice.  We got permission to skype into it too.

Also last week after church Sauni, Baker, Mills, and I had to break into Bishop Svenson’s truck for him after he locked his keys in it... So that was fun. ha-ha!

The other day me and elder Sauni helped a less active lady in the ward move some things around her place and during it my hand got a little cut on it from a screw, it we bleeding a little.  After that we had to run over to sis T's place for lunch so I didn’t have time to clean it off before, and when we walked in and she caught me cleaning my had off and saw what I did she went all nurse on me and pulled out the band aids and everything else you could think of so she could fix me up! Ha-ha She didn’t believe me when I said it was fine and I didn’t need that stuff.  Bro T was like "Carol he’s fine it’s not that big a cut".  But she just set to work on my finger and got'er all patched up for me ha-ha

 gotta move computers for a sec so ill finish the week in a moment.   

On exchanges this week with the ZLs I ran into one of the Berry's relatives Brother Tex!  So that was cool.  We got to talking about Cardston and the area and who we know back there, meanwhile Elder Fuster (he’s from the Philippines) sat there looking lost ha-ha it was a good time.  

Our feet from last week are back to normal finally! Only took about 5 days. Next week we are going to do it again!  Our feet are all hard now from the first time so we should be good to go we think! No I’m just kidding we won't do that again, for a little while anyway.... 
Yesterday was fast Sunday as you all know.  We did part of it to find more people and best thing ever, right after we got done fasting everything fell apart for our night and we had nothing to do but tract.  So we did and the last door we knocked on and also the door elder Sauni about broke his neck on the ice in the doorway; they let us in!  It was a young family of 3 and the guy he looked like a cross of my Uncle Randall and the guy that plays Thor ha-ha His name is Josh and he's engineer, and also is evangelical.  The restoration went pretty good with him, a little caught up one the fact that there is only one person technically who has seen these plates and they just disappeared after the translation.  Also seems to have the mindset that in order to write scripture you need to be educated.  But he said he would read it and pray to know if the things are true!  Didn't get to set another day up to see him but if he doesn't contact us by Wednesday we are going back to see him.

I’ll be paying for my first haircut today.... 19 yrs and never had to pay for one! 

And that's our week for ya, all the fun stuff anyway!

Love ya all, and talk to you next week!     

   

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2018
Well we’ve had a pretty warm week this week, -49 some days!!
-40 the rest of them! It was a blast trying not to go insane for 2 days with being stuck in side. Not a whole lot went down this week with it being so cold, but we did however find 2 new investigators with 2- 5yr old kids! Dixie with an A at the end so Dixia and Daryl, super nice people dixia knows all about our church and wants her husband to have a faith in something cause as of right now he’s agnostic.  Dixia isn't baptized, yet! neither is Daryl! Dixia she drove past the temple the other day and felt a feeling as she drove by when she saw the angel Moroni.  So she gave us a call!  
Not too much else that I can remember happened this week other than lots of sitting in the apt being stuck with not enough work to do for 2 days straight.
Started the New Year off with a good start!! YSA elders came over for a sleep over and just before 9 Sauni got a bright idea to run to the other end of the apt block and back with no shoes on ha-ha so we decided to do that quickly!  Yeah I know we kind of left our brains behind for about 2min as we did this in -33 weather; it was only a 200 yard run there then back.  Spent the first day of Jan 2018 trying to keep our feet from falling off ha-ha it’s been fun, definitely won’t forget this yr.! 

That’s the start to 2018!

Love ya all, talk to you next week!           

 

The Lost Herd

December 26, 2017

Well another week come and gone here in Regina, and a cold one at that.  We are at -43 as we speak.... and yesterday was the coldest Christmas in history here in Regina, so it was cold. We found out not to touch any metal at all when we are out tracting, not even the door handle. Sauni and I got a little frostbite on our hand from opening screen doors to knock. It’s kind of funny when it doesn't happen to you. Ha-ha 

Found 7 new investigators this week!  It’s a single mom and her 6 kids, and they are from Mexico and speak Spanish a lot during our lessons with them, but they are pretty great. The kids are 18-19 except the one girl she’s 10.

Spent Christmas day at one of the single mom’s places in the sunrise ward, Sister Rutton and her 5 boys that are 3-6 yrs. old.  It was a little wild, but fun.  Got lots a presents from the ward, we don't know what we are going to do with all the cookies and candy we got this week.  We made up a little Christmas present for the sisters in the district full of things we couldn't use. Things like ladies deodorant and lotion ha-ha then we put in a few odds n ends that we thought would be funny.  After we gave it to them they were feeling so bad because they didn't get us anything for Christmas; till they opened the present ha-ha I was a little worried they might not take it too well with some of the stuff but they thought it was funny. Other than that fun stuff this week not too much else has happened.

Guess I better tell you a bit about Elder Sauni before I finish this.  He's from American Samoa (not sure if that's the correct way to spell it but oh well) he’s 25 and was shooting to do boxing in the Olympics before he came out here.  Got some pretty sweet tats on his arms.

Well love ya all talk to ya next week! 

Got stuff from you, Nelson G parents, Aunty Jane, ward members, and Brit Blackmore.

 

I am super tired, I think....?  I feel like my eyes are and look tired but my body keeps moving.

Just about to go tract in -38!! Got to bring the lost herd into the barn, they are out there. Where we know not, but we'll keep riding till we find them. 

 

Christmas Day

we'll talk to ya all at 3:00! 

We are at the Rutton's right now for Christmas! It's crazy haha! They are the best! We are playing soggy doggy with her 5 little boys! So we are being taken care of.

Teaching the Good Word of God

Well T mail came today, me and black have done enough damage in the Regina area I guess…he’s moving on to Meadow Lake and I’m getting Elder Sauni.  From what I’ve seen and heard we should get along pretty good?!   

So this week we had ZC in Saskatoon and even got to watch a movie! We watched what a wonderful life.  ZC was good, did lots of training on remembering who we are and how to keep commitments.

After ZC Black, Mills, Baker, and I went to the Saskatoon ZLs place to stay the night.  That was a full house if I ever saw one. We had 6 sets of us in there, so 12 elders all sleeping on the ground and wherever else we could find.  Lots a fun ha-ha 

So this week we had a little experience the other day while out tracting.  We were out with Elder Gee because Elder Fuster was off someplace else with another elder.  And Gee was giving us some pointers on how he does a door and how he gets in.  SO he did a couple to give us an example and then it was Black's turn.  He did it Gees way and crazy as it was the family let us in! We taught them the first lesson and didn’t set a return appointment but they were pretty interested.  The one girl Jen said she was praying to know what church she should go to when they left Africa and he pastor in Africa ended up coming down with them so they just went to that church but she is still looking for a different one far as we could tell.  So that was kind of cool to see Gees approach to things work even though Black and I were both kind of like yeah I don’t think so.  But it did! 

Not too much else happened here in the sunrise area this week.  Just been knocking lots a doors and teaching the good word a God.

 

Stupid Cold!

Part of Riley's letter to me:

James and Bryan are doing good.  James the dirty renter better than Bryan.  Bryan informed us the other day that it wasn’t what he thought it was.  But James he’s doing good!! Met with him again the other day and taught the plan of salvation. His place is super nice, the place he was renting was bad.  When we first met him it was my door to talk so we did the usual and he’s like ah guys I’m super busy with this house and told us what went down in it. I was like well if you don’t have time to sit down and listen can we give you a hand?  As we are in white shirts and ties ha-ha but he brought that up in our first meeting at his home and said that it really showed him that we cared and it shocked him that these 2 guys would offer to help him after what he described the house to be like.

So yeah kind of cool.  

 

Dec 11, 2017

Well another week has come and gone here in Regina!  

About didn't think we were going to make it a couple days back, it got stupid cold for a couple days.

It was only - 20 but it felt like - 35, and as usual we are stuck tracting for most the day when it’s cold out.  But hey we survived it and I still got my feet and Black still has his hands! 

Not a whole lot went down this week, mostly just lots of tracting and doing stuff for the Christmas party that happened on Saturday.  

Man the play they did was pretty funny, mostly because it had Black, Mills, Baker, myself, and the sunrise sisters in it as angels... We were all goofing around backstage in our costumes and Mills puts his sash around his head like a headband and starts acting like a sushi chef or something and we are all laughing being dumb, then they call for the angels and we are all laughing trying to get all serious as we walk out there; yeah it was bad.... but hey we got our self under control before we got out in front of everyone.   They did a different version of the Christmas story, it was called the fourth Wiseman and it went through kind of focused on this 4th Wiseman and how he got left behind by the other wise men when he stopped to help a man that was sick, and the others kept on riding to see the baby Jesus.  So he had spent all his life after the birth of the savior trying to find him so he could worship him. 

Found a guy a few nights ago named Samwell. We needed to do tracting at the end of the day so we said a prayer to know where to go and got the thought to go to this street Rothwell, so we did.  We got there, got out and were deciding on where to start and there was 1 house at the end that was kind of on its own and Black wasn't going to knock it but I half-jokingly was like hey what if that's the person we are sent here to find?! So we walked down there and knocked the door.   This guy opens the door and we tell him who we are and he surprisingly let us in!! We talked to him for about 10-15 min about the restoration and answered his questions about the church.  He told us later that he really wanted to meet with us, but it wouldn't be till after Christmas or until he had his days off for Christmas.  But either way he was going to set a few days aside to listen to us!  Sounded like he was even going to come to church this week but either he got lost or just couldn't make it.  I'll email him after I get done talking to you guys and see what he’s up to.

 Love ya guys! 

The Lord Does Answer Prayers

December 4,2017

tidbit from a letter home:

This week has been good, says Elder Black says lots of good things are going on here in the sunrise area since I came.

We pray every time we are going to start tracting some place to find someone who’s prepared to talk to us and every time without fail we find at least 1 person.

The lord does answer prayers and I know he is always listening to yours.

I saw a prime example of that the other week with those kids, he knows the feelings and troubles we are having and if we ask for his help He WILL answer.

 

This week has been fairly productive for Elder Black and I, we found 2 new investigators this week.  James, the dirty renter and Bryan the 60 yr. old Lutheran who loves Mormons.

James, the dirty renter got his nickname because we found him tracting the other week and when we found him he was cleaning out one of his rentals that I guess he had to evict the lady out of. She had 18 animals in there.... I can’t remember the number of each animal but she had cats, dogs, and birds! I guess the place had a good 2 inches of crap on the floor and the one room she must have locked the cats in he says cause it’s all torn apart on the walls like something was trying to claw through it. Thus the name James the dirty renter.  Super nice guy! 

We met with him last night for 2 hrs. talking about us and him n the church.  At the end we committed him to read the B of M just the first chapter, and when he saw how not so big the chapter was he said "guys I can do more than that!  You have my interest peaked on this book and I want to read it!" So we said at least read the first chapter, but you can read more if you want! Set up another appointment with him for Thursday this week.

Bryan this guy is super cool to but he’s not really in it to change, he’s more in it to learn about our beliefs.  We knocked on his door and he was super up front and kind of loud.  He said oh it’s you guys!!  Don’t you know this place is black boxed!? You aren’t supposed to come to this place! Black and I both are going oh great another guy that has a restraining order on us.... turns out he was just joking.  He said the missionaries used to come by all the time and meet with him, but one day they just stopped; that was 11 yrs. ago.  But he let us right in and we got his number and set a day to come back and yeah super nice guy! So we went back the next day I believe it was and we were there for a hr. and a half talking. He asked us a lot of questions and we think we did a pretty good job of answering them, and so did he.  He asked us if we thought right now we would go to heaven, and if we did then why we thought that.  We both told him we didn’t know for sure but that it was up to God really with what happened there.  But we sure hoped that we would be!  We said a bit more than that, but that's essentially what we said to him.  He also asked if we had a testimony of this gospel and how strong was it.  SO that led us to sharing our testimonies with him, and he just thought that was the best thing ever, like Christmas had come early for him, he thought they were great.  

The spirit in both our lessons with these guys was pretty amazing, you could feel things changing as we talked about Christ and tell that we weren't all that different from each other.  If there's one thing that everyone in the world has in common, it’s a belief in a higher power and that’s the common ground you can find with anyone.  Once you find that thing you have in common with someone you don’t really know things just open up.  Religion is one of the best ways to have people open up, cause it’s something they love and something that brings us closer to our God, whoever it may be.  

 That’s our week for ya really, well the highlights anyway.  

Haven’t have any snow here on the ground for the past 2 weeks!! As of last night we now have 6 inches or so... 

Hope everyone has a good week.

Love ya all!     

 

 Another bit from the letter he sent me:

Well I’m glad to hear its going good for ya!  It was kind of hard for me to open my mouth when I first started but now it’s just a time we get to share the insights we had on what we read and then as we discuss those things we learn more from each other and our knowledge grows and so does our testimony.