Week 100, 8/29/17

Well I don't have a whole lot to report on this week but the small bit that I do have to talk about is pretty dang awesome!

Our long time investigator Ray is on date for September 23rd (my two year mark!!), which in itself isn't that big of news because he has had countless baptismal dates.  The big news is that he is moving out of his house on Thursday!  Through a series of small miracles and super kind, Christlike people, its actually finally going to happen.  This is so huge for him because the home that he has been in is a TERRIBLE environment for his word of wisdom issues.  He really wants to quit but just cant quite do it in the place he has been.  Having been over there a bunch, its honestly super understandable.  Now he is getting out of there and is so excited to get back on the right track.  We have seen more change in him since he knew he was moving than ever before. It is awesome!

In other news we were walking and busing for most of this week because we are stretched super thin on KMs for the month.  The beginning of the month will be blessed.  Renewed KMs, data on our phone, allotment for the month, etc.  Its a good feeling to be temporally renewed, but even better than that is being spiritually renewed by partaking of the Sacrament with a repentant heart each week.  I have a testimony that renewing those baptismal covenants each week with faith in Jesus Christ will help us become something that we can't become on our own. 

Hope you all have a real good week. :)

Weekly scripture: D&C 68:8

Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, acting in the authority which I have given you, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Pics:

1) Tracted the most ghetto townhouses I have over seen on exchanges :)

2) Exchange Selfie with Elder Lian from Taiwan 

3) selfie with the office from the bus stop

4) BMW i8

5) Weekly mcdonalds breakfast pday run:)

6) Temple this morning was epic:)

Week 99, 8/22/17

Hello homies.  Not really feeling like writing a super long email today cuz I haven't had a real pday in 2 weeks and im desperate for ball time so here are some highlights:  Last week was transfers and we housed 13 missionaries for 2 nights in a row and it was a party!  However, I was awake for an average of about 20 hours a day from Monday-Thursday and that aspect of this week and housing so many missionaries wasn't a party.   

Thursday was MLC, my very last one!!  Elder Johnston and I a couple good trainings.  One in particular went really well, it was one of the stronger spiritual meetings I have been in for a while.  Saturday and Sunday I was super happy all day, because we pretty much got to focus on proselyting the whole day.  We received some definite revelation for our area during MLC and we had a really good planning session where we sat down and basically formulated a six week plan based off of our goals for the area.  I was already excited to work super hard and do the best I could do this last transfer, but now I'm even more pumped.  I really feel like we are going to see some serious miracles.  We took some cookies around to our neighbors to introduce ourselves on Saturday.  It was pretty awesome, we have some dynamite neighbors. 
   

Yesterday we unexpectedly got stuck in the office for a while.  Elder Johnston and I got asked to essentially be testers for this new "tool" that SLC has created for mission office staffs worldwide to use to make the referral assigning process much easier and more reliable.  We tested it out a little on Sunday night then Monday we had a conference call with SLC and offered our feedback as they took us through the tool.  It was pretty cool! 
    

Well I love the gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that it is true because the Holy Ghost has confirmed it to me.  I have been the happiest I have ever been on my mission as I have really given my all to the Lord.  It's no coincidence!  I'm excited to find and teach some solid investigators this week.   

Love ya - 

Weekly Scripture: Mormon 9:15-16 15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do no miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles. 16 Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous works of God?   

Pics: 1) Posterity pic! Elder Sites is training.  He's my hero. 2)Bye Elder Kendall💔 3)Bye Elder Mejia💔 4) MLC

Week 98, 8/15/17

Hello beloved friends and family!  

We have had another chaotic week here in Southgate! Preparing for transfers and MLC always seems like it gets even more hectic every time around.  It is super crazy to think that I only have six weeks left as a missionary.... yeah let's not talk about that, that's weird.   

We have the awesome opportunity to have a couple of exchanges this week as well, which means FINDING!!😝It took me a while to truly love sharing the gospel message with people, but it is honestly one of my favorite things ever. As usual, we found a few people who seem to be prepared to hear our message.  We are preparing to have 13 missionaries, including us, stay in our apartment tonight.  Its gonna be fun 😊 

   

I honestly don't have a whole lot more to say that any of you will actually find interesting.  Plus I have zero time.  I was thinking a lot about the importance of the Spirit in our lives this week.  It is so crucial, especially as a missionary, to be in tune with the Holy Ghost always.  When we put forth the effort to do so, it doesn't matter what happens in our lives, we will receive Heaven's help and we will be given the necessary help to endure the trails we go through and grow from them. 😊  Have a great week everyone!   

Weekly Scripture: Alma 36:24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.  
  

Pics: One last IHOP date with elder Mejia before he heads home🥞✈️ Cool pic from last week I didn't send Sideways exchange pic Exchange vid Elder Griffin celebrated his birthday with IHOP 😍 yes we went twice...

Week 97, 8/8/17

Holy moly....  SO much happened this week.... Life is crazy right now!! This week was pretty much a week of all the hours of preparation and admin work that we have done over the past few weeks coming to fruition.   

Wednesday we had a 7 hour meeting where we trained about 75 missionaries on how to effectively use Facebook as a proselyting tool, and helped them to get started.  We also helped everyone set up their smartphones with the church restrictions.  It was honestly a long and brutal meeting but it was very necessary!  Setting up the phones was ABSOLUTE CHAOS but eventually and with the Lord's help, everything was good to go.  Thursday was awesome, it was Zone Conference and we just got to lay low and enjoy being trained and edified for a couple hours.  

I found out during the Zone Conference that my Papa Bonny passed away the night before.  He is such a great man and I'm glad he passed peacefully. I have been praying a lot and fasting for you awesome family members on the Bonny side that you can feel peace and comfort through this sad time in knowing that we will have the opportunity to see him again.   

 Friday evening we actually got to proselyte!! First time in a week and a half!! Oh my goodness it was so amazing, I love being able to invite others to hear about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  We didn't find any super prepared people, but we did have a zombie (what we call people who are so drunk/high that they are essentially walkers from the walking dead, in their own world and everything) follow us to our car and we  from the train ended up having to quickly get in the car and speed away from him hahaha. Great day!   

Saturday and Monday was HERITAGE DAYS!! I dont know if any of you can remember from last year, but in Edmonton once a year they do a huge festival where a whole bunch of people who live here from a whole bunch of different countries set up huge tents with all sorts of cultural information about that country, souvenirs, performances, and especially FOOD!  It is basically a big cultural showcase for a ton of different countries.  It is super cool how many different countries there are and how they can actually pull it off!  Not to mention how much amazing food there is.  Anyways, as missionaries we volunteer for the Food Bank to help them collect donations at the event, so we got to organize how to provide them with 24 volunteers for 20 hours, and how to get everyone down to the event, and then shuttle them down in the swag vans to the park.  I probably drove the same route about 30 times over those two days hahaha. On Saturday and Monday we got a little time to go around and check out the festival and eat some food, and it was awesome.  It was pretty rainy for most of it but we still had a great time.  We also had a couple great gospel conversations as we were collecting donations. 

  

Well I can't really think of anything else that is worth writing about unfortunately.  Oh wait just kidding! We also got the legendary TIWI boxes at Zone Conference that track where you are, yell at you for speeding, aggressive driving, not wearing your seatbelt, etc. And report all the stats to the Mission President.  They arent really all that bad though.  It turns out that we are the last mission in the world to get TIWI!  And we are the  3rd mission in the world to get smartphones... wow we must be super cool or something.  Hope you all have a great week!   

Weekly Scripture:  Alma 40:11-12 11 Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection--Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life. 12 And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow.   

Pics: All heritage days Weirdest food I tried: Ice cream palda from Azerbaijan (ice cream with noodles and water), it actually was pretty good Best food I tried: tie between chicken shawerma at Egypt and Ecuadorean meat empanadas.