Week 41, 7/4/16

Hey cuties! This week was... Pretty different but great!  Getting a new mission president and Canada Day made it an eventful week.  I wish I could say the 4th of July made it eventful too but.... Well they don't celebrate it in Canada, obviously :( 

Here are some highlights from this week:  Thursday we taught Zxxx and his family again.  We taught about the importance of prayer and scripture study, and it was a pretty good lesson!  They are all learning so much and every time we go over it seems like they absorb more than last time.  At the beginning of the lesson before we even started teaching him, he raised his hand and said, "I found out that my dad can't baptize me, so I was wondering if one of you could baptize me."  We thought about it for a minute and then said no, we didn't really feel like baptizing anyone.  Lol kidding of course we were super excited!  We talked with his mom after and apparently the situation with his dad has now been resolved in the sense that they now know he can't see his kids for a while.  The uncertainty of that was the only thing preventing him from being on date, so now that they got that sorted out we are pretty sure he will be on date for July 30th after we meet again on Friday!  We are pumped! 

Friday was Canada Day, and boy was it an adventure.  We started out the day with weekly planning, which is about the least adventurous thing about being a missionary, then went and got some donair poutine and shakes with some Elders in our district for lunch to celebrate Canada Day.  Not long after that they texted us and asked us to help someone move with them, so of course we said yes.  Little did any of us or the 7 other missionaries who ended up helping know that the move would take the whole rest of the day!  It was brutal!  We loaded and unloaded two 45 foot truck loads to the very top full of stuff for a non-member lady.  I don't understand how one person can have so much stuff haha.... It was definitely the most crazy, hard move any of us had ever done.  My forearms and hands were sore, bruised, scratched and mangled the next day.  We even had to end up staying out helping way past our curfew because they only had the truck for the night.... It was just not the best situation ever, and we had a hard time helping the mission president understand the late night, but it was definitely an adventure for sure, and the lady was very appreciative of our help.  

USA  !!

Saturday was great!   We were still super tired from the day before but it ended up being a great day of missionary work.  We were tracting in an area that we haven't tracted much before, and the first door we knock on, this guy comes around the corner of the house and we don't even finish our door spiel and he says, "Yeah totally come on in! Would you fellas like some drinks?" Haha we were pretty taken back. This guy's name is Keir, and he is the coolest guy ever!  We didn't really teach a uniform lesson one to him, but we were telling him about what he can expect from meeting with us and what we do, and we told him to feel free to ask questions and then he started asking away.  He recently converted to Islam, he loves learning about religion and he had a lot of really good, honest, sincere questions about our doctrine, the nature of the godhead, polygamy, and other things I can't remember.  We were able to answer all of them pretty well and he was impressed.  We also snuck in all the principles of the restoration into our answers as well, so we basically taught him the first lesson and answered his questions at the same time.  He is just a really great, truth seeking guy.  He accepted the invitation to read and pray about the Book of Mormon and meet with us again, and gave us treats for the road when we left.  He is the coolest ever!  Hopefully I will be writing more about him in the future.  

Yesterday (Independence Day) there wasn't a whole lot of highlights as far as missionary work goes, but we were able to have a fun little 4th of July lunch- basketball activity with most of our district. Definitely missed the parades and fireworks this year for sure though.  

Well that's it for this week folks.  We are going to officially meet President Pattison on Saturday and we are excited for that.  Oh, I also got to go the temple this morning.  That is definitely the best part about being in the city.  The temple is actually in our area!  Never forget how blessed we are to have such available access to the House of the Lord:)  

Love ya - Elder b

Weekly scripture: 1 Nephi 22:7 7 And it meaneth that the time cometh that after all the house of Israel have been scattered and confounded, that the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles, yea, even upon the face of this land; and by them shall our seed be scattered.🇺🇸