April 9: My area is a lot of fun. LOTS of interesting people. All of the Rasta people from jamaica and the west indies and africa are here. A lot of them are pretty open to hearing about the gospel, some of them just arent to good at acting upon it, so we are trying to find those that will act.
As for mountains??? NONE!!! it is so sad! I miss them a lot. it's very flat here with apartment buildings everywhere. one of those pictures i sent you i think was of downtown toronto, and i am not in that area, but that's about all that goes into the skyline.. I was sad that It was stormy in utah over conference and I couldnt see the mountains, but when they showed a picture of logan, i was very happy. haha.
I have a new companion, her name is sister Urquijo. She is from columbia but is now living in Alberta and she is brand new! I get to train a new missionary again and I am so excited! She is so amazing and just what I needed. :) You learn so much from new missionaries because of all their faith in every aspect of the work, You get to start fresh. And I can tell already that she really wont need much training.. she is also fluent in spanish and she said she would help me polish up on mine. yay! I really feel that this is going to be a great transfer!
April 15: news of the week...
top story! my new companion is amazing! She is so bold with people, and just tells them like it is. She is also so nice and full of love, and is so good at serving. She always beats me to it!
This just in!.. we taught a whole house (3 guys) from Burma this week and they are all open to the gospel!!!sadly though, there is no literature in their language so hopefully they can understand english..
The weather report: Nice and sunny.. at the moment it is blue skies with a temp. of 12 degrees.. (celsius of course) and staying pretty consistant.. I think mother nature has finally and hopefully put away her desire for snow... at least for a season.. :)
and over to the sports.. i finally got to play sports today with the rest of the zone and we played volleyball and it was so fun! i missed it a lot! maybe that's why i wasn't allowed to play for a whole transfer, so I could realize how much i loved to play volleyball?? who knows.
well that's the news for today, short and sweet but all greet.. ?? haha now rhyme for that.. but i am starting to have fun again and not worry that i'm pushing buttons that could blow up in my face.. it's great!
April 22: We had a very cool thing happen this week with one of our investigators. We have started meeting with Micheal Case, which was one of the elders investigators then he moved into our area, At first he didn't want to meet with us because he doesn't agree with women discipling men, but we had a lesson with the elders to introduce us and i think we are warming up to him. He had an amazing experience though! He came up to us on Sunday and told us he had to tell us something, so after church we sat down with him and the first thing he said was that he couldn't put down the Book of Mormon on Saturday!! He read it for two hours straight trying to compare it to the bible and while he was also praying about it he said the lord told him not to worry about it. The gospel is the same in both books. But yet, he still couldn't decide whether he wanted to study his books for school or dive back into the Book of Mormon. Then he went on a walk after a while and started praying for God to take down all of his barriers, all of his walls so that he could just find some peace. He told us he has never before felt this good in all his life. He wouldn't quite yet admit that the feeling came from the holy ghost, but he liked it. When he went to bed that night he wanted to continue reading the Book of Mormon, but finally decided he had to get some sleep. Later at 2:00 am he woke up and the t.v. was on so he started watching it and wrote down some notes. Turns out, it was a documentary about the church! It was talking about Joseph Smith, the Golden Plates, and UTah with the Salt Lake Temple, and the Tabernacle. After he was done watching it he got the feeling that he should read Moroni 10:3-5.. We then asked him if he had ever heard of that before and he said no, he was looking for it in the bible and couldn't find it! Finally he found it and read it over and over again, and got that If he wanted God's understanding, he needed to ask him..
The spirit was so strong there! We told him that we give that scripture to people to know if these things are true, and that we want to help him feel that good feeling everyday! He really wanted to. He told us he doesn't want to make any sudden moves yet, because when he gets stressed he has seizures, but he knows this is the place for him to be. I didn't know what to say. I was so blown away! I have never heard a story like that before! It was really neat. We are seeing him more now which will be very good for him!
Sister U and I also had gale force winds attack us the other day.. it was pretty funny actually i'll send pictures of our umbrellas not being very nice to us. They actually broke.. haha that is umbrella nubmer two, but no worries.. because #2 was from the dollar store. haha That'll teach me! we are having fun here, working hard and never going home which I love..
OH!! i've been meaning to tell you about my land lady.. Her name is Mrs. Galucci and she is so funny! She is like our mother which you might appreciate, sometimes she leaves us some food down stairs for us because she is Italian and cooks amazing italian food! She also came down once and scolded me for leaving the rice out because I guess it can get poisonous? i don't know, but she was also telling us that she waits up for us because she knows that we are supposed to be home by 9;00 or 9:30, so she waits up for us. She is so funny. Anyways, just thought i'd let you know. :)
April 29: In preach my gospel it says that our purpose as missionaries is to: Invite others to come unto Christ.. just invite them and they have the agency to accept or reject... trust me i have to repeat that to my self about 20 times a day! haha But keep praying for the chances to share and it will come.
I'm also so happy you signed up to go out with the sisters, because really a HUGE thing that we focus on (in our mission at least) is lessons with a member present. I might have told you already, but that is one of the standards we try to get each week because the spirit is a lot stronger with members, and sometimes, sisters can't get into lessons if there is only one man and two sisters, so they need three girls present. The rule is that three persons of one gender has to be there in order for us to be able to go in the house. so if there is two sister missionaries and one man for example, they can't go inside the house to teach him. But going out with the missionaries is a fun experience anyway. You should get a Preach my Gospel and start having FHE lessons from it so you can practice and be able to teach with them when they call you. :)
We are teaching another man named Toyin, He is from Nigeria and he is really good. The three 'big commitments' we give people are usually Chastitiy, Tithing, and Word of wisdom, and our second lesson in He actually brought it up so we were able to talk to him about it and then after the third time seeing him he asked us about modesty, which we talk about with chastity, because he noticed that with us, so we talked to him about that too. haha, we usually kind of stress about those because sometimes people fall off after those, but that might also be caused by their lack of testimony in the book of mormon and joseph smith, but anyway, he is really good.
I can't believe that I have almost been out for half my mission.. Time has gone by so fast! I think it's going by a little too fast for my liking, because there is so much that I want to work on and become better at and learn about, but my time is very limited.
Last night we had a parenting fireside for people here by Richard and Linda Eyre, who is pres. Eyre's brother and it was so good! Before everyone got there he talked to just us missionaries about why we need to focus on families with everyone here and how we can help them see that this church is for families whether you have one or not!
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Jan 15 and 20 e-mails
Jan. 15, 2009 I love that thought! that is so good. I have never thought of it like that either. ( From Mom: I had written her about the scripture that says God gives us weaknesses to keep us humble. If He gives us weaknesses, He must not be too mad when we act weak!) Another thing that I have heard while here and has brought new light is this: By small and simple, great things come to pass.. which can be thought of as good AND BAD, which I had never thought of. An elder was talking about how we need to do the small things, such as reading, praying, going to church, because great things can happen if we don't. People have become less active, not active, not even members here in Mississauga and the mission because of the small things that they didn't do and hold on to. BUT it can also mean the small things we do such as saying hi to someone, making someone's bed, can do great things for them in their life, because you may never know what you do for people. so I thought that was interesting.
We had a mission record tracting last night! (well for me) We went tracting in -31 Celsius! SO FUN!! :) Funny thing though, I still only wear one pair of stockings because my legs don't really get cold. Or maybe they just are the first to go numb when I go outside so I never notice. But it's just my nose and fingers that are ever really cold. I still love winter though. i have not been swayed yet!
Another transfer has come, but this one has brought new surprises.. Sister Hutch and i were at a fireside with the President on sunday night and were told that we were going to be training a new missionary this transfer...... (my thoughts: say WHAT!!! ) i thought he had the wrong person in for sure! but no sir.. Sister Hutch and I were called to be co-trainers this transfer So we are now in a three-some. I was pretty floored because I am just a new missionary myself and I am supposed to help show the ropes to someone new? So let's just say I felt SUPER DOOPER incapable is what I am saying. So we picked her up yesterday and I know god put us together for a reason because she is amazing! Just in the 4 hours that we went out last night, she is so bold and so good! Her name is Sister Blake from Mesa, Arizona. She is 23 and has been at BYU for the last two years. How bout that, in provo with me and i didn't even know her.. well actually VERY possible. But really, she testify's all the time, is NOT AT ALL shy to talk to people. She is going to be so easy to train because she has come prepared.
Jan. 20, 2009 well hello there. sounds things are things over there and thats good. I'm excited that you bought a house and more importantly i love that scripture! (From Mom, here's what I wrote her that she is referring to: "Here's a scripture. I like the sentiment because sometimes we make decisions and feel them confirmed by the Holy Ghost, then as time goes on we begin to wonder and doubt if we made the right decision. D&C 6 22,23 says "Verily, verily, I say unto you if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things. (23) Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?" I have thought that often as I doubt again over decisions I made (like buying a house!) and it is nice to feel the peace again.")
We are still looking ever hard to find new people to teach. I love the faith that Sister Blake has brought into our companionship. Kind of like a breath of fresh air, with her fresh from the mtc, ready to work attitude. It's amazing. And sister Hutch is still as amazing as ever with soft spoken but powerful self.
Boldness is what I have been working on this last week and i think it paid off yesterday. We set a baptismal month with Cynthia which is better than nothing. and I think we really made her think about the decision she wanted to make. So it was good. It's stressful being here in this training position, i'm not gonna lie. but i think that's just the thing, i'm not alone, this isn't MY companionship and I'm not the leader, it's OUR companionship and we all make decisions and go threw with them.
OH yes, Have you ever heard of The GARDEN? it's a play i think or a cd about the atonement and I love it! If you wanted to, you could send me that for my birthday. :) haha it's always good to hear new stuff, but i especially love that one. I think i'm going to be getting thermal garments this weekend.. it ;s about that time, it's getting a little colder. I kind of don't like sunny days, because that also usually means it will be cold.. but i still love it! so i'm sending you picutres from my new camera! luv ya!
We had a mission record tracting last night! (well for me) We went tracting in -31 Celsius! SO FUN!! :) Funny thing though, I still only wear one pair of stockings because my legs don't really get cold. Or maybe they just are the first to go numb when I go outside so I never notice. But it's just my nose and fingers that are ever really cold. I still love winter though. i have not been swayed yet!
Another transfer has come, but this one has brought new surprises.. Sister Hutch and i were at a fireside with the President on sunday night and were told that we were going to be training a new missionary this transfer...... (my thoughts: say WHAT!!! ) i thought he had the wrong person in for sure! but no sir.. Sister Hutch and I were called to be co-trainers this transfer So we are now in a three-some. I was pretty floored because I am just a new missionary myself and I am supposed to help show the ropes to someone new? So let's just say I felt SUPER DOOPER incapable is what I am saying. So we picked her up yesterday and I know god put us together for a reason because she is amazing! Just in the 4 hours that we went out last night, she is so bold and so good! Her name is Sister Blake from Mesa, Arizona. She is 23 and has been at BYU for the last two years. How bout that, in provo with me and i didn't even know her.. well actually VERY possible. But really, she testify's all the time, is NOT AT ALL shy to talk to people. She is going to be so easy to train because she has come prepared.
Jan. 20, 2009 well hello there. sounds things are things over there and thats good. I'm excited that you bought a house and more importantly i love that scripture! (From Mom, here's what I wrote her that she is referring to: "Here's a scripture. I like the sentiment because sometimes we make decisions and feel them confirmed by the Holy Ghost, then as time goes on we begin to wonder and doubt if we made the right decision. D&C 6 22,23 says "Verily, verily, I say unto you if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things. (23) Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?" I have thought that often as I doubt again over decisions I made (like buying a house!) and it is nice to feel the peace again.")
We are still looking ever hard to find new people to teach. I love the faith that Sister Blake has brought into our companionship. Kind of like a breath of fresh air, with her fresh from the mtc, ready to work attitude. It's amazing. And sister Hutch is still as amazing as ever with soft spoken but powerful self.
Boldness is what I have been working on this last week and i think it paid off yesterday. We set a baptismal month with Cynthia which is better than nothing. and I think we really made her think about the decision she wanted to make. So it was good. It's stressful being here in this training position, i'm not gonna lie. but i think that's just the thing, i'm not alone, this isn't MY companionship and I'm not the leader, it's OUR companionship and we all make decisions and go threw with them.
OH yes, Have you ever heard of The GARDEN? it's a play i think or a cd about the atonement and I love it! If you wanted to, you could send me that for my birthday. :) haha it's always good to hear new stuff, but i especially love that one. I think i'm going to be getting thermal garments this weekend.. it ;s about that time, it's getting a little colder. I kind of don't like sunny days, because that also usually means it will be cold.. but i still love it! so i'm sending you picutres from my new camera! luv ya!
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Danielle's December e-mails
We loved talking to Danielle at Christmas! We got the whole family on the phone using cell phones and conference calling. It was great! To hear her voice and the excitement she has for her mission was wonderful. Here are some excerpts from her e-mails in December:
12/31/08--HAPPY 2009! It was so fun to talk to everyone and connect everyone and lose everyone again. I think it was just nice to hear everyone's voices most of all. I have heard actually that there have been some missionaries here who called home and did a web cam type thing, so it will be soon maybe.. Christmas dinner with Mama was really good, we had some good traditional food, but also some good Jamaican cookin. The members take VERY good care of us here, I feel like I have obtained about 6 or 7 sets of mothers and fathers here in Mississauga. haha, one of them saw my holey socks and told me that those would not be okay and gave us money to get new ones. oh how i love them.
I liked reading the letters from the other missionaries. Even though i know none of them, it's good to hear about the success and learning tools they are having and doing, because those could also be very useful here as well! So i liked those a lot.
I can't believe it's 2009 already.. Our new years was pretty quiet. We had to be inside our apartment by 6:00pm so we had dinner with a member and went home to pj's and some good games of LIFE and Clue.. and new years pictures of course, until we went to bed.. So a new year, new January, new everything! I can't believe how fast this transfer (6 weeks) has gone by. it's seems like just yesterday it was the beginning of December and I was thinking that Christmas was forever away, but lo and behold it has come and gone just like that!
12/17/08--i am still blown away by how much god knows us and what we need.. just enough to put a little smile on your face.. (or a really big one! haha)
12/10/08--Well, we had transfers this week and i stayed in the same area, but I got a new companion. Her name is Sister Hutch from Sandy, Utah. She has been out just 3 months longer than me and is now my follow-up trainer. Things have for sure changed though. She is super nice and sweet and loving to everyone. She is very good at seeing the good in absolutely everything. On the other hand I kind of feel like her trainer at times. She doesn't like to OYM people which is really wierd for me because sis Arthur and I did that all the time. she will just stand there and look at us, but she is getting better! I'm trying to make a game out of it so we talk to more people. I kind of have to be her motivator to walk a little faster inbetween doors and stuff like that, but she will be good for me.
I still love tracting and contacting people, oh yes, and don't worry that we went tracting when it was -18 C one day.. ya it was FREEZING! but i was okay. i actually only wear my boots and one pair of thicker stockings and my skirts and my legs are fine. I think it's because I have a long coat and high boots though. I think it is becoming my favorite thing to do here. Now, if my teaching could just improve. haha I know the material, the words just don't come out as simply as i would like them to. The Christmas Zone Conference is tomorrow, and i guess here we get to watch a movie so it will be a surprise as to which one that will be. I am excited for Christmas here. It will be a little wierd not to be at home, but the members here are amazing and will be taking care of us.
Oh, funny story, well not superly funny, but entertaining (maybe) So last Saturday was the ward christmas party which was a lot of fun, and probably half or more of the ward got sick because one of the turkey's went bad.. haha no one at my table got sick, so happy for that because my investigators came and sat on my table, but the next day the elders said they were all sick the night before (sick meaning diareaha haha) and about 80 people were missing from church and probably half the people there were sick as well.. Oh man, i laughed a little..
Ya know, i was in a lesson teaching about Job through the childrens version with the pictures and a line stood out to me. 'men must trust god no matter what happens.' and i decided that I need to do that.
12/31/08--HAPPY 2009! It was so fun to talk to everyone and connect everyone and lose everyone again. I think it was just nice to hear everyone's voices most of all. I have heard actually that there have been some missionaries here who called home and did a web cam type thing, so it will be soon maybe.. Christmas dinner with Mama was really good, we had some good traditional food, but also some good Jamaican cookin. The members take VERY good care of us here, I feel like I have obtained about 6 or 7 sets of mothers and fathers here in Mississauga. haha, one of them saw my holey socks and told me that those would not be okay and gave us money to get new ones. oh how i love them.
I liked reading the letters from the other missionaries. Even though i know none of them, it's good to hear about the success and learning tools they are having and doing, because those could also be very useful here as well! So i liked those a lot.
I can't believe it's 2009 already.. Our new years was pretty quiet. We had to be inside our apartment by 6:00pm so we had dinner with a member and went home to pj's and some good games of LIFE and Clue.. and new years pictures of course, until we went to bed.. So a new year, new January, new everything! I can't believe how fast this transfer (6 weeks) has gone by. it's seems like just yesterday it was the beginning of December and I was thinking that Christmas was forever away, but lo and behold it has come and gone just like that!
12/17/08--i am still blown away by how much god knows us and what we need.. just enough to put a little smile on your face.. (or a really big one! haha)
12/10/08--Well, we had transfers this week and i stayed in the same area, but I got a new companion. Her name is Sister Hutch from Sandy, Utah. She has been out just 3 months longer than me and is now my follow-up trainer. Things have for sure changed though. She is super nice and sweet and loving to everyone. She is very good at seeing the good in absolutely everything. On the other hand I kind of feel like her trainer at times. She doesn't like to OYM people which is really wierd for me because sis Arthur and I did that all the time. she will just stand there and look at us, but she is getting better! I'm trying to make a game out of it so we talk to more people. I kind of have to be her motivator to walk a little faster inbetween doors and stuff like that, but she will be good for me.
I still love tracting and contacting people, oh yes, and don't worry that we went tracting when it was -18 C one day.. ya it was FREEZING! but i was okay. i actually only wear my boots and one pair of thicker stockings and my skirts and my legs are fine. I think it's because I have a long coat and high boots though. I think it is becoming my favorite thing to do here. Now, if my teaching could just improve. haha I know the material, the words just don't come out as simply as i would like them to. The Christmas Zone Conference is tomorrow, and i guess here we get to watch a movie so it will be a surprise as to which one that will be. I am excited for Christmas here. It will be a little wierd not to be at home, but the members here are amazing and will be taking care of us.
Oh, funny story, well not superly funny, but entertaining (maybe) So last Saturday was the ward christmas party which was a lot of fun, and probably half or more of the ward got sick because one of the turkey's went bad.. haha no one at my table got sick, so happy for that because my investigators came and sat on my table, but the next day the elders said they were all sick the night before (sick meaning diareaha haha) and about 80 people were missing from church and probably half the people there were sick as well.. Oh man, i laughed a little..
Ya know, i was in a lesson teaching about Job through the childrens version with the pictures and a line stood out to me. 'men must trust god no matter what happens.' and i decided that I need to do that.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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