4th Transfer!

HEY FAMILY AND ALL THAT READ THIS,

I am getting transferred!!! OOOOO MAN!!!  This is cray-cray!! This will be so different than my previous area! GAH! All I know is that I will be transferred somewhere in the south of my mission which is by the U.S. Border. I wonder where I will be transferred! I won't know till tomorrow. I am probably going to say goodbye to all the people in my area today and also pack for tomorrow! GAH!!! So CRAZY!

It was great to talk to my family. It felt like I was physically there at some points during the conversation. It was nice to hear everyone's voices and updates on how there life has been going. My Christmas was fetching long since we had multiple dinners! We also kinda got bashed by a Born again Christian at one of the dinners, but we had to go so we didn't get into it much. Good thing or I would have unleashed my fury on him!! JK!

People here in Creston have been telling us what has been happening back at Utah kinda regularly because it comes up. All I have to say to what is going on is a quote that makes me feel at peace. It is by Jeffrey R. Holland and it says something like this: "We all know what the scoreboard will show at the end of our life or when the Second Coming comes. What is so odd is that we are still down here choosing which jersey to wear." 

Sorry I cannot email a lot today, I have so much to do and so little time to do it. Next week I will let you know all that is going on and where I will be going! Love you all and stay safe!

(This is the gym we went to last monday)

Pictures

I haven't sent you much pictures so here you guys go!

Elder Millies and I:

The Simons and Me (Adele, that cute girl I was talking about is on the very right. There is one other kid also, but he was playing somewhere else)

Christmas is coming fast!

Holy Cow!

This Christmas season is coming super fast and I cannot keep up with it! Usually I am waiting at home for Christmas and that takes forever. Here however, it is the exact opposite. It is crazy how much things change out here in the mission and how fast time flies.

We are still working on finding new investigators, but this holiday season is making it pretty difficult since people are going to be going away or not have time for us. Still, we are showing others that we love and appreciate them. We made cookies this last week and went around to others delivering it to them and they seem to like it. It is just a short act of kindness to others that we show out here and it seems to make a difference.

Our church meeting was both scary and also powerful. Our bishop gave an amazing talk about what we should give God for a Christmas gift. It was cool because he turned to the Old Testament book of Micah. It was amazing how that short book can teach us so much about the heart! We also had to teach Gospel Principles class that day and I am not a great teacher in front of large groups. Plus, there was this semi-investigator there and he asked some pretty deep questions. He made some good points, but it was tremendously deep doctrine. Still, it was an enjoyable church meeting.

We also had a Christmas dinner on Saturday, the same day as when Elder Bednar game. Oh my! Elder Bednar just through down some stuff that was just jaw dropping! It made our zone out here in BC just freak out and it made so much sense what he was saying. I understand now more deeply of what missionary work is. We are just there to bring the Spirit. The Spirit is the real teacher. He tells us what to say so that He may testify of it in their hearts! It is kinda degrading in a sense, but also shows that we have a lot of responsibility. 

I do not know if I will get my Christmas Package from you in time since the last time we might get mail will be next Monday, but no one has gone to Calgary to pick up the packages. I am still looking foreword to it whether or not it comes before or after Christmas. I think I am planning to Skype you guys on Christmas day and I think we will do it at our Bishops house. We will have to ask about that though. I think I have to get your number to Skype. I will figure out sooner or later and we will discuss a time next week for emails if I get a chance. It will probably be in the morning perhaps around noon. But we shall see!

Love you all and hope you are having a fantastic Christmas season so far. I am enjoying the warm here since it is 3 degrees here. Remember when I say how warm or cold it is here, I am talking Celsius. It has kinda grown on me. Anyways, Love you and be safe.

Elder Perucca

Things are looking up

Hello Everyone,

First off, I got to say something. JOCELYN HAS GLASSES!!!!???? Where on earth did that come from? No one told me that she would perhaps get some. Although, I can see Jocelyn wearing glasses in my mind. She would look like a cute nerd. That is going to get some getting used to when I get back from my mission. Jocelyn is definitely growing up faster than I expected. I still think she may still come down with me when I play games and ask obvious questions like when I jump off like a 40 ft cliff and get hurt in a game and she asks, "Would that hurt in real life?" or when she asks silly questions like "Why do you have words?"

Things have been looking up as my subject says. We taught these "investigators" on Wednesday and we took a member with us. He, well, lets just say he threw down some subjects that may have not been the best idea. He threw down excommunication, the sealing words and many more. We were on exchanges that day and me and Elder Millie just kept looking at each other and couldn't say anything. We were freaking out quite a bit inside. Still, when we called our investigators yesterday, they said they loved having our member over and it did solve their concerns and questions. I found this surprising and as well as my exchanges companion. We were flipping out. We got a return appointment with them this Wednesday, but the problem is, we don't know whether to continue on to Lesson 2, or to kinda review Lesson 1.

Elder Bednar is coming this Saturday. He isn't coming to BC however. He is going to be in a Church in Calgary that my now companion was in before he came out here. Bummer he is going to miss him. But Elder Bednar is going to speak to us and we are going to watch it as it is broadcasted. 

We also watched the Christmas Devotional yesterday because we brought another investigator. It went well and everything was good in my eyes. Did make me homesick a bit, but nothing major. There are some times where I sit in our Chapel in Creston and keep thinking this is home. It is a weird feeling.

Christmas is approaching faster and faster. Usually when you are at home you just wait for Christmas to come and it seems like it won't come till forever. Only 16 days till Christmas! That is crazy!

The weather is getting colder and colder here which is odd since Creston doesn't get this cold ever in this month. We were going to be in a parade, but it was so cold that we didn't assemble the float and didn't go down the street. We did however visit our Creche set up many times which I don't mind. We just get free cookies and hot chocolate every time we go. Yesterday was the last day of it and we help take it down. It was sad since it was so peaceful. 

Well, I got to get going. We have to go to Cranbrook today because President NIcholas is coming and wants us there. Thank you so much for your prayers and love. Stay safe!

Elder Perucca

Transfer P-Day

Today is the beloved transfer P-day. Today we figure out which one of us gets transferred. Elder Mackay got a email saying he is going to Calgary this transfer. So we have to drive 4 hours to Lethbridge to the transfer station up there to drop him off and then I pick up my new companion and head back to Creston. I am excited to see what happens these past few days!

Now this last week was super busy! We had our zone P-day which I believe I told you last time in my email, but after we went to go to Lethbrige for a Zone Conference where a member of the Seventy comes and talks to us. It was nice to see all of my old MTC district members again. It is quite wierd however that I can talk more comfortably with my zone out here in BC then my old one. I love BC and I never want to leave here! Too awesome people! Perhaps I will leave after this Christmas transfer.

But back to the meeting. The meeting was actually really good and the Seventy guy taught us about repentance means change. It really stood out to me and also, they announced something amazing. Do not be confused if everything happens like this because it may change, but I will tell you what they said to us. Somewhere around April, we as missionaries get to use iPads! iPad minis to be exact and they are to be used only for missionary purposes. They said there will be ton of apps on it  that will help us so much in our finding efforts. One of them is a map system where if a appointment follows through, we can just look on our iPad and see any formers or potentials that live in the area and go see them! It is perfect! They also said that the whole gospel library will be  on there and also the Bishop may help us with his calendar and put appointments on for us. Every single missionary will have one. Not just one per companionship, but every missionary. Also, they said if we take really good care of it and respect it, at the end of the missions we get to keep the iPad minis! Everyone freaked out for this announcement! I am pumped for this also!

I think that was one of the highlights of this week as well as we may pick up three new investigators here in Creston. We had exchanges yesterday with the Zone leaders and we mainly focused on finding and we visited a bunch of formers and they welcomed us in and we handed out an invitation to a Creche our church is having which basically a set up display of all these nativities in the Church with some peaceful music and really good spirit. The members say that people love it up here and know what it is. We are still planning on giving invitations sooner or later throughout this week after all the transfers are done. Also, some random drunk guy ranted on us because we went to go visit this former around 7:45 and he said it was too late. But the former welcomed us in and we set back a return appointment for them this Saturday! When we came out the guy was still there and asked how our visit was and we told him that we are planning to come back to talk to them and he got super mad. When we were driving away we saw him kinda following us and then went to the formers house that we stopped by. Hopefully that won't ruin our chances with this former investigator!

Well, that is all that happened this last week and like I said before, it was pretty dang busy! It is just a taste of the missionary work out here though. I keep on thinking though I have been out here for already 3 months! That seems both long and short to me! Although, it was the best three months so far for me. My companion and I are just loving the David Archuleta CD that you sent to me. We are already in the Christmas spirit and it is only the 19th of November!

Well, I should get going! Lots of errands to do and Elder Mackay has to finish up packing for his transfers. Love you all and glad you got my little note. Also a little note: Mom, I don't know if you sent two emails or one because I only got an email from you that the subject was, "Another Thing". I don't know if you sent a previous email, but just wanted to let you know. Anyways, love you all and I will write to you next P-day! See ya!

-Elder Perucca

P.S.: I guess you can count this as our first investigator, but the gospel of Jesus Christ was too strong for him so he became spiritually overwhelmed! But we still love him and took a picture with him!

2 more weeks of training!

Hey Y'all who read this,

I am extremely exhausted so sorry if at times this email makes so sense!

This week was pretty cool. Can you guess what we did? SERVICE!!! I don't mind service. I actually like it quite a bit! It gives us something to do. We always like the spiritual thoughts that they give us after we are done serving. It is crazy! 

We also did splits this one time with our ward mission leader and not much to say about that. We just checked with a couple of people and made light conversations with them. O man...I am zoning out. Hopefully I can get through this letter.

On the line of service, we casted out devils this week. It was pretty creepy...NEXT SUBJECT!!!

I didn't have trainers this week. I am not going to be training and we are not sure if I am going to get another companion. The possibility of him leaving is still high. If he does, I am going to miss him a bunch. But I will still be pumped for this new companion when I get him. 

This week we are going to meet a member of the seventy down in Lethbridge. So we are going to have to drive all the way down there, spend the night, and then when the time comes, drive all the way back here. O it is going to be a long drive and I haven't drove that forever in a long time. Still I am pumped that I am still driving! Gives me something to do when I am traveling! 

Now to the big part! Today we had Zone P-day and it was a blast! I always love meeting up with our zone elders and socializing with them. We as a zone went to this gymnasium. Now you can figure out why I am so tired. Actually, before that we played two hours of basketball and it was such a blast! We played like 3 games of 21 and I was exhausted. But we still had to go to the gymnasium. O we did so many stuff there! Jumped on trampolines, swung on the rope, high jumped, play some kickball, played tag, and also king of the hill. Guess who won most of the time in King of the Hill? That's right! The Creston Elders! Me and Elder Mackay dominated which was surprising since most of our zone are really strong people. It was such a blast! Also members and investigators came and they had a blast. It was the best P-day I had so far! I am so tired and sore you have no idea! 

If I do get a new companion we do have to travel down to Lethbridge, but no biggy.

I also got my birthday package and I love it you guys! Thank you so much and thanks for all the candy and CD. I also sent a snail-mail letter home to give you more updates on what is going on just in case I missed anything. I also sent a little present with it. 

Well, this last week was really busy and these next two weeks will be also crazy and I will tell you what happens next time! See ya and love you!

-Elder Perucca

Beginning of November

Wow! What a long week! There was quite a bit of service every day this last week. We have chopped wood nonstop. I think when it comes time for me to leave Creston, I will be an expert wood chopper. I actually enjoyed chopping wood for others. We chop wood for this one member named Brother Laduc. While we do service for him or even just visit with him, he gives us this amazing incite of the gospel. Sometimes when I feel like I am kinda falling away back here, his little incites makes me think more and I regain my faith. But it is awesome!

I finished reading the Book of Mormon on Sunday and I felt good as I finished it! It took over 2 months to read it but it was well worth it. Now I am working on reading the Bible starting with the Old Testament. So far from what I read, it is very confusing. I have to take it slowly.

We had president interviews on Tuesday. President comes and interviews us every quarter of the mission I believe. This was our first one. It was nice to get in touch with him and give him an update on how we are doing. We also had tons of fun as a zone the night before. We talked for quite some time and got a few good laughs. I love my zone out here. It is going to change in a bit though. Transfers is in about 3 weeks, and the best guess is that Elder Mackay is going to get transferred somewhere else. I don't know if I am going to be training someone or just a new companion. Perhaps it will be Taylor Shumway! That would be surprising.

I haven't gotten my birthday package yet or much mail. We got mail last week and all I got was a letter. I am guessing when someone goes to trainers or retrainers this week that it will be there. Like I said, we don't usually get our mail till someone goes to Calgary and gets it or someone from Calgary comes here like it was last week. I keep forgetting to send that check back. Hopefully,. I will remind myself when I have some free time.

I am also driving from now on since Elder Mackay got a speeding ticket. It feels good to actually drive after 2 months of not driving. We got these sweet 2013 cars, but we have summer tires in the winter here. :/ Just pray our car doesn't slip up and flip sometime this winter. Our fleet coordinator is a little confusing and not the missionaries favorite. But we just have to obey and do our best to stay safe.

It snowed for the first time yesterday! My companion was freaking out because he is from Las Vegas and is not used to the cold or snow. I did buy a winter coat. My other coat was not bad, but just wasn't the best. This one feels promising. I don't know if it will continue to snow throughout this week, but if it does we will be prepared. 

We still have a few potential investigators out here. We are really focusing on 3. Micahel, Heather, and Wendy. I think I told you a little bit about Michael and Heather. We met them while we went tracting. They are really friendly people. We stop by every now and again to say hi and talk for a bit. Michael is a really funny guy and acts like a little kid. I think the problem is that I don't know how to bring up the gospel in our conversation. Maybe when they get interested we can start there.

Wendy we met while we were changing our oil. We had to wait and she was also getting her car fixed up. We decided to talk to her. Elder Mackay asked just one question which was, "Where are you from?" and she talked for ages after that. We didn't even have to say one word because she was talking about her whole life. She was going through very hard times and had gone through hard times as well. She seemed like a nice lady, but was mad at the world of how she was treated. After our car was fixed, she opened up to us. She started kinda tearing up and asked our church to pray for her. I said, "Absolutely we will pray for you and if you need anything or need someone to talk to, just call us." and we gave her our number and she was so grateful. We are just waiting til she calls sometime.

My birthday was pretty good. It was one of our busiest days ever. It was raining and we were chopping wood for 3 hours with the ward! It was awesome, but cold. We then ate lunch and did other errands and then went to a dinner. They realized it was my birthday and gave me a farmer cap and two pairs of socks. It was really nice of them and made me smile. 

Halloween was interestesting. We went to eat at this members home and gave a message, but we had to leave pretty quick because we had to be at our pad at 6 because of Halloween. Other than that, nothing much happened.

Well, this week is Trainers and Re-Trainers and if we get a call about training, then we have to go down to Calgary for that meeting. I don't know if I will be training someone or not, but we shall see this week. Love you all back home and I will let you know if I get whatever you sent! 

End of October and beginning of wintery November

Hey y'all! This last week was pretty grand! We had splits like always and also quite a bit of service. Seems like that is all we can do pretty much out here in Creston. I am not complaining because I love it! Splits this time we went and visited a couple of less actives in the ward that we didn't know before. It was nice to meet them and most of them were old people. There are a lot of old people out here in Creston. Creston is getting more beautiful by the moment! The leaves are changing and with the views that you see here it is almost breathtaking. I wish I could remember to take my camera everywhere with me, but I fear I may lose it so I don't take it around me as much. We did go by Kootany Lake again and took more pictures which were swell.

This Friday we had exchanges with the District Leaders. I went to Trail with a "greenie" named Elder Millie from Arizona. Elder Baker who is our district leader came here to Creston with Elder Mackay. I finally got to drive which makes me happy! It actually gets me to do something while we are traveling! But me and Elder Millie drove to Trail which took about an hour and a half to do. Trail is like behind this mountain and right when you go around it, the city of Trail is a beautiful city and the view you get from after you go around it is amazing. Again I wish I would've brought my camera.

We had a pretty set plan in Trail. We had quite a bit of stop-bys with less actives and potential investigators. We met with a few and set appointments with them and left. After we met with this less-active named Brother Pale. He was going through a really hard time. He just got split up with his wife and probably shouldn't have done some stuff that lead to him having to be a certain distance from her. He was breaking down and it was so powerful. We shared a message with him and told him we would be there for him. He appreciated it and offered his thanks. It was pretty powerful!

After we chilled till our dinner appointment. It gave me some time to get to know Elder Millie. He is a pretty swell guy. He likes lacrosse and has a pretty dang big testimony! He is pretty dang intelligent in the gospel as well. I am surprise by how much he knows. 

We got to our dinner appointment and had this delicious choa mang or something like that which is noodles and salad. The dinner was so great! I couldn't stop eating, then again that is normal for a missionary. ;) The family was amazing! We connected with them instantly and we had amazing laughs and jokes. I had my funny laugh come in because I was laughing so hard and that made our laugh attack even worse. I tell you, my laugh is contagious sometimes. :/ But I loved that family and hope that I can see them again sometime!

After we visited this less active and it was just a little short lesson. Nothing much happened. After that we went back to the apartment and rested. I feel so bad. I feel like every companion is going to hate me throughout my mission. Not because of my personality or anything like that, but because of my awful snoring!  Elder Millie woke up in the middle of the night and had to go to another room because I was snoring soooooo bad! I don't blame him! From what they described to me how I sound, I sound horrible. O well, Elder Mackay doesn't mind to much! He is a heavy sleeper.

I have all of a sudden gotten into this love of reading! I used to hate reading and now I just love reading! Well, gospel topic books that is. But I love studying more about the gospel and reading more about it. I am almost done with the Book of Mormon! This will be the second time where I read it through all on my own. I am currently in the Book of Mormon in the Book of Mormon...INCEPTION!!! It is great and I can't wait to read some more when the time comes! 

The weather here in Creston is definitely changing! Last night there was so much wind blowing here in Creston which is rare. It is getting pretty dang cold and I am preparing as much as I can for this cold winter. I can definitely say that I am glad to be here in Creston though. In Alberta, they had 4 inches of snow last night! I am so glad we are out here in B.C. where we haven't gotten snow yet. I think it is 4 degrees Celsius which is pretty dang cold! I don't know when the snow may come, but I shall prepare!

We don't get mail till someone goes to the Calgary Mission office, which is quite a ways away, to pick up our mail and bring it back to us. Usually we have to wait till someone has to go down there for Re-trainers or Trainers or some other thing, then that is when we get mail. I am not sure when I will get my mail from you guys or the birthday packages you said, but don't be surprised if it does come after this week. Still I am grateful for all the mail. email. and packages that you guys are sending. Lets me know that I am loved out here. :) Thank you so much for all your encouraging words! Can't wait to get your mail when it comes time and this week will be pretty dang busy! Love you all! 

-Elder Perucca

Long & Rough Week!

Dearest Family and anyone who reads this,

This week was brutal! A lot of our appointments did not fall through and we didn't have too much to do. We did go on splits though with Paige Boehmer which is awesome!

We went to a couple of houses and most of them were not there. We did visit this one home where a lady lives with her boyfriend. She is a member, but he is not, but Brother Boehmer home teaches them. The week before we went in that house and she had the flu. Paige would not leave unless we gave her a blessing. It shows you how much of a kind heart he has! He wants to help everyone and doesn't want to leave until he does so. She allowed us in and we gave here a blessing and she felt the love from us and we shared a quick scripture before we left. Back to this week, we visited her and her boyfriend and she was well. She thanked us again for giving her a priesthood blessing. We talked and got to know them. Her boyfriend is really nice even though he isn't a member. Turns out that Shelly, the woman, had a test coming up the next day. She was pretty nervous and Paige offered another blessing. I was surprised how still compassionate he was to everyone. She agreed and we gave her a blessing that she would do well on her test. You could also see after the blessing her boyfriend countenance change and he looked very interested after. We are encouraging Shelly and her boyfriend to get married so that Shelly may come back to Church more often. We will see how well she did on the test when we visit her this week.

We have met more of the members here in Creston and I love all of them. They are hilarious too! I think I told you this before, but our ward is really childish. We go to Elder's quorum after our priesthood opening meeting. The Elders crack up little kid and immature jokes from time to time and it is hilarious. Too bad this Church was only 1 hour long. Ya, you heard right! Our well or water has dried up or something so our water things were not working well at all. They decided to do one hour at church. It was weird that we had to go home after that one hour of church.

We haven't gotten any investigators and I don't think we will get one for a bit. At the moment we are working with the families of the ward with their Family Mission Plan which seems to be going quite great! They heard President Monson at General Conference and are taking action. We are just there to help them come up with one. I think this area at the time is more for a practicing teaching and less-active area. When the investigators come I am sure we will be ready. They told us Creston used to be pretty good with investigators and all, but all of a sudden it came to a halt. I wonder if me and companion can get it going sometime. But it has been hard because when we offer service to others like chop wood, they say no. It is weird to say no to service, but we have to just respect it and keep going.

I forgot to bring my camera to the computers today. I was going to show you some beautiful pictures that my companion and I took when we by Kootany Lake. We plan to go to the Kootany Lake branch soon. We can't travel there much because we have so many "clicks" or kilometers we can travel in a month. Hopefully those refferals that we got at Stake Conference will be there at their home.

Well, this week is going to be much busier than this last one and hopefully all the appointments that we set up so far will follow through. Wish me luck!

-Elder Perucca

Thanksgiving!! (in Canada) ;)

Hello Family and whoever reads this,

Today is thanksgiving in Canada! We were planning on going to Cranbrook for a Zone P-day, but a less-active family called us and asked us if we wanted to have Thanksgiving dinner with them. We decided to give it some thought and chose to go to this less-active family because they have been struggling a lot and it seemed like they needed our help. 

Tomorrow is Zone Training and we go up to Cranbrook and have a little meeting up there. I am no longer a "noob" or a greenie anymore! There are two new missionaries that came this last transfer. I haven't met them quite yet, but I cannot wait to meet them perhaps tomorrow. Still, it feels great to know somewhat of what I am doing out here.

This week was pretty interesting. We did service like normal, but we also had an Amish wedding at our church which was very interesting. We went because our bishop was not there and the 1st counselor asked us to come help him. The Amish, or Meta-knights as we call them,  were quite nice people. There are some differences with their faith than ours, but the believe in Christ. What kinda amazed me is that they sing all capella because they believe in being simple meaning they can't really watch tv or paint their houses. They still sounded great and the basses hit those low notes very very well. You could tell that the marriage was slightly less equal meaning the man has more of the final say and the women can't do much about it. It was an interesting experience.

We also participated in a baptism after that wedding of a young one which was pretty cool. It kinda made me look back at my baptism even though I don't remember too much about it. I just remember being baptized, feeling warm inside, then after we went to our house and I just chilled downstairs just playing games and stuff. Still, the baptism was great for socializing and we can't do that too much here cause other than the members, people don't wanna talk to us.

I am getting closer and closer to the members here as we go to church or when we eat with them. One of my favorite people here is this little girl of the Simon's family named Adele! She is adorable and perhaps one day I will get a picture of her with me. We can't do too much around children because we need to be cautious of the law, but it is so hard with this little girl. She takes my little hands with her little hands and leads me around the house or to the dinner table and she is just adorable. She is so innocent! And when we say goodbye, she just comes up and hugs my leg all cute like and all I can do is smile at her. Someday when I have kids, I hope my child will be like her and as innocent looking.

We went out towards Kootany Lake and decided to take some pictures of this beautiful lake! I will send you some of the pictures we took. It is beautiful here and the trees are turning into fall colors and it is amazing wherever you look! I love it! Soon it will probably be white because all the snow.

This week will be pretty dang busy. We have lots of splits planned and meeting new members. Hopefully everything will go well! Here are the pictures and take care!

Transfer, P-day and More

First, I am going to answer the following 10 questions:

1. How long has you companion been out on his mission?

2. How long has he been in Creston?

3. How did your talk go at the Branch in Lake Katoney?

4. How did your contact with the referrals up there go?

5. Is is getting cold up there?

6. Do you eat at members homes?

7. Where are the nearest missionaries?

8. How big is your ward in Creston?

9. Have you been able to teach any one yet?

10. Have you been able to use your piano talent to help your ward out there?

Answers:

1: My companion now has been out on his mission for 7 months.

2. He has been out here for 3 months so far and going on 4 1/2.

3. Our talks went well in Katoney lake. I have more of it in my letter I am sending at the moment. Sooner of later it will get there. But we talked about scripture study and why it is so important and how to get the most out of it. We didn't spend the 20 minutes fully though. I think I talked too fast but I got the point out.

4. We tried to contact all the referrals up there, but none of them were home so hopefully when we go up there again we can see them.

5. Yes.

6. Yes.

7. Well, it is kinda half and half. To the west side we have Trail and Nelson elders and to our East we have the two companionship's in Cranbrook. We see each other every week in our district meetings.

8. It isn't too big. It can be a bit bigger, but like I have said before there have been a lot of less-actives out here so most of them do not come to church. The area is big and spread out though.

9. We taught one young women, but we haven't gotten another appointment and she hasn't been answering her phone so since then not really. We have been giving short messages when we go out and eat with the members. We do plan on each Wednesday to go on splits with members and visit less actives.

10. Meh, not really. I have been teaching my companion to play the piano and it has been going quite well. There is some times where I do get impatient with him, but nothing big. i have told the ward that I do play the piano, but not very well. They haven't told me otherwise.

So there you go! All of those questions answered! This last week was a bit of a hard week since we had all these meetings and appointments planned and they all didn't follow through so we couldn't do too much. We mostly did a bunch of service which is mainly what you do out here. We have been cutting a lot of wood out here for people to get ready for the winter. Every day usually we just chop wood for others. I think I tell more of that in my snail mail letter. I don't know when that will appear at home, but it has more information.

General Conference was amazing! I actually stayed awake all 5 sessions! It was my first time doing that! I was really impressed to hear about the membership of this church! Over 15 million members! The Prophet also said that we are the fastest growing Church out there. I am surprised. He also said that we now have 80,000 missionaries!!! Holy cow! I am deeply impressed by this! The Church is very true!!! I loved the talks in General conference and plan to download them sometime on a USB or CD so that we missionaries can listen to them while we are in the car or eating and such.

Yes, I noticed my birthday was coming up. I am not quite exactly sure what I want in that birthday package. Perhaps maybe some sweaters of jackets out here. It is not getting to cold, but it is cold enough. If you can't or don't wanna send them, that is fine. Other than that, surprise me! 

Well, hopefully this week will be better than the last week. We are getting 2 new boys here in our district and I can't wait to see them. Ha, Noobies!

-Elder Perucca

September 30, 2013

Heya Everyone and all!

I do plan on sending a letter sooner or later. This week has been pretty dang busy with DDM, and exchanges and all missionary work. Hopefully this week and perhaps today I can write/type a letter and mail it home so that the ward or others can hear how I am doing. I won't give too much information in this email. 

We gave our talks last Sunday and it was pretty swell. I got to talk about scripture study. It was pretty swell and I tried my hardest to make it 20 minutes even though it was only....10 :/. Oh well, the message I thought was pretty powerful.

Man, I wish I could tell you a lot, but I wanna send it in my letter back home. :/ Guess you will have to wait for a little bit ^_^. This email is going to be pretty dang short. But all is well in Creston. I have felt like this is my home and I don't wanna leave any time soon. I have grown to like this area and the ward members here. O, and also the food!!!! SOOOOOOOOOOO amazing!

Anyways, I have to go. I need to work on my long mail sent letter to home! Farewell and God be with you!

Another weeks zooms by!

Hello Family and Friends!

I got your snail mail on Friday and thanks for the pictures of Jayne! She looks adorable and can't wait to see her grow up and be able to get boys by just saying to them the way Phil does, "Heeeeeyyy!"

We went down to Calgary on Friday to go to a trainers meeting which was only about an hour and a half long. You know what that means? It took us 6 hours to drive there, stayed for about 2 hours, then drove 6 hours all the way back! It was a long day, but the Elders that drove with us I got to know pretty well. I also saw my old district and man did they change. They all looked really professional and missionary like. I asked most of them on an update in their area. They all said they got a baptism on date or are planning to. That is incredible! They are doing extremely well and I am jealous of them!

This past week we did mainly service and other stuff with members. We didn't have any current investigators so we talked to the members and others. We do plan on however to go on splits with home teachers to the less-active and that is pretty much our plan here in Creston. 

Remember when I told you we got a referral from the Stake Conference about 2 weeks ago? There is an area where it is about 45 minutes away from Creston and it is a branch called the Kootny Lake Branch or however you spell it. We got like 3 referrals from there now! Finally!!!!! Some work!!!!!!!!! We also have to speak in their sacrament meeting for 20 minutes! 20 minutes!!!!!! O man I am so nervous! I need to prepare a longer talk than my farewell one. Hopefully, the Spirit will help me.

The snail-mail does take quite a bit, but they don't send it to where we live. The zone leaders pick up our mail like every once a month and then we have to go get it. So, if I am not getting your mail or said I haven't, it is because I haven't picked it up yet. But thank you for the letters. I do look foreword to them each time. I will try to send a letter back home when I can or have time. 

Our week is going to be extremely busy with splits and exchanges and all that so hopefully I can catch up with all of it! Love you all and can't wait to hear a letter or email from you. Oh! We also stopped by this lake on the way back from Calgary and it is so blue and beautiful! I will send you a picture of it! Love you!

-Elder Justin Perucca

3rd week here in Creston...I think

I haven't got your snail-mail yet, and I haven't got the pictures of Jayne yet either.

But this week I got to meet my whole zone and they are awesome! They are quite hilarious! I enjoy their company and today for our P-day we are going back to our Zone and going to chiill with them! I am excited. Also, my zone is very into this card game called Magic. I am not into it as of right now, but that may change sooner or later. :/

Anywho, things have gotten better for me. Still getting used to everything. We have some awesome tunes though here! I can imagine some new songs that are coming out there since I left, but they missionary music here is amazing and I love it! Yes, they are pretty cheesy, but I enjoy them the same. I may send you an attachment of one of the songs I enjoy.

This weekend was a Stake Conference week so we got to hear from our stake. Also, someone from the seventy came. He spoke of us as missionary and the members as one team to bring the people to the church. It was a very well done lesson and I enjoyed it. Also our mission president came up too and gave the same lesson, but a little different. But it was swell all the same ^_^,

Chantel crying over her phone?? Hmph, odd! Silly silly Chantely. The phone hasnt died yet. Although when a phone tends to freak out the first thing you should do usually is take out the battery. Then it should stop and be ok if you leave it alone. She must have been texting her boyfriends or soon to be boyfriend. Also, she better have not deleted my pictures on there.

Congrats on Kaylee and Phil on their baby! I am super happy for them! Can't wait to see my neice in...two years -___-. O well, I am still happpy for them! Jayne sounds a very great name! Sounds british! And I love british! Speaking of british, I have been constantly meeting very british people out here and I really enjoy their company. I get to learn more about England and their culture. Their ice-cream here is pretty different than in the U.S.A. It is a lot creamer than what I have had. It is still really good though!

Anyways, that is all I have to report this week! Thank you for all your mail! With much love Justin! (This is the part when Mom starts to cry) ;)

-Elder Justin Perucca

Justin included this song as an attachment: Popcorn Boppin'

Start of Week 3 in Creston

I can definitely say that things here have gotten a bit better. We have 1 new investigator and we are working slowly with her. She is a pick a choose person meaning she wants to pick a religion and stick with it. She isn't a member, but she has gone to our church here with her aunt. We have only had lesson 1 with her and committed her to read the Book of Mormon. She agreed to do it. She didn't seem too excited about it, but she does seem interested to look into it. We will see how she is doing this week.

Other than that, we have 3 potential investigators meaning they haven't received lessons, but we just met with them tracting or street contact.

First one(s) was Michael and Heather: They are protestant and Catholic. They both are really nice. We knocked on their door, no one answered, but Michael came around back and saw us. We kinda introduced ourselves and he didn't seem super interested, but as soon as we mentioned we are going around sharing a message about Jesus, his eyes brightened up and said, "Jesus?! Well, come on back here!" It got us excited because we haven't really spoken to someone in a while. We got them kinda introduced in the gospel and are going to check on them this week to see how they are doing.

Second was JoAnn: She is a bit less accountable, and she is Lutheran, but she does seem quite interested in what we said. We did mow her lawn though in our suit and ties which was surprising to her. Ha! But we care for her and going to check back with her again this week.

Third was someone who said to come back later: We don't know her name or her family yet, but we are going to check out how she is doing this week.

The members here though are super funny I must admit. Although most of them are old, they are goofy and I love it. They do quite frequently now say "eh?" now, but I haven't been saying it or I just haven't recognized it. We did get a picture of me and my companion.

Pretty cool picture huh? It was Elder Mackay's idea! 

Anyways, could you remind me what my blog for my mission was again? 

Things are getting better and better here. Alright I got to go! Let me know what is going on back home some more!

Oh! The Mission Home address is:

7044 Farrell Road SE, Calgary, Alberta T2H OT2

There you go! Love you!

-Elder Justin Perucca

Hello! First week in Creston!

Well I have been here in Creston for 5 days I think! 

OOOOOOOOO Man! The first 4 days just were brutal! I came here expecting missionary work like in those district videos they showed in the MTC. O that is not quite true! Here you have to do many things and it is very hard work. The first 4 days we were here we were just going tracting and street contacting most of the time and kept getting rejected and rejected and I got so freaking tired of it. I remembered I kept thinking to myself, "This is what I am going to do for the next 12 weeks and perhaps more? I don't think I can do this! I don't want to do this! I want to be relaxing most of my time here!" It was a negative feeling and I hated it and I wanted it out! The mission is intensely hard. There seems to be a pattern here. Everytime you go somewhere new on your mission, whether is be the first time at the MTC, or the first time in Canada, or even your first area like Creston, you always have a very difficult time getting used to it. 

So as I was thinking these negative thoughts, I kept saying to myself: "Keep going. You are not a quitter! Keep pushing on." But the question of "How?" kept coming back and kept dragging me down. One night I got on my knees and ask our Heavenly Father to help my attitude to improve and to help me to serve him with all my strength. I prayed that not only I would feel better, but the many missionaries out here will have peace in their hearts. I also prayed for other things. As soon as my prayer was over, again as I shared in my sacrament talk, my heart was lifted and didn't feel like it was heavy anymore and I had a more positive attitude about it. This is the Lord's work! This is not my work or your work, it is His! 

Since then, my attitude on this mission has been much better and I enjoy the people here. Speaking about the people here, everything here is backwards! What I mean about that is that the old people here act like little kids and it is hilarious and I love it! The teenagers and young adults here however are stubborn and don't care much about life. It is one of the few times where I enjoy being around these old people HAHA! They do say "eh?" quite a bit here, but I don't think I will pick it up here. Maybe, maybe not. 

Church here is really fun also and super fast! Yesterday was the fastest church I have ever been to, but it was also very spiritual and I learned many things! I always look forward to church just because I feel comfortable being there and also the people here are very supported. We learned more about the Law of Tithing Sunday and it made me think about it in a new way. If we are WILLINGLY to pay our tithing and not begrudgingly, the windows of heaven will be open and pour out blessings on us. It was amazing!

I don't have a picture of my new companion quite yet. I don't really plan to till we want to really. I am weird! Ha, but my companion is Elder Mackay and he is from Las Vegas, Nevada. He likes helicopters and hopes one day to be in a army. Great...my first companion is training to be in the army. -_-. He is going to push me hard! But he is a great companion and has helped me to get into missionary work. He has the movie "The Testaments" memorized and we quote it from time to time and it is great.

I will send pictures of my old companion and other ones where I feel like I need to send though. I will probably send my old district pictures and a picture of Creston from my house. We are living in a members home and it is nice.

Well, i got to go! Got lots of things to do today and so little time to do. Love you and here some pictures!

-Elder Justin Perucca

MTC drop-off