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!