First 4 days were a blast, the last 3 days were the worst!

This week started great! All the Christmas dinners and caroling with members and just the Spirit of Christmas was everywhere. Even as missionaries we celebrated together by playing boardgames, eating together at the Pitchers. It was just great! P-day was fun as well. We went ice skating! It has been a while since I have done that, but I didn't forget how to do it. I was pretty good. We had a lot of fun as a zone and also as a district! I just love the Christmas season wherever I go. It just that happiness and that excitment when it comes to Christmas! Plus thank you for the Christmas package and the cards I got from you guys. It lets me know how much you guys care about  me and what I am doing out here. Thank you for thinking about me.

The Skype call was nice, or Hangout. Whatever we used...It was great! It was pretty dang exciting to talk to you guys and tell you most of what is going on in the mission face to face. I wonder what we will talk about the next time we Hangout/Skype call. Probably plans on coming home or stuff like that. For Christmas morning we got up and opened our Christmas packages to see what we got. Elder Olsen got a lot of neat stuff and a lot of money. Lucky him! His family also got me a sweater and I must say it is a snazzy sweater. I like it! I love the book that you guys got me. I read it most of the Sunday meetings. It helps clear up somethings that I had troubles thinking about. Also thank you so much for that piano guys cd as well. I really like those guys and most missionaries don't for some reason. Meh, oh well. After opening presents we had this big brunch at the members we were skyping. We were so full after drinking so many egg nog, and lots and lots of waffles. Sooooooooooooo good!

After Skyping, we went to the Philippino's home and ate with them. Because of the Brunch we didn't eat much so ya. Still it was a great dinner that we had. But after dinner we had to be in by 6 so we went back home and enjoyed playing Risk for the rest of the night.

The next three days were just...terrible. Not only because there was no one who would set up appointments with us, but because everything wasn't going our way. Olsen lost his wallet and had to get ANOTHER money card so that didn't help the situation. Plus we went shopping for our hygiene stuff, but for some reason, the store we went to was closed so we couldn't smell nice for like 2 days. It was a hard 3 days. There were many times where we just wanted to go home and not do anything. Plus, Olsen got sick on Saturday so that didn't help either. It was meh.

But now we are doing better. Things are going back to what they should be going back to so that is a good thing. But we will see what this new year will bring us. I hope it will be better than the last one. The last one started great with two great companions, but started spiraling down the two companions after that. Eugh! That sucked so bad. But now I know how to deal with certain companions so I am good now. Another thing that is pretty cool is that our district wants to make shirts and one of our things that we are going to put on our shirt is 1-801 because the one is for the British Elder in our district and the 801 is for us Utah Elders. I will try to get a picture of it for you guys when they are all done. Well, thank you so much for your support this year and love you all for doing so. I wish you all a happy new year and hope that this will be great one!

Caroling Galore

NON-STOP CAROLING! We have been singing a ton this week for the Christmas season and I am not sick of the Christmas Carols yet. It was pretty dang cool how many people were so receptive to us singing to them. Not only did we carol as a district again, but some members yesterday took us caroling as well to a whole bunch of less actives. We had a lot to eat as well. They usually feed us like some mexican alad which is a big deal here because mexican food up hear is very expensive. We usually love members who serve us mexican food.

We couldn't really see our investigators this week because of two things: 1. They were gone for the Christmas season. and 2. Some of them had the flu and couldn't meet up. Frank and Annie were gone for this week it seemed so we couldn't meet up with them. Cade got super sick this week and we couldn't communicate with him. However, one of the members of the Stake Presidency told us that he basically told his dad that he and his entire family is going to be baptized. They even prepared for it by buying new suits and scriptures. The situation there is pretty complicated. Cade lives with his mom and stepdad, but wants to get permission from his real dad for the lessons. That is what we are waiting for. Come to think of it, both of our investigators are waiting games. All we can do it wait till they get permission or till someone finalizes his divorce. :/

Question time:

1. How does this time of year affect your teaching of your investigators and work with less active members?
Meh, it kinda makes a difference, but not by much. Christmas is usually time where investigators are gone and less-actives are always home. I don't think I told you this, but our mission is mainly less-active work and it probably always will be.

2. How did you know how many times the word atone or atonement are in the scriptures?

I have this book called "The Continous Atonement" by Brad Wilcox. I am a big fan of Brad Wilcox and his talks because not only are they interesting, but they are so simple, but complex at the same time. Missionaries out here like to talk about deep stuff which I am fine with. I have no objection to it, but sometimes you have to use hard words or wierd thoughts to do that. Brad doesn't do that. He keeps it simple and I love that.

3. Do you correspond much with other full time missionaries that were friends or fellow ward members before your mission?

A bit yeah. Sometimes it comes up about memories coming home, sometimes it doesn't.

Sorry for the short letter, but we are going to talk on Thursday so you can tell me whatever you want there. I believe the rule still stands as long as we are not a inconvenience or bothering the member, we can talk however long we want. But I guess its your call. We can use Google Hangout or Skype. I will set up both accounts just in case one doesn't work. By the way, a member invited us over at 10:30 and said we can use her laptops. We can begin at 11:30 or sooner or later. Just let me know as soon as possible. Love you all and see you on Thursday!

Surprise after Surprise after Surprise!

Well hello everyone! This week was just...great! Lot's of good tidings of great joy that happened here! First off, we had ZTMs this time instead of DDMs. Our entire zone got together and had a little training. This training was on how do we as missionaries fit in the restoration. It was a pretty good training. It was just on how we as missionaries can tie everything back to the Restoration of the Gospel! It is nothing I already heard before, but it is a good reminder to learn about these things.

Now Wednesday was great because it was our Mission party. All the missionaries from the north went to this gathering and it was just like last year at Christmas. President bought us pizza and you can probably guess that I went crazy on it! You know I like pizza! Anywho, after eating, President Nicholas shared his family tradition of Christmas. It was mainly telling the story of the birth of Jesus Christ of what happened in the America's. We sang a lot of songs together as a mission and you could definately feel the Spirit of Christmas there. Now, I told you that this party was like last years party with President, but there was one quirk. Previously, President told us that they were playing "Meet the Mormons" in a movie theater in South Calgary. He told us we couldn't go to it or proselyte near it. However, he said he got permission from Salt Lake to show us the movie, and he pulled out the dvd! We were screaming and cheering because we were so happy to see this movie that has come out! I have to say I really liked it. *SPOILERS* The beginning was hilarious with all the rumors that were said about us. And...I have to admit, BUT I WASN'T ALONE, the ending was really emotional with the missionary mom. Most of the missionaries in the party were sniffing and crying a bit when that was playing.There are only two church videos I get emotional on now. "Meet the Mormons" and the Tyler Haws Mormon Message. But other than that I am good!

I also had interviews with President on Thursday and it was actually very good. We looked back on how I had progressed as a missionary. He could see it as well and could tell I was changing for the good. I also asked him about Google Hangout. He said I was allowed to use it. I have never used it before so I guess this is new to me. However, you can have more than one tablets or people on Skype as well.

We also went caroling as a district thie Saturday! It was pretty fun. We took a portable piano with us so that we could plug it into peoples houses when they came to hear us sing to them. I was the Piano player and Elder Shumway was the guitar player. The singers were Elder Olsen, Elder Olson, Elder Heuer, and Elder Carlton. It went pretty well! We sometimes changed the beat up for songs so they could be a bit catchy. We may go to a C-Train station and perform there. We sing and then we hand out the He is the Gift Christmas Cards that we got from the mission. That is another thing that the mission is focusing on is the He Is the Gift video.

There was a carol festival as well this Sunday that we went to. It was held at our Stake Center, but there were choirs of all sorts all around Calgary that were there. It was beautiful and I loved it! I would love to see it again.

Now it is question time!

 Question #1, do you guys ever shovel snow for service?

Yes we can do that, but like I said last week, it was mostly sunny so all our zone was gone.

Question #2, is there any more information on when your mission might begin using tablets?

We don't know too much. We just keep hearing they will come soon...:/

Well, we still need to establish a time for Skype so let me know as soon as possible when is the best time.

Also, without looking it up or searching it, how many times is the word Atone or atonement in the new testament? the book of mormon? Love you all!

The mission just keeps on changing

As you know, last week was transfers and everyone in our zone, except Olsen and I, was effective in the transfer meaning either their companion got transferred or they did. So our entire zone changed! Crazy! I have never seen that before in my mission. It wasn't like it was a big transfer, just I think our zone got the most change. Also, President announced a few things at transfers that were pretty odd since I have come out a bit ago. First, they way it has usually been for leadership here in the mission (ex. District and Zone Leaders) is that in order to become a zone leader you need to be district leader first and it goes up the chain and so on and so forth. President says now this has been disbanded so anyone could be called to anything. The best example of this was that our new AP (Assistant to President) is now an elder who has only been out 6 months. Isn't that crazy? It may be crazy to me because of how young he is. But this is wierd news because now I could be randomly called to be a zone leader next transfer if that's what President thinks I can do. Another thing that he announced was that training calls are the biggest calling a missionary can have in the mission. There is a lot of trust when a missionary is called to train another missionary. I am still wanting to train, but usually those who want something out here don't get it.

That was basically all that happened at transfers. Things happening to change a lot. I think it is because our President has only 7 months left here and he wants to make sure that this mission is the best it can be when he leaves.

This week wasn't all bad. Weather was definately better than it was last time. It was mostly sunny this entire week and I do believe it is going to continue to be sunny this week which is good. Although sometimes when the forecast says it is going to be sunny, it means it gets colder here because of all the wind chills.

Things have gone well for our investigators though. Frank and Annie actually came to all 3 hours of church this time! YAY! They also signed up to feed us tomorrow so that is a very good sign that they are progressing and like us! We were teaching gospel principles and the lesson topic was on Praying to Our Heavenly Father. While we were doing small group discussion, we read out part in the book and asked what Frank and Annie thought about prayer. Annie was crying and said prayer was a big part in her life and Frank agreed with her. I believe they both know this church is true and we can't really figure out any major concerns for them. We just have to wait for Frank to finalize his divorce.

We also have this very golden potential investigator. You remember that refferall I told you that one of the Stake Presidencys gave to us. If I remember correctly his name is Cane. You remember I told you we just have to wait for his dads permission. He is taking care of that this week, but we also found out that not only did he want to take the discussions, but his mother, grandma, and sister also want in with the discussions. Isn't that amazing? Things are doing super well in our ward and I keep telling you guys, it is because of the member missionary work here! I love it! Our ward is really starting to trust us. :)

We also got almost taken advantage of again by an excommunicated member. She was moving and we told her that we couldn't help her at the proper time she wanted because we commited to another move. She starting texting us non-stop saying we didn't follow with our commitment with her even though we didn't ever commit and she said the Elders Quorum president had no authority. It was just a really confusing day. But we settled it all and everything is good now.

Family Search training is doing alright. The Elders Quorum has kinda taken care of it by doing a lesson of it this last Sunday. Now most of the Elders know what they are doing. We are still there to help when people need us though. :)

We have a mission Christmas party this Wednesday! We are going to be with all the north missionaries up here in Calgary and have a great time. Also interviews are this Thursday so I get to talk to President personally again. It is always nerve racking at first, but then when you start talking to President it is not all that bad. President Nicholas understands a lot of things we go through as missionaries which is great!

The other thing that is super cool that transfers effected is now we got another elder in our district who is from the same area as where we live. Now all of our district except one are from the same area! How crazy is that!! We can just say all these memories that we had. The thing is, two is from lone peak and they kinda rub stuff in our face about sports...but all of that is behind us!! This district is so cool!

Now it is question time!

Question #1: Do you have warm enough boots?

I don't have boots and I haven't had boots my entire mission. I don't think I need them on this mission. I do need new service shoes however. My green basketball shoes have been torn up on the sides so when we do service, snow gets in them.

Question #2:

Were you able to listen to the first presidency Christmas devotional?

Yes, we were able to listen to the Christmas devotional. It was pretty good. I like D. Todd Christoferson the most. He is probably my favorite apostle just because I like the topic he picks in his talks.

Question #3:Are the people in your area religious? Are they Catholic, protestant, muslim. What do you find they are. Have you run into any Jehovahs witnesses or 7th day Adventist? Or do you find people are too busy for religion?

Ha, I have met many different people on my mission! Spegatti Monster believers, Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Muslim, JW, 7th day Adventist. There are a ton of different people here in Calgary with many different religious backgrounds. I believe most of the people here are religious. The problem about people not letting us in is not the religion. It is how rich the community is. The west part of Calgary has very rich houses and people don't think they need anything other than what they have. That is the big thing that really stands in our way.

Question #4:  Would you be able to do Google Hangouts vs Skype for the Christmas call?
I do not know the answer to that question. I don't know what Google Hangout is either. But according to how you described it, sounds pretty cool. I will ask President Nicholas on interviews this Thursday and see what he has to say. Speaking of which, we should probably discuss a time where we should Skype so that we can tell familes when we would like to.

Question #5:

 Does/has your mission have ever had a "White Christmas" goal like my mission did where we focused on getting as many people read to be dressed in white for baptism and baptized on or before Christmas Day?

Um, I don't think we have and I didn't think we did last year either. We usually let people decide when they like to be baptized rather than just us choosing.

Well, that is all the week has given me. Quite a bit actually! I guess Christmas time is the best time of the year. Love you all! A little fact before I leave: I am going to talk to you a little something about prayer. Fold your arms right now. Now what shape does your arms make? Isn't it a infinity sign? Isn't it interesting that when we pray we are talking to an Infinite Being who knows all? Sweet eh!? Love you! Bye

Transfer week and HOLY FETCH SNOW STORM!!!

You will not believe how crazy the weather was this Friday. It was Black Friday here and of course people are going to go shopping that day and the streets were extremely busy. But there was a also a big snow storm that just slowed everything down! You couldn't see anything. Like 10 feet at max! We almost got in a lot of crashes because people kept on spinning out. This was only in the morning! Later in the day it got -39 degrees C and we couldn't really go out unless we got schedule appointments which we didn't really so we mainly just stayed inside and tried to call people to set appointments. Other than that, we just read our gospel books and played board games. Pretty fun black Friday right?

We had our Ward Christmas party last Saturday and it was set on a theme of Bethlehem. It was like going through a time portal from the chapel to the cultural hall. It was cool because I was playing prelude Christmas music in the chapel whenever people were waiting for the event to start. I was surprised to know so many Christmas songs by just ear and some I just tried to play on the spot and I did very well. Elder Olsen played a part as well in this so don't worry haha. He dressed up like a Roman Soldier and lead people through the "Bethlehem". We have a picture of us both that members took. We are just waiting for them to send it to us so I can send it to you guys. Usually that is how I share my piano talents. I just go up and play some prelude music or I start playing piano and members walk in and discover I have this talent. They really like it and so do missionaries. I play a lot of songs that missionaries know and it is cool to see them relax or sing along when I play that certain song.

Our investigators are....alright. We still got Frank and Annie. Still waiting on Franks divorce, but he is progressing well. Richard is still dropped but likes to contact us. The ward really wants to focus on the lost sheep I told you about before which we are doing incredible at. Again, couldn't ask for a better ward than this in missionary work. We are still pretty sick, but not terrible, but I guess that is what you get when you go in and out all day and are in contact with people as well. But we take as much medicine as possible when it comes to it.

My companion is not as trunky as he was before. I guess we are always trunky, but we can control how much it shows. Also, as you know it is transfer week and we get to know if either one of us are going to get transferred. Good news is that none of us are getting transferred. We get to spend another transfer together! That means we get to spend Christmas together! Woooo!!! I am excited that we both didn't get transferred!

I am coming on my 16 month mark which means I will be almost 2/3 done with my mission. Awesome! Crazy how fast things go!

Quick Question time:

Question #1: was the Spanish missionary finishing his mission and gave the coat to you?

He leaves in February so he is leaving soon. But he had multiple coats so he just gave one to me. I do have plenty of winter equipment. Plenty of thermals and warm stuff. It is usually the wind chill that we have to look out for.

Before I sign off, I want to hear your opinion on something next week. Why did David pick up 5 stones when it only took one to kill Goliath? Love you all! Take care!

Missionary work is becoming slower and slower...

You guys should already know my stance on the best way to do missionary work in any mission is. It is basically through members. Now here is the thing. If you remember, President Monson in General conference asked the members to work with missionaries and to do member missionary work. That was quite a bit ago. However, members up here still don't know what is being asked of them. Most of my ward doesn't have this problem thank goodness! However, there are a few members out there who don't know how to do missionary work, or don't understand how to help missionaries. For instance, we have told our stake hundreds of times that the BEST way for us to teach people or to find people to teach is through members. Most of the Stake Presidency knows thatm thank goodness! However, there is a bit of people that think we should do something else. The evidence is there that most or even all of the people who get baptized in multiple stakes is through member REFFERALS. Some people want us to track all in their area and knock on their door after and ask them to pray for us. They might be getting somewhere for praying for us, but not for tracting. I have been reading, "The Power of Everyday MIssionaries" by Chrisiansen and it shows a lot of ways that members can help missionaries and what is better for missionaries to do than other things. What our ward has been doing is trying to get members to read this book and it has made a big impact. I think that is the best way members can figure out what missionaries do, not by what they did alone on thier mission, because missionary work has changed.

Anywho, the summary is that I think our ward is great at missionary work because of what the bishop and the stake president is asking them. Not only are they helping us, but they are helping everyone by being an example.

This week was a bit slow, but as soon as our car got fixed, things were getting better. However, our investigator count is down because we either found out that these investigators were inactive members or that they weren't progressing at all. This was the case with Richard. Every time we are about to meet with him, he calls with some odd excuse like he needs to sleep more to get ready for his job during his...retirement. So we just dropped him, but he keeps calling and we don't really answer. Frank and Annie are still progressing. We are still waiting for his divorce to finalize so that he can take his next step to get baptized. So there is only so much we can do there. The refferall that you remember I told you about that we got from the stake presidency is still getting worked on. The son needs to get his fathers permission for us to teach him so we are leaving it to the stake presidency for now. When he get's permisssion from his dad, then we can teach him.

We had something called Zone Finding in our are this week. That is when every one in our zone comes to our area and we tell them where to find people. We instead gave them a list of people who we call "Lost Sheep" which is basically members who we have no idea about where they live or what is going on with them. It went well, but we were kinda hoping for more imformation about it, but that is alright.

This week was wierd because I got wierd feelings about the mission. It wasn't trunkyness or homesickness, just...I got bored or sick of serving a mission. It was like that thought where I just wake up and do the same thing over and over again. It wasn't too bad like I wanted to go home or anything. But I am sure this feeling should pass sooner or later.

My companion and I are getting along fine, but he is getting the Trunkyness feeling. It is probably because he hit his month mark not too long ago and is just thinking on how much he has left. It is pretty cool to think I knew him before my mission so I know what he is probably missing.

Now it is question time:

Question #1:  Did you get a coat?

Yes, a Spanish missionary gave it to me and it is not bad. 
 

Question #2: Did you see Meet the Mormons?

No, I haven't because it hasn't come out for us yet in Canada. It is this week playing in the theater, but we can't see it because our mission president says...so...no.

Queston #3: Where do you teach these new investigators since the ward members were the finders?

Sometimes we teach them at thier place and sometimes the members houses.

I guess that is all the questions that I have to answer. This next week is board week. This is where people get nervous. We have heard that 17 Elders are coming out this transfer so there can be a possibility of people training here. Love you all and hope you have a happy thanksgiving!

The snow is still here....and a broken car doesn't help :/

This week was kinda wierd because our car broke down through halfway the week and the appointments that we set up were pretty far and the travel distance would not help us to make every appointment. Plus half the time we were trying to talk to our fleet coordinator to fix our car, but he isn't answering and when he does he gave us these reasons that it isn't working where we know why it isn't working. We hope that he can fix it today since he told us that he will.

Other than that, the ward is spectacular here, work wise. The members as far as I know are not too cool as others I have met. But the work here is great! The bishop is really focusing and encouraging members here to do the finding for us to teach people. And also for service opportunities. And plus we met with this stake member and we told him the most effective way to find people is through members and for some reason he wasn't happy about it. I think he was just waiting us to say that we could find tracting which is not effective finding at all! Like none! But I totally believe that this ward has the correct mind set because of what they are doing, they have found 5 new investigators for us to teach and they all want to be baptized!

I am still sick and so is my companion though. We've been both sick since I got here and it totally sucks, but it is better than it used to be. We just have really bad stuffy nose and cough a ton. We have been trying to take a ton of medicine and it hasn't doesn't much, but maybe it will soon.

This Saturday we went to the temple as a zone. It was a great day actually! We started that day off with that meeting with the stake guy. Then we all went to Costa Vida here and a member paid for the entire zone which was amazing! Then after lunch we went to the temple. I should let you know that I took a family name to the temple as well. Lyman Spear was the one I took. It was awesome to go as a zone to the temple. After the temple, we went out to dinner with another set of Elders and a member paid for us there as well and it made our day! We really felt blessed because of that day. It was like because we were going to the temple we were getting constantly blessed! It was sweet!

Speaking of family history, the ward wants us to start teaching the members to do family history work so my companion and I started learning how to do certain family history. It has changed a bit since last time I was on it. A new kind of view to see your line, but it was awesome! We are continually learning more about history so that we can help everyone with troubles they are having.

Now it is question time:

Question #1: Do you see some of the above points (i.e. feel the Spirit, Love the people, Obey with exactness) happening regularly as you serve?

Hmmmm, sometimes. Some of them I see more than others like developing Christlike attributes. Not only am I doing that for myself, but helping others that we teach to develop those attributes as well. As for the "Warn people of the consequences of sin. Invite them to make and keep commitments", we have a saying in this mission. It is, "Be bold, but not overbearing." Meaning you want people to see why you are leaving commitments, but don't be in their face about it, because that to me is not loving.

Question #2 Can you share one or two spiritual experiences you have had this month that really touched you and maybe others?

I have been noticing a lot lately that my Heavenly Father has shown His love to me everyday, whether it me helping me feel better, helping me talk to people without making it awkward, or even the littlest thing I want comes to be. When that happens, it makes me feel great that someone is watching for me and caring for me out here. Someone who sees me and helps me progress so that I can become better than who I was.

Question 3 has 3 parts to it:

What amount of money do I get per month for food, gas, and other in my mission?:

We get $180.00 US dollars which converts to around $200.00 in Canadian per month. We only pay for food and emergency stuff for our money. There is a separate card for gas money. We also use our money for transit money to go on trains.

There are certain number of miles each companionship can use with their car each month. What is that in your mission?:

It really depends on which area you are in. In Creston I had 3000 kilometers. Here we have 1800 kilometers.

There are guidelines on teach members of the opposite gender when the opposite gender is by themselves with the two missionaries. What are the guidelines in your mission?:

Um, that we can't be alone with the opposite sex without a person who is 12 or older is there. That is usually when we have members comes with us. If they can't, we can teach a very short lesson to them, but we can't stay long. But you use your best judgement for that situation.

Question #4 Do you know that we here at home love you very much and constantly pray for your success and growth?:

Yes, I have been told that frequently actually and that really does help. I have seen people who don't get much encouaragement from home or out here and they feel down and depress. For instance, my companion yesterday was feeling very homesick and missed his previous life. Most of his friends don't support him to come out on a mission. He wished people could support him more.

Well, that is it for this week. I hope that we can get our car fixed today. Love you all and take care!

And the snow came a tumbling down...

Holy Snow fall!!! Tons of snow just came out of no where and it has gotten freezing cold since last week! It has been said that is will reach -29 degrees this week! I don't think I am ready for this since my first winter was in Creston. Also, I lost my heavy coat last transfers and I will have to probably buy a new one soon depending on whether the storm gets even worse! I will use my thermals and my thermal garments as much as I can for this one. It did sort of help when I wore them in Creston. Hard to believe by this time it was around transfers in my last year. Sometimes it is hard to believe that I have been out for this long.

This week has been pretty tough. Lots of dropped appointments and try to visit a lot of people hear and there, but a lot of them didn't answer or said they didn't want us to come back. This wards less-active work is kinda coming to a hold and the ward is trying to use us whenever they can to teach their friends. I think I talked about this last time, but the ward's main focus for us this far is that we just do teaching. Sure we can do service here and there, but they really want us to teach a lot in this area. And I am fine with that. The problem is the finding part. You can see however that our members are trying pretty hard to find people for us to teach and if they don't find us to be a trustworthy missionary, we teach them a 10 minute lesson for the dinner message so that we can gain their trust. This kinda paid off this week because right before our Ward Council, a member of the Stake Presidency came in and told us that three of his friends wanted the missionary discussions and wanted to be baptized. We haven't quite met them yet and they said for us to meet them today, but they haven't called quite yet and today is our P-day. So, we will see all that goes on I guess.

As for Richard and Billie Jean, not much has happened. First off, whenever we want to meet with Billie Jean, she is not home or does not answer the door. Richard we have met quite a bit, but he doesn't seem to be progressing the way we want or maybe even progressing at all. He seems just to want free stuff from our Church. Sounds familiar doesn't it? I don't think we are going to meet with them as much anymore because we can read him very easily. We are going to focus on our other refferalls for now.

We went downtown again this week and I find myself to have more courage this time to go. I believe the Lord has sent me to this area now because before then, I couldn't talk to people this easily. I still went with Elder Fekete for downtown. He is not my facorite person to go with, but I do what I can I guess.

I don't help with training new missionaries really. That is their own companion. Speaking of my Christmas package, I need a lot more pants and socks. They seem to be disapearing. Plus, I need some P-day shirts. Like excersise shirts. That is all I can think of for the package. As for your package that I sent you, I don't know why it hasn't got there. I left before he came back to report to me or something like that. I will try to contat him and see what the report is. I love you all and take care! Love you!

Thank you for the Birthday wishes! and a break down of Missionary work in my Opinion

Thank you all for all the birthday wishes that you guys send for me! It was awesome how many I got! And thank you so much for the surprise of the pizza. It was funny! The zone leaders told us that they wanted to have lunch with them. We were kinda skeptical at first because we thought that the zone leaders would ask us weird questions for the excuse for lunch. But the pizza was great! The Elders that did eat with us thought it was delicious and were so full when we were all done. I wonder how you guys got to do that and exactly where you knew where to deliver it.

We tried to visit Billie Jean again, but she didn't answer which is no surprise haha. I tend to get used to appointments getting dropped a lot. But what can you do right? Richard called us and told us that he couldn't come to church because his apartment was getting inspected that Sunday and he was busy. It kinda bummed us out, but again, what can you do right? You tend to get used to it as a missionary. We still have an appointment with him this Wednesday and we will have to see how he is going to react to like his 3rd time with the missionaries. We still get most of our referrals from other missionaries and we contact them as much as we can right?

The ward actually has been trying to help us with missionary work by saying that they should do most of the finding. I agree for most the part of it. Like to be honest, missionaries can only go so far as to find here. Areas have been tracted out plenty of times here and usually nothing comes at it when you go tracting again. That is where the members bring in their friends to help us to teach them, or they invite them to an activity. Now don't get me wrong, missionaries still do some finding out here as I told you before. We go downtown and all that jazz. But again, out of all the finding stuff, that usually is the last resort and it doesn't really work to well. There is usually a process to get members to trust that and that is teaching in their home or letting them see us while we go out to work. Without member trust, you can't really do much in your ward because they won't tell you much. Most missionaries think they can change an entire area by themselves and by themselves alone! That is pretty much the stupidest thing I have ever heard. We are supposed to come together with the members and work together to help bring souls to Christ. If you remember, I believe in the Hastening the Work of Salvation video, a stake president said that there isn't a missionary church and a ecclesiastical church over somewhere else. Now, sometimes it isn't the missionaries that is the problem, but the members sometimes need help too. Which is kinda what I think my purpose has been out here. Like I have said before, I have helped prepared areas to do missionary work as a ward and help missionaries to do so as well, and right when it starts happening, I get transferred. I find this a little annoying, but also pretty sweet as well.

That is my personal opinion on a little piece of missionary work so far in my mission. I still got a little more to learn, but I do what I can to learn. Plus some weird things have been happening in our mission. Lots of people are starting look like they look to President Nicholas that knows everything. I do believe you should go to the Lord first, and if nothing comes up, then contact our President. But oh well. The Flu Shot didn't cost anything and we were there right before the rush came for it. Thank goodness right?! We went with Rocky View Elders since they live pretty close to us. Our Zone is freakin awesome and as far as I know, our Elders are pretty normal.

Well, I think that is all I have to say this week. Again thank you so much for all birthday wishes and thank you Grandma for your present to me and happy birthday on the 8th! I probably need some socks for my Christmas package too. Thank you! Talk to you next week!

Very tough week

As the subject says, it was a very tough week. Not because of the work, but this entire week I was super sick. Well, I have been sick for the past 3 weeks, but this week just a wave of sickness to both me and the entire zone! It is terrible. The worst was when last night. I couldn't sleep like at all. Luckily I finally found my medicine pack and took quite a bit of medicine so that it would reduce so I could finally rest. I am still not 100%, but I am definitely better than I was before.

We have been getting a wave of referrals actually from both HQ and from other missionaries. We have been trying to contact all these referrals, but most of them have fallen through except two. We meet with them this week sometime and if my body seems to cooperate, then it should go well. One is named Richard, and he does seem...pretty promising. He is looking all around for churches and wondering which one is right for him. He has been taught before and is really scared on baptism and does not want us to push it on him. It seems like the last missionaries were too forceful or too on his case for that subject. The second one that seems more promising is this woman named Billie Jean. She is looking for a religion too. She was raised Catholic, but doesn't believe in any of it. We set up an appointment this week to meet with her. Hopefully, this will follow through. Lots of lessons get dropped a ton out here. I hear people in other missions that get lot of promising lessons and perfect investigators. Here, that is different. Well, I don't know. I haven't had any golden investigator. But just because you don't have any investigators doesn't mean that you are a failure. I have had a ton of reactivations on my mission and I count that as big as a baptism here, but people out here don't seem to agree which kinda bugs me. But what can you do right?

Oh I forgot to tell you. You remember Taylor Shumway? Well, he is in my district as well with someone who lived very close to me. That means like half of our district is from the American Fork area. It is freakin awesome! We get along as a district very well and I love my zone as well. This is a pretty sweet place!

Now it is question time!

Question #1: What is the name of the ex stake president that had you all for dinner?

His name is Brother Pitcher.

Question #2: Anyone else in you ward that is helpful to the missionaries? 

Our ward is trying to help us by finding people who we can teach. They really want us to use our time to teach and so they are willing to help us to do so, or so it seems. We will see what comes in this area.

Question #3, how long has Elder Olsen been in your area?  

 He has only been hear for 5 weeks since last transfer was a 5 week transfer. We are still trying to get used to the area together.

Question #4, what area of American Fork is Elder Olsen from?

Well, technically he is from Highland, but very close to American Fork so around there.

Question #5, Is it dry like Utah there in Calgary or is there some humidity like non-desert places in the US?  

It is sort of dry. You can feel the dryness. But it feels like Utah, but not at the same time. Calgary overall is just a city place.

Question #6, How many other missionaries do you live with?

I have already answered this a million times. But the only places where two sets of missionaries live together is in Cranbrook BC and in Okatokes Calgary.

Question #7 Are you guys teaching any lessons in church on Sunday or do the members take care of that?

Again, I already answered this question. We mainly teach gospel principles when needed.

Question #8 Did your last area get closed down or were there other missionaries put there so they can continue on with the investigators you were working with?

Yes, there are two new missionaries there. Elder Tesimale and Elder Poulter. I trust they will work with our investigators that we left them with. They will probably love the Ludwigs a ton as well. I am so jealous of them right now. Haha! I wonder how they are doing. Ha!

Well that is all this week. Hopefully there will be more next week.

For Christmas, pants and socks first comes to mind. I will let you know what else comes in mind when I do think of stuff.

This...zone...is...fetchin...AWESOME!!!

Hello one and all!

Sorry for the late email. The internet was down in all the library on Monday so we couldn't email that entire day. Sorry about that, but we had an awesome P-day! We played some flag football and scatterball! Our zone is totally in it all! I love it! Plus I know most of the missionaries in our zone! We have so much fun and we eat a lot with each other since a member told us we could come over whenever we want for food. I love members like that!

As you all know, I got a new companion named Elder Olsen. He is also from American Fork, and yes, I knew him from High School. This is my second companion from American Fork. Soon I will probably hit 3 haha. Nah that's kinda pushing it. But me and Elder Olsen get along very well. We get to be together in this 7 week transfer! That means till around December 6th I believe. This will probably be my Christmas area.

I went downtown for the first time today. It was super scary because I am not really a big city person. So many people and so much craziness! But I handled it alright. All my other experiences with talking with people made it not really crazy. I am still not a big people lover when it comes to talking to random people, but I do whatever I can to help. :) I placed my first Book of Mormon in a while. Last time I did that was probably...Creston. Haha! That is for a while. Lol! But it felt good to do that since in forever! I am still sad about leaving my last area, but I will be sure after my mission I will go visit that area first!

We did this little orientation the first few days here in this zone. We talk to the member that feeds us a lot. He used to be in the Stake Presidency and he has a lot of deep thoughts. He gave us this flash drive that has all this deep doctrine stuff and it blows your mind and it is awesome! I haven't looked up a lot of stuff, but everything you see and read of his is just...wow! Its awesome!

Now it is time for questions! Here we go:

 Question #1: Are you assigned one ward or are you serving in various wards?

I am only assigned to one ward and that is Bow Valley ward, the area I cover is freakin huge!

Question #2: Will you be able to go to the temple now?
I always been able to go to the temple. But we can only go to it every once in a while. But we shall see when we want to go.

Question #3:Is it cold up there?

It is getting colder up here, but not cold to me. But I think it will get really cold soon!

Question #4: Are you near the mountains?

Nope!

 Question #5: How many missionaries are in your area?

Um, I think you meant zone but I think around 18.

Question #6: How long has Elder Olson been out in the mission field? 

About a year.

Question #7

is West Calgary very close to where you previously served in Calgary?

Kinda, not really no.

Question #8, is my area a bike, car, or walking area?

All three!

Question (#9), how do you and your companion do companion study? 

We pick a subject we want to study about and study it together...

Question #10, do you stop to write down what you learn as a companionship or only as individuals?

Only when it's something I find very interesting. Usually I can remember stuff pretty easily like that.

Sorry for the short letter-ish. We didn't have much time this week to email as you can tell. I promise my next email will be a lot longer! Love you all and take care!

Transfer-not happy

Well, things have change in the mission which is a bit odd. Transfers will now be on Thursday instead of Wednesday so that gives us an extra day to say goodbye to people. It is weird that our President is changing the mission so much since my year mark. But we just go along with it.

As you can see from the subject of this email is that I am not happy about my transfer notice. I am going north. It just that it really upsets me when things go so well here and we are about to end well with several investigators, I get freakin transferred. I don't ever witness what goes on with our investigators after or even the members and I hate that. It has happened with me in every area and I just hate it! Plus, I don't like the north. The members aren't very helpful and the work there is just not good. But, I guess I will go whether I like it or not and see what I can do.

Lots of great things happened this last week. We have gotten a lot of referrals from members which are promising and pick up a new golden investigator. But I won't be here for those people. We talked with Nick and read the Book of Mormon with him and he really liked it. He just has a hard time understanding what the Book of Mormon is about and what is going on. It was cool how he related himself to Nephi. That is awesome!

Thanksgiving was great. Most of our district came over to the Ludwigs house and ate there. I didn't have to do any dishes because it was paper plates and cups. But we had a blast! We laughed a ton and the Ludwigs really enjoyed us. The food was delicious as well! But I am prepared for a week of Thanksgiving leftovers for dinners. Oh, boy! :/ I am surely going to miss the Ludwigs a lot when I leave and probably going to cry when we say goodbye. 

My exchange with Robbi was awesome! We had so much fun and reflected on the days we had when we were companions. 

After exchanges with Robbi, I went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders. I went with Elder Call this time and we also had a fun time. We quoted a lot of movies that we have seen and all that jazz. 

Now Question time

1. Did I get the package?

Yes, I got it and I opened it because transfers was coming up. Thank you so much!

Well, got a lot of stuff to do this P-day and people to say goodbye to. Sorry this letter is short. See ya!

This was a sick week (both literally and the definition when something is awesome)

Well Hello there!

I am doing pretty good. This week as we can tell from the subject of my email was a pretty exciting one, but also a pretty hard one. First, let us start in the beginning:

After our P-day, I went on exchanges with Elder Allredge who came out with me. He serves in Clareshome. We had a pretty fun time talking a lot and hearing our views on what the mission is like. For exchanges, he had to get his teeth fixed because Elder Konietz threw a basketball at him while Elder Allredge was holding a pipe up to his face and chipped his tooth. He got it fixed though and he is happy about that. After, we were going to help to service for this one lady, but she canceled it due to the weather of so much rain. So, me and Elder Allredge went to a town in their area called Vulcan. Yep you heard right. Vulcan! Like Star Trek. They have a museum there that is Star Trek related and I took some pictures there so you can see it. It is a pretty sweet place! We had a fun time on exchanges. Today I am going on exchanges with Elder Robinson who was my former companion so that is going to be a blast.

After district meeting on Wednesday, we were driving back to our area and I was feeling super weak and was coughing and hacking. We still had basketball to play that night with our non members, and I wasn't my full self. I was coughing all over the place. The Ludwigs gave me a lot of medicine for it and it helped a bit. I wasn't really feeling weak anymore, but I still coughed a ton and today I still do. I wonder what I have. I can't keep myself from coughing. I hope I get better sooner or later.

We met with Nick our investigator this Thursday and we kinda figured out a concern for him. He doesn't fully agree with all the doctrine our church and has a difficult time understanding the Book of Mormon. We are going to read with him weekly now from the Book of Mormon to help him understand it. He's been investigating the church for a long time!

Conference was super sweet! I really like this one. In fact, I think it was my most favorite overall. It was pretty cool because we brought a potential investigator and Nick to the last session and what Elder Bednar spoke of what just exactly what we thought Nick needed to hear and he also really enjoyed Bednars talk. 

Let's answer some questions:

Question #1, what talk or talks caused you to be taught most by the Holy Ghost? Which of all the wonderful message was your favorite?

I really liked D. Todd Christoffersen's talk. That is what really got me thinking. Out here, missionaries think they can change an investigator, their companion, etc. But the only person that can change who they are is themselves. I can't make my investigator believe things. I can't make my companion do things to my liking. They have to understand it for themselves. 

Question #2 How many other investigators do you currently have and where they are as far as receiving the missionary lessons?

The same as it has been before. Adam, Jen, and Nick.

Question #3, Do you use family history and temple work to help with investigators and the members on your mission? 

We can if they are interested in that. That can be one of the finding activities. Problem is, we don't have one here in Pincher creek. Plus, we don't really teach about temple work or family history till the 5th lesson and many investigators drop by that point.

Question #4 is where you watched General Conference?

A couple of sessions we watched it at our church here. One we watched at the Ludwigs.

Question #5 is if your mission has you go to see the dentist during your mission?

We don't do yearly checkups with any medical stuff as far as I know on this mission.

Question #6 Have you met anyone who know Dawna Baugh family (the Folsoms?)

I keep on forgetting. I am sorry. :/ I will be sure to remember this next time. 

Qustion #7 Is it freezing cold up there?  Or is it cold one day warm the other?

It did snow randomly this week. The weather up here is pretty crazy so you don't know what to expect at all. But is is all good ^_^

Well, that is all I got for this week. This week is board week meaning where President decides who gets transferred or not. Till then, see ya!

...wow I just drew a blank

You ever have those moments where you are about to say something or emailing something to a person and you just totally forgot what you were going to say? Yep, that just happened right when I was about to open up this compose email box. Now give me a minute to think about what I need to type...

Oh! I got it! This week went by pretty fast. I think I remember telling you that there wasn't any exchanges because of the Elder Packer thing and all the confusion that was going on. So, this entire week I was spending time with my companion! Surprise surprise! Whoo hoo! Well, let me think. I am slowly thinking today just give me a couple minutes. Oh, we visited most of out potentials and, again, the appointment always falls through and we couldn't meet with them. Seems like it has been that way forever, but you get used to it after a while being a missionary.

But something pretty cool happened this week. Me and Elder Konietz were planning on asking one of our promising investigators a question like, "Why do you think it's important to be baptized?" When we went to church and saw him there, we asked him that question and it was cool because he told us that he was also thinking about that as well! It was freakin awesome! We are meeting him this Thursday and hopefully will be able to put him on date. If this follows through, it will be my first official baptism. I don't really count the one that I had in Calgary seeing that I really didn't do anything. 

I have been taking a lot of pictures lately and I got to say I really like doing it! Now that I take my camera everywhere, I can look back on the pictures. They are sweet! I always had a fascination of cameras and how they work.

Today I am going to to go to Clareshome on exchanges with Elder Allredge until Wednesday. It is going to be a fun time. Thank you for sending the package! I hope I will be able to get it sooner or later. Love you all! Bye Bye!

-Elder Perucca

September 23, 2014

Oh, how I find enjoyment of being a DLB because I love going on exchanges with other people. Unfortunately, I cannot go on exchanges this week since this week is all crazy with meeting a general authority and P-day being on Tuesday rather on Monday. Which reminds me, THIS TRANSFER IS 5 WEEKS! Not 7 weeks! That is next transfer. 

Anywho, yesterday a General Authority came to our mission. It was Elder Packer. Not the 12 apostles packer, but the seventy Packer. He taught us how to teach effectively. Many people out here think that all they have to do is be obedient and they are automatically great at teaching. However, you can see the difference because usually, obedient missionaries solely rely on the Lord to do their teaching, which is wrong in my opinion. Elder Packer said that the most effective teaching is usually asking direct questions and helping them how to know the church is true.  You need to do your part in order for the Lord to do His part as well. It just makes sense and I can testify that it did happen. We have two promising investigators at the moment. I didn't talk to President. It went well. We mostly looked back on how much I have grown in the past year. 

Another thing that bothers me so much is this: I have learned how to deal with certain kinds of companions. Sometimes, I think missionaries out here don't understand fully on what missionary work is and I know they learn throughout the mission, but there is one thing that makes missionaries not happy at all. It is when their companion forces them to do something. I have seen and experienced missionaries forcing their companions to do certain things they like just because they want to do it. The other companions says his opinion, but the other missionary ignores it and wants it done his way. That feeling of having someone not listen to you or ignore you is completely frustrating. When missionaries do this, you can see their area and them failing so bad. What I feel these missionaries need to do is not through what they think or what they know down their companions throat. 

That is what deeply frustrates me and I am glad that my companion right now is not doing that because if he did, I would not like it at all. 

Other than that, we have been trying to talk to our investigators so that we can get back with them, but most of them have not answered so we can't really meet with them. It is a bit frustrating, but we just have to be patient. 

Anyways, that is all I got and there hasn't been any questions this time in the letters. So, yeah. Also, I will be now emailing on Monday from now on...I hope. So just like you to know that. See you guys! Love you!

-Elder Perucca

Our district is now different...but still great!

Hello! Sorry for the late email to you all. Things were a bit confusing this week because President came and interviewed us on P-day which through our whole P-day off. Plus, we were going to email after our district meeting on Wednesday, but someone signed up to feed us lunch this time instead of dinner so we had to leave early from Fort Macloed. 

Now here I am emailing you all finally. I am not quite sure the exact day me and my companion have decided to do emails this week. Like I have done before, we usually do them on Wednesday, but this next week is going to be quite crazy! We have a special mission conference where one of the seventy comes down and talks to our mission. This time it is Elder Packer, not the apostle though. But he is probably going to give us some guidelines of social network proselyting. We are still not quite sure exactly when are getting iPads now because Sister Nicholas told us that we won't be getting them for a bit still. This is frustrating me a lot. Not for not getting the iPads, but they just don't tell us anything about it. We ask and ask when we are going to get them and they don't say anything or give us a time estimate. It just bugs me!

Anyways, as I said in my last email it was transfer week. Two people have come into our district and I am happy to announce that I do know them both! It is fun to be out for so long and know most of the people in our mission. Anywho, the one who got transferred to Clareshome and is Elder Allredge companion is Elder Bennett. He has been out the same time as I have. He was in my first zone when I was in BC. He was in the Cranbrook area when I was in Creston. It was crazy though! After he got trained, he was called to district leader and also had to train a new companion and he was going through a ton of stuff! But now he is ok, I think. He seems a lot more calmer than he used to be. 

The one who got transferred to Parklake and is with Elder Campell right now is, and I am so excited about it, it is Elder Robinson! My former companion is now here in our district! I was super happy that he got transferred here. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a really good companion. Well, that is my opinion, but he is really struggling. Thing is that he has had great areas and fantastic companions his entire mission so far...until now. He has gotten a bit better though that he has talked to President. It does help when you do talk to President! But Elder Robinson has been out for 10 1/2 months and is getting pretty close to his year mark. 

Oh! I forgot to tell you! This transfer is going to be super weird! You know why? Well, instead of a 6 week transfer as usual, this is going to be a 5 week transfer! I was pretty surprise myself when they announced it. Also, that is not all. The transfer after this one is going to be a 7 week transfer to make up for the lost week in this transfer. I think the reason they told us is that our Mission President is going to a President seminar and he would like to be here on transfer week. I still haven't estimated what is going to happen on who is going to get transferred where at the end of this transfer, but everyone seems to think I will leave. I don't want to leave because I love this place so much!

Now our area is doing good so far! It is pretty funny how every area I have gone to, the entire focus on what we missionaries do is to strengthen the members to do missionary work. But not just to do it, but how to do it. A lot of members out here are very excited to do it. Some are willing to do it, but need to be shown different ways on how to do it. It seems like that has been what I have been focusing on my entire mission as of now. Haven't been really teaching a ton of investigators, but members and less-actives I have taught a ton!

My birthday is coming up, but that seems so far away. Here are a few things that popped into my head as for now: Instant Breakfasts  and lots of ties!

Alright now! It is question time! You ready?:

1.How was the cornbust? 

The cornbust was actually pretty fun and also I got really full from it! The thing is though, around this time we get fed a bunch of corn! I am pretty sick of corn at the moment, but I will still eat it if necessary. But there were other foods at the cornbust too like tons of desserts and sloppy joes and hot dogs. Unfortunately, the people we invited didn't show up at the Cornbust. This tends to happen and you get used to it after a while when no one you invite comes. But that's all you can do really. 

2. Have I taken the attribute self-assessment test in Preach My Gospel? 

Yes, I have more than once actually. It is one of my spiritual messages that I leave with people when we eat dinner with them. 

3. Is Cornbust something that is done throughout all of Canada and is it a national holiday or something else?

From what I know, this is a yearly thing, but I don't think it is a celebration of some kind. This, from what I get, is done yearly around this time because this is where the corn is done or grown. It is really a get together and it is usually done by the Church up here. I don't know if they do it all throughout Canada, but from what I hear they mostly do it here in Alberta. 

4. Is that the missionary car you are standing next to in the picture from last week or is it a member's car?

That is our mission car. It is a 2012 Subaru Impreza. I don't really like it because it doesn't have the USB port to play music. I have to just use my CD, or an AUX cord. But it is alright!

5. For the iPads that we are going to get, they will probably be iPad Minis and not full size iPads correct? 

From what we have heard, yes they will be Minis.

6. Specifically about the iPads is if they have church missionary apps on them to help you with the missionary work.

We have been told that the Church will add things on them so that we may able to do missionary work on them like reporting our numbers, emailing, facebook, schedule appointments, etc. I don't know the whole thing about them quite yet. Regan Lewis told me some things since she does have the iPad in here mission and tells me that it helps a ton!

7. Are the grades in pre-college schools similar to the USA school grades?

I haven't got a complete verification on that one, but I do believe so.

I guess that is it for questions! You guys sure like to ask a whole bunch of questions and I am willing to answer them . ^_^ I hope Jayne had a wonderful birthday and I wonder if you guys still say in your prayers, "Please bless "so-and-so" that they will grow up". Heh, I remember I used to say that a lot! 

Alright I think that is everything I got for you guys! Love you all and I have plenty of pictures to send you guys! Love you all!

(We decided to write mormon.org on the side of the apartments we live on. It was pretty dang sweet!)

(I did a little ice bucket/jumping in the snow face first challenge and I will probably show you that when I upload it online. This was the imprint we made)