Atichoken

So. There really wasn't all that much that happened this last week everyday but, we did have a pretty big event this weekend. Which is why the title is what it is :)

So to begin. Transfer calls were today and.... I'm staying in the Fort with Elder Talbot. I'm pretty happy with this call because I feel like there's more I need to do here. I'm not sure what it is but we'll see what happens :) We're having an addition of a set of sisters in our area as well so that will be different. Finally Elder Moore is the first one to leave out our whitewash district... It came as a surprise because we were thinking he would be here for about 6 months and I would leave before him.

Now to Atikoken (the real spelling(the other is the nickname)) So tossing it back to the beginning of the mission there were rumors going around about why there haven't been missionaries in Atikoken for a while. I'm here to say that those rumors were a falsehood. What is true about Atikoken, however, is that it is the furthest East in the mission that anyone will go, being 50 miles from the next time zone. It used to have a ward sized congregation a while ago and at church there we only had three adult members of the congregation with two children. The rest were sick and/or missing. Since there's nowhere for us to stay there we got to sleep in the church building which was a blast :) We were considering sleeping in the car but it wouldn't have been too fun in the cold. Even with my winter campout training :) It was great to be in that branch even with how few in number they were. We had a fast and testimony meeting and the testimonies were wonderful. We had a 100% ratio of bearing testimonies which is something you can't often say :) I've got to say I really enjoyed being with such a small congregation. You'd think from my 500 member wards that I would miss that but it's honestly very nice not having that many people. It was a good time :)

So today instead of doing Halloween things we were asked to come into Winnipeg for a suprise ZTM so we should have some good stories from that next week. Until then deuces 

The week of birth

So overall there was a lot of things that happened this week but not a lot happened.. Just how it goes sometimes. For the highlights:

  Exchanges 

  BIRTHDAY!

  The Rez

So for exchanges I went back down to I-Falls with Elder Moore so it was just like old times. Messing around in I-Falls just like old times. But, we had some pretty stellar Plan of Salvation lessons that we taught. The first was to the referral that we got from the Branch President those weeks ago. During the lesson he paused for a moment and picked up the restoration pamphlet and was like "So this is why it's called the Restoration" They teach about "Revelation from Prayer" and "Revelation from Church Attendance" for all those missionaries out there but, I don't think they really taught me about Revelation through teaching the lessons. It was a pretty crazy great experience. The other Plan of Salvation lesson we taught was to a part member family who hadn't been progressing for over 5 months and Elder Moore mentioned maybe we need to give them some purpose in life. I'm not sure if we made a difference in their lives but we pretty much doctrinely destroyed them (in a nice way) and said over and over this is why you need to get baptized and this is why you need to get baptized. We felt a bit bad about just dumping doctrine on them but it's good to be bold when teaching sometimes. 

So for my birthday not too much happened. We went tracting for quite a while (this is when we got out to the rez) but didn't find too much success. That being said it was a great birthday. There was so many people wishing me a happy birthday on Facebook for the next few days and it was great :) One thing that did happen was we went to Boston Pizza and got some good pizza. It was a good day. 

So, I forgot to mention now that we're on the other side of the border there is suddenly reserves everywhere. We finally got out onto the rez and it was a good time like always. A few highlights from that. We gave away two Book of Mormons. (we're going back sometime soon to see what actually happened with them) While giving one Book of Mormon away there was some punk kids come up behind us and yelled some not so nice things. We explored pretty much the entire rez. It was a lot bigger than I expected. And we had a guy answer the door and say "Good Morning" at about 4 in the evening. It was a good time :) Also the picture that I sent is something we found out trying to find houses in the bush. 

So yeah overall a bittersweet week :) This next week we've got some good things in line so I'm psyched for that :) Love youz and have a great week

District Conference

So because the Fort Frances district is not a stake we had our district conference this last week. It was my first and possibly only time being part of a district conference so it was quite the experience. It was great to see President Craig and the crew here in the meetings on top of that. Fun fact: because a district is not a stake the mission president acts as the stake president and holds all of the keys for the district.

One of the unique things that happened because of this district conference was we got to billet the Kenora and Dryden Elders at our apartment. It was fun to see them and a bit odd because they're not even in our zone but because of weird boundaries they're part of our district.

Another fun thing that happened was we were able to go into Winnipeg for ZTM and have a party there. We came in a little early so we had to find some things to do in the city before we went in for the night. Elder Talbot having served there before suggested we go and find some of his past investigators and see how they were doing. I think he had direct communication for that because we found everyone home right at the right time and somehow in the dark found all the houses :) It ended up being a great night and we saw some miracles outside of our area. The next day we had ZTM and found out we're having a two transfer Atonement study so I'm psyched for that. The last study we had was for the Book of Mormon and I gained so much more of a testimony of it because of that. So I'm really excited to see where this goes these next few transfers.

Finally going back in time we had Canadian thanksgiving which was a lot of fun. We were able to have it over at a senior missionary couples house with some investigators of ours. It was a memorable night with lots of fun and good experiences. Not bragging or anything but I was the spoons champion of the night as well ;)

I think that's all I've got time for but I love y'all and I hope youz have a great week

*from my email*

Thank you for the good wishes :) We had a pretty good thanksgiving. I think the highlight of that night was Elder Talbot asking the Ms (our investigators) what first helped them realize this was the true church and they talked about how the missionaries talked so much about families and how the Gospel can help their family. It was quite nice to hear the testimony of investigators that are set on joining the church for a change. 

Gonnesiphiherpelaids

So in the course of this week I think I got ebola. Before y'all freak out I was very safe in what I was doing because I'm a bit of a germaphobe so it's all good. BUT, this week was different for sure. It all started when we visited with members that Elder Talbot and I hadn't met yet. They told us about a project that they were thinking they might be doing the next day with a house that needed help three years ago but, finally the owners were finally both in the hospital (big surprise (sarcasm intended and you'll see why)) so they were going to go help clean it out. Now to describe the conditions. First of all Mom: I'm glad that you introduced me to hoarding before the mission because this was what we were looking at except they still had a decent amount of walking space upstairs. But, the real problem was the basement. Like I was saying it's been this way for about three years when they had the first flood. So they have a bunch of food stuff and random crap downstairs and it flooded and never got cleaned out so prime for mold and destruction. Next they had a sewer back up, multiple times, and flood the entire basement over and over again. So not only mold but add sewage to that. Finally the mice problem was intense. There was sooo much mice dung and stuff all over the place, which adds to the plague mentality. So yeah we spent a few days taking stuff out of there and throwing it into two different dumpsters while other people organized and fixed the kitchen above. The second day when we were doing the real dirty job I was able to acquire a heavy duty ventilator so I'm not so worried about that part. But, it was nasty nasty. I think the worst part was the smell of death that came off of the things that we threw and didn't quite make it into the dumpster and busted open. There was also a fridge in the basement that smelled like death (I'm so glad I have my mom's nose and can barely smell) that the two guys with the face ventilators got to clean out. It ended with me screaming and just shoving everything into a garbage bag. The worst part was the watermelon that didn't look like a watermelon anymore that I got the pleasure of taking out :) Overall a good day spent with the boys :) 

Other than that it was a good first sunday with normal church. We have about 7 members who come regularly and then us and the Waltons a senior misisonary couple. So it's a small meeting in a large church. We have the largest church building I've ever served in on my mission so its a good deal :) Elder Talbot and I have been getting along pretty well and I'm excited to serve with him so it's good.

I think that's all I've got time for so I'll be done for now. Love youz and I hope you have a great week

E.T.

I'm sorry to announce that I did not have an experience with E.T. He's still up in space someplace watching Star Wars or something. But, for those of you familiar with mission lingo I did experience an E.T. (Emergency Transfer) It's nothing too bad just a hop skip and jump across the river to Fort Frances. It is sad that I'm no longer on the American side of the river but, I have definitely felt like I'm needed over here. I'm now with Elder Talbot who has been in Fort Frances as long as I was in I-Falls. He's also my youngest companion mission age wise. He came out at the same time as me. So yeah that's pretty much been the week.

A few highlights from the week were that we got to help some solid investigators move to their new home. It was a bit of a surprise in that we knew that they were going to be moving but we didn't know it was that soon. For y'alls information they used to live right above us in the ancient house we're living in. Their son just barely got baptized. They've been investigating solidly for about 7 months now. It's a pretty good deal. 

Another highlight was of course conference. I felt like this one was very missionary oriented in that it was about a lot of things that we teach investigators. Such as the Restoration, the Plan of Salvation, Praying, Reading, the importance of Sabbath worship and Most importantly Faith in Christ and his atonement. For the most part basic foundation principles of the Church. By following those and sticking with it any "stumblingblock" will not have power over you. I think it's amazing how teaching foundational doctrine (as a missionary) to people who are already members of the church can impact them so much. The simple stuff is really what it's all about. #wordsofwisdom #dropthemic

 

*from my email*

 

I've already received many promptings it [the E.T.] was what needed to happen so it's all good. I feel like there's something here in Fort Frances that I need to do and I feel like I accomplished what I needed to in I-Falls.