Portage of the Prairie

See how I translated Portage La Prairie to English. I never thought in my life that I would be surrounded by so much french. But, for the last 16 months that's how it's been :)

So the new area is great. We do so much work out on the Rez so I'm sure I'll be having stories for days about the Rez life. To begin. My second day here we got stuck going on a back road out on the Rez. We're in a small Subaru so it's still decent in winter conditions but the clearance is tiny. So we get stuck and the guys son we were going to visit comes out and starts digging the snow with us. But, that doesn't work and he has to go so we're sitting there wondering what to do. Luckily (unlike how rez's usually are) there was a house nearby and a lady called some friends to help us out. In the meantime these two Natives come out of nowhere and start helping dig and push the car. That still doesn't work but we're starting to make progress. So eventually these guys in a truck come up (the ones the lady called) and we're trying to figure out where we can hook a rope to and they're making jokes about just wrapping it around the car. At that point we figure we have enough people to just push it out (5 of us pushing) so that's what we do. They're all laughing and making jokes about coming out on the rez. After, we get out they're all like: "Make sure you don't do that again, this roads for trucks eh" and "Make sure you stay out on the packed snow" Overall a good time and a great way to meet the Natives. Sidenote we knock on one of the guys's door the next day and he's like "I'm one of those guys who pushed you out" We had a good laugh about that and we were able to get his info to come back. It was a good time :) 

Other than that I don't think I have enough time to say much else other than it's been freezing cold these last few days. My new companion is an example to me which is great. He's been giving'r his entire time here and now we're starting to see the fruits of his labors. There's going to be some good stuff happening in these next 6 weeks. 

Love youz and have a great week. Merry Christmas to all :)

C Z C (Christmas Zone Conference)

Welp. I had my last Christmas Zone Conference in the mission. Unless I go back as a senior missionary. It's crazy beans. But, it was a good one. I realized that because of my experience serving with missionaries that were much older than me I was a bit of an odd man out. Even in a tri-zone conference. For example, There were a group of about 7 sisters that had all served with each other or with a sister that's about to go home. So yeah it's weird being the old missionary now. But, That's going to change a bit now. *Drumroll*........... I'm going to go serve in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba with Elder Shaw. He's been on his mission for just over four months now. By far the youngest companion I've had relative to me. Which I've been out for about 16 months. So yeah weird stuff :)

Anywho back to CZC. To begin we had a crazy snow storm the night before it. We woke up to about a half foot of snow and it was all falling horizontally. I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to do that. So we get out to our car and it has a foot of snow on the back part of it and none anywhere else on the car. Then we get to the chapel and we were the first ones there besides the APs and President. So we get to help them carry in all the presents. I was honestly not expecting to get a package and I didn't find one in the mess of presents there so it was all good :) But, Elder Talbots new companion got a BIG garbage bag full of presents so he was just telling me he's going to have a sad Christmas compared to him :) Just joking but it was an insane amount of Christmas presents that he's going to have to drag everywhere. But, then we had a great meeting and learned lots and had lots of fun. One of the highlights was we've been doing a Preach my gospel chase since the beginning of the year with President Craig as the show host and this last zone conference our district destroyed every other district. Even though we had so many more of us we rekt everyone elses lives in it. So yeah basically the best district in the mission ;) Which I'm literally the only one leaving it so :( ... But, it's all good because I'm finally going back to a district with just one other companionship in it and it has mah boi Elder Blommeart in it as well :) 

Finally one of the exciting things we got trained on in this Zone Conference was about family history and convert retention. Which I've basically known since the beginning of my mission. Plus, my mom basically sparked the spirit of Elijah in me so it was so nice to have the mission catch up to me. Which has been a reoccurring experience to be honest.

Anywho I think that's all I have time for but, I love y'all and I hope you have a great week.

Potatoes gonna Potate

Christmas!!

So pretty much the highlight of this week is we handed out a ton of #LIGHTtheWORLD Christmas Cards. Elder Talbot went hard one day and handed out 17 of them in about an hour and a half. He's an example for us all :)

Also because Winnipeg is getting a temple within the next 2 years we had the groundbreaking ceremony this last Saturday. It's crazy to think that it's all happening so quick now. It's been 5 years since they announced it and they finally got land and the necessary preparation to make it happen. I know when I'm coming back to do a mission tour :) 

Another fun thing that happened was we had the Bear Man come back to church with us. The best part was that it was Fast and Testimony meeting so at the end he asked if he could come up and speak. So this guy went into the ministry around thirty years ago and so ever since then he's done his job to let his voice get heard. But, according to him, he's also a rebel and points out things that are wrong with churches, during their meetings. So in his "testimony" he was talking about how all the churches in town hate him and all this stuff and how he's not allowed in their buildings. I'm not sure if that's a good thing to be saying as some of the first things you say from the pulpit but, IDK he does what he wants. So he says that and then he talks about how he studies things out and knows the bible frontward backward and whateverward you want and then he starts saying how it sounds like we do our studying as well which he thought was "interesting" (I was expecting something like complementary or that it was good but whatever I guess he's not sure what to do with a congregation that actually studies and asks the real questions). So yeah it was another good meeting at the F.F. Branch :) 

That's all I got. Heading into the Peg today so having to cut it short today. Love yous 

Love,