Exchange Mania

So this week has been one of the most unique I've had in a while. Mainly for the fact that I went on two separate exchanges this week. We also had a zone conference in Brandon. So there was about two days this week that were average.

The first exchange was with the good old Zone Lords. One of our Zone Leaders came out with me and I went with him. It was a good time. It's honestly nice being around missionaries who came into the mission at the same time. Which happens a lot for me because I came with the largest group this mission has seen since a long time. But, we did lots of trackting and trackting. It was a good time :) 

Next big thing that happened this week was we did service for the Judge. He had just about a million Christmas lights that he wanted help taken down. So we spent a few hours helping him taking them down. We talked about the last days and stuff "last days I love it!" It was a good time :) He then fed us some burgers right before a dinner appointment we had. He was trying to steal our dinner appointment I'm sure :)

Then we went to Brandon with the Winkler Elders. I finished my rubber band ball. We learned about Drawing on the Powers of Heaven. It blew my mind again. A year ago I learned about this. And a Year ago Elder Peck was in my district as well. Plus we had Elder Tippets there. It was kindof wild :) 

Finally We had another exchange and I was with Elder Morales. We went around and searched for Spanish people. Then we went down to St. Claude and trackted. It was a good time. would do again :) Then after that we had our second Cottage meeting in Holland. It's crazy to see the beginnings of a church group. 

Overall it was a most excellent week. I hope youz all have a great week next week and love spring coming. It's coming round the corner :D

Catching Up

So the highlight for this week was going on an exchange with Elder Peck (tossing it back to the Battlefords) and catching up with him. We were both sent down to Winkler which both of us had spent between the two of us a total of 4 days there. That was a blast :) We literally had no idea where we were going but we still did pretty well for that. While down there we went and taught their recent convert and "Praised God" with him. He's basically had everything taken away from him but, because of that he's a changed man. He has quite an evangelical background so for those of you who are familiar with that you can understand the "praise God" part. Other than that we got told by a guy to not park in his parking lot because "it gets pretty busy". Between you and me I think he just doesn't like missionaries. Partially because there was about three cars there at the time and when Elder Peck went to go check it out later there were probably about 23 parking spaces open. But, that's none of our business ;)

Other than that this week was a fairly average week. We had another great Jesus the Christ class. Went out with a brother in the branch to visit people and get them angry. You know just the usual ;) Church however was quite wild. We had another family with young children come from the Stake and it was a mad house. I don't think I've seen that many young children running around in such a small area my entire mission. We had a great class with them in spite of that. Thank goodness I brought candy that day. It really quieted down the natives. Probably the most participation we've had in a long time as well. Candy is a good motivator ;) 

I guess I better talk about the weather because it still hasn't calmed down yet. We've had everything from snow blowing in to rain to freezing rain to everything melting this week. But, yesterday and today have been in the positives so I'm happy. I can finally go out without wearing thermals under everything :) It's quite amazing what the first day of spring has turned out to be. 

Thank you all for your love and support. Things are going well up here in the great white (mostly gray now) North. Hope youz have a great week

The Root

So first of all, for all of you that recall about a year ago up in good old North Battleford I went to the doctor to get my blood checked. Well let's just say sometimes it takes a long time to figure things out. I've finally found out one of the things that might lead to my constant fatigue. Or as the Quebecois say Je suis fatigué. Don't ask me to say much else in French. Maybe Jean Valjean or Biblioteche or however you spell that. I saw it on a building in St. Claude which also said library on it. Anywho, (shout out to Brady who was once Elder Ulrich) I used to drink Sobi's all the time and I guess my body didn't like that change of not doing that (or some unknown cause to me) but, Elder Dagenais gave me a magic potion that had Ginseng in it and now I'm doing a lot better. Thats the big news for this week. I'm doing so much better now. Overall I'm feeling much better.

Other than that we had a crazy blizzard this last week. Apparently it was one of the longest blizzards for this time or one of the longest blizzards here ever at 31 hours. Plus the wind was just insane. And to put the cherry on top we had freezing rain right before it. Everywhere March comes in peaceably but up here in the Great White North March comes in like a lion.

To update on the family I mentioned last week they've set a date for April 15. Which I found out this morning that we're having a surprise 5 week transfer so if I get transferred out I'll miss that. Surprises all around. 

Another exciting thing that happened this week was we had our first cottage meeting in Holland. This is the first Cottage meeting I've had on my mission and it was great. We weren't able to have all the people that we would've liked but it was quite the success. We were able to give a presentation on the Restoration and we had a wonderful discussion with everyone there. For those of you who have seen the new First Vision video we also used that. It was good. One thing about Elder Dagenais is he's the video guy. He has so many videos on a USB and uses them very well. This being no exception. 

Finally I saw Elder Blommeart off to winnipeg to be a Zone Lord. We had been teasing him for a while that he was going Zone Lord and it finally happened :) 

Anywho I'm over time and I need to go but I hope youz all have a great week.

By Popular Demand

So first of all I'm staying in Portage La Prairie for another transfer by popular demand. You would think that no one would have a say in who gets transferred except President Craig. But, our landlord last night said that if I get transferred he'll have to go talk to someone and complain to get me back. There were others wanting me to stay even though we all thought I was done. But, I guess by popular demand I'm here for part two of Franglishness.

But, now for the exciting news. This week we've had some updates with a family we've been meeting with for the last little bit. They've known the missionaries for years but, they told us this week that they would like to be baptized. We didn't even really invite them they were just like "I want to be baptized" after we read a chapter out of the Book of Mormon with them. Half of them even came to church and had a good time with that. It's been exciting to see this unfold. The Father said he wanted to get baptized before his spiritual journey which involves sundancing. Which as far as I know is all good. Note on sundances: There's a few different kinds of sundances. The common part is they all fast for four days and then dance in the sun and have visions and whatnot. But, the Sioux pierce when they sundance and others don't pierce. Which (shout out to Elder Andrus) the first time I heard about piercing I didn't quite understand it but, now I understand it's part of sacrifice and by sacrificing more they get blessed more. So I guess that translates to piercing pieces of bone into their chest and attaching ropes to them and something else. 

Other than that Elder Dagenais was just ill all over the place so part of the week was taken up by that. But, when that was over we made it out to some french speaking towns again and had a great time out there. I also drew upon my spirit animal of Elder Peterson and when we found a Filipino family I said "saan yun pinakamalapit na karaoke" and they just laughed. It was a good time.

Other than that it's been a good week. Sunday was great. Had a great Sunday. I hope youz have a great week.