Happy Thanksgiving

November 20, 2017

Heloooooo!!! This week was pretty good. Not much happened though so it went super slow. Trish has been out of town the past couple weeks so we have only been able to see her once for a quick visit. She is still reading though so that's good! Hopefully we will see her progress more soon! There is this bread stuff we got to try this week. It is called Lefsa. We helped a former investigator make it one day and then Delores fed it to us for dinner one night! It's kinda just like a glorified tortilla. We met a guy named Amos this week who bible bashed us pretty bad.. He had a huge family so hopefully someday they will be baptized!! We got a referral from a member forever ago that we finally got to contact this week. Unfortunately she wasn't interested but she gave us some super yummy cinnamon bread that I've been eating all weekend:) It warmed up a bit at the beginning of the week and so there was lots of slush, then the temperature dropped again and everything froze, making it REALLY slick. The boots that I have been wearing don't have super great traction so I fell a lot this week. Only a couple were pretty bad, and I survived with only a few minor injuries. We were outside for most of the day on Saturday and it was FREEZING!! We went back to our apartment for dinner and both had windburn pretty bad. We tried to take a picture but there was fog on my camera from being out in the cold so it wasn't great quality. Deer season is finally over.. so now there are dead deer everywhere. We saw a lot this week either hanging from trees, cut up on people's porches or garages. or in people's kitchens. One guy had just a head hanging in his garage.. that was pretty gross! We started a Jesus Christ study as a mission this week and it has been really cool! I have really loved learning more about the Savior, just in time to kick off the Christmas season!!
One of my favorite talks from general conference was Elder Rasband's.. "If we act in faith, one step at a time, we will be guided by the Lord's hand. By divine design He is in the small details of our lives as well as the major milestone." I know this to be true and I know that Heavenly Father is guiding us every step of the way. There's a power that can cause things to happen that need to happen!!! I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving:) 

Canada doesn't want me yet:)

Transfers are this week! I will be staying here in Warroad with Sister Knight for another transfer! Canada just doesn't want me yet:) It is a shorter transfer because of Christmas so it's only 5 weeks. I am grateful I have at least 5 more here though!! It will be an exciting transfer! 

Not much happened this week. We did a lot of finding and found some potentials. We were tracting one day and this guy pulled up on a four-wheeler with blood all over his shirt. I thought to myself, "Oh no this guy is going to murder us." But turns out he was just butchering pigs haha. He said we could come back the next day so we did and turns out it wasn't actually his house... But the guy that lived there was interested! So that was a miracle! Also we walked into the library today and he was sitting at the computers. So we talked to him a little bit more. We were a bit awkward and caught off guard to see him so we didn't say as much as we should have:( Hopefully we will get to teach him an actual lesson soon though and our awkwardness didn't ruin it! 

We were out finding another night and stopped at this house. We knocked on it and no one answered but there were lights on so they either didn't hear us or ignored us. Then we were turning around to go back onto the road and we got stuck.. So I was out trying to push us out when someone drove by and came to help. Then the guy from inside the house came out to help too. We were grateful but also very embarrassed.. 

We also put up our Christmas decorations today! I am super excited:) We found a tree in our closet. It looks pretty sad but we made it work!! 

We had branch conference this week so President and Sister Craig as well as President and Sister Robison (President Craig's counselor and his wife) were here for the weekend. That was great to see them! I learned a lot from their council. On Saturday there was a fireside that we went to and Sister Robison showed a video about some kids in Logan. It was a mormon message that was a made a couple years ago but it was kinda cool to see people I knew and places I knew! Fun to have that connection. She talked about how the last part of the doctrine of Christ is Endure to the End.. When really we are Enduring to Happiness! I thought that was a cool way to think of it. We are to endure, or press forward joyfully through everything life throws at us. It's definitely easier said than done, but I know if we do we will find happiness now and in the life to come! 

Hope you all have a wonderful week!!

Last, but not least.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY AMAZING DAD!! Everyone make sure to tell him Happy Birthday and how amazing he is!! 

Tracting in a Winter Wonderland

November 6, 2017

This week was great! Here are some highlights and things that happened..

-We had zone conference and that was awesome!! I learned so much from President and Sister Craig and all of the other missionaries in our zone. It was also fun to see other missionaries for a change:)

-President Craig made the announcement that our mission would be getting smart phones within the next couple months! Hopefully in time for Christmas so we can share the Christmas initiative easily! I am so excited for the Christmas season!! 

-We were tracting one day and we met a dog named Daisy. Her owners weren't home so we left the house and then she just kept following us down the road. She would walk with us to each doorstep and everything. Haha everyone thought it was our dog!  Finally she went home once we got in our car to leave the area. She was nice company:)

-It's deer hunting season and they take it VERY seriously here! There was no school today and Marvin's (the big company here) even took the day off. Plus no one is home because everyone is hunting! One of the people we visited yesterday told us we needed to wear orange hats so no one shoots at us...

-On Saturday it snowed all day long! And I don't think I saw one snow plow out. It has snowed a lot this week and the temperatures have drastically dropped.. I don't think they believe in snow plows here! It makes the roads a little bit scarier, but we are staying safe and driving slow! 

-We got home the other night and went and talked to our neighbor Delores for a little bit. We walked in and she was watching a Hallmark movie. I really had to resist the urge to watch it. It was hard!! Have there been any good ones yet this year? 

-We had another lesson with our investigator Trish this week and it was so great!! She is amazing! The spirit was SO strong in that lesson! Last week she was asking us where we got the standards and values that we believe in so we gave her a For The Strength of Youth pamphlet. She read the whole thing and used it in a job interview/presentation she had!!! We were so excited to hear that! I really want her to get baptized, and I am confident she will but she might be moving soon so I am a bit worried. We will see though! Keep her in your prayers!! 

-Last week on exchanges we taught a family english. It was super cool! There names are Sawson and Adnan and they are from Syria I think! 

-Today we helped Delores put up her Christmas tree and decorate it! She wanted to do it this week just in case I leave next week at transfers. She is the sweetest:) 

I have been working a lot on having patience this week and I read a quote from Preach my Gospel by President Monson that I really liked, "Life if full of difficulties, some minor and others a more serious nature. There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required." 

I have realized that patience is something we always need. Especially patience with our Heavenly Father. In zone conference Sister Craig quoted Elder Holland and said something like, "Heavenly Father is not so much concerned about our comfort, but about our upward progression." That is definitely true! He is testing us to make us stronger! So we just need to have patience:) 

Love you all and hope you have an awesome week! 

(Pictures are... exchanges, zone conference sleepover:), WE ARE COLD, hockey town USA, bears from last week)

Bears and SNOW

This week started out pretty slow but ended great!! We went to the ice rink in Warroad for last p-day and walked around with one of the members. She told us about hockey players that are on the Olympic teams that are from Warroad! The girl was named Gigi Marvin and I cant remember the boys name but kinda cool! Warroad is known as "Hockeytown USA" 

We saw bears this week! We were walking home from the library on Wednesday and their were two black bear cubs just hanging out in a tree right in the middle of town! 

It also started snowing this week! We went for exchanges in Winnipeg on Wednesday night and woke up to snow in the morning! It was pretty cold all day! Luckily on of our STL's had an extra coat that she let me borrow for the day! When we got back to Warroad on Friday there was snow on the ground and it was freezing:( Winter came way too fast! And it's just the beginning:(

After we got back to Warroad we were able to have a lesson with our investigator Trish. She is the one who has a son going to the U. It went super well!! We were so excited and then she came to church on Sunday too! I am excited to see her progress. She is awesome! Plus she gave me a coat so I don't have to buy one. She had a Japanese exchange student staying with her last year and she left it behind so she was trying to find someone to give it to. I got lucky!! 

We drove into Winnipeg this morning and it was storming pretty bad. There wasn't too much snow coming down but the wind is really bad because it's so flat! We almost slid off the road! It was a bit scary but we made it! And I was able to get some winter stuff so hopefully I am prepared for the -40's... 

Zone conference is tomorrow so I am super excited for that!! That's about it for this week! Love and miss you all! 
Sorry no pics this week.. Library computers are too slow:)

Christmas, Deer, BEETLES, 4mths

This week went super fast! i cant believe it's already Monday again!! Here are some highlights from the week..

We helped our neighbor Delores put up her Christmas decorations this week. She likes to do it before it gets too cold and she needed some help. Of course we were happy to:) 

We have a few ladies in the branch that are Phillipino and one of them fed us this week. Her name is Sister Clark and she is the coolest lady. So we had some Phillipino soup this week. 

There are these bugs called asian beetles EVERYWHERE. I guess they bring them in from China every year to eat some other bugs and this year they are super bad! They look like lady bugs but they sting. We live on the third floor of the apartment building so thankfully we dont get too many in our apartment! 

We were tracting this week and we found a house with signs that said, "There's nothering here worth dying for," and "Beware of owner." I don't think they wanted visitors.. I was hoping to be able to meet them but they weren't home:(  

We were knocking doors another night and it was pretty dark outside. We knocked on a house that was a little creepy. We knocked once and then decided to leave because we were scared.. as we were walking away from the house I was a couple steps behind Sister Knight so I thought I would be funny and scare her. I grabbed her and told her to run and then started running too. We laughed about it later:) 

I almost hit a deer this week. I thought I saw something a ahead of us so I slammed on my breaks and we barely stopped right before it. It was a close call! 

We also had interviews this week with President Craig so that was awesome!!! 

I have been out for 4 months now! Time is going SO fast it's crazy!! 

I was reading in Alma 37 and I really liked it.. Verse 37 says, "Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good.." Then he talked about the Liahona and how they were directed the the promised land but only according to their faith and diligence. if they were slothful they did not prosper. Verse 35 says, "Just as surely as this director did bring our fathers, by following its course, to the promised land, shall the words of Christ, if we follow their course, carry us beyond this vale of sorrow into a far better land of promise." Just like Lehi and his family, we have so many things to guide us to a straight course to eternal bliss or a promised land. Just don't be slothful. The way is prepared and if we will look to God we may live forever!

Sorry for such a scattered email. Hope you all have a wonderful week!!