On Tuesday we had exchanges with the STL's (Sister Training Leaders) and I got to go to Belmead! I got to experience my first Tri-pan (3 Sister companionship) because we had a Sister who had an interview with us for the day, Sister Smith. She's from Australia! After we dropped her off at the office, we went to the West Edmonton mall for dinner! What an overwhelming place! We walked around the mall and Galaxy Land. There are a few pictures I sent! I can't wait to go back after my mission and do all the fun things there are there! Exchanges were fun but I was also so happy to be back with my companion, Sister Bischoff!
On Thursday we had a great dinner appointment, where we talked about the "Pray, Look, Speak" challenge and the members said we worked perfectly in conjunction with the Elders, so that was good!
On Friday we had an awesome lesson with a less active family and the Elders came too! We're hoping their daughter will get baptized soon!
On Saturday we got to paint with a less active member! That was a blast! I'm no artist, but I felt like it was possible! They invited us back after too! We also had dinner with this awesome young couple who are just so, so sweet! We had a blast playing a missionary role play game with them... they're too sweet!
On Sunday we had tons of church. We last minute taught a Gospel Principles class on fasting and ended up having 3 investigators there! Then in our other ward we taught the Young Women, and I gave a talk. When I walked into the chapel, my new mission president was sitting on the stand! That was a little nerve racking but I thought that the talk was still decent! After church we got to eat yummy, yummy Mexican food! It was soooo good! Then we met with a less active member and she told us all about the monkeys she had as pets back in the day! That was crazy cool! We asked her if she fulfilled a commitment we issued her and she said no, so Sister Bishoff said, "Did you actually think about it, or did you forget?" She super seriously said, "I forgot". Hahaha... that was funny!
On Monday we visited a new member to the ward who is from a part member family. We were going down the stairs to their family room and Sister Bishoff slipped, Spider-Man grabbed the walls, and kicked me in the back, but didn't fall. It was pretty hilarious! Too bad that wasn't caught on video!
My iPad is about to die and we aren't near a computer! So this will be short!
I've had a great week! A great ZTM (Zone Training Meeting) where we were challenged to tell the members to "pray, look, speak, and invite" as they pray for missionary opportunities, look for them, and then speak up and invite people.
So on Sunday, our dinner appointment cancelled at the last minute, so we turned around for our go to backup and they had already left! So we texted them and they let us come over anyway! We had yummy food, they're such great people! We talked so much about post mission stuff.
Then today, we didn't have anywhere to do laundry, so we asked a family and they didn't just let us do laundry, but they made us lunch and let us email at their place! They were such a blessing today! I'm so grateful for the love we feel from the members. :)
I'm giving a talk on "Becoming a Fisher of Men", so if you have any cool experiences with that or anything you think could help, let me know!
This week was a blast! I'll probably just sum it up with major events though!
So Wednesday one of the wards had a Relief Society activity. There was so much good food and so many beautiful women! It was crazy! Everyone in these two wards are so picture perfect! We had a blast there. It was a great way to get to know more sisters....and chocolate covered pretzels are amazing! That night I also got to see a physiotherapist, finally! We have a brother in one of the wards who is going through his masters right now and agreed to see me right in his home, which is beautiful! He gave me a nice exercise regimen to help strengthen my awful knees, and then he k-taped my knees, which is a beautiful thing. They feel so stable with the tape on.
The next day people saw the red tape on my knees and thought all sorts of things. Someone thought my knees were bloody and this older lady thought it was a cute red slip. It was funny! That day we had a super great district meeting. With 10 missionaries it can get a little rowdy, but we can generally stay on topic. We were talking about finding, and the district leader gave us each a situation in which we needed to transition into teaching the Restoration to each person or group. I thought I didn't need to actually role play it in front of everyone but someone chose me last minute, so the rest of the district was a family I was supposed to be talking to about the restoration. They all made for a pretty funny family, the Elders being called Susan... lots of laughing. It was hilarious! But I did get to share a scripture and talk about how we received the Book of Mormon, so it wasn't all fun and games. ;)
Friday there was a crazy storm, especially in the south of our area! They got floods and huge hail! It was the weirdest! We got some pictures. And we adventured onto a bridge with both sides covered in water. It was a blast! Alberta's weather is CRAZY this year!
Saturday was a favourite day of the week. We did a lot! First we went to a "meet the new mission President meeting", that was really good! The Pattison's are such a sweet family. They have a 13 and 17 year old son living with them in the mission home, so that's fun! Plus they have a daughter going to University of Alberta already! At the meeting, the assistants asked me to open the meeting by bearing my testimony. That was unexpected, but good nonetheless. There were some other testimonies as well that were all very profound. Their 13 year old was at the meeting and he gave a talk. It was super good. He has evidently received so many blessings from his parents willingness to serve a mission. He talked about how the blessings of serving follows you throughout your life. He also talked about how it's the thousands of little things that constitutes the good in our lives. His mom said come fall, it'll be the first time he's the only child in the house. So he'll adopt all 130+ of us missionaries as siblings! I can already tell we'll have a blast with him! Sister Pattison also talked about their family and how important families are to everyone. She mentioned that there is no better gift to our families than valiant service. President talked about his conversion story (he joined when he was 21 and served a mission just about immediately after!). He talked about not being timid about extending invitations with love, and about how sometimes we never know what a single conversation can lead to. He talked about how Satan has no veil. That was pretty profound too. He mentioned that Satan knows the noble and great ones, he knows who we are. And he's trying to stop us from becoming like Christ. He's trying to undermine our self confidence. He reminds us we are all sinners, he tells us we are hypocrites and that we are not worthy. But though we don't always have control of the actors on the stage, we do have control of the chords to drop the curtain. We need to be internalizing the principles of repentance ourselves, not just memorizing them to teach others. Through the Atonement of Christ, vivid memories fade to dull pencil sketches. Like an injury, though a scar is left to remind us, there is no pain involved.
So that meeting was obviously good. :) We got the chance to write to President and Sister Manion afterwards as well, so that was nice!
Saturday was a busy day, that evening we got to do a volunteer project with the churches "Just Serve" website. We got to volunteer at the Canada vs. China women's international basketball tournament; two teams ranked well for the Rio Olympic games. That was a blast! There were so many people there! We got to do re-entry door control, so that was fun! And we got to watch Canada win! Wooo! They're just practice games for the end of the month though. Make sure you watch the olympics by proxy for me friends! Thanks pals!
Anyways, Sunday was good! Lots of good talks and lessons. We are at the church for 8 hours every Sunday, so we get quite a bit out of it all! One brother talked about the Mormon Message "Forgiveness- My Burden Was Made Light" which is a favourite of mine for sure! He talked about how we have the choice to forgive. We have the choice to end with a painful memory, or a peaceful one. He also talked about Kevin R. Duncan's talk from last General Conference, "Applying the Healing Ointment of Forgiveness" which was also a fav! He talked about how with increased vision, we can have increased motivation. It went along perfectly with the meeting we had Saturday morning! We also got to help out in Primary, building toothpick and marshmallow temples. I also got asked to give a talk in two weeks, so that'll be fun! This night, the weather was crazy! We were worried we might have a tornado 🌪 but it never happened. So that was good! We've gotten tons of rain and crazy weather this week!
Yesterday was good too! We knocked on a billion doors, had breakfast for dinner, and then did more basketball service! This time the Mandarin Elders came too to talk to the billion Chinese people! It was a blast! We got to hand out mini basketballs and bracelets to the crowd. I'm not the best thrower. :P Canada won again! That's really all I have this week... oh and a billion pictures!
Well. There were lots of things I planned on saying. But then I'm out of time. Sooo hi guys!
Last Tuesday, there was a ruckus outside of our apartment in which a girl from prom was desperately pleading, very loudly, and crying, very loudly, to a boy, not from prom. And he was so that touched by her attempts to make him understand something or other. There were lots of "baby, please" and " baby, no's" from both sides! We creepily and sneakily watched this, in case there was trouble, but it was over in 15 minutes! Hahaha! What a good way to start the email, right?
Anyways, onto the rest of the week!
Some less active member fainted on my companion when we opened her door, and then she insisted she still didn't need our help, so that was exciting!
We ate some African food, and some meatball curry.
Canada Day: Woo! Moved someone into their new house and also ate dinner at a community food truck thing.
Saturday we helped moved someone else and she INVITED HERSELF TO CHURCH! So that was really cool and random!
Church: Woo! Especially good because it was fast and testimony meeting and we had an investigator come to church!
4th of July: Woo! (Also saw Sister Rush that day, double woo!)
Red white and blue...
LOL! Our attempt at forming out the words U S A for Independence Day... do you see it?
