Hello to all!
Well this is the last week of this transfer! So crazy! Time has flown by sooo fast. I have felt like I have been here so little time. I have come to love Niagara Falls so much! The people here are so nice compared to Windsor :P haha jokes they are maybe a bit more nicer haha. it has been pretty cold. We had a slow first few days but Tuesday came and we got to go to the soup kitchen again. We have always enjoyed going there and its awesome being able to talk with all the old ladies. They still call us hun or hunny haha.
Tuesday night we got to teach Mary, the new member lessons and went over the temple and the Plan of Salvation. It was a super good lesson. We all had a full stomach as our Ward Mission Leader fed us! He made us steaks! I have not had steaks in soooo long. The food here has been so good. The members are so giving and caring. It makes focusing on the work a lot easier. So i cannot complain about the food.
On Wednesday we went contacting down at the falls. It was fun to see so many people again and talk to so many people. We talked to a lot of foreign people! I love going around and contacting. When we contact we are to ask a question to them which we can teach and testify to. The trick is using the Spirit to ask a question that is inspired and from heaven. Elder Lowry was having trouble keeping up to me in talking to people. It was funny to watch him for the first little bit chase after me as I ran to person from person contacting them. Well I have gotten over 7000ish people now I believe or actually more than that. My journal is at home so I cannot remember the actual number.
We got to go over to the Oliver's for dinner. They made a delicious dinner and then we had a quick Spiritual thought and we were off. My new favorite scripture is found in Moroni 10:32.
" 32 Yea, and come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."
I love how this Gospel is one of change and one of progression. That if we are not growing or stretching what are we doing with our faith? Are we just putting off trials or not letting ourselves be molded into who God wants us to become through our beliefs. Progression is the key to salvation. If we have no progression we do not learn. We hinder ourselves and deprive ourselves of the joys in life we can experience from progression. It is so true that when we serve God with all our heart, might, mind and strength we get the most out of what we are doing. i have seen that in my missionary work as i am striving to become consecrated. I am so grateful for Christ and that even though we are imperfect through him we can be made perfect.
" 32 Yea, and come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God."
I love how this Gospel is one of change and one of progression. That if we are not growing or stretching what are we doing with our faith? Are we just putting off trials or not letting ourselves be molded into who God wants us to become through our beliefs. Progression is the key to salvation. If we have no progression we do not learn. We hinder ourselves and deprive ourselves of the joys in life we can experience from progression. It is so true that when we serve God with all our heart, might, mind and strength we get the most out of what we are doing. i have seen that in my missionary work as i am striving to become consecrated. I am so grateful for Christ and that even though we are imperfect through him we can be made perfect.
After this we packed our bags and headed off to Stoney Creek for the night to stay there before we headed out to London for Zone Conference. That night was fun as we got to go driving in a blizzard and white out ( which reminded me more of home haha). We jammed out to Mo-tab and other christian music! Elder Lowry and I make the best Singers. We got our snacks for the road from McD's. When we got there we got to hang out with Elder Cragun and Elder Roberts. It is so interesting being able to see other missionaries apartment and how clean ours is compared to theirs.
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| Niagra Falls (February 2014) |
Thursdaywas Zone Conference. We had zone conference which was awesome this week! It was really energizing! We had demonstrations of using members to help get investigators fellow shipped, we had role plays that were about contacting and striving to use family history to try and find the interest rate of multiple people. It was awesome! One of my weaknesses in missionary work is using family history. I have never really used family history in my contacting approaches but hey it must be inspired! So we are excited to try it out more and learn how to talk to people about family history stuff. It is nice approach I think because it allows us to talk about their families and the importance to them. It has helped us get into some doors of different people that otherwise we could have not got into. It is awesome to see that so many people still value families and that they really do want happiness, peace, and joy for their families. It is always my favorite part when we let them know they could be with their families forever. Some people really do ponder that and than they ask us how and it has provided for some great opportunities to relate the gospel and share about the Plan God has given us. I really enjoyed Zone Conference, I always have. Unfortunately we did not have an apostle come or anyone. But on March 22 we get to have an apostle come to talk to the whole mission! I am so excited for that day! I wonder who it will be! The possibilities could be endless.
We spent pretty much all day sitting and learning and all that good stuff. We learned and got to know more of the history of why the church was restored in 1800s and learn more of the apostasy and the Godhead. it is interesting to note and to read the Nicean Creed. All those who are not familiar with it I would encourage you to read it and to know it as it helps us to build an understanding what all the other christian churches accept as their fundamental doctrine upon the Trinity. I would invite you all to study the Apostasy and the Godhead. There is so much to learn from those topics. I love the history aspect of it and have all the dates memorized and the events that lead up to the restoration. I know the Apostasy did happen and all that I learned helped me to re-affirm my testimony that there was no other way or time for the restoration of the Gospel to come about. I know that Joseph Smith was called of God and that he indeed did restore those plain and precious truths that were lost during the Apostasy like the roles and understanding of the Godhead. It was fun to see all the missionaries there too! I love the Spirit that comes from being surrounded by so many missionaries! We were feeling the Spirit every single second of the day. After that day was over we headed back to Niagara. It was a nice long drive but we had been sitting for too long. Elder Lowry and I were ready to go out and work.
Friday came and the weekend came and we had not found any new investigators yet. It was kinda slow. But we saw some huge miracles this weekend. We got to met with a guy named Trevor who is 21 and in college. He is super nice and his family is super awesome! they invited us right in after awhile of tracting. It was nice to warm up and teach some nice people. Than we also got to teach Jasmine! Bro Miller called us the night before and set up an appt at his place which was super awesome! We got to teach her in a members house and the Spirit was super strong. It was nice to be able to do so and see her readiness to hear the gospel and to really want to follow it in her life. She is younger and is about 17. She had no religious background but wanted to find out more about who Jesus Christ was and is. Since than she has been so solid as a investigator. She loves the Book of Mormon and is reading it everyday. Our next investigator was Velma. A less active member from Nova Scotia had been trying to get a hold of us for awhile and we did not know that. He had the wrong number so the Bishop called us and told us about him and so the Sunday evening we taught him and his girlfriend Velma. She too is super prepared and really nice. She has a huge eastern accent. She and her lovely boyfriend will come to join us at church next Sunday. She also asked us to be baptized! So we are hoping that she will progress towards that. On Saturday we went around and taught Lisa who has finally acknowledged that she needs to be re baptized and so we are awaiting her to pick a date and go on from there. We are so happy that the Lord has finally blessed us this past week with such a good weekend! I am so grateful for the miracles we have seen this weekend. Well that was our week :) I love you all and hope you have an awesome week! I will tell more stories about the investigators next week! Love you all and everyone be HAPPY!
While walking to a few locations in this frozen iceberg area of a city I had this poem come into my mind:
Step by Step, a fellow's shout
free from pain there is no doubt
Lord, Lord stay Thou near by.
Reminds me of a prayer once said
of a young boy pleading on his bed
Lord, Lord stay Thou near by.
Through all the world there are perilous times
frozen with fear the wind still chimes
Lord, Lord stay Thou near by.
Walking by faith I don't completely understand
my personal course on the Lord's plan
Lord, Lord stay Thou near by.
A testimony that comes from the heart
A man with a black tag willing to do his part
Lord, Lord stay Thou near by.
A son giving willing to be heeding
by his father all the time pleading
Father, Father stay Thou near by.
Friday came and the weekend came and we had not found any new investigators yet. It was kinda slow. But we saw some huge miracles this weekend. We got to met with a guy named Trevor who is 21 and in college. He is super nice and his family is super awesome! they invited us right in after awhile of tracting. It was nice to warm up and teach some nice people. Than we also got to teach Jasmine! Bro Miller called us the night before and set up an appt at his place which was super awesome! We got to teach her in a members house and the Spirit was super strong. It was nice to be able to do so and see her readiness to hear the gospel and to really want to follow it in her life. She is younger and is about 17. She had no religious background but wanted to find out more about who Jesus Christ was and is. Since than she has been so solid as a investigator. She loves the Book of Mormon and is reading it everyday. Our next investigator was Velma. A less active member from Nova Scotia had been trying to get a hold of us for awhile and we did not know that. He had the wrong number so the Bishop called us and told us about him and so the Sunday evening we taught him and his girlfriend Velma. She too is super prepared and really nice. She has a huge eastern accent. She and her lovely boyfriend will come to join us at church next Sunday. She also asked us to be baptized! So we are hoping that she will progress towards that. On Saturday we went around and taught Lisa who has finally acknowledged that she needs to be re baptized and so we are awaiting her to pick a date and go on from there. We are so happy that the Lord has finally blessed us this past week with such a good weekend! I am so grateful for the miracles we have seen this weekend. Well that was our week :) I love you all and hope you have an awesome week! I will tell more stories about the investigators next week! Love you all and everyone be HAPPY!
While walking to a few locations in this frozen iceberg area of a city I had this poem come into my mind:
Step by Step, a fellow's shout
free from pain there is no doubt
Lord, Lord stay Thou near by.
Reminds me of a prayer once said
of a young boy pleading on his bed
Lord, Lord stay Thou near by.
Through all the world there are perilous times
frozen with fear the wind still chimes
Lord, Lord stay Thou near by.
Walking by faith I don't completely understand
my personal course on the Lord's plan
Lord, Lord stay Thou near by.
A testimony that comes from the heart
A man with a black tag willing to do his part
Lord, Lord stay Thou near by.
A son giving willing to be heeding
by his father all the time pleading
Father, Father stay Thou near by.
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