Transfer 8 Week 4: Shelving and Small Miracles

One of my fav zone leaders and prev comp! Elder Adam's

Well I look decent in the mornings haha

Well this week was slow investigator wise. But we were able to see other successes. On Monday we went over to the Cepada's as we had our prep day moved and so we worked on their house! It was actually a lot of fun. In the morning we went out for breakfast at the quaint little cafe. Than we went and put up electrical boxes in the house and cleaned up some more. Plus as usually we had some delicious food. I feel like this transfer I have gained all my weight from the Cepada's haha.

My working outfit for the house! I think I look pretty good with a tool belt. We failed with the taking of it

That evening we went and dropped by some people by not to many were interested. Oh well the life of a missionary :). Tuesday was our Preparation Day as we had a holiday on Monday. So we got a lot accomplished. For dinner we went over to the Thomas's an awesome younger family in our ward! They are super cool, he had served his mission in Calidonia and she was a convert to the church. They have a cute little guy who is 18 months old! They both speak french and she is from Montreal so she has a huge accent. I honestly really like the language of French. It is something that I want to learn to speak one day! I don't think I could ever pick up the accent haha I am awful with accents.

Then we had to drive out to Barrie! A three hour drive and it got quite dark here quite fast. So Elder Tinney and I settled in for some long car ride tunes as we usually do! We were heading to Barrie for Zone Training. It was nice as we got to stay with the Zone Leaders and have a sleep over. Elder Orr is one of our zone leaders and he came to sleep with me out in the living room. He kept me up all wayyyy too late haha. As a missionary you learn to treasure sleep. He is actually from Alberta so we pulled the do you know game.

Zone training was an awesome experience. We went over 'How to begin teaching' out of PMG (Preach My Gospel) and also just how when we start off in our appts we can use this tool to teach about our Savior, Jesus Christ. Some of the bullet points and what we share is how the Gospel and following Jesus can improve the quality of your life. It is so true that as we pattern our lives and live the gospel it will help us overcome any personal concerns or problems we may have. Our message that we share as missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is centered in and upon Christ. His Atonement is what makes everything possible.  I have gained great appreciation and love for the Atonement. It has carried me this transfer and for the past year of my mission. It has helped the people I teach receive forgiveness for their sins and mistakes. I love testifying of the Atonement because I have felt its redemptive power and healing power. I know anybody who wishes to remove feelings of guilt and shame will be replaced with forgiveness and peace. I love my Savior and am so grateful for the sacrifice he made for all of us.

Our zone!

At Zone meeting we tried to get a good picture of all of us but it failed several times haha. We gave up and just did it with two cameras. Missionaries and their pictures haha. Than we travelled back home. Longest drive EVER. That evening we went to the Ripley's place for dinner. They were having a youth BBQ. It was good as we got to met a less active youth named Ashley. She ended up coming to church the following Sunday! I love activities where you get people who do not attend regularly and than you invite them and they start to feel the love and come back. That evening we had an appt with a new invs Mitch but he had to cancel sadly. :(oh well.

This is what I did all Saturday!

Thursday we went and did service for Bro Dunning. We taught Elder Tinney how to use drills and to put up shelves for food storage. It was a fun time getting to do some more service. I miss building things missed doing service for the first part of my mission. These last two areas have been HUGE for service and have helped me to just get to work and go into my do not stop till the job is finished mode. I guess I have been blessed with an ability to serve hard haha.

Friday was slow and we did a lot of phone calling and visiting a few people on our potential list. Saturday was a good day. We went back out to the Cepada's we were asked to come out at 9 but we did not have breakfast till 12 haha. We went and got there truck and helped get lunch ready. Then we also finished putting in the electrical boxes and set up a ton of the wiring upstairs! It has been awesome to see the progress on the house every week. Sergio, Ali and I have a ton of fun fooling around and working hard. It was overall a good day. Sergio is still planning on coming out to Alberta haha. He joked about buying a ticket and coming home the same time as me and coming off the plane with me! So we might just do that haha. I LOVE the Cepada's they are like another family too me!

Sunday was good. I always enjoy going to church and feeling the Spirit. I got to pass the sacrament which I have not done since I was like 15 haha. FOREVER ago. It was an awesome experience and brought back a lot of good memories. We had a full class in Gospel Principles of members, less active and recent converts and sadly no invs :( maybe next time! We talked about charity and at the end of it I realized I had treated it as a District Meeting and gone into District leader mode in the class. The RM Josh laughed and pointed it out at the end. We all had a good laugh. I left them two commitments which I will leave to you. First, follow these steps; pray and look for opportunities to serve, then just do it when you see it. Second, is to study the live of Jesus Christ and all the instances where he showed charity towards his brothers and sisters. I promise you if you will do this you will develop the attributes of Charity and become more like the Savior in this.

These are the shelves we built at the dunnings

One more interesting note from this week! So early on in the week I had an impression that I would have to help out in some way at this Special leadership meeting next week and lo, and behold, come Thursday after we left Bro. Dunnings we got a call from the Assistants and they asked for me. All I have to say is that the Spirit is real and God does talk to us! Elder Tinney and I looked towards the heavens and was like wow that was cool after the cool haha. It was a funny had to be there moment. Anyways :) lesson is to always follow Spiritual promptings.

Well everyone I love you!

Have an awesome week! Peace :)