Busy......Hot.....Storms......Faith

This week was a pretty busy week, if feels like a lot has happened. Monday we got together with the zone to play some games at the church. If you want to see something funny all you have to do is get about 12 companionship's of Elders and Sisters together to play chair soccer. Actually, none of you would probably think it is funny but... I think it is pretty funny. :)

Elder Palmer and Karly
P-Day with the Zone

We had our Skills and Interviews with President Scott. That was really nice. It is always nice to be able to talk to him and Sister Scott. They really know how to make you feel like a million bucks.

It has been wicked hot. I don't think I have ever drank so much water in my life. Tracting is not the most fun thing in the heat but, we do it anyway. haha  We had a sisters exchange on Friday and it went really, really well. Sister Tofa came to Hamilton with me and we spent the entire day finding. We had set a goal to find 3 new investigators and what did we do?.... well we found 3 new investigators! We talked to a bunch of awesome people and 3 were really interested. We were able to get return appointments and Sister Puruganan and I will go back this week and teach them. One of the guys was really grateful. We talked to him about the Book of Mormon and he said that he has been through a lot and he is willing to try anything if he thinks it will bring him happiness. He gave Sister Tofa and I pins of Jesus Christ. It was super nice. He was a really great guy.

The day was extremely hot and then out of nowhere a storm rolled in. We got a call from the Zone Leaders saying that we all needed to go inside because there had been some tornado warnings. So we went inside and the storm hit. There was a ton of lightening and rain. The storm let up so we decided that we would be ok to drive to Oakville to exchange with the Sisters again. That was probably not the best idea because just as we were getting on the highway is started raining so much. I could barely see and cars were pulling over.

It was pretty scary. Thankfully it let up. But.... after the exchange when we were driving towards Hamilton there was a ton of lightening. I don't think I have ever seen lightening like that before. It got really dark, started to rain, and once again there I was driving down the highway and couldn't see a thing. Thankfully we made it home safe. The power was out and I am fairly convinced we almost got struck by lightening but, all in all a successful day! Thankfully it has started cooling off. Hopefully this will be an easier week because it won't be so hot!

And on a more serious note...... This week I have been thinking a lot about Faith. My faith, the faith of my investigators, the faith of the members around me. This whole mission experience just feels like one big trial of my faith. It is rough! It would be a whole lot easier if Heavenly Father didn't love us so much that He gives us trials to make us better, stronger people. This week I have read this talk multiple times and would encourage everyone to watch it. When I heard this during conference I feel like it was a big changing point in my mission. It helped me a lot and continues to help me to this day. Because let's face it, sometimes our faith is shaken. But what I do know is that the Church is true and that all the other little trials that come my way won't get me down if I hold on to what I do know to be true. Of course Elder Holland says it much better than I can, so watch the talk and if anyone is struggling with their faith (or maybe I am the only one.. :) think about what he says. I know that it really helps me!   Have a great week!

I have killed at least 10 of these nasty critters since living here. If anyone could identify the make and model of this stupid thing that would be great. THEY ARE GROSS!