Elephant in the room.........

Well.... I am just going to go ahead and point out the Elephant in the room and acknowledge the fact that I will be home in 16 days.... yup... just 16! Seems pretty unreal actually! I know it is coming, but it sure doesn't feel like it. It probably won't hit me until I am on the plane headed home... and even then it probably won't feel real.

Anyway... enough of that. :)

So... that past 2 weeks have been really great!

We had our last Zone Conference with President and Sister Scott. They are now home and President and Sister Clayton are our new mission president and his wife. 

President and Sister Clayton

We will be meeting them this Thursday and I am looking forward to that. Zone Conference was good. Since it was my last one I, as well as the rest of the departing missionaries were able to bear our testimonies. Since there are so many of us going home in the next few months we only had about a minute each to share our testimonies. Since day one of getting in the mission field I always thought it would be weird when the day would come that I would bear my testimony at my last Zone conference and now that day has come and gone.. just like that! It was sad to say bye to President and Sister Scott... luckily they don't live too far from me back home so I will be able to see them soon. Mission Presidents are allowed to hug the sisters when a missionary is leaving and since he was leaving we were able to give him a hug and that was great! He really has made such a great impact on my life and I will be forever grateful for President and Sister Scott!

President and Sister Scott

I forgot to mention that for the past few weeks we have been volunteering at a soup kitchen here in Oakville and it is a ton of fun. We usually make sandwiches, bag bread, wash dishes and serve food to the clients who come it. There are a ton of wonderful people who volunteer there and it has been fun to get to know them as well.

Toronto last Monday was also really great! The Big City is a bit different than what I am used to but it was nice to be able to see it. The Skyline there is seriously beautiful! It was fun to be able to visit but... I don't think I will ever be cut out for the big city life! Too many people... and too expensive. There are a ton of Condo's there and one of the advertisements we saw said, "Penthouse condo's starting and $1.5 million" uh.... no thank you. haha Do you know what I could buy for $1.5 million? A whole lot of property and a huge farm house. haha

The work has been going well! We are still just out trying to find people to teach.. it is the never ending story of missionary work! :) Joe is the greatest recent convert ever! We are still working with Minh and he will hopefully be getting baptized soon! :) 

Just looking forwarding to making these next two weeks fun and just really enjoying the time that I have left as a full time missionary! I can't believe that it will be coming to a close so soon but I so thankful that Heavenly Father blessed me with this experience! A mission has been just the thing that I needed in my life and I am so grateful for every single day of it! :)

We taught Joe on the beach after church on Sunday

 

P-day in Toronto!

Most of these pics were taken today on our P-day.
We traveled to Toronto, and took a ferry out to Toronto Island Park

Brother and Sister Lowachee (our ward mission leaders) took us. 

Toronto Skyline in the background

Heading back to Toronto on the ferry from Toronto Island Park

At the ferry terminal - a memorial to Jack Layton

This past week we had a picnic in the park with the Healey's during a Tornado warning. haha

The Altimirano family‏ - They had a birthday party for two of their daughters, so we went by to help and to meet their friends.

Next week I'll have more time, and be able to write more !!

Last but not least.......

We got our travel plans !

Joe's Baptism

Another really good week! The big thing that happened this week is that Joe got BAPTIZED! :)

Here we are with Joe and Brother and Sister Marjanovich.  They are an awesome couple here.  He would do anything for missionaries.  He is so awesome. 

On Saturday we got together with the Marjanovich's and Joe and played a little review Jeopardy game.. It was a lot of fun! We went through all the questions and I don't think I have ever been more proud than I was sitting there hearing Joe answer all of the questions. He has learned and progressed so much in the past few weeks and it is amazing! He has really worked hard and read from the scriptures a ton so that he can learn all that he can.

Joe's Baptism

The baptism went really well.. There is nothing better than the Spirit that comes at baptismal services. Joe was really happy and you could tell that he was really feeling the Spirit and that he felt really good! So happy for him. He is a wonderful guy and he really is proof that it never is too late to change.. So many people will tell us that they are too old to change, but Joe would have to disagree! :)

We are still teaching Minh and he is SO. AWESOME. The more I get to know him the more I like him. He has a great Spirit and he is willing to do anything to be baptized. He is super sincere and LOVES the Book of Mormon. It is so great to go and talk with him and he will tell us the different stories that he has been reading. He says that it is like a movie and that he just can't put it down.

Sister Zerkle came to Oakville to do our exchanges for this transfer... it was a ton of fun!

With Sister Zerkle

Elder Gibb and I

Tomorrow is the last Zone Conference of my mission and also President and Sister Scott's last Zone Conference. They go home in a few weeks. I am really looking forward to it, but am also pretty sad that everything is coming to an end. :(

My mission has taught me SO much and I still just keep learning everyday. I am starting to get really sad that I am running out of days to teach people the Gospel. Teaching was the part of missionary work that I was most worried about coming out, but I have come to find that it is the part that I love the most and I am really going to miss it.

CN Tower in Toronto

Next week we are going to down town Toronto with our ward mission leader and his wife to see the CN Tower! I am stoked! I was honestly thinking that I would go my whole mission in the "Canada, Toronto Mission" without actually seeing "Toronto" but it looks like that is not the case! 

I probably won't have time to email next week but I will take lots of pictures so the next weeks email should be a good one! :)

Progress......Goals......the work is moving forward

Last week we met up with some other missionaries and went to some waterfalls in Hamilton! It was a ton of fun! It is so pretty and green here and so it was nice to be able to go out and enjoy it.

We had another really good week. We were able to achieve the Standards of Excellence again, that is twice now since being in this area. (I know that I have talked about that before.. so.. I won't explain it again. :) We really have been so blessed here. When we first got to the area it didn't seem like much was happening, but then slowly things have started to progress. I think it is going to be a really good last transfer!

We had Zone Training in Hamilton this week. As a mission we have a goal of having at least 60 Baptisms in this month of June so we talked a lot about that. Last year we got 78 baptisms in June so I hope that we are able to even beat that number. It really is amazing how fast the work is moving forward here in Canada! :)

So I still can't believe that it is actually June and that I come home next month. It doesn't even seem real so it has been hard to wrap my head around it. Just trying to enjoy every moment here because I know that it will soon be over. 

We have some really great people that we are working with and if all goes well we will have 2 baptisms this month! Pretty exciting stuff!

All my skills of transplanting flowers I learned from watching you, mom!

The Beginning of the End,,,,,,

Well today marks the start of my last transfer! It seems pretty crazy and mostly doesn't even feel real! 

On Da Lake

We did not get a transfer call last night so it looks like Sister Mendenhall and I will both be finishing our missions here in Oakville! 

Some things came up and so we had to move Joe's baptisms a few weeks, but he is looking forward to it and is excited. From the looks of it as of right now we should have at least 2 baptisms this transfer! :) Such a good way to finish off my mission.

This week was fun... I sent a lot of pictures so I will let them tell the story as we need to leave the library soon! We are going to Hamilton to say bye to the missionaries that go home this week. It is a sad thing that you make all of these new friends and then they just leave. :( I guess things can't last forever!

I hope everyone has a great week! :)

Sister Mendenhall and I at Niagara Falls  - last week's P-day

Tia (a member/friend) and Karly