What a Week !

WHAT A WEEK! :) Which I guess is a good thing to be saying considering it was my second to last week of full time missionary service. :(   A lot happened this week so I will just take it day by day so I don't forget anything. :)

We finally went and played tennis! 

TUESDAY: CANADA DAY

I hope all you Americans had a wonderful Canada Day! ;)  We sure had fun here! The ward had a BBQ at the Chapel and it was SO much fun. Tons of people came and we had food and played soccer and sang Oh Canada. I love everyone being together at ward activities. I am really going to miss this ward, so it was good timing that we were all able to get together.

Me almost getting my face taken off while I pretended to play soccer. haha 

Brother Marjanovich, and President Taylor and us. 

Us with Minh

Karly Parker and I! She is such a nice girl and they have a great family. And it seems like Karly and I have a lot in common.. more than just our name. haha

Oh Canada !

Me, Brother and Sister Arce, Brother and Sister Marjanovich and Sister Mendenhall

A picture of the whole group at the church on Canada Day! This reminds me of a "Where's Waldo" picture. haha Can you spot me??

Sister Clifton,  Sister Mendenhall, Sister Herfort, and Sam Healey and I helping out in the Kitchen at the Ward Canada Day BBQ

With Brother Arce

Later that day we went down by the Lakeshore near where we live to check out all of the festivities there. 

There were A TON of people and we were able to talk with a few people, and then later that night Sister Healey came down with her kids and we got Gelato. We also were able to watch the fireworks show from our balcony. It was a really fun day!

WEDNESDAY: BED BUG DAY

K really... the bed bug thing is not a joke. haha I probably shouldn't be writing for the world to see that we found a bed bug in our apartment, but honestly it is too funny to not talk about it. It is ironic in so many ways that we found a bed bug the 2nd to last week of our missions.  

I guess Heavenly Father was just testing our patience.. once again.. I think that the whole Test of Patience is a never ending thing in this life. :) Luckily I think there was only one bug and we cleaned it all up and vacuumed everything and put some powder under our beds to keep bugs away so I think we are good!

We haven't had any bites soooo... I think we are good. 

I guess I will be leaving my suitcases outside when I get home! 

So Wednesday wasn't all about bed bugs, thank goodness! We went to a dinner appointment that night and ended up getting a new investigator. The member has a friend living with her who we are now teaching! We have taught her a few times now since Wednesday and she is great!

THURSDAY: MEET THE PRESIDENT MIRACLE

Thursday we went to Hamilton and were able to meet President and Sister Clayton... They. are. WONDERFUL! It is amazing how with about 300 missionaries and them only being here a week they were able to have so much love for us and I really felt that as an individual. Meeting them made me even more sad to be going home. I wish that I could be here and serve with them! But.. all good things must come to an end. This mission is in really good hands, though. The Clayton's are amazing people. 

During our interviews we were having an instruction and we were setting goals for how many baptisms we would like to see in our Zone in the month of July. With only two weeks left, and with Minh wanting to get baptized but facing some opposition from his mom, I didn't think we would see a baptism in our area at least while I was still here. But then as I was sitting there I got the impression that we should say that our area is going to have a baptism in July and that Minh was going to get baptized before we left. So I looked at Sister Mendenhall told her that we were going to baptize Minh in the next two weeks and then raised my hand and said that our area would have a baptism. I wasn't sure how we were going to do it, but I felt like it was going to happen. We just so happened to have an appointment with Minh that afternoon and I felt like we should text a particular member, Sister Taylor, and have her come with us. 

We went to teach Minh and things were going good as usual.. we had told Sister Taylor that we wanted to set him with a new baptismal date and so in the middle of the lesson Sister Taylor says, "So Minh.. are you going to get baptized before these two Sisters leave??" To which Minh said, "I would like to." So we told Minh that he is 100% ready to be baptized and that he could be baptized Sunday if he would like to. He said that he wanted to, and even though is mom isn't totally agreeing with his decision, her heart has softened in the last few weeks and she will support him.

And just like that we were planning a baptism! :) I could not have been more thrilled! It really felt like all our hard work was paying off. Two Sundays left in my missionary service and one Sunday we would have a baptism and the next a Confirmation. I could not think of a more perfect way to end my mission. :)

FRIDAY: BEAUTIFUL DAY

We had a lesson with Minh at the church and then he had his Baptismal interview! And then we went to our coordination meeting and had a small 4th of July Celebration! 

This was on Friday and it was the most perfect day. We taught Minh outside the Chapel with Brother Marjanovich and it was such a great lesson. I am really, REALLY going to miss teaching people as a full time missionary.

The Canadian in me celebrated on the 1st and then the American in me celebrated on the 4th! Sister Mendenhall made this cute flag for me and then when we went to our coordination meeting at the Lowachee's on Friday they signed the back of it and we all stood and sang the Star Spangled Banner and then we ate watermelon to celebrate!

SUNDAY: MINH'S BAPTISM
It was a perfect day for a baptism! ..and for a final fast and testimony meeting. The Bishop invited us to share our testimonies, and it was a bitter sweet thing knowing that that is the last time I will share my testimony in a sacrament meeting as a full time missionary. I'm thankful for the testimony that I have, and it has really strengthened as I have served!

Minh's Baptism

After Church was the Baptism! President and Sister Clayton came which was a pleasant surprise! It was really great to have them there. The baptism couldn't have been more perfect. All of the talks were wonderful and at the end Minh bore the most powerful testimony. I am SO thankful for being able to be there for that. It was such a great day and I am really happy for Minh.

So.... this week was really great. SO much happened and it was a lot of fun... it also went by super fast! 

And now... I will be starting my last week! I can't actually believe it! I am grateful for all of the experiences that I have had here and am looking forward to making this coming week another good week. 

I will try and email next week for a bit and then it will only be a few more days and I will be home! I am really sad to think about leaving Canada and all of the wonderful people that I have met here but... all good things must come to an end! I am excited to come home and see my family and to move on to life's next adventures!

Thank you all for all of your love and support as I have been here serving! 

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! :)

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

Spring Baptisms and Easter

Another super good week! And finally some warmer weather! We were able to spend a lot of time outside this week talking with people and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately it is going to get cold again for the next few days... :( but... at least Spring is here! :)

Amanda's Baptism

Amanda was baptized yesterday! It went really well. Her family was able to be there and it was so good to see them all together. The Gospel has really spread fast in their family and they are all so happy. It is wonderful to see. The Relief Society room was packed with members there to support Amanda on her big day. Sister Fragapane and I did a musical number with a few of the other girls in the ward. Amanda bore her testimony after she was baptized and it was SO perfect. I just really am so glad I was able to be a part of all of it. After the baptism Janet was so happy and she came up and hugged me and thanked me. But really I feel like I should be thanking her because knowing them has been such a blessing to me as well. 

From left to right...  Me, Norm (baptized February 16, 2014), Janet (Baptized February 16, 2014), Brother Raynor, Amanda (baptized April 13, 2014), Ben (getting baptized April 20, 2014), Treena (Baptized March 30, 2014), Sister Fragapane. And then Ben and Treena's youngest of 3 little boys is down in the front. :) His baptismal date is set for about 8 years from now. :)

So many wonderful things have come from the missionaries and Janet running into each other at a bus stop 6 months ago! And I am SUPER glad I have been able to be a part of it.

So this is the last week of the transfer already.. this really has been a super fast and fun 5 weeks. I am not even going to try and guess what is going to happen with transfers, but I will probably end up saying bye to all of the members again just in case.. This will be the 3rd time that I will have said bye. haha They probably won't believe me anymore!

Sister Griffin and I on exchanges

We are having the Easter Brunch this Friday so if I am leaving at least I will have this extra day to spend with all of the ward! I am really going to miss everyone  like crazy if I do leave.... but I guess we will all just have to wait and see what happens. :)

In honor of Easter everyone should check out the cool website that the church has up. I really liked the video on this website so... everyone should watch it! It helps us to remember why we celebrate Easter.

http://easter.mormon.org/?cid=HPTU041514694

I hope that everyone has a good week and a Happy Easter! :)

Last week before transfers...........

Well it is a nice, crisp -18*C here (-18°C = -0.4°F)  in Kitchener Ontario this morning....... And I can't believe the pictures I am seeing from Morgan, Utah where there is NO snow because... some snow piles we have around here are at least 8 ft high. haha I think this place might thaw out by the time I go home in July... maybe... A Sister can dream! :)

Karly's backyard in Morgan, Utah

Karly's backyard in Kitchener Waterloo

This week is the start to the last week of the transfer... so crazy. This has been a really fun transfer and a lot has happened. We have been so blessed with all of the baptisms that we have had and this past weekend we added to the list of Max, Janet, and Norm when Ethan was baptized on Saturday!!

Ethan is the grandson of Sister Tenny, who was baptized a few years ago. Sister Colvin and I started to get pretty close with Sister Tenny over the months that we have been here and we have also gotten to know Ethan.  Missionaries had taught Ethan before but he never seemed interested and never expressed to us that he was interested so we just let it go and never really talked with him about baptism. When we didn't get transferred this past transfer I really didn't know what I was doing here anymore.. I just felt like I didn't know why God was keeping me here so... I asked. The night that the transfer call didn't come I prayed to ask why I needed to still be in this area. And.. after I said my prayer I was laying in bed trying to sleep and then I got a distinct impression that Ethan was the reason that we were still here. So.. the next day we set up a time where we could go and meet with Ethan. We went and talked with him and when we invited him to be baptized he agreed and he picked the date of March 1st. And the rest was good ever since. We taught him all the lessons again and helped him to prepare for baptism. He is a really sweet kid and I know that his grandma was excited. The baptism went really well. I spoke and Sister Colvin sang. It is just amazing how timing is so important in everything. This whole time Ethan had been developing his Faith in Christ and all he needed was to be invited to act on that. He is a very special kid! 

Ethan and his grandmother

Sad to think that my time may be close to over here in Kitchener Waterloo. I don't want to ever leave. This has become a very sacred place for me... but I know that if I do have to leave I will go wherever I am meant to be! 

Us with Janet's daughter Amanda who we are now teaching

Oh we also had Zone Conference this week, which is always great! We drove to London and were there most of the day. I got to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in a long time.

Sister DeRuvo and I.. I haven't seen sister DeRuvo in about a year now so it was great to see her.. especially considering she goes back to Italy in a week. :(

Sister Tebbs and I 

So yes... things are good here. :) Still living the dream!   (more pics and video below)

Sister Howey a member in the ward‏

Sister Rose Young really is the most incredible woman EVER...

So classy and such a role model for me

Sorry - I can't get this video right side up !

This mission really has changed my life

This was another great week full of a lot of exciting things!!

First off I hit my year mark and so we did some fun things to celebrate that. (I don't have much time so I will just let the pictures explain some of the things that we did. :)

It still blows my mind that I can now say that a year ago I was a missionary. That is a long, long time!

Janet and Norm were baptized this weekend, and it was the greatest experience. The day before the baptism we met with them, and hearing both of their testimonies brought me to tears. They are so amazing and so grateful for the Gospel in their lives. I can honestly say that if not one good thing happened on my mission except for meeting them and seeing their progress, I would have still said it was all worth it. I could not stop smiling and was so happy to see them so happy. Thankfully I have had a lot of wonderful things happen throughout my mission but it is amazing how just one thing can really make all the hard days 100% worth it.

Sister Colvin and I have really started to see so many blessings in this area. The work just continues to progress and I feel like the ward has been pretty excited about it. We were able to achieve the "standards of excellence" again this week and we saw a lot of really great things happen. It almost feels like I worked hard for a year and then the week that I celebrated my year mark Heavenly Father just poured out the blessing upon us. Pretty great!

For Valentines we bought some roses to give away to people and then someone had given the Chinese (speaking) sisters roses so we decided to take some pictures

So I feel like this is all over the place and the computer here at the library tells me I only have 18 minutes left, so I will wrap this up for this week and then when I am back to the Family History center Monday I will write something longer. But I DID take a lot of pictures this week so that should make up for it, right? :)

Burning stuff at the Mitchell's to celebrate my 1 year mark

Only they would leave dead ducks hanging in the tree. haha Brother Mitchell says if I ever need a good dose of Redneck that I just need to come on by. haha

Brother  and Sister Weber - members of our ward

Good old Canadian Humor
These houses have "a" and "b" sides.. a member lives on the B side of this and their neighbors are apparently pretty funny. haha They said missionaries always get a picture of this

This mission really has changed my life and I am seeing that more and more lately as I compare where I was a year ago and where I am now. I don't know what I would do without these experiences and all the wonderful people that I have met!

I hope that everyone has a great week! :)

Baptism ~ Staying Put ~ Chinese New Year

So this week was pretty sweet to say the least.... remember Max who I told you about last week? Well... he got baptized yesterday and it was really great! Here is a brief rundown of the whole story again... 

Max's baptism

"Well when they say, "Expect Miracles" I now know that is 100% true because this week we saw a serious miracle... and his name is Max. :) Max is from Nigeria and 3 weeks ago after driving by our Stake Center multiple times he felt prompted that he needed to call the church. So he went home, looked up the address online, and called the number. They asked if he was a "single adult," he said yes.. so they told him to go to the Young Single Adult Branch. So he did, the Elders started teaching him, and then the next Saturday I met Max. I started talking to him, asked how long ago he came to Canada, he said 7 years ago, and then I asked how old he was when he came here.. he said 30.. So that makes Max 37... definitely not able to attend YSA! haha So... he went to church at the YSA branch the next day and then we did a hand off lesson this past week. He already had a baptismal date for Feb 2nd, but we met with him and we all felt he would be ready for January 26th. So... we taught him everything and he was baptized yesterday! It was SO.COOL." 

So many of the ward members stayed to the baptism that we had right after church and it was really great that everyone was there to show him that support. I think he was a bit surprised to have everyone there. haha It was really special and everything went so well. My favorite thing was during the actual baptism seeing all of the little kids up surrounding the glass watching the baptism. It was just really neat and I am grateful that I was able to be a part of it. We are really excited for Max, and I am grateful we will be sticking around for another 6 weeks so that we will be able to get to know him more. 

Oh and there is the other thing... We didn't get transferred. The ward had us all but packed up and moved. haha Everyone was saying bye and getting pictures  (see below) and fully planning that at least one of us would leave but... here we are. They were all pretty shocked and I'm not going to lie, so were we. We though FOR SURE something would have to happen. We have been here forever. But... I guess God has other plans and there are still things here that we need to do.

With Brother and Sister Ince

With Janet and Norm

With part of the Mitchell Family
This was before we knew we weren't getting transferred. we had to take pictures just in case!

This is Katelyn Rowden, she is a senior in high school and is a member of this ward. She was sad to think that we might have been leaving and she wrote us the nicest letters. needless to say she is happy that we are staying

Well... random fact. A member told me that Keith Urban was having a concert in London, Ontario either this past weekend or this weekend so.... that is just a kick in the face for this country music deprived Sister! Oh and The Band Perry had a concert at this place that is practically next door to us. Oh well... I have made it this long without Keith Urban.. I guess I can make it a bit more :)

This week at District meeting everyone decided to play the "What year were you born game?!" Now this is not my most favorite game and you will see why... A few missionaries say they were born in 1992 (which is fine), a lot of them say they were born in 1993 (like Elder Prochnow... who after saying that goes, "Sister Prescott, weren't you born in like 1989 or something?" and then he just laughed) And then there are the two Elders that say they were born in 1995..... 1995!! I was 5 years old when they were born! haha They are babies! It is so weird! So they like to make me feel like the old grandma. haha They are all a lot of fun, but it blows my mind how at 23 I can feel so old!

Celebrating the Chinese New Year

We also celebrated Chinese New Year. The Mandarin speaking Sister put together a big party and it was great! All of our investigators enjoyed it and a lot of people came. It is now the Year of the Horse, which is actually what I am. These are some of the characteristics of people who are "horses".   I think they are pretty fitting if I do say so myself :)  

This week was a lot of fun and I finally took some pictures so enjoy!