Wonderful Week !

Another week has come and gone at what feels like record speed. Time is going by so fast these days! I guess the closer I get to the end, the faster it is going to go which is really sad. :( I just keep learning more and more every day that I need to make the most of every second because time is slipping away too quickly.

Sister Fragapane and I

The Relief Society had an activity this week and at the end of it one of the sisters showed a slideshow of pictures that she had put together of the ward and... I am in a lot of them. haha I was here for Halloween, Christmas, various baptisms... I look like I am a member of the ward!

Oh and good news! Janet's daughter, who is in the other ward and being taught by other Sisters, is getting baptized April 6th! Pretty amazing to see how the Gospel blessed not only Janet, but she is now able to share it with her daughters. 

We were all in Brampton to see Elder Bednar and then this is all of us eating lunch after. A TON of missionaries

So our special training meeting with Elder Bednar was on Saturday and it was incredible. The meeting was at the Stake Center in Brampton and all of the missionaries in the mission were able to attend. 

The people at the meeting were; Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 

Elder Bednar

Elder Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy,

Elder Soares

Elder Foster of the Second Presidency of the Seventy, 

Elder Foster

and Bishop Davies of the Presiding Bishopric

Bishop Davies

 as well as their wives. That is a pretty good group if you ask me. At one point Elder Bednar made a comment of how an opportunity like that will never happen again in our lives and... he is right. haha Truly a once in a lifetime, incredible experience. I really don't even think words can describe how great it was. It was a 3 hour meeting that did not feel that long at all. I probably could have sat in that room for a week and learned from all of these great men and their wives. I learned a lot and I know it is an experience that I will never forget. We really are so fortunate to have Prophets and Apostles on the Earth today. Being able to be in the room as one of them really helped to strengthen my testimony of that. I really wish I could describe all the things that were talked about and the Spirit that was there, but unfortunately that is one thing that can't really be conveyed. So I will just take what I learned, and my testimony of it.. and go and share that with others. :) 

Elder Palmer, Elder Healy, and I 

And Elder Wihongi and I... He was my Zone Leader in Hamilton

It was a wonderful day and it really got me excited for General Conference. There is so much to be learned and I am so grateful that it is time for General Conference again. We also found out this week that we will be able to go to the temple this weekend!! It has been a year since I have been able to go to the temple so I am really looking forward to it. 

Toronto Ontario Temple

This will be a fun couple of weekends! I really have been so blessed to have all of these experiences!

Meet Sister Fragapane !

Hi everyone!! Meet Sister Fragapane, my new companion! 

St. Patrick's Day - we decided to wear the same outfit !

So first off.... I bet you are wondering how you pronounce her name... I will try and explain it here. "Frag-a-pawn-eh" It is an Italian name and most people have a hard time saying it, but the ward is slowly starting to figure it out. Sister Fragapane was born in Argentina, then moved to Germany when she was 5. So she speaks both Spanish, German, and English (which she only learned her English in the past 9 months since being on her mission and her English is SO good, it is very impressive!)

Sister Colvin and I drove to Brampton on Tuesday morning and got our new companions. 

Sister Colvin and I 

Transfers are always fun in the sense that we get to go and see a lot of missionaries that we haven't seen in a long time. It is always a nice reunion, hence all of the pictures from the day! (See more pics at the bottom of the post)

Elder Washburn, Elder So'o, Sister Colvin and I

Elder Vanderstel, Elder So'o, Sister Fragapane, and I

The MTC...........

Sister Zerkle, Sister Lamb, Sister Colvin and I

I haven't seen Sister Lamb since the morning that we arrived in Canada, so it was fun for all of us to be together again!

And ONE YEAR LATER !

After transfers,  we got back to the area and got to work! Things are going well! We are needing to work on building up our teaching pool again, that is the problem when you baptize people.. there is no one left to teach. haha But... as Elder Prochnow once told me.. it is a good problem to have. :) 

The weather is still pretty Canadian here.... We went from +7*C Tuesday to.... 5 inches of snow Wednesday and about -10*C... and then it has been pretty cold ever since. Some of the snow is starting to melt. I saw some grass for the first time in what feels like a century so that was good. :) But really is is still freezing when we are out working. I have the faith that someday it will warm up but.... just not sure when.

So I have some pretty sweet news... At our last Zone Conference President Scott told us that there was going to be a Special Meeting March 22nd and they told us all to prepare spiritually and that all the missionaries would be able to go and that we would need to look out best... So we knew that someone pretty "high-up" in the church must be coming.. but we didn't know who. Well... now we know who is coming and we are all pretty excited about it. Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum 12 Apostles will be here... in Brampton... this Saturday.. and we all get to go and listen to him speak! I am really looking forward to this once in a lifetime experience! It is going to be pretty amazing so I look forward to letting all of you know how that goes next week. :)

Elder David A. Bednar

Things are good here! Lovin' my new companion and am grateful to still be here in Kitchener Waterloo! 

Elder Lasley and I
He got transferred to another part of the mission. I served with him in Hamilton and then here in Kitchener.

Finally got Elder So'o to do a real smile in a picture :)‏

          Sister Taylor and I‏

              Sister DeRuvo and I‏

                                 Sister Raymer and I‏

 I never see her enough but I love this girl! She was in the same ward as me my freshman year of college, I never really knew her, but then we met each other in the MTC and we knew that we knew each other from somewhere. She is so great. She is going home in July to go back to school as well. 

                              Sister Willoughby and I‏

She is no longer a roomie here in Kitchener.. she was transferred to London