General Conference - All good !

Elder Healey, Elder Ikeda, Hermana Sandall, Hermana Reid, Me and Sister Colvin
Meeting to watch General Conference

Well another week has come to pass here in the Canada, Toronto Mission! I hope everyone watched conference! And well if you didn't... thank goodness for repentance and the internet ;)  A few of my favorites that I would suggest watching. Edward Dube's talk from the Saturday morning session. Elder Holland's from the Saturday afternoon session and President Eyring threw down in the Sunday Morning Session. All good, but those were some of my favorites. I wish I had my notes so I could share with all of you some insights but... oh well. I am just thankful that we have a Prophet of God on the earth today as well as his Apostles and other great leaders in the church who are so inspired and speak to us about the things that we need to hear. The Spirit was continually testifying to me throughout the whole conference that this is all SO true. We are lead by a Prophet of God and this is Christ's Restored Church... it's pretty incredible, eh? We better tell everyone. ;) 

Elder Ikeda and Elder Healey

Saturday morning the Norells, from my last area, came and took Sister Colvin and I out to brunch and then watched the Saturday morning session with us. I just love them! Brother Norell had to be in Kitchener that morning anyway, so it worked out perfectly. Barb brought me veggie straws from Costco, and it was just so good to see them. Made my day! :) It is crazy how you can meet people and then 4 months later they feel like family. I can't imagine having never met some of the people that I have met so far on my mission.

Sunglasses that Sister Norell gave me
I LOVE THEM !

So.... other than conference, nothing too exciting happened. The leaves are starting to change so you better believe that we are always on the hunt for leaves that we can press. They have become my favorite book marks and little treasures to send to people.

I went on an exchange this week with a Sister that is from Idaho but went to Utah State as well. Turns out she lived in the apartment building next to me and she knows people that I met my freshman year. The world is seriously so small... especially in mission life. It seems like I am always running into people who know people I know.

Well I think that is about it for this week. At the bottom of the post are some random pictures of my apartment.  I will have to be better about taking pictures this week. We are going to be on the finding grind this week. A lot of our investigators, we have had to drop, so looking forward to getting creative with that.

Also... let's talk about how P-day isn't until Wednesday next week.... talk about forever. Thanks for nothing Canadian Thanksgiving.... just kidding. :) My full intentions are to celebrate two Thanksgivings this year.... and then every year for the rest of my life... ;) Now if only we could find someone to feed us.. haha

Have a great week and a half, and have a happy Canadian Thanksgiving all you Canadians out there! Heck... if you are American you might as well celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving Monday on my behalf! :)

p.s. Sunday is my 8th month mark!

Bottom bunk  #wazzup

My desk

The living room we never go into
(above and below)

Our kitchen

No changes !

Beautiful Sunset with Sister Puruganan

Well I didn't get transferred AND for the first time in my mission life I am keeping the same companion for more than 6 weeks. Looks like there is a first for everything! I am really happy about that, I wasn't ready to leave Hamilton! There are still things that I know we can get done here to help out this area.

It seems like is was a pretty quiet week. We had to drop a lot of our investigators but we can already see how Heavenly Father is blessing us in our faith for letting some of the people go who were not progressing.

This week I feel like I learned a lot about the importance of prayer. In one of our lessons the father of the family was hesitant to set a baptismal date, so we had all of us kneel down and he offered one of the best prayers! The Spirit was really strong and I think it was just the moment that this family needed. After the prayer he said that he would set a baptismal date and then he wanted to know when we were coming back and when they could go to church. The Spirit will really work on people and point them in the direction they need to go!

We are also seeing this ward progress, and it is so good to see! Little things are happening and I think it is going to make a big impact on the missionary work in this ward.

Oh and a sidenote.... our dinner calendar has been packed, which you think would be good, but I am getting SO sick of food. haha  I should be grateful, at least I am not starving. This week we ate some more curry goat and some Filipino food. As in I just ate a fried fish..... eyeballs and everything! (ok, I didn't eat the eyeball, but I almost did. :)  

Really looking forward to this next transfer in this area! Oh and tomorrow I will have officially been gone 6 months! It is unreal! I still feel like a new missionary!

Shout out to my favorite lil cousin Parker who is giving his farewell talk this Sunday! Can't wait to have a family member in the mission field!

Favorite quote from this week that came from Sister Norell, 

"This work will move forward with our without us so we need to choose to be a part of it and take part in the blessings." 

I thought that was really great!

Have a great week!

Busy Busy - Work and Play

Weeks are a serious blur! When people ask me what we did the previous day I have to check my planner because I have NO idea. I think it is part of being a missionary. The good memory I used to have is completely gone!

This week was good, the parts that I can remember anyway. :) We taught a family who then became our new investigators. They are from Colombia and they are a beautiful family! The dad says he is liking the Book of Mormon, we will be teaching them tomorrow.

Sister Norell and me - "I feel like we look alike!" haha

Sunday was Fast Sunday and we did a Ward Fast for missionary work. (That was Sister Norell's idea, she is brilliant!) It was really good, I think it gave everyone a purpose to fast and it made the testimony meeting a lot more meaningful because people bore their testimonies on what they knew to be true and not random stories (we all have been in those fast and testimony meetings... -_-)

Monday was the Civic Holiday, which meant libraries were closed so thus why P-day is today (Tuesday). Yesterday was also the ward picnic which was SO fun! The morning started off with some baseball, where I discovered that I am not actually that bad at baseball. Who knew?! 22 years of wasted talent. haha It was fun. 

Elder Tu'ilotalava, Me, Sister Puruganan, and Elder Palmer

Missionaries in our ward

At one point I was sitting out in the outfield looking at everyone and I thought to myself, "I am in Ontario, Canada, on a mission, with people I met 11 weeks ago, and I feel like I am at home and this is right where I need to be." I love those moments. Most of the time I still can't believe I am on a mission, I'm not sure if it will ever hit me.

After baseball was lunch, and after lunch were the little kid carnival games and then after that came the pie eating contest... I didn't really want to do it but I knew that I would regret it if I didn't so... I went for it! Thankfully Elder Tu'ilotalava inhaled his pie in like 30 seconds so I didn't have to eat very much. haha I stayed pretty clean until the ward mission leader, Bro.Oswald, convinced someone to put the pie in my face. haha it was a lot of fun. Safe to say I probably won't do another pie eating contest again, though. I think one time is enough to have coconut cream pie up my nose. :) (Picture of THAT later :)

Sister "P" and Sister "P"

Well this is the last week of this transfer. The next time I email we will find out if I am staying or going. I think I will be staying here in Hamilton but one thing I have learned is that Heavenly Father knows better than I do and He will put me wherever I need to be! I hope everyone enjoys the pictures. I tried to take a lot more this week for my mothers sake. :)

More pics of our fun day at the ward picnic below:

Crystal-lynn, her neice Kendra, Sister Puruganan, and me

Me and Elder Palmer

The Work of Salvation

Selfie Sunday! Do you miss my cute face?!?!?! ;)

First things first..... if you haven't watched The Work of Salvation, yet... go watch it right now. Here, I will even do you a favor and post you the link so it won't take any effort.. :)  It was SO good! Every member needs to watch it and see how they can help missionaries! And some of the videos they show on there are so good.... the one where they do a missionary medley and have videos with it of like each stage of life for a missionary most definitely made me cry! It just brings back SO many memories of when I was set apart and then dropped off at the MTC by my parents. Seriously so good. :)  The whole Sunday broadcast just got me more pumped on missionary work and helped me to be more grateful for this opportunity I have to be set apart as a full time missionary. For all you pre-missionaries reading this or to anyone who is thinking about going on a mission, get pumped because you are in for the time of your life. Yeah some days suck, a lot! But..... it is worth it... it is SO worth it because this work is life changing. ok I will be done now #preach :)

Becky, Sister Norell, and Karly

Last Monday we were able to go to Niagara Falls. It was a ton of fun! The experience from the Canada side is probably way different than it would be on the American side. I must admit that it made me a little bit homesick to see America. haha Sometimes I just miss it, and the good grocery stores. (Seriously be grateful for the stores in the states. It is just not the same here!)

Karly holding a picture of her Grandma, Great-Grandma, and Mom.  The picture was taken in 1989 when THEY visited the  falls, before Karly was born. 

After the Falls we went to a place called Niagara on the Lake. It is a beautiful little town that has a ton of cute shops and places to eat.

We have started teaching a family that has 4 little girls. Twins that are 4, a 6 year old and a 9 year old. They are so cute! When we taught them last week I had them help me say the closing prayer and it was the sweetest thing ever. I would say the first words and then they would copy me and it was honestly the best prayer I have ever been a part of! The whole family came to church yesterday and really loved it. All the little girls showed up with the Book of Mormons we gave them and instantly fell in love with all of it!

The ward fed us after church yesterday... it looks like we are on a date huh? I laughed. haha Me, Elder Palmer, Elder Jones, and Sister Taylor

It has been really humid the past few days... I don't think I will ever get used to it. I guess I should be thankful that it hasn't been humid the entire month of June and is just starting now. Which, by the way, I can't actually believe that June is almost over and so is this transfer. Transfer calls are on Sunday. I am really hoping I stay, but with my track record we all know the chances of that are highly unlikely. haha Oh well, just have to remember, "I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord!" 

Well P-day is on Wednesday next week due to Canada Day on Monday and transfers! I hope everyone has an awesome week and seriously... go watch The Work of Salvation. You won't regret it! :)

 P.S. -  I volunteered to speak in Sacrament Meeting next Sunday. Yeah.... the girl who hadn't spoken in Sacrament until her farewell talk just volunteered to speak in Sacrament Meeting. Can someone tell me what happened to the old Karly Prescott? haha

Had to ......:)

You Pay - "Up there"

This week was LONG... like really, really long. A lot of really great stuff happened, though! Sometimes I can't believe how much can happen in one week. I guess that's what happens when you wake up at 6:30, 7 days a week and go go go until 10:30 at night.

A little bit of a miracle happened this week in the form of a great dentist. 2 weeks ago I had found a spot in one of my teeth that looked like a cavity and it hurt. I was SO bummed because I had gotten all of my dental work done before I left and I did not want to deal with or pay for tooth problems while on my mission. I knew I needed to fix it, because I didn't want it to get worse so I ended up calling the Relief Society President, Sister Norell, to see if she could recommend me to a good dentist.  She did some checking around and found a place that a ward member goes to that does a lot of work for people who don't have dental insurance. Before I knew it, Sister Norell was picking us up and taking me to the dentist, and from that point on it was just one good thing after another.

We get there, Sister Norell tells them who referred us, tells them I am a missionary and that I am a long ways from home and that I don't have dental insurance. They tell me that they just had a cancellation and ask if I would like to meet with the dentist today. Of course I said yes, the sooner the better! So I fill out some paperwork and in about 10 minutes I go back and am in the dental chair. The assistant took and x-ray of my tooth and all I can think is, "Oh great, what is this going to cost me?" Then the dentist came in, said that he couldn't see a cavity, but that he would take a look anyway. He asked me what I was doing in Canada, and implied that I must be under some abnormal amount of stress because is looks like a grind or clench my teeth which probably caused my problem. Then he tells me that I have a hole in my tooth because one of my fillings must have cracked and that he would fix it. It took him maybe 10 minutes to fix it and then we were on our way. When I got out of the chair I thanked him and asked if I just, "Pay out there?" pointing toward the front desk. Instead of saying yes he says, "No, you pay up there." and pointed toward heaven and just kept walking toward the front desk. He talked to the receptionist, told her, "No charge" and then walked around the wall to meet another patient almost before I could get a thank you out. I could not believe it and honestly wanted to cry. That was a serious answer to prayers and I know that Heavenly Father really does look out for His missionaries. Even in something as small as not having to pay for dental work. There really is no such thing as coincidence. Everything happens for a reason!

Ryan Gosling - born in Hamilton Canada

Now on a less serious more funny note. Sister Norell informed us this week that Ryan Gosling (good looking actor from the Notebook) grew up in Hamilton! She said that he was a part of the Hamilton 2nd Ward which eventually was combined to be the ward that I am serving in now. She also said that when she was the chorister in Primary he was in Primary. Pretty cool right? Apparently his mom lives near here but isn't in this ward. So.... I am practically famous, serving in Ryan Gosling's old ward, right?! haha

We were able to find three new investigators this week! It is about time. :) I hate telling the stories of everything because it seems like when I do I jinx it and they end up not investigating the church anymore. haha  So I will just say that it started with us talking to two guys on the street, which lead to us meeting a third guy and they are all interested and none of them said no to being baptized so that is a good sign. One of the guys said to me yesterday after we taught him, "God brought you to us, you have changed the environment in our home." It is THE BEST feeling when you KNOW that the people you are teaching have felt the Spirit because they say things like this. The same guy kept mentioning the way he felt when we first prayed with him as well. It is people like that, that you know will have a greater potential to progress because they are learning things by the Spirit and not by what I say to them.

Yesterday's teaching appointment was probably one of the most powerful ones I have had since being on my mission. And... it must have went well because afterwards they fed us and the member we brought with us -  Goat Curry.

Karly's new baby goats in Morgan, Utah

(yeah I know -  I was surprised that I would allow myself to eat goat especially with my new baby goats that are at home,  but.... let's be honest, it was GOOD!) Jamaicans sure know how to cook. 

Sister Tofa and Karly

I also did an exchange this week with one of the Sister Training Leaders (that is the new leadership that was put in place with so many sisters coming out.) Her name is Sister Tofa and she is THE BEST. Probably the funnest day I have had on my mission in awhile. We got a lot done, worked hard, and spent the entire day laughing. She is from Australia (now I have another place to visit post mission, better start saving up some money dad... ;) All in all, a really great week.

It is getting pretty hot and a few of the days were completely miserable to walk around in but I will live. Oh,     we also didn't have the car for a few days because it was in the shop. Someone must have ran into us because there was some weird damage that was done. Anyway.... things I took away from this week...

1. All things happen for a reason, no such thing as coincidence!

2. In Australia people carry around Machetes because you never know, "When a kangaroo will attack your car" 

3. The Spirit is what does the teaching/converting in this missionary business 

4. Goat is good!! 

Well that was a long one! Hopefully it will make up for the short email that I will send next week. Sister Norell is taking us to Niagara Falls next Monday and I. am. PUMPED. :) Have a great week! :)

The view from our apartment

Our Apartment - Hamilton