Kitchener Waterloo - a new experience

Old Area - The Julians

They usually fed us twice a week and it was THE BEST food.

Michelle, Brett, Darren, and Natalie

Natalie and I with the Happy Sad Day Cake.
We were so sad :(

Well I made it to my new area! I am in Kitchener Waterloo and things are pretty good.

Monday night we had a sleep over with Sister Taylor and Sister Bradshaw, and then Tuesday morning Sister Taylor and I woke up at 4:30 and drove to Brampton for transfers. I got to see some people there which is always nice. I saw Sister Tebbs for a second, and then we loaded everything up into the transfer van and headed for Kitchener where I met up with Sister Colvin and got to see Sister Tuia and Elder Dewey. And then Sister Colvin and I headed for the Kitchener Waterloo East area.

Transfers

Elder Dewey was my first District Leader.
He was the Zone Leader over the zone I am in now last transfer,  but then he got moved. We were both bummed. It would have been fun to serve near him again

Elder Skirvin and I
We served in the same ward when I was in Brampton. He is awesome.
He was getting transferred to Timmons which is like an 8 hour drive north

I got to see Sister Tebbs for like 3 seconds,
and yes - that Elder did kind of ruin the photo 

My Trainer - Sister Tuia and I
She  goes home after this transfer.
I am glad I got to see her one more time

We had a lot of appointments that first day which was good. I was SO exhausted by the end of the day, however. It was nice to finally go to bed.

The ward is good. There are a lot of families from Utah that live here which is kind of funny. It is just hard to learn all of the names and figure out who people are. After being in an area for 4 months and knowing everyone and everything it is a big adjustment to know no one and nothing. Oh well. I guess that is what being a missionary is all about.  We have a few people that we are teaching, but the sisters hadn't been seeing them progress in awhile so we are going to have to figure out what to do with that.

This is a shared car area which basically means we walk all the time. haha We have the car half of Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday until 7 so... we walk every other day. I don't hate walking,  but it is also not the most effective use of time. We haven't used a bus yet since I have been here. We are going to have to figure that out soon so we can get places, and I am going to have to find some new shoes soon because this much walking is killing them. 

Saturday was the General Relief Society Broadcast and it was really cool. President Monson spoke and it was wonderful!! It got me so pumped for General Conference this weekend. I really can't wait for that!

Things are going good. Everything is just new here and hard to get used to, but I am figuring it out. Just trying to get to know people and figure out how we are going to find some new investigators, it is a very residential and a small area, so we are going to have to get creative.

Hopefully now that I am getting more settled I will be able to provide a more detailed email for next week!  I can't believe that tomorrow is October! I know I say it all the time but... time really is flying by so quickly!  I hope you enjoy the pictures! They will hopefully provide a nice outline of my week!  

Sister Norells' dad - Brother Goddard 
I called him Grandpa. He is the sweetest man

First Week

So we got to Canada Monday (Feb 25, 2013) and stayed in a hotel that night. That next morning we did some training and were assigned our companions. My companion is Sister Tuia (pronounced too-ya, like happy birthday to ya!) she is 22 and from Samoa (Someone should tell Coach Wiscombe that. Derick served in Samoa, I know she will enjoy that bit of information)


We are serving in a city called Guelph (pronounced like gwelf) I still have a hard time saying it. This area used to just have one set of missionaries here and so now it is split into North and South so Sister Tuia and I are opening a new area in the South end and let me tell you it is HARD. I think most missionaries go their entire missions hoping to never open a new area and I don't blame them because it isn't easy. We have hardly anything to work with, there are very few members in our area and so we have just been trying to contact people to teach. Contacting is the hard part that I feel like no returned missionaries really warned me about. We are supposed to talk to everyone and go around knocking on doors which is still really hard for me.

Some people are really nice and will take a pass a long card and some people are not so nice. Like last night, we were going to the home of a less active who apparently doesn't live there anymore, because this man just basically yelled at us and then accused me of rolling my eyes at him. I know we all know I have an eye rolling problem but I can promise you I would have never rolled my eyes at a man who was yelling at me! haha Oh well.. Sister Tuia tells me that I will get used to it and all of the door knocking and contacting will be worth it when we find someone who wants to learn more. Just for now it is really hard and scary to talk to random people. I am getting better at it though. I just need to be patient.

So in our area we use the bus and walk, which is good because we are able to meet more people but bad because I am absolutely FREEZING! It snowed a lot this week (all Canadians were telling us that is the most it has snowed all winter) so we spent most of the days walking around in snow which then turned into 4 inches of slush which then turned into sidewalks of icy death when it froze. Thankfully we will have a car for a few days because we are sharing it with the other sisters, but Wednesday we will have to go back to the bus grind, I am sure I will get used to it. And I guess I won't get fat just yet if I have to continue walking everywhere!!

 Our apartment is nice. Because were are opening a new area, though we have nothing. Thankfully the Relief Society President was nice and gave us a lot of dishes and pots and pans and some food so we had something, but our mattresses are on the floor and we don't have much furniture. Our landlord is great! He is Indian and always has his music blasting as he does meditation and different prayers. Our apartment also smells like Indian food all the time because we are just in the basement of the landlord's house. It is good though, I can't complain. The only complaint I have is that it is freezing. We have to use the oven to heat up the place, thankfully the landlord gave us a small heater to use. He really is kind about taking care of us and the things we need.

So yes I am still alive, still trying to preach the Gospel! I feel like the mission is nothing like I expected, but it is good. Just a lot of work! And it is hard to keep working when we are not seeing any results. I have come into a tough area in tough circumstances. I know it'll all be good and things will start to happen but as for right now I am just trying to keep going and have a good attitude! :) I feel like this email hasn't been really that motivational for everyone but you all should watch this video that we watched in Relief Society yesterday.... I dare you not to cry.. :) Have a great week! -Sister Prescott

Into the field

We received a phone call on Monday from Karly.  She was at the airport, ready to head to Canada.  She sounded happy and excited.

Two days later, we received a welcoming letter, and the following information and pictures from President Brent L. Scott, her mission president.

Karly with President and Sister Scott

First Companion - Sister Yonita M. Tuia

Karly's mailing address is as follows:

Sister Karly Prescott
63 Munroe Crescent, Bsmt
Guelph, ON
N1G 5E4
Canada