My Mission has come to an end.....

Well this is it! I will be home Wednesday! I can't believe that my mission has come to an end! It still doesn't feel real, it probably won't feel real until I have been home for a few days! :)

We have a lot to do so I will keep this short! When I get home and have ample time on a computer I will have to write a nice mission wrap up! :)

Thank you all for all of your love and support while I have been serving my mission! This has been the most incredible experience and I am sad that it is coming to an end, but I am excited to see what other adventures are ahead of me! :)

My mission has truly changed my life and I will be forever grateful for it! 

Thank you all for everything! 

SEE YOU WEDNESDAY! :)

P-day at the Waterfalls

With Elder Palmer

Our Whole Group

With Elder Itthi

Minh's baptism celebration!‏

With Sister Taylor

The Last District Meeting‏

Gloria, baby Valerie, Dureeta, and Rachel

The Altimirano Fam!‏

The ladies we volunteer with at Kerr Street Ministries

Our last coordination meeting with the Lowachees‏

I am going to miss this lake!‏

I found my Prince‏ ;)

Going to miss Joe -  A LOT‏

Delores and I!‏

The Gernon Family and Minh - They live across the street from Minh and are a big part of how he even knew about the church and wanted to listen to us

With Sister Gernon‏

Sister Grace - Wonderful woman from Nigeria who is temporarily living in the ward

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!

Wonderful Week

All I have to say is this week was good news goats** :)  SO many great things happened and I will try to do it all justice so that you really can know how great it was! The week started out with a training meeting with the mission president and other people in the mission. I got to see some of the sisters I met at the MTC, and it was so good to see them. It is always nice to see missionaries who have been going through the same things as me.

**What is good news goats?
"haha, it's just something I say, Riley always says, "bad news bears" when something is bad news, so I started saying, "good news goats" when things are good. Just one of those weird things I say I guess. haha"

So Wednesday of this week is when some pretty cool stuff started to happen. Sister Tuia and I were riding the bus around trying to contact people, and at one point we were about to get on a bus and I noticed a guy staring at us. I thought, "Okay.. people usually stare at us... so why does this seem different?" Anyway we get on the bus and this guys follows us to the back and sits down by us. He then leans over and asks, "Do you have any literature??" It literally took me 10 seconds to reply because I was so shocked. No one ever approaches us and asks us for anything. I said yeah and gave him a Book of Mormon and started talking with him. He said that his mom had been baptized into the Church in Turkey and he recognized the name on our badges. He said that he has been trying to change some things in his life and get back to church (can you say, Golden?). We talked to him and got his number so that we could set up a time to meet with him. We ended up meeting him this morning and he is interested in learning more. I really see potential in him and I am so thankful we were able to meet him. This is one of those instances where if you work hard and are obedient Heavenly Father really does put you at the right place at the right time!!

Friday was another day full of awesome things... I am just going to type what I wrote in my journal that night for times sake.. :)

 "I loved today! LOVED everything about it! And I am so thankful I can finally say that. Heavenly Father blessed me big time today and I am so grateful! The day started out with District Meeting which was great as always. We talked about how Charity is the catalyst of missionary work and I am discovering every day how that is so true. After the meeting they gave us mail and I was super pumped because I got a lot! So grateful for all the awesome people I have in my life! (Seriously though thank you for all of you who are sending letters. Mail makes a missionary so happy! Keep em' coming and I will try to write back as much as I can!) 

After District meeting we went to meet Gill, the man who had asked for literature on the bus. This started a chain reaction of incidents that prove God really does work in mysterious ways! We missed the bus so we were late and couldn't get a hold of the member who was supposed to come with us. Because of this we took another bus and met a Lady named Helen who was SO great, we will be seeing her tomorrow. (Since this Helen has come to a Relief Society activity, church, and we will be meeting her tomorrow. See.... God works in mysterious ways!) When we finally got to Gill's we couldn't meet him because we needed a third girl, he was so understanding and said, "Things happen for a reason." 

Which they totally do, because us not meeting him led us to meeting another man at the bus stop. Turns out this man is a member of the church who fell away after he got divorced years and years ago. We got his information and gave him a Plan of Salvation pamphlet and I really hope we can meet with him soon. Then we went to Tim Hortons to get a bagel where we had a funny experience. This man was Skyping near us and I saw him holding up women's shirts to the screen. I started laughing and said something and he turned around and said that his wife is in northern Iraq and doesn't like the clothes there so he shops for her and then sends her things. I told him that he is a good husband and then Sister Tuia and I left and laughed for a good 5 minutes (writing it now it doesn't seem so funny but in the moment it was one of the funniest things I have had happen in weeks! haha) 

God timed things perfect again after this, when we decided to walk through the mall to catch the bus. We ended up seeing Natalie (a girl we met the other day who is a teen mom and looking for something in life) who I have been thinking about lately.  I just really feel for her. The Gospel is something that will really help her and I hope that we can teach her and get her to see that. 

After that we rode the buses for a bit and I got my first real contact! I started a conversation with a guy that ended with me getting his number and committing him to try and pray! :) He says he would like to learn more so we will be calling him soon and hopefully we can meet with him. 

We then had dinner with some members. Super good Korean food, super awkward conversation... I have a love hate relationship with dinner appointments. ;) 

After dinner we had our teaching appointment with Aubin. It was SO good! This was one of those things that missionaries talk about, and I was able to experience it for myself. We taught him about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Spirit was SO strong. I finally had the experience where I didn't have to think about what I should say, the Spirit just taught through me and it really was super powerful. We invited Aubin to be baptized and he said YES! 

I really wish I could describe how great it was, it was just one of those moments that makes all of the bad days worth it.  After this I can see how missionaries are sad when their missions are over. Experiences like this don't happen just to anyone on a given day. As missionaries we have the authority to teach and to invite people to be baptized in the True Church. That is a pretty big deal when you think about it. :) Today is a day that I need to always remember. Because when things get tough I just need to remember that this is why I am here. To find those people who are ready and to teach them so that they don't have to miss out on the truth anymore. :)" 

Okay, that was pretty long, but it is a good description of how great that day really was! This week some members bought us all you can eat sushi... best day ever. :) This week really was so good. I am happy and really starting to love this work. It is so awesome that everyday I can meet new people and bear testimony and promise them that the message we have to share can help them and will change their lives if they are willing to let it.

Pic from the MTC
Thanks Elder Lee !

Sister Tuia and I started this transfer in a new area that literally had nothing to work with. And now, with the help of the Lord we have people to teach, we have people who want to be baptized, and we are really starting to move the work forward. It takes hard work, but it's worth it. I thought this week about how my decision to serve a mission will change lives. If I wasn't here all of these people I have been meeting would have continued to go about their lives not knowing about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is pretty cool when you think about it and motivates me to talk to everyone. Everyone in the world needs to hear about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whether they choose to accept it or not, everyone needs to hear. :)

 Okay, that may have been SUPER preachy but hey..... if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be a duck. I better take full advantage of this whole being a weird missionary thing because it isn't going to last forever, eh? ;)

 Love you all.... thanks for reading my blog! I hope I didn't bore you too much today! :)

Good News !!

Well hello family and friends! Looks like we all made it through another week! :) I have some good news! The mission policy for emails has changed... we can now email friends! #raisedaroof So..... go crazy, kids and send me some emails! karly.prescott@myldsmail.net :) I want to hear about what's going on! The only bad thing with this being I will probably never have time to reply especially in this area. The mission president does give us permission to spend more time on the computers but the libraries here only allow you to have an hour a day so..... just send some emails and I will respond if I can or write letters back. I finally got some letters this week! They were written and sent around the same time I left the MTC, though, so it really does take about a month to get mail here. I also sent some letters home so it will be interesting to see how long that takes.

 This week was better than last week, I hope that pattern continues. Everything gets a little bit easier as I get more and more experience with it.The only thing that is not getting easier is dealing with this weather. I freeze ALL. THE. TIME. I can bundle up and and wear a million layers and this cold still finds a way to cut through and leave me miserable. (OK maybe that is a little dramatic, but it is cold) Last night we walked about 2 miles in the cold until we were able to find a bus. Bus systems are different at night so we though we were going to have to walk the whole way. I guess it could have been worse, but it still was pretty bad.

 This week I did my first exchange with the other set of sisters in this area. It was fun to see how another missionary works and the different things they do in their teaching and finding. More and more I am being able to pull ideas of the kind of missionary I want to be and the way that I want to teach and do things.

 At District Meeting this week President Scott came. It was a little intimidating because I had to give a thought and then role play with him, but it was good. He is such a great guy and I am so grateful to have him as my mission President. He really is so loving and cares about us individually and that really is good to know. Talking with him makes me feel like a million bucks. He really needs to come around more often. haha

We did a ton of finding this week and still didn't have much success. We need to find people before we can teach people and the finding part is proving to be hard. Some people will want to listen but a lot of people open their doors, say something that is usually not very nice :), and then quickly close the door. Oh well, we'll just keep going and eventually we'll find those people who are really prepared. I promise cool and great things happen during the week but I just cannot seem to remember them right now...... I guess this email will be short then. :) But here are a few random things!

 1. St. Patrick's Day was like a serious thing here.... I am fairly confident that the college students (did I mention Guelph is a serious college town?) were all drinking from Saturday night all through Sunday. Which meant we got to see a lot of people make complete fools of themselves all day long. Also they don't just use the holiday as an excuse to drink, they also went crazy with the wearing of green. And not just a green shirt here or there, they were wearing green mini skirts and huge bows and wigs and it really was out of control. I have never seen anything like that.

2. So my District leader, Elder Dewey, is the son of a famous artist.. Simon Dewey? I didn't know who he was, but I guess his dad does a lot of the famous LDS paintings. I am sure a lot of you will know who he is.

 Sorry that was so short.... I will try and do better next week. :) Missionary work really is amazing. Everyday I learn so much and my testimony is strengthened. This week I really have seen the importance of a testimony. People will argue doctrine or not want to talk with you but a testimony is something short and simple yet so powerful that you can leave it with everyone. It is hard for people to dispute something you KNOW to be true. There is no arguing with that. :) So I challenge all of you to constantly strengthen your testimonies, in whatever it may be, because that is the most powerful thing we have when it comes to sharing the Gospel with others. Have a great week!