General Conference Recap, and a new investigator !

And.... it's Monday again! 

I hope that everyone enjoyed General Conference! Soooo much to learn and sooo much to take in. I will be looking forward to the Ensign coming out so I can read through everything again. I think the Saturday morning session was my favorite. I can't even remember specifics, but there were a lot of things in that session that really stood out to me! It was so fun to be at the chapel with different members, especially those who are recent converts. Great to see them there soaking it all in for the first time.

With Max at the General Conference broadcast

General Conference was also made really fun by the fact that Michelle and Natalie Julian from Hamilton came to Kitchener to watch a session of it with us. :) They came to the Sunday morning session and then we talked for a little bit after. Michelle brought us cupcakes from the place that she works. It has been so long since I have seen them so it was really fun to see them again. 

Michelle and Natalie Julian from Hamilton came to visit me! They came and watched the first session of conference with us on Sunday and then we talked for a few minutes after and she gave us cupcakes (mine gluten free of course) haha It was soooo good to see them. I already am trying to figure out a time that I can come back post mission and stay with them for a week. I told Michelle that was my plan and she was said, "stay for a week, stay for a month, heck stay forever.. we don't care!" haha

Another really good week. The weather is starting to warm up which makes me happy! Aside from General Conference we had Zone Training, and we also found a new investigator who I am pretty excited about! He has a pretty cool story too. A couple of weeks ago we got a media referral (which basically is that someone got on mormon.org and requested missionary visits and then we get a text on our phone with the information that they gave) We spent a few weeks trying to contact this guy and were able to set up an appointment with him for Saturday between sessions of General Conference. 

We went to his house and he was SO cool. He is from Sudan and he told us a little bit about how he got in touch with the church. He said that years ago he worked with a man named Jordan who was from Utah. He said that on their breaks Jordan would tell him about the Gospel and that he eventually gave him a Book of Mormon. But because their breaks at work were so short they never really got to get into really good conversations but he said what struck him was Jordan's testimony. He said that he had been to so many churches but what he found different is that Mormon's talk about things and say that they "know" them to be true. So Jordan went back to Utah and he never did meet with missionaries or attend church. Until a few months ago when he went back to Sudan to visit his father. He said that he discovered that the Church was in Sudan as well, and he attended a few meetings but he never got to sit down and talk with missionaries about the church. So when he came back to Canada a month ago he got online and looked up how he could meet with missionaries.... and, this is where we come in. :)

The lesson with him was really, really good. It was one of those lessons where everything seems to go perfect. The Spirit was really strong and he understood the things that we were teaching him. He is a very sincere man and I am excited to see how he progresses. As well as his family. We weren't able to meet with his wife yet, but I am hoping we are able to soon. 

Sister Fragapane, Amanda and I in our rainboots

And in other good news... Amanda's baptism is this weekend! Really excited for that! And... other good news.... Treena (Amanda's sister who was baptized last week) well her husband has agreed to be baptized at the end of April... Pretty cool if you ask me. :) So much has come from Janet choosing to listen to the missionaries.. She even said that the other day when she was out teaching with us.... She saw that most people don't actually want to listen to what we have to say so it was great to hear her say, "I am so glad that I listened when missionaries came to talk to me." 

So... life is still good. :) This transfer is quickly coming to an end which I am super bummed about but... such is life.. everything good, and bad, eventually comes to an end! 

Have 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!

Things are coming together

Officially starting the last week of this transfer today! This has been a really fast transfer and I can't believe that it is coming to an end. It feels like I have been in Kitchener for a long time, but it makes me sad to think that I could be getting transferred next week. I don't know that I am ready to leave yet.. I guess we will just have to see! :)

This week was busy... really, really busy.

We started Monday evening off right and found a new investigator! It was a great way to start the week and then it seemed like everything just kind of fit together after that. 

We met with Janet and Norm and they are continuing to do so well. They were able to see the Baptism of a man in another ward this weekend and they loved it. They are really wanting to be baptized and working towards it. They will hopefully be able to be baptized in the next few months. As for now they basically consider themselves part of the ward, just with out the baptism side yet. They went to the baptism, a Stake Talent Show, and to a Cottage Meeting last night.  Janet's motto, "If it's Mormon, I've got time!"  They are really embracing everything and it really goes to show what happens when people give the Book of Mormon a chance and just read it.

Saturday we were also able to find another new investigator among all of our appointments.  And then Saturday night at the Stake Talent Show we saw another little miracle.  The YSA (Young Single Adult) Elders had brought a guy with them that they had been teaching for about a week. His name is Max.  His story is that he always drives by the church and he was wondering what it was all about so he looked up the number and called. They asked if he was a "single adult" and he said yes so they told him what time to go to church on Sunday and what building.  He went to church on Sunday, met the Elders and they starting teaching him. Now Max is from Nigeria and looks like he is 24 so... the Elders didn't even bother asking his age . But when I was talking to him Saturday I asked him when he came to Canada, he said 7 years ago.  Then I asked him how old he was when he came to Canada and he said, 30. I just looked at Elder Lasley (the YSA Elder) and then looked back to Max, and Elder Lasley goes, "wait... how old are you??" So... basically Max can't go to the YSA ward. We told him he has to go to the family ward and he was totally ok with it.  So that was a serious blessing. This guy is very prepared and will be baptized either this week or the next.  It is amazing how there are people who are so prepared and I am grateful that we will be able to teach him. 

Things really did just come together again this week. We were able to hit the Standards of Excellence for the 2nd week in a row and are really seeing so many great things happening. Hoping we can keep it up for this coming week as well. 

Unfortunately... I have absolutely no pictures from this week... which I realize is SO boring. haha  Oh well.... I will do better this week!  Hope everyone has a great week!