Last week before transfers...........

Well it is a nice, crisp -18*C here (-18°C = -0.4°F)  in Kitchener Ontario this morning....... And I can't believe the pictures I am seeing from Morgan, Utah where there is NO snow because... some snow piles we have around here are at least 8 ft high. haha I think this place might thaw out by the time I go home in July... maybe... A Sister can dream! :)

Karly's backyard in Morgan, Utah

Karly's backyard in Kitchener Waterloo

This week is the start to the last week of the transfer... so crazy. This has been a really fun transfer and a lot has happened. We have been so blessed with all of the baptisms that we have had and this past weekend we added to the list of Max, Janet, and Norm when Ethan was baptized on Saturday!!

Ethan is the grandson of Sister Tenny, who was baptized a few years ago. Sister Colvin and I started to get pretty close with Sister Tenny over the months that we have been here and we have also gotten to know Ethan.  Missionaries had taught Ethan before but he never seemed interested and never expressed to us that he was interested so we just let it go and never really talked with him about baptism. When we didn't get transferred this past transfer I really didn't know what I was doing here anymore.. I just felt like I didn't know why God was keeping me here so... I asked. The night that the transfer call didn't come I prayed to ask why I needed to still be in this area. And.. after I said my prayer I was laying in bed trying to sleep and then I got a distinct impression that Ethan was the reason that we were still here. So.. the next day we set up a time where we could go and meet with Ethan. We went and talked with him and when we invited him to be baptized he agreed and he picked the date of March 1st. And the rest was good ever since. We taught him all the lessons again and helped him to prepare for baptism. He is a really sweet kid and I know that his grandma was excited. The baptism went really well. I spoke and Sister Colvin sang. It is just amazing how timing is so important in everything. This whole time Ethan had been developing his Faith in Christ and all he needed was to be invited to act on that. He is a very special kid! 

Ethan and his grandmother

Sad to think that my time may be close to over here in Kitchener Waterloo. I don't want to ever leave. This has become a very sacred place for me... but I know that if I do have to leave I will go wherever I am meant to be! 

Us with Janet's daughter Amanda who we are now teaching

Oh we also had Zone Conference this week, which is always great! We drove to London and were there most of the day. I got to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in a long time.

Sister DeRuvo and I.. I haven't seen sister DeRuvo in about a year now so it was great to see her.. especially considering she goes back to Italy in a week. :(

Sister Tebbs and I 

So yes... things are good here. :) Still living the dream!   (more pics and video below)

Sister Howey a member in the ward‏

Sister Rose Young really is the most incredible woman EVER...

So classy and such a role model for me

Sorry - I can't get this video right side up !

11 whole months !

Does anybody know what today is??? Nope? Well... I will tell you... today marks 11 months since my cute parents dropped me off at the MTC... 11 whole months!! It is a strange strange thing, and pretty exciting to look back on what has happened in the past 11 months.. I have met so many new people and have done things I never thought I could do and have learned so much! 

The day that the thermometer said -21 and it was apparently -40 with the wind chill... and also they said if your skin was exposed to it for more than 5 minutes you could get frost bite... and then... it rained Friday. Go figure!

 This week was good. The weather got crazy cold Tuesday and Wednesday. Everyone said it was -40*C with the wind chill so... that is pretty darn cold. Thankfully we had quite a few appointments so we tried to stay in a house or in a car most of the day. On that Tuesday we got a funny phone call from Elder Prochnow and Elder Parker (the Zone Leaders)... It started out with a," Hey Sisters..... ummm..... do you think that you could come and jump our car??" Their battery was going bad and even in their underground parking the car was way too cold and was not starting. So... we went and helped them with that... This is now twice I have had to jump a car on my mission.. Heavenly Father really was preparing me for this when my car would die ALL THE TIME back at home. Glad that it wasn't all for nothing. :)

My outfit on a freezing cold P-day

So after we made it through the freezing weather things were good. We had a Zone Training Wednesday and then we did exchanges that night. Sister Tofa came here with me and it was a lot of fun.. She leaves at the end of this transfer and it will be sad to see her go. She will go back to Australia and I am going to have to convince her to move to the states at some point so that this isn't the last time that I see her ever. 

Ice cream cake that Elder So'o had made for
Sister Willouhby's birthday

All of the sisters with the cake

We had some good lessons this week. Janet and Norm are progressing SO well. Norm has really started getting in to the Book of Mormon and I cannot believe how fast he is reading through it. Norm even committed to baptism which is pretty amazing. Three months ago you would have never even seen him wanting to sit down to talk with missionaries. It really is a testimony to me of how much power is in the Book of Mormon. He really has a strong testimony of the Book of Mormon and you can see it working in his life. We are really excited for them! 

We had a really great week! We hit "standards" which I haven't done since the first transfer of my mission. So this means that we have 2 progressing investigators, 2 investigators with baptismal dates, 2 investigators at church, 4 lessons taught with members present and 2 new investigators. It was pretty great to see our work paying off and also seeing the tender mercies. We were quite blessed this week!

Transfers will be coming up soon and... I really have no feeling as to what will happen but... If I do leave I already know that I will be so sad about it. I really love this ward SO much. Since we have had a lot of dinner appointments lately I feel like I have gotten to know the members more and more and it makes me sad that I will have to leave! It is a great thing about missions that you get to meet so many new people but it is a sad thing that you have to leave and that some people you may never see again. Oh well... I guess it is all a part of it!

Brother Mitchell (the vet) brought this cute thing home from work the other day.. She had broken her jaw and the farmer didn't want to pay the money to fix it so Brother Mitchell said that she would take her and then he just did the surgery and now they have her so... if at any moment you want to buy a mini horse that would be GREAT. :) 

Oh and yesterday the new Stake Presidency came here for ward conference. They spoke and taught all of the classes and it was really cool. The Stakes theme is, "Feed the Spirit, Nourish the Soul" and they talked a lot about how important it is for all of us to be continually "feeding" our Spirits. So... if you haven't read your scriptures lately... try that. :) If you haven't said a prayer lately... go do that. :) There are so many things we can do to feed our Spirits and it really does help! 

Well... I hope this was a bit more of a "substantial" email then some of my others have been. I hope everyone has a great week! :)

Have a ever mentioned that there are squirrels EVERYWHERE here??

We play this game where we see how long it takes to see a squirrel when we leave the house and it usually only takes about 10 seconds... Case in point.. looked out the window... squirrel sitting on the emergency exit stairs outside our apartment

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!!

Sister Tofa and Karly at the New Years Day Read-a-thon

Glow in the dark glasses

The weather is probably the biggest news this week. Lots and lots of cold... lots and lots of snow and then lots and lots of more cold to come in the next few days! I guess Canada has decided that I really need the Canadian experience.  This is the worst winter they have had in years and years everyone keeps telling us.

This was after we had cleaned our car off at 9:00 last night

Thank goodness for boots, coats, and mitts

Janet and Norm came to church on Sunday and again loved everything about it. Norm has been reading the Book of Mormon a lot and really loves it. He had basically written off religion because of bad experiences that he has had in the past, but his experiences with the Book of Mormon and with church are really changing his mind, and he is starting to make some big changes in his life!

Well.... I really can't think of much to say and... I don't really have time to say it. The internet is down at the libraries so the other missionaries are here so I have to get off, but.... once again here are some pictures... hopefully that helps.  And... next week I
will write the blog email first so it can be a good one. :)