These were all of Travis' companions up until a couple of weeks ago. Now his companion is Elder Bangerter.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!
Hi All! We received a photo stick with pictures from Elder Mortenson (Travis) recently. I'm going to post quite a few since we don't get them very often. Enjoy!
Elder Mortenson, Elder Foster, Sister Hill
Elder McMurrin (Travis' trainer), Elder Cowling, Elder Mortenson, Elder Freeze
These were all of Travis' companions up until a couple of weeks ago. Now his companion is Elder Bangerter.
Elder Echeverria getting a push from Elder Mortenson.
Elder Cowling, Elder Echeverria, Elder Bangerter, Elder Mortenson. These 4 missionaries share an apartment. Elders Cowling and Echeverria work in the English speaking branch now, and the other two work in the French speaking branch. Travis says it's nice having a foursome.
We get these pictures with no explanations about where they are or what they are doing. I wish I had some cool stories to tell about the photos, but I just don't. I have to enjoy them at face value!
These were all of Travis' companions up until a couple of weeks ago. Now his companion is Elder Bangerter.
Monday, April 29, 2013
Week 28 in the Field
"The newest of new news for me in the CMM [Canada Montreal Mission]... I didn't get transferred - I get to welcome in the 5th transfer in St. Lazare starting on Wednesday. Ha it will be interesting and fun. I really like this area. We're working with some really neat people for sure.
"So metro contacting definitely created some interesting stories! We had the Hawkesbury elders with us too and we went down in to the metros. So we went from Laurier and had to transfer at Berri-UQAM and then ride until Viau. So I told the other 3 that we had 3 stops until we needed to transfer. Me and E Cowling got into one metro car and the Hawkesbury elders got into another car. I took one end of the car and left elder cowling to do the other side. So I started contacting people and it was going along just fine - elder cowling just started talking with one person and then moved to another person when the first person left. By the time we got to Berri, I was talking to this one lady who was fairly interested and he was still talking to someone else. So I got off with the lady since that was both of our stops and I was assuming that elder cowling was watching me and would get off too. Well I walked to the stairs with this lady and asked for her number but she didn't want to give it to me, so I gave her a mormon.org card and then went back and talked with the Hawkesbury elders... who had the wonderful news to tell me that they tried getting elder cowling's attention but failed in that attempt. Yes, a country boy from Idaho in his first time riding the metros was now lost. haha So we thought he might recognize that we weren't on the metro and get off and wait for us at the next station - so we boarded the next train and got off at the next station - then reboarded and got off at the next - and one more time we did the same thing. Ha all to no avail because he wasn't there. So then we go back to berri and call Elder Neff to alert him of the situation - he told us to solve the problem quickly - we went to the metro cops to see if maybe they could page elder cowling over the loud speaker, but since he was not a minor, they couldn't do that. The cops told us to go to the destination and gave us a number to call if he wasn't there. So we went back down to the platform and were waiting for the metro when we got a call from Elder Neff telling us that Elder Cowling had been found by the Chinese East elders and that they were at the biodome waiting for us. (Keep in mind that we had spent about 45 minutes looking for him already) so we get on over to the biodome and learn what happened with Elder Cowling. Ha turns out that he just went passed berri because he wasn't paying attention to me - but then after a couple stations he thought that I had gone to the next car and he mistakenly saw a guy in a white shirt and thought it was the hawkesbury elders in the other car - so he stayed on. Then he got to thinking... wait, I shouldn't be on this long and they aren't around afterall... (after like 10 minutes) and so he asked somebody how to get to the biodome - they told him to just go 2 more stops and then switch lines. So he did and about halfway back on the green line he saw a group of missionaries on the platform waiting to get on the metro - and so he just booked it to them. They were super shocked to see him - but they got him to the biodome safely. Ha And they got there before we did! It was ridiculous, but it was also really funny. The Hawkesbury elders and I were laughing pretty much the whole time.
"[We did splits, and I] I was with Elder Neff for the night! It was super cool because the last house Elder Neff and I knocked on let us in and were just these amazing potentials! At first we talked with the husband and he was pretty interested but still kind of mellow about it, and then a little bit later his wife joined us at the door - and so we asked if we could come back and then he said, 'I don't know, what do you think?' to his wife and she just shook her head yes!! Ha so then she started talking with us and she was super interested and so she invited us in for a second and we gave her a book of mormon and asked her to read 2 ne 2 and she wanted to come to church that next sunday and we asked if she wanted to meet Sister Pacas (a member about the same age - they are younger, like early 30s) who lived just a few houses down and have sis pacas give her a ride to church and she said yes and it was just way cool. Unfortunately, they speak french. And so we had to try and pass them off. Also unfortunately, she didn't come to church. However, sister pacas did go over to pick up Kamilia but it turns out that that morning she had been called into work at 11 - so sister pacas then just talked with Kamilia for awhile (because Kamilia asked her to) and they became friends and they're going to try and set something up this week for Kamilia to come to sister pacas' house and the missionaries to meet her there. So awesome.
"As a final point - it was really cool when we were helping this family get ready to move and they were taking some boxes of old things to the local charity here in St. Lazare - so we get there and Sis Macfarlane told us to go through the books and see if there were any we wanted - she had this huge fre-eng and eng-fre dictionary (3 part dictionary) and also a french thesaurus and a french sticker book that I took for language study and they are awesome! Ha Hopefully I can take advantage of them while I'm in this area because I don't know if I can take them with me to my next area!"
"So metro contacting definitely created some interesting stories! We had the Hawkesbury elders with us too and we went down in to the metros. So we went from Laurier and had to transfer at Berri-UQAM and then ride until Viau. So I told the other 3 that we had 3 stops until we needed to transfer. Me and E Cowling got into one metro car and the Hawkesbury elders got into another car. I took one end of the car and left elder cowling to do the other side. So I started contacting people and it was going along just fine - elder cowling just started talking with one person and then moved to another person when the first person left. By the time we got to Berri, I was talking to this one lady who was fairly interested and he was still talking to someone else. So I got off with the lady since that was both of our stops and I was assuming that elder cowling was watching me and would get off too. Well I walked to the stairs with this lady and asked for her number but she didn't want to give it to me, so I gave her a mormon.org card and then went back and talked with the Hawkesbury elders... who had the wonderful news to tell me that they tried getting elder cowling's attention but failed in that attempt. Yes, a country boy from Idaho in his first time riding the metros was now lost. haha So we thought he might recognize that we weren't on the metro and get off and wait for us at the next station - so we boarded the next train and got off at the next station - then reboarded and got off at the next - and one more time we did the same thing. Ha all to no avail because he wasn't there. So then we go back to berri and call Elder Neff to alert him of the situation - he told us to solve the problem quickly - we went to the metro cops to see if maybe they could page elder cowling over the loud speaker, but since he was not a minor, they couldn't do that. The cops told us to go to the destination and gave us a number to call if he wasn't there. So we went back down to the platform and were waiting for the metro when we got a call from Elder Neff telling us that Elder Cowling had been found by the Chinese East elders and that they were at the biodome waiting for us. (Keep in mind that we had spent about 45 minutes looking for him already) so we get on over to the biodome and learn what happened with Elder Cowling. Ha turns out that he just went passed berri because he wasn't paying attention to me - but then after a couple stations he thought that I had gone to the next car and he mistakenly saw a guy in a white shirt and thought it was the hawkesbury elders in the other car - so he stayed on. Then he got to thinking... wait, I shouldn't be on this long and they aren't around afterall... (after like 10 minutes) and so he asked somebody how to get to the biodome - they told him to just go 2 more stops and then switch lines. So he did and about halfway back on the green line he saw a group of missionaries on the platform waiting to get on the metro - and so he just booked it to them. They were super shocked to see him - but they got him to the biodome safely. Ha And they got there before we did! It was ridiculous, but it was also really funny. The Hawkesbury elders and I were laughing pretty much the whole time.
"[We did splits, and I] I was with Elder Neff for the night! It was super cool because the last house Elder Neff and I knocked on let us in and were just these amazing potentials! At first we talked with the husband and he was pretty interested but still kind of mellow about it, and then a little bit later his wife joined us at the door - and so we asked if we could come back and then he said, 'I don't know, what do you think?' to his wife and she just shook her head yes!! Ha so then she started talking with us and she was super interested and so she invited us in for a second and we gave her a book of mormon and asked her to read 2 ne 2 and she wanted to come to church that next sunday and we asked if she wanted to meet Sister Pacas (a member about the same age - they are younger, like early 30s) who lived just a few houses down and have sis pacas give her a ride to church and she said yes and it was just way cool. Unfortunately, they speak french. And so we had to try and pass them off. Also unfortunately, she didn't come to church. However, sister pacas did go over to pick up Kamilia but it turns out that that morning she had been called into work at 11 - so sister pacas then just talked with Kamilia for awhile (because Kamilia asked her to) and they became friends and they're going to try and set something up this week for Kamilia to come to sister pacas' house and the missionaries to meet her there. So awesome.
"As a final point - it was really cool when we were helping this family get ready to move and they were taking some boxes of old things to the local charity here in St. Lazare - so we get there and Sis Macfarlane told us to go through the books and see if there were any we wanted - she had this huge fre-eng and eng-fre dictionary (3 part dictionary) and also a french thesaurus and a french sticker book that I took for language study and they are awesome! Ha Hopefully I can take advantage of them while I'm in this area because I don't know if I can take them with me to my next area!"
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Week 27 in the Field
"After about a week of good weather and thinking it was spring... we got some more snow. But for the most part it has melted off now and we're just back to spring. Last monday the four of us elders had some fun with the hockey net the yard of our apartment. We were playing some hockey and soccer with it and it was a lot of fun to be out in the sun and just playing at least some variation of sports. Also that same day we found out that there was a bakery near the walmart where we get groceries, so Elder Echeverria and I bought some dessert and got a free loaf of baked bread. As always, it was a little bit on the expensive side, but it was definitely worth it.
"The other day it was really cool because we were trying to contact a referral that we had given a book of mormon to, but she didn't really want to talk with us much more than that. As we were walking up to her house, there were a whole bunch of kids out playing on the street and one of them was 9 yr old Ellie who is a member - so she came over to talk with us and then all of the kids followed and were surrounding us and just talking with us for quite some time. One girl was trying to show off on her roller blades and tried showing us how fast she could go - some other boys had a skate board and they were trying to show us some tricks. Ha it was a lot of fun seeing them and just talking to all of them. Then we went and talked with Deb ... - the referral - and we were able to make a really good contact with her. We were able to figure out why she wanted the book of mormon in the first place and it was really cool because there is a quote by elder holland in preach my gospel that goes something like 'more important than speaking is listening... As you listen to people I promise you that something in what they say will always highlight a principle of the gospel of which you can bear testimony' and that was really true as we listened to her story. We were able to talk about the gospel and it opened the door for us coming back another time. Hopefully this week we'll be able to see her and talk with her and her family.
"This week Elder Cowling and I were asked to give a training at the zone study that we had on Wednesday. It was really fun because we gave a training on baptism. We talked about what baptism is just in general terms, what makes it valid - or what gives it authority, then we talked on a more spiritual note about what baptism is - why we make the covenant of baptism, we then went on to talk about committing people to baptism on the first and also just bringing up baptism at any contact - following the spirit and listen like Elder Holland advised us to. Two of my favorite parts of the training were 1. A talk given by Elder Oaks about why we do missionary work. One of the things I like most about his talk was when he says something to the effect of 'we don't baptize people just for the sake of adding to the membership of the church, we baptize them so that they can return tothe Celestial Kingdom and live with God. Other Churches cannot do it. Good Christian living cannot do it. Only the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has that authority.' I wish I had the talk in front of me so I could quote it exactly. 2. Elder McMurrin told me of a zone study that he went to in which an Elder asked the question 'How many of you feel the insatiable need to baptize on your mission?' That question is a tricky one - ha I remember when Elder McMurrin asked me this question - I didn't answer right away because I wasn't sure what he was getting at. Then the elder continued 'You better feel that need to baptize because that is the only thing we have to offer!' I thought it was really cool. Also a third favorite point of the training was when we talked about the different forms of baptized - Elder McMurrin was talking to one person at a door with Elder Resek and then they handed him a book of mormon which the guy accepted and then paused and said, 'wait, this isn't how you baptize people, right?' Ha not quite.
"Last night to end the day we decided to stop by Anna and her family. They let us in and we talked with her and her two daughters for quite awhile. We showed them a bible video and a mormon message and then we were able to really talk about the book of mormon. It was really neat because of a couple reasons. 1. We had tried teaching about the book of mormon before and about the restoration but I don't think anna fully realized the importance of it until yesterday. 2. Alexa, Anna's daughter, is one that is really into philosophy - and likes to argue just for an argument's sake. But we asked her to read Moroni 7 and I totally expected her to try and start a discussion about it, but she said that she liked it and that it made sense to her! That was cool. It was also a really neat feeling for me last night as I was trying to find a reading assignment to give to Alexa and Chiara, the daughters, and as I thought and prayed about it during the lesson a couple chapters came into my mind to give to them that I feel will really help them in their understanding of the gospel and that they will like them."
"The other day it was really cool because we were trying to contact a referral that we had given a book of mormon to, but she didn't really want to talk with us much more than that. As we were walking up to her house, there were a whole bunch of kids out playing on the street and one of them was 9 yr old Ellie who is a member - so she came over to talk with us and then all of the kids followed and were surrounding us and just talking with us for quite some time. One girl was trying to show off on her roller blades and tried showing us how fast she could go - some other boys had a skate board and they were trying to show us some tricks. Ha it was a lot of fun seeing them and just talking to all of them. Then we went and talked with Deb ... - the referral - and we were able to make a really good contact with her. We were able to figure out why she wanted the book of mormon in the first place and it was really cool because there is a quote by elder holland in preach my gospel that goes something like 'more important than speaking is listening... As you listen to people I promise you that something in what they say will always highlight a principle of the gospel of which you can bear testimony' and that was really true as we listened to her story. We were able to talk about the gospel and it opened the door for us coming back another time. Hopefully this week we'll be able to see her and talk with her and her family.
"This week Elder Cowling and I were asked to give a training at the zone study that we had on Wednesday. It was really fun because we gave a training on baptism. We talked about what baptism is just in general terms, what makes it valid - or what gives it authority, then we talked on a more spiritual note about what baptism is - why we make the covenant of baptism, we then went on to talk about committing people to baptism on the first and also just bringing up baptism at any contact - following the spirit and listen like Elder Holland advised us to. Two of my favorite parts of the training were 1. A talk given by Elder Oaks about why we do missionary work. One of the things I like most about his talk was when he says something to the effect of 'we don't baptize people just for the sake of adding to the membership of the church, we baptize them so that they can return tothe Celestial Kingdom and live with God. Other Churches cannot do it. Good Christian living cannot do it. Only the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has that authority.' I wish I had the talk in front of me so I could quote it exactly. 2. Elder McMurrin told me of a zone study that he went to in which an Elder asked the question 'How many of you feel the insatiable need to baptize on your mission?' That question is a tricky one - ha I remember when Elder McMurrin asked me this question - I didn't answer right away because I wasn't sure what he was getting at. Then the elder continued 'You better feel that need to baptize because that is the only thing we have to offer!' I thought it was really cool. Also a third favorite point of the training was when we talked about the different forms of baptized - Elder McMurrin was talking to one person at a door with Elder Resek and then they handed him a book of mormon which the guy accepted and then paused and said, 'wait, this isn't how you baptize people, right?' Ha not quite.
"Last night to end the day we decided to stop by Anna and her family. They let us in and we talked with her and her two daughters for quite awhile. We showed them a bible video and a mormon message and then we were able to really talk about the book of mormon. It was really neat because of a couple reasons. 1. We had tried teaching about the book of mormon before and about the restoration but I don't think anna fully realized the importance of it until yesterday. 2. Alexa, Anna's daughter, is one that is really into philosophy - and likes to argue just for an argument's sake. But we asked her to read Moroni 7 and I totally expected her to try and start a discussion about it, but she said that she liked it and that it made sense to her! That was cool. It was also a really neat feeling for me last night as I was trying to find a reading assignment to give to Alexa and Chiara, the daughters, and as I thought and prayed about it during the lesson a couple chapters came into my mind to give to them that I feel will really help them in their understanding of the gospel and that they will like them."
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Special Message
My parent's were sent this picture and text message from Travis' mission president:
"We are in interviews here with Elder Mortenson and he is doing great! What a joy it is to have him here! He is truly a wonderful, faithful Elder and we love him! He is also a happy, obedient missionary as well! Thank you for raising this remarkable young man who we appreciate so much! He honors your name in every way. Love, the Cannon's CMM Canada Montreal Mission
P. S. he sends his love!"
I just have to say how much I appreciate this mission president and his wife! They are so considerate in sending little images or messages home to reassure us all that Travis is doing well. I blame it on being the hormonal pregnant sister, but each time we get something like this my eyes water a bit and my heart grows in love for the people who are watching out for my brother. The Lord really does take care of His children, wherever they are.
Love,
Jessi
"We are in interviews here with Elder Mortenson and he is doing great! What a joy it is to have him here! He is truly a wonderful, faithful Elder and we love him! He is also a happy, obedient missionary as well! Thank you for raising this remarkable young man who we appreciate so much! He honors your name in every way. Love, the Cannon's CMM Canada Montreal Mission
P. S. he sends his love!"
I just have to say how much I appreciate this mission president and his wife! They are so considerate in sending little images or messages home to reassure us all that Travis is doing well. I blame it on being the hormonal pregnant sister, but each time we get something like this my eyes water a bit and my heart grows in love for the people who are watching out for my brother. The Lord really does take care of His children, wherever they are.
Love,
Jessi
Week 26 in the Field
"So it is kind of crazy to me to think that a year ago I was at BYU watching conference... 6 months ago I was in Montreal... and now another 6 months has passed and I watched conference in St. Lazare. It always seems like so long in between the conferences, and yet it flies by. I have now watched 2 of the 4 general conferences that will be shown during my mission. That's a crazy thought.
"This week was really cool in that we worked with Brother Stothart (the 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency) to use his ipad and projector and speakers to then stream conference live at our little building. On Saturday we didn't have very many people come (just a few members) but on Sunday we focused on inviting our investigators and some member families to the sunday morning session. It was super cool when we ended up having about 12 members there, 4 missionaries (us and valleyfield), and 3 of our investigators! Andre and Elizabeth came and they had a hard time concentrating on understanding the english for the 2 hours, but they enjoyed the messages about the family - they want to come to the activities put on by the church now and just just church! It's crazy. I hope we can start teaching them seriously! Manny came too, he was a little late, but he said that he connected with a couple of the messages that were given and that he was going to review the part of conference that he missed! That was really neat. He wanted to meet just the next sunday at church, but we talked him in to the possibility of meeting during the week. It was awesome to see how the members just went over to the investigators and welcomed them, got to know them, and just included them. We were really happy with the turnout and reception.
"I learned an important lesson about not procrastinating this week! So each week we have a district study and we assign a team to be in charge of the district lunch afterwards. They then make assignments to the other teams to bring specific items. Ha so this week we were assigned to bring the dessert. We remembered to buy a dessert as we walked into the store on monday but by the time we were checking out, we had forgotten all about it. Ha Fast forward to wednesday morning right before the district study - elder cowling and I are hustling through the store trying to find a dessert and get to d study on time. Here's the lesson I learned - just because there's a picture of something on the box, doesn't mean that that is what you are actually buying! Ha There was a picture of this pie crust with a whole bunch of fruit in it - so I thought that it was those little fruit cups - so I bought two boxes of them thinking that that would be sufficient for our district. We then went to d study, and had great trainings and a great lunch. To my horror, when we went to get the dessert, we open up the boxes to find 4 pie tins with a dough placed in them ready to bake... I was so embarrassed that I was just laughing. Ha I promised to bring extra dessert the next district study.
"In terms of conference, it was just really good this time around. Like always. It was crazy to me when twice (in particular) I just stopped and stared because I felt a personal epistle just to me. I really can't wait to get the ensign and read over these talks again. I've been trying to write down the miracle of the day or the hand of god in my life as well as a lesson that I have learned throughout the day - and the hand of god was definitely in general conference.
"[While being on a split with the district leader,] We had a couple of miracles that night. When we were trying to buzz in to this apartment building, this lady came down and we waved to her, so she talked with us in french. It was funny because she was telling us that she didn't really want to hear us out and she didn't think that it would be a good idea for her to let us in because a lot of people there didn't like people knocking on their doors. So then Elder Neff asked if he had buzzed her apartment just to make sure he didn't do it again.. well she stopped and then said 'well I guess I can let you in this once!' Ha so she let us in and then we went up to the top floor. it was funny because we were trying to get a vibe on which kind of people lived in this apartment building - 1st door - People from India... no go. 2nd door - older quebecois man... no go. 3rd door - younger black man with younger white girlfriend... try back another time. 4th door - Mom and son from pakistan - Christians - Let us in and we taught a lesson on the restoration! Ha it was just funny how different those first three doors were and then really neat to be able to teach that mom and son. I hope they become investigators for kirkland soon."
"This week was really cool in that we worked with Brother Stothart (the 1st counselor in the Branch Presidency) to use his ipad and projector and speakers to then stream conference live at our little building. On Saturday we didn't have very many people come (just a few members) but on Sunday we focused on inviting our investigators and some member families to the sunday morning session. It was super cool when we ended up having about 12 members there, 4 missionaries (us and valleyfield), and 3 of our investigators! Andre and Elizabeth came and they had a hard time concentrating on understanding the english for the 2 hours, but they enjoyed the messages about the family - they want to come to the activities put on by the church now and just just church! It's crazy. I hope we can start teaching them seriously! Manny came too, he was a little late, but he said that he connected with a couple of the messages that were given and that he was going to review the part of conference that he missed! That was really neat. He wanted to meet just the next sunday at church, but we talked him in to the possibility of meeting during the week. It was awesome to see how the members just went over to the investigators and welcomed them, got to know them, and just included them. We were really happy with the turnout and reception.
"I learned an important lesson about not procrastinating this week! So each week we have a district study and we assign a team to be in charge of the district lunch afterwards. They then make assignments to the other teams to bring specific items. Ha so this week we were assigned to bring the dessert. We remembered to buy a dessert as we walked into the store on monday but by the time we were checking out, we had forgotten all about it. Ha Fast forward to wednesday morning right before the district study - elder cowling and I are hustling through the store trying to find a dessert and get to d study on time. Here's the lesson I learned - just because there's a picture of something on the box, doesn't mean that that is what you are actually buying! Ha There was a picture of this pie crust with a whole bunch of fruit in it - so I thought that it was those little fruit cups - so I bought two boxes of them thinking that that would be sufficient for our district. We then went to d study, and had great trainings and a great lunch. To my horror, when we went to get the dessert, we open up the boxes to find 4 pie tins with a dough placed in them ready to bake... I was so embarrassed that I was just laughing. Ha I promised to bring extra dessert the next district study.
"In terms of conference, it was just really good this time around. Like always. It was crazy to me when twice (in particular) I just stopped and stared because I felt a personal epistle just to me. I really can't wait to get the ensign and read over these talks again. I've been trying to write down the miracle of the day or the hand of god in my life as well as a lesson that I have learned throughout the day - and the hand of god was definitely in general conference.
"[While being on a split with the district leader,] We had a couple of miracles that night. When we were trying to buzz in to this apartment building, this lady came down and we waved to her, so she talked with us in french. It was funny because she was telling us that she didn't really want to hear us out and she didn't think that it would be a good idea for her to let us in because a lot of people there didn't like people knocking on their doors. So then Elder Neff asked if he had buzzed her apartment just to make sure he didn't do it again.. well she stopped and then said 'well I guess I can let you in this once!' Ha so she let us in and then we went up to the top floor. it was funny because we were trying to get a vibe on which kind of people lived in this apartment building - 1st door - People from India... no go. 2nd door - older quebecois man... no go. 3rd door - younger black man with younger white girlfriend... try back another time. 4th door - Mom and son from pakistan - Christians - Let us in and we taught a lesson on the restoration! Ha it was just funny how different those first three doors were and then really neat to be able to teach that mom and son. I hope they become investigators for kirkland soon."
Week 25 in the Field
"So we busted out the bikes this week a couple of times so that we would be able to save some kilometers... and also to enjoy the good weather. However it was quite lame when we were coming back from a member's house and I hit something in the road that gave me a flat tire! So we had to walk all the way back home - probably 5-6 kilometers.
"So we've been asked as missionaries to give thank you cards to the members who feed us or do nice things for us, etc. Elder Cowling and I went over to Sister Rutledge's to take pictures for that and it was fun because we ended up with the idea to use some food coloring and then put it on the snow having it say "Thank You" and then we stood next to it and took some pictures. It was a lot of fun and just in time too since the snow has really melted these past few days! It has been really sunny and nice, but today it's raining. The rain is fun though! Free car wash, yeah?" (The perks from a missionary's perspective ;))
"A lot of the times when we go door to door, we'll talk to people and then ask them for referrals. Usually we'll say "hey, by chance do you know anybody in the area who might be interested in our message?" Ha and sometimes they tell us to go see their neighbor, sometimes they say that we just have to knock on their doors and find out, and other times they just say they don't know. So the other day we asked that same question and I expected just a normal response, ha but he said (in french) "I don't know, maybe you should ask Jesus and he'll tell you." Ha I'm not sure he understood that sometimes Christ works through people... like himself... to help other people, like us! Either way it was funny.
"Ha another funny thing that happened this week is when we were still sharing a car with the valleyfield elders . So we went to pick them up from their knocking session and they only had a few more houses left - so E Cowling and I decided to just help them out and finish the street. As we finished it and were walking back to the car and we saw this car come around the corner... slow down... and drive slowly - eventually working its way past us. As they drove past us we saw two older guys in shirts and ties. The four of us were joking around later and were saying "Hey did you all see how we totally stole the Jehovah's Witnesses' turf today? That's right! I'm sure they were thinking 'those dang mormons are multiplying! Now there are 4! not just 2!"
"Another cool experience came when we just stopped by a potential investigators' house. About 2 weeks ago we were out tracting and we saw these two ladies trying to move luggage into the car and so we just decided to help out. At first they resisted but then they agreed and we were able to eventually set up a return appointment with the one that lived there. Well when we went back at the designated time, she wasn't there. So we left a note with our number on it. Well fast forward, so the other day we went by her house again and this time she was there! It was cool because she said that she still has the book of mormon in her car and that she has our note on her counter meaning to call us, but just keeps forgetting. Ha another thing she said was that we were like her angels the night that we helped her move her mom's bags out to the car. Her name is Yandi and she is pregnant and so she couldn't really do any lifting, and her mom was really old and so it was hard for her to carry the things - so then came two 20 year old guys just offering to help. It was really special for her - and then for us when she told us!
"Another cool story this week was with manny - the cop who said he was going to come to church. Well he ended up not coming to church, but we did visit him after church and had a long chat with him. He told us that he had surgery on his neck on tuesday and was just still in a lot of pain and so that is one reason he didn't come. But then we were able to just hear his story - what his expectations were of us - and then we were able to give our expectations. It was neat because he said that he doesn't often let strangers in his house, let alone his office in his house, and yet he let us in both. He was saying "Seriously, you guys have an aura about you, God is with you!" It was way cool. And it was cool because we mentioned a little bit about the word of wisdom and then he was like "well I'll start looking for alternatives" and then at one point he asked "Do we believe in angels in the church of jesus christ of latter day saints?" It was just neat to see him including himself in that question. We invited him to conference this coming week and he said he's coming."
"So we've been asked as missionaries to give thank you cards to the members who feed us or do nice things for us, etc. Elder Cowling and I went over to Sister Rutledge's to take pictures for that and it was fun because we ended up with the idea to use some food coloring and then put it on the snow having it say "Thank You" and then we stood next to it and took some pictures. It was a lot of fun and just in time too since the snow has really melted these past few days! It has been really sunny and nice, but today it's raining. The rain is fun though! Free car wash, yeah?" (The perks from a missionary's perspective ;))
"A lot of the times when we go door to door, we'll talk to people and then ask them for referrals. Usually we'll say "hey, by chance do you know anybody in the area who might be interested in our message?" Ha and sometimes they tell us to go see their neighbor, sometimes they say that we just have to knock on their doors and find out, and other times they just say they don't know. So the other day we asked that same question and I expected just a normal response, ha but he said (in french) "I don't know, maybe you should ask Jesus and he'll tell you." Ha I'm not sure he understood that sometimes Christ works through people... like himself... to help other people, like us! Either way it was funny.
"Ha another funny thing that happened this week is when we were still sharing a car with the valleyfield elders . So we went to pick them up from their knocking session and they only had a few more houses left - so E Cowling and I decided to just help them out and finish the street. As we finished it and were walking back to the car and we saw this car come around the corner... slow down... and drive slowly - eventually working its way past us. As they drove past us we saw two older guys in shirts and ties. The four of us were joking around later and were saying "Hey did you all see how we totally stole the Jehovah's Witnesses' turf today? That's right! I'm sure they were thinking 'those dang mormons are multiplying! Now there are 4! not just 2!"
"Another cool experience came when we just stopped by a potential investigators' house. About 2 weeks ago we were out tracting and we saw these two ladies trying to move luggage into the car and so we just decided to help out. At first they resisted but then they agreed and we were able to eventually set up a return appointment with the one that lived there. Well when we went back at the designated time, she wasn't there. So we left a note with our number on it. Well fast forward, so the other day we went by her house again and this time she was there! It was cool because she said that she still has the book of mormon in her car and that she has our note on her counter meaning to call us, but just keeps forgetting. Ha another thing she said was that we were like her angels the night that we helped her move her mom's bags out to the car. Her name is Yandi and she is pregnant and so she couldn't really do any lifting, and her mom was really old and so it was hard for her to carry the things - so then came two 20 year old guys just offering to help. It was really special for her - and then for us when she told us!
"Another cool story this week was with manny - the cop who said he was going to come to church. Well he ended up not coming to church, but we did visit him after church and had a long chat with him. He told us that he had surgery on his neck on tuesday and was just still in a lot of pain and so that is one reason he didn't come. But then we were able to just hear his story - what his expectations were of us - and then we were able to give our expectations. It was neat because he said that he doesn't often let strangers in his house, let alone his office in his house, and yet he let us in both. He was saying "Seriously, you guys have an aura about you, God is with you!" It was way cool. And it was cool because we mentioned a little bit about the word of wisdom and then he was like "well I'll start looking for alternatives" and then at one point he asked "Do we believe in angels in the church of jesus christ of latter day saints?" It was just neat to see him including himself in that question. We invited him to conference this coming week and he said he's coming."
Week 24 in the Field
"...we are just trying to invite as many people we can to come to church and take book of mormons. It was a lot of fun this week in a couple different ways. The first experience this week that was crazy was when Elder Cowling and I were out knocking in St. Clet. We had book of mormons in the trunk in different languages and normally we carry just French and English bofms. Well there happened to be an italian one in the trunk and elder cowling accidentally grabbed it and forgot to put it back. He told me he had an italian bofm and I thought that we would see one tracting but then I just forgot about that thought. Turns out that a little while later we knocked on this door and started talking to the people at the house. We end up discovering that he was one of the few english people in that town AND an Italian! We were beside ourselves! Ha We were trying so hard to give him a book of mormon and he was trying so hard to refuse it. Ha it got to the point that he was so frustrated he just said 'A Bible! A Bible! I've already got a bible!' Ha no joke! Ha it was ridiculous and I wanted to show him 2 Ne 29:3 but then I just decided to not show him but use the next few verses from memory to form my next question. I ended up asking him if he liked the words of Christ to which he obviously said yes, but then I asked him why he was against having more words of Christ. To which he didn't really respond exactly to my question and kept calling the bofm a bible and we corrected him on that - alas he never accepted the Book of Mormon but it was crazy how he fulfilled prophecy and how God uses us to reach out to his children and just how mindful he is of us.
"Second cool thing that happened this week was this sunday when we passed by an investigator's house and were able to get in and talk with him and his family. It was Rob and Suzanne and their 3 boys Mackenzie, Robby, and Jesse. They are such an awesome family and it was really cool when we were talking to them because we were all in the kitchen and Suzanne was preparing some food and then the 3 boys were sitting at the center island by Rob and all of them were just talking to us and having fun as a family. It has been hard getting in touch with them because Rob travels to South Africa a lot for business and so they're just busy, but we were able to get in yesterday, share a spiritual thought about easter and then set up a return appointment for this friday! They seriously would be such an awesome family in the gospel.
"Third amazing story this week was when we tried passing by a potential yesterday. So about a week or so ago we knocked on this house and a kid around our age answered the door. He was bhudist and we worked really hard to get him to accept the book of mormon - we even said a prayer for him to want to take the book of mormon - eventually he did and we were able to then get his number. So we left and tried getting ahold of him a few days later, but we weren't able to contact him. So we just decided to pass by yesterday. Turns out he wasn't there but when we knocked on the door, another guy answered the door and said 'Guys! What's the good word? Come on in!' We ended up talking to him and he was just asking us about the church and told us that our visit was really timely because just the other day his wife and him had been talking about God and how they want to kind of start going back to church and things along that line and then we show up. It was funny at one point because Elder Cowling was doing most of the talking with him and I was trying to listen to them while also listening to his six year old daughter Everest as she was trying to get me to play with her and her puppets. Ha It was funny because then he, Manny, asked everest, 'everest what did we tell you to do when adults are talking?' To which she answered shyly 'to raise our hand' "That's right' And then she asked, "But, but you were talking to that one (pointing to E. Cowling) but I didn't think you were talking to this one (pointing to me)" Haha it was so funny and everyone was laughing. You've got to give her credit for her reasoning! Ha so then we kept on talking with Manny and he was wanting to know when and where church is. It was just an amazing story - turns out that the guy that we talked to before, Simon, was from nepal. The way they know each other is because Manny climbed Mount Everest and one of the guides on that trip became like a father to manny. So manny told that man that if he needed anything to let him know. So a couple years later he gets a call from that man and was asked to house his son Simon while Simon went to college. So manny said yes and now simon is apart of their family. We had given simon a book of mormon and so we mentioned that with manny and were able to give manny a book of mormon too! And Manny asked us if we had any specific assignment for him and so we gave him one and he committed himself to reading it that night! And he kept saying that we would see him at church this sunday! Amazing story. I hope it goes well. He told us to call him saturday and go from there."
"Second cool thing that happened this week was this sunday when we passed by an investigator's house and were able to get in and talk with him and his family. It was Rob and Suzanne and their 3 boys Mackenzie, Robby, and Jesse. They are such an awesome family and it was really cool when we were talking to them because we were all in the kitchen and Suzanne was preparing some food and then the 3 boys were sitting at the center island by Rob and all of them were just talking to us and having fun as a family. It has been hard getting in touch with them because Rob travels to South Africa a lot for business and so they're just busy, but we were able to get in yesterday, share a spiritual thought about easter and then set up a return appointment for this friday! They seriously would be such an awesome family in the gospel.
"Third amazing story this week was when we tried passing by a potential yesterday. So about a week or so ago we knocked on this house and a kid around our age answered the door. He was bhudist and we worked really hard to get him to accept the book of mormon - we even said a prayer for him to want to take the book of mormon - eventually he did and we were able to then get his number. So we left and tried getting ahold of him a few days later, but we weren't able to contact him. So we just decided to pass by yesterday. Turns out he wasn't there but when we knocked on the door, another guy answered the door and said 'Guys! What's the good word? Come on in!' We ended up talking to him and he was just asking us about the church and told us that our visit was really timely because just the other day his wife and him had been talking about God and how they want to kind of start going back to church and things along that line and then we show up. It was funny at one point because Elder Cowling was doing most of the talking with him and I was trying to listen to them while also listening to his six year old daughter Everest as she was trying to get me to play with her and her puppets. Ha It was funny because then he, Manny, asked everest, 'everest what did we tell you to do when adults are talking?' To which she answered shyly 'to raise our hand' "That's right' And then she asked, "But, but you were talking to that one (pointing to E. Cowling) but I didn't think you were talking to this one (pointing to me)" Haha it was so funny and everyone was laughing. You've got to give her credit for her reasoning! Ha so then we kept on talking with Manny and he was wanting to know when and where church is. It was just an amazing story - turns out that the guy that we talked to before, Simon, was from nepal. The way they know each other is because Manny climbed Mount Everest and one of the guides on that trip became like a father to manny. So manny told that man that if he needed anything to let him know. So a couple years later he gets a call from that man and was asked to house his son Simon while Simon went to college. So manny said yes and now simon is apart of their family. We had given simon a book of mormon and so we mentioned that with manny and were able to give manny a book of mormon too! And Manny asked us if we had any specific assignment for him and so we gave him one and he committed himself to reading it that night! And he kept saying that we would see him at church this sunday! Amazing story. I hope it goes well. He told us to call him saturday and go from there."
Monday, March 4, 2013
Week 23 in the Field
"This week has been really good! My new companion is Elder Cowling. He is the normal age of 19 and he comes from Caldwell, Idaho. Ha It's kind of funny to have a companion from the states again. I like it though. He's a really great elder and I have had fun as I've started to train him. Ha I'm definitely learning a lot from him as we go along. The MTC really teaches them how to be good missionaries - and some of the things that we learn there get lost overtime in the mission field, so it is really good to be learning them again. He is eager to learn and to improve and that is awesome. Ha it was funny because I was standing at transfers waiting for him to show up and then all the new missionaries got there. Ha he came up to me and was like 'Elder Mortenson, I think your my new companion' - when that was confirmed he just busted out in some Creole with me 'eh sak passe!' Ha I hadn't heard creole from anybody since I was in Hochelaga - let alone from a missionary straight from the MTC. He's a really good elder though and it shows through his desire to teach people and find people. I hope I can train him well.
"One of the coolest things that happened this week was when we went over to the Roys house (the family that moved in about 2 weeks or so ago) and we had dinner with them. So that was saturday night. Also there were the dad's sons (who normally live with their mom, but visit their dad and step mom about every 2 weekends). One of them, Nathan, was pretty interested in the gospel and so we were able to set up an appointment for the next night to come and watch the restoration video with him. We also left them as a family with the commitment to read Alma 18 because we read Alma 17 together with them. So Sunday night rolls around and we go back over there for dinner and then we were able to watch the video with Nathan. We talked a little bit about the restoration and some background information that led to the restoration. Ha then we gave him a soft commitment to baptism and he accepted. ha and we also set up an appointment to come by tonight and teach the plan of salvation! We're super excited about teaching him. He's really a great kid and we hope that he read in the book of mormon last night like we asked him to and prayed about it! We'll find out though!
"This week we were also able to teach Andrea Wilde! She's been an investigator for a few months now and we've only been able to have one lesson with her since she has just been so busy! We've set up a couple but then they've just been postponed - or she just doesn't answer our calls. So finally we were able to have a lesson with her and it went pretty well! She is interested in the gospel and I think willing to act on the things that we are asking her to do - like read and pray. Her husband is less active and she has a 7 month old daughter and seriously it would be so awesome if we could help her to join the church and get the husband to come back to activity. We're going to try and bring some of the women in the ward to teach with us this friday when we see her - hopefully by so doing, giving her people to relate to and friends to associate with. It was really exciting when we were trying to suggest the time for our next appointment and she said 'oh maybe same time in about 2 weeks?' And then having to push aside my fears I suggested 'well maybe we could meet next friday instead?' And thankfully she agreed! Ha I feel like I have had to put my fear of rejection aside a couple times this week - and as I have done so, only good things have happend! Ha that was something really cool this week.
"Ha a funny story this week - So normally when we knock on a door, we'll give our little introduction and then we ask if we can share more. If no, then we ask for referrals. Whether they give them to us or not, we then ask them if there is anything we can do for them - maybe like shovel their walk or something. Ha Normally they say 'oh no- that's why i have kids. They're do that.' Ha so this week we knocked on a potential's door and the son answered. We asked if his mom was there - no - when she'd be back - I don't know - so we're like 'well ok, maybe we could shovel this walk for you?' (it had snowed the night before) Ha and then he was like 'Wait, like for free??' Ha 'Yeah' 'Ha uh.. yeah for sure! Thanks!' I thought that was funny just because Had we asked the adult, they would just have put the responsibility for that on their kids - but since it was the kid, for sure he was going to accept our service!"
****
I wrote Trav this week and told him I love that his P-days are on Monday; It makes Monday a happy day rather than a back-to-the-grind-stone day!
I am a sentimental shmuck, and all who know me just have to get over it or endure my endless amounts of mushy spewage ;) I get so giddy to hear from Elder Morty. Sometimes it feels like forever since the last letter, but even though we don't get to talk a lot I do feel our bond of friendship is still strong and our love as family is deepening. It is a definite blessing that comes from being on the Lord's errand. I am so glad Travis is my brother. I'm thankful to see his heart in the right place and his mind developing. I'm pretty sure all the other spirit brothers and sisters felt a little jealous in the premortal life because they weren't going to be apart of the A Team Family ;) j/k, I'm super partial to my family!
Only a few more months until Travis hits his year mark, and if it goes like Brad's last year Travis will be home before we know it!
Love,
Jessi
"One of the coolest things that happened this week was when we went over to the Roys house (the family that moved in about 2 weeks or so ago) and we had dinner with them. So that was saturday night. Also there were the dad's sons (who normally live with their mom, but visit their dad and step mom about every 2 weekends). One of them, Nathan, was pretty interested in the gospel and so we were able to set up an appointment for the next night to come and watch the restoration video with him. We also left them as a family with the commitment to read Alma 18 because we read Alma 17 together with them. So Sunday night rolls around and we go back over there for dinner and then we were able to watch the video with Nathan. We talked a little bit about the restoration and some background information that led to the restoration. Ha then we gave him a soft commitment to baptism and he accepted. ha and we also set up an appointment to come by tonight and teach the plan of salvation! We're super excited about teaching him. He's really a great kid and we hope that he read in the book of mormon last night like we asked him to and prayed about it! We'll find out though!
"This week we were also able to teach Andrea Wilde! She's been an investigator for a few months now and we've only been able to have one lesson with her since she has just been so busy! We've set up a couple but then they've just been postponed - or she just doesn't answer our calls. So finally we were able to have a lesson with her and it went pretty well! She is interested in the gospel and I think willing to act on the things that we are asking her to do - like read and pray. Her husband is less active and she has a 7 month old daughter and seriously it would be so awesome if we could help her to join the church and get the husband to come back to activity. We're going to try and bring some of the women in the ward to teach with us this friday when we see her - hopefully by so doing, giving her people to relate to and friends to associate with. It was really exciting when we were trying to suggest the time for our next appointment and she said 'oh maybe same time in about 2 weeks?' And then having to push aside my fears I suggested 'well maybe we could meet next friday instead?' And thankfully she agreed! Ha I feel like I have had to put my fear of rejection aside a couple times this week - and as I have done so, only good things have happend! Ha that was something really cool this week.
"Ha a funny story this week - So normally when we knock on a door, we'll give our little introduction and then we ask if we can share more. If no, then we ask for referrals. Whether they give them to us or not, we then ask them if there is anything we can do for them - maybe like shovel their walk or something. Ha Normally they say 'oh no- that's why i have kids. They're do that.' Ha so this week we knocked on a potential's door and the son answered. We asked if his mom was there - no - when she'd be back - I don't know - so we're like 'well ok, maybe we could shovel this walk for you?' (it had snowed the night before) Ha and then he was like 'Wait, like for free??' Ha 'Yeah' 'Ha uh.. yeah for sure! Thanks!' I thought that was funny just because Had we asked the adult, they would just have put the responsibility for that on their kids - but since it was the kid, for sure he was going to accept our service!"
****
I wrote Trav this week and told him I love that his P-days are on Monday; It makes Monday a happy day rather than a back-to-the-grind-stone day!
I am a sentimental shmuck, and all who know me just have to get over it or endure my endless amounts of mushy spewage ;) I get so giddy to hear from Elder Morty. Sometimes it feels like forever since the last letter, but even though we don't get to talk a lot I do feel our bond of friendship is still strong and our love as family is deepening. It is a definite blessing that comes from being on the Lord's errand. I am so glad Travis is my brother. I'm thankful to see his heart in the right place and his mind developing. I'm pretty sure all the other spirit brothers and sisters felt a little jealous in the premortal life because they weren't going to be apart of the A Team Family ;) j/k, I'm super partial to my family!
Only a few more months until Travis hits his year mark, and if it goes like Brad's last year Travis will be home before we know it!
Love,
Jessi
Week 22 in the Field
"So I think the biggest thing on your mind right now is what happened during transfer calls! It just so happens that you rightly guessed that I am staying in Valleyfield for the next transfer. However, Elder Freeze is being transferred to Alma... so that's way north and east from here. It's about 500 kms to get there... I am going to be training again! Ha except for this time it is with a green greeny - not like elder freeze and how he was a 1 transfer greeny. I actually won't know who exactly my companion is going to be until I show up to transfers on wednesday. Ha They only tell you that you are training because sometimes they make changes to who trains who after President Cannon has had a chance to interview the new missionaries on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.
"So this transfer will be different just because it is 3 weeks instead of the normal 6 weeks and at the end of this 3 week transfer is when Valleyfield will split into two areas - so the two branches we cover will both have their own set of missionaries. I wonder what will happen in 3 weeks and if I will stay or go or what will happen... but that is 3 weeks down the road.
"A funny story for you all is something that happened last monday after I wrote you all. (not to mention that it is also funny that I am using hand motions and facial expressions as I am writing this story in the email) Anyways, we were at the mission office to hopefuly get reimbursed for some things (another story for another time) and while we were there I was talking with Sister Arhets - one of the senior missionaries that works in the office. When I served in Hochelaga/montreal east I was around sister arhets a fair amount and we became good friends. Ha so she said to me 'Elder Mortenson! I can't believe that you embarrassed me the other day!' Ha to which i was really confused. I thought it was because I had written her a thank you note for some things she had gotten me. Then she continued, 'the other day a missionary called and was like 'hi sister arhets! Guess who it is! It's your favorite missionary!' Ha to which she responded 'Elder Mortenson?!' Ha funny thing was... it wasn't me who had called. Ha so she felt a tad bit embarrassed.
"Out of the blue this week we received a call from a guy that we didn't know before and he started asking about the english class that we do. And then he also asked about church and what time it started and what he needed to wear, etc. Ha So we answered his questions and told him when church was and left it at that. We were in St. Lazare for church yesterday, so we asked Brother Brochu to keep an eye out for the guy at church. Ha he totally came!"
"So this transfer will be different just because it is 3 weeks instead of the normal 6 weeks and at the end of this 3 week transfer is when Valleyfield will split into two areas - so the two branches we cover will both have their own set of missionaries. I wonder what will happen in 3 weeks and if I will stay or go or what will happen... but that is 3 weeks down the road.
"A funny story for you all is something that happened last monday after I wrote you all. (not to mention that it is also funny that I am using hand motions and facial expressions as I am writing this story in the email) Anyways, we were at the mission office to hopefuly get reimbursed for some things (another story for another time) and while we were there I was talking with Sister Arhets - one of the senior missionaries that works in the office. When I served in Hochelaga/montreal east I was around sister arhets a fair amount and we became good friends. Ha so she said to me 'Elder Mortenson! I can't believe that you embarrassed me the other day!' Ha to which i was really confused. I thought it was because I had written her a thank you note for some things she had gotten me. Then she continued, 'the other day a missionary called and was like 'hi sister arhets! Guess who it is! It's your favorite missionary!' Ha to which she responded 'Elder Mortenson?!' Ha funny thing was... it wasn't me who had called. Ha so she felt a tad bit embarrassed.
"Out of the blue this week we received a call from a guy that we didn't know before and he started asking about the english class that we do. And then he also asked about church and what time it started and what he needed to wear, etc. Ha So we answered his questions and told him when church was and left it at that. We were in St. Lazare for church yesterday, so we asked Brother Brochu to keep an eye out for the guy at church. Ha he totally came!"
Week 21 in the Field
"In our french branch we have a lot of less active members who live really far south from us. They don't get visited very often because it just takes too many kilometers to go there. But we decided that we needed to just swallow the kilometers and visit them. So we made a day of it and went all the way down to the US border. It was really neat to visit with these people because one didn't know that the church was even near her, some others were excited that we had come and want us to come back more often, and others were at least nice to us. It was crazy to think that we were pretty much touching the United States this week when we took a picture of being at the border. It was cool because we visited a part member familiy that has 17 huskies. Ha they use them for dog sledding. Super cool. It was neat to be able to get to know them and teach the wife who isn't a member. We visited with this one family who has 10 kids and one car. So they say that it is hard to get everyone to church because of that...
"as we were finishing up our trip down to the states, we came back through valleyfield and were able to meet with one of our investigators - tristan. He was the only one there and we had a really cool lesson with him. We went outside and told him how the holy ghost can be like coke and mentos. if you relate how it says in 2 ne 33:1 that the holy ghost will carry the truth of the message unto the hearts of the children of men, but not necessarily into. That's where we come in. We have to open the door for it. Ha So we had a bottle of coke and then the mentos in a sleeve up top with a little stopper - so then we had tristan 'let the holy ghost into' his heart.
"This weekend we had a really awesome part member family move in. We spent several hours helping them move in on saturday and went back yesterday to help a little more and tonight we've been invited to dinner there. Ha it is cool because they live literally a minute from our house. The parents have been baptized for about a year and a half now. They're great. We're hoping to be able to work with some of their kids.
"This week we taught seminary 3 days and it would have been 4 but we had that trip to the [less actives] by the states. It was really fun to have to prepare the lessons and teach the seminary kids, but I am also grateful that it is over now too. Ha We had a lot of fun with that."
"as we were finishing up our trip down to the states, we came back through valleyfield and were able to meet with one of our investigators - tristan. He was the only one there and we had a really cool lesson with him. We went outside and told him how the holy ghost can be like coke and mentos. if you relate how it says in 2 ne 33:1 that the holy ghost will carry the truth of the message unto the hearts of the children of men, but not necessarily into. That's where we come in. We have to open the door for it. Ha So we had a bottle of coke and then the mentos in a sleeve up top with a little stopper - so then we had tristan 'let the holy ghost into' his heart.
"This weekend we had a really awesome part member family move in. We spent several hours helping them move in on saturday and went back yesterday to help a little more and tonight we've been invited to dinner there. Ha it is cool because they live literally a minute from our house. The parents have been baptized for about a year and a half now. They're great. We're hoping to be able to work with some of their kids.
"This week we taught seminary 3 days and it would have been 4 but we had that trip to the [less actives] by the states. It was really fun to have to prepare the lessons and teach the seminary kids, but I am also grateful that it is over now too. Ha We had a lot of fun with that."
Monday, February 11, 2013
Week 20 in the Field
"To catch you all up on just a couple things. So the past few weeks we have been going to tristan's hockey games and I always feel dumb when I go to them. Normally I understand everything that is going on in sports and the rules and whatnot and now Elder Freeze tries to explain it to me and sometimes I still don't get it! Ha Humbe pie - I'd love some! Also 2 sundays ago we were in St. Lazare and Bella Stothart (an 8 yr old member) gave me a picture that she drew of me. So on the left half is a picture of me as a missionary and on the right side is a picture of me as 'Mortonman' - so as a superhero. Ha I like how she views missionaries! So one of our investigators has deemed me as the 'nerd' and elder freeze as the 'creator' haha good times. I guess wearing glasses that day didn't help my cause.
"We were able to have a lesson with Candace - a 17 yr old girl we found awhile ago - and it was neat because she hadn't done any reading in the book of mormon and so that was what our lesson turned out to be. She had talked about meeting with us to her sister and that was cool because she had some questions for us. At the end of the lesson our member was able to testify of the book of mormon and Candace really seemed eager to meet with us again this coming week!
"this week it looks like we will be teaching Seminary 3 times. We're excited for that! Ha In trying to prepare for this lesson I have grown in respect for seminary teachers! Congrats mom and dad for doing it so successfully for so long. Ha I'm grateful that I was able to learn the stories in the bible during seminary - it for sure helps now on the mission.
"Cool experience this week came from when we were up in Rigaud (about 20 min from our home) and we needed to call an investigator at 6:30. Well we were doing some tracting and when 6:30 came around... we couldn't get any service to call her. So it turns out that both E Freeze and I said our own prayers unbenknownst to the other for us to get service to be able to call Kristina. As we knocked on one door and returned close to the spot where we had tried calling but didn't have any service, I looked at the phone and we had service and were able to call her! Ha It was way cool! unfortunately she didn't answer, but our prayers were!"
***
The gospel of Jesus Christ is such a joy and light. I am thankful for its powerful influence in my life and the lives of my family members. I love seeing how the gospel fills each of us with hope and purpose.
This week I shared the following quote with Travis in an email:
"If you follow the Spirit, your personal search for the truth inevitably leads you to the Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ, for He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” This may not be the most convenient way; it will probably also be the road less traveled, and it will be the path with mountains to climb, swift rivers to cross, but it will be His way—the Savior’s redeeming way." President Uchtdorf
I truly believe that. The gospel of Christ is worth sacrificing for. It grants the ultimate ability to find and feel lasting joy.
Love,
Jessi
"We were able to have a lesson with Candace - a 17 yr old girl we found awhile ago - and it was neat because she hadn't done any reading in the book of mormon and so that was what our lesson turned out to be. She had talked about meeting with us to her sister and that was cool because she had some questions for us. At the end of the lesson our member was able to testify of the book of mormon and Candace really seemed eager to meet with us again this coming week!
"this week it looks like we will be teaching Seminary 3 times. We're excited for that! Ha In trying to prepare for this lesson I have grown in respect for seminary teachers! Congrats mom and dad for doing it so successfully for so long. Ha I'm grateful that I was able to learn the stories in the bible during seminary - it for sure helps now on the mission.
"Cool experience this week came from when we were up in Rigaud (about 20 min from our home) and we needed to call an investigator at 6:30. Well we were doing some tracting and when 6:30 came around... we couldn't get any service to call her. So it turns out that both E Freeze and I said our own prayers unbenknownst to the other for us to get service to be able to call Kristina. As we knocked on one door and returned close to the spot where we had tried calling but didn't have any service, I looked at the phone and we had service and were able to call her! Ha It was way cool! unfortunately she didn't answer, but our prayers were!"
***
The gospel of Jesus Christ is such a joy and light. I am thankful for its powerful influence in my life and the lives of my family members. I love seeing how the gospel fills each of us with hope and purpose.
This week I shared the following quote with Travis in an email:
"If you follow the Spirit, your personal search for the truth inevitably leads you to the Lord and Savior, even Jesus Christ, for He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” This may not be the most convenient way; it will probably also be the road less traveled, and it will be the path with mountains to climb, swift rivers to cross, but it will be His way—the Savior’s redeeming way." President Uchtdorf
I truly believe that. The gospel of Christ is worth sacrificing for. It grants the ultimate ability to find and feel lasting joy.
Love,
Jessi
Week 19 in the Field
"We were invited over to a french member's house for dinner... we finished the main course and Sister talec was asking if we wanted any more, so I was like 'non, pas maintenant, mais c'est correct' So, 'Now, not now, but it's all good.' Which definitely confused her, but then she realized I was saying that I didn't want anymore and then asked elder freeze if he wanted anymore. What he was trying to say in English was 'No, I'm ok.' But what he said in French was 'Je suis d'accord' which means 'I agree.' Ha so we all busted up laughing and giving him a hard time. It was an awkward night for us missionaries. Oh and then also - so Elder Freeze doesn't eat very much and so they were making a joke of how we would say thank you for me I would say 'merci beaucoup' (thanks a lot) but elder freeze would say 'merci pas beaucoup' (Thanks not a lot).
"So it was really neat this week because we found several new investigators and a fair amount of potentials. And at least 2 of the new investigators we found accepted a soft commitment to baptism! Their names are Zach and Brittany - he's 19 and she is around 16. It was cool during the lesson because we were teaching it and talking about how if they would read the book of mormon, they would come to know the truth of it and know that if that is true - that everything else is true too. Ha Zach asked a great question 'So Where can I get a book like this one (he had my copy of the book of mormon in his hands)?' So we definitely gave him one and then Brittany (his sister) had mentioned that she wasn't a good reader - so she asked him if he would read it to her! That was great!
"this past Tuesday we had President and Sister Cannon at our house for Interviews and just to see us. It was the first time that they had seen the apartment and so we made sure it was really clean. It was really nice of them too because they brought us some bagels! They were really good. It was really neat too because Sister Cannon was feeling a bit under the weather and so we were asked to give her a blessing. I annointed and E Freeze gave the Blessing. After that, Sister Cannon told me that that was the first time that Elders had given her a blesssing. That was a neat experience for all of us."
"So it was really neat this week because we found several new investigators and a fair amount of potentials. And at least 2 of the new investigators we found accepted a soft commitment to baptism! Their names are Zach and Brittany - he's 19 and she is around 16. It was cool during the lesson because we were teaching it and talking about how if they would read the book of mormon, they would come to know the truth of it and know that if that is true - that everything else is true too. Ha Zach asked a great question 'So Where can I get a book like this one (he had my copy of the book of mormon in his hands)?' So we definitely gave him one and then Brittany (his sister) had mentioned that she wasn't a good reader - so she asked him if he would read it to her! That was great!
"this past Tuesday we had President and Sister Cannon at our house for Interviews and just to see us. It was the first time that they had seen the apartment and so we made sure it was really clean. It was really nice of them too because they brought us some bagels! They were really good. It was really neat too because Sister Cannon was feeling a bit under the weather and so we were asked to give her a blessing. I annointed and E Freeze gave the Blessing. After that, Sister Cannon told me that that was the first time that Elders had given her a blesssing. That was a neat experience for all of us."
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Photos From the Field
We just received more pictures from Travis. They arrived on my birthday, so you can imagine it was one of the BEST birthday presents ever!! You know, we expected to have Travis grow a bit over the course of the two year mission, but we were pretty amazed to see just how much he has grown already!!!
We wondered if it's something in the water, or perhaps it's the fu-fu, or that other dish that included fries covered in cheese and gravy.
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| Oh wait! Mystery solved! |
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| This is back when he was a little runt with his trainer companion, Elder McMurrin. Looks like they are taking Montreal by storm. |
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| Aren't these kids beautiful?! |
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| I wish I knew who everyone is in these pictures! |
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| Missionaries in Montreal, the island. |
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| Travis and his companion Elder Freeze in Valleyfield. "What? It's blank? Ok, who switched the signs?!" |
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| Go Canada! This is either an iceskating rink they helped clear, or a practice photo for when they top Mt. Everest. |
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| Snow golf anyone? |
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| Hole in one! |
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| What's for dinner? |
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| That wall color will keep the Elders awake! Are those ukuleles hanging on the wall? Travis is sporting the new beaver hat we sent, and I'm diggin' those slippers! |
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| Rockin' out to "I Hope they Call me on a Mission" |
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| Elder Freeze and Elder Mortenson and a dog named Wolf (Just kidding. I don't know the dog's name.) |
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Week 18 in the Field
"One cool thing that happened is that the Hawkesbury elders had two baptisms this past saturday and we were asked to sing at their baptism. It was fun because Elder Freeze and I put together a rendition of Nearer, My God, To Thee accompanied by his ukelele. So I think that that is a first of it's kind at a baptism... well I guess maybe not in the polynesian islands... but at least up here in Canada.
"We ended up having to teach an English class that night. Ha I gained a lot of respect for teachers of languages. I can speak english without a problem... teaching it is another story! Ha it wasn't too bad thankfully and the guy we were teaching understood english very well. He really just wanted to talk, so we did a lot of that.
"For some reason, people here really like this green pepper and mushroom pizza and they get it all the time. So it was nice to have a quality and inexpensive little caesar's pizza. Ha It made me really happy. There is a Little Caesar's close to the Chapel in Kirkland (where we have our district studies now) and I think that buying a hot-n-ready pizza for the trip home to Valleyfield is going to become a weekly tradition.
"It was super neat this week because we have wanted one of our investigators (the non-member husband of a part member family) to teach us spanish. So Elder Wright and I went by their house on the way to unsplit and we were able to just talk with him for about an hour. We didn't learn any spanish but it was really good for him I think, to get to know us just that much better. I am hoping that Alma 17:29 will apply in this scenario."
Alma 17:29 says, "Now they wept because of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammon saw this his heart was swollen within him for joy; for said he, I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks into the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words."
****
Sharing the gospel is a personal matter I am glad to see that he and his companion understand that to effectively teach they must have a common bond of trust that unites them to their investigators.
"We ended up having to teach an English class that night. Ha I gained a lot of respect for teachers of languages. I can speak english without a problem... teaching it is another story! Ha it wasn't too bad thankfully and the guy we were teaching understood english very well. He really just wanted to talk, so we did a lot of that.
"For some reason, people here really like this green pepper and mushroom pizza and they get it all the time. So it was nice to have a quality and inexpensive little caesar's pizza. Ha It made me really happy. There is a Little Caesar's close to the Chapel in Kirkland (where we have our district studies now) and I think that buying a hot-n-ready pizza for the trip home to Valleyfield is going to become a weekly tradition.
"It was super neat this week because we have wanted one of our investigators (the non-member husband of a part member family) to teach us spanish. So Elder Wright and I went by their house on the way to unsplit and we were able to just talk with him for about an hour. We didn't learn any spanish but it was really good for him I think, to get to know us just that much better. I am hoping that Alma 17:29 will apply in this scenario."
Alma 17:29 says, "Now they wept because of the fear of being slain. Now when Ammon saw this his heart was swollen within him for joy; for said he, I will show forth my power unto these my fellow-servants, or the power which is in me, in restoring these flocks into the king, that I may win the hearts of these my fellow-servants, that I may lead them to believe in my words."
****
Sharing the gospel is a personal matter I am glad to see that he and his companion understand that to effectively teach they must have a common bond of trust that unites them to their investigators.
Monday, January 21, 2013
Belated Christmas Post
Now that it's the end of January, I am getting to writing about talking to Travis at Christmas time!
We all gathered around the computer Christmas day at my parent's house to see and chat with Elder Mortenson. It's probably because I am a known sentimental shmuck, and on top of it a sensitive pregnant woman, but my heart felt so happy it might burst! I stayed glued to the computer the whole 2 hours we got to talk to him.
He was able to see all of his nephews and nieces, including his newest niece Leah who was born the day before. She just couldn't wait to have uncle Trav see her, so she made her debut early (lucky us)!
Elder Mortenson looked great. He was his usual cheerful self, and was easy to talk to. He told us more about his companion, gave us a view of his apartment via pictures he showed, and showed off some of his French.
It was so nice to hear his voice and see his face. I've always felt very protective over my baby brother, so it was nice to see how well he is fending for himself, and nice to hear that there are loving members and comps who are watching out for him.
We sure are blessed to have our missionary out there in Canada. He's growing in ways he couldn't if he had stayed here. It is nice to hear that he is finding joy in the service and continuing to develop a testimony of God and His gospel.
Love,
Jessi
We all gathered around the computer Christmas day at my parent's house to see and chat with Elder Mortenson. It's probably because I am a known sentimental shmuck, and on top of it a sensitive pregnant woman, but my heart felt so happy it might burst! I stayed glued to the computer the whole 2 hours we got to talk to him.
He was able to see all of his nephews and nieces, including his newest niece Leah who was born the day before. She just couldn't wait to have uncle Trav see her, so she made her debut early (lucky us)!
Elder Mortenson looked great. He was his usual cheerful self, and was easy to talk to. He told us more about his companion, gave us a view of his apartment via pictures he showed, and showed off some of his French.
It was so nice to hear his voice and see his face. I've always felt very protective over my baby brother, so it was nice to see how well he is fending for himself, and nice to hear that there are loving members and comps who are watching out for him.
We sure are blessed to have our missionary out there in Canada. He's growing in ways he couldn't if he had stayed here. It is nice to hear that he is finding joy in the service and continuing to develop a testimony of God and His gospel.
Love,
Jessi
Week 17 in the Field
"Probably the most exciting story this week is Sophie and Tristan (her 12 year old son). I'm not sure if they have ever had a baptismal date and so elder freeze and I decided to try and commit them this past lesson that we had with them. it was a really cool lesson that we had - we talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and used the burning tea bag as an object lesson and then watched the mormon message 'reclaimed' with them. Then we committed them to baptism and they accepted and said that they would pray about it. That was super neat! So then the next day tristan had a hockey game and so we went to that to support him. His team really isn't very good... I'm not sure if they have won a game actually. But anyways - it was cool because tristan was playing defense and unfortunately they were down 2-0. Then one of the kids on his team scored a goal. Anyways - it comes down to the third period and almost at the end of the game when tristan steals the puck and has a break away and scores the equalizer. It was awesome. Elder Freeze and I definitely jumped out of our seats (then we had to remind ourselves that we were missionaries and that we needed to keep our composure). Then the game ended in a tie and as tristan was walking with his team back to the locker room we gave him a high-five and then I looked up at Gary (his dad) and he gave us a thumbs up. The reason why that is so cool is just because we've only met Gary like twice. And So I felt like that was a time that we gained a lot of his trust. It was funny too because then we went up and talked with him and tristan and gary said 'what, so you guys so up and he scores a goal!!?' ha it was awesome.
"This week was filled with a lot of knocking. We definitely had a couple days where that is all we did. Hopefully that will change this week as our potentials turn into investigators and the investigators that told us to come back in a couple of weeks become more interested. Some good door experiences came when this one lady saw that we were super nice, so she asked for our names and numbers cause she had 2 daughters! Ha Another awkward experience was when we asked this one lady if we could share how the family can be together forever... to which she told us 'thanks for the message. Bye' Super awkward. One guy let us in and talked with us and he thought that we were JW's. As he was asking us questions he found out that we were actually the mormons and then he found out more of our beliefs to which he said, 'you know, I think this is the first time that real Christians have knocked on my door.' We were pretty excited with that. Unfortunately he wasn't too interested in anything else. Oh yeah, one guy offered us jobs when we knocked on his door and talked with him for a little bit. That was really cool.
We're really excited for this coming week and hopefully a lot of our potentials become investigators."
"This week was filled with a lot of knocking. We definitely had a couple days where that is all we did. Hopefully that will change this week as our potentials turn into investigators and the investigators that told us to come back in a couple of weeks become more interested. Some good door experiences came when this one lady saw that we were super nice, so she asked for our names and numbers cause she had 2 daughters! Ha Another awkward experience was when we asked this one lady if we could share how the family can be together forever... to which she told us 'thanks for the message. Bye' Super awkward. One guy let us in and talked with us and he thought that we were JW's. As he was asking us questions he found out that we were actually the mormons and then he found out more of our beliefs to which he said, 'you know, I think this is the first time that real Christians have knocked on my door.' We were pretty excited with that. Unfortunately he wasn't too interested in anything else. Oh yeah, one guy offered us jobs when we knocked on his door and talked with him for a little bit. That was really cool.
We're really excited for this coming week and hopefully a lot of our potentials become investigators."
Week 16 in the Field
"So dearest family, transfer calls came and went... and not a creature in valleyfield is stirring. And by that I mean that Elder Freeze and I will both be staying in Valleyfield for at least another six weeks. That will be a lot of fun because Elder Freeze is a great comp.
"We've had a lot of fun this past transfer just trying to be creative in the things that we do and the ways that we approach missionary work. [W]e took E Freeze's ukelele with us a couple of times as we either went tracting or caroling and had a good time using that to sing songs. We've also just placed 2 snow shovels in the back of our car so that no matter where we are we have them at our disposal. Last week we made cupcakes to give to less actives in our english branch. We've worked a lot with the youth in having them come tracting with us and trying to have them come teaching with us. We've taught a seminary class. And we've tried to be creative in how we present our lessons to less actives/part member families. It is also exciting too because President Cannon gave us the suggestion to try and get this one non-member in this part member family to teach us spanish. So that should be exciting to do.
"This week was another tough week in that another family we were excited about essentially dropped us. But it was cool also because we found the wife of a less active member in the english branch and we taught her and she was answering the questions perfectly and even accepted a soft commitment to baptism. She didn't accept a date though. Ha and then when we tried to set up a return appointment for later that week she declined that for one a couple weeks later. But still, she is super cool and we are excited about her.
"This week Elder Freeze and I were in charge of the meal for our district study - and we went all out on it. We made some enchiladas... that turned out to be burritos but they were really good. Then we also had crepes. It took a fair amount of effort but for sure it was worth it! I think more now than before have I realized how nice it was to be at home and having mom's dinners that were always so filling and complete. Ha thanks be to the members for their dinners here."
"We've had a lot of fun this past transfer just trying to be creative in the things that we do and the ways that we approach missionary work. [W]e took E Freeze's ukelele with us a couple of times as we either went tracting or caroling and had a good time using that to sing songs. We've also just placed 2 snow shovels in the back of our car so that no matter where we are we have them at our disposal. Last week we made cupcakes to give to less actives in our english branch. We've worked a lot with the youth in having them come tracting with us and trying to have them come teaching with us. We've taught a seminary class. And we've tried to be creative in how we present our lessons to less actives/part member families. It is also exciting too because President Cannon gave us the suggestion to try and get this one non-member in this part member family to teach us spanish. So that should be exciting to do.
"This week was another tough week in that another family we were excited about essentially dropped us. But it was cool also because we found the wife of a less active member in the english branch and we taught her and she was answering the questions perfectly and even accepted a soft commitment to baptism. She didn't accept a date though. Ha and then when we tried to set up a return appointment for later that week she declined that for one a couple weeks later. But still, she is super cool and we are excited about her.
"This week Elder Freeze and I were in charge of the meal for our district study - and we went all out on it. We made some enchiladas... that turned out to be burritos but they were really good. Then we also had crepes. It took a fair amount of effort but for sure it was worth it! I think more now than before have I realized how nice it was to be at home and having mom's dinners that were always so filling and complete. Ha thanks be to the members for their dinners here."
Week 15 in the Field
"I find it really funny to me that you guys are a lot colder than me. So many of you told me just how cold it was there and while it has been cold here... I feel like winter is colder there and with more snow. Granted the snow has stayed and has piled up a lot. It's the worst when people don't shovel their walks and so there is knee-deep snow that we have to walk through to get to the door (and mother... skip on to the next section) with just normal church shoes. ha It's all good though.
"So something really cool that we found out this week - the river freezes here and there are people who take it upon themselves to build a golf course out on the ice. Ha so we are having a district activity today and we are going to go golfing out on the ice - apparently christmas trees mark the holes.
"So the other day (the same day we learned about the golf) we were tracting this street and it really was nice that day. The sun was out and it wasn't snowing or anything. Anyways, it was cold enough to make our ears red... but that was nothing for us young elders - so we just went tracting with our coats and not gloves, hat, and scarf. As we got down to the last house on the street we saw this elderly lady walking out in her yard and we started up a conversation - she was like "Who are you" then without waiting for a response she read our tags and said "Jesus Christ... (simply stating it - not swearing) Oh you need to be in your house taking care of the women." So we were like "yeah, well we're missionaries and we're trying to help everyone - maybe by shoveling snow or something" "Yeah there are people that need help shoveling snow but not from people like you - they need help from people who wear tucs and scarfs and gloves" ha needless to say she didn't accept our offer to help - but it was funny to us.
"Another funny thing that happened .. well yesterday. This was the first time that somebody actually slammed their door on us. ha All we understood was "Pourquoi (Why)?!" And then a bunch of french we didn't understand and then the door.
"It has been really neat lately because I feel like the youth are starting to want to do missionary work in our wards. one YW has changed her mind about serving a mission. She always wanted to - but she was telling us that she was gonna go when she was 21 (nothing wrong with that) but then last night we had dinner at her family's house and she said that she was for sure gonna go on a mission... and even at 19 now."
"So something really cool that we found out this week - the river freezes here and there are people who take it upon themselves to build a golf course out on the ice. Ha so we are having a district activity today and we are going to go golfing out on the ice - apparently christmas trees mark the holes.
"So the other day (the same day we learned about the golf) we were tracting this street and it really was nice that day. The sun was out and it wasn't snowing or anything. Anyways, it was cold enough to make our ears red... but that was nothing for us young elders - so we just went tracting with our coats and not gloves, hat, and scarf. As we got down to the last house on the street we saw this elderly lady walking out in her yard and we started up a conversation - she was like "Who are you" then without waiting for a response she read our tags and said "Jesus Christ... (simply stating it - not swearing) Oh you need to be in your house taking care of the women." So we were like "yeah, well we're missionaries and we're trying to help everyone - maybe by shoveling snow or something" "Yeah there are people that need help shoveling snow but not from people like you - they need help from people who wear tucs and scarfs and gloves" ha needless to say she didn't accept our offer to help - but it was funny to us.
"Another funny thing that happened .. well yesterday. This was the first time that somebody actually slammed their door on us. ha All we understood was "Pourquoi (Why)?!" And then a bunch of french we didn't understand and then the door.
"It has been really neat lately because I feel like the youth are starting to want to do missionary work in our wards. one YW has changed her mind about serving a mission. She always wanted to - but she was telling us that she was gonna go when she was 21 (nothing wrong with that) but then last night we had dinner at her family's house and she said that she was for sure gonna go on a mission... and even at 19 now."
Week 14 in the Field
So this week was a bit tougher than mosts when it comes to our investigators and our work. For awhile there people were pretty nice to us and things were going really well with people that we were excited about... then on thursday we were told by 2 of our most promising families that they didn't want to talk to us anymore and to 'step back' or 'let them go.' So that was tough wanting to respect their agency! but that is ok - we'll move on and hopefully they will find the gospel in the future.
"So this week we went to St. Lazare (english) and that was fun. We had prepared a song to sing during sacrament meeting because the primary president wanted us to. It was a Sally DeFord arrangement of Abide With Me. It turned out really nice and we were excited that it went as well as it did! Then later in church we taught part of the 3rd hour lesson - it was combined YM/YW/RS/Priesthood. It was about our branch mission plan. And again that went well. Ha it's good practice because now we have been asked to give a training at our Zone Study this wednesday! Good times.
"Ha some funny word slips this week - So I was explaining the great apostasy and I ended up saying that "les apotres ont tué" which is to say "the apostles killed!" ha I quickly corrected it to "les apotres ont été tué" - the apostles had been killed. Ha thankfully we all laughed. and then also in french there are 2 ways to say "I know" - savour (which is stronger and more intimate) and connaitre (to be familiar with) ha and if you say that you know somebody you have to use the connaitre form or else it means something a little more serious. Ha well... Elder Freeze ended up explaining in a spiritual thought that "Dieu nous sais" ha as in "biblically" knows us. which he quickly corrected too!"
"So this week we went to St. Lazare (english) and that was fun. We had prepared a song to sing during sacrament meeting because the primary president wanted us to. It was a Sally DeFord arrangement of Abide With Me. It turned out really nice and we were excited that it went as well as it did! Then later in church we taught part of the 3rd hour lesson - it was combined YM/YW/RS/Priesthood. It was about our branch mission plan. And again that went well. Ha it's good practice because now we have been asked to give a training at our Zone Study this wednesday! Good times.
"Ha some funny word slips this week - So I was explaining the great apostasy and I ended up saying that "les apotres ont tué" which is to say "the apostles killed!" ha I quickly corrected it to "les apotres ont été tué" - the apostles had been killed. Ha thankfully we all laughed. and then also in french there are 2 ways to say "I know" - savour (which is stronger and more intimate) and connaitre (to be familiar with) ha and if you say that you know somebody you have to use the connaitre form or else it means something a little more serious. Ha well... Elder Freeze ended up explaining in a spiritual thought that "Dieu nous sais" ha as in "biblically" knows us. which he quickly corrected too!"
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