December 27

Hey Family and Friends!!! Merry Christmas!! Did you all have a great day?? I sure did!! It was such a great Christmas!! Well we also had a very eventful week leading up to Christmas so I will tell you all about it!! Well we will start on Tuesday before Christmas...it was our p-day because it was transfers! After we did our personal study, we went to the mission office to pick up Sister Hayes. She was our companion for a day!! Sister Stockwell went home so she was companionless...it was lots of fun to have her with us. Both Sister Rice and I have served with her so it was a blast! We just did all of our normal p-day stuff and we had fun. It was also nice to have another sister at p-day! When p-day was all over, we had supper with the Reil family and that was an event. They have 5 kids and then there were 5 missionaries...because the mandarin elders have been eating with us all month...so there were a lot of us! Then we went to ESL. It was lots of fun. There were lots of Christmas treats and we played some fun games to help the students learn some Christmas carols! It was a great day. Wednesday was transfers and we got to go because we had Sister Hayes with us. Her companion is now Sister Sagers, but she was coming up from Lethbridge so she didn't get here until about 4...so we had Sister Hayes for extra long. So when we got back to our area, we studied and then had a lesson with Tammy. Then it was time to take Sister Hayes back to transfers. Then we had supper with the Higham's. They are so great! Then we had a really fun night! The Stanford's invited us to go to the Cannery with them. I have lived in Utah all of my life and have never been to a Cannery. It was so fun!! We canned lots of things and then we cleaned everything up! It was also fun because the service missionaries that were working there, are the Hornberger's. They are Ryan's...the stantion man from the temple....parents. He is still doing great! Completely active and still dating the girl he was at the temple with! It is so great to hear good news like that! Thursday was our weekly planning day, and it was fun. Since our investigators are out of town, we didn't have much to plan for. But then we had to take a trip to the mission office because Sister Hayes left some important things at our apartment so we mission mailed them to her. Then we had supper with the Young's. They are a really nice older couple and they also invited the Mark family over for supper too. Then we went to the Nativity with Sister Thomas and her daughter Laura!! It was lots of fun! We picked the perfect night to go because it was the last semi warm day...and there was nobody there so we were basically able to walk right into it and didn't have to stand in line. It was great! We had lots of fun with them. After that night we were in -30C weather and it has been freezing cold!! Friday we needed to gather a few things so we could make some presents for the people we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with. After we had lunch, we helped Sister Hobbs for a little bit. She is doing well and we cleaned her house all up so it would be good and clean for Christmas. Then we had a lesson with Sandra. She is doing better and better every week. She is definitely making progress!! That is the best part! To watch people progress! Then we had supper with the Fleck's. Their kids were cute and really excited for Christmas! When we were done there, we went to the Ford's to help them put up some Christmas decorations for the holiday season. We were also grateful that we survived the end of the world! Saturday we had breakfast with the Ivany's and then we went to Jennie's to do some last minute Christmas preparations for her! Then we met the Elders at the church so we could give them their Christmas presents. My favorite was Elder Ferrell's face when he kept pulling out the chain of his mission!!! It was priceless! Then we had the Richmond ward Christmas party! We were on crowd control with Santa....he even let us sit on his lap! Sunday was a great Christmas church service with all the great music. Then after church, we had supper with the Hyde's. They let us come over at the last minute because our original dinner appt canceled at church. So that was really nice of them. When we were done there, we went to the Ford's and had a quick little lesson with them. Then it was finally Christmas Eve!!! We had a great day! First we had our DDM and then went to lunch with the Elders...we also brought Laura along with us! It was lots of fun. Then our Christmas celebrations started! We went to the Ford's and we played a bunch of games with them. It was lots of fun. Then a little bit later, we went to their big family gathering. There was lots of yummy food. Then we had to be in by 6:00 so our entire zone got together and just played games. We really only have UNO...but that got old after awhile, so we figured out how to play Scum with UNO cards. That was lots more fun. Then it was time for us to turn into pumpkins...so when we got home, we cleaned up our apt so it would be clean for Christmas and then we watched 'Mr. Kruger's Christmas' and went to bed. We decided to sleep on our couches out by our Chrismas tree. Then comes CHRISTMAS!!!! It was such a great day!! We woke up at our usual time and opened all our presents. It was lots of fun. Then we got ready to go for the day. We started our Christmas morning with the Gossling family. They have the missionaries over every year and their children aren't allowed to come out of their rooms until the missionaries get there. It was fun to watch them all open their presents. When they got to come down we all opened our stockings....because Santa found us there too!! Then we had a delicious southern Christmas breakfast. It sure was yummy. Then we all sang some Christmas carols together. Then it was the time I had been waiting for!!! We got to SKYPE!! It was so much better than I even imagined it would be! It was so great to see everyone and talk to you all!! It was just AMAZING and the best Christmas present ever! Then we had lunch with the Istvanffy family. We spent a few hours there and while we were there, we played the deluxe edition of Settlers of Catan. It was pretty cool because everything on the board and all the pieces were all 3-D...not to brag or anything, but I won. Then we ran to the Ford's so we could skype again for a few minutes with the rest of the family. Then we had supper with Sister Tagudar. We had a Filipino dinner. It was interesting...but pretty good. Then on our way home, we stopped by to see Sister Holloran. She is a single lady and asked us to stop by. She is so sweet and it was good to spend a little time with her. Needless to say Christmas was such a great, but exhausting day!!! Then Wednesday we had p-day. It was another tender mercy that it was on Boxing Day...as close as I can get to Black Friday...but it just isn't the same since we can't leave our apt until 10...but we were brave and went to Chinook Mall. It is one of the busiest malls in Canada...it took us over 30 min just to find a parking spot. We didn't buy anyhing because things are still cheaper in the states...and I don't want to pack it all home. Then we just went to the church and played games. We figured out how to play Nertz with UNO cards too...it was a little bit confusing, but it worked. It is amazing what you can do with a deck of UNO cards. Then we had supper with the Salleh family. When we were done there, we decided to deliver some of the LA treats for the ward. IT WAS FREEZING COLD!!! But we somehow made it through the end of the night! I hope you all had a great Christmas!! It is such a wonderful time of the year to celebrate the birth of our Saviour!! I am so grateful for all He has done for me! I hope you all have a great week!! I love and miss you all!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant 1- The Nativity 2- The Elders and the Christmas presents 3- Christmas Eve 4- Christmas at the Gosslings 1- Our Christmas stockings 2- Our fun crowns from our Christmas crackers 3- Fun at the Cannery 4- More fun at the Cannery...don't we look attractive...

December 18, 2012

Hey Family and Friends!! Oh my goodness!! How are you all doing? My week was pretty great as a missionary!!! And there are less than 10 days til Christmas!!! I am so excited for that! Well I am excited to tell you all about our week!! So Monday was p-day. We had a little bit of a shortened p-day because we had a special day later in the week...but we still had fun! Since our p-day was a little bit shortened, we were able to bake treats for the LA's that we are going to take them to. Then we had a great evening! We had supper with the Walter's family. They are just so great!! And their kids are adorable! Then we had an activity with the Ward Missionaries in Richmond ward. We all met at Bro. Kneeland's house and assembled plates of goodies to take to all the recent converts in the ward and also some nonmembers. It was so fun! We delivered the treats with the Walters family and it was so cute to see their little kids go up to the door and sing a little carol! It was lots of fun! Tuesday we did a bunch of service at Jennie's...we changed all the light bulbs, cleaned the same storage room we clean every time, then we had a little adventure with the Christmas tree...she wanted a blanket under the tree...so Sister Rice and I were doing a good job, and then the tree fell over!!! Thankfully only 1 ornament broke! It was a miracle...but it is ok now. After that lovely adventure, we got to continue with the DVD organizing....it is a bigger job than I thought it was going to be...I will be so happy when it is all done! Then we did a few sotp-bys before we had supper with the Litchfields. They are just so sweet. Then we went to ESL and it was so much fun because we finally got to do some speaking activities with the students!! It was lots and lots of fun!! Wednesday we had ZTM's. It was a lot better than I was expecting it to be. I don't really love one of our ZL's at the moment because he isn't very obedient...but it was ok. Then we all went out to lunch. While we were at our meeting, everything we had set up for the day canceled...so when we were done we made some phone calls to set some different things up. So we were able to go see Carmen. We helped her organize a bunch of her stuff in storage and we got rid of a bunch of stuff! That evening our dinner canceled, but they gave us money to go out and then we just did some stop-bys. Thursday was the day I have been waiting for FOREVER!!! We went to the Calgary Alberta Temple!!! It was AMAZING!!! I haven't been to the temple for almost a year and it was absolutely a wonderful day! I had an incredible spirit come over me in the Celestial Room. I am so grateful for the temple! It brings so many blessings to our lives! It was so great going to the temple because all of the open house memories came flooding back! It was probably one of the best experiences I have had on my mission!! When we were done with our session, we went to lunch with some of the Sisters....the sisters from the ward. We went to the temple as a RS activity with the ward and it was so much fun!! When we got back to our area, we did some stop-bys and then we had supper with the Loewer Jr's. And then we did some more stop-bys. Friday was our weekly planning day since we were at the temple on Thursday. After we got that all done, we had a lesson with Sandra. It was a breakthrough lesson!! She didn't have a breakdown!! We kept it really simple! We talked about how God loves us and how we show our love to God!! It was a great lesson!! We also found out that she agreed to have VT's come visit her and she also agreed to be a VT!! That will be so good for her! Then we had supper with the Schnell's and it was great! We heard lots of stories about their journey into the church and it was a great evening! Then we had a lesson with Christy. She decided to learn about Honesty and Integrity. It always amazes me the things she wants to learn about!! Well Saturday was a great day...mostly because we got some great news!! We found out that Sister Hayes gets to spend 2 days with us since her companion is going home on Tuesday and transfers aren't until Wed...so we get to have a big party!! Elder and Sister Wansgard came and brought us an extra mattress so she won't have to sleep on the floor. Then we were able to go to the library for 1 hour to explore the mormon.org/christmas website! If you haven't seen it, look at it!! It is pretty great!! The church has so many wonderful resources for us to use! We were given permission to explore it and then make some lesson plans around the things that we learned. It was lots of fun. Then we worked on our LA treats again and started to deliver them. But then we had supper with Sister Thomas and Laura. It was great!! I feel so at home there and I just love them!! Sunday was just a great day at church and then we had correlation with the ward missionaries. We then had supper with the Gough family. They told us about some of the adventures they have had as they have served humanitarian missions as a family. They are really nice. Then we met with the Ford's. We played a fun Book of Mormon game with them and they had lots of fun! They really like the fun lessons. Monday wasn't p-day...because of transfers this week. So we had our DDM's. It was kind of a gongshow...but you should expect that by now. Then we went to BW's for lunch. It is the Elders new favorite restaurant. We have been there multiple times and they have what they call the 'Blazin Challenge'. This challenge is where you eat 10 of their spiciest wings in 5 min. If you do, you get a t-shirt and your picture on the tv...Well lots of the Elders have done it and they try to talk me into doing it every week...well somehow I gave in and actually did it! I am proud to report that I beat the Elders!! It was awful though and I wouldn't reccommend it to anyone!! I ate all the wings in 4 min! While we were waiting for our bill, our waitress came back to the table and said that someone was taking care of our bill for the day. It was a member that was also at the restaurant!! People are so nice! When we were done, we had a lesson with Sister Jiang and she is just as sweet as always. Then we visited someone Sister Rice knows from Lethbridge who is up visiting her family that is in our ward. And finally we had supper with the Stanford's. It was a very eventful week. I am not getting transferred, so my dream of 'dying' with Sister Rice is coming true!! This is the beginning of my last transfer!! I hope you all have a great week!! Have a very Merry Christmas!! My next p-day is next wed!! But I will talk to you all on Christmas!! I love and miss you all!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant

December 10, 2012

Hey Family and Friends!! Wow! What a week! It was a pretty good one. Are you ready to hear all about it? Get ready because here come all the details of my life in the Great White North this week! Monday was pday! Great day...but we had no car! Luckily the night before when we were talking about how we were going to do everything we needed to do, a sister that just returned from her mission to Vegas texted us and asked us if she could help us out by taking us to all the places we needed to go! It is crazy how the Lord works! So Anne picked us up from our apartment and dropped us off at the library so we could email you wonderful people. When we were done, she came and picked us up and took us shopping and then she dropped us off at the church where the Elders were. When we got there, we found out our zone won the car inspection awards again so we got another pizza party! That came in really handy! We basically chilled at the church all day since we were basically stranded there with all of our groceries...We got a hold of the family we were having supper with and explained the situation and Sister Balls offered to come and pick us up! She is so nice! So we went back to their house and had supper and then they took us to the ward Christmas Party with them. It was a ward Family Home Evening. There was a bunch of Christmas Carols and then a little message from the bishop and treats! It was great! Guess who even came!! Sandra! It was great to see her there! She said she really enjoyed the evening! We also found out that she knows Sister Balls from about 30 years ago! It was a great connection that was made!When the party was over, the Balls dropped us off at our apartment. The whole not having a car thing made Sister Rice and I want to learn how to ride a public bus...I can't say that I have ever ridden one in my entire life, and it could have solved a lot of our problems, but we have no idea how to use public transportation! Well Tuesday we were waiting all morning for a call from Elder Lawlor telling us our car was finished! The call finally came at about 11:30!! Sister Morgan had offered to take us to get it when it was done, so we called her and she came and picked us up and took us to get our car from the autobody shop!! It was such a miracle! I have never been so grateful for a car in my entire life! We are very lucky to live in this time where we have these modern conveniences!! By the time we got our car, we went to meet the Elders for lunch...since it was our District Meeting day. After lunch, we had our District Meeting. It waw wierd to have it in the afternoon. But when it was all over, we had to take some paperwork from our car to the office and drop a few other things off. While we were there, we got some mail!! I got the letters you wrote to me! They made my day! I also got my 'trunky papers'....it made my departure date real now that I have all my flight itineraries and all the other paperwork they gave to me! It was crazy!! Have I mentioned that the Elders call me everyday to tell me how many days I have left...it is REALLY annoying! Whenever they tell me I always say "Well guess what Elders, if I really wanted to, I could go on a date on Valentines." They don't like that! Well then we headed to dinner with the Loewer Sr. family and after that, we went to ESL! We had a big crowd there which was great! Wednesday we started out by doing service at Jennie's. We also brought some Elders with us because she wanted us to put some lights on all her trees and such. So we did that and then she had one of those blow up Santa things...guess where she wanted it...on the roof!! It was pretty hilarious watching the Elders put it up there. But at least Santa made it. When we were done there, we grabbed some lunch and then had a lesson with Tammy. Her mom was there so we got to meet her and she was really nice, but apparantly she isn't supportive of Tammy joining the church at all! Then we went to see Carmen. She is still doing good! She has a friend that wrote a book and it is too long so she asked us to talk to her and tell her the things wee did to cut pages out of Carmen's book. Hopefully it will help her. Then we had supper with Sister McGill. She is a sweet little singe sister and she invited another family over for supper as well. It was a great evening. There was lots of laughing involved! When we were done and on our way home for the night, we got a text from Jennie telling us the lights we put up were 2 different colors....of course we drove by to see what she was talking about!! It was hilarious! Basically everything we had done needed to be changed! But I think we have learned that is usually the case when we do things at Jennie's house. Thursday was weekly planning! Sister Rice and I finally finished one in one day! That is a miracle! As soon as we were done, we went to help Sister Hobbs. We had a great visit with her and then we cleaned the bathrooms and vaccummed and mopped the floors. Things were looking pretty sparkly by the time we were done! Then we had supper with the Kearls. She is the RS pres and her husband is LA, but her kids are great! We had a great evening with them and while we were waiting for the dessert to cook, we started playing a game of Monopoly with them! It was lots of fun. Then we had a lesson with the Fords. Daniel was out of town at a swim meet with his dad, so it was just Sister Ford and Lorenzo! I just love that family! Friday was a super long day...but it was so busy so I don't know why it seemed that way! First thing that morning we went to visit Bill. He was not in a good place. He is really bitter towards the church right now and all he did was tell us about all the things he thought were negative about the church. We don't really know how to help him. We do know that he needs to stop drinking!! Then we had a lesson with Sister Jiang. She is just a cute little chinese lady as always! She always makes you smile! Then we went to visit Sandra! The lesson started off really great. We were teaching the Restoration, but somewhere along the way her mood shifted...and she had another breakdown...I don't know what we did. Neither does Sister Rice. We were talking about it afterwards and decided that maybe it is because she is feeling the Spirit and knows she needs to change, but she doesn't want to. Anyways then we went to a really neat service opportunity...it was out of our zone, but we are the closest sisters so we got to go. It is at a Women's Shelter. The lady we are helping is Emerald. She is so sweet and really needs the gospel! She as an adorable 6 yr old son as well. We are helping her because her apartment is a disaster and she has so much stuff. So basically we are organizing things and dejunking her tiny little apartment. It is a great service!! And we hope that it is also a good missionary opportunity! She is great and the gospel would totally help her! Later that evening we had a lesson with Christy. We decided to keep reading the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet with her. We decided to let her choose the topic...she picked Sexual purity...you can imagine how fun that lesson was... Saturday we started our day back at the women's shelter helping Emerald. She is so sweet. We had some good conversation with her about religion. She basically described the Apostasy and the Great and Abominable church to us! She is just great! Then we met the Elders at Jennie's so we could get the lights all fixed...we basically started from square one! Well then we had to run to our dinner appt. We ate with Sister Thomas. She also invited the Assistants over because Elder Trone goes home next week....and they are the missionaries that have been helping her daughter. It was a great time with all of those people! We shared lots of laughs! Well then we had a lesson with Sister Kamenka. She had a question about the parable of the prodical son...guess what I had studied that morning...exactly that. So we had a great discussion about that! The more I meet with her the more I just love her! Sunday was such an exciting day!! We were up bright and early for ward council and then we had church for most of the day. But when church was over, we had a lesson with the Sackley/Schaffer family!! It went so well!! We taught them Lesson 3 which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ! They loved it! And then when we invited Kris to be baptized she said that is was something that she wanted to do and she didn't see why it wasn't the right thing to do. She told us she had been thinking about it. So we suggested that we pick a day for her to work towards...we extended Jan 26...and that date is significant in their family in some way...so that was kind of neat. Then she told us she wanted Ken, her husband, to baptize her. Well he isn't worthy at this exact moment, but he asked us how he can get in touch with the bishop so he can start making the necessary changes in his life! The power of the Atonement is real!! I am so grateful for it! It is incredible to watch the change in people as they accept the Savior and His atonement into their lives!! When we left we were on such a spiritual high...and yes maybe Sister Rice and I did a little victory dance in the driveway on the way to the car!! Then we went to supper with the Summers-gill family. They were super nice. After that we went to the Stake Choir festival and it was so great to hear all the beautiful Christmas music. It really put me more into the Christmas spirit! And then we had a quick lesson with the Fords! Well that was my very eventful week! But this week is looking even busier!! I hope you all have a fabulous week! Remember that I love and miss you all!! Only 15 more days til Christmas!!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant!!

December 3, 2012

Hey Family and Friends!! Oh my goodness! I don't even know where to begin with all the things that happened this week. It sure was an eventful one! Are you ready to hear all about it? Because it was kind of a gongshow, but it was great!! Well Monday was p-day. It wasn't too eventful. And nothing too exciting happened. We of course went to the office to visit the Sisters there! They made me so happy because now Grandma Wayment is doing exactly what they are doing!! It was fun. Then we just went to the church and hung out with the Elders. Ya our p-day was kind of lame. We watched them play basketball for awhile and wrote a few letters before we played UNO. Sister Rice was so excited to play...she lost 2 times, so she had to go to the wall. But lets be honest the Elders are too afraid to hit a sister with a soccer ball, so it wasn't that bad. Then we had supper with the Gough family. They are nice and we had a great evening with them. Tuesday began with our DDM that was a complete and total gongshow. The Elders were crazy and they were totally on one all day long. Well after we tried to learn something from the meeting, we all went to lunch and then we all headed to Jennie's house. She needed us to install some door stopper things on some doors and do a bunch of other random things. We cleaned up her basement and got everything put away. She was very grateful for all the help, so she gave the Elders a bunch of food, she gave us some really nice blakets and some lotion and shampoo and conditioner. She is great! She is so kind and her family just doesn't appreciate her. But I am grateful we get to help her. Well when we got home from Jennie's house, we went home and assembled LA treats so we could deliver them for the month of November since the month is basically over. Well then we had supper with the Stanford family. And then headed to ESL. It wasn't that eventful of a day...the good stuff is still coming. Wednesday was the offical beginning of winter in Canada I think. It was freezing cold and we got a bunch of snow! Of course it was the day we spent a lot of time outside! First thing Jennie asked us to come and fix something the Elders did wrong and do a few other quick things, but then we had the majority of our day to deliver the LA treats we had put together. We got so many of them done. And then we had a quick visit with Carmen. She is so cute! She had some questions about the Book of Mormon! It was adorable because she asks us to type up the answers and then print it off and put it in a sheet protector. She is just adorable. When we were out delivering treats again that afternoon, Jennie called us and asked us to come help her build a new desk for her son. We got it done and did a few other things for her before all her family got home. Then we had supper with the Highams!! It was great as always! I love the people here in this area! Then we delivered more LA treats! It was great and we got a lot done! Thursday was a great day, but it was also the beginning of the eventful weekend! Well do you remember how our car got keyed while we were at the temple? Well guess what, they picked the coldest, snowiest week to fix it!! So first thing in the morning we had to take our car to the shop. Then the sisters that are serving in Queensland/Parkland came and picked us up and took us back to our area for Mission Tour! It was great! Elder David Evans of the Seventy was there with his sweet wife. The first thing he wanted to do when he got there was shake all of our hands! It was such a great training/meeting! I learned so much and the spirit that was there was just incredible! Well the other great thing was that all the missionaries in Calgary were there...so that meant lots of Sisters...and also Bro and Sister Palmer were there!! It was such a great day! Then when it was all over, the Sisters took us to our dinner appt with the Remillards. It was great and we were all set to walk home, but she found out we didn't have a car and didn't want us to. We didn't want to ask her for a ride because she has 5 little kids under 9 yrs old and her husband was with the youth on their temple trip...but she was so nice and gave us a ride home and then we just studied. On Friday we prayed SO hard that our car would be fixed, but it wasn't. Luckily it was weekly planning all day and then we started calling people to give us a ride to places. The thing about our area is that it is so huge and it just isn't feasible to walk to lots of places. Well I thought we should call Sister Thomas...even though she was supposed to be at work...well she wasn't and she was able to take us to our lesson with Christy. We gave her a For the Strength of Youth pamphlet and then talked about the standards of the church. Then Sister Thomas picked us up and took us to our dinner appt with the Loewers...the ones that just moved in! They were great and their kids were adorable all night long! Then she took us to the RS activity. We were a little bit late and we were worried because we were supposed to sing, but we got there during the song right before ours. It turned out great! I have never been so grateful for a car until Saturday. I didn't know how we were going to survive! But we did. It was freezing cold and we had a lot going on...well kinda. We had to cancel one appt because we couldn't find a ride...luckily it also didn't work out for them and they were going to have to cancel anyways. Well we were supposed to go to a baptism later that day and Sister Rice was supposed to play the piano. Sister Walters...it was her sons baptism...called and confirmed some songs and they weren't the same ones, so we needed some time to practice...what option did we have...we walked to our church! It is about 2.5 km away and it took us about 30 min. We were all bundled up and our hair was frozen, but we made it. When we got there, the Johnson family was there cleaning the church and they offered to take us to the 17th Ave chapel...that is where the baptism was going to be. So we went there and Sister Rice was able to practice and we had some extra study time. Then we had the baptism of Brady Walters. It was great and Sister Rice did a great job at playing the piano. Then Sister Nicholson drove us home to our apartment. And we were home just in time for Sister Penner to come pick us up for supper. We had a quick supper with her and then we helped her wrap a bunch of Christmas presents and do a few other things because she is leaving for France next week and will be gone for 1 month. It was great and then she took us home. I hate asking people to give us rides to places...it makes us feel like we are so inconvenient!! Sunday was another busy day. We got a ride to church from the Fleck's and then we had a great day there. We taught gospel principles in Richmond ward and it went really great. Then when church was over, Sister Morgan came and picked us up and took us to her home for supper. She is great and we got to help them set up their Christmas tree. Then she took us to the Stake Center for the Christmas Devotional. It was a great devotional!! I love listening to the prophet! We got a ride from the Archibalds to the Ford's house and after we had a lesson with the, Sister Ford took us home. I really hope we get our car back soon!! It is crazy how much we rely on those things!! Well that was our eventful week! I am so happy it is December! The countdown for Christmas is on!!! Well I hope you all have a great week!! I love you and miss you all so much!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant Here are some pictures... 1- where our car should be parked, but its not...hence the sad face 2- our successful walk to the church...notice the white frozen hair!

November 26, 2012

Hey Family and Friends!! Oh man what a week!! I hope you all had a fabulous week!! Did you all have a great Thanksgiving? Well I can't wait to tell you all about our week...it wasn't very exciting, but it was still great!! Sister Rice and I are still amazed everyday that we are companions and we love it! She came to the field just one transfer after me! So we are basically in the same stage of our missions! So Monday was our p-day and we had so much fun. Guess what we did! We went to Bragg Creek again! It was really beautiful, but it was really windy and cold...Sister Rice and I were definitely not prepared to be in the wilderness...but we had lots of fun! We went with all the Elders and the Schnells. They are in our ward and they took us all up there. They showed us a little hike that went to some waterfalls and then they brought all the things needed to have a fire and roast some hotdogs! It was so much fun. When we were done there/tired of being cold, we all went back to the church and played missionary style UNO. It was pretty intense. Then we went to the Fleck's home and had supper. Their cute kids kept us entertained all night long. It was such a great p-day! Well Tuesday was a pretty boring day. We started off at Jennie's house. She is so stressed out because her husband, son, and new daughter-in-law are all coming from India this week. So we did lots of service there this week! So on Tues, we moved a bunch of furniture around...well the Elders did most of the heavy lifting and we set up some new tvs for her. When we were done there, Sister Rice was so sick. So we went home and she slept so that she could feel better. Well while she slept, I got caught up on a whole bunch of things. It was kind of great. When she woke up, she was feeling a little bit better, so we went and did some missionary work. We contacted some referrals and then we had supper with the Sugden family. They just moved here from Vancouver and they are super nice. Their cute little kids are a bit rambunctious, but it was fun. And on our way home, we stopped by ESL. We are starting to lose some of our students to work, so we need to find more people to come! Wednesday was a day just like Tuesday. We went to Jennies and did some service. This time we put together a dresser from IKEA. It only took us like 3 hours...but we finally did it!! Sister Rice was still sick that day, so we went home so she could get better. I again studied and did a bunch of stuff around our apartment. I got caught up on lots of things! Like I said, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving! I had a pretty good day! So first we did our weekly planning...that was kind of a gongshow. During our lunch, we set up our cute, humble, crooked Christmas tree. It is about 4 ft so we put it on a table to make it a little bit taller. So then we went to Jennies again and we were put in charge of setting up all her Christmas decorations. It was lot of fun...but one thing I learned...I stink at putting the lights on the tree!! I just can't do it and make it look good. Therefore I am all about pre-lit trees! Putting up all her Christmas decorations really made me get into the Christmas spirit! When we were done helping Jennie, we had a correlation with Bro Loewer. He is a great WML and is so on top of things! And then we had supper with the Merrill's. They fixed us an American Thanksgiving dinner!! It was so nice of them. They have a soon Reed, who is going to the same mission as Grandma! He was supposed to leave in Oct, but he has to wait for his visa...Canadians have a really hard time getting visas for the States. But I told him to look for Grandma!! Friday I was thinking about you all day! I was thinking about how much I LOVE black Friday!! I am so sad I missed it, but I will totes be there next year!! Well anyways we started our day once again at Jennie's house and we finished decorating her gigantic house with Christmas decorations! Then we had a lesson with Sandra. She is LA, but doesn't think she is a member. We were talking about the church and she had a little bit of a breakdown...it was kind of a breakthrough though. She wants to try to come back to church and try it again, but she doesn't want to leave 'her' church. So we will keep working with her! We also met with Sister Jiang that afternoon. She is doing great! She is so sweet and just wants to learn as much as she can! Then we had supper with the Ingoldsby's. They are an older couple, but they are super nice and they made us yummy mexican food! Sister Rice and I have had so much Mexican food since we have been together! It has been great!! Then we met with Christy that evening! Sister Thomas came with us. She really helped us out. She is so stellar because she realizes that Christy needs more contact than just the missionaries! She has really taken Christy under her wing and I am so grateful for her! Well Saturday was a really busy day as well. We began our day teaching the Sackley/Schaffer family. They are doing great! We moved our lesson, because Sunday was the Gray Cup...which is basically the Canadian Super Bowl. Anyways we taught them the Plan of Salvation and they loved it!! Kris especially is really excited to learn what she needs to do to make it to the Celestial Kingdom! We are just having a hard time helping them understand the importance of the Sabbath Day and coming to church. But they are still just so prepared! Well then we went to Jennie's....again. So remember a few weeks ago when the Elders moved that massive dresser down the spiral staircase....well today they had to move it back up the stairs, because the son that is moving down to that room got home and said he didn't like it there. I feel so bad for Jennie!! I just really want her to be happy! She tries so hard to please everyone around her, but they don't appreciate it. The Elders gave her a blessing and it was really neat! She wants to join the church, but her family would never allow it. Hopefully someday their hearts will be softened! Then we went to see Carmen!! Guess what! She has 500 copies of her book!! She signed one and gave it to me! I am so honored that I was able to help her with it! She is just so incredible and so positive all the time! She is a great example! Well then we had supper with the Istvanffy family. They invited a LA/PM family over for dinner as well, so we had a little FHE with them. It was great. The family doesn't live in our area, but the wife is the member and she is coming back into the church. It was a great experience! And then last but not least we visited with Sister Kamenka. She has had such an incredible life. She told us lots of stories. She also told us about her conversion to the church and so we talked about the importance of being converted to the doctrine of christ. She is doing well and she even came to church on Sunday!! Well Sunday was a great day as usual. We started our day off early at ward council. But it was great because the wards are so great and ready to help us in any way that they can! So then we had church. It was a great service in both wards. In Richmond ward it was the primary program and it was so cute. The little kids were just adorable to watch. After church, we had correlation with Bro Kneeland and the ward missionaries! Things went well there. Then we had supper with the Archibalds. So they had invited a potential investigator and her son over for supper as well, but they got sick and weren't able to come. They are so sweet though. They came to church a few weeks ago and seem really interested! We are excited to start teaching them soon! And then when we were done there, we went to see the Ford's. We had a great lesson with them on receiving answers to prayers. We had a fun little object lesson. Well that was my great week as a missionary! I hope you all had a great week! Take some time this week to start thinking about what gifts you can give the Savior this Christmas!! I am so grateful for our Savior and for all He has done for me! I am excited for the Christmas season and the celebration of His birth. The church has a great website dedicated to Him this season! Check it out!! mormon.org/Christmas! Well I sure do love and miss you all! Have a great week!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant!! Here are a few pictures! Bragg Creek, putting together the dresser, and our fun little Christmas tree!

November 19, 2012

Hey Family and Friends!!! Oh my goodness! This week has been absolutely amazing!! Are you ready to hear all about it?! I sure hope so!! Well Tuesday we had our p-day because of transfers and we didn't do anything super exciting. We actually just went to the Mission Office to see our favorite Sisters there and then we made an appearance at our combined p-day with the South Zone, but all they were doing was playing basketball....so we didn't stay for long. We left so that Sister Batty could start packing. After we had packed for awhile, it was time for us to go to our dinner appt with the Christensen's. They are a cute young couple and they are ward missionaries! We had a good time with them. Bro Christensen actually served his mission in Ogden! So that is exciting. Then when we were done there, we went and said goodbye to some people that Sister Batty wanted to...of course that included the Ford's! They are great and she is really going to miss them. Then we were up all night packing...it was a really late night. It is amazing how much stuff you accumulate when you are in an area. Well Wed was transfers. I had to say goodbye to Sister Batty. She got transferred to Royal Oak which is where the Temple is. She will do great things! Well my new companion was coming from down south, so I was companionless for a few hours...but so was Sister Simpson so we worked together while we waited for our new companions! Sister Simpson started her mission in the area I am in right now so she was excited and we went and saw some of the people that she loves! So we went and saw Carmen and Tammy. By the time we were done there, we had to go back to the transfer station. And that is when IT HAPPENED!!! My new companion is Sister Rice!!! I love her so much!! We met for the first time when we were at the temple and we totally hit it off and prayed that we would be companions! We also told other people to pray we would be companions! And guess what it worked! Because now we are companions! We are basically the same person! We have everything in common...so here are some of the biggest things we have found out: I am the oldest of 7 kids and she is the youngest of 7 kids, We are both from blended families and both of our stepdads are named Brent, We both had a stepsister get married while we were on our mission and guess what they both honeymooned in the same place, We have the same ACT score, and My birthday is April 13 hers is 13 days later on April 26, and she is from Syracuse...which is really close to Ogden! We might have been separated at birth! We have so much common! I just love her. I haven't laughed so hard in a super long time! Well when we finally got through all the traffic and back to our area, it was time to go to supper with the Russell's. They are super nice and had crazy rambunctious children. But it was fun. Then we had to go grocery shopping and get Sister Rice all unpacked! I can already tell this is going to be the best transfer ever! Thursday was weekly planning, but we didn't get it all done because we had to go help Jennie. She asked us to come and help...well we organized all her DVD's and she is trusting us to screw things into her walls to hold them all...I am a little bit terrified to do that...I am not very handy. Then we had to go clean our car for car inspections...our car hadn't been cleaned since before the temple open house so it was in desprate need of it! We did as much as we could and then went to the Carter's home for supper. She asked us what we wanted the night before and we requested mexican food. When we got there, she told us that she had spent 6 months in Mexico learning how to cook! It was delicous...I don't even know what is was, but it was so yummy. Then we went to 4th Ward's Enrichment night. We made cute temple blocks with a picture of the Calgary Temple on them. They turned out really cute. Then we went to the Ford's so Sister Rice could meet them! When we were on our way home, we got a few phone calls. One from the Assistants asking Sister Rice and I to play the piano and lead the music at Zone Conference, and then one from the Zone Leaders telling us we were in charge of our zone's musical number for zone conference and then the District leader also called at like 10:15 and said President asked him to choose someone from the district to give a 4 min talk on obedience and he chose me. When we were saying goodbye he casually said that he was kidding, but I didn't believe him so I prepared a talk just in case. Friday was Zone Conference! It was a great conference and I learned so much as always. We did all the music and I didn't have to give a talk, but at least I was prepared. When we got home, Sister Wansgard called me with the news about Grandma Marchant. I know she is in a better place! I still called the Elders and asked them to give me a blessing just so that I could stay focused on the work! I am so grateful for the priesthood and for the blessings that is brings to my life! When we were done with that, we had a lesson with Christy. She is doing well, but she wasn't having a good day, so we had a lesson about gratitude and being thankful for the things that we have in life. Saturday we had some time to finish our weekly planning and then we had to go help Jennie again. This time we washed all her windows and light fixtures on the outside of her house. It was fun...we had some Elders there, so they kept us entertained! Then we went to the church so we could get our planners all put together. That always takes forever...But then we had supper with Sister Thomas! She is just so great! I love her! She is so missionary minded and she does great things! Her daughter Laura was there as well! She is so adorable-she is in the YSA ward. That night we had a lesson with Sister Kamenka. She had questions about the things I had studied in the Book of Mormon that morning. That was super neat! Well Sunday was a great day as always! We went to church and while we were there, we had all of our investigator lessons for the day cancel...so that was a bummer. Then we had supper with the Salleh family. Bro Salleh served his mission in Jamacia and he made yummy food. And then for probably the first time in history, we were on time to our lesson with the Fords!! They too were shocked...and since we were there on time, we were home on time! It was a great day! Sister Rice and I also love being on time for things! Well that was my week!! It was pretty great! I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving! I know our Heavenly Father loves us so much and He has a wonderful plan for us! Do what you know is right so you can gain all the blessings he has in store for you!! Thanks for all your love and support!! I sure do love and miss you all!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant

November 13, 2012

Hey Family and Friends!! Oh my goodness!! We had such a great week!! We did so much service and taught 18 lessons...it was great!! It was a great week to end with Sister Batty. She is getting transferred, which means I am going to get a new companion, but I don't know who it is...because President Nicholas does things a little bit different, and we will find out tomorrow at the transfer station. But I think my new companion might be Sister Rice...who is amazing...I will let you know next week!! So lets start with p-day...we did everything that we needed to do, and then we went to meet up with the Elders...well they didn't have anything exciting planned so Sister Batty and I suggested that we go to Bragg Creek. It was a beautiful day and it was a perfect day to go! It was 12C and it was just great! So we drove around until we found a trail to hike on...we picked the first one we saw...it was just a baby hike...more like an educational loop. It didn't take us long at all, but the Elders kept us entertained. We saw some deer in the trees and the Elders went chasing after them so they could get some pictures of them. It was kind of hilarious! When we got back to our cars after only like 45 min, we decided to go find another adventure...we found the river. It was great and we had fun down by the river. It was beautiful and we had fun with all the Elders! Just before we had to head back to Calgary, we stopped at the ice cream store and got the Elders some ice cream. They had fun. When we got back we went straight to the Loewer Sr's to have supper. They are sweet. They are putting their mission papers in soon! They will be great missionaries! It was a great relaxing p-day for our very eventful week! Tuesday we had ZTM's. President Nicholas came which helped it not be a complete gongshow. Sister Batty and I were asked to demonstrate the role play portion of the meeting probably because most of our recent role plays have been complete gongshows because we were so not used to teaching. But this one was AMAZING!! It was all totally by the spirit and it was great! See we are becoming real missionaries again. When we were done we went to lunch with the Elders and then we went back to the church so Sister Batty could get a blessing. She was sick again and so when we went home to study she laid down and I got lots of study time! Then we had supper with the Stanford family. They have a daughter and a son in the same mission...their son is their daughters district leader...but a few weeks ago the french news program came and followed them around for a few days and they did a segment on the news about them...she wanted us to see it. We didn't really understand any of it because it was in French, but it was great. It showed them watching conference and working at the temple open house and going to the cannery as well. We were also able to talk to their piano teacher a little about the church and what missionaries do. It was pretty exciting. Then we went to ESL...there were only 2 students there, but it was still fun. Wednesday was our giggle day. I swear we laughed all day! First after our studies, we went to help Jennie. We did lots of random things. When we were all done, we went to their downtown office to exchange some furniture. We drove with her and were able to get everything done for her. When we were leaving our house after lunch to go to our next appt, we realized we didn't have our cell phone. We figured it had to be in Jennie's car because that was the last place where Sister Batty had used it. We decided we would go see if it was there after our appt. So first we went to see Sister Jiang. She is so sweet! We read a story from 'Our Search for Happiness' with her. She really liked it. When we were done, we went on the search for our phone, but Jennie wasn't home!! So we had to go to our next appt. with Carmen. She was even extra giggly! And she really couldn't focus, but we were able to talk about the Living Christ. Then we went to Jennie's again to see if she was home! She was! We told her the situation and asked if we could look in her car, but we didn't find the phone....we decided that maybe it fell out when we were at the office, so her son said "Mom, they do so much for you so I will run to the office and see if the phone is there." Well we were ok with that, but Jennie said she had the thought to look in the car one more time, and she found in on the floor in the back. It was incredible! She totally acted on a prompting from the Holy Ghost! And it totally saved our lives! She really needs to be baptized! Then we had supper with the Turners. They have cute little kids and we had a good time with them. Then we had a lesson with a referral we received from the temple open house. Her name is Sandra and she claims to be United, but we found out that she is really in fact a inactive member of the church. She doesn't really consider herself to be a member anymore. She has never married and has a dog to keep her company. She is really sweet and wants to keep meeting with us. Hopefully we will be able to help her feel the Holy Ghost again! On our way home, we got a call from Jill Gossling who got her mission call and she invited us to come over and watch her open it! She is going to the Tallahassee FL Mission and reports on Dec 19!! She is going to be an amazing missionary!! Thursday was our favorite day...weekly planning...but we got a phone call right in the middle of it...it was Sister Tagudar and she asked us to come over for lunch. She is Philippino and is so sweet, but she fed us SOOOO much food. She first filled our plates and then when we were done filled them again. I couldn't move when we were finally done and then she sent some of it home with us. She is so sweet, but Sister Batty and I endurance ate for 2 entire hours. It was a little bit ridiculous! Then we went to Sister Higham's because she helped us fix some of the Elders pants where the seams had ripped out. She is so sweet and was so willing to help. By the time we were done there, it was time for us to go to the Schnell's for supper. They also invited the Spanish Elders to come and we had a great time with them. They are great missionaries and just helped bring 2 spanish people come into the church. Then we went home to finish our planning. We were so stuffed and we could hardly move. And to top everything off, it literally snowed ALL DAY LONG!! We got at least a foot of snow. Friday was a very exciting day! Well we were supposed to go help Jennie again today, but when we pulled up to her house, an ambulance was pulling out. We waited a few minutes and knocked on the door anyways to see if anyone was still home. No luck there. Well we saw some snow shovels and because of all the snow, we decided it would be a good idea to shovel their massive driveway. You have to remember that I don't ever remember shoveling snow in my life...I was blessed with lots of brothers that always did that...so it was definitely an adventure for me. Well 2 hours later we were finished. Their driveway was huge...but we sure did feel good after we were done. We got lots of funny looks from people driving by because of course, we were in our skirts and I am still being stubborn and I haven't gotten my boots out of my suitcase...i don't want to until I absolutely have to...so I was just wearing normal shoes. It was lots of fun. When we got home for lunch, we were already sore. Then it was time to go do service at Sister Hobbs home. We got there and their driveway hadn't been shoveled either, so what did we do...shoveled the driveway. Thankfully their driveway is much smaller, but we were so tired and our arms were like jello. We could barely lift the shovel. When we were about halfway done, one of us asked "What part of us made us think this was a good idea?" the answer..."The Christlike part!" When we were done we were very grateful and when Brother Hobbs got home he was very grateful. When we were done with the snow shoveling, we went on to clean the inside of the house so we vacuumed and cleaned the bathrooms. Doing service always makes you feel good! I challenge you to find a way to serve this week!! Then we had supper with the Rodelas family which meant yummy Philippino food again. And then last but not least, we met with Christy. She is doing well and we taught her about the Articles of Faith. Well Saturday was an exciting day as well. First we had breakfast with the Ivany family and played Stay on the Path with them. When we were done there, we went to visit another referral. She is a LA member that is not on our area, but she has requested female missionaries and President gave us permission to go. She is really sweet. She lives in a care center because she has a brain injury resulting from some brain tumors she had. She is really concerned that she is not on the right path. We will meet with her for a few months probably. Then we went and met with Sister Ford and helped her out a little bit. And last but not least, we had supper with the Guidi's. They are from France/Italy and they are so nice. Sunday was Remembrance Day and it was a great day! First thing we went to ward council and were able to get all informed and then we just had church. In 4th ward we were asked to go into primary and help teach in sharing time. Our topic was service so we talked about some of the service we provide and how service can help us be missionaries. After church was all over, we had a lesson with the Sackley/Schaffer family! It went so great! Well they hadn't kept the commitment to read the Book of Mormon, so we decided to change our lesson and just read with them. We started at the beginning and had a great lesson. The spirit was so strong and it was great. Just as we were getting ready to invite Kris to be baptized, kids came home and there was chaos. So the spirit was not as strong, but she said she would if she came to know what we are teaching her was true. It was great! When we were done there, we were able to go back out to Bragg Creek for supper with the Nicholson's! It was really yummy and we saw lots of wildlife. Then we had our usual appt with the Fords. They are doing well. We talked about some of the things they have been learning from the scriptures. Monday was a great day as well! So we had DDM's which is a little bit unusual, but they were good. After lunch the Elders came with us to Jennies house to help us move some heavy furniture. She wanted a dresser thing moved downstairs. It was solid wood and it was a couple hundred pounds probably...she wanted it moved from the main floor down a spiral staircase to the basement. It was hilarious to watch all the Elders move this thing. When we were done, the Elders were brave and asked if we could watch the Restoration in their sweet theater. She agreed and watched it with us. The spirit was amazing! She is having so many great experiences with the Spirit! I have no doubt that one day she will join the church! Then we met with Tammy and talked about prophets. We watched Pres Monson's opening address of conference when he changed the missionary age and announced the temples. Then we had supper with the Barbeau family. They are great and asked us how they could be better missionaries. So we devoted our lesson to giving them some ideas. Our last appt of the evening canceled so we were able to have some time to update all of our records! Which is really good because now Sister Batty is getting transferred. Then when we were getting ready for bed, we got a text from Kris asking us some questions she had about the Book of Mormon. When we were done answering her questions, she told us about an amazing experience she had with prayer. She is totally feeling the spirit and is very prepared for the gospel!! Well I think that is everything! I hope you all had a great week!! Good luck to Grandma! You are going to be a great missionary! Well I love and miss you all! Go be missionaries!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant

November 5, 2012

Hey Family and Friends!! How are ya'll doing this week? Things up here in the great white north are pretty good...cold, but good. I love Canada and I love being a missionary!! Well we had a pretty uneventful but fun week at the same time, but I will tell you all about it!! So Monday was p-day and it was great...and very needed. It was our first real p-day in like 5 weeks!! It was great! So first we e-mailed and then we went to the church because we had a pizza party. We got a pizza party because our zone did the best at car inspections. Technically Sister Batty and I were not part of it because we were at the temple and didn't have inspections...but lets be honest, if we were part of it we would have just added a 100% to their total. So we had a fun little party with the zone!! Then since we were already at the church, we just decided to stay for a few hours and then we went and did everything we needed to. The one thing that stopped us from doing anything was that all the chairs were still set up in the gym for the temple dedication....there were a lot of chairs. So we took them all down. Sister Batty and I did half of them faster than 6 Elders did the other half...proof that Sisters are the best! Then we just watched the Elders play basketball. It is pretty funny to watch sometimes. When p-day was all over, we had supper with the Istvanffy family. They are so sweet and are great missionaries! On Tuesday we had our DDM's a little bit early because some of the Elders had an appt they had to go to. So after our meeting was over, we went home and studied and then when they were done, we all met up and went to lunch. It was a good time. After our lunch, we had to take our car to get an estimate on how much it would be to fix it...did I tell you about the vandalism to our car during the temple. First we got soy sauced...that didn't do anything, then 2 days later someone scratched/keyed our car....we have 2 scratches from the fender to the back passenger door. It is going to cost over $1,600 to fix it....Then we had supper with Sister Shields. She is so sweet. Then we had to run because we had to get to ESL! It was so fun! We had a Halloween Party!! With costumes...Sister Batty and I wore our costumes...she was a bumble bee and I was a Ladybug. We were pretty cute! It was just a good time. We carved pumpkins, went trick-or-treating and just had fun. For a lot of the people that come to class it is their first Halloween! Wednesday was the real Halloween!! We had a great day! So first we went and did service at Jennie's house. She asked us to bring some strong men with us so they could lift some heavy things. We brought the Mandarin Elders and Dillon...who is preparing to leave on his mission to Fiji in a few weeks. They did lots of work...and we basically just watched. Jennie was getting rid of a massive TV and so she gave it to Dillon. He was excited. Then we went to see Carmen. We wore our costumes for her. She thought we were cute! She has a hard copy of her book!! It turned out so great!! I can't wait to read it again! Then we had supper with the Goodman family. They are so sweet. So since it was Halloween we had to be in by 6:00 and this year we were given permission to get together as a zone. Well the Elders didn't know what to do so they put Sister Batty and I incharge of planning our party!! We had so much fun!! We also invited the Sr. Couples that work in the mission office...since technically they work in our zone! The most important part of the evening was that costumes were mandatory!! Sister Batty and I dressed up the same, but we had a mexican, captain America, a nerd, and lots of other fun things. Mostly we played games and ate some food. We made all the Elders...Sr. Elders included have a doughnut on a stick eating contest! It was hilarious! Whoever won got a free doughnut. If you lost you still got a free doughnut. Then we played some card games. We played Golf and Uno-missionary style. Misisonary Uno is where you play until there is only 1 loser...that person then has to go stand against the wall...facing the wall and everyone else gets to kick a soccer ball at them. It was pretty hilarious...if one of the Sisters lost, the elders would be to afraid to hit us. When our night was over, we went out to our cars and someone had toilet papered them and put pumpkins on them and left a note that said "From people who stay out past 6:00 and wear masks." It was pretty funny. The YSA elders think it was someone from their ward. It was a great night and it was exactly what we needed!! Then it was Thursday and we did our weekly planning. Thankfully it didn't take us as long as last week. When we were done we had a lesson with Christy. She is still kind of struggling to do the basics...read the scriptures, pray often, etc. So we had another lesson on the importance and power of prayer. When we were done with that lesson, we got a call from someone moving into our ward and they asked us for our help. That doesn't happen often...we are really good at helping people move, but never move in. So we were excited. They are such a great family. We were able to help them for a few hours and then we had to run to our dinner appt. We ate with the Nadeau family. They are really nice and they have a massive, gorgeous house. It was beautiful. Then we had a lesson with the Ford's. We talked about and discussed the Articles of Faith. They were excited to learn about them. We talked about how it is important to memorize them and then you will be able to use them to tell people about what we believe! They really liked it. Friday started out to be a very long day...but it ended up being so great. When we finished our studies, we went back to help that family move in. They are the Loewer family...they are related to the other Loewer's in the other ward...and they are so nice. They are both RM's and they have 2 cute little kids. Her sister is also living with them as a nanny and she just returned from her mission in Las Vegas 3 weeks ago. So they are so nice. We were only going to be there for a few hours, but then ALL of our appts canceled and so we were able to stay for most of the day and help out. We put together her kitchen, some linen closets and the kids rooms. The best part was unpacking their little girls room...we may have put together a crib and unpaked lots of cute little clothes! It was so fun. It was good for her as well because she is a flight attendant and had to leave for Mexico the next day. We got a lot done and then we left to go to our dinner appt and it was so great!! We had dinner with SISTER PALMER!! most of her family was out of town, but her youngest daughter was there. We had so much fun with her! It was a great time reminiscing on old times at the temple! It was just what we needed. She is great and we are so lucky to be able to still see her often! Saturday was a really boring day. We didn't have much going on, but we were finally able to get all of our records updated....that hasn't been done since before the temple open house! Then we just did some stop-bys and contacted some referrals. We set up a few appts for this week and then one didn't have time at the moment because her mom is really sick...but she said to contact her again after Jan 6. She accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon and said she would read it over the holidays. She told us she is looking to convert so that will be exciting when she gets back from her trip. Maybe I will still be here...Then we had supper with the Feyt's. They are an older couple and they were really nice. Then we had a lesson with Sister Ford. She was alone because they boys were with their dad. Sunday was a great day! First it was church...and fast sunday...and then it was also Daylight Savings! That means a whole extra hour of sleep!! It was AMAZING! It was just what I needed! For the first time in a long time I actually wasn't completely exhausted. After church, we had a lesson with Bill and that was interesting. He was a little bit drunk and it was awkward...he said a few inappropriate things to Sister Batty and I. I was happy to get away. Then we had supper with the Gossling family. They are so amazing! Their daughter is 19 and she didn't really know what to do...she had been accepted to lots of University's, but she just felt like she needed to stay...then President Monson made the missionary announcement and she put her mission papers in! She should get her call this week. But we had a great evening with them and expecially her because we talked all about being a missionary and the things we wished we would have known! It was great! Then we quickly had a lesson with the Ford's, but Daniel was very tired so he was in bed before we got there. We had a great week! I hope you did as well!! I LOVE being a misisonary here in Canada and I am so grateful for the things I have learned. I love studying the scriptures everyday! We can learn so much as we dilligently study them! Sage you are such a stud! Keep up the great work! Don't forget to vote this week! Most of the Canadian's want Mitt to win...not that I really have any idea what is going on...Have such a great week!! Good luck Grandma!! You are going to be such a great missionary!! I am so excited for you!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant

October 29, 2012

Hey family and friends!! How is everyone?? I am so great!! This was on great week...but it was also very difficult! I forgot how hard and demanding it is to be a real missionary! It was hard getting back into a normal schedule, but it is also SO worth it! Are you ready to hear all about my amazing week as a missionary up here in FREEZING COLD Canada?? So Monday was a normal p-day...well kind of. Kevin and Cindi Palmer invited all the Sisters over for a final lunch. So we all met there and had a great time. We ate more good food and had great company! I love the Palmers and I am going to miss seeing them! They are so Christlike and I want to be just like them one day! After we all had lunch together, we went to the Temple. We met Linda Palmer and her daughter there. We took pictures with her. Kevin and Cindi also came and Elder Melchin just happened to be there as well. So he joined in on all the fun! When we were all done taking pictures, we went over to Jenny's house. That is where 2 companionships of sisters stayed while at the temple. She lives right accross the street. We all just hung out for a couple hours. Then we had to run because we had to still do all our normal things like e-mail and shop and everything else! When p-day was all over, we had supper with the Gough family. They are really nice and have a beautiful home in the middle of nowhere. It was wierd being a real missionary again. To be honest, it felt like we were purging into our area...the only plus side was that we knew where we were. Then comes Tuesday...there was a huge snowstorm...it reminded me how NOT ready for winter I am. I am really not ready...and it is probably going to be awful because the temple is done and we didn't have a bad winter last year...so I am really trying to prepare myself. Anyways we had our District Meeting. It was a gongshow as usual. But I have to admit I am actually grateful to be back with the Elders. I love the sisters, but I am ready for a break from them. After we went out to lunch, we had to take some stuff to the mission office. I love the Sisters that work there! While we were there, Sister Wansgard asked me if she could do my trunky call....I may have had a minor freak out!! She had to confirm which airport I was flying into and my parents e-mail...so they can send you my flight itinerary....like I said, I might of freaked out a little bit. That evening, we had supper with the McBrides. They are from Ireland originally and they just got back from a mission there. They are so sweet, but they are heading off for somewhere warm now that it has snowed...lots of Canadians do that. Then we made an appearance at ESL. It was great to be back for a little bit. One thing that I did not miss about being a normal missionary was nightly planning! It took us forever because we basically forgot how to do it! But things will get easier as we get back into the swing of things. Wednesday was great...besides the fact that it is hard to get the motivation to be a missionary when it is cold outside. After we finished our studies, we went to Jenny Aurora's house to do service. We moved everything out of her storage room into her living room....not sure what the purpose of that was, but we just do what she says. Then we had a lesson with Sister Jiang. We taught her a lesson about applying the scriptures to our lives. Then we met with Carmen. She is amazing! The book is at the publishers and she is so excited! She had a bunch of questions about the Book of Mormon that she wanted us to answer. We really like answering questions...that is one thing we are still good at. That evening we had supper with the Litchfield's. They are very nice and make really yummy food. And then last but not least that night, we met with Sister Kamenka. We talked with her and taught her about the temple and the importance of them. She was not as combative as she usually is. Hopefully she is feeling the Spirit telling her what she needs to do! Thursday was a LONG day. It was weekly planning. Well remember how I said it felt like we were purging in. It was not fun. As much as I already don't like weekly planning, I was taught how important it is because when you don't do it for 4 weeks things just get crazy. So it took us all day to do our planning and get all ready for next week. We had to update all our records and basically do Area Book CPR. It was a fun time let me tell you! Our dinner appt canceled that night, so we just got all our planning done and then we went to the Ford's. We had a lesson with them about the importance of listening to the Holy Ghost and avoiding the adversary. Friday was a great day! First after we did our studies we had to go to the SE part of the city so that Sister Batty could visit the Vampires....to get her blood drawn. There was a long wait, but I was prepared for it this time! I brought the Ensign! It was great read! On our way home we had some more paperwork that needed to go to the Mission Office, so we stopped by there. While we were there Sister Lawlor was stressed out because they asked for the typed comment cards to put in the cornerstone of the temple...but they weren't all done. So for a couple hours we were able to help her since we know the system. It was a great help to her! We had to leave after a few hours because we had an appt to give service to Sister Hobbs. We cleaned up her house and had a great visit with her. She is such a great missionary despite all her health problems! Then we had supper with the Walters family! They are so great!! It was probably one of the most entertaining dinners I have had in awhile. I was sitting by their 2 yr old son Eli. He was so nice. First he wanted to share his drink with me. Then when the meal was wrapping up and my plate was empty, he took his plate and dumped it onto mine because he wanted to share and didn't want me to be hungry. It was so adorable and all I could do was laugh. When supper was over, he wanted to show us all his toys. He was so excited! So we went downstairs and played with some toys for a few minutes. That family is seriously just so adorable!! Brother and Sister Walters were just called as Ward Missionaries...that means we need to get some investigators so they can help us out! When we were done there, we had a lesson with Christy. She is doing well. She missed meeting with us while we were busy at the temple. We read the 2000 stripling warrior story with her and talked about the importance of doing the little things to be prepared. Saturday and Sunday were AMAZING days!! I hope that I will be able to remember everything about them! First on Saturday, we had a very special missionary meeting!! Elder M. Russell Ballard had a conference with us!! We also heard from his traveling companions: Elder Craig C. Christensen of the Presidency of the Seventy and Elder Walker of the Seventy. It was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! It was so neat to be in the presence of the Lord's apostles! We had a meeting with them and after they spoke to us, they answered some questions-pertaining to missionary work. I don't know how to describe how great it was! When we were done with the question portion, Elder Ballard bore his powerful testimony and the spirit that was in the room was so incredible. He wanted to shake all of our hands, but he didn't want to disturb the spirit that was there...and he didn't have the time...so he asked us all to stand up and put out our right hand...he did the same and we had an air handshake! It was great! We are so blessed to have met with him! After he left our new mission presidency talked to us for a min...guess who is one of the counselors...Kevin Palmer!! Maybe we will still get to see him and his wife!! It was a great morning! After that, we volunteered to help Sister Lawlor get everything finished that she needed to get done. So we met her at the Mission Office and helped her for a few hours. When we were finished there, we went to Sister Ford's and she ordered pizza for us. We had dinner and had a nice visit with her. Then we were able to go to the stake center and watch the Cultural Celebration via satellite. It was so good! I learned a lot about Calgary and the history of the church here. It really was a great program! The youth were sad that the prophet couldn't be there for the performance...he came Sunday morning because it was Sister Monson's 85th birthday and she isn't doing very well... so a few days ago they recorded themselves singing "We Thank Thee Oh God For a Prophet" and posted it on youtube. He also recorded a message for them that was played before they started their performance. He and Sister Monson were able to watch the Celebration via satellite from their home. It was just great! Then when we got home, the Elders called us and asked us if we were going to make lunch for them tomorrow...we agreed and threw together a meal of the random things we had in our apartment. Sunday was a wonderful day! It was the Calgary Alberta Temple Dedication. The prophet was there! It was so amazing! The dedication was done in 3 sessions. And they were all different. On Sunday I was sealed into the cornerstone of the temple! Never thought I would ever be able to say that...The dedication was great. We were watching it at the Stake Center. The first session included the cornerstone ceremony. After that session, we fed the Elders lunch. Then the second session started. It was great until right when Pres Monson started reading the dedicatory prayer, the satellite cut out. It was kind of a bummer. But it was still good. Unfortunately we weren't able to watch the 3rd session...but I heard it was amazing...because we had a new investigator lesson. We sacrificed watching that session but hopefully something good will come of the lesson we had. It was with a LA/PM family-the Sackley/Shaffer. The parents are living common law...the husband and his kids are LA members and the wife and her kids are not members. The lesson we had with them was great! And they are so open and receptive to the gospel!! I really hope something comes of this! Then we had supper with the Kneelands. He is one of our WML's. They are from the states and make really good food!! And last but not least we had a lesson with the Ford boys. We taught them how to use their scriptures...aka the topical guide, bibal dictionary, and index. It was a great week! Here are a few random facts for you! So Sister Batty and I counted how many stoplights we get stopped at and then timed them as well...ya we are wierd. So we discovered that we spend an average of about 2 hours per week at stoplights!! Isn't that ridiculous! Another fun fact is that we gave away 4 1/2 cases of copies of the Book of Mormon away at the temple...that is over 160 copies. That is pretty good for it not being a proselyting area! And here are a few temple comments! "In the Celestial Room my 3 yr old daughter said 'I want to stay here forever' Then she asked where people dance after they get married." "I am a inactive member of the church and this experience has renewed my faith. Thanks for the opportunity." "Just what I needed at this time in my life. Inspiring and calming." Well congrats to Ben and the McKell's on their mission calls! You are all going to be great missionaries!! I love being a missionary! I am so grateful for my family! I am so grateful for the knowledge I have that we can be together forever!! I love and miss you all so much!! Have a fabulous week!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant