November 14

Hello Everyone!!

How is everybody? I am doing fantastic. I had a pretty crazy week with lots of stuff going on! But it was good for us to be busy and have things to do. It is always better to have things to do than to have nothing to do as a missionary! So last week on Monday it was obviously p-day. We did all the things we do on p-day including going to the library to e-mail! That is one of my favorite things about p-day! When we were done with all our stuff we went to a church and spent time with the missionaries in our zone. We didn't do much there. I wrote letters and stuff. Some elders were playing basketball and then they played another game that I don't even know what it was. That night we had an appointment with a family that was supposed to have some nonmembers for us to teach, but they ended up not coming. But that was ok we still had a good time. Tuesday was a crazy day! So Sister Hayes and I were just finishing up our personal study at 9:00 when we got a phone call from our zone leaders. There was a Leadership Training Meeting going on from 9-6 and they failed to tell us we were supposed to be there. It was for all zone leaders, district leaders, and trainers and since we are kind of training we were supposed to go. So we hurried and gathered our stuff and were out the door by 9:15. That is pretty amazing. Then we hurried to the church that was 20 min away. It was a really good training, but it was really long!!! The other thing that wasn't very good was that we had 5 appointments for that day and we had to cancel all of them! That was not fun. We had that same meeting on Wednesday as well. It was good, but by that point Sister Hayes and I felt so inadequate. All the other missionaries that were there were really good teachers and stuff and we were like babies. But it was good and we learned a whole lot! On Thursday we had another training. It was a specialized training for all missionaries that had been out less than 6 months. At this training we felt out of place to because we had just spent the last 2 days with the older missionaries. But it was a good training and it was only 3 hours long. That afternoon we helped a member organize a ton of stuff for her business. It really helped her out. She makes her own jewelry and it is really good. She even makes a lot of her own beads. As we were leaving we were looking at some of her jewelry and she took a price tag off a bracelet and just put it on my wrist. She said it had my name on it! It was so nice of her! And it is a really cute bracelet. That night we had a lesson with our investigator Mark. As we were leaving he told us that he had made up his mind and wanted to be baptized Catholic. But he said he still wants to meet with us. So we will see what we can do. It is hard when nobody else in his house is religious and he goes to a Catholic School. But we haven't taught him again since then. That night we also taught our other investigator Ryan. His wife Amanda is a less active and she has had to quit smoking. She has now been smoke free for an entire week! She is so amazing and has gained so much self confidence. Ryan is so ready to be baptized, but he wont commit to a date. But he is so prepared. He says it is just a pride issue with admitting that life could be better with help from our Heavenly Father. But he is ready and every lesson we have with them is great! On Friday we had our service at the ice rink and then since we were busy on Thursday we had our weekly planning day. It took us most of the day, but we had a few appointments and we also met up with the elders in our district so they could give Sister Hayes and i both blessings. I love the power of the Priesthood! It is seriously amazing! I felt so good after I got a blessing and it was exactly what I needed! It was also Remembrance day which is like our Veterans Day and Memorial day rolled into one. It is a really celebrated holiday here in Canada. On Saturday we had a lesson with the Ryan and Amanda again and he still wouldn't set a date, but he has to be close! He really is so prepared! We had our correlation meetings with our Ward Mission Leaders and got some help from them. Both of our WML's are so great! They help us our with whatever they can! Sunday was church!! Hooray! I love church and being able to take the sacrament and renew my covenants with Heavenly Father! So when we got to church, we went and asked someone in the bishopric if we could get an updated ward list because ours is very old. He said he would give us one if we would do him a favor. We said we would and then he looked at me and asked if I would be the 'youth speaker'. Of course I had to say yes. I just talked for a little bit about prayer and the whole reason I am on a mission. It went ok. Then in our next ward our WML wasn't at church so we had to teach Gospel Principles too. It actually went pretty well too. But then next Sunday I have to talk in church too! I guess that is the life of a missionary eh? That was my crazy week. But it was fun. Sister Hayes and I are learning a lot!! Mom I read your talk and it sounded really good! I am sure it went well! And lucky dad gets to speak in a few weeks. I will try and think of some things he could say. That is pretty cool about Fremont! Is Braydon going to go to the game? Thanks for all the updates with everything! I love you all so much!!! And miss you a ton too!! Hope you all have a great week!! Thanks for all your prayers and love and support!!

Love, Sister Marchant