January 14, 2013

Hey Family and Friends!! Well it sounds like you all had a great week!! I bet it is great to have Tanner home! Well we had a pretty good week and I will tell you all about it! So monday was p-day...it was just like normal. But we were combined with the West zone...that meant we got to talk to and see other sisters! But it wasn't all that exciting. We played dodgeball...but I got nailed in the head 2 times...not my idea of fun...not to mention I had a nice headache for the rest of the day. But we had fun just talking with the sisters and catching up with some of the other missionaries there. When we left, we went to our dinner appt. We ate with the Bracko's. I had never met them so it was fun to get to know more people. Tuesday we had ZTM's. Elder Ferrell is a brand new zone leader and had to do the entire training himself...he has had like 3 different companions already this transfer because they all keep getting special transferred...and he is our only ZL right now...his companion is a JC. But it was a great training. Elder Ferrell is a natural leader and is doing a great job. When we were done, we went to lunch and then we stopped by the office and were able to help the sisters there for just a minute. They are so crazy busy in the office with all the new missionaries we are getting! It is an exciting time in our mission! Then we had to stop by a book binding place because Sister Rice's brand new scriptures are falling apart. The man there told her how she could fix them herself...so she saved a bunch of money...and they are just like new. Then we had supper with the Tilleman's. They live in the middle of nowhere and we had a great evening with them. Then we went to ESL...it was so great to be back and see all of our students! They brought some weird food from wherever they are from and of course I had to try it...it was not good....it made me so grateful I came to Canada where they eat normal food! Wednesday was not too exciting of a day. We just did a bunch of stop-bys...but nobody was home so it was kind of a long day. But then we had a lesson with Carmen. She is so cute. She asked us to help her do something I have never done ever in my life....but I guess there is a first for everything. So remember how she wrote a book...well she wants to find some way to get more publicity. So she asked us to help her write a letter to Marie Osmond...apparently she has a new talk show....asking her if she would read her book and talk about it on her show. It was quite the experience...I have never written to a celebrity before. But hey, Carmen wrote to Larry King and he responded...so why not Marie? Then we went to supper with the Goodman's. They have some cute little baby puppies we got to play with and we had fun with them. When we walked out of their house, it was a complete blizzard!!!! So not fun to be a missionary in. We literally couldn't see in front of us and the roads were awful!! By the time we really got anywhere, it was time for us to go home. On Thursday I was actually so grateful it was weekly planning. It snowed all night and all day and we have at least a foot of snow! So needless to say we were grateful to have a reason to be indoors!! Then we had a lesson with Sandra. She is still progressing and tells us more stories of experiences she has had with the Holy Ghost throughout the week. It is pretty incredible. She is so amazing and told us that she just doesn't know what to do. She expressed that she wanted to come to church on Sunday...unfortunately something came up, but she said she would come next week! After that lesson, we had a quick correlation with Bro. Loewer. He wants our help to create a new ward mission plan. Hopefully we will be some help to him. Then we went to the Kearl's for supper. They are such a funny family and we had a evening full of laughs. We were also able to correlate with Sister Kearl about some of the changes that took place in the ward with the boundary changes. She is such a great RS pres! Then we had a lesson with the Ford's. We did a fun object lesson with them about the importance of keeping the commandments and what happens when we stop obeying. They like the fun lessons! That day, they had bought a legit popcorn popper...like the ones at the movies...but smaller....and they asked us to help them assemble it. We did as much as we could before we had to go home. I never thought it would take so much work... Friday we finished up our weekly planning...it took extra long because we had to update all of our maps and lists of everything. But it is all good. Then we met with Sister Jiang. We talked with her about Joseph Smith and the Restoration and the need for it. It was a great lesson. Then we went back to the Ford's house to finish building the popcorn popper...2 hours later we had it done. It would have been so much easier if all the hole were big enough for the screws that came with it. I have to say...I have become pretty handy on my mission. Then we had supper with the Sugden's. They are such a nice family and their kids are so cute! And finally we saw Christy. We taught her about service and how if you expect service, you need to be willing to serve others as well. Hopefully some of the things we teach her are sinking in. Saturday we were able to help Emerald again!! It was great to see her again! But we kind of started back at square one. She has so much stuff and it seems like nothing ever gets put away except for when we are there. I think she feels the spirit when we are there and she would really benefit from the gospel in her life! But it was great to be able to serve her! Then we went to a little party for Dillon. He used to be a ward missionary, but he leaves for his mission in a week to Fiji!!! So his mom put together a big going away party and we were invited. It was great because he had some nonmember friends and family there. He is going to be a great missionary. Then we had supper with Sister Ford...the boys wanted us to test out the new popcorn popper, but they were having too much fun over at their cousins house. But it gave us the opportunity to really talk to Sister Ford and help her feel of Heavenly Father's love for her! We had a great lesson with her. Sunday was church!! It was great and all the changes were in effect. It was a great fast Sunday and the spirit was incredible! Then we had supper with the Morgan's!! That family is so great! So we had a delicious meal full of some of our favorite foods! So since Sister Rice and I both love Mexican food...and you can't get it in Canada...she made some delicious Mexican dishes and then for dessert, she made my favorite cheesecake!! It was so yummy! Mom, I can't believe you didn't think there were Oreo's in Canada...it made me laugh a little bit! Anyways we had a great time with them and they invited us to play a game of spoons with them. It was pretty intense and so much fun!! Then we were back at the Ford's...this time to really test out the popcorn popper. It totally works and we watched the John Tanner story with them. It was a great, but really cold week here in Canada! I hope you all had a great week as well! I am so grateful for the Atonement and for the privilege I have to watch people as they apply it into their lives! It is incredible how much people can change! I love being a missionary!! Have such a great week!! I love and miss you all!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant