January7, 2013

Hey Family and Friends!! Well it seems like just yesterday that I emailed y'all! But we have had a pretty good week! I can't believe that Tanner is on an airplane home right now!! That is just crazy!! It seems like just yesterday that he left! I can't wait to get one of his great hugs when I get home!! Well now I will tell you all about my week! So we begin with Wednesday...well we had our interviews with President Nicholas. It was great! As soon as I sat down he said "So Sister Marchant you only have 6 more weeks here in Canada...how do you feel about that?" It definitely made things seem a lot more real that my time as a missionary is coming to a close...Then he asked me 2 questions as part of my interview...1- What is a strength I have gained since I have been a missionary? and 2- What am I going to do to stay focused on the work? It was a great interview. Then he told me about all the changes that are coming to the mission!! We are going to have 60 sisters in our mission, and some of them will be spanish speaking!! The work is booming!! I am so excited for the change in the way missionary work is done!! The world is definitely prepared for the gospel...and they need it. Well then we emailed and then went to a lesson with Tammy. She is doing great. We had a lesson about being patient and enduring through our trials. That night we had supper with the Mooney's and they invited us to play a game with them....Monopoly deal. It was so much fun! Thursday started off to be a great day, but then 1/2 way through comp study I got so sick. Sister Rice and Sister Nicholas sent me to bed to rest. When I woke up from my nap, most of the day was gone...I really hate being sick. But we had to take that box of stuff to the Williams so their son could take it home to you! I am grateful I don't have to pack all of that stuff home!! I am grateful that members from Canada go to Utah often! We also went to Sister Sells because she asked us to come help her clean her house. We just vacuumed and dusted. We then had supper with Sister Holloran and the Guidi's. It was a bit difficult to understand everyone because all three of them have a different accent. It was definitely an adventure. Then we had a lesson with the Ford's. It was Thursday so we did a 'fun' lesson. We did a fun object lesson that showed how we can become desensitized to sin and the things of the world. They really liked it. Friday we did our weekly planning and then had to go drop some things off at the mission office...that means we also got our mail!! I loved reading the family Christmas card! I read it to the sisters in the office and they thought it was cute! Sister Rice was also honored that she made it onto the family Christmas card!! Then we had a bunch of lessons. We met with Sister Jiang...she is about the same as last week. Then Sandra. She is doing better. This week was a big step for her and she expressed a desire to come to church! We are really excited...she is making progress!! That night we had supper with Sister Thomas and Laura!! I love them so much! After we ate, we shared our message. We based it off of Mosiah 24 and it was totally inspired because just the day before we had arranged for Sister Thomas to get a blessing from the Elders and the things we shared correlated perfectly with the blessing she was given!! I love how Heavenly Father micromanages those things!! Then we had a lesson with Christy from the For the Strength of Youth about Entertainment and Media. Saturday....the illness came. As soon as we were done with our studies, I was SO sick! I lost all my strength and lets just say I spent a lot of time in the washroom! It was not fun! Whatever is going around finally caught up to me...and being sick as a missionary is not fun! You feel so useless!! But Sister Nicholas told us we needed to stay in. Well I didn't want to sleep, so we settled for watching all of our church movies...it was a very very boring day! We did go to our dinner appt with the Loewer's and that was great food! She made homemade Cafe Rio! They are both really missionary minded so it was great! Then we went to the adult session of stake conference. I am sure it was great, but I couldn't concentrate...but when it was all over, I asked the Elders to give me a blessing! I am really grateful for the priesthood power! The blessing I was given by Elder Ferrell was very inspired! Sunday I was feeling a little bit better and we went to stake conference. We had lots of changes!! All of the ward boundaries changed and a lot of the Stake auxillaries did as well. A new counselor in the stake presidency was called as well...actually it was Brother Williams...Blake's dad. I think the changes are going to be great! We lost 2 neighborhoods in Richmond ward and they will be missed, and then a chunk of 4th ward was moved into Richmond ward. It will be exciting! We also got new bishoprics in both wards and I am really excited! When we got home, we did our studies and updated all of our area maps because our area was very affected by the change. Then we had a lesson with the Ford's that night!It was all about recognizing the promptings of the spirit! It went pretty well! Well I am sad I won't be there to greet Tanner!! Give him a great big hug for me!! I hope it gets warmer there! We have had a chinook for the last few days, but the cold is on its way back here in Canada!! I hope you all have a great week!! I love and miss you tons!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. 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