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