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!