January 21, 2013

Hey Family and Friends!!! Well this week wasn't too exciting for us...I hope you all had a great week though!! But just like always I will tell you about all of our adventures!! So we begin with Monday...remember how that is p-day and it is supposed to be fun...well we were at the church waiting for all the Elders to get there...we fell asleep in our car for like an hour...and then we finally called some elders...they "forgot" to inform us that nobody was coming...well that was a waste. So we hung out with Laura and played games with her! At least she helped us have fun! Then we met with Kris! It was a great lesson! We taught her about obedience, following the prophet, and the word of wisdom! She has so much faith! So she had done a little bit of research about some of the commandments so the word of wisdom wasn't foreign to her...but she does have some things she will have to give up. But her attitude is that if she knows what we are teaching her is true, and she does, that this is part of the deal! It was a great lesson. We didn't set a firm date for baptism with her, because we don't know when her husband will be worthy to do it...it is probably looking like March or April though...I am just so grateful I have got to be part of her conversion process!! Well after our lesson with them, we had to clean our car for car inspections...that sure was fun in the dark...and in the snow. Tuesday morning we went to the dentist, because Sister Rice thought she had a thousand cavities...but she didn't have a single one. But then we had to hurry and get to DDM's. After that we had car inspections...it was actually a great day to do it because we had a Chinook this week! It was great...actually above zero!! After we went to lunch, we did our studies and went to dinner with the Stanfords. We had to have dinner early because we actually had to teach ESL...so we had to get ready for that and make copies of things. I was terrified to actually be the ESL teacher...but it was so much fun!! We only had 3 students there, but it was a blast. We compared our home countries to Canada. It was fun! Wednesday was not an exciting day...we did a bunch of stop-bys and then went to see Bill...he was drunk out of his mind and was hitting on both of us. We didn't think that was appropriate so we have decided that until he is ready to change, we will let the members of the ward continue to help him...but it just wasn't appropriate for Sisters...It is really sad to see someone like that. Then we went to see Carmen. She had another project for us to do. She asked us to find some scriptures in the Book of Mormon about the Saviours birth...there are lots of them, and she wanted some specific ones...but we found all of them and typed them up for her. She is just so cute! That night we had supper with the Loewer's...our WML in 4th ward. Thursday was weekly planning day and it was also the day that the world started to hate me! When we were on our way to our dinner appt with Sister McGill, I stepped in a giant freezing cold, muddy puddle...but we were already running late and didn't have time to go home...so I was wet and cold the rest of the night. But we had a good evening with Sister McGill. She had a nonmember friend at dinner so that was fun. We taught them the Doctrine of Christ. Then we went to Enrichment night for 4th ward. There we learned all about freezer meals...I learned lots. They had a freezer meal for everyone to sample and then they sent all the left overs with us! These ward love us and take such good care of us! Sister Rice and I have built incredible member trust and we totally have seen lots of success with working with members!! Friday we had a lesson with Sister Jiang and she even gave us a referral...it is one of her Chinese friends that doesn't speak English...but she seems pretty interested. That night we had supper with Sister Baker. She took us out to eat at a restaurant. It was great. It was like a treat...but we also felt like we were in the world and it was a little bit terrifying! That night we also had a lesson with Christy. She is about the same and we taught Dress and Appearance from the FSOY pamphlet. Saturday was a pretty busy day. We tried to find some referrals in the morning. And then we had lunch with Michele and Liam. They just moved here from South Africa and he is a recent convert of just over a year. Just a few weeks ago they went through the temple and were sealed! It was great to spend some time with them. They have some pretty great stories!! Then we had a lesson with Sandra. We taught her about the Sacrament and how it blesses our lives. We went home and had dinner and then had a lesson with Sister Kamenka....this is another time the world hated me...my seatbelt attacked me and I huge headache for the rest of the night...I know there are other evidences that the world hates me from this week...I have just chosen to block them from my memory....but nothing could go right for me...anyways back to Sister Kamenka. We had a lesson with her about the Book of Mormon...and it brought out a few concerns...so we started addressing them and left her with some reading to do for next time! She is great and I just love meeting with her...she is also very intimidating to teach because she studied theology. Sunday was a great day at church! We still have no WML in Richmond ward...so we got to teach gospel principles again...but it was a great lesson and had lots of participation. As for 4th ward...our investigators were supposed to come, but didn't...but Sandra did!!! She came and stayed all 3 hours!! It was great! She is totally progressing! And she took a huge step by coming to church! Then we had supper with the Williams! They are great! They had a stake meeting they had to go to so it was pretty fast. Then we took some things to Sister Mooney before we ran to the Fords to have a lesson with them! Well I hope you all have such a great week!! I challenge you all to pray for missionary experiences and then act on the opportunities you are given!! Have a great week this week!! I love and miss you all!! Love, Sister Kaitlyn Marchant Here is a picture of me with the Famous Welcome to Calgary sign...I guess it is about time now that I have almost been here 18 months!

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

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. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

January 2, 2013

Hey Family and Friends!!! Well this week has been pretty exciting...I think. Well I guess we will find out as I tell you all about it! So we will start with Thurs...because of all the weird p-days and library closures, our weeks are all off...but anyways that was the last day that I emailed and then we had our weekly planning. That was pretty uneventful though because we don't really have any investigators to plan for because they are all out of town...but hopefully that is going to change with the beginning of the New Year! As part of our planning, we went to the church to make a bunch of copies of ward lists and maps so we could get our planners ready and functional for the new transfer. That evening we had supper with the Terner's. They are nice, but were getting over a cold/flu...that is not fun. I think most people in Canada are sick right now. Then we went to see Sister Ford. It was just her because the boys were visiting their dad for a few days during the holiday. She is pretty great and it was fun to be able to talk to her! Friday felt like a super long day...but it shouldn't have because we were really busy. So first we started off by having a lesson with Sister Jiang. She is so cute. We had a lesson about the importance of setting goals and she had a lot of great insights. After that lesson, we had a lesson with Sandra. She is still progressing, but this week she was having a hard time. Mostly because it is the first Christmas she hasn't spent with her family and she is uneasy about what the New Year holds. We are still trying to just keep our lessons pretty basic so it's not like we are trying to force our beliefs on her. We think it is better to establish some common ground. So we had a lesson about the Articles of Faith...what they are, why we have them, and why they are important. It went pretty well. Then we had supper with Sister Shideler. She usually gives us money to go out, but this time we had dinner at her house and it was pretty great. She is a super nice lady! Then we had a lesson with Christy. We were able to help her set up a few things she got for Christmas and then we had a lesson. This time we decided to pick the topic of the lesson. We chose Friends out of the For the Strength of Youth. It ended up being a great lesson. Saturday was another longish day...but we had lots of open time so we were able to deliver all the rest of our less active treats....even to the people that live out in the middle of nowhere. It is kind of nice to do it on a Saturday during the holidays because lots of people were home!! Anyways then we went to see Carmen. She is still doing great. This time she had a project for us! She gave us her Bible with all her favorite scriptures marked with sticky notes. She wanted us to type the reference and the scripture of all of them. That way she can have them all in one place. It was pretty fun. Carmen was extra giggly today too. Then we had one last dinner with the Mandarin Elders...it was actually pretty fun having them eat with us in the month of December. They have kind of become like our brothers...they just follow us around places. It has been a good month. Anyways we ate with Sister Sells. She is a single lady and super nice. She also made some really yummy food. When we were done with dinner, our District Leader called us and told us he had mail for us...so we met them and got some mail. Getting mail is always a good part of our day! Sunday was a GREAT day!! Well to start things off, we had lots of hours of church...and that is always good! We found out that next week we are having stake conference and that they are going to change all of the ward boundaries. It will be pretty exciting. Well after church, we had supper with Sister Larsen. She also invited her son and his family over...not going to lie it helped make things not awkward. We had to basically eat and run because we had to go to the EAST STAKE!!!! Why you ask? Well Amanda got baptized!!! And she asked me to speak on Baptism!!! Amanda is the girl who couldn't get baptized because her parents wouldn't let her... Anyways we were given permission to go! It was an incredible baptism and the spirit there was incredible. I was so honored that she asked me to speak! Not only was it great to be there to witness her baptism and be part of that, but it was so great to see a lot of the people I love from Chestermere!! As we were driving there, it felt like I was going home. It was a great evening! Monday was another great day! We started out with DDM's and for the first time in a long time, they were actually really good and I learned a lot of things. Well instead of going to lunch with the Elders, we decided to go to another baptism...with permission of course. Whose?? Aurora Clark!! Do you remember them from Queensland/Parkland?? Well it was also great! It was exactly 1 year from the day her dad, Ryan was baptized! It was great to be there, and to see all those people that I love!! On our way back to our area, we were stopped at the mission office because we needed windshield wiper fluid....they always have everything...so they filled us up! Then we went to our New Years Eve party...it was at the Palmers. It was lots of fun...even though we had to leave before it even started...it didn't start until 7, but we had to be in at 6. But we still had fun and were able to eat some yummy food. We were still able to get together with the other Elders at the church. We had fun because we got a new game...phase 10. So we had fun playing that and just laughing. When Sister Rice and I got home, we kept playing phase 10 for a little bit and then we celebrated the New Year at 10:30 and went to bed...it was probably one of the most boring New Years I have had ever...but it is great to be a missionary...so I guess that is ok. Tuesday was p-day and it was one of the best p-days in a long time. We had lots of time to just do whatever we wanted since the library was closed...and basically everything else too. But the mall was open...so we went shopping...well mostly looking. It was fun, but it just reminded me how much I am not going to fit into the real world...it is going to be extremely wierd. Anyways it was just lots of fun...probably because we were laughing for most of the day. Then we went to the church and played games with the Elders...and wrote some letters too. When p-day was all over, we had supper with Sister Rhodes. She is single, but her parents are living with her for right now...they are waiting for their visa to India...they are going on a mission there. The funny thing is that I know them from Chestermere. So it was a great evening. Then we went to see Sister Thomas and just talked with her for a little bit! I love her and I am so grateful she is my friend. I am glad she trusts us and thinks of us as friends...and not just missionaries!! Guess what I finished my goal of reading the entire Bible by the end of the year!! It was great and I learned so much! I am so grateful for the scriptures and the things they teach us!! We can learn new things every time we read from their pages!! Well I hope you all had a great week!! And you are all having a happy New Year!! I still can't believe it is already 2013!! Well I sure do love and miss you all!! 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. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.