Report from Burns Lake

Hello!

Well, first off Mom, you are a gem. Thank you for going to all of that effort! My companion can use the other one, so all of that work into making the little Preach My Gospel was certainly not wasted. You're the best. And isn't that life? Of course they would make a little Preach My Gospel right after you went to all of that effort. It looks good though! The package arrived this Monday, so I think that this one arrived a little bit quicker than the previous one. The Burns Lake Elders had a good haul this Monday, because Elder Neher got a pretty big "Over the Hump Day" package because his 1 year mark was on August 24th. Transfers will be in the beginning of November, about 2 weeks before my birthday, so I might be in Burns, and I might be transferred. We'll have to see! Thanks for everything that was sent! I can certainly use that jacket, because I didn't have one, and Burns Lake doesn't have any form of clothing store, and the thrift store jackets were... not really missionary compatible. In short, thank you!

It sounds like just about everyone in my "generation" has left on their missions, and some from 2 years ago are already getting back! I remember when Todd Partridge was leaving. He's already back? Wow. He was Captain Hook in the Sky View production of Peter Pan! How could I not remember anyone who was involved with Peter Pan? The Peter Pan Pit was the pinnacle of my high school experience! Dad's email of David's living arrangement had the title "David Nelson home" and so I was worried that he had chosen to go home from his mission at first, so it's good that he is still sticking it out. I'll send the pictures of my Burns Lake home eventually, but they will probably be of the pictures of all of the different rooms we had, so that's... a little bit different. Every mission is different, I guess!

This is supposed to be on the down-low, (as in, the zone leaders told us, but the Smithers elders haven't chosen to talk to us about it yet) but over the course of the last week, the elders from Smithers rolled their truck and completely totaled it. They only had minor bruises, which apparently is a miracle if you see what the truck looked like. Apparently, they were going way too fast on dirt roads, and there was a sharp turn, and the truck didn't turn with it. We are very grateful that they were completely okay. Our district was blessed! I feel bad for the driver, because Elder Thornton has only been out a transfer longer than me.

Of course, we did have one driving incident this week... We were tracting on a far-distant road on Southside called Ootsa-Nadina East. It's the norm out in the Canadian boonies to have gates and things blocking off your driveway for some reason. A farmer had a barbed wire gate that I put down and then set back up just in case he had any animals that would get out, and then we went to the house to see if the people living there were interested. He wasn't, and we drove off, and Elder Neher forgot about the gate and drove through it! It was pretty awkward to go and tell him what happened, but he was very nice about it. That was good.

I had quite a few new missionary experiences this week too! Before the accident, we were on companion exchanges in Smithers, and me and Elder Garner had planned on tracting, but nobody was home because there was a parade. So... we went to the parade to do some street contacting, and when we were there, we decided to just walk through the parade! I walked down one side, Elder Garner walked down the other side, and we handed out pass-along cards and pamphlets to anybody that smiled and seemed interested. We were right between a fire truck and a group called "The Indo-Canadian Culture Dancers" or something like that. Marching band must have prepared me for missionary work somehow!

After 2.5 months of effort and encouragement and commitments and brainstorming, we FINALLY got members to invite over potential investigators for a family home evening/dinner appointment. They prayed for 3 weeks for a missionary experience with a family, and then we tracted into them! We helped them move and got to know them, and then worked with the member family until they invited them over. And it was awesome when they finally did! Their friends seem very ready for the gospel. We'll have to see how that goes! My point in saying all of that is that I am sure the missionaries appreciate your efforts to fellowship the people in your area. It helps a lot, and investigators found from member referrals have a 20-30% chance of being baptized, while investigators found from missionary efforts have a 3-5% of being baptized. So good work! :)

Well, I've got to write my mission president! Talk to you next week!

Elder Blotter