Burns Lake Report #.....8 or something like that.

Family!

Burns Lake is beautiful! I'm glad that you're able to at least see some of it through Google Earth! That's something that certainly wouldn't be possible ten years ago. Every time we're driving to the church or Southside, I just look around and see so much evidence of a Creator. It is just so beautiful! Especially now that it is already getting dark a little past 8:00. If we take the 8:30 ferry back to the house, we get to enjoy a moonlit ferry ride on the lake. I feel very blessed to be in the area that I am in. We encountered our 3rd bear while tracting this week! The first one was a cub, and far away, and the second one got chased away by a bunch of dogs that lived in the Reserve we were visiting, but this one was neat because we were in the truck so we could try to take a picture of it. Hopefully I will survive my remaining time here without getting mauled. But we routinely see eagles, foxes, moose, deer, and dogs that we think are rabid (on the Reserves) over the course of missionary work here. It's beautiful! Of course, hiking around Logan is beautiful too, so it's a good thing you were able to do that this week as well.

Wow, it sounds like last week was not a good week to be traveling by car, then! It's good that everybody seemed to be okay. Elder Pierson is still up North, but he's serving... in Kitimat or something like that, not in Smithers, so he was okay. As far as the Elder who served in BC, Queen Charlotte's is now in the Terrace zone. I think that the Terrace zone was recently created, and it all used to be the Prince George Zone, so it would make sense that he might not have served during it. Queen Charlotte's island is the Hidagwy area that I was talking about earlier. BC now refers to it as Hidagwuy or however you spell it as a throwback to the First Nations, because that's what they called it. Kelowna used to have 2 companionships serving there, but last transfer one of them was pulled out. President Tilleman thinks there is a shortage of missionaries in BC. He wants more! I obviously wouldn't tell your patient this, but apparently the mission president before President Nelson, (who was before President Tilleman) allowed a lot of disobedience, and it wasn't as successful at the time. The mission president really sets the pace for a mission, it seems. And yes mother, some week when there is time, I will tell President Tilleman's story. :)

It's good to hear that the missionary work in Hyde Park is going well!  I wish the Elders in Hyde Park the best, because street contacting and tracting would be rather ineffective down there, and so they probably have to figure out how to be successful!

In Burns Lake, we have managed to find quite a few new investigators this week! Because it gets dark earlier, the natives get drunk earlier, and for some reason, when people are drunk, they are more willing to give us their numbers and talk to us. Whatever gets our foot in the door as far as teaching them the gospel, we'll take it! We are also working with different member families. We are going to be following up with the Franz's, the family I talked about last letter, this week. The Moore's, the member family, gave them a Book of Mormon with their testimonies in it, and so we'll see how that went! James Witter, one of our investigators, survived his first Fast and Testimony meeting, and he seems to have enjoyed it, so we are excited about that. We are taking him lunch today. (A&W... we ran out of time to make anything else. Otherwise, we would have jumped at the chance to get rid some of that fish.) We know we can get a baptism in September! I do not want to leave Burns Lake until it is better than when I came here. I feel blessed to be able to serve the Lord.

I pray for the family every day! Tell Jed and Jacey that I love them lots. I hope that all is well and that you remember Burns Lake in your prayers as well.

Elder Blotter.