Family!

Well hello!

I don't have too much time to write because I spent too much time of the hour we spend on the computer trying to get my camera to upload pictures to the computers in the Family History Center in the church in Burns Lake. Again, they are running Windows 98 so unfortunately I was not able to succeed. Maybe some other time! Sorry that my email time fell on another Monday!

The past week has been a very hectic one for the Burns Lake elders because we had the Smithers and Terrace elders visit us for companion exchanges, and we finished the week in Prince George for stake conference. Very busy! Burns Lake is in the Prince George Stake, but is in the Terrace zone, so we go to the Terrace and Prince George stake/district conferences. We have been blessed to work with elders in two zones, and to work in a number of different areas. I spent some time tracting in Prince George, and it is quite a different experience than in Burns Lake! It is also weird to be in a town with more than ten streets to tract on. President Tilleman had time to interview everyone at the Prince George zone conference, and so I had the opportunity to spend some time talking to him, which was certainly a blessing. He was also very forthcoming about transfers, and he let me know, even though the call hasn't come yet today, that I am staying in Burns Lake for another transfer, with a new companion named Elder Epperson. I am very excited to stay in Burns Lake, because the work is really starting to show some fruit, and I am excited to meet my new companion sometime over the next few days!

Northern BC is many different colors right now. It is very beautiful. It also has been very strangely warm over the past little while. Even though it's very dark in the mornings, I don't even need a jacket when we go running outside, which I am certainly not complaining about!

I had many memorable experiences this week. On exchanges, me and Elder Garner were working on the Reserve, and we were invited into a house, and just lying on their kitchen floor was this huge gutted black bear. This native lady was scraping the fat out of it, cutting it into little chunks, and frying it. They call it "Indian popcorn". It did have a texture that admittedly was strangely like popcorn. We were able to do a lot of finding and teaching on the Reserve. In just one day we found 4 new investigators. After knocking on every single door in Burns Lake, some multiple times, the Lord still provides us with many people to teach. To me it seems no less miraculous than turning water into wine! We were able to teach many different people, as well. We have been steadily increasing the number of lessons that we have been teaching weekly, and so that has been satisfying to see.

I had two interesting conversations that I would like to mention here while I have time! One of them was with a former patriarch who is now serving as a counselor in the mission presidency, President Whidden. We were talking about patriarchal blessings while he was giving us a ride from Prince George to Vanderhoof, and we asked about different tribes and what they mean. The scriptures don't tell us too much about many tribes, but he says that if you read the scriptures you can kind of learn about the traits of many of them. I asked what being in the tribe of Benjamin meant and he said that people in that tribe tend to be very loyal, and dedicated to things once they commit to them, as well as being very sensitive and caring. I thought that that described Mom very well and so I found that very interesting! Maybe Mom doesn't need to wonder if she's "really" in the tribe of Benjamin. :)

Secondly, on the Canadian $20 bill, there is a side with some lady's face on it, and a side with some native art on it. On the native art side, underneath the 20, there is a little depiction of a bird-like thing standing on what looks like a rock with some pretty creepy people crawling out of it. It is a depiction of the Haida creation story. The Haidas are the Natives who live on Haida Gwaii. They look exactly like natives as far as their features go, except they are pale skinned. They are as white as we are. Their creation story is that a big clam washed up on the shore, and people crawled out of it. (Apparently it was a raven that witnessed it, which explains the bird on the clam) We speculate that one of the many Jaredite barges washed up on Haida Gwaii and they have been there ever since. Pretty interesting. :)

Well! Life is good! Missionary work is very rewarding. I feel very blessed to be serving the Lord.

Elder Blotter