Well hello!
It's been another great week up here in Burns Lake, and down South (well, still up North for you people) in the lower mainland during the middle of the week! I had numerous experiences that I won't forget. It's definitely starting to get colder! We went tracting in a few inches of snow, but fortunately most of it melted when we were out of the area. It was -7 degrees outside (In Celsius, so not too bad) when we drove to church yesterday. If I don't get transferred out of here next time calls roll around, I might have to have some warmer clothes! Either way, it's going to be an adventure. We have to get creative sometimes doing missionary work in the North. Up here when it gets colder, we have to take golf balls when knocking doors, so that you can hear the knock even though we are wearing gloves.
It was a monumental week for the Burns Lake elders! Vanessa Jack's baptism was amazing. We were a little worried at first, because the font was so underused that the only water that came out of the spigot was a murky greenish brown. After a while of leaving the water on, it turned into... a less murky (but still distinct) greenish brown. But Vanessa was so excited that she wasn't put off by it at all! She was just really excited. During the service, she bore her testimony about the Holy Ghost and it was incredibly powerful. It has been such a blessing to see the gospel of Jesus Christ really change her life. Before her baptismal interview, she confessed that she ate half a granola bar before she realized that it had mocha in it, and she was so stressed that it would push back her baptismal date, and she kept on asking me if I had invited all of our investigators to come see her baptism. She's that kind of a person. The Spirit was present the entire time during the service. You can feel the Spirit SO strongly when you are in the font, and it was such a sacred experience to be able to baptize her.
I absolutely adore Vanessa's 2 year old daughter, Gemma Rose. (She can't really say anything except "uh oh" whenever she sees a ripped page of a book or something like that, but she totally said my name while Elder Aldred was interviewing Vanessa. Brother Moore heard it. He can vouch for me.) It is so amazing to see how the gospel has affected how Vanessa views being a parent. Alcoholism and immorality, which is really prevalent in the culture of a lot of the single mothers in this area, won't even be a concern for Gemma. I am SO happy about that. SO happy. You have no idea.
Well, I had a lot of eye opening experiences down South, as well! We stayed the night with the elders that are currently working in Surrey, an urban area not too far from Vancouver. Wow. Burns Lake has 9 avenues. 2nd Ave has... I think 2 houses on it. Their area covers the first hundreds of streets with ritzy apartment complexes and trailer parks and everything in between. We went street contacting and there were people everywhere! It made me glad that I was trained in the North, where everybody is a stereotypically laid back, polite Canadian! The first person I walked up to, with a big ol' smile on my face, cussed me out and told me I was being "way too pushy". Ha ha, it's a bit of a different pace in different areas. That is something to get used to. Burns Lake really hasn't been too wet. I think it's rained maybe 6 or 7 times since I got there, and never enough for it to really get in the way of the work. Down there it was POURING. We left our raincoats in the truck in Terrace, so we went out in regular suit jackets and we got soaked straight through. It was awesome.
I also had the opportunity to hear quite a bit from one of the Seventies, Elder Haleck. He shared many powerful and sacred experiences from his time as a mission president, and it was awesome. President Tilleman is totally going to become a general authority after his time as a mission president. He's nearly doubling the number of baptisms as compared to before his time here, and the mission he presides over is exactly obedient. He's very inspired. Anyways, Elder Haleck talked a lot about how to work with wards and branch councils, how we have the obligation to remain active after we return from our missions, and he bore a special witness about how the prophet is receiving revelation to "hasten the work". The Lord is hastening His work of gathering His sheep, and it is such a privilege to be a missionary at this time. Miracles are happening, and angels are preparing the hearts of people to hear us. It is a blessing to be here. Today I got many letters from girls all talking about how they are planning on serving now. (With return addresses like "Future Sister Pack" and "The Happiest Girl in the World") President Tilleman says that he is requesting to double the number of missionaries he gets each transfer. It's an exciting time! The Lord is expecting a lot from His missionaries, and He deserves it.
Hope all is well at home! Have a great week.
Elder Blotter
PS- I forgot to mention it last time, but the Library changed its hours so it is now open on Monday, so I'll probably always be using computers on Monday from now on. *cough cough*. :)
It's been another great week up here in Burns Lake, and down South (well, still up North for you people) in the lower mainland during the middle of the week! I had numerous experiences that I won't forget. It's definitely starting to get colder! We went tracting in a few inches of snow, but fortunately most of it melted when we were out of the area. It was -7 degrees outside (In Celsius, so not too bad) when we drove to church yesterday. If I don't get transferred out of here next time calls roll around, I might have to have some warmer clothes! Either way, it's going to be an adventure. We have to get creative sometimes doing missionary work in the North. Up here when it gets colder, we have to take golf balls when knocking doors, so that you can hear the knock even though we are wearing gloves.
It was a monumental week for the Burns Lake elders! Vanessa Jack's baptism was amazing. We were a little worried at first, because the font was so underused that the only water that came out of the spigot was a murky greenish brown. After a while of leaving the water on, it turned into... a less murky (but still distinct) greenish brown. But Vanessa was so excited that she wasn't put off by it at all! She was just really excited. During the service, she bore her testimony about the Holy Ghost and it was incredibly powerful. It has been such a blessing to see the gospel of Jesus Christ really change her life. Before her baptismal interview, she confessed that she ate half a granola bar before she realized that it had mocha in it, and she was so stressed that it would push back her baptismal date, and she kept on asking me if I had invited all of our investigators to come see her baptism. She's that kind of a person. The Spirit was present the entire time during the service. You can feel the Spirit SO strongly when you are in the font, and it was such a sacred experience to be able to baptize her.
I absolutely adore Vanessa's 2 year old daughter, Gemma Rose. (She can't really say anything except "uh oh" whenever she sees a ripped page of a book or something like that, but she totally said my name while Elder Aldred was interviewing Vanessa. Brother Moore heard it. He can vouch for me.) It is so amazing to see how the gospel has affected how Vanessa views being a parent. Alcoholism and immorality, which is really prevalent in the culture of a lot of the single mothers in this area, won't even be a concern for Gemma. I am SO happy about that. SO happy. You have no idea.
Well, I had a lot of eye opening experiences down South, as well! We stayed the night with the elders that are currently working in Surrey, an urban area not too far from Vancouver. Wow. Burns Lake has 9 avenues. 2nd Ave has... I think 2 houses on it. Their area covers the first hundreds of streets with ritzy apartment complexes and trailer parks and everything in between. We went street contacting and there were people everywhere! It made me glad that I was trained in the North, where everybody is a stereotypically laid back, polite Canadian! The first person I walked up to, with a big ol' smile on my face, cussed me out and told me I was being "way too pushy". Ha ha, it's a bit of a different pace in different areas. That is something to get used to. Burns Lake really hasn't been too wet. I think it's rained maybe 6 or 7 times since I got there, and never enough for it to really get in the way of the work. Down there it was POURING. We left our raincoats in the truck in Terrace, so we went out in regular suit jackets and we got soaked straight through. It was awesome.
I also had the opportunity to hear quite a bit from one of the Seventies, Elder Haleck. He shared many powerful and sacred experiences from his time as a mission president, and it was awesome. President Tilleman is totally going to become a general authority after his time as a mission president. He's nearly doubling the number of baptisms as compared to before his time here, and the mission he presides over is exactly obedient. He's very inspired. Anyways, Elder Haleck talked a lot about how to work with wards and branch councils, how we have the obligation to remain active after we return from our missions, and he bore a special witness about how the prophet is receiving revelation to "hasten the work". The Lord is hastening His work of gathering His sheep, and it is such a privilege to be a missionary at this time. Miracles are happening, and angels are preparing the hearts of people to hear us. It is a blessing to be here. Today I got many letters from girls all talking about how they are planning on serving now. (With return addresses like "Future Sister Pack" and "The Happiest Girl in the World") President Tilleman says that he is requesting to double the number of missionaries he gets each transfer. It's an exciting time! The Lord is expecting a lot from His missionaries, and He deserves it.
Hope all is well at home! Have a great week.
Elder Blotter
PS- I forgot to mention it last time, but the Library changed its hours so it is now open on Monday, so I'll probably always be using computers on Monday from now on. *cough cough*. :)
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