Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Still in Beautiful Burns Lake

Well!

I am in Burns Lake with Elder Epperson for another transfer! Ha ha, I love it. When I got in Burns Lake in July I had no idea that I would be around to see the lake freeze over, but there it is, frozen over! There's another elder on Haida Gwaii that flew up with me when I first entered into the field, and he says that his area is beginning to feel like Lost. "He can't get off the island". It's starting to get colder and colder up here! They say that in December it will usually get down around -20 or -30 Celsius, so I'm going to have to adjust to the cold! It's just a matter of loving the Lord more than disliking being a little chilly. Last night it was only around -2 or 3, and it felt really warm, so we're getting used to it slowly. We got some winter tires, and so now we're slipping and sliding around on the roads a little less, which is good. Driving to and from the church we'll usually see a car or two sitting in the ditch to the side of the road. The snow has been pretty useful as far as missionary work goes, though! Sometimes in the mornings, we'll go up and down the avenues in town and if anybody is out shoveling their walk, we'll help them finish while talking about the gospel.

Well, I'll be turning 20 in Smithers. We're going on exchanges this week, and we're going to be catching a greyhound in a couple hours. A year ago, I had no idea that I would be up here for my next birthday. It is weird to be 20. Very weird. My age doesn't start with a "1" anymore. I'm not sure how I feel about that, ha ha. You kind of realize that you don't have forever to figure out what you want to do with your life! I've got the next year and a half mapped out pretty solidly, and that's all that I need to think about for now.

Well, the work in Burns Lake is still carrying on! It was one of those weeks when nobody showe I've knocked on every door in town about once a month, and so I've tracted it out about 5 times now. I'll probably do it at least once more again before I'm done here. Working in Burns Lake is really interesting. You have to develop relationships with people. Teach a little bit more or testify a little bit differently each time you talk to them. You have to remember names and religious backgrounds and things like that. Yesterday we started over on the roads east of town, and we were talking about Pinecrest Rd, and I could walk through each house on the road. "Pete and Sheila live in the first house. I wasn't there the last time they were taught but they didn't like that we claim to be the only true church. Then it's Joe Wheeler. He owns a contracting business. Then it's the Blackwells. He used to work for Wes Boehmer. We gave him a Restoration DVD but he didn't watch it, we're pretty sure. etc etc" Burns Lake really feels like home at this point. Every time we tract out the town, we always find something new, though! This week, we found a former investigator who wants to read the Book of Mormon again and a less active member who moved in recently. She converted because she did door to door sales with RMs in Arizona, and even though she moved into the middle of nowhere, the Lord didn't forget about her and we managed to knock on her door one of the few times she was home. We're seeing a lot of miracles like that. Brooklyn Johnson is going to be baptized on the 5th of January. It is very interesting to teach a 9 year old. (Jacey!) She knows a lot of really random stories. In our last lesson she told us in detail about how Moses killed all of the Israelites who worshipped the calf when he was getting the 10 commandments on the mountain. We're praying and fasting for help finding somebody else to help prepare for baptism. We're working with a lot of solid people. We'll have to see what happens!

It sounds like life at home is going pretty swell. It's weird to see that the grass is still green by the snowmen! At this point I'm used to everything being white. With daylight savings, the sun sets at 4:00 now. It's still light until 5 or so, but the sun sets at 4:00. Whew. When we're knocking doors at 6:00, people will ask "why we're out so late!" I hope that everybody has a really great week! Talk to you next week!

Elder Blotter

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