Burns Lake

Well!

It's been a great week up here in the North! Not too cold, either. Sounds like it was a pretty great week in Cache Valley too. The MoTab concert sounds like it was pretty great! Sounds like Jacey got to see a really good one for her first round with the choir! Sounds like you got to meet the Manwarings. Sister Manwaring was an awesome member missionary. I'm really glad that you were able to have them over. I'll bet that was great. It's not too far from Christmas, either! I don't know how it will work out for sure yet, since I don't know if I'm getting transferred or not, but I should hopefully be able to let you know next week how it is all going to work out. I probably won't need a calling card or anything, we'll probably just call from a member's home.

This whole week has felt pretty bittersweet! As (maybe...) my last week in Burns Lake, it has felt pretty weird. The Branch up here is just like big family, and so in a lot of ways, leaving this place will feel like leaving home again! The members up here are awesome and have spoiled us with all these Christmas gifts like Canada pajama pants and legit maple syrup and some "Burns Lake Branch" ties and things like that. Pretty awesome. Yesterday we spent quite a bit of time sharing messages with members and talking with them about people they can share the gospel with. As far as transfers go, transfer calls will come this evening, and then we'll know if anybody is leaving or not! In a couple hours we'll probably be on edge.

The work this week was really solid. We were able to teach a lot of lessons. Brooklyn really wants to be baptized, but her parents aren't being the most supportive, so it might have to be pushed into January, which is really too bad. She'll get in the water though. It has been awesome to teach her all of the lessons and help her get ready. One of our baptismal dates, Heather, was hung over and couldn't come to church Sunday morning (she committed to live the Word of Wisdom Saturday evening), and that's kind of heartbreaking, but we had a miracle to make up for it! At the display of nativities a couple weeks ago, we talked to a woman named Margaret who lives about an hour from the church. Us and a member invited her to church, and she didn't come that Sunday, and we kind of forgot about her. But lo and behold, this week she pulls up in the church parking lot with a bunch of cash that she had saved all week for the "collections plate". Margaret is this awesome widowed lady who has a broken heart and a contrite spirit and feels really lonely. The gospel will be so good for her. She's totally going to be baptized in a couple weeks. She's going to need some help quitting smoking, but the church will be there for her. We're still teaching the Filipino family, quite a few native families, and a handful of other Canadians. Canadians are usually about as hard hearted as Americans, but up in the North, they're so polite that they'll still invite you in. It will be quite a different story if I move to a city area this week!

I feel really blessed to be able to be serving the Lord at this time. Right now, in the Canada Vancouver mission, there are 118 missionaries. By July or August of next year, there will be about 250 missionaries. The Lord is really hastening His work, and we're seeing a lot of miracles as a result. Every day we have powerful spiritual experiences. The Lord's children up in Canada are certainly loved by Him. The church is true! Say woo woo!

Well, we have to go get our truck's bumper fixed because a first nations guy backed into our truck when we were teaching a lesson, so this email might be a bit short! I love you all and I'll talk to you in a week!

Elder Blotter