Vancouver Report

http://www.lds.org/church/news/karl-tilleman-an-example-of-determination-and-endurance?lang=eng&country=ca

Family!

Well, it's only been a couple days since the last email, but the past couple days have been awesome. We saw a lot of miracles happen with the work!  Elder Smith knows the area really well, and since he is (almost certainly) leaving, I got a GPS, which is probably why the bank is wondering what's going on with my debit card. I haven't really used it too much other than that. But having a GPS will be nice, because Vancouver was not built in a grid system, unfortunately. You start to miss how easy things like "1290 E 200 S" are to find. It also seems like the tables have turned as far as weather goes! You are the ones that get to put up with snow and cold now. Occasionally it gets a little rainy, but that's about as bad as it gets. Everybody down here says "Oh, the temperatures may be higher here, but it's a 'wet' cold, so it's really worse here than it is up North". Those people have probably never been North. It's awesome down here. No complaints.

Miracle: usually at church, we will sit by one of our investigators attending, but this week, we were asked to help pass the Sacrament. As they were singing the Sacrament hymn, another two deacons showed up, and so we were no longer needed. Because we wanted to sit down quickly to not interrupt the Sacrament, we didn't sit by an investigator, we just moved to the back and sat in the overflow section, where we would otherwise never sit. When there was about 5 minutes left in the program, this man walks in and sits down next to us. I can smell cigarette smoke on him and so I know that he is not a member. My first thought is "I am going to baptize him." As soon as the program ends, we talk to him, and our conversation went kind of like this:
Us: "What brought you here?"
Him: "Uh... my path just kind of led me here."
And he went on to explain that although his dad was a pentecostal preacher, he felt like he had a lot of questions that just weren't answered. He had heard a lot of weird things about us, but he heard that we believed in prophets, so as he was walking past the church, he thought he would just come in to see what it was like. As soon as the service ended, he was about to leave, but because we were right by him were able to stop him and invite him to come to the Gospel Principles class. He really liked it, and now we're going to be meeting with him again this Tuesday. That was definitely a miracle.

Otherwise, the work is going really well! In the past, the Vancouver district has kind of been an anomaly in the mission because it has 2.7 million people in it and no investigators and not too much happening. The Lord has been really hastening the work in the past weeks though on the East side, and so I feel really blessed to have been able to see all of the progress and miracles happening. I'm excited for this upcoming month because, although there could always be more, there are about 4 people that are looking pretty solid to be baptized in February.

And transfer time is here! The call will come sometime today. Probably sooner than later, too, since they usually make the calls to the Lower Mainland first. My prediction is that I'm staying and Elder Smith is leaving, but I guess we'll find out for sure by some time later today! It's always a little exciting to figure out how the next 6 weeks of your life are going to be spent. You learn a lot from each area and companion. I think so far I have learned the importance of having patience and charity/ If you have contention in a companionship, you just aren't going to find success. Elder Smith had told me stories about how with previous companions in this area, they would get so heated that they would be too angry to go out and work, so they would just sit inside. If you get along with your companion, you'll have the spirit, you'll be able to work harder, and you will find success. If you can't, then you won't. Pretty simple.

Well, I certainly know that this is the Lord's work. We see so many different miracles each day that it is hard to keep track of them. I know that this gospel blesses lives, and I am so happy to be able to share it with God's children.

Well, I have got to write President Tilleman. Next week I will have to report on the transfer news and everything else that has gone on. I love you all, and I hope that you all have a great week!

Elder Blotter