Report from Vancouver

Family!

Well. What a week it has been. Transfer calls have come and gone, and I am staying in Vancouver East and training a new missionary named Elder Holtsby! Whew. So much to write about and so little time. It has been an extremely intense week. It has been very overwhelming and there have been lots of ups and downs. Missionary work at it's best, that's for sure. At the end of our first night together, I looked over at my companion, who had fallen asleep on his knees praying at night (we work new missionaries pretty hard in the Canada Vancouver Mission) and I realized that at this point, the eternal salvation of half of the entire city of Vancouver and the path that this new missionary is going to take for his mission was more or less resting on my shoulders. Whew. Talk about hard to fall asleep at night. I have felt closer to the Savior than I ever have in my life. Days are going by so fast because I spend lunch and dinner times sitting at my desk just thinking about who we still need to call and what appointments we still need to set up and who we still need to get to come to appointments to come with us and so on and so on and other than that we're out and about doing the Lord's work.

Well, my new companion is awesome. I am not sure how to best describe him, so I will just recount some experiences and you can piece it together for yourselves. :) In the picture that I attached to the email, if you find me on the back row on the right, he is sitting down in front of me and slightly to the left. Elder Holtby was called "Elder Apron" in the MTC because he wore an apron during mealtimes to protect his ties. He is 20, and he was "almost" engaged to a 15 year old girl who still has the $1500 engagement ring that he designed for her, although they are now broken up. He is really into cars and every time a luxury vehicle drives by he talks about what it is and what it is good for. He gave $10 of our extremely scanty mission funds for groceries and things to the first homeless person who asked for change. He served as a ward missionary before he came out, so every time we start making lesson plans, he starts lecturing me about the importance of working with members in lessons. He is very bold with members and at church he would just walk up to them and ask "Do you have any referrals for us?" He is very dedicated to the work, and he wants to be obedient. The only things we need to iron out are little things like understanding the importance of being exactly obedient to the schedule. We are going to have a great transfer, although it is too bad for Elder Holtby that he has a mean trainer that makes him get up and go running in the morning!

Well, the work here is just going crazy. Patrick, the man who just walked in off the street, came to church for his second time this week, and he is just loving it. We taught him last Tuesday and set a baptismal date for February 24th, and we're seeing him this Tuesday with a ward missionary who can hopefully become a good fellowshipper for him. He said that coming to church felt "more like coming home than he's every felt before". We found out that Cheryll is living common-law with her husband (or... partner), and she thought that counted as marriage. So we had to delay her baptism a week, and she has committed to be married this Friday so that she can be baptized this Sunday, which takes a lot of faith. That was a pretty unexpected hurdle, but she is still doing really well. Otherwise, we're teaching and finding a lot of awesome people. Too many miracles to write down in so little time! Lee and his would-be wife are now separated by the frozen wasteland of Canada, but they are still planning on getting married later!


It sounds like life at home is going really well! Keep shredding at the Beav, Jacey and Jed! It's great to hear from you every week. That's about all that I have time to write because my time on the computer is just about gone and I had a lot to tell President Tilleman, but I love you all and I hope that you have a great week!

Elder Blotter