Ha-Kitimat-ata

Well hello family!

 

Hopefully you've all had a good week! It's been good up in Northern BC. Even though it does get a lot lighter earlier and we're well into the season where we go to bed when the sun is up and we wake up when the sun is up, summer seems to come later in the year. And that seems to influence when summer vacation comes, because all the kids are still in school. So, it could be worse, Jed and Jacey! In any case, there have been a lot of good people to talk to and lots of good things happening and we're excited to be in Kitimat.

 

The work is moving forward. Samfred, or Samantha and Wilfred, have been coming to church and are up to be baptized in the coming weeks. There have been a few miracles that have happened in the past week. Samantha used to be our neighbor, but her roommate is kind of crazy, and they got involved in some kind of altercation. Samantha looks like she's harmless and like... Jenessa sized, (no offense, Ness) but apparently she caused her roommate to take a hospital visit. Which is really funny, because Samantha seems to be very gentle-natured. Long story short, Samantha over the course of a day decided to move out to Kitamaat Village, which would leave us having no idea where she was, since she doesn't have a cell phone. But, lo and behold, we were walking by the apartment in service clothes coming back from a moving project at the church and we were there just in time to help her and her dad move her stuff out and get the phone number of the house she'd be living in. But, we tried the number a few times, and nobody picked up. So we were kind of back to the drawing board, and we were going to try tracting out the whole village just to see if we could find where they were (not likely), and we decided to get gas before leaving. And lo, yet again, who should pull up to get gas? Yep. Samantha and her family were filling up to go on a fishing trip, so we were able to get her address and set up a ride for her to come to church. Not all mission miracles are overwhelming displays of God's power. Sometimes they are just an accumulation of little things that let everything work out. Samantha and Wilfred really are awesome people though. Wilfred is a trooper. A lot of natives are very... less motivated. But he works at the Wal-Mart in Terrace and oftentimes has to hitchhike in the wee hours of the morning to get back to Kitimat. Sometimes he has to walk all the way to the airport from Terrace. Which I can assure you, would be a long ways to walk.

 

And then there's the Boyson bunch. What a quirky family! They have put off their baptism because they have been delaying talking to their mom about being baptized because they can't talk with their mom. Because she works at Dairy Queen, and apparently even when she's not working there, she just goes there to "hang out". And the rest of the time, nobody knows where she is. And we would count that as a feeble excuse, but we drop by at weird hours of the day and she is never there. They're kind of one of those classic part member families with a few sheets of teaching records because they've been taught so many times in the past. But, this time, we're getting them to keep commitments. They've come to church solidly for about 2 months. We have a lot of faith that the situation is going to work out, but it's going to take a lot of faith. But Alma and the sons of Mosiah had a converting experience with an earth-shaking angel not because of their own goodness, but because of the prayers Alma's father, Alma. So. Somehow, we figure that we'll be able to get Sister Boyson on board. It has been very cool though to see how they've grown. Chelsey Boyson will say that she thinks she needs to know more about baptism, but when we ask her what she thinks it means, she'll more or less recite exactly what it says in Mosiah 18 as qualifications for baptism, meaning to stand as a witness for God, to help others, etc. You just want to shout "no! You get what baptism means more than most scholars who get degrees in theology do. You get it!" They're an awesome family. They will come around.

 

Well, it's an awesome time to be a missionary. To be fully dedicated to "the work of salvation!" We did get the chance to watch the broadcast on the old computer the branch has to do church business things for the branch clerk. It really is exciting to be able to see the vision that the Lord's servants have as the Lord is now "hastening His work". How cool was it to see all of those missionaries in the choir? And having members and missionaries work in unison really is the best way to move the work forward. President Tilleman said they are going to "phase in" having "new tools" in the next "six months to a year". Which sounds kind of vague. We're not exactly expecting an iPad to show up in the mail. But still! It really does only make sense that the way we do missionary work needs to change as the world changes. It is a powerful witness that this is His work, and that He is moving it forward. The church is true! We're blessed to be able to share what we know.

 

Well, I love you all! Have a great week!

 

Elder Blotter